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Oonagh Reidy

JB Hi Fi To Open Concept Stores

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Its goodbye games and hello TVs as JB pulls a new trick out of the retail hat.The first store of its kind will be unveiled, starting with Sydney’s new Westfield centre on April 21st next and will feature TVs, computers but devoid of games or DVDs.

And the concept outlets could also be unleashed nationally, Macquarie analysts believe.

However, this new style of retailing won’t roll on to its mainstream stores although they may show the way to how stores will be structured in the future, CEO Terry Smart said.

 “You will get clues through that of what will make up the future JB Hi Fi stores, even though they’ll continue to have the music, movies and games content.”

But what is the exact concept? It will be a completely devoted to home entertainment and will stock brands like Sony, Apple and Hewlett Packard, according to The Australian.

The retailing giant has already been collaborating with major brands and fine tuning product displays. The stores will be product rather than price driven, believes one analyst.

And it seems concept stores are all the rage. Sony has already opened its own concept store in Westfield in the US, that delivers what it says is “a complete Sony experience.” It has also said they intend to roll out worldwide.

So, why the change of tack for JB’s?

 

In an exclusive interview with Channel News earlier this week, Chairman Patrick Elliott said JB Hi-Fi’s online business was growing, but admitted that its “bricks and mortar” model was “very low-cost”.

“Our cost of doing business, which is everything below the gross margin line, is about 14, 14.5 per cent of sales,” Elliott said.

“There wouldn’t be too many online retailers who have that low cost base, and so we’re comfortable that with our scale, our buying power and our low cost to business that we can compete quite effectively with an online retailer, and to that extent clearly pushing our own online model.”

“It will give us a chance to test what really works. But it’s one we don’t see a big opportunity to roll out into too many locations” Smart also said. 

The giant already said this year it planned to open 23 new stores both in Australia and New Zealand, and it is not clear as to whether any of these will be ‘concept’ locations.

 

And it’s not just bricks and mortar that has been keeping Terry Smart’s outfit busy. It is also looking at the possibility of  JB Hi Fi online appliance group as well as rebranding some of its Clive Anthony stores.

Google Travel: Ad-Venture Gets Take Off

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Search giant flies into travel industry with a US $700m deal.


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First it was search engines, maps and mobile phones. Now the US authorities has just given the internet king the green light to buy airline fare tracker ITA Software, which collates airline info for consumers.

The purchase of the Massachusettes based giant, will now go ahead as planned after the U.S. Department of Justice finally gave the go ahead after the bid was first announced last July.

It powers many of the main airlines and airlines and many popular online fare-comparison services, including Kayak, TripAdvisor and Hotwire.

This now means the giant will be a major player in online travel, and are “excited” about the new venture, says Jeff Huber, Senior VP, Commerce and Local in a  blog.

“We’re confident that by combining ITA’s expertise with Google’s technology we’ll be able to develop exciting new flight search tools for all our users.”

Google have also said they will extend ITA’s customers contracts into 2016 and are agreeing to let both current and new customers license ITA’s QPX software on “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms.

 It has also made commitments to making ITA’s technology available to other travel sites.

Huber also gave a hint of how the service will work:

“How cool would it be if you could type “flights to somewhere sunny for under $500 in May” into Google and get not just links but also flight times, fares and a link to sites where you can buy tickets?” he added.

And it could be a massive money maker for the giant, with potential for advertising offering supplementary products and services.

However, the move rattled rivals and regulators alike who fear its foray into travel marks its latest attempt to garner control over more business markets by directing browsers to its own sites and away from the competition.

The most widely used search engine in the world already has a foothold in other markets including web directory’s, maps, and office apps.

The Justice Dept is, however, wary of the danger Google might pose to rival operators and have laid the groundwork for a potential investigation into such manipulation of Internet search results, AP report.

 

To quell federal concerns, Larry Page’s giant has agreed to ongoing monitoring of its behaviour.

Optus Mobile ‘3G Zone’ To Bite Telstra?

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The #2 telco has just launched its new 3G enhancer, which it hopes will make Telstra’s customers pull the plug.


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Launched just two weeks ago, the nifty device will deliver up to 5 bars of signal and is compatible with all Optus 3G phones and mobile broadband devices.

