Gas OR Exhibitors Targeted by Advertising Scam An Austrian-based company continues to target Outdoor Retailer exhibitors with solicitations that trade show officials across multiple industries have termed unethical and misleading. Construct Data Verlag AG offers advertising space and a free listing in an online directory called Fair Guide. The company sends exhibitors a form that references the trade show for which an exhibitor is registered, inviting them to sign and return the form for an entry in its online directory. “Exhibitors who sign and return the form are then bound to a non-terminable agreement at significant cost for a period of at least three years and automatically renewing thereafter at the same cost, unless cancelled by registered letter within the appropriate period,” says a warning posted on an Outdoor Retailer website. In fact, without any further communication with exhibitors beyond the form submission, Construct Data winds up charging $981 per year for an ambiguous directory listing on its website, when it receives back a signed form. The form is misleading in that it tells exhibitors that they will receive a free listing, “even if you don’t place a binding order as below.” The problem is, if a company fills out the form and signs it, it will be charged the advertising fee. The situation is troubling for trade shows because unless exhibitors read the form carefully, particularly the fine print, some may assume the form was sent from show organizers. “Outdoor Retailer has no relationship with Construct Data Verlag AG, Fair Guide or any of its many other brands, and they have no right to use Nielsen Business Media’s show names and brands on information they send out to exhibitors,” says OR’s online disclaimer. According to Baltic Business News, Construct Data activities have been documented since 2002, spawning some litigation. Online Retailers ‘Searchandising’ Online retailers are quickly discovering that a website’s search function can be a key tool to effective merchandising and online conversion rates. Some 70 percent of leading online retailers report that visitors who use their site’s search tools are more likely to convert from browsers to buyers, according to Aberdeen Group. The problem is that 67 percent of the online merchants surveyed say that producing search results that meet customer needs is a challenge. Currently, 54 percent of “best-in-class” retailers use search as a merchandising tool, the research company reports. The most successful retailers use faceted search capabilities, described by Aberdeen Group as “the way metadata is tagged and associated throughout the site to produce search results that facilitate product discovery or additional drilling to reveal more choices.” Approximately 50 percent of best-in-class retailers currently use this approach, but Aberdeen Group argues that in the next 24 months 92 percent of best-in-class retailers will do so. One 14 | <strong>InsideOutdoor</strong> | <strong>Summer</strong> 2007 The company appears to have expanded its U.S. targets in recent years. Trade show organizers and industry associations as varied as Interbuild, the Craft & Hobby Association, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, the International Laser Display Association (ILDA), and the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry have issued warnings on their websites. There is an informational website, www.stopecg.org, dedicated to tracking Construct Data and its many brands. The site was created for international users opposing the company’s European City Guide. According to Stopecg.org, Construct Data signed a settlement Feb. 13 before the Austrian courts, agreeing to “cease the mailing of misleading contracts” to 30 nations, including Austria, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The list is European based and does not include the United States. According to the website, Construct Data agreed to “cancel their demands for money against companies who signed in error and dispute the contracts.” In light of its legal problems in Europe, Construct Data could increase its efforts in North America. The Austrian embassy in Washington, D.C., reportedly has made available a cancellation form letter for companies that have unwittingly signed up for Construct Data’s services and are being sent invoices. The form is available for download by the ILDA at www.laserist. org/Conference/index.htm. The Austrian embassy also reportedly has urged affected companies to file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission. A request by Inside Outdoor to receive information from the FTC about any filed complaints was not fulfilled by press time. of the benefits of a faceted search approach is that it can segregate query matches by attributes, thereby avoiding searches that provide too many responses or irrelevant returns. “These metrics show that leading companies are thinking about their search tools as a way to serve up products and inextricably link their merchandising processes to their product discovery tools,” say Aberdeen Group analysts. The better the search function, the more useful the information it can provide. Aberdeen Group says 65 percent of best-inclass retailers use search analytics to build customer profiles, evaluate buying patterns and identify successful keywords and conversion paths. Examining how online shoppers search and shop for merchandise may also be helpful to in-store merchandising and promotions. If trends appear in how customers bundle related merchandise or in the paths they take when viewing various products online, retailers can potentially use that information to more effectively present or position product within their brickand-mortar stores.
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