Category Archives: Retailing & Etailing

Retailing & Etailing

Smart Home Assistants: Uninvited Guests or Modern Conveniences?

👍 10  👎 1  91%

Ah, smart home assistants. Those little puck-sized spies we invite into our homes and then act surprised when they eavesdrop. You know the ones: they sit there quietly until you shout their name loud enough to wake the neighbours. But are they truly the modern conveniences we're told they are, or are we just paying for the privilege of being heard?

Myth 1) Smart home assistants make life easier. Well, that's assuming you enjoy repeating yourself because they still can't understand an Aussie accent unless you put on that borderline American twang …

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Retailing & Etailing

Energy Drinks for Productivity: Liquid Motivation or Sugary Lie?

👍 16  👎 0  100%

Ah, energy drinks – the liquid saviour of the sleep-deprived and the procrastinator's best mate. But are they really the magical elixir that promises productivity, or just a sugary siren luring us into a jittery abyss? Time to crack open a can, literally and figuratively, and find out.

Myth 1: Instant Productivity

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Retailing & Etailing

The Illusion of ‘All-Day Battery Life’ in Laptops

👍 12  👎 0  100%

Ah, the phrase "all-day battery life"—how it tempts and teases us. Like a mirage in the desert, promising endless productivity, only to vanish when you're knee-deep in the middle of an urgent task. We've all been there, haven't we? You’re in a meeting, eagerly jotting down notes on your sleek, modern laptop, when the battery indicator suddenly plunges faster than my faith in New Year’s resolutions. "All-day," they said. All day, my foot.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Johnny, surely they don’t mean your day is 9-to-5, right? …

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Retailing & Etailing

The Myth of Instant Delivery: Faster Isn’t Always Better

👍 4  👎 0  100%

Oh, the instant gratification culture we live in. Order it now, get it now. Same-day delivery is the new holy grail of online shopping. But have we ever stopped to think whether this race to get everything now is actually worth the effort? Or is it just another example of technological overreach, solving a problem that never really existed?

Myth 1: Faster Delivery is Always Better

We've all seen those ads promising same-day delivery as if it's the ultimate convenience. Order a blender at breakfast and be making smoothies by dinner. Sounds great, right? …

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Retailing & Etailing

E-Commerce Subscriptions: The Eternal Commitment You Never Asked For

👍 9  👎 0  100%

Ah, subscriptions – the modern-day ball and chain in the digital realm. Remember the good old days when buying something meant, well, buying it? Now, we're roped into commitments longer than a politician's promise, thanks to the irresistible charm of e-commerce subscriptions. It's like being in a relationship where the only anniversary present is another bill.

Let's start with the myth that these subscriptions save you money …

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Retailing & Etailing

The Digital Subscription Sideshow: Paying for Nothing and Loving It

👍 5  👎 2  71%

Gather 'round folks, and let me take you through the carnival of digital subscriptions. Step right up, open your wallets, and prepare to be dazzled by the fantastic, ever-inflating circus of streaming services, cloud storage, and digital doodads you never knew you needed. Who knew modern living would mean juggling more subscriptions than a juggler at Sydney's Fringe Festival?

Remember the days when buying something meant you, well, owned it? You'd hand over your hard-earned cash for a CD, a DVD, or even a good ol' encyclopedia, and there it sat on your shelf—a tangible thing to hold or gather dust …

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Retailing & Etailing

The Myth of the Ultra-Portable: A Balancing Act with No Net

👍 4  👎 1  80%

Ah, the ultra-portable laptop—it's the idea that we can carry a computer as easily as we carry a paperback. Or at least, that's what the brochure says. These slim machines are supposedly designed for the modern traveller, the digital nomad, or anyone who's been seduced by the notion that thinner and lighter must be better. But is that really true, or is it just another marketing illusion?

