Beauty and The Beads

But Pakistan’s civilian leadership is standing firm behind its decision to allow the commerce ministry to engage with India on normalisation of bilateral trade relations, and the eventual granting of the most favoured nation (MFN) status.

“There is absolutely no question of backtracking on the cabinet’s approval of trade normalisation with India,” Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Saturday. “I want to completely dismiss any indication that there’s any retraction on what we said.”

Earlier on Friday, an unnamed Indian government official alleged that Islamabad was “backtracking” on the issue in the face of domestic opposition. Many in Pakistan were also sceptical of the cabinet’s approval for such a move, especially after reports of dissent from the military, perceived to be the prime stakeholders in Pakistan’s foreign policy.

Khar, however, dispelled such an impression at a press conference in Lahore on Saturday and said the cabinet’s decision trumps the military’s perceived apprehensions in this regard.

Refuting the news of an emergency meeting with the military at the foreign office, Khar said it was a scheduled meeting with military’s representatives who are important stakeholders on the issue nonetheless.

Gilani backs Khar

Khar was backed by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani who stressed that the cabinet’s approval is necessary for any negotiations with another country and that is precisely what it had provided to the commerce ministry vis-à-vis trade normalisation with India and granting it the MFN status.

The MFN is not a document or a certificate, Gilani said separately on Saturday.

It is a proposal which the commerce ministry would work on with its Indian counterpart, he added.

The two countries’ commerce secretaries will meet mid-November to hammer out the details of the trade agreement, including removal of discriminatory tariffs and non-tariff barriers.

‘Tangible progress’ with India

Khar said the move comes following tangible progress in relations with India.

India’s support to Pakistan in gaining a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council and removal of its blockade at the World Trade Organisation for Pakistan’s preferential access to the European Union markets were cited by Khar as tangible confidence-building measures between the two countries.

Prime Minister Gilani would meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at the Saarc summit in Male next week and further discuss the ongoing dialogue process, she added.

The scepticism across the border also appeared to soothe on Saturday with Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai saying the Cabinet decision on MFN is an “indication of forward movement.”

He did urge patience though.

“The actual implementation [of MFN] would be a culmination of the normalisation process which could take some time,” Mathai told reporters in New Delhi. Pakistan’s commerce secretary, however, was more upbeat.

“We are extremely hopeful that there will be a major breakthrough in the next round of commerce secretaries’ meetings on November 14-15 in Delhi,” Zafar Mahmood told reporters. “We will finalise all the details in that meeting.”

(With additional input from AFP and Reuters)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2011.

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov 04, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
As part of ongoing surveillance, Fitch Ratings takes the following
rating action on Commerce City, CO:

–$30.9 million outstanding certificates of participation (COPs or
certificates), series 2006 affirmed at ‘A+’.

In addition, Fitch assigns an implied unlimited tax general obligation
rating of ‘AA-’

The Rating Outlook is Stable.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Essentiality of Leased Assets: The leased assets are essential to the
operations of the city.

Sound Financial Management: Prudent financial management has typically
maintained solid reserves despite budgetary pressures stemming from
economic uncertainty.

High Debt Burden: Overall debt ratios are very high and direct debt is
amortized very slowly. Credit concerns regarding the high debt burden
are moderated somewhat by the city’s lack of additional borrowing needs.

Sales Tax Dependence: The city relies heavily on sales tax revenue which
is vulnerable to declines in consumer consumption and general economic
conditions.

Tax Base Concentration: The city’s top 10 taxpayers comprise a high 28%
of the total tax base. The single largest taxpayer, Suncor Energy,
accounts for 17.5% of the tax base.

Broad Economy: Although the local unemployment levels are very high, the
city is favorably located within the Denver metropolitan area, offering
broader employment and recreational opportunities and prospects for
long-term growth.

SECURITY

The certificates are secured by lease rental payments made by the city
to the Commerce City Finance Authority for use and occupancy of a civic
center, which includes city hall and city offices, as well as the police
department, municipal court, and city council chambers. Lease rental
payments are payable from any legally available funds of the city
appropriated by city council for such purpose.

CREDIT PROFILE

The city is heavily dependent on volatile sales tax revenues, which
typically comprise a little over 70% of the general fund revenue.
However, the city has typically maintained solid reserve levels which
offset to a degree credit concerns regarding this revenue concentration.

