Category Archives: companies

When companies evolve

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An interesting article caught my eye this morning about how Twitter is running the danger of turning into MySpace. The interesting thing about the article was how it outlined how the service was evolving in ways that it’s founders never imagined. There’s a 3rd party market in services evolving, celebrities are jumping on board; and more and more people are using the service for new and fascinating services.

Now, here’s one big difference from traditional companies. Companies have always needed to evolve to cater for changing demands and to remain current with the times. Take IBM for example, they started out as a company that produced punched card readers, evolved into one of the biggest computer manufacturers in the world, and today are a force in the consultancy market. They would benowhere today if they stuck to selling punched card readers. Example of this abound, from the company that produced weight loss products who is now in the nutrition market; from the company that used to sell surplus goods in a market stall who is now one of the biggest retail forces in the UK; you can see this evolution happen over and again.

But traditionally that evolution was driven from within; the directors of the company were influenced by their employees about a change in direction and they backed it up. Twitter’s evolution is different. The evolution is being driven by people all around the globe, with developers building add-on services, users requesting features and industry peers correcting perceived flaws. I personally think that change driven by your users is the best way forward; community-driven improvements I guess you could call them.

Woolworths on it’s final legs

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Woolworths has announced that it’s starting it’s closing down sale in a bid by tthe administrators to try and raise as many funds as possible for creditors as possible. One year shy of it’s centenary there doesn’t seem to be much hope for a retailer who’s name has become synonmous with the British high street. It’s a great shame, but a lesson for all that without continual reinvestment in a brand, failure is the only option.

I blame the demise on a 2 factor theory. The biggest problem in my eyes was the attempt to cram everything under one roof. Consumers nowadays are much more picky and prefer going to a specialist to ensure quality in their purchase. This has let to Woolworth’s market share being eroded by a multitude of specialist stores which have a more defined identity and segmentation strategy. The other factor, obviously, was the economic climate; credit is harder to achieve and the pre-Xmas pressure was just too much.

It’s the end of an era for the UK High Street, but how many will mourn Woolworth’s demise?

Maintaining credibility online

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Some products are easier to sell online than others. Take books for example, Amazon is doing a magnificent job in cornering that market, and that is partly down to the nature of books. They are easy to store, easy to ship and most people who buy books will come back and buy some more. Other products are a bit harder. Try selling the diet pill Anoretix for example. First of all, selling pharmaceuticals is much harder than shipping books, the legislation can be a nightmare and maintaining credibility is critical to providing a steady stream of sales.

Take Stratavia for example, a company that provides a data center automation offering. Their website offers a cohesive message around what the company does and reinforces that by promoting different ideas to improve credibility; a list of awards they have achieved, different news and quotes from their customer. All this helps sustain the image they are trying to project and strengthens their online presence.

What’s in a name?

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Do you ever get those days when everything seems to have got confused? Well, I had a slip like that today. I was looking up information about Fannie Mae, the US mortgage-lending company and instead my search result took me to Fannie May, a purveyor of fine chocolates. Quite a bit of a difference, though interestingly Fannie May was rescued from bankruptcy a few years ago, in a pretty similar fashion to the way the US government rescued Fannie Mae quite recently.

It always pays to check your facts; because of a slight difference in spelling I almost ended up talking about chocolates instead of mortgages!

Anyway, Fannie May had a great history, being in the business of making chocolates since the 1920s. They were one of the few companies who managed to survive through World War II making their chocolates to the same recipes they always had, even though their raw ingredients weren’t so freely available. That’s a pretty great story and a great heritage for the company. Today they are owned by 1-800-flowers, so I expect they do quite a bit of business by mail order.

Interesting profile I thought. Has anyone out there tried their chocolates? If so, leave us a comment and tell us what they’re like.