Strategy Why You Should Rent Your Customer List (1,130 words)

Catalogs that do not rent their housefiles in more cases than not are only hurting themselves. The truth is, they are not protecting their customers from mailbox clutter. The fact is, they are missing out on extra income without risk. Twenty years ago, it may have made sense to "protect" your housefile but the rules have now changed. Today, trying to protect your customers from receiving other catalogs—including those from your direct competitors—would be like trying to protect a teenager from going to an R-rated movie. Sophisticated modeling techniques and the use of cooperative databases like Abacus and CircBase/Z-24 have changed the way catalogers do business. So has the Internet.