After an operating surplus in 2009, 2010 results were bolstered by one
time sales tax settlement collections totaling about $20 million from
three distinct taxpayers. The ending unreserved general fund balance
grew to 77% of spending from 33% in 2009. The 2011 operating budget is
balanced. The city plans to reduce reserves through 2012 for one time
capital projects ($9.3 million) and to make a loan to the Urban Renewal
Authority ($4 million). Assuming balanced operations during those two
years, the city’s fund balance at about $22.6 million at the close of
2012 is projected to remain well within the city’s formal fund balance
policy to maintain general fund reserves at about 27% of spending.

The city’s overall debt burden remains very high at nearly $11,000 per
capita and 12.2% of market value. Debt levels primarily reflect
obligations of overlapping taxing units including the City of Commerce
City Northern Infrastructure General Improvement District (the
district). This district, a special taxing unit and blended component
unit of the city, has over $90 million in outstanding voter-authorized
general obligation bonds. The city’s debt amortizes very slowly with
less than 20% maturing in the next 10 years and includes the $30.9
million COPs and nearly $60 million in sales tax bonds. Fitch notes that
credit risk tied to the city’s debt profile is somewhat moderated by the
lack of additional borrowing plans.

Located in Adams County immediately northeast of Denver and west of the
Denver International Airport, the city is highly industrialized and has
a population of nearly 46,000. Leading employers in the city include
UPS, FedEx, United Food Service, and Suncor Energy. Wealth levels as
measured by per capita money income lag the state average by a
considerable margin and unemployment is typically above average. Due to
a concentration of construction job losses, the city’s unemployment rate
remains very high at 14.1% in August 2011, compared with the state’s
8.3% and national 9.1% during the same period. Economic growth during
the last decade capitalized on the city’s aggressive land annexation and
land-use policies that opened up a host of development opportunities
generally not available within the metro area. Following rapid growth in
the middle of the last decade, permit activity has declined
dramatically. The city’s market value fell by nearly 5% in 2009 and
posted a modest 1% increase in 2010.

Additional information is available at ‘
www.fitchratings.com ‘.
The ratings above were solicited by, or on behalf of, the issuer, and
therefore, Fitch has been compensated for the provision of the ratings.

In addition to the sources of information identified in Fitch’s
Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, this action was additionally informed by
information from Creditscope, University Financial Associates,
S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index, IHS Global Insight.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

–’Tax-Supported Rating Criteria’, dated Aug. 15, 2011;

–’U.S. Local Government Tax-Supported Rating Criteria’, dated Aug. 15,
2011.

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

Tax-Supported Rating Criteria

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=648898

U.S. Local Government Tax-Supported Rating Criteria

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=648842

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND
DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING
THIS LINK:
HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS .
IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE
AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY’S PUBLIC WEBSITE ‘
WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM ‘.
PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS
SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH’S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS
OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES
AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE ‘CODE OF CONDUCT’ SECTION OF
THIS SITE.

SOURCE: Fitch Ratings

Fitch Ratings
Primary Analyst
Gabriela Gutierrez
Director
+1-512-215-3731
Fitch Inc.
111 Congress Ave. Suite 2010
Austin, TX 78701
or
Secondary Analyst
Matt Dustin
Analyst
+1-512-215-3727
or
Committee Chairperson
Amy Laskey
Managing Director
+1-212-908-0568
or
Media Relations
Sandro Scenga
+1-212-908-0278
sandro.scenga@fitchratings.com

Copyright Business Wire 2011

Cowlitz County officials are cutting off tourism money to the
Kelso-Longview Chamber of Commerce saying they can promote the
region themselves cheaper.

For the past five years, the county paid the chamber $175,000 a
year to coordinate tourism promotions and activities. Without the
tourism money from the county to pay salaries, the chamber has let
go Mark Plotkin, who oversaw tourism planning, and his
assistant.

Tourism promotion will now be handled by Mike Moss, who already
oversees the countys Event/Expo Center and its Hoffstadt Bluffs
Visitor Center near Mount St. Helens. Officials say the change
allows the county to spend almost four times as much on actual
tourism promotion — to $85,000 annually from about $25,000
annually, Moss said. According to Commissioner James Misner, 86
percent of the countys tourism payment goes toward salaries.

