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Starting today, plastic grocery shopping bags have been banned in the city of Los Angeles. Shoppers are now required to either bring their own reusable bags, pay extra for paper bags, or… grow extra arms?
Proponents claim the bag ban will be better for the environment. This is disputable. A 2012 article in Reason described the reality of plastic-bag pollution:
First, banning free plastic grocery bags won’t reduce waste. California’s Statewide Waste Characterization Study [pdf] shows that “Plastic Grocery and Other Merchandise Bags” consistently make up just 0.3 percent of the waste stream in the state. That’s three-tenths of 1 percent. In comparison, organic waste such as food and yard clippings makes up 32 percent while construction debris comprises about 30 percent. The effect of eliminating free grocery bags on the amount of waste generated in the city would be insignificant.
Second, despite misleading claims from environmental groups and the L.A. Bureau of Sanitation, banning free plastic grocery bags won’t do much to reduce litter in the public commons. Litter studies from across the country demonstrate that, on average, plastic retail bags make up about 1 percent to 2 percent of all litter.
Even that small amount of litter doesn’t decline when bans are enacted. In San Francisco, plastic bags comprised 0.6 percent of litter before the city banned plastic bags and 0.64 percent a year after the ban took effect [pdf, pg. 35]. Since plastic grocery bags make up less than 2 percent of roadside trash, banning them will affect neither the total amount of litter nor the cost of cleaning it up.
Third, banning free plastic grocery bags won’t reduce our consumption of foreign (or domestic) oil. L.A.’s Bureau of Sanitation claims [pdf] that “approximately 12 million barrels of oil go into the US supply of plastic bags.” But plastic bags made in the U.S. are not derived from oil; they’re made from a byproduct of domestic natural gas refinement. Manufacturing plastic grocery bags does not increase our need to import oil, and banning them in Los Angeles or anywhere else will not reduce US oil consumption.
Despite claims that plastics threaten our oceans and sea life, there is no evidence that free plastic grocery bags make up any significant portion of the plastic waste found on beaches or in the ocean. In fact, reports from environmental groups doing beach and ocean clean-ups show that plastic bags make up only about 2 percent of the debris.
There’s a lot more in that Reason article about the myths and realities of plastic bags, including the economic harm it will likely do to thousands who will lose their jobs. I recommend reading the whole thing.
And what about public health? And I’m not just thinking of what people are going to use to pick up their dog’s droppings while on a walk. This 2010 Washington Post article describes the inherent health hazards of reusable plastic bags, themselves:
Nearly every bag examined for bacteria by researchers at the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University found whopping amounts of bugs. Coliform bacteria, suggesting raw-meat or uncooked-food contamination, was in half of the bags, and E. coli was found in 12 percent of the bags.
Running the bags through a washer or cleaning them by hand reduced bacteria levels to almost nothing, the study reported, but nearly all shoppers questioned said they do not regularly, if ever, wash their reusable bags. About a third said they also used their food-shopping bags to haul around non-food items.
Sure, we can wash them and even bleach them, but is it your business to put us in a position of having to do that? We’ll come back to this in a minute.
Finally, there’s a crime issue. Seattle banned plastic bags in July, 2012. Since then grocery stores have reported a sharp increase in shoplifting:
Mike Duke, who operates the Lake City Grocery Outlet with his wife, said that since the plastic-bag ban started last July, he’s lost at least $5,000 in produce and between $3,000 and $4,000 in frozen food.
“We’ve never lost that much before,” said Duke, who found those numbers through inventories of stolen and damaged goods.
The Dukes opened the Lake City grocery store in June 2011, and Mike Duke said in the year before the plastic-bag ban losses in frozen food and produce were a small fraction of what he’s seeing now. As he explained to seattlepi.com and also the North Seattle Chamber of Commerce, the shoplifters’ patterns are difficult to detect.
They enter the store with reusable bags and can more easily conceal items they steal. The reusable bags require staff to watch much more closely, and even though the store has a loss-prevention officer and more than a dozen security cameras, it’s tough to tell what a customer has paid for and what they may already have brought with them.
They’ve even seen an upswing in plastic hand-baskets being stolen (Hey, shoplifters have to carry their loot in something!) and then found dumped around the city. Shall we ban those, too?
More importantly –and this ties into the health issue– is it the place of the Los Angeles city council to impose these risks on residents and businesses?
The answer is no. When our streets are falling apart, when the city’s finances are a wreck, when the schools badly underperform, there are far better uses for councilmen’s time (and the salary money we pay them) than to pass a needless, possibly harmful law for the sake of “promoting environmental awareness” or “making a statement.” The intentions may be good, but we all know where that path leads.
Returning to the Reason article, author Jay Beeber speaks for me when he touches on the larger issue the bag ban is a symptom of — government that has grown too large and too intrusive in people’s lives:
But the real crisis—the one that rarely gets discussed—is that these types of bans require another public acceptance of total government intrusion into our lives. Is it a legitimate role of government to prohibit one individual from giving a free bag to another individual on the pretext of a supposed societal benefit that does not withstand even friendly scrutiny? Doesn’t every human interaction, no matter how small, have some arguable effect on society? And if so, what’s to prevent those who seek to dictate how everyone lives from invoking that argument at every turn? The crisis in Los Angeles and around the country is that too few people are asking those questions.
As an Angeleno, a taxpayer, and a voter, I ask that you members of the LA city council ask these questions of yourselves and then do the right thing.
Repeal the ban.


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Advanced space countries are implementing independent space development by securing space launch vehicle technology. A space launch vehicle is the transport means crucial for launching satellites and exploring space. As these countries prohibit the transfer of this technology to other countries over the border, independent development is essential.
The leading space countries are not only promoting their independent space programs, but also are leading the commercial launch market to launch foreign satellites with their own launch vehicles. The commercial launch market is expected to continue growing as the number of space developing countries expands and the demand for small satellites increases.
Republic of Korea has solidified the foundation for the development of space launch vehicles beginning with the development of sounding rockets in the 1990s. It successfully launched the first space launch vehicle, Naro, and is developing its own Korean Space Launch Vehicle (Nuri), based on the Naro experience. In 2018, KARI succeeded in launching a test launch vehicle using a 75-ton engine of the Korean Space Launch Vehicle (Nuri).

domain: news


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Beyond Analysis Purchases Visa Europe’s Shareholding in its Business
- M&A Deals
- 07.02.2017 10:15 am
Beyond Analysis, the award-winning big data, insight, and analytics business is entering a new stage of growth as it confirms its shareholders have today purchased Visa Europe’s stake in its business, concluding a partnership formed in 2011.
Together Beyond Analysis and Visa Europe developed and implemented truly innovative customer loyalty initiatives by unlocking the power of purchase insights to offer huge value and insight to retailers and other consumer-facing businesses.
With its new autonomy, Beyond Analysis is now able to generate data insight from across the financial services industry, working with all parties to unlock the power of purchase insights for its clients.
Paul Alexander, founder and CEO of Beyond Analysis, said: “Beyond Analysis is in a unique position understanding the intersection of data from financial services and retail, and helping the businesses we work with to take advantage of this vastly underutilised data source. Our retail clients, particularly multinationals, have been keen for us to be able to gather data insight from the schemes with the most representative dataset by territory, and drive additional value from their acquirer relationships, which we are now able to do.”
“Our vision for data democratisation - making data insight accessible to all – is being realised as we continue to roll out our Quick & Easy™ insight solution, which is already raising the metabolic rate of every company we work with, making them faster, more dynamic, more competitive, and more profitable.”
Visa Europe, said: “We can confirm that Beyond Analysis’s shareholders are purchasing Visa Europe’s shareholding in its business. This brings to a conclusion a successful partnership that was formed in 2011 when Visa took a stake in the company. Over the past six years Beyond Analysis has worked with Visa Europe on a number of exciting customer loyalty and data insight initiatives. We would like to thank Beyond Analysis for partnering with Visa over this period and wish them every success for the future.”
Beyond Analysis has worked with 150 high-profile clients since its inception, including some stellar performing organisations across five global markets. It will launch in the Indian subcontinent in 2017.


