<<Hate to say it, but you're way behind the curve. CUC was not a junk-mail company, and CUC had the members, not HFS. Of course, HFS has customer lists of its own, but not nearly the CUC count.>>
William: you misunderstood me: CUC is the one with the members (about 65 mil), but it is HFS's 100 mil customer base (Century 21, Avis, the hotels, etc) that CUC is planning to take advantage of. And those names will be "for free" to them, unlike the members they have now for whom CUC had to "pay" (one way or another) the original "list" provider, ie Citibank, MBNA...Texaco...Sears, etc. And last I checked the greatest majority of CUC's newly acquired members still came via telemarketing or direct mail: EVEN THE NAMES CUC TAKES FROM THE NET ARE MARKETED VIA THESE TRADITIONAL CHANNELS.
CUC's Internet and software related businesses are, at best, not a significant source of income to the corp (yet) - the Comp-U-Card division is where the money is made - and that is strictly a Direct Marketing enterprise. |
