So things have been good. Been reading a lot of good reads lately. Few of the really good ones for your perusal & consumption below:
Chris Anderson's Book - The Long Tail
I know, I know i'm behind the curve on this one. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (2006) by Chris Anderson, the Editor-in-chief of wired magazine (the favourite read of this blog) is a stellar book and must be read by everyone who is remotely interested in economics. Yes Economics and not just the internet. Anderson in this book talks about the remarkable manner in which the internet has re-written traditional retail that focussed solely on "hits" due to the constraints of supply chain and inventory costs. The main focus is on how, due to the internet, the market is moving towards the "non hits" as people are moving from mass consumer products to more customized niche products.
I knew about the Long Tail theory pretty much when the book released but this book has given me an insight on Search Engines that I never noticed before. The sieving quality of search engines to negotiate all the clutter on the net.That, methinks, is the saviour of the long tail. Yes there is significant choice out there thanks to the internet and the availability of information. But choice is useless unless you can get to it. Search Engines sift through the internet to get you what you want. That's why a Search Engine on the web portal is crucial.
Most companies do not pay attention to the search engines on their own web portal because they think their own portal is a small universe and people will get to the content any way. But regardless, navigating any portal can sometimes be overwhelming. I personally hate it when search queries within a site don't work and give out odd results. Especially when its at odds with Google. The big takeway for me personally from this book was that marketing to the long tail because of its niche drive preference is going to be difficult and sometimes not feasible but if one has an elaborate website, investing in good search engine technology and a recommendation alogorithm will ease things up significantly.
One of my favourite lines in the book tho, is when he describes Fiona Apple as "Delightfully Unhinged". I'd like to wear a T-shirt that says that! More on the book here. Also read the Long Tail blog here
There's a blogging exchange of words going on in Harvard Business Review between Chris Anderson and Anita Elberse, a harvard prof. Elberse is arguing on if one should take the long tail seriously and invest in it. Its an extremely good read and besides its greatly stimulating to see two intellectuals argue. Register on the HBR site and you'll get access to it. Can't link to it unfortunately :(
More shameless Wired Plug Alert
Yes well, what can I say I'm like a wired groupie these days. Wired is celebrating its 15th anniverssary this year and because of that one is able to access a lot of past gems. I chanced upon a wired article on the landmark US Vs Microsoft anitrust case. Th article, all of 45 pages, was published after the judgement to break up Microsoft was delivered in 1998. The article brilliantly narrates the events leading up to the case and gives inside scoop on all the players involved especially the Department of Justice (DoJ) and Microsoft.
The article reads like a salacious saga and is completely absorbing. Besides that it gives one valuable insights on US anti trust laws. By the end of this article, one gets to know the Sherman Act better than one's right hand. You also get know the ugly side of Microsoft. I'm not sure if the article was particularly biased against Microsoft but its not flaterring in anyway. I don't really get why people in tech hate microsoft so much. It may be vehemently dominating and they may not make the best of products but hey nobody out there has an OS that matches Microsoft. I use MS products evryday and I don't think I should crib particularly when I have not seen a better product to rival it. Read the article here
This made me wonder if India has Antitrust laws? Anyone know? Also I don't particularly think its a good idea, not right now any way. We've just become a free economy, what we don't need right now is a regulatory law. Besides, the ambanis and tatas of this country would never allow it
*end shameless plug*
More bounty
The Economic times recently had a great article on Leadership. In an article called "Four fundamental laws for CEOs racing against time" the author, with good examples, illustrates the 4 guiding principles that CEOs, who are pressed for immediate results, should adopt.
