The retail industry has seen the largest rise in people claiming the dole during the last year, a new TUC report has revealed.

Bosch is offering to pay customers back the cost of a whole year's energy usage on selected domestic appliances. The promotion is available across the home laundry, cooling and dishwashing ranges and it features up to £45 cash back on new appliances. It underlines the importance of energy efficiency and superior performance of Bosch products, many of which offer from 10% to 64% greater energy savings than other standard A rated appliances.

A record 228,600 visitors attended this year's Berlin-based IFA technology fair, making it the biggest show in IFA's 49-year history.

More than 1,600 exhibitors made the trip to Germany to showcase their latest technology, with 3D TV causing the greatest buzz. Both Sony and Panasonic pledged to launch products in 2010 while several other manufacturers also showed off their own 3D technology concepts.

The economic indicators implying that the economy is rapidly rising out of recession are misleading, warns Anthony Norman, GfK business group director.

Factors such as the stock markets rises from the record lows and growing sales in some technology sectors are not necessary signs of growth in the technology markets.

The industry has welcomed the BRC proposal to remove VAT for energy efficient appliances and to introduce a car-industry-style scrappage scheme. Enrico Vita, managing director of Indesit Company UK, said: "This proposal will provide the white goods sector with further encouragement to accelerate development of more efficient products. (...)  By removing VAT it would give retailers a significant sales boost during these very difficult trading conditions."

Connect Distribution Services Ltd has appointed David Payne as director of business development.  David joined Connect in 1999 as field sales manager and was promoted to head of sales in 2005.

During the recent Radio 4 broadcast about the anniversary of the financial crash of 2008 the BBC journalist asked the British banking authority what was the main lesson for the City from the collapse of the troubled investment bank Lehman Brothers. The answer was: the banking sector learnt that it had to look after the long term interest of its customers.

Launching Sensia, the ‘tactile' internet radio and the fourth model using the Flow technology, PURE intends to give the Facebook generation a new way of enjoying Internet radio. With a 5.7in high resolution touchscreen the users can select stations and view radio content by scrolling and spinning lists. They can access DAB/DAB+ and FM radio, a wide choice of PURE Applications, such as weather, news, various sounds, together with Facebook and Twitter, and new broadcast material such as a station slideshow. Sensia is also a media streamer enabling users to listen to music stored on a PC or network storage devices, such as the iPhone, via Wi-Fi technology.

Jarden Consumer Solutions, perhaps best known for its air treatment under the Bionaire brand, has introduced a premium kitchen electrical brand to the UK market. VillaWare, which can trace its roots back over 100 years to Italy and then the US, will feature a starting line-up of five products, which group managing director Mike Yates confirmed was "just the beginning".

Obesity affects 69 million adults and 22 million children in Europe, and the population of overweight people grows by 320 thousand annually, says the European Commission. The main reasons for this are increasingly sedentary lifestyles and greater consumption of fat, present in fast and commercially pre-prepared dishes. The principal challenge which faces doctors, nutritionists and anyone attempting to re-educate society into adopting a healthier diet is the ‘pleasure factor'. It is commonly identified with the belief that ‘most good things are bad for you'.

Amica's innovative Plug & Play 60cm induction hob plugs directly into any electrical wall socket, eradicating the need for specialist high-powered wiring.

Claimed, by its manufacturer, to be world's smallest and lightest system camera with built-in flash for creative photography and HD movie recording, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1 is capable of recording vivid still shots, as well as smooth motion HD pictures.

The Reader Pocket edition and the Reader Touch edition are two new models in the Sony digital Reader family. 

The new Swan electric automatic Teasmade model STM100 is a 21st century version of the classic dating back to 1932. Totally redesigned and updated with the latest technology, it features a tea maker, a clock and alarm multi-functions all in one. It has a 600ml water capacity, an integral reading light, illuminated LCD clock and a ceramic tea pot.

