It’s a bit of a no brainer really, but in tough times businesses that specialise in providing their customer with low cost products tend to do better than others. I had this thought when I was reading an article about Zenni Optical. It’s a company that sells eyeglasses starting at $6.95. Add $4.95 for shipping to the US and you have the cheapest pair of prescription glasses you can get anywhere. So, how does Zenni Optical manage to keep their…
It’s funny how sometimes something sticks in your head as an action or placeholder for something you want to do. Well, a few months ago I had heard my friend Sherrilynne talk about a set of stages that organisations go through in their jounrey to adopting Social Media. I ended up digging around and found her source, a most excellent post by Brian Solis called The 10 Stages of Social Media Integration in Business. In a nutshell, the 10 stages…
Image via Wikipedia Some interesting facts and figures surrounding the current ash cloud crisis in Europe and the cost it is causing to business. Here are some numbers: British Airways: £15m to £20m a day in lost business TUI Travel: £5m to £6m a day IATA: Industry costs of up to £165m a day Some of the numbers mentioned are staggering, but it does give an indication of what a devastating effect natural causes can have on a business. You…
You know, there are many things that can help market your product, but when the chief of the NSA calles it “wonderful” you know you’re on the right track. This is exactly what happened to Apple when Lieutenant General Keith Alexander, will will be leading the U.S. Cyber Command, went on record speaking highly about the iPad. When a company launches a new product they take a massive risk, and to get a high profile recommendation like that can be…
Great post on Seth Godin‘s blog entitled “Firsts and Never” talks about firsts and great and exciting, never being harder to accept and how revolutions change everything. There are a couple of great thoughts in there, particularly how the Internet is changing the way we transact with companies, the way we talk to each other and the way we perceive value. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the business of selling ballet shoes or the cheapest car insurance on the…
One of the great things about the Internet is that it provides a great marketplace where traders and customers can meet. And it’s really effective at providing a steady stream of custom for niche markets that wouldn’t survive otherwise. If you deal with specialised products, like WordPress themes or gold coins, you wouldn’t survive unless you had a way to tap into a steady stream of customers. And one such market is industrial valves. Valves Suppliers UK is a company…