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Consumer behavior and habits are ever-changing.
As a result, brands must constantly adapt to meet the needs of their customers.
Many economists say consumer spending is a key factor in economic performance. It is the primary driver of U.S. economic growth and reflects a country’s financial health.
By analyzing consumer spending statistics, it is possible to identify the factors that influence consumer spending and thus the economy.
So, If you’re a business owner considering different marketing strategies, developing one with these statistics in mind would be ideal.
Let’s dive in!
Consumer Spending Statistics – 2023 Stats Updated!
U.S. consumers spend approximately $314 per month on impulse purchases (Slickdeals)
According to a Slickdeals survey, an average American consumer spends about $314 per month on impulse purchases.
That’s more than $3,700 spent yearly on unplanned purchases. This is an increase from $276 in 2021 and $183 in 2020.
Housing, grocery, and gas accounted for 52% of total consumer spending (Morning Consult)
A recent consumer spending report shows that American consumers spend more than half of their money on gas, housing, and groceries.
Consumer spending contributes to 70% of the total economic activity in the United States (FAS)
Consumer spending makes up nearly 70% of the United States economy. In the fourth quarter of 2021, it was $13.28 trillion.
E-commerce Consumer Statistics
Around 56% of consumers shop online once or more per week (JungleScout)
According to JungleScout’s research, 56% of consumers made weekly or more frequent online purchases in the first quarter of 2022.
This is down from 61% in the fourth quarter of 2021.
U.S. social commerce buyers are expected to rise to 101 million in 2023 (eMarketer)
eMarketer reported that the number of U.S. social commerce buyers accelerated by 12.9% to 90.4 million in 2021 and is expected to rise to 101.1 million in 2023.
It’s safe to say that e-commerce isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Almost 85% of buyers worldwide have shopped for items online (Statista)
E-commerce is now bigger than ever and is expected to double in the next few years.
Statista recently reported that 85% of all consumers worldwide had purchased something online.
Roughly four out of five Americans are online shoppers today (JungleScout)
According to JungleScout, 78% of Americans use online shopping, with 46% shopping exclusively online.
Around 49% of customers have found online replacements for items they previously purchased at physical stores (Raydiant)
The pandemic pushed many consumers to go online.
Raydiant discovered that 49% of offline customers now use an online alternative.
U.S. consumers prefer shopping on Amazon, making it the most popular choice among online shoppers (JungleScout)
Amazon is one of the most well-known and trustworthy online shopping platforms. Therefore, it’s not surprising that 58% of U.S. consumers favor shopping there.
Furthermore, 78% of consumers believe Amazon is a good company for all consumers.
Consumer Behavior Statistics
User-generated content influences 79% of consumer purchasing decisions. (Nosto)
Nosto’s report further shows that user-generated content is 8.7 times more potent than influencer content and 6.6 times more powerful than brand content in the eyes of consumers.
Rising inflation has impacted 72% of people’s purchases of consumer goods (JungleScout)
Customers are cutting back on their spending to save money as a result of high inflation.
Furthermore, 70% are making fewer fun and impulse purchases.
Over 70% of people believe that businesses should collaborate on their behalf to make life easier for them (Zendesk)
According to Zendesk research, 70% of customers want companies to collaborate for their benefit, and 68% are frustrated when their calls are transferred between departments.
Discount codes, coupons, and deals persuade 53% of buyers into buying something (JungleScout)
Research shows that discounts are a great way to boost your sales. In fact, 53% of consumers say they are compelled to buy from discounts or deals.
Moreover, 47% only purchase products on sale or from discounts.
If given a choice, 46% of buyers would prefer to shop in person rather than online (Raydiant)
Many consumers still prefer shopping in person. A recent survey conducted by Raydiant showed that 46% of respondents preferred to shop in person instead of online.
It’s a decline of 9% from 2020.
Consumer Buying Experience Statistics
A positive offline experience increases 90% of customers’ likelihood of returning (Raydiant)
Customer service plays a vital role in customer retention.
In fact, 61% of consumers say they are more likely to spend more money at a location that provides excellent customer service.
And because of their customer service experience, 65% are more likely to spend more money online with a brand.
Around 60% of consumers will never shop from a brand again if they have a poor in-store experience (Raydiant)
A poor customer experience results in fewer customers and possibly lower retention rates. It further results in fewer sales and lower profit margins for a company.
Moreover, 60% of the survey respondents said they had abandoned a brand due to poor customer service.
About 75% of customers report that excellent customer service is essential for establishing a sense of loyalty toward a brand (Zendesk)
A positive experience with customer service significantly influences the recommendations.
Buyers who rate a business’s services are 38% more likely to recommend that business.
Customers are likely to return to a brand that offers great customer service (HubSpot Research)
Excellent customer service is key to customer retention.
According to HubSpot research, 93% of buyers consider great customer service as one of their top priorities and are more likely to return when they receive it.
Gen Z Consumer Statistics
Approximately 69% of the newer generation use Instagram for research on products and brands, while 46% use Tiktok (GWI)
Social media is where Generation Z usually gets product information.
Furthermore, according to GWI’s report, 58% of Gen Z consumers use Instagram for news updates, while 47% use Tiktok.
More than 60% of Gen Z are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products (GWI)
To have a good relationship with Generation Z, brands should be environmentally conscious whenever possible.
Eco-friendly products are more likely to sell for a higher price, and customers feel good about contributing to a healthier environment.
Post Covid-19 Consumer Statistics
In 2022, 60% of consumers will spend more time at home than before the pandemic (JungleScout)
According to JungleScout research, 60% of consumers will stay at home more often this year than before.
E-commerce sellers can expect a rise in their sales and the overall market.
Half of the U.S. consumers are willing to spend more on their homes now (JungleScout)
According to JungleScout, after Covid-19, 50% of consumers are more willing to spend money on their homes.
It could be because most people stayed at home during the pandemic.
Home-related and appliance businesses should see an increase in sales.
About 40% of buyers admit visiting physical locations less frequently since the pandemic (Raydiant)
According to Raydiant research, COVID-19 is causing a slow decline in brick-and-mortar stores.
Around 40% of people say they go to physical stores less frequently nowadays.


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The co-founder of Spanish retail giant Inditex, which owns the Zara clothing chain, Rosalia Mera, has died.
"The Inditex Group is deeply saddened to learn of the death of Rosalia Mera," Inditex, which owns the retailer, said in a statement.
The company did not release any details of her death. Spain's El Pais newspaper said Mera died of a brain haemorrhage,
The 69-year-old was Spain's richest woman, according to Forbes magazine, and held almost a 7-percent stake in the company.
She co-founded the first Zara location in La Coruna, Spain in 1975 with her ex-husband Amancio Ortega. He is the group's former chairman, and is still represented on the board, but without executive functions. He holds a 59-percent stake in the company and is the world's third-richest man, according to Forbes.
In addition to Zara and the Zara Home chain, Inditex also owns retailers Masssimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Uterque and Bershka. There are 1,763 Zara stores globally. Inditex has 6,058 stores and 120,000 employees.

domain: news


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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced an Emergency Executive Order on Sunday, banning the sale of flavored electronic cigarettes in the state.
The New York Governor’s Office said the decree was aimed at eliminating fraudulent e-cigarette marketing practices against minor users and raising the purchase age of e-cigarettes from 18 to 21 before the enactment of relevant legislation.
“E-cigarettes are dangerous. They make millions of young people addicted at an early age,” Cuomo said at a news conference.
A spokesman for Cuomo, Jason Conwall, said the ban was aimed at reducing the use of electronic cigarettes by young people and would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes with mango, bubblegum and marshmallow flavors. The popular MINT (cold mint) e-cigarettes among young people will also be included. However, menthol and traditional tobacco-flavored electronic cigarettes, mainly used by adults, are not prohibited.
More than 30 states in the United States have found nearly 500 cases of respiratory diseases related to electronic cigarettes, with at least six deaths. Health officials have not yet determined whether the exact cause of these diseases is a specific product. Earlier this month, Michigan became the first state to ban electronic cigarettes. Several other states, including California and Massachusetts, are considering similar initiatives.
Last week, the White House proposed a national ban, saying that President Trump would introduce specific legislation in a few weeks to reduce young people’s consumption of flavored e-cigarettes.


