Fickle Finance

Archive for the ‘Shopping’ Category

Purported rumors indicate that Sharp and Samsung Electronics will be manufacturing displays and chips for the future Apple iTV. Recently however, other names have been dragged like the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC),  Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL), and Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE).  Said companies are also contenders to win orders in manufacturing Apple’s smart TV

According to some industry sources, Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn Electronics) will also be potentially obtaining orders to assemble the smart TV.

As of now, Apple has not yet finalized the companies who will help manufacture their iTV. By the end of the second-quarter of 2012, Apple is expected to finish their list of hardware standards. They will also be placing orders for their chips and other components to direct contract manufacturers. This is the same procedure as what they have done to iPhones and iPads.

Hopefully, the new smart TV from Apple will be available before the year ends– a perfect Christmas present.

Television sets had a great buy last holiday season. Some however were not that happy about the fast-paced TV depreciation value.  Salesman Ram Lyle stated that making big money in selling television sets was a thing of the past. He pointed out that a 55-inch Sony television in a showroom sold for 6,000 a few years ago, its current price is only $2,599.

As he stands amid rows of wavering television sets, Lyle stated they are making lesser money as new models are released so fast companies are forced to cut off prices just to sell units.

Shoppers have always wanted time to roam around shops, without the fatigue, the hassle of parking, and the tiring lines on cashier.  Enter, online shops.  Last Christmas, online shoppers finally had it.

IBM research found out that online shopping had jumped 16.4 percent higher this Christmas Day than last year. The amount of purchases made through mobile devices also leaped higher by 172.9 percent.

Aside from Amazon.com, IBM also tracked more than 500 large shopping websites. Significantly, it found an increase in the number of shoppers who made their purchases through new mobile devices like iPads, Androids, and iPhones.

After 18 months after the release of tablet computers by Apple Inc., seven percent of these online purchases were made through iPads. This was according to the chief strategy officer for IBM’s Smarter Commerce John Squire.

The upticks continued through December 26, shopping was up by 10 percent than last year.  Analysts expect that the pace of buying will still increase as the day closes and consumers are still clicking to the sales and discounts of various retailers.

In fact, Squire confirmed that consumers were still chasing the sales over Sunday and Monday. However, the data did not reveal what portion of the purchases was made through gift cards.

Corollary, regular shopping experience is also on the high even after Christmas day. In fact, it is considered to be the busiest shopping day of the whole year though data has not yet been released.  The day after Christmas was said to match Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.  According to retailers, this time is a combination of all post-Christmas returns, specials, exchanges, and a time to spend all the gift cards received.

A new Christmas promotion has been launched by Amazon last December 10, 2011. The promo offers 5% off to customers to three qualifying items. The discounts give off up to $5.00 less on items. However, the discounts can only be availed if the customer has checked beforehand the price of the goods they want to buy at the Price Check app while they are at the physical store with the goods.

Amazon’s idea on the promotion became controversial. Some thought that the application on price checking being incorporated into the promotion is excellent. Wittingly, Amazon has turned their customers into spies for them. Without having to spend any fee for it, Amazon obtains a comparison data on prices from other huge stores.

The technique is known to be an old scheme of providing people the benefit of using a new product which in this case is the Price Check app. While letting them use the app, people may get used to it. As a result, Amazon will draw more volume from this. Plus their expenses may be reduced as they save more from not paying any fee on gathering comparison data.

But every action has its negative side. The promotion raised eyebrows from politicians, advocacy groups, and other retailers.

In connection to Christmas discount season, TVs are top on the list of Christmas shopping for most people.

We know that television sales have slowed down as new technologies like tabs and smartphones come out as interest for people. But shoppers have responded to discounts offered by TV retailers which went up to 50%.

So far, TV sales for 2011 went up by 15% since 2010 as their prices have dropped by 7%, only amounting to $597.

It’s almost Christmas, and many people are already thinking about how they can spend the holidays with affordable budgets in mind. Research tells us that credit cards can actually help our Christmas shoppers, through the aid of credit card offers and schemes specifically for cash-back during the Christmas season. Defaqto, the research group showed hat credit cards can actually be beneficial during the Holiday Season. If your credit card is any one of the 13 cards that offer cash-back schemes, then you can definitely use it for good spending.

One such credit card is World MasterCard from Capital One, which has the highest cash-back reward at 5 percent whenever you purchase during the first 99 days. When the total money you have spent reaches 2,000 pounds, then your maximum cash back will be 100 pounds. For purchases up to 6,000 pounds on aggregate and annually, cash back will be 0.5 percent, and for purchases worth 6,000 to 10,000 pounds, cash back is 1 percent.

President of the Insight Analysis for Banking of Defaqto, David Black, said that indeed Christmas time is a very expensive period, but with the help of credit cards the expenses can be reduced. Four types of rewards are available to help with this cause: shopping rewards, points schemes, cash backs and air miles. In addition, some credit cards give you the option to borrow and repay for an extended time period with 0 percent introductory rate. Certainly, it makes sense to choose the benefits of a credit card during the Season, especially if your employment is secure.

