Product service decide buying decision (newspaper)

A good example to show service decide buying decision.

My friend told me why he changed his subscription from Oriental Daily News newspaper to Sin Chew. It is just a simple reason, Sin Chew deliver the newspaper much earlier to his doorstep.

Oriental Daily's history is not as long as Sin Chew. Oriental Daily publish everyday including holidays. Sin Chew and a few of the others newspaper publisher didn't published for few selected holidays throughout a year. Publish 365 days is a good service too.

Oriental Daily is a smaller (Berliner) size, about a quarter of the size of traditional newspaper. These days, more people prefer Berliner format, because is easier to hold on hands. This is quite similar with one of the reasons why people prefer theStar and The New Straits Times.

Newspaper is a product. Having a good product is not good enough, because most newspaper publisher provide similar news content everyday. The packaging and service make difference.

What's next?

If faster delivery service is a very important factor, traditional printed paper are not going to compete with online news. The Washington Post (Note: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to acquire The Washington Post)is a good example, and just a start.