The Widget UK Blog

Widget in the FT

widget | 26 July, 2010 11:23

As part of an article on credit control, headed "Measures to keep bed debt demons at bay," FT Enterprise Correspondent mentioned one of the payment methods which Widget offers to its customers.

"Widget, a Stevenage-based distributor of consumer electronics products, is equally aware of the need for good credit control..

Consequently, the company has started insisting that some customers settle their bills by direct debit as a condition of extending credit.

“There is a certain amount of paperwork involved in administering direct debits, but it is not rocket science,” Mark Needham, Widget’s chairman, says. He notes that, in one case, a customer settled its account by direct debit days before collapsing into administration. “We would have lost that debt if we had been waiting for a cheque in the post,” he says.

DAB Radio: Chronicle of Death Foretold

widget | 14 July, 2010 09:28

When I first moved to London in the 1980s, I used to buy a Sunday paper when going home through Kings Cross station on a Saturday night. I loved the idea that I was getting tomorrow’s paper today, because I was in London, where it all happened.

This thrill at being at the centre of it all has never quite died. Last Thursday,the sweaty heat of a London tube carriage was sweetened for me by reading the headline “Switchover is delayed until more listeners are in tune with digital” over an article in the Evening Standard. I knew that before the readers because I had just come from the Intellect Digital Home Conference, at which the new Communications Minister, Ed Vaizey, had given a speech, in which he admitted that the idea of turning off FM radio transmissions in 2015 was not politically expedient, and the digital switchover for radio would only happen “once most listeners in the country are ready for the change.”

In practice, this means never. Tomorrow I am off on a camping expedition to the Suffolk coast. I would like to take a radio with me to listen to in the morning. Do I think of packing a DAB radio? Of course not. I don’t expect any signal near the coast, and even if I did, on issues such as battery life and size, not to mention sentimental issues, II would choose my 30 year old Panasonic FM radio which accompanied me across Africa in my youth over my Pure DAB radio every time. And, of course, I will drive to Suffolk in a car which, like nine out of ten in this country, has no DAB radio. Heaven help the minister who stopped ninety percent of the population from listening to the radio on the way to work.

I had gone to the conference to hear about the future of digital TV, which everyone believes is bright. But with both the the ministerial announcement (introduced with the immortal words “as I said in the House this morning”) and the BBC head of radio, Tim Davie denying that the attempted closure of BBC 6 was a cunning marketing ploy (“we are not that clever,” he said), radio dominated much of the day.

DAB radio was an attempt to build a technology which only works in the UK, which is always a mistake as manufacturers do not get the sales volumes needed to pay for product development. In looking at new technologies to distribute, one of the key questions we ask is how this technology is going to roll out internationally. The UK represents around 5% of the world consumer electronics market, which is an important market for a global manufacturer, but not a sufficient one.

Over the next few years, TV and radio programming will be distributed across the internet in a large number of the world's consumer markets. Consumer electronics products which take advantage of this distribution product seem more likely to succeed in the long run than DAB radio.

Mark Needham

July 2010

Writing Blogs and Writing Hymns

widget | 04 July, 2010 15:58

Thomas Power from Ecademy waves to the crowd

I am still ruminating on Thomas Power's Ecademy course on social media. The key recommendation I took away fromit was that a blog must have a personal rather than a corporate identity, because no-one trusts corporate blogs, and they are generally pretty boring anyway.

So what were people to write? Write what defines you, said Thomas Power, adding that people who could not find what defined them in the online world were usually confused about what defined them in the normal world. At times this dialogue reminded me of the scene in ‘Life of Brian’ where Brian tells the crowd that they are all individuals and that they had to think for themselves. “Yes,” replies the crowd in unison. “We are all individuals.”

As an exercise to help us define ourselves, we had to do one of those toe-curlingly awful exercises which tend to come up at courses like this - write down the best and worst moments in our lives.

The best and the worst

The first to share his moments with the group got off lightly. His worst moment was when his house was burgled, which, while distressing, either meant that he was not giving us the real worst, or that he must have missed the more extreme things which can happen in life.

As we went round the room, the moments grew more sombre. Births, deaths and marriages appeared, including the suicide of a best friend at school.

At last, one man said that he saw a distinction between best and worst moments in business and life was made, and he proposed to give us both.

The worst moment in his personal life was telling his two young sons that he was leaving their mother, and walking away without being able to comfort them. The best moment was reuniting those sons with his new second family. The best moment in his business life was selling his business for £6 million. The worst moment was finding out, a few months later, that the acquirer did not have the cash to pay him for this purchase, and was in fact going bust itself, taking his business with it. And the very worst thing, he said, was that that night he went home and cried, which he had not done over leaving his first wife and family.

