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While chants of “fake news” ring out around the world, this paper asks is there really a crisis of trust in the media?
If people’s perceptions are based on what they believe is truth, does that make perception as important as reality itself? In this issue of Curiosity, we shine a spotlight on perception, how very often it differs from reality and why that is.
As the ASEAN bloc continues to grow and move towards greater economic integration, Ipsos has written a series of publications that are focused on Go to Market strategy in Southeast Asia.
In today’s fast-moving, shape-shifting world, it seems virtually every business, every marketer, and every researcher wants to be agile. But, what exactly does agility mean?
The mobility is constantly changing and vehicles become less polluting. Electric vehicles have been known for a decade but they attract more and more consumers, due to a major concern regarding environment and the rise of gasoline price.
Ethnography is a research method made for investigating cultural practices, rituals, consumer behaviour, routines and social norms. It helps our clients identify previously unseen opportunities through looking at people’s worlds in a new way, through putting behaviour at the heart of our…
Why is the mood of the crowd so important? How can it influence the ROI of your advertising?
Brands need to connect with shoppers in the moments that matter most.
Transforming adversity into a creative opportunity.
Consumers are more conscious than ever about the safety and trustworthiness of food and drink, which has led to an increase in the use of terms such as ‘natural’ on packaging.


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Newly developed eco friendly food packaging material could be the next big thing in supermarket industry. Made out of natural chitosan-based composite film with grapefruit seed extract (GFSE), the new food packaging material is free from chemical additives. Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS), who developed the food packaging material said that the new packaging can slow down fungal growth, doubling the shelf-life of perishable food, such as bread.
The new packaging is made of an innovative composite film that not only just checks the growth of fungi and bacteria, but also has the mechanical strength and flexibility that are comparable to synthetic polyethylene film commonly used for food packaging. It took three years of reasarch for Associate Professor Thian Eng San and PhD student Ms Tan Yi Min from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at NUS Faculty of Engineering to create the novel packaging material.
The composite film also effectively blocks ultraviolet light, hence slowing down the degradation of food products as a result of oxidation and photochemical deterioration reactions. The creators claimed that Chitosan, the natural and biodegradable polymer derived from the shells of shrimp and other crustaceans, has immense potential for applications in food technology, owing to its biocompatibility, non-toxicity, short time biodegradability and excellent film forming ability. Laboratory experiments showed that the shelf-life of bread samples packaged with chitosan-based GFSE composite films was two times longer than those packaged using synthetic packaging films.
“Increasing attention has been placed on the development of food packaging material with antimicrobial and antifungal properties, in order to improve food safety, extend shelf-life and to minimise the use of chemical preservatives. Consumers are also demanding that packaging materials be formulated from natural materials that are environmentally friendly and biodegradable while improving food preservation. This novel food packaging material that we have developed has the potential to be a useful material in food technology,” said Assoc Prof Thian.

domain: news


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Viewed for years as a slightly staid and business-like city, Toronto has kicked off its unexciting reputation with a brace of high-profile hotel and restaurant launches. This month, the upmarket Yorkville district welcomes the
Four Seasons Hotel, which promises sun-drenched suites in shimmering dual glass towers, and the launch of the city's largest luxury hotel spa.
Throughout the autumn, when Toronto swarms with Hollywood A-listers for TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival), and models stride the city's streets for Fashion Week, other major players have opened for business, too. After the success of its previous TIFF pop-ups, Soho House made its permanent home on Adelaide Street West, just steps from TIFF HQ. It's next door to the Shangri-La hotel, which opened at the end of summer, with super-spacious rooms, a vast 'urban living room' and sidewalk café.
The year got off to an equally impressive start with the first Trump property in Canada opening its revolving doors in the heart of Toronto's financial district. Touches of cherry blossom lift the caviar and Champagne-inspired design palette, and that Trump attention to detail is everywhere — from a glittering blossom-inspired crystal artwork to the cherry blossom-infused vodka in the bar at Stock restaurant.
Foodies will be happy. Momofuku by New York's culinary hot property chef David Chang has just opened. Add to that the new Hoof Raw Bar, opened by the guys behind The Black Hoof, and it looks like after years of being the film industry's favourite cinematic stand-in for New York, Toronto's finally created a sophisticated character all of its own.
British Airways (ba.com) flies to Toronto.
What would your Perfect Day in Toronto look like? Map it — and share it — at British Airways' Perfect Days Facebook page.


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Cryptocurrency exchange Huobi, formerly based in China, is about to open an office in the Silicon Valley, US.
San Francisco Federal Reserve President announced no plans to implement a central bank-produced digital currency, although studies are underway.
Zcash CEO Zooko Wilcox will join the Economic Space Agency’s conference event discussing the post-Blockchain world.
San Francisco subway system was hacked, perpetrators demanded 100 Bitcoins. It has been left free to use until the problem is resolved.
The fifth installment of d10e returns to San Francisco for a two-day event, July 19-20, which will feature a star-studded cast of keynote speakers, including An...
Flexibility and efficiency of application of Bitcoin is almost incomparable to any other type of currency.
The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (FRBSF) has published an article covering the risks of bitcoin and other virtual currencies.
The number of Bitcoin merchants has risen, the value of Bitcoin startups has increased and most importantly, awareness of Bitcoin has increased in countries wit...
Weekend Roundup from Cointelegraph
20Mission, a co-working space dedicated to art and technology creators, announced the launch of Nakamoto's electronics, the first Bitcoin retail store in San Fr...
This week, we had the opportunity to talk with Cailen Sullivan, CEO and co-founder of ZenBox, the largest BTM (Bitcoin automatic teller machine) operator and di...
Dave Koppenheffer over that The Motley Fool has put together his list for the top five most Bitcoin-friendly cities in the US.


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Consumer trust in artificial intelligence (AI) was analyzed in a recent report by dunhumby. According to the report, 20% of American consumers ‘mostly’ or ‘completely’ trust AI.
The report found that men (29%) are more likely to trust AI than women (14%).
The top five concerns respondents have about AI are 1) loss of jobs, 2) security and privacy, 3) loss of human touch, 4) technology 'in the wrong hands’ and 5) misinformation. Forty-six percent cite security as a grocery use case for AI.
Read the full report here.


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July 09, 2012, 4:07 PM — With its much-anticipated Android 4.1 "Jelly
Bean" OS release imminent, Google is keeping Apple on its toes in the mobile computing space, say software
developers. "Jelly Bean" offers a host of feature improvements, pursuing smooth, fluid user interactions via
Project Butter, expandable notifications, and personalized home screens.
"They've done a lot to improve things," says Ian Clifton, an Android developer at ARO, a mobile apps startup.
"Each new version of Android has gotten a little bit faster, a little bit smoother, so they're closing that gap
between Android and [Apple's] iOS. At the same time, we saw a lot of new feature releases," such as improved
accessibility for visually impaired people and a "smarter" keyboard that learns which words users are likely to
[ Learn about
Google's newfound focus on consumer electronics for the living room and why
Google is turning over its Google Web Toolkit technology to a steering committee. | Work smarter, not harder --
check out InfoWorld's roundup of tips and trends for programmers in the
Developers' Survival Guide. | Keep up on mobile and application development by subscribing to InfoWorld's Mobilize
World newsletters. ]
Others also are taking notice of how Android is faring against iOS. "Personally, I'm an iOS kind of guy, but
this is fully opening my eyes to the world of Android," says Sherban Drulea, a Web software developer at game
producer Activision Blizzard. "It looks like the responsiveness and notification systems -- two features iOS hasn't
implemented as well -- could give [Google] an edge."
Rather than viewing "Jelly Bean" as Android's equalizer to iOS, Marcus Kazmierczak, vice president of
engineering at BabyCenter.com, says Google had already reached that milestone: "Both can do pretty much everything
you want to do. They're on par."


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If you think it’s a tough decision to spend your hard-earned money on leisure travel here in the United States, apparently consumer consternation is as bad or worse in Europe.
As a result, Orbitz Worldwide -- the online travel-booking company based above the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago -- predicts a rougher ride for the rest of 2012, it said this week.
Orbitz has a significant presence in Europe, which has also been a source of the company’s growth.
Ditto for Priceline, known for allowing consumers to bid for flights and hotel rooms, which gets 60 percent of its hotel revenue from Europe. Both companies blamed their dour forecasts on weakness in Europe.
Investors had no mercy on Wednesday, sending Orbitz stock down 26 percent and Priceline down 17 percent.
The odd thing in reporting the story is that both companies didn’t report especially bad results when they released profit reports this week. Priceline even beat Wall Street estimates. The stock plunges were based on the companies’ outlooks for the next quarter and rest of the year.
That makes some sense because stock prices have future expectations baked into them.
But it seemed to be taking a very short-term view.
Carroll Rheem, research director at travel market-research company PhoCusWright, didn’t seem especially concerned with the travel companies’ lowered forecasts.
Many online travel agents had tremendous growth in Europe in recent years and this is partly just a natural slowing of that steep trajectory – not something fundamentally wrong with these companies, she said. When economies in Europe improve, so will the fortunes of these companies, she said.
We’ll watch the stock market to see if investors agree and send the prices of travel firms higher.
-- Gregory Karp
Join Trib Nation on Facebook for more of the how and why of Tribune journalism.


