ETD: 869 Changing business landscape; About that new bankruptcy bill; Calling All Independent Specialty Retailers

[E-Tailer's Digest]

  E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the  Retailer
  Issue #0869            March 17, 2005
  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]  Changing business landscape
  [3]  About that new bankruptcy bill
  [4]  Calling All Independent Specialty Retailers

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  [1]  Greetings.
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Hi All:

Happy St Patrick's Day to our Irish members and those who are Irish on this 
day.  NYC paints the green line down 5th Avenue; Chicago dies the canal in 
the downtown area.  Here's a bit of trivia:  the largest St Patrick's Day 
parade in the U.S., is in NYC.   Where is the second 
largest?  Chicago?  Boston?  You'll be surprised at the answer.

Recent corporate sales (AT&T & IBM) have changed the business 
landscape.  Is this bad?  What do you think?

List member Martha Retallick writes about the new bankruptcy law and the 
reasons.  I agree with her assessment, and believe we should all do 
something about it.

Gifts & Dec Magazine is calling for independent speciality retailers to 
complete a survey which will be published in June.  Take some time and 
complete the form.  G&DA does a great job with retail surveys.

Tell us about your business which will remain  for posterity at 
our  "Members: Who Are You?" site.   This is a courtesy to our members who 
contribute to our forum, and not merely a way to advertise for 
free.  Anything to do with the retail world, i.e., supplier, retailer, 
consulting, etc.  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]  Changing business landscape
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Is it simply history that has changed the business landscape?  AT&T, THE 
telephone company for many decades, is bought by one of it's siblings 
(SBC).  IBM sells to Lenovo of China who can use the IBM name for five 
years. Stalwarts of the business world fading into the sunset.

Is this bad?  Some will believe that the older companies have outlived 
their usefulness; others will say change is inevitable.  This is a 
fast-moving and changing world.  Let's look at history.  From April 3, 
1860, to late October 1861 183 men are known to have ridden for the Pony 
Express during its operation of just over 18 months.  Their task - relay of 
mail by horses and riders. The Pony Express ran day and night, summer and 
winter.

During that period Western Union was the way of communications throughout 
the U.S.  In 1988 W.U. tethered on bankruptcy.  Corporate takeover artist 
Ben LeBow (Philip Morris; MAI Basic Four; etc) restructured W.U. and ended 
up selling assets and keeping the name because of it's intrinsic 
value.  Today W.U. is known as the global money transfer company.

So, will these stalwarts of the business world simply go away, or will they 
be remembered as part of new global operations?  Is it a good thing, or 
bad?  What do you think?

George

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  [3]  About that new bankruptcy bill
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Opponents of the first American bankruptcy bill in 27 years say that credit 
card companies' aggressive marketing tactics are leading consumers into 
excessive debt, then bankruptcy.

To this I say, hogwash!

Like most Americans, I have received a deluge of credit card offers. And I 
don't want them.

So, here's what I do: I take the application form, scribble all over it, 
then write "Remove me from your list!" at the top. Then I put the form into 
the postage-paid envelope and send it right back to the credit card company.

This little act of "aggressive un-marketing" is fast, easy, and fun. And it 
hasn't affected my credit rating in the slightest.

If a few hundred thousand Americans started doing this, I think the credit 
card companies would find another way to promote their offerings.

Martha Retallick, "The Passionate Postcarder"
http://www.PostcardMarketingSecrets.com


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  [4]  Calling All Independent Specialty Retailers
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Gifts & Decorative Accessories asks specialty retailers to take part in our 
sixth annual Retailer Comparison Survey. The results of this extensive 
survey will be published in the June issue of the magazine. All responses 
are aggregated, and no individual respondent will be identified. If you 
haven't answered the printed survey sent by mail, please help us gauge the 
pulse of the industry by completing the online version at the link below. 
Thank you for your time.

www.giftsanddec.com/retailsvy05

Quinn Halford, Editor In Chief
Matthew Kalash, Managing Editor
Gifts & Dec Direct
www.giftanddec.com


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