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CUNA, NAFCU Dispute Fed Finding That Interchange Income Unchanged for Exempt Shops
Credit union trade associations are disputing the results of a Federal Reserve report that found debit interchange income hasn’t decreased for institutions with fewer than $10 billion in assets since the Durbin amendment exempted them from caps mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act.
The Fed said Thursday in a release that data it collected from payment card networks reveal that all of the networks provided a higher average interchange fee to exempt issuers than non-exempt issuers in 2012.
The average interchange fee per signature debit transaction for exempt issuers was slightly more than double that for non-exempt issuers. The average interchange fee per PIN debit transaction for exempt issuers was 1.3 times greater than that for non-exempt issuers. Exempt issuers received $7.4 billion in total debit card interchange revenue in 2012, compared with approximately $5.3 billion in debit card interchange revenue in 2009.
That’s not what members are telling CUNA and NAFCU, according to releases from the two organizations. Both groups lobbied against the interchange cap, saying that even exempt institutions would receive less interchange income due to market forces.
NAFCU said in a release it has found that, for its members, the median interchange fee – on its face and as a percentage of transaction amount – has decreased since the rule took effect. “Credit unions continue to tell us that they are feeling the pinch of this unfortunate rule in both loss of fees and increased compliance burden,” said NAFCU President/CEO Fred Becker. CUNA said it also has heard a different story from its members, and said it is speaking with Fed officials to learn more about the report, which was gathered from survey responses from payment card networks and 102 small depository institutions. The number of credit unions that participated in the survey is not apparent from the information released, CUNA said.
"These results are welcome in the short term for credit unions across the country, but we continue to have grave concerns about debit interchange income for credit unions over the longer term, and question whether these results will stand over time," President/CEO Bill Cheney said. The Fed said the survey also revealed that most small issuers said they did not incur significant compliance costs to meet network exclusivity provisions of the rule. Only 16% of respondents said they incurred compliance costs to enable two unaffiliated debit card networks on each debit card.
Those issuers that incurred compliance costs reported an average initial cost of 72 cents per card and average projected ongoing annual costs of $1.19 per card to come into compliance. Only three of the small issuers that responded to the survey said their cardholders complained of having their debit cards discriminated against by merchants, the report said, and the results did not clarify if the complaints were directly due to the fact that the cards were exempt from the interchange fee standard.
The Government Accountability Office and the Federal Trade Commission have also reported that exempt institutions have not experienced large declines in interchange income since Regulation II took effect.


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Emirates’ African network will be boosted to 15 destinations when Luanda, Angola restarts on October 1, 2020, the UAE-based airline said in a statement.
The statement says Emirates’ gradual and safe restoration of its network is guided by growing demand in passenger flights across the globe. Flights to Luanda will initially operate once a week on Thursdays.
“Emirates flight EK793 will depart Dubai at 0945hrs, arriving in Luanda at 1430hrs,” reads the statement. “EK794 will depart Luanda at 1825hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0510hrs the next day.”
Booking of tickets can be done on emirates.com, the Emirates App, Emirates sales offices, via travel agents as well as online travel agents. The UAE flag carrier airline says its customers can stopover or travel to Dubai as the city has re-opened for international business and leisure visitors.
To ensure the safety of travelers, visitors, and the community, Covid-19 PCR tests have been made mandatory for all inbound and transit passengers arriving to Dubai (and the UAE), including UAE citizens, residents and tourists, irrespective of the country they are coming from.
The airline says it is covering Covid-19-related medical expenses for customers, should they be diagnosed with the respiratory illness during their travel while they are away from home.
“This cover is immediately effective for customers flying on Emirates until 31 October 2020 (first flight to be completed on or before 31 October 2020), and is valid for 31 days from the moment they fly the first sector of their journey,” reads the statement.
“This means Emirates customers can continue to benefit from the added assurance of this cover, even if they travel onwards to another city after arriving at their Emirates destination.”
The airline has also implemented a comprehensive set of measures at every step of the customer journey to ensure the safety of its customers and employees on the ground and in the air, including the distribution of complimentary hygiene kits containing masks, gloves, hand sanitiser and antibacterial wipes to all customers.
In Uganda, passenger flights are still banned apart from special cases like repatriating Ugandans who had been stranded abroad due to the Covid-19 lockdown.

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WHITE PLAINS – A local law that would
prevent the sale of infant and children’s products that include
harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene, lead, mercury, antimony,
arsenic, cadium and cobalt awaits action by the Westchester County executive.
The board of legislators has unanimously adopted the measure.
“The toxic chemicals in children’s products have been linked to a host of serious medical problems including learning and developmental disabilities, asthma, pediatric and other cancer, infertility, obesity and more,” said Majority Leader Catherine Borgia. “Until this bill is signed into law, Westchester children remain at risk.”
Once enacted, the county Department of Consumer Protection would undertake a 12-month public education campaign to alert retailers of which chemicals are harmful and then with random spot checks of products already on shelves.
Similar legislation has passed in Albany County and is being considered in Dutchess, Onondaga and Suffolk counties.


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MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--Australia's largest retailer Woolworths Ltd. (WOW.AU) reported a 9.6% rise in fourth-quarter sales on year and upgraded its full-year growth forecast Tuesday.
Woolworths upgraded its full-year net profit growth guidance to 25%-27%, up from its previous guidance of 20%-24%.
Analysts were already above that range, with Citi expecting 29% compared to a consensus of around 28% growth.
At 0030 GMT, Woolworths shares were down 2.1% at A$28.48 suggesting the market may have been looking for a bigger upgrade with the stock rallying in the lead up to the result.
The Sydney-based company said sales for the three months to June 24 rose to A$9.83 billion from A$8.96 billion a year ago.
Comparable sales for its key Australian food and liquor business rose 8.2% on year, improving on 6.6% growth in the third quarter, and 6.4% in the second quarter.
The big jump in growth suggests Woolworths continues to gain market share from its distracted rival Coles Group Ltd. (CGJ.AU), which last week agreed to a takeover by conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd. (WES.AU).
Coles comparable sales for its Australian food and liquor business rose just 0.8% on year in the third quarter.
-By Susan Murdoch, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9671-4393; email@example.com -Edited by Graham Morgan
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 09, 2007 20:33 ET (00:33 GMT)


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On display will be the company’s latest range of merchandising display and staging units, originally launched last year.
This year’s range has been updated to feature 16 individual units designed and manufactured for showing off garden centre plants.
The display structures include benching for bedding and houseplants, trellis panels and dividers, product display tables, promotional end units, and hanging basket trees. In addition to the standard layouts, M&M Timber also offers a bespoke design and manufacturing service, and will carry out on-site installation if required. Individual display units can be custom made to order in any configuration.
Managing director Nigel Poyner said: "I attended my first Glee exhibition when I was just 19 years old and it’s still a favourite of mine. It’s always a great event for meeting new customers from the retail trade and, incredibly, this where we received our first enquiries for display benches and staging, which prompted us to introduce our initial range."
Midlands based Webbs of Wychbold garden centre was among the first to place an order with M&M Timber and last year and took delivery of 350 merchandising units to replace their existing display structures.
Meanwhile, investment in energy efficient plant and machinery, environmentally friendly LED lighting and an employee skills development scheme are part of M&M Timber’s plans to consolidate its place in the specialist timber products sector.
Forest Garden bought the company 18 monthsago, adding investment and administrative infrastructure.New manufacturing plant is to include a biomass processing facility and new timber chipping machinery for a proposed heat initiative scheme to fuel the company’s timber drying kilns. The company may be installing a third biomass operated kiln early next year.
Following a recent survey on green issues at the Midlands manufacturing centre, further investment is to be made available for installing energy saving LED lighting throughout.
A new employee skills development programme is designed to promote active job progression with the emphasis on building and developing a skilled and settled workforce. The programme will involve supervisors, team leaders, health and safety training, with NVQ qualifications in administration, warehousing and distribution.
A newly built on-site staff training centre includes a dedicated facility for employee induction programmes.
Poyner added: "The new developments are the most significant in our company’s 30 year history and will equip the company with a more dynamic stance and stronger market presence in the years ahead. The emphasis will be on further investment in technology and manufacturing processes and, perhaps more importantly, in building a loyal workforce with the skills and aptitude to take us forward."


