Benchmark 2003: Databases

Retailers and other marketers generally view catalogers as being in the forefront of database marketing. In fact, when venture capital firms and other outsiders buy catalog companies, the catalogers’ databases and database acumen are often a large part of the reason.

Yet 19% of the catalogers that participated in Catalog Age’s exclusive Benchmark Survey on Databases didn’t even have a customer database. That includes 11% of respondents with sales of at least $10 million and 24% of those with sales of less than $10 million. Business-to-business catalogers were far less likely to own or maintain a customer database: Only 75% did, compared with 85% of their consumer counterparts.Interestingly, that’s down from two years ago, when we conducted our previous database survey.

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