Monthly Archives: December 2011

Visa Europe launches exclusive UK offers portal

Posted on by
Reply

Visa Europe yesterday launched an exclusive new web portal offering deals and discounts from popular retail brands exclusively for Visa cardholders in the UK.

The site can either be accessed directly at www.visaoffers.eu/uk/ or via Visa’s Golden Space website at www.visa.co.uk/goldenspace.

The new site creates a unique destination for retailers to engage with a huge base of consumers. At launch, Visa cardholders in the UK can access discounts from over 40 brands tailored for the festive period, such as 30% off Hallmark, 15% off Goldsmiths, 10% off a £20 order at I Want One of Those, 10% off all electronics and accessories for over £49 spend at Dell, and free delivery for over £50 spend at Hamleys.

More on this story >>> Visa Europe launches exclusive UK offers portal.

My favourite marketing quote of 2011

Posted on by
Reply

Marketing have published their top ten quotes of the year. My favourite is from Sir Terry Leahy, former chief executive at Tesco.

You have to break out of a straitjacket, one that is slowly wrapping around you in your organisation; how you see yourself, the world, business, customers. You’re framed by habit, by the budget, comparison with last year, last month, last week, meeting targets. These can all slowly suffocate you and your ability to see things fresh and new. You should take a fresh look at yourself, your customers and, above all, the opportunity.

OFT orders banks to be clear on holiday money charges

Posted on by
Reply

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) told the banking industry to make charges for overseas transactions more easily understood by improving credit card summary box information and by revamping websites so that customers will be able to see, at a glance, all the fees that apply.

There is an alternative…get a prepaid foreign currency MasterCard or Visa card and the terms and fees are clear upfront. This may be a case of selecting the right tool for the job. Caxton Fx and Travelex are the ones I’ve used.

HMV ‘may sell’ the part of it’s strategy that is working

Posted on by
Reply

In 1921, the Gramophone Company opened the first HMV shop in London, England; the composer Sir Edward Elgar participated in the opening ceremonies.

Today we are on possibly seeing the last Christmas for HMV. I hope not, but things are looking dire for them. HMV has said it may sell its live music division to raise funds, as it battles with another drop in sales.

My view on all this is that it’s too little and too late. Back in the late nineties was the time for HMV to broaden their delivery of entertainment across other formats. The recent successful foray into live music is making money but is one of the few assets they can sell to prop up the business.

When the live music business goes, and the retrenching to a CD/games retailer is complete, why should we shop at HMV? Amazon does pretty well for me, as does iTunes and Spotify thank you.

How about flipping the strategy? Keep the profitable live music business and sell off/close the loss making shops. Just a thought.

Report assesses prepaid market in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Posted on by
Reply

Research and Markets today announced the availability of a new report on the prepaid payment card market from Global Prepaid Exchange, “Prepaid Market Assessment: Germany, Austria, Switzerland.”

According to the report, the major prepaid opportunities in the DACH region are government disbursements, transportation, gifting and corporate incentives and benefits. The sector most likely to see the strongest growth in the next five years (15-20 percent annually) is government prepaid.

via Report assesses prepaid market in Germany, Austria and Switzerland | ATM Marketplace.

The first time we have had 4 generations in the work force

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve been researching an idea that will involve Generation Y. There is a lot of similar and rather dull stuff on the subject available at the end of a Google search. Yes, we know about the praise, appraisal and loyalty points.

I tripped across a very good piece of video from Jason Dorsey on YouTube. It’s only about 10 minutes long and it is thought provoking: Baby Boomers vs Generation X and Generation Y.

Today, for the first time in history, there are four generations in the global professional and managerial workforce:

  • The Traditionalists, born between 1925 and 1942. Most, but by no means all of these, have retired or entered semi-retirement.
  • The Baby Boomers, born between 1943 and 1960. The oldest of these have begun retiring from employment.
  • Generation X, born between 1961 and 1976. Many of these are already established in management positions.
  • Generation Y, born between 1977 and 1995. These form the latest cohort to enter the global workforce.

First NFC smartphones certified as MasterCard PayPass approved devices

Posted on by
Reply

Research In Motion announced the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and BlackBerry Curve 9360 smartphones are the first SIM-based NFC smartphones to be certified by MasterCard Worldwide as PayPass-approved devices.

With this certification, any MasterCard PayPass-issuing bank globally will be able to deploy PayPass-enabled accounts to the SIM card of these smartphones. The certification was granted on the basis of the BlackBerry smartphones meeting the functionality, interoperability, and security requirements of MasterCard.

via First NFC smartphones certified as MasterCard PayPass approved devices.