ETD: 885 Where is retailing heading?; Viable Fuel Cells;
EPage, Inc. - Oldest online Classified Web service
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Tue May 10 11:58:25 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0885 May 10, 2005
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] Where is retailing heading?
[3] Viable Fuel Cells
[4] EPage, Inc. - Oldest on-line Classified Web service
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Some recent developments in the auto industry and technology got me to
wondering where retailing is headed. What do you think? Are sales people
a thing of the past? In e-tailing the way to go?
They are looking at fuel cells to power laptops, which they are hoping to
be the start of power for autos. It sounds like a long way off - the
laptops only get 8 hours life with fuel cells. However, hybrid autos are
doing quite well. It will be interesting to see where alternate energy
will take us.
List member Brad Waller tells us about EPage, Inc. the oldest on-line
classified web service. I had the pleasure of meeting Brad a couple of
years ago. Their service is quite good and something you should consider
(and it's free). EPage is one of the first 10,000 websites which is
impressive. I also had a couple of sites in the first 10,000 and can tell
you it was an interesting time period.
Tel us about your business, which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?" site. This is a courtesy to our members who
contribute to our forum, and not merely a way to advertise for
free. Anything to do with the retail world, i.e., supplier, retailer,
consulting, etc. 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] Where is retailing heading?
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Somebody sent me a note after reading the article "Retailing in 2023"
written in June 2003.
http://etailersdigest.com/resources/Specials/Retail-2023.htm
He liked the predictions, which got me to thinking again. Where do we see
retailing (or business in general) heading in the next decade? Technology
continues to be getting smaller, faster and cheaper. Will we see major
advances in the auto industry? Home electronics?
How about retailing? What will we see as some of the advances in
retailing? The consolidations and sales of department stores seems to be
an ongoing trend. What about the 70% of the retailers - the independents,
a/k/a "mom & pop stores"? Are sales people a thing of the past? In
e-tailing the way to go?
Will RFID become more powerful and allow us to track goods "on the water?"
What do you think?
George
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[3] Viable Fuel Cells
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A couple of weeks ago my wife traded in her one-year old Jaguar for a Honda
hybrid. She drives 100 miles a day to/from work, and got tired of paying
the price for premium gas and the amount of gas needed. Now she gets 42
MPG and no loss of convenience - only "prestige" whatever that's worth.
At the NY Auto Show they showed a number of hybrids either on the market
(5) or coming (12-15), including one SUV. If you look at the recent
downgrading of bonds for GM and Ford (to junk status), you will understand
how Americans may have finally realized that gas is expensive and we are
dependent on foreign oil, and SUVs are gas guzzlers (I can say that as a
former Lincoln Navigator owner).
Fuel cell technology for big-ticket consumer items like automobiles is
still many years away, based on numerous industry reports. However, the day
when portable devices like laptop computers, PDAs and cell phones can run
for extended time periods without refueling is much closer.
High-demand consumer devices such as mobile phones, notebook computers,
cameras, PDAs and MP3 players run on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries .
According to industry experts, lithium-ion batteries are close to reaching
maximum capacity.
Many firms are trying to develop viable fuel cells. At least three
companies have working prototypes of fuel cells powering laptops. Some
analysts hint that first-generation units could be available by year's end.
Fuel cells are zero-emission technology. They offer the promise of a
renewable source of longer-lasting power.
So far, however, much of that promise is more hype than delivery.
Fuel cells generally use hydrogen or alcohols such as methanol for fuel.
They can provide as much as 10 times the power per unit weight of a
lithium-ion battery.
Fuel cells generate electricity through a chemical reaction between oxygen
and a fuel, such as methanol.
According to researchers, methanol produces less energy than hydrogen. This
reality is pushing researchers to design batteries using methanol for
portable devices that require less energy.
The methanol fuel cells are smaller and are easier to store.
On the transportation front, General Motors is partnering with Shell
hydrogen to develop hydrogen pumps at a retail gas station in Washington,
D.C., to fuel an experimental fleet of six GM hydrogen-powered minivans.
According to media reports, General Motors recently signed a US$88 million
development contract with the U.S. Department of Energy to further develop
the technology over the next five years.
The plan calls for building a fleet of 40 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. GM
will spend $44 million to deploy fuel cell demonstration vehicles in
Washington, D.C., New York, California and Michigan.
Fuel cell development for portable consumer items might get to market much
sooner.
