fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
We’re looking for an Investor!
By: Felix Capital
Tags: Tech, Consumer, Hiring, Brands, VC

Please apply using this link

We’re looking for a highly motivated and talented individual to join the Felix team. You should have demonstrated a passion for digital, entrepreneurship and for the lifestyle segments we focus on, and show potential to fully immerse yourself into the start-up ecosystem. We’re a small team at Felix, be ready to get your hands dirty!

You will

Work directly with the team to source, evaluate and manage deals and projects

Monitor, track and build relationships with founders, operators and start-ups relevant to our themes and be proactive with deep dives, sector mapping and network building; Be a star in deal sourcing & screening, be curious and creative

Build expertise in themes of interest within digital lifestyle sectors (e.g. digital brands, marketplaces, well-being, SaaS for retail or marketing, eCommerce technologies,…) and build your own investments theses

Manage part of the investment process (financial and commercial due diligence, terms negotiations, oversight of legal workflow)

Work with and support our portfolio companies, including on boards

Represent Felix Capital at industry events and in the tech/consumer community (both offline and online)

Be ready to travel a lot and make connections with founders and early-stage/seed investors

Come up with great productivity suggestions/tools in order to do things better and more efficiently

Qualifications

Graduated from a top tier university

Significant exposure to digital, for instance, within a start-up, leading tech company, management consultancy or investment bank

Investment experience and/or operator role in a start-up or digital businesses will definitely be a big plus in our selection process

A multicultural background and mindset: you have explored the world and ideally speak several languages

Ideally some form of entrepreneurial experience, not necessarily for profit

An ability to build and maintain good relationships with people

Curiosity, passion, a lot of energy, ambition and a great sense of humor (or at least one we can understand)

If you join us we aim to provide you with

Amazing learning opportunities as a key member of our investment team

A passion for our target segments in digital lifestyle, for the consumer sector and for entrepreneurship in general

A wide-angle view of the digital lifestyle industry with many concepts, a lot of pitches and real data points on how start-ups perform

Coaching on our investment style, i.e. conviction-led, humble, hard-working and aligned with entrepreneurs, as outlined in our Manifesto

A great network, across Europe and the US

Exposure to our Portfolio and our Advisor group

Please apply using this link
Understanding Consumer Behaviour And Motivations
Tags: Marketing, Consumer, Ecommerce, Social Commerce

If you want to succeed as an online seller or an entrepreneur, you’ll need to understand why consumers behave they way they do. And, ultimately, what motivates them to buy.

The key to reaching and engaging with your prospects and customers is to understand the decision making process behind their purchase habits. Once you have a clearer idea, it’ll be much easier to persuade them to buy from you (instead of your competitors).

It’s also important to ensure your marketing campaign doesn’t go to waste, and help to inform the right direction on who to target, what messaging to send out, and how to design your visuals for your marketing activity. A successful marketing campaign will depend a lot on how well you can influence consumers and their buying behaviour.

The psychological factors that motivates consumers to make a purchase

According to the legendary marketing guru Philip Kotler, consumer behaviour is “the buying behaviour of final consumers, those individuals and households who buy goods and services for personal consumption.”

There’s no simple black and white guide as to how and what motivates a consumer to buy, but there are a number of key factors that are seen as primary drivers that influences their decision making process. These factors can persuade them to buy Product A as opposed to Product B, or exit Webstore C to enter Webstore D.

Here are 3 main psychological factors behind consumer behaviour:

Motivation

What we buy is very much influenced by our motivation and goals in life depending where we are on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Perception

Individuals all have a different perception of the world, which is unique to them. Some people feel that the world is a negative place and others feel it is full of optimism. This affects what people buy and their reaction to products. Attitudes

Attitudes lead people to behave in a fairly consistent way towards thoughts, feelings and tendencies. If you are old fashioned or conservative in your attitudes then this will affect what you buy, wear or think across the board.

If you’re a new online seller, it might take time for you to understand the consumer behaviour in your industry. Be patient and observant, and it’ll be well worth the wait. Creating consumer surveys and posting it on your Facebook page or inserting in your email blast are easy ways to collect valuable data about their behaviour.

You can ask for feedback on your products or webstore, their favourite hobbies, how they spend their time, their income level, where they live, and so many more questions that can give you a better idea of who they are and what are the motivating factors behind their purchasing decision making process.
Consumer product startup? Interested in partnering? Maybe you need more Parsnip
By: Rick Turoczy
Tags: Startup, Consumer, Partnerships, Entrepreneurship, Product

As a startup, you have to make best use of your time — your most limited and valuable resource. And when you’re making products that require partners to make it into the hands of your customers, you’re even more strapped for time. Like consumer products. That needs often needs shelves or marketplaces to get in front of their consumers. That’s why companies like Parsnip are super interesting.

