I have been here in the US for more or less six months and I have noticed that one of the ( many ) different aspects from Italy is the large number of UPS, FedEx and DHL trucks in circulation delivering the items people buy on line. Here in US, unlike Italy, on line shopping is a widely diffuse way of doing shopping and I saw people buying everything, from shoes and garments to groceries.
In Italy I experienced on line shopping but I always tried to limit as much as possible on line transactions. On one side, I am quite worried about putting my credit card data on line, on the other side I, as a number of Italians, have a problem about trust. Trust about my item being really delivered, trust about the postman not opening the package to check if there is something of interest to him, trust about the seller actually sending the item I bought from him. Trust, at least in Italy, is the main hurdle to a wide development of on line shopping.
Just to better clarify my point I will give you an example of what I mean for trust. A couple of years ago I ordered on Amazon a DVD that was supposed to be delivered after 10 days. The fifteenth day, still waiting for the dvd, I sent an email to Amazon complaining about the delay. Amazon, without an further questioning, apologized and told me that it would have sent another copy of the same DVD immediately. I was really impressed simply because Amazon trusted me! If an Italian on line retailer had the same trust it would go bust in a couple of months because the average Italian would order an item, get the item and than would claim that he/she has never received it just to have another copy for free to resell or to give to a friend.
In other words, Italy is a classic example of the tight relationship between the trust and the buyer behaviour, how the latter is deeply affected by the former and how both of them are essential for an healthy market development.
http://www.bazaarvoice.com/resources/stats
martedì 8 giugno 2010
domenica 30 maggio 2010
Privacy and security in the era of Facebook
“Pygmy is a term used for various ethnic groups worldwide whose average height is unusually low; anthropologist define pygmy as any group whose adult males grow to less than 150 cm in average height. The best known pygmies are the Aka, Efé and Mbuti of central Africa. There are also pygmies in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and Brazil.”
This is the definition of Pygmy that you can find on the Encyclopedia Britannica. Why do I start my blog about privacy with such a weird definition? Because I wanted to give an example of the few remaining groups of people that can affirm to have privacy. For the rest of us, the word “privacy” has little real meaning if anything at all. Simply put, today privacy does not exist anymore.
A couple of days ago I was logging off my Facebook account but a window popped up preventing me to close the page. Facebook wanted to know if I was willing to link my account to the pages of Michael Crichton, Ellis Peters and Ken Follet. Ok, you would think, what is wrong with that? They are my favourite writers, Facebook just wanted to be sure that I got the most updated news about them. You are right if it were not for a little quibble: I never wrote on my Facebook account that they were my favourite writers and even if Facebook could guess about Crichton and Follet ( they are quite popular after all ) it could not have done so about Ellis Peters ( who read about “Brother Cadfael” ?! ). How was it possible for Facebook to know about it?
I have a possible explanation for Crichton and Peters ( but not for Follet ) but this explanation worsen the problem of the privacy more than solve it. I used to buy books by Peters and Crichton on Amazon and, notwithstanding all the privacy that Amazon would grant me, somehow my tastes and preferences fled to Facebook that is so worried about my wellbeing to suggest me to link my account to my favourite writers'.
Of course, I am not in the best position to speak about privacy since my being on Facebook clearly states that I do not want privacy. But the funny thing is that among all Facebook users, a great deal of them complain about their privacy being damaged by a not adequate privacy policy. Why funny?
Because the naggers are those who upload pictures, personal data, information about their education, their addresses, they also bother to tell the Facebook community that a relative or a friend of theirs is dead! Expectations of privacy, and posting information to the internet - seems a dubious combination!
I admit that there is a trade-off between privacy and security. Generally speaking, higher and tighter the privacy, lower the security being more difficult to get sufficient information that could lead to this or that culprit. What I want to stress is that, today, the need of regulation is higher than ever in order to reach a Pareto optimality in which further improvements in the privacy policy will not be to the detriment of security.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37314726/ns/technology_and_science-washington_post/
http://www.asylum.com/2010/05/25/considering-dumping-mark-zuckerberg-facebook-over-privacy-concerns/http://www.scmagazineus.com/privacy-and-security-concerns-aside-youre-ok-in-my-book-facebook/article/170195/
This is the definition of Pygmy that you can find on the Encyclopedia Britannica. Why do I start my blog about privacy with such a weird definition? Because I wanted to give an example of the few remaining groups of people that can affirm to have privacy. For the rest of us, the word “privacy” has little real meaning if anything at all. Simply put, today privacy does not exist anymore.
