Don’t get alarmed. You haven’t picked up the wrong magazine.
Yes, there’s a new face on this page, but hopefully it reflects continuity.
As some of you may know, I’m the editor of Direct magazine and editorial head of Penton Media’s Marketing Group. The reason for my appearance here is that editor Sherry Chiger left Multichannel Merchant last month to fulfill her lifelong dream of living in England.
This was tough news to absorb when she announced it one Friday afternoon. What were we going to do? But we needn’t have worried. Sherry and her predecessor Laura Beaudry had built a first-rate team. And it hasn’t skipped a beat.
In addition to this fine issue, the staff has since put out several editions of MCM Weekly and our two other e-mail newsletters: Operations & Fulfillment and Lists and Data Strategies.
This issue features our annual Multichannel Merchant 100, the only authoritative listing of retail/catalog merchants. Sherry finished that off before she left. It documents the recent wave of spinoffs, mergers, expanded service offerings and growth in the online channel.
Also contained in this issue are authoritative writeups on b-to-b retention, cooperative databases and how the immigration issue affects merchants.
Who’s responsible for this fine magazine? The team leader is executive editor Melissa Dowling. She joined the staff in 1989, and is a walking storehouse of knowledge about the retail/catalog field. (She’s a darned good editor, too).
Then there’s managing editor Mark Del Franco, our operations and fulfillment expert. He is responsible for O&F Advisor.
Online topics are covered by Ken Magill, Mr. Trouble himself. Ken also writes Magilla Marketing, the weekly newsletter on all things e-mail.
Tim Parry is our resident list guru. He produces the Lists and Data Strategies e-letter and works on Chief Marketer.
Next is Jim Tierney, who covers the postal beat and print and production. His copy reflects his daily newspaper background.
And Heather Retzlaff? She covers general news and serves as our special projects manager. Finally, we should mention our art director Kate DiMarco. The combined service of this crew? Oh, probably about 70 years.
Thanks for reading this. I don’t intend to intrude on this space often.
Let’s close with some thoughts about Sherry, a great editor and one of the funniest people I’ve met in this business. In addition to Multichannel Merchant, she was editor of Chief Marketer, our general marketing Website.
When did she find time to do it? Oh, say, 4 a.m.
Above all, Sherry is a very fine writer, able to bring irony and perspective to the most complicated subjects.
Good luck to her. And kudos to Melissa and the rest of the MCM staff.