“okay so very exciting to have try new
technology here with a guest I’ve got
Katie Phillips here from ideal Oh who is
the your muck your marketing and cons
director yeah yeah and we’re going to
have a chat about and the company ideal
oh and what you can bring to this very
exciting time because it’s just about to
be Black Friday the biggest shopping day
weekend of the year and ideal oh is this
and it’s actually it’s not a new concept
for website it’s been around for a while
but it’s a really really helpful website
to help you say lots of money in this in
this big shopping weekend so tell us
about ideal oh and what it actually does
and how it can help the listeners I
think when we think of price comparison
we often associate that with me.maybe
home insurance or your energy price
comparison lots of people don’t realize
or maybe don’t think of comparing prices
when they shop online for things I mean
we compare prices on a huge range of
stuff and time it’s things like home
appliances it’s on the washing machine
you can save a lot of money and also
things like new trainers your kids or
just like next things as well like
smartphones tablets so it’s actually a
really broad range of stuff where you
can compare prices online you’ll see the
prices from all the different shops yeah
and you’ll be then able to make the
decision okay I think I want to go to
that shop and and prepare to find the
best price so it’s really important as
you mentioned this time of year and
because as you say we’re coming up to
that for every day everyone’s looking
for a good deal but I think the thing to
remember is that these deals are
actually available year-round it’s just
doing that research and they’re not
doing with the first price you see but
rather okay I found an item I won’t buy
and perhaps yeah maybe I’ll look around
and see is it being offered
anywhere else all night I like this shop
I know they’ve got good customer service
it might be a couple of pounds more I’m
gonna go in that one but it’s just about
giving the power back to the consumer to
say I know what all the prices are I’m
gonna go with that one yeah that’s the
concept behind the company yeah I think
it feels I think you’re right we’re
quite used to comparing things like
insurance and well I say we’re quite
used to maybe let’s just do my world
yeah but yesterday I to buy some hype
clothes so I probably could have
searched for the hype hoodie for my son
on your website probably a much cheaper
price
I just wouldn’t think yeah I mean it
sort of depends obviously we only
compare like for like so it does need to
be a brand in item so you know you have
to be potentially pretty because you
mean to be comparing like for like so
things like you can’t compare prices on
a sofa for example most of the time
because you happen to be branded and
many things can save you money on I
think at the moment they’re not saving
money and I think the other thing to
point out to people put on Black Friday
as well is just to and and why it’s
almost even more important to use a
comparison website like yourself is the
headline offer that they’re putting out
there whoever that may be Amazon or
whatever it’s not necessarily the best
price out there I’ve worked in retail
for a lot of my a lot of my employed
life and there are these sneaky rules of
how you sort show promotions isn’t it
you only have to have an item priced at
a full price in it’s something like one
tenth of your retail shops
yeah every day for 30 days in a row 30
days ago it’s really a really strange
anomaly isn’t it where you can suddenly
claim yeah save 75% on
there’s little tricks that retailers can
use which i think is even more important
than for shoppers to be able to go
actually I’ve flipped a nice thing that
the price last week was this much in two
weeks ago we’ve got a price
lever on each of the products you would
say you’re searching for a new slot you
don’t want to be in a new one that’s
come out so the prices probably haven’t
changed much but on your product and
it’s in the top right-hand corner on the
website we’ve also got it on the app
version and you can just look back over
the last 365 days and see exactly what
the average price was on each of those
days but it’s not May and then that kind
of gives you the power to say oh maybe
I’ll wait because maybe the price will
come down again and so it sort of gives
you gives me back that power to say hey
actually I think I can get a better
price and also then do is that a price
alert so you can say that I want to pay
65 pounds and no more you get that right
thing and then you if and when that
price then drops to your budget you’ll
get a notification from I do either on
the smartphone or or by email and
they’ll say right away it’s dropped your
price action now kind of thing and you
can say oh yeah decide against it I’m
going to jump on that deal so you don’t
miss it
so just two really handy tools
especially around that Friday and let’s
give consumers a bit more a bit more
choice and bit more knowledge yeah yeah
I’m all about any kind of service or
apps that that gives you more control
over what the saves you time so this is
saving you time shopping around and
gives you control over getting the best
prices so what do you think so first
question I’ve got them is about the high
street and what’s sort of happening at
the moment
but so the the it’s almost like the
demise of bigger shops like debenhams is
in a lot of trouble I’ve mentioned other
brands that I’ve heard about Rancho a
lot of the bigger sort department stores
