Just three years ago, online sales reached $100 billion. And this year, that number is expected to soar past $200 billion, according to a new study.

Online sales, which hit the $100 billion mark just three years ago, will pass $200 billion, according to a study from Shop.org and Forrester Research. In fact, total sales (including travel) are seen as reaching $211.4 billion. Sales excluding travel will hit $138 billion.

Direct marketing veteran Ray Butkus has been appointed as president and chief executive officer at Automated Resources Group LLC, a database marketing, subscription fulfillment and loyalty marketing services firm.

News item: The nation’s largest class-action law firm, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, was recently charged with kicking back more than $11 million to individuals who served as lead plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits, despite a New York law that prohibits attorneys from promising anything of value to induce a person to bring a lawsuit.…

User-generated advertising is all the rage. Trying to leverage the passions behind blogging, texting, MySpace-ing, and YouTube-ing, marketers are buying into the notion that, hey, our customers can come up with some great ideas too.

Six Flags theme parks have rolled out a new loyalty club just for kids that offers its biggest fans a chance to extend their park experience via exclusive contests and insider news.

Greyhound Lines, Inc. has launched its first loyalty program called Road Rewards giving special offers to customers who purchase tickets on the transportation company’s Web site.

Drug store chain CVS boosts online shopping with a short-term promotion for its ExtraCare loyalty card

ConAgra Foods is readying a slate of summer promotions that will spur sampling and brand loyalty for a handful of key brands using a range of sports and entertainment sponsorships.

Beside the general argument that single-tender loyalty programs capture only a percentage of your overall customer transactions, there’s another reason that many loyalty marketers value multitender over single-tender programs.