Growing busines via your Networks - Ivan Misner

I came across a great website and blog by Ivan Misner today: http://networking.entrepreneur.com/. On his website Ivan says ( and i concur).. I “refuse to participate in a recession,” .

He has co-written an e-book on business and success that helps people learn how to go about doing just that. The book was co-authored with 11 of the world’s foremost authorities on business. It’s called The Way Out!–Your GPS “Guided Path to Success,” and it is a road map for how to steer clear of the recession and drive toward success and prosperity. It was published by iLearningGlobal with the goal of giving people everywhere turn-by-turn directions to help navigate away from challenges such as the current economic state, and toward the destination of their personal, professional and financial goals.

You can download the ebook for free from this URL :

http://www.bni.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=xQ3M02K%2bECU%3d&tabid=64

The contents of the ebook reflect many of the ideals and business rules RSC ahere too.

Top 20 Software Vendors in Retailing - Dec 2008

Oracle
SAP
Microsoft
Celerant Technology
Micros Retail
Escalate Retail
Tomax
PCMS
Datafit
ECR Software
Retalix
MicroStrategy
IBM
Magstar
Manhattan Associates
Lawson Software
SAS
Epicor
Radiant Systems
JDA
Software Reflexis

The 6 Laws Of Customer Experience

BRUCE TEMKIN has a great blog site : http://www.experiencematters.wordpress.com/

A recent whitepaper by Bruce lists and discusses the 6 Laws Of Customer Experience.

1) Every interaction creates a personal reaction.
2) People are instinctively self-centered.
3) Customer familiarity breeds alignment.
4) Unengaged employees don't create engaged customers.
5) Employees do what is measured, incented, and celebrated.
6) You can't fake it.


THE BOTTOM LINE: WHEN IT COMES TO THE 6 LAWS OF
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, IGNORANCE IS NOT A VALID DEFENSE.

Check out his website and blog for more details and a full white paper

TESCO to re-launch loyalty scheme24 Apr 2009

Tesco in the UK is set to re-launch its Clubcard loyalty scheme in the next few weeks, in an effort to further build brand loyalty. The re-launch is reportedly likely to be based around the things customers can do with Clubcard and features a significant investment by Tesco’s own admission. The move is part of the retailer’s strategy to get a balance between price and loyalty programmes, as a means of rewarding customers. The chain will likely be looking to ramp-up both its marketing communications of Tesco Clubcard, as well as the analysis of its shopper behaviour data. Industry sources suggest Tesco will need to expand its Clubcard marketing to digital channels as part of the re-launch.

Tesco's focus on Loyalty and multi-media is testiment to the uplift retailers can obtain and retain with a solid focus on Loyalty & multi-media channels marketing.

What is your retail strategy in this area ?

Want to know\ learn\discuss more - then contact me :0)

Planet Retail - Daily News Feed

Planet Retail

Every day, thousands of professionals turn to Planet Retail as the most trusted authority on global retailing. From in-depth company profiles and market analysis to virtual tours and breaking news, our market leading intelligence service can deliver immediate value to your business.Why Planet Retail

I find the website and daily news feed provides a useful incite into the world of retail and retail trends and activites ..

http://www.planetretail.net/

Supply Chain Technology Market to Grow to US$9.2B in 2012

AMR Research estimates the supply chain management (SCM) applications market will grow by seven percent annually for the next five years, despite the gloomy economic conditions of 2008. Now a $6.5B market, it is forecasted that steady growth will bring the SCM applications market close to $9.2B in 2012.
Based on its analysis, the company predicts there is a high likelihood that the economic challenges of the coming years will offer greater opportunities for supply chain technology adoption.“The supply chain, and the technologies that support it, will play an important role in helping companies deal and thrive in an economy that is going to be quite unlike anything we’ve seen in the post-war era,” said John Fontanella, vice president of research at AMR Research.

