skip to main |
skip to sidebar
News today that the Independent's advertising revenue was down 19.6% and predictions that the paper's advertising will not recover this year has added more fuel to the fire in regards to charging for online content. Recently Artesian Solutions CEO Andrew Yates had an article published on Utalk Marketing discussing the positives of fee based material for the consumer. Some of the key points included:"Murdoch was able to win consumers over by providing unique, premium content, such as sports and movies and provided subscribers with advanced technology through Sky’s set-top boxes. This approach revolutionised television and who’s to say history can’t repeat itself when Murdoch adopts a similar model online.""his argument for charging for content is based around ‘quality’ and this is a commodity that people are prepared to pay for. Additionally, we pay for a printed copy of our favourite newspaper, so why not an online copy.""The natural progression by charging for content is that through targeted information and the learned behaviours of the subscribers, newspapers will be able to build a 24 hour, 7 days a week relationship (rather than once in the morning) and therefore tailor content to the demands of those paying for the service."What do you think about the proposed changes? Are they good or bad for the consumer? I'm really intrigued to get some opinion on this.
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact Artesian
Network Rail may cut 1,800 jobs - Rail operator Network Rail said it planned to cut 1,800 maintenance jobs by April 2011, the Times newspaper reported on Friday."We are discussing our plans with our people and their union representatives and no final decisions have been made," The Times quoted a spokesman for the company as saying. (full story)Hamleys is hit by £6.9m loss as parents feel an icy credit squeeze - Parents who spent less on their children in the wake of the financial crisis and the fallout from the Icelandic banking collapse resulted in Hamleys, the Regent Street toy shop, swinging to a £6.9 million loss last year.Sales at the company fell 12 per cent between October and the end of March, flying in the face of the conventional wisdom that parents are reluctant to let their children go without during a downturn.(full story)Independent wary over ad outlook - Newspaper group Independent News & Media has reported a loss and says advertising will not recover this year.It made a pre-tax loss of 48.5m euros ($69.6m; £42.7m) for the first six months of 2009, compared with a 96.6m euro profit in the first half of 2008. (full story)
Fed chairman Bernanke falls victim to identity theft - Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, has become the latest victim of identity theft. Mr Bernanke's personal bank account became entangled in an elaborate identity-theft scheme after his wife Anna's purse was stolen last August at a Starbucks coffee shop in Washington DC. According to a police report, it contained her Social Security card, cheque book, credit cards and IDs. (full story)Facebook Set For Changes After Threat - Facebook has announced it will overhaul its privacy policies after being threatened with legal action.In July, a report by Canada's privacy commissioner said there were serious gaps in the information given to the site's users and some of their practices may break the country's laws. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianLower fares hit Aer Lingus hard - Irish Airline Aer Lingus has reported a big increase in losses for the first half of the year as it was forced to cut fares during the downturn.The company lost 73.9m euros ($105.3m; £65m) in the six months to the end of June, more than three times the 21.6m euros it lost a year earlier. (full story)German state to lend directly as second credit crunch looms - Germany could directly intervene in the credit insurance and lending markets as soon as September to head off a looming credit crunch, as it fears the economic recovery may soon falter as banks refuse to roll over loans. The finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, said broad sectors of the German economy are in trouble even if the country has avoided a full-blown lending crisis so far. (full story)
