India Economic Growth

"Mercent provides a best-in-class platform for selling through online retail channels," said Jason John, VP of Ecommerce at Redcats USA. "The Mercent team demonstrates a clear understanding of shopping feed best practices, and we look forward to a successful online merchandising relationship."

With sustained growth, a global outreach and a portfolio of renowned brands, Redcats Group asserts itself as a leader in home shopping in the field of Fashion & Home Decoration. Active in 28 different countries, Redcats Group has some thirty catalogues, over one hundred specialty stores and over sixty e-commerce sites. The company has 31 million active customers and generated EUR 4.332 billion Sales in 2006, with 32.1% of sales occurring on line. Redcats Group operates 17 brands with strong identities, leaders in their respective markets, including La Redoute, La maison de Valérie, Vertbaudet, Somewhere, Cyrillus, Daxon, Empire Stores, Ellos, Chadwick's, Metrostyle, Jessica London, Woman Within, Roaman's, KingSize, BrylaneHome, The Sportsman's Guide, The Golf Warehouse.

The new colonialists

It was the eve of China's National Day, they were thousands of miles from home and in a private room at Shanghai-Baia, Luanda's finest Chinese restaurant, they were looking forward to a night of singing, drinking and reminiscing. Outside the bay window, the rays of the setting sun slanted across the glassy surface of the lagoon around which Angola's battered capital nestles, spreading a sympathetic glow over the pastels of the Portuguese colonial-era buildings.

In the restaurant, with its garish fittings, all eyes were fixed on a giant karaoke screen. A sinuous young woman in a silk dress dipped her head in and out of the surf in what at first glance could have been a more elegant variation on a Beach Boys video. It was, I gathered, a cult Chinese love song. Cheers broke out as one of the guests strode to the microphone and started crooning.

Online shoppers turn to departmental sites and share their experiences

Coremetrics tracked online sales for a twelve day period beginning the Monday prior to the US Thanksgiving holiday.

Meanwhile, Nielsen//Netratings has found that many online shoppers are turning to reviews this holiday season, not for product information, but to relate their online shopping experiences. Etailers are likely to benefit from these experience reviews because more than half of those surveyed said the reviews either have been or will be positive.

Testing boosts Friends Provident's ecommerce apps

Financial service company Friends Provident is using software testing tools to improve the quality of its ecommerce applications.

"We are working more in global teams and we needed a test management product that worked that way. We were looking for a test management product that we could roll out easily and quickly and would support people working geographically apart," he added.

Mickey Kaus

But are Republicans really going to lose Arizona and New Mexico, say, because they pass a border-security-only bill? New Mexico Gov. Richardson certainly seems to be a popular governor in part because he's made dramatic noises about border control.

** CW= conventional wisdom 11:40 P.M.

House Committee Blasts TSA for Lax Web Site Security

"There are very specific guidelines for security," said Lee McKnight, an associate professor of information studies at Syracuse University. "They are common sense, and anyone should be embarrassed if they aren't following these guidelines." Perhaps the easiest way to keep information secure is to delete data that is no longer used.