All posts by EPR Network

Consumer Services, Internet & Online, Shopping, Transportation & Logistics

Parcel2Go backs findings of global parcel delivery survey

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The UK’s largest online parcel delivery specialist has said it is unsurprised by the results of a recent study highlighting the growing importance of online delivery services.

A worldwide survey of 93 members of the Universal Postal Union showed that 70 per cent believe postal e-services are strategically important for the future. The research identified 55 different types of digital services which are now available, including track and trace and online bill payments.

According to Bolton-based Parcel2Go, which has been involved in helping businesses and individuals to organise international parcel services for over 20 years and is involved with the delivery of more than two millions parcels a year, demand for online services will continue to grow at a rapid rate.

Richard Mercer, marketing director at Parcel2Go, said the simplicity of arranging shipping services through the internet is one of the main appeals.

He said: “The results of the Universal Postal Union survey make interesting reading, but we’re not surprised to find that an increasing number of organisations are recognising the potential of online services.

“At Parcel2Go we have been focussed on bringing the latest online services to our customers for many years. Feedback tells us that online tools such as parcel tracking are highly valued by individuals, while for many business customers they have become invaluable.”

Richard added that as mobile devices such as tablet computers come to play an increasing part in people’s daily lives, demand for online courier services is only going to increase.

The survey put Switzerland at the top of the list in terms of overall e-services development, while the US, Canada and Germany all featured in the top ten. The Universal Postal Union said it was the first time it had surveyed its members on e-services, but added that this type of study will now be conducted on a regular basis.

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Apparel & Fashion, Consumer Services, Internet & Online, Retail, Shopping

DiscountVouchers.co.uk Helps UK Shoppers Afford More with New Online Deals

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Leading voucher codes website DiscountVouchers.co.uk can this week help UK shoppers to afford more for their money thanks to new codes for saving at top name online stores. The website, which is home to deals for over 800 of the best-known retailers, is this week offering consumers new deals for Argos, Amazon and eBay Outlet.

The DiscountVouchers.co.uk site is right now offering shoppers the chance to save on top brand items for the home through new Argos voucher codes. Consumers can log on this week and get their hands on deals like save £120 on Dyson vacuum cleaners and save £100 on the HP Pavilion G6 laptop from Argos.co.uk.

Also on show in the latest DiscountVouchers.co.uk deals and to help people save money are new Amazon vouchers – perfect for getting the latest tech kit or new books right now. Deals on show this week include a new Kindle just £89 and up to 70% off January deals.

Clothing and other items from one of the country’s most popular online retailers can be had on a budget right now as well using the new deals sourced by DiscountVouchers.co.uk. eBay is one of the most trusted brands in retail today and consumers can right now use new eBay outlet vouchers to get massive savings on great brands from eBay Fashion Outlet and brand new games consoles at amazing prices.

Doug Scott, managing director of DiscountVouchers.co.uk, comments, “We’re delighted to help people save money on top brand goods from leading etailers right now. Money off at Amazon, eBay and Argos can be a real bonus for UK consumers this month.”

DiscountVouchers.co.uk offers consumers money saving deals at major high street brands and specialist retailers, including stores like Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Travelodge, First Choice, lastminute.com and Boden.

For more information visit www.discountvouchers.co.uk.

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Art, Consumer Services, Entertainment, Internet & Online, Retail, Shopping

Many are expected to treat their mum this Mother’s Day to a bouquet from Flowers Delivered UK

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Online florist, Flowers Delivered UK are expecting to see an influx of bouquet orders as Mother’s Day is creeping round the corner.

First signs of a new trend in bouquets are beginning to occur as people are starting to show their preferences for Mother’s Day bouquets. Lilies, carnations, roses and chrysanthemums are proving to be a popular choice with Flowers Delivered UK customers, all varying in colour.

Mothers across England are showered with gifts and the luxury of eating out in restaurants during the 13th May and going by Flowers Delivered UK’s report, it seems the gift of a flower arrangement is high on the agenda.

Sending flowers to a parent over Mother’s Day has proven to be a popular choice due to convenience and the opportunity to personalise the chosen bouquet. At Flowers Delivered UK customers can choose from a wide variety of bouquets and baskets with the opportunity to personalise the gift card with a photo and message.

