5 Pillars in the Digital Content Internet Business

Over the last decade and more in the digital content business since the year 2000, consumers have been spoilt for choice when it came to personalising their mobile devices or drawing entertainment from their personal devices during downtime.  From black and white (ring) tones, graphics (remember those black and white operator logos, wallpapers, MMS greetings) and simple mobile games, digital content has evolved to streaming music, colorful and dynamically updated themes, and mobile (soon social) games, videos and much much more.

To be successful in this dynamic digital content business, there are 5 key critical success factors or pillars which I see should be looked at carefully and reviewed continuously for businesses, who venture into digital content sales and marketing, to be able to capture traction and sustainable consumer life-time value.

Digital content value chain analysis

View more presentations from Nelson Wee

(1) Quality Content

• Transmedia content, or essentially telling your story content across multiple platforms with different perspectives and possibilities, appears to be trending lately.
• People are being connected to a new world of entertainment.
• Not only are indie writers producing their own eBooks (and owning the rights to), are converting their content to other ensuing digital contents like eBooks, movies, books and movies are also being produced from games today.
• Read more on transmedia storytelling here from wikipedia
• With the myraid of opportunities in content development innovation, think about your audience and the markets they are in.
• Consider what content will drive immediate traffic vis a vis what content could bring you sustainable consumer lifetime value.

(2) Targeted Advertising (Promotions)

• Think about who and where your audience for your digital content would be.
• And there are an increasing number of channels available today, be it the mobile, EDMs, social media, (cloud-based) digital billboards, which you would need to analyse for the most effective targeted engagement channel(s) to your intended customers.
• But hey do not lose sight on the effectiveness of that little thing called the SMS marketing - it's loads more effective for immediate and targeted response in the emerging markets like Indonesia.
• In South East Asia, Youtube is top of mind.  An example of interactive video engagement is the SingTel TGIS video program series.

• And hey consider this thing called "Gladvertising" where outdoor adverts are tailored according to the emotions detected from the consumers - spooky or innovative push marketing?
• And then there're also promotions which are going more socially contextual in nature like the music moodbox Facebook marketing tool from StarHub (video below) 

(3) Great Experience in Access (Browsing)

• While smartphones are flying off the shelves from many stores and into the hands of the media hungry consumers all around the world, thnk about the 50% to 60% feature phone base in a number of markets like in the South East Asia (that's about 360 million phones - phew!).
• Feature phone users need some loving too. 35% of the top 20 performing phones in the AIS App Store were feature phones.

(4) Convenience in Payment

• Besides the hygiene credit card for OTT content business, think about cash on delivery, bank transfers, and other mobile wallets for the likes of the consumers in the emerging markets.

(5) Flexible Delivery and Reporting

• Along the buy process, look into add-on bundles (think how airlines are handling the consumers' online buy process with ancillary product suggestions).
• Profile your consumers and offer targeted recommendations along your engagement.
• Think about how you could get your customers involved, participate in your business and always think win win in terms of privileges for your customers.

Throughout the consumer journey, always bear in mind that quality, experience, convenience, participation and privilege are key drivers which would garner the WOW from your customer and lead to both sustainable engagement with your customer as well as increasing ancillary revenues in future interactions.

Do you have any experiences to share on your digital content business? 

Looking forward to hear from you.

talk more soon,
Nelson Wee
Linkedin Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nelsonwee
Twitter: @nelsonwee

Beyond Hardcovers & Paperbacks - Is Evolution Necessary? (All In! Young Writers Media Festival 2012)

With the opening of skoob, Singapore's 1st local eBook Store in November 2010, I, a self-professed book (print, digital and all) lover myself, have achieved my life-long ambition in opening a book store and entering the books business.  Awesome tick mark there!

It's also has been an honour for me to have been invited by the National Book Development Council of Singapore (NBDCS) for the 18 Feb opening keynote address for the All In! Young Writers Media Festival 2012, entitled "Beyond Hardcovers and Paperbacks - Is Evolution Necessary?" This event acts as a platform for young writers in Singapore from the ages of 16 (Secondary 4) to 25 (Junior College, ITE, Polytechnic, Tertiary institution), who are interested in writing and publishing (print, digital).

In my previous posts on the market trends on eBooks and digital publishing, I had started to put together about a number of related topics leading to my presentation:

• Consumer are buying time - time is a premium in today's time-starved marketplace
• How content consumption is going mobile - media consumption is changing as your mobile is near and personal
• 1-2-3 to the eBook market - where I introduced the eBooks growth trends, multi-screen consumption, opportunities as ancillary channels
• Why the Rise of eBooks (and opportunities to expand ancillary channels)? - where I discussed the promising market growth in eBook market regionally and in Singapore
• Introducing skoob, Singapore's 1st hyperlocal eBookstore - the launch of skoob
• Poll: Changing Reading Habits? - changing reading habits of American readers in today's e-reader age

Given the adoption of ebooks growing fast globally, the market landscape for content consumption has been transforming over the last couple of years with the advent of a myraid of mobile devices beyond the laptops and feature phones. In fact with today's "touch generation" and the increasing number of available options to access digital content (e.g. eBooks), today's on-the-go consumers are starting to go beyond printed books and consuming books via multiple screens and devices. As such, we start to see today's authors and content publishers starting to recognise the opportunities availed via mobile devices as ancillary channels to their target consumer segments - be where your audience will be.

(Extended version) Beyond hardcovers & paperbacks is evolution necessary? 1st Day Keynote at the All In! Young Writers Media Event 18 FEB 2012

View more PowerPoint from Nelson Wee

The 2 day event showcased a very engaging agenda, which included interesting topics from audience management with social media engagement to your content, new media creative writing experiences and techniques, to the final day closing panel around "Fate of the book stores - are death bells ringing for the brick and mortar book retailers".

I look forward to hear your comments on the eBook and e-reading market phenomena.


Talk soon,
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee

8 link trend-mapping on eBooks and edtech opportunities

I introduced in my last post about edtech's market opportunities in education enrichment.  Here is a quick 8 link trend-mapping on eBooks and edtech today and moving forward, which would be shaping the digital consumption of eBook content, associated rich media and education content.

Key trends in ebooks & education enrichment

View more PowerPoint from Nelson Wee

There are ancillary products and channels which could arise, e.g. for children, education enrichment market opportunities.

I look forward to your inputs on my views above as well as engage with you on your take in your markets.

Talk soon,
Nelson Wee
Twitter: @nelsonwee
Photo credit: dianecordell / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Why the Rise of eBooks (and opportunities to expand ancillary channels)?

In my previous post on the "1-2-3 to the eBook market", I discussed about:

1. how eBook adoption is growing fast globally
2. how ebooks could and are being consumed via multiple screen sizes and devices (i.e. PC, laptops, tablets and smartphones)
3. how eBooks and eMagazines could provide opportunities as ancillary channels (and revenues)

It's with no surprise that with the market trends and opportunities in digital publishing that we are seeing today globally (e.g. in the US, UK) that digitization of books and mobile consumption is on the rise in Asia Pacific as well.  In China, sales of digital content ran up sales of US$1B in 2009.  Annecdotally, I have heard from a China publisher (who deals in both print and digital eBooks in China) that sales of eBooks in China (including probably mobile comics) have grown to about SGD $200-300M - now, that's HUGE!

In Singapore, the market landscape is posturing nicely for digital publishing as well:

• with 3.7M Internet users,
• accompanying market growth in the mobile internet, with the proliferation of tablets, and smartphones rapidly replacing feature phones,
• 185k consumers or ~5% of all Singaporean Internet users, 15 years old and above have purchased eBooks, eMagazines or eNewspapers (source: IDA 2009 Infocomm survey of households).
• An average reader in Singapore will read up to 5 books a year whilst a heavy reader (10% of all readers) will read about 30 books a year.

It is hence with this market momentum that I have finally achieving my life-long ambition in being part of the launch of a book store, albeit an eBookstore here in Singapore (with my current employment in SingTel).  Have a look at the introduction video below on skoob at http://www.skoob.com.sg/ , probably Singapore's 1st eBookstore!

Look forward to hear your feedback. 

Til later, Nelson Wee
Connect with me on Twitter @nelsonwee

References:
1. Why Cell Phones will Dominate the E-Book Market in China?
2. My slideshare presentation on "How Digital Publishing Can Expand Ancillary Channels"

How Digital Publishing Can Expand Ancillary Channels

View more presentations from Nelson Wee

10 Key Takeways from the Ancillary Revenue World Asia 2011 Conference in Singapore

I attended and presented recently at the Ancillary Revenue World Asia 2011 conference in Singapore.  It was an excellent 2 days where I valued meeting up and learning from a number of key management illuminaries from the airlines, hotel, travel, banking and insurance industries.


Here are 10 takeaways I put together from the conference.

1. "Treating People Right" - Tune Hotel's Mark Lankester believes in focusing on the customer's core needs, debundle the rest like insurance, transport and even air-con which could be offered as an upsell when required.
2. Mobile commerce will go Social and Local (with location-based services) and audience management of your consumers through search will go from PC-WEB to Mobile-WEB to TV-WEB (XBox-Kinect), says Manish Ladha, Microsoft.
3. Apps can expand ancillary channels to your business by driving new different ways in content consumption, and also offering new debundling and repackaging opportunities to your products - says well me, Nelson Wee, SingTel
4. Move from segments to customer-centric approach in targeting your customers - says Steve Pinchuk, Melco Crown Entertainment
5. Embed cross-selling opportunities before, during and post the booking process - best practices from Amit Saberwal, Makemytrip.com
6. Grow your partnership from a marketing partnership (value driven) to an ancillary partnership (revenue driven) - Wong Soon-Hwa, Hertz International
7. Best route to ancillary revenues is not to aim directly at revenue but at customer experience and value (case study on grabbing in-destination share of wallet through ancillaries) - says Aseem Sadana, Isango!
8. Using opt-out to good effect in booking process can give outstanding customer take-up in your ancillary services - Lim Kim Hai, Regional Express
9. Manage effective revenue management by balancing between your core and ancillary products, creating value for your customer and never over-bundle (instead review and fine-tune your current bundles) - Doug Hesley, The Four Seasons Hotel & Resorts
10. Generate revenue from cross-selling across multiple products through a centralized marketing organization, who looks to solving a need of your customer with a simple to sell, buy and service product, and follow up incremental value through life stage mapping - says Basker Rangachari, Standard Chartered

Well ok, I cannot resist providing a bonus takeaway from a good buddy of mine, Miguel Bernas, SingTel who was among the panelists during the "Social Media: Dwindling Potential" discussion.
11. Social Media could potentially replace the ice-cream parlour or the Saturday night poker game where you gather with your buddies and engage on stuff which happened over the recent week.  Perhaps brands could offer a corner of the ice-cream parlour and partake in the engagement and conversations of their customers.

Here is also my presentation deck for your viewing.  Most welcome your views!

How the use of apps can successfully expand ancillary channels & viability

View more presentations from Nelson Wee

Til later,
Nelson Wee
engage me here or in Twitter @nelsonwee

6 Players in the Location-Based Services Ecosystem

My last post on location-based services set the scene on the reasons why location-based services are picking up with the the growth in on-the-go consumers who are more freely sharing information socially, and with more location context.  With mobile phone-based location-based apps driving  business recommendation services through integration with the social media internet, multi-channel merchants that sell online and via physical stores have, in many cases, have been very effective in using these services to boost both real-world and digital traffic.

Who are the players of location-based services?  I have attempted to put together the location-based services ecosystem in the following value chain for our discussion.

1. Map Data Providers provide:
1. the base layer map data.
2. enriched hyperlocal POI (point of interest) data.
2. Application Software Providers
1. technology partners who build upon the map data providers' base layer map.
2. develop the user interface to work cross-platform, with customized features.
3. Advertising Network Providers
1. provide the connectors to ads in the LBS app.
2. and the field salesforce to sell the ads to brands.
4. Location-Based Content and Services Providers include
1. backend partners who serve out hyperlocal and relevant ads on behalf of merchants in partnered web and mobile sites.
2. front-end eShopping partners who vend free vouchers, paid eCoupons, aggregate deals.
5. Access and Provisioning Providers (Carriers / Operators) provide
1. affordable data plans to consumers and enterprises.
2. promotions in various marketing touch-points (Retail, SMS, MMS, PC internet, EDMs, DMs, Print, TV) to their targeted customer base.
6. Device Providers
1. work with the Carriers / Operators to provide out of box experience through preloading of the location-based services apps.
2. comprise the N-screens of mobile devices across PC, laptops, tablets, smartphones etc.

What are the revenue streams in location-based services?
Through Strategic Analytics, ABI research and various lit search, there are 3 main pillars of revenue streams in location-based services - some more immediately relevant, whilst others like community set to grow in the next 5 years.

1. Utilities
1. more immediate rational driver, referring to search, turn by turn navigation, personal tracking
2. for parents who would like to track their kids
3. for exploring and looking up places of interests and getting there on car or on foot
4. for enterprises for fleet management
2. Commerce
1. location-based eShopping deals
2. restaurant booking
3. mobile advertising
3. Community
1. social media integration leading to crowd-sourced sharing of recommendations
2. peer to peer value exchange
3. enabling more engagement with consumers through gamification

Before ending this post, I will leave you now with
2 real-world examples of how location-based services bring value and innovation to businesses in the ecosystem.

(1) Nokia Thailand Foursquare Campaign
Here is a first in the world campaign when a phone manufacturer (Nokia), a local operator/carrier (DTAC) and local Thai retailers came on board and collaborated to provide brand awareness of Foursquare check-ins with Nokia smartphones, value to DTAC consumers and driving real-world traffic to the retailers.  (Disclosure: I was involved in the working team for this campaign with my Nokia Thailand colleagues during my career at Nokia)

(2) Nokia Gift Vending Machine Social-Location-Mobile (So-Lo-Mo) innovation
A pretty neat program which provided real-world treats to people who checked in.  Delight: you never know what you are going to get!

1. How do the players in location-based services differ in your market?  
2. How do the campaign mechanics from location-based apps in your markets provide value as ancillary channels for businesses?

I look forward to hear from you on your comments to this post, and write more on these topics.

Later soon,
Nelson Wee
engage with me at @nelsonwee

References:
1. Infographic: Location-Based Social Media – Every Move You Make
2. Location Based Services Usage & Perception Survey from Microsoft

Why are there opportunities in location-based services?

According to a location-based media company JiWire, 53% of the "on-the-go" US audience are willing to exchange their location for more relevant content and better information, including mobile deals.  And this "on-the-go" audience, which comprise users of notebooks, tablets and smartphones out of home or workplace is GROWING.

In one of my recent posts, I wrote about how content consumption has gone mobile as mobile is personal and always near.  As we are always on the move, context in whatever we are doing (or could be doing), where ever we may be, becomes important to us amidst today's time-starved world.  With GPS, cell-ID location tracking in mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are increasingly availed in the hands of the consumers of today and tomorrow, and data plans becoming more affordable, it comes with no surprise that there is increasing interest from on-the-go consumers in:

1. checking into locations via mobile for achievements or rewards,
2. searching for information more online via mobile (even while in the shops!),
3. or buying products and services while on the move.

Let's have a look at some key market growth trends in location-based services.


Location-based Apps and check-in features are garnering interest in mobiles

• According to Pew Internet & American Life Project report (availed via this link) released recently 6-SEP-2011, 5% of all  US cell owners or 12% US smartphone owners use geosocial check-in services like Foursquare or Gowalla.
• With Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook "Places", consumers are sharing to show-off their "Fab life"
• Mainstream audience:  amongst 20 to 34 year olds, privacy appears less of a concern.
• Secondary audience: 35 to 44 year olds who have higher spending power.
• Emotional drivers focusing on the mainstream: gamification and social leaderboards are being used to engage consumers on the move.
• Rational drivers largely to the secondary audience: price comparisons through daily deals, location-based promotions.

Group buys through social sharing and mobile coupons and local deals are growing

• Players include Groupon (more than 30M subs globally), are expanding into Asia through acquisitions.  In Singapore, Groupon acquired Beeconomic the #2 deal site in April 2010 and is now #1.
• Local deals and ecosystem players in Singapore like deal.com.sg and Chlkboard are growing mind share and market share with advertisers.

Many players are looking into being your mobile wallet

• Facebook credits for virtual goods now (in social games) - what about physical products in the future?
• Paypal account - to order your takeaways
• Operator (carrier) billing for lower price tiered products - both virtual and physical
• Retail POS like VISA Paywave contactless paymenbt, MasterCard PayPass for tap and go convenience

Singapore shows strong growth in mobile subscribers and value-added services

• In Singapore, IDC forecasts that the number of Singapore mobile subscribers will increase at a 3.9% CAGR to reach 8.3 million by 2014, pushing the penetration rate from 140% in 2009 to 163% by 2014. 
• Much of this growth is expected to come from the take-up of non-voice services, prepaid subscriptions (comes with data) and the proliferation of multi-sim cards (multi-device ownership - tablets, smartphones, mobile broadband).

Location-based services are going mobile and social (Lo-So-Mo).  The ancillary channels to businesses and potential ancillary revenue streams are only emerging at this point.  I will be writing more next on the various players in the location-based services value chain. 

Meanwhile, I would be most interested to hear more on your views on how location-based services are taking off in your market.

Talk soon,
Nelson Wee
Connect with me on Twitter @nelsonwee

References:
1. Definition of location-based service
2. Location Based Services Usage; Perception Survey from Microsoft
3. Nearly 1-in-3 Adults Use Location-Based Services

How are eShopping trends shaping the market?

