ETD: 679 Internet E-Mail Stamp; Lillian Vernon interview;
International calling; Internet Sales Tax update; The Architecture War
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Tue, 22 Apr 2003 07:23:27 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0679 April 22, 2003
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem@gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Internet E-Mail Stamp
[3] Lillian Vernon interview
----- ---- --- -- -> Important Offer <- -- --- ---- ---- --
[4] International calling
[5] Internet Sales Tax update
[6] The Architecture War
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
We have some very interesting posts from list members today, in particular
the Internet Mail Stamp and Sales Tax. Let's hear from you. What do you
think?
The New York International Auto Show is on now until April 27. If you have
an opportunity to visit you should do so. I get the distinct impression
that auto manufacturers are thumbing their noses at the oil producers as
they produce (or show concepts of) the monster cars - like Cadillac's
Sixteen with 1,000 horsepower. Now I love fast cars, but that one scares
me. The show itself seems to have more convertibles than any time in the
past (or maybe it's because I'm looking for a convertible ;-). The most
unique new "car" is the Dodge Tomahawk concept car, a 500-horsepower Viper
V-10 engine powering the dual rear wheels gives this radical vehicle a
potential top speed of 420 miles per hour - for anyone who wants to test
it. It looks like a four wheel motorcycle (see links at end of digest).
How was business this Easter? How's it look for the coming months?
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
Dr. George Matyjewicz
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem@gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Internet E-Mail Stamp
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I would have thought with the extreme amount of traffic of viral and
affiliate generated email and the fact that a lot of recipients are now
getting fed up with the volume of unwanted traffic (especially when they
pay on high speed connections by traffic volume) that it was time to
introduce an email stamp taking the cost of email from the recipient to the
sender.
I would have thought this charge alone would fund the Internet and reduce
traffic to a manageable amount. Also it could replace sales tax so that the
Internet channel distributes the cost of doing business appropriately.
I guess this would not be viewed well by many on-line companies but
consumers are bearing the cost and deleting an unopened email is of no
value to the sender and it cost the recipient to download it.
Many reputable companies have moved to permission based lists but as an
example about a quarter of my mail this year has been affiliate mail trying
to sell either growth hormones, or the Norton Firewall email (I am not sure
if it actually is even a Norton affiliate as you have to pay US$29.99
before you get the programme)
Kind Regards
Michael Campbell
Director
Selling Innovation
http://www.sellinginnovation.co.nz
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Sometimes it's the simple things that work - like a "stamp." The issue is
who enforces it and how? Mass mailers have their own ISP, so how will fees
be collected? There is no central fee collecting organization. It could
be something the US Postal Service could do, and distribute the money to
the various countries postal services for distribution. But, we all know
what happens when governments get involved. Perhaps it could be collected
when you register your ISP.
The firewalls work, as do spam killers. However, they don't reduce
traffic, merely redirect it. And they need a lot of fine tuning to work well.
BTW, those Norton specials are not real per Symantec. They claim they are
rip offs of products, and you shouldn't fall victim to them. I received
many and sent my "Boulder Pledge" to abuse@symantec.com along with the
offers. They replied and asked me to send any that I got. In two days I
have 30+, and gave up.
List members, what do you think about a stamp? At first blush it sounds
like consumers would pay, but not necessarily so. How can it be controlled?
George
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[3] Lillian Vernon interview
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If anyone would like more information about how Lillian Vernon started the
company or tips from Lillian for business startups today, we have an
interview with her on our site.
http://www.businessknowhow.com/homeoffice/lillian_interview.htm
--Janet Attard
Author, The Home Office and Small Business Answer Book
Business Know-How® - small business, career and self-employment resources
http://www.businessknowhow.com/newsletter/current.htm
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Nice interview Janet. We can learn a lot from Lillian.
Thanks
George
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[4] International calling
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In the latest issue of E-Tailer's Digest, Patty Sachs talked about using
calling cards to make International calls and you commented "The downside
is you need to dial those 30 numbers to connect."
I am experimenting this year with calling cards to see if they help reduce
our overall long distance bills and possibly save me from the incredible
hassle of choosing a new long distance carrier.
