LG’s Flex G phone

Today, I happened to find a blog called “LG Plans Curved Phone For U.S. Market “. It talks about LG, South Korean Company, decided to launch a new phone soon in U.S. Market. I found it very interesting, because I never heard about curved phones and even I have never thought about that. More important, thinking as a consumer, I will probably buy one without hesitation for the fashionable design as long as the price is affordable.

This new idea of the phone shape is a way of innovation. Nowadays, in phone industry, more and more phones with similar appearance and functions which I would like to call it “product saturation”. Hence, it is the time to release new attractive innovations to catch consumers.

I think entering the market as soon as possible will enhance the brand recognition, in order not to lose competition among many other phone companies such Apple, Samsung. They are all planing making curved phones come on the market.

Apple’s Curved Phone

Compared with the other two curved phones, which one would you prefer?

In conclusion, I believe there is a potential market in the technology fields. If the business can leverage this great opportunity, then there will be a huge profit waiting there.

http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/11/lg-plans-curved-flexible-phone-america.html

http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/10/new-samsung-galaxy-round.html

http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/11/apple-curved-phones.html

Ironically, I thought eBay is still available for consumers in Chinese market. However, referring to Jingyi Huang’s blog which article is called “Cultural difference is a main task for a company to enter a new market”. And actually, I agree with her opinion that entering a new market needs to do more search activities, because the backgrounds and environment are different in every markets.

As a Chinese, indeed bargaining is a cultural habits in transactions, but it is not true that on eBay, buyers cannot communicate with sellers to get a cheaper price.

In my opinion, the reason for not having a successful business in China for eBay is due to the quality and price. The items on eBay seem like out of fashion and second-hand which cannot attractive the customers’ segments, who are mostly in the age of 20s. Moreover, the price are much higher than other e-commerce sites. Is there any one who is willing to pay more to get products which price do not meet the quality?

The other reason for less competitive of eBay is charging sellers when they sell products so that there are fewer sellers or suppliers, causing fewer products.

In conclusion, sometimes the cultural differences is not a key factor. There are other factors that we should take into considerations such as consumers willingness.

I was attracted by Cynthia’s post name “Pay Cash, Pay Less? “. I read through it and found that she found that many small boutiques in Chrystal Mall only receive cash and reject any cards such as debit or credit cards. She explained the reason of extra charging by cards companies when the transactions occur. Those stores are small companies that it is hard to make more profit, so saving the extra costs increases the profit.

I agree with her opinion. But also, I want to add that paying in cash can give the companies more flexible capital that can be used in other purpose. And also, some of the companies want to reduce their taxes by declaring they only make this amount of money which is actually less than what they have really earned. Because consumers are paying in cash, so there is no record of each transactions, even without receipts, so the government will never know who are lying. However, I am still holding the view that business ethics are important and disobeying the laws finally will lose in the business war on day!

P.S. I think paying by cash is good for consumers and I’d love to do that, because I am more likely to buy more when using debit card!

If you are interested in the cash only strategy for small business, here are some pros and cons: http://www.nfib.com/business-resources/business-resources-item?cmsid=60637

Do you want gifts this year?

With recent years of economic situation, it seems not that many people would like to spend more money on Christmas shopping than the previous year. Salary seems to be a constant amount for most working class, and yet prices of most daily products tend to be climbing a ramp. How would you spend your money this Christmas? A recent poll happened in October, the average U.S is expecting to spend $704, while the poll from last year November, the average U.S was expecting to spend $786.

Walmart, I hope everyone enjoys their cheap products that are available to most Canadians. Now the fun part is, Walmart in U.S. is already starting clean out its product stock and inventory. So I guess, less Christmas presents for U.S. teenagers, and let’s hope Walmart in Canada is not doing the same strategy.

Burgers, they remind me of McDonald’s, and the many tasty flavours they offer. To a certain degree, I enjoy myself with BigMac, and hopefully you are too. However, McDonald’s in U.S is planning to reduce the varieties of burgers to reflect the suffer of its sale from low shopping desire of many U.S.

Another interesting point is about energy. The largest coal supplier in U.S is deciding to reduce its coal stocking to reflect the increase use of alternative energy source, such as natural gas.

With all these negative influences, I wonder if this year’s December 25 is still a “Merry Christmas” for everyone. It might be still a Christmas for regular students like me, but perhaps not a happy Christmas for business owners.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2013/11/holiday-shopping-worries-for-walmart-and-kohls/

Canadians’ tea consumption is expected to rise 40 per cent by 2020, according to a govt report on food trends published by Agri-Food Canada.

Big companies like Starbucks, a world well-known company that mainly sells different kinds of beverage, mostly are coffee, expands their business in the tea market. There are plenty of reasons that a coffee’s player choose to produce tea drinks. In Canada, the tea consumption is rising and people in Canada have rich history of tea-drinking, because a large group of Asian immigrants.

People, who act as consumers, are more likely to get some changes in drinking coffee. Most of them are getting tired of coffee taste. So there is a forecasting that tea is a potential market that does not have much competition at present which can bring the company profit.

The first Teavana bar debuted by Starbucks in New York City

Starbucks is very smart for its decision that joining in the tea games. They have the consumer power that can help to lower the risks, because they have a stable consumer bases. Besides, their company owns a great reputation that consumers could have a stereotyping of most products that Starbucks sell are in a good quality and taste. As a result, buyers are more willing to try new products. For my view, I suggest Starbucks can launch a new drink that mixed both coffee and tea so that it will be different from most tea shops and it will keep its identity.

Retrieved from:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rising-tea-sales-drive-profits-for-beverage-chains-1.2424091

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/23/starbucks-teavana-fast-food-tea-tea-houses/3146149/

Recently, Rylan Grayston invented an affordable 3D printer which only costs 100 bulks. While other high technological 3D printers sales for thousands of dollars.

He used Facebook as a way of marketing, posting a short video which introduces his invention. As a result, he received a $720,000. This invention or we can call it a innovation brought Grayston more money for him to invent more products rather than buy luxurious personal things. Being the first can lead to a success that has less competition. But thinking in a long term direction, there must be more and more competition in the future, because other companies will perceive the new industry as an excellent way of making money.

Rylan said he would not apply for a patent and he shared his plan on the Internet. He is kind and nice that shared his secrets with the public, but from the business way, owning a patent could bring him advantages of preventing others manufacturing, copying, selling or importing his inventions without permission and he will receive more profit, because he could sell kit(the name of his 3D printers) for higher price. So I believe applying for a patent is a good idea that can protect him and his lovely 3D printer kit.

Here is the news that contains several videos that introduce the affordable 3D printer:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/3d-printer-by-sask-man-gets-record-crowdsourced-cash-1.2417416

And I also searched for the advantages and disadvantages of having a patent:

http://1degreebio.org/blog/?bid=201

Advertising, as a means of marketing, can be found everywhere in our lives. We could see huge posters when we walk along the street and obviously we can watch hundreds of advertisements on TV. The information that ads give you are passionate that makes me have the desire to purchases their products. But later on, when I calm down, I would like to ask whether these products are giving us benefits rather than hurting our health.

Junk foods are really not healthy for us, but many of the celebrities in fields of entertainment, sports, and other occupations endorsed these junk foods by making commercials for the public. The young children is always the target audience who lack the ability to tell what is good or bad and they just know what is delicious and sometimes follow their idols. According to Orciari(2013), “In 2012 the fast food industry spent $4.6 billion to advertise mostly unhealthy products, and children and teens remained key audiences for that advertising.”

In my point of view, as a celebrity who can influence the society should be more responsible for their behaviour that should not make “contributions” to be unhealthy. It is understandable that celebrities want to make money, but consumers are putting an eye on them. What they conduct will probably directly affect consumers behaviour, because they want to be with their idols, getting closer if we own or experience the same thing. Being social responsible for their followers and the whole society is much more critical than making money.

And there is a commercial watch:

Lebron James( NBA star) endorsed for spirit

Here are some recent news regarding to althetes promote junk foods and fast food companie target teenagers:

http://news.yale.edu/2013/11/04/fast-food-companies-still-target-kids-marketing-unhealthy-products

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/athletes-in-junk-food-ads-send-kids-mixed-messages-1.1913330

Disney reported their 13% increase in profit in the fourth-quarter recently. Whenever I talk about Disney with my parents, they always react by saying that I did not grow up. But, for me, I don’t agree with them, because Disney is not a tag or symbol only for children, while it is a company that provides entertainment parks, films and some related products that people can all benefit from it, although its critical customer segment is children and the youth.

As an adult, honestly speaking, those films produced by Disney are mostly very funny and we can sometimes learn from the scenarios. As to the theme parks, there are only a few open all over the world, and I really enjoy that time in the park with all childish memories back.

But as a semi-feminist, I would like to say that it is unfair and a kind of angry when I see women are often playing an evil and ugly role like wicked stepmothers and queens. Or sometimes Disney girls are innocent, because they are decided to be poor or oppressed under men. So my point is that paying attention to the gender issues and improving the equality would bring more supporters, followed by more profit

If you want to know more about the increase in profit, please read the followings:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/business/media/disney-reports-13-increase-in-profit.html?ref=media&_r=0

McDonald’s is a world-known fast food restaurant which has already have more than 34,000 franchisees in 118 countries, serving about 69 million consumers. We are all familiar with Ronald who is always sitting on the bench with his arms out. When I was a child, the most exciting moment was to sit in the arms of Ronald and took a picture.

Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is a national organization in Canada which helps sick children to get to be healthy and happy. However, recently Corporate Accountability International accused McDonald’s for it putting too little fund on charitable events. And also RMHC is trying to get children out of bad health conditions while they are selling unhealthy foods to children as targets, which seems like a conflict.

The article stated that McDonald’s criticized for “supporting only 20 percent of the nonprofit’s funding while customers allegedly contribute as much as 1.5 times more to the charitable organization than McDonald’s does itself.” From this comparison, I feel like McDonald’s cares more about their profit rather than us, as consumers. Working for philanthropy will reduce its profit for sure, but for a long term this pay out would bring better brand reputation, high quality of products and higher revenue. Besides, what I suggest is to make the food more healthier so that children and the youth will not receive bad impacts such as obesity. Making profit is the goal of any corporation, but never forget the business ethics and social responsibilities.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/mcdonalds-accused-stiffing-ronald-mcdonald-house-charities/story?id=20720859