Across the years, the words of my English teacher came back to me. The hymns of the 19th and early 20th century are a vastly underrated social record, he told us. So many times, he said, they express things which we have forgotten and I can think of no better words to sympathise with this man's experience than those of the great hymn “Lord of the years" which talks of “spirits oppressed by pleasure, wealth and care.”

Nobody wanted to follow the honesty of the last participants and we went back to struggle over our blogs. Perhaps, like a hymn, or a Johnny Cash Country and Western song, a good blog is a story around a theme, taking up some small incident which illustrates a larger point. At least, that is how I shall try to use this blog - stories which illustrate issues relevant to consumer electronics distribution.

Mark Needham, July 2010

Using Social Media tools in Marketing Technology

widget | 01 July, 2010 15:46

Following satellite navigation to the Warren House conferencing centre on the Coombe Estate in Kingston, I ended up facing a closed white gate, of the sort exclusive urban communities put up to obstruct non-belongers. While TomTom assured me that my destination, a 12 hour crash course on social media run by Ecademy's Thomas Power (@thomaspower) was on the far side of the locked gate, there was no visible way round. I stopped, and asked a man walking his small dog in the half light if there was another way to the hotel.

"Hotel," he said, perplexed.

"Warren House?" I said.

"Oh," he said, "it is not a hotel. No, no, no. We wouldn't have that sort of thing round here."

Reassured that nothing so indiscreet as a hotel had been allowed on the Coombe Estate, he directed me through the maze of exclusive roads.

Like the residents of the Coombe Estate, the retailers of consumer electronics in the UK are a small and exclusive group. The established retail names of Dixons (back again), Comet, John Lewis, Maplin and Staples have been joined by internet retailers such as Amazon, Dabs.com, Ebuyer and a few others, and the TV channels such as QVC and Ideal Shopping Direct have made progress in the last ten years, but new entrants are rare.

While they are all doubtless monitoring what is being said about them on Facebook and Twitter, it is not immediately apparent how these tools could be used to reach the category buyers who are our customers. These individuals tend to be known for their focus on buy price and sell through numbers rather than the soft and fluffy measurements of social media reputation.

Part of the service Widget offers, however, is that if Widget sells a consumer electronics product, there is an implicit recommendation to our customers. The vendor has persuaded us that this product is going to sell and Widget has a track record of discovering and distributing growing product categories.

It is clear that the online social media tools available can help inform this recommendation. Twice in the past week I have seen impressive demonstrations of the sheer amount of data available on the internet.

Last Thursday at a presentation at the CIPR, Andrew Smith (@andismit) from PR and SEO agency Escherman, showed the sheer range of data analysis tools available from Google. Google knows how many people in each geography or each demographic searched for any word or phrase, and it will tell you, free of charge, in the hope that you will use its advertising service.

Today, at the Ecademy social media course, Alterian, the course sponsor, demonstrated the SM2 reputation monitoring software, which can show how many mentions a product gets across all social media sites, and whether they are positive or negative.

By looking at the number of searches, and the type of mentions products get, there is a lot more we, and the vendors behind us, could do to know where and when products will succeed in the electronics marketplace.

Some products are niche, and will sell online where customers are specifically looking for them, but will not sell in a physical store. An example of this is the product CardScan, which Widget has sold for ten years. It does what it says on the tin - scans business cards. It is the sort of product that a small set of users really value, and they will go out and look for it, but the market for it is not large enough for it to sell successfully off the shelf. We have tried it in two national chains, and the results both times were disappointing.

Some products, however, hit the shops, and the public love them. Flip Video is a case in point. New, but exciting, it succeeded first in online retailers, then quickly made the transition to the national chains. Some of the people who wanted Flip Video, being early adopters, would buy it online. But there were enough retail park or shopping centre customers in its market to give it sell through for our bricks and mortar retailers.

Somewhere, in all that data that Google collects, there is the data which could have helped us predict these two results. I look forward to finding more of it.

A gargoyle helps keep the riff raff out of Warren House.

Pogoplug makes impact at new price point of £79.99

widget | 23 June, 2010 10:30

At the new average selling price of £79.99, down form £99.99, the Pogoplug device is catching a lot of attention online.

According to Linux User, even at the old price "What’s not to love about a £99 Linux-based device that requires little time to set up, no computer for connectivity, no monthly fees and only a web browser for access to your files from anywhere in the world? Yes, its radioactive pink colour might seem a bit off-putting upon first glance, but after you connect the Pogoplug and discover its power, you won’t care if it glows in the dark (but don’t worry – it doesn’t)." Full review here.

