Hanover Direct Shifts In-House Businesses to Experian
Hanover Direct Inc. will move its in-house data hygiene and merge/purge operations to Experian. The transfer should be completed by the end of July.
Hanover expects to immediately realize a $250,000 to $300,000 savings through mail efficiencies such as better address tracking. And, with the new arrangement, customers will be less likely to receive out-of-date catalogs.
The Edgewater, NJ-based cataloger currently has 16 people managing its list operations in-house. At least six have been guaranteed jobs after the company moves the hygiene and merge/purge operations to Experian. Hanover will maintain in-house control of its customer file, which contains 48 million records on 30 million unique individuals. Hanover is attempting to find positions for the remaining 10.
The move comes after a period of refocusing for Hanover, during which it either sold or discontinued most of its 22 properties in favor of focusing on a few core catalogs–Domestications, The Company Store (and its offshoot, Company Kids), Silhouettes, International Male, Scandia Down and Gump’s By Mail.
The decision to outsource makes sense with Hanover’s stripped-down focus. With 22 properties, the company needed 22 individual vice presidents to coordinate each title. “When we scale down we can focus on a smaller knowledge base,” said Michael Contino, Hanover Direct’s executive vice president and COO.
Relying on Experian will also allow Hanover to take advantage of the most up-to-the-minute postal rule and rate changes. The 241.5 million catalogs Hanover sent out last year cost between 45 cents and 55 cents per copy to mail. Contino is looking to Experian’s staff to monitor postal rate changes and facilitate Hanover’s use of automation discounts.
The move will also allow Hanover to speed its time-to-mail process. Most companies that it rents or exchanges lists with have a relationship with Experian. This allows the Orange, CA-based information-service provider to transfer data formats and run purged lists through mail efficiency products such as the delivery sequence file processing and various change-of-address databases.
