text:
Data from Strategy Analytics show that over 1-in-5 UK households have a smart speaker. That translates into 5.8 million households and a reach of over 10 million users. With this in mind, PLS have decided to expand their processes and utilise this technology to improve the client journey further.
askPLS is PLS Solicitors’ new and intelligent Alexa Skill, which allows customers to remotely check the status of their case. PLS clients who have an Alexa device can enable the askPLS Skill on their account and will be able to access this service at no extra cost.
Through this new Alexa Skill, customers can “askPLS” everything from whether PLS Solicitors has received their documentation, their solicitors contact details, whether they have received their mortgage offer or even if exchange of contracts has taken place.
One of the most significant positive functions of the Skill is around the controversial subject of lawyer fees and transparency. Within the console, not only can a customer access their fees and disbursements (which it lists for the user), they can askPLS for the description of why PLS Solicitors is charging that specific fee and Alexa will explain ‘why’ in detail.
The Alexa Skill is the newest member of the technology family for PLS Solicitors. PLS Solicitors is one of the few legal firms in the country to offer Alexa Skills to keep customers informed.
PLS Head of Operations, Dean Carruthers, spearheaded the creation of this new service and explained:
“For us it’s about more than just bricks and mortar. The vision for PLS Solicitors is to ensure our customers understand everything about their transaction and have multi-platform real time access to their case 24/7. As something happens during the legal process, the askPLS service updates in real time and can supply an array of dynamic information to a client as soon as they ask for it.”
Carruthers continues … “When designing this functionality, we were keen to ensure that our clients receive even more detail on any legal jargon that they may encounter during the conveyancing process. So, as well as real time updates, the askPLS service can explain 101 different pieces of conveyancing terminology. We believe harnessing technology in this way adds an extra level of client care to our service.”
Clients will now see the askPLS symbol next to certain phrases on all of their paperwork. This symbol denotes that they can ask their smart device for further information on that item.


text:
May 19, 2015
- Buick’s Enclave crossover is starting to get long in the tooth, with the latest version able to trace its roots back to the original launched in 2008. However, the big crossover remains as popular as ever with buyers, with General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] managing to move 62,300 of them last year in the U.S.—a sales record for the...
May 15, 2015
- On the heels of General Motors decision to pull up stakes in Russia, the country’s auto sales continued their dramatic descent in April dropping 41.5% despite the country subsidizing its auto loans. The story behind Russian sales is at TheDetroitBureau.com.
May 7, 2015
- After long stretch of year-over-year sales increases that continued even as the Chinese economy began to show signs of slowing down, General Motors and its joint ventures in China reported a 0.4% drop in sales during April. Get the scoop at TheDetroitBureau.com.
May 1, 2015
- Like most automakers, trucks and crossovers continued to be a boon for General Motors in April, as the company's total vehicle deliveries in the U.S. rose 6 percent to 269,056 units.
April 30, 2015
- The order books are now open for the 2016 Cadillac CTS-V, which officially goes on sale this summer priced from $84,990, including a $995 destination charge. That’s a lot of coin for a General Motors Company [NYSE:GM] product but recall that you’re getting a luxurious, lightweight sedan that also happens to pack a supercharged...
April 28, 2015
- Russia was once considered the next great promised land of auto sales in Europe, but is now a dicey proposition with two of the big U.S. players – General Motors and Ford – taking different approaches to the market. Go to TheDetroitBureau.com to find out more.
April 21, 2015
- Increased sales in North America, China and Western Europe helped push General Motors to a 2 percent rise in sales to 2.4 million vehicles sold globally in the first quarter.
- General Motors is hanging on by a thread when it comes to the competition for the title “World’s Largest Automaker” as the maker sold 2.42 million vehicles in the first quarter of this year, trailing VW by 700k units. For more, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.
April 15, 2015
- Cadillac is boosting the performance of its ELR coupe even as it cuts the price of the plug-in hybrid in a bid to boost sales of the compact battery vehicle. The brand isn't alone in trying to cut prices to drive sales these days. Find out more at TheDetroitBureau.com.
April 9, 2015
- Due sluggish sales and a new model on the horizon, GM plans to end production of the Chevrolet Volt extended range EV at its plant in Detroit in May. Hybrids and EVs haven't been faring well in the era of low gas prices, according to the story at TheDetroitBureau.com.
April 7, 2015
- General Motors and Ford saw their vehicle sales grow in China during March despite concerns about the slower growth in the Chinese economy. GM's sales were up 8% and Ford's were up 1% last month. For details about the results, go to TheDetroitBureau.com.
April 1, 2015
- General Motors delivered 249,875 vehicles in March, a decline of 2 percent from the same month a year ago.
March 5, 2015
- Chevrolet’s current Malibu was all-new for the 2013 model year but after a lackluster sales performance some updates were rushed for 2014. Unfortunately, one of the car’s biggest drawbacks, a lack of room in the rear, will have to wait until a full redesign. The good news is that the redesign is coming much sooner than we first...
March 3, 2015
- General Motors posted Tuesday a 4 percent increase in U.S. to 231,378 vehicles delivered in February.
February 12, 2015
- Chevrolet’s new 2016 Equinox builds on five years of increasing sales with a styling revamp, a slew of safety advancements and new entertainment technology. The new Equinox hits dealer showrooms this fall, but you can get a look now by going to TheDetroitBureau.com.

domain: news


text:
Following on from my previous blog post (April 16th) about the Eyjafjallajokull volcano. The Volcanic Ash drifting across European airspace is causing major distruptions. I’ve just heard, a few days ago, a luxury Crusie Liner jumped to the resue of more than 2,000 stranded British and Irish holiday makers.
The Celebrity Eclipse, is the newest Celebrity Cruises Ship of the UK Celebrity Cruise fleet. It carried Spanish passengers stranded in Britain, including 50 teenage students back to Spain. Arriving a few days ago in Bilbao, Spain. It collected more than 2,000 standed passengers from Thomas Cook, Thomson and Co-operative Group package tour Companies back to Southampton.
Way to go Celebrity Eclipse!
Picture by George Hutchinson.


text:
The digitization of business processes is in full swing. Cyber security is often neglected. Companies should absolutely maintain and update their software on a regular basis. Here are some important tips with a checklist for more cyber security.
Arsenic Bandurian of Motorola Solutions (now Zebra Technologies) has raised an interesting question in his blog: What does the announcement of Windows 10 mean for the future of enterprise-class Windows E8.1H, just after the first professional devices equipped with it have been released to the market 20 months after the announcement.


text:
SAN FRANCISCO— San Francisco’s institution Tommy’s Joynt announced Tuesday, Oct. 20, that they plan to reopen their restaurant on Oct. 29 with reduced hours and a reduced menu.
The well known Hofbrau that sits at Van Ness Avenue and Geary Street closed their door on March 22 due to the shelter-in-place order, and said they would reopen once it passed. In the meantime, they delivered their food with UberEats for a while, but customers started suspecting that they were permanently closing as a rumor started going around and their sign was vandalized. In an interview with Hoodline in September, owner Chris Henry denied the rumors and called them “fake news.”
The restaurant was founded in 1947 by Tommy Harris and Al Pollack, and it has become one of the city’s longest standing institutions.Customers describe it as having a cafeteria-style service with a bar inside. Guests can order a variety of sandwiches and meats. Tommy’s Joynt mission, according to their website, is to keep the reputation that their founders built, which is “hot food and cold drink at a price that parries our atmosphere.” On occasions, the institution has seen a long line of customers waiting to be served. The restaurant says their long-time employees can serve a big group in less than 30 minutes.
Tommy’s Joynt has not specified how their operations will look like when they reopen, but in their voicemail they said they were putting things together. They are also preparing special packages for the holidays.
“We’re putting together Thanksgiving day to-go packages, look for those for pre-order soon,” said the voicemail. “We will be open on Thanksgiving day. We will follow city and state guidelines for service. We hope to be able to have many of you here in some way on Thanksgiving. Thank you so much and we look forward to seeing you soon.”


text:
Ryanair share price turnaround proves customer service does payby
In the space of 12 months, Ryanair has gone from demon to darling, in the eyes of the UK press.
This time last year, the Dublin-based low-cost airline was being panned for its poor financial performance and many experts were predicting the company’s demise, having been voted as one of the three worst big brands in the UK, by Which? magazine.
At that point, Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s divisive CEO, announced that there would be an upheaval in the company’s approach to customer service, and 12 months later profits are reportedly soaring again.
According to City A.M., the airline has experienced a 66% increase in net profit for the last year, beating many experts’ expectations.
It reported net profit of €867m (£614m) in the 12 months ended March 31, up from €523m at the same period last year. Revenue rose more steadily to €5.7bn - a 12% jump to €5bn.
Web traffic also jumped 11% to 90.6m in the year as the Irish firm rolled out a new customer experience programme with the moniker “Always Getting Better” (AGB), specifically to tackle its poor service reputation across all channels.
The project has been reported as so successful that even back in November, O’Leary was quoted as saying, "If I'd have known being nice to customers would work so well I would have started many years ago". The question is, what has Ryanair done that’s been so successful?
The first masterstroke appeared to be hiring Kenny Jacobs as CMO at the start of 2014 from Moneysupermarket.com, with Jacobs taking an altogether more active approach to making Ryanair’s brand image appear more personable.
The second was eradicating Michael O’Leary’s "own personal character deformities" from the press, which were often part-and-parcel of Ryanair’s old brand image and something that O’Leary himself conceded was affecting the company’s performance, having been quoted as saying he "should eliminate things that unnecessarily piss people off".
The final point of note is the change in approach towards customer service, which has seen a fairly straightforward shift in mindset in the airline’s call centre, from being one of a bullish and uncompromising nature to something eminently more understanding.
However, is such a severe U-turn really able to be so successful? Loizos Heracleous, professor of strategy at Warwick Business School believes there are a number of other forces at play helping Ryanair’s return to profit growth, and that customer service is just a minute factor.
“Ryanair’s strategy is one of classic cost leadership; having the highest efficiency in the industry, together with an acceptable level of service.
"This is combined with aggressive growth, in terms of opening up new routes, getting a bigger share of established routes, and in providing ancillary services. This is all supported by substantial expansion in infrastructure.
"The improvement in service levels, which has historically been a sore point for the company, can provide a sustained net benefit in Ryanair’s financial performance, provided that service improvement does not compromise operational efficiency.
"At the moment it is tricky to say how much of the increase in profit comes from lower fuel cost and how much from the impact of service quality. Ryanair’s quality rating on Skytrax remains at two stars (out of a maximum of five stars), and time will show if it will show real improvement.”
Indeed, even some members of the national press are happy to concede that "The in-flight experience was the same and the inflight food is still a rip off", however, crucially, as the Telegraph reported earlier in the week, one key component above all is that Ryanair is no longer an “intrusive” airline.
“You’re not bothered consistently by people trying to sell you scratchcards,” one report stated. “There has been a slight easing of the incessant announcements,” said another. “Allocated seating is an improvement and well-priced."
Chris was an Editor at MyCustomer from 2014 to 2022. He is a practiced editor, having worked as a copywriter for creative agency, Stranger Collective from 2009 to 2011 and subsequently as a journalist covering technology, marketing and customer service from 2011-2014 as editor of Business Cloud News.
Please login or register to join the discussion.
There are currently no replies, be the first to post a reply.