These days, we see high growth with the usage of the mobile internet in SouthEast Asia. Besides your wallet and your keys, your mobile is probably the third personal item always by your side.  In fact in a global survey conducted by OnDevice Research, it described how Asian consumers, more often than other consumers, would first go to their phones to research or purchase goods and services.  To save time and get things done more efficiently in today's world, your mobile has become an ancillary channel for eShop browsing to help source, service and support your purchase decisions.

In fact, from a PayPal research done Jan-Feb 2011, there were several interesting findings:

1. Singapore online commerce market reached S$1.1 billion in 2010, and will grow to S$4.4 billion in 2015.
2. 1.2 million Singaporean online shoppers (above the age of 18 years old) had an average spend per head of S$1,492 over the past year.
3. 84% of Singaporeans used their mobile device to either research or purchase goods.
4. Mobile eShopping is in its infancy stage comprising 4% of online shopping market.
5. Over 364 thousand Singaporean online shoppers spent S$43 million ($$119/user) on their mobile devices last year, approximately 4% of the online shopping market
6. 40% (~S$420 million) of online purchases were domestic.

Stores in Singapore could well look into putting together a multi-channel approach to in their sales and marketing.  From a merchandising perspective, the I Love Deals in-app survey infographic below show that the 3 top products consumers expressed interest in online deals were clothing, shoes and consumer electronics.

With online and mobile eShopping primed to take off in Asia and Singapore,

• How will sales and marketing change with eCoupons, vouchers?  What are the ancillary revenue opportunities?
• How will apps, the Web, TV impact marketing, promotions and distribution channels for eShopping?  How will these ancillary channels evolve?
• With daily deals fatigue, what are the new models in eShopping?  Is gamification trending as an engagement tactic?  Is yield management a new model to look into?

I look forward to engage into further discussions on the above.

til later,
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee

References:
1. The Stats and Facts of Online Shopping in Singapore
2. Mobile commerce on growth path in Asia Pacific
3. PayPal Study Shows Singaporeans Find Value in Shopping on Local Websites

1-2-3 to the eBook market

In my previous post, I wrote about how content consumption is going increasingly mobile as mobile devices are personal and always near you.  In this day and age of the Mobile Internet when time is now compressed more than ever, consumers are adapting their lifestyles in various activities like reading.  With the introduction of the Amazon Kindle in 2007 in the US and rest of the world in 2009, eBooks and eMagazines are now changing the ways consumers are interacting with the book media.

Here is a quick 1-2-3 to the eBook market:

(1) eBooks Global Market adoption: US leads, followed by the UK, emergent in Rest of the World

• Books business is BIG BUSINESS - around the world, people spent US$108 billion on books in 2009.
• In the US, eBooks have grown from 0.6 percent in 2008 of the total books trade  market, to 3% in 2009 and more recently to 7% in 2010.  Expect to see eBooks to have a market share of 22.5% of consumer books in 2015!
• The UK while lagging behind the US with 1.5% market share of consumer books in 2010 is expected to see this share rise to 14.2% in 2015

(2) eBooks can be consumed across multiple screens and ways

• eReaders (Amazon Kindle introduced in 2007) as the dedicated  eReading device which ensures a real book reading experience.
• Tablets (iPad in introduced in 2010) as the multifunction alternative reading devices, while on the move, e.g. with eMagazines.
• Smartphones for short mobile sequels read during daily commute.
• PCs, laptops which are great for reading special interest group eBooks, reference, education books.

(3) eBooks and eMagazines provide opportunities as ancillary channels

• Publishers can look forward to reinvent themselves in the book publishing value chain as content providers.
• With eBooks, publishers now have in their hands ancillary channels to market with potentially lower costs and higher margins.
• Publishers could earn ancillary revenues by going beyond the text in the books and repurposing the content to audio, video and even games.

Just like music, tv and video, the books industry has been experiencing disruptive changes in differing degrees around the world - led by the US and impacting the rest of the world through the proliferation of the mobile internet and multimedia consumption devices.

If you are a publisher, are you looking into eBooks?  If not, why?

If you are a consumer, how would you see eBooks changing your reading behaviors, now and in the future? 

Look forward to your views.


warm regards, later~
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee

How content consumption is going mobile

How people have been used to consuming content before and how they are doing so today have changed dramatically over the last 20 years.  Content consumption has become more portable as mobile devices (smartphones, tablets etc) become more personal and always near at hand.

