ETD: 711 Retailing do-it-yourself; Wal-Mart lets Web shoppers
pay by check; E-Tailing Resources Needed; Need resources; U.S.
E-commerce to See Significant Growth by 2008
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Tue, 12 Aug 2003 06:25:27 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0711 August 12, 2003
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem@gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Retailing do-it-yourself
[3] Wal-Mart lets Web shoppers pay by check
[4] E-Tailing Resources Needed
[5] Need resources
[6] U.S. E-commerce to See Significant Growth by 2008
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Summer in the Northern Hemisphere is slowly coming to an end. How's the
season been for you so far?
I read an interesting statistic that stated some retailers have August as
their best month, not December. And book stores do better in January, with
December being second best, It always fascinated me as to what month is
best, and what do we do about it. For example, consulting and software
sales suffer during July and August. So, that's a time to retool your
thinking and plan for the influx in September. How does it work for you?
Some of our members need some assistance. How about some help from you?
According to some reports, E-Commerce in the US will grow significantly in
the next five years. And we all know how China is poised to be the next
biggest growth area. What are you doing to capitalize on this?
I'll be traveling and at conferences over the next 60 days - two trips to
the UK; two other shows in US. So, some special reports would be
appreciated. We'll publish anything that would be of interest to our
readers. 1,500 to 2,500 words. And we post it to our "Special Reports"
section of E-Tailer's Digest site, which does get a lot of
visitors. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/Specials/index.htm
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem@gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Retailing do-it-yourself
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What comes to mind when one says do-it-yourself retail stores? You're
probably thinking Home Depot or Lowes, eh? Wrong!
Today, "do-it-yourself" relates to the latest tactics used by retailers -
self checkout. Have you ever used them? Personally, I like them, but
there are those who complain that retailers are passing the workload on to
the consumer. So? This trend has been around for decades - actually to
the early part of the last century. Do-it-yourself service really took off
in the mid-1990s as businesses -- including phone companies, grocery stores
and airlines -- introduced or improved services using the Internet and
other technological advancements.
Airlines now use e-tickets and have kiosks at airports where you get your
boarding pass. They are wonderful! No lines. And some airlines (like
Continental) have them spread out throughout the airport - just like slot
machines in Las Vegas ;-).
Here are some facts about the evolution of do-it-yourself service from an
article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
o Self-service technology for gas pumps originated in 1947, when two
Californians simultaneously hit on the idea.
o The first automated tellermachine in the United States was at Citizens &
Southern National Bank in Atlanta in 1971.
o There are about 352,000 ATMs today, churning out 13.9 billion
transactions a year. That's up from the 94,822 machines that handled 7.7
billion transactions in 1993.
o Automats are the grandfather of fast-food. They featured cafeteria lines
and prepared food and drinks that were dispensed from tiny glass windows
that were coin-operated. Automats were popular in the early part of the
last century and were the McDonald's of their day. Horn and Hardart of New
York opened the first one in the summer of 1912 at what was then the middle
of New York's Times Square.
o About 90 percent of gasoline purchases are made at self-serve stations.
Full-service gas stations are nearly extinct. NJ is the only state that I
know who still has attandents.
o About 30 percent of U.S. supermarkets offer self-scan checkout.
o Atlanta-based Home Depot was the first in the home-improvement industry
to introduce self-scan checkout lanes. The company is adding automated
checkout lanes at more than half of its nearly 1,600 stores this year.
(Source: American Bankers Association; Scientific American.com, assorted
news articles. Compiled by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution News Research
staff and Tammy Joyner
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/0803/10diy.html#)
I like the idea of having this function in my control. I get aggravated
when a customer in line has issues, which holds up a line.
So what do you think? Do you like self-checkouts? Do you have them in
your stores?
George
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[3] Wal-Mart lets Web shoppers pay by check
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Yes, this is a very interesting story. What Wal-Mart did was to do the
same thing they are doing for the in-store customers except they are now
saying what a great innovation to Internet Marketing.
At least in Arizona, I have gone into Wal-Mart and watch how customers make
payment. They have the following choices:
Cash
Visa, Master Card, Discover Card & American Express Credit Cards
Visa & Master Card ATM payment
Paper Checks
The real question is, did Wal-Mart actually process the checks by
depositing them to their bank account. I think you will be surprised that
they did not. Here is what they have been doing for a period of time:
a. Customer pays by check
b. They validate the check giver against a negative database.
c. They then put the check into a reader.
d. What the reader is doing is step B and also capturing
the data for electronic transfer over the Federal Reserve.
It is also capturing the dollar amount from the register.
Note: Most Processors close out the processing normally at
5PM EST. I bet Wal-Mart owns their own bank and they may
send it up to the Federal Reserve around 9PM EST. The
Federal Reserve closes out at Midnight for processing.
