#81 To bundle or unbundle your product… That is the question!

Jim Barksdale, a former CEO of Netscape, once famously proclaimed there are “only two ways to make money in business: one is to bundle; the other is unbundle.”

Bundling is the business of rolling up products or services into packages, usually at a lower cost than buying them individually. Think meal deals, all-inclusive holidays, and software suite subscriptions that throw in all manner of bonus products for “free”.

Who can resist great deals like these?

Well, sometimes bundling comes at a cost. Both customers and regulators might take issue with a strategy that on the surface offers great value, but can have major drawbacks for choice, competition, and quality.

In this episode we unpick both bundling and unbundling, as Alen and Franz discuss:

• The benefits and drawbacks of each strategy for businesses and customers

• Famous examples of bundling and unbundling we can learn from

• How much impact design has in unbundled vs bundled scenarios

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