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As customers return to their social lives, Neiman Marcus believes he has a tailwind of higher sales to build on during the holiday season.
Men’s clothing, women’s shoes, handbags and jewelry were the top-selling categories that drove a 6% sales increase in its fiscal fourth quarter which ended July 30 with report in the same quarter in 2019, said Geoffroy van Raemdonck, CEO of Neiman Marcus.
âThe social calendar is not where it was, and that’s why women’s clothing is still not where it was before,â said van Raemdock. âThe lifestyle is still limited, but we continue to do well with our loyal customers and we have increased the number of new customers. “
The Dallas-based company shared its latest results privately with its owners and corporate debt holders on Tuesday and shared some of the results with The morning news from Dallas. He declined to disclose total sales and actual results in dollars.
âWe expect the social calendar and travel calendar to really boost demand during the holiday season,â said van Raemdonck, noting that many people âhaven’t had the chance to give gifts and gifts. appropriate holiday shopping for nearly two years “.
Luxury and much of retail use 2019 as the year to beat, as the pandemic has temporarily closed stores and canceled events that are boosting fashion spending.
Van Raemdonck said that although most of Neiman Marcus’ products come from Europe, the company has a series of contingency plans if further supply chain disruptions arise and the labor shortage occurs. labor force for seasonal workers is worsening.
âWhat we learned during the pandemic is that this organization is very resilient and can scale very quickly,â he said. “So we look at the holidays with a lot of confidence.”
The good sales increase in the Spring / Summer quarter came as inventories were down 21%, meaning the retailer was able to sell their merchandise at full price. Van Raemdonck said this has translated into “a very strong quarter for us” with a profit margin of 10% of the quarter’s revenue, above pre-COVID levels.
The big important European brands such as Christian Louboutin, Saint Laurent, Brunello Cucinelli and Dior continue to pull the results.
The retailer’s 20 biggest brands have significantly contributed to the improvement in financial results and are up 50% from pre-pandemic levels, he said. âEverything we were selling was at a higher price. “
The new client is being watched closely, he said. Many of them had higher disposable income during the pandemic because they weren’t going out socially or going to work.
New customers are returning at a more frequent rate: 1 in 5 new customers return within 3 months, an improvement from 1 in 6 before the pandemic.
âWe follow them and when we attract them they buy full price and come back faster,â he said, âwhich is all about our strategy of focusing on quality customers that we can. develop to have a high lifetime value with us. “
Neiman Marcus is serious about being the luxury leader, he said, noting that he shut down his Last Call operation last year, leaving only a few locations to function as true customs clearance centers in the country. instead of having a separate brand at a low price.
‘Roaring Twenties’ Could Reshape the US Luxury Market, According to Bain & Co. The company’s annual forecast for May predicted a rebound in the US based on an improved economy, a vibrant stock market, increased consumer confidence and rapid deployment of vaccines.
Globally, Bain forecast that the global personal luxury goods market will be 5% larger in 2021 than it was in 2019.
Looking for more business coverage? Click here to read all retail news and updates. Click here to subscribe to D-FW Retail and more newsletters from The morning news from Dallas.


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Matt Robinson (c) 2014, Bloomberg News. RadioShack’s lenders are blocking its plan to close 1,100 unprofitable stores to save money, deepening speculation among derivatives traders the electronics retailer will default within a year.
The lenders, whose consent RadioShack needs to shutter more than 200 sites a year, weren’t willing to provide permission on terms acceptable to the company, according to a May 8 regulatory filing. The denial, which prevents RadioShack from paring cash outflows, has caused demand for protection against non-payment to increase. Credit-default swaps now imply a 45 percent chance of default in December and 86 percent by June 2015, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“The company is running out of options for its turnaround strategy,” Moody’s Investors Service analyst Manoj Chadha said. Liquidity is going to deteriorate and RadioShack may start to lose vendor support, making it difficult for the company to continue as a viable operation, Chadha said.
Ruth Pachman, a spokeswoman for RadioShack at Kekst & Co., declined to comment on the reduced store closings or the default implications based on swaps trading.
RadioShack is seeking to boost efficiency and develop new products to overcome a sales decline of 45 percent since the 1996 peak as it struggles to compete with online companies such as Amazon Inc. and merchants including Wal-Mart Stores Inc.
While RadioShack said in a March 4 filing that it would have enough cash to meet obligations through year-end and has until December 2018 before any debt comes due, its vendors may decide its finances are too precarious to warrant advancing credit and push it into bankruptcy, said James Goldstein, an analyst at CreditSights Inc., who rates the Fort Worth, Texas- based company’s bonds “underperform.”
Without the consent of the senior lenders, RadioShack will now pursue “other cost reduction measures,” according to the May 8 filing. The company is continuing discussions with lenders about the store closures, according to the filing.
“They’re being forced by their lenders to lose more money,” said Noel Hebert, an analyst with Bloomberg Industries. “They’re in an incredibly difficult cash position.”
The lenders extended $835 million in five-year financing in October, led by GE Capital and Harbinger Capital Partners LLC’s Salus Capital unit.
Ned Reynolds, a GE Capital spokesman, declined to comment on the impasse, as did Brian Ruby, a spokesman for Salus at Integrated Corporate Relations Inc.
The price of RadioShack’s default swaps expiring Dec. 20 soared to 28 percentage points upfront on May 9 from 23.8 percentage points before the company announced the scaled-back store closings, according to CMA, which is owned by McGraw Hill Financial Inc. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in the privately negotiated market.
That means the initial cost to protect $10 million of debt increased to $2.8 million from $2.4 million. Swaps maturing in June 2015 rose to 53 percentage points upfront.
The 13-month contracts, which ended at 49 percent upfront Tuesday, reached a record 54 percent on April 22, after the Wall Street Journal reported the company was running into difficulty getting lenders to approve the store closings. The December swaps were quoted at 24.6 percent Tuesday.
Trading in RadioShack credit swaps surged after the report that lenders were balking, with $830.2 million of protection bought and sold in the five days ended April 18, up from $346.5 million the previous week, according to the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp., which runs a central registry for the market.
The high premium paid for near-term default protection is attractive given the company doesn’t have any debt maturities until 2018, said Paul Karpers, a money manager at T. Rowe Price Group Inc. who’s starting a new credit opportunities fund that he said would probably use credit swaps to wager on companies like RadioShack.
While the company is “certainly troubled,” he said, “the amount of distress that is priced into” the near-term contracts is too high relative to the amount of liquidity it has.
RadioShack’s $324.8 million of 6.75 percent securities have dropped 22.4 cents on the dollar this year to 41.1 cents to yield 30.44 percent, according to trades of $500 million or more compiled by Trace, the bond-price reporting system of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.
Chief Executive Officer Joe Magnacca, a former drugstore- chain executive, has hired a new team of managers, including Dollar General Corp. executive John Feray as chief financial officer in January, to help him institute a turnaround.
While RadioShack’s shares have plunged 46.5 percent this year to $1.39, Standard General LP, a New York-based hedge fund, announced a 9.8 percent share holding in an April 29 regulatory filing. That’s a sign some investors may be confident RadioShack can avert a default, said Oliver Wintermantel, an analyst at International Strategy & Investment Group in New York.
“They’re probably buying because the stock can double or triple if they come out at the end of May and report a stabilization in earnings,” he said by telephone. “It’s a binary event at this point, either they file for bankruptcy or they don’t. If they don’t, the stock is probably going up.”
Michelle Pereira, a spokeswoman for Standard General, declined to comment on the increased stake.
RadioShack’s sales declined 20 percent in the fourth quarter, the most since 1999, Bloomberg data show. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg forecast RadioShack will burn through $186.4 million of cash this year, more than its $179.8 million in reserves.
The deadlock between creditors and management is “credit- negative” for the retailer, Moody’s said in a May 9 statement. Moody’s lowered RadioShack’s credit rating to Caa2 in March, saying the retailer’s turnaround strategy “doesn’t seem to be gaining much traction.” The rating outlook is “negative.”
Moody’s Caa2 ranking, denoting debt that is “subject to very high credit risk,” is eight levels below investment grade. Standard & Poor’s, which also has a negative outlook, grades the obligations one level higher at CCC+.
“The question is do they go bankrupt before or after the holiday season,” said Goldstein of CreditSights. “General consensus seems to be that lenders would rather hold onto the inventory as a collateral backstop.”
Kmart Corp. filed for bankruptcy a day after missing a vendor payment in January 2002.
“In the retail space, it’s very infrequently a debt coming due issue,” Hebert, the Bloomberg Industries analyst said. “It’s almost always vendors.”
— With assistance from Lauren Coleman-Lochner in New York.


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Tag | ROI
Consumers are typically using multiple devices to browse the web and interact with businesses. To give businesses more insight into the growing sources of data, Google has now made universal analytics a public beta
AOL has launched a beta version a self-service ad tool that will enable marketers to launch and manage their own campaigns. This application, dubbed “Ad Desk,” will sell CPM advertisements that can be targeted by Website, category, geographic location, demographic, and behavior.
Jeff Levick, Executive Vice President of AOL Advertising, stated that “Transparency and control are the future of online advertising. Providing clients with a greater level of personalized control over digital marketing campaigns is paramount as organizations continue to look […]


