Late last week, New York legislators approved a bill that will require out-of-state online retailers to begin collecting sales taxes on purchases shipped to New York addresses, meaning that companies such as Amazon, which has no employees or operations in New York, will be required to collect state taxes because several of its affiliates live in the state. This will effectively end tax-free online shopping in New York.

Consumer catalog lists shrank names in 4Q 2007 - general merchandise lists are down 998,000 names in the past two years and apparel is down by 1.2 million names from 3Q 2007.

Economic woes indicate an increase in coupon usage, according to a survey by ICOM Information & Communications LP (ICOM). The survey was conducted via e-mail using a random sample of 40,000 US households from ICOM's 26 million Shopper's Voice database.

On Monday, March 31, Vertis Communications Inc. reported a $327 million loss for 2007 and hired financial advisory firm Lazard Ltd. to help implement a financial restructuring plan. The move comes after Vertis evaluated its $246.5 million in goodwill during the fourth quarter of 2007 and "determined that, because of the company's debt load, the value of the $246.5 million should be written off to assure technical compliance with the accounting rules," according to Mike DuBose, chairman/CEO of Vertis.

Placing digital firmly at the core of its San Francisco office, Euro RSCG has acquired full-service interactive agency Kadium to bolster its digital offerings and ramp up revenue from approximately $40 million to between $60 million and $70 million.

Tribune Media Direct Delivery+ sales manager Kristin Sullivan-Stoesser spoke to the benefits of segmentation analysis in the opening keynote address at the 5th Annual DMA Insert Media Day, held April 1 in New York.

Worldata will add another Access Intelligence file to its roster come April 7 in the form of Power Magazine. Previously managed by Edith Roman Associates, the Power Magazine from Access Intelligence list consists of power plant management executives, engineers and technicians who look to the magazine for the newest equipment in which plants are investing for generating electricity in the most clean and efficient ways.

In a shift away from grass­roots fundraising and aware­ness efforts, nonprofit National Wildlife Foundation (NWF), has signed New York-based brand and advertising agency Union Green as its first agency of record and Boston-based Cone LLC, a full-service marketing company that specializes in nonprofits and cause marketing.

The Federal Trade Commission's William E. Kovacic will take the reigns as chairman, following the March 30, 2008 departure of Deborah Platt Majoras. In her statement, Majoras said that she has "been privileged to stand with my fellow commissioners and the talented staff in our efforts to protect consumers and promote competition in our highly effective free market system."