Ratings on things as diverse as the efficiency of electronic appliances and the sustainability of fishing methods are changing consumer behaviour and, therefore, the performance of suppliers.

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Firms will provide an additional level of depth to the analysis of consumer behaviour.

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In the UK, Nokia in partnership with network provider O2 and broadcast firm Arqiva, has been monitoring 400 triallists in the Oxford area since October, both in terms of consumer behaviour and how the technology performs.

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But Mr Page added that any tool that claims to offer an insight into the often complex world of consumer behaviour will be welcomed by businesses.

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This dramatic shift in consumer behaviour has seen the average amount of data used by contract customers each month soar to 1.1 gigabytes (GB).

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As with TV on-demand, consumer behaviour typically shifts dramatically as they begin to take advantage of the freedom 4G offers them, mobilising their Internet use to never-before-seen levels downloading videos and other media, and speeding up their migration from desktop to mobile platforms.

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Sales of popcorn at the cinema are, it was suggested in a newspaper recently, a sensitive barometer of consumer behaviour.

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One of the suggestions made by KPMG is that big retail needs to work harder at decoding consumer behaviour.

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So although another of the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecasting booboos was to anticipate faster growth in consumer spending than has materialised, ministers were well aware that they could not count on the behaviour of consumers to lead the UK back to prosperity.

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