text:
(c) 2015 Crain Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Before Charlie McKenna opened Lillie’s Q in Bucktown in 2010, he knew his small-batch barbecue sauces would play a key role in his restaurant’s success.
He probably didn’t expect that, five years later, his line of regional-inspired sauces such as Carolina Gold, Ivory and Hot Smoky would be in 2,500 stores in six countries and rise to become the fastest-growing premium brand in the segment. His retail line, which has expanded to include kettle chips, rubs and bloody mary mixes, is on the shelves at Target, Whole Foods, Mariano’s, Crate & Barrel and more, and is growing nearly fourfold each year. Revenue from the products equals that of any of his four restaurants.
“At a certain point, we were selling so many bottles from our restaurant we decided to test the waters with small local stores, then local distributors, then national chains,” says Brian Golinvaux, who was brought in to run a new specialty food division called Lillie’s Q Sauces & Rubs. “I would compare it to what happened in the beer category years ago—craft brewers saw an opportunity that the big brands were not serving and took market share.”
While restaurant-affiliated retail products aren’t exactly new—Rick Bayless’ Frontera salsas have been around for 16 years—a growing number of chefs and restaurants around Chicago are rolling out pastas, breads, sausages and sauces of all types to sell. But where there’s opportunity to boost revenue and name recognition, there’s risk.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for restaurants to familiarize more people with the quality of their products as well as the brand itself,” says Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Chicago-based market-research firm Technomic. “The danger is, if you don’t actively manage the quality of the product, you risk having a negative reflection toward the brand.”
Because restaurant-generated packaged foods fall into myriad categories, there’s limited data on how much of the market such brands represent, though Tristano says the trend is gaining momentum.
Although chefs have a built-in advantage here—after all, they’ve spent months, if not years, developing and perfecting recipes in their restaurants—producing them for a retail customer and in large volume is a different animal.
First they must have a tastier chip, a tangier sauce, a superior sausage to others in the market. Then they’ve got to find a commercial-scale producer to make, package and distribute it, which often involves months of trial and error. From there, they must get it on store shelves at a price consumers are willing to pay. And they must do all of it at the same quality as what comes out of a restaurant’s kitchen. Any misstep in the process could be fatal.
“If you look back through history, there have been lots and lots of chefs who have launched retail food products, and in many cases, it has wound up hurting their brands,” says Manny Valdes, chief executive and co-owner of Chicago-based Frontera Foods, which makes tortilla chips, salsas, seasonings and prepared frozen meals that are sold at more than 65 percent of grocery stores across the country, with sales rising by about 20 percent a year.
For instance, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck’s frozen pizzas once were in virtually every high-end grocer. Now they have disappeared from the market.
Closer to home, Stephanie Izard of the wildly successful Girl & the Goat in Chicago launched a series of marinades and rubs with online retailer Abe’s Market in mid-2013. The products are no longer available at Abe’s, and an Izard spokeswoman says the chef is relaunching the line. BellyQ’s Bill Kim, who sold five signature bottled sauces at his Chicago restaurants and niche retailers, has stopped producing that line, with the hope of relaunching in coming months.
PLAYING IT SAFE
Still, chefs and restaurateurs keep trying to go retail.
Jared Van Camp of Element Collective started selling house-milled flour and dried pasta from Nellcote soon after opening the West Loop restaurant in 2012. From there, he has branched into a retail juice operation, Owen & Alchemy, which sells bottled cold-pressed juices at Eataly, Local Foods and its own store. Recently, he was in Louisiana working with a co-packer to develop and bottle a line of sauces used at his Chicago fried-chicken joint, Leghorn.
He plays it safer by keeping production low and selling his products in a small number of local retailers. “It doesn’t cost much, it’s free marketing and everything you sell contributes to the bottom line,” Van Camp says. “There’s no risk to that.”
Formento’s, an Italian restaurant in the West Loop, opened in January with built-in plans to sell its products in its adjoining takeout spot and store, Nonna’s, mostly as a marketing tool. But its marinara sauce is selling so fast that owner John Ross is talking with local grocers about carrying his products, too.
And then there’s the Publican, which through West Loop offshoot market-cafe Publican Quality Meats continues to expand its retail and wholesale offerings amid soaring demand. PQM sells branded ice cream, olive oil, honey and granola, the latter in collaboration with Chicago cafe Milk & Honey.
Its breads and sausages are sold at Treasure Island and Local Foods, as well as at restaurants around the city. The sausages, produced by Hometown Sausage in East Troy, Wis., can be found on the menu of Chicago-area Shake Shack restaurants, at two professional sports stadiums in Cleveland and at festivals like Lollapalooza. The restaurant estimates that north of 5 percent of its annual revenue comes from its retail and wholesale products, a figure that’s poised to grow.
“Originally we were just a small shop on the corner that took some of the pressure off the kitchen at the Publican,” says Bradley Smith, PQM’s retail coordinator. “But as you go along, you realize, ‘Oh wow, we can sell these sausages all over the place.’ It just keeps getting bigger and bigger.”
But they’re fighting the urge to get too big too fast. One slip and they risk winding up in the same place as Wolfgang Puck’s frozen pizza.


text:
The International Apparel Federation (IAF) has lined up an impressive cast of speakers, who will present their views on cutting edge developments in the apparel industry at the 32nd IAF World Fashion Convention to be held in Mumbai on September 27-28, 2016.
From porcupine quills and fruit, to silver coins and beads, the ethnic costumes on parade in Myanmar's capital this week showed off the country's diversity and added sartorial splendour to the cold detail of talks to end decades of rebellion.
London's Somerset House is hosting the European premiere of "Bjork Digital," an immersive exhibition of digital and video works produced by the famous Icelandic singer and a team of visual artists and programmers.
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.
Luxury jewelry brand Bulgari is set to showcase some of its spectacular heritage collection, worn by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, and Sophia Loren, as part of an exclusive new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.


text:
5 Ways Your Vegan Diet Is Helping Our Planet
The unfortunate reality of veganism is that it’s often brushed aside as a modern diet ‘fad’ by folks who don’t understand the incredible impacts a meat and dairy-free life can have on our beautiful earth. The happy reality, however, is that plant-based diets are changing the world.
If you’re reading this and you’re a vegan yourself, you’re no doubt already informed about the good you’re doing to flora, fauna and the planet in general. However, you’re probably going to stumble across people who still insist on asking why you’re vegan—here are five earth-friendly reasons to give them.
1. A plant-based diet only needs one third of the land needed to support an omnivore’s diet.
It’s true! Less than that, even. And the numbers don’t lie – researchers recently studied the environmental impact of our dietary habits now versus the impact in a hypothetical vegan world, replacing meat-derived protein with the equivalent from plant crops, and the results would make Mother Nature sing. According to study co-author, Joseph Poore, from Oxford University: “We reduced land use by 3.1 billion hectares — 76 per cent,” Mr Poore said. You’re welcome, world.
2. Every vegan saves over 100 animals per year.
Each year, 520-620 million animals are killed for food in Australia. However, each and every vegan who maintains a plant-based diet keeps at least 100 animals off menus and out of slaughterhouses every twelve months.
3. Each day, vegans save a bunch of other important resources just by not consuming animal products.
While a vegetarian diet will also help save the world, things like dairy products still hurt the earth and use a lot of its natural resources to produce. Did you know that, each day, a person who maintains a vegan diet saves on average 4,163 litres of water, twenty kilograms of grain, nine square metres of forested land and nine kilograms of carbon dioxide? If the earth could kiss all your faux leather boots, it would.
4. Vegans are reducing man-made pollution every day.
One of the biggest contributors to global warming is greenhouse gas emissions. And here’s the kicker – around 18-51 per cent (depending on the calculation and source) of man-made pollution comes from the meat industry, putting mass factory farming ahead of petrol usage in cars when it comes to polluting the earth. What would you rather: frying up some juicy eggplant or frying up our earth? The choice is easy.
5. Speaking of global warming, vegans are saving (metric) tons of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
500 grams of hamburger meat creates approximately 75 kilograms of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of driving your car for about 320 kilometres. How forked is that?! Not only does this impact good ol’ Mother Nature, but it’s hurting our wildlife too. There’s a mass extinction of species going on at the moment, impacting 86% of all mammals, 86% of birds, and 88% of amphibians. Heaps of them are facing extinction at some point in the near future, largely due to CO2 emissions.
So, next time you’re picking up one of our delicious plant-based burgs, give yourself a pat on the back for saving the earth (make sure you put the burger down first, though), because being vegan is not only sustaining our planet, but everything on top of it, too!


