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Los 10 países más adictos a Twitter en el mundo — ALT1040

Una nueva investigación de comScore, empresa líder en la medición del mundo digital, se publicó esta semana y mide el nivel de penetración de Twitter país por país. El estudio presenta los primeros 10 países en los que Twitter tiene el mayor alcance entre la población en línea, y revela un sorprendente ganador: Holanda. También es el país del mundo que más usa LinkedIn, un 26,1% de sus habitantes.

Por América Latina los ganadores son Brasil con un 23,7% de penetración de Twitter en el 3er lugar, Venezuela con un 21% ocupando el 5to puesto de los países donde Twitter es más importante y popular, y por último está Argentina con un 18% y una posición de séptimo en el top 10. Tres ubicaciones realmente impresionantes y que muestran el interes tan grande que despiertan en nuestra región el uso de las redes sociales.

Mike Lee, vicepresidente senior de comScore, explica sobre la posición dominante de Holanda en el estudio:

El mercado del social media en Holanda es realmente único y llena de historias interesantes. Es uno de los pocos mercados que quedan donde un jugador local de redes sociales continúa superando a Facebook, aunque la diferencia es cada vez más tenue

El top 10 de los países con más penetración de Twitter en el mundo:

  1. Países Bajos 26,8%
  2. Japón 26,6%
  3. Brasil 23,7%
  4. Indonesia 22.0%
  5. Venezuela 21,0%
  6. Canadá 18,0%
  7. Argentina 18,0%
  8. Turquía 16,6%
  9. Filipinas 16,1%
  10. Singapur 16,0%

En Venezuela es realmente impresionante lo que se vive con Twitter, muchas veces pareciera que que toda la población tiene una cuenta de Twitter. El presidente de Venezuela tiene su cuenta y muchos funcionarios públicos importantes, muchos de ellos hacen un uso importante de la herramienta, políticos de todas las corrientes también lo usan. También muchos artistas y personalidades. El Twiteq, una reunión mensual de tuiteros, reúne en cada edición a más de 500 personas y muchas marcas tienen cuentas de Twitter muy activas. Venezuela es un país que respira Twitter en este momento, y en gran medida se debe a la pasión que tienen los venezolanos por los teléfonos celulares. Twitter se ha convertido en la killer aplication de todos los smartphones. No se si esto pase en otros países, pero me encantaría saberlo: ¿cómo sientes que está Twitter en tu país?

via alt1040.com

Microsoft ya gana menos que Apple · ELPAÍS.com

Microsoft no termina de salir del purgatorio. El gigante informático acaba de perder otra batalla con su eterna rival Apple. La firma que vende el sistema operativo Windows y las videoconsolas Xbox no solo es más pequeña en el mercado que el fabricante del iPhone, el iPad y los ordenadores Mac. También gana menos dinero.

Los resultados de inicio de año de Microsoft, correspondientes a su tercer trimestre fiscal, reflejan un beneficio de 5.320 millones de dólares. Es un 31% más si se compara con lo que ganó hace un año. Pero Apple prácticamente lo dobló en el mismo periodo, lo que le permitió anotarse unas ganancias de 5.990 millones.

De lado de los ingresos, Microsoft tuvo unas ventas trimestrales de 16.340 millones, un 13% más que entre enero y marzo de 2010. Sin embargo, los dispositivos electrónicos de Apple tienen un gran tirón entre el consumidor, lo que le permitió facturar 24.670 millones en el mismo periodo, un 83% más que hace un año.

Hace dos años Microsoft ganaba el doble que Apple. Y, si bien es cierto que la firma que dirige Steve Jobs es más rentable en términos absolutos, la que capitanea Steve Ballmer es aún capaz de generar casi el mismo beneficio vendiendo casi la mitad. Números que en todo caso muestran la progresión de Apple.

Caída de los PC

Los resultados de Microsoft confirman, además, otra tendencia en la nueva realidad que se vive en el sector tecnológico. Las ventas del sistema operativo Windows cayeron un 4% en el trimestre, una señal de la reciente caída de las ventas de ordenadores personales frente a la avalancha de nuevos dispositivos móviles.

