CMS, Prefer Network Merge

| MCM staff

St. Paul, MN-based Catalog Marketing Services has acquired the remaining part of New York-based cooperative database Prefer Network it did not already own. The merged company, called CMS Direct, will offer list processing, database, analytical, modeling e-commerce, and marketing consulting services. According to a release, the company is the first collaborative consumer catalog database to aggregate consumer-purchasing data at the SKU level for every model.

Live from Catalog on the Road: Time to Make a Deal?

| Melissa Dowling

If you’re looking to sell your multichannel marketing business, you may be in luck. According to Michael Petsky, CEO of New York-based investment bank Petsky-Prunier, dozens of private equity groups are actively seeking to acquire multichannel merchants. “Strategic buyers are becoming more aggressive,” he said.

BENCHMARK 2005 MARKETING

| Sherry Chiger

Thomas Jefferson declared that information is the currency of democracy. More recently, U.S. general Gordon Sullivan said, Information is the currency

Not for the Big Guys Only

| MCM staff

Much of the notable acquisition activity in the direct marketing industry in recent years has involved the larger players. Last year alone saw conglomerate

EMS climbs back into the mail

| Margery Weinstein

Eighteen years after discontinuing its catalog of apparel and supplies for extreme-sports enthusiasts, Peterborough, NH-based Eastern Mountain Sports

Short-Term Behavior, Long-Term Value

| MCM staff

Direct marketers put a huge amount of time and money into examining, testing, analyzing, and fine-tuning their marketing on a campaign-by-campaign basis. The results of a single campaign are judged by response rates, average spend amounts, and often, the ROI generated by that campaign.

But less attention has been given to the long-term behavior of customers, says Don Austin, Ph.D., director of client strategy at Greenwich, CT-based list services firm Direct Media. In general, the amount of the first transaction predicts the amount of subsequent transactions. But Austin a variety of other variables can be used to segment customers into low long-term value and high long-term value groups.