Diageo earnings rise 10 percent - Diageo, the world's biggest spirits group, met forecasts on Thursday with a 10 percent rise in annual earnings but cut its profit target for this year due to concerns about the strength of any recovery.The London-based maker of Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker whisky and Guinness beer posted basic earnings for the year to end-June of 65.2 pence a share compared to a range of 57.6 to 72.6 and a consensus of 64.6p in a Reuters survey of 7 analysts. (full story)Microsoft Sorry Over Race Row Photo Blunder - Microsoft is embroiled in a race row after the software giant Photoshopped a black person's face out of a company photograph.The picture of three racially different people sitting in a boardroom was published on the firm's US website. (full story)Fujitsu to cut 10% of UK workforce - Fujitsu Services, the UK arm of of the Japanese technology company, has announced plans to cut around 1,200 jobs, about 10 per cent of its workforce, in one of the largest rounds of redundancies in the IT industry in the recession.The cuts indicate that IT, which has hitherto avoided widespread redundancies affecting other industry, is being affected by the slowdown and undermined recent reports that suggested the IT sector was helping to lead the UK out of the downturn. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianBusiness leaders seen more upbeat - Business leaders are more upbeat about the prospects of economic recovery at any time since the recession began, a ComRes poll for the Independent showed on Wednesday.The survey of 170 leading businessmen showed that 38 percent detect signs of recovery in their sector, up from last month's 33 percent. (full story)London bike scheme firm profit up - Serco, which has been awarded the contract to operate London's new bike hire scheme, said profits have surged as it won a record amount of contracts.Pre-tax profit rose 33% to £83.4m in the first six months from the same period last year. (full story)
BT and Virgin Media attack Government plans to curb illegal downloading - BT and Virgin Media have launched an attack on the Government following the announcement of plans to punish illegal file-sharers by cutting off their internet connections.Both have expressed objections to the latest plans to by Stephen Timms, the minister for Digital Britain, which go against previous proposals announced at by his predecessor Lord Carter as part of his Digital Britain report two months ago. (full story)WPP warns of bleak year ahead as profits dive 47% - WPP, the world's largest advertising group, today gave warning of bleak market conditions next year despite a string of large sport-related marketing opportunities, as the “severe” recession almost halved its first-half profits.The acquisitive advertising group, which owns the Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide public relations company, said that underlying revenues for the first six months of the year fell 8.3 per cent, as it felt the effects of a stagnant market. Shares dropped more than 5 per cent in early deals, losing 27p to 493p. (full story)
PartyGaming seals first US deal since settlement - PartyGaming has struck its first deal in the US since agreeing a $105m (£64m) settlement to avoid prosecution, with the acquisition of a TV producer specialising in poker, but remained cagey over further plans to return to the market.The Gibraltar-based company yesterday announced it was to buy WPT Enterprises – known as World Poker Tour – for $12.3m. The deal also included a revenue sharing agreement that will see it pay out at least $3m to WPT's owners for the next three years. (full story)
Is it just me finding it slightly peculiar that Yahoo and Bing still want to compete as search engines despite their recent deal? Surely the idea was to come together to make strides against Google, not continue fighting unnecessary battles against each other?
The senior vice president of Yahoo Prabhakar Raghavan claims that 'we collaborate on the back-end but we are competitors on the front-end'... That's the equivalent of two boxers strapping each other's gloves up before heading out to the ring and trading blows. It seems like even Yahoo and Microsoft aren't quite sure about what kind of relationship they're forming. What it does suggest is that search engines are losing control over the web. All these crossovers (integrating advertising, relying on one another to power search queries etc) seem like indications that no one is really content with the road they're currently heading down. It's simply no longer working. The Internet is growing too fast and the search engines are struggling to keep everything inside the ring-fence. Personalized, online material seems the only logical way forward. Especially for web based business activity, where sales intelligence is becoming so vital. Search engines are trying to control the world, when really, sometimes all you need is a nice little island.