Rob Doole, Managing Director at Flowers Delivered UK commented: “Currently we are experiencing the first signs of a new trend with many more customers looking to send a beautiful bouquet of flowers to their mothers. There is an occurring theme, as well, with many wishing to send roses, lilies, chrysanthemums and carnations. We believe that the popularity for Flowers Delivered UK bouquets has grown due to the free next day delivery option and the chance to personalise the card with a photo and message, giving the arrangement a unique and special touch.”

Customers are able to customise their gift card by uploading a personal photo and message to ensure every bouquet sent is unique. Being able to upload a photo offers the opportunity to evoke a memory that is held close to the heart or present a new memory that will never be forgotten.

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Automotive, Consumer Services, Internet & Online, Transportation & Logistics, Travel

Europe’s Romantic Driving Routes Recommended by Carrentals.co.uk

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British couples heading away for Valentine’s Day breaks this year have been advised on the most romantic driving routes to try. The recommendations come from award-winning car hire website Carrentals.co.uk.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, says: “We invariably see higher levels of traffic at this time of year as British couples get ready to enjoy a romantic weekend away somewhere for Valentine’s Day.”

“More and more people are looking into different destinations instead of the typical city break – and renting a car allows them to explore the region that much more. With that in mind we’ve recommended some of the most romantic European drives that we know of for Valentine’s Day”.

Carrentals.co.uk Top 5 Romantic Driving Locations:

1. Amalfi Coast, Italy – Perhaps Italy’s most breathtaking driving route, the road along the Amalfi Coast comprises quaint fishing villages, picturesque ports, great cafés and some fantastic restaurants. The route connects the two popular tourist destinations of Sorrento and Salerno.

2. Champagne, France – A fantastic drive through the heart of French wine country, this 220 kilometre romantic drive includes visits to some of the region’s most celebrated vineyards and wine producers.

3. West Coast of Scotland – A world away from England, the West Coast of Scotland and Argyllshire is one of the most romantic and picturesque drives in all of Europe. Take a trip to some historic castles, visit great Whisky distilleries, and enjoy the views out over the sea from some of Scotland’s prettiest ports.

4. Seville, Spain – Orange groves and white walled villages make up one of Spain’s prettiest and most romantic drives. Visiting couples can enjoy seeing the gardens at Barrio de Santa Cruz and the Guadalquivir River is a real highlight.

5. Romantic Road, Germany– Germany is renowned for some of the most beautiful drives in Europe and the Romantic Road is perfect for Valentine’s Day. The journey takes in ancient churches, gothic castles and some fantastic restaurants.

Carrentals.co.uk is the UK’s leading car hire comparison site providing cheap car hire in over 15,000 locations worldwide including Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, with pick up locations including car hire Faro offers and car hire Faro Airport deals.

To compare the latest car hire deals for a Valentine’s Day getaway visit www.carrentals.co.uk.

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Consumer Services, Food & Beverage, Internet & Online, Retail, Shopping

New DiscountVouchers.co.uk Deals Help Brits Eat Out on a Budget This Winter

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Dining out over the winter is now more affordable to all thanks to retail deals website DiscountVouchers.co.uk. The popular online resource is updated in real time to offer people the latest deals for over 800 retailers – and is this week home to new deals for saving money at Harvester, La Tasca and Prezzo.

Among the most popular family eateries in the UK today is Harvester, where people can treat themselves to quality burgers, sandwiches and more. By logging on to the DiscountVouchers.co.uk site right now consumers can access new Harvester vouchers which they can use to enjoy the Early Bird only £4.99 and 2 takeaway meals from £10.

One of the most popular Italian restaurants in the UK which can be saved at right now is Prezzo. The DiscountVouchers.co.uk site is offering new deals for winter which include Prezzo vouchers such as the Special £10 Menu – Only at Prezzo Kingston – One Starter Or One Dessert, One Main Course & A Drink. There is also a printable voucher for two mains for £12.95 at all Prezzo branches available.

Classic tapas and paella can be had on a budget right now too at La Tasca, with DiscountVouchers.co.uk offering new deals to save at branches throughout the country. Consumers can log on right now and get their hands on La Tasca vouchers which can be exchanged for buy one, get one free on tapas to share.

Doug Scott, managing director of DiscountVouchers.co.uk, commented, “We’re always aware that eating out can be pricey, so we’re happy to help UK consumers out this winter. Money off at great eateries like Harvester, Italian diner Prezzo and La Tasco all over the country are just the ticket right now for diners.”

DiscountVouchers.co.uk offers consumers money saving deals at major high street brands and specialist retailers, including stores like Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Travelodge, First Choice, lastminute.com and Boden.

