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Companies Strive for Innovation Yet Shy of Risk It Brings, Planview Study Reveals
Austin, TX, — January 11, 2011 — Product development leaders know they need to drive increased innovation, yet are challenged by their companies' risk-averse cultures coupled to an inability to effectively manage resources, a new report by Planview reveals.
The company, a leader in the portfolio management space, today released the findings of its second annual Product Portfolio Management Benchmark Study, which polled nearly 1,000 respondents from a cross section of industries across the globe.
As part of an ongoing focus on how product portfolio management can drive more profitable results for product-focused organizations, in the fourth quarter of 2010, Planview commissioned a survey targeting those responsible for products and product portfolio decisions and management.
Conducted by Appleseed Partners and OpenSky Research, both independent third party consulting and research firms, the study consisted of an online quantitative survey, preceded by a qualitative phone survey, and analysis of the results. The full report is available here: planview.com/pdsurveyreport.
The new benchmark study shows that aligning resources with high-priority initiatives is a top pain point, and adapting to changing business conditions is a key risk factor. Further, survey results indicate that respondents are concerned with driving innovation quickly enough -- and in a capacity that is responsive to their customers' needs and market demands.
Respondents cite their Top 3 Pain Points:
Respondents cite their Top 3 Risks:
What We Say
"Coming out of the recession, leading organizations are focused on innovating, and want to do so quicker. Their fear is not being responsive enough to the changing market," said Linda Roach, vice president of marketing and executive sponsor of the survey, Planview.
"With nearly two-thirds of the respondents saying they are focused on improving the process of product development, it is clear that they are looking to make strides to move offerings through their product pipeline at a faster clip," continued Roach.
What They Say
"A key take-away from the benchmark study is that the recession has driven a need for better processes and prioritization. Companies want to be sure that their precious resources are aligned to products with the greatest strategic and financial returns. Yet, many respondents report a reliance on manual approaches, such as spreadsheets to manage complex product portfolios," said Maureen Carlson, partner, Appleseed Partners.
"It is clear that companies are less cost conscious and more concerned with missing growth opportunities than they were last year. Product development executives are focused on finding better solutions for resource capacity planning and a more holistic, data-driven approach to prioritize and manage their product portfolios," said Carlson.
For a copy of the full survey report, please visit planview.com/pdsurveyreport. To make inquiries or comments about the survey or report, or for permission to use portions of this report in the public domain, please contact ProductPPM@planview.com.
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Virtual real estate speculators notch another record deal
The $4.3 million purchase in The Sandbox almost doubles last week’s record
The number of virtual real estate deals is rising as quickly as their real-world value.
Republic Realm, an investor and developer of virtual land, paid $4.3 million on Tuesday for property in The Sandbox, a popular metaverse oriented toward gaming that launched this week after four years of development, according to the website NonFungible.com.
That easily tops the $2.4 million that Tokens.com, which facilitates investment in digital assets, paid for an estate last week in Decentraland, the other dominant metaverse. Toronto-based Tokens is also building an 18-story skyscraper there to be leased for meeting, events and advertising space.
Some 4,400 sales, valued at a cumulative $70.6 million, took place in the past week in The Sandbox alone.
It may be too soon to say if the speculative frenzy surrounding digital real estate — conceived by futurists and crypto specialists as the mall, playground and meeting place of the future — is a bubble or the start of a whole new asset class. Virtual land within many emerging metaverses is still significantly underdeveloped.
Republic Realm will partner with Atari, the seller and one of the earliest and largest landholders in The Sandbox, to co-develop the property, which includes several parcels, including a 24-unit-by-24-unit estate that’s among the largest in the virtual world. Each one-by-one plot is the real-world equivalent of 96 meters by 96 meters in length and 128 meters in height.
Republic Realm, perhaps best known as the creator of the Fantasy Islands NFT project, a luxury, master-planned real estate development in The Sandbox, doesn’t yet have firm plans for its new purchase. Janine Yorio, co-founder of the company, said any project will probably be aimed at play-to-earn games in which players compete for cryptocurrency.
Yorio’s company also developed a shopping mall in Decentraland called Metajuku, where it currently leases space to digital-only fashion brands DressX and Tribute Brand. Rent is based on a percentage of sales of NFTs such as digital wearables.
“People have forgotten that the metaverse has to be entertaining,” Yorio said. “It’s not just about making money. It’s about making content that makes people want to come back over and over and over again, like social media does.”
Before venturing into financial technology, Yorio spent several years as a portfolio manager at NorthStar Realty Finance, where she specialized in hospitality. Building an entertainment venue in the metaverse is like building a great hotel, she said.
“It’s not enough to put a pool in a bar. You have to have events, the right music, the right people showing up, and designers that make you feel cool,” she said.
Digital property has attracted more than just gamers and the crypto rich. Hedge funds, family offices and other traditional real estate market investors are also scouting the market, Yorio said. They typically find the metaverse easier to understand than crypto finance.
“There are so many crypto projects, it’s very hard to figure out what their business model is and why the token should be valuable,” she said. “This is much easier for people to wrap their head around.”

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NEW YORK, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Media mogul Rupert Murdoch said he is working on plans to launch a news business geared towards digital devices and aimed at a young U.S. audience.
"We'll have young people reading newspapers. It's a real game changer in the presentation of news," Murdoch said, The Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
The current plan calls for the company to produce short articles for an audience on the go that uploads the broadcasts with mobile phones or digital readers.
Murdoch's News Corp., would develop the new firm as part of the New York Post, one of News Corp's newspapers. It could also draw from various News Corp. newspapers for material, such as The Wall Street Journal.
Industry analyst Edward Atorino said media firms are looking at digital presentations as "another lifeline to survive."
The New York Times has already launched a publication that is viewed through an iPad application, which it said has been loaded onto 400,000 mobile devices. To date, revenues for the service have been based on advertising, but The New York Times is expected to initiate subscriber fees sometime in 2011.


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The turnover with consumer electronics (CE) devices will go down in Germany by 3.3% to €10.2 billion in 2015, reports German industry association BITKOM with reference to market prognosis by […]
German high-tech market on growth course
The turnover with products and services from information technology, telecommunications and consumer electronics is expected to rise this year in Germany by 1.6% to a total of €153.4 billion euros, […]
German pay-TV industry on the rise
The turnover of the pay-TV and video-on-demand (VOD) providers in Germany has exceeded the €2 billion mark in 2013 for the first time.


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A key committee of the San Diego City Council came out today in strong support for a ban of plastic bags. The Rules and Economic Development Committee took a unanimous vote in directing staff to construct an ordinance that would ban plastic bags at city grocery stores and other retail sites within the city.
The proposal at this stage of its process would ban plastic bags in supermarkets, and other retail sites that include large stores that sell food, drug stores, convenience, hardware and clothing stores. It also has a requirement that stores charge 10 cents a paper bag, but exempting restaurants, nonprofits, food stamp recipients, and produce and meat products.
Another element of the initiative requires the city to provide for distribution of reusable bags as well as public education. Staff was directed to return on October 23rd with a progress report. The committee is also asking the mayor’s office to conduct outreach efforts with environmental groups and businesses that would be affected by an ordinance, and for the City Attorney’s Office to draft a law.
If the City ultimately passes this measure, it will join Solana Beach and 80 other cities in California, including Los Angeles and Hollywood. Encinitas is also putting together a similar proposal.
Committee Chairwoman Sherri Lightner told the media:
“San Diego is poised to become one of the largest cities to take such a positive step towards bettering our environment. This is about protecting our ocean, our canyons, our waterways and landfills.”
Lightner also said:
“They have a cost associated with dealing with these plastic bags at the landfill. And then there’s the cost of the bags in the storm water system, on the streets, roads and in our parks.”
Another supporter of the ban is Interim Mayor Todd Gloria, who stated:
“Plastic bags cause environmental damage that can be avoided with the ordinance being considered. Our neighborhoods, our beaches, our waterways, our landfills and our overall environment will benefit from fewer plastic bags. I will work with city staff to develop an effective ordinance.”
San Diego Councilman and mayoral candidate David Alvarez is definitely on board, he told the media:
“That’s a big part of this campaign … is to let them know the harm that it causes the environment and how easy it is to get your own bag and reuse it every time and it’s part of changing the culture.”
An unlikely ally is the California Grocers Association. Their representative Sarah Paulson Sheehy stated that her organization was “comfortable” with a ban on the bags, but they wanted the law to include all retailers and wanted it to be similar with the bans in other cities. Sheehy claimed that in cities where bans were in effect, more than 90% of customers were bringing in reusable bags within 6 months of the law going into force.
For years, environmentalists have been organizing to get the ubiquitous white bags out of our environment as plastic bags are found throughout the state, on beaches, watersheds and oceans, where some marine mammals and birds try to consume them.
Surfrider Foundation has been working on the issues for years. Surfrider volunteers collected thousands of signatures and delivered them to the City Council.
The City of San Diego just spent $160,000 in the most recent fiscal year picking up the bags, including those that hang out in the Miramar Landfill area, according to the Environmental Service Department.


