It did report an increase in direct-to-consumer sales, which include catalog and Internet, by 6.5%.
The last may come as a surprise, given the daily announcements of sluggish consumer sales.
Telemarketing is single call, scripted, high pressure, lower ticket sales items, small business to consumer sales.
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To jump-start consumer sales, Dell has designed a series of new machines that beg a second look.
Cisco's consumer sales were off 15% in the last quarter, and Pure Digital founder Jonathan Kaplan is leaving Cisco.
Consumer sales of PCs of consumers fell 2% over the year ago quarter.
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While the U.S. has a number of independent toy retailers, Wal-Mart and Target fight Toys R Us for consumer sales.
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Higher prices and weaker consumer sales have led some manufacturers to stop producing palladium jewelry in China, Johnson Matthey said.
FORBES: Johnson Matthey: Palladium Market Swings To Surplus In 2011
Some firms, such as Britain's ClickMango.com, plan to avoid this by focusing on direct-to-consumer sales and information on alternative medicine.
"Maybe we could have launched two colors, then done red for Christmas, " muses Michael Tatelman, the new senior vice president of consumer sales.
He says that Corel is retrenching to concentrate on its core business while aiming to shift from consumer sales to the more lucrative corporate licensing.
Data collected on the sales of physical books records around 90-95% of all consumer sales in the UK, but is less robust for the e-book market.
"The demand for smartphones continues to increase and therefore a strong network is more important than ever this holiday season, " said Kevin Gleason, vice president-Consumer Sales, Sprint.
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Moreover, the vast majority of business-to-consumer sales involve services, such as travel, that are exempt from sales tax or involve products that are exempt, such as prescription drugs.
That's six times the forecast for online business-to-consumer sales.
Mr. Frankfort said the retailer continues to expand its Web presence: Online sales are its fastest-growing full-priced channel in the U.S. Direct-to-consumer sales, which are largely made up of online sales, grew 17% in the second quarter.
"We felt that working with Taobao Mall offered the best approach to reaching out to more consumers because it is so clearly the most influential online business-to-consumer sales channel, " said Christophe Bezu, chief e-commerce officer for Adidas, in an email.
Consumer sales increased 4% worldwide.
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The company sold more than 50 million Xbox consoles worldwide, and there are now more than 36 million members of the Xbox Live gaming network. 8 million Xbox Kinect sensors, shipped to retailers in the first 60 days worldwide, which seems quite remarkable, but Ballmer stopped short of mentioning actual consumer sales numbers.
When you look at the Mark Hurd years , PC sales, and in particular consumer PC sales, were often the highlight.
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The change in personnel comes as the company is battling a decline in consumer PC sales.
Additionally, an increase in direct-to-consumer channels sales, will also help the company to slightly ameliorate its margins this quarter.
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It represents one of, if not the only, first successful crossovers from mobile gaming popularity to strong consumer goods sales.
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In August, consumer electronics sales growth rose 12%, apparel and accessories rose 11%, books and magazines grew 11%, according to comScore.
Global retail consumer electronics sales are expected to grow 10% in 2011, after 13% growth in 2010, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
FORBES: CES: Global Consumer Electronics Retail Sales Seen Up 10% In 2011
PricewaterhouseCoopers, a consultancy, reckons e-books will represent about 6% of consumer book sales in North America by 2013, up from 1.5% last year (see chart).
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This week the U.S. Consumer Electronics Association predicted better-than-average sales for consumer electronics, led by tablets.
Several analysts lowered earnings forecasts as product delays and slowed consumer spending reduced sales.
In Europe, where the sovereign debt threatens to plunge the entire region in a recession that saps consumer spending, sales expanded by 1.4%.
So how can mobile consumer data improve sales and marketing efforts?
FORBES: gyroVoice: 3 Ways Mobile Insights Are Informing Online and Offline Marketing
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