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Cold storage Refrigerated warehouse capacity increasing
Aug 1, 2008 12:00 PM
Public Refrigerated warehouse (PRW) storage capacity is increasing around the world, while in the US, PRWs continue to dominate the overall cold storage industry. That is the conclusion of separate reports from the International Association of Refrigerated Ware-houses (IARW) and the US Department of Agriculture.
IARW's 2008 Global Cold Storage Capacity Report, which includes data collected from more than 40 countries, suggests a worldwide trend toward increasing cold storage capacity, driven by a greater reliance on the cold chain to meet growing trade and consumption rates of perishable products. The study pegged overall global capacity at approximately 8,749.97 million cubic feet.
Areas showing the greatest increases were France (57%), Germany (92%), Netherlands (75%), Spain (253%), and Brazil (66%). Total global capacity for these countries was determined to be 6,350.32 million cubic feet, a 15% increase from 2006.
The IARW has published the report, the only resource for worldwide cold storage capacity statistics, every two years since 1998.
“The cold storage industry is continuing to grow rapidly around the world,” said IARW president and CEO Bill Hudson. “Additionally, we are seeing more and more companies choose to rely on the expertise of the third-party logistics industry to meet their storage and distribution needs.”
Data in the Global Cold Storage Capacity Report pertains primarily to public refrigerated warehouse capacity. However, the definition of public and private warehouses differs from country to country.
In North America, PRWs are defined as a warehouse operated by a firm engaged in the business of storing goods for hire. Outside of North America, the definition of “public” can mean something entirely different. For example, in China “public” indicates government ownership.
This dichotomy of definitions can have a significant impact on the data and, ultimately, must be taken into account when comparing national markets, Hudson said. This also makes collecting the data more challenging.
It is also important to note that today's dynamic distribution logistics systems rely on information technology, cross-docking, and other methods to achieve higher velocity and reduced storage times, he added. As a result, growth in the use of PRW space is even greater than it appears based on a straightforward review of capacities.
The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service recently released its biennial summary of cold storage capacity in the US. It shows that the PRW segment continues to dominate the overall cold storage industry, with general PRW capacity totaling 2.50 billion gross cubic feet last year, accounting for 75% of the general cold storage.
Other report findings:
States that experienced the most significant gains in capacity: Illinois (35%), Arkansas (32%), and Delaware (26%).
Public general storage capacity increased 3% since 2005, and is 22% above the capacity of 10 years ago.
Private and semiprivate general warehouse capacity totaled 822 million gross cubic feet, or 25% of the general gross refrigerated space.
Today, PRWs operate nearly 1.68 billion cubic feet more than their private counterparts.
The complete USDA report can be accessed at http://www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/todayrpt/rfwh0108.pdf
Find public refrigerated warehouses that offer local distribution—access Refrigerated Transporter's Public Refrigerated Warehouse & Distribution Directory.
© 2013 Penton Media Inc.


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Medicare doesn’t cover hearing aids. This is the one thing about hearing loss that never fails to surprise people new to the field. The fact that Medicare doesn’t cover hearing aids even for the most severe and disabling hearing loss is even more shocking. Despite universal agreement among health care practitioners that untreated hearing loss can lead to serious mental and physical problems in older adults, Medicare won’t support the single best treatment: hearing aids.
The Good News. On December 16, Congress passed a bipartisan bill to cover hearing aids and hearing audiology services. HR 3 allows the Federal government to negotiate prescription drug prices and use these savings to cover the costs of hearing, dental and vision services. This is an issue that the Hearing Loss Association of America and other groups have been advocating for for years. In addition to covering hearing aids, the bill permits reclassifying audiologists as practitioners under Medicare, qualifying them for reimbursement. The audiology professional groups — the AAA, ADA, and ASHA — urged the Senate to adopt the measures. HLAA praised the action as a “significant step forward.”
The Caveats. While celebrating the passage of HR 3 as a historic achievement, HLAA urged caution. The bill must be passed by the Senate, where there is significant opposition to negotiating drug prices. “Senators, as well as the Trump Administration, are exploring other ways to lower the cost of prescription drugs,” HLAA said in a statement. “Whether these alternatives will also include hearing aid coverage under Medicare remains to be seen.”
Don’t Wait to Get Hearing Aids. The sooner you treat hearing loss, the more effective the treatment is likely to be. So don’t wait for Congress to get its act together and actually make this provision law.
The National Institute on Aging notes that untreated hearing loss can lead to depression and isolation, as well as cognitive decline and dementia. Hearing problems are also also associated with greater risk of falls, which can be devastating for a vulnerable adult. Medicare doesn’t cover vision or dental care either, meaning that older adults may be on their own financially when it comes to three components of healthy aging. It’s a short-sighted policy and one that may finally be rectified.
If you can’t afford hearing aids sold through private audiologists, alternatives exist. Consider the big box stores like Costco, which sells brand name hearing aids at lower prices than independents. Other stores like Best Buy, Sam’s Club and Walgreens also sell hearing aids, although they cannot legally be called “hearing aids” without FDA approval. Many insurers sell affiliated brands of hearing aids at a much lower cost than you would pay privately. United HealthCare, for instance, sells hearing aids through hiHealth Innovations. HearingTracker allows you to compare hearing aid prices in a geographical area, Readers, please share other alternatives to high-priced hearing aids in the comments section.
Consumer electronics products are good starter hearing devices (Don’t go too cheap.) In addition, sometime in 2020 the FDA will issue its regulations for over-the-counter hearing aids, making access to FDA approved hearing aids cheaper and more accessible.
For now, it’s great that Congress was able to take a little time out from impeachment to get this important bill on the agenda.
For more about living with hearing loss, read my books: Smart Hearing and Shouting Won’t Help.


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Data visualisation and business intelligence company Domo (NASDAQ:DOMO) reported results in line with analyst expectations in Q1 FY2023 quarter, with revenue up 23.9% year on year to $74.4 million. Guidance for the full year also exceeded estimates, coming in at $317 million at the midpoint. Domo made a GAAP loss of $32.8 million, down on its loss of $18.1 million, in the same quarter last year.
Is now the time to buy Domo? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Domo (DOMO) Q1 FY2023 Highlights:
- Revenue: $74.4 million (small beat)
- EPS (non-GAAP): -$0.23 vs analyst estimates of -$0.40
- Revenue guidance for Q2 2023 is $76.5 million at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting
- The company reconfirmed revenue guidance for the full year, at $317 million at the midpoint
- Free cash flow of $407 thousand, up from negative free cash flow of $643 thousand in previous quarter
- Gross Margin (GAAP): 76.2%, up from 74.7% same quarter last year
“In today's environment, business agility remains as important as ever," said John Mellor, CEO, Domo.
Founded by Josh James after selling his former business Omniture to Adobe, Domo (NASDAQ:DOMO) provides business intelligence software that allows managers to access and visualize critical business metrics in real-time, using their smartphones.
Organizations generate a lot of data that is stored in silos, often in incompatible formats, making it slow and costly to extract actionable insights, which in turn drives demand for modern cloud-based data analysis platforms that can efficiently analyze the silo-ed data.
As you can see below, Domo's revenue growth has been strong over the last year, growing from quarterly revenue of $60 million, to $74.4 million.
This quarter, Domo's quarterly revenue was once again up a very solid 23.9% year on year. Quarter on quarter the revenue increased by $4.47 million in Q1, which was in line with Q4 2022. This steady quarter-on-quarter growth shows the company is able to maintain its steady growth trajectory.
Guidance for the next quarter indicates Domo is expecting revenue to grow 21.7% year on year to $76.5 million, in line with the 22.8% year-over-year increase in revenue the company had recorded in the same quarter last year. Ahead of the earnings results the analysts covering the company were estimating sales to grow 22.1% over the next twelve months.
In volatile times like these we look for robust businesses with strong pricing power. Unknown to most investors, this company is one of the highest-quality software companies in the world, and their software products have been the default standard in critical industries for decades. The result is an impressive business that is up an incredible 18,152% since the IPO. You can find it on our platform for free.
What makes the software as a service business so attractive is that once the software is developed, it typically shouldn't cost much to provide it as an ongoing service to customers. Domo's gross profit margin, an important metric measuring how much money there is left after paying for servers, licenses, technical support and other necessary running expenses was at 76.2% in Q1.
That means that for every $1 in revenue the company had $0.76 left to spend on developing new products, marketing & sales and the general administrative overhead. Significantly up from the last quarter, this is a good gross margin that allows companies like Domo to fund large investments in product and sales during periods of rapid growth and be profitable when they reach maturity.
Key Takeaways from Domo's Q1 Results
With a market capitalization of $1 billion Domo is among smaller companies, but its more than $83.9 million in cash and the fact it is operating close to free cash flow break-even put it in a robust financial position to invest in growth.
We enjoyed seeing Domo’s improve their gross margin materially this quarter. And we were also glad to see good revenue growth. Overall, this quarter's results seemed pretty positive and shareholders can feel optimistic. The company is flat on the results and currently trades at $30.14 per share.
Should you invest in Domo right now? It is important that you take into account its valuation and business qualities, as well as what happened in the latest quarter. We look at that in our actionable report which you can read here, it's free.
One way to find opportunities in the market is to watch for generational shifts in the economy. Almost every company is slowly finding itself becoming a technology company and facing cybersecurity risks and as a result, the demand for cloud-native cybersecurity is skyrocketing. This company is leading a massive technological shift in the industry and with revenue growth of 70% year on year and best-in-class SaaS metrics it should definitely be on your radar.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.


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Starting following year, specific Walmart purchases are going to virtually soar to your door.
The merchant declared a dry run along with clinical source drone shipping business Zipline early Monday. Merely clinical and also wellness and also health items coming from Walmart will definitely become part of the aviator course and also it’ll just reside in Northwest Arkansas in very early 2021.
The drones will definitely deal with a 50- kilometer distance around Walmart head office in Bentonville, Arkansas. They can easily pull up to 4 extra pounds of freight and also soar approximately 80 miles per hour.
Items got on the web or even by means of the Walmart application are actually injected a Zipline shipping carton which connects to the drone. The items, whether frustration medication or even decontaminating wipes, originated from a neighboring Walmart retail store. The purchase after that soars a preprogrammed option to the consumer’s door where package parachutes down. The drone returns back to a center or even bottom.
Zipline has actually formerly functioned in Rwanda and also Ghana to shipping clinical materials through drone. Because the COVID-19 episode it is actually been actually supplying private preventive tools and also medication to a North Carolina medical facility. After the test duration Walmart claimed the shipping course could possibly grow, both in protection and also what the drones lug.
Walmart is actually dashing versus Amazon, which acquired FAA commendation for its own Prime Air drone shipping body final month. The on the web merchant have not begun however, yet it organizes to supply purchases within 30 moments.
In North Carolina, Walmart is actually currently assessing drone shippings along with an Israeli drone business. Those fly-by purchases began losing today.


