RFM Turned Upside Down

For one multichannel retailer we studied, response from customers living within five miles of a store were half the response rate of those living more than 20 miles from a store. Predictably, the company’s catalog management maintained that the missing response was occurring in the store, and it should be given credit. After all, they could prove that many of the customers showing up in the store had received a catalog. Conversely, the store management maintained that the customers would have come to the store anyway and that mailing the catalog was a waste of money.