The study named five major forces that will be at work in the economy and society in the foreseeable future, and how the supply chain and the technologies that support it will help companies in the next five years.
High inflation – Inflation will force supply chain managers to play an important role in protecting product and company margins through cost control and increased efficiencies in their operations. Rising commodity prices – Pressure from higher commodity prices will bring supply more in line with demand and reduce inventory levels from raw materials to the finished product. Threats to brand security – Counterfeiting, the gray market, and questionable quality standards will make brand protection a top priority.

Companies will look to adopt risk mitigation and global trade technologies as well as analytics to monitor distribution channel buy-and-sell patterns. Sustainability becomes a component of corporate decision making – Public sentiment will force substantive measures by industry to become more environmentally friendly.
This will present opportunities to more directly connect product development efforts with supply chain management to minimize waste and material usage. Cash is king – Capital spending will come under scrutiny as companies preserve cash.
Technologies that increase the velocity of cash collection, including B2B e-commerce, will become a critical component of future initiatives.
The report also found that SAP, Oracle, and Manhattan Associates were the three largest SCM vendors by revenue in 2007, with a market share of 13 percent, 10 percent, and five percent respectively. AMR, www.amrresearch.com

Ad.Wright ! - Singapore based

AdWRIGHT is a full service interactive and ideas agency encompassing Branding, Advertising, Marketing, Communications and Web 2.0.

http://www.adwright.com/ is headed up by MARTIN HENWOOD Originally from the UK, Martin moved to Asia back in 2000 and fell in love with Singapore's cross-cultural life style. Martin started out in the Print and Reprographics industry, working with UK Agencies, his early adoption of web technology has been his true passion, always looking for the edge.

As a founding Director of Ad.WRIGHT Communications, Martin has had a unique exposure to IT, agency and business challenges, gaining valuable experience that is used to help Ad.WRIGHT's clients achieve their ultimate business and marketing objectives.

The website is excellent - please check 'em out..

Customer Experience - Loyalty research in 2009 - Bruce Temkin

I found this blog report on customer loyalty which i must share with you.


What Research Was Hot In Q1 2009? April 8, 2009
Posted by Bruce Temkin in Customer experience.

For the ninth straight quarter, Bruces reports had the highest level of readership across all Forrester analysts. So, needless to say, customer experience remains a hot topic — even in the downturn.
To get a better sense of what’s hot, he compiled the following list of his 20 research reports that have had the most readership by Forrester clients in Q1 2009 (along with their publication dates):
Customer Experience Correlates To Loyalty (February 2009)
Voice Of The Customer: The Next Generation (February 2009)
The Customer Experience Index, 2008 (December 2008)
Customer Experience And Loyalty: A Closer Look (March 2009)
The Customer Experience Journey (September 2008)
Obstacles To Customer Experience Success, 2009 (February 2009)
Customer Experience Index 2008 Snapshot: Retail (February 2009)
Customer Experience Index 2008 Snapshot: Banks (December 2008)
Eight Steps For Keeping Customer Experience Momentum During An Economic Downturn (April 2008)
The Business Impact Of Customer Experience (March 2008)
Engage Gen Y Online With Immediacy (November 2008)
Experience-Based Differentiation (January 2007)
Customer Experience Index 2008 Snapshot: Wireless Carriers (December 2008)
A Closer Look At Customer Experience And Loyalty (August 2008)
Banks’ Cross-Channel Experience, 2008 (July 2008)
Customer Experience Index 2008 Snapshot: Internet Service Providers (March 2009)
Customer Experience Index 2008 Snapshot: Airlines (March 2009)
How Consumers Research, Buy, And Get Service (March 2008)
The Gen Y Design Guide (December 2007)
Wells Fargo Uses Ethnography To Improve Customer Communications (October 2008)

He have a few observations from this list:

There’s a lot of interest in connecting customer experience to business results (e.g., loyalty)
People want to see results from their specific industries
Companies are still trying to figure out how to reach Gen Y
Experience-Based Differentiation remains the blueprint for customer experience excellence
Looking Ahead To My Q2 Research

How Loyal Are Customers? Not Very. This report examines how three areas of loyalty vary across industries and companies: The willingness to repurchase, the reluctance to switch, and the likelihood to recommend.

