Category archive: Sales

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Lego redefining value in our online world

In Lego Factory, now not broken, Chris Anderson talks about Lego creating value in the digital age. You just need to think sideways sometimes to crack the thorny issue of how a company survives in today’s world.

Lego Factory is the company’s service that allows you to design your own models and have the parts sent to you in a cool Lego kit-style box (and share your designs with others in a Lego marketplace). It’s a great idea, but it’s been hampered in the past by gnarly fulfillment issues that inflated the cost of the kits by including too many pieces you don’t need.

Read the whole thing.

Cross-posted at Communities Dominate Brands

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Dress Barn and the hard sell

Who likes a hard sell? No, really, who likes a hard sell? Robyn, a relatively affluent person (and all around readable writer), blogs about her experience with the hard sell she got from the Dress Barn employee who was only supposed to be activating her charge card. The language is not for the timid, but Robyn does get her point across - and it’s a point that many companies desperately need to understand. 

"Dress Barn and the hard sell" continued...

Friday, April 28, 2006

Studios' order for a clue makes some progress

Has Hollywood discovered the long tail by accident? If they are indeed improving box office takings by selling less of more, like Amazon and Netflix do - that is, fewer tickets per film, but lots more films showing - then perhaps this is what will finally kill the unsustainable, economically bankrupt, overblown budget model. We can only hope.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Social media as advertising replacement/supplement

The Center for Media Research has some interesting figures on ad spend on blogs, podcasts, and RSS. Audience fragmentation and demographic fervor are two big drivers for advertisers who are exploring these new areas.

What the research doesn’t address is how many companies are looking beyond the traditional ad placement model and at using social media as a way to reach key audiences without actually advertising. Providing valuable information and services to potential customers and existing customers can be much more effective than merely flashing an ad in front of their faces. (An exception to this, of course, is search engine marketing, where searchers are actively self-identifying themselves as looking for your products and services. The search engine results they receive constitute that valuable information.)

To that end, I see that British tabloid The Sun is now offering RSS feeds of their site content. Are you going to wait for even the white van man to turn into a subscription fiend - podcasts on his iPod, RSS feeds in his Bloglines account - before you start looking into these engaging forms of marketing? (Hint: Many of the white van men already are using social media.)

Thursday, March 30, 2006

The simplicity of free wifi for customers

My friend Michael Jennings is currently on holiday in China. From a café in Shanghai, he blogs:

It is pleasant, but for me there is one more possibly more important thing, which is there is WiFi. And the attitude to the WiFi is right. The internet access if free, and I was smiled at when I sat down, ordered a pot of tea, and got out my laptop. A couple of minutes later, a waiter came over to me and pointed out the electrical outlet on the wall, next to the table.

...The free WiFi and the electrical outlet that I was encouraged to use. I left my power adaptor in my hotel, as I was not expecting to find anything this good. The reason why I was not expecting this is that I find it so seldom in London. WiFi in cafes and coffee chains in London is far too often of the “This will cost £7 per hour” variety. A cafe can set up WiFi on this basis if it wants to, but I am simply not going to pay that. However, if you provide me with free WiFi (which will cost you hardly anything) I will buy more coffee and food, possibly more than £7 worth. And then a cafe might provide WiFi, but will not provide an electrical outlet, or (even worse) if it has one conveniently placed they will tell you that you are “stealing electricicy” if you try to use it, or they will put a cap over it to prevent you using it. This isn’t greed, but just stupidity. There is a lack of appreciation as to what customers want and value, and a lack of appreciation of the cost of providing it. (My laptop will run for about four days on 10 pence worth of electricity). And a lack of appreciation about how providing it will create warm and fuzzy feelings about your business.

And if a chain of teahouses in Shanghai can understand this, why can’t a chain of coffee houses in London? Just one. If you figure out what your customers want and give it to them, then you will get repeat business. It is that simple. If I lived in Shanghai (and who knows, someday I might) I would have lunch here all the time. And I will recommend it to my friends. As in fact I just have. Thousands of them.