By 6 AM EST, the seller knows if the money if good or bad.
If you want information on Electronic Funds please go to:
http://www.electronicfunds.com
e. The cashiers then returns the paper check to the customer
for their records.
f. Look at the labor saving it is for Wal-Mart. Everything is
done electronically and their record keeping is finished as
far as payments.
Gee, does that sound the same process for the Internet. I think so. Here
the customer uses some kind of interface to enter the check
information. If you want to see what a check interface would look like
please go to: http://www.webchek.com/check.php?id=110 This is a type of
interface we will be marketing for shopping carts, by September 1, 2003.
This interface can integrate with any shopping cart. But it does require
some web master to do the work.
Again, I give thanks to Wal-Mart, they just raised the bar for our type of
service.
On another note, GoDaddy.com, the No. 1 registrar of net new domains,
announced that customers can now elect to pay for its products and
services with "online" checks instead of a credit card, becoming the first
registrar to offer an online check payment option. The new, "Pay by Check"
option enables customers to write online checks which result in deducting
the cost of their GoDaddy.com purchase, i.e., domain registration, directly
from their checking account.
Yours truly
Jules Kaplan
E-commerce Payment Solution Provider
Find Out How to Reduce Billing and Collection Cost by 90%+
To find out go to: www.ezpaymentservices.com
ezpaymentservices@pobox.com
480-991-7025 OR 800-220-0468 - FAX 310-362-8746
Accept Check by FAX - PHONE - E-MAIL - INTERNET
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[4] E-Tailing Resources Needed
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Some of our newer list members need some help.....
How to make a website more customer friendly for our 25 store chain.
Gilbert Charles Peter
Executive-Retail & Marketing
Singapore Technologies Logistics
Singapore
+++ [Next Post] +++
Information about how to set up and successfully maintain an online store
for our jewelry.
Diana Marin,
Marketing Director
Creative Cafe
San Antonio, TX
U.S.
+++ [Next Post] +++
Websites for buying wholesale such as promotional items and paper goods
like envelopes, brochures, invoices, letterhead, business cards, full color
items.
Steve Moore
Business Card Specialists
Greenwood, IN
U.S.
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[5] Need resources
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Best business practices used in the retail industry
Unnikishnan Sukumaran
Infosys Technologies Limited
Fair Lawn, NJ
U.S.
+++ [Next Post] +++
I need to keep up-to-date on State and Provincial tax --- actually, any tax
--- changes that happen and how etailers are handling collecting and paying
state taxes on sales.
Ron Biggs
Enduring Reflections
Seattle, WA
U.S.
+++ [Next Post] +++
Articles on forecasting and inventory planning
Paul Teplitz
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[6] U.S. E-commerce to See Significant Growth by 2008
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A report from Forrester Research, Inc. finds that a growing online consumer
base, increases in new product categories, and efforts by online retailers
to optimize online shopping experiences will spark significant growth in
the industry over the next five years.
The report also states that, although offline retail sales continue to
struggle, e-commerce sales will increase at a steady 19 percent
year-over-year growth rate, rising to 229.0 billion in 2008 from $95.7
billion in 2003. Online retail sales will account for 10 percent of total
U.S. retail sales by 2008.
Forrester predicts that nearly 5 million new U.S. households will shop
online in each of the next five years, with the total number of U.S. online
shopping households expected to reach 63 million by 2008. According to the
report, a growing number of these households use broadband, resulting in
the ability to research more products and shop online more than dial-up
users. As further proof that online consumers are maturing and growing more
comfortable with the medium, Scarborough Research announced a study that
shows American adults with at-home broadband connections accounted for
almost one-third (31 percent) of all consumer online spending last year,
totaling 15 billion dollars.
The study also revealed that America's 23 million broadband users are twice
as likely as all Internet users to have spent $2,500 or more online in the
past 12 months. Representing a more affluent market, broadband users are 39
percent more likely to purchase jewelry online; 64 percent more likely to
purchase toys and games online; and 64 percent more likely to purchase
cars, trucks and SUVs.
Product categories that historically have seen insignificant online growth
are predicted to grow the fastest, according to Forrester. For the next
five years, food and beverage, sporting goods, and home goods will outpace
more traditional online categories like books and travel. Books, which
generated 14 percent of U.S. e-commerce sales in 2000, will fall to 3
percent of total sales over the next five years.
Online grocers like Peapod and FreshDirect will continue to make strides,
as Forrester projects the most dramatic growth will be seen in the food and
beverage category, with sales increasing to $17.4 billion from $3.7 billion
over the next five years. Sporting goods, which have found a niche in the
used goods market, are predicted to grow to $6 billion from $1.7 billion,
with nearly a third of sales coming from used products.
Details at...
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/markets/retailing/article/0,,6061_2246041,00.html
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Links to follow
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