CRM Idol Competition – Get Nominations In By June 10 |  |
- CRM Idol Competition – Get Nominations In By June 10
- iPhones Grow in Popularity, But Android Platform Still Leads
- Foursquare Jumps on Paid Promotions Bandwagon with Small Biz Pilot
- R.J. Hottovy of Morningstar on Amazon Prime’s Lessons in Creating Loyal Customers
- Hard Times Call For A Fast Talking, Guitar Playing CEO
| CRM Idol Competition – Get Nominations In By June 10 Posted: 07 Jun 2013 03:45 PM PDT
The deadline for technology companies to compete in CRM Idol is fast approaching. Monday, June 10, 2013 is the entry deadline. CRM Idol takes a broad view of what constitutes CRM technology — it’s a competition to discover the most promising new marketing-related technologies. Here is a sampling of the kinds of technology that may qualify:
Companies must have less than $12 million in revenue and have been founded less than seven years ago. "The submissions for this competition keep getting better and better," said Paul Greenberg, CRM Idol founder. "Every year we see great companies committed to innovation in the CRM space, and I'm sure this year will be no different." Once submissions are in, those who meet requirements will be announced June 20. After product demonstrations, interviews, and voting by judges and the public, the CRM Idol 2013 winners will be announced Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2013. This is the third year for the CRM Idol competition. Eight former participants in the competition have been acquired, with many others enjoying increased visibility and great success. Former winners and participants cite CRM Idol as an important differentiator with both prospects and investors. The primary judges for CRM Idol 2013 for the Americas include industry experts Brent Leary, co-founder and partner of CRM Essentials LLC, Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal of Beagle Research, Esteban Kolsky, principal and founder at ThinkJar LLC, Jesus Hoyos, partner and co-founder of Solvis Consulting, and Paul Greenberg, managing principal at the 56 Group. Winners of the competition will be awarded with consulting hours from the judging panel, the opportunity to pitch to investing partners including Bain Capital Ventures, publicity with leading industry publications, and technology licenses with valuable tools including Salesforce.com, Infusionsoft, and Marketo. Go here for complete rules. To submit a nomination, request a submission form by emailing: request@crmidol.com The post CRM Idol Competition – Get Nominations In By June 10 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| iPhones Grow in Popularity, But Android Platform Still Leads Posted: 07 Jun 2013 01:30 PM PDT
Apple continues to lead the pack in the U.S. as a smartphone make. To iPhone users, that’s probably not a surprise. iPhone users tend to be loyal fans. More than 39 percent of mobile subscribers in the 3 month average ending April used Apple smartphones, comScore reports. That’s more than any other smartphone maker. And popularity is growing. April’s figures are a 1.4 percent increase over Apple’s share of the market as measured in January. The company’s market share in this category actually increased by nearly a full percentage point over its closest competitor, Samsung. Here is how the rest of the smartphone market breaks down: Samsung was next, with 22 percent of the market, up just over half a percentage point since January. These figures could change in favor of Samsung if the company sees customers confidently buying its Galaxy S4 smartphone or its competitively priced Galaxy S4 Mini (when it’s released). Phone makes HTC (9.7%), Motorola (8.6%), and LG (7%) follow. Android Leads, If Measured By Operating PlatformIf you count by operating platforms — instead of phone makers — the story is different. Google’s Android continues to dominate in the smartphone operating system market. This market is measured by the number of subscribers using the Android operating system, versus a particular make of phone. According to comScore’s MobiLens service, over half of the 138.5 million smartphone users in the U.S. have phones running Google’s Android platform. But Android’s lead among operating systems decreased nearly two full percentage points from January to April. Apple’s iOS, of course, is next at 39% and saw a 1.4 percent increase as mentioned above. BlackBerry and Windows phones’ market shares each dropped a bit, less than a percentage point over the same period, according to the MobiLens survey. MobiLens gets its information from a nationwide sample of smartphone subscribers over the age of 13. Only primary mobile phone numbers are used to collect data. Shutterstock, smartphone The post iPhones Grow in Popularity, But Android Platform Still Leads appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Foursquare Jumps on Paid Promotions Bandwagon with Small Biz Pilot Posted: 07 Jun 2013 11:13 AM PDT
