Monthly Archives: September 2014

This is a photograph of the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, New York, USA.

Guy Kawasaki, an author of various books about business and marketing, writes a blog by the name of How to Change the World. When I came across this blog on Business Insider’s 24 Must-Read Blogs for Entrepreneurs, I was immediately hooked by the title. On Guy’s blog, I encountered an entry he made about the 10 Things You Can Learn From the Apple Store.

In this blog entry, Guy talks about some fundamental components that make Apple such a successful company. The most engaging point from the list of Apple’s 10 innovative attributes is how Apple’s approach to effective marketing is to “stop selling stuff”. Instead, Apple marketers are encouraged to ask the question “how do we enrich the lives of our consumers?” Guy highlights some important aspects that explains how Apple is doing business correctly to please consumers in the customer segment, and how Apple’s customers, once inside, are seldom propelled away.

Apple is a company devoted to customer loyalty and satisfaction. I must applaud Apple for being so farsighted with its company from the start, because its marketing approach has not swayed too far from the origin since its initial establishment. It takes real dedication to instill trust in a modern concept of marketing, and to believe in it. Redefining marketing strategies has proved itself to be worthwhile and flourishing, and that with new ideas, traditional ways of appealing to customers can be replaced and overwritten.

References:

How to Change the World

24 Must-Read Blogs for Entrepreneurs

10 Things You Can Learn From the Apple Store

Mobile Wallets are newly-developed methods of paying for goods and services through apps accessible by mobile devices. Individuals are now capable of saving their credit/debit card information, as well as many other methods of payment on smartphones apps that give the individual more convenient ways to purchase items. Due to fast-paced advancements in technology, many retail stores are now looking to upgrade their payment systems by supplementing the option to pay via mobile. These technology advancements are making Mobile Wallets a staple in the daily lives of consumers.

There is controversy over privacy bugs and faulty designs, as well as controversy over the safety and effectiveness of using Mobile Wallets. BusinessWeek.com states through its statistics that Apple has collected more than 800 million credit card numbers through iTunes alone! Now is time for consumers to protect themselves.

I believe that personal privacy is crucial, especially when associated with the Internet. Many platforms require you to fill in details regarding your personal information, but it is important to keep in mind that the information is easily accessible and easily infiltrated by external parties. For example, Google Wallet, one of the few Mobile Wallets available, was hacked in early 2014. Even though traditional methods of banking and making transactions may seem more lengthy and extensive, I believe that containing your personal information where you know it’s safe and only accessible to you is worth precautionary effort.

References:

How Safe Are Mobile Payments?

With times changing, the significance of social and moral values in business is becoming more and more concerned by consumers. Never was “lowering carbon emissions” used as a marketing strategy and as a focus of business direction before the 21st century, and consumers are reacting positively to companies who are aware of their social responsibilities and acting upon them.

With this being said, leading automobile manufacturers have successfully innovated their businesses with social responsibility in mind. New innovations to the standard vehicle has been made, where gasoline-fueled engines are replaced with electric charging ones. Chevy, Tesla, Nissan, Ford, and other companies have designed electric cars in hopes of reducing our ecological footprint on the earth.

I believe that this is excellent news because not only does the introduction of electric vehicles benefit society by promoting sustainability and reducing pollution, but companies are driven into being actively aware of protecting the environment. Automobile companies are coming to senses with their impact on global pollution and are actively trying to change the amount of fossil fuel emissions by introducing these cars to the public.