e-Commerce
UPDATE: Virginia House Kills “Amazon” Law
Senate Bill 660, introduced by Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr. (Augusta County), was officially defeated yesterday by the Virginia House of Delegates Finance Committee. Senate Bill 660 would have created a new nexus standard to require certain Internet retailers to collect Virginia sales tax from its Virginia customers even if the [...]
Shopping Cart Abandonment, A Consumer’s Advantage?
I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine discussing the opportunities of shopping on the Internet. Okay, in reality we were discussing how the economy has affected consumer buying patterns and what we were really after is finding the best bargains. My friend shared with me something that I had not heard of [...]
One option for going direct to your customers
In this economy, everyone is looking for some kind of advantage – a way to build their brand image, how to increase product margins, reduce warehouse and logistics expenses – all while sticking to their core competencies. This can be especially difficult for consumer product goods companies and manufacturers. Often times they sell through vendor [...]
Ways to Save Money
The following is a brief email that we received from one of our eNewsletter readers, in response to an article we wrote about saving money in your company…
Curt:
Just received your electronic May newsletter and wanted to send you some ways we are saving money.
Cut utility usage
Drop non productive associates
Reduce fulfillment goals from 92% to 85%
Keep [...]
ACCM Tidbits and Opinions
ACCM Attendance: The show had about 500-700 attendees from what I could tell. Like many of the shows we have attended this year the number of attendance looked to be down 50% to 80% from prior years. Penton took a bath on both NCOF and ACCM this year. There is a question in my [...]
How Do You Know What E-Commerce Promotions Pay?
Historically, the catalog industry has measured the response rate for various promotions, the advertising cost of the promotion and its breakeven based on demand, product cost etc. Along comes the e-commerce world and many of the new promotional methods (such as e-mail, affiliate programs, etc.) are apparently not being measured.
At the same time, companies that [...]
How Will You Provide Your CEO’s Favorite Reports?
You have just spent four months doing your homework to replace your aging call center and order management system: gathering user requirements, writing an RFP, getting capable vendors to bid on it, conducting demos and selecting the finalist. Yet there is one more activity that, if not done superbly, will shake management’s confidence that replacement [...]
MICROS Acquisition of Fry Moves Multichannel Applications Ahead
Last month, MICROS Systems, Inc., whose MICROS-Retail group provides point-of-sale, loss prevention, and cross-channel functionality to more than 90,000 retail stores worldwide, announced the acquisition of Fry, Inc., which has been designing and developing e-commerce applications since 1994.
I think the industry has a real potential powerhouse in the MICROS-Retail and Fry merger, and I am [...]
Balancing Your Budget and Investment: When is the Right Time to Outsource?
Many multichannel merchants focus on how they can lower operating costs when they consider outsourcing certain tasks. But when you outsource operations, you also outsource the investment. Sounds obvious, but maybe the magnitude isn’t all that clear until you’re faced with replacing an order-management system, moving into a new fulfillment space or upgrading your website.
When [...]
Macy’s National Strategy Gets a Makeover
The Wall Street Journal (April 21, 2008, B1) detailed a strategy by Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren to localize store assortments to cater to what shoppers are more interested in buying. This localization—called “My Macy’sâ€â€”will for now will be only 15% of the total SKUs, which range from 1.5 million to 4 million, depending on store [...]
