The National Shoe Retailers Association announced October 31 that it will host the first “Shoe Retailing Today Annual Conference” at the Don CeSar Resort in St. Petersburg, Florida April 29-May 1, 2009.

The first annual Conference is designed to:

• equip the independent footwear retailer with strategies to compete more effectively in tight economic times by capitalizing on their ability to deliver service and define it as an essential element that brings both value and quality to a retail transaction
• reinforce with vendors the significant role the independent sector plays as a primary distribution channel for their products, providing service, product knowledge and tremendous sell-through skills that teach customers why a particular brand is the best choice for their needs.

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SOMERVILLE, Mass., Sep 30, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Today Shoetube.tv, a online video channel and social community connecting women all across the Internet through their passion for shoes, launched its revamped Web site and first boutique — Nine West. The new site debut allows users to view boutiques, tune in to fresh faces and weekly themes on the Daily Shoe and follow blogs directly from Daily Shoe hosts. Women will be going crazy trying not to visit Shoetube.tv.

“We wanted to transform our existing Web site into one that showcases Shoetube.tv’s growth,” said Kelly Rostad, vice president of marketing for Shoetube.tv. “Since its launch Shoetube.tv has become a Web-based shoe community. And, we wanted to reflect that community in our new design.”

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[Source: The Retail Site - Retail Business News, Ideas, and Tips Blog ]

By Luc Vezina, Director of Product Management - GOT Corporation

By recent estimates, engaging your audience in more relevant communications can increase net profits on average 18 times more than broadcast mailings. Additionally, targeted email generates 16 times more improvement in net profit than ‘batch & blast’ mailings. In light of the above it’s no surprise that industry experts agree — the more relevance infused into your communications the stronger your ROI.

Unfortunately, the reality out there today is that only one-third of business owners using offer-oriented email campaigns rank email relevance as their number one strategic goal. For those business owners who do, there’s never been a more opportune time to outperform the competition. So what can email marketers do to infuse relevance into their communications?

Read the entire article at Yahoo Small Business

(click here for original article)

[Source: The Retail Site - Retail Business News, Ideas, and Tips Blog ]

By Daniel Meyerov
08/20/08

Small business is under fire — and increasingly, it is the small business ‘ Web site strategy that is being relied upon to create an effective defense.

What are the conditions facing Web site experts and multi-tasking entrepreneurs alike — and what are the critical changes in the online e-commerce and marketing world that will help small businesses meet this challenge? For answers, we need to look at some of the trends impacting the world of e-commerce and small business.

Read the entire article at Ecommerce Times (click here for original article)

WASHINGTON - If the shoe fits, donate it.

National Geographic Kids magazine set a Guinness World Record Wednesday for the longest chain of shoes. More than 10,500 sneakers were tied together by their laces, heel to toe, measuring a total length of 1.65 miles.

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[Source: The Retail Site - Retail Business News, Ideas, and Tips Blog ] An online shopping study conducted by Sunshine Rewards demonstrates that more than anything else, when merchants offer free shipping, consumers will choose to buy online and minimize other costs.Fishers, IN (PRWEB) June 9, 2008 — If you are a merchant trying to influence customers to spend shrinking discretionary shopping dollars, a survey done by an online loyalty site, Sunshine Rewards, indicates that free shipping is the highest priority in potential customers’ purchase decisions. Consumers are looking for ways to save money and more efficiently use resources. A survey was presented to Sunshine Rewards members who consistently look to online merchants when making buying decisions. In fact, 84% of those who responded to the survey indicated that they shop online monthly, weekly, and even as frequently as daily. In today’s economy where money is tight and resources are being more carefully budgeted, a major factor for many shoppers is whether or not gas or shipping is less expensive. Read entire press release at PRWeb.com (click here for original article)

[Source: The Retail Site - Retail Business News, Ideas, and Tips Blog ]

In a tough retail environment, where many retail chains are struggling with declining store sales, senior executives are pushing for more integration of the thriving web channel into an overall retail strategy, says Fiona Dias, executive vice president of e-commerce technology and services provider GSI Commerce Inc.

“There’s a clear mandate to represent the same brand to the same consumers who shop across channels,” says Dias, who will address e-commerce and multi-channel strategies for retail chains at the Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition 2008 next week in the session “Organizing for e-commerce success.”

But many retailers are also struggling to find the right formula for integrating channel strategies as well as their online and offline professional teams, she adds. “We’ve seen some awful flips in the last couple of years as retailers raced to integrate the web channel with the rest of the company, expecting the web team to fix the problems of the parent organization, and then seen everything grind to a halt.”

Read the entire article at InternetRetailer.com

(click here for original article)

[Source: The Retail Site - Retail Business News, Ideas, and Tips Blog ]

Fully integrated all-in-one solution ties point of sale (POS), ecommerce, inventory and CRM together for wine and spirits retailers.