For more information visit www.discountvouchers.co.uk.

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Business, Construction, Industrial, Marketing, Real Estate, Technology

Acoustiblok Named “Best Practices” Customer by Hubspot Internet Marketing

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Eighteen months after adopting Hubspot’s all-in-one marketing platform, Tampa, Florida-based Acoustiblok has increased website traffic by 210 percent, increased organic search leads by 307 percent, and increased customer transactions by 40 percent, contributing to Acoustiblok’s record sales increases in 2011.

Hubspot named Acoustiblok a “Best Practices” customer based on its application of Hubspot marketing tools for website management, blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), lead management, marketing analytics, social media monitoring, and website analysis.

“Being recognized by an industry leader as a “best practices” customer is a real accomplishment, and one we’ve worked hard to achieve,” said Liz Ernst, director of public relations for Acoustiblok, Inc. “We have a small marketing and PR team, and we had been trying different approaches to increasing traffic and drawing attention to our Acoustiblok soundproofing product line, and our Thermablok aerogel insulating strips.

“Hubspot gave us some serious one-on-one attention and guidance to understand where to best devote our efforts for the greatest return on our marketing and PR campaigns.”

Acoustiblok President and Founder Lahnie Johnson says that Hubspot provided the traffic building tools he had been looking for in order to achieve the huge growth goals the company had set for itself.

“We knew we had to get more web traffic, and that more traffic would equate to more leads,” Johnson said. “We were able to use the HubSpot software to help us with our traffic building initiatives, and our leads increased dramatically as our traffic increased.”

HubSpot, Inc., based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, provides an all-in-one marketing software platform used by more than 5000 companies in 34 countries. HubSpot is also the developer of WebsiteGrader.com, a website analysis tool with more than 3 million users. HubSpot, Inc. was founded in 2006.

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Automotive, Consumer Services, Internet & Online, Transportation & Logistics, Travel

Brits Book Rental Cars in Eastern Europe for Valentine’s Day Says eRentals.co.uk

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Cities throughout Eastern Europe have seen a big jump in car hire bookings ahead of Valentine’s Day 2012 as Brits look to get themselves a value for money romantic break this year. The news comes from online car hire bookings specialist eRentals.co.uk.

The eRentals.co.uk website has taken more bookings than ever for unusual destinations throughout Eastern Europe, such as Sofia in Bulgaria, Prague in the Czech Republic, Bratislava in Slovakia and Krakow in Poland. These destinations according to eRentals.co.uk are more popular this year as Brits look to source the best value possible for a Valentine’s Day break.

Briony Fairbairn, spokesperson for eRentals.co.uk, comments: “France is popular as ever with romantic Brits this year but there’s been a surge in demand for places in Eastern Europe too. Cheap air fares and the availability of good value hotels throughout that region have made it more attractive to UK tourists this Valentine’s Day.”

“There is also demand for car hire in Eastern European ski resorts as people look to get away for a romantic ski break too.”

Consumers can log on to eRentals.co.uk right now and find car hire deals available such as three days’ rental from Sofia airport for £20, Krakow airport for £40 and Budapest airport from £40. eRentals.co.uk also reports additional demand for car hire deals in Faro, Malta and Bordeaux ahead of Valentine’s Day.

Briony continued: “People are definitely taking Valentine’s Day trips to different places this year, and we can help them to get more for their money while there with some great value deals.”

eRentals.co.uk is a specialist car hire company, providing cheap car hire in over 12,000 locations around the World. Committed to finding its customers the best prices, eRentals.co.uk offers a quick and easy search of the latest offers, including Sicily car hire and car hire Sardinia deals.

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Automotive, Consumer Services, Internet & Online, Transportation & Logistics, Travel

Second Carrentals.co.uk ‘Book & Donate’ Day Set to Raise Money for StreetSmart

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Online car hire comparison specialist Carrentals.co.uk will this coming January 25th hold its second ‘Book & Donate’ day in aid of homeless charity StreetSmart. The day will see Carrentals.co.uk donate £1 per booking to the leading homeless charity group.

The first Carrentals.co.uk ‘Book & Donate’ day was hosted on January 11 2012 and succeeded in raising over £330 for StreetSmart. The money contributes to the great work done by StreetSmart – the group helps to fund education, training, housing and health initiatives for homeless people around the UK. The group works with 90 UK homeless charities and has the support of celebrities such as Stephen Fry, Neil Morrissey and Richard Bacon.

