When I was working at the Cabela’s Corporation as a senior financial analyst I had the keys to the room which held the company’s Crown Jewels. I had access to their customer and sales database. I enjoyed running queries to see how our customers for coolers were interspersed throughout the world. Or what week of the year did sales of sunglasses pickup? It helped me to run complex future profitability models.
But this was highly prized intelligence which was closely guarded and not shared with any of our suppliers. If you sold food dehydrators through Cabela’s you didn’t hear anything from Cabela’s as to who was purchasing your units. All you knew was that Cabela’s would place a purchase order to you every 8 weeks.
And this is how it is with all big-box retailers. Everyone closely guards their sales and customer data. Letting this kind of information loose would give competitors an advantage in determining where to build their next store.
This is why wholesalers created the time-honored tradition of registering your product. I recently bought a water heater from The Home Depot. Included with my purchase was a warranty card and a web address where I could go to register my purchase with the manufacturer. Why? Because The Home Depot doesn’t share their customer relationship with the manufacturer. There is no other way for the manufacturer to get a hold of this data unless they develop their own process.
This is not controversial in the business world. It’s a logical extension of the wholesaler paradigm. That’s why you get a warranty card with most items you purchase at Walmart or Target. Everything from smoothie makers to entertainment centers always include that little registration card.
So forgive me for rolling my eyes when the makers of the app Hey said that their attack on Apple wasn’t motivated by money. It was about “the customer experience”. Please. Do these guys really not understand the business world to this extent?
When you provide your product to sell in someone else’s marketplace you become a wholesaler. In what world do wholesalers get access to customer point-of-sale data? None that I’m aware of. It’s ridiculous arguments like this which cause Apple to roll their eyes and ignore this company.
And don’t forget, people choose wholesaling because what you’re really after are the customers that their marketplace brings. You can only access Costco’s customer base by getting admitted into their retail space. Sure, you could setup your own website or little store but who would visit it? Out of sight is out of mind.
And the fact that Apple allows some apps in with no commission is perfectly acceptable. Those apps are still “paying” Apple only they do it in different ways. Their availability elevates the AppStore and iPhone by extension. It’s kind of like product placement where a company pays to have their product featured in a movie. For the developers of Hey to cry foul that Netflix doesn’t pay a commission is like me complaining that Tom Brady gets a free Mustang from Ford but I have to pay full price.
If Hey want’s equality with Netflix they can have it. They just need to become the largest e-mail service in the world in terms of market share and over 100 million subscribers. Both of which are true about Netflix. At that point, Apple will let them in to their App Store without commission too. What’s the problem?
All retailers need to be paid for access to their marketplace. And for 99.9% of their suppliers that will be in the form of dollars. A very few will pay with prestige. But regardless of how you pay, not Apple or anyone is going to say that you deserve the keys to their highly classified data. It’s been understood for decades that whoever owns the final point-of-sale owns that data.
And this is how it is with all big-box retailers. Everyone closely guards their sales and customer data. Letting this kind of information loose would give competitors an advantage in determining where to build their next store.
This is why wholesalers created the time-honored tradition of registering your product. I recently bought a water heater from The Home Depot. Included with my purchase was a warranty card and a web address where I could go to register my purchase with the manufacturer. Why? Because The Home Depot doesn’t share their customer relationship with the manufacturer. There is no other way for the manufacturer to get a hold of this data unless they develop their own process.
This is not controversial in the business world. It’s a logical extension of the wholesaler paradigm. That’s why you get a warranty card with most items you purchase at Walmart or Target. Everything from smoothie makers to entertainment centers always include that little registration card.
So forgive me for rolling my eyes when the makers of the app Hey said that their attack on Apple wasn’t motivated by money. It was about “the customer experience”. Please. Do these guys really not understand the business world to this extent?
When you provide your product to sell in someone else’s marketplace you become a wholesaler. In what world do wholesalers get access to customer point-of-sale data? None that I’m aware of. It’s ridiculous arguments like this which cause Apple to roll their eyes and ignore this company.
And don’t forget, people choose wholesaling because what you’re really after are the customers that their marketplace brings. You can only access Costco’s customer base by getting admitted into their retail space. Sure, you could setup your own website or little store but who would visit it? Out of sight is out of mind.
And the fact that Apple allows some apps in with no commission is perfectly acceptable. Those apps are still “paying” Apple only they do it in different ways. Their availability elevates the AppStore and iPhone by extension. It’s kind of like product placement where a company pays to have their product featured in a movie. For the developers of Hey to cry foul that Netflix doesn’t pay a commission is like me complaining that Tom Brady gets a free Mustang from Ford but I have to pay full price.
If Hey want’s equality with Netflix they can have it. They just need to become the largest e-mail service in the world in terms of market share and over 100 million subscribers. Both of which are true about Netflix. At that point, Apple will let them in to their App Store without commission too. What’s the problem?
All retailers need to be paid for access to their marketplace. And for 99.9% of their suppliers that will be in the form of dollars. A very few will pay with prestige. But regardless of how you pay, not Apple or anyone is going to say that you deserve the keys to their highly classified data. It’s been understood for decades that whoever owns the final point-of-sale owns that data.
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