The Prepaid Press - May 15, 2008 - (Page 25)

RETAIL FOCUS May 15 · 2008 - 25 Forrester Predicts Online Sales to Climb $204 Billion Despite Sluggish Economy SCOTTSDALE, AZ (April 8, 2008) Forrester Research’s (Nasdaq: FORR) study, “The State of Retailing Online 2008,” says online retail will continue to be a bright spot in the industry with retail sales rising 17 percent this year to $204 billion. The 11th annual Shop.org study of 125 retailers said that in a year where retail industry sales are expected to experience sluggish growth, Americans will continue to use the Internet for clothing, computers, and even cars. According to the study, apparel ($26.6 billion), computers ($23.9 billion), and autos ($19.3 billion) will be the largest three sales categories. The marketing report, the first of a three-part series of reports based on the study, was released at Shop.org’s Online Marketing Workshop in Scottsdale, Arizona on April 8. The release said that as the number of people new to the Internet begins to decrease, online retailers must decide between investing in strategies that retain current customers, or strategies that attract new ones. According to the report, online retailers allocate 53 percent of their marketing budgets to online customer acquisition, and 21 percent of marketing dollars to online customer retention. The report says retailers are finding that traditional acquisition programs such as search engine or affiliate marketing may also serve as retention tools that attract existing customers as well as new shoppers. “What’s spearheading online retail sales growth is a tale of two shoppers that visit the web for very different reasons,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research principal analyst and lead author of the report. “The casual shopper goes online to look for the best price, leveraging the transparency of the Internet to save money. However, more affluent customers appreciate the convenience of shopping online and are not necessarily looking for the best deal. Retailers would be wise to recognize there are significant opportunities within both audiences and should market to them accordingly.” According to the survey, retailers find that search engine marketing continues to be the most effective way to reach new customers, and accounts for 35 percent of sales. As a result, nearly all online retailers surveyed (90%) use pay-forperformance search placement, and 79 percent said they will make this tactic an even greater priority this year. Companies are also using offline marketing tactics to drive customers to the web, with catalogs and other direct mail pieces taking priority over methods like television and newspaper advertising. Although free shipping offers have gotten some consumers over the obstacle of shopping online in the past, the study said that retailers are less interested in promoting free shipping options this year. While 85 percent of online retailers said they used some shipping with conditions promotions in the past, just 35 percent said that they would focus more on these types of promotions in 2008. Instead, retailers are eager to experiment with Social Computing initiatives to attract customers – 65 percent and 55 percent of retailers respectively said that social network advertisements and widgets would be categories of increased focus this year. Social Computing efforts to this point have been considered more effective for brand-building and less proven for driving revenue or sales conversion. Therefore, the report advises retailers to continue investments in proven techniques like email marketing and free shipping promotions to drive sales. More information on the report is available at www.shop.org/soro08. Forrester RoleView clients will be able to access the report directly on www. forrester.com as part of their subscription service starting on May 7, 2008. Source: Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) Give Me the Power from page 23 to have an idea of the power drain of the equipment you are going to support. A UPS is rated in two main ways. The first is the load. This is measured in Volt Amperes, VA, and is calculated simply by multiplying the voltage, 120 volts here in the US, by the current in amperes. If you look at the back of the equipment, it should have this information. For example, a typical PC might say 3 amps. This is a maximum figure, and the actual drain might be somewhat less than this. One word of warning, devices like CRTs, laser printers and copiers have instantaneous power needs that could be quite high. For example, a laser printer might draw about 2 amps in operation, but when the fuser is heating up, it could be as high as 5 amps. These devices should usually not be included in the UPS unless absolutely necessary. So, you add up all these devices and that will tell you how big of a UPS to get. A typical PC with peripherals might need 350-500 VA, so a lot of UPSs are in this range. Smaller devices, like a POSA terminal, are going to be a lot less, and there are UPSs that are like big power strips that will work fine. Same with telephones and other small devices. Remember that you do not have to put everything on one UPS, so if you have two PCs, you can put each one on its own separate UPS. The other criteria is the amount of time that you can operate on the UPS. This is a function of battery size, so as a rough rule of thumb, the heavier the UPS, the longer it will operate. Typical holdover times are 10 to 30 minutes or more. Even at the low end, you will cover the vast majority of outages. If you have a history of longer duration outages, you will need to find a UPS with a lot of battery capability. There is a very easy way to determine how long a UPS will hold up; just disconnect the power while it is operating, and time it. Many UPS’s come with software that will refine this process a great deal. It is recommended that you periodically test the UPS by pulling its power cord from the outlet, to make sure that everything continues to operate. To decide on how big of a UPS to get, you need to have an idea of the power drain of the equipment you are going to support. The big issue for a PC is the CRT. It creates several issues. First, when a CRT is first turned on, there is an inrush of current that could trip the circuit breaker in the UPS. Even then, the CRT takes a lot of power, often as much as the PC itself. This will cut in half the backup time. One way to deal with this is to NOT plug the CRT into the UPS. If you do this, you will probably not be able to use the PC since you can’t see anything, but the UPS will hold up a lot longer. Your exact situation will dictate if this is a viable alternative. If you have an LCD monitor, it will draw a lot less current, so it will last a lot longer. LCDs also do not have the initial inrush, so you will avoid this problem as well. Or, if possible, use a laptop instead of a PC. This has the added bonus of an internal battery that will power it for 1 to 8 hours. If plugged into a UPS, even a small one, you will be good to go for a long time. Our intent here was to treat the power situation as regards to an office, or a small retail location. If your requirements are more stringent than that, you will have to look at larger scale, and more expensive, solutions. But, for a POSA and/or retail front-end operation, the new breed of UPS can be the answer to a very serious problem. See you next class. CAESARS PALACE, LAS VEGAS · AUGUST 19 – 21, 2008 The Prepaid Press Expo is the only event that bridges all sectors of the prepaid services industry, and all players within each sector. It is the primary point of convergence for prepaid services in 2008, and an event you won’t want to miss! THE PREPAID PRESS EXPO 2008 NETWORK The prepaid industry has grown in three distinct branches – calling cards, wireless, and gift cards/alternative payments. These three diverse sectors converge at the retail level, but are still approached as di erent industries. No trade event today features the convergence…until now! You no longer have to decide between di erent events that cover just part of the industry. tppEXPO’08 will be the must-attend event for anyone involved in producing or selling prepaid services. Emperor Sponsor Centurion Sponsors Senator Sponsor Grammaticus (Conference) Partner Giornale (Media) Sponsors Participants Include: Prepaid Service Providers Technology Providers Others Distribution Companies/Retailers FREE EXHIBIT HALL PASS THROUGH MAY 31 REGISTER TODAY! VISIT PREPAIDPRESSEXPO.COM OR CALL 866.203.2334 ext. 505 FOR MORE INFORMATION FREE EXHIBIT HALL PASS THROUGH MAY 31! $99 TOGA PARTY PASS FOR A LIMITED TIME http://Shop.org http://Shop.org http://www.shop.org/soro08 http://www.forrester.com http://www.forrester.com http://www.forrester.com http://PREPAIDPRESSEXPO.COM http://PREPAIDPRESSEXPO.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - May 15, 2008

