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Eicher Motors Q2 Results: Net Profit Rises On Higher Sales
During the quarter, Royal Enfield’s total sales rose 68% year-on-year to 2.08 lakh units.
Eicher Motors Ltd.’s second-quarter net profit increased as sales jumped on a low base and aided by its newly launched Hunter 350 model.
The Royal Enfield motorcycle maker’s consolidated net profit rose 76% to Rs 656.9 crore in the quarter ended in September, according to its exchange filing. Analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg had pegged it at Rs 663 crore.
Eicher Motors Q2 FY23 Highlights (YoY)
Revenue rose 56% to Rs 3,519.4 crore, against a forecast of Rs 3,511.4 crore.
Operating profit rose 75% to Rs 821.6 crore, compared with estimates of Rs 837 crore.
Ebitda margin stood at 23.3%, compared with 20.9% last year and an estimate of 18.9%.
During the quarter, Royal Enfield’s total sales rose 68% year-on-year to 2.08 lakh units. The steep jump was aided by the newly launched Hunter 350 model and a low base last year, as production reduced due to shortage of semiconductors.
Sequentially, the dispatches to dealerships were 11% higher.
“At the halfway mark, our overall performance has been very encouraging. We have witnessed great uptick in the momentum with launch of new Hunter 350," Siddharth Lal, managing director of Eicher Motors, said in a press release.
The company improved its market share in the second quarter, particularly in heavy-duty truck and bus segments for both Eicher and Volvo brands, said Vinod Aggarwal, managing director and chief executive officer of its commercial vehicle arm VE Commercial Vehicle Ltd.
Shares of Eicher Motors closed 0.9% lower before the results were announced, compared with a 0.7% fall in the Nifty 50.


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Online retail giant Amazon Inc. has, for years, been trying to become the biggest retail platform in India, and has incessantly been working to alter its services to suit the needs of the Indian population. The latest in its series of efforts is quite interesting, and involves allowing users in the country to read featured magazine articles on its app.
The move is directed towards coaxing people to spend a greater proportion of their time browsing through the app (and, in the process, end up buying something). The Featured Articles feature has already been made available on both the Amazon website, as well as the app.
Articles covering a variety of topics, from politics to entertainment, along with the adequate amount of sports, finance, governance, business, fitness, health, food, and even books. Also available are commentaries, reviews, and even analysis.
The best part? All the articles are sourced from authentic, and well-known publishing houses. In fact, some of the articles are not even available anywhere else (yes, not even on the websites of the original publishing houses) and can exclusively be found only on Amazon.
A spokesperson for Amazon India expressed the company’s stance on the issue, saying, “We remain focused on creating new and engaging experiences for our customers and as part of this endeavour, we have been testing a new service that brings articles on different topics like current affairs, books, business, entertainment, sports and lifestyle amongst others for readers.”
Only a few days back, the service had even opened up its doors to allow users in India to stream video while browsing through the products available on the platform. The feature is known as MiniTV, and allows users to stream videos free of costs, through an ad-supported interface. The player currently comes equipped with videos pertaining to food, fashion, beauty, news, as well as web series and comedy shows. Most of the content available as of now is old, but new material will be added to the service periodically
Back then, a statement by the company had explained the service, saying, “Viewers will be informed on latest products and trends by tech expert Trakin Tech, fashion and beauty experts such as Sejal Kumar, Malvika Sitlani, Jovita George, Prerna Chhabra and ShivShakti. Food lovers can enjoy content from Kabita’s Kitchen, Cook with Nisha and Gobble. In the coming months, MiniTV will add many more new and exclusive videos.”

domain: news


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Comment A bright-eyed MIT undergraduate implausibly branded "the Mark Zuckerberg of guns" has recycled an age-old solution looking for a problem – the smart gun.
Kai Kloepfer, the undergrad lad in question, received a $50,000 grant from the American Smart Tech Challenges Foundation in 2014 to develop his idea of a Beretta pistol fitted with a fingerprint sensor.
The concept is exactly what you'd expect: people whose fingerprint isn't saved into the pistol's memory can't pick it up and fire it. The idea is superficially attractive and plays into all kinds of public safety narratives.
CBS interviewed him on Friday, with angel investor Ron Conway, a venture capitalist who backed Google and Facebook, labelling Kloepfer "the Mark Zuckerberg of guns".
Kloepfer's concept is pretty straightforward, you might think, so where's the problem?
Cat, meet pigeons
Smart guns are almost uniquely an American phenomenon. Their history is pretty short, mainly because – thanks to hard public attitudes against the technology and its perceived potential for use by people other than the gun's owner – adoption has been virtually nil, so most products like Kloepfer's are stillborn.
This boils down to the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees the right to bear arms. US gun ownership culture revolves around the ever-present fear, not unjustified, that organisations wielding the power of the State will try and take guns away from the general population to impose some kind of tyranny on them.
Kloepfer's smart gun works on the basis of a fingerprint reader. Press your dabs against the grip and ping! After a small delay for authentication you can blat away to your heart's content. The reader is set into the grip, so your fingers bear against it as you hold the firearm normally, and is powered by a battery.
An older but similar variation on the smart gun theme is Identilock. Instead of being integrated into the pistol, the Identilock is an external trigger lock. When you press your trigger finger to the reader, it verifies you are the owner and then drops away, exposing the trigger of the firearm.
One variation on integral smart gun tech was produced by Swiss firm Morini for their CM-84E competition .22 pistol. In that case the electronic trigger unit was locked through a key and a toggle switch to turn the trigger on and off, the idea being sold as a combination between security and ability to practise dry firing without wearing out the pistol's mechanism. The security side of the idea never really caught on, though Morini refined the mechanics of the electronic trigger as an aid to consistency and still offers it today.
Oh, you poor Zucker
Kloepfer's modified Glock features a fingerprint reader and a charging port – presumably microUSB, as his website talks of it being possible to recharge from "any cell phone charger" – and he boasts that its battery can last for up to a year. He also says that the latency between presentation of finger and boom-boom time is around 1.5 seconds – something likely to alienate people who own handguns for self-defence, on the grounds that they expect their firearms to work instantly when required. In a demonstration to CBS reporter Tony Doukoupil, Kloepfer's prototype reportedly failed to fire.
The fear among gun owners is that by adding this sort of electronic tech to their firearms, they may make their firearms vulnerable to unauthorised access by hackers (in the main we're not talking about network engineers, here) – and the principal fear is that the government will be the chief user of that access, perhaps by mandating backdoors into smart gun technology. In addition, the delay between picking up the gun and pulling the trigger could prove fatal; as an old American saying goes: "When seconds count, the police are minutes away."
It's a bit of an appendix, sadly
New Jersey led the US charge to force adoption of smart gun tech. In 2002 local legislators passed a law stating that within three years of any smart gun being sold in America, all guns sold in the state would have to be fitted with smart user ID technology. The resulting consumer backlash and boycott halted smart gun efforts by big manufacturers in their tracks and ensured that that provision was never activated.
As a direct result, there have been no advances in what advocates have dubbed a life-saving technology.
The US NRA, well known for its stance on anything that might be used to infringe the Second Amendment, says on its website: "The NRA doesn't oppose the development of 'smart' guns, nor the ability of Americans to voluntarily acquire them. However, NRA opposes any law prohibiting Americans from acquiring or possessing firearms that don't possess 'smart' gun technology."
The obvious upside to a smart gun is access control. Kloepfer told CBS: "I learned that every 30 minutes in the United States on average a child dies or is injured by a firearm."
While both sides of the American gun control debate produce statistics and then argue about their validity, there is no disguising the sheer number of deaths from firearms in the US, many of which seem to occur as a result of someone who shouldn't have a firearm getting their hands on one. Absent any legal changes making it harder for the untrained to get their hands on firearms, it is natural that public thinkers look to technology for a solution.
Unfortunately, the main obstacle to smart guns is consumer willingness to adopt the technology; without that, all the good intentions and product demonstrations in the world won't get it to take off. Governmental regulation is likely to be ignored and sidestepped, particularly in a country with millions and millions of non-smart guns already in circulation.
Technology is good but it can't meet all of society's needs. ®


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The Standards Organization of Nigeria (SON) has developed a product authentication mark to check the influx of substandard manufactured and imported products in the Nigerian market.
SON director-general, Farouk Salim, disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, while speaking at a stakeholders forum on product authentication mark (PAM).
Salim, who described PAM as one of the organization’s initiatives to allow consumers to verify the authenticity of all SON regulated products in the market, expressed the hope that the mark will help to address challenge of the presence of substandard products in the country.
He said: “This is one of the initiatives of the organization to enable consumers to verify the authenticity of all SON regulated products in the market. It will also address the challenges of the presence of substandard products in Nigeria.
“The organization is empowered by the provisions of the SON Act 2015, to amongst other things, facilitate trade and to ensure that all imported and manufactured products meet the requirements of the relevant standards thereby promoting public safety, improve the lives and security of citizens and also, to protect our industries.
“In line with this mandate, the organization, over the years, has substantially reduced the importation, manufacturing and distribution of substandard products in the country through its mandatory conformity assessment and the Standards Organization of Nigeria conformity assessment.
“Despite the efforts of the organization, substandard products are still imported and distributed in the country through smuggling and the use of SON stickers in non-certified products illegally, among others.
“To cut this disturbing occurrence I the country, the organization has developed a product authentication mark to facilitate the verification of the authenticity of the products in the Nigerian market.”


