The Email Experience Council (EEC), the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) vertical working group focused on the e-mail marketing industry, today announced that the holiday e-mail marketing season for retailers has begun. Along with the announcement, the EEC released "Ring-Cha-Ching, Hear Them Ring: The Guide to Gearing Up for the Holiday Email Season," a 15-page report that discusses retail e-mail marketing trends and practices from the past holiday season.
According to DMA Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ramesh A. Lakshmi-Ratan, PhD, a DMA survey conducted last December found that 21.9 percent of those marketers surveyed had experienced an increase in their 2006 Cyber Monday sales compared to the same post-Thanksgiving Monday in 2005. "Many of those sales were the result of commercial e-mails," he added.
“Long before retailers hang any wreaths or tinsel in their stores, they send out e-mails promoting their Christmas deals to their subscribers — lots of e-mails!” said Chad White, the EEC's director of retail insights and editor-at-large, founder of RetailEmail.Blogspot, and the guide’s author. "Last year we tracked more than 2,000 e-mails from nearly 100 top online retailers during the fourth quarter and released daily reports on strategies, tactics, and trends via RetailEmail.Blogspot. Based on those reports, the EEC has produced this helpful roadmap to the e-mail holiday season so retailers and other companies can better formulate their campaigns this year."
Here are some of the metrics and advice from the guide, which is available in the EEC’s Whitepaper Room:
- The guide includes discussions and examples of the “12 Phases of Christmas,” the 12 strategies that retailers use at different points in the holiday season. Those strategies include promoting e-gift cards and “buy online, pick up in store” services.
- Last year major online retailers increased their e-mail volume by 47 percent on average during the holiday season.
- Seven of the eight biggest retail e-mail volume days of the year occurred in the weeks before Christmas last year. Those days included Cyber Monday (November 27) and all three “Echo Mondays” (December 4, 11 and 18) — the Mondays that follow Cyber Monday. Interestingly, two of the three Echo Mondays were bigger e-mail days than Cyber Monday, which is billed as the biggest online sales day of the year.
- E-mail volume should peak in the second week of December this year.
- Twenty-nine percent of major retailers promoted e-gift cards in their e-mails during the eight days ending Christmas Day.
- Just as some online and multichannel retailers promote Thanksgiving Day sales to get a leg up on offline competitors whose stores are closed on that day, some will also begin their post-holiday sales on Christmas Day and promote them in their e-mail campaigns.
The guide can be purchased for $99 by visiting the EEC’s Whitepaper Room at http://www.emailexperience.org/Login-Whitepaper-Room.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Leapfrog Using Open Source
At Leapfrog Enterprises, maker of children's learning toys and electronics, the company's best-of-breed infrastructure planning strategies are leading it in the direction of open-source software, while shifting from hosting the bulk of its Web sites in a third-party ASP model to bringing its new Web properties into LeapFrog's own data centers. eWeek has a very interesting article detailing the challenges Leapfrog has faced (particularly with integration).
Stibo Catalog Doing Road Shows
Stibo Catalog invites you to attend one of their Road Shows to find out how the Stibo STEP Product Content Management Solution for multi-channel marketing can help your business drive sales and increase production efficiency. You will learn how successful direct marketing businesses are using STEP for:
- Managing their product information centrally
- Creating catalogs, flyers and other collateral for print and electronic delivery
- Communicating with their customers more efficiently
Road Show locations and dates:
San Francisco, CA - Wednesday, September 18
Los Angeles, CA - Tuesday, September 19
New York, NY - Tuesday, October 9
Boston, MA - Wednesday, October 10
Atlanta, GA - Tuesday, October 16
Detroit, MI - Tuesday, October 23
Pittsburgh, PA - Wednesday, October 24
Chicago, IL - Tuesday, November 6
Minneapolis, MN - Wednesday, November 7
Raleigh, NC - Tuesday, November 13
Toronto, ON - Wednesday, November 14
You can sign up at stibocatalog.com/roadshows
or call Stibo at 678-797-8474.
- Managing their product information centrally
- Creating catalogs, flyers and other collateral for print and electronic delivery
- Communicating with their customers more efficiently
Road Show locations and dates:
San Francisco, CA - Wednesday, September 18
Los Angeles, CA - Tuesday, September 19
New York, NY - Tuesday, October 9
Boston, MA - Wednesday, October 10
Atlanta, GA - Tuesday, October 16
Detroit, MI - Tuesday, October 23
Pittsburgh, PA - Wednesday, October 24
Chicago, IL - Tuesday, November 6
Minneapolis, MN - Wednesday, November 7
Raleigh, NC - Tuesday, November 13
Toronto, ON - Wednesday, November 14
You can sign up at stibocatalog.com/roadshows
or call Stibo at 678-797-8474.
