Building on its ship-from-store program begun last year, Destination XL Group Inc. is rolling out a shop online, pickup in store service. The retailer of big-and-tall men’s apparel piloted the program in May and will launch it in its 353 stores by the end of the second quarter, David Levin, president and CEO, told investors Friday on the company’s Q1 earnings call.

Destination XL, No. 287 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide, operates DestinationXL.com and BigandTall.com e-commerce sites, and began deploying StoreNet ship-from-store software from eBay Enterprise to its retail locations in early 2014. StoreNet integrates with Destination XL’s online order management system and routes orders to stores based on business rules Destination XL defines, such as the store’s proximity to the ordering customer, the maximum number of orders a store can handle per day and how much stock must be maintained to satisfy store shoppers.

“This technology enables our stores to fulfill online orders that cannot be fulfilled by our distribution center, greatly expanding our available online inventory,” Levin told analysts. “Our goal has been to provide a seamless customer experience whether he shops at a brick-and-mortar store or via computer, smartphone or tablet.”

The second phase for StoreNet was to launch shop online, pickup in store, Levin said, which “has allowed customers to make last-minute purchases online and pick up items in the closest DXL store. This feature enhances customer relationships by bringing guests into our stores where sales associates can then recommend additional items at the point of sale.”

For the first quarter of fiscal 2015 ended May 2, Destination XL, did not break out e-commerce sales but did report:

• Total sales rose 8.0% to $104.4 million from $96.7 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014.
• Net loss of $574,000 compared with a net loss of $3.5 million in the prior year period.