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SPC Global— a renowned Australian agribusiness has explored agricultural investment and trade potential in Cambodia, stressing that the firm is interested in expanding to Cambodia for produce such as mango, rambutan, longan, and dragon fruit.
The company, based in Victoria, Australia has over a century of experience in processing and packaging fruit and vegetable products.
The Australian Embassy, and its flagship economic development program, Cambodia Australia Partnership for Resilient Economic Development (CAPRED) welcomed Mr. Hussein Rifai, Chairman of SPC Global, and Mr. Matthew McMichael, Chief Operating Officer, according to the embassy’s press release issued on June 19.
The two-and-a-half-day visit allowed SPC Global to travel to Kirirom Food Production in Kampong Speu province and LyLy Food Industry Co. in Phnom Penh capital. They also met with four prominent agribusiness suppliers— Navita Food Production, Misota Food Cambodia, SHE Agrocam, and Royal Trust.
The visit also provided an opportunity to meet with key representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, and the Investment Agency of the Council for the Development of Cambodia.
Cambodia is an ideal country for us to find new agricultural opportunities — especially in fruits and vegetables that don’t grow or are currently unavailable in Australia, noted Mr. Hussein Rifai, adding that SPC can provide Australian food expertise and knowhow that will enable the development of innovative food products of the highest global quality while developing the agri-food industry in Cambodia.
“The agri-food sector is one of Cambodia’s key focus sectors and Australia is already supporting its development. We are grateful to CAPRED for bringing this opportunity to our attention and are already progressing discussions with a couple of the businesses they introduced to us,” he said.
Between 2017 and 2022, Cambodia’s mango production increased by 160 percent and dried fruit exports increased by up to 6,500 percent. Cambodia has exceptional capacity for high value agricultural produce, including mango, banana, cashew, sweet potato, sesame, chilies, and the world-famous Kampot Pepper.
SPC Global’s visit is part of Australia’s efforts to strengthen agricultural ties with Cambodia. It was initiated following a successful meeting between SPC and Cambodian delegates during the CAPRED Agri-food Industrial Park visit to Australia earlier this year. By Chea Vannak


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The Gaming Technologies Association (GTA) announced Thursday the appointment of Anthony Ball as Board Chair and Cameron Louis as Vice Chair. The announcement was made at the Australasian Gaming Expo (AGE), which took place this week at ICC Sydney, Australia, on August 9-11, organized by GTA.
Ball, who serves as General Manager, Government & Industry Relations ANZ/APAC at Aristocrat, succeeds Adrian Halpenny, who has held the position of Chair for over nine years.
As for Louis, the new Vice Chair, currently serves as Managing Director at Aruze Gaming Australia. GTA is the representative body for Australia’s gaming machine technology suppliers.
Adrian Halpenny, former Chair of the GTA Referring to his new role, Ball deemed it an honor to be chosen as Chair and to take the baton from Adrian: “Our association has a well thought out plan for how it can contribute to the long-term wellbeing of gaming technology and supplier companies, venues, and all that have a stake in our industry”.
“We will work energetically to deliver our agenda, which includes increasing stakeholder understanding of our industry, supporting efficient, balanced, and effective rules and regulation; promoting technology as an enabler of responsible gameplay; encouraging innovation to meet the player and customer (venue) needs; and representing the interests of technology companies while contributing to gaming industry advocacy more broadly”, he concluded.