Headcount - Rent don't Buy Expertise

In these downtimes where companies are shedding fulltime jobs , "downsizing" and "watching the bottom line" it’s still important to protect top line revenues, maintain customer satisfaction and provide adequate support and internal expertise.

So how do companies achieve this with headcount freezes in place?

The answer is to rent the required expertise. There are many very experienced part-time & consultant based resources in the market place today and while companies cannot afford to hire them fulltime they are available for part-time, contract or retainer based engagements.

So if you have a business to run but can't hire then look towards a more flexible, cost effective arrangement. You may be surprised with the level of expertise and the skills available in today’s market place.

Smart SaaS

I'm becoming a big fan of SaaS companies and this blog by Kevin Dobbs provides some incite into how SaaS companies need to be setup, funded and run.

What are Venture Capitalists Saying About SaaS? by Kevin Dobbs

Flat is the New Up:

One phrase that was uttered more than once is that ‘Flat is the New Up’. Although when it comes to Software as a Service… it appears that ‘Up is still Up’. Even in 2008, most publicly traded SaaS companies have bounced back from their lows by an aggregate of 20%, which is much better than the S&P 500. Apparently Wall Street likes SaaS companies and now are valuing them at 3 to 3.5 times their recurring revenues, unfortunately at the beginning of 2008 that number was closer to 8x. Keep in mind that this is better than a lot of public firms that are currently trading at their cash values. Other Wall Street analysts are valuing SaaS firms at 12x their cash flow but it is difficult to understand if there is a consistent valuation metric that firms or investors should be using.

Customer Acquisition Costs:

When building your SaaS business model, it is important to assume that for every dollar of recurring revenue you will probably need to invest $.50 to $1.00 in your Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC). It is important than ever to have an active program of testing various CAC channels and tactics to maximize your investments. Then you need to have a smart statistical framework that you can explain to your investors.

Key take aways:
1 You need to still need to have a great idea, product and team but you might need to have reduced risk for your potential investors.
2 Demonstrate your company knows how to stretch a dollar as far as possible. Fewer employees is better… think Craigslist.
3 Show traction. Number of transactions, members, customers, revenues, profits.
4 Shop carefully for your potential investors and don’t waste time with Zombies.

GPS Solution - Telogis - Check it out ..

Leading Global Platform for Location Based ServicesTelogis’ product portfolio consists of a comprehensive wireless fleet management solution for fleets and a robust, proprietary mapping solution for fleet management companies and other telematics OEMs, enterprise users and systems integrators.OnTrack, the Company’s GPS-based fleet productivity and management platform is a scalable, easy-to-use, Software as a Service (“SaaS”) solution for fleets.

Its ease of use has allowed OnTrack to achieve a significantly high adoption rate among its fleet management customers. OnTrack enables fleet managers to improve productivity and reduce operating costs by providing secure, remote access to real-time GPS vehicle and driver information as well as providing dispatch and route optimization and handheld products for fleet optimization. OnTrack has an extremely open architecture and can integrate with a wide range of fleet management, CRM software, or mobile resource management systems.

OnTrack can communicate with and import data from other applications as well. Telogis application programming interface (API) tools and software development kits (SDK) are also available to provide an additional level of customization. As an example, many customers customize OnTrack and layer in vertical-specific data, such as gas lines and power lines etc.OnTrack Workforce is a wireless location-enabled application that allows businesses of all size to increase regulatory compliance, streamline operations, and improve customer service while eliminating paperwork and manual dispatch functions. OnTrack WorkForce can be run on any Windows CE device.Highlights of OnTrack WorkForce include: Voice prompted turn-by-turn navigation using premium NAVTEQ map data, an hours of service module for regulatory compliance, and real-time instant messaging.

OnTrack Workforce increases regulatory compliance, streamlines operations, and improves customer service.The navigation functionality enables drivers to route themselves to known customer locations as well as new locations entered on the fly. Stops can also be dispatched by the back office via OnTrack; Telogis' web-based fleet management application. The seamless integration of web-based and mobile applications is a natural extension of Telogis' technology portfolio.The real strength of OnTrack comes from the platform it is built upon.

