Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom helps protect customers against unexpected roaming charges

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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
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.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

What my granny taught me about online shopping

Mark Bridge writes:

When it came to telephones, my granny was an early adopter. She had a landline phone for as long as I can remember - and that’s quite a while when you consider the town only got an automatic telephone exchange two years after I was born. Recent research has now suggested that my granny was also well ahead of the game when it came to consumer behaviour.

This week, the UK’s Interactive Media in Retail Group - an industry association for e-retailers - has published an interesting study.

It’s found that a fair number of people whip their mobiles out when in a shop to see what competitors are doing. Quite a few of them end up buying from the online rival and not the real-world store they’re standing inside.

What can these high-street retailers do?  Well, they could block mobile signals by building a Faraday cage from tinfoil and chicken wire. They could offer a well-publicised ‘price match’ promise. They might want to introduce a WiFi network for customers, offering promotional deals and distracting consumers from their mobile network. They may even want to combine those last two options, as John Lewis has just announced.

But what does any of this have to do with my late grandmother?

Granny was living in her own house well into her 90s. Every so often she would walk to the shops, pulling her shopping trolley - which was a unique construction that combined pram wheels, a walking stick and an umbrella stand. I’m serious. She’d occasionally sit on someone’s garden wall and catch her breath. But when it was time to vote, the polling station was a bit further away.

Fortunately, one of the political parties would offer elderly voters a free lift to the polling station. It wasn’t the party that granny wanted to vote for, but this wasn’t a problem to her. She’d get a lift, place her vote, and get another free lift home.

If they’re not careful, some high street shops could well find themselves in the same position as granny’s helpful political party. Shoppers would browse their aisles for inspiration rather like using a catalogue - and then they’d head to John Lewis for free WiFi, a cup of coffee and some online shopping!

Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Categories: OpinionNumber of views: 3993

Tags:

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

Mobile industry predictions for 2015, from smartphones to spectrum

Podcast - 17th December 2014

The Fonecast predicts 2015: Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge gather round a sapphire crystal ball and make their forecasts for the next 12 months in the mobile industry.

Whose product line won't survive until December 2015? What will happen with the BT/EE merger? Which new features will be introduced by smartphone manufacturers?

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Mobile industry podcast: new smartphones, new network equipment and new insight

Podcast - 10th December 2014

It's time for another news-packed mobile industry podcast from TheFonecast.com, starting with the European Parliament's latest ruling on in-car emergency communication.

After that we're talking about Microsoft's departure from the Nook eBook business, Three UK's 4G growth, Acer's tablet-sized phone, EE's rural coverage solution and some interesting new research about mobile-enabled customer service.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Takeovers, break-ups, national roaming, dubious advertising and the death of the landline

Podcast - 3rd December 2014

We begin this week's podcast with updates on two topics we discussed last week: the potential purchase of a UK mobile network by BT - and the crowd-funded Jolla Tablet.

After that we talk about the GSMA's reaction to national roaming, the potential death of the landline, a new threat to Google, management changes and advertising for 4G data.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

BT talks to O2, Nokia and Jolla announce new tablets, Apple Watch developers get started... and Ofcom plans for more mobile capacity

Podcast - 26th November 2014

In this week's podcast we're talking about the potential purchase of the O2 UK mobile network by BT.

We also discuss new tablets from Nokia and Jolla, the end of a patent battle, mobile payments via instant messaging, app development for the Apple Watch and plans to make even more spectrum available for mobile broadband in the UK .

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

The week's UK mobile industry news, including BlackBerry, TalkTalk, 4G data and much more

Podcast - 19th November 2014

Time for another podcast presented by Iain Graham, James Rosewell and Mark Bridge. They begin this week's programme by talking about the latest enterprise-friendly developments from BlackBerry.

Next comes a new survey from Ofcom about the UK's 4G data speeds, followed by news about TalkTalk's MVNO deal with Telefonica, the growth of WiFi in the home and a report from AVG about social media sapping smartphone performance.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
245678910Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«November 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
28293031123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
2526272829301
2345678

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement