Amazon Wants to Get College Students Addicted to Prime

(10/11/2016) Some people worry about the future of US Republican party or conservative. The reason is that in the last two US Presidential elections younger voters have leaned to Democrat party. In many social issues, young generations also support a more open and liberal perspective instead of conservative. The political views, once formed, is often fixed for a long time. This year, all polls show that young voters will lean towards Democrat party again. Definitely the Republican party should worry.
       Will our purchasing behavior be cultivated like our political views?
       If so, then Amazon's pursuing young shopper should make many retailers really worry about their future. Amazon has provided college students with free limited-time Amazon Prime account for years. Now they will go further to cultivate young shoppers in their shopping habits by setting up Amazon virtual store in college campus. The really scary part is: there is no real competition in the market place. Jet.com, Newegg.com, Buy.com are, or Walmart.com are even way too smaller in terms of the services and benefits from their membership. Do you think the retailers should worry about their future?

Analyst Calls Fire At Gap Distribution Center “A Fortuitous Reduction In Inventory”

(10/06/2016) Well it is embarrassing. Gap's warehouse in NY got fire last month. Normally this type of disaster to business causes various degree of damage. But  an analyst thinks that fire will be just fine to Gap since their sales was down over the years and the fire may just slashed some unwanted inventory level. However, WSJ had a report saying that the fire will slow down the delivery of Gap's online order. In fact, the share price of Gap just jumped more than 14% today, so maybe the analyst's perspective is correct.

Who will win US presidency?

(2016/09/28) This is a question circulating in the US every four years. This year the stake is more interesting: Hillary Clinton (D) vs Donald Trump (R). I found 538 has done a very good job in data visualizing. I will copy several of them and paste here. You can find the original report here.

Date: 2016/09/28

It shows the probabilities of states that is going to determine 2016 US Presidency.

This one looks like a strategy war game on my phone.

Tug of War

The tipping point chance is interesting.

Hanjin's Bankruptcy Will Impact Retailers, Port and Other Logistics Provider

(09/06/2016) South Korean Container Liners, Hanjin, filed bankruptcy on 8/31/2016 and it may cause some X'mas shopping disturbance. Due to Hanjin's financial troubles, those firms facilitating the movements of containers and commodities worry about their payment. As a result, the cargo that are currently on Hanjin's vessels might sit there for a long while before a clear solution can be achieved.

Amazon Prime Day is biggest day for online retailer ever

(7/13/2016) Amazon is like a crazy vacuum machine. Amazon's self-created sales holiday is now the biggest online sales event ever.  It may sucks out many people's summer purchasing budget and makes many other retailers dismal in their summer sales. Did you get sucked in?

Sam’s Club Forgot To Tell Some Employees About Their Clever Costco Promotion

(6/29/2016) If Sam's Club wants to take advantage of Costco's membership grunt, it should have done a better job called "business communication." Costco members went to Sam's Club with their Costco membership card, but they are not allowed to get in as promised, and some of them are charge with 10% non-member surcharge. Someone in Sam's Club in charge of this promotion should be blamed.

Social Media and Digital Fear. Should We fear?

(6/4/2016)

I read this articleyesterday and thought through Mark Cuban's concern today many times. One side is our psychological need to feel connected with other; the other side is afraid of being known too much in a negative and unexpected way. Who should be afraid?

I have to say what Cuban said is a real concern, but it is also an evil of the chilling effect from "the Power." First, social media has been a way of connecting people in the 21st century. Before that, people are more isolated, for those who are in minority (ethnic, sexual orientation, personal interest ...), it is not easy to find someone who are alike. It is the same for someone who has special interest. For example, I love science and astrophysics. For someone who lives in a remote place, it will be very difficult to find someone who has similar interest (through newspaper classified ad? local library? or Craigslist???). Various social media connect people who are very far away but share similar interest, similar background, similar culture, or similar suppressed ideology. Of course, the bad guys can also take advantage of social media. ISIS uses social media to recruit their fighters in Western countries. 

Social media as a tool is neutral by itself, like knife, shot guns, or drugs. When people use it in a beneficial way, they create social benefits; when people use it in a harmful way, they causes damages and some people get hurts. 

Cuban is warning that in the future our social media and digital footprints will be used against us. My question is who will use it against us? Who has that power and who are "the Power?" The government (or the regime controller) and business (that use various way to control the government). I am not against the government, but in most countries (including democratic countries) the government is always the entity defining the boundary of good and evil for the society (through democratic way or not). It uses its influence in propaganda, making legislations in the name of "maintaining social order" and use the police system to do execution. Look at the "Drug War" initiated by Nixon's government in the US. The US government used propaganda and legislation to define what are legal drugs and what are not, it sent millions of violators into prisons. Once the drug war started, the pharmaceutical companies realized that is benefits to them because after the Drug war US government outlaws several drugs that were cheap and easily accessible to people (like Cannabis and cocaine) and have to buy drugs that are now made by the pharmaceutical companies and 'approved' by the US FDA. In the US, the lobby system makes it a perfect system of the elite control.  

