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RISMEDIA, Nov. 17, 2008-Keller Williams’ Northwest Market Center and Goomzee Corporation announced a partnership to showcase text message marketing tools as part of Keller’s featured listings tour. Every 4 to 6 weeks Keller Williams will feature up to 50 agents and their listings on a tour. Each home will allow prospective buyers, or other interested parties to receive instant information and photo tours about the property on their mobile phone 24/7. Sellers will benefit from increased exposure on their home and buyers will receive instant access to property information via their mobile phones.
“Goomzee’s marketing and sales platform (Realty Connect) makes the yard sign interactive! Buyers receive information on their cell phone at the point-of-interest and the realtor receives instant notification of a quality lead. Realty Connect provides clear benefits to listing agents, buyers and sellers,” says Roland Castillo, productivity coach, Keller Williams Northwest Market Center.
For more information, visit http://www.goomzee.com/.


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Jeremy Tester, Sky Media, director of insight, reveals plans for the further roll out of the broadcaster’s data-driven, insight and audience buying tools Sky IQ and AdSmart, as it aims to counter web-based interlopers that increasingly rival them for prominence on advertiser’s media plans.
Online video is one of the growth areas of online advertising, with a recent IAB report shows that it registered 24% year-on-year growth in the first half of 2013.
Programmatic players are all lining up to take their share of the takings, with AOL’s Adap.tv, DataXu and Yume all announcing recent product launches to take their share of brand advertising budgets. But traditional broadcasters, notably BSkyB, are arming themselves with data-driven advertising tools to underline their place at the top of the advertising milieu.
In recent weeks, the programmatic video sector has seen several notable announcements. Foremost among them was AOL’s Adap.tv revelation that TV advertisers can now buy linear TV ad slots through its Audience Path platform in the US, giving advertisers a potential reach to over 90 million viewers.
Senior Adap.tv execs are at pains not to pitch Audience Path against more traditional TV inventory buying channels (publicly at least). But DataXu, which recently announced the addition of private exchange video inventory to its platform, is less diplomatic in its assertions.
“This brings programmatic video to the point where brand marketers can confidently make increasingly bold shifts in budget, from TV, to premium quality digital video,” reads a DataXu release making the announcement.
DataXu then goes on to cite research stating that 86% of brand-side marketers, and over 91% of agency advertisers want to invest more in online video, to the detriment of budgets traditionally reserved for TV.
Add to this the more recent announcement of YuMe’s Video Reach, a platform designed to help brand marketers (that traditionally spent their budgets on TV) target users across devices in ‘brand safe’ environments, and the threat to traditional TV channels is apparent.
However, this is not to say the tide is turning and traditional ad-funded TV broadcasters are now defenceless. Speaking at this week’s ISBA conference, hosted in London, BSkyB’s Tester took to the stage to explain how it was using a two-pronged, data-driven approach to fend off the external threat to its ad revenues. Namely, via its media planning tool Sky IQ, plus its “dynamic ad delivery platform” AdSmart, as BskyB attempts to answer advertisers’ need for data-driven media services.
“TV is thriving, and [TV advertising trade body] ThinkBox does a good job of conveying just what TV is doing [for advertisers],” he told attendees. “But the conversation is now about loads of things such as data, measurement, and accountability have all now come into the world of television.”
Sky IQ contains unique viewing panel data from over 500,000 homes; which questions them on viewing patterns, such as timing of viewings, what programmes, what devices they watch them on, plus ad exposure, etc.
The recently launched service means Sky is able to cross-reference panel data sourced from the SkyIQ database with brands’ own first-party data to help them better refine their campaigns targeted at 89 audience segments on Sky-owned TV channels.
“Sky IQ gives us actionable audience insights, sophisticated media deployment options and better measurement of effectiveness,” says Tester.
BSkyB’s AdSmart lets advertisers serve different ads to different audiences via their Sky TV set-top box, based on the profile Sky builds on them.
“This doesn’t mean the more adverts, it means more relevant adverts,” said Tester.
For instance, audiences in one region (such as the North West of England) can be shown a different ad in the same slot to similar audiences in another (London for example). The ads can also be switched depending on an audience’s demographic profile, so two houses next to each other can be watching the same programme on the same channel, but be served different ads if the platform deems them to have different demographic profiles.
Effectively AdSmart – which BSkyB has spent £100m on building AdSmart so far - turns viewers’ Sky boxes into “dynamic ad servers that can track campaign performance,” added Tester.
Brands including Homebase, Nestle, Paddy Power and Unilever have all used both Sky IQ plus Ad Smart so far, according to Tester, who added that Sky has served 88 million ads via AdSmart, across 279 campaigns, with 90 brands taking part since launching eight months ago.
One key element to Sky’s data-driven ad strategy is to bring “lapsed advertisers” to its platform, explained Tester, denoting the broadcaster’s strategy for defending its share of advertising budgets.
“Lapsed brands” that have used Sky IQ and AdSmart so far include Nestle for its Polo brand, according to Tester. He told ISBA conference attendees how Nestle was able to use the platforms to serve different ads to different regions in order to test which campaigns are the most effective with different audiences.
“We’re just out of test and learn phase, it’s only available on Sky Channels at present, but there’s an invitation out there for more advertisers [and broadcasters] to adopt Sky’s AdSmart technology,” added Tester.
At present both tools are only available on TV, but soon Sky will roll out the service to bring dynamic ad serving to desktop and mobile devices, indicating that the ascension of online advertising channels will not go unchallenged.
“Sky AdSmart is a really important development for both television and advertisers… It’s this investment in innovation that helps us understand customers and what they want, and brings ROI learnings for advertisers helping them refine their strategies,” concluded Tester.

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THAT’S HOW NIKE IS APPROACHING THE METAVERSE
Good morning dear readers of Tecnogalaxy, today we will talk about Nike that bought a company to produce sneakers through NFT for the metaverse.
For those who don’t know, NFTs allow you to buy and sell ownership of unique digital items and keep track of who owns them using the blockchain. NFT stands for “fungible tokens” and can technically contain anything digital, including drawings, animated GIFs, songs or elements in video games. An NFT is unique, like a real painting, or a copy of many, like trading cards, but the blockchain keeps track of who owns the file.
What are the NTFs?
NFT has made headlines lately, some sold for millions of dollars, such as the high-profile meme like Nyan Cat and the “deal with it” sunglasses auctioned off. There are also many discussions about the massive use of electricity and the environmental impact that NFT have.
Back to us, one comparison I’ve heard over and over the last year is that buying NFT for people in the metaverse is just like collecting sneakers, and now Nike is apparently trying to make sure it’s ready for the literal version of that possibility. The clothing giant, in fact, has just announced the acquisition of RTFKT Studios, which he defines as “a leading brand that leverages cutting-edge innovation to deliver next-generation collectibles that combine culture and gaming“.
RTFKT says that in February, a collaboration with the growing artist, FEWOCiOUS, to sell real sneakers paired with virtual ones, thanks to this they managed to sell about 600 pairs/NFT in just six minutes, earning over 3.1 million dollars. It was the same early spring period when most of us heard about NFT for the first time, as Grimes sold digital artwork worth about 6 million on March 1. It is not clear if any of these digital objects are worth as much today; looking at OpenSea and Nifty Gateway, right now, I see that some of them are listed or have recently been sold at less than their original prices.
But he forgets the past, and that time he photoshopped a pair of his sneakers on Elon Musk, RTFKT is moving forward, and just the other day the startup supported by A16Z launched the collaboration Clone X NFT with the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, offering a series of metaverse digital avatars ready for use with various collectible traits.
The company’s website immediately asks visitors to connect their Metamask wallets, which is one of the ways NFT owners can check their purchases, with the idea that at some point in the future you will play or enter other types of VR spaces where your objects can materialize, once those spaces have read the blockchain to assess which elements you have rights to.
This is the kind of vision that Nike is buying, crediting the company founder Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le and Steven Vasilev to exploit “the latest game engines, NFT, blockchain authentication and augmented reality to create unique virtual products and experiences.”
During the announcement of the agreement, without revealing how much was spent, Nike placed the lightning-style logo of RTFKT next to its iconic swoosh, Jumpman and Converse. These brands have decades of history, built on top-notch athletic sponsorship, distinctive designs and a basic culture that actually exists in the real world. RTFKT, meanwhile, was founded in January 2020. It says that “human development in consciousness has accelerated faster than expected. We are here to accelerate our digital future now”.
This is all about Nike and NFT, to a forthcoming article.
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Dubai (UAE), January 31, 2022 — Mavatrix, the first reward-based Non-Fungible Token collection on Binance Smart Chain, has concluded the minting of its first collection of NFTs as of January 28th.
The collection was launched in late December and included 8,799 unique ‘Mavatars’, original NFT characters inspired by the Japanese chibi art style, which have now all been pre-sold to public and private investors.
About the achievement, Mavatrix’s founder Giulio Gagliano says “I would like to thank everyone who joined early into Mavatrix’s journey. Having successfully sold-out almost nine thousand unique NFTs in just a little over a month, we are now certain about the ability of Mavatrix to project confidence in its investors”.
On top of ownership of the NFT, buyers will also participate in a reward pool generated by Mavatrix to collect royalties coming from DeFi transactions of their token, MVV.
The MVV token is based on the standard BEP20 of Binance, and it launched on PancakeSwap on February 2nd. Moreover, owners will soon be able to access a dedicated section of the official website of Mavatrix in which, using their crypto wallet, they will be able to see their NFTs and find out their attributes, such as rarity and rewards capacity.
Owners of the collection will be able to claim their cumulated rewards starting from March 1st, 2022. After this date, claims will be possible every 24 hours.
What’s next for the project?
Mavatrix is currently at work on its first play-to-earn game. Giulio Gagliano, the project founder, describes it as a “community-driven, interactive hub of Gacha games that will use the blockchain and NFT technologies to allow its users to play mini-games, and battle with each other while earning tokens”.
As the game project is developing alongside its community, Mavatrix welcomes any interested parties to join the conversation on their Discord server.
Founded by entrepreneur & blockchain advisor Giulio Gagliano, Mavatrix is an international team comprising veterans from the Fintech and gaming industries with the goal of closing the gap between NFT enthusiasts and players of video games.
More information about Mavatrix is available on its Litepaper.
Resources & social media handles


