More Royal Mail strikes scheduled
The Communications Workers Union has scheduled more strike actions against Royal Mail beginning Thursday evening, 16th July, and running through Saturday. Seventeen delivery facilities, including those in Bristol and Edinburgh, and four processing/distribution sites will be affected.

Next for Next: Hamleys toys
Next will likely include toys from retailer Hamleys in its Christmas Next Directory catalogue. The two parties have been negotiating, but as of this writing a deal has yet to be finalised.

Bonprix acquires Venus Swimwear
Bonprix, a value-priced division of Otto Group, has acquired US manufacturer/cataloguer Venus Swimwear. Venus fell into receivership in May after its primary lender pulled financing. For Catalogue e-business’s take on the deal, read the blog entry here.

Bookrabbit bouncing back as social site
Online bookstore/community site BookRabbit will be back online, minus the ecommerce aspect. Parent company ArgentVive went into administration in March, but web design firm Redberry Digital bought BookRabbit in May and intends to relaunch it as a social-networking site.

ECMOD2009 Conference & Exhibition - 7th & 8th October, Earls Court, London
The latest company confirmed to exhibit are La Poste, 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 the form please email Sam.

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.

Five tips for better tweeting
Marketers are all a-twitter over Twitter. An online messaging platform, Twitter enables you to communicate with followers who opt in to receive your brief (140-character) messages. But like any other hot new marketing tool, Twitter is open to abuse. Find out how to avoid misusing the medium, click here

Pump up the volume of your email subject lines
Because of its low cost and relative ease, email has become ever more popular among marketers – which means the inboxes of your customers and prospects are becoming ever more crowded with messages competing for their attention. That’s why you need to lavish as much care on the subject lines of your emails as you do on the message, the offer, and the overall creative. For 10 tactics to help you with the task, 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 and reactivation, plus a guide to deciphering SEO jargon, how to coordinate direct marketing and outbound sales, and more
• September issue: special focus on technology, plus ECMOD Preview supplement, with articles from speakers Amy Africa, Katy Howell, Ernie Schell, and others