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Big success for the new reception and training centre for professional customers in Birmingham
Legrand has just opened a new customer reception centre in Birmingham, in the UK.
The complex comprises a spacious 1,800 sq ft showroom featuring especially the high-end wiring device range Axolute, Zucchini prefabricated busbar trunking systems and Ortronics Voice-Data-Image solutions. It also incorporates training and event facilities aimed at electrician customers.
Besides acting as a Legrand product showcase, this new centre aspires to become a key venue for the electrical industry in the UK. Several events organized by the ECA (Electrical Contractors Association) already reflect the success of the project.


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In 1995, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman coined the Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, also known as “McPeace.” The idea was that countries stable enough economically and politically to court a McDonald’s franchise share too many democratic values to go to war with one another.
“People in McDonald’s countries,” Friedman wrote, “don’t like to fight wars. They like to wait in line for burgers.”
The theory didn’t last long. Four years later, residents of Belgrade, Serbia, could enjoy a Big Mac with fries from one of their seven McDonald’s restaurants as NATO cruise missiles and warplanes roared overhead during the …read more


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Reserach firm Strategy Analytics has reported that if current trends continue, a billion people will have registered for virtual worlds in the next 10 years. That includes MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and Maple Story, as well as virtual community portals like Second Life.
Those billion users works out to 22 percent of all internet users taking advantage of broadband connections, which doesn't sound all that far-fetched when you consider that 14 percent of them are already registered in virual worlds. Add that to the 10 million already playing World of Warcraft, and that high water mark seems within reach. One word of advice; watch what you say and do while you're signed in to these metaverses. You never know who's within voicechat earshot.
Eurogamer: A Billion Virtual World Users In 10 Years


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It also reported that Qualcomm will supply the optical fingerprint sensors to Samsung and that the Galaxy S10+ will have a triple-lens camera system. With the basic looks remaining the same, maybe Samsung has something up its sleeve with the biometric sensor and its placement underneath the front display will no doubt be a gamechanger in the segment.
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The Galaxy J series are imbued with Samsung's legacy for high-performing cameras with an advanced camera system that generates brighter and clearer images.
The only bad news we've heard about the Galaxy S10 lineup so far doesn't come as much of a surprise, but it's bad news nonetheless: Samsung's next-gen flagship phones are going to be very expensive. The first render shows us the Galaxy Tab S4 hooked up to a keyboard attachment which will likely be sold separately.
In terms of hardware, the Galaxy Tab S4 will apparently be running a Snapdragon 835 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 7,300mAh battery under the hood with speakers by AKG.
Meanwhile, the leaked image also revealed the same near identical representation of the Infinity Display theme being adopted on the Note 9 as well. In addition to that surprising tidbit is how the screen of this particular smartphone will also only come with a 5.8-inch display.
That said, we're yet to know if this picture is indeed official, as well as what the rear of the Note 9 will look like.
Meanwhile, Android Headlines released a render earlier in July, suggesting that the Galaxy Tab S4's bezels would be thinner than those on the Tab S3, with the buttons below the screen omitted.


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|Ajit Paid, Gordon Smith|
The morning began with an address from Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Ajit Pai. During his keynote, Pai promised renewed relationships with broadcasters and said he would pursue process reforms designed to enhance agency transparency.
NBA Deputy Commissioner & COO Mark Tatum and Jason Gay, sports columnist for “The Wall Street Journal,” discussed the production specifics behind sports and gaming in the Super Session “The NBA’s Golden Age of Innovation.” Tatum examined how the NBA is approaching content creation and distribution of sports media in the new age of social media, embracing virtual reality, and expanding its brand and players on a global basis.
Industry pioneers also discussed how advances in light field technology, volumetric capture and machine intelligence are disrupting content creation during the Super Session “Next Generation Image Making – Taking Content Creation to New Places.” Led by Michael Chambliss of the International Cinematographers Guild (ICG), the session featured Jon Karafin, CEO of Light Field Lab Inc.; Gavin Miller, Adobe’s head of research; Andrew Shulkind, director of photography and technologist; and Steve Sullivan, general manager of Microsoft’s Holographic Imaging initiative.
Dexter Goei, chairman and CEO of Altice USA, discussed the ways in which global media companies affect content and the overall customer experience in the session “Global Growth and Future of Media.” Goei explained how these companies impact the U.S. television market and its audiences in a conversation led by Mark Robichaux, editorial director of NewBay Media.
The Super Session “The Intriguing Tale of Amazon Prime Video’s ‘The Man In The High Castle’” featured Marc Resteghini, senior development and programming executive for Amazon Studios, as well as the show’s executive producer Daniel Percival and star Joel de la Fuente, discussing the specifics of the hit series’ production and the impact of over-the-top programming on the evolving television landscape.
The day concluded with the Super Session “Video Platforms of the Future,” which addressed some of the industry’s most pressing questions on content production, distribution and consumption. Josh Golden, publisher of “AdAge,” who earlier in the day spoke at the “M.E.T. 360 Leaders Town Hall,” moderated a panel featuring Dwayne Benefield, VP and head of PlayStation Vue; Pete Cashmore, founder and CEO of Mashable; and Steve Shannon, general manager & SVP of content and services at Roku.


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If 2015 was the year of the Chinese mask, then 2016 has certainly marked the year of innovative development and expansion around the world.
We spoke to Anne-Claire Roudaut, Marketing and Communications at TechNature about the latest innovation in the facial skin care market and how this hopes to satisfy consumer demands.
Increasingly, brands are expanding their skin care face mask lines into the global marketplace. Companies such as Korean-based Masqueology has taken its face mark range to US retail giant Walmart in a bid to make affordable skin care directly available to the mass market.
The industry is innovating its product ranges in a bid to remain relevant and continue to generate appeal from audiences within APAC and wider global regions. As companies think outside of the box for unique applications and solutions, Research company Mintel predicts that there is a gap in the market for diverse luxury innovations that are also multifunctional.
Vegetable and plant-based cosmetics
In collaboration with the start-up Leaflab, cosmetic skin care manufacturer Technature has developed a new beauty ritual that highlights the benefits of plants: the vegetable Leaf Mask.
Belonging to the naturals market, the selection of face masks contain only plant fibres and extracts. The dry products are free from preservatives, contain no additives, no synthetic fragrances and no colourants.
“Growing awareness around health is making Asian consumers more wary about the products they use on their skin. Lifestyles are changing with increasing disposable income and environmental concerns are expected to promote sales of natural cosmetics,” said Anne-Claire Roudaut, Marketing and Communication, TechNature.
“While China remains the most important market in Asia, countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are expected to record the highest growth rates,” Roudaut elaborated.
“Consumers expect natural products to work as well as others. They tend to contain more active ingredients than traditional varieties. With credentials including a safer product with higher quality ingredients and without additives, synthetic fragrances, or colourants, natural skin cares inspire confidence,” added Roudaut.
Using crude raw materials to create face masks, the Leaf Mask falls under the increasingly popular sub-category of hyper-natural skin care products, which are proving popular with Asian consumers as they are preservative-free.
Food and beverage impact
Leveraging popular trends within the food and drink industry including flavours, textures and fragrances is high on the cosmetics industry’s agenda. The Leaf Mask contains green tea and peppermint in the face mask's plant fibres and plant extracts as “the detox trend has reassured us and confirmed this choice,” said Roudaut.
Green tea was selected as an ingredient as it “contains a significant concentration of polyphenols including EGCG (epigallocathechin gallate) that reduces free radicals,” said Roudaut.
This latest innovation follows a wave of facial mask skin care launches in the APAC market, particularly China, including those that have been made of cotton lace and silk.
In October 2015, the year-to-date (YTD) performance report revealed that the global face care market was worth £6 mn (€8.3 mn), according to The NPD Group, a global information company. The multifunctional product trend, which serves a variety of customers' skin care needs, is said to be contributing towards this healthy figure.


