Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Does country of origin matter?

When it comes to manufactured goods there is a legal imperative in most countries to mark products with the country of origin. But do customers care?

At one time a nation's expertise in manufacture was often looked at as an umbrella brand for the products its companies made. Thanks to the legacy of the industrial revolution the British had earned a reputation for building solid, reliable products. If testimony was needed look no further than the railways constructed throughout the Empire where steam locomotives built in Glasgow or Birmingham still huff and puff along narrow gauge lines even today. Old Morris and Austin cars are still going, even factory machinery with still produce basic goods in many parts of the world. 'British Made' stamped on a product offered a reassurance of that dependability, while at one time 'Made in Japan' was a euphemism for junk. But how things changed. The Japanese who seemed to have cornered the market in plimsolls by adding a pink rubber diamond logo glued to the sole saying 'Empire Made' managed to ride on the back of the old British Empire preference, without going so far as to say it was actually made in the Japanese Empire.

But change things did and it was the Japanese who by the nineteen sixties were laying claim to leadership in high quality goods, particularly in the manufacture of cars, motor bikes, consumer electronics and cameras. It left British goods looking old fashioned and clunky. The British had by then developed a fascination for the antics of the young movers and shakers of the so called 'swinging sixties'. The British Union flag became a symbol of the new era in clothes fashions and in popular music. Meanwhile poor old manufacturing industry had lost the design edge too, if it ever had one, to the Italians and Scandinavians who produced much more elegant, stylish and desirable products. British industry suffered not only from generally poor design, but under investment in new equipment, over manning and militant trade unions in its factories, all seriously affecting productivity and competitiveness.

So industry started moving offshore. I was working in consumer electronics in the late nineteen sixties at the advent of colour television. Thanks to government pontification,  several years had been lost deciding which standard would be adopted for broadcast - the established American NTSC for which we had technology licensing in place from our American commercial arrangements, or the French SECAM system for which we did not. We mounted interesting little demonstrations of colour television in our laboratories for years as we waited while the big decision of which standard to recommend was delayed. Eventually the government opted for neither and backed the later  entrant the German PAL  system and so the race to get  TV sets on the market had begun. The probably unique thing about the British market was the widespread preference to rent televisions owing to their poor reputation for reliability. The company I worked for owned the majority of outlets, originally intended as the channel to feed the production of its own factories into the market. But the pent up demand from rental customers couldn't quickly be met, so additional TV sets were sourced from Japan. Soon to be joined by  radios, record players, tape recorders etc. to which a British brand label was attached. By then the company had also bought most of the leading British brand names. It was joked in-house that the Japanese designed and manufactured the products and the British decided where to glue the label. But even that task was done in Berlin thanks to some customs quirk dating back to the war. This apparently attracted some financial preference to goods entering Europe through that city then isolated in a soviet landscape as a show case of western consumerism.

By this time the buying public had generally lost interest in country of origin and rarely turned the product upside down to see where it had been made. Then just when it seemed Japan would make everything that bubble burst and the country entered recession. But even that did not matter, they had been off shoring themselves to the Philippines and the Tiger economies as  labour costs rose at home. Then into the mix came China as a huge manufacturing operation with even lower labour rates. Big brands,  designed where in the world suited them most, then had the products built in China.  By now brand had usurped country of origin in the consumer's mind. Most don't care how its made, what working conditions are like, or even can they get spares because the product's desire will have expired long before it breaks and its time to buy the latest model!

There have been signs for some years now that low labour costs are less significant as the market for many classes of product demands greater levels of customisation. Robotics become more widespread.  Filling whole containers for shipping for months is less economic specially if the whole load has manufacturing defects and is rejected ... and at some stage the economy in China will have to adjust and correct. May be that is what is happening now!


Thursday, August 20, 2015

Should you trust recommendations from people you do not know?

Recommendations typically rate highly as a source of enquiries - but what actually is a recommendation and can it be trusted?

Trust is an important factor. So a recommendation from a friend whose judgement you trust would carry some authority, more so where they had personal experience of the product or service you were interested in. But even then you would probably evaluate their recommendation in the light of your knowledge or their expertise or experience in the subject. Your interpretation of their opinions might be different between prompted and unprompted  recommendation - for example if they were extolling the virtues of a new product they had bought they might be justifying the correctness of their own purchase decision not suggesting you buy one too. Whereas if you asked could they recommend a good plumber then their response would be based on personal experience - quality of work, promptness, value etc.

