E-BUSINESS-SOPHIE'S BLOG-2008

REVOLUTIONHEALTH.COM

2008-02-28T22:37:00.001-08:00

RevolutionHealth.com Uses Web 2.0 Tools to Create Health 2.0: People-Powered Health Revolution Health Membership Offers "Concierge Services" at Consumer Prices Washington, D.C., January 22, 2007 / PRNewswire / — Steve Case's Revolution Health Group today unveiled "preview" editions of its first two new products: RevolutionHealth.com™, a free online service which will help families take action to manage their health care and achieve their healthy living goals; and Revolution Health™ membership, which gives members access to premium health services now only enjoyed by a few.

Case founded Revolution Health Group just over a year ago, in partnership with Colin Powell, Jim Barksdale, Carly Fiorina, Frank Raines, Miles Gilburne, Steve Wiggins and other co-investors. The company seeks to achieve a revolution in health care by empowering people to have more control and more choices in their health care lives.
RevolutionHealth.com: Using the Best of the Web to Improve Your Health While RevolutionHealth.com (www.RevolutionHealth.com) remains under development – with new functions and tools being added daily during the "preview" period – the free online service opened today for public use.

FERTILITY BUSINESS MODEL

2008-02-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

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FASHIONTIP.COM

2008-02-09T02:42:00.000-08:00

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INNOCENTIVE : the R&D brain booster

2008-02-03T01:03:00.000-08:00

INNOCENTIVE : the community solvers for companies and organizations

2008-01-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

Founded in 2001, InnoCentive built the first global web community for open
innovation, enabling scientists, engineers, professionals and entrepreneurs
to collaborate to deliver breakthrough solutions for R&D-driven
organizations. InnoCentive Seekers, who collectively spend billions of
dollars on R&D, submit complex problems to the InnoCentive Marketplace
where more than 135,000 engineers, scientists, inventors, business people,
and research organizations in more than 175 countries are invited to solve
them. Solvers who deliver the most innovative solutions receive financial
awards ranging up to US$1,000,000. InnoCentive's Seekers include
commercial, government and non-profit organizations such as Eli Lilly and
Company, Janssen, Solvay, GlobalGiving and The Rockefeller Foundation.They are a kind of external R&D SERVICES, which can accelerates changes in companies and organisations.

INNOCENTIVE :Everything is possible

The community solvers are able to work on various subject for the seekers community in particular :
- Math and computer science : Information Technology, Programming,
- Business and entrepreneurships Product Development, Business Development, Marketing, ...
- Physical science : Nanotechnology, BioPhysics, Geology,
- Chemistry: Organic, Polymer, Synthetic Chemistry
- Life science : Biology, Medicine, Food Science, Pharmacology
- Engeneering and design : Bioengineering, Civil Engineering, Electronics, ...

The solvers can deliver their solutions further to 4 differents flexibleways, which allows rewards further to this organization. Those ways are :
Ideation : the seekers are looking for new ideas they would choose from the results,
Theoretical: the seekers look for the perfect solution to their problem, with IP Idea property) transfered,
Reduction to practice: the seekers look for theoritical with physical evidence of the solution (samples),
ERFP:No I transfered because it is a redy to use solution where can be sold or at the origin of a contact between seekers and solvers.

For the seekers it means that they can decide to work to get varied positive options:

Award value assigned : Ideation + theoretical+Reduction to practice
Guaranteed award : Ideation
Non exclusive licenced upon award: Ideation
Award paid only if challenge solved:theoretical+ Reduction to practice
IP transfer if challenge solved : theoretical+ Reduction to practice
Success fees paid if challenge solved :
Ideation+theoretical+Reduction to practice
Collaboration proposal if challenge is solved: ERFP

ADVANTAGES of INNOCENTIVE : the worldwide brainstorming
- Its is a worldwide laboratory where everyone can work on everything, which is an open creativity market but safe,
- It is the best way for seekers to get solutions from a different search area than the one they know already. Problems can be solved simply because non specialist with new approach are working on them.
- It is a time and money saver tool because :
- 1/ People who chooses to work on any program are passionate about it first , which can help a lot in the originality of the outcome.
- 2/It makes seekers and solvers quickly in touch ,.
- It is a risks minimizer for a company or an organization. Instead of spending months or years on a topic, they can benefit from the experience or curiosity or passionate people and get the result quicker.

