10 Minute Break

What Kind of Online Shopper Are You?

2007-12-19T06:20:00.000-08:00

Do you sniff, graze, ping or strike?

The Internet has forever changed the way we shop. It has increased the speed and ease of buying products and provided the consumer with a global library of information, real variety and choice. Being able to shop online is no longer the challenge as demonstrated this week, when UK online shoppers broke all previous records by reportedly spending £767,500 in just 60 seconds at 1.09pm on Monday. Meeting the needs of all online shopper-types, is.

According to Comet (www.comet.co.uk), the UK’s leading electrical retailer, to succeed as an etailer during peak shopping periods, the challenge is being able to cater for the demands of all shopper types. This means delivering products and services to the people who need them in the way they want them, when they want them.

The verdict of a recent survey Comet conducted involving 2243 of its online customers, is that different types of web shoppers have different goals and shopping strategies, with mens’ and womens’ styles varying.

Forty-five per cent use the Internet for checking out product information “Grazer-style” and doing research before rushing in. The “Sniffers” (the bargain-hunting shoppers), representing just over 15 per cent of the total polled, use comparison shopping tools and are just looking for the lowest price. Grazers and Sniffers are both more likely to be male than female (Grazers representing 61 per cent male to 39 per cent female and Sniffers 59 per cent male to 41 per cent female)

Overall, the survey indicates that while the Internet is often the first port of call for these shoppers seeking information before they buy, it indicates that nearly 16 per cent are “Combos”; the shopping elite who use the Internet mainly as a source of information. This group like taking the best of the new with the reassurance of the traditional and do enjoy the offline shopping experience too. Of this 16 per cent a “Combo” is more likely to be female than male – (53 per cent to 47 per cent respectively). Indeed, of those customers polled given the choice of all Comet.co.uk’s services nearly 44 per cent liked the “Combo” Click & Collect service best. This service enables online shoppers to order online and collect from a store 30 minutes’ later. Of those polled, women were more likely than men to favour “real” people, engineers to install and repair products, and guaranteed deliveries.

Of those polled just over 10 per cent admit to having an “SAS-approach” to online shopping, making precision strikes targeting only the areas and website they need, and then quickly logging off. They know exactly what they want before logging on and only purchase that item. SAS precision strikers are more likely to be male than female (68 per cent to 32 per cent respectively).

However, the remainder use the Internet on a “Needs Must” basis (4.5 per cent). Those shopping out of necessity, or if they are pressed for time, are more likely to be female (55 per cent) than male (45 per cent). The social “Tiddleywinkers” (nearly 2 per cent of the total polled) are enthusiastic, adventurous web users who will ping to new ideas as they are presented to them and use the Internet as a form of recreation (67 per cent female, 33 per cent male).

Commenting, Simon Rigby, Head of Direct Channels at Comet, says:

“Our challenge is to meet the needs of the greatest number of shoppers. By undertaking research on a regular basis, we learn more about our customers’ shopping needs and styles. This helps us to deliver all the necessary reassurances, product ranges and services.

“We conducted this survey during our peak selling period as we are in the process of developing our range of online interactive services, such as Live Chat and CometTV.co.uk. Powerful multi media sales tools will soon become standard in the online shopping arena. In three years, you'll be just as likely to click and watch a product related video of your intended purchase on your computer before you buy - as you are to have an email address today.”

For more information please visit:
www.comet.co.uk/services
www.comet.co.uk/christmas
http://press.comet.co.uk

E-mail the curse of the internet

2007-07-30T01:19:00.000-07:00

I would have thought with the importance of e-mail and the more demanding needs of the average user the e-mail client developers would wake up.

POP 3 mailboxes? Who still uses them? All my colleagues and friends are all on IMAP. Why battle with POP3 when IMAP allows you to see what you did at the office at home and vice versa. One mailbox everywhere. Even the free hosting services are offering IMAP. If you still on POP3. What's wrong with you?

Saying that why is there so little support for IMAP. Is it to complex to the developers or are they still stuck in the lala land of development where they presume to know what we the end user wants? I mean Apple mail the "sleek one" can't even save a sent messages to the Sent mail folder which makes a super cool program useless. Opera mail: God knows what they thought when they created their mail client - unusable is an understatement. Outlook works brilliant but sadly only the Windows version, as for the Mac version (Entourage) delete a message and it stays around with a line through it. Why? Delete means get rid of it! Manage around 300 to 400 message in everyday (not spam) and see how quickly the line piss you off. Now on the free side is Thunderbird from the makers of Firefox it does what it says on the tin. Why is it so slow? Move a email from one folder to another and it's time for tea as you wont get to do much else. It's uploading then downloading then uploading - messages on the server so why the traffic.

Aaarghh wake-up software developers. We want stuff that work not do fancy stuff nobody ever uses. Get the underlying services to work the way they should first. PLEASE. I don't want to spend my life battling to manage my e-mail.

How to blog using your mobile phone

2006-12-15T06:38:00.001-08:00

Blogging from your mobile phone is pretty easy and serious fun. The guys at busyferret.com has taken their social bookmarking and blogging site one step further by allowing UK users to blog straight from their mobiles using MMS (Multimedia Message Service).

Is it complicated? Nope. I found it pretty straight forward. Go to www.busyferret.com and create an account for yourself. Once your account is up and running go to the "My Blog" area and add the mobile number of the phone you will be using to blog from (the number to send to will be listed there as well). You are now set-up to start mobile blogging.

Lets get blogging. You don't need to install any extra software on your phone, if you can send picture messages (multimedia messages) your phone is ready to blog - all camera phones have this facility as standard. Create a new MMS message, add an image (if you want) and next add your text. Add the title of your article followed by 3 spaces (if you use a smart phone use the carriage return). Type the body of your article. That's it. Your done. Enter the mobile number (Provided where you enter your mobile number in the "My Blog" area) and select send. Depending on the speed of your network provider your article should appear in your blogging as soon as its sent.

Optional options

The system allows you to send further instructions to busiferret.com by adding the following commands to the end of your article. You can only add the ones you need - as long as they are in the given order and for this example I have added a space between the word and the colon - it needs to be command:.

keywords : lets you add keywords / tags to your article

refurl : the reference url for your article

rating : the rating value of the article 1 - 10

type : the type of post public or private

publishto : the page you want your article posted to in your blog

Example text for a message:

This is the header

This is the body of the message and can be as long as you want as long as your MMS message is below 100k keywords :blogging,mobile,mms rating :8

Go give it a try. I'm hooked. This article was written and posted using only my mobile phone.

Pump It Up - Burn it, Lose it!

2006-12-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

Ever find yourself running out of steam on the dancefloor? Want to lose the post Christmas bulges? If so Ministry of Sound is about to release the latest in its critically acclaimed series of Pump It Up fitness DVD’s PUMP IT UP – ‘Burn it Lose it’ to help you lose weight, increase your energy and ultimately look fabulous on the dancefloor!

Containing easy to follow sessions of dance, aerobics, toning and the latest addition of beatbox that takes influence from boxing and combat, the workout is set to all the latest club soundtracks from Ministry of Sound.

Deanne Berry, who featured in the first ever Pump It Up DVD and famously lead the no. 1 Eric Prydz ‘Call on me’ video, will be back to lead the troupe, teaching you how to pump, dance and punch your way back into shape all choreographed by Agata Pienio a qualified fitness instructor and award-winning choreographer.

‘’Pump It Up is a safe, dynamic and enjoyable workout. It offers lots of variety, contains a fantastic mix of music that will keep you energised and inspire your workout. The cardio sections will definitely get your heart rate up and make you sweat, (it does me) and you will feel the burn when practising the toning exercises. The key is always work as hard as possible to get the most out of the exercise! I know that everyone will enjoy Burn it, Lose it as much as I do!’’ Deanne Berry

Pump It Up – ‘Burn it Lose it’ is perfect for those who like their fitness to be fun, fast and set to pumping tunes. It provides a great all round work out specifically designed to uplift your bust, tones thighs and arms and encourages healthy weight loss. It is a bone fide way to boogie into shape, whilst having the maximum amount of enjoyment. Simply identify your level of fitness follow Cleo for the heavyweight (advanced) workout, Ella for the lightweight (beginners) workout and Deanne and the rest of the dancers for the middleweight (intermediate) workout.

In true Ministry of Sound fashion the filming is feminine and sassy with the added rawness of an amazing set in the style of a traditional boxing environment. Combine this with a pumping soundtrack of the latest and hottest dance hits such as Fedde le Grand “ Put your hands up for Detroit” Chanel “ My Life” Mish Mash “Speechless” and Solu music ‘Fade’ to name a few and you have an entertaining workout you can really get down to!

Show off your ‘new 2007’ figure on the dancefloor. Pump It Up DVD £19.99 from HMV, Virgin, Tescos, Woolworths and online at Amazon and www.ministryofsound/pumpitup.com

Workout Notes

Pump It Up‘ Burn it, Lose it’ takes you through a warm up, three high impact workouts, a toning section and a knockout.section

• Warm up: An 8 minute full body warm up which gets your body ready for the workout
• Aeroburn: A 15 minute high impact aerobics work out which helps build your overall fitness and will give you the energy to dance those extra hours away
• BPM: A 15 minute full body choreographed dynamic dance workout which teaches you a few of the latest dance moves as well as helping you shake off some excess pounds
• Beatbox: A 15 minute high energy complete combat/box workout taking influence from boxing and martial arts perfect for toning up your arms and punching out your daily stress
• Below the belt: A 15 minute crunching tone it up work out conditions the entire body leaving you feeling energised and amazing for the weekend
• Knockout: An 8 minute slow relaxing and unwinding cool down

Here are a few explanations of how the DVD can benefit you for an all round slender figure:

Block –Helps to build core strength and streamlines arms (Deanne)

Knee lift- Streamline your legs. Tightens your abdominals works and works your way to a flatter stomach. (Cleo)

Lunge –Works the upper leg, tightens thighs and helps diminish cellulite whilst tightening your buttocks (Susan)

Uppercut –Slims and tightens the lower and upper arm and shoulders (Rie)

Jab –This move also slims and tones the lower, upper arm and shoulders (Ella)

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