This was a brief presentation I gave at the AdAge Creativity & Technology Conference (CAT) in New York on 6/10/10. Topic of the panel was "Agencies or Developers? Yes." and my intro presentation was on the commoditization of interactive marketing/web development services and why we started to develop our own proprietary augmented reality tech.
6. Commoditization Commoditization is the dilution of a market sector's internal differentiation and competitive nuances in favor of a mass market where price alone determines consumer behavior. The industry's mode of competition thus moves away from innovation of the underlying, commoditized product and toward alternative methods of building value.
It’s utilitarian and provides no emotional satisfaction. Conversion rates are low, with the “gold standard” being between 2% and 3%. Cart abandon rates are high. 45% of U.S. online shoppers abandoned shopping carts multiple times over a span of three weeks. (Paypal & ComScore) The average return rate for online clothing retailers is about 20% but goes as high as 50% for some. (Forrester Research) "If I'd asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse .“ – henry ford