SimonDelivers delivers a new marketing approach

Instead of sinking any more resources into broad-based, mass-media marketing approaches that don’t deliver as many targeted customers, SimonDelivers Inc. is developing and implementing a more direct marketing program.

Working with Prizm, a data append and analysis program from Claritas Inc., SimonDelivers is reducing its use of traditional print advertising and is instead concentrating on newer forms of direct marketing such as renting the right lists to use for e-mail campaigns, direct mailings and other specific marketing efforts. Prizm data allows SimonDelivers to assign more defined lifestyle attributes to customers and prospects, says David Gandrud, director of marketing.

The goal is achieving more penetration into the 1 million households in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area, the web grocer’s core regional market. SimonDelivers is breaking down six years worth of collected customer demographics and transaction data and developing much more specific customer segments, says CEO Christopher Brown. “We are moving to customization and then we will move to more personalization,” he says.

Better segmentation is also helping SimonDelivers boost its average order value to around $130, Brown says.