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Amidst the ongoing third wave of COVID-19 pandemic, it seems logistics companies are hurrying up to redesign and revamp their supply chain operations for enhancing efficiency and productivity levels and also to protect their businesses against a wider and more acute range of potential shocks and disruptive events, by taking every detail to its broader context. In the process, companies are adopting various highly innovative and efficient strategies to propel growth and subsist in the competitive environment.
Ritika Arora Bhola
There’s certainly an urgent need to rebuild supply chain which is far more resilient and flexible, in order to survive and achieve growth. And the pandemic is actually forcing the logistics companies to become flexible, responsiveness, and efficient while guaranteeing costumers’ demands at minimum costs. With lessons learnt from the last two years COVID chaos (2020-2021), supply chain businesses are finally looking at building resilience, chalking out contingency plans and bringing in agility in 2022 and beyond. As the pandemic wreaks economic turmoil around the world with the ongoing third wave, modern supply chains are again experiencing unprecedented stress and are drawing an increased level of scrutiny. Therefore, experts suggest us some important aspects to consider for rebuilding and restructuring supply chains to ensure resiliency, agility and speed of the supply chains of the future.
Ramesh Krishnan, Vice President at Stellar Innovative Transportation Solutions jots down several key points which need to be taken care of while rebuilding and restructuring the supply chain.
- Time to market
- Cost to reach market
- Statutory compliances and adherence of regulatory enforcement
- Use Alternative resources for green initiatives
- Financially sustainable design
“Supply chains were built typically for improving the efficiency in the pre-COVID-19 era and the focus has been on minimising the cost of operation. But, the pandemic taught us the value of redundancies in the supply chains, be it alternative factories, warehouses in multiple locations, dual sourcing or even higher safety stocks. Though these principles go against the idea of ‘lean’ business,” says Dr Debmallya Chatterjee, Professor and Head- Operations and Supply Chain at SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR).“Today’s businesses need to consider these redundancies as a part of their business model.”
Many experts lately talked about rebuilding the supply chains through strategies such as multi-sourcing and near-shoring which, Chatterjee says is not going to be easy and may not be a solution in the short-term.
“If we look at near-shoring as a strategy, it would require a lot of time to set up an alternative and that too would require a lot of clearances including a nod from the local government. For example, when it comes to producing medicine, replacing India or China for a country like USA would not be easy. Though there were a lot of discussions around moving out of China, today the companies are happy continuing with China as their manufacturing hub. This is mostly because of the infrastructure they had developed over a long period of time that is difficult to replicate elsewhere. When it comes to multi-sourcing, the focus for the companies should be to evaluate their suppliers on ‘time to bounce back from any disruption’ rather than focusing on how long the stocks survive. This can be considered as a KPI for the suppliers so that an ecosystem is developed that can handle future disruptions,” says Chatterjee.
“We are at the cusp of a new supply chain era. Supply chain 4.0 will see technology and digital operations come to the forefront,” explains Abhishek Chakraborty, Executive Director, DTDC Express.“The use of data and technology to serve our customers is what is rewriting the rules of the logistics business. So, any restructuring will have to consider the role of data and technology. Data analytics fed into an AI or ML system can uncover underlying fundamental problems and provide solutions to them as well.”
“Digital transformation is imperative for the labour intensive supply chain industry. The use of new technology enhances the efficiency and transparency in the sector. Yet, we must not forget that human capital is the backbone of the logistics industry. Technology can assist it and not replace it. The onset of COVID-19 has also shown the need to account for the toll of pandemics and natural disasters on the industry. The supply chains of many sectors grounded to a halt and some even had to move to new locations, take new routes. Supply chain models need to have an inbuilt agility to function in the times of extreme change such as those brought about by the current pandemic,” Chakraborty adds.
A futuristic ecosystem-building approach
In the last few years, logistics companies globally have adopted various innovative and efficient strategies to build-up highly resilient supply chains with futuristic approach and world-class standards. Focus has also been majorly on improving the supply chain and logistics infrastructure. The industry had long back realized the importance of 100 per cent digitalisation of business operations, but the adoption was relatively slow, but it is COVID that acted as a catalyst and forced the industry to push towards ‘digital operations.’
Chatterjee partially agrees. “The race to make their supply chain digital has created a unique problem for many Indian organisations. A good number of them have misunderstood the idea and are running behind upgrading the existing technologies in bits and pieces instead of looking at it holistically. It requires a complete change in the approach. The future supply chains would not work in isolation. The supply chain partners need to be integrated to reap the benefit of the technologies in the form of greater flexibility, improved responsiveness and greater agility.”
According to Krishnan, “India is ready for software technology of any level but not yet ready for hardware technology in most sectors. The reasons are:
- High cost of hardware technology and dependence on import instead of locally available technology.
- Huge peaks and lows due to big days and festivals. The skew is so high that if we deploy technology, we will have fixed cost. Whereas, during lows, we will not be able to meet the capacity, and then during peaks, technology will become insufficient and we will have to deploy manpower. Moreover, manpower unfortunately is easily deployable and dispensable and hence is a variable cost. Only in case of high precision items it would make sense to upgrade technology that too to meet global standards.
“In this age of supply chain 4.0, it is imperative for the Indian logistics industry to integrate technologies such as IoT, cloud computing, AI and ML to scale up distribution operations. This has already begun with DTDC,” Chakraborty says.
For instance, development of temperature-controlled logistics vertical that utilises IoT sensors to monitor ambient temperature inside transport vehicles and containers.
“At this time, whether or not India is ready for such technologies is a moot point. Integrating such technologies in operations is no longer a luxury but a necessity. There are challenges, such as the requisite technical knowhow on how to adapt and use these technologies. Acquiring such knowledge requires investments and businesses find it difficult to make a case for the investment in some of the emerging technologies. But, as more and more clients demand higher resilience, visibility and agility, logistics players will be forced to adopt these technologies.”
New practices and emerging solutions for the next decade
Undoubtedly, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on global supply chains had certainly been huge. According to a report published by Accenture, more than 90 per cent of the global supply chains got impacted by the pandemic with more than 75 per cent of them reporting heavy financial loss. However, despite the plethora of challenges like labour shortage, capacity crunch, high space costs, etc. logistics service providers ensured business continuity by adopting ‘Operational Smartness’ and ‘Innovation’ as a survival kit and successfully transported time- and temp-critical cargo, especially pharmaceuticals.
“Recent technological advancements have changed the face of the supply chain and logistics industry,” agrees Alexandre Amine Soufiani, Managing Director at FM Logistic India. “With convenience and customer experience at the forefront of logistics trends, warehouses and distribution centres need to further adapt to the evolving consumer landscape. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of e-commerce has played a huge role in shaping the way warehouses operate, as have consumer expectations for speed of delivery, customisation, product availability, and much more. With the growing complexities of customer demands and the globalisation of many retailers due to e-commerce, warehousing trends are starting to shift to keep up with the ever evolving and increasing demand of customers.”
Amine cites few efficient solutions:
- Omni-channel Logistics—The next generation of business requires logistics networks tailored to the needs of each and every channel. Omni-channel services are the need of the hour and companies are realigning supply chains to cater to multiple channels from the same warehouse.
- Warehouse Management Systems—Secured, real-time access to the consumer’s ecosystem of connected devices enables a variety of innovative pick-up and delivery services, as well as improved customer service support and valuable insight generation for logistics providers.
- Augmented Reality—Blurring the lines between the digital and physical worlds, augmented reality (AR) is providing new perspectives in logistics planning, process execution, and transportation. By adding virtual layers of contextual information onto a heads-up display or other digital device, AR empowers workers by providing the right information at the right time and in the right place.
- Internet of Things—IoT has the potential to connect virtually anything to the internet and accelerate data-driven logistics. Everyday objects can now send, receive, process, and store information, and thus, actively participate in self-steering, event-driven logistics processes.
- Robotics and Automation—The first wave of automation using collaborative robotics has arrived in the logistics industry. Driven by rapid technological advancements and greater affordability, robotics solutions are entering the logistics workforce, supporting zero-defect processes and boosting productivity.
- Space Optimisation—Warehouses are constantly faced with the challenge of efficiently optimizing space. It is critical for warehouses to run as efficiently as possible and work on warehouse space optimisation which calls for the deployment of innovative logistics solutions. The goal is to increase the quantity of stock that can be stored in the available space and to ensure it can be located and moved safely but efficiently.
- Sustainable Developments—An increasing shift towards renewable or ‘green’ energy sources (solar, wind, etc.) is propelling the development of electric mobility and facility solutions for logistics.
Taking the above into account, Krishnan says, in the current situation sustenance by profitability is replaced by funding and higher valuation. But in the long run ‘profitability’ will be the key mantra. Apart from this, a lot of government backed initiatives like development of infrastructure, subsidy and promotion of technology, duty waiver for import equipment, and Make in India, etc. to make technology cheaper is on tracks.
“Complete focus on health and well-being of workforce has to take a driving seat,” Chatterjee feels looking at the current situation.
“A continuous cycle of mobilise (plan and resources), sense (priorities/risks), analyse (scenarios), and configure (network designs) would help mitigate the risks to a greater extent. Besides, the supply chain practitioners also need to sense weak signals of disruptions that were generally ignored in the pre-pandemic era. The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will have a lasting impact on businesses and companies need to build resilience in their supply chains for the future. They need to bring in redundancy that can help in a greater flexibility for their supply chains. They also need to bring in transparency in the end-to-end supply chain to maximise visibility and respond better to future disruptions. This capability can be achieved only through technology—by harnessing data analytics and automating processes.”
According to Chakraborty, the ability to shift or reroute the entire supply chain to service high demand areas or procure goods from still functioning areas was the most critical skill during the pandemic. E-commerce and digital sales have grown by leaps and bounds in this period, and logistics players must cater to this growing segment. Additionally, urbanisation necessitates the designing of a new supply chain model to cater to the e-commerce sector and reach the growing population.”
“As other industries move into recovery and growth mode, so do the logistics companies. We are seeing an increase in investment in facilities, fleets, manpower and technologies. These investments can be termed as smart investments as they will be augmented by smart analytics, data and emerging technologies. For example, data analytics will inform our decisions on where to open new warehouses or retail outlets, how many vehicles to onboard, etc.”
“Fleet expansion will be mainly geared towards electric vehicles, both to save costs in the long run and to reduce our carbon footprint. All of the above changes will be encouraged by an expected reduction in investment required for new technologies, as both startups and larger companies start offering a more affordable SaaS or PaaS model to logistics players,” Chakraborty continues.
Productivity growth at the sectoral level and the Road to Recovery
According to Amine, Indian warehousing segment also had its unwanted share of COVID impact. However, he feels, driven by a robust growth in the e-commerce and manufacturing sectors as well as rising demand in emerging tier II and III cities, logistics and warehousing space absorption will be fastest to recover from the COVID-19 aftermath. “Growing demand for temperature-controlled warehouses to cater to the cold chain, pharmaceutical, food and FMCG sectors, as well as growth in organised retail, are the likely drivers of this growth,” highlights Amine.
Warehousing demand is increasing and particularly driven by e-commerce and pharma sectors, says Amine.
“The centre’s focus in making India a global manufacturing hub has caused warehousing clusters to expand rapidly beyond metros into tier II and III cities. Also, as most of these are aligned with industrial hubs, the demand for Grade A warehouses there has increased substantially. “
“Subsequently, the increasing internet penetration in rural areas in addition to rising household income and the government’s push on digital in rural areas has increased the pressure on manufacturing organisations to move closer to their customer base in these areas.”
“In this endeavour to cater to the hugely untapped rural customer base, many organisations have realised the importance of developing quality and world-class warehousing facilities as these not only offer operational excellence but also facilitate cost optimisation.”
“To further strengthen our omnichannel fulfilment capacity, we will be expanding our network of large MCFs, supported by investments in automation connected to a full network of urban logistic hubs. Globally, RPA is a prime focus area for us. We deploy AGVs and robots for various activities like loading, unloading, picking, palletising, etc. In India, we have implemented drones for inventory control at one of our warehouse and are in the process of getting this implemented across all warehouses. We have also implemented a fully automated packing line for various clients.”
“Continuing…these in-city hubs are designed to offer a full range of sustainable omni-channel services that include order fulfilment, last stage packaging customisations, digital marketplace, last stage readiness, and cross docking. Green last-mile delivery, too, is part of the offer, thanks to our EV charging point enabled infrastructure,” tells Amine.
“The year 2022, as I see, will witness the rise of organised logistic offerings to small and medium businesses (SMBs),” says Chakraborty. “SMBs form the largest industrial group in India but are not served as well by most logistics companies. DTDC is leading the charge on providing an organised bouquet of offerings to this section. We also have an increased focus on improving last-mile logistics, especially for e-commerce. This means that last-mile delivery will become more organised, tech-enabled and sophisticated to serve both e-commerce platforms and the end consumers better.”
For Krishnan, the biggest learning is reality check on what only a façade was and what necessity was. “Supply chain industry worked seamlessly even during the pandemic without much physical supervision. Work from home and technology intervention became an integral part of the supply chain business. Time to market is gaining more importance, however one must strike a balance between the cost and profitability but keeping in view the future potential. With China becoming eyesore for many western countries, India has immense opportunity to become a global manufacturing hub, which will offer the biggest advantage of scaling up volumes. This will have a cascading effect on GDP, cost of production, automation and technology, and growth of consumerism. This will have a very positive impact on logistics and distribution aspects, be it long haul, first-mile, last-mile, or warehousing operations,” Krishnan adds.
“If you look at e-commerce, pharma or FMCG, the supply chains have performed amazingly well post the first quarter of 2020,” Chatterjee points.
“The organisations have pulled it well after the initial hiccups and no one can ignore the support from 3PL service providers. It is true that the businesses have changed drastically for logistics service providers and forwarders during the pandemic. Logistics companies who hadn’t undertaken digitisation of their end-to-end processes were severely impacted, especially during the lockdown.”
“Now, as we sail through the New Year, logistic companies are yet to get back to normalcy, as ports and airways are still not fully functional. The movement of containers ships is yet to be normal which had a rippling effect on the global supply chains leading to piling up of inventories and demand-supply mismatch across geographies. As we are facing another wave of the pandemic worldwide, few things need to be taken care of by the logistics and supply chain companies going ahead.”
- The pandemic had taught us the value of preparedness and supply chain’s ability to bounce back. Planning is good but what matters most is the ability to re-plan and be adaptive to changes. The pandemic has taught us the importance of developing a change-agile mindset in the leaders.
- One important lesson companies also learned the hard way is not to depend on a single supplier or single logistics partner for their entire operations.
- The concept of redundancy in the form of more than one logistics partner or supplier needs to be inculcated in the minds of supply chain managers and slowly they will be able to strike the fine balance between the efficiency and resilience. This will not come overnight.
- Also, companies need to be empathetic and transparent to their workforce amidst difficult times. It is important to recognise employee and workforce contribution in keeping the supply chain uninterrupted.
- Importantly, employee well-being will be the mantra for success. Keeping the remote workforce motivated is going to be one of the biggest challenges for supply chain leaders in the near future.


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Maersk pledges to tighten its supply chain
"A daily service between Asia and North Europe with reliable on-time delivery will change liner shipping forever,” spokesmen in Copenhagen declared.
Latest NewsImproved freight forwarding market has little impact on rates, says new report Biomass Business Study Uses Logistics as a Measure of Commercial Success Biomass Business Study Uses Logistics as a Measure of Commercial Success Oakland Vies To Become Global Supply Chain Hub Port of Oakland remains in strong expansion mode More News
Latest ResourceFREE White Paper: Dive into the Minds of 1,500 Industrial Buyers The advent of the Industry 4.0 brought with it the next phase in the digitization of the manufacturing sector.
Following its promise to be more collaborative with shippers, Maersk Line is introducing a time-definite service in the booming Asia-EU trade lane.
“A daily service between Asia and North Europe with reliable on-time delivery will change liner shipping forever,” spokesmen in Copenhagen declared. “Up until now, customers have had to adjust their production schedules and supply chains to accommodate shipping lines’ unreliability, as they have never been able to trust that their cargo would be on time.”
This will be thing of the past, Maersk promised, noting that the engine behind Daily Maersk is 70 vessels operating a daily sailings between four ports in Asia (Ningbo, Shanghai, Yantian and Tanjung Pelepas) and three ports in Europe (Felixstowe, Rotterdam and Bremerhaven) in what amounts to a giant “ocean conveyor belt” in the carrier’s busiest global service.
In a speech given last June at a major EU logistics event, Maersk Line CEO, Eivind Kolding said the container shipping industry stands on the brink of an “era-defining moment” as it faces fundamental challenges. He added that if container the shipping industry is to secure its right to operate in the future, the industry needs to change now.??
This latest announcement seems to reflect that attitude, said analysts. Zim Line has been ramping up its premium service in the trade lane, as well.
At the same time, however, Maersk and other carriers may soon be holding shippers accountable for freight that is promised, but does not appear. So-called “phantom bookings,” may be countered with a surcharge to compensate for lost revenue on any given voyage.
This, said one analyst, must be exercised with caution:
“Maersk has every right to demand such an arrangement,” said Charles Clowdis, Jr., managing director-transportation advisory services, at IHS Global Insight. “But until capacity is controlled or withdrawn, it’s going to be tough to enforce.”
About the AuthorPatrick Burnson, Executive Editor Patrick Burnson is executive editor for Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management Review magazines and web sites. Patrick is a widely-published writer and editor who has spent most of his career covering international trade, global logistics, and supply chain management. He lives and works in San Francisco, providing readers with a Pacific Rim perspective on industry trends and forecasts. You can reach him directly at [email protected]
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How they did it: Supplier Trust at General Motors Supply Chain Negotiations: Creating Leverage View More From this Issue


