Shopping for new clothes on a weekend is a favorite pastime, even when it's not raining. Around the world, I see marketers adding new twists to what some call the "retail therapy" experience.
In a mall in Kazakhstan, shoppers find an indoor river, and they can ride an indoor monorail, just like the one at Disneyland. At the Mall of America in Minneapolis, there are carnival rides and an assortment of LEGOs kids and adults can use to build whatever they want.
Slip on a ZOZOSUIT from the Japanese retailer, ZOZO, and the stretchy black bodysuit, with the help of a mobile app, takes perfect measurements for a new outfit. In your own home, the 150 white dot sensors covering the suit enable a 3-D scan to make, for example, custom-fit jeans for online purchase at prices starting at $58. But It's only a matter of time before in store customers also might expect to use this innovation to insure a perfect fit that doesn't require additional tailoring.
UK retailer, ASOS, already entices customers with photographs and augmented reality (AR) showing how the same outfit looks on different body types.
Mall customers in Chinese In Time retail restrooms can use augmented reality mirrors to test makeup products before using a mobile code to purchase Lancome, Benefit, or Shu Uemura cosmetics from the vending machine next to them.
Brands have begun to bundle products with services. Adidas sneakers serve as metro passes in Berlin. Nike's NBA Jerseys connect wearers to digital content about their favorite teams and players. A Tuxe bodysuit comes with an offer for free online business and life coaching sessions.
At REI Co-op, customers know the clothing, footwear, and camping gear they purchase meet sustainable business practices.
Combat Flip Flops (combatfllipflops.com) converts objects used in warfare into flip flops and accessories. Melted unexploded ordinance (UXO) become jewelry.
Graphic T-shirts say a lot these days. Keep looking until you find the message that suits you to a "T."
Showing posts with label Kazakhstan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kazakhstan. Show all posts
Friday, July 20, 2018
Monday, March 5, 2018
China Stretches a Napoleon-Style Belt
Emperor Xi Jinping gained open-ended power, when China's Communist Party scrapped his two, five-year term limit in February, 2018. He already had launched an ambitious One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Initiative to connect China to Europe and a Maritime Silk Road (MSR) that will join China to Africa. The Silk Road term, not coined until the 19th century by a German, is well suited to the OBOR and MSR initiatives which mimic the ancient variety of land and sea routes that carried silk and other goods, as well as ideas, between Asia, Europe, and Africa. Many have observed, however, that besides a means to facilitate trade, China's port projects could serve as a way to establish worldwide influence and naval bases for China's expanding navy.
In pinyin, the form of Chinese characters described in Roman letters, the One Belt, One Road Initiative is called yidaiyilu. The worldwide use of English and the U.S. dollar rankles China. Beijing's Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies claims globalization is now causing many words, such as xiongmao, the pinyin word for giant panda, to be recognized outside of China.
Ever since Romans built the Appian Way, leaders have recognized how transportation binds an empire together. Yet, China's infrastructure projects will test the tight control Beijing now maintains over its citizens' telecommunication and face-to-face contacts with the outside world. Like the Chinese employees who built the railroad in Kenya, those building the new container terminal and nearby oil storage installation at Walvis Bay in Germany's former African territory of Namibia, are sealed off from the local community. They live in a closely monitored compound of barracks imprisoned by a wall topped by electrified barb wire.
Stretching thousands of miles from Beijing, work on the OBOR and MSR cannot help but require ongoing contacts with local government officials, financial institutions, suppliers, laborers, religions, and academics in the countries the roads pass. Already, the China Democratic League, one of China's eight non-communist parties, submitted a proposal to the advisory body, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, suggesting cultural exchanges along the routes are as important as trade.
Singapore-based Broadcom's failed hostile bid for the San Diego company, Qualcomm, might, however, signal China's determination to maintain control over vast areas by using high-speed optic fiber communications and Smartphone communication and data exchange. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) cited national security issues to block Broadcom from access to Qualcomm's wireless chips and 5G (fifth generation) high-speed mobile network technology and standards. In April, 2018, the U.S. Commerce Department placed a 7-year ban (now lifted) on sales of chips, all from Qualcomm, to China's ZTE, because the company violated a 2017 agreement not to send telecommunications equipment containing Qualcomm chips to Iran and North Korea. In Australia, (and later in the UK and Sweden) China's Huawei telecom companies remain banned from 5G networks. Before its US-blocked acquisition of Qualcomm, Broadcom transferred its headquarters from Singapore to San Jose, California, and later purchased Manhattan-based CA Technologies, a chipmaker in the infrastructure software field. In July, 2018, China would block Qualcomm's acquisition of China's NXP semiconductor company.
