Shop.org Blog

Greetings

The content team is hard at work putting the finishing touches on our upcoming merchandising workshop and also working hard on putting together the agenda for our Annual Summit.  This is a busy time for Shop.org, and coming right at the nick of time I would like to introduce Artemis Ebneyousef.  She is our new content manager who started on May 1 and has already taken Shop.org by storm.  If you would like to email her, you can reach her at ebneyousefa@shop.org.   

To further meet the content needs for our membership, Shop.org is going to begin a quarterly webinar series and we are hoping to have our first installment in the next few months.  We think this is an additional way to add value to your Shop.org membership and also continue the information sharing that occurs at our events. 

We would like to ask the community if they have any ideas for topics that they would like us to cover in our first few webinars.    You can either use the blog to make any suggestions or write me directly at joseloffl@shop.org.

Thanks and enjoy the long weekend.

Larry Joseloff

VP, Content, Shop.org

For almost 15 years, the online retailing industry has been part of the US economy. And, for the most part, our industry has stayed out of politics, which is quite a feat for an industry that will generate a quarter trillion dollars in 2007.

While many online retailers would prefer to continue to go about their business without meddling in politics (and I don’t blame them), there are certainly issues that are being debated in the U.S. Congress that will affect our industry. Instead of hiding from this reality, Shop.org is tackling it head-on.

With any maturing industry, the move toward advocacy becomes almost inevitable. As a result, Shop.org announced yesterday that it has expanded its mission to include a focus on advocacy. As a first step, we are forming a policy advisory group comprised of online retail operational executives from the Shop.org membership to serve as our “ear to the ground” for issues that will have the greatest impact on our industry.

There are two particular issues facing online retailers, in which Shop.org’s parent organization, the National Retail Federation, has been active, and that will be our focus as we enter the policy arena.

A “spyware bill” that has morphed into a general online privacy bill is being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives. It would essentially require consumers to “opt in” in order for retailers to collect any personal information on Web sites. Shop.org also plans to tackle credit card interchange, which requires merchants to pay a percentage of their sales back to the credit card company. This practice is especially damaging for online retailers who are required to pay “card not present” fees, which can be fifty percent higher than what traditional retailers pay. Despite paying higher fees, online retailers are rarely, if ever, reimbursed for merchandise shipped from order placed using a fraudulent credit card.

To learn more about these and other issues, I invite industry participants to join us for a policy brief at our upcoming Annual Summit in Las Vegas. The brief, which is scheduled for Wednesday, September 19, from 7:45 – 8:45 am, features Liz Oesterle, NRF’s VP, Government Relations Counsel and Steve Pfister, NRF’s SVP, Government Relations and chief lobbyist.

Please feel free to reply to this blog with suggestions for issues that Shop.org should address on behalf of our industry.