ct, one would think that having discretionary funds to spend, one would go to an upscale retailer for specialized customer service.
Okay, we segmented and targeted a market, as Amex has done, but to the general public there is one alarming question that deserves to be asked and answered: why do marketers get information on my lifestyles and buying habits so easily? Isn't that privileged information? Isn't it a sort of invasion of privacy? What also should be discussed is the ability to "purchase" names on lists. Someone, a consumer might logically ask, is making money selling my name. That is a legal issue that has already come up, and, if one will notice on credit card bills and others, there is now a space where the consumer can indicate he does not want his name released for any reason whatever.
What makes this particular Amex case interesting and useful is how to go about winnowing potential consumers down to a manageable number and be assured that the response will be higher than normal.
The Allen-Edmonds business-to-business marketing approach (p. 338-9) is interesting not in what it does, but the opportunities it seems to miss. First of all, let me get this off my chest: do people willing to spend hundreds of dollars on shoes actually BUY them from a catalog, without trying on the shoes, walking to see how they fit, whether there is a better color, etc.? Perhaps this sending out direct mail to their retailers' customers works. Perhaps, so does the creation of promotions for these stores. But Allen-Edmonds is missing a great opportunity, especially for those upscale stores that sell merchandise other than shoes. I call what they're missing CROSS-MERCHANDISING. That means, giving the retailer an opportunity for additional sales, whether shoes or some other in-store item. For example, for the businessman whose day is taken up, offering special "early" or "late" hours only for "select" customers is a good way ...