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☆ Retailers are preparing for a discount heavy, down holiday season: CNBC survey
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Many retailers are still drawing down inventories now as peak season for orders begins. Based on the concerns about cutbacks by consumers, 77% of all items being ordered this holiday season are middle-price point items, including jackets. Traditionally, retail sector orders for peak season items are placed in late winter, or early spring. Trucking, ground, rail profit hits For ground logistical firms, rail companies, and short-haul trucking, moving holiday products during peak season is a lucrative and critical time of year for making money. The largest subgroup of survey respondents who predict placing higher freight orders (42%) pegged the increase in a range of 6%-10%.

Persons: Patrick T, Cleary, Stephen Lamar, Jon Gold Organizations: Fallon, Bloomberg, Getty, CNBC Supply Chain Survey, Target, Walmart, CNBC, American Apparel & Footwear Association, American Footwear and Apparel Association, National Retail Federation, Council of Supply Chain Management, United National Consumer Suppliers, CNBC Fed Survey, Wall Street, Survey, Retailers, Chain, Labor Locations: West Coast, West

LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L) is studying options for its global payments activities as a part of broader review into how it allocates resources, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Barclays has already engaged at least one major consultancy firm and may hire others to split assignments, this person said. "Our three businesses continue to perform well and our business mix is robust - growing our global payments business is a priority for us," a Barclays spokesperson said. The payments study comes as Barclays had also drafted Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to conduct a strategy review of the entire banking group, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. How the bank should allocate resources between more predictable retail business and volatile returns from the investment bank has attracted investor scrutiny.

Persons: Amy, Jo Crowley, Pablo Mayo, Stefania Spezzati, Lawrence White, Alexander Smith Organizations: Barclays, Reuters, Britain's, Barclaycard, Boston Consulting, Bloomberg, BNP, HSBC, Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, Thomson Locations: London

☆ Amazon hosted a panel on how to start selling on Amazon during San Francisco's 'small business week'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon is a sponsor of San Francisco's small business week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The e-commerce giant is a top sponsor of the promotion and a "small business champion," the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday, citing the website of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. San Francisco's small business week events included a panel titled "How to Start Selling in Amazon's Store," according to the Chronicle. Sponsorships with local business groups are "just one of the ways we help create new opportunities for the small business community." Do you shop or work in retail in San Francisco and have a story idea?

Critics have said such awards encourage frivolous lawsuits and excessive fees going to class action attorneys who may seek to benefit their own interests instead. The Supreme Court in 2019 sidestepped resolving a challenge to cy pres awards in a case involving Google. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, dissenting in that case, called cy pres settlements "unfair and unreasonable." Monsanto has called the group, which advocates against what it considers abusive class action procedures, a "serial objector to class-action settlements." The group said in court papers that further steps could have taken to distribute the settlement award to class members.

☆ Amazon sponsored 'small business week' in San Francisco and hosted a panel on how to start selling goods on its website
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon is a sponsor of San Francisco's small business week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Small businesses in the city say they view Amazon as a competitor, not a supporter. The e-commerce giant is a top sponsor of the promotion and a "small business champion," the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday, citing the website of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. San Francisco's small business week events included a panel titled "How to Start Selling in Amazon's Store," according to the Chronicle. Do you shop or work in retail in San Francisco and have a story idea?

☆ Italy is convening a crisis meeting this week to address soaring pasta prices, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Italy's industry minister has called a crisis meeting to address the soaring price of pasta, Reuters reported. Pasta prices jumped 16.3% in April, while broader Italian inflation came in at 8.8%. The comparable increase in Italy's harmonized index of consumer prices, a weighted average of Italian goods and services, measured a provisional 8.8% in April. But Coldiretti, an Italian agriculture group, said soaring pasta prices represented an "anomaly that needs clarification," given the price of a key ingredient, durum wheat, fell 30% in the year, per local publication Ansa. The National Consumer Union said until speculation on wheat prices was defined as an "unfair practice," the price of pasta may stay elevated, per Ansa.

Cloetta AB, (CLOEb.ST) a Swedish confectioner which makes Lakerol lozenges that use gum arabic, has "ample" stock of the ingredient, a spokesperson said in an email. Global production of gum arabic is about 120,000 tonnes a year, worth $1.1 billion, according to estimates cited by Kerry Group. "Both buyers and sellers are clueless on when things will normalise.”Alwaleed Ali, who owns AGP Innovations Co Ltd, a gum arabic exporting business, said his customers are looking for alternative countries to source gum arabic. It accounts for the livelihoods of thousands of people and the more expensive variety can cost about $3,000 a tonne, according to Gum Sudan. There is a poorer quality, cheaper gum from outside of Sudan, but the preferred ingredient is only found in acacia trees in Sudan, South Sudan and Chad, Alnoor said.

☆ Some airlines effectively charge parents to sit with their kids. Biden is shaming the industry into changing that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Consumer groups and President Joe Biden are aghast that carriers have effectively charged families more to sit together. No airline explicitly imposes a "family seating fee," but consumer advocates have complained for years about how that's exactly what's happening. Airlines for America, an industry lobbying arm that counts the big four, America, Delta, Southwest, and United, among its members, previously pointed out that none of its members explicitly charge a family seating fee. This is a March 24, 2023 screenshot of the Department of Transportation's dashboard of airline family seating policies. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts is working with a trio of other Senate Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, on separate legislation on just family seating.

[1/2] Visitors look at a Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle (EV ) at the third China International Consumer Products Expo, in Haikou, Hainan province, China April 12, 2023. Tesla said on Friday it cut prices in numerous European markets including Germany and France because of a scaling up and improvement in its production capacity. In Germany, Tesla has lowered the price of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles by between 4.5% and 9.8%, data on its website showed on Friday, marking its second price reduction this year after a price reduction of 1-17% in January. In Singapore, it cut prices of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles between 4.3% and 5%, its local website showed. Tesla also cut prices in Israel, with the price of the base rear-wheel drive Model 3 slashed by 25% after an initial round of global price cuts in January.