text:
THE EXPERTS SAY
Mercedes-Benz has sold more than 28,000 of the current generation C-Class since its launch, with about a third of those bought in 2015 alone.
There are hundreds of examples of this series listed for sale online, including wagons and coupes.
The majority of sedans — more than four out of five listings — are petrolengined and more than 95 per cent are rear-wheel drive.
The most common versions are the C250 (about one in three listings) and C200 (three out of 10). White is the dominant colour by far.
From 2014, the entry-level C200 sedan ($60,900 new) is now valued at about $38,850.
For the same year, the range-topping C63 AMG ($154,900 new) is valued at $105,700.
For 2017, the C200 sedan ($61,900 new) is still worth $51,600 and the C63 sedan ($157,211 new), is $132,050.
Resale values for this series C-Class are consistently better than rivals including the BMW 3 Series, the Lexus IS and Audi’s A4.


text:
EMI claim to be winning the war on piracy after reporting an "explosive growth" in sales of downloadable music over the summer.
The digital music company has seen a massive six-fold increase in sales, suggesting that the industry was starting to recover after the years of decline.
Demand for downloadable music has increased since the launch of iTunes by Apple.
Last month Microsoft muscled into the market with a rival online store - MSN Music - enabling songs to be directly downloaded to mobile phones as well as PCs.
Robbie Williams became the first artist to put his entire album, plus videos, on a memory card that can be inserted directly into a mobile handset.
Robbie Williams' Greatest Hits has sold more than 3 million copies since October, with Kylie Minogue, Coldplay and The Chemical Brothers among other artists with new albums.
EMI unveiled profits of #36.9 million in the six months to September 30, up 9% on a year ago at constant exchange rates but down 7.3% after accounting for the recent strength of the pound.
Chairman Eric Nicoli said: "We have already seen a significant year-on-year pick-up in our sales since the end of September. "This, along with the strong growth of music DVDs and the explosive growth in our digital market activity, leaves us well placed to maintain our market share for the full year."


text:
Not many years ago, India was a wildcard in the sugar market. Periodic swings in output would tip the global sugar price one way or the other. At the time, India’s sugar regime was informed by production and market policy controls. The commodity is the most regulated of all commodities in India and well supported by the central and local government. Other sugar industries in the world can only hope for such indulgence. In 2012, the committee, led by C. Rangarajan, Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, favoured complete decontrol of the sugar industry. But the political masters were reluctant with wresting the production arm largely because of the debt they owe to their fairly influential political constituency – millions of cane growers. With cane payment system skewed towards benefitting growers, the government is happy to step in to subsidise the export of surplus sugar. To those in the know, India’s support for its sugar industry has been known for a long time and quite transparent. In its quarterly report1 in 2015 Rabobank pointed out that despite the fact that sugar price in mid-2015 was well “below the cost of production for the majority of producers in the world ….government intervention” whether through export subsidies, as was the case in India “prevented the transmission of world market price signals to producers” which would have served to control output. The likes of Brazil and Australia took no action than to launch a complaint against India at the WTO but are doing so now. So, what has changed as the principle hasn’t?
In 2015/16 India produced 27.4 million tonnes raw value according to FO Licht’s data. This catapulted to 35.3 million tonnes in 2017/18. The increase in output was less from expansion in acreage but rather increase in productivity both in the field and factory – USDA noted in its attaché report2 that sugar recovery rate has increased to 11.9%. Surplus production of over 8 million tonnes, a good part of it destined for the export market clearly added to the subsequent global glut and fall in sugar price.
Brazil and Australia, structural sugar exporters, exporting some 70%+ of their output are clearly exposed. India’s output last year was evidently a tipping point. Their industries are clearly adversely impacted. But their formal complaint to the WTO smacks both of entitlement on the one hand and shielding their complacency in restructuring their respective industries in the face of change.
Indeed the global sugar landscape continues to be in the throes of change. Russia, which was major sugar importer nine years ago, has now become a surplus sugar producer and has started exporting. Every year, the International Sugar Journal provides a snapshot on investment activity in the sector. In the recent past, most of the investment has been in the cane sugar sector. While some projects do fall by the wayside, incremental increases in output from the remaining projects does eat away demand. Angola is set to produce 100,000 tonnes sugar this year. A few years ago, it produced none.
To quote from the editorial comment last October, alas “Australian and Brazilian sugar industry analysts have simply not served their respective industries well. Barring weather-led impacts on sugar production, over the past decade, investments by many sugar producing countries to drive productivity and production has contributed to a far tangible increase in output and reduction in relative demand. India is simply a fall guy.”
Lest we forget, Brazil’s fledgling sugar industry began to expand dramatically soon after the Brazilian government initiated the National Alcohol Programme ‘ProAlcool’ in 1975 In response to rocketing oil prices in the ‘70s. The effect of the programme was to cross-subsidise sugar production. Over the period 1990-2010, sugar production increased five-fold and sugar exports, 17-fold. Following the credit crunch in 2008, indebtedness has increased the industry’s woes. In December 2017, the Brazilian National Biofuels Policy, RenovaBio was approved in Congress. This was done as much to cut sugar output and reduce the industry’s vulnerability to the global market under the guise of energy security and reducing emissions.
Arguably, the Australian sugar industry has undoubtedly benefitted from the government supported research infrastructure which has supported its growth and attracted several multi-nationals to buy local sugar companies to the point that most of the industry is foreign-owned.
India’s pre-emptive move to allow the use of cane juice in the production of ethanol in a major policy change recently to boost output to support both energy security and climate change goals may yet pacify its critics as more cane is diverted away from sugar production.
1 Rabobank, 2015a. Deficit in 2015/16…….but so what? Sugar Quarterly Q2, pp 10
2 USDA (2018) India – Sugar semi annual. Gain Report No: IN8115 https://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/Sugar%20Semi-annual_New%20Delhi_India_10-18-2018.pdf


text:
Automobile owners show off vintage, modern beauties at Plains spring auto show
Published 8:21 pm Tuesday, April 16, 2019
PLAINS — Over 100 car owners from all over the Southeast descended upon Plains on Saturday for the 12th annual Open Car, Truck & Motorcycle Show sponsored by the Plains Better Home Town program, the Friends of Jimmy Carter National Historic Site, and the Plains Inn & Antique Mall.
Automobile owners from as far west as Mississippi to as far south as St. Augustine, Fla., came to Plains in hopes of impressing the judges enough to earn one of many “Best of Show” awards or to win the coveted President Jimmy Carter’s Choice Award. Other awards up for grabs were the Judges’ Choice Award (Street Rod), Judges’ Choice Award (Car), Judges’ Choice Award (Truck), the Mayor’s Choice Award, the Friends of Jimmy Carter National Historic Site Choice Award, Plains Peanuts Choice, Police Chief’s Choice and the Plains Better Home Town’s Choice.
The automobile owners came to show the judges and car enthusiasts alike how well they have restored and maintained their automobiles.
Ruth Sanders, executive director of the Plains Better Home Town program, was extremely pleased with the turnout. “I think we had a great day and we’re going to have another one in the second week of November,” she said. The car show in November that Sanders was referring to is one that takes place in Plains every year on Veterans Day.
Scott Hardin from Fort Payne, Ala., won the President Carter’s Choice Award for his presentation of his 1964 Corvette Stingray Coupe. “It was restored 30 years ago in 1988-89, so it has a 30-year-old paint job on it,” Hardin said. “It probably has a total amount of around less than 55,000 miles on it. It only has 2,500 miles on it since 1988. Everything on it works and everything that came with it since it was built on Jan. 2, 1964, is still with it. Nothing on it has been changed. It’s all original.”
Hardin said the car was designed to be a girl’s car and that a man in Tampa, Fla., bought it for his wife either for their anniversary or for her birthday. “It’s one of 463 made that year (1964). It’s an automatic with air conditioning, power steering, and power breaks,” Hardin said.
Like Hardin’s vehicle, all the cars on display had a story behind each and every one of them. Tallahassee, Fla., native Erwin Gendreau was the President Carter’s Choice Award winner at last year’s spring car show in Plains. Last year, he won it with the presentation of his dark-green 1930 Ford Sport Coupe. This year, Gendreau won the Plains Police Chief’s Choice Award for his 1964 Plymouth Barracuda. Gendreau acquired the vehicle in 1976. “It was my high school car,” Gendreau said. On the side of the car, Gendreau had a picture of himself while he was in high school standing next to the same car he was displaying at the show. “I went to high school in this car and I’ve been restoring it ever since,” Gendreau said.
While the majority of the vehicles were built in the United States, one vehicle was built and designed across the border in Canada. Steve Hanks of Phenix City, Ala., had such a vehicle, and it represented a dispute between American and Canadian automobile workers in the 1950s and ‘60s. Hanks’ car was a 1962 Pontiac Parisian, which was built and designed in Canada. “It’s the Canadian cousin to the Bonneville,” he said. “Canada had their own Pontiac production facility, even though it was owned by GM. In the ‘50s and up until about 1967, there was a tariff issue between the United States and Canada. The tariff on a wholly completed Canadian car coming into the United States was astronomical. Canada did the same thing with shipping anything that was completely made in the United States over into Canada. However, there’s something called partial assembly. If you partially assembled something, you could move it between international lines without the tariffs.”
Hanks said that what GM decided to do was to ship sub frames, transmissions, motors, front ends, and wheels into Canada and the Canadians took their bodies and set them on the frames. “They didn’t even need to build frames and motors at that time in Canada. They pretty much shut down that production,” Hanks said. “All the Canadians would do is build their bodies and this car I have is the Canadian cousin to the Bonneville, just like the Beaumant is the Canadian cousin to the Cheverolet Biscayne and the Accadian is the Canadian cousin to the Chevrolet Nova. Canada always maintained their names because the car came out of Quebec. They had French Canadian pride about their products.” Hanks said the Canadians maintained the dashboard of the Pontiac Parisian, but in 1962, Chevrolet put bucket seats inside an Impala Super Sport. Hanks’ vehicle contained the same type of bucket seats and upholstery that Chevrolet put into the Impala SS. “This is an original car. I bought this car a couple of years ago. I’ve rebuilt the transmission, had the front end rebuilt, tinkered with the motor, but it has the original upholstery that has been painted one time,” he said. “I bought it with the understanding that it supposedly only had 21,000 miles on it at the time, but I couldn’t verify it.”
He mentioned that the original owner in Montreal sold it to a man from Pennsylvania, who sold it to a guy in Mississippi. The owner from Mississippi sold it to a man in Mobile, Ala., who brought it to Moultrie, Ga., where Hanks bought it. He had done a lot of restoration work with it since he bought it. Hanks ended up winning a Best of Show award for his work and maintenance of his 1962 Pontiac Parisian.
There were also cars on display from the 1930s and even the 1920s. Greg Reusch drove up from St. Augustine, Fla., to enter his 1928 Ford Model A into the show. “I bought it about nine months ago. It actually was a barn find,” Reusch said. “I just cleaned it up, put a few odds and ends on it, and here it is.”
Kurt and Jean Lancaster from Bonaire, Ga., came down to Plains with their 1932 Ford Roadster. They ended up winning an overall Best of Show award as their efforts in restoring the vehicle paid off. “It has a 302 Ford engine, which was taken out of a 1990 Mustang with an AOD transmission,” Kurt said. “It has an eight-inch Ford rear axle in the back. It has a Pete & Jakes chrome front suspension on it. The paint is a new beige color off of a Toyota Tacoma. It’s built to drive.”
While there were several automobiles from the 1920s up through the 1970s at the show, there were also vehicles from more recent years as well. Jack Williams came all the way from Olive Branch, Miss., to show off his 2011 Corvette Grand Sport.
Williams had a patriotic theme in mind as he made the preparations to present the car at the show. The engine was painted in the style of the American flag, as was the inside of the hood. “When I got it, I wanted to give a tribute to the founding of America,” Williams said. “The engine represents the very beginning of our founding.”
On the inside of the trunk, there was a painting of some brickmen from the time of the American Revolution. “This is when the people who were actually not in the military wanted to support General Washington and the rest of the soldiers,” Williams said. “They marched and they called this ‘The Birth of Liberty.’ They marched and supported the revolution and that was the turning point of the war. That’s the theme I tried to present, same thing with the engine.”
There were numerous other vehicles from the 1920s all the way up to almost present day. Stock cars, modified cars, street rods, trucks, and motorcycles were all on display for people to see.
Like the spring car show last year, it was a time of fun, food, and fellowship for everyone. The SAM Shortline train brought visitors in from Cordele so that they could enjoy the train ride to Plains and see all of the different makes and models of the vehicles.


