Tag: North America

Adobe to drop FedEx Kinko's link

Posted by | Aug 2, 2007 | |

After a wave of criticism from printing companies and others, Adobe Systems Inc. said Wednesday it will remove a link on new software to FedEx Kinko’s.

San Jose, Calif.-based Adobe said its Reader and Acrobat software scheduled to be released in October won’t have the link.

The prominent button was introduced in June, enabling electronic transfer of documents directly for printing at FedEx Kinko’s stores. It was criticized by Kinko’s competitors who feared it would hurt them.

Adobe said it didn’t expect material revenue from the link, so it “will have little to no impact on Adobe’s financial results.”

A version of Adobe Reader will still be available from the FedEx Kinko’s Web site that contains the link.

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Catalogers turn to postcards

Posted by | Aug 2, 2007 | |

In the wake of the postal increases, catalog mailers are increasingly turning to creative solutions to keep the volume and integrity of their marketing messages intact, while keeping costs down.

One solution is postcards. Women’s clothing catalog Lady Venus went to Clearwater, FL firm PostcardMania in a bid to increase the number of its qualified leads, cost-effectively. The company wanted to get sales from the leads as well.

Many catalog mailers are now using postcards ahead of a full catalog mailing, inviting prospects to request a catalog.

“Mailing a catalog can be outrageously expensive,” said Karla Jo Helms, vice president of PR for PostCardMania. Sending a prospect a postcard costs much less money and if that person requests a catalog, they are much more likely to buy. For Lady Venus, the results were strong. “My ROI is very good,” said John Sauer, owner of the Lady Venus catalog. In fact, Sauer received immediate orders for the item advertised on his postcard.

“An important tip is getting a clear, defined list before you even start planning the postcard; analyze the database,” Helm said. “Pick one product that sells a lot and feature it with a clear headline so that when people see it, they are motivated to buy.”

In designing a postcard mailing, clear bold headlines, eye-catching color, clearly stated benefits from a product or service and an offer with a reason to “call now” should be clearly displayed.

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Direct Mail boosts online commerce

Posted by | Aug 2, 2007 | |

Online retailers and marketers gearing up now for the holiday season need to consider two pieces of research from comScore that show important consumer shopping and shipping habits.

According to the “2007 Multi-Channel Direct Mail Study,” direct-mail recipients were nearly twice as likely to purchase from a retail website as those who received only an Internet communication. And when the mail piece was a catalog, the results were even better — influencing more than two-thirds of shoppers to visit the site. That traffic created a 163 percent increase in sales over those who did not receive a catalog.

Catalog recipients typically buy more items (4.1 compared to 3.2) and spend more money (USD 88 compared to USD 69), the study showed.

That same research showed that catalogs jumpstart holiday shopping. In November, catalog recipients were significantly more likely than non-catalog recipients to have shopped online for holiday gifts.

Consumers were equally clear in wanting a choice on how to receive their online orders. “Package Delivery Research” found that 63 percent of online shoppers want an option to select the delivery company for their packages. A retailer’s favorability improves with the option to choose. Six out of 10 shoppers said they have a better opinion of companies if they could always select their preferred delivery company.

About 28 percent of business owners and 12 percent of consumers who shop online do not buy from companies that don’t offer a choice. Almost half of consumers who selected a delivery company chose the U.S. Postal Service (46 percent), according to the research.

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Self-Service economy arrives gradually

Posted by | Aug 2, 2007 | |

At airports, supermarkets and big-box retailers, “customer service” in recent years has meant self-serve _ aided by touch-screen kiosks.

As digital kiosks become more user-friendly and capable of handling more complicated tasks, health care providers, fast-food chains and other businesses say trading face-to-face encounters for face-to-monitor transactions improves service and saves money.
Yet the complexity of human decision-making and service expectations in different industries means any possible self-serve revolution is more likely to be a gradual transition.

“Every time you see a door, there’s an opportunity for a kiosk to be deployed,” Juhi Jotwani, director of marketing and strategy for retail stores at Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, likes to tell her staff. Opportunity is knocking: IBM’s kiosk orders have quadrupled in the past four years.

Numerous airlines use IBM’s customer kiosks. Caribou Coffee and Cheesecake Factory employees use them to manage recipes and to enhance order speed and accuracy. The Virgin Megastore in Times Square has 150 kiosks that process 450,000 music previews per month.

Still, “none of the players in this market have even scratched the surface” of the multibillion-dollar potential, Jotwani said, even though consumers hooked on text-messaging and interactive Internet gaming now expect greater control over their purchasing experiences.

An April report by consulting firm Summit Research Associates Inc., estimated 800,000 customer kiosks, not including ATMs, will be installed in North America by the end of 2007 and hit 1.2 million by 2009.

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New U.S. Postal Service rules now in effect for packages and envelopes

Posted by | Aug 1, 2007 | |

A new U.S. Postal Service policy has gone into effect as of Monday for packages and envelopes that weigh more than 13 ounces if they’re being mailed with only stamps as postage at a location other than a post office retail service counter.

Customers can use of one several online postage applications, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or an Automated Postal Center if they wish to mail items that weigh more than 13 ounces in postal service collection boxes or pot office lobby mail slots; or if they wish to leave the items for pickup by their letter carriers. Online postage applications include the postal service’s Click-N-Ship service on usps.com and PC Postage from and authorized USPS vendor.

If a customer is unable to use one of the above methods to prepare and affix postage, items weighing more than 13 ounces must be presented for mailing at a post office retail service counter. Business customers who use postage meters may continue to use meter postage for packages of any weight and mailing method.

Customers will notice new decals on USPS collection boxes and post office lobby and Automated Postal Center mail drop slots. The new red, white and blue decals inform customers that deposit of stamped mail over 13 ounces in prohibited and any such mail will be returned.

Previously, the prohibition applied to mail more than 16 ounces. The change is part of ongoing security measures established by the postal service, in cooperation with other government agencies to keep the public, customers, employees and the U.S. Mail safe.

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