Antig Technology, a Taiwanese company, demonstrated two fuel cell products
at the CeBit trade show in Germany last month.
One device, the size of a CD-ROM, is a compact prototype 12W fuel cell
integrated into a notebook PC. The other device is a prototype fuel cell
charger for cell phones.
IBM announced last week that a development deal it inked with Sanyo has
produced a working prototype for IBM's ThinkPad notebooks.
A prototype micro direct methanol fuel cell system now can power the
ThinkPad line of notebooks for eight hours per replaceable cartridge The
fuel cell will work on current and future ThinkPad models.
Other prototypes require a modified design to outfit fuel cell batteries.
Sanyo's system is designed to be compatible with most current ThinkPad
models without the need to alter the notebook design.
The fuel cell system also includes an auxiliary bay as a secondary power
source to the existing laptop battery. The auxiliary bay can also be used
to charge the existing Ultrabay Slim Battery.
As impressive as the IBM-Sanyo fuel cell is, Locke said an eight-hour fuel
cell will not have a viable market.
"Eight hours isn't marketable. We have to solve that problem first. That is
only the equivalent of two rechargeable batteries," Lock told
TechNewsWorld. "We need ten times longer. But you have to start somewhere."
See...
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/42804.html
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[4] EPage, Inc. - Oldest on-line Classified Web service
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EPage, Inc. is the oldest on-line Classifieds Web service (since 1994),
and we offer co-branded classifieds for others through our affiliate
program (since 1996).
The classifieds are an affordable way to reach a large audience of
buyers. Users of the site are there to browse ads, so you have a prospect
who is already in the buying mood.
The co-branded classified affiliate program is a great way to add content
to your site to bring users back more often. We operate this service on a
revenue share basis with no up front fee. The largest benefit is that the
classifieds can create a "community" of users who will return to your site
(we do not push our "brand") to look for new content or post more ads.
We know the market. We are the oldest web classifieds, and have one of the
first affiliate programs. Our program is the most flexible, allowing
webmasters to customize and co-brand the content of the page presented. The
interface is simple for the users, who are always a few clicks from
content. Page layouts are simple and intuitive, so your mother can
understand what to do and not get bored waiting for the page to load, even
if she is using a modem.
The main classifieds service was started to make money on the Web. Yes, we
saw the Internet as a great way to build a business way back then. The
business model changed a few times, but we saw the power of the Web and
kept at it until we found something that worked with our target market.
The main site went live in October 1994 (one of the first 10,000 websites,
and one of the first 1500 ".com" addresses), and has been serving
classified ads to the Internet audience since. We went live with our first
affiliate in April 1996, three months before Amazon launched their
Associates Program.
The largest source of prospects comes from users to our main (EPage.com)
and affiliated sites. Most members come from a link on our home page as
well as on many of the co-branded pages we host. Word of mouth works great,
but being listed in all the major affiliate directories makes the biggest
difference. These listings are free, and work better than a Yahoo! type
link since these are for our exact target market. Google and Yahoo! work
great for bringing in general Internet users.
We tried a few banner ads, and spent thousands of dollars a month, but poor
results after a while. Initially, we saw about a 10% conversion rate, which
worked out to $1.20 per signup. Over time, the conversion rate dropped to
the point where we were paying from $10-$20 per signup, and the quality of
these new members was not great. The law of averages helps out, but
dedicated personal solicitations by me to specific websites has brought in
more high quality members than any other method. Since the other methods
are free, cost per new member is great!
Cost starts at free. Browsing ads, replying, setting up searches, and even
posting basic ads is free. Co-branded affiliate sites are free as well.
There are fees for commercial ads (starting at about a dollar a week) and
upsells (anywhere from 49 cents to $13 a week). Co-branded affiliates earn
10% of all fees paid by anyone they refer for the lifetime of that user,
and they can earn 50% of the earnings of anyone they refer.
Our classified ad rate card is here: http://epage.com/js/ratecard.jsp
For classifieds, just click on a "Post a New Ad" link anywhere and follow
the simple steps.
To become an affiliate and get your co-branded classifieds site, you can
read more details here:
http://epage.com/b/csp.html
or jump in with both feet and get started here:
http://epage.com/js/affiliatemgr
Brad Waller
VP, Business & Affiliate Development
EPage, Inc.
1815 Via El Prado, Suite 203
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
Tel: 310.316.7424
Fax: 310.316.7624
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