text:
Glanbia Ireland will pay its milk suppliers 35 cent per litre (cpl) including VAT for December manufacturing milk supplies at 3.6% butterfat and 3.3% protein. This price is unchanged from the November price. Glanbia Ireland has also announced that it will pay its milk suppliers a 1.1 cpl bonus on all milk supplied in July to December of 2017.
Glanbia Ireland Chairman Henry Corbally said: “We are pleased that the business met all its performance targets and is in a position to make this very significant payment to our farmers for all milk supplied in the second half of 2017. However, current market returns are considerably lower than our milk price, therefore price adjustments would seem inevitable over the coming months”.
Glanbia Ireland milk price bonus of 1.1cpl
The Board of Glanbia Ireland today agreed to pay a 1.1 cpl (including VAT) bonus on all milk supplied in July to December of 2017. This very significant bonus on all liquid and manufacturing milk supplies will be included in this month’s milk payment. Milk volumes allocated to Glanbia’s Fixed Milk Price Schemes will also benefit from the flat 1.1cpl bonus payment (as the Scheme prices are currently below the Market Price).
“As a business majority owned by our farmers, we are always committed to returning the highest possible milk price to our suppliers. Overall, 2017 was an excellent year for our milk suppliers, with 9% more milk delivered by our farmers and a very strong average milk price,” Henry Corbally said.
Glanbia Ireland is a joint venture 60% owned by Glanbia Co-op and 40% owned by Glanbia plc. Established in July 2017, it combines Glanbia Ingredients Ireland, Glanbia Consumer Products and Glanbia Agribusiness.


text:
The nominations are in, it's time to decide who deserves the crown for 2019!
Intel's latest 10-core has received a hefty price cut, but is it worth the cash?
We take a look at Gigabyte's sub-£500 TRX40 board to see if it can compete with the excellent ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming.
Sets up a target 'smart home.'
We take an in-depth look at 3D gaming to see if it can improve your skills.
An internal presentation made by ATI's marketing department made its way on to the web earlier this week. The INQUIRER has set up a duel for the two graphics heavyweights. Will they accept the challenge?
4Kings, the popular gaming clan sponsored by Intel, are taking a trip around PCWorld stores in the UK.
January 24 2020 | 12:00
Copyright © 2000 - 2020, bit-tech.net. All rights reserved.


text:
Super Bowl XLIII is going to the dogs.
Pedigree, a dog-food brand owned by Mars, is joining the likes of well-known marketers such as Anheuser-Busch InBev and PepsiCo in the advertising battle taking place during the gridiron matchup on Feb. 1.
But rather than hawking its chow, the pet-food maker will be pushing a cause: pet adoption. The advertising strategy of promoting a cause instead of peddling one's wares more directly in tough times -- especially in such a fiercely competitive product category -- could fall short. The estimated $11 billion U.S. dog-food business is expected to grow only 3% next year, according to market-research firm Euromonitor International, after 5% growth forecast for this year. Pedigree didn't disclose what it is paying for the spot, but ad time during the big game isn't cheap, with companies forking over as much as $3 million for 30 seconds. That's a big investment for an oblique message.
Pedigree, which has never advertised during the big game, says the cause-marketing approach is the way to go. "It's the right message to send out at this time," says John Anton, Pedigree's director of marketing. "More dogs are going to end up in shelters because of home foreclosures." He adds, "Every time we run this campaign, we see increased sales."
No. 3 Brand
The third-largest dog-food brand in the U.S., Pedigree held 6.8% of the market in the U.S. last year. The brand trails category leader Hill's Diet Science from Colgate-Palmolive CL -0.38 % and Procter & Gamble's PG -1.38 % Iams.
Pedigree says it spends about half its marketing budget on pushing adoption. The company declines to reveal its annual marketing budget, but TNS Media Intelligence data suggest the company spent about $32.2 million on ads last year.
Some industry watchers agree the adoption message could be just the right pitch for the company, since the dog-food industry is still smarting from last year's pet-food recall, when contaminated products led to the deaths of some dogs and cats. Even as recently as this summer, Pedigree voluntarily recalled dry dog food due to possible contamination with salmonella.
Using a cause message is a "natural move," says Emily Woon, head of pet-food research at Euromonitor International. "Pet-food companies are still trying to rebuild trust with consumers."
Pedigree's Mr. Anton says it is "paramount" that Pedigree continue to invest "in quality and innovation and make the best product we can."
Mars had a bumpy Super Bowl ride last year. It pulled an ad for Snickers candy bar after the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation condemned the spot, which showed two mechanics eating the same candy bar from opposite ends, reaching the middle and then ripping out clumps of chest hair to prove their manliness.
Sticking Its Neck Out
As for Pedigree's Super Bowl ad, viewers shouldn't expect a sappy ad that tugs on the heartstrings. Instead, the company is going straight for the funny bone -- a staple approach to Super Bowl advertising. Pedigree's commercial, which is being crafted by Omnicom Group's OMC -1.32 % TBWA/Chiat/Day, will show what life would be like if the world didn't have dogs. A string of crazy pets is expected to appear, including an ostrich giving a mailman a hard time. Though the ad won't show dog food, it will feature the Pedigree brand name.
Pedigree recently showed it has a sense of humor. A few days after the presidential election, it ran a full-page newspaper ad asking President-elect Barack Obama, who is in the market for a dog, to adopt one from a shelter. "We'd love to help you fulfill your first campaign promise," read the ad. "We are thrilled that you are celebrating your victory by adopting a dog."
One branding expert thinks the Super Bowl ad will be well received by viewers. "People are looking for security and love," says Eli Portnoy, who heads the brand-strategy firm Portnoy Group. "No one has any trust left. You can't trust your investment banker, you can't trust the government. But you can trust your dog."
Write to Suzanne Vranica at email@example.com


text:
Following in the footsteps of Tesla, Chinese app maker Meitu has joined the ranks of cryptocurrency investment.
In the early 2010s, Meitu reached such dominance in the portrait touch-up space that its eponymous flagship app became a verb for “photo beautifying” in China. But in recent years, as smartphones became to offer built-in filters, photo editors like Meitu are struggling to hold their lead. Meitu’s stock shrank from HK$18 apiece in 2017 to less than HK$3 today.
As the company turns 13 years old and seeks alternative growth, it sets its eyes on cryptocurrency.
Meitu purchased 15,000 units of Ether and 379.1214267 units of Bitcoin worth around $22.1 million and $17.9 million respectively on March 5 in open market transactions, the company disclosed Sunday. The purchase is the first tranche of the firm’s investment plan to buy up to $100 million worth of cryptocurrency, which is financed by its cash reserves.
In recent times, Meitu chairman Cai Wensheng has been an outspoken advocate of blockchain technologies. Though China has banned initial coin offerings and crypto trading exchanges, Cai said in 2018 that he personally bought about 10,000 bitcoins.
His support for cryptocurrencies is manifested in Meitu’s latest investment move. In the disclosure, the company states:
“The Board takes the view that blockchain technology has the potential to disrupt both existing financial and technology industries, similar to the manner in which mobile internet has disrupted the PC internet and many other offline industries. The Board believes that the blockchain industry is still in its early stage, analogous to the mobile internet industry in circa 2005.”
It continues: “Against this backdrop, the Board believes cryptocurrencies have ample room for appreciation in value and by allocating part of its treasury in cryptocurrencies can also serve as a diversification to holding cash treasury management.”
Meitu further explains that the Bitcoin investment is part of its “asset allocation” plan while its bet on Ether will aid its general blockchain endeavor, wherein it’s considering baking blockchain into its various overseas businesses, including Ethereum-based dApps. It’s also looking to invest in overseas blockchain projects “that can be synergistic to its large user base.”
As of June 2020, Meitu claimed nearly 300 million monthly active users on its suite of apps released across the globe.
Early Stage is the premier ‘how-to’ event for startup entrepreneurs and investors. You’ll hear first-hand how some of the most successful founders and VCs build their businesses, raise money and manage their portfolios. We’ll cover every aspect of company-building: Fundraising, recruiting, sales, product market fit, PR, marketing and brand building. Each session also has audience participation built-in – there’s ample time included for audience questions and discussion.


