Live From Toronto: Canadian DM Goes North
A move toward integrated and information-based marketing means business is booming for direct marketers in Canada, according to John Gustavson, president and CEO of the Canadian Marketing Association.
Indeed, direct response sales grew 9% last year, earning some $13.5 billion (Canadian) and employing about 230,000 Canadians. In 1999, the CMA anticipates $15 billion (Canadian) in DR sales.
“Customer relationship management continues rapidly,” Gustavson said, “as companies understand the lifetime value of a customer,” in terms of generating repeat purchases or the effectiveness of loyalty programs. In addition, customers have come to expect more tailored offers and services.
While e-commerce is as much a trend here in the North as it is in the United States, Gustavson warned, “it’s a mistake to think of e-commerce as separate. It’s one of many media that can be used. People will receive information in one medium, explore offers in another and order products in a third.”
However, the real trick, he admitted, is how to get e-commerce “to make money for our members.”
Also affecting the Canadian scene is national privacy legislation expected to pass at the end of the year. The bill–which Gustavson describes as “appropriate” and “not unduly intrusive”–requires the consent of individuals before personal information can be collected, used or disclosed to a third party. The CMA claims credit for proposing amendments exempting business and some public domain information and for blocking provisions that would have eliminated implied consent, negative option consent and express consent.
If the measure is passed, it would apply to the provinces in three years unless a province passes its own similar law.
Other legislative issues Canadian direct marketers face range from international agreements on the taxation of e-commerce to federal restrictions on telemarketing and licensing catalogers in Nova Scotia.