☆ Tesla to skip Shanghai Autoshow, organiser's plan shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, April 14 (Reuters) - Tesla will not occupy a booth at China's largest annual autoshow to be held next week in Shanghai, according to plans published by the event's organisers. The financial hub is set to host Auto Shanghai between April 18-27. It is Asia's largest auto show where brands from BYD (002594.SZ) to Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) are expected to show off their latest models and technologies. Tesla, which has a large electric vehicle factory in Shanghai, has attended the show in past years. Tesla and Auto Shanghai did not immediately respond to a request for comment when asked about the U.S. automaker's participation at the Shanghai auto show on Friday.

☆ Brands look to China's tropical duty free island paradise for consumer comeback
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Casey Hall | Thomson Reuters | Casey Has Reported On China'S Consumer Culture Her Base In Shanghai For More Than A Decade | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

HAIKOU, China, April 14 (Reuters) - Representatives of over 3,000 brands including Burberry and Estee Lauder descended on China's Hainan this week to show off their latest wares, hoping to cash in on a post-COVID consumer rebound that has kicked off on the island known for its duty free shopping. It especially boomed during COVID, attracting Chinese shoppers unable to travel abroad due to closed borders. And China further plans to elevate its status: by 2025, it plans to make the whole island duty free, essentially expanding the 10% to 40% cheaper prices on goods from beauty, to alcohol and luxury products from 12 existing duty free malls to the entire province. That has made high-end global consumer firms keen to attend the expo as a way of demonstrating their commitment to China, industry executives said. ($1 = 6.8677 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says he's confident he can get costs under control in shareholder letter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +38 min

Further, as machine learning adoption has continued to accelerate, customers have yearned for lower-cost GPUs (the chips most commonly used for machine learning). While some areas of the economy have struggled over the past few years, Amazon Business has thrived. Some people have never heard of Amazon Business, but, our business customers love it. For years, Amazon customers had asked us when we'd offer them an online pharmacy as their frustrations mounted with current providers. More recently, a newer form of machine learning, called Generative AI, has burst onto the scene and promises to significantly accelerate machine learning adoption.

☆ Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says his letter to shareholders follows one of the toughest economic years in recent memory. Read it in full.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +38 min

☆ These organizations are trying to tackle plastic pollution and poverty at the same time
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Katie Brigham | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

"All the plastic we've ever produced since the inception of the material is still here," said David Katz, CEO of Plastic Bank, a company that's trying to implement plastic recycling systems in developing nations. It's usually because it's not economically feasible to collect, clean and sort plastic waste — at least not in the U.S., where new plastic is cheaper. Asis Wijayanto and his wife Atmawati support themselves and their daughter by collecting plastic with Plastic Bank. Plastic creditsBut only about 20% of Plastic Bank's partners are actually buying recycled plastic for use in new products. The other 80% are buying plastic credits, meant to help offset their new plastic production by funding recycling efforts in the countries where Plastic Bank operates.

☆ Nintendo to repair for free unresponsive game controllers, EU says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, April 4 (Reuters) - Japanese gaming company Nintendo (7974.T) has agreed to repair for free beyond the legal guarantee period unresponsive console controllers following complaints from European consumer groups, the European Commission said on Tuesday. Nintendo found itself in the EU spotlight after the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) and nine national consumer groups in 2021 complained to the EU executive about its Nintendo Switch console, saying they deteriorate too quickly. This technical problem known as the 'Joy-Con drift' affected both Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite consoles. "This is only a short-term fix that will allow consumers to have their defective products repaired for free. Yet Nintendo can still sell the console with the potential bug," BEUC Deputy Director General Ursula Pachl said in a statement.

☆ Even if the Supreme Court finds Biden's student-loan forgiveness was an overreach of authority, it doesn't mean the relief will get struck down. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Supreme Court justices must first determine whether the cases blocking Biden's student-debt relief have standing. If they find there isn't standing, they aren't able to rule on whether the relief was an overreach of authority. The justices were skeptical of whether GOP-led states had standing to bring student-loan company MOHELA into their case. She agreed with Jackson when asked if they would be "breaking new ground" if they found the states have standing. The Supreme Court will issue a decision by June, when borrowers will find out if the justices' skeptical line of questioning on standing will hold up.

☆ Why a student-loan company's involvement in a case seeking to block Biden's debt relief might end up working in borrowers' favors
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Student-loan company MOHELA played a central role in one of the cases seeking to block Biden's student-debt relief. All justices dug into whether the state of Missouri has standing to claim an injury to MOHELA is an injury to itself. Some experts said the company's involvement in the case could undermine plaintiffs' standing to sue. The states argued that Biden's debt relief would hurt their states' tax revenues, but that was an issue the Supreme Court justices barely questioned. "And two, that President Biden's debt relief plan would impact MOHELA such that MOHELA could not even start paying back its debts to the Lewis and Clark Fund."

☆ CFPB: What it does and why its future is in question
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The CFPB’s missionThe agency was created after the 2008 financial meltdown, as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The broad purpose of the CFPB is to protect consumers from financial abuses and to serve as the central agency for consumer financial protection authorities. It is charged with implementing and enforcing consumer protection laws, making rules and issuing guidance for consumer financial institutions. And it is the place consumers can go to lodge complaints about financial products and services. “It has completely changed the consumer financial marketplace.

☆ Will student loan forgiveness pass the Supreme Court? Here's what we know so far
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Kamaron Mcnair | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON, DC - People rally in support of the Biden administration's student debt relief plan in front of the the