Another article in ET talks about the importance of customer advocacy. The author makes the case about why one should always invest in building a loyal community of users as the latter could come to the rescue during bad times. Read the Article here
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shopping. Show all posts
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Cat got the cream
I was reading today on afaqs on the success of Meow FM, which is apparently a "womens only radio station" and the first niche radio station in the country. I have, on travels to delhi, heard Meow FM and the one thing that struck me was that it was extremely chatty. More prone to talk than to music. Ofcourse the talk centred on steoreotypical topics usually associated with women - relationships, clothes shopping etc. But what works for this radio station is pure differenciation
Differentiate or die. I feel I should create a T shirt and embrace this slogan. Its especially true in market which is overcrowded and the opportunities for differentiation is small. Thats the story of the Indian radio scenario where all stations pretty much play the same music and sound the same. Yes there are myriad types of music but if you consider the Indian milieu, if you're not playing bollywood music you might as well die. Some channels do play english music as a point of differentiation but the audience for that is still very small even in urban cities. The issue for radio stations is to cater to a mass audience and still be different. World space kind of attempted this by catering to various music like southern music, classical music and more but again the critical mass of all these channels, I feel, weren't significant. Meow's differencitation of catering only to women has apparently worked. According the article, Meow enjoys "a share of 3 per cent in Delhi; in Mumbai, the share is 2 per cent. In Kolkata, however, where it was launched recently, the share is 8 per cent".
In the name of differentiation, one might end up catering to a niche and that might be a risky proposition but as the Meow FM scenario shows, it might also work to an advantage especially with advertizers. As the channel is so niche, advertizers, for whom women are a major target audience, prefer to advertize on this channel as the effectiveness of advertizing increases. So more buck for your money because your audience is being appropriately targetted. Meow attracts advertisers who are interested in women’s products and women consumers, such as the FMCG brands, retail brands and educational institutes. "You won’t see too much property, banking and financial brands on our station," Meow's Chief operating officer, Anil Srivatsa asserts.
Meow in fact has gone one step further. The article goes on to say that because their channel is so niche, "Meow has a dedicated team called Meow Research, which conducts research on women, lifestyle choices, product preferences and the various aspects of a woman's buying pattern or behavioural pattern. This data is churned out every two weeks and will soon be made available to anybody – advertisers or media agencies – who wants to use it ". Who said advertising was the only way to make money?
Another interesting feature is that Meow has started a social networking site called merimeow.com which not only enables them to connect with their audience over web 2.0 but also, as most Social Networking sites require sign ups and profile entries, these guys get valuable profile information on their target audience. They get to know which dempgraphic listens to meow the most, what's hot, what's happening, what the buzz is and more!! Jeez these guys ARE smart! Infact on checking the site out, I was reminded of another brand that used web 2.0 very very smartly - Sunsilk's Gang Of Girls website.The Meow website has a virtual bazaar that no doubt markets women's products. Soon there will be tie ups with third party companies that cater to cosmetics, soaps etc and meow will end up creating another revenue stream.
A lot of interesting best practices from a radio station that no one took seriously when it first launched and which proved that differentiation is critical for survival. Read the complete article here
Also, I really do not want to say MEOW one more time
Differentiate or die. I feel I should create a T shirt and embrace this slogan. Its especially true in market which is overcrowded and the opportunities for differentiation is small. Thats the story of the Indian radio scenario where all stations pretty much play the same music and sound the same. Yes there are myriad types of music but if you consider the Indian milieu, if you're not playing bollywood music you might as well die. Some channels do play english music as a point of differentiation but the audience for that is still very small even in urban cities. The issue for radio stations is to cater to a mass audience and still be different. World space kind of attempted this by catering to various music like southern music, classical music and more but again the critical mass of all these channels, I feel, weren't significant. Meow's differencitation of catering only to women has apparently worked. According the article, Meow enjoys "a share of 3 per cent in Delhi; in Mumbai, the share is 2 per cent. In Kolkata, however, where it was launched recently, the share is 8 per cent".
In the name of differentiation, one might end up catering to a niche and that might be a risky proposition but as the Meow FM scenario shows, it might also work to an advantage especially with advertizers. As the channel is so niche, advertizers, for whom women are a major target audience, prefer to advertize on this channel as the effectiveness of advertizing increases. So more buck for your money because your audience is being appropriately targetted. Meow attracts advertisers who are interested in women’s products and women consumers, such as the FMCG brands, retail brands and educational institutes. "You won’t see too much property, banking and financial brands on our station," Meow's Chief operating officer, Anil Srivatsa asserts.
Meow in fact has gone one step further. The article goes on to say that because their channel is so niche, "Meow has a dedicated team called Meow Research, which conducts research on women, lifestyle choices, product preferences and the various aspects of a woman's buying pattern or behavioural pattern. This data is churned out every two weeks and will soon be made available to anybody – advertisers or media agencies – who wants to use it ". Who said advertising was the only way to make money?
Another interesting feature is that Meow has started a social networking site called merimeow.com which not only enables them to connect with their audience over web 2.0 but also, as most Social Networking sites require sign ups and profile entries, these guys get valuable profile information on their target audience. They get to know which dempgraphic listens to meow the most, what's hot, what's happening, what the buzz is and more!! Jeez these guys ARE smart! Infact on checking the site out, I was reminded of another brand that used web 2.0 very very smartly - Sunsilk's Gang Of Girls website.The Meow website has a virtual bazaar that no doubt markets women's products. Soon there will be tie ups with third party companies that cater to cosmetics, soaps etc and meow will end up creating another revenue stream.
A lot of interesting best practices from a radio station that no one took seriously when it first launched and which proved that differentiation is critical for survival. Read the complete article here
Also, I really do not want to say MEOW one more time
Monday, March 31, 2008
I said "Sit Down!"
Well, apart from marketing and writing, we have another obsession - Shopping. Yes, My name is Ashanka and I'm a shopoholic. I love the shopping experience, I love being in a mall. It's such a crazy weird world. Trippy with all the music, in-store activities, perfume scent wafting across mixing with the food court aromas. Yes being in mall warms the cockles of my heart but sometimes I'm amazed that Mall designers miss out on the basics
The basic metric for any mall is footfall correct? but I think one needs to measure two other metrics to determine total success. One is time spent and the exit rate. Time spent is difficult because visitors to a mall are not Id'ed seperately but I'm sure exit rates can be measured if you have seperate entrances. So I guess going by the above points the paramount importance for any mall is to keep all the people that it attracts within the mall for as long as possible. Because, duh, the more time they spend the more they are likely to spend.
So, going by this rather obvious logic, I fail to understand why most malls have few to none seating arrangements inside the mall. Seats are vital to a mall's success methinks because shopping, as most people will agree is a tiring activity. The constant activity wears out the legs and after a point you want to quit and go home. I see this all the time, when my mom/aunts/friends shop. Everybody I know becomes impatient after a while because their legs are killing them and they'll sooner drag you out than let you try out the awesome looking dress. This is such a common occurence that I'm surprised that nobody thought of putting seating whever possible because that is what will keep people inside the mall. I'm convinced that malls are designed by men who have no idea about shopping.
Yesterday I was at Central and I spent a good two hours there and my feet were killing me. And surprise, surprise no seating whatsoever, except at the foodcourt which does not really count because you gotta make a purchase there and you can't really sit and relax. People also forget that women, the most prolific of shoppers, often shop in shoes that are less than comfortable like heels, platforms etc. Isn't is logical to make your prolific, high spending shopper comfortable?
But, there's a rub in providing seating in some kind of stores like book stores for example. If I was a store manager at a book store I wouldn't provide any seating whatsoever, simply because, seating gives a reader ample time to savour and read atleast 4-5 chapters of the book. I believe that the more time you give a person to decide on something, the more they're gonna narrow things down. Like say, somebody wanted to by 6 books but on reading a bit most likely than out they'll pick 3. I don't have logic to prove this but this I say by experience. Besides I knwo tons of people who visit bookstores on multiple occasions and finish a book piecmeal. But this logic again flies in the face of conventional wisdom because as we all know book stores are rife with seats, couches, cushions, coffee and what not!
Somebody please explain it to these guys! Please!
The basic metric for any mall is footfall correct? but I think one needs to measure two other metrics to determine total success. One is time spent and the exit rate. Time spent is difficult because visitors to a mall are not Id'ed seperately but I'm sure exit rates can be measured if you have seperate entrances. So I guess going by the above points the paramount importance for any mall is to keep all the people that it attracts within the mall for as long as possible. Because, duh, the more time they spend the more they are likely to spend.