A couple of days ago I was logging off my Facebook account but a window popped up preventing me to close the page. Facebook wanted to know if I was willing to link my account to the pages of Michael Crichton, Ellis Peters and Ken Follet. Ok, you would think, what is wrong with that? They are my favourite writers, Facebook just wanted to be sure that I got the most updated news about them. You are right if it were not for a little quibble: I never wrote on my Facebook account that they were my favourite writers and even if Facebook could guess about Crichton and Follet ( they are quite popular after all ) it could not have done so about Ellis Peters ( who read about “Brother Cadfael” ?! ). How was it possible for Facebook to know about it?
I have a possible explanation for Crichton and Peters ( but not for Follet ) but this explanation worsen the problem of the privacy more than solve it. I used to buy books by Peters and Crichton on Amazon and, notwithstanding all the privacy that Amazon would grant me, somehow my tastes and preferences fled to Facebook that is so worried about my wellbeing to suggest me to link my account to my favourite writers'.
Of course, I am not in the best position to speak about privacy since my being on Facebook clearly states that I do not want privacy. But the funny thing is that among all Facebook users, a great deal of them complain about their privacy being damaged by a not adequate privacy policy. Why funny?
Because the naggers are those who upload pictures, personal data, information about their education, their addresses, they also bother to tell the Facebook community that a relative or a friend of theirs is dead! Expectations of privacy, and posting information to the internet - seems a dubious combination!
I admit that there is a trade-off between privacy and security. Generally speaking, higher and tighter the privacy, lower the security being more difficult to get sufficient information that could lead to this or that culprit. What I want to stress is that, today, the need of regulation is higher than ever in order to reach a Pareto optimality in which further improvements in the privacy policy will not be to the detriment of security.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37314726/ns/technology_and_science-washington_post/
http://www.asylum.com/2010/05/25/considering-dumping-mark-zuckerberg-facebook-over-privacy-concerns/http://www.scmagazineus.com/privacy-and-security-concerns-aside-youre-ok-in-my-book-facebook/article/170195/
domenica 23 maggio 2010
What is an on line social media?
The first time I read the term social media I got puzzled...what is an on line social media?!! Ok, I admit my ignorance but you should know that I am a digital immigrant and not a digital native...so, for all digital immigrant like me, I will post a simple description of what a on line digital media is. If you are a cool digital native you can skip this blog, but there is the possibility that even you taht are born in the 21st century could learn something...or maybe not.
The source for the following content is the web site: http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-social-media.
With the term "social media" they define various activities that integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. Simply put is people having conversation on line.
The conversation are powered by: blogs, micro blogs, on line chat, social networks, podcasts, wikis, etc...
This media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. The old communication model was a monologue. It is ineteresting to notice that:
- only 18 percent of TV and campaign generate a positive ROI;
- 90 percent of the people that can skip TV ads, actually do;
- only 14 percent of people trust ads while 78 percent of them trust the recommendations of other onsumers.
The new communication model is a dialogue "consumer-driven" and not "product-driven". A it is absolutly necessary that this new model of communication be consumer driven since:
- 34 percent of internet users post opinions about companies products andbrands on their blogs;
- 36 percent think more positively about companies that have blogs;
- 32 percent of the internet users trust bloggers opinions on products and services.
speaking of the future, tomorrow consumers are today digital natives and by 2010 Millenians/gen Y-ers will outnumber Baby Boomers:
- they already wield 370 billion /year in direct spending power;
- spend > 16 hour/week on line;
- 96 percent of them have joined a social netork;
- most important, they do not care about companies ads, they care about what their friends thinks.
All these data clearly indicate that brands and companies will have difficulties in surviving without an online social media. The power of the net do not require compromises...just adaptation!
The source for the following content is the web site: http://www.slideshare.net/mzkagan/what-the-fk-social-media.
With the term "social media" they define various activities that integrate technology, social interaction and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. Simply put is people having conversation on line.
The conversation are powered by: blogs, micro blogs, on line chat, social networks, podcasts, wikis, etc...
This media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. The old communication model was a monologue. It is ineteresting to notice that:
- only 18 percent of TV and campaign generate a positive ROI;
- 90 percent of the people that can skip TV ads, actually do;
- only 14 percent of people trust ads while 78 percent of them trust the recommendations of other onsumers.
The new communication model is a dialogue "consumer-driven" and not "product-driven". A it is absolutly necessary that this new model of communication be consumer driven since:
- 34 percent of internet users post opinions about companies products andbrands on their blogs;
- 36 percent think more positively about companies that have blogs;
- 32 percent of the internet users trust bloggers opinions on products and services.
speaking of the future, tomorrow consumers are today digital natives and by 2010 Millenians/gen Y-ers will outnumber Baby Boomers:
- they already wield 370 billion /year in direct spending power;
- spend > 16 hour/week on line;
- 96 percent of them have joined a social netork;
- most important, they do not care about companies ads, they care about what their friends thinks.
All these data clearly indicate that brands and companies will have difficulties in surviving without an online social media. The power of the net do not require compromises...just adaptation!
