http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com The coolest way to shop is the internet Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:35:33 UTC en http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/g-cloud-app-store-is-launched/ Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:35:33 UTC External General 33 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/g-cloud-app-store-is-launched/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/peter-cochranes-blog-time-to-thrash-out-a-new-deal-on-contract-negotiations/ Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:36:19 UTC External General 34 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/peter-cochranes-blog-time-to-thrash-out-a-new-deal-on-contract-negotiations/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/should-digital-marketers-be-generalists-or-specialists/ The answers from our contributors are below.
Luca Benini, Managing Director Europe, Buddy Media
I don’t know that either is necessarily more important than the other, but both are taken into consideration for their own reasons. At Buddy Media I think we look for very specific skills, such as experience at similar tech companies, familiarity with social media and Facebook, etc. But the all-around digital experience is helpful because things change so quickly. Skills that might have seemed important in a job description or interview might be rendered completely useless in three months. So having a wide-ranging background in digital can ensure that a professional is not pigeonholed into a position that ceases to exist. 
Ros Lawler, Head of E-commerce and Digital Marketing, Random House 
I have worked with great people from both backgrounds.  The most important thing at a senior level is to understand how specialists’ skills (eg. analytics, search, social) work together and integrate with the business.
David Paice, E-commerce Director, Merlin Entertainments
To begin your career, specialist knowledge is more valuable as it will be easier to stand out with this particular USP. As you progress and the responsibilities move from tactical objectives to business strategy, it is vital you take a more broad and all-encompassing viewpoint. This could be gained by ensuring you keep fully up to date with everything else ecommerce-related in your own firm but also keeping abreast of relevant blogs, publications as well as training and development opportunities.
Fiona Spooner, Head of Acquisition and Optimisation, Financial Times
This depends on what you want to do and what your business needs.  We need experts in search, social, CRM and more, so if that is your passion then focus on it.  However, the ability to be able to relate your expertise to the wider business objectives and to contribute to strategy is integral.   We all need a balance.
Allison Wightman, Head of eBusiness, Virgin Atlantic
A good grounding in digital would see you getting involved in as many different areas of e-commerce and digital marketing as possible, as it really is the sum of its parts. It’s then possible to specialise somewhat managing a specialist team before taking on a senior leadership role. If possible, it's important to have commercial responsibility at some point before going for a senior role.
Angus Cormie, Online Director, Dell EMEA 
For digital leaders, you have to make the assumption that they have a support infrastructure of specialists, either as in-house staff or agencies. Some businesses can rely on a single expert with a specific digital expertise, for example where search is at the heart of the business digital performance. However, most businesses require a rich suite of skills that can then be supported by an all-round generalist, knowledgeable enough to be able to point the broader team in the right direction to align to the business and digital and strategies, and knowledgeable enough to know when the specialist is not delivering or going “off-piste”.
Matt Simpson, Head of Digital, EMEA, OmnicomMediaGroup
If only life was as black and white!  Ultimately the top jobs in business are one's which require a generalist skill set which are rarely based around a specialism.  Specialising can help propel you to senior positions through lack of competition and rapid growth of your specialist area, but the most senior jobs will require you to broaden your skill set at some point.  My advice would be to try and make sure you always know more than others about at least one area, but don't do this at the cost of having a broad digital understanding.
Russell Gould, Former Managing Director, e-StrategyConsultancy.com
I don't think it matters.  If you have a deep understanding of a particular area you must ensure you also fully understand how this area influences and is influenced by the other areas.  
Claire Higgins, Head of Digital Marketing, Selfridges
It depends on the job role, but if are a specialist in one area, you need a strong overview of how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together to be able to really deliver effectively.
Most senior level roles do however, require well-rounded digital experience. It gives more opportunity for the business to diversify and brings a strong digital voice to the table that can be confident around how the various parts of the digital mix interchange with one another. 
Although, by diversifying you also need to have a good understanding of the key areas to be able to influence, drive change and achieve results. 
