This week demographer Bernard Salt came up with an interesting theory that consumers in Australia are divided into two groups: the internet-savvy “edgy and connected” and the “conservatives”.
Salt says business shouldn’t neglect the conservatives over the connected. “It is important for business… to strike the right balance between appealing to the progressives and also remembering to engage with the other Australia.”
While many online businesses might fall into the trap of only appealing to the web-savvy, it’s good to remember that not everyone can use the internet as well as you think they might. The design of your website might reflect this as well.
Go back, look at your website and think to yourself, are you appealing to the more “conservative” internet user as well? If not, then try and identify things that will make your company more accessible – it might just lead to some more sales.
An Australian app developer was given a shock last week when it discovered its Android app had been given away by Amazon free of charge as part of a one-day deal. While some developers might say this is good publicity, with more than 100,000 downloads recorded, the company disagrees.
Not only will this mean Shifty Jelly company loses out on revenue, but it needs to invest in new infrastructure to handle all the extra traffic.
This is an example of how hard it is for app developers now to make money, but it also highlights the importance of checking legal agreements before you agree to anything, especially if you’re handing over control of intellectual property.
As Shifty Jelly chief Russel Ivanovic told SmartCompany: “This just means we’ll be scrutinising everything from now on. Had we read through the entire agreement we may never have signed up with them in the first place.”
Make sure you read through every single agreement you sign. It may save you plenty of trouble in the long run.
Electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi disappointed the market this week when it announced sales were short of expectations. But it also announced a surprise – that it would be launching a new streaming music service later this year.
While little is known about the new service, this could be the first major challenger to the iTunes Store in Australia. With Spotify having no immediate plans for Australia, JB Hi-Fi is well positioned to offer a successful product.
But the launch of JB Hi-Fi’s product contains another lesson – how to innovate when your business is suffering.
Sales of software, music and games have fallen in comparable terms for JB Hi-Fi. Moving into a streaming model is a good way to compensate, and may very well make up for lost revenue.
If one part of your business is suffering, you shouldn’t necessarily discard it straight away. Instead, take a lesson from JB Hi-Fi and see if you can offer the same product in a different way that is more convenient for your customers.
Yesterday the ACCC took action against an aquarium products supplier that put pressure on an online retailer so that it wouldn’t drop prices. This isn’t a new problem – it’s been happening for months.
In fact, Everten Online chief executive Hal Pritchard told SmartCompany this is one of the biggest issues facing the industry right now.
If you’re an online retailer and suffering from some supplier pressure, you shouldn’t write them off. Instead, get to know them. Talk to them about their concerns. If you strike up a good relationship with them, you may find they’ll eventually come around.
If online retail is going to continue to grow in Australia, then suppliers need to come on board. But they won’t do so if they feel attacked. Construct good relationships with them, talk with them, and then figure out how to address their concerns.
There’s a patent war brewing. Google, Apple and Microsoft are at loggerheads over the recent Nortel patents bid, and it came to a head last week when Google made a blog post attacking the other two in name.
That post sparked a series of tweets from Microsoft executives who claimed that in fact, Google was actually invited to take part in the process. However, Google hit back at that accusation as well.
It’s hard to tell who’s right. But there’s another issue at stake here – public reputation. While big companies like Apple and Google may be able to get away with a public airing of grievances, you can’t. If you’re a small company and rely on reputation to get by, then you shouldn’t engage in this type of fighting with another business.
With so much access to social media and public outlets of expression, it may be easier to just write a blog post attacking a rival. But think twice before you press enter.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