It’s “your own private and dedicated 3G coverage signal” and will boost indoor  wireless coverage, up to 30 metre range and will deliver better calls, data and broadband services, SingTel owned Optus claim.

3G Home Zone “is the newest and simplest way to boost your wireless coverage” and plugs directly into fixed line broadband.

It can also connect up to four users simultaneously and 12 devices can be added.

And Optus are hoping the new mobile technology will eat into its biggest rival Telstra’s fixed line user numbers, which showed revenue declines in its landline of 8.4% last financial year and 9% prior to that.

The home zone runs on femtocell technology, which is already used in the US, acts as a wireless information gateway and uses the existing internet connection to improve mobile coverage.

However, its only available in limited stores in Sydney, Wollongong Gold
Coast and Brisbane, and is being run on a pilot basis, for now.

“We believe femtocells are an important way of enhancing the customer experience of the Optus Open Network by acting as a wireless gateway into the home or office,” consumer marketing director Gavin Williams said.

It offers “an opportunity to have personalised and secure coverage within a home,” Mr Williams said.

 

3G Home Zone can be purchased outright for $240 or $60 -$180 depending
on mobile rate plans, and a monthly payment of $5-$15 although the lower
the plan value the pricier it is.

Winklevoss Loss, Facebook Win: Landmark Case

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“At some point, litigation must come to an end,” a US Court declared yesterday. “That point has now been reached.”


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Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have just had their latest case against the social network thrown out, with a US court telling them they cannot back out of their earlier settlement.

This comes on the back of an earlier multimillion dollar deal agreed with Facebook founder & CEO Mark Zuckerberg, worth  $20m in cash, not to mention the $45 million worth of stocks in the company, now valued at billions.

However, despite agreeing to settle at the time, clearly it wasn’t enough for the former Harvard students.

This also sets an important legal precedent for parties looking to renege on settlements made.

“For whatever reason, they now want to back out.” “Like the district court, we see no basis for allowing them to do so,” the ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals said in its deliberation in the US, Monday.

Facebook has welcomed the ruling. The deal, when agreed by the parties, was favourable “in light of recent market activity,” the judges said.

The claims by the twin brothers, that Mark Zuckerberg, stole their idea and coding for a social networking site, called ConnectU, played out in last year’s hit movie The Social Network.

Zuckerberg then failed to make them partners to the business, once the network was up and running, it had been claimed.

 

The brothers, in this latest case, accuse the Facebook chief of attempting to pull one over on them again in thrashing out a settlement, failing to reveal stocks issued to employees were worth $9, which would have led them to gaining a far greater share windfall, if disclosed.

This theory was based on the recent transaction with Microsoft, which had pushed stock values to $35 and total Facebook value at $15bn.

“This case is about whether sophisticated parties surrounded by a platoon of world-class lawyers can cancel a deal that is binding,” Joshua Rosenkranz, lawyer for Facebook argued in the case.

“No one was misled here,” he said. “The ConnectU founders struck a deal that made them very rich and is making them richer by the day. No one made them sign it.”

“The Winklevosses are not the first parties bested by a competitor who then seek to gain through litigation what they were unable to achieve in the marketplace,” according to judge’s deliberation.

A three panel judge heard the case in January.

 

The Winklevosses attorney has rejected the ruling and said he would seek a rehearing.

OZ E-Group Buying Explodes: $400M Value

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They flood inboxes with daily deals. But it’s not all for nothing as latest figures reveal.


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The newest form of e-tailing is worth $73m in Q1 alone, according to Telysyte.

Last year the sector made $63m in this market – on average $5.25m per month, now it’s averaging $24.3m monthly – a fourfold hike.  It also represents a jaw droping 62% jump quarter on quarter. In Q4 2010 it was worth $45m.

Revenues generated in Q1 alone exceeded the full year 2010 industry revenues of $63 Million.

This means the sector which includes players like Scoopon, Spreets, Cudo and Jump On It is on track for values to exceed $400M this year if growth continues unabated, Telsyte predicts. These ‘Big 4’ generate 80% of the revenue between them.

And word of mouth is also helping to seal the deal and some companies compensate subscribers if they spread the word giving them free deals if get a certain number of friends to sign up.

