Herbal Supplement Has Some New Yorkers Talking, Instead of Coughing

A bottle of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa

In the midst of flu season, New Yorkers discovered a "secret" new medicine to remedy their coughing symptoms. Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa is a herbal supplement originally produced and developed in China, and sold in New York's local Chinese markets for $7. Supposedly, this medicine heals the cough symptoms in a matter of minutes, and New Yorkers spread the rumors. Pei Pa Koa is currently being sold off-market for around $70, an enormous increase from its original price. 

Applied to marketing concepts, it is important to notice some of the weaknesses and threats if one were to produce a SWOT analysis. This product will have the consistent threat of major drug producers as its competitors. Furthermore, federal and state regulations can compromise the selling of Pei Pa Koa.

Different business can apply the "underground" marketing strategy to their products. Several cultures from Africa, Latin America, and Asia also have different types of herbal supplements, which could introduce a new trend in the medicine industry. 


Vinicius R Ferreira

https://www.wsj.com/articles/herbal-supplement-has-some-new-yorkers-talking-instead-of-coughing-1519316304

Scroll Signs On Publishers for Service That Will Curb Their Ads

Tony Haile, co-founder of Scroll, believes the growing adoption of ad blockers shows that consumers are willing to pay for a better, ad-free news experience.

  A new ad blocking company, Scroll, is launching at the end of this year, and they are attempting to satisfy the wants of the consumers who are fed up with ads blocking their enjoyment of news sites. Scroll is putting a new spin on things, and has concluded that having consumers pay for an ad-free experience is actually more profitable to advertising companies than actually putting the ad on the publishers site. As a consumer (and hater) of news sites that contain these never-ending advertisements, I am happy to see that there may be a possible solution to this problem.

   Scroll is a subscription service that intends to provide ad free experiences for the consumers of the participating news organizations for just $5 a month. This company seems to have started something as networks such as MSNBC, Business Insider, Fusion Media Group, and the Atlantic are among the news organizations that have already signed up to join. Tony Haile, the co-founder of Scroll, based this company's goal off the growing use of ad blockers in 2016 that proved consumers were willing to pay for an ad free experience. The plan for Scroll is that it will share 70% of its subscription revenue with the publishers, and the amount of revenue each publisher gets depends on the amount of revenue that was generated from each of the news organizations.

   Scroll has ultimately determined what some of the wants of their customers. They have analyzed their customers and found that they are annoyed by ads on news sites, but Scroll has found a potential solution for it. A few of the participating news organizations that have already signed up to be a part of Scroll are in the process of experimenting to find out weather its users would be willing to pay for an ad free version of their site. The publishers are working alongside Scroll in order to enhance the overall welfare of each organization, and in hopes that this will increase revenue for both the publishers that are a part of Scroll, advertising companies, and for Scroll themselves. We will see if this will be a success when it launches later this year. 

By: Kelsie Walker

https://www.wsj.com/articles/scroll-signs-on-publishers-for-service-that-will-curb-their-ads-1519315200mod=nwsrl_cmo&cx_refModule=nwsrl#cx_testId=16&cx_testVariant=ctrl&cx_artPos=6

4 Alarm Clocks Smart Enough to Actually Get You Out of Bed

Lately I've taken a strange interest in how much sleep I actually need. In today's world, productivity and efficiency are the pinnacle of our society's culture. Yet with all this "saved" time we have, we are still so exhausted. Luckily for us college students, we're exempt from this stigma... for now. So if you're like me, you probably are in a committed, long term relationship with your snooze button. But that could all change with one of the 4 alarm clocks in this article, leading you to a pretty nasty break up.

The first is the Kello, set at a pricey $149, this "toaster sized" alarm clock is not only cute enough to be on your night stand but it can guide you through breathing exercises when you're trying to fall asleep and it wakes you up earlier and earlier with its sleep training modes using music from your Spotify account. It also limits how many times a week you can hit your snooze button...

If you need something a little more intense, there's the Pavlok. It kind of looks like a fit bit and you wear it on your wrist when you sleep. It vibrates to wake you up and if you don't wake up in time you get ELECTRICALLY ZAPPED BY IT. Talk about traumatic. It links up to a smartphone app and can also use its ~shocking~ features to help you quit smoking, stop biting your nails or even stop wasting time online. You can pay $128 to get negatively reinforced by a watch.

Now the Beddi is a lot less intrusive and a lot more... convenient. With the press of a button, you can start your coffee machine, dim your lights, control your music and even CALL AN UBER. Lets be real though, we all know that uber ride isn't for you. This little wingman sits at $99.

And finally, there's the Ruggie. This is doesn't zap you, call you an uber or guide you through breathing exercises. It is simply a mat, that blares sound between 90 and 120 decibels (comparable to the volume of a blender) and doesn't turn off until you step on it with your full body weight. So punching it with your fist while you're still lying in bed won't work. It does redeem itself afterwards by playing your favorite music from your smartphone. And this one costs $69.

In regards to our class, I think we can focus on the presentation of this article. The pictures, the sort of witty content written to describe the products, the price. Everyone has alarm clocks on their phones so its not a needed good, but someone who might want to start keeping their phone out of the room or someone looking to improve their sleep habits might end up looking at this article. It gives a good variety in functions and how intense of an experience someone is looking to get out of their alarm clock. Also looking at price, they range from $70 to $150. These are the characteristics that set them all apart so it just depends on the buyer's purchase situation.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/4-alarm-clocks-smart-enough-to-actually-get-you-out-of-bed-1519318198?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1

by: Elena Karaytcheva

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