FINGERHUT SELECTS SAS TO HELP REBUILD BRAND
SAS® Customer Intelligence suite will drive profitability
CARY, N.C. (Oct. 20, 2004) - Eighteen months ago, Fingerhut had no employees, no revenue and no customers to its name. Today, the company is well on its way to becoming a billion-dollar business. And SAS, the leader in business intelligence, plays a key part in Fingerhut`s plans to achieve this goal. Fingerhut Direct Marketing has selected the SAS® Customer Intelligence suite to improve customer acquisition and cross-sell activities.
In 2002, after 54 very successful years in business, Fingerhut became the casualty of a failed merger and the dot-com bust. In 2003, a group of dedicated individuals undertook the mission to revive Fingerhut with just the brand name, leftover inventory and some customer lists.
"The first year was spent laying the foundation by getting the operational foundation in place," said Brian Smith, CEO of Fingerhut. "In 2004, our goal is to begin to achieve information-based marketing. SAS will help us turn our information and data - on customers, products and operations - into intelligence that will drive the business forward. We expect to see an immediate bump in revenue from our improved ability to segment customers and cross-sell to them. In fact, we expect sales to increase by 5 to 6 percent within 90 days of implementing SAS."
Why SAS?
"We have a very flexible infrastructure, and we were not willing to compromise this. SAS passed the test," said Smith. "We also wanted a vendor that would do more than just sell us the software and then leave. We were looking for a partner. SAS has a strong track record for staying the course and providing domain expertise along with the software. SAS solutions are proven. SAS analytics are excellent. It was a clear and logical choice."
"To achieve so much momentum in 18 months is amazing for any retailer," said Jim Davis, chief marketing officer at SAS. "It`s all about speed, and Fingerhut is moving very fast. SAS is nimble enough to keep up with all of Fingerhut`s marketing needs. Our analytics will grow with them. This is an information-intensive business, and SAS has the ability to quickly and accurately analyze mountains of data. Our customer intelligence suite will help Fingerhut target new customers, increase customer spend and improve promotional effectiveness."
Over the next six months Fingerhut will implement SAS Marketing Automation, SAS Marketing Optimization and SAS Interaction Management. SAS Marketing Automation will help Fingerhut marketers create targeted, analytically derived customer segments and then use that information to conduct more effective outbound campaigns. As the number of Fingerhut`s inbound and outbound campaigns escalates, SAS Marketing Optimization will help Fingerhut marketers evaluate multiple campaigns simultaneously to determine which products should be marketed to individual customers for maximum return. SAS Interaction Management will help Fingerhut track customer activity across all channels, and then combine this with historical behavior data to predict customer behavior. This insight will help Fingerhut know when to intervene proactively to sell a new product or prevent a customer from leaving.
Marketmax was acquired by SAS Institute in October, 2003 allowing SAS and Marketmax to build a global footprint for retail intelligence combining the merchandising domain expertise of Marketmax and the analytical and financial horsepower of SAS, the world`s largest privately held software company.
Today`s announcement was made at the BetterManagement LIVE Worldwide Business Conference, which addresses critical business management issues from around the world. BetterManagement LIVE brings together more than 1,000 thought leaders from the public and private sector to share insights and knowledge. More than 130 speakers in nine focused tracks represent a broad spectrum of executives, academics, consultants and financial experts. Learn more at www.BetterManagement.com/worldwide.
About Fingerhut Direct Marketing
Fingerhut Direct Marketing Inc. is a direct to the consumer marketing company selling a broad selection of merchandise, including electronics, housewares, home textiles, jewelry and furniture. Products are marketed through catalogs and the Internet to millions of consumers nationwide. Fingerhut maintains a proprietary database to provide credit, target offers and build lifetime relationships with customers. For more information visit http://www.fingerhut.com.
ABOUT SAS
SAS is the market leader in providing a new generation of business intelligence software and services that create true enterprise intelligence. SAS solutions are used at more than 40,000 sites – including 96 of the top 100 companies on the FORTUNE Global 500® – to develop more profitable relationships with customers and suppliers; to enable better, more accurate and informed decisions; and to drive organizations forward. SAS is the only vendor that completely integrates leading data warehousing, analytics and traditional BI applications to create intelligence from massive amounts of data. For nearly three decades, SAS has been giving customers around the world The Power to Know ®.
Editorial contacts:
Americas: Desiree Adkins
(919) 677-8000
Back...