En total, Microsoft vendió 350 millones de licencias del Windows 7 desde su lanzamiento, hace año y medio. Pero la demanda por este producto parece estar sufriendo también por la incertidumbre económica. La consola Xbox, el sistema Kinect y los programas para empresas son su gran flotador.

A pesar del sólido incremento del beneficio, las acciones de Microsoft se dejaban cerca de un 2% tras el anuncio, porque los inversores piensan que tiene una crisis de identidad y debe dar con productos que sean competitivos con Apple y, también, con Google en la arena publicitaria en Internet.

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    Comentarios - 61

    Página 1 de 13

    • 61

      Juan - 30-04-2011 - 16:17:19h

      Veo a mucha gente confundida y que encima se contradice. Apple no es lider en smatphones, lo es Google y ademas su ventaja aumenta dia a dia. Apple es un entorno cerrado en un mundo que esta cansado de entornos cerrados. Tanto sus telefonos como sus tabletas usan sistemas propietarios, no son compatibles con estandares de la industria como flash y por si fuera poco tampoco son compatibles con los estandares web. Todo esto para mantener al usuario en su redil. Microsoft lleva unos pocos años migrando a plataformas mas abiertas y estandares, Apple ni ha empezado hacerlo, todo lo contrario. En unos pocos años Apple se va a encontrar con un gran problema, por un lado Google como lider indiscutible en smartphones y tabletas y un Microsoft mucho mas amigable con los estandares abiertos y ademas con aliados muy fuertes. ¿Que pasara luego?

    • 60

      Mas topicos - 30-04-2011 - 14:33:49h

      Windows-Mac son luchas del pasado , los rivales de W 7 son Google y Mozila en sobremesa , gratuitos a cambio del coñazo de la publicidad , hay crisis y nadie quiere pagar licencias , esperan algo nuevo ( quizas Apps sobremesa , personales y casi gratis ) Windows quedara en el 50 por ciento muy pronto . Despues de diez años y miles de mill. de inversion , la estrategia de Microssoft se consolida con Xbox sus rivales son Sony , Nintendo etc .El futuro esta en plataformas moviles y Apps , Apple domina en portatiles , tablets y smartphones , es la primer empresa tecnologica del mundo y duplica ventas ,cada año , Windows a bajado del 5 al 3 por ciento en este entorno movil , quizas con Nokia le paren los pies a Google , dentro de 2 años ...para entonces Apple estara ya fuera de su alcance , esta innova , lo cambia todo y pasea a sus anchas

    • 59

      Ubuntero - 30-04-2011 - 12:58:35h

      56 estudioso de Lo Progre: Linux no lleva desde los años 70. Torwalds lo inventó allá a principos de los 90. Y tómate una tiliña, anda, y búscate una novia, que se te ve muy necesitado de atención.

    • 58

      Xavier Trias - 30-04-2011 - 11:48:52h

      Hace unas semanas leí un texto bastante bien razonado de por qué Apple se mantiene joven y Microsoft está perdiendo chispa. http://goo.gl/Z6HLX

    • 57

      Xavier Trias - 30-04-2011 - 11:29:18h

      Hace unas semanas leí un texto bastante bien razonado de por qué Apple se mantiene joven y Microsoft está perdiendo chispa. http://goo.gl/Z6HLX http://goo.gl/Z6HLX

    Página 1 de 13

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    via elpais.com

    Interesante Noticia:

    Para los que conozcan mi afición al hardware y software de Apple, les sonará a victoria. Sin embargo, os recuerdo que trabaje 7 años en Hewlett-Packard y Compaq, o sea en los mejores exponentes en su momento de la arquitectura Windows.

    Mirándolo sin apasionamiento, es la certidumbre sobre una nueva ola tecnológica: la formada por internet, la movilidad, la utilización de la nube como repositorio de datos y la colaboración.

    En este escenario, el modelo ideado por IBM (que inventó el PC) Intel (el fabricante de los microprocesadores) y Microsoft (como fabricante del Sistema Operativo y las utilidades de ofimática) no es tan eficiente ni tan atractivo como en los últimos 10 años. El modelo cliente-servidor y la arquitectura Windows han perdido vigencia.

    Ni ellos son tan malos ahora, ni fueron tan buenos en un principio. Es el momento, la coyuntura y la necesidad la que hace de los modelos algo exitoso o fracasado.

    Es verdad, y justo es reconocerlo, que Apple ha mejorado mucho en la gestión de sus operaciones y de su cadena de producción, pero esto siendo relevante, no es tan determinante cuanto la capacidad de su cadena integrada de prestar servicio en la era de Internet y los móviles.

    Seguramente, imbuidos del paradigma de la coyuntura actual, veamos a la compañía de Jobs como imbatible, casi con la misma seguridad con que la vimos muerta en los 80.

    Nada es eterno, todo es relativo. En tecnología mucho más. Lo único cierto es que surgirán amenazas para la Apple actual, y que esas amenazas se desarrollarán con la misma velocidad de Internet.

    Mientras tanto, disfrutemos del cambio, en nuestros entornos de trabajo, en nuestro ocio, en nuestra capacidad de relacionarnos con los demás de modo digital. Y no pensemos de modo estático. Alguien vendrá que malo te hará.... ¿será Microsoft de nuevo?..

    Facebook Eclipses Google for Social Sign-in

    janrain-social-login-pref-apr-2011.JPG

    Facebook has eclipsed previous social sign-in favorite Google as the leading social sign-in (SSI) site among users of the Janrain Engage social connection service. During Q1 2011, Janrain recorded a preference for Facebook SSI among 35% of Engage users, compared to 31% who preferred Google.

    SSI allows users to sign into a restricted access site using existing sign-in data, rather than having to create a new account.

    No SSI Consensus Exists

    Janrain analysts caution that uniform preference among social media providers simply does not exist, given that 65% of internet users on the 350,000 sampled websites prefer to use an identity other than Facebook for social sign-in. Beyond the two largest players (Facebook and Google), Yahoo (13%), Twitter (7%) and Windows Live (6%) were the leading SSI sites in Q1 2011.

    Facebook Grows 30% QoQ at Google’s Expense

    janrain-social-login-quarterly-apr-2011.JPG

    Looking at quarterly SSI preference results among Janrain Engage users since Q4 2009, it is clear that Facebook’s growth has come at the expense of a declining Google. In particular, between Q4 2010 and Q1 2011, Facebook’s preference grew about 30%, from 27% to 35%. Meanwhile, Google’s preference fell from close to 40% to 31%, or what MarketingCharts estimates as around an 18% decline.

    Preference for combined “other” SSI providers has sharply declined since Q3 2010, with Twitter and Windows Live showing the most growth in SSI preference among providers beyond Facebook and Google.

    Facebook, Twitter Lead Social Sharing

    janrain-social-preferred-networks-apr-2011.JPG

    When it comes to the Janrain Engage social sharing service which helps consumers share content to their social networks, users prefer Facebook (58%) by a wide margin, distantly followed by Twitter (32%). LinkedIn follows with 13% preference. It is worth noting the top three social sharing sites are all sites specifically dedicated to social networking, whereas two of the top three SSI sites (Google and Yahoo) are not social networking sites per se.

    Facebook, Google Neck-in-Neck for Mobile SSI

    janrain-mobile-apr-2011.JPG

    Among mobile marketers, Facebook (35%) is virtually even with Google (34%) for SSI preference, with Yahoo coming in third (12%). Facebook is also the top preference for SSI in the music, entertainment, retail, magazine publisher, and news media verticals. Google is ranked second in every vertical except news media, where it comes in third behind Yahoo.

    SSI Produces Profits

    Allowing online consumers to conduct social sign-in (SSI) for an e-commerce site rather than create a new user account can produce higher levels of spending and customer satisfaction, according to a February 2010 survey Janrain and Blue Research. Data from “Importance of Identity Solutions” indicates that during the 2010 holiday season, 21% of those who consider social sign-in desirable (fans) expected to spend more than in 2009, compared to 16% of critics.

    In addition, 64% of fans expected to spend more than $500 during the 2010 holiday season, compared to 61% of critics. Sixty-six percent of survey respondents were classified as fans and 34% as critics.

    Apr 18-11
    via marketingcharts.com

    Ignore the customer experience, lose a billion dollars (Walmart case study) - Good Experience

    All projects: Gel, Jobs, Good Todo, Games, Uncle Mark, Blog, Bit Literacy

    Ignore the customer experience, lose a billion dollars (Walmart case study)

    You're with Walmart. It's 2009, and you want to do something new, something transformative, to out-innovate rival Target. You have a sense that Target is cleaner, better designed, less cluttered. Walmart aisles are crammed, packed, an infinite jumble of product.

    So you're thinking of launching an uncluttering project. Strategic. Huge. Millions of dollars. But before you make any changes, you want to float the idea by customers.

    So you conduct a survey, asking customers: would you like Walmart aisles to be less cluttered? And they say, "Yes, now that you ask, yes, that would be nice." And you check the box by "customer input" and report back, hey everyone, good news, yes, customers like the idea.

    Walmart spends hundreds of millions of dollars uncluttering their stores, removing 15% of inventory, shortening shelves, clearing aisles. Yes, it's expensive and time-consuming, but this is what customers said they wanted, so you barrel through it.

    You'll never guess what happens now. (Actually, you've probably already guessed, but it sounded better to say you'll never guess.)

    Sales went down. Way down. I mean waaaaaay down. I'm talking, from the beginning of that project until today, Walmart has lost over a billion dollars in sales. (Yes, billion with a "b".) It's actually closer to two billion dollars of sales they missed out on, and maybe more.

    Needless to say, the executives in charge of the project have been fired, and Walmart is spending yet more money to return to its original, time-tested strategy of offering a huge (albeit cluttered) inventory at low prices.

    But wait. Before the lost sales, the fired executives, the mad scramble, before all that: what was the billion-dollar mistake that caused this mess in the first place? You'll never guess.

    The mistake was a lack of customer focus. I know, I know: "They ran a survey! Customers loved the idea!" But that's exactly the problem. Walmart didn't pursue the question of what customers wanted. Instead, Walmart came up with the answer first, then asked customers to agree to it. That's exactly the wrong thing to do, because it ignores customers while attempting to fool stakeholders into thinking that the strategy is customer-centered.

    Put another way, Walmart based this incredibly expensive misadventure on what customers said, rather than what they did. And the customer experience is all about what customers do. In real life. No hypotheticals. Walmart acted without considering the customer experience, and that was a big mistake. (Maybe the biggest mistake a business can make, if you ask me.)

    The lesson: ignoring the customer experience is an expensive mistake. Be sure to listen to customers the right way, so that you get a strategy that actually works. (And let me know if Creative Good can help. Maybe we can save you a billion dollars. That's always fun.)

    P.S. For more on this story, read Phil Terry's Daily Artifacts post, which includes lots of numbers and links to press coverage. Thanks to Phil for pointing out the story.

    36 Comments:

    Jerome Pineau — Apr 13, '11 — 11:39 AM

    Wow. Talk about a slap in the face. I guess that's what you get for asking a question with no "no" answer.
    Awesome post - wish you had the usual social media share buttons for FB and Twitter! :)

    Linda Taylor — Apr 13, '11 — 11:52 AM

    Are they sure the new uncluttered format was the reason for the drop in revenue? Because I've been avoiding Walmart simply because of all the bad press they have gotten over their hiring practices and employee relations. I can see your point about the closed-end question, but there may be other factors at work here.

    brian mccarthy — Apr 13, '11 — 11:53 AM

    Nothing controversial in my comment here- I completely agree with your position on this.

    But I'm curious. I've read every one of your newsletters for 10 years (Yes, I don't think that is an exaggeration) and yet I don't recall reading anything about the Agile framework and its close association to your philosophy and practice at Creative Good.

    In the Walmart example had they simply employed the agile tenet of quick iterations, delivering minimal viable products and then testing the customer reaction, they would have found the reduced sales numbers, tried a couple more variations and then shelved the concept entirely- all for maybe only a few million dollars (cheap testing at Walmart's scale)

    What are your feelings about Agile and Lean practices? Perhaps you've already adopted them but not written about it? I ask because, a) they seem to align well with your POV and b) I drank the Kool-Aid big time and have seemed incredible benefits.

    Yiftach — Apr 13, '11 — 11:58 AM

    @Jerome - it's just about the same amount of effort to highlight the URL, click CTRL-C, go to your FB/Twitter page or plugin, CTRL-V, and share.

    That said, Mark: I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me before, but is the lack of link clutter* intentional?

    *See what I did there? I asked a question with the answer already there :-)

    Mark Notess — Apr 13, '11 — 12:04 PM

    @brian mccarthy The problem with Agile by itself is that it won't help you know why something works--just that it does (or doesn't) work. Nothing against Agile--it's necessary but not sufficient. You still need good techniques for uncovering the user experience.

    Frank Lee Madir — Apr 13, '11 — 12:09 PM

    Why do I suspect the drop in sales had more to do with the recession than anything else?

    David Rogers — Apr 13, '11 — 12:10 PM

    Great example of the importance of good customer insight, Mark. I loved your point that Wal-mart's mistake was to listen to what customers *said* rather than what they *did.*

    A student taking my Digital Marketing Strategy class at Columbia B-School mentioned this case to me; I'll share your write-up with the group!

    thanks,
    David

    Mark Hurst Author Profile Page

    — Apr 13, '11 — 12:39 PM

    @Brian - my thoughts on Agile rate a separate post. The short answer is, I think it's a good thing for teams to be efficient and flexible.. the danger is if the process starts focusing on "being able to change quickly" rather than thoughtfully building a strategy around the customer. Subtle difference with enormously different outcomes.

    @Frank - not sure why you'd suspect that, as their chief competitor Amazon has enjoyed significant growth in the same recessionary environment.

    @David - thanks, appreciate you sharing it! tell those MBA students to sign up for the newsletter, too :)

    Joe Mako — Apr 13, '11 — 12:45 PM

    Floor design is very important to retailers. If Walmart did not perform a floor design analysis, then I agree that they neglected their job. Did you see this shared work: http://www.90percentofeverything.com/2011/04/10/alan-penn-on-shop-floor-plan-design-ikea-and-dark-patterns/

    Paul in Chicago — Apr 13, '11 — 12:51 PM

    An interesting side note.

    Walmart hired a design research firm to figure out what size their shopping carts should be, thinking that bigger would be better.

    Instead, research indicated that smaller carts were better in two ways: they made it easier to get through the narrow, cluttered aisles, and customers felt that they had gotten more goods--if they used one cart it was filled up more, and if they had to use two carts to get everything they wanted, well that just emphasized how much they were getting for their money.

    Joel A Glovier — Apr 13, '11 — 1:24 PM

    Wow - this is the best email I've gotten from you yet, Mark. What an illustration.

    I think all too often as marketing professionals, we are tempted to try to solve the problem on our own, and then ask our constituents to agree that it is the right solution.

    But when we neglect to consider them first, and their behavior, it's still just our solution and we risk having them never adopt it.

    Good stuff.

    Tom — Apr 13, '11 — 1:49 PM

    I've worked on a couple of "Agile" projects, and all I can say is no Agile at all is better than Agile done wrong.

    Agile as a panacea is toxic. Most organizations aren't ready for it.

    William Roentgen — Apr 13, '11 — 6:26 PM

    This post commits the same error that it complains about. The fact that sales in Walmart (and Target) go down during a period where sales at Amazon go up suggests a very different story than, "Walmart cleaned up its aisles, making sales go down." To me it suggests more about the changing on-line shopping habits of American consumers.

    In short, the author wanted to arrive a conclusion and chose some data that appeared to support his conclusion (but actually didn't). Which is exactly his larger complaint with Walmart.

