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- Australian Authorities Arrested 21-Year-Old for Crypto Fraud and Money Laundering
- Future Mainstream Spending Possibilities For Bitcoin
- Wells Fargo's New Crypto Initiative: The Stablecoin Wells Fargo Digital Cash
- Survey: People Are Intrigued But Confused about Crypto
- German Finance Minister: We Must Reject Stablecoins Such As Facebook Libra
Edward Snowden explains his views of cryptocurrency and blockchain through a series of interviews for McSweeney’s new book titled “The end of Trust”. McSweeney’s is a non-profit publishing house founded in 1988.
Edward Snowden began by explaining blockchain as: “basically just a new kind of database. Imagine updates are always added to the end of it instead of messing with the old, preexisting entries — just as you could add new links to an old chain to make it longer — and you’re on the right track.”
Snowden goes on to explain the basics behind blockchain in layman’s terms. Most people have some idea about what blockchain is, but as the detail adds up, people’s understanding can start to fall down, leaving people confused again. Snowden does an excellent job of breaking the definition down into manageable chunks that are analogous to concepts people already understand.
But most of you probably understand blockchain reasonably well, so we’ll skip past some of Snowden’s blockchain introduction and jump into what he had to say about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.
Snowden explains that where blockchain and cryptocurrency excel is trust, every day you have to trust that your bank balance will be what you expect. For most of us, we live in countries where we can rely on our banks being reliable, but that isn’t the case everywhere. He goes on to explain that Bitcoin, like all currency, is as valuable as long as people are willing to see it as useful. He adds that Bitcoin is also scarce “no more than twenty-one million Bitcoins will ever be created, and seventeen million have already been claimed.”
Snowden states that he likes Bitcoin because it is impartial and can’t be stopped or reverse. “Let’s say Bank of America doesn’t want to process a payment for someone like me. In the old financial system, they’ve got an enormous amount of clout, as do their peers, and can make that happen. If a teenager in Venezuela wants to get paid in a hard currency for a web development gig they did for someone in Paris, something prohibited by local currency controls, cryptocurrencies can make it possible.”
On the topic of criminality and the anonymity Bitcoin provides, Edward Snowden articulated that people shouldn’t be too worried about it: “[cryptocurrency] could actually hurt them, insofar as relying on blockchains will require them to commit evidence of their bad deeds onto computers, which, as we’ve learned in the last decade, government investigators are remarkably skilled at penetrating.”
On the topic of the downsides of cryptocurrency, Snowden provided a balanced answer: “As with all new technologies, there will be disruption and there will be abuse. The question is whether, on balance, the impact is positive or negative. The biggest downside is the inequality of opportunity: these are new technologies that are not that easy to use and still harder to understand.”


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Australian businesses have lost at least $14 million from payment redirection scams in 2020, according to a report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
Payment redirection scams, also known as business email compromise scams, involve impersonating a business or its employees via email and request that money, which usually is owed to the legitimate business, is sent to a fraudulent account.
The ACCC added that average losses so far this year is already tracking to be five times higher compared to average losses in the same period last year.
The agency also noted that the $14 million is just the number reported to its internal Scamwatch program, and other businesses may be reporting their losses to other organisations.
“Payment redirection scams impact businesses across many industries, including real estate, construction, law, recruitment, and universities,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said.
“Scammers tend to target new or junior employees, or even volunteers, as they are less likely to be familiar with their employer’s finance processes or the types of requests to expect from their supervisors.
“We recommend organisations ensure their staff are well trained in the company’s payment processes and remain aware of payment redirection scams.”
Payment redirection scams can be identified in various forms, including one where a scammer would hack into a legitimate email account and pose as the business, by intercepting legitimate invoices and amending the bank details before releasing emails to the intended recipients.
Another method is through spoofing, where scammers impersonate CEOs or other senior managers using a registered email address that is very similar to that of the genuine email address.
“An increasing number of reports are coming from sports and community clubs which reported more than $55,000 in losses to payment redirection scams last year. It is likely we will see similar figures this year, with $18,000 already reported lost so far in 2021,” Rickard said.

domain: news


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Since the emergence of COVID-19 in the U.S. beginning in February of 2020, there is general uncertainty over how the pandemic could affect the regulatory landscape, including regulations relating to U.S. sanctions and export controls. A review of the actions taken to date suggest that little has changed with respect to U.S. economic sanctions. However, COVID-19 could result in additional export controls, including restrictions on exports of pharmaceuticals, personal protective equipment (“PPE”), and other goods.
U.S. Sanctions Policy has not Changed
Despite COVID-19, the Trump Administration has maintained an aggressive sanctions policy, with continued designations of Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”) and enforcement actions. In the case of sanctions on Iran, the U.S. has refused to offer any form of relief notwithstanding calls from the E.U. and China to ease sanctions to facilitate the flow of humanitarian goods to Iran. Since February, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on dozens of individuals and entities in connection with Iran. For instance, on March 19, OFAC designated five United Arab Emirates-based companies for facilitating sales of Iranian petroleum and petrochemicals.
While U.S. sanctions on Iran currently authorize the export of most drugs and medical devices to Iran, certain medical supplies that could be useful in combating COVID-19 are excluded from the authorizations, including full face mask respirators and certain decontamination systems. Furthermore, the authorization does not allow exports to military, intelligence, or law enforcement purchasers or importers. These restrictions, among others, increase the risks associated with exports of medical supplies to Iran and discourage both U.S and non-U.S. companies from exporting such goods to Iran.
Meanwhile, since March, there have been a number of law enforcement actions for violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran, including an extradition of an Iranian citizen residing in the UAE to the U.S. on March 14 to face charges for unauthorized exports to Iran of U.S.-origin goods. Two days later, another individual was convicted for evading sanctions on Iran. These cases suggest that the U.S. Department of Justice continues to prioritize sanctions on Iran despite the ongoing pandemic.
As the number of infections and deaths caused by COVID-19 grows there will likely be a corresponding growth in countries calling for a relaxation of both U.S. and EU sanctions in order to facilitate cross-border cooperation and the flow of humanitarian goods and services. For instance, at the G20 summit, which was held virtually due to COVID-19, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a moratorium on sanctions against Russia. This sentiment has been echoed by prominent figures both within and outside of the U.S., including the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who stated “to support the rights and lives of millions of people in these countries, sectoral sanctions should be eased or suspended. In a context of global pandemic, impeding medical efforts in one country heightens the risk for all of us.” Nonetheless, at the moment there’s no indication that the Trump Administration intends to waive sanctions, particularly with respect to Iran.
Potential Export Restrictions
There is growing pressure on the Trump Administration to impose export restrictions on goods that are currently in short supply as a result of COVID-19. Over fifty countries have imposed restrictions on exports of medical supplies, including items such as ventilators, gloves, and face masks. However, to date, the United States has not imposed any restrictions on exports of drugs or medical suppliers in response to COVID-19. Given the shortage of critical supplies, a growing chorus of policy makers is calling for export restrictions on medical supplies. Among those calling for such restrictions is Georgia Congressman and Trump ally Doug Collins. In a letter to Secretary of State Pompeo, Rep. Collins stated that the Northeast Georgia Health System was unable to procure high-speed test equipment from a domestic manufacturer that prioritized sales to Europe and urged the State Department to “consider a temporary ban on exports of equipment and supplies necessary to combatting the coronavirus until domestic demand has been met.”
Given the current shortage of critical medical supplies, there is reason to believe the President will act to restrict at least some exports of medical supplies. Under the Export Control Act of 2018, the President has broad authority to impose export restrictions for purposes of national security. Generally, the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) control high performance goods and technology, or items that present clear national security implications, such as chemicals or materials that can be used in chemical or biological weapons. Thus, basic medical supplies do not fit neatly within most of the existing “reasons” for export controls outlined in the EAR, which include “Anti-Terrorism” (“AT”), “Nuclear Nonproliferation” (“NP”), “National Security,” “Missile Technology” (“MT”), among others. However, under a relatively obscure “reason” for control, BIS can impose export controls on items for “Short Supply” (“SS”). See 15 C.F.R. 754.1. A number of items are controlled for “SS,” including certain petroleum products, western red cedar, and, oddly enough, “horses exported by sea.” Thus, there is an existing regulatory framework under which BIS could potentially impose temporary export controls on medical supplies.
Separately, the President has the authority under the Defense Production Act of 1950 (“DPA”) to direct private companies to prioritize government contracts. Notably, on March 27, the President used his authorities under the DPA for the first time to direct General Motors to produce ventilators. However, given the broad powers granted to the President under the DPA, it is conceivable that the DPA could be used in other ways, including to impose export restrictions on U.S. manufacturers of medical supplies.
Despite COVID-19, the Trump Administration has, to date, stayed the course of an aggressive sanctions policy, particularly when it comes to sanctions on Iran. However, given the ever-growing global humanitarian crisis posed by COVID-19, its plausible that sanctions enforcement will be eased in some way to facilitate humanitarian assistance. Where changes are more likely to occur is in the area of export controls, which could be an important tool for ensuring critical medical supplies remain in the U.S., as well as a means to counteract export restrictions imposed by other countries around the world. Therefore, we recommend that manufacturers and exporters of medical supplies monitor and prepare for the possibility of broad export restrictions, which could be implemented in the near future.