DISAVANDTAGES of INNOCENTIVE : working without winning
- IP problems to solve,
- Some touchy subjects regarding deontology cannot be submitted ( nuclear or
war related projects),
- Time might be difficult to evaluate and control,
- Some subjects might not be chosen by solvers.So the seeker might fail to
succeed.
- The amount of money attributed to a project might not be enough.
- Confidentiality of the project might be an issue.
- the solver might work a lot without being chosen even his project or idea is a good one.Regarding the investment in time or money it could be a risky business...

STRECHING THE BUSINESS : FROM BEING "THE BRAIN-MEETIC" TO BECOME THE BRAIN-SERVICE SUPPLIER

As the aim of this community is to expand, new sectors might be interested by the way it is possible to find new options :

New challenges for news seekers
- Education : since teachers and professors are always complaining about he system it will will be a good opportunity for them to bring up new solutions to problems all over the world,
-NGO's : to be able to raise more money about varied subjects,
- Fashion industry :for a better creativity fashion companies could challenge creatives through a specific project,
- Police : to look for solutions to stop drug traffic, pedophiles or any other problem, in order to create a better inter police-communication or to find solutions in a different ways, Innovative could be tested.

The budget allowed for those programs could be the one to be used by the winner to set up his idea.

New services to the communities of seekers and solvers
As innovative is a service company which introduces seekers to solvers or vice-versa, INNOVATIVE could offer services to those 2 communities through special offer for :
- New challenge : once a challenge is finished a loser seeker could be willing to find another company to sell his idea to. He might want to find another company to negociate with.
- Money : A solver who did not find a seeker, might want to get the project for himself , but he might need money> and Innovative could have deals with banks or finacial companies to help people to finance their project.
- A data base of projects and solvers to be consulted by seekers or solvers trough a private password and a subscription fee.
- Services to entrepreneurs :such as associations or organisations, specialised recruitement or interim companies or magazines subscription to help entrepreneurs to succeed.
- Professional video resume : in order to help solver to meet the right seekers, INNOVATIVE cold offer a service (paying or not) of video resume which can be seen by seekers through a paying password (subscription).
- The expert of the year : INNOVATIVE could also chose amongst the solvers who replies to his challenges or even seekers, the expert of the year for the expertise this person has shown during the challenge, to give advices to other seekers and solvers. With a password and a subscription fee, anyone could challenge the expert and get apersonalised answer or advice.It could be one person or one per speciality.

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR ; A LONG DYNASTY

2008-01-20T23:48:00.000-08:00

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SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR

2008-01-20T23:00:00.000-08:00

What is a Social Entrepreneur?
Social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.

Rather than leaving societal needs to the government or business sectors, social entrepreneurs find what is not working and solve the problem by changing the system, spreading the solution, and persuading entire societies to take new leaps.

Social entrepreneurs often seem to be possessed by their ideas, committing their lives to changing the direction of their field. They are both visionaries and ultimate realists, concerned with the practical implementation of their vision above all else.

Each social entrepreneur presents ideas that are user-friendly, understandable, ethical, and engage widespread support in order to maximize the number of local people that will stand up, seize their idea, and implement with it. In other words, every leading social entrepreneur is a mass recruiter of local changemakers—a role model proving that citizens who channel their passion into action can do almost anything.

Over the past two decades, the citizen sector has discovered what the business sector learned long ago: There is nothing as powerful as a new idea in the hands of a first-class entrepreneur.

Why "Social" Entrepreneur?
Just as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss and improving systems, inventing new approaches, and creating solutions to change society for the better. While a business entrepreneur might create entirely new industries, a social entrepreneur comes up with new solutions to social problems and then implements them on a large scale.