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianYahoo to compete with Bing despite Microsoft deal - Yahoo Inc said on Monday it has revamped its search to compete against Microsoft Corp's Bing, even as it relies on the Redmond giant to power its queries.The announcement of plans to put a new face on Yahoo Messenger and Mail and add functions to its search engine came after news that Google and Yahoo each lost a fraction of a point of U.S. search share to Microsoft last month. (full story)Unmasked blogger Rosemary Port to sue Google for $15m - Google is to be sued for $15 million (£9 million) by an anonymous blogger who was unmasked by the internet search company.Rosemary Port said that Google had failed to protect her right to privacy when the company obeyed a court order to reveal her name after she used her blog to accuse a former Vogue model of being a "psychotic, lying, whoring ... skank". (full story)Rail firm optimistic despite loss - Railway operator Grand Central says it remains optimistic about its future, despite posting an £8m loss last year.Although double the 2007 figure, the loss was "fully in line with the board's expectations", the firm said. (full story)
CBI sees graduate jobs freeze continuing - A quarter of large employers are likely to freeze their hiring of new university graduates for the coming year, according to the CBI employers’ organisation.A survey earlier this year showed about a quarter of large CBI members had halted graduate recruitment, and Susan Anderson, the group’s education and skills policy director, said: “We would probably envisage a similar number to be frozen in the next graduate round.” (full story)
Obama to reappoint Bernanke as Fed chairman - US President Barack Obama will announce Tuesday a second term for Ben Bernanke as Federal Reserve chairman, following months of joint combat against the financial crisis.A White House official said on condition of anonymity that Obama would break his vacation on well-heeled Martha's Vineyard off the US east coast to re-appoint Bernanke to a second four-year term beginning in January. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact Artesian
BT axes graduate recruit scheme - Telecoms giant BT has closed its graduate recruitment programme as it continues to cut costs in the downturn.The firm said it had no plans to reopen the scheme, but added that it remained "committed to the 2009 intake", who are due to start in September. (full story)
Corus to reforge Welsh steel plant - Corus is preparing to bring a steelworks at Llanwern in South Wales back to life as ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, begins to relight fires at blast furnaces from Ohio to Ukraine.ArcelorMittal will restore operations at a furnace in Gijón, Spain, this week, while two idle steel plants in America — a blast furnace in Indiana and a blast furnace and a rolling mill in Cleveland — will be brought online over the next two months. (full story)Lehman Creditors Must Wait For Payback - Lehman Brothers' European clients face a longer wait to get their money back after the High Court blocked a process to speed up the unwinding of the bankruptcy, accountants have warned.PricewaterhouseCoopers, administrator to Lehman Brothers International (Europe), sought approval for a plan to accelerate the return of clients' assets, tied up in the bank since it collapsed last year. (full story)Business confidence positive in Q3 - Business confidence has turned positive for the first time in two years, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), said on Monday.ICAEW said the Business Confidence Monitor (BCM) showed a record rise in confidence from -28.2 to +4.8, the largest quarterly improvement since the monitor began in 2003, and predicts that gross domestic product will rise 0.5 percent this quarter. (full story)
Focus DIY chain unveils rescue plan - Britain's biggest commercial landlords will back a deal to save DIY chain Focus at a creditors' meeting today.The Company Voluntary Arrangement being proposed will protect up to 5,000 jobs and see leases for empty stores bought off with two lump sums equivalent to six months' rent. The DIY chain has 180 stores still trading with the 38 closed outlets costing £12m a year in rent. For the deal to proceed, some 75 per cent of creditors have to back it, but the landlords' support is crucial. (full story)
"Although response is never likely to be positive to such a move, ultimately this could be of benefit to the consumer"
Rupert Murdoch's decision to charge for online content is certainly not one that has been welcomed by most web users. The move is being dubbed as a make or break strategy for the industry who can no longer rely on plummeting advertising revenues to run a productive service. The real problem Murdoch is facing is how to justify a fee for something that has been free since the dawn of online content. It is strange how people will happily give up 50p for a morning paper but react angrily to the same news carrying a charge elsewhere. It's still being produced at a cost, and you don't see Amazon giving away products for nothing just because they're online. Although response is never likely to be positive to such a move, ultimately this could be of benefit to the consumer. With fees come a responsibility to produce quality and Murdoch has proven with Sky that people will happily pay for ground breaking concepts and ideas. It's exciting in a way to conjure the possibilities for online content with this format. Of course there will always