TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

I had more hits on Sunday and Tuesday, but more sales on Monday.  Go figure.  

[quote author=bargainbloodhound link=topic=1389.msg5442#msg5442 date=1133370952]
The "growing pre-eminence of bricks-and-mortar retailers" really isn't good news for any of the "mom-and-pop" sellers who escaped to the Internet because it provided a more level playing field than the local shopping mall.  As time goes by I think any remaining "level playing field" advantages the Internet provides small sellers will all but disappear as the online and offline retail worlds become more interdependent on each other and the retailers with the biggest pocketbooks stomp on their online competitors just as they have done in the offline world.
[/quote]

Yes, the big guys will try to push everyone else out.

The question is can they?

The internet is so interactive that potential customers play a much larger part in the selection of sites they visit, compared to malls and TV. Specialty shops can always provide information, selection and service the big guys cannot match. Big corporations are terrible at adapting to change in the outside world - they cannot hope to keep up in the cyber world.

Yes the big guys will dominate advertising, their banners will be everywhere, and a lot of people will buy from them. But the internet landscape has a lot of complexity - the clever little guy can do OK, at least until the big guys manage to reduce it to a centralized, stable medium, free of blogs, small web sites and forums.


Any more Kool-Aid in that jug???           

I agree with you accentnepal.
And to further add it was the little guys who shook up the Big retailers just 10 years ago.

I think more and more people are tired of the "hype" of Big advertsing and in your face crap all the time.

Case in point.

How many of us while watching a program on TV use that clicker as soon as the
commercials come on?

Or

How many of us re tune that radio station to find another song instead of listing to the 3 to 4 minutes of advertising after that great song we just heard?

I think a lot of us do for reasons already so obvious.

[quote author=xppman link=topic=1389.msg5458#msg5458 date=1133389791]
How many of us re tune that radio station to find another song instead of listing to the 3 to 4 minutes of advertising after that great song we just heard?
[/quote]
I copied most of the songs I like from the radio 15 years ago. I not only do not listen to commercials, I don't listen to the songs I don't like.

Scary thing is that the Seattle stations still play exactly the same songs - they play almost nothing I do not already have except a few new releases. There is so much music we never hear because the record companies (AKA Big Guys) control what gets played on the radio.

When was the last time you heard "Angel of the Morning" or "Midnight Mary"?

It is a crime, I tell ya --- and they say I am stealing music!!!

Quote:How many of us while watching a program on TV use that clicker as soon as the
commercials come on?

That would be my hubby  lol

Quote:How many of us re tune that radio station to find another song instead of listing to the 3 to 4 minutes of advertising after that great song we just heard?

That would be me    I hate hate hate listening to them talk or play commercials.  Drives me insane and I switch the station immediately.  If all the stations are doing this at the same time (sometimes it happens) then I just pop in my favorite Def Leppard CD 


Angel 

What I'm thinking is we're NOT alone and I think millions are turned off by so much advertising. It's everywhere and obviously a lot of it is NOT working.

If it was I think many businesses would NOT need to continue to
advertise so much because they would be pumping along just fine
and making good profits and could back off a bit on ads and save lots of $$$
that would add to their profits.

The best advertising is STILL word of mouth IMO.

You know a lot of advertising is sold based on marginal gains --- Spend $100,000 to gain $101,000. I saw an interview with the owner of a big trucking company. He said he would be happy if he earned $5. per day for every truck he has on the road. Only $5 is the cause of that monster chewing up the environment and risking lives.

Economics recognises that a business may profit by pushing some of it's costs onto others - pollution is the usual example but subjecting the public to meaningless advertising (or trucks) is a cost that we bear when  others play their corporation games.

"We just want to dance here --- someone stole the stage ..."   

Quote:The best advertising is STILL word of mouth IMO.

The best and cheapest...well maybe not cheapest because a large portion of the "word of mouth" advertising that many corporations receive comes at the cost of having to pay a pretty penny to buzz marketeers to get the "word of mouth" campaign rolling (see Use of Student Plants to Pitch Products Rising  http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...037.0.html )

Oh yes as many of us savvy folks are already aware
of the Buzz Marketing craze.

But stay tuned for the book Buzz Marketing Gone Bad.

Preface will be something along the lines showing a certain little group of them who have been VERY BAD indeed.

The book will only be available at the authors website and select online outlets.

Maybe Amazon???