Roberts' new unologic and duologic DAB/FM radios are compact portable and environmentally friendly. The unologic and duologic models come with built-in battery chargers as well as a favourite station button. The large rotary tuning and volume controls and simple to read LCD displays make them easy for consumers to use.

The Walkman S540 series, Sony's first video MP3 player with built-in stereo speakers, is an excellent solution for sharing music. The player features a 2.4in high-resolution LCD screen for enjoying podcasts, downloads from online movie stores and video clips. The screen's quick response time allows smooth, clear video playback at up to 30 frames per second.

Part of Baumatic's Pythagora collection, the new POM9440ss oven has an impressive 72 litre capacity, yet still fits within a standard 60cm-wide cabinet. Thanks to modern engineering, extra-thin insulation and slender cavity walls its internal capacity has been increased without affecting its external dimensions.

The new stainless steel Maytag MSS 20 CIII4 side-by-side refrigerator boasts many ‘must-have' benefits including filtered ice and water dispenser and a 20ft³ of multi-zonal storage space, designed to accommodate every family requirement.

Ray's long career in the white goods industry began some thirty years ago at Merloni. After ten years with the company he joined what was Philips Major Appliances, which in 1989 merged with Whirlpool. At the time Philips was planning to focus on brown goods while Whirlpool was looking for a European foothold, and after three years of dual branding a decision was taken to go with a sole Whirlpool brand. Over this period Ray was involved in a variety of sales and marketing activities supporting the Whirlpool brand.

Now in its 49th year, the IFA consumer electronics exhibition in Germany was the biggest show yet, drawing in a crowd of 228,600 visitors - an 8% increase on the previous year's turnout. The halls of the Berlin-based exhibition venue were filled with products from 1,164 exhibitors over an area of 121,000 square metres.

AMDEA has been arguing for some years that consumers need direct incentives to buy more energy efficient domestic appliances.  We were therefore very pleased to see support for this idea from the British Retail Consortium whose letter to the Chancellor in August proposed that energy efficient appliances should be zero rated for VAT with a possible scrappage scheme for white goods.

In-store training

All staff needs to feel comfortable answering customer questions and queries, however unusual they may be.  New products, additional colour schemes, new product positioning or layout of the store could be confusing for the staff, so it's a good idea to make sure they're comfortable with all of the products in the store at all times. The best way to ensure this is to offer them monthly in-store training sessions, in which administrative and part time or Saturday staff are included. If you struggle to find the time to host them, ask your sales representative to help.  Kenwood sales support staff will schedule such training sessions at the time convenient for a store personnel and will help with running them.  

Overall, the total UK cooking market (excluding microwaves, hobs and hoods) has declined by 9.6% in volume year on year to 527 thousand units for the first four months of the year, according to GfK figures for January to April 2009. However, range cookers have declined even more - by 27.3% to 35.6 thousand units for the same period. This is mainly due to the decline of the housing market and the current recession.

Only Polti can boast thirty years' experience in steam home appliances. In 1978 Polti was the first to invent the ironing steam generator, brand name Vaporella. In 1983 Polti created Vaporetto to make home cleaning easier. Polti's Vaporella and steam cleaning appliances are Europe's best-sellers.

"A defining feature of this year's show was the support of the suppliers who with their presence demonstrated their backing for CIH and the independents. It was evident in the quality of their stands, the variety of offers, special promotions and deals. The membership attendance rate this year was 94% in comparison with 90% last year - this shows their willingness to make time investment to come to the show, even in the recession," commented Stuart Cook, chief executive of CIH Group, to IER.

John Hutchison has been actively involved in championing the interests of the independent sector not only as retra president but also by frequent participation in various industry forums. Most recently he has proved that at present one of the key success - and survival - factors for the independent is staff training. At a time when many companies struggle to survive Hutchinsons Hi-Fi & Vision recorded a sales increase in excess of 17% for the six months between January and June 2009 compared with the same period last year.

