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Amazon Price Check App They’re making it even harder for real-world retailers,– scan and scram. Here’s how it works: you go into a store, you scan the barcode work out you can buy the item cheaper elsewhere This problem is only going to get worse for UK stores Eight out of ten smartphone owners in the United States have already scanned and scrammed Furthermore, nine out of ten retailers conceded that their customers could get a better deal somewhere else

Quick Response Codes Scanned and read by a smartphone Directing the user to a website, opening a map or sending a text. Used in In billboard and magazine advertisements With onscreen media With in-store displays

QR codes The potential is enormous Offer a simple way for the retailer to interact with the shopper. However, take-up has been limited so far because consumers first need to actively download a code reader application and retailers are unconvinced they will do so in sufficient numbers. Smartphone manufacturers are including the technology in their devices, shoppers are becoming more aware of the benefits and related services

Near-Field Communication (NFC) Very short range radio system Being installed and shipped with new generation smartphones Mobile wallets are further driving demand for NFC- enabled phones Contactless payment systems Smartposters Click on a poster for more information Direction in stores Trials all over the world (EE in UK)

NFC application example Morrisons Working with zappit (A NFC specialist) Engage with customers more deeply Derive richer analytic information Enable more targeted offers. Morrisons has a particularly innovative scheme, User engages with a display screen using smartphone Receives a digital coupon for money off or free items to be redeemed at checkout

Barnes and Noble Trilogy “Fifty Shades” saw B&N’s ebooks grow 46% in digital sales Microsoft invests £300,000,000 in Nook e-reader Announced e-reader “Nook” in UK. Prices £79 and £109 Nook second fastest sales in USA Hoping to repeat in UK

4 th Generation (4G) Faster than 3g Downloading videos and other data to smartphones and tablet computers should become up to 10 times faster. Costs likely to be more in early stages Orange customers can get the new iPhone 5 for £36 a month for 24 months (subject to a one-off fee of £109) EE operating now in 11 cities iPhone 5 on EE or 3. Other networks don’t provide the frequencies for the phone

Facebook 1 billion users 600,000 access via mobile devices Mobile advertising has increased Share price has increased (End of October 2102) Revenue from mobile advertising up 14% Fees from third parties (games etc) is also up

Alibaba Chinese trading platform for small businesses Founded by Jack Ma, Chinese entrepreneur Ebay pulled out of Chinese market Alibaba Group owns Taobao 800 million product listings 370,000,000 registered users 50 million SMEs Yahoo agreed to sell back its 43% for $7.1 billion this month (Nov 2012)

The Untaxables Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft etc etc etc 60 years ago, US companies accounted for 32.1% of the federal tax take By 2009 this had plummeted to 8.9% Over the same period, the burden on ordinary workers (paying the standard payroll tax) soared from 10% to 40% of all federal tax receipts