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PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Visa (NYSE: V) Stock Looks Good
Stocks of both PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Visa (NYSE: V) moved down since their last respective income report on Wednesday. At first sight, those two companies released solid figures, so what is the reason for potential concerns? Read further, if you want to find some details.
PayPal brought $0.58 in modified earnings per share on nearly $4 billion in gross revenue. Both estimations moved over the Zacks Consensus Estimates, growing 23% and 28% on a year over year foundation.
PayPal got 7.7 million active user accounts, and 18 percents of these are net new active accounts. The company also noted a significant 28% growth in payment transactions to around 2.3 billion.
This classifies with a 29 percent rise in complete payment volume to around $139 billion. The company bought a payment app Venmo in 2014, and it recorded an exceptional 78% year over year growth in total payment transaction to $14 billion.
PayPal also released 4 acquisitions in this quarter. The Hyperwallet, Jetlore, Simility, and iZettle takeovers of $2.4 billion in total. iZettle was certainly the biggest acquisition among these four, and PayPal gave $2.2 billion for that company. The purchase will finish in the third quarter and PayPal wants to get more exposure to Latin America and European markets with it. Also, iZettle might be a good ally in the struggle with competition such as Square Inc (NYSE: SQ).
Still, this positive news did not affect PayPal stock too much and it finished down 2.5% on Thursday with a new fall of 4.6% on Friday afternoon. The company’s third-quarter income report probably played a role in the loss. PayPal’s management team pointed out Q3 revenues between $3.61 and $3.67 billion. Although these drops are in compliance with the Zacks Consensus Estimate of around $3.65 billion, it did not satisfy expectations of some analysts.
A second investor worry is connected with the firm’s decision to approve ten billion of U.S dollars in stock buybacks. Usually, that is a good move which returns value back to shareholders, but in the case of this company, it is considered as a sign that PayPal has too much money, and not know what to do with it. Investors would maybe like to see the higher level of reinvestments in operations.
Bill Ready, a Chief Operating Officer in the firm, explained on PayPal’s conference that some shareholders and investors did not correctly understand the result of that decision. Regardless of the fact that his main task is to say similar things, this definitely sounded like a correct and truthful statement. PayPal is going to continue with leveraging strategic partnerships with Mastercard (NYSE: MA), Visa (NYSE: V), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) as well as with big banks, to expand its global activities and attract the higher number of users.
Visa announced modified earning of around $1.20 per share on operating income of $5.2 billion in total. Both estimations easily exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimates and recorded 39 percent and 1.5 percent year over year growth, respectively.
The company’s main business drivers were nice growth in processed transactions, border volume, and payment volume. Visa was supported by positive user feelings and good exchange rates, moving to greater overall purchase activity.
The company’s reports do not include $600 million litigation anticipation, and many think it is probably an arrangement with merchants about a lawsuit including payment rates. Visa announced that the deposits have almost the same effect on the EPS growth as re-purchasing the firm’s class A common shares.
Having that on a mind, investors and shareholders should be more than satisfied, right? The company’s stock movement showed different, though. It traded 2 percent lower of the Wednesday’s closing price closing broadside on Thursday. Next afternoon, the stock dropped down again for another 1.9 percent, so the bad trend continued.
Cross-border volume was slightly lower with growth on an annual basis. It was mostly because of a strong US currency, which moved up 5% in the second quarter. That was the biggest boost since the end of 2016. This cut the spending of foreigners in America, tanking shareholder fears about the dollars as a risk.
But Visa stays well-positioned for further rise. The firm edited the yearly stock report, now expecting modified income to set up at the low 30s per share in comparison with the earlier levels in the high 20s. The company is also focusing on growing exposure in Europe, a continent where cash is still a mostly main form of payment.
This firm is selling shares at an all-time high, and a small pullback a few days ago could just serve as a tool of shareholders deciding to pay out their gains. The stock of Visa has moved up 43% in the last twelve months and closely 25% year to date. The company stands very well and makes a historical success. It has not missed the growth expectations in years. If the trend continues in the future, then the shareholders will be more than satisfied.


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Comprehensive coverage of energy efficient technologies for sustainability in warehousing including lighting, climate control, hybrid lift trucks, conveyors and packaging.
Posted 09/02 · 10:21 AM · LM Editorial
Global freight forwarder and logistics services provider Damco said this week it is now providing customers with an online calculation of carbon dioxide emissions, which enables them to track CO2 emissions for all products shipped by ocean and air.
Posted 09/01 · 05:27 PM · MMH Editorial
The year's largest processing and packaging event in North America delivers on education, innovation and networking opportunities.
Posted 09/01 · 09:33 AM · MMH Editorial
Intralox received the Innovator of the Year award in the Packaging Machinery category of the 2011 Greener Package Awards competition.
Posted 08/30 · 11:53 AM · MMH Editorial
Nissan Forklift Corporation earned California Air Resources Board (CARB) certification for its 2012 model year, large spark-ignited engines, making it the first forklift manufacturer to gain certification for its own line of industrial engines.
Posted 08/30 · 07:51 AM · LM Editorial
Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America, said it will be the beneficiary of a cumulative $150 million investment as part of an effort to boost the United States natural gas vehicle sector.
Posted 08/25 · 07:25 AM · MMH Editorial
IKEA’s new DC employs a global warehouse design and best practices to serve a growing regional market.
Posted 08/18 · 12:28 PM · MMH Editorial
The company is introducing a one-year warranty with no hour limits on all major components of an Encore lift truck.
Posted 08/15 · 08:14 AM · LM Editorial
As the Environmental Protection Agency takes more time to finalize its proposed ozone standard, shippers question if this action is really necessary at all
Posted 08/10 · 12:23 PM · MMH Editorial
The Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) has been re-accredited as a developer of American National Standards by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) following a regular audit of the association's standards administration operations.
Posted 08/10 · 06:56 AM · MMH Editorial
The new committee includes experienced members of the reusable packaging industry, including three presidents of leading companies.


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Shares of Apple are falling after the company reported quarterly results.
Even the most valuable company isn’t immune to the coronavirus outbreak.
The pandemic has hit the world’s most profitable smartphone maker in three ways:
- Sales of iPhones in China dropped significantly in February
- Closure of iPhone manufacturing factories disrupted the supply chain
- Apple’s sales in the U.S. plunged in March
Apple said its quarterly revenues were essentially flat at $58 billion. Meanwhile, Apple earnings were down slightly for the year.
Apple’s lower-priced iPhone SE was released in late April. The $399 smartphone has received a positive response and strong sales.
Apple CEO Tim Cook is optimistic about the company’s long-term prospects. Yet the company was unwilling to provide financial guidance for the second quarter of 2020.
“There was a significant, very steep fall-off in February. That began to recover some in March, and we’ve seen further recovery in April. So, it leaves us room for optimism,” Cook said.
Apple Prepares for 5G iPhone Launch: Click here for details on Apple’s secret 5G supplier.
However, the company is viewing the current situation as temporary.
Rewarding shareholders remains a top priority for Apple. The company is increasing its quarterly dividend by 6%.
Apple is also adding $50 billion to its share repurchase plan. The existing plan has $40 billion available for buybacks.
That brings the total potential stock buyback to $90 billion.
Investors remain optimistic about Apple plan to release new iPhones this fall.
The company would typically release new iPhones in September. Yet it’s already looking like that’ll be pushed back by four weeks.
Apple’s iPhones are assembled in China. Those factories are now re-opening and producing phones.
However, the shutdown disrupted Apple’s entire supply chain. And that’s likely to cause a slight delay in the release of the new iPhones.
Several of Apple’s new iPhones are expected to have capability for fifth-generation wireless – known as 5G. It’s expected that these new phones – with faster wireless – could encourage consumers to upgrade their phones.
This iPhone upgrade super cycle was the key reason that Apple stock surged in 2019.
Right now, the company is pushing toward the new iPhone launch.
The final four months of 2020 will be crucial for Apple. And it all hinges on this new 5G technology.
The 5G Gold Rush is getting started right now.
Click here ASAP for urgent details (before it’s too late).
Yours in Health & Wealth,


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Elon Musk’s electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc on Friday announced it was cutting its workforce by about 7 percent in a push to keep the Model 3 affordable for middle-income consumers.
Shares plunged following the announcement, which also signaled a tough profit road ahead for Tesla.
The round of job cuts — which follow an earlier downsizing announced in June — comes as the envelope-pushing company faces pressure in its home market on prices from the phasing-out of a tax credit for electric car purchases.
Musk did not release an estimate of the employment hit, but the company had 45,000 employees in October last year, suggesting about 3,150 would be cut.
Musk, who originally conceived of the Model 3 as a reasonably priced option for consumers who could not pay the lofty prices of its first two vehicles, said action was needed if the company was to succeed in its mission of challenging conventional autos.
“While we have made great progress, our products are still too expensive for most people,” Musk said in a blog post announcing the layoffs. “We need to continue making progress towards lower priced variants of Model 3.”
Tesla’s most affordable offering is currently a less-endowed version of the Model 3 at US$44,000, a car that sells for as much as US$59,000 with more features. Tesla originally discussed a price tag of US$35,000 for the car.
Selling the Model 3 at the higher price has enhanced profitability at the expense of access to the vehicles’ intended market.
Complicating matters further is the phasing down from US$7,500 per vehicle of a US tax credit to encourage more sales of the cars.
The need for “lower-priced variants of Model 3 becomes even greater on July 1,” when a US tax credit drops by half, making the car US$1,875 more expensive and again at the end of the year when it goes away entirely, Musk said.
The job cuts announced on Friday follow Tesla’s move in June to trim its workforce by about 9 percent.
Musk described that round of belt-tightening as necessary to enhance profitability.
In October, Tesla reported profits of US$312 million for the third quarter of last year.
In Friday’s blog post, Musk said preliminary results indicated that last year’s fourth-quarter profits would be smaller than in the prior quarter and that the outlook was tougher still for this quarter as it delivers its first Model 3 sales in Asia and Europe at higher price points.
Musk hopes for a “tiny profit” in the current quarter, something that would require “great difficulty, effort and some luck,” he said.


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Harrison: Coffee Market in China Could Match U.K.
Whitbread Plc, reported first-half profits rose 11 percent led by gains at its Costa coffee chain in China and higher hotel prices during the London Olympics. Whitbread's chief executive officer, Andy Harrison, believes Costa coffee's market share in China could match the U.K in the future.
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Here's How Brexit Is Going to Impact Manufacturing
16:26 - Bloomberg Intelligence's Steve Man reports on the impact of Brexit on manufacturing. He speaks on "Bloomberg Daybreak: Asia." (Source: Bloomberg)


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The Juniper Spirit
Once the most popular of the white spirits,
the gin category is trying to regain some of its past standing.
photo courtesy of
Allied Domecq Spirits USA
By Howard Riell
The gin category is hoping to follow the same basic formula that has worked so well for vodka — new products and flavors, a younger demographic, higher-end presentation and promoting mixability.
Overall, category growth was slightly down in 2004, according to Adams Beverage Group Research, off 0.3% to just under 11 million 9-liter cases. While this decline is very modest, it stands in stark comparison to the healthy growth rates of the other so-called white spirits categories, including vodka, rum and tequila. While category leader Seagram’s Gin fell 1.6% last year, it still sells more than 2.77 million 9-liter cases, and the brand has had notable success with its line of flavored Seagram’s Gin & Juice. Second best-selling Tanqueray posted sales of 1.44 million 9-liter cases, and the premium import along with its superpremium Tanqueray Ten line extension are poised for growth.
Once again, the most successful gin is Bombay Sapphire, the superpremium brand imported by Bacardi USA, with sales eclipsing the 700,000 9-liter case mark, an 8.5% gain. The brand has never tried to “just be a gin,” according to Sumindi Peiris, group brand director for Bacardi. “We try to be a superpremium clear spirit, and that’s how we’ve always positioned ourselves. It’s an image category — lifestyle and image.”
The superpremium Bombay Sapphire, from Bacardi USA, had an 8.5% sales gain nationally in 2004.
Bombay’s ad campaign “has evolved,” she pointed out. “It’s become ‘Bombay Sapphire Inspired.’ That’s our tag line.” The goal off-premise is “communicating some of our drink strategies, and there is a strong effort to showcase for consumers the versatility of the brand, and that the brand can be mixed. It doesn’t have to be just Sapphire and tonic. We have great cocktails that can really fit with everyone’s profile.”
Peiris added, “At the end of the day, though our positioning is to be a superpremium clear spirit, we are still located in the gin section. For us, it’s about getting cases on the floor.” A new three-case rack gets quantity out on the sales floor in a surprisingly small footprint.
Allied Domecq’s premium import, Beefeater, also bucked category trends last year, showing a modest sales increase (up 1.6%) to 620,000 9-liter cases.
Michelle Murray, Beefeater brand manager, believes the category is going to benefit from consumer demand for classic cocktails like Gin & Tonic and the Gin Martini. “Martinis are still very hot, and started as a transition into vodka. [Consumers seem to be] coming back to gin.”
Murray said Americans are busy sampling new taste profiles, “and there’s a general acceptance and even an expectation of flavor in the marketplace right now. Take a product like Wet by Beefeater, which is flavored with pear. It has been able to defy gin convention and bridge that gap between vodka and gin by offering something that really transcends the category.”
“The challenge of gin,” said Murray, “is staying relevant to gin drinkers while also re-engaging them as they move through their different life stages and cocktail desires. Toward that end, we have revitalized Beefeater’s marketing campaign to target a new audience and ensure continued growth for the brand.”
“This is gin” is the tag line for Beefeater’s marketing campaign, which tries to portray legendary quality of gin in a variety of clever treatments.
A new campaign called ‘This is Gin’ focuses on Beefeater’s “legendary quality as a full-bodied true gin,” said Murray. And promotional materials invite consumers to “see things for what they really are in a very clever, witty and relevant way.” The brand features off-premise materials like counter mats and shelf talkers with recipe tear pads. There is a summer co-pack program with cranberry juice or tonic. And holiday program will have glassware with updated holiday graphics.
“We’re still awaiting the big turnaround [in the category], which is not quite here yet,” said Paul Campbell, group director for Seagram’s Brands, Pernod Ricard USA. “But we’re still hopeful enough that the business will rebound.”
The “big challenge,” Campbell said, is recruiting new, younger consumers into gin. “We still have more mature consumers who continue to be very loyal to the category. But we don’t have our share of the new, younger consumers who are coming into spirits consumption.”
The pre-mixed, ready-to-drink line of Seagram’s Gin & Juice has seen some success and has unveiled new packaging and flavors.
In April, pre-mixed, ready-to-drink Seagram’s Gin & Juice unveiled a packaging redesign. In celebration of the re-launch, Seagram’s introduced Seagram’s Gin & Juice Red Fury, created from a proprietary blend of tropical fruit flavors enhanced with ginseng.
“Gin was down slightly in 2004, and it is a tale of two cities,” said Ed Gualtieri, executive vice president of marketing Barton Brands (a division of Constellation Brands), which markets Fleishmann’s and Barton gins. “The imports, which represent about 22% of the category, were up modestly, while domestic gins, which are 78% of the category, took a hit.”
Still, several value-priced brands managed to increase sales in 2004. For example, both Barton and Fleischmann’s gins, from Barton Brands, grew modestly, to 360,000 and 347,000 9-liter cases respectively. And McCormick Distilling’s McCormick Gin gained 3.3% to 220,000 9-liter cases. Vic Morrison, vice president of marketing for McCormick, sees strength at the lower end of gin’s price spectrum. “We’ve had good growth. We have a niche to fill, and a quality level that we think our loyal customers recognize. It’s a good buy.” The company markets the Cambridge, Congress and Royal Sovereign brands as well as McCormick’s.
Quintessential Gin, from White Rock Distilleries, has a new package and formulation.
Though Burnett’s White Satin Gin, from Heaven Hill Distilleries, saw a slight decrease in sales, to 370,000 9-liter cases, the company is fairly optimistic.
“There has certainly been a lot of work done and money spent by the category leaders, including the import leaders,” said Larry Kass, Heaven Hill’s director of corporate communications. “They have spent lots and lots of money on consumer advertising, which has really helped to open up some new markets. So has product development.”
“Gin is actually starting to pick up a bit, I think, with the vodka category having exploded to such depths that it has,” added Reid Massie, brand manager for Burnett’s. “All of the major companies want to have a gin in their portfolio.”
Indeed, Massie pointed out, “We’re seeing more cocktails made with gin. Consumers are rediscovering gin, if you will, because it was a predominant spirit years ago. Everybody is still into flavored vodkas, but they want to try the next thing. It’s definitely right there for them.”
Burnett’s is available in 1.75 liter, 1.0 liter, 750 ml, a 750 ml carry pack, 375 ml, and 200 ml sizes. The company will focus on standard point-of-sale for the mainstream market, and “some different types of p-o-s” for the urban market, according to Massie, including metal signs. This summer, the brand is offering an on-pack promotion with Burnett’s gin and vodka.
Leading Brands of Gin
(Thousands of 9-Liter Cases)
|Seagram’s Gin||Pernod Ricard USA||2,906||2,760||2,791||2,820||2,774||-1.6%|
|Bombay Sapphire||Bacardi USA||455||550||605||650||705||8.5%|
|Gilbey’s Gin||Jim Beam Brands||657||650||645||605||550||-9.1%|
White Satin Gin
|Heaven Hill Distilleries||380||375||380||375||370||-1.3%|
|Barton Gin||Barton Brands||352||355||355||356||360||1.1%|
|Fleischmann’s Gin||Barton Brands||379||371||351||345||347||0.6%|
|McCormick Gin||McCormick Distilling||210||207||208||213||220||3.3%|
|Total Leading Brands||8,403||8,253||8,320||8,318||8,271||-0.6%|
Other Superpremium Entries
In recent years, there have been a host of high-end gins coming into the U.S. market, trying to emulate the success of the boutique, high-end vodka segment: Hendrick’s, Bafferts, Citadelle, Hampton’s, Broker’s, and from Holland, Zuidam and Van Gogh, among several others. And though they’ve all had varying degrees of success, no brand has really broken out.
The Absolut Spirits Co. is using a sampling program to try to raise awareness of its superpremium Plymouth Gin.
Said Paul Coulombe, ceo of White Rock Distilleries, “No one’s had a really high superpremium gin able to captivate that price category. We saw an opportunity to elevate the playing field, so to speak, in the gin category just as in the vodka category, so we created a new, very high-end superpremium gin package called Quintessential Gin.”
In April, White Rock relaunched Quintessential Gin with updated packaging and formulation. The product is now distilled five times and has added the essence of lotus leaves and lavender to the traditional flavor profile of juniper and other botanicals. The tall, tapered bottle features a blue fade and dominant Q. “The new Quintessential Gin was designed to appeal to a more upscale, sophisticated gin drinker,” said Coulombe. It is available in 50 ml, 750 ml ($28 to $29 suggested retail), 1 liter and 1.75 liter sizes.
“There is some indication that people are willing to spend a little bit more money on their gin purchases. We’re gambling on that,” Coulombe said.
The high-end Plymouth Gin, which is imported by Absolut Spirits Co., is another superpremium that is optimistic about potential sales, said Jeffrey Moran, spokesman for Plymouth. “The stalwarts who have been around for a while, us included, have seen people become more and more interested in gin. We have been spending a lot more time focusing not only on bartenders but also sampling in order to raise the awareness of the product.”
Skyy Spirits recently acquired distribution rights to the high-end Martin Miller’s Gin.
An important step in building on the current momentum, Moran said, is “breaking down some of the myths, like ‘gin is only a gin-and-tonic.’ In fact, you can take gin into a variety of other areas and really enjoy it in the same way you can other spirits.” In the months ahead, Plymouth will be expanding distribution into some additional markets.
For its part, Skyy Spirits has recently entered the gin sweepstakes, with U.S. distribution rights for Martin Miller’s Gin and Martin Miller’s Westbourne Strength Gin. “Gin is a very exciting category with renewed consumer interest,” said Anthony Foglio, Skyy’s chairman. “Martin Miller fits within our portfolio of ultra-premium spirits with potential for growth.”
“Hopefully there is going to be a huge comeback. A lot of these new gins are really elevating the market. We think Miller’s stacks up very well against them,” said Monica Daniels, Skyy’s brand manager for specialty imports.
And for the entire category, marketers hope their efforts will lead to a long-awaited turnaround


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The UK and Ireland could save around €3.4billion (£3billion per year from the cost of the resources we use to make and clean clothes if we changed the way we supplied, used and disposed of clothing. This would reduce the carbon, water and waste footprints of clothing consumption by 10-20% each. Being part of the Wrap 2020 Commitment we aim to reduce our own and help others to reduce their environmental footprints
350,000 tonnes, that’s around €163 million (£140 million) worth of used but still wearable clothing goes to landfill in the UK and Ireland every year
This equates to more than 30% of our unwanted clothing currently goes to landfill.
57% of people say they recycle their textiles with 41% of people saying they’re not aware of recycling facilities for textiles
More than 60% of householders in the UK say they have unwanted clothes and textiles stored in their homes. And we have the perfect solution for them. Look out for our charity clothes bags or call for an individual pick up and know that your unwanted clothes will benefit UK charities and the planet in one, hassle free collection.
Wrap Recycle Week 2013 content


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Target is evolving, getting healthier
Target used to be the store where you were immediately assaulted with the smell of buttery popcorn as you entered the doors; you could pick up a bag at their cafe and nosh on it while you shopped for new (perhaps bigger) pants and groceries for the week. Target has been making changes, however, as the discount chain has responded to the country’s growing wellness focus. Many of their cafes have replaced that familiar popcorn and other junk food (hot dogs and nachos) with artisan pizzas, salads, and cold-pressed juices. Target’s checkout lines are also going to look different soon: the last-minute impulse purchases, candy bars and chips, will be joined by granola bars and other healthy grab-and-go snacks.
Target is not just focusing on customers in this new health kick, they are also promoting wellness to their employees–the store recently partnered with Fitbit to provide more than 300,000 employees with basic fitness trackers called the Fitbit Zip. Target says it will not monitor data from the devices and will not force employees to use them, but employees will have the choice to participate in teams in a month long challenge. The winning team will get $1 million to funnel into a charity of their choice. According to Jodee Kozlak, Target’s chief human resources officer, the store will also give employees extra discounts on fruits and vegetables.
It’s also about their bottom line
While this wellness kick will contribute to the health of Target’s customers and employees, it will also help Target’s bottom line. It’s beneficial to Target, as employers who offer insurance to their workers, to improve employee health, in order to fight steadily rising insurance costs. And consumers, who have been learning about healthy eating habits, are placing more of an emphasis on living longer, and their interests are leaning toward organic, health-conscious products. Health foods offer higher profit margins to retailers like Target; providing them can both draw new customers and keep existing ones.
In addition to a broader variety and greater availability of health foods, Target’s customers will still have access to packaged junk food. In tests in 30 stores, the chain is trying to get the balance right, so that its health kick isn’t too pushy. Their placement might be shuffled a bit, but the candy and chips will still be there. That aromatic cafe popcorn, however, could already be on its way out.


