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Dimapur, March 27: The Entrepreneurs Associates organised a workshop on “Uplifting women street vendors – Dimapur Chapter” on Tuesday at its training centre, Darogapathar. Some 30 women vendors attended the training.
Encouraging the vendors to believe in the importance of their profession, Neikule Doulo, Master Franchisee, Aloha Mental Arithmetic, shared that there are over 10 million street vendors in India. She emphasised that vendors need to take their work seriously and give serious consideration to how they can expand and grow. Acknowledging the difficulties that are related to this profession, she said that they need to save for their future and ensure that they pass on the message of “dignity of labour” even to their children and families, creating rippling changes. Touching upon the subject of ethical business, Neikule stressed that all businesses need to be honest in their dealings so that they can win the trust of people around them and earn regular customers.
Perceiving the need to train them on better customer service to invigorate their businesses, Susan Ela James, Lead Trainer of EA shared some tips about how to win customers. Susan elaborated the need of providing better services which is the only win to make businesses grow. She suggested that a smile can even go a long way to win over people who can then be roped into relationships that can go a long way to gain benefits in the future.
Interactive sessions were led by Temsurenla and Michelle Hesso to facilitate in depth understanding of this segment.
The program was an initiative undertaken by EA to reach out, connect and empower women street vendors across the state of Nagaland. So far similar training sessions have been conducted in Kohima and Pfutsero town.
(Page News Service)


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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics has filed a U.S. patent application for a 360-degree panoramic camera and a virtual-reality headset under the respective names Galaxy 360 and Galaxy VR, industry and media reports have said, indicating that the tech giant may drop its previous Gear brand.
The Korean tech giant filed the application with the US Patent and Trademark Office earlier this month, industry insiders said.
The change suggests that Samsung Electronics could produce panoramic cameras and virtual-reality headsets as part of its Galaxy brand.
In August, Samsung Electronics named its new smart watch -- a follow-up model to Gear S3 -- the Galaxy watch and not the Gear S4 as some had speculated.
Samsung Electronics said the change is part of its efforts to raise awareness of its Galaxy brand.
By Ahn Sung-mi and news wires (email@example.com)

domain: news


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Trondheim, 18.april 2023 - NAYA is pleased to announce that NAYA has received NOK one million in funding from Innovation Norway. NAYA is a Norwegian company that offers high-quality human image labeling with operations in Dehradun, India and HQ in Trondheim, Norway.
NAYA received the funding as a part of the STUD-ENT awards round of 2023. Qualifying critereas include:
The project offers something completely new to its market
Documentet market accept
The company has a large growth-potential
The project has a significant social impact
The funding from Innovation Norway will help NAYA expand its business, utilize its current momentum and continue to make a lasting social impact in our operative locations.
“We are very grateful for the validating support from Innovation Norway, and appreciate their support in proving that a successful commercial business can have social impact as their main goal" - Co-Founder and CEO of NAYA, Eirin Fossberg.
NAYA's unique business model combines both commercial and social value, while also building technical infrastructure and making AI-technology available for more Norwegian players. The result is added value to Norway and communities all over the world.
For further information, please contact
Mille Marie Isaksen Lillemoen
+47 90 77 46 61


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Keith Lee, who's become a viral sensation on TikTok for his food content, teamed up with Good Morning America to surprise a Brooklyn bakery owner with $10,000.
Vann launched her business eight years ago with the goals of investing back into her community and serving as a role model to the youth.
"My mom really took leadership into her own hands in terms of curating a space that wasn't just for her," Vann's son, Chi Osse, told GMA.
Anita Bushell, Vann's friend, said the small business owner used "her extraordinary math skills" to "set up this additional kind of framework within the bakery, where she tutors students and works as a student coach."
"More people need to see women, women of color, single women, mothers that are doing things that are unique to themselves," Dawn Siciliani.
When Lee visited Vann's bakery earlier this week, she had no idea that she would later be surprised with thousands of dollars.
"Your customer service was through the roof and you had no idea who I was," Lee told Vann on Thursday, noting that her green tea latte and sea salt chocolate chip cookie were the best he's eaten.
Vann was ecstatic when Keith and GMA presented Vann with the $10,000 check from Duncan Hines.
"Shut up," she said with a huge smile. "Oh my gosh, thank you so much."


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Abuse of disabled parking bays in Edinburgh could be costing more than £12,000 in lost revenue each year, according to the council.
Able-bodied drivers are taking advantage of priority parking
Parking fraud prevention officer Gordon Catchlove said fraudulent use of "blue badge" permits was out of control.
He said the majority of offenders were family or friends of people who legitimately owned a permit.
The Scottish Executive has been studying the extent of the abuse, with a report due at the end of the year.
Mr Catchlove, the only parking fraud prevention officer in Scotland, said calculating the cost of fraud was difficult.
However, the council had made an estimation based on three parking zones in Edinburgh.
He said: "If you put one vehicle every day on a five-day working week in a public pay and display bay in each of these three areas, you're looking at nearly £12,000 a year being defrauded by people using a blue badge and not paying for that parking."
Mr Catchlove said there was also a small number of people using counterfeit blue badges so that they could use preferential car parking spaces.
He added: "Many people will tell you, particularly in the parking industry, that the blue badge scheme is out of control.
"There are too many on the streets, the access is too easy and the assessment process is believed to be too easy."
The problem has also been reflected in other parts of the country with research in Glasgow showing that in one street 70% of those cars displaying a blue badge were unlawfully parked.


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Microsoft has released security updates as part of its monthly Patch Tuesday release train, and this month, the company has patched 34 issues affecting eight products.
Today is Day 6 of Microsoft's 12 Days of Deals and the current deal is up to $70 off an Xbox One + 2 free games. For the full $70 off, you would need to purchase the Xbox One S 1TB Console - Minecraft Limited Edition Bundle, while the rest of the bundles will give you $50 off.
On Wednesday, Microsoft started rolling out an update to all Windows products that rely on the Malware Protection Engine for security scans.
Starting today and through December 17th, Microsoft has kicked off their annual 12 Days of Deals event where you can get savings on various Microsoft products.
In an email sent to all Windows Insiders Program (WIP) participants, Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President of the Windows and Devices Group, gave a preview of two new features Microsoft will be testing in the next iteration of the Insiders Program (Windows 10 Redstone 4).
Last week, Microsoft filed a patent for a new browser technology that will detect when users are visiting NSFW, questionable, or unsafe websites and switch to Private Browsing mode automatically.
The way Microsoft patched a recent security bug has made several security and software experts believe the company might have lost the source code to one of its Office components.
Microsoft has released their Black Friday promotions with deals on the new Surface Pro, the Surface Laptop, Xbox consoles and games, and virtual reality headsets. Most of these deals are starting on Monday, but discounts on Xbox games have already started.
Microsoft confirmed that six updates the company delivered this week as part of the November 2017 Patch Tuesday are causing Epson dot matrix printers to malfunction.
Windows 8, Windows 8.1, and subsequent Windows 10 variations fail to properly apply ASLR, rendering this crucial Windows security feature useless.
Microsoft has released security updates for several products as part of the company's November 2017 Patch Tuesday, the company's monthly update train.
A security researcher has discovered a new code injection technique that works on all recent Windows versions and allows miscreants to inject malicious code into other applications undetected.
Microsoft has patched only recent versions Windows against a dangerous hack that could allow attackers to steal Windows NTLM password hashes without any user interaction.
With the release of Windows 10 Fall Creators Update last week, the "Controlled Folder Access" that Microsoft touted in June is now live for millions of users.
No good deed remains unpunished, they say, and so is the case of the recent spat between Google and Microsoft's security teams.
Mozilla, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and the W3C have agreed today to unify all their documentation sites under one single roof, on Mozilla's MDN portal.
Five former employees told Reuters that Microsoft quietly dealt with a hack of its vulnerabilities and bug reports database back in 2013 without telling anyone.
Pretty sneaky, MS. While some vendors were scrambling to release updates to fix the KRACK Attack vulnerability released today, Microsoft, quietly snuck the fix into last week's Patch Tuesday.
Users who utilized Microsoft Outlook to send out secure emails encrypted via the S/MIME standard might have had the content of those emails leaked by an Outlook bug.
After Windows Insiders installed update KB4046355 for the Insider Build 16299.15, they discovered that Windows Media Player had been removed from the computer. As Build 16299 is the Fall Creators Update that is scheduled to come out this month, it is unknown whether the removal of Windows Media Player is intentional or a bug.


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Help Us Support Our Goal
Nearly every week this summer, we have seen retail workers demand better working conditions.
In April of 2021 alone, 649,000 retail workers quit as they felt drained from working in the pandemic and are now demanding more from their employers; it is the largest exodus of retail workers in one month since the Department of Labor began tracking the statistics 20 years ago.
But workers are not just quitting — they’re protesting and forcing employers in many cases to raise wages.
In one week in late June, we saw workers at a Pittsburgh Dollar General walk off the job, workers at a nearby Subway walk off the job and quit en masse to protest poor working conditions, and then lastly workers in Hooters in Texas walk off the job to protest a lack of air conditioning in the soaring heat.
Their walk-offs are part of a nationwide trend where fast-food and retail workers have been spontaneously walking off the job and posting photos (that later go viral) of the protest signs they’ve taped on doors and windows as they leave.
And workers are still going on strike at higher numbers than they did before the pandemic — more than 1350 strikes have happened since the beginning of the pandemic according to Payday Report’s Strike Tracker. We are even starting to see some anecdotal evidence of employers locking out workers rather than giving in to their demands.
As a small news publication, there’s a lot to cover, which is why we need your support as the public attention steers away from workers still affected by the pandemic and its fallout.
With more and more people becoming vaccinated and life returning to “normal,” we are seeing readers become less engaged and less interested in reading stories about the pandemic.
However, now is the time to focus even more on improving working conditions after so many “essential workers” risked so much during the pandemic.
We want to focus this summer on the workers being left behind as the pandemic fades from view. Stories about the undocumented workers working in unsafe workplaces, the communities of color devastated by COVID, and the long-term unemployed who are still struggling to find good work.
We want to cover workers walking off the job and the new forms of organizing such as spontaneous fast food and retail walkouts that are emerging in the wake of the pandemic.


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The moment when a family man used to drive Bajaj Chetak with his wife on the back seat and his children over her lap was the coolest family moment of a few years back and now, that lifestyle of a common man is coming back!
After rejecting plans to launch a scooter in recent years, Bajaj is attempting to turn the clock back by introducing the much-loved Bajaj Chetak back into the market, reports Autocar India.
Compared to passenger and commercial vehicles in India, the two-wheeler segment has continued to grow phenomenally. Bajaj Auto, India’s third largest motorcycle manufacturer faced a jaw-dropping 21% loss in their sales in the month of February and thinking to improve their sales to a great extent, they’ve planned to bring the traditional common man scooter back in the stores!
As per various sources, the new Chetak would be without gears, fully automatic with 125-150 CC four-stroke engine. This gives us hint that they may target a segment which is currently dominated by Activa from Honda and Scooty from TVS Motors along with other such models. Bajaj may launch this new model of Chetak during Auto Expo 2016!
Fans and interested buyers for this comeback can expect retro styling delivered in a way that would highlight the Chetak’s old-age charm in a contemporary package.
The company faced competition from LML India, which launched several units based on Vespa’s various models such as Vespa PX 150, Sprint and more, they never got even close to what Chetak was in its heydays.
To revive a bit of old age moments of you, here’s the Bajaj Chetak advertisement shoot in 1989!
Let’s hope this new attempt from Bajaj comes out in flying colors and that they attain their sales back!


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Last weekend, Amazon (AMZN -2.72%) introduced a new section on its Fire TV and Fire Tablet platforms. The feature, called #AtHome, focuses on free ad-supported content, which has seen a massive increase in interest while people practice social distancing and stay at home.
"#AtHome is a curated experience that brings together content from over 100 content partners to help you and your family be entertained, educated, and informed," the company wrote in a blog post.
The move follows along a path trailblazed by Roku's (ROKU -7.09%), which has seen a lot of success with The Roku Channel. The Roku Channel similarly curates content from both free and paid streaming services. Roku recently expanded the channel to the U.K., joining the U.S. and Canada.
An Amazon spokesperson clarifies #AtHome isn't meant to be a competitor to The Roku Channel.
That said, #AtHome could be an opportunity for Amazon to drive greater engagement for its content partners on Fire TV and Fire Tablet devices, and lay the groundwork for more favorable content deals in the future.
A proof of concept
The Roku Channel is a win-win for content distributors and Roku. Distributors reach a wider audience, while Roku is able to collect more revenue per hour of streaming. Both goals are accomplished by Roku's superior targeting data compared to stand-alone streaming services. Roku can use its data to highlight certain films or series it thinks its users will like, and on the other side of the coin, use the data to target advertisements.
Amazon has the potential to do the same for content companies, but potentially do one better. Amazon's user data is like Roku's on steroids. Not only does it have viewership data from Fire TV users viewing habits but it has their shopping and product-search data, and any data those users might have provided in their conversations with their Echo smart speakers.
Presently, Amazon may only be using aggregated data to determine which content owners to partner with to feature on #AtHome. But if it moves to make the feature more permanent (perhaps with a different name), its recommendations could become more granular and produce improved engagement levels with its audience.
Amazon currently offers Amazon news, which aggregates content from news partners. It's the most popular news app on Fire TV, which is notable considering it only launched six months ago. But that reach and engagement makes it very attractive to content partners.
Amazon has an opportunity to show similar improvements in reach and engagement for its #AtHome partners. Doing so may open the door for deeper partnerships like those seen in The Roku Channel. And considering the data and demand Amazon has for advertising, it could be quite lucrative.
Winning more ad inventory
Amazon has been ramping up its efforts to control more ad inventory on its Fire TV platform. It's been a tough negotiator, threatening to keep apps off its platform unless the app developers sacrifice more of their ads to Amazon.
The Roku Channel model gives Roku full control over all the ad inventory in exchange for a split of the revenue with its media company partners. That may be appealing to Amazon, which is always looking for new places to display advertisements. Its marketplace has gotten extremely crowded with advertisements, and it could use video ads on Fire TV as a supplement to performance marketing on its website.
Controlling more ad inventory on the Fire TV platform could ultimately improve the value of its ads on the marketplace, as Amazon can retarget ads across both platforms to improve their overall efficacy. That should increase conversion rates and, by extension, ad prices.
Considering the growing importance of advertising to Amazon's overall business, it could have a big opportunity to drive better content partnership deals and win more ad inventory with a curated channel. While #AtHome isn't that product, it could provide some interesting learnings for Amazon.
Note: This article was updated to clarify that #AtHome doesn't consider itself to be a competitor to The Roku Channel and with additional information about Amazon news.


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A new partnership has been announced that will allow one of Italy’s storied motorcycle brands to expand its ridership in China, thanks to a distribution agreement.
Varese, Italy-based MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. has announced a new strategic partnership with QJ-Motor Co. for the distribution of the brand’s motorcycles in China.
QJ Group is one of the largest and two-wheeler manufacturers in China, with extensive commercial presence in the region. The agreement will initially concern the distribution of MV Agusta models through a network of flagship stores across the country, providing the highest standards of service to Chinese customers. At a later stage the partnership will also have important developments on the industrial front, and collaboration in that sense is presently being defined.
After the successful launch phase in collaboration with Fekon Co., who was instrumental in the introduction of MV Agusta motorcycles in China, QJ will now take over the seven existing mono-brand stores and expand the sales network with an additional 21 stores within 12 months and service centers with the objective of rapidly and significantly incrementing MV Agusta’s presence and visibility on the Chinese market. QJ has an impressive track record and considerable experience in managing international prime brands.
Timur Sardarov, CEO MV Agusta Motor S.p.A. said “I am thrilled about this agreement with QJ for the second phase of our expansion into the Chinese market. It is a very ambitious long-term partnership that will make MV Agusta the number one Italian premium motorcycle brand in China in the next five years. QJ is one of the leading global players in terms of scale, market presence and quality standards and I am confident that with such a solid partner we will reach, and possibly beat, all our commercial objectives very rapidly. We are also developing a further, important collaboration on the industrial front, which we will announce shortly.”
Dongshao Guo, general manager of Qianjiang Motor Co. commented: ”We thank MV Agusta for choosing to establish a new strategic partnership with us. MV Agusta is a world-famous brand with a long history, and also an old friend and close partner of Qianjiang Motorcycle. This cooperation is not only a strong combination of the two sides' business, but also a further recognition of the brands and ideas of each other. We hope that in the future we could work together to bring in for the Chinese customers more high-performance motorcycles that are fashionable, easy to handle, and fun to ride. We aim to make motorcycle travels freer, greener, and more passionate.”
QJ-Motor Co. is a subsidiary corporation of Geely Technology Group. It was founded in 1985, owns a variety of brands including Benelli, QJMOTOR, Molinks & Dolnnext. QJ-Motor Co. is supported by a leading design team and the world-class advanced engineers as well as a National Enterprise Technology Center and a National Accredited Testing Laboratory.
With strong capabilities to deploy the latest technologies in products (from 50cc to 1200cc), QJ-Motor Co. has led the market for eight years at above 250cc motorcycle market segment.


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TOKYO – With an uncertain domestic economic outlook following the March natural disaster, Sony revised its financial forecast for the year ended in March, predicting a loss of 260 billion yen ($3.2 billion) on Monday. It would mark the third straight annual loss for the company.
The forecast was downgraded from a previously targeted profit of 70 billion yen due to a tax writedown on accumulated losses. The losses can be written down against future profits, but with the damage to the supply chain and other factors resulting from the earthquake and tsunami expected to cost Sony 150 billion yen ($1.83 billion), the company said it has decided to take a “non-cash charge of approximately 360 billion yen related to Japanese tax credits.”
However, Sony left its forecast for an annual operating profit unchanged at 200 billion yen ($2.4 billion).
The announcement of the predicted loss comes just days before Sony, led by chairman and CEO Howard Stringer, issues its delayed full fiscal year results on Thursday.
Costs of the hacking of the PlayStation Network are estimated to total 14 billion yen ($171.5 million) in the recently started financial year ending March 2012.
Various Sony websites around the world have suffered a total of eight security breaches over the last couple of months, the most serious being the hacking of the PlayStation Network which also resulted in it being offline for weeks.
“These costs include a loss of income due to the network being down. We haven’t yet received information about misuse of personal information but this estimate includes insurance against possible misuses,” said CFO Masaru Kato, while admitting that significant credit card fraud using stolen data could considerably raise costs.