Conversation with John Marrah
I spoke with John Marrah this morning about his taking over as President and CEO of ProfitCenter Software. Two major themes came out of the conversation:
1) John sees on-demand solutions as the "dominant strategy" going forward for multi-channel commerce applications, since they eliminate the need to maintain a staff to worry about tuning the database and load balancing and server maintenance and other routine issues of systems maintenance. Users can just concentrate on running their business. He believes that PCS is the dominant player in the on-demand category.
Fair enough. But what about implementation issues?
2) John acknowledged that that was the big challenge facing PCS. They have 35 companies who have signed on, but only five that have gone live so far. Another five or six should go live in the next three months. But it is a priority for him to make implementation more robust at PCS. To that end, they have hired about 20 people in the last few months (some managers, some implementers), and have 12 openings to fill (some in New York, some at their Florida location – John will be working out of both). And a couple of new key executives are heavy-weights with “strong experience” in the enterprise software and direct commerce/multi-channel commerce world, specifically Dominique Laborde and Les Johnson (see previous post).
John was also excited about the potential for leveraging the object-oriented architecture of the PCS platform to make the product “more mature” very quickly, adding functionality into the product set for things like a gift registry, standing orders, or continuity management without having to program everything from scratch by inheriting functionality from other parts of the program. “It is truly amazing what you can do when you don’t have to rebuild functionality multiple times and maintain it multiple times within the application. By taking advantage of the object-oriented architecture and developing functionality and managing it in one place, you get huge speed and maintenance advantages.”
I will be spending a day at PCS in the next couple of weeks and will let you know what I think first-hand. Meanwhile, with "new blood" pumping through its veins, the company has the chance to become a much stronger player.
Comments? Please use the Comments function below this post, or click Discuss PCS & Escalate for our ad hoc discussion board.
1) John sees on-demand solutions as the "dominant strategy" going forward for multi-channel commerce applications, since they eliminate the need to maintain a staff to worry about tuning the database and load balancing and server maintenance and other routine issues of systems maintenance. Users can just concentrate on running their business. He believes that PCS is the dominant player in the on-demand category.
Fair enough. But what about implementation issues?
2) John acknowledged that that was the big challenge facing PCS. They have 35 companies who have signed on, but only five that have gone live so far. Another five or six should go live in the next three months. But it is a priority for him to make implementation more robust at PCS. To that end, they have hired about 20 people in the last few months (some managers, some implementers), and have 12 openings to fill (some in New York, some at their Florida location – John will be working out of both). And a couple of new key executives are heavy-weights with “strong experience” in the enterprise software and direct commerce/multi-channel commerce world, specifically Dominique Laborde and Les Johnson (see previous post).
John was also excited about the potential for leveraging the object-oriented architecture of the PCS platform to make the product “more mature” very quickly, adding functionality into the product set for things like a gift registry, standing orders, or continuity management without having to program everything from scratch by inheriting functionality from other parts of the program. “It is truly amazing what you can do when you don’t have to rebuild functionality multiple times and maintain it multiple times within the application. By taking advantage of the object-oriented architecture and developing functionality and managing it in one place, you get huge speed and maintenance advantages.”
I will be spending a day at PCS in the next couple of weeks and will let you know what I think first-hand. Meanwhile, with "new blood" pumping through its veins, the company has the chance to become a much stronger player.
Comments? Please use the Comments function below this post, or click Discuss PCS & Escalate for our ad hoc discussion board.
New Execs at PCS
In addition to bringing on John Marrah as President and CEO (see previous entry), ProfitCenter Software, Inc. has announced the following new additions to its executive team:
Dominique Laborde
Chief Operating Officer
Dominique Laborde joined PCS as Chief Operating Officer in April 2007. For much of his professional career over the last 29 years, Mr. Laborde has held technology leadership roles within complex software organizations with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion, directing teams of up to 300 people situated globally, to achieve business results in highly competitive markets.
Most recently, Mr. Laborde was Chief Technology Officer with Vertafore, a developer of On Demand enterprise software. Prior to Vertafore, Dominique Laborde has held technology executive positions at large corporations such as Business Objects, Dun & Bradstreet, American International Group (AIG), Computer Associates and Cap Gemini.
Dominique Laborde holds a Bachelors degree in Mathematics and a Masters degree in Computer Sciences from The University of Paris, France.
Les Johnson
Vice President – Professional Services
Before joining PCS, Mr. Johnson was Vice President of Client Operations for Ecometry Corp. While at Ecometry, Mr. Johnson led the Professional Services, Training and Implementations groups. Having spent over 30 years in the technology industry, Mr. Johnson is well versed in the systems and technologies available to multi-channel direct marketers.
Dominique Laborde
Chief Operating Officer
Dominique Laborde joined PCS as Chief Operating Officer in April 2007. For much of his professional career over the last 29 years, Mr. Laborde has held technology leadership roles within complex software organizations with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion, directing teams of up to 300 people situated globally, to achieve business results in highly competitive markets.
Most recently, Mr. Laborde was Chief Technology Officer with Vertafore, a developer of On Demand enterprise software. Prior to Vertafore, Dominique Laborde has held technology executive positions at large corporations such as Business Objects, Dun & Bradstreet, American International Group (AIG), Computer Associates and Cap Gemini.
Dominique Laborde holds a Bachelors degree in Mathematics and a Masters degree in Computer Sciences from The University of Paris, France.
Les Johnson
Vice President – Professional Services
Before joining PCS, Mr. Johnson was Vice President of Client Operations for Ecometry Corp. While at Ecometry, Mr. Johnson led the Professional Services, Training and Implementations groups. Having spent over 30 years in the technology industry, Mr. Johnson is well versed in the systems and technologies available to multi-channel direct marketers.
Monday, August 27, 2007
John Marrah Taking Over at PCS
We have learned from our sources at ProfitCenter Software that John Marrah has left his position as head of Escalate Retail to take over the head spot at PCS. Here is the text of the press release:
ProfitCenter Software Inc. ("PCS"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Systemax Inc. (NYSE:SYX), announced today the appointment of John Marrah as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Richard Leeds, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Systemax Inc. commented, "I am extremely pleased to have someone of John’s stature come aboard to lead PCS. I consider John to be the world’s leading executive in the direct marketing and multi-channel retail software industry, and his joining PCS recognizes the company and its product’s strong position as the right technology platform for the direct marketing industry in the future. John Marrah provides the senior leadership and experience necessary to take the PCS product and business to the next level."
John Marrah brings over 23 years of software and technology experience to his leadership role at PCS. He most recently served as President of Escalate Inc., a leading provider of software solutions for direct and multi-channel commerce, where he was responsible for Escalate’s engagement in retail vertical industries and delivery of customer value across all business units. During his eight years at Escalate (formerly Ecometry Corporation), John grew the company significantly thorough the replatforming of the Ecometry system to an open systems platform and through the acquisitions of Blue Martini Software, ADS Retail and GERS. Prior to joining Escalate, John was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Services at Workgroup Technology Corporation. Additionally, he has held executive management positions at Oracle Corporation, XDB Systems, and Information Dimensions Inc.
****
We have a call scheduled with John Marrah tomorrow morning, and will post further details on this very significant development Friday morning.
Meanwhile, we have set up an ad hod discussion board for anyone wishing to comment on this. Just click here Discuss PCS & Escalate to participate. You may also, of course, post comments right here on the blog immediately under this listing.
ProfitCenter Software Inc. ("PCS"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Systemax Inc. (NYSE:SYX), announced today the appointment of John Marrah as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Richard Leeds, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Systemax Inc. commented, "I am extremely pleased to have someone of John’s stature come aboard to lead PCS. I consider John to be the world’s leading executive in the direct marketing and multi-channel retail software industry, and his joining PCS recognizes the company and its product’s strong position as the right technology platform for the direct marketing industry in the future. John Marrah provides the senior leadership and experience necessary to take the PCS product and business to the next level."
John Marrah brings over 23 years of software and technology experience to his leadership role at PCS. He most recently served as President of Escalate Inc., a leading provider of software solutions for direct and multi-channel commerce, where he was responsible for Escalate’s engagement in retail vertical industries and delivery of customer value across all business units. During his eight years at Escalate (formerly Ecometry Corporation), John grew the company significantly thorough the replatforming of the Ecometry system to an open systems platform and through the acquisitions of Blue Martini Software, ADS Retail and GERS. Prior to joining Escalate, John was Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Services at Workgroup Technology Corporation. Additionally, he has held executive management positions at Oracle Corporation, XDB Systems, and Information Dimensions Inc.
****
We have a call scheduled with John Marrah tomorrow morning, and will post further details on this very significant development Friday morning.
Meanwhile, we have set up an ad hod discussion board for anyone wishing to comment on this. Just click here Discuss PCS & Escalate to participate. You may also, of course, post comments right here on the blog immediately under this listing.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Data Mining/Modeling Workshop
SPSS and The Modeling Agency are co-sponsoring a Workshop on Data Mining and Predictive Modeling, Burlington, MA, September 10.
The Workshop will show you how your company can acquire new customers, keep existing customers, and increase ROI and profits using the predictive power of data mining. Designed to provide you with ready-to-use resources, the Workshop will address how to get started with data mining, share best practices, and offer first-hand data mining experience. Cost for this day-long event is $299.
Click here for more info, including a full agenda.
The Workshop will show you how your company can acquire new customers, keep existing customers, and increase ROI and profits using the predictive power of data mining. Designed to provide you with ready-to-use resources, the Workshop will address how to get started with data mining, share best practices, and offer first-hand data mining experience. Cost for this day-long event is $299.
Click here for more info, including a full agenda.
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