Debunking An Article/Study: Response From Abacus / Chad Elmendorf

From Chad Elmendorf, Manager of Customer Communications at Abacus, in response to "Debunking An Article/Study: Catalogs Still Rule". This was left as a comment to the original post where I mistakenly assumed that Abacus tossed the DMA a few bucks to underwrite the survey --- my error in assuming what the term "underwrite" meant:

"First off, Abacus supports the DMA and their efforts to provide catalogers with industry research. That being said, I wanted to clarify Abacus' involvement with the DMA State of the Catalog Industry Report. As a sponsor of the report, Abacus promoted participation in the survey to our clients through a client newsletter to support involvement. The survey was completely conducted, and the results compiled, by the DMA. Abacus had absolutely no involvement with compiling the data from the survey or giving the DMA survey data. The DMA survey results are from survey respondents only. Abacus supplied the DMA with the executive summary from our annual Multichannel Trend Report which is printed in it's entirety as an appendix in the State of the Catalog Industry report under the title "Industry Trends According to Abacus Multi-Channel Trend Report. If you would like to receive a copy of the executive summary from our Trend Report please email me directly at chad.elmendorf@epsilon.com. The executive summary is available to anyone who requests it (current client or not) whereas the complete data findings included in the full report are for the exclusive benefit of current Abacus clients."