ETD: 725 UK Happenings; What's Hot What's Not for Gifts this
Holiday Season; Taxation and the Future of Online Commerce;
Windows-Based MusicMatch Hopes To Match Apple iTunes; Kimberly-Clark
Plans for RFID
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post@gapent.com
Tue, 30 Sep 2003 06:33:55 -0400
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0725 September 30, 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] UK Happenings
[3] What's Hot What's Not for Gifts this Holiday Season
[4] Taxation and the Future of Online Commerce
[5] Windows-Based MusicMatch Hopes To Match Apple iTunes
[6] Kimberly-Clark Plans for RFID
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
I'm back from London. Very nice trip (journey) - part business part
pleasure. My thanks to Jules Kaplan for the Special Report which we had
last Thursday.
It's back to school and less than 9i0 days before Christmas. Are you
ready? What are you doing?
This time of the year we also get a lot of new subscribers, many of them
coming from Professor Richard Feinberg's class at Purdue. They will lurk
and learn. So, let's not disappoint them - we need your
e-tailing/retailing expertise.
A new service has been introduced to allow the legal downloading of music
like iTunes did earlier this year. The new service is Windows-based
(iTunes is Apple). I think the recording industry has to get with the
time, and join this new media. Some of the smarter artists allow
downloading from their site. If you are faced with such a loss of money
(like illegal downloading), why not try to capitalize on it?
Don't forget our new section at our site - "Members: Who Are You?"
http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm We have posted for
posterity those list members who submitted information. And we have a form
there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first proposed this
idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't know
anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
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] UK Happenings
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I couldn't go to London without reporting on happenings there.
While the British Pound is $1.6669 USD, I found it interesting that the
prices of goods were the same price in pounds, i.e., a Starbucks Cappuccino
in the US costs $3.50 and in London it's 3.50 GBP. We shopped at many
shops to compare prices. In general, the prices were the same as the US
when you figured one GBP was the same as one USD. I would have thought it
would be adjusted for the conversion.
The cost of housing has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. One
of our colleagues in London bought a two bedroom apartment in London four
years ago for 350,000 GBP. It's now worth 600,000 GBP. UK-wide housing
has increased 138% (65,025 GBP in 1993; 154,503 today) and it ranged from
111% in Wales to 218% in the South West. In London it's up 180%.
Brits are up in arms over the cost of education that has been enacted in
the past could of years. Students now pay 2,500 GBP a year for
university. It used to be free!
Travel abroad is cheaper than short breaks in the UK. A two night stay
overseas costs 156 GBP per person, compared with 162 GBP for staying at
home. Favorite spots include Spain, Canary Islands and Corfu.
We went to the theater and paid 45 GBP for the best seats. In NYC we pay
$75 a ticket. In that case, the conversion rate came into play.
One interesting item in the news there is a lawsuit brought against nine
former non-executive directors of Equitable Life who are being sued by the
insurer for 3.3 billion pound ($5.44 billion) for negligence and breach of
duty. Equitable, the world's oldest life assurer, is also claiming
negligence against six former executive directors, including Roy Ranson, a
former managing director. Equitable said there was a culture among the
non-executive directors of accepting whatever Ranson said.
I still love their advertisements. At Heathrow Airport they have the
Concorde with a sign that says "Arrive before you leave." Of course, my
favorite ad was the one by British Air a couple of years ago targeting US
travellers - "Come on home. All is forgiven." <g>.
George
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[3] What's Hot What's Not for Gifts this Holiday Season
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As the nation's retailers gear up for an expected blockbuster holiday
season, shoppers are drafting their gift lists. Popular holiday gift ideas
can be found in the results of a new shoppers' survey conducted by Unity
Marketing that covers 20 categories.
"Shoppers gifting preferences become clear when we examine the purchase
incidence of top gift items since 2000," says luxury marketing expert Pam
Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the book Why People
Buy Things They Don't Need. "With the giftware industry topping $54
billion in 2002, upward trending categories in gifts reflect today's
consumer psychology."
"As the 'connecting' trend replaces 'cocooning', consumers select gifts
that express their value system and emotional feeling for others," Danziger
explains. "Since 9-11 consumers are reconnecting with the outside world and
reaching out to establish true connection with others. Gifts, then, become
a means to express one's emotions and feelings."
Top gift ideas for Christmas 2003 that reflect the connecting trend include:
Luxury stationery, scrapbooking supplies and photo albums
Connecting consumers are placing new emphasis on personal communications,
so luxury stationery from Crane's or Papyrus is right on trend. Also hot,
scrapbooking supplies and photo albums that encourage self-expression and
creativity. Young people, in particular, are enthralled with the expressive
possibilities of scrapbooks.
