Dave Finnegan, Build-A-Bear

Finnegan shares information about the retailer’s partnership with Oracle and the Retail Orphan Initiative (ROI), allowing show attendees to take home a bear for a tax-deductible donation of $20. He also discussed the merchant’s recent cross-channel efforts: a virtual world online for bear owners, which has led to the creation of more than 20 million avatars; an uptick in Facebook fans to 1.7 million, up from 200,000 a year ago; and a mobile app, which has drawn more than 800,000 downloads. Regarding Build-a-Bear’s work with Oracle and ATG, Finnegan says that the ATG platform can be customized and will scale for future growth.