4 ms·

Can you provide some examples of product-market mismatch outside US - for types of things cities akin to Silicon Valley come up with?

by dhab 10y ago

jeyoor 10y ago
It seems that markets such as India and China[1] are more comfortable with apps packed with numerous features (i.e. WeChat or LINE), whereas US apps seem to usually be more focused on minimalism [2]. Snapchat is a notable US counter-example. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/technology/china-mobile-tech-innovation-silicon-valley.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/technology/china-mobile-te... [2] https://blog.benroux.me/your-app-has-one-feature/ https://blog.benroux.me/your-app-has-one-feature/
- gohrt 10y ago
  That's not really a feature that people are "comfortable with", that's because Chinese Internet has been captured by monopolists, like the AOL of USA in the 1990s.
  - cerebellum42 10y ago
    I doubt that's all there is to it, there really are some cultural differences that show when you take western services and put them on the chinese market. Amazon for example found that their site simply looked too "clean", had too much whitespace, for the chinese market. All that empty space was not taken as a clean look by users, but as a sign that there weren't a lot of products available. If I go to amazon.com now, there are literally 5 products on the landing page. On amazon.cn, more like 30-50. (I am recounting this story as it was told by an Amazon employee who came to my Uni a while back)
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- rabboRubble 10y ago
  Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong all have fantastic mobile infrastructure, unlike anything offered in the US. Innovators there don't have to code with data caps in mind. Minimalism with associated lighter data requirements is a US market peculiarity.
rogerbinns 10y ago
Credit cards are far less common, and especially far less used for ecommerce. Figuring out how to do payment on delivery is what helped Flipkart in India (and doomed a competitor who couldn't). Example article http://indianonlineseller.com/2016/01/cash-on-delivery-cod-slowing-down-indian-ecommerce/ http://indianonlineseller.com/2016/01/cash-on-delivery-cod-s...
calvinbhai 10y ago
WeChat and related services Line and related services Multi-sim phones Emojis language/script support for local languages ... and many more basically thinking like a local lets you disrupt many age old creaky systems.

Can you provide some examples of product-market mismatch outside US - for types of things cities akin to Silicon Valley come up with?

by dhab 10y ago

Can you provide some examples of product-market mismatch outside US - for types of things cities akin to Silicon Valley come up with?

jeyoor 10y ago

It seems that markets such as India and China[1] are more comfortable with apps packed with numerous features (i.e. WeChat or LINE), whereas US apps seem to usually be more focused on minimalism [2]. Snapchat is a notable US counter-example. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/technology/china-mobile-tech-innovation-silicon-valley.html http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/technology/china-mobile-te... [2] https://blog.benroux.me/your-app-has-one-feature/ https://blog.benroux.me/your-app-has-one-feature/

gohrt 10y ago
That's not really a feature that people are "comfortable with", that's because Chinese Internet has been captured by monopolists, like the AOL of USA in the 1990s.
- cerebellum42 10y ago
  I doubt that's all there is to it, there really are some cultural differences that show when you take western services and put them on the chinese market. Amazon for example found that their site simply looked too "clean", had too much whitespace, for the chinese market. All that empty space was not taken as a clean look by users, but as a sign that there weren't a lot of products available. If I go to amazon.com now, there are literally 5 products on the landing page. On amazon.cn, more like 30-50. (I am recounting this story as it was told by an Amazon employee who came to my Uni a while back)
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
rabboRubble 10y ago
Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong all have fantastic mobile infrastructure, unlike anything offered in the US. Innovators there don't have to code with data caps in mind. Minimalism with associated lighter data requirements is a US market peculiarity.

rogerbinns 10y ago

Credit cards are far less common, and especially far less used for ecommerce. Figuring out how to do payment on delivery is what helped Flipkart in India (and doomed a competitor who couldn't). Example article http://indianonlineseller.com/2016/01/cash-on-delivery-cod-slowing-down-indian-ecommerce/ http://indianonlineseller.com/2016/01/cash-on-delivery-cod-s...

calvinbhai 10y ago

WeChat and related services Line and related services Multi-sim phones Emojis language/script support for local languages ... and many more basically thinking like a local lets you disrupt many age old creaky systems.