The games market experienced a record year in 2008, although it took a turn for the worse in 2009, as hardware sales slowed down and software tie ratios (the number of titles bought per system in use) fell.  However, hardware price cuts in time for a holiday sales season were the welcome stimulus to the market.

We sold a modestly priced DVD player a couple of weeks ago, and were surprised when it was indignantly returned, with a demand for an instant refund. The reason? It degraded the picture, we were told, and therefore must be faulty. We gave the man another identical model to try, but results, he said, were the same. So we refunded his money - after getting from him a full description of the alleged fault. With the new player set to upscale the image and pipe it along an HDMI link, the image was inferior ("lacking in detail and texture") to that obtained from this and his previous player when coupled via an analogue RGB link. But there was no fault in either the player or the TV....

As part of its newly launched collection of eco-friendly induction appliances, leading kitchen appliance brand, Belling has launched two new induction hobs with unique features and a choice of touch or rotary controls.

This year sees the comeback of the dinner party as more people than ever are choosing to entertain guests at home. Research has shown that 60% (Source:Tesco.com) of British adults are reducing how much they spend on eating out, instead choosing to concentrate on dining in. With sales of dinner party food and wine doubling this year, Britain's passion for cooking has been truly re-ignited.

Overall, the total UK cooking market (excluding microwaves, hobs and hoods) has declined by 9.6% in volume year on year to 527 thousand units for the first four months of the year, according to GfK figures for January to April 2009. However, range cookers have declined even more - by 27.3% to 35.6 thousand units for the same period. This is mainly due to the decline of the housing market and the current recession.

The design team at Elica has announced an addition to the range of cooker hoods in the OM collection.

Mini OM, the smaller version of one of the company's best selling models, is now available in six colours including Apple Green, Electric Blue and Turquoise. Sunrise Orange, Curry Yellow and Provence Purple are also available.

LG's new range of energy efficient side-by-side refrigerators designed with ease-of-use and simple living in mind - supported and inspired by findings from the LG ‘Simply Living' report, independently conducted research into UK lifestyle habits, which revealed that over £90million of food is thrown away every week in the UK from our fridges through improper storage. 

In an industry first, Belling, one of the UK's leading home appliance brands, has launched the BI60i Belling Eco Induction Oven - a unique built-in appliance that uses induction technology in the main oven cavity.

The FSE60i is the first double oven freestanding appliance with an induction hob to be launched onto the UK market.

Offering a greener, more energy efficient way to cook, the FSE60i has an induction hotplate with four rotary controlled elements and a griddle zone.

Enjoy the best of both worlds - Multifunction and Steam - in one simple to use oven, the AEG-Electrolux B98205. This oven combines true steam with multifunction cooking - bringing a new dimension to your cooking! Beautifully styled, finished in anti finger print stainless steel, the B98205 brings another dimension to your cooking.

Amica's Scandium built-in multifunction oven is attractive and A rated with 12 heating functions, Rapid Heat, electronic programming, retractable controls, LCD display, 15 pre-programmed recipe settings, stay-cool door, automatic cooling and Amica's revolutionary new Aqualytic cleaning system.

Cleaning the oven is one of the most hated household chores. Yet so many people are simply not aware that you can buy ovens that can clean themselves until they look as good as new! Pyrolytic is the only cleaning function that cleans the whole oven, back, door, light, top, bottom and sides saving you time and effort. Plus it is efficient and extremely safe to use with the oven being designed around the pyrolytic function and not the other way round!  It works by incinerating all grease, burnt on fat etc at high temperatures, leaving just a pile of ash that can be brushed away leaving the oven clean and gleaming!

Prima Appliances, the own-brand collection available exclusively through PJH Group, the UK's largest distributor, has established itself as a leading name in the home appliances market. An entry-level brand, Prima is characterised by its combination of exceptional value-for-money pricing with superior product quality and design.