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News about Fred's Inc., including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
ARTICLES ABOUT FRED'S INC.
The Dollar General Corporation, a discount retailer, reported a higher quarterly profit yesterday but said its outlook was uncertain because of high gas prices and unemployment among its core customers. Another discount retailer, Fred's Inc.,...
August 27, 2004, Friday
Fred's Inc., a discount retailer, said Ernst & Young L.L.P. will quit providing its auditing services in September because of a dispute over fees for 2003 and 2004. Fred's and Ernst & Young, which have had a business relationship for more than...
July 10, 2004, Saturday
MOST retailers fear that consumers are now unwilling to spend freely, but dollar stores, which sell household staples like toothpaste and laundry detergent, appear well positioned for a difficult economy. Usually found in small towns and urban...
September 30, 2001, Sunday
Copyright © 2008. Quotes and other information supplied by independent providers identified on the vendor disclosures page.


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The majority of shoppers prefer to visit the high street rather than order online, especially when it comes to valuable purchases, according to a new report today by Barclays.
The report stressed the “enduring role” of the British high street, with 63% of British shoppers still preferring to actually see valuable products before buying.
However, the report also showed a growing demand for high street shops to adapt to modern technology, such as smartphone payments, in order to compete with the internet.
Shoppers said they were more likely to visit a store kitted out with virtual reality (57%), smart fitting rooms (57%) or augmented reality (52%).
New payment technologies were highly rated by consumers, with many describing contactless (48%) and mobile payments (37%) as “life-changing”.
To continue prospering, high streets also need to offer more diverse experiences. When asked what types of outlet people want to see more of on their high streets, more independent specialist retailers (44%) and independent cafés and restaurants (36%) topped the list. However, it is clear that shoppers remain price-sensitive with discount stores (29%) being the third most popular option.
“Our research reveals that the public still see the high street as an essential part of the shopping experience and as a national treasure they want to see protected.
“Consumer expectations are currently moving faster than retailer innovation. More investment is needed to keep consumers coming back for what they love - great British high street experiences,” said Barclays head of retail and wholesale Ian Gilmartin.
“The conclusion from our research is that the key to success for many retailers is to offer a balanced high street and online offering, taking advantage of technological innovation in store to attract shoppers through their doors.”


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The Next Generation Condom, Sponsored by Bill Gates [VIDEO]
Jun 10, 2014 10:48
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are on a hunt for a better condom. They recently awarded a grant to an Australian research team that are playing around with polymers to make condoms out of hydrogels. Those are the same materials used in contact lenses.
Hydrogels are impossibly strong, and they feel just like human skin. Hopefully, they make great progress with the grant.
Choosing a local SEO company is crucial to get the desired results for the SEO efforts. You must be ensured the local SEO Company you’re selecting is trustworthy, professional and knowledgeable. In this post, check out the 5 tips to choose the best local SEO company. Read more
Smartphone technology is improving at a rapid rate and it seems like almost every month, a new phone is being released, with a range of new features designed to make users throw out their existing phone and buy a new one. However, are smartphone manufacturers really providing customers with the improvements they want to see? Read more


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In the wake of the recent economic downturn, tensions between vendors and customers over software licensing run high.
In the absence of real sales growth, vendors have launched software licensing audits to generate additional revenue. As the onus of proving compliance with the licensing terms falls on the customer, these audits create a lot of IT management headaches.
The challenge facing customers and vendors alike is to automate the process of tracking software licenses and use. Flexera Software,, a provider of software licensing tools, is taking a big step in the direction with the acquisition of ManageSoft.
Flexera got its start by selling license-tracking software to vendors. But with several acquisitions in recent years, Flexera has added tools that allow IT organizations to track their software consumption. According to Flexera CEO Mark Bishof, the addition of ManageSoft will augment the Flexera lineup by adding tools to track software use on the desktop.
According to Bishof, Flexera wants to be the trusted third party that both vendor and customer can use to resolve disputes. The long-term goal is to provide customers with automated tools that alert them immediately when they are out of compliance with licensing terms, rather than waiting to discover that after a contentious audit process.
Software licensing will get more complex in the age of virtualization and as IT organizations wrestle with deploying applications in the cloud. That calls for a new approach that ascribes value of software to actual use, rather than the class of processors on which the software runs. While the industry is moving in that direction, some vendors are dragging their heels over concerns about what a usage model for licensing would do to their revenue streams. Nevertheless, virtualization and cloud computing are making these changes inevitable.


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The head of Commercial for EE Bridget Lea has been appointed general manager of Snap, the parent company of Snapchat,Lea will lead Snap’s UK team from London in charge of Snap’s UK business strategy, sales, operations and community growth.
She was managing director of commercial for EE, BT’s consumer division, a role she held for three years and was most recently involved with the conception and launch of EE’s Experience stores.
Snap Inc. is an American camera and social media company, founded on September 16, 2011, by Evan Spiegel, Bobby Murphy, and Reggie Brown based in Santa Monica, California.
“I’m incredibly excited to join Snap to lead the UK team. I believe in the potential of technologies like AR to transform the way businesses interact with customers and the way we live our lives”, said Lea.
“Combined with audience and insights, the opportunity for brands to inspire customers, increase loyalty and drive real business results is huge. I can’t wait to get started.”
Ronan Harris Snap’s President of EMEA said “It’s a pleasure to welcome Bridget to Snap to lead our UK business. I’m thrilled to add her strong leadership, values and passion for driving high-performing, result-driven businesses to our team. Our UK business remains a strategically important region for Snap and with our large and engaged community, growing roster of brands and creators and some of our most exciting AR innovation being built here, I’m excited to see advertisers and partners continue to grow their businesses with us.”


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Wedding planners and future bridal talks are rescheduling their wedding due to COVID
Wedding planners and future bridal talks COVID weddings
Lauren Tonne, the owner of Peonies & Perfection, discusses planning her own COVID wedding and helping other brides with hers.
SHELBY TWP, Me. – – As COVID 19 continues to postpone people’s special day, a wedding planner and bride-to-be from Shelby Township shares her story of how she reschedules her own wedding during this time.
Lauren Tonne, the owner of Peonies and Perfection, is unpacking wedding decorations as she plans her wedding in May, which was postponed last year due to COVID.
“It was the most difficult year of my life, both personally and professionally. I went through a whole whirlwind of emotions,” says Tonne.
It’s been a year and there are still limitations, and Tonne says as her day draws closer, she keeps reliving the insecurity and stress.
Ton says, “Financially, I feel like this has knocked the wedding industry down and the venues struggled with the restrictions, and I feel like everyone is interpreting the restrictions differently so it was confusing for everyone.”
Ton advises their brides to host outdoor weddings and make sure they have backup plans in place. For example, hold a small ceremony and wait at reception for the restrictions to be lifted.
Ton says one good thing that came out of this is that she and her fiance Tomas are closer than ever.
“I believe if brides can reschedule a wedding during a global pandemic, they can get through anything and that has strengthened their relationship and, last but not least, I just want to say that brides are not alone in it,” she says.
You can visit Peonies & Perfection More information on wedding planning services and advice.


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John Farquhar, editor-at-large at Wag the Dog, offers some insights into what’s going down in the media industry right now
Televised advertising growth
Currently the bulk of advertising spend in the U.S lands in the pockets of television broadcasters. However, heading towards the winning post are two relatively young television candidates: the web and the smartphone mobile. The American advertising industry, as well major advertisers, believes that both newcomers will also become serious television media. To ensure they are on the right track they are jointly sponsoring research that will monitor how people watch and react to TV on both media.
If the ad industry in the U.S. can put its hand in its pocket to research media, South African agencies should think about taking a closer look at the African consumer media behaviour.
Twitter is the buzz medium
More so abroad than in South Africa, if a marketer’s communications strategy does not include Twitter the best bet is to sell and move to a tropical island, relax and enjoy life. Without Twitter, marketers are not in the social media ring.
Twitter is not just about sending messages, but more a case of servicing the customer. Examples of how companies use Twitter abroad are illuminating.
Virgin, in response to a customer’s complaint about the airline being late, sends her $200 gift. The airline has a large backup service division that immediately answers a complaint via twitter. The airline is replacing TV advertising with Twitter.
Old Nanny U.K.
During its term of office, the Labour Government did it best to turn the United Kingdom into a nanny state. So much so this ‘protectionism’ is embedded in its culture, to the extent that the Brits no longer trust each other.
Product placement has been part of movies for decades. It doesn’t offend, so the public takes it for what it is. Today, you cannot screen a movie where products have been placed, with putting a large P next to its rating overall score.
Tough times for journalists
The decline in copy sales has impacted on print journalist. Reuters is in the process of reducing its journalist total by hundreds internationally
Some good news for advertising
The Wharton School in the United States, in collaboration with the American Research Foundation, found that word-of-mouth is largely driven by paid for advertising. The research also discovered that print is more effective in creating purchase intent, and that online generates a better purchase intent than television. These are obviously broad conclusions.
WPP goes serious on Digital
After embarking on an international buying spree, WPP is consolidating these agencies into an international network.
Shopper marketing gets the nod
Although it has been obvious for decades, the final tipping point in brand selection happens when consumers stretch their arms out to take the product off the retail shelf. However, despite this knowledge marketers have traditionally focused in pre-selling the brands to consumer on brand value through mass media. Where the action takes place, at the time the buying decision is made at the decision making cutting edge, the retail shelf, got short shrift.
It took a major recession, and cut throat competition for marketers to realise that there needed to be a closer relationship between retailer and marketers, and that the emphasis should be on encouraging sales while consumers are in buying mood in the store. As a result the concept of Shopper Marketer is seen as a priority in retailing abroad, today. South Africa still has a long way to travel down this road before it becomes a reality in this country.
Alert to consumer trends, WPP is in the process of strengthening its position in this area through a new division called Kinetic. This division focuses on out of home media buying and planning opportunities through a programme called Shopper to Buyer.
Fads create lunatics
An examination of the current advertising on Facebook suggests that agencies and advertisers are not thinking rationally when they use the site to advertise. The question being asked it this: Are fanatics or lunatics responsible?
Digital just keeps on expanding
The latest Internet offering is a content recommendation engine that will source content within a site, or other sites, that is relevant to the article currently being read
Want to continue this conversation on The Media Online platforms? Comment on Twitter @MediaTMO or on our Facebook page. Send us your suggestions, comments, contributions or tip-offs via e-mail to email@example.com.