So, going by this rather obvious logic, I fail to understand why most malls have few to none seating arrangements inside the mall. Seats are vital to a mall's success methinks because shopping, as most people will agree is a tiring activity. The constant activity wears out the legs and after a point you want to quit and go home. I see this all the time, when my mom/aunts/friends shop. Everybody I know becomes impatient after a while because their legs are killing them and they'll sooner drag you out than let you try out the awesome looking dress. This is such a common occurence that I'm surprised that nobody thought of putting seating whever possible because that is what will keep people inside the mall. I'm convinced that malls are designed by men who have no idea about shopping.
Yesterday I was at Central and I spent a good two hours there and my feet were killing me. And surprise, surprise no seating whatsoever, except at the foodcourt which does not really count because you gotta make a purchase there and you can't really sit and relax. People also forget that women, the most prolific of shoppers, often shop in shoes that are less than comfortable like heels, platforms etc. Isn't is logical to make your prolific, high spending shopper comfortable?
But, there's a rub in providing seating in some kind of stores like book stores for example. If I was a store manager at a book store I wouldn't provide any seating whatsoever, simply because, seating gives a reader ample time to savour and read atleast 4-5 chapters of the book. I believe that the more time you give a person to decide on something, the more they're gonna narrow things down. Like say, somebody wanted to by 6 books but on reading a bit most likely than out they'll pick 3. I don't have logic to prove this but this I say by experience. Besides I knwo tons of people who visit bookstores on multiple occasions and finish a book piecmeal. But this logic again flies in the face of conventional wisdom because as we all know book stores are rife with seats, couches, cushions, coffee and what not!
Somebody please explain it to these guys! Please!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Shopping fundaes
Well apparently there's a science to it. One of the aspects that intrigued me while reading Kishore Biyani's Book It happened in India was his obsession with the Indian shopper. At various instances he mentions how he meticulously studies his shopper, noting dislikes, preferences, reaction to various stimuli etc. Infact the future group has taken retail to the next level, through their inhouse design agency - Idiom that researches consumer reaction to signages and other communication outlets within the store
Shopping is one of my favourite activities and I was surprised that it can actually be categorized! According an article by Anand Narasimha of Bates David Enterprise, there are infact four types of shopping- Recreational, List, Item and Impulse shopping. According to him,
Recreational Shopping is pre-planned but open ended and might not even result in a purchase. Here shopping is a means of relaxation. Window shopping also belongs to this category. Apparently as recreational shopping serves as a sort of "retail therapy" more often than not, it does lead to a purchase
List Shopping is pre-planned that leads to a purchase. Like shopping for grocery basically. This is a must do sort of shopping as opposed to recreational shopping
Item shopping is shopping that is triggered by a need for a specific item. Like buying woolens for a trip abroad, or a special dress for ones birthday. That's why one sees retail stores in what I call a "Ever-Party" mood. Its no wonder they are celebrating women's day, mother's day etc. A year long party makes the consumer come back for more
Impulse Shopping basically shopping that occurs on a whim. Like buying chocolates for example. Its unpredictable and according to the article two of the largest impulse categories in a store are women’s footwear and cosmetics!!
Read the complete article here
Shopping is one of my favourite activities and I was surprised that it can actually be categorized! According an article by Anand Narasimha of Bates David Enterprise, there are infact four types of shopping- Recreational, List, Item and Impulse shopping. According to him,
"This classification is based on two factors: the planned versus spontaneous
nature of the shopping trip and the focused versus open-ended nature of the
purchases made"
Recreational Shopping is pre-planned but open ended and might not even result in a purchase. Here shopping is a means of relaxation. Window shopping also belongs to this category. Apparently as recreational shopping serves as a sort of "retail therapy" more often than not, it does lead to a purchase
List Shopping is pre-planned that leads to a purchase. Like shopping for grocery basically. This is a must do sort of shopping as opposed to recreational shopping
Item shopping is shopping that is triggered by a need for a specific item. Like buying woolens for a trip abroad, or a special dress for ones birthday. That's why one sees retail stores in what I call a "Ever-Party" mood. Its no wonder they are celebrating women's day, mother's day etc. A year long party makes the consumer come back for more
Impulse Shopping basically shopping that occurs on a whim. Like buying chocolates for example. Its unpredictable and according to the article two of the largest impulse categories in a store are women’s footwear and cosmetics!!
Read the complete article here
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