Where are we going?
While watching an e-marketin presentation ( http://vimeo.com/11904502 ) I remained really impressed by a statement of Mr Eric Schmidt, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Google, who claimed that "children today if are not at school or asleep they are on line".
What really shocked me is that he made this statement with a normal tone of voice as if it is one of the most natural thing that a child is now used to staring at a computer screen if not at school or in bed.
Ok, I may sound like an old guy too attached at his past, but when I was a child I used to play with other children, I used to spend a great deal of my spare time kicking and running toward a ball, riding a bicicle, in other way I used to interacting with other children or play with real objects and no virtual stuff. And I really think this is what a child should do. I really think this is the only way a child has to understand ( from scratch ) how to build relationships, to understand what being part of a community/society means, to start bulding those social skills that will stand him in good stead in the future.
Today the interaction among human beings seem to be a step behind the interaction between virtual alter-ego on the internet. Today you are cool if you have 1000 friends on facebook or 2000 connection on linkdin on if you post as many pictures as you can on the web to show everybody how much fun you have, how many places you have visited or how many parties you went last month. As if somebody really cares.
But this could be ok if you are an adult when your personality is now well shaped and maybe you post ypur pictures on facebook because you really think you are cool. But a child being conditioned by what he/she sees around him/her may really grow up with the idea that the virtual life is what really matters today. Maybe I am being too extremist but if I think how fast the world is moving and how much the things are changed compared to just a few years ago my pessimism clearly prevail on my optimism.
I find this site quite interesting http://psychcentral.com/netaddiction/.
What really shocked me is that he made this statement with a normal tone of voice as if it is one of the most natural thing that a child is now used to staring at a computer screen if not at school or in bed.
Ok, I may sound like an old guy too attached at his past, but when I was a child I used to play with other children, I used to spend a great deal of my spare time kicking and running toward a ball, riding a bicicle, in other way I used to interacting with other children or play with real objects and no virtual stuff. And I really think this is what a child should do. I really think this is the only way a child has to understand ( from scratch ) how to build relationships, to understand what being part of a community/society means, to start bulding those social skills that will stand him in good stead in the future.
Today the interaction among human beings seem to be a step behind the interaction between virtual alter-ego on the internet. Today you are cool if you have 1000 friends on facebook or 2000 connection on linkdin on if you post as many pictures as you can on the web to show everybody how much fun you have, how many places you have visited or how many parties you went last month. As if somebody really cares.
But this could be ok if you are an adult when your personality is now well shaped and maybe you post ypur pictures on facebook because you really think you are cool. But a child being conditioned by what he/she sees around him/her may really grow up with the idea that the virtual life is what really matters today. Maybe I am being too extremist but if I think how fast the world is moving and how much the things are changed compared to just a few years ago my pessimism clearly prevail on my optimism.
I find this site quite interesting http://psychcentral.com/netaddiction/.
sabato 15 maggio 2010
The importance of market segmentation
Nowadays the potential customer base for the companies is broader than ever as is the risk of spending a considerable amount of money trying to seize as much new clients as possible ending up catching none. As the competion for market share among firms becomes embittered, both the importance of focused and effective marketing campaigns and the necessity to target the "right" consumer in order to avoid a waste of monetary resource due to a tight budget constraint grow.
Hence the importance of an effective market segmentation that allows company to divide their markets into sub-markets or segments with similar and peculiar needs and wants. the segmentation of the market is just the first step for the company who wants tailor its marketing mix to fit the specific requirements of that segment.
The second step is to decide which market segments it can serve effectively. Decisions related to which market the company can effectively serve is a tugh one. It requires a deep understanding of customer behaviour and a careful strategic thinking. We are going toward and overlapping of markets and segments, a huge traffic jam that make it much more difficult to understand what makes each segment unique and different that it was 20 or 30 years ago ( for example, think about the overlapping in the computer world with notebooks, netbooks, laptops and now phones with applications that make them more similar to computer than to devise to perform their original function, PDA and so on ).
The third step is to find distinctive ways companies can effectively position their offering in the mind of the consumers and differentiate their market offerings in order to achieve distinctive, lasting and difficult to replicate competitive advantages.
An example of market segment is that of the "baby boomers", people who were born in Europe between 1946 and 1964. In 2004, baby boomers held 80 percent of the UK wealth and bought 80 percent of all top of the range cars, 80 percent of the cruises and 50 percent of the skin care products ( D. Walker 2004, Live Fast, die old - BBc newsOnline Magazine ).
Being a wealthy segment, it is quite normal that it has attracted the attention of marketers and companies and has provided a great deal of marketing opportunities over the years.
