ETD: 979 Little-known retailer; Security precautions; TLDs
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu May 18 03:09:47 GMT 2006
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0979 May 18, 2006
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] Little-known retailer
[3] Security precautions
[4] TLDs
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
So what is this little-known chain of 147 stores, with $2.35 billion
revenue and $151 million in operating income in fiscal 2005? You
will probably be as surprised as I when you read it below.
And we have some information on what appears to be a great security
program from our Bermudian member, who also reports gasoline at $6.50
a gallon. Which reminds me: is the price of gas hurting your
sales? What does it cost in your area of the world? Here in NJ we
pay $2.93. NY is 30 cents higher. I also wonder how that compares
to 50 years ago, taking earning power into account.
And list member Brad Waller has an update on Top Level Domains
(TLDs). It's amazing how you can find some many different stats for
the same topic.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, LLC
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] Little-known retailer
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I was quite surprised to hear about this little-known retailer
opening a very large store on New York's Fifth Avenue, opposite the
Plaza Hotel and Bergdorf Goodman. On Friday evening, this chain will
unlock the doors to a subterranean store that sprawls beneath the
plaza in front of the General Motors Building, just across from
Central Park. In keeping with the CEOs penchant for eye-catching
designs, all that will be visible from the street is the entrance,
surrounded by a roughly three-story-high glass cube jutting from the
ground, reminiscent of I.M. Pei's glass pyramid at the entrance to
the Louvre museum in Paris.
This chain opened five years ago, much to the chagrin of its
shareholders and its media followers. Nobody thought that first
store in a shopping mall in McLean, Va would do well. In fact,
critics saw the initiative as an expensive, dubious gamble.
Now this chain has 147 stores, with $2.35 billion revenue in fiscal
2005 up from $621 million in fiscal 2003. The chain generated $151
million in operating income in fiscal 2005.
So who is this chain, and this trendy CEO? None other than Apple,
Inc. and Steve Jobs.
I was quite surprised to hear they had a store, never mind 147 of
them. I know CompUSA is one of the largest dealers, and Apple
represents a significant portion of CompUSA's revenue. So, won't
these stores hurt their dealers?
Yes. Big time. Some of them have accused Apple of favoring its own
stores when deciding how to dole out inventory, including new iPods
models that were scarce in other retail channels when they first came
on the market but were readily available in Apple's own stores. More
than a half-dozen resellers of Apple products have filed lawsuits
against the company between 2002 and 2006 in Santa Clara County
Superior Court in California, alleging that Apple's stores competed
unfairly with them.
"They're killing us," says David Ash, president of MacSolutions Inc.,
a retailer of Apple products in Los Angeles that sued Apple earlier
this year in the Santa Clara court. Apple has denied the allegations
and is fighting the lawsuits.
Apple started its line of stores in the first place because it
believed other retailers weren't doing an effective job of showcasing
its Macintosh computers. Mac displays were often buried inside other
major retail stores, surrounded by PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s far
more common Windows operating system. Apple hired a seasoned retail
executive, Ron Johnson, formerly with Target Corp., to craft its
retail strategy.
Analysts and customers have praised Apple store workers for their
fluency in the company's products. A highlight of the stores is the
"genius bar," a section where technical experts help customers fix
problems with their Macs and iPods, often free of charge. Apple
regularly host workshops in theater-like sections of its stores,
offering training in everything from recording music using a Mac
program called GarageBand to editing home movies on an iMac.
The Apple stores have attracted even more foot traffic because of the
swell in consumer interest in the iPod, Apple's hit digital music and
video player. Analysts say the stores give Apple a strong
distribution channel that could help it enter new categories like
cellular phones and other home electronics.
Apple stores have gained a strong following among young consumers,
who flock to the stores to check their email using the free Internet
connections and to snap photos with the digital cameras on display.
The source for the material here can be found at...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114783026556754978.html
George
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[3] Security precautions
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There is a great little programme from Firetrust called Sitehound
which authenticates sites that you are visiting. It warns you if the
site is a known scam, phishing site, hotbed of viuses (virii ?),
etc. Read about it at
http://fta.firetrust.com/index.cgi?id=Wooly&page=14 (Self interest -
my affilliate link). There is a free trial download or pay 29.95 for
the programme.
They also have a very handy utility called MailWasher which lets you
edit your email and eventually compiles a list of 'Goodies' and 'Baddies'.
You might find these of some interest.
Best regards
Richard
Bespoke Solutions Ltd
www.BespokeSolutions.com
Skype: bermudabuzz
PS The price of gas is now over $6.50 per gallon here!
+++ [Moderator's comments] +++
Thanks Richard. Even though you are getting a commission, that
program still looks good. ;-) I use Spyware Detector which checks my
system for spyware. There updated list now has over 107,000
different types of spyware. It's good to know when you are at a site
that you can be protected also.
$6.50 a gallon? No wonder y'all ride motor scooters in Bermuda.
George
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[4] TLDs
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Your data is out of date already, and missing at least one popular
TLD. Check out the page from Domain Tools:
http://www.domaintools.com/internet-statistics/
Active............................ From WSJ
50,607,513 .com...........45,947,615
7,410,923 .net..............6,755,704
4,795,121 .org..............4,149,482
2,831,431 .info.............2,389,902
1,388,921 .biz..............1,280,205
990,201 .us
other................347,529
68,155,945 Total............60,870,437
And there were 165,105,280 deleted, 1,418,766 new, 1,572,456
expired and 79,934 transferred.
I'll try to get you an update soon, I've been really busy. See my
writing at the official Ad:Tech blog (http://adtechblog.com) and
ReveNews (http://revenews.com)
Brad Waller | VP, Business and Affiliate Development
http://EPage.com/ | http://AdConnect.com | http://AdJungle.com
_________________________________________________________
Classified Ad Affiliate Program: http://EPage.com/b/csp.html
Hosted Classifieds and Auctions: http://AdConnect.com
Manage & Sell Your Banner Space: http://AdJungle.com
+++ [Moderator's Comments] +++
The original was found at the Wall Street Journal. Amazing what a
couple of days make eh? ;-)
The .us TLD is a sore spot with a lot of people. Folks outside the
U.S. use .co.tv (for a commercial site in Tuvalu, not television)
rather than .com. The .com means commercial and the two letter
country code follows. Outside the U.S., folks think we are pompous
by using .com without a country code.
We are awaiting your update of your company.
George
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