I found a shorter and much faster solution to punching in the card numbers
each time. I have programmed two of the phone number programmable keys on
my phone - the first is the toll free number you are need to call and the
second is the PIN code assigned to you on the card. This process takes lot
of the aggravation out of using a calling card (at least for me it does).
Regards,
Ron Coble
Coble International - International Marketing Services
http://www.ImportExportHelp.com
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Great idea Ron. Many phones now have programmable keys. I know a number
of small companies that are using this method.
Our long distance carrier charges 3 cents a minute plus great international
rates. For the past year that we have used them, we haven't had any
problems.
George
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[5] Internet Sales Tax update
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The trend I've seen is that consumers look at shipping and handling charges
for on-line purchases. Ebay and Amazon both come to mind as businesses
where I've watched consumers check out shipping and handling charges as one
of the determining factors in making purchases on-line instead of
locally. As long as the shipping and handling charges roughly equaled the
amount of sales tax that would be spent if the consumer had to travel to a
physical retail store, then the purchase was acceptable. After all, you
get to save the time and gas of physically going to a store. However, with
many larger retailers bumping up the handling charge for on-line orders, if
sales tax is added to this total, then when the consumer begins adding up
the totals, it might not be so convenient to shop on-line
anymore. Remember that a large percentage of on-line shopping carts are
abandoned prior to the consumer completing the purchase. I believe this
often has to do with sticker shock over the shipping and handling charges,
which are usually not revealed until the last stages of checkout.
Since Internet sales are a growing market, many consumers are just now
beginning to trust the Internet to make purchases on-line. I believe that
the continued growth of Internet sales isn't going to be a true indicator
of whether or not a sales tax is hampering on-line retail. After all, a
continued increase in people venturing on-line should increase the volume
of sales, even in a tough market. Perhaps a better indicator is the
percentage of on-line shopping carts that are abandoned prior to completion
of the transaction. If this percentage increases, then obviously some
other factor-- such as sales tax being collected for on-line purchases-- is
the cause.
It will be interesting to see how collecting an Internet sales tax affects
the shipping/handling charges that are charged by the large e-tailers.
L. Martin
Decorate Now
Patterns and Supplies for the Custom Drapery Workroom
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Sounds like the mail order issues that have been bantered about for
years. Perhaps some of our mail order gurus can give us their perspective?
What do you think?
George
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[6] The Architecture War
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First it was the hardware wars (which IBM won); then the operating system
wars (which Microsoft won); then the database wars (which IBM had with
Lotus Notes, then lost). Now we have the architecture wars - Microsoft's
proprietary .NET on one side and the open system
Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) on the other side, supported by IBM and
others. What's a company to do? Do we follow the Microsoft proprietary
trail, or go the open system route?
Open system was the hot topic in the 1980's, when the mini computer
industry faded away, and the manufacturers were trying to regroup. So they
touted open systems, which said their proprietary systems are no longer
proprietary, or they wrote code to allow their proprietary systems to link
with other companies. I was involved in that melee and negotiated business
partnerships with NCR, HP and IBM, who were all former competitors of MAI
(where I was North American Marketing Manager). Unix was big, as it
allowed more flexibility with various manufacturers. Open systems was
wonderful for retailers. Now you could have a Fujitsu Point of Sale
system, with an NCR in-store processor, tied into an IBM back end system.
Microsoft ingenious ploys to have their operating systems installed on all
PCs virtually ended the wars. Of course, those mini manufacturers never
believed the PC would ever become as powerful as they are today.
Now we are in another war. Who will win? Will the .NET architecture be
the platform of the future or will open systems really have merit?
IBM lost the database war with Lotus Notes, which is now a stale system and
folks are jumping ship fast. Will they be able to regain market share or
will Microsoft take over once again? How will it help or hurt retailers?
What do you think?
George
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Links to follow
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GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Global Pay Systems LLC http://globalpaysystems.net
E-Tailer's Digest http://www.etailersdigest.com
ETD Archives: http://topica.com/lists/etailer/read
Prior to 29 Dec 1999 http://etailersdigest.com/archives/index.htm
Marketing Your Web http://www.gapent.com/myweb/
Automated Press Releases http://www.automatedpr.com
Dodge Tomahawk
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/motoring/firstimp/2003/01/13/story_1.html
New York International Auto Show
http://www.autoshowny.com/