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U.S. factories expanded last month at a weaker pace, with orders growing more slowly and hiring essentially flat.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, said Wednesday that its manufacturing index slipped to 51.5 in March from 52.9 in February.
It was the fifth straight drop. Still, any reading above 50 signals expansion.
U.S. manufacturers have faced a drag in recent months from falling oil prices, a rising dollar, winter storms and a since-resolved shutdown of West Coast ports that has created a backlog of shipments.
Some drilling rigs have stopped as oil prices have fallen more than 50 percent since June to below $50 a barrel, curbing demand for pipelines and machinery from factories. Simultaneously, the dollar has risen in value against the euro and other currencies, making American-made goods more expensive abroad and cutting into exports.
Still, there is the expectation that manufacturing will rebound as the impact of the winter weather and port shutdowns fade.
"We're well positioned for the distinct possibility of an uptick, an upswing, in momentum as we go forward, not unlike last year when started with a particularly harsh winter," said Bradley Holcomb, chairman of the ISM's manufacturing business survey committee.
One paper products manufacturer said in the survey that business is starting to improve as it's "thawing out of this crazy winter."
Multiple other reports show that manufacturing has downshifted in recent months.
Orders for long-lasting goods dropped in February, the third decline in four months, the Commerce Department reported last week.
Falling demand for commercial aircraft, autos and machinery caused durable goods orders to drop 1.4 percent in February.
Factory output also tumbled in February, the Federal Reserve reported this month. The 0.2 percent decline was led by drops in the production of autos, machinery, appliances and primary metals such as steel.
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Upcoming Cars in 2012 CHARGER With Prices, Specification And Reviews and Pictures.
While new CAFE regulations have put many automakers’ future rear-wheel vehicle plans on hold — including General Motors – Chrysler’s 300 and Dodge Charger will soldier on with a rear-wheel drive setup through their 2011 model year makeover.
Among the news from today's New New Chrysler briefing was this slide of the 2012 Dodge Charger. Look familiar? There's a reason...
This image reveals a sloping belt line and strong curve building from the front to the shoulders, reminiscent of the 1999 Dodge RT Charger Concept (below) it seems to borrow heavily from. We're also told the new Charger initially had rear door handles in the roof line rather than the door panel — giving it a two-door look — but this was eventually dropped.
Ralph Gilles, the Dodge brand's new boss, laid an Easter egg hunt on the assembled dealers, bankers and journalists. What you see above is a shot of the 2012 Dodge Charger that appeared briefly on the screen during Gilles' talk.


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Ionity, which is emerging as the main electric car fast-charging network in Europe, has a new major member: Hyundai.
Ford has already confirmed that it is finally making an all-electric version of its best-selling F150 pickup truck,
O posto instalado na cidade de Marrakeck, no Marrocos, é um marco para a empresa no projeto iniciado em 2016 e tem o objetivo de inaugurar 5 mil postos de gasolina abastecidos a energia solar em 57 países.
This week on The Energy Gang: The economics of oil are beginning to be challenged by EVs paired with wind and solar.
French bank’s calculations of the energy return on capital invested shows that oil is now in ‘relentless and irreversible decline’ for light-duty vehicles.
On this week’s Interchange podcast, we look at the latest EV activity from the world’s biggest automakers.
Fiat Chrysler (FCA) announced a new partnership today with Enel X and ENGIE to offer EV charging solutions in Europe
BMW and Jaguar Land Rover are announcing today that they are partnering on electric cars and will work together to develop the next-generation of electric powertrains.
China has announced its plans to reduce subsidies for electric cars sold in the country, as has been expected for some time.
Hyundai and Kia have invested $300 million in Ola, Uber’s main rival in India. The companies plan on building electric cars specifically for the Indian market.
Honda had a big announcement at the Geneva Auto Show today, the Japanese automaker said that it is committing to a “total electrification in Europe by 2025′. But what does it mean exactly? Tom Gardner, Senior Vice President of Honda Motor Europe, said during the announcement: “…since we made that first pledge in March 2017, […]


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Remedy’s all-new action-adventure game Control launches next week and they’ve released a launch trailer to whet your appetite. The trailer is stylish but also very representative of what you’ll see and experience in the game, which hits shelves August 27th.
I’ll have a review up on August 26th, so check back then to see what I think of the game.
If you’d like to see the game in action and help a good cause at the same time, 505 Games will be holding a launch-day stream of the game as a fundraiser for St Jude Children’s Hospital. The stream will be live from 9 am to 5 pm MDT, and you can watch or donate here: https://tiltify.com/@505games/505-games-for-st-jude
Here’s the press release for the launch trailer:
Launch Trailer for Supernatural Action-Adventure Game Control Revealed Ahead of its Launch Next Week
Watch the Launch Trailer Here
CALABASAS, Calif. – Aug. 20, 2019 – Global videogame publisher 505 Games and its partner, internationally renowned developer Remedy Entertainment, Plc. revealed the launch trailer for the award-winning Control this week at the Gamescom festival in Cologne, Germany. This new cinematic trailer invites players once again into the mysterious Oldest House for a glimpse at the challenges that await them as they take on the role of the newest Director of the Federal Bureau of Control.
Set in a unique and ever-changing world that juxtaposes our familiar reality with the strange and unexplainable, Control is a third-person action-adventure game combining Remedy’s trademark gunplay with supernatural abilities.
After a secretive agency in New York is invaded by an otherworldly threat, players will take on the role of Jesse Faden, the new Director struggling to regain Control. This sandbox-style, gameplay-driven experience built on the proprietary Northlight engine challenges players to master a combination of supernatural abilities, modifiable loadouts and reactive environments while fighting through the deep and mysterious worlds Remedy is known and loved for.
Launching globally* Tuesday, Aug. 27 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for physical and digital retail, with a simultaneous digital launch on the Epic Games store for PC, Control is playable this week at the Gamescom fair in Germany, running through Aug. 24.
To celebrate the launch of Control, 505 Games will host a stream on Tuesday, Aug. 27 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. PDT in an effort to raise money for the St. Jude Children’s Hospital, a hospital and research facility working to change the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. To watch or donate, please visit: https://tiltify.com/@505games/505-games-for-st-jude.
Fans in North America will have an opportunity to try the game at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) West in Seattle, WA from Friday, Aug. 30 to Monday, Sept. 2 in the 505 booth (#425), the Discord booth (#2109) and the Sony America booth.
For more information and regular updates, or to pre-order Control, please visit www.controlgame.com.


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In the last couple of weeks we read a couple of interesting and revolutionary pieces of news:
- France plans to ban sales of all petrol and diesel cars by 2040
- Volvo decided to make only hybrid and electric car as of 2019
These two plans join others designed by cities that have each different objectives such as increase the use of public transport, introduce Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) services, encourage soft transport modes (i.e. walking and cycling), promote the use of car pooling and car sharing, up to planning to become a car-free city such as Hamburg by 2025.
All these initiatives are certainly beneficial to the environment and consequently to ourselves as citizens, but let's think a bit about the two major announcements.
France ban - there will be 23 years available to get prepared for this ban. This means at least three important steps have to be carried out pretty in parallel:
1) an extended and diffused network of (fast) car charge points must be installed across the whole country (urban, inter-urban and extra-urban roads as well as motorways)
2) a resilient and reliable smart grids infrastructure must be set up to avoid frequent energy supply service black-outs
3) a heavy incentives plan to convince citizens to buy electric cars, currently more expensive than their corresponding endothermic-engine-powered models
I didn't read the plan in details but this move certainly is going to have an immediate and lasting extremely high cost for the French government and according to their current state of economy, I am not entirely sure they will be able to make it in this time frame.
Volvo's change of strategy - it is understandable as the brand is not as popular as it used to be some decades ago (do you remember that Volvo 240 station wagon model you could see anywhere across Europe?) and they need to revamp it.
I can see some difficulties in gaining shares in the EV market where other car manufacturers have put already their foot in it such as Tesla, Renault, Volkswagen for instance. Maybe with an effective marketing campaign (and high-quality products v acceptable prices) they could convince potential customers to buy their cars.
With regard to hybrid cars, well, the market is already very much crowded with them by nearly any car maker so, again, if they don't offer a robust USP, it will be not easy to acquire customers that have already owned/rented/leased other brands' hybrid vehicles for years.
You receive this newsletter because you have been in touch directly or indirectly with EPN Consulting and/or its Founder & CEO.


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Sega has launched a teaser website that could be hinting towards a new game called Humankind
What you need to know
- Sega has launched a teaser website called hmkd.sega.com.
- The website only asks for an email signup, while a green heartrate monitor occasionally blips in the background.
- Sega’s lineup for Gamescom 2019 includes an unannounced AAA game, which is probably what this teaser is for.
- The game will likely be revealed during Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 19, 2019.
Odd teasers for games aren’t anything new and it looks like Sega is teasing a new title right now. A website called hmkd.sega.com is now live, devoid of information except an email signup and what appears to be a green heartrate monitor occasionally giving a blip in the background.
HMKD in the URL for the website almost certainly stands for Humankind. Over the last few months, Sega has trademarked the term Humankind in Japan, in the USA and in Canada. On top of that, when Sega discussed their lineup of games for Gamescom 2019, they noted that there was an unannounced AAA game with the following statement:
Visitors will be treated to a first-hand look at an all-new AAA game that has yet to be revealed to the public.