    Mark Hurst Author Profile Page

    — Apr 13, '11 — 6:31 PM

    @William - for completeness, you should also forward your complaint to Ad Age, AOL, and the New York Times - all of which reported the same case study and drew the same conclusion (see Daily Artifacts post for helpful links).

    Jake Joseph — Apr 13, '11 — 6:55 PM

    I was just subjected to a survey from Fiat about my new 500. They committed exactly the same errors, providing questions that led answers, and became annoyed when I pointed out that the survey likely wasn't accomplishing anything. The survey administrator told me several times when I complained about my experience with Fiat, "Well, this survey is designed to measure the experience that you had at the dealer - we're sorry for your pre-delivery experience, but we want to hear about the delivery."

    William Roentgen — Apr 13, '11 — 7:03 PM

    Other people make the same complaint in the Daily Artifacts commentary. This is junk science.

    Susan Harkus — Apr 13, '11 — 9:24 PM

    What a great story and what a great example of the user agenda at play.

    We are all familiar with the "don't ask users, watch them" addage, but so often business thinks that what users say they want to do ensures the outcome.

    In fact, there are a myriad of expectations, priorities, assumptions, resistance and preferences that are likely to be subconsciously associated with the task in the user's mind.

    I call that set of conscious and subconscious drivers, the user agenda, and always liken it to an iceberg. If decisions and designs are based on the iceberg they see, they must expect the same fate as the Titanic.

    Yarik — Apr 13, '11 — 9:39 PM

    A lack of customer focus per se does not seem to be the main mistake in this case. I think it was the lack of BASIC systems thinking. For example, knowing that decreased clutter (obviously a "good factor") would be accompanied by reduced inventory (obviously a "bad factor"), they should've estimated the overall impact of this change and see that it'd rather hurt them than benefit them. With an annual revenue of about $400 billion, reduction of inventory by 15% alone looks like a very very dubious proposition (even if it's done in 10% of the stores only). Besides, this "decluttering" campaign was just one of the several parts of the bigger WalMart's initiative, Project Impact. For instance, another part of Project Impact was to "home in on categories where the competition can be killed". Reshaping of the inventory profile seems to be a much more likely possible source of a big revenue loss than just "decluttering" of stores.

    Royce — Apr 14, '11 — 3:33 AM

    Reminds me of Southwest Airlines' experience with asking the wrong question. http://jnd.org/dn.mss/why_is_37signals_so_arrogant.html (Bottom half of article)

    jillybean — Apr 14, '11 — 7:17 AM

    This hits the nail on the head as to why I hate those surveys. They just reinforce preconceived notions about what customers want or what the organization is actually prepared to do, which is usually along he lines of ensuring that Reps are courteous, identify themselves, and maybe evoke confidence that they will handle the problem, howver this last one only works if the problem is straightforward.

    I recently had negative experiences with two large organizations (a transportation and a retail operation). In the scheme of things the annoyances themselves were petty, but had a huge impact on my overall experience interacting with their so called customer (dis)service units, to the point that I wrote the respective chief executives.

    In the one case, the person responding not only failed to address my problem, he also did not respond to the issues I raised in my letter. Instead he merely, repeated (or lectured) to me the same useless information provided by everyone else up to that point, and which prompted me to write. In the second case, the person at least addressed what I wrote and offered a solution to my particular problem. However **both**, totally missed the opportunities to address customer experience!

    Problems are inevitable. While they need to be addressed, what is more important is to examine and address the underlying processes and policies that lead to the problems in the first place. This is more likely to happen if one focuses on the customer experience and than seeks to solve the problem within that context.

    I don't know about anyone else, but what I really want when I deal with a company is to have a good or better experience with their Customer Service when trying to resolve something. In both of my recent experiences, the frontline Customer Service Reps lacked the basic information to address my issue, which than caused me to have to make multiple contacts in order to seek a resolution. In both cases the Reps should have had the information I ultimately received from someone higher up, only after much time an effort.

