According to The NPD Group, physical content sales were down 8% in 2011. This year hasn't been a cakewalk either, with sales continuing to slide. Though some of the blame can rightfully be foisted upon the decline of the once-mighty Wii, it's apparent that people aren't buying games like they used to, and the industry is scrambling to figure out why. But most agree that it begins — and likely ends — with the high cost of new games.
The top perennial franchises like Halo, Elder Scrolls, Battlefield, and Madden aren't going anywhere, at least for a while longer. Games that critics and consumers universally laud as "must-haves" can continue to support this massive premium. But it's the mid-tier titles, the unestablished IPs, the riskier endeavors, the worthwhile games that don't quite master the magic formula, that will never get off the ground.
Read more here
Thursday, April 19
Why social media will reveal French election winner
Can an election be won on social media? That question is being increasingly asked in France, before the first round of the presidential election.
The French are very much online now: 75% of people surf the web while 25 million have Facebook accounts, out of a total population of 66 million, of whom 43 million are voters.
With the emergence of the Social TV phenomenon, one can see TV and social media now complement each other. Ever since the Socialist Party's primaries, political TV broadcasts have caused a torrent of comments on Twitter, as TV audiences joined up on this huge virtual couch to minutely analyze politicians' statements. TV broadcasts words uttered by candidates while the social media host chats about the candidates' words. And it's on these social networks that judgement on the candidates' credibility will be passed. This is because their promises and the figures they bandy about are fact-checked in real time, by journalists and experts, ensuring a simultaneous and enlightened subtitle service that underlines the politicians' rolling spiel.
So the answer to my opening question: "Can an election be won on social media?" is: in France in 2012, most probably "no". However, the question: "Can social media predict the name of the next French president?" calls for a positive answer.
Read more at CNN
The French are very much online now: 75% of people surf the web while 25 million have Facebook accounts, out of a total population of 66 million, of whom 43 million are voters.
With the emergence of the Social TV phenomenon, one can see TV and social media now complement each other. Ever since the Socialist Party's primaries, political TV broadcasts have caused a torrent of comments on Twitter, as TV audiences joined up on this huge virtual couch to minutely analyze politicians' statements. TV broadcasts words uttered by candidates while the social media host chats about the candidates' words. And it's on these social networks that judgement on the candidates' credibility will be passed. This is because their promises and the figures they bandy about are fact-checked in real time, by journalists and experts, ensuring a simultaneous and enlightened subtitle service that underlines the politicians' rolling spiel.
So the answer to my opening question: "Can an election be won on social media?" is: in France in 2012, most probably "no". However, the question: "Can social media predict the name of the next French president?" calls for a positive answer.
Read more at CNN
Sunday, April 15
Can the dubious art of selling become more scientific?
The rise of the internet means that sales are changing. Customers
bone up about prices online and are less likely to fall for a seductive
pitch. There are still often huge differences in the performance of
sales forces both within and between companies. Many Western corporate
bosses are trying to turn sales from an art into more of a science.
Entrepreneurial salesmen, doing whatever it takes to reach their
numbers, can now be tracked and controlled. “Sales Growth: Five Proven
Strategies from the World’s Sales Leaders”, by three McKinsey
consultants, belongs in the selling-as-science school.
The book argues that data, process management and outsourcing can do as much for sales departments as for other areas of the corporation. Firms should not hesitate to re-engineer their peddlers. They should create sales “factories” where sales teams are ministered to by support people from other disciplines, and equip them with computing devices rather than briefcases. Companies still have plenty of Willy Lomans not selling much. They should seek to standardise performance by finding out what the best salespeople do and making sure everyone applies the same techniques (which sounds obvious, but not many people do it).
In emerging markets, on the other hand, selling is still personal—and old-fashioned. So companies that are trying to bring more science to sales at home will still need to master what some call the “steak-and-a-show” method when entering new markets. Industrial sales in China, especially, depend on long, close relationships between salespeople and customers.
Being a salesman in the internet age is getting harder. Sales forces are being cut and replaced with technology, and the job is losing its appeal. The popularity of the title “sales associate” on LinkedIn, an online network, has fallen dramatically in the past four years. BMW’s boss in America, Ludwig Willisch, admitted to the authors of the McKinsey book that it is hard to persuade people to go into sales these days.
Read more here
The book argues that data, process management and outsourcing can do as much for sales departments as for other areas of the corporation. Firms should not hesitate to re-engineer their peddlers. They should create sales “factories” where sales teams are ministered to by support people from other disciplines, and equip them with computing devices rather than briefcases. Companies still have plenty of Willy Lomans not selling much. They should seek to standardise performance by finding out what the best salespeople do and making sure everyone applies the same techniques (which sounds obvious, but not many people do it).
In emerging markets, on the other hand, selling is still personal—and old-fashioned. So companies that are trying to bring more science to sales at home will still need to master what some call the “steak-and-a-show” method when entering new markets. Industrial sales in China, especially, depend on long, close relationships between salespeople and customers.
Being a salesman in the internet age is getting harder. Sales forces are being cut and replaced with technology, and the job is losing its appeal. The popularity of the title “sales associate” on LinkedIn, an online network, has fallen dramatically in the past four years. BMW’s boss in America, Ludwig Willisch, admitted to the authors of the McKinsey book that it is hard to persuade people to go into sales these days.
Read more here
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