How digital wizardry lets shoppers 'install' furniture before buying!!

Digital Wizardry

 

It's crazy to see how our generation is transitioning more and more into the technological stage. Creators implementing crazy new designs and apps, that overall making our life so much easier. That is why this article from the Wall Street Journal especially stood out to me. The article introduces a  new program that allows home owners that are wanting to renovate or redecorate their homes, to do so with the use of virtual reality. You will be able to see 3-D images of your desired pieces in your living spaces, and will also get to see displays of super realistic renderings that show you how your rooms future will look in your space. So no more making a home decor mess by assuming "this wall color will look great in here", when you will be able to actually see if it will look good in your space, before applying the color to your walls.

Applying this new product into the market will create a competitive environment for those people and businesses that do home decor for a living, by allowing their customers to do it on their own. The Digital Wizardry, will target new home owners who are looking to renovate and decorate their new homes. It will overall make shopping for furniture a lot easier and more convenient.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-digital-wizardry-lets-shoppers-install-furniture-before-buying-1513351647

Who’ll Run the World? Batteries Will!

Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, introducing Tesla's New Roadster

Who’ll Run the World? Batteries Will!

            As a car enthusiast, I am perplexed by the projections made by analysts that say that electric vehicle sales will skyrocket in the next ten years. As an American, I grew up loving the sound of a cammed American V8 muscle car, but political leaders around the world do not share the same opinion as I do, and have pushed for stricter environmental regulations that are practically forcing car manufacturers to produce electric cars even though the cost to produce electric cars makes these cars uncompetitive in the market. The use of battery powered vehicles has proven to be a challenge for car manufactures as the required gigawatt hours required to power these vehicles has proven to be rather expensive and is therefore expected to minimize potential revenue margins.

            However, East Asian companies such as LG Chem, Samsung SDI, and BYD (partially owned by Berkshire Hathaway) have stepped up meet projected demand, government regulations, and minimize productions costs. In about ten years, we will see how this production cost challenge is resolved, as government regulations would be in full effect and car man

By: Gustavo Ocampo

https://www.wsj.com/articles/batteries-are-taking-over-the-world-1511880319

Sony Sets Its Own Course

Sony Sets Its Own Course

            Sony Corporation (SNE) expects its highest fiscal-year operating profit in its history and it is not by luck. Sony attributes its profit in part the ‘Fate/Grand Oder’ mobile game, and to its smartphone image sensors that are being used in the iPhone X. The Game & Network Services sector of Sony also positively attributed to its profit with continued solid sales of its PS4; Sony Pictures also produced this year with the theatrical performance of Spider-Man: Homecoming. Lastly, Sony’s Home Entertainment & Sound has also produced with the introduction of high end sound bars and the introduction of it OLED TV.

            As previously stated, Sony producing record profit is not by accident. Sony has silently restructured itself to please its target market. Sony sold off the failing VAIO PC, and has practically ended its smartphone products from the market and has instead chosen to provide its smartphone image sensors to Apple to use in its iPhone X. Doing so, Sony is eliminating itself from going up to direct competition with Apple. With the restructure, Sony redefined its product, target market, and avoided head on competition.

By: Gustavo Ocampo

https://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-profit-tops-expectations-1509433263

Retailers Fight Back This Christmas

Retailers Fight Back This Christmas

            It is no secret that online shopping has become a major player in retail sales. Online retail giant Amazon, has forced the rest of the market to adapt to the e-commerce technological environment. One of the retailers having to face this adjustment is Best Buy. Something that amazon is not able to do is give the customer a great physical shopping experience. Because of that, Best Buy has re-invested in its stores to give the customer a better buying experience. This ranges from integrating mobile Point Of Sale tablets that allow employees to ring out customers from anywhere in the store, to enhancing displays that allow customers to experience to see and demo products that they are thinking about purchasing.