Parsnip is a SF-based startup that was started by two food and beverage entrepreneurs, Erin Lenhardt and Sally Rogers, who believe that every business can be better built with partners. Their partnership marketing tool connects brand with other brands, events, influencers, and agencies. Parsnip members work together to grow their audiences and drive revenues by working collaboratively. Why build business alone when you could do it together?

Sound interesting? Well, Parsnip will be in town, next week. And they’ve partnered — of course, on brand — with Portland’s B-Line to put together an event the evening of February 5, 2019. The cost to attend is $15.

For more information or to RSVP, visit Parsnip IRL x B-Line PDX: The Portland Edition.
Aprils Fools’: 5 Lies the Airlines Tell You
By: Skycop
Tags: Weather, Consumer, Airlines, Aviation, Lies

April Fools’ is upon us! Yes, it’s the time to try and trick your friends, co-workers and countrymen. Can you tell a fib with the best of them? And by “best of them,” we mean airlines. Here are some of the ways they keep lying to you — and not only on April 1st!

5. The Fees Are All Optional

You, being the rational sort of person, assume that you shouldn’t pay more for a flight than the price of the ticket. But here’s where ancillary revenue comes in. The phrase covers all the payments that are above the price of the ticket, and that covers food, check-in bags, and more. It’s a rising scheme of revenue generation with the airlines, and, as such, many of the things you take for granted become these “optional” fees. Can you afford NOT to pay them?

4. The Flight Was Delayed Due To Weather

What can make your flight delayed or cancelled? Why, many things! However, not all of them are covered under the law that sets out the guidelines for flight disruption compensation. And you know what? Weather is one of the factors ruled to be exceptional circumstances by Regulation (EC) 261/2004. So if you tell your passengers that the flight was disrupted the weather, they might not claim compensation. And that’s why we check if the weather was really the culprit when working with claims.

3. Your Family Is Special To Us

No company in the world will allow itself to imply that families are anything but the best. The airlines would like you to believe that they think that way. However, they’re very quick to profit from how special your family is… to you. For example, Ryanair is known for charging you for the privilege to sit together with your family. Not very family-friendly of them, isn’t it?

2. Airline X Has The Lowest Prices

A business claiming that it has the lowest prices around is a time honored tactic. However, in this day and age, it’s a lot more advanced. We have already mentioned ancillary revenue, which doesn’t count as the price of the ticket. And the airlines have entire departments of lawyers to draft their own asterisk-marked definitions of lowest prices that go on for days. What is a poor consumer to do?

1. We Know You Have A Choice Of Airlines

Europe hosts so many low-cost airlines that it’s a dog-eat-dog world of ruthless competition that leaves a few carriers dead every year (RIP WOW Air). And even then, the passengers don’t always have a choice if they’re travelling to destinations other than major airports. Otherwise, we could have more choice in not flying with airlines that saddle us with flight delays and cancellations. It’s worse in the US, though, with 85% of all domestic routes controlled by 4 large airlines. Whoops!

Read more at Skycop
Dangers of booking flights with Flugladen.de / Travix Nederland B.V.
Tags: Travel, Consumer

The article aims to provide important information with regard to the dangers of booking flights with Flugladen.de, which belongs to Travix Nederland B.V.. This travel agency entrusted to make flight bookings provides a very bad service to the travellers who used their services. Let us see here some of the common concerns of travellers who suffered due to the irresponsible behavior and poor services of Flugaden.de.

One of the common complaints of majority of travellers who used the services of this flight booking travel agency is that they simply don’t pick up the phone to answer the queries of the callers. Not even on the emergency hotline, which is supposed to give quick, reliable support to those who need it most.

Moreover, they rarely answer emails of the travellers who want to get important information with regard to their flights. Four days before departure they ask customers to call the hotline for any changes, which simply doesn’t work. Some customers also complained that they had to wait in queues and pay double amount when there was a mistake in the name of their daughter/son written on the ticket. The result is that customers suffer a lot due to the horrible services and lackluster attitude of this agency’s staff.

As experienced travelers, we suggest German, Dutch and other customers to book their flights directly with the airline. In case of any changes this will make their live much easier and decrease their cost drastically.
‘Wonder Woman 1984’ will be HBO Max’s first 4K title
Tags: Consumer, Tvs, Chromecast

When we first heard that the new Wonder Woman movie would arrive Christmas Day both on HBO Max and in theaters, our excitement was tinged with disappointment. Why? Because HBO Max is one of the only major streaming video services that doesn’t support 4K playback.



Well, get ready to be happy, because it turns out that those of us watching Wonder Woman 1984 at home will get to stream it in 4K after all.



Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins announced on Twitter that the long-delayed Wonder Woman 1984 will arrive on HBO Max as the service’s first 4K HDR title, complete with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Dolby Atmos support.



