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Digital Darwinism
Seven Breakthrough
Business Strategies for Surviving in the
Cutthroat Web Economy
Radical advice for success in E-commerce
As you can tell from the title, this a hard-nosed business manual.
And in fact it's quite a thoughtful book about how
websites rise and fall, about how they gain attention, and about
how the Web is changing the way people do things in
the world - all interesting topics.
It's well-written, and kicks off with some amusing
stories about websites which did mad things to gain
attention, losing shedloads of money in the
process, but then, having got noticed, were bought
up for millions of dollars by big companies. The
Darwinism theme is used quite elegantly, although,
of course, you're not sure how much of a Darwin
expert the author is. He could have read most of
this 'survival of the fittest' stuff on the back of a
cereal packet.
Most of the book is devoted to a chapter on each of
Schwartz's 'Seven Breakthrough Business
Strategies for Surviving in the Cutthroat Web
Economy'. Personally, I found the first one the
most engaging, and then the book becomes slightly
less compelling with each new chapter, although overall it
remains quite interesting.
Since you can see what the seven strategies are on
the website www.digitaldarwinism.com, I'm hardly
giving away secrets by listing them here. [The seven
principles are copyright Evan I. Schwartz 1999]:
1: Build a Brand That Stands For
Solving Problems
This chapter is of most interest to web
developers generally. It argues that
whatever you do on the Web, if you
want it to be a real success, it must
have a point and address a specific
need. It reminds us to look at
everything from the user's point of view
(a familiar but important point).
Funnily enough, the chapter criticises
the fabulously successful website
Yahoo, which, it is argued, has added
tons of features to its site -- news,
email, auctions, puppy training,
whatever -- without pausing to wonder
what problem all of these features are
meant to be a solution for.
2: Allow Your Prices to Fluctuate
Freely with Supply and Demand
Tells you to copy Priceline.com and
let shoppers name their own price for
certain end-of-line items, basically.
3: Let Affiliate Partners Do Your
Marketing For You
Tells you to copy Amazon.com and
set up an affiliates programme (so
that a site which refers a customer to
your e-commerce site is rewarded
with a percentage of the profits).
4: Create Valuable Bundles of
Information and Services
Ironically, considering point one
above, this chapter tells you to copy
Yahoo and bung every bloody feature
you can possibly think of onto one
site.
5: Sell Custom-made Products
Online, Then Manufacture Them
A rather boring manufacturing chapter.
Tells you to copy Sevencycles.com
and make things to order.
6: Add New Value to Transactions
Between Buyers and Sellers
Even more boring chapter telling you
to copy some models of
business-to-business services.
7: Integrate digital commerce with
absolutely everything
Rather obvious chapter telling you to
thoroughly mix your e-commerce
business up with your regular
business. Examples of stupid
companies who failed to do this help
this chapter to seem less obvious.
So, overall, we have found that if you are the kind of
person who reads the first couple of chapters of a
book and then ends up skimming the rest, then this
book is just right for you, since that is exactly how
it should be read.
Others may be disappointed that their dogged
insistence on reading all of the words becomes
gradually less rewarding. But still - if you have a
Web-based business then the whole thing may be
wonderfully exciting for you. This
book is definitely a lot better than a big pile of other
Internet business books.
© David Gauntlett 2000
[more E-COMMERCE articles]
Evan I. Schwartz , Digital
Darwinism: Seven Breakthrough
Business Strategies for Surviving in the
Cutthroat Web Economy, London and New York: Penguin,
1999, pp.240 , ISBN 0140286845
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