Product Greatness Not Category Determines Customer Sensitivity to Price The car industry has been rife with discounting for years. We consumers have been conditioned to expect discounts on cars. Whole businesses have developed to exploit this conditioning behavior. But… Toyota posts amazing sales growth in April 2012 without any discount programs. How is this possible? Circumstances …
[ Continue Reading... ]
We all know about the impact that online user interfaces are having on style curation. Instead of relying on a bunch of stylists to decide what and how we wear our clothes, the internet is crowdsourcing style by customers and users. Numerous fashion sites like Polyvore and Modcloth have done showing how powerful this engagement …
[ Continue Reading... ]
Target sent a shot across the bow in early January focused on the concept of showrooming — where customers walk into stores, price compare the store’s products with online vendors and buy what’s best for them. Target has taken the tack of protecting their turf, regardless of the impact on the customer experience. Putting up …
[ Continue Reading... ]
Internet User Defined In their press call last week, Google obfuscated the various definitions of a user in online terms. The WSJ takes a small swing at the debate. Billions of dollars swirl around these definitions. Here is a deeper look at the various definitions of an Internet user. Visitor Definition — visitors are users …
[ Continue Reading... ]
Rather than help switch me to a more efficient and better user experience online, catalog companies like Chefs want to using negative reinforcement systems to make me respond. Why Would I Want This Offer? We received this catalog over Christmas and it is typical of how disconnected catalog companies are from a changing customer base. …
[ Continue Reading... ]
The Future of Daily Deal Sites: IPO and Bust? The IPO of Groupon has raised serious questions about the future of daily deal sites. The doomsayers say the model does not work. The optimists say that there is lots of headroom left — lots of businesses yet to try the model. But in reality both …
[ Continue Reading... ]
I was surprised to see the following tweet from Fred Wilson “Replace the words “job offer” with “term sheet” in @spolsky’s post and the advice is still spot on http://t.co/2MNZUIKZ” Out of curiosity, I took a look at the Spolsky post and I was surprised by the advice he gave regarding exploding offers. For those …
[ Continue Reading... ]I have had this post ready for months, but never sent it off. I am bummed to have to admit that I am shutting down Hangout – the first 3D experience on Facebook. The original vision of Hangout started in 2006 around the notion of media sharing with your friends and leveraging api’s on Facebook …
[ Continue Reading... ]

Recent Comments