I personally work for Best Buy, and have seen how the company has adapted to Amazon’s competition. Best Buy is now able to offer customer pick up in as little as 1 hour and has partnered up with third party companies to offer same day delivery, on top of free shipping for all products during this holiday season. At the store I work at, I know that bestbuy.com accounted for 45% of our sales on Black Friday, and a good portion of those sales were televisions that were to be picked up at a later day. Being forced to adapt to e-commerce technological environment, Best Buy is now able to offer customers a better in store experience, and is now able to deliver online orders much quicker, in hopes to take part of the e-commerce market.

By: Gustavo Ocampo

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-retailers-can-fight-back-at-christmas-1512037800

GM Expected to Lay Off Over 250 Workers at Canada Plant

GM Expected to Lay Off Over 250 Workers at Canada Plant

General Motors is expected to lay off over 250 workers from a factory in Canada and decreasing production at two U.S. facilities. The layoffs are due to a fallout from a strike at the assembly line that is jeopardizing the production of GM’s Chevrolet Equinox SUV, its second best sold vehicle in the U. S. Regulations put in place do not demand that the corporation initiates any contact between unions and the corporations but GM has stated they are encouraging the union to return to the bargaining table work out a deal. GM is seen to have leverage in the negotiations as GM introduced a remodeled and expanded production plants in San Luis Potosi and Ramos Arizpe in Mexico. 

            J.D. Power (an independent source for anything Autos) estimates that GM could make up for the losses in production by increasing its production in Mexico. Although an unfortunate situation for the Canadian labor workers, this would display GM’s Producing Capability and Flexibility in search of opportunities given the situation. GM along with other domestic car manufacturing companies, have been under pressure by the domestic political environment to produce electric vehicles, and are also being pressured to bring back those manufacturing jobs back state side. I hope that a peaceful resolution is reached to where all parties involved are satisfied.

By: Gustavo Ocampo

https://www.wsj.com/articles/general-motors-to-lay-off-over-250-workers-at-ontario-plant-1506035689

Disney Agrees to Purchase 21st Century Fox in $52.4 Billion Deal

Disney Agrees to Purchase 21^st Century Fox in $52.4 Billion Deal

            There were heavy rumors as early as a couple of weeks ago that suggested that Disney was seeking to buy key parts of 21^st Century Fox. These rumors excited Marvel Cinematic Universe comic book fans as 21^st Century Fox owned screen rights to Marvel’s X-Men superheroes. Although this news excited comic book fans, the real reason behind the purchase would be to help align Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger’s vision for the company. What is his vision? Digital streaming! With more and more consumers pulling the plug and switching to online TV distributors like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and Direct TV Now, Disney announced its intention to have its own streaming service by 2019. Doing so, Disney is segmenting the TV entertainment market, and targeting streaming services.

            By purchasing 21^st Century Fox, Disney is eliminating part of its direct competition in the streaming services market. Let me explain what I mean by this, 21^st Century Fox owns an important part of Hulu, and because Disney completed a deal for Fox, it avoided head-on competition with one of the key players in that market. Also, Disney has planned to pull the plug on all its shows that currently stream on Netflix, as the deal with Netflix is scheduled to end in 2018. I feel it is too early to say if Disney is starting a monopoly here, but it has bought out one of the its major competitors (Hulu), and is going to give a big blow to another of its competitors (Netflix). Time will tell how successful Disney’s streaming service will be but it is building a respectable library by having 21^st Century Fox, Hulu, Marvel Entertainment, Lucas Films Ltd. (Star Wars), and its Disney originals.

By: Gustavo Ocampo

https://www.wsj.com/articles/disney-to-acquire-key-parts-of-21st-century-fox-for-52-4-billion-1513253593

Target to Buy Grocery Delivery Startup Shipt for $550 Million

      Target has decided to purchase a new startup in order to compete with grocery delivery services that have been rolled out recently from competitors like Amazon and Wal-Mart. Target announced this investment into grocery delivery services startup Shipt, will cost the company $550 million, which is part of the company's three-year investment plan to spend $7billion on its "stores, supply chain, and digital improvements" in an effort to boost weak performances in years past. Target aims to provide convenience for customers by adding this service allowing customers to pay an annual subscription fee for the service while also boosting sales by being able to charge a premium on the grocery ordered through the service. In addition, the acquisition by Target allows the company to become more competitive by following the growing trend in grocery stores to offer some sort of delivery or pickup option.