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Zen Studios and PlayNext Bring Deadpool to X-Men: Battle of the Atom
Zen Studios, the makers of the hit Zen Pinball and Pinball FX franchises, has teamed up with PlayNext on a collaboration for the ages! Zen Studios’ team of highly-acclaimed Marvel Pinball artists and designers are specially contributing Marvel hero Deadpool to PlayNext’s hit free-to-play card trading game, X-Men: Battle of the Atom, in a series of exciting new cards. The series includes five unique trading cards, featuring designs by the Zen writers and artists that crafted the fan favorite Deadpool pinball table, and will be available for a limited two week promotional run to Battle of the Atom players.
The new Deadpool cards feature exclusive art from the premiere Deadpool pinball table released in Zen’s popular pinball games, Zen Pinball 2, Pinball FX2, and Marvel Pinball. These cards will be free to all X-Men: Battle of the Atom players from March 11 to March 25.
During the promotional week, all players will be able to recruit the Deadpool cards by opening a limited-time mystery box with special points. Players can earn these points through regular gameplay, such as single-player missions and 20 vs. 20 multi-player team battles.
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Duane Morris partner Michael Schwamm will be a panelist at Arcview’s virtual event, Town Hall: Massachusetts, on October 14, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. PT/4:00 p.m. ET.
Massachusetts’ cannabis industry has surpassed $2B in sales, has issued 900+ licenses, and employed more than 16K people in less than three years. Find out what’s behind Massachusetts’s success and what comes next for the commonwealth’s cannabis industry.
For more information, please visit the event website.
By Michael Schwamm
The Cuomo administration and New York lawmakers will delay the confirmation of cannabis regulator appointments until a special session after the June primary, POLITICO’s Anna Gronewold and David Giambusso report. The nominees remain a mystery as the widely expected pick to lead the new Office of Cannabis Management, Cuomo’s cannabis czar Norman Birenbaum, apparently has fallen out of favor amid pushback from some advocates and lawmakers.
Duane Morris partners Paul P. Josephson and Michael D. Schwamm have been named Cannabis Law Trailblazers by National Law Journal. The list honors individuals who are “truly agents of change.”
To read the full press release, please visit the Duane Morris website.


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“Behind” every great man like Johnnie Walker, there’s a woman, and in this case, her name is #JaneWalker.
In honor of Women’s History Month, one of the world’s top whiskey brands is making a huge change to its iconic walking man label.
With #JaneWalker alongside the man, he no longer has to keep walking on his own.
This month, you will find special edition bottles of Johnnie Walker Black Label with #JaneWalker on the label instead of the familiar male form.
According to Johnnie Walker Vice President Stephanie Jacoby, “Important conversations about gender continue to be at the forefront of culture and we strongly believe there is no better time than now to introduce our Jane Walker icon and contribute to pioneering organizations that share our mission. We are proud to toast the many achievements of women and everyone on the journey towards progress in gender equality.”
And it’s not just all about the label. This is no mere publicity stunt.
For each bottle of the special edition #JaneWalker bottle sold, a dollar will go to women-oriented organizations. The total amount donated should add up to $250,000 – $150,000 of which will be given directly to the Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony Statue Fund, which is behind the #MonumentalWomen campaign.
We say good on you, Johnnie Walker. You’ve always been part of the 3 Js in our lives: Jack, Jim, and Johnnie. 😉


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5 Microsoft Corp. , dated Nov. 2, 1987, at 8 (Ex. 21). (Although this review has become a public document, these amici have redacted the review to safeguard the employee’s privacy interests,)
9 According to industry consultant Jerry Schneider, Microsoft’s installed base in March 1988 was only nine to twelve million. Clean out 2? Not a way, Not yet, Computer Decisions, March 1988 at 50 («between nine and twelve million DOS machines»). Commonly Sunshine Melt the program Barrier, Business Week, April 18, 1988, at 72 («Sun aims to coax a portion of the 12 million owners of PCs and clones into the UNIX camp.») The more expansive measure taken by industry analysts at International Data Corp. indicated there were «approximately 18 million IBM PCs and compatibles worldwide,» in March 1988. IBM Pc Orphans Wait To help you The great thing, Computerworld, March 7, 1988, at 81. Therefore, even under the assumption that Microsoft’s operating system software had been installed in every IBM PC or compatible sold by 1988, Microsoft’s installed base at that time was no larger than eighteen million. Cf. Christopher O’Malley, The latest Os’s, Personal Computing, October 1986, at 181 («better than 95 percent [of then-existing] PC’s and compatibles use] Microsoft’s disk operating system.»).
10 Amy Cortese, 2nd Prevent, il, Business Week, Aug. 1, 1994, at 24 C120 million MS-DOS customers (including 55 million Windows users)»). Find as well as Os Assessment, Computer Reseller News, Aug. 22, 1994, at 223 (International Data Corporation table) (DOS and Windows installed base of 110.1 million).
twelve Attorney Standard Janet Reno, Agency away from Fairness News conference Transcript Microsoft Payment (July sixteen, 1994) on dos (Old boyfriend. 12).
13 Amy Cortese, Company Month, Dec. 19 sparky free trial, 1994, supra, during the 35 (Ex. 5) («Pc makers was in fact startled to discover that they shall be requested so you’re able to consume a giant rate walk due to their usage of Screen 95 — up to $70 for every Desktop, against. roughly $35 now.»).
14 Larry Campbell, Novell introducing SuperNOS Strategy, South China Morning Post, Sept. 20, 1994, at 1 (Ex. 37) (quoting Robert Frankenburg speech to Networld + InterOp ’94 conference). Discover and additionally Bob Lewis, Ten Difficult Fashion for the Measuring Which might be Bound to Spook You, InfoWorld, Oct. 31, 1994, at 82 («Let’s all admit that NextStep and QNX should have all of the market if there was any justice,» but Microsoft’s «Windows and DOS have more than 80 percent market share, so the wax is over! «).
15 Nor has the irony of this withdrawal been lost on the computer industry. As one observer noted: «July [of 1994] saw Microsoft in full agreement with the Justice Department. Microsoft agreed to withdraw the ‘per processor’ option that most PC suppliers found the cheapest way to buy DOS [in order to] encourage firms to offer alternatives to Microsoft’s operating systems. Shortly afterward, ent of DR-DOS.» Jack Schofield, Computing 94: Chip Battles and you can Gossip regarding Waits, Guardian, Dec. 29, 1994, at T14.
Staff Overall performance Review
16 Indeed, in 1990 Microsoft began to bundle its application products together into so-called «suites.» These mites are the fastest growing segment of the applications market, and Microsoft commands more than 85% of the suite market. See Personal Computing Software Worldwide, Dataquest, June 27, 1994, at 20 (selected pages at Ex. 11) (unit shipments of suites grew more than 350% in 1993); id. at 27 (Microsoft’s 1993 market share for suites is 85.4%); Doug VanKirk, Integrated Work environment Suites, InfoWorld, Feb. 7, 1994, at 51 («Microsoft owns a 90 percent share of the suite market . «).


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FEARS for the future of Lynn’s Friday market were raised at West Norfolk Council’s meeting.
Liberal Democrat councillor Tony Bubb, from Dersingham, told fellow councillors that the previous Friday’s market on Lynn’s Tuesday Market Place had just three stalls on it. “It’s embarrassing for the town,” he said.
And referring to the recent decline in the number of stalls on Fridays, Alistair Beales, the cabinet member for regeneration and commercial services, said: “There’s something of a cultural shift going on in the markets and we have to acknowledge that.
“I am not sure the council can hold back the tide, although we are exploring what can be done.”
Mr Beales said there was a proposal to hold an indoor market at Lynn’s historic Hanse House, “and how this would dovetail in with the existing markets remains to be seen”.
He thought it reflected a wider problem resulting from changing shopping habits and was not just confined to the town’s outdoor markets.
Continue Reading. . . .
Aug 15, 2018 0Dishes from across the globe, spooky treats and glasses of bubbly are set to entice visitors into a city market.
Aug 15, 2018 0London’s New Covent Garden Market (NCGM) is pushing on with its bold venture to turn the historic wholesale market into the capital’s dominant food hub, as well as an incubator for up-and-coming food makers, creators and thinkers from the UK and beyond.


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Posted Thursday, March 2, 2017 8:35 AM | Contributed by Jeff
Fans of Disney theme parks and superheroes, brace yourselves. The Marvel universe is coming, and the impact will not be small. The integration of Guardians of The Galaxy at California Adventure and the an Iron Man ride at Hong Kong are just the beginning.
Read more from The LA Times.


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In the latest conflict between technology and government regulation, Virginia’s DMV has issued a cease and desist order to Uber and Lyft, claiming that their businesses are illegal and cannot pick up passengers in Virginia. Undeterred, Lyft has responded that it intends to continue operating there, stating in a press release that Virginia residents and others have embraced it “as an affordable and reliable transportation alternative.” Lyft also points out that the current regulations for taxis and limos are outdated and do not account for this new tech-based industry. Uber also criticizes Virginia’s move, stating that it “hurts thousands of small business entrepreneurs who rely on [them] to make a living, create new jobs and contribute to the economy.”This is an interesting development for Virginia, which has enjoyed a reputation as a business friendly venue but is now taking a stand many consider to be against free markets. The DMV has already fined Uber and Lyft thousands of dollars, and contends their businesses violate Virginia regulations since they allegedly do not “have proper operating authority.” Virginia’s move is in line with a recent trend by other governments in Los Angeles, Portland and San Francisco, where taxicab companies have wielded influence to try halting competition in those markets as well. Uber, which has raised over $300 million in venture capital, is also currently appealing a Maryland judge’s ruling that it must file an application to operate as a traditional for-hire carrier in order to operate there.
Virginia’s action as well as those of governments on the West Coast shows how old government regulations can stand in the way of free market technological innovation and cut down consumer choice. Regulations should evolve over time to enhance creativity, not stifle markets. The government too often has a heavy handed reputation of putting up barriers to entry, rather than supporting new technology and creativity that can increase profitability and decrease unemployment. Small businesses should be encouraged to expand consumers’ freedom of choice, which appears safe given Uber’s unique online consumer rating system that weeds out problems in a business model that does not apply for legacy carriers like taxis. Their drivers also use interactive apps with consumers in a manner that is more responsive but does not fit neatly into old-model government regulations.
This is a hot and emerging issue impacting cities throughout the United States, since Lyft is currently operating in sixty US cities and Uber has a presence in 100 cities. It is interesting that various governments take the position these technology based companies are not in trend with regulations, when it appears the government is not keeping pace with new technology. These trends appear to be on a collision course in Virginia, and this heated dispute will probably require a court to step behind the wheel and decide how far governments can go to head off technological advancement. Watch closely as this dispute heats up, as some resolution lies down the road.


