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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Google Inc. plans to introduce a new shopping feature in time for the holiday season, an analyst noted Friday, which sets the stage for an even bigger clash with eBay Inc. and other online-commerce companies.
In a report for Bear Stearns clients, analyst Robert Peck described a new feature that's based on Google Base, a feature Google GOOG, -2.61% launched last October that lets people freely list items for sale.
Simultaneously, Google intends to "de-emphasize" its own Froogle shopping search engine, a Web site featuring paid listings from eBay EBAY, -1.74% and other online retailers. Google intends for Froogle to no longer be a standalone Web site; instead its listings would be absorbed by other search features, Peck wrote in his report.
A Google representative didn't return an email seeking comment. In the past, company officials have avoided commenting on products that are still under wraps.
On Wall Street, shares of Google closed down 0.8% at $403.78. EBay gained 0.1% to $26.11.
The new shopping feature is likely to rattle electronic merchants, especially eBay, which has been working for some time now to ensure its own listings are included in Froogle shopping results.
But as Froogle's exposure diminishes, as described by Peck, so does the possible benefit to eBay from the Froogle listings.
"Google said all the right things," Peck noted.
An eBay spokesman said just as eBay works with Google to ensure its listings are in Froogle, the company is sure to do the same with the new set-up for Google Base when and if that debuts. The spokesman declined further comment.


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The upgrade begins 10/1 and includes updated internet radio and mobile listening apps that offer access to additional content and greater personalization.
The updated online player and apps feature a new design that gives customers access to album art and artist bios, enhancing the visual appearance on smartphones and tablets. SiriusXM is also adding On Demand functionality as part of its new Internet Radio service. SiriusXM On Demand offers access to more than 200 shows, including exclusive talk and entertainment, comedy, sports and commercial-free music. Technical updates in the SiriusXM Internet Radio App also include improved audio quality and performance on cellular networks.
Future SiriusXM products, including the soon-to-be available Lynx radio, will leverage SiriusXM Internet Radio and new hardware functionality to offer subscribers DVR-like features and On Demand service. The new products give more control over how subscribers listen to satellite radio and offer a new way to enjoy SiriusXM Internet Radio via Wi-Fi networks.
Key features of the SiriusXM Internet Radio App update:
–Start Now feature allows subscribers to go back up to five hours to select and listen to previously broadcast programming on many channels, allowing them to hear SiriusXM content on their own schedules.
–Tune Start automatically starts the currently playing song from the beginning so listeners will hear the whole song when tuning to any music channel.
–Listeners can now pause live radio and pick up where they left off.
–Listeners can now replay a song or segment with a single click, or skip forward to hear what’s playing next.
–Show Finder is an easy-to-use programming guide offering a complete list of what’s on over the next seven days by channel, with the ability to set reminder alerts when favorite shows are broadcast.
Listeners can now organize their favorite shows on one screen.
Pricing for SiriusXM Internet Radio is $4.00 a month with a satellite radio subscription.

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Goodyear/Titan Rumours Turn Out to Be True
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced that it has reached an agreement with Titan Tire Corporation to sell its North American agricultural tyre assets. The sale, valued by Goodyear at $100 million, will include the company’s manufacturing plant, property and equipment in Freeport, Illinois as well as a licensing deal. This part of the agreement would see Titan produce Goodyear branded agricultural products in North America. Goodyear reports that the sale will result in a revenue reduction of about $200 million per year.
Goodyear’s announcement comes after the story was exclusively reported on the Tyres & Accessories website in January, only to be dismissed as “rumours” and “speculation” by other publications. The reverberations of the T&A report were felt as far away as the US where The Detroit News, leading tyre trade publications and investment news services all carried the story. One Merrill Lynch analyst even calculated what Goodyear’s financial position would be after the sale, based on the T&A report.
Tire Review has reported one possible hitch to the deal – the USWA. According to the US trade magazine, the USWA has a less-than-positive history with Titan. In addition, Goodyear’s current labour agreement, which covers the Freeport plant, requires that before Goodyear can sell a union-covered plant, the USWA must negotiate a new agreement with the prospective owner. There was no immediate word if negotiations had started, or the status of any such talks.
“We are honoured that Goodyear chose Titan to facilitate the growth of the Goodyear brand for farm tyres in North America. Combining Titan’s focused engineering expertise in addressing the needs of the farming community with the power of the Goodyear name creates an undeniable advantage for the American farmer,” stated Maurice Taylor Jnr, Titan president and CEO.
“This agreement is important in that it allows Goodyear to sell a non-core asset in a business that has been challenging to our earnings, yet allows continued access to the same high-quality Goodyear-branded tyres from a company that considers the farm business as core,” commented Jon Rich, president of Goodyear North American Tire.


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The fourth-generation of the Honda Jazz was introduced to the global automotive market back in 2019 at the Tokyo Motor Show. One thing stood out with the car, however, and it was that it was lacking a front grille. In its home country of Japan, the Jazz is sold with five variants to choose from - Basic, Home, Ness, Crosstar, and Luxe. Each one of these variants caters to a specific niche in the market. Out of the five trim-levels, only the Crosstar variant had a conventional grille. When the Jazz officially went on sale in Japan in February, Honda decided to give its customers a grille as an optional accessory due to feedback from its buyers wanting one.
Now that the ongoing pandemic in China is slowing down, Honda is preparing to launch the all-new Jazz in the country. The Jazz will be slightly different from its Japanese counterpart, in that it will have a different bumper, a different set of headlights, and it will have a grille. Leaked photos of the Fit in China have confirmed these new design adjustments. With these design differences, the Fit now looks more similar to the Honda Jazz Modulo X concept that was presented in the 2020 Tokyo Auto Salon.
Along with the leaked photos of the normal Jazz is its higher-riding counterpart the Crosstar. For the Chinese market, it will look similar to the version that has been released in Japan. It will still carry over the same wheel design and side mirrors.
Powertrain options have not yet been announced by the Japanese brand for the Chinese market, however, signs point to it carrying over the previous generation’s 1.5-liter naturally aspirated motor that now makes 128hp a slight bump from its 120hp previous output. Transmission options still remain similar to that of the Japanese market as the hatchback will come with either a 5-speed manual or a CVT.
Honda Philippines has yet to announce if it will be bringing in the newest generation of the Jazz into the country. If it did, however, we have a hunch that it will look closer to the version that is found in China rather than the one that is being sold in Japan.


