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Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

UK service providers must notify customers when they connect to a different network

New rules from UK telecoms regulator Ofcom will protect customers when they use their mobile phone on a foreign network. In addition, customers will be alerted if they are inadvertently roaming, perhaps because they're near an international border.
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Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
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Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
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UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
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Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
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Opinion Articles

Thursday, February 25, 2010

The art of accessory sales is changing

Mark Bridge writes:

We're told it's not merely 'sales'. No, it's an art. "The art of selling". And with over 4 million hits on Google, you could easily argue that the art of selling is more popular than painting.

The same goes for the two sub-categories of cross-selling and up-selling. They're arts as well, you know. Mystic and creative disciplines.

But let me turn the clock back for a moment. Quite a few years ago I worked for a national mobile phone retailer. We didn't sell many accessories. The reason was two-fold, I recall. Accessories in the 1990s were practical, not exciting... and they didn't pay much commission. "Why sell someone a case when you can sell them insurance?" seemed to be the attitude of the hardened salesperson. This art was a struggle, a challenge, an unpopular discipline with a tiny canvas, a single colour and an impractical brush.

However, things have changed since then. And I was reminded how much things have changed when I was at Mobile World Congress last week.

BeeWi handsfree accessoryAs well as spotting Golla with its 2010 collection of clean-as-they-protect cases, I stopped at the Avenir Telecom stand. Alongside their headline-grabbing partnership with Energizer was the new BeeWi wireless convergence brand. Handsfree units that appeared to be the same size as a credit card. Bluetooth streaming from your phone to your hifi. If we'd had these in the shop 15 years ago we'd have bought them all ourselves.

And now this week, as though to reinforce the point, we hear from Avenir's rival 20:20 Mobile that its mobile phone accessories division grew by over 17% last year.

Yes, up-selling or cross-selling accessories may still be an art. But, after looking at the range and quality of contemporary accessories, I'd say these days it's more like painting-by-numbers than Picasso. As long as you've got the stock, of course.

 

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