eTail East is pretty quiet.  Apparently only about 1/3 of the people that were expected to come actually showed up.  There maybe 800 people here, short of the 2000 or so that showed up in February.  It’s hard to figure out because the speakers are from top brands like Saks, eBay, Petco and Ikea.  Perhaps it’s the timing and location.  Washington DC is a beautiful city, better in fact than last year’s location of Philadelphia, but not exactly ideal when it is 98 degrees outside with 90% humidity.

There is also the competition.  The abundance of shows is always a challenge and Shop.org’s show is in September in Las Vegas (also warm, but a little better), so maybe it sounds more attractive.  That didn’t stop Shop.org from hosting members at this eTail show in their hometown to a dinner.  Sound like Google and Yahoo?  Let’s hope not.

Despite the fact that the show floor is pretty dead during the sessions, when the breaks happen, the room fills, the traffic is reportedly good and the wheelings and dealing of the retail business is ever present.  This proves that the content and names that must have drawn some of the people, were able to engage attendees.  And attendees have stuck to the program. The morning sessions in the main hall were packed and the room must have held 500 people. Lots of Q&A and lots of people taking notes as Norm Thompson Outfitters, Zappos.com (a real crowd pleaser) and Redcats USA told their tricks for success, past mistakes and even what things they are looking to do in the future.

Most people are focused on making the Web experience even better.  The trend at a lot of these conferences is to throw around phrases like Web 2.0, but this year people are getting down to the nitty gritty and talking about the technological things that actually can do that.  Retail stores online still have a long way to go before they catch up to the latest in interactive advertising Web sites.  Shop.org and eTail this winter started this techno-focused conversation and there were even murmurings at the gigantic Internet Retailer show, but this conference people have actually started fooling around with the instruments.  Expect more user generated reviews, better search landing pages and more tools to investigate products like zoom on colors and multi-dimension viewing.

The parties have been pretty well attended too.  Tonight’s party was all about the monuments, which would have been better at one of the monuments, since of course we are in DC, but then again it is 98 degrees out and an air conditioned soiree was definitely the way to go.

The eTail show content has been strong this year, one of the best coming from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com.  Zappos has grown from a $1.6 million gross sales business in 2000 to $600 million in gross sales in 2006 and $800 million projected for 2007.  Here are his top 10 e-commerce tips for success.

1. The e-commerce business is built on repeat customers. (The free overnight shipping is the investment in marketing dollars at Zappos.com).
2. Word of mouth really works online. (Both positive and negative)
3. Don’t compete on price.  (Anyone can undercut, but it doesn’t build loyalty).
4. Make sure your Web site inventory is 100%.  (Nothing makes a customer madder than an unfulfilled order).
5. Centrally locate your distribution. (Zappos moved from CA to Kentucky to reach the east and west coasts within 2 days for ground –UPS and FedEx have hubs nearby).
6. Customer service is an investment. (Not an expense).
7. Start small.  Stay focused.  (It will never be prefect from the start, so build it out as you go).
8. Don’t be secretive.  Don’t worry about competitors.  (Zappos actually finds products on competitors’ sites and refers business when they don’t have the stock!)
9. Actively manage your company culture.  (Zappos is about customer service and all level employees go through the same 5 week training which includes taking phone calls and fulfilling orders in the warehouse to understand how the company works).
10. Be wary of so-called experts (including me…).  (Zappos has hired consultants, but has found that no one knew their business better than they did.)

ETail’s welcome cocktail party was well attended, as retailers from all over had just flown in and were looking to whet their whistles.  People seemed excited for the show with a lot of talk, drinks and jokes.

Chuck Swenberg, vice president of sales and business at Habeas told me that there are a lot of new things cooking for e-mail.  Look for compliance to get tighter, e-mail to get more expensive and analytics to get even better.  Some things are under the radar, but he did say that he’s been paying a lot of attention to legislation in Australia, where an anti-spam bill is on the boards.  The U.S. is a few years behind in compliance issues and he expects us to catch up soon enough, which will make it more difficult for e-mail marketers.

The thing to resist? Affiliate marketing.  Even though it may seem like an open source of new leads, it is one of the most difficult things to manage in terms of compliance control, and marketers are responsible for their own behavior as well as that of their partners.  Datran recently released a platform for marketers to be able to measure compliance of affiliates within their network, so perhaps we’ll see more trends of this nature.

The opening day of eTail is normally split in two –two rooms of about 100 people each, one discussing search, the other e-mail.  I works like speed dating.  Retailers sit at big round tables, as a team of e-mail service providers circle the room sharing tips and answering questions.

It’s a great place to talk specifics.  Today the specifics were about list building, while still being compliant, testing for timing and content and the best

It think it is one of the most organic places to learn and share about e-mail marketing, because everyone is coming to learn something and everyone is willing to share their secrets. This is my third eTail and my third Email Day at the show, and I’m starting to notice that the retailers are more informed.  They are leading the discussions more and answering each other’s questions.  Many are even more educated today, even if they aren’t doing everything they could be.

Tiffany D’Amato e-commerce operations director at Aeropostale said that she stops e-mailing people who haven’t opened an e-mail in 6 months.  Still she saves their names.  “I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them, and I know I should be doing something, but I’m not going to take them off the list unless they opt out.

As many of you know, DM News publishes new-to-market, newly selectable or newly managed lists in its weekly print edition or at the bottom of the e-mail daily newsletter on a first-come, first-serve basis.

All you – the list owner or manager - have to do to be included is e-mail lists@dmnews.com or send mail to our Chelsea offices. Our staff and the trees prefer e-mails with Word Documents attached.

The response we get is overwhelming. And we encourage everyone with new lists – be they postal, e-mail or insert programs – to keep them coming! The variety and abundance of lists we get each week is testament to the growth of the DM industry and the hard work that owners, brokers, managers and mailers are doing to keep the market vibrant and profitable.

Conversations I’ve had with many of you either through e-mail or on the phone echo the same theme: “Where’s my list? When is it going to run? How could you forget about me and my list company?”

The answer is we haven’t forgotten you. We want to publish your list. However, here are the top three obstacles that can get between your list and the printing press:

1. Arriving slow to the editorial staff
A list that is mailed or sent to a specific editor or sales person rather than lists@dmnews.com goes through one extra step before being seen by an editor. It either waits in our mail room or someone’s personal e-mail in-box before being passed on to the right person. By sending it straight to the list e-mail, you guarantee it will be seen quickly be the right person, regardless of staff absences or lost mail.

2. Ambiguous labels
DM News only publishes new-to-market, newly selectable or newly managed lists. We do not publish changes in pricing, counts or addressing. Sometimes we get lists or data cards that do not clearly identify what aspect of a file has been updated. The best practice is to label the change in the subject line of your e-mail.

3. Batch of e-mails from the same source
DM News makes an effort to print a variety of lists from a variety of list companies. Sending us a data card for each iteration of a owner’s list slows down our process and does not increase your company’s chances of publication.

Yesterday I got a taste of some of the new products that aim to be big this Christmas.  And no surprise, it was a day of personal electronics.  

The first demo was the new PSP by Sony.  It weighs about half the size of the old PSP with a higher resolution and options for a longer life battery upgrade.  Sony has also introduced a connector cable, so that users can plug it into a television, creating an instant entertainment center on the go.  Sony is aiming the product at parents and teens a like, as it is a good

The new PSP launches in September, with a limited edition Star Wars designed PSP out in October.  The fall campaign will focus on the Star Wars launch, which will include a game that is compatible across the devices.

For the fitness set, Timex has released an update to its Ironman workout watch that controls your iPod.  It works via radio transmission through a small device that is plugged into the bottom of the iPod, and it transmits a signal up to 10 feet away.  You can press the buttons on the watch to control the songs and volume.

The short comings are that you can’t see the songs on the watch, and since you still have to plug in headphones to the iPod, you can’t really get that far away from it.  So it seems like it would be easier just to use the iPod itself and not add another device to the mix.  

The watches went on sale on Timex.com yesterday and they will be up on Apple.com next week.  In the fall the watches will hit the stores, Sears and Kohl’s, depending on the individual store’s order date. An event based marketing campaign will begin next week.