Record Holiday Online Sales

US Holidays recorded a record sales in the holidays: a whooping $32.6 bn. It is a great news especially when the economy has been struggling a lot. So, it’s definitely a great news for the business.

I visited US in 2207 just after Thanksgiving and during the New Year. I must tell that the deals during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year were definitely very appealing. So, I almost returned from US in a bankrupt state. but I need to blame myself and that time. First I was fairly new in my job and had hardly any savings. But what is defining the sales today is ONLINE and that is what is more exciting than anything else. Consumers don’t fear to spend money online and trust the products deliver online. There are definitely few benefits of online buying: we save a lot of money by not driving to and fro to the store, we save a lot of time by not going on a shopping. Rather I feel it takes less time to buy something online. Moreover, it is easy to view the feedbacks and reviews of products online, which is easily searchable. So, with a right kind of research, one can almost snatch a great deal of his own and no other time can beat the price than the holiday season.

On the contrast, I feel that Indian consumers are yet to embrace the online buying system. There is still so much resistance among people to buy online. I don’t have the data but if anyone can start looking for it, I am quite confident that it would not much different. Why? First, Indian consumers don’t trust the online shopping. secondly, we are too emotional people that we believe that we do better deals when we are in front of another person. And by dealing I mean the power of bargaining. I will not be surprised if any survey could affirm this. We believe in relationships more. Third and most important thing, we believe in buying things at the cheapest price possible. I would really hope that some consultancy or some MBA students could do this study. Bring a same product (lets say a car) and show it to people in different countries. I cannot comment on the psychology of people of other countries but I can definitely say that the first question that an Indian might ask is: how much it would cost me? So, it is not surprising that why small cars are so popular in India. Basically, it is not that Indians are environment friendly, it is just that we are way too price-conscious. Therefore, one can see all products having small variants available in India: shampoo and soaps to cars and houses.

I believe that the future is going to belong to the online sales. There is no denying that companies like Google and Facebook (don’t forget speculations on recent Facebook’s valuation of $50 bn) are generating such huge revenues from online advertising only. But the question would be to build credibility and confidence in the minds of the consumer. And I also believe that there could not be any better medium to do so than social networking sites like twitter and Quora. Secondly, understanding the psychology of the consumer would go a long way in the pricing and positioning the product in the a country’s market.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/07/BUQS1H5C84.DTL

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Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn: The Big IPO Line-up

We are just few days into the new year and we are already seeing some exciting news coming. I read an article today that pointed that LinkedIn might have plans to go public this year. Honestly, I was not surprised. LinkedIn has been one of my favorite and I have gained immensely by staying in the vicinity of some amazing people. LinkedIn gave a new definition of professionalism. Recruitment took a new shape with LinkedIn and I must say that I would not be surprised to find certain job openings coming first on LinkedIn than other recruiting websites like Naukri or Monster. So, what made LinkedIn click? Let us try to understand few things that LinkedIn did great:

• Stay connected with people we meet and interact.
• Online references and of course, authenticity can be more trusted here.
• Great Connectivity because one could find Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton to Bill Gates. It was phenomenal because I believe LinkedIn paved the way on which twitter attracted celebrities and legends.
• Knowledge sharing platform across groups.

I am not a premium member at LinkedIn and hence, not the right person to comment on its premium services. But I cannot ignore the fact that it might be really good because LinkedIn generates a considerable amount of revenues from its premium users. Other than premium services, advertising is another source on which LinkedIn relies to generates its revenues.

LinkedIn claims to have more than 85 million members, which is a good number, I must say. So, what could be its value? LinkedIn never commented on its valuation and none close to it too. SharePost gives LinkedIn an implied value of $2.2 Bn. Now, I am not an expert but looking at the popularity of LinkedIn and the kind of platform it has provided to its members, I will not be surprised to see LinkedIn valued anywhere near to $4 – 5 Bn. I hope that I would have the technical know-how to evaluate a company’s profile but unfortunately, I dont’ have it now. Please don’t ignore the investment of Sequoia Capital in LinkedIn. Yes, it is the same company that invested in Google, Yahoo, Cisco, Apple and Oracle to name a few. And we all know what these companies went up to become.