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Today, Americans are relying on credit cards in an unprecedented way because of rising inflation. Living under an economy that is on the verge of a recession – a greater one than the Great Depression of 2008 – American consumers are relying on credit cards. In the third quarter of 2022, credit card balances have jumped up to 15%, the largest one in the last two decades.
The total number of credit card debts, as of the third quarter of 2022, has leaped up to $930 billion. That is right! Average Americans owe $930 billion in credit card debts – and the reason is simple: The inflation rate is soaring. The cost of living is beyond the reach of common Americans. Thus, average Americans can not help but rely holistically on credit cards.
A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the total amount of credit card debts, as of the third quarter of 2022, is $930 billion. According to the report, credit card debts have leaped up to 15% – which is the highest annual increase in the last two decades.
However, it is equally important to note here that the day-to-day expanses of average Americans were 8% higher than they were a year earlier. This means that the prices of daily life essentials went up by 8% in 2022. From groceries to mortgages and monthly bills, the prices have gone up to 8%. That is why Americans can not simply keep up with the growing inflation.
Another factor that is adding salt to the injuries here is the havoc wreaked by the pandemic. America was one of the worst hits of the pandemic. People had lost their jobs – not to mention their loved ones.
On top of that, there is a looming recession awaiting Americans just ahead. In such a scenario, average 9-to-5 workers can not keep up with the daily expenses of their lives. That is why they are relying on credit cards in an unprecedented way.
Analysts also argue that high interest rates are another major factors that are adding to credit card debts. Since interest rates are soaring, Americans can not help but head over to credit cards to keep up with their daily expenses.
To add salt to the injuries, the job market also has nothing to offer. Practically speaking, leading tech companies like Microsft, Amazon, and Google are laying off their employees. This infers that they have no intentions of new hiring.
Thus, average Americans are struggling to make ends meet. And opting for credit cards is the only hope for them. And this shift can be seen in this latest update, where credit card debts have crossed $930 billion – the largest in the last 20 years.
To cut it short, there are three factors that are compelling average Americans to rely on credit cards as the last hope: Rising inflation, Looming recession, and high cost of living. Together, they are adding up to the need for more reliance on credit cards. Deep downs, these average consumers are delving into a deeper credit card debt.


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Japan will revoke import tariffs on 2,586 Vietnamese goods from the middle of this year when the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement comes into effect, officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and HCM City People’s Committee said.
|The Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, signed last December, will come into effect in the middle of this year, bringing major export opportunities for both countries|
Speaking at a conference they organized in the city on April 14 to apprise businesses on the provisions of the agreement, they said by 2019 the number would go up to 6,302.
By then, 94.5 percent of Vietnam’s exports and 87.6 percent of Japan’s exports will enjoy tax-free access to the other country.
The average tariff on Vietnamese goods would fall from 5.05 percent now to 2.8 percent, they said, and on Japanese goods from 14 percent to 7 percent.
Vietnam would reduce tariffs on 8,873 Japanese items by 2025.
Vietnam farm produce to benefit
Le Trieu Dung of Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Multilateral Policy Department said opening up the Japanese market to Vietnamese farm produce is one of the biggest benefits from VJEPA.
Tariffs on 70 percent of Vietnamese farm produce will go down to zero as soon as the agreement takes effect, the highest for any ASEAN member, and on 86 percent within a decade.
These include 23 out of the 30 biggest export items to Japan, including shrimp, crabs, honey, durian, and litchi.
Japan will give Vietnam a quota of 100 tons of honey a year and increase it by 50 tons every year, with the tariff fixed at 12.8 percent initially.
Durian and some processed fruits will immediately enjoy zero tax, while pepper and sweet corn will gradually see that happen over five to seven years. Coffee and tea will become tax-free in 15 years’ time.
Shrimp and crab exports will become tax-free immediately, and cuttlefish and octopus will enjoy after five years.
The treaty was signed in Tokyo last December after 17 rounds of negotiations beginning in 2007.


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Cytec CEO Sees 'Outlandish' Growth in Carbon Fiber Auto Parts
April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Cytec Industries Inc., the second- biggest producer of carbon-fiber composites for airplanes, said greenhouse-gas limits and rising fuel-efficiency standards will drive "outlandish" sales growth to automakers seeking lighter materials.
Sales to vehicle makers in 5 to 10 years may surpass aerospace, which currently accounts for 90 percent of advanced composite sales, Chief Executive Officer Shane Fleming said today in a telephone interview. Cytec, based in Woodland Park, New Jersey, gains "critical mass" in the auto market with its purchase of U.K. competitor Umeco Plc announced today, he said.
Carbon fiber, used in golf clubs and Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner, will be used in more cars as producers such as Daimler AG adopt lighter materials to meet European Union limits on carbon dioxide, Fleming said. Ford Motor Co. said today it is working with Dow Chemical Co. to develop carbon fiber parts that can boost energy efficiency.
"This is going to be a significant market," Fleming said. "The percentage growth numbers look outlandish because you are starting off a small base."
Cytec is buying Warwickshire, England-based Umeco for 550 pence ($8.78) per share, a 46 percent premium to Umeco's closing price yesterday. The company also announced first-quarter earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates.
Hexcel Corp. is the world's biggest producer of carbon- fiber composites for aerospace, Fleming said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jack Kaskey in Houston at firstname.lastname@example.org
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Simon Casey at email@example.comFind out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://m.bloomberg.com/iphone/


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From corporate life to beekeeping: rewarding journey
Bees have been good to Dave Zurek of Northville Township.
“I have a new location, Plymouth Orchards,” the Honey Bear Farms proprietor said of the popular cider mill on Warren Road. “I will be offering my honey (there) in late August when they open. My bees are there for pollination, as well as a place to stay.
“I have bees at Maybury Farm. I have some on Sheldon Road (at) Five (Mile) and Sheldon.”
His beekeeping services include local honey and honey products, which he sells at the farmers markets in Plymouth and Northville. On a recent Saturday at the Plymouth market, two of the seven children of Zurek and wife Linda – Hannah, 10, and Benjamin, 8 – were helping out.
“This is our 10-year anniversary at the Plymouth market,” Zurek said. Honey Bear Farms can be reached at 248-344-8842 or email@example.com.
He has bees at Welcer Farms, about a mile west of Maybury. “He has an organic farm, Scott Welcer. I provide bees to him,” Zurek said.
At the Plymouth market, customers Jackie and Joe Dostal of Plymouth stopped by. “Love it,” said Jackie, a customer the last decade. “I use it for my coffee.”
Joe Dostal added, “She puts it in her granola. Just a really good product.” Dostal likes that it doesn’t crystallize.
“I do honey bee rescue from homes,” Zurek said. It’s less common now to get hives in homes. “I get some in Commerce” and Rawsonville. “Not so much locally here.”
He was a Ford Motor Co. staffer in auto electronics and also worked for Ballard Power Systems. “When I was at Ford, I had a lot of autonomy, which I really enjoyed,” he said.
That’s true of beekeeping, too. “And it all falls on me,” he said, with Linda helping with bottling. “And my kids help, too.
“I’m just looking forward to another wonderful year at the Plymouth market,” added Zurek, who also enjoys Northville’s market.
This past winter was less damaging to his bees than the previous “polar vortex” one, he noted.
The Northville Farmers Market, under the Northville Chamber of Commerce, runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Thursday, through Oct. 29, in the Northville Downs parking lot, Seven Mile and Sheldon.
The Plymouth Farmers Market, under the Plymouth Community Chamber of Commerce, runs from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each Saturday, through Oct. 31, at The Gathering by Kellogg Park in downtown Plymouth. There will be no Plymouth market July 11 or Sept. 12.


