ETD: 978 Security precautions; Driving Customer-Valued Innovation; Gift Shoppers Started First Half of 2006 with a Bang

Tue May 16 00:02:38 GMT 2006

  E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the  Retailer
  Issue #0978     May 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]  Security precautions
  [3]  Driving Customer-Valued Innovation
  [4]  Gift Shoppers Started First Half of 2006 with a Bang

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  [1]  Greetings.
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Hi All:

List member Ron Coble shares some personal 
experiences with security issues - to the tune of 
$100,000 of fraudulent orders.  Read and heed.

Edgell Communications has an excellent white 
paper available on "The Intelligent Store: 
Driving Customer-Valued Innovation through Deeper 
Insight" which might be of interest to list 
members.  I downloaded it and it does look interesting.

Pam Danziger has information on the results of 
gift shoppers the first half of 2006.  I'll give you a hint:  it's good news.

How's the year doing so far for you?

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]  Security precautions
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In your latest issue, Part 4 was about Security 
Issues and gave some very good information to 
help prevent you from being a victim of fraud.

This subject is very near and dear to my 
business.  We have experienced over $100,000 in 
fraudulent orders in the last 5 years (actually 
it is a lot more than that I just stopped tallying at $100K).

Luckily because of taking many precautions when 
processing orders, we have not lost 
$1.00.  However, the amount of time 'lost' in man hours has really added up.

We recently had one of our business accounts hit 
for the 2nd time in two years.  This was a new 
account set up 2 years ago after 4 fraudulent 
withdrawals were made each amounting to $500.00 each for a total of $2,000.00.

I began publishing a blog earlier this year with 
information related to our Import Export Business 
services web site and the reason I am writing in 
response to your article is to let you and your 
readers know about one of my most recent posts to the blog.

This post was published about a week before your 
newsletter came out so I thought it would be very 
timely information relating to your information.

The blog post consists of 10 points that the FBI 
recently published along with my own personal 
commentary about each.  Many of these points I 
have personally experienced, some in slightly 
different fashion than the manner the FBI has it written up.

I have added my comments along with some other 
experiences and will be adding more information 
very shortly along with the precautions we take to prevent losses.

My only hope is that by making this information 
more public, I am making others aware of just how 
pervasive it has become and help in preventing 
others from falling victim to this scourge.

Here is the blog URL,
http://importexportbusiness.blogspot.com/

Regards,

Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
http://www.ImportExportHelp.com

+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
Thanks for this valuable information Ron.  And 
thanks for sharing your personal story about security issues.

Folks, we can't take security lightly.  Ron's 
experiences should be a wake up call.

George

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  [3]  Driving Customer-Valued Innovation
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Retailers of any size can see significant 
improvement in store and enterprise operations by 
implementing technological tools that allow them 
to "set the dial" in terms of how much decision 
making power is placed at their finger-tips.

This whitepaper, The Intelligent Store: Driving 
Customer-Valued Innovation through Deeper 
Insight, offered by Business Objects and IBM, 
weighs in on how retail business intelligence 
(RBI) systems provide a consistent, dynamic, 
enterprise-wide view of information, allowing 
retailers to work together as an informed team 
instead of remaining in individual silos.

Key Points Include:

   o How implementing RBI systems can help the 
retailer achieve true customer centricity, by 
enabling the realignment of the basic building 
blocks of their business with clearly defined, customer-focused objectives.

   o How customizable RBI tools featuring 
scorecards and process dashboards allow retailers 
to establish metrics and key performance 
indicators (KPIs) unique to their businesses 
needs, such as improving the retailer's ability 
to manage customers, sales, employees, inventory and finances.

   o  How implementing a complete, integrated RBI 
system offers the ability to obtain, analyze, and 
present actionable information and a single view 
of truth across an enterprise seamlessly and in real-time.

   o  Plus, 2 retailer business briefs 
highlighting the benefits they have seen after RBI implementation.

Click here to download now. 
http://www.edgellcommunications.com/main/index.php?_id=106 
(Moderator's note:  You need to register.)

RIS News would like to thank Business Objects and 
IBM for providing this whitepaper to our readers.

+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
I downloaded this white paper, and it looks very interesting.

George

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  [4]  Gift Shoppers Started First Half of 2006 with a Bang
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Despite rising gas prices, gift shoppers spent on 
average $407 buying gifts during the first 
quarter of 2006, including $168 for gifting 
holidays and $239 on gift occasions, like 
birthdays, anniversaries and other 
celebrations.  Purchases of gifting accessories, 
such as gift cards, gift bags and gift wrap, 
added an additional $19 to the total, bringing 
the average amount spent on gift giving to $426.

If gift purchasing continues at its current rate, 
shoppers could spend as much as 10 percent more 
buying gifts in 2006 over 2005’s average of 
$1,934, based upon the latest survey of consumer 
gift purchases conducted by Unity Marketing (www.unitymarketing.online).

During the first quarter, more people bought 
Valentine’s Day gifts (67 percent in 2006 vs. 57 
percent in 2005) and spent more buying those 
gifts ($121 vs. $73 in 2005).  Mother’s Day 
gifting is expected to rise this year with 75 
percent of shoppers planning to buy gifts for Mom 
as compared to 67 percent last year.  Father’s 
Day gifting looks equally bright, with 58 percent 
planning to buy a Father’s Day gift, as compared 
with 48 percent last year, according to Unity 
Marketing’s Gift Tracker survey.

The gifting market is especially important to the 
nation’s retailers and not just during the fourth 
quarter, but throughout the entire yea. 
Approximately 40 percent of gift shoppers’ annual 
budgets are spent buying gifts for gifting 
occasions that occur throughout the year.  In 
2005 consumers spent an estimated $282 billion 
buying gifts, which is roughly 10 percent of the 
total $2.8 trillion consumer retail market.

Top Gift Choices in 2006

During the first quarter 2006, the top gift choices were:

·        #1 — Videos/DVDs (bought by 30% of gifters)

·        #2t — Chocolates (21%)

·        #2t — Flowers, Plants, Garden Accessories (21%)

·        #3 — Books (20%)

·        #4 — Toys, Games, Dolls (19%)

·        #5t — Bath & Body Soaps, Lotions (18%)

·        #5t — Candles & Candle Accessories (18%)

And more good news for retailers about prospects 
for gifting through 2006, some 17 percent of 
gifters have already started their Christmas 2006 
gift shopping and have spent on average $346 on those purchases.

The gifting market is a unique opportunity for 
retailers to achieve exponential 
marketing.  Through gifting, marketers touch two 
target markets directly, i.e. the person who buys 
the gift and the person who receives it.

For retailers and marketers, gifting has all the 
promotional power of sampling and word-of-mouth, 
but gifting intensifies it through the unique 
emotional connection between the giver and the 
recipient.  A positive gifting experience can 
lead the happy gift recipient back to the store 
where their gift came from or to buy up more of 
the same thing that made them so happy in order 
to satisfy their own gift-giving needs.  Because 
it is ‘two times two,’ gifting is exponential marketing.

For more information on Gift Tracker, click this 
link http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/reports2/gifting/gifttracker.html

Pam Danziger,
president of Unity Marketing
Author of Let Them Eat Cake:  Marketing Luxury to 
the Masses — as well as the Classes.
Call 717-336-1600.
http://www.unitymarketingonline
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