BabyUniverse to Merge with eToys Direct

| Mark Del Franco

Jupiter, FL-based BabyUniverse, an online marketer of baby and maternity products, will merge with Denver-based toys merchant eToys Direct.

Getting to Know Your Customers

| David Rosen

Performance of a customer or prospect list is a function of many different factors: from what sources and through which channels the names were acquired; the degree to which customers have recently purchased; and how well the list is nurtured with reasonable contact frequency and kept clean from undeliverable addresses.

PetSmart Exiting Equine Biz

| Tim Parry

Pet products merchant PetSmart is exploring strategic opportunities for its State Line Tack direct business.

Four Ways to Grow Your E-mail List: Get Offline Customers to Go Online

| John Rizzi

How much does it cost to acquire a new customer? Whether it’s $5 or $500, expanding your relationship with an existing customer is always more profitable than acquiring a new one (although maybe not as exciting as running a sexy TV campaign or whatever you do to attract business).

RESOURCE GUIDE: Alternate Payment Systems

| MCM staff

Merchants operating businesses through the mid-1960s were in the habit of receiving two types of payments from customers: cash and checks. From the mid-1960s

Home Depot Changes Course on HD Supply

| MCM staff

Last year Home Depot put a lot of effort and money into expanding its HD Supply business. It acquired nine companies for the business-to-business division,

Financial Update: Anemic Quarter for Deals

| Jim Tierney

Only 10 mergers and acquisitions involving multichannel merchants were announced during the fourth quarter of 2006, compared with 13 the previous fourth

Guitar Center Buys Instrument Mailer

| Jim Tierney

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again: Guitar Center certainly took that adage to heart in its efforts to acquire South Bend, IN-based The Woodwind & the Brasswind. In late January, though, its purchase of the multititle mailer was approved

Redcats’ New Brand Within

| Mark Del Franco

Redcats USA chairman /CEO Eric Faintreny is something of a branding expert. In 2000, when Redcats’ Swedish home and apparel brand Ellos was declining,