Category Archives: marketing

Selling value, not price

Posted on July 3, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

I had an interesting Twitter exchange this morning with Milk and Honey Spa in Austin, who recently started following me. Have you run a Groupon or daily deal? No. The economics have never worked out and risk to brand has been … Continue reading →

Posted in groupon, marketing | 2 Comments

The experience is the product

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

Apple retail stores celebrated their 10th anniversary last week. The stores have defied all analyst expectations and have become the highest grossing retailers in the world. The company’s market cap exceeds all of the other players in tech. Its $5,000 … Continue reading →

Posted in apple, facebook, marketing, product management, strategy | 6 Comments

Innovating with market research

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Rakesh Agrawal

One of the things that people often ask me is how does someone goes about creating innovative product concepts. What are the research methods and tools to use? One of the most powerful tools is just watching what customers do … Continue reading →

Posted in marketing, research | Comments Off

Groupon personalizes the daily deal

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

Groupon announced a shift from its approach of the same deal for all email subscribers in a market to personalized deals in select cities. CEO Andrew Mason says that there is a backlog of 35,000 businesses waiting to be featured … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, local search, marketing | 1 Comment

Why small businesses are snapping up the daily deal

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Rakesh Agrawal

In recent months, we’ve seen daily deal sites like Groupon and Living Social grow like crazy. Groupon is valued at $1.35 billion. That’s more than 4x the valuation of the McClatchy Company, one of the country’s largest newspaper publishers. It … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, google, local search, marketing, yelp | 3 Comments

Why don’t local businesses use the Internet?

Posted on September 1, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

Back in the mid 90s, I frequented The Weinery, a total dive of a hot dog place in the Cedar/Riverside area of Minneapolis. Jerry, the then owner, collected email addresses and would occasionally send out specials. Say the password when … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, lbs, local search, marketing, newspapers, yellow pages | 9 Comments

What would you do with $600?

Posted on January 28, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

That question seems to be on a lot of people’s minds these days, thanks to the newly announced $150 billion stimulus package. “I would like my check and I think everybody else feels the same way,” said David Wyss Chief … Continue reading →

Posted in marketing, personal finance | 1 Comment

Weekly Reader – Jan. 5, 2008 – Pricing, advertising and DVRs

Posted on January 5, 2008 by Rakesh Agrawal

This week’s interesting reads: Some thoughts on pricing (Redeye VC) – First Round Capital’s Josh Kopelman examines pricing strategies. He starts with pricing of soda in a hotel and found a range of $1 to $4.50. The overall range is … Continue reading →

Posted in advertising, marketing, television, weekly reader | 1 Comment

Buying physical space for online products

Posted on December 8, 2007 by Rakesh Agrawal

This time of year, there’s always a lot of talk about driving clicks to bricks: how online affects offline purchases. Whether it’s an actual purchase that is picked up in store or just online research that influences store purchases, the … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, marketing, random | Comments Off