EE, formally Everything Everywhere is the company behind Orange and T Mobile, making them the biggest network provider in the UK with an estimated 28 million customers. This makes them the perfect company to drive mobile technology in the UK forward, with having the greatest share of the market they can get more people on to the newer technology quicker.

Only the most modern smartphones will be compatible with 4G when it is launched at the end of the month, but with new phones released all the time and the number of smartphone owners constantly increasing and mobile phone contracts rarely lasting longer than 2 years, it is reasonable to assume that the majority of the country will be using 4G technology within the next 3-5 years.

London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester and Sheffield will be the 10 cities lucky enough to experience 4G first and those with EE as their network will be the ones reaping the benefits of superfast mobile broadband, HD TV streaming and a range of other facilities.

The practical uses of 4G on the go via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets will offer online marketers new and exciting opportunities to reach consumers and potential consumers in previously unchartered ways. This gradual rolling out will allow the more forward thinking marketers the opportunity to trial campaigns on small audiences to see what is effective and what works best.

This new form of mobile internet will offer advertisers the capability to come up with more dynamic mobile advertising campaigns, including feature rich animations and HD videos, which is far more likely to engage consumers and make them more receptive and therefore likely to interact with the advert.

In the three months leading up to September, Domino’s sales increased up to £136.4m for that quarter, which has inspired the company to take effective steps to maintain this growth with Christmas in their sights.

Social media usage is set to be part of this new marketing campaign, following on from the announcement in February that they planned to increase activity on Twitter and launch deals on Facebook as a way of driving sales. Combining an increase in social media usage with seasonal products and promotions will place Domino’s in the perfect position to not only maintain their great performance but to even aim beyond it and improve on their 3^rd quarter sales.

Back in February, Domino’s launched an “f-commerce” campaign which saw them offer their Facebook fans the opportunity to try one of their new products a week before the official launch, for a promotional price. This was used as a reward for being a returning customer and being a registered Facebook fan, a technique which Domino’s may well be planning to use again through the last few months of the year.

According to Domino’s Pizza chief executive Lance Batchelor, the 4^th quarter is traditionally the strongest of the year for the company anyway, so the real measurement will come when compared to previous year’s sales.

Mobcast as a platform is one of the biggest ebook retailers, offering titles that can be read not only on ereaders, but tablet devices and smartphones. Purchased books can also be stored in a cloud storage facility, so that they can be accessed from multiple devices rather than just downloaded and saved to one.

Tesco spent £4.5million on the deal to buy Mobcast, but with the platform already boasting over 130,000 titles, it shouldn’t take too long for Tesco to see a return on their investment. Tesco is already one of the UK’s biggest sellers of books, so with the new offering of digital sales, Tesco can expect to make even further headway into that sector.

The ebook market growth is strong, with sales of digital versions now outselling those of their printed counterparts, making it one of the most popular forms of purchasing digital entertainment. Tesco’s new market share comes at the perfect time, where they can now take ownership of a platform that provides a service of which is currently very popular and looks set to continue in the same way.

This move by Tesco comes shortly after Sainsbury’s made a similar one. Having created their own movie streaming service and music download platform, the supermarket recently bought a 64% stake in ebook retailer Anobii. This means that both supermarkets now have an almost equal offering of online digital entertainment, but with Tesco buying already successful platforms and with Sainsbury’s launching their own, it seems that Tesco’s move may be lower risk.

Having had a profit reduction of around £9million in the 6 months leading up to July this new initiative comes as a way of attempting to get a fairer market share with its closest competitors, Sainsbury’s and ASDA who both have far more smaller convenience stores than Morrisons and both offer online grocery shopping.

Along with the creation of new convenience stores, which Morrisons announced was a “prelude” to the rollout of convenience stores they have planned for 2013/14, 38 existing stores are undergoing renovations to what is being called the “Fresh Format” which will include a new design around produce sections and counters, not to mention a greater selection of fresh foods on offer.