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–Updated 2019 Higg Facility Tools help businesses drive efficiency, improved labor conditions and environmental impact reductions based on sustainability data–
Photo: Courtesy Hirdaramani Group
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 7, 2019 – Today the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the leading sustainability association for the apparel, footwear and textile industry, released the 2019 Higg Facility Modules on Higg.org. The Higg Facility Modules are part of the Higg Index, a suite of sustainability tools that assess social and environmental sustainability performance, identify areas for improvement and enable the environmental and social transparency consumers want.
“Climate change is the defining crisis of our time and the apparel industry has an important role to play in addressing it,” said Amina Razvi, Executive Director of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. “The industry needs data that is credible, consistent and comparable, so that we can drive collective action to resolve global issues. As more and more brands and facilities leverage the Higg Index to baseline performance, the more the entire industry will evolve and partner together to achieve long term improvements.”
The Higg Facility Environmental Module (Higg FEM) measures seven environmental impact areas in factories, including greenhouse gas emissions, water use and chemicals management. The Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (Higg FSLM) assesses impacts that include wages, working hours and workplace harassment. Using the modules on Higg.org, facilities can complete a self-assessment and have their results verified by a trained third-party verifier.
Through the Higg Index’s groundbreaking model, global factories are empowered to take ownership of their sustainability performance, helping to reduce the exhausting audit fatigue that burdens the industry.
“The amount of data requested of facilities is extensive and critically important,” Nikhil Hirdaramani, Director Sustainability from the Hirdaramani Group said. “By leveraging the Higg Facility Modules we can increase efficiency, saving time and money. By implementing a single measurement tool that fulfills the most pressing sustainability needs in our industry, we can more successfully drive sustainability improvements.”
In 2014, only six thousand facilities were using the Higg Index. Today, more than fourteen thousand facilities use the tools to measure inputs and make critical business decisions. By leveraging these tools to quantify the industry’s impacts, Higg Index data will propel insights and action that drive lasting change across the industry.
“The apparel industry is well-known for innovation and now it is taking important steps to better measure and manage its environmental impact,” said Elizabeth Cook, Vice President for Institutional Strategy & Development at the World Resources Institute. “Access to data, particularly in the supply chain, can be a major barrier to apparel and footwear companies setting science-based climate change targets. With the Higg Facility Environmental Module, companies will be better equipped with consistent and robust data to set credible targets, identify performance improvement opportunities and track progress.”
The Higg Index platform Higg.org now offers users data benchmarking and analytics so facilities and their supply chain partners can easily evaluate their own performance, as well as compare their own performance to the industry at-large. Brands and retailers can use the tools throughout their value chain to enhance sustainability management and make continuous systemic improvements.
“C&A has made a strategic decision to eliminate our internal environmental and chemical audits in favor of the Higg Facility Environmental Module,” said Jeffrey Hogue, C&A Chief Sustainability Officer and C&A Foundation Board Director. “In just the last 8 months, our supply chain has conducted over 400 self-assessments at key facilities having been identified as having a high environmental impact. This year 50 percent of these facilities will have been verified.
“The Higg FEM was very well received by our suppliers, as we work toward minimizing audit fatigue and drive environmental performance in our supply chain. The tool has provided valuable insights to enhance our climate and water strategies, as well as to track key progress on our commitments towards chemicals management and safe chemistry.”
Factories can register to use the Higg Facility Modules at Higg.org. Higg.org is available in English, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Visit apparelcoalition.org/higg-facility-tools/ to learn more about the Higg Facility Tools. Visit Higg.org to register to use the Higg Facility Tools.
About the Sustainable Apparel Coalition
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) is an industry-wide group of more than 250 leading apparel, footwear, and textile, brands, retailers, suppliers, service providers, trade associations, nonprofits/NGOs and academic institutions working to reduce the environmental and social impacts of the value chain and products around the world. Through multi-stakeholder engagement, the SAC seeks to lead the industry toward a shared vision of sustainability built upon a common approach for measuring and evaluating apparel, footwear and textile product sustainability performance that spotlights priorities for action and opportunities for technological innovation. The SAC was incorporated as a 501c(6) nonprofit organization and launched the groundbreaking Higg Index suite of tools in 2011.
Sustainable Apparel Coalition


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Italian eyewear major Safilo eyes Indian market
Safilo, the Italian eyewear major, is planning to foray into the Indian market. The company sees India as an emerging market in the eyewear segment, according to a report in the Times of India.
Safilo's own portfolio includes core home brands such as Polaroid (acquired from the US) and Carrera. It is also the licensor for brands Dior, Fendi, Gucci, Hugo Boss, and Marc Jacobs.
But what is unique about the company -- as it plays catch up to exalted rival Luxottica (owner of RayBan and licensor to Chanel, Armani and Prada) -- is the proprietary legacy that Safilo brings via its history.
"When we bought Polaroid, we didn't just buy the company, but its entire archives, its legacy," said Luisa Delgado, a former Proctor and Gamble executive who took the reins of the company in 2013, and is an emerging markets enthusiast.
The Safilo group has 7 plants, three in Italy and four abroad (Slovenia, Scotland, US and China) and its products are sold through 31 owned subsidiaries and local distributors in all key markets such as Europe, America and Asia.
Copyright © 2021 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.


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This roundtable will discuss the current regulations of trading hours, as announced by the minister Reyes Maroto
When did you now start the sales of winter?
The minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, Reyes Maroto, has announced today the creation of a working group to study the current regulation of business hours and sales periods. It is a contentious debate, since they liberalised the rebates, in 2012, each business can decide when to make the discounts.
The small trade complaint that this harms them because they do not have the ability of the large companies of the textile to offer the same discounts outside of the offer period.
so, the idea is that this week of work to address this debate, or "open" at least. "Our responsibility is to open the debate and see what are the positions and the decision more accurate," said Maroto for his involvement in the Madrid Retail Congress, organized by the Spanish Confederation of Commerce (CEC).
This organization takes time to criticize the policy of discounts continuing throughout the year by the big chains. According to Maroto, there are some autonomous communities that have also claimed the creation of this work table because they say they are limited to the time of take measures to limit the trading hours, because the state law that prevents it.
In a meeting held with the representatives of the CEC in the past month of October Maroto already has already agreed to create a working committee to analyse the consequences that has had for the retail trade the liberalization of the sales.
The CEC regrets that the small business is " surviving "thanks to the efforts of the prices down that is doing it." The industry expects that, following the fall in sales will result in the closure of up to 20% of the smes in trade in the next year.
According to the criteria ofLearn more Date Of Update: 05 December 2018, 08:00


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Europe overtakes Canada to hold the world’s largest and most traded physical single asset cryptocurrency ETP
ETC Group’s Bitcoin ETC surpasses US$1.3 Billion AUM as the total European market for comparable crypto exchange traded products exceeds $4 billion
London, UK. October 18, 2021 - ETC Group ( www.etc-group.com ), Europe’s leading specialist provider of institutional-grade digital asset-backed securities, announces that its total Assets Under Management (AUM) has reached US$1.5 billion, with its Bitcoin exchange traded product (BTCE) now the world’s largest physically backed single cryptocurrency ETP with over US$1.3 billion AUM.
This leadership position in the rapidly growing digital asset security market comes only 16 months after the launch of ETC Group’s first product, BTCE - ETC Group Physical Bitcoin (BTCE), on Deutsche Börse’s Xetra exchange. Research released this month by CryptoCompare also shows that BTCE is the most traded listed crypto ETP with average daily trading volumes of US$26.3 million, more than seven times its nearest competitor.
ETC Group has pioneered the digital asset management industry by providing institutional quality, 100% physically backed, high liquidity digital asset backed securities. With a Germany domiciled issuer, its Bitcoin product BTCE was the first crypto product to be centrally cleared when it listed on XETRA. ETC Group was also the first company to make its leading Bitcoin ETC carbon neutral, and the first issuer to list a Crypto ETP on a UK stock exchange. Recently, BTCE became the underlying product of Europe’s first Futures contracts announced by Eurex, Europe’s largest derivatives exchange.
ETC Group’s leadership position is testament to the focus we have on delivering the highest quality crypto exchange traded products, and ensuring that we partner with the industry’s leading market makers, custodians, and exchanges to provide both retail and institutional investors highly liquid, transparent, regulated and secure exposure to the world’s leading cryptocurrencies. We’re delighted to be leading the charge for Europe, whose regulatory regime, multiple exchanges across different countries, and investor awareness has put it at the forefront of exchange traded cryptocurrency investment. Bradley Duke, CEO of ETC Group
ETC Group now lists Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash ETCs across multiple exchanges in Europe, and is planning to expand its suite of products to meet investor demand for digital asset-backed investments on Europe’s financial markets.
Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and your capital is at risk. Disclaimer: https://bit.ly/etcdisc
Disclosure | Copyright © 2023 ETC Group. All rights reserved


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Nissan sets another sales record despite winter weather
by MBJ Staff
Published: March 4,2014
CANTON — Nissan Group saw total U.S. sales for February 2014 of 115,360 units, an increase of 15.8 percent compared to last year.
Highlights of Mississippi-built products are:
• Sales of the Frontier pickup rose 112 percent to 5,791 units
• Altima sales totaled 30,849 units in February, an increase of 11 percent
• Sales of the Xterra increased by 83.2 percent to 1,795 units
• Nissan Sentra sales totaled 12,339 units, an increase in 22.7 percent.
“Despite the frigid temperatures and weather-related challenges, Nissan sales continued with good momentum this month setting a February record — our 11th monthly sales record in the last 12 months,” said Fred Diaz, Nissan’s senior vice president for U.S. sales & marketing, parts & service. “Nissan’s core models, five of which have just launched in the past year and a half, are driving strong retail sales. The all-new Rogue, now built in Tennessee, was a real stand-out up 73 percent. Long-time favorites like Altima with double-digit growth continue to bolster Nissan sales and market share.”
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download phần mềm photoshop cs5 full crack free There Is No Bitcoin Ban In Mexico
satellite tv crack codes A recent can you play just cause 2 multiplayer with cracked from the media site El Universal has incorrectly espoused that Bitcoin is now banned in Mexico per a recent decision by the Mexican Tax Administration Services (SAT). The Mexican SAT, the equivalent of the United States IRS, has not banned Bitcoin. Instead, it has merely clarified that the existing bans on large transactions using cash (heinous in and of themselves), also apply to Bitcoin.
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Bitcoin Is Not Banned In Mexico
crack idm 6.17 bang tay Influential blogger Victor Hernández wrote a spotify cracked android apk to counter the El Universal piece and clarify that Bitcoin is not banned in Mexico. Bitcoin is still allowed for online transactions; you can still use Bitcoin to pay at a restaurant in Mexico City. Transactions that are “vulnerable” to money laundering have long been under the watchful eye of the Mexican government, by way of regulation. Hernández also chided the El Universal author for implying that there was a straight up Bitcoin ban in Mexico.
Mexican Cash Ban Extended to Bitcoin
crack polderbits 9.0 build 129 The Mexican government, with its cartel problem, has to deal with a lot of money laundering and in doing so have created somewhat draconian prohibitions on cash. Jon Matonis explained the Mexican cash ban years ago on arcsoft mediaimpression hd crack. You aren’t allowed to use cash for real estate transactions over $38,750. Also, you can use cash for jewelry, art, or car transactions of over $15,500. Earlier, in 2010, the Mexican government also limited foreign exchange cash transactions to $1,500 per month. Bitcoin is now technically under those same limitations, though the enforcement of such will be hard. Meanwhile, Bitcoin companies and donde vive crack family continue to thrive in Mexico. Whether or not using one of these companies to process your car or real estate payment will be OK with the Mexican government or not remains to be seen.
crack do worms 3d pl chomikuj What do you think about the Mexican cash ban being extended to Bitcoin? Comment below!
how crack wifi password Images from Pixabay.