“Group buying deals have become the new “water-cooler” conversation starters and the phenomenon is quickly becoming a mainstream way to shop online,” says Telsyte.

 

Almost 6,000 deals online group buying sites so far this year. And this comes as no surprise.

Some of the sites like Stardeals, run by US operator Groupon, e-mails 2two separate deals each day while other players like Living Social Deals send a daily mail flogging multiple offers as competition between players intensifies.

Jigocity, Deals and Catch of the Day are some of the other players on the scene. Aggregrate sites like allthedeals.com.au also list every offer from every group dealer.   

Just last week electronics retailer Harvey Norman broke ranks and jumped on the e-tail bargain bandwagon with its site, Best Buys, selling everything from Revlon cosmetics to garden accessories.

 “Consumers have been spoilt for choice with the number of deals available to them on any given day, saysTelsyte Research Manager, Sam Yip.

“Group buying sites have extended their reach by increasing the number of side deals, launching into new locations, and offering compelling national deals in addition to local deals”

Consumers have started to spend more money in the sector. In the first quarter, deals above $700 became popular and broke records for revenue generated on a single deal.

Health and beauty remains a strong category, but pricier travel and accommodation deals are also starting to emerge, “proving group buying can be a viable channel for higher priced products and services” he added.

Cudo sold 2000 vouchers for a Thailand holiday deal generating $1.6m and OurDeal offered a Daydream Island deal for $500, ringing up a cool $1.4m for the operator.

 

Telsyte estimates that consumers have saved over $200m in the first quarter of this year by purchasing group buying vouchers.

NBN Ready? Telstra, Optus, Internode Agree Trial Run

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Perth based iiNet is also included in the mix.

NBN Co has signed up12 retail service providers (RSP) to take part in customer trials, it said today.

It comes in the latest round of testing for the $36bn broadband rollout nationally. 

The ‘NBN ready’ companies signed up include Telstra, Optus, iiNet and Adelaide provider Internode and will be among the first to connect users to customers to the network, Internode said.

The NBN Co also said today it is on schedule for the next phase of testing due in September.

The providers and the NBN will run the ‘test site phase’ by running preliminary tests over the network and selecting a limited number of their existing customers to take part in the trial.

“This testing phase is a critical step in building the network, working with RSPs and integrating our operating systems as we aim to provide the best possible service when commercial services commence,” head of product development and sales, Jim Hassell.

There has already been trials in Tasmania since last year and other due to begin in Armidale, NSW n the near future.

Internode managing director Simon Hackett said Internode supported the NBN as the best way to future-proof communications in Australia for the next 50 years.

 

“Internode is very committed to the NBN and expects to engaged with NBN Co in every new service area on the day that each service area opens up in the future,” he said.

BREAKING NEWS: Vodafone Announces National Network Rebuild

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Following recent criticism, Vodafone has gone hell for leather, announcing a revamped network which will have 2G, 3G, 4G or LTE capabilities.

Vodafone has announced that its national equipment upgrade program will kick off next week in the Central Coast, Newcastle and Hunter regions.

The news comes as the No.3 telco comes under fire from users for poor network coverage and slow data speeds, which Vodafone blamed on an overburdened network. The widespread failure even inspired a customer website dedicated to poor coverage, called vodafail.com. 

“Customers in parts of the Central Coast, Newcastle and Hunter region first to experience the benefits of improved mobile network coverage, capacity and performance,” it said today.

On Tuesday, 19 April next Vodafone engineers will install new mobile network at five existing base stations from Ourimbah to Toukley on the NSW Central Coast, work which it says it will conduct during a two-hour window in the early hours of the morning.

The new equipment will deliver 2G, 3G and, later, 4G or Long Term Evolution (LTE) from a single station. This comes as rival Telstra announced its LTE rollout earlier this year and Optus are also engaging in 4G trials. 

It’s “first LTE next generation services expected to come online later this year,” VHA confirmed.

It will upgrade 44 base station sites in NSW from Ourimbah, throughout Newcastle City and suburbs, and along a north-west corridor stretching to Springvale in the Hunter Valley and will replace and install radio equipment at around 8,000 sites over the next 18 months, using Huawei network solutions. 

 

Customers can expect the upgrade to lead to “stronger coverage and greater reliability”
as well as better indoor coverage and faster data speeds from the
Vodafone network, said Chief Technology Officer, Michael Young.

However, don’t expect it to happen overnight as it “will take a couple of months to be fully realised,” Young warned.

Huawei’s SingleRAN solution will also enable users to upgrade to 4G or LTE “at the flick of a switch.” All customers’ mobile phones and mobile broadband devices will remain compatible with the new equipment.

The work will cease for the Easter public holidays, and recommence Wednesday 27th with plans to complete the installation by May, followed by a testing period. 

“The changes to our network equipment will happen overnight, but the actual improvements in network performance and experience will take a couple of months to be fully realised.”
 
In consideration to customers who may be affected, Vodafone will send an SMS alert to all 2G voice and 3G Mobile Broadband customers who have used any of the base stations scheduled for overnight upgrade during the last four weeks, advising them of the two-hour outage.

 

Most 3G voice and smartphone customers will not be affected by the first upgrade on 19 April. Progressive updates will follow to advise customers on any scheduled outages.
 

Viva La NBN! Oz Pay Too Much For Broadband, Warns Minister

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OECD figures have highlighted the “critical need” for NBN, says Stephen Conroy.
The Minister for Broadband, said new OECD statistics show Australia pays more for broadband than most other OECD countries, which reinforces the need for the $36bn network to go ahead.

He also said it was critical for the “digital economy” and pushing Australia into the 21st century.

“The NBN is about investing in the future and the Gillard Government is getting on with delivering it,” Conroy said.

This defensive stance comes as the beleaguered billion dollar project has suffered a series of setbacks in recent weeks, being hit by possible cost over runs which forced it to cancel tender negotiations with construction companies, including Telstra, John Holland and Leighton.

Following this debacle, the NBN Co’s head of construction, Patrick Flannigan, resign unexpectedly.

However, it now seems the NBN has a ‘Plan B’ and may deliver a national contract rollout, rather than dealing with a bunch of companies and in spite of the furore is still “reasonably confident” that the project can still be developed within budget, head of corporate services, Kevin Brown told ABC radio last week.

Oz is the 3rd most expensive for very low-speed connections and 14th most expensive for high-speed out of 33 countries, according to the stats.  

 

“These OECD statistics are further evidence that Australia cannot afford to stand idly by with our ageing copper network and sub-standard broadband services,” Senator Conroy said.

“The NBN will provide Australia with world-class broadband infrastructure. It will open up a genuine choice of services and drive competitive prices for consumers.”

Not So Green: ACCC Chase Global Green On Dodgy Certs

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The ACCC has began proceedings against Global Green Plan Ltd for alleged contempt of court.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission alleges that Global Green Plan, a company that is currently working with schools in Victoria and has links with Rupert Murdoch’s mother Dame Elizabeth, breached Federal Court orders to purchase over 4,000 Renewable Energy Certificates.

In 2009, the eco company acknowledged that it contravened the Trade Practices Act when it failed to purchase enough RECS to cover the sales made to consumers through its GreenPower business ‘GreenSwitch’.

During ’06 – ’08 GreenSwitch was accredited to buy Renewable Energy Certificates (RECS) on behalf of consumers under the National GreenPower Accreditation Program. 

However, Global Green, who was to purchase 4,137 renewable certs by November last, failed to do so despite court orders.

The Commission has now been forced to institute “proceedings in the Federal Court for breach of the undertaking,” and Justice Bennett has now ordered the company to purchase the RECS, it said in a statement today.

Dame Elizabeth Murdoch, the mother of News Limited Boss Rupert Murdoch, last year told US President Obama of a Global Green Plan Foundation project of which she is patron, which is developing an environmentally focused Victorian school curriculum warning of the dangers of climate change.

The curriculum, aimed at middle-years students, was launched  last year at Williamstown High School in Melbourne, where Dame Elizabeth was described by Global Green Plan foundation president Hal Hewett as “the world’s only centenarian climate change campaigner”.

 

A hearing has been set for the Sydney Federal Court for 21 April 2011.