Disqus
A few times recently I’ve been stood in the queue with my food items (some nappies, a few nappies, and a couple more nappies!), and I’ve noticed people holding just the empty box that is these days put out on shelves for you to grab if you want a Mobile – apparently this is an increasingly common thing in Supermarkets!
There has been a 40% increase in the numbers of custoemrs buying “non-food” items, such as Mobile handsets, in the last 5 years – if you mutiply that number out with the volume of people passing through the big name stores, that’s 40% of a VERY big number….
Research agency Verdict’s data shows that “28 million shoppers are regularly buying clothes, mobile phones and furniture from grocery retailers”
Not only are the stores selling Mobiles, some have their own offerings too – notably Tesco Mobile in the UK – however whippersnapper Asda is hot on it’s heels, according to recent data.
As I mentioned before in a post here, supermarkets already have mapped out their Christmas strategy, likely to be centred around the 5MP camera-phones.
But what we do make of all this? Is the commoditisation of what was once a luxury item a good thing? Or is it just another case of another channel for another market segment? I still have a mental block about buying a chicken, some celery, and an LG handset all in the same basket 
[Via: Mobile Today.co.uk]
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
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Will Park
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