County and chamber officials said the decision to end the
contract had nothing to do with Plotkins performance and instead
was financial.

Mark Plotkin is a very talented individual and has been a good
asset to tourism, but we were looking for ways to stretch our
dollars, said Misner, who cited increased tourism as a goal when
running for commissioner in 2010. Overall we wanted more tourism
promotion, including Internet and other media. And if we could
reduce administrative costs, we could put more money in
promotion.

Given Misners focus on tourism, the contract change wasnt a
surprise to chamber officials.

I had anticipated that they were probably going to want to pull
back tourism again, chamber President/CEO Rick Winsman said. Im
proud of what weve done, but quite honestly, from the countys
point of view, I think its the right time and the right
circumstances, particularly in light of the fact that the state has
no resources whatsoever for tourism. … The more resources that
can be put into promotion, the more bang for the buck youre going
to get.

A tourism liaison position will be added to Moss staff, but the
overall personnel costs for promoting tourism will still be
dramatically reduced, Misner said.

Tourism money comes from the countys share of lodging taxes. By
state law it can be spent only on items or programs that promote
tourism. Misner said the county will have to pay about $23,000 to
cancel the chamber contract and cover a month of severance pay.

Commissioner George Raiter said some dissatisfaction with the
direction of tourism promotion also played into the decision, but
he added thats to be expected with spending for tourism, where
promotion dollars dont always produce immediate results.

Theres always some dissatisfaction with tourism because there
are so many competing interests, Raiter said. I wouldnt
attribute that to Mark (Plotkin), Id say its more the nature of
the beast. But, when youre looking where to make cuts, you look at
the areas where there are the most concerns and complaints.

Plotkin said hes proud of his record, both at the chamber and
before when he was the lone county tourism employee.

We had a new commissioner who ran on changing tourism and
apparently this is one of the changes, Plotkin said Friday.

Im proud of the record I left over the last 12 years and think
weve accomplished some great things. We brought the community
together, produced an annual visitor guide, updated the website
several times and had great stakeholder participation.

Despite the shake-up, its possible a plan to move the tourism
center to the Three Rivers Mall will still be implemented. County,
chamber and city of Kelso officials are still discussing the
particulars, but Misner said the county is interested in the idea
of the move.

Misner also said a newly formed tourism board will help advise
Moss on ways to improve the countys tourism promotion. Those
suggestions will have no impact on the boards Big Idea budget,
an annual expenditure of $67,000 that will be made available in
alternating years to the countys five cities and unincorporated
area for specific tourism ventures.

The US Chamber of Commerce recently awarded the Licking County chamber with accredited status for its sound policies, effective organizational procedures, and positive impact on the community, according to a US chamber news release.

It took a great deal of work, but Licking County chamber director Cheri Hottinger said its been well worth it.

It basically shows that we are above board, she said Nov. 3.

Hottinger said accreditation places the Licking County chamber among the top 3 percent of chambers nationwide.

Accreditation validates a chamber as having programs that benefit (its) local economy and for positively influencing action in their community, said US chamber director of political affairs and federation relations Raymond Towle in a new release. We applaud these organizations for advancing the principles of free enterprise.

According to the release, accreditation is the only national program that recognizes chambers for their effective organizational procedures and community involvement. To receive it, a chamber must meet minimum standards in its operations and programs, including areas of governance, government affairs and technology.

Hottinger said accreditation takes the personalities out of the situation, and it shows that the chamber of commerce as a unit has consistency in operation no matter who is in charge.

It sends a message to our members, she said. We are making a difference in the community.

The entire process took roughly two years, Hottinger said.

She said the chamber met the minimum standards in nine categories, including finances and programming. In the beginning, Hottinger realized the Licking County chamber met some of the standards easily, but fell short in others.

She said she looked at other chambers best-practices for examples and applied them to Licking County.

But then theres above and beyond, she said.

Once the minimum standards are met, aspects of a chamber that exceed the minimum standards impress the people at the US chamber, who determine accreditation.

We have some extra stuff, she said.

Hottinger said the Licking County chambers extra stuff includes offering employees additional career training and education, and, unlike many chambers, Licking County endorses candidates for office and creates candidate profiles.

She said networking events, such as the annual Groundhog Breakfast and regular after-hours events at various locations helped the chamber gain accreditation, as did its use of social networking and emerging technologies.

