ROIR040111
Best Practices for B-to-B Digital Catalogs
Q: "I'm thinking about creating an online version of my print B-to-B catalog. Any best practices here? Also, what are typical response rates for online B-to-B catalogs? — Steve Cates, director of e-commerce, Galls
Drowning in Data?
Data, data everywhere. No wonder retail marketers are overwhelmed with the volume of data available in today's marketplace. But what to do with it all? With this enormous volume of data comes not only opportunity, but also responsibility. No longer can retailers simply get by on marketing what they want. They must now listen to the voice of the consumer, and market how the consumer wants.
Godiva Sweetens its Valentine’s Day Deals With Social Media Insight
In an effort to optimize its mar-
keting efforts for one of the busiest days of its year, Valentine's Day, Godiva went straight to the source for help: it tapped into its 600-member private online community, Godiva Chocolate Talk. The cross-channel retailer of gourmet chocolates and candies has partnered with Communispace, a provider of online consumer insights communities for market research, to host the online community.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
I know what you're thinking: What, is this guy nuts? Much of the nation is just beginning to see signs of life after digging and thawing out from one of the harshest winters on record, and he's asking for more snow? Well, not exactly.
Leveraging Your Catalog Assets Across Channels
My internet marketing manager says she needs more budget for web, email, ads and social media. My store manager says he needs more budget for store marketing. But I don't have any more budget to give them. How can we stick with the budgets we have and still accomplish our goals?
Retail Trends From INNOVATE 2011
Here are just five of several retail trends I learned about at INNOVATE 2011, the Retail Innovation and Marketing Conference sponsored by the National Retail Federation, held last month in San Francisco.
Setting Up Shop on Facebook
Baby boomers, college students, young professionals, empty nesters — you name a demographic, it's represented on Facebook. As a result, social networking sites, particularly Facebook, present tremendous opportunities for supporting your strategic needs for new customer acquisition every day.
Shop from Work Week, Social Forwarding Increase Better 
World Books’ Customer Acquisition Rate
A made-up holiday called "Shop from Work Week" helped Better World Books, a cross-channel retailer that collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide, increase its customer acquistion rate.
Signature Styles Boosts its Online Revenues Via Sales on Amazon
Upon learning of the changes that Amazon was making to its product categorization mapping last summer, Signature Styles was faced with a di-
lemma: Make the necessary adjustments to its Amazon data feed in-house, or contract the work out to a third-party provider.
The Top Women in Cross-Channel Retailing
The cross-channel retail industry is at a crossroads. For starters, due to the economic downturn, the past couple of years have been difficult for the retail sector. But that's changing. Retailers are starting to see signs of life and are breathing a sigh of relief. At press time, for example, it was announced that February retail sales increased 0.6 percent over January and 4.2 percent year-over-year, according to the National Retail Federation.
What the ‘New’ US Postal Service 
Means for Your Business
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is in the midst of a sweeping reorganization and change in focus, which began with the October 2010 appointment of a new postmaster general, followed by significant organizational changes in January, which will continue for some months to come.
