Crafters generally like the results they obtain with their Cricut machine and cartridges, but many find the device and add-ons expensive. A percentage of commenters also have buyer’s remorse: they swallow hard and buy the machine, which they consider expensive, then don’t use it enough to justify the cost. About Cricut Cricut is a product from Provo Craft and Novelty, a company that provides products for crafters. Here’s how the Cricut website describes the product: “Cricut® personal electronic cutters allow [...]

I’ve always been a huge fan of roller coasters.  Ever since I was a small child, I have loved the blood-pumping thrill of the rapid rise, steep drops and close turns…I wonder if that is why I have been in the thick of Silicon Valley working for fast paced technology companies for over 20 years?  Since it is summertime, I have been seeing ads everywhere for vacation spots ranging from fancy resorts to stay-cation destinations.  But for some reason, ads [...]

Judging from consumers’ comments, all the casual dining restaurants we’ve analyzed can deliver good food and service. But they don’t do it consistently, and that leads to dissatisfied customers, poor word-of-mouth, tarnished brand image and a drop in return business. The six casual dining restaurant chains that have been the subject of our netnographies are Applebee’s, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster, T.G.I. Friday’s, and The Cheesecake Factory. This post summarizes our findings on positioning and perception for this market [...]

I recently heard on NPR about an interesting book, The Man of Numbers, by Keith Devlin. Here’s a passage from the article about the book that caught my attention: “They recorded everything in good old Roman numerals and if they wanted calculations, they went down the street to someone who was adept at using a physical abacus,” Devlin tells NPR’s Scott Simon. “It was actually a board with lines on it on which you moved pebbles around; it was a [...]

Our netnography of the camera feature in the iPad 2 shows that consumers were looking forward to it and saw it as a reason to buy or upgrade. Unfortunately, once they got to use the cameras, many were disappointed with the feature because of the poor quality and outright inconvenience of using a device “the size of a cafeteria tray” to take photos. Did Apple over-promise and under-deliver? Here’s our analysis. How Apple Positions the Camera Feature Here’s what Apple [...]

Even though we’re now in the thick of summer, I only just found the time to make it to the beach the other day. Armed with my trusted wide-brimmed hat and new simple Old Navy sunglasses, I noticed how many stylish shades there were on the beach, making me wistful for my old designer sunglasses that my 2-year-old was all too happy to snap in half for me. My husband, lover of the always-iconic Ray Bans, has always managed to [...]

At NetBase, we’ve begun studying the demographics of people who post on social media, and we’re excited about the promise of delivering new and valuable insights from this enhancement to our social media analysis. One of the first parameters we’re exploring is gender. Some of the documents in our document repository are tagged with the author’s gender, which enables us to calculate the gender ratio of authors for a given topic. The percentage of documents in our repository that have [...]

Today is Friday—What better day to post our netnography of T.G.I. Friday’s? More so than other restaurants in the casual dining segment, T.G.I. Friday’s wants to be known for its ambiance and vibe more than for its food. The company’s “brand promise” is “In Here it’s ALWAYS Friday” and the chain places a lot of emphasis on drinking and bartenders. Some customers like the drinks, but many don’t like the ambiance. The food doesn’t get rave reviews, either. The company’s [...]

Red Lobster wants to be known for its high-quality, fresh seafood. But that’s not happening, judging from the sound bites in our netnography. Many people do like the food—it’s worth noting that the biscuits got more positive feedback than the seafood—yet many others found the food didn’t taste good, or, in extreme cases, made them sick. Red Lobster is the world’s largest casual dining seafood restaurant company with nearly 700 restaurants in the United States and Canada. It’s the largest [...]