Nice article from Booz on profit in the digital economy.
Short version: It seems like those closest to the customer (think device makers, internet software providers) rake in most the profit. Interesting.
Interesting chart from TBR on consulting company growth rates.
It’s good to see general growth rates of >10%, even in this market.
If you’re a consultant looking for to join a company, it’s always better to go to a firm that is smaller (relatively) and growing. For strategy firms, McKinsey and Kearney fit that bill.
The eCommerce juggernaut continues to challenge retailers.
The Economist has a neat article on it. Key takeaways:
- More than than half of internet orders from WalMart are collected from stores. Apparently because this saves their customers shipping fees.
- Consumers aged 24 to 35 already do about a quarter of their shopping online
- By 2014 mobile internet will overtake desktop internet usage for shopping
My take: Retailers need to figure out what they want to do with their physical spaces. They need to think how to differentiate their products/services from what one would get online (from e.g. Amazon).
BCG has a nice article on how digital will shape both countries and companies. Some titbits that you may find interesting:
- By 2016, 3 billion consumers, or 45 percent of the world’s population, will use the Internet.Wow.
- Indonesia has the second-largest number of Facebook users. This is especially interesting since Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world.
- In emerging markets, customers have leapt past email, portals etc. straight to social.
- Burberry, a British fashion house founded in 1856 that allocates 60 percent of its marketing budget to digital initiatives
Personally, I think there a few fundamental flaws with the way that companies are thinking about digital:
- Companies are moving way to slowly – It shouldn’t take six months to launch a new service portal. Most of the blame here typically falls on IT.
- Companies are not being bold – Most digital initiatives are “me too” plays that copy what a competitor is doing and (if truth be told) could have been done years ago.
- Companies are not tying the pieces together – Most digital initiatives are not connected with one another (i.e. the customer service site in support is not connected with the marketing research site).
What do you think?
The Economist has a neat article on it. Key takeaways:
