Does it make Sense?!IFA and ShopSense data sharing

partnershipBy:

Keyon BonnerGeorge Helock

Joseph Richardson

Topics that will be highlighted :

• Business factors• Financial gain/loss• Ethical factors• Advice to Shopsense• Conclusion

Business Factors

• Remain loyal to core competencies “first”

• Remain customer focused

• We must ask the question, “will the IFA data sharing partnering go against ShopSense’s core competencies”

• Also, Shopsense should ask the question, “does this activity bolster our core competencies”

Business factors con’t

• Will the use of this information be used to draw erroneous conclusions and exact unfair rate increases, and what if any damage would this have on the relationship between Shopsense and our customer base

Financial gain/loss

• Positive revenue gain: Deal will allow for more revenue that may be translated and returned back to the customer base in the form of lower cost

• Negative side effects: If people feel their insurance is going up because of what they put into their shopping carts, this sort on negative feeling could hurt Shopsense’s bottom line in the long-run

Financial gain/loss con’t

• “Information is worth its weight in gold.” Without Information on customer buying behavior, Shopsense may loss competitive advantage, hurting bottom line in long-run

• Could loss revenue stream from core competencies. “Customer may feel that the store is selling them the products that they are being rated on to receive insurance rates”

Ethical factors

• Customer trust could vanish instantaneously

• How much transparency should Shopsense give customer base should the deal proceed

• How much data will be shared

• Backlash if public views the transaction of data sharing in a negative fashion

Ethical factors con’t

• Does Shopsense have a moral obligation to its customers to protect customer information

Advice to Shopsense

Shopsense should reconsider data sharing with IFA because of many factors just outlined. The most important of these factors would be the damage that would be done to the reputation of Shopsense if a negative element of this transaction were to be associated with the sell of the data information. More time should be spent to find a more suitable environment for these actions. Shopsense should also take time to find out whether their bottom line will suffer or be enhanced by the decision, and serious consideration should be taken into effect if whether Shopsense would be enhanced for the future growth of the company. On an ethical standpoint the company should consider whether it will be doing a disservice to its customers by selling their information to IFA.

Conclusion

It is of the thought of those who partook in this study that Shopsense not enter into data sharing with IFA because the negatives outweigh the positives, such that Shopsense may see negative returns in the form of fewer customers, that would weaken its core competency and decrease its competitive advantage in its share of the market.