Noticeably missing from China's One Belt, One Road initiative was any reference to North Korea. But that was before members of the women's hockey players in North and South Korea agreed to play together in the 2018 winter Olympics; and U.S. President Trump accepted Kim's invitation to meet on June 12, 2018 in Singapore. Suddenly, on March 25, 2018, North Korea's dark green train carried Kim to China for a strategy session prior to the upcoming US-North Korean meeting, from which China was excluded. Subsequently, Beijing agreed to Liaoning province's $88 million plan to build roads on the North Korean side of the Friendship Bridge that connects the two countries at Dandong.
Whether China's strategy in Africa is considered part of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) or an extended One Belt-One Road-One Continent strategy, China already has shown interest in the Continent by its trade, military base in Djibouti, the dam its Export-Import Bank built in Uganda, and railroad projects in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Nigeria. Other current and proposed Chinese port, rail, and airport projects ring Africa in the following countries:
In pinyin, the form of Chinese characters described in Roman letters, the One Belt, One Road Initiative is called yidaiyilu. The worldwide use of English and the U.S. dollar rankles China. Beijing's Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies claims globalization is now causing many words, such as xiongmao, the pinyin word for giant panda, to be recognized outside of China.
Ever since Romans built the Appian Way, leaders have recognized how transportation binds an empire together. Yet, China's infrastructure projects will test the tight control Beijing now maintains over its citizens' telecommunication and face-to-face contacts with the outside world. Like the Chinese employees who built the railroad in Kenya, those building the new container terminal and nearby oil storage installation at Walvis Bay in Germany's former African territory of Namibia, are sealed off from the local community. They live in a closely monitored compound of barracks imprisoned by a wall topped by electrified barb wire.
Stretching thousands of miles from Beijing, work on the OBOR and MSR cannot help but require ongoing contacts with local government officials, financial institutions, suppliers, laborers, religions, and academics in the countries the roads pass. Already, the China Democratic League, one of China's eight non-communist parties, submitted a proposal to the advisory body, the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, suggesting cultural exchanges along the routes are as important as trade.
Singapore-based Broadcom's failed hostile bid for the San Diego company, Qualcomm, might, however, signal China's determination to maintain control over vast areas by using high-speed optic fiber communications and Smartphone communication and data exchange. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) cited national security issues to block Broadcom from access to Qualcomm's wireless chips and 5G (fifth generation) high-speed mobile network technology and standards. In April, 2018, the U.S. Commerce Department placed a 7-year ban (now lifted) on sales of chips, all from Qualcomm, to China's ZTE, because the company violated a 2017 agreement not to send telecommunications equipment containing Qualcomm chips to Iran and North Korea. In Australia, (and later in the UK and Sweden) China's Huawei telecom companies remain banned from 5G networks. Before its US-blocked acquisition of Qualcomm, Broadcom transferred its headquarters from Singapore to San Jose, California, and later purchased Manhattan-based CA Technologies, a chipmaker in the infrastructure software field. In July, 2018, China would block Qualcomm's acquisition of China's NXP semiconductor company.
Noticeably missing from China's One Belt, One Road initiative was any reference to North Korea. But that was before members of the women's hockey players in North and South Korea agreed to play together in the 2018 winter Olympics; and U.S. President Trump accepted Kim's invitation to meet on June 12, 2018 in Singapore. Suddenly, on March 25, 2018, North Korea's dark green train carried Kim to China for a strategy session prior to the upcoming US-North Korean meeting, from which China was excluded. Subsequently, Beijing agreed to Liaoning province's $88 million plan to build roads on the North Korean side of the Friendship Bridge that connects the two countries at Dandong.
Whether China's strategy in Africa is considered part of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) or an extended One Belt-One Road-One Continent strategy, China already has shown interest in the Continent by its trade, military base in Djibouti, the dam its Export-Import Bank built in Uganda, and railroad projects in Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Nigeria. Other current and proposed Chinese port, rail, and airport projects ring Africa in the following countries:
- Seychelles
- Mauritius
- Tunisia
- Tanzania
- Uganda
- Rwanda
- South Sudan
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Gabon
- Cameroon
- Ghana
- Senegal
Monday, November 28, 2016
All Eyes on OPEC Meeting
The 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), formed in 1960, and non-members, such as Russia, Brazil, and Kazakhstan, all had a major incentive to reach an agreement to reduce oil output and stop what has been a major collapse in crude oil prices since 2014. Compared to the $753 billion in revenue from exports then, revenue is expected to be $341 billion in 2016. OPEC members, Iran and Iraq, have been reluctant to cut production, with Iran also engaged in tit for tat charges with Saudi Arabia (See the earlier post, "Mixed Messages from Saudi Arabia.")
