This is a sample taken from the 22698 Internet Retailer: Top 500 Guide. Internet Marketing Conference/Exhibition pages accessible below. You are currently viewing information organised by Author.

View by: Age | Title | Author

Page:   1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   40   50   60   70   80   90   100   200   300   400   454

	Faster and Faster Description: How web services, on-demand environment speed retailing and marketing deployments
	Move aside youngster, Grandma wants to shop—online Description: One factor that may deter some older people from using the Internet to shop is that most web sites and technologies are not suited to them. Jeffrey Pepper, founder and CEO of ElderVision, a software and e-services company focusing on consumers 65 and older, says web and computer technology are not necessarily senior-friendly. For example, he says small graphics, small print, lots of flashing, dancing content and complex computer keyboards all inhibit seniors’ adoption of online shopping and Internet usage. His company, which he formed in 1998, is marketing an interactive shopping service called TouchTown to retirement communities in the U.S. The service provides personal web shoppers via telephone for seniors who may not be used to using computers or have trouble using them.
	The Blue Card And Blue Skies Description: But for all its vaunted and highly touted online features, analysts say the initial draw to the Blue card was low pricing. “Security, although consumers mentioned it, clearly played second fiddle to pricing,” says Bruce Brittain, president of Brittain & Associates. Although the Internet may not have been the main attraction to Blue, the web draw still has potential. “The name of the game for AmEx is how to get people to think of the AmEx card as the card to use online,” Brittain says. “The Blue card gives them the image of being ahead of the curve on e-commerce.”
	The battle heats up for market share among online surplus exchanges Description: For now, some industry experts believe that size does not matter to the success of exchanges; rather, they argue, success will depend on frequency of use by members. Some market observers say the vertical consumer goods exchanges may not be able to compete with the super-exchanges that sell everything from car parts to shoes to coffee pots. But AMR Research disputes the size-matters model, pointing out that a larger exchange like Valhalla, N.Y.-based TradeOut.com, which has categories including industrial equipment, commercial transportation, medical and restaurant, among others, may be spread too thin. Andy Kantor, vice president of marketing, contends that cross-category buying and selling opportunities make TradeOut.com a dynamic exchange and in fact prevent it from becoming a niche player with fortunes tied to one category.
	Pick a Path Description: Consumers are crossing the channels and retailers better be ready for them
	RetailExchange tries to re-create the excess-inventory market on the Internet Description: Overall, the RetailExchange.com experience for buyers and sellers is more proactive than in the real world and in other online exchanges, says Kissell. “As far as we know, we’re the only ones who offer this level of control,” he says, noting that in the real world, buyers and sellers may not be able to have so much control over who they sell to or buy from simply because the options may be limited by the current network of intermediaries, buyers and sellers. Using RetailExchange.com tools gives users the ability to approve each sell or buy as negotiations are made.
	What are you gonna do when customers won’t wait 4 seconds? Speed up the delivery Description: The notion of content acceleration is new enough that everyone has a different definition. The idea can be interpreted a number of ways, depending on where the acceleration takes place. And the notion is nebulous enough that few can get their hands around the entire concept. As a result, no one really has a handle on the market. Several analysts say they have yet to evaluate the vendors in the market because the topic is so vast. “It is confusing, there’s a lot of issues involved with this technology,” Covill says.
	What a Teen Wants Description: A direct competitor to Icanbuy.com and the second online teen payment vehicle to launch (June 1999) is Mountain View, Calif.-based RocketCash. With a snazzy teen web page, RocketCash, like Icanbuy.com, provides an online shopping mall in which kids can spend their money at such retailers as Toys R Us, J. Crew and CDNow.
	COVER: Using Fulfillment to Stand Out Description: Though retailers devised their fulfillment strategies when they launched their e-commerce operations, they are learning that, just like everything else in the still-evolving arena of online retailing, they need to scrutinize fulfillment strategies constantly. Now, after several years of online selling experience, retailers are learning what works and what else they need to do to make fulfillment shine and keep customers coming back. “It’s really about synchronizing the whole fulfillment process,” says Frank di Maria, president and CEO of APL Direct Logistics, Jacksonville, Fla.
	With new financing and a deal with an offline retailer, 800.com hopes to survive the shakeout Description: Standing the test of time has not been easy for most pure-play e-retailers. First, disastrous business plans, then a soft economy have made it difficult for companies to get funding, get customers and keep them happy. But if there are few retailers online today that have been clever enough to get it right, Portland, Ore.-based specialty online electronics store 800.com Inc. is one.
	Brand Power Description: Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s powerful offline brands get a new look online
	Eddie Bauer Blazes a Web Trail Description: And Finds Its Customers There Already
	Online sales flyers give retailers another way to reach shoppers Description: Since the crash of the dot-com pure-play retailers, the web is looking more and more like traditional retailing. Brand is king and playing on brand loyalty is the key to sales. So it stands to reason that retailers will replicate in the online world what has been successful in the offline world.