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Advertisers love to remind ad-weary viewers that commercials keep broadcast television free. Now, facing heavy pressure to prove that their marketing investments are working, some advertisers are going a step further: They're paying people to watch.
Selected consumers will get as much as $100 in cash, along with coupons and prizes, in return for watching TV spots and offering up information on their viewing habits, in a test of a new technology designed to help marketers better gauge the reach and effectiveness of their ads. Subway Restaurants is among 30 national and local advertisers participating in the test.
A company called MediaCheck is recruiting about 5,000 households in Omaha, Neb., to put devices in their homes that will record when an ad is watched in full. The machines, which pick up a coded signal that is embedded into the TV commercials of participating advertisers, will give marketers detailed reports with information such as how many times their ads were skipped or time-shifted and how long viewers watched the commercials.
For every ad they watch, viewers will earn points that can be used to redeem rewards via the Internet. Marketers will also gain insights into how ads are resonating with consumers, data that will let them make specific changes to commercials based on real-time consumer reactions.
The traditional TV ratings system -- and the ad prices based on it -- is built on the assumption that if someone is watching a show, he or she is watching the ads as well. But as advertisers are quick to point out, that decades-old assumption is beginning to crumble.
Consumers are "zapping and 'TiVoing' commercials," says Ed Valle, Subway's director of marketing, referring to a popular brand of digital video recorder. "We need more information on who is responding to our commercials." Subway is a unit of Doctor's Associates, Milford, Conn.
"It's much easier for consumers to avoid advertising today, so any kind of new approach is worth checking out," says Zack Apkarian, director of consumer and customer insights at Cadbury Schweppes' Cadbury Adams USA, another advertiser participating in the test.
Media-buying firms and marketers have been critical of old audience-measurement systems used by the likes of VNU's Nielsen Media Research, which has a monopoly on TV ratings. In response, Nielsen said earlier this year that it would offer viewership data from DVRs as result of partnerships with TiVo.
"There is a lack of real data on viewing habits of commercials," says Tim Hanlon, vice president and director of emerging contacts at Publicis Groupe's Starcom MediaVest media-buying firm. The strong demand for greater measurability has caused a slew of new companies to pop up on the ad landscape, but many are still in their infancy.
"I don't want TV commercials to have a problem with becoming obsolete because of technology," says Jim McKernan, the general manager of KMTV in Omaha. The CBS affiliate, owned by Emmis Communications, is conducting the four-month test program beginning in May. MediaCheck, which developed the technology, is a subsidiary of PreTesting, a Tenafly, N.J., company that has worked with advertisers such as Pfizer and Colgate-Palmolive on testing ads before they air.
Is greasing the consumer's palm the answer to fixing the challenges facing TV commercials? While some big-spending advertisers have agreed to give the new technology a try, the business model isn't perfect. The Internet landscape is littered with defunct ad concerns that offered similar ploys to pay consumers to watch online ads.
"People get paid for plasma and blood, too, but the quality of their blood or plasma may not be worth the expense," warns Starcom's Mr. Hanlon.
Suzanne Vranica, The Wall Street Journal. April 4, 2005
Copyright © 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.. All rights reserved.


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The M1 Macs released last November were just the beginning. 2021 could see a new look for the iMac and Mac Pro with Apple silicon.
Macworld - News
It's safe to say Apple TV+ isn't growing as fast as Apple would like, so free trials are being extended several months.
Two new reports from Ming-Chi Kuo and Mark Gurman claim that Apple is planning big changes for the next MacBook Pro: MagSafe and function keys.
Apple outlines numerous initiatives as part of its $100 million inventment in the Racial Equity and Justice Initiative.
CBS This Morning will air an exclusive interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook that will feature a 'big announcement.'
A new report from the Economic Daily News claims that Apple is prototyping two different folding iPhones.
App for virtual meeting now runs natively on the M1 SoC.
The best content from Macworld wrapped up in our digital magazine.
Google still can't put a complete Stadia app on the App Store, but you can now stream games through Safari.
Apple's not done with iOS 14 yet!
Google has announced that the Apple TV app is coming to the new Chromecast with Google TV next year.
The core apps of Office 365 - Excel, Outlook, OneNote, PowerPoint, and Word - are now Universal apps that run natively on either Intel or Apple silicon.
Update includes TV app enhancements, AirPods Max support, ProRAW support, and more.
The new Shazam interface is a big improvement and more closely resembles other Apple apps.
A new Bloomberg report claims that Apple has begun work on its first cellular modem, which could be a game-changer for the Mac.
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During today’s surprise Japanese Direct
Nintendo had a surprise (for many of us at least) Japanese Direct this morning, and revealed a few more tidbits for some upcoming games. One such reveal was some gameplay for Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, which was unveiled earlier this week for 3DS, and set to arrive this fall in Japan.
It sure looks like a Mystery Dungeon game alright, and sadly, we don’t have a lot of other significant information (I predict potential amiibo support). We do know that all 720 current Pokemon will be included however, and that it will launch on September 27, 2015 in Japan and “early” 2016 in the west.


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EagleHerald staff writer
MARINETTE—So much depends upon an old blue bicycle, spattered with rust beside the gray wooden shed.
Sometimes the best things come wrapped in simple packages, like a big flour tortilla. And the best origin stories start from modest, unassuming moments in life.
And so goes the account of one of the area’s favorite burrito niches, Blue Bike Burrito, which, under new ownership, aims to continue its service to flavor-seeking palates and ambitious appetites throughout the cities of Marinette, Peshtigo and Menominee. But if you want the whole origin story, you’ll have to ask the employees or the new owner.
Long-time employee, Grant Dellise, legally took ownership about one month ago after Blue Bike founder John LaPlant relinquished his leadership role, seeking new life opportunities focused more on family and spending time with his young sons.
The cozy, bicycle- and burrito-themed bistro at the corner of Hall Avenue and Jefferson Street in Marinette, flourished from an idea LaPlant seeded in 2006. After collaborating with a group of like-minded friends, the restaurant opened its doors 14 years and four days ago, May 1, 2007.
“We just thought it would be a good fit and fill a space for the area,” LaPlant told the EagleHerald by phone from his new home in Cornucopia, Wisconsin.
At the time, that might have been an understatement for the success and popularity Blue Bike has gained in those 14 years and continues to exhibits, even through the pandemic. Just a year after Blue Bike opened, the nation’s restaurant scene experienced a tumultuous era. According to various sectors of consumer monitoring and restaurant media sources at the time, in 2008, the Dow Jones U.S. Restaurants & Bars Index dropped about 13% as the Great Recession clamped down across all sectors of the economy.
However, as evidenced by the loyal traffic of hungry customers that continue to frequent Blue Bike’s pick-up window each day over the lunch hour during the pandemic, the rolling of its high-quality burritos perseveres through the toughest challenges.
In the early years as owner, much as today, LaPlant credits a portion of that success to the customers
“We’ve had a very supportive and loyal customer base,” he said. “They seem to like what we were doing and they supported us as we tried to run and maintain a restaurant business in Marinette.”
Now, as he relinquishes the unique establishment that he began, he holds nothing but gratitude and optimism.
“(Dellise) is very dedicated and loyal, hardworking and personable and I think all of those things will definitely continue to contribute to (Blue Bike’s) success,” he said. “I am very excited for (Dellise) and I wish him nothing but luck. He has my full support … I think some fresh ideas and a younger person with a little bit more ambition won’t be a bad thing.”
TAKING THE LEAD IN THE PANDEMIC
Restaurants everywhere continue in a state of COVID limbo. According to the National Restaurant Association, in 2020 restaurant sales plummeted by $240 billion from predicted levels. Restaurant workforce at the end of that year remained down 3.1 million workers from expected levels. Furthermore, 110,000 restaurant locations remained temporarily or permanently shuttered at the end of 2020
“This last year has been kind of a weird state of business in general,” LaPlant said.
Regardless of the COVID tumult, what many area residents consider one of northeastern Wisconsin’s burrito utopias continues to ride on its prior success. So, when LaPlant made the decision to sell, he opened the floor to his employees first. Dellise’s interest sparked—he knew something good when he saw it.
“I thought it would be the right time to purchase it from him,” Dellise said. “And I would rather have someone here (take over) than someone else from the outside who is not familiar with (Blue Bike).”
Dellise’s decision and subsequent transition came not without some trepidation, concerning the current state of the pandemic.
“It’s definitely kind of scary, but I feel pretty comfortable with how it is turning out,” he said. “We have online ordering or call-ins for pick up. It’s actually pretty efficient.”
BLUE BIKE CHANGES?
In his transition as the new owner, Dellise explained he plans no significant changes to what gives Blue Bike such a local appeal and makes it a treasured dining icon. He and the rest of the staff strive every day to continue to deliver the same high-quality food, intimate knowledge of customer base and a commitment to service that Blue Bike demonstrated from day one.
As an employee of Blue Bike, the Menominee native, Dellise, first stepped into the wafting, southwestern aromas inside the small restaurant about 10 years ago, beginning his first day on the job. He started out as a dish washer, still attending high school. Perhaps one might contribute some of his decision to seek employment at Blue Bike to the lure of his staple entré of choice: Blue Bike’s chicken burrito. Even before working there, and now, after 10 years at the restaurant, he told the EagleHerald that he eats a chicken burrito just about every day he works.
So when it comes to the rest of the menu, Dellise plans to continue to offer the same high quality, organic ingredients. Upholding that quality stems, in some ways, from the focus on maintaining a small menu.
“I think if you do a few things well, that’s all you would need,” Dellise said. “You don’t want to have an oversaturated menu.”
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH?
Providing a quick rundown of those menu items, 10-year employee Samantha Thayer, explained it starts with the option of cilantro lime rice and then moves on to building and rolling the perfect burrito stuffed with the customer’s choice of palate-pleasers. Those ingredients include organic beans (black or pinto), organic grass-fed ground beef, seasoned chicken and steak. And one can’t forget the chorizo made with secret ingredients. The flavors don’t stop there, customers can continue to load their creations with additional garnish choices. Bulking up the burrito on the inside or out with grilled veggies, sour cream, guacamole, cheese, various types of salsa and a special roasted jalapeno sauce can create a bounty of complementing flavors.
After 10 years at Blue Bike, Thayer admits that what makes it such a great place to work and eat goes far beyond the food.
“I love that (Blue Bike) is different than other places that are in town,” Thayer said. “It’s pretty obvious that our stuff is really fresh … there’s just a really nice vibe here … the people that work here are friendly. And our customers are really nice, really genuine.”
As LaPlant departs a business that, in a small way owes its success to an old blue Schwinn bicycle that contributed to coining a name “that’s got a good ring to it,” he feels content.
“I have nothing but gratitude,” LaPlant said. “I am extremely grateful for the 14 years that I was able to own and operate a successful restaurant in town and all the wonderful people I have met and the friendships I have established.”