    Stephanie — Apr 14, '11 — 12:07 PM

    @Paul in Chicago

    Do you know the name of the design research firm or have an article you could share that goes more in-depth. Just interested...

    brian mccarthy — Apr 14, '11 — 4:59 PM

    @Mark, Agreed. And I would love to read a post from you focused on Agile. When implemented properly I am a huge fan and feel it supports a great customer experience.

    As for poor implementations, it reminds me of the quote attributed to Mohandas Gandhi, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

    It's all about execution.

    Lara Neville — Apr 14, '11 — 11:03 PM

    wow Hard to believe a huge name such as Walmart didn't attend to Statistics class 101. I'm hardly an expert (barely passed my Statistics course required for my engineering graduation), but haven't they ever heard of addicted sample or tendentious survey? geez... ¬¬

    John wallace — Apr 14, '11 — 11:10 PM

    I hate when the answer to all problems of low sells is too hight prices. Some of the clothing lines that Walmart now sells is so thin ( Men's Pants) that the ones I purchased shrank one size after washing the first time. I have vowed to not purchase my clothing there any more

    Lawrence — Apr 14, '11 — 11:45 PM

    Did anyone think that maybe sales fell because of the Chinese factor?

    Andy Macpherson — Apr 14, '11 — 11:52 PM

    also the drop could be from the unsustainable roll back program that they have recently done away with.

    Maria Zaragoza — Apr 15, '11 — 1:55 AM

    I'm now a Target shopper. Wal-mart speedy check out is a nightmare. All the time. Target has there moments too but I get to Wal-mart parking lot and I always change my mind and go to Target. Get your managers and supervisors to step up there game. Get Costco standards and get your guests out quick.

    Robin Zaragoza — Apr 15, '11 — 12:56 PM

    An excellent example of why testing ideas in a live environment is better than asking in a survey. If they had just cleaned up one store to see what happens....

    Todd M — Apr 15, '11 — 7:06 PM

    OK, after digging through the actual source articles, what I am getting out of the data is that this is an extremely complex move, involving an explicit decisions to emphasize customer loyalty vs. short term revenue. They saw that as the economy worsened, they picked up customers from Target who were changing their choice to emphasize cost over shopping experience (look at the third quarter of Target's sales vs. Walmart's in the chart of percent change in revenue by quarter for the period covered), and were concerned that they would lose lose customers as the economy improved. They made the changes, and customers reported really liking the changed stores, even though they were spending less. Walmart decided that this was a desirable tradeoff, because they wanted to hang on to customers as the economy improved. That gamble might not have paid off, but it was a conscious decision.

    This is a very different picture than, "Walmart didn't pay attention to their customers' behavior." They paid attention.

    To me, this looks like the classic war inside companies - those who want to emphasize only the current quarters' profits, versus the people who want to cultivate the customer over an extended period.

    Tom Butlin — Apr 15, '11 — 11:06 PM

    I have found 4Q Survey to be invaluable.
    Q1: Why did you come here?
    Q2: Did you achieve this goal?
    If Y then What did you value?
    If N then Why not?
    Understand and measure task completition and the real roadblocks: priceless. I'll take that over a survey, focus group or committee ANY day.

    Robert McCue — Apr 17, '11 — 6:22 AM

    I got a job at Walmart through this wacky misguided plan. A major remodeling project that was carried out by people who had no clue how to do anything. This lead to injuries, fights, mayhem. The store looked good afterward but it was even more of a death trap with the cut rate wiring. It even ran 2 months over schedule due to unskilled labor trying to figure out basic refrigerator installation. The ones in charge were cast off assistant managers who had even less of a clue that anyone, while i personally liked a few they were basically ordered to ride us like slaves 'faster, faster, hurry up' especially when the project heads came through to check on things.

    All of this was hell on customers too. Every day was a potential lawsuit due to untrained people handling equipment they have no business using. Yes me included, I'm an artist by trade and this was just to make the ends meet. I'm not someone who builds things regularly.

