Atmosphere Inspires is our regular curation of news and views from the digital sphere; the lead stories that are affecting you and your business. In this edition we’re looking at the various ways in which growth is being driven forward by digital trends.
Apple has announced they will be acquiring digital magazine service Texture to exploit growing demand for instant content. Only last month Apple announced their best ever quarterly financial results, but there's clearly still a need to grow, diversify and exploit opportunities in this exciting and fast paced era. Digital developments are accelerating at an unprecedented speed, and the direction can change quickly (think iPod, once the killer halo product but in steady decline since 2008) so it's yet another positioning move for Apple .
Founded in 2014, Uber Eats expanded aggressively last year, particularly in the UK, and now the trend is set to continue across 100 new cities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2018. Interestingly, Uber Eats is already operating in locations where the ride sharing service doesn’t yet have a presence - a good example of where a second or third digital string to the bow can end up being an important and main source of business.
Cosmetic giant L’Oreal has announced it will acquire Canada’s Modiface, a virtual augmented reality company allowing consumers to “try” before they buy. The cosmetic industry is currently booming across social media, and recently L’Oreal committed to up their digital marketing spend to include a strategy to capitalise on social “influencers”. Previously these might have been celebrities, but the power now also sits with online influencers (think vloggers via YouTube and Instagram) who have hundreds of thousands of highly engaged followers and can heavily drive the marketing reach for a product.
French retail giant Carrefour continues their digitisation with the acquisition of a majority stake in Quitoque (which sells organic, seasonal online meal kits). Technology is having a huge impact on the food industry and is changing shopping habits and customer expectations. Demand for good quality, local food is growing, and digital developments, if harnessed in the right way, could help support local farmers. A good example of how technology can complement and support industries in perhaps unexpected ways.
Whilst it’s not a surprise that hybrid, diversified firms should have a higher value than those with traditional business models, it's good to see the theory backed up by research and facts. Evidently, to become a digital superpower, a typical firm must be blended between the four standard types of business (which are often still thought of individually): technology creator, asset builder, network orchestrator and service provider. Take a look and see where you think your business sits on the hybrid spectrum.
We’re pretty sure everyone heard the random creepy laugher story from Amazon’s Alexa: it's just one that sticks in your mind isn't it? Yet once it made the news, Amazon were pretty quick to respond with a resolution before too many customers got upset. Welcoming a digitalised companion into your household is an important consumer choice, so we’re guessing the speedy response meant that Amazon didn’t want too many Hal 9000 from 2001 Space Odyssey theories taking off.....
