Archives posted in: Product
Not all products however enjoy the ‘soap & detergent’ kind of stability. Phones in 1990s were used for calling and today calling is one of the many functions of a phone. Cars back then were mechanical marvels and now they’re practically computers on wheels. In case of software and applications, the product life-cycle graph is even thinner and very well summed up in a comment by Reid Hoffman (Linkedin Cofounder): “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”
MoreNew Washing Machine Marketplace Innovations and Warranties Driving Value Proposition Differentiation
Recent purchases have lasted less time than that in most cases. I wondered aloud whether using tools like Six Sigma for efficiency over and over have reached an inflection point where they destroy quality. Once you have perfected a product and focus on taking out costs, there is an opportunity cost. That opportunity cost usually results in a loss of quality.
MoreThe use of comparable equivalents leads to an improvement in the meaningfulness and accuracy of the benchmark approach, yet the determination of what constitutes the comparable equivalent is made by the consultant him/herself. This approach is fraught with error. Does the lawyer think too highly of him/herself or is he/she being too timid?
MoreThe war for the new world is not just different because of the absence of a defender – it could be even more complex since the sockets itself may not be pre-defined.
MoreWhereas airlines are a particularly visible example of an industry struggling with price structures and value offerings, every company in every industry should pay close attention to their customers and what their customers value. Airlines are a particularly visible example of an industry struggling to think creatively about how best to capture the right price for the value provided.
MoreIf a customer doesn’t need to make design changes to change the chip in a socket they are likely to continuously engage with multiple competing suppliers – not just to get the best price but also to secure supply. In fact in some cases customers are reluctant to design in proprietary chips, as they believe that having a single supplier for a product is very risky!
MoreAt a certain level, the method of accessing a certain music track should be a commodity — it is the track that matters, not the delivery mechanism. Instead of differentiating on price, platforms are trying to do so with exclusive artist agreements and various extras for the consumer, as well as additional marketing support for the artist.
MoreWith recovery in job security and wealth, and having successfully survived the worst recession in most of our lifetimes, truck buyers are in a better position and mind-frame to spend. Moreover, since many blue-collar entrepreneurs spend a significant part of their day driving their truck, and it is normal for people to want their working environment to be comfortable, they are willing to spend for luxury work truck.
MoreAlthough reducing product contents, while maintaining price, remains a viable option for effecting a price increase, care should be taken to do it in a such a way to minimize the chances of a challenge on deceptiveness grounds.
MoreThe fundamental concern for service-based businesses is that each project is different and requires some variance in price and components. The vogue of productizing service offerings alleviates some of the natural envy toward product brands that can quickly adapt to the widening range of consumer demand, but that presents its own hurdles.
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