When It's Over

No, not the song from the 90s by Sugar Ray (click here) or the song from the 80s by Loverboy (click here).

An era ended in 2017 ... when it's over, something new begins. As we head to 2018, e-commerce and cataloging are going in four different directions.

1. Find a Partner (think Kohl's taking returns from Amazon).
2. Find a Buyer (think Wal-Mart buying companies like ModCloth or the QVC empire or Catalog Holding Companies).
3. Do it Yourself (with low-cost / no-cost customer acquisition programs and new merchandise brilliance ... think Duluth Trading Company).
4. Do it Yourself (tied to Google / Facebook and for catalogers the catalog co-ops ... and too often, this is the outcome - click here).

Yes, we get to pick the path we want to take. I've promoted (3), through there's nothing wrong with (1) (2) (3). But make no mistake, in 2017 folks began choosing their dance partners ... choosing too late in 2018 defaults you to (4), and you don't want to be there, now do you?

My most popular project in July - September has been my Seller / Private Equity Evaluation (click here). It's obvious what is happening as we head into 2018. If you want to know if you should pursue (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) above, send me and email (kevinh@minethatdata.com) and we'll get started figuring out what your customer file is capable of supporting, ok?