are in financial trouble so is that can
you see that impacting in your sort of
price comparisons can you see prices
falling down on some of the big ticket
items so obviously we missed prices from
lots of different shops and depending on
the product depends on how many
different offers we get in from the
first shop sweet we have a system where
we partner with shops and in order to
show you their prices yeah and I think
that has had an effect in that you’ve
seen and but I think also because at the
moment we’re seeing prices really
changed so combination of bricks and the
high street and probably the effect that
Rex is having on the device at the high
street and is causing some very volatile
price changes at the moment is probably
another reason to right now be even more
cautious when you’re buying something be
there online or in the shops because I
mean I think it’s good to to have a
combination of balance of both isn’t it
no one wants kind of high street
disappear and keep a balance of both and
keep an eye on how much something is
online but also support those smaller
retailers also something that that we do
pride ourselves on that we list the
prices from the big boys you know and
eBay and all those as well as you know
British shops like John Lewis and but
also then smaller retailers that yeah
might not get that audience we list them
alongside each other and that’s really
good if it’s price bars so if you’ve got
a small retailer that said oh actually I
can undercut big boy don’t notice on
this then they’ll be listed right at the
top which is kind of platform that they
otherwise don’t get so we like to think
that we’re supporting smaller retailers
at the same sometimes keeping people
that threats of choice of prices so it
is a worried Oakland High Street I think
consumers can do their bit buying by
keeping a balance of both yeah and I
think I think it’s it’s those retailers
that are setting them sy themselves
aside from everybody else who were gonna
we’re going to prosper and and carry on
doing well I think it’s I know and I do
a little bit of work with John Lewis and
what they’re trying to do is focus on
all these events to sort of give like
free exciting events that bring them
into store to get them suspensory yes
it’s something that’s quite different
yeah yeah exactly making it yeah in my
local one they’ve just introduced this
new and I think what they could it look
a style studio where it’s the cetera
area of the shop you can go and be see a
stylist and that doesn’t cost any money
obviously you spend see buy but yeah
it’s all about the experience
yeah yeah and so what do you think then
the the big question what are the things
that people are searching for at the
moment so I’m assuming that they’re the
things that people are searching one
hour what they’re going to be intending
to buy for Christmas what are the what
may be the maybe start with children
what are the big things that children
are looking for as again obviously and
not digital toys you know like you know
not so much the kind of like
old-fashioned wooden toys where parents
might hope their kids are wanting they
are sort of moving towards the kind of
digital video games so video games
particularly and but we also see a bit
of a kind
move towards like coding toys so like
things that parents are trying to get
their kids into coding and IT from a
younger age there was which was yeah and
things like that are definitely gaining
in popularity so I think parents are
probably seeing what their kids are
interested in and trying to steer them
in a you know in a direction of like oh
well they can learn something from this
so there’s definitely a positive side to
the fact it’s less interested in non
digital toys and also there’s been quite
a lot of interest in these also I guess
they’re electronic they’re not
necessarily digital and toys they’re
sort of soft toys but they move and do
things and you can teach them things
that’s got that kind of coding aspect to
it
yeah stamping one was the tiger boring
China tiger and so we’re expecting those
to be quite big again this year yeah Jim
young yeah and what about what about for
grown-ups what are we looking for
[Music]
and they actually continue to be really
populist I think it was quite a strange
thing to see someone with those little
white things in there is but now it’s
almost like but you don’t think of it
anymore so I’m thinking that you’re kind
of seeing that in society as well but
people are really interested in that
yeah yeah and is is Black Friday for you
is that when you see your highest peaks
of traffic yeah
so I think you’ve got some people who
know about price comparison for shopping
and then you’ve got some people who hear
about price comparison shopping around
that Friday and that then all culminates
on that Friday that we do see more
people comparing prices and I still
think there are there’s a huge chunk of
the population that doesn’t know about
it and they’re just buying a quick check
on your phone could say oh actually this
shops got it even cheaper because we
update our prices well it’s not in real
time so every 30 minutes but it’s like
very very quickly updated yes that phone
it’s really worth just have a quick look
and again those price alerts are really
handy for that Friday because you can if
you’ve got something in mind like you
think oh I want to get those air pods a
little way to present now and then
you’ve got that kind of on the back
burner and then if you advice for people
like spontaneous deals amazing yeah yeah
