Every male in the U.S. who goes to a prom or is someone’s groomsman has likely been fitted for a tuxedo at the Men’s Wearhouse. Theoretically, the Men’s Wearhouse should have the most comprehensive database of men’s sizing information of any company. There have been a lot of weddings among my close friends this year, and I assumed that after the first fitting I’d be able to rent subsequent tuxes without going to the store in person. Amazingly, according to one of the attendants, they throw away all information about the customer after 6 months.
What could the Men’s Wearhouse being doing with all this information? Just think, if you had the world’s largest collection of men’s fitting information, what could you do? Custom tailored clothing is one option. What if Men’s Wearhouse, or an affiliated company delivered perfectly fitted clothing to your door from overseas tailors and asked you to keep and pay for what you liked and send back the rest. No one else could offer this service to so many different people.
Is your business throwing away information like this that you could be using to create new products or services?