E-MAIL MARKETING EXPENDITURES TO GROW 41 PERCENT ANNUALLY TO $3.5 BILLION IN 2005

Guide to E-Commerce Technology

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Petsky
Phone: 212.842.6001

New Winterberry Group Study Identifies Mergers and Acquisitions and CRM as Key Industry Trends

NEW YORK, December 13, 2001 - Driven by direct marketers` enthusiasm for the cost effectiveness of permission e-mail marketing, e-mail is fast becoming the most popular medium for Internet marketing. E-mail marketing - a $910 million market in 2001 - is forecast to grow 41% annually through 2005, reaching $3.5 billion. E-mail company mergers and acquisitions and the development of online customer relationship management ("CRM") techniques will be key factors in propelling the industry`s growth, according to Winterberry Group`s Industry Map research study, "E-Mail Marketing - Robust Growth in a Consolidating Industry", released today.

Today, permission-based commercial e-mail - which includes email that is both for prospecting and customer development - accounts for 10 percent of 300 billion total email messages in the U.S. By 2005, permission e-mail marketing will account for nearly 25 percent of 600 billion messages.

"E-mail marketing has become an ever-important communications tool for most marketers, and has led to the establishment of more than 200 marketing service companies or business units that provide e-mail marketing solutions," said Michael Petsky, CEO, Winterberry Group. "The rate of change for e-mail marketing is tremendous. In just a couple of short years, these service providers have developed a broad scope of e-mail marketing techniques for customer acquisition, online database marketing and CRM. Continued development and refinement of these techniques - principally of CRM applications - will continue to propel the e-mail marketing industry`s growth."

Winterberry Group`s E-Mail Marketing Industry Map defines the market sizes and provides analysis of four e-mail marketing segments: (i) service bureaus / ASPs, (ii) software, (iii) list rental and (iv) agencies / creative. The study also highlights industry trends and challenges for the e-mail marketing industry, and profiles industry-leading email service providers.

"Consolidation among e-mail industry leaders is being fueled both by the need for sales efficiencies among industry leaders (e.g. DoubleClick`s acquisitions of FloNetwork and MessageMedia) and expansion of technology platforms to provide full-service solutions (e.g. acquisitions by Bigfoot Interactive and MindArrow)," said John Prunier, President of Petsky Prunier LLC, a marketing services focused investment bank, which is affiliated with Winterberry Group. "The e-mail marketing industry will continue to experience consolidation over the next 18 months."

The E-Mail Marketing Industry Map provides brief profiles of more than 50 leading private and publicly held e-mail marketing service providers, including @Once, 24/7 Media (NASDAQ:TFSM), Avenue A (NASDAQ:AVEA), Bigfoot Interactive, ClickAction (NASDAQ:CLAC), Cheetah Mail, Chordiant Software (NASDAQ:CHRD), Delano Technologies (NASDAQ:DTEC), Digital Impact (NASDAQ:DIGI), DoubleClick (NASDAQ:DCLK), eDirect, E.piphany (NASDAQ:EPNY), e-Dialog, Kana Communications (NASDAQ:KANA), MindArrow (NASDAQ:ARRW), NetCreations, Primus (NASDAQ:PKSI), Responsys, SmartReminders, Traffix (NASDAQ:TRFX), VentureDirect, Xchange (NASDAQ:EXAP), and Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO).

Winterberry Group (www.winterberrygroup.com) is a leading research and consulting firm focused on the best practices of online and offline direct marketing industry leaders. The company produces proprietary research studies and white papers on strategic direct marketing industry issues, trends, challenges and profitability drivers. Its consulting engagements are focused on enhancing the enterprise value of direct marketing and marketing service businesses through strategic repositioning, decision support and partnership development. Winterberry Group is affiliated with Petsky Prunier LLC (www.petskyprunier.com), a leading investment bank providing merger and acquisition advisory services for direct marketing and marketing service companies.

For more information on ordering "E-Mail Marketing - Robust Growth in a Consolidating Industry", please contact Sherry Prabhudial at 212.842.6008 or sherry@winterberrygroup.com. Press contacts and for more information on Winterberry Group, please contact Michael Petsky at 212.842.6001 or mike@winterberrygroup.com.