We all probably know the story by now… Right around the turn of the 21st century, people in ecommerce started to notice that on the Monday following Thanksgiving they saw the first big sales spike of the holiday season. In those days, most people had faster Internet connections at work than at home. So naturally, after a weekend of turkey and football with family and friends, they returned to work primed to shop online during their lunch hours.

Shop.org and its parent, the National Retail Federation, were watching this phenomenon, too. In fact, it was NRF who came up with the catchy name Cyber Monday. And it was Shop.org who partnered with Mall Networks, now called Cartera Commerce, to develop the CyberMonday.com site.

No one knew what to expect over those first few years. Despite the data, not everyone believed that Cyber Monday was, in fact, a bona fide phenomenon. Gradually, though, it became clear that—yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. And there is a sales spike on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Cyber Monday has become a great way for retailers to mark the beginning of the busiest time of the year for online sales. And Cyber Monday deals have proven to be great hits with consumers. This year, nine in ten retailers will feature a Cyber Monday promotion, and Shop.org will release an estimate on the number of people who plan to shop on Cyber Monday this weekend.

Which brings me to the CyberMonday.com site. Have you visited it lately? If you haven’t, you’re in for a treat. More than 700 retailers participate on the site, offering deals on this holiday season’s most popular products along with free shipping, which is good news for consumers hoping to save a little while still giving great gifts. And to top it off, a portion of the profits go to the Ray Greenly Scholarship Fund.

With new deals going up every day, CyberMonday.com is a must for everyone who shops online. And Shop.org, NRF, and Cartera are doing all they can to make this year’s Cyber Monday the best ever.

To those who may be curious about how I came to this decision, the answer is pretty simple:  I’ve been surrounded by innovative, entrepreneurial people and companies for over a decade.  At Shop.org, I’ve had a front row seat to all the excitement of the digital retail industry.  It’s been fun and intellectually stimulating, and the growth of Shop.org is an enormous source of pride for me.  Now, I have an opportunity to jump into the game.  Thanks to a super supportive wife and family, I have the opportunity to scratch an itch and eliminate any regret later in life that I didn’t try something like this.

I am eager to share more information about my next adventure, the details of which will be available in September.  What I can say for now is that I will be the co-founder of an early stage start-up that ties virtual goods to retail.

In the meantime, I still have almost a month left at Shop.org. During this time, I will be busy helping to make the Annual Summit bigger and better than ever (like everything else in Texas) as well as working on a variety of transition-related activities.

I want to thank NRF CEO Matt Shay for being gracious and more supportive than one could ever expect from a boss in this situation.  The same goes for the amazing team at Shop.org and the Board of Directors, who are the heart and soul of this organization.  With such a talented and committed infrastructure, I know that Shop.org’s best days are ahead of it.

Even though my last official day at Shop.org is August 13, I’ll always feel incredibly indebted to and tied to this organization, which means so much not only to me but to thousands of people in our industry.

P.S. NRF is conducting a search for a new executive director of Shop.org.  Feel free to contact me if you want to learn what an awesome job it is.

Looking for Jeanniey to tell you that email is the end-all, be-all of marketing? You won’t find that here. What you will find are some incredible insights on why email is still relevant, the best way to measure success, how social media and mobile play into the mix, and the best marketing advice she’s ever received.

How would you explain your company in three sentences or less?

This is so difficult because I am involved with three companies:

• Zinio is the world’s largest newsstand, leading a reading revolution where all the content we love is readable on whatever device or screen we have access to.
• VIVmag is the world’s first all digital magazine made for women who love to work hard and enjoy their success by living their life to its fullest.
• The Email Experience Council is the largest global networking community for email markets.

Phew! That was a lot.

In the age of status updates and 140-character news, how has social media changed the marketing game?

Finally! Something makes you think and consolidate your communication. The world had gotten a bit too verbose – don’t ya think? (14 characters left)

You’re speaking on a Shop.org webinar today entitled, “Is Email Dead?” I presume your answer to the session title is no…but why?

My answer hasn’t changed in the 15 years I have been working with email. Email is the 3rd mode of communication: Verbal, Written, Electronic. Saying email is dead is like saying people will stop speaking some day because it’s faster to text.

Most marketers make the mistake of looking at email as an ROI building channel and fail to miss the simple fact that email is your digital social security number. There is not one thing you can do online without registering with your email at some point.

What is the most prominent mistake retailers make when marketing through email?

Oops. I think I just answered this above. My best advice is respect the channel for all of its benefits. Getting someone to give you their email address (whether they ever even open an email you send them) drives a 27% lift in sales from the customer. Your brand impact with email is huge.

What is the best way to measure email success?

There are a few key ways based on what you are using email for. My favorite is CPO: click per open. The open rate tells you how relevant your subject line was; the clicks you get from the people who open tell you how relevant your message is. This is key.

Tell me about one of your most successful email campaigns. What was the key to success?

I have so many. If I have to pick one, it would be the email campaign I worked on with CKOne in 1998. They put email addresses on models in outdoor billboards and people, lots of people, took the time to write emails to these models. Every inbound email was replied to with an “in character email back” – there was the party girl, the nice girl, the hot guy, etc. The personal emails consumers received in return had product recommendations that drove sales through the roof. Those types of emails are so much more exciting than a standard flyer. We need to integrate email into other channels. It’s really going to be the only way to go, now that the entire world is mobile.

Which retailers do you look to for email inspiration?

Gosh – I can’t answer this one without someone getting mad at me for leaving them out. Can I plead the Fifth? If not, the only comment I would make is that the team that runs the GAP’s efforts is amazing and really understands the channel.

What are your thoughts on marketing through text messages?

In our mobile world, there are so many better opportunities than marketing through text messages. I’m not a big fan – even if someone opts in. When you are mobile, any message you receive is interrupting whatever you are doing (because you are out and about). Why build a level of resentment with – potentially – your top customer?

I hear that you used to work for Shop.org’s Chairman of the Board, Rich Last. Tell me what it was like working with Rich.

WOW – I knew that one day, my opportunity to blackmail Rich would actually be presented to me! Here I am with a whole blank page just begging me to spill all of the juicy secrets about Rich. What do I want to say first…

Many people see Rich as an intelligent and strategic thinker. I don’t. I see him as a sage guru. Back in the 90’s, when no one knew what the heck a website should do, or what a strategy for growth should look like, Rich took chances no one else in retail would. Many of those gambles paid off in a big way. Today, we face the very same, new world of mobile opportunities where apps will rule the experience and nothing will run off a web for much longer. Who better to advise on taking chances and building for the future than someone who has already done it once?