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There is so much opportunity in being a big business that there’s no excuse for not doing the right thing, says Christopher Raeburn comparing his British-born Raeburn brand with the global scale of Timberland, on the latest episode of the Innovators podcast.
Raeburn has been creative director at the latter since late 2018, where he says he is focusing on putting responsible, innovative design at the centre of its strategy. But it’s through his work and experience for the smaller Raeburn business that he’s able to do so, he explains.
“One of the ways I’ve always looked at Raeburn is almost like a Remora – those small fish that clean sharks… sometimes they can clean the teeth and everything like that. I think it’s a really interesting analogy, because by swimming alongside sometimes those big big fish in the ocean, A) you have the opportunity to clean them, and that’s exciting because they want to be cleaned. B) you have the opportunity to talk to them a little bit and then maybe you can start to really steer them. And if they want to be steered and it’s a really good partnership then you’re going to go in the right direction together,” he says.
Raeburn, which was founded in 2009, has built up its business focused on three key areas that all come under the circularity header: reduced, remade and recycled. But that was the case long before sustainability itself became a “trend”.
“I never really set out to start a responsible company. It was more a company that started from common sense. And it fascinates me, as I say, that there is all of this stuff out there. And why can’t we reuse and remake it before we even need to buy anything new,” Raeburn notes.
Join us as we also explore why scaling such a model is essential for the future of our industry, how much opportunity is coming down the pipeline from what we currently consider trash, and the role business has to play in education today.
The North Face has expanded its “Walls Are Meant For Climbing” campaign this year, aiming to reach a global community of up to 100,000 people and re-evaluate perceptions of what walls represent.
The campaign supports the brand’s second installation of its annual “Global Climbing Day”, which will take place on August 18. Partnering with a multitude of indoor climbing spaces globally, the brand will offer free climbing lessons for anyone attending on the day, donating $1 per person to the non-profit The Khumbu Climbing Center in Nepal. It is also launching a limited edition collection available for purchase now.
According to the outdoor brand, the aim of the campaign is to create a community and reflect its founding values. “Since 1966, we’ve seen walls not as obstacles but as opportunities. They are mirrors that reflect the best versions of ourselves. Walls do not divide us, walls bring us together. Walls are meant for climbing.”
With this initiative The North Face aims to reach a much larger audience than in 2017, where the campaign attracted 20,000 people to participate in climbing activities globally.
It has also taken this as an opportunity to let female climbers tell the stories of how they started their journey of conquering walls.
Under the banner “Climbing, the Great Equalizer”, the brand has released a total of four inspirational videos, each illustrating a unique story from a diverse set of characters – featuring three female climbers and one male. This week’s release – which has so far been viewed over 300.000 times on YouTube – tells the story of Monserrat Matehuala, who dedicates the video to “my brown girls from the ‘hood’.”
Brands are upping the ante when speaking to their consumers in a way that mirrors their values and in particular, their anxieties, in modern societies. In a politically charged landscape, encouraging positive activism is an increasingly important tool – as also seen by Patagonia’s Action Works platform which encourages charitable behavior.
H&M’s non-profit arm has launched an alternative to the Fortune 500 list, published each year by Fortune magazine. Foundation 500, as it’s called, showcases female-only business leaders from around the world.
Done in partnership with humanitarian agency, CARE, the aim is to challenge stereotypes and redefine what a business leader looks like. The initiative ties to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals on women’s empowerment and gender equality, which demonstrate that empowering women is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of poverty and create economic growth.
The stories of successful women from 11 emerging countries, including Burundi, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, Jordan, Peru and Zambia, among others, are told, alongside imagery captured by Malin Fezehai in a style similar to that of business magazines covers.
“The entrepreneur is the hero of our time, and it is estimated that over the coming years over 1 billion women will enter the workforce – a majority through entrepreneurship. But, you can’t be what you can’t see. Women rarely make the covers of business magazines, in fact the last time a woman was on the cover of Fortune Magazine was October 2014. With the Foundation 500 list we want to redefine what a business leader looks like,” says Diana Amini, global manager at H&M Foundation.
The 500 women included are a representation of the 100,000 participating in the Global Program on Empowering Women through Enterprise Development initiated by H&M Foundation and CARE in 2014. From 2014-2020, H&M Foundation has pledged 120 million Swedish krona ($14 million/€12 million) to support over 200,000 women entrepreneurs from emerging markets with seed capital and skills training to start and expand their businesses.
”Born with zero privilege, the women portrayed in the Foundation 500 list have made their own fortunes in the harshest of startup-environments. Yet, their stories often go untold. I wish I had seen women like these on the cover of business magazines when I grew up in South Sudan,” said British/Sudanese supermodel, entrepreneur and H&M Foundation Ambassador, Alek Wek.
“Media can play an important role in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by unveiling inspiring stories helping to change mindsets of what women entrepreneurs can achieve and giving role models a platform to show what is possible. This can contribute to changes in convictions, attitudes, behaviour, rules, regulations and policies,” the write-up from the Foundation reads.
Those orders are fulfilled directly from Gucci stores in London, New York, Dubai, Los Angeles, Madrid, Miami, Milan, Paris, Sao Paulo and Tokyo. A launch video (as below) shows three women – in Tokyo, Milan and LA – having an urgent need to replace their Gucci wares after laundry shrinkage, coffee spills and theft.
Said José Neves, founder, co-chairman and CEO of Farfetch at an event launching the company’s Store of the Future concept yesterday: “Luxury takes time but it needs to take time the right way. If you’re in a Michelin-starred restaurant, you want it to be slow. What you don’t want to be is waiting for the table. So luxury takes time to produce and bring to market. But once it’s there then it’s all about fast delivery. And the reason for that is that time has become – or perhaps was always and now we’re more conscious of it – the ultimate luxury good.”
He referenced start-ups including Airbnb, Uber, Deliveroo and Spotify as providing us what we want, exactly when we want it, as well as research carried out by Bain & Company that shows the number one consumer criteria when buying luxury online, is timely delivery.
Farfetch operates a distributed model, meaning it has thousands of points worldwide it ships from – including brand stores, boutiques and warehouses. It does so to 190 countries, with 89% of its shipments heading overseas. It already offers click and collect in 24 markets and same day delivery in 12 cities.
This 90-minute launch with Gucci (also dubbed F90) is an exclusive one for six months before it will roll it out to other partners.
Gucci president and CEO Marco Bizzari said: “This service represents the type of new service level that the luxury fashion industry needs to embrace in order to meet the ever-increasing expectation among luxury customers today, for an outstanding level of service that is flexible and seamless across channels and geographical locations.”
A number of other fashion retailers have trialled such deliveries in the past, including the likes of Warehouse and Oasis in the UK. MatchesFashion.com recently launched 90-minute delivery in London also, while Net-a-Porter and Mr Porter are testing out a “You try, we wait” service.
The idea of humans as contradictory beings isn’t a new one, but social media is making such personal dichotomies more evident than ever before, even in life’s happiest moments, according to a new report launched by off-price luxury e-commerce site, The Outnet.
Written in partnership with audience intelligence platform, Pulsar, the study analysed 33 million posts related to the way in which consumers share moments of “joy” and “thrill” worldwide across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram during May 2016.
Central to the findings is the idea that consumers are indeed extremely fickle. We celebrate uniqueness for instance, but we seek to be part of a tribe. We’re less concerned about material wealth, but what we wear and how we display it is more important than ever in our images. And we’re eagerly searching for time to disconnect, but we continue to capture those rare moments by digital means.
None of that may sound at all surprising, but the depth of the study provides some valuable lessons for businesses playing in the content marketing space and looking to figure out what motivations lie behind consumer behaviour today.
The perfect example lies in the selfie – one third of all photos in the study included a person or people in them. Rather than being solely about personal image or a means to draw attention to the creator, however, the report suggests these portraits are increasingly leaning towards supporting individuals’ growth and development.
Social media has long been a place for users to curate and edit the best versions of themselves, but the focus of that is moving to being primarily about positive steps to self-improvement and the achievement of one’s goals.
In fact, personal growth as a theme was the number one driver of discussions around joy and thrill globally (49%) in the study, which maps to broader evolving consumer trends currently in existence. Wellbeing and mindfulness have moved the topic of health, for instance, beyond a conversation surrounding just diet and exercise, to entire mental and physical lifestyle choices, which are in turn impacting businesses at every level.
This makes personal growth as a whole a really interesting one for companies to consider in terms of the way they speak to consumers – it’s not only about selling products to them anymore, but ideas and emotions that will both fit with and help fulfill such lifestyles. Brands should be thinking about how to help consumers feel more empowered, and to provide them with a service that improves their lives.
As Andres Sosa, EVP of The Outnet, said: “Having these results available for the business will be a key focus point in helping to drive our communication strategy forward. We can create touch points in relation to these moments, ensuring what we offer as a brand truly replicates and resonates with [them].”
The same goes for the way in which consumers look at the idea of belonging (referenced in 31% of posts globally). There’s desire to find joy in solidarity with others, even with the individuality that so anchors social media otherwise.
The digital era has brought about a quest for uniqueness as well as the idea of existing as part of a tribe. Businesses today should therefore be thinking about offering greater personalisation than ever, but ensuring their fans and followers feel a part of their community alongside.
The final trend in the study surrounds the idea of joy and thrill as it relates to experiences and discovery (16% of posts). Consumers are not only travelling more than any other time in history, but valuing such adventure in order to have greater things to share on social media. We’ve shifted to a time of less conspicuous consumption and instead happiness in discovering and capturing the everyday beauty of the world.
This directly relates to the fact that shoppers are valuing experiences over material wealth to a greater extent than ever before. According to the Boston Consulting Group , 55% of all luxury spend today is on luxury experiences, and that number rapidly scales when looking at the millennials market specifically. This is about being able to say “I did this” rather than “I bought this”.
Again, it’s crucial for businesses to respond to these changing motivations to best serve their customers – to think about experiences and that broader lifestyle piece as a part of their brand in the same way they curate their product proposition.
The Outnet, which is part of the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group, focused on thrill and joy as the foundation of the study to relate to its recently launched #TheThrillOfTheFind social campaign and its “Everything Reduced But The Thrill” tagline. Overall, the results serve as a positive outline of seemingly incongruous trends to consider for content strategy, but in a broader sense, they’re also a unified reminder that consumers today seek meaningful relationships and not just transactions.
Disclaimer: The author Rachel Arthur served as a consultant and contributor to this study on behalf of The Outnet.
How has the combined Yoox and Net-a-Porter online fashion giant been faring since the Italian and UK businesses linked-up? Pretty well actually with global growth in the double-digits and m-commerce sales growing fast – very fast.
OK, for three-quarters of the period covered, Yoox and NaP continued to operate separately (their ‘merger’ was announced in March and completed in early October) but if we pretend the business was one big happy family from January 1, the figures do look good.
The business released its sales figures for 2015 on Monday and we heard none of the complaints about unseasonably warm or cold weather denting sales. Instead, it saw a rise of a bigger-than-expected 31%. And in Q4, when the weather was particularly challenging and lots of fashion retailers suffered, the business still managed a sales rise of 27.8%.
Some of that was down to the weak euro that made its sales look better. But even with positive currency effects factored-out, the rise for the full-year was 21% to €1.7bn. While a lot of that was about Yoox selling goods at a discount, full-price sales were also key. Revenue at its online flagships (for brands such as Dolce & Gabbana and Marni) rose 19.2% for the year, and 20.8% in Q4.
And the company said it saw an “excellent performance” at the Net-a-porter and Mr Porter’s sites. In fact, last year’s ‘In-Season’ business line (ie NaP itself, Mr Porter, plus Yoox’s Thecorner and Shoescribe sites) saw pro-forma revenues of €893.3m, up just short of 37%.
What also characterised last year was the fact that more and more sales came via m-commerce as smartphone and tablet shopping made as much of an impact on luxury as it did on the mass-market. That’s a wake-up call for high-end brands still unconvinced by the smartphone shopping revolution.
Mobile accounted for as much as 40% of Yoox-NaP’s sales last year, boosted by native apps, which surged an astonishing 180%. It’ll be interesting to see what those percentages stand at this time next year.
Also important was the group’s expansion internationally with some markets being standout performers. While it grew in double-digits across the world, particularly impressive was the 37.3% UK rise, the 43.3% North American rise and the 36.9% Asia-Pacific rise.
The company had 27.1m average monthly unique visitors last year, up from 23.6m in 2014, and saw 7.1m orders, up from 5.8m. It had 2.5m active customers, up from 2.1m and the average order value was a healthy €352.
Some analysts doubt it will be able to maintain this level of growth – let’s face it, there has to be a slowdown at some point. Will 2016 be the year that happens? We know that luxury shoppers are worried about falling share prices and aren’t getting so much cash through from their oil wells, while aspirational shoppers are concerned about talk of a possible global recession.
But the Yoox arm of Yoox-NaP in particular has shown itself well able to grow in bad economic times as well as good. I’ll be interested to see whether it can make the NaP part of the business turn in healthy profits though. Whatever happens, it will definitely be an interesting year for this business.
This post first appeared on Trendwalk.net, a style-meets-business blog by journalist, trends specialist and business analyst, Sandra Halliday
Fashion is the most popular blog subject in Spain, couture in France, and weddings in Canada. That’s according to data from blog discovery platform Bloglovin’, which analysed the top search terms from its userbase in 96 countries.
The research took into account 750,000 searches made on the platform each month between July 1 and September 30, 2015, with a resulting infographic depicting the most interesting and versatile of the terms.
Some other highlights include yoga in Italy, interiors in South Korea, crochet in New Zealand and tattoos in Argentina. Meanwhile, the UK is searching for vegan and the US is all about travel.
The Bloglovin’ team put the latter down to the fact 68 million Americans travelled abroad in 2014, which is a record for the country. In terms of blog searches, they’re favouring this kind of inspiration over say fashion or food.
Josh Fischer, Bloglovin’s VP of product, explains: “What was interesting was the emergence of other more ‘lifestyle’ topics such as fitness, yoga, family and travel. A common trajectory we see for many bloggers is that they start out primarily talking about what they wear, but as they build an audience, people want to know more about them as a person; where they vacation, how they stay fit, etc.”
He says the data is useful for brands and content creators alike when planning on a global level, because it shows what resonates the most in different markets.
Agent Provocateur has launched on Snapchat and Periscope simultaneously in order to provide candid insights into life working in one of its shops around the world.
#ShopGirlTakeover, as the social media initiative is being called, sees sales associates taking control of the brand’s Snapchat channel for a day as well as has them answering fan questions via live broadcasts on Periscope.
Creative director Sarah Shotton says: “I love how Snapchat and Periscope offer a candid way to document ?a moment in time, and who wouldn’t want to see what AP Agents from around the world get up to? Want to know how to get into suspenders in 30 seconds, or what to do with a whip? These are your girls!”
The results have generated over 1.2m views on Snapchat and 10,000 views on Periscope in the month its been running so far, thanks to takeovers in London, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Toronto, Shanghai and Melbourne.
Singer Paloma Faith, herself an ex-AP employee, has also had 24-hours on the channels as part of her tie-up as the star of Agent Provocateur’s autumn/winter 2015/16 #KnickersForever campaign alongside photographer Alice Hawkins.
Natalie Massenet, chairman and founder of Net-a-Porter, has indicated she is staying put with the company after it merges with Yoox SpA. In an interview with Bloomberg TV she said: “We’ve only just begun.” The 50-year-old founder will become the merged company’s executive chairman, with defined responsibilities reportedly in areas such as editorial content, advertising strategy and fashion press.
Describing herself as a “reluctant leader,” Massenet said the scale of the business is all that will change. “We’re going to be the same, but bigger,” she said. Here are some of the other interesting things she commented on:
On launching e-commerce
“If a Martian came to earth and looked at shopping, they would say, ‘Explain this to me again? So people with a lot of money are asked to leave their homes and go to you, you then put them in a really cold room with bad lighting and ask them to take all their clothes off and put on the clothes, and then they have to make the decision then and there without the rest of their wardrobe and their shoes, then they go home, um, and then they pay you for that?’ and the Martian would have probably said, ‘…If the person’s paying, shouldn’t you go to them, shouldn’t they try things on at home with the comfort of their friends and people advising them that they know, shouldn’t they be trying things on with their own shoes and shouldn’t they have time to think about it, and if they want to keep it, they keep it, but if they don’t, then shouldn’t you go and get it from them and say is there anything else I can do?’ So actually, just because shopping existed in one way doesn’t mean that’s how people wanted to shop.”
On that viral retirement video for former CEO Mike Sebba
“[Sebba] had been running the company for 11 years and I had this fear that because he hadn’t been so outward-facing, that he wouldn’t be a digital part of our history, because these days if we can’t find you on Google, do you exist? I don’t know! Am I here? So I thought we need to make sure that Mike Sebba, CEO of Net-a-Porter, goes down in history as having been the CEO of Net-a-Porter for eleven years, so I thought we need to make a digital footprint. It was about going viral.”
On creating a print magazine
“We thought, we’re a multimedia company, we are where our consumer is, and why are we ignoring print, in the same way that if you’re a print publication, you’re a media company, you would never ignore a website, you would not ignore social, you’re there. So, for us to be a complete media business, and to communicate with our consumer we needed to be there in a different form. But then what we did was we didn’t just say, ‘Oh let’s take the website and put it into a paper format’, we approached that platform with what’s great about it, and our editors create the most beautiful reading, immersive, inspiring experience that lasts; it sits on your coffee table hopefully.|”
On the shopper of tomorrow
“They’re a very demanding customer… and they’re the ones who are [going to] dictate, and do dictate, everything. They’re also very lucky. It’s such a great time to be a consumer; they have choice, they have everything at their fingertips, literally, and everything comes to them. The shopper of tomorrow does not need to move, they are a very busy person, like today, and demand more from their retailers, demand a lot, and our job is to anticipate their needs and be there for them.”
On growing in China
“In mainland China right now, the AOV on e-commerce transactions tends to be much lower than where we’re playing thanks to the strength of some extraordinary e-commerce businesses out there. So the consumer is well engaged in e-commerce, but the time will come when they turn to e-commerce for different things. We’re using our media, our magazine, our digital magazine that comes out in Chinese once a week 50 times a year, and we’re using that as part of the education process in terms of talking about fashion and inspiring the consumer, and we’re seeing really exciting, strong growth in China. It was within our top 20 markets five years ago; it will be within our top 10 within the next year.”
On the future of the business
“Well, we’re going to be the same but bigger… we’ve only just begun, our penetration and our addressable market is still negligible, we’ve got cities that we aren’t even talking to. Within just our existing space, we’re tiny, so I think, just keeping our heads down, focusing on the consumer, focusing on our brand partnerships and doing everything that we’re doing but doing it better… I think that you’ll see more local service propositions and we’re going to have to continually advance the speed with which we deliver and how we cater to the consumer’s needs. I think that we will have learned how to be local but global… while still retaining a very focused DNA for each of the brands, and not trying to be all things to all people, I think that’s important.”
The interview “Leaders With Lacqua: Natalie Massenet” airs again today at 7pm GMT, and at 3pm, 9pm and 11.30pm on Friday, July 3.
Levi’s has launched a digital platform set to host everything from shoppable videos to consumer-generated imagery as part of its new Live in Levi’s global campaign.
Created in partnership with AKQA, the microsite is designed to serve as a living lookbook or a showcase of the brand’s jeans being worn around the world. It will combine storytelling with social media and e-commerce, aiming to engage and activate its global community based on the idea of shared experiences.
“Nearly everyone in the modern world owns, or has owned, a pair of Levi’s jeans,” says Stephen Clements, executive creative director at AKQA. “The global ubiquity of the brand and the diversity of people’s style is what we wanted to celebrate. It’s something no other brand can claim.”
Indeed, the tagline for the campaign reads: “A billion jeans. One-of-a-kind stories. This is how the world lives in Levi’s.”
Anchoring the initiative at launch is an interactive shoppable film. Featuring influencers including Sleigh Bells frontwoman Alexis Krauss, through to street-style star Julia Sarr-Jamois, it invites users to further explore each individual story at any point while watching. Access is then provided to photo galleries, product information, videos and links to shop the look.
“The people who wear Levi’s have always been the inspiration for our brand,” says Jennifer Sey, CMO for the Levi’s brand. “This innovation is a way for us to open up our legacy and invite participation from all over the world by allowing users to shop for iconic Levi’s products highlighted in the film.”
In an earlier interview with The Drum, she explained: “We were inspired by all the letters we receive from consumers and so we just wanted to create and facilitate a space for the stories they are already telling about Levi’s. I would say the three goals of the campaign are to assert the brand’s denim leadership, to tell authentic self-expression, which is really our point of differentiation, and to put the brand back at the centre of culture again as opposed to on the fringe.”
The film was shot in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai in collaboration with editorial and production company, Monster Children.
Fans are invited to contribute to the project with their own Levi’s moments by using the hashtag #LiveInLevis across social platforms. The results will be curated by Levi’s and paired with a relevant product that users can click to buy. A certain level of localisation will also occur as content is created and promoted relevant to specific markets.