Mobile is Personal
It probably all started when we could start personalize the ring tone of your Nokia mobile phone in the 90s.  With that one feature sprang forth a large following and business for downloadable ring tones.  Thereafter with the advent of iTunes, there was no stopping music going portable.

It was also in the late nineties that the Snake game in Nokia mobile phones enraptured a community of Nokia loyalists into mobile gaming.  The mobile games business grew from strength to strength since then and ever more so today with the proliferation of smartphones and games with richer game-play.

The mobile has become ever more so personal with your favourite music and games mobile and portable, by your side.

Mobile is always near
Newspapers have not been spared.  The time has come to a pass when Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has published the digital copy of the Straits Times as an iPad, iPhone app.  With time looked upon as a premium by the current Gen-X professionals and Gen-Ys not known to read physical print, SPH is looking to engage these lost readers through the other more in-their-face screens, i.e. tablets (largely iPads today) and smartphones.

Besides newspapers, more screen time on tablets and smartphones with digital versions of magazines and books have also encroached upon our daily lives.  Bookstores are disappearing one by one. In Singapore, I bade a sad farewell to the landmark Borders bookstore at Wheelock Place recently.  With the mobile internet always in your hand whether from your tablet or smartphone, you now have easy access to your favourite magazine or book, whereever you are.  Never stop reading.  Never stop learning.  No more downtime. No need to think about which book or magazine to bring along.  It is also said that consumers now buy eBooks or eMagazines without thinking, more spontaneously so, as they require physical storage and are with you all the time!

For devoted readers of novels, people who sometimes voraciously consume several books in a single week, eBooks are a natural fit.  With this new transitionary digital age, eBooks are now availed on the first day the physical book is published and can be about the same price as well (at times, more affordable too!)  It comes with no surprise that eBook best-seller lists are now packed with the genre novels that have traditionally dominated paperback best-seller lists.

I have not yet touched on video but with YouTube being the world's second largest search engine and third most visited site, I reckon you get the drift on where's video going. [Added 7-OCT 2011]: According to a Nielsen India study, Indian Smartphone Users are now seen to be moving towards Data, Games and Content, and Away From SMS.
With content consumption habits changing with content consumption going more mobile, mobile apps with content could provide us with a number of ancillary channels and ancillary revenue opportunities. Although the type of content, (shorter) length of attention of your audience on your content from the mobile devices would need to be pondered upon, it has also been observed that consumers who read eBooks (not replacing books) are consuming more books - Amazon Kindle users buying 3.3 times more books after owning a Kindle.

What are your thoughts and observations?


Look forward to hear from you,
Nelson Wee
engage with me at @nelsonwee

Reference links:
1. Is “stickiness” a thing of the past?
2. The Dog-Eared Paperback, Newly Endangered in an E-Book Age
3. Indian Smartphone Users moving towards Data, Games and Content, and Away From SMS
4. The ABCs of E-Reading (new devices are changing habits)

Consumers are buying time

If there is one thing that the world is trending towards to these days, it would be this - "Consumers are buying time."

Do you get it?  Or perhaps, do the following ring a bell?


1. You have to get that gift for your special someone. But no, your office emails are piling up, the deadlines are looming, and you are totally fazed with the information overload.  You dig deep to manage the pressure (and there are ways to focus and get things done). You reach down to your nearest trusted deals app to grab an attractive offer.

2. You work your butt out more than 10, 11, 12 hours a day at the office.  Time flies by.  You look at your watch and feel you need to pack up to catch a warm dinner at home and catch some time with your kid before bed-time.  The dreaded Electronic Road Pricing system (the automated toll booth in Singapore) is still operational until 8pm every working weekday. But you decide to go home earlier, pay the toll because it's worth it.

3. You brave daily the crowded public transport (buses, trains), struggling to read the news on a daily from your smartphone, tablet (you missed getting hold of your newspapers from home or perhaps you have stopped subscription for the paper newspaper).  You had decided a while back to pay for your digital paper, your favourite eMagazine or even that odd eBook you had decided to pick up to make the most of your downtime waiting for your ride to the office or back home.






Are you able to associate to the above 3 scenarios?  While pretty local to Singaporeans, I dare say that these could be well linked to the lives of many urbanites all over the world.

With the sweeping wave of online and mobility trends all over the world and into Southeast Asia, ancillary revenue opportunities will open to different markets, abound via a mix of traditional and ancillary channels.  What are your observations? Are you riding the wave today?  I look forward to listen to your thoughts.

More discussions around the above topics in my later posts.

See you soon~
Nelson Wee
@nelsonwee