Strategy squared

30th October 2007 Apple have taken the bold move of banning cash payments for its iPhone in the US. The move would help to support its “two iphones per household” rule reports London’s Financial Times. By mandating credit or debit card purchases Apple hoped to keep track of individual transactions to uphold the rule.

The iPhone has proved immensely popular since it’s release shipping over 1.4 million handsets in 2007. The gadget has proved difficult to get hold of and Apple hopes the move will discourage people wishing to immediately sell the items on for profit.

This comes hot on the heals of news that Apple is looking to develop the iPhone market with it’s release in Europe - on the 29th October apple announced it’s distribution and pricing deal in Germany which would see the iPhone taking advantage of T-Mobile’s internet national hotspot presence.

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29th October 2007 Research from the Association of Technology Staffing Companies shows that social networking sites like Facebook are increasingly being used to find potential staff. Whilst social networking sites are still relatively new – their popularity and growth has been astonishing – ATSCO’s research points to a growing trend in the recruitment environment to exploit the information.

The reports shows that a significant number of recruitment consultants (83%) use sites such as Facebook to fill vacancies.

Social networking sites can hold significant details on individuals and looking up profiles of potential employees has long been a tool that can be exploited but the extent of the usage has been surprising.

However networking sites can have a downside – users claim that comments and photographs placed on the sites may pose a threat to being hired and it’s important to place information on these sites into context.

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The relationship that you have with your customers can make or break a business. Ensuring that their needs are met is crucial if you expect to either attract or retain them. Interpreting customer requirements however can be tricky – nevertheless there are some key requirements that are universal whatever your market or clientele. Below we list 5 key fundamental concepts at the heart of delighting your customer.

1/ Value

Your product needs to provide something that your customers want. Customers buy to satisfy a need, that need can be something simple from needing to eat or drink or making life easier via a new gadget through to keeping up with peer pressure by having the latest fashion item – understanding the benefits that your customers are expecting from your product is crucial not only in determining your marketing straty but also in assisting future R&D activity and pricing policies.

2/ Excellent service

Customer service has a huge influence over whether a customer leaves satisfied from the deal or not – with today’s multiple sales channels there are many ways to get this badly wrong from ineffective communication (poor website, delays at your call center) to poor processes when a customer complains. In today’s ultra competitive global marketplace, poor service can turn customers towards competitors in a flash.

3/ Quality

All customers want a quality product – they need to make sure that when they take it out the box and plug it in it’ll work and more so it’ll continue to for years ahead. These days the margin between cost and quality is ever more blurred – irrespective of the cost paid consumers demand the highest quality. Getting to grips with this needn’t be difficult – establish some key business metrics – look at how many returns you get from products sold, review the issues and set about improvements. Look at each area of your product from the physical goods through to packaging and supply and delivery ensure that it’s the best it can be.

4/ Convenience

Dealing with your company, whether buying an item or obtaining information, should be quick, easy and hassle free. Bricks and mortar stores should have displays that are well organized, making products easy to find. Have an online presence? Make your website stand out with intuitive navigation – make purchase routes in a fewer clicks as possible and have need to know data available from the homepage.

5/ Information

A lack of or correct information can severely damage your customer relations – whether its part of the buying process (i.e. has an item been shipped) or even just a simple sales brochure – tailor the information to your customers requirements – make it useful, accurate and timely. Take time to ensure that staff are knowledgeable about your products – they’re selling it so they should your products inside and out establish training or awareness schemes where needed.

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28th October 2007The UK’s Observer newspaper’s recent investigation into child labor around the world has sure hit home with fashion retailer Gap.

Despite acting swiftly by calling an immediate investigation (the garments in question will be destroyed) – the story of a 10 year old being sold into forced labor will be sure to tarnish the brands eco-credentials.

GAP, as many retailers have strict rules against using child labor in any of it’s production facilities but this issue raises the problem of how big brands can police manufacturers in the far east and Asia. In 2006 GAP revoked 23 factories which had failed to comply with standards, however major retailers continue to take advantage of lower production costs in these regions.

Policing this problem can be difficult – in some rural areas ages are impossible to verify as records are not kept. GAP is not alone in its child labor issues – organizations such as Nike have also had issues in the past.

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24 October 2007 Canadian based RIM (Research in Motion) announced on Tuesday that it has agreed a distribution deal with Alcatel-Lucent (France) that will see it’s famous Blackberry handsets distributed in China. The announcement coincides with the first shipment of smart phones to distribution centers and the launch of the Blackberry service with China Mobile.

