ETD: 822 Customer Service - The Good & Bad; FTP How To;
Halloween Is Second Most Important Holiday in Decorations Market
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Sep 30 11:34:01 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0822 September 30, 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] Customer Service - The Good & Bad
[3] FTP How To
[4] Halloween Is Second Most Important Holiday in Decorations Market
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Today we have some more good and bad customer service from members. What
has been your experiences?
And we have an excellent report on FTP - when to use and how. I will
probably post this and the last one as special reports. Great stuff. Many
of us use FTP for download, but not many for upload.
Are you ready for the second most important holiday for
decorations? Halloween seems to be like Christmas for some retailers. We
all know that I love trivia, so how about some Halloween trivia? Where did
"Treat or Treat" start? Candy corn? The night before Halloween is called
what in some areas? (Hint: not "Hell Night" or "Devil's Night").
Are you getting ready for the holidays? Only 86 days until
Christmas. What are you doing this year to increase business?
Tell us about your business which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?"
site. 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] Customer Service - The Good & Bad
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Here's a good customer service story:
As all of you know, I am an avid bicyclist. Even to the point of riding
after dark.
So, you can imagine my chagrin a few weeks ago when I dropped the headlight
unit from my NiteRider on the floor. Cement slab floor with tile on it,
folks. Not good for lights with bulbs in them.
I retrieved poor headlight from the floor, plugged it into the power unit,
and guess what? No light.
So, I called my favorite local bicycle shop. They advised me to bring the
whole assembly to them, and they'd test it out for me. And probably try to
sell me a new lighting system, I thought. At almost $200 a pop, a new
lighting system isn't something you buy every day.
Since I only make it down to where this bike shop is on Saturdays, and
since the weekend was still a few days away, I decided to call NiteRider
out in San Diego. Perhaps they could tell me what the problem was over the
phone.
They told me to package the headlight and send it back to them.
I did so, and a few days later, they called and informed me that the
problem was that the bulb had burned out. They replaced it, free of charge.
Did I mention that this lighting system is almost a decade old?
It's back on my bike, burning bright, and all I can say is that NiteRider
has a customer for life. That is, if that lighting system ever wears out.
Martha Retallick, "The Passionate Postcarder"
FREE 3-Part Course on Postcard Marketing:
http://www.PostcardMarketingSecrets.com
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Good story At one time, many retailers had a policy of "the sale never
ends." Fortunoff, the NY-based retailer (and another great store) had such
a policy. I remember taking back a folding chair we had for 10 years, and
they replaced it. Recently they changed that policy, but I don't know what
it is.
George
+++ Next Post +++
A few years ago, I had 3 terrible customer service experiences...one right
after the other, and decided that I would write to the companies and tell
them of my experiences. I received form letters in reply, similar to the
one you received from Best Buy. (they actually were one of the companies I
visited that day) I thought to myself that consumers needed a place to
write to... other than the company itself, and see other customer comments
also.
I purchased the URL bitchingpost with the intention of using it to host a
forum where consumers could relate customer service experiences. ... now
all I need is time to implement it.... one of these days (years).....
Larry Verkeyn
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Sounds like a great idea. There are forums for complaints. I googled for
"forum for retail complaints" and came up with some interesting ones...
Consumer Affairs has one site, and even show it by retailer. I found Best
Buy here..
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/retail/best_buy.htm
Hasbro here...
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/misc/hasbro.html
DMOZ has a site...
http://dmoz.org/Home/Consumer_Information/Complaints/
Another is a random series of complaints...
http://internetwebdirectory.jobbankusa.com/Home/display-22-Complaints.htm
George
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[3] FTP How To
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Anonymous FTP can be a wonderful thing, a “simple”, somewhat secure (from
the end-user standpoint) method of downloading files of just about any
type. The drawback is to be found in the implementation details. One thing
to keep in mind when it comes to Internet access is that simple generally
does not equate to secure. Hopefully, some of the considerations outlined
below, along with the included references, will help not only with
implementing anonymous FTP, but with determining whether anonymous FTP is
right for your company’s needs in the first place.
