Did you ever notice how...
...large established companies become stagnant in innovation and latch onto new concepts after a competitor has demonstrated that the concept is workable?
I was at Subway for the first time in years today....I'm a Quizno's guy. The reason I've always preferred Quizno's over Subway is because I prefer my subs to be toasted - in my opinion something that any good sub shop at least offers. Subway never toasted their subs - until now.
How convenient. We've watched Quizno's grow by several orders of magnitude over the last 5-10 years. In fact, they are the fastest-growing quick service chain in the United States. And of course, the cornerstone of their marketing efforts has always been to underscore the fact that their subs are toasted (while implicitly underscoring that the other major sub chain doesn't).
Well, I guess Subway was feeling the pressure, because their stores are now equipped with toaster ovens (that look like miniature versions of the pizza ovens seen at non-chain pizza stores). And their marketing makes it look like they came up with the idea - even though it is obvious what the motivation was for the feature.
Anyway, the Chicken Parmesean sub was pretty good.
This isn't the only example of this innovation-stealing. Blockbuster was resting on its laurels, content with being the largest video rental chain in the United States. Then Netflix came along and has become extremely popular (although I doubt it has overtaken Blockbuster in market share). A big selling point for Netflix is the "no late fees" policy. Well, guess what? I was driving down Pacific in Venice yesterday and saw a Blockbuster with a big sign on the window claiming "Life After Late Fees" as if they came up with the idea. Bastards.
That's not to say that Netflix isn't without problems. I've heard from several sources that the quality of service decreases as the time as a customer increases - with a sharp drop right after you are no longer on the free trial.
And finally, for the example that needs no explanation - just look at Microsoft. (Before you play the hypocrisy card - note that this post was created using Firefox on Linux.)
I was at Subway for the first time in years today....I'm a Quizno's guy. The reason I've always preferred Quizno's over Subway is because I prefer my subs to be toasted - in my opinion something that any good sub shop at least offers. Subway never toasted their subs - until now.
How convenient. We've watched Quizno's grow by several orders of magnitude over the last 5-10 years. In fact, they are the fastest-growing quick service chain in the United States. And of course, the cornerstone of their marketing efforts has always been to underscore the fact that their subs are toasted (while implicitly underscoring that the other major sub chain doesn't).
Well, I guess Subway was feeling the pressure, because their stores are now equipped with toaster ovens (that look like miniature versions of the pizza ovens seen at non-chain pizza stores). And their marketing makes it look like they came up with the idea - even though it is obvious what the motivation was for the feature.
Anyway, the Chicken Parmesean sub was pretty good.
This isn't the only example of this innovation-stealing. Blockbuster was resting on its laurels, content with being the largest video rental chain in the United States. Then Netflix came along and has become extremely popular (although I doubt it has overtaken Blockbuster in market share). A big selling point for Netflix is the "no late fees" policy. Well, guess what? I was driving down Pacific in Venice yesterday and saw a Blockbuster with a big sign on the window claiming "Life After Late Fees" as if they came up with the idea. Bastards.
That's not to say that Netflix isn't without problems. I've heard from several sources that the quality of service decreases as the time as a customer increases - with a sharp drop right after you are no longer on the free trial.
And finally, for the example that needs no explanation - just look at Microsoft. (Before you play the hypocrisy card - note that this post was created using Firefox on Linux.)
posted by walterplittle at 15:14
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