Shea Beck

Upon my return from vacation to the great country of Spain, I did what any interactive geek would do—check Twitter. It just so happens that an unfamiliar handle was at the top of my updates, @DigitalRoyalty. Curious, I click into this profile and check out the bio to see who it is (no comment on her site). After poking around I recognize that this person was on my contacts as the former @PhoenixSunsGirl. So why is she on my contact list in the first place? Oh yeah, because I like the PHOENIX SUNS, I don’t even know who this person is.

Why has the Twitter username changed? Ms. Digital Royalty has realized one of two things: that the Suns have made her a internet celeb and she can use that to make more money as a consultant or Social Media isn’t panning out for the Suns and they had to let her go. This lady that goes by @DigitalRoyalty has essentially robbed the Phoenix Suns of nearly 99,000 contacts, which should be considered proprietary assets to the Phoenix Suns just by clicking on her Twitter settings and changing her username. As many of you reading this know, a house list is the bread and butter of many companies these days, and in fact makes or breaks many business deals.

So just about how much have the Suns lost by letting this girl steal their list? Twitter isn’t the same as email but lets just look at email as an example. If an email contact is worth $5 per year (contact value varies by company), they have lost an annual figure of $495,000. I am guessing that the Suns list is worth much more than $5 per email considering the median ticket is well over $100 and a season ticket package could turn into tens of thousands of dollars meaning the Suns may have lost well over $1,000,000.

What should the Suns do next? I would say, ask @DigitalRoyalty to give up the handle and change it back to a Suns-owned handle. If not, it may be worth the money spent on a lawyer. Digital Royalty took the throne fraudulently. Now it is time for the Suns to take her pretty princess crown away.

What do you think the Suns should do? Leave a comment or Twitter: @sheabeck

Since blogs are opinions, here’s one from my little brain. I feel strongly that Circuit City, Best Buy, and any other big box retailers could be dramatically improved by stopping the evil direct selling.

About the time the likes of Sony, Pioneer, Sharp and so on began selling direct on their sites and began leasing space to build their own stores to compete with the very same people who are trying to make a profit for these manufacturers is the same time these big box retailers had to scramble to find new revenue streams. Well, those revenue streams aren’t as healthy or guaranteed as selling the good stuff. If these suppliers (Sony, Sharp, Pioneer…) would only sell to big box retailers, as suppliers which is what they are, then retailers wouldn’t have to scramble to sell “shit” which obviously isn’t working. I know there isn’t as big of profit margin for suppliers (get over it). This in turn would force the consumers to do all of their shopping with these retailers which clearly means more $$$ for the big box and less clutter for the shopper who is shopppity shop shopping.

Let me give you an example of an industry this works perfectly in, take the irrigation industry. Even in a drought, irrigation distributors in the green industry are doing okay. This is due in large to the fact that the suppliers are not competing with the people trying to make them a profit (makes sense right?). The big 3 here are Toro, Hunter, and Rain Bird.

NOW LISTEN UP SONY and BEST BUY, if one of these manufacturers tried to sell direct, then the distributors (the ones trying to turn a profit for the big 3) would stop slinging the manufacturers merchandise, or at the very least stop promoting it and only sell it when it’s asked for. This has allowed for the distributors to focus on actual store competition and not worry about being undermined by the damn manufacturer. Take note, one of the big3 once fondled (may be still fondling) with the notion of selling direct…when distributors hear about something like this, they immediately embrace the other two manufacturers more. It’s like being in a relationship. If the retailer cheats on you buy selling direct, the distributor is going to take their relationship elsewhere.

So I ask you manufacturer’s, start caring about your relationships and cut the boys some slack by cutting back on your direct selling. And to you Mr. Big box retailer, grow a pair and lay down some law, you are dying anyways what do you have to lose?