Problem Identification
The air blade was first introduced in the US and UK towards the end of 2017. The main production line was; and is still the Dyson Air Blade. This air blade is electric and serves the purpose of drying hands in public lavatories. The brand took the market by storm because it used a different kind of technology to serve its purpose. Instead of the ordinary hand drying products with thin surfaces and wide jets of air being produced, Dyson Air Blade produces unheated air within a thin layer. The air travels at approximately 400 mph to have water removed from the hands instead of evaporating it (Carlberg, 2016, 3).
As mentioned before, this innovative air blade took the market by storm because of a number of reasons. First, customers believe that Dyson Air Blade dries the hand within a short duration of time. The product also uses less electricity compared to the ordinary hand drying devices (Hockett, 2017). Compared to other ordinary hand-driers, the Dyson Air Blade reduces the amount of wasted energy by approximately 69%. It is also cheaper than other driers with about 97% cost effectiveness (Kelm & Risner, 2007, 20). The hand drier is also easy to operate since it doesn’t need to use hot air when drying hands. This paper, therefore, identifies three major reasons why Dyson Air Bale is the better option (Salesforce, 2018). The reasons include:
- Reduced electricity consumption due to the use of cold air.
- Ease of operation due to reduced time for hand drying.
The entire air blade brands that are produced by Dyson Company use the same kind of innovation to serve their purpose (Salesforce, 2018).
For the purpose of creating a market survey on the innovative importance of Dyson Air Blades, this paper intends to employ a case study of Boston University (BU) that currently uses the Dyson Air Blades in its lavatories. The introduction of Dyson Air Blades encouraged BU to shift from the use of paper towels within the restrooms to the use of hand dryers. The major drive towards such change was to reduce waste within the University. With Dyson Air Blades, such goals of waste reduction would be achieved (Kelm & Risner, 2007, 20).
Westminster Trade Group University performed a research activity in which they questioned the level of hygiene associated with Dyson Air Blade. This research activity was sponsored by a paper towel industry in the UK (Wolfe, 2017). This was after the European Tissue Symposium claimed that the use of hand driers increased the amount of bacteria settling on the hands by approximately 45%. The European Tissue Symposium further claimed that the paper towels reduce the amount of bacteria by up to 70%. According to the results obtained by Westminster Trade Group University, the air blade happens to be the most hygienic hand dryer (assuming that the result specifically referred to Dyson’s product) (Hockett, 2017). In this case, however, the results obtained refer to electric devices because the performance of such devices is obtained against the number of bacteria types that remain on users’ hands. The performance of electric devices was then contrasted to paper towels with the results of the latter being worse (Carlberg, 2016, 1).
Generated Benefits
With the employment of Dyson Air Blade in Boston University has helped the institution make necessary sanitary changes (McMillan, 2017). The university has also been able to have sustainability integrated into the system of education, operations programs, and research activities to reduce the amount of energy consumed. However, the main implication of the hand drier is the reduction of waste in the entire campus (MAYER, 2017, 2).
Dyson Company uses the “bricks and Clicks” model to strategize itself. In this case, the company enjoys an online and a physical retail presence for the generation of sales. This sort of model has a number of advantages including the presence of a store which customers can visit as well as an online platform for the selling of services and products (MAYER, 2017, 2).
Dyson fetches its revenue from a number of products that range from hand driers to fans. The brand names are well developed thereby ensuring that the organization gets the trust it needs from the customers. To ensure that the products are efficiently sold, Dyson has built its own physical and online reputation (Hockett, 2017).
Dyson’s key partners are the customers and suppliers. A well established supplier network with a strong internet affiliation ensures that the company has the ability to solicit a wider range of customers (Salesforce, 2018). The suppliers then allow the company to receive orders for new equipment and products thereby creating a more competitive pricing. On the contrary, offline establishments have the ability to leverage organization-supplier relationships thereby allowing organizations to receive discounts (McMillan, 2017).
Like business organizations with the potential of going online, Dyson Company uses online and physical markets to enhance as well as widen its distribution the supply network. Products that were only sold locally would now be sold worldwide by placing them online and providing shipment to customers globally (McMillan, 2017). However, the maintenance of a physical store ensures that customers still have the chance to physically browse the merchandise in the store. The incentive is productive for the business because customers have the chance to interact with the stakeholders of the company as well as physically inspecting the products before buying them from the stores (MAYER, 2017, 1).
The main disadvantage of this model is associated with the soared overhead costs compared to conventional mortar and brick as well as pure dot-com businesses. Such is because the model strives to maintain an internet presence as well as a physical space (McMillan, 2017). However, businesses would go for Internet presence because they would not have to invest in the establishment of physical stores. On the contrary, the benefit is not as much as having a website as well as maintaining a physical presence (Chang, 2006, 270).
The Proposed Business Model
According Dyson, all the made products need to be simple, magical, and suits the clients’ needs. Therefore, all the products that Dyson develops are we developed on the same belief. Customers expect Dyson to show commitment to its sleek production and such makes the company more assured to provide the best products (Wolfe, 2017). The company has a policy that ensures that the organization’s value proposition is reiterated in the product manuals. The manuals specifically outline the designs of the devices and their ease of usage. Such policy has been the cornerstone of the products’ aesthetic design as well as the inspirational qualities that Dyson provide the users with (Management, 2017).
There are a number of products that source Dyson’s revenue. However, much of such revenue is created by hand driers and fans. He named produced source more revenue because they represent the main products sold by the company. With a proper business model, Dyson ensures that overhead costs are reduced (Barrett, 2017).