When should I use anonymous FTP? If you can restrict external access to
download (GET only), you have made your life much easier from a security
standpoint. In this instance, one can assume that content (catalogs,
product specifications for example) is typically available in the public
domain, or would be if distribution costs were not prohibitive. Securing
the supporting infrastructure to accommodate read-only access is usually a
simpler prospect.
If you would like to expand the functionality to include PUT (write
access), now you need to concern yourself with the prospect of
denial-of-service attacks usually accomplished by uploading large, useless
files continuously until the FTP folder/directory is filled, or with the
even more daunting prospect of someone using your FTP site as a staging
ground for malicious code. Given these, and other potential risks, you
should really question the need for any individual to anonymously upload
files to your FTP site. If you do have a need for suppliers, vendors,
advertisers, etc to utilize FTP for uploads, I would suggest that a
separate, non¬anonymous FTP site might be the answer.
Where should I put anonymous FTP? There are a couple of approaches to
choosing a location for your FTP server. This has nothing to do with space
in a server rack or room, but rather where is this server in relationship
to a firewall (and if you have internet access, a firewall between you and
the internet is an absolute must-have, even for a home user). Locating an
FTP server outside your firewall is possible and avoids the firewall
interfering with functionality. However, be aware that this type of set-up
means the FTP server should be dedicated to this single purpose, and that
in all likelihood will be a target and therefore ultimately comprised. So,
the better choice is locating the FTP server behind your firewall, most
preferably on a sub-net (demilitarized zone or DMZ) separate from your
internal network. This type of configuration requires your firewall/network
infrastructure to accommodate such a set-up. In this configuration, some
experience with firewalls and an understanding of FTP port requirements
will be a necessity. Be aware also, that in the absence of a DMZ, you have
created a “direct” access point from the Internet to your internal network.
What should I do next? If you have decided that the benefits outweigh the
security risks and you want to implement, there a couple of things to keep
in mind: (1) Your server should be located behind a firewall, which means
someone with expertise in that area should either guide or assist with the
implementation. (2) To re-iterate, if it’s simple, it’s probably not
secure, so someone with expertise in the relevant operating system should
be available to either guide or assist with the implementation.
Rather than re-invent the wheel with my own step-by-step guide, there are
any number of excellent sources available on in the Internet and I have
included links to these below.
For any and all flavors of UNIX, by far the best step-by-step guide that I
have found was authored by Christopher Klaus (with additional
contributions) and can be found on any number of websites including the
following:
http://www.secinf.net/unix_security/How_to_Set_up_a_Secure_Anonymous_FTP_Site.html
An additional source, which is LINUX specific, was authored by Peter
Harrison and can be found at:
http://www.siliconvalleyccie.com/linux-hn/ftp-server.htm. I like this
reference as it gives a very concise, simple overview of FTP, as well as
Firewall considerations for FTP.
For Windows 2003 Server, the following links provide the basics for
implementing anonymous FTP, http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=323384, and
for implementing the access as read-only,
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];314932.
One additional consideration is that Windows 2003 Server runs a new version
of IIS (IIS 6.0), which by default constrains many rights and permissions
that were available by default under IIS 5.0. I would suggest that the
following is pre-requisite reading:
Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit: Deploying Internet Information Services
(IIS) 6.0 and is available for download at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&familyid=f31a5fd5-03db-46d2-9f34¬596edd039eb9
For Windows 2000 Server, the following link again has the basics:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;300662.
You may also want to peruse Microsoft’s KB article on Virtual Folder
creation: http://support.microsoft.com/view/tn.asp?kb=301392.
For Windows XP Professional, Ronald Pacchiano has two articles at Small
Business Computing:
http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/3077081
http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/webmaster/article.php/3080901
Words of caution regarding the guides for installation on Microsoft
platforms: these guides describe the basic steps for installing/activating
FTP services. I would suggest that you get familiar with, and utilize, best
practices for running secure web sites on IIS.
