Join Us For An ANA Exclusive Webinar Featuring J.Schmid's Matt Fey Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 10:00am Central. The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat. Any direct mail creative endeavor has the potential to go from “All hail!” to “Epic fail!” Join Matthew Fey, vice president and creative director at J.Schmid & Assoc. Inc., for an honest, amusing, and sometimes painful examination of why some creative efforts yield spectacular successes and why others, well, not so much. From high-fiving wins to head-scratching losses, examine a series of catalog and direct mail case studies from a variety of brands – including apparel, food, retail and more on the consumer side, with a few business-to-business examples thrown in for good measure. What went in to the creative decisions? How were they successful? And when they weren’t, where did they go wrong? Glean valuable lessons from both success and failure to get the most out of your direct mail creative. register at: https://www.ana.net/membersconference/show/id/MOC-SEP22E3

A popular low-cost shopping platform best-known for fast fashion is launching its first-ever book category. Shein is collaborating with Alibris, an online marketplace for independent sellers of used and new books and rare and collectible titles, to open an online Alibris storefront on its U.S. platform. The Alibris storefront on Shein now offers a curated assortment of more than 100,000 book titles across a variety of popular genres, including romance, fantasy, mystery, non-fiction, and young adult. The Alibris storefront also offers affordable textbooks for students. Shein says it will continue to grow its selection of Alibris titles in the months ahead.

Starbucks says it will continue its focus on improving the customer experience as part of its multi-year turnaround plan. In July, the company rolled out its new Green Apron Service program as a part of CEO Brian Niccol’s “Back to Starbucks” turnaround plan. This week, Niccol said that customers have already noticed a shift in the cafes’ atmosphere in the few months since the investment, particularly the welcoming staff and personalized interactions, such as the return of Sharpie-written names on cups. During its 2025 fourth-quarter earnings report on Wednesday, the coffee chain’s global same-store sales increased by 1%, mostly lifted by international markets like Canada and China. Starbucks’s same-store sales in the U.S. were flat. However, the company said new fall items and various customer service improvements helped boost sales in September. “Our intent is to become the world’s best customer service company,” Niccol said on the conference call. “To do this, we’ll double down on Green Apron’s service by empowering our leaders in and above the coffee house.”