General Motors introduces an online shopping platform that allows customers to purchase new cars on the internet. This allows customers to skip the showroom ritual when buying new cars. This expansion of a web-based application is primarily targeted towards online-savvy consumers as well as customers who does not have the time to go to a car dealership. This implementation allows easy accessibility to the company’s products and may include more of a variety than local car dealerships.

Though GM’s message to expand their market and open to a larger customer base is clear, I do not believe that the company will gain much success with this action. There are certain products that are not meant to be sold online like groceries or everyday necessities. Personally, there are several factors I must take into consideration when purchasing a car. I must be able to test drive the vehicle making sure that I am comfortable with it as well as being able to instantly acquire the vehicle after purchase. Many of these factors can potentially “make or break” a deal when it comes to customer values. However, I may be completely wrong as the company have taken appropriate amount of steps to evaluate their customer’s preferences and demands. It is too soon to determine whether this online platform will be able to benefit or destroy the company in the future.

Work Cited:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303492504579111752452221502

Twitter announced that before their initial public offering they have been hard at work towards forming potential partnerships with a variety of different television networks. They believe these partnerships will assist them in searching for new types of advertising revenue as well as appealing to future investors.

Though I may not be an avid Twitter user but however, I believe that they are currently headed towards the right direction. They stated that their initial goal for the IPO is to reach 1 billion US in stocks. Forming partnerships with television networks will doubtlessly help them reach their aspiration. Before considering these partnerships, Twitter has always been a place for people to discuss various topics, especially about current news or popular television shows. Some examples that comes to mind would be the Game of Thrones “Red Wedding” episode  and just last week, The Breaking Bad Finale was the most tweeted topic. Twitter offers a place for us to converse about things that interests us as well as an opportunity to share our own opinions to the world. Moreover, the collaborations with multiple television networks will allow people to discuss topics live by using specific program based hash tags. Many of the current commercials we have been watching have already implemented the hash tag feature. Ultimately, these partnerships will benefit both Twitter and television networks as they strengthen the accessibility of television content to an another level.

Work Cited:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/twitter-exploring-tv-related-advertising-ahead-of-ipo-1.1928356

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/twitter-ipo-details-raise-questions-over-financials-bots-1.1912936

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/twitter-ipo-details-raise-questions-over-financials-bots-1.1912936

Recently, information has been released concluding that Samsung Electronic’s operating profit hit record high in the July to September quarter. The company stated that their operating income rose over 25% toward 9.4 billion US, which was better than their expected 9.3 billion US.

There are several factors contributing towards Samsung reaching a record-high profit but I am convinced that this increase was most likely the result of Samsung focusing on more of a diverse product line especially the low- and mid-end phones. With this goal, they were able to expand further into international markets offering phones that are very affordable in developing countries. I’m positive most of us are aware that Samsung specializes in producing unique products for different types of markets. They offer customers a variety of products and creates new device categories that their competitors have not yet established. This point of difference gives them a tremendous advantage over their competitors such as Apple or HTC where they mainly focus on releasing similar products but with improved specifications. As evidence of Samsung’s diverse market, they recently released Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, S3 mini, Note 3 and Mega. The Samsung Galaxy S4 and S3 mini targets customers who wants a cheaper smaller version of it predecessor while the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Mega targets customers interested in a combined “tablet phone”. Ultimately, finishing the third quarter with a record-high profit is only the beginning of a positive future for Samsung. It will be interesting to see how their competitors will respond in the coming years.

A video introducing the “Samsung Family”

Works Cited:

http://mobilesyrup.com/2013/09/23/samsung-bringing-galaxy-note-3-galaxy-gear-galaxy-s3-mini-and-galaxy-s4-mini-to-canada-on-october-4th/

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/samsung-reports-record-high-profit-5609486

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/05/technology/htc-suffers-first-quarterly-loss-as-samsung-soars.html?_r=0

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/samsung-profits-up-a-record-25-in-3rd-quarter-1.1912361