David Bowen commentaries

In his regular columns for the Financial Times and ft.com, senior consultant David Bowen has pursued themes ranged from customer relationship management and career marketing to ‘ethical’ retailing and royal family sites. His collected Financial Times and ft.com columns from January 2001 onward are indexed by theme and available for viewing on this site.

You can access articles directly by selecting a link below.

  • Detail is the key to putting users at ease In trying to guide potential customers through an unfamiliar process, an e-commerce site must avoid anything that might confuse them. Nowhere is this better illustrated – or more business critical – than for companies with a new or unusual online prop
  • Tuned to the web’s wavelength Internet radio formats rarely match the sound quality of conventional receiving sets. But richness of content is already being greatly enhanced as radio stations test ways to exploit the strengths of the online option.
  • Creating a sense of ‘excitation’ Big company sites have recruitment sections to sell themselves to new or recent graduates. But it may take a public relations wobble to show them the benefits of stimulating a sense of excitement and intrigue about their industry among students still cont
  • Where government gives a lead Singapore and Hong Kong offer rich lessons in how to deliver public services more dynamically and cost-efficiently online. And they also can show the private sector a thing or two about stimulating e-commerce.
  • UK train operators make information run online Competition between rival operating companies may have contributed to the UK’s chaotic railway services and a correspondingly bewildering online network. But it is also pushing development of real-time information of direct value to customers – and wa
  • Effectiveness comes to the fore 2001 was the year when web sites became seen for what they really are: potentially powerful tools for boosting sales, slashing costs, increasing loyalty, all sorts of things.
  • The common sense challenge Most department stores are using the internet to expand their operations beyond their physical shops. But only a few are tackling the concept of integrating their commercial channels.
  • Going beyond simple internet banking Bankers have realised that the best way to see off the threat of the internet to their long-term existence is to harness its power. Some are focusing on getting customer acquisition right.
  • Marriages of medium, market and moment Friends Reunited is the dotcom that investors were looking for when they opened their wallets in 1999 and 2000. Why it works and what it has in common with other successful web operations give some clues about the commercial future of the internet.
  • How to get round losing the plot Overwhelming competition from internet book sellers is forcing publishers to rethink the purpose of their own websites. If direct retailing is out and people are not coming to buy, what can the publishers do to sell themselves?

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