be news available for free (just look at the BBC service) and News Corp is likely to lose readers who will prefer content to be priceless, but this gamble is bound to have casualties along the way. The project, without question, is a game changer. For years, monetizing the web and it's huge wealth of potential consumers has stumped even the best of them. This change could have big repercussions for the entire structure of online content. Will it work? What is certain is that, with cost comes pressure to deliver, and a shift in power to a customer who wants personalization and news relevant to them. Companies such as Artesian are already proving that this is possible, so what seems like a gamble now, could end up being one of the business moves of the century. Read Artesian CEO Andrew Yates' analysis on UTalkmarketing.com
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianOracle gets go-ahead to buy Sun - The US Justice Department has given its approval for business software firm Oracle to take over computer hardware software maker Sun Microsystems.The $7.4bn (£4.5bn) deal was agreed by the two in April this year, but still needs approval from the European Commission before it can be concluded. (full story)Vauxhall to learn fate as GM meets Germans - Workers at Vauxhall, the British carmaker, may finally learn the identity of the company's new owner today as General Motors (GM), meets with two bidders for its European business.The management of GM, the American group that owns Vauxhall in Britain and Opel in Germany, is meeting with the German government to pick a buyer for its European business. (full story)John Lewis sales fall for second week - John Lewis JLP.UL, the employee-owned group viewed as a barometer of retail spending, said its department store sales have fallen for a second week in a row.The group, which also runs the upmarket Waitrose supermarket chain, said on Friday sales at its 27 department stores fell 1.4 percent to 46.5 million pounds in the week to August 15, following a decrease of 5.3 percent in the previous week. (full story)Lending is still falling, warns Bank of England - Bank lending to British business and households continues to fall, according to the latest survey of trends by the Bank of England – but larger companies are successfully turning to capital markets to raise funds, and the latest figures from the housing market show further signs of stabilisation.In its Trends in Lending report, published yesterday, the Bank of England said total net lending to business had fallen across all the main industrial sectors, that net mortgage lending remained close to its lowest levels and that consumer credit flows have stabilised at "very low" levels. (full story)
Thelondonpaper Set To Close Down - The paper's owner News International has begun a 30-day consultation on the proposed closure with approximately 60 staff.The company plans to continue to publish the title during the consultation period. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianSmall UK deficit seen in July - Markets are expecting July's public finances to show a small deficit in what is traditionally a surplus month for the government's coffers -- but there is reason to believe the reading could be even worse.Two out of three months reported so far in this fiscal year have already turned out worse than expected as the recession hits tax income and boosts welfare costs in a year when borrowing is forecast to hit a record 175 billion pounds. (full story)
Tesco to create 800 finance jobs - Tesco Personal Finance is expected to announce plans to create up to 800 jobs in Glasgow as part of the company's rapid expansion in Scotland.The move to set up an insurance office in the city centre will be seen as a boost to the financial sector. (full story)City perplexed by Lloyds' U-turn on C&G closures - Lloyds Banking Group surprised 930 staff at 164 Cheltenham & Gloucester (C&G) branches yesterday with the news that it was not going to sack them after all.While C&G employees breathed a sigh of relief that they would not be joining the UK’s 2.4 million unemployed, analysts and investors scratched their heads at the baffling about-turn in strategy — left unexplained by Lloyds. (full story)
Manufacturers See Light At End Of The Tunnel - Optimism in the manufacturing sector has climbed to its highest level in more than a year.The latest CBI Industrial Trends Survey suggested growing confidence in the sector in August despite suffering another month of weak demand. (full story)UK’s cash-for-bangers effect may prove temporary solace - At Toyota’s plant in Derbyshire, staff have been working shorter hours since April. But on Wednesday the Japanese car giant said the company’s workers could start full-time production again – a need they attributed to the success of the government’s “cash for bangers” programme.Car scrappage graphic for UK companiesToyota, Hyundai and Fiat are some of the biggest beneficiaries of the scheme, which aims to reinvigorate the moribund car market. But car dealerships have also gained and two of the biggest – Lookers and Pendragon – have used half-year results in the past couple of days to call on the government to extend the scheme. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianQantas annual profit drops 88% - Qantas Airways has posted a large drop in its annual profits, as it continues to struggle with the economic downturn.The Australian airline said net income for year to 30 June fell 88% to 117m Australian dollars ($96.5m; £58.5m). (full story)IMF: recovery has started but could be derailed - The world is beginning to emerge from the worst recession since World War Two, the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist Olivier Blanchard said.But the old status quo of Asia supplying American demands must change or the global recovery may be derailed, Mr Blanchard warned in a paper published today. (full story)GM Sells Saab To Swedish Supercar Group - General Motors has finalised an agreement to sell Saab to a consortium which includes the head of Swedish supercar firm Koenigsegg.Koenigsegg, which specialises in building sports cars capable of speeds up to 250mph, produces just 18 cars a year and employs 45 people. (full story)Microsoft legal chief sees risk in Yahoo deal - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) has confidently described its planned search advertising deal with Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) as a "win-win", but the software company's legal chief is prepared to concede that the outcome is not certain.The deal, struck in late July after months of talks, faces a tough regulatory review, and the possibility that it won't be enough to effectively challenge Google Inc (GOOG.O). (full story)
SHOPPERS STILL FACE PRICE RISES - HOPPERS were hit by rising prices last month – despite forecasts that the recession could cause the cost of goods to fall.The Consumer Prices Index was unchanged at 1.8 per cent as falling food and fuel costs were offset by a rise in the price of DVDs, toys and computer games thanks to the weak pound. (full story)
'Go Find'
Don't ask me how they know, or how they found out but apparently 40% of Tweets on the social networking site Twitter are complete and utter 'babble'. The study, carried out by US firm Pear Analytics found that only 8.7% of messages could "be said to have value". Picture just how big Twitter is in terms of sheer volume (in march it had 8m users just in the US!) and then think how difficult it would be for the human eye to find this value on it's own. It's the equivalent of leaving a twenty pound note somewhere in the States and telling someone to 'go find'. But if it was easier to do, this information would certainly be worth having. Twitter can provide breaking news, useful opinion and an insight like very few other sights can offer. Twitter has become like a diary room for business, a place people use to validate ideas and bring home their viewpoint. With semantic technology, this value can be tracked, and only the useful content will be surfaced without the hassle of a search. Whilst finding a twenty pound note somewhere in the States might still be virtually impossible, hunting the Internet in a similar way is fast becoming possible. 8.7% might seem like a low figure, but if you can find that 8.7% with little trouble, why would you not take advantage of it?
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianLego gets profits boost from nostalgia and Star Wars - Lego, the Danish family-owned toymaker, said the recession has led to nostalgia for classic toys and that its products based on the Star Wars films have boosted profits. Lego's first-half profits rose from £60m to £99.5m pre-tax, on net sales 23pc higher at £469m. (full story)
Rio Tinto agrees $2bn asset sale - Rio Tinto has agreed to sell four business units of its Alcan aluminium subsidiary for $2bn (£1.2bn), as it seeks to trim its debt burden further.The Anglo-Australian mining giant is selling the four packaging businesses to Australian group Amcor. (full story)Call To Scrap VAT On Green Goods - Business leaders are calling for VAT to be scrapped on energy efficient household goods to boost the economy and save the environment.The British Retail Consortium said a car scrappage-style scheme for the high street on items such as fridges and cookers would support retail jobs, cut domestic fuel bills and reduce emissions by encouraging people to switch to energy-efficient goods. (full story)Pendragon H1 profit halves - Car dealer Pendragon (PDG.L) reported a halving of first-half profit but said it had been boosted by the government's 'cash for bangers' scheme and was optimistic about the second half.The company, which trades as Stratstone, Evans Halshaw and Chatfields, on Tuesday posted a profit before tax of 8.7 million pounds for the six months to the end of June on revenue 36 percent lower at 1.58 billion pounds. (full story)
Petrol 'could hit £1.20 a litre by Christmas' as crude oil costs rise - Petrol prices are set to hit 120p a litre by the end of the year, motorists were warned yesterday. Prices on forecourts have increased by around 20p a litre since the start of 2009, adding £11 to the cost of filling up an average tank.And if they continue to rise at the present rate of around 1p a week, the average cost is likely to hit 105.5p by the end of August, with another 2.3p in fuel duty added from September 1. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianSainsbury's in battle over Pimm's - Drinks giant Diageo says it will take legal action against supermarket chain Sainsbury's, after alleging it broke copyright rules regarding Pimm's.The move by the drinks company comes after Sainsbury's launched a gin-based summer drink called Pitchers, which can be mixed with fruit and lemonade. (full story)Japan emerges from recession after year-long slump - Japan today emerged from its longest and most destructive recession since the Second World War as government stimulus measures at home and abroad finally began to pay off.Japan’s GDP grew 0.9 per cent in the April to June quarter, with annualised real growth rate of 3.7 per cent, breaking a run of four consecutive quarters of contraction. (full story)