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Zimbabwe China Trade Agreements
Zimbabwe and China on Friday signed an economic and technical agreement in Harare that will strengthen trade ties between the two countries. Speaking to reporters in Harare at the end of Wang`s visit, Zimbabwean Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube said a currency exchange would boost trade between the two countries. China has become the largest buyer of Zimbabwean tobacco, purchasing more than 13,000 tonnes of tobacco between January and October 2007. Zimbabwe`s trade deficit with China was $189 million in the first half of 2007; Zimbabwe exported $16 million in goods to China.  The Zimbabwean government has also purchased large quantities of military equipment from China, including a $13 million radar system, six Hongdu JL-8 jets, twelve JF-17 Thunder fighter jets, and 100 military vehicles since June 2004. Zimbabwe`s “Look East” policy, which aimed to expand bilateral and trade relations and prioritize investors not only from China, but also from Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, South Korea, India and Russia, has increasingly focused on China, excluding other countries. The Forum on Africa-China Cooperation reports that Mugabe`s visit in 2006 is his 11th visit to China.  There were no official visits by Mugabe to China in 2008 and 2009. The 12th and 13th visits took place in 2010 and 2011. Mugabe also visited China in August 2014. The people`s Republic of China`s (PRC) declared foreign policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of countries has made it a popular foreign policy partner in Harare.  The value of imports and exports of China-Africa trade increased from $10 billion in 2000 to more than $170 billion in 2017. China`s exports to Africa reached $94.74 billion, while imports from Africa reached $75.26 billion, generating a trade surplus of $19.48 billion in a single year.
HARARE – During the first visit by a Chinese leader to Zimbabwe since 1996, President Xi Jinping on Tuesday witnessed the signing of 10 economic agreements, including on the expansion of the South African country`s largest thermal power plant and the country`s 39th anniversary. The agreements were signed in Harare after marathon talks between the Zimbabwean delegation led by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo and the Chinese economic and trade delegation led by Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming. Harare – Zimbabwe and China have signed a currency exchange agreement to boost trade between the two countries following a visit to Harare by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Zimbabwe and China yesterday signed three cooperation agreements focused on economic and social services, while the two all-time friends take their relations to another level. To promote the international use of the yuan, China has signed currency exchange agreements with more than 20 countries around the world, including South Africa. A currency swap involves exchanging money in one currency for the same currency in another currency, and companies that do business abroad often use it to get cheaper loan rates. Officials did not disclose the total value of the agreements […].


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Stage Stores Inc Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.13 (SSI)
Stage Stores (NYSE:SSI) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, May 23rd, American Banking & Market News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.125 per share on Wednesday, June 18th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%.
A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SSI shares. Analysts at TheStreet downgraded shares of Stage Stores from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. On a related note, analysts at Nomura reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Stage Stores in a research note on Wednesday. They now have a $20.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $24.00. Finally, analysts at Telsey Advisory Group cut their price target on shares of Stage Stores from $25.00 to $21.00 in a research note on Wednesday. They now have a “not rated” rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.95.
Stage Stores (NYSE:SSI) opened at 18.63 on Friday. Stage Stores has a 52-week low of $17.63 and a 52-week high of $25.51. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $20.74 and its 200-day moving average is $21.17. The company has a market cap of $591.0 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.14.
Stage Stores (NYSE:SSI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The company reported ($0.38) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the analysts’ consensus estimate of ($0.38). The company had revenue of $372.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $375.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.02) earnings per share. Stage Stores’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Stage Stores will post $1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Stage Stores, Inc (NYSE:SSI) is a Houston, Texas-based retailer, which operates both department stores and off-price stores.
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Second app released
A new, play-for-fun version of the five-reel, 25-payline slot "The Snake Charmer" has been released by NextGen Gaming, as an addition to its "Dr. Love" app in the Apple iStore.
This second app is free for download, and it is designed for the iPhone specifically. Coming after the company’s first app release, Dr. Love, which has proven popular, “The Snake Charmer” can also be found in NextGen's social media application on Facebook.
According to David Johnson, sales director at NextGen Gaming, “Our continued provision of content via the App Store reiterates NextGen’s commitment to providing players with the ability to play NextGen games however and wherever they desire. The Snake Charmer™ app retains NextGen’s advanced Slots technologies such as true reel bounce and rich, bespoke sounds, offering players true gaming excitement. We look forward to the release of further NextGen Gaming titles across all our platform partners in the coming months.”


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The Logitech Crayon is a £65 Apple Pencil alternative for the new iPad
Earlier in the year, Apple and Logitech announced the Logitech Crayon – an affordable stylus that works with the latest iPad.
The Logitech Crayon was initially priced at $49, seemingly making it an affordable alternative to the $99/£89 Apple Pencil sold with the iPad Pro. However, there was a fairly significant catch: the Logitech Crayon was only available to schools.
That’s about to change, though, as Logitech has just announced that its Crayon stylus will be going on sale at Apple’s physical and online stores from September 12 – the same day we’re expecting the new iPad Pro (2018) to be launched alongside the iPhone XS – as well as through Logitech’s website.
The Logitech Crayon will cost $70/£65 for consumers and will start rolling out to additional UK retailers in October 2018, Logitech tells us.
The third-party stylus is currently compatible with the new 9.7-inch iPad (2018), which runs schools just $299 and starts at $329/£319 for everyone else.
The Crayon, which has an 8-hour battery life, works with updated apps like Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, Microsoft Office and Explain Everything.
Related: iPhone 9
“Logitech Crayon is the first digital pencil designed for the new iPad and leverages technology found in Apple Pencil to deliver sub-pixel precision, low latency and support for tilt in a design that’s perfect for students. iPad features palm-rejection technology and can tell the difference between Logitech Crayon and a hand resting on the display, so students can write and draw naturally, just as they would with traditional pencil and paper,” a Logitech spokesperson said when the Crayon launched.
Will the Crayon draw you to stylus use? Let us know on Twitter @TrustedReviews


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Now, Odisha Farmer Gets Notice For Rs 10 Cr GST Fraud
Sonepur: A farmer of Salepalli village under Dunguripali block in Odisha’s Sonepur district has been served notice for over Rs 10 crore tax fraud.
Refuting the alleged fraud, the farmer has apprised the Income Tax (IT) and Sales Tax departments about having no knowledge of any such transactions.
Such aberrations have also been reported from Rourkela and Balangir districts, where driver, delivery agents and farmers have been slapped with GST fraud notice.
This seems to have become the modus operandi of certain unscrupulous tax evaders, who operate by opening fake firms.


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PayPal’s recently acquired shopping app Honey “tracks you private shopping behaviour” and represents a security threat, according to Amazon.
Honey, which PayPal bought in its largest deal to date for $4 billion in November, works by scouring the internet as for discount coupons as you browse and applying the best ones automatically.
It us added to users’ internet browsers as an extension and also works with large marketplaces like Amazon.
However the retail giant has taken issue with Honey, which currently boasts 17 million users, warning users who downloaded the plugin that it was a security risk.
Honey has worked with Amazon since it launched in 2012, leading many to speculate the retailer’s allegations could be more to do with PayPal’s acquisition and less about security.
“Honey tracks your private shopping behavior, collects data like your order history and items saved, and can read or change any of your data on any website you visit,” it said.
“To keep your data private and secure, uninstall this extension immediately.”
Amazon later told CNBC that its goal was to “warn customers about browser extensions that collect personal shopping data without their knowledge or consent”.
In response to Amazon’s seemingly unprovoked allegations, Honey said: “We only use data in ways that directly benefit Honey members — helping people save money and time — and in ways they would expect. Our commitment is clearly spelled out in our privacy and security policy.”
It added that it does collect “limited” data on shopping in order to find the best coupons, but does “not sell your personal information. Ever.”


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Most water customers in Australia say water efficiency is important to them, but how can utilities actually support their customers to make the changes needed to conserve water and reduce costs? South East Water has partnered with the University of Melbourne on several technology-based trials to see what impact real-time data from digital meters can have on reducing household water usage, and the results have been surprising.
South East Water’s partnership with the University of Melbourne started around seven years ago, with the goal of understanding how customers use water and how water utilities can offer an enhanced experience.
Alana Jones, Customer Research and Development Project Manager at South East Water, said the broader research goal was to look at how the utility could use its digital metering information to deliver real-time water usage data back to its customers in a meaningful way via different technologies.
Some of these included an app that showed appliance-based usage, an in-home shower meter, and another app that offered incentives – all technologies that gave customers a range of ways to save water.
“Our customers tell us that they want to understand their water usage and how they can make changes in their everyday lives to not only save on their bills, but also to conserve water, as there is a heightened awareness around the scarcity of water and how precious it is as a natural resource,” Ms Jones said.
Andrew Forster-Knight, South East Water’s General Manager Digital Utility, agrees.
“If we know our customers are looking to us for help with household water efficiency, we can assess the best ways to help them without being invasive. We need to ask ourselves, ‘What are those potentially simple things that we can do that are going to be effective and drive the result that our customers are looking for around reduced water consumption?,” Mr Forster-Knight said.
Each trial took around 12 months to set up and involved detailed product development and a minimum three month trial implementation.
As the trials continued, each one built upon the previous results and grew larger in terms of customer participation. As the trials were conducted with South East Water digital meter customers, the trials also developed alongside the utility’s rollout plan.
Trial 1 – MySew
The first trial conducted as part of this research in 2016/2017 looked at providing around 200 customers with water usage information – specifically water usage at the appliance level – via a newly created mySEW phone app. The idea was that showing customers where they were using the most water around the house, whether that was their washing machine or shower, could encourage them to then reduce consumption on these higher use appliances.
Surprisingly, the results revealed no dramatic change in water usage behaviour, besides some reductions between 11am – 12pm day-to-day. Ms Jones said the South East Water team was shocked that this trial didn’t find any water efficiency impact.
“We were shocked because we’d always been told by customers, ‘If you give me my usage by appliance, then I can really target my behaviour’, which was a common customer insight at the time,” Ms Jones said. “We ended up debunking that, but the alternate finding was that the app was incredibly helpful at driving awareness of usage, and this did help customers digest what’s happening.
Previously, if you didn’t know what your usage was, you could be quite shocked at a bill which might then have driven an adverse reaction into our contact centre. This app could possibly stop that customer reaction, so while it didn’t encourage reduction, it did give awareness.
“If something doesn’t pan out as we anticipate, that’s not a bad thing, it’s something for us to learn from as an organisation.”
Trial 2 – Amphiro
The second trial was undertaken in 2017 and saw the Amphiro B1 shower meter implemented across 700 households, in seven different experimental conditions. This was a pivot away from trial one, as instead of a mobile app, this involved a device that customers attach to their shower.
The device displayed data such as the temperature of the water, the litres of water the customer has used, as well as the energy used; so it was a combined water and energy data offering. This trial found a 13.3 per cent reduction in customer shower water usage, driven by a 42 second reduction in shower times. Ms Jones said customers responded best to intermittent feedback, reflecting the development of changing habits.
“The biggest finding was that habits can be created over time. We had 700 customers in this trial and each group of 100 customers got a different version of the visual device. Researchers were really interested, and hence we were, about how habits form. Do they form if people are shown the information every single day, or every week, or intermittent days, intermittent weeks etc.?
“The surprising finding was that it wasn’t every day. The group that did the best was not given information every single day; they were one of the groups that was just given an intermittent packet of information,” Ms Jones said.
Trial 3 – Water Savers
South East Water’s most recent trial took place in 2022 and tested the effectiveness of the Water Saver smartphone app, which encouraged households to save water as a response to combinations of goals, feedback, and incentives. Ms Jones said the utility learnt a lot from the app in Trial One that they leveraged into this one, especially as there were several years between the two trials.
“This was a different type of app as it was about displaying information to customers, helping them set a goal or achieve a target, and then with that target, customers were qualified for a financial incentive,” Ms Jones said.
“So that was a sort of iteration from project one. The technology landscape had also changed so quickly which meant that we had lots of bells and whistles in this trial that weren’t in project one.” The Water Savers app trial was conducted with more than 850 customers, across three different conditions and found that the first six weeks of the trial resulted in a 14 per cent water usage reduction amongst customers who had downloaded the app and had received the feedback and earned rewards, with usage effects plateauing in the final six weeks.
The critical role of real-time digital metering data
Through these and other trials South East Water has conducted, the utility has been able to highlight the economic value of real-time digital meter data in achieving large-scale water conservation. Ms Jones said real-time data from digital meters was the key enabler of these programs and without these capabilities, these initiatives would look very different.
“It’s really the cornerstone of what we can offer and that’s because we can help customers more closely to the time of actual usage, and that’s been the biggest gap. Customers go bill-to-bill in a three month period without much knowledge of what they’re using, and so we can use that data in a variety of ways to offer different things depending on customer preferences.”
Ms Jones said South East Water can also use this information to send notifications if there’s a leak or really high unexpected usage, and that can be at the point of consumption or close to, and that’s something they’ve never been able to offer before, but has been so in demand.
“When customers get a really high bill and it’s because a leak under their property has gone unnoticed, that’s a really stressful moment, so that’s a real key feature for us,” Ms Jones said.
It all comes back to customer experience
With the Water Savers App trial completed in 2022, the research partnership between South East Water and the University of Melbourne is now applying for additional funding for the next phase and scale of research trials. Ms Jones said there is currently a lot of strategy work happening within the utility’s digital teams, and there’s now the opportunity to take this work even further.
“Eventually, we want to go from these smaller pilots into developing things at scale. So if we’ve got 200 customers in a trial with an app, the next step is to think about how we get it across to our whole customer base in a sustainable, agile and flexible way, and that’s a long journey between those two extremes.
“I would say we’re 30 to 40 per cent through that journey because that’s going to run alongside the digital metering rollout, with both happening in sync,” Ms Jones said. Besides the mySEW, Amphiro and Water Savers App trials, South East Water has also conducted other trials with its customers based on digital meter data over the years, using the learnings from these.
Some of these included Continuous Flow Trial in 2020 – when a possible leak was detected, the customer was sent a notification to raise awareness of the usage, with these notifications delivering a 61.8 per cent reduction in billed water compared to them only becoming aware through the traditional quarterly billing cycle.
A continuous flow event is triggered when the digital meter has detected continuous usage of 120L per day or greater for a period of at least 24 hours. Also, the Spike in Usage Trial in 2021/2022 assessed the effectiveness of an early notification when a spike in usage was detected among 400 customers (i.e. an increase of 15-20 per cent beyond seasonal variation).
This reduced average daily water usage by 22.4 per cent for tenants. Ms Jones said that what’s most interesting about all of these programs around the implementation of digital metering data, is how the utility can use this to enhance customer experience in a number of different ways.
“Collecting data is great, but it’s using it to improve customer experience that is more important. This could be through getting a notification if there’s high usage at that property that might be unexpected, which could indicate a leak on the property, or it could be around helping people to understand what their bill is telling them and how they can actually make changes around that should they want to,” Ms Jones said. “We want to empower our customers to have a strong relationship with water and build their understanding around that as well.”


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Chief Executive Officer of GEPA, Afua Asabea Asare
Government is set to develop policies that will curtail the influx of low-cost pharmaceuticals in order to raise market shares of locally produced pharmaceutical products in the country.
The policies, which also seek to boost the local capacity utilization of pharmaceutical companies, form part of interventions under the National Export Development Strategy (NEDS) which has a target of increasing the revenue from export of pharmaceutical products from a projected $4 million in 2020 to $48 million in 2029.
Interventions also focus on making companies more competitive through the adoption of cost reduction strategies that are enabled with the provision of incentives to companies that opt for the manufacturing of local pharmaceuticals against importation of foreign ones.
The NEDS, which was launched in October this year, also intends to leverage on the goodwill of Ghanaian Pharmaceutical products in the West African sub-region to encourage local companies to establish and operate wholly owned subsidiaries in target markets.
Technical and financial support will also be provided for the upgrading of existing factories as well as new ones to meet the General Manufacturing Practices (GMP) certification and the World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification status for sensitive and essential pharmaceuticals.
An analysis of the pharmaceutical industry by the Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) had shown that a significant proportion of drugs used in the West African sub-region are domiciled in Ghana while the attainment of GMP certification and WHO prequalification status has enabled most local companies to partake in international competitive tenders.
On the other hand, the sector is faced with challenges such as high cost of local manufacturing, inadequate local technical expertise for high technology products, low investment in Pharmaceutical Research and Development, inadequate access to capital and high borrowing cost and high under -utilization of capacity which on the average is about 55 per cent.
According to the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), there are about 38 registered pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country with 243 national or regional wholesalers, 2,400 licenced pharmacies, 42 members of Association of Representatives of Ethical Pharmaceutical Industries (AREPI) and an estimated 18,000 licenced Over the Counter (OTC) medicine sellers in the country.
Local manufacturers however own 30 per cent of market share while 70 per cent of pharmaceutical products used in the country are imported, with most of the imports coming from China and India.
Operation in Ghana’s pharmaceutical industry are either of a purely local manufacturing model—a model of importation where finished products are imported and distributed nationwide through local distributors or a hybrid model of manufacturing locally, import and distribute products from international principals.
By Issah Mohammed
The post National Export Strategy Tackles Cheap Pharmaceutical Influx appeared first on DailyGuide Network.


