ETD: 781 New members need help; Twilight of Barcodes and the
Dawn of RFID; VC Quarterly Outlook: Optimism Strikes Back
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Apr 29 12:22:17 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0781 April 29, 2004
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] New members need help
[3] Twilight of Barcodes and the Dawn of RFID
[4] VC Quarterly Outlook: Optimism Strikes Back
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Sorry about the delay with ETD on Tuesday. My wireless connection at the
airports wasn't working too well.
In today's E-Tailer's Digest we have some requests for help from new
members. So, let's put on those guru hats and pitch in with some help. We
all need help, and it's always nice to help people. Help will come back to
you another day.
We have more on the RFID topic. IMHO, this is going to be the hot topic
for the coming years. What do you think?
I was happy to see the Venture Capital (VC) market is opening again to
startups. Maybe we'll have a smarter dotcom bubble where we can all make
money for real this time.
Tell us about your business which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?" site. We just updated all those postings that
we were delinquent with the
updates. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have
a form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first proposed
this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't
know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] New members need help
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As we all know, new members often tell us what they would like to see in
E-Tailer's Digest. And every so often, I publish their requests. Today we
have some interesting queries. Let's see how we can help.
----
Data about buying online trends.
- Average sale online
- Average numbers of customers for online sites (in various categories or
sizes)
- Average dollar/currency transaction
Lisa Spellman
President
Rapid Creek Group
Coralville, IA
+++ [Next] +++
Information about men's private label manufacturers
jerome g. patterson
CEO
sebastienne keller coulture
Philadelphia, PA USA
+++ [Next] +++
Information on ASP and feedback on setting up the back end of an e-tailer
Ray Chen
+++ [Next] +++
Most popular articles about retailing
Ronald Apaza
CEO
Pet Spoil
Wheaton, IL USA
+++ [Next] +++
Order and Inventory Management issues including tying together with
business accounting systems. 3rd party fulfillment centers. How just in
time inventory management or "amazon.com" type management works.
Kim
+++ [Next] +++
Information on cost effective ways to handle continuing growth.
Vicki Hughes
Owner
The Well Feathered Nest
Fayetteville, GA USA
+++ [Next] +++
How to keep customers' relationship and communicate with customers and
suppliers in e-tailer business?
Yuling
Portmouth, UK
+++ [Next] +++
Information on standard conversion rates for various areas of corporate web
sites. Tips/suggestions for increasing conversion rates.
Jeff Gluck
Allstream
Toronto, ON CA
+++ [Next] +++
Trend, best-practices and how-to stories, case histories
David Richards
Chief Marketing Officer
Lobel's of New York
Rochester, NY USA
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[3] Twilight of Barcodes and the Dawn of RFID
==================================================================
Our moderator wrote...
> We have more on RFID. This time they are stating the demise of
> barcodes. And to think, that is relatively "new" for a lot of
> companies. What do you think?
I think the demise of Bar Codes is greatly overstated.
"To track individual items", "Radio Frequency Identification"
If you are using an identification on a part, as in an inventory system,
then RFID may, under some circumstances, make sense. Indeed, the
elimination of operator intention ("Excuse me... I'm part
#246-3995-A. Hellooo...") and targeting skill are major considerations
when desiring to have things identified or located.
But not all things are in inventory. Code 39, for example, is an
alphanumeric code for storing information on an object. Ever look at some
of those FedEx and UPS shipping labels? There's a LOT of data on those bar
coded labels! (And it isn't Code 39) Why? So not everything has to be
on-line all the time.
And I'm certainly not going to stick a $0.05 RFID tag on an envelope I'm
sending out, just so I know which database record I need to update when it
comes back. For that, I use bar codes.
There will be many applications for which bar codes are used to store data
on the item for when that data isn't readily available elsewhere, or when
the reader is not on-line, as in a UPS or other delivery truck.
Also, having consulted to warehouse companies, I am not sure if RFID would
work in a warehouse where a fork lift driver may shoot the bar codes on a
few boxes from a distance to see which one is the one he has to pick up.
And with the growing evidence that radio frequency exposure may not be
healthy... we may end up backing off a bit on RFID and cell phones
soon. (Which does not leave many bar code readers entirely off the hook
-- they use wireless LAN technology to talk with the computer.)
(Scientists found that exposure to radio waves apparently changes something
related to charge potential on living cells, making them clump together at
RF levels way below those at which heating effects are noted.
http://www.NewScientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994855 )
And let's not forget mag stripe technology, found on our driver's licenses
and credit cards, as well as on some transit tickets, like BART and
Washington DC. (Last I remember... It's been a long time since I was in
Washington.) The ability to replenish value is certainly a plus in transit
tickets. As is the stand-alone nature of the readers and vending
machines. We recently had a food store chain lose the ability to handle
credit and debit cards for several hours. Imagine that happening in a
transit system!
Each of these technologies has strengths and weaknesses which favor one
technology over the others in different applications. I think there is good
reason to expect these technologies will coexist for a long, long time.
This means you should weigh the advantages and disadvantages of
each system before deciding what works best for YOUR applications.
-javilk-
Today's Photo: http://www.mall-net.com/today/
------------------- IMAGINEERING --------------------
--------------- Every click, a vote. ----------------
----- Do people vote for, or against your pages? ----
-- What people want: http://www.SitePsych.com/free --
-----------------------------------------------------
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
As with anything, there are uses for various technologies. IMHO, Mag
Stripe is a very outdated technology, especially in the Internet
world. Mag stripe and credit cards were designed for a face-to-face
purchase. It is evident they don't work that well when card companies ask
for the four digit verification code found on credit cards. It is time to
use a newer and better technology - one that works on- and off-line and one
that can store data.
According to an article in Frontline Today, the billions of dollars
manufacturers may spend on radio frequency identification (RFID) technology
over the next several years will provide little help to the shrinking
warehouse management system (WMS)
market.
http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=92671
In another article, Provia Software announces that the company's ViaWare
warehouse management system (WMS) is the supply chain execution system
being currently utilized at Sun Microsystems' new RFID Test Center in
Dallas, Texas
http://www.imakenews.com/edgellris/e_article000253002.cfm?x=a2NG8lc,a1CY7bKF
Let's hope a newer and better technological advance comes soon. IMHO, RFID
is a great space to be in for the next couple of years.
George
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[4] VC Quarterly Outlook: Optimism Strikes Back
==================================================================
It looks like Venture Capital (VC) firms are coming back into the startup
investment business. Maybe we'll see a smarter dotcom bubble...
In a special report in E-Commerce Times it was reported that venture
capitalists seemed eager to back startups and fledgling companies in the
first quarter, a trend observers say is poised to continue for the next
three months. In fact, investors even seemed eager to back emerging
companies in the technology and Internet sectors in the first quarter. They
funded scores of software companies and pumped cash into two startups whose
sole business is to help people sell goods on eBay.
"Our M.O. has always been that this is a long-term business and you've got
to avoid short-term sensitivities," John Balen, a partner at Menlo Park,
California-based VC firm Canaan Partners, told the E-Commerce Times. "We
don't want to go back to where companies were being taken out too early and
burning too hot too fast."
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/33401.html
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/33292.html
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Links to follow
==================================================================
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