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9to5Mac published a report today claiming that Apple is now testing a “new iPhone” internally. The Cupertino-based corporation apparently sent out a prototype unit labeled “N96″ for testing internally in order to find out how well a “variation” of the new A5X CPU by the name of “S5L8945X” is functioning within the device. If you’re thinking “redesign!” then sorry, but that’s not the case just yet. Apple is actually being extremely careful with their new device and instead testing it in an iPhone 4/4S casing to prevent leaks of the new design. More after the break.
In addition to the suspected increase in processor clock speed, 9to5Mac asserts that the new device will include a larger amount of RAM to allow for more apps to be open at once. Since it has been rumored that the new iPhone will include a 4-5-inch display, it makes sense for the device to need more RAM since Retina display apps on that size screen would take up more resources.
Also included in 9to5Mac’s report is a mention of the thought-to-be-lost iPod touch. The “Apple Intelligence” blog has located a reference to a “iPod5,1″ in an internal edition of iOS 5.1. “We haven’t heard any specifics regarding the new iPod touch hardware, but the jump from 4,1 (the current internal iPod touch label) to 5,1 indicates major internal changes, at the very least,” Mark Gurman — the author of this report — notes.
It has long been expected that Apple will refresh their iPod touch, though some recent speculation has actually claimed the device will be discontinued altogether to move towards the smartphone industry since nearly every person has a smartphone. However, the device’s time has not yet come and it will likely seen another refresh — possibly a big one with some physical changes.
Even though I referred to Apple’s next-generation iPhone as the “iPhone 5″ in my last article, it’s strongly believed that Apple will soon unify their iOS device names as they have with their Macs to become simply “iPhone,” and “iPad.” Whether or not this will happen this year is unknown, though after the whole “new iPad” event, I’d expect it.


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The Ukrainian internet advertising market grew by an impressive 82 per cent during the first six months of 2019 compared with the same period of last year, Open4Business Ukraine has reported.
The total value of the market was worth 1.987 billion hryvnias (71.76 million euros) from January to June.
Part of the reason for the big increase is thought to be the large amounts spent by the various candidates in the country’s presidential election, which took place in April. Various forms of targeted social media ads amounted to 36.6 per cent of all internet advertisements.
According to the Ukrainian Internet Association (UIA), the main segments of the media internet advertising market were in-stream videos (41 per cent), banner advertising (34 per cent), in-page video ads (11 per cent), with “non-standard solutions” such as pop-ups or sound ads standing at nine per cent. Sponsorship makes up five per cent of the market.


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Posts Tagged «laptops»
Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2: Impressive hardware specs, but meaningless without the software ecosystem September 23, 2013 at 4:44 pm
Microsoft has announced the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2. Both the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 are primarily iterative hardware upgrades, bringing improved performance, battery life, and sharper displays. The tablets themselves, except for a beautiful 1080p display on the Surface 2, introduce almost no new features. Instead, new functionality is provided by a variety of new attachments, such as the Power Cover, which will increase battery life by around 50%. Hardware is only part of the equation, though: Software is still sorely lacking.
Hands-on with Windows 8.1: A solid update, but not a game changer September 13, 2013 at 2:57 pm
Now that Windows 8.1 has been finalized, we go hands-on to see if it can really help rescue Windows 8 from the doldrums.
Shopping for PCs is a wretched, broken experience – and budget ultrabooks haven’t helped August 27, 2013 at 9:30 am
When Intel unveiled its ultrabook concept, the company positioned the new systems as best-in-class platforms that would compete against the MacBook Air. In some ways, that strategy has worked — laptops have gotten markedly thinner and a higher percentage of total systems are using low-voltage processors to boost battery life. But the hoped-for simplification of the PC buying experience? It’s only gotten worse. In this the ultrabook program has been a failure and the process of buying a PC has not been improved or even simplified.
Apple patents new unibody hinge to make laptops even thinner August 23, 2013 at 10:26 am
The size of our devices are stuck at something of a bottleneck. We can’t exactly make them smaller because they’re so reliant on large, easily visible displays. So, the industry makes do, and makes the devices thinner, which reduces overall size without compromising display size. One object standing in the way of even thinner laptops is the hinge, and Apple might have found a way to remove that from the design equation.
MacBook Air battery woes show the downside of the quest for denser batteries August 19, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Battery life on recent MaBook Air’s shows a rather sharp decline compared to older MacBook Pro’s — is this the price of higher density?
Acer and Asus take European hammering as PC sales collapse August 7, 2013 at 3:48 pm
PC sales are falling everywhere, but they took a particularly nasty hit in Europe, where austerity and years of slow economic performance have dogged the market.
The future: Upgradeable smartphones August 6, 2013 at 2:08 pm
The consumer electronics market is converging. Where you once had a work computer, a home computer, a game console, a TV, a DVD player, and a mobile phone, in 2013 it is not unusual to simply have a laptop and a smartphone, or perhaps a smartphone and a tablet. This has led many people to believe, including me, that the PC will eventually die out, replaced by smartphones that are infinitely more portable and flexible. This supersession will be aided by the advent of upgradeable smartphones.
Sol, the $350 solar-powered rugged Ubuntu laptop that won’t be usable in the sun August 6, 2013 at 10:29 am
If you’re gifted with independently manipulable eyebrows, now would be the time to raise a single brow. An inventor in Canada claims to have created a solar-powered Ubuntu laptop that can run directly from power generated by its built-in solar panels, or recharge its 10-hour battery with just two hours of sunshine. If that wasn’t enough, the laptop — pretentiously dubbed Sol — is ruggedized for military and off-road use and you also get built-in GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, WiFi, and 3G/4G LTE. The best bit, though, is the price: The Sol will cost just $350.
The demise of Microsoft’s monopoly and the PC market, by the numbers July 18, 2013 at 8:39 am
Unless you’ve been hibernating for the last five years, you may have noticed one of the most dramatic shifts to the technology landscape: Microsoft, once the most valuable (and probably the most powerful) company in the world, is now just another tech company. A big tech company, for sure, but one that is being increasingly marginalized by the shift away from the desktop PC and companies such as Apple, Google, and Samsung. If you need proof — if you’re desperately holding onto the belief that the PC will persevere — just take a look at the following graphs that illustrate the demise of the PC.
Windows RT for x86: How Microsoft could successfully kill off the Desktop July 17, 2013 at 10:04 am
Back when Microsoft first split Windows 8 in twain, it initially called the two divisions Windows 8 and Windows on ARM (WoA). Outwardly, Microsoft’s justification was that it wanted to ensure a smooth and reliable experience for people with WoA tablets. Internally, though, I think that Microsoft was taking the first steps towards killing off the Desktop entirely, on ARM and x86.


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Classics made by World of Warcraft creator Blizzard, such as the Lost Vikings or Warcraft: Orcs and Humans, won’t be coming to the Apple App Store or any other app marketplace any time soon, Blizzard Entertainment CEO Mike Morhaime (pictured left) said at the Blizzcon event in Anaheim, Calif. today.
Classic re-releases on the App store have become a bit of a trend lately. Telltale games re-released updated versions of their early 90s classics, Secret of Monkey Island and its sequel. Sega has also re-released its Sonic and Sonic 2 games, as well as Phantasy Star 2. Activision, the other half of Activision-Blizzard, also hasn’t shied away from releasing their games on App stores as well. Morhaime wouldn’t specify as to why the company didn’t have plans to release their classic titles on the App Store — but then again, it could be a bit unwieldy to manage a hundred soldiers on a smaller screen.
Blizzard wasn’t always known for its Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo franchises. One of Blizzard’s early games was a puzzle side-scrolling game called The Lost Vikings. It involved taking control of one of three vikings with unique abilities and moving them through obstacles to advance in a dungeon. Blizzard was also responsible for the Super Nintendo title Rock ‘N Roll Racing — quite a far cry from its current offerings.
Blizzard released the first iteration of its real-time strategy game Warcraft: Orcs and Humans in 1994, a year after releasing Rock ‘N Roll Racing, and launched a franchise that would change the direction of the company almost permanently. Blizzard became synonymous with real-time strategy with the release of Warcraft and, four years later, sci-fi real-time strategy game Starcraft in 1998. Blizzard also released the first version of its dungeon crawling game Diablo in 1997.
Then Blizzard came along and released a little online game called World of Warcraft in 2004 — changing the playing field almost permanently. World of Warcraft has essentially become Blizzard’s cash cow, bringing in $15 per person across 12 million subscribers every month, and that doesn’t even include sales of its new expansions.
Activision merged with Vivendi Games in 2008, bringing about the Activision-Blizzard that is known today. Blizzard was originally known as Silicon and Synapse, before renaming to Blizzard in 1994.


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The Tablet Revolution
Since the wildly popular iPad debuted in April 2010, slender touch-friendly tablets have increasingly become part of our work and personal lives. Twenty-two percent of all U.S. adults now own tablets, according to a report from the Pew Research Center. New tablets will continue to evolve before our eyes, but the "tablet" has been in development since the 1960s and available to consumers and businesses in some fashion since the '80s. However, the technology was never quite right for widespread use … until now.


