The Facebook Fiasco

Unless you have had your head in the sand for the last week you’re aware of the Facebook IPO fiasco. The questions of who knew what and when did they know it have been a prime subject on all the talk shows. Who was at fault for the fiasco has also been a major topic. Was is Morgan Stanley, the technical glitches at the NASDAQ or Zuckerberg’s business inexperience? I have no idea but I do know that Facebook has a billion members and is a tour de force in collecting data on those members. Zuckerberg may be inexperienced in running a company valued at better 50 and 90 billion dollars depending on the stock price on any given day but he is a genius in collecting data. If he can figure out to effectively monetize that data this fiasco will be forgotten.

In a way this is the same problem many of my clients are facing on a much smaller scale. They have been collecting customer purchase history and trying to figure ways to use that data effectively. The days of simply offering customers a reward when they reach certain dollar thresholds is over. That data has to be used to create another visit, move them into new areas in your store and know when you’re at risk of losing a customer. Thee gold of a POS system is inventory and customer history but its only gold when you figure out to monetize it.