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Kora Merchant Stories is a roll call of award-winning businesses creating transformative solutions for the web across Africa and the world. These stories inspire us. We hope they inspire you too. This is the first in the series.
Biodun Atobatele and James Olorunosebi had been and succeeded in the information technology, real estate, and financial services industries for over 14 years when they paused to ask themselves the ultimate question:
“What is bigger than making money?”
The answer came to them after many brainstorming sessions. They eventually realised that their answer to this question was “Leaving a legacy”. “For us, leaving a legacy was more important than making money. And that’s what we decided to attempt to do,” says Biodun Atobatele.
“The first thing we remembered was that the most impactful technologies in the world are free — think Google. So we decided to pick an industry and create a software solution for problems in that industry that would cost nothing but be world-class. A software from Nigeria to Africa, to the world. Free forever.”
What is now known as MyXalary started as a way to manage employee databases, taxes, and pensions. When that became stable, the cofounders began advancing the software by adding features.
“By the end of 2022, we had launched ten new modules,” says Olurunosebi. “We’re committed to continuous improvement. Our platform’s simplicity has caused us to grow from a company that helped small businesses to one that works with large enterprises.”
Both founders are proud of their company’s most significant global impact, becoming the most prominent human resource management system (HRMS) to originate from Africa.
There’s also the fact that they don’t sell MyXalary. “Seeing the company save businesses billions of dollars brings us much joy,” says Atobatele
As MyXalary’s customers grew, so did the company’s need for a robust and efficient payment gateway they could use to power their wallet services — a feature that’s part of their payroll and non-payroll payment functions. “After research, we discovered Kora and learned how it had gained a reputation as the best payment gateway in Africa by investing significantly in its capabilities.”
They decided to sign on to Kora.
“It’s been a perfect pairing” — Biodun Atobatele.
“Kora’s balance and functionality have enabled the ease of inflow and outflow of funds into MyXalary’s balance. It also lets us view and track transactions from the backend, an important feature for our backend users who need to see their transactions to their employees and vendors.”
Atobatele adds, “If I had to describe our experience so far using Kora, I would say ‘Enablers’. This is because that’s what they do. They enable businesses to grow, as they’ve enabled us to scale beyond what we thought possible.”
At Kora, our goal is to connect Africa to the world and connect the world to Africa via payments. For startups and businesses working in Africa, we provide All The Support You Need ™ to start, scale and thrive on the continent. Visit www.korahq.com to see all the ways you can thrive with Kora.


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BYJU’S Raises $1 Billion in Funding Round, Valued at $15
BYJU’S, the Indian edtech giant, has recently raised $1 billion in a funding round led by Bond Capital, with participation from existing investors such as Tiger Global, General Atlantic, and Owl Ventures . This latest funding round values the company at $15 billion, making it one of the most valuable edtech startups in the world .
Founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran, BYJU’S has become a leading player in the Indian edtech market, offering a range of online learning products and services for students from kindergarten to college . The company has seen significant growth in recent years, driven by the increasing demand for online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
The Significance of BYJU’S Latest Funding Round
The $1 billion funding round is a significant milestone for BYJU’S, as it will enable the company to expand its operations and reach more students across India and other parts of the world . The company plans to use the funds to develop new products and services, invest in technology and content development, and expand its international presence .
One of the key areas of focus for BYJU’S is to enhance its personalized learning offerings, which use artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to provide customized learning experiences for each student . The company believes that this approach can help improve learning outcomes and engagement levels among students, leading to better academic performance .
Another area of focus for BYJU’S is to expand its reach beyond India and into other markets such as the United States and the Middle East . The company has already made significant inroads into these markets, with its acquisition of Osmo, a US-based educational games maker, and the launch of its learning app in the Middle East .
Challenges and Opportunities for BYJU’S
Despite its success, BYJU’S faces several challenges as it seeks to expand its operations and reach more students. One of the biggest challenges is competition from other edtech startups such as Unacademy, Vedantu, and Toppr, which are also vying for a share of the Indian edtech market .
Another challenge for BYJU’S is to maintain its high valuation and growth trajectory in the face of increasing scrutiny from investors and regulators . The company has been accused of overvaluing its business and inflating its user numbers, which could undermine investor confidence in the company .
However, BYJU’S also has several opportunities to capitalize on the growing demand for online education and personalized learning. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift towards online education, creating a vast market for edtech companies like BYJU’S . Moreover, the company’s focus on personalized learning and AI-driven content could help it differentiate itself from its competitors and attract more students .
The Future of BYJU’S
Overall, BYJU’S is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for online education and personalized learning in India and other parts of the world. With its latest funding round, the company has the resources to expand its operations, develop new products and services, and enhance its technology and content offerings .
However, BYJU’S will need to navigate several challenges as it seeks to maintain its high valuation and growth trajectory. The company will need to continue innovating and differentiating itself from its competitors while also addressing concerns about its business practices and user numbers .
In conclusion, BYJU’S is a leading player in the Indian edtech market, with a strong track record of growth and innovation. With its latest funding round, the company is well-positioned to expand its operations and reach more students across India and other parts of the world. However, BYJU’S will need to navigate several challenges as it seeks to maintain its high valuation and growth trajectory in the face of increasing competition and scrutiny from investors and regulators.


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As COVID-19 Raged On, State Sales Tax Collections Last Year Took A Dive
NEW YORK NOW - Local governments in New York collected $1.8 billion less in sales tax last year during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to 2019, State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Tuesday, signaling a major loss for municipalities that rely on that revenue to fund services.
That represented a 10% decline in sales tax collections statewide compared to the prior year, DiNapoli’s office said in a report.
For context, sales tax collections had grown each year from 2015 to 2019 by an average of about 3.6% annually. The 10% decline experienced last year cancelled out growth from the previous two years, and has placed a tremendous strain on local finances.
DiNapoli called on the federal government to help local governments recoup their losses in a statement accompanying the report.
“Local governments depend heavily on sales taxes as a major source of revenue, but as New Yorkers stayed home and bought less in their communities during the pandemic it created significant shortfalls,” DiNapoli said. “New York’s localities need federal aid to help get through this crisis.”
The steepest decline in sales tax collections happened during the peak of the pandemic, from April through June, according to the report. During that time, sales tax collections dropped by about 27% statewide.
New York City had the largest drop in sales tax revenue last year compared to other regions of the state. According to the report, sales tax collections in the five boroughs were 18.7% lower last year compared to 2019.
Every other region of the state either experienced a slight growth in sales tax collections compared to 2019, or a decrease of less than 3%, according to the report.
While sales tax collections were down at places like restaurants and clothing stores, there were areas of the private sector where sales appeared to grow, the report said.
There was a boost in shopping from online companies, according to the report, and New Yorkers found themselves purchasing more from beer, wine, and liquor stores than the year prior.
Read the full report: https://www.osc.state.ny.us/files/local-government/publications/pdf/local-sales-tax-collections-decline-by-10-percent-in-2020.pdf


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Amazon Prime Day 2019 is coming up soon for its annual monster online sale – which is packed full of great Prime Day camera deals, plus bargains on other photo-related gear including camcorders, dash cams, tripods, and memory cards.
But until this morning we couldn't be certain exactly when the Amazon Prime Day 2019 sale is going to start - our best guess was just a Monday in early July like in previous years. However, it just looks like the precise date has just been leaked accidentally weeks before the event – so it looks like we can pencil in Monday 15 July in our diaries
Get 30 days of Amazon Prime for free
You need to be an Amazon Prime member to take advantage of Prime Day – but the great news is that you can take advantage of the sale for free by taking out trial membership. Take advantage of all the Prime Day camera deals by signing up for a membership or 30-day free trial of Amazon Prime here:
The leak, which is originally reported on by Real Homes, stems from an email from a public relations firm about an Amazon "Deal of the Day" for a vacuum cleaner that is set to go live on "July 16" this year with a mega discount.
We can't guarantee that this is the actual date - but this does tally with what we expected. We also don't know how long the sale lasts for - but last year it was 36 hours, and we reckon that this year it will be at least that long.
To find out all about Amazon Prime Day 2019, and to keep up to date with our picks of the best camera deals, bookmark our Prime Day camera deals page now – and ensure that you are signed up to our daily photo newsletter.


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by Lawrence Tabak
As the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) prepares to make public the final contract between the state of Wisconsin and Foxconn, which sees the Badger state giving the Taiwanese tech manufacturing giant up to $3 billion in taxpayer money in exchange for the promise of 13,000 jobs in southeastern Wisconsin, Belt magazine breaks down how Gov. Scott Walker got taken.
It may seem trite to go back to the July 2017 announcement of the deal at the White House, but the comedy of errors that occurred in the East Room — Walker mischaracterizing it as a $10 million deal (it’s $10 billion), Gov. Walker misidentifying Foxconn’s Sharp subsidiary as “Sony,” and multiple times referring to Wisconsin’s new long-term business partner as Foxcom — portends the lack of study and business savvy the governor would employ in a negotiation that looks poised to become a case study in false premises, bad judgment, and crony capitalism gone wrong. Business schools will be studying this fiasco far longer than the viable lives of any factories Foxconn completes in southeastern Wisconsin. Gov. Walker has trumpeted the Foxconn deal as one of the biggest business development deals in American history. He seems immune to the prospect that it’s poised to emerge as the worst.
But then, what else would you expect when a man who has proven to be deeply resistant to facts, and who believes most strongly in his own destiny, sits across the table from hard-nosed, profit-driven, and mathematically based Chinese technocrats? Here’s what you get: one side believing that rural Wisconsin will turn into Mountain View, California, while the other side plays their cards so close to the vest that we won’t know their true plans for years, even decades. But of this you can be sure: Foxconn will walk away with a tidy profit, a profit underwritten by $3 billion in Wisconsin taxpayer money, and Wisconsin will come nowhere near obtaining 13,000 quality jobs for its citizens.
The Winner’s Curse
It all started with Foxconn’s anonymous RFP (request for proposal). A company was looking for a very large site (750 acres) in the United States for a plant that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and employ 2,000 workers. Think of it as the bait. Wisconsin and other states responded and like contestants in Donald Trump’s Miss Universe contest, waited anxiously while Foxconn mulled over the bids, played one state off another to up the offers, and finally announced the finalists.
It was at this stage that Wisconsin could have benefited from some additional negotiating support, from someone who was studied in the psychology of auctions. Someone who could have explained how often auctions are awarded to the bidder who most seriously miscalculates the value of the auction’s object, leading to a well-validated phenomenon known as the “winner’s curse.” As a Journal of Economic Perspective study by Stanford professor Paul Milgrom summarized: “Even an experienced estimator working in familiar terrain can lose money if he doesn’t understand the subtleties of competitive bidding.” Imagine what can happen to novices bidding on what amounts to promises for a manufacturing facility in an industry in which they have at best a cursory knowledge.
Backing Walker were two key administrators, Mark Hogan, whose background is in domestic banking, and Scott Neitzel, who has spent most of his career in utilities and utility regulation. None of the team had any experience with large Chinese corporations, or even with Chinese business culture in general. Could this have been a handicap?
The proposed plant combined everything that an ambitious Republican governor could want. Not only a lot of jobs, but manufacturing jobs. Never mind that these were not the sort of jobs that would revive the Rust Belt, let alone jobs that would employ a significant number of Wisconsinites.
You don’t have to go to Harvard to appreciate this one from Harvard Law School’s Program in Negotiations. “Enlist an advisor from your counterpart’s culture.” On the other side of the table were experienced Foxconn executives with extensive international experience and 10 years of continual contact with their main U.S. business partner, Apple.
Do you think Gov. Walker and his team consulted this article from the Journal of Business Studies Quarterly in 2013 titled, “Doing Business in China: What is the Use of Having a Contract?” They’d have learned that contracts in China don’t have the same binding effect as in the Western world. For instance, in China, when the economic situation underlying a contract changes, the Chinese party expects the terms of the contract to be renegotiated. And this is to say nothing of the fact that Gov. Walker’s final deal with Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou was hand-written on what might as well have been the back of a napkin.
Deb Weidenhamer, an American businesswoman with extensive experience in China, agrees that contracts are just the starting point for negotiations and adds that, for the typical Chinese businessman, “a win-win deal is considered impossible.” The Chinese believe “that there can only be one winner and one loser — and that foreigners aren’t as clever or as capable. They’re perceived as easy targets.”
Know What You’re Buying
Not only did the Wisconsin team operate without cultural expertise, they decided, fatally, to work without industry-specific expertise. The leading U.S. consultants in the field are Display Supply Chain Consultants. The founder of this Michigan-based firm, Bob O’Brien, explains, “We would have brought an understanding of what an LCD plant is and what and how much it could produce. Not just the products, but the markets for those products and all the process steps involved.” This in turn would illuminate the precious “supply chain” and its economic multipliers. Display Supply Chain Consultants, or any other industry experts, were not consulted. Instead the economic impact studies used for the deal were paid for by Foxconn — studies that Gov. Walker took at face value.
As the process proceeded, the Foxconn deal not only got bigger, but it got suspiciously bigger in just the way Gov. Walker would want. In the final negotiation, handwritten on Walker letterhead and signed by Walker and Gou, the cap expenditure somewhat magically jumped from $8 billion to $10 billion, while the jobs almost miraculously increased from 8,000 to 13,000. In response to these wonders, Walker upped Wisconsin’s payroll kickback from 10 percent to 17 percent.
The proposed plant combined everything that an ambitious Republican governor could want. Not only a lot of jobs, but manufacturing jobs. The very sector that had dubbed the upper Midwest the Rust Belt as all those great jobs in automobile manufacturing and other industries faded away. You know, those union jobs that paid a living wage to multi-generations of high school educated workers. Back when America was great. As Pres. Trump had promised, here were some of those manufacturing jobs coming back. Never mind that, as Belt magazine reported in September, these were not the sort of jobs that would revive the Rust Belt, let alone jobs that would employ a significant number of Wisconsinites. The good jobs at an LCD plant are for degreed engineers and highly trained technicians. If Foxconn’s Indiana plant is a trustworthy indicator, many of these jobs would go to H-1B visa holders. The assembly line jobs, as our report on Foxconn Indiana suggests, would go to vulnerable, often undocumented workers at the lowest allowable wages.
It certainly appears that other states were more cautious. North Carolina’s bid, for example, topped out at $570 million, a fifth of Wisconsin’s final offer.
It certainly appears that other states were more cautious. North Carolina’s bid, for example, topped out at $570 million, a fifth of Wisconsin’s final offer. One reason that Ohio chose to step away from the interstate bidding wars, which some have dubbed “the race to the bottom,” could have been industry specific information. With augmented reality, the competing technology of OLED screens monopolizing today’s top-rated TVs, and other quickly advancing visual technologies, who’s to say there will even be a market for LCDs in 25 years, the projected best-case (and widely optimistic) payback for Wisconsin’s cash payments to Foxconn?
When we talked to Display Supply Chain Consultants’ O’Brien he seemed immediately skeptical of a lot of the promises offered by Foxconn. They simply didn’t match up with what he knew about LCD production.
“We certainly were never contacted by Wisconsin, and as far as I know, neither were any other industry experts.”
O’Brien could see the lack of industry briefing in Gov. Walker’s White House address. For instance, when the governor praised the amazing sight of the 8K Sharp TVs he witnessed on a trip to Japan. The 8K describes the pixel count — the current top of the line is 4K. The problem with this observation is that having more pixels doesn’t buy you much after a certain point, because those pixels are invisible from a distance of a few feet or more. Once again Scott Walker was seeing what he wanted to see.
In May of 2017 O’Brien and his colleagues ran a seminar specifically on LCD manufacturing at the largest related U.S. convention, Display Week in Los Angeles.
“JobsOhio attended,” he says, “but no one was on hand from Wisconsin.” When asked why JobsOhio dropped out of the bidding O’Brien postulated that “maybe they learned something about the industry during their crash course in May.”
One of the things that Gov. Walker and his team could have learned from an expert was the same revelation we made in our previous story about LCD manufacturing jobs. A modern LCD plant takes about 1,000 workers to operate; the necessary co-located feed-in operations take another 1,000, a number which matches Foxconn’s original RFP. So where does Foxconn Chairman Gou come up with 13,000 jobs? It’s either a smoke screen to make Gov. Walker happy, or he plans to put in a large assembly line to build Sharp consumer products. This would be just like the lines in Foxconn’s Indiana or Houston operations that rely heavily on temp agencies, minimum wage workers, and undocumented workers. As for that $53,000+ average wage? Well, it’s just an average — a calculation that includes the millions a Taiwanese management team would get paid.
Another tidbit Gov. Walker and his team could have used was O’Brien’s observation that Corning, Foxconn’s necessary partner in LCD manufacturing, has no interest in self-funding the glass plant needed to feed any large-scale domestic LCD production. Ten years ago when business dynamics were more favorable they spent $1 billion to build their Sakai Japan glass plant to feed the LCD factory that Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou bought last year. Corning is still negotiating with Foxconn in regard to their newest Chinese operation, where ground has been broken for a plant similar to the one proposed for Wisconsin. Corning is leery of over-committing to the LCD business. This is no secret. On Corning’s website is a link to a presentation from a former Corning Chief Technology Officer who summarized the LCD panel manufacturing business as bankrupt, a “25-year suicide pact.” Another player in the LCD panel business is Chinese based BOE Technology Group. They are building their own huge new plant in China which will compete with Foxconn. In order to lure Corning to co-locate at their new facility BOE had to come up with a combination of private and public capital equal to two-thirds of the glass plant’s $1 billion-plus up-front cost.
The “Losers’ Perspective”
What does Wisconsin’s big win look like from the perspective of states that “lost” out on a deal with Foxconn?
“We certainly were never contacted by Wisconsin, and as far as I know, neither were any other industry experts.”
“I’ll tell you one thing: It’s not going to take us 40 years to make back the investment we make,” Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a fellow Republican, told reporters in August when asked about Walker’s deal with Foxconn. “We don’t buy deals.”
Site selection specialist Steve Weitzner from Cleveland, Ohio-based Silverlode Consulting seconded Kasich. He surmised that JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development corporation, would have dropped out long before bidding neared the deal’s final costs.
“It’s a philosophical thing,” he explained. “JobsOhio is very careful with taxpayer money and insists on a relatively short return on investment.”
Gov. Walker’s semi-privatized economic development entity, WEDC, has a much more jaded history. Dr. Robert Kraig of Citizen Action of Wisconsin summarizes WEDC’s history as one of “repeated audits of bad loans, uncollected loans and payments to companies that failed to create jobs, many of them Walker contributors. As late as May of this year an audit showed that WEDC is still not gathering the information needed, such as payroll records, to get a reliable count on the agency’s claimed job creation. Some say it’s incompetence. I say it’s policy.”
Site selection specialist Weitzner also cautions that the Foxconn plant may evolve into something far different than what Gov. Walker and his team have envisioned. “I’ve been involved in hundreds of projects over 25 years and seldom do they go from start to finish without changes — often substantial changes.” For the Foxconn deal that could be “a much smaller project than advertised, deep delays or even its disappearance. Foxconn had done it before.”
The Things That Dreams Are Made Of
Rather than dig deep into Foxconn culture or the LCD industry, Gov. Walker and his team chose to hear only the drumbeat of jobs. Once they were fixated on that intoxicating image, they were not to be deterred. Sure, there were doubters out there (Walker told them to “suck on lemons”). But in a supreme example of confirmation bias, once the governor and his team were convinced they had to have Foxconn, they could only see what they wanted to see: jobs and in those jobs the perfect antidote to any future political opponents who tried that old Trump trick from the 2016 Republican presidential primary of pinning Wisconsin economic underperformance on Gov. Walker.Corning may not want to be in the domestic LCD business, but thanks to Scott Walker, every Wisconsin taxpayer is. And so are their children, if they stay in Wisconsin. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Fiscal Bureau ran a best-case scenario with 13,000 “family supporting jobs” and still couldn’t see a payback for 25 years. Clearer minds prevailed in Ohio and North Carolina.But perhaps Corning is right and the LCD manufacturing business is such a huge risk that Foxconn may hesitate to commit the billions necessary. Is it possible that LCD manufacturing may not be in the works at all? Perhaps it’s just the carrot that got Gov. Walker to put up such a rich offer and it will end up being one of the great bait and switches in history, as Wisconsin taxpayers pay Foxconn the LCD manufacturing premium for a lesser plant, one that produces TVs with imported screens.It’s not so hard to picture. An upstart American company, Element Electronics, is assembling TVs in South Carolina and selling them at competitive prices in big box stores. Foxconn could certainly do it cheaper with its own imported LCD screens and a plastics plant in Wisconsin that could make the necessary parts, using inexpensive U.S. electricity and North American petroleum products.As for the cheap labor needed to assemble consumer electronics? Foxconn has a way of finding those workers and squeezing the most out of them. Housing them on-site would be one way to attract desperate workers — the kind that staff Midwestern meat packing plants and pick strawberries for minimum wage. Maybe the real gem from Foxconn’s point of view is a 1,000-acre island of China right in the middle of the United States where they can do business the way they like best: without interference and with the cheapest labor possible.In a recent interview, Foxconn’s lead negotiator with Wisconsin, Louis Woo, let a bit of the cat out of the bag. He indicated that Foxconn would not immediately break ground on the coveted LCD factory, but would first begin working on three other main construction projects, for what could total $1 billion in costs. While he didn’t reveal what these first factories could be, it’s likely they will be the fabrication and assembly operations for Foxconn’s new line of Sharp consumer products. Foxconn Chairman Gou will want these in the market as soon as possible, and the way to do that as cheaply as possible is to take full advantage of Wisconsin’s largesse.
If all this seems cynical, it pales with the take from the East Asia press. These reporters know Foxconn well and are skeptical that the company has either the capital or business need to build a third multibillion-dollar LCD plant. Knowing how close Gou is to the center of power in Beijing, their interpretation is that the whole enterprise is a government-encouraged hedge against the tariffs that Trump threatened during the election. They can use Foxconn’s Wisconsin project as a sign of good faith and as leverage, threatening to pull the plug should the talk of trade wars revive. And they can stretch the process out as long as Trump is in office.
Gov. Walker’s conceit that an insular manufacturing site will somehow be the viral start of a Midwestern Silicon Valley is magical thinking.
Regardless, while the general assumption has been that the Wisconsin plant will produce large LCD panels, suitable for the biggest TV sets being sold, The China Post reported on August 12 that a Sharp official described the proposed U.S. plant as focused on making small LCD panels, primarily for the automotive market. Just more evidence that what Gov. Walker and his team have envisioned is unlikely to come to pass.
Regardless of the final nature of Foxconn’s development in Wisconsin, Gov. Walker’s conceit that an insular manufacturing site will somehow be the viral start of what he is calling “Foxconn Valley,” a Midwestern Silicon Valley, is the kind of magical thinking which would be comical if it didn’t involve decades of dipping into the wallets of Wisconsin taxpayers.
Banner photo: Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Foxconn chairman Terry Gou.
Lawrence Tabak is a writer based in Madison, Wis. His work has appeared in Fast Company, Forbes, and The Atlantic Monthly, which published his exposé on the false assumptions behind convention center construction. He can be reached at: firstname.lastname@example.org.
For more of Belt Magazine’s Foxconn series, read “Why Foxconn’s Wisconsin Promise of 13,000 Jobs Is an Empty One” and “Eminent Domain, Ruined Farmland, Crony Capitalism: Racine County Braces for Foxconn”


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Organizations looking to control procurement costs, manage supplier risk and raise the quality of their goods and services have been advised to implement data quality software solutions.
This is according to a recent report from TDWI, which states that as businesses begin to modernize they are also improving their information management systems.
In particular, the study suggests that product-oriented industries, such as manufacturing and retail, will benefit from product data quality improvements.
The organization points out the most pressing requirements for improving the quality of product data.
It recommends that businesses support product data's diverse and complex standards, enhance product data with additional information and increase the analytic effectiveness of product data, Information Management reports.
"Properly processed product data will support analytics and reporting for material identification, spend analytics, complete views, supplier ranking and more," the news provider cites the study as saying.
A recent article by Search Data Management highlighted the need for businesses to invest time and money into data quality initiatives to improve services.
Posted by Paul Newman


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Tiger Brands South Africa, home to some of Mzansi’s iconic culinary brands and some of our favourite kitchen companions for over 100 years including All Gold, Crosse & Blackwell, Black Cat and Mrs. Balls has once again come together as part of their annual Add A Twist campaign, to allow food enthusiasts an opportunity to give back to those most affected by the recent pandemic.
In their second year of running, Add A Twist set off to award R1000 to 100 shoppers, everyday over 100 days! However, this was simply not enough considering the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on so many families.
Add A Twist, therefore, embarked on a partnership with renowned cookbook author The Lazy Makoti and television presenter and chef Lenstwe Bhengu, to encourage loyal followers and fans across their respective social media platforms to join in the efforts to pay it forward, by nominating 100 families they believe deserving of a little assistance.
Everyone, from foodies to influencers can nominate a family they believe deserves to stand a chance to receive an Add A Twist R2000 cash prize and product hamper.
All you need to do is to fill in the form, nominate a family and share a short motivation of why you think this family is deserving. The nominations close on March 11 and the winning families will be announced on March 18. So get those nominations in!


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COLORFUL CLOTHES: Spring is now hours away. Not weeks, not days. Maybe a day. But it is time to look at what you're wearing. Monochromatic? Ho and hum? Yeah. There's a remedy for that, starting now: Desigual. The Spanish clothing company is much associated with hues that pop and swingy spring-sweet wearables. Denim, too. The company's latest outpost is now open in Los Angeles. We should also mention this is a flagship store, and the first for Desigual on this side of the country. Big. SUMMER FROCKS, PLUS MEN'S FASHION, TOO: Find Desigual at the Beverly Center starting on March 18, 2010.
Flagship Desigual Debuts at the Bev Center
Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media


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Employees at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT -0.57 % are testing a new checkout system that allows shoppers to use their mobile phones to scan items as they walk through stores and pay at self-service kiosks, skipping the cashiers' lines.
Called "Scan and Go," the new mobile-payment application is the retailer's latest attempt to reduce long checkout lines; the company says it can save $12 million a year for every second it can cut from the checkout process in the U.S. The new system doesn't allow customers to pay with a mobile device, but is meant to make scanning easier for them.
The trial comes after Wal-Mart's chief financial officer, Charles Holley, announced plans in March to add more self-checkout lanes, where shoppers scan and bag items without the help of cashiers. About 1,600 of the more than 4,500 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the U.S. include a traditional self-checkout option.
Wal-Mart confirmed it has asked employees to test the mobile self-checkout in one store in Arkansas. The service is not yet available to customers.
Retailers have been testing self-checkout lanes for more than a decade in an attempt to reduce labor costs and speed up transactions, but not all chains have been happy with their experiences. Companies including grocery chain Albertsons LLC and Swedish housewares giant IKEA Group are starting to eliminate self-checkout, citing lost revenue, theft and lack of interaction with customers. Many shoppers also complain the self-service systems are balky.
This week, Wal-Mart sent an email to employees asking them to try out the Scan & Go mobile checkout system at a supercenter near its Bentonville, Ark. headquarters. The company said it would videotape testers for an hour and they would receive $100 and a $25 Wal-Mart gift card so the company could get feedback from "real people on whether this new system is user-friendly," according to a survey emailed to employees that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The mobile application comes out of the retailer's Silicon Valley tech shop, called @WalmartLabs, which has redone the retailer's web site.
Analysts say an in-aisle mobile-scanning system could function as a loyalty program for Wal-Mart, which doesn't issue discount cards to customers in exchange for the ability to collect data about their shopping habits. Such programs have been very successful for grocery stores in attracting and retaining customers.
The scanning program could serve a similar function by allowing Wal-Mart to collect data on what customers buy and how long they spend in stores, and to send shoppers coupons for competitive products in real-time as they scan items.
"If you scan an item of peanut butter and immediately a two-dollar-off coupon pops up to buy a competing brand's peanut butter, Wal-Mart can change customer's behaviors right there in the aisle," said Evan Schuman, who runs the retail technology blog StorefrontBackTalk.
Still, he said, there are risks. "This is a fairly new technology for retailers and there's potential for all kinds of fraud and theft," he said.
Apple Inc. AAPL -0.39 % recently faced criticism over a similar mobile-checkout service after police arrested a shopper at the Apple Store on New York's Fifth Ave., contending he had shoplifted a pair of $141 headphones.
A security guard said he observed the customer removing the item and concealing it in an Apple shopping bag, according to a New York City Police Department spokesman.
Eric Shine, an 18-year-old college student, said he had thought he had paid for the headphones using Easy Pay, a mobile-payment system Apple launched last November that allows customers to scan a product's bar code, pay for it on their phones and walk out the door without the help of an employee.
Mr. Shine said Friday that after he was stopped by the security guard, he realized the Easy Pay mobile system hadn't completed the sale. He said he plans to contest the charges—criminal possession of stolen property and petit larceny—in court in October.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
Write to Shelly Banjo at email@example.com
Corrections & Amplifications
Wal-Mart says it can save $12 million for every second it can cut from the checkout process in the U.S. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that the company spends $12 million a second on cashier wages.


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The icon is back. This is the all-new 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It showcases a freshened up exterior design, huge leaps forward in in-car tech, and debuts a new plug-in hybrid powertrain option.
At this point, no information has been released regarding the Australian market (at the time of writing). So anything you read here could be limited to certain markets and not for Australia. We suspect the plug-in hybrid version, called the 4xe, will be yet another case where the hybrid is not available locally. At least initially.
So, what are we dealing with? Thanks to a new unibody platform, designed to accommodate electrification, the new model is even bigger than before. It shares the same 215cm width as the 7-seat Grand Cherokee L, but it uses a 2964mm wheelbase, compared with the L’s 3090mm (up from 2915mm in the outgoing model). The overall length is 4910mm (up from 4828mm in outgoing model), and the track is widened by 36mm.
Not only is it more accommodating in terms of passenger space, Jeep is describing the new model as the most advanced version yet. It comes packed with over 110 safety and security systems, such as a new night vision camera, and features up to five digital screens inside.
Screens include up to three 10.1-inch units and two 10.25-inch units, making up the main media interface, segment-first front passenger touch-screen, digital gauge cluster, and rear seat entertainment suite. These run on Jeep’s latest Uconnect 5 running software, with wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. There’s also 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot capability to support up to eight devices, and an all-new Uconnect mobile app that allows remote communication with the vehicle via a smartphone.
Jeep will be offering (at least overseas) seven different variants for buyers, spanning from the Laredo, Altitude, Limited, Overland, Trailhawk, Summit and Summit Reserve. All of these are powered by a 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 petrol engine as standard, while some will be offered with a 5.7-litre V8 petrol (Overland and above).
The most interesting powertrain, however, is the 4xe. It’ll be available on all variants from the Limited and above. This new setup comprises of a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder, paired with a 400V battery pack, with a capacity of 17kWh. Combined, the system produces 280kW and 637Nm, and offers a full-charge electric driving range of around 40km.
In terms of the heavy-duty stuff, the 2022 Grand Cherokee offers up to 3265kg towing capacity (USA specs), or 2720kg in the case of the 4xe, while buyers will be able to select between Quadra-Trac I, Quadra-Trac II and Quadra-Drive II four-wheel drive systems, depending on the grade.
There’s also Jeep’s Quadra-Lift air suspension, now featuring semi-active damping, and the ability to raise the ground clearance up to 287mm. Off-road fans will also be able to take on water crossings that submerge the vehicle by up to 61cm.
Speaking about the new model, Jim Morrison, vice president at Jeep Brand North America, said:
“Customers have come to depend on and enjoy their Grand Cherokee for four generations. We have taken their input into making the most-awarded SUV of all time even better for the fifth generation.”
Jeep says it will be launching the new model in North America during the fourth quarter of 2021, with the 4xe hybrid set to arrive in the region early in 2022. Other global markets will follow later that year, the company says. An Australian introduction is expected some time in the second half of next year for the regular models. Production will take place at the Detroit Assembly Complex in Michigan.


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COSTA has opened a coffee shop on Albert Square after EastEnders followed in Coronation Street's footsteps.
Actor Dean Gaffney revealed he's been splashing his wages in the chain on set.
The 40-year-old let slip about the soap's new Costa as he admitted eating black grapes to help improve his memory to learn his lines.
Dean said: "We have got a Costa in there now which is nice.
"It is not good for my bank balance or my belly."
The actor, who first played road sweeper Robbie Jackson 27 years ago, said he's helping to balance his diets by eating black grapes, which are "brain food".
ITV announced earlier this year that its new Victoria Street set extension will include the popular coffee chain as well as a Co-op.
The new set has been dubbed “wider Weatherfield”, which extends the street that's home to the kebab shop and Roy’s Rolls.
Victoria Street's road is made from cobbles reclaimed from the old Quay Street site which was home to the residents of Coronation Street from 1982 to 2013.
It will feature a new retail area complete with shops and eateries – including the brilliantly name tattoo parlour Tattoo’ll Do Nicely and Indian take-away Speed Daal – an urban garden, the Weatherfield North tram stop and a police station.
Coronation Street producer Kate Oates, who recently quit amid complaints over controversial storylines and viewer complaints, said: “The Victoria Street extension represents an exciting chapter in Corrie history: an amazing new stage, full of dramatic potential.
"Our amazingly talented design team have created everything from scratch – but it still manages to have the feeling of always having been there, just around the corner.”
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Designing twins Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared2 will be joining the likes of Roberto Cavalli, Versace, GQ and Vogue in making their foray into the restaurant business.
Luxury hotel chain the Waldorf Astoria has launched a new video series that takes viewers to their properties around the world in virtual armchair tours of the cities they inhabit.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten, a leading French chef whose cuisine has earned him multiple Michelin stars, will open his first restaurant in the UAE, Market Kitchen within the famous luxury hotel.
Chef Simon Rogan’s farm-to-table restaurant L’Enclume set in a medieval village in the bucolic English countryside has been named the best restaurant in the UK.
A Los Angeles restaurant is making waves for announcing plans to launch a 23-page water menu that will serve 20 “varietals” of water as well as an H20 “tasting menu” for $12.
Condé Nast Traveler presents the 70 best new restaurants of 2013, highlighting the hottest spots to eat in London, New York, San Francisco, Paris, Shangahi, Sydney, Tokyo, and the American South.


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Television advertising agency Tyee Euro RSCG will use Wink Communications Inc.'s interactive TV enhancements for direct response spots and infomercials created for clients.
Bowflex, a Vancouver, WA, home fitness equipment manufacturer, is the first Tyee Euro RSCG client to sign up. Using Wink's technology, TV viewers will be able to request a brochure and videotape by clicking on a remote control while the spot or infomercial is playing.
“It's another channel of accountability,” said Hugh Allspaugh, vice president of client services at Tyee Euro RSCG, Portland, OR. “I think in this particular instance, with Bowflex, what we hope to get out of this is, are we getting incremental leads through an alternative channel?”
The Wink technology allows viewers to request more information, samples, product videos, coupons and free offers from advertisers as well as to buy while watching the TV show. Viewers do not need a dial-up connection.
“What we're doing is putting on an overlay with the existing video that allows consumers to request that video or brochure by pressing the '1' button on their remote,” said Steve Carmassi, vice president of advertising at Wink, Alameda, CA.
“What that does is, it's increasing the number of inquiries because viewers don't have to write the 800 number, don't have to phone, don't have to wait,” Carmassi said. “So it makes it very simple to request a video.”
Wink has an interface with the advertiser's billing system, which means it already has the name and address of the viewer. Available in more than 3.2 million cable and satellite homes in North America, Wink's technology collects, analyzes and routes viewer behavioral data for better TV campaigns.
Other firms using Wink technology are infomercial makers Guthy Renker, Santa Monica, CA, and Thane International, Palm Springs, CA. Tyee Euro RSCG is Wink's first infomercial agency client that signed up to use this technology.
“We work on a pay-per-inquiry basis,” Carmassi said.
Clients of Tyee Euro RSCG, a 13-year-old agency, include Philips Consumer Electronics, Char-Broil, Verizon, Callaway Golf Co., America Online Inc., Select Comfort, Hewlett-Packard Co. and The Home Depot.
The Wink technology can be particularly helpful in moving high-end items such as the Bowflex machine, which costs $999. Tyee Euro RSCG's Allspaugh is hopeful that the Wink remote solution is more cost-efficient than the telephone.
“There will be people who don't want to speak to a customer service representative but simply just push a button,” Allspaugh said. “Some people just don't like calling a telemarketing company. This Wink test provides a real discreet way to respond. And we hope these are incremental customers.”