Rosalie Kurton, Head of New Business, LBi
At this level (and ideally any level whether specialist or not) you need to have a blended brain. It’s no good having 20 experts in a room every time a client has a brief. You need to think holistically about the solution and how all the component parts will work together. From there you can direct a team using smaller groups of specialists to deliver the solution at the appropriate points.
The other thing to point out is that typically under the pyramid model, the higher up you get in an organisation, the more operational the role tends to become which results in more admin and people management rather than being able to share discipline expertise with the client or the team.
As the digital industry has matured so rapidly it means that senior experts can be spread thinly at a time when they should be spending more time with senior clients given the maturity and importance of digital to most organisations.
Alison Lancaster, CMO, Kiddicare, and Marketing Director, Morrison’s Non-Food
Ideally both!  In the early days of .com and digital marketing, there were so few of us, we all had to do everything and learn it all along the way!  Now the market is so much bigger, there are lots of specialists and experts working in silos.  Personally, I prefer more rounded digital experts who can take a bigger picture view and work across different dimensions with a portfolio of tools in their tool kit.  However, it largely depends on the size of your team and budget! The common primary focus is the customer and how we use digital expertise to create better brand and online user experiences - whatever category, service or department we operate in. 
Andy Harding, Director of E-commerce, House of Fraser
Having a deep knowledge about a specific area will ensure fast progression within that area but to progress into senior digital management and beyond requires a solid understanding of the mechanics of all disciplines. 
Chris Ketley, Head of Digital and E-commerce, Bupa
It really depends on the role and responsibilities. You will be perceived as others as the digital expert so need to ensure you can manage and deliver against expectations.
Paul Wishman, Group E-commerce Director, LV 
For me the ideal person is someone who has demonstrated their ‘depth’ in at least one area and then shown versatility to propagate experience across a range of digital techniques. I say this as I believe to lead from the front you need to have proved to yourself and others that you have sound knowledge of the mechanics and how to effectively use them to attain optimal results.
Your thoughts?
What do you think? Is it more important to be a generalist, or a specialist? With the amount of information out there, can you be both? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
For further information, download our free Digital Marketing and E-commerce Careers Guide (registration required) or find out more about the other free reports offered by Econsultancy. 
  ]]> Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:36:15 UTC External General 26 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/should-digital-marketers-be-generalists-or-specialists/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/is-reality-catching-up-to-facebook-f-commerce-dreams/
Encouraging companies to spend more on Facebook advertising to drive users to their Facebook storefronts.
Allowing Facebook to expand the use of its virtual currency, Credits, to purchases of physical goods.
Obviously, f-commerce shouldn't be written off as dead. But if Facebook really wants to make a go of it, the world's largest social network will have to be more thoughtful than "this is where people are hanging out" when trying to promote commerce on its platform. ]]> Tue, 21 Feb 2012 01:36:03 UTC External General 33 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/is-reality-catching-up-to-facebook-f-commerce-dreams/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/why-you-need-a-tablet-strategy-in-2012/ How much shopping do you think you will do online next Christmas?
 
This indicates growth of between 18% and 22% during Christmas 2012, exceeding the rate of growth in 2011.
The most significant change in online shopping behaviour, and the one I will focus on, is the device migration and proliferation with regards to consumer shopping behaviour.
While we all know that mobile shopping finally ‘came of age’ in 2011, the most noteworthy change over Christmas 2011 was the sudden and rapid acceptance of iPads and other tablets as a brilliant shopping channel. 
Explosive use of mobile phones for 2011 Christmas shopping online
48% of our survey respondents said they used a mobile phone at some point in their Christmas shopping 2011 (compared to 20% in 2010).
Our survey, in line with many others carried out over the peak trading period, highlights a huge increase in mobile phone shopping especially for those searching for products.
Did you use your mobile phone to do any of the following when Christmas shopping online?

iPad usage nearly matches mobile from a standing start… 
A staggering 14% of all respondents indicated that they used an iPad or other tablet to make a purchase over the festive season. This means that in just 18 months from the first iPad going on sale, use of tablets for shopping almost equalled that of mobile phones (15%).
And while tablets were only being used in the purchase cycle by some 30% of the audience (compared to 50% for mobile), the actual purchase volumes were very similar.
