Casual Male sells online in Europe

US big and tall men's apparel retailer, Casual Male Retail Group, is to launch its Casual Male XL and Rochester brands online into six European countries. The online stores are live in the United Kingdom and will debut in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands in the coming week.

David Levin, the company's president and chief executive, said "We are very excited about entering into these key European markets and expanding our presence beyond just our UK Rochester store. Until now the EU market has had a limited selection of big and tall apparel and think we will be able to answer the markets needs by introducing our brands to the six regions."

Each online store is tailored to the specific country in which it operates and includes country-specific components, such as online payment processing, content translation and customer services.

Casual Male said that the demand for big and tall apparel is rising throughout Europe, with over 135 million European adults affected by weight issues. In addition to this, the company said, the number of Internet users in Europe is also growing rapidly, with a 25% annual growth rate expected between now and 2011.