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Business has been brisk at Emad Yacoub’s 10 Glowbal Group restaurants, even with inflation increasing his customers’ cost of living.
His experience is typical of many in B.C.’s rebounding tourism and hospitality sector.
Yacoub is wary, however, about hiking his menu prices to fully account for rising food costs that have hurt his profit margin. He also needs to pay workers higher wages in order to keep them.
What makes rising wages a double whammy for restaurant owners is that they not only have to pay more money to staff, but they also have to pay the government more in tax.
Industry insiders usually mention provincial payroll taxes – officially called the Employer Health Tax – as the top grievance they hope the provincial government will address in the 2023-24 budget, scheduled for release Feb. 28.
The way the tax works is that restaurant owners tally up all employee costs, including tips and benefits, for each specific restaurant that they own, and if the total cost for a year is less than $500,000, they do not need to pay any payroll taxes. If their payroll is between $500,000 and $1.5 million, they pay 2.925 per cent on the amount of payroll that is above $500,000. If their employee compensation is above $1.5 million, they must pay 1.95 per cent on their entire payroll.
Yacoub said he pays about $450,000 per year on payroll taxes.
“It’s $40,000 for this restaurant, and $50,000 on that one – $60,000 on another one,” he said.
“The minute that the minimum wage went up, that put pressure on the restaurants, as they have higher payroll taxes.”
Yacoub would like to see the payroll-tax exemption limit, and each threshold, increased. If that cannot be done, he would like the province to reduce payroll-tax rates.
British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association CEO Ian Tostenson echoed Yacoub’s concerns.
“We’ve got the lowest exemption limit in all of Canada,” he said. “So that’s No. 1.”
He added that the province could provide more money to WorkSafeBC to lower the premiums that businesses have to pay.
He would also like Victoria to create a position or small department within the Ministry of Labour that is specifically tasked with ensuring a steady future labour supply.
The province has said that it expects there to be one million job openings in the next decade.
Canadian Federation of Independent Business B.C. policy adviser Emily Boston suggested that the provincial government could provide grants or tax credits to companies that spend on innovation.
A restaurant that invests in a kiosk where customers can place orders, for example, could then be entitled to some financial benefit.
She said she likes the idea of using much of the current fiscal year’s anticipated $5.7 billion surplus to pay off debt, because a higher provincial debt will require higher interest payments that would rob B.C. of potential future spending.
“Public debt crowds out private investment,” she added, because when the government borrows money to spend in the economy, it competes with the private sector for capital. The resulting economic stimulus can also drive up the cost of capital, she said, as it is more likely to court interest-rate hikes.
Tourism-sector executives, such as Destination Vancouver CEO Royce Chwin and British Columbia Hotel AssociationCEO Ingrid Jarrett, told BIV that they would like to see more provincial money spent on larger issues such as the green economy, through investments in more electric-vehicle charging stations.
They also both mentioned more money for worker training as something that could help their sector.
One specific ask from Jarrett is to have B.C. invest in the Check In Canada booking system that enables potential visitors to easily find desired hotels.
Chwin’s organization is largely funded by the province’s three-per-cent municipal and regional district tax (MRDT), which is charged on hotel rooms in Vancouver. He said he would like to see the province protect that tax and the revenue it generates for destination marketers such as his organization.
The City of Vancouver has separately applied to have a new and temporary 2.5-per-cent Major Events MRDT to generate money to help pay for FIFA World Cup 2026 expenses.
Chwin said that in his previous role, as Travel Alberta CEO, he watched the Alberta government “unwind” a similar tax system – a “slap on the face” to industry that hurt the province’s ability to attract visitors.
He added that he wants the B.C. government to protect funding for its own tourism marketer, Destination British Columbia.
That organization, he said, is “often going to provide the front wave of destination promotion, or marketing for the province, or partnership dollars, and the kinds of things that Destination Vancouver can invest in, and leverage to get a greater return on investment for Vancouver.”
Destination British Columbia is part of the B.C. government so it does not comment on what it wants from the provincial budget.


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In its first earnings call as a public company, Northfield-based Kraft Foods Inc. said strength in its biscuits, snacks and confectionery division--due mostly to cost savings associated with its integration with Nabisco Holdings Corp.-- helped boost pro forma second-quarter earnings by 13.5% over the same period last year.
Kraft reports 13.5% increase in 2Q
For the second quarter, on a pro forma basis, Kraft earned $581 million, or 33 cents per share, compared with $512 million, or 30 cents per share last year. Pro forma results assume that Kraft went public last year, and that Kraft has owned Nabisco for all of 2000, rather than from the actual acquisition date of Dec. 11, 2000, when Kraft bought its competitor for $19.2 billion.
The earnings beat a consensus of analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial, who had predicted earnings of 32 cents per share.
Kraft went public last month in a much-hyped initial public offering, raising $8.68 billion in the second-largest U.S. IPO ever. The unit of New York-based tobacco giant Philip Morris Cos. priced the stock at $31, above what some analysts considered a fair price (Crain's, June 18).
Jaine Mehring, an analyst for Salomon Smith Barney in New York, gave high marks to Kraft for its first earnings presentation, particularly for its decision to have co-CEOs Betsy D. Holden and Roger K. Deromedi participate in Wednesday's conference call.
"I thought they were very polished for 'quote-unquote' novices," she said. "I said this would be their first milestone, when they knew everyone would be looking at them."
She said the company showed better volumes than she had anticipated and that the integration with Nabisco appeared to be going smoothly, judging by the 28% earnings increase in the division. Sales grew 100% in that unit, proving that "synergies are being captured in that segment" and costs are being cut, Ms. Mehring said.
In the conference call, Kraft Chief Financial Officer James P. Dollive said the company expects to achieve $100 million in cost savings by the end of the year as a result of synergies between the two companies.
Kraft performed particularly well this quarter with sales of Oreos and Oscar Mayer products, including hot dogs and bacon. Those strengths were offset slightly by softness in coffee and desserts, Mr. Dollive said.
The company expects to show earnings gains for the third quarter and yearend.
In mid-morning trading, Kraft's shares were down slightly to $31.06, after opening Wednesday at $31.45. Still, the stock is hovering near its 52-week high of $32, reached June 13, just after its IPO. The stock dropped to a low of $29.50 June 14.


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P500,000 worth of damage in UP Shopping Center fire – BFP
MANILA, Philippines – The cost of damage due to the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman Shopping Center fire on Thursday, March 8, was pegged at around half a million pesos.
According to the spot report of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) acquired by Rappler, the damage to property was more or less P500,000. (READ: UP student regent calls for donations following UP Shopping Center fire)
What was lost: The BFP noted that most businesses in the UP Shopping Center sold food and various merchandise or offered printing and photocopying services.
In their initial inspection, firemen found burnt clothes, papers, and electrical equipment.
The fire agency also took into account the damage to the building. Half of its roof was torn down by the fire, and much of its electrical system got torched, according to firemen on the scene.
How the fire happened: According to the BFP's spot report, the fire began at around 6:55 am to 7 am.
Fire Inspector Rosendo Cabillan, one of the investigators, told Rappler they are pursuing tips that the fire came from the ceiling.
UP Shopping Center guards apparently tried to stop the fire on their own with a fire extinguisher but failed to prevent it from spreading. They called the fire department at 7:14 am.
First responders from the Batasan fire station arrived at 7:18 am, immediately declaring the blaze on second alarm at 7:26 am. This meant more stations could be called to respond.
The fire was declared under control around an hour later at 8:24 am, then firefighters declared "fire out" at 8:53 am.
What now: The UP Shopping Center has been placed on lockdown while the investigation continues.
Throngs of shop owners and students stood behind the yellow tape that cordoned off the scene, dreading to see what they had lost. (READ: Netizens express grief over razed UP Shopping Center) – Rappler.com


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The Government of Canada passed legislation to prohibit the sale, manufacture and importation of wheel weights containing more than 0.1% of lead.
There will be a transition period of 12 months before the regulations come into force on February 3, 2024. After the enforcement date, pre-existing inventories can still be sold and installed on vehicles within Canada.
The question is, will pressure from environmentalists further influence current practices and future regulations leaving companies holding massive amounts of this toxic inventory?
Other metals used in the manufacturing of wheel weights all have major disadvantages over lead; they are less dense which impacts size and malleability and make it harder to produce tight weight tolerances, and some are currently under review for environmental impact.
Don’t overstock on a potential excess inventory of wheel weights. Now is the time to make the switch to Counteract Balancing Beads. Made from 99.9% recycled material, environmentally friendly, a better overall balance of the complete wheel assembly and proven to save on fuel.


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Brazil could force Apple to sell iPhones with USB-C charging ports, according to a new report.
The country is reportedly asking Apple to move away from its Lightning connector to USB-C. The move affects all smartphone manufacturers, not just Apple, and would ensure that all phones sold in the country had USB-C charging for better compatibility and to avoid eWaste in the country.
However, it also suggests that devices that can charge entirely wirelessly won’t need USB-C ports.
Brazil says that moving to USB-C could offer consumers “greater convenience” and reduce global eWaste. The news follows similar pressures from the European Union, who also propose Apple and other technology manufacturers move over to USB-C charging. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman and Ming Chi-Kuo, Apple is already testing an iPhone internally with a USB-C charging port.
It’s thought that Apple will release this year’s iPhone 14 with a standard Lightning port, but it could make the switch to USB-C from 2023 with the iPhone 15. There have been whispers for a number of years that Apple was planning to make the switch, as it’s already done with the iPad Pro and Air.
Would you support a USB-C iPhone? Let us know and check back soon for the latest.