The platform, another product set sold by Telogis, is GeoBase.GeoBase is the company’s market-leading geospatial platform and mapping solution for application developers, systems integrators, enterprise users and other peers, including telematics OEMs. Features include rich and detailed maps, navigation, geocoding, reverse geocoding and route optimization.

The strong demand for a geospatial mapping platform was initially derived from other peers in the AVL and GPS location industry. Users embed GeoBase maps in their web-based AVL and GPS software applications.

http://www.telogis.com/

Convenience Stores Gaining Popularity in South Asian Countries

According to a new research report, “Asian Convenience Store Market Forecast to 2010”, by RNCOS, the emergence of convenience store is changing the retail industry dynamics in most of the Asian economies.
Many countries are witnessing rapid growth in the number of convenience stores despite the ongoing financial crisis. The rising popularity of convenience stores in the region is accredited to better product availability, easy accessibility, low level of investment as compared to other modern retail formats, shift in consumer preference and improvement in price bargain.

According to a Sr. Research Analyst at RNCOS, “Convenience store retailing in Asia has become a major growth area for a large number of retailers operating in modern retail format, especially grocery retail. The Asian convenience store industry is witnessing fast growth due to untapped potential in most of the emerging markets like India, China, South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia compared to high degree of saturation in European and American convenience store industries.” Moreover, the share of convenience stores is increasing in most of the South Asian markets.
These markets offer immense growth opportunities against other regions in Asia on account of strong economic growth and growing middle class. The shift towards modern trade in South Asia is dominated by China where convenience store format accounts for more than 58% of all new stores. India, one of the most attractive retail markets in the world, is dominated by unorganized retail (97%), representing growth opportunities for modern retail format such as convenience store.
The report also says that the convenience stores will prove superior to the traditional markets because they provide better service and quality to customers. “Asian Convenience Store Market Forecast to 2010” comprehensively discusses the convenience store market in Asia and highlights new technologies being integrated into the market at a fast pace.
It also gives a brief overview of key market trends along with the sales trends to help clients understand the prospects of convenience store retailing in Asia. The report gives a detailed account of future growth areas that enable clients to design their business strategies as per the changing market dynamics in the region. For FREE SAMPLE of this report visit: http://www.rncos.com/Report/IM010.htm

Bloomberg: CLSA Favors Asia Relative to Global Stocks: Technical Analysis

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Investors should buy more Asian stocks relative to global equities after the MSCI Asia-Pacific Free excluding Japan Index broke above its resistance, CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets said.
A rally this month helped the MSCI regional index break through the resistance provided by the October and January highs, triggering a buy signal, CLSA analysts Laurence Balanco and Tiara Fontanilla wrote in a report yesterday. They upgraded the index to “overweight” relative to the MSCI World Index.
Asian stocks rallied about 15 percent in March, the best monthly performance since October 1998, as governments from the U.S. and Japan widened measures to ease the financial crisis. Gains last month were more than double the 7.2 percent advance in the MSCI World Index.
The index’s relative performance oscillator, which tracks the performance of the gauge relative to its 40-week weighted moving average, also moved into the “overbought” region for the first time since November 2007, CLSA said.
Analysts use moving averages to identify trends and find support and resistance levels for prices.
“While it does suggest that the market is a bit stretched short term, it also depicts a positive change in momentum characteristics,” the analysts wrote in the report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chen Shiyin in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net

My opinion: I hope and wish this is true :0)

10 Best Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Blogs by Danny Sullivan

Widely considered a leading "search engine guru," Danny Sullivan has been helping webmasters, marketers and everyday web users understand how search engines work for over a decade. He's editor in chief of Search Engine Land, maintains a personal blog called Daggle, and can be found microblogging on Twitter @dannysullivan.

Below in alphabetical order are his picks for the best blogs that cover mostly SEO (getting unpaid traffic from search engines) along with a few that focus on paid search (getting traffic by paying for it). For more SEO blogs he suggests the Search Engine Land Blogroll which has over 100 blogs categorized.

Bg Theory, LLC : Long time paid search marketer Brad Geddes provides plenty of tactical looks and advice about Google AdWords and PPC in general.

Google Blogscoped : Though not really an SEO blog and more about Google in general, Google Blogoscoped often spots important changes to how Google is displaying results, new tests and so on. Google Operating System is similar in nature (http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/).

Google Webmaster Central Blog : Official advice, tips and news directly from the people at Google who build tools to support site owners looking to increase their traffic. Microsoft offers a similar must read blog, Live Search Webmaster Center Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/webmaster/), as does Yahoo with its Yahoo Search Blog (http://ysearchblog.com/).

Matt Cutts : Google search spam fighting czar Matt Cutts is a must-read for keeping up with the internal thinkings of Google about what’s acceptable – and unacceptable – SEO.

Nine By Blue : Former Google Webmaster Central founder Vanessa Fox provides fantastic advice about technical issues related to SEO as well looking at search analytics.
SEO Book : Aaron Wall does an amazing job of capturing key points and observations on both tactics an issues in short posts.

SEO Moz : The site is kept freshly updated with lots of interesting articles on SEO tactics, as well as thought-provoking “issues” looks.

Search Engine Journal : A hallmark here are regular “top lists” that I often find useful – top SEO add-ons for Firefox, top Google AdWords reports and so on.

Search Engine Land : Yes, the blog that I oversee. But I’m one of over 50 writers there, so it’s not just me. I’m both an editor and a reader! And it really is a key stop for anyone who wants to keep up with search marketing news on a daily basis.

Search Engine Roundtable : No time to read through the several search forums out there to know what’s breaking from the trenches? Search Engine Roundtable does it for you, pulling out the signal from the noise.

Traffick : Led by another long time paid search marketer, Andrew Goodman, Traffick provides both advice and keen insight into paid search, industry and conversion issues.

Petrol World

For those people in the P&C space make sure you subscribe to the daily petrol world news feed.

Lots of relevant Petrol & convenience (P&C) news from across the globe.

http://www.petrolworld.com/

If you'd like to know more about the P&C space and relevant solutions available please contact me.

IBM : Why advocacy matters to online retailers

I found a great IBM article on their website:

Why advocacy matters to online retailers: Customer focus can mean greater loyalty and financial returns are in store

Online retailers have yet to optimize customer relationships; to become a customer focused online retailer, companies need a new approach for developing and applying customer insights.

http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/index.wss/ibvstudy/gbs/a1029604?cntxt=a1000063

I know the IBM retail team in Asia Pac and they seem to be very focused on Retail , Loyalty & the anyplace kiosks across the APJ region.

CeBIT Aust 12-14 May 2009

About CeBIT Australia :

CeBIT Australia is a 3 day Exhibition and Conference covering the full spectrum of business technologies.

The exhibition is segmented into 8 categories covering at total of 28 separate business technologies categories. The conference program consist of 5 separate conferences over the three days

Explore the CeBIT Exhibition

Access
Enterprise
www Online Business
G-Tech
Retail IT
Financial Services
e-Health
Future Parc

Explore the CeBIT Conference program:

AusInnovate
Access
Enterprise
e-Government
WebForward

World Retail Congress 6-8th May Spain

http://www.worldretailcongress.com/


World Retail Congress is the most influential and highest profile gathering of the retail industry across all sectors at global level. Watch the 2008 video here
Against the background of the first economic crisis of the global era and the resulting uncertainty in many markets, it is clear that retailers can no longer operate or think in isolation.
Launched in 2007 the Congress has become the annual platform for the most senior executives within the retail industry to come together to share best practice, make lasting business contacts and exchange ideas on the most crucial global issues.
Over the last two years the Congress has brought together over 2000 attendees, including retailers and their suppliers from over 50 countries and active in more than 90. In only two years the event has attracted a prestigious line-up of world-class speakers, including Anders Dalvig of Ikea, Mickey Drexler of J.Crew, Jose Luis Duran of Carrefour, Sir Philip Green of Arcadia, Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco, Motoya Okada of AEON, BS Nagesh of Shoppers’ Stop and Mike Ullman of JCPenney.
The 2009 Congress will take place in Barcelona on 6-8 May 2009. With its reputation and influence growing around the world it is set to continue to attract industry leaders, in even greater numbers.