Did you use an iPad or other tablet to do any of the following when Christmas shopping online?

I think this difference in behaviour is most likely to do with the very different user experiences between mobile and tablet.
But also, it would seem that the demographics have an influence on this too. Whilst 35 to 44 years olds were the clear driver of this growth for most activities, 25 to 34 year olds were the most likely to actually purchase using an iPad/tablet device.
In fact, they showed that they are more likely to purchase on an iPad than on a mobile phone.
Tablets driving the expected overall increase in online shopping next Christmas
Tablet users are also showing a significantly higher propensity to spend much more during Christmas 2012.
26% plan to spend twice as much next year, and 22% plan to spend ‘loads’ more next year and 10% plan to spend more.
Christmas 2012 Online purchase intention by device type:

What should retailers be doing about all of this?
January saw retailers announcing tremendous growth in mobile commerce, and we saw a whole host of other surveys reinforcing our figures. 
But critically I believe tablets will be the device to watch this year. As more come to market and popularity grows, combined with their ability to combine the best bits of mobile phones with those of PC’s, for e-commerce there are very few downsides.
Therefore retailers really do need to be thinking now about how to incorporate tablets into their overall e-commerce and marketing strategies.
That means, rather than considering them the same as mobile phones, they need to be considered and treated separately. 
Having reviewed many of the leading UK retailers ourselves, we discovered that many are unprepared for the opportunities that tablets provide, especially bearing in mind the migration of the most prolific online shoppers towards them.
To download the full Logan Tod & Co Online Future Shopping Index, click here. ]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:35:52 UTC External General 20 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/why-you-need-a-tablet-strategy-in-2012/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/qa-foolproofs-meriel-lenfestey-on-the-eu-cookie-law/ I believe there is an acceptance amongst major online service providers that this is not going away.
Many smaller organisations, without legal departments, are likely to be unaware of their responsibilities or are taking a wait and see approach on the basis that they aren’t likely to be targeted themselves. 
Is the ICO being clear enough on what is required of online companies to comply with the law? 
The ICO’s ‘almost impossible’ task is to facilitate and enforce the implementation of the EU Directive in the UK.
The new law is relatively clear, particularly when viewed alongside existing legal definitions of consent. UK Business, Government, and I, feel that the resulting legal requirements are too onerous to be practical and a clumsy way to achieve the underlying goals of the Directive.
In attempting to appease us all, the ICO has implied more flexibility in their guidance, contradicting the law around issues such as the timing and nature of consent.
Although the guidance doesn’t have any legal standing, it has fuelled the organisational fires between legal and commercial teams about how much to invest in complying.  
What should online businesses be doing in preparation? 
By now, all businesses should understand how they are currently using cookies (directly and indirectly).
Our advice is that this means conducting a cookie audit which not only lists the cookies, the data they store and the provider, but also identifying what benefit each provides to users (including how that benefit can be described to users).
It should also include a categorisation (we’ve identified five overall categories of cookies), what commercial benefit they provide, the level of intrusiveness they could be deemed to create and whether they enable a feature the user specifically requests.
Information should be placed on every website, to describe in user facing language, how cookies are used.
All businesses should be revising their customer contracts to ensure they include consent, and their partner contracts to ensure it is clear where responsibility lies (without that the law makes the primary domain responsible).
With these steps taken, an experienced designer can be briefed to design a UI solution which delivers the best possible user experience for the specific business requirements.
Some have suggested that doing some planning (i.e. showing willingness to comply) will be enough. What is your take on this? 
It’s not enough legally. However, no one knows what enforcement action will be taken and some are willing to wait and see, safe in the knowledge that the ICO will give them warning before any action.
The scale of the financial penalties, when viewed against the cost of implementation and risk to business have a created a great incentive for businesses to take minimal steps.
Are there any loopholes that online businesses will seek to exploit? 
The law has three aspects (consent, information and exclusions) all of which could be seen as open to interpretation.
The ICO’s recent guidance illustrates this brilliantly within a single document where they suggest non compliant solutions might be acceptable.
