Over the last few years Apple, with its successful iPod, iPhone and iPad products, has become a leader in consumer product innovation and marketing. In particular, through the use of effective pricing strategies they have been quite successful at holding their competitors at bay. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Consumer Offers’ Category
Setting strategic price points to stem a competitive flood
July 27, 2012Designing winning products that deliver a great customer experience
March 26, 2012
For each market there are tens to thousands of products and services, of which only a small part are truly successful.
While there are many reasons that can lead to the success of products and services, the outstanding ones have been designed and delivered in a way that provides a great customer experience.
Great products usually resolve common problems, they provide users with added benefits, they are convenient and easy to use, they satisfy other needs that customers didn’t know existed and they tend to be fun and engaging to use. But above the best products and services deliver a better user experience compared to others. (more…)
Why Total Cost of Ownership matters more than Price
March 15, 2012
Within today’s economic context managing the cost base has become a priority for most consumer households and companies alike.
When it comes to commercializing technology-based product or services, especially those offering additional benefits seen mostly over the long term, technology companies (both as suppliers and buyers of goods and services) need shift the focus from the sale price to the total cost of ownership (TCO).
To understand why TCO is so important we first need to consider what it means.
Innovating social commerce: AmEx cardholders Tweet to save
March 9, 2012
In a recent post I looked at the most innovative companies, which include American Express in the finance category (it was 1 of 2 non-web finance companies featured).
AmEx recently announced a brilliant service for its cardholders, allowing them save money by effortlessly redeeming promotions using Twitter.
This is a beautiful example of how a 162-year old company can still be innovative and deliver measurable value to its clients and partners.
But what about customer service?!….
February 16, 2012
After nearly 12 years of using Orange as my mobile services provider (which was mostly a good experience I must say), I recently switched following the arrival of Free Mobile, an aggressive new player disrupting the French market’s status quo with its unlimited local & long distance fixed-line calls, text and picture messages and Internet, including Wifi, all for €19.99 (or €16.99 for Freebox clients like me !!) or 1/4 of what I paid before.
However, to get there I lived through a very frustrating 7 days, during which time I was not a happy customer at all… (more…)
Why customer value propositions really matter
July 1, 2010
Today’s market offers end-users of all types a plethora of Web-based services, delivered over the top-of any Internet access. As a results of the huge growth of mobile Internet services, along with evolving user behaviour and changing expectations, end-users no longer look to network services providers to fulfill their needs in areas such as communication, collaboration, entertainment, information and productivity. Just consider Skype, Facebook, Shoutcast or Google Docs.
This evolving context has pushed the value away from the networks used to deliver services, to the services themselves, allowing more companies to compete for end customers using a range of business models.
In a world where the growth of traditional services is unlikely for most service providers, and cost reduction is probably not enough to compete over the long term, focusing on developing better, customer-centric value propositions is a key value-creation strategy, offering top and bottom line impact if done right.
The questions then becomes, how do you systematically create market-drive offers that end-customer really want?
What unique assets must Telecom Service Providers use when developing customer value propositions?
April 29, 2010
Many of our recent posts have dealt with different product and service sectors undergoing changes due to the rapid development of mobile and Web-based services.
While many Web-based companies are chasing new opportunities (ex. communication, collaboration, location-based information, music, print media, etc.) by delivering services over-the-top of any Internet connection, the actual telecom network service providers have been slow to follow for many reasons.
Telecom network services providers that wish to become more relevant to end-users’ broader needs must rethink their service strategy and refocus on developing customer-driven value propositions, satisfying particular problems and issues of specific customer groups, while leveraging their unique assets. (more…)
Consumer mobile location services are here to stay
March 18, 2010
Ever since I first used a “find the nearest —–” service, nearly 7 years ago, I have thought that location-based mobile services would change the way we function in our daily lives.
Judging by the current state of the industry, it looks like 2010 may be the year that consumer mobile location services finally take-off.
Why are consumer mobile location services now taking off?
A number of related factors have finally made (more…)
Curbing the black market for mobile calling
March 3, 2010
During recent visits to countries including Colombia, Chile and Venezuela, I’ve witnessed and benefited from black-market mobile calls. While my interest was in offsetting relatively high roaming charges, most of the local population is quite price sensitive and simply wants to save money however they can.
This mobile calling black-market is driven by small-time, roaming entrepreneurs looking to make money by exploiting an arbitrage opportunity from (more…)
i-Media: coming to any device near you
February 9, 2010
With 2010 now well underway, during the past few weeks there have been several clear sign that the media industry is arriving at an inflection point.
These developments could lead to new opportunities for content publishers and their service partners, and a more engaging experience for media consumers worldwide. (more…)