Anyone who reads this should seek out Rich and ask him 3 questions about “the good old days” to see what inspired him to take the chances he did. You will find that much of what he says will be a guide for you to follow now. (See, and I didn’t even mention…oh…never mind)

Your company, Zinio, is revolutionizing the way consumers access published content. How close are we to taking individual digital access into the classroom? Will we be seeing a classroom full of third graders with iPads in the next few years?

I will answer this by saying my 7-year-old stole my iPad so she could take it into her class and share the interactive version of National Geographic for show and tell. I think that sums it up pretty well as far as impact potential. That said, we at Zinio get some insights on new devices coming out. I can safely say in 3 years our world will be driven by mobile web access and touchscreens. The future will be about ease of access and connected content. If anyone is still thinking @ is their website strategy- they should retire now. The future is 100% mobile apps.

Kindle or iPad? iPhone, Blackberry or Droid? What do you carry and why?

I have them all. It’s my job. I don’t use the Kindle – its black and white and klunky. I use my iPad to read Us Weekly (no joke – try it – it’s AMAZING), I use my iPhone for QA stuff only, my BlackBerry because it actually has a keyboard and I can text without looking at the keys and my Droid because the Android platform has a tremendous number of benefits.

That said, I know that in the next 6 months the technology that will be introduced is going to make these all look silly. So, no one buy any holiday gifts yet. Just wait a bit longer.

For people who might be interested in a career in marketing, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I have ever received in marketing is this:
Never evaluate a marketing program or potential program at work.
Go home
Go running
Go to dinner
Go to the beach
Go somewhere and then look at it through the eyes of the customer.

There are too many occasions where we get too close to the business and need to take a step back.

Due to popular demand we will be offering these critiques at our Online Merchandising Workshop for the first time.  During the afternoon of July 13th, retailer attendees will be able to reserve 20 minute time slots with industry consultants whose expertise include end-to-end customer experience, site design, and merchandising best practices.   The Doctors at the Merchandising Workshop include both speakers at this year’s Workshop (Jack Aaronson and Bryan Eisenberg) and previous speakers (Lauren Freedman and Elizabeth Peaslee from CreativeGood).

Spaces are limited so if you are attending the Merchandising Workshop, I urge you to reserve your time slot today.  Due to popular demand, we also ask that you limit the number of appointments to two per retailer.   Go to our Merchandising Workshop Doctors Is In Page, read about our doctors, and reserve your slot.  If you have any questions, please let us know.  Thanks!

Larry Joseloff
joseloffl@shop.org

I am very excited to announce that Marketing Month has officially begun!  Throughout the month of May Shop.org will be featuring weekly webinars, daily updated video marketing tips, 11 regional dinners (Shop.org is coming to a city near you), and other Shop.org-produced marketing-related activities that facilitate networking, education, and thought leadership.   I encourage all of our members to check back to the Marketing Month website daily to watch the video tip of the day and look for other additions as more is being added every day.    Make sure you refer to our Marketing Month Calendar to make sure that you do not miss any of the great activities!

Ourfirst Shop.org webinar is days away and will feature an in-depth discussion of the initial results of our latest version of The State of Retailing Online Report.  Our regional dinners are filling up fast and we are having four this week on the West Coast.  If you are retailer and we are having a dinner near you, sign up to take advantage of this free unprecedented networking opportunity.  Thanks to all of our sponsors who made this happen.

If you are a member of Shop.org, Marketing Month has been designed for you to make sure your online and cross-channel marketing is firing on all cylinders.   Thanks to all in the community who has contributed their expertise to make this happen.  If you have any questions, please let me know. 

Larry Joseloff
joseloffl@shop.org
VP, Content — Shop.org

This month, Bazaarvoice will celebrate the fourth anniversary of its launch of ratings and review products. There’s no disputing that an incredible amount has happened within that time when it comes to acceptance of and technology behind ratings and reviews. Talk about the differences, then and now.

The crazy thing to think about is that just four years, nine months ago (we started our company on May 2, 2005), only three retailers in the entire United States had customer reviews on their site. Now we serve more than 50 of the top 100 retailers here, and more than 25 of the top 50 in the UK (and equal ratios in France, Germany, Australia, and a number of other countries).

What began as simply product reviews on retailer sites has expanded to a variety of types of consumer-generated content in 17 industries, 25 languages, and 36 countries. At the end of the day, Bazaarvoice is a digital reflection of word of mouth, which has always been with us since the dawn of the original bazaars (think “voice of the marketplace”). So there are many industries where word of mouth works. Today we have manufacturers gathering reviews on their own sites and sharing them with retailers to transform channel advertising on retailer sites in a world where 80% of consumers now seek reviews while shopping. Industries like financial services and health insurance, to name a few, are also increasingly requesting reviews from their consumers. We’ve also seen the quick adoption of community Q&A, where consumers can ask other consumers and brands specific, real-world questions about products or services. Even brands that don’t sell online are gathering reviews, Q&A, and shared experiences to build community on their sites. The implications all of this customer-generated content has for transforming the world of commerce as we knew it are truly profound.

We’ve been hearing for years that reviews and ratings are what the customer wants. That said, in what ways can retailers use this immediate, candid feedback for their own purposes to improve products, experiences or make major company decisions?

I’ve heard literally hundreds of stories from our clients that have used reviews and other content to improve everything from product design to shipping processes. One of the best examples is from Oriental Trading Company. They created an internal team made up of people from all over the organization who read negative reviews and changed more than 700 products to address consumer concerns.

For example, they saw that one of their teaching products, an inflatable solar system, was going “flat” very quickly, so the product had a low overall rating. They worked directly with the manufacturer to improve the product, then took new photos and wrote new website and catalog copy to better set customer expectations. Today the product is rated twice as high as it was before the changes, and earns several rave reviews.

Another good example is from Rubbermaid. They noticed low reviews on their Produce Saver product; however, their product testing had proven it worked the way it should. Reviews helped them understand that consumers didn’t understand how to best use the product, so they wrote an informative blog post and added new, clearer instructions to the package.

Do you feel the recession has impacted how today’s consumers make purchasing decisions?

The recession has definitely made consumers more carefully consider their purchases, making authentic input from other consumers even more important. The emotional pull of buyer’s remorse has never been stronger in an economy where the consumer saving rate is 5%. Yesterday’s consumer may have referenced Consumer Reports. Today’s consumer may look at Consumer Reports, talk to their neighbors, and read online reviews to make the best decisions. Nielsen reported that 81 percent of online shoppers read product or retailer reviews by other customers when doing their holiday shopping. The multichannel implications are very serious, especially when you consider how mobile is accelerating the adoption of browsing the Web to read reviews while shopping in the physical store (or at home, while browsing through a catalog).