[ Further reading: Amazon Prime Video vs Hulu vs Netflix ]HBO Max subscribers will be able to stream the movie in 4K on such devices and set-top boxes as Apple TV 4K, Amazon’s Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Cube and 4K Fire TV Edition smart TVs, Google’s Chromecast Ultra, AT&T TV, and supported Android TV devices, according to a WarnerMedia press release.



Wonder Woman 1984 will be available to all HBO Max users starting on December 25, and unlike some other Hollywood tentpoles that debuted early online—we’re looking at you, Mulan—viewers won’t have to cough up an extra fee. An HBO Max subscription costs $15 a month.



While Wonder Woman 1984 will be the first 4K title to stream on HBO Max, it won’t be the last. WarnerMedia promises to “expand these capabilities to further films and TV series” next year. No word on which HBO Max shows will get the 4K treatment first, although hopefully Game of Thrones (and particularly that infamous “too dark” episode) will be near the top of the list.



The streaming home of popular HBO shows such as Game of Thrones, Big Little Lies, The Sopranos, Euphoria, Lovecraft County, Watchmen, and Last Week Tonight, as well as such syndicated shows as Friends and The Big Bang Theory, HBO Max first launched back in May.



While the streaming service arrived with an impressive arsenal of TV shows and movies, it conspicuously lacked 4K HDR support. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ already offer 4K HDR streaming. Hulu also supports 4K, but not HDR.



HBO Max has also been slow to land on various streaming platforms, with the service only debuting on Amazon Fire TV devices last month following months of tense negotiations between Amazon and WarnerMedia.



HBO Max still isn’t available on Roku, although you can cast HBO Max videos onto Roku devices via AirPlay.



Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
SBI Cards Q3 update — An analysis
By: Dinesh Vernekar
Tags: Sbi Cards, Credit Cards, Consumer, Lending, Credit Score

The company is back from the de-growth of the lockdown to consistent growth in cards. Though risk stays a concern

SBI cards Q3 report is out! As one of the companies i closely follow, here’s the quick summary. With some graphs on growth.

Here’s how the outstanding cards have grown in the last 10 months. The number of accounts has steadily grown with about 140k average accounts added each month including churn in the last 5 months. Though this depends on the accuracy of their reported data.

Outstanding cards. Data: RBI

The net cards added have also steadily grown. Sept was especially good with 185k accounts net added. They added about 146k cards in Nov. This is from the lows of April 20, when they lost 48k cards.

Net cards added. Deduced from RBI outstanding data.

Net profit dipped 52% to Rs. 210 crore. In the previous year during this period, their profit was at Rs. 435 crore

It’s income grew marginally to Rs. 2540 crore against Rs. 2563 crore during the same period last year

It’s provisions were increased to Rs. 1113 crore as against Rs. 758 crore the last time. A 44% increase in provisions.

Gross NPAs stood at 1.61% and net NPAs stood at .56%. However if they had classified accounts this number would go up to 4.51% and 1.58%

Interest income fell to Rs. 1168 crore from Rs. 1282 crore. But fees income rose to Rs.1107 crore from Rs.1081 crore.

Very interest stats — the company says their active cards grew 15% to 1.15 cr. As per the RBI site for data updated in Nov, SBI cards currently has 11295428 outstanding cards.

The next quarter’s report will be interesting as we will find out the full impact of the moratorium and if higher provisioning will be further required. The company will hopefully also classify accounts.

I hope you found the analysis useful. I’m a product builder currently re-defining credit in India. If you’re interested to work with us, please DM me here or on Twitter. I love all things consumer — fintech, social, video and music. You can follow me on Twitter or Linkedin.
Packaging Procurement in COVID-19
By: Supratik D Hajare
Tags: Procurement, Packaging, Consumer, Covid 19, E Commerce Business

Many CPG companies’ challenges in the uncertain COVID times are related to capacities at their factories to meet the current demand. The unexpected surge in demand in the consumer goods sector has resulted in additional stress in the supply chain’s upstream end. This resultant stress has been passed further downstream to the suppliers, being asked to ramp up their production orders to meet the current demand. In certain niche product domains, such as bottle manufacturing, the suppliers cannot keep up with the surge of demand due to increased production line utilization rates, resulting in increased prices being levied to the brand owners.

Secondly, the increased capacity challenges at the factories and inflated demand come with labor issues, which have added another set of challenges to the production planning departments.

Lastly, to meet consumer demand, many companies have opted for dual sourcing strategies to secure the supply of materials needed for the end product. This strategy of adding new suppliers has led to additional quality checks to be performed on the expedition. In an ordinary world, the packaging engineers would perform various testing and validation and align the same with the quality department to comply with existing quality standards. These tests are performed in a methodical process-oriented way. However, due to the current situation, the process had to be ramped up to meet the current supply crises. While laterally ensuring the existing quality, standards are met while doing the required changes.

