ETD: 825 Customer profiling; Florida Spammer To Pay $25,000
Settlement to Massachusetts; 'Do-not-call' list wins in high court
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Oct 12 10:40:16 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0825 October 12, 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 profiling
[3] Florida Spammer To Pay $25,000 Settlement to Massachusetts
[4] 'Do-not-call' list wins in high court
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
This week I was in contact with Steve and Robin Silverman, the gurus who
used technology to build their retail stores in North Dakota. The stores
are still doing well, so well in fact, that both Steve and Robin are
pursuing other interests that were once hobbies. The "cookie cutter"
approach worked so well the store virtually run themselves. Customer
profiling is what makes it work.
Great news! A Florida spammer fined $25,000 in Massachusetts is paying! I
still think drawn and quartered is a better solution.
Along the same lines, the "do not call" list is official and does not
violate telemarketers rights to free speech. That means 62 million of us
won't be bothered with annoying calls. Now if that would only work with
spammers.
An update on the Verizon Wireless for us Global Road Warriors. That new
Tri-Band mobile phone (Samsung SCH-a790) is wonderful. The sound is clear
and the phone itself is feature rich. I haven't tried it overseas yet, but
I will let you know when I do.
74 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 profiling
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The concepts of retailing in 1930's and 40's had to be easier, when there
was a limited selection of product and when retailers knew all of their
customers. It was a time when it was easier to have the right product for
the right price in the right quantity at the right time. At market,
retailers had a list of customers, either on paper or in their minds, and
they bought particular merchandise for those customers.
Today, using technology, you can use techniques to focus on the most minute
levels of customer needs, to achieve the same results. Let's not worry
about where a customer lives, or what is his or her income is. It's better
to know what lifestyles are important to them. What are their likes and
dislikes? Their favorite colors? Their sizes? What are their occupations,
interests and social activities? And what are those important dates
(birthdays, anniversaries or the day they started a new job, etc)? With
this critical information, you can buy more effectively, which means you
sell more and have a higher inventory turn. And, with great service like
this, you can command higher selling prices.
Silverman's in Grand Forks, N.D. uses a customer profiling software package
that helps the owners manage its database of 38,000 customers. After the
introduction of customer profiling, Silverman's doubled its average sale
per ticket (now triple national average), doubled the sales per employee
and increased advertising effectiveness through direct mail.
You can also obtain these improved results using simple software solutions
such as Access, MS Works database managers, Lotus 1-2-3 or Excel
spreadsheets and Word Perfect or Microsoft Word word-processing packages.
The trick is to gather a lot of information about your customers so that
you can use it to match up with your products and your sales notices.
For example, when you are having a sale, go to your database and select
those customers who would be interested in the merchandise you have on
sale, and send an advance notice. Use a word processor to extract the
information from your database and tailor the invitation to the customer's
needs. A proper customer profile will save both time and money by
pinpointing only those customers likely to respond to your sale.
Good retailing.
George
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[3] Florida Spammer To Pay $25,000 Settlement to Massachusetts
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In an article in E-Commerce Times Massachusetts state officials say
CAN-SPAM rules were violated by William C. Carson of Weston, Fla., whose
business, DC Enterprises, sent thousands of e-mail messages advertising
low-interest mortgages. The state sued DC Enterprises under the CAN-SPAM
Act and the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly declared a victory in the war on
unwanted e-mail yesterday, as a Florida spammer agreed to pay US$25,000 to
settle a state lawsuit charging violations of a new federal antispam law.
"Internet marketers should note that Massachusetts takes seriously federal
and state laws meant to protect against unwanted and misleading e-mails,"
Reilly said. But while Internet experts praised the settlement, they noted
that massive quantities of spam continue to plague e-mail users.
The suit, filed in June, was the first filed by any state under the federal
CAN-SPAM Act, which took effect in January. The law did not ban
unsolicited e-mail messages altogether, but established regulations about
the content of such messages. For example, the messages must identify
themselves as advertisements; they must not use phony return addresses to
conceal their origin; and they must give the recipient an easy way to
request removal from the mailing list.
State officials say all three of these rules were violated by William C.
Carson of Weston, Fla., whose business, DC Enterprises, sent thousands of
e-mail messages advertising low-interest mortgages. The e-mails appeared to
come from an address in Newton, even though the company had no offices
there. In February, the attorney general's office, as well as the FBI and
the Federal Trade Commission , received complaints from recipients of the
unwanted e-mails. The state sued DC Enterprises under the CAN-SPAM Act and
the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act.
Under the settlement, DC Enterprises has agreed to halt its violations of
the anti-spam law, and also to comply with state regulations that require
mortgage brokers to display their license numbers in all advertisements.
Efforts by the Globe to contact DC Enterprises were unsuccessful.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/37190.html
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[4] 'Do-not-call' list wins in high court
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The U.S. Supreme Court Monday let stand a lower-court ruling that
telemarketers' rights to free speech are not violated by the government's
nationwide do-not-call list.
Without comment, the justices rejected an appeal by commercial
telemarketers against the lower-court ruling, which upheld as
constitutional the popular program in which consumers can put their names
on a list if they do not want to be called by telemarketers.
"We hold that the do-not-call registry is a valid commercial speech
regulation because it directly advances the government's important
interests in safeguarding personal privacy and reducing the danger of
telemarketing abuse without burdening an excessive amount of speech," the
appeals court said.
The Denver-based appeals court overturned a decision by a federal judge who
ruled the list unfairly discriminated against commercial speech.
The do-not-call list stemmed from regulations adopted by the Federal Trade
Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. The program went into
effect a year ago and subjects telemarketers to fines of up to $11,000 for
calling a number on the list.
The American Teleservices Association, Mainstream Marketing Services Inc.
and TMG Marketing Inc. asked the Supreme Court to hear the case.
The telemarketers argued that the list violated their commercial
free-speech rights, that it unfairly did not apply to political and
charitable solicitations, and that less restrictive regulations already
allow consumers to block unwanted calls.
"This case is a cautionary example of what happens when federal agencies
allow perceived political imperatives to override constitutional concerns,"
Robert Corn-Revere, an attorney representing the telemarketers, said in the
appeal.
The Justice Department replied that the appeals court decision was correct
and that the appeal should be rejected.
Acting Solicitor General Paul Clement said telemarketing has become a
multibillion-dollar business over the past two decades. "It has also become
a growing intrusion into everyday life," he told the justices.
About 62 million phone numbers had been entered on the do-not-call list as
of June, he said.
Clement said the regulations do not establish a government-imposed ban on
speech that some people might want to hear. "The regulations establish a
framework to enforce consumers' own choices about commercial speech and
telephone privacy in their homes," he said.
Find this article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/10/04/news/economy/scotus_telemarketing.reut/?cnn=yes
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