Historical Examples of Leading Social Entrepreneurs:
Susan B. Anthony (U.S.): Fought for Women's Rights in the United States, including the right to control property and helped spearhead adoption of the 19th amendment.
Vinoba Bhave (India): Founder and leader of the Land Gift Movement, he caused the redistribution of more than 7,000,000 acres of land to aid India's untouchables and landless.
Dr. Maria Montessori (Italy): Developed the Montessori approach to early childhood education.
Florence Nightingale (U.K.): Founder of modern nursing, she established the first school for nurses and fought to improve hospital conditions.
Margaret Sanger (U.S.): Founder of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she led the movement for family planning efforts around the world.
John Muir (U.S.): Naturalist and conservationist, he established the National Park System and helped found The Sierra Club.
Jean Monnet (France): Responsible for the reconstruction of the French economy following World War II, including the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The ECSC and the European Common Market were direct precursors of the European Union.

http://ashoka.org/fellows/social_entrepreneur.cfm

VENTES PRIVEES : COMPETITIVE POSITION

2008-01-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

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"Nobody knows the wholesale business in Europe better than we do,"

2008-01-20T13:16:00.001-08:00

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Since 2001, VENTES PRIVEES.COM is the number 1 website of event sales in France. With nearly 4 million members and a two digit growth rate, Vente-Privee.Com is accelerating the pace of its development.

Their sales concept of top label goods in the fields of beauty, fashion, and home equipment is based on the experience of his CEO and owner Jacques Antoine Granjon.
Because he "built up strong relationships with brands during the many years they bought overstock products in the off-line world", he can now be proud enough to say that he masters the wholesale business as nobody else does it in Europe.
Even in America , Vente-privee .com is becoming a business model.

Because Summit Partners, has recently invested money to get 20% of Vente-privee.com, the company is now definitely the leader on the market and is now ready to expand worldwise especially into Germany, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.The US might be the next step forward.

THE 6 SUCCESS RULES of VENTE-PRIVEE.COM

1 / Be creative to become and event producer

VENTES PRIVEES.COM has successfully persuaded luxury brands that it can create an aspirational presentation of goods online. Recently, the business model expanded into near-luxury and other non-luxury prestige brands.

"Items for sale include luxury apparel and accessories, wine and Champagne, household linens, baby clothes, and small household appliances.

Each of their sales is designed as a unique event for their members, bringing together each day 600 employees.
In order to keep the mystery of this luxury atmosphere , Vente-Privee works exactly like an event agency to organize each sale as a unique event.470 events are organized per year, soon 700, VP.com, VP.com produce in 2 days the equivalent number of picture that a La Redoute catalog. Each studio shoot needs models , 4 musicians and graphists , an average of 40 people work as a team to prepare each event

2/ Be exclusive to keep your suppliers

More than for the customer the promotion done around each sales is to make sure that the brand atmosphere is respected .It is a way of retaining them, a kind of guarantee for service quality.
Part of what sets the startup apart is its unique approach to merchandising. Instead of showing grainy pictures of unsold blouses or handbags, Vente-privee.com puts together slick promotional shots and videos featuring fashion models and original music that add lustre to the merchandise.
The campaigns—approved by the brands—help boost sales while making the online shopping experience more pleasant than a real-world sample sale. Deeply discounted prices are mentioned, of course, but there’s nothing about the Web site reminiscent of a bargain basement.

The formula already has attracted more than 600 brands to Vente-privee.com, including Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana, Cacharel, and Armani Casa. Now they’re being joined by mass-market sellers such as Adidas, Swatch, Mattel, and Electrolux. The lure? More control over brand image, thanks to Vente-privee.com’s exclusive merchandising programs, and twice the margins earned via more traditional closeout sales." — (BUSINESSWEEK)

3 /Be fair and selective with your customers

To be part of Vente-privee com you have to be a member and become one you must be introduced by an existing customer, or must know and email address of one.
It creates a kind of community with specific rights, which could be seen as a reward.
So being awake at 7 am to be the first one buy the last season Vuitton bag or coat becomes a privilege instead of a pain.as you are as well informed by mail of what is going on in vente-privee world.com, you feel secure and “in the know” which is , especially for women is quite flattering.