So, some of the key learnings for Procurement from the current COVID- times;
The state of B2C valuations
By: Sammy Abdullah
Tags: Startup, Consumer, Venture Capital, B2c

Social media’s slide has paused. The median revenue multiple is now 7.8x, up from 6.5x in December. While the revenue multiple is still strong, it’s down from a high of 14.7x in November 2017. Snapchat has also taken a major dive falling from 40x in Q4 2016 to 9.6x today. Note that by revenue, Facebook is 17x to 50x larger than it’s peers Snapchat and Twitter.

Marketplaces. The revenue multiple for marketplaces fell to 2.4x. The 14 companies in this data set are diverse, but on median generate $849mm in revenue with 14% YOY growth and positive EBITDA ($91mm) and cash flow ($79mm). Note the multiple is on net revenue, not GMV. Also, the latest addition, EventBrite, trades at 7.2x while the super premiums of the group Etsy and Grubhub, trade at 11.3x and 8.4x respectively.

Ad Based. There are only 3 public ad based businesses in our data set, and 1 of them (Pandora) is trying very hard to become a subscription business. This space trades at 2.5x revenue but the range is broad, from 1.5x to 4.8x. Ad spend is the first to go when companies fear a recession, but Google trades at 4.8x revenue and has a much healthier profile than Yelp and Pandora.

Subscription. Subscription has been humbled from earlier in the year, and now trades at 6.1x revenue. Netflix and Match’s revenue multiple continue to be the outperformers at 9.9x and 10.1x respectively, because their customers are so sticky. We also recently added Sirius/XM to the data set which trades at 6.1x. Spotify is trading at a healthy 3.4x. Overall the space is growing nicely at 33% YOY.

Gaming isnt’ growing. With all the hype around esports, the big public gaming companies are not growing, with median YOY growth of only 3%. Their median revenue multiple of 4.8x is strong. It’s a bit perplexing to us as the sector’s YOY growth is only 3%, although median revenue is material at $3.5bln and EBITDA is very strong at $847mm.

Ecommerce is soft. The sector is the least attractive to investors, with a median revenue multiple of 1.5x. There is a big difference between what we would call premium ecommerce like Alibaba and Amazon (9.0x and 3.4x), versus soft ecommerce like Blue Apron (0.5x revenue). Median revenue of the space is $1.5bln with 17% YOY growth.

Payments. We only have two companies to look at in payments so we try not to draw generalizations about the space. We are glad to hear Stripe is considering an IPO so we’ll have another data point shortly.

Hardware is consistent. ­Hardware is steady at 2.8x. Roku is the standout of the group (8.4x) followed by Garmin (3.7x). Apple has been punished as of late (down to 3.2x from a high of 4.2x) The space isn’t growing and EBITDA margins are razor thin: revenue is $1.3bln on median with only $53mm of EBITDA. Sonos, the newest addition to the space is actually trading at a lower revenue multiple than the group at only 0.8x.

Visit us at blossomstreetventures.com.
How Much More are Consumers Willing to Pay for Sustainable Products?
By: Caterina Sullivan
Tags: Sustainability, Business Development, Consumers, Business, Business Strategy

Decisions made by businesses are often led by consumer demands.

In a recent study by Nucleus Research, findings show that consumers are willing to spend 6% more for products from companies which have sustainability commitments and programs in place.

Alongside these findings, the research showed that consumers were 64% more likely to recommend companies with sustainable practices to friends and were 63% more likely to try new products from these companies.

As more and more companies begin engaging in sustainability practices in order to gain this competitive advantage and align with changing consumer demands, the quality of these commitments as well as the marketability of these commitments is crucial.

In some industries, sustainable practices are the standard, so it then comes down to the quality of these practices, the extra lengths some companies may go to when it comes to economic, social and environmental sustainability as well as how well these commitments and practices are marketed.

For many consumers, the prioritising of sustainability above cost shows a commitment to the community. This affinity with the sense of belonging suggests to business that their marketing around sustainability should be centred around building a community of buyers.

For instance, in buying from a certain brand, the consumer will join a community of like-minded people who are passionate about creating a sustainable future.

Being able to create these kind of purchasing environments for consumers makes and increase in the dollar-value of a product seem negligible.

However, it is important to point out that a sustainably-sourced and -produced product does not necessarily mean a more expensive product. While the use of ethical resources can at times come with a higher price, especially when it comes to employing workers at a fair wage instead of a wage which is less than a living wage, there are some practices in sustainability which can actually save the cost of production. These include practices such as the use of solar energy and LED lights.

As an increasing number of consumers become not only more aware of the need to play their role in sustainable purchasing decisions but are actively paying an average of 6% more to do so, businesses need to take this journey also.

For more information about creating a sustainability commitment for your business, contact us today!