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Uganda is heating up as a business destination as two major international players enter the market. Add Microsoft-Dell and Uber to the long list of major corporations that are showing a display of confidence in Uganda as a business destination.
Microsoft-Dell, the giant computer software and hardware manufacturer, just announced it would soon open offices in Kampala. A team from the company’s US offices made the announcement during a recent visit in Kampala, noting that business in Uganda has been growing at 20% per year. “We are amazed at the level of computer proficiency in this country,” Dell’s regional sales director, Nazih Moufarrej, told journalists during his visit. “People are increasingly asking for high level IT solutions, which we are happy to provide.”
Microsoft-Dell will continue to sell its computers through a network of distributors throughout Uganda, the largest of which is the Service and Computer Industries Ltd., while the new Microsoft-Dell offices deal with technical issues.
The company is also launching new software and will make Windows 10 available for free to all Ugandans with qualified PCs. The upgrades, which will be available at all distributors in Uganda, will be especially important for Uganda’s growing tech industry, as it will help in building apps, an area where Ugandan tech entrepreneurs have excelled.
Another major company entering the Ugandan market is Uber Technologies Inc. In June the company launched its ride-hailing services in Kampala. A statement put out by Uber was positively glowing about the benefits of doing business in Uganda.
“The World Bank forecasts that the Ugandan economy is growing at a positive and upward trajectory. This is owing to targeting development of Uganda’s infrastructure and intensified investment in the private sector,” noted the statement. Uber’s statement also noted the positive aspects of Uganda’s tremendous youth bulge: “The World Bank also notes that Uganda is one of the world’s youngest populations, with 700,000 new people entering the workforce each year. With its people, energy, innovation, entrepreneurial and rapidly growing economy, Kampala is an exciting place for Uber to bring its services.”
The US-based company quickly expanded throughout Asia and has recently set its sights on Africa. The rapidly growing company chose Uganda as one of its first African countries, just behind Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. The manager of Uber Africa, Alon Lits, recently told reporters in Uganda, “We are inspired by the city’s rapidly developing infrastructure and entrepreneurial spirit.” Lits says Uber “looks forward to giving people an affordable, easy and flexible choice to move around the city safely and reliably.”
The company says it has already signed up hundreds of drivers in Kampala, which not only will expand the transportation options in Kampala, but also increase employment. Uber says it has already signed up hundreds of drivers to work with them.
Uganda gets a lot of attention for its entrepreneurial spirit, and was even recently named the world’s most entrepreneurial country in the world, but these new entrants in the market aren’t start-ups. These are established, well-known global brands. Microsoft-Dell and Uber entering the Ugandan market confirms what many in Uganda already know: that the country is an increasingly attractive business destination.


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Taking a break from announcing sell out issues, Image/Skybound have offered up a first look at Stillwater #8, and the newest story arc from team of Chip Zdarsky, Ramón K. Pérez and Mike Spicer:
“Nothing will ever be the same in the town of Stillwater now that Kreegs and his team of outsiders have arrived to enforce a new world order—and Daniel must join the clandestine resistance. But now it’s time for Sheriff Tanya to take a road trip, dispose of a body and deal with the consequences of her choices.”
Stillwater #8 will be available on Wednesday, June 16th with the following covers::
- Stillwater By Zdarsky & Pérez #8 Cover A by Perez – Diamond Code APR210336
- Stillwater By Zdarsky & Pérez #8 Cover B Pride Month variant by Gabrielle Kari – Diamond Code MAR219151
Plus, fans of Stillwater may want to pick up Skybound X #2, featuring the secret origin of Daniel’s powerful new ally, available in stores & digital platforms on Wednesday, July 14th.
Now, onto the preview:


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The Smiley Company has announced a major shake-up of its Greater China operations and has inked a new partnership deal with Walton Brown. The firm has become Smiley’s exclusive licensing agent in Greater China.
Leading Regent Street fashion and beauty retailers will collaborate with the Royal Institute of British Architects Windows Project to display 10 bespoke installations in their store windows in September.
The south China-based trade show wrapped up its 2016 edition with a 15% increase in visitor attendance, according to organisers. Some 37 countries participated with a 10% increase in international exhibitors.


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A Kiwi startup has raised $1.2 million to develop a platform which uses blockchain technology to trace garments from origin to sale.
The funding from the NEM Community Fund will allow Origins to verify the source of apparel in the retail industry in a quest to end modern-day slavery.
Founder Samantha Jones, the 2017 New Zealand Young Innovator of the year7 and also runs an ethical clothing supplier called Little Yellow Bird, says the platform will help to solve a problem she has faced firsthand.
Jones is the second New Zealand venture and first woman internationally to have a project funded by the NEM Community Fund.
“The supply chain industry is one of best areas to develop a real world blockchain use case and we are excited to support Origins in utilising the NEM blockchain technology which will be a great showcase globally,” says Jason Lee, Expansion Director for Australia and New Zealand at NEM.
“This is also aligns with NEM’s aim to support social impact project like these across the region”.
In August, Jones will visit India to setup phase one of the Origins implementation plan.
Then in September she will speak at the Social Enterprise World Forum in Edinburgh, talking about lack of transparency within the retail sector, and how her solution will be able to help other brands solve this issue.
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India overtakes US to become 2nd Most attractive Manufacturing Hub
According to real estate consultant Cushman amp, Wakefield, India has overtaken the United States (US) to become second-most attractive manufacturing destination internationally.
- India’s improvement is driven mainly by cost competitiveness.
- Ranking got switched due to plant relocations from China to other parts of Asia towards already established base in pharma, chemicals and engineering sectors.
- China maintains its number one position according to 2021 Global Manufacturing Risk Index.
- This index assessed the most advantageous locations for global manufacturing across 47 countries in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas.
- In the year 2020, US was at second position while India was at third.
- US has slipped to third position. It is followed by Canada, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Lithuania, Thailand, Malaysia and Poland.
What does it indicate?
Improvement in India’s ranking indicates that manufacturers are showing growing interest in India as a preferred manufacturing hub as compared to other countries, including the US and countries in APAC region.
Why focus is towards India?
Focus is shifting towards India because of its operating conditions and cost competitiveness. Furthermore, India’s proven success in meeting outsourcing requirements has helped in improving the ranking year on year.
How ranking is determined?
- Rankings in the report are determined on the basis of four key parameters:
- Capability of country to restart manufacturing.
- Business environment such as availability of talent or labour and access to markets.
- Operating costs and
- Risks including the political, economic and environmental risks.
- Baseline ranking of top manufacturing destinations is determined based on operating conditions and cost-effectiveness of the country.


