Monday January 24, 7:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Net Perceptions, Inc.
Net Perceptions Selected to Add 'Personal' Touch to Fingerhut's Online and Office Businesses Pioneers of Database Marketing and Realtime Personalization Join Forces
MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Net Perceptions (Nasdaq: NETP - news), the leader in realtime personalization, has been selected by The Fingerhut Companies Inc., one of the world's largest direct marketing and online retailers and a division of Federated Department Stores Inc. (NYSE: FD - news), as its preferred technology partner for advanced e-commerce solutions.
As part of a multiyear agreement announced today, Net Perceptions is providing an enterprise-wide license for its leading-edge e-commerce personalization solution for use in all Fingerhut and affiliate companies. Both companies also agree to share technical resources in the future to jointly develop more advanced personalization solutions for the retail environment as well as with other Federated businesses.
``We believe this agreement is yet another sign of a larger trend of smart traditional retailers joining forces with online technologies to integrate the e-commerce experience into online and offline channels,' said Melissa Bane, director of Internet Market Strategies with the Yankee Group in Boston. ``Fingerhut is a major supplier of e-commerce services to not only Federated companies but also some major consumer e-commerce brands. The company obviously realizes the importance of realtime Web data integration and targeting capabilities in choosing Net Perceptions.'
Initially, Net Perceptions personalization technology will be deployed across Fingerhut's eight proprietary Internet sites: www.fingerhut.com, www.andysgarage.com, www.andysauctions.com, www.OutdoorSpirit.com, www.myjewelry.com, www.birthdayhut.com, www.AxsysBank.com and www.thehut.com.
``Personalization will be a growing part of our success strategy as we pursue our goal of being the world's leading information-based direct marketing company,' said Andy Johnson, president of Fingerhut eCommerce. ``Selecting Net Perceptions was only logical. With its ability to cover multiple customer touch points, Net Perceptions is the clear leader in personalization technology. They can also easily scale to our needs, and the two companies share very complementary goals and objectives. I'm excited about what we will be able to accomplish together.'
The nature of the relationship also leaves the door open for the two companies to explore joint software development opportunities for applications that would fully leverage each company's areas of expertise both on and off the Internet. Fingerhut is part of Federated Direct, which operates Federated's e-commerce and database properties, including Macys.com, Bloomingdales-by-Mail and Macy's-by-Mail. In addition, Fingerhut has a legacy in database marketing and maintains the Eureka database that contains information on more than 30 million customer households. Net Perceptions realtime recommendation technology extends beyond e-commerce to other customer touch point applications both on and off the Internet, including ad-targeting, marketing campaigns and call centers where the company has been able to deliver double-digit improvements in cross-sell and up-sell acceptance rates.
``We couldn't ask for a better endorsement of our technology than from one of the long-time leaders in database marketing,' said Steven Snyder, Net Perceptions president and CEO. ``Fingerhut has the expertise and resources to create many of their own programming functions internally. The competitive advantages of our patented Net Perceptions technology will help take them to the next level of true, realtime one-to-one customer marketing.'
About The Fingerhut Companies
Fingerhut Companies Inc. is a leading database marketing company selling a broad range of products and services through catalogs, direct marketing and the Internet. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Federated Department Stores Inc. (NYSE: FD - news). Fingerhut also owns Popular Club, a membership-based cataloger of general merchandise, Arizona Mail Order and Bedford Fair, catalog apparel companies, and Figi's, a food and gift catalog company. In addition, the company owns equity stakes in leading Internet retailers PC Flowers & Gifts Inc., The Zone Network, FreeShop, Roxy.com, Handtech.com and iBirthday.com. Based in Minnetonka, Minn., the company and its subsidiaries employ approximately 12,000 people.
Fingerhut can be found on the Internet at www.fingerhut.com, www.andysgarage.com, www.andysauctions.com, www.thehut.com, www.figis.com, www.myjewelry.com, www.pcflowers.com, www.mountainzone.com, www.skiresorts.com, www.freeshop.com, www.roxy.com, www.pcscentral.com, www.satellite.com, www.handtech.com and www.iBirthday.com.
About Net Perceptions
Net Perceptions is the leading supplier of realtime personalization solutions that enable businesses to market to customers on a true one-to-one basis across multiple customer touchpoints. Net Perceptions solutions increase new and repeat business by learning more about each customer's individual needs, tastes and preferences with every interaction, then making increasingly personalized product and service recommendations. Net Perceptions, based in Minneapolis, is a publicly held company (Nasdaq: NETP - news) which operates additional offices in New York, San Francisco and Reading, England, and a joint venture office in Japan. Customers include many of the world's best- known brands, including Art.com, Bertelsmann, Billboard Talentnet, CDNOW, E!Online, Micron, SkyMall, Tower Records and Ticketmaster Online. For more information about Net Perceptions products, visit netperceptions.com or call 800-466-0711. |