These include solutions based around delayed consent rather than prior consent; and inferred consent based on information in a footer, rather than explicit, provable, informed consent.
The lack of clarity around which cookies will be deemed strictly necessary (Shopping baskets “may be excluded”) and their implied flexibility around some cookie uses (e.g. analytics) will also invite many businesses to argue that their cookies should be excluded. 
You have been working on this issue with clients in the financial sector. What are the challenges that are unique to this type of business? 
The clients we have been working with are organisationally risk averse but resist the requirements because they don’t feel they place intrusive cookies.
They use a lot of cookies (one client uses several hundred), and they use third party cookies (including analytics, partner service providers and aggregators). They will face particular challenges in delivering against FSA requirements such as TCF without being able to rely on people using cookies.
They are often dealing with multiple markets across the EU and will need to satisfy the legal requirements in each market, regardless of any flexibility implied by the ICO. 
How badly will the loss of cookies (if users opt out) affect the user experience on websites? 
I doubt many websites will offer a persistent opt out option. More likely, they will keep asking each time a user returns or tries to use a piece of functionality which requires cookies in the hope of persuading them.
However, without consent, the immediate impact will be a reduced set of functionality and a less personal experience where the user must hunt down relevant information rather than have it float to the surface.
The medium term impact will be caused by businesses' lack of insight to lead their service development decisions. The long term impact will be a change in the market dynamic with fewer ‘free’ advertising funded or aggregator based websites.
Is it possible to comply without affecting the user experience? What are the best, or least bad, options? 
A site which only uses cookies which drive core features the user explicitly requests, e.g. shopping basket in an e-commerce site will probably be compliant without changing anything.
This is true of very few online services. For the rest, it is not possible to comply without affecting the user experience.
We’ve been working with our clients to recommend solutions which minimise the impact on the experience through careful, intuitive placement of consent requests and information, as well as concise, customer facing wording to gather single consent for multiple cookie types (wherever possible). 
The laws also apply to mobiles, tablets and connected TV. How will that work in practice? 
It makes very little difference except that it adds strength to the argument that we can’t wait for a browser based solution.
Regardless of the platform, the user must be able to make an informed decision before proceeding with an action which will place a new type of cookie.
What are you advising your clients to do about this? 
We’re advising them to decide on a strategy and apply it across all platforms.
How do you expect large online businesses such as Tesco and Amazon to deal with the cookie issue? 
I expect that few (if any) will fully comply, at least at first until they see what their competitors have done, how the ICO is enforcing the law, and how users respond with their increased awareness.
I do however, expect that they will all increase the prominence of cookie related information on their services, and that they will have fully compliant plans up their sleeve, just in case.
Is there anything companies can do to educate web users about the cookie issue in advance? 
I’m torn on this one. I don’t believe users should be educated about cookies. I see cookies as a technical solution to deliver a service – part of the magic which makes the web work.
As this isn’t a luxury providers are afforded in the law, I’d suggest that providers start to refer to cookies in places where they are beneficial (to users) in their services e.g. remember me boxes, add to shopping basket, pass choices to another page, store preferences etc.
This will start to create positivity around them as consent is sought. Registered users can be asked for consent early so that the necessary change in May will be smooth.
In a recent interview with LBi's Manley on the EU cookie law, he said: 'some say this is unworkable, but in all honesty, it’s not, it’s just a bit irritating.' Would you agree with that sentiment?
Creating a compliant solution is possible from a technical and design perspective.
In my opinion, the problem is that the law is misaligned and out of proportion to the underlying goal and doesn’t factor in the realities of the commercial world and users’ tendency to take the path of least resistance.
I’d say that makes it more than a bit irritating.
Meriel will be speaking at a breakfast briefing on The New Data Protection Directive & Cookie Compliance next Thursday (23rd).  ]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:35:51 UTC External General 32 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/qa-foolproofs-meriel-lenfestey-on-the-eu-cookie-law/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/credit-where-it%E2%80%99s-due-dealing-with-the-myths-of-attribution/ But, the idea you need an already established view of your digital media campaigns’ role in sales is a greater misunderstanding.
