Author: Archive

Putting real time information centre stage

Posted by | Jun 20, 2007 | |

The rise in digital research techniques is transforming the corporate value of market research. As organisations look to leverage a growing multi-channel consumer base, research projects are no longer one off, ad hoc events addressing specific products, customer groups or distribution channels. Chris Russell, Director of eDigitalResearch discussed how automated online research now delivers unprecedented access to real time information across every aspect of the business.

This research is not just providing faster, lower cost access to critical business information. It is enabling business change. Providing automated reports to logistics, buying teams, customer services and product managers; online research is now becoming an integral part of key business processes.

Indeed, if organisations are to effectively leverage multi channel strategies they need to recognise the value of online research as a proven driver for business transformation.

New Model
For years organisations have relied upon traditional printed, telephone and face to face research methods to gain insight into operational performance, customer satisfaction and new business opportunities. From in depth qualitative studies to brief quantitative customer surveys, market research has played an important role in monitoring business performance and, via focus groups, supporting business direction.

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Wal-Mart to expand financial services

Posted by | Jun 20, 2007 | |

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said on Wednesday that it intends to open 1,000 Wal-Mart MoneyCenters and launch a reloadable prepaid Wal-Mart MoneyCard, in a major expansion of financial services the retailer provides to its base of low-income customers.

The company earlier this year withdrew an application with U.S. bank regulators to operate a specialty bank in the face of immense opposition from politicians, consumer groups and community banks.

While Wal-Mart had insisted it wanted to use the bank to save money by processing credit-card and check transactions internally, consumer groups and banks feared the retailer would eventually provide other retail banking services, leading to the demise of community banks.

After withdrawing the application, the retailer said it would focus on introducing new financial services, and Jane Thompson, president of Wal-Mart financial services, said the company would have “a lot of things that will be coming out this year.”

Wal-Mart currently has 225 MoneyCenters and intends to expand that number to 1,000 by the end of 2008. The retailer said the centers, which are geared toward customers who are “outside mainstream banking,” offer money services like check cashing, money orders, bill payment and money transfers.

It will also launch the Wal-Mart MoneyCard, a reloadable prepaid Visa, that it is rolling out nationally with GE Money and Green Dot. It said the card can be used at all locations where Visa is accepted and at automated teller machines.

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New loyalty scheme brings revenue stream to retailers

Posted by | Jun 20, 2007 | |

Webloyalty has launched its shopper discounts and rewards programme in UK. The scheme has been running successfully in the US with 140 retailers and has now moved to the UK market with Interflora being the first retailer to sign up for the new concept.

Membership to the Webloyalty scheme is offered on participating retailers’ sites once a customers has completed a purchase. When a shopper would normally see a thank you for your order or click here to continue shopping message, an offer is highlighted – such as money off future purchases. They can then click through to the Webloyalty site and find out more or sign up for the scheme.

Interflora customers, for example, have the option to join Webloyalty’s Shopper Discounts and Rewards programme and received up to 40% off online purchases with retailers such as M&S, John Lewis, Asda, Tesco, PC World and Lastminute.com. New members also receive a GBP 10 cash back voucher towards their next purchase at Interflora.co.uk. This GBP 10 is funded by Webloyalty.

The retailer benefits from an extra revenue stream since Webloyalty pays retailers for each new member that signs up. It’s also adding value to the customer’s purchase and deepening the relationship between the retailer and shopper. Michael Barringer, Marketing Director of Interflora said that this, along with the transparency, is amongst the factors that made the scheme appealing to the company.

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DHL Strengthens Middle East-China Trade Lane

Posted by | Jun 19, 2007 | |

DHL announced a service enhancement to streamline shipping between the UAE and its 4th largest trading partner, China.

The enhanced DHL UAE-China Service is set to expedite shipments between both markets, offering streamlined service for UAE customers importing from the second largest economy in the world and the fastest growing trading partner with the UAE.

Using Time Definite deliveries and the Import Express product, DHL customers can – with one phone call – move goods from China to the UAE or any other destination using the UAE-China trade lane and pay for delivery in their home country – one invoice and one currency. Shipments stay within the DHL system from origin to destination allowing for easy tracking, anytime.

Future DHL improvements to support the flow of goods and documents between UAE and China will include additional ground network upgrades and ground fleet enhancements as well as added flights. DHL shipments in China are guaranteed daily uplifts and cargo space through 11 dedicated gateways – including four major gateways in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen – as well as 73 service centres covering 318 cities and over 500 flights per week.

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Citigroup sees Greek Postal Bank as a takeover candidate

Posted by | Jun 19, 2007 | |

Citigroup has initiated coverage on Greek Postal and Savings Bank (PSB) with a Hold/Speculative Risk (2S) rating and euro 17 target price, which is slightly lower than current price, but Citigroup analysts note that the Bank is a potential consolidation candidate.

PSB is a domestic Greek Bank with access to the Greek Post Office network. As a result, the company has access to the largest distribution network in Greece. In addition, PSB’s highly successful deposits passbook is held by about a quarter of the Greek population. PSB’s loan to deposit ratio is the lowest in the Greek market, implying substantial excess liquidity which could be reallocated into lending.

Management intends to double its retail market share by 2009, and Citigroup analysts believe this target is achievable. “We expect an increase in PSB’s lending market share to result in margin expansion.”

However, PSB’s growth is not without execution risks. Greek lending margins are under pressure, and PSB’s aggressive pricing is not helpful to the system. Also, the company’s ample liquidity is invested in long dated bonds, with yield falling as the book matures. Although the management team did diversify its investments, the amount of risk taken may have increased. Finally, PSB’s expansion in the consumer market may require additional loan loss provisions.