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NEW YORK — Mark Lee has begun his shake-up at Barneys New York.
In his first key appointment since taking over as Barneys’ chief executive officer in September, Lee has tapped former Gucci executive Daniella Vitale as chief merchant and executive vice president overseeing all of women’s and barneys.com operations. Vitale succeeds Judy Collinson, the retailer’s longtime executive vice president and general merchandise manager of women’s. Vitale starts her new job on Wednesday.
Issa Rae stopped by WWD's NYC headquarters to talk about season two of "Insecure," which premieres this Sunday on HBO. Click link in bio for all the details. #wwdeye (📷: @jgreenery; Styled by @mayteallende)
A Stella McCartney sketch of a custom dress made from protein-based silk in partnership with biotech lab Bolt Threads. The dress will be displayed at The Museum of Modern Art's upcoming design exhibition, "Items: Is Fashion Modern?"


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Looking for a device that lets you strap a phone to your face to watch 360 degree videos and engage in virtual reality experiences? There’s no shortage of Google Cardboard-style headsets on the market… but Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus has a fancy new plastic headset with built-in straps that should make extended VR sessions a little easier.
Oh yeah, and the OnePlus Loop VR headset free… sort of.
The company is giving away the Loop headset in advance of the company’s OnePlus 3 smartphone launch event, which will be streamed in VR.
There are a few things to keep in mind:
- While the headset is free, you’ll have to pay for shipping. Standard shipping to the US is $5, but expedited shipping costs more than three times as much.
- Only 30,000 free headsets are available, and they’re going on a first come, first served basis.
- There’s pretty heavy demand right now, and the OnePlus website seems to be struggling to keep up. I tried to place an order twice, and both times I got a 404 error message as a reward for my efforts.
If you do succeed in placing an order, OnePlus will ship the Loop VR headsets to customers starting on June 6th. The headset weighs about 13 ounces, and the company says it should work with most phones featuring 5 to 6 inch displays.
Of course, the Google Cardboard standard could become obsolete once Google’s new Daydream platform launches later this year. But hey, it’s hard to argue with the price of a free headset.


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As next-generation technologies continue to drive down costs for DNA sequencing, DNA tests have become more accessible to the masses. Illumina spinout Helix, which runs an online marketplace for such tests, has held the first close of a planned $200 million funding round.
The round was led by new investor DFJ Growth, and all of Helix’s founding investors participated, including Illumina, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Beyers, Mayo Clinic, Sutter Hill Ventures and Warburg Pincus.
Since the debut of the “app store” last July, 35 DNA-powered products from 20 companies have signed on, and Helix plans to grow that number to over 50 products this year with major launches from the like of Mayo Clinic.
Helix’s platform works in a different way than other personal genetics-testing companies. When someone orders a product from the store, Helix sequences all known 22,000 protein-encoding genes as well as “additional information-rich areas," which the company said can unlock up to 100 times more data than typical at-home DNA tests on the market. It then stores the data securely and only shares the relevant portions with the test seller. It allows customers to order other products without having to run DNA samples again.
RELATED: DIY DNA synthesis for $2 a gene
Helix's products now range from the more serious, National Geographic’s Geno 2.0 helps customers understand their ancestry, to the more fun, using your DNA code to design a one-of-a-kind knitted scarf.
CEO Robin Thurston told Forbes that more than 20% of customers who buy one product actually come back for a second.
The series B financing announcement came just days before the FDA’s landmark decision that made 23andMe the first to provide direct-to-consumer genetic test for cancer risk. According to Illumina Executive Chairman Jay Flatley, about 12 million people have purchased a consumer genomics service to date.
“The genomics revolution has begun and Helix is democratizing access to DNA for developers while giving consumers a safe and secure way to manage their own genomic data. We believe the Helix business model will stimulate an explosion of innovation in personal genomics products allowing people to take an active role in managing their health and well-being,” said Barry Schuler, partner at DFJ Growth, in a statement.
Helix’s ambition goes beyond helping individuals understand his or her own genomics data, but also lies in the collective power of such data. Earlier this year, it started a partnership with the Renown Institute for Health Innovation and the Desert Research Institute on a population health project in Nevada. All samples are processed in Helix’s CLIA- and CAP-compliant sequencing lab, and volunteers have the opportunity to receive a product through the Helix marketplace.


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November marked the first month since December 2013 that saw Xbox One top PlayStation 4 in the US sales department.
Microsoft's console was #1 in the UK as well and now, Sony has commented on the shift. In speaking to Reuters , SCE president and CEO Andrew House said sales conditions in November were indeed "tougher" due to Microsoft's aggressive pricing actions.
As you probably know, the Xbox One now starts at $350 (PS4's lowest price is still $400) and MS also offered some holiday bundles for $350. However, that Xbox One markdown is only good through January 3, 2015, so it'll be interesting to see what happens when the price goes back to the standard $400. As for PS4 sales in December, House says they're "in line" with previous estimates but he didn't provide any exact numbers.
However, he did say that increased demand for the system in Europe has resulted in limited inventory. You should be able to find a PS4 if you look hard enough, though.


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As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, the holiday shopping season is kicking into overdrive. Retailers are ready for the surge in consumer spending on Black Friday, but what shopper behaviors should they expect? We break down three key trends for the holiday weekend.
Consumers Are Already on the Lookout for Deals
Earlier this year, we saw signs that Black Friday had transformed from a weekend event into a weekslong shopping marathon.
According to RetailMeNot, messaging about Black Friday began nearly a week earlier this year than in 2017, and consumers have already started showing their spending power. While US online sales increased just 13.3% in the first nine days of November, online sales jumped 25.7% year over year between November 10 and 12, according to Adobe.
Similarly, data from JLL found that more than a third (34.4%) of US consumers plan to start shopping before Thanksgiving compared with 29.9% last year, while a separate survey from Citi Retail Services indicated that nearly seven in 10 US adults plan to start holiday shopping before or on Black Friday.
Physical Stores Still Matter...
Even with the convenience of ecommerce, consumers sometimes go out of their way to shop in-store. Black Friday is no exception.
According to ICSC, 45% of shoppers plan to visit stores on Black Friday, and another 71% of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers plan to go to a mall or shopping center.
Meanwhile, separate data from Euclid, found that millennials (37%) are more inclined than Gen Xers (14.5%) and boomers (6%) to shop in-store on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.


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RIM today unveiled the world’s first touch-screen BlackBerry device, the BlackBerry Storm 9530.
Smartphones - News
Telstra [ASX: TLS] has announced that the Australian cricket tour of India will be available live on Telstra's Next G mobile phones.
Toshiba is close to launching its first commercial direct-methanol fuel-cell device, which promises a faster way to recharge portable electronics products.
Apple boosted its share of the US consumer smart phone market by 55 percent after cutting the price of its iPhone and rolling out a 3G model this summer, a research firm said Monday.
The decision to unify the onset of daylight saving in participating states could cause troubles for some newer mobile phones, according to Telstra.
Finnish phone maker Nokia launched its first touch-screen phone on Thursday, intending to one-up Apple's iPhone on features and be competitively priced.
Nokia will stop developing its enterprise mobile e-mail platform Intellisync: its future enterprise e-mail systems will be based on platforms from Cisco, Microsoft and IBM, among others.
Tired of getting the brush-off from Apple, Israeli researcher Aviv Raff Thursday disclosed technical details about a pair of iPhone security flaws that he first reported more than two months ago.
3 Mobile has unveiled a new set of mobile prepaid cap plans, aimed at giving customers greater control over how to use their credit.
Bending to criticism from iPhone developers, Apple Wednesday announced it is dropping the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for applications that have been released.
SanDisk this week announced the launch of the world’s largest capacity microSDHC and Memory Stick Micro (M2) cards -- the first cards of their kind to offer 16GB of storage.
Facebook updated its iPhone application this week, posting version 2.0 on Apple's App Store for free download.
Toshiba has put a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) inside a mobile phone, but commercial availability of the technology isn't expected soon.
As wireless devices become more numerous within businesses, their convenience will be counterbalanced by an increasing potential for security problems, according to a Gartner analyst.
Imagine asking mobile operators to compete in an auction for the chance to offer you service and then switching from one operator to the next multiple times a day to get the best rate or more bandwidth.
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First impression on unpacking the Q702 test unit was the solid feel and clean, minimalist styling.
For work use, Microsoft Word and Excel programs pre-installed on the device are adequate for preparing short documents.
The Fujitsu LifeBook UH574 allowed for great mobility without being obnoxiously heavy or clunky. Its twelve hours of battery life did not disappoint.
The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.
My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.
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- FTMicrosoft Dynamics AX Technical ArchitectNSW
- FTMicrosoft Dynamics AX Functional Consultant Advanced Warehouse ManagementVIC
- CCSecurity Architect (Big Data / Cloud) Finance Contract Sydney CBDNSW
- FTTechnical Services Engineer - Spanish speakingNSW
- FTSenior Full Stack DeveloperNSW
- FTProduct OwnerVIC
- FTExcel SpecialistNSW
- CCBusiness Analyst - Commercial LinesVIC


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News Numerous vulnerabilities across Mozilla's products could potentially lead to code execution and system takeover
News Customers on WordFence's paid tiers will get protection from the WPGate exploit right away, but those on the free-tier face a 30-day delay
News The firm also patched a high severity security flaw that lets perpetrators bypass authentication
News Several issues in the monthly update require 'urgent' attention but September's Patch Tuesday only brings around half the fixes that came in August
News The updates include fixes for kernel-level code execution bugs, privacy issues, and more - all impacting iPhone and iPad users
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Receive our latest news, industry updates, featured resources and more. Sign up today to receive our FREE report on AI cyber crime & security - newly updated for 2024.


