Competition meet Convenience

Recently, I’ve been thinking  a lot about accessibility on the web, and specifically within this topic, instances where convenience overrides competition. I read in Fast Company’s latest issue that Hulu, ranked third by FC for being a Top 50 innovative company (Facebook was 15th), indexes search results outside of their own content.  In Hulu’s formation, ABC decidedly did not join the video-on-demand service, so initial thinking might suggest it smart to exclude ABC from Hulu search results; however, if someone searches for Desperate Housewives, an ABC show, the results appear, with a caption beneath the thumbnail listing the video’s source location (watch at ABC, watch at TVGUIDE, etc.).  The ultimate goal of Hulu and arguably any site, is to serve the user the content they want, whether user-specified or inferred, so by displaying external search results, Hulu is allowing convenience to triumph over competition, in the name of the most critical component, Hulu user satisfaction.

I liked this pairing of convenience against competition and took the idea one step further during a recent pitch for a new business project. Without being able to elaborate until (hopefully) the contract is closed, I’ve proposed a tool we build for the client’s online customers not be restricted only to be used with client’s products, but work web-wide and be open for inclusion with all related products across any brand.

If the tool, which is a part to a whole site, is restricted to work only with the client’s products, then it loses some practicality; for example, think of a hammer that can only be used with a certain brand of nails. Alternatively if the client agrees to building this online tool, and agrees to opening the tool up to be compatible with competitor’s products, they’re not only maximizing the potential of the tool, but serving their potential customers as well as possible by creating the ultimate online customer experience. The risk is clear: providing your competitor’s product real estate on your own web territory.

As far as I know, this online tool we have proposed to build does not exist yet and therefore there is a specific need for a unique need for this client’s audience. The audience will benefit, but at expesne ($$$) of our potential client. In return, this tool serves the onlines customers by providing a valuable web experience. As users return to the site to use the valued tool, the opportunity emerges to form a long term customer relationship.

So while the competition offers a product online, our potential client would offer a product (and free service too).

Among all other thoughts running through my head these days, I’d be curious to learn of more examples of this imbalance between convenience and competition. So please, share. Until then, if/when the contract is signed, I’ll follow up with more details on the project.