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Few days ago investment firm Detwiler Fenton pretty much invented the story that BlackBerry Z10 devices were returning in volumes. BlackBerry and Verizon Wireless reacted to refute the claims, even calling these findings “absolutely false.”
As you could imagine, this isn’t something BlackBerry shareholders like and the company is now asking US’ Securities and Exchange Commission and Canada’s Ontario Securities Commission to review this false and misleading report about retail return rates.
According to BlackBerry’s President and CEO Thorsten Heins, sales of the BlackBerry Z10 are meeting expectations with the data suggesting customers are satisfied with their devices. He goes on to say that return rates are “at or below our forecasts and right in line with the industry.”
“To suggest otherwise is either a gross misreading of the data or a willful manipulation. Such a conclusion is absolutely without basis and BlackBerry will not leave it unchallenged,” Thorsten added.
No one likes folks posting misleading information and if the party doing so is a bank, it’s that much worse. BlackBerry is giving its best to get back to the game and false claims like these don’t help anyone…


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SilkAir and Bangkok Airways are pleased to announce that from February 15, they will codeshare on certain flights between Singapore, Koh Samui, Phuket and Chiang Mai.
“We are pleased to announce this codeshare partnership with Bangkok Airways. With the enhanced connectivity, customers now have the freedom to embark on a multiple-destination holiday within Thailand,” said SilkAir chief executive, Marvin Tan.
“Travelers can, for example, choose to fly into Chiang Mai for a trekking adventure through its hills, followed by a weekend of pure relaxation on the beaches of Koh Samui,” added Tan.
Capt. Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, Bangkok Airways’ president commented, “This codeshare agreement allows passengers of both airlines to benefit from greater connectivity and flexibility when making their travel plans. From a business perspective, the agreement enables both SilkAir and Bangkok Airways to expand their respective networks and grow both inbound and outbound passenger flows.”


text: In the last couple of days, two very capable Android Jelly Bean 4.2 smartphone have been launched in India. LG has launched the Google Nexus 4 16GB @ Rs. 25, 990/= and Panasonic has launched the P51 for Rs. 26,900/=. Which one will you think India will warm up to and adapt? As all know about the Nexus, I am attaching the video of the P51 for better comparison at http://youtu.be/-zzey-5Wy7k .


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May 21, 2013 -- It's easy to be taken advantage of in today's Los Angeles real estate market. Red Blue Realty offers tips to help gain the advantage during the negotiation of a contract.
May 21, 2013 -- Hunter recently presented several industry leaders with their prestigious Trailblazer Award.
May 21, 2013 -- Residents of the state of Indiana can now view the name of the top home security system in their state, as ranked by SecuritySystemReviews.com. Security System Reviews is a leading, independent,...
May 21, 2013 -- FauxPanels.com donates brick veneer to newly dedicated Safety Town project built to honor a firefighter.
May 21, 2013 -- Union Station Brick, located in Nashville TN, announced that they have become a stocking distributor of Native Custom Stone's (NCS) manufactured stone products.
May 21, 2013 -- FlowerExplosion.com announces that it now offers additional shipping options in order to meet the logistics needs of its customers worldwide.
May 21, 2013 -- The furniture retailer extends its online product offerings to mobile customers by means of an app.
May 21, 2013 -- Owner of Fountain Mountain has published an essay on selling pumps.
May 21, 2013 -- Tickets on Sale Now at http://www.lumberjackfeud.com
May 21, 2013 -- Local Milwaukee family-owned and operated business, JBS Construction, works hard to be the best.
May 21, 2013 -- Mosquitoes can put a damper on the summer time, but Horne’s Pest Control Company offers information and advice for dealing with the biting pest.
May 21, 2013 -- Charles Beede, a prominent real estate broker in the Bahamas market, has joined the prestigious Haute Living Real Estate Network.
May 21, 2013 -- To achieve the right balance of size with shape and form with function, in a home design, takes time mixed with patience in experimentation.
May 21, 2013 -- Gunnison-Crested Butte Tourism Association announces more than 200 events planned for July 8 – 14 and other spectacular excursions to see the flowers.
May 21, 2013 -- Scripps Networks Interactive’s Popular Networks with Award-Winning Shows Now Available on Optimum TV Customers’ Computers
May 20, 2013 -- Homeowners that are in the process of deciding which home protection solution that best suits their needs do not have to look further than SecuritySystemReviews.com. Just recently, the website’s...
May 20, 2013 -- Online appliance and furniture retailer, Goedeker’s increases selection of Holland Bar Stool furniture products by more than 4,000.
May 20, 2013 -- Consumers looking for economical solar electric systems can expect to save an additional 10 percent on solar kits from Peak Solar.
May 20, 2013 -- Simple Ideas to Maintain the Pool and Protect Your Backyard Investment
May 20, 2013 -- Breakthrough Kitchen Transition System Tears Down Traditional Design Barriers
May 20, 2013 -- Everybody is looking for ways to make paying off their mortgage more simple. Red Blue Realty presents tips to help homeowners pay off their mortgage more quickly.
May 20, 2013 -- OpenBrook.com launches luxury furniture sales website with the mission to plant a tree and feed a child with every sale.
May 20, 2013 -- Victor Alva’s Sunrise Landscape, a full service landscaping and irrigation company, offers tips for arid yards and sustainable landscapes for the summer.
May 20, 2013 -- International event includes research presentations from 25 countries around the world.
May 20, 2013 -- Although a home alarm system is often revered as the best method of home security, there are easy and inexpensive ways that homeowners can landscape around their home to deter break-ins. The home...


