ACCM Show Daily: What’s News in the Exhibit Hall

What better place to introduce products and services for multichannel merchants than at the largest conference for multichannel merchants. Here’s a selection of new and noteworthy offerings on display at the Exhibit Hall of the Annual Conference for Catalog & Multichannel Merchants (ACCM).

* Chicago-based Equifax Marketing Services (booth #464) is launching Catalog Advantage, a product for growing a company’s mailable universe while increasing sales from existing customers. By combining data, such as buying habits and behaviors, with specific lifestyle information, the company says it can help marketers identify alternative universes and expand their list options.

* Schaumburg, IL-based Meadows Publishing Solutions (booth # 634) presents the MPS Index Builder, a software module for QuarkXPress to aid in creating catalog indexes. Among other features, the Index Builder software can support the creation of product and manufacturer indexes; support multilevels of product Index entries; import and export data; and easily share index information with other workstations

* Sioux Falls, SD-based Midco Call Center (booth #580), which specializes in inbound order-taking for catalog companies, has recently installed IBM WebSphere MQ. The investment enables Midco to provide clients with real-time data.

* Hackensack, NJ-based list services firm Mokrynskidirect (booth #438) is launching the YourGenie Merchant Alliance program with Chicago-based database marketing company Wheaton Group. With the YourGenie Merchant Alliance, consumers can visit a Website and make a “wish” for anything from customized travel arrangements to home office furniture to expert information. The wishes are then sent to the appropriate participating merchants, who can then contact the consumers and optimally close a sale and gain a customer.

* Atlanta-based software provider Stibo Catalog (booth #378) is launching the next generation of its STEP solutions suite. STEP 4.8 includes a new merchandising planning module designed to give product managers on-demand visibility and let them analyze the performance of products and pages. The tool lets merchandisers preplan pages, as well as initiate product, image, and copywriting workflows. Another module, STEP on-Demand, enables sales reps, in-store marketing staff, and the customer service team create personalized promotions.

* The On-Demand eCommerce Platform from New York-based Venda (booth# 174) now offers dynamic imaging capabilities via the Imageware merchandising tool. Imageware enables marketers to manage image libraries and replace static images with high-res graphics and offer image zoom and rotation features.

* New York-based database provider Prefer Network (booth #321) will introduce Fusion, which it says will provide marketers with targeted, highly responsive prospect names. Using its proprietary Performance Simulator technology, Prefer automated the process of selecting multiple models to create a customized integration of a participant’s scores and obtain a new (“fused”) score.