Finally, a short but informative guide to how FTP works can be found at:
http://www.slacksite.com/other/ftp.html
If you have additional questions or would like to discuss implementation
details for Anonymous FTP further, please feel free to contact me by email
at guy.walker at envisa.com.
Guy Walker
Technology Solutions Manager
Envisa
www.envisa.com
281 Pleasant Street
Framingham, MA
508.405.1220 x118
508.954.8047 (mobile)
Confidential and Proprietary to Envisa 41530F02-38F6-101E73.doc
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[4] Halloween Is Second Most Important Holiday in Decorations Market
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While Halloween claims primeval roots, the way Americans observe Halloween
is unlike any other in the pantheon of holidays. Without formal sanction
from the government or religious groups, Halloween has become the second
most popular decorating holiday. Although it used to be primarily a
children’s holiday, today adults make merry on Halloween along with their
kids.
This year the majority of American households will decorate their homes for
Halloween, according to a new research study of the decorating market from
Unity Marketing. They will spend more than $1 billion this year on
Halloween decorations, up from last year’s spending. And they will
decorate both the inside and outside of their home.
Along with natural decorations like pumpkins and cornstalks for the front
porch, more decorators are hanging Halloween lights, Christmas-fashion,
around the eaves of their home and mounting lighted, even moving, wire
sculptures in the yard.
Inside their decorating focus is tabletop centerpieces and decorative bowls
for candy, candles and Halloween-themed candle accessories and paper and
party decorations.
Getting Booed! New trick-or-treat tradition involving the whole family
A new Halloween tradition is spreading rapidly grass-roots fashion
throughout the culture. Called “Getting Booed,” it involves a family
making a Halloween gift basket and leaving it anonymously on a neighbor’s
door step with a sign “You Got Booed.” The receiving family’s job, then,
is to make up another gift basket and play the trick on another family in
the neighborhood who doesn't have a ‘got booed’ sign on their door.
The way we celebrate holidays, in particular a grass-roots holiday like
Halloween, reflects the trends of the time. Today consumers are emerging
like butterflies out of their protective ‘cocoons,’ and looking to
reconnect with the outside world. Connecting has become our dominant trend
and along with it comes a desire to make new connections with our
neighbors. Halloween celebrations, like trick-or-treating and getting
booed, are a way for us to connect.
Spooky Halloween decorations will have the edge this year
While many decorators choose harvest-home or ‘fun-and-funky’ themes to
decorate for Halloween, this year the dark and spooky side of Halloween
will be the preferred decorations theme, the research reveals.
Unity Marketing’s new study of the decorations market, Seasonal Decorations
Market Report, 2004: The Who, What, Where, How Much, and Why of Holiday
Home Decorating, is based on focus group research with ‘passionate’ holiday
decorators and a survey of 1,000 consumers who bought holiday decorations
in the past year. An investment for marketers and retailers of decorations
in growing their business, it reveals decorating practices and purchase
behavior of decorations consumers. It provides details about which
holidays they decorate their homes and what kind of ! decorations they use,
how much they spend and where they buy decorations.
Retail sales and growth statistics are presented for 12 different types of
indoor decorations, such as paper and party decorations, tabletop
decorations, candles as decorations, Christmas ornaments and tree
decorations, etc.; and 6 different outdoor decorations, including outdoor
lights, flags and banners, and flowers, plants and wreaths for outdoor
display. Also included are retail sales and growth for 11 different
holiday and party celebrations. Attitudes about why people decorate their
homes are also included as well as profiles of five different personalities
of decorators and their preferences.
Finally brand awareness and usage is provided for 22 leading decorations
brands including profiles of the market share leaders, including Hallmark,
American Greetings/Carlton Cards and Martha Stewart Everyday. For more
information about the study, use this link
http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/christmas/
Pam Danziger
Unity Marketing
www.unitymarketingonline.com
717-336-1600
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