Quality Control and Customer Expectation

(10/9/2013) I posted this on my factbook today (see the picture below). I was thinking why does the retailer sell jeans so cheap on their website? Well, definitely, the quality control of the production did a very poor job. How can two jeans of the same size (even in the same style, just different wash) has 2-inch difference in waist? Poor supplier selection. Next year, the same supplier probably won't be selected. What is the impression of this online shopping for a buyer like me? I can return it but I feel it is too much work. With the price I pay, I will not waste my time doing that. This over-size jean might be a good fit one day when I really gain weight.

The problem is that I will not buy their product again from the retailer. Why did the retailer salvage these poor quality jeans on their own website? Why didn't it salvage to retailers like TJMax or Ross? If I am a consumer and I find the jeans in TJMax, I will try it on and will not notice the inconsistency of poor quality control. This retailer probably thinks discounting in its own website gets a higher salvage value then sell to TJMax in bulk. Selling on their own will also get consumer's personal information (and it will be good for marketing to customers directly in the future). However, once a consumer loses confidence in the quality, it will probably not come back. I don't think this retailer made a right decision.

Origin of A Real Transformer in The Future

(10/8/2014) This is the coolest "toy" I want. I bet many transformer fans would like to have one too. A lab from MIT designed this self-assembling robot cubes that can move, rotate, and even jump (watch video below). The amazing design of robot cubes is its modularity, which may one day be applied to difficult construction or exploration that the conditions are totally beyond calculation. If I am the CEO of Hasbro, I would like to get license from this technology and launch a toy for kids, it definitely will be more appealing to kids than the "roboroach". How long does its battery really last?

The RoboRoach stirs some ethic issues of cruel treatment on insects. Definitely it's not a toy for everyone.

Inspiring Speech - From Online Dating to CRM?

(10/6/2013) This woman reminds me of Nate Silver. Interestingly, both them are jewish. Not only her speech is very inspiring, I am thinking some of the techniques might be useful for customer relationship management (CRM). What are the algorithms used by those online or mobile marketers? Maybe they should watch this speech.

Labor Disputes Creep to Amazon

(10/6/2013) You probably think of Walmart if I say a retailer that is struggling with labor issues. But now it's Amazon. German Amazon workers may be on a strike before the Christmas sales season in Europe. Note that, Amazon recently has been caught with unfair treatment to their warehouse workers in the US too. Several lawsuits in the US are acting against Amazon now. As an online shopper, we will not see these unhappy workers squeezing their insincere greeting to us like those in Walmart or Target (that is the difference between front-end and back-end operations). But we should not ignore the working conditions and unfair pay those Amazon workers experience.

(12/16/2013) Dear Mr. Bezos, don't say these German workers didn't give you a warning. "Hundreds of workers at Amazon.com in Germany have walked off the job in an effort to put pressure on the American online retailer in the busy days before Christmas to settle on a new wage agreement." You (Amazon) fails yourself.

No Jerk, Please!

(10/4/2013) We probably all worked with jerks sometime in our life. It is pain in the ass and we just try to avoid any encounter with that person. If "No jerks, please!" is the sign on a job description, what would you think of this company? It seems now some firms dare to take a firm standing saying that: we don't want jerks to work with us. Life is too short to deal with jerks, isn't it?

Customer Service to The Next Level

(10/2/2013) Wow, this is real customer service. In 15 seconds after pushing the mayday button, you will talk to customer representative for Kindle problems and they guide you on the screen step by step to answer your question. Amazing.

The Success of K-Cups

(10/1/2013) When you walk in the aisle of a supermarket and look for some coffee, what do you notice? K-cups are taking over the shelf. Keurig's success is well established now. I found two articles talking about its success: THE K-CUP PHENOMENON from CoffeeTalk, and The Buzz Machine-- The inside story of Keurig's rise from Boston.com. Keurig's story can be used for class discussion in the topic of product innovation. No matter how easy and convenient it is, my favorite coffee is still my morning french press. :)