This article was originally published on the Strategic Sustainability Consultants website.
PINTEREST FOR CPG | CONSUMER PACKAGED GOODS COMPANIES
By: Jeremy Tillman
Tags: Pinterest, Consumer, Pinterest Marketing, Cpg

As a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company, having a Pinterest account and supporting Pinterest on your website can be very beneficial. Not only does Pinterest allow you to post fun and engaging content, it also allows you to promote products and sales. It allows more people to find and engage with your brand. With a user base of over 10 million people and the average usage time being more than an hour per day, a Pinterest account has the ability to open doors for a company that relies on consumer participation. Pinterest for CPG marketing can be very effective…if done correctly.

Promote sharing on Pinterest

To promote consumer interest in your Pinterest account, keep the content of your account dynamic and engaging. Many have found success sharing around 40% inspirational pictures, another 40% informative content, and the rest business related. Pinterest gets the second largest number of clicks through shopping sessions out of all social media websites, so engagement from these pictures can be very valuable.

Apart from having a Pinterest account, make your website Pinterest friendly, by adding the Pin It button for every picture you post on your website or blog. Additionally, you can expand Pinterest coverage of your website, by including a button to share on Pinterest. Link your Pinterest account to you website or blog by adding a picture on your Pinterest account that leads to your website every time you make a new post or update.

Establish yourself as an expert

As any company, you would want to project yourself as a professional and an expert in your industry. Being on top of a Google search has these benefits and Pinterest can help. Incorporate keywords into your pinboard as well as picture titles and add keyword-rich descriptions. Accompany your keywords with hashtags so that your customers can easily find what they are looking for.

The Pinterest Demographic

When considering Pinterest for CPG companies, demographics are a crucial consideration. Pinterest is mostly composed of young adults, between 18 and 30 years of age, the large majority of which are females. With 82% of Pinterest users being women, the engagement of these users can be key for a CPG company.

For more tips and best practices on Pinterest for CPG, contact the social media experts at Dapper Goat today!
.NET Core 3.1 Web Consumer -IIS (RabbitMQ)
By: Ergin Çelik
Tags: Hosted Services, Rabbitmq, Consumer, Net Core

.NET Core 3.1 Web Consumer -IIS (RabbitMQ)

In this Article

You can find rabbitMQ consumer service as a web application net core 3.1. You can deploy to ISS, It will run like a windows service and you can see everything in the dashboard or you can create some additional page. There is the only consumer service not pushing a message to a queue

If you want to build a web app like a windows service you’re in the right place. This project is a consumer for RabbitMQ in .Net Core 3.1 Web Application. RabbitMQ.Client 6.0.

Getting Started

Create an empty web application. You can create MVC or angular or web API, we need a web application.

ASP.NET Core Web Application

Create ConsumerService class (in a new project) you can find whole code in this link.

public class ConsumerService : BackgroundService

{ }

ConsumerService is in Service Project

Add ConsumerService to Startup

services.AddHostedService<ConsumerService>();

Startup in the Web Project

Create web.config file

web.config file

You don’t have to add web.config file but you need to add application initialization configuration and an easy way is that or you can do it in IIS. I added to the web config file because IIS is difficult for this configuration. If you want you can try.

Web App Configuration Editor

This code allows sending the first request when the server is just turned on. You don’t have to browse your website but you need to add InitPage for the first request.

<applicationInitialization

remapManagedRequestsTo="InitPage" skipManagedModules="true">

<add initializationPage="/InitPage" />

</applicationInitialization>

Web App needs to work always, and this configuration it for it. This App will run like windows service, IIS configuration is important for this.

Needs some IIS configuration

Go to Application Pools, in Advanced Settings

.Net CLR Version = 4.0 (don’t use No Managed Code)

Start Mode = AlwaysRunning

Idle Time-out = 0

Advanced Settings in Application Pool

Go to Web App Advanced Settings

Advanced Settings in the Web App

Turn Windows features on (Application Initialization)
An Interview with the Founder & CEO of Better Booch, Trey Lockerbie
By: Assembled Brands
Tags: Branding, Beverage, Consumer, Kombucha, Brands

What was the driving force behind starting Better Booch?

My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 24, having no gene or history in the family. This came as quite a surprise and my entire family proceeded to reevaluate our environment, diet, and lifestyle.

My wife and I were touring musicians at the time and decided that we would prefer a healthier lifestyle, with more control over how (and where!) we spend our time. The search for a healthier diet led me to Kombucha.

After being underwhelmed with the commercial offerings at the time, we proceeded to brew at home. When we discovered that our Kombucha was superlative, we wanted to share it with as many people as possible.

Better Booch was born!

What have you found to be most rewarding in launching a brand?

I have learned that you should begin with the end in mind.

Knowing whether or not you want to eventually sell your company, for example, helps make determinations about raising capital a lot easier.

Biggest pain points have typically come from scaling production or being underfunded. We bootstrapped for over 7 years and I’m so proud of what we have built. Having a great team, who believe in the product and mission, is the most rewarding part.

What are the software tools you can’t live without?