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DHL Express adds to B767 freighter fleet
16 / 11 / 2021
DHL Express has placed a firm order for nine B767-300 Boeing Converted Freighters (BCF).
The additional freighters will help expand DHL’s long-haul intercontinental fleet in response to increased global demand for cargo capacity.
The order was disclosed at the Dubai airshow.
Geoff Kehr, senior vice president, global air fleet management, DHL Express, said: “The additional B767 freighters are part of our efforts to modernize DHL’s long-haul intercontinental fleet in order to fly eco-friendlier and more cost-efficiently.”
DHL has taken delivery of seven of a batch of eight 767-300BCF, that have been leased to DHL partner airlines in the Middle East and Latin America to support its expanding regional networks.
The B767-300BCF can carry up to 51.6 tonnes up to 6,190 km.


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Shopify Inc. (SHOP) Research Coverage Started at Dundee Securities
Research analysts at Dundee Securities started coverage on shares of Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) in a research note issued on Monday. The firm set a “neutral” rating on the stock.
Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Piper Jaffray Cos. set a $40.00 price target on shares of Shopify and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 3rd. RBC Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target (up previously from $37.00) on shares of Shopify in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. Monness Crespi & Hardt increased their price target on shares of Shopify from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 3rd. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $35.00 price target (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Shopify in a research note on Wednesday, August 3rd. Finally, Citigroup Inc. reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $40.00 price target on shares of Shopify in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, sixteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. The company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $40.84.
Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) opened at 42.82 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.56 and a 200-day moving average of $34.23. The stock’s market cap is $3.50 billion. Shopify has a 12-month low of $18.48 and a 12-month high of $45.20.
Shopify (NYSE:SHOP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.04. Shopify had a negative net margin of 10.03% and a negative return on equity of 14.67%. The business earned $86.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.62 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.03) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 92.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Shopify will post ($0.15) earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgens Waterfall Vintiadis & Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in Shopify during the third quarter valued at about $1,974,000. Cupps Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Shopify during the third quarter valued at about $999,000. First Mercantile Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Shopify during the third quarter valued at about $124,000. Macquarie Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in Shopify during the second quarter valued at about $1,737,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Shopify by 36.9% in the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 235,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,246,000 after buying an additional 63,551 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.07% of the company’s stock.
Shopify Company Profile
Shopify Inc is a provider of cloud-based, multi-channel commerce platform designed for small and medium-sized businesses. The Company’s software is used by merchants to run their business across all of their sales channels, including Web and mobile storefronts, social media storefronts, such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and physical retail locations.
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Louis Vuitton Archives - Page 3 of 10 - Inside Retail Asia
Louis Vuitton has debuted its Les Petits Nomades collection of decorative leather objects for the home.
LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton has had a strong start to the year despite end of its Hong Kong International Airport concession.
Louis Vuitton has hired Virgil Abloh as men’s artistic director, with his first show scheduled for Men’s Fashion Week in Paris in June.
Despite a drop in brand value of 41 per cent, Nike is still way out in front in the Brand Finance Top 50 list of the world’s most valuable apparel brands.
Asia’s pre-owned luxury fashion market is continuing to grow, with shoes and t-shirts gaining ground, according to retailer Reebonz.
It has been another record year for luxury products group LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton.
Louis Vuitton Ginza Namikidori Store has a new design and new home, moving to Tokyo Ginza Asahi Building.
Louis Vuitton is pre-launching its latest spring/summer collection at the new Seoul Shinsegae Main Men store.
Louis Vuitton Singapore has opened a spectacular duplex store at Changi Airport.
All seven Louis Vuitton fragrances feature in a Les Parfums pop-up store at Changi Airport.
Louis Vuitton Korea has fallen behind its rivals, with sales dipping into minus territory this year.
Balenciaga has overtaken Gucci as the hottest fashion label, according to the latest Lyst Index.


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Sony has unveiled its latest Playstation 3 at an event to coincide with the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles.
Scheduled to ship in early 2006, the console uses IBM's new Cell processor running at 3.2GHz. Sony claims that this allows the Playstation 3 to outrun Microsoft's upcoming Xbox 360 by offering twice the computing power.
The device sports a slew of networking technologies, including Wi-Fi, Gigabit Ethernet and Bluetooth controllers. The Wi-Fi capability allows it to connect to Sony's Playstation Portable gaming computers.
Sony has already confirmed that the Playstation 3 will support the Blu-ray standard for next-generation DVD discs. It will also play DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW and regular CDs. Games designed for Playstation 2 will work on the new console.
Sony's Playstation is the best selling gaming device in the world and one of the profit engines for the consumer electronics manufacturer. It competes with Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Gamecube.
Microsoft is set to start selling its new gaming console in time for the 2005 holiday shopping season. Nintendo is expected to release its next-generation 'Revolution' device by 2006.
Cotton seedling freezes to death as Chang'e-4 shuts down for the Moon's 14-day lunar night
Fortnite easily out-earns PUBG, Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Red Dead Redemption 2 in 2018
Meteor showers as a service will be visible for about 100 kilometres in all directions
Saturn's rings only formed in the past 100 million years, suggests analysis of Cassini space probe data
New findings contradict conventional belief that Saturn's rings were formed along with the planet about 4.5 billion years ago


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Brits are spending up to £1bn a month on unplanned or spur of the moment purchases, new research has revealed.
The survey, which was conducted by 118 118 Money, asked the British public about their impulse spending habits, with a third of us spontaneously buying something on a weekly basis and 75% of us spending up to £30 a month.
Our biggest downfall is limited or special offers, with one in three of us being persuaded into an unplanned purchase as a result of this. Our partner (16%) and family (12%) are also big influences.
Unsurprisingly, Saturday’s between 12-3pm are the most popular time for making impulse purchases, when many of us will likely be hitting the high street for a spot of retail therapy. However, 50% of us admit to making an impulse purchase on any day.
When it comes to paying for our sporadic buys, a third of us will set aside a specific budget for this, knowing we are likely to make a purchase that way. The most popular places for people to make impulse purchases are at home while browsing the internet (31.9%) and in store (49%).
Excitement is a big driver for many of us when buying impulsively with one in three admitting to feeling a buzz, although for the 18-24s, 80% will experience a thrill from an impulse purchase. One on five of us will feel guilty and 40% will feel nothing at all.
Top five most commonly impulse purchased items:
1. Clothing – 47%
2. Food – 40%
3. Homeware – 19%
4. Beauty products – 15%
5. Shoes – 15%
David Goodman, Chief Commercial Officer at 118 118 Money, commented on the findings:
“An impulse purchase may generally be unplanned and spur of the moment but as a nation, many of us are so regularly buying things in this way that we are actually setting aside additional budget to accommodate this in our lives!
“Limited or special offers are a big influence and with a third of us feeling excited by an impulse purchase, it’s hardly surprising we are regularly indulging.”


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Huawei-Symantec alliance dissolves under US govt heat
Huawei's woes have continued today with news that giant US security software company Symantec is dismantling a joint venture between the two companies.
According to a New York Times report, Symantec fears its alliance with the Chinese company would prevent it from obtaining United States government classified information about cyberthreats.
The joint venture was formed around four years ago.
The Times says Symantec will announce the sale of its stake to Huawei, for $US530 million, within the next two weeks.
The paper says:
People with knowledge of the venture, who would speak only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak, said Huawei had already laid off several workers in Huawei Symantec’s Silicon Valley offices this month and planned to move its entire operation out of the United States, largely because of increased American government oversight.
Huawei has previously run into political flack in the US in 2008, when Congress blocked its $US2.6 billion attempt to buy networking company 3Com (ultimately sold to HP), and in 2010 when lawmakers derailed a Huawei attempt to sell telecommunications gear to Sprint.
Sprint and 2degrees' majority shareholder, Seattle-based Trilogy, both have stakes in Clearwire, which is building a 4G network across the US. In New Zealand, Huawei is 2degrees main network partner. The Chinese company has also supplied 2degrees with a $100 million credit line to bankroll expansion.
Over the weekend, it was revealed that the Australian government banned Huawei from bidding on tenders related to the $A36 billion National Broadband Network after security agency fears were raised over cyberattacks originating in China.
Today came news that the Australian government is also investigating a proposed Huawei Marine cable between Perth and Singapore.
On this side of the Tasman, Labour and the Greens have accused the government of turning a blind eye to the Huawei investigation in Australia, and the questions it raises about the Chinese company's involvement in the $1.35 billion Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) project here.


