Abroad Travel Tips

Travelling is always fun! It can be made memorable if you follow some travel tips. During your travels, just pick some handy pointers mentioned below to enjoy the whole travelling experience.Security First:• Inform your bank ahead when you leave your home country to comfortably use bank cards while you are abroad. This is to avoid account freeze on any withdrawals or payments on your card, as banks may think that your card has been stolen or cloned• Carry at least 2 scan copies of your passport with you and in separate bags. Keep an email copy of your passport to yourself and also a trusted parent or friend before leaving your country. Make sure that you carry a list of emergency contact numbers for any bank cards or traveler’s checks• Do have some money in your belt which is well hidden. A trick here is to have a fake wallet with some expired cards and a little money, in case of being mugged• Lone female travelers can protect themselves by arranging a doorstop and put it in the door, which makes opening even an unlocked door impossible, and it would make plenty of noise to alert youPacking:• Keep small bottles to fill shampoo/conditioner to avoid carry large sizes as there will be a limit for hand luggage• If travel with heavy luggage, buy some compression socks so that you can carry a few more items! Roll clothes instead of folding them to save space.• Pack your luggage in waterproof bags. Use travel towels which are light, hygienic and can absorb nine times their weight in water• Always get padlocks with you while travelling, as lockers may be provided to leave valuables• Remember that toilet paper and a torch are essential items. It is good to carry a pack of cards – they help in creating easy camaraderie in groups• Carry a sarong – you can lay on the beach, it can be used as a towel, covers your shoulders for temple visits and many more!• Pack in ketchup, tabasco, mayonnaise, salt, pepper sachet. These days laundry service is available at hotels, so just carry minimum clothesEtiquette:• Always discuss the price of the total fare with taxi drivers BEFORE you get in. Check if there is any charge extra for air-conditioning and be aware of the lodge surroundings you stay• Understand the sort of behaviour of your travel country before you arrive. Maintain friendly nature. Respect their traditions as you are a guest.

Home Brands Winning the Fight Over Big Brands

Christmas is a great time to catch up with family and friends that you hardly see. This year I ran into a friend of mine who works for a chemical manufacturer. The organisation he works for happens to specialise in anti-bacterial hand washes and sunscreen creams.

After exchanging our greetings I asked how work was and he told me that manufacturing was tough and would only be getting tougher. The weather was hot (it is Christmas and summer in Australia at the moment) and so I took out the sunscreen my wife had purchased from our local supermarket to apply on my children’s skin. He asked why we had purchased that particular brand and my wife explained that she recognised the brand and that the bottle looked easy to open and close. He then began to explain that the difference between the brand offered by the supermarket “Home Brand” and the brand we had purchased was probably perfume only, ie one had a different aroma added to it than the other. In terms of the protection offered, there was no difference. The company he worked for made several brands of sunscreen and they where all pretty much exactly the same, differentiated by packaging and therefore price.

He extended his comparison to the anti-bacterial hand cleanser that his company also makes. Our local supermarket stocks a few brands and we have gotten used to the smell of a particular brand that we now buy regularly. The formula used was very similar if not the same across each of the brands that they packaged on behalf of other companies.

With all of this information at hand it got me thinking. Of late the press had been hammering the big supermarkets about their drive to have customers purchase “home brand” products by essentially giving them priority positioning on shelves as well as undercutting the competition on price.

Can millions of dollars invested in a brand disappear literally over night if you learn that brand A and brand B are essentially the same? Are you likely to switch to a “home branded” product offered by a supermarket simply because it is 30% lower in price than the traditional market leader. Should we as consumers care if big brands are being driven out of the market by cheaper alternatives with the distribution power to undercut them?

The large supermarket chains of Coles and Woolworths dominate grocery shopping in Australia. IGA and a few independents offer some competition but the shear distribution of these large chains means they control what we eat and what brands we buy. Or do they?

The press is telling us that if we don’t want our grocery shelves dominated by “Home Brands” we should be voting with our wallets, driving the dollars back to the big brands. Yet the big brands make us pay 30% more for what is essentially the same product as the “Home Brand” simply because this is how they make lots of money.

