E Ink
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E Inks decision to target the retail sign market as a point for entry was a poor choice because of three reasons: first, the retail sign market doesnt fully utilize the products value proposition; second, the technology doesnt add enough benefits that will encourage mass industry adoption; third, the resulting companys cultural tension that arises from developing an exciting product for a “mundane” application such as signage.
The value proposition that E Ink provides with their technology involves providing high contrast dynamic displays that use low power that can be shown on flexible surfaces. By targeting the retail signage market, E Ink ignores some of the benefits in their technology. By nature, retail signs are large, infrequently changing, and must be aesthetically pleasing. So while some firms will see a reduction in production and labor costs, theyll see little value from having displays than consume low energy and can be displayed on a variety of surfaces.
Similarly, its hard to believe that firms will make the costly transition to adopt the new technology. Since these signs can only display two different colors, firms like JC Penney dont get any additional benefit such as making their signs more appealing to their customers.
Finally, employees of E Ink join to revolutionize the technological landscape. They join to change the way people live and interact with the world. So building an application to instantaneously change when theres a new sale markdown from 25% to 50% is not very appealing. Therefore, as the company grows itll look to its initial product launch as a meager technological accomplishment.
Even if many firms in the retail sign space decide to adopt E Inks technology, E Ink will have a difficult time expanding their business into other applications and markets. Since E Inks ultimate goal is to produce “radio paper,”