ETD: 695 Web conferencing works; Is Price the Criteria for
Buying?;`Software for managing sweepstakes; Radio ID tags get
Microsoft backing; Mexico losing to China
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Tue, 17 Jun 2003 07:25:27 -0400
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Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0695 June 17, 2003
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem@gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
===================================================================
CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Web conferencing works
[3] Is Price the Criteria for Buying?
----- ---- --- -- -> Important Offer <- -- --- ---- ---- --
[4] Software for managing sweepstakes
[5] Radio ID tags get Microsoft backing
[6] Mexico losing to China
===================================================================
[1] Greetings.
===================================================================
Hi All:
Hope our US members had a good Father's Day - both personally and from a
business point of view.
Today we have some comments from list members, including a nice piece on
pricing and one who needs some help with a new product (see 3 and 4
below). Let's try to help.
Is Web conferencing in your future? Today, with the threat of SARS, and
the fear of travel, many companies are using Web conferencing to display
products. This year I have been involved with Web conferencing
extensively, and can tell you that it works! What about you?
Microsoft is getting into the radio ID tag world, which should be a boon to
the industry. I strongly believe that radio ID tags will be the wave of
the future, just like bar coding was in the past 20 years. If you're a
supplier, get ready to provide this service to the big guys.
Interesting to note how Mexico is losing business to China - 230,000
jobs! With the introduction of NAFTA, it was assumed that Mexico would
benefit, and businesses would get their products cheaper. Of course, the
planners failed to realize how fickle business folks are, and when an
opportunity to get even lower prices appears, they go.
I will be exhibiting at the International IIA conference in Las Vegas from
June 21-24. If anybody is in the area, stop by for a visit. And, I sure
could use some special reports. Anybody have something they would like to
share? 1,500 - 2,500 words and we will make it a special issue, and it
will remain at our site for posterity.
http://etailersdigest.com/resources/Specials/
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
Dr. George Matyjewicz
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem@gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
==================================================================
[2] Web conferencing works
==================================================================
This year I got involved with WebEx, the Web conferencing tool, and I can't
praise it enough. We now do 8-10 demonstrations a month - all
remotely! Last week we had folks in the demo from the UK, Bermuda and
three offices in the US. Can't beat that!
Years ago, the cost of travel, plus the time made the cost of doing
business almost prohibitive. If you look at sales as a numbers game, which
many do (not me), then the more demonstrations you do, the more your sales
will increase. If you add the extra costs of sales (demos and travel) you
end up either pricing your products higher or you eat the costs and lose money.
While we use Web conferencing for selling software, it can work for any
product or service that you sell. For example, let's say you represent a
company selling giftware from China, which can be tailored to the
retailer's specific needs. Rather than travel to the retailer, you can Web
conference. Show and describe your products and talk about how you can
change a product to fit the retailer's needs. Of course, the retailer will
want to touch and feel the product, which you can then send to them.
How about a retailer selling to the consumer? Try this scenario: the
consumer has a question about a particular product, or wants to know if you
have an item in stock. Your customer support person shows the consumer
various products while they chat online. Just like they do when a consumer
enters a store.
That last scenario has been around for a couple of years with many
retailers offering chat capabilities with consumers to answer
questions. Being able to pass a picture to the consumer adds more to the
service.
Pretty soon we may hear "Do you IM? or "Do you CRM?" from the company who's
theme is now "Do you Yahoo?" In an article in E-Commerce Times Keith Regan
writes about Yahoo's collaboration with BEA and WebEx Communications to
enable Yahoo's Instant Messaging (IM) product to become part of a variety
of enterprise applications, such as customer relationship management
software. Specifically, Yahoo said it plans to add the ability to launch
WebEx virtual conferences from personal desktops and to embed instant
messaging inside custom software applications.
The collaboration with BEA is designed to enable Yahoo's IM product to
become part of a variety of enterprise applications, such as customer
relationship management software. Yahoo already has similar agreements in
place with Novell and Sun Microsystems.