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A French fashion designer has apologized for selling a boomerang that critics have blasted as culturally offensive.
Chanel’s “luxury boomerang,” priced at nearly $2,000, has elicited insults such as “stupid white people” and a demand that the company pays reparations, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
Makeup artist Jeffree Star featured the boomerang on his Twitter profile.
— Jeffree Star (@JeffreeStar) May 15, 2017
“The boomerang is a piece of Australian Aboriginal culture,” said a user with the pseudonym “Amber J,” commenting on Star’s Instagram post of the boomerang. “No other place has it. This is the most blatant cultural appropriation.”
Star told detractors to “relax” and “focus on [their] own hopes and dreams.” But other users still took the opportunity to berate Chanel for its supposed insensitivity.
“As a good corporate citizen, Chanel should apologize fully, withdraw the boomerang from sale, and make appropriate reparations to Australian Indigenous communities,” said Matthew Rimmer, an professor of intellectual property or innovation at Queensland University of Technology in Australia, to The Sydney Morning Herald.
While Star did not apologize, Chanel issued a statement in an attempt to mend bridges with those who felt offended.
“Chanel is extremely committed to respecting all cultures, and regrets that some may have felt offended,” said a Chanel representative to Fairfax Media.
This apology comes just days after the fashion house apologized to actress Gabourney Sidibe for an experience in which the actress alleges she was racially profiled at a Chanel store.
Chanel did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Caller News Foundation.
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Wayne Pacelle, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, presents his new book, exploring how our everyday economic decisions impact the survival and wellbeing of animals, and how we can make choices that better support them.
From the leader of the nation's most powerful animal-protection organization comes a frontline account of how conscience and creativity are driving a revolution in American business that is changing forever how we treat animals and create wealth. Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States reveals how entrepreneurs, Fortune 500 CEOs, world-class scientists, philanthropists, and a new class of political leaders are driving the burgeoning, unstoppable growth of the "humane economy."
Every business grounded on animal exploitation, Pacelle argues, is ripe for disruption. Indeed each one of us is, and will be, touched by this far-reaching transformation in food and agriculture; in the pharmaceutical, chemical, and cosmetics industries; in film, television, and live entertainment; in tourism and wildlife management; in the pet trade for dogs and cats and exotic wildlife; and in fur and leather fashions. Collectively it promises to relieve or end the suffering of billions of creatures, while allowing businesses aligned with the best instincts and values of their customers to flourish.
Pacelle shows, for instance, how the cruelties of industrial chicken farming are quickly becoming obsolete with a visit to Hampton Creek, the makers of a plant-based egg substitute and the world's fastest-growing food startup ever. Pacelle also recounts the stories of how established companies are joining in this economic transformation: from Petco and PetSmart, which have turned the conventional pet store model on its head by forswearing puppy mill suppliers in favor of shelter dogs; to John Paul Mitchell Systems, the Body Shop, and Lush, which use safe ingredients instead of animal tests for their cosmetics; to major food retailers like Whole Foods, Chipotle, and even Costco and Walmart, which are embracing animal welfare standards that are one by one unwinding the horrors of the factory farm.
The Humane Economy
is a clarion call to business leaders and to the world's growing animal protection movement; it is equally a warning to the static thinking of animal-use industries and their apologists: "Here, in this humane economy," Pacelle argues, "human ingenuity meets human virtue, and we discover at last that we can have it both ways - a better world for us and for animals, too."
Co-sponsored by the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
WAYNE PACELLE is President and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, which is one of the nation's top charities. Pacelle is a passionate defender of animals and an inspiration to millions of supporters and advocates. He's seen cruelty and compassion up close in his work, and he writes about the timeless but still ever-changing bond between humans and animals. He explores how that bond has been broken in so many ways in the industrial era.
Pacelle, who has led the humane movement from the margins to the mainstream, takes readers to ice floes of Atlantic Canada and the sealers' assault on the greatest wildlife nursery in the world, gives them a glimpse of a freshly shuttered slaughter plant in California, plunges them into the chaos of animal rescue in the aftermath of Katrina, and provides them with a front-row seat as he and Michael Vick talk in a prison courtyard about dogfighting and the human-animal bond.


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Alibaba’s Tmall woos luxury brands to sell to its invite-only loyalty club for big spenders
Nearly a year after rolling out its high-end brand hub, the Luxury Pavilion, Tmall is building a luxury loyalty club to offer more benefits to the 100,000 Luxury Pavilion customers who spend more than $159,000 per year through Alibaba.
The new Luxury Pavilion Club offers those top-spending customers a suite of benefits, including exclusive sales, event invites, flexible payment options and first access to new products. There are two tiers to the program, with a premium membership providing customers with a personal shopping concierge and offline perks like spa sessions and hotel stays.
The loyalty club is part of Alibaba’s Uni Marketing platform, through which it’s been sharing data with brands to help them run better targeted campaigns, find new customers and understand who shops for what on Alibaba’s marketplaces. It’s also part of Tmall’s ongoing pursuit to bring luxury brands, which have been wary of Alibaba’s mass reputation, onto the platform by winning them over with an online gated community. The Luxury Pavilion and Club are both invite-only on the customer and brand side; all Pavilion customers are automatically admitted into the Loyalty Club with higher-spending customers qualifying for the premium tier. As of now, there are around 50 luxury brands on the platform, including Burberry, Guerlain, Givenchy, Rimowa and Hugo Boss.
This high-touch customer experience stems from the handle Alibaba holds on its vast customer data, including its ability to identify luxury shoppers and understand their shopping behavior. In China, millennials are driving a luxury market growth rate, accounting for $22 billion in spend on high-end apparel, accessories and cosmetics in 2017, a six-fold increase over 2016, according to Bain & Co research. On Tmall, millennial customers add up to about half of the Pavilion’s clientele.
All of the luxury customer insight that Tmall gathers is then handed over to brands.
“There are 500 million users on the Tmall platform, and we’ve done the work to make sense of the data we’ve collected so brands can get a better picture of the consumer, by tracking what they like, tracking sales results and communicating with the right customers based on these profiles,” said Jessica Liu, president of Tmall Fashion and Luxury. “That’s vital for marketing, sales and branding on such a complex platform.”
By building the Luxury Pavilion on top of a mine of customer data, Tmall is hoping to build trust with brands that have looked at it as a place for cheap commodity goods and counterfeits. Through the Luxury Pavilion, brands can build out their online storefronts with editorial and video content, promote in-store offers and personalize product recommendations. Tmall is using machine learning to not only identify luxury customers, but also predict the brands and items they will be most likely to purchase. For non-luxury Tmall shoppers, there’s no way to access the Luxury Pavilion.
“A brand-owned site saves these luxury labels from issues like control over positioning, description, pricing and listings,” said Rob Nowell, marketing manager at the global analytics firm Brandview. “Brands that have such a strong brand image and want to maintain that are wary of selling on platforms where there’s a lack of control. Alibaba wants to prove it’s not one of those platforms.”
With the new Luxury Pavilion Club, Alibaba is also helping brands to promote online-to-offline shopping at luxury brand stores in China. Through Tmall’s brand dashboard, brands can identify customer behavior across online and in-store channels. Premium members also get access to a personal shopper who can make purchases and returns in local stores on their behalf.
“In traditional retail, it takes incredibly long to get customer feedback. You design, you ship to a retailer, they sell to the customer — it takes months,” said Liu. “We open the data feedback loop as soon as a product goes live on the site. You can react immediately. Quick feedback is very important today, because the consumer is changing so quickly.”
More in Marketing
Mobile esports activity has been picking up gradually since 2021, but 2024 could be one of the most lucrative years yet for the esports teams and players participating in popular mobile games such as “PUBG Mobile” and “Mobile Legends: Bang Bang” (MLBB).
The outlook for the rest of the year is a tale of two realities.


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Alemlube’s new Queensland headquarters reflects a company dedicated to doing things right by its customers, partners, and staff. EEM finds out how.
Paul Cooperthwaite describes Alemlube’s new state-of-art facility in Burpengary, Queensland as his “swan song” for the company – a culmination of more than 20 years’ work. So, in June, when he got the phone call and found out how close it all came to burning to the ground, all he could do was be thankful to the people who saved the day.
“It was a heart-in-the-mouth moment for me,” Paul says. “It had started in the ventilation motor in the roof. One of the guys was driving out when he turned around to have a look at the building and noticed this big white plume coming out of the roof.
“So, he came back, flicked off the power, and called the fire brigade. Luckily, they just happened to be doing exercises around the corner at the time, and so they were there in minutes.”
Upon their arrival, the fire brigade informed the team that the facility would have been lost had the power not been shut off, and had they not been so close. Lucky? Certainly. But without the quick thinking and good instincts of Alemlube’s employee, it all could have been gone before anybody was even aware.
“It was a close call,” Paul says. “This brand-new facility we’d all worked 20 years to develop was nearly gone in a puff of smoke.”
Reward for effort
Alemlube has provided workshop and equipment lubrication solutions to a wide range of industries for more than 30 years. With business growing steadily over the past decade, the decision was made to leave its old QLD facility in Deception Bay, and relocate to Burpengary.
As Alemlube’s Regional Manager for QLD and Papua New Guinea, Paul has been a key part of the development of the new facility, where the finishing touches are almost complete.
“It’s been a fantastic process,” he says. “We had 2000 square metres in Deception Bay, and where we’ve now moved is 4000 square metres. It’s a big upgrade. And I have to really take my hat off to Alemlube’s owners, who have given us pretty much everything we’ve asked for.
“They’ve enabled us to install some labour and time saving devices, including two vertical lift machines to help speed up our goods deliveries, and laser cutters in the fabrication shop to streamline tank building and other fabrication works.”
Combined with greater capacity for product and parts, Paul says the flagship facility will serve as a benchmark for Alemlube’s future growth.
Adapting for growth
Paul says it’s a far cry from Alemlube’s early days, where it was essentially “a sales and marketing business” – importing and selling equipment through distributors. The new facility, he says, demonstrates just how far the business has come since then.
“We realised that if we were going to increase our sales and develop the business, we needed to provide a service, installation, and repair capability.
“While it’s comfortable to just sell products in and out of a warehouse, we would never have grown into the business we are today without embracing these other challenges.”
Paul says Alemlube began slowly ramping up this side of the business about 15 years ago.
“Originally, we were probably installing a couple of systems a month,” he says. “Whenever we got an order for a loader or an excavator, we’d be pretty chuffed – high fiving all around. Fast-forward 23 years, and we’re doing over 1000 systems a year.
“Today, we’re heavily involved with many of the major earthmoving and transport companies. Anyone who’s using bulk quantities of oil, grease, and diesel is going to need some kind of transfer, pumping, metering, dispensing, and storage equipment – that’s where we come in.”
Good people is good business
Paul has learnt in his more than two decades at Alemlube that the quality of the people you employ dictates success – and occasionally the prevention of a disastrous fire. He says that putting the right people in the right jobs helps the business builds stronger relationships across the industries it serves.
“We opened our original Queensland branch in 2000, and the four gentleman we opened with – Greg Chapman, Philipe David, Mike Duran, and myself – are still with us 23 years later,” Paul says. “I think that’s quite impressive.”
Paul attributes this to Alemlube’s people-first attitude – one that permeates throughout the business.
“One of the main reasons we’ve had success as a business is that we value relationships,” he says. “We treat all the OEMs and end users as long-term business partners. We’re not just in it for the one-off job, we want to develop those relationships for the years to come.”
But as Alemlube continues to grow, Paul says it’s crucial to maintain a small business’ sense of purpose and service.
“We’ve not lost that personal touch,” he says. “The day we start taking customers for granted will be the day we begin losing business. It’s crucial to retain that hunger and humility, rather than taking customers for granted and expecting them to adapt to our way.”
Alemlube’s people-first approach has also been consciously built into the Burpengary facility.
“One of the highlights of this place is not just the advanced facilities and modern equipment, but also the excellent amenities for staff,” Paul says. “For instance, we have five outdoor undercover recreational areas for staff to relax and enjoy themselves.
“Our staff’s wellbeing is extremely important to us, and we want to keep them content. The company owners have enabled us to build a new facility that helps us to deliver good service, and a good working environment.”
Supporting the future
“Another exciting aspect of the new facility is the size of our hardstand area,” Paul says. “This means companies are bringing their trucks and machines to us, we provide our services, and then they leave with their end product and any other items they require. It’s like we’ve become a part of their process.”
Paul says it’s gratifying to feel like part of a customer’s business in this way. And as well as helping maintain and grow positive business relationships, it also helps free up resources, build new business connections, all while delivering the best possible service.
For Paul, it continues to come back to building relationships – customers and staff alike.
“Alemlube started off right down the pecking order when it came to profile and market share,” he says. “But we’ve worked really hard, we’ve got a really good team, and we’ve continued to be a really good company to work for. Now we’re market leaders in many of the markets and industries we cover.
“It’s been a wonderful journey – and this flagship branch is the reward for all our hard work.”


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The launch of Lenovo-owned Motorola's Moto G6 series of mid-range handsets is expected today, at an event in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Based on a plethora of leaks, we can expect to see the Moto G6 Play, Moto G6, and Moto G6 Plus launched. The Internet has been abuzz with dozens of Moto G6 price, design, and specifications leaks for the past few months. Just before the launch, two of the phones in the lineup have been listed online in the UK revealing certain features. Separately, a beta update to the Moto Voice app clearly mentions the Moto G6 and Moto G6 Plus.
Carphone Warehouse, a major phone retailer in the UK, has listed the Moto G6 Play and Moto G6 Plus just before their anticipated launch. Interestingly, the Moto G6 is nowhere to be seen. Carphone Warehouse has done this in the past with a couple of HMD's Nokia-branded handsets. Anyway, let's get to what the listings reveal.
Photo Credit: Carphone Warehouse
As per the listings, the Moto G6 Play will start at GBP 18 (roughly Rs. 1,700) per month and the Moto G6 Plus will start at GBP 26 (roughly Rs. 2,400) per month as part of domestic carrier contracts. There is zero upfront cost on purchase of either of the smartphones.
Talking about the features mentioned in the listings, Carphone Warehouse claims that the Moto G6 Play will sport a 5.7-inch edge-to-edge display, a rapid-focus camera, and a "long-lasting" battery. On the other hand, the Moto G6 Plus is stated to sport an "amazing" (and bigger) 5.9-inch panel alongside a "unique dual smart camera system that recognises landmarks and tells you more about them."
While the listings have since been taken down, Android Police reports that the Moto G6 Plus was listed in Blue and Silver colour variants. No images of the Moto G6 Play were available on Carphone Warehouse.
In the most recent set of leaks, case renders of the Moto G6 and Moto G6 Plus were spotted online showing expected design elements of both models in high quality.
Photo Credit: Moto Voice/ Google Play
Separately, a beta update to the Moto Voice app clearly mentions the Moto G6 and Moto G6 Plus in its changelog and screenshot. The changelog reads: "Moto Voice BETA supports new features for 2018 moto g(6) and g(6) plus," something that is echoed in the first screenshot of the Google Play listing. The mentions confirm that the Moto G6 and Moto G6 Plus are in the company's pipeline for launches.


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Freshpet (NASDAQ: FRPT) picked the wrong time to fall short. The provider of premium refrigerated pet food announced at an ICR Conference presentation on Wednesday — and then shortly after that via press release — that its fourth-quarter results would miss its initial guidance.
Two months ago, Freshpet management anticipated that sales for all of 2020 would exceed $320 million. Give that it had already rung up $234.3 million through the first three quarters of the year, that would have required fourth-quarter revenues to top $85.7 million. Analysts — choosing to take the over given Freshpet’s recent history of offering up conservative guidance — were holding out for an average of $88.4 million. But preliminary net sales for Q4 landed at just $84.5 million.
This isn’t the time for investors to panic. If anything, it’s actually a good time to watch the growth stock in case it dips on the news, and take the opportunity to buy into this disruptive company.


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Meta has announced the launch of Meta AI in South Africa with built-in Llama 3 on WhatsApp. This is a leapfrog step for…
The first SA Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey report was released on 7 July 2021. It reported crucial insights into the pivotal role women entrepreneurs play as job creators.
Topline findings indicate a deep commitment to job creation among SA’s women entrepreneurs
Bongiwe Gangeni, Deputy CE of Absa Retail and Business Bank, said the Job Creators Survey highlights the significant role women entrepreneurs play to create jobs and support the economy. “Absa is proud to be partnering with Lionesses of Africa and to play our part to support women entrepreneurs to achieve their full potential by meeting their needs holistically through our wide range of innovative products and services and enterprise development programmes,” she added.
2021 SA Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey findings
Topline findings from the report indicate a deep commitment to job creation among SA’s women entrepreneurs, with 90% reporting that job creation was an important consideration in starting their business. In addition, despite all the challenges and setbacks of the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the survey reveals “green shoots” of optimism in terms of future job creation.
The majority of respondents anticipate that their businesses will recover from the impact of Covid-19 within two years. They anticipate growth in revenues and are either actively recruiting new staff now or planning for new, near-term hires.
Survey data was collected online from 913 women entrepreneurs in SA between 23 November 2020 and 28 April 2021 and informed by a further 150 qualitative interviews of women entrepreneurs during the same period. Participants were recruited through the Lionesses of Africa network to represent a wide range of business types, sizes and sectors. The survey was an opportunity for SA’s women entrepreneurs to share their experiences with job creation and how Covid-19 affected it and revenue generation. Respondents also shared their post-Covid-19 outlook for their businesses and their experiences with accessing government assistance programmes and external financing during the pandemic.
The survey provides valuable insights into both solo entrepreneurs who are creating jobs for themselves and those entrepreneurs with employees. The employing women entrepreneurs who participated have on average, 29 employees, whereas the ‘typical’ or median entrepreneur employed five staff, while the top 1% had 1 000 or more employees. The majority of companies with employees hired their first employee early in the life of their business; 67% within the first year. This would indicate that women entrepreneurs are not only creating jobs but are doing so in the very early stage of their company’s life cycle.
In terms of future hiring plans, among the entrepreneurs who employ staff, over a third considered current staffing levels to be inadequate for their needs and 41% were actively recruiting. Of those who were hiring, 73% reported that they were hiring to help meet demand, 12% to bring additional skills into the business, and 12% were hiring, or rehiring, to replace employees who had left or were let go.
Founder and CEO of Lionesses of Africa, Melanie Hawken, said, “What is encouraging about our survey findings is that there is real self-belief on the part of women entrepreneurs in their ability to create jobs, and that remains one of the key drivers of their motivation to build sustainable businesses. Women entrepreneurs have job creation in their DNA. Another stand-out finding from the report was how these women fought to protect jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic – more than two-thirds have either reduced their own salaries or stopped them altogether to look after their staff first. Women entrepreneurs are committed to both creating and retaining jobs.”
Other interesting findings from the survey indicated that women-owned businesses with a digital presence demonstrated greater resilience during Covid-19. Those that made the majority of their sales through an app or online marketplace were less likely to be affected by Covid-19 and had more optimistic projections about their future revenues. Expectations surrounding future hiring also varied substantially between women leading companies with majority digital sales compared to those without. When asked what their expectations are regarding jobs in their company over the next 12 months, 35% of women leading businesses that make the majority of their sales through an app or online marketplace responded that they expected jobs to increase a lot, compared with only 22% of women who were not embracing digital sales.
While the discussion above focuses on SA’s women entrepreneurs who have employees, solo entrepreneurs and those in partnerships that do not have employees should not be overlooked; these women-led businesses also bolster the labour market in significant ways. 85% of SA’s women entrepreneurs in non-employing partnerships and 78% of solo entrepreneurs reported that they hire or work with other self-employed freelancers or independent contractors. The majority of these women have grown in their plans: 79% of those in partnerships and 69% of solo entrepreneurs plan to make full-time hires in future, while 91% and 80%, respectively, reported that they plan to grow and scale their business.
Across all business types, SA’s women entrepreneurs expressed optimism about their revenue outlook for 2021, with 76% of respondents expecting to increase their revenues. Women entrepreneurs were similarly optimistic about the timeline for their businesses to recover from the impact of the pandemic, with the vast majority expecting to recover within two years. Both of these factors indicate green shoots for recovery and job creation in both the short and medium-term.
All statistics quoted in the article can be found in the South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey report. Download the full version at www.lionessesofafrica.com.
Featured image: Christina @ wocintechchat.com via Unsplash


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This is the Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parcel it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?
1st Gear: Is Saab's Sob Story Finally Over?
Reuters and Automotive News are reporting Saab's owner Swedish Automobile now has a deal with China's Pang Da Automobile and Zhejiang Youngman Lotus for a possible takeover of the struggling-for-seemingly-seven-seasons Swedish automaker. The news marks the latest twist in a long campaign to keep Saab afloat and comes on the same day a court could decide to remove the automaker's bankruptcy protection. So our only question is — is this actually happening, or just a bargaining tactic with the court? Who knows. All I know is Saab employees aren't getting paid right now — and that's no good thing.
2nd Gear: Welcome To The 2012 Ferrari California... Such A Lovely Place
Ferrari is updating the California coupe-convertible for 2012, CAR is reporting this morning. According to dealer updates provided to prospective owners, the new 2012 California will be more powerful, lighter and with a smattering of new tech to give it a second wind. The new-for-2012 Ferrari California will start production in January 2012. What they're being told is that the direct-injection 4.3-liter V8 has been upgraded with an extra 30 horsepower, taking the total to a pretty serious sounding 483 hp. Torque swells, too, up to 373 lb ft. They're even told it'll be a touch lighter. Not too shabby there, Ferrari.
3rd Gear: Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Dismissed Over "Significant Wrongdoing"
On yesterday's conference call with investors and analysts, Daimler's Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber said the automaker dismissed Ernst Lieb, the head of Mercedes-Benz's U.S. operation, for what was termed "significant wrongdoing" unrelated to operations of the unit. Uebber didn't provide any other answers to questions for more specifics. But we all know the real reason, don't we?
4th Gear: Audi Celebrates 10,000,000 Midsize Sedans Built
Audi celebrated a middling anniversary earlier this month when the ten millionth midsize Audi rolled off the assembly line: a Misano Red Audi S4 with a black and alabaster-white interior and a V6 engine generating 245 kW (333 hp) of output. It's been a long time coming since the very first Audi 80 was launched in 1972. Four generations of the Audi 80 had been produced by 1994-95, when it was replaced by the Audi A4 — which itself is in its fourth generation. The five millionth Audi A4 left the factory in March 2011.
5th Gear: Hertz Kills Dollar Thrifty Offer
According to Bloomberg, Hertz has withdrawn its $1.94 billion offer to buy Dollar Thrifty after almost 18 months of intermittently trying to acquire the smaller car-rental company and being rejected. Hertz cited market conditions and a share-buyback program at Dollar Thrifty for pulling the bid today and said it will continue to pursue U.S. Federal Trade Commission approval to buy the company. Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Dollar Thrifty slid 0.4% to $61.39 at the close in New York. Park Ridge, New Jersey-based Hertz gained 7.8% to $11.87. Obviously the market thought the idea sucked pretty badly too.
6th Gear: Chrysler Saves Fiat Again
Reuters reports that Fiat-Chrysler's third-quarter profit was well above forecasts at 851 million euros — up 67%. And again, U.S. automaker Chrysler contributed as much as two-thirds of it. However, while the profits were good, the combined group's net debt rose to 5.8 billion euros ($8.2 billion), compared with an analyst consensus forecast distributed by Fiat of 4.1 billion euros. Fiat said in a statement that it was firming up its trading profit target for the full year to more than 2.1 billion euros from around 2.1 billion euros previously. All other targets for the year were confirmed, including revenues in excess of 58 billion euros and net debt of between 5 and 5.5 billion euros.
⏎ Ahead of SEMA, Ford Stamps a New '65 Mustang Convertible. [New York Times]
⏎ Ford makes $200 million pension contribution. [Automotive News]
⏎ Daimler, VW Uphold Forecasts. [Wall Street Journal]
⏎ Auto parts maker Dana Holding reports record 3Q profit on strong sales. [AP via Washington Post]
⏎ Auto Industry Market Leaders Validate Car Sharing. [Huffington Post]
⏎ Ally Financial accuses ex-employee, Jeffrey Dowd, of taking proprietary information. [Automotive News]
On this day, Duluth, Minnesota mayor Gary Doty cuts the ribbon at the mouth of the brand-new, 1,480-foot–long Leif Erickson Tunnel on Interstate 35. With the opening of the tunnel, that highway-which stretches 1,593 miles, from Mexico all the way to Canada-was finished at last. As a result, the federal government announced, the Interstate Highway System itself was 99.7 percent complete. [History]
Got tips for our editors? Want to anonymously dish some dirt on a competitor? Know something about a secret car? Email us at firstname.lastname@example.org.


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Home furnishings retailer earnings increase in Q3, updates outlook
Despite a tough hurricane season, Restoration Hardware (RH) reported a strong third quarter — and is entering its fourth quarter on a high note.
For the third quarter, revenues increased 8%. This is an additional 3% increase from last year despite an approximate 1% negative impact from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Meanwhile, brand revenues increased 6% compared to a 6% decrease last year.
The company reported Q3 EPS of $1.04, which was in-line with the analyst estimate of $1.04. This is despite a negative impact of approximately $0.05 from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and includes a positive impact of approximately $0.11 related to a lower effective tax rate. This compares to adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.20 last year, according to Street Insider.
Revenue for the quarter came in at $592.5 million versus the consensus estimate of $591 million, according to the report.
“In the second quarter, we completed our share buyback program resulting in 20.2 million shares of RH stock repurchased in the first half of fiscal 2017, or 49.5% of the shares outstanding at the beginning of the year,” said Gary Friedman, chairman and CEO.
“We believe that our aggregate $1 billion of share repurchases will continue to be an excellent allocation of capital for the long term benefit of our shareholders,” he added. “We retired the $100 million second lien term loan in the third quarter, and have approximately $480 million of aggregate debt, outside of our convertible notes that are due June 2019 and June 2020.”
Looking ahead to the fourth quarter, RH anticipates an adjusted net income in the range of $37 million to $41 million. This is despite an approximate $1.5 million negative impact as a result of the company’s decision to delay the opening of its New York Design Gallery to spring-summer 2018. This outlook assumes an approximate $2 million tax benefit which corresponds to an expected 35% tax rate.
Net revenues are expected to be in the range of $655 million to $680 million, again, despite a $9 million negative impact due to the Company’s delayed New York Design Gallery opening.
For fiscal 2017, adjusted net income will be in the range of $125 million to $145 million. Net capital expenditures in the range of $65 million to $75 million, and free cash flow in excess of $240 million.
Fiscal 2017 adjusted net income is expected to be in the range of $83 million to $87 million despite the Company’s decision to delay the opening of its New York Design Gallery. Fiscal 2017 net capital expenditures in the range of $120 million to $130 million, and free cash flow will span between $420 million and $440 million.
Based on these expectations, analysts predict a Q4 EPS of $1.56 on revenue of $673.5 million and fiscal year EPS of $2.93 on revenue of $2.45 billion, according to Street Insider.
For fiscal 2018, RH is forecasting net revenues in the range of $2.58 billion to $2.62 billion, growth of 6% to 7% on a 52-week vs 53-week basis. On a comparable 52-week vs 52-week basis, net revenue growth is expected to be in the range of 8% to 9%.
Adjusted net income is expected to be in the range of $125 million to $145 million. Net capital expenditures is forecasted in the range of $65 million to $75 million, and free cash flow in excess of $240 million, according to the company.
Old Navy more important than ever to Gap Inc.
The value-driven division of Gap Inc. has evolved into the company’s growth engine, reported Glossy.com. Analysts predict the division will hit $10 billion in sales in the next few years. (According to 1010data, Old Navy is responsible for 75% of Gap Inc.’s annual profits.)
“Old Navy, for its part, is an amazing engine for growth,” Sebastian DiGrande, executive VP of strategy and chief customer officer at Gap, said in the Glossy.com report. “It has incredibly broad appeal to the American consumer. Yes, it is a value brand, but value is very broadly defined. It has attractive pricing, but it’s also the quality and style of the product, the fun experience and the focus on family that [resonates with] the customer.”
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J.Jill Q3 tops Street
Women’s apparel retailer J.Jill managed to beat analysts’ estimates in its third quarter even as its income declined.
Total net sales increased 1.6% to $162.0 million in the quarter ended October 28, from $159.4 million in the year-ago period. Analysts had expected revenue of $156.9 million.
Total same-store sales decreased by 0.6%. Direct-to-consumer net sales represented 39.5% of total net sales, compared to 40.4% last year.
The company reported net income of $6 million, down from $8 million last year. Adjusted earnings were $0.13 per share. Analysts had expected earnings of $0.09 per share.
“While we are disappointed with our overall performance for the third quarter, we are pleased to have ended the period with positive trends in October driven largely by our retail store performance,” said Paula Bennett, president and CEO, J.Jill, which operates 270 stores. “Thus far in the fourth quarter, we have returned to total comparable sales growth, with our current product offering better aligned to what our customer expects from J.Jill.”


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Why Kermit Gosnell Case Hasn't Received canada goose store More Attention
14 Theories for Why Kermit Gosnell's Case Didn't Get More Media Attention The trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the abortionist charged with killing babies and neglecting canada goose coats on sale women in his care, is now national news. There's no bigger story on the Web. Anderson Coopercovered it thoroughlyFriday on CNN. TheWashington Post'sexecutive editorpledgedto send Canada Goose Online a reporter to file dispatches from the canada goose clearance Philadelphia courtroom. My contribution, "Why Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Trial Should Be a Front-Page Story," canadian goose jacket distilled the Philadelphiagrand jury reportand argued that those horrific, detailed allegations are thoroughly Canada Goose Parka newsworthy by any reasonable standard. That premise Canada Goose Jackets is now conventional wisdom. The trial is likely to remain national news.My article didn't speculate aboutwhythe story didn't play bigger in the national Canada Goose online media prior to late last week. I didn't want that debate to overshadow Dr. Gosnell's actions or canada goose the failure to stop him.But the debate about coverage canada goose clearance sale is important and fascinating.Journalists, news junkies, and casual news Canada Goose Coats On Sale consumers are all offering theories of what drives the media.Wildlydivergent theories. And every last one amounts to a fellow member of our polity saying, "This is my notion of how America's primary means of canada goose black friday sale civic communication works."There is, of course, no single explanation for why any news buy canada goose jacket story unfolds one way canada goose deals instead of another. "The media" is an abstraction. It encompasses tv, radio, print, and digital; canada goose coats editors, reporters and bloggers; The Drudge Report,The New Yorker,USA TodayandFeministing. Many Canada Goose sale of the factors that shape how a story is covered are seemingly random or just plain undiscoverable. But it's possible to refine our understanding of factors canada goose replica that did and didn't shape coverage.* With that in mind, let's scrutinize buy canada goose jacket cheap some of the Canada Goose Outlet wildly divergent theories of American media.Keep in mind that my inclusion of a theory doesn't necessarily mean that I endorse it cheap Canada Goose.