Chico's to rely on Epsilon Targeting solution

25 Sep '10

3 min read

Alliance Data Systems Corporation, a leading provider of loyalty and marketing solutions derived from transaction-rich data, announced that its Epsilon subsidiary has signed an expansion agreement with Fort Myers, FL-based Chico's to provide data overlay services. Chico's will rely on Epsilon Targeting, Epsilon's data division, to provide a clearer picture of the purchasing behavior of their customers.

Chico's is a specialty retailer of private branded, sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing, intimates, complementary accessories, and other non-clothing gift items. Founded in 1983, Chico's now operates over 1,074 specialty stores in 48 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, under the Chico's, White House|Black Market and Soma intimates names. Chico's annual revenues in 2009 totaled $1.7 billion. Chico's has been a client of Epsilon since 1999 and currently provides prospect names for Chico's catalog circulation as well as demographic data.

Under terms of the expanded agreement, Epsilon will now also include data from its proprietary data cooperative to overlay multi-brand transactional data over Chico's consumer database records. This will allow Chico's to see a more complete picture of the buying activity of their customers across all purchase channels including catalog, online, and retail, and within specific merchandise categories.

This deep insight will improve Chico's contact strategy and ability to micro-target customers based on preferences and buying behaviors. Chico's will have a better understanding of their customers' broader spending activity within related categories beyond their spending patterns at Chico's stores. Overlaying this data will enable better return on marketing investment by helping Chico's better target their customers, improve segmentation and optimize marketing campaigns.

In addition, Epsilon will provide over 20 demographic variables from its robust compiled data assets, which contain data on 250 million consumers spanning more than 1,000 demographic and lifestyle attributes. Epsilon will also help Chico's identify opportunities by market area and specific store locations so the retailer can target consumers more effectively based on local buying trends.

"Understanding our customers is critical to our marketing success. It's not just about what they're buying from Chico's but also their overall spending behavior. By partnering with a leader like Epsilon Targeting, we're able to have a richer picture of each individual customer and in turn better target our customer base across all marketing channels," said Charlie White, vice president of CRM at Chico's.

According to Bryan Kennedy, president of Epsilon, "This is a deep relationship that continues to grow and contribute to Chico's marketing success. Our data is what sets us apart. We are thrilled that Chico's has chosen Epsilon as their exclusive data overlay provider. The significant consumer data available from our data cooperative, other rich data assets and a team of highly experienced staff will improve Chico's customer relationships and deliver positive results."

Alliance Data Systems Corporation

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