Monthly Archives: June 2010

Did you spot them?

In all the excitement over our re-launched website (thanks for the many positive comments, by the way), we may have omitted to tell you about some new stuff we’ve just started to sell.

We’re not really of the generation which uses the word awesome, to be honest.  But if we were, then awesome is how we would describe our new range of earplugs from Acu-Life of Massachusetts.

Impact Music Earplugs from Snorestore

Impact Music Earplugs

First up we have Impact music earplugs. These are designed for people who find thumping bass or percussion sounds difficult to cope with.
We’re having these tested by a professional orchestral musician who has the misfortune to sit right in front of the percussion section. So far he says they’re, and we quote, “awesome.” ;-)

Pro-Fit Earplugs from Snorestore

Pro-Fit Earplugs

Next up we have Pro-Fit noise reduction earplugs. These are designed for sleeping and studying. Best of all, they’re custom-fit.
The disadvantage of this is you have to spend, oh 30 minutes actually making them fit you. The advantages though are immense – it’s fun, and once in place in your ears, the noise reduction is, er, awesome. We know because we’re using them ourselves ;-)

Swim-Fit Earplugs from Snorestore

Swim-Fit Earplugs

And finally from Acu-Life, we have their brand-new Swim-Fit earplugs. These carry an endorsement from an Olympic gold medal swimmer, who amazing though she undoubtedly is, we hadn’t actually heard of until now.

Swim-Fit earplugs are also made by you to fit you and no-one else. They’re blue, and they float, so if they ever drop out, you can find them quickly. Awesome.  Obviously :-)

Gobbledygook or a Goldmine

Update: DHL has just delivered. It’s 12:45

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

Here’s a quick insight into how 21st century comms can help a business run smoothly:

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: DHL E-Mail Tracking response
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:44:27 GMT
From: DHL E-Mail Tracking – Do not reply

AWB Current Status
With delivery courier: June 16, 2010 08:08
London-Heathrow – UK

Detailed Report

June 14, 2010 16:07
Location : Boston, MA – USA
Status : Shipment picked up

June 14, 2010 18:29
Location : Boston, MA – USA
Status : Transferred through Boston, MA – USA

June 14, 2010 20:57
Location : Boston, MA – USA
Status : Processed at Boston, MA – USA

June 14, 2010 23:40
Location : Boston, MA – USA
Status : Processed at Boston, MA – USA

June 14, 2010 23:50
Location : Boston, MA – USA
Status : Departed from DHL facility in Boston, MA – USA

June 15, 2010 01:45
Location : Cincinnati, OH – USA
Status : Arrived at DHL facility in Cincinnati, OH – USA

June 15, 2010 01:53
Location : Cincinnati, OH – USA
Status : Arrived at DHL facility in Cincinnati, OH – USA

June 15, 2010 02:11
Location : Cincinnati, OH – USA
Status : Processed at Cincinnati, OH – USA

June 15, 2010 03:23
Location : Cincinnati, OH – USA
Status : Processed at Cincinnati, OH – USA

June 15, 2010 06:24
Location : Cincinnati, OH – USA
Status : Departed from DHL facility in Cincinnati, OH – USA

June 15, 2010 20:37
Location : East Midlands – UK
Status : Arrived at DHL facility in East Midlands – UK

June 15, 2010 23:01
Location : East Midlands – UK
Status : Clearance processing complete at East Midlands – UK

June 16, 2010 01:51
Location : East Midlands – UK
Status : Processed at East Midlands – UK

June 16, 2010 04:11
Location : East Midlands – UK
Status : Departed from DHL facility in East Midlands – UK

June 16, 2010 06:30
Location : London-Heathrow – UK
Status : Arrived at DHL facility

June 16, 2010 08:08
Location : London-Heathrow – UK
Status : With delivery courier

= = = =

So now we know that our latest delivery of stuff will be in our hands by close of play today. That’s 48 hours since it left our suppliers, many thousands of miles and many different modes of transport away.

Hooray!

Whisper, don’t shout

Back in the day, when Snorestore’s directors were journalists not web store owners, we covered a story involving a well-known fast food chain which was opening its doors in Harrogate. The spa town, accustomed as it was to the rather more genteel offerings of Betty’s tea rooms, was in uproar. How could this happen, they cried? Sacrilege, dumbing down etc etc.

In the event, McDonalds did one of their “silent openings”: they deliberately didn’t announce the exact date and time when the Harrogate Golden Arches would serve its first Big Mac Meal. There were no crowds breaking down the doors, no police having to hold them back. The fuss, such as it was, was over.

Fast forward to 2010, and Snorestore’s had its own silent opening. Overnight from Friday to Saturday, we completely changed the look of our website. Granted, we’d hinted at this a little while back, but we didn’t want to make a great thing of it when the change actually took place.

What if people didn’t like it? What if it didn’t work – you can beta test all you like but in the web world, things don’t always go plan when a site goes live – what then?

So there was no great fanfare. What we did do a couple of days later, is send out emails to our thousands of newsletter subscribers, inviting them to go take a look at Snorestore. The bribe of a 15% discount code has obviously nothing to do with the fact that we’ve had our busiest three days ever, and everything to do with our new look. Or so we’d like to think ;-)

PS If you’d like to get your hands on future discount codes, you can either untick the “do not contact me” box at the checkout, or follow us on Twitter.

Well fancy that

Snorestore is Woman and Home Magazine's Buy of the Day

Woman and Home June 2010

It’s nice to be recognised and appreciated isn’t it? Businesses are no different. We’ve just had a lovely accolade from Woman and Home magazine, who’ve selected our Women’s Earplugs Sample Pack as their “Buy of the Day.”  See, it’s not just us who think our kind of approach is A. Good. Thing.

Naturally, it’s not the first time Snorestore has been singled out for praise. Back in the day, we were also Virgin Radio’s* Business of the Day. And we’re still using the coffee machine they sent us as a reward!

*now of course known as Absolute Radio, and yes, we do still listen. We ‘speshly like Absolute 80s, the new DAB station.