    With Target acquiring Shipt, they are now able to take advantage of a new market opportunity and target market; the online grocery shoppers. This new target market for Target will provide the store with a way to differentiate itself from the multitude of available grocers to consumers. Target will be able to advertise themselves as being ahead of the game with this acquisition and appeal to a younger audience of consumers who are increasingly in favor of shopping online for all their goods. Overall this move with help Target meet its goal of recovering sales from previous years poor performances while also staying competitive in the market.


By:Aaron Mandell

https://www.wsj.com/articles/target-to-buy-grocery-delivery-startup-shipt-for-550-million-1513181845

Plant-Based Burger Maker Beyond Meats Cooks Up More Funding

      Beyond Meat Inc. has recently raised $55 million in funding as the company hopes to expand it's current production capabilities. Most of the funding came from the venture capital firm lead by ex McDonald's CEO Don Thompson, Cleveland Avenue LLC, as well as an increase in funding from Tyson foods who has previously acquired a 5% stake in the company in late 2016. This funding comes in addition to the previous $90 million the company raised through various other capital ventures investors. Beyond Meat designs its product to be 100% plant based but aims to achieve a similar to taste to that of tradition burgers. Currently the company has its product in over 5,000 U.S. stores including well known retailers such as Whole Foods, Kroger, and Albertsons. Beyond Meat is competing to raise funding with other companies producing plant based burgers such as Memphis Meats and Impossible Foods.

     Beyond Meat Inc. hopes that by acquiring this addition funding they will be able to better compete with not only other plant based producers but traditional meat producers as well. Beyond Meat Inc. seeks to differentiate itself from similar products as well as traditional products. The target market of Beyond Meat and the other producers is one that is following the trends of consumer health and environmental consciousness. Finally, Beyond Meat Inc's product, a plant based burger, is a product that is currently experiencing market growth. As consumers values shift to be more health conscious, products such a plant based burger are growing in popularity.


By:Aaron Mandell



https://www.wsj.com/articles/plant-based-burger-maker-beyond-meat-cooks-up-more-funding-1512698730

Ford Attempts a U-Turn in China

Ford Motor Co. recently decided to reevaluate and change its current strategy in China, the worlds largest car market, in hopes of alleviating the current decline in sales it has experienced. Ford plans to introduce as many as 50 new vehicles in the country by 2025, which includes including internet capabilities in all cars in 2 years time as well as introducing 15 new electric vehicles from the multitude in its plans. Ford believes that "china will lead the way" in the markets for both electric cars and autonomous cars, thus the company needs to focus and redefine its strategy for the vital market. The only problem facing Ford is the fact that while for many years it leaned on the lucrative Chinese market when experiencing declining US sales, now the market is full of competitors so Ford must set itself apart if they hope to increase their falling sales.

By redefining and "rebooting" its strategy in the Chinese auto market, Ford hopes to stay on par with not only competition in the region from both US and domestic auto makers, but also on par with the new environmental regulations and standards which China has choosen to implement. This means that Ford Motor Co. will have to expand into the electric vehicle market to meet not only these regulations but the changing customer values and wants in automobiles. In addition to this, Ford will need to expand its relationships with businesses in China in order to complete its goal of rebooting strategy and boosting falling sales. Ford has also chosen to focus its target market on Chinese consumers instead of the American consumer believing that growth and potential opportunities are abundant in the overseas market.


