ETD: 795 Giftware Merchandise Marts; Supply chain contingency
plans; AOL Names Stolen - Spammers Prosecuted
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Jun 24 11:03:19 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0795 June 24, 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] Giftware Merchandise Marts
[3] Supply chain contingency plans
[4] AOL Names Stolen - Spammers Prosecuted
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
I have a correction to the last issue. The production rate at the
Waterford factory is 400 pieces a shift, not an hour.
Many readers have asked how to get their products to market. In the
giftware industry, merchandise marts are one way to do so. Today we have
some information on merchandise marts and trade shows.
Have you evaluated your supply chain sourcing? What happens if your
supplier goes out of business or the country from which you import has a
disturbance?
For those of us who are getting spammed more than normal, the answer may be
because of the theft of AOL names - 92 million of them! The AOL employee
who stole them then sold them for $52,000! Thankfully, they are being
prosecuted.
Tell us 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] Giftware Merchandise Marts
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Readers have always asked how to get their giftware products to
market. While each company has different needs, one major resource is the
merchandise marts in the U.S.and other parts of the world. Frankfort
Germany and Hongkong are major global events that kick off the buying
season in the fall.
In the U.S., the major merchandise centers are Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and
Los Angeles, where they have permanent exhibitors and where they hold their
trade shows. NYC has a giftware building, but it is small, compared to the
others. Hence, NYC normally has their trade show at the Javitts Center.
For an idea of size, AMERICASMART® in Atlanta is the largest and consists
of three buildings, totaling 4.2 million square feet of exhibit space. The
buildings, AMERICASMART 1, AMERICASMART 2 and AMERICASMART 3, are all
connected via arial walkways. The buildings house permanent showroom space,
exhibit halls and convention and meeting room space.
The Chicago Merchandise Mart will add 100,000 square feet of exhibit space
by converting the seventh floor of the Merchandise Mart to Market Suites.
Currently occupied by the Chicago Transit Authority, the seventh floor will
be vacated in time for the January 2005 show. The Gift & Home Market will
then encompass more than one million square feet, and feature 350 showrooms
and 1,000 temporary exhibitors. Beckman’s Handcrafted Gift Show will move
from the second floor to the seventh in January 2005, and all temporary
exhibitors will be located on floors seven and eight. The eighth floor will
be renovated, access between the floors will be upgraded, and traffic flow
will be improved. “We’re thrilled to announce this latest expansion of the
Chicago Gift & Home Market,” said Joan Ulrich, v.p. of leasing and
marketing. “It allows us to add new product categories to the excellent
resources already in place.” The official unveiling of the expanded space
will take place January 22, 2005. (Thanks to Quinn Halford, Editor In
Chief and Matthew Kalash, Editor of Gift and Dec Direct
www.giftanddec.com)
Trade shows for the year begin in January, then again in late spring for
the Christmas season. For more information on trade shows visit
http://tsnn.com/
George
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[3] Supply chain contingency plans
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A couple of years ago I remember waking up to the news of an uprising in a
Caribbean country. While it usually doesn't hit close to home, this one
did. One of my largest clients was outsourcing their apparel manufacturing
business there! I had been warning them about alternate suppliers, but
they avoided the warnings.
The CEO had to fly to this country to try to get goods out. It took days
to do so, and they did lose a lot of business (major chains have a "drop
dead" date - deliver by that date or cancel the order).
In Frontline Today, Brian Albright discusses how companies are
re-evaluating their supplier bases to mitigate risk, and are developing
contingency plans to cope with breakdowns in the supply chain.
Thomas Industrial Network's March Industrial Purchasing Barometer Survey
showed that 55% of industrial buyers' companies have a supply chain
contingency plan, or are creating a plan by identifying critical materials
and suppliers.
As companies have worked to make their global supply chains more efficient,
many have reduced their supplier base to streamline operations. But by
reducing the number of suppliers, they have increased risk in the event of
a disruption. According to Erik Mikisch, vice president of business
development at Thomas Industrial Network, developing these contingency
plans and evaluating suppliers for risk potential helps improve responsiveness.
What about you? Do you have alternate sources in your supply chain?
Resources:
www.thomasnet.com
http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=95084
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[4] AOL Names Stolen - Spammers Prosecuted
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Two men, one of them an employee of America Online, were arrested Wednesday
on charges that they stole the entire list of AOL user names and sold it to
e-mail marketers, according to prosecutors.
Jason Smathers, a 24-year-old AOL software engineer, and 21-year-old Sean
Dunaway were arrested in their homes on conspiracy charges filed in New
York federal court.
According to the complaint announced by U.S. Attorney David Kelley,
Smathers in May 2003 "misappropriated a list of 92 million AOL customer
account screen names."
This case is one of the first to be prosecuted under a new U.S. law
regulating unwanted e-mail.
Dunaway, who lives in Las Vegas, bought the list from Smathers, sold it to
other e-mail marketers for $52,000 and "used the list to promote his own
Internet gambling operation," the federal complaint said. Dunaway later
paid Smathers $100,000 for an updated version of AOL's customer list and
sold it as well, the complaint alleged.
AOL released a statement saying it was "absolutely committed" to the
prosecution of Smathers. Company spokesman Nicholas Graham said AOL had no
further comment on the case. The online service kept its customer list in a
database at its headquarters in Dulles, Virginia, according to the
complaint. It said Smathers worked in that office, but was not authorized
to access or copy the customer information when he stole it.
Details at...
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/34715.html
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