Hottinger said the process was not like a classroom test that applicants pass or fail, although essay questions were included.

There was a lot to fill out, she said. The application process is overwhelming.

Hottinger said the US chamber offered evaluations and feedback regularly, and the Licking County chamber could adjust its methods accordingly.

The grueling process was a good experience, she said, even if the chamber had not received accreditation.

These are things that should be in place anyway, she said.

But Hottinger and the Licking County chamber dont have long to rest on their laurels: Accreditation must be renewed every three years.

PHOENIX, November 5, 2011President Obamas latest failed stimulus story has expanded significantly, as White House documents are now being subpoenaed by Congress over the $535 million taxpayer-funded loan given to now-bankrupt and FBI-raided Solyndra.

The Solyndra loan was a disgusting and unethical smokescreen designed to propagandize the American public into thinking Obama was serious about job creation. The degree of crony capitalism behind the loan has not been sufficiently explored by the mainstream media.

The cronyism started in the months prior to the approval of the Solyndra loan by the Department of Energy in March of 2009, when billionaire and Obama bundler, George Kaiser, held numerous meetings with the White House about the pending loan.

George Kaiser holds the biggest stake in the now defunct Solyndra.

White House logs revealed that Solyndra executives and investors held four separate visits the week before the company received its cut of your stimulus cash. Those meetings all took place while a White House budget analyst warned in an email that, this deal is not ready for prime time.

Other emails obtained by The Washington Post show that officials from the Office of Management and Budget felt that the White House put them under the gun to approve the Solyndra deal. The OMB officials urged Obama to give them more time to thoroughly review the deal. We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews, the emails read.

Steve Spinner, a major Obama 2008 fundraiser and now an advisor for the Department of Energy, wrote in an email about the final decision, how f*cking hard is this? He urged them to approve the loan.

Spinner is married to a partner at the law firm of Wilson Sonsini, which represented Solyndra in its loan application.

After being put under the gun, the Department of Energy announced on March 29, 2009, that it had approved a loan to Solyndra for $535 million. This loan guarantee made Solyndra the poster child of the green stimulus.

On May 26, 2010, Obama visited Solyndra, boasted about the loan and said, the true engine of economic growth will always be companies like Solyndra. He praised Solyndra as a Recovery Act (stimulus) success story.

In fact, Obama was so impressed with the failed solar company that the administration wanted to give it another $469 million on top of the $535 million to make it an even billion dollars in taxpayer cash.

However, it all went south after Obamas visit.

In January, 2011, Solyndra executives confided to the Obama Administration that they were on the brink of liquidation. The administration immediately helped by refinancing the $535 million federal loan, allowing the government to release another $67 million to Solyndra.

The Energy Department pushed to restructure Solyndra, despite preliminary warnings from OMB that this could cost taxpayers $168 million more than liquidation. Should Solyndra be liquidated, $385 million owed to the United States would be subordinated to the $75 million invested this year by investors, including, of course, George Kaiser.

However, the refinancing failed and on September 6, 2011, Solyndra filed for bankruptcy. The immediate result was the layoff of 1,100 workers.

Adding fuel to the fire, Solyndra executives cashed in big-time just days before filing for bankruptcy.Bill Stover, the companys CFO who pleaded the Fifth before Congress at a September hearing, was awarded at least $120,000 in bonuses on top of his $367,000 salary. Karen Alter, senior vice president of marketing, received two $55,000 bonuses on April 15 and July 8 of this year, on top of her $250,000 annual salary. Ben Bierman, executive vice president of operations and engineering, received $120,000 in bonuses this year on top of his $276,000 salary.

The scandal took another turn when, on September 8, 2011, the FBI raided Solyndras headquarters.

Currently, Congress, the Department of Energy, and the FBI are investigating the Solyndra loan. Just this week, the Energy and Commerce Committees investigative subcommittee authorized a subpoena of all White House documents on Solyndra. The subpoena of the documents could include details of the presidents own travel and communications.

Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, is set to testify before Congress on November 17, where we will hopefully learn more details of the crony loan guarantee.

So where does Obama currently stand on Solyndra?

Last month, Obama had the audacity to say that he does not regret giving Solyndra the loan, calling it a good bet.

If Obama considers crony capitalism a good bet, where is the line in the sand drawn, Mr. President?

Solyndra is unravelling to be one of the biggest Washington scandals since Watergate.

Barack Obama was warned by dozens of White House officials that the Solyndra loan guarantee would be a disaster. Today, we are witnessing that disaster.

This scandal should be a key issue of the 2012 presidential election. So why havent any of the 2012 Republican candidates brought this up in the debates? This is a damning story that the candidates are failing to exploit.

What should frighten you even more is that are many more companies like Solyndra out there. Obama approved more than a billion dollars in loans in the past year alone to green companies. Many have already admitted they are on the brink of bankruptcy.

The mainstream media and the Republican presidential candidates must subject Obamas crony capitalism to harsh scrutiny. We cannot let Barack Obama continue to give backdoor deals to his friends and burn the American taxpayer in the process. 2012 cannot come soon enough.

Email Henry DAndrea at tips@politicons.net and follow Henry DAndrea on Twitter (@TheHenry) here.

One of the sadder truths concerning the way business transactions are conducted within most enterprises today is that chaos reigns. More often than not, different lines of business are using different transaction processing systems, while the Web team operates in isolation from the rest of the business. Worse yet, the tools used to analyze these transactions are either rudimentary or non-existent, which leads to all kinds of product shortages and lost revenue opportunities.

At the first annual Smarter Commerce Summit, IBM today said it wants to help companies rein in all that chaos by leveraging a raft of new IT offerings designed to return control of the business to the managers responsible for running it.

To achieve that goal, IBM is pulling together products and services based on software from its Sterling Commerce, Cognos, SPSS, Coremetrics, Unica, Netezza, ILOG, WebSphere and FileNet product lines that are now available in a mixed mode of on-premise and cloud computing delivery models. The basic idea, says John Mesberg, is not to create a rigid commerce framework based on an enterprise resource planning (ERP) application as much as it is to allow customers to mix and match products and technologies by leveraging open RESTful application programming interfaces.

Mesberg says he expects a lot of companies to be interested in IBM’s cloud computing offerings because they provide a simplified way to rationalize many of the rigid, fragmented systems they currently depend on for processing transactions. For example, IBM is now making available a configure, price and quote system along with a PCI-based payment system as a cloud computing service to complement existing analytics systems. Mesberg says IBM doesn’t expect customers to move their entire commerce system infrastructure to the cloud, so in order to facilitate the development of hybrid systems that span both cloud and on-premise systems, IBM will be making greater use of the Cast Iron middleware technology that the company acquired last year.

Craig Hayman, general manager for IBM industry solutions, adds that the ultimate goal is to break down the silos that currently exist between various commerce systems to make it possible for changes in demand that are identified by marketing teams in real time to then be used to dynamically adjust orders across the supply chain. The end result, says Hayman, is that instead of having a purchasing cycle based on a yearly or seasonal calendar, the purchasing process becomes continuous.

In order to execute transactions at this scale across multiple organizations, IBM concedes that most businesses will have to engage in some major process re-engineering, which is one reason that IBM is devoting over 1,000 people to create Smarter Commerce centers of excellence around the globe.

Smarter Commerce projects of this type and scale obviously require commitment from the senior business leadership of the company. But it’s becoming clear that business leaders are not only demanding a more flexible IT environment, they are also starting to appreciate how to use IT to fundamentally change business outcomes for the better.

LOS ANGELES, Sep 20, 2011 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) –
Apex Wine Cellars and Saunas, renowned manufacturer of wine cellars, saunas and steam rooms, today launched
www.apexwineracks.com ; a new website with higher standards. The site’s overall functionality and new e-commerce capabilities make it a one-stop-shop for all commercial and residential Apex products including wine cellars, wine racks, wine cabinets, CellarTec(R) cooling systems, and sauna and steam products.

“Apex Wine Cellars and Saunas was founded on the principles of quality products and strong customer service, and we believe our website should represent that,” states CEO of Apex, India Hynes. “We redesigned the Apex website to better support those principles and to meet the high-quality standards our customers expect while providing a more user-friendly experience.”

From custom wine cellars to commercial steam rooms,
www.apexwineracks.com is simple for all customers to use. In addition to in-depth product details and photography, including a gallery for both commercial (retail and hospitality) and residential custom wine cellars, the new website also features all Apex products in one, easy-to-navigate location. And, while Apex continues to provide professional design consultants via phone for custom orders, new website features like design request, modular design gallery, and finding a local dealer make it nearly effortless for customers to request and obtain information without placing a phone call.

