Second-quarter Strength for Zones

| MCM staff

Computer reseller Zones (Nasdaq: ZONS) recorded a nice boost to its bottom line for the quarter ended June 30. Second-quarter profits soared 52%, to $4.4 million, up from $2.9 million for the same period in 2006. What’s more, the Renton, WA-based merchant

FALL or NOTHING

| MCM staff

The harsh new postal rates imposed in May are three months old. Mailers should be used to them, right? Think again. Many are still reeling and figuring

It takes a village

| MCM staff

When Tracy Amiral realized that the new postal rates would increase her fall mailing costs 38%, her first reaction was to whine. Amiral, general manager

Desperately seeking CRM

| Debra Ellis

Managing customer relationship management used to be pretty simple. Most shopkeepers knew their patrons personally. They lived in the same community,

Going postal, again

| MCM staff

Sometimes I think if I hear or read one more thing about this year’s postal rate hike, I’m going to scream. You must be getting pretty tired of it, too

The Red Envelope, please

| MCM staff

In Chinese society, red envelope refers to a monetary gift placed in a red packet because the color symbolizes good luck. That’s where Red Envelope got

Second quarter shows promise

| Jim Tierney

It was a promising quarter for the 10 publicly traded consumer merchants reporting financial figures for Multichannel Merchant. Revenue increased for all but one of the companies tracked, and only two failed to show improvements in their bottom lines.

Just like every May

| Tim Parry

Delivery-wise, May 2007 was almost a carbon copy of May 2006, which was nearly identical to May 2005.

I don’t know, you tell me

| Tim Parry

When Steve August joined Brookstone in 2001 as its vice president of customer marketing, source allocation meant matching a purchase back to a specific