I don’t have a Tesco Clubcard and I’m not a part of Boots Advantage. I don’t have a Starbuck’s card. I’m not even part of the Ikea Family.  I’m just not a loyalty programme sort of person.

My shopping is generally online where I can sift for bargains, compare sales and per unit prices and generally not be tempted by chocolate at the checkout.  I will click through to Gilt from a link that my sister posts on Facebook and I have even impulse-purchased a holiday online – not a danger I would face in your average checkout lane.  Rather than Hilton Honors or Nectar, I’m more likely to belong to Amazon Prime, have an Ocado delivery pass or to go through the quirky things on offer daily on Groupon. Read More »

Amazon.com is to take a leaf out of Apple’s (e)book as the world’s largest online retailer looks set to open its first retail store in Seattle focusing on the Kindle.

Like Apple’s hugely success and styling stores Amazon is going to use them to give a more hands on support and help to shoppers who are snapping up its e-reader Kindle products. Read More »

I was recently asked to help someone I know promote their business product on my personal Facebook page. “Just post a link to our webstore” they enthusiastically suggested. I refused. One, because I didn’t have any interest whatsoever in their product, nor did I think any of my friends would, and two, because it would look so utterly false and out-of-place on my profile that it wasn’t worth the effort. I explained to this person that I very rarely, if ever, post status updates on Facebook. So if I was going to break that habit, I was certainly not going to do so in order to flog a bunch of crap; I’d just post some song lyrics or a cat picture or something like you’re meant to.

I give my friends more respect than selling miscellaneous products to them, and besides, they would all recognise it as being completely incongruous with my usual mute Facebook behaviour. It’s this blatant, heavy-handed advertising-dressed-up-as-genuine-communication-between-friends that really irks me about social media, and it’s the cynical monetizing and hierarchisation of this concept by companies like Klout that irritates even further.

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Digitally, Japan is now more ‘socially’ integrated than ever. Now is the best time for western brands to promote themselves in the same way they do for other nations. Here are 5 reasons why. Read More »

This marks the inauguration of our sector-by-sector examination of how well businesses are really performing in terms of social media.

With high street retailers closing down at an alarming rate, we felt the time was right to examine how some of the major players are performing in terms of social media. In the first of our snapshots, we look at the casual outdoor fashion sector, namely Fat Face, White Stuff, Joules, Superdry and Crew Clothing. Read More »