Where does the flexible display technology stand?
Leading the innovation for advanced display capabilities OLED displays are being considered as the future. These are bendable, cell based, very thin sheets that gives amazing displays and also alter the course of electronics industry. Only top companies like Samsung, LG are able to develop such displays considering the huge manufacturing costs. A new firm Kateeva has been successful in revolutionizing the production of such displays. Its inkjet like printing technology helps to cut the costs to half. Still the technology is way behind in providing touch screen feature to customers. The electronics world views these as few among a large number of advancements to come. More!
How extremism prevails in Social Media?
In the world of web; extremists are also resorting to new age media for their spreading their ideologies. Justpaste.it developed by a student with a good intent, is now an example for just a case. The portal was developed by a polish student to facilitate ease of text and image share. Now Isis militant group have used the same to share images that are even graphic in nature including even massacres. At the time of violence in Iraq, Isis has been resorting to such new age media including twitter to share information to its peer group and followers. Although certain accounts have been traced and removed, still a large amount of content remains in the servers of the service. It is a matter of fact that the portal has an increasing traffic reaching upto 2.5 million users from Middle East. More!
Can history be digitalized?
The nonprofit digital library Internet Archive is working on securing the copies of 19th century medical texts in a large scale. The company was found by Brewster Kahle, the same person who found Alexa Internet. They are working along with various universities and institutions in UK to save and make this information free for public. The collection will have large information for a wide area of medicine including graphics and searchable data. The collection will cover even primitive medical practices like phrenology. Internet Archive already has a data collection of 10 petabytes and is worlds largest internet book digitization project. Internet Archive provides various services also like web page capture. More!
What is the next level of Education?
The largest tech giant is working out a tool for education industry to be more productive, organized, and communicative. Google will be introducing its classroom product aiming to the teaching community across the globe. Already a beta version is out and educators from 45 countries are using the same. The product offers a large amount of content management to distribute work to students. Students can have assignments for themselves or in groups. The service will be availed in local languages too and tied with the power of Google Apps and Chromebooks. Teachers will have tools to evaluate and grade the students accurately and share the results. More!
Is the mobile era over?
Although still undetermined; wearbles are now catching pace. They are already enhancing the user experience and capabilities of regular mobile devices. Most of the innovations have been bound to health and fitness segment. The giants in the industry like Apple and Samsung are already working of confidential projects to develop prototypes. At its infant stage the wearable industry may catch up fast with wide growing techy customers across the globe. It also indicates the advancement in both software and hardware technology across various segments that contribute to develop such a revolution. More firms are then able to invest into research to such technology also. Main challenge would be to create a similar user experience like what you get from your smartphone. More!
Which technology can best track of what you do daily?
Creating an automated diary of your life seems interesting. Moves app which was recently acquired by Facebook records activities like Walking, Cycling, Running, Checkins etc. The app also works along with many wearables like those from Nike. The app gives Calorie information to users too. As a part of the acquisition Facebook will eventually have access to fitness information on a large number of users. The app from Finland has already been downloaded 4 million times. It is evident that Facebook is interested in associating with the app that tracks 2 billion steps a day. Users may soon be able to see our daily activities in our timeline of social portal too. More!
How much a secure should be the largest social network?
With an aim for added protection to its data centers, Facebook is acquiring PrivateCore a 2 year firm from California. It was a firm found by two former employees from VMware and Google who were experts in web security. They specialized and focused their firm in secure server solutions and can now help the social media giant to get rid of malware, bad hardware, unauthorized access. It could thus ensure the security of 1 billion user base. It would also be at the right time when the online service looks forward to leverage upon its powerful user base by incorporating ecommerce and other new value added services. The vCage technology from PrivateCore would allow Facebook to run well on a variety of server environments. It may also help Facebook to go ahead from the recent issues including NSA spoofing into its user data and ensure safety for its customers and servers. More!
Can we ensure the best fit while shopping dress online?
It is always difficult when choosing different brand without compromising how the dress fits to each individual. Now Fitle has come up with a new age solution that offers even a 3D model for each customer. They will be partnering with many brands across the globe so that you will be able to try the dress on web. This will give customers the exact look of how the dress would appear on them. Fitle also focus on accurate 3D modeling of the dress items too and generating a database. The technology will have many possibilities like showing the dress items that only matches the customers. The challenges would include keeping the database updated with the accurate information of a large number of brands partnering with retailers. More!