	BlueLight led the dot-com spin-offs; now it’s leading prodigal sons back to retail parents Description: When BlueLight.com launched in 1999 with start-up guru Mark Goldstein as CEO, there was no question that the Internet spin-off wanted to do things its own way. The company set out alone to build an Internet powerhouse that featured Martha Stewart Living brands and did not rely on its parent, Troy, Mich.-based Kmart Corp., to help—or to some minds, interfere—with its plans. In that way, it was typical of dot-com spin-offs of the day.
	Video e-mails make a blockbuster debut in Internet retail marketing. Description: Just a few months ago, retailers had come to realize the power of graphic-rich HTML-based e-mail marketing. Response rates were 2 to 3 times what they were for text-based e-mails. HTML e-mails were the hottest thing in marketing.
	Why some retailers like wish lists, which aren’t just for gift-giving any more Description: Think wish lists are just for people giving gifts? Think again. Books On Tape Inc. installed a wish list on its web site and today is getting 10 orders a day from the wish lists—orders it thinks it otherwise might have lost. And most are coming from the customers who created the list.
	Studying more than customs Description: Philadelphia, Pa.
	How richer e-mail graphics make for richer e-retail sales Description: Enter “sniffers,” which are another technological advance that make HTML e-mails possible. Sniffers allow marketers sending HTML e-mails to figure out what kind of browser a customer has and whether the browser can support a high-tech e-mail. Sniffers have been key in determining which messages are opened and read. “Sniffer technologies have gotten better at identifying whether consumers can read HTML files,” McLanan says. “That’s been the biggest improvement.”
	Just as online retailers embrace catalogs, along come e-catalogs Description: It’s no longer news when an online retailer sends out catalogs. Even the most die-hard pure-play advocates—think Amazon and its newspaper inserts—acknowledge that e-retailers need paper to entice customers to order products.
	Ex-Wall Street analyst meets artists,together they craft an uncommon e-retailing site Description: With the demise of popular niche web sites over the last 18 months such as Garden.com, Lucy.com, Pets.com, Living.com and eToys.com, it seemed as if only mass marketers with the biggest sites could survive.
	All We Want For Christmas Is To Sell Toys in July Description: With its five years of experience in online fulfillment, Amazon.com has spent a lot of time on the logistical infrastructure and operating systems, says Jorrit Van der Meulen, merchandising manager for Amazon.com’s toy division. That expertise helped Amazon clinch the Toys R Us deal. Amazon.com is geared up for the holidays with six U.S. distribution centers, all of which will be operating more than a year by the 2000 holiday season.
	Global Sports` CEO writes a new game plan for scoring in Internet retailing Description: While Global Sports makes the web sites look and feel different from each other, some observers say the similarities may eventually catch up with them. Lovett cautions that if the sites have mostly the same products, displayed in similar ways, it may be harder for the stores to differentiate. The Athlete’s Foot’s Corliss counters that consumers just want to buy from a retailer they’re familiar with, regardless of product redundancy on competing sites. “It’s transparent to the consumer,” he says.
	Half.com’s expansion is helping the US become a nation of online shopkeepers Description: ith every move it makes, Half.com looks more like a retailer.
	In-store deployments of web-enabled kiosks are bringing the clicks closer to the bricks Description: Major retailers taking the kiosk route include Kmart Corp., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Circuit City Stores Inc., Borders Music and Books, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and The Hudson’s Bay Co., Canada’s largest retailer. Earlier this year, Hudson’s Bay tested custom IBM web-enabled kiosks to see if it could sell items it has not carried before. Its Zellers discount store chain used kiosks to sell large appliances. Hudson’s Bay says the test shows there are no barriers in customers’ minds to buying appliances from the mass market store. “The next phase is to roll these out to all Zellers,” says David Alves, general manager merchandising and marketing for hbc.com and Hudson’s Bay’s loyalty programs.
	How the smarter marketers at SmarterKids.com get inside customers` heads Description: While SmarterKids is in the same boat as most other big online retailers—it’s far from making money—the company has created rapport with its customers. And many believe that that will be one of the keys to success. With its questionnaires for parents, a patented system for matching educational toys with the learning needs of children, and a staff of teachers and educational specialists that evaluate toys, SmarterKids is building a blueprint for successful web selling. SmarterKids will “focus on those programs that bring us the most loyal customers,” executives said in the most recent quarterly report.
	Brainiacs at SmarterKids Description: Needham, Mass.