Two years before, Carol Brodie launched fine jewelry which is her own line in the network of home shopping, HSN that airs twenty four hours. The strategy of not heading to Fifth Avenue or Rodeo Drive to sell her jewelries must be good.

Brodie now receive “Queen of Diamonds” as her title. She worked at Harry Winston for eight years and a consultant with Faberge and Ivanka Trump. Yet, Brodie as a queen is still knowledgeable of valuing a good quality of deal.

The Rarity line up of jewelries by Brodie is much appreciated and purchase by the customers of HSN. On the previous month, a pair of diamond earning which is covered with champagne with a karat of 8.75 was sold for a worth of three thousand dollars in single appearance at three in the morning.

Channels about home shopping are on its way of being high-end as luxurious designers have paved their way. Badgley Mischka and Jonathan Adler are some of the designers that put venture on home shopping. They have brought higher revenue through this new procedure.

According to Plunkett Research Chief Executive Officer, Jack Plunkett, channels of home shopping and direct selling to the customers reduces the sharp mark-ups by department stores and boutiques. Home shopping also presents a more competitive pricing.

“Because of the recession, designers seek new outlets in order to offer more inexpensive costing of their products. This could be one of the best things that took place in the networks of home shopping,” Plunkett stated.

On the previous year, HSH went up revenue of three billion which is a two percent raise from the year 2006. Higher-end goods hosting of HSH has made better the network’s business despite the levels of pre-recession.

A lot of customers have ranted about the expensive use of light bulb and demands to change such. Administrations and commentators have requested even before but it is only now, that the problem finally has a solution.

The legislation was signed by President Bush last 2007 compelling light bulbs to be at the very least twenty-five percent proficient. It is only now in Obama’s administration that such requirement was given a priority. However, the implementation of the use of the new bulbs will be on 2014. On January, the incandescent bulbs invented by Thomas Edison will be out from the market at one stage at a time. The first to be phased out is the 100-watt bulbs.

As a result of the legislation, the production and development of the next set of light bulbs are improved. It includes the light-emitting diode and compact fluorescent which is the focus of the Lighting Science Group. However, the expensive cost of such as well as the perplex content of the legislation has mired up the marketplace.

Last May 17, Glenn Beck has started telling everyone to save their 100-watt bulbs in the assumption that the government is forcing everyone to alter their light bulbs. Other experts said “calm down.” Apparently, the transition of this request brought about a slight commotion among consumers.

Jim Morrison, the sales manager of House of Lights said in a statement, that not all incandescent lighting are going to be phased out. There are exceptions to this rule.

On June 8, Samsung publicized their much-awaited upgraded version of Galaxy Tab which is the version 10.1. The said product will be available at Best Buy’s Union Square store in New York City. On that same day, the store’s website will also be open for the customers who want to pre-order online.

Galaxy Tab 10.1 is an additional member of the Galaxy family by Samsung. Currently, the Galaxy family has Pro, SL, 5, Fit, Ace, 551, S I, II and III, 3, POP, S LCD, and Tab.

The version 10.1 is available in 16GB and 32GB for a larger storage of files and applications. It has also a WiFi version. The tablet is also carrying an LTE-enabled version which will be priced at $529.99 for 16GB and $629.99 for 32GB as announced by Verizon.

For the WiFi version of the tablet, it is priced at $499 for 16GB version and for 32GB it’s $599. It will be available on Sprint in the middle of summer this year, as said by Samsung on its press briefing.

Weighing 1.3 pounds, Galaxy Tab version 10.1 features a 2MP front panel camera, a 3MP back panel camera, a 1 GHz processor and it is 0.33 inches thick. The OS is also known as Honeycomb since it functions on Android 3.1 platform.

The new tablet is slimmer and more weightless than Motorola Xoom and the iPad, it has a like screen resolution of 1280×800 same as Xoom, though.

The battery of version 10.1 can last up to 9 hours within a single charge as it plays back 1080p video content which is possible through an HMDI feature that is a connection with the right adaptor or dock.

Galaxy Tab 101.1 is official released on June 17 nationwide.

Xbox released on November 15, 2001 in North America is the sixth-generation video game console created by Microsoft.  Is had been also released on February 22, 2002 in March 14, 2002 Japan and Australia and Europe, respectively.

Since it has been released in 2001, Xbox made it to the world of gaming console market. Microsoft Corp. says that over 53 million units of Xbox are sold particularly the Xbox 360 console as it has become an overbearing source of entertainment for all ages.

With this positive outcome, Microsoft believes that Xbox 360 must be manufactured largely as the second video game console succeeding the Xbox.

Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Corporate Communication, Frank X. Shaw confirmed that they have sales that reached 53 million of Xbox 360 consoles sold and Xbox has remained the top-selling console last year. Depending on their accrued statistics, it is deemed we will find 30 million  Xbox 360 Live people and also over tens of millions of Kinects the industry that’s controller-free gaming and entertainment experience on why they are sold.

Xbox 360 became popular as a video gaming console but Microsoft claims that it just not only offers games. It is 40% non gaming console.

Shaw emphasized rgar  Xbox is equals to entertainment and that remains the core to their entertainment strategy. He explained that Xbox connects the people to the worldwide community as you attach the console in the largest screen of your home.