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Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Monday May 19.
AT&T (T) is buying DirecTV (DTV), but it is possible DTV could lose the NFL package to another network. Many customers will be less excited by DTV and the deal with AT&T if DTV no longer has the NFL. DTV has significant exposure to Latin America, but Cramer thinks the region is a difficult place for North American companies to do business. Cramer thinks DTV CEO Mike White is anxious to sell the company because of its problems; "You should sell DTV too," advised Cramer.
Momentum Stocks May Be Bottoming: Yelp (NYSE:YELP), Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), Concur Technologies (NASDAQ:CNQR), Tableau Software (NYSE:DATA), Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Twitter (NYSE:TWTR), Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM). Other stocks mentioned: Insys Therapeutics (NASDAQ:INSY), Ensco (NYSE:ESV), Transocean (NYSE:RIG)
On Monday, the Dow rose 20 points and the Nasdaq climbed .86%. The momentum stocks seemed to have bottomed. Lower prices going into the session, takeover chatter, the charts, lack of new IPOs, little insider selling and investors' fear of being short the market led to an uptick for the averages. Yelp (YELP) is one stock that is on sale, after it has fallen from $101 to the mid 50s, and has decent fundamentals. Cramer thinks Yelp might be a great takeover for a company like Yahoo (YHOO) after it spins off Alibaba.
Tableau Software (DATA) is also the subject of takeover chatter. This didn't make sense when it was at $102, but at $52, it sounds more credible. Concur Technologies (CNQR) reported remarkable sales numbers and rules the enterprise travel software space. Cramer thinks Concur is a natural takeover target for Oracle (ORCL). Concur traded as high as $130 but is down in the 80s. It may still be overvalued, but Cramer doesn't think this matters to a potential acquirer. Salesforce.com (CRM) will report this week, and it is likely that it will blow away the numbers. CRM is still expensive and offers no dividend or buybacks, but it could provide a significant discount to potential buyers, since it has fallen so dramatically.
The lack of new IPOs is a good thing, because the plethora of deals created an oversupply. Established cloud plays are not being sold off the way they were earlier in the year. Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG), (GOOGL) saw an uptick, and even Twitter (TWTR) stabilized after its lock-up expiration fiasco. Cramer would wait to see what happens when Salesforce reports on Tuesday; a good report could mean upside for momentum stocks. Cramer would not double down ahead of CRM's quarter, though.
Cramer took some calls:
Insys Therapeutics (INSY) is worth holding on to because of increased insider buying.
Transocean (RIG): "These stocks are so low already, and I'm tired of it," Cramer said. Cramer's charitable trust bought Ensco (ESV), which was recently downgraded. He prefers ESV to RIG because the latter has older drilling platforms than ESV.
J.C. Penney (JCP) and Rite-Aid (RAD) have been terrific turnarounds. Retail is the most difficult sector to effect a comeback, because the vicious cycle can be hard to break. This was true in the case of JCP. CEO Ron Johnson in 2011 was a man with a plan, but not a good one. He alienated JCP's core customer base by doing away with promotions, and people left the stores. JCP saw "hideous" declines in same store sales, and JCP lost two-thirds of its value. Johnson was fired by the Board of Directors, which brought back former CEO Mike Ullman. Recently, JCP reported a 6.5% increase in same store sales. JCP has risen, but it has more room to run. Ullman raised cash, restocked the stores with private label brands that are higher margin and offered the kind of deals that JCP customers crave. Ullman is reviving home furnishings, which were historically 20% of JCP sales, but under Johnson, dropped to 12%. Ullman brought back the commission-based compensation. Cramer thinks JCP has more upside.
Rite-Aid is not really a turnaround story, because it seems to have arrived already. Eighteen months ago, the company was trading around $1, but now is at $7.80. Same store sales increased recently by 5%, and this is significant, given competition. The stock has risen 132% since Cramer got behind it in August 2013. CEO John Standley has refurbished the stores and established Wellness Centers. RAD has more upside, since it has more stores to remodel. The stock has rallied significantly, while JCP has only just begun.
Cramer took some calls:
magicJack (CALL) is a controversial stock. Cramer wants to talk to the CEO before he opines on it.
AIG (AIG) is not a sell, but a buy.
Hillshire Brands (HSH) is poised to buy Pinnacle Foods (PF) at an 18% premium, and this is a huge win for those who hold PF. However, HSH's stock declined after the deal was announced. Wells Fargo upgraded HSH and JPMorgan downgraded it. HSH has risen 30% since it was spun off by Sara Lee in June of 2012. The company has rolled out popular new brands. Is it still worth owning after the PF deal?
PF has exposure to frozen food, syrups, pickles, cake mix- items that are in the center of the supermarket. HSH can now capture more space in the supermarket aisles in the highly competitive food industry. Wells Fargo thinks HSH could rise 15%.
JPMorgan thinks the PF takeover could put stress on HSH's balance sheet. The analyst once liked HSH because it could have been a takeover target, but after this deal, the analyst thinks it will be too large. In addition, the type of foods HSH is getting exposure to in the deal are not high-growth categories.
Cramer thinks the bearish analyst at JPMorgan "may be overstating the case." He thinks HSH could still be taken over, that HSH has abundant cash. While Cramer likes HSH's deal with PF, "there are better deals out there." Cramer would look for other possible takeover targets, like B&G Foods (BGS). The stock has declined, but has 16% revenue growth and yields 2.4%. WhiteWave (WWAV) might be bought by a larger company. The stock rose 79% since it was spun off by Dean Foods (DF) about 18 months ago, and might be a takeover idea for a company that wants more exposure to healthy products.
CEO Interview: Chip Johnson, Carrizo Oil & Gas (NASDAQ:CRZO)
Carrizo Oil & Gas (CRZO) is a small exploration and production company with assets in the major U.S. shales. CRZO sold off its non-core assets and beat earnings by 7 cents with a 27% yoy rise in revenues and 48% production growth. The stock has gained 54% since Cramer got behind it in September 2013. The stock trades at a multiple of only 14, which is cheap, given the huge production growth. CEO Chip Johnson says the company has drilled one of the best wells in the Utica shale. Currently, the company is testing areas in Niobrara shale for possible expansion, but Johnson says the Eagle Ford is still "the best field I've ever worked in." Cramer says Carrizo has "about the best growth I've seen" in the industry.
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Uniqlo's Nintendo Line Has Unleashed The
PopCrushUniqlo's Nintendo Line Has Unleashed The Summer's Must-Have TeesPopCrushThis year, 25 different designs with a Nintendo theme were chosen by famed game design icon Shigeru Miyamoto, all of which will be available at Uniqlo later this month. Though only the top two winners received substantial cash prizes (First place got ...Nintendo Reveals Winners of UT Grand Prix CompetitionHardcore GamerNintendo and Uniqlo teamed up for a worldwide T-shirt design contest — here are the winnersBusiness InsiderUNIQLO Got Some Real Nice Nintendo ShirtsKotaku AustraliaDestructoid -GameSpot -Twinfinite -Uniqloall 23 news articles »
Posted on 1 May 2017 | 11:42 am
Nintendo veteran Genyo Takeda retiring -
PolygonNintendo veteran Genyo Takeda retiringPolygonTakeda is also credited with development of the arcade game EVR Race, which game designer Shigeru Miyamoto has called “the first video game Nintendo released.” In 1983, Takeda created the arcade game Punch-Out!!, which was developed with the ...
Posted on 29 April 2017 | 7:03 am
Nintendo's hardware chief Genyo Takeda is
VentureBeatNintendo's hardware chief Genyo Takeda is retiring after 45 yearsVentureBeatIf legendary game developer Shigeru Miyamoto has been the right hand for generations of Nintendo leaders, then Genyo Takeda has been the left one. And last night, Nintendo announced that Takeda, who led the development of the Wii game console, will ...Genyo Takeda, creator of Punch-Out!!, retires from NintendoDestructoidall 28 news articles »
Posted on 27 April 2017 | 10:05 am
Why Super Mario Kart First Included Items -
Cinema BlendWhy Super Mario Kart First Included ItemsCinema BlendThe Mario Kart series has managed to separate itself from every other game out there and even set a trend thanks to the way the game utilizes items during the races. Well, for the first time in a long time, producer Shigeru Miyamoto explains exactly ...It's Mario Time! You Won't Want to Miss This Larger-than-Life Fun, Only At Target - Target CorporateTarget Corporateall 458 news articles »
Posted on 22 April 2017 | 2:46 pm
Gamers, unite: 'Video Games Live' will
Syracuse.comGamers, unite: 'Video Games Live' will return to Landmark Theatre in MaySyracuse.comGamers, unite: 'Video Games Live' will return to Landmark Theatre in May. Zelda.JPG. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, 2006, Shigeru Miyamoto, Executive Producer; Eiji Aonuma, Director; Satoru Takizawa, Art Director; Eiji Aonuma, Satoru Iwata, ...
Posted on 21 April 2017 | 12:37 pm
Feature: A Pokémon Retrospective:
Eventually Nintendo was pitched the idea and loved it, with Shigeru Miyamoto suggesting splitting the game into two versions with different Pokémon available in both versions. From that, Pokémon started to become what we all remember and love about the ...
Posted on 28 August 2015 | 4:20 am
How this week's Nintendo news could shape
Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind Nintendo's SPD Division, is going to be the man who supervises how this new wave of adaptations gets handled. He seems excited when he speaks in the June report on the company's earnings. It's generated a huge amount of ...
Posted on 27 August 2015 | 5:13 pm
Is Nintendo Considering Film Business Again?
Like Us on Facebook Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo's creative mastermind has said that the company is "potentially" acknowledging future plans in the movie business. As reported by Fortune, Mr. Miyamoto stated that for the past years, a number of people have ...
Posted on 27 August 2015 | 2:15 am
'Super Mario Bros.' creator Shigeru Miyamoto
Exclusive AAA games for the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox have been turned into movies in recent years and they are not doing poorly at all. But before Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo had been doing the same with their known franchises like the "Super ...
Posted on 25 August 2015 | 1:46 pm
Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto says company
Nintendo has some of the most iconic game characters out there in its library and some of those were created by Shigeru Miyamoto. The legendary game designer has stated that Nintendo is open to movie adaptations, which is good news and bad news. The good ...
Posted on 23 August 2015 | 10:45 pm


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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Marketing consulting-meets-agency, Entropia, has launched three new services under its eCommerce arm MEDICI – MEDICI Live, MEDICI Engage, and MEDICI ROI to optimize each stage of the commerce funnel and maximize sales conversion for its clients.
Together with international technology partners mobile live video streaming Bambuser, end-to-end conversational commerce and shopper engagement platform Jumper.ai, and eCommerce selling solutions Split Dragon, the new eCommerce services are aimed at converting brands’ leads to customers – from demand generation to demand capture – helping brands stand out from the saturated Southeast Asian digital marketplace.
Considering consumers increasingly rely on live video to assist in their online shopping decision process, MEDICI Live aims to drive a digital brand experience by integrating live stream shopping and utilizing live selling via influencers or KOLs, an increasingly-popular sales strategy. Relevant to high context categories such as cosmetics, education, and infant nutrition as well as financial services, or even electronics, with this technology, viewers can become paying customers, all without missing the show.
As one of the top-ranked countries globally in mobile social media penetration, it is not surprising that about 80% of Malaysian consumers obtain information on products and services from social media. MEDICI Engage will leverage the power of conversational commerce and shopper engagement platform, to tap into social media’s massive, yet cost-effective reach.
Meanwhile, MEDICI ROI will help brands optimize shops on eCommerce platforms like Lazada and Shopee. Simply featuring products on marketplaces and spending money on direct marketing channels is not enough for brands to attract the evolving consumer, and through the service, MEDICI aids brands in improving product visibility, storefront design, and search ranking.
In the Malaysian context, considering there are more than 55,000 sellers across marketplaces in Malaysia alone, brands need more than deep discounting, free shipping, and special event campaigns to stand out from the crowded digital marketplace. And now, equipped with MEDICI’s data-driven approach, these new services and partnerships offer just the right measurable solutions for our clients looking to reshape their commerce transformation.Sourabh Agrawal, partner at Entropia
Tasked with leading MEDICI, Kelferd Hor, added, “Part of our mandate is to bring best-in-class technology partners on board to implement clients’ direct-to-consumer trade strategies – helping marketers up their ‘See Now Buy Now’ game, capitalize on impulse purchases and increase conversions. We’ve also made great strides in ensuring a seamless and consistent eCommerce experience for users across devices and platforms.”


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Bitcoin had a banner 2017, trading at up to around $20,000 per unit. So, hopes were high for its debut on the futures market in December. How is this cryptocurrency faring in the real world of financial regulation?
The online company has its fingers in just about every e-commerce enterprise; it's even caused many organizations to go out of business. Yet the U.S. government has not tried to stop Amazon's growth. Why's that?