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PARIS -- Synergies with Promodes helped Carrefour register a double-digit increase in first-half earnings.
A year after merging with rival retailer Promodes, French distribution giant Carrefour said earlier this month first-half net profit grew 10.7% to $271 million, compared with $245.7 million during the same period last year.
Sales increased 27.7%to $27.6 billion, calculated on a pro forma basis to reflect the inclusion of Promodes. Carrefour acquired Promodes in a friendly stock swap last Aug. 31 that valued Promodes at $16.7 billion. The merger went into effect on Jan. 1, making the new group the second largest retailer in the world behind Wal-Mart.
"We are on line with our projections, which reflect the successful inclusion of Promodes," Daniel Bernard, Carrefour chairman and chief executive officer, told reporters at a news conference.
"We have created real operational synergies [between Carrefour and Promodes] and are moving forward in a healthy direction," said Bernard.
Synergies created by the merger contributed $185.4 million to the first half result, according to Bernard, while costing $72.9 million in new investments. Bernard added the acquisition -- the largest ever of its nature in France -- would cost Carrefour $180 million, less than the $208 million initially estimated.
Dollar figures have been converted from the euro and the French franc at current exchange rates.
The merger has "completely changed the face of our business, even our nature, giving us a new personality and new potential," said Bernard of the firm, now present in 26 countries around the world.
Based on the success of the merger, Bernard projected full-year sales would increase 20-25%. He said operating profit should increase by 35-40%.
While Bernard underscored the group's increased strength in Europe following the recent acquisitions of Italian distributor GS and Greece's Marinopoulos, he said a tough economic environment in Latin America had adversely affected business in the region.
Geographically, France accounted for 53% of sales with $14.6 billion, the rest of Europe 26% with $7.11 billion, the Americas 14.8% with $4 billion and Asia 6.2% with $1.7 billion.
Going into the meeting, investors had voiced concern Carrefour had failed to provide a clear Internet strategy following an announcement at its annual shareholders meeting in March that it had earmarked $1 billion for investments in the sector.
Bernard attempted to quell those fears by describing a string of e-commerce sites the group plans to launch in the upcoming months, including a specialized wine site in this month, a gardening equipment site in October and a beauty and health products window in November. Carrefour is planning to launch a portal linking all of its existing sites sometime next year, said Bernard.
Meanwhile, he said the group had been poring over a strategy for a garment site, but said Carrefour wasn't yet ready to project a launch date.
"With each e-commerce operation, we want to maximize our expertise and create synergies with our existing distribution structure," said Bernard. "We want to proceed prudently in the sector so we can establish the best business model."
Bernard said Carrefour expects to spend $22.5 million this year on Internet development.
Looking to the future, Bernard said Carrefour will inaugurate its first store in Japan -- just outside of Tokyo -- by the end of the year, with units to follow in Tokyo and Osaka. "Japan is a very important market for growth," said Bernard.
News of that store opening follows this week's disclosure that Carrefour was shuttering its four Hong Kong units. Bernard explained the firm was prompted to close the stores for strategic reasons, and that it would now funnel its resources to other target zones in the region, including China, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
"We encountered difficulty finding suitable sites for expansion, so we decided to withdraw from the market to concentrate our energy on growth elsewhere in the region," explained Bernard.
Addressing an investigation into whether insider trading and fraudulent activities were undertaken in the days leading up to the Promodes acquisition, Bernard said, "There has been no investigation of wrongdoing among Carrefour employees."
The investigation by the Parquet de Paris is focusing on locating who was responsible for a leak made to the French press just before the merger. The resulting news report inflated Promodes' stock. Bernard added that investigations have concentrated on locating an outside source for the leak.


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Streetscapes change as technology evolves. As phone booths became obsolete, most disappeared, but some were repurposed as WiFi hotspots, neighborhood libraries and other useful things.
British Telecom has thousands of boxy green metal cabinets, used to store internet and phone cabling, all over the UK, and the nationwide rollout of fiber broadband connections is making many of these boxes unnecessary for their original purpose—but many are in great locations to be converted into curbside EV charging points.
BT will soon begin installing charging points in cabinets in Scotland under a pilot program, and aims to eventually convert up to 60,000.
The UK government hopes to have some 300,000 charging points in the country by 2030, but at the moment, the vast majority of public chargers are in London. BT’s cabinets can be found throughout The Isles.
Both cabinets that are still in use and those that have been decommissioned can be used to support EV charging points, BT said. The cabinets are already connected to mains power, and engineers can retrofit them to share renewable energy to dual charge points alongside the existing broadband service.
“Harnessing existing street furniture is a great way to increase the number of public EV charging points without further adding to clutter along our footpaths,” Stuart Masson, of automotive web site The Car Expert, told the BBC. “Making this even more valuable, many of these green street cabinets are located in residential areas across the UK, including smaller villages and towns, where charging infrastructure is most severely lacking.”


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Next sees new gardening centres as path to greater growth
Fashion retailer Next is branching out into garden centres after a trial format came up smelling of roses.
The high-street favourite has planning applications for five new home and garden centres in the pipeline after its first, at Shoreham, West Sussex, proved a hit with customers.
Next, whose chief executive is Tory peer Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, has identified a total of 19 locations suitable for the new format. Each large shop sells fashion, homeware and DIY goods, as well as featuring a small garden centre. A second Next Home and Garden opened in Ipswich this summer and another is planned for Warrington.
Lord Wolfson is expanding on the back of Next's recent strong trading. It delivered a 4.5 per cent leap in sales over the six months to the end of July, which was ahead of City expectations and helped it to eclipse Marks & Spencer, its closest competitor.
Next Directory, its catalogue and online business, was the star performer with revenues up 13.3 per cent. The performance saw the retailer raise its profit guidance to between £575m and £620m for this financial year.
Gardening has become a hot area for investors and retailers keen to attract more of the grey pound. City financier Guy Hands became the latest to get green fingers this spring when his Terra Firma investment vehicle paid £276m for the Garden Centre Group which operates 129 stores under the Wyevale, Country Homes and Gardens, and Blooms brands. Tesco acquired Dobbies Garden Centres, a rival chain, in 2008.
Next's home and garden centre store in West Sussex has become one of the FTSE 100 retail group's best performing shops. Since opening a year ago, it has delivered higher sales on a Sunday than any of Next's other 500-plus stores in the UK and Ireland.
While the Shoreham store benefits from good transport links and high footfall from nearby shops at the weekend, the success of the format has convinced Next to roll it out further.
At £5.8bn, Next's stock market value has now grown to exceed that of rival M&S.
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Home Tags Store closings
Tag: store closings
The chain was founded in New York City in 1918 as Lerner Shops.
The first Pickup store opened last November at Manhattan's Penn Plaza.
L Brands, the parent company of the retail chains, did not disclose which stores will be shuttered.
Nordstrom opened its first Fairfield County store last fall at the SoNo Collection in Norwalk.
Within Fairfield County, Big Y has stores in Bethel, Monroe, Newtown, Shelton and Stratford.
The nonprofit will keep its donation locations open.
Home Depot is now closing daily at 6 p.m. while maintaining its regular opening hours, and is implementing a purchase limit of 10 face masks per person.
Donors in Connecticut are asked to avoid contact with store staff during item drop-offs.
The retailer has three stores in Fairfield County and eight in the Westchester-Hudson Valley region.
Destination Maternity listed $260.2 million in assets and $244 million in debts in its bankruptcy petition.
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The call came to the offices of Visible Body on the Friday of Labor Day weekend. Apple was on the line, asking for the Newton company’s take on the augmented reality technology coming to its iPhones and iPads.
By the following Monday, two designers from Visible Body were en route to Cupertino, Calif., one of a handful of companies invited inside as Apple prepared to roll out the biggest push yet to turn an esoteric technology into an everyday product for the masses.
“We looked at this and we said, ‘Yes, this looks like it has the potential for mass-market adoption, and we like where Apple’s going with it,’ ” said Andrew Bowditch, Visible Body’s chief executive.
The call wasn’t entirely out of the blue. Visible Body makes software that allows users to explore highly detailed visualizations of human anatomy, often for use in medical education, and Bowditch said his company has often shared its product plans with Apple as the electronics giant prepares to release new devices.
A bit lost in the noise around the September release of the new iPhone was Apple’s decision to include in its latest operating software a more powerful engine for augmented reality, which superimposes digital images and representations on real-life settings.
Pokémon Go and a few other apps have shown the promise of the technology for the mass market, but the more advanced versions of AR had been well beyond the capability of most phones and tablets.
Bowditch and his twin brother and cofounder, Matthew, had been anticipating Apple would go big on AR, and their 35-person outfit had already been experimenting with new applications.
By the time Apple called, Visible Body was ready. The company had recently dropped the price of its popular anatomy atlas to 99 cents and was preparing to flip the switch on new AR capabilities. Now, iPhone users can fire up the program and project a strikingly realistic and detailed rendering of a human cadaver on a horizontal surface, such as a tabletop.
The move into augmented reality is the latest evolution for the Bowditch brothers, who in 1990 cofounded a company that specialized in image editing, then split off seven years later to form Argosy Publishing, which produced specialized content for educational publishers.
At one point, Argosy had close to 100 employees, but then the financial crisis and recession hit, and the company retrenched. Looking for ways to survive the turmoil in the publishing business, the Bowditch brothers settled on developing software that would allow users to explore and study from the three-dimensional medical illustrations and models Argosy had developed. Now known as Visible Body, the company expanded beyond business customers to sell directly to consumers, with mobile versions just as smartphones and tablets exploded in popularity.
Matthew Bowditch, Visible Body’s chief financial officer, said revenues have increased 35 percent over the past year, to about $5 million, largely on the strength of growing sales of software licenses to academic institutions, and consumer versions of its medical atlas after the company reduced the price from $24.99.
Its augmented reality program allows users to overlay images of a cadaver onto a physical surface, such as a conference table at work, and choose what systems or parts of the body to display. Using an iPad to demonstrate, Andrew Bowditch zoomed in on the chest of the projected cadaver and watched as internal organs came into view. He used a finger to rotate the body, then touched various muscles and body parts to bring up a description of each.
Bowditch said the interactivity features are especially in demand among users.
“If you give this to the student, and they place the model on the table like we’ve just done, they literally will get up and move their whole body and look for stuff,” he said. “That’s so much more important when you have to remember something.”
Sarah A. Downey, a principal at the venture firm Accomplice who closely follows augmented reality technology, said she is expecting to see more from developers as AR enters the mainstream. She envisions applications that help members of organizations find their way to exclusive events or platforms that superimpose advertisements onto blank walls.
“The question that a lot of these developers are going to have to ask themselves,” Downey said, “is what are the unique things that we can only do in augmented reality, or only do in virtual reality?”
Another Boston company that looked forward to Apple’s AR rollout is Wayfair, which had been using AR to show off furniture on its shopping sites. With the new AR app for Apple devices, Wayfair shoppers use their mobile device to see a digital image of furniture exactly in the space where they want it; the item will remain in proportion as the user moves around the room, unlike in previous AR applications, where the rendering looked more like a stamp on the computer screen, with no relation to the space around it.
“At the moment, customers don’t really know what AR is, and AR on Apple now is bringing that to the masses,” said Mike Festa, director of Wayfair Next, the company’s research and development team. “So people are going to start to have an understanding of what it even means to put something in their space and walk around it.”
Apple’s Sept. 12 rollout of the new iPhone, AR tech, and other goodies did not include a shoutout to the team at Visible Body, leaving Andrew Bowditch disappointed as the presentation focused mostly on games. Still, it’s hard to remain upset with the tech giant whose support helped make Visible Body’s atlas the top app in its class in the iTunes store.
“In my opinion, they missed an opportunity to reach out for what I would call a transformative educational experience that they could have shown on stage,” he said. “But I’m close to this, and at the same time, I still love Apple.”


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Bill Would Require Parental Consent to Attend Annual Anti-Bullying Conference
Three same-sex and different-sex couples have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a North Carolina law they say is unconstitutional.
Tennessee's Lt. Governor just issued a stunning warning to his "fellow Christians who are serious about their faith."
A nationwide coalition of anti-gay hate groups camouflaged by a local Christian conservative group has once again posted a billboard claiming homosexuality is a "behavior" -...
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Know. Grow. Exit.
Oxford Membership is not for everyone. It is an “in-the-trenches” membership for doers, not dreamers. If you are ready to scale your business and join other world-leading CEO entrepreneurs doing the same, apply for membership.
Get the Oxford Morning Report everyday. Click here for a free subscription.
Good Friday Morning,
Daylight – Shameless plug. Check out the GSU profile on our M&A Guru Zack Eller. Zack plans to graduate in a month from Georgia State University – and go full-time with us the next day. Not only is he keen on the M&A world, he also formed his own company selling dog treats, all the funds going to animal rescue. We’re really proud.
Management – What’s the most important takeaway from The New York Times expose of Facebook? It just might be this: “A CEO having total, imperial control over a public company is a really, really terrible idea. Not just for investors, or the board, or employees, or customers – but for the CEO themselves.”
Human Resources – Facebook’s headaches are getting to its employees. Morale is reportedly through the floor. Only 52 percent like where the company’s headed. Big drop off from last year when 70 percent said they were proud to work at Facebook. The recovery will take more than just a few positively spun PR pieces, but a total change in culture which includes more transparency and user engagement.
The Economy – The Economist is calling for a “capitalist revolution,” one that reduces profits and restores competition (before Millennials do something even more radical): “Capitalism has suffered a series of mighty blows to its reputation over the past decade. The sense of a system rigged to benefit the owners of capital at the expense of workers is profound. In 2016 a survey found that more than half of young Americans no longer support capitalism. This loss of faith is dangerous, but is also warranted.
“Today’s capitalism does have a real problem, just not the one that protectionists and populists like to talk about. Life has become far too comfortable for some firms in the old economy, while, in the new economy, tech firms have rapidly built market power. A revolution is indeed needed – one that unleashes competition, forcing down abnormally high profits today and ensuring that innovation can thrive tomorrow.”
M&A – Food distributor Schwan’s has been sold to South Korea’s largest food company CJ CheilJedang for $1.8 billion. You might recognize Schwan’s for its home deliveries with gold trucks. Amounts to an 80 percent stake.
From Zack Eller – Penn National Gaming acquired the operations of Greektown Casino-Hotel from Rock Ventures and JACK Entertainment. When you own Detroit’s premier casino-hotel, you can pretty much name your price. It will be interesting to see what Penn National actually paid. Look for this to be a hit in an industry that is hit-or-miss.
Vee Pak acquired Cosmetic Essence Innovations, a provider of fragrance, hair care and skin care products.
American Construction Source acquired Arrow Building Center, a construction goods supplier.
Style – Word of the Day: milieu [milˈyo͞o] noun
a person’s social environment.
Wildfires – Unclear as to when the fires will be contained to any degree. Shares in California power provider PG&E fell 20 percent after it warned it would have to pay boatloads in liabilities, causing a spike in rates. $15 billion in liabilities to be exact. Might be up to the state, customers and taxpayers to cover the damage.
Books – The National Book Award Winners were announced yesterday. Fiction: Sigrid Nunez’s “The Friend.” Poetry: Justin Phillip Reed’s “Indecency.” Nonfiction: Jeffrey C. Stewart’s “The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke.”
You might be surprised to learn none of the winners get money. But the title National Book Award winner carries so much weight, it opens up more opportunities for lucrative reading/speaking opportunities at universities as well as professorships. Publishing companies will also double-down on promotion for better sales. Also, it can lead to other awards that do pay.
Farming Problems – Trump had to bail out the farmers as a consequence of his various trade wars, particularly with soy since China won’t buy ours. Now the farmers have to scurry around for different markets to buy our farmed goods such as Sri Lanka, which won’t even make a dent.
They’ll need about 11,000 more similar-sized markets. Some farmers are throwing their hands up and getting into politics themselves. Soy and corn are approaching decade lows and falling to nearly half of what they made five years ago.
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Hot – Atlanta banned pet stores from selling cats and dogs. The bill is intended to be a response to the potential puppy/kitty mill problem. Many of those animals end up in shelters and rescue facilities, especially if something is wrong with them.
Marketing – Remember information site About.com? Like AOL, it was once a big deal on the Internet before getting sold a few times and drifting off into irrelevance. A few years ago, Barry Diller’s IAC bought About.com from The New York Times and turned it over to Neil Vogel, who stumbled around for a while before launching one of the more interesting rebrands of recent years.
Among other things, CEO Vogel and his team tossed out much of About’s content, broke it up into individually branded verticals like Verywell (health) and TripSavvy (travel), spent lots of money on fresh content and created what are now some of the most trafficked sites on the internet. You can now hear the inside story of the transformation in an interview – originally aired on SiriusXM’s Mind Your Business – that Loren Feldman did with Vogel.
International – Japan’s newest cybersecurity minister admits to having never used a computer.
Investment Banking – Tecum Capital Partners invested in Converged Security Solutions, a cybersecurity company.
Five Elms Capital invested in Panopta, an infrastructure monitoring solution for the cloud.
IPO – Levi Strauss, the jeans retailer, is planning an IPO of between $600 million to $800 million.
Centrexion Therapeutics, a maker of therapies for moderate to severe chronic pain, postponed its $75 million IPO.
Venture Capital – UiPath, a the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) maker, raised a total of $265 million.
Nikola Corporation, a maker of electric vehicles that is based in Utah and is in litigation with Tesla, raised $210 million.
ServiceTitan, a provider of software for home service businesses, raised $165 million.
Hippo, an insurtech company, raised $70 million.
Standard Cognition, a provider of AI-powered autonomous checkout solutions for brick & mortar retailers, raised $40 million.
Primer, a machine learning firm, raised $40 million.
Italic, a marketplace for unbranded luxury goods, raised $13 million.
Trace Genomics, a developer of AI-enabled diagnostic tools for farmers, raised $13 million.
Pachyderm, an open source enterprise platform raised $10 million.
Automox raised $9.3 million.
Bunch, a social video app for mobile games, raised $4 million.
Spotlight – On December 14, The 704-seat historic Shoals Theater in Florence, Alabama is proud to welcome Grammy-nominated The Secret Sisters to headline a benefit concert for A New Beginning, a non-profit dedicated to helping women recover from opioid and alcohol abuse. Hosted by Oxford Center Founder Cliff Oxford, the benefit will also feature local Shoals favorites Fathers and Sons. All proceeds go to A New Beginning.
And that’s what’s ahead.


