Many business are making money by selling customer data. A Controversial Revenue Source. Is this a good idea?
Selling information about customers to data brokers is turning into a big business. Is this Controversial Revenue Source a good idea? Companies that capture data about who buys what at their stores can package this information and sell it, creating a new revenue stream that is almost pure profit. ProPublica recently conducted an investigation to determine the extent to which information about customers is sold without the customer’s explicit consent. The results were shocking. According to its research, millions of consumer transactions, representing well over $1 trillion, are being sold to undisclosed companies and without the awareness of consumers.
Is this a good idea? Maybe. If your business is looking for additional revenue streams, this could be an excellent way to make money. Customers are unaware that you are selling their information, it doesn’t have an impact on the buying process, the cost to package and transmit the data to brokers is small, and the profit margins are high.
About Mike Periu
Mike is a seasoned executive with experience in small business finance and management. He is the founder of Proximo, LLC a leading provider of corporate, consumer and small business education and training services with an emphasis on finance and technology.
Mike Periu is also a leading national voice for individual empowerment through financial education and entrepreneurship. He has been interviewed over 500 times in national and international media, including NBC, Univision, CNN en español, Telemundo, HITN, TVE, RTE, SBS, MegaTV and others.
Mike writes regularly for American Express OpenForum, Yahoo! Finanzas and is a Huffington Post contributor.
Mike has degrees in Finance and International Business from Georgetown University. He is on the Board of Directors of the Council for Economic Education and was a Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation’s Labs for Enterprise Creation.
