February 1, 2008
SHORT ORDER
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Melissa Dowling
The fact that gifts cataloger Lillian Vernon laid off 25% of its staff on Dec. 20 was a sure sign that this was not going to be a great season. It was,...
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Building up your e-mail file
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Ken Magill
Ask any multichannel merchant what its biggest e-mail marketing challenges are, and growing the e-mail file will certainly be one of the first topics...
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Clear It Out
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Curt Barry
Faced with a boatload of inventory after a lackluster holiday? You're not alone. Many retailers fell well short of sales plans that were fairly conservative...
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Build a better sweater
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Melissa Dowling, Editor-in-Chief
You can't blame merchants for being reluctant to take risks going into this past holiday season, and few did. Now many are paying for it with reports...
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Borders to run its own site
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Tim Parry
Borders is breaking away from online giant Amazon.com. During a session at National Retail Federation's annual conference last month, Borders vice president...
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Harry & David buys Wolferman's catalog
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
Harry & David Holdings got a little fatter just after the holidays: The fruit gifts mailer acquired breakfast foods cataloger Wolferman's from Williams...
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Systemax acquires CompUSA
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Tim Parry and Jim Tierney
Computers manufacturer/marketer Systemax has entered into an agreement to purchase the CompUSA brand, trademarks, and e-commerce business. The direct...
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AmeriMark buys Dr. Leonard's finally
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
It took a while more than four month since news of the deal got out but AmeriMark Direct officially bought fellow multititle cataloger Dr. Leonard's Healthcare...
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Talbots to drop Kids, Mens lines
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Tim Parry and Jim Tierney
The Talbots is turning its back on men and children. To better focus on its core women's apparel business, the company announced Jan. 4 that it will drop...
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Movers & shakers
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM
Watsonville, CA-based boating supplier West Marine has named Geoff Eisenberg president/CEO. Eisenberg, the former head of Salz Leathers, has worked on...
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Gardening catalog names wilt a bit
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Monica Kitchen
Given that more than 90 million American households participate in some form of gardening, you might expect to see the number of available names in the...
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Five truths for e-commerce
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Jim Tierney
Online retail has shown extraordinary growth since 2002, according to Sucharita Mulpuru, a retail analyst with Forrester Research. And despite media naysayers,...
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Build brand through service
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Monica Kitchen
Brand is a promise kept, according to John Greening, an associate professor of integrated marketing communications at Northwestern, and a former ad exec...
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Not the finest quarter
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
Reflecting the weak national economy, the third quarter wasn't so kind to the publicly traded consumer merchants tracked by Multichannel Merchant. Despite...
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November catalog mailings up 2%
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Tim Parry
The momentum of more catalog mailings in October continued in November. Catalog Tracker logged in 580 catalogs in November, up 2% over the 569 the service...
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My annual best and worst
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS
NEWS STORIES ARE LOADED WITH DEMANDS from various groups that catalogers abandon their printed catalogs and use only online distribution. As avant-garde...
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THE KEY TO Comailing
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY TIMOTHY GABLE
Postage rates, which we all know keep going up, represent 45% to 65% of a catalog's costs. What's the best way to reduce your postal bill, short of slashing...
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Secrets of Natural Search
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, by Brian Klais
Let's say your wife is an avid hunter. You decide to surprise her by tracking down a pair of specialty hunting socks to keep her feet warm. You have no...
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Give Me MySpace
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY KEN BURKE
If you think online social networking is all about fun and games, you're missing the boat. Social computing strategies represent a new frontier of marketing,...
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Private equity insider
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY DAVID SOLOMON
Private equity firms have been making quite a splash in the multichannel marketing industry in recent years. Each month seems to bring news of at least...
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Now or Never
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY TIM PARRY
It's time to fess up to your dirty little secret that you don't calculate lifetime value. Embarrassing, isn't it? But you're not alone. Some merchants...
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LISTINGS
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM
New lists Coastal Contractor and Digital Home Hanley Wood is offering controlled circulation lists of subscribers to its Coastal Contractor and Digital...
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THE NEW SCHOOL
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY DEBRA ELLIS
Thinking of buying a new CRM system? Save your money until your employees know what they're talking about. Technology alone won't help you provide customers...
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Fairytale Brownies on seasonal staffing
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jim Tierney
Multichannel merchants typically have to have their holiday season staff in place before the fall. How do they do it? We asked Phoenix-based Fairytale...
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CORRECTION:
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM
In the December issue chart of industry mergers and acquisitions on page 10, we stated that Kellwood Co. was acquired by Sun Capital Partners in September....
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TALES FROM THE FRONT
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM
amozon.com skips holiday upgrade Online behemoth Amazon.com aced the holiday, with glowing reports that this was its best-selling season ever. One Multichannel...
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back word
Feb 1, 2008 12:00 PM
Crappy new year from Shopit Did you get stuck with a clunker of a Christmas gift? Social shopping community site Shopit.com is spending $10,000 on two...
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Thoughts on Christmas Past
Feb 2, 2008 12:00 PM, By ANDREA SYVERSON
As you know by now, the holiday sales reports for 2007 were less than merry. Lots of reasons for this have been bandied about, from economic uncertainty...
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