With mobile all the buzz in retail right now, talk about MobileVoice, the platform your company launched last year.

We’re excited about MobileVoice, which lets a shopper access reviews anywhere, instantly seeing the input of thousands of consumers in the palms of their hands. Sephora launched MobileVoice and it continues to be popular with in-store shoppers, who can easily access 700,000 reviews at m.sephora.com. We’re looking forward to even more brands adding mobile reviews to help in-store shoppers make purchase decisions. You can see the huge display from 2009, when TurboTax encouraged consumers to read mobile reviews in large retail stores. Each year, they find new ways to help consumers easily access customer reviews to make purchasing decisions, and this had a huge impact.

I’m sure this is not a new question for you, but here it goes: What would you tell a retail CEO who is hesitant about implementing ratings and reviews because they are concerned about negative comments?

I’d say,

“Every day people are coming to your store and having experiences – positive and negative. You’re kidding yourself if you think all customers have great experiences, and the truth is that most unhappy customers won’t ever take the time to write a letter or complain to a manager. So, what happens? You see the negative effects in one way or another – defection to your competitors, high return rates, and decreasing sales. Why guess at what is happening when you can make it easy for consumers to communicate with you, and each other, so you can solve these problems and uncover new opportunities?

“You should also note that our research over the past four years has shown that over 80 percent of all reviews are positive – worldwide. There’s simply no reason to hide from reviews. They are proven to increase sales, decrease returns, lift customer loyalty, and transform the practices of your marketers and merchandisers. To think you can hide from the effects of word of mouth are misguided, and there is no debate about the positive, highly quantifiable effects of embracing it.”

I hear you’re about to add another title to your bio: “author.” Care to confirm/deny/elaborate?

Corporate culture is a huge passion of mine, so I’m writing a book about building a great culture. The working title is How to Make Your Company Suck Less. It’s based on my experiences in founding five companies (Bazaarvoice, Coremetrics, and three other smaller endeavors), and I’ve reached out to other CEOs and experts to interview them, too.

I’m really excited about this new endeavor, and I’m donating all of the proceeds to charity. My gift when I speak on this topic, which I’ve done about 25 times now, are CEOs telling me that our ideas made a real difference at their company. We spend most of our waking life working. Make it meaningful (and think of the powerful message in Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl)! Life’s too short…

As a member of Shop.org’s Board of Directors and regular sponsor and attendee of both Shop.org and NRF events, what are you looking forward to most about the inaugural Retail Innovation & Marketing Conference next month?

As you mentioned, this is a new event for Shop.org, and I was happy to be one of the champions for it at a Shop.org Board meeting. We are bringing together many of the most innovative minds in online retail, including the vendors that serve them and the investors that back them, to discuss what the future disruptions will be. It is based in San Francisco, on the north-end of the hub of technology innovation in the U.S., Silicon Valley. I hope this turns into a mainstay for Shop.org, and I expect it to be one of our best events ever.

In your opinion, what’s next in the world of customer-generated content?

I think we’ll see more of what Intuit recently did with TurboTax, with their Friends Like You functionality. As detailed in BrandWeek, TurboTax combined the power of consumer reviews with the influence of your friends – specifically, Facebook friends. With Friendalyzer, you can see which TurboTax products your friends used and read their reviews directly on the TurboTax site, while you’re trying to determine the best product to use. It truly customizes and personalizes reviews for consumers, and I think there is much more of this type of integration to come. You can find people in situations like yours – new baby, bought a house, etc. – and learn about their experience with TurboTax. The mass of reviews will continue to let consumers hone in on opinions that are most relevant to their own. Seth Greenberg, director of national media and digital marketing for Intuit, will share his learning at our upcoming Social Commerce Summit in April.

As a young entrepreneur, you’ve received incredible accolades from the business community. What guidance or tips would you give people who are thinking about starting their own businesses?

You have to have passion and follow your dreams. You have to be 100% committed to reaching your goals. I started programming at age 7 and I’m 38 today. While that may sound cool now, it wasn’t when I was growing up in Texas (in the days where it was football or nothing for boys). But I feel very lucky to have found my passion at such a young age. Find yours!

Also, don’t ever be afraid to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you are – there’s always something new to learn. If you ever reach a feeling of “you know it all,” you are in for a hard fall eventually. Or, worse, you’ll never take risks in life. Several of my mentors are in their 60s and financially they’ve proven a lot, but they are always humble and always learning.

First and foremost, put people and culture first. When you find passionate, smart, energetic people, take care of them and realize that culture needs to be nurtured constantly. Companies have a soul – nourish it. Unless you run a company that is powered 100% by robots (except for yourself, of course), you have to learn how to motivate people.

Give me your best sales pitch on the reasons to visit – or live in – your hometown of Austin, Texas.

What can I say? Austin is so cool – talk about a city that generates great word of mouth (just listen to passengers on a flight to Austin). There’s a vibe in Austin that attracts smart, creative people and lets them be themselves. Cost of living is great here (allowing you to focus on more fulfillment in life than the Maslow hierarchy-driven shelter), and it’s a great environment for entrepreneurs because of the beautiful surroundings, live music, and just a wealth of things to do and see at any time (SXSW, for one, is coming up). I was born here and although I’ve lived in San Francisco and Philadelphia (both great experiences in my life), I’m glad to be back. Even as Austin has grown exponentially, there’s still this laid-back feeling and friendliness to the city that makes it unique. People really help each other here – there is a real sense of community.

I read an interview where you said your first job was working at your parents’ furniture store. What did those experiences teach you about retail?

I read Sam Walton’s book, Made in America, when I was at The Wharton School earning my MBA. He was the leader I chose to do a report on for my Leadership & Teamwork class. Sam’s key to success was that he spent a lot of time in his stores, and his competitors’ stores, observing real-world customer behavior. Growing up in my parents’ store, I did the same. But I also spent over 20,000 hours programming from ages 7 to 21. So I blended my two passions – retail and technology – and never looked back. Coremetrics provided the “eyes” you needed to observe in-store behavior (on the Web). Bazaarvoice provided the “mouth” and “ears.” At the end of the day, most Web innovations can be tied to offline innovations. Google is the world’s biggest and most efficient Yellow Pages. Facebook is the world’s biggest High School Yearbook, cocktail party, conference, or dinner between two friends. Bazaarvoice is the “voice of the marketplace.”