By:
Aaron Mandell

https://www.wsj.com/articles/ford-attempts-a-u-turn-in-china-1512470161

GM's Latest Weapon in Pickup Truck Wars: Carbon Fiber

General Motor's Co. recently introduced a new material in the construction of its pickup trucks; carbon fiber. GM plans to use this new, but costly material in the construction of truck beds for its premium pickup truck line. The move is largely seen as an effort to keep up with competition like Ford who introduced a similar innovation to its pickup trucks assembly,by using military grade aluminum in the construction of their trucks. GM hopes to implement the change in materials by 2019, which would increase the price it currently charges for the pickup truck but would help the company meet new environment standards and regulations as well.

GM's move to introduce carbon fiber to its pickup truck line will largely help the company differentiate itself from competitors in pickup truck market which accounts for 16% of the US auto market. In addition, GM hopes to influence competitors to also include this new material, by doing so cost for the innovation would decrease and brand recognition for pioneering the technology would increase. In addition the use of the relatively new and expensive material will allow GM to set it self apart as the only truck makers using the same materials found in high quality sports cars, thus enabling them to change their pricing to a luxury item.


By: Aaron Mandell


https://www.wsj.com/articles/gms-latest-weapon-in-pickup-truck-wars-carbon-fiber-1512565200

Amazon Plans to send Alexa to the Office!!

Amazon Plans to send Alexa to the Office!!

This article from the Wall Street journal, especially stuck out to me. The article explains how Amazon, "wants workers to ask its virtual assistant Alexa to book conference rooms and launch meetings, as the company races against rivals to make the office the next major inroad for voice-recognition devices"(Wall Street Journal) . I personally think that it is crazy to think that a machine will be able to book conference calls and launch meetings. It seems that Amazon has created a very competitive environment by implementing the speed-to-market strategy, as the author explains that, "Amazon has built a wide lead in the field with its popular at-home Echo speaker, which was launched in late 2014. The company is now counting on its new service, dubbed Alexa for Business and available immediately, to spark a surge in voice computing in the workplace"(Wall Street Journal). As we can see, this online retail giant has acquired a very competitive lead against its competitors. 
Amazons target market for Alexa, would be people that work in an office. Alexas purpose is to take the physical labor of many daily office routines performed, and replace it with just a voice command. "workers will have the ability to, for example, dim lights, lower blinds and start a project in a conference room by saying, “Alexa, start the meeting.” Workers will also be able to tell a device near a printer to send a notification to refill it with paper"(Wall Street Journal).  I feel that this device would work well in our generation as young business men/women enter the office, bringing new technology along with them. 

Nintendo Looks for Help to Raise Its Smartphone Game

Nintendo has recently began to expand its relationship with software developers in hopes of strengthening its presence in the "fast growing mobile market". Before Nintendo sought to expand its relationship with developers, the company had only one relationship with a software development co, DeNa Co., in which Nintendo owned a 10% stake. The two companies agreed to develop and release 5 smartphone apps in 2 years time. Although Nintendo is seeking new relationships with developers in hopes of raising the pace for the release of its smartphone apps, they are not seeking to acquire a stake in any company as was the case with DeNa Co. aforementioned earlier. Nintendo is breaking away from a long held company belief in releasing games on their own platforms exclusively in an effort to gain traction with beginner and introductory gamers. The global market for smartphone apps grew 40% in 2016 in large part thanks to China and Japan where Nintendo is based. Despite this, Nintendo has failed to release in smartphone games with DeNa Co. in China but the company hopes to change this and expand into the Chinese Mobile Market by seeking these new relationships with Developers.

Nintendo's new goal of establishing multiple relationships with software developers will give the company greater brand presence in the fast growing and competitive mobile market. With revenues falling for the company in recent years, this strategy aims to increase its visibility in what many view as the future gaming market as well as adjusting its positioning so to attract people other than regular gamers. Nintendo outlines its goals in the Nintendo Alliance which also increases visibility and brand loyalty.