If security is an issue, instant-messaging software company FaceTime
Communications unveiled on Monday two products that are designed to make IM
programs secure for business use.
Interesting to note that a slow economy and the shifting priorities of
information technology buyers forced the customer relationship management
software industry to face its second year of declining new license revenue
in 2002.
What about you? Have you tried Web conferencing on either end?
George
===================================================================
[3] Is Price the Criteria for Buying?
===================================================================
George, After reading the article "do shoppers shop for price" in today's
newsletter, I want to submit this article.
This is not an uncommon question and for many the answer is "yes." Some
say it more emphatically than others. I do not.
It is well known that most "sale" prices, other than close out sale goods,
are a discount from some figure (SRP) that is a large (more than double)
multiple of cost so that with the discount there is enough markup to cover
the costs of running the business as well as the goods.
When surveys are done on what criteria people use to make a decision to buy
price is often 5th, 6th or 7th in importance. The decision to buy
something for Daddy has other criteria before price comes into
play. First, of course, what does he need or how can he use or do with
it? If there is no need or use for it, being on sale has not effect
whatsoever. So, if one gets past this point, then size or color or
material comes into play . . . if it isn't in his size, then who cares what
the color or material or price is? If there is a use and the right size,
either color or material take on some importance before price does. There
are a lot of decisions that come into play on the way to make a decision
and when the customer gets through these 3 or 4 steps, then price becomes a
factor. Certainly, on one wants to pay more for something that they have
to if all other things meet the criteria set by the customer.
In the scheme of things, shoppers do not shop for price but they shop for
what they see as having "added value" . . . they want to get more for what
they are paying for or, they will only be willing to pay less since they
do not see that they are getting the added-value.
Price becomes a factor when other factors such as added-value or time or
effort or two or three other factors are not met. Price makes no
difference if the size, color, is not right or if the customer or recipient
of the gift has no use for it.
But because the retail industry in all its parts look at price as the prime
reason for buying the industry has resorted to putting an sale price on
almost everything . . . the sale price being a discount from some inflated
SRP.
Is "on sale" losing its effectiveness? I'd like to think so but looking at
newspaper advertising, I think not because if it was there would be less
sales.
Alan J. Zell, Ambassador Of Selling
===================================================================
[4] Software for managing sweepstakes
===================================================================
I'm developing some scripts to manage sweepstakes on websites. The simple
ones are finished and I'm now working on one that uses a series of sweeps
to feed each returning entrant the next survey in the series. The surveys
will be by industry category/sub-category or could be customized. The
script will also mail out confirmations and reminders as well as
newsletters to help build or increase customer base. As it stands now it
does weekly,monthly..I need to finish the weekly and monthly episodic.
A series of sweeps could create much useful information for people wise
enough to use it wisely. :-)
I need to know what someone would expect to be available or useful to them
as this thing develops with some portal( I hate this word at times) type
qualities. I'm talking about something like possibly a reminder service so
you could maybe match the reminder with the serial data and target the ad
content in the reminder. Things on this order, things that add data to be
crossed with the series data.
I call this episodic marketing, a term borrowed from the automotive
industry but really more in line with what you would think episodic
marketing would be instead of the way the auto industry uses it. Does this
make sense?
If you want to look at the site it's at www.contestmonkey.com
Ronnie Gauthier
===================================================================
[5] Radio ID tags get Microsoft backing
===================================================================
Microsoft is enlisting in a venture designed to help develop standards for
radio frequency tags intended for use by retailers and manufacturers to
track goods.
The software maker said Tuesday that it will work with Auto ID, a joint
venture of the Uniform Code Council and EAN International, to develop
commercial and technical standards for radio frequency ID (or RFID) tags.
The tags, which are extremely small, could one day replace bar codes on
product packaging, using special microchips to communicate wirelessly with
computers when scanned. The scanning can be automated to track goods as
they flow through the supply chain--from manufacturers to distributors to
stores and eventually to customers. The tags currently cost around 50 cents
apiece, and will need to come way down in price before their use becomes
practical on individual products, analysts say.
