"Fashion Star" on NBC still hasn't answered major questions.
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Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Why whinging about online retail is not helping your business | The ...
Online business is booming and continues to grow every year. Consumers buy everything from storage cabinets to imported food online. There is no stopping this trend and the sooner retailers realize it the better for them. Many large bricks-and-mortar chain store CEO?s are bemoaning the fact that they are losing revenue to online businesses such as Amazon. This kind of attitude is not helping and the only way to ensure continued company profits is to bow to consumer demand and open an online presence. Stores that have both physical properties and virtual real-estate are ideally positioned to take advantage of all customer shopping preferences.
Opening an online division is good for business
Already existing stores are ideally positioned to take advantage of the internet boom. Stores that sell merchandise such as storage closets for instance, are in the position to easily fulfill customer orders since they already have distribution channels. Some customers prefer to pick up their storage cabinets in person at the store after ordering online, while others are willing to pay the shipping fee to have their purchase delivered. Being successful in business is all about giving the customer as many choices as possible.
Taking advantage of virtual store-fronts
Business owners can realize savings because ordering online is an easy process and can be accomplished by automated software. There is no need to deal with salespeople when the ordering software takes care of all the details. Taxes and shipping costs are immediately calculated and the order is processed very quickly. Once the order is complete it is sent to the fulfillment center where it can be shipped out to customers as soon as it is received. Most stores already have shipping and receiving areas, and if not, it is easy to implement.
Stores that offer customers a choice of shopping methods have a higher customer satisfaction and retention rate. When customers already trust a brand they continue to buy that brand especially if it is made easy for them. Not everyone wants to go to a store to choose storage cabinets and if they can do so online they will have no reason to shop at a competing website. Customers like shopping at local or national businesses that have an online presence. It gives them a feeling of safety since the store is known and if they need to return purchases they can go right to the store. Having an online presence makes sense for business owners.
Source: http://thewonderbarnj.com/?p=15
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FTC Worried About Big Online Platforms, Only Sort Of Means Facebook and Google
The Federal Trade Commission just released a new report laying out its current thinking on Internet privacy. In some cases, the commission recommends new legislation, while in others it just want to hold more workshops. The FTC previously released a "privacy framework" in December 2010. The framework outlined three principles that the commission wants companies to follow, including "privacy by design" (which means thinking about privacy at every stage of product development), simplified consumer choice, and greater transparency. It made perhaps its biggest splash by endorsing a "Do Not Track" mechanism in Web browsers. The FTC didn't invent the idea, but DNT has gained more momentum?since it made the endorsement.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/38Hd8B4Emhc/
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Monday, March 26, 2012
Supplier Connection: Will It Really Help Help Small Businesses Get ...
IBM and several other large corporations have launched a directory where small?businesses?can get listed to do business with large corporations.
Called the Supplier Connection, the site is open to U.S. small businesses.
If you are wondering what ?small? means, it means your business has to have less than $50 Million in revenues or fewer than 500 employees. ?You have to provide products or services in chemicals, construction, consulting, financial services, auto parts, HR services, information technology, marketing communications, market research, printing, software or security (for the full list, see the Supplier Connection website).
Some of the large corporations that are involved along with IBM include JP Morgan Chase, Kellogg?s, ?Pfizer, Caterpillar, Citi, ?JohnDeere, AMD and Facebook. ?The U.S. Small Business Administration has also gotten behind it.
But Is It Realistic for Small Businesses?
When I first heard about this from Laurie McCabe?s site, I thought it was a great idea. I was excited and decided to try it out.
What I discovered is that the paperwork and requirements are daunting.
First, let?s talk about the paperwork. ?Bureaucracy is a huge barrier to growth for small businesses ? even the perception of heavy?bureaucracy is a barrier. ?According to the Wall Street Journal, one business owner reported that completing a Supplier Profile is ?not a one-hour routine? but takes commitment.
Most small businesses don?t have anything near the 500-employee limit for this program ? instead, think 5 employees. ?That is a much more common size for a small business. ?In a 5-employee small business, there?s rarely anyone you can assign who will have all the knowledge to complete the paperwork. ?The business owner will likely be handling the paperwork himself or herself, probably in the evening (since that?s the only time available).
Beyond the paperwork is the whole issue of whether you can meet the system?s mandatory requirements. ?I started filling out the application and managed to get through the first four steps out of 9, in 20 minutes. ??Hmm, that?s not so bad,? I thought.
Then I got to step 5, the Environment section. It stopped me cold. ?For instance, how many of?you could say ?yes? to the following?
- Does your company have a Corporate Responsibility and Environmental Management System, which measures performance, sets goals, and discloses results?
