Category: Industry

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge from the time that mobiles were unheard of in India to the present where they have become almost ubiquitous. Beginning from those days, Indian subscribers paid around Rs. 16.40 for a mobile to mobile call and around Rs 32.80 for a mobile to a landline call. Today, as per recent statistics, customers pay far lesser for calls and occasional text messages that add up to around Rs 300 a month and upwards.

Now that mobiles have moved into the affordable bracket, there is a great demand for additional mobile services such as mobiles, email, stock market quotes, and astrology services, just to name a few.

A recent survey pointed to the fact that for most customers, mobile phones have become an extension of their personality. Many go a step ahead to say that mobile phones define their individuality as well.

In such a scenario, it is worthwhile to compare the growth of the mobile phone industry vis-a-vis the computer industry in India. According to recent statistics, there are nearly 300 million mobile phone subscribers as compared to just around 30 million PCs in the country. Additionally, around 8 million subscribers are signing up every month for mobile services alone.

For most individuals, mobile phones are becoming a single point of contact for the world surrounding them covering a wide range of utilities like emailing, entertainment, and banking.

More and more people are looking out for more than just talk time on their mobiles. All this is generating a lot of enthusiasm for mobile companies. A number of serious players in this industry are looking at a range of such value added services, which have the capability to boost their bottom line.

Not only are Indians enthralled, but they started spending a considerable amount on these services too. This figure amounted to around $250 million last year. This figure is expected to reach $1.7 billion by the year 2010. This is a boon in disguise for Indian cellular operators who are seriously looking forward to enhance their revenues. Currently, nearly 80% of the revenues come from services like ring tones and SMS. This makes India the second largest mobile market on earth.

The young mobile savvy generation currently feels less privileged in nearly every sector. And thats precisely what is fuelling the growth in mobile services across the country. As the market expands but fulfilling the needs of mobile users by providing them attractive services, mobile phones are becoming a new vehicle for reaching out to the mobile generation.

Mobile content providers also visualise a big jump in their services. These include many global companies such as Google, Yahoo and MSN, which have signed up with many Indian operators like Airtel, Bharti, Vodafone, Tata, and Reliance Communications. Together, they offer a host of services based on the local and regional markets in their area of operation.

The Indian mobile scenario seems to be all set for the next stage expansion and consolidation, but there are a few complications as well. Not all users can afford costlier services beyond messaging and talk time. What is expected is increase in the already growing user base so such services can become affordable to one and all in the long run.

Dubai has emerged as the one among the most favorite destinations for travelers from the world over who are in search of the most luxurious vacation trips. They can have exotic quality of dining and all comforts of the various five star hotels in Dubai. The sandy beaches and various spots for sightseeing make the trip to Dubai the most memorable.

Youngsters as well as newly married couples are highly thrilled at the amusement parks, the various events and also with the variety of other outdoor activities. Tour organizers all over the world offer very attractive packages for holiday trips to Dubai. Besides sightseeing and other refreshing activities shopping at the great malls of Dubai is indeed a great experience.

Specialties from all parts of the world are available in these malls. The tourism industry in Dubai has recorded a tremendous growth and within a short span of time Dubai could succeed in becoming a global brand of tourism.

Blend of cultures

The tourists at Dubai experience a perfect blend of traditional culture of Dubai and the modern culture. Dubai tourism is designed by modern architects as well as historians. While developing Dubai as the most modern tourist center adequate care has been taken to protect its rich cultural heritage.

While bringing up Dubai with the latest technology and innovations the local people never compromised with the cultural values of ancient Dubai. Since the blend of ancient and modern makes its presence everywhere in Dubai the past glory of Dubai is still alive.

Those who visit Dubai are overwhelmed with the hospitality they get there. English language is very common all over Dubai so that international tourists find it very comfortable to communicate during their visit to Dubai.

Tourism the most flourishing industry

The tourism industry is very significant for Dubai since it has greatly contributed to faster economic growth of the country. The anticipation is that in coming years the tourism industry in Dubai will reach the first position pushing down oil export to second position.

Tourism has been identified as the base for Dubais future economic growth. The hotel industry is well flourishing in Dubai and there are more than 200 star hotels that provide world class accommodation facilities to the visitors from all parts of the world. The spectacular Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai is one of the most famous hotels in the world.

The Royal Mirage Hotel, Ajman Resort, Wild Wadi Park and Al Maha etc are the other major places of attraction for tourists in Dubai.

