MCM December/January 2012 Issue
Cover Story
2012: Opportunities, Outlooks and Trends
We are hoping that you'll find this a "must read" when making your last-minute 2012 plans...
2012 Outlook: Digital Data Will Take Center Stage
An increasing number of list brokers, managers and data services organizations are supporting multichannel marketing campaigns to include one or more digital components...
Forrester: Technology Will Help Drive B-to-C Retail in 2012
Tablet commerce, mobile commerce and other technologies will help drive cross-channel retail in 2012, says Sucharita Mulpuru and Peter Sheldon of Forrester Research...
B2B Outlook: Weak growth year predicted for b2b merchants
Various economic forecasts are estimating 2% to 3% GDP growth in 2012, about the same as 2011. But they are also forecasting a 4% to 6% increase in business spending...
Backword: What do you think the best opportunities will be in 2012?
Q&A with Neil Sexton, Brian Tilzer, Larry Davis, & Cam Balzer...
Publisher's Note
Publisher's Note: Fulfilling Our Promises
at this time of year, the true superheroes of the season may well be the operations and fulfillment folks...
Ecommerce
How SEO myths can cost you
Every day a new search engine optimization myth is born; unfortunately, not every day does an old myth die off. I'm going to do my part in fighting this menace and spreading the truth -- by exposing some of the more insidious myths in this very article...
Catalogs
Best practices in cover design 2011
Everyone agrees, the most important catalog page is the front cover. It usually takes just seconds for the recipient to decide whether to keep the catalog or toss it...
Herschell Gordon Lewis: The Best and Worst in Copy 2011
This worked, that didn't... Here are Herschell Gordon Lewis's 2011 picks for the best and worst online and print catalog copy....
Best Catalog Copy 2011: These Came Close
Runners-up for the Best in Catalog Copy 2011 ...
2012 Paper Prices Will be Stable to Higher
The price of paper will be stable to higher in 2012, according to Steve Silver, president/CEO of FutureMark Paper Co., but given the market's unpredictable demand, there really isn't a normal pattern anymore...
Marketing
Customer Retention: 7 Ways to Keep Your Customers
As we all know, it is imperative to stop consumers and get their attention before we can influence their behavior patterns. The good news is that for customer retention, you have a real advantage with your customers...
Operations & Fulfillment
Tips for quicker product picking
Whether your goal is to improve the productivity of your distribution picking process or to maintain its peak performance, efficient product picking starts...
Low-Cost Tips for Speeding Up the Picking Process
Location, legibility and loading can make or break your picking process. Here are some tips for success...
6 Effective Next-wave Strategies to Reduce Operational Costs
During the height of the recession and since, multichannel merchants have succeeded to varying degrees at reducing and better containing operational expenses....
Cutting Through the Fog with Cloud-based SaaS Solutions
Cloud computing is enabling all kinds of businesses to buy Internet-based access to hosted software, infrastructure and platform services on an on-demand, elastic basis...