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Jul 06, 2012
Packaging industry holds many opportunitiesBack
SECURITY|Africa|Mpact|Nampak|Packaging|Paper|Projects|Resources|Safety|Security|Uniprint Labels & Packaging|Waste|Africa|Brazil|South Africa|United Kingdom|Security|Beverage Packaging|Electricity|Food|Manufacturing|Manufacturing Sector|Packaging|Paper And Plastic Packaging Manufacturer|Product|Products|Security|Bruce Strong|Infrastructure|Security|Waste|Packaging Materials|Poor Infrastructure
© Reuse this
“South Africa is not second-rate in any way with regard to the design and application of packaging,” he asserts.
He points out that several South African packaging companies, including Mpact, compete in the WorldStar Packaging Awards every year, adding that they often win in many categories.
Mpact and fellow South African packaging companies, Nampak and Uniprint Labels & Packaging, won awards for food and beverage packaging in 2011.
Strong acknowledges that there are many challenges facing the industry. These include the high cost of administered services such as electricity and municipal services, as well as skills shortages.
Another challenge is the export market. While foreign companies, which export packaging products to South Africa pay no duties, countries such as Brazil, among others, impose duties on South African packaging exports.
“We are engaging with govern- ment about this on an ongoing basis. “We are not asking for protection, but fair play. I think government is realising the significance of this challenge,” says Strong.
In terms of skills shortages, he believes that the packaging industry should look to skills development as a way to bridge the skills gap.
Further, Strong states that, for South Africa to reduce its unemployment rate and create more jobs, it needs to develop its manufacturing sector.
“Gross domestic product (GDP) has, to a large extent, been driven by services in the recent past, rather than by manufacturing,” he notes.
The total value of South Africa’s packaging industry is around R43-billion, contributing about 1.5% to South Africa’s GDP. Plastic packaging contributes about R20-billion a year and paper packaging R12-billion a year, with the balance made up by glass and metal packaging.
Not only is the packaging industry a significant employer, it also assists in the beneficiation of the country’s natural resources, says Strong.
“Packaging materials are produced and manufactured locally from local materials, which is a tremendous benefit to South Africa in terms of economic growth and job creation.”
Strong notes that, in the absence of adequate packaging, countries will face product waste that negatively impacts on economies.
“In developed countries such as the UK, about 3% of the produce that is grown or produced in the field is lost between the point of production and the point of consumption.
“This is in comparison with developing countries, where product waste can be as high as 40% as a result of inadequate packaging materials and poor infrastructure.
“Packaging has a critical role to play across the entire value chain and in establishing food security, which is a global issue,” says Strong.He
stresses that one type of packaging cannot be considered as uniformly better than another, as each type has different applications and fills a different need in the market. “There is a continuous migration from one type of packaging to another over time, such as from glass to poly- ethylene terephthalate (PET).
“This migration is driven by several factors, including cost, the effects that a certain type of packaging has on the environment with regard to its recyclability and its carbon footprint, the application of the packaging material and the safety it offers consumers.”
Strong says PET packaging has come a long way over the last 20 years, as the technology to mould PET into a suitable packaging form was not available at that time.
“As a packaging material, PET has the advantage of being lightweight. For example, a 500 ml glass bottle weighs 400 g, whereas a 500 ml plastic bottle weighs only 40 g.”
Mpact is actively pursuing PET recycling projects and adds that the economic value of this material is significant.
“The recycling sector in general contributes to job creation in the informal sector – people who collect PET packaging materials for recycling can get up to R2.20/kg. While this may not seem like much, it is a lot to people who would otherwise struggle to survive. These people can earn R100 or more a day,” says Strong.
He adds that South Africa’s recycling sector employs in excess of 100 000 people, many of them in the informal sector.Meanwhile, Strong says
retail- ready packaging has become a popular trend in the industry, as it offers retailers reduced handling, resulting in increased efficiencies.
Edited by: Chanel de Bruyn© Reuse this Comment Guidelines (150 word limit)
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Shoppers took advantage of Black Friday deals as many retailers started discounts earlier this month.
Preliminary data from Mastercard showed that Black Friday shopping increased by 29.8% through 3 p.m. ET from 2020, as consumers embraced deals online and from in person deals.
The data includes purchases made by cash and check. Online sales rose by 10.6% while in-store shopping increased by 42.9% compared to 2020’s lower shopping volume due to the pandemic and a lack of vaccines.
“Retail spending has been on the rise throughout the day and it speaks to the strength of the consumer,” said Steve Sadove, senior advisor for Mastercard and former CEO and Chairman of Saks Incorporated.
“Our latest Mastercard SpendingPulse reports show retail sales up 30% compared to last year and we anticipate a positive holiday season well beyond Black Friday.”
Shoppers spent most of their money on apparel, which increased by 86.4% compared to 2020, Mastercard said. Consumers also flocked to department stores which saw sales rise by 47.9%.
Sales of electronics were more muted and rose only by 20.7% as many products remain unavailable due to shortages in semiconductor chips.
Retailers began promoting and offering their deals earlier this month as supply chain disruptions and shipping delays threatened holiday sales, the one period a year when a large amount of revenue is generated for many retailers.
By 10 a.m. ET, data from retailers showed that sales rose by 12.1% as favorable temperatures and eager shoppers hit retailers that had started their sales earlier in November.
Now, this year’s Black Friday is emerging to become a shopping season versus a single day of larger discounts, Mastercard said.
Blockbuster deals were not as common as previous years, when shoppers started standing in line the previous night and hordes of eager consumers descended into stores early in the morning.
Other retailers such as Target, Costco, Apple, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Best Buy, Walmart, Macy’s, JCPenney, Kohl’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods kept their stores closed on Thanksgiving, a newer tradition that was started in opposition to opening stores on a holiday.
The National Retail Federation, a trade group, estimated that sales would climb in 2021by 8.5% to 10.5% to $859 billion for shopping conducted in November and December compared to last year. During the past five years sales rose on average by 4.4%.
The shopping frenzy that usually occurs at brick and mortar stores on Black Friday was muted this year, as shoppers have grown accustomed to shopping online, with deals were already offered earlier in the week and as fears of coronavirus continued.
While there were still lines of people waiting for the doors to be opened at Walmart ( (WMT) – Get Walmart Inc. Report) and Best Buy ( (BBY) – Get Best Buy Co., Inc. Report), shoppers noticed that the lines were shorter and less frenetic than past Black Fridays.
Fewer discounts from supply chain bottlenecks and higher demand contributed to the decline of in store shoppers.
Adobe Analytics said that discounts for home appliances were an average of 8.4% this year compared to 17.2% in 2020 while sporting good deals were only a discount of 5.9% this year compared to 13% in 2020.


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Kristine Lowe’s (left) Online Journalism Scandinavia this week looks at the demand for celebrity bloggers in Sweden.
Swedish lifestyle sites are using celebrity bloggers to drive traffic and to help lure attractive advertisers to their sites.
Swedish blogger Katrin Schulman (below) recently made it known she was keen to move her delicately named blog, Fuck you right back, away from lifestyle site Stureplan.se, in search of a pay per click deal.
Schulman is big news in the Swedish blogosphere. She is married to one of the nation’s most successful bloggers (neither known for mincing their words, hence the name of her blog), her husband is also part of a family that is old, aristocratic and influential in its own right.
She told the Swedish media: “I only work on commission. Four pence per unique visitor per month,” and promised to deliver nothing short of 120,000 visitors to any potential site wanting to host her blog.
It’s a far cry from the digital era sweatshop described by The New York Times.
She was eventually hired by Sthlmsfinest.com, a website and online community focused on celebrities and a direct competitor of Stureplan, which is a general lifestyle magazine and site born out of Stockholm’s club scene.
“We have seen a 15,000 increase in visitors just in the couple of days Katrin has been blogging here. She has a lot of readers,” Alexander Erwik, editor-in-chief of Sthlmsfinest, told Journalism.co.uk.
All the bloggers the site hired by Sthlmsfinest.com to write high-profile blogs about music, fashion and trends have to bring in their own audiences, Erwik added.
He also said that he hoped that in just two weeks hiring Schulman would have brought a substantially traffic increase from 70,000 users to around 100,00 readers to the site.