But retailers are still pushing for them. Retailing giant Wal-Mart is
expected this week to ask its top 100 suppliers to begin using the chips to
help track inventory by 2005.
Privacy advocates have raised warning flags about the technology,
especially its inclusion in garments. The inventory-tracking chips are
expected to include a kill switch before they end up in products.
Auto ID will be developing standards for the Electronic Product Code
Network, which uses radio frequency and network systems to identify
products. Microsoft said its work will initially focus on supply chains in
the manufacturing and retail sectors. Further ahead, the company said it
will work with partners to develop RFID technology throughout the supply
chain.
Ed Rerisi, director of research at Allied Business Intelligence (ABI), said
the RFID market is more than just tags and readers and that there's a huge
opportunity for software and service companies to participate in the market.
"Microsoft is trying to address a vacuum in the back-end integration of
RFID inventory systems," Rerisi said.
ABI estimates that revenue from tags, readers and software and services
could add up to as much as $3 billion by 2008.
Details at...
http://news.com.com/2100-1020-1015058.html
===================================================================
[6] Mexico losing to China
===================================================================
Workers in Mexico earn only a fraction of what U.S. workers earn, but they
are paid four times more than workers in China. Manufacturers who went
south of the border in search of cheap labor now are heading across the
Pacific, putting a crimp in Mexico's growth prospects.
Between January 2001 and December 2002, the maquiladora, or
manufacture-for-export sector in Mexico, lost 230,000 jobs out of a total
1.3 million as hundreds of companies either shifted production out of
Mexico or shut down completely. The North American Free Trade Agreement,
approved a decade ago, helped raise Mexico's share of U.S. imports from
7.3% in 1993 to 11.6% in 2002. But now China, which had only 5.4% of U.S.
imports in 1993, looks set to overtake Mexico this year with the
second-largest share of U.S. imports, after Canada.
Details at...
http://www.forbes.com/2003/06/06/cz_kd_0606mexico.html
===================================================================
Links to follow
===================================================================
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.gapent.com/
Sarbanes-Oxley 2002 http://www.sarbanes-oxley2002.com
E-Tailer's Digest http://www.etailersdigest.com
ETD Archives: http://topica.com/lists/etailer/read
Prior to 29 Dec
1999 http://etailersdigest.com/archives/index.htm
Marketing Your Web http://www.gapent.com/myweb/
Automated Press Releases http://www.automatedpr.com
CRM
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/21679.html
FaceTime releases IM security tools
http://news.com.com/2100-1009_3-1017839.html?tag=fd_top
CRM software market keeps slipping
http://news.com.com/2100-1019-1017002.html
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Content-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"
<html>
<body>
<font face="arial" size=2> E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for
the Retailer<br>
Issue
#0695<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab>
June 17, 2003<br>
George Matyjewicz,
Moderator
<a href="mailto:georgem@gapent.com" eudora="autourl">mailto:georgem@gapent.com</a><br>
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
<a href="http://www.etailersdigest.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.etailersdigest.com</a><br>
===================================================================
<br><br>
CONTENTS <br><br>
[1] Greetings<br>
[2] Web conferencing works<br>
[3] Is Price the Criteria for Buying? <br>
----- ---- --- -- -> Important Offer <- -- --- ---- ---- -- <br>
[4] Software for managing sweepstakes<br>
[5] Radio ID tags get Microsoft backing<br>
[6] Mexico losing to China <br><br>
===================================================================
<br>
[1] Greetings.<br>
===================================================================
<br>
Hi All:<br><br>
Hope our US members had a good Father's Day - both personally and
from a business point of view. <br><br>
Today we have some comments from list members, including a nice piece on
pricing and one who needs some help with a new product (see 3 and 4
below). Let's try to help. <br><br>
Is Web conferencing in your future? Today, with the threat of SARS,
and the fear of travel, many companies are using Web conferencing to
display products. This year I have been involved with Web
conferencing extensively, and can tell you that it works!
