In a major move, two database industry competitors are now teaming up, DMNews has learned. InfoGroup has acquired Experian’s National Business database and announced the deal to clients on July 7. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the partnership will involve Experian reselling InfoGroup’s data.
“Instead of providing the Experian National Business Database to our clients, we will be providing the InfoGroup business marketing product to our customers and prospects,” said Rick Erwin, SVP and GM of Experian Marketing Services. Erwin described the deal as “a way for both our companies to strengthen our offering and position in the market” and noted the company would; cease compiling the [National Business] database internally.
Ed Mallin, president of InfoGroup Services Group, called
it a strategic partnership. “They want to outsource that function,” Mallin
said.
Erwin said Experian picked InfoGroup “because we believe
through extensive analysis that they are far and away the data quality leader in
the business marketing data space.”
Erwin explained it this way: “All of the major
marketing services providers have some businesses that compete with one another.
The interesting thing with InfoGroup and Experian is that there are many more
complementary partnership opportunities between the two than competitive ones.
The partnership now is on business marketing information, and I see many
opportunities for that relationship to grow in the future.”
Among those
opportunities is exposure to each unique business client
base.
relationships, we see nothing but opportunities together,” Erwin
said.