Many analysts have cited Morrisons lack of convenience stores and online shopping as the main reason they have fallen behind their rivals, but despite this, the supermarket are not jumping feet first into online trading. They are beginning their online adventure with the creation of Morrisons Cellar, an online wine site which they hope will become one of the definitive online wine merchants in the UK.

This start however, looks like it will be just the toe dipping trial process for what will eventually become a full online grocery shopping experience which would make Morrisons a more multi-channel store chain and allow them to catch up with their competitors.

The renovations to the existing stores, the introduction of more convenience stores and the launch of an online shop will undoubtedly give Morrisons a better second half of the year than the first half, but whether those improvements will continue with the further planned developments is yet to be seen.

Ann Summers’ campaign includes the use of a smartphone app and augmented reality. The wittily names Blipp Tease uses the technology from app Blippar to allow shoppers to digitally and virtually “try on” an item or outfit without physically having to do so and can then click through to buy or download a 10% discount for use in store or online. Customers can also use the app to interact with in store advertising posters and the brands customer magazine MiniLogue.

Ann Summers launch this app as part of a wider campaign which is said to include much more online activity as way to promote their upcoming Autumn/Winter line. They also hope that the introduction of such an app will help men in completing purchases and generally making what can be a sensate and for some men, embarrassing experience much easier.

Victoria’s Secret are installing a large video wall in its second UK store, a move that shows how determined the brand is to make shopping with them a truly multimedia experience. They are also having digital screens throughout their in store advertising displays so that they can create multi channel interactions for their customers to take part in.

Victoria’s Secret are using this new multimedia strategy to “create a sense of theatre, excitement and exclusivity” which they hope will promote their UK stores launch to get off to a successful start. The first 2 stores have recently opened in London, but Victoria’s Secret have aspirations of competing with the likes of Ann Summers, La Senza and Agent Provocateur to become one of the UK’s biggest lingerie stores, like it is in the US.

‘Shoot The Show’ is a camera based app that allows users to capture frames of the Topshop catwalk show “as if they were sitting in the front row” snapping away. The sharing of these shots is key to the app’s growth as the people who then see the posts from their friends are the ones that Topshop will want to be the next ones to download it.

Along with the sharing, the other obvious aim was to get app users buying the products that they see and have chosen to share. They can do this using the ecommerce function built into the app in which everything featured in the show can be bought, including the clothes, styling and beauty products and even the music accompanying the catwalk show. Shoppers can also buy all of the aforementioned from the Topshop online store too.

The London Fashion Week scheme wasn’t going to be all about Facebook though, Topshop also created a competition that they are called ‘Tweet Off’, where participants have the length of a single Tweet to review the Topshop collection. The winners will then be invited to attend Topshop’s next fashion show.

Using social media throughout an event like London Fashion Week is a great way of brands like Topshop telling their target customers exactly what they are doing in the event and what this can offer them. Facebook fans and twitter followers of Topshop are the ones that this scheme is aimed at, but the potential for adding new Facebook fans and Twitter followers is huge, with sharing being so well integrated to the app and the competition. More shares and more tweets will lead to more app downloads and essentially, more sales.

The new platform is going to be called simply, My HMV and will aim to bring together the currently fragmented structure of their marketing initiatives. As part of this new roll out, the company will be getting rid of the rewards scheme Pure HMV and the existing Pure HMV users will be automatically migrated over to My HMV where they can be rewarded for their loyalty.

Along with rewarding loyalty, My HMV will offer users the ability to combine online and in store retail, link to social networks effortlessly and offer exclusive content. In order to make this possible HMV will be introducing free WiFi in all 270 high street stores where shoppers can use their devices to access My HMV. For shoppers who do not use My HMV already, when they log on using the free in store WiFi they will be invited to join there and then.

Along with the free WiFi, the larger HMV stores will also contain My HMV Cafes which they hope will act as a social hub where shoppers can take advantage of charging points along with the WiFi and also socialise physically and online. My HMV will become the go to source for all of the stores promotions, features and events where members will be given all of the information first and this will in turn build up the profile of these events. Shoppers will be able to view product demonstrations, movie clips, music track samples and other exclusive content to offer a more enriching shopping experience.