Can there a unified system to manage the largest Railways in the World?
Enterprise resource planning is a large scale solution that enables stream lining all functional areas in an organization to ensure the optimal utilization of resources. Indian Railway now 161 years old is planning to implement an ERP solution to streamline its vast area of operations both online and offline. The major focus could be freight, human resource, passenger, administration. Railway now has its own IT arm named CRIS. The new implementation should allow improving the ticketing system, managing land assets better, improved tracking running trains and many tech initiatives. The domestic IT sector hopefully will benefit from such a large scale transformation towards mobility and digitization. More!
How Largest Tech giant thinks about future of Interactive Shopping?
While interactive commerce has been taking its baby steps, Google has gone ahead, leveraging on its 'hangout' feature. It now allows Designers to interact via live stream sessions, while customers can browse through the products too. The items are curated to generate more interest to customers. The new initiative has provided a natural and authentic way for doing shopping. The program has been a hit on web and social media and has been doing well for the retailers. Soon we may see entertainment industry also getting clubbed with your shopping experience. We may be able to watch an episode while browsing through the items worn by actors at the same time and buy it then too. More!
What is Zero Effort Commerce ZFC?
A set of wearable devices; in future would change the way you do shopping. Even there may not be a need to spend time to think about shopping too. Technology is going ahead in predicting and shopping for you. Ebay has already come up with such a prototype. Imagine having a wearable suggest you a new shirt once your current one gets old. It seems well that the software technology will move together well with the advancement in hardware technologies like wearables. Also it may be connected to house electronics and thus manage the services, refills, replacements and more. More!
How webisodes are now trending in Middle East?
Arabic Entertainment industry has its own attributes derived from culture and social factors. To establish itself in the niche of the web entertainment sector Yahoo acquired Maktoob for $ 164 million in 2009. Maktoob has been already successful in providing Arabic content based services in the region. Web episodes of programs in Arabic are now being released as they found there has been a growing audience. Most of the audience were into to the Western media earlier. Now the new series will be entirely targeted to the Arabic audience and their preferences. Culture, Society, News will be the prime focus for establishing the best relativity with the users. More!
Can a crowd sourcing app ensure advocacy for social causes?
At a time when California is going through a serious drought, VizSafe app has been playing a major role in the fight. The app encourages users to capture, share and review; location based observations on various issues. In California it is helping people to report wastage of water and have directed media to large businesses accused of the same. Also the app assisted police in making the Boston Marathon safer in 2014 with feeds from users on suspicious items in the area. Along with a large network of cameras, the app feed was incorporated by Boston Police Department to ensure a safe event. The app goes further with sharing critical information among users and their peers. The app thus enables to keep an eye on your neighborhood and make it safer. More!
How did an app make hotel room booking convenient and cheaper?
Sam Shank and his peers introduced HotelTonight app in 2011 to capitalize on their experience in hospitality industry. Also figures showed 40% of hotel rooms are vacant in many cities. Their unique concept of last minute booking allowed hotels to sell out their rooms and give good rates to customers. The app slowly caught up pace and began partnering with many top hotels across major cities. The app has kept itself aside of large portals like Orbitz and focus on a niche of last minute deals. The deals give them upto 20% commission on each booking. The app now has 10 million users and operates for 250 cities across America and Europe. More!
How did the worlds largest retailer showed that talent is more worth than technology?
With 11,000 stores in 27 countries Walmart is looking ahead of new channels as the retail business is shifting. They are keen to have new thought process across their business model. The adoption of new models should not disrupt their current system and should be aligned to it. At the 45th year of incorporation they are acquiring Luvocracy.com the Social recommendation service. Walmart has been very interested in such acquisitions and this is the 13th in a row. They are more interested in the brains behind the concept than directing the social service to uphold their web initiatives. Walmarts R&D division will be working ahead with the new acquired team to take them ahead. Also it will be worth to watch how they will manage and capitalize on .5 million users and influencers in the service. More!
How does a patented technology help get valuables auctioned to a larger audience?
Online auction was first introduced by Auctionata.com from Berlin. The auctions are telecasted live while the bids happen online at the same time. People from across the globe take part in the session. They also showcase a wide range of curated valuables on their online shop. The service upholds its presence based on the quality, expertise, services and reliability. The portal has been aggressive in its approach with the unique combination of auctions and online sales. More!
How well do you know your city and what it has for you?