text:
Nollywood will receive a boost of N100billion annual boost from Digital Switch Over(DSO), Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed on Thursday said.
nollywoodHe said this would be achieved from the FreeTV distribution network apportioned to Nollywood.
Speaking at the launch of the DSO in Abuja, the Minister also listed job creation, 30 free digital channels, free and easy access to Government and Public information as part of freebies to get from the box.
He said:”We have watched our beloved Nollywood move from VHS tapes to VCD to DVD, and whereas the whole world has moved to digital consumption of content with its attendant benefits and democratisation of distribution, we have been constrained by limited penetration of Internet in our homes.
”With the middleware in our Set-top boxes/Receiving equipment, homes will be able to buy and watch the latest Nollywood movies without the need for Internet. Imagine a film released on Monday morning being immediately available to 24 million plus households at the touch of a button.”
In his speech entitled ”The Best of Television For All Nigerians,” Alhaji Mohammed said the local manufacture of Set-top boxes, which has already begun, is already extending to local Smart TV and Tablet manufacturing, thus creating jobs.
”With our strong consumer base, we can quickly become the supplier of these equipment to the whole of West Africa. As we speak, jobs are already being created as we engage Engineers, Technicians, Retailers, Distributors and Marketers, among others,” he said.
The Minister said the Electronic Program Guide will also be a platform for Application (App) developers to create products that will make life easier for the home consumers, thereby creating and promoting an industry of developers that will operate in both the Television and Telecoms industries.
He added that, the increase in Free-To- Air channels and the separation of transmission from content aggregation will spur an increase in TV production activities, as the channels will now be able to focus on their TV shows and harness the variety of human and creative skills to compete to become the most watched channel.
He reiterated the government’s unwavering commitment to meeting the deadline of June 2017 for the analogue to digital switch over in Nigeria and other West African countries, as set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).


text:
Mirrabooka and Cannington police districts rounded out the worst five.
Australian Retailers Association Executive Director Russell Zimmerman said shoplifting was a growing problem across the nation.
«We are very aware across Australia there are huge issues around shoplifting … it is becoming a bigger problem,» he said.
«We are also aware through the (telecommunications shops) nationally, where gangs walk in and they remove the product from off the shelf, they just rip them off … we’ve seen a number of instances where they have destroyed the shop fittings.
«In some industries, and a telco would be one of them, they are finding it very hard to get people to take the franchise businesses because people are aware of the fact that these issues are occurring.»
Mr Zimmerman said some retail outlets were finding it hard to get staff because of shoplifting.
«Because of what is happening, retailers are finding it hard to get staff because they are saying: ‘why should I work in this industry and leave myself open to these issues?’»
Opposition police spokesman Peter Katsambanis said more police officers were needed to clamp down on the problem.
«We need less police officers stuck behind desks and more people working on the beat to act as a strong deterrent to potential shoplifters,» he said.
«One solution advocated by many small business operators are more active police pushbike patrols, like those we see patrolling the Perth and Fremantle CBD at various times … to ensure police have a high visible presence in our retail precincts.»
Police Minister Michelle Roberts said police had already enhanced bike and beat patrols in the suburbs to target retail theft.
Ms Roberts said Police Commissioner Chris Dawson’s «positive reforms» were also helping tackle the problem.
“We’re cleaning up the mess left behind by the former government which sat on its hands when it came to tackling the meth crisis – a huge driver of crime,» she said.
“Mr Katsambanis should stop second-guessing Commissioner Dawson’s strategy and focus
on something he actually knows about.»
Phil covers breaking news with a focus on court, crime and police for WAtoday.


text:
This blog?s topic is quite an odd headline, eh. Yet there is a link here, based on Wal-Mart?s ?Get on the Shelf? initiative, which combined some social media marketing techniques with good-old-fashioned emotional appeal to propel three product-makers to coveted high-profile space on the discount retailer?s shelves.
In the program, 4,000 potential suppliers entered the competition and invited the public to vote. Perhaps not surprisingly, the top two winners ? a bottled-water supplier and eyeglasses kit maker ? won their spots because of charitable initiatives, especially relating to children. The third, a device to cover food on plates, probably had enough mass TV-type appeal to get there without the generosity of supporting kids-based charities.
The Get on the Shelf grand prize winner truly warmed our hearts and showed us that the Wal-Mart customer cares. Humankind Water is bottled water with a mission: providing clean water to some of the 1 billion people without it. 100 per cent of Humankind Water?s net profits go to ending this global crisis.
Ahh, perfect for mass appeal and social media likes, email support campaigns and a degree of viral marketing. Who wouldn?t spend nothing but a few clicks to help third-world kids have safe drinking water (by purchasing water bottled in Pennsylvania?)
?I am thrilled,? said T.J. Foltz, president of HumanKind Water, which sources its product from the Poconos Mountains. ?We knew people were voting for us like crazy. But we had no idea we?d win.?
Scoring a deal with the world?s largest retailer is like hitting the jackpot for a small business vendor. For Foltz, it?s especially significant since his product just launched last October.
More important to him, though, is the exposure he hopes this win will bring to the cause behind HumanKind Water.
Foltz said 100% of net profits from its sales will go toward developing clean water wells, water filtration systems and rain catchment systems in underdeveloped communities in Haiti, Africa and Asia.
?Ten thousand kids die every day because of lack of clean drinking water and poor sanitation from contaminated water,? he said. ?Every one of these deaths can be prevented.?
We can argue about the social and environmental issues of bottled water, but we can?t question this marketing success. Wal-Mart hasn?t decided if it will repeat the contest; a spokesperson told CNN that the company will assess the results of the first competition.
Generally, in construction, we aren?t selling to mass consumer markets. Even retail contractors generally work with (for individual consumers) rather high-ticket purchases, but we can see how aligning with causes and issues relevant to popular perception can be of value. This is why children?s hospitals and related charities are so popular. I could argue that supporting less popular causes might be more effective. Good deeds often translate to practical working relationships (or result from them). Local contractors might raise millions of dollars for the local hospital or community college ? but the hospital is on a building spree and the community college is enhancing its construction trades training programs.


text:
NAGPUR: If the allegations of Akhil Bhartiya Pharmacist Welfare Association (ABPWA) are true, there has been a scam in the allocation of 27 medicine shops in various government medical colleges across the state to a single firm.
Jagrut Pharmaceuticals Private Limited of Aurangabad has been allotted space inside 27 government medical colleges (GMCs) for a meagre rent of Rs 439 per month, including at the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College (IGGMC). This allotment of shops has raised fingers on the working of the directorate of medical education and research (DMER), Maharashtra State Co-operative Federation (MSCF), which selected the firm, and the public works department.
The state government had issued a government resolution (GR) dated March 2, 2009, permitting MSCF to directly allocate medicine shops to private firms in medical colleges. ABPWA president Ajay Soni alleged that there have been massive irregularities in allotment of all these shops to a single firm. He told TOI that MSCF Nagpur regional manager RR Sonwane has admitted that there had been corruption at some stage of allocation. But Sonwane reportedly said that he was merely following instructions from his headquarters at Mumbai.
"The allocation of shops to a single firm has flouted government norms. Also, how can a shop be allotted on a monthly rent of just Rs 439? At IGGMC, the shop is selling medicines at rates which are around 25-30% higher than MRP," claimed Soni.
Ritesh Vyas, proprietor of Jagrut Pharmaceuticals, could not be contacted for comments.
Another ABPWA member Bhushan Aashiya raised some more queries regarding the allocation. "First, the GR does not allow opening of private medical stores in government hospitals. Secondly, ideally, the shops should have been given to a consumer organization or a cooperative society. It also appears that the tender process was not followed for this allotment," he said.
ABPWA members have launched a dharna in front of IGGMC from Friday afternoon. Aashiya says that the dharna will continue till action is taken. "We are following a non-violent method of protest and hope authorities will initiate inquiry soon," said Manoj Dhote, another association member.
Dhote also alleged that huge money had changed hands in this project and officials from all agencies, like the PWD and Food and Drugs Administration, were involved in the scam.
The ABPWA claims to have submitted a memorandum to the college dean on the issue. However, dean Dr AP Dongre told TOI that he was on leave on Friday. He admitted that the association had met him a few days back.
"The association is alleging many things. But when I asked them to give the complaint in writing, they failed to submit anything till now. We have allotted the shop on recommendation of MSCF and the government. I don't know what happened today," he said.
Dr Pravin Shingare, acting DMER director, too had nothing to say on the issue. "We are in no way involved directly. We are following state government instructions. It is MSCF that is allotting shops," he said.


