Tag: UK

Social networking sites to boost e-retailers this Christmas (UK)

Posted by | Nov 23, 2007 | |

This Christmas GBP 750m of sales will be generated by young people swapping tips on Bebo, MySpace and Facebook, according to a survey published today.

Research from the Royal Mail and thinktank The Future Foundation found that these social networking websites have now become a more powerful force in deciding what we buy than word of mouth.

“An online recommendation can be a lot more powerful,” said James Murphy, editorial director at The Future Foundation.

“Seeing something written down gives it added credibility, it hangs around for longer and people are able to compare and corroborate any advice.”

The poll of nearly 1,500 people found that 66 pct bought a product following an online recommendation, compared with 52 pct who made their purchase following a verbal tip off.

Social networking sites have been the internet success story of the past 12 months. Facebook, for example, expects to have more than 60 million members by the end of the year. MySpace already claims more than 200 million users.

Chris Robinson, managing director of e-retailer Firebox.com said online recommendation is the most powerful marketing tool the company has.

“We’ve tried to build it into our business model by doing things to create those conversations, such as delivering our goods in brightly coloured boxes and adding in a free bag of sweets. It gets people talking.”

The report forecasts that by 2012, 84 pct of consumers will have access to the internet and 63 pct will be using it to buy goods online.

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Courier loses 25 million people's data (UK)

Posted by | Nov 22, 2007 | |

When heading to work, most couriers probably don’t expect to find themselves at the centre of a large-scale loss of data leading to a political storm.

But for TNT one misplaced package has caused a national outcry, as CDs containing the personal data of 25 million people is now missing.

Information about anyone registered with HMRC as receiving child benefits is likely to be contained on the missing CDs, including birthdates, addresses and bank details, which leaves them vulnerable to identity fraud.

An HMRC employee sent the child benefit database from Tyne and Wear to London using courier firm TNT in October. They were not sent with a recorded delivery courier and as a result TNT has said it is unable to track the package.

“TNT operates a general internal mail system for the HMRC and other associated government agencies,” a statement for the company said.

“General mail does not carry a track and trace mechanism and hence it has been impossible, in this instance, to conduct an audit to identify if the item entered the system.”

While there are no doubt red faces all round, it is the HMRC employee and chancellor Alistair Darling who are suffering more than the courier. The staff member was placed under police protection, while the chancellor is fending off resignation calls.

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Launch of 'High Speed' Inbound European Logistics Service

Posted by | Nov 22, 2007 | |

On the 19th November Business Direct launched a new European mainland to UK air service.
The new service operates from the company’s outbound hub based at Airport Weeze on the Dutch-German border. Weeze has been chosen because of its strategic location to the major European Distribution centres of several global electronics, computer, materials handling, automotive and manufacturing companies.
This new air service delivers significant competitive advantage for Business Direct customers by providing them with through the night, pre 8am delivery in the U.K. Utilising the 4,000 intelligent drop box ParcelXchanges, in-boot service and two-man courier networks throughout the UK, Business Direct can provides a seamless, highly secure, in-night service, with full track and trace capability. This enhances engineers productivity and significantly reduces customers inventory holding, warehousing and distribution costs

“The unique benefit of this new European through the night service, is that we can tailor make it to meet the exact needs of each customer and add significant value to their UK operation.” commented Paul Carvell Chief Executive of Business Direct. “With a high quality infrastructure and reputation for service excellence in the UK this is a major development of our business targeted at those companies who have large scale service engineer and parts delivery requirements in the UK.”

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