Now a huge uplift in the social discovery service Foursquare has been done. It is supposed to revolutionize the way users discover their locality. The new version looks into users choices and will customize the information showcased. Also a new logo reflects the powerful exploring features new to the service. A dedicated new app Swarm has been also released for check-ins by its vast community of 50 million users. It has been a bold move to expect users to use both the apps in sync for a different user experience. The service also helps 1.6 million businesses across the globe to vitalise themselves by pulling in customers. More!
How did a project laughed at submission in Stanford University, become 3.5 billion enterprise?
In California, Evan Spiegel had a tough start with the idea of impermanent photos. In one year since he rolled out the Snapchat app with his partners, the users were sharing 20 million snaps per day. The app began raising funds with much interest from investors. One year later the app cleared through remaining law suits and came well ahead in number of snaps to 700 million per day. The app did a good part in the age of selfies and teens looking ahead for privacy. In Birmingham, UK, now Police are using the service to connect with society mostly youngsters for sharing safety instructions and stories. The app now has 80 million active users of which 71% are below age of 24. More!
How does an internet giant try to catch ahead in the mobile era?
To catch-up with Google and Facebook, Yahoo will be acquiring Flurry from San Francisco to scale up its mobile experience. The service analyses 1.4 billion mobile devices for targeted advertising. It gives them access to their technology and people which may leverage ad business for Yahoo. Flurry can also provide them access to core information about the demographics and devices used by customers to optimise well on their service. In many countries they have given in-depth analysis which helped many smart phone developers to understand where they stood in the recent fierce competition. Being a platform that help Publishers to monetize and Developers to analyse the service has played its role in the developing mobility environment. More!
Can an app be your best mate in and out of Kitchen?
With 500K recipes, BigOven from Seattle is considered as the best tool for those who cook. It does find recipes for the items that you have on stock and also scale up the recipes as required. Also planning a weeks menu ahead is also made easier. And your grocery shopping is made easier, with automated shopping list. It assists your health concern with nutritional info. The app now has social elements that allow family and friends to view each others recipes. This year Elle Magazine selected it as one of the best mothers day app. More!
How can supportive responses on a social network overwhelm a father?
A social news service, Reddit was found in 2005 and later became an open source project. Focused on US, the service allows users to share, categorize, comment, group and vote a large amount of content. When his six week old Sophia passed away in the hospital, Nathen Steffel posted an emotional request on the portal. The post included a photograph of her in the hospital bed with tubes all over. He requested if someone could remove the tubes in the picture. The responses were countless with a large number of artists and public responding creating enough stir in the community. More!
How can a 7 sec video promote a large brand to a global audience?
Toyota carried out the 'Dream Car of the Day' promotion on Vine.com; the short-form video sharing service. The campaign intended to get into the minds of the kids across the globe. It collected drawings from kids on their dream car. A vine video created with advanced tech is being released each day during the 90 day program. The vine video will represent the best entry of that day. The best among those 90 concepts will be awarded at an event on Tokyo. The campaign has been a great success with more than half a million entries from 75 countries. More!
Can an app written off by many technocrats be later saving lives of Israeli citizens?
The Yo app was developed in San Francisco, for peers to just send a prefixed message in a single tap. Even with its simplicity the app saw 2 million downloads in just 4 months. Associating with the Redalert service in the region; the app gives warning messages prior to incoming missile hits. The founders mentions that they never thought to see the app serving such a purpose. The app also does serve the purpose of giving an overview about the situation in Israel to the world. Meanwhile opponent side in Gaza are still dependent on hashtags like #airstrike for such hits. More!
How could technology help a couple to raise means to cure cancer for their five month old?
Based on the concept of crowd sourcing technology; Gofundme.com from CA is helping people raise funds for various events and challenges. Alex and Kiley Watson found out their son had cancer in early 2014. They didn't have the insurance coverage and money to get the expensive treatments. Their friends resorted to the online platform to setup a page to collect funds for the cause. Joining with some firms and general pubic, the fund raiser has been initiated targeting USD 50k. The efforts hopefully will support the family at their tough time. The service now associates with many remarkable fundraisers and have been grabbing much media attention. More!
How could Real time Deals take over the traditional Daily Deal business?
A micro-blog service is about to bring such a trend capitalizing on its unique capabilities. Joining hands with top e-commerce and payment services; Twitter.com is moving ahead with the latest trend. Though an official announcement is still on hold, its in the grape vine. This move would be a part of efforts to monetize on its success till now. CEO Costolo, says the real time factor is unique pitch for the service. There has been much effort to improve the user-base for the service from being sluggish too. New concept of Real time deals could help business to generate more customer interest and engagement and help the service find new means. More!
How did an electronics maestro tie-up with an online giant to pull-up its business?
Motorola choose Flipkart.com the best ecommerce strategist in India, when it came again to focus on the business after the Nokia era. A large chunk of sales at 1 million came through their online partner in just 5 months. The strategy was clear with selling top class phones exclusively on the online medium. Now Motorola is at 5th position in numbers even with just working with a single online partner. They now believe that such a success is possible in emerging markets in the continent. Now their phones are exclusively sold in Lazada, the fastest growing portal in South East Asia. Few other companies like Celkon are also trying to mimic similar strategy. More!
How can you purchase different items from multiple sites through a single app?
What would be next level of your Pinterest experience? Keep.com has been taking the customer engagement to the next level with curated shopping experience. Focused on premium fashion, decor, it showcases the best items to the customer. The mobile app especially allows customers an overhaul in the traditional inconsistent mobile shopping experience. They have a one touch check out for all those items on the cart. The portal will take care of the rest of customer. It now has a community of addictive users who creates flow of the curated feeds. With the perfect merge of product discovery and quickest checkout ever, the service has been a hit. More!
How do the largest retailer for home run successful promotions via a modern media like Pinterest?
Can an appealing structured campaign on such a media help to improve sales for a business? On the Thanksgiving Day, Wayfair.com carried out a customer acquisition program on Pinterest. It asked home decor enthusiasts to pin their desired items found on their portal. The initiative was tied with discounts and prizes too. The portal saw a traffic climb of 27 % via web referrals. The firm now has USD 600 million sales annually. Other such services in the USD 500 billion worth market are Fab, One Kings Lane. According to Trisha Mack, Senior Manager, Pinterest has been the triumphant for social media promotion for their firm. More!
How to bring together the entities and build a community for those who are in the real estate industry?
How to go beyond just listing and buying online? Competing with many large players a start-up portal by IIT pass outs has touched new heights with huge success. Commonfloor.com now has 5 million visits a month from those who are looking forward to listing in 120 cities. They are offering a comprehensive solution compared to other portals that covers all information like locality intel. Buyers, Sellers and Professionals come together on the portal which now has 2 Lakh listings. The recent funding from top investment groups will be directed for uplift their marketing initiatives. As per ComScore ranking they are now the No 1 real estate portal in India. More!
How to find a perfect place to stay while on your business travel on a new city?
How does a portal be based on a large concept like sharing economy? Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbin in San Francisco got an idea to share part of their apartment, as they couldnt pay rent themselves. They later went on to build Airbnb.com which now helps people in about 190 countries to utilise their various assets wisely. The service helps mostly travellers seeking best rentals in cities at affordable rates. The concept has bulldozed into the traditional, strong hotel business in large cities. But many apartment rental companies have also benefited from having a suitable way to connect to customers. Reviews help travellers to choose wisely and best rentals to get noted. More!
How to get a fairly charged safe and on-time drive back to home after a busy day?
Can an app ensure fare earnings for drivers and better experience for travellers in 140 cities across the world? Four year old Uber has been the centre of attention for some time with many large investors like Google Ventures. Travis Kalanick, Co-founder and CEO, says the growth has been remarkable. The ground transportation business is worth billions and yet to be explored. The drivers get the same fair margin although the firm has slashed the fares for passengers. The company is operating now on very less margins and want to take head on the upcoming competition in this segment with this move. Regular taxi drivers have staged many protests against the service. Despite many legal issues in their operational areas, they are able to fetch the highest market share with a good strategy. More!
How can games make the world a better place to live in ?
What is the social aspect in gaming ? San Francisco based Zynga.com was founded by Mark Pincus who worked on such a concept. It enables players engaged in its social gaming platform to contribute to many non profit firms across the globe. The company works with such firms to bring development for promoting areas like play, education, and food and nutrition. At times of catastrophies that hit Japan and Haiti, they were able to support with funds raised through various social campaigns. At the time when they are shifting focus to mobile devices, other players like Glu, EA are stiffening their hold in the field. Though the company has seen a decline in financials in past 2 years, it is a mature organisation for share holders and bound to grow again soon. More!
What would be the edge factor for a startup in food industry in London with biggies already out there ?