And if you are still confused about what Pogoplug does, try watching this 4 minute video from Get Connected.

"When I first saw this thing, I didn't really get it. I honestly thought it was another hard drive, which you connect to your computer, but the best way to think about it is as a mini-cloud.." says the presenter.

Pogoplug is now available in store in John Lewis Partnership, PC World, Currys, Micro Anvika, Amazon.co.uk and from many other electronics retailers.

Mio updates its Navman range of GPS devices

widget | 01 June, 2010 12:46

The new Navman range for 2010 includes simplified opening screens, IQ Routes which selects the best route for time and day of week, and many other new features.

The new models are

M305 and M405 entry level GPS devices

Spirit 400, 475 and 575 GPS devices

Spirit V577 and V777 GPS devices with integrated Digital TV

A summary of all the features on all the models is available here.

Opportunity for more channel involvement in Byte Night, the IT industry annual sleep out.

widget | 26 May, 2010 11:07

The Widget team prepare for Byte Night - from the left Rob Sparrow, Mark Needham, Bart Hoorntje, Liza Childs, Alexis Bridge and Darren Gray.

Channel organisations, such as consumer electronicsdistributor Widget UK Ltd, have joined vendors and end users from across the ITindustry in pledging to raise money for Byte Night 2010.

Byte Night founder Ken Deeks urged more VARs, distributorsand other channel players to join in.

“Traditionally, ByteNight was largely supported by the IT vendor and end user communities,” hesaid, “but over the years, as the eventhas grown, our sleeper base has diversified. Byte Night has become themust-attend event for anyone connected to the technology sector - whether thatis as a vendor within the industry, or a supplier to it. And that's what makesit so special - the fact so many different organisations, from different partsof the sector come together to raise money for a very worthy cause.

“I therefore want tourge any VARs, distis or other channel players to join us for Byte Night 2010.Not only will you be working alongside colleagues, customers and industrybig-wigs, you'll be part of a fantastic movement that has committed itself toending youth homelessness, for good.”

Widget chairman Mark Needham commented “Once again a team from Widget will be sleeping out on October 8^th2010. Byte Night is now one of thecornerstones of our corporate social responsibility programme. It raises moneyfor a very good cause, and at minimum cost to the charity being supported.”

CIO and IT directors from a range of end user organisations,and vendors such as Cisco, HP and Dell are regular supporters of ByteNight.

Organisations or individuals wishing to take part shouldcontact Barbara Gill, Senior Fundraising Executiveat Action for Children on 0207704 7135 or email bytenight@actionforchildren.org.uk

---ENDS ---

About Byte Night

Byte Night is theIT industry’s annual sleep out in support of Action for Children. Each yearhundreds of individuals and teams from across the IT and business communityspend a night exposed to the elements in a bid to raise sponsorship andawareness of Action for Children’s work.

It all began 12years ago when 30 individuals from the IT industry slept out and raised£35,000. Since then the event has grown to over 700 sleepers raising almost£550,000 in 2009 alone. Patrons, sponsors and sleepers include celebrities andleading figures, CIOs, systems developers, business managers, marketers andmore.

About Widget

Widget UK Ltd distributes a tightly focussed rangeof satellite navigation, networking and video products, for manufacturers suchas Cisco Systems and TomTom. Widget UK Ltd sells only to trade, and notdirectly to the public. Its customers are UK retailers and resellers includingStaples, DSGi, Maplin, Comet, Amazon.co.uk, Dabs.com, Play.com, QVC, IdealShopping Direct, Computacenter and SCC.

BBC's Working Lunch reviews the Vexia Econav Satnav

widget | 19 May, 2010 16:23

The BBC's Working Lunch reviews three current sat navs and admires the economical features of the Vexia Satnav. Vexia is distributed exclusively by Widget in the UK.

The video of this BBC TV programme i snow more than 7 days old and can no longer be accessed from iPlayer.

Widget UK “works exclusively with retailers, identifying the best products for them and making sure that the deal on the table represents a win-win for both supplier and retailer.” Financial Times 8th May 2010

widget | 17 May, 2010 12:45

In an article on Widget UK Ltd entitled "Next big thing is no small matter" the Financial Times journalist Mike Southon comments on the difficulties retailers and distributors face in predicting success in technology products, and the split between online and physical stores, both of whom buy from Widget.

“Bricks-and-mortar retailers now face fierce competition from the internet.. but online suppliers do not have a stranglehold on consumer electronics.

“Buyers who know exactly what they want and precisely how much they want to pay for a devices will usually buy online. But an offline store has more physical space to explain why a particular item is more expensive and which specific benefits higher-priced models will deliver. It also remains a basic human need for many of us to physically handle a device before purchase.