Google Sheets has been pivotal for us.

We’ve built a completely customized ERP system on it. The fact that its free, can be accessed from anywhere, and that the sheets can connect to each other, is what makes it so great for a startup.

We’re now outgrowing it and moving to an established ERP software, but it has gotten us through the last 8 years.

What macro trend is Better Booch riding?

Better Booch is benefiting from the trend to lower sugar beverages that provide extra functionality.

Everyone is looking for the most value for their buck, so having a beverage that gives you health benefits, as well as great drinking experience, is a secular trend in our mind.

What companies in the F&B ecosystem do you look up to?

The brands we look up to the most would be Firestone Walker, simply for their quality of product. Similarly, we love Stumptown and Golden Road Brewing.

I think all of these brands bring a fun, playful element to their marketing and we aspire to do the same.
Mobile Subs: Unit Economics 101
By: Nicolas Wittenborn
Tags: Consumer, Mobile, VC, Software, Investing

Some additional context:

Apple and Google currently take a 30% cut for subscriptions in the 1st year and 15% beyond. Web cut refers to stripe fees of ca 3% for web signups. While most mobile sub ventures don’t start with web signups, they are in fact one of the most effective levers to significantly increase LTV. The % of organic subscribers shows us how dependent we are on marketing. We want to look at LTV/pCAC as well, to avoid unsustainable growth (or paid marketing addiction) from day 1.

I decided to use the more conservative 3-year LTV in this example, as it usually takes a while to get a good grip on 5-year LTV or longer. As the company matures, it naturally makes sense to get a more granular grip on these numbers to steer marketing more effectively. But for the beginning, it is good to be conservative and assume a 3 Year LTV in my experience.

It would be recommendable to do a similar exercise for monthly and quarterly plans vs mixing them into annual as averages, as the user behavior is typically so different from the annual plans. Let me know if you have any other Qs by leaving comments in the Google Sheet!
Brand experiences matter — The story of my experience at a Maldives resort
By: Isha Agarwal
Tags: Branding, Customer Experience, Consumer, Experience, Customer Service

Brand experiences matter — The story of my experience at a Maldives resort Isha Agarwal Mar 8·2 min read

They say that brand experiences build the image of a brand. We know that a good experience at every touch point leads to a positive brand image, but it is interesting to note that an overall experience score is not an average of the experience at every touchpoint. This shows that it is extremely important to remove any negative experience the consumer might have in his brand journey.

My resort in Maldives

Back in 2017, when we were allowed to vacation at any part of the world, I visited Maldives. The moment we got the keys to our rooms, we were made to wear a green colour band — this band signified to the staff the set of priveleges I was eligible for. My band gave me unlimited walk in access to juice counters on every resort beach plus an access to live counters during breakfast. I chose these priveleges during my booking.

During my stay of 4 days, not once was I asked by any staff about my room number or anything regarding my access. If they did, it would have definitely interrupted the magical ocean experience that the resort gave. Overall I had a wonderful experience that culminated into a 5 star review on Trip advisor for them. So in a way, the positive experience turned into a positive brand image for me as a consumer, and even changed me into an evangelist.

Compare this to some 5 star hotels that we go to — everytime I enter the breakfast buffet, a manager scrutinizes my movement and asks me my room number before I have a chance to even pick up the plate. His question screams to me -”Prove your worth!”. Surely an unpleasant experience for someone who paid a substantial amount and has an expectation of being treated in a priveleged manner.

A stark difference in the treatment of your consumer!

This shows how small tweaks can completely change the experience you give to a consumer to ultimately influence your brand image.
COVID-19 Vaccine Impact on Scented Candles Market Size To Reach $545.2 Million By 2025
By: Rajesh Varma
Tags: Consumer, Global, Covid 19, Candles, Scented Candles

COVID-19 Vaccine Impact on Scented Candles Market Size To Reach $545.2 Million By 2025 Rajesh Varma Follow Jun 16 · 3 min read

Scented Candles Market Growth & Trends

The global scented candles market size is expected to reach USD 545.2 million by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 8.4%, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Shifting traction towards various therapeutic procedures including aromatherapy, massage, and spa in order to relax human’s body is expected to expand the market and scope for scented candles. Additionally, organically prepared scented candles to play a unique role in aromatherapy as they act as diffusers for fragrances, which can be inhaled easily by consumers.

The utilization of these candles in aromatherapy results in providing various benefits such as improving sleep, soothing sore joints, treatment of headaches and migraines, fighting bacterial infection, improving digestion, and boosting immunity. According to a research published in November 2016, in Pain Research and Treatment on “The Effectiveness of Aromatherapy in Reducing Pain”, it was found that the therapeutic procedure had a significant beneficial effect in combating pain. Such research studies are expected to play a key role in promoting the application of various therapeutic procedures and thus, in turn, will expand the market for scented candles over the next few years.