Never enough decorations
Since 2000, consumers have purchasing more seasonal decorations for
Christmas and other holidays. New decorations for outside the home,
including flags and banners, wreaths, lighted lawn sculptures, and window
decorations will be popular. Indoor collectible holiday ornaments such as
those from Lenox will be popular. Lighted holiday villages from Department
56 hark to the past to help consumers connect to a simpler time.
Aromatherapy, household scents, not candles
While sales of candles stalled, partly due to concerns about indoor air
pollution and petroleum-based waxes, shoppers are turning to non-burning
scented products like steamers, potpourri, and sprays, which also hit the
under $25 gifting 'sweet spot'. If they must give a candle, shoppers will
increasingly choose among the new soy-based alternatives, Ergo candles or
traditional beeswax from Yankee Candle.
Baskets, boxes and tins eliminate clutter and decorate
After years of building household clutter, consumers crave a simplified,
anti-cluttered lifestyle, making decorative organizers, baskets, boxes, and
tins in great demand. Priced across the spectrum, first choice is
Longaberger's luxury hand-made wooden baskets.
Art and wall decorations trending up
Today walls are a new focus for decorating. Art prints and pictures that
capture sentiments and wall decorations such as sconces, shelves, mirrors,
clocks, and tapestries are gaining favor. While this category can be tricky
to buy as a gift, make your selection based upon emotion and feeling rather
than color and design.
Collectibles, a favorite choice for collectors
Gift giving is simple for the avid collector on one's list. Since one out
of every three people collect something, knowing what someone collects
gives you an edge. But picking the right collectible can be tricky. Here's
a hint: If your collector goes for characters, like classic Disney figures,
try to find a piece with a gloss finish, rather than matte, which tends to
look dusty. Gloss finishes, or crystal glass from Glass Baron, Waterford,
or Swarovski, are favored.
What NOT to buy
Turnoffs today include anything cluttered, busy, or merely decorative
items. In our connecting world, consumers want functionality and
practicality, along with classic style, so vases are preferred over
figurines. The best gifts connect gift giver with the gift recipient
emotionally, so items that carry an emotional connection or emotional
meaning are on trend.
Len Stein
Visibility
914-712-2610
lens@visibilitypr.com
www.unitymarketingonline.com
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[4] Taxation and the Future of Online Commerce
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For relatively small, niche-focused e-tailers, a national online sales tax
might be preferable to the existing mishmash of local jurisdictions because
it would simplify the collection process.
For years, the U.S. Internet and e-commerce industries resisted any push
for a national online sales tax on the grounds that it would harm e-tail
sales growth. However, at least some retailers that finally have
transitioned to full-scale tax collection say the move has had little or no
impact on their top or bottom line.
True, savvy shoppers can still find sites that are not collecting taxes
uniformly, instead leaving it up to users to disclose whether or not they
are subject to local sales tax, but many retailers believe customers are
more interested in saving 5 minutes than in saving 5 percent.
"The impact has been very minimal. Our customers are not going to decide
not to make a purchase because there's sales tax," Lands' End (NYSE:
LE) CFO Don Hughes said at the eTail 2003 conference in August. "That's
not what's driving them to come to our site to begin with."
Hughes said the transition to taxing online sales did not take place
without some fallout, as customers did react to seeing charges they had not
encountered before. However, he added: "It goes away. After six to nine
months, it was basically impossible to see the difference."
Details at...
http://ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/31668.html
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[5] Windows-Based MusicMatch Hopes To Match Apple iTunes
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MusicMatch is the first Windows-based service to obtain looser licensing
terms from record labels. "We held off launching until we could get these
rules," CEO Dennis Mudd said. "If you make it too hard on users, they'll
just go to Kazaa."
The record industry's race to offer attractive alternatives to the pirate
online swap services is picking up speed. The latest Windows-based service,
MusicMatch Downloads, launches today, and several others are expected in
October.
MusicMatch CEO Dennis Mudd calls his 99-cents-a-song service a
"breakthrough," because he acquired liberal usage rules similar to those in
Apple's acclaimed iTunes Music Store: Buyers can burn songs and transfer
them to portable devices as often as they want.
Apple's service, introduced in April, has sold more than 10 million tracks
to date. But it's available only to Macintosh users -- about 2% of the
computer market -- although the company promises a service for users of
Microsoft Windows by year's end.
The first competitor to try to stake out an Apple alternative,
BuyMusic.com, took some heat when introduced in July for inconsistent rules
on how many times a song could be transferred to a portable or to
recordable CD.
Details at...
http://ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/31697.html
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[6] Kimberly-Clark Plans for RFID
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To conform to the plans of Wal-Mart, its largest customer, Kimberly-Clark
is planning to automate its inventory systems with radio frequency
technology. The maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissue hired IBM to
help design a strategy for the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID)
tags to broadcast information about a package's content. Wal-Mart asked its
top 100 suppliers to have RFID tags on all cases and pallets of goods by
2005. IBM will also help Kimberly-Clark comply with Wal-Mart's needs.
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