July 1, 2008
News Highlights
Provide Commerce adds Red Envelope to stable
Embattled gifts cataloger Red Envelope found a buyer, as we reported last month. But it's not Creative Catalogs Corp. After a U.S. Bankruptcy Court-supervised...
Jockey unveils apparel title
Jockey aficionados have a new way to get their favorite skivvies: The iconic underwear brand two months ago launched its first apparel catalog. The catalog...
Sharper Image finds a buyer
Sharper Image Corp., which had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, has been acquired. A joint venture led by units of private investment...
Cheers for the 2008 MCM Awards winners
After many long months of waiting, the winners of the 23rd Annual Multichannel Merchant Awards were finally announced during a special luncheon at the...
Talbots cuts staff 9%, gets credit
Women's apparel merchant The Talbots announced in early June it is reducing its corporate headcount by about 9%. The cataloger/retailer expects the layoffs...
Movers & shakers
The U.S. Postal Service has named Sam Pulcrano, a 33-year agency veteran, as its first vice president of sustainability. Pulcrano, who currently serves...
Pet buyer universe perks up
There's no question: People love their pets. The American Pet Products Manufacturing Association (APPMA) estimates that consumers will spend more than...
The deal with DHL restructuring
Rumors had been circulating for months that Deutsche Post would pull its DHL delivery service out of North America. It didn't, but it's taking some drastic...
B-to-B mailers start strong
The business-to-business and computer merchants tracked by Multichannel Merchant got off to a good start this year: The majority turned in stellar performances...
No April catalog showers
The clutter in consumer mailboxes is clearing out. According to the Catalog Tracker service of Greenwich, CT-based list firm Direct Media, the number...
Federal judge, Congress defang FACTA
Merchants in May received two pieces of good news on the ill-crafted Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA. Congress passed a bill protecting...
Cover Story
MCM 100: The Major Players
Considering how rough the economy has been for multichannel marketers this past year, it's no wonder that our annual ranking of the top-100 companies...
Print Channel
Covering your rear
Your catalog's back cover should be front and center when you're planning the book. Why? For many mailers, it's the best-selling page in the catalog....
Another quarter, another paper increase
The third quarter marks the fifth straight price rise for paper. Most of the major mills have announced price increases for many paper grades, ranging...
Web Channel
Be a converter
What's the average site conversion rate for a typical merchant today? About 2.4%. That's pretty depressing when you think about it. So how do you help...
Keeping your co-reg clean
Is co-registration a good way to build a database? Well, it can certainly be an efficient way to start and grow a file, according to the experts. But...
Cross Channel
Mailing replay
It may be July, but merchants are already feeling a nip in the air. They've got only a few weeks to figure out their holiday remail strategy, and that...
Listings
New lists Muscle Car Review Source Interlink Media has released a list of 9,765 subscribers to Muscle Car Review. Most recipients are men, median age...
Operations+Fulfillment
VT Teddy Bear: Monitoring success
Until a few years ago, the contact center managers at Vermont Teddy Bear Co. would monitor the performance of the agents by walking up and down the aisles...
What you can learn from a telemarketer
Author Raymond Carver once wrote, You never start out life with the intention of becoming bankrupt or an alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar....
Freight Train
Shippers are shelling out a lot more for freight services these days. While that may be telling Noah about the flood, it's important to understand what...
Packaged Goods
So maybe packing product into containers to be shipped to customers isn't the sexiest part of multichannel selling. But it is one of the most important....
In Every Issue
If you can't beat 'em
The news in May that DHL was radically scaling back in the U.S. wasn't a huge surprise. The courier had lost billions of dollars here, and it was well...
A chat with Herschell Gordon Lewis
Before he became known as the king of copywriting, longtime Multichannel Merchant columnist Herschell Gordon Lewis had a thriving career as a director...
Belmont loss a bummer for the other Big Brown
Bettors banking on a sure thing weren't the only ones disappointed when thoroughbred Big Brown came in dead last in the Belmont Stakes last month. Parcel...
Shades of frustration
A Multichannel Merchant staffer in February, ordered seven custom roman shades from the Smith+Noble Website. The site was very helpful in walking her...