Product innovation is expected to remain a critical success factor over the next few years. In September 2019, iheartpopcandles launched the “McDreamy” candle inspired by a fictional neurosurgeon on Grey’s Anatomy, Dr. Derek Shepherd. The candle is being sold on Etsy for USD 20 and is expected to have a fragrance resembling a mix of sea and salt. In the same month, another manufacturer, Poundland launched three new cocktail-inspired scented candles, such as Rhubarb and Ginger, Bellini Surprise, and Prosecco Fizz.

In September 2019, Yankee Candle Company launched a candle range designed for any new parents of a newborn. The range is available in varieties of colors and emblazoned with different colored balloons expressing the gender of the baby. The larger jar is available for GBP 27.9 and the smaller jar is available for GBP 17.9. Available fragrances include clean cotton, soft blanket, cherry blossom, fluffy towels, and warm cashmere.

Request a free sample copy or view report summary:

Scented Candles Market Report

Scented Candles Market Report Highlights
E-commerce marketing of today and tomorrow
By: Alex Borzo
Tags: Dropshipping, Ecommerce, Digital Marketing, Consumer, Podcast

The marketing channels you “own”

Anyone who’s learned anything about marketing is familiar with the idea of marketing channels you “own” versus those you don’t. Channels you own refers to those where you retain control over what’s sent, when, and in what format.

For example, email marketing gives you every flexibility of true “ownership.” If you use a platform like Mailchimp or Constant Contact, you might be limited in certain formatting options if you use a template. However, the channel is the email itself, not the platform you use to craft it.

If you wanted to, you could send contacts HTML-powered, uniquely programmed email content any time you want. Even if MailChimp or Constant Contact go out of business or change their models, you control the channel because you can still send emails to your leads and clients.

Channels like e-marketplaces and social networks, in contrast, are channels you don’t own. If they go out of business, you lose that channel of contact and even the history of data and content you loaded there.

This is the key reason why Ben points to e-mail and text marketing as the go-to channels that all brands need to include in their marketing strategies.

“Unless you’re getting 20% or more of your sales from email and text marketing,” Ben says, “you’re missing an opportunity.”

Email open rates today across industries average 36%, and 91% of consumers check their e-mail at least once a day. That’s a lot of eyes on your message.

The trick, of course, is getting consumers to opt-in. Ben says that getting users interested enough in what you’re saying that they’ll click “subscribe” is the name of the game in e-commerce marketing.

For that, Ben points to today’s consumer expectations.
Almost Anything: Launching Search!
Tags: Startup, Apps, Tech, Consumer, Chat

Building a place for all types of Creators and Communities

Find your Bunch now on Bunches Discover!

Today, we’re excited to launch Search on Bunches Discover!

A lot of the questions we get around Bunches are about why we’ve chosen to build an app that serves all types of Creators.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just go for fitness influencers? Gamers? Personal shoppers?

The answer to that question is that yes, it probably would.

Search for any Bunch now on Discover!

But we see a world where Bunches is your hub for all of the Creators and communities you’re a part of. Where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and the communities and people you love all can interact with each other in novel ways. (More on this coming soon!)

Building Search into Bunches is the first step on our road to building one of the best discovery engines for Creators and communities, with so much more to come.

Discover new Creators and Communities easily!

We’re beyond excited to have you Discover Bunches, so hop on the app and start searching for your next favorite Creator or community.

We love you Bunches,

The Bunches Team
Why we invested in arive
By: Shikha Ahluwalia
Tags: Consumer, Balderton, Technology, Munich, Instant Delivery

We at Balderton are delighted to announce our investment in arive, backing two exceptional, free-spirited founders and Co-CEOs Max and Linus. arive is pioneering a new way for consumers to access the brands and products they love with near-instant delivery in select cities across Germany. Let everything you love arive.

Over the past 10 years, we at Balderton have seen a generation of consumer e-commerce success stories such as Depop and THG. Depop demonstrated that the connection between consumers and brands can become more intimate online, and THG demonstrated the importance of fulfilment execution. arive has both.

arive founders Linus and Max

We have always wondered what the next generation of internet-enabled consumption might look like. arive is a logistical play, but it’s also much more than that: it’s a home to lifestyle brands with a carefully curated assortment of lifestyle products that arrive at your doorstep in 30 minutes. Themselves late Millennials and Gen-Zs, the founders alongside the core team have built a customer-loved assortment rapidly, ranging from Aesop liquid soaps to Izipizi Sunglasses, Ava & May Scented Candles, Apple Air Tags and much more. The founders have executed exceptionally well over the last quarter, aided by their relentlessly practical — and yes, scrappy and rapid — approach. The entire team at Balderton is incredibly excited to be backing Max and Linus in building the next-generation consumer champion.
Covid-19 Impact on Flip Flops Market Size To Reach $23.8 Billion By 2025
By: Rajesh Varma
Tags: Flip Flop Slippers, Flip Flops, Consumer, Manufacturers

Covid-19 Impact on Flip Flops Market Size To Reach $23.8 Billion By 2025 Rajesh Varma Follow May 7 · 2 min read

The global flip flops market size is expected to reach USD 23.8 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.2% from 2019 to 2025. The growth is driven by the rising demand for comfortable and fashionable flip flops across the globe due to their low prices and high durability.