4 / Be good with price to seduce suppliers, investors and customers

All are sold, while they last, at fixed prices 50% to 70% below retail. With revenues last year of roughly a half-billion dollars, up 40% from 2006, privately held Vente-privee.com is becoming a force in distribution and is starting to be copied around the world. Vente-privee.com has provokedg an unusual amount of attention on the other side of the Atlantic. "This is the first time in recent memory that American companies are copying an Internet economic model that was first created in Europe," says Philippe Collombel, a Paris-based partner at venture capital firm Partech International, which is not an investor in Vente-privee.com.

On the other hand customers are happy to pay so cheaply any branded item.30 000 orders per year for 300 millions euros is quite a good bargain.

In 2007 Jacques-Antoine Granjon, Vente-Privee.com's owner, has confirmed that Summit Partners has bought 20% of Vente-Privee.com capital,which could have been for 160 millions euros. The company would be now worth 800 millions euros .

5 / Be social to keep your staff happy to work for you

Offering free drinks to your staff, chosing a great HR to deal with the staff, is a way to keep up the start-up atmosphere of this young and dynamic company. But in order to reinforce the company position on the market trainings are now provided to help the associates to progress and to keep the staff in the company. Senior positions are now required to help the company to expand quickly and efficiently.

6/ Be prepared to invest and to grow up and to become better

With 80 000 sqare meter of wahrehouse.Vente-privee.com is ready to organised its European development. Investment in logistics will allow as well a quicker delivery time.

Following these rules Vente privee.com is now the leader on the sales market. Loads of competitors try now to fight with it. Vente privee.com is still quite far ahead but for how long?

http://news.agendainc.com/category/retail/ Strategy of ventes privees

Neesweek article
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2008/gb20080111_222659_page_2.htm

FREEMIUM BUSINESS : SATISFACTION MAXIMUM

2008-01-10T12:37:00.001-08:00

Freemium ( contraction of free and premium ) is an interessant concept as far as creating a new traffic of procpect on your website is concerned. In order to transform any visitor in potential client you decide to provide your service or part of it for free, in order to give to your customer the drive to buy your service or to buy additional value. It is the “sample give-away” version of direct marketing and it is the most welcoming way to attract customers. It is a very efficient way to attract customers through word of mouth referral network.You can support or not your offer by advertising message.

Advantages :
 Quick way to build a customer base,
 Excellent way to promote a new service or product
 No or very low cost if you organise well your offer

Disavantages :
 The way you technically sort the offer out could putt off your customer (registration, asking for credit card details even if not used),
 Download of any document could be time consuming for the prospect and you migt lose him.
 Disappointment when the offer is withdrawn the next time you go on the website or if the service or product offer is not sent or offered.

To avoid any of the disappointment the company who decides to use that should :
- Make sure the offer is well supported by material market share informations to perfectly fit the target, (SiteKreator’s owner “, we try to limit the “myspace” generation from using our service as they have a zero conversion ratio and very low probability to bring in paying customers. We noticed that 75% of our bandwidth was coming from swapping copyrighted materials like mp3s, games, music videos, etc”
- . Make sure that technically it is user friendly and supported by the right technology (Windowws, OSX and linux
When the customer is happy to pay for the service you offer ( longer video time, full course version, cost for vitual storage ) then you can think you made a good job.

Animoto got me in with Pemium
Animoto is a website specialised in creation of animated still pictures based on music frequency. Each animationis different thanks to the pictures or the music chosen.
Thanks to this websiteyou can become your own movief-creator of animated album picturesfor free, using free copy right music..
Through sending your creation to your friends, Animoto got an opportunity to get new prospect whom he offers to do the same as you did in the fist place : TRY.
Once you are hooked, the 30 seconds free movie is not enough , you want more and you become ready to pay 30 dollars for unlimited creation in number and in time.
www.animoto.com