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Nvidia earlier this month released cuDNN, a set of optimized low-level primitives to boost the... more »
Android One is a Google programme where it is partnering with phone companies to create... more »
We are pleased to announce the new release of Aspose.Imaging for .NET 2.6.0. The long awaited... more »
In this example we shall talk about the rootlogger, which is a basic component in Log4j. Log4j... more »
This update fixes a security flaw in the bash UNIX shell.
If you ever have a chance to visit Facebook’s headquarters, one of the things that will jump... more »


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Melania Trump is lending her voice to the coronavirus fight.
In a new PSA announcement, the first lady discusses the threat of the virus and what it means for the American people, urging citizens to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Protection guidelines to stay safe amid the pandemic.
“Today, I want speak to you about coronavirus and what it means for you and your family. While changes need to be made now, this is not how we will live forever. Our children will return to school; people will return to work; we will gather at places of worship, concerts and sporting events,” Trump says in the video. “Stay safe, and remember, while many of us are apart, we are all in this together.”
The coronavirus is known to have infected 10,700 Americans, with more than 150 deaths recorded. The virus causes the disease COVID-19 and can result in pneumonialike symptoms. To prevent spreading the virus, Americans have been advised by the CDC to keep gatherings to 50 or fewer people, with some states implementing stricter guidelines and in some cases ordering the closure of all nonessential businesses.
Amid the pandemic, the first lady has canceled the annual White House Easter Egg Roll and has pared back her schedule of public appearances. The last event she attended was the National PTA Legislative Conference in Alexandria, Va., on March 10. For that occasion, Trump was clad in a plaid blazer, khaki trousers and soaring snake-print pumps.
When it comes to her typical shoe style, the first lady can often be found in stilettos; she is a particular fan of the Manolo Blahnik BB pump and the Christian Louboutin So Kate pump.
All products featured have been independently selected and curated by our editorial team. If you buy something through our retail links, we may earn commission and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Flip through the gallery for more of Melania Trump’s 2019 shoe style.
Melania Trump Rewears a Bespoke Dress With Sleek Pumps at the Department of Justice
Melania Trump Returns From India in Skinny Jeans & Buckled Dior Combat Boots


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(CNN) — Under Armour is simply on fire these days. Call it the Steph Curry effect.
Under Armour (UA)continues to ride the hot hand of Curry, the sports apparel brand’s superstar endorser who just led his team to the best season in NBA history.
Footwear sales at Under Armour surged 64% in the first three months of 2016 as sports fans gobbled up the Curry signature basketball line. Under Armour said Thursday that overall sales jumped by an impressive 30%, led by strong growth overseas.
Here’s a stat even Curry, the 2015 NBA MVP, would be wowed by: Under Armour has now generated sales growth above 20% for each of the past 24 quarters.
Wall Street gave Under Armour a standing ovation, bidding its stock 8% higher on Thursday. Under Armour is now up 13% on the year and 44% since late January.
By comparison, shares of Nike (NKE), which allowed Curry to leave for Under Armour in 2013, are down 3.5% this year. Nike’s sales rose 8% last quarter, but it was hurt by the strong dollar and competition from Under Armour.
“Stephen’s phenomenal season has brought unprecedented attention to our overall footwear business,” Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank told analysts during a conference call. Plank also said the Curry brand is driving “credibility with the hardcore basketball kid.”
The blowout quarter led Under Armour to elevate its forecast on Thursday for the rest of the year. Management now expects 2016 sales to rise 26% to $5 billion.Of course, it’s not just Curry. Under Armour seems to be firing on all cylinders. Accessories sales jumped 26% thanks to headwear and bag strength.
Of course, it’s not just Curry. Under Armour seems to be firing on all cylinders. Accessories sales jumped 26% thanks to headwear and bag strength. Its women’s business is poised to hit the $1 billion milestone this year.
Golf helped drive apparel revenue 20% last quarter. Under Armour’s golf business received a huge boost from signing Jordan Spieth in 2013. Just two years later Spieth became one of the only golfers to win both the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same year.
It’s a good thing Under Armour is flying high. The stock is not exactly cheap following its meteoric rise the past five years. Under Armour is currently trading at a very lofty multiple of 71 times its expected 2016 earnings. Nike, by comparison, trades for less than half that ratio.
Investors seem to be betting the Curry effect has more legs (despite the MVP’s injured right ankle that held him out of Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs). Under Armour will try to keep the momentum by launching a new sneaker through Foot Locker (FL) based on the shoes Curry wore in the Warriors record-setting 73rd regular season victory.
The company will then set its eyes on the new Curry Three, which is due to be launched in the fall.


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Assessing the effectiveness of digital versus traditional media sets the foundation for future marketing.
Understand effectiveness of different media channels
Maximize efficiency, reach and brand impact of future campaigns
Conducted research by collecting data from 800 online consumer panels before and during campaign
YouTube and display drove greater reach than out-of-home media
Display delivered highest reach efficiency of all platforms
Google channels proved to be greatest contributors to brand health and message delivery
Founded in 1854, Cairo-based Telecom Egypt is Egypt’s oldest telecommunications company. Their full-fledged mobile network WE – which launched in 2017 – offers prepaid, postpaid and mobile internet packages. The company has approximately 3.6 million mobile customers in Egypt today.
WE was keen to understand the effectiveness of all of their media channels in order to maximize the efficiency, reach and brand impact of future campaigns. Having spearheaded comprehensive digital transformation initiatives across their business, they were looking for ways to position themselves as the leading and first-to-mind telecom operator in the market.
“A successful digital marketing transformation strategy is based on understanding the value and impact of each marketing channel. We want to be strategic in our media planning to remain relevant to our users and effective in driving business,” says Nasser Kanafani, Communications Director.
Showcasing a willingness to innovate in a difficult space entrenched in traditional media, WE conducted an extensive study rooted in measurement and data to establish the impact of digital media – in particular YouTube and Google Display – versus out-of-home advertising. The research also aimed to establish each channel’s value alongside TV in driving incremental reach, as well as message delivery and the impact on brand equity. The team hoped the study would show what works best for their business KPIs so future campaigns and investments could be optimized accordingly.
The research was conducted by Kantar, a leading third-party data and insights company, which leveraged their CrossMedia research solution to collect data through 800 online consumer panels through self administered interviews. The target population focused on local Egyptians equally divided between males and females aged 15 to 35. The sample was distributed across Cairo and other cities.
The results allowed WE to substantiate digital media’s advantage over out-of-home advertising. While television used around 54% of the media budget and out-of-home took up 17%, YouTube and display used 11%, YouTube and display cumulatively drove 44% reach, however, second highest after TV at 60%. Individually, both digital channels produced higher reach (34% YouTube, 23% display) than out-of-home media at 14%.
The research also showed that digital channels provided excellent efficiency. In contrast to television and out of home – where everyone sees the same content and ads – the number of exposures to any given ad can be controlled through frequency capping on YouTube and display. This means that when a person is exposed to an ad a specific number of times as decided by the advertiser, they will no longer be shown the ad. Advertisers can minimize wastage because they can control exposure at an individual level, as opposed to non-digital channels where a brand may have to show their ad at high frequency in order to reach incremental audiences.
Display formats on the Google Display Network and YouTube drove 7.6% unique reach (compared to 2% achieved by out-of-home media), complementing each other to drive the highest unique reach behind TV. Display generated 8% incremental reach over TV. In comparison, out-of-home media only generated 5% incremental reach over TV.
Display delivered the highest reach efficiency across platforms, with a reach efficiency index of 2,300 compared to 82 for out-of-home media. “This metric in particular stuck out to us, as being cost efficient with our media investments is always key, and display was by far the most effective in that regard” noted Ahmed Naguib, Digital Advertising Manager at Telecom Egypt.
Google media was the single largest contributor to brand health, driving the highest percentage share contribution towards brand impact compared to other channels. Google media also delivered the highest contribution towards message delivery, with YouTube leading as a standalone channel in delivering intended brand messages.
Taking the results of the study into consideration, WE has established that Google media provides a clear advantage over out-of-home media. “The efficiencies, impact, and synergies achieved are impossible to ignore, and truly showcase the value that display advertising brings, particularly compared to out-of-home advertising,” affirms Eslam Nassar, Digital Marketing GM at Telecom Egypt.
These findings do not signify the end of the line for traditional media, which undoubtedly still provide value. However, they bring to the fore the clear advantage Google media provides over them with regards to the aforementioned metrics.


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Welcome to the 2029 IAA international motor show in Frankfurt. The topic on everyone’s lips is the planned German Car Union. For months, Volkswagen and BMW have been desperately negotiating a merger that they need to surive. The German government is mediating talks. The states of Lower Saxony and Bavaria both plan to support their restructuring with financial guarantees. The likewise struggling Daimler Group is withdrawing from the alliance under pressure from its Chinese majority shareholders. The Sino-Swabians want to tender themselves as premium partner to the U.S. mobility group Uber, which is already serving its customers with 70 million self-driving cars.
Is this too bleak a future? It seems so. Anybody who visits the IAA in Frankfurt these days will see an industry bursting with strength. The car companies have never been larger and the profits fatter than they have been in the in the last couple of years. The car industry recovered from the crisis of 2010 in a way no one would have dreamed possible. The boom in China, the low price of oil, and the weak euro have fueled a business model whose end had long been prophesied. Things have turned out differently. The show doesn’t belong to the electric car, but to the SUV.
But the glittering façade is crumbling. The boom in China, which was able to hide all the weakness of the past years, is over. Not only are overcapacity and price wars threatening in the Far East, new competitors are emerging. The Chinese car industry has learned its lesson and is offering inexpensive compact cars and is cutting into VW, Ford and GM market shares. But the Great Wall Motors and the state-owned Jianghuai Motor Company are not satisfied with just that. They are planning on penetrating the home markets of the established brands through South America and Eastern Europe. The battle for the private customer, who never has or wants to spend much money on a car, will become much more competitive.
Nothing is spreading as quickly as the Internet, and the car is the last blank spot on the worldwide web.
The electric car is also coming. The electric drive may have been a flop in Germany so far, but the technology will prevail and permanently change the industry. By the end of the decade, batteries will be twice as effective as they are now, and significantly cheaper. China’s major cities and California are already considering a zero emissions policy, which would be tantamount to a ban on conventional fossil fuel burning motors. Both regions have strong players in Tesla and the Asian battery manufacturers, who can capitalize from the tougher standards. The traditional car producers, who are still deriving their value creation from motors and transmission, are facing an adjustment shock.
Even more incalculable are the consequences of digitalization. Nothing is spreading as quickly as the Internet, and the car is the last blank spot on the worldwide web. That will change. Thanks to ever better performing mobile radio networks, sensors and graphic chips, the car will become a data receiver and producer of the first degree. It still isn’t clear, whether Google, Uber, and the Chinese Internet groups only want to penetrate the car industry with their operating systems or whether they will go right ahead and co-produce the hardware. The transition to electro-mobility affords all kinds of opportunities for companies that are not traditional car producers to enter the business.
All of these scenarios are being discussed in the car industry. Car makers can’t expect their industry to be any more protected than the producers of cameras, cell phones or computers were. That is why the upheaval is something car bosses need to address fast. Daimler’s chief executive Dieter Zetsche toured Silicon Valley with his management team. The new head of BMW, Mr. Harald Krüger, held a meeting with senior managers to thrash out strategy on the shores of Lake Tegernsee in Bavaria. Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn is planning a company restructuring to be able to react more quickly to future trends. Company culture also has to change. Workers must have more free space to develop new projects. Concepts such as BMW’s Project I or Daimler’s Moovel, will become more important in the future to be able to keep pace with competitors from Asia and Silicon Valley. Eventually, the changes will impact every location. The workers and the supervisory boards cannot be permitted to block this transition. They should in fact insist on it; there will be no demand for factories offering yesterday’s products.
We will know by 2029 IAA, just if and how German car companies were able to keep their dominant role. Maybe we will be looking then at the Daimler and Volkswagen Mobility Group, and the Bavarian Electroworks Munich.
The author specializes in the aviation and automotive industries. He is head of the mobility team. He can be reached at email@example.com


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Layoffs highlight increasing jobs problem.
Lucinda Maine, RPh
Recent pharmacy staff layoffs at Walmart and Sam’s Club-along with Walgreens and CVS closing some stores-are shining a spotlight on the ever-increasing pharmacy jobs problem.
In community settings in particular, there are simply not enough open positions for all of the pharmacy graduates as well as those changing jobs due to layoffs and other reasons.
Some pharmacy experts and veterans blame DIR fees and other expenses that are harming pharmacies’ bottom line, while others say there are just too many retail pharmacies and not enough pharmacists qualified to work in specialty areas such as oncology and endocrinology.
“Pharmacy as a whole is challenged by PBM tactics that interfere with pharmacists’ ability to treat patients and make it more difficult for pharmacies to stay afloat. In addition to expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice, reining in PBMs’ tactics would assist pharmacy’s decision-making about staffing abilities and whether to expand or even maintain a pharmacy business,” says Andrea Pivarunas, director of public affairs for the National Community Pharmacy Association (NCPA).
“Various players have been taking money out of the drug distribution system for many years, but it has been much worse in past two to three years largely, I believe, due to DIR fees,” says Lucinda Maine, RPh, executive vice president and CEO of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP).
In addition, the competitive landscape has changed over the last 25 years, according to Maine. “It’s possible that there wasn’t enough business to put a pharmacy on every corner [in certain cities]. And then you add in mail order… and online retailers have dented [brick-and-mortar] business,” she says.
Pharmacy closures and staff layoffs can also be attributed to viewing pharmacists as only drug dispensers. “We haven’t yet developed the consistent patterns of compensation for pharmacist services-the value-added services that pharmacists can and should be providing the public,” Maine says.
Plus, the demand for pharmacist and tech jobs, and the required pharmacy schools to train them, has boomeranged the shortage of pharmacists in 2000. The pace of new school openings between 2001 and 2018 was “dizzying,” including the establishment of multiple satellite sites and branch campuses, Maine wrote in a commentary in the American Journal of Pharmacy Education.
Read More: The Top 10 Best States to Be a Pharmacist
The number of pharmacy schools and colleges soared from 83 in 2002 to 142 in 2018. The number of graduates in spring 2018 numbered slightly more than 14,500. In addition, more than 325,000 pharmacists were licensed in the United States in 2017, according to the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP).
Some pharmacy school graduates were so upset about their job prospects after graduation that they urged the public to sign a petition, “Halt New PharmD Accreditation to 2030.” It was signed by almost 10,000 additional petitioners in just a week, Maine says.
“The fundamental premise is that the job market for pharmacists can no longer accommodate the number of PharmD graduates. They specifically asked the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education, and the American Pharmacists Association to take action to prevent the opening of more new schools,” Maine writes in the commentary.
The petitioners’ request is not legally defensible, Maine says. Instead, pharmacists need to be reimbursed for the services they provide. More pharmacists are being reimbursed via insurers that recognize how pharmacists prevent future health problems and thereby save the plans a significant amount of money.
Physicians want specialists, such as clinical pharmacists who specialize in endocrinology.
Solutions to the Jobs Crisis
“NCPA strongly advocates for greater pharmacist involvement in health care, along with appropriate levels of compensation. Not only does this improve health outcomes and help address patients’ potentially unmet health needs, it also can lead to additional opportunities for pharmacists and pharmacy students,” Pivarunas says.
The need for pharmacists and additional health care providers will only grow as the American population continues skewing older-and, consequently, more ill-particularly in communities that are already underserved, Pivarunas adds.
Trending: Zolgensma: The $2.1 Million Drug
There is an increasing amount of revenue from services such as vaccinations and medication management that community pharmacies could appropriately take advantage of-when staffed appropriately, according to Maine. “There is payment available for [some services, but it is not being done consistently. And, if the pharmacist is not all alone for a 12-hour shift and with very little tech help, they could take advantage of [those revenue streams].”
NCPA encourages community pharmacies to consider joining CPESN USA, which is comprised of local networks of pharmacies providing enhanced services that partner with health plan sponsors seeking to better manage their overall healthcare costs.
“More than 2,000 pharmacies have come together to participate in these local networks, and the number is growing as more and more pharmacies look to be rewarded for providing cost savings and quality value beyond dispensing,” Pivarunas says.
Meanwhile, NCPA and the NCPA Foundation have established the annual Good Neighbor Pharmacy NCPA Pruitt-Schutte Student Business Plan Competition to help prepare tomorrow’s pharmacy entrepreneurs for a successful future. “The goal of this competition is to motivate student pharmacists to create the blueprint necessary for buying an existing independent community pharmacy or developing a new pharmacy,” Pivarunas says.
Webinars and workshops, such as NCPA Innovation Center’s Ownership Workshop, can also facilitate networking opportunities and outline pathways to pharmacy ownership and management. “NCPA’s advocacy efforts and business education programs are aimed at growing the number of independent pharmacies, helping to create more jobs for future pharmacists,” Pivarunas says.


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Big newsâ€¦ Disney has just announced plans for a new resort at Walt Disney World Resort that will bring to life some of their most beloved characters and stories. Disneyâ€™s Art of Animation Resort will be one-of-a-kind, featuring family suites designed around four themes: The Lion King, Cars, Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid. It will be the first new resort built on property in seven years.
Itâ€™s a resort designed with families in mind. There will be amazing sights at the different themed wings of the resort, including a model of King Triton thatâ€™ll eventually be 35 feet tall and tower over guests. And Disneyâ€™s Art of Animation Resort will also have themed room interiors in its nearly 2,000 new units â€” 1,120 family suites in The Lion King, Cars and Finding Nemo wings and 864 themed rooms in The Little Mermaid wings.
Suites will have both a living room and a bedroom, offering added space. Each section will have separate courtyards anchored by icons from the movies, such as a 35-foot tall version of the King Triton statue pictured above.Â â€œThe hope is you walk into this courtyard and youâ€™re kind of like seeing it as a character in the movie,â€ said Frank Paris, a senior project manager with Walt Disney Imagineering, the companyâ€™s in-house attraction-design unit.
Like the nearby Pop Century Resort, it will be a “value” resort with standard rates starting at around $82 per night and is expected to open in 2012. The 65-acre plot was originally designed to be the second phase of Disney’s Pop Century Resort, but was abandoned in 2001.
In addition to bringing new, value-conscious options to its Guests, Disney said the project will generate approximately 800 construction jobs.
What do YOU think of the new resort? Post your comments below.


