Following talks with trade organisation Catalogue Exchange,
transactional database specialist Abacus agreed to cancel its
proposed expansion of the Abacus Home Shopping Alliance to
include charities.
Abacus had announced in June that it would add charities’ donor
data files to the Abacus Alliance, its cooperative database.
Catalogue Exchange, however, was concerned that opening up the
cooperative to include charities would have a “significant
commercial impact” on the existing members of the Alliance,
it said in a statement. Catalogue Exchange also felt there was
insufficient consultation by Abacus of its own member base prior
to the announcement.
Abacus has since withdrawn its proposal to expand the Alliance to
include charities, confirmed Abacus managing director Ian Hitt in
a statement, and the company will consult Catalogue Exchange and
Alliance members prior to any future enhancements. In addition,
Abacus and Catalogue Exchange have agreed to work together on a
number of new initiatives. These include improving the
data-recency standards within the co-op and allowing new
catalogue ventures limited access to the data pool; previously
prospective members had to have a database of at least 5,000
active customers to gain access to Alliance data.
“Abacus has responded to these concerns in a highly
responsible fashion,” Nigel Swabey, president of Catalogue
Exchange and CEO of multititle mailer Scotts & Co, said in a
statement.
CatEx Management, which handles the administration of Catalogue
Exchange, is a sister company to Catalogue e-business magazine.
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