For attribution isn’t just about taking action based on how they contribute, it’s about learning how they contribute in the first place. Once you have begun tracking where and when each channel appears in a customer’s path to conversion – the starting point of attribution – you soon see the typical role each plays.
The results of this phase are rarely a surprise. Affiliates, display retargeting, email and branded paid and natural search tend to deliver a large amount of last clicks.
Brand display and generic paid and natural search tend to feature higher up the chain. But, having the hard proof and real numbers is a step-change.
The instant application of the most basic form of attribution, deduplication, ensures that the last-click model is at last applied accurately.
It means that only the channel that really delivered the last click gets the credit and, therefore, the commission. Just having cookied a customer is no longer enough and that saves an average of 25% of CPA payments for advertisers.
But, there’s much more powerful stuff. When you start to examine the figures, you can gauge the success of a channel, not just as a deliverer of last clicks, but also as a contributor to the entire customer journey.
‘Assisted conversions’ shows you exactly how many sales (and what value of sales) a channel played any part in delivering.
So campaigns that rarely deliver last clicks but feature heavily in many customers’ journeys on their way to buying – generic SEO might be an example – start to be seen in a different light.
Meanwhile, ‘attributed conversions’ tells us the real impact of any particular channel by weighing how often a campaign appears in paths to conversion against how many other campaigns also play a role.
This starts to de-emphasise those channels that feature commonly in customer journeys but less so in those where only a few campaigns appear. Spending a lot of money on a particular channel is almost certain to mean it delivers results but that doesn’t mean it’s the most effective.
Indeed it might be that spending all that money on campaigns that feature even when hardly anything else does would deliver more.
But, again, this is only the initial stages of attribution. You haven’t paid anyone differently (apart from through effective deduplication). All you’re beginning to see is figures to make a case for the true contribution of all the digital marketing activity you engage in. This might enable you to shift spend to channels you see are delivering more, which is transformative in itself.
The final step, perhaps the one that causes the most anxiety, is ‘applied attribution’, awarding credit and commission differently to campaigns based on where in the path they appear. This is setting attribution rules and can only happen when you have assessed – with your providers – what you all think the numbers are telling you.
So, attribution is real and it helps you learn very important lessons before you even have to think about radically changing your approach.
In the end, it is only about giving credit where it’s due and, for that, it deserves some very large credit of its own. ]]> Mon, 20 Feb 2012 01:35:46 UTC External General 29 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/credit-where-it%E2%80%99s-due-dealing-with-the-myths-of-attribution/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/study-suggests-48-of-retailers-plan-to-increase-mobile-spend-for-2012/ The survey found that comprehensive product information was identified as the most important aspect of a retailer’s website in terms of product pages (56%), ahead of images (13%), consumer reviews (12%), links to similar products (9%) and rich content (8%).
Retailers are also witnessing high demand from shoppers for detailed information about products, with over half (58%) stating that this was a top consumer requirement.
But while respondents generally recognised the growing importance of m-commerce it doesn’t mean they are necessarily in a position to do anything about it. 
The retailers reported lack of budget (58%) and legacy technology systems (37%) as the biggest barriers to investment in these mobile strategies.
The stats from Stibo Systems tally with the latest data from Econsultancy’s Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing which shows that 38% of businesses surveyed put mobile optimisation among the three most exciting digital-related opportunities for 2012.

A vast majority (87%) of those surveyed by Stibo Systems also stated that location and mapping will be a big trend in m-commerce in 2012.
However, only a quarter of retailers are actually planning on investing in location-based and geo-spatial technology this year, suggesting that it will be a long time before retailers are using this as standard in their mobile offering.
Stibo System’s research consisted of 100 interviews conducted with top UK retail organisations by Coleman Parkes. ]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:37:06 UTC External General 25 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/study-suggests-48-of-retailers-plan-to-increase-mobile-spend-for-2012/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/2012-the-year-that-online-retail-reaches-adulthood/ I haven't ticked many of the 100 Things to Do Before You Die off this year: I haven't climbed Everest, visited either of the Poles (or Poland) and I've never been an outlaw in Peru. I did make it to the Rugby World Cup though, so it hasn't been a bad year.
