From Velcro to Vases, My Life as an E-commerce Developer
posted on 9 February 2011 | posted in
Construction and Industrial
As a website developer (mainly developing e-commerce sites), I see all kinds of business plans - I have also helped many online vendors over the years - from those that sell sew on velcro to those that sell concert tickets - you name it, one of my vendors probably sells it.
One site in particular interests me when it comes to business models: Google. 99% of Google revenues are from advertisements. Ads play a major part in Google's strategy. Yet, the only way Google can survive is by collecting and using your personal data. Google tracks your favorite website, your searches, your preferences, the places you go, where you are at any point in time...Scary, right? Well, there is an alternative: Duckduckgo.com is an alternative search engine. Duckduckgo.com is not collecting your personal data and information, it does not track the data of the users to build for-profit applications. It is a new start up but it was already mentioned by the Wall Street Journal. One of the strong points of Duckduckgo.com is the design of the website, simple, without frills, bringing you back to the original Internet search experience, to browse through different website, to assist you in finding information, as opposed to assisting companies to make money using your personal data.
It makes you wonder if one day Google will have the rug pulled under them! My advice is always to diversify your business model so if one area fails, you can survive with your other ideas.
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