It’s YOUR Data

by Abe Sherman – CEO, BIG – Buyers Intelligence Group

September 21, 2021

We had a fantastic week in Las Vegas, working with vendors at JCK, Luxury and Couture. While the traffic was lighter than usual, the retailers who attended were there to buy, and most everyone went home happy, invigorated, and chock full of orders.

This year, our focus was working with vendors, and while we didn’t have a booth, we were busier than ever! We had day after day of productive meetings, gorgeous product, and strong networking. We were happy as a clam – until we weren’t.

During a meeting with one of our longtime vendors, a sales rep mentioned that she was having trouble getting permission from a particular retailer. When she pressed the buyer further, she was told that they did not want to share their data because it had once been shared with another vendor without their permission.

Insert shock. Insert distress. Insert concern.

The sales rep assured the buyer that we would never, ever share data without authorization and that the buyer must be mistaken. She knows how seriously we take the issue of privacy for both vendors and retailers. I thanked her for her support and resolved to get to the bottom of this, and a few hours later, I got the chance. I ran into the buyer on the show floor and shared my disappointment and discomfort that this would ever been a consideration, let alone an actual incident. As we began talking, the rest of our team came walking by, and I relayed her concern. Laptops flew open, fingers began searching and within two minutes, the email thread and permission form was displayed on the screen.

Insert relief. Insert gratitude. Insert confidence.

The store management had simply forgotten they had given permission to this vendor a few years back. Upon seeing the authorization email, the buyer realized immediately there was a miscommunication, and she apologized about a dozen times. Her boss called me to apologize as well, and in a textbook demonstration of how business conflicts should be resolved, the buyer went back to that original sales rep and confirmed they had indeed been mistaken – just as the rep had suspected. Then she called me again the next day, having had lost sleep over the issue the night before. I explained that I wasn’t upset with her but more concerned that a mistake was made on our part, and I was glad to get to the bottom of it and part ways feeling better on both ends.

If you ever hear a person in the industry express concern over the privacy and/or security of the data we manage, let me know. I want the opportunity to get to the bottom of the issue, just as we did in the situation above. If it’s an error, I want to clear it up immediately. If it’s a problem, I want to fix it immediately. It’s not our data to give away, so we don’t. Ever.

This story had the happy ending we all like to hear, but it serves as a good reminder – this data doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to YOU. We don’t share retailer’s data with vendors unless we have explicit permission to do so. It’s YOUR data. If you want to share it you can, and if you don’t – well, that’s okay too. No one, not us or anyone else can tell you what you should or should not do with YOUR data.