Priscilla has thoughts

From Sarah Zhou’s blog post Farewell HMV, it is evident that technology, as well as other factors, can change  our lifestyles. Due to high lease and the accessibility to acquire music both legally and illegally online, HMV has no other choice but to close down some of its stores. The store in Downtown Vancouver alone is already on the move.

This can be related to a topic we’ve covered in COMM 101. In Class 9, it was briefly mentioned that Blockbuster was not making as much revenue as it used to. They moved on to renting videos at kiosks, but as a result it was not successful. Just like the video retailer, HMV is facing a similar situation. iTunes, YouTube, and other sources are contributing to the business’ suffering.

It has come to my attention that businesses like Blockbuster and HMV must regularly come up with innovative ways to make sales and to keep up with consumer demands. For example, Apple is always producing “new” goods; in other words, the company takes its old product and adds another feature or two to make it brand new. However, the strategy does always end up attracting more customers into buying their products. If HMV wants to keep up in the market, it needs to come up with something that will blow our minds away – and fast.

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Other source(s): HMV to close down flagship downtown Vancouver store

PPR, a French holding company known for its ownership of luxury brands such as Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen, had its eyes on Brioni, an Italian fashion house that specializes in hand-made suits. Schumpeter’s blog post Italian Suits in French Hands on The Economist mentions that on November 8, “PPR [took] over 100% of Brioni for what is said to be €350 million ($484 million).”

Although PPR is famous for its domination of high-end fashion, it claims that the company needs to expand its market niche. The French conglomerate therefore made a purchase on Brioni as well as Puma before that in order to attract, specifically, men. I believe there are two outcomes from purchasing the suit-producing company:

The good? Society has better access towards rare, fashionable goods and Brioni will be able to increase its fame. We can now expect Brioni to hit the shelves more frequently despite already being quite profitable before PPR “came to the rescue.”

The bad? Many Italian brands are known for being family-owned, but changes to them can eventually lead to changes in our perception of Italian fashion. Think: in twenty years, will the Italian fashion industry even exist anymore?

A decade ago, Clearly Contacts was just a small online business selling vision care goods. Not long after, the entrepreneurial company boomed with success and is now “the world’s largest online retailer of contact lenses and eye-glasses.”

Roger Hardy, a Canadian entrepreneur, started the company to fulfill the demand for inexpensive eye-care products. Clearly Contacts offers designer eye-glasses for half the price of other retailers, as well as styles ranging from “geek chic to business casual.” These factors contribute to attracting many target markets.

What makes Clearly Contacts an entrepreneurial company? Clearly it’s the successful earnings gained from the start, as it generated a $1-million revenue within its first year. However, that’s not the only reason. The company is constantly bringing new brands and styles of products to customers, is always thinking of ways to be innovative, and continuously faces risks.

When these factors are combined, they result in what entrepreneurs aim to do: satisfy customers as well as increase the company’s wealth.

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Clearly Contacts
Coastal Contacts
A Definition of Entrepreneurship and the Entrepreneur

The fashion industry is one of the most competitive industries in business today. Karen Young’s blog post outlines that not only does fashion change constantly day by day, but competition is always increasing as well.

Joe Fresh, a fashion brand that was initially aimed for Loblaw Companies Limited, has recently gone international by expanding to New York. Joe Fresh has done well in Canada; it attracts consumers who look for stylish yet affordable attire. Its products are simple, which fit today’s demand in the fashion industry.

Despite its success at home, will the brand succeed in one of the world’s most fashionable cities? Many retailers like H&M, Uniqlo, and Zara also target New Yorkers. These retailers offer inexpensive and trendy fashion pieces, which creates very stiff competition for Joe Fresh. Besides that, the costs to continue a business in the Big Apple are not small. This would not apply, however, if Joe Fresh is able to make more than enough revenue to cover the costs.

Although it may be risky for the company to open up stores in New York, it does not mean it should not do it. Perhaps it is a good way to represent Canada as well as prove to everyone that Canadians have great style.

Due to the recent 3-day-BBM-outage, RIM is expressing its apology by offering free Blackberry apps starting October 19.  These apps, according to the company, cost more than $100 (£63).

As a Blackberry user, I am thrilled I can finally install games that I enjoy without spending a penny. However, it’s hard to believe that 12 free apps for customers will cost the company anything near $100. If one app costs about $5, then $5 x 12 apps = $60. This number is not even credible; most of the apps available for give-away are around $3, so it should cost even less.

This reflects back to a topic that came up during a lecture in Managerial Accounting during COMM 101.  An employee was fired from Tim Hortons after giving out a Timbit on the house. The company, or rather the PR, concluded that one Timbit costs 16 cents. While 16 cents isn’t a lot, a small ball made of sugar, milk, egg, and fat shouldn’t cost that much. How did they come up with that number? We would never know.

RIM did not expose how they came up with $100. Since the company is only paying  back their customers with something they believe has a “high value,” should Blackberry users just let bygones be bygones and enjoy the free apps available?

Hyundai was one of the leading car manufacturers in Korea. Now it has expanded its market all over the world.  As the company produces very cheap cars, many deem the vehicles to be made poorly. However, this perception seems to be incorrect. Not only has “[i]ts share price has risen tenfold over the past 10 years,” but the company’s rapid growth is now up in the game with Toyota and Nissan, two renowned Japanese car manufacturers.

Nissan’s chief operating officer has shown his concerns about the competition. He advises that if Japanese car industries do not want to lose out in the race, it is best to start executing quickly “like their South Korean rivals to avoid losing their competitive edge in the global market.”If Hyundai as well as other Korean automakers are thriving in the market, doesn’t that mean it is effectively making good quality cars at affordable costs? Unlike Tata Motors, Hyundai was able to promote their cars positively, which attracts many to purchase from the South Korean manufacturer. Hyundai seems to be a better alternative compared to other car manufacturers, especially for one without a high income and is just starting a new job. Why spend more on other cars when the successful manufacturer offers stylish yet inexpensive vehicles for everyone?

UK-based company DataWind has developed its latest product targeted towards students in India. It has produced the Aakash, a.k.a. the world’s cheapest touch-screen tablet computer. Priced at $35 each, Aakash has many features including a three-hour battery life, web browsing, video conferencing, and two USB ports. Is a cheap yet multifunctional tablet too good to be true? To find out, DataWind has given away Aakash tablets at the product launch to 500 students so they can test out the good.

The company’s goal is to close the gap between the poor and the rich. It wants to provide everyone, not only the wealthy, the access to technology and the “digital world.” Even the government encourages the idea as they’ve arranged to purchase 100,000 units to give out to students.

DataWind, as well as Tata Motors which was previously discussed in COMM101, are two companies that try to push India forward. Although the inexpensive prices limit the products’ quality, they are accessible to the population and create efficiency for students. As most people in India have low incomes, competitors such as Apple, RIM, and Samsung can say good bye to the Indian market unless they are able to produce a much more affordable tablet that costs less or equal to the Aakash tablet.

Famous for producing pet food, Nestle is a company that’s taking innovation to the next level – a commercial promoting its products specifically to dogs by “using a high-frequency tone to grab their attention.” Pet behaviour experts conclude that a 23-second ad on TV will appeal to canines. Nestle’s plan consists of implementing a tone that mimics a dog whistle, which humans cannot hear.

Bringing something new and putting it on the market is genius. Take, for example, the iPad. It’s a product that was so original and unique; something that others didn’t think of. It appealed to many consumers and it is still doing quite well today despite the recent existence of other competition in the market such as RIM’s Blackberry Playbook or Samsung’s Galaxy Tab.

Nestle’s dog food commercial will be the iPad of the dog market. It’s a company that’s already doing well, but will thrive to become even better. Their revenue of the first-half of the year is reported to be 4.8 billion Swiss francs (or $5.5 billion Canadian), which takes over “12 per cent of revenue at the world’s biggest food group.”

Nestle will launch its dog food commercial on Austrian television this week, hoping to attract more people to purchase Nestle’s treats for men’s best friends.

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Nestle says dogs will prick up their ears to TV commercial

China is known for many things, one of them being the mecca of fake goods. You can easily get your hands on anything from cheap pairs of counterfeit North Face gloves to knock-off Louis Vuitton canvas totes. However, today’s economic powerhouse is not only making fake goods, but producing fake stores as well.Just a few months ago, what seemed to be a typical Apple store located in Kunming was detected to be an unofficial Apple retailer. Perhaps “unofficial” is an understatement – the store was disguised like the actual stores that even its employees believed they were working for Apple. After further investigation, differences between the real and fake stores were caught: that the unauthorized store was poorly built, but mainly that real Apple stores wouldn’t have “Apple Store” written across its signs.

It seems almost too simple to make a profit in China. Investors know many Chinese consumers today value brand name over quality; therefore, opening up fake stores would be the quickest way to make big bucks. Business regulations are not too strict in China, but if China wants to be taken seriously by other parts of the world, then tweeking up the systems would be a good idea.

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Fake Apple stores found in Kunming city, China

American Apparel, a clothing retailer and manufacturer based in the United States, is known for selling fashionable yet comfortable wear.  Many have realized that in the last few years, however, this retailer requires for job applicants to send in head-to-toe photos of themselves along with their resumes and cover letters. This way, the head office will be able to sort applicants into two categories: the attractive and new sales associates, and the ugly rejects.

Consumers should be concerned with this kind of practice. Is it ethical for any company to discriminate against employees and or potential employees based on their appearance? The main issue here is that American Apparel seeks new employees with good looks instead ones with strong skills.

Although the retailer believes it is a great marketing strategy, it gives customers the sense that only attractive individuals may purchase their products. In another sense, it also manipulates customers into buying their products in order to look as good as their models and employees. The next time you purchase something from popular retailers, think about this: are you buying it because you admire the particular item? Or are you buying it solely because you envision yourself looking as good as their employees?

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American Apparel’s new ‘full body’ hiring policy