Harte-Hanks Delivers Allink Retail; Analytical CRM Solution Helps Retailers Capture, Manage and Optimize Customer Data

NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2003 -- Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE: HHS) today announced the availability of Allink(R) Retail, a complete end-to-end analytical customer relationship management (CRM) solution designed to optimize customer relationships and increase a retailer's profitability. Allink Retail helps retailers communicate the right message at the right time, through the right channel, to the right customer. The new offering from Harte-Hanks sets the standard in CRM by providing a single solution that directly addresses the challenges retailers face today in acquiring clean, relevant, and timely customer information, and maintaining a complete, "360 degrees" view of each customer.

"Allink Retail leverages the vast experience of Harte-Hanks in retail database marketing to deliver strong benefits for retailers," said Kathy Calta, corporate officer, vice president, Harte-Hanks. "This powerful solution is designed specifically to help retailers communicate more effectively with their customers and drive top-line sales."

Allink Retail provides the integrated CRM functionality needed for data capture, quality, management, access, and events-based marketing. Specific benefits for retailers include:

-- Know Your Customers - Robust analytics extend segmentation and model- building capabilities to include attributes such as historical purchase behavior, lifestyle and demographics.

-- Increase Customer Loyalty - Provides high-impact rules and triggers to recognize and respond to customer behavior with timely and relevant communications, often signaling and preventing customer attrition. Facilitates development, execution and management of targeted promotions such as most-valued customer promotions.

-- Facilitate Multichannel Marketing - Centralizes data from stores, Web site, catalog and divisions, and customer service centers for better decision-making and custom interactions.

-- Understand and Measure Marketing Impact - Provides up-to-the-minute reports segmented by territory sales, location or SKU - a critical feature for time-sensitive shopping periods or sales.

-- Boost Cross-Sell and Up-Sell Results - Fosters on-demand marketing communications to prompt one-to-one customer experiences at the register, Web site, call center and more, enabling sales associates and call center personnel to identify and offer valued customers personalized offers or exclusive store sales.

-- Manage Promotions and Special Events to Drive Store Traffic - Campaign management coordinates complex programs across divisions, partners, and/or departments and aligns them with the retailer's enterprise-wide merchandising goals.

Allink Retail is the first of several vertical solutions Harte-Hanks will introduce in 2003, based on its Allink suite. Allink Retail provides users with data quality, campaign management, data analytics, and a marketing-ready data mart that combines scalable hardware, efficient data feeds, data model and data storage to support user access to relevant data points. The solution also offers marketing-ready reports, models, and campaigns tailored for retailers, to help users get up and running and realize results quickly.

Allink Retail Services and Availability

Allink Retail from Harte-Hanks is available immediately. The solution integrates all components of a CRM implementation from database support and campaign management to direct marketing implementation. Allink Retail's flexible data environment can accept non-standard data files, and because it is not built on a proprietary database platform, can integrate with enterprise-wide applications such as call center and sales force automation systems. In addition, Harte-Hanks direct marketing services and technical and marketing consulting help retailers support their CRM initiatives.

About Harte-Hanks, Inc.

Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE: HHS), San Antonio, TX, is a worldwide, direct and interactive services company that provides end-to-end customer relationship management (CRM) and related marketing service solutions for consumer and business-to-business marketers. Harte-Hanks and its CRM integrated solutions use technology to capture, analyze and disseminate customer and prospect data at all points of contact. Its customer-centric models allow the company to be the overall solutions provider for driving traffic to a Web site, call/contact center, or brick-and-mortar location. With premier specialized offerings from direct agency capabilities to print on demand, Web page design to e-care, desktop database capabilities to systems integration, personalized direct mail to e-mail, and proprietary software products to application service provider (ASP) solutions - Harte-Hanks provides practical implementation of technology and understands the needs of clients and their customers to deliver best-of- breed solutions. Visit the Harte-Hanks CRM solutions site at http://www.hartehankscrm.com or the corporate site at http://www.harte-hanks.com or call (800) 456-9748.

Harte-Hanks, the Harte-Hanks logo, and Allink are registered trademarks of Harte-Hanks, Inc.

    Media Contacts:
     Chet Dalzell, Harte-Hanks
     (212) 520-3232
     chet_dalzell@harte-hanks.com

     Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek
     (978) 436-8729
     mbb@hartehanks.com
     National Retail Federation:  Booth 1866

     Horn Group, Inc.
     Brenda Menard
     (781) 356-7133
     bmenard@horngroup.com


                

SOURCE Harte-Hanks, Inc.
Web Site: http://www.harte-hanks.com