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Econet, KaiOS Technologies launch Atom phone in Zimbabwe
The country’s first KaiOS-enabled 3G smart feature phone.
Zim telcos receive additional spectrum at no charge
Industry regulator confirms resource will only be available until end of 2020.
Zimbabwe’s Econet to mobilise 100 000 COVID-19 test kits
Kits to be used for commercial purposes and also available free of charge to vulnerable groups.
Data price hikes leave Zimbabwe subscribers fuming
Mobile operators Econet and NetOne announce increase in tariffs, including social media bundles.
Generation Africa kicks off next agritech competition for Africa
Organisers say the 2020 competition launched amid the coronavirus pandemic will give hope and support to agripreneurs on the African continent.
Mobile money agents cash in on Zimbabwe's cash crunch
Premiums of up to 40% charged on balances cashed out from mobile wallets as local banks struggle to meet demand for notes and coins.
Did Mugabe set a precedent for ICT management in Zimbabwe?
Country's former leader has died and is likely to be remembered for, among other things, his crackdown on social media freedom.


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We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!
Update April 9: Sling TV confirmed that HBO is now available.
With television, everything seems to be revolving around the debut of Season 5 of Game of Thrones and Season 2 of Silicon Valley on HBO. Sling TV is hopeful that it will launch HBO for its customers before the April 12 season debuts.
Sling TV and HBO were preparing to announce that HBO would arrive on Sling TV, the place-shifting digital video service that is owned by Dish Network.
Right now, Sling TV says that HBO will arrive on Sling TV before Saturday, April 11, along with additional app updates.
The app updates will improve the overall Sling TV experience, adding enhancements to reduce overhead and load on its servers. That means it will be better able to handle periods of heavy viewership, Sling TV said.
It will also add parental controls across all channels, letting customers manage TV shows by rating. And it will have a new mini guide update that makes it easier to find shows by subject or genre on the following devices: Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku players, Roku TV models, and Xbox One.
Sling TV is aiming to be the first live Internet TV service to offer linear and video-on-demand content from HBO for $15/month. HBO will be available on all devices on which Sling TV is offered. Those devices include Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick, Roku players, Roku TV models, Xbox One, Android, iOS, Mac, and PC.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn more about membership.


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Syracuse, N.Y. – Onondaga County’s popular double-your-money voucher program for local restaurants will return next week when the county will give away $175,000 in vouchers that did not get redeemed during the first go-round.
The program will return a third time around Father’s Day, when the county will provide yet more of the vouchers, County Executive Ryan McMahon said today.
The vouchers can be used to double the value of gift cards purchased at local restaurants; so, for example, spending $50 of your own money gets you a $100 gift card.
People who missed out last month, when the first $500,000 worth of vouchers were snapped up in less than five hours, will get another chance next week, McMahon said. Details about how the new give-away will work will be announced later.
Of the $500,000 in vouchers given out April 20, some $175,000 were never redeemed, so the county will give those away next week, McMahon said.
In June, the county plans to bring back the voucher program again. McMahon said the program is helping local restaurants to get back on their feet after struggling for months through the coronavirus pandemic.
At his news conference today, McMahon also announced that the Civic Center will reopen for normal business Monday. All visitors will be asked to wear masks so that security guards do not have to check each person’s vaccination status, McMahon said.
“It’s a little bit cleaner if people just wear the mask when they’re visiting,’' he said.


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Lately, it just hasn’t been good to be Samsung. While there is no doubt that the company has been on a sort of march to dominate the world, it appears that with time they too can appear vulnerable and weak. Everything that Samsung has done to get themselves to this point of complete and utter domination appears to slowly be drifting away and the company appears to be slipping. While I really like the fact that Samsung gave Apple competition with the Galaxy S3, the truth is that the Galaxy S4 did little to improve upon the S3 beyond incremental upgrades (much like Apple, who they’ve criticized). We won’t even talk about the horrific Galaxy S4 press launch that basically perpetuated a bunch of sexist stereotypes and was so painful to watch that it made Qualcomm’s CES keynote seem smooth.
Now, their troubles in the latter part of this year have really begun to catch up with them and multiply, first with the verdict against Samsung in their trial against Apple where Apple won a $290 million verdict in addition to the already awarded $640 million from previous trials. This was a retrial of Apple’s first trial against Samsung in the United States (in San Jose District Court) which was a reduction from the original verdict of $380 million that the jurors had originally awarded Apple. The judge agreed that this amount was too high and agreed upon a retrial, but with the verdict of the infringement standing and a mere reevaluation of the sum of the fine. Now, this lawsuit only actually covered were the Captivate, Continuum, Droid Charge, Epic 4G, Exhibit 4G, Galaxy Prevail, Galaxy Tab, Gem, Indulge, Infuse 4G, Nexus S 4G, Replenish, and Transform. Apple already has a second lawsuit pending with more recent devices like the Galaxy S3 and related variants already waiting in courts.
Now, as if a major judgement like that wasn’t enough, Samsung was also scolded for having treated a customer incredibly horribly when his USB port caught fire. This isn’t the first report of a Galaxy S4 catching fire, however it is the first time that someone who had it catch on fire reported their dealings with Samsung. The user, Richard Wygand, got a letter from Samsung stating that he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement if they were going to agree to replace his device and that he could never speak of his problem if he wanted to get a replacement. They also requested that he take down his video about the phone catching fire, which would further reduce consumers’ right to know about the device’s potential flaws. This is obviously a very anti-consumer and anti-competitive move and got Samsung a ton of bad PR about their poor handling of the situation.
In addition to completely not getting their consumers, Samsung has been having problems selling and marketing the Galaxy Gear, which is supposed to be their major entry into the wearables market. Recently, Samsung reported to have shipped 800,000 Galaxy Gear smartwatches, however a very small percentage of these were actually sold to consumers and the remainder sat on shelves. Only 50,000 were actually reportedly sold in Korea, Samsung’s strongest market.
While it may be difficult to really find an accurate number, I can tell you from the majority of reviews and overall zeitgeist across the internet that there is no way that Samsung sold 800,000 and that they were doing what Activision did when they claimed 1 million copies shipped in a day to counter GTA’s 1 million sold in 3 days. It is a dirty trick, but realistically it doesn’t change the reality on the ground that the product isn’t selling. Not to mention the fact that when the Galaxy Gear launched, it was only compatible with the Galaxy Note 3 and was later updated with Galaxy S4 support, even so, it would be incredibly difficult to get the numbers that they did with just those two phones being compatible. Samsung clearly made a choice to be early to market than to be ready to market, because launching on only Samsung phones is a pretty poor idea if you actually want to sell the device. Not to mention, it discourages the open nature of the Android operating system as Samsung begins to become more and more closed.
Samsung is having such a hard time actually marketing and selling the gear to consumers at its current iteration and price that they have actually resorted to the worst kind of marketing possible. Below, we have an incredibly cringeworthy and absolutely disconnected from reality advertisement that shows a guy successfully getting a woman because of his Galaxy Gear. So painfully so.
We won’t talk about the blatant gender roles that they perpetuate here, but rather the completely ridiculous and disconnected from reality perspective that the commercial employs. The truth is that this video is so bad that Samsung actually disabled all of the mocking comments and downvotes, which at last check before they disabled them was at 26,000 downvotes and 6,000 upvotes. Samsung clearly doesn’t understand how to market this watch to consumers.
In addition to Samsung’s consumer woes, it appears that Samsung also has some enterprise woes that were recently exposed by some Israeli security researchers. The researchers from Israel’s Ben-Gurion University in the Negev (in the middle of nowhere, literally) were able to discover security flaws in Samsung’s Knox enterprise security platform which was supposed to allow Samsung devices to operate securely within enterprises. This flaw in the Galaxy S4’s Knox implementation resulted in malicious attackers to be able to monitor emails and to record data traffic from a user’s device. Samsung has not confirmed or denied the supposed vulnerability, but they said that they are looking into it. This could be a huge blow to Samsung’s push within the enterprise with features like SAFE and Knox.
Now, as if their woes with consumers and the enterprise weren’t enough there have been murmurings that Samsung has also started to hurt developers. First and foremost, Samsung is involved in the supposedly open source project called Tizen which they adopted as a Linux Foundation project with Intel after Nokia abandoned it (when they went Windows phone). While Tizen is yet another rework of the Linux operating system formerly known as Maemo and Meego, Samsung has been working with Intel to create an alternative operating system. However, it appears that Samsung is trying to push as much of their own proprietary code into the final product as much as they can, leaving a lot of features out of the truely open source version of the operating system for any other device manufacturer. They are effectively developing Tizen as their own proprietary OS as an alternative to Android in the event that they no longer want to be part of the Android ecosystem or it becomes too risky.
Samsung has always had a history of being a multi-OS company with a proprietary OS always being developed on the side. For example, at one poi
nt Samsung was an Android, Windows Phone and Bada company, which meant that their own Bada OS was used for entry-level phones and Android used for midrange and high-end. I simply don’t like where Samsung is going with the Tizen project and I’m not sure Intel is interested enough to invest more money and resources into Tizen when they’re already working on Windows and Android. An open source operating system is probably my favorite type, however, they simply haven’t gotten any traction even if they’re the best for developers AND consumers. Samsung’s Tizen phones are yet to be seen, however, it appears that their phone recently just passed through the FCC and will probably be shown at CES 2014 or MWC 2014.
They also have pissed off developers recently by not allowing developers with developer editions of the Galaxy S4 and Note 3 to update themselves to the latest developer build. This effectively makes a device that people pay more for outright essentially useless because it isn’t getting all of the updates before the carrier branded versions like a developer would expect to. Initially, I had similar problems with the HTC One Developer edition, however HTC remedied that with their later updates pushing the updates to the Developer Edition at the same time as the international version.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, Samsung also tried to cheat on benchmarks and various benchmarking companies including Futuremark and Rightware called them out on it. It was originally sparked by Brian Klug’s article on Anandtech addressing the fact that Samsung’s phones were being myseriously ‘optimized’ for benchmarks. Since then we’ve spoken to Futuremark and they’ve built-in a process to delist any devices like the Note 3 that optimize for their benchmarks. Rightware has similarly built their latest Basemark OS benchmark to fundamentally avoid these kinds of problems as well.
All in all, Samsung is full of problems and it is really crazy to think that people are still somehow buying their product. I honestly believe that all of these problems that Samsung is having are going to manifest themselves next year in their sales figures. That is, if they don’t address them directly and work to improve the company’s clearly tarnished image with consumers, enterprise, developers and the press. They’ve basically offended and alienated every group and you simply can’t succeed when you do something like that. Maybe 2014 will be a better year for Samsung, but if it is, they’ll have to work for it.