HMV hopes that the introduction of My HMV will reverse the downfall in sales of recent years and that by Christmas the figures will be going the right way once again. A strong and positive strategy to kick start a huge company that has recently found itself struggling.

Play.com are hoping that this scheme will go viral, with users that have high social media klout posting and tweeting about the site, which in turn will encourage their followers and friends to click onto the page and also share to their connections.

If this process works as planned, this is a cutting edge way of cost effective advertising. The only major financial outlays will be the cost of the rewards they give to their best promoters, which is likely to be discounts and vouchers.

Shoppers who make their purchase from Play.com after clicking through from a post they have seen on Facebook spend 30% more over the year the site recently revealed. This fact, along with the confirmation that they put over £2million worth of sales throughout 2011 down to Facebook, shows that social media marketing is a fantastic way for Play.com to go when moving forward.

Many online retailers use social networks to promote certain products, to push deals and to share exclusive information with their fans and followers; however this is not always the most effective way of working. A recommendation coming from a friend on Facebook is a lot more powerful than coming from a brand and this kind of recommendation will be seen by potentially hundreds if not thousands of people that are connected with that person that may not already be connected to Play.com. There is also the opportunity for the people that see a shared post to take part in the campaign by becoming regular posters in order to also reap the benefits and rewards.

This new strategy from Play.com is very low risk with potentially huge reward. If they can recruit a handful of social media savvy people that will share posts to their large follower and friend bases, the rest should all fall into place, sending out a lot of good social media signals for Play.com, increasing brand awareness and most importantly increasing sales.

There are many different variables to take into account when discussing the ROI of Facebook advertising, many more than you’d get with Google advertising for example. With Facebook advertising, the impetus doesn’t necessarily mean that traffic must be steered to the site where transactions will take place, the aim may be to get more people visiting the brand’s Facebook page to try and increase the number of ‘likes’, or by advertising a competition being run by that brand that will again, encourage people to hit ‘like’.

This strategy may not be the most successful to make a quick ROI, however it can be strongly beneficial by increasing brand awareness via social networks. Getting ‘likes’ on Facebook offers brands the opportunity to then target potential customers who have shown an interest in some aspect of their business, which makes those people the perfect ones to target with exclusive offers on Facebook.

When running a Facebook advertising campaign, it is very important to remember a few key points:

• Aim – What do you want to achieve from the campaign, increased sales? More ‘Likes’? Increase fan base/brand awareness?
• Budget – Set out a reasonable and affordable budget and stick to it.
• Target Consumers – Aim for those who will be most likely to hit ‘like’ or buy from your company by selecting interests and businesses similar to yours.
• Content – Having short, snappy and eye catching content will be the difference between getting clicks and not.
• Useful Information – Make sure that you use the information that you gain from those who click through in the best possible way, a well constructed Facebook page will ask for permission from users to access their info, which can be used for further campaigns.

The app is free and is called Fashion Up, to start it will only be available on iPhone and iPod touch devices, but ASOS haven’t ruled out the possibility of moving onto tablet devices and phones that use Android technology.

The app is available globally and is being produced by the people who make ASOS’s already successful print magazine, for it to be delivered to the Apple devices every Monday via the app, which is now available through the App Store.

There is a click to buy function built in to every magazine, which will take the shoppers directly to the page where they can purchase the items they click on throughout the magazine, offering a fantastic marketing opportunity to push certain products that are potentially less popular, or are new, in order to boost product specific sales.

Along with the fashion tips, how to guides and features on products, the app will also offer a weekly dose of music news, which will not only offer customers new style icons to mimic via buying new clothes that are featured in the magazine, but will reaffirm the bond between music and fashion and offer some great click bait for people who are perhaps not looking for fashion news but news on their favourite band.

Word of mouth, social network promotion and blogging will allow ASOS to spread the word of the exclusive musical content they are promising on a weekly basis, which will get people who may not have ordinarily downloaded the app to do so to enjoy this content, which then could in turn lead to that reader browsing the rest of that magazine and having downloaded the app, future editions. This is a great way of introducing potential new shoppers to a brand via something that they love and therefore trust.