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I have to admit that both boys are regular online users. It's the world we live in now and with so many devices around our hime having instant access to the world wide web it is impossible to stop them. Little J is a big fan of You Tube Kids and it's perfect for little ones as it has videos and adverts that are designed just for children. Big J however is a teenager and is able to access all sorts of information online which sometimes can be quite worrying. In a recent European study* of 5040 children aged 10-15 conducted by global cyber security company, Kaspersky, discovered some alarming stats about how children are using the internet, and how they may not be protecting themselves as they should.
Over two thirds of the children said they had heard bad language on the internet, while a third said they had witnessed violence online, with a quarter saying they had viewed pornography online.
I have witnessed bad language myself while big J has been playing Xbox Online and the opponent has sworn which you could hear through the TV. Although he wasn't talking to this person he had connected with him virtually to play a game. Since then we made the decision that big J is only allowed to play online games with his friends.
One in five children admitted their parents set no rules about how they used the internet at home and two-thirds of the respondents said they would know how to hide something from their parents that they were looking at online.
Kaspersky have a way to help keep our children safe online by creating a downloadable app. Kaspersky Safe Kids app helps to protect our children as they access the world wide web.
Helps you to have control by offering screen time scheduling and you can watch over their incoming and outgoing calls on their phones.
For just £14.99 for a year’s subscription, you can stay connected with your kids and be sure they are in a safe place. For more information about Kaspersky Safe Kids, please visit iTunes and Google Play.
This video is real children being interviewed about their online habits. The older children are more aware of the good and bad parts of the internet but its still our job as a parent to protect them.
**Study conducted for Berkeley on behalf of Kaspersky carried out in September 2016. 5040 children aged 10-15 years in Germany, Spain, Benelux, Italy and France who go online and have access at home to an internet connected smart device (tablet/smartphone) whether their own or a family owned one. **This is a collaborative post.