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Centre has cracked the whip on consumption of cigarettes and tobacco products by proposing a slew of amendments to the (COTPA) Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) (Amendment) Bill 2015.
The draft Bill, which has been put out in the public domain by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for inviting suggestions from stakeholders by February 15, proposes to do away with on-site advertising of tobacco products.
Which means kiosks and shops selling cigarettes and other tobacco products will no longer be able to display the brand names.
To prevent exposure of non-smokers to harmful emissions, the Ministry has proposed scrapping designated smoking areas from hotels, restaurants and airports; making an exception only for international airports.
The penalty for smoking in restricted areas has been upped from Rs. 200 to Rs. 1000.
Anyone found producing tobacco products without the specified warning will be liable for imprisonment for up to two years for the first offence or fine up to Rs. 50,000 or both.
For the second and subsequent offences the imprisonment can be up to five years with a fine of up to Rs. 1 lakh.
Selling products without warning will incur a fine of up to Rs. 10,000 or a jail term of up to one year or both.
Subsequent offence will draw a fine of up to Rs. 25,000 and a jail term of two years.
Tobacco products and cigarettes in approved packaging will now be sold only to those above 21 years of age.
The proposed age limit will be revised to 23 and 25 in two phases after evaluating the impact of raising the minimum age.
The draft Bill also proposes a ban on spitting of tobacco products, pointing it out as the biggest cause of spread of TB, avian flu and H1N1.
It has also been proposed to extend the ban on sale of cigarettes and tobacco products from 100 yards of an educational institution to 100 metres.
Ministry has said, suggesting a ban on sale of cigarette sticks :Sale of tobacco products loose and in small pouches makes minors susceptible to tobacco use as it becomes convenient and cheaper to buy tobacco products, it promotes the sale of tobacco and makes pack warning redundant..
An official of the Ministry told that a crucial amendment is the proposal to set up a National Tobacco Control Organisation (NTCO) that will implement and monitor the provisions of COTPA, 2003
National Tobacco Control Organisation (NTCO) will also be the nodal agency for tobacco control issues like defence of court cases and product regulation and testing through accredited laboratories.


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CMA raises concerns about Ebiquity-Nielsen deal
The Competition and Markets Authority has raised concerns about media and marketing consultancy Ebiquity's proposed sale of its advertising intelligence division to Nielsen.
The regulator said that as both Nielsen and Ebiquity gather, collate and analyse information on the advertising activity of companies and are the only suppliers of this intelligence across a broad range of UK media, competition might be "significantly reduced" if the merger takes place.
As a result, Ebiquity and Nielsen now have until 20 June to offer up remedies to the CMA's concerns. If no appropriate remedies are offered or agreed, the CMA will launch an in-depth phase 2 investigation.
Ebiquity said in a statement that it and Nielsen "continue to believe that the transaction will deliver substantial benefits for all stakeholders".
Ebiquity announced back in April that it had agreed to dispose of its AdIntel business to Nielsen for £26m in cash. It said at the time that the sale would result in "a more focused and less complex business with the potential to achieve a faster rate of growth and better returns in a market where budgets are shifting towards analytics and technology".
At 1425 BST, Ebiquity shares were down 6.8% to 62p.


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TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A computer glitch looked responsible for steep discounts on Cathay Pacific flights between Vietnam and the United States, but the airline later said it would admit the ticket buyers on board, reports said Wednesday.
Earlier in the week, the Hong Kong airline sold business class return tickets normally listed as costing US$16,000 (NT$492,000) between Da Nang in Vietnam and New York in July and September from a mere US$675 (NT$20,700), Bloomberg reported.
Travel bloggers immediately noticed the huge discounts, spreading the word and attracting extra buyers.
However, the South China Morning Post reported Wednesday that a New York-based professional who bought two first-class tickets between Da Nang and the U.S. city had his booking cancelled without receiving an explanation from the airline.
At least 11 people bought 18 of the discounted tickets, but legislation in both Hong Kong and the U.S. allowed airlines to cancel bookings if error is proven, the SCMP reported.
Later in the day, Cathay Pacific tweeted it would accept the lucky buyers on board with their tickets.
“Happy 2019 all, and to those who bought our good – VERY good surprise ‘special’ on New Year’s Day, yes – we made a mistake but we look forward to welcoming you on board with your ticket issued. Hope this will make your 2019 ‘special’ too!” the airline tweeted.
It followed the statement with hashtags for the terms “promise made, promise kept” and “lesson learnt.”


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Will Arnett is rumored to voice Candy Tooth, however he apparently hasn’t made a deal but.
Sony’s Twisted Steel online game sequence is headed to TV. Sony Photos Tv is growing a brand new TV sequence based mostly on the PlayStation sport with Deadpool and Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick signed on as producers.
The TV present is a joint manufacturing between Sony Photos TV and PlayStation Productions, which is the brand new in-house studio liable for bringing PlayStation franchises to the display screen.
Cobra Kai author and producer Michael Jonathan Smith is signed on to write down and produce the Twisted Steel sequence, whereas Reese and Wernick can be govt producers. Will Arnett is signed on to be an govt producer as effectively. It was rumored not too long ago that Arnett could be the voice actor for Candy Tooth, however Selection mentioned there isn’t any deal in place for this proper now.
In truth, there isn’t any phrase but in any way in regards to the forged for the Twisted Steel TV present, whereas a launch date can also be unknown. One other query that continues to be is the place the Twisted Steel present can be out there to observe. All of these solutions ought to are available due time.
“Twisted Steel is likely one of the most beloved franchises from PlayStation,” PlayStation Productions boss Asad Qizilbashm mentioned in a statement to Variety. “We’re thrilled to have such an excellent group engaged on bringing this iconic sport to life for the followers.”
The Twisted Steel sequence has been out of rotation for a while, because the most recent game came out in 2012 for PS3.
PlayStation Productions has been making waves of late, because the movie and TV unit not too long ago confirmed Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey to lead the Last of Us TV show at HBO, whereas the Uncharted film starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg is lined up for 2022.


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Kolkata: Following an increase in excise duty in the Union Budget 2015, country's largest cigarette maker ITC is all set to increase the price of all of its products. The hike in different categories of the cigarettes is expected to be between 12-21 per cent.
The 65 mm cigarette category, the most affordable segment, will see a maximum price increase of 16-21 per cent, because of a 25 per cent jump in excise duty. Prices of regular, long and king size cigarettes (above 65 mm) are being increased by 13-15 per cent, after a 15 per cent increase in excise duty.
The price of India Kings could go up by 13.6 per cent to Rs 250 while Classic 20 cigarette pack will be more expensive by 14 per cent to Rs 218. Mediocre brands like Gold Flake regular are likely to be priced at Rs 78 for 10-cigarette pack from Rs 68 now. Navy Cut will now be priced at Rs 78 instead of Rs 70.
However, ITC has issued an advisory that retailers are prohibited by law from charging above the maximum retail price printed on the packet and are liable to be prosecuted by the authorities.
The duty hike in the Budget presented on February 28 was above the sharp 72 per cent increase in the July last year. The hike will mostly affect less than 65mm segment. Experts believe that the major hike in this category will tonic domestically manufactured illegal tax-evaded cigarettes.


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Retailers Ration At-Home Covid Tests As Holiday Demand Outpaces Supply
As covid cases spike and Americans seek assurance before gathering for the holidays, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart are among the pharmacies and stores that are limiting purchases of rapid at-home tests.
Huge COVID Test Kits Demand Leads To Pharmacy Rationing Purchases
Heavy demand for COVID-19 home test kits, including sellouts at some stores, has led major pharmacy chains to ration individual purchases. Increased interest in testing comes as the nation is experiencing a COVID case surge, with the omicron variant rising quickly in its percentage of diagnoses. Tests are at a premium for holiday travelers hoping to gather safely with family and friends. Customers are limited to four over-the-counter antigen tests at Walgreens pharmacies, while CVS is restricting buyers to six kits. (Keveney, 12/22)
CVS And Walgreens To Limit Purchases Of At-Home Covid Tests
The two largest pharmaceutical chain stores in the US -- CVS Health and Walgreens -- are limiting the number of at-home Covid kits customers can buy due to huge demand. The rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant ahead of the holidays has sparked the surge -- and there has been anecdotal evidence over the past week of test shortages at stores across the country. CVS Health acknowledged in a statement on Tuesday that tests may be temporarily out of stock at their stores. "To ensure equitable access to tests both in store and digitally, we've added a limit of six test kits per purchase," the company said. (Alonso, 12/21)
Walmart Limits Online Ordering Of COVID-19 Tests To Eight Kits
Walmart Inc said on Tuesday demand for at-home COVID-19 testing kits was "extremely high" and that it had set a limit of eight test kits per online order. (Soni, 12/21)
The New York Times:
All Anyone Wants For Christmas Is A Covid Test
Abbott Laboratories, which made headlines back in August for destroying materials used in its tests, citing limited shelf life, said the company is currently making more than 50 million BinaxNOW rapid antigen test kits every month. In January, the company said, it will increase its output to 70 million a month. “We actually maintained usable test components, many of which have been in short supply during the pandemic — such as reagent bottles, cardboard packaging, swabs, nitrocellulose strips and even paper labeling — so that we could have them in the event that we needed to scale back up, which is exactly what’s happening now,” John Koval, a company spokesman, said in a statement. (Cherelus and Kambhampaty, 12/21)
‘An Arm And A Leg’: The Rapid-Test Edition: Who’s Making A Buck?
Rapid, at-home covid-19 tests are close to essential if you want to see friends and family this holiday season, and do your best to stay safe. But they’re freaking expensive and can be hard to find. What the heck happened? (Weissmann, 12/22)


