News

In the early days of catalogs, source code capture was the means to analyze results and close the planning cycle for future mailings, says Jim Harkins, principal of Bronxville, NY-based consultancy Jim Harkins & Partners. Then along came the Internet, making analysis more complicated, especially since online capture rates of source codes are abysmally low.

Merrimack, NH-based cataloger/retailer Brookstone, which mails the Gardener

Cataloger/retailer/marketing services provider Alloy posts a wider loss for fiscal 2004; toys marketer Mattel suffers a “disappointing” first quarter

It?s no surprise that $7.1 billion Seattle-based apparel merchant Nordstrom is concentrating on growing its retail business. What is a surprise is that Nordstrom, with $375.3 million in direct sales last year, is all but exiting the catalog business

The theme of this year’s DMA World Seattle, held April 6, was “Relevance and Results.” Not surprisingly, database marketing played a significant role in many of the sessions. Here’s a sampling of suggestions and comments from speakers regarding how to improve your database marketing efforts:

* Customers’ media preference and aversions should be a field in your database, alongside demographic data, buying history, and other fields, said Ernan Roman, president of Ernan Roman Direct Marketing.

According to Ernan Roman, understanding the difference between permission marketing and “consensual marketing” generated more than $300 million in incremental revenue for IBM during the past five years.