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Each day, we curate a bite-sized round-up of the best industry news from across the world. We search the web for the latest hospitality updates and travel trends, so you don’t have to. Get comfortable with a coffee and start each morning with our daily must-reads
1. Family travel to increase 25% by 2022, says report
New research by GlobalData shows that the family travel market is expected to grow from 300 million trips in 2017 to 376 million in 2022. The company’s latest report ‘Key Trends in Family Travel’ says that the family travel currently accounts for 30.8% of outbound tourism.
2. Agoda and JTB Corp join forces
Online travel agent Agoda has announced a new deal with Japan’s biggest travel agent JTB Corp. The agreement between the two travel giants will expand Japanese property inventory on both Agoda.com and JTB’s sites, improving accessibility to the country’s accommodation market for travellers.
3. World’s first underground hotel set to open in Shanghai
The world’s first underground hotel, InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland, is set to open on December 1st after almost 10 years of being under construction. Built inside a formerly abandoned quarry, the hotel was designed by the architects behind Dubai’s famed Burj Al Arab.
4. 54.3 million Americans expected to travel for thanksgiving
The auto club AAA has recently released its annual forecast, revealing that 54.3 million Americans are expected to travel at least 50 miles from home for Thanksgiving this year, a 4.8% increase on last year.
5. Marriott expands Culture Day programme worldwide
Marriott International has announced the expansion of its Culture Day programme. Founded in 2014, the programme aims to ensure welcoming environments at its hotels and increase guest satisfaction.
Don’t forget you can access weekly travel insights and expertise with Click. Bytes
Nicola Donovan is a travel writer for Click.More by Nicola Donovan
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SAN FRANCISCO/LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) - Google Inc could win a widely expected victory next week in Europe's top court and still face many more battles over keyword advertising, the backbone of its Internet business model.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg will rule on Tuesday whether or not Google infringes the trademark rights of such companies as Louis Vuitton through its Adwords service, in which advertisers pay to use keywords that are the companies' proprietary brand names.
In Google's Adwords service, advertisers pay a fee so that "sponsored links" to their own websites pop up beside a user's keyword search results.
"This case has the potential to shape global standards for the legitimacy of keyword advertising," said Eric Goldman, an associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, who called that a "multibillion-dollar question."
"We're going to get new and highly influential legal guidance on the legitimacy of that practice," he said. "That has the potential to move billions of dollars in our industry."
Brand owners will closely examine next week's judgment on three cases, one of which was brought by Louis Vuitton, as they try to protect their trademarks against a practice they say undermines their cachet.
Buying a sponsored link on a keyword such as "Nike" can be useful for retailers who stock goods of that brandyet the retailers do not pay Nike (NKE.N) for using the brand name. More controversially, Nike's rivals might buy it as a keyword, hoping to divert trade and traffic to themselves.
At the extreme, brands like Louis Vuitton and others fear that a loss of control of their brands to less-than-desirable outfitssuch as counterfeiterswould damage painstakingly managed reputations or confuse and drive away consumers.
NO CLEAN WIN
The case is the first at such a high level to test Google's liability, rather than that of the advertisers buying keywords.
Google used to block advertisers from buying others' brand names as keywords, but in 2004 it changed its policy in North America and four years later extended that to Britain and Ireland. Google says it will honor valid complaints from brand owners and prevent their rivals from using a trademarked keyword in their ad text, but some trademark holders say they should not be sold in the first place.
The stakes are high in this murky area of law because paid ads are a mainstay of Google's business and a foundation of commerce in the digital age. Courts in various member states within the European Union have issued disparate rulings, and U.S. decisions are similarly inconsistent.
Although Google does not break out revenue from its paid ads, it derives 97 percent of its annual revenue of nearly $24 billion from advertising.
Cases from five European nations brought by brand owners against advertisers are also pending in the European Court of Justice. The first of those will also be decided next week.
In one of those cases, international flower delivery group Interflora Inc and its UK unit are suing British retailer Marks & Spencer (MKS.L) for using the keyword "Interflora" and variants to trigger ads for itself, in the hope of luring flower buyers to its own service.
Interflora says its bidding costs for its own name as a keyword leapt as much as 14-fold when Google changed its policy in Britain in 2008, increasing its costs by a total of $750,000 in the first year after the change.
In the Google case, experts believe the court will rule at least partly in the Web giant's favor, based on the September nonbinding opinion of the court's Advocate General that Google did not infringe brand owners' rights by allowing advertisers to buy keywords corresponding to trademarks.
But the case, which originated in the French courts, is unlikely to completely absolve Google of future responsibility, with further litigation in European countries guaranteed.
"It's my feeling Google is going to win, but it's not going to be an ultimate victory for Google," said Alex Montagu, a New York-based attorney who specializes in intellectual property and international commerce transactions.
Though the hot-button issue of counterfeiting was not in front of the court, brand owners could still find Google liable in their host countries for "secondary infringement" by selling keywords to those who then infringe the trademark, such as counterfeiters.
"Where Google is not out of the woods is if Louis Vuitton can demonstrate that those sponsored links are being sold to people not authorized to use those trademarks, such as counterfeiters or the grey goods market," said Montagu.
He argues for an international convention to deal with the liability of Internet service providers, saying trademark law has not kept pace with the digital age.
EBay Inc , which buys keywords from Google and also operates its own internal search, has similarly been sued by brand owners, including Louis Vuitton, in Europe and the United States over its use of keywords.
A favorable ruling for Google in Europe's top court could allow eBay to reargue cases it has lost in countries such as France considered sympathetic to the claims of brand owners.
Google currently faces eight cases alone in the United States over the sale of trademarked keywords, said Goldman.
A "nice, clean" ruling from the European Court of Justice could potentially influence U.S. law, said Goldman, who added: "It's very possible we'll get a very muddy, murky ruling."
"We take it for granted that Google can do whatever it's doing and that's not a question that anyone here (in the U.S.) has ever answered definitively." (Additional reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels; Editing by Gary Hill)
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Samsung wants to make some real revolutionary changes that would mark a new era of smartphone technology. The company has recently stated that the need for a switch from the ordinary AMOLED displays to PLS-LCD ones is serious business, as the move would actually reduce the costs of the devices` structure, up to 20%, without worrying that the change would affect the resolution of the display. This shift might directly involve the recent Samsung flagships such as Galaxy S5 and Note 3. The idea might be a great one, since the phone manufacturer already uses PLS-LCD displays on Nexus 10 and Galaxy Note 10.
Another consideration of using PLS-LCD displays other than the reduced costs concerns the new rising smartphone manufacturers like Oppo, Xiaomi or Vivo, that are already using the above mentioned displays. Huawei and Lenovo are also facing success with their rocket prices.
Our source declares that using PLS-LCD displays come with some important advantages such as a more colorful and vivid texture for the phone or lower power consumption when browsing the phone`s apps or internet. With all that, the company recently declared that it is now ready to launch Super AMOLED panels with 2k display resolution for a premium F series smartphones next year.
Concerning the Galaxy smartphone line, Samsung announced that they will be switched to PLS-LCD for higher brightness and accurate HD images.Well folks, the rumors seemed to be quite false as Samsung`s intention on featuring PLS-LCD displays might be delayed for a while for the Galaxy S5.
You can leave your comments on this matter. Is it ok for the Galaxy S5 and Note 3 to receive PLS-LCD displays for a better quality or you would rather go with the classic AMOLED display, for higher costs and a much more battery usage?


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Alia Bhatt has started her year off on a bright and shiny note. Ranbir Kapoor‘s lady love was spotted earlier today at the airport wearing an outfit that had her beaming like the sun, along with a very trendy and cool accessory. Wearing a pair of skinny jeans, a white tank and a floral long-line kimono jacket, Alia’s casual look featured a very blogger-approved piece—her sneakers!
Although Alia accessorised the look with a bright red tote from Givenchy, it was her big, blocked white sneakers that caught our attention. The white sneakers have been all over Instagram with so many influencers and celebrities sporting this style.
What do you think about this trend? Let us know in the comments below.


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American Airlines Group Inc is seeing a slowdown in demand because of surging coronavirus cases, signalling a weaker outlook heading into the year-end holidays.
After a strong start for the fourth quarter, a deceleration in net bookings growth began before Thanksgiving and has persisted into this month, American said in a regulatory filing.
As a result, the company expects its daily cash consumption to be at the high end of an earlier forecast of $25 million to $30 million.
The company’s caution follows a similar warning by Delta Air Lines Inc, which said it may burn more cash than expected in the fourth quarter because of the slowdown.
While passenger totals jumped over the Thanksgiving holiday, they were still only about 40% of last year’s levels.
American said it expects to end the year with more than $14 billion in liquidity.


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Find some family-friendly resources for Champaign-Urbana this weekend.
Urbana’s Market at the Square director Natalie Kenny Marquez provides everything you need to know about the 2016 season at the popular weekly event.
The Land Connection will hold a weekly farmer’s market in downtown Champaign that offers fresh food and family fun.
Welcome back, Market at the Square. We’ve missed you!


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The devil of getting venture capital lies in the semantics of the situation. While almost every emerging enterprise requires a dollop of venture capital to get to the next stage, venture capitalists are not the source of this funding about 99.44 percent of the time.
The fact is, the vast majority of venture capital comes from sources other than venture capitalists. Where most entrepreneurs err is in pursuing the latter rather than the former. The distinction wouldn't be so important if the six months to a year most entrepreneurs take learning this didn't kill as many companies as it did.
There just isn't enough venture capital to go around. The $7.4 billion or so the nation's venture capital partnerships started with last year is just a fraction of the $50 billion to $60 billion America's emerging high-growth companies need each year, says Jeffrey Sohl, director of the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
When you look at numbers like this, it becomes obvious that professional venture capitalists offer limited financing opportunities for a small population of companies. The question, then, is whether yours is among that small minority of enterprises a venture capitalist will finance.
To find out, run through the following seven-point diagnostic test from John H. Martinson, managing partner of Edison Venture Fund, a Lawrenceville, New Jersey, venture capital firm with more than $200 million under management. And to add more weight to the numbers we've been talking about, consider a typical year for Edison, according to Martinson: "We see 2,000 business plans, of which we might visit 300, seriously consider and conduct due diligence on 50, and invest in eight to 12." Here's the litmus test:
1. Are you a technology company? "In general, 80 percent of a venture capitalist's portfolio is in technology," says Martinson. Why the relentless focus on technology? Martinson says the key may lie in the answer to the next question.
2. Are you capable of being a market leader? "We rarely finance a company that is going up against a market leader with a similar product," says Martinson. The reason? "It's too difficult and too expensive to succeed." But here's where technology plays a role. Breakthroughs can shatter the established paradigm of existing markets or create vast new ones. With low-tech consumer products, such as plastic housewares, or ubiquitous services, such as restaurants, it's difficult to change the rules of the game.
3. Can the company be built inexpensively? In Martinson's nomenclature, that means about $10 million or less. "Venture capitalists like to build companies on the cheap," says Martinson, "to limit the downside risk and because they don't want to have to rely on other sources of capital to pitch in to help the company reach its goal."
4. Is there a clear distribution channel? Many times, entrepreneurs come up with great products, but there's no clear or easy way to sell them, says Martinson. And consistent with venture capitalists' focus on overall cost containment, they also want to know that the distribution channel can be accessed fairly inexpensively.
For instance, the existence of mass-market retailers appears to offer inexpensive and wide distribution for many consumer products, and even some technology products. However, there are often hidden costs that make these channels prohibitive, such as inventory requirements, the stores' right to return unsold product, "slotting" fees or mandatory cooperative advertising costs. Martinson says companies that have joint venture marketing opportunities--that is, the opportunity to move product through someone else's distribution channel--or otherwise have direct and proven access to the market are typically more attractive to venture capitalists than those that must invent their own distribution systems or pay high fees to use someone else's.
5. Does this product require significant support? Complex products or services usually require customer support organizations that are expensive and sometimes difficult to establish and maintain. For instance, a relatively low-tech home alarm system sold through mass-market distribution channels might seem appealing to an investor given Americans' rising concerns over security, says Martinson. But can customers install it themselves, or does a third party have to get involved? "If a third party is required, it's much less appealing because of the costs involved and their impact on the margins," he says.
But the need for customer support doesn't have to kill a deal. Sometimes a third party wants to get involved because it spells opportunity for them. For instance, SAP America Inc., a worldwide applications software company based in Germany, relies heavily on Big Six accounting firms to install and support its products. For SAP, funds that might otherwise go to a massive customer support organization go instead to the bottom line.
6. Can the product or service generate gross margins of more than 50 percent? "For business owners who are trying to carve out a salary and a living," says Martinson, "gross margins of 30 percent are fine." But for professional investors who need to make a return, 30 percent margins are too thin. Why? "First," says Martinson, "that margin leaves little room for error." Second, and more important, he says, "my return depends on an acquisition of the company or an initial public offering. With thin margins, the prospect for either becomes dimmer because the next owner of the company doesn't want to face all the attendant risks associated with trying to overcome those thin margins."
7. Can the company grow to $25 million in five years, with the prospect of growing to $50 million to $100 million? At $25 million in sales, a company is just beginning to generate the kinds of profits that make it worth enough so venture capitalists can get the kind of return they are looking for. Say, for instance, that a $25 million enterprise was bringing $5 million to the bottom line. Valuing the company as a multiple of its earnings--a standard benchmark--and using a multiple of 10 just to keep the math easy suggests a value of $50 million. If the venture capitalist invested $10 million, then the return on this hypothetical company would be five times the investment in five years--a middle-of-the-road target return for most venture capitalists.
On this final point, Martinson is firm. "If there's no possibility you're going to hit the $25 million benchmark within five years," he says, "it's simply a waste of time to pursue institutional venture capital." But once this hurdle is passed, Martinson offers encouragement: "If the business can really be cranked up fast, I would encourage entrepreneurs to give venture capitalists a try, because you just never know until you do."
Edison Venture Fund, 997 Lenox Dr., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648, (609) 896-1900, ext. 18.
David R. Evanson, a writer and consultant, is a principal of
Financial Communications Associates in


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Actors Robert Downey Jr. and Jeremy Renner ring the opening bell Monday at the New York Stock Exchange.
By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK – U.S. stocks ended down Monday, led by losses in biotech shares after disappointing news from several companies including Amgen.
The Nasdaq Biotech Index sank 4.1 percent, its biggest daily percentage loss since March 25, while the S&P Healthcare index, down 1.8 percent, was the biggest drag on the benchmark S&P 500 index.
Amgen (AMGN) shares led the S&P 500’s decline, dropping 3.3 percent to $162.38 after U.S. regulators said Amgen’s skin cancer immunotherapy cannot be considered for an accelerated review at this time.
) shares fell 80.7 percent to $2.64 and hit a record low of $2.59. It said it expected layoffs and cost cuts after the company’s lead experimental gene therapy to treat heart failure failed a key trial.
Health care companies have been the top performers so far in 2015, helping push major stock indexes to records. Biotechs in particular have driven up the Nasdaq, which last week reached its first all-time closing high in 15 years.
The sector is being dragged down by reports of high pricing by specialty pharmaceutical companies as well as the disappointing news from Celladon and Amgen, said Paul Yook portfolio manager of biotech exchange traded funds and at LifeSci Partners in New York.
“Drug pricing has been a real concern for investors,” he said.
The Nasdaq biotech sector briefly fell into bear market territory a year ago following a sell-off in Gilead (GILD) shares and concerns about valuations. But analysts said for now they don’t view Monday’s selloff as the start of a bigger drop. The Nasdaq biotech index is up more than 50 percent since April 2014.
“This run in the biotechs is going to come to end at some point but I’m not panicking yet,” said Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital in San Diego.
“I don’t think you can look at what’s happening today and say this is the end of the biotech sector. You might just have a big institution reallocating a little bit of money here.”
Stocks Making Moves
The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI) fell 42.17 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,037.97, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index (^GSPC) lost 8.77 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,108.92 and the Nasdaq composite (^IXIC) dropped 31.84 points, or 0.6 percent, to 5,060.25.
Also in the health care sector, Mylan (MYL) fell 5.7 percent to $71.72 after it rejected Teva Pharmaceutical’s unsolicited $40 billion takeover offer, saying it “grossly undervalues” the company. Teva (TEVA) lost 4.3 percent to $61.63.
The Health Care Select Sector SPDR exchange-traded fund (XLV) was down 1.8 percent.
After the bell, Apple (AAPL) shares gained 1.1 percent as the iPhone maker reported a 27 percent jump in quarterly revenue. Its shares ended the regular session up 1.8 percent at $132.65.
NYSE declining issues outnumbered advancers 1,923 to 1,130, while on the Nasdaq, 1,956 issues fell and 805 advanced. The S&P 500 posted 14 new 52-week highs and 1 new low; the Nasdaq composite recorded 101 new highs and 42 new lows.
About 6.8 billion shares changed hands on U.S. exchanges versus the 6.2 billion daily average for the month to date, according to data from BATS Global Markets.
–With additional reporting by Sinead Carew.
What to watch Tuesday:
Federal Reserve policymakers meet to set interest rates.
Standard & Poor’s releases S&P/Case-Shiller index of home prices for February at 9 a.m. Eastern time.
The Conference Board releases the Consumer Confidence Index for April at 10 a.m..
These selected companies are scheduled to report quarterly financial results:
Boston Scientific (BSX)
Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)
Buffalo Wild Wings (BWLD)
CIT Group (CIT)
Edison International (EIX)
Express Scripts (ESRX)
Ford Motor Co. (F)
JetBlue Airways (JBLU)
Kraft Foods (KRFT)
Lexmark International (LXK)
McGraw Hill Financial (MHFI)
Panera Bread (PNRA)
Penske Automotive Group (PAG)
ServiceMaster Global (SERV)
Sirius XM (SIRI)
T-Mobile US (TMUS)
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (SKT)
Tempur Sealy International (TPX)
U.S. Steel (X)
United Parcel Service (UPS)
Valero Energy (VLO)
Western Digital (WDC)
Wyndham Worldwide (WYN)
Wynn Resorts (WYNN)
Buy Energy-Star appliances. Yes, you’ll pay a little more upfront but you’ll save serious dollars in the long-term.
Turn off and unplug any electrical device you’re not currently using. Use a programmable thermostat. Wash your clothes in cold water and line-dry them rather than putting them in the machine. Turn off the lights if you’re not inside the room.
Take shorter showers. Only run the dishwasher and washing machine when you have a full load. Install a low-flow showerhead. Fix leaky faucets. Use rain barrels to collect water for your garden (check first to see if it’s legal in your area).
Shaving an extra $10 per month from your water or energy bill adds up to $120 each year, a nice chunk of change to have back in your budget.
Live in an area of town that’s not overly
. Walk or bike to work, or use public transit if it’s available. Carpool with coworkers who live nearby. Set up a carpool schedule for getting the neighborhood kids to and from school and extracurricular activities.
Run all your errands in one trip rather than heading out several times a week to take care of a task here and a task there. This saves time, money and the environment –- a trifecta of savings.
Create a meal plan and a shopping list to make sure you only buy ingredients you’ll eat before they spoil. Learn to use leftovers creatively. Compost food scrapes and food that has happened to expire, or find ways you may still be able to use it (like turning overripe bananas into banana bread).
Install a water purification tap on your faucet and buy a reusable water bottle you can take to the gym or carry while running errands. You can also buy reusable water bottles that have a filtration system built into the cap, so you can refill at a drinking fountain while you’re out.
and making your own meals from scratch is another trifecta: It saves you money; it cuts back on the unnecessary waste caused by foods that are over-packaged; and it cuts back on the health risks of foods that are over-processed.
This motto of frugality from the Great Depression -– “
, wear it out, make do, or do without” — is a smart one to follow today if you’re on a mission to live in a way that’s more Earth-friendly.
This motto encompasses everything from mending clothes rather than throwing them away to learning to fix your broken toaster rather than buying a new one. In our “disposable” society, this motto stands as an encouragement to be more resourceful and make the most of what you already own.
Whether it’s in your backyard or on your kitchen windowsill, growing your own veggies and herbs gives you fresh, organic ingredients you don’t have to waste gas driving to the store to purchase. Plus, you’ll know your produce is totally organic and pesticide-free because you grew it yourself.
When you make your own cleaning products from simple household ingredients, you save money, cut back on packaging waste, and can make solutions that are safer for the environment and your family. Many household cleaning products get the job done just as well as expensive store-bought cleaners with harsh chemicals.
Why buy a DVD you’ll only watch a once or a book that will just sit on your shelf once you’ve read it? Borrow media from your local library — many libraries even have video games for your kids.
When you have a DIY project, borrow tools from your neighbors rather than buying a power washer or circular saw you’ll probably never use again. Organize a clothing swap with your friends so you can trade items from each other’s closets — an outfit that’s old and boring to you could be new and fresh to one of your friends.
Originally posted here:


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News Corp is a network of leading companies in the worlds of diversified media, news, education, and information services.
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See what Harry Potter actor Harry Melling who played Dudley looks like now...
The lowdown on Harry Potter actress Evanna Lynch...
Airport transforms its terminals into famous Harry Potter locations
Primark is selling matching Harry Potter pyjamas for the whole family
Can you guess who this is after a model transformation? Take your bust guess
Potterheads will love Fantastic Beasts — but it's a magical muddle
Harry Potter game made by Pokemon Go creators is coming in 2019
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The lowdown on the Hang Ups star and former Doctor Who David Tennant


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Amazon is supplying technology and working with city and county law enforcement agencies in the US to allow them to leverage AI and cloud computing systems to engage in real-time facial recognition, according to documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The system, known as Rekognition, is an AWS application that customers can use to tie internet-connected video surveillance systems to the cloud platform and identify and track people in an image or video feed. Rekognition is used by the city of Orlando, Florida, as well as Washington County, Oregon, according to the ACLU.
The image recognition application is possible thanks to the growing number of internet-connected municipal surveillance cameras around the world. Governments are installing cameras to monitor city streets in an effort to improve public safety — New Orleans' camera program is one such example — and Business Insider Intelligence estimates that over 2 billion of these devices will be installed worldwide by 2023, with total global investment expected to top $40 billion. Additionally, police departments around the US are issuing personnel body cameras to provide greater public transparency.
These connected cameras will provide governments and law enforcement with huge quantities of data. Cities are looking to take advantage of the data captured by the cameras they’re installing, and big tech companies like Amazon have experience with image recognition and cloud data processing that they can use to help governments in those efforts.
Huawei, likewise, is working with cities in China to leverage public cameras for facial recognition and license plate monitoring. Amazon’s two law enforcement customers began using the Rekognition application in 2017, according to the ACLU, and the e-commerce giant has been looking to attract additional government clients.
However, while there is an opportunity for tech companies to land potentially lucrative government contracts for image recognition software and systems, it’s not without some risk.
As the investigation by the ACLU demonstrates, working with governments on surveillance can cause concerns among some interest groups and elements of the public.
For a company that derives much of its revenue from e-commerce, that can leave it open to potential backlash from consumer reaction.
Competitors without that exposure could be in a better position to pursue government contracts for image recognition, but that positioning is dependent on developing technology that provides law enforcement agencies with a comparable service, and lets them utilize the vast quantities of data the growing number of connected cameras are generating.


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Juniper Research has revealed the top 10 technologies set to disrupt the fintech industry in 2017 and 2018.
Juniper’s Top 3 Disruptive Technologies:
1. PSD2 & Open APIs
The introduction of the revised European legislation ‘PSD2’ will redefine the payments sector as incumbents face new and increased competition. On the flip side, merchants and consumers will benefit from reduced fees and charges.
The Top 10 Disruptive Technologies in Fintech: 2017, found that PSD2 will effectively lead to the creation of numerous third party start-ups which could undercut established players. However, an opportunity exists for co-operation between banks and start-ups; institutions may leverage their established brands in partnership with agile technology start-ups, to press first-mover advantage.
Juniper believes Regtech is on the cusp of seeing significant adoption with cost savings and time efficiencies ultimately benefitting consumers too.
For players in the finance and insurance industries facing constant regulatory changes, Regtech will provide enhanced security. It will redefine how stakeholders approach the ever-more complex compliance, regulation and reporting aspects of business, vastly reducing time constraints and improving accuracy.
Chatbots, or automated (script or AI-based) programs, aim to converse with consumers in the same manner as traditional human to human interaction. These will provide significant cost savings, with Juniper forecasting that banking players will save around US $4.4 billion annually by 2022.
Research author Lauren Foye explained: “Chatbots currently have low barriers to entry, and are seeing increased adoption across platforms including web-browsers and messaging applications. FIs and eCommerce players will benefit increasingly over the next few years as chatbots help consumer engagement.”
New Technologies – New disruption
The research found additional technologies with significant potential to disrupt, including robotics and automation, invisible payments and blockchain, are currently hindered by factors including lack of adoption and limited regulatory agreement. Juniper’s new research examines the potential for these technologies and how they can impact the market.


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no longer is playing catch-up with Japanese rivals when it comes to flexible manufacturing, a capability critical to competitiveness and profitability, according to top company executives.
“We’ve spent many years looking at it and defining what we need at, and I believe our level of flexibility is comparable with anyone in our industry,” John Fleming, Ford executive vice president-global manufacturing and labor affairs, tells Ward’s.
The meaning of flexibility differs among auto makers – “I could write a thesis on flexibility definitions,” Fleming says – but for Ford, it is the ability to seamlessly shift production between plants and quickly adjust line rates.
For decades, domestic auto makers dedicated assembly plants to singular models, while companies such ascould build multiple models in the same facility.
That gave foreign auto makers the ability to quickly respond to changing consumer tastes by switching models with little cost and effort.
Ford’s dependence on single-vehicle assembly plants eventually caught up with it when consumer demand lagged for key models, spurring the auto maker to conclude its methods no longer were viable, says Jim Tetreault, vice president-North American manufacturing.
“Look at (the) Taurus,” he tells Ward’s. “Years ago, we needed two plants. And then the market shifted and we weren’t running near capacity.”
Ford’s flexibility strategy revolves around reprogrammable body-shop tooling, standardized paint-shop equipment and a common final-assembly build sequence.
The auto maker in 2004 took a significant step forward when it invested $1.04 billion in its plant in Oakville, ON, Canada.
The investment enabled Oakville to build multiple vehicles from disparate platforms. Today, the site produces the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX cross/utility vehicles using the auto maker’s CD3 platform, in addition to the D4-based Ford Flex and Lincoln MKT CUVs.
While other auto makers still have greater flexibility, the changes at Oakville afford a ready capability to adjust mix.
Similar improvements have been made at Ford’s assembly plant in Chicago, site of a $400 million renovation that saw construction of a new flexible body shop to handle production of the Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS sedans and their Ford Explorer SUV platform-mate.
The plant could accommodate a second platform, “but it would require some equipment changeover,” Tetreault says, adding mix flexibility was the key goal.
“In Chicago, we have these enormous tool trays for body sides,” he says. “When we want to build more Tauruses and fewer Explorers, we have to adjust tool trays.”
Advancing technology and a strengthening balance sheet allowed Ford to bring its flexible manufacturing scheme to the next level with the retooling of its Michigan Assembly Plant, formerly Michigan Truck, home to large body-on-frame SUVs.
The 1.2-million-sq.-ft. (111,484-sq.-m) plant now boasts a new paint shop that employs Ford’s “3-wet” process that combines the primer and enamel booths, reducing the operation’s carbon footprint some 25% and shaving 15%-20% off the time it takes to paint a vehicle.
The new paint shop features 66 robots, each with seven axes of movement.
A new body shop, which Tetreault describes as the plant’s most technically advanced operation, has 500 robots capable of 4,000 welds per vehicle.
The modernization allowed Ford to upgrade its standardization. “We only have a couple of different types of weld guns in this body shop; we used to have over 100. So it’s very easy to change them out.”
To improve communications, a new system flashes information updates to the plant’s 3,200 employees via 163 monitors. Even work procedures were streamlined to ensure operations are carried out the same way every time, Tetreault says.
“It used to be very common that the day-shift operator had things set up in his work station one way and the night shift operator would come in and rearrange everything, including his work sequence,” he says. “We don’t do that anymore.”
Upgrading ergonomics also was a key goal because worker injuries “ultimately impact our quality,” Tetreault says.
Overexertion can lead to fatigue which increases error risk, so Ford used computers to create a virtual plant, complete with avatars to represent workers. “We standardized every operator’s job,” Tetreault says. “That enables us to track any particular quality issue.”
Perhaps the most significant enhancements at MAP were the body trays. Tiny robots with pincer-like claws hold side-body panels during the welding process and can accommodate vehicles ranging in size from the Fiesta B-car to the Expedition fullsize SUV.
Tetreault describes the robots as being the shape of a small pizza “with lobster-like clampers.”
Previously, the body shop used welding arms equipped with tool trays that could accommodate just one model at a time. Changing models required changing the tool trays, a system still in place at Chicago.
While MAP currently is Ford’s most flexible plant, it won’t hold that title for long.
Ford’s Louisville, KY, plant currently is undergoing renovations to build next-generation C-segment vehicles, including the new Ford Escape CUV. Louisville Assembly had been building the Explorer SUV.
Later this year, the plant will reopen with a body shop featuring reprogrammable tooling that will enable production of multiple models without downtime for tooling changeover.
With the new technology Louisville will be able to simultaneously build up to six different models, including B-, C- and C/D-segment vehicles, although Tetreault says that capability may never be used to its fullest.
“If you’re building six different vehicles in a plant, you have to have that many more parts in the plant and then (manage) the movement of parts,” he says. “You have to be extraordinarily efficient in commonality, which is difficult to do if you use different platforms.”
While flexibility is crucial to Ford’s manufacturing strategy, don’t expect all its plants in North America to be retooled, Tetreault says. Some, such as its truck plant in Dearborn, MI, home to the high-volume F-150 pickup, already have acceptable capacity utilization and don’t need a second model.
Additionally, the F-150 is a body-on-frame vehicle, and adding a unibody platform to the mix would prove difficult. “I don’t know how you could do cab/box pickup alongside a sedan or compact car,” he says.
Flexible plants are a must to remain competitive in mature markets such as the U.S., but in regions where manual labor is less costly, it makes more sense to forgo the expensive manufacturing technology, Fleming says.
It would not be prudent to build a plant such as MAP in Romania, “or even China,” he adds. “The overall layout and the concepts will be the same, but the level of automation will be different.”