The international tourism hub

Travelers with different interests find Dubai as their favorite travel destination. Dubai tourism offers immense opportunities and facilities for various tourist activities sightseeing, beaches and natural beauty, variety shopping, culture, purchase of fashion articles, luxury and comfort, fishing, theme parks and all modern tourist activities and entertainments.

All types of international cuisines are offered at the hotels in Dubai. The Chinese cuisine at Zheng He, the various national and international cuisines at Al Muna, the Cocktails at Bahri Bar, the French cuisine at Hotel Pierchic and the Thai Cuisine at Pai Thai are the prices of Dubai tourism.

The beaches in Dubai are known for their serene atmosphere and peaceful surroundings. The restaurants and resorts are linked by waterways.

Environmental, social and ethical pressures on the global textiles and fashion sector emerged in Europe in the early 1980s. The main driver was consumer concern over the safety of the materials. However in parallel with this trend, a minority group of ethical consumers demanded chemical-free and low environmental impact clothing and fashion goods. This resulted in the European and later the US organic labeling system being extended to include criteria for clothing and textiles, such as organic cotton. As of 2007, the sector was the fastest growing part of the global cotton industry with growth of more than 50% a year. With reference to safety standards, primarily addressing consumer concern over chemicals in textiles, the Oeko-Tex standard has become highly popular in the industry. Although unknown to consumers, It tests for chemicals such as flame retardants in clothes and categorizes goods according to their likely exposure to humans (e.g. baby clothes must adhere to the strictest standards for chemicals). Thus the issue of chemicals in clothing has become largely one of liability risk control for the industry with the consumers obviously expecting products to pose no risk to their health. Organic and eco fashion and textiles attracts a far smaller, but fast growing group of consumers, largely in Western Europe and Coastal US.

Of far greater concern to the global fashion sector is the issue of worker welfare. The issue was highlighted by pressure groups such as Global Exchange in the US targeting Levis and Nike and others.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s anecdotal evidence began emerging from labor activists in the US and Europe concerning the supply chains and overseas factories of leading US and European multinationals. A key target was the world’s leading maker of denim jeans Levi Strauss, but more significantly Nike, the world’s largest sports shoe marketing firm. Global Exchange launched its Nike Anti Sweatshop campaign, focusing on the firms sourcing in China and Indonesia.

Issues included child labor, minimum wages, working hours and employee benefits. Activists argued that such issues should not differ too widely from standards mandatory in the West, while Nike argued at the time that differing national economic and social conditions dictated different standards globally. A good deal of negotiations and stakeholder meetings led to a generally accepted code of practice for labor management in developing countries acceptable to most parties involved. The SA 8000 emerged as the leading industry driven voluntary standard on worker welfare issues. SA 8000 supporters now include the GAP, TNT and others and SAI reports that as of 2008, almost 1 million workers in 1700 facilities have achieved SA 8000 certification. Such a certification requires investment in the process but also more significantly in changing labor practices such as wage structures. It is clearly being driven by large US and European multinationals that may require certain suppliers to gain certification.

The Fair Trade movement has also had a significant impact on the fashion business. The standard combines a number of ethical issues of potential concern to consumers environmental factors, fair treatment of developing country suppliers and worker welfare. The Fair Trade label has show explosive growth.

Albeit on a very small scale and not always at the top end of the fashion industry, many niche brands have emerged which promote themselves primarily on sustainability grounds People Tree in the UK states that it creates Fair Trade and organic clothing and accessories by forming lasting partnerships with Fair Trade, organic producers in developing countries. Leading fashion journal Marie Claire ranked its top 10 eco brands in a recent issue. The key issues remain chemicals in clothing (certified by organic and Fair Trade labels), worker treatment (certified by SA 8000 and Fair Trade) and increasingly mainstream environmental issues such as climate change. The Carbon Reduction Label verifies a products cradle-to-grave carbon footprint, although is not specific to clothing. Mainstream brands such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, H&M and Zara have been slower to make firm commitments on the full rage of ethical issues due to the difficulties of switching their supply chains and products lines completely in favor of organic or Fair Trade certified or other standards and norms. They are however, moving slowing to ensure they capture the market if it becomes significant the worlds largest fashion brand Louis Vuitton recently acquired a small eco fashion label. It is clear, however from the example of Nike and Levis, however that certain issues are here to stay, such as a demand by Western consumers that leading brands manage the issue of worker welfare in their supply chain properly.

