N Brown sales up, gross profit margins down
Multititle mailer N Brown Group has grown year-on-year sales for the 18 weeks to 4th July by 5.1 percent, in line with expectations. Gross profit margins were down by 1.5 percent, due to the anticipated increase in bad debts. N Brown’s titles include Simply Be and JD Williams.

Redundancies at Neckermann
The woes of German conglomerate Arcandor, which filed for insolvency last month, are well known, but it’s not the only German cataloguer suffering the effects of the recession: Neckermann is making about 175 workers at its Frankfurt logistics centre redundant.

Staples rebrands Corporate Express UK
The UK contract stationery business formerly known as Corporate Express is now Staples Advantage UK. Office supplies cataloguer/retailer Staples had acquired its one-time rival last year.

ECMOD2009 Conference & Exhibition - 7th & 8th October, Earls Court, London
The latest companies confirmed to exhibit are Caliq Software and Catalogues 4 Business, who are also featured at the virtual exhibition. These join a raft of specialist suppliers getting ready to wow ECMOD visitors and delegates. Exciting new features for 2009 include the International Boulevard, Catalogue Exchange Village, and a custom built Deluxe Theatre which will accommodate free seminars. Companies interested in exhibiting should call Jill or Karen on 01271 866112 without delay to avoid disappointment.

This year's world-class multi-track conference has adopted the theme “Driving Profitability” and features over 60 top speakers from the US and UK.
The conference covers all the burning issues, latest developments, new strategies and techniques for driving profitability in b2b and b2c enterprises.
A full programme along with speakers and earlybird rates are available to download here

Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates: twitter.com/ecmodshow. Visiting the exhibition is entirely free of charge and you can register to do so now and be kept abreast of all the special deals exhibitors are offering during the show.

Catalogue Exchange/ECMOD Supplier Awards
These sought after Awards will be presented at the official ECMOD HQ Hotel - The Copthorne Tara, Kensington, on 7th October. In addition to the existing seven categories which invite clients to nominate suppliers who have supported their businesses – a further four awards have been created. The new categories will ask supplier companies to submit their own entries and will be judged by a client side panel drawn from the Catalogue Exchange Advisory Board.

Client nominations are required to be delivered using the official form to the ECMOD offices on or before 4th September 2009. All details must be personally completed by the nominating executive, be dated and signed and be able to be verified. Download the new client nomination form here. An entry form is also now being created for the four new categories – which will have a closing date of September 7th. To request this email sam@catalogueexchange.co.uk

Tickets for the evening which, whilst not being fully black tie, does ask for smart evening dress are priced at £95 + vat per person or £950 + vat per table of ten for the full evening including dinner. These tickets are on sale now. There will also be tickets available for the evening’s cocktail reception & Awards presentation without dinner at £45 + vat per person.  Please contact Sam, Monica or Leanne for further information on 0871 855 5545.

Seven principles of a stellar online customer experience
It’s easy to pay lip service to creating the optimal online customer experience. But what does creating that experience actually entail? For one industry expert’s take, click here

Analyse your way to better email response
Knowing what elements of your email marketing campaigns to track, and how to make use of the data, can improve response and sales. See what we mean, click here

Cross-Atlantic Insight returns
You wanted it, and now you’ve got it: Catalogue e-business magazine is relaunching Cross-Atlantic Insight, its free fortnightly enewsletter devoted to helping UK marketers expand into the US, Stateside businesses enter the UK, and both UK and US merchants keep abreast of opportunities in Continental Europe. Cross-Atlantic Insight will relaunch on 28th July. Make sure you don’t miss out; Subscribe today!

Coming Up in Catalogue e-business

• August issue: special focus on customer retention, plus distribution and delivery, small-business spotlight, and more.