Look at your own shopping experience. Would you travel out of your way to buy a particular branded product if the local grocery store didn’t stock or stopped stocking it? Would you continue to go out of your way even after a few months. If you are time poor, you like most others are more likely to pick the easier option, just buy what the store offers.

In Australia the Coles and Woolworths range of “Home Branded” products are taking between 25% and 30% of all grocery sales. This is likely to rise to over 30% as has been seen in other countries like the UK. With a young family, I purchase 9 litres of milk each week. That is three times three litre containers. The difference between buying the “Home Brand” and the market leader is over $1.50 per container, equating $4.50 per week. I personally prefer the taste of the market leader’s milk but until my kids can tell the difference and ask for it, I would rather save the $4.50 per week.

Therefore the market leading retail milk brand in Australia who has spent so much over the years convincing us that their flavour and milk is better is now forced to compete primarily on price. It is a big challenge for them and it will require them to begin to think in a different way so that they can begin to win customers like me back. As I mentioned I prefer their milk but when the economy is facing tough times, we all reign in our spending where we can and make compromises to get by.

A few years ago a similar marketing challenge was presented to Panadol the leading paracetamol brand (head ache relief). A low cost, no frills competitor come into the market saying that it offered the same formula as Panadol without the premium price. Their advertising in fact focused primarily on this point of difference. Same formula, 30% cheaper.

What Panadol did was evolve their product range, developing products that worked quicker “Rapid” and were more focused on specific pain relief (eg kids). They developed marketing campaigns focusing on the tie that many Australians had with the brand and how they used it for specific pain relief. They used some real customers and made their advertisements focus on “testimonial.”

To date it has worked and Panadol is once again selling well. Whilst the other brand is still around, it hasn’t been seen on TV for years.

Self-Employed Opportunities

In today’s world, locating a job or being employed is now extremely tough because of the economic recession. Due to this economic down-turn, everybody is now shifting their interests toward self-employed jobs.Economic decline is not the only reason why people search for self-employed jobs. If you aren’t satisfied with the monthly salary that you’re earning from your current job, researching self-employed jobs would be a good decision. This is an extra income source that will assist you to meet your everyday needs as well as any extra expenses.Some other reasons that men and women prefer being self-employed include avoiding being fired because of their organization merging with a new company. Also if you’re disabled and you don’t have the ability to work at an office you may look for another job.A number of the self-employed jobs include personal selling whereby you give away free goods and convince people to purchase them. You can do this kind of selling in your spare time especially on the weekends. Product manufacturers are invariably willing to compensate people who’re efficient, hardworking, and have good skills and wisdom about selling a product.Selling products on the web is also another way of earning an additional source of income. For example, you may have products in your house that you just don’t need but other folks could be willing to buy them. These goods can include old electronic equipment, toys, mobile devices, used clothes and shoes plus many more. You might want to sell all these on auction websites like eBay.Freelance writing is an additional way to earn an income. You can be a full or part-time writer which is usually determined by your daily schedule. Writing is extremely flexible as you select how long you need to work in a day and how much cash you want to make. You also have the choice to decide on which job is at your writing level and interest. For those who have perfect grammar, excellent spelling skills and good English, freelance writing might be for you.Babysitting is also another example of a self-employed job. You can choose to watch over a couple of children at the comfort of your own home by starting a little childcare business. You can opt to employ a nanny if you are not able to baby sit the kids at all times or if you have another part-time job. This is always a satisfying choice for moms.Self-employment occupations have several benefits that include: determining the amount of money you wish to earn, no teaching costs incurred since you’re able to train yourself. The hours will always be flexible as you decide how much time you want to work. Finally, the convenience of working from home as an alternative to having to go to the office is appealing to some.Many of the drawbacks include: sometimes it gets lonely as you have no-one to bond with thus bringing on boredom. There won’t be any insurance benefits like health, dental or vision. As a final point you will need to self-motivate to function if you want to be successful.