Sccope Blog

Under certain circumstances it is possible to get a Price Drop Alert that shows a price increase rather than a decrease.  This is due to an inconsistency between the time an alert is triggered and the time the price on the Sccope platform is refreshed. (more…)

Did you get a good deal this January?  With so many sales advertising such big discounts there was something for everyone, right?  We thought we’d look at which retailer delivered the best discounts comparing pre-Christmas pricing with the New Year sales.

We were really surprised by the results.  The biggest sale when looking only at products that were sold before and after Christmas was M&S.  Their sale wasn’t just a bit better than the others it was on a different level!

Looking across over a 100 retailers and tracking 1.6 million products here were the biggest price drops:

It should be said that the following retailers started their sales prior to Christmas:

So if you wanted a real bargain M&S was the place to go.  Where ever you shopped we hope you bagged yourself a great deal.

Remember that Sccope mobile, which is now available on iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phones will ensure you get a good deal!

Here is an interesting article from Which?  It suggests that as many as 1 in 10 of us save some Christmas shopping for the sales. http://bit.ly/u7B0Gu.  At first I thought ‘bar-humbug’ but on further reflection realised I’ve done this myself.  I wouldn’t go as far as to not get my family presents but last year we waited for the sales to get a joint present – a lovely 40″ Samsung TV – this meant we didn’t buy as many presents before Christmas and then hunted for our bargain together after Christmas.

This year it’s a blu-ray player for the family and the obligatory fashion updates!  There are some great deals on offer: http://www.sccope.co.uk/Search?categories=blu-ray-players.  The interesting thing with Sccope is that you can see if the price drop is genuine using the price his price history graph on the site and in the iPhone app.

If you are taking advantage of the bargains on offer I hope you find what you’re looking for.

Helen

Sainsburys direct (non-grocery) categories saw some huge drops in price this week.  As the first of the big supermarket direct sites to go in to ‘Sale’ mode they dropped prices by a staggering 17% on average across the 7000+ products we tracked.  This was impacted particularly by cuts in entertainment and a smaller number of great deals across most categories.

This Sharp TV is at half price http://bit.ly/v5UWKl.   50% isn’t a realistic number compared to the market but no one on the UK was selling this TV cheaper yesterday.

As we reach the end of the week many more stores are in sale mode particularly the online only sites.  John Lewis have pre-annouced their clearance sale which goes live online at 5pm Christmas Eve and in store on tuesday 27th.  Many of the products coming in to clearance are listed so you can plan your sales shopping in advance.

On that point we found an interesting article this week in the Telegraph fasion section on how to plan sale shopping and avoiding those unwanted purchases.  Worth a look before you shop: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/article/TMG8969919/Top-tips-for-shopping-the-Christmas-sales.html

Whatever you are doing make sure you take a break from shopping and have a fabulous Christams and New Year!

Homebase has started their end of season sale this week.  We’ve tracked significant drops across a wide range of products.  There are some great bargains available for those willing to get those nagging home improvement jobs done in between the festivities.  If you’re looking to upgrade your kitchen or bathroom Homebase have some major discounts here too.

As a whole we tracked the following changes over the last week:

-          25% of retailers dropped prices in the last week*

-          big drops at Homebase, The Early Learning Centre & Mama’s & Papa’s

-          10% of increased prices in the last week

-          increases were seen at Burton, Argos and Dorothy Perkins

Don’t forget you can find the best deals on Sccope because we track the big retailers in more detail than other sites.

Look out for more bargains this week!

Happy shopping.

*Based on a sample of over 1.5 million products from 138 of the biggest UK retailers

Where to shop for Christmas savings

Over the last eight weeks, Cogenta has monitored more than 1.2 million products sold online and discovered that 58% of the UKs top high street retailers have reduced their prices.  That means there are now savings to be had, whatever you’ve got on your Christmas shopping list.

Best Buy has delivered the biggest price drop in the electrical market, lowering its prices overall by an average of 7%.   That’s across its entire online product offering, with many individual items now significantly cheaper than they would have been had you bought them in October.  You’ll also save on those tech product must haves at

-          HMV

-          PCWorld

-          Richer Sounds

-          Currys

-          Co-op Electrical

Late fashion shoppers are the biggest winners with retailers like

-          Burton

-          Miss Selfridge

-          Dorothy Perkins

-          New Look

-          Debenhams

all showing price drops in the last eight weeks.

Shoppers for sporting goods are also better off with

-          JJB

-          Sports Direct

-          JD Sports

-          Field & Trek

all showing lower prices now. Consumers have become used to seeing the sales start before Christmas and it looks like this year they’re even earlier than usual.

There’s no doubt that these price changes are being driven, at least in part, by consumers.  With everyone tightening their purse strings this year, Retailers can’t afford to lose out on precious Christmas sales and that’s great news for online shoppers.   Tis the season to be jolly afterall.

For the figures behind the facts contact Adrian.hobbs@cogenta.com and don’t forget to check you’re getting the best deal at www.sccope.co.uk or in the US at www.sccope.com

In the run up to Christmas we wanted to give you one place where you could track the price and availability of this year’s hottest toys.  The following  12 products are the industry’s expected best sellers.  We’ve pulled together the prices and availability from the top toys retailers.

As with all the products listed on our site the information is a complete and unbiased view to ensure you know where to get the best deal this festive season.

If you don’t see what you want in this list just search Sccope online or through your mobile to get the most trusted and update pricing on the web.  Unlike other price compartison sites we cover all the products sold online by the major retailers so you’ve got a better chance of finding that special present on Sccope.

Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster

Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster

Moshling Treehouse

Moshi Tree

Doggie Doo

Doggie Doo Game

Fijit Friend

Fijit Friend

Fireman Sam: Pontypandy Multi Rescue Set

Kidizoom Twist

Kidizoom Twist Camera

LeapPad Explorer

Let’s Rock Elmo

Milky the Bunny

Monster High Lagoona’s Hydration Station

Ninjago Fire Temple

Star Wars Ultimate Force Tech Lightsaber

We have put together a short blog post to help you with some common BlackBerry support questions.

I have downloaded Sccope from AppWorld but I cannot run it

When downloading Sccope from AppWorld the Sccope application is placed in your “Downloads” folder so run it from there.

I cannot scan on my BlackBerry!!

We have devoted a huge amount of time working with RIM ensuring that we could get barcode scanning working on as many BlackBerry phones as possible. We found that if your BB does not have an  autofocus camera irrespective of the OS Version (device handheld version), the scanner will not work as these devices. Therefore, Sccope will not show the scanning icon for these devices:

Devices starting with device number

1.       6XXX

2.       7XXX

3.       81XX

4.       82XX

5.       83XX

6.       85XX

8.       87XX

9.       88XX

10.     9000

11.     9300

12.     9630

Barcode Scanning Tips

When scanning:

• Do not hold the phone up too close to the barcode, leaving about 8cm – 10 cm between the phone and barcode.
• Scan straight on, not at an angle
• Use good lighting with no shadows or reflections
• Keep a firm, steady hand
• Clean your camera lens

How to change Application Permissions for Sccope

On your BlackBerry, go to Options > Advanced Options > Applications. Or (in newer versions) Options > Applications

Scroll through the list and highlight Sccope. Click on it, choose Edit Permissions. This will let you modify the Connections, Interactions, and User Data permissions. Click on the expand option for each to show all of the subcategories of permissions.

Ideally it’s better to allow all permissions to Sccope, however if you feel reluctant to allow all permissions, set “Interactions” to allow.

I get a message saying “Could not connect to Sccope”

The first thing you can do to get Sccope working is to restart the app by exiting and then opening it again.

Two more possible causes could be that there is either no internet connection or that the APN settings are incorrect on the device. See section below.

If the above suggestion do not fix the issue send us your event log (see section below)

The event log can be accessed with the key sequence: ALT + LGLG. This can be helpful for us to assist you when diagnosing application or connectivity issues.

Click the trackball and select Copy Day’s Contents. Paste the content into the body of an email and send the message to feedback@sccope.com

How to configure APN settings – this may help if you can’t connect to Sccope

To sort your APN settings will need to contact you network provider to get the correct APN settings so you can use Sccope.

Below are instructions on how to configure APN settings.

   1. On Home screen, click Options.

   2. Click Advanced Options > TCP

   3. Enter the APN, user name, and password

   4. Press the Menu key and select Save

If we ask you for further information this is how to access your BlackBerry Event Log and send us useful techie information  

 The event log can be accessed with the key sequence: ALT + LGLG.

Then click the trackball and select Copy Day’s Contents. Paste the content into the body of an email and send the message to feedback@sccope.com . Before you do this, it is important that you attempt to use Sccope so that the Sccope events appear in the event log.

Matt had a look at the top selling video games in the Americas using the gaming charts provided http://www.vgchartz.com/ (15th January 2011) and then used our prices to see where the best place to buy video games is in the US.

Some key findings:

1. Amazon.com and Buy.com are the place to go for gaming titles in the Top 10
2. The number 1 title “Kinect Adventures” which includes the Kinect Sensor is $148.99 at Buy.com and Amazon is not far behind on $149.99 (not captured in Sccope this week) Using Sccope could save you up to $51.00 on this purchase.
3. The hugely popular Call of Duty: Black Ops is still going strong on the Xbox 360 and PS3.
4. The prices of the individual items in the Top 10 usually mean they are eligible for free shipping from the likes of Amazon.com and Buy.com

We hope the above information helps? Like us on www.facebook.com/sccope and follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/sccope 

Prices are subject to change and are correct as of 24th Jan 2011.

Thanks to some hard work from Sccope techies and RIM we have released some beta versions of Sccope for the BlackBerry Storm.

Please download the correct version of Sccope for your Storm based on OS version and country, answer the questions below and send them back to us hello@sccope.com

UK
OS 4.7 : http://bit.ly/hzk1BY
OS 5 and above : http://bit.ly/hVf8mY

US
OS 4.7: http://bit.ly/ii0KZE
OS 5 and above: http://bit.ly/hxfaMz

Have a play and please answer the following questions:

1. Does barcode scanning work? Have you tried scanning in landscape and portrait modes?
2. When scanning using your camera is the experience smooth, do you experience any flickering?
3. Are you able to enter a barcode manually? Is this experience straightforward?
4. Have you tried using Sccope’s other features in both landscape and portrait modes such as “Browse”
5. Can you read the text throughout the application? If no, please let us know where the text is too small, big or obscured.
6. Can you access the help pages, can these be improved?
7. Have you tried the “Locate Store” feature when you choose a product and does it work?

Try and be as informative as possible and provide us with reproducible steps for anything you think is not right

If you have friends using a Storm let them know too! We are already aware of a few minor niggles which RIM are already working on for us. We look forward to hearing about your experiences.

By downloading this beta you agree to the Terms & Conditions of Sccope and do so at your own risk!