The "baby boomers" segment gives us the opportunity to discuss about the dangers that come with the market segmentation. In the UK, comopanies such as saga and First Choice have tried to make the over-g0s market trendy. However, as they age, many baby Boomers have showed their displeasure at finding themselves on these companies mailing list ( D. Cowley 2004, Boomers turned off by attempts to make them belonging to a group, Financial Times, 25 January ).
The importance of market segmentation is evident if we look at the neumber of companies whose main activity is to segment the market for other companies. http://www.marketsegmentation.com/ gives an idea of such companies.
Hence the importance of an effective market segmentation that allows company to divide their markets into sub-markets or segments with similar and peculiar needs and wants. the segmentation of the market is just the first step for the company who wants tailor its marketing mix to fit the specific requirements of that segment.
The second step is to decide which market segments it can serve effectively. Decisions related to which market the company can effectively serve is a tugh one. It requires a deep understanding of customer behaviour and a careful strategic thinking. We are going toward and overlapping of markets and segments, a huge traffic jam that make it much more difficult to understand what makes each segment unique and different that it was 20 or 30 years ago ( for example, think about the overlapping in the computer world with notebooks, netbooks, laptops and now phones with applications that make them more similar to computer than to devise to perform their original function, PDA and so on ).
The third step is to find distinctive ways companies can effectively position their offering in the mind of the consumers and differentiate their market offerings in order to achieve distinctive, lasting and difficult to replicate competitive advantages.
An example of market segment is that of the "baby boomers", people who were born in Europe between 1946 and 1964. In 2004, baby boomers held 80 percent of the UK wealth and bought 80 percent of all top of the range cars, 80 percent of the cruises and 50 percent of the skin care products ( D. Walker 2004, Live Fast, die old - BBc newsOnline Magazine ).
Being a wealthy segment, it is quite normal that it has attracted the attention of marketers and companies and has provided a great deal of marketing opportunities over the years.
The "baby boomers" segment gives us the opportunity to discuss about the dangers that come with the market segmentation. In the UK, comopanies such as saga and First Choice have tried to make the over-g0s market trendy. However, as they age, many baby Boomers have showed their displeasure at finding themselves on these companies mailing list ( D. Cowley 2004, Boomers turned off by attempts to make them belonging to a group, Financial Times, 25 January ).
The importance of market segmentation is evident if we look at the neumber of companies whose main activity is to segment the market for other companies. http://www.marketsegmentation.com/ gives an idea of such companies.
domenica 9 maggio 2010
E-marketing and Distribution channels
The prefix "e-" has been acquiring more and more importance and consideration since the beginning of the new century. We now can find every kind of "e-activities" or "e-companies" that offer their expertise, products and services on line. The benefits pass hardly unnoticed: reduction of costs for both companies and end-users, broadening of customer base, lessening of national boundaries, are jus few of these benefits.
"E- activities" and "e-companies" require new ways to communicate the value of their offerings to their customers and the "e-marketing" can be viewed as a logical and natural consequence of such new need.
But what is "e-marketing"? Simply put, e-marketing can be define as the process of marketing a brand using internet or, broadening this definition, it "encompasses all the activities a business conducts via the worldwide web with the aim of attracting new business, retaining current business and developing its brand identity" ( http://www.quirk.biz/resources/88/What-is-eMarketing-and-how-is-it-better-than-traditional-marketing )
Three of the many advantages of the e-marketing are related to its scope, interactivity and immediacy. E-marketing:
"E- activities" and "e-companies" require new ways to communicate the value of their offerings to their customers and the "e-marketing" can be viewed as a logical and natural consequence of such new need.
But what is "e-marketing"? Simply put, e-marketing can be define as the process of marketing a brand using internet or, broadening this definition, it "encompasses all the activities a business conducts via the worldwide web with the aim of attracting new business, retaining current business and developing its brand identity" ( http://www.quirk.biz/resources/88/What-is-eMarketing-and-how-is-it-better-than-traditional-marketing )
Three of the many advantages of the e-marketing are related to its scope, interactivity and immediacy. E-marketing:
- allows the marketer to reach consumers in a wide range of ways and enables them to offer a wide range of products and services ( scope );
- facilitates conversations between companies and consumers making the them more dynamic and adaptive ( interactivity );
- allows, within a few short clicks , to access to a vast range of services and products ( immediacy ).
The diffusion of internet and of a wide range of e-activities has had a deep impact on the distribution channels. In 220h over 100 million European on line shoppers spent and average of €1000 each and drove online retail sales past the €100 billion euro. In 2007, 48 percent of european Internet users shpped online Online retail sales in Europe are expected to more the double in the next five years according to Forrester Research while the numebr of online shppers is expected to grow to 174 million ( Ramirez ( 2007 ), European online holiday retail sales hit €g1 billio, Forrester Research, 24 Ocober )
Mobile phone is another technology that has impacted on the distribution. The combination of mobiles with Internet results in mobile phone internet connections that are growing in popularity as well.
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