Talk:teleshopping

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Tea Room discussion[edit]

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English: "(in Europe) infomercials"

So in English, the uncountable(?) singular means plural "infomercials" and not "shopping via television shopping channels or programs" ? DCDuring TALK 17:12, 2 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I assume that this is based on the linked Wikipedia article which explains that the broadcasting of long infomercials is called "teleshopping" in Europe. (Is it not in America?) I'm not sure how best to reflect this in the definition. Perhaps move to a usage note? Dbfirs 18:53, 3 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I only noticed this because of the bizarre way that {{context}} categorizes, which problem can be overcome by rewording the labels to avoid triggering the categorization.
Is teleshopping used in the UK? It is certainly not common in US general usage. Mostly some of us just call the "activity" a waste of time and money. If it is used in the UK, then presumably a UK person discussing w:HSN, w:QVC, and infomercials in the US would call the activity in the US "teleshopping", which just makes it part of UK English. I don't know where else it is used. DCDuring TALK 02:12, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
According to the OED, the word "teleshopping" was (first?) used in the American Banker magazine on February 18th, 1981 (along with "telebanking"). It is certainly common in the UK (with both of the meanings you suggest), but I'm not sure about elsewhere. Many people in the UK would not understand the word "infomercial" (though most of us could guess the meaning if we hadn't heard it before). Dbfirs 09:01, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
In any event, shouldn't the definition be worded as one for a normally uncountable noun rather than as a plural? Lemmings are not much help:
  1. RHU has "electronic shopping via videotex or other interactive information service.", which doesn't include informercials, which are "interactive" only for the shills put up to call in or those screened for favorable comments.
  2. Macmillan has "the practice of selling goods through special television programs", not "buying", but "selling". Really?
  3. Collins has "the purchase of goods by telephone or via the internet", which would seem to include calling for a pizza delivery.
I guess there is no substitute for citations. DCDuring TALK 10:23, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Before getting to citations:
  1. The term is used in German and some other languages.
  2. The most abundant geographic source of English-language use in newspapers seems to be India.
  3. A very large share of English-language usage is in works about marketing and regulation in Europe. A large share of the authors do not seem to be native speakers.
Just about all of the usage is consistent with substitution of "shopping from home" or "shopping from television offerings". Attributive use in marketing literature in phrases like "teleshopping channel/program/industry" is probably what has led Macmillan to its definition. I don't think the term actually includes internet shopping in normal usage.
What little clearly US usage is in early discussion about the industry, including grocery shopping without going to the store, which relies on the internet. I'll have to see how US speakers self-describe buying from infomercials or from the shopping channels. DCDuring TALK 11:00, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Your added sense 3 most closely matches the most common usages in the UK, with the possibility of extending this to the broadcasting of such programmes. I'm not sure whether sentences such as "Coronation Street could be interrupted by teleshopping as well as advertising breaks" (from the UK Telegraphin October 2008) are examples of the singular "teleshopping" meaning the plural "infomercials". Dbfirs 10:21, 11 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]


Request for Verification[edit]

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Rfv-sense: Shopping by means of a computer network.

I don't think this is how the term is used, based on my review of usage. The main meaning seems to be something like "home shopping in response to television, especially infomercials and home shopping channels." Sometimes this is extended to include internet shopping, but not very often. But I may have missed the right additional search terms to get the challenged meaning, which is in any event not something I've heard in the US. DCDuring TALK 11:35, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  • See also WT:TR#teleshopping. DCDuring TALK 11:56, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
  • At present, sales revenues of offline teleshopping still greatly outnumber those of online teleshopping. Based on the most recent available statistics, the sales revenue for offline teleshopping, including telephone marketing, TV, and radio, totaled an estimated $529.1 billion [1]
  • There are those who believe that it is teleshopping via the Internet which represents the channel of the future as opposed to PC-based Internet usage. [2]
  • In particular, shopping refers to a set of activities in which consumers seek and obtain information about products and/or services, conduct a transaction transferring ownership or right to use, and spatially relocate the product or service to the new owner. Teleshopping, in turn, refers to a case in which one or more of those activities is conducted through the use of telecommunication technologies. Today, much attention is focused on the Internet as the technology of interest [3]
  • Teleshopping includes searching for vendors, comparing prices, browsing vendor Web sites or electronic shopping malls with multimedia displays of products, and selecting and ordering products [4]
  • Teleshopping requires a telephone connection, either to call in an order orally or by fax, or to place an order while surfing the Web. [5]
  • Tele-shopping allows users ot shop from the comfort of their homes. For example, a user with a computer and Internet access can connect to a database server to browse a multimedia catalog and order products. [6]
SpinningSpark 14:13, 4 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I would regard this sense as dated in current usage, having been superseded by "internet shopping". Dbfirs 16:44, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
It feels dated to me, reminding me of videotext/viewdata/teletext, but some of the business/sociology/regulation usage seems relatively current DCDuring TALK 17:20, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
These excellent citations argue for a sense that includes both internet and television broadcast, not for one that excludes television, as the challenged sense does. The usage that excludes internet shopping, including only television-based home shopping also seems to exist, though possibly limited to business people, as perhaps all the senses are. DCDuring TALK 17:16, 5 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I've reworked the entry in response to the Tea Room discussion and this RFV; let me know what you think. - -sche (discuss) 01:28, 7 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]


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