ETD: 706 Darkest Before Dawn; Members need help - resources;
Sales tax rates; 2003 Consumer Goods Information Technology Awards;
Leave it to the French
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Thu, 24 Jul 2003 08:19:54 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0706 July 24, 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] Darkest Before Dawn
[3] Members need help - resources
[4] Sales tax rates
[5] 2003 Consumer Goods Information Technology Awards
[6] Leave it to the French
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
I just returned from a funeral in Houston. The eulogy was given by
somebody whom I've known for 4 decades to someone (her father) whom I've
known all my life. And I learned things. So I got to thinking. Why wait
until somebody dies or leaves to give an eulogy? Why don't we tell that
person how nice they are or how well they are doing why their still with
you? Tell your child, your sibling, your parents, your co-workers, your
employer, your employees. Yes, it takes time to write an eulogy. So, sit
and write it now for that living person.
Today we have some answers to the request for help from list members, and
some additional request for help from others. Take a look.
Leave it to the French. They don't like "e-mail", so when communicating
with a French person, send them a 'courriel'. I had a lengthy conversation
with a French lady last weekend, and that subject came up. Simple answer -
they want to keep French pure. Hope this doesn't cause a further backlash
like the "Freedom" vs "French" thing in the US recently. What do you think?
List member Janet Attard and author has an interesting piece today, plus a
survey on the outlook of small business. Take the survey, as it will help
us all know what's happening.
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] Darkest Before Dawn
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Here's something that may be of interest to your members.
We posted a report on the economy on our site this week by Dr. Irwin
Kellnerm who is the Weller Professor of Economics at Hofstra University and
Chief Economist at North Fork Bank and CBS MarketWatch. The report is
called Darkest Before Dawn and the direct link to it is:
http://www.businessknowhow.com/money/econrep.htm
We also have a new small business outlook survey running to see where small
businesses think the economy (and their own business) is headed in the near
future.
If your readers would like to take that survey, the link is
http://www.businessknowhow.com/smallbizfeature/outlook2003summersurvey.htm
The survey results are in graph format and update each time someone new
takes the survey. They are visible at the end of the survey.
--Janet Attard
Author, The Home Office and Small Business Answer Book
Run, market, and grow your business with help from Business Know-How
http://www.businessknowhow.com
Subscribe to our free newsletter at
http://www.businessknowhow.com/newsletter/subscribe.htm
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[3] Members need help - resources
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Does anyone know of a resource for locating information on submitting
products to holiday gift guides for online and offline publications? I am
seeking contact info not general guideline info. It seems like about time
for the Christmas guides to be seeking product submissions.
Thanks,
Cher TenHoeve
www.RiffRoadie.com
+++ [Next Post] +++
Concerning Women's wear: Subscribe to Women's Wear Daily a trade magazine
for the apparel industry. There are also numerous trade shows for apparel.
Modern Jeweler is a trade magazine for buying jewelry.
We have produced a Professional Buyers Guide for any retailer. You can read
about it here:
http://www.nmoa.org/catalog/dropship.htm
--
Best regards,
John Schulte
President and Chairman
National Mail Order Association
Email: schulte@nmoa.org
Tel: 612-788-1673
www.nmoa.org
Direct Marketing Discussions at: www.DMchat.com
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Re: Holiday Gift Guides, you may be too late. Publications usually have
the guides lined up a couple of months in advance, and the holiday guides
will start hitting the streets in September.
Resources for buying: Most retail resources are found at trade (buying)
shows. In the apparel industry, they have five "market weeks" a year -
each season and Holiday. And they have them in the major markets
globally. Milan is the premiere show place. In the US, New York is still
the fashion capital.
Market weeks are staggered for the various subsections of the industry,
i.e., ladies, lingerie, accessories, etc. And the schedules are known the
beginning of each year, and posted by various organizations. For example,
an excellent resource for lingerie is McPete Sez who publishes the show
schedules at http://www.mcpetesez.com/shows2003.htm
Giftware also has shows with the two permiere global shows being in Germany
and Hong Kong. In the US they are held in the five major markets - Atlanta
(largest), Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and New York. Gift & Dec Magazine
is the premier resource for anything related to giftware. We often see
posts from Quinn Halford, Editor In Chief and Matthew Kalash,
Editor http://www.giftsanddec.com
To find the shows of interest to your needs, search the Trade Show Network
News at http://tsnn.com/. You can search by industry, geography, venue,
supplier or date.
