Sweden-based data specialist, PAR, has added Swiss companies to its major business-to-business (B2B) database, EuroContactPool.  

Under an agreement with Switzerland’s KünzlerBachmann Directmarketing AG, 450,000 Swiss company records and more than 2.5 million new items of data have been added. KünzlerBachmann will also sell PAR’s pan-European data offering to its Swiss-based international clients.

PAR’s international product director, Per Löfgren, said the company took the decision to partner with KünzlerBachmann after meeting with several Swiss data suppliers: "We are very impressed with KünzlerBachmann’s focus on data quality, which is what our customers are looking for. The addition of high quality Swiss company data significantly enhances our pan-European services and we believe Swiss companies will be very interested in what EuroContactPool has to offer."

PAR has developed the product beyond data listings into an interactive service that links into customer relationship management systems. A plug-in to salesforce.com is widely anticipated for the autumn.  

Both PAR and KünzlerBachmann have long experience in the use of data for direct marketing: 50 and 40 years respectively. Both companies have developed analytical services to meet the needs of today’s marketer. KünzlerBachmann holds Switzerland’s widest business database and is reported to be the only Swiss direct marketing company to be ISO and Good Privacy certified. Recognising the need for a one-stop-shop for European data that addressed the different data regulations across 14 countries, PAR launched EuroContactPool in 2004 and has since grown rapidly. 

Roland Meyer, CMO at KünzlerBachmann, said: "We never talk to our customers about quantity of data, only quality. We’re delighted to be entering into an agreement with PAR, a company that has the same quality focus."