Now, lets come to an interesting aspect. Why all of a sudden buzz of LinkedIn going for its IPO? And trust me when I say that LinkedIn might also be joined by twitter and Zyngya, in particular to go public. The reason is simple: FACEBOOK. The shark is in the sea and even though there are a lot of speculations of when facebook might go public, but all of us know if LinkedIn, Twitter and Zyngya don’t go public before Facebook, it might face the heat later. I completely agree with some of the experts that if Facebook goes public first, others might feel the pinch because it would be difficult to come out of the euphoria of the IPO of facebook. I can safely say that day and year Facebook decides to go public, it would be the FACEBOOK year. So, here was th news that kept everyone thinking:

“Facebook rocked the world when Goldman Sachs bought 1% stake in the company for whooping $500 mn. This makes Facebook valued at $50 Bn and yet to go public.”

Now, Facebook has mentioned of no intention of going public before late 2012 but here is the reason it might not take long. In USA, the definition of a private firm stands good if there are no more than 499 stakeholders and with Glodman Sachs’ investment, SEC has already initiated a thorough look-out into Facebook. Secondly, remember Google also never wanted to go public till Goldman Sachs invested in it and we know the history: with 10 months, Google went public. So, will Facebook follow the same route? Only time will answer the question.

To sum up, I am excited and I am more excited for these small firms, especially Facebook. A software application launched from a dormitory of a school in 2004 has today been estimated to be valued at $50 Bn. As we say the fall of 105-year Great Lehman Brothers, we also say the great Rising of Facebook. We will try to keep a close watch on the exciting developments of the social networking era 🙂

PS: Did you know Goldman Sachs does not allow to use Facebook in office? Now, will they remove the restriction after its investment in Facebook ;-)?

Sources: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-06/facebook-at-50-billion-valuation-is-looking-more-like-tencent-than-google.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE7050DC20110106

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4 ways to use Serendipity

Now, this has been a real nice article from Harvard Business Blog as how to use Serendipity for maximum utility. The four ways mentioned are as follows:

1. Make your passion your profession. Do you love what you do? In today’s economy just having a job is cause enough to be thankful. But the pace of change keeps none of us safe: a more uncertain world requires working harder to keep our professional skills competitive. Since most of us put intense effort only into those things that provide us meaning and emotional engagement, we must make our passions our professions or the world will pass us by.

Very true. We lose ourselves if we don’t. I have realized it from the bottom of my heart and i can tell you it pains and it pains in real form.

2. Expand — and engage — the edges of your social network. You’re probably on Facebook, LinkedIn, or some other social network by now. But how adventurous are you there? Serendipity works best when we extend the edges of our social networks. People on these edges represent “weak ties” connecting us to new insight, experiences, and capabilities that provoke us to improve our own game. Over time, these edge connections become part of our core network, transforming that core in deep yet unexpected ways.

I have been lucky to have made some real good genuine friends using the social networking. Some of them are Divya, Amitansu, Satyajeeta, Sid. I have never met them but I have chatted and talked to them for so long that I feel I know them for a long time.

3. Participate in spikes. As we begin to pursue our passions, something remarkable starts to happen. While a few of us will choose to remain in, or even migrate to, remote geographic areas because of our passion for certain physical locations, many more of us will be drawn to emerging spikes of complementary talent in densely settled geographic areas. Social networks in virtual space will amplify the forces of pull being generated in spikes as our passions motivate us to seek out people who can help us get better faster.

I have just one goal in life and I am not going to give up that in any form. No matter what I am going to keep on trying and I am sure I will get it, probably in next couple of years, it will be in my hand.

4. Maximize return on attention. Hearing these recommendations, some readers will ask how any of us will have enough time to expand our networks and explore talent spikes. Aren’t we time-constrained already? Yet by adopting new tools and services we can all improve our “return on attention” — the value we get in return for the time spent looking for what we want and need. Search tools help improve this value immensely. But serendipity tools may prove even more helpful as they connect us to people and resources we don’t yet know exist.

One never knowS. This is life and there is always some significant portion which we never anticipate and it happens.

In other words, I guess this is waht is real life and the true relation between DREAMS and LIFE.

The complete article is here. Enjoy 🙂

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