What about you?<br><br>
Microsoft is getting into the radio ID tag world, which should be a boon
to the industry. I strongly believe that radio ID tags will be the
wave of the future, just like bar coding was in the past 20 years.
If you're a supplier, get ready to provide this service to the big
guys. <br><br>
Interesting to note how Mexico is losing business to China - 230,000
jobs! With the introduction of NAFTA, it was assumed that
Mexico would benefit, and businesses would get their products
cheaper. Of course, the planners failed to realize how fickle
business folks are, and when an opportunity to get even lower prices
appears, they go.<br><br>
I will be exhibiting at the International IIA conference in Las Vegas
from June 21-24. If anybody is in the area, stop by for a
visit. And, I sure could use some special reports. Anybody
have something they would like to share? 1,500 - 2,500 words and we
will make it a special issue, and it will remain at our site for
posterity.
<a href="http://etailersdigest.com/resources/Specials/" eudora="autourl">http://etailersdigest.com/resources/Specials/</a>
<br><br>
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.<br><br>
Sincerely<br><br>
<br>
Dr. George Matyjewicz<br>
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.<br>
<a href="mailto:georgem@gapent.com" eudora="autourl">mailto:georgem@gapent.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.etailersdigest.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.etailersdigest.com</a><br><br>
================================================================== <br>
[2] Web conferencing works<br>
==================================================================<br>
This year I got involved with WebEx, the Web conferencing tool, and I
can't praise it enough. We now do 8-10 demonstrations a month - all
remotely! Last week we had folks in the demo from the UK,
Bermuda and three offices in the US. Can't beat that!<br><br>
Years ago, the cost of travel, plus the time made the cost of doing
business almost prohibitive. If you look at sales as a numbers
game, which many do (not me), then the more demonstrations you do, the
more your sales will increase. If you add the extra costs of sales
(demos and travel) you end up either pricing your products higher or you
eat the costs and lose money.<br><br>
While we use Web conferencing for selling software, it can work for
any product or service that you sell. For example, let's say you
represent a company selling giftware from China, which can be tailored to
the retailer's specific needs. Rather than travel to the retailer,
you can Web conference. Show and describe your products and talk
about how you can change a product to fit the retailer's needs. Of
course, the retailer will want to touch and feel the product, which
you can then send to them.<br><br>
How about a retailer selling to the consumer? Try this
scenario: the consumer has a question about a particular product, or
wants to know if you have an item in stock. Your customer support
person shows the consumer various products while they chat online.
Just like they do when a consumer enters a store.<br><br>
That last scenario has been around for a couple of years with many
retailers offering chat capabilities with consumers to answer
questions. Being able to pass a picture to the consumer adds more
to the service. <br><br>
Pretty soon we may hear "Do you IM? or "Do you CRM?" from
the company who's theme is now "Do you Yahoo?" In an article in
E-Commerce Times Keith Regan writes about Yahoo's collaboration with BEA
and WebEx Communications to enable Yahoo's Instant Messaging (IM) product
to become part of a variety of enterprise applications, such as customer
relationship management software. Specifically, Yahoo said it plans to
add the ability to launch WebEx virtual conferences from personal
desktops and to embed instant messaging inside custom software
applications. <br><br>
The collaboration with BEA is designed to enable Yahoo's IM product to
become part of a variety of enterprise applications, such as customer
relationship management software. Yahoo already has similar agreements in
place with Novell and Sun Microsystems. <br><br>
If security is an issue, instant-messaging software company
FaceTime Communications unveiled on Monday two products that are designed
to make IM programs secure for business use. <br><br>
Interesting to note that a slow economy and the shifting priorities of
information technology buyers forced the customer relationship management
software industry to face its second year of declining new license
revenue in 2002. <br><br>
What about you? Have you tried Web conferencing on either
end? <br><br>
George<br><br>
===================================================================
<br>
[3] Is Price the Criteria for Buying? <br>
===================================================================<br>
George, After reading the article "do shoppers shop for price"
in today's newsletter, I want to submit this article.<br><br>
This is not an uncommon question and for many the answer is
"yes." Some say it more emphatically than others. I
do not.<br><br>
It is well known that most "sale" prices, other than close out
sale goods, are a discount from some figure (SRP) that is a large (more
than double) multiple of cost so that with the discount there is enough
markup to cover the costs of running the business as well as the goods.
