Egghead’s return on e-mail follow-up

Egghead.com has found gold in unsuccessful bidders in merchandise auctions at the Egghead site. Egghead keeps a file of unsuccessful bidders, then sends them an e-mail offering similar products or even the identical SKU should more product become available later – at fixed prices that auction data show the customers are likely to accept. "The e-mail campaigns from the auctions generate a return on investment of 600% to 1,000%," Merle McIntosh, senior vice president of merchandising at Egghead.com, tells Internet Retailer. "For every dollar we spend there, we’re getting six to ten dollars back in sales."