Also think about shared product databases, most packaged product is barcoded. So instead of having to load up each product and set pricing one by one, what if other retailers have already loaded the same product, with description, photos, and supplier pricing into a shared catalogue? You scan the barcode, and the product adds itself.

There is a wide wide world of new possibilities for retailers once they can get into the cloud.

Disclaimer: I am the founder of VendHQ.com, launching publicly soon.

-Matt

I believe that we want to have as much control over our private information as possible. This excludes the millions of users on social networking sites, informing the details of their personal life along with their general preferences.

The flip side is would it be truly ethical that the data mined/analyzed from your customers be available to be sold? Regardless that the data would not contain names and contact details, it would still feel like a violation of private data.

Would your customers stick it out with you with an open mind, or would you more likely alienate the customers to look for another vendor? This is happening because legislators have not get in on the act, and how customers tend to ignore the privacy disclaimers, along with the terms of service.

Even Google with their technology is able to analyze the sites you visit and they would be able to customize ads specific to each user. This would be my personal opinion, but if Google started pushing ads in front of my face, and said, “Look we know you like this stuff, now go ahead and do yourself a favor and buy it!” I would not take the intrusion too likely, and would most likely use other alternate search engines.