literally write a list pop it into your
website so you can get the alerts later
watch the price so you know it’s so it’s
like with any sort of financial any sort
of financial management
I think cloning a heads really means
you’re gonna save money in the wrong and
the other thing I can say was see this
this could result in whatever 10 20 50
pounds left the savings for like five
minutes it’s such a great amount of
money to say isn’t it for a tiny bit of
time so yeah
it’s in the axe so it can be even
quicker than five minutes you can have
like a literally quick like two minutes
check done so yeah it’s really worth it
and we did some research actually about
how much people can save in different
we’ve got like we had a look the
potential savings in certain it really
varies because obviously if you’ve got
fairly low price products so like small
children’s toys and the stables there
are less and like the baby toys boots on
and the potential saving there’s only
around six pounds so you might think
well okay it’s not so worth it
although I guess if you’re buying
several baby companies but the Christmas
or something yeah feelings all add up on
something like coffee machines we saw
the attention average therapy was about
61 pounds it’s like you might end you
might see you do anything and then buy
it and then you’re gonna kick yourself
later if you so it’s not that you’re
always going to see that bigger saving
but it really kind of as much as that
all so yeah just really worth having a
look around yeah no absolutely
always always worth checking around save
some money so what is um so you’ve got
yours or existing model what you think
is the future of into other areas of
comparison across Europe so it’s also
kind of interesting for us
[Music]
they need and that’s something that I’ll
see you really keen as a company we act
I think you see a lot of business kind
of turning a blind eye to what’s going
on with the climate and we know that as
an e-commerce company we’re not
completely incident in that but we want
to do as much as we can to try and help
the climate because everyone needs to
act so that’s something that’s going to
be a big big topic for us going forward
what can we do as a company and in order
to try and improve the situation yeah
yeah I’ve I’ve on that know I’ve taken a
decision which is proving quite
troublesome in my life from these
point-of-view but I’m boycotting Amazon
because Sam that well as you all
probably know they’re not very good to
work with on earth sort of business
point of view let alone what they’ve
done to the environment but I did an
interview on an on BBC News talking
about fast
and I was um I was with an MP who was
trying to put this fast-fashion bill
through to just just make a load of
simple changes UK fashion businesses to
try and reduce the impacts of past
fashion and we were sort of we were
talking about the gute retailers in the
bag for you tailors and she told me
about Amazon digging a big hole in
France and pouring a load of TVs into
that big hole and second because they’d
overbought and a product line and it was
almost like that was almost I just knew
they were doing they weren’t treating
there’s a movement for the next year and
then as of 2020 they’re going to ask
their 50% of it this almost kind of push
to say you know things like that might
reach other companies and then actually
that’s that’s really cool that they’re
doing
maybe we should consider what we can do
you know as one company we’re not gonna
make a huge difference and say we what
can we do
it might just set off a chain of you
know friends and there are other
companies that are already hopefully as
a critical mass and yeah a change in the
environment yeah yeah cool okay okay
wonderful
so um for my last questioning are you
okay if I ask you a personal question
about because it’s a question I ask
everybody and it’s always really
interesting what people answer which is
what from you as Casey spirits what is
your biggest financial success and
what’s your biggest financial mistake
because because I write about money
saver short-term all the way through so
long what about have you got any big
learnings that you’ve done that you
maybe wouldn’t do again
in Germany the German banking system is
very very different
– and I think people have got a kind of
preconception of Germany’s a very
efficient country and everything works
very well well thank you is not it’s
like it’s the most backward banking
system in the whole anyway so and
there’s very few free bank accounts
that’s kind of already here that’s
already probably quite a big chunk of
money that I could have saved for me so
that’s why under 3 euros a month which
when you add it up a radius and I also
realized belatedly that has been
charging me I went in there I think it’s
what I signed up with the bank it said
it comes with with a great and that was
included in this contract which that it
includes a card yes you wanted to use
the contact this function you know the
and the FinTech banks over here in the
UK like styling a munzo are they over in
Germany as well yeah I know n 26 folks
I’ve done some work with so much that’s
when you said you you pay for your your
account that’s almost like the model and
26 is going down in the UK
yeah yeah okay so that was very great
and I am definitely using ID and yeah
everybody listening to so the website is
ideal oh thank you very much
yes and everybody save lots of money
back Friday and just make sure it’s
something that was on your list
brilliant thank you well I’m going to
stop recording
“