PCI Compliance to Become Law in NV

According to PCI DSS Compliance Blog, beginning January 1, 2010, the state of Nevada will mandate PCI DSS compliance for businesses accepting credit cards. In so doing, Nevada will become the first state to transform the PCI DSS requirements into law.

With non-compliant businesses already facing steep financial penalties, as well as risks of not being able to accept credit cards and lawsuits (almost sure to follow any data security breach), non-compliance with PCI DSS would seem sufficiently punitive already. But with states like Nevada making law of PCI DSS, PCI compliance will certainly take on a new level of visibility and, perhaps, controversy.

Nevada’s law will actually serve to shield PCI compliant businesses from additional liability should a data security breach occur and litigation ensue. Nevada’s new law will provide relief for Nevada businesses (at least those that accept or process credit card payments) by protecting compliant companies from potentially bankrupting lawsuits.

Deluxe to Buy Aplus.net

Direct magazine reports that Deluxe Corp. plans to acquire Aplus.net, an online marketing services provider, for $30 million.

The company has also completed the purchase of search engine marketing firm MerchEngines.

Deluxe expects to incorporate Aplus.net into its Hostopia unit which it acquired last June.

Upon closing, this purchase will bring more than 80,000 small business subscribers of shared Web hosting, hosted e-commerce stores, managed e-mail services, domains and other Web site management applications, according to Deluxe.

MerchEngines' systems aim to help small businesses acquire new customers by generating visitors to their Web sites.

The Aplus.net transaction is expected to close by the end of July. The MerchEngines deal closed on July 8.

Don Libey's Dozen for the Downturn

It's not about direct commerce systems or services per se, but Don Libey's "Dozen for the Downturn," presented at the annual Merit Direct Co-op today in White Plains, NY, is definitely good reading.

See also Don's Daily DM site, which is not bad as a Home Page....

Next Day Pets Selects iCongo

Next Day Pets LLC, developers of one of the nation’s leading pet e-communities, has selected iCongo for its eCommerce platform with secure, seamless integration between the Webstore and the back-office. The system also includes streamlined multi-vendor direct order procurement, extensive content management capabilities, as well as sophisticated personalization and marketing tools.

iCongo's built-in marketing and cross-selling resources are meant to help brands like Next Day Pets build a more fruitful relationship with customers by integrating marketing campaigns and driving traffic with advanced SEO techniques.

Gen Y Starting to Value Loyalty

CRM magazine reports that loyalty marketing research firm Colloquy has released a follow-up to its 2007 benchmarking study on loyalty programs which included the same questions as last year's, but also added questions specifically pertaining to the economy's effect on consumers' participation in loyalty programs.

In the U.S. overall, participation jumped 19 percent year-over-year, with the most significant increase exhibited by Millennials, or Generation Y (people between 18 and 25 years of age), among whom the level of participation spiked by nearly 32 percent.

This past June, Colloquy released its 2009 Loyalty Census, which reported that membership in loyalty programs rose to 1.8 billion, up from 1.3 billion in 2007. The average U.S. household is a member of 14.1 loyalty programs, according to the report, but actively participates in only 6.2 of them. A year ago, the average household was a member in 12 programs, and actively participated in 4.7.

Millennials exhibited the largest jump in rewards-program participation on a percentage basis, with a 32 percent increase in their rate of participation. Even so, Millennials' rate of participation (57.9 percent) remains relatively low; the only segment in Colloquy's study to participate at a lower rate were emerging Hispanics (47 percent, up from 41.4 percent in 2007).

Still, these two groups indicate the highest rate of interest in enrolling with new loyalty programs -- 27.4 percent of Millennials and 28.3 percent of emerging Hispanics -- in order to earn more value. Again, the economic climate may have had a direct impact on results: 46.4 percent of Millennials and 39.8 percent of emerging Hispanics claim that loyalty programs have become "more important" because of the recession.

How To Transition Catalog Shoppers to E-mail

MarketingSherpa Case Study - Going Green: How to Transition Catalog Users to Email & Lift Conversions 19%

NY to Sue Tagged for Deceptive Practices

According to WebProNews, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has announced that his office intends to sue social networking site Tagged for deceptive e-mail marketing practices and invasion of privacy.