Myth 1: Bigger isn't better
We've been sold the dream that in the tech world, skinny is sexy. The slimmer the laptop, the more desirable—like some sort of silicon supermodel …

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Retailing & Etailing

Click Frenzy or Click Flimsy? The Retail Circus Act

👍 18  👎 0  100%

Ah, the time of year when retailers catapult us into a digital frenzy with the promise of unbeatable sales and mind-blowing discounts. I’m talking about the much-hyped Click Frenzy. But before you dive headfirst into your wallet, let’s pause a moment and ask: is this retail bonanza really all it’s cracked up to be, or is it just a digital sleight of hand?

Let’s start with the obvious comparison: Click Frenzy is the online shopper’s version of the county fair. Bright lights, loud noises—well, not literally, unless you've got your notifications on full blast—and a tantalising promise of winning big …

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Retailing & Etailing

#FirstWorldProblems – Apple Watch – Just too common? Stand aside peasants!

👍 8  👎 5  62%

It seems like the problem with the Apple watch is going to be that it is also available to other "commoners" does exclusive also mean it should be available to everyone?

According to Gizmodo it seems that this is the exact problem, no matter how flash, desirable or expensive the product is, the fact that everyone wants it, means that it just for the commoner and it is no longer exclusive or special regardless of the fact that its $15,000

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Retailing & Etailing, Technology

Windows 10 will be free for software pirates

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👍 9  👎 0  100%

Windows 10 will be a free upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users this summer, but Microsoft is also extending its offer to software pirates. "We are upgrading all qualified PCs, genuine and non-genuine, to Windows 10," says Terry Myerson, Microsoft’s Windows chief, in an interview with Reuters. The move means that thousands, perhaps millions, of machines will get a free copy of Windows 10 even if a license has not been properly acquired. "Anyone with a qualified device can upgrade to Windows 10, including those with pirated copies of Windows," says a Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Verge. "We believe customers over time will realize the value of properly licensing Windows and we will make it easy for them to move to legitimate copies."

Microsoft has a long history of attempts to thwart software piracy. Windows XP was the company's first operating system to introduce software activation to verify license keys, but it was quickly defeated using a corporate license key that many pirates shared on the internet back in 2001 …

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Retailing & Etailing

Staff on Commission

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👍 3  👎 0  100%

Does it matter if sales staff are paid commissions? Some people have argued that it is important to keep sales people motivated, I however have always strongly believed that it is the customer that should always only come first. How can you be advised on what you actually need or should get, or what is best, if there is a sweetener being offered to the sales person? It always makes me think of doctors, you know, you visit them and they always have pens and pads with this brand or that pharmaceuticals brand all over their desk. I guess it has never bothered me because then when you got to the pharmacy an “equivalent” is always offered which makes you think again.

However how can you be getting what is truly best if there is a direct incentive? This is why, even when MLN was just a one shop operation with a few Whiz people, none of us were on any sales commission …

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Retailing & Etailing, Technology

Desperate laptop retailing & MLN

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👍 7  👎 3  70%

The other day, I went into a large store with a big car park that had everything on sale on display indoors in a nice fashion, this setup is  pretty common across multiple different retailers so which store it was does not really matter.  I then did what I always do, being from MLN, compared computer prices. Low and behold as always I noticed the standard shelf price was about 20-40% more expensive than us. It bothered me for years that these large format retailers with hundreds of stores have been able to do this and get away with it. Speak to the average Joe and the answer always is, “they must be cheaper they have huge buying power”, everyone forgets about their huge running costs though as they must need to make more to cover their huge costs. I mean we the customers are paying for that TV advertisement.

To add to that, the huge buying power idea, not sure if it’s true. I mean technically speaking for example, if we all wanted to buy a car and if we all went to Holden all at once and said, I want to buy a Holden for every Australian, the price should get cheaper and cheaper with each order, and with this logic by the time we hit ten million orders the car should be $1. While I have exaggerated this, I think you get the idea …

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