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“I can’t understand why people are frightened by new ideas. I’m frightened by old ones.”
I own a backpack with its own solar array. When traipsing around in remote Amazon jungles, I can charge my laptop or cellphone from sunlight. This backpack gets more attention in airport security than any amount of liquids or gels and has the benefit of inspiring a teachable moment with many fellow travelers about the importance of sustainable energy. It also provides me, as a scientist, a fashion statement that conveys my passion for clean energy. At a global scale, Americans consume a disproportionate amount of energy, so efforts to seek sustainable and clean sources are paramount.
What about combining those two economic forces of fashion design and energy production into an economic solution? Several entrepreneurial companies are doing just that. In addition to solar-powered backpacks, what about power-generating Wellington boots, where heat from your feet charges your cellphone? British communications company, Orange, is collaborating with an energy group called GotWind to create such outdoor footwear. Another British inventor, Elias Stores, is developing a flexible fiber that is both piezoelectric (creates energy from movement) and photovoltaic (collects energy from the sun). So-called piezoelectric fibers could someday allow consumers to create energy from movement.
Many designers are embracing sustainability by becoming more conscious about recycling fabrics – in North Carolina, Raleigh Denim combines a great fashion look with an efficient use of fabrics; and New Zealand designer Holly McQuillen is committed to “zero-waste” patterns for her clothing design.
Not only is the efficient use of fabric important in clothing production, but the materials are important as well. The Germans have created a new fabric called Qmilch made entirely from milk that does not pass inspection for human consumption. Only 2 liters of water are required to create 1 kilogram of fiber using the protein casein (extracted from milk transformed into powder); in contrast, cotton requires enormous quantities of water for production.
PayPal co-founder Peter Thiels is funding a startup company determined to produce artificial leather, without the large energy footprint of cattle. Many companies are turning to biodegradable fabrics – Puma’s new In-Cycle sneakers reportedly undergo 90 percent decomposition within six months of disposal.
In our world of limited natural resources, innovative clothing designs could be a win for the consumer, a win for our personal energy budgets, a win for the environment and a win for the economy.
Meg Lowman, an N.C. State University professor and forest canopy expert, directs the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature Research Center. Online: www.canopymeg.com.


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According to the World Paints & Coating Industry Association, the global paints & coating market was valued at $164.9 billion with an augmented increase of 4.9% in 2018. China incorporates about two third of the APAC region’s consumption. The decorative paints market is segmented, based on type, into watercolor, synthetic, and cave painting. Due to the development in water-based technology, residential construction has started using decorative paints commonly as their main decoration, and thus, the decorative paints market is anticipated to propel in the future.
As per a newly compiled market research report from IndustryARC titled “Decorative Paints Market: By Product Type (Water Based Decorative Paints, Solvent-Based Decorative Paints), By Application (Commercial Sector, Residential Sector), By Price (Premium Range, Medium Range, Distemper Range) & Geography – Forecast (2019 – 2025),” the global market size was valued to be around $76.655 billion as of 2018, and the analyst has estimated a CAGR of around 5.30% during the forecast period 2019 to 2025. The APAC region accounted for close to one half of the global decorative paint market demand share at more than 44% as of 2018. The application in architectural coatings will observe a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period of 2019-2025.
Decorative Paints Market: Recent Developments
Some of the key players in the decorative paints market are listed below with recent developments and innovations:
- Sherwin-Williams Company- In April 2018, the company made the most innovative development ever by introducing ColorSnap Visualizer application with augmented reality, through which the customers can make faster selections. In May 2018, they also introduced new Cool Feel color technology in the market to its SuperDeck Solid Color Stain which will help in reducing the deck surface temperature to 20 degrees.
- Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) – In December 2018, PPG has announced that it has signed an agreement with Whitford Worldwide Company for customer products and industrial applications in the market. Also, PPG completed its acquisition of SEM Products Inc.
- AkzoNobel Coatings NV- In December 2018, the company completed its acquisition of Swire Industrial Limited by holding complete ownership of the company in decorative paints. In November 2018, the company acquired 100% share of Colourland Pints which already had a stronghold in the Malaysian market.
- NIPPON Paints – In November 2018, the company announced its acquisition with 70% stake in Shanghai Mega Coatings Co., Ltd. and Mega Coatings (Nantong) Co., Ltd, which is expected to be completed in 2019. In October 2018, Nippon Paints Holding made a decision to invest in Chiba Plant, Japan, which is wholly into industrial paints and coating business.
- Kansai Paint Group – In April 2018, the company took approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for their new invention of Kansai Anti-Mosquito Paint.
- Asian Paints Ltd- In 2018, Asian Paints Ltd is setting up a new plant for paints manufacturing at Mysuru district in Karnataka, India with 6 lakh KL p.a capacity with an approximate cost of $32 million dollars.
In accordance with the recent development that is observed in the decorative paints market, there is a significant growth in the decorative paints market since the past few years. APAC has major dominance by having close to half of the world’s share.
Talk to one of our sales representative about the full report by providing your details in the link below:
Decorative Coating Additives Market
Decorative Concrete Market


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One can of cola = one hour's run: Exercise labels could be 'more effective than calorie counts'
Warning labels that explain how much exercise is needed to run off the calories in junk food are far more effective than traditional counts, researchers say.
It was found that teenagers who were shown the warnings on fizzy drink cans - which stated an hour's run would be needed to get rid of the calories - were half as likely to drink them.
Printing a 'physical activity equivalent' on unhealthy drinks and food could dramatically reduce their popularity, according to researchers in the American Journal of Public Health.
Warning: Messages stating how much exercise is needed to work off the calories from fizzy drinks were found to work better than any other warning
Health expert Dr Sarah Bleich claimed that people 'generally underestimate' just how many calories junk food and fizzy drinks contain.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA, posted three different signs outside corner shops to see which was best at putting teens off the soft drinks, which contain an average of 250 calories each.
Fancy that drink of coke? How about an hour's jog to work it off?
One asked if they knew that the average fizzy drink contained 250 calories, another asked if they knew it was equivalent to ten per cent of their recommended daily intake.
A third asked 'Did you know that working off a bottle of fizzy drink or fruit juice takes about 50 minutes of running?'
Results showed that providing calorie-related information did cause sales to drop by over a third (40 per cent), but that the physical activity equivalent was most effective, reducing soft drink sales among teens by half.
Study author Dr Sara Bleich said: 'People generally underestimate the number of calories in the foods and beverages they consume.
'Providing easily understandable caloric information-particularly in the form of a physical activity equivalent, such as running-may reduce calorie intake from sugar-sweetened beverages and increase water consumption among low-income adolescents.
'Because of the health problems associated with junk food, it is critical to explore the most effective strategies for presenting caloric information to consumers on fast food restaurant menu boards.'
Super sweet fizzy drinks have been blamed for a range of health conditions including obesity, heart disease and type-2 diabetes.
They are most popular among teens and people from poorer backgrounds.
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The Oppo K10 is set to be launched in India on March 23, according to the Chinese company. The new Oppo phone is rumored to feature a triple rear camera setup and a hole-by-hole display design. The Oppo K10 will arrive in two different shades, according to the teaser. Along with the Oppo K10, the phone vendor teased the marketing of the Oppo Enco Air 2 in the country. Genuine wireless stereo (TWS) headphones were introduced in China this year.
Oppo K10 India launch date
The launch of the Oppo K10 will take place in India on March 23 at 12:00 (noon), Oppo has announced through a website on its website. However, the page has been removed. He appeared on social media and after the initial teaser released on Flipkart.
Oppo K10 price Indian (expected)
The Indian Oppo K10 is said to be priced below Rs. 20,000 price points. The exact sale price of the phone is yet to be announced.
Last year, the Oppo K9 5G was marketed in China for 1,899 CNY (approximately Rs 22,800) for the basic 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. The phone also came with the option of 8GB + 256GB CNY 2,199 (approximately Rs. 26,400).
Oppo also unveiled the Oppo K9 Pro 5G in September for CNY 2,199 (Rs 26,400) for the 8GB + 128GB model and CNY 2,699 (Rs 32,400) for the top 12GB + 256GB configuration.
Oppo K10 specifications (expected)
The teaser posted on the Oppo India website showed that the specifications of the Oppo K10 will feature a hole screen design and a triple rear camera configuration with a 50 megapixel main sensor. The phone also has a USB C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It also has quick loading support and has a Glow Design in two different shades and features glossy and matte finishes.
Oppo said on its website that it would release more details about the Oppo K10 for launch. However, the Chinese version of the Oppo K10 was recently teased to come with a SoT from the MediaTek Dimensity 8000 series.
Along with the Oppo K10, the Oppo Enco Air 2 also appeared on the same website. The headphones were launched in China in January as a successor to Oppo Enco Air. The Oppo Enco Air 2 comes in a translucent jelly-shaped box and serves to provide a 24-hour battery life.
To get the latest technology news and feedback, keep Gadgets 360 turned on Twitter, Facebook and Google News. For the latest gadget and technology videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro 2 Geekbench’s alleged list suggests Snapdragon 778G SoC


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This market is so desperate for good news, it will latch onto anything, Jim Cramer told his Mad Money viewers Thursday. Today, the markets rallied on news that there may soon be a deal to cut Russian and Saudi oil production in an effort to stabilize oil prices.
That news was enough to offset, at least temporarily, the news that another 6.6 million Americans have filed for unemployment.
We have to take the good news where we can get it, Cramer told viewers. Nothing will be perfect, he said, but perfect is not always an option.
That's certainly been the case with General Electric (GE) , and Cramer checked in with chairman and CEO Larry Culp for an update. Culp said that GE's cash sale of its life sciences business to Danaher (DHR) has raised $20 billion, providing GE with the liquidity it needs to weather the COVID-19 storm. GE has also taken other tough actions, including furloughing many of its GE Aviation employees as air travel grinds to a standstill.
But Culp noted that in crises like this, you need to get ahead of reality and avoid thinking that things can't get worse. They can always get worse, he said, and leaders need to be prepared by clearly defining what winning looks like and making the sometimes-tough decisions.
On the positive side, Culp said the GE healthcare division has already doubled its manufacturing capacity of ventilators and will double it again later this spring. They are also making more CT Scanners and patient monitors and upgrading their clinical command center software to handle increased demand.
Cramer and the AAP team are looking at everything from earnings and tariffs to the Federal Reserve. Find out what they're telling their investment club members and get in on the conversation with a free trial subscription to Action Alerts Plus.
Executive Decision: Okta
For his next interview, Cramer welcomed Todd McKinnon, chairman and CEO of Okta (OKTA) , back on the show to discuss the new stay-at-home economy.
McKinnon said that companies need a lot of flexibility to let their people work from anywhere and Okta offers a seamless security platform that allows employees to work from any device on any network.
Okta's identity cloud platform is a universal directory of every employee in a company, McKinnon explained. But it also contains all of the devices employees use, the networks they're allowed to access from and which resources at the company they're given permission to. By removing friction and passwords from the login process, employees can have a one-click experience.
McKinnon highlighted Tyson Foods (TSN) as one of Okta's success stories. The food giant has seen a monumental shift in its supply chain as it stops selling to restaurants and instead sends most of their output directly to grocery stores and consumers. Tyson needed a flexible security system to support this new way of doing business and Okta was able to deliver, he said.
National Burrito Day
Turning his focus to restaurants, Cramer checked back in with Brian Niccol, CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG) , which is celebrating National Burrito Day.
Niccol said that Chipotle is still open for take-out and delivery and they're celebrating Burrito Day in any way they can. One of those ways is with a new program called Burritos for Healthcare Heroes, which is helping to feed America's healthcare workers battling COVID-19.
Chipotle is also rewarding their employees. Niccol said quarterly bonuses will be going out to all store managers and leads to help them through this difficult financial time as well.
When asked how they're able to manage take-out and delivery, Niccol explained that Chipotle has invested heavily into its digital platform, which manages online orders, take-out, delivery and rewards. Coupled with a second in-store food prep line, the online side of the business is more profitable than in-person ordering at their restaurants.
Niccol said people should support all of their local businesses that are still open and do what they can to help keep employees working through this crisis.
On Real Money, Cramer keys in on the companies and CEOs he knows best. Get more of his insights with a free trial subscription to Real Money.
Continuing with his string of interviews, Cramer spoke with Vlad Shmunis, founder and CEO of RingCentral (RNG) , which Thursday introduced RingVideo, an online meeting service to compete with the likes of Zoom Video Communications (ZM) .
Shmunis said that RingCentral is not aiming to compete with Zoom. They are a leader in unified communications as a service, he said, and offer phone, messaging and now video services all in a single platform with security built in.
Shmunis explained that legacy products, like WebEx from Cisco Systems (CSCO) , are falling behind the curve and are helping to fuel RingCentral's growth.
RingCentral is serious about video, Shmunis added. They've worked on their service for three years, including over a year testing with customers and have a unique and differentiated service. RingCentral was founded on the premise of communications anywhere, and RingVideo helps deliver on that promise.
Changes to Invest in
In his "No-Huddle Offense" segment, Cramer said when the pandemic ends, and it will end, things won't go completely back to normal. He said the remote working trend will be here to stay.
Working from home isn't science fiction anymore, video conferencing from Zoom Video is for real and it's more convenient and environmentally friendly than commuting to the office. On the flip side, the world will need less office space, which is bad news for REITs.
Finally, Cramer said that Amazon (AMZN) is proving to be a lifeline for many families in our new world, and the company also benefits from its Web Services juggernaut.
Here's what Jim Cramer had to say about some of the stocks that callers offered up during the Mad Money Lightning Round Thursday evening:
AbbVie (ABBV) : "I do like the stock's yield, but this one is under pressure with COVID-19."
Domino's Pizza (DPZ) : "I think this is the time to buy Domino's. They have great delivery."
Kinder Morgan (KMI) : "I don't like pipeline or natural gas. There's too much supply out there."
Search Jim Cramer's "Mad Money" trading recommendations using our exclusive "Mad Money" Stock Screener.
To watch replays of Cramer's video segments, visit the Mad Money page on CNBC.
To sign up for Jim Cramer's free Booyah! newsletter with all of his latest articles and videos please click here.
At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had a position in ABBV, PEP, AMZN.


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The Pioneer Press reports that Ann Taylor will take about half the available 12,000 square feet (Restoration Hardware stores run large). The balance of the space will be broken into two smaller retail shops.
The story also gives a nod to Ann Taylor's recent expansion in the metro. Earlier this month it opened a new concept store in the Mall of America, and another refurbished concept is set to go into Southdale Center soon.
Mark Reilly manages daily and weekly coverage at the Business Journal newsroom.


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Specialist data center news for Asia
These search results are from across the Techday network of sites
'Wealth economy' key to measuring economic growth – University of Cambridge
Current economic indicators such as the GDP are inadequate for effective economic policymaking, a new study from the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge claims.
CyberArk introduces new partner incentives and programmes
“CyberArk has made a commitment to a best-in-class global partner programme that allows partners the flexibility and scalability to capitalise on emerging market trends."
Epsilon appoints chief commercial officer to drive growth in new markets
“Lee brings unique experience to our business and will support our long-term growth across new market segments.”
Callaghan Innovation seeks incubators to fuel NZ’s deep-tech growth
Successful incubators will help to develop technical and scientific research in New Zealand, and ensure technology translates to successful commercial outcomes.
Citrix looks to boost partner sales in Asia Pacific with two appointments
Citrix has made two channel leadership appointments to better develop operations in Asia Pacific and Japan.
New recruit to lead business acceleration at Callaghan
“Technology-driven business disruption is creating virtually unlimited opportunities for our best and boldest entrepreneurs."
NZ's growing tech sector creates job boom
"New tech roles are highly paid generating new wealth for regional New Zealand and research has found that for every new tech role created 4.9 other support roles are created in a community."
NZ survey inspires 9 'growth hacks' for tech firms
"The idea is to give Kiwi technology companies useful information for planning their sales and marketing strategies."
Immigration changes bring welcome booster to NZ's regional businesses
ChristchurchNZ's Bree Loverich says migrant workers are essential to the region’s increasing skills shortage.
Rotorua's Firestation seeks 10 businesses for growth challenge
Firestation is located in Rotorua’s central business district and will run its ACCELERATE business training programme next month.
Cirrus’ Correct Comms acquisition paying dividends, according to latest activities report
The company says Correct Communications has brought in over $2 million since the acquisition was made.
Business confidence in Australia highest in 4 years
The IT industry is one of the major drivers of confident businesses in Australia that are more likely to invest in growing their businesses this year.
JB Hi-Fi driving strong gains with surging Aussie growth, despite NZ decline
The company reported a $1.1 billion rise in total sales revenue in its half-year 2018 results.
Hitachi Vantara fortify executive team with new appointments
Mark Ablett and Daniel Chong have both been nabbed positions in the company's executive team.
Video communication service Zoom posts 134% revenue growth in A/NZ
Zoom’s cloud-based service has become a mainstay in organisations dealing with a dispersed population, and ongoing connectivity and bandwidth issues.
Offsetting increasing distribution costs in a changing digital economy
Continuing to operate with a “business as usual” approach is a mistake distributors cannot afford to make anymore.
Exclusive Interview - IGEL on their VDI program and company refocus
Jed Ayres, IGEL Technology CEO talks all things thin clients and company prosperity.
Intel posts financial growth for Q3, increases full-year outlook
The company is particularly pleased with record quarterly results from their data centre, Internet of Things (IoT) and memory businesses.
Dell Boomi hires ex-HPE talent as local managing director
The company says the appointment reflects their continued expansion in local markets.
Magic Software launches new global partner program
The company says the program will have a three-tiered structure, designed for high scalability and active growth.
Data#3 hires ex-Telstra exec to lead the charge in WA
Kingsley McGarrigle has been named general manager for Western Australia.
SOTI reports increased global revenue and partner growth
The launch of the SOTI ONE platform in May saw the company grow the number of customer trials by 57% from the previous year.
Interview: Okta on their growth strategies in APAC
We caught up with Graham Pearson, Okta vice president for APAC, to talk about how the company plans to grow through its channel partners.
SAP SE announce stable growth for its Hybris solutions
The company says there was a 40% increase in deals involving multiple SAP Hybris cloud solutions in the first half of 2017.


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Kim Kardashian revealing photo of herself
Informasi Kim Kardashian couldn't sleep Tuesday night so the reality starlet tweeted this revealing photo of herself in bed. . . with a full face of make-up and perfectly coiffed hair! Coincidentally, earlier in the day, she revealed a sexy promotional shot for their new Kardashian Kollection Intimates Line. Do you think these photos are too racy? Or are they klassy? Plus, Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez showed off their bikini bods on the set of their new flick "Spring Breakers," and Michelle Williams looked pretty in pink at a press conference in Tokyo for "My Week With Marilyn."


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Lake drilling to support future production increase at Kachi
Lake Resources (ASX:LKE) is looking to the future with drilling and testing beyond the level required for the DFS at its flagship Kachi lithium brine project on the same day that Ford announces its Electric F150 Lightning truck.
The expanded program is aimed at accelerating the conversion of inferred resources into higher confidence measured and indicated resources which will allow for an expansion to double future production beyond the 25,500 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate planned in the Definitive Feasibility Study.
An initial diamond drill program of four holes totalling 1,600m will be conducted, together with brine and sediment sampling and pump testing to refine the resource estimations for a conversion to reserves, with economic assumptions.
This will be carried out on top of current drilling, which is designed to convert resources into reserves as part of the DFS work.
Lake has good reason to be aggressive given the bullish outlook for lithium that has sent prices soaring.
And it is likely to keep climbing with Benchmark Minerals Intelligence forecasting that with the overall market expected to be in deficit, industry sources were flagging prices to rise above US$15,300 per tonne of lithium carbonate this year.
“This drill program will not only support current production, but also allow for further expansion of Kachi’s resource to potentially double production, making Kachi a globally significant project in terms of high purity lithium carbonate production,” managing director Steve Promnitz said.
“We are witnessing considerable interest from potential off-takers for a high purity, sustainable product like we have at Kachi. Volkswagen alone has flagged moves to consume two-thirds of current lithium production by 2030 with its new battery gigafactories, adding to the investments by other major EV and battery makers.
“There is no question that the billions of dollars being invested in the world’s clean energy drive require an increased supply of the necessary battery materials, sustainably sourced.”
The Kachi project covers 74,000 hectares of leases over a salt-lake south of Livent’s lithium operation in Argentina.
It currently has a resource of 4.4 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent with 1Mt of that sit in the higher confidence indicated category.
Less than 20 per cent of this resource is used for the planning of the 25,500tpa lithium carbonate production over 25 years, which neatly highlights the scale of the project as it stands.
Lake recently upgraded Kachi’s estimated post-tax net present value – a measure of a project’s profitability – by 110 per cent to US$1.6bn thanks to projected higher lithium prices compared to the price assumption used in the pre-feasibility study.
The refreshed PFS also increased internal rate of return to 35 per cent and estimated annual operating cashflow at US$260m.
Adding support to the company’s goal of producing the cleanest quality lithium carbonate at scale, test work has resulted in the production of high-purity 99.97 per cent lithium carbonate from Kachi brine through the use of direct lithium extraction in pilot modules.
Argentina itself is also shaping up to be a major lithium player with Ganfeng Lithium planning a battery factory in Jujuy Province while BMW signed a supply deal with Livent.
This article was developed in collaboration with Lake Resources, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.


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New York label Pyer Moss won the 15th edition of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award which was announced at the Brooklyn Yard.
The price is $400,000 including mentorship from industry professionals.
Established in 2013 by Brooklyn-born Kerby Jean-Raymond, Pyer Moss has been gaining global recognition through its slick designs and collaboration with Reebok on a reboot of selected archive pieces.
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The runners-up were also awarded for their outstanding work. Emily Adams Bode of menswear brand Bode and Jonathan Cohen went home with $150,000 each.


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Sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t. It looks like Zavers, the online coupon program that was launched through Google 17 months ago, is just going to be one of those things that didn’t work out. Google announced yesterday that it is pulling the program, due to lack of interest.
Zavers allowed users to clip coupons online and use them in-store. It was intended to help merchants’ build more targeted and effective loyalty and reward programs.
“Zavers was basically a coupon program tied with the merchant point-of-sale system,” said Neil Doshi, analyst at CRT capital, according to Fox Business News. “My guess is that the integration process with the POS systems were proving to be challenging, and retailers were not too keen on sharing their data with Google.”
Google has said it will continue to work closely with users through the transition away from Zavers and that it continues to move forward with greater focused on more successful areas of their initial entrance into payments such as product listing ads, Google Shopping Express and Google Wallet.
“What’s Hot” is aggregated content. PYMNTS.com claims no responsibility for the accuracy of the content published by the original source.


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... Cooperation was held in Ashgabat on May 8. The Russian side was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Konstantin Chuichenko and Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin. The parties considered joint projects, issues of the activities of Russian companies in Turkmenistan, as well as prospects for cooperation in the industrial, construction, transport, oil and gas, gas chemical and electric power industries, the report said. The subject of cooperation between the relevant ministries and departments of the ...Modified: 13.05.2019
In 2018 Russia expanded import of Turkmenistan tomatoes by 116% in terms of volume and by 127% in terms of value. Russia’s import of this production from Turkmenistan exceeded 5 thous. tons for the total amount of $5.8 mln. Tomato supplies accounted for 4% of Russia’s import from ...Modified: 05.03.2019
The State Duma of Russia adopted the law on ratification of the agreement between Russia and Turkmenistan on strategic partnership. The agreement envisages that the relations of strategic partnership between the two countries will be based on the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, equality and mutual benefit,...Modified: 18.06.2018
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A Council of Agriculture-led delegation from Taiwan is to travel to Moscow on Wednesday next week to take part in a two-day promotion of Taiwanese agricultural products.
Moscow and Beijing have set the target of boosting trade turnover to $200 bln by 2024, China’s new Ambassador to Russia Zhang Hanhui told reporters.
Wine export from Georgia to Russia decreased by 27% in July 2019 compared to the corresponding period in 2018, according to the press service of the Georgian National Wine Agen...
October 1-5, 2019 Moscow (Russia)
About the models of business development in another country and professional secrets is told by a practicing expert on work in international markets Anna Trubetskaya


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Citycell, a pioneer in telecom service industry, is negotiating for sale of the company to induce massive investment which will help it turn around and introduce state of the art mobile technology.
For the third time the company has opened up to invite investors, after mass migration of subscribers to other operators, it has failed to raise reasonable funds to pay huge debts to state telecom regulatory body for years.
Bangladesh Telecom Regularity Commission (BTRC) has repeatedly extended deadline for Citycell to pay unpaid fees of Tk 229 crore and has listed the company as defaulter.
On December 2 last year, BTRC threatened to cancel Citycell's operating licence unless it pays its dues worth Tk 249.71 crore. After disbursing Tk 26 crore against dues, BTRC revoked the cancellation order.
Citycell officials argued with BTRC that despite demand for 10 megahertz spectrum, the mobile phone company receives 6.5 MHZ, which is detrimental to expansion of business to earn revenue.
Earlier, Citycell brand name of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd acquired its assets and market from Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Ltd in 1989. Later Citycell sold its share to Sing Tel Asia Pacific Investment Pvt (44.53 per cent), Far East Telecom Ltd (17.52 per cent), and Pacific Motors Ltd (37.95 per cent).
The Citycell company's primary owner Morshed Khan, former Foreign Minister and senior leader of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), is living in self-exile after military-backed caretaker government took power in 2007, popularly known as 1/11 regime.
Poor investment on infrastructure development, lack of expansion plan and failed bid for 3G, the lone CDMA mobile operator in the country began to lose customer base rapidly. The customer aspirant for 3G services quickly migrated to other GSM mobile phone companies.
However, Citycell major share of business revenue was accrued from Zoom Ultra internet service through telephony system.
Thus, the directors and shareholders decided to negotiate for sale of the company including the liabilities. The largest chunk of debt was with BTRC worth Tk 229 crore and the due is increasing, BTRC officials said.
The Citycell senior officials held several crucial parleys with a Vietnamese telecom MobiPhone.
MobiPhone, a successful company since 1993, is ready to accept the challenge in the stiff competitive telecom consumer market in Bangladesh. In Vietnam, MobiPhone ranks second to the state telecom company.
The Vietnamese telecom would have to face an uphill task to catch-up with other rival giants GrameenPhone, Robi, BanglaLink, and Airtel.
The executives of MobiPhone have met Telecommunications Minister Abdul Latif Siddiqui and BTRC Chairman Sunil Kanti Bose, officials said.
MobiPhone has also taken into stock the infrastructure and telecom facilities of Citycell and are hopeful to strike a deal, they said.
In fact Sing Tel has lost interest to pump money in the Bangladesh telecom industry and instead decided to surrender their entire share of 44.53 per cent. MobiPhone are enthusiastic to buy Sing Tel's share.
"It would be an honourable exit for Sing Tel, a major partner of Citycell brand who are groaning under collapse of business," said a BTRC official.
However, officials with Citycell declined to discuss the negotiation for sale of the company, but admitted that it is increasingly becoming difficult to pay salaries, benefits and festival bonus. Most importantly, budget constraints have severely limited maintenance and upgrading telecommunication equipment and services.
Mehboob Chowdhury, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Citycell, told The Daily Observer that the Vietnamese mobile phone company is keen to invest in Bangladesh. The company has expressed their eagerness after meeting with senior government officials.
He said the company has not spelled out any investment plan for Citycell. However, Citycell would consider the investment plan.


