Friend Or Foe: When P&G (And Other Partners) Push Direct Selling
Written by Evan SchumanMarch 10th, 2010
The growing movement of major league consumer goods manufacturers selling directly from their Web sites is hardly unexpected. But the lack of a defensive reaction from retail IT is. For more than a decade, a mountain of extranet projects has allowed data to flow freely from manufacturer to retailer, with real-time data about pricing, inventory and millions of marketing insights. Is it time to radically reevaluate what is being shared?
The direct-sell CG announcements are all couched in politically sensitive phrasing, with promises that it's just a short-term test to better understand mutual customers and that some of the data will be shared with retailers. Some even argue that these direct-to-consumer moves will help retailers make more money by allowing the manufacturer to better target its products. (That argument is not necessarily impressive, but making it with a straight face is.)
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Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk.com? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
I have strong reservations about the 'individual' certification and posting of that information for merchants. Can you imagine the potential employee poaching that might occur? The implications when competitors can look up how many are certified with each of their competitors? 
-Christine
