The advent of upstream direct marketing and the question of customer loyalty

The development of the Minitel system, which utilizes a small computer terminal supplied free of charge to French telephone users, is today putting France close to the dream of a two-way communication society. Professor Tixier of the Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC), a major business school in Paris, analyzed the consequences for direct marketing in two recent conferences in Europe and developed the concept of upstream direct marketing which potentially emerges from such a system. This means that consumers will easily use professional databases to look for suppliers, just as direct marketers have traditionally used them to search for customers. At the same time, the emergence of a postindustrial society with mature consumers raises the question of consumer acceptance of some of the most efficient direct marketing techniques, and of the meaning of customer loyalty in the future. This article is adapted from an address given by Professor Tixier in June 1986 in Deauville, at the Direct Marketing Association International Strategic Forum on Direct Marketing.