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Cold storage real estate gathers steam amid the COVID-19 pandemic
Cold storage logistics is an industry that’s gained prominence because of the opportunities in vaccine transport. Money Mind takes a look at how this niche property market is heating up.
SINGAPORE: Cold storage logistics is an industry that has gained prominence because of the opportunities in vaccine transport.
This was once a niche property sector, but with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the demand for cold storage facilities, the global cold storage market - which was worth an estimated US$107 billion in 2020 - is expected to grow to more than US$290 billion by 2028, according to a new study conducted by Grand View Research.
The Asia Pacific is a growing part of that market – with anticipated annual growth of more than 10 per cent. But that growth is from a low base, with even the region’s most advanced economies, trailing behind western countries.
In the United States, cold storage space per capita was 0.577 cubic metres in 2020.
In Japan, it was 0.339 cubic metres and in Australia, 0.382.
In comparison, the Philippines and Indonesia have less than 0.04 cubic metres of cold storage space per capita.
The shortcomings of this became clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the need to transport vaccine supplies arose.
“The whole cold supply chain is very fragmented, so as soon as we had the pandemic impacting the demand, we saw a squeeze," said Mr Michael Ignatiadis, head of supply chain and logistics solutions, Asia Pacific, at JLL.
"An example is Vietnam. It’s the third-largest seafood exporter in the world. But during COVID-19, orders were suddenly cancelled, so up to 50 per cent of orders were cancelled. That led to a stockpile of products and the cold storage supply was not sufficient to accommodate this surplus.”
TIGHT SUPPLY, HIGHER EXPENSES
Mr Wong Xian Yang is head of research, Singapore, at Cushman and Wakefield. He explained why there is currently a limited supply of cold storage space.
“Most of these cold stores tend to be owned by end users or by third-party logistics players. The properties that are owned by investors, and the institutional grade cold stores are relatively small. Also, the pandemic has affected construction activities, so new supplies are taking a while to come onto the market.”
In Singapore, cold storage warehouses account for just 10 per cent of the stock of Grade A warehouse space, according to Colliers.
But while investors might see opportunities in limited supply and increased demand, industry experts cautioned that there are also risks.
“Capital expenditure is higher, and because of the power consumption, operating expenses are also higher. So it is more risky compared to a conventional warehouse, because if you have a vacancy, cost will be higher than the market average," said Mr Wong.
"But of course with higher risks, there’s higher returns. Rents can be about 50 to 100 per cent higher than a conventional warehouse. And the leases also tend to be longer – about five to 10 years, compared to three years for conventional warehouses."
LONGER LEASE, STABLE INCOME
In a survey of investor intentions, CBRE found that cold storage was ranked as the second-most preferred real estate asset, after data centres.
CBRE said that investors were attracted by the longer leases and hence stable incomes.
Before the pandemic, trends in the food industry were already driving the growth of the cold storage market.
Cushman and Wakefield’s Wong identified three main factors driving the demand for cold storage facilities: Rising food consumption, especially of imported food; changing consumer preferences; and growing accessibility of higher quality fresh and perishable goods.
Growth in the sector is also being driven by the transformation of the retail sector.
Online supermarket shopping has seen robust growth.
The rise of omnichannel distribution – or retail that integrates different methods of shopping – is also driving up demand for cold storage.
Since late 2020, the cold chain has played a vital role in the roll-out of one of the most sought after international commodities – COVID-19 vaccines.
But despite this, experts think that the growth of cold storage facilities will still be driven by long-term trends in the food industry.
"When vaccines are imported, they are quickly distributed out to the population.So in terms of storage, it’s not such a big market," said Mr Wang.
"I think the bulk of demand still comes from the F&B," he said.
The biomedical sector is also expected to contribute to demand long-term.
“What we are seeing is the rise of Asia Pacific life sciences is going to give us the extra boost of super high quality cold storage in the coming years. It’s not only for vaccines, but also for wider medical products. So the pandemic is the catalyst for us to develop more good quality cold storage,” said Mr Henry Chin, head of research, APAC, at CBRE.
Currently, rental prices for cold storage facilities are higher than normal warehouse facilities. Industry watchers believe asking prices can go higher still.
Currently, in Singapore, rents for cold store logistics warehouses range between S$2.50 to S$3.50 per sq ft per month.
"The other asset classes, like hotel and retail, investors are moving out of those. Definitely the yields in logistics are better," said Mr Ignatiadis.
"Now it’s majority might be owner-occupied, but this trend is shifting."


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· Bank says riskier loans are only way for many to buy · Debt charity calls policy 'mortgage with precipice'
Tesco has set out ambitious plans to take on some of the biggest names in fashion retailing with a "massive" investment to expand its clothing business.
Google's ad revenues in the UK will outstrip those of Channel 4 this year, the broadcaster's chief executive Andy Duncan said yesterday, marking another milestone in the relentless rise of internet advertising. By Chris Tryhorn.
Savers were given a boost yesterday with the news that the tax-friendly Isa regime will be extended indefinitely.

domain: news


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In June I wrote Chinese Bears.
All the waffle on the Chinese economy being based on exports and manufacturing is just smoke and mirrors.
China is a "housing-led economy", says UBS economist Jonathan Anderson, who estimates that property construction alone accounted for 13 per cent of gross domestic product in 2010, twice the share of the 1990s.
While China's anticipated growth is still well above that of other large economies, any reduction could have deep consequences.
The global economy is now even more dependent on China for demand for anything from commodities to luxury goods, given the tepid recovery in the US and Europe's continuing sovereign-debt problems.
If the Chinese housing market slows faster than people had expected, the impact would be felt in a number of markets that export heavily to China.
Many Latin American and African economies have shifted their focus toward Chinese demand for their raw materials, and many Western firms, including US retailers and fast-food chains, now bank on Chinese consumers feeling wealthier to make up for stagnating sales elsewhere.
This was sent to me the other day (h/t Paddy).
Shanghai Homeowners Smash Showroom in Protest of Falling Prices; Developer Warns on Price Drops; "Twilight Zone" of Phony Accounting and Shadow Money
The property bubble in China has finally burst. Denial has turned to anger as Shanghai Homeowners Smash Showroom in Protest Over Falling Prices
22% Drop Overnight
The drop from 18,000 to 14,000 yuan is a 22% overnight drop and that is just a down payment on the carnage that is coming.
Read the juicy bits in the link.
Then read Chinese, Japanese, Money Please, the parallels are uncanny.


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Net zero emissions, Labour challenges, Artificial Intelligence…
City Destinations Alliance held its International Conference in Sofia, bringing together European DMOs leaders, partners and tourism experts to discuss the “Elephant in the Room” – a reference to the industry’s most pressing and hidden issues that demand urgent attention. From net-zero to a labour shortage and challenges, passing by artificial intelligence and the shifting sphere of influence, 180 members from DMOs all over Europe and beyond got a new approach to existing elephants that have changed over time.
Achieving net zero emissions in tourism
The event kicked off by tackling the challenges and implications of transitioning towards a net zero emissions economy, and the role of destinations in this transition.
Several experts in the field, including Rodney Payne from Destination Think!, Mat Woods from Destination Queenstown, Michelle Morss from Queenstown Lakes District Council, Elke Dens from The Travel Foundation, Ljubica Kneževic Cvelbar from the University of Ljubljana, Bernadett Papp from European Tourism Futures Institute, Ewout Versloot from NBTC Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions and Janie Neumann from the GDS-Movement shared their insights and experiences on the road towards net zero with the same conclusion: the importance of real action as the best marketing strategy.
Consequently, this opens up a new role for DMOs to develop products, new markets and new places. And new solutions too, as the system changes so that low-carbon travel options are increasingly the default, the cheapest and the easiest.
The tourism industry has the power to drive cultural change, foster collaboration, and lead innovation globally.
Sharing insights on the impact of Generative AI and ChatGPT on travel and tourism
Experts discussed the growing significance of generative AI and ChatGPT in the travel and tourism industry. They highlighted how major travel brands are already developing plug-ins and new services based on this technology.
The experts agreed that generative AI and ChatGPT are already changing how we work and play in the travel and tourism industry, and how it is essential to stay ahead of the curve by embracing this technology.
The future of work in the tourism sector
The event highlighted the need for change from within the industry and how DMOs and CVBs are adapting to the needs and requirements of an appealing, inclusive, and flexible place of work. These sessions highlighted the need for change from within the tourism and destination sector and the efforts of DMOs and CVBs to adapt to the fluctuating needs of the workforce. The experts agreed that creating an inclusive, equitable, and diverse workplace is essential to attract and retain talent in the industry.
Participants also got the chance to hear from other members and destinations (Amsterdam, Bilbao, Catalonia, Dublin, Dubrovnik, Flanders, Glasgow, Hamburg, Ljubljana, Netherlands, Tel Aviv, Veluwe Arnhem Nijmegen) as well as CityDNA partners and collaborators (European Tourism Association (ETOA), European Tourism Futures Institute (ETFI), ForwardKeys, GDS-Movement, Mabrian, Modul University, Simpleview, TCI Research, The Data Appeal Company) and other companies and universities (BeSMART, Glasgow Caledonian University, House of Hospitality, The Other Half, Toponaut, University of the West of Scotland).
The next CityDNA Conference will be held on October 3-7, 2023 in Valencia. The Call for Speakers will be sent in May 2023.


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Apple reduces cost of ATI card for Mac ProApple Computer has lowered the cost of the ATI X1900XT graphics card that was introduced alongside the company's Mac Pro line of desktop computers this month.
The 512MB, 2 x dual-link DVI graphics card was introduced with a price tag of $350 (when purchased with a Mac Pro) but is now priced at $250, according to checks with the Apple online store.
"Apple is pleased to announce a price drop for the Mac Pro you recently ordered," the company wrote in an email to Apple Store online customers. "We have automatically adjusted your order to reflect the new price."
Though welcomed by early Mac Pro adopters, no explanation for the $100 price reduction was offered. In its e-mail to customers, Apple also failed to mention the X1900XT specifically.
Mac Pro orders configured with the still-unreleased graphics card have been delayed by several weeks. Apple is currently listing estimated ship times of mid-September for those systems that have been on order.
The Apple online store is also offering the X1900XT as a standalone product for $399, which was similarly reduced from $499.
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We are already end of October and the NAMM Show 2018 is coming soon. In three months, we will know all the new products coming from the big brands. In the latest KORG microKAST podcast (produced by the KORG UK department), they talked about a new KORG product coming for the NAMM show 2018. The team is currently working on the name of the new product. (Podcast minute 7:45) It’s a legit source because the producers of the show work for the KORG company and per example, they leaked some months ago the iWavestation for iOS in one of their episodes.
It will be interesting to see what kind of new product they will bring out. Maybe a big brother of the Minilogue with more polyphonie and features, or a complete new range of modern analog/digital synths. What we know now, they are working on something new.
Don’t miss the excellent KORG microKAST podcast on iTunes and the support the producers.
More information here: KORG microKAST


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On paper it sounds good, even too good: If a company has to shut down as part of the so-called “November lockdown”, the state reimburses 75 percent of sales. Many entrepreneurs could make a good cut there. Because in many small companies the fixed costs, i.e. the expenses that arise like rent and lease even without business operations, are less than the federal government is now willing to pay. I.
A total of ten billion euros could be paid out by the federal government for the months of November and December too much because of this regulation, calculated the Institute of the German Economy. However, it is unlikely that this will happen. The damage is likely to be much greater if the company is left with because the aid barely reaches them or not at all – as with the previous aid packages.
There are still no concrete figures on the so-called November aid. It has only been possible to apply for them for a few days – almost a month after the factories concerned closed. However, many entrepreneurs already know that they will not be reimbursed for anything or only a fraction of their losses. Because in specific individual cases the initially generous conditions of the assistance become insurmountable hurdles.
There are, for example, the hoteliers who, after the long compulsory break in the spring for November and December of this year, had excellent booking figures and thus the hope that they could at least limit their losses for the year as a whole. In addition, many tourist hotels canceled their traditional company holidays in November, the weakest month in many German holiday areas, for this year.
They had already closed more than enough to carry out the usual renovations and the like. However, since they had little or no turnover in November last year, they do not qualify for the November aid. Because the previous month is used as the basis for calculating the sales to be reimbursed.
Previous bridging aids hardly used
And then there are the many retailers who are losing customers due to the closed accommodation establishments in the holiday regions or the failing Christmas markets. Companies indirectly affected by the ordered closure of the catering industry are also entitled to apply for November aid.
However, only those who can prove that they achieve at least 80 percent of their turnover with “companies affected by the closure order”. The Treasury Department cites a laundry that works for the closed hotels as an example. All dry cleaners that wash only 25 percent of other textiles, for example, are just as empty as the retailers who do their business with tourists, but not directly with the closed hotels.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been numerous attempts, some of them criminal, to enrich themselves with government aid. The bigger problem, however, is that a large part of the billions do not reach those affected. That was the case with the previous relief measures. Of the planned 25 billion euros for bridging aid I for the period from May to August, only slightly more than five percent was paid out.
Bridging aid II, which runs until the end of the year, has so far been used much less. Due to the bureaucratic hurdles, the volume of November aid is likely to end up being significantly lower than the billions promised.
The article first appeared on ntv.de.


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What Great Brands Do
Keynote Speaker Denise Lee Yohn
Delivers Fresh Ideas and Clear Cut Tools For
Brand expert Denise Lee Yohn reveals the secrets behind how top companies develop standout brands that foster customer loyalty and increase profit margins.
“What questions should entrepreneurs ask themselves if they want to improve their companies?” Earlier this year, business thought-leaders including Jim Collins, Marshall Goldsmith, and Gary Hamel were asked this question and their responses were published in Inc. magazine. The compiled list of questions was fascinating and far-ranging – from the esoteric (“What is our question?” […]
CrossFit seems to be the newest fitness craze. According to Tabata Times, CrossFit has grown in 6 short years to 5,000 affiliates worldwide, and according to the official CrossFit Games website, over 200,000 people signed up this year for the CrossFit Games Open, the worldwide qualifier for the CrossFit Games. While the popularity of CrossFit in certain market segments […]
Downtown Project, the movement to revitalize downtown Las Vegas originally funded by Tony Hsieh the CEO of Zappos, has been in the news a lot lately. On the downside, many articles (including this one) Monday-morning-quarterbacked the collection of businesses and organizations when it laid off 30 staffers. But in the plus column, it was praised […]


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The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
THE decision by the Zimbabwe Football Association to sell tickets for the Warriors’ last Africa Cup of Nations match against Congo Brazzaville next month is paying off with thousands having been bought so far.
Zifa communications and competitions manager Xolisani Gwesela last Friday said the tickets were selling fast with thousands sold. The Zifa spokesperson said they will release the actual figures of tickets that have been bought during the course of this week.
“People are buying these tickets like hot cakes, what I can confirm is that thousands of tickets have been bought across the board. We encourage people to buy these tickets in time so that they are not inconvenienced at the stadium and come to the stadium early on the day of the match,’’ Gwesela said.
A total of 50 000 tickets, which is the carrying capacity for the National Sports Stadium are available with $10 for the rest of the ground, $50 for bay 15 to 18 with those wishing to occupy the VIP forking out $200.
“From mid-week, we should be able to give accurate figures. Fifty thousand tickets have been made available for the match,’’ Gwesela said.
The Felton Kamambo-led Zifa board resolved last month to sell tickets for the clash between Zimbabwe and Congo Brazzaville in advance with no pay point available at the stadium on the day of the match.
It is the first time that Zifa have introduced advance tickets for national team matches and this was done so as to avoid chaos at the gates.
Physical tickets are available at the Zifa offices at Number 53 Livingstone Avenue in Harare while online they can be purchased at clicknpay.
Zimbabwe are on top of their group with eight points, followed by Liberia on seven. With two teams guaranteed a spot at the tournament to be held in Egypt starting on 7 June, Zimbabwe just need to avoid defeat against bottom placed Congo Brazzaville to secure their fourth appearance at the Afcon.


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In October 2021, Bally’s Corporation completed its transaction to acquire Gamesys Group, an online gaming company with a 20-year history and offices across the globe, including London and Malta.
The merger brought together thousands of employees from vastly different industries and cultures. It was the dawn of a new day for Bally’s, and the start of a considerable challenge for the employer branding and communications team, whose role now was to unite the company’s 10,000 plus employees with a combined purpose and set of values.
The Bally’s merger wasn’t a simple matter of two companies joining together- in fact, Gamesys was only one of the companies that joined the Bally’s team that year following a number of acquisitions. The diversity of this portfolio sets Bally’s apart, according to Bally’s CEO Lee Fenton, who stated in an interview last year that Bally’s is the first company in its industry to have both their retail and digital operating at the same scale.
Among the various properties, companies and brands acquired in 2021 are B2B providers, digital gaming operators, 14 land-based casinos dotted around the United States, and even a horse racing track. Products and offerings on the digital side of the business span a huge range including sports betting, online casinos, bingo, free to play, and fantasy sports, all spread across offices in over a dozen different locations. The final result was a business with 10,000+ employees around the world!
Of course, bringing together this unique amalgamation of skills and expertise is one thing- getting them to align under the same banner of core values is quite another.
“Creating a core purpose for the company was a top priority as soon as the merger was finalised,” said Raissa Tabone, Director of Employer Brand and Internal Communications for Bally’s. She continued: “With so many employees joining under the relatively new banner of Bally’s Corporation, establishing our identity as a unified brand was one of the first steps in our strategy.”
Using the existing Gamesys purpose and values as a starting point, the Bally’s team conducted a series of workshops to find what values really sat at the heart of their newly united workforce. Being sure to factor in representation from across the company, these workshops included a cross-section of staff, ranging from new joiners to long-time employees, entry level roles to senior leadership, and both the digital and retail arms of the business.
Through a painstaking process that spanned 6 months and took in opinions from all corners of the globe, the team was able to boil everything down to the one factor that united the company across all sectors: their need to delight and fascinate players. Though there will always be new challenges when dealing with a team that spans across entire continents, Bally’s has a guiding purpose to see them through, they are: “Born to Entertain – engaging experiences everywhere”.
Visit careers.ballysinteractive.com if you’d like to know more about open roles within the Bally’s Interactive team!
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VentureMax CEO Justin Anastasi reveals bold plans to support innovative tech projects in 2024


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LGP has announced it will exclusively supply medicinal cannabis oil products to enrolled patients in the QUality of life Evaluation Study, commonly known as The QUEST Initiative.
LGP will also provide funding costs for the initiative, which is being conducted by researchers at the University of Sydney.
The study aims to be one of the world’s largest longitudinal studies investigating the quality of life and health economics of patients with chronic disease who are prescribed medicinal cannabis.
FastForward has a 0.9% interest in the issued stock of LGP after participating in last week’s share placing by the medicinal cannabis business.
“Little Green Pharma is one of our newest investments in the medical cannabis space and we are delighted that it is already delivering such strong news flow. The QUEST Initiative aims to have at least 2,100 patients by 30 June 2021, which is a very significant number, and it is excellent to hear that Little Green Pharma is involved with the exclusive supply of medical cannabis oil products as well as providing funding for study costs,” said Ed McDermott, the chief executive officer of FastForward.
Shares in the investment firm were up 24% at 14.4p midway through the morning trading session.


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Added by Pat Williams on April 25, 2012
Chatham, Kent, UK – The local Kent based directory, Little Ones, announces its relaunch as a national activity site for parents.
“The fantastic new website is bright, bold and full of guides and options to make parents lives that bit easier.
When you’re a busy parent the last thing you want to do is search around through the yellow pages for places you can take your children to keep them busy,” said Kathy Cakebread, founder of Little Ones.
According to the organization, Keep Children Entertained offers a comprehensive directory of children’s businesses from preschool dance classes, baby massage, football classes, party entertainers and much more. The site acts as a hub for parents who can find out what’s on in the area that month and get the latest news on parenting topics.
The site was created because research proved there was a gap in the market for a central point where parents could find all the information they needed without having to physically search for it.
Kathy Cakebread, founder said, “I started Keep Children Entertained as my friends with children were always saying to me how they wish there was a central place they could find all the children’s companies in Kent. That way they could just find out what they needed to do and off they go without hunting for it.”
The unique selling point is that the sites revolves completely around children’s businesses and is focused purely on helping parents become more organised.
According to Cakebread , having only been established eight months, Keep Children Entertained has already attracted over 30 Kent based children’s businesses, and as it grows welcomes the addition of many more.
Kathy Cakebread said, “I hope to make Keep Children Entertained as successful as sites like Netmums which started with just two mums, if not more.”
For more information visit keepchildrenentertained.co.uk
37 Waverley Close
Lordswood – Chatham, Kent ,UK


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The New Zealand dollar has fallen against most of its trading peers after figures show a drop in third-quarter retail sales, adding to weak employment numbers and suggesting the economy has hit a pothole.
The kiwi traded at 81.69 US cents from 81.88 cents at 8am in Wellington and from 81.66 cents in late trading the previous day. The trade-weighted index fell to 73.12 from 73.37 this morning.
Government figures today showed the volume of retail sales fell 0.4%, seasonally adjusted, in the three months ended September 30, against a Reuters survey calling for a 0.5% gain.
That adds to the gloom from data last week showing the jobless rate unexpectedly jumped to 7.3%, suggesting the economy's pace is stumbling.
Retail sales are "more evidence that the third quarter of this year was a soft patch for the New Zealand economy", says Imre Speizer, senior markets strategist at Westpac Banking Corp.
More up-to-date data, including business sentiment, suggests the economy has sped up again in the fourth quarter, he says.
The kiwi fell to 78.15 Australian cents from 78.45 cents. It did not move much after Australia's wage cost index for the third quarter rose 0.7%, close to market expectations of a 0.8% gain, for a year-on-year increase of 3.7%.
Mr Speizer says the figures do show some evidence that wage inflation is starting to slow in the mining sector.
The kiwi fell to 64.95 yen from 65.09 yen and slid to 64.21 euro cents from 64.47 cents. It dropped to 51.41 British pence from 51.62 pence.
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Is Cyber Monday the new Black Friday?
The power of being just a click away
It's here. Winding in like a tidal wave, after a long awaited Thanksgiving break Black Friday arrived with the same pomp and rush as last year. However, there is a new day that could crush Black Friday as the new busiest shopping day of the year, on a Monday no less. The Monday after Thanksgiving is called Cyber Monday and for many, it is a gold mine of savings and a convenient way to go holiday shopping.
Beginning holiday shopping for many means hitting the malls at dawn the Friday after Thanksgiving, but an increasing number of shoppers will hit online retailers first thing tomorrow with the same expectation of scoring great deals. According to recent studies, online retailers expect millions of American shoppers to hit online stores this Cyber Monday.
The Monday after Thanksgiving was coined Cyber Monday in 2005 by Shop.org to recognize the Monday after Thanksgiving as the busiest online shopping day of the year. And though the concept of Cyber Monday is fairly new, its goal is anything but old—to generate sales, lots and lots of sales.
And now is high time for planning your holiday savings. Retailers generate most of their yearly income during the holiday season and offering deals online is a great way for stores to sell more products and generate revenue.
With that in mind, mainstream retailers are already gearing up for increased online sales by offering Cyber Monday deals long before the big day hits. As of November 14, CVS.com was already advertising special Cyber Monday deals. Promotions not only promise great savings for consumers; they also generate significant profits for retailers before online shoppers hit their keyboards on Cyber Monday. CVS.com has offered savings of as much as $30.00 on traditional gifts often used as stocking stuffers. These include items like electric razors, body massagers and household items like Brita filters.
Target.com is gearing up for the online shopping rush, promising free shipping on all purchases of $50.00 or more starting in late November. The free shipping promotion will end December 11.
Many traditional retailers will face decreased sales this holiday season. However, Laura Lorelei, store manager of Polka Dot Divas in Occoquan, is not concerned. "We generally don't offer special deals online on Cyber Monday," Lorelei said. "Our website is very simple and user friendly." Lorelei went on to explain that most merchandise sells for between one and 30 dollars, so they actually see an increase in sales during the holidays. Polka Dot Divas sells novelty gifts for ladies both young and old.
In 2009, many bloggers said they prefer shopping Cyber Monday to Black Friday because items are delivered to your door and you do not have to fight crowds in the stores. According to current news reports, Cyber Monday is expected to crush Black Friday this year.
People these days are trying to tighten their wallets, so the idea of doing holiday shopping online is quite attractive. Many items are on sale and special offers will abound. The need to save money on gas and other necessities is strong right now and many are willing to pay for shipping to cut down on gas costs. However, many retailers are offering free shipping as an incentive to get people to buy.
So how can you make the most of Cyber Monday?
Use promotional codes. Many online retailers like Chadwicks.com and Brylanehome.com offer promotional codes you can enter at checkout. These promotional codes give you free shipping and can save you as much as 40 percent on your purchase.
Buy more, save more. Though the whole "buy more, save more" concept may seem like a contradiction, there is actually some truth to it. Many online retailers will take $25.00 off a purchase of $75.00 or more. This may require you to buy more than you originally planned, but you will get more gifts for less money.


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King Soopers parent Kroger to sell vitamins online
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Cincinnati-based Kroger agreed Wednesday to acquire Boca Raton, Florida-based Vitacost.com for $280 million. It's an online seller of 45,000 products including vitamins, minerals, herbs, supplements, sports nutrition, beauty care products and natural and organic foods, with 2.3 million active customers.
Kroger expects the deal to help it expand sales of some of its existing products, CFO Mike Schlotman said in a conference call on Wednesday to discuss the deal. Kroger also plans to greatly enhance its online sales as a result of the deal.
Kroger's King Soopers already delivers to homes of people who order online in Denver.
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Take a look
The value of finance deals to buy cars has climbed massively to a new monthly record. This is according to new figures.
The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) said in March that motorists spent a whopping £3.6bn on car finance deals. This is a rise of 13 per cent on the same month in 2016.
Most of these purchases were done through Personal Contract Purchases (PCPs).
Both the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have raised concerns about these deals.
Including used cars, consumers spent a huge £32.5bn in the year to March.
You can buy new and old cars using PCPs, buyers can also rent a car for up to four years.
At the end of this they can either pay a final lump sum or return the car at no extra cost at the end of the contract. It has to be in good condition and be within the agreed mileage.


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Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng has decided to delay her trip to India, initially scheduled for October. This decision follows a tense encounter between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 summit in New Delhi.
Trade Mission Postponed Following G20 Summit Incident
Shanti Cosentino, a spokesperson for the minister, mentioned, “At this moment, we are postponing the upcoming trade mission to India,” without explaining the cause for the delay.
During the G20 summit, Modi had a brief, informal meeting with Trudeau on the sidelines, reflecting the strained relations between the two countries.


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The anti-nuclear weapons group UANI has forced another multinational corporation, Hyundai, to stop doing at least some business in Iran because of the Obama Administration’s sanctions against the Middle Eastern state.
“We can announce that Hyundai has ended its business in Iran. We applaud Hyundai for ending its business in Iran. Our extensive discussions with Hyundai are confidential,” a UANI spokesperson told AutoInformed.com. Hyundai had no immediate comment about the UANI disclosure.
In a letter to Mr. Chung Mong-Koo, Chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company, UANI President, former U.S. Ambassador Mark D. Wallace wrote: “UANI strongly encourages Hyundai to follow the lead of other responsible companies like Kia Motor Co. and Toyota and cease not only all exports to Iran, but also company investments in Iran, particularly those that facilitate the ability of the regime in Tehran to pursue policies that threaten global security.”
Hyundai companies including Hyundai HYSCO, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Oil Bank, and Hyundai Rotem all had business dealings in Iran, according to UANI. Hyundai Rotem, where Hyundai owns a majority share, manufactures railcars and defense-related products.
Hyundai also sells vehicles through its exclusive distributor Assan Motors and has collaborated with local Iranian producers such as the Kerman Motor Company, the Rayen Vehicle Manufacturing Co., and the Iran Khodro Diesel Co. to produce different types of Hyundai vehicles and key components in Iran.
Last week, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and Iran180 with New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio launched a new website, IranWatchList.com and a corresponding consumer action campaign to pressure companies that do business in Iran. Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Former CIA Director Jim Woolsey and Middle East expert Dennis Ross founded UANI in 2008.
The campaign’s first targets are 12 global automakers that continue to sell vehicles in Iran – and UANI says to Iran’s military – despite the latest round of economic sanctions from the United States and the European Union.
In the view of some, this is a perfect example of the hypocritically bad behavior of global corporations supporting terrorism and repression abroad in the pursuit of profits against the policies of their home governments, whose democratic laws financially protect them and provide for the well being their major stockholders and executives.
The 12 automakers displayed in the Watch List’s “Virtual Showroom” are Fiat, Isuzu, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Porsche, Renault, Suzuki, Toyota and Volvo. Combined, they sell more than 650,000 vehicles per year in the country, making it the second-largest sector of Iran’s economy, according to UANI. With the exception of Fiat controlled Chrysler, General Motors and Ford are supporting U.S. foreign policy.
UANI also said that automakers such as Mazda that receive federal government contracts should certify with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that it is not engaged in business in Iran, or engaged in the implementation of any agreement with Iranian entities.
A letter to Mazda CEO Takashi Yamanouchi from UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace just released said, in part, “By collaborating with the Bahman Group, Mazda is supporting the IRGC and its ability to pursue weapons of mass destruction and sponsor terrorist acts around the globe. In 2010, a Mazda spokesman claimed Mazda was unaware that Bahman is linked to the IRGC. Mazda can no longer hide behind this veil of ignorance. It is time for Mazda to end its relationship with the Bahman Group and pull out of Iran.”


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Cyprus financial regulator CySEC has announced that it has decided to withdraw the Cyprus Investment Firm (CIF) authorisation of Rodeler Ltd, due to the company’s decision to expressly renounce it.
We had reported last August that CySEC reached a settlement with Rodeler, which operated the 24option.com and 24fx.com retail brokerage brand websites as CySEC licensed entities. The settlement saw Rodeler pay a fine of €280,000 to the Cyprus Treasury, in regards to violations of its CySEC CIF license.
And that settlement came after Rodeler and another CIF-holder under common ownership, TradeATF parent Hoch Capital Ltd, voluntarily renounced their CySEC CIF licenses. The “voluntary” moves followed trouble that both brokers got into with UK regulator The FCA at the beginning of June. As Cyprus licensed financial companies both 24option and TradeATF were able to “passport” their licenses into the UK and all other EU countries, and operate offices in those locations as well as take retail clients from those jurisdictions. However The FCA banned 24option and TradeATF (and some other CySEC licensed brands) from the UK, in a first-of-its-kind move against passporting brokers.
The FCA cited issues such as unauthorised celebrity endorsements on social media to entice consumers into scams involving CFDs. In addition, the regulator noted that the firms had failed to pay money owed to investors, charged customers undisclosed fees, and failed to tell them about the risks of trading CFDs.
Rodeler Ltd had operated 24option, as its name implies, as a Binary Options brokerage, but later transitioned to become a “standard” FX and CFDs broker. It appears as if 24option is continuing to operate website 24option.com as an offshore Belize incorporated entity called Richfield Capital Limited.


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Eleven 50% of the respondents did not receive serious delays in delivery of goods
in November 11th hit a new record sales network, the express industry has also ushered in tremendous challenges hitherto unknown. According to reports, from November 10th to 17, the national mail (express) volume is expected to reach 586 million.
last weekend, the Chongqing morning news public opinion research center jointly Chongqing Lixin market research company research it site for 571 people involved in the November 11th online shopping, launched an online survey.
Although some people have a lot of dissatisfaction with the
, but the survey found that, as of 14 pm yesterday, 72% of respondents to the buyers this year electricity supplier Shopping Festival express service overall satisfaction, 86% of respondents express to keep up with the rhythm of understanding.


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IK Investment Partners, formerly known as Industri Kapital, has exited its investment in Dutch online shopping business Wehkamp, for a 5x return to private investors according to a source close to the deal.
IK will retain a minority interest in the company, which is owned by a group of private investors.
Valued at €100m, the sale ends an almost three year investment. Wehkamp was part of a double acquisition by IK from UK retail group GUS in January 2006, which saw the mid-market buyout house also buy Transfair, a credit management company.
At that time Wehkamp was experiencing declining sales despite being the market leader in the Dutch home shopping market. Originally a mail order company, a the time of IK’s involvement, it was transforming itself into an online retailer, and back in 2006 generated over 50% of its revenues from its internet store, which was the largest in the Netherlands.
Since then, the company has reported an average growth rate of 5% per annum, and operating profits have doubled. The online store has been reorganised, and the website overhauled, leading to 5 million visitors per month shopping from a product range of 55,000 items.
Wehkamp also used to offer its customers financial services – this became a separate company called Lacent, and is being sold as part of the deal.
IK will retain a minority interest in Wehkamp. Kristiaan Nieuwenburg, Partner at IK said: “Wehkamp has been a very profitable investment for IK. The transformation of Wehkamp demonstrates IK’s ability to accelerate growth and implement structural operational improvements in our portfolio companies. Wehkamp is now ready for the next phase in its development.”


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Rising gas prices and tides of economic woe didn’t put a damper on the first day of the Inland Northwest RV Show, as crowds began showing up to case the latest deals in pleasure-mobiles.
“The show prices are about $4,000 less than the regular prices – the ones I’m looking at, anyway,” said Jim Weaver, a retired fire chief who lives in Spokane. “I had a pickup camper I’ve sold, and I’m looking for a trailer.”
The annual show opened Thursday at the Spokane Fair & Expo Center, and organizer Steve Cody said that in the first few hours, at least, attendance was strong. Weaver was among the opening-day shoppers at the show, which runs through Sunday, and said he planned to return later to make a purchase.
Cody said that’s one of the things that makes the RV show different from other trade shows – typically a couple hundred vehicles are sold over the course of the show. Though he said it’s too soon to tell, he wasn’t expecting that to slow down this year as a result of high gas prices or recent talk of a recession.
RV sales have been growing steadily for several years, according to a University of Minnesota report, including several recent years of double-digit increases.
“This year could be a little less because of the economy, but it’s not expected to be dramatically less,” Cody said.
Longer-term, the picture could be different. Doug Orr, an economics professor at EWU, said in an online chat with The Spokesman-Review this week that a recession or economic downtown is likely to take an eventual toll on the RV industry.
“When people become pessimistic about the future, the first thing they cut back on is discretionary spending,” Orr wrote in the chat. “Just the threat of a looming recession is often enough to reduce sales in an industry like the RV industry or the boat industry.”
Shoppers didn’t seem too concerned about that on Thursday, though. Some said that though gas prices are rising, it wasn’t enough to deter people who are already driving the biggest buses and spending loads of money on gas anyway. And others said that for a lot of people who use tent-trailers or campers closer to home, the price difference is noticeable but not a deal-breaker.
Brad Johnson, who was at the show with his wife and two young daughters, was considering buying an RV for family outings. He said that higher gas prices haven’t deterred him because they wouldn’t be using the trailer all that much.
“You do it so seldom,” he said. “It’s not like you’re commuting with the RV.”
Plenty of people at the show weren’t there to buy but simply to gawk – to count the number of TV players and admire the countertops in the new 40-footers. That’s what Leo Bergstresser, a retired electrician from Colbert, was up to. Bergstresser’s already got a 30-foot Allegro, and he said it’s become his way of seeing the world.
“Wherever – I’ve been to Alaska, been to the Oregon Coast, been to the Grand Canyon,” he said. “I’ve been clear to Prudhoe Bay.”


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Digitalization is taking place in India. ‘Digital India’ seems to be yielding better results every month. A great leap has been made in the digital ecosystem as a whole. The recent developments of July 2021 are also providing great hope for the future.
With over 3,247.82 million UPI transactions in July, the value of transactions crossed Rs. 6 lakh crore for the first time.
PhonePe inched ahead of Google Pay in the runner-up spot, which is also managed to retain. Google Pay unquestionably crossed a huge milestone last month.
Google Pay Crosses 1 Billion UPI Transactions
According to Google Pay, it accounted for 1,119.16 million UPI transactions worth Rs 230,874 crore. In the end, this resulted in one billion subscribers.
PhonePe secured its lead in the monthly UPI transactions with 1.4 billion transactions, accounting for 46% of the market. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data reveals that the total value of transactions via PhonePe in July was Rs 288,572 crore.
The Payments Bank App saw 454.06 million transactions worth Rs 51,694 crore. Google Pay’s volume market share stood at 34.45%, and Paytm Payments Bank App at 14%.
This is a rise of over 15% in volumes for PhonePe, 15% for Google Pay, and an 18.50% rise for Paytm Payments Bank App on a month-on-month basis.
Keeping competition fair
Recent National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) guidelines for Third-Party Application Providers (TPAP) have a volume cap of 30%. The policies are aimed at preventing monopolies by big players and regulating the competition.
PhonePe and Google Pay will have to adhere with these rules from Jan 1, 2021. Existing dominant players with more than 30% market share by volume have two years to abide by the rules.


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When the doors opened early for Black Friday sales at a Wal-Mart store on Long Island, the frenzied shoppers stormed in, determined to be the first to grab the bargains before they were depleted. The maniacs trampled the unfortunate Wal-Mart worker whose job was to open the door. The shoppers continued to run in, ignoring the man on the ground. The New York Times described the scene:
The throng of Wal-Mart shoppers had been building all night, filling sidewalks and stretching across a vast parking lot at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m., the Nassau County police had to be called in for crowd control, and an officer with a bullhorn pleaded for order…
By 4:55, with no police officers in sight, the crowd of more than 2,000 had become a rabble, and could be held back no longer. Fists banged and shoulders pressed on the sliding-glass double doors, which bowed in with the weight of the assault. Six to 10 workers inside tried to push back, but it was hopeless. Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains.
At this point, Jdimytai Damour was trampled in the stampede and died, without shoppers stopping to help. When the police shut down the store, shoppers refused to leave.
Is shopping, while possibly saving a few dollars on a highly-publicized sale day, so important that it forces otherwise normal people to act like savages, literally killing each other to be first in line for the bargains? It sounds like this Wal-Mart location was inadequately protected with security appropriate for a mob scene, but it’s just a sale. This was not an angry mob, marching for a cause, ready to defend their movement to the death. Those who trampled this poor individual without any thought to his well-being should be arrested and charges with second degree manslaughter.
Published or updated November 29, 2008.


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Single-use plastic ban in North Myrtle Beach takes effect Friday with one exception
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) – The single-use plastic bag ban in North Myrtle Beach will officially take effect on Friday, but not all plastic bags are banned yet.
During a special-called meeting on Wednesday, the city council passed a first reading that makes an amendment to the ban.
The amendment allows the use of reusable plastic bags with a thickness of 2.25 mm or greater.
It was recommended by city administrators because of the supply chain issues that businesses are experiencing.
“Several local and national businesses told city leaders that they were having trouble obtaining paper bags and reusable bags,” the city said in a press release.
Those strains were felt by grocery stores like Boulineau’s, with a spokesperson saying that the transition is causing financial stress.
“[The] single-use plastic bags that we are currently using cost 38 cents per bag,” said Anna Bowers. “The paper bags we are switching to cost 35 cents per bag. So that is a 10 times cost difference that in one year is going to average about $250,000 in financial impact on us.”
The city will then revisit the issue of reusable plastic bags in 24 months to see if there is still an issue obtaining reusable bags due to supply chain issues.
The city also explained that reusable plastic bags are more readily available and can be used up to 125 times.
The single-use plastic bag ban was originally passed in 2019, but the deadline was extended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was extended again to July 2022 to allow businesses more time to adapt.
City leaders plan to have a final reading on the amendment in a few weeks.
Copyright 2022 WMBF. All rights reserved.


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US: Number of organic farms in Wisconsin grows by 6%, New York by 13%
A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows Wisconsin remains second in the U.S. for the number of organic farms, despite increasing competition from other states.
The number of organic farms in Wisconsin increased by 6 percent to almost 1,300 operations between 2015 and 2016, Wisconsin Public Radio reported .
"I think 6 percent growth is fairly good," said John Mesko, executive director of the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Services.
New York had a 13 percent increase in organic farms last year, bringing the state's total up to more than 1,000. It's the first time a state other than Wisconsin or California has reported having more than 1,000 organic farms.
"New York is coming on in large part because of the market and the capacity they have there to meet it," Mesko said.
The increase in farms will strengthen the industry, said Erin Silva, an organic production specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"The more organic farms that we have across the U.S. and the more organic expertise that is compiled and the more that we can tap into various markets, the stronger the entire organic community is," Silva said.
Growing consumer demand for organic products means there's room for more farms in the industry, Silva said.
Publication date: 10/3/2017
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New 2go version 3.5 released!
They have released a new version of 2go which has many small fixes and enhancements. We have listened to our users and will be rolling out many new features over the next few months.
Download it at http://wap.2go.im on your phone
Enjoy the new version and let us know your comments and suggestions!
Here is the low-down on 2go if you’ve never heard of the 2nd biggest South African mobile messenger.


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Monthly Archives: January 2013
Moving his production facilities into the Brooklyn Army Terminal provides Jacques with much more space to produce his products efficiently. And for him, a plus is that the site is located on the Brooklyn waterfront, with georgous views of the … Continue reading
Jacques has found an ideal location in which to combine his two current production facilities and expand. Not to worry, it’s still in New York City! Later this year, the football field sized chocolate factory will begin operations in Sunset … Continue reading
The Commerical Observer reports on the announcement of Jacques’ signing a lease for 39,500 square feet of space in the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It will be the future site of Jacques’ expanded chocolate production. Read the … Continue reading
Jacques will be participating in this year’s Pebble Beach Food & Wine festival. Stay tuned for further information. Visit the event website here.
Who are we to argue with science? European researchers recently announced that survey volunteers found hot chocolate served in orange colored cups was tastier! Jacques was onto something with our orange cups. Although we’d also argue that good, REAL, hot … Continue reading


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Almost two years ago, Amazon invested part of its $100 million Alexa Fund in Invoxia, a Paris-based startup. At the..
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Jamie Lin Snider rocked the runway with her bold designs at Charleston Fashion Week 2011, and as promised, she’s all set to open her own boutique in a few weeks. Located at 539 King Street (formerly Lesesne), JLINSNIDER will feature avant garde designs from Snider, hand-selected vintage, an organic bath line, and wardrobe styling for men, women, and children.
The space also includes an event courtyard that will play host to local artists and musicians on the first Friday of every month. For the grand opening on Fri. Sept. 2, there will be entertainment as well as refreshments in the courtyard. If you’re interested in participating in a First Friday event, email email@example.com.


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For the first time since launching in 2009, the Microsoft Bing search engine now has over 20 percent market share of the US desktop search market, according to comScore.
Google still leads the way with 64.4 percent of the increasingly competitive market, while Bing has 20.1 percent - Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other companies are trying to adapt to a growing mobile market.
Bing has been a major effort for Microsoft, which has continually dumped money and development time into Bing. The search engine is now integrated into Xbox, Office, Windows and the Windows Phone, as Microsoft wants to try to lure users away from Google.
In the international market, Google has 87.95 percent market share, while Bing (4.4 percent) and Yahoo (3.87 percent) are essentially left fighting for scraps, StatCounter reported.
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Communications Officer II
The Cabinet Office is notifying the public that Statutory Instrument No. 104 Imposition of a Curfew (No. 31) Order, 2020 is now available on the Virgin Islands Official Gazette website at https://eservices.gov.vg/gazette/. The Instrument was published in an extraordinary issue of the Gazette No. 121, dated 12th September, 2020.
Under Statutory Instrument No. 104, the Curfew continues in effect until Wednesday, 16th September, 2020, between the hours of 1:01 p.m. and 4:59 a.m. daily, subject to such conditions as stipulated in this Order.
A person may open and operate a business or establishment from the date this Order comes into force until Wednesday, 16th September, 2020 from 5:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. daily, provided that such businesses and establishments have been inspected and approved by the Social Distancing Monitoring Task Force and certified by the Environmental Health Division. Additionally, no person shall open or operate any of the following businesses or establishments from the date this Order comes into force to Wednesday, 16th September, 2020: salons; hairdressers; barber shops; restaurants (for in service dining); bars; night clubs; and pubs.
For more information or assistance, please contact the Gazette Unit, the Cabinet Office at 468-4336 or email email@example.com.


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In a big step towards a video viewability standard, TubeMogul along with four other companies – BrightRoll, Innovid, LiveRail and SpotXchange – has officially unveiled a solution for in-stream ads. The tool, OpenVV (Short for Open Video View), is completely open source, making the code available to the entire industry.
At the highest level, what the TubeMogul-developed solution is designed to do is answer a central question among brand marketers: did someone actually watch — and listen to — my ad?
The goal of the open source approach is to encourage open usage, conversation and contribution by the industry to create a single standard around the measurement of online video viewability. We’ve already shown the site to IAB and MRC, both of which have provided supportive feedback.
But seeing is believing – get a full demo of OpenVV and check out how it all works here: http://playtime.tubemogul.com/demo/viewability/index.html
If you want more information, read Mike Shields’ article in AdWeek, or contact TubeMogul’s Chief Strategy Officer, Jason Lopatecki if you’re interested in joining the OpenVV community.
As we noted earlier today, TubeMogul University descended on Australia last week. Our CEO Brett Wilson flew out to keynote the conference, but before arriving he dropped by Sky TV’s weekly Technology Behind Business show to talk about digital video advertising and how programmatic buying is changing media strategy for top brands. Watch the interview here:
Brett Wilson Interviewed on SkyNews Australia from TubeMogul on Vimeo.
The explosion in digital video consumption has created new opportunities for brand marketers to reach audiences through video advertising, and programmatic buying is changing how they buy and sell that video inventory. This was the main topic of conversation among attendees at the debut TubeMogul University summit in Hunter Valley just outside of Sydney, Australia last week. The event was held at the Peppers Guest House, which was transformed into TubeMogul University.
Attendees gathered from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Hong Kong to learn more about programmatic buying and the impact of programmatic buying on branding campaigns. TubeMogul CEO Brett Wilson kicked off the event with a welcome and a thank you to attendees for their part in building one of the fastest growing programmatic video advertising markets in the world. The event covered a variety of topics including mastering advanced targeting techniques, mobile video, the competitive landscape in Australia and Asia and even how to compare TV and online buying.
In addition to the TubeMogul leadership team, guest speakers from Innovid, SingTel and Millward Brown each took the stage giving attendees additional insight into the impact and future of programmatic buying.
Here are a few highlights from the event:
Peppers Guest House transformed into TubeMogul University.
Presentations and group discussions focused on programmatic video ad buying.
Fun team-building exercises included Segway relays and grape stomping.
Check out our TubeMogul Australia Facebook page for more pictures and videos from the event!
Coming on the heels of our recent integration with StickyXchange, we have another exciting announcement for France; we are pleased to announce that we have partnered with Re-Mind, the top French independent digital media agency. The partnership will grant Re-Mind’s clients total control over their performance and branding objectives by giving them a transparent view of where and when their ads are placed.
View the full release here.
Today we officially announced our most recent U.S. office opening in Detroit!
TubeMogul has officially opened doors in the newly renovated M@dison Theatre Building in the heart of downtown Detroit where a big push is being made by the Detroit Venture Partners to revitalize the city. Alongside several other companies expanding from California, TubeMogul was invited to locate in the building and contribute to technological and digital innovation in Detroit.
Dan Gilbert of Detroit Venture Partners discusses the revitalization of Detroit
To read more about the new office, click here.
Today, TubeMogul won an iMedia ASPY Award for Best Customer Service.
The awards, which are voted on entirely by agency executives, recognize leaders in the marketing industry. We are proud of our account management and client services teams and honored to be recognized for our customer service, one of the aspects of our business that we take immense pride in.
We are humbled by the support we have received from the agencies that believe in TubeMogul, and we are glad our platform is helping to forge the way for programmatic video ad buying by combining the branding power of video with the direct control and return-on-investment of real-time buying. Other winners include BuzzFeed, Google and TubeMogul partner, Innovid. See the ASPY Awards announcement here.
This past week we were reading this article in AdWeek about the history of online video and were inspired to chronicle our own history; after all, TubeMogul has risen and adapted since the early days of video in 2006.
From our roots as an analytics company to helping brands capitalize on the promise of programmatic branding today, we want to say thanks to our growing list of clients for making this possible and continuing to take the journey with us.
Click on the image below to see the full timeline:
In case you missed it, last Friday MediaPost covered our most recent research brief which addresses the use of third-party data by digital video advertisers. You can see the article here.
Interested in the full brief ? You can access it at this link, or continue reading.
Three Things You may Not Know About Audience Targeting in Video Advertising
Aggregating data from the company’s programmatic branding platform, TubeMogul presents several insights on the state of third-party audience data in digital video advertising.
How Many Brand Advertisers Are Using Audience Targeting?
70.9% of brand advertisers are now using third-party data as part of their targeting mix on TubeMogul’s platform, more than doubling last year’s number.
Completion Rates Are Lower for Targeted Campaigns
Completion rates for campaigns using third-party data average 72.6%, or 9.1% lower than campaigns that only targeted by context and region. This is likely due to the fact that to achieve scale, many targeted campaigns have to run on a broader set of sites. This can affect brand performance, as a completed ad is more than twice as likely to be remembered (averaging 20.5% higher recall than a control group that did not see an ad, or double the lift among viewers that did not complete an ad).
But Purchase Intent is Higher
Viewers exposed to an audience-targeted video ad express an intent to purchase 3.2% more than a control group that did not see the ad, compared to overall lift of 2.4%.


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In this post from Wired, Lizzie Wade reports that as more and more states legalize medical and even recreational pot, CBD is coming under scrutiny again and scientists are scrambling to catch up with research on CBD.
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN growing and smoking marijuana for thousands of years, but it wasn’t until 1964 that anyone knew why it got you high. That year, the Israeli chemist Raphael Mechoulam isolated tetrahydrocannabinol, better known as THC, and went on to do groundbreaking studies on how and why marijuana affects the brain. But all along, he had his eye on another of cannabis’ chemical components, one that he had discovered a year before: cannabidiol, or CBD.
It didn’t get people high, but it seemed to have all sorts of other effects, including curbing seizures in laboratory animals and improving sleep in people with insomnia. In 1980, Mechoulam published the results of a small clinical trial showing that CBD reduced seizures in seven out of the eight epileptic patients tested, well outperforming a placebo. He expected funding for larger studies to flow in and drug companies to start calling. And then…nothing. “Nobody was interested,” he remembers.
That’s changing now. As more and more states legalize medical and even recreational pot, CBD is coming under research scrutiny again. The general hypothesis is that CBD is responsible for many of marijuana’s therapeutic benefits but none of its downsides—like, you know, getting high. (For many patients using marijuana to treat symptoms like pain and nausea, the altered state of consciousness THC induces is an unwanted side effect.) Some states, including Alabama and Florida, have even legalized CBD for medical use while keeping THC illegal.
Scientists are scrambling to catch up with the hype. Medical marijuana is difficult to study, especially in the US. It’s a Schedule 1 drug, and researchers hoping to work with it need approval from several federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration. “I think it does inhibit ordinary investigators who don’t have the means or the knowledge or the staying power to get through the system,” says Igor Grant, the director of University of California’s Center for Medical Cannabis Research.
Plus, pharmaceutical companies shy away from funding studies of smoked cannabis because they can’t make their money back by patenting and selling the plant. Even now, research on CBD hasn’t moved much beyond Mechoulam’s tiny clinical trial.
Here’s what scientists know. CBD doesn’t act on the same receptors in your brain as THC does, although it does interact with the enzymes that metabolize THC, potentially keeping you from absorbing it too quickly. CBD also interacts with many other receptors in what’s called the endocannabinoid system—basically, the chemicals your brain produces that resemble the components in marijuana and the receptors that react to them. (The fact that our bodies produce these compounds naturally explains why marijuana works on us at all.)
It also seems to affect other receptors as well; for example, the way CBD enhances the activation of the 5-HT1A serotonin receptor might be the secret behind its success at treating some symptoms of schizophrenia, says Roger Pertwee, a pharmacologist at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland who has been studying cannabis since the 1960s. Or maybe its anti-psychotic properties stem from the way it prevents another neurochemical, anandamide, from breaking down too quickly, as a 2012 paper in Translational Psychiatry suggested.
That kind of hyper-technical uncertainty is pretty typical of research on CBD. Mostly, researchers focus on studying its effects, whether or not they fully understand the mechanisms behind them. Pertwee listed for me the conditions CDB has shown some promise for treating: in addition to schizophrenia,
there’s anxiety, depression, nausea and vomiting, certain types of pain, stroke, morphine dependency, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, neurodegenerative disorders, epilepsy, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis, and arthritis. It might even have antibiotic properties. CBD “does seem to be a wonder drug is some ways,” Pertwee says. “A potential wonder drug.”
The key word there? Potential. Almost all of these studies were in petri dishes or animals, with a few small human studies here and there. What’s missing are the large double-blind, placebo-controlled studies that are the gold standard of pharmaceutical research, says Raul Gonzalez, a psychologist at Florida International University who studies the effects of marijuana on HIV/AIDS patients. “Without those types of studies, marijuana still falls short of the minimum threshold that we expect for our medicines.”
A few of those studies are now in the works when it comes to CBD-only products. GW Pharmaceuticals is running a Phase III clinical trial of a drug called Epidiolex, which is intended to treat severe epilepsy in children. Meanwhile, Insys Therapeutics is moving toward clinical trials of synthetic CBD. If approved, those drugs will be available by prescription, with standard dosages and a list of recommended uses. (Pure THC and a THC/CBD combo are already available as prescription drugs.)
As of now, FDA-approved pills are not how patients get their CBD. Some of them buy CBD oil; others opt for plants marketed as low-THC and high-CBD. The most famous of those strains is probably Charlotte’s Web, which families with severely epileptic children have been moving to Colorado to get. But no one regulates these products or tests them to confirm they contain what they say they contain. That worries a lot of scientists and physicans. “If somebody told you when you go and buy Tylenol, ‘you know, we really can’t guarantee that it has the amount of milligrams that we’re saying it does on the label,’ you’re probably going to be hesitant,” Gonzalez says.
Two studies getting underway in Colorado might shed some light on whether existing CBD products might help children with severe epilepsy. One, led by Kelly Knupp, a pediatric neurologist at Children’s Hospital Colorado, will track 110 children over 12 weeks as they begin taking high CBD products in hopes of curbing their seizures. A preliminary study Knupp ran of families with children already taking CBD found that about a third of them reported a 50 percent-or-greater reduction in their children’s seizures once they started the drug. Although any effect is promising for kids with epilepsy who don’t respond to other medication, Knupp points out that the one-third number isn’t much bigger than the placebo effect observed in studies of other epilepsy drugs.
Meanwhile, another study at Children’s Hospital Colorado, led by toxiocologist George Sam Wang, will look at how childrens’ bodies metabolize CBD products, and how the compound might interact with other seizure medications they are already taking.
Lots of researchers hope that CBD lives up to its potential. But when it comes to developing a new medicine, it’s their job to be skeptical until it’s proven safe and effective, with a set dosage and a known list of side effects guiding patients’ and doctors’ decisions. “I think CBD is a very promising compound, and it probably has helped a lot of people,” says Jahan Marcu, the senior science advisor for Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group. “But in order for it to consistently help people, formulations need to be standardized and manufactured according to best practices. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.” That’s all Raphael Mechoulam wanted in the 1980s, too.


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ALBANY, N.Y. -- The New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS) said that it is "alarmed" by new zoning restrictions being proposed in the City of Rochester, N.Y., "that would discriminate against, and preemptively punish, even the most responsible neighborhood retailers."
Proponents of the zoning amendments seek to "tar all convenience stores as an undesirable form of commerce," the state association said, "and to use this unfair characterization to infringe upon fundamental rights of hard-working business families who collect and remit taxes, provide employment opportunities, comply with myriad state and local regulations and do their best to serve local residents."
Considered on Wednesday by the City Council, the zoning amendments contain provisions that would:
In addition, NYACS said that the city proposes to "coerce" certain shop owners into signing a "Good Neighbor Agreement" pledging to clean "all areas within 100 feet of (his/her) property lines," which the association said "is preposterous," and to display "No Trespassing" signs outside, "essentially telling prospective customers to keep out, chasing business away."
"We acknowledge the legitimate concerns of law enforcement and community leaders about the frequency and severity of incidents in and around certain retail shops in the city. And we respect the city's desire to regulate commerce and maintain order. But in our view, the overzealous restrictions set forth in these proposed amendments would unfairly constrain convenience store owners who are not part of the problem," said NYACS.


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The global fashion industry is in a constant state of flux, evolving and adapting to the ever-changing tastes and demands of consumers. In the 21st century, with the rise of the digital era, the industry has witnessed an unprecedented shift from traditional brick-and-mortar retail to online platforms. This shift has been accelerated by the recent global events, pushing even the most resistant brands to embrace digital transformation.
Fashion, as an industry, is characterized by its international nature. From Paris to Milan, New York to London, these fashion capitals have been setting trends and influencing global fashion choices for decades. However, the focus has now shifted towards Asia, a market that is burgeoning with potential and a growing middle class with a new-found appetite for luxury fashion goods.
London, a city known for its iconic fashion scene, has been at the forefront of this shift, recognizing the Asian market’s potential and finding innovative ways to tap into it. The key to this successful transition, however, lies in the effective use of technology. Notably, Product Information Management (PIM) systems have emerged as an essential tool for expanding online fashion sales from London to Asia.
In this article, we’ll explore the current state of the global fashion industry, the rise of online sales, London’s fashion scene, and its connection to the Asian market. We’ll delve into the concept of Product Information Management and discuss the top PIM features essential for growing online fashion sales.
The Global Fashion Industry: A Brief Overview
Fashion is more than just a choice of clothing or a style statement; it’s a global industry that significantly impacts economies and cultures worldwide. According to data from McKinsey’s Global Fashion Index, the global fashion industry was estimated to be worth $2.5 trillion in 2020, making it one of the most valuable sectors in the world economy.
In terms of regions, North America and Europe have traditionally dominated the global fashion scene, but a shift has been occurring over the past few years. Asia, led by countries like China and India, has been steadily increasing its share in the global fashion market. According to a report by Euromonitor International, Asia Pacific is projected to surpass North America to become the second-largest fashion market by 2023.
The fashion industry is notoriously fast-paced, with trends changing at a rapid pace. In this dynamic landscape, the ability to quickly adapt and respond to changing consumer demands is crucial for fashion brands. This has led to the emergence of “fast fashion” – a model characterized by quick turnarounds from design to production to retail.
However, the past decade has seen a significant shift in the industry, driven by advancements in technology and changes in consumer behavior. The rise of the internet and e-commerce platforms has transformed the way fashion is consumed and sold, leading to a surge in online fashion sales.
The Rise of Online Fashion Sales
The advent of the internet and the subsequent digital revolution have dramatically transformed many industries, and fashion is no exception. The rise of online fashion sales has been a major game-changer, shifting the traditional retail paradigm and offering new opportunities for growth and expansion.
According to a report by Statista, global online fashion sales have been on a steady rise, reaching approximately $759.5 billion in 2021, and are projected to hit more than $1 trillion by 2025. This surge can be attributed to several key factors:
- Digital Adoption: With the increasing penetration of smartphones and high-speed internet, consumers across the globe have easy access to online shopping platforms. This has been further fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced many to turn to online shopping as lockdown measures closed physical stores.
- Convenience: Online shopping offers unmatched convenience, allowing consumers to shop from the comfort of their homes, at any time of day. This is particularly appealing to the millennial and Gen Z consumers, who value convenience and are comfortable with digital platforms.
- Choice: Online platforms offer a wider range of products than physical stores, catering to diverse tastes and preferences. Consumers can browse through hundreds of options, compare prices, and make informed decisions.
- Personalization: Online platforms can use data analytics to offer personalized shopping experiences, recommending products based on a consumer’s browsing history and preferences.
While the rise of online fashion sales presents significant opportunities, it also brings new challenges. Brands must manage a vast amount of product information, ensure a consistent brand experience across multiple channels, and respond quickly to changing consumer demands. This is where Product Information Management (PIM) comes into play.
London: The Fashion Capital and Its Asian Connection
London has long been recognised as one of the world’s leading fashion capitals. It is known for its unique blend of tradition and innovation, hosting prestigious fashion events like the biannual London Fashion Week, which showcases both established designers and emerging talent.
The fashion industry is a major contributor to the city’s economy, employing approximately 50,000 people and generating nearly £11 billion in turnover annually, according to a 2020 report by the UK Fashion & Textile Association (UKFTA).
However, London’s fashion scene is not confined to the city’s boundaries. It has a global influence, shaping trends and driving sales worldwide. In recent years, London-based fashion brands have been making significant strides in expanding their reach to Asia, a market ripe with potential.
Asia’s fashion market is booming, thanks to a growing middle class, rising disposable income, and an increasing appetite for luxury goods. China is leading the charge, currently the world’s second-largest fashion market, according to McKinsey’s China Luxury Report 2020.
London’s fashion brands have recognised this opportunity and are leveraging digital platforms to tap into this market. Brands like Burberry and Stella McCartney are using social media platforms popular in Asia, such as WeChat and Line, to engage with consumers, promote their products, and ultimately drive online sales.
However, entering a new market like Asia presents its challenges, particularly when it comes to managing product information. Different languages, cultural nuances, and consumer preferences require careful handling of product data to ensure accurate, consistent, and engaging product experiences.
This is where Product Information Management (PIM) systems become crucial. With the right PIM features, fashion brands can effectively manage their product data, streamline their operations, and grow their online sales in the Asian market.
Product Information Management (PIM): The Game Changer
As the fashion industry shifts to online sales, managing and presenting product information effectively has become more critical than ever. This is where Product Information Management (PIM) systems step in, providing a centralised platform to manage all product data.
PIM systems are designed to handle all aspects of product information management, from initial product creation to distribution across various sales channels. They help brands maintain a consistent and high-quality product presentation across all platforms, which is crucial in today’s omnichannel retail landscape.
Here’s how PIM is changing the game for online fashion sales:
- Centralised Data Management: PIM systems serve as a single source of truth for all product data, eliminating data silos and ensuring consistency across all channels. This is particularly important for fashion brands expanding into new markets like Asia, where maintaining data integrity can be challenging.
- Efficiency and Speed-to-Market: PIM systems streamline the process of managing product information, reducing manual tasks and errors. This leads to faster product launches, a key factor in the fast-paced fashion industry.
- Improved Customer Experience: By ensuring accurate and detailed product information, PIM systems enhance the online shopping experience. They can support rich media like images and videos, detailed product descriptions, and size charts, all of which help customers make informed purchase decisions.
- Scalability: PIM systems can handle large volumes of data and are easily scalable. This is crucial for fashion brands looking to expand their product range or enter new markets.
- Localization: PIM systems support multiple languages and currencies, making it easier to tailor product information to different markets. This is particularly crucial for London-based brands targeting the diverse Asian market.
Now that we understand the role of PIM in the fashion industry let’s look at the top PIM features that can help London-based fashion brands grow their online sales in Asia.
Five Essential PIM Features for Growing Online Fashion Sales
Product Information Management (PIM) systems are invaluable tools for managing and optimizing product data, especially for businesses operating in multiple markets and channels. Here are five key PIM features that are essential for London-based fashion brands looking to grow their online sales in Asia:
- Multi-Language Support: Given the linguistic diversity of the Asian market, this feature is crucial. It allows brands to manage product information in multiple languages, ensuring that product descriptions, marketing content, and technical details are accurately translated and localized for each market.
- Digital Asset Management Integration: High-quality visuals are vital in the fashion industry. PIM systems integrated with Digital Asset Management (DAM) capabilities allow brands to centrally manage and distribute images, videos, and other rich media assets across all channels, ensuring a consistent visual experience for customers.
- Data Quality Tools: Ensuring the accuracy and consistency of product information is crucial for building trust with customers. PIM systems with built-in data quality tools can automatically detect and correct errors, duplicates, and inconsistencies in product data, improving the overall quality of product information.
- Workflow Management: This feature enables brands to streamline their product information management processes, from product creation to distribution. It allows teams to collaborate efficiently, track progress, and ensure that tasks are completed on time. This leads to faster product launches and updates.
- Channel Management: A PIM system should provide tools to easily manage and optimize product information for different sales channels, including e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, and social media. This feature is particularly important when dealing with the diverse digital landscape in Asia, where popular platforms may vary by country.
By leveraging these features, London-based fashion brands can ensure that their product information is accurate, engaging, and tailored to the unique needs of the Asian market, enhancing their online presence and driving sales.
The global fashion industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the digital revolution and changing consumer behaviors. The rise of online fashion sales has opened up new opportunities for growth, particularly in booming markets like Asia.
For London-based fashion brands, expanding into the Asian market offers immense potential. However, it also brings challenges, particularly in managing product information across diverse languages, cultural contexts, and digital platforms.
Product Information Management (PIM) systems have emerged as a critical tool in this landscape, enabling brands to manage their product data effectively and efficiently. By leveraging key PIM features – multi-language support, Digital Asset Management integration, data quality tools, workflow management, and channel management – London’s fashion brands can ensure a consistent, engaging, and localized product experience for their Asian customers.
In this digital age, managing product information is no longer a back-office task but a strategic function that directly impacts customer experience and sales. As fashion brands navigate the online sales landscape, PIM systems will undoubtedly play a key role in their success.
Thank you for joining us on this journey through the global fashion industry, the rise of online fashion sales, and the transformative role of Product Information Management. We hope this guide has provided valuable insights and strategies for fashion brands looking to grow their online sales in the Asian market.


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Chain owner Conviviality has said it intends to appoint administrators within the next 10 business days “unless circumstances change”.
The group added secured creditors of the business could appoint administrators without notice.
Conviviality also owns Wine Rack and supplies more than 25,000 restaurants, hotels and bars.
The firm has issued profit warnings in recent weeks and revealed a £30 million tax bill.
The company sought £125m from investors, but said it had been unable to raise those funds.
Conviviality employs about 2,500 staff and their jobs are now in jeopardy.
The company had slashed its profit forecast for this year to £55m from £70m earlier this month.
Conviviality said it would continue trading over that period in the hope of preserving “as much value as possible” for its stakeholders.
It will keep working alongside advisers and said it is exploring “a number of inbound enquiries regarding a potential sale of all or parts of the business”.
“Following discussions with its lending banks, the board has resolved to file notice of intention to appoint administrators to the company,” Conviviality said in a market announcement.
“Unless circumstances change, and in accordance with statutory requirements, the board intend to appoint administrators within 10 business days.”
Over the past few weeks, the firm has seen its chief executive Dianna Hunter step down after issuing a string of profit warnings and revealing the £30m tax bill.
Ms Hunter, a former Waitrose director, had been chief executive since 2013 and led the group through its stock market flotation in the same year.
She also oversaw a number of acquisitions, including Wine Rack, Matthew Clark and Bibendum.
Non-executive chairman David Adams has taken her place until further notice.
The company’s collapse would cap a nightmare quarter for the retail sector.
Since January, Toys R Us and Maplin have filed for administration, while fashion retailers such as New Look and Select have embarked on radical store closure programmes.
Piling on the misery has been the under-pressure casual dining sector, with Prezzo, Byron and Jamie’s Italian all shutting restaurants and culling hundreds of jobs.


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Leaks on Motorola’s One Fusion has been surfacing since April this year. And now, it’s official to quash them all. The all-new Motorola’s One Fusion is a slightly stripped down version of Motorola Fusion+ which was revealed last month. This phone was announced by the company in a blog post yesterday but is yet to reveal the price and availability.
Motorola is one of those companies which once thrived in the mobile market, but thwarted by Chinese contenders in aggressive pricing models. But now, it’s reviving slowly with phones launching periodically.
The Lenovo owned company has launched a flagship, Edge and Edge+ earlier to position its place in premium space. Also, Motorola One Fusion+ was launched last month with the Snapdragon 7processor in India. And now, it’s setting up a foothold in mid-ranger too with the launch of One Fusion handset.
Motorola One Fusion Specifications
Talking more about it, Motorola’s One Fusion has a 6.5″ Max Vision HD+ display with 720×1600p resolution and a teardrop notch style. It runs on Motorola’s new bloatware, My UI over Android 10 OS. With 4GB of RAM, it has only one storage variant as 64GB onboard space, which can be expanded via microSD slot.
This handset is powered by Snapdragon’s 710 SoC, which is an octa-core processor coupled with Adreno 616 GPU.
Cameras include a quad rear setup as, a 48-megapixel (f/1.7) as the primary sensor, an 8-megapixel (f/2.2) as an ultra-wide angular lens with 118° FoV, a 5-megapixel (f/2.2) as a macro lens and a 2-megapixel (f/2.2) lens for depth sensing shots. Upfront, there’s an 8-megapixel lens with f/2.0 aperture.
Finally, it’s powered by a massive 5000mAh battery, and has all required connectivities like GPS, USB 2.0 Type-C, WiFi, Bluetooth 5 and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
It even has a dedicated button for waking up the Google Assistant.
Though the company didn’t set the price tag on it yet, it revealed the handset will be coming to UAE and Saudi Arabia next month. Till then, we all need to stay tuned.
More to read:


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The coolest among us will remember the good old days of the Konami code, a series of inputs that – when entered into many a classic Konami product – would net awesome, and sometimes mandatory, benefits. But while up until this point gamers have had to reboot old consoles to get those extra lives or […]
Though Harmonix, a developer who is completely focused on the dwindling rhythm-genre, may be facing a difficult market, it remains optimistic for the future as it has stated that their Kinect-based Dance Central is outperforming the multi-platform Rock Band 3 at retail. The game has become one of the most succesful titles for Kinect, selling […]
In a feature published in the Wall Street Journal and on WSJ.com, technology editor Daniel Dumas compiled a list of titles from 2010 “that existed under the surface of the hype but still delivered hours of fresh action for gaming pro and rookie alike.” Though the attempt to bring mainstream attention to the hidden gems […]
One of the few games on Microsoft’s Kinect with both hardcore and casual appeal, Harmonix is already looking to the future beyond DLC for Dance Central. Speaking to MCV, company CEO Alex Rigopulos, outlined a hopeful expansion for the game into a franchise.


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The number of sleep deprived Brits has risen by 50 per cent in a year as people increasingly use smartphones and computers before bed.
Nearly six in ten people in Britain now get seven hours of less sleep a night putting them at risk of cancer, diabetes and heart attacks, it has been warned.
Academics at the University of Hertfordshire found that 80 per cent of people are making it worse by using technology before sleeping which exposes them to disruptive blue light.
Blue light is present in morning light so late night gadget use can trick the body into speeding up the metabolism and making sleep more difficut.
Academics found that the majority of people are making the problem worse by exposing themselves to disruptive blue light from computers and smartphones before going to bed.
"The blue light from these devices suppress the production of the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, and so it's important to avoid them before bedtime," said Richard Wiseman, professor in the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire.
“This is a huge rise in sleep deprivation and the results are extremely worrying because getting less than seven hours sleep a night is below the recommended guidelines, and is associated with a range of problems, including an increased risk of weight gain, heart attacks, diabetes and cancer.”
"The 2013 survey revealed that around 57 per cent of people in the UK were using these devices, so we are seeing a significant rise in the amount of blue light before bedtime," said Wiseman.
Prof Wiseman conducted an online survey in February and asked 2,149 adults about their sleeping habits.
The results showed that 50 per cent of people are sleep deprived, and 78 per cent of people admitted using a smartphone or computer in the two hours before bedtime.
Among 18-24 year olds that figure increased to 91 per cent.
The survey also suggested that the most people are not having good dreams. Just ten per cent of respondents strongly agreed with the statement 'I would describe my dreams as pleasant'.
Professor Wiseman added: “The dream data revealed considerable variation across the UK, with those in London and the Southwest agreeing the most, and those in the Northwest and Midlands agreeing the least."
10 science-based tips to a better night’s sleep:
1) Banish the blues: Avoid using computers, smartphones or tablets in the two hours before you head to bed. The blue light stimulates your brain and prevents you feel sleepy.
2) The list: Make a list of all of the things that you have to do the next day or that are playing on your mind. This helps prevent you lying in bed thinking about these issues.
3) Tire your brain: If you are struggling to sleep, make your brain tired by thinking of an animal for each letter of the alphabet (‘A’ is for ‘Ant’, ‘B’ is for ‘Bear’).
4) Move your bed: You have evolved to feel safe when you can spot danger early and have time to run away, and so will feel most relaxed when your bed faces the door and is furthest from it.
5) Reach for a banana: Eat a banana before you head to bed. They're rich in carbohydrates, and these help relax your body and brain.
6) Reverse psychology: Actively trying to stay awake actually makes you feel tired, so try keeping your eyes open and focus on not falling asleep.
7) Wear socks: If you have bad circulation, your feet will get cold and cause sleeplessness. To avoid the problem, wear a pair of warm socks to bed.
8) Avoid the lure of the nightcap: Although a small amount of alcohol puts you to sleep quicker, it also gives you a more disturbed night and disrupts dreaming.
9) The power of association: Ensure that the same piece of soporific music is quietly playing each time you fall asleep. Over time you'll come to associate the music with sleep, and so listening to it will help you to nod off.
10) Do a jigsaw: If you lie awake for more than twenty minutes, get up and do something non-stimulating for a few minutes, such as working on a jigsaw.