As I was retrospecting, it dawned on me that online retail is 18 this year. Old enough to vote, get married and even drink in the more civilised parts of the world, an adult.
So what have we, as an industry, achieved during our childhood years? A large proportion of the global population can now shop from wherever and whenever is most convenient. That would have seemed pretty amazing at the beginning of the 1990s.
But (there's always a but, especially in articles like this), we still have plenty of room for improvement. So how can we measure the success of an entire industry? Revenue? Billionaires? Personal space rockets?
All of these are indicators, but I think that customer satisfaction is the most important metric, both for merchants and the industry as a whole.
Now that we don't have to be physically present in a specific location to conduct our business it is much easier for us to go elsewhere, and it is very hard to persuade unsatisfied customers to come back.
What do our customers want, and how well is the e-commerce industry delivering on expectations?
I want to know that I am buying the best product for my needs.
If I want to buy a new laptop, DVD player or washing machine then I can research available products relatively easily. I can read expert reviews, peer reviews and technical specifications to find the product that is right for me.
Once I have made my decision I will end up with a search-friendly description, probably the make and model, identifying the product that I wish to buy. Most importantly I can be almost 100% sure that when I order what I receive will be the product that I have selected.
However, if I am looking for a new suit, a coffee table or some tomatoes then it is much more difficult to be certain that the product I receive will be the right size, colour or quality.
These types of merchandise, with more subjective attributes, are far less search-friendly and require additional reassurances for the consumer.
There tends to be far less information available about them and in the case of fresh produce may vary considerably in quality even when purchasing identically described goods from the same merchant.
There are vertical-specific solutions, e.g. apparel sizing gadgets and the use of high quality photography and video for luxury goods.
Innovation in these more challenging verticals will be the key to improving customer satisfaction and reducing returns.
Score: 5/10
I want to know that I am getting the best price.
Price comparison websites have made finding the best price for a given product fairly painless.
There are still discrepancies in reporting of shipping costs and sales tax, but if you have a make and model then finding the best spot price for a search friendly product is the work of a couple of minutes.
However, for those less search friendly products, price comparison is difficult or impossible. Factors such as brand and promotions become far more important. Pricing issues can be rectified through good customer service, but that only works if the customer trusts that the merchant will respect them in the morning.
Auction sites have been a game changer for shoppers. eBay and others have been phenomenally successful because they have enabled customers to set a price that they are willing to pay and created very efficient marketplaces.
Score: 9/10
I want to know that I will receive my purchase quickly and conveniently.
This is an area where the experience is still falling short of consumers' expectations. There is a simple reason for this, it's the most error-prone part of the process involving physical goods, people and transport.
There are lots of things to go wrong: Goods can be damaged or mis-picked in the warehouse, weather and traffic can interfere with delivery schedules and then there are the couriers, forgetful neighbours and the post office collections point on a Saturday morning...
I am not able to find any published figures for first-time residential delivery success rates in the UK, but I would be willing to lay a small wager that they are far less than 90% (unless, by deliver, you mean throw over a fence).
Collect in store, local collection points, evening and weekend delivery and more convenient delivery services such as those offered by Shutl and the supermarkets are improving the experience.
A selection of delivery and collection options enabling the customer to trade off price against convenience is a good approach, so long as the user experience is not too complex.
Score: 3/10
Most importantly, I want to know that if there are any problems I will be treated fairly.
"Anything that can go wrong, will - at the worst possible moment" is Finagle's Law. We could debate whether or not this is actually true or whether is just seems that way when you have been placed on hold "for a moment" on the eve of your favourite relative's birthday.
If something goes wrong with my order I want to be told about it, I don't want to have to call customer service to ask them to find out. Send me an email or a text, even call me.
Don't make me wait 20 minutes, listening to a message telling me that "my call is extremely important", to eventually speak to a harassed customer service agent who can't tell me where my order is.
Good customer service, something that sets the most successful retailers apart, is not just about cheerful, well trained customer service staff.