Facebook to face off with new Web rivals - Facebook's vision of becoming a "utility" that offers activities to keep people online for hours could set it on a collision course with the Web's giants.In recent days, the No.1 social networking company revamped its search engine and bought a start-up that some call a rival to hot micro-blogging service Twitter. It is also testing a stripped-down version of its service to boost growth overseas and is developing an electronic payments system. (full story)Mandelson unveils £340m aid for Airbus - Lord Mandelson, UK business secretary, on Friday said that the government would give Airbus £340m of repayable launch aid for the A350, a new family of long-haul jets, and launched a sharp attack on US subsidies for its aircraft industry.The funding is seen as vital to secure the UK’s share of the work on current and future Airbus projects. (full story)School Leavers Face The Dole Queue - This summer's school leavers could be the hardest hit since the 1929 stock market crash, a new report warns.The number of young people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance could double to one million if trends follow those of previous recessions, according to the Prince's Trust and the University of Sheffield. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact Artesian
AOL's new chief to unveil turnaround strategy -Tim Armstrong, the new chief executive of AOL, is expected to set out an ambitious plan to reverse the internet portal's ailing fortunes on Friday.It has been almost a decade since the ill-advised £99bn merger between AOL and Time Warner, which has seen AOL's market value drop by 97pc. (full story)Shoppers 'need more protection' - A watchdog has called for more protection for shoppers who pay for goods in advance but lose their money when a business collapses.One in 10 consumers who paid upfront during the last two years have not received their order, a poll of 16,010 people for Consumer Focus found. (full story)
Hacker attacks silence Twitter, slow Facebook - Twitter and Facebook suffered service problems from hacker attacks on Thursday, raising speculation about a coordinated campaign against the world's most popular online social networks.The attacks, which came a month after the White House website was targeted in a similar online assault, left millions unable to carry out daily routines that have assumed an increasingly central part of their lives. (full story)
Ladbrokes plans offshore move as profits decline - Ladbrokes yesterday said its online gambling operation was moving offshore. It follows a similar move announced by rival William Hill.Its chief executive Chris Bell said the bookie had taken the decision on competition grounds – many rivals are already offshore, which enables them to evade the Government's 15 per cent gross profits tax and a 10 per cent levy on horse-racing profits. (full story)
Airline Gives Money Back For Rainy Holidays - Holidaymakers whose trips are ruined by rain will be able to claim money back under a new scheme with German airline Lufthansa.The "sunshine insurance" hopes to brighten up the ailing airline industry. (full story)
Keeping an eye on the roadIn 2003 Friends Reunited was deemed to be worth a 160 million pound investment. In 2009, like a rescuer pulling remains from the rubble, DC Thomson has taken the troubled site off the hands of loss making ITV for the considerably reduced amount of 25 million with the focus largely to merge a subsidiary 'genesreunited' with their genealogy website findmypast.com. I would be amazed if there are any plans at all to try and revitalise the original success of the friends model. So what went wrong? The simple answer is nothing. The engine was running and the drive was smooth, but as ever newer models became available and ITV decided against trading in for an upgraded vehicle. When the buzz around Friends Reunited first hit it was an incredible concept. The excitement of finding those you'd lost contact with was something very new. But Facebook and Myspace wiped the excitement very quickly, giving everyone their own webspace, and making it much easier to stay in touch with friends, making Friends Reunited a dated product almost over night. ITV either weren't tracking the market, or made a fruitless decision to swim against a tide with their hands tied behind their backs and an anchor strapped between their legs.In turn, Myspace is now battling that very same strong current and many believe Facebook will go the same way when the next bigger and better phenomenon comes along. Whether they will or won't, only time will tell but at least Facebook is swimming in the right direction. An article this week suggested that the site is aiming to tap into the online shopping market which is, as recent results show, currently flourishing. If successful this could make Facebook a bigger online platform than it already is (which is a somewhat terrifying thought in a way). Imagine the power it will hold over both retailers and consumers alike, bringing them together in what will be without question the biggest market place in history. None of this is fluke. Someone, somewhere is constantly looking for opportunities such as this one to keep Facebook ploughing down the motorway in fifth gear. Unfortunately for Friends Reunited, they didn't even think to check their mirrors.