text:
We could see a deep correction in stock prices in 2015.
As we see the economy start to strengthen during the fall and winter quarters, retail stocks could be an area that may benefit.
Here are my plans for this tech stock trio.
Why this stock market bull run isn’t over yet.
3D Systems is an expensive stock, but has big potential.
Under Armour continues to be an innovator in athletic apparel.
Ken Kam, the Marketocracy CEO who runs the Core Portfolio and the Explore Portfolio on the Covestor platform, recently penned a piece for Forbes about how he’s investing in 2014 after last year’s big rally. Kam wrote: “With the S&P 500 up almost 30% last year, many investors are trying […]


text:
It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Just as this drove manufacturers to new heights during during the Covid-19 pandemic, the same urgency is needed today as the nation rebuilds sovereign capabilities. Today our editorial series – Celebrating Australian sovereign capability – looks at the fortunes, and future, of one manufacturing SME.
The Covid-19 pandemic exposed gaping holes in Australia’s import supply chains, with Australian manufacturers responding by investing in technology, equipment and skills to create new sovereign capabilities.
For Adelaide SME manufacturer Key Tubing and Electrical, the pandemic was an opportunity to bootstrap the business to new levels of capability and growth.
Now with the company’s leadership moving from Gary Hugo, who remains as Finance Director, to son Henri, the company is turning gutsy investments made during the pandemic into new ways of leadership and operations.
Henri Hugo said: “I’m optimistic by nature, assured of my team’s capabilities and constantly looking for new market opportunities.
“This allowed us to make some crucial, not easy or risk-free, decisions at the height of the pandemic that have helped place our company on a strong growth path.
“The pandemic demonstrated the real value of investing in people, technology and R&D. We saw firsthand how strategic investment can provide significant returns to a business and open new markets.
“It is something I now want to build on further.”
Taking pride of place at Key Tubing’s Melrose Park manufacturing facility are the 30 machines (pictured) the company built in a matter of months over 2021-22 in ramping up production of bespoke heater cable to meet pressing demand for ventilators and respirators.
Hugo said: “We all learnt an incredible amount operating a design and manufacturing business during the pandemic.
“It highlighted the need to be flexible, embrace problems, be prepared to back yourself and invest when you’re surrounded by uncertainty. This will all hold us in good stead for what lies ahead.”
The capital investment programme born in the pandemic years has continued into 2023 with additional machinery and automation about to be commissioned across the facility.
The company has also boosted its innovation and R&D capabilities with two new appointments within the engineering and design team as well as a new Commercial Manager in Jason Harrison.
“Australia’s business sector has emerged from the pandemic with a product development mindset,” Hugo said.
“As the built-up stock levels have gradually been depleted across industry, companies are looking to ramp up production again.
“We’re already seeing that through the initial design and testing work we’re now undertaking with companies seeking to bring their new ideas to life.
“This often involves complex problem solving, but that’s our bread and butter.”
Key Tubing and Electrical employs 70 staff and operates across a range of sectors including health, defence, after market automotive, food and beverage, hospitality, heating and cooling.
Hugo, now appointed as the 70 year old company’s Managing Director, said the experiences of the past two years have heavily influenced the strategic approach and leadership style he will bring to his new position.
It has also given him further confidence in the company’s ability to continue to achieve double digit annual revenue growth in the years ahead, with investment in innovation to play a cornerstone role.
A qualified industrial designer, Hugo holds an MBA from the University of Adelaide. He worked in London before joining the family company 11 years ago, holding positions across product management, sales and marketing and commercial operations.
Gary Hugo said Key Tubing and Electrical’s succession plan allowed for a smooth leadership transition.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Managing Director and the timing is right for me to step down.
“In Henri, the company has an astute and proven leader to take it into the future. Our customers and staff are all in very safe hands.”
Also in our series today:
CELEBRATING AUSTRALIAN SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY – REPORT CARD ON OUR CAPABILITY SECTORS
Picture: Henri Hugo at his Melrose Park, Adelaide factory
@AuManufacturing’s editorial series – Celebrating Australian sovereign capability – is brought to you with the support of Nova Systems and Titomic.


text:
By Joe Smillie
Peninsula Daily News
Want more top stories? Sign up here for daily or weekly newsletters with our top news.
The chain announced this week it is closing its Sequim store after 14 years at 990-A E. Washington St.
Signs posted on the store's front windows announced the closure, which was confirmed Tuesday by Jim Mander-scheid, a team supervisor at the Sequim store.
Manderscheid said that the franchise's corporate headquarters had limited what he could say.
A Staples spokeswoman said she would not be able to answer several questions — including the reason for the closure and how many employees will be out of work — until later this week.
Manderscheid said some employees had been offered jobs at other Staples stores.
The closest one is in Silverdale.
The store's stock will be sent to other stores, he said.
The Staples departure leaves another hole in the plaza, which has 130,000 square feet of retail space, according to property owner Mike Foley.
“I don't know what to say. Hopefully, more companies will see the opportunities there,” Foley said in a phone interview from his home in Bothell.
Currently, the plaza's only occupants are the QFC grocery store, a branch of the Edward Jones financial advising firm and The Great Wall Chinese restaurant, which opened last month.
In January, Del's Feed & Farm Supply closed its doors after almost five years in the building next to Staples.
A former assistant manager of Del's, Alan Doros, said at the time that the rent on the store's space was set to increase $3,000 to $13,000 in March.
Foley said that was “inaccurate.” He proposed what he termed a “very modest increase” in the rent, but Del's still moved out.
Staples is operating on a lease established before Foley took ownership, he said, but he would not say what that rate was.
National retailer Big Lots store closed its store in Bell Creek Plaza in May 2007 after having been there for seven years.
The closure of the Sequim store came as Big Lots was contracting, closing 160 of its 1,400 stores in the U.S.
Big Lots opened a new 20,500-square-foot store in the Port Angeles Plaza, 1940 E. First St., on Friday.
Although he has Realtors recruiting tenants for Bell Creek Plaza, Foley said he thinks Sequim's commercial properties are outpacing demand for retail space beyond his shopping center.
“It's a problem all over town,” Foley said. “It's just tough out there right now.
“And they're looking to permit even more retail space, so I don't know that it's going to get any easier.”
In July, Sequim officials asked Clallam County for $1.5 million from the county's opportunity fund to help install roads for a long-proposed shopping center on 75 acres of currently vacant land off U.S. Highway 101 at Sequim Avenue.
While city officials said an unnamed firm had expressed interest in developing the site, property owner Mark Burrowes said he had not heard of any new development in building a big-box store at the site.
Mayor Ken Hays said Tuesday he had not heard about the Staples closure.
“It's hard to say what it means without knowing more about why they closed,” Hays said.
Staples reported Aug. 21 overall sales of $2.422 billion between June and August 2013, a 2.3 percent drop from the $2.480 billion in sales during the same time frame in 2012.
The reduced sales dropped the franchise's profits by $32 million from the previous year, falling from $131 million in operating income in the second quarter of 2012 to $100 million in the second quarter of 2013.
The chain closed 103 stores in North America and Europe from Aug. 4, 2012, to Aug. 3, 2013.
Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Joe Smillie can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or at firstname.lastname@example.org.


text:
The interfaces of most of the big electronic health records (EHR) systems aren’t going to win any beauty contests, and many of them have a very hard time making the jump from the desktop to mobile devices.
But health care is increasingly a mobile undertaking in both the clinic and hospital settings, and doctors want an easy and effective user experience on tablets and phones.
So Practice Fusion, which provides a cloud-based EHR for medical group doctors, says it has overhauled its EHR system — both on the front end and on the back end — to support caregivers who want to use tablet computers.
Practice Fusion CEO Ryan Howard tells VentureBeat that mobile access has been the number one feature request from his company’s community of roughly 112,000 medical professionals. Howard believes the streamlined workflows in the new design will help caregivers do their jobs faster — both on the desktop and on mobile devices.
You can check out the look and feel of the new EHR in this video, provided by the company:
The new EHR, Practice Fusion says, is optimized to work on Apple iPads, the iPad mini, as well as on a variety of Android tablets.
“Unlike our competitors who struggle to make a dated, legacy product work on a mobile device, we decided to build our industry-leading EHR from the ground up to deliver the best experience for our users,” Howard said in a statement.
“Beyond delivering the best looking and best responding cloud-based EHR on the market, with this new product we are now equipped to work even better with larger practices and enterprise partners,” Howard says.
Howard says Practice Fusion worked with the well-known San Francisco-based design firm Cooper on the initial design of the new EHR, then turned to its internal designers to take the project the rest of the way.
The EHR leverages technologies like Bootstrap, HTML5, jQuery, D3.js, and Ember.js, Howard says, and is supported by back-end technologies like Microsoft .Net, and Amazon S3.
Howard says his team is now hard at work further optimizing its EHR for use on even smaller devices — the iPhone 6 Plus, for example.
Practice Fusion is the country’s largest physician-patient community, with a mission of connecting doctors, patients and data to drive better health and save lives. A driving force in modernizing American health care, Practice Fusion… read more »
Powered by VBProfiles
HealthBeat — VentureBeat’s breakthrough health tech event — is returning on Oct 27-28 in San Francisco. This year’s theme is “The patient journey: Connections, data, and innovation.” We’re putting long-established giants of the health care world on stage with CEOs of the nation’s most disruptive health tech companies to share insights, analyze trends, and showcase breakthrough products. Purchase your tickets now!


text:
Bleak manufacturing outlook as PMI keeps falling
By Sunita Menon - Oct 2nd 2018, 10:23
The poor PMI for September indicates that production in the manufacturing sector will be subdued.
The outlook for the manufacturing sector in the third quarter looks bleak.
The seasonally adjusted Absa purchasing managers index (PMI), which gauges activity in the manufacturing sector, hovered at a very weak 43.2 points in September from 43.4 the month before.
The average level of the PMI in the third quarter was 46 index points, which is the lowest average since the third quarter of 2017.
“The latest figure dashed any hope that the sharp PMI decline in August was a once-off occurrence,” Absa said in a statement.
A figure below 50 indicates contraction in the sector. The PMI is usually a good indicator of where the production numbers will head in two months.
“While high-frequency activity data from Statistics SA suggests that the economy will exit the technical recession in the third quarter, the PMI survey inspires little hope that the economy staged a strong recovery,” said Absa.
The PMI dropped slightly with declines in three of the five subcomponents of the headline index. Only the suppliers’ deliveries index came in above the neutral 50-point mark.
Business activity index rose 1.5 points in September but remained well below the neutral 50-point mark at 38.7, while new sales orders index fell even lower during September to 39.6. The employment index fell to 42, its lowest level in more than four years.
After six consecutive monthly declines, the index — which tracks expected business conditions in six months’ time — moved slightly higher in September, rising to 45.8 from 44.6.
In September, the PMI showed that activity in the manufacturing sector had dipped to its lowest level in just more than a year.
“The sector still faces many headwinds, including an increased tax burden and higher fuel prices that keep a lid on already mediocre domestic demand, while ongoing policy uncertainties are keeping investment spending hostage,” NKC African Economics economist Elize Kruger said.Business Live
Woolworths carves out market share in SA
27/11/2019 - 10:11
In Australia, David Jones's sales declined 2.1%, with the company saying a store refurbishment contributed to the decline.
Push and pull strategies work together to keep consumers coming back for more
26/11/2019 - 10:20
The retail sector is under increasing pressure as consumers have shrinking disposable income in a strained economy. Maintaining share of wallet is critical. Relying solely on a push route to market strategy from manufacturers into retailers is not enough to get consumers buying products. A pull strategy needs to coexist with the push to drive brand consumption. Integrating these strategies requires intelligent and insightful decision-making. This, in turn, requires data generated through smart technology which provides line of sight across the value chain from manufacturer to distribution, retailer to the consumer.
SA expected to sow fewer maize hectares than in previous seasons
26/11/2019 - 10:06
South African farmers are expected to sow 2.8% fewer hectares of the food staple maize next season than forecast in October after the planting season was delayed by rains, a Reuters survey of analysts showed.
Today’s customers are loyal to speed and convenience, not brands
25/11/2019 - 11:15
Consumer expectations are rapidly shifting as technologies such as mobile, geolocation, social media and increasingly, Internet of Things devices and wearables, connect people to a world of easily accessible information and convenient services. With the ability to browse, compare and order with a few swipes and taps, consumers are becoming trained to value convenience and service above nearly anything else.
Gearing FMCG manufacturing for the red season spike and maximising profits all year round
25/11/2019 - 11:03
As we enter the festive season, demand for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) increases rapidly, often leaving manufacturers scrambling to fulfill orders from their distribution channel. If demand cannot be met, then loss of revenue is inevitable. However, over-production is not an ideal solution either, as it can leave manufacturers sitting with unsold stock that costs money to store.


text:
Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal on his entrepreneurial journey, challenges with investors
In an interaction with YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma, Bhavish Aggarwal speaks about his journey, learnings, mentorship, and more.
Bhavish Aggarwal, the Co-founder of ride-hailing giant and EV startup , has always wanted to create impact from India for the world.
An IIT Mumbai graduate, Aggarwal worked at Microsoft for a couple of years before calling it quits. From starting ride-hailing aggregator Ola Cabs along with Ankit Bhati in 2011 to launching Ola Electric in 2017 and continuing to build both, Aggarwal has come a long way in the last 12 years.
Once a new entrant to the EV segment, Ola Electric now owns a 38% share in the market. It has sold more than 239,000 electric scooters since December 2021, according to data from the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.
A purpose-driven entrepreneur, Aggarwal is also aligning his business goals in harmony with societal well-being. Ola Electric’s Futurefactory in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu, employs over 10,000 women. The 500-acre manufacturing facility, which has the capacity to produce 10 million electric scooters annually, is entirely driven by women.
The entrepreneur says that it is the only all-women automotive manufacturing facility globally. The reason behind making a women-only factory is that he wanted to enable women with economic opportunities that would improve not just their lives, but that of their families, and the whole community.
According to Aggarwal, every entrepreneur’s journey is full of hardships. He says, the last 12 years have been full of hardships, but he was always prepared for it.
“I had all kinds of ups and downs. I met all kinds of people–sometimes clapping for me, and sometimes throwing stones at me. It does impact a lot. Everybody wants their work to be recognised. The intent behind the hard work that I personally put in is to truly create a change for society. However, when people try to pull you down, it hurts,” he adds.
Coming from a middle-class family, Aggarwal finds himself very lucky to have the value system he was given by his parents.
Speaking about his mentor, TVG Krishnamurthy, he says, “I have learnt so much from him about everything—professional life and personal life. I think I have accelerated my growth by 10 years at least just because he was there in my life.”
Learning from mistakes
Aggarwal believes in learning from mistakes. “I've made mistakes and I've learned from them. We have shut down businesses like the food business we did twice, and we learnt from it and decided not to do it. But once I believe in something, I will stand by it,” he says.
He also believes that social media puts up more scrutiny and that he has faced lots of naysayers in his journey.
“When we put out Ola Electric, people said we must have taken a shortcut and [asked] how we could launch so fast. And, with the scooter incident, people blamed us for not testing,” he recalls.
However, he claims that their scooters are the best-tested scooters in India with thorough R&D. The reason behind the incident was that it was launched for the first time, and hence, was bound to have issues.
“I’m not trying to whitewash these issues at all. It's not in my DNA to do that. I acknowledged my issues and I take them head-on,” says Aggarwal.
Aggarwal says he has been cognizant from day one of his entrepreneurial journey that the business has to be run in a way the founder decides.
“Sometimes, in the startup world, people presume that investors are mentors or gurus. However, I was cognizant from day one and always drew a boundary that investors are there to make money and we make sure they do make money.”
“I have always been very honest about my journey. And my journey was never about investors. It was never about the glamour of raising money. And we have had very good partnerships with investors, which continue, and we have raised a lot of money. But the end goal was not the investor,” he explains.
When asked about building a legacy, Aggarwal says, it’s too early as a founder to quote. However, Ola has been able to stand on its own against global competition in one domain and has been able to bring complete disruption in another domain. This is the extent of its legacy today.
“We're trying to build technology-oriented future businesses, which can have a large-scale global impact. So, hopefully, that becomes a legacy for us, but right now we are too early for it to be our existing legacy,” he adds.
Full interview to release on our Youtube Channel. Please subscribe and click on the bell icon to get notifications for updates.


text:
Amazon Web Services is huge among startups and is gaining credence in enterprises but faces challenges there from Microsoft Azure, VMware vCloud Air and IBM SoftLayer with their enterprise IT pedigrees. So on Tuesday Amazon launched AWS Directory Services, which will bolster Amazon’s story for business customers that want or need a hybrid cloud story — e.g. they don’t run everything in a public cloud.
In an ideal world companies that run applications both on-premises and in the cloud could use one directory for user authentication and other purposes across both environments. AWS Directory services is a step in that direction because it allows a company to tie AWS resources into its existing on-premises directory or set up a new Samba-based directory in the cloud. More here from Forbes.
Offerings like this and an AWS portal that feels like home to VMware admins, should help Amazon woo risk-averse enterprise IT professionals.
AWS Directory Services forms a critical piece of Amazon’s enterprise strategy, said Gigaom Research Analyst MSV Janakiram. With it, he said, [company]Amazon[/company] “will slowly nibble away” at [company]Microsoft[/company] SharePoint / Office 365 market share with Zocalo and a future Azure Desktop as a Service with WorkSpaces.
“This forms the backbone of Amazon’s hybrid strategy,” he noted via email adding that it’s “an indication that AWS wants to be an IaaS, PaaS and SaaS company. Basically, a full-blown IT-as-a-Service shop.”
Stay tuned for more goodies for enterprise IT shops. AWS has a press event slated for Thursday morning and is just a month away from its annual AWS Re:invent conference.


text:
Fifteen years ago today, the nation was attacked out of the blue by hate-filled lunatics, plunging us into a war that continues even now.
So let’s all take a moment this morning to honor the lives cut short that day, and to pay tribute to those who’ve spent the past decade and a half fighting to keep us free.
Just don’t turn on the TV.
The idiots dominating the news don’t know how good they’ve got it, from the spoiled millionaire athletes who refuse to rise for the national anthem to vegans out protesting bacon.
I’m not kidding, they were out there just last weekend, protesting the most delicious food on the planet.
Can you think of a bigger waste of time?
They can have my bacon when they pry it from my cold, dead, greasy hands — and I’m confident that day won’t come anytime soon because eating meat isn’t unhealthy, like the sprout-heads claim.
It’s healthy, and it can even help you to lose weight!
So don’t fall for the new study being pushed by the patchouli-stinking, sandal-wearing, cow-hugging vegetarians, which claims switching to their diet can help you lose weight twice as fast.
Sure, in the study, folks who gave up meat lost more weight.
But they weren’t dieting… they were starving!
A vegetarian diet will cause you to fall short in protein, leading to muscle loss as you lose weight. You’ll also miss out on minerals such as zinc, which can wreck both your immune system and your sex life, and vitamin B12, which can lead to mood and memory problems.
Ever wonder why vegetarians are so gloomy? There’s your answer.
Fact is, neither group in the study had any weight loss worth writing home about. The meat eaters dropped about 2 pounds over a month, while vegetarians shed 4 pounds.
The real problem with “meat eaters” in studies like this is they use the average meat eater — someone who usually has breaded chicken or beef on a sesame seed bun… with a side of fries.
That’s not a diet. That’s a death wish!
So if you want a diet that tastes great and will help you lose weight, don’t give up meat. Give up all that other junk.
Fresh meats — even bacon — as part of a healthy low-carb diet works so well that early on, many folks lose up to a POUND A DAY!
You can lose as much in the first week as you would in nearly two months on the vegetarian diet being pushed by the new study. The weight loss will eventually slow down, but it won’t let up until you hit your ideal weight.
When people ask you for the secret, don’t be afraid to tell them: It’s plenty of bacon.


text:
They Had No Alternative’
One or more sheriff’s deputies shot and wounded a suspected car thief in Canyon Country on Thursday after the suspect allegedly pointed a gun at them.
A female passenger ran from the car after it was stopped by the two-man patrol unit around 3 p.m. in the Boot Barn Plaza at the intersection of Sierra Highway and Soledad Canyon Road.
Deputies taped off and surrounded the shopping center as they searched for the woman, described as a blonde, 33-year-old white or Latina, wearing a red top and blue jeans.
Deputies later widened their search for the fugitive as they hunted door-to-door in the Sierra Canyon Apartment complex adjacent to the shopping center and searched the Santa Clara riverbed and another small shopping center to the east of the crime scene.
At around 8 p.m., deputies continued their search around Canyon Country Park and the Metrolink tracks near the riverbed.
Two bloodhound search dogs joined the deputies in the search, but the woman was still at large at press time.
For more go to The Signals website!


