I made a quick trip to Cebu last week for the 3rd Student Marketing Congress in Cebu. More than 3,000 students (and my biggest crowd yet) can get a tad overwhelming. I was there to talk about effective websites but repurposed my talk to discuss blogging and content because well, it was really more fitting to a crowd of teenagers. That’s me with Boy Abunda, one of the other speakers on celebrity marketing.
Australia is the only country that is also a continent, and with a population of 22.68 million it is definitely a place to send your product when you expand into the international market. Australia’s biggest exports are related to the mining industry, with everyday items being exported in. This is good because there is little competition with Australian made products, but there is competition with the main importer, China. Not only does China have a high production rate, it is also probably cheaper to ship from China to Australia, since it is closer. It is also important that you make sure that the product you produce is wanted by an Australian audience. If your product does not have a market, then trying to expand into Australia will only cost you money.
Australian Made Products
In 2005-2006, only 10 percent of the products that were consumed in Australia were made domestically; everything else was imported in. This is good news for those who have a business that is prepared to ship internationally, as the product will likely have a market. There are a few things that are still domestically produced on a large scale. The largest products made in Australia are automobiles. Companies like Ford and Toyota both have factories in Australia, as well as the domestic company Tomcar. Australia also has a large chemical industry, making internationally known brands like Velvet soap and Solvol. No Australian clothing lines currently make their clothing domestically. The fact that imported goods are the norm means that there will be no social stigma over a product that is made in another country, as well as little loyalty towards locally produced brands.
Shipping to Australia
Shipping Australia is definitely a daunting task, especially when your product is not made in a country far across the globe. Prices can be steep as everything has to either be flown in or shipped on a boat. China, as the main importer to Australia and being relatively close, has extremely low shipping rates in comparison. It may be a smart business move to produce your product in China and then ship to Australia. Another option may be to ship to China first. Not only can this save you shipping costs, but an experienced liaison will know all the ins and outs of shipping to Australia.
Is the Product Needed?
The big question is whether the product will sell or not, and as long as it is well advertised it will. Research has to be made on what kind of goods the different provinces and counties of the country need, in comparison to others. For some provinces, because of their isolation, it takes longer for products to get there. Some shipping services may not regularly service the area, or simply not service it at all. This could be something to take advantage of as it is an easy market, but could also raise your shipping costs as well. Any product that is marketed well can create substantial revenue, but in Australia it is easier for that product to be marketed as there are not as many competitors. Australia is definitely somewhere where a product will do well, and appeals to an Internet based market.
From the creator of Streetfood Tycoon, Elevator Joe is a fast-paced mobile game for Android and iOS, putting you as the commander of an … elevator. Your job is to ferry tenants to and fro in the most efficient way possible. The elevator you man can only accommodate a limited number of tenants and the hook, really, is to find the most efficient floor route to take when managing very impatient tenants. Points are awarded for high satisfaction ratings which you can use to buy upgrades such as more building floors, faster elevator movement and even more space inside the elevator.
“Hey Jayvs, nice watch!”
“Thanks!” I say. Then I go, “Did you know it can tell me if I have text?”
Then they tell me I’m bolero daw.
As someone who has been closely associated with gadgets for most of his adult life, to be told that a piece of technology you’re showcasing isn’t geeky is a rather strong statement. And that’s precisely what I love about the Cookoo Smart Watch.
Last week I wrote an introductory guide to buying a new flat screen TV. The 8-point buying guide covers the basics, from choosing the right sized screen based on the physical qualifications of your living room or mini home theater space to paying attention to the decals stuck on the screen advertising “Full HD” or “HD Ready” devices. In this piece, I give you three more pointers to consider when choosing your new flat screen.
1. Understand the Soap Opera Effect
You’ve seen it all in the demos but can’t quite define what it is. It’s when images on the screen are super smooth, it almost looks like real life — like a soap opera. Watching your favorite action flick can get a tad distracting when all of a sudden all the characters look all too perfect. I’ve personally gotten used to it (it looks especially great when watching CGI) but a lot of viewers tend to find this feature rather distracting. The good news is that you can actually turn this option off. The industry term for this feature is ‘motion interpolation’ but really, everyone calls it the soap opera effect. Different manufacturers have specific terms for this feature. For instance a Samsung TV from Richer Sounds calls this feature Auto Motion Plus and all flat screen TVs should have this feature to turn it off.
Peter Jackson shot The Hobbit to accommodate the Soap Opera Effect.
2. Upscaling, Explained
In the previous article, I pointed out that 4K TV sets are the wave of the future but there’s a huge disparity between the hardware and the media that is being produced to fully enjoy the 4K experience. The videos you see being played in stores are more often that not, demo reels. But, one of the best features of the 4K TV, at least in my opinion, is the way they upscale your old media. I actually have a detailed account of my experience with Sony’s new 4K Bravia line but if you’re too lazy to read that, I’ll summarize it into this: modern TV’s have a tendency to upscale the quality of your content to better the viewing experience, especially for bigger screens. A movie in 720p that is upscaled to 1080p looks great but a movie in 1080p upscaled by a 4K TV is quite an amazing feat. Although it doesn’t refresh the quality to four times the resolution of 1080p, it does a great job of pushing the quality to 2K resolution, which is two times better than 1080p. To the naked eye I actually could not tell the difference and if you’re on one of the smaller 4K screens, it won’t even matter. So yes, if you’re opting to buy a 4K TV< you will be able to enjoy your old media repackaged into 2K awesomeness. 3. There's a way around Flat Audio If your concern is audio, flat screen TV's, by nature have had this as their waterloo compared to their CRT precursors. Old cathode ray tube TV sets are their own subwoofers because of the nature of their construction. There's enough bass to resonate inside that square box. With flat screen TV's, there's none of that so audio might seen a bit flat especially for the low bass notes. Luckily, we've been seeing innovation in this field with some manufacturers addressing this concern. The Bravia line for instance incorporates NASA-inspired technology to create the surround sound experience with a set of specialized speaker ducts along the hidden perimeter of the TV to produce the bass.