James Blog

Is Social Media right for your Business?

    I just had a phone call to interview me about the use of Social Media for our business, and this got me thinking about the benefits and reasons that it makes sense to embrace Media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other forms of media.

    After answering a couple of questions, I realised that Social Media, like this blog or the Jenlist Facebook page, actually target an audience that are interested in what you have to say or offer. That's one of the great things about inviting people to "like" your Facebook page, or follow your blog or Twitter feeds. People have a choice. If they choose to follow you then they are interested in the things you have to say or the products and services you may be offering.

It's about giving people choice. Then the challenge is to keep your followers and readers interested in the things you want to say.

How does this work in retail? I believe Facebook is a great place to start and  thousands of retailers have a unique opportunity to get their customers to follow them on Facebook. My idea is that you should have a "live" computer in store, and ask people to like you on Facebook while they are shopping in your store. You can offer an incentive, to sweeten the deal, like a free gift or a 10% discount on toady's purchase. Something simple makes sense.

Then what? Posting to Facebook is easy, and with practice you soon learn that the time to do so is relatively little. I think it is wise to keep your posts as relevant and focussed as possible.

What to Post?  Posting something like "we are open 7 Days" or Come in and browse our range" has little effect and creates no interest. Better you try and focus on a red hot special, or remind your customers that it is a $30 Million dollar Lotto night. Maybe you have just got a new product or range in and would like to share that with your customers. Being a local retailer means you can also use local events to make your posts interesting and relevant. Maybe a staff members birthday, or information about an upcoming event in the community. What about sporting results of the local Football team you sponsor?

One thing is for sure, if you think it is time to start using Social Media in your business, you're right !

Icecream Sandwich on my Samsung Galaxy S2

  A couple of weeks ago I loaded the new Android operating system on to my Samsung Galaxy S2.

   Named as Icecream Sandwich...Google insist on having these strange names for their Android versions... this version 4.03 is designed for the latest crop of handsets and tablets running Android.

    The main things I have noticed, as far as improvements are concerend are related to multi tasking. The phone generally runs smoother, and switches between applications swiftly and effectively.

It takes a little bit of time to recognise some of the changes as you delve deeper in to the day to day use of a smart phone. There has been upgrades to the Email client, using my work Exchange account, and it took me a  couple of days to figure out some of the improvements. It's now easier to attach a file to an email, and like a desk top PC, I can attach any file on my phone, or I can take a photo and share that easily. Speaking of photos, renaming, cropping, rotating and editing photos is much easier. The Galaxy S2 takes great 8MP photos by the way, and I love the panorama shooting mode. (See photo of the Hiroshima Peace Park below)

The menu system has been changed slightly, and I have found the settings are easier to find and adjust. Things like accessing the the data usage menu, and being able to set data limits and warnings are great, given that a Smart phone can easily use a lot of data if you are not mindful of this. Power saving features have improved, and I am getting about 30% more from my battery life, which is fantastic!

If you are considering a Smart phone, or looking to upgrade one, I recommend the Samsung Galaxy S2 as one of the most user friendly and highly specced phones on the market today, and now with the upgrade to ANDROID 4.0, it's even better. As a matter of fact, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus that is being heavily promoted as the first ANDROID 4.0 phone on the Australian market is actually an older phone with lower features, so now that the Galaxy S2 has been given this upgrade... it's definitely my choice.

South Australian Newsagents Awards

    On the 3rd April the South Australian Annual Newsagents Awards were held at the Donato Reception Centre, Adelaide.

    Our National Sales Manager, Simon Davidson,  attended the evening and presented the "News Technologies" Newsagents of the year to Phil and Leonie Jenner, owners of Port Mall Newsagency. Congratulations !

    A big thank you once again to Colin Shipton, ANF SA Branch Manager for again organising this years awards celebration. The night was an overall success and enjoyed by all attending.