Foursquare is following the lead of other social media sites with more promoted posts, this time courting small businesses. The pilot program allows small businesses to pay for promoted listings which would appear to Foursquare users when those users are near a business’s location. Based on a report about Foursquare Local Updates we published last year, the service appears similar to one the company rolled out then — with some obvious differences. The existing feature allows small businesses to send messages about deals, specials, new items or any other pertinent information to Foursquare users who were already loyal customers. Now, for a fee, under this new program, small businesses will be able to reach Foursquare users who might not be customers yet. One difference, of course, is the new Foursquare promoted listings would allow small businesses to reach out and lure in new customers more proactively. This way, you can make potential customers aware of your business for the first time. And of course, the new service is fee-based – you have to pay for promoted listings. The fee is cost-per-action based, meaning the merchant pays only if someone taps on the promotion or checks in. The existing Local Updates and Specials are free. The new promoted listings are marked with the word “Promoted” next to them. So far the new program appears to be a test or pilot program. Foursquare is already working on promotions with select small businesses in the New York City area. AdAge.com reports Foursquare is allowing small business advertisers to select certain criteria based on user account profiles. That way, a fine dining restaurant, for example, could find customers who express an interest in restaurants via their profiles or through their previous check-ins. KFC, Radioshack and several other national brands have been using this form of advertising on Foursquare for some time. This latest Foursquare promoted listings advertising feature is now being rolled out to small businesses in a limited fashion in New York City, according to AdAge.com. Over 1,000,000 businesses use the Foursquare merchant platform today — a ready pool of potential advertisers for Foursquare to tap into. The post Foursquare Jumps on Paid Promotions Bandwagon with Small Biz Pilot appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| R.J. Hottovy of Morningstar on Amazon Prime’s Lessons in Creating Loyal Customers Posted: 07 Jun 2013 08:00 AM PDT With the rise of mobile, social and the cloud, you are also seeing the rise of subscription model businesses. A model of business built on building long-term customer relationships, and not on one-off transactions. Companies like The Tie Society, who don't sell you ties, but a subscription to wear a tie for a while, ship it back, and then where another tie for a while. Or the Dollar Shave Club, where you get razor blades sent to your house each month so you never have to go to a store for razors again. These subscription-based companies have to continually provide value to keep people signed up, or else they're out of business. One of the more popular subscription-based offerings is the Amazon Prime Membership – Amazon.com's $79/year service that allows you free 2-day shipping on pretty much everything they offer. In this interview, my featured guest, R.J. Hottovy of Morningstar, discusses the findings of his recent report on how Amazon Prime members are worth eight times as much to the company than non Prime customers. And how building a subscription-based membership program can drive revenue and create an army of loyal customers that keep competitors away. * * * * *
R.J. Hottovy: I am a senior eCommerce analyst at Morning Star. I also am the Global Director of Consumer Equity Research and I am responsible for a team that covers three hundred equities with 100 of those either in Europe or Asia or closer to our teams in Sydney, Australia and Shenzhen, China as part of Morningstar’s global equity research coverage. I’ve been covering the eCommerce space for over a decade at this point and it’s been one of the most disruptive forces in retail since the advent of warehouse clubs in the early 90′s. Small Business Trends: One of things that I want to talk to you about is the effect the Amazon Prime Membership has had? R.J. Hottovy: Amazon, in particular, is one of the more debated stocks in the consumer universe. I think most people would recognize the tremendous growth; with cumulative average revenue growth averaging above 25% the last three years. So no one can deny that this is a tremendously fast growing company. But the question – with operating margins contracting from 5%, three years ago to essentially just 1% this past year on a reported GAAP basis – is, ‘Can Amazon monetize this growth?’ Because without that, the growth becomes a moot point. I started building some frameworks on how Amazon can monetize its growth. Some things that caught my eye are its digital content through its Kindle ecosystem, Amazon Web Services and the idea of Fulfillment by Amazon. One of the things that was under appreciated in the market was the fact that Amazon Prime, in its own right, was a pretty meaningful building block of profitability for this company. Something that, as it gets more and more members, not only increases top line revenues, but can also be profitable. Small Business Trends: You estimated at the end of 2012 that there were roughly 10 million Amazon prime members. That number dramatically jumps in the last couple of years to around 25 million? R.J. Hottovy: That’s approximately where we see things going as of 2017. Granted, there's a lot of different variables at play. We feel there is a reasonable assumption of where this program can grow. I think that the idea of having Amazon Prime trial memberships that go long with a Kindle Fire purchase is going to help. I think the idea of adding substantial content – both video as well as some book and magazine content to the membership – is going to go a long way. But I think at the end of the day, what’s been the selling point of this program is just the idea of having access to a wide set of products that you can get to your doorstep within a couple of days at low prices. I think that is a combination of things which is going to help you draw more