It's about giving correct information and clearly communicating with the customer throughout the buying journey, through whichever channel they choose. It's about having a clear picture of the customer so that the customer service team can make sensible decisions based on facts.
Score: 6/10
Grand Total: 23/40
Satisfactory, but only just... ]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:37:06 UTC External General 25 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/2012-the-year-that-online-retail-reaches-adulthood/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/qa-blinkxs-suranga-chandratillake-on-connected-tv/ There are a lot of companies investing heavily in connected TV this year. Do you think this will be the year it gains a foothold with consumers?
Connected TV is at the threshold of mainstream consumer adoption and has been for some time now, primarily driven by extensive investment from internet and technology companies.
But 2012 could be the year that it finally reaches the tipping point – all the signs are there.
In May last year we partnered with Roku to provide its customers with access to our extensive index of professionally produced content via a blinkx app.
To begin with viewer numbers were nothing to write home about, but over the last few months there has been a real buzz around the app and uptake has been exponential.
Internet TV is already prevalent in homes and it has been there for some time now, but not in the way many people thought.
Rather than through dedicated TV sets it is being accessed through devices where the web is the secondary function, like Playstation and Xbox 360.
Access to things like the iPlayer is changing people’s relationship with their TV, but someone will need to create a killer app that is accessed through the TV which consumers can’t live without in order for connected TV to reach its full potential.
Speaking of the ‘killer app’, what functionality do you think it will have to offer to really take off with consumers?
The truth is we simply don’t know. A lot of people are leaning towards social TV, but I disagree.
Consumers are getting used to sharing opinions and discussing programmes on social media, but this is done through their phone, tablet or laptop and it will take a fundamental shift to break that mindset.
While this form of interaction is growing, the irony is that use of companion devices in this way actually makes them a barrier to a truly connected TV experience.
I think the killer app will come from a company that is not on anyone’s radar at the moment and it will fundamentally change the way people use their TV. 
Who stands to benefit most? Content providers who can sell additional adverts and subscriptions, or e-tailers who can sell products through internet connected TVs?
Connected TV doesn’t just shake up the linear TV model – it will ultimately extinguish it.
Connected TV has the potential to deliver benefits across the entire ecosystem if everyone plays their hand well, but there are two key beneficiaries: consumers and content providers.
For consumers, the level of freedom it offers to access and watch what they want, when they want, is unparalleled in the history of TV. And it means that for the first time we all become schedulers for our very own personal channels.
Moreover, advertisers will benefit because the level of segmentation that this provides means that TV advertising will have the potential to combine scale and targeting for the very first time, and content providers will charge a higher premium for brands to access their target markets.
Watching TV is a social experience. Do you think social networks are yet making the most of the opportunity?
TV shows have always sparked conversation, so it stands to reason that people are taking to social media to express their views around a particular programme.
In terms of facilitating and hosting those conversations, and providing a springboard for deeper engagement with fans, social networks are doing this well. 
It may seem that the next step is for the social networks to establish themselves as a platform for watching professionally generated content, but this proposition has a couple of challenges.
Firstly, consumers don’t see a social network as a place to watch content. Secondly, you would need to be online to view the programme.
Thirdly, some brands may be reluctant to advertise on a platform that is more commonly known for user generated content.
With this in mind, I believe social networks have a key role to play in the future of TV, but that role is limited.
Is the real opportunity actually with second screens, such a smartphones, rather than with internet connected TV sets?
No. Second screens will continue to play a key role in the way consumers engage with each other as connected TV comes of age, but in the long-term the TV will remain the Lord of the living room and the most effective conduit for everyone.
Do you see traditional broadcasters dying out, in the same way that the newspaper industry is in decline, or will they survive as long they keep investing in content?
No. In this business, content will always be king, so it doesn’t matter whether it’s a streaming service or a traditional broadcaster – unless you can attract the eyeballs you will not survive.
In the world of connected TV ad revenues will still be the major driver for the commercial stations, and the potential for greater audience segmentation and targeting means that ad rates will increase. But the foundation for this success has to be quality content.