“Widget is now looking to supply its devices to supermarkets, as its gadgets, which now include Cisco’s Flip Video, have become as easy to use as other home electronics.”

Read the full article (registration required at) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/360a6bdc-59f6-11df-acdc-00144feab49a.html

Original of "Next big thing is no small matter"

How to turn an iPod and a PogoPlug into a PogoPod..

widget | 08 May, 2010 19:58

The PogoPlug is without a doubt one of the most fascinating products Widget is distributing here in the UK.

The standard way to use it is to plug a USB drive into it -but across the internet people are demonstrating that it can be used with all sorts of devices.

For example, http://deviceguru.com/pogoplug-ipod-server/ has a fascinating use for an old iPod.. How to turn an iPod and a PogoPlug into a PogoPod..

Entrepreneurs asked "What do you want from the next government"

widget | 17 April, 2010 09:28

This month Real Business magazine asked a number of entrepreneurs what they would like to see from the next government.

Widget chairman and founder Mark Needham joined the founders of Expansys, Adam St Private Members Club, Great Guns Marketing and Notion Capital in offering entrepreneurial advice to the party leaders.

"Following yesterday’s television election debate between Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, which was watched by 9.9 million people at its peak and sparked a total of 184,396 tweets during the broadcast, we asked entrepreneurs what they want from the next British government... read more"

Widget MD featured in CRN, published 12th April 2010

widget | 12 April, 2010 12:18

TomTom introduces Start 2 and new version of IQ Routes Edition 2

widget | 06 April, 2010 15:54

TomTom continues to offer incremental improvements to its GPS range with new versions of the TomTom Start and the TomTom IQ Routes out now.

New part numbers here

1EY001300

TomTom Start 2 UK & ROI Download the full sales sheet.

1ET001300	TomTom XL IQR v2 edition UK & ROI	£119.14
1ET005406	TomTom XL IQR v2 edition Europe Download the full sales sheet on XL IQR	£136.16

3M's new MPro 150 Pocket Projector is starting to be reviewed by UK websites...

widget | 06 April, 2010 15:15

"Despite just using a white wall the image quality was superb. Pdfs, MS Office files and most images were fine. It also plays back *.avi files, which I found pretty amazing – " read more from latestgadgets.co.uk

"The 3M MPro150 comes as the successor to the company’s well received MPro120 pocket projector. The series has come a long way since the original MPro110, maintaining the lightweight and compact size that makes the gadget so portable, yet improving the video quality hugely. And when we say compact, we aren’t playing around, since the 3M projector with measurements of 130 x 60 x 24 mm could easily be mistaken for a mobile phone. It also weighs only a mere 160 grams."
read more from news.idealo.co.uk

Widget is the preferred retail distributor for the 3M MPro 150 Pocket Projector.

Chambers: How Flip fits into Cisco

widget | 11 March, 2010 17:17

Widget is Cisco's leading UK retail distributor, bringing the HD versions of the Mino and Ultra to the UK market in 2009.

But most of Cisco's sales are made to corporations and service providers rather than to the consumer. InfoWorld asked John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, the question that many people have asked us - how does the Flip range fit into Cisco?

John Gallant, InfoWorld : Some IT executives may look atthe things Cisco does in consumer and ask why? How does that benefitthe enterprise buyer? Case in point, how does the acquisition of thecompany that makes the Flip video camera benefit me as an enterprisebuyer?

John Chambers: From the CIO perspective, threethoughts: The first generation of the Internet was driven by businessto the consumer, in terms of Internet productivity. Business got itfirst, with ordering online, doing customer support. The nextgeneration of productivity is the consumer [technology] driving intobusiness. We predicted this in 2000. It was on the charts. That's howit's occurring -- what our kids did in social networking, Web 2.0,YouTube, Facebook, etc.

We are absolutely taking [that] straight into our own enterpriseand architecting them together underneath a common collaborationarchitecture. We think that will drive productivity at well-runcompanies 5 to 10 percent a year for a decade. Now, you'd say, that'sa nice general statement. But when we've made those [statements] inthe past, we've been right. The new creative ideas, as we thought,are coming from the consumer up. We just add discipline to it,organization structure, business models to it.

This is occurring much quicker than [anyone] thought. You ask thetop leadership at Procter & Gamble what they use Flip for. Theyuse it to submit ideas to the CEO. You ask what I use Flip for? Myteam pushed me, saying, "John, you've got to think aboutblogging." I said, "No way. I can talk 200 hundred words aminute. Why would I ever want to blog?" Today, I will doprobably four Flips to the whole company or to a specific audience.