Current CEO William Shu for Deliveroo.co.uk, got an idea in mind after he was dissatisfied with the quality of food that was available for delivery. Many premium restaurants in UK didnt have delivery services then. Deliveroo began with the advantage of having logistics coupled with their online ordering platform. They were able to have a large portfolio of restaurant and delicacies. Now the service includes portal for customers, touch screen interface for restaurants, smart phone app for drivers who delivers. Premium restaurants have found better customer satisfaction and thus leading to 20-30 % increase in revenues. Also the businesses have a well advanced technology end with vast analytics. More!
Can a 16 year old get recognized as the best artist in world for her first album?
What was the role played by new age audio distribution platform in that success? Lorde' did not expected it out of 'The Love Club' when showcased on Soundcloud.com, the second biggest streaming music service. Wahlforss - Co Founder and CTO for the service says since then; the engagement of big names in the portal has gone up. After overcoming Myspace legacy, it now has more than 250 million listeners on both web and mobile. Their growth ahead will be based on how well they focus on both Artists and Audience and pushing the revenue model. For Artists they are able to build a large fan base and interact with them. The advantage for the Musicians is to have many times a regular Audience for their materials in quick succession. Also artists are discovering each other on a global level too. The company from Berlin is now worth USD 700 million and adds 12 hours of content in every minute. More!
Which Parcel service will you choose to send something across next time ?
Is it possible to have a marketplace that help you opt for such logistics services ? PickParcel.com has been a new innovation that helps to choose between various parcel services by comparison of delivery times, prices and more. The portal acts as a online aggregator for the companies in the industry and offers a platform for fair competition and better choice for customers. Ayush and Akshat Agrawal; the founders for the portal initiated this idea after working on ecommerce business for some time. They understood that it is a pain area for similar online business to find suitable delivery service and most often couldnt afford own delivery system. The service is going well with a coverage for 10K pincodes in India. For major cities they have own pickup and delivery facitlites and for other areas they rely on their courier partners. The portal has way forward to go rather than instant quotes, and booking services of various vendors. More!
How to have a definite platform to converge and revolutionize events and entertainment industry ?
A platform built on a technology base is helping event organisers to manage their activities; with ease. Explara.com has features for ticketing, registration, merchandise sales, event management. They manage around 7500 events in India supporting the event and entertainment industry which is now worth 5000 Cr. With this success they are aiming at other emerging economy like Singpore and Middle East. They are focused on segments like technology, business, entertainment, sports, fundraising, workshops, parties. The other players out there are BuzzinTown, Bookmyshow, Ticketmaster, EventBrite, Kyazoonga. CEO Santhosh Panda thinks it is a perfect industry to be transformed into an online model. They earn margins starting from 1.99 % on each ticket adding convenience fees. The company has partnered with local operators in countries like Philippines, Singapore, Hong Kong, UK & USA, but still want to keep focus on small and medium events in India. More!
How does a Professional Network influence multiple functional areas ?
What would be the strategy to upsize their second largest customer base? Linkedin from US, now operaties for 200 countries and acts as a one stop solution for marketing, job search, business news, education and above all professional networking. After US, India has the largest userbase of 26 million for the service. They are focused on helping indian professionals be more productive and successful in their professional life. More than 80% users influence business decisions in the country. The portal has gone ahead in terms of technology and features like profiles, insights, connections, mobile. They also have affordable premium services and ads that are well appreciated for targeted reachout. Country Manager Nishant Rao mentions they have a long way to go to meet their users needs that lie ahead. More!
What happens when two of the largest Dating portals find perfect match between each other ?
How can they reinvest to explore International growth opportunities ? RSVP and Oasis Active from Australia have worked out a merger worth USD 90 million. RSVP is the first and largest online dating service in Australia. Oasis Active with strong Latin American presence will help them grow further. The next challenge for them would be to head with the storm of new mobile dating apps like Tinder who are innovating well on areas like social discovery. More!
How much worth is Re-commerce in a Developing economy?
Can a company solve a major issue of returns and unused stock at many online business? Overcart has just secured series A funding from various investors as they handle the above issues well. The portal enables many ecommerce firms to sell their unsold stock to end customers. It has now become an online marketplace for refurbished, pre-owned and excess stock products. As per Alex Souter, MD; they are well positioned to scale up with Indian ecommerce sector. More!
How much is the Food delivery market in India?