If you could have dinner with six people in the world, who would you pick and why? And where would you take them?

Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Sam Walton, Warren Buffett, Eric Schmidt, and Bill Gates. They are all great leaders and have ultimately served the world, and society, with great humility. Bill may be a controversial choice given some of Microsoft’s past competitive tactics, but I really respect how he is dedicating the entire second phase of his life to serving the global community instead of selfishly bathing in his riches. We only live once, and the ultimate goal is to create Heaven on Earth.

You seem to be constantly moving in a million different directions. How do you unwind?

At the end of the day, my biggest motivation is my family. My daughter, Rachel, is 5 years old and our son, Levi, is 6 months old. My wife, Debra, and I have been married for almost 14 years and she has been an amazing life partner. There is nothing more important to me than the three of them. We often spend vacation time together in Hawaii. There is no better place to unwind with family than Maui. It has it all – varied terrain from beaches to mountains, great food, breathtaking sunsets, perfect weather, and friendly people.

In a recent blog post, you outlined six ways for management to manage social media. In one of the suggestions, you said managers should lead by example and participate in many of these networks. If you had to sell an executive on the use of social media, both personally and for his/her company, what would you tell them?

I’d tell them to go Google themselves. Check out what people are saying about you, your brands, your senior management team, your competitors and the industry you serve. Check out places like Google Blog Search, Twitter Search, Technorati, IceRocket and more. You might just learn something or you might simply realize that there is zero conversation around you and your brands. And, here’s a hint: if there’s no conversation about your brands… that’s not a good thing. So, while this isn’t a tactic to “sell an executive on the use of social media,” it’s a great way for senior executives to understand where they sit and play in the digital landscape.

Shop.org’s eHoliday study found that 47% of retailers are adjusting to the economy this holiday season by investing more in social media. What are your thoughts on that strategy?

On one hand, it’s exciting to think that retailers are going to start listening and engaging in the many online conversations that are taking place. On the other hand, if they’re doing this because they think it’s a fast and cheaper way to break through the clutter, my guess is they’re going to be in for a very big (and painful) shock.

One of my new favorite thoughts is this: you can’t build community when you need it, you had to have been fostering a community, so that when the need arises, those community members are there for you. If retailers are just starting to build community now, odds are it won’t work in time for the holiday rush.

What do you think is the biggest mistake a company can make regarding social media?

A lot of companies have professionals who run around from boardroom to boardroom asking questions like, “what are we doing on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter?” To me, that is the biggest mistake. Don’t ask “what are we doing?” ask “why?” Once you can figure out why your company should be on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, you’ll be able to tie it directly into your strategy and your ROI. “Why?” is strategy, “What?” is a tactic. Too many companies are getting tactical without the strategy and then they’re left wondering why things are not really working out for them.

Name five retailers handling social media really well.

H&M is doing amazing stuff (especially on Facebook), Best Buy has been highly engaged in building community, Wal-Mart has been making some great moves with consumer reviews and sharing applications, Zappos has always been a blue-chip social media marketer, and I’ll leave #5 open for the many mom and pop operations that are really making serious in-roads and making their business that much more social and open.

Your book, “Six Pixels of Separation” was recently published. Tell me about the motivation behind the book and some of your favorite components.

My motivation was simple: write a business book using business language to get business people who are on the fence about the digital channels to better understand the changes happening in their world in a format they are most comfortable with (a business book). Along with that, I was encouraged to help those who are already deeply embedded in the channels and platforms to have one, centralized place that really looks at the changes in media and how this affects marketing and business. My favorite component of the book is the base premise that personal brands will rival those of the biggest corporate brands. As people become more connected and social, they expand their networks beyond geographical borders and can cross-communicate to masses – which is something we could never do before the advent of social media.

When you’re not blogging, how do you spend your days?

I spend my days thinking of stuff to blog about! Seriously, I am the President of a digital marketing agency called, Twist Image. We have close to 100 full-time employees with offices in Toronto and Montreal. We work with world-class brands, and I spend most of my time leading business development or working internally on client strategy. Everything I do: the blog, podcast, book, speaking, etc… all goes straight into Twist Image. We were just named one of the top ten marketing agencies in Canada by Marketing Magazine, and the only pure-play digital agency to make the list. So, that’s when I spend all of my days.

One of my favorite blog posts of yours recently was how people can easily and simply create content. While the post gave some great ideas about how to get started when you feel stuck, my question is really the reverse: can a person or a company ever have too much content (ie: too many Twitter posts or Facebook updates)? How do you know when it’s overkill or how can you keep that from happening in the first place?

I always laugh when I see self-proclaimed “experts” or “gurus” in these channels as the majority of them can’t be getting any client work done, because all they’re doing is tweeting and Blogging on their own behalf 24-7. I think there is a fine line, and companies have to figure out what I call, “the pulse” of how often to push content out there and how frequently to comment and add their thoughts elsewhere. Without knowing what the right pulse is for your specific business, I think things can get a little excessive or even a little too ghost-towny. There’s no specific formula as to what constitutes a good pulse, but once you find it, you’ll know.

How did you get started in the digital marketing space?

I had one of the first modems, and as soon as my computer connected to another computer, my brain exploded. My background is diverse. I used to publish music magazines (and yes, I put them online when most people didn’t even know what an ISP was), and once the music industry got tired, I moved over to help launch one of the first meta search engines on the Web (imagine, I was in the search game years before Google even existed). From there, I did a short stint at a mobile content company before meeting my business partners at Twist Image. In all of those professional shifts, the one key – and underlying component – was digital marketing. It was always my passion. It still is.

You’ve written a lot about the newspaper world and its struggles to make money. Knowing everything you do about digital marketing, if you were a newspaper publisher, how would you make any money right now?

I’d focus on publishing compelling content in audio, video, images and text that people were willing to pay for. If that didn’t work, I’d focus on publishing compelling content in audio, video, images and text that advertisers wanted to pay for. Bottom line, newspapers never sold content: they sold advertising. They need to figure out how they’re going to create some kind of relevant and worthwhile online advertising packages or they’re going to have to figure out how to sell content online. Both models are not easy and both models are going to require time and significant investment for them to flourish.

I saw in your bio that in one of your speaking engagements, you shared the stage with Dr. Phil. What on earth were you both talking about?

