1. Why Being Part of a Data Co-op
Can Signifcantly Enhance Your
Ecommerce Business Strategy

2. What is Second-Party Data?
The Story:
Bobby Brooklyn owns an ecommerce site brooklynswagdaddy.com that sells apparel
and kitschy items that all are branded with the phrase “Brooklyn in da Housssse!” He
has been doing okay with his online business for a couple of years, but would love to have
more data to understand what is really working and not working in his business. Bobby
doesn’t have the budget for purchasing third-party data, plus it’s not always “good data”,
meaning the data he gets sometimes is out of date or not hitting the target demographic
he is looking for. He decides to see if his cousin, Cathy Queens, who owns the
ecommerce site cathyqueensstyle.com, which sells apparel, shoes and jewelry with the
tag line “From Queens, Baby!” for primarily hip teen to 20-something women, would be
interested in sharing her consumer data with him and vice versa.
The Jargon:
Second party-data is data that is attained from either being in a data
cooperative (like Hivewyre) or making an agreement with another business
(ecommerce site), which is in a same or closely related segment as your
business. Unlike third-party data, which is much more expensive and not
always reliable, second-party data is simply another company’s first-party data,
which is being shared with you in a secure neutral platform that is not
capturing personally identifiable information (PII).

3. The Story:
Because the amount of traffic on Bobby’s and Cathy’s site is pretty similar, they now have
double the data they once had; and because of this increased data, they are making
better overall business decisions in regard to their respective sites. Bobby sees how good
this sharing data with his cousin Cathy is going, that he decides to reach out to a few
more friends in the ecommerce world: Manny Manhattan, Brenda Bronx and
Steve Staten-Island. All of them own ecommerce businesses that sell some sort of
apparel, jewelry or knick-knack items targeted to people who are looking for products
with a New York City Burroughs slant.
The Jargon:
Most of us can’t compete with the data collection scope and magnitude
capabilities of an Amazon, Walmart or other enterprise ecommerce sites out
there. But by joining a data cooperative with other small and medium-sized
ecommerce sites, you are pooling your data of consumers who are all looking
for products that you sell in your segment. Second-party data is allowing you
to level the playing field against these behemoths in the enterprise ecommerce
sphere.
What is Second-Party Data?
Access to Thousands and Even Millions of New Consumers?

4. What is Second-Party Data?
Why Would You Share Your Data with Your Competitors?
The Story:
Steve jumps right on board with this second-party data sharing with Bobby and Cathy,
but Manny and Brenda don’t want to give over their first-party consumer data, which they
have worked so hard to attain over the years, to anyone – not even good friends.
Bobby asks them both, “You guys go to the mall, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You do realize that Macy’s, Nordstrom’s and Bloomingdales are in the same
mall?”
“We do.”
“And it’s safe to say that any conscientious consumer would go to Macy’s to check out a
dress, for example, and then head over to one or both of the other two department stores
(not to mention a few smaller clothing shops along the way) before deciding on what
dress to purchase?”
“Absolutely.”
“And although Macy’s doesn’t want to lose business to any of these other stores in the
mall, you do agree, Macy’s understands it will definitely not get every shopper in its store
to make a purchase?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Okay, then what’s the difference between shopping in the mall with large amounts of
foot-traffic (i.e., data) going in and out of stores all day long and us sharing each other’s
consumer data?”
Silence.

5. What is Second-Party Data?
Why Would You Share Your Data with Your Competitors?
The Story:
Bobby concluded, “Look, we all have good sites, competitive prices and NYC focused
themed products, but people, in the end, are going to buy what they are going to buy…If
we all have more shoppers coming through our ecommerce doors then we will all have a
better chance in making a sale.”
The Jargon:
The average ecommerce site has a 2-3% conversion rate (source: Internet Retailer),
meaning that 97-98% of your visitors don’t buy anything from you. So, in order
to increase your sales you need to get more people to your site.

6. What is Second-Party Data?
A Data Co-op is Not THE Solution, It’s a Piece of the Solution
The Story:
After hearing Bobby’s reasoning, Brenda asks, “’B’, this does sound good in theory, but
how is sharing this second-party data going to help my click through rates on my
display ads?”
“It’s not.”
“What?!”
“The point of being part of a data co-op is to reach more people than you would ever have
reached using your own first-party data.”
“So are you saying to get rid of my retargeting display advertising campaign?”
“Not at all. What I’m saying is that getting new consumers via a data co-op to your site for
the first time will actually help your retargeting campaign?”
“How?”
“Retargeting is exactly what it says it is. It retargets (by showing display ads) to visitors
who have already been to your site. Retargeting is way to keep a product in your mind’s
eye, so when you’re ready to pull the trigger on a purchase, you may end up going to the
site that has been showing you ads for the last week or so. With second-party data, you
are getting the opportunity to find marketing strategies to reach a new audience, who
you know have an interest in your type of product because they are coming from a site
within your segment.”
“And how again does this help my retargeting?”
“If a consumer who you found from second-party data ends up going to your site due to
your marketing efforts, then that consumer will now be retargeted.”
“Ahh, got it.”

7. The Jargon:
Second-party data and working in a data co-op to create campaigns to reach
this second-party data will never be the only type of marketing you should do
for your business. What a data co-op provides more than anything else is
being at the top-of-funnel in the marketing and sales funnel. Remember,
without new customers it’s nearly impossible to grow your ecommerce
business. A data cooperative allows you to find qualified consumers who are
looking to make a purchase in your segment soon.
What is Second-Party Data?
A Data Co-op is Not THE Solution, It’s a Piece of the Solution
Hivewyre
1365 N. Scottsdale Road Suite 150 Scottsdale, AZ 85257
hivewyre.com
480.339.4700 | marketing@hivewyre.com