By: Aaron Mandell



https://www.wsj.com/articles/nintendo-looks-for-help-to-raise-its-smartphone-game-1513092568

IS THIS HOTEL AN AIRBNB KILLER?

   "Public" is the name of a full-service, 367-room hotel that opened this summer on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and it quickly becomes apparent that certain features are nowhere to be found. As many travelers whether for leisure or business are attracted to the services that Airbnb offers such as lower rates for accommodation, and perhaps its flexibility as well as versatility of the app. This is why this new hotel uses the technology to compete with Airbnb as they don't have any staff at the front desk and other employees that you find in a Hotel, so the cut on costs and making them able to lower their rates. Also they have bars, restaurants in the building which brings more revenue from non guests. The mastermind behind this is Schrager, 71, known for creating nightclubs such as Studio 54 in the 1970s and later the first wave of boutique hotels including the Royalton and Paramount. “The only way you can compete with a strong idea is by having another strong idea.”

Benjamin Nate

Visa’s Signature Sound

        Visa has recently created a sound to “represent their brand.” Their sound creates a feeling of speed, convenience, energy, and optimism. The creation of their sound took about a year of focus groups and global research. Visa wants to use this sound to help promote their mobile payments. With more people now than ever using mobile payments, people often do not see a brand logo when they use their credit cards to check out. Visa wants customers to instead associate Visa brand with this sound that will play when customers use their Visa card to pay. Visa’s signature sound will debut in a commercial during the winter Olympics. It will feature Olympic athletes checking out using a Visa card and the new sound will play as each athlete checks out. Visa’s marketing chief Lynne Biggar notes that people are “very responsive to the use of sound” as we rely on voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home. Visa will implement its new sound in early 2018.

        Visa’s new sound will give greater brand presence as customers go to check out. This will make the brand seem more reputable and increase visibility. People will associate Visa with the emotions that their signature sound brings about. Making the brand as a whole seem convenient, fast, optimistic, and energetic. Publicity surrounding Visa’s new sound will give the brand increased visibility. More credit card companies may evolve and begin to implement this idea.

By: Megan McKee

https://www.wsj.com/articles/visa-spent-a-year-developing-a-signature-sound-1512644401

Apple Acquires Shazam

        Apple acquires Shazam, an app that recognizes songs, in order to gain subscribers for Apple’s music streaming service. Apple has stated that this will allow them to “continue innovating,” however, they have not commented on specific plans for innovation. The Shazam app identifies songs and directs their users to listen to the song through Apple Music or Spotify. Apple currently has 30 million subscribers for Apple Music, and Spotify has 60 million. Apple believes that Shazam can help them to gain more subscribers by referring Shazam users to Apple Music. People then will go buy the song through Apple or subscribe to Apple Music. This “creates a full ecosystem.” Since Shazam’s debut in 2008, it has provided Apple with data as to what songs people are listening to and what they predict to be popular. Apple has increased their music business by selling songs for ninety-nine cents, creating the iPod, and implementing iTunes. This made portable music available to the masses. Apple plans to launch their first smart speaker, the HomePod, next year. They have competition with Amazon.com Inc.’s Echo and Alphabet Inc.’s Google Home.
     
        Apple acquiring Shazam will allow them to expand their target market and customer base. Apple has a monopoly over Apple product users because iTunes and the Apple Music app is already available to iPhone users. However, until recently Apple did not have a music streaming service, which led their customers to turn to Spotify. Shazam’s user base attracts people within this market. Apple acquiring Shazam has the potential to attract other Apple product users who have a Spotify subscription. Apple is making it more convenient for music listeners to utilize their products. People will typically use the products that are most convenient to them. Apple will soon be releasing a smart speaker, the Home Pod. Expanding into this market will allow customers to have a full range of music-related product choices available through Apple. This will equip Apple to compete with Spotify and smart speakers such as Echo and Google Home.

By: Megan McKee

https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-acquires-shazam-and-its-song-recognition-app-1513019568