- Does your company define, deploy, and sustain your corporate responsibility and environmental management system through your engagement with your suppliers?
- Does your company cascade this set of requirements to your suppliers who perform work that is material to the products, parts and/or services being supplied to your customer?
In all, there were over 20 questions about environmental, ISO9001 and ISO14001 compliance ? 16 of them required fields to answer.
Very few small businesses with under say, 20 employees, could say yes to the above questions. ?And what if you answer ?no?? ?Well, you are required to specify the exact day, month and year when you plan to be in compliance.
In our business we ?have no plans to create environmental policies and systems. ?Being an Internet publisher we shut off lights when we don?t need them, recycle paper and soda cans, avoid printing emails and documents unless absolutely necessary, and use power management options on our computers and other equipment. ?But we do not write corporate policies about those actions ? we just do them.
Our suppliers (other small businesses and entrepreneurs) would laugh ? or cry ? if we asked them if they complied. ? There?s no way that even if we wrote policies and systems, that we ?could ?cascade? that requirement to our suppliers.
So that was the end of my attempt to complete the application. ?I gave up.
Some Bright Spots
On the other hand, I do see positives with this program:
- For those who go through the paperwork process, it is something that can give your business a competitive edge. ?Just think of all those who will give up or can?t meet the requirements.
- Another positive: ?you can start the application process and save it as a draft, and finish or edit it later. ?That way you can divide up the work and spread it out over a few days if you need to.
- Finally, there?s just the fact that this directory exists. ?IBM is to be commended for starting it. ?In concept it?s a great idea.
I urge IBM and all the other corporations involved to streamline the requirements to make them more realistic for small businesses. ?Otherwise, the Supplier Connection will be more about medium size businesses. ?And I?d love nothing more than to come back and update you that the application has been streamlined.
About the Author
Anita Campbell is the Founder of Small Business Trends which has been following trends in small businesses since 2003. She is the owner of BizSugar, a social media site for small businesses; and also serves as CEO of TweakYourBiz.com. ?
Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/03/supplier-connection-small-businesses-corporate-contracts.html
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95% The Kid with a Bike
All Critics (79) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (4)
The Dardennes' quiet, naturalistic style strips this story of melodrama but not of emotion.
Without diminishing the boy's intensity or making him in any way ingratiating, the Dardennes take us into his mind, and we begin to appreciate not only his predicament but his resiliency.
The Dardennes' latest is one of their best, a memorable cinematic portrait of troubled youth and soul-saving charity.
Young Thomas Doret fills the role with natural sincerity and focus, and not a second that seems contrived.
Makes a powerful statement about the plight of unwanted children. But it also incorporates elements of melodrama, film noir, and even the fairy tale that engage our empathy and confirm the Dardennes' great compassion.
A wonderfully human and humane story about one of those lost-and-found children who tend to slip through society's not-so-safe safety nets.
[The Dardennes'] latest threads back to previous works in intriguing and satisfying ways...
To their credit, the Dardennes portray their subjects with a minimum of sentimentality.
It seems like a fairly minor movie, although one with major emotional pull.
Remains an effective picture with a genuine feel for human behavior, unearthing a direct sense of disturbance and a few select moments of stunning psychological clarity.
A film of rosy optimism it features a beguiling performance from screen newcomer doret who achieves a wonderfully natural, touching chemistry with de France.
Beyond Samantha's hard-to-fathom loyalty, many of the plot twists are predictable and contrived.
You wouldn't exactly call The Kid With a Bike a feel-good movie, but by the end it certainly invites the viewer to be hopeful about human nature. Another gem from the boys.
Dardenne heroes are crafty and restless, down but not out, and Cyril ought to be one of their best. For whatever reason, he isn't, quite.
Compassionate, humane but never sentimental.
Simple grace is a quality rarer in modern films than one might expect, as is the yard-by-yard, in-the-trenches slog of messy human connection, absent a lot of cathartic speechifying. Both are on rich display here.
The Dardenne siblings keep the story moving at a cracking pace, scrupulously avoid any syrupy sentiment, and deliver a drama that's both emotionally wrenching and morally complex.
An organically unfolding plot and riveting performances make this Cannes prize winner searing and sad.
...never soft-pedals the treacherous byways and alternative routes that [protagonist] Cyril only narrowly avoids on his road to security and happiness.
The Kid With A Bike cuts to the humanist heart of a boy's troubled 'rite de passage', without ever resorting to exaggerated emoting or cheap sensationalism.
Belgian writer/director/producers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne capture with heartfelt verisimilitude a boy's misplaced determination to find a father figure.
More Critic ReviewsSource: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_kid_with_a_bike/
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