In fact, it was my first major public speaking event. The event is called The Power Within and they run these full-day leadership and motivational events. It’s usually five speakers. This one event was being headlined by Dr. Phil. It was in front of about 5000 people and it really set the stage for me in terms of discovering my passion for speaking in public. I am forever indebted to the good people at The Power Within for giving me that chance/opportunity, and it has lead to some fantastic events and business-building opportunities.

What’s your mobile device of choice, and why?

I currently have a BlackBerry Bold. I’ve been a BlackBerry power user since they first came out. I am also about to pick up an iPhone 3GS as I need to play more with the apps and augmented reality. Something tells me, I’ll be using both – together – instead of choosing just one.

Tell me something about you or your company that few people know.

I think few people know just how big and impressive Twist Image is as a company. I think most people have this preconceived notion that I’m just some guy who blogs, tweets, writes articles and speaks. It’s funny how being the “face” of an organization can sometimes create that misconception in the public. If people only knew how much time, effort and passion I put into Twist Image, its current growth and its future, I think it would shock them.

A few details about how consumers are thinking about Cyber Monday ’09:

• 42% of all Americans plan to shop online on Cyber Monday.  Make that closer to half for consumers earning $50,000 or more per year; ditto for consumers aged 18 to 34. By contrast, just one third of consumers 55 years and older expect to shop online that day.
• If you still think Cyber Monday shoppers consist primarily of workers with Internet access, guess again:  nine out of ten Cyber Monday shoppers this year will be online at home.
• Cyber Monday shoppers will be looking most intensely for deals in the early morning, late morning and early evening. In the early morning, almost half of shoppers aged 18 to 34 will be shopping, versus one third of shoppers aged 55 and older. During the late morning, however, all age groups will be shopping online at much the same level.
• A small (4%) emerging group will shop Cyber Monday via their mobile device (e.g. an iPhone or Blackberry). Within this group, almost twice as many men than women will shop via mobile device, and, predictably, more of these will be younger (18-34) vs. older shoppers.

So, what else can we expect from consumers with Internet access at work this holiday season? In an early November survey conducted by BIGresearch for Shop.org, almost half of this group said they either already had or expected to use Internet access at work to browse or shop for gifts online. For 18 to 34 year olds, that’s more like two-thirds, and is closer to a third of those aged 55 to 64. Overall, however, the total number of people who said they expected to shop online from work for holiday gifts this year is down slightly from last year – 68.8 million this year vs. 72.8 million last year.

As always , please let me know your comments. In the meantime, may this be a very happy Cyber Monday for you!

I sat down with Kelly Gilmore, my counterpart at RAMA, to learn some more about the Racie awards.  I hope you enjoy the interview with this true industry leader.

Let’s start with the basics.  What does Racie stand for and what exactly are the Racie Awards?

Racie stands for The Retail Award for Creativity, Innovation and Excellence. Each year the Racie Awards honor the best in retail advertising and marketing, whether it is TV, digital, or integrated campaign work.  We even have a category for gift cards.

Can anyone enter any category?

Yes, any retailer, agency or media company can enter their clients’ retail work in any category.  I had someone call me and ask if the Shop.org community can enter other categories besides the six new digital categories–the answer is “YES.”  Our goal is to showcase and celebrate the best work in multiple categories happening in the retail industry.

How does the entry process work?

We have worked hard to make the process as straightforward as possible.  All entries are done online at www.nrf.com/racie.  The checkbox system and option to write up some comment to tell the judges makes it easier then ever.  After you are done entering, the actual creative is mailed to Schawk Studios in Chicago where the judges will meet and score the work.

How are the entries judged?

Each piece of work entered is judged on creativity, strategy, results, and innovation.  Innovation is a new piece of criteria that we just added this year!  The judging panel consists of professionals from the retail advertising and marketing industry and partners from agencies, media and consultants who serve the industry.  Each piece of work is independently scored, without any debate or discussion.  It can be a grueling process, but it’s also a lot of fun to be so hands on with all of the great creative.

How much does it cost to enter?
There is a $75 fee per entry.  Campaigns are considered one entry.

Over the years, have you had a favorite winner or a most memorable entry?

It’s hard to pick just one favorite.  I can say that I always look forward to seeing what people submit for the Peter Glen Cause Marketing Award.  We started this award in 1994 and each year it has been presented to winners who have given back to the community or environment in a unique way.  I’m always so proud of our industry and the commitment they make to communities, a specific cause or global issue.  Retail makes in impact!

I would say our wackiest entries are gift cards that come in the shape of race cars, transformers, and some even sing to us!  Another entry that had the judges buzzing was a brown wallet. One store dropped wallets in a competitor’s parking lot for their grand opening down the street. Knowing that everyone picks up a wallet and looks inside, these wallets had coupons for the competitor’s grand opening.

In the digital space, I’m exited to see the innovative ways retailers are touching their customers through the web, Facebook, apps and cell.

You mentioned six new digital categories. This sounds like something that appeals directly to the Shop.org community.  What are they?

They do! This year we wanted to really focus on expanding our categories to include all of the amazing digital creative work that is being done right now.  The six new categories include: digital / in-store experience, motion design, website experience, rich media online advertising and promotion, social commerce, and mobile apps.  That is on top of our other digital categories, such as website, online and interactive.

Is there a place that I can go to check out past winners, just to get a feel for what type of work you usually honor?

If you go to www.nrf.com/racie you can not only find out all of the latest info on the Racies, but you can also view past winners.  We show the winners as far back as 2003. It’s a great archive to not only see who has been honored over the years, but also to see how creative work has evolved.

So Donahoe chose to hone in the company on two goals: being “very good at e-commerce in a marketplace format” and being “the best in the world at online payments.” As a result, Donahoe said eBay’s platform is currently one of the two areas where the company is investing. He referenced the iPhone, a platform on which thousands of applications have been built. Much like the iPhone, Donahoe said, “we’re going to open up our platform to dramatically increase innovation. We will build that robust, scalable infrastructure and we’re going to allow innovation to be built on top.”

Donahoe also said the company is focusing on mobile, which he said is having “a powerful impact on commerce and payments.” Four million people have downloaded eBay’s iPhone app, and the company will see $380 million in sales come through the iPhone within the first nine months of this year. And it’s not just bids on used books and kids’ clothing: earlier this year, someone bought a Lamborghini with the app and last month a shopper used their iPhone to purchase a $150,000 boat.

Instead of focusing on keeping the competition at bay, Donahoe said he has changed his way of thinking because it “stifles innovation.” He mentioned TwitPay, an idea he acknowledges the company wouldn’t have thought of, which links to PayPal and enables people to send money to anyone else on Twitter. He also discussed several Facebook applications which use PayPal to allow people to raise money for charities. “On the surface, this could threaten our business,” he said. “But in reality, it will unleash innovation.”

