If It's Hip, It's Here (Archives)

Do All Those Posts and Comments On Sites Really Affect Sales?

Below is part of an article from Trendwatching.com on what they've coined as Transparency Tyranny-the effect of online consumer reviews, habits and posts in regards to marketing and sales.

Really interesting. Read on....

Remember the promises of flawless matching of supply and demand, and limitless consumer power, when the web burst onto the scene a dozen years ago? While the last few years didn’t disappoint (consumers are already enjoying near-full transparency of prices and, in categories like travel and music, near-full transparency of opinions as well), 2007 could be the year in which TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY really starts scaring the shit out of non-performing brands.
Why? For one, 1+ billion consumers are now online, and the majority of them have been online for years. They're skilled bargain seekers and ‘best of the best’ hunters, they're avid online networkers and they're opinionated reviewers and advisors (tripadvisor.com now boasts 5,000,000+ travel reviews).

1+ billion consumers are now online and the majority of them have been online for years. They're skilled bargain seekers and ‘best of the best’ hunters, they're avid online networkers and they're opinionated reviewers and advisors. And there will no shortage of future contributors and viewers, especially with younger generations weighing in heavily; those that are born to the web, to whom contributing online is a given. Simply put: there will be many more consumers posting reviews, and they will increasingly consider them an integral part of their relationships with brands and businesses.
The non-competitive and the downright incompetent have very few stones left to hide under: never before have consumers’ purchase decisions been so strongly influenced by all kinds of transparency. In fact, TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY now rules:
"Old economy fog is clearing: no longer can incompetence, below-par performance, ignored global standards, anti-social & anti-eco behavior, or opaque pricing be obscured. In its place has come a transparent, fully informed marketplace, where producers have no excuse left to underperform. TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY for some, TRANSPARENCY TRIUMPH for others."

TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY | Facts and figures

Some numbers to convince those execs in your organization who still don’t see the TRANSPARENCY TYRANNY deluge coming…

80% of online shopping time is spent researching products rather than buying them. (TechCrunch)
71% of online shoppers read reviews, making it the most widely read consumer-generated content. (Forrester)
In a test of product conversion with and without product ratings by customers. Conversion nearly doubled, going from .44% to 1.04% after the same product displayed its five-star rating. (Marketing Experiments Journal)
60 percent of online shoppers provide feedback about a shopping experience, and are more likely to give feedback about a positive experience than a negative one. (JupiterResearch)
User-generated ratings and reviews are the second most important site feature behind search. Retailers who adopt ratings and reviews as a differentiator and retention strategy will gain market share. (JupiterResearch)
In a study of 2,000 shoppers – 92% deemed customer reviews as “extremely” or “very” helpful and ~ 71% used keyword searches to find products. (eTailing Group)
59% of their users considered customer reviews to be more valuable than expert reviews. (Bizrate)
Only 26% of the 137 top retailers surveyed offered customer ratings and reviews, but 96% of them ranked customer ratings and reviews as an effective or very effective tactic at driving conversion. (Forrester)
63% of consumers indicate they are more likely to purchase from a site if it has product ratings and reviews. (CompUSA & iPerceptions study)
Conversion rates are higher on products with less than perfect reviews (less than 5 stars) than those without reviews at all, indicating that the customer feels that the product has been properly reviewed by other customers. (Burpee)
39 percent of those who bought from sites with reviews cite the reviews as the primary factor influencing the purchase decision. (Foresee Results Study, 2006)

Doll Face. Awesome Animation By Andy Huang.

Doll Face follows a machine's struggle to construct its own identity. The machine with a doll face mimics images presented on a television screen and ultimately self-destructs from its inability to adopt a satisfactory visage. Created in its entirety by Andy Huang, Doll Face presents a visual account of desires misplaced and identities fractured by our technological extension into the future.

Andrew (Andy) Huang is currently a senior Fine Arts major and Animation minor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Andy's past animated work has been showcased at the Smithsonian National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and his latest independent short film "Doll Face" has been selected as part of the Official Selection at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France, as well as the Electronic Theater at SIGGRAPH 2006 in Boston. Since the completion of "Doll Face" in December 2005, Andy, now 22 years old, continues animation work for Root Films, a production company in Los Angeles. You can see Andy Huang's other work at: http://www.rootfilm.com

Houses Worth Visiting. The Flat Pak Exhibit

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Above: Marmol Radziner's Desert House

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

CONTEMPORARY PREFABRICATED HOUSES

02.28.07 - 05.20.07

Organized by the Walker Art Center, the exhibition features eight modern modular house projects that have recently been realized. The designs address a range of approaches to prefabrication, including off-site construction, customized sections that are assembled on-site, and kits with plans and parts from which a house can be constructed. Including a wide variety of materials and processes such as the sculptural metallic Turbulence House (2005 ) by Steven Holl and Black Barn (2005), a modern adaptation of a Viking longhouse designed by Pinc House of Sweden seen below:

Many of the exhibition¹s projects also address topical issues, as evinced by Michelle Kaufmann¹s Breezehouse (2005), which takes a particularly ecological orientation with its extensive use of small gardens, energy-efficient appliances and mechanical systems, and renewable and non-toxic materials.

Above: Michelle Kaufman's Breeze House

Each project is represented by at least one scale model, multiple photographic panels, drawings and renderings, as well as material samples. Five of the projects are accompanied by videos.

Below: Dwell house Resolution: 4 Architecture

MOCA's presentation will be organized by Curatorial Associate Rebecca Morse.

Visit The Walker's Some Assembly Required website

Download the Some Assembly Required Gallery Guide