How do a marketplace model be implemented on a large scale for such a distinct opportunity? The global online food delivery marketplace from Berlin - Foodpanda, operating in 40 countries; targets 15% of market share of 2000+ Crore industry. in India in next 3 years. According to MD and Co-founder Rohit Chadda they have partnerships with 3,500 restaurants in 33 cities across India, and has a daily page traffic of 60,000. The very next competitor JustEat.in, has 2,500 partner restaurants across 10 cities. More!
What would be the contribution of Japan to the arena of online business?
Can an online firm maintain International commerce well especially between continents? The largest ecommerce company in Japan; Rakuten.com acquired Buy.com in 2010. It now operate the third largest marketplace on the web for 18 million customers engaging 39K merchants. Roger Andelin, President & CTO mentions they want to take the online shopping to the next level. Rakuten now own Viber and have investments on Ozon.ru; the Russian portal, Viki.com; the video streaming site & Pinterest. More!
How do Customers do purchase these days while in local stores?
Can advanced technology make shopping better and save 50% or more? Comparison shopping and product information were brought to the palms of users by Redlaser app. With 750K users it is now the No 1 utility app for iOS and got acquired by eBay. The app recognizes the bar code and checks internet for information and prices. Redlaser understand that customers are price sensitive. The app targets 200 million listings from eBay & product inventory from over 7,000 merchants on Shopping.com. More!
How to dig deeper into a niche of customer segment ?
Can it influence the level of positioning in the minds of customers ? A young couple from Pennsylvania began Modcloth.com to capitalise on their interest on unique vintage style clothing. They began a portal to showcase this niche of clothing and now bring in styles from 700 designers across the globe. With steady growth focused on openness & empowering a well targeted community; they grew to 3 major cities. Modcloth is now Americas Fastest-growing retailer and have raised $ 3 million till date. More!
How do technology transform a hobby like book reading ?
What will be the future for local book-stores? Sydney based online retail book store Booktopia.com.au at its 10th year finds its best pace. They now sell a book in every 10 second across Australia. With 4 million books in database; they just made the right move introducing e-books. According to Tony Nash, CEO; they are able to upgrade their facilities very well as they grow. They also brush against other players like Amazon and other rental stores like Jekkle in the market. More!
Is Ecommerce just about products ? What about services ?
A mobile app based on demand service for laundering and dry cleaning was launched across 2 major cities in US. Washio give a premium service and does the job in a 24 hour turnaround. Payments are via mobile phone and they outsource the job to third party facilities. Co-founder Jordan Metzner says they want to expand the service to all cities acoss US. Till now they have raised funds upto $2.8 million. Washio is now appreciated for its convenience and professional service. More!
How do a professional who left Amazon; work on a great idea & make it a reality.
Can the business in a niche, grow city by city with high revenue buildup. Instacart, a San Francisco-based startup by Apoorva Mehta, now operates in 10 cities in US. Unlike Amazon, it is a regionally based shopping and delivery service that utilizes local stores and an army of personal shoppers. They keeps its costs down by using what it calls a "crowd-sourced labor force." A real person selecting each item, rather than relying on a delivery truck and warehouse makes it different. More!
How do a Trading Company strategically venture into a new arena of ecommerce.
Can they create a strong marketing system with a competitive rewards program. Ahmad Lulu General Trading LLC found an opportunity to get into paid content e-commerce business in Middle East. They are targeting 5 customer segments: home, offices, students, professionals, and academics and have over 500k potential customers in UAE only. Primesuccess.net is now on the way to be the leading online platform for Knowledge, Entertainment. More!
How do a Travel publishing company based in Maryland generate more business in their region via their customers and earn more revenue.
Can they leverage on their reach to 25 million guests. Landmark Marketing found a solution by launching a portal; offering daily deals with a general savings of 50-90%. Tourists in 7 regions across the Mid-Atlantic now get the best offers in dining, shopping, accommodations, and activities. Landmarksgreatdeals.com thus ensured great engagement between their Tourists and Businesses. More!
How do you recognize the apt time to initiate online extension of your business.
Should you go to online channel, still with 1.2K successful stores across the country. One of UK's largest supermarket chain just did that as they understood their customers were expecting it. Sainsburys.co.uk just launched with wide range of groceries, clothing & merchandise. They successfully introduced a Click & Collect service, allowing customer to collect items ordered online, from a store as per convenience. It will stand as a perfect implementation of a multi channel strategy by a large retail business. More!