Saratoga Springs, NY (PRWEB) June 3, 2008 — CORESense, a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, recently launched the first and only wine & spirits point of sale solution that seamlessly integrates ecommerce, point of sale, back office operations and customer relationship management (CRM) into a single web-based application.

The so-called Millennial Generation (those born since 1980) is the fastest-growing segment among wine consumers, according to a 2006 study by the Wine Market Council. That study showed 40% of Millennials said they were drinking more wine, compared with 20% among the next older Generation X and 13% among the post-World War II generation of Baby Boomers. New wine industry research also shows consumer demand for wine club, internet and other direct wine sales jumped 58% to $1 billion in 2006 as more states allowed wine shipping.

CORESense has given us a more powerful and flexible website channel that we can begin to grow without worrying about the growth impacting us negatively

To facilitate the industry’s evolving technological needs as well as build efficiencies, CORESense has created a solution to directly benefit the growing needs of the wine and spirit industry. Their newly designed web-based retail software integrates sales channels into a consumer-friendly, automated, online solution that eliminates manual and redundant processes.

Read entire Press Release at PRWEB

(click here for original article)

A new online marketplace, Fididel.com, went live today and lets buyers and sellers barter in real-time, offering an alternative to fixed-price and auction style transactions.

“What Fididel delivers is real-time haggling and negotiation, and for sellers, pricing equilibrium with each buyer that comes to the site,” said Hal Wendel, CEO of the start up, which is still in beta and expected to launch officially within the next three months.

(Click here to read the original article.)

To Our Customers:

Thank you for your interest in Terrasoles. We appreciate your business.

An apparent tornado struck the Terrasoles.com distribution center in San Angelo, Texas, in the early morning hours of Thursday, April 10, and damaged or destroyed approximately 30% of our building. Thankfully, the facility was closed at the time, and no one was injured.

We continue accepting orders and expect to be able to resume most shipments to consumers sometime next week. Until then, thank you for your patience and understanding.

Your friends at Terrasoles.com.

Sony wants to turn your tax rebate into a high-definition television. Home Depot has other plans for your check from Uncle Sam: help the Earth by spending it on energy-efficient appliances. And Sears is offering a gift card to customers for the amount of their rebate checks, plus a 10 percent bonus. Read the entire article here.

ADOTAS – In a year of dismal retail sales projections, a recent report says Americans will continue to snap up clothes, computers and cars online. A Shop.org conducted by Forrester Research found that online retail sales should climb 17% this year to $204 billion. Read the entire article here.

We’re all familiar with the semiannual rate adjustments from MasterCard and Visa.The most recent round went into effect on April 4th, so if you see a bump on your April statement, you’ll understand why.

What does this mean to you?

If you’re on a pass-through plus merchant processing arrangement, such as the NSRA plan with Chase, your rates will increase, but only by the amount of the MasterCard and Visa interchange increases, which even your processor can’t control.

If, however, you process under a “bundled rate,” be careful that the processor is only passing through the MasterCard and Visa interchange, and not taking that opportunity to tag on a little extra for themselves without saying so.

Read the entire article here.

A dismal January at the mall offered the latest sign that the U.S. economy is in or near a recession — and is already sending ripples that reach well beyond the retailers to commercial-property landlords, construction companies and container ports.

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Rockford, Michigan, October 3, 2007 — Wolverine World Wide, Inc. (NYSE: WWW) today reported record revenue and earnings for its third quarter of 2007, and increased its full-year 2007 earnings per share estimate.

Third quarter 2007 revenue totaled $310.2 million, a 3.8 percent increase over third quarter 2006 revenue of $298.9 million. Earnings per share for the third quarter of 2007 were $0.54 compared to $0.46 reported for the third quarter of 2006, an increase of 17.4 percent.

For the first three quarters of 2007, revenue reached $841.5 million, a 5.2 percent gain over the $800.2 million reported for the first three quarters of 2006. Earnings per share for the first three quarters of 2007 grew to $1.21 per share, up 15.2 percent from $1.05 per share for the same period of 2006.

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(DALLAS) Dallas-based, Heelys, Inc. (NASDAQ: HLYS) announces its partnership with Disney’s Wide World of Sports® as title sponsor of the Endurance Series Kids’ Races through 2008. Adding a new element to the existing Endurance Series Kids’ races, the Heelys Kids’ Race & Roll will be a fun, competitive event challenging kids as they walk, run or roll their way through the combination race and obstacle course.

“We’re thrilled to launch our partnership with Disney’s Wide World of Sports,” said Heelys, Inc. Vice President of Marketing Jim Peliotes. “Disney is known for great family adventures and Heelys has long encouraged families to exercise together and lead healthy lives, so this partnership is a natural fit, not to mention a whole lot of fun.”

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Source: (AFP)Yahoo! News: Europe News AFP - The pound on Wednesday reached a fresh 26-year high against the dollar, which also fell against the euro on the eve of European interest rate decisions.