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Voluntary industry commitments in consumer goods sector have struggled to make a dent in deforestation rates, CDP research suggests, furthering the case for regulatory action
Radical action is needed to tackle deforestation in the supply chains of the world's most widely-traded agricultural commodities commonly found in numerous everyday food items and products, with the consumer...
All the green business news from around the world this week
New guide draws on the expertise of recognised corporate sustainability leaders such as Ikea and Unilever to set out 10 principles for effectively embedding environmental action within an organisation
New study released to coincide with Black Friday concludes that efforts to tackle the climate crisis would be strengthened by major reforms to the advertising industry
The global retail giant is beefing up its take-back service to mark Black Friday, but its sweeping sustainability plans extend far beyond recycling and re-use


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eGain Corp (NASDAQ:EGAN)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $5.48 and last traded at $5.25, with a volume of 144300 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $5.10.
EGAN has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Investment Research raised eGain from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $2.75 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 26th. Craig Hallum raised eGain from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $4.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, October 2nd. ValuEngine lowered eGain from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, December 1st. Finally, Dougherty & Co reissued a “buy” rating on shares of eGain in a research report on Monday, December 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $3.50.
The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of -0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $156.59, a PE ratio of -38.33 and a beta of 0.66.
eGain (NASDAQ:EGAN) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 8th. The technology company reported ($0.02) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $14.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.38 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.09) EPS. eGain’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. sell-side analysts predict that eGain Corp will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.
In other eGain news, CFO Eric Smit sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.00, for a total value of $37,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 276,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,381,515. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 39.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
An institutional investor recently raised its position in eGain stock. Oaktop Capital Management II L.P. grew its holdings in shares of eGain Corp (NASDAQ:EGAN) by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,536,843 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the quarter. eGain makes up approximately 1.1% of Oaktop Capital Management II L.P.’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Oaktop Capital Management II L.P. owned about 9.32% of eGain worth $6,849,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.31% of the company’s stock.
eGain Company Profile
eGain Corporation (eGain) provides cloud-based and on-site customer engagement software solutions. The Company optimizes service processes across the Web, social and phone channels. The Company’s solutions help business to consumer (B2C) businesses to operationalize digital customer engagement strategies.
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The city’s Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to amend the Health Code restricting tobacco products to include e-cigarettes, in a self-described effort to “curb the epidemic of youth vaping.” London Breed signed the ordinance, which will go into effect in early 2020. Violators could face up to a $1,000 fine plus prosecuting fees.
San Francisco is home to Juul Labs, the nation’s biggest producer of e-cigarettes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given Juul Labs until 2022 to provide data proving the benefits of its products. Smokers use e-cigarettes as an alternative to combustible cigarettes, which are more harmful to health.
“The effective prohibition will drive former adult smokers who successfully transitioned to vapor products back to combustible cigarettes, deny current adult smokers the opportunity to move off combustible use altogether, and create a thriving black market instead of addressing the actual causes of underage access and use,” stated Juul spokesman Ted Kwong in a press release.
‘Targeting Our Kids’
The ordinance states the motivation behind the ban is “the dramatic surge in youth electronic cigarette use (vaping).”
The ordinance states, “if current trends continue, six million more youth in the United States will begin using e-cigarettes between now and then. Until such time as the FDA fulfills its statutory duty to conduct premarket reviews of new tobacco products, a generation of young people will become addicted to tobacco.”
“There is so much we don’t know about the health impacts of these products, but we do know that e-cigarette companies are targeting our kids in their advertising and getting them hooked on addictive nicotine products,” said Breed in a press release.
Warns Policy Could Backfire
Lindsey Stroud, the host of “Voices of Vapers,” a podcast produced by The Heartland Institute, which publishes Health Care News, says efforts to influence teen behavior can backfire.
“Hawaii, the first state to increase the age to purchase tobacco and vaping products to 21, saw vaping among middle schoolers increase by over 70 percent in the year following the age restriction,” said Stroud.
“Pennsylvania’s 40 percent wholesale tax, enacted more as a revenue-generating measure rather than an effort to curb youth e-cigarette use, saw vaping among middle schoolers and high schoolers increase after the tax was enacted. Notably, use of nicotine in vaping devices increased.”
Stroud says compounding matters is the FDA’s “flipflopping” from the firm position it held on combustible cigarettes years ago to how it regards e-cigarettes today.
“The United States relied on the Royal College of Physicians for their own 1964 Surgeon General Report on smoking yet are ignoring the same organization’s 2016 report which found the use of e-cigarettes ‘unlikely to exceed 5% of the harm caused by smoking,'” said Stroud. “In 2015, Public Health England declared e-cigarettes to be 95 percent safer than combustible cigarettes and reiterated that statement in late 2018.”
Rocco Cimino ([email protected]) writes from Washington, D.C.