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianLoss-Making ITV Sells Friends Reunited - ITV has sold Friends Reunited to Beano owner D.C. Thomson for £25m as it announced half yearly losses of £105m.The broadcaster said advertising revenue was down £108m - 15% - in what it described as the worst ever year in UK TV advertising. (full story)Rupert Murdoch to charge to view News Corp's online news - News Corp chairman plans to charge readers of the websites of all his newspapers within the next 12 months. Mr Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation, pledged that the media conglomerate would “assert its copyright” over all its newspapers online, including the Sun and the News of the World (NOTW). (full story)Google buys video technology firm - Google has announced a deal to buy On2 Technologies, which provides technology that should help improve video quality on the internet search engine.The deal for $106.5m (£62.7) should be concluded later this year, subject to On2 shareholder approval. (full story)Sliding profits at Standard Life add to insurers’ day of gloom - Standard Life capped a turbulent day for the insurance sector yesterday after it reported that first-half profits had fallen by more than a third, largely because of sliding sales in Britain.Its results, described as “slightly disappointing” by one analyst, came as the British division of Axa, the French insurer, announced plans to cut 350 jobs, and Old Mutual, the Anglo-South African insurer, named a new chairman amid falling profits. (full story)Manila's San Miguel in talks to sell stake in liquor arm - Food-to-power Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp (SMC.PS) (SMCB.PS) is holding talks with foreign groups to sell a substantial stake in its liquor arm in the coming months, the company's president said.Ramon Ang told reporters the sale of a stake in Ginebra San Miguel Inc (GSMI) (GSMI.PS), the country's largest liquor firm, would likely be concluded before a planned divestment of up to 49 percent of the group's food arm San Miguel Pure Foods Co Inc (PF.PS) (PFB.PS) in the next six months. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianLloyds makes H1 loss as bad debts hit £13 bln - Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) sank to a 4 billion pounds loss in the first-half of the year as it was hit by a surge in bad debts from the HBOS business it bought earlier this year.Lloyds said on Wednesday its impairment losses in the six months to the end of June jumped to 13.4 billion pounds, more than five times the 2.5 billion pounds a year ago and up from 12.4 billion in the previous six months. (full story)Wages up for low-paid apprentices - The minimum pay rate for apprentices has risen from £80 to £95 a week, after the numbers of young people joining the schemes dipped.The TUC welcomed the change in the pay levels, from 1 August, with young women likely to benefit the most. (full story)Online retailers point to new phase for Facebook - A new wave of sophisticated e-commerce applications is appearing on Facebook, a sign that the world’s largest social network could rapidly emerge as a big destination for online shopping.1-800-Flowers, the US floral gift retailer and distributor, last week opened its “Facebook storefront”, an application running on Facebook’s fast-growing platform where users can purchase and send flowers. (full story)Orange dongle deal kickstarts mobile broadband price war - Orange has kicked off a price war in the mobile broadband market after slashing the monthly cost of its base package to less than £5 and capping the penalty charges users face for exceeding their download limit.Mobile broadband has become a key growth driver for mobile phone companies that can use 3G networks to offer subscribers internet access on the move. Although mobile broadband was initially slow to take off, usage has exploded over the past eighteen months as prices have come down. (full story)
British economy edges slowly towards an upturn - The British economy continued its painfully slow progress towards recovery with a further flow of modestly encouraging news yesterday. The release of the latest data on the jobs market, the construction sector, and on consumer confidence showed a further improvement, albeit from low bases and with a mixed pattern of progress on the disastrously bad trend seen over the recession.The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply's (CIPS) latest survey of sentiment in the building trade, which comprises around 6 per cent of the economy, showed a modest improvement in levels of optimism. (full story)
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact ArtesianTesco hides figures after missing target to reduce plastic bag usage - Britain’s biggest supermarket chain has published misleading figures giving the impression that it had met an industry target to halve the use of plastic bags.The Times has learnt that Tesco, which claims to be one of the greenest retailers, missed the target and tried to conceal its actual performance. (full story)Manufacturing revival sends markets soaring - Leading shares across the world yesterday soared to their highest this year, spurred by evidence of a global manufacturing revival and strong results from HSBC and Barclays, Britain’s banking giants.The FTSE 100 index led the charge. London’s bluechip benchmark leapt by a further 74.10 points, or 1.6 per cent, to close at 4,682.46, its best finish this