Moreover, flip flops are extremely lightweight and can be carried easily, which is also boosting their demand across the globe. In addition, rising concerns about environmental pollution has driving the demand for eco-friendly products, thereby impelling manufacturers to develop sustainable products. This is also likely to have a positive impact on the market growth. For instance, in 2018, Allbirds, a startup company, launched new flip flops made from sugar cane.

Furthermore, companies in the flip flops market are focusing on increasing sustainability by donating some revenue share for environmental causes. For instance, Havaianas launched IPE collection and announced that it will be contributing 7% of the revenue generated from the collection to Environmental Research Institute that will develop projects to help reserve Atlantic Rainforest, Amazonia, and Pantanal. The online distribution channel is estimated to register the fastest CAGR from 2019 to 2025 on account of increasing usage of smartphone devices and internet.

Furthermore, availability of attractive designs and easy payment options and return policies offered by online portals are driving the segment growth. The offline distribution channel is estimated to account for the largest market share by 2025 owing to high product sales through these channels, particularly in low-income countries. Based on region, Asia Pacific is estimated to be the largest market. However, North America is projected to expand at the fastest CAGR during the forecast years.

To request a sample copy or view summary of this report, click the link below:

www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/flip-flops-market

Further key findings from the study suggest:
CONSUMING SHOULD PROMPT ACTION
By: Jaevonn Harris
Tags: Life Lessons, Anime, Music, Consumer, Producer

January 02, 2020

CONSUMING SHOULD PROMPT ACTION

Watch Here: https://www.netflix.com/watch/80994524?trackId=14170289&tctx=0%2C0%2C75c912c3-c609-4f81-bf37-5029b2e7ca53-76290860%2Cbea1f9ab-405b-4e17-9c76-b23f2269edb3_744433X3XX1578014618247%2Cbea1f9ab-405b-4e17-9c76-b23f2269edb3_ROOT

In this world of overachievers and plain old doers, sometimes being a consumer can get a bad rep. Even though it is consumers that allow businesses and especially entrepreneurs to thrive.

You often hear people debate about producer vs consumer. Consumption only becomes a problem if there is too much consuming without producing. Consuming should prompt action eventually.

Take for example, this weekend when I was watching Netflix’s Carole & Tuesday, an anime about two girls and their come up in the music industry. While watching the show I was so intrigued about the world building, characters, and the music.

While taking all that in, I was inspired to make new music that is directly influenced from the show. That’s what being a consumer is about. A person can’t be a producer without someone to consume the content (well they can but it would fall on deaf ears).

I didn’t just consume consume consume, I took something as pure entertainment and allowed it to naturally spark action for me to take.

Now I found a new fav show and made new music, that my listeners are sure to enjoy! (My new album, Gotta Love Where Ya At out Jan. 2020.)

Follow me on twitter @onlyonejaevonn

Visit gettothecorner.com
My Framework for Evaluating Early-Stage Consumer Companies
Tags: Startup, Framework, Tech, Consumer, Venture Capital

1. Why do people come?

What gets users on the platform? Can this be distilled down to a single sentence? Who is your (precise) customer, and what do they want?

Related: Is Your Product a Vitamin or Painkiller?

Also related: How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1,000 users

2. Why do people stay?

This question is all about user retention. In consumer businesses, frequency and time spent are key. What are the features or actions that receive the most user engagement? What are the switching costs? Is there lock-in?

When looking at cohort retention, is the absolute size of the cohort growing? How does behavior change as cohorts grow? Do cohorts stabilize, and if so, when? Do newer cohorts perform the same, better, or worse than older ones?

Related: What is good retention?

3. Why do people share?

Is there a propensity to share the product or platform via social media or word of mouth? A key concept here is virality, when a product spreads from one user to another through direct customer to customer contact.

4. Why do people pay?

Consumer businesses typically fall under one of three categories:

Marketplaces : facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers (think Airbnb, Stubhub, Hipcamp)

: facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers (think Airbnb, Stubhub, Hipcamp) Platforms: usually free UGC media/content platforms with indirect monetization (think Pinterest, Twitch)

usually free UGC media/content platforms with indirect monetization (think Pinterest, Twitch) Products & Services: consumers pay for something the company produces (think Peloton, Spotify)

How will economics change over time? What drives differentiation — price, service, brand? Is it sustainable and defensible?

Related: This podcast with Patrick OShaughnessy and Turner Novak that touches on monetization models for consumer social