Supply Chain Asia

Supply Chain Asia is a community that seeks to provide an informal and open platform for professionals in this industry to network, share and learn from each other. Information provided within Supply Chain Asia are free to its community members. Events run by Supply Chain Asia are priced affordably to ensure that it is accessible to all. Membership to Supply Chain Asia is free. To join Supply Chain Asia, click here.

I urge all Supply chain professionals to visit the site and join ( it free).

Forum 2009
Supply Chain Asia Forum 2009 will be held in Singapore from 7-9 July 2009 at Sheraton Towers Hotel. Forum brochure is now available for download. If you keen to participate as a sponsor, you can download the Marketing Kit by clicking here. The first 100 delegates will receive a complimentary copy of Dr John Gattorna's new book. Special fees of SGD595 applies for those who signed up and paid before 30 April 2009.

SIGN UP ONLINE - CLICK HERE.

Top 10 SCE providers - 2008

TOP 10 SCE PROVIDERS for 2008

Vendor 2007 SCE $ URL
1 Manhattan Associates $348 million www.manh.com
2 RedPrairie $253 million www.redprairie.com
3 SAP $134 million www.SAP.com
4 Aldata $116 million www.aldata-solution.com
5 Oracle $114 million www.oracle.com
6 Infor $106 million www.infor.com
7 HighJump $ 94 million www.highjump.com
8 Swisslog $ 72 million www.swisslog.com
8 Knapp Logistik $ 72 million www.knappusa.com
9 CDC Software $ 66 million www.cdcsupplychain.com
10 Dematic $ 65 million www.dematic.com

The question is how do these companies fair in Asia Pacific ?

What to learn more then contact me ?

Public Relations , Communications Technology

As marketing budgets are cut, PR is picking up a lot of the frontline responsibility to maintain market share and protect corporate reputation.

However the fragmentation of media channels and the increased velocity and volatility of issues in today’s business climate is making it increasingly difficult for Communications Directors to keep on top of the task.

The risk runs from lower quality and quantity of press coverage relative to competitors, to potentially catastrophic communications and reputational failure.

Today’s business imperative is to equip PR operations with the means to enhance both operational and strategic performance while maintaining a rigorous control over costs.


State-of-the art Media Engagement Platforms do exist to dramatically enhance both operational and strategic performance. From a centralized platform, every aspect of the PR process can be streamlined, from list building to news distribution and monitoring to measuring results.

Organizations can leverage these innovations to generate dramatic time savings and higher productivity, better internal co-ordination and orchestration and enhance their media relationships for a higher quality and quantity of coverage.

Quite simply they can consistently outperform their less enabled competition in share of media voice, media recommendations and perception of brand value.

Like to know more then contact me..

Peter Robilliard - Introduction

Peter Robilliard is a retail & supply chain advocate with a focus on bringing the best global technologies and business solutions to your company.

With a focus on Retail & Supply chain technologies and 25 years of global IT knowledge across many countries and companies, Peter is uniquely positioned to advise, assist, manage and drive technology sales and services into both I.T vendors & companies across the Asia Pacific region.

Retail: POS, Loyalty, Merchandising, Mobile POS, WFM, Business Analytics solutions across, FMCG, Petrol & convenience, Speciality Retail, Quick service Restaurants, hospitality, Fashion & Apparel sectors.

Supply Chain: WMS, TMS, Planning, Forecasting, Optimization, Dashboards, Visibility & RFID.

Services: Sales, Pre-sales, Consulting, professional services, project directorship & management, support, referrals, introductions & networking

Location: Across Asia Pacific and with a partner network that covers the globe.