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NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- After a bruising sell-off last month, shares of Palm Inc. have been gaining ahead of this weekend's planned launch of the Pixi -- the latest smartphone to feature the company's newly built webOS operating system.
The Pixi will go on sale Sunday exclusively with Sprint Nextel Corp.
However, several analysts have reported that Pre sales may have slipped considerably after the initial launch. Those worries weighed heavily on the stock, which shed 37% of its value in October.
The stock has recovered some ground this month. It was trading up 5.7% at $12.10 on Friday morning.
In a note to clients before the opening bell, Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital Markets said he expects "positive consumer reception and healthy sell-through" for the Pixi. The $99 price tag puts it below many other smartphone offerings, though the device lacks some features such as Wi-Fi capabilities.
"Pixi is viewed as appealing to feature phone users and text messaging teens buying their first smartphone," Abramsky wrote. "Lack of Wi-Fi is a drawback but seen as due to the lower price."
Analysts have high hopes for Palm, but note that the company needs to expand its webOS devices to other carriers in order to be successful. So far, the phones have only been available at Sprint. In a recent conference call, executives for Verizon
Vivek Arya of Bank of America said he expects Palm's channel expansion strategy to be successful, given that the company has sold older devices at as many as 100 carriers. In a note to clients this week, he cited a recent meeting with Palm's management, who confirmed plans to expand the carrier base.
"Our key takeaway: despite increasing smartphone competition Palm can maintain differentiation and remains well positioned to launch its products with multiple new Tier-1 carriers in early 2010, by which time it should have a robust apps catalog," Arya wrote in a report on Wednesday.
Some analysts are still worried. Pablo Perez-Fernandez of MKM Partners started coverage of Palm this week with a neutral rating, saying that the Pre faces risks with its European launches, and the outlook is still unclear for U.S. carriers.
"We believe that Palm's WebOS will sell through both AT&T
However, he added that he sees strong sales for the Pixi when it launches.
"We believe the Pixi can perform strongly in 2010. There is a dearth of truly affordable smartphones equipped with brand new mobile OS and UI [user interface] innovation," he wrote.


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Did you hear the latest news from the mainstream media? The U.S. economy is no longer going to be in recession! Isn’t that wonderful! So forget about how badly inflation has taken a bite out of your pocketbook and keep on spending, because everything is going to be just fine!
Well, actually things might not be that rosy after all. And in fact, the more you look under the hood of the economy, the worse things seem to appear. If you have a sense of fear and foreboding about what the future holds, you’re not alone.
Many Americans are worried about the future, and they’re trying to protect themselves against what’s coming. Whether that’s moving money from bank accounts to money market funds, protecting their retirement savings with a gold IRA, or even just stuffing money under a mattress, financial survival is becoming increasingly important.
But if you weren’t already aware that the US economy could be facing a crisis, here are 9 signs that are pointing to a potential recession.
1.) Americans Spending Less on Food
One of the characteristics of recession is that consumers cut back on spending. It can be easy to cut back on superfluous spending on luxury items and discretionary spending. But when consumer staples start to see cutbacks, you know things are getting real.
One of the last things most people are going to cut back on is food. Everyone needs to eat. Most people, when faced with the choice between buying a new article of clothing or having a filling dinner, are going to pick the food. So when households start cutting back on food spending, you know they’ve likely cut back elsewhere as far as they can and are really in bad shape.
Tyson Foods, for example, is seeing reduced revenue as consumers are shifting from beef to chicken and pulling back on overall meat consumption. And this doesn’t appear to be a temporary blip either, but rather a growing trend that will cause difficulty for food producers.
2.) Decreased Spending on Household Staples
If Americans are cutting back on buying food, you would expect them to be cutting back on other spending too. And sure enough, looking at retailers like Home Depot we see that Americans are cutting back on discretionary spending that helps with home upkeep.
In the case of Home Depot, sales are expected to drop by up to 5%, earning are expected to drop up to 13%, and purchases of big ticket items over $1,000 are already down 5.5%. That shows that consumer discretionary spending is really starting to slow down.
3.) Shipments Declining
If consumer spending is really slowing, you would expect that to be reflected elsewhere in the economy too. And that’s where trucking and shipping come in.
Trucking volumes are down the most they’ve been since the beginning of the pandemic, with shipment volumes down 9% after five consecutive quarters of decline. If trucks aren’t moving products, it’s because consumers aren’t buying, and that indicates that recession is on the way.
4.) Leading Indicators Still Negative
The Conference Board’s Leading Indicator Index recently fell for the 16th consecutive month. The index is showing some of its worst performance since Lehman Brothers failed in 2008. Looking at the chart and comparing its performance today to previous recessions, it seems as though the US economy may even already be in recession.
5.) More People Living Paycheck to Paycheck
One of the most concerning indicators about the financial health of American households is the fact that 61% of them are living paycheck to paycheck. For many of them, they’re one pink slip away from being financially destitute.
That’s not a promising sign for a country that is trying to keep itself out of recession. Nor is it a promising sign for when the country eventually tries to recover from recession. With so many households in such financial straits, how can anyone claim that the US economy is strong and poised for growth?
6.) Savings Are Depleted
One of the reasons so many households are in such dire shape is the fact that the COVID-era stimulus payments have just about run their course. Any excess savings households may have set aside from those payments are just about done.
While you may hear the mainstream media touting strong consumer spending as one reason the economy is still going strong, that spending was driven largely by stimulus payments and, more recently, credit card debt. With savings depleted and credit card debt at record highs, expect consumer spending to start petering out.
7.) Tax Receipts Are Down
An underappreciated aspect of recessions is the fact that tax revenue for governments ends up decreasing, sometimes in unpredictable fashion. We saw this during the 2008 financial crisis, when government tax receipts plummeted.
Between businesses that see increased losses and households that are put out of work, it’s understandable that recessions would result in less tax revenue. And today we’re starting to see tax revenues falling yet again, another sign that the economy could be entering into a recession.
8.) Commercial Real Estate Delinquency Rates Rising
Whereas the 2008 crisis was fueled by the collapse of the housing market, the next crisis could end up being fueled by a collapse in the commercial real estate market. Rates on commercial real estate loans generally reset after five years. Now that we’re entering an era in which interest rates are significantly higher than they were five years ago, a lot of commercial tenants could end up facing financial difficulties paying their loans.
Delinquency rates on commercial real estate loans are already rising at the fastest rates ever. And while overall delinquencies are still lower than they were post-2008, with the recent upward trend there’s no telling how bad the commercial real estate market could get.
9.) Job Cuts Keep Coming
We’re all familiar with the job cuts that have pervaded the tech sector. But those companies aren’t the only ones cutting. It seems like every week brings news of more companies tightening their belts and letting workers go.
Doesn’t it seem strange that an economy that is supposed to be as “strong” as the mainstream media say it is keeps hemorrhaging jobs at major companies? And particularly during a period in which the unemployment rate is so low? Companies aren’t cutting costs because they’re flush with cash and anticipating a strong economy, they’re doing it because they’re preparing for recession and trying to position themselves to ride things out.
Protect Against Recession With Gold
Recessions aren’t anything new. We’ve all experienced them and we’ll all experience more of them before we die. But the one strange thing about this coming recession is how long it has taken to develop.
The 2008 crisis itself wasn’t an overnight crisis either. The recession officially started in December 2007, but it wasn’t until September 2008 after Lehman Brothers failed that most people really began to panic, and it wasn’t until December 2008 that NBER officially declared the economy to be in recession.
If the economy is already in recession today, it’s certainly an interesting and long developing one. But perhaps most importantly, it’s one that is giving investors plenty of time to make plans to protect their assets.
One way many people are doing that today is through a gold IRA. A gold IRA is a tax-advantaged retirement account that allows you to own physical gold coins or gold bars while still enjoying all the same tax benefits of an IRA account. You can even fund a gold IRA with a tax-free rollover or transfer from an existing 401(k), 403(b), TSP, IRA, or similar retirement account.
With a gold IRA you have all the benefits of owning gold while also enjoying the tax advantages of an IRA. It’s no wonder so many Americans today are turning to gold IRAs to help protect their hard-earned retirement savings.
Goldco has helped thousands of Americans benefit from owning gold, with over $2 billion in precious metals placements and over 5,000 5-star reviews. If you’re worried about recession and want to protect your hard-earned retirement savings, call Goldco today to find out why so many people have trusted Goldco to help them benefit from owning gold.
Trevor Gerszt is the founder and CEO of Goldco, a precious metals dealer in Los Angeles. For more than 20 years, Trevor has sought out ways to help people build long-term wealth through the security and stability of precious metals and other alternative assets. Goldco is A+ Rated by the Better Business Bureau, a 5-Time INC 500 Winner and has countless 5-Star Reviews for its quality customer service, dependability and strong reputation.
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An economy not producing like expected, a federal election and temporary inflation.
Recent economic data reported the Canadian economy shrank 1.1% in the second quarter of 2021 instead of the 2.5% growth predicted. It is clearly evident that the Canadian economy is feeling the effects of inconsistent business supply, demand and delivery. Where demand is high, delivery is the biggest issues for some businesses. This is not expected to get any easier any time soon.
Secondly, the federal election is in full gear with all political parties making more promises than the economy can handle in all of our lifetimes. Housing supply, covid, healthcare and a miriad of other issues are front and center with every political leader looking to be the next Prime Minister. I started writing this as soon as the election was announced because the Bank of Canada will not want to tip the course of a fair election, we still have those in Canada don’t we?
With inflation news running hot and heavy we can not expect rising costs to increase forever. For this reason, a recent survey of experts (economists) are predicting interest rate increases of up to .50% later next year.
In today’s announcement, the Bank of Canada provided some commentary on inflation, “CPI inflation remains above 3 percent as expected, boosted by base-year effects, gasoline prices, and pandemic-related supply bottlenecks. These factors pushing up inflation are expected to be transitory, but their persistence and magnitude are uncertain and will be monitored closely.”
Recent articles relating to interest rates and inflation, you will see the variety of opinions here:
Bank of Canada set to raise rates next year – Reuters
Canadian inflation jumps to 3.7% creating trouble for Trudeau – BNN Bloomberg
Inflation could pour cold water on Bank of Canada’s hot-economy strategy – Reuters
Negative inflation within a year? – BNN Bloomberg
Prime Rate 2.45%
5 year fixed rates are as low as 1.95%.
Here is a link to today’s announcement from the Bank of Canada: https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2021/09/fad-press-release-2021-09-08/
The next Bank of Canada rate announcement is set for October 27, 2021.


