The Right Pricing Strategy for Offline Retailers Moving to Online Marketspaces

Businesses are moving to online retailing but often find that their local strategies don't work as well as they once did. The online world is so much more competitive than brick-n-mortar companies. According to research in the Journal of Business and Retail Management Research the low price strategy seems to work the best for most retailers moving into the online world (Kimpel & Friedrich, 2015).

There are a number of major major strategies used by German companies:

Everyday Low Price: Maintains low prices and avoids variations.

High-Low Strategy: Offer products at a higher price then the competition but offer very low prices on select products.

Value Differentiation: Competing on value based on services and additional additives customers may find important.

Regional Strategies: Changing prices based on the earning power and differences in regions.

The study found that the two main strategies that are successful are everyday low price strategy or regional strategies. Everyday low price strategies make sense in the online world but will need to be used locally in order avoid price comparisons. While regional strategies work they are less effective online but more effective offline.

Online retailers in the study were most effective with low price strategies because price comparisons are quick and exact. Consumers are also highly attracted to prices and have difficulties understanding and seeing warranties, services, or other value differentiation methods that might attract some customers over others.

Kimpel, M. & Friedrich, C. (2015). The right pricing strategy for offline retailers when expanding into the online sales channel. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research, 9, (2).

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Horse Riding Teaches Us Guide vs. Control Life and Work

Horse-riding isn't about control. As a matter of practice, the more you try and control the more difficult it becomes to ride safely and effectively. As you stiffen your body and try and over adjust to the horses's movements you are unlikely to achieve the same performance as if you were to sit back and guide. Control...is a beginner's mistake.

There are some parallels to management and life. We must allow people in our lives to make their own decisions and then guide them when they start to move off of track. For example, when trying to follow a line to a point in the distance with a horse sometimes it will move off of that line and it is necessary to use your outward leg, create a barrier with the outside rein, and slightly pull with the inner rein to put it back on track. You only need to do this for a second and the horse will move back on track.

People are very similar. If you are a manager and want people to perform at their best then let your employees know what needs to be done and give them enough slack to get it done their own way. When they start to move off of track guide them back on just for a moment and then let them do their thing. Like horses they will slowly learn the expectations, performance requirements, and be able to have enough freedom to traverse their environment.

A few tips on riding horses:

1. Tensing your body will give the horse the wrong signals.
2. Continue to practice with the same horse until you have a "connection" where the signals are understood.
3. Allow your body to be lose in the saddle.
4. Praise your horse on a regular basis.
5. Your reigns should be the guide for the head but be lose when not correcting.
6. Learn to ride without stirrups.
7. Be willing to relax and let go of control

How to Protect Our Environment with Simple Actions

Protecting nature is an important part of ensuring our environment continues on for generations and generations. Pollution is growing and an increasing number of scientists are starting to argue that global warming is much more than natural cycles. While we may not have control over the big polluters but we can still protect our local natural environments and teach others about the importance of habitat health. These are a few things you can do to help our environment.

1. Pick up Trash
2. Report people who pollute or abuse the environment.
3. Enjoy the state parks to make them viable.
4. Support local hunting, outdoor, and habitat protection groups.
5. Teach people about the importance of the environment.
6. Get involved in activities that utilize the outdoors.
7. Support politicians that protect nature.
8. Buy sustainable products.

You can also support your beliefs and cause with a Nature Lovers T-Shirt. Purchase Here

Picking the Right Running Shoe

If you love to run you should invest in the proper pair of shoes. Those who hit the road need the right kind of shoes. Sometimes it can be difficult to find a shoe that serves your needs. You can pay anything from $20 to $200 for a shoe. Yet it isn't the price that counts as much as the quality and use. If you are looking for a good shoe then consider a few aspects before you purchase.

1.) Soft and comfortable soles. I prefer shoes with memory phone and a very soft sole. I have noticed that when jogs are an hour the constant impact is less and my feet feel better when they are designed properly.

2.) Ability to be snug. When running shoes should not slip or feel loose. There should be a snugness that allows the shoe to hug the feet and fell like an extension of the body.

3.) Durability. Because you will be running with these shoes regularly they should be constructed of solid materials, strong stitch, real leather, and quality.

4.) Light weight. Unless you are running in the winter you will want a light shoe that feels like air on your feet.

