Experian is a consumer credit reporting bureau that was formerly known as TRW Credit Services. The company aggregates consumer credit information and provides reports to creditors such as lending institutions, credit card companies and other financial services firms.
In July 1999, Barrett Marketing was hired to help Experian sell its databases to "high tech companies" which Experian defined as hardware and software manufacturers. Experian wanted to sell its database products and services to computer hardware and software manufacturers because they felt that a nationwide list of households would be of interest to companies such as Compaq, Dell and Gateway.
After meeting with Experian's senior management team, Barrett Marketing recommended that the company abandon its plans to target hardware and software manufacturers and concentrate on e-tailers. We discovered during our due diligence phase that Experian's databases can be linked to the online registration pages of e-commerce companies in order to provide an instantaneous profile of the individual customer. This ability to access consumer credit reports enables e-tailers to suggest products and services to shoppers based on their consumer profile while also reducing the number of fraudulent orders (because shipping addresses can be instantly confirmed by matching customer input with database records).
For example, by linking a consumer's credit file to the registration page of an online brokerage firm, the brokerage firm can immediately understand the needs of the individual consumer. The brokerage firm can appropriately suggest products such as: retirement accounts, college savings accounts, equity lines of credit and low interest credit cards with balance transfer incentives. These suggestions can be based on information that is garnered from the customer's consumer credit report.
Barrett Marketing was able to help Experian leverage and bundle its many consumer databases and develop sales and marketing initiatives targeting online financial services, children's products, home products and automobiles and auto-related services.
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