sales

HDTV makers turn to budget stores, larger screens

LOS ANGELES--There are a lot of bad economic winds swirling, but the high-definition television industry doesn't appear to be moved.

Here at DisplaySearch's HDTV Conference, there is far less handwringing than in past years, when manufacturers complained about rapidly falling prices, the sudden appearance of too many brands, and consumer confusion.

Instead, far more confident industry leaders led a discussion Tuesday that revolved around how to make gentle adjustments to keep the HDTV sales machine in top condition. In North America, shipments are still increasing 17 percent year over year, according to DisplaySearch data. And this is despite … Read more

Video game industry shows signs of slowing

Sales of video game software and hardware in the U.S. rose 9 percent in August to $1.08 billion, the smallest monthly increase in more than two years, according to data released Thursday by market researcher NPD Group.

Hardware sales were up 3 percent to $395 million, led by handheld Nintendo DS, which sold 518,300 units. Nintendo's Wii came in second with 453,000 unit sales, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 claimed the third spot with 195,200 unit sales.

Software sales were up 13 percent to nearly $551 million, led by Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 09 … Read more

Midsize LCD sales: Major names beat Vizios

A new report by iSuppli once again puts major names squarely atop the North American midsize LCD TV sales heap, after significant year-over-year sales gains at the expense of lesser-known firms like Vizio and now-bankrupt Syntax-Brillian.

Last year Vizio was a surprise LCD sales leader. But during the second quarter of 2008, Samsung led the way among 30-inch to 34-inch LCD TVs with a 17.6-percent share of the North American LCD TV market, which is up significantly from 8.5 percent a year earlier. TVs with screen sizes measuring between 30 inches and 34 inches comprise 34.1 percent of the LCD market in North America.

Meanwhile, Sony came in second with a 12.8 percent share, up from just 4.9 percent a year before. Conversely, Vizio fell from a 17.3-percent share in Q2 2007 to a 6-percent share this year.

… Read more

Amazon.com to uncork wine sales

Amazon.com customers will be able to buy wine through the e-tailer's Web site as early as this month, a spokesman for the Napa Valley Vintners Association said Wednesday.

Amazon has been working with the nonprofit group, which represents 315 vintners in the Napa Valley, to arrange workshops with wine producers that might be interested in selling wine through the retail giant, said Terry Hall, the group's communications director.

"We have set up a few get-to-know-you meetings with wineries, and the wineries will make their own decisions on what fits best with their business plans," Hall … Read more

Gartner: Global mobile-phone sales up

In spite of the economic slowdown, worldwide mobile-phone sales rose nearly 12 percent in the second quarter of 2008 from the same period in 2007, market research firm Gartner said Thursday.

Growth was driven largely by the Asia-Pacific region, in which sales grew 20.5 percent from the second quarter of 2007, and the Middle East and Africa, where handset sales increased 18 percent.

In the United States and Canada, 6.5 percent year-over-year growth was driven largely by sales of replacement handsets, as new subscribers only trickled in, Gartner said. (Fellow research firm NPD Group, by contrast, reported earlier this month … Read more

Newegg reverses practice of charging New York sales tax

Online electronics retailer Newegg has stopped charging sales tax to its New York customers, according to a posting on the Consumerist.com.

The move by Newegg reverses action the online retailer took in June, in which it began to charge applicable sales tax for all shipments to New York, following passage of a new state law that required certain companies to charge sales tax on shipments to New York state.

Effective August 21, however, Newegg discontinued the practice and is leaving it up to New York residents to pay that sales tax themselves. That policy basically returns the responsibility of … Read more

Alltel debuts new ad with 'sales guys' babies

We all love Chad, don't we? You know Chad: the good-looking, unassuming guy who's taller than his rivals, but not too tall as to intimidate shorter guys, with the square jaw and fauxhawk (are those still in play?), who's so nice and just sincerely wants everyone to be able to share their wireless plans? As long as the plan is from Alltel Wireless Network, that is.

Well, haven't you always wondered what it would be like if we saw those guys as kids? No? Me neither. That's not stopping Alltel from releasing a new spot … Read more

HP keeps social tools behind closed doors

I sat in on a group breakfast with HP Labs' Bernardo Huberman last week. He's the director of the Social Computing Lab. The press function was called so HP could tell us how the company is using modern social-networking tools to enhance its business.

Modern tools, that is, for 2005.

While Huberman has done innovative research showing how novelty and popularity interact on social sites (PDF) such as Digg and Facebook, the impact of this research on HP is notably old-fashioned.

First, we learned, HP uses algorithms derived from its research to juggle the product offerings presented to buyers … Read more

Study uncovers best practices for SaaS (and open-source) sales operations

I'm in the middle of a fascinating study by Robert Breza of RBC Capital Markets entitled "On Demand Evolution, Volume II: Insights and Best Practices at Leading On Demand (SaaS) Providers." The research details the characteristics and best practices of successful sales operations and R&D at SaaS companies. I share some of its central findings because many of the same principles apply to open source, as both leverage subscription-based business models.

Just as barriers to open-source adoption continue to go down, so, too, do barriers to SaaS adoption. Indeed, some of the same factors may be driving increased acceptance of subscription-based software purchases. Forty-four percent of RBC's survey respondents indicated "no major concerns with SaaS adoption," which is up from 35 percent in a similar survey from Q1 2008.

But someone still needs to sell these products/services. One suggestion from the report is that subscription-based vendors should segment "hunters" (new license salespeople that are paid a higher commission) and "farmers" (renewals and upsell salespeople, generally paid a lower commission) early in the company's growth. Such vendors should also focus more on the long-term value of a customer, not the short-term initial contract payout:

The company is more concerned with farming the customer than they are with negotiating that initial contract. An effective and "sticky" product coupled with an efficient sales model should be able to drive customer retention above 90% while revenue retention is at or above 100%. (10)

Many of these companies (Omniture is a prime example) opted to start with "mid-grade" salespeople early on (Think: inside sales), later moving to "high-grade" sales people once the market opportunity was better defined. The idea is to start with more junior, hungry salespeople to prove out the market, and then bring in more expensive headcount to "reap" in the market once it has been established.… Read more