Shop Junction Blog

We are taking abreak from blog posting at the moment whilst we review the objectives for Shop Junction. Thanks for your patience.

In the meantime, why not visit Our Little Shop for regular shopping and product review articles.

In recent years, broadband or ADSL connections have become the standard for Internet connectivity. It is true that broadband has speeded up everyone’s web browsing and, in most cases, connection reliability has also improved. However, connections are not foolproof and there are times when ADSL struggles, perhaps if you are a long way from the local BT exchange or for other reasons [it is an inherently old wired telephone network that we are using after all!)

I have been having problems with my ADSL line for some time and it looks like it might be related to noise on the line causing my router to go walkabout approximately once a day. After a useful discussion with the helpful chaps at Zen Internet (hugely more helpful than my previous broadband provider), it appears that I need to make several improvements to my home office set-up. This is what I bought:

1. BT I-Plate for improved filtering on my BT master telephone socket.
2. NTE5 Master Telephone Socket because my house, although quite modern, only has the old sockets.
3. Netgear DG834G Wireless Modem Router because it copes better with noise on the line apparently… and it is a newer router/modem than my old Zyxel Prestige 600

Hopefully, this little lot will improve my broadband connection. Fingers crossed!

David Beckham has moved on a temporary [?] loan to AC Milan so that he can play football that is more competitive than the American Soccer League. I guess that his England career is still alive then?! Beckham has 107 caps so far and he might even break the record for the highest number of England appearances or caps, which is currently held by Peter Shilton with 125 caps. This is probably unlikely but Beckham definitely has a chance to achieve more caps than Bobby Moore who is second in the list with 108.

Kitbag is selling the AC Milan shirt with Beckham 32 on the back and it has been a popular seller so far.

Simply Hike offers camping equipment and outdoor clothing from leading brands such as Berghaus, Craghoppers, Mountain Equipment, Vango, Coleman, and Suunto. The company offers tents, rucksacks, walking boots, waterproofs, performance clothing, and camping stoves.

If you are interested in the Great Outdoors, Simply Hike has something for everyone, from family campers to lightweight expedition equipment.

Well, the Christmas and New Year celebrations are over and it’s time to get back to work! I spent the New Year period with friends and during this time, we watched Mamma Mia! on DVD. When this was first suggested by our host, the idea was greeted with a chorus of “Oh No” by the men in the house who wanted to watch The Dark Knight or similar action movie. However, after watching the ABBA musical, even the most sceptical had a smile on their face and were secretly humming an ABBA tune or two!

I have to say that it’s an entertaining film and something for the whole family to watch. It’s no surprise that Mamma Mia! is now the largest selling DVD in the UK and 1 in 4 households now own a copy.  Pretty impressive for a DVD that was only released in November.

I was visiting my local supermarket the other day and I bought a new laptop;  it was rather an impulse buy I have to say. To be truthful, I have been ‘deciding what laptop to buy’ for a few weeks now so it was not as much of an impulse buy as it might have been. The price was right and the specification was above my minimum requirements. Credit card ready!

However, my purchase left me thinking that only a few years ago, buying a laptop from the local supermarket would have been unheard of. In those days, the weekly food shop was the main thing, but now …. it seems that anything goes. My local supermarket has recently been converted into a much larger version by the creation of an upstairs floor even though, from the outside of the building, there does not appear to be enough space for an additional level! The new space has all those ‘extra’ items that we have to buy…..

I believe this is what is called ‘progress’ in some quarters but is called ‘foul’ by other retailers who complain that supermarkets are muscling in on their territory. I don’t know who wins the argument but the situation is unlikely to stop here. Things have certainly changed from a few years ago.

PS: The laptop was a Sony Vaio NS10 which you can buy from several computer outlets including Comet [and your local supermarket in some cases!]

If you have been busy shopping online for Christmas gifts, you will need to order before the end of this weekend to guarantee delivery before Christmas. Just to be on the safe side, I reckon this Friday 19th is likely to be the last day for many online stores in order to absolutely get your purchases delivered in time.

Keep shopping…..!

Amazon UK has just launched its MP3 Music Downloads service. At first glance it looks very good. There are songs and albums from every genre and with albums from just £3 and songs from only 59p, this looks like a big competitor to iTunes from Apple. Key features of the Amazon service include:

• Can be played on all MP3 players, including iPods
• Can be loaded (via PC or Mac) into most media-enabled mobile phones
• Downloads instantly to iTunes, Windows Media Player and most other Mac and PC music players
• Free from DRM (digital rights management), so you’re not restricted in how you use the music you buy

I have bought some songs from Amazon MP3 Downloads and the purchase was very easy. The low prices might be an opening sales ploy but if they continue, I think Apple might have to revise their own pricing policy. I mostly buy single tracks and Amazon undercuts Apple by between 10p and 20p. At the same time, the MP3 songs at Amazon are encoded with a higher bit rate which normally means higher sound quality, particularly if you play the tracks through hi-fi equipment like I do.

It’s all good news for the music-loving customer as far as I am concerned!

In the UK today, the VAT rate was reduced by 2.5% to 15%. Value Added Tax is charged on most things that we buy; it’s like a purchase tax. This is the first change in the main VAT rate for many years and it’s an attempt by the government to stimulate consumer spending. It’s one of a raft of measures that were introduced in last week’s pre-Budget Report in order to stimulate the economy and ameliorate the effect of the credit crunch or recession that we appear to be entering.

On the face of it, a reduction in VAT rate is a good thing for the consumer but I’m not sure that it will have much of an effect on consumer spending. For example, I need to buy a new laptop and, assuming I spend about £500, the VAT saving will be £12.50. With all the other discounts in the pre-Xmas sales and other various online discount that are available, the VAT reduction is perhaps not so noticeable.

On the other hand, the UK chancellor is not normally given to largesse when it comes to taxes so we should not be too critical. The VAT reduction lasts for over a year so it will save money on purchases in 2009. However, overall I think the effects on consumer spending will be limited. The VAT change will mostly have an effect on those special larger item purchases rather than everyday shopping in my opinion.

It may be time to stock up on wine for Christmas or even buy a few wine gifts for friends and relatives (perhaps in the hope that you’ll be able to drink some of it yourself….!). If that’s the case, you cannot go far wrong with the website for wine retailer Majestic. They are the UK’s biggest mixed case wine retailer with over 140 stores nationwide and their website does a grand job of making it dead easy to pick and mix wine from all areas of the world. I do like a website that is attractively designed and the whole Majestic website is fantastic to look at with high quality images throughout. It’s clear that Majestic have put a lot of hard work into this.

One useful idea in this pre-festive season is their Gift Solutions section where you can buy up to six bottle gifts with your own message attached. Sounds like a good idea for a few friends of mine….

I’m particularly drawn to the champagne section for New Year’s Eve. I know the credit crunch/recession/downturn is here but that’s no reason not to have a bit of a party, I reckon! After the Pre-Budget Report today, it looks like we are a nation heading into debt. I need cheering up!

Left: Veuve Clicquot champagne gift with wooden case