A tip: find the most cost-effective show for you. For example, while the
Atlanta giftware show may be the premier show, if you can't do that one and
can only do a secondary or tertiary show, go anyway. You need to see
what's out there. You need proof that you are a retailer, which is usually
as simple as a business card, or perhaps a government-issues license or a
check or anything else that shows you are in the business. You should
register in advance, but you can register at the shows.
George
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[4] Sales tax rates
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Karen Hogan wrote...
> Did I miss catching the reference to where to go online to get
> an electronic listing of all the tax rates according to their FIPS
> codes? What does this cost, how often is it updated?
You misunderstood the import of the discussion. You will only have to worry
about collecting sales tax if you live in or have a "nexus" (physical
presence) in one of the 10 states that have joined the SSUTA.
If this does not apply to you, then you will never have to collect sales
taxes for those states.
As per expert David Hardesty:
"Affect on Online Sellers
Under the Agreement, as under current law, online
sellers that do not have physical presence in a state
cannot be compelled to collect tax. However, Agreement
supporters are hoping these sellers will come forward
voluntarily to collect the tax. Certain incentives are
contained in the Agreement to encourage them to do so.
Also, supporters are hoping that a simplified sales
tax system will help the states in their efforts to
win Congressional or Supreme Court approval of the
power to compel remote sellers to collect tax."
Karen, no state can apply a sales tax to an out-of-state business with no
presence in the state, as per U.S. Supreme Court decision. It would take a
law passed by the U.S. Congress to overturn the Supreme Court Decision. It
is irrelevant how many states pass conforming legislation. That is merely a
requirement before the Congress can pass a law overturning the Supreme
Court Decision.
The U.S. Congress has the final say on this matter. Until it acts, the
SSUTA is in legal limbo.
CMA
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[5] 2003 Consumer Goods Information Technology Awards
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Consumer Goods Technology is currently taking nominations for the 2003 CGIT
awards to be presented at the Consumer Goods Information Technology 2003
conference in October. Deadline for nominations is August 1. The awards
will be presented to CG firms, and one retailer or supplier, that have
risen above the pack to become industry leaders through the use of IT. The
following six awards will be presented: SMB Fast Track Award, Power Users
Award, Collaborative Trading Partner Award, Customer Management Execution
Award, Product Innovation Award and Supply Chain Performance Award. For
more details about award criteria and to download an entry form, visit
www.consumergoods.com and click on the "Consumer Goods Technology Awards"
icon in the left-hand navigation bar.
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[6] Leave it to the French
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PARIS -- Goodbye "e-mail," the French government says, and hello "courriel"
— the term that linguistically sensitive France is now using to refer to
electronic mail in official documents.
The Culture Ministry has announced a ban on the use of "e-mail" in all
government ministries, documents, publications or websites, the latest step
to stem an incursion of English words into the French lexicon.
The ministry's General Commission on Terminology and Neology insists
Internet surfers in France are broadly using the term "courrier
electronique" (electronic mail) instead of e-mail — a claim some industry
experts dispute. "Courriel" is a fusion of the two words.
"Evocative, with a very French sound, the word 'courriel' is broadly used
in the press and competes advantageously with the borrowed 'mail' in
English," the commission said.
The move to ban "e-mail" was announced last week after the decision was
published in the official government register on June 20. Courriel is a
term that has often been used in French-speaking Quebec, the commission said.
The 7-year-old commission has links to the Academie Francaise, the
prestigious institution that has been one of the top opponents of allowing
English terms to seep into French.
"The word 'courriel' is not at all actively used," Marie-Christine Levet,
president of French Internet service provider Club Internet, said Friday.
"E-mail has sunk in to our values."
She said Club Internet wasn't changing the words it uses.
"Protecting the language is normal, but e-mail's so assimilated now that no
one thinks of it as American," she said. "Courriel would just be a new word
to launch."
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,59674,00.html
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