At OPEC's November 30, 2016 meeting, members agreed to cut daily oil production by 1.2 million barrels beginning on January 1, 2017. Iran is allowed to increase its production to 3.8 million barrels a day as it recovers from sanctions imposed to block its nuclear program. Non-OPEC members are expected to cut 600,000 barrels a day from their production, with Russia accounting for half of the 600,000 barrel reduction. Large producers, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, have a good record of compliance; compliance by other revenue-starved OPEC members will be closely monitored.
The production cuts are designed to increase the price of a barrel of crude from under $50 to at least the range of $55 to $60, a welcome boost for oil-dependent economies in countries such as Angola, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Russia. Oil was selling in the low $50s in February, fell below $50 in early March, 2017, and rebounded in early April, 2017 to $52 a barrel. At the beginning of May, 2017, oil again had dropped to $45.5 a barrel and by June, 26-27. 2017, it was at the $43-$44 level.
Nigeria provides an example of the devastating effect falling oil prices have had on an OPEC member. Banks are in trouble because of failing loans for investments in new local oil producers. Generating electricity is more costly. Currency controls have been imposed to limit the amount of foreign currency available to purchase imports and to foster local manufacturing; and the government has implemented a number of unsuccessful reforms to encourage unemployed urban residents to return to the farm (See the earlier post, "Nigeria's New Beginning.").
Even with the OPEC agreement, it is feared oversupply will continue to dampen oil prices. US producers are in a position to increase output when prices rise and to shut down when oil is selling in the mid-$40 a barrel range or below. With higher prices, of course, more US shale oil production is also profitable.
At OPEC's November 30, 2016 meeting, members agreed to cut daily oil production by 1.2 million barrels beginning on January 1, 2017. Iran is allowed to increase its production to 3.8 million barrels a day as it recovers from sanctions imposed to block its nuclear program. Non-OPEC members are expected to cut 600,000 barrels a day from their production, with Russia accounting for half of the 600,000 barrel reduction. Large producers, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, have a good record of compliance; compliance by other revenue-starved OPEC members will be closely monitored.
The production cuts are designed to increase the price of a barrel of crude from under $50 to at least the range of $55 to $60, a welcome boost for oil-dependent economies in countries such as Angola, Venezuela, Nigeria, and Russia. Oil was selling in the low $50s in February, fell below $50 in early March, 2017, and rebounded in early April, 2017 to $52 a barrel. At the beginning of May, 2017, oil again had dropped to $45.5 a barrel and by June, 26-27. 2017, it was at the $43-$44 level.
Nigeria provides an example of the devastating effect falling oil prices have had on an OPEC member. Banks are in trouble because of failing loans for investments in new local oil producers. Generating electricity is more costly. Currency controls have been imposed to limit the amount of foreign currency available to purchase imports and to foster local manufacturing; and the government has implemented a number of unsuccessful reforms to encourage unemployed urban residents to return to the farm (See the earlier post, "Nigeria's New Beginning.").
Even with the OPEC agreement, it is feared oversupply will continue to dampen oil prices. US producers are in a position to increase output when prices rise and to shut down when oil is selling in the mid-$40 a barrel range or below. With higher prices, of course, more US shale oil production is also profitable.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
Falling Commodity Prices Spur Diversification in Emerging Markets
Commodity exporting countries that have depended on the Chinese market have been hard hit by the slide in China's economy. Zambia, for example, relies on copper exports to China, which consumes 40% of the mineral's global output, for 70% of its foreign exchange earnings and 25 to 30% of its government revenue. Like Nigeria, which has depended on petroleum exports that are declining in value, Zambia sees a new need for economic diversification.
Check out countries heavily dependent on commodity exports:
Check out countries heavily dependent on commodity exports:
- Bauxite: Indonesia, Jamaica, Brazil
- Chromite: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Albania
- Coal: Indonesia
- Cobalt: Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Copper: Chile, Kazakhstan, Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Peru
- Iron Ore: Brazil
- Lithium: Argentina, Chile, Bolivia
- Manganese: South Africa, Gabon, Brazil, Ghana
- Molybenum: Romania, Chile
- Nickel: (Indonesia banned exports to China), New Caledonia, Madagascar
- Petroleum: Saudi Arabia, Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Nigeria
- Platinum: South Africa
- Tin: Indonesia, Myanmar
- Tungsten: Myanmar, Bolivia
- Uranium: South Africa, Namibia, Niger, Kazakhstan
- Vanadium: South Africa
- Zinc: Peru, like Australia, has cut production and jobs
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