Financial centers - Creation & Existence

When we look at most cities in the world which are the financial capitals of their respective countries, it is generally observed that these cities may or may not be the political capital but all of them have a common trait. 

New York, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Dubai, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Auckland, Beunos Aires, Paris etc. are few of them in the list. 

Some of the above cities are central to business around the world too. All of these cities have one common trait. Each one of them is a "Port." Incidentally, many of these cities have never ever been politically important, but all of them are central to business of their respective countries. Besides, some of them have been important since their country came into existence and still retain the tag of " Financial capital" of their respective countries.

Delving deeper, it is not very surprising that each of these have this common trait. Port has been one of the most important center which connects a country to the external world in terms of goods. Since ages, business has thrived on the exchange of goods (Trade) and the most important facilitator for this is a good port. Indirectly, these cities have been the nodes that connect their country to the external world and also are the first recipients of external goods and or services. Business of the entire city in old ages would revolve around this.

With passage of time, despite a lot of transportation happening through planes, ships have still retained the prime spot for transfer of goods between countries and that too by a very huge margin. Most goods from oil to electronics etc. get transferred between countries through ports only. Hence despite the advent of more modes of transportation, business has still thrived on these cities having ports and are thus still the most important financial centers of the world. 

Trade has not only helped create a lot of opportunities for business but has also been responsible for creation of these mammoth cities of the world which act as the business nodes for their respective countries..!!

Analytics & Marketing - The Link

Analytics and Marketing - These two seemingly different words have recently found a common trait which has not only helped companies understand their customer better but also given them an opportunity to influence their buying behavior.

Analytics has grown and taken center-stage more recently with increased amount of data which has actually come into fore from the huge amount of databases created by companies like Google, Amazon etc. Companies, these days, track a lot of information right from your e-mails to your searches, from your travel details to your buying behavior to arrive at your mind map and gauge your interests and influences.

You would be surprised to see advertisements on your mail or even on your mobile. And the more surprising part is that most of the times these are very relevant. They are either on your top of the mind thoughts or based on your recent needs. For example: If you are planning to travel to New Zealand, it is very normal to see yourself being contacted by a tour operator or an airline website who would be more than helpful to book a ticket for you to Auckland. This kind of things are possible using the database of your interests as well as doing some analytics on it to arrive at your requirements.

The basic definition of marketing is to arrive at the consumer needs first and then design a product/ service based on that. This implies, that if you can somehow either understand the need of the consumer or be able to gauge his interests and be able to create a perceived need, you can influence design your product accordingly and thus influence his buying behavior. To get it in more simple terms, suppose from past database, a marketing company knows the following about you.

a. You are interested in sports

b. You like to buy expensive sport shoes

c. You buy it once a year at-least.

The above statements are not that difficult for a database analyst to come up with after studying your past behaviors.

So now suppose you are at a mall. It is easy to find that you are in which mall based on the GPS on your mobile phone. Now, a Nike outlet can actually advertise on your phone and incentivize your buying. This would mean that they could either send you details of their outlet, or send you details about their product or even more compelling - send you some discount vouchers while you are in the mall itself where this store is located. Thus the marketing process will be more targeted and would generally have a higher probability of influencing a purchase. 

The above example is just the tip of the iceberg. Analytics can generate a huge number of edges for a company using it and could very easily be the next big step for any marketing company. It helps you understand your customer and his needs better and catch him at the right time and the right place.

Analytics will soon change the entire marketing landscape and appears to be not just an edge but an increasing necessity for any corporation who needs to market its products/ services!