<br><br>
When surveys are done on what criteria people use to make a decision to
buy price is often 5th, 6th or 7th in importance. The decision to
buy something for Daddy has other criteria before price comes into
play. First, of course, what does he need or how can he use
or do with it? If there is no need or use for it, being on
sale has not effect whatsoever. So, if one gets past this point,
then size or color or material comes into play . . . if it isn't in his
size, then who cares what the color or material or price is? If
there is a use and the right size, either color or material take on some
importance before price does. There are a lot of decisions that
come into play on the way to make a decision and when the customer gets
through these 3 or 4 steps, then price becomes a factor. Certainly,
on one wants to pay more for something that they have to if all other
things meet the criteria set by the customer. <br><br>
In the scheme of things, shoppers do not shop for price but they shop for
what they see as having "added value" . . . they want to get
more for what they are paying for or, they will only be willing to
pay less since they do not see that they are getting the
added-value.<br><br>
Price becomes a factor when other factors such as added-value or time or
effort or two or three other factors are not met. Price makes
no difference if the size, color, is not right or if the customer or
recipient of the gift has no use for it. <br><br>
But because the retail industry in all its parts look at price as the
prime reason for buying the industry has resorted to putting an sale
price on almost everything . . . the sale price being a discount
from some inflated SRP. <br><br>
Is "on sale" losing its effectiveness? I'd like to think
so but looking at newspaper advertising, I think not because if it was
there would be less sales. <br><br>
Alan J. Zell, Ambassador Of Selling<br><br>
===================================================================
<br>
[4] Software for managing sweepstakes<br>
===================================================================<br>
I'm developing some scripts to manage sweepstakes on websites. The simple
ones are finished and I'm now working on one that uses a series of sweeps
to feed each returning entrant the next survey in the series. The surveys
will be by industry category/sub-category or could be customized. The
script will also mail out confirmations and reminders as well as
newsletters to help build or increase customer base. As it stands now it
does weekly,monthly..I need to finish the weekly and monthly
episodic.<br><br>
A series of sweeps could create much useful information for people wise
enough to use it wisely. :-)<br><br>
I need to know what someone would expect to be available or useful to
them as this thing develops with some portal( I hate this word at times)
type qualities. I'm talking about something like possibly a reminder
service so you could maybe match the reminder with the serial data and
target the ad content in the reminder. Things on this order, things that
add data to be crossed with the series data. <br><br>
I call this episodic marketing, a term borrowed from the automotive
industry but really more in line with what you would think episodic
marketing would be instead of the way the auto industry uses it. Does
this make sense?<br><br>
If you want to look at the site it's at
<a href="http://www.contestmonkey.com/" eudora="autourl">www.contestmonkey.com</a><br><br>
Ronnie Gauthier<br><br>
===================================================================<br>
[5] Radio ID tags get Microsoft backing<br>
===================================================================<br>
Microsoft is enlisting in a venture designed to help develop standards
for radio frequency tags intended for use by retailers and manufacturers
to track goods. <br><br>
The software maker said Tuesday that it will work with Auto ID, a joint
venture of the Uniform Code Council and EAN International, to develop
commercial and technical standards for radio frequency ID (or RFID)
tags.<br><br>
The tags, which are extremely small, could one day replace bar codes on
product packaging, using special microchips to communicate wirelessly
with computers when scanned. The scanning can be automated to track goods
as they flow through the supply chain--from manufacturers to distributors
to stores and eventually to customers. The tags currently cost around 50
cents apiece, and will need to come way down in price before their use
becomes practical on individual products, analysts say.<br><br>
But retailers are still pushing for them. Retailing giant Wal-Mart is