YouTube and MSN recently redesigned their homepages to focus on channels. Are theme-specific channels the future for connected TV?
Everything is being categorised to make things clearer and easier for the user. Naturally, as connected TV progresses, themed channels and grouping of content will become the norm.
One of the greatest potential challenges for consumers around the arrival of connected TV is finding the content you want to watch from a potentially limitless catalogue.
The grouping of channel themes is very much in line with the ‘lean back’ experience associated with traditional TV and helps consumers by pushing relevant content to them.
There is huge competition for content among broadcasters at the moment. Netflix, LoveFilm, Sky and YouTube are all battling to secure more original content – is there space for all of them to exist or will one dominant brand emerge?
As with traditional television, there is scope for multiple broadcasters to exist provided they are offering compelling and unique content.
In reality, it is very difficult for any one provider to have all the programmes that would appeal to every user.
That said, it is inevitable that some dominant players emerge and others disappear.
The online video space is a hugely competitive sector and we’ve seen some high profile casualties in recent years including Joost, and others failing to launch, such as Arqiva.
Similarly, do you think it is likely that one hardware company will dominate the industry, like Apple does currently with tablets, or will it be a more diverse industry?
Hardware in the TV space has always been extremely competitive.
At CES this year we saw numerous companies including Google, Microsoft and Samsung launching new devices, but currently no-one is set to dominate.

The achilles heel for most manufacturers at the moment is the interfaces, which are giving a bad experience and putting consumers off.
The exception to the rule is Apple, but when it comes to connected TV their devices could be too restrictive for most users.
The appeal of connected TV is its potential to connect consumers with content from a virtually limitless catalogue online.
Apple’s products deliver such a seamless experience because the company controls every facet of the user’s journey.
Whether they can replicate this and provide access to TV content at scale remains to be seen. 
What is blinkx's strategy for taking advantage of the opportunities presented by connected TV? Are you aiming to power search in third-party apps (similar to current agreements with MSN and AOL) or create your own blinkx branded apps?
Our strategy is a combination of both empowering search through third parties and creating our own apps.
We have already embraced the arrival of connected TV, launching a TV API (application programming interface) designed to allow TV and set-top box manufacturers access our 35m hours of online video.
The API pulls content from across the web, but is capable of filtering results based on the capabilities of the user’s devices, taking account of supported video formats. ]]> Sun, 19 Feb 2012 01:37:05 UTC External General 30 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/qa-blinkxs-suranga-chandratillake-on-connected-tv/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-how-to-get-change-management-on-the-project-management-agenda/ Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:36:31 UTC admin General 23 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-how-to-get-change-management-on-the-project-management-agenda/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-how-to-get-press-coverage-at-trade-shows/ Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:36:25 UTC admin General 29 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-how-to-get-press-coverage-at-trade-shows/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-are-you-a-team-player/ Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:36:19 UTC admin General 30 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-are-you-a-team-player/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-face-to-face-pr-networking-works-if-you-choose-wisely/ Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:36:17 UTC admin General 27 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-face-to-face-pr-networking-works-if-you-choose-wisely/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-why-purpose-matters-four-business-reasons-plus-one-emotional-one/ Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:36:16 UTC admin General 32 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/guest-article-why-purpose-matters-four-business-reasons-plus-one-emotional-one/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/digital-wallet-launches-for-uk-bank-customers/ Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:35:55 UTC External General 27 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/digital-wallet-launches-for-uk-bank-customers/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/europe-gets-supercomputing-boost/ Sat, 18 Feb 2012 01:35:53 UTC External General 30 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/europe-gets-supercomputing-boost/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/what-can-it-do-to-bridge-the-chasm-with-the-business/ Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:36:04 UTC External General 22 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/what-can-it-do-to-bridge-the-chasm-with-the-business/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/the-annotated-art-of-war-parts-5-3-6-direct-and-indirect/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:35:40 UTC admin General 36 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/the-annotated-art-of-war-parts-5-3-6-direct-and-indirect/ http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/willpower-willpower-style/ Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:35:40 UTC admin General 38 http://www.acoolwaytoshop.com/General/willpower-willpower-style/