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Waze dark mode is getting a huge update you need to see
Google has just updated Google Maps with an eco-friendly navigation mode that suggests the route that consumes the least amount of gas, even if that route isn’t the fastest one. But there may be cases where you want to reach your destination without dealing with traffic and unforeseen incidents. That’s where Google’s Waze app shines. And there might be a big Waze Dark Mode update on the way that you need to see.
Waze is the app that many drivers prefer over Google Maps because of its stellar crowdsourced incident reports. This live traffic data helps Waze offer the best possible route, so you don’t have to slow down your trips. And if you’re a regular Waze user, then there’s probably a feature you’ve been dying to see inside Waze for a long time. We’re talking about real Dark Mode support, not the half-baked offering we have now.
Waze is currently testing Dark Mode in an early alpha version, so the feature might soon be available to all users.
The post Waze dark mode is getting a huge update you need to see appeared first on BGR.
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Waze dark mode is getting a huge update you need to see originally appeared on BGR.com on Mon, 25 Oct 2021 at 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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October 25, 2021 at 11:57AM


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India’s e-commerce market has been booming but the story is just beginning. Out of India’s 1.3 billion population (the world’s second largest after China), an estimated 574 million are active internet users according to consulting company Kantar representing an internet penetration rate of about 44%. That is bigger than the entire population of the United States. This makes India the second largest online market after China which has 904 million internet users as of March 2020 according to CNNIC.
There is still tremendous opportunity for internet users to grow in number. Kantar estimates an 11% growth rate for 2020, with India’s internet users reaching 639 million. As India’s online population grows propelling to country’s digital economy, e-commerce is poised to grow as well. With about 100-110 million online shoppers as of 2019 according to data from a report by Bain & Co, about 17% of India’s internet users shop online.
By comparison, representing 78.6% of China’s internet population, China has 710 million online shoppers as of March 2020,. That is about seven-times that of India’s online shopper population, suggesting an enormous growth opportunity in India. As Indian incomes grow and consumption increases, consumers will seek greater product variety, and quality, at competitive prices. E-commerce can help unlock consumer spending as incomes rise. India’s GDP per capita growth has exceeded 5% since 2016.
India’s youthful population bodes well for e-commerce growth; as of 2020, 43.82% of India’s population was aged 24 years and below according to data from the CIA World Factbook. As they enter the workforce they will continue to be a major driving force for Indian e-commerce in the long term. India’s e-commerce market is expected to quadruple from US$ 48.5 billion in 2018 to US$ 200 billion by 2026 according to the International Trade Administration representing a CAGR of 19.37%.
Trends and notable players
Riding on India’s vast user base of social media users, social commerce is on the cusp of growth. India had the biggest rise in social media users in 2019, seeing 130 million new users (a 48% YoY) according to Hootsuite. Yet, at just 29% of the total population as at January 2020, India’s social media penetration is lower than the world average of 49% indicating ample room for growth. As more Indians get social, social commerce is poised to flourish.
Considered to be the second wave of e-commerce in the country notable Indian social commerce players looking to capitalize on this vast and growing userbase include Meesho, Bikayi, and JioMart. While first wave e-commerce giants such as Walmart-owned Flipkart, Amazon, and Snapdeal offer the opportunity to open an online store on their marketplace platforms, Meesho, Bikayi and JioMart leverage on social media platforms to offer businesses and individuals a chance to sell online, somewhat similar to WeChat’s mini-programs which enabled businesses to open stores within the WeChat app. China’s third biggest e-commerce player Pinduoduo for instance was born out of a WeChat’s mini-program.
Whatsapp is the number one messaging app in India with more than 400 million Whatsapp users, making India the country with the world’s biggest Whatsapp user population. Not surprisingly, Whatsapp is a popular social media platform for social e-commerce. Y Combinator-backed Bikayi’s app enables businesses to create a Whatsapp-integrated e-commerce store in a few minutes. The startup reportedly has more than 100,000 businesses using its app. For micro and small SMEs with little capital for a full-fledged e-commerce store, Bikayi’s app is an ideal solution for them to offer their catalogs online. From a consumer point of view, Bikayi is an ideal solution for a mobile-first market like India where 97% of internet users are mobile internet users.
Bikayi’s larger rival Meesho, also enables businesses to open a social media store but its app supports not just Whatsapp, but several other popular social media platforms as well such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. There are more than 260 million Facebook users in India, making it the leading country in terms of Facebook users.
New social commerce startup Bulbul meanwhile has attracted investor interest with Bulbul raising USD 14.7 million from Sequoia Capital this year.
The elephant in the room however is JioMart, the online grocery arm owned by petrochemicals behemoth Reliance Industries which has also jumped into social commerce arena; already available to shoppers via app or e-commerce website, JioMart recently piloted a Whatsapp-based grocery ordering platform that allows shoppers to order essentials through Whatsapp. The order is then routed to one of the 1,000+ mom-pop ‘kirana’ stores nearby the customer to fulfill the order.
The social commerce opportunity is driven not just through rising social media penetration but also from a growing number of online shoppers in rural India where internet penetration is less than 30% but growing considerably faster than urban India. According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), urban internet users grew 1.54% during the quarter ended march 2020 while rural internet users grew 6.53% during the same period.
For these new online shoppers, there is a general lack of trust for the millions of unknown online merchants on e-commerce marketplaces such as Flipkart. Social commerce on the other hand enables merchants to interact with first time online shoppers, clear their doubts and essentially provide a ‘face’ to the online store, helping bridge the trust deficit. Meesho for instance generates about three-quarters of its business from outside the top six cities.
While Amazon, Walmart’s Flipkart, and homegrown newcomer Reliance JioMart focus on the horizontal e-commerce marketplace arena which is crowded with other rivals such as Snapdeal, and ShopClues to name a few, India is increasingly seeing a growing number of vertical e-commerce marketplaces the e-commerce landscape. Flipkart’s fashion marketplace Myntra, Reliance Industries’ fashion marketplace Ajio, beauty e-commerce marketplace Nykaa, and furniture e-commerce marketplaces Pepperfry, and Urban Ladder are some notable established vertical e-commerce marketplaces. As they increasingly gain popularity along with growing e-commerce popularity in India, the number of specialized vertical e-commerce marketplaces is anticipated to continue an upward march in the coming years.
A report by research firm Redseer expects vertical e-commerce marketplaces to grow their share of India’s online retail Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) from 20% in 2019 to 30% by 2022. Marketplaces in industry verticals that have a strong advantage against horizontal e-commerce marketplaces highlighted in the report include pharmaceuticals, furniture, mom and baby care, and beauty and personal care, owing to their differentiated supply chain, and non-standard product which leads to consumer expectations of greater variety, quality and specialized service.
Mom and baby care e-commerce marketplace FirstCry achieved unicorn status this year with a valuation of US$ 1.2 billion, after Softbank committed to investing US$ 400 million in February.
Homegrown startup Livspace, an interior design marketplace connecting homeowners with trusted interior designers, vendors, and customers, currently serves 9 metro areas in India (Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Thane and Pune) and plans to expand locally and overseas (its only overseas market is Singapore currently) having raised US$ 90 million in September this year in Series D equity funding, and Indian Rupees 300 million in debt funding in October. Livspace is expected to generate US$ 500 million within the next 24-30 months.
Indian agriculture marketplace DeHaat meanwhile, raised US$ 12 million from Sequoia Capital this year, after raising US$ 4 million in Series A funding in March last year, bringing the total amount raised to US$ 16 million to date.
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce
India’s vast retail market features numerous local brands, and with e-commerce gaining popularity in the country, there been a trend of these brands going directly to consumers, essentially eliminating ‘online middlemen’ e-commerce marketplaces.
According to a report by e-commerce-focused SaaS company Unicommerce, there was a 65% increase in brands developing their own websites in June 2020. Meanwhile, an increasing number of online shoppers too appear to be going direct to brand websites, bypassing marketplaces. According to the Unicommerce report, brand websites reportedly saw an 88% increase in order growth compared with 32% for marketplace platforms during India’s lockdown period in June 2020 which led to an increase in self-shipped orders. Given the many advantages of a brand going direct to the consumer, such as greater control over brand perception, and direct interaction with consumers, it is likely that brand e-commerce popularity will continue growing in the years ahead.
The rise of D2C e-commerce in India looks set to follow a path similar to that of China, where rising brand e-commerce has led to the birth of brand e-commerce SaaS (Software as a Solution) companies such as Baozun. India too, has its own homegrown brand e-commerce SaaS solutions companies, notable ones include Zoho and Zepo.
Last year, Indian SaaS major Zoho Corp which has millions of users in more than 180 countries, launched an e-commerce solution enabling small retailers to set up their own e-commerce sites. Unlike other solutions that charge users on a per transaction basis, Zoho will charge a flat monthly fee for stores earning up to US$ 1,000 monthly after which a transaction fee of 1.5% is imposed (for its most basic plan). Zoho is a very established SaaS player offering a plethora of SaaS applications including productivity tools, CRM, and cloud solutions for finance and HR to name a few. This extensive suite of SaaS solutions and an existing customer base gives Zoho ample cross-selling opportunities for its new e-commerce SaaS solution which puts the company in great position to capitalize on India’s rising brand e-commerce market.
Homegrown e-commerce enabler Zepo which raised INR 31.9 million in August 2017 in funding from angel investors Kunal Shah (co-founder FreeCharge), Anupam Mittal and Hetal Sonpal, has its own advantages in the brand e-commerce race. The company offers merchants an integrated platform that enables them to manage their own e-commerce website, as well as manage orders from their online stores on marketplace platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart. For merchants wanting to maintain official marketplace stores while running their own e-commerce website, Zepo could be the player with the ideal solution.
Shopify, one of the world’s most popular e-commerce SaaS solution providers is another notable player in this space. Having begun operations in India in 2014, Shopify now has thousands of Indian merchants on its platform including Blue Tokai Coffee, apparel company Raymond Group, clothing brand NUSH by Anushka Sharma, John Jacobs Eyewear to name a few. Shopify said the number of merchants in India using their platform grew 44% in 2019 and GMV grew 59%. Shopify supports ten languages in India which is an advantage as more non-English or Hindi speaking Indians increasingly shop online (according to the latest census data from The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Hindi was spoken by 43.63% of the population which means more than 56% of India’s population speak other languages).