Retailers have students in sights as freshers’ week beckons

Retailers have set their sights on the student market with a new set of exclusive deals in the run up to the start of a new student calendar.
Laptops, phones and subscription deals are being bundled together to take advantage of new first-time customers.

Universities see an influx of around 400,000 new students this month, according to UCAS statistics, with mobile retailers eying the potential with keen interest.

Phones 4u is offering bundled laptop, mobile and mobile broadband modem packages to students for £45 per month in a bid to expand its laptop and broadband consumers.

Carphone Warehouse is also bundling laptops and mobiles − offering the Nokia 2630 with the 80GB, 15.4-inch Acer laptop.

Orange is also trying to tempt students with dongles, offering mobile broadband at £10 per month.

O2 will try to attract the ‘internet on the go’ student, with a new BlackBerry deal. The network will offer its latest BlackBerry handsets free on £35-per-week contracts with unlimited internet browsing. They will be pushing the deal by sending O2 reps to over 30 campuses across the UK. The deal will be available from 1 October.

O2 marketing manager Paul Taylor thinks it is fantastic value for money: ‘We know that the BlackBerry is the perfect device for students – it is the Swiss army knife of products for study and fun, and furthermore at a time when managing your money is more important than ever this is a fantastic deal.’