Categories
Close
Menu
Menu
Close
Search
Search

Featured Articles

News

Nook advertising campaign breached the ASA advertising code

Mark

Share:

Print

Rate article:

No rating
Rate this article:
No rating

The UK Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a complaint about recent advertisements for discounted Barnes & Noble Nook eBook readers.

In April Barnes & Noble cut the price of the basic Nook reader from £79 to £29, advertising the product’s availability at Argos, Asda, Blackwell’s, Currys, Foyles, John Lewis, PC World, Sainsbury’s and Very.

However, a complainant said they’d been unable to purchase the item from any of the listed retailers.

Barnes & Noble admitted the product had gone out of stock at its web store and at some retailer partners, although it believed it had made a reasonable estimate of demand for the product based on recent UK sales levels. It said UK retail partners had held stock of over 20 times the previous three months’ average sales when the promotion started.

Nook sales during the promotion were over 120 times the normal sales rate, causing some retailers to quickly run out of stock. Barnes & Noble worked to distribute remaining stock evenly throughout the market, put an ‘out of stock’ message on its UK web site and stopped running its press ad in early May.

Despite this the ASA upheld the complaint, noting that that Barnes & Noble had not provided it with sufficient evidence to show the stock estimate was reasonable. Although Barnes & Noble had based its estimate on recent UK sales data, the ASA considered that B&N should have based the estimate on responses to a previous similar offer.

[ASA adjudication]

Comments

Collapse Expand Comments (0)
You don't have permission to post comments.

Opinion Articles

ExclusiveOfcom changes the rules for mobile phone contracts... and so does O2

Mark Bridge writes:

This week, new Ofcom rules came into force. They’re designed to avoid unexpected price rises during the minimum term of a mobile phone contract. Yes, just because you signed a fixed-term contract doesn’t mean the charges can’t increase. Networks said they needed this option in case of inflation or regulatory changes. Customers felt trapped.

ExclusiveReview: CAT Active Urban rugged phone case for iPhone 5 and 5s

Natasha Cooper writes:

As someone who has been through more iPhone screens than I’d like to remember, when I recently upgraded to an iPhone 5s I was keen to keep it in one piece - for a few months at least. Cue the new CAT Active Urban Phone Case, which claims to protect your phones from falls of up to 1.8 meters using a reinforced material that can also be found in protective equipment for motor bike riders.

ExclusiveOvum reveals 2014 will be a year of innovation, disruption, and consolidation in mobile payments

Analyst firm Ovum has published its mobile payment and mobile advertising predictions for this year.

Ovum expects continued technology and service innovation, notably around location-based applications, in the mobile payments space in 2014. However, there will be increasing complexity within the mobile payments ecosystem this year, and on-going challenges around the business model for digital wallet services.

ExclusiveLast week at The Fonecast: 13th January 2014

Mark Bridge writes:

Farewell for another year, dear old International CES. The Las Vegas-based consumer electronics show is but a fading memory as the mobile industry starts preparing for next month’s GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

However, what happened in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas.

ExclusiveThe Apple iPhone first appeared seven years ago

Mark Bridge writes:

In a way, it’s hard to believe that the first Apple iPhone wasn’t seen in public until this day seven years ago. It - and the trend towards one-piece smartphones with hardly any buttons - seems to have been with us for much longer.

RSS
First678911131415Last

Recent Podcasts

ExclusivePodcast from Mobile World Congress 2015

Mark Bridge learns about the mobile technology trends at Mobile World Congress 2015 by chatting to James Rosewell of 51Degrees, Dr Kevin Curran from the IEEE and Chris Millington of Doro.

They talk about wearable devices, wireless charging, mobile operating systems and much more... including some of their favourite products from the exhibition.

ExclusiveLooking back at February: from security scares to multiple MVNOs

We're taking a look back at the biggest mobile industry news stories from February 2015, including allegations that the UK's security service tried to breach SIM card security by hacking into one of the world's biggest SIM producers.

We also talk about the planned BT and EE merger, the creation of two new UK virtual networks, some acquisitions in the mobile payment arena and a new Ubuntu smartphone.

ExclusiveA month of mobile: O2 counts on 3, Microsoft counts to 10 and Apple counts its profits

We're back with a month of mobile industry news, including takeover talks and takeover rumours. O2 and Three are said to be discussing a merger... but is there any truth in the suggestions that BlackBerry could be up for grabs?

We also discuss Apple's record-breaking quarterly figures, the highlights of CES and the launch of Microsoft Windows 10, as well as saying farewell to the current version of Google Glass.

RSS
123456789Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Archive Calendar

«July 2026»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
293012345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
272829303112
3456789

Archive