ETD: 767 Succession Planning; The Value of Travel; Internet
Payments Grow, Chargeback Rates Fall
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue Mar 9 12:34:39 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0767 March 9, 2004
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] Succession Planning
[3] The Value of Travel
[4] Internet Payments Grow, Chargeback Rates Fall
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
With the conviction of Martha Stewart, it occurred to me that succession
planning should be key in any business. What do you think? How are you
protected in case of a tragedy?
Richard Woolnough, our resident Bermudian (who we envy during these harsh
winters ;-) gives us some more ideas on the value of travel, and what we
all learn when we travel. Obviously travel is only helpful if we look at
what others are doing, and apply what we see to our business and our lives.
Jules Kaplan reports on the growth of Internet payments and what Wells
Fargo is doing in this e-commerce world. Now if we can only get a true
global bank.
Let's hear about your business, which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?" site.
http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm 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 at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Succession Planning
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Martha Stewart was convicted this week, and faces jail time. She can get
up to 25 years in jail, but most likely will get 1-3 years. The big
question is what happens to her retail empire? She owns 61% of Martha
Stewart Living and the stock is falling. Can MSL make it without it's
founder and it's main product - Martha Stewart?
Executives/founders/owners have gone to jail or died suddenly and the
organization continued successfully. Stew Leonard in CT is one
example. The family members were all involved in fraud, and went to
jail. Yet the business survived. Walt Disney, the patriarch of that
empire died and the organization survived (in spite of recent no confidence
votes).
Others were not so lucky. I was consulting with one of the top companies
if it's time - Willi Wear. Willi Smith was said to be one of the most
talented designers of his era, and that Smith's work influenced what became
the casual American style of the 1980s and 1990s - loose, oversized and
mixable clothing. What folks didn't know is that Willi's partner was the
designer and managed the company before his death. They company could have
continued, but perception forced it to close.
Martha Stewart, liked and disliked by many, in my opinion falls onto the
latter category. While others may design her products, the perception is
it's Martha, and the business will suffer.
Which brings up the issue of succession planning. What do you do with a
business when it's time to retire or in the event of a tragedy? CPAs can
guide you on how to continue from a financial point of view. But how do
you survive from an image point of view? Will your business be perceived
as you, and nobody can replace you?
Maybe it's time to think of succession planning. What do you think?
George
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[3] The Value of Travel
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In my previous life as a 'salary slave' I used to travel frequently to the
US, Europe and Asia. All your points are very valid as I found that I had
to adopt a slightly different persona in every country.
When I moved to Bermuda 22 years ago, I quickly learned the same as you did
in Tortola. If you do not say "Good Morning/Afternoon" you are considered
rude at best and uneducated and insulting at worst. This results in being
virtually transparent to the other party. However, a friendly greeting soon
turns people into the most helpful you can find. I found this to be a very
positive change after living in London (If you are from NYC it can be like
another planet!).
As with so many things in life, follow the Golden Rule and 'Do unto others
as they would have you do unto them.'
Check out http://www.etiquetteintl.com/Articles/FirstGetGood.aspx for a
good overview of the problem.
Richard Woolnough
Bespoke Solutions Ltd
www.BespokeSolutionsLtd.com
+1(441)295 0951
We can tailor your business
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[4] Internet Payments Grow, Chargeback Rates Fall
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Wells Fargo, which processes 15 per cent of total online retail payments in
the US, handled almost USD 12 billion in Internet payments during 2003, or
double the volume for 2002. The bank handles payments for over 60,000
e-tailers and for 90 to 95 per cent of the online auction market in the US,
after becoming the payment provider for PayPal Inc, in June 2002. As the
first US bank to process a secure credit card payment over the Internet,
Wells Fargo's payments business is growing more rapidly than the domestic
eCommerce industry, while also providing card fraud and chargeback
assistance to online merchants.
Total chargeback rates at e-tailers dropped in the year to June 2003,
according to the Merchant Risk Council, but the average proportion of
merchants with a fraudulent chargeback rate of less than 0.35 per cent,
increased from 48 per cent in 2002, to 64 per cent in 2003. Small merchants
made most progress in reducing their chargeback rate, while the proportion
of e-tailers with fraudulent chargeback rates greater than 1 per cent, fell
to single-digit levels, at an overall rate of 9.7 per cent. By contrast, in
2002, almost twice as many (18 per cent) of the merchants had a more than 1
per cent fraudulent chargeback rate.
The MRC also found 38 per cent of survey respondents in 2003, to classify
international card fraud as "out of control", or "a big problem", down from
41 per cent in 2002. On average, 45 per cent of e-tailers surveyed in 2003,
have already implemented, or plan to implement, secure online payments
programs such as Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode, up from 31 per
cent in 2002. However, 16 per cent of merchants surveyed had never heard of
either program, including over 20 per cent of midsize and large e-tailers,
which command annual online revenues between USD 1 million and USD 5 million.
Jules Kaplan
Ez Payment Solutions INC (EZP)
480-991-7025 OR 800-220-0468 - FAX 310-362-8746 Accept Payment by
FAX - PHONE - E-MAIL - INTERNET
EZP is a secure Electronic Invoicing Presentmentment and Payment (EIPP)
service that allows users to create, send,
receive and process electronic invoices and make secure online payments by
ACH-EFT or Credit Card.
E-Commerce Solution that you have to SEE to BELIEVE
www.onlinechek.com / www.ezpaymentservices.com
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Links to follow
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