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Michelle Obama has poisoned the nation’s food supply and potentially given listeria to America’s children, according to press reports.
Food inspectors have discovered listeria in packaged apple slices destined for McDonald’s, Burger King, and various grocery stores.
It was Michelle Obama’s push for healthier eating that led fast food restaurants to begin including apple slices in their kids’ meals.
Now, you and I may think it is outrageous to claim that Michelle Obama had anything to do with food poisoning America’s youth. You and I would be right to think it is outrageous. But if MItt Romney is responsible for Joe Soptic’s wife dying of cancer almost a decade after Mitt Romney left Bain Capital’s day to day management, it is only fair to use the same kind of
stupidity logic to point out Michelle Obama is giving kids listeria.
What’s fair is fair, right?


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Bezos's comments give a rare glimpse into his interest in the auto industry. Amazon recently invested in two self-driving start-ups.Technologyread more
While investing often seems like a contrarian game where going against the flow feels like the better bet, the reality is that investors who bought the most-favored stocks...Hedge Fundsread more
"We are now embarking on a new Long March, and we must start all over again!" Xi Jinping said.Marketsread more
The launch comes as Apple's laptops have been criticized for a keyboard design that users say breaks easily and results in key presses resulting in doubled-up characters or...Tech Driversread more
Craig Irwin of Roth Capital Partners said Apple tried to buy Tesla six years ago for a higher price than where the stock now trades.Technologyread more
The White House has threatened to slap tariffs on apparel and footwear, leading retailers to speak out about how this would hurt business.Retailread more
Connecticut state Sen. Alex Bergstein's divorce case with her husband, Morgan Stanley managing director Seth Bergstein, has exposed her new romantic relationship with her...Politicsread more
Stock pickers are having their best year in a decade, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.Marketsread more
Comcast is working on a device to monitor people's health at home, as well as some media and communications services, according to people familiar with the plans.Technologyread more
As shopping has shifted online and styles have evolved, Ascena has been grappling with sagging sales and a large debt-load. Looking to stem the losses, Ascena is turning to...Retailread more
Microsoft is starting to distribute the first of two major Windows 10 updates for 2019. This version has some useful additions.Technologyread more
The pay gap between company bigwigs and ordinary working stiffs is narrowing, but there's still a major chasm.
CEOs at the largest U.S. firms now make 271 times more than the average worker, according to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute for 2016 salary numbers. Including stock options, average pay for those at the top of the corporate ladder came to $15.6 million in the group that the EPI examined.
While the ratio is still large, it's actually on the downswing — the gap peaked at 376-to-1 in 2000 and was 286-to-1 in 2015. However, it's still "light years" from the 20-to-1 ratio in 1965 and even the 59-to-1 ratio as recently as 1989, said EPI researchers Lawrence Mishel and Jessica Schieder.
The highest-paid executive for 2016 was Marc Lore, CEO of e-commerce at Wal-Mart, who made $243.9 million, according to S&P CapitaIQ. The CEO of Alphabet's Googe, Sundar Pichai, brought in $199.7 million, while Robert J. Coury, chairman of Mylan, made $136.8 million. They were followed by Thomas Rutledge, the Charter Communications CEO, at $98.5 million, and CBS CEO Les Moonves, at $69.5 million.
"Regardless of how it's measured, CEO pay continues to be very, very high and has grown far faster in recent decades than typical worker pay," Mishel and Schieder wrote. "Exorbitant CEO pay means that the fruits of economic growth are not going to ordinary workers, since the higher CEO pay does not reflect correspondingly higher output."
The authors point out that CEO pay has grown far more quickly than corporate profits.
"This means that CEOs are getting more because of their power to set pay, not because they are more productive or have special talent or have more education," they said. "If CEOs earned less or were taxed more, there would be no adverse impact on output or employment."
The institute recommends raising tax levels for top earners, getting rid of tax incentives for performance, tax firms more that have higher CEO-to-worker pay gaps and encourage shareholders to exercise more "say on pay" for corporate executive salaries.
President Donald Trump has pledged to push tax reform through Congress, and it's possible that the top tax rates actually could fall. However, that could come with broad-based tightening of the loopholes that allow top earners to avoid paying that high level.
The EPI study points out that CEO pay has coincided with the behavior of the stock market. Stocks are on the rise again in 2017, indicating that wage disparities are likely to remain pronounced.
Since 2007, "income growth has remained unbalanced: as profits have reached record highs along with stock market highs, the wages of most workers have continued to stagnate in the 2000s though there have been inflation-adjusted gains in the last two years," the EPI report said.
Slow wage growth has been a vexing problem for policymakers, particularly those at the Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank has held interest rates low as wage gains and inflation broadly have remained below the Fed's targets. Economists are divided on whether wages will pick up in a labor market with a 4.4 percent unemployment rate — beneath what is often considered full employment.
Correction: Sundar Pichai is CEO of Google. An earlier version misstated the company's name.