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Essilor of France said Monday it would merge with the Luxottica Group of Italy, owner of the Ray-Ban and Foothill Ranch-based Oakley brands, in a $49 billion deal that would create a giant in the eyewear industry.
The combined company, to be known as EssilorLuxottica, would be the largest player in the eyewear market, manufacturing lenses for prescription glasses and sunglasses, as well as frames. It would have a presence online as well as in stores, with brands including Foster Grant, Oliver Peoples, Persol, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut.
The deal follows more than four years of talks. The new company would have more than 140,000 employees and sales in more than 150 countries. Based on 2015 results, it is forecast to have revenue of more than 15 billion euros, or about $16 billion, in 2016.
Oakley – founded 41 years ago by Jim Jannard and known for its sport sunglasses and goggles – has been steadily shrinking over the past year as Luxottica, based in Milan, prepares to integrate several Oakley divisions outside of California. The Foothill Ranch operation in mid-2016 saw several key operations shift to join Luxottica in Ohio, New York and Italy. Oakley said in July that 15-20 percent of its Orange County workforce would be affected.
Filings with the state in 2016 indicated 417 people in Foothill Ranch received layoff notices effective in October; another 119 in Mira Loma received layoff notices effective January 31.
Luxottica, which makes prescription eyeglasses and sunglasses under a variety of brands, and Essilor, a maker of lenses, are the two largest companies in the sector, with Luxottica having a 14 percent market share and Essilor a 13 percent share, according to the market research firm Euromonitor International. Johnson & Johnson is the next largest, with a 3.9 percent share.
“The new group would be a clear leader in the optical industry, with a strong brand portfolio, global distribution capabilities and complementary expertise in ophthalmic lenses, prescription frames and sunglasses,” Fred Speirs, a UBS analyst, said in a research report on Monday.
The two companies were worth a combined 46.3 billion euros, based on their market capitalization at the end of trading on Friday, making the deal one of Europe’s largest cross-border transactions. They said they expected to save 400 million to 600 million euros “in the medium term.”
More than half of revenue at the combined company would come from the United States, while Europe would account for about 22 percent and 18 percent would come from Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
“By joining forces today, these two international players can now accelerate their global expansion,” Hubert Sagnières, the Essilor chairman and chief executive, said in a news release.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of the year, but requires regulatory and shareholder approval.
It comes at a time of significant growth and change in the global eyewear market, which had a value of about $121 billion last year, according to data from Euromonitor.
Aging populations, greater access to health care, awareness of sun-related damage and a rising middle class in emerging markets has led to a surge in sales in eyewear, particularly for branded frames.
Luxottica makes frames for luxury brands like Armani, Chanel and Prada, and it is the biggest retailer of eyewear in the world. Its largest rivals include Kering, which owns Gucci and Alexander McQueen, and Safilo, which holds the licenses for Dior, Fendi and Céline, brands owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the largest luxury conglomerate.
Under the terms of the deal, Delfin, the family holding company of the Luxottica founder and executive chairman, Leonardo Del Vecchio, would exchange its 62 percent stake in Luxottica for shares in Essilor, becoming the combined company’s largest shareholder.
Del Vecchio would serve as executive chairman and chief executive, while Sagnières would serve as executive vice chairman and deputy chief executive.
The company’s 16-member board would consist of eight directors nominated by Essilor and eight nominated by Delfin.
The merger resolves lingering concerns over a leadership succession plan at Luxottica. Del Vecchio, who is 81, founded the company in 1961 and has been chairman ever since. But the role of chief executive has been a revolving door.
In 2014, Del Vecchio pledged to double the group’s revenue over the next decade, and to look into mergers or acquisitions to secure Luxottica’s future.
Luca Solca, a luxury-sector analyst for Exane BNP Paribas, said the deal “would be excellent news for both stocks.”
He added: “It creates significant synergies, both in revenues and costs; it defuses the risk of heightened competition between the two and it removes uncertainty on succession at Luxottica.”


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Lawmakers in 4 States to Push for Marijuana Legalization as Cannabis Reform Gains Momentum
Let the domino effect begin.
Lawmakers in four states plan to submit bills that would legalize marijuana for adult use and tax cannabis sales, spurred by similar successful measures in Colorado and Washington.
State representatives in Rhode Island and Maine will announce in a teleconference tomorrow their intentions to introduce marijuana legalization bills for debate next year. Lawmakers from Vermont and Massachusetts have also indicated they will submit similar bills for consideration next year.
Legalization is expected to open new doors for existing MMJ businesses and entrepreneurs who want to tap the recreational market, creating opportunities not only for companies that cultivate and sell cannabis but also for those that provide support services and products. The medical marijuana market is currently valued at between $1.7 billion and $2 billion. If you throw recreational users into the mix in several states, that number could easily double.
Robert Capecchi, legislative analyst for the Washington DC-based Marijuana Policy Projec (MPP), said the nation is quickly reaching a tipping point when it comes to attitudes toward cannabis, as evidenced by the growing number of states adopting MMJ laws, the election-night wins in Colorado and Washington, and polls showing that half the country backs legalization.
“With these thoughtful legislators in at least four states planning on introducing sensible proposals to remove criminal penalties and regulate marijuana… it’s clear that ending marijuana prohibition is gaining momentum,” Capecchi said in a statement announcing tomorrow’s teleconference.
Most cannabis professionals believe that legalization in Colorado and Washington will encourage other states to move in the same direction. At the National Marijuana Business Conference in Denver last week, Rob Kampia of MPP predicted that Rhode Island would be the next state to legalize marijuana for recreational use.
So how likely is it that any of these states will actually legalize marijuana in the near future? A lot more likely than it was before the elections. While it will be an uphill battle, all four states already have medical marijuana laws on the books, and polls have shown solid support among residents for outright legalization. Also, the more states that introduce legalization bills, the more likely one will pass such an initiative.
If you want to listen in to tomorrow’s 1 pm (Eastern time) teleconference about the bills in Rhode Island and Maine, dial 888-245-7033 and enter the conference ID 58480# followed by the PIN number 111#.
A quartet of recreational cannabis shops in Washington State wrongly sold marijuana to minors in [click to continue...]
Yet another lawsuit has been filed in Illinois over the licensing process in the state’s [click to continue...]
Medical cannabis apparently isn’t socially acceptable in Connecticut. At least, not by Facebook. A marketing [click to continue...]
Former state Senate Minority Leader Eric Kearney, a Democrat from Cincinnati, has been hired by [click to continue...]
The Texas Legislature has sent a bill allowing CBD treatments for some epilepsy patients to [click to continue...]
Just a week after one legislative committee fought to a standstill over Oregon’s medical cannabis [click to continue...]
One of several losing contenders in Illinois’ medical marijuana program has withdrawn a lawsuit it [click to continue...]
Vicente Sederberg LLP, perhaps one of the best known marijuana legal firms in the country, [click to continue...]
Nine people were arrested at five locations after an Arizona SWAT team raided a medical [click to continue...]
Denver marijuana cultivator Organic Greens was shot down in court on Friday by a district [click to continue...]
Medical marijuana dispensary license applicants in Massachusetts will be judged on their own merits under [click to continue...]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has ruled that cannabidiol products don’t fit under the [click to continue...]
Infused products companies are known for their cookies and candies, but producers are getting creative [click to continue...]
A marijuana baron in Colorado has been forced to lay off roughly 45% of his [click to continue...]