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There's plenty of action on the corporate front as large and popular companies post results. Our head of investment covers the big events.
After closing lower on Wednesday, the FTSE 100 has opened in the green along with broader European indices. Diageo (LSE:DGE) has slumped to the bottom of the UK index after its earnings update, while private equity group 3I GROUP (LSE:BR88) tops the leader board after its Q3 update.
US futures are pointing to a higher open after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) topped analysts’ expectations in its quarterly earnings report after the bell. Focus shifts to the latest US Q4 GDP figures for clues into the strength of the US economy. The dollar continues to come under pressure hitting the lowest level since May 2022, while the euro reaches the highest since April 2022. A weakening greenback has boosted demand for gold which has hit a nine-month high.
Diageo (LSE:DGE) reported first half net sales up 9.4%, surpassing expectations for a gain of 7.9%. Operating profit during the period rose by 15.2% to £3.2 billion. The drinks conglomerate is targeting organic net sales growth of between 5 and 7% in the medium-term and organic operating profit of between 6 and 9%. Diageo is returning more cash to shareholders by upping its dividend and share buyback programme. However it flagged weakness in the US outlook, putting the stock on track for its worst one-day drop since May 2022.
Amid the cost-of-living crisis with a weakening consumer backdrop, the drinks giant is defying the macroeconomic headwinds, proving that demand remains largely robust. This is partly thanks to the diversification across its drinks portfolio, which continues to expand after the recent acquisition of Don Papa Rum. Price increases have also supported revenue, however these have been putting pressure on the hospitality sector, which is already struggling with inflationary pressures from rising energy, labour, drinks and food prices.
Diageo has been strategically shifting towards premiumisation in recent years, with a focus on quality over quantity, as consumers substitute to higher priced brands, a trend that took flight during the pandemic. Plus it has been growing in the low and no-alcohol segment of the market, appealing to increasingly health conscious younger consumers who still want to enjoy the ritual of a drink without the hangover. China’s long overdue economic reopening post covid is also expected to provide a boost to Diageo with the release of pent-up demand from the world’s second largest economy. However its US outlook is weighing on shares, as a slowing economy stateside looks set to dampen demand, sending the stock to the bottom of the FTSE 100.
Shares in Fevertree Drinks (LSE:FEVR) have plunged double digits after it warned about inflation cost pressures this year. Investors are shrugging on an improvement to its revenue outlook with 2023 sales expected to come between £390-405 million versus £344.3 million last year.
Following its IPO in 2014, Fevertree was the darling of the stock market, staging a supercharged rally to the peak in 2018. Investors and consumers were extremely excited about the prospect of a premium tonic brand to rival the rather dull Schweppes mixer which long held the monopoly as only notable accompaniment to gin. However since the highs, shares have shed more than 70% weighed down by increasing competition in the upmarket tonic segment and as cost inflation pressures endure. Glass bottling costs have shot up with the price of gas and hospitality has slowed as a softening consumer and recent industrial action weighs on demand in pubs, bars and restaurants. There is a cautious view from the analyst community with a majority of hold recommendations on the stock.
Wizz Air (LSE:WIZZ) reported revenues which more than doubled to 911.7 million euros in the final quarter of 2022 while passenger numbers jumped by 59% to 12.39 million. However it continues to expect an overall net loss in full-year 2023, putting pressure on the shares.
Wizz Air has benefited from the post-pandemic removal of travel restrictions thanks to the release of pent-up demand for holidays abroad. Fares have also been rising, helping the airline to offset the rising cost of aviation fuel. A strengthening euro also helped to reduce its fuel and maintenance costs and its diversified network helped support demand.
Shares in Wizz Air have taken to the skies so far in 2023, surging almost 50% since the start of January, even after today’s drop, partly thanks to strong passenger figures announced at the start of the month, some analyst price target upgrades and a broader pick-up in market sentiment. However the stock is trading lower today as profitability remains a challenge in the near-term.
- 2023 Investment Outlook: stock tips, forecasts, predictions and tax changes
- Stockwatch: the yield curve and what it tells us about the stock market
Shares in Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) jumped 5.5% in the post-market session after reporting record fourth quarter revenues of $24.32 billion and earning per share of $1.19 which surpassed analysts’ expectations. CEO Elon Musk provided a bullish outlook on deliveries, forecasting that Tesla may produce 2 million cars this year.
Tesla ended 2022 down 65%, its worst annual share price performance on record, retracing some of its meteoric surge during the pandemic. Shares struggled with production problems in Shanghai, post-covid supply chain issues, the global chip shortage and the macroeconomic backdrop of rising inflation and interest rates, driving a wider sell-off across big tech. On top of that, there were concerns that Musk took his eye off the ball, focusing too much on his newly acquired social media platform Twitter, particularly given that he sold around $22.9 billion of Tesla shares last year to help finance his acquisition.
This year Tesla’s shares are storming ahead, rallying by more than 33% even before last night’s after-hours move. To combat the tough economic backdrop, Tesla has been cutting its car prices, a strategy which so far appears to be boosting demand. However, this is adding to the pressure on gross margins, particularly at a time when costs are going up.
Despite easing supply chain woes, looking ahead, a softening consumer and the onslaught of electric vehicle competition means the landscape looks set to continue to post headwinds for Tesla.
Meta Platforms Inc Class A (NASDAQ:META) is reinstating former US President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the weeks ahead. He was suspended from the platforms for two years following the attack on the US Capitol in January 2021. Meta said if he posts further violating content, he will be removed again for between a month and two years. It comes after Trump’s Twitter account was reactivated last year following Elon Musk’s takeover but he is yet to post any tweets. After his Twitter ban, Trump launched his own social media site, Truth Social, where he has been posting updates, but the platform has demonstrated little growth, struggling to compete with the big incumbent players.
Trump is making his third run for the White House and is about to embark on the 2024 election campaign trail. He successfully harnessed Twitter to his advantage during his presidency, speaking to voters directly via the social media platform with his short messages frequently making the front pages. Consequently, it is likely he will start tweeting again soon.
Social media sites have a difficult balancing act to strike. On the one hand, they have a democratic responsibility to allow the public to hear from political candidates with social media a key channel of communication. On the other hand, they also have a responsibility to block the spread of hate speech, fake news, and the incitement of violence.
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.


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Last week, reporter John Broder of The New York Times wrote an account of his road trip from Washington, D.C., to Milford, Conn., in Tesla’s new all-electric Model S sedan, using the two Superchargers that the company has set up along the route. Broder says he got less range than advertised, lost a bunch of range overnight inexplicably, and ran out of power on his last leg. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, published a response to the story, effectively accusing Broder of journalistic malpractice.
Broder responded to Musk, and then responded again. Rebecca Greenfield at the Atlantic Wire also responded, charging that Musk hadn’t established his case against Broder. TechCrunch weighed in. Twice. Also GigaOm. Also Boing Boing. Even Gawker piped up. And of course our own Philip Bump.
This seems like an awful lot of attention devoted to the precise performance characteristics of this particular vehicle on this particular trip. The Tesla S has been extensively and mostly positively reviewed in lots of other outlets (including the NYT itself). It’s pretty well-established what it can and can’t do. What really seems to be behind this, yet again, is a proxy argument over electric cars in general.
Kevin Bullis has the wisest comment on this dust-up, which is that it’s dumb for an electric car to compete in the “drive a really long way without stopping much” category, precisely the place where gas cars currently retain an advantage. Broder made a bunch of mistakes, in retrospect. He could have done the drive without trouble if he’d planned better, been more careful, and gotten better advice from Tesla personnel. But American drivers are not accustomed to low speeds or careful planning in their long-distance driving and it will take time for those habits to change. It would make more sense to highlight the car’s performance in applications where it shines, like commuting, which constitutes the vast bulk of Americans’ actual travel.
Lurking in the background is the notion that the “promise of electric cars” is false until an electric car can plop down in America’s current transportation system and do everything an internal-combustion-engine car can do. Broder encourages this way of thinking, but then, so does Musk, and so even does Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
It’s a dumb notion, though, a classic example of our obsession with widgets over systems. It is probably true that electric cars will never be able to replace gas cars, if the cars themselves — the widgets — are the only thing we replace. The entire system was designed and built around ICE cars. Turns out it’s difficult to build a luxurious, two-ton armored tank that can travel 300 miles on a quick-charging battery pack.
The problem, however, is not merely that our cars consume too much oil. It’s that our transportation system consumes too much oil. A better system won’t merely involve better cars, it will involve driving less, telecommuting more, using more public transportation, sharing cars, making cars smarter, and building more and better electrical infrastructure.
There are a lot of chicken-and-egg problems in there. It’s hard to change behavior without the tech in place, it’s hard to develop the tech without supportive public policy, and it’s hard to get supportive public policy when the tech and behaviors aren’t there yet. Changing one part of the system without changing a bunch of other parts simultaneously is challenging and can often, at least temporarily, look like a step backward. (Don’t reduce my range, bro!) System change is difficult, halting, and messy.
The reason the conservative movement relentlessly attacks electric cars is not that they dispute particular performance characteristics in particular circumstances. It’s that they don’t want to change the system. They like the oil/SUV/sprawl set-up and are quite overt about it.
The status quo bias displayed by journalists like Broder, by contrast, more often manifests as narrow, widget-focused thinking, on which basis he’s been an an electric car naysayer for some time now. (See also The New York Times’ Matt Wald on clean energy.)
Of course Broder and Musk should both tell the truth. Battle it out on tech blogs all day! But the resolution of this dispute says roughly nothing about the need for, or the promise of, systemic changes in U.S. transportation. Electric vehicles are one piece of a complex puzzle. They may not “fulfill their promise” until other parts are in place. All those pieces will coevolve in unpredictable ways.
The baseline question, though, is whether the current system is sustainable, and if it isn’t, how it can be made so. Widget-based proxy arguments don’t do much to illuminate that question.