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Chito miranda & neri naig full video scandal (rated, Watch the full video here! chito miranda and neri naig video scandal part 2 leaked chito miranda cries foul over 'scandal' by abs-cbnnews.com.Darlasauler.com: exclusive : photos of kris aquino's new, Anonymous, april 13, 2010 at 10:45 pm seriously, i don't like her taste in furniture. gold is too gaudy. well i never liked kris aquino anyway. she's too. Ara mina video scandal - world news, Kalabit (2003) ara mina, scandal of ara mina, haydenkho and ara mina scandal, behind the scenes with mar silverio featuring ara mina, venus, diosa ng kagandahan (2001.
Pinoy scandal - naughty pinay scandals - cebu & philippines, Pinoy scandal, being a celebrity is no easy task not only in hollywood but also in the philippines. the fans and the media are continuous pressures to deal with..Apple phone philippines - apple phones for sale - price, Apple phone philippines apple phones for sale at lazada.com.ph great 2015 price list good reviews effortless shopping! cash on delivery!. scandal | latest news philippines, Latest news philippines: scandal - journal.com.ph: the emb.y officials who were linked to the allegedual abuse of female overseas filipino workers.
Pinay celebrity online pco - celebrity photos and videos, Photos, videos and latest issues on pinay celebrities, models, actresses and famous female personalities in the philippines.


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If you’re still debating whether to grab a pre-order for the PlayStation VR, it might be too late, as it looks like pre-orders for the headset have completely sold out.
The final wave of PlayStation VR headsets went live yesterday and have sold out within minutes. According to GameSpot, a Gamestop representative has informed them that its entire allocation of PS VR units has sold out “within minutes.”
Sony has yet to confirm whether pre-orders have sold out, and at time of writing sites like GAME, Amazon.co.uk and Gamestop UK are still offering pre-orders, so this news could be limited to Gamestop’s US stores only.
The company has however revealed that there won’t be any more pre-order opportunities now, so if you’ve failed to get yourself a pre-order you’ll have to wait until launch on October 13 to grab yourself a headset.
If you’re still debating whether to get a headset, now might be a good time to grab one as it looks like they’re selling out fast.


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GRAND RAPIDS — Over the last few years, Cornerstone Architects Inc. PC has been riding the wave of business in the design and construction industry.
GRAND RAPIDS — The construction industry operates within a system of safety guidelines and rules intended to ensure that workers remain safe and that projects get built to the appropriate standards.
COPEMISH — On the afternoon of May 4, three days before an executive order by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer allowed construction to resume statewide, Allan O’Shea was “ready to go to the party.”
MUSKEGON — The line was 15 cars long on a recent Thursday evening, with employees shuffling between vehicles and the retail shop to scan IDs and run products out to patrons.
GRAND RAPIDS — Coming off of strong sales in 2019, executives at Sharpe Cars had plans to reinvest capital into the company’s showrooms and facilities.
GRAND RAPIDS — Real estate workers in West Michigan returned to in-person activities on May 7 after being halted for six weeks because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
MUSKEGON — As one of the only restaurants open in downtown Muskegon, Topshelf Liquor Bar & Pizza owner Jim Noel is sticking to a formula he knows well.
GRAND RAPIDS — Last year was “the best year ever” at Local Epicurean LLC, a maker of handmade pasta, sauces and specialty food products.
HUDSONVILLE — Nearly all of Suburban Inns Inc.’s more than 1,000 hotel rooms in West Michigan are sitting empty.
SPRING LAKE — Gary and Michelle Hanks have spent the last nine years building a niche business and bringing a variety of singer-songwriters and rising musicians to Seven Steps Up.


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Wrestling fans can tune in to 2K Games' Twitch channel this weekend for three separate sessions on WWE 2K14, including the public reveal of gameplay footage from the upcoming wrestling title, 2K announced today.
The WWE weekend begins this afternoon at 3 p.m. ET with a gameplay livestream. WWE 2K14 senior gameplay designer Bryan Williams and interactive marketing manager Aubrey Sitterson will play through a few matches and reveal two wrestlers from the game's roster.
Tomorrow, Aug. 17, the developers will broadcast live from WWE SummerSlam Axxess in Los Angeles, where Jim Ross, Jerry "The King" Lawler and WWE wrestler Damien Sandow will unveil the full roster for WWE 2K14's 30 Years of WrestleMania mode. That segment will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET. And tomorrow night at 9:45 p.m. ET, current WWE stars as well as wrestling legends will reflect on their favorite moments from WrestleManias past.
Check out our recent piece on 30 Years of WrestleMania for more details on the mode. You can also check out our hands-on impressions of WWE 2K14, which will be released Oct. 29 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.


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Germany Digital TV News (Digital Fernsehen Nachrichten Deutschland)
TeraVolt wins tender for development at ZDF Mediathek
Nov 19, 2020 – ZDF has awarded the contract for the development of its media library, for HbbTV and Smart TV, to TeraVolt. TeraVolt is to optimize ZDF Mediathek for TV portals as well as for platforms such as MagentaTV and Sky.
News categories: TeraVolt, ZDF, Tobias Fröhlich, Digital TV, Germany, HbbTV, OTT, Smart TV
Deutsche Telekom and RTL to expand addressable TV cooperation
Nov 17, 2020 – Deutsche Telekom and RTL have announced that RTL's streaming service, TV Now Premium, will be integrated with Deutsche Telekom’s Magenta TV, and the pair have also agreed to increase cooperation on advertising with a special focus on addressable TV.
News categories: Mediengruppe RTL, Deutsche Telekom, Advertising, Digital TV, Germany, IPTV, OTT
Fire TV has high penetration in Germany but falls behind on usage
Nov 9, 2020 – HbbTV, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung Tizen are today most often found in Germans' living rooms. However, when looking at actual usage, the importance of the TV platforms of Telekom, Vodafone and Sky is already becoming apparent.
News categories: TeraVolt, Android TV, Apps, Digital TV, Germany, HbbTV, Market Research, RDK, Set Top Box, Smart TV
M7 selects NAGRA content protection
Nov 4, 2020 – NAGRA (SIX:KUD.S) has announced that Canal+ Group has selected NAGRA content protection to secure the pay TV services of M7, the satellite operator it acquired in 2019, across new and legacy set-top boxes.
News categories: NAGRA, Canal+ Group, M7 Group, Thierry LeGrand, Jérôme Trift, Austria, Belgium, Content Protection, Czech Republic, Digital TV, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Romania, Satellite, Set Top Box, Slovakia
Q1-Q3 2020 Smart TV sales up 14% in Germany
Oct 22, 2020 – Around 4.1 million smart TV sets were sold in Germany in the first nine months of 2020 according to GfK Retail & Technology - almost 14 percent more than in the previous year (Q1-Q3 2019: 3.6 million).
News categories: Deutsche TV-Plattform, GfK, Carine Chardon, Digital TV, Germany, Market Research, Set Top Box, Smart TV
Deutsche TV-Plattform launches CI+ 2.0 initiative
Oct 21, 2020 – Deutsche TV-Plattform is launching an initiative to prepare a market launch of the new version of the CI Plus Interface - CI+ 2.0. CI Plus modules will be based on USB from version 2.0 onwards.
News categories: Deutsche TV-Plattform, Carine Chardon, CAM, Digital TV, Germany, Smart TV, Worldwide
Global SVOD revenue to grow to $100 billion
Sep 28, 2020 – According to Digital TV Research, global SVOD revenues will reach $100 billion by 2025, double the $50 billion recorded in 2019. SVOD revenues will be above $1 billion in 16 countries.
News categories: Digital TV Research, Simon Murray, China, Digital TV, France, Germany, Market Research, OTT, UK, USA, Worldwide
rlaxx TV launches on Smart TVs in Germany and UK
Sep 8, 2020 – rlaxx TV is available in Germany and the UK on smart TVs by Blaupunkt, Hisense, Hitachi, JVC, Medion, Metz, Sharp, Telefunken, Toshiba and Vestel. The content offer is free of charge for viewers.
News categories: rlaxx TV, Ronny Lutzi, Dirk Wittenborg, Apps, Digital TV, Germany, OTT, Smart TV, UK
ZEASN launches ad-supported live streaming service
Aug 28, 2020 – ZEASN has announced the launch of WhaleLive, an ad-supported streaming service on Philips Smart TVs providing consumers with free access to a wide selection of news, movies, kids, music, sports and entertainment channels.
News categories: ZEASN, Raymond Chung, Jason He, Apps, Austria, Digital TV, Germany, OTT, Smart TV, Switzerland, UK
- iQIYI International available for ZEASN-based smart devices
- Growing demand for smart displays driving smart speaker sales
- Forthnet becomes part of United Group
- Anevia powers Skymedia's SkyGo service in Mongolia
- UK marketers expect to spend more on Advanced TV ads in the next 12 months
- NetRange moves browser to the Cloud for low-cost Smart TVs
- Over 13 billion Smart Home devices in use by 2025
- MultiChoice picks Metrological to deliver OTT services on DStv
- Oregan Networks builds on Amlogic's Android TV reference platform
- 61% of US broadband households subscribe to two or more OTT services
- 14% of Australians plan to cancel pay TV as a result of the pandemic
- Eutelsat 7/8°W predominant broadcast position for Egyptian TV homes
- NEXTGEN TV launches on local TV in Norfolk, VA
- Universal Electronics to launch Apple TV remote control for MVPDs
- Nielsen unveils new ID resolution system
- TeraVolt wins tender for development at ZDF Mediathek
- Ocilion delivers content recommendations with XroadMedia
- Mirada helps izzi bring Disney+ to Mexico
- Bitmovin adds VVC encoding support
- Verimatrix introduces watermarking for HTML5


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- The VP in charge of Amazon’s ecommerce technology services has taken a sudden leave of absence.
- Sukumar Rathnam was Uber’s CTO previously.
- Amazon has lost a number of high-profile executives last year.
Sukumar Rathnam, an Amazon VP who was previously Uber’s chief technology officer, is taking an unexpected leave of absence, according to Insider.
Rathnam was most recently Amazon’s VP of eCommerce services, in charge of the retail giant’s backend technology. It was his second stint at Amazon, following nearly a decade in a retail VP role. He served as Uber’s CTO for just over a year, from 2020 to 2021.
According to an internal email obtained by Insider, Amazon’s SVP of e-commerce foundation, Dave Treadwell, informed his team on Friday that Rathnam would be taking a leave of absence “effective immediately.” Ramesh Manne will take over Rathnam’s responsibilities, according to Treadwell.
“Over the last 18 months, we thank Sukumar for his numerous significant contributions to raising the bar for talent while driving structure around eCS programs, goals, and metrics.” Sukumar has produced numerous results for Amazon during his time here. “I am confident that under Ramesh’s leadership, eCS will continue to scale and innovate on behalf of our customers,” Treadwell wrote in an email.
It’s unclear why Rathnam is stepping down or what his plans are for the future. Rathnam left Uber after a disagreement with the company’s product chief, Sundeep Jain, as previously reported by Insider.
Rathnam’s departure adds to Amazon’s growing list of senior executive departures. Some of the company’s most visible executives, including retail CEO Dave Clark and communications chief Jay Carney, left last year. Since Andy Jassy took over as CEO in 2021, dozens more have left. Rathnam did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Amazon’s spokesperson, Brad Glasser, told Insider that the number of VPs and their tenure at the company have both increased since July 2021.
“We continue to have strong retention and continuity among our senior leaders, and any suggestion otherwise would be misleading,” Glasser said.
It also takes place during an unusually difficult return-to-work process for Amazon. Many Amazon employees have publicly and privately expressed their opposition to RTO over the last six months, prompting an internal petition and a public walkout. However, Amazon tightened its RTO policy, requiring employees to relocate closer to their assigned offices or face what Amazon calls a “voluntary resignation.” Employees who do not come into the office at least three times per week may be fired, according to Jassy.


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A meeting was held with executives from a manufacturing company that produces cargo convoys.
The Governor of Guanajuato, Miguel Marquez Marquez, is showcasing the State with the goal to bring new investment for the automotive sector.
A meeting was held with executives from a manufacturing company that produces cargo convoys for both light vehicles and light commercial vehicles.
This company is currently maintaining 1,200 jobs worldwide and has production plants in Turkey, China, United States y and the State of Mexico, which coordinates four business units: the automotive sector, the railroad system, the service sector and the electronic vehicles division.
Nowadays, there are 220 companies from the automotive sector In Guanajuato, which have invested nearly $13 billion and have created almost 84,000 jobs.
You might also be interested in:
Substance abuse has long been a public health problem worldwide. Chile is no exception: according to the last SENDA survey (National Drug & Alcohol Prevention Agency) from December 2017 (the survey is conducted every 2 years), in the last 6 years marijuana consumption has increased from 4.6% in 2010 to 14.5% in 2016, showing a 215% increase in prevalence, particularly among young adults - 19 to 34 years of age for both genders.
As people in today’s world have less trust in their political and social institutions, many expect business leaders to fill this gap.


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Elon Musk’s Billions In Tesla Stock Options Could Ironically Disqualify Tesla From The S&P 500
We have documented over the last month the billions of dollars in compensation Tesla CEO Elon Musk has received as a result of – not production goals – but compensation awards tied to metrics like market cap, EBITDA, and basically the company’s stock price going up.
Days ago we noted Musk had earned $9 billion in compensation in just 3 years, despite the ongoing mystery of Tesla’s historic stock rise and the company running a $6 billion accumulated deficit at the same time.
Much of the company’s recent stock rise has been attributed to chatter about the company being placed in the S&P 500 index. When Tesla was snubbed for inclusion in the index last Friday, the stock fell more than 20% from its highs. And now, as Charley Grant of the Wall Street Journal points out, it may be Musk’s compensation that disqualifies Tesla from future inclusion.
New expenses associated with GAAP accounting for Musk’s compensation could threaten the four consecutive quarters of profitability that the company needs to qualify for inclusion into the S&P 500. Those rules state that there must be a GAAP profit in the most recent quarter and cumulative profitability over the previous four quarters, Grant writes.
Tesla had acknowledged some of Musk’s bonuses in the past, but they had been so small in nature that they allowed the company to still post a small GAAP profit. Now, with the company’s market capitalization having risen almost 10x off its 2 year lows, it could wind up costing Tesla shareholders more.
“A third-quarter net loss of just $226 million would put Tesla in the red over the past four quarters. Given the size of the options awards and the recent gains in Tesla’s share price, a billion-dollar quarterly compensation expense is within the realm of possibility.”
We noted last week that in a matter of less than 36 months after Musk’s pay plan was put into place – a pay plan that had a 10 year runway – the CEO has amazingly hit milestones that have qualified him for billions of dollars in stock options.
With the stock’s recent performance, Musk qualifies for another 8.44 million in stock options, which he will add to the 16.9 million in options he unlocked in may and July, we noted.
His latest tranche was unlocked after Tesla’s 6-month and 30-day average trailing market value both exceeded $200 billion. Another performance goal — logging a combined $3 billion of adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization topping $3 billion over four quarters — was achieved as of June 30, a filing shows.
Many who were critical of Musk’s compensation plan said it offered little incentive for the company to reach profitability, only to grow in size of market cap. Back in 2018, even the New York Times called Musk hitting his pay plan goals “laughably impossible”.
But instead, Musk did it. And he did it in less than three years. And for a stunning comparison, while Musk was taking in $9 billion in compensation, Tesla was adding to a $6 billion accumulated earnings deficit.


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How Much Does It Take to be Rich? The Wealthy Say At Least $5 Million
How much money does it take to be considered rich? It turns out that onemillion dollars just doesn't cut it, anymore.
In fact, rich today requires at least five million dollars, according to anew survey of affluent households, defined as those with investable assets of500-thousand dollars or more. When asked how much money it takes to be rich,45 percent chose five million, 25 percent selected 25 million, and eightpicked 100 million, according to the research by Millionaire Corner, a newlylaunched website powered by Spectrem Group. Only 22 percent said one milliondollars is enough to be rich.
2007 Online Holiday Shopping Season Surpasses $29 Billion in Sales, Up 19Percent Versus Year Ago
comScore has released its final update of holiday season e-commercespending for the 2007 holiday season. 29-point-two billion dollars was spentonline during the holiday season, marking a 19-percent gain versus the sameperiod last year.
Video games, consoles and accessories was the fastest growing onlineretail category, jumping 129 percent versus the 2006 holiday season, withpopular consoles like Nintendo Wii (wee) and Sony PlayStation and games likeHalo Three driving strong sales in the category. Furniture, appliances andequipment, event tickets, and consumer electronics also experienced aboveaverage growth.
1 Million Youth in America with Hearing Loss May be Left Behind, NationalSurvey Finds; Even 'Minor' Hearing Loss Causes Major Problems
An estimated one-point-four million youth have hearing loss, but only12 percent wear hearing devices, according to a national study released by theBetter Hearing Institute.
Untreated hearing loss among young people was shown to lead to social,emotional, behavioral, and learning difficulties, according to the study.Three out of four parents indicated their child experienced "minor" to"serious" problems due to their hearing loss. The most serious problemsexperienced were social skills, grades in school and language development,emotional health, relationships with peers, self-esteem, and relationshipswith family.
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SOURCE PR Newswire


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Former President Donald Trump’s proposed 10 p.c tariff would increase taxes on American customers by greater than $300 billion a yr—a tax enhance rivaling those proposed by President Biden. If carried out, the numerous commerce tax hike would set off retaliatory tax will increase on U.S. exports.
Worldwide commerce is important to america. Every year, People as an entire buy extra items and providers than they produce. By the identical token, we save lower than wanted to meet our funding alternatives. Worldwide commerce bridges the hole. We buy the extra items and providers from overseas whereas the remainder of the world lends us the cash to take action by investing in U.S. bonds and companies.
Trump’s proposal would intentionally throw a wrench in that course of. In 2022, we purchased greater than $3.2 trillion value of products from different nations; imposing a brand new 10 p.c tax on our purchases would increase U.S. taxes by greater than $300 billion. It might create what Trump describes as a “ring across the U.S. economic system” to discourage international firms from promoting to U.S. customers beneath the unfounded hope of boosting home manufacturing.
However moderately than enhance home manufacturing, the brand new tax would hurt the U.S. economic system by way of numerous doable channels.
One is thru larger costs. Greater enter prices for companies result in decreased manufacturing, and in flip, decrease wages and earnings. They will additionally result in larger shopper costs, which scale back the worth of our incomes as a result of we will’t afford to buy as a lot.
One other is thru foreign money appreciation. A stronger greenback would assist offset the value will increase for U.S. customers, however it will make it more durable for exporters to promote their items overseas. Once more, the result’s decrease incomes for employees and enterprise homeowners.
No matter channel the tariffs take, People turn out to be poorer. In flip, the precise income collected by the federal government can be lower than $300 billion as a result of different tax revenues would fall.
Utilizing Tax Basis’s basic equilibrium mannequin, we estimate a brand new 10 p.c tariff on all imports would cut back the dimensions of the U.S. economic system by 0.7 p.c and get rid of 505,000 full-time equal jobs.
Sadly, that might be the tip of the iceberg. Imposing an across-the-board tariff would threaten the whole system of worldwide commerce we presently take pleasure in.
U.S. exports totaled $2.1 billion in 2022. If the remainder of the world responded to the brand new tariff in type, it will quantity to $200 billion of latest taxes for international governments. We estimate that might additional scale back U.S. GDP by 0.4 p.c and get rid of one other 322,000 full-time equal jobs.
Taken collectively, we discover Trump’s proposal of a ten p.c commerce tax matched with in-kind retaliation would shrink the U.S. economic system by 1.1 p.c and threaten greater than 825,000 U.S. jobs.
Indiana College economist Ahmad Lashkaripour estimates a international tariff warfare would, on common, shrink a rustic’s GDP by 2.8 p.c—he finds america would expertise a GDP drop of 1.1 p.c, whereas smaller nations extra depending on imports would expertise a lot harsher declines.
We all know from many years of expertise and proof that tariffs scale back employment, productiveness, and output. The previous 5 years have demonstrated that actuality all too nicely.
Throughout his time period, Trump imposed practically $80 billion of tariffs on metal, aluminum, photo voltaic panels, washing machines, and hundreds of merchandise from China. President Biden has largely maintained them. The outcome? They’ve destroyed U.S. manufacturing jobs, harmed U.S. farmers, raised costs for U.S. customers, and alienated our allies—all with out altering China’s unfair commerce insurance policies or reviving protected home industries.
It seems the lesson has not been discovered. Policymakers ought to embrace the system whereby U.S. producers can promote their items and providers to customers the world over and U.S. customers can entry an plentiful number of items and providers produced the world over. Trump’s commerce tax proposal threatens to upend this method—and we’d all be poorer in consequence.
Keep knowledgeable on the tax insurance policies impacting you.
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text: We already know that Nokia is working on dual-sim version of Lumia 720 to be released next year. Today, Evleaks posted a new information about this upcoming Lumia dual-sim device. First, the device will be running on Windows Phone Blue which will be marketed under Windows Phone 8.1 brand. Also the device is codenamed ‘Moneypenny’. Previously, it was leaked that two Lumia devices running WP 8.1 codenamed Goldfinger and Moneypenny are in the works at Nokia.