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Following news of Spade's death, shoppers quickly turned to Frances Valentine — her handbag-and-shoe company — to buy the late designer's final creations.
All 25 of the bags listed among Frances Valentine's new arrivals were sold out as of Wednesday morning.
Following Kate Spade's death, shoppers are buying up the designer's line.
Frances Valentine, a handbag-and-shoe company launched by Spade and her husband Andy Spade in 2015, is selling out following news of the designer's death on Tuesday. As of Wednesday morning, dozens of items were listed as completely sold out on the retailer's website.
All 25 of the Frances Valentine bags listed among the brand's new arrivals were sold out. Of the more than 60 accessories, purses, and shoes listed in new arrivals, all but a handful were sold out or only available for preorder.
Sold-out purses include the $195 Maggie Suede Crossbody Bag, the $375 June Hobo Suede Bag, and the $295 Betsy Wicker Bag. Other sold-out items include the Jude Mary Jane Leather Flats, which were priced at $295, and the Turquoise Filigree Earrings, priced at $35.
Frances Valentine's social media accounts have been flooded by people expressing their sorrow and sympathy following Spade's death.
"I am so sorry to hear. This is absolutely devastating," one person commented on the brand's Facebook page.
Spade launched her namesake brand in 1993, a year before she married her husband. They sold the business to Neiman Marcus in 2006, launching Frances Valentine nine years later. Kate also changed her name to Kate Valentine.
The Spade family released a statement on Tuesday: "We are all devastated by today's tragedy. We loved Kate dearly and will miss her terribly. We would ask that our privacy be respected as we grieve during this very difficult time."
Remembering Kate Spade:


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For the music industry, 2021 was definitely a memorable year. With concerts and live entertainment essentially on ice for much of the year, consumers pivoted, directing their expendable income to physical products instead, resulting in a landmark year for record stores. Variety reported in March that 2021 marked the first year since 1996 that both “CDs and vinyl records experienced revenue growth in the same year.” This boom saw vinyl records breaking through the $1 billion revenue threshold for the first time since 1986 — an extension of the format’s resurgence, which has seen revenues grow for 15 consecutive years.
That trend has started to slow a bit in 2022, however.
“People aren’t hiding [from the pandemic] in their basement with their turntable anymore,” said Dennis Hite of NewBo Vinyl Emporium in Cedar Rapids.
Discretionary income is again being spread across other outlets as society regains its equilibrium, and wallets have become tighter due to broader economic trends. Various stores cited everything from rising inflation and gas prices to political uncertainty as reasons sales have slowed down.
“Now that people feel more comfortable going out and going to bars and restaurants and movie theaters again, some of that entertainment money is now going to other places,” said Nate Niceswanger of Zzz Records in Des Moines.
With the holiday season fast approaching, we spoke with a cross-section of those still waving the flag for independent record stores throughout the state to better understand what today’s record store ecosystem looks like across Iowa, and how record stores continue to serve local communities.
A quick head-count reveals no fewer than 30 stores around the state that sell new and used vinyl records. Yet while the format has largely returned to the zeitgeist, the evolution from vinyl to cassettes to CDs to digital took with it many retail casualties across the region. With the introduction of CDs 40 years ago, vinyl as a format was put on life support, and most albums lost the bulk of their value.
“Records were almost getting phased out when I was getting started,” said John Rohlf, who opened Metro Records in Cedar Falls 28 years ago.
“This is not an industry that is easy to survive in,” said Niceswanger, who noted Zzz Records has largely hewn close to its market in music and selling ephemera since first opening in 2000.
Current store owners and employees across the region frequently reflected fondly on other shops that have gone under over the years, such as Relics Records in Cedar Rapids, Peeples Music in Des Moines and Antiquarium, just outside the reaches of the state line in Omaha. Survival has been possible, however, even amid the rise and fall of various physical music formats. Many we spoke with persevered through not only the ebbs and flows of market trends, but also the generally unexpected nature of life.
John Blabaum of Marshalltown’s Wax Xtatic Record Audio Stereo Shop might be the poster child for perseverance when it comes to record stores in Iowa. After shifting from the first iteration of his business into a new building, the shop was among the many damaged after a tornado struck in July of 2018. Unsuccessful in re-opening at that location, he purchased a building of his own only for his reopening to be derailed again by pandemic and derecho. Wax Xtatic finally reopened its doors to the public in April of 2021.
Blabaum has been in the used vinyl business for over two decades.
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“We call them ‘pre-heard’ records here,” he said, with his trademark laugh. “Every one is cleaned and graded before it’s put in the rack.”
However, in the span of just a few years, Wax Xtatic has shifted from primarily selling a curated selection of used vinyl to mostly new records. This is one of the most alluring aspects to looking at the state’s selection of stores on the whole: They’re all in the same business, but no two have the same footprint in terms of selection, specialties or character.
Hite’s Vinyl Emporium offers a classic selection of some 7,000 records from the format’s heyday in the 1960s and ’70s, all hand cleaned and graded. But just a few hundred feet away in Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemia district is Analog Vault, which serves up a completely different selection and atmosphere.
Analog Vault owner Jeremy Vega explained that his approach is unintentionally different from Hite’s, to a point where they almost complement one another. For “a reissue from the ’90s or even something brand new,” Vega said, he would be the better option, while Hite might be better suited when it comes to his more period-specific selection and broad selection of audio equipment. Zzz Records, on the other hand, just filed its 350,000th piece of inventory (a CD from ’90s alt-rock staples the Lemonheads, for anyone curious), suggestive of a distinctly different business model.
“We do get some collector’s items, but I want to have a different store every time someone comes in,” said Niceswanger, “meaning that I want to buy a lot of stuff but I want to turn it over quick. … My philosophy from the beginning has been to sell most of our records for two to six dollars. I think that’s worked out well for us.”
The resurgence in popularity over the past decade and a half has brought with it several new names to help carry the record store torch. One of those is Rogue Planet Music in Des Moines. Despite both just having entered their 30s, co-owners John Pope and Jesse Pace have geared their selection to that of an earlier vintage, whether it be records that date back a century or decades-old audio equipment that has stood the test of time.
“We try to have a good selection of high quality vintage audio equipment,” Pace said, adding, “We also do our own audio repair. So, we fix our turntables, receivers, amplifiers, guitar amplifiers — we can do all those repairs in-house.” This makes for what he calls a “listening experience.”
One thing that several store owners, including Pace, share is particularly fond memories for one other record store in particular: Record Collector in Iowa City.
The story of Record Collector, and the store’s founder Kirk Walther, has become nothing less than local lore, starting from the time Walther began selling used records out of the back of a comic book shop called Barfunkels in 1982.
“I’ve been going down there for years,” said Vega. Asked what would happen if the store closed down for good, he quickly shot back, “Do you know the hole that would leave?!”
“At the top of my list would be Record Collector,” said Niceswanger when asked for his favorite stores around the state.
“I would go in the Record Collector there on Linn Street every other day,” said Pace, reflecting on a period when he lived in Iowa City. “[Walther] was always the overseer of the store. I’d like to think he tucked some things away for me to find.”
In 2017, Walther died from cancer, working at the store right up until he passed away. Since then, Alissa Witzke and Bobby Larson have continued to carry on his legacy as co-owners of the store.
“One of my favorite things that Kirk ever said was that he collects collectors,” said Jo Adams, who has worked at Record Collector for eight years. Those collectors were Larson, Witzke and the other staffers Walther invited aboard in creating his wonderland of music.
“The selection that he brought to the Record Collector — it was always eclectic and it was alive,” said Pace. “He brought in so many different artists that you just wouldn’t really see in the region.”
“He wasn’t always stocking best sellers,” added Adams, speaking to an ethos that continues on in Walther’s absence. “He was looking for new and exciting things.”
The store celebrated its 40th anniversary this past May and saw an outpouring of support in celebration of the milestone.
“Record Collector isn’t a place I am just nostalgic for,” read one Facebook comment, which summed up the thread’s overwhelming sentiment, “it’s a place that still fills my heart with joy every time I go there.”
About 80 miles southeast of Record Collector, another record store will be celebrating its own 2022 milestone. Weird Harold’s in Burlington marks its 50th year in business in November. The store was founded by Danny Bessine, who turned over the reins of the shop to its new owner Andrea Fritz about three years ago.
“She’s a perfect fit,” he said of Fritz, who had worked at the store since 1994.
Five decades ago, Bessine decided to take the plunge into opening his shop after a stint in Las Vegas, where he was introduced to 8-track tapes. He returned to Burlington, noticed there was only one other store selling them, and recognized an opportunity. It wasn’t long before he rounded out his selection by stocking vinyl.
In the following decades the store saw numerous trends come and go, but records have never left. Now over 50,000 of them are available to browse across the store’s two floors of retail space. Fritz and Bessine (who continues working at the store) estimate that vinyl makes up some 90 percent of their business. They have seen a shift in their customer base, however, as records returned to the mainstream.
“A new breed of people are coming into this era,” Fritz said. “College-aged kids are really getting into it.”
When asked how it feels to reach this milestone, Bessine said, “It gives me a lot of, I don’t know what you would call it,” before trailing off and pausing. “I get emotional about it.” Weird Harold’s 50th anniversary celebration will take place Nov. 19.
It can feel cliche to praise the merits of buying local, but what record stores provide goes far beyond merchandise: They are a safe space that represents a generational tradition of sharing sounds and stories that inspire. Having the world’s library of music at our fingertips with an internet connection is a thing of magic, but record stores exist to change a listener’s relationship with that music, to take it out of the ethereal and make it something you can explore with all of your senses.
“We’re like the barber shop of old,” Blabaum said, “where you weren’t always getting a haircut but you could just go and hang out.”
“Where can you go, other than your immediate group of friends, in town, and find people that are into the exact same thing you are?” asked Vega. “At a record store.”
“I think there’s something just to coming through and flipping,” said Adams. “And even if you don’t buy it, taking a picture and going home and listening to it. There’s that act of discovery that I think is magical and we just kind of miss that when we’re online looking for a specific thing. … We’ve got everything that you could ever want and things you didn’t even know you needed.”
Record Store Day
Black Friday, Nov. 25
Iowa stores listed on the Record Store Day website:
Vinyl Cup Records, Des Moines
The Dig Inn*, Reinbeck
Metro Records, Cedar Falls
The Underground Rock Shop, Des Moines
Moondog Music*, Dubuque
Vinyl Cafe, Ames
Odds N Ends Music Movies & Video Games, Marshalltown
Vinyl Cup Records, Cedar Falls
Ragged Records*, Davenport
Record Collector*, Iowa City
Marv’s Music*, Des Moines
Secondhand Story, Algona
Wax Xtatic Record Audio Stereo Shop*, Marshalltown
Rogue Planet Music, Des Moines
Zzz Records*, Des Moines
Jays Cd and Hobby*, Des Moines
Weird Harold’s Records*, Burlington
Unforgivable Records, Dubuque
*This store signed the Record Store Day pledge not to gouge customers or sell online
Chris DeLine is a writer living in Cedar Rapids. He also curates Iowa-centric playlists at villin.net. This article was originally published in Little Village’s November 2022 issues.


