ExApps secures UK Catalog Giant GUS

Exchange Applications have secured a purchase of their Campaign Management system, VALEX, from the UK's 2nd largest retailer - Great Universal Stores plc. (GUS).   GUS' home shopping division will implement VALEX to help in more effectively cross-selling products fromits 13 popular retail catalogs, including The Disney selection, Innovations, and Marshall Ward.

Exchange Applications are quick to point out that this is the fourth implementation of VALEX by a major retailer, suggesting the focus for retailers and catalogers is shifting from product-profitability to customer-profitability. 

Previous reluctance in these sectors to invest in CRM solutions may well be attributable to their inability to perform certain specific functions.  ExApps claim that essential capabilities for personalising retailers'offers at the customer level - such as coupon proiritisation and multi-level segmentation - have been absent from some CRM offerings, and that VALEX provides these capabilities.

"GUS Home Shopping is the leading company in this sector, and with this position has a very large customer franchise, " said David Main, commercial director for Great Universal Stores Home Shopping Ltd.  "VALEX will be able to provide better service for our customers by anticipating their needs and making our product and service efforts more relevant and timely. These factors will in turn help us earn a greater share of our customers' business."

GUS' customer database, which currently contains more than 10 million records, resides on an NCR Teradata database.  According to David Main, Exchange Applications' experience in the Teradata environment contributed towards GUS' decision to purchase VALEX. Other factors cited include ExApps' large installed base. 

In a recent report following the flotation of the company (early June: ExApps complete a second stock offering of 3 million shares at $22 per share, with one million of those shares being sold by Exchange Applications and the remainder being sold by stockholders),  Exchange Applications made several assertive claims about VALEX and its market position.

"According to prominent industry analysts" claimed ExApps " VALEX is in production at more sites worldwide than any other campaign management software."   Another ExApps report credits the product with horizontal appeal stretching across a broad range of industries, stating that sales to non-financial services companies account for more than 51% of revenue. Sales to telecommunications companies, they claim,  were particularly strong as Exchange Applications sold VALEX to four of the world’s largest mobile telcos; namely AT&T Wireless, Telecom Italia, EireCell and Vodafone Group.

Additionally, having completed it’s international version of VALEX, Exchange Applications have now forged a distribution agreement in Japan with Hitachi.