Stage Stores, Inc., Selects Harte-Hanks Allink (R) Retail to Drive CRM Initiatives

Stage Stores, Inc., Selects Harte-Hanks Allink (R) Retail to
Drive CRM Initiatives
-- Retailer will use customer-focused marketing solution to capture, manage and
optimize customer data -- 


BILLERICA, Mass., May 2  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harte-Hanks, Inc. (NYSE:
HHS), a worldwide, direct and targeted marketing company, today announced that
Stage Stores, Inc., a Houston, TX-based regional department store retailer,
will implement Harte-Hanks Allink(R) Retail, a customer-focused database
marketing solution, in an effort to optimize customer relationships and to
increase profitability.

Stage Stores operates 537 stores across 29 states.  As part of the
implementation, the retailer will utilize Allink Retail's integrated customer
relationship management (CRM) functionality to gain greater visibility into
customer data; develop a better understanding of its customers' wants and needs
-- thereby supporting merchandising, pricing and product bundling efforts;
building loyalty among its existing customer base; and driving new sales by
identifying and acquiring new customers.

"To meet our overall business objectives, Stage Stores needed to extend its
existing CRM capabilities," said Dan Singer, vice president of database
marketing, Stage Stores.  "Our marketing had evolved to a point where we needed
to support more frequent database updates, delve more deeply into customer
data, support trigger-based campaign management and allow for integration with
our point-of-sale system."

"The retail industry is highly competitive, particularly in this time of market
consolidation," Singer said.  "To be successful, companies must exceed consumer
expectations faster and more effectively than the competition. Harte-Hanks has
the long-standing retail experience, database expertise, and reputation for
delivering consistent results that drive sales that will help us not only to
meet our CRM objectives, but also to compete more effectively in our market."

"Stage Stores will gain a flexible solution that will grow with the company,
and will continue to benefit from the data-driven marketing approach, in-depth
retail experience and the highest level of ongoing support inside Harte-Hanks,"
said Kathy Calta, corporate officer and senior vice president, Harte-Hanks,
Inc.

"The retail industry currently faces the challenges of expanding distribution
channels and an increasing number of competitors contending for consumers'
loyalty," Calta said.  "Allink Retail is designed to provide companies with a
competitive edge by helping them to better identify their most profitable
customers and build more relevant and effective multichannel relationships to
optimize ROI."

About Allink Retail

Allink Retail is designed to address the many challenges retailers face today
in acquiring clean, relevant, and timely customer information, and maintaining
a complete, accurate, and consolidated view of customers.  The solution
provides the integrated CRM functionality needed for data capture, data
quality, data management, data access and ongoing support.  Specific benefits
for retailers include:

  * Know Your Customers -- Expert-driven analytics extend segmentation and
    model-building capabilities to include attributes such as historical
    purchase behavior, lifestyle and demographics.
  * Increase Customer Loyalty -- Provides high-impact business rules and
    marketing-event 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/contact center and more, enabling sales
    associates 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.

  About Stage Stores


Stage Stores, Inc. brings nationally recognized brand name apparel,
accessories, cosmetics and footwear for the entire family to small and mid-
size towns and communities through 537 stores located in 29 states. The Company
operates under the Stage, Bealls and Palais Royal names throughout the South
Central states, and under the Peebles name throughout the Mid-Atlantic,
Southeastern and Midwestern states. For more information about Stage Stores,
visit the Company's Web site at http://www.stagestoresinc.com/.

About Harte-Hanks

Harte-Hanks, Inc., San Antonio, TX, is a worldwide, direct and targeted
marketing company that provides direct marketing services and shopper
advertising opportunities to a wide range of local, regional, national and
international consumer and business-to-business marketers.  Harte-Hanks Direct
Marketing improves the return on its clients' marketing investment with a range
of services organized around five solution points:  Construct and update the
database -- Access the data -- Analyze the data -- Apply the knowledge --
Execute the programs.  Visit the Harte-Hanks Web site at
http://www.harte-hanks.com/ or call [phone].

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

DATASOURCE: Harte-Hanks, Inc.



CONTACT: Chet Dalzell of Harte-Hanks, [phone],

; or Brenda Menard of Horn Group, Inc.,

[phone],      



Web site:  http://www.harte-hanks.com/

http://www.stagestoresinc.com/ 

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