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WDT's WeatherOps platform will be used on all Royal Caribbean International ships (Image: Royal Caribbean)
Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL) is to use Weather Decision Technologies’ WeatherOps risk mitigation system on 47 vessels in three cruise brands and in its Miami-based emergency operations centres.
From November 2017, captains onboard ships in the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises brands will be able to use WDT’s WeatherOps platform to analyse weather conditions and plan safe routes worldwide.
“We are extremely excited to be using WDT’s innovative technology to ensure that our ships and captains can plan the safest route possible for our guests and crew members,” said James Van Fleet, chief meteorologist at Royal Caribbean International. “Our goal is always to make sure our guests have the best vacation possible and this technology helps us do that.”
RCCL’s shoreside team in Miami will also use WeatherOps to support captains and ensure that logistics across all aspects of the company’s operation are handled with respect to any weather hazards or delays.
“We’re pleased to work with a client like RCCL who will not only use our service to ensure the safety of passengers and staff, but also help WDT innovate and ultimately reach deeper into various offshore applications for weather information,” said Michael Eilts, WDT president and CEO. “RCCL’s Vision and Values statement reads ‘To deliver the best vacation experience’, and we are here to help the company in every way possible.”
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Forty minutes into Game 5 of the World Series and a half-hour after the kickoff of Sunday Night Football, nearly 30,000 people tuned in to an event that couldn’t be found on television: the new installment of trivia competition HQ.
The app, a sort of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for the mobile generation that awards a cash prize to anyone who can correctly answer a handful of timed trivia questions, has become an overnight sensation among millennials on both coasts.
Every day at 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET, a perky host presides over a test of knowledge. Anyone who selects the correct answer to all 12 multiple-choice questions will split a prize, which has ranged from $250 to $1,500, depending on the day.
“It’s different from a television format where you’re playing along,” says HQ co-founder Rus Yusupov. “With HQ, you can actually play.”
Yusupov and co-founder Colin Kroll already knew a little something about how to create entertaining videos for mobile phones when they first began working on HQ. They are two of the co-founders of Vine, the six-second video app that Twitter bought in 2012 and shut down earlier this year. Their first venture post-Vine was a live-video social network called Hype that failed to take off. But with HQ they appear to have found a hit.
HQ’s audience has grown steadily in the two months since its launch, and it now regularly brings in tens of thousands of players for each game — even before releasing its Android app. “It shows that live video can be so much more than what we were seeing,” explains Jeremy Liew, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, which has a seed investment in HQ.
Yusupov and Kroll say that they were influenced by the game shows typically found on television. With HQ, they sought to combine the high production values and real prizes with the interactivity made possible by mobile phones. HQ has a handful of writers who drum up new questions each day (they can vary from “What is the plural of Hippopotamus?” to “What are the bildungsroman genre of stories about?”) and experienced hosts in improv comedian Scott Rogowsky and British personality Sharon Carpenter. They also established set game times (twice a day on weekdays, once a day on weekends) to help create habits among HQ’s players, though occasional technical difficulties have plagued the app in recent weeks, causing games to be delayed.
For now, HQ is funding its prizes through its pool of investment money, though it has tried out sponsored games. There’s also potential to start charging for extra lives or other perks that would help a player succeed (Perhaps the 2017 version of “Phone a Friend”). The founders say they would eventually like to reach a prize pool of $1 million.
Meanwhile, the media and entertainment worlds are already starting to pay attention. Yusupov and Kroll say that they’ve received outreach about partnerships and from reps seeking to book guest-hosting gigs for their clients, but they demur about any Hollywood ambitions for the app. “We haven’t even begun to think about what HQ might look like on a television,” says Kroll, “though it’s an interesting thought.”
A version of this story first appeared in the Nov. 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
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Woolwich’s Hop Stuff Brewery has gone into administration and been sold to beer giant Molson Coors, leaving local drinkers who invested in the company in its early days out of pocket.
The company, which was founded in the Royal Arsenal in 2013, hit financial problems earlier this year after it failed to declare a move to a new brewery in Thamesmead to the Inland Revenue, forcing it to temporarily stop production.
After seeing off a winding-up order from a company which said it had not been paid for work on a bar in Ashford, Kent, the Thamesmead brewery, on White Hart Avenue, was repossessed by its landlord.
Administrators from KPMG were appointed to run the company on Friday, with the company’s assets – including its Taproom bars in Woolwich, Deptford and Ashford, its brewery and its brand – sold to Molson Coors, which owns Carling lager and Sharp’s, the Cornish brewery behind Doom Bar ale.
The company’s investors – many of whom were local to Woolwich – will receive nothing from the sale, which came a month after the company’s Twitter account announced: “Nearly there with something great for Hop Stuff!” One of the founders of the company, James Yeomans, set up a new company, JY Advisory Ltd, in March, while Hop Stuff was in turmoil, according to Companies House records. His wife, Emma Yeomans, who founded the company with him, resigned from Hop Stuff in April.
“I am so sorry,” James Yeomans wrote in an email sent to investors on Friday. “I wanted so much to turn the passion you have for Hop Stuff Brewery into a financial win for you and I am absolutely gutted that hasn’t happened.
“I want to thank you so much for your belief in us. You have helped to build this business and I want to make sure that you continue to feel a part of it. For my part, I am absolutely committed to protecting the ethos of Hop Stuff and our brands and I am completely confident that Molson Coors share that commitment.
“In Molson Coors we’ve found a partner who believes wholeheartedly that craft beer should be accessible, inclusive and of exceptionally high and consistent quality. With their support and guidance, we are going to be able to start brewing again and be able to supply our customers in London. Hop Stuff beers won’t disappear.”
Hop Stuff began with the aim of brewing ale for festivals, opening with £58,000 raised from investors through the investment platform Crowdcube. Many of its initial investors were from the Woolwich and Plumstead areas. It rode the craft beer boom on the back of crowdfunding appeals – and last year it raised over £770,000 for further expansion. In total, it has raised over £1.5m from investors.
Yeomans added: “I would completely understand if you wanted to wash your hands of us, but I very much hope that you don’t. If you’d like to remain a part of our journey, together with Molson Coors, we will be launching a Hop Stuff Collective for original investors who would like to stay involved.
“Members of the Collective will receive exclusive access to key events throughout the year, a product subscription, discounts and be invited to be part of New Product Development through quarterly tastings and innovation sessions at the brewery.”
Plans for a fourth Taproom bar, in east Greenwich, were abandoned last August after Greenwich Council refused to give it a licence for outdoor drinking, after a hearing in which Yeomans emphasised the company’s local roots.


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E-bike kit converts any bike into an e-bike
The latest in a slew of similar so-called e-bike conversion kits has been announced
Revolve24 expands range of events into e-bike, amongst other categories
Cooper E is company's first e-bike
British handmade bicycle brand Sven Cycles is releasing its first electric bike
Italian saddle brand Selle Royal has won a Design & Innovation Award for its new e-bike saddle.
Windwave has become sole UK distributor for e-bike brand Fantic, with immediate effect.
Bosch eBike Systems will display key new products at the upcoming COREbike Show
Electric bike brand Pedibal has launched a crowd funding campaign for the production of a folding e-bike .
Tern and Evo Konsept AS have announced a new partnership for distribution across Norway.


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Holiday shopping is going to look different this year. Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, major retailers are already making plans for the holiday season. For the safety of customers and employees, some stores have announced that they will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, which falls on Thursday, November 26 this year.
In the past, Thanksgiving marked the unofficial beginning of the holiday shopping season, especially as Black Friday started to kick off Turkey Day evening. Since a number of major stores will be closed this year, customers won't have to wait in long lines and push through crowds of people to score deals. Instead, customers who still want to score major deals can shop online.
Walmart was the first major retailer to announce that its stores (including its Sam's Club locations) will be closed this Thanksgiving. "We know this has been a trying year, and our associates have stepped up," President and CEO of Walmart U.S. John Furner said in a statement. "We hope they will enjoy a special Thanksgiving Day at home with their loved ones. We are certainly thankful to our people for all of their efforts."
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On Monday, Target joined Walmart in its decision to close on the holiday. “The investments we’ve made in our business and our incredible team have enabled us to move with flexibility and speed to meet guests’ changing needs during this global pandemic,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said in an announcement. “This year more than ever, a joyful holiday will be inseparable from a safe one, and we’re continuing to adjust our plans to deliver ease, value, and the joy of the season in a way that only Target can.” Customers will still be able to shop holiday deals at Target online and in stores, starting in October.
Below is a list of major retailers that will be closed on Thanksgiving Day this year:
- Best Buy
- Dick's Sporting Goods
- Sam's Club
We'll be updating this list as we receive new information.
Follow House Beautiful on Instagram.


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Managing Legal Risks in Digital Transformation
Last November 21, 2019, Disini & Disini Law Office and Digital Freedom Network teamed up to stage Managing Legal Risks in Digital Transformation at Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City. This legal tech symposium focused on the concept of digital transformation, where public and private businesses transition from traditional processes to modern and digital alternatives. It is the first legal tech symposium staged by D&D and DFN of its kind.
The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Justo A Ortiz, Chairman of the Board of UnionBank of the Philippines. He inspired the audience with his vision of the transformative power of technology in the financial services sector, which his bank has increasingly adopted in practice. Dr. Richard Parcia, chief information officer of Concepcion Industrial Corporation, and Jojo Añonuevo, chief innovation officer of QuadX, shared similar insights derived from the experiences their own businesses.
The day-long event featured multiple lectures and panel discussions on different aspects of digital transformation as applied to enterprises. Atty. JJ Disini, managing partner of Disini & Disini Law Office, explained the legal foundations in the Philippines that have enabled the adoption of digital technologies and practices, as well as some of the unsettled legal issues on matters such as the recognition of electronic documents and digital signatures. The panel discussions touched on similar themes, weighing in on the technological innovations that have spurred disruption and growth while also raising new legal questions.
The panels included discussions on managing IT contracts with Arup Maity, president and chief executive officer of BlastAsia Inc.; a discussion on cyber risks with Arpit Shrivastava, co-founder of GCSS Inc.; a panel on fintech joined by Bryan Makasiar and Atty. Siel Cotoco, assistant vice president for Strategy Fintech group and vice president for Legal-Fintech group of UnionBank of the Philippines respectively; a discussion on emerging media with Roland Ros, founder of KumuMedia Technologies, Ace Gapuz, chief executive officer of Blogapalooza, and Francis Simisim, founder and chief executive officer of Social Light; a session on artificial intelligence and privacy joined by Charibeth Cheng, co-founder and head of research of Senti Techlabs Inc., Allan Tan, chief executive officer and president of Ideyatech, and Hon. Ivy Patdu, deputy commissioner of the National Privacy Commission.
One panel was devoted to public sector issues on digital transformation, with Asec. Mary Jean Pacheco of the Department of Trade and Industry, Atty. Ira Paulo Pozon, Chief of Staff of the Anti-Red Tape Authority, and Atty. Frances Mendez of the Department of Information and Communications Technology discussing the initiatives of their respective offices. The final session featured a talk by Katrina Rausa Chan, director of QBO Innovation Hub, on tech partnerships between startups and the corporate sector delivered by Katrina Rausa Chan of QBO Innovation Hub.
Each of the panels were facilitated by lawyers from Disini & Disini Law Office, led by Atty. JJ Disini (Managing Partner), Atty. Mark Parcia (Junior Partner), Atty. Lars Serzo and Atty. Marian Salanguit (Senior Associates), and Atty. Paolo Sumilong (Mid-level Associate). Digital Freedom Network’s policy officer, Atty. Oliver Xavier Reyes, also participated as a panel facilitator for the event.


text: Source: voytek pavlik [CC0] Japan’s cash addiction is coming to an end and here is what you need to know 2019-12-17 Tue 2019-12-17 Tue Crypto in a cash-clutching country In Japan, cash is king. Many stores do not accept plastic and forget using a personal check. In this country, streets are safe, and ATMs are reliable. While Westerners may find it nerve-racking, residents feel comfortable carrying large amounts of cash. Even while carrying their monthly wage come pay-day. Customers also reliably use cash for big-ticket purchases. In several cases, it’s the only option available. In 2017, Bitcoin rose to dramatic heights. Japan, like most of Asia, was swept up in the excitement. The government quickly designated it as legal tender, and marketers promoted it in many places. The nation saw Bitcoin ATMs, online exchanges, and even digital currency dancers. “Don’t forget to pay the taxman,” the Crypto Currency Girls idol group chided. After the crash But what goes up must come down. After the 2018 crypto crash, burnt speculators moved on, and the average consumer received a valuable secondhand lesson on investing. Beware of pop-culture assets. Bitcoin became something considered unreliable and even dangerous. Despite its best efforts, digital money lost out. Or did it? After the mania, consumers were beholden to notice several new payment options cropping up at convenience stores and retail shops. LINE Pay was introduced in the popular messaging app of the same name, and PayPay signs went up in retail store windows. Throughout 2018, the number of digital payments rose 24% . Cash or digital? Yet, Japan seems to be unable to make up its mind: cash or digital payments. Consumers use eCash in only 2% of transactions even though the technology was developed in part here. Also, the roll-out of digital payment services has, at times, been disastrous . The mobile payment service 7pay and the cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck suffered hacks and staggering monetary losses. In either case, the companies failed to implement basic security measures and were thereby exploited. Japanese consumers are notably risk-averse. In the light of negative headlines, it's understandable for users to second-guess the technology underlying digital currencies. Furthermore, a large portion of the population is middle age or senior. Neither group is markedly tech-savvy. Will Japan simply ignore a payment trend sweeping the globe? Government incentives That doesn't seem likely. In fact, the Japanese government is highly motivated to foster adoption. In order to do so, it's offering tax rebates to companies and individuals who utilize digital payments. According to the government, the aim is to streamline commerce while doing away with costly ATMs. Furthermore, they want businesses primed to accept digital payments during the 2020 Olympics . The government fails to highlight other, less palatable incentives. Digital fiat cash payments allow for efficient and detailed tracking of consumer and business spending. An integrated infrastructure would also streamline recordkeeping and taxation. While none of these effects sound particularly malicious, they will increase the monitoring capabilities of the state. Government revenue from non-fiat cryptocurrencies also stands to be substantial. In some cases, crypto transactions and capital gains are subject to taxation rates over 50% . Over the past few years, the dark side of big data has become more apparent. Hacks of financial services significantly expose users' personal data. Purchase tracking can also create deleterious dossiers. As an example, consumers’ shopping habits could be automatically audited. Under certain circumstances, they could be denied the freedom to make particular transactions. Transacting across borders could also be problematic. The accounting will be done automatically, and consumers could be taxed by two or more governmental bodies. They would likely have little recourse to debate undue taxation . As Japan increasingly becomes a one-party political situation, it’s easy to imagine this kind of government overreach going unchecked. A happy middle? In the near- to midterm, a mixed system of fiat currency and various eCash services seem likely. Nevertheless, there may be unseen economic effects. Japan has long endured a deflationary period. The implementation of negative interest rates could be expedited in such a digital cash environment. Such a system forces consumers and businesses to pay to hold money. Mixed with quantitative easing and Japan's huge debt load, domestic asset value, and the accessibility of foreign asset value may be negatively impacted. Under adverse circumstances, this could cause more deflation and a host of other problems . Perhaps that's why cryptocurrency generation, a process called mining, is experiencing a renewed interest in Japan . Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin can be used as a currency or security. Since Japan has outlawed the use and trade of privacy coins, cryptocurrencies that protect anonymity, miners are mostly concerned with accumulating equity-like currencies. These may be subject to monitoring and excessive taxation, but would not be directly affected by domestic economic forces. So far, the adoption of digital payment services and cryptocurrencies is steadily moving forward, even if at a snail’s pace. Digital payments at convenience stores jumped 60% after the latest round of consumption tax hikes in October. General adoption stands at about 20% and growing compared to 90% in South Korea and 60% in China . For the time being, cash will remain the de facto method of payment. There is a steep learning curve to electronic payments for individuals and businesses, and the cash in circulation accounts for 20% of Japan's GDP. This is comparatively large when compared to China (9.5%) or Europe(10.7%) . Regardless, tourists and residents alike will have to adjust to the evolving financial landscape in Japan. By - Luke Mahoney. Tags: cryptocurrency / e-cash / e-currency grape Japan Latest Japan’s cash addiction is coming to an end and here is what you need to know Related Article Fearing Chinese advantage, Japan lurches towards digital currency and electronic payments During pandemic, Japanese investors shy away from Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and save cash All in on Bitcoin: LINE, Rakuten & others bet on future of Facebook’s Libra and cryptocurrencies nanakusa: Japan’s first NFT marketplace with a crypto artist registration system launches beta Otaku Coin: The Cryptocurrency That Could Save the Otaku Industry – Interview (Part 1) Gamer’s World – NFTs: Crypto Greed or the Wave of the Future?


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Amazon Posts Loss on Higher Spending, LivingSocial Stake
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), the world’s largest online retailer, reported revenue that missed analysts’ estimates and posted the first quarterly net loss since 2003, hurt by higher expenses and its investment in LivingSocial.com.
Amazon.com parcels. Photographer; Kostas Tsironis/Bloomberg
The livingsocial.com website is displayed for a photograph in New York. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg
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The third-quarter net loss was $274 million, or 60 cents a share, compared with net income of $63 million, or 14 cents, a year earlier, the Seattle-based company said in a statement. Sales rose 27 percent to $13.8 billion, compared with the $13.9 billion average analyst projection compiled by Bloomberg.
Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos is opening 19 fulfillment centers worldwide to offer speedier delivery to customers during the holiday shopping season, contributing to a 28 percent increase in operating expenses. Amazon also boosted spending on technology and content as it worked to build out video offerings and expand its line of Kindle tablets.
“Amazon is spending a lot to gain market share,” said Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. (FORR) “They’re obviously, as they call it, investing in the business — everyone else would call it losing money.”
Amazon shares slipped 1.3 percent to $220 in extended trading following the report. Before the announcement, the stock had lost 2.4 percent to $222.92 at the close in New York, and has gained 29 percent so far this year.
Amazon’s third-quarter loss includes $169 million, or 37 cents a share, related to its stake in daily-deal website LivingSocial, which lost value as consumers and retailers soured on Internet coupons. Amazon invested $175 million in the coupon service in 2010.
“Daily deals has been struggling,” said Daniel Kurnos, an analyst at Benchmark Co. in Boca Raton, Florida. “LivingSocial is going to need to reaccelerate their marketing expenses to keep the status quo.”
On an operating basis, Amazon’s third-quarter loss was $28 million, less than the average analysts’ estimate of a $42.1 million loss.
Fourth-quarter operating income will range from a loss of $490 million to a profit of $310 million, compared with analysts’ projections for $354.1 million in profit. Sales will be $20.3 billion to $22.8 billion, while the average estimate was $22.8 billion.
Amazon has broadened its lineup of Kindle devices to challenge Apple Inc. in the tablet market, which is expected to reach $63.2 billion this year, according to researcher DisplaySearch. Kindle readers and tablets are facing escalating competition as Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. roll out new machines.
Last month, Amazon unveiled a new line of bigger, faster and sleeker Kindle e-readers and tablets. The devices range in price from a $69 ad-supported reader to the $599 top-of-the-line Kindle Fire HD with access to 22 million movies, TV shows, songs, apps, games books and magazines.
The company also introduced the Kindle Paperwhite e-book reader with a built-in light that is directed toward the screen, stepping up competition with the Nook reader sold by Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS)


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The UK economy may still be struggling and consumer confidence may be waning, but the manufacturing industry continues to play a vital role in leading UK’s economic recovery. Conor Sugrue, General Manager at UK’s largest wheeled bin manufacturer MGB Plastics, discusses why continued investment and innovation in manufacturing processes such as injection moulding is crucial to the immediate and long-term success of the UK manufacturing industry despite the economic imbalances we currently face. Despite the gloom and doom headlines that we see today, manufacturing in the UK is still very much alive. Maybe the output levels and employment may have changed drastically over the last
few decades, but the UK still continues to lead the way globally in innovation, specialised technical skills and knowledge base.
As we emerge from a slowing economy combined with factors such as the continued growth and threat of the emerging economies of countries such as China and India, there is no doubt that there remain plenty of hurdles for the UK’s manufacturing sectors. However, where there are challenges, there are also huge opportunities. And those companies who adapt to these will be the ones who will benefit both in the short and long-term while helping to lead the UK recovery. As is so often the case, continued growth and competitiveness is the result of a willingness to embrace and adapt to change. Small process changes will be good for the immediate term but to make a real impact and to stay competitive long-term, it requires wholesale and wholehearted changes from business.
At MGB Plastics, we have taken a holistic approach to our supply chain and how to adapt the market conditions to our customer needs. Injection moulding is one such example. Its importance to UK manufacturing cannot be understated. Highly skilled, advanced manufacturing such as injection moulding is very important to the UK as it provides employment to skilled technicians in the UK, grows the UK economy as well as providing business to local suppliers. A moulded component can be made in a single operation and because of this the marketplace is very competitive, and the reason why the UK injection moulding industry has come under strong pressure, particularly from Eastern Europe and China.
At MGB Plastics, we took the approach of being diverse and adaptable to be able to compete with the threat of overseas competition. We undertook a review of our core injection moulding processes and to respond and adapt to meet the needs of our customers we had to invest in machinery that would allow us to manufacture efficiently.
Sustaining investment in modern machining is very important to MGB as it gives us the most advanced, modern, energy-efficient machines which allows us offer our customers the most competitive prices, highest quality and best customer service.
For further information, contact:
Tel: 0116 262 6007
Mob: 07971 735090


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Do the problems with recent titles like Diablo 3 underscore the need for a gamer bill of rights, or should the industry and its consumers stick to trial and error?
With the move to always online gaming, the question of game ownership has become more important than ever. Do we own our own copy of a game like Diablo III, or are we just renting server space? With its always-online DRM, Blizzard is, essentially, letting us play at its whim. Theoretically, Blizzard could shut down those servers at any time, leaving players with a bunch of useless code.
Other online games face similar problems. I've recently started playing Demon's Souls. Earlier this year the servers for that game's online elements were going to be shut down. Fortunately for me and for other players of the mostly single-player game, that decision has been reversed, and the servers remain up so long as players continue to play.
If interest in the game fades, the servers will go down, and players still interested in playing the game will be quite abandoned in their single-player worlds. One can hardly blame a company for this sort of move, and yet it raises important questions about how much of a game we actually own - if any.
I enjoyed Yannick LeJacq's Atlantic piece on the need for a gamer's bill of rights, but I disagree with the conclusion. While I do think that questions of digital ownership, DRM, and piracy are important, ultimately those questions will be answered in an ad hoc process of court decisions, changes in technology, and private innovation (both on the part of developers and gamers.)
This isn't to say that gamers don't deserve better consumer protections. Both game consumers, as well as the gaming industry as a whole, are relatively young compared to other entertainment industries like film and music. Gamers aren't the teenage nerds they're popularly portrayed as, of course - the median gamer age is closer to 30 than 13 - but as a consumer group, gamers are still in fledgling state.
For that matter, the media covering games and the gaming industry is relatively young as well.
The industry, however massive it has become, is nevertheless still emerging, experimenting, and evolving, and given the rapid change in technology and the industry, it's no wonder that consumer rights often take at least a temporary backseat.
Would a broad bill-of-rights style document prevent anti-consumer practices, or shield us from disappointing game endings? Would it stop a company like Blizzard from implementing a real-world-auction-house? Is such a move even desirable?
Games like Eve Online have functioning economies that blend virtual and real-world currency, and many players see this as a benefit rather than a detraction. How do we distinguish between actions that are actually detrimental to games and gamers and those that are simply poorly implemented?
Where do opinions leave off and "rights" begin? A right implies some sort of universality, which is great if you're talking about human rights but less useful when trying to determine what works in a game.
Consumer protections are typically designed to prevent fraud, abuse, and protect the safety of consumers. When dealing with virtual economies, this becomes more complicated partly due to its newness, but the same laws that already protect consumers from fraud apply to any real-world-currency transactions within games already. If a gamer is defrauded out of real money in a virtual economy, they are still well within their rights to take legal action.
I do think that the turmoil and lack of trust in gaming is more a sign of growing pains than anything permanent or truly worrisome. Companies experiment with DRM, with revenue-increasing measures like the over-use of DLC, etc. and consumers respond. The response may be slow, but it will come. Already we see some gaming companies moving away from DRM, and game distribution services like Steam and GOG.com seeing growth thanks to their gamer-friendly nature.
The rise of pro-consumer groups in the gaming world will help give shape and voice to consumer concerns within the industry, without the long arm of the law. We're already seeing grassroots online movements like Hold The Line, which rose up in response to the Mass Effect 3 ending, begin to shift focus toward other games and other issues.
And as gaming journalism continues to evolve, better coverage of bad industry practices will hopefully help guide both consumers and the industry in the right direction. The press is here to keep those they cover honest. Smarter consumers, a more combative press, and the success of good business practices will all have a more long-term and focused affect on the industry than any overly broad bill of rights could ever hope to achieve.


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HONG KONG, March 7, 2023 (Newswire.com) - BTSE, a leading digital asset exchange, today announced plans to apply for upcoming virtual asset licenses in Hong Kong, as the firm seeks to enter the increasingly crypto-friendly market. BTSE's expansion plan follows the city's proposed introduction of new regulations for crypto trading platforms, which are set to go into effect in June this year. The move comes as Hong Kong aims to establish itself as the region's leading digital assets hub.
Following a year of significant growth in other markets, BTSE is seeking to take its leading product offerings to the financial hub. Currently, BTSE has a team based in Hong Kong, and intends to expand hiring for roles in legal, compliance and sales after gaining the necessary licenses from Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
Hong Kong offers a highly developed and sophisticated financial system, as well as a business-friendly regulatory environment. The city's strategic location as a gateway to Asia makes it an ideal destination for companies looking to expand their operations in the region.
By obtaining a license to operate in Hong Kong, BTSE aims to tap into the region's vast potential and offer its advanced trading and custody services to a broader range of customers. BTSE plans to expand its market reach and grow its business, while also providing customers with a trusted and regulated platform to buy, sell, and store digital assets.
"As Hong Kong's regulators are becoming increasingly receptive to the crypto industry, we are excited to pursue a license to operate in this financial powerhouse. Known and respected for its deep pool of talent and strong track record of innovation and entrepreneurship, Hong Kong has long been a fantastic place to do global business. We are excited to become a part of this dynamic market and to contribute to the city's continued growth and success," said Henry Liu, CEO of BTSE.
"Hong Kong represents a valuable opportunity to expand our presence in the region and provide our innovative crypto exchange services to a broader range of customers. By establishing a presence in Hong Kong, we can also strengthen our position as a leading player in the global crypto exchange market, while continuing to innovate and drive the industry forward," said Jeff Mei, COO of BTSE.
BTSE is a leading digital asset exchange that offers a simple and secure way to trade cryptocurrencies. As the go-to exchange for all things crypto, BTSE is one of the top trusted crypto platforms for institutions, retail users and first-time traders. BTSE has developed multiple trading technologies that have been adopted across the industry, setting new standards for excellence and innovation in the world of digital asset trading. Additionally, BTSE licenses its industry-leading technology to exchanges worldwide through its white label exchange solutions, strengthening the BTSE ecosystem and bridging traditional finance with digital assets everywhere. Read more at btse.com.
Media relationship manager
Original Source: Crypto Exchange BTSE to Apply for Hong Kong Digital Asset Licenses


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- Super Retail Group has clocked $237 million from online sales for 26 weeks ended 26 December 2020.
- Record results were delivered on the back of unprecedented consumer demand, especially during November 2020 cyber week.
- Super Retail’s share price has delivered a decent return of over 22 per cent in the last year.
On 18 January 2021, Super Retail Group (ASX:SUL) released an update regarding its trading performance for the period of 26 weeks ended 26 December 2020. The company reported a total sales growth of 23 per cent while the online sales notched up by an impressive 87 per cent to $237 million.
Company’s Macpac sales have shown degrowth of 5 per cent as there was a significant heat faced by the store closures mandated by the government in crucial markets like Melbourne and Auckland. The like for like sales growth of Macpac would have been six per cent, had the stores not been closed by the government.
BCF contributed a healthy 51 per cent increase in the total sales growth while the sales more than doubled to 115 per cent from online channels. Rebel also witnessed a triple-digit online sales growth by 102 per cent.
The click for click sales also increased from 74 per cent to $108 million in the same period, which contributed to 45 per cent to the group’s total online sales.
The group's total revenue was reported at $1.77 billion with the provisional segment EBIT of $253 million -$256 million. Highest revenue was generated by Supercheap Auto at $662 million while rebel secured the second position with $624 million.
These results exclude a total of $1.7 million of wage support received in the form of JobKeeper fund, which will be returned to the Australian government.
Based on the group's performance, it expects to deliver a statutory net profit of $170 million -$173 million and normalized net profit between $174 million – $177 million.
The Group’s Managing Director and CEO, Anthony Heraghty acknowledged the group's good performance since October 2020. He was particularly pleased with the online sales which shot up during the November cyber weekend and Christmas.
Super Retail’s share price has been trading in a range from the last three months, delivering a return of negative 4.4 per cent. However, last year performance has been a decent 22.6 per cent.