 Simon Davidson(left) presenting the "New Technologies Award" to Leonie and Phill Jenner

Below is a list of the category winners from the 2012 SA Newsagents Awards:

Western Union Best New Site:
Victoria Square
Western Union Top Performing Site:
Arndale Kilkenny

Jenlist New Technology Newsagent of the Year:
Runner –up- Peterborough
Winner: Port Mall

Promotion of the Year:
Ardrossan

Industry Representative of the Year:
Allan Oman- Fairfax Media

Service to the Industry:
Graeme Hand Ancol/ Newspower

Best SA Lotteries Newsagent:
Kylie Browns

Newsagent Employee of the Year:

Nel Middleton- Mount Barker Central

Distribution Newsagent of the Year:
Blackwood Newspaper Delivery Service

Retail Newsagent of the Year:
Peterborough

Unlocked Handsets Open New Doors

    It never ceases to amaze me how Australia with a population of some 22.5 Million people can sustain a Telco industry with nearly 25 million mobile phone services. Staggering figures, I know !

    How can this be? The answer is not that difficult to understand when you take into account all the reasons and combine them. It all starts to make sense.

    What are these reasons? Some people carry two phones. This is more common than you think. One for work and one for family. Some might even have a third service, for a sporting team, club, etc.     Then there are all the Mobile Broadband services. This area has proven to be very lucrative for the Telcos, with the continued strong growth of Mobile Broadband over the past 24 months.    Now add in the extra services of the Tablet explosion, as more and more people purchase the iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, and many other devices... of which more than 70% are 3G enabled and therefore have a Mobile Broadband SIM... hence a new mobile service.   Now it is easy to see how Australia can have so many Mobile services... more than people in the country!

    What can all of this mean to retailers? I thought that might be obvious. With so many services there are huge opportunities for retailers to stock and sell all types of Mobile devices, from inexpensive Pre-Paid Handsets to top of the range Tablets, and everything else in between. 

    One market that is relatively easy to tap into is the "Replacement Handset" sale. Most people today cannot live without their mobile phone for more than an hour or so. When they are stuck with a broken or dead handset, it can be "any port in a storm" for them. I mean, they will seek and purchase the first available replacement handset. even if it is not a permanent solution for them, but rather to just get them mobile again.

    So, stocking UNLOCKED Handsets starts to make more sense for general route retailers, and the one pictured above is one of our latest additions to the Jenlist Distributors range. This is a fabulous new handset from Nokia, offering features like BlueTooth, 5MP camera and email access, hybrid touch screen and keyboard as well as access to FaceBook and social sites.

    What really sets this great handset apart is the compatibility it offers. The Nokia Asha 300 is a 3G QUADBAND Handset... meaning fully compatible with all Australian networks. It works perfectly on Optus Dual Band 3G, as it does on Telstra's NEXT G network and Vodafone's 3G network. The Nokia Asha 300 offers full 3G connectivity for all networks in metro and regional Australia. So it's like "One phone suits all" solution. Retail is only $149.

    If you think you should have Unlocked handsets in your shop, then this is the one to have. Check it out here.

Icecream Sandwich Anyone?

    If you are wondering why I am talking about an Icecream Sandwich, it's because this is the latest Operating System (OS) for all things Android.

    Icecream Sandwich (or Android 4.0) has been designed for the latest Smart Phones and Tablets running the Android OS and improves on the Gingerbread and Honeycomb OS for Android.

    Gingerbread (Android 2.3) was the previous OS for Smart Phones, while most later tablets such as theSamsung Galaxy 10.1 and Optus Dell Streak 7 use Honeycomb (Android 3.0 - 3.2)

    I installed the new Icecream Sandwich on my much loved Samsung Galaxy SII mobile phone last night, thanks to Optus being the first Australian carrier to make the new OS available for the very popular Samsung Galaxy SII via Samsung Keis. This is the software loaded to your PC to sync all your music, photos, videos, etc and for software updates. A little like iTunes for Apple iPhone.

    So, what's new in the latest OS from Android? Quite a lot behind the scenes I believe, that brings faster web browsing and better mutli-tasking, with a slicker and easier to navigate menu system. Considering I only loaded this new OS last night, it's too early for me to comment on how I am finding using Icecream Sandwich on my phone, but I am looking forward to testing some of the things I have read about... like the faster web browsing and mult-tasking. However, most important to me is the improvement in battery life I have heard of, mainly due to smarter bedhind the scenes control of my Smart Phone.

    Time will tell, and I will give you an update in a week or so to let you know how I am getting on.