The Greek state is still a majority owner of PSB, with a 65% stake, but the government has repeatedly announced its intention to dispose of a further 15%-20% stake in the company. An eventual placement would be helpful to the company’s restructuring flexibility. In addition, should a placing be completed, PSB could become a potential takeover target. However despite the current M&A focused environment, PSB’s valuation remains rich, even if we adjust for a possible takeover premium.

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DHL gears up for ''soft'' Leipzig hub launch

Posted by | Jun 19, 2007 | |

DHL grows at Leipzig DHL Express will gradually build up flight operations at its new EUR 300 million European air hub at Leipzig over the coming 12 months to ensure a smooth transition from its existing hub in Brussels and to avoid the kind of operational problems that hit the opening of its US hub at Wilmington two years ago.

In July, DHL handling staff from Brussels, Cologne and Britain will test loading and unloading procedures at Leipzig, Achim Zimmermann, Sales Manager West at DHL Express Germany, said in an interview at the Transport Logistic trade fair in Munich. Leipzig will be one of three DHL Express intercontinental air hubs alongside Wilmington and Hong Kong on opening in mid-2008.

DHL Express already operates 14 cargo planes on European overnight flights between Leipzig, the Brussels hub, its Cologne gateway and a number of Central and Eastern European destinations. These services, carrying about 160 tonnes of cargo daily, were moved from Berlin Schoenefeld airport over the last two years. The DHL hub buildings are currently under construction on a 53 hectare area adjoining the extended, 3.6 km southern runway.

In the next phase, about 6-8 flights will be transferred from Cologne to the Leipzig gateway during the third quarter of this year, Zimmermann said. All Cologne flights are scheduled to move to Leipzig by the end of 2007. During the first half of 2008, flights will gradually be transferred from Brussels to Leipzig.

In view of the operational difficulties at the opening of the Wilmington hub in autumn 2005 when two different hubs were merged at one location, DHL Express is taking a more cautious approach this time. “We have a back-up scenario. Cologne and Brussels will remain open as gateways. If there are any problems at Leipzig, we can relocate immediately,” Zimmermann pointed out. “We will always be able to switch in future if there are any problems.”

In particular, DHL Express will be responsible for its own aircraft handling at Leipzig, making it independent of airport staff and creating opportunities for third-party handling contracts, he noted. DHL will also have its own hangar for technical maintenance.

At Leipzig, DHL Express would benefit from the proximity of DHL parcel and freight forwarding facilities, the airport’s close geographical position to emerging markets in Central and Eastern Europe, its good multi-modal infrastructure with motorway connections and a nearby railhead, and the relocation of logistics facilities to the airport’s surrounding area, Zimmermann pointed out.

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Next-day delivery of mail improves by 4%

Posted by | Jun 19, 2007 | |

Next-day delivery of standard mail by An Post improved by 4 per cent in the first quarter of 2007, but still fell short of targets set by the regulator.

Results from the quarterly independent report on the quality of service performance of An Post from ComReg found that 78 per cent of single piece priority mail, or standard correspondence, was delivered within one working day throughout the State against a target of 94 per cent. The report revealed that 98 per cent of all mail was delivered within three working days, still short of the 99.5 per cent target set by ComReg.

The regulator said the report highlighted some variation in results between different mail flows.

“Of note once again is the poor performance of mail posted outside of Dublin for delivery to addresses in Dublin county – 72 per cent, in contrast with the level of service attributed to mail posted outside of Dublin for delivery within county of post- ing 81 per cent, or compared with the performance of mail posted in Dublin for local delivery of 80 per cent,” ComReg said.

ComReg also found that 79 per cent of mail posted in Dublin for nationwide delivery is reported as delivered the next working day, while 76 per cent of mail posted outside Dublin for delivery throughout the State is delivered within one working day of posting.

Mail posted outside of Dublin for local delivery recorded a success rate of 81 per cent, the report revealed.

An Post chief Donal Connell said the report showed a significant improvement in An Post’s operations.

“These results confirm the steady improvement we have seen in our internal quality measures, and it is all the more satisfying given the increased volume of mail we handled during this period,” he said.

“They also confirm the results issued recently by the International Postal Corporation (IPC) on international mail and also acknowledged by Royal Mail,” he said

A recent IPC study showed that in the first quarter of 2007 An Post achieved a 5 per cent improvement on last year’s rate of next-day delivery for incoming international mail, Mr Connell said.

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USPS certifies Melissa Data with NCOALink Full Service Provider License

Posted by | Jun 19, 2007 | |

Melissa Data (www.MelissaData.com) has been licensed as an NCOALink Full Service Provider by the USPS (United States Postal Service). As one of only a handful of Full Service Providers, Melissa Data can update third party mailing lists and customer files against the full 48-month change-of-address file containing over 160 million change-of-address records, as opposed to the 18-month file provided to Limited Service Provider licensees.

In addition to offering full 48-month NCOALink processing, Melissa Data is the first provider to offer a 24-month processing service for the price of their 18-month service – with very low minimums so customers can affordably update small files. Faster turnarounds, increased automation and security are available to customers by using Melissa Data’s proprietary ListWare software, which extracts and formats only the fields required for NCOALink processing, then automatically merges the updated fields back into the customer’s original database.

NCOALink identifies customers who have moved, improving mail deliverability and reducing the costs and time required to forward mail. NCOALink fulfills the Move Update requirement for First-Class Mail automation and presort discounts. The Move Update requirement will also become mandatory to receive automation and presort discounts for Standard Mail in 2008. The USPS estimates that approximately 18- to 20-percent of households and businesses in America move each year. Businesses can save thousands of dollars on wasted, undeliverable mail by using NCOALink to find relocated individuals, families, and businesses.

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