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One of the country’s biggest electricity and gas providers has scrapped fees for paper bills and over the counter transactions.
EnergyAustralia says it has listened to the feedback of customers in removing its charges of $1.69 per paper bill and $1.91 for paying at Australia Post.
The decision follows the recent abolition of paper bill and over the counter fees by the New South Wales government in late 2017. However, the change will apply to EnergyAustralia’s 1.7 million customers across NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland.
The company says 60% of customers continue to receive paper bills.
“We’ve had a lot of feedback from customers and the message is clear – people don’t like these fees,” said EnergyAustralia Chief Customer Officer Kim Clarke. “They were introduced to avoid passing on the cost of services many customers don’t use, but circumstances have changed.
“Over the past year retail energy prices have increased up to 20 per cent in some states and today, more than ever, every dollar matters for families. So, we’ve listened and are getting rid of charges for paper bills and over-the-counter fees.”
EnergyAustralia says the fees – introduced in 2016 – were passed through from third parties to customers and it did not make money from them. The charges never applied to pensioners, customers on standing offer tariffs, concession card holders, customers in financial hardship and customers receiving their final bill.
“We always encourage customers to choose e-bills and manage their accounts online,” added Ms Clarke. “Yes, it helps keep costs down but it’s also a better service because people can monitor their energy consumption and set payment reminders, so they don’t risk missing pay-on-time discounts. It’s an increasingly popular service because it saves customers time and money.”
— CPSA (@CPSANSW) December 15, 2017
Which energy retailers still charge for paper bills?
While the NSW government has banned paper bill fees, some energy retailers continue to charge for them in other states. Australia’s two biggest electricity and gas providers – AGL and Origin – both charge $1.75 for every bill received by post. However, exceptions are made depending on personal circumstances. Several smaller retailers also charge similar fees.
It’s also common for energy providers to offer their cheapest deals only to customers who agree to emailing billing, in addition to other conditions.
Details about billing costs and any other fees can be found in your retailer’s energy price fact sheets.
It’s thought paper bill charges are also being investigated by the Victorian and South Australian governments.


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Apple has launched an investigation into Qihoo, a giant Chinese software company and search engine, based on concerns the app maker is violating terms of service, according to Tech In Asia.
Citing a Chinese-language article, the website reports that Qihoo apps were removed from Apple’s App Store. Apple is also concerned that Qihoo is encouraging jailbreaking iPhones by delivering apps as single file downloads compatible with unlocked Apple products.
Qihoo also makes China’s top Web browser.
The ban of Qihoo’s 360 Mobile Assistant browser will likely bring a smile to the face of Baidu executives. Baidu is China’s dominant search engine, but faced a new competitor after Qihoo launched its own search engine. Having Qihoo apps disappear from iOS could hamper traffic through Qihoo’s browser and search engine, Tech In Asia reported.
Qihoo’s CFO has reportedly traveled to the U.S. to help sort out Apple’s concerns.
In other news about Chinese search engines, Bloomberg reports that options traders are paying more than they have in two years for protection against fluctuations in Baidu compared to rival Sohu.com. Traders are reportedly concerned that rising costs and competition will damage Baidu profits.
Sohu is expected to announce 46 percent profit growth this year, compared to 24 percent for Baidu, according to Bloomberg.
US Cyberweapon Strategy Allows for Pre-Emptive Strikes
The United States’ ever-expanding arsenal of cyberweapons prompted a secret legal review to conclude that President Obama has the potential to order a pre-emptive strike to thwart a looming digital attack from abroad, according to The New York Times.
The newspaper reports that over the next few weeks, the Obama administration will try to approve the nation’s first set of rules for how the U.S. can defend or retaliate against a major cyberattack, as well as how intelligence agencies can search faraway computer networks for signs of a potential attacks.
Whatever rules are decided, The Times says, they will be highly classified.
This follows stories last week reporting that the U.S. will increase its cybersecurity force fivefold over the next several years.
India, Indonesia Key for BlackBerry
India and Indonesia are targets for BlackBerry as it guns for the world’s No. 3 smartphone spot, according to Reuters.
BlackBerry must “quickly launch cheaper handset to woo lower-end subscribers,” adding that the company’s inexpensive handset and service packages — starting as low as $2 per month — are keys to success in the two countries.
BlackBerry ranked third in India’s smartphone pecking order in 2012, while in Indonesia BlackBerry accounted for nearly half of all smartphone shipments. As Reuters points out, BlackBerry’s global market share is just 5.3 percent, so these countries are indeed disproportionately affectionate toward BlackBerry.


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In line with Oppo's quest to be the number 1 mobile brand in the Philippines, the company just expanded their distribution channels. This time the brand just inked an partnership with Lazada Philippines, the leader in e-commerce in the Philippines to reach more Filipinos nationwide.
|Lazada's Mr. Inanc Balci of Lazada at OPPO's stage!|
Under this latest exclusive partnership, any online shopper who wants to purchase original Oppo camera phones with local support and warranty can now enjoy the convenience of Lazada's online shopping platform. With Lazada, Oppo can now reach more customers nationwide even if they don't have a physical in that certain area.
Along with that, users can enjoy Lazada's privileges of hassle free transactions which includes paying via cash on deliver right on their doorsteps, nationwide free shipping, and other online only promotion.
Related: Oppo F1s Limited Now Official, Will Be Available Nationwide At Lazada With Freebies For PHP 12990!
Right now, Oppo has started selling devices like the F1, F1 Plus, and A37. This 11/11 online revolution, the Oppo F1s Limited will be available at Lazada and will come with special freebies like a VR Box and selfie stick w/ shutter button.
To shop Oppo devices at Lazada's online visit this link now.


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Startup updates: LevelUp drops fees for merchants; peerTransfer adds Rupee
LevelUp, the mobile payment service from Boston's SCVNGR, said Thursday that merchants using the service will no longer pay processing fees.
The company said that the 3,000 businesses using the service will now only pay LevelUp when they choose to run a campaign using the service. LevelUp said it takes 35 cents for every dollar of credit redeemed through the campaigns.
"That means LevelUp is only making money when real value — which is determined by the merchant when they set up their campaign(s) — is created," the company said in the announcement.
The service lets users pay by scanning the LevelUp app on their mobile device — linked to a credit or debit card — and gives a discount on their first visit; users can earn additional discounts if they keep going back.
About 200,000 users are spending a total of $2 million a month using LevelUp, the company recently said. Chains offering the service include Boloco and Johnny Rockets.
SCVNGR has raised about $32 million in venture funding since its founding in 2008, including a $12 million Series D in June. Investors include Google Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, Balderton Capital, Continental Investors and Transmedia Capital.
peerTransfer adds support for Indian Rupee
Boston startup peerTransfer said this week that its service, which aims to provide cheaper and easier international transfer of tuition funds, now supports the Rupee for Indian students.
Students from India make up 14.4 percent of the U.S. international student population, peerTransfer said.
The company said it brought a total of 36 new partner schools onto the service in the second quarter, including Tufts University and Carnegie Mellon University. The company says 147 schools now use the service.
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PAGEONE, the most-awarded public relations agency in the Philippines, has announced the launch of “Flea Market Philippines: A Community for Sustainable Living,” a pioneering campaign that seeks to establish a vibrant community for sustainable living while providing a platform for individuals to buy and sell second-hand goods.
In collaboration with BrandPlay Inc., PAGEONE is dedicated to shaping a more sustainable future and supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #12, which focuses on responsible consumption and production.
PAGEONE President Vonj Tingson expressed the agency’s commitment to sustainability, saying, “With ‘Flea Market Philippines,’ we are taking a bold step towards promoting responsible consumption and production. This campaign is not just about buying and selling; it’s about fostering a community of like-minded individuals who are committed to reducing waste, making conscious choices, and contributing to a more sustainable future for our country.”
BrandPlay Managing Director John Frederick Cruz shared his thoughts on the collaboration, saying, “BrandPlay is honored to collaborate with PAGEONE because achieving responsible consumption and production requires a collective effort. We encourage everyone to actively participate in the ‘Flea Market Philippines’ online community, where you find new treasures and play a crucial role in building a greener, more sustainable Philippines.”
The “Flea Market Philippines” campaign transcends the typical online marketplace. It serves as a hub for eco-conscious individuals passionate about reducing waste and promoting responsible consumption.
By creating a space for the exchange of second-hand items, the campaign not only minimizes environmental impact but also fosters a sense of community where individuals come together to share, trade, and cultivate a culture of sustainability.
As “Flea Market Philippines” takes center stage, PAGEONE and BrandPlay Inc. are proud to contribute to the growing movement toward sustainable living and responsible consumption, proving that small individual actions can collectively lead to significant positive change. For more information about the campaign and to get involved, please visit https://pageone.ph/ or follow PAGEONE at https://www.facebook.com/PAGEONE.ph.