Give me the Goods

| Curt Barry

Inventory is most likely the largest balance sheet asset in your company. How well you plan, purchase, and manage your inventory largely determines your

Control Freaks

| MCM staff

A woman goes online in search of a new blouse. She’s not exactly sure of what she’s looking for, so she asks her sister to shop with her. Her sister thinks

Rhino Pop-Up Store Returns to Retail Roots

| Larry Jaffee

In a business that recently has seen the disappearance of once-market leaders Tower Records and Sam Goody, reissue music label Rhino Entertainment opened a pop-up store in Los Angeles for the month of December.

GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT

| Jim Tierney

Boy meets girl. Boy proposes to girl. Boy and girl head down to the local department store and register for home items, such as place settings, stemware,

Sears Ups the Ante for Restoration Hardware

| Jim Tierney

The Sears-Restoration Hardware saga took another turn this week. Sears Holdings Corp. announced on Nov. 26 it is prepared to offer $269 million for the home furnishings company.

Survey Says: Ready For The Social Researcher?

| MCM staff

According to the “Social Shopping Study 2007” recently completed by the E-tailing group and commissioned by PowerReviews, 65% of respondents were identified as “Social Researchers.” These consumers actively seek out and read customer reviews prior to making a purchase decision always or most of the time.

5 Crucial Multichannel Metrics

| Jack Schmid

Any seasoned direct marketer the importance of understanding the numbers side of the business. You have to know both the left-brain (analytic) and right-brain (creative) rules for maximum success. My philosophy is

August mailings take a tumble

| Tim Parry

Perhaps a sign that mailers were less than optimistic about fall, catalog mailings dropped 33%. Just 236 catalogs were received by Catalog Tracker in August. While that is 30 more books than July, it’s down considerably from the 349 catalogs the Greenwich, CT-based list firm received in August 2006.

Using simulators to find E-LTV

| Jim Wheaton

You know that best-practices marketing database content is essential to effective data mining. It works in tandem with longitudinal (over time) test panels and business simulators to identify and leverage a given company’s dynamics to provide important strategic and tactical insights.