Lists: Behavior Matters Most

To become a member of the Abacus consortium, a cataloger must have at least a thousand 12-month buyers.

Hayden is not enamored with Abacus, but, he says, “I try to do what’s best for my clients.”

Mainly, he continues, Abacus and its competitor, Z-24 (a database of 600 million transactions from 590 catalogs across 6 million households) benefit small and mid-sized mailers. “Frankly,” says Hayden, “I think large mailers in Abacus are giving away the store. And membership in a cooperative database very likely will diminish your list rental income.”