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On Fri, 21 Apr 1995, Richard Layman wrote:

> >From a direct marketing standpoint, I have been having a good laugh about
> this thread.  Radio Shack is famous throughout the direct marketing field
> for laboriously gathering names, addresses, and phone numbers of its
> customers -- and then doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wih the information --
> other than sending out an undifferentiated catalog to the people on its
> list, without regard to RFM -- recency of purchase, frequency of purchase,
> and the size (monetary value) of the transaction.

Actually, radio shack is very careful to check the data, and uses it when 
determining how much of which items to stock in which stores.
When I worked at the Westminister Store (Mostly Red-necks) we carried lots
of CB-Radios and Radar Detectors.  When I worked in Aurora (A "colorful" 
neighborhood) we carried lots of Boom Boxes and walkmen.  In Littleton
(Yuppieville) there were three computer centers within a 1 mile radius.

Radio Shack could tell you more about the demographic culture of a 
neighborhood than the Census Beaureau.

> >From a marketing standpoint, I practically cry thinking about the lost
> sales they have, every time I go there.
Do you visit the same store regularly?  Do you go to the one by the 
office, the one near your home, or somewhere in between while in transit.

> You can collect data, but if you waste it, it has no value.
They don't waste it, and they COULD sell it, but I don't think they do.

Other databases I wouldn't mind having access to:
	Visa purchases by store, customer zip code, and telephone area 
	code and prefix, and amounts.

	Rental Rates and property prices for all houses sold within the 
	last 12 months, correlated to a map.

	Violent crimes and vandalism rates by city block.

	Housing code violations by city block.

	Insurance claims by city block (zip & phone)

	This would be a nice way to avoid killer insurance rates.

> Richard Layman, Mgr., Business Development, and Research Producer

	Rex Ballard


From rballard@cnj.digex.net Wed May  3 20:58:20 1995