text:
Driven by the expansion of shopping malls, low prices at supermarkets and pharmacies, and a growing middle class, the retail industry grew by 4.3% in 2017 and is projected by the Lima Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Labour Union to grow by up to 6% in 2018.
Furthermore, the 2017 Global Retail Development Index claimed that Peru’s retail industry recorded the largest growth in Latin America, despite an economic slowdown. Peru ranked 9th out of 30 countries based on market attractiveness, country and business risk, market saturation and time pressure.
Sales Growth & Businesses
In 2017 the retail industry reached PEN36bn ($11.1bn) to represent 4.1% of GDP. The Ministry of Production (Ministerio de la Producción, PRODUCE) announced that this uptick was due to the profit margins of supermarkets and department stores, which increased by 3.8%.
The total number of retail units in operation – including hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount stores – amounted to 386 in 2017, of which 293 were in Lima and 93 in other provinces around the country, according to Canadian multinational Scotiabank.
In 2017, 71 new stores were established nationwide, with 68 of them in the format of discount stores, of which two were located outside Lima. Three of the new stores were supermarkets, with two in Lima and one in Ica. The three main operators included Cencosud Perú, which is owned by Chilean multinational Cencosud; Supermercados Peruanos, which is linked to Intercorp; and Tottus, which is owned by Chilean Falabella.
According to Scotiabank, Peru has great growth potential in the retail industry given that it has 386 supermarkets for its population of 32m inhabitants, whereas Colombia had over 1000 stores with a population close to 48m, while Chile had 1370 stores for around 18m inhabitants. The Colliers 2017 commercial report highlighted that there is further growth potential considering the low penetration of modern retail, however, the opportunity has not been fully exploited.
Carlos Asmat, analyst at the Economic Studies Department of Scotiabank, told local press that the low level of penetration has encouraged the opening of more stores in the country. This generated a higher level of competition in the market, which has resulted in promotional sales and recurring low prices. Increasingly, stores are promoting their own brand of products in order to broaden offerings and increase market participation, especially in discount stores.
Convenience and discount stores accounted for 11% of the sector in 2017, 24 percentage points away from being considered a mature subsector. According to international consultant Kantar Worldpanel, the figure will reach 15% by the end of 2018.
Informal Market & Employment
According to credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings, the informal market represented between 75% and 80% of retail sales in Peru in 2013. Diego Macera, manager of the Peruvian Economy Institute, told local press one factor that would improve retail growth in the region would be the creation of more jobs in the formal sector. Moreover, it could have a double effect since it strongly stimulates demand and allows small and medium-sized companies to hire qualified personnel. Another factor that would enhance growth in retail is a larger middle class.
Data from PRODUCE indicated that the proportion of the population employed by the retail sector increased by 4% in February 2018, compared to the same month the previous year. The subsectors that saw an uptick in the number of personnel were hardwares and appliance stores with 12.5%, books, newspapers and stationery shops with 6.4%, and pharmacies with 1.7%.
The 2017 Global Retail Development Index measured the performances of supermarkets within the Peruvian market and found that sales totalled approximately PEN15bn ($4.6bn) to represent a growth rate of 7%, the highest since 2014.
Intercorp, a national conglomerate with businesses in financial services, education and retail, has invested in more than 100 supermarkets, over 1000 pharmacies and expressed interest in expanding to shopping malls.
Another Peruvian company investing heavily in the retail sector is the Lindcorp. Although its original business was in the production and distribution of beverages, it is now targeting convenience stores under the branding of Tambo, and expects 500 Tambo stores to open by 2023. Convenience stores have modernised the food sector, and between 2014 and 2018 the segment has seen double-digit growth, accounting for almost one-third of modern retail sales in the food subsector.
The cosmetics and personal hygiene market was estimated to grow between 6% and 8% during 2018, which would be an increase of PEN7.8m ($2.4n), according to the Personal Hygiene Cosmetics Association. The highest growth within the market in 2017 was the cosmetics subsector, which was up by 12%.
Government policies are attracting new international brands, especially in the garment and the specialist retail sectors. Oxxo, a Mexican chain of convenience stores, is scheduled to enter the Peruvian market in 2018. It will be in direct competition with Tambo, which has set the tone for the development of convenience stores in Peru, having been in operation with 200 locations in Lima since 2015.
Regarding the furniture and home appliance segment, in May 2018 Falabella signed an agreement with IKEA for the expansion of the franchise in South America. The agreement includes the opening of nine stores in Chile, Colombia and Peru by 2028, and the development of an online shopping platform. Falabella reported that the estimated total for the anticipated arrival of IKEA to these three countries will be $600m.
A study by rating agency ICR Chile revealed that some Chilean shopping mall developers are beginning to diversify their operations beyond their borders. Real estate rental industry players – such as Falabella, Cencosud and Parque Arauco, among others – are expanding their operations to cities in Peru and Colombia. It is projected that companies will continue to expand across various formats, in line with their diversification plans.
Similar to the industry sector, retail did not observe noteworthy mergers and acquisitions. However, attention to this area was brought back into focus after the coming together of pharmacies Mifarma and Inkafarma. Controversy over whether this acquisition should be considered a monopoly remains, as the two companies now make up 95% of pharmacy chain stores, yet only cover 18% of the total market due to independently run local pharmacies.
In Peru there is still no law against monopolies. The anti-monopoly policies proposed in 2011 and then again in 2016 have not yet been addressed by Congress.
In 2017 Peru’s e-commerce sector registered one of the most highest rates of growth in Latin America, with online purchases rising 27.1%. E-commerce is growing five times the rate of in-store retail as consumers become more accustomed to making purchases online, according to the latest “Latin America e-Readiness Report 2014” commissioned by Visa. International consulting firm Ipsos found that in 2017 the priorities of online shoppers were discounts and promotions, ease of delivery and prices, meaning the Peruvian market could expand even further as competition improves.
A global study by data analytics firm Nielsen stated that “to adapt to this tendency, retailers are implementing digital mediums to promote their offers and themselves”. E-commerce’s biggest challenge, however, is tapping emerging neighbourhoods in Lima and country provinces where store-based retailing is prominent, partly because of a lack of digital infrastructure.
The growth observed in retail sales in Peru is based on the market’s capability to adjust to consumer demands, whether that is through increasing store-based retailing or e-commerce. One of the challenges regarding the development of digitalisation and e-commerce is Peru’s ability to innovate and adapt business and sales models across the entire country. E-commerce could result in growth of up to 64%, according to Nielsen, although the emerging segment would need to improve its capacities significantly in the coming years.
You have reached the limit of premium articles you can view for free.
Choose from the options below to purchase print or digital editions of our Reports. You can also purchase a website subscription giving you unlimited access to all of our Reports online for 12 months.
If you have already purchased this Report or have a website subscription, please login to continue.


text:
When Carrie McCabe-Johnston, the owner of Nightingale, a Minneapolis cocktail and small-plates lounge, debuts her new restaurant this week, she’ll keep the same fresh and local culinary focus — but with a twist.
Wine will be served, but in a can. Instead of bone-in rib-eyes and grilled octopus, hot dogs will take center stage. And in place of banquettes and chandeliers? Look for retro pinball machines.
Tilt, which opens in Minneapolis on Wednesday, is the Twin Cities’ latest “eatertainery” — a restaurant/game-room mashup.
With diners seeking experiences rather than just sustenance, and cheaper, more casual options, many restaurateurs are deciding to give them both — launching recreation emporiums that also boast from-scratch kitchens, craft beers and innovative cocktails.
“People aren’t just looking to have a beer and some chicken wings anymore,” said Annika Stensson, director of research for the National Restaurant Association. “People are looking for more of an experience when they dine out, and that trend is sort of branching out into a lifestyle environment.”
The gaming-food combo isn’t new.
Stensson said entertainment-themed restaurants — most notably chains such as Hard Rock Cafe, which hosts rock-inspired events, and Rainforest Cafe, which mimics the jungle, complete with life-size animatronic animals — had their heyday in the 1990s. Both have outposts at the Mall of America in Bloomington.
Minneapolis has had its own versions of those concepts for years. Bryant-Lake Bowl took the town by storm when it opened in 1993, with a multilane bowling alley and a small theater. It still draws a crowd. Others, such as the Chatterbox Pub — a south Minneapolis bar stocked with pizzas, burgers and video and board games, which once had three locations — have persisted, as well.
But now the concept is making a comeback in a big, bold way.
Up-Down, a raucous arcade bar offering craft beers on tap and pizza by the slice, opened in south Minneapolis last summer.
Punch Bowl Social, a national chain, welcomed customers at the West End in St. Louis Park in November, cramming a 24,000-square-foot space with bowling alleys, foosball, darts, arcades, pingpong, Skee-Ball and bocce ball.
Games aren’t the only draw. The food and drinks pack a punch, too. The menu was designed by Hugh Acheson, a nationally recognized chef with a James Beard award and a “Top Chef” pedigree; the bar boasts playful punches with house-made shrubs and syrups and stirred classics such as the Old Fashioned and Boulevardier.
Owner Robert Thompson opened his first Punch Bowl in Denver in 2012. “I started thinking about what was missing in the market,” he said. “A lot of people were opening game bars, but no one was doing this from a scratch-kitchen and craft-beverage approach. I wanted to flip that on its head and focus on food and beverages first, with the entertainment as the hook.”
The folks behind St. Paul’s Can Can Wonderland had similar thoughts when opening the giant warehouselike bar in January. Instead of introducing an extensive food menu, the creative cocktails made by Bittercube — a cocktail consulting and bitters production company — are the draw. Can Can bartenders whip up adult malts, slushies and off-the-wall cocktails. Oh, and there just happens to be a larger-than-life, art-inspired mini-golf course, too.
McCabe-Johnston and her husband, Jasha Johnston, are the latest restaurateurs embracing an interactive, fun-spirited hook with Tilt.
Just don’t accuse her of seeking out the trend. It turns out that what’s hot is also just good, plain fun.
“This wasn’t some drawn-out decision where we tried to come up with something we thought would hit the broadest market appeal,” she said. “We’re kind of just doing our thing the way we would want to do it.
“It’s fun. It’s somewhere I would want to go when I go out.”