American Eagle and Nishi-Nippon tap Teradata

Teradata Corp. has deployed some of its data warehousing and analytics offerings for American Eagle Outfitters and Japan's Nishi-Nippon Railroad.

American Eagle, a clothing retailer that operates more than 900 stores in North America, is implementing Teradata CRM in a move to create personalized, real-time dialogues with customers. The system supports marketing analytics, event triggers, campaign automation and customer communications across multiple channels. Teradata also supports American Eagle's “All-access pass” loyalty card.

“What American Eagle is doing with our CRM series is multichannel synchronization, advanced analytics, event triggers and auto campaign generation based on customer behavior, which is a very different way from how direct mail has traditionally done things,” said Ronald Swift, VP of cross-industry business solutions for Teradata. “They're not just building a database of customers and order and dollar volumes, they are looking at factors that change over time, and when they see changes those are triggers to make offers that are relevant.”

Other Teradata applications have been used by American Eagle as far back as 2002, but the latest implementation features complex offer optimization, simplified data import capabilities, expanded Web compatibility and improved reusability of campaign componenets. American Eagle previously outsourced its CRM efforts.

The Nishi-Nippon Railroad implemented Teradata information management and database software to support its new “Nimoca” smart card system. Nimoca, which stands for “nice money card,” is a customer rewards card that awards points when used for railway lines, bus routes and participating department stores. Teradata helps Nishi-Nippon collect and analyze customer and transportation data, which is used to improve operations and customer service.

Swift said that both Nishi-Nippon and American Eagle chose Teradata in part due to its scalability, quick responses to complex queries and ability to create a multichannel marketing environment. “The Teradata database is constantly looking out there, through advanced analytics, to not just segment and send mail, but to actually know how to produce the right offer, at the right time, to the right customer, across the right channel and, hopefully, in the right price range,” he said.