    After I was offered a regular job there being one of the few left over when the remodel ended. Which was really dehumanizing. The only good part of the job was educating people on the new tech and helping people make informed decisions on new electronics. I was never a sell sell sell guy. I was about building a rep and not bullshitting people into buying garbage. This led to regular customers and heaps of praise, that pissed off upper management that promptly figured out a way to get rid of me.

    An assistant manager scheduled me at my usual times, never entered them admittedly on purpose. So when I go to clock in it comes up that i'm not on said schedule. When asked he swore to the manager that I 'didn't bother showing up' and said I abandoned my job. Blocking my unemployment and threatening to sue me if i even thought of fighting it.

    I've been unemployed for over a year now with the antimatter of references. Not knowing what my next move is.

    Apparently Walmart has a system that after they fire you, you can come back after 6 months if you reapply, ask for forgiveness (they don't call it that) and write something to that effect stating how you will never do it again. Essentially begging for poverty wages (in New York) and shitty treatment.

    So lets just say i'm a tad bitter, seeing as I was screwed.

    Not listening to customers is the least of their problems. They really have zero clue about anything. Its a beast with a reptile brain of feed mate kill. They spent millions and hired a lot of people who were way under qualified. Hell I still have the healed wrong injured shoulder from the 55 inch plasma that the guys I worked with dropped on my shoulder. They refused to get me help that day and told me not to report it or its drug tests and suspension.

    Sorry for the ramble, I'm half asleep but I saw this and had to get it off my chest. I dig the post, You do good work.

    Blair Keen — Apr 18, '11 — 7:13 AM

    I really enjoyed reading your (very well written!) article - not just because hearing about billion dollar mistakes is entertaining, but because trying to understand the customer experience is becoming an increasingly popular activity at the moment amongst small business owners.

    I think this recent trend has a lot to do with the increased visibility that survey tools and email marketing services have online at the moment. I really hope that the small business owner/DIY marketeer doesn't make similarly novice-like mistakes while trying to learn more about their customers!

    Greg Johnson — Apr 18, '11 — 12:27 PM

    No facebook like button?

    Fail.

    Morten — Apr 19, '11 — 10:59 AM

    Is this the exact question that was asked, or more like a summary?

    "Would you like Walmart aisles to be less cluttered?"

    Matthew McSorley — Apr 19, '11 — 11:25 AM

    Wow. To think you can lose a company a BILLION dollars, and just get away with being fired.

    This is a good lesson for life really, to not throw an answer in someone's face, but ask an open-ended question to hopefully get a truer picture.

    Billy — Apr 19, '11 — 4:17 PM

    On a related note, I used to fill out the web-linked surveys on store receipts in the vain hope of winning a gift card. Wal-Mart's survey was not only the worst designed survey of all the stores I had tried, it may have been one of the worst I've ever seen.

    Leave a comment

    via goodexperience.com

    No tomemos en cuenta el tono apocalíptico de la noticia, pero asumiendo que es cierta, aunque no aplique más que una cierta parte; volvemos a encontrarnos ante un problema filosófico.

    Filosófico no en el sentido chabacano de poco práctico, sino en la naturaleza de la cuestión: hacer buenas preguntas nos lleva a soluciones correctas; hacer preguntas mediocres (y plantear en la pregunta la respuesta que queremos escuchar, como es el caso) nos lleva a la catástrofe.

    Muchas veces, tendemos a explicar los fracasos de las compañías como justa correspondencia a culturas endogámicas y faltas de orientación al cliente, lo que puede ser cierto.

    Sin embargo, no descartemos el peso de nuestros defectos y vicios a la hora de pensar como causa de las malas decisiones que tomamos. Leyendo a los clásicos (perdonad el pegote, pero la mayeútica es el arte de llegar a la verdad a través de las preguntas correctas, y este arte inaugura las disciplinas filosóficas) nos encontramos con concepciones y prejuicios revisitados en la vida de las empresas todos los días.

    A tal efecto, este ejemplo de Walmart es uno de ellos.

    Recomiendo fervientemente visitar la noticia que leiamos en torno a los esfuerzos del exconsejero delegado del BBVA para desarrollar el talento empresarial en base a la escuela para pensar...