people to Amazon and entice them to become Prime members. Small Business Trends: The other thing from an Amazon perspective is the impact that this program seems to have on buying patterns and behaviors. Your research pointed out that the average Prime member spends a little over twice the amount of the average Amazon shopper? R.J. Hottovy: This study was done in partnership with a company called Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. What we found is that, generally speaking, last year Prime members spent about twice as much as non Prime members. They spent about $1,200 dollars compared to $600 for non Prime members. What’s also interesting is that the average person shopping online last year spent approximately $1,000. What that says to us it that Prime members generate more incremental revenue per than non Prime shoppers. They are doing most of their online shopping on Amazon as opposed to going to other sites. Prime members generate more income. To us that’s interesting because that shows that Amazon has a powerful network effect it and has become a destination for consumers – that they have to be on that site. I think that’s powerful and shows that Amazon is protecting it's customer base with it’s Prime membership program. Small Business Trends: You actually say that a Prime member is eight times as valuable to Amazon as a non primer? R.J. Hottovy: That is correct. They are driving a significant portion of the overall revenue. I think the interesting thing to is tying in this whole idea around, ‘Can Amazon be profitable?’ What we found doing the analysis is we broke down every line item that Amazon has. We pointed out that an average Prime customer brings in $700 in incremental revenue. When you include the $79 membership fee, what we found is that Amazon is actually generating about $80 in incremental profit on that revenue that they take in from a Prime member which is an operating margin of about 8%. Now that compares to Amazon's overall operating margin of 1%. The difference there is because Amazon is investing a lot in technology and a lot of investments in fulfillment centers, etc. What we’ve found, if you isolate them and take a look at the incoming revenue and the incremental cost of a Prime member, they are quite profitable. As Prime membership grows over time, that gives a very good indication that Amazon can, in fact, monetize their growth. Small Business Trends: One of the things that stood out to me is an article where you were interviewed for Wired titled, “Why Amazon Prime Can Soon Cost You Next to Nothing.” Can Amazon actually drop down the cost of a membership to next to nothing and still make it profitable? R.J. Hottovy: I think it has the flexibility to make adjustments to the Amazon Prime pricing structure. Looking at potential different uses such as having a lower price membership for somebody who is just accessing Prime for video. I think that’s an alternative. I think that this is potentially an opportunity to upscale. We’ve been able to be more confident that Amazon Prime is actually profitable. I think that really speaks to the overall value of the proposition it is bringing. Small Business Trends: How does this impact the rest of the online retail industry or retail in general? R.J. Hottovy: It’s going to be very difficult to compete with Amazon. Particularly those stores in commoditized categories like, clothes, electronics, toys, etc. because, by those companies having a physical storefront, Amazon can maintain a pretty significant price leadership. Even with online sales tax collection, Amazon can still undercut these companies and consumers will flock to the lowest price. This is the whole idea of show rooming. Where consumers will potentially go out to BestBuy, play with the items so they can understand a little bit better and then go make a purchase elsewhere. The only way that retailers get to compete with Amazon is to essentially match prices — to keep people from making an ultimate purchase on Amazon. At the same time, they'd be doing so at the expense of the margins they maintain and it will make it a lot less possible for these retailers to stay in business. Small Business Trends: Where can people people learn more about the research you’ve done on the subject? R.J. Hottovy: For people interested in learning more about the research we’ve done, you can go MorningStar.com. This interview on subscription based membership programs is part of the One on One interview series with thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This transcript has been edited for publication. The post R.J. Hottovy of Morningstar on Amazon Prime’s Lessons in Creating Loyal Customers appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Hard Times Call For A Fast Talking, Guitar Playing CEO Posted: 07 Jun 2013 05:00 AM PDT
Sometimes when you’re stuck for an idea, the best way to get unstuck is to paint yourself into a corner. This cartoon, for example, came out of a particularly poor writing day. I spent probably a good 3 hours alternating between staring blankly – and taking little naps. (All that staring really drains you.) I finally broke through when I imagined a guy with a guitar in a meeting. What would he say? Why does he have the guitar? That seemed to loosen things up in my head a bit and I got this cartoon, which, incidentally, is one of my recent favorites. It reads even funnier if you imagine it in a southern drawl. The post Hard Times Call For A Fast Talking, Guitar Playing CEO appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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