And some adjusted their sails – episode one
But the change triumphed.
Today the wind of change is blowing faster & stronger or that our present perception. The only businesses that remained afloat are those who adjusted their sails in time.
I contemplating to post a mini-series about The Ones who
didn’t lose and start with the fantastic story about Netflix.
In 1997, American entrepreneurs Reed Hastings and March
Rudolph founded Netflix as a video-rental company. The “dot com” revolution was
then reaching its peak while a much bigger digital storm was brewing in the
backdrop. As the internet continued to grow
more relevant, Netflix did not get into a denial mode and bury their head in the
sand. Instead that faced the challenge and adjusted their sails.
By 2007 Netflix took advantage of the speed of the internet and
began offering subscribers, the option to stream some movies and television
shows directly to their homes. The popularity grew at a phenomenal speed and in 2016, their service streamed directly to homes in more than 190 countries. By the end of
2018, the number of subscribers exceeded 130 million and generated bulk of their revenue.
Netflix decided to create variety of contents to satisfy the
taste and need of their subscribers and developed complicated algorithm for
predicting an individual’s movie preferences based on past choices. This further
cemented the bond with their customers and made them what they are today.
Compare the Netflix story with the stories of hundreds video
libraries & parlors that used to provide similar services in almost every neighborhood.
Interesting read. It is quite inspiring how these businesses were early adopters of change and responded swiftly. I wrote a case study on one of the businesses in UK - Hotel Chocolat. Their USP was in providing mail order chocolates, just like offering flowers during special days, they made a very good model on chocolate delivery. They are now one of the best chocolate brands in UK. They make some amazing chocolates :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by @Vinay. Please share the link for the Chocolat post.
DeleteI am planning to write a few post on them who not only survived but triumphed.
It is a shame that my school has not gone through the final publishing bits. I really enjoyed writing the case study and learning about them. I found a couple which might be of interest.:
Deletehttps://www.redtechnology.com/downloads/ecommerce-case-study-hotel-chocolat.pdf
https://www.dacgroup.com/en-gb/work/hotel-chocolat/
There's a lesson for us in the Netflix story.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to the next few posts on the topic. :)
Many thanks for stopping and sharing your thoughts. I will surely come back with the subsequent episodes. Please make it a point to come back.
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