To complement a variety of customers’ space and wine storage needs, Apex offers an assortment of modular wine racking kits. Retail modular kits, made of durable Malaysian Mahogany, are specifically designed to maximize product exposure, make bottles more easily accessible for customers and, in turn, increase product sales. Standard modular racking kits, available in Premium Redwood, Western Red Cedar and Malaysian Mahogany, are offered for all other use in both six and seven foot-tall configurations. The new site also makes it easier than ever before to access and purchase Apex’s own, world-renowned CellarTec(R) wine cooling and cellar monitoring technology.

And, due to the growing popularity of saunas and steam baths,
www.apexwineracks.com features an in-depth sauna and steam room education section. So, whether a customer is trying to decide between sauna or steam, searching for pre-cut sauna rooms, or methods to create a steam bath in the comfort of home, the new site provides answers and useful information as well as products.

And, to make ordering as easy as possible, Apex added e-commerce to the new site. From Walk-In Wine Rooms to Pre-Cut Sauna Rooms and even Modular Steam Rooms, the addition of e-commerce affords customers the ability to purchase everything they desire to meet their lifestyle and/or business needs. Customers can find Apex on Facebook (ApexWineCellars) and Twitter (@ApexWineCellars).

About Apex Wine Cellars and Saunas

Apex Wine Cellars and Saunas offers the highest quality wine cellars, wine racking, cooling equipment, sauna and steam rooms. For more information about Apex Wine Cellars and Saunas contact 877-663-0354 or visit
www.apexwineracks.com .

Media Contact: Colleen Kasel
ckkaselmktg@gmail.com | 970.988.2511 direct

This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire,
www.globenewswire.com

SOURCE: Apex Wine Cellars and Saunas

This information was brought to you by Cision

http://www.cisionwire.com

http://www.cisionwire.com/apex-wine-cellars-and-saunas/r/apex-wine-cellars—saunas-launches-new-website ,c9164191

(C) Copyright 2010 GlobeNewswire, Inc. All rights reserved.

Video-on-demand technology vendor SeaChange International (Nasdaq: SEAC) says it is seeing demand for a t-commerce application that allows cable subscribers to buy DVDs with a click of their remote controls.

More than a dozen elected and key appointed people who serve Elk Grove attended the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce(PAC)s Political Action Committee event on Sept. 15 at the Niello BMW dealership in the Elk Grove Auto Mall.

Four members of the Elk Grove City Council joined a trio of directors from the Cosumnes Community Services District, Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) Board of Education President Priscilla Cox, Kay Albiani of the Los Rios Community College District, and Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli.

The event was organized to give business leaders and community members a chance to talk with the elected officials in a largely informal environment, said Nancy Milton, PAC chair and president-elect of the chamber.

It was a great opportunity for people to talk with them one on one, she said after the event, which also raised funds to be put toward next years elections for the various races involving local candidates.

The PACs primary function is to advocate for, support, and inform the local business community about the issues that affect them, said Angi Perry, executive director of the chamber.

In non-election years, its important for the PAC to provide a forum for the community to reach out to elected officials while supporting the PACs efforts, Perry said.

Nottoli and Elk Grove Mayor Steve Detrick both said that everybody in attendance has a part to play in the citys business success.

I think this gathering, most of you were introduced, but if you werent, youre still important, Nottoli said.

Detrick added, You are all leaders in the community. None of this gets done without everybody pitching in.

Detrick noted the citys efforts to bring a state government agency and 1,500 employees to Elk Grove, the potential Elk Grove Promenade Mall in the southern part of the city, and a sphere of influence process during which it was revealed there is a large imbalance among commercial and office space.

There are a lot of opportunities, Detrick said.

Also in attendance were Elk Grove Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Steven Ladd and Cosumnes River College President Deborah Travis, who is also chair of the board for the Elk Grove Economic Development Corporation.

Representatives for US Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) and State Assembly Member Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills) also attended the event.

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition Increases DollarDays Conversion Rates and Dramatically Reduces No Results Searches

Burlington, MA (PRWEB) September 06, 2011

EasyAsk, the leader in e-commerce search and merchandising software, and DollarDays International, the premiere online wholesaler and closeout company, today announced one of the largest and most diverse uses of e-commerce search in e-retail. DollarDays is using the natural language conversion power of EasyAsk eCommerce Edition to get customers from the home page to the right products in a single click, helping increase purchase rates and revenue.