Theres just one thing online interior designer entrepreneurs like me love more than cupcakes and thats being at the vanguard of the evolution of an entire industry.

Every industry has had its challenges when it comes to evolving to better serve its customers online. Many industries struggle with piracy, others with delivery and logistics. My industry, residential interior design, has struggled to evolve its cost-to-serve model toward something that is attractive to more than just the wealthiest one percent of Americans.

When I launched online interior design website HMDhome.com six years ago the first sightings of my online interior designer competition could be found buried on page eight of a Google search in the form of a website selling “design in a box”. “Design in a box” consisted of the client completing a rudimentary online form (inclusive of room dimensions and style questions) and paying $800 via PayPal to an interior designer hundreds of miles away whom theyd never get to speak to, let alone develop a relationship with. Six to eight weeks later a large hat box was to be delivered full of a very carefully curated selection fabric samples, paint chips, furniture plan drawing and a shopping list of furniture, lighting and decorative accessories.

Admirable in its presentation quality the design in a box as a product was extremely beautifully prepared however as a business model it was doomed to fail for three reasons. It was an impersonal transaction in an industry that requires consultative collaboration. It was technically an improperly curated catalog because it represented what the designer had to offer, not what the client ultimately purchased for their interior design project. Finally, for the typical homeowner it was expensive. At this price point the interior designer wasnt expanding the overall interior design client base to a broader market and I suspect they failed to convert a meaningful number of home owners to online interior design in the process.

Today, home owners planning a home renovation or remodeling project can get tremendous value from online interior design services at a fraction of the cost of the original design in a box. Virtual services include ongoing consultation with a designer, specifications for colors, furniture, fixtures and finishes and access to exclusive designer discounts from popular retailers and trade sources.

Let me bore you for just a moment with some important statistics about the highly fragmented residential interior design industry relevant to its potential future online evolution.

A May 2011 report by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics indicated there are 40,950 interior designers in the US inclusive of all disciplines (residential, hospitality, corporate, restaurant and specialty). A minority of these professionals are expected to be localized residential interior designers serving fewer than 1% of US households with a traditional cost to serve model made up of hourly design fees and/or extra-retail product mark-ups.

The most significant barrier between interior designers and millions of potential new customers is the structure of the current interior design cost-to-serve model which is prohibitive for all but the wealthiest Americans.

According to a 2010 household income report from the US Census Bureau 8.4% of households earn in excess of $150K per year. While 90.2% of these were owner occupied as of two years ago, its estimated that 7.8 million households representing a potential prime demographic for online interior designers have never before consulted with an interior designer.

With a lean six sigma black belt on staff at
Homemade Design Corporation (HMD) you can bet we collect and analyze key client data related to our online interior design firm. For example, 89.6% of approximately 954 current HMD clients report having never hired a designer before working with Homemade Design. Among the primary reasons given for not previously having hired an interior designer is the perception that hiring an interior designer will increase overall project costs.

Yes, wealthy homeowners in the Hamptons may enjoy bragging about how much theyve spent as they sip champagne at the polo match. However, for the online interior design industry to evolve toward delighting a greater number of interior design clients we must enable them to brag about how much they have saved.

Marketing through the internet is extremely effective in reach to a large group of audience from different corners of the world. However, this approach is highly competitive as a result of which millions of users are opting for the online marketing approach. This has led to infinite numbers of websites highlighting same topic or depicting similar themes. It makes getting lost in the vast crowd of websites becomes easier. But with the presence of seo manchester service providers, scenarios look a lot better. A website’s performance depends largely on the SEO methods applied on it before getting listed on the search directories. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the approach to build a website’s reputation in the most positive way while being placed on the search engines.

The SEO process comprises of different techniques, like article submission, linking to top rated sites, socializing the site, checking on the correct set of keyword usage, and most importantly, taking necessary initiative to find out about originality of the content. SEO professionals need to be dedicated and hard-working. It is said that professionals of SEO in Manchester have a fixed time to enter the office but no fixed time to go out. The work pressure is immense. However, only those who love to accept these work pressures can able to achieve the highest level of success in this industry.

seo companies in Manchester always offer the maximum benefits in terms of website optimization process. Clients from all over the UK and other parts of Europe rely heavily on the SEO service providers of Manchester. They have a fast and expert approach to rely upon. The companies feature teams comprising of young talents with experienced professionals to take the search engine optimization procedures to an altogether different height. The whole approach ensures that client websites are met with the very best of outcomes in terms of traffic accessibility and search engine ranking.