Q&As

Consumers will spend nearly $800 on average this holiday season, up 7% from last year—with nearly $100 more earmarked for purchases for themselves.

(Direct Newsline)—Direct marketers must send relevant messages, be responsible, and respect the wishes of customers, donors and prospects, or they will risk becoming irrelevant themselves, said DMA president and CEO John Greco during his welcoming keynote address yesterday.

Eager to avoid the cost of “middleman” sites, hotel Web sites are building an edge: Consumers who are members in a hotel loyalty program more often choose the hotel’s Web booking program first.

GAS STATION TV: has introduced a service that combines its…MALL NETWORKS: has hired Kristyn Golier as…

The early morning session at any conference can do a lot to put attendees on the right path for the rest of the day. Fortunately, Arthur Hughes’s “Nine Deadly Mistakes in Database Marketing” session on Tuesday morning at DMA06 in San Francisco was no snoozer.

After 71 years as a staple in the New York market, the Incentive Show is closing its doors. The closure is being attributed to a gradual decline in the quantity and quality of attendees, which over the years eroded exhibitor enthusiasm for the show. The costs to operate the event also played a role in the demise of a show that brought major brands like Blockbuster, Harry & David, Coach and Bath & Body Works to work the floors at Jacob Javits Center, handing out everything from two-ounce bottles of cucumber melon body lotion to Moose Munch chocolate bars.

Denny’s is tapping a Halloween theme to give kids an extra treat.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has had a full-text search function on its Web site allowing visitors to find out if, say, a public company has filed a document with

Identity theft? Ho-hum.

Woe to you, friend, if that’s your attitude. Data security may be dead in Congress this year, but the Federal Trade Commission is on the case, and that could mean trouble for lax companies.

The Federation of European Direct Marketing Association is set to begin a major research initiative at the end of the year, to create an economic analysis of the impact of DM on the group’s 25 member DM associations.