in brief…

The trading performance of DSG International is under intense scrutiny as its like-for-like sales declined in all areas of the business, with a fall of 7% recorded across the whole company, which compares with an increase of 6% during the same period last year.
PURE has announced its support for the WorldDMB Forum initiative aimed at achieving harmonised and interoperable digital radio services across Europe. The publication of a set of mandatory features and functions, known as the WorldDMB Digital Radio Receiver Profiles will create a single digital radio market for Europe.
The credit crunch is forcing British consumers to change their spending habits, according to research by media planning group MPG. It showed that 67% of households have cut back spending on luxury items, and 54% now spend less on groceries, and 53 per cent – on clothing.  Two-thirds of families (67%) are now spending more on nights in and home entertainment.
Established high street retailers are losing out to Internet-savvy rivals because they are not very good at marketing themselves online, according to an Internet Search Metrics (ISM) report. It showed some high street stores’ marketing is so ineffective they are losing business to small, independent retailers.