Post by Patrick on Dec 11, 2010 13:34:03 GMT
Phone companies on the lookout for trends in the millions of texts, calls and internet searches made every hour have identified hotspots around store changing rooms as shoppers photograph themselves trying on new outfits then beam the images to friends for an instant verdict.
This week Vodafone UK chief executive Guy Laurence told a gathering of senior retailers they had "lost control of their shoppers".
He said: "A quarter of people now have internet-enabled phones, but among 16-24-year-olds that figure is 45%."
He added that a fifth of young shoppers browsing in Oxford Street, London, on a Saturday were online at the same time, looking at social media sites such as Facebook as well as checking rivals' prices.
Young fashion shoppers, added Laurence, "spend longer and longer in changing rooms … They go in and put on two or three outfits, take pictures, send them to friends and wait to get their opinions back. We know they are doing it because we can see messages going out from a particular corner of a store."
Huh!? I thought we were all supposed to be poor? I know if I was a teenie today my phone would probably be the same 12 year old model I have now - a hand me down from my Dad probably!
Interesting to note how much information is being gathered over phone use, not to mention the GPS technology giving peoples positions - though that's been around for a while. As for people letting companies know when they're near there shops in return for a discount voucher!!!!
Who needs to worry about a "1984" type scenario where control is everything - we are simply sleepwalking into it. "They" must love it!
In a way, it's quite fun. I have to talk myself out of joining the 21st century quite often when I see some of the sexy things smart phones can do. Is it any wonder when Dirk Maggs helped to update the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy that he replace the old seventies obsession with digital watches with the more relevant obsession with mobile phones.
This week Vodafone UK chief executive Guy Laurence told a gathering of senior retailers they had "lost control of their shoppers".
He said: "A quarter of people now have internet-enabled phones, but among 16-24-year-olds that figure is 45%."
He added that a fifth of young shoppers browsing in Oxford Street, London, on a Saturday were online at the same time, looking at social media sites such as Facebook as well as checking rivals' prices.
Young fashion shoppers, added Laurence, "spend longer and longer in changing rooms … They go in and put on two or three outfits, take pictures, send them to friends and wait to get their opinions back. We know they are doing it because we can see messages going out from a particular corner of a store."
"A quarter of people now have internet-enabled phones, but among 16-24-year-olds that figure is 45%."
Huh!? I thought we were all supposed to be poor? I know if I was a teenie today my phone would probably be the same 12 year old model I have now - a hand me down from my Dad probably!
Interesting to note how much information is being gathered over phone use, not to mention the GPS technology giving peoples positions - though that's been around for a while. As for people letting companies know when they're near there shops in return for a discount voucher!!!!
Who needs to worry about a "1984" type scenario where control is everything - we are simply sleepwalking into it. "They" must love it!
In a way, it's quite fun. I have to talk myself out of joining the 21st century quite often when I see some of the sexy things smart phones can do. Is it any wonder when Dirk Maggs helped to update the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy that he replace the old seventies obsession with digital watches with the more relevant obsession with mobile phones.