How do a struggling internet retailer find a way out and then become a top player by pure strategy.
Can they shift successfully from their model of auctions to fixed price sales by top sellers. Even as it took many years, eBay slowly gained pace and grew 4 times larger with presence over 1K cities across globe. It now competes well with Amazon, Groupon etc in the industry. Also they now own PayPal which allows payments & money transfers via internet. And they are focused on large investments which will pave way for acquisitions as mentioned by Devin Wenig, President - eBay Marketplaces More!
How do 3 men working with Goldman Sachs come up a vision for a new business which went to became the best etailer in the world.
Can they serve 21K products without depending on any network of stores. Ocado was founded in 2000 with a mission to revolutionize grocery shopping. Starting from 2009 Ocado.com extended services via Mobile devices too. Despite stiff price war & competition, they beat off Argos, Marks & Spencer, Wal-Mart, HSN.com, eSpares; with focus on Technology, Delivery, Customer Centricity. Tim Steiner, CEO believes 60% of groceries to be sold via the web in 20 years. More!
Should a startup incubator place a bet on a vast unexplored area in South East Asia for its business.
Will they capitalise on this opportunity, facing huge challenges. Rocket Internet ignited Lazada.com in 5 South east Asian countries in early 2012. With more focus on tier 2 & tier 3 cities; they bring offerings to people who, for first time, can spend money using disposable income. CEO Bittner says they are focused to improve logistics and companys supply chain which are key areas for them. Lazada now offers a mix of books, household goods, consumer electronics, toys and sports equipment More!
How to open an engagement portal for in the niche of Travel Industry in Australia.
Can it provide 9 services from various Businesses to more than 100K users. Gary Trenerry had this vision when he founded Travelfactory.com.au and he wanted the portal to evolve as it goes ahead. With its base in Melbourne, they ensure best experience for the Travellers across the country. Now its one of the Fastest growing Travel sites in Australia. They now also have a Cashback portal delivering cashback on shopping at over 1,000 online stores. More!
How do a startup Internet firm go head to head with Groupon, LivingSocial.
Can they get into the market share enjoyed by these giants in more than 3 major cities in US. Yonzo.com choose Tulsa in Oklahoma for their base, being a centralized location, with diverse talent pool & high opportunities. They began with an excellent web-mobile platform for businesses to engage with customers via exclusive offers & a $10 reward for referrals. They are now a trusted partner for local businesses and plan to extend to Canada. More!
What is actually Drop Shipping.
Dropshipping is a Fulfillment Method where a store doesnt keep the products it sells in stock. Instead, when the store sells a product, it purchases the item from a third party and has it shipped directly to the customer. Important consideration when selecting products to Dropship: Marketing Potential, Accessories, Turnover of Models, Hard to find locally, Size and Weight More!
How do a MNC in Healthcare industry target its large specific user base.
How to keep engaging with them, share information and gain feedback regarding the merchandise. That was exactly done by Johnson & Johnson. Janssen, their Pharmaceutical division launched a large social engagement portal Gutpeople.net for IBD specialists across Asia Pacific. The portal allows great customer/ influencer engagement and social interaction. Also firm leverages from intelligence, feedback on the same. The portal is very useful for the specialists itself as it is bound to their community to communicate and share within. More!
How do an online retail giant get aggressive in reach out to customers and be brave in the sales strategy.
How can they give their customers more space to make valuable purchases. How to innovate with alignment with your existing business model. Shop.com owned by Market America with 4.5 million customers worked out on this opportunity very well. They implemented a daily deal model of business which was merged to their existing online business and improvised business with 40 % repeat customer visits. More!
How do an Advertising Company find a new way to extend its premium Audience.
Can they really ensure it is Innovative, Informative and Fun. Technoline associated with Dubai Taxi Corp. for the first application to serve Ads in an interactive format to their 3.3 million taxi passengers in a month. Audience are International travelers, Tourists, Business people, Local Residents. It now enables to grab Offers, check Events & Promotions while on the way etc. It ensured good reach, reduce ad spend, collect data feedback. More!
US New Age Retail Commerce
Over the past decade, US e-commerce has grown at an impressive clip of almost 18 percent a year. It now accounts for 8 percent of total retail sales. US smartphone penetration exceeds 40 percent today. At designer-fashion retailer Gilt, for instance, mobile accounts for about 50 percent of daily traffic and more than 30 percent of total sales. More!