The advisory board of the Catalogue Exchange, a new group representing catalogers based in the United Kingdom, announced key objectives last week as well as free membership for at least one year from its Nov. 20 launch date.
The objectives were:
· Facilitating the exchange of customer data among member companies.
· Establishing an interactive forum to permit members to post inquiries on the Catalogue Exchange Web site, CatalogueExchange.co.uk, and receive answers and suggestions from other members.
· Providing a full database of suppliers to the catalog industry on the organization's Web site.
The exchange Web site will include details on members' customer lists as well as each member's contact details and data swap preferences. The database of catalogers' customer lists will be in a password-protected area available only to members.
The site also will feature white papers on subjects of interest to catalog marketers, guidelines for good practices in areas such as data hygiene and security and details on discounts available to exchange members.
Suppliers to the catalog industry will be granted associate member status, though associate membership will be subject to a modest fee.
The launch of the exchange and the Web site are set for Nov. 20 at the ECMOD catalogue conference to be held at London's Earl's Court.