	Retailers who want to play in the b2b game have to master a whole new set of rules Description: But it is not as easy as applying b2c web smarts to the b2b business model. Catering to businesses requires a different set of tools and infrastructure from selling online to consumers. “It’s not a simple transition,” says Beyond.com interim CEO Rick Neely. Beyond.com moved from b2c to b2b in January. “It’s not just a matter of making a sale and delivery to a business instead of to a consumer and saying, ‘Hey that’s b2b.’ It takes a whole different program to take care of companies.”
	DigiScents builds a business model on trying to make web sites come up smelling like a rose Description: What do web pages smell like? To DigiScents Inc. and its investors, they smell like money.
	Livin` La Vida Lucy Description: Portland, Ore.
	For women not built like Barbie, Lucy.com throws the cookie cutter out the window Description: Lucy.com’s new Body Type Solutions, introduced as the main feature of the revamped web site in August, lists clothing recommendations for eight different, but very common and very reasonable, body types. Instead of reading romantic descriptions of material accompanied by a flat photo of an item, you can see the type of person the item is designed to look and feel best on. What a relief!
	A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and a good idea from Harvard Business School Description: Berglund is a third-generation Napa resident who hails from a grape-growing family. While wine may be in her blood, Berglund’s expertise in direct marketing comes from consumer product marketing jobs with Procter & Gamble and the Clorox Co. and her stint in the Ivy League. A graduate of Harvard Business School, Berglund laid the groundwork for Ambrosia as part of her Harvard field study.
	Kozmo`s cosmos Description: New York, N.Y.
	To Pay or Not to Pay Description: How card sites’ new approaches reflect the evolving Internet medium
	Xtreme Niches Description: Selling only what they know best and flying under the radar xtreme niches are finding success on the web.
	How Sears is achieving a multi-channel payoff from the web Description: Since the start of the online retailing revolution, Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears Roebuck and Co. has had a web plan. But when the dot-com hysteria hit, some critics bashed Sears—and all large department stores—as lollygaggers because they were slow to put all their products online and back them with flashy marketing campaigns.
	Pick a Card Description: As American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa take their acts to the Internet, will retailers succumb to their spell?
	C-stores get hooked to the web Description: Fifteen years ago, convenience stores realized they could capitalize on selling convenient services as well as products. They went on an ATM binge, with the result that 63% of the nation’s 120,000 c-stores have ATMs. The success of ATMs has kept c-stores on the look out since for new technology that could mean additional convenience sales. The Internet is now supplying the opportunity.
	Last year`s fulfillment problems didn`t hurt this year`s online retail sales Description: A Goldman Sachs/PC Data study reports that consumers spent $8.9 billion in November and December, nearly double the $4.5 billion a year earlier (see table).
	Progress on the sales tax issue, but not in the right direction for some Description: It’s been only a few months since Congress last debated the Internet sales tax issue. But as Congress’s moratorium on Internet taxes approaches expiration on Oct. 21, the topic of who gets taxed, when, where and how remains a hot issue. In early August, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law voted to extend the moratorium on Internet taxes, known as the Internet Tax Freedom Act. But the action failed to address the sales tax issue. And since then some new factors have emerged that could help move the issue forward.
	The WIZMO Factor Description: The benefits of giving an answer before customers even ask ‘Where’s my order?’
	The never-ending battle against online fraud generates an ever-growing technology arsenal Description: How high is credit card fraud on the Internet? The card companies say one thing and the payments processors and merchants say another. But one thing both agree on: It urgently needs to be stopped.
	From B2B to B2C Description: What manufacturers must learn from online retailers
	Merchants can move dud goods by auction, but make sure you don`t damage your brand Description: A Mainspring eStrategy Direct consulting study on dynamic pricing suggests that ascending auctions, like eBay, account for more than 80% of dynamically priced purchases. In the absence of information on consumer demand, retailers usually guess what the appropriate selling price should be, often leading to costly inventory build-ups or money left on the table. By forcing consumers to compete for a limited supply of goods, ascending auctions ensure that the market clears and that goods are allocated to those willing to pay the most.
	Christmas Blitz Description: Bolstering e-mail systems for holiday marketing will increase profitability
	Roll ’Em Description: Online video offers new ways to promote products—but it’s not as easy as YouTube makes it look
	Walmart.com opens the door to in-store pick-up Description: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is breaking down the boundaries between online and in-store shopping as it rolls out a “Site to Store” in-store pick-up service for Walmart.com shoppers.
	Where Products Best Fit Description: E-retailers achieve merchandising success via an assortment of technologies and paths
	Multi-channel CRM Description: Technology is there—if retailers can manage sales and shopping behavior across channels
	The eBay of tomorrow Description: eBay continues to post big growth numbers, but the auction giant is pressed to reinvent itself as consumers’ online buying habits evolve
	Getting personal Description: Retailers are turning to site personalization tools to get more intimate with customers

Last updated on 19 February 2008, 06:57:56+0000