Jon Stribling

My own piece of the Internet
 
Jon Stribling

Myer offer free shipping

I found out today that Myer have started to offer free shipping in Australia. This is a welcome step and a sign of the maturing of online retail in Australia. The large department store and big box stores have largely ignored ecommerce for the past 15 years and have started to act after being faced with changing consumer behaviour and declining profits . There is a long way to go. The David Jones online store has made big improvements but is a great example of getting a lot wrong. Some retailers like Bunnings offer only store location tools and catalogue …

Online takes work

A small business I provided some advice had launched a website in a space with low competition and high margins, and the results were pretty good for a small investment.  They had knocked up a site, launched some paid search ads, put in some rudimentary processes for managing enquiries, and like the results. The problem was that the site had stopped growing. What was missing was the kind of consistent maintenance and content creation to engage buyers, rank well in Google, and learn from your mistakes. I find many people not familiar with the intricacies of online marketing and ecommerce …

So what is leadership really?

I was reading about Christine Nixon criticising the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Royal Commission and it struck me that we all have different ideas about leadership. Nixon had claimed that the Royal Commission was the “worst kind of kangaroo court”. The media, in particular the News Ltd papers had taken a dim view of Nixon having a meal in a pub on Black Saturday, likening her to Emperor Nero, eating while Victoria burned. Nixon had previously said about leadership on the ABC: “But I think there’s a line about leadership for me that I think’s really important and it’s not about privilege, …

The recipe for online success

When I was just starting out in the web game in the 1990’s, I met a bloke just back from working in London and about to open a restaurant. He wanted to change the way Melbournians ate fine food. There would be no mediocrity. Every ingredient would be individually sourced and the finest available. The staff would approach hospitality as professionals, not as students with a part time job. The sommelier would be a verified expert at pairing the finest wines with the finest food. The venue, whilst humble would be in a great location, have parking and be easily accessible …

Zing is not my thing, what’s wrong with the latest Australia Post campaign

I just saw a new Australia Post ad promoting their parcel delivery services to small to medium businesses in Australia. The ad encourages businesses to “zing their thing” and apart from being a little trite (zing = speed), I liked the ad. It tells the story of a small business that makes Zing and becomes wildly successful. And guess what, they need a flexible delivery service to meet the needs of their rapidly growing business. The ad is backed by a website http://www.zingyourthing.com.au/ which builds on the idea that Zing is every product, every idea, every dream, which is of …

What is Google+ really?

When Google+ was launched a few weeks ago I saw it as another Google Buzz writ large. Google Buzz was of course a lamentable failure after hype of dizzying proportions. Now I think Google+ may be different. In a little over 3 weeks the service has amassed 20  million users and seen the social media stars and blogger experts jump on board and make all sorts of wonderful claims. My favourites are: Personal blogs are no longer needed because Google+ allows maximum engagement; This will kill twitter and people are already bored by twitter; The 140 character limit is limiting twitter; This …

The death of Amy Winehouse, what a tragic waste

I have a few memories of Amy Winehouse. One is in Norway, which is an awful coincidence given the terrible shootings there this weekend. It was at a recovery BBQ for a Wedding, the weather was warm, the party attendees nicely drunk or hungover when “I don’t wanna go to rehab” came on the ipod mix. My brother-in-law, who has long struggled with his own demons, jumped up and said they’re playing my song  and started to dance; wildly, crazy, and free. The more senior members of the party looked at the ground or studied their wine glasses. The younger, …

Why Deleuze would have loved the Internet

When I was a university student I loved French Philosopher, Gilles Deleuze for his complex and almost impregnable ideas which busted open the traditional pillars of western thought. Deleuze approached philosophy as an outsider. “What got me by during that period was conceiving of the history of philosophy as a kind of ass-fuck, or, what amounts to the same thing, an immaculate conception. I imagined myself approaching an author from behind and giving him a child that would indeed be his but would nonetheless be monstrous.” There is a lot to learn from this kind of approach to life. Rather than accepting …

.xxx coincidence or copycat

This morning I noticed that GoDaddy and NetRegistry had almost identical facebook posts. First GoDaddy posted: Then a few hours later NetRegistry posted: Is it just the domain registrar Zeitgeist or is there some copycat marketing going on? .xxx is a curly issue for many in the industry so there is a chance that some market probing (sorry) is underway by both GoDaddy and NetRegistry. However, I have my suspicions that NetRegistry was scratching for relevant content for their Facebook page and were inspired by the big Daddy.

Poor old Malcom Gladwell

Malcom Gladwell must be wondering what went wrong. In October 2010 the award winning New Yorker writer penned a piece that tried to address the hyperbole about so-called twitter revolutions and suddenly he was the most hated man on twitter. The response was spectacular. Twitter erupted into outrage, Biz Stone co-founder of twitter responded with a thoughtful but dense piece in The Atlantic Monthly that promoted twitter as a force for fostering relationships and creating meaningful change. For Stone the power of twitter lies in its ability to empower people through communication. He finishes his defence with: Rudimentary communication among …