expected this week to ask its top 100 suppliers to begin using the chips
to help track inventory by 2005.<br><br>
Privacy advocates have raised warning flags about the technology,
especially its inclusion in garments. The inventory-tracking chips are
expected to include a kill switch before they end up in
products.<br><br>
Auto ID will be developing standards for the Electronic Product Code
Network, which uses radio frequency and network systems to identify
products. Microsoft said its work will initially focus on supply chains
in the manufacturing and retail sectors. Further ahead, the company said
it will work with partners to develop RFID technology throughout the
supply chain. <br><br>
Ed Rerisi, director of research at Allied Business Intelligence (ABI),
said the RFID market is more than just tags and readers and that there's
a huge opportunity for software and service companies to participate in
the market. <br><br>
"Microsoft is trying to address a vacuum in the back-end integration
of RFID inventory systems," Rerisi said. <br><br>
ABI estimates that revenue from tags, readers and software and services
could add up to as much as $3 billion by 2008. <br><br>
Details at...<br>
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1020-1015058.html" eudora="autourl">http://news.com.com/2100-1020-1015058.html</a>
<br><br>
=================================================================== <br>
[6] Mexico losing to China <br>
===================================================================<br>
Workers in Mexico earn only a fraction of what U.S. workers earn, but they are paid four times more than workers in China. Manufacturers who went south of the border in search of cheap labor now are heading across the Pacific, putting a crimp in Mexico's growth prospects. <br><br>
Between January 2001 and December 2002, the maquiladora, or manufacture-for-export sector in Mexico, lost 230,000 jobs out of a total 1.3 million as hundreds of companies either shifted production out of Mexico or shut down completely. The North American Free Trade Agreement, approved a decade ago, helped raise Mexico's share of U.S. imports from 7.3% in 1993 to 11.6% in 2002. But now China, which had only 5.4% of U.S. imports in 1993, looks set to overtake Mexico this year with the second-largest share of U.S. imports, after Canada. <br><br>
<br>
Details at...<br>
<a href="http://www.forbes.com/2003/06/06/cz_kd_0606mexico.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.forbes.com/2003/06/06/cz_kd_0606mexico.html</a><br><br>
<br>
=================================================================== <br>
Links to follow<br>
=================================================================== <br><br>
GAP Enterprises, Ltd. <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><a href="http://www.gapent.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.gapent.com/</a><br>
Sarbanes-Oxley 2002<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><a href="http://www.sarbanes-oxley2002.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.sarbanes-oxley2002.com</a><br>
E-Tailer's Digest<x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><a href="http://www.etailersdigest.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.etailersdigest.com</a><br>
ETD Archives: <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><a href="http://topica.com/lists/etailer/read" eudora="autourl">http://topica.com/lists/etailer/read</a><br>
Prior to 29 Dec 1999 <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><a href="http://etailersdigest.com/archives/index.htm" eudora="autourl">http://etailersdigest.com/archives/index.htm</a><br>
Marketing Your Web <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><a href="http://www.gapent.com/myweb/" eudora="autourl">http://www.gapent.com/myweb/</a><br>
Automated Press Releases <x-tab> </x-tab><x-tab> </x-tab><a href="http://www.automatedpr.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.automatedpr.com</a> <br><br>
CRM<br>
<a href="http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/21679.html" eudora="autourl">http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/21679.html</a><br><br>
FaceTime releases IM security tools <br>
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1009_3-1017839.html?tag=fd_top" eudora="autourl">http://news.com.com/2100-1009_3-1017839.html?tag=fd_top</a><br><br>
CRM software market keeps slipping<br>
<a href="http://news.com.com/2100-1019-1017002.html" eudora="autourl">http://news.com.com/2100-1019-1017002.html</a> <br>
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