5.) Grip. Your environment will determine the type of grip you want with your shoe. If you are running outside you will want deeper tread to grab the natural elements if you are in a gym you will not need this same grip.

I tried out for the first time Reebok Run Supreme 2.0 4E shoe with memory Tech. It was a pretty good shoe for for the typical $60 price. Of course I didn't pay that much and my price was around $44.

Socializing with Family and Friends to Recharge from the Battle of Life

Lake Michigan-Stonington

Balancing out your life with friends and family helps to reduce stress, improve your social connections, and put you in contact with a wider world. We Americans have a problem with focusing on our careers  to the point that it damages our social networks and leaves us isolated. As we bounce around in a fast paced world, many of those generational interactions start to dissipate and we find without support. We don't have to do this if we balance our need for friend and family with our need to succeed.

Success is not something that occurs in isolation. According to the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell those who are most likely to succeed don't live in isolation but spend a great proportion of their time in practice as well within a supportive network. The process of achieving requires having a brain and body in balance and this rests heavily on the quality of friends and family.

Good relationships will recharge you from the battle of life while poor relationships will take away from you. Make sure that you are developing quality relationships and friendships that lead to higher quality life and greater outcomes in other areas of your life.

A few tips for balancing your life for greater success:

1. Reduce stress by engaging with family and friends.
2. Improve your motivation by recharging your batteries with socializing "down time"
3. Spend time with others in quality activities versus energy draining activities.
4. Ensure friends and family are supportive. If they are not supportive it is beneficial to reduce contact with negative members.
5. Know which family and friends are for what activities. Some are for deeper connection others are for traveling, dancing, etc...
6. Try and focus most of the week on your goals but spend at least 2-3X a week a few hours with friends.

The Stress of Innovation and the Need for Educational Change According to Schumpeter

People must continually update their skills or a large percentage of society will find themselves unemployed. Schumpeter believed that as innovation increase people's lives would be impacted by creating stresses that test our skills and abilities. Some will move to higher standards of living and some will lose their jobs and opportunities. He called these unpleasant actions vicissitudes as they inherently disrupted society and create chaos that eventually leads to a better life but can be a painful transition experience.

Sometimes people will be alienated and pushed to the side while at other times they will move to the center and be more connected.  Those who do not have the necessary skills to compete will feel angry and upset as their income and opportunities dwindle. They will begin to question the legitimacy of some institutions and demand change.

Schumpeter believed that government should encourage entrepreneurial activity to enhance their economies and arrest decline. While change occurs government also has the responsibility to push for greater education and training to meet market needs.  Without continuous change there is a slow decline in society. He so eloquently expresses the decline of people as....

"A] process of degeneration, of degradation of large circles (of society) accompanies the upward
movement … Large circles see their economic basis being pulled away. This does not happen
abruptly, but gradually. Through generations, the people affected live a deprived existence full of
hopelessness. Their moral and intellectual powers dwindle, the more so the more the economic
atmosphere they find themselves in is darkening. (Schumpeter, 1912 [2006], p. 503)"

As the pace of change increases so will the need to retrain and educated people. Global competitive skills will be sought through reformation of the higher education system and public school systems. Long-time educational institutions will need to adjust to meet market demands and needs or otherwise the nation will loose competitiveness and large swaths of society that doesn't have access to higher levels of education will be forced into poverty.

A system that continuously changes requires constant innovation based on opportunities full of individual choices and actions. Entrepreneurs will seek to push and adjust society and will succeed in materializing change when they challenge, establish, and defend their market power (Schumpeter, 1942, p. 105). The perpetual need to personal mastery of the market leads to constant risk taking and turmoil.

In the "Shumpeterian" approach it is necessary to help people catch up to the market by encouraging them to find new ways of competing in the market. While entrepreneurs will start new businesses it is the people and their skills that are needed to fill available positions. Markets that have high growth potential also have a skilled and educated work population that can take positions. Revamping our educational system from primary school all the way through college will help ensure that the classes most likely to be impacted by change can adjust to new market realities. Adults will need access to physical and online education in order to ensure continually training.


Schumpeter, J. A. 1912 [2006]. Theorie der Wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung, facsimile of the 1st edn,
Berlin, Duncker & Humblot

Schumpeter, J. A. 1942 [1976]. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, London, Routledge

Schubert, C. (2013). How to evaluate creative destruction: reconstructing Schumpeter's approach.

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 37 (2)