Nowadays the market is filled with so many different kinds of wine. But when a person wants to buy a bottle of wine, the problem arises which one to choose? Red, white or rose? Dry or sweet? Many people are confronted with these choices when they are looking for a good wine to drink while having a dinner or for other occasions. Furthermore, people do not have enough knowledge about wines and are overwhelmed by the amount of variety in the market.
The consumer faces many obstacles: Factors like time pressure, different points of purchase, social pressure and unclear information form a barrier for unskilled consumers: ‘wine seekers’ Other consumers which are more skilled, ‘wine lovers’, do not find it a Continue reading MyFavoriteWines.nl→
Nowadays international student mobility has increased rapidly. In the Netherlands, expats have significant problems that need to be dealt with when settling down. They encounter several challenges such as language, housing and administrative difficulties. In order to provide an efficient and good solution to help individuals, we came up with liveNL.com.
liveNL.com is a website which includes useful information and services for international students. Taking into consideration the key benefits of the consumption situation, and the opportunities in the current market we created a table analysis. This allowed us to scrutinize opportunities from which we may benefit from. We found needs that the current competition wasn’t serving. We also realized what our weaknesses are. This is of extreme Continue reading liveNL.com→
We took a closer look at the situation: shopping in a place with which the customer is unfamiliar. Individuals have problems with finding the desired shops, particularly because they have no clue where the shops are situated. They are possibly not even aware of the existence of locally known shops. Therefore we created the Where is my shop? app.
LocalizeMe was generated from our personal experience. The first days we came as students in the city of Rotterdam, we felt like typical tourists trying to find more about the city. Until the moment we came in interaction with local students and created friendships. At that moment, we started truly to explore the city of Rotterdam, to entertain like locals and to visit hidden places that we would not otherwise have noticed. Similar emotions occur when we visit old friends from different countries. We have a great travel experience because of the special friends who aid to integrate us immediately to the local community.
But the main question we have to ask is how many travelers they have an authentic and unique travel experience. Travelers are not anymore satisfied by just visiting touristic Continue reading LocalizeMe.com→
Many consumers have a closet filled with clothes they haven`t worn in years, but that are still in very good condition. We are so used to buying new clothes and throwing/giving Continue reading ShareWear→
Our idea for a new business is called: Apptivity, what are you app to?
It is a mobile application that offers a platform for searching, choosing and planning activities for consumers in the Netherlands. There are many types of activities like concerts, sports events, performances, gallery openings and so on. We had the bright idea to simplify the time consuming activity search. Continue reading Apptivity→
soleRebels is an amazing footwear company founded in 2004 by company founder and managing director Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu in her community of Zenabwork, Ethiopia! Continue reading soleRebels→
Nowadays, dating websites gain grounds and have a great impact in human relationships. Badoo.com is a free dating website active the last eight years with more than 170 million registered users worldwide. It is one of the most rapidly developing websites in its field. This dating website is available on laptops, mobiles and tablets and enables direct connection to the social media.
Many of you might remember Morgan Spurlock from the controversial film Super-Size Me, a movie directed, written and starred by him. The project consisted of a one month experiment, in which he had to eat 3 times a day just products from McDonald’s menu and Continue reading “The greatest movie ever sold”→
The article ‘welcome to the experience economy’ by J. Pine and J. Gilmore states: “as goods and services become commoditized, the customer experiences that companies create will matter most.
A good example of this is the Winter Efteling. The Efteling is a Dutch amusement park all focused on magic and fairytales. When the amusement park first opened it actually only had het sprookjesbos (the fairytale forest). They expanded it with roller coasters and fairytale themed attractions like the fata morgana. Right now it really is an amusement park for everyone, from children to adults. Continue reading Experiencing the Winter Efteling→
For years, people are discussing about the future of paper. Some say it will never disappear wile others predict that everything will be digital soon. My objective is not to choose a side in this discussion but to show an example of a digital magazine in the context of digital experiences. I have been subscribed to the KLM iFLY magazine for years Continue reading Discover the world→
Last week I was reading the article of Shah et al. (2006), The Path to Customer Centricity[1]. This article identifies fundamental issues and challenges that typically deter a firm from becoming customer-centric. However, Philips is a well-known company who executes a customer driven strategy already for a while, but is becoming more customer centric at the last decade.
According to Shah et al. the path to customer centricity is driven by a strong leadership Continue reading The path of Philips to customer centricity→
Most students and young professionals have experienced the problem of desiring a delicious home-cooked meal but not having the necessary time or skills to prepare it. That was something that might have been in Michalis Gkontas’s mind when he decided to introduce the idea of a collaborative consumption start-up which will connect people who wanted a home-cooked meal with amateur, but talented, cooks. It started as Gkontas’s master’s thesis, but quickly turned into a beta web app version. (1) Continue reading Collaborative consumption goes home-cooking: the Cookisto case→
More and more companies are trying to discover new ways of creating customer value through creative exploration. Digital technology is a significant tool to exploit those discoveries and enhance human experience. A great example is Augmented Reality (AR) which brings people closer to real world environment. It is a cutting-edge technology and creates a special user experience because it expands customer’s capability for sensing.
Active consumer engagement requires some effort. To attract the clients companies have to move from ‘product centric approach’ to a ‘customer centric approach’. In order to acquire the customer, companies must be attractive and reliable.
A good example is an American company ‘Warby Parker’ that sells boutique-quality prescription eyewear and sunglasses through their website, store and showrooms. Few days ago nominated as one of the most innovative companies in retail (according to Fast Company), ‘Warby Parker’ offers a unique concept of designing the eyewear and present it to customers.
De rising of the smartphone has offered a lot of benefits and opportunities for consumers. A smartphone makes it for example possible to pay with your phone, search on the internet and keep your social media up to date. These are just a couple of benefits of using a smartphone. Compared to the earlier mobile phones, the use of the smart phone have broadened and increased significantly. For that reason, a smart phone has a lot of benefits compared to using a ‘normal’ mobile phone.
On the other hand, the use of a normal mobile one has one big advantage, they don’t break that easy. Compared to a normal mobile phone, the screen of a smart phone is very fragile. When a smart phone falls on the ground, you better pray that the screen did not Continue reading Protection and design in one→
Mykea is a webshop which redesigns IKEA furniture by adding cool graphics covers. The founders of the company loved the well-designed IKEA furniture, but didn’t like the idea that it would look the same in every single living room. That is why they came up with the idea of customizing the furniture, to make it more beautiful, unique and personal. (1)
Consumer Value Creation 
