ETD: 963 Just-In-Time Payment System; What's e-mail?; Retail
Is Undergoing Dramatic Consolidation
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Mar 16 11:52:47 GMT 2006
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0963 March 16, 2006
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] Just-In-Time Payment System
[3] What's e-mail?
[4] Retail Is Undergoing Dramatic Consolidation
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
I hope everybody enjoyed Tuesday's special
report entitled: "Businesses Adopt Online
Payments to Improve Cash Flow and Save Time and
Money." We thank Jules Kaplan for the informative information.
Today we have a reply to my question about
"Just-In-Time Payment System." As you will see,
it's not what you think. Too bad it will never be implemented.
What's e-mail? That's a question posed by a
reader of Gifts & Dec Magazine, and one that,
surprisingly enough, is posed by many business
owners. Have you found anybody without e-mail or internet access?
Pam Danziger has an excellent report on the
dramatic consolidation of retailers, and what it means to smaller stores.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, LLC
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Just-In-Time Payment System
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In reference to your comment:
> If Jules would take this one step further, and provide a Just-In-Time
> Payment System, he would have executed my doctoral dissertation.
Guess what, this is already implemented under our
system and it is called Scheduler.
Have two kinds of Scheduled Payments - Fixed
Payment which is defined as the same payment
dollar amount at the same time. It can be
schedule on weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi
annual or annual basis and the payment can be either E-check or Credit Card.
Have a 2nd Scheduled Payment - and it is a
Variable Payment. It is based on the due date of
the invoice and it is based on the total invoices
posted by the payee for the payer. Now this one
can run when ever any invoice is posted, like for
COD's plus weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi annual or annual basis.
So George we have your doctoral dissertation
executed and it is ready and working today.
Yours truly,
Jules Kaplan
Chairman / Founder
Inovium Corporation
702-254-6385 / FAX 702-926-9629
http://www.inovium.com
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
To quote that great American philosopher, Groucho
Marx "Close, but no cigar." Actually, not even close.
My doctoral dissertation involved paying at the
POS, which is then automatically distributed back
to the wholesaler, to the importer,, to the
manufacturer. It involved getting everybody on
board, but could save 92% interest on the first
amount, i.e., the item cost $100 to make, then
sold to the importer for $200 to the wholesaler
for $400 to the retailer for $800 to the consumer
for $1,600. Interest on that all the way up and
down the line would be $92, or 92% of the manufactured cost.
The concept was a direct result of that
engagement I had where I head up the digital gold
company. We were able to credit accounts up and
down the line with instant access gold
payments. The concept worked for some small
groups. The ones who have the biggest issue are
the manufacturers who don't get paid until the goods are sold.
Major retailers would have to force this on the
manufacturer, and it would only hurt the
manufactured the first time. After that they
would have a steady cash flow. And if everybody
was smart they could take advantage of the
interest savings and the processing savings and make it up in the prices.
As anybody who ever did a dissertation can tell
you, it has to be 40,000 words, with supporting
resources as to why the concept would work. My
advisor said it was a brilliant concept. Too bad it couldn't be implemented.
Of course, if anybody has some ideas on how we
can implement it, let's talk. ;-)
George
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[3] What's e-mail?
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Maria Weiskott, Editor In Chief and Matthew
Kalash, Managing Editor report in Gifts & Dec
Direct's "Your 2-cents Worth" that one of their
readers responded “what’s an e-mail?” in last
week’s poll asking what time of day e-mails are
read. (poll at http://www.giftsanddec.com/).
Surprisingly enough, there are still a lot of
business owners who don't use e-mail or don't
have access to the internet. Many of them have
old legacy IT systems in their office, which are
not conducive to internet access. Some of these
systems are 20+ years old, and do the job, so why
change, is their attitude. If they do have access
to e-mail, everything sent will be in caps
(that's what many of these legacy systems used).
If they would only stop and analyze their
business and this IT system they would understand
that the system is COSTING them money, rather
than saving money. We have a client who, in the
past 20 years, has called us in every 5 years to
analyze their entire business, including their IT
system. We recommend changes where necessary,
and we correct outdated procedures to streamline
their operation. It has enabled them to grow to
the fourth (last) stage of business growth that companies experience.
At another client, they were spending $25 each to
have some work done with images for a website,
only because of internal procedures (they update
thousands of images a year). With a simple
change in procedures, we were able to get that reduced to $9.25 per image.
So, yes, there are MANY companies without e-mail,
and without current systems. Contrary to popular
belief, the computer era did not begin with PCs. ;-)
Do you know of companies without e-mail or with
old systems? How about sharing the experience.
George
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[4] Retail Is Undergoing Dramatic Consolidation
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In the past year the mergers of retailing
giants — Sears and Kmart and Federated and May
department stores — have generated lots of media
attention, but these mergers are undertaken for
the good of the companies themselves and not for
their shoppers. Just ask anyone in Chicago how
they feel about their beloved Marshall Field’s becoming just another Macy’s.
Shoppers today feel nostalgia for the old days
when shopping was special. You went downtown to
shop in wonderful stores where the sales people
really knew their products and cared about serving the customer.
But shopping has changed as big retailers
following the self-service model have taken over
the retail landscape. As a result, shoppers are
following two different tracks: necessities
shopping where convenience and price are key and
recreational shopping where a whole other set of
rules apply. Recreational shoppers are looking
for more than just buying more stuff at cheap
prices. They want a fun shopping experience.
In a new research study of shoppers, Recreational
Shopping 2006: Consumer Insights Study of the
Recreational Shopper, Their Demographics, Their
Shopping Choices and Their Motivations to Shop,
Unity Marketing conducted qualitative and
quantitative research to examine the newly
emerging recreational shopper — who they are
(and both men and women shop for fun); how they
shop; where they choose to shop and who their
favorite retailers for recreational shopping
are. And most importantly, it reveals their
drives, motivations and passions that incline
them to look at shopping as fun. !
Retail consolidation means gigantic retailers are
losing touch with the individual customer
In the five years from 1997 to 2002, the share of
retail sales attributed to the fifty largest
retailers in the country grew from 25.7 percent
to 31.7 percent, according to the latest Economic
Census, published by the Census Department. In
specific categories, like electronics and
appliance stores; health and personal care
stores; pet supplies; food and beverage stores;
clothing and clothing accessories stores; and
sporting goods, hobby, books and music stores,
more than half of sales are generated by the top
fifty competitors in each category. And in
general merchandise stores, which includes
department and discount department stores, 97.9
percent of total sales are generated by the top fifty biggest competitors.
That consolidation means that these behemoth
retailers are getting further and further away
from their individual consumers. With stores
spread all over the country and senior executives
working out of big corporate headquarters, they
don’t have the opportunity of rubbing shoulders
with their shoppers on a daily basis like small
retailers do. It’s by getting up close and
personal with their shoppers where small
retailers can find their true competitive
advantage. After all retailing is really a
people business, not a products
business. Segments of retail where
consolidation has not yet occurred and small
retailers dominate include furniture and home
furnishings stores, florist, gift and novelty
stores, art ! dealers and non-store retailers.
Retailing is a people business, not a products business
For the future, shoppers will seek out stores
that give them a thrill. “As the retail business
continues to consolidate, shoppers will
increasingly find sameness and uniformity in the
products and services offered. When a shopper
knows what to expect when she walks past a store,
she has no incentive to wander in to shop unless
she needs what the store offers.
But when she shops for fun, she will bypass the
ordinary store in favor of a store that offers a
truly extraordinary shopping
experience. Retailers both big and small need to
transform their stores, the products they offer
and the way they do business. The new
experiential retailing model is to design a
retailing experience for the pleasure and delight
of the shopper. Unity’s new research report will
help them gain insights into the new experiential
shopper, their psychology and what excites them about shopping.
About Unity Marketing’s Recreational Shopping Report 2006
Unity Marketing is at the forefront of
research-based consumer insights for marketers
that need to understand the mindset of the
shopper. This new research study is designed to
help marketers and retailers understand the
shopper better, why they shop, what they shop for
and what makes for a truly unique, compelling and fun shopping experience.
The research results reported include insights
from a series of focus groups among high-income
women who love to shop. Also included is a
section devoted to a discussion among owners of
specialty retail stores, including a florist,
gift shop owner, fashion boutique, toy store,
hobby shop, t-shirt retailer and home furnishings
specialty store, to gain insights into their
challenges in the face of increased retail consolidation.
The heart of the research study, however, is a
survey among 1,250 upper-income shoppers (aged
25-to-65 years; average household income
$111,800; 65 percent female and 35 percent male).
The survey examines two key segments in the
shopper sample: the majority (70 percent) who
view shopping as entertainment, called the
recreational shopper segment, and roughly 30
percent of non-recreational shoppers who provide
perspective on what makes the recreational shopper truly distinctive.
The results of the survey are analyzed from
several key segmentation strategies, including
gender; income ($50k-$74.9k; $75k-$99.9k;
$100k-$149k; $150k + above); generations
(Millennials; GenXers; Boomers; Swing); age
(25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64 years) and
recreational shopper/non-recreational shopper segments.
For more information or to order a copy, visit
http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/shopping_retail/insights_study.html
This report can also be delivered in the form of
an executive presentation customized for the
individual company and their needs.
Pam Danziger, President
Unity Marketing
717-336-1600
author of Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need and
Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses — as well as the Classes.
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