Gareth Robinson, Managing Director of Carrentals.co.uk, says: “The response to our first ever ‘Book & Donate’ day was great, and we raised more than £330 for StreetSmart. As such we have decided we will host more similar days, where every car hire booking made through Carrentals.co.uk will create a £1 donation to StreetSmart.”

“We are hoping that our site users planning to rent a car this winter will consider booking it on a ‘Book & Donate’ day to help StreetSmart out,” Gareth continues. “As ever we also recommend advance booking to get the best deals and plenty of choice – rental cars are in high demand right now and people can end up paying over the odds if they wait too long.”

Carrentals.co.uk has more ‘Book & Donate’ days scheduled for later in 2012 with days already booked for February 8th and 22nd, and March 7th and 21st.

StreetSmart operates large fundraising campaigns and events every November and December, working with leading UK restaurants to raise money. Leading names like Nobu, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and Restaurant Gordon Ramsay all feature, with the restaurants adding a £1 donation to diners’ bills to help generate funds for StreetSmart.

Glenn Pougnet, director of StreetSmart, comments: “We are of course hugely pleased that Carrentals.co.uk has chosen to continue running Book & Donate days, they made such a great job of the first one. We sincerely hope that Carrentals.co.uk website users will book their cars on these days to help raise funds for our UK homeless projects.”

Carrentals.co.uk is the UK’s leading car rental comparison site, comparing deals from up to 50 rental companies including Alamo, Auto Europe, Budget, Holiday Autos and Sixt, in over 15,000 locations worldwide.

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Consumer Services, Entertainment, Internet & Online, Marketing, Media, Sports

Meet LoveFooty.net – Football Blog Launches New Look Site

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LoveFooty.net one of the webs oldest and most popular football blogs has launched a new look website with improved community & social features.

LoveFooty.net was initially launched at the start of 2007 and features all the latest news, gossip, opinions & football videos from the world’s most popular sport.

The new changes include a fresh design which is fast loading and easy to navigate. This is coupled with close integration with the internet’s top social networks including Facebook, Twitter and Google+ which makes it easier than ever for fans to share their views and content with other fans from across the globe.

Lead project designer James Scott who was in charge of the overhaul had this to say about the new look LoveFooty.net: “We had to completely overhaul the site design and we gave it a fresh lick of colour as the old site was rather bland, just in time for the African Cup of Nations 2012.”

Scott also had this to say about the social networking integration “The staggering growth in social networking sites and huge audiences available for popular topics like sports means we can tap into a huge audience very quickly.”

Not only does LoveFooty.net closely integrate their site with the top social networks but they also participate and engage with football fans worldwide using their social networking accounts on Twitter and Facebook.

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Business, Consumer Services, Financial, Internet & Online, Society

As The Credit Card Industry Suffers Revenue Losses, Consumers In Need Of a New Line of Credit Option

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Overall, the credit card industry earned almost 6% less revenue in 2011 than during the previous year, in large part due to a decrease in the use of credit cards by shoppers and, as a result, less revolving credit that can be subjected to interest charges and fees. While come consumers have made a conscious effort to wean themselves off of spending on credit cards in an attempt to get a handle on their personal debt, others were forced into a credit card-free lifestyle during and after the Great Recession when many card issuers terminated the accounts of risky borrowers. Recent years have seen many lenders competing fiercely amongst themselves in order to pursue only the most creditworthy individuals.

Now with the nation’s economic situation slowly but steadily improving, credit card issuers are feeling more comfortable about relaxing their underwriting standards. This, combined with their acute need to acquire new cardholders in order to shore up some of their revenue losses of late, means that many lenders will looking beyond those with good and excellent credit scores in 2012. This opens up a whole slew of opportunities for people with less-than-perfect credit histories as they can reasonably expect lenders to increase their offering of credit cards for fair credit.

Consumers should beware of rising interest rates on borrowing as credit card issuers flounder to recoup some of their loss of earnings. In fact, experts have reported that going in to the New Year, the average interest rate on consumer credit cards is 15.14%, higher than the 14.75% APR that was the national average just six months ago. One option for consumers to find temporary reprieve from high interest rates is to look into 0 balance transfer credit cards which, when used wisely, can be an invaluable tool when it comes to handling debt.

Credit card companies are going to have to come up with some hard and fast ways to up their revenue over the coming year, whether they resort to raising interest rates, laying off employees, making more unsecured credit cards for bad credit available, some combination of the above or employing another technique altogether.

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