Shop Junction Blog

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.