Donahoe said this will be a mission of the company going forward. “When we see things that threaten us, we’re going to embrace them instead of resist them,” he said. “Every temptation in the world is to resist things. Consumers are driving a lot of change and we’ve found ourselves better off if we learn how to take advantage of them.”

What eBay is not focusing on, he said, is retail. Calling eBay “the online outlet mall,” Donahoe assured retailers that eBay was not interested in going into the retail business and hopes merchants see eBay as an outlet for liquidated merchandise, overstocks, returns from stores, and discontinued items. Three times during his keynote (I counted), Donahoe used the phrase, “We are not a retailer.”

“The focus is to be the best marketplace,” he said. “We are not a retailer and we will never be a retailer. We’re going to be a marketplace that will not compete with its sellers.”

But, like retailers with a passionate customer base, Donahoe recognized that it is impossible to please all of the company’s 300 million customers. Likening his position to the mayor of a city (“the feedback never agrees with one another”), Donahoe called customer feedback “a gift” and said the company is listening to that feedback and making decisions that are the bet for the marketplace. “The passion our sellers feel is a blessing,” he said. “The minute they stop caring and screaming is the minute we should be concerned. We’ve tried to be much more genuine and authentic about listening to that feedback.”

And he means it: Donahoe is so serious about customer feedback that he uses a net promoter score to measure engagement and ties those scores to the compensation of senior management.

Why the honed-in focus on customers? Certainly unhappy eBay sellers could jump ship for another marketplace through Amazon or Wal-Mart, but that’s just one piece of the puzzle. Donahoe said listening to customer feedback is important because that’s where the company gets its best ideas.

“Most good innovation comes from customers,” he said. “The more time we spend thnking in the ivory tower in San Jose, the worse off we’re going to be.”

One of the company’s newest programs, PayPal Student Accounts, actually stemmed from continued frustrations among customers who wanted family accounts. Today, Donahoe uses PayPal Student Accounts in his own household – his kids’ allowance is automatically deposited monthly, he said – and the program is filling an unmet need in other families simply because the company listened to its customers.

When discussing company growth, Donahoe reiterated that he plans to focus on what the company is (“a technology platform”) and pay close attention to customer feedback. “The only thing we can try to do is serve customers’ needs,” he said. “We need to find those pain points and either solve them ourselves or enable them to be solved.” Proof that, even though eBay may not be a retailer, they certainly have several things in common.

Let’s begin with some exciting company news. Tell me about some new projects in the works, including Jetsetter.

We’re launching a new platform in mid-October, which is a way to be able to surface some of the new categories we’ve been exploring. It won’t feel like a different experience for you if you’re coming in by email, but it does allow for a lot easier navigation and cross-promotion of some of the new sites.

We are going to be launching Jetsetter.com. It is like Gilt in many ways; it’s a flash-sale site. There’s a lot of great, great inventory out there, and we’re presenting an edited selection of experiences for people. We’ve done three or four test sales and they’ve been very successful.

In a Forbes article which ran last fall announcing your new position, you said you were already a fan of the company and that you “understand why members describe it as an addiction.” What do you think makes it so darned addictive?

Gilt did not feel like other e-commerce sites, which have a left-hand navigation and are very much products of the internet. This felt like something that was more editorial, yet had a very simple user interface. It was gorgeous, it was beckoning, and it was easy: two clicks and I was on a product detail page, two clicks and I could buy. That simple, fast fun is really something that I think they’ve done brilliantly, long before I came.

The longer that I played with it and the longer I’ve watched our members’ behavior, I think there are a number of things that are addictive: it is appointment shopping, it’s new every day. You know what brands are going to be sold but you don’t know what’s going to be inside the sale, so it’s like opening a present. There is that thrill of the hunt, thrill of the chase, and there’s a certain kind of gaming almost about this process. Gilt is bringing fun and excitement back to shopping, and I think that’s a large part of the appeal.

Do you believe your customers are drawn to the exclusivity of a shopping club or do you think Gilt would be as successful if it was an open e-commerce site?

I think there’s definitely something about it being invitation-only that makes it special. Anyone who has ever been to a live sample sale knows that there is a certain allure to the fact that you’ve been one of the lucky ones who’s chosen. And it does make you go that day, and there’s definitely something to the fact that this is an invitation-only site.

Before taking the reins at Gilt Groupe last fall, you spent nearly four years as the head of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. What were some of the biggest challenges in making the transition from a media company to e-commerce?

The Martha Stewart company is media and merchandising; they’re almost equal parts. That was my first merchandising experience, though the e-commerce part of that was a very small part of our overall revenues. The biggest shift or transition was really from a more mature company to a start-up that was really in hypergrowth. That was a truly revolutionary change for me on many levels.

Some have said that sites like Gilt, ideeli and Rue La La are well-positioned now, when the economy is suffering, but that it may be difficult to sustain this growth when the economy rebounds. What are your thoughts?

Nobody knows, ultimately, but there has always been a big industry around excess goods. Many brands have a large outlet business. This is not only something that emerged during this economic downturn; it’s been part of the life cycle of goods forever.

I think the bigger factor is who gets the great goods, and will people be cutting much more tightly as they go forward. So far we’re not seeing that. Certainly there aren’t as many excess goods in the overall marketplace, but that’s not a bad thing for us.

NRF has a Port Tracker report where we look at traffic coming into the nation’s ports. What we found this year is that retailers were cutting back inventory to about 2002 levels. Have you seen that affect business?

No. This is a huge industry, and we are not a billion-dollar company yet. It’s not impacting us.

On some levels, it’s actually better for us because I think there is less great inventory out there and I think we’ve got the best assortment. I think retailers’ inventory levels are maybe even a positive for us in the coming year. We have a lot of good brand relationships and we’ve got customers who know what they like and keep coming back.

During your session at the Summit, you will be talking about how viral marketing brings in new customers. Can you elaborate on this?

The biggest element of our marketing that our company benefits from is our “invite a friend.” We still bring in well over half of our members every year through invite a friend. It’s a hugely valuable marketing tool for so many reasons, not the least being that you tend to open things from a friend a lot more quickly and a lot more readily than if it’s coming from some institution.

You spent many years in the entertainment industry before your recent foray into retail. While those industries are different in many ways, several smart retail executives I’ve talked to say that retail is really just repackaged entertainment. What do you think?