Skype did not do it for me
On the contrary, Skype did not do it for me because once I managed to call my friends through it , I did not like the quality of the phone conversation so I could not figure out why I should pay for additional services when I can get for free through other ways. For example I can call my friendsabroad through MSN messenger and through Alice so I do not need SKYPE.. www.skype.com/

Information source :

http://www.goodproductmanager.com/2007/01/23/making-free-products-or-freemiums/

avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/03/the_freemium_bu.html - 55k

EASY BUSINESS : SUCCESS BUT NOT SO EASY

2008-01-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Easy Business :
In 1995 a young serial entrepreneur called Stelios Haji-Ioannou created a revolution in airlines companies by creating Easyjet based on a “low cost, no frills” philosophy, which was in a way a war declaration to the travel agencies and to the airlines competitors. But for the customers, Stelios, as he likes to be called, is seen as “the pioneer", the rescuer of millions customers, “who made flights as affordable as a pair of jeans”!

In 10 years, Easyjet became a successful business model, and from 3 millions people carried in 1999 it went up to 37 millions in 2006.New application for the e-business in 1999 their on line booking became a real success. If in 1999 50 % of the bookings were done through the website, in 2004 the rate went up 98,9%.

The “Low cost-no frills” philosophy has been used to create 16 other new business opportunities in different fields such as travel, leisure, personal finance, car renting, food service….Used as an easy replicated concept, the word "easy" became the leitmotiv in the expansion of the group as well as the group trademark which is now licensed to all of the easy branded business. The brand is also an excellent source of revenue for the group, as a franchise and as a property to protect against the website name thieves.

The prosperity of the group is due his creative and charismatic owner. Real celebrity in the UK, Stelios managed in 2006 to win awards for the user friendly way of booking through his easyjet.com website as well as being personally awarded by a knighthood from Queen Elisabeth II for services to entrepreneurship.

Private owner of the Easy group, Stelios is both manager of Easyjet,and now, more the manager of the brand.
He continues to expand the brand business by creating new easy branded ventures with unequal success.

Easy group : easy way to cleverly save money

As per the following table, the Easy group success is linked to his way to create win-win situation for the 4 business partners by solving specific problems for them:

Customers
- Cheap booking “Easyjet.com, easycruise”
- Self booking (all)
- Novelty in services (easy internet café)
- Save time and money
- Offering valu for money
Suppliers
- Lower fixed-cost
- Maximize customers number
- Good and fair quality of service
- Easy group trademark
- Yield management
Partners
- Opportunity to experiment new business field (eg : website and easyjet)
- Can fight against leader big firms
- Easy group philosophy
Owners of the business
- Brand management
- Creativity and innovation

For Easy group the problem is now to expand his business by avoiding mistakes in the choice of the new fields they decide to invest in.Since 2004 the Easy group seems to have rushed towards new business opportunities without taking care of the real issue about perfect fit between the brand and the business.

The failure of Easy car , Easy cinema, Easy internet café and Easy music could damaged the brand image and loyalty if Easy group does not select more cautiously.

Even if the Easy group has created his own “selection system analysis”before deciding any investment, the group has still to be aware of the quality level the customer expect to find in any Easy business, in order not to go below this line. The future and financial wealth of the business could rely on quality the customers could expect from the brand.

Nowadays , the sustainable developpement is an important asset to take good look at in order to protect both the environment and the Easy brand image from which their benefits rely on.It is important to build strong brand values not only for customers but also for the partners and Easy staff members.

YIELD MANAGEMENT IN EASY PIZZA : A START FOR A REAL COMMUNITY SPIRIT

2008-01-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

Easy pizza is one of the Easy business based yield mangement rules. Created in the 80's this american new concept is a "process of understanding, anticipating and reacting to consumer behaviour in order to maximise expected revenue and pofits" for acompany.
Primarily used by airlines companies, lodging and car rental, this concept has been spread all over the Easy group business as part of a success receipe.
As soon as this concept could be applied, Easy group tends to make money out of it successfully with Easy jet, but not so well with easyinternet cafe or Easycinema.

To be applied really successfully the yield mangement needs the following specificities :
- Advance forecast of consumption demand based on previous statistics or consumer behaviour,
-The product or service concerned needs to be perishable,

The yield mangement provides to company a flexibility of service or product tariffs which can benefit to the final customer as a reward for early booking.

It could also create a kind of discrimination amongst customers, effect which could be lowered by the supplier through a kind of education, a better promotion of the advantages for the customer to be more flexible and more responsible in his consumer behaviour.

Easy pizza pictures

2008-01-08T12:59:00.000-08:00

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Easypizza.com : THE YIELD BUT NO YANG

2008-01-08T12:41:00.000-08:00

On 17th december 2004, yield mangement has been adapted to the food service delivery of pizzas by the launch of Easypizza in Milton Keynes. the first customer has been delivered by Easy group owner, Stelios himself
It was the first time that the yield mangement has been applied to such a business structure: to allow customer to book pizza cheaper by website without having the opportnity to go ad get the pizza themselves and to save money by ordering it off-peak period(off lunch or dinner time).Franchise beagn in 2006 and already 15 branches have been set up.

Customer targets :
-Young pople,
-Companies staff,
-Families

Advantages for the customer
- Cheaper price than the ones on the market (e.g: Domino's pizza or Pizza hut or any pizza restaurant in the neighbourhood)
-Flexible and sensible savings through mutiples orders,
- Good quality pizza delivered
- delivery cost to add accordig order time

Advantages for Easypizza :
- No high street rent,
- Use maximisation of the oven and of the delivery vehicules,

By comparison competitors do not allow on line booking with cheaper prices so there is no incentive for customers to order through their website(Domino'spizza or Pizza hut)

Revenue sources
- With ice cream and drinks (Haagen dasz and Coca cola)
- Franchise

As this model could be sustainable ,I personnaly thinks that Easygroup through Easypizza should start building a reflexion around his concept about the community they tend to build around varied concerns.

Particularly after 10 years of activity they should start considering bringing a bit more fun in their relationship with the customer in order to create a strong one-to-one relationship with their customers through :

- A better website presentation to reinforce the attractiveness of the pizza on the menu. Pizza orders will be more important.

- They could adapt the menu to season or to special event, in order to avoid boring the customer and to create more opportunities of order.

- They could create a real community through shared activities or iformations trhough their website while people wait for their pizza EX : you tubes videos to be seen about pizza funny stories in diverses situations,in order to create traffic on their website.

- Easypizza could expand their revenue sources by using local advert linked with the identification postcode. Why not advertise for the local video store, wine or bookshop or for special advertising for local fair trade or events (sports activities like football match, Tv programmes)which are generally linked to pizza consumption.A commission could be paid by those partners.

- Special offers should be made for birthday parties order, hen nights or any kind of parties in order to incitate customers to order more regularly and in bigger quantity, in rder again to create traffic.

- A kind of loyalty registration could offer free delivery for the 1oth or the 20th pizza ordered, to retain customers.

- Easypizza does have links with the other brand activities but nothing is really well advertise, which could be improve for a better synergy between brands, and so more customers could become of the other brands.Traffic between Easy websites could be improved.

My general impression about Easypizza and Easy group is that the concept and original idea have been well organised but the services seem to be now in their mature phase and no new energy has been invested to keep alive this fantastic community of customers. The company seems to be focused with new business opportunities but after 10 years of experience it is now important to create and maintain a strong synergy and identity between the brands in order to build a multi community spirit which is full of economical ressources.It would benefit both to customers and to Easy staff members.With the yield, Easy got the drive to create multiple businesses but now they miss the "Yang", "the fire"(which is a joke for pizzamaker) to keep up the community they successfully managed to create.so, too be continued...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS WITH TOM WAITS

2007-12-22T12:14:00.000-08:00

With all my best wishes for 2008!

OFFICIAL LONG TAIL BOOK PROMO-Nice music!

2007-12-22T09:48:00.000-08:00

2007-12-22T09:44:00.001-08:00

The long tail video

2007-12-22T09:27:00.001-08:00

commentaires

THE 4 STREAMS OF MUSICOVERY.COM

2007-12-22T09:12:00.000-08:00

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