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Vending machines can be found everywhere in the world.
They are found in stores, restaurants, hotels, bars, cinemas and even a vending machine in the back of a van.
Now, a vending company in the US is claiming to have found a way to steal a vending machines identity and install malware on them, even when the machines are turned off.
It’s a serious security breach that could leave someone in control of the machines and even control the vending machine.
The vulnerability was discovered by security researchers at Proofpoint, a security consultancy.
The problem can be fixed by running a new firmware, a vulnerability that has been identified by numerous security experts.
Proofpoint says it has also found other vulnerabilities in vending machines, but the vulnerability that was discovered in this case is particularly dangerous.
“The vulnerability is in the way that the vending machines are configured,” says Patrick O’Connor, the company’s head of vulnerability analysis.
“When the vending equipment is turned on, the machine will be configured to run a pre-set security environment.
This environment contains malware which can then be used to steal credentials from the vending device.
The malware can then take control of a vending device and, if the machine is running an old version of Android, it can then install itself.”
The vulnerability is caused by a problem with the way Android software is installed on vending machines.
Android software on vending devices is generally installed by a vendor and is usually stored in the operating system’s “appdata” folder.
A vendor can install a new version of software onto a vending equipment that has not been updated since the device was first sold.
This is an important step in the development of a new software platform, and the vending companies must make sure they don’t accidentally install malicious software into their vending machines before that new software is released.
When a vending system is configured to install a software version of a particular app, that software can then get installed onto the vending system’s device by the vendor.
“In this case, the vendor has downloaded and installed an app from a malicious app store, but there is no way to tell if the app is the malicious app that the vendor is using,” O’Donnell says.
“Because the vendor does not have access to the app, it cannot tell if this app is actually malicious.”
The vendor can still install the app if the vending operator decides to turn on the vending station to use it, but it will only work if the device is not running a preconfigured version of the app.
“This could allow an attacker to install an app on the machine that is malicious, install it before turning on the system, and then gain control of and access to that machine,” O’tah says.
The security researchers also found that the vulnerability could be exploited to install other malware on the machines.
The attackers have been able to exploit the vulnerability to install additional malware that can run on the devices, including viruses, spyware and malware that would steal passwords.
O’Brien says that while the vulnerability was not discovered by Proofpoint specifically, he believes that the security flaws exist because the vendor used the same appstore as Android in its vending machines to download malicious code.
“I would not be surprised to see more vulnerabilities in the future,” he says.
A vending machine is the latest in a string of incidents where a vendor has been caught installing malicious software on its vending equipment.
Earlier this month, a vendor in China was found to have installed malicious software in vending machine systems in two cities.
It has also been reported that a vendor of vending machines in the UK has been installing malware in vending system that is also being sold in the country.
In all of these cases, vendors have told security researchers that they have made security improvements to their vending equipment, but they have not told customers about these vulnerabilities.
“There is a clear need to improve the security of vending equipment in the next six months,” OConnor says.


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Early-stage deals are taking up a greater share of activity.
Amid continued uncertainty around the ramifications of Brexit, deals and funding to VC-backed fintech companies in Europe dropped to a 5-quarter low in Q3’16 with $233M raised across 38 deals, according to The Pulse of Fintech – Q3’16 report published by KPMG and CB Insights.
For the first time in the 5-quarter trend, VC-backed fintech deal count in Europe dropped below 40. On a quarterly basis, deal count fell by 17% to 38 fintech deals recorded. Funding fell even more dramatically, to $233M, a 43% decline on a quarterly basis.
When looking at deal share we see that activity skews towards the early-stage. Seed deals accounted for almost half of all deal share to European fintech startups in Q3’16 at 45%. Series A deal share fell for the first time in 5 quarters but still represents more than one-fourth of all deal share.
Midstage deals (Series B and C) accounted for 16% of deal share in Q3’16 while late-stage (Series D+) deals clocked in at just 5% of activity.
UK deals and dollars
Both deals and funding to VC-backed fintech companies in the UK dropped to a 5-quarter low in Q3’16.
There were 12 VC-backed fintech deals in Q3’16, the lowest total in the last 5 quarters. Some notable deals in Q3’16 include Velocity Mobile which raised a $22.5M Series B, Crowdcube which raised a $10.5M Series D, and WeSwap which raised a $10M Series B.
Funding to UK-based fintech companies fell below $100M for the first time in the last 5 quarters as well. In Q3’16, UK-based fintech companies raised $78M, a 36% decline on a quarterly basis.
Germany deals and dollars
German fintech deal and funding activity fell to a 3-quarter low in Q3’16.
On a quarterly basis, deal activity fell 21% while funding decreased by 44%. Berlin saw 4 deals across $76.8M in funding. Munich saw 4 deals as well, amounting to a much lesser $11.8M in funding.
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Cars, cellphones and an upgraded kitchen package - all for free - are some of the incentives developers are using to entice home shoppers to buy in South Jersey communities.
A luxury condominium in Atlantic City, Bella, is offering a free Smart car, a free smart (or hybrid) TV and a free smartphone with the purchase (a signed contract) of a two-bed, two-bath condo before April 30.
The price of those condos starts at $249,000 - the lowest they have ever been, according to marketing director Paula Celletti-Baron.
When Scannapieco Development Corp. remodeled the 1980s building in 2005, it was selling the two-bed, two-bath condos for about $450,000 - but that was before the housing market crash, Celletti-Baron said. At that time, some people either stopped looking for second homes or sold the ones they had.
Now that the market is picking up again, and the winter has been particularly brutal, Celletti-Baron hopes to instigate excitement for summer and second homes again.
"For shore properties, there is a small amount of time that is the busy season - as soon as the Super Bowl ends and not a minute after Memorial Day," said Laura Krebs, public relations representative at Cashman & Associates.
Second-home purchases are increasing, but people are still cautious, Krebs said.
There are currently about 50 units - most of which are still brand new - available at Bella. The option for the freebies is valued at about $30,000, which buyers can choose as cash toward their purchase instead, Celletti-Baron said.
Elsewhere, on the mainland, two independent developers are offering incentives to attract buyers to their 55-plus communities.
Four Seasons at Harbor Bay, by Red Bank-based K. Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., is offering a discounted price on spec, or pre-built, homes for "quick move-ins" by the end of March.
"We are getting a lot of traffic from southern New York … and northern New Jersey," said Steve Carporaso, area vice president of K. Hovnanian Homes Northeast Division.
He currently has three spec homes available for immediate occupancy in the 5-year-old community.
Many who come have told Carporaso that they are interested in the Little Egg Harbor Township location because it is near Atlantic City, Long Beach Island and Philadelphia.
The discounts vary in price, ranging between $40,000 and $50,000. One spec home listed on the website, khov.com, is priced at $299,950 - discounted from about $306,000.
The developer is also responsible for the Bayport on Lake's Bay in West Atlantic City, located on the bay side of the Black Horse Pike.
Another development - the Village Grande at English Mill, in Egg Harbor Township - is throwing in a premium kitchen package to attract buyers.
The "7 diamond" package is an incentive to appeal to those who feel the kitchen is "one of the most important rooms in terms of increasing a home's value," according to a statement from the developer.
D.R. Horton has put together a package that includes a kitchen island counter, 42-inch cabinets, granite countertops, hardwood flooring and a stainless steel gas range, dishwasher and microwave.
"It's been a tough winter, and everyone has cabin fever and is sick of shoveling snow every morning before going to work," Celletti-Baron said. "It's a great opportunity to get people to start thinking about summer."
Contact Anjalee Khemlani:
Follow Anjalee Khemlani on Twitter @AnjKhem


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The closed captions toggle on Twitter is now available for all users on Android and iOS. The feature lets users turn video captions on or off on a video as per their choice. The microblogging platform first began testing this feature in April this year.
However, the feature was only available to some users on iOS. It is now available for everyone on both, Android and iOS. Users will be able to see a ‘CC’ button at the top right corner of a video. Using this button, they can turn the video captions on or off.
Twitter spokesperson Shaokyi Amdo in a statement to The Verge said that the feature was unrelated to Twitter’s auto caption system and that the button will only be available on videos with captions already available.
Separately, Twitter is testing a way for users to write longer tweets through a new Notes feature. Notes can be read on and off Twitter, by people in most countries, it said.
June 24, 2022


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Fashion Trends 2007: Curves ahead?
Waifs may be increasingly unwelcome on fashion runways
Published 6:30 am, Sunday, January 7, 2007
When Jean Paul Gaultier presented his 30th anniversary collection in Paris last fall, he sent out a zaftig model in a skimpy black peignoir and garters.
The audience wasn't sure how to react.
Was the veteran designer supporting full-figured women by featuring the size-20 model? (Highly unlikely, since the rest of his show featured stick-figure models, and he doesn't design a plus-size line.)
Or was he simply poking fun at efforts to ban skeletal models from the runway? No one knew for sure, and Gaultier wasn't saying.
Voluptuous models may be getting the last laugh.
In recent years, teenage mannequins with hollow cheeks, toothpick arms and sunken collarbones have dominated runways. But now designers may be ready — or forced — to abandon the skinny minis for noticeably curvier models who look like they occasionally wolf down a cheeseburger and fries.
All around the entertainment and fashion worlds, signs are cropping up that our notion of beauty is evolving.
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One of the big stars of the new television season is Ugly Betty's America Ferrera, who in real life is naturally pretty and curvy. Ferrera will grace the cover of the February issue of Cosmo Girl and is the centerpiece of a new public service campaign called "Be Ugly '07."
Aimed at promoting self-esteem in teenage girls, it sends a message that redefines beauty and dispels stereotypes. The campaign encourages girls to "be real, be smart, be passionate, be true to yourself and be ugly."
In the movie Dreamgirls, full-figured Jennifer Hudson overshadows better-known co-stars Beyoncé and Jamie Foxx — and it's not just because of her sensational singing voice. Hudson dominates the screen with her wardrobe and personal style.
The fledgling trend toward well-rounded runway models started last fall, when fashion organizers in Madrid barred women with a body mass index of less than 18 (122 pounds for a 5-foot-9-inch model) from participating in Spain's top presentations.
While officials said they were reacting to the death of an anorexic South American model, it seemed a ploy to put Madrid on the fashion map. Before all the publicity, no one even knew that Madrid had a fashion week.
But you know radical change is in the air when Milan — one of the world's premier fashion centers — takes note. In late December the Italian government and representatives of Milan's fashion week agreed that models must be at least 16 and have a body mass index of at least 18.5 to participate in February shows. (One caveat: The Italian rules allow some leeway in using geographical and ethnic factors to define different body types.)
New York fashion heavyweights are also reacting. Council of Fashion Designers of America president Diane von Furstenberg recently asked her organization's members for ideas on addressing the issue. Insiders expect a plan to be announced before next month's fashion shows.
Thin models have long been a part of the fashion business. Twiggy was a 1960s icon. Then in the mid-80s, a noticeably curvier image emerged. Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Seymour led the pack of curvaceous supermodels who owned the runway with sass and attitude.
The pendulum swung back in the '90s when the waiflike Kate Moss dominated the catwalk, although Washington Post fashion writer Robin Givhan notes that by today's standards, Moss looked "practically plump" on the runway.
Today's top models are often wafer-thin Eastern European teenagers with wide-set eyes and vacant stares. They are virtually indistinguishable, with the exception of flame-haired Brazilian Cintia Dicker and African-American newcomer Chanel Iman.
Longtime modeling executive Neal Hamil is suspicious of efforts to regulate models' weights; he believes such rules are hard to enforce. "Are officials going to start weighing them backstage?" asks Hamil, a former vice president at the Ford Models agency who now lives in Houston. "I don't see designers giving up on the idea of superthin girls. Or the fashion magazines, either."
Unless — and this is the unknown — the general public demands it.
"In the information age, people can respond to the things they object to, and magazines will back off," Hamil says.
His own opinion? "A shapelier girl just looks better."
THE STYLE CRITIC'S OTHER PREDICTIONS FOR 2007:
• Celebrity designerswill retreat to their closets
Success in movies or music doesn't necessarily translate to clothing. Celebrity fashion lines by Jessica Simpson, Nicky Hilton and Jennifer Lopez are fizzling fast. One survivor: Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. line should continue to sell well.
• Big-name designers will go for seconds
Seeking to emulate the wild success of Marc Jacobs' secondary Marc by Marc line, other high-end designers are rolling out lower-priced collections. John Galliano, Oscar de la Renta, Alexander McQueen and Badgley Mischka will all have secondary lines this spring. (Macy's nabbed the O by Oscar line.)
• "Misery chic" will have company
Do good by dressing well. That's the mantra of retailers such as the Gap, which are selling products made in Third World countries and returning some of the profits to projects that benefit the impoverished nations. The New York Times dubbed it "misery chic." Expect more of it.
• Futuristic fashion will fly
Space-age chic is coming, as influential designers like Nicholas Ghesquière at Balenciaga, Donatella Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Narciso Rodriguez and Hussein Chalayan offer techno fashion that C-3PO would love. It may not catch on instantly, but we're betting it's the look for the 21st century.
• A year of fashion weeks
Fashion Week extravaganzas have popped up everywhere — from Malaysia to Moscow; Turkey to Tehran; Cali, Colombia to Johannesburg, South Africa. Even war-torn Beirut has a week of runway shows. The newest entry: Dallas. March and October will bring several days of catwalk action to a tent outside Big D's luxury mall, NorthPark Center.


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This holiday season beware of internet fakes
November 20, 2012
Online shopping can be convenient during the holiday season, but those who use the internet to buy gifts should be aware of sites selling fake goods.
About one in five online shoppers in the U.S. and Europe have mistakenly shopped for counterfeit goods on the internet, according to a study from Nielsen and MarkMonitor, coming across fakes as they search for the best deals on legitimate products.
The study showed that encountering counterfeit goods online can happen to anyone; the demographic profiles of those who search legitimate sites only compared to rogue sites are very similar.
For example, within the panel the study analyzed, 37 percent of those who searched for products on legitimate sites had an annual household income below $50,000, compared to 38 percent of those who found themselves on rogue sites.
Likewise, 41 percent of legitimate site shoppers had an income between $50,000 and $100,000, similar to the 39 percent of folks who visited rogue sites.
Yet those who tend to visit rogue sites appear to be more active online. Consumers who searched sites selling fake goods browsed twice as many shopping sites overall versus those who visited legitimate retailers only.
For more findings from the study click here.
Tags: consumers, counterfeit shopping, deals, europe, holiday, holiday season, household, internet, nielsen, nielsen study, online, online counterfeit shopping, online shopping, shopping, studies, study, Study One, U.S.
Tell us, what’s your take on automated buying?
‘The Simpsons’ again, again, and again
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- Robin Green becomes VP of sales at PostUp
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Sears World Trade Inc. was founded with enough grandiose plans to make Genghis Khan proud, but it quickly chalked up losses that would make most accountants consider hari-kari. Three tumultuous years later, the fledgling trading company may finally have its act together.
Now, with its nearly completed acquisition of 75 percent of Hagemeyer N.V., an $870 million Dutch trading company with worldwide distribution channels, Sears, Roebuck and Co.`s newest and smallest subsidiary appears ready to take the act on the road.
``What we didn`t have was an effective way to market around the world,``
said Charles F. Moran, president of Sears World Trade. ``What we acquired with Hagemeyer--and this is critical--is an established physical presence and client base in Europe and the Far East, in addition to a company known for successfully handling certain product lines (that we`re interested in).
``It`s part of our stepping-stone strategy to build the (trading)
business over time and to leverage off of what we know (at Sears),`` he said. What happened at Sears World Trade reflects what happened at many other U.S. export trading companies, particularly those formed in the burst of enthusiasm that followed passage of the Export Trading Company Act of 1982, say industry observors. The act allowed banks to own part of a trading company and removed antitrust barriers for licensed export cartels.
It hasn`t been an easy process for any of them. After its founding in March, 1982, Sears World Trade tackled international trading in a conquer-the- world fashion, boasting that it would help Indonesia develop its timber resources and China to develop its pulp industry with Indonesian logs.
Grand plans, drawn up under Roderick M. Hills, its first chairman and former Securities and Exchange Commission chief, called for Sears World Trade to hit the ground running, mounting a full-fledged challenge to the worldwide domination of Japanese trading companies. The financing, development, manufacturing and sale of a huge variety of goods was started from scratch.
Eighteen months and $40 million in losses later, Hills was forced to resign, and Sears began a wholesale restructuring of the trading company, cutting more than 200 people from its 1,000-person staff and trimming its businesses to the consumer products on which Sears has built its empire.
``As a trading company, the worst mistake you can make is to try to sell everything to everybody,`` Moran said. ``Our main focus now is on consumer goods, including apparel, footwear, computers and computer peripherals, appliances, housewares and consumer electronics.``
With its new focus, Moran expects Sears World Trade`s losses to be $10 million to $12 million in 1985, a significant improvement from 1984 losses of $24.8 million. However, with only $189.4 million in revenue that year, the trading company still accounts for less than 1 percent of Sears total corporate volume.
``The (trading company) act was a good idea, it didn`t cost the taxpayers a cent--and it was completely oversold to Congress and the public,`` said R. Michael Rice, president of Chase World Trade Corp., a subsidiary of Chase Manhattan Bank. ``People had visions of thousands of these (companies)
springing up overnight, creating jobs and erasing the trade deficit.``
Almost immediately, however, the spiraling U.S. dollar dampened those hopes, making American goods too expensive for other countries to buy. At the same time, imports became a bargain, causing the U.S. trade deficit to soar 300 percent, to $123.3 billion in 1984 from $42.7 billion in 1982. This year`s trade deficit is expected to top $150 billion.
``From 1982 on, the high value of the dollar made things difficult for the export trading companies, because American goods were less and less competitive,`` said James Lacy, director of the Office of Export Trading Company Affairs at the Department of Commerce.
``On top of that, significant liquidity and debt problems restricted imports of U.S. goods by many developing countries,`` he said. ``It also was a totally new industry, which caused some natural shake-out.``
An exact count of U.S. export trading companies is virtually impossible to come by, since many of the companies, such as Getz Brothers in San Francisco, are private and several of the largest are U.S. divisions of the giant Japanese trading houses. Only those covered by the 1982 legislation are required to register with any government agency.
Lacy`s Commerce Department office has registered 98 trading groups in two years, 38 under the banking provisions and about 60 seeking antitrust clearances under the 1982 act, although he cautions that not all of those are actually export trading companies.
Reliable estimates by such groups as the National Federation of Export Associations (NFEA), however, place the number at about 1,500, including tiny ``mom and pop`` export operations in cities like Los Angeles.


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Lithia Motors Inc. and Asbury Automotive Group Inc. shared early learnings from their recently launched omnichannel retailing solutions in first-quarter earnings last month, with both retailers reporting that higher-credit consumers transacted entirely online and made larger down payments on expensive vehicles.
However, the inventory shortage may be driving more customers to transact online and pay more for scarce inventory, Asbury CEO David Hult warned last month.
In March, Asbury completed the rollout of its Clicklane omnichannel platform — which refers to offering a seamless buying experience to consumers whether they shop online, in-store or both — across all of its 91 dealerships.
The Duluth, Ga., retailer launched Clicklane in December as part of its five-year plan to reach $20 billion in annualized revenue by 2025, up from its current $8 billion in annual revenue. Clicklane will account for $5 billion of that revenue.
Current market conditions may be impacting what the dealership group is seeing on the tool, Hult said. Higher down payments are likely a reflection of government stimulus and tax refunds, he said.
Current Clicklane customers have a higher credit score on average than those that come in the store, which Asbury finds encouraging.
Customers with lower credit scores are transacting through the tool, Hult told Automotive News, but may struggle without dealership intervention.
"If I have bad credit, I may need to talk to someone to work through it," he said. "If the whole thing is automated, I'm doing it on my own, I'm likely to get turned down."
Some details on those sales:
- Average down payment was more than double the in-store average.
- Finance-and-insurance per vehicle retailed profit was 17 percent higher than the dealership average.
- Nearly half of customers took delivery at home.
- Credit scores on average were higher than in dealerships.
- 9 out of 10 customers who applied for a loan through Clicklane were approved.
- Nearly half of transactions had a payoff with a vehicle trade.
- Trades taken through Clicklane sold for higher end-to-end profit compared with trades from the dealerships.
- Trades through Clicklane turned in less than 15 days.


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Toyota Motor Europe (TME) today announced a 1.7% sales increase in 2011 with sales totalling 822,386 vehicles, up 14,075 from 2010, including 778,749 Toyota and 43,637 Lexus vehicles, representing an estimated 4.2% market share.
“Despite severe supply disruptions during the year and increasingly uncertain economic conditions, we have worked hard to restart our growth in Europe and we were able to post an increase over last year,” said Didier Leroy, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe. “2012 will be challenging for the industry in Europe, but we are excited about our product offering in the coming months to help us continue the trend with the much-anticipated GT 86 compact sports car, bringing back the fun of driving, the first full hybrid in the compact B-segment with the Yaris Hybrid, an expansion of the Prius Family, and the all-new Lexus GS.”
Although market conditions remain volatile in Europe, TME posted healthy increases in Russia and Ukraine with 48% (132,423 units) and 47% (13,844 units) sales increase over 2010 respectively.
In Western Europe, Germany had a strong year with sales of 83,026 units, up 8% from 2010. Sales in Belgium reached 25,588 in 2011, up 14%, while Toyota remains the number one automotive brand for passenger cars in Ireland with sales of 12,879 units, up 10% from 2010.
In the Nordic Region, sales in Denmark rose 7% with sales of 16,601 units in 2011. The Baltic Region saw sales of 4,920 units, up 34% from the previous year.
For Lexus, Russia continues to be a strong market with sales reaching 13,698, up 25% from 2010, while the United Kingdom posted a 33% increase from 2010 with sales of 8,270 units. The Netherlands made the biggest inroads with sales reaching 2,644 units, up 276% from 2010, with the Lexus CT 200h taking a mammoth share of 2,290 units.
The Toyota AYGO continues to be a customer favourite with sales of 89,252 units in 2011, up 8% from 2010. The new year also brings along the New AYGO 2012 which will be making its debut at the Brussels Motor Show starting this week.
Sales of the Toyota Camry reached 24,319 units, a 31% increase from 2010. The all-new Camry recently started production in Toyota’s St. Petersburg manufacturing facility in November and will be offered with a newly developed 4-cylinder, 2.5-litre petrol engine and a 3.5-litre, Euro V compliant, V6 petrol engine.
The Toyota Verso saw sales of 43,806 units, up 2% from 2010, while sales of the Toyota Corolla increased by 6% with sales of 69,889 units. The Toyota RAV4 also continued its strong showing with a 5% increase with sales of 75,113 units in 2011. Sales of the Toyota Hilux were up 21% from 2010 with 28,888 units sold.
Sales of Lexus vehicles increased 40% over 2010, driven by the successful launch of the Lexus CT 200h, the only full hybrid in the premium compact segment, with sales reaching 16,980 units.
The Lexus RX model range saw sales of 13,858 units in 2011.
Toyota and Lexus full hybrid vehicles contributed to 10% of total TME sales in 2011 with full year sales of 84,839 units, including 59,161 Toyota and 25,678 Lexus hybrid vehicles. The Auris model range enjoyed strong sales of 102,053 units with sales of the Auris Hybrid, produced in the United Kingdom, reaching 32,725. For Lexus, full hybrid vehicles made up 85% of total sales in Western Europe in 2011.
Following the recent European Commission results confirming TME’s industry leadership with the lowest fleet-wide average CO2 emissions in Europe in 2010, TME will offer even more choice for hybrid vehicles in 2012 when the new seven-seater Toyota Prius+ and Prius Plug-in Hybrid join the Prius to make up the Prius Family. Launched in 2011, the New Yaris will soon be offered with Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy Drive when the Yaris Hybrid makes its market debut later this year. The all-new Lexus GS 450h features the second generation Lexus Hybrid Drive, producing 343 HP and just 137 g/km of CO2 – the most efficient powertrain in its class.
Table 1 – TME(1) total sales in Q4 2011
|Auris (incl. Auris Hybrid)||24,368|
|GS (incl. GS hybrid)||117|
|LS (incl. LS hybrid)||138|
|RX (incl. RX hybrid)||3,731|
Table 2 – TME(1) total sales in 2011
|Auris (incl. Auris Hybrid)||102,053|
|GS (incl. GS hybrid)||730|
|LS (incl. LS hybrid)||532|
|RX (incl. RX hybrid)||13,858|
(1) Toyota Motor Europe is responsible for all Western, Central and Eastern European countries including Turkey and Russia as well as Israel and a number of Central Asian markets (Armenia, Azerbaijan, East Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan).