ETD: 769 POS Shipments Rise Eight Percent after Two-Year
Slump; A Spammers Dream; Humble House Gifts
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Mar 18 11:50:56 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0769 March 18, 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] POS Shipments Rise Eight Percent after Two-Year Slump
[3] A Spammers Dream
[4] Humble House Gifts
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Interesting to note that POS shipments are on the rise, which is a good
sign for retailing. That means retailers are spending on capital
expenditures, which means they have confidence in the economy. It also
could mean more efficient processing, which goes to the bottom line or to
reduced prices for consumers. How about you? Are you upgrading your point
of sale systems? We would love to hear from some of our software vendors
as to what they see happening.
In the WSJ was an article on why spam exists. There are actually people
who buy, and one guy who looks forward to receiving spam! Spammers need to
have one buyer per 10,000 spam messages to break even. Which explains why
the millions are sent out!
Colleen Simons tells us about Humble House Gifts, 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] POS Shipments Rise Eight Percent after Two-Year Slump
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Overall POS shipments increased 8 percent in 2003 in North American
retailing, according to a recently release market study by IHL consulting,
which also projects a 15 percent increase in shipments for 2004. This
contrasts to two straight years of shipment decreases, reports the "Market
Study: 2004 North American Retail Point-of-Sale Terminals" by Lee Holmann
and Greg Buzek of IHL Consulting Group (www.ihlservices.com).
Some highlights of the study include: The overall market value of hardware,
software, peripherals and maintenance increased 6 percent to $7.1 billion.
Shipments of Windows 2000/XP systems increased 13 percent year over year
and now represent 54 percent of the total shipments to North America.
Combined with Win9x/CE shipments, Microsoft Operating Systems represented
70 percent of the total shipments in 2003. (This does not include DOS which
a portion would also be Microsoft). Shipments of Linux-based POS units grew
19 percent year over year. IBM 4690 shipments increased 1 percent year to
year and the installed base increased 7 percent, indicating that IBM
continues to expand its base of 4690 even though many customers are
considering Linux and Windows XP for the future. Although the DOS installed
base decreased 6 percent year to year, shipments actually increased 1
percent mainly due to the fact that Sears installed over 20,000 IBM
terminals running DOS initially (to be converted to XP in the future).
http://www.imakenews.com/edgellris/e_article000238457.cfm?x=a2HbWR5,a1CY7bKF
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[3] A Spammers Dream
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In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Mylene Mangalindian reported how
Orlando Soto looks forward each evening to spending time on his home
computer after work receiving spam. Mr. Soto routinely comes home to some
150 e-mail pitches, and he loves getting them all. The 45-year-old
grandfather opens most of them. He answers spam questionnaires. And he buys
stuff pitched in spam e-mail -- again and again. "Everyday people call it
spam," says Mr. Soto, who prefers calling it "unsolicited" e-mail. "But I'm
open to everything."
If everyone hated spam, it would disappear. But like the traditional
direct-mail marketers and telemarketers who came before them, spammers
survive public outrage, filters, lawsuits and regulations because
innumerable times a day, somebody, somewhere responds with money.
Mr. Soto buys spam-pitched aromatherapy oils for his wife and
pharmaceuticals for himself. His bookcases are lined with first-edition
mystery novels he bought via spam. In a corner of his two-bedroom
midtown-Manhattan apartment stands an antique pinball machine bought via
spam. He plays Internet bingo at five cents a game on a Web site pitched to
him by spam a few weeks ago. He buys stuff via spam for himself and to
resell on Web sites he sets up -- a business idea he got from a spam pitch.
Spam helps him "unwind" and "lose the stress of the day," Mr. Soto says.
He's the kind of person spammers love: a serial buyer. He says that he
sometimes spends hundreds of dollars a week buying via spam. Most spam
responders are one-time customers, e-mail marketers say, so repeaters make
all the difference. Scott Richter, who runs a mass e-mailing company called
Optinrealbig.com LLC in Westminster, Colo., says about a fifth of those who
order his vitamins and other products buy again. "Those repeat buyers help
generate a bulk of the revenue," he says.
There must be a lot of Mr. Sotos out there. In a survey by MailShell, a San
Francisco antispam company, 8% of respondents said they have bought
products via spam. Spammers say that percentage is probably low because
many people are too embarrassed to admit responding to spam.
Spammers say they typically need just one buyer per 10,000 spam messages to
break even. Mr. Soto recently spent more than $100 on vitamins from a spam
pitch that touted: "Buy 1, get 2 free, plus free shipping!" If this
particular solicitation was typical, spam experts say, the spammer probably
sent it to about five million people with a commission of about 30%. If 500
buyers averaged spending what Mr. Soto spent on the vitamins, the spammer
would bring in about $15,000 in revenue from the mailing.
Details at (may be subscription only):
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB107930537384354969,00.html
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[4] Humble House Gifts
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Humble House Gifts offers a wide variety of gift items featuring upscale
home accents, house & garden accessories, holiday and seasonal decoratives
, original photo paintings, and inspirational switch plate covers.
Per our tag line, "Humble House is where gifting means quality and value
made simple." We offer competitive prices for quality items with many
exclusive handmade originals including photo painting and inspirational
switch plate covers. Our prices are 40-50% off regular retail prices.
I have always had a bug for business since selling baby snails at school in
5th grade. I enjoy being of service to others and helping them to find
unique gift concepts that is great for both the package and pocket. I'm
very detail oriented and Humble House Gifts satisfies all those things.
I started the business 2 years ago. We market via word of mouth and are
new at search submissions for the URL
www.humblehouse.net.
There is no restriction on order size - no minimum orders.
Go to www.humblehouse.net to view a sampling of the over 4000 products
stocked. Click on Showroom for product viewing and Ordering for details.
Colleen Simons
Owner/Merchandise Manager
Humble House Gifts
2406 Wintergreen Rd
Sanford, NC 27330
919-777-9642
P.S. I have been an ETD subscriber for about 6 months and it has helped
form my website in terms of what products to feature as well as key search
words. Great info all around!
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