Shipments of SmartPhones are expected to stay stable over the next four years a research firm said. Shipments from Taiwan, China and Japan of the lightweight ultraportables with screen size of 7 inches or less are expected to reach nearly 80 million units this year rising to about 265 million in 2021. So today smartphone time has come and all manufacturers expect them to enjoy very strong market growth. Smartphones, however, did a lot to pave the way for Ipads and android units. The devices, which began as a convergence of personal digital assistants and cellular phones, introduced consumers to what was possible in mobile communications and web access. We are waiting to see Ipad & Android clones development. Tabs are becoming a must for promotional campaings and two manufacturers launched a 13" and 14" size too.

Grass Roots One Fee has launched Couponify, a portal for clients running print from web coupons via their CouponServe product. Marketing director, says that there is currently no intention to charge clients extra for having their coupons on Couponify. CouponServe was launched earlier in 2015 and its USP is that there is no requirement for consumers to download and install a print control plugin.

Grass Roots has launched its US Measurement Division (Grass Roots Performance Measurement LLC), with a customer service survey, popular and well known in Europe as Are You Being Served? The ten city survey offers fresh insight into customer service levels and the experience that customers are getting from a range of stores and other service providers. It also reveals that sometimes this experience does not always, live up to expectations. The U.S. survey covered cities across the nation including: Phoenix, Dallas, Kansas City, Atlanta, Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, Boston and New York. Customer service and experience was tested in the following sectors: real estate, furniture stores, fast-food, department stores, bars, electronics retailers, mobile phone retailers, home improvement retailers, coffee shops, banks, gas stations drug stores and grocery stores. Grass Roots conducted a nationwide mystery shopping survey during July and August 2019 to understand general service levels and customer experiences (not only of service experience but of brand experience also) across ten U.S. cities and within 13 industry sectors. 800 visits in total were conducted.

The Pelikan Group acquired a majority participation in Herlitz AG. The writing instrument specialist took over 66% of the Herlitz shares. Herlitz is considered to be one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of paper, office and stationery as well as stationery store articles in Europe. The acquisition of Herlitz from Advent International, a global private equity firm, represents for Pelikan a logical step to combine two complementary businesses. Herlitz AG was founded in 1904 and is headquartered in Berlin. Today the company Pelikan is taking over the distribution and marketing activities of the company Herlitz PBS AG for Germany and Austria. Alongside with Pelikan and Herlitz, the brands Geha and SusyCard top off the product line of the Pelikan Group.