Analysis

Product Details

by dldamore

When the customer clicks on “Product Details” there should be real details. In-depth and useful.

How will the customer use this?

If I was that customer doing that what would I want to know?

Real Example

Rain barrels to collect water from a gutter and down spout system. There is a spicket for a hose near the bottom and a second one for filling a watering can. Might a customer wonder if their watering will fit under the higher one? Give them details on how high each of the spickets are.

Details matter. Don’t just go through the motions. If the product doesn’t work it will get returned. Not every customer will do this, but why inconvenience the customer or give them negative feelings towards your company and the products you sell?

More details will also create less need for the customer to contact you. This will reduce customer service costs and enable your firm to be more competitive.

How I came to follow Drew McKinney on Twitter

by dldamore

The Western Michigan University Magazine – Winter 2012, p. 18

Mention of SpeechHero

Visit to …

App Store – SpeechHero AAC

Search for …

Bloomingsoft, LLC website

to …

Favorite of a Tweet → https://twitter.com/drewux/status/274603612641050625

Result: A follow on Twitter

  

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Impression Leads to Action – Twitter to Audible

by dldamore

The repetition of an idea, product or service. Getting to sold.

The Twitter account of Joe Navarro is one that I’ve been following for a while. The tweet below is the point of contact that spurred action by me to visit Audible to look for his book. I’ve had many impressions about it and this was the one that made consumer action happen.

 

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Listening to the sample on Audible, click image above to visit the page, persuaded me to add this audio book to my library.

A free sample of the real thing might be exactly what people need. Getting people to the place where they need to be to sample is usually the main issue. In the case of digital goods and services, it’s perhaps easier because the place is right where the user is. No need for them to get to a particular location.  

Audio book purchased and downloaded to my computer. Look forward to listening to the whole book. 

Expanding Manufacturing Capacity – Subject: Apple

by dldamore

If Apple is increasing manufacturing capacity at or near 100% per year, when does capacity begin to out-pace market demand for the device output of that capacity?

This question came to mind while reading a post on the Asymco blog, How did I get the iPhone number so wrong (part II).

Surely there is some maximum number of units that this capacity can fill. How do you find the point where capacity growth needs to slow so that the plant remains highly efficient? IE, capacity does not out pace market demand by a significant margin.

Consider the iPhone, even if every person on Earth had one, max market capacity would be equal to all of human life on Earth. Perhaps it would be worth while to find markets of people to exclude to find a max market demand for the product. From there, one might need to factor out people who are unable to afford the iPhone under current prices and with current purchasing plans. Certainly these market segments could be served by finding or creating a pricing and payment system that allows more people to afford and acquire an iPhone. This payment and affordability innovation may not occur, or Apple may choose not to play there because it hurts average earnings per unit to the point where total profits increase at a slower rate or actually decrease. There is a cost to serving all market segments.

NOTES & MORE (+ questions)

Upgrade cycle: Is it every 2 years? Is a new device coming every 15-18 months now?

Do people wait when there are rumors of a new device?

Market demand may fluctuate on a quarterly basis. An iPad makes a nice Christmas gift and perhaps schools will buy a large volume in July and August to gear up for a new school year. For a device like the iPad there is probably a significant drop off in demand after the holiday season.

Smart phones are becoming the new standard for mobile phones. Not everyone will use this ‘computer in your had’ to its fullest, some may not use it for much more than calls. There will most likely be a large segment that will use apps to do more things and solve new problems by having a smartphone.

 

Four Firms to Watch in Consumer Technology

by dldamore

The four consumer technology and Internet firms to watch over the next five years and possibly beyond are, in no particular order.

  • Apple
  • Amazon
  • Facebook
  • Google

These firms are starting to have overlapping products and services.

  • Books
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Social Services
  • Content Consumption … (New types may be created in the not to distant future)
  • Communications (Phone, IM, Email …)
  • Images / Photography
  • Community (similar to Social Services) [sort of like Meetup.com]
  • Cloud storage – Apple – iCloud, Google – Gdrive (?), Amazon – Cloud Drive

 

Notes:

These firms have been competing in similar spaces for a while now. Apple has been selling music in the iTunes Music Store since April 2003 and Amazon has been selling MP3’s since September 2007. Google recently introduce Music Beta by Google.

Will Facebook get into streaming movies? They recently added Spotify integration to make their music offering more robust.

Amazon has a streaming movie service, Amazon Instant Video, and Google has YouTube. What will happen to Hulu? Will one of these four players make a move to buy it or create a strategic partnership?

Tokyo Has Expensive Rent

by dldamore

In Tokyo, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom “expat apartment” as defined by ECA – roughly 80 square meters, a palatial for most regular Tokyoites — came to $4,352 in 2010, according to the report. The figure for Moscow was $3,500, followed by Hong Kong’s $2,830, London’s $2,824 and Singapore’s $2,810.

via Yen Keeps Tokyo Rents Highest in World for Expats – Japan Real Time – WSJ.

According to Google, 80 square meters is about 861 square feet.

The price per square foot per month is $5.05. On a yearly basis the cost per square foot is $60.66

What is 2011?

by dldamore

2011

“The Year of Solving Other Peoples Problems”

Tagline: “What’s Your Problem?”

*This came about after thinking about how camera apps could create a viable business model. This coming year should be about solving problems other people have. People may call it service. Most of the time it is a service, there are a few times where it is an idea that is implemented and that scales and creates massive value for the user. The creator gets a healthy reward for creating so much value for the customer.

Example: Supplier creates a product that crates $1M in sales for their customer with a net profit of $250,000 (25% net margin). Regular net margin is 10%. This product is creating $150,000 in extra net profit. Perhaps a third of that will go back to the creator of the solution that created a million dollars of business and created the opportunity to grow net profits $250,000. If the supplier takes a third of the excess, that would be $250,000 NPM – $100,000  SPM (Standard Profit Margin) = $150,000/3 = $50,000. There is an incentive to create excessive value and profit for their customer. Think of the 1/3rd as being a performance bonus.

*Still to be figured out.

Q: What if the buyer is OK with a 10% SPM and uses the savings to drive market share and be more competitive versus their competitors?

A: These things will have to be negotiated and put in writing.

Job Postings Surge as Economy Warms – WSJ.com

by dldamore

It said the number of U.S. job postings on the Internet rose to 4.7 million on Dec. 1, up from 2.7 million a year earlier. The company daily collects listings from corporate and job-posting websites, removing duplicates.

via Job Postings Surge as Economy Warms – WSJ.com.

Job postings on Indeed were up 74.07% from December 2009 to December 2010.

Lots of interesting data in the story. Add it to your suggested reading.

Calculations:

4.7 million – 2.7 million = +2 million

2 million / 2.7 million = 74.07%