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With a 95 percent free/reduced ratio, Cartwright Elementary School District 83 is one of the most poverty-stricken districts in the country, but that doesn’t mean its school meal program has to lag. In fact, Cartwright is one of the country’s most celebrated, with 18 of its 20 sites receiving Gold Awards in the HealthierUS School Challenge. The other two, both middle schools, won Silvers.
Cartwright’s foodservice director, Diane Gruman, attributes some of the district’s success in the Challenge to simple demographics: High-poverty districts tend to get high participation because of the subsidized meals, and participation is a key metric in the HealthierUS competition.
At Cartwright, it ranges from 85 to 95 percent or more depending on the site.
But high free and reduced numbers are just a start. Even free meals have to be attractive to draw diners, and that’s one area where Cartwright’s meal program excels.
“We don’t do a lot of scratch cooking [though] we do try to do one a week, usually a kettle product like spaghetti, mac ‘n cheese, chili or something like that,” Gruman says.
The difficulty is the “tiny, tiny” size of the kitchens at the schools combined with the large numbers of students—the average Cartwright site has about a thousand kids and, as noted above, most of them participate in the meal program regularly. The district is also growing again after a brief downturn half a dozen years ago.
“We closed a school at that time but have since reopened it,” Gruman says.
Cartwright students generally get three entrée choices a day, with a fruit and vegetable bar, while breakfast in the classroom is served at 17 of the 20 sites and supper at three.
The program is on a four-week cycle, “but if we see something really isn’t working or the kids really don’t like it, we’ll keep our eyes open for something else,” Gruman says. “We realize kids can burn out on things and they need some new choices.”
The district’s demographics are heavily Hispanic—Cartwright sits just west of Phoenix—which influences the menu to a certain extent.
“Some of our biggest days are ones with a Latin flair like nachos or tacos, but we also do a lot of chicken nuggets, hot dogs, burgers and things like that,” Gruman says.
She maintains what she prefers to call “fruit and vegetable bars” rather than salad bars, “and every day we try to put out some fresh fruit as well as some canned fruit and vegetables and kids can help themselves to it. They take what they want.”
The choices sometimes include more exotic items. Eight Cartwright sites participate in the USDA Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program, “and with that we’ve done things like dragon fruit, pomegranate, several types of melons and apples, star fruit and jicama. The kids love the jicama, it’s a cultural thing, as well as mango,” Gruman says.
There are fresh vegetables on the bars and cooked veggies like corn, peas and green beans with the meals.
Some of the produce is local though Arizona isn’t noted for its agricultural bounty, though Yuma, not far from Cartwright, is known as the “winter lettuce capital of the world,” and the state also generates a number of other crops like apples and even watermelon that the district can access in season.
Some schools have gardens and can represent an education tool about where food comes from, but Gruman says the minimal volumes they produce rarely do more than set an example.
A robust catering program helps supplement nutrition department finances and Gruman is rolling out a new catering book this year, something she tries to do every other year. This year’s edition focuses more on boxed lunches.
“We’ve always had a build-your-own lunch platter, but we’ve found people would take all the ham and there’d just be turkey left, so now we’re looking at more of a boxed lunch,” she says. “It’s faster, cleaner and we don’t have to worry so much about what kind of portions people are taking.”
The catering revenue helps keep Gruman’s books solidly balanced, as do the high participation rates that deliver a steady income stream of federal funding. That has allowed the program to build enough of a surplus to afford installing digital menu boards at all sites this fall. She will also invest in upgrading some of the food she purchases, such as going to a 100 percent beef burger.
“We’re actually going to be spending more money on food this year,” she says.


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As the getaway rental sector heats up — with Airbnb earning even far more moves to grow its portfolio of providers to include things like various tiers of rentals — there’s going to be far more and far more of a need to have for people today who control a huge quantity of homes.
Guesty is a single services that aims to do that, and these days a filing with the Securities and Trade Fee notes that it’s lifted $19.75 million in a new Sequence B spherical of financing. While Airbnb may be the dominant dwelling getaway rental services, there are other folks like VRBO, and controlling individuals homes across various distinctive platforms could demand handling all of that facts in a little something far more analog like an Excel sheet. It’s a form of CRM instrument for assets management, ranging from monitoring guest check out-ins to the amount of income a assets proprietor. Guesty also helps assets house owners by supplying tools to control operations outside of just the monitoring.
Airbnb before this year started off rolling out far more tiers of dwelling groups that are geared towards distinctive types of vacationers. That involved large-conclusion tiers identified as Airbnb Plus and Past by Airbnb. While these new groups probably offer you a far more granular established of possibilities for customers, it may possibly make controlling individuals homes a little far more hard — in particular if it’s across various distinctive providers like Airbnb and VRBO, or even far more analog channels. Resources like Guesty can support house owners of various distinctive homes (that may possibly span various tiers) transform individuals households into an real enterprise.
There are also plenty of platforms that are looking for additional providers for people today controlling various homes on getaway rental web-sites. There are startups like Past Pricing, which glance to support assets administrators figure out how to very best cost their households. Airbnb has its have pricing algorithms, but there’s obvious demand from customers for tools that cross various platforms. Guesty was bash of Y Combinator’s wintertime 2014 class, and lifted $3 million in Could past year.
While Airbnb continues to check out to grow into new groups and offer you dwelling house owners a way to lease out their households — or for house owners of various homes to operate a facet enterprise — it’s not the only tactic to getaway rentals. A person startup, Selina, is looking to change existing homes into types of campuses that cater to distinctive tiers of vacationers, ranging from vacationers looking to remain in a hostel to types that are keen to shell out for their have rooms. Selina before this month mentioned it lifted $95 million. Selina is far more of a lodge-ish product as it expands from geography to geography, but it also displays that there’s demand from customers for an encounter that can cater to a large wide range of company.


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The German arm of pan-European mobile operator O2 has revealed plans to launch a residential third-generation (3G) service in the autumn. The offering will enable O2 customers with a laptop computer or PDA to connect to the internet on the same tariffs as they would pay for their basic fixed line services. Customers will be able to choose whether to have the connection charged by data volume or time spent online. O2 has yet to reveal the exact bandwidth capabilities of the new service.
By taking the laptop/PDA pilot route for its initial commercial 3G offering, O2 is following a similar strategy to Europe’s biggest cellco, Vodafone, which has built a pilot 3G network in Portugal covering Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra and Aveiro. In mid-February 2004 it launched a Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS laptop computer datacard, offering data transmission rates of up to 384kbps.
Meanwhile, Germany’s biggest mobile operator, Deutsche Telekom’s subsidiary T-Mobile, is remaining relatively tight-lipped about its own 3G launch plans, apart from saying that it does not want to mimic Vodafone or 02’s ‘phoneless 3G launches’. Last month T-Mobile said that it expected to unveil a range of 3G phones ‘within weeks not months’, and was on the verge of making ‘an interesting announcement’. This has led to a flurry of speculation that T-Mobile could become the first among Europe’s real mobile heavyweights to start selling 3G phones on a full commercial basis.


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You can not be one of the largest entities on the planet and not attract some bad people. Apparently, Fortnite It has attracted some money launderers. According to a new story in The independent, a new trend happening in FortniteThe servers apparently involve people who steal V-Bucks through media such as stolen credit cards and sell them to the public through the black market. By using stolen funds to buy the currency and sell it again, scammers are essentially swapping dirty money for clean money and making profits in the process.
According to the article, some of these criminals who spoke anonymously with the newspaper are getting huge amounts of cash from the system, and without Epic Games reviewing each transaction to see who owns what, they get away with it. days. base. It is not really Epic's fault, nor is it anything new, as has been done in other markets in the past. But why Fortnite It is such an important agreement these days, that criminals basically have access to one of the most important resources they have had and they are doing it in several countries that never think twice before verifying the source or even the attention. We will see how the company responds to history and the development of what is happening, but at this moment, it seems that there are few immediate alternatives to close the system.
About Gavin Sheehan
Gavin has been a lifelong geek who can talk to you about comics, television, video games and even professional wrestling. He can also teach you how to play Star Trek chess, be your Mercy in Overwatch, recommend random and great music in D & D. He also likes stand-up comedy, Let's Play videos and try new games, along with hundreds of other things that can not be covered in a single paragraph. Follow @TheGavinSheehan on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Vero to get random images and reflections.
(Last update January 18, 2019 5:08 am )


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TOKYO: – The dollar rose against other currencies in Asia on Friday as a strong US retail sales report reinforced investor confidence in the world’s largest economy.
The dollar was at 119.08 yen in midday trade compared with 118.65 yen in New York and sharply higher than the 117.67 yen touched earlier Thursday in Tokyo.
“The strong US retail sales report for November, together with the market reflecting perhaps on the boost to US consumer purchasing power from lower gasoline prices, lifted equities and the dollar,” said National Australia Bank.
The Commerce Department said US retail sales in November, the beginning of the holiday shopping season, added a solid 0.7 percent from the previous month and 5.1 percent from a year ago.
Consumer spending accounts for almost three quarters of output in the world’s biggest economy and the figures are the latest to indicate a strong recovery is on track, adding to pressure on the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates sooner than later.
The euro was mixed after losing ground in reaction to the disappointing sale of new loans by the European Central Bank (ECB) to banks on Thursday.
The single currency slipped to $1.2395 Friday from $1.2410 in US trade while firming to 147.58 yen from 147.24 yen.
The ECB’s loan sale was “no blockbuster, not that anyone expected it”, NAB said in a note.
“The outcome was in line with already-low expectations, a stark contrast to the rip-roaring US economy that posted a strong retail sales report for November” even with the deflating effect from lower gas prices, it said.
The ECB said 306 banks had borrowed a slack 129.8 billion euros in the second round of its programme of cheap, long-term loans aimed at boosting the economy.
The result raised the prospects the ECB will launch more aggressive easing early next year.


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Mark Cuban, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher, others invest in tree-free toilet paper startup – GeekWire
Cloud Paper, the Seattle-based makers of tree-free toilet paper, has attracted a host of high-profile investors and raised $3 million in a seed funding round announced Tuesday.
Months after the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when Americans emptied store shelves of essential products, Cloud Paper says it has added thousands of U.S. households. The year-and-a-half-old startup has seen an 800% increase in signups for its sustainable toilet tissue made from bamboo and shipped directly to consumers’ homes.
The success has attracted big-name money, too. Greycroft led the round and celebrity investors including Mark Cuban, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary (Sound Ventures), and Hadi Partovi (Code.org) chipped in.
“The most important criteria during fundraising was finding investors and advocates who are passionate about building a tree-free paper movement with us,” said Austin Watkins, who co-founded the startup along with Ryan Fritsch. The two University of Washington grads previously worked together at Seattle trucking technology company Convoy and at Uber.
Cloud Paper says Americans throw away a billion trees worth of paper products every year, and each American will use more than 100 trees worth of disposable paper products, like toilet paper, in their lifetime. Deforestation contributes to climate change and sustainability is the mission at Cloud Paper. The company, which also uses plastic-free packaging, announced in August that it has saved and offset over 1 million pounds of carbon through customers switching to its renewable bamboo TP, and through the Carbon Fund.
During the pandemic, the startup learned key lessons about staying focused on its mission and prioritizing operations. They offered payment grace periods for small businesses, which included many of the team’s favorite restaurants and bars in the Seattle area. Cloud Paper also donated 10,000 rolls of TP to food banks and shelters.
“The importance of owning crucial aspects of [our] supply chain became abundantly clear,” said Tori Kiss, head of operations. “We made the decision to own our operations, warehousing, and fulfillment in-house from the start. This became a critical lever as we shifted priorities from B2B customers to thousands of new household deliveries.”
The $3 million makes up Cloud Paper’s total funding to date. Along with Watkins, Fritsch and Kiss, the four-person team includes operations coordinator Neha Salgaonkar, and there are plans to hire more people.
“This raise allows us to more quickly drive meaningful environmental change and reset the status quo of the multi-billion-dollar paper industry,” Fritsch said.


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Invesco Real Estate continued its push into New York by buying a retail condo on a prime strip of Broadway in SoHo.
One of the country's largest managers of real estate, Invesco bought a nearly 20,000-square-foot condo at 512 Broadway that is leased to British retailer AllSaints from Thor Equities for an undisclosed sum. In December, it joined forces with the Kaufman Organization to buy 100-104 Fifth Ave. for a reported $93.5 million. Sources said it also negotiating to buy The Elecktra, an apartment building on Second Avenue, between East 22nd and East 23rd streets.
“We are really pushing to grow our presence in the city,” said Greg Kraus, senior director and head of acquisitions for Dallas-based Invesco, which manages $36.5 billion in real estate investments. Mr. Kraus said Invesco wants to expand in New York because it's a supply-constrained market that is rapidly recovering from the recession. Over the summer, Invesco hired Todd Bassen as a senior acquisitions director to seek opportunities in the city. Mr. Bassen was formerly an executive at Vornado Investment Trust.
Invesco owns the Brill Building and at least one office tower downtown. Mr. Kraus declined to comment on speculation about The Elecktra.
Mr. Kraus noted that the condo investment is a new area for Invesco. He said that the firm has traditionally invested in mall developments but realized that retail condos in certain areas in cities like New York, where rents can rise exponentially after leases expire, could also pay off handsomely over time.
AllSaints has a 15-year lease on the space, but Mr. Kraus noted that after it expires, Invesco will likely be able jack up the rent significantly.
“This is a long-term play,” said Mr. Kraus. “We think there is incredible upside.”
Correction: Invesco Real Estate is negotiating to buy the Elecktra, an apartment building on Second Avenue. The building was misidentified in an earlier version of this article, originally published Feb 25, 2011.


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At Tamebay Live in May, Richard McGuinness, CRO, eDesk talked about ‘How to build brand equity without owning the customer relationship’. You can watch this masterclass at your leisure here. Today Richard is back with Tamebay to discuss the future and ask the question as to whether that will involve selling off-site.
It’s easy to own the relationship with the customer when transacting on your own website, but how do you maintain brand equity when selling off-site and what strategies should you employ? Richard dissects the customer relationship with your brand and suggests ways to retain your brand equity no matter where the customer makes their purchase:
Is the future of selling off-site?
The surge in ecommerce sales over the last 14 months has been astounding, with global online retail sales growing by 27.6% in 2020 to reach $4.28trillion according to eMarketer. In the UK alone online consumer spending increased by 34.7% to $14.33bn in 2019, and according to UNCTAD shopping has indeed changed forever.
Selling off-site on marketplaces
Marketplaces in particular grew massively, growing 81% yoyo, fuelled by an increase of 46% in online sellers carried by spoke in marketplace purchases of 106%. This isn’t just limited to resellers, but big brands such as Levi’s, Calvin Klein and Swarovski have all established their own brand stores on Amazon to expand the routes to consumer.
However, increasingly brands are pushing forward with a more direct-to-consumer model, with Adidas in particularly keen, announcing recently their ‘Own the Game’ strategy, which has the objective of reaching 50% of all sales to be D2C by 2025. The reason is down to brand equity; being able to own the end-to-end customer experience to deepen customer relationships and create brand advocacy through loyalty programs.
Whilst this strategy is sound for the massive corporate brands who have the budget to create that brand awareness (and ultimately value therefore brand equity), not everyone has the deeper enterprise pockets. Whilst marketplaces are one sound solution, there is a trend of social and media companies moving into the ecommerce space to take advantage of the strong grow opportunities (to varying degrees of success), welcoming in the era of social commerce.
Lessons from China
So, what does look like, and how much attention does it warrant? Before going into it too deeply, it’s wise to look into first into who is getting this right, namely companies in the East. This is no more prevalent than in China, where eMarketer predicts that online sales will dominate the retail market, hitting 52% by the end of this year.
How has China got this right? According to ecommerce expert Vinny O’Brien, one of the biggest factors is the fact China is mobile first with over 90% of online traffic going through mobile. This has given rise to apps like the infamous ‘WeChat’, which started as a messaging app but is now an ‘everything app’, described as PayPal, Instagram and Facebook rolled into one. People in China use the app to shop, pay, communicate, follow, collaborate; they can now even use it to file for divorce!
WeChat attracts over approximately 1,225 billion users every month with 87% of consumers in China using WeChat Pay for their online payments, and retailers have squarely adopted it as a sales channel much in the same way retailers adopted Amazon in the west. They have been taking steps to help the pandemic retail recovery, announcing their ‘WeChat Retail Growth Plan’ which includes activities such as opening up WeChat Live livestreaming communications platform. This allows businesses to interact with customers, focused on generating sales whilst people were watching the livestream whilst communicating (and buying) at the same time.
Selling off-site in the West
In North America and Europe, social commerce is still in its infancy, but is certainly growing. Facebook launched Facebook Shops in 2020, and whilst smaller businesses wanting to set up stores on Facebook and Instagram have embraced it, brands are currently using it as a showroom rather than a sales platform. Google Shopping give retailers the ability to surface the opportunity to buy straight from their searches and recently signed a deal with Shopify to build the merchant base, joining other platforms such as TikTok which is now available in 15 countries.
Balancing ease with control
This raises a key question for retailers; is it best to conduct sales where consumers already are through social commerce, or is it better to use social media, messaging apps or search to drive people to D2C channels thereby maintaining complete control of the experience?
It comes down to the basic fundamental of whether they can provide an excellent customer experience despite being outside of their direct-to-consumer environment.
At the moment buying through social commerce is in its infancy in the west, therefore most brands will use social as a means to push over to the site to build a deeper customer relationship, allowing them to build to trust, brand and to re-market and develop personalised offers.
Trust and reviews
But the most fundamental reflection of customer satisfaction and indeed your reputation is built on trust and reviews, which is why it’s imperative that no matter what the sales channel, customer service is always front and centre of the experience.
eDesk directly integrates with a number of social channels including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and at the moment the platform is seeing the majority of engagements coming in at a pre-sales engagement such as sizing, colours and stock levels. The expectation with social is for people to respond quickly therefore no matter whether the channel is direct or via social, and these queries should be responded to in a manner that is timely and consistent to ensure a brand reputation is built positively.
Post purchase actions
Another factor to consider is post purchase; driving purchase through social leaves businesses more open to public reviews or queries through that channel. Therefore, it’s again it’s imperative to respond quickly and consistently to build a good view of the brand in the mind of the customer.
Whilst off-site sales and social commerce brings a great opportunity for retailers, the customer experience needs to be managed regardless of the platform to build trust and protect reputation. Ensuring the right backstops are placed, such as having an integration tech stack to ensure the experience is managed correctly, is imperative to success. It’s only when these are managed in a way that gives brands more control over the customer will social commerce really come into its own.