News roundup: Mandatory electric cars, rethinking rewards (again), the end of the Internet
This blog series quickly dissects the week’s happenings, providing thought-provoking perspectives that separate the noise from what really matters.
Europe Plugs into an Electric Future
Is the combustion engine industry running out of gas?
Following Emmanuel Macron’s early July announcement that France would end the sale of gasoline-fueled vehicles by 2040 (and similar pledges by Norway and Holland), Britain has followed suit with a similar 2040 clean air promise. The timing of Macron’s announcement came on the heels of Volvo’s decision to end the production of combustion-engine vehicles by 2019, while in the UK, record pollution problems have put pressure on politicians to make changes.
Where shifting attitudes and the Paris climate deal have spurred government action on environmental policy, people’s interest in the automotive industry have been continually on the move. Could a focus on electric vehicles ignite a new wave of interest and opportunity for a range of companies? For BMW, the shift to electric is already promising heightened manufacturing activity in the UK. Despite Brexit fears, the auto manufacturer has already committed to producing an all-electric 3-door Mini in 2019 in the country’s Oxford plant.
THE ANGLE:
· Specialized manufacturing creates a need for new plants, new products, and new processes — are existing players equipped to respond?
· Manufacturing electric cars is simpler than combustion engine vehicles, opening the door for companies like Apple and Dyson to get into the car building business.
· The current electric grid cannot support the amount of electric cars expected to be on the road by 2040 — how can we increase capacity to meet demand?
· The infrastructure needed to support a mass shift towards electric vehicles is far from ready to support mass adoption, specifically charging stations. How can countries and companies create infrastructure that enables a change of this scale?
More Retailers Announce Smaller Stores: Spaciousness Continues to Give Way to “Experiencification”
This week continues to reflect the retail attempt to try smaller, more experience-based store setups. Sephora announced a smaller studio concept where makeovers can last up to 75 minutes, and HyVee is also shrinking their square footage, calling their new concept a super-sized convenience store. This follows the earlier announcements this summer from Target and Sears to also have smaller stores.
THE ANGLE:
· According to Brian Kilcourse, Managing Partner of Retail Systems Research, this idea of “experiencification” is rooted in addressing the relevant solution to a consumer’s problem.
“This is a very different way of thinking of the store, from a place of fulfillment to a place where they’re actually experiencing the solution,” said Kilcourse. “Otherwise, why have a store?”
See the full round table discussion featuring Kilcourse’s insights:
Rethinking Loyalty Programs: Is Wyndham onto something?
In a market where 67 percent of loyalty program members would switch for a better deal, Wyndham debuted an auction model this week that could be a stronger approach for retaining participants.
The hotel brand’s U.S.-based members can now use their points to bid on vacations and experiences provided through exclusive partnerships. (Trendy examples include tickets to Jennifer Lopez’s Las Vegas show or admission to LEGOLAND®.)
THE ANGLE:
· One might want to keep an eye on the success of this approach, since according to an IBM survey, members tend to highly value a wide variety of exclusive deals.
See more studies about customer loyalty insights.
A World Without Cat Videos
Why Vodafone’s cellular data outage should scare us all
In this modern technical age, most of us can’t imagine one day without cellular voice and data services let alone ten. Well that’s exactly what happened to Vodafone Qatar. On July 17th they experienced a major network outage due to an equipment failure during a network upgrade.
Not something you’d expect in a country with the third highest per capita income in the world.
THE ANGLE:
· Every minute that a new app, streaming network, show, or goofy photo overlay comes out, the more strain it puts on the network. Which puts us one step closer to capacity and upgrade issues.
· In a recent survey, 85% of business leaders gave the current network model a life expectancy of 2 years.
· The annual volume of cell phone data traffic will reach 129,000 petabytes by 2018, according to a cellular network traffic report from Juniper Research. If wireless and mobile carriers don’t offload the majority of their data traffic and evolve their networks, they aren’t going to be able to keep up with consumer demands.
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