On top of yesterday’s idea, I wanted to drop my cents on something I kept on mentioning on LinkedIn or on the podcast I host but never got to put down properly in a place.
I was talking about Nespresso or Basecamp and how they offered a service that was better than the combined alternative.
Here’s what I said we can learn from Nespresso
- Putting yourself in the middle means you need to offer 5-star service. Preferably a white-glove one, like Nespresso — that obviously depends if your clientele is looking for a white glove service. That’s not the only way to become the man in the middle but the most common one.
- Creating an experience adds on top of this white glove service — colorful shops and pills, giving the pills the collectable factor, tasting events, very elegant design etc.
- Every place that needs service is waiting to be disrupted
- Every place where time can be saved is a place where you can offer service
- If you create an experience, you can be more expensive than the alternative (*)
- Understanding as much as possible about the clientele goes a long way. Being aware of the design of the machines matching their buyers’ kitchens means a deep level of awareness.
What about video streaming?
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hulu. Plus HBO Go/Now, YouTube got some TV shows as well.
Add Disney+ and Apple TV+ next to these. A conglomerate of streaming services that somehow gets us back to TV. We’re not paying two or three digits per month for a whole package, but we are looking at having the same thing truncated now.
Unless what I wrote yesterday in “Lessons from Nespresso and Basecamp” come to life.
A company that puts themselves in the middle of all these and offers a white-glove service — or they can compete on price. Say if prices are like:
- Netflix: £6/mo
- Amazon Prime Video: £8/mo
- Disney+: $7/mo
- Hulu: $12/mo
- HBO Now: $15/mo
- Apple TV+: Say $15/mo, given the usual Apple premium?
Instead of paying these $70/mo (one wouldn’t pay anyways for all of them) a service offers all these flexibly for $35 — surely the story could be longer than that, much like Basecamp doesn’t simply offer you third party to Asana or G Drive.
Can/will this happen?
Probably not. Disruption is not as easy as that. Surely all these giants are about the two ends of an interval:
- People start going against streaming services, thus everyone hurts each other’s business
- They are aware some kind of agreement/eventual change will be made eventually
- They’re all truly confident they can win the race. Netflix has all the reasons but hey, we’ve said that about Uber as well.
I wouldn’t see why Apple would go for direct competition — they supposedly canceled their car project because of that.
Is it simple to do it? Yes, Uber’s idea sounded simple in 2008. Easy? Not at all, and we’re seeing in 2019 why.
I’ll leave you here but I thought this imaginary experiment could be a good segue from yesterday’s piece. As always, wish you well.
About Ch Daniel
I run Chagency_, an experiences design agency — we help SaaS CEOs reduce user churn. I write daily on this topic and in similar areas. Here are my best pieces.
If I’ve helped you, follow me here and reach out: LinkedIn | Twitter | Email | Quora | YouTube
I’ve also founded an app (among others) that has got 6 digits in # of users — chdaniel.com/app
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Picture credits: Elisabetta Calabritto
