Consumer Shopping Habits--Direct Marketing, Mail Order, E-commerce News

Direct Marketing, Mail Order, and E-commerce News from the National Mail Order Association

----------------------------------------------------

Close to 80% of Consumers Use Physical Stores, Online and Catalogs
Interchangeably, Up From Just 57% One Year Ago, According to
Adjoined Research Report on Retail Demand 2005

The Next Wal-Mart is an Internet Merchant with Large Inventories Always
Available Online with a Small “Offline” (Physical) Presence to Provide the
Complete Retail Experience for Consumers.

Retailers Analyzed:
Amazon.com, Bloomingdale's, Coach, Costco, Dillard's, eBay, JC Penney, Kmart, Kohl's,
Limited Brands Inc, Macy's, Marshalls, Mervyn's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Overstock.com,
Robinsons-May, Ross, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sam's Club, Sears, Target, TJ Maxx, Toys R Us and Wal-Mart

Miami, FL (March 16, 2005) – Adjoined Research, the independent research division of Adjoined
Consulting, Inc., an industry-focused, full-service management and IT consulting firm, today
announced the immediate availability of its latest report on the retail industry. According to the
Adjoined Research study “Retail Demand 2005: Emerging Consumer Desires in the Retail Sector,”
retailers across America better start integrating their supply chain across all channels in order to
compete. The complete study tracks traditional retailers such as Mass Merchants, Department
Stores and Apparel Stores, as well as Internet Merchants.

The independent research study identifies the top performing retailers in each industry as:

Mass Merchant (tied): Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT)
Department Store: Neiman Marcus (NYSE: NMG.A)
Apparel Store: Coach (NYSE: COH)
Internet Merchant: Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN)

Now in its second year, the study is based on random selections from a 5,000 US consumer
panel assembled based on their familiarity with retailers. Consumers describe both their emotional
and rational desires across three business areas – Products, Sales/Service and Management –
consisting of four attributes in each area. Consumers then rate each retailer's ability to deliver
against their desires. Performance Ratings, compiled by Adjoined Research, show how closely
each retailer comes to meeting consumer desires by dividing their delivery scores by desires scores.

“The bar continues to be raised for retailers to remain competitive today,” said John A. White III,
a managing officer in Adjoined's Strategy Services – Products division. “Consumers expect all
aspects of the retailer supply chain to work seamlessly with each other in order to deliver a single,
united customer experience. The days of online versus physical stores are behind us, and the
champions will be those retailers that can integrate multiple shopping channels seamlessly and
deliver the right products and services at the right price and time.”

Among the key findings, Adjoined Research illustrates how consumers segment into four types of
shoppers: Thrifties, Allures, Speedsters and Elites (see illustration at www.adjoined.com/retailgraph).
Ironically, each shopper type has preferences about where to shop that are not aligned with the
traditional types of stores. For example, Thrifties do not only shop at Mass Merchants like Wal-Mart,
they also shop at stores like Kohl's and eBay to get the best price. Speedsters, who are defined by
their desire to save time yet still require access to brands, prefer to shop at Target, Costco and
Overstock.com.

According to Gary A. Williams, Managing Officer for Adjoined Research, “the top performing retailers,
from both a consumer and financial return point of view, are those companies that understand where
they fit in today's complex world of shopping desires. For example, both Coach and Neiman Marcus
focus on the Allures and Thrifties respectively to fully meet their desires. Other types of shoppers may
buy from them, but they know precisely what to deliver to meet the needs of core consumers.”

“Conversely, Toys R Us has never understood that their primary shopper is an Elite, not a Thrifty,”
adds Williams. “While many Thrifties finally end up at Toys R Us when Wal-Mart is out of stock, the
Elites do not initially go to Toys R Us because of low prices. What they want is to browse the large
selection and have ‘toy experts' educate them on safety, reliability and the overall entertainment value
of each toy.”

For More Information on Report
For more key facts and findings on this study, a complimentary executive summary can be downloaded
at http://www.adjoined.com/retail

The research covers 25 retail leaders including Amazon.com (NasdaqNM: AMZN), Bloomingdale's (NYSE: FD),
Coach (NYSE: COH), Costco (NasdaqNM: COST), Dillard's (NYSE: DDS), eBay (NasdaqNM: EBAY),
JC Penney (NYSE: JCP), Kmart (NasdaqNM: KMRT), Kohl's (NYSE: KSS), Limited Brands Inc (NYSE: LTD),
Macy's (Burdines-Macy's) (NYSE: FD), Marshalls (NYSE: TJX), Mervyn's (sold to investors group),
Neiman Marcus (NYSE: NMG.A), Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN), Overstock.com (NasdaqNM: OSTK),
Robinsons-May (NYSE: MAY), Ross (NasdaqNM: ROST), Saks Fifth Avenue (NYSE: SKS),
Sam's Club (NYSE: WMT), Sears (NYSE: S), Target (NYSE: TGT), TJ Maxx (NYSE: TJX),
Toys R Us (NYSE: TOY), Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).

About This Research
Adjoined Research randomly selected over 5,000 US consumers primarily assembled by hand-outs (in grocery, c-stores, airports, retailers and restaurants), mailings and word of mouth across the US . All respondents were at least 18 years old. Respondent data was then weighted for Age, Gender, Income and Geographic Region to accurately reflect the US population according to the latest Census 2000 data available. As part of its quarterly studies across 6 sectors, Adjoined Research conducts over 100,000 independent interviews with consumers every year. Adjoined Research ( www.demand3d.com ) is the independent research division of Adjoined Consulting, Inc.

----------------------------------------------------

Useful Direct Marketing and Mail Order Links.

Advertising- Bridal Market Advertising Guide

Advertising- Christian Market Advertising Guide

Advertising- Hispanic/Latino Market Advertising Guide

Advertising- Home Furnishing and Decor Advertising Guide

Advertising- Home Gardening Advertising Guide

Advertising- Parenting Market Advertising Guide

Advertising-Pet Market Advertising Guide

Advertising- Woman's Market Advertising Guide

Advertising- How to Create Great Small Business Advertising

Call Centers- Telephone Order Taking Services

Catalogs- Catalog and E-commerce Benchmarks