In this case, we will talk about marketing channels. As mentioned before, Dyson uses two marketing channels; the physical and the online marketing channels. Both the online and physical markets help Dyson Company to enhance as well as widen its distribution the supply network. Products can be sold locally as well as internationally by posting them online and providing shipment to customers globally (MAYER, 2017, 2). On the contrary, Dyson has a strong physical appearance. The strong appearance is because of the stores erected by the company. Within the stores, customers have the chance to physically browse the merchandise in the store. By developing the two channels for marketing, Dyson has boosted its level of productiveness because customers have the chance to interact with the stakeholders of the company as well as physically inspecting the products before buying them from the stores (Management, 2017).
The company has two main kinds of customers; those that buy products online and them that buy products from stores. Online customers make their orders through websites and then have their products shipped to their locations. On the contrary, as mentioned before, customers that go to stores and buy product are considered more advantaged because they have the chance to physically interact with the workers and other stakeholders thereby boosting the seller-customer relationship (Kampung, 2017).
Dyson works smatter in ensuring that the relationship between the company and the clients is always positive (Barrett, 2017). Such smart working entails the management of markets through simultaneous and automation of trade. The company considers the automation of marketing as important as well. For instance, email addresses are well managed through the employment of tools that lead to the automation of leads and transferring the stages of sales cycle while maintaining the personalized interaction with customers. The use of an account-based type of marketing makes it important to have new customer accounts tracked and considered. The organization, therefore, requires marketers, sales representatives, and managers to be well informed regarding the sales platforms with added advantage to the automation of workflow (Barrett, 2017).
Resources
The idea of improving the technology by which hand driers are manufactured is a way of ensuring that sustainability goals are met. However, by considering the case study identified before in this paper, the prospective experience of the students is improved by launching a more technologically advanced and larger space with better facilities. By ensuring that better hand drying machines are installed, the university recognizes the importance of growing alongside technological advancements (Management, 2017).
As a way of supporting the global sustainability mission, the company has come up with more advanced Dyson Air Blade V. BU also decided to install the Dyson Air Blade V hand driers five restrooms in the entire institution (Kampung, 2017). For the restrooms that the Air Blade technology was installed, no paper towels were installed and thus, wastage was tremendously reduced. According to statistics, there are more 7,000 weekly individuals that would visit the restrooms. Such means that around 14,000 paper towels are saved by the installation of the hand driers (Barrett, 2017).
Among the benefits associated with the hand driers include CO2 reduction. The newly improved Dyson Air Blade produce 80% less CO2 compared to other driers. The driers are also cheaper and have a faster dry time. They also don’t use the heating element thereby reducing the amount of electricity consumed (MAYER, 2017, 2). As mentioned before, such qualities mad the brand to take the market by storm. Also, the company has a policy that ensures that value proposition is reiterated in the product manuals. The designs of the driers are outlined in the manuals. The policy has, therefore, been the cornerstone of the products’ aesthetic design as well as the inspirational qualities that Dyson provide the users with (Ardeeser, 2017).
KEY PARTNERS – Suppliers – Clients |
KEY ACTIVITIES – Offline marketing and selling – Online marketing and selling |
VALUE PROPOSITION – Earn Money online and offline |
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP – Chance to visit the store and talk to providers |
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS – Online – Offline |
CHANNELS – Online platforms |
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KEY RESOURCES – Dyson products |
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COST STRUCTURE – Tech platform costs – Cut overhead costs |
REVENUE STREAMS – Sales of Dyson fans – Sales of Dyson hand driers |
Reference:
Ardeeser, J. (2017). CRM Explained: What is the Purpose of Customer Relationship Management? Retrieved July 30, 2018, from https://www.jordancrown.com/blog/crm-explained-purpose-customer-relationship-management/
Barrett, J. (2017). How Small Businesses Maintain Customer Relationships While Growing. Retrieved July 30, 2018, from https://www.infusionsoft.com/business-success-blog/customer-service/customer-experience/how-to-maintain-customer-relationships
Carlberg, D. (2016). Dyson Airblade. Boston University. 9(10) pp 1-3
Chang, H.H. (2006), Technical and management perceptions of enterprise information system importance, implementation and benefits.InformationSystems Journal, V.16 (3), pp.263–292.
Hockett, K (2017), 5 Tips for Making Group Work Manageable. Edutopia. Retrieved 13 June 2017, from: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/tips-making-group-work-manageable-kristina-doubet-jessica-hockett
Kampung, W. (2017). The Science of the 5Gs. WOW Kampung. Retrieved 13 September 2017, from https://wowkampung.com/5gs/science/
Kelm, R., & Risner, E. (2007). Brazilians Working With Americans: Cultural Case Studies/Brasileiros que Trabalham com Americanos : Estudos de Casos Culturais. Austin, TX, USA: University of Texas Press, pp. 19-21
Management, S. (2017).SMS | Strategic Management Society. Strategicmanagement.net. Retrieved July 30, 2018, from https://www.strategicmanagement.net/
MAYER, F. (2017). CET-Innovation & Entrepreneurship . Sony falls back , 1-3.
McMillan, L. (2017). The benefits and risks of outsourcing | Lexology. Lexology.com. Retrieved 13 September 2017, from: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e698d613-af77-4e34-b84e-940e14e94ce4
Salesforce. (2018). What is CRM? What do people mean when they say CRM? Retrieved July 30, 2018, from https://www.salesforce.com/eu/learning-centre/crm/what-is-crm/
Wolfe, M. (2017) What Is the Bricks-and-Clicks Business Model? Retrieved July 30, 2018, from https://bizfluent.com/info-7774613-bricksandclicks-business-model.html