That’s absolutely right. I think the best retailers do view their stores as a show. You have to grab your customers in the first act – when they walk through the door. Whatever they see first is critically important. Making sure that they stay, essentially, and going further into that stage is just as important.

I actually did one interview where, without thinking about it, I really was talking about what we do every day as entertainment. The interviewer challenged me and said, “You haven’t gotten out of your old way of thinking.” That may be true, but I do see so many elements of what we bring to people every day as being very similar to actually programming a network. Every day there’s a new show.

Do any retailers come to mind who do “entertainment” really well?

Offline, I think J. Crew has done a great job. The Collection store on 79th Street and Madison is fantastic and really well thought-out. They’ve taken a really smart, edited selection of their product and they have created a store that is for that Upper East Side customer. It feels completely different in there. I think Zara has a really great online store, and it’s even more interesting because it’s lower priced products.

In an interview with Advertising Age several years ago, a colleague illustrated your “unflappable” demeanor with a story about how, when you were pregnant, you made sure staff got to a screening before you headed to the hospital to have your baby. True story or urban legend?

Actually, I went to the screening with them and realized, “I can’t sit through this.” I went to my doctor’s office and my daughter was born about 20 minutes later.

Gilt is growing quickly while many retailers are shedding jobs. Can you share any insight about the company for people who may be interested in applying for one of your dozens of open positions?

We have 104 open positions right now at every level – we’ve got openings for stylists and art directors at our photo studios, we’ve got openings for warehouse employees and we’ve got openings for senior buyers and senior marketing executives. It’s a big range. We’ve been hiring very quickly.

We are launching a much more expanded home collection, we’re launching men’s as a separate site, and so we’re building out those teams as we speak. This is a much more complex business at scale than you would think. It’s a pretty easy business to enter, but it’s a difficult business at scale. We are moving tens of thousands of SKUs in and out all the time. We have new products every day; there is no core inventory here. So sale operations, warehouse operations, receiving, shipping, the tech platform, are all very complex.

This is a business where everybody comes at the same time. Shoppers all come to the door at about 11:55 and they race through to be the first people into the sale. Several hundred thousand people are trying to add to cart at the same time or trying to get through checkout. It needs very good operational minds, very good technical minds and great merchants who can both source and create sales.

You spent almost nine years with the Walt Disney Company where you served as president of ABC Entertainment, developing television shows such as Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy. What’s your favorite TV show right now?

Glee. It’s fantastic because it breaks all kinds of rules. It’s trying something very ambitious and those are always the shows I like best. Most of the time, they reach too far and something doesn’t work. This one happens to be awfully good.

Where do you look for inspiration?

I do a lot of reading, I look at a lot of magazines, I go to a lot of art galleries, and I visit a lot of stores. Also, I’ve got two daughters who are 24 and 20, and two step-daughters, and they’ve got tons of friends. Their friends are a huge resource for me. I see how they dress, I see what obsesses them, what shows they watch, what stores they walk into, what sites they access, and that’s hugely valuable.

You’ve been in the retail industry now for nearly a year. What have you learned that has surprised you?

I can’t tell you this completely surprised me, but it did confirm something for me: the customer is very smart. They are very savvy, they know what they like, and they’re generally right. You’re never going to be able to sell something—no matter how beautifully it’s presented—if it’s not pretty great, particularly in this economy.

I think that the people who are drawn to fashion at any price point tend to have looked at enough clothes over their lives that they are very savvy shoppers. They’re always going to be able to find the gem wherever it exists. We are well-served to watch them.

Jayne will be at the Shop.org Annual Summit on Tuesday, September 22 to sign copies of her book.

Today is the day GenBuY is published, and I know it’s been quite a project! Tell me about some of your favorite parts of the book.

I loved hearing and writing the young people’s stories about their relationship with brands and stores. It’s amazing how much what they buy – or long to buy – says about what they’re going through at the different stages of their lives. No matter what I’ve covered, I’ve always been intrigued the most by why people do what they do – whether it’s commit crimes, take driving risks or collect designer jeans.

Some of the teens’ obsessions with, umm, undergarments – one young lady had several dozen bras in every conceivable color and pattern – video games or sneakers were both mind boggling and revealing from a marketing standpoint. How to create or tap into these yearnings for various fashions or technology? We came up with some answers.

I knew we were on to something when I learned what was up with the various collections of “stuff’ – from Webkinz to flip flops – my 9-year-old was amassing in our two years of research and what was driving her fledgling passion for fashion. I’m also far more prepared for at least the shopping side of the teen and 20-something years now.

In researching for your book, what surprised you?

It was quite stunning what powerful consumers these young people are. The more we researched, the more convinced we became that this was truly the generation retailers and marketers need to target to thrive and even survive in the new economy. Their clout comes from their purchasing power (given that they have their own money, plus parents, grandparents and others shopping for them); their love of brands and shopping; and their influence over household buys.

It was also surprising how much the business relationship with them needs to mirror a personal one, including respect for their opinions and involving them in decisions. That’s what some of upstart websites such as Karmaloop and Threadless do and we think it’s going to have to be the way more established brands deal with their Gen Y customers – and employees.

It’s just so important for marketers to understand what’s makes Gen Y tick because that’s what makes them click — and buy!

I’ve heard that the inspiration behind your book came from a Shop.org conference session. True?

Indeed. A few months after I started on the retail beat in 2006, the women at Resource Interactive pitched me to do an article on findings they were going to share at that fall’s summit on Gen Y consumers. I agreed (That’s unusual right there! I probably do 1% of the stories I get pitched. See below.) I interviewed some of the teens in their study and found their digital and retail lives fascinating. When consumer psychologist and marketing professor Kit Yarrow and I decided to write a retail-related book the next year, it was the topic I most wanted to examine more deeply. She agreed it was the most compelling topic we could cover when it comes to retail.

As an outsider looking in on the industry, what do you think retail has in store for the next six months?

Well, I read the same reports everyone else does, but am probably more optimistic by nature than most. I do informal polls of USA TODAY’s 2,000-member Shopper Panel regularly and find many are starting to spend again – at least the ones who are still employed — but most say their buying habits have probably changed forever. Will luxury retail ever return to its pre-recession levels? That’s hard to imagine. But I know I have my own bad case of pent-up demand and many of the subjects of our book – to the extent they cut back at all – are dying to get back to some serious shopping. So I do think sales will start to improve.

What do you love about retail? What frustrates you?

The passion people in this industry have for their work makes retail a far more enjoyable beat than most I’ve covered, such as airlines or antitrust. I do rather love to shop so it’s fun – though expensive! – to do interviews at stores. And it’s very cool to be hearing about the latest trends in fashion and merchandising and to be able to call it “work.”

That said, it is frustrating – and perplexing – that many retail executives are so reticent about talking to the media, particularly when there is no shortage of “experts” out there ready to give their take on what retailers are doing right or wrong. I’m surprised and disappointed more don’t take the time to get to know reporters before they’ve got big news to pitch or bad news to try to spin. As it is with consumers, it helps to have a relationship with the media.

As a retail reporter for the last three years, you’ve undoubtedly spoken to a lot of retail executives. Can you tell me which interviews were the most enjoyable for you?

I loved hanging out with the loss prevention guys – at Bealls in Florida – and interviewing Target and Montgomery County police officials when I did a retail theft cover story a couple years ago. The thieves’ brazenness is horrifying, yet riveting. Unlike me, however, the LP folks aren’t exactly fascinated with why the bad guys (and women) do what they do. They just want them to stop stealing!

Farooq Kathwari of Ethan Allen has to have one of the most interesting life stories in retail and he’s a very nice person to boot. Johnny Morris of Bass Pro Shops (look for my profile on him coming this month!) has got to be the most down-to-earth CEO on the planet.

With the holiday season nearly upon us, I’m sure your email in-box will soon be overflowing with pitches from retailers and vendors. What advice do you have for companies who want to make a splash in the press this holiday season?

Keep an eye out for trends you may be a part of and pitch an “idea,” not just your company or product. For example, watch what your consumers are buying more of this year than last. Last year seemed to be the year of the practical and the comfort-giving gift. What will the theme be this year?

When you pitch your company, put it in a larger context. Newspapers, like most media, have shrinking staffs and reporters often don’t have time to connect the dots. Few of us have the time or space to report incremental developments at individual companies that don’t have a larger meaning or impact on consumers or business.

Do something that is truly different and newsworthy. Step back from your day-to-day job and think what your company might be doing that would be interesting to an outsider. Or ask new – and/or young! – employees if there’s anything going on that seems unique or newsworthy. I’m sure there will be stories about the retailer that stays open for the most days straight or puts up the first Christmas tree (which has no doubt already happened), but how about some truly new angles on the holidays this year?

And let’s try the reverse: what should companies who want to get their name in the paper never do?

Try to get reporters like me to promote their promotions. Sure, they might get lucky and a deal will get mentioned in a larger story. But PR pitches are far too often thinly-veiled (or not veiled at all) ad copy. I would have gone into advertising or marketing instead of journalism if I wanted to promote products!

It seems the Internet is playing a role in just about everything these days. Can you talk about how the web has changed the newspaper world, specifically USA Today?

Print reporters now have to think much more visually about their stories and consider things including interactive graphics and video. I even shoot my own video now. (Not very well, maybe, but it’s a start!) Our already-thin staffs feel even smaller now that many colleagues are blogging almost full-time. That can make it harder to cover the news, but helps bring new visitors to the site and the blogs give us all another forum to write in, which is exciting. And, of course, everything moves more quickly now with 24/7 news so it has sped up the news cycle. That doesn’t have as big of an impact on the retail beat, but it sure keeps the economic and political reporters on their toes.

How do you get your news, specifically retail news?

I read both SmartBriefs every day and love them. It saves a lot of time I might otherwise spend combing other print and online publications to keep up with trends. I scan the wires, read the major newspapers and get press releases on email from most major retailers or go to their websites when I’m working on a story.

You’ve made no secret about how much you love shopping. Where are some of your favorite places to shop, and what are your favorite things to buy?

I don’t want to name names, but I will confess to loving high-end department store outlets and off-price shopping. Some people say it’s too much work; I think the hunt is at least half the fun. I’m on a few of those discount designer email lists and get some great ideas that way but it’s just not the same for me as sorting through all the stuff in the store and feeling for myself whether that “buttery soft” cashmere really is. Clothes shopping is my favorite, but I’m going to have to return to furniture shopping soon. All these hours at home working on the book has reminded me it’s time to redo the living room.

If you were forced to take a three-month, paid sabbatical, what would you do?

I’m a passionate (not crazy!) cat lady. We foster homeless kittens and have a few of our own. So I’d take a tour of some spots out West I haven’t visited, do some writing and take my daughter to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah to volunteer. Lest I sound too do-gooderish, I’d also map out the closest spa and designer outlet mall and hit them as well.

Now that you’re no longer writing a book, how will you fill those extra hours?

Helping sell it, spending time with my somewhat-neglected family, and shopping — of course!

Connect with Jayne:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Email: jodonnell@usatoday.com or Jayne@genbuy.net

Back in 1998, Tracy saw the potential of the Internet and invested in NRF building a community of online retail executives from within its membership.  This community grew over the next year or so and it caught the attention of a group called Shop.org, which was formed in 1996.  Shop.org was looking for a strategic partner that could help it take its own online retail community to the next level.  Tracy saw the potential of Shop.org being part of NRF and actively pursued the combination of these two groups.  From the earliest days of e-commerce, Tracy had the vision to recognize the power of the Internet to change retail.  Now, in 2009, Shop.org, as NRF’s digital division, is a vibrant community that provides critical research, connects thousands of experts to share best practices and trends, and actively participates in public policy debates on issues affecting the industry.

On behalf of the entire digital retail industry, I’d like to thank Tracy for believing in the power of the Internet in retail, her support of Shop.org, and the strategic guidance she has provided over the years that has helped Shop.org grow and thrive.  In Tracy’s open letter about her retirement, she talks about the NRF/RILA merger and reflects on her three-plus decades in the retail industry, in which she identifies the Internet and the rise of Wal-Mart as two defining moments.  While it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to see her describe the Internet this way, it brought a huge smile to my face nonetheless.

Thank you, Tracy.

I wanted to let everyone know about some of the new things we are doing on the Shop.org website.

In particular we have two new widgets on the site. The first is from our friends at SmartBrief. It’s a great little tool that allows you to keep up with eCommerce news right from our homepage (or yours if you wanna grab a copy!).

The second is a cool little countdown clock designed and built by our own Karen Walsh. It will countdown each day until the Annual Summit (and maybe show a few easter eggs along the way).

You can grab both of these widgets from this post or explore the Shop.org site and see each in its native habitat.

Also, if you’re logged in and planning on going to the Summit subscribe to our Members Summit Group. You can ask questions about the Summit, see other member Summit attendees and browse through some really great presentations from our last year of events.

Have a great day,

-Godmund and the web team at Shop.org