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In the past, Foot Locker had to figure out how to market products from companies like Adidas and Nike after it had already been created. Now, CMO Jed Berger and Foot Locker are working more closely with vendors to develop product exclusively for their stores, using customer data and insight from Berger’s marketing team that its vendor partners don’t have access to.
Fashion resellers do not have access to the same tools and strategies that brands and retailers can employ, like collaborating on a new product or dropping a hyped collection. Instead, they have to turn to other strategies to draw attention and bring in new customers. Celebrity closet sales are one way that resellers are making that happen.
It’s not Amazon’s existence or cut-throat competitive strategies that have sealed the fate of other retailers that are losing market share, like JCPenney, Bed Bath & Beyond and Sears. Instead, it was a series of executional and strategic missteps over a critical window of time during which today’s better-equipped competitors were taking action in areas like e-commerce and logistics as well as experiences and services.
Store fulfillment for online orders is something Target has been investing in heavily. Through a combination of ship-from-store, same day delivery powered by Shipt and in-store order pick-up and drive-up options, Target stores now fulfill 80% of online orders. As CEO Brian Cornell told investors during the company’s first-quarter results for 2019, it’s an operation that’s profitable for Target.
Lululemon is seeing positive results from its investments in new categories like men's, e-commerce capabilities and international growth. During its first quarter earnings report on Wednesday, the company saw revenue increase 20% over the same period last year, to $782 million.
Retailers like Ulta, Stitch Fix, Sephora and Wayfair are betting on tools that make it easier for customers to search for and test out products, thus providing them with more data about how customers decide on a product in order to improve their personalization efforts.
Showfields, the experiential rotating retail space in New York City, opened on Tuesday its fourth floor, which had been under construction since the store’s opening in March. Rather than dedicate the fourth floor to more retail space, Showfields designed it to be a coworking space.
For custom apparel brand Indochino, the preference for proprietary extends beyond its products. The 12-year-old, Vancouver-based business does most of its media buying in-house, and has for most of the company's history. In 2017, it built its own attribution system to better determine the effectiveness of different marketing channels and unite online and offline data. And it operates off of its own proprietary point-of-sale system that it's installed in all 45 of its showrooms across the U.S. and Canada.
Loyalty program members are often a retailer’s most valuable customers. So to get the most value out of these customers, retailers are analyzing their purchase behaviors, including how responsive they are to certain email promotions and other marketing messages.
At its investor day yesterday, CVS Health announced that it plans to open more HealthHubs -- which are redesigned drugstores that include more health services and products -- in Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Southern New Jersey and Tampa this year. By the end of 2021, CVS Health expects to have 1,500 HealthHubs.
While startups brands shift their marketing spend to physical catalogs to break out of crowded digital platforms, Ikea is taking its print catalog to Pinterest. With a shoppable catalog built into Pinterest boards, Ikea hopes to drive both awareness and conversions.
Compared to its biggest competitor Sam’s Club, Costco has been slow to push features like buy online, pickup in-store, as well as digitize the in-store experience. As the company starts to prioritize its e-commerce business, however, that's starting to change.
J.Crew and Gap are looking to spin off Madewell and Old Navy respectively, in an attempt to generate some short-term cash infusion and help their parent companies regain a sense of focus. But both of their recent earnings reports show that, even though these soon to be independent companies have been reporting solid growth for the past couple of years, they still have a tough road ahead.
Dollar General is bringing more of its logistics capabilities in-house, seeking more control over its operations as it expands to the fresh and frozen food categories.
When Topshop announced last week that it was filing for bankruptcy in the U.S. and liquidating all U.S. stores, it should not have come as a surprise.
Join us at the Modern Retail DTC Summit, where we’ll dive deep into what it means to be a DTC brand, speaking with leaders in the space about how their business models have shifted and what they’re focusing on now.Book Passes


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South Africa’s Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government, big businesses and South Africans need to buy locally produced goods and services, and he made his case for that, at the annual Proudly SA, Buy Local summit in Johannesburg.
“Our country is invested in establishing a strong manufacturing base. We are pursuing a path of industrial expansion so that we may extract greater value from our natural resources so that we may export more, and this we will be able to do, and through that we will be able to create jobs so that we can sustain high levels of economic growth and by so doing we will be able to ensure that our people get a much better life.”
This annual summit is aimed at promoting local manufacturing and businesses to encourage an increase in the uptake of local goods and services in the country.
It is also a call to action for ordinary consumers and procurement decision makers to increase their uptake of local products to ensure support of local job creation and stimulation of the local economy.
Small businesses and local manufacturers and enterprises have put up stalls to showcase their goods and services to the dozens of buyers and potential investors.
Proudly SA believes that one of the major ways to boost the South African economy is having confidence in what the country produces.


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The head of the UK’s Financial Ombudsman Service has dismissed critics and defended its approach to handling customer disputes after the body was accused of in effect forcing lenders out of business by encouraging huge volumes of complaints.
In an interview with the Financial Times, chief executive Caroline Wayman said the organisation had always “carefully investigated complaints as we are required to do”, and spent “considerable time” explaining its decisions to affected companies.
The service is designed to adjudicate on consumer and small business complaints about financial firms, but has been accused by some in the industry of being able to regulate companies out of existence by setting new precedents for loans that were previously within the rules.
In its annual results in July, subprime lender Amigo Loans put aside more than £100m to deal with potential complaints, citing the ombudsman’s “evolving interpretation of appropriate lending decisions”. James Benamor, Amigo’s outspoken founder, has pledged to take the FOS to court if shareholders vote him back on to the board later this month.
One person close to Amigo said: “The behaviour is encouraging a reluctance to lend money to those who need it because firms don’t know the regulatory environment they’re going to encounter at some point in the future.”
A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Alternative Lending earlier this year highlighted “significant unease” about the FOS among non-bank lenders. Peter Reynolds, director of investor relations at Non-Standard Finance, told the APPG that the industry was “under siege from [an ombudsman] that is applying its own interpretation of FCA rules”.
The majority of Britain’s payday lenders have already collapsed or closed over the past three years due to the volume of complaints. In addition to compensating customers, firms must also pay the FOS a £550 fee for each case which is investigated after the first 25 every year, charges which provide the majority of the organisation’s funding.
Ms Wayman said “we very much recognise the impact [we] can have on businesses”, but added “it remains our job to weigh up all the evidence and decide what is fair”.
The FOS has spent much of the past decade dealing with mis-sold payment protection insurance, a scandal which cost the UK banking sector more than £50bn. The organisation was expected to shrink after a deadline for PPI complaints passed last year but has recently seen an influx in new complaints linked to coronavirus.
Ms Wayman said she was particularly concerned about a rise in the number of consumers in financial distress. She said there was already a “noticeable” increase in messages from people who had fallen behind on loan repayments or were struggling with unaffordable debts, despite the fact banks had offered payment holidays on many products and the furlough scheme had delayed any significant increase in unemployment.
“We do think we will get ever busier,” she added.
The service has previously been criticised over its handling of more complex disputes, including a damning 2018 documentary by Channel 4 in which employees admitted rushing through cases to meet targets and ruling in favour of banks because it was easier than persuading them to pay compensation.
Ms Wayman stressed that an independent review concluded that the FOS provided “an effective and essential service”, but said it had “continued to build our expertise” since the criticism.
However, she acknowledged there were still shortcomings in some areas, including a backlog of cases and long waiting times for consumers to receive decisions.
“We’re still keen to reduce the waiting times . . . We’re making good progress but of course we have to make sure the quality of our service is very high,” she said.


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On the cusp of E3 we reported a rumour, from Japanese newspaper Nikkei, that Nintendo was planning to announce a bigger 3DS, which was subsequently denied by Nintendo. It wasn't the first time that talk of a 3DS redesign had surfaced, with previous rumours of an amended system that would include a second circle pad. Based on recent comments from Shigeru Miyamoto in an interview with IGN, and the absence of any announcements so far, it's conceivable that Nintendo will decide to stick with the current model in the foreseeable future.
When asked directly about whether a new 3DS model was in the works, Miyamoto was clear in his answer.
I really feel like I'm satisfied with the 3DS hardware as it is. I feel like it's the best for this generation. What we're thinking about right now is probably going to be for a future generation of handheld.
On the issue of whether a second circle pad is needed, Miyamoto pointed out that the gyroscope can provide the functionality needed for those controls: let's not forget the Circle Pad Pro, either. The fact that Shigeru Miyamoto denies the likelihood of a redesigned 3DS doesn't mean it's not secretly in Nintendo's plans, and the company is always thinking about future consoles and innovation.
If there's never a 3DS redesign, will the existing setup satisfy you for the handheld's whole lifespan?