DollarDays distributes over 140,000 products on its e-commerce site with over 5,000 categories and sub-categories – a product catalog that would rival even the largest e-retailers. In addition, as a small business wholesaler, the catalog is continuously shifting as seasons change, new products become available, and excess product needs to be closed out.

A product catalog of this size, diversity and fluidity created a number of difficult challenges in implementing e-commerce search and merchandising. The product diversity meant that the same search term could have different meaning for different products, and the navigation attributes would be widely varied across the different categories. The constant change created a merchandising nightmare in trying to manage promotions and offers. It was clear that keyword-based e-commerce search offerings could not meet these challenges.

DollarDays chose EasyAsk eCommerce Edition because the natural language technology provided a more powerful, yet easier to use search and merchandising for their e-commerce site. With EasyAsk, DollarDays now has:

• A search box that is more accurate, allowing visitors to type phrases describing exactly what they want and getting those in one click,
• A rich, dynamic set of navigation attributes that adjust based on the categories and products, making navigation faster,
• Superior, easier merchandising including the automatically assignment of products to special categories and rapid addition of promotional banners, ads and links.

The most successful e-commerce sites get the customer to the right products the fastest, speeding the buying process, said Marc Joseph, president and CEO of Dollar Days. EasyAsk natural language search allows our customers to find the exact product in a single click, increasing our customer conversion rates. EasyAsk also makes our merchandising more agile, which is essential in our business where product offerings are continuously changing.

As a result of using EasyAsk, DollarDays has seen significant improvement in the performance of their e-commerce site, including:

• The improvement of successful search rate to 99.8% and the virtual elimination of zero results searches,
• A dramatic increase in the use of the search box and the length of search terms to lead visitors to products faster,
• Greater efficiency in merchandising by replacing a time-consuming multi-step process to create promotions with a combination of automated and single step creation of merchandising programs

DollarDays uses EasyAsk natural language and algorithms fed by operational product data to automatically classify products into unconventional categories such as Closeouts, 49#162; amp; Less, Hot Sellers and New Products (seen across the top of the DollarDays.com website). Using EasyAsk in this way saves many man-days of merchandiser time and completely removes technical staff from the merchandising processes.

DollarDays is a shining example of how EasyAsks natural language search and merchandising can bring an e-commerce site to life and instantly increase customer conversion. Higher conversion equals more sales, leading to higher profits, said Craig Bassin, CEO of EasyAsk. In a marketplace where you need every competitive edge possible, DollarDays found a powerful, yet easy advantage by using EasyAsk that is paying off at the bottom line.

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition

EasyAsk eCommerce Edition is the industry leading e-commerce search and merchandising solution that allows visitors to find products faster, and receive compelling promotions and offers. EasyAsk understands the content and intent of the search question – red long sleeved dresses under $150 – to deliver the right results on the first page. EasyAsk eCommerce Edition customers see the industrys highest conversion rates, deliver a superior customer experience, and see dramatic increases in average order sizes.

About EasyAsk

EasyAsk is radically changing the speed and ease of how people find information through the companys ground-breaking natural language search and query software. EasyAsk software products go far beyond traditional search, allowing users to simply ask questions in plain English and receive highly tuned results on demand. The EasyAsk eCommerce Edition uses this unique technology to deliver an industry leading website search, navigation and merchandising solutions that boosts online revenue through increased conversion rates, better customer experience and agile merchandising. EasyAsk Business Edition revolutionizes enterprise decision-making providing self-service information access and business intelligence with easy, low-cost deployment and a unique natural language interface that extends information throughout the organization.

Based in Burlington, Massachusetts, EasyAsk has long been a leader in natural language information analysis and delivery software. Customers such as Gap, Coldwater Creek, Hewlett Packard, Lands End, Lillian Vernon, Aramark, JJill, Nedbank, BNP Paribas, TruValue, Siemens, Hartford Hospital, Ceridian, JoAnn Fabrics and Harbor Freight Tools rely on the EasyAsk software products to run their business and e-commerce operations daily. For more information, please visit EasyAsk.

###

For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/9/prweb8772612.htm