The Prepaid Press - May 15, 2008 Prepaid Attracts Press Attention First Data to Acquire InComm Contents The Retske Report: To Everything There Is A Season Regulatory Rundown: Rules, Bills and Probes Courtesy of the FCC 5 Minutes With Ray Horak, Telecom Author The Prepaid Press Expo Spotlight The Age of Prepaid Prepaid Wireless in Brief Prepaid Wireless Roundup American Wireless to Sell Virgin Mobile Openet Introduces Flexible Accounts Prepaid Reviews Launches Pay as You Go Podcast Motorola Reports Losses APC Wireless Buys Movida Virgin Mobile to Deliver Limbo Services The State of Prepaid Technology Start Your Engines! The Legal Line PhoenixSoft Adds Service Providers Blackstone to Distribute Viscom Calling Cards Spot Rates IVR Technologies Releases Talking SIP 3.4 Calling Cards in Brief Former IDT Employee Wins $10.5 Million Payments in Brief Hypercom SmartPayments Certified for Windows Pacific Resource Credit Union Selects TMG New Payment Software for QuickBooks POS Blood in the Water Prepaid 101: Give Me the Power 7-Eleven to Hold Innovation Event First Data Gives Ingenico I-Series Class A Support Coinstar Kicks Off Change Reuse Program Payment Application Data Security Standard Issued Forrester Predicts Online Sales to Climb Retail Focus in Brief Our Advertisers Contact Us

The Prepaid Press - May 15, 2008

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