The thing is the recommendation is 'word of mouth' from a source you trust. Businesses often ask where you heard about them when you make an enquiry. But more likely it will be where did you read about them and the answer is on the Internet. One example of online recommendation is Trip Advisor where people volunteer their opinions of a hotel, often going into amazing detail about the rooms to avoid, the names of staff, quality of service ... on and on. You have to ask what sort of person has the inclination and time to write all this stuff and are their opinions likely to be similar to yours? Now many sites invite you to review products - a chance for a rant for disappointed purchasers. Generally by sorting through the dross you can form a view on the product or service you are looking to source.

 A more recent form of recommendation is the vlog  by video bloggers - vloggers. When looking at certain products it can be useful to look at a video of how they are set up. A typical example is the blogger who starts off by taking the product out of the box before showing you how easy it is to set up and use. You are left thinking if that guy can set it up then I  can do the same. Presenters talk like a friend or equal in this user generated content world. But some times these amateur product demonstrators sign off the vlog with a phrase such as 'catch you next time'. Oh - so they are serial product reviewers then. Where do they get all these products to review? Often it is from the manufacturer. And guess what? The more successful who have created a niche as 'experts' in a product sector, or built a personal following on YouTube are paid to do so by the manufacture. Nothing wrong in that, but the Advertising Standards Authority has now issued guidelines so that advertising vlogs can be identified as advertorial content.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Bringing print to life ... using augmented reality

The promise of seeing 'this magazine come alive on your iPhone' only served to disappoint.

I had dispatched QR codes to the trash can a while ago as yet another great technology that was for a while seen as a way to connect the printed page to the online world. But somehow, despite a rash of checkered squares appearing all over advertisements for a while, the subsequent experience failed to excite. At best the link opened a relevant video or web site landing page which was fine if you wanted to discover more about the subject of the original advertisement. But when QR  codes started appearing on bus sides and across the tracks at tube stations, the chore, even danger, of pointing the iPhone at them soon over rode any interest in viewing the content.

Then, the other day through the letter box arrived a local magazine with the invitation to "See this magazine come alive on your phone or iPad " splashed on the cover.  Inside the publication the contents page carried a lead story under the heading of " Our new interactive magazine bringing print to life ... using augmented reality." A tag line proclaimed "Augmented reality connects the online and offline worlds." Page footers  included a 'layar' logo imploring to be scanned. It sounded exciting, maybe someone had figured out how to make QR codes relevant. But hold on. What was the magazine about and what was the reality that was about to be augmented? The 20 page A4 publication devoted half a page to a 'Welcome' from the managing director (not an editor) of the publication,  further half pages to 'Contents', a brief article about the town's coat of arms, a page announcing local events (many already long gone) an article about red haired people and the rest advertisements for local trades and shops. Not too promising content to come alive thanks to augmented reality then. There are at least two other magazines of the same local advertising - typically 85% ads to 15% editorial - which have recently appeared.

At a barbecue last weekend friends of ours who run businesses locally talked about advertising and how local advertising had brought them no enquiries at all. So are these local magazines merely a means of getting local businesses to part with money?

Oh and the augmented reality? A message saying "No content found for this scan" appeared to be he only result.

Wednesday, August 05, 2015

A word about word of mouth recommendations

Word of mouth recommendations are usually highly trusted, so why are more companies not using this communications vehicle?

Someone once remarked that it was a pity that all the most eloquent politicians were busy driving taxi cabs or cutting hair. To those categories you might add plumbers. In my previous blog I drew attention to the surge in one man businesses, companies without other employees. Plumbers are right in there and as with other skilled trades you can learn some interesting things. For a start, they don't come with an apprentice any more. They have scaled back on the size of van they drive, rather than carry lots of spares they use a local stockist as required, just popping in for even the smallest item. When it came to marketing, this plumber had a web site acting more as a testimonial, stressing his experience, but not offering an email. The preference for telephone contact was partly to avoid requests for 'free' quotations which experience showed were often time wasting. He was not aiming to be the lowest priced in town. He also advocated an industry wide adoption of charging for quotes, refundable on acceptance. He had zero expectation of this ever happening of course.

Interesting too his lack of enthusiasm for trades approved web sites which are investing heavily in brand building on TV to act as a portal of preference to people searching for a plumber, heating engineer, electrician etc. Although these trades portal type sites showed up on page 1 of the search, as a customer somehow I wasn't convinced. Instead I  searched for local guys who seemed to concentrate on the work I  needed doing rather than offer a wide range of additional services.

Know what? I  picked out the few likely prospects and asked if anyone knew them. They did. It is not just about price - it is all the service related factors including advice, quality of work and guarantees.