Q&As

Your database of customer information provides a myriad of enhancements to the “product/salesperson/location” ethic of retailing.

J. C. Penney Company Inc. announced that total direct sales for the five weeks ending Sept. 30, 2006 increased 11.8% over the same month last year to $284 million. That compares to a year-over-year increase of only 0.4% in September 2005 and a direct-sales total of $254 million for the month.

Working Solutions, a provider of remote agent call center services, yesterday completed its acquisition of Advanced Data-Comm, a call-center services company based in Dubuque IA.

In an effort to build customer loyalty databases, drive consumers in-store and generate brand awareness, Cold Stone Creamery and 1-800-Flowers.com have paired in a birthday party sweeps.

Restaurant chain Johnny Rockets is building off its musical roots with a new campaign meant to revive music fans’ love of rock n’ roll classics via online playlists, giveaway and contests.

Energizer brings its bunny-inspired energy to Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure events this month with a twist on its long-running tagline “Keeps Going and Going and Going.”

Today we meet Michelle Brown, a Boulder, CO-based senior account executive at Walter Karl Inc. Brown was one of the principals with The List Group for six years, but she gave that up to join Walter Karl three years ago. “I had to run operations but I wanted work more closely with clients,” said Brown.

The U.S. Postal Service posted net income before escrow allocation of $1.28 billion for the nine months ended Aug. 31, off $28.5 million from net income of $1.5 billion for the same period last year. However, after escrow allocation, the USPS was in the red by $1.46 billion.

The federal government plans to stop its crackdown on discount drugs mailed from Canadian pharmacies to U.S. customers, according to wire service reports.

Burger King is adding video games to its menu as part of a new promotion to sell three original Xbox video game titles that feature the King and other restaurant characters.