Cuomo charges that between April and June this year, Tagged sent millions of misleading e-mails to recipients stating that Tagged members had posted private photos online for their friends to view. In reality, the photos did not exist and the email was not from their friends. When the recipients tried to access the photos, they were required to become a new member of Tagged. The company would then gain access to their e-mail contacts and send more bogus invitations.

"This company stole the address books and identities of millions of people," said Attorney General Cuomo. "Consumers had their privacy invaded and were forced into the embarrassing position of having to apologize to all their e-mail contacts for Tagged's unethical - and illegal - behavior."

I actually received one of these e-mails, thought it odd I had to register, did not do so, contacted the sender, and was told it was a scam, as I had suspected.

3PL Worldwide Picks JumarDirect for Search, SEO

3PL Worldwide, Milford, CT, a provider of third-party logistics to direct response, eCommerce, and catalog marketers, has partnered with JumarDirect, Norwalk, CT, an end-to-end online marketing company specializing in Website design and development and interactive marketing services, to manage their Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and overall online presence.

CA, HI Nix Web Sales Tax Plans

According to Internet Retailer, "threats by [Web] retailers to cut off affiliate marketing relationships in states that are trying to tax sales generated by affiliates have had an effect. The governors of California and Hawaii have vetoed legislation that would have imposed such taxes in those states.

"The governors acted after such major online retailers as Amazon.com Inc., Blue Nile Inc. and Overstock.com Inc. began this week cutting off affiliates in states that adopted laws requiring collection of sales taxes by e-retailers with affiliates in those states."

Overstock CEO/Chairman Patrick Byrne points out that in New York, where Overstock has stopped working with affiliates because of a similar law in that state, affiliates represent about 1% of Overstock’s business and about 0.05% of its net profit there. But because New York represents about 10% of Overstock’s overall sales, it doesn’t make economic sense to maintain its affiliate relationships there, he says. “It comes down to, do we start charging sales tax on 10% of our business or give up 0.05% of our profit?” he says. “Even setting aside the additional costs of collecting and remitting sales tax, the economic effect is so horrible, it’s better to give up affiliate sales.”

Click HERE for more details.

Social Security Numbers At Risk

According to Wired magazine, computer scientists from Carnegie Mellon University discovered distinct patterns in how Social Securty Numbers (SSNs) are assignedby by analyzing a public data set called the “Death Master File,” which contains SSNs and birth information for people who have died. In many cases, knowing the date and state of an individual’s birth was enough to predict a person’s SSN.

“I have long argued that Congress or the Federal Trade Commission should prohibit companies from using SSNs as a means to verify identity,” Daniel J. Solove, professor of law at George Washington University Law School, wrote in an e-mail. “Merely protecting against their disclosure is insufficient since [the Carnegie Mellon scientists] demonstrate that they can readily be predicted.”

As a first step, the researchers suggest that the Social Security Administration start randomizing the assignment of SSNs.

“It can buy us more time, but it isn’t going to change the underlying problem,” one of the researchers said. “These numbers are supposed to be secret, but your bank has it, your insurance company has it, even your doctor has it. As long as we rely on numbers that are used as both identifiers and authenticators, then we have a system that remains insecure.”

Click HERE for further details.

StrongMail Acquires PopularMedia

StrongMail Systems, Inc. has acquired PopularMedia, a provider of social media marketing solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, according to Direct magazine.

PopularMedia helps marketers leverage the viral nature of email and social networks in a way that is both trackable and measureable. The acquisition will allow StrongMail to provide integrated e-mail and social network campaigns.

"StrongMail's acquisition of PopularMedia puts the marketer in a powerful position to fully leverage the potential of social media in a way that is both measureable and fully integrated with their email marketing programs," said Sam Cece, CEO of StrongMail Systems, in a statement quoted by Direct.

Cece continued, "By enabling marketers to create viral campaigns that they can monitor and optimize based on response rates, StrongMail is going way beyond the simple 'share to social' functionality that is offered today by most email service providers."

"With the symbiotic relationship between email and social media allowing each to fuel the other, PopularMedia's solutions are a natural fit for StrongMail's customers, and we are happy to be joining their talented team," said Jim Calhoun, CEO of PopularMedia, in a statement.