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By Angela Gonzales | Phoenix Business Journal
For the past eight months, homebuilders in the Valley have experienced lower demand for new homes than the previous year. But that streak has been broken.
From mid-May through mid-June, new home sales shot up 16% year over year, said Jim Belfiore, founder of Phoenix-based Belfiore Real Estate Consulting and author of KnowledgeBase Current & Future Market Insights reports. That’s typically a time of year when demand softens.
New home sales also jumped by 16% through mid-June from a month earlier. By contrast, two months ago, from mid-March to mid-April, sales were down 18% for metro Phoenix homebuilders, Belfiore said, continuing a streak that had been in effect since last fall.


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UK consumers are to become the first in the world to have marketing algorithms decide the wines they drink.
The bold new initiative, launched this week by the Ministry for Alcohol Distribution (MAD) will see all drinkers allocated a consumer profile and wines, spirits and beers pre-selected for them accordingly.
MAD says the radical new policy is the result of five years analysing the data from palate-matching apps, retail tills, and people moaning about drink on social media.
‘In the end the numbers suggested that everyone would be happier if we simply decided on their wines for them,’ said MAD.
Consumer groups have criticised the scheme, saying it is ‘fundamentally illiberal’
But a ministry statement said the government was ‘all about choice – specifically, removing it’, that ‘on the plus side, nobody will ever be confused in the drinks aisle again’ and that ‘it’s only one step on from shopping at Lidl anyway.’
Which group are you?
Precise details of the government’s new consumer groups have not officially been released. But they are believed to include “Kids n Cabernet”, “Idle Imbibers”, “No/Low Nobody” and “Chablis Shaggers”.
Wine twitter erupted in fury at the proposed categories, saying they were ‘generic’, ‘disgraceful’ and ‘completely unrepresentative’.
‘What about a classification for people with enormous cellars of wines they got sent as samples?’ said journalist Boo Zhack. ‘I know loads of people like that.
‘Though admittedly fewer every year.’
MAD says that its new scheme brings product creation to a new level.
‘Producers now know that Silver Sippers have an off-dry aromatic palate and they can target them perfectly with a bottle that has a confused turtle on the label,’ said Graphic. ‘Our MRI data shows that Silver Sippers really love turtles.
‘And confused ones make them more eager to purchase.’
The Guild of Drinks Producers (GDP) said its members were excited by the opportunity to target consumers accurately.
‘This is a real novelty for our members,’ said a spokesperson, ‘Most of them don’t know why they’re making what they do or who might want to buy it when they’ve finished.
‘They say it’s because they’re artists, but actually most are just clueless.’
As well as making wine more attractive to drinkers, the ministry confirmed that there were also ‘disincentives’ for consumers who tried to drink outside their objectively measured preferences.
‘All wine labels now include “choice reinforcement technology”,’ Graphic told Fake Booze. ‘If consumers attempt to pick up the wrong wine, they will receive a mild electric shock as a deterrent’, adding ‘you don’t want to try opening it.
‘No, seriously, I’m not joking.’
Big fruit couch potato
Surveying shoppers outside the local Pricefixer supermarket, Fake Booze found mixed responses to the new scheme.
65-year-old Maureen was delighted with her ‘All At Sea Cuvee Terrapin’, but John Public (50) was unhappy with being put in the ‘big fruit couch potato’ category.
‘It makes me sound like a total slob,’ he said. ‘So I’ve bought a nice bottle of Wolf Blass Shiraz to drink on the sofa while watching Strictly.
‘That should cheer me up.’


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COUCH potato couples watch a STAGGERING 676 hours of TV together every year, according to new research.
Researchers took a detailed look at modern life for British couples and revealed on average, we now watch or stream 13 hours of TV, series’ and movies together a week – that’s the equivalent of 28 days a year.
In fact, according to the poll, a third of love birds said they much prefer staying in to going out on date nights – while 91 percent said watching TV together brings them closer as a couple.
According to the poll by Relish Broadband, Bake Off is the TV show Brits are most ENJOY watching as a couple (34 per cent said it was their favourite) - with Game of Thrones coming second place (33 per cent) followed by Doctor Foster (27 per cent) and Coronation Street (25 per cent).
Watching TV together gives British couples things to talk about for 65 per cent of them, while 58 percent insisted it makes them laugh, 42 per cent said sitting in front of the television gives them a chance to cuddle up.
Leading Psychologist, Dr. Becky Superman said: “In Victorian times, we would gather around the fire together while someone read from a book.
"With the advent of the radio, families got together to listen to radio dramas and shows like Listen with Mother. Human beings just love storytelling.
"Nowadays, we are spoilt for choice with movies and TV dramas and, just like our ancestors, we prefer to engage with them in company.
"It’s a way of having fun and feeling close to one another, so it is no surprise that spending time together snuggled up watching our favourite shows is a way to bring couples together.”
Bridget Lorimer, Head of Brand and Consumer Marketing at Relish, comments: “It’s great to see that British couples are rewriting the rules of romance.
"As a provider of broadband in the capital, we hope our Valentine’s hampers and plug and play hub provide the perfect partnership for those Londoners staying in this Valentine’s Day.
"And our same day delivery service means Londoners can order in the morning and be streaming their favourite shows by the evening!”
However, it’s not all sweetness and light, as 31 per cent claimed that they regularly fall out with their other half over what to watch.
A thrill-loving 65 per cent of those polled said they were EVEN planning on a romantic night in this Valentine’s Day, rather than attempting to go out for a meal.
Just over a third of couples will be ordering a take away this Valentine’s Day, with 35 per cent of those ordering Chinese, 32 per cent Indian, and 19 per cent Pizza.
When it comes to dressing up for our other half on Valentine’s Day we Brits take a more relaxed approach with 33 per cent planning to don their PJs, while a further 22 per cent will put on their track suit bottoms and T-shirt.
Only 14 per cent of women will wear sexy underwear, while 21 per cent of unromantic blokes will wear whatever they came home from work in.
In fact, the average British couple will be tucked up in bed on Valentine’s at 10:30pm Chocolates are British couples’ favourite TV snack (55 per cent), followed by crisps (47 per cent), cheese and biscuits (26 per cent) and nuts (25 per cent).
MOST READ IN NEWS
When it comes to drinks – WINE is the nation’s favourite TV tipple (39 per cent) followed by a mug of tea (27 per cent), fizzy drinks (23 per cent) and coffee (19 per cent).
The data also revealed the key elements of a cosy night in together include getting the central heating on (61 per cent), getting the house neat and tidy (44 percent), locking the doors (44 percent) and having your phone next to you (21 percent).
Going out for Valentine's night is too expensive for 44 percent of Brits, while 33 percent said it’s simply too busy and a further 30 percent said they were beyond “forced” shows of romance.


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India and similar developing countries in Southeast Asia and Africa are where Google expects "Next Billion Users" to come online. Given the different environments, the company optimizes and creates new products that fit these needs. Today, Google announced and expanded a number of Indian specific features, including Drive, Google Go, Assistant, and more.
Google's announcements this year focused on three goals, starting from a basic level of "Doing Internet Work for Multiple Indians." Google Station grows from originally covering railway stations and then key areas in a town to villages and cities. Ten million people in the state of Andhra Pradesh will access high-quality internet access.
Google Station collaborates with Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited to cover over 12,000 villages, cities and cities in the state of Andhra Pradesh, which potentially reaches 10 million people. This will provide high quality internet access to areas that have never been linked before, from hospitals to villages.
At the same time, Google Gos launches text-to-speech functionality that reads websites highly through natural language processing and speech synthesis today. It reflects how new users who come online prefer to listen to articles over reading text. It supports 28 languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Marathi and Tamil.
This new functionality is related to Google's next goal of making products more relevant to Indian users. At a basic level, this means that more Native American content becomes available to them, as it currently represents only one percent of what is available in English.
Works with Indian News Publishers, Google Project Navlekhā uses an AI tool "render a PDF file containing Indian language content in editable text, making it easy for publishers to create mobile-friendly web content."
It also provides Indian language publishers provide free web hosting with AdSense support so they can immediately start earning money on their content. Publishers will also receive training and support and a branded .page domain name for the first three years.
In apps, Google Feed can display news stories from both English and Hindi sources, as well as determining what types of stories users prefer. Google Assistant adds support for Marathi and seven more Indian languages in the future. Meanwhile, Google adds voice control to India apps from third party developers like Where Is My Train, Airtel and Hello English.
The last goal coincides with renaming Tez to Google Pay, with the previous features that make the way to the rest of the world. More generally, Google plans to "Take the best from India to the rest of the world."
We believe that many of the innovations and features we pioneer with Tez will work in other countries. To take Tez beyond India, we will unite all Google's payment deliveries globally. As a first step, Tez will now be called Google Pay.
Check out 9to5Google on YouTube for more news: