Although there has been much speculation on whether or not the country’s economy is in a recession or just in flux, consumers are going to discover smarter ways in buying when they need to make a purchase. The slowing market will force consumers to become more educated about their options before they pull the trigger. In order to do so, consumers will continue to become more discerning and research the best prices and reviews on products before they spend. They will flock to web sites where that information lies. Social networks where community recommendations on the best and worst products as well as customer service will continue to thrive in a market where buyers are more cautious to buy on impulse. This increase in behavior shopping will also drive competition for bargains between big box stores and online sites. People hesitant with trust or even knowledge in the online marketplace will find themselves exploring search engines and online stores before they plunk down change at the nearest store. It might mean that they merely visit the url’s of brand stores they already associate with in their behavior but they will certainly do price comparison. We will probably see a growth in older coupon behavioral shoppers that don’t want to wait until the Sunday paper. While traditional ad spending may take a hit this year, it should be interesting to see how the online market does as consumers become more savvy with their money that should give a boost to online marketing power. Increased consumer online buying, when rewarded with savings, will further solidify into their future buying behavior.
Archive for May, 2008
After a tumultuous battle between two HD formats, HD-DVD and Blu-ray, the war was declared over in January this year when Sony’s payout to Time-Warner pictures shifted the balance of studio adoption into Blu-ray’s favor. Toshiba, the major hardware supporter, announced they would stop production of HD-DVD players. The consensus appeared to be in favor of a single format. After stores have offered rebates on the return of HD-DVD players, Blu-ray sales numbers should reflect an increase. This is not the case. The problems is that manufacturers have actually raised the prices to double the cost of a mid-level Toshiba A-30 HD-DVD player over Christmas pricing. In return, they have alienated consumers migrating to HD televisions and severely affected their chance at global adoption. This could have been easy swept up during the media attention in January/February by offering a reasonably priced alternative. Unfortunately, Sony still has not learned their lesson from the Betamax wars of yesteryear that I recall in the early 80’s. Just because you have either a superior format - in the case of the former Betamax, or a victorious format of Blu-ray, doesn’t mean you have won. Victory is true market adoption by overwhelming market share. Judging from the numbers, Blu-ray has a long way to go. They are quickly losing the game with overpriced players. Numbers show that the sale of HD-DVD players have actually increased while Blu-ray players have decreased. The talk of a recession has not appeared to move the price down and consumers only get smarter with their money. The clarity in the Blu-ray is outstanding on an HD television and would be a shame to see it disappear.
What will become the next format? What ever fills the void within cost reach of the average consumer. It’s too late to develop another removable media format. Most likely it will be a media device such as the Apple TV or VUDU priced in the cusp of consumer adoption of under $250 dollars. Rentals will once again become a dominate player when low price, usability and day and date availability is accessible to the average consumer. These media players, if they move aggressively while Blu-ray becomes docile in pricing, will leave Sony with another Betamax format.
We internet as we knew it, is dead. The idea of sending bytes of data back and forth for what it was originally intended for, has passed. Today it has evolved into many different forms. The definition of what it was, metaphysically, no longer applies. We certainly don’t say “answer the television” when we get a phone call. Although some congressmen insist on juvenilely describing it as “pipes,” today it could be described as dynamic channels with networking crossover. While it’s potential form is still shaking out, it continues to evolve before anything is truly established.
Although it appears unformulated, there really is no confusion as to what it is. What is familiar within the web as we view it, is various forms of television, radio, telephone and print. As much as we want to spin the once-formerly-known-as-internet as a new model, it is still very much the same in micro blocks of content through associations that we are easily familiar with. While youtube and video podcasts appear on the surface to be a craze considered a by some as a revolution, it is still very much television with more channels than your cable tv. It is a viable medium. Both advertisers and futurists have struggled for a long while to figure out what the net is to consumers and how it can be formulated into a diplomatic sentence. In reality, it is nothing more than another channel for us to view or communicate. A communication tool that is very much apart of the average consumers lives. It’s television. It’s radio. It’s a telephone. It’s a newspaper. Therein lies the identity to advertisers today. Whether it is Nielsen ratings or CPM’s, advertising is very much a viable driving force for monetary support for content providers. It’s important that advertisers understand. Advertising is just as powerful online as it is in traditional media. Some studies suggest it’s even more captive online - but that’s for another blog entry.
As much as we have improved and attempted to re-invent a “car of the future,” it still has four wheels, an engine and a steering wheel very much akin to the Model-T. We still call it a car. Just like a car, whether on a back road or super highway, we, as consumers still drive it.
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