year, marking highs not seen since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in October 2008. (full story)Music service Spotify wins high-profile backing - Spotify, the digital music service widely tipped as a potential challenger to the dominance of iTunes, is close to securing new investment from high-profile investors, including the charitable foundation of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing.Spotify, pitched as a better alternative to illegal downloading, is looking to raise funds to expand in the US, building on the hype it has generated in Europe where it has attracted more than 2m users less than a year after launching in the UK and Sweden. (full story)Graduates to work on overseas community and environmental schemes - A Government-funded scheme for 500 out of work graduates to spend 10 weeks on social projects in overseas countries is being matched by the private sector with the result that openings are being provided for 1,000 jobless former students. Raleigh International is handling the Government programme, funded by Lord Mandelson's Business, Innovation and Skills department for 500 people under the age of 24 struggling to find jobs. (full story)
Global car sales dive hits Toyota - Toyota, the world's biggest carmaker, made a loss of 77.8bn yen ($818m; £483m) in the three months to the end of June as global car sales slumped.But it also upgraded its outlook for the rest of the year, saying losses would total 450bn yen rather than the 550bn yen it forecast previously. (full story)
You must be in the knowTake a look at these five sales techniques taken from a variety of guides and notice the obvious trend:1) Answers to questions can make or break a deal. If you don’t have the answer, you need to find it.2) When you make the phone call, make sure you are absolutely certain about the product.3) Ask the right questions and the prospect will tell you what they want and how they need to be sold.4) Know your customer's business. Customers expect you to know their business, customers and competition as well as you know your own product or service. Study your customer's industry. Know it's problems and trends. Find out who his biggest competitors are.5) Develop a list of reasons why a customer should buy from you.The trend is quite simple, these tips are not about the sales technique at all, they all point to having a firm backdrop of knowledge before you can even start thinking about selling. This knowledge, as shown above, can provide many advantages whether it be answering questions to impress, or developing a list of triggers indicating why you are right for the company in question.Of course, gaining this knowledge is easier said than done. But companies such as Artesian are making it much easier to gain sales advantage without having to put in crazy hours to do so. Especially in these trying times for businesses it is essential to have the edge over your competitors and unfortunately, not having the knowledge is likely to result in not having the business.The famous sales saying is 'don't sell the product, sell the advantages of the product' to the customer. Knowing exactly what the client wants and the market they're wanting it in, goes a long way to achieving this. Finding your sales advantage has never been so important.
The Artesian blog takes a look at the business headlines, For personalised daily news, contact Artesian
Barclays profit up to almost £3bn - Barclays has announced pre-tax profits of £2.98bn for the first half of 2009.Profits for the year were slightly below analysts' forecasts of more than £3bn, but were up 8% on the £2.75bn it made in the first six months of 2008. (full story)Apple tried to silence owner of exploding iPod with gagging order - Apple attempted to silence a father and daughter with a gagging order after the child’s iPod music player exploded and the family sought a refund from the company.The Times has learnt that the company would offer the family a full refund only if they were willing to sign a settlement form. The proposed agreement left them open to legal action if they ever disclosed the terms of the settlement. (full story)Observer newspaper 'set to close' - Speculation is mounting that the Guardian Media Group (GMG) is implementing plans to shut down The Observer, the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. Yesterday, it was reported that on July 6 members of the Scott Trust, the charitable foundation that owns GMG, talked about a plan to close the newspaper as part of a cost-cutting drive. (full story)
Emerging markets power ahead - Factory activity hit multi-month highs in emerging economies in July as they scrabbled out of the worst global recession since the 1930s, but developed economies continued to shrink, although at a slower pace.Asian stocks inched up to an 11-month high on Monday as evidence mounted that the global economic recovery is gathering speed, giving a boost to oil and copper prices while hurting the safe-haven U.S. dollar. (full story)‘Banks lending less,’ say small retailers - Cash-strapped small business retailers are still being denied finance, with a third saying lending has decreased over the last three months.According to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), over two-thirds of the respondents reporting a decrease in lending said lack of finance has undermined their ability to trade. Of these, 60 per cent say they have had to reduce staff levels. (full story)
