Great Universal Stores (GUS) subsidiary
Experian Tuesday formed a joint venture with
MyPoints.com
to provide Internet loyalty solutions to clients in Europe.
Together, the two companies will develop and operate
loyalty infrastructure services, with GUS putting up
$13 million to finance the venture and MyPoints.com
contributing its Digital Loyalty Engine to power the
rewards programs.
With a 14 per cent stake in the company, Experian is
the largest shareholder in MyPoints.com.
GUS Chief Executive John Peace said the deal demonstrated
the e-commerce potential of GUS’s information services
business and underlined its strategy to capitalize
on the Internet market.
Experian, which is the world’s largest database services
provider, expects to take a respectable share of the
rapidly-growing European e-commerce market where annual
revenues are expected to exceed $323 billion by 2003.
Martin Trees, president of strategic planning at Experian,
said he had every confidence that the success of MyPoints.com
in the U.S. will be replicated in Europe.
“GUS’s recently announced strategic review has ensured that
our business is structured to maximize the potential of
e-commerce initiatives,” said Trees.
Noah Doyle, vice president of international development
at MyPoints.com, pointed out that Experian already services
corporate clients in the database services arena.
“Experian and MyPoints.com will seek to build on these
well-established relationships as we implement the
MyPoints program in Europe,” said Doyle.
A provider of Internet direct marketing services, MyPoints.com
combines targeted email with Web-based offers and incentive
points to encourage users to respond both online and offline.
MyPoints.com has devised custom loyalty programs for Internet
companies such as About.com, GTE, Prodigy, and StarMedia Network.
