Posts by: David Dalka

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B2B and B2C Ecommerce Trends Witnessed at Internet Retailer 2016

By David Dalka August 3, 2016

Adrienne Hartman, Director of Ecommerce & Customer Insights at J.J. Keller & Associates talked about how B2B Ecommerce cannot be solved only by software alone. (I agree with her) She also talked about using Google Manufacturing Center. She encourages you to ask, “How well can buyers use your site?” It is clear that her words come from an employee of an organization with a strong culture.

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Trends Observed at the 2016 International Home and Housewares Show

By David Dalka June 7, 2016

One of the most interesting booth visits I had was with Starfrit. Founder Jacques Gatien started selling kitchen gadgets at trade fairs in 1965. Over the past several decades, they’ve created many new categories. They showed me The Rock, a frying pan with a unique non-stick surface using what they call RockTec. It comes with a generous 10-year warranty.

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Trends in Automobiles and Auto Show Practices Seen at the Chicago Auto Show

By David Dalka March 4, 2016

I have noticed one car company breaking the rules of engagement at the Chicago Auto Show the past two years. Kia Motors America, Inc. has public relations people on hand like every car company at the show. They also had product mangement exectutives like Vice President, Product Planning Orth Hedrick and Manager, Long Range Strategy Steve Kosowski onsite. They stayed onsite for both press days – interacting with people and taking product feedback.

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New Washing Machine Marketplace Innovations and Warranties Driving Value Proposition Differentiation

By David Dalka February 4, 2016

Recent purchases have lasted less time than that in most cases. I wondered aloud whether using tools like Six Sigma for efficiency over and over have reached an inflection point where they destroy quality. Once you have perfected a product and focus on taking out costs, there is an opportunity cost. That opportunity cost usually results in a loss of quality.

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Why Steve Jobs’ Computer Paradigm Shift Prediction Panned Out, and What it Means for the Market

By David Dalka March 6, 2014

Traditional hard drive manufacturers are currently going through a paradigm shift—one where new solid-state hard drives, known as SSD, are taking market share and slowly eliminating traditional hard drives. SSD hard drives of one terabyte or more are slowly becoming affordable to the masses. What is the big deal you ask? Read onward.

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Channel Sales Growth Wisdom From the American Library Association’s 2013 Conference

By David Dalka August 2, 2013

How do publishers successfully market to librarians? David Dalka explores this issue from direct research and interactions at the 2013 American Library Association Conference.

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Is Amazon No Longer a Low-Price Ecommerce Leader?

By David Dalka April 30, 2013

There is a long-standing perception that dates back to the earliest days of the Internet that prices are always cheaper on the web at places like Amazon.com (AMZN).  Today though, this may be a myth.

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Is Your Board of Directors Considering the Right CEO Strategic Business Priorities?

By David Dalka February 4, 2013

Business guru Harvey Mackay stated, “The Japanese have a very simple way of describing the typical American marketing plan: READY? FIRE! AIM.” Sadly little has changed in American business. This is a major reason why the American economy is in constant crisis, and obsolete marketing departments built on late twentieth-century dogma now resemble the spending habits of Communist central planning: disconnected from reality, economically inefficient and lacking accountability to the right things.

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Gary Hamel on What Matters Now

By David Dalka July 2, 2012

Business strategist Gary Hamel discusses his new book, “What Matters Now.”

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Are You in Control of Business Strategy Drivers and Effective Decision Making?

By David Dalka April 1, 2012

Over the past few years, I discover more and more senior level executives who do not have a full grasp of primary business strategy drivers that drive revenue and profits. I’ve met with Chief Executive Officers (CEO) who just dismissed their Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and asked “Why did you remove this person and what change in business activities do you seek in your next CMO?” Amazingly most can’t answer this basic question with a well thought out and rational answer. Part of the problem starts here.

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