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China’s robo-bank, something nice happens on Twitter, and BT’s kills fixed phone lines. This and more in our weekly news roundup
Our carefully curated selection of voicetech articles and snippets from this week on CliqueApi and other respected news sources from around the world.
Google AI voicetech which can pinpoint your voice in a crowd, Clique
Voice tech researchers at Google have created a system that allows deep learning algorithms to isolate individual voices in a crowd. The company successfully replicated a particular human ability dubbed the ‘cocktail party effect’, which helps people to focus their attention on a single person’s voice when they are in a noisy environment, automatically blocking out other voices and sounds.
The new AI-powered technique analyzes both audio and video footage, splitting an audio track into the voices of different speakers.
China Contruction Bank goes full-robot, Clique
China Construction Bank (CCB) has opened its first unmanned bank in the downtown district of Shanghai, replacing traditional clerks and counters with robots and other technological tools. This fully-automated customer service experience is powered by numerous advanced technologies, including facial and voice recognition, AI, holographic projections, and robots.
So far, the ‘robo-bank’ experiment has received overwhelming positive feedback from customers, especially younger generations who typically prefer the efficiency and innovation of automated tech.
Here’s why 300 women in tech just got a sudden boost in Twitter followers, Clique
Last weekend, around 300 women working in the technology industry were flooded by a huge wave of new Twitter followers. The reason behind their rapid boost in popularity was a supportive Tweet by Tracy Lee, a fellow woman in tech and co-founder of ThisDotLabs. For months, Lee had been compiling a list of particularly inspiring women that she had met at conferences or read about online.
When she published her list on Twitter, she triggered an instant ripple effect, encouraging more users to learn about the work of these brilliant women.
Voicetech and vision on the AIY Projects platform, DIY AI by Google, Clique
Google has released new kits for its AIY Projects platform, The Voice Kit and The Vision Kit, designed to assist users in the creation of their very own AI-powered devices. As suggested by their names, the Voice Kit can help with the creation of voice-controlled speakers that support Google Assistant, while the Vision Kit also comes with a built-in ‘intelligent’ camera that uses computer vision to identify faces and objects, or even recognize emotions.
Both kits are now available online and in Target stores across the U.S., with a price tag of $90 for the Vision package and $50 for the Voice.
Apple details personalized ‘Hey Siri’ voice recognition in latest Machine Learning Journal entry, 9to5mac
Apple’s Siri team has recently published a new Machine Learning Journal entry online, which partly outlines the process behind making the voice assistant work merely with the sound of its primary user’s voice. Apple explains that the wake phrase ‘Hey Siri’ was partly chosen because people were naturally using it as a first statement when manually activating the smart helper.
Yet Apple seems to be developing a new system that only wakes the voice assistant when ‘Hey Siri’ is pronounced by the main phone user, avoiding unnecessary activations in situations where another person says the phrase or something that sounds like it.
LG appliances now respond to both Alexa and Google Assistant, endgadget
LG is broadening support for voice commands to more than one voice assistant on a line of smart home appliances. The company has announced that its collection of ThinQ-branded appliances will now be able to take voicetech commands from both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa.
The tasks that the appliances can complete via voicetech vary according to the voice assistant, yet both Alexa and Google Assistant should allow users to make ice in their fridge door, turn off the oven, or activate the air conditioner.
Google will show off branded ‘how to’ videos for its smart assistant in May, CNBC
According to CNBC, Google is currently talking to different brands about creating how-to videos for Google Assistant. The company is said to be planning the introduction of a new feature for its voice assistant, which would provide informative videos with step-by-step instructions, helping users to figure out how to complete certain tasks via voice commands.
This new ‘how-to’ skill could help Google to make money from its smart assistant, charging companies to feature instruction videos for skills relevant to their products.
Amazon’s new ‘Alexa Blueprints’ let anyone create custom Alexa skills and responses, Tech Crunch
This week, Amazon introduced ‘Alexa Blueprints’, a new way for users of the voice assistant to create their own customized skills or responses, even if they don’t know how to code. The new feature would allow users to create their own voice apps or tailor Alexa’s responses to particular questions according to their needs.
At launch, ‘Alexa Blueprints’ includes over 20 templates, which can be personalized by users according to their preferences.
China’s largest smartphone maker is working on an A.I. that can read human emotions, CNBC
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei is trying make conversations with its voice assistant more emotionally interactive, by developing a program that can detect a user’s mood, responding accordingly. The company said it is looking to broaden the functions of its voice assistant, allowing it to complete practical tasks, while also acting as an emotional companion. According to Felix Zhang, VP of software engineering at Huawei’s consumer business group, AIs with emotion-sensing capabilities are likely to become widespread in the years to come.
BT has plans to kill the phone line by 2025, Gizmodo
BT, one of the largest telecommunication companies in Europe is planning to ditch traditional phone lines entirely by 2025. The company says that in future, all of BT users’ phone calls will happen using VoIP technology.
While BT has not yet specified details of how the plan will unfold, it is clear that the company has a long-term vision that views phone lines as outdated and no longer sustainable.


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Spend mindfully and locally. For a stronger and more resilient economy to emerge, those who can afford to need to start spending. It's going to get our country back to (a new) normal quicker. All the better if that's local.
Ordinarily, says Nick Tuffley, chief economist at the ASB, we make our individual spending choices largely on financial measures. Often it comes down to cost.
The unprecedented world we live in currently has encouraged many of us to add non-financial benefits to those spending choices, such as what makes us happiest.
That happiness might be our local cafe surviving Covid-19, says Tuffley. If sufficient people do the same in their spending bubbles we start to make a difference, he says. "In the short term, it's something that may well make a difference." To do so, however, we need to be confident to spend.
The more I thought this week about what spending "mindfully" and "locally" means, the murkier the question became. Many of my friends are focussed on the local shops and favourite cafes they recognise. But is the multinational fast-food chain in your locality, local? What about the chain's local workers and the suppliers?
• Covid 19 coronavirus: Sales figures show 'carnage' in retail sector during level 3 lockdown
• Covid 19 coronavirus: Retail NZ welcomes alert level 3 restriction details
• Covid 19 coronavirus: Lockdown pulls retail spend to record-low territory
• Covid 19 coronavirus: Food and retail deliveries allowed during alert level 3
Don't stop thinking there. Our individual spending bubbles also include all those upstairs businesses and local tradies that all need to earn to keep our communities vibrant. Those spending bubbles may also include the areas we work in or visit regularly. Businesses, for example, in downtown Auckland are really struggling with so few of us at work, as the people behind Auckland's Heart of the City directory point out.
Spending "locally" if we're being mindful can also include products made/sold elsewhere in New Zealand. "It's easy for Kiwis to see local cafes, but hard [for them] to see the supply chain, says Ryan Jennings, executive director of the Buy New Zealand Made Campaign.
If, for example, we choose Rainbow Confectionery chocolate fish over foreign-made ones we're helping to keep 110 jobs in Ōamaru, which benefits all of us indirectly. When you choose to buy any item, says Jennings, turn it over and look for the New Zealand Made label.
We do, of course, need to spend according to our financial ability. If you've lost an income you can still shop mindfully within your budget. For example, says Jennings, an 850g pack of Harraways oats at $3.29 and a pot of Anathoth jam at $4.30 is enough to feed the entire family breakfast for a week and support local businesses at the same time.
Devonport and Takapuna local board member Toni van Tonder, who previously ran the Devonport Business Improvement District programme is grateful that Kiwis are now opening the dialogue around shopping locally.
We're supporting our neighbours and that has a feel-good factor wrapped up in it. "The more money circulating around, the more community goodwill is circulating," Van Tonder says.
Prior to Covid-19, Van Tonder fielded complaints that the local village centre had no butcher or some other types of day-to-day shops. The catch 22 was that locals weren't buying enough from the existing businesses, meaning potential new ones didn't see sufficient local spending to make a business viable. "No one is going to open a business unless you support what is out there already," says Van Tonder.
Our new-found willingness to shop locally is a win for sustainability, community cohesion, the environment and the vibrancy of local town centres, she says. "If you have a vibrant town centre that is more prosperous, you are going to create more local jobs for locals."
The more thought we put into buying locally the better for all of us. Widen your net by visiting local business directories, the Buy New Zealand Made directory and many Facebook pages and websites that have sprung up in lockdown to promote local. But remember to look after yourself and your own money first.
Finally, just which local businesses you support in the end is a deeply personal decision and you can only do your best. Please don't be critical of others' decisions.


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Oct 25 (Reuters) - Three-dimensional printer maker 3D Systems Corp posted a higher third-quarter profit as printer sales more than doubled, sending its shares up 15 percent.
Net income rose to $13.5 million, or 24 cents per share, from $7.2 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding one-time items, the company earned 32 cents per share. Analysts were expecting adjusted earnings of 27 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 57 percent to $90.5 million, beating the $87.3 million Wall Street had estimated.
The company’s printers help reduce the time required for designing new products by printing real parts directly from a digital design.
3D Systems shares were up 15 percent at $41.24 on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.


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A few days ago we published an image of the smartphone Samsung Galaxy A40, which was a conceptual render. If you believe the new information, the upcoming device will look different.
As you can see, Galaxy A40 will still be closer to the model of the A30, rather than to the A50. At least from the dual camera and a fingerprint scanner on the back.
The smartphone will be the USB-C port, and the price in Europe supposedly will be 250 euros. Rumors also speak of a single-chip system Exynos or Exynos 7885 7904, the battery capacity of 4000 mA·h and the screen diagonal of 5.7 inches.