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Google's Android 8.0 Oreo operating system is still rolling out to various Android phones, but that doesn't stop us talking about the next big update of Android, known as Android P. We've mused below about what Android P could be finally called but apparently, it is currently known as Android Pistachio Ice Cream internally at Google.
There's now an Android P public preview available, too.
As well as the name, other details on the next version of Android include better support for phones that adopt a similar notch to the iPhone X, better multiple camera options for developers, a revamped Do Not Disturb mode and much more.
Battery life is also set to be a key focus, with Adaptive Battery tech set to improve battery life significantly. Read on for full details of what's been announced so far.
- The best Android phone: which is the top Android phone to buy today?
- Best smartphones available to buy today
Android P name
- Again dessert-based
- Apparently known as Pistachio Ice Cream internally
- But image of Pineapple upside-down cake teased
Google has given previous versions of Android names after dessert and a couple of them have been through commercial tie-ups including the current version, Oreo.
Previous Android version names (versions 1.0 and 1.1 didn’t have release codenames):
- Android 1.5 Cupcake
- Android 1.6 Donut
- Android 2.2 Eclair
- Android 2.2 Froyo
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread
- Android 3.0 Honeycomb
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
- Android 4.4 KitKat
- Android 5.0 Lollipop
- Android 6.0 Marshmallow
- Android 7.0 Nougat
- And currently Android 8.0 Oreo
While we quite like the idea of Android Panda Pops or Android Poached Pears, we’re expecting Android 9.0 to be dubbed Pistachio Ice Cream (at least, that’s what Google appears to be using internally).
Pistachio Ice Cream might not make it to the full consumer version, but it fits the usual dessert-based naming convention. Indeed, Ice Cream has been used before as you can see above - for 2011's Android Ice Cream Sandwich.
Mind you, there isn’t a lack of choice when it comes to sweet stuff beginning in P; there’s Pineapple Cake, Pecan Pie or Pumpkin Pie that could easily be used, too.
Google made people work through an online puzzle to pinpoint the date and location of its upcoming developer conference. As part of that, the company teased a picture of Pineapple upside-down cake. Is that what Google P will be called?
Android P features
- Redesigned home launcher, notifications and settings
- Better multiple camera support
- Support for 'notch' devices
Android P is currently in public beta, which means between now and when the software goes official, there will be a number of improvements and updates.
New Android navigation
The most immediately noticeable changes in the software are visible right from the home screen. Dragging down from the top of the screen reveals redesigned notifications cards, as well as a refreshed look for the quick settings tiles.
There's also a new system navigation with a single home button on the screen - it's very much like the iPhone X.
All apps and overview are combined into one - you can quickly get back to these screens.
There are also predicted apps at the bottom of the screen. You can also scroll left and right on the home key so that you can switch between apps.
The Notification cards have rounded corners, and separated by subtle lines. Similarly, the toggles in quick settings make it clearer when functions are switched on, and give simple status clues. For instance, connected to Bluetooth headphones, the Bluetooth tile will show the battery level as well as the name of that connected device.
Better battery life
Battery life is also set to be a key focus of the upcoming Android P operating system, with Adaptive Battery one of several new AI-enhanced features - designed to give "a more consistent battery experience".
These are similar to the efforts of many phone manufacturers to bring AI-enhanced technologies to the new phones of today.
"Adaptive battery uses on-device machine learning to learn which apps you'll use in the next few hours and which you'll, use [later]" said Google's Dave Burke, head of engineering for Android. "The results are really promising.
Burke says the engineering team has seen a 30 percent reduction in apps waking up the CPU thanks to the technology.
Adaptive Brightness also learns your own preferences and environment so you shouldn't need to adjust the brightness manually anywhere near as much.
Last year Android Oreo introduced a feature to predict which apps you want to use next, and now this is called App Actions - predicting what you actually might want to do next such as starting a workout or calling your Mum. You might also get a link to buy cinema tickets when you search for a movie.
You can also see actions when you search for an app - like the price of a cab home when you search for your taxi app. This uses a developer feature called Slices.
Google says that last year's feature was able to correctly predict apps 60 percent of the time.
Google Lens on board
Google Lens is also now integrated into the camera app on all Android phones so you can have explanations for everything you're looking at and it will recognise words and buildings. Screenshots are also being improved.
There's also new Multi-Camera API for devices with dual rear- or front-facing cameras. This should open up new capabilities for apps, so that they can access streams simultaneously from two or more cameras.
It can even enable a "fused camera stream" that auto-switches between two or more cameras. Developers should be able to create innovative features that are not possible with just a single camera.
Rotation and volume control
A new rotation button appears on the status bar so you can always get full control over your phone rotation even if you've locked the rotation previously.
Google says it has also worked on the volume controls in Android P so there's less risk of you reducing your system volume when you just wanted to turn down a video.
When you press the volume button, this card pops in from the side of the display, with the option to switch audio outputs. It's pretty nifty, as is the new, more colourful and minimalist main Settings menu.
Android P Dashboard
A new Dashboard enables you to see how much time you've spent in apps as well as what you've been doing in each app.
You're also now able to set yourself time limits for time use. Do Not Disturb can now minimise the visual impact of notifications and sounds. By turning over your phone, Do Not Disturb will now automically turn on. Of course, you can always get calls from key contacts.
There's also a new wind down mode to encourage you to switch off at night that fades the screen to grey and turns on Do Not Disturb. Google says digital wellbeing is a "long term theme for us".
Support for notches in Android P
Google has added "display cutout" support in Android P - an acceptance that iPhone X-like notches aren't just a flash in the pan.
Using Android P's new tools, developers can build their apps and experiences so that they respond well to these cutouts and not have to fret about design or information being hidden behind them.
Other Android P features
Other notable Android P features/tools include: rich messaging notifications that highlight who is messaging, shows full conversations, and allows attachments of photos and stickers and even suggested smart replies; and the ability for developers to take advantage of indoor positioning in their apps so that they can track users indoors - with permissions - using a technology called Wi-Fi Round-Trip Time (RTT).
Also, it seems that With Android P, developers will be given the opportunity to use Google Assistant voice commands inside their third-party Android applications. This is a bit of a no brainer in our book. Google will surely want to make Assistant as open and flexible as possible.
Google has also added upgrades to video playback and image compression in Android P, including support for HDR VP9 Profile 2 and HEIF.
Finally, Google has implemented various updates to autofill, the Neural Networks API, and power efficiency.
Android P Public beta
The Android P Beta is available today on Google Pixel, Essential Phone, OnePlus, Mi, Sony, Essential and Oppo handsets.
Liked this? Why not check out Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know


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Although the actual release of Xbox 720 is still many months away, expected to arrive next year, the rumor-mill is constantly churning out reports about it. The latest from the front is that Xbox 720 would not be featuring a disc drive, unlike the current game console from Microsoft, Xbox 360. This essentially means that the major source of buying games would be digital downloads.
Even when this is just a rumor, it makes sense. The business models online have fast evolved to concentrate on digitally downloadable content, moving away from retail-type sales. Although, the report says, Microsoft will still retain retail sales, its primary focus would be digital sales online. In the absence of a disc drive, the retail games will be deployed to the console with the help of a slot where some sort of solid state media will be used.
However, it is unclear as to what kind of solid state media will come to replace disc drive in Xbox 720. Analysts have speculated that it could be a universal standard like SD or something exclusive and unique to the new Xbox. Another scoop by this ‘source’ was that the console will indeed debut in 2013.
Microsoft was quick to respond to this alleged ‘leak’ and wrote in an email, “Xbox 360 has found new ways to extend its lifecycle like introducing the world to controller-free experiences with Kinect and re-inventing the console with a new dashboard and new entertainment content partnerships. We are always thinking about what is next for our platform and how to continue to defy the lifecycle convention. Beyond that we do not comment on rumors or speculation.”
Image courtesy drdemento