PCI 3.0 Starts Jan. 1, 2016

Here's a good infographic that summarizes the text from the PCI Security Standards Council.

MNP Retail partners with NetDespatch

UK- and US-based multichannel systems vendor MNP Retail has formed a partnership with NetDespatch to enable MNP customers to streamline workflow by integrating with Royal Mail and other carriers; print the correct shipping labels, customs documentation and manifests, as well as automatically send electronic pre-advice data to the carrier.

Headquartered in Salisbury, UK and with offices in Delaware US, MNP’s expertise in Order Management Systems (OMS), Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and product procurement platforms helps online and bricks and mortar organisations deliver their brand experience, grow top line sales and improve bottom line margin through system automation.

A particular challenge for MNP was the time, complication and cost associated with integrating with various carriers individually. Through its partnership with NetDespatch, MNP has been able to boost the delivery options available to its customers, by offering integration with Royal Mail alongside other leading UK parcel carriers and Click and Collect networks.

MNP Retail customer Crew Clothing is a primary beneficiary of the MNP and NetDespatch partnership. Crew Clothing began trading in the UK in 1992 in coastal towns and developed a strong following of mail-order customers on the back of its in-store success. The company has grown significantly since then and now operates 78 stores with a thriving online presence, as well as successful mCommerce and call centre sales channels in the UK and EU.

Cora McDonnell, Projects Manager at Crew Clothing said, “Using NetDespatch has significantly benefited our business. Before the integration our warehouse staff were really frustrated with the amount of effort that was needed to ship parcels. Labels were constantly out of alignment and we had a number of issues scanning the barcodes. As soon as we went to NetDespatch all of these problems were ironed out and now we don’t have any issues when utilizing the Royal Mail service.”

Crew Clothing has an omni-channel driven growth strategy for 2016. Central to these omni-channel operations is the MNP OMS which manages the direct inventory, CRM, customer services, direct fulfilment and together with NetDespatch will help to deliver the ultimate customer experience. The end-to-end solution is designed to seamlessly enable top line growth, improve margins and deliver a great customer experience.

Cora McDonnell, Crew Clothing continued, “It was actually Royal Mail who recommended NetDespatch to us. It was their preference that we used NetDespatch and we would definitely recommend it to others.”

Northern Pets Improves Control of Inventory, Enhances Productivity

Northern Pets, the provider of the widest range of parrot supplies and accessories available in the UK, has grown to a point where enhanced logistics functions were required to keep up with the order flow from its Order Management System from MNP Corp. in Salisbury. 

The company selected MNP's Warehouse Management System, which integrates fully with its OMS. “We needed to have improved control," says Mike Taylor, Managing Director at Northern Pets. “In addition we wanted to pick multiple orders in parallel to gain productivity but at the same time to improve accuracy. 

"MNP's WMS has the capability to deliver all of our requirements through the use of their advanced system, including mobile devices.” 

MNP’s Managing Director adds: “We are delighted that Northern Pets has chosen to extend its use of MNP solutions. Our WMS is being continually developed, and we have recently added voice direction capabilities."

For further information please contact: Pierre D’Arbost, Managing Director, MNP.

Telephone 01722 341342 (UK) Email: Pierre@mnpretail.com

SuperGroup PLC selects the Island Pacific SmartPlanning Solution

Island Pacific, a division of 3Q Holdings Limited and a leading provider of global software solutions and services to the retail industry, announced it has signed a major deal with SuperGroup PLC for the deployment of its Island Pacific SmartPlanning solution.

Ms. Nicole Smith, Merchandise Director at SuperGroup PLC, said: “We feel the Island Pacific SmartPlanning solution has rich functional applications, which will enable us to strategically manage all aspects of planning within our business. It will provide the Merchandising team with an effective set of tools that will significantly reduce manual input and support the growth of the retail business through more efficient and timely planning, monitoring, forecasting and reporting. The solution will address the needs of our growing international fashion business and will provide industry best practice that includes modern, flexible, and timely planning techniques. This will be important to ensure the continued international success and growth of our brand. We were impressed with Island Pacific’s customer references, the company’s ‘can do’ approach and the quality of its team. We look forward to further developing our relationship and building on Island Pacific’s reputation for developing innovative and leading-edge retail solutions.”

Crew Clothing Uses ACI Fraud Shield to Screen Online Orders

Niche casual retailer Crew Clothing has adopted defensive measures to help reduce retail fraud across their growing omni-channel operation. Using third-party service provider ACI Fraud Shield, Crew Clothing can now screen Web orders with both generic apparel fraud prevention and custom fraud rules. 

As part of the OMS solution from MNP, the ATC Fraud Shield service applies a unique score to each order, which the MNP order management platform reviews and applies logic to in order to determine if the order remains held or is sent through to fulfillment. 

After only three months, the deny rate on transactions from rigid fraud rules was reduced down to 12%. With further analysis and rules adaptation, this level has been further reduced to just 3% with no associated increase in fraud levels. Revenue has been maximized as a result.

Client Crew Clothing began trading in the UK in 1992 in coastal towns and developed a strong following of mail-order customers on the back of their success in stores. The company has grown significantly and now operates 78 stores with a thriving online presence, as well as successful mCommerce and call center sales channels in the U.K. and EU. Crew Clothing is planning significant growth on this foundation platform, which also delivers a flexible customer experience. 

MNP, headquartered in Salisbury, UK, and with offices in Delaware in the US,  is an omni-channel retail solution provider. Their enterprise retail platform is modular and comprises OMS, WMS, Buying & Product Management, Storefront and in-store tablet solutions. Users of the platform include Lakeland Limited, Kurt Geiger, LK Bennett and Isabella Oliver. For more information, please visit www.mnpretail.com.

PCI Security Standards Council has made it easier for large merchants to implement point-to-point encryption

The PCI Security Standards Council, which administers the payment card industry data security standard, has made it easier for large merchants to implement point-to-point encryption (P2PE) for protecting cardholder data, reports Jai Vijayan on the Dark Reading Blog. 

He goes to explain "The Council this week updated its requirements to give merchants more choice and flexibility in the components they use for point-to point encryption. One of the key features in the Council’s new P2PE Version 2.0 is a provision that allows covered entities to implement and manage their own encryption tools at their point of sale systems so long as the tools are compliant with PCI requirements.

"Another update gives encryption vendors and service providers more leeway in the components that they use to deploy P2PE at customer locations. Going forward, the Council will also list approved encryption components and services that organizations can use to encrypt their data."

The full article is HERE.

Last-mile logistics for on-demand delivery apps

Inc. magazine details how venture-backed software startup Onfleet supplies the last-mile logistics for hundreds of on-demand delivery apps.

Marketplace Fairness Act Stalled in Congress

According to McClatchy DC, "the issue is stuck in the House Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over state taxation affecting interstate commerce. The main point of contention has been whether the sales tax charged should be based on the rate where the buyer lives, as advocates of the Marketplace Fairness Act prefer, or on the rate where the seller is, an alternative offered by House Judiciary Chairman Robert Goodlatte, R-Va.

"A Judiciary aide said ideas had gone through several iterations and that the committee continued to work with all interested parties to find common ground. But lobbyists familiar with fruitless negotiations to find a compromise say retailers consider Goodlatte’s latest proposal so unworkable that they worry it’s actually intended to derail the entire process.

"Retailers are hinging their hopes on a bill being drafted by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, that would place limitations on states auditing businesses outside their borders. The language comes in response to complaints from online vendors such as eBay and Overstock.com. They say the Marketplace Fairness Act as proposed by the Senate would create a compliance nightmare for small businesses, which would have to keep track of more than 9,000 state, local and municipal tax codes."

See the entire story HERE.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/05/07/265920/bid-to-collect-online-sales-taxes.html#storylink=cpy

Desktop Marketing Solutions Changes Company Name to WiseGuys Marketing

Desktop Marketing Solutions Inc. (DMSI), a software and consulting services firm that specializes in data-driven solutions for multi-channel retailers, is changing its name to WiseGuys Marketing.

"When our company was founded in 1998, 'Desktop Marketing' was new and innovative, reflecting the increasing computing power of desktop workstations," explained Bruce Gregoire, founder and CEO of WiseGuys Marketing. "Since then, the services our company offers have expanded considerably, and our original branding no longer represents the full scope of what we do."

"We decided to take the name of our award-winning WiseGuys flagship software, as that brand is well known in our market. WiseGuys also extends across all services: namely, digital and multi-channel marketing, consulting, analytics, and, of course, software," continued Bruce Gregoire. "We believe our clients will benefit measurably with this change, from a more consistent understanding of the breadth of our services."

About WiseGuys Marketing
WiseGuys Marketing is a full-service resource for small to mid-sized multi-channel marketers that sell across websites, email, mobile, catalogs and retail stores. The company offers a combination of experience in direct marketing, database marketing, and catalog retailing. Services include marketing analytics, data hygiene, predictive modeling, segment targeting (RFM analysis), matchback analysis, attribution, lifetime value (LTV), and multi-channel strategy consulting.

The company's flagship software is WiseGuys CRM, an application that uses RFM and LTV analysis to identify highly targeted audiences for marketing campaigns, delivers personalized messages, and tracks results.

Bruce Gregoire, founder and CEO of WiseGuys Marketing, is an Adjunct Professor at the Carey School of Business at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), where he founded and currently teaches the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) course at the graduate level. WiseGuys Marketing is headquartered in Falls Church, VA.

USPS Scraps April 26th Rate Hike Implementation Date

/From the American Catalog Mailers Association: March 27, 2015, 6:00 PM

"This just in: The USPS announced it will not implement new rates until it resolves all of its proposed market-dominant price changes with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). The PRC has twice remanded the USPS's rate proposal as it pertains to Standard Mail, Periodicals and Package Services, citing numerous issues and assorted errors. Below is this afternoon's announcement by the postal Board of Governors:

"The Postal Service Governors decided today to delay the implementation of new market-dominant and competitive rates and classification changes until all of our proposed market-dominant changes are approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission (“PRC”). ;This decision was primarily motivated by a desire to eliminate potential adverse impacts on postal customers that might result from a staggered implementation of our new prices.  After considering the complexity of the required programming changes in view of the remand of some of our proposed changes by the Postal Regulatory Committee, the specific complications that our customers might face; the potential cost to the supply chain as a whole of a staggered implementation, the Postal Service has decided to delay implementation until all of our proposed rates and classification changes can be implemented at one time.

"While proposed prices for First Class Mail, Special Services and Competitive Products have all been approved by the PRC, prices for the Standard Mail, Periodicals and Package Services classes have twice been remanded back to the Postal Service by the PRC for a wide array of technical and other concerns that are primarily related to the complexities of the price cap and the manner in which it is calculated.  Rather than subject our customers to a piecemeal implementation of our new prices, the Postal Service has decided that the best course of action would be to wait until our complete price proposal is approved by our regulator.  We have no desire to saddle our valued customers with the additional costs and burdens of a staggered implementation while we work with the PRC to obtain final approval of our remaining prices.  We will set a new implementation date when we propose new prices for Standard Mail, Periodicals, and Package Services in response to the PRC’s March 18th remand order."

PRC Rejects Proposed USPS Rate Increases

March 6, 2015. According to the American Catalog Mailers Assoc, "The Postal Regulatory Commission today rejected proposed rates for Standard Mail, Periodicals, and Package Services, contending that the prices in the USPS proposal from January 15th "do not comply with certain statutory and regulatory requirements and are therefore remanded to the Postal Service for further action.”

According to many long-time postal observers, this was the most poorly prepared rate filing in memory, containing mixed pricing signals and shifts of workload that may create inefficiencies for both USPS and mailers. Highlights from the PRC's Order:

• PRC determines that the unequal commercial and nonprofit discounts in Standard Mail must be made equal or justified.
• PRC finds that, without adequate justification, several Standard Mail workshare discounts exceed 100% of avoided costs.
• The Postal Service must review and resubmit its proposal, including amending rates and Mail Classification language to remedy deficiencies described in the Order, and respond by March 12th.

Whether the Postal Service can make this happen in time for the new rates to be implemented by April 26th as originally intended is questionable. ACMA (and for that matter, the entire mailing industry) has been working diligently since January to understand all implications of the structural changes and new regulations being promulgated.

The entire Postal Service filing, including new FSS rates it contains, represents significant current and long-term changes and challenges for catalog mailers. There are many issues in play that must be satisfactorily resolved. You can expect spirited discussions with postal executives about the rate case at the 2015 National Catalog Forum, April 7-9. We hope you will join us in Washington as we work towards getting these issues resolved. In the meantime, we will monitor this situation and keep you posted as it develops.

Dydacomp is now FreeStyle Solutions

On March 3, 2015, Dydacomp officially changed its name to Freestyle Solutions.  

All personnel, products, phone numbers, and business operations will remain the same – just the name is changing.  

The company remains committed to long-term support for M.O.M., SiteLINK, BizSyncXL and their various services. 

According to the company's press release: 

“We believe that it is important to brand ourselves consistently with the vision and direction that we are taking the company,” announced Fred Lizza, CEO, Freestyle Solutions.  “The majority of new sales growth for small and mid-size merchants now comes from eCommerce channels.  Our customers seek the newest technologies with the power and flexibility to meet their unique business needs. By focusing on these areas, we’re really giving our clients the keys to drive success.”

In 2014, the company announced the General Availability of Freestyle Commerce, the latest cloud-based innovation. Freestyle is tightly integrated with leading third-party eCommerce platforms, including Magento and Amazon, providing always up-to-date business insight needed to grow sales.

Freestyle Solutions will continue to provide Multichannel Order Manager [M.O.M.] to retailers and etailers that prefer an on-premise solution and for those where the feature set of M.O.M. suit their business requirements.

SSL no longer acceptable for data protection, PCI SSC says

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) has announced that no version of secure sockets layer (SSL) technology meets its definition of "strong cryptography." Accordingly, it will need to revise its Data Security Standard and Payment Application Data Security Standards.

According to a PCI press release, the announcement was based on finding by the National Institute of Standards and Technology that the Secure Socket Layers v3.0 protocol is no longer acceptable for protection of data due to inherent weaknesses within the protocol.

With no known way to remediate vulnerabilities in the SSL protocol, the PCI SSC is urging organizations to work with IT departments and partners to determine whether they are using SSL and what options they have for upgrading to a strong cryptographic protocol as soon as possible.

Once published, PCI DSS v3.1 will be effective immediately, however, affected requirements will be future-dated to allow organizations time to implement the changes.

First Data, Capgemini announce tech development partnership

According to Retail Customer Experience, "Payment technology firm First Data Corporation and Capgemini, provider of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, announced they have formed a global alliance to develop next-generation payment technology software using First Data's VisionPLUS and AccessPLUS solutions. According to the companies, this collaboration will leverage Capgemini's global vertical industry and payments expertise and First Data's suite of payments solutions."

New Remote Sales Tax Simplification Bill Less Onerous Than MFA or State Initiatives

According to the American Catalog Mailers Association [all text is quoted from ACMA]: "Although some remote sellers would prefer to see the 1992 Quill v. North Dakota sales tax precedent remain intact indefinitely, last year nearly ushered in the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA). If passed, it would have been devastating. Fortunately, ACMA – and the TruST coalition we cofounded – fought hard so that enough lawmakers realized the Senate-passed MFA would have disastrous effects – and the House did not act.

"Unfortunately, our assessment is that Quill won’t hold up for much longer. Furthermore, in the absence of clarifying federal legislation, states are becoming increasingly creative and aggressive, ushering in the potential for a patchwork of contradictory state laws with the need to fight a multi-front war. 

"ACMA’s position has been to deal with this reality, working to find the best way towards 'fairness.' Throughout the past year, TruST and ACMA worked closely with Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.-6th), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on an MFA alternative. On January 12th, the Chairman began circulating adiscussion draft. You may prefer to read a section-by-section analysis the Chairman is also circulating. While not perfect, this bill is far better for catalogers than MFA.

Industry Must Step Up Now

"I’m coming to you for your support. When we launched TruST nearly three years ago, we received enough industry funding allowing TruST to stop the MFA freight train in favor of common sense. We used our contributions carefully, making them last twice as long as projected. We have now exhausted this money. Meanwhile, backed by Amazon and big-box retail, MFA proponents are gearing up to launch a new version of their flawed bill.

"Without your support, we can’t have continued success. So please go to ACMA’s Action Funds web page and make a significant donation today. Any amount you can muster will help. $25,000 or more will give you an (optional) seat on TruST’s steering committee."

Dydacomp Success Stories and Free Trial of MOM

Here's the latest on Dydacomp: two stories of customers that have realized success by automating their order and inventory management processes.

1. You may know Out of the Box Publishing (OTB) by their popular board games like Word on the Street or Apples to Apples. This Dydacomp customer partnered with big box and online behemoths like Walmart, Target and Amazon to market its family games to a much broader audience. Through automation with Dydacomp’s M.O.M. solution, OTB not only gained 100-percent accuracy, but the assurance that shipments would arrive within their requested timeframe and avoid chargebacks. Read the whole story in a recent issue of STORES Magazine.
   
2. The only way – fresh every day! That’s the promise at the Caroline Cookie Company, where gourmet cookies are always baked in the tradition of homemade Southern hospitality. Every Carolina Cookie is baked, packed and shipped by hand, because they know you wouldn’t have it any other way! Read the complete story to learn the details of how Dydacomp enables Carolina Cookie to track their multichannel orders, manage their diverse inventory, and efficiently ship their unique product, fresh the same day every day.

For a limited time Dydacomp is giving out a Free Trial of their software. To get started click the link below: