Bill Emerson

BrainTrust Query: Facebook IPO Puts Relationships at the Center of Business

February 9, 2012

FROM RETAILWIRE:
With its user base reportedly reaching 845 million users globally, Facebook measurements are largely all bigger than life. Amidst the eye-popping numbers included in Faceook's S1 filing, founder Mark Zuckerberg's business perspective was especially interesting. How might Facebook's "bottom up or peer to peer" organizational structure affect retail businesses?      [more...]

Facebook offers large retailers the opportunity to do something that most stopped doing decades ago; namely, establish direct communications between actual customers and senior managers. They can actually listen, understand what their customers are looking for, like, don't like, etc. Further, they have the opportunity to turn a bad situation, like a complaint, into a positive with a thoughtful response and/or action. Finally, they can get in front of what is a major trend in the upcoming Y generation, who are already beginning to replace the boomers as the primary determinant of success.