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Cuervo Posts 6.2% Increase In North American Sales, But Warns Of Increasing Agave CostsFebruary 27, 2019
Grupo Cuervo enjoyed solid revenue growth in the U.S. and Canada last year, with its North American net sales up 6.2% to MX$18 billion ($939m), boosted by premiumization within the portfolio. Volume in the region increased 1.4% to 12 million 9-liter cases. Across its global business, Cuervo posted an 8.5% rise in net sales to MX$28.2 billion ($1.5b). While sales growth was robust, operating profit slipped 18% to MX$5.5 billion ($289m) as higher costs cut into earnings.
Cuervo noted that it has seen “increases in third-party agave supply costs and lower production efficiencies, reflecting the impact of higher demand of super-premium Tequila along with the industry-wide sourcing of younger agave plants, affecting our distilling efficiency.”
In the U.S., the core Jose Cuervo Tequila brand was up 2% to 3.7 million cases last year, according to Impact Databank’s estimate, while its higher-priced Tradicional offshoot surged 29% to 200,000 cases. Another strong performer in the portfolio was Pendleton whisky—acquired from Hood River Distillers for $205 million in late 2017—which advanced by 12% to 310,000 cases last year.
The company said Jose Cuervo’s global net sales grew by 1% to MX$9.6 billion ($500m) last year, even as volume declined 0.3% to 6.7 million cases. The group’s other Tequila brands—including 1800, Maestro Dobel, and Gran Centenario—saw global net sales climb 11% to MX$6.6 billion ($344m) for the year, as volume increased 6.3% to 3.3 million cases. Company-wide, volume was up 3.8% to 21.3 million cases, bolstered by a 6% hike in Mexico and a 10% bump in Cuervo’s Rest of World operating region.—Daniel MarstellerSubscribe to Shanken News Daily’s Email Newsletter, delivered to your inbox each morning.
Tagged : Grupo Cuervo


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Why Can E-Cigarette Companies Advertise?
If you opened up your Sunday paper over the last few weeks, you might have noticed ads for Juul. It's one of several brands of e-cigarettes that have alarmed health officials because of big spikes in teenage use. So, why can e-cigarette companies advertise? (3:24) WCCO Mid-Morning – Jan. 18, 2019


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ARN to launch iHeartRadio in Aus and NZ
The Australian Radio Network will launch iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s digital radio service, in Australia and New Zealand next year.
Since its launch last year at the inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival, iHeartRadio is now a leading digital radio service in the US.
iHeartRadio gives access to live broadcast and digital-only radio stations, plus user-created Custom Stations.
ARN stations will also join the iHeartRadio platform.
See their sizzle reel below….
The ARN press release states…
"With more than 115 million listening hours a month, nearly 50 million monthly digital uniques, more than 125 million downloads of iHeartRadio mobile apps and more than 18 million registered users since its introduction last September, iHeartRadio continues to grow faster than all other popular digital entertainment and social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Spotify and Instagram."
ARN CEO Ciaran Davis says…
“The launch of iHeartRadio internationally sees ARN lead the Australian and New Zealand radio industry into the next era of radio, while complementing our current strong and growing audience network, with this unique and market-leading product that sits at the forefront of global technology in the sector. This product offers listeners live station streaming for all of our stations plus user-created custom stations with more songs, more user control, deeper social integration and more opportunities to discover new music – all in one easy to use, seamless product.”
“iHeartRadio builds on our strategy of being everywhere our listeners are, with market leading products. It will also provide our advertising partners with a unique, integrated, targeted and accountable vehicle to enhance their marketing plans.”
Brian Lakamp, President of Digital for Clear Channel Media and Entertainment says…
“iHeartRadio offers everything listeners want in an all-in-one, free service. ARN will offer listeners an experience specifically tailored to their region and we know Australian and New Zealand music fans will love iHeartRadio as much as they do in the United States.”
CEO of APN News & Media, Brett Chenoweth said…
“We are delighted that ARN is launching iHeartRadio and support their continual expansion of their innovative digital offers to audiences and advertisers. iHeartRadio is an excellent fit with APN’s overall digital strategy.”
The service will launch in Australia and New Zealand early next year.


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Others are London (the UK), Punta Cana (Dominica), New York (the US), Munich (Germany), Albania and Barbados.|
The magazine said as the summer travel crowds fizzle and temperatures mellow out, the autumn emerges as one of the most ideal—and strategic—times of year to book a dream getaway.
Generally warm year-round, the autumn marks the end of the rainy season as temperatures cool, making it a good time to visit HCMC’s landmarks like the Cu Chi Tunnels, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and Ben Thanh Market, it said.
The magazine quoted Christie Hudson, head of US public relations for Expedia travel platform, as saying that HCMC is very affordable for the fall months, so your travel dollars go a long way.
Hudson said that she found five-star hotels in September and October starting at around US$50 a night.
“The spike in searches for places like Munich, HCMC, and Barbados point to travelers being excited to pack their bags for places that were previously harder to visit due to travel restrictions, testing requirements, or high airfare prices,” she noted.
Asia has also seen a spike in interest this year’s autumn as more countries have opened their borders. Booking platform Priceline has seen four times more searches for flights to the continent the autumn, the magazine said.
According to metasearch site Kayak, Vietnam’s southern hub has seen a 46% increase in search compared to 2019, while Expedia reported a 630 percent growth in searches from the last autumn, it added.


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Cpwm LLC grew its position in shares of Target Co. (NYSE:TGT) by 68.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,598 shares of the retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,143 shares during the period. Cpwm LLC’s holdings in Target were worth $1,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of TGT. Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new stake in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. CI Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Loeb Partners Corp bought a new stake in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its stake in shares of Target by 62.2% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 365 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Target in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Institutional investors own 82.98% of the company’s stock.
In other news, insider Cathy R. Smith sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total transaction of $2,220,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael Edward Mcnamara sold 5,186 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.18, for a total transaction of $410,627.48. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 77,550 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,140,409. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 36,977 shares of company stock valued at $2,774,409. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.
TGT stock opened at $71.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.20. Target Co. has a 1-year low of $60.15 and a 1-year high of $90.39. The firm has a market cap of $36.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.65.
Target (NYSE:TGT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 5th. The retailer reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $1.53. Target had a net margin of 3.90% and a return on equity of 25.74%. The company had revenue of $22.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.05 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Target Co. will post 5.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.64 per share. This represents a $2.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. Target’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.50%.
ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: This story was originally posted by Markets Daily and is the sole property of of Markets Daily. If you are accessing this story on another publication, it was illegally stolen and republished in violation of U.S. and international copyright legislation. The correct version of this story can be read at https://www.themarketsdaily.com/2019/05/16/cpwm-llc-has-1-41-million-stake-in-target-co-tgt.html.
Target Company Profile
Target Corporation operates as a general merchandise retailer in the United States. The company offers beauty and household essentials; food assortments, including perishables, dry grocery, dairy, and frozen items; and apparel, accessories, home décor products, electronics, toys, seasonal offerings, and other merchandise.
Further Reading: Differences Between Momentum Investing and Long Term Investing
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding TGT? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Target Co. (NYSE:TGT).
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The Android world is still reeling from the DroidDream invasion of the Android Market. Google has flipped the kill switch to wipe out apps associated with DroidDream, but the work of investigating how this Android Trojan infiltrated Google, and how t...
For only the second time, Google last weekend remotely deleted Android apps from users' phones.
Google will build new safeguards into Android Market, its application store for the Android mobile OS, following an attack that infected thousands of phones and forced the company to wipe the malware remotely from phones, it said late Saturday.
IT staff spent the weekend in a massive clean-up operation to remove traces of a "spectacular" attack on computers at Bercy, the headquarters of the French Ministry of Economy, Finances and Industry, a government minister said Monday.
The large distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that hit the WordPress.com blog publishing platform last week originated from China, according to the founder of the site.
For the second day in a row, blog-hosting giant WordPress.com suffered a distributed denial-of-service attack that it was able to cut off quickly. The motive remains a matter of speculation.
Companies have long sought to balance what information about their vulnerabilities they must keep secret, and what information it would benefit them to share. The names of companies leaked in internal emails from HBGary, which were made public after ...
“Friends don't let friends use Internet Explorer 6," Microsoft said this week in launching a new site that tracks the progress of pushing IE6 market share below one per cent.
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks like the ones that nailed WordPress blogs in early March have been around for decades, but it's only in the last dozen years that they've had enough impact to grab public attention.
A Nevada student who gave the opening address at his high school graduation last year has been charged with breaking into his school district's computer system and bumping up his classmates' grades for a fee.
A senior Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives will soon introduce legislation designed to give Web users more control of their personal data and to give the U.S. Federal Trade Commission power to enforce voluntary privacy standards ...
As it wages an escalating civil war, Libya has once again cut Internet service in and out of the country.
In theory, stopping spam is easy: just make it uneconomic to send millions of messages by charging for each one sent, or make senders authenticate their identity to stop address spoofing and simplify blocking.
Four men who ran what U.K. police say was the largest English-language criminal forum for selling stolen credit card numbers and the tools to steal data were imprisoned for a combined total of more than 15 years, according to the Metropolitan Police.
China plans on tracking the movements of people in Beijing using their mobile phones, a measure that while aimed at relieving traffic congestion, could set off concerns over misuse.
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2020 iPad Pro to debut with two cameras, advanced 3D system3
New iPad Pro will pair two cameras with a 3D system
People familiar with Apple’s plans revealed the company is readying an updated iPad Pro that features two cameras on the rear, up from just one on the current model. The setup wasn’t extensively detailed but the change likely involves borrowing the iPhone 11’s cameras. Therefore, the next iPad Pro should include a 12-megapixel main camera and a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle shooter coupled with Night Mode support.
These cameras will be accompanied by the usual LED flash and microphone, although it turns out Apple has something else in the works. Corroborating earlier rumors, sources claimed the iPhone giant is working on a 3D system that’ll require a small hole. It’ll allow users to create three-dimensional copies of rooms, objects, and people.
Apple’s new 3D system may not seem like much at first but Bloomberg’s sources claim it’ll “be the centerpiece” of the company’s next hardware push – augmented reality. The setup has reportedly been under development for years and is even more advanced than the Face ID setup used on existing iPad Pro and iPhone models. Speaking of which, the 2020 iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are expected to feature Apple’s new AR-focused upgrade in addition to support for 5G networks.
When the 2020 iPad Pro might be announced
The 2018 iPad Pro lineup was announced in October of last year and earlier rumors had suggested Apple was planning to unveil its upgraded lineup just twelve months later. This never made much sense because next-generation iPad Pros are typically unveiled every 18 months and now it seems the skepticism was justified.
Apple shut down rumors of a 2019 iPad Pro update during its most recent earnings call by revealing that its earnings forecasts for the fourth quarter take into account the lack of new iPad Pro models. Now, Bloomberg claims the official introduction will happen at some point during the first half of 2020.
The 2020 iPad Pro could be joined by the iPhone SE 2
If Apple chooses to introduce its 2020 iPad Pro models in March, the updated tablets could be joined by the highly anticipated iPhone SE 2. This phone will spiritually succeed the original and is reportedly going to be based on Apple’s cheapest and smallest smartphone, the iPhone 8.
The device’s package involves pairing a 4.7-inch LCD display manufactured by LG with thick bezels and a physical home button that incorporates Touch ID. The rear panel should once again be made out of glass and incorporate a single rear camera. It’ll remain to be seen if the sensor used is borrowed from the iPhone 8 or iPhone 11, though.
Internally, Apple’s iPhone SE 2 will include the A13 Bionic alongside 3GB of RAM and 64GB of non-expandable internal storage. The latest version of iOS 13 will be pre-installed and the device should support Night Mode and wireless charging.


text: Global companies and advertising groups are responding enthusiastically to the voluntary business code for advertising on the Internet developed by the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). "Our guidelines provide solid self-regulatory rules for ethical advertising and will increase the trust of governments and consumers," says ICC Secretary General Maria Livanos Cattaui. Leading companies backing the ICC initiative include Dun & Bradstreet, Eastman Chemical Co., Leo Burnett, Nestlé UK, Reader's Digest, and Shell International. ICC urges advertisers and marketers to disclose why they collect personal information on users. It calls on them to confine the use of this data to their stated purpose. Users also must be able to refuse transfer of their personal information to other advertisers and marketers under the guidelines.


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Turbodiesel V6 and plug-in hybrid will highlight next Ford Ranger and Everest
The main drawing card though is that the turbodiesel V6 will become the selected engine for the next Ranger Raptor.
With details surrounding it having remained something of a mystery since initial claims broke last year, a slew of apparent new specifications have emerged of not only the all-new Ford Ranger, but also the Everest.
In accordance with the mentioned report from whichcar.com.au that the Ranger will become available with a V6 engine for the first time since 2006, Australia’s carexpert.com.au has obtained a confidential internal document that points to not only the bent-six, but also plug-in hybrid capability.
According to the online publication, the Ranger, which will ride on an evolution of the T6 platform shared with the next Volkswagen Amarok and carry the internal designation P703, will drop both the 2.2-litre four-cylinder and 3.2-litre five-cylinder engines, leaving the 157kW/500Nm 2.0-litre bi-turbodiesel as the entry-level engine.
Positioned above it will be a 3.0-litre V6 turbodiesel that punches out 186kW/597Nm, exactly the same outputs and more than likely the same oil-burner that powers the F-150 in North America. The final powerunit will be the mentioned plug-in hybrid that will see the 2.3 EcoBoost petrol used in the current North American Ranger pair-up with an electric motor for a total system output of 270kW/680Nm.
The main drawing card though is that the turbodiesel V6 will become the selected engine for the next Ranger Raptor with the entire line-up set to be offered exclusively with the General Motors co-developed ten-speed automatic gearbox.
Select details of the Ranger’s interior has also emerged with carexpert alleging that pride of place will go to a brand-new tablet-style 12.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with not only Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but also Ford’s new SYNC 4 software. A 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster will also feature.
At the other end of the scale, the Everest, which prior reports have said will take styling from the Explorer and possibly switch to a unibody platform, will be offered in no less than six trim levels with the same assortment of engines.
The range will kick-off with the Ambiente equipped with the twin-blown oil-burner, followed by the Trend, Trend Sport and Wildtrak X. While the latter pair will have the V6 turbodiesel as standard along with four-wheel-drive, the plug-in hybrid will be optional on all of these grades with five seats being standard and seven a cost option. The former pair will however come with the choice of two-or-four-wheel-drive.
At the range’s sharp-end are the Titanium and Platinum which will have the seven-seat option and four-wheel-drive as standard, but while the turbodiesel will remain the de facto engine for the former, the latter’s default will be the plug-in hybrid with the oil-burner relegated to the options list. A so-called Extreme Off-Road Package will be available from the Trend Sport and up featuring BF Goodrich all-terrain tyres, Bilstein shocks and rock sliders.
Although it was reported that Ford could unveil the Ranger next year, it now seems more likely that 2022 will be opted for, a year in which Volkswagen will also unveil the new Amarok teased back in March.
The Everest meanwhile, which has already been spotted undergoing testing, is set to follow soon after but what remains unknown is whether it will spawn a Volkswagen offshoot as alluded to by a render published last week by indianautosblog.com. Despite the early nature of the claims, expect more to emerge in the coming months leading up to the Ranger’s planned reveal.


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ITB Berlin, the international travel trade show, is the largest travel industry event which happens annually in Berlin, Germany.
In 2016, ITB Berlin celebrates its golden jubilee,attracting a large number of tourism professionals and visitors from 185 countries around the globe. With an estimated turnover of 6.7 billion euros, the fair creates a unique opportunity to develop strong business contacts in the travel and tourism industry.
The grand opening ceremony of ITB Berlin took place on March 8 in the City Cube Berlin. The Head of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) addressed over 300 distinguished guests and VIPs attended the official opening ceremony of the event.
This year, 64 Sri Lankan companies including the key stakeholders of the tourism industry of Sri Lanka, are participating inthe ITB along with Sri Lanka Tourism to promote key tourist attractions of the island, including Ayurveda and tea.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) has arranged a press conference today, the second day of the event, and over 60 international journalists are expected to attend the press briefing.
Germany is the second biggest tourism market for Sri Lanka from Europe accounting for 115,868 tourist arrivals in 2015, which is a 12.5 percent increase year-on-year.