Despite fierce competition in the region China is an important target for RIM with a potential huge market which will be first tested through the roll out of the 8700 RIM model smart phone.

The blackberry has become one of the defacto executive tools for organization looking to support ever growing mobile workforces with RIM now enjoying a global distribution network. The Blackberry device is now available on over 300 carriers around the world.

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23 October 2007 A study by the Local Government Association has stated that the big supermarkets must do more to cut packaging or Britian will fail to meet agreed recycling targets.

The reports paints a worrying picture, with upto 40% of a standard shopping basket being non-recylable, pressure must be mounted on the supermarkets to avert the situation.

Supermarkets may argue that action is underway but it might not be until customers remove and leave packaging at the till that appropriate action is taken. Customers face upto £3 Billion fines through increased council tax bills if targets are not met. Whilst the message may not have entirely been taken in yet - it is clear that customers are demanding some change.

The report by the Local Government association comes shortly after reseach from the National Consumer Council that supermarkets must do more to reduce thier environmental impact. It has demanded a complete ban on plastic bags by removing them from checkouts.

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22 October 2007 A somewhat surprising move for Tesco’s sees the UK supermarket giant linking up with Disney’ Disney consumer products division in order to launch co-branded food products at Tesco’s stores.

The healthy foods, which will have no trans fats artificial colors or flavors, will feature some of Disney’s well known characters on the packaging. While marketing products with well known characters is nothing new - marketing “own brand” products with big hitters like Disney is a new one.

The combination will see the likes of co-branded yoghurts, breakfast cereals and snaks amongs others. This makes good sense for Tesco, which can use the vast back catalogue of Disney favourites to help market it’s products - and as Tesco is the UK’s biggest supermarket chain and therefore offers a wise choice of marketing partner for Disney. Whether the products will be top sellers remains to be seen. However the combination of healthy foods is surely one that may catch the parents eyes so it looks to be a good combination.

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October 22 2007 It would appear that internet behemoths such Youtube and Mysace should tread carefully over the coming months as the entertainment industry, led by the likes of the MPA, continues to increase pressure on copyright infringements as it looks towards the industry to police the online trading of music and movies.

It looks certain that ISP’s (internet service providers) will become embroiled as entertainment industry looks for methods of policing the network. While technology such as BitTorrent and P2P provide a method of transferring large files between communities, ISP’s are increasingly being asked to address users ability to utilize these tools.

This may in some way work to the advantages of the ISP’s who see huge demands on their networks with uploading and downloading large files. Various ISP’s (AT&T among them) have agreed to work with entertainment companies to combat piracy however results, which have included several high profile prosecutions, have to date been fairly sparse

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18 October 2007 It seems the strong demand for the latest “must have” phones are driving Nokia’s growth. Nokia’s third quarter results were up 11% on the previous quarter having sold over 111 million devices.

Whilst it’s grown it’s portfolio of high end phones – what’s may surprise some is it’s raised margins on low end phones which are large volume sellers in emerging markets.

Certainly Nokia benefits from both it’s brand and it’s longevity in the market place whilst providing a broad range of “smart-phones”.

Mobile technology continues to be a highly competitive marketplace and the demand for the latest technology will continue apace as existing users look to trade up their handsets to take advantage of multimedia functionality, increased camera quality and new functionality such as GPS. Nokia remains the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer and estimates it’s market share at 39%

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October 16th 2007 - Leading UK hospitality company Whitbread have reported better than expected half year results and some of it appears down to the Whitbread run coffee shops Costa Coffee.

Costa, the UK’s fastest growing coffee shop brand, has over 800 stores (150 of which are overseas). These helped drive profits up 13.3% on last years 2006 results.

Whether this growth will continue remains unknown however, Costa faces some sterling competition from the other big hitters namely Starbucks and Café Nero which continue to strengthen their UK market share in what is an increasingly competitive niche.

With the saturation of the coffee shop on the UK high street recent years have seen the dominant players attempting to carve out their USP, whether through individual food ranges or affiliation with other markets such as Starbucks foray into the CD music compilations that are played in store.

Diversity seems key to future success in the marketplace for the likes of Costa, especially given the push towards “healthier” food and drink. However given this, Whitbread remain pleased with the results and sees “good growth potential” in the UK market, the company plans further Costa stores and continues to expand it’s hotel arm planning new hotels in Dubai and India.

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