The notion of pattern 8 in web 2.0 is doing more with less. As the market on the internet grows it means that people can do more with their businesses and themselves for less. Therefore the future of the company can grow faster and cheaper using technology. This means that the traditional costs of setting up businesses and maintaining consumers is no longer extremely out of the ball park. No longer are large teams needed for a business to go live and nor are there large marketing notions in order to the word out about a business.
So why is doing more with less better than the traditional forms of setting up a business? In this particular day and technology age it’s easy for people to set up their own business and do something they enjoy without it costing more money than they have. Therefore if the website or business then takes off and the individual needs help then hire more staff to help maintain the business; the two of you. It makes it so much easier to reach out to more people as well.
Started in 2010 StyleTread is an online shoe store. Not everyone’s cup of tea but it does clearly implement the notion of doing more with less. Having only being in action for 7 months the store is quite new however it seems that though it has started small it is starting to take off. StyleTread is fast developing an online presence and even though they started small the hype around this online store means its going to go big. After just a few months the site has been doing so well that they now have advertising on TV and is starting to become the number one place online to buy shoes especially for Australian buyers who get the gift of free shipping. This site is a very good example of something that can start small but spread like wildfire and become something so much more.
Doing more with less is definitely one of the most prominent reasons why there are so many web stores and applications to choose from. As simple people realise this strategy then the World Wide Web will see a lot more of this sort of enterprise.
Resources
Porter, J 2011. “Living in a Networked World: Is Less More?”. Bokardo.com. Retrieved 11 May 2011 from: http://bokardo.com/archives/living-in-a-networked-world/
Fischer, Y 2008. “Doing More with Less: Web 2.0 Consolidation the Sun Way”. Oracle. Retrieved 11 May 2011 from: http://blogs.oracle.com/blueprints/entry/doing_more_with_less_web
Perez, J 2009. “Web 2.0 Expo focuses on doing more with less”. Techworld.com. Retrieved 11 May 2011 from: http://www.techworld.com.au/article/297514/web_2_0_expo_focuses_doing_more_less/
Pahlka, J & Forrest, B 2009. “The Power Of Less”. Forbes.com. Retrieved 11 May 2011 from: http://www.forbes.com/2009/11/05/google-twitter-netapp-technology-breakthroughs-oreilly.html
Peat, B 2008. “Could Web 2.0 Tools be the Saving Grace for Organisations During Recession?” Wikinomics. Retrieved 11 May 2011 from: http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/index.php/2008/08/12/could-web-20-tools-be-the-saving-grace-for-organizations-during-a-recession/
Kale, N 2011. “Case Profile: StyleTread”. Power Reatil. Retrieved 12 May 2011 from: http://www.powerretail.com.au/pureplay/case-profile-styletread/
StyleTread, 2010. “StyleTread”. Rerieved 11 May 2011 from: http://www.styletread.com.au/
11 Comments
so does this place have a huge range of shoes for every niche shoe fetish? Is that how it is leveraging the long tail?
I would like to edit my comments as I can see now that you were charging ahead of schedule. Good post!! Don’t worry about my long tail comments as I can see you have an excellent example for a scalable business model. Cheers!
That’s ok! I was a bit confused at first but I did suspect you had thought this post was about pattern 7 not pattern 8. I’m glad you liked this post for pattern 8. Perhaps you should read my post on Leveraging the Nasa-Force which was about leveraging the long tail
interesting site. I might be missing something i would of thought this site is a fine example of pattern 7 not pattern 8.
Just how did this site start up?
The website was started by two men who wanted to focus on customer service. Similar to the American company Zappos which was started not because the guy who started it like shoes but because he wanted to provide cutomers with great customer service.
I would say this website does also follow leveraging the long tail however it doesn’t have a niche market. The site sells all the deigner brands a consumer could find in Myers or David Jones. Also the sites only been going since November 2010 and they are now doing quite well which is why I decided to do StyleTread for pattern 8.
i stand corrected
I remember seeing their ads on TV! Yeah I’m curious on how StyleThread started too, do they have a large company backing them since you don’t see online shopping sites advertised on TV that often.
I do like their free shipping, free returns and free 100 day return policy though. Although it’s still a hassle to return if the shoe doesn’t fit right, at least it eliminates some of the concerns for shopping online for shoes.
It does now have a large backing company as it became more popular. I haven’t properly been through it however it does have basic brand shoes
I was about to comment, but got distracted by the StyleTread site. I really like how their search filtering works. Nice, clean and simple.
This business is a great example of doing more by starting small and scaling up from there.
They have a sweet range, but goddamn, their UX design is like smashing your head into a wall!
But it is a good example of doing more with less
They don’t have awesome shoes like mine neither. =P