What Cuban warned is that "the Power" will trace our digital footprints, which will be used against us. I believe his vision is correct and his concern is valid if we look back to our history. What I don't agree with Cuban is that "we should self-sensor our personal expression, communication and interpersonal connection under the threat." He thinks we should take actions to protect ourselves and based on his recommendation we should either isolated ourselves from social media, deleting our digital footprint once we leave one, or subscribe his startup company's (Cyberdust.com) service, which claims providing private messages in a encrypted private network. This is in their website: 

PRIVATE MESSAGING.
PRIVATE NETWORKING.

Send private, encrypted, disappearing messages to friends or co-workers.

Build intimate networks and private relationships with influential members and celebrities. Secure, easy, and free.

It reminds me several things. First, will it be totally private and safe? The recent war between US FBI and Apple iPhone decryption is still fresh in our memory.  All communications in that private network will be gone in a certain period of time, and it looks wonderful. But it can also be disastrous. When the memories of both parties goes vague, who memory is the correct one? The technology for private messaging, private encrypted network is not difficult. If it truly works in terms of financial success, I will say it is one of the easiest and most profitable digital business model. Cyberdust.com don't need to build thousands of server center like Google or Amazon, because most of the messages will be deleted and they don't need many server at all. They don't even need to worry much of lawsuit in losing client's data because they are deleted on purpose. 

Cyberdust also reminds me of several companies that are profiting from selling "digital fears" like "LifeLock." LifeLock provides "identity theft protection service to help protect your finances and good name from identity theft and fraud." A bunch of companies provide similar identity protection against ID theft and fraud (free or paid service) and LifeLock claims they even compensate your loss up to $1 millions, that many other companies don't provide. This raises even bigger concerns:  the complexity of service coverage for digital ID protection is beyond average people's comprehension, and the "service agreement" users "check" when they subscribe always protect the service provider not the consumers. Did you see anyone who read through the service agreement when they buy on an online website or subscribe a digital service? "To Read All Of The Privacy Policies You Encounter, You'd Need To Take A Month Off From Work Each Year"  Cyberdust will be the same. Cyberdust (or similar companies) are selling "digital fears" to people and make $$$ out of that fear. 

Of course, ID theft and fraud is real and a big issue. Many consumers have experienced various degrees of ID theft, password loss and personal information loss and privacy breaches. But, now hackers don't go after individual Internet users, they go directly to those companies server and steal chunk (millions or hundreds of millions). There are plenty of examples: Target, Ashley Madison, US government, Sony, Home Depot.... (See here for a list in recent years, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_breach#2016). Cyberdust is just sell a different of fear, not ID theft or fraud, but personal damage from we expressing on the Internet and social media. 

I don't mean we should not be concerned, I also don't mean that we should just reveal everything about ourselves on social media without any discretion. But I want to see through the forces that make us concern and fear of reasonably self expression and interpersonal communication. A fear like that is when we cannot differentiate what is a person's "right of expression" and then we allow the government, business or other influential entities using people's digital footprints to discriminate, or even criminalize individuals. When the society allows that to happen (in some countries, it has happened already), we have lost the spirit of open and democratic society. I hope that day will never come.  

Project Ara -- Futuristic Modular Android Phone

(5/23/2016) Do you feel it's pretty wasteful to upgrade electronic gadgets sometimes just for "better battery life," "better camera, higher pixels" while most of its functions are fine? Google's Project Ara will try to change it. It's a concept of modular design and allow consumers to 'upgrade' its mobile phone according their individual preferences. If you want a better camera, you buy an high-end camera module; if you want a better audio output, you buy a stereo speakers module (CNET's report). Project Ara is almost the opposite of iPhone's inflexible all-in-one, no-hassle concept.

I believe Project Ara can be a revolutionary game-changer in the mobile phone (maybe all electronic gadget) market. But I really hope Google's Android can have higher integrity in user platform and enhanced security. Without software's integrity, hardware module is just a fad. The video looks very cool, but do you remember the fad of Google Glass?

Watch out, Apple! (However, I still think design integrity in Apple is executed much better than free-spirited Google)

The upfront cost for consumers to customized a modular Android phone can be more expensive (it's like the bill of a-la-carte sushi restaurant, always surprising). But in the long run, it may lead to a more eco-friendly, less wasteful market for electronic products and save $$$ for consumers. There will be less total revenue (and profit) for smartphone manufacturers like Samsung, LG, HTC, ... etc. in the long run if Project Ara is executed right, and they (Samsung, LG, HTC) may eventually be downgraded to "module provider" if lucky. 

