J.Crew's Drexler On the Economy (& Madewell)

There is an interesting article over at WWD about retailers (including J.Crew) take on the economy (click here to read it in its entirety):

At Piper Jaffray Conference, Retail Execs Take on the Economy
By Alexandra Steigrad
June 12, 2009

Same-store sales may continue to tumble, but that’s not preventing specialty retailers from continuing to explore opportunities to identify and build new markets during the downturn.

Speakers came to this week’s Piper Jaffray retail conference in New York loaded with stories about what they’re doing to cut costs and inventories, but several also shared their ideas on how best to take advantage of the Internet and secondary markets and fine-tune merchandising and marketing strategies, including private label, to cope with the transformed retail landscape. ...

J.Crew Group chairman and chief executive officer Millard “Mickey” Drexler struck a blow for exclusivity, both online and off.

“We are not open to others cutting prices,” Drexler said. “If you own anything others own, you are vulnerable of the competition selling it at a lower price.”

At the firm’s annual meeting earlier this month, Drexler said that, while “a work in progress,”the company plans to launch e-commerce for its Madewell unit in the first quarter of next year.

“We are not in a hurry, but we want to keep growing, obviously,” he said. “I think the world is going where it’s going. We’re not going to fight it.”

The article doesn't reveal too much in terms of J.Crew's future. But at least we know when Madewell's e-commerce site is being pushed back until. Hopefully it will run smoothly. (And wouldn't it be great if they did something similar to Gap, Inc.- where they combine shopping carts of their several stores?)

What are your thoughts on the article? Are you disappointed or happy to hear that Madewell's e-commerce site will "go live" next year?