Modular upgrade according to consumer's need

Conscious Innovation - Edible Six-Pack Rings

(5/19/2016) We have seen several pictures showing animal stuck in 6-pack rings. In the future, animals who are stuck with it may be able to rescue itself by chewing the ring. Saltwater Brewery makes the new 6-pack rings from their brewing byproducts (grains) and they are willing to share their innovation with big breweries.

Before animals got stuck for their whole life

Now, they can enjoy a good meal when stuck.

(Not Just A) U.S. problem: I work three part-time jobs

(5/19/2016) This is a common problem in the U.S. and in Taiwan (the country I came from). The low level of labor force is struggling to make their ends meet ( a news from CNN Money). "Part-time work has become a huge worry for experts who watch the U.S. economy. There are 6 million part-time workers who want full-time jobs. It's well above its pre-recession average of about 4 million workers."
      Definitely part of the problem is the greed of capitalists, but part of the problem is that the labor cannot catch up the change of business environments and technology. The speed of changes of technology and business environments is speeding up, like the phenomenon of global warming.
      The integration of computer, information technology, robots has replaced many jobs that are done by labors before. Decades ago, business needed many secretaries, typists, telephone operators, couriers (delivery documents in organizations, please watch the classic movie "Miracle on 34th Street"). Their jobs are way all gone. Now, even the jobs of white collar jobs, machine operators, skilled automobile workers, and delivery men (think about Amazon Drone), or maybe even professional photographer (watch this video) are at risk. The productivity growth from computer, IT and robots outpaces many labors of low ranks. People who have $$$ can invest on firms that provides solutions through computer, IT and robots and enjoy continuous good returns on investment (ROI); but labors who are ignorant of these changes are lagging further and further behind. This is a main cause of current income gap in many countries.
     Before the government can take any effective actions, what we (labors) can do is at least to update our skills and knowledges with technology. However, technology skills and knowledges is not enough. The integration of computer, IT and robots can do a much better, accurate, and faster job and our human brains. We have to be able to be independent thinkers, capable to make good judgements based on our skills and knowledges. At least, in a near future (say, 20 years???), the robots are still not capable to make judgement and think like human beings.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/17/news/economy/job-multiple-part-time/

Will automated selfie stick replace some professional photographer's jobs?

100-Mile Local Food-Sourcing? Think Again

(5/18/2016) Are you willing to pay more in restaurant for local food sourcing, organic food, or non-GMO ingredient? If so, this article (Farm to Fable-- At Tampa Bay farm-to-table restaurants, you’re being fed fiction) will interest you and make you rethink again. It is an example of investigative journalism, which is very rare in modern days.

Many high-end restaurants claim their ingredients are from local farmers (and they normally charge a premium on that): the pork is from Farmer A, organic salad green is from Farmer B. There are several operational constraints that are too tough to pass.

First, many local farmers are small in scale and cannot afford to hire a professional account manager to handle all restaurants that 'claim' to be their clients. Most of these farmers have their produces handled by one or several distributors. They don't deal with so many restaurants directly.

Second,  if a restaurant claims the ingredients are from more than several dozen's suppliers, the complexity of inbound logistic, paperwork, and account management is way too much for a stand-alone restaurant to handle.

Third, if the restaurant claims ingredients are shipped 'directly' from suppliers, the transportation cost is also very expensive. Food ingredients have to be fresh, so let's assume there are two delivery shipments every week. So how many pounds of pork could a restaurant buy every time? 200 pounds? This volume will be shipped at high cost because the volume is too small. So who is paying the premium in logistics?

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/projects/2016/food/farm-to-fable/restaurants/

Why A Vacation Home Town Doesn't Want to Be A Vacation Hometown?

(04/09/2016) It is a new about a seaside town in Cornwall is taking on the out-of-towners (those who buy vacation homes there)?
"On May 5th, when the town votes in a referendum on a number of local issues, tucked into the ballot will be a particularly controversial question: whether to make it a legal requirement that all new housing in the area must be for principal residences only. The town expects over 1,000 new homes to be built before 2030. If the measure passes, outsiders will still be able to buy existing properties as second homes, but not new ones."

Why a vacation home town is not good for the vacation home town? I visited a vacation Mecca of New England -- Provincetown, MA several times in the past 7 years. This is what I heard from people living there about the struggle of a vacation home town.
1. Housing prices skyrocketed, natives of the town cannot afford living there anymore.
2. Increase infrastructure spending for the local government, maintaining them is not cheap. Increased property tax does not offset this new spending.
3. Increase peak- and off-season, testing the livelihood of people supporting the town's economy. If you are a plumber, you will be very busy in the peak season, but not many jobs in the off season. How do you hire workers (they will be temporary migrants too because you don't need them in the off-season).
4. Increased rent, make local businesses less sustainable. With demand fluctuation of peak- and off seasons becomes more challenging to maintain business.

I do like the idea of this town -- Cornwall. Making people who buys the home there staying there, keep local economy going healthily all year around.

Provincetown, MA

Warka Water -- Innovative Future Water Solution

(4/4/2016) Some may be aware that water will be a scarce resource on earth. For some countries (like Ethiopia) in Africa, scarce water has been a reality for centuries. Inspired by Warka tree in Ethiopia, designer Arturo Vittori comes up with a solution -- WarkaWater Tower: "a semi-rigid exoskeleton built by tying stalks of juncus or bamboo together and an internal plastic mesh, reminiscent of the bags oranges come in. The nylon and polypropylene fibers act as a scaffold for condensation, and as the droplets of dew form, they follow the mesh into a basin at the base of the structure"

Tesla Model 3 - A Game Changer for Tesla

(04/02/2016)Looking their pre-order volume, Model 3 will be a game changer for Tesla by achieving economy of scale and cut production cost. In just two days, the pre-order volume has reached 180,000 cars, which is almost 40% of Tesla's new annual production capacity. This analysis says: "With an average selling price of $42,000, that equates to around $7.5 billion."

Elon Musk is not a great speaker like Steve Jobs, but I like him way more. He is the one who takes Jobs' podium now.

 

Smartphone's Design Fatigue

(03/22/2016) In less than 10 years after Apple's first iPhone launched in 2007, Apple's new iPhone SE goes from bigger to smaller. It is a 4-inch smartphone, like iPhone 4s, accompanies with some updated features that iPhone 6s has. Exciting? Probably not for even loyal Apple fans. There are several other signs showing that the steam of smartphone is losing strength. For example, iPhone 6s sales dropped lower than iPhone 6; the sale of Samsung's Galaxy 6 was also bad in 2015, which makes Samsung to boost its Galaxy 7 with either free Gear S2 Smartwatch Or free Gear VR Headset.

I have not updated my smartphone for more than two years. Other than terrible battery life, I feel no need to upgrade. Smartphone makers may really bump into the first growth bottleneck of smartphone.

Selfie for Mobile Payment Confirmation?

(3/15/2016) Do you like to take selfie photos? If so, do you like to send it to your credit card company? MasterCard will launch a new technology for mobile payment confirmation. If you pay plastic surgery with your cell phone, the credit card company maybe able to tell you whether your $$$ is well spent.

Smile!

Replenish -- Green packaging

(3/11/2016) Shipping and logistics cost can sometimes be 20% or more on the total product final cost. For some product, water is also the heaviest element inside the product. Think of the coke, beer, tea, detergent .... Since the weight mostly determines the shipping cost, if we can reduce water then we can save some shipping cost. Now Replenish wants to change the packaging to this (see below), consumer just need to add right amount of water back to the product. Will business adapt it? Will consumers buy it?

Some may wonder, why should they still include the big container? Why don't they just sell refill packages? Well there are several reasons. First, the big container shows the exact portion of water (especially for those product that chemical mix has to be exact). Even if the product is not dangerous if the chemical mix is wrong, consumers often fail to follow instruction correctly. See the concentrated detergent example in the US (that's why eventually P&G designs Tide Pods). Second, small refill package looks less valuable and easy for stealth.

I guess is, "It's a good idea. But it will only be in a niche market for specific products." I don't expect that I will be able to buy Arizona Greentea concentrate and add water on my own.

Prototype of Replenish packing.

Tiered Pricing for Angie's List? Not Successful

(2/24/2016) Home improvement service company, Angie's List, admitted that their tiered pricing is not doing a good job. The CEO says the new paid subscribed members tend to just subscribe the cheapest rate, and they have a hard time to convince free or low-paying members to pay more. Angie's List faces some free service competitors like Homebuilder.com. It seems that there is rigidity of raising price, but there is always some room to drag down the price.

Design Thinking -- Successful Innovation

(2/17/2016) Innovation needs understanding and imagination. A successful product (innovation) does not have to be expensive. This is a video shared in today's MBA class: "Design Thinking", brought by our guest speaker David Sanchez from Fidelity.


Below is an interactive exercise of Design Thinking today that I made for my exercise partner -- Meghan. The topic of this exercise is about how movie industry can improve and enrich customer's movie watching experience. Meghan likes to watch movies with her friends and family together, and they love to discuss movie afterwards. So my idea is to improve movie watching experience with fan spirits. The white ball in the diagram is an 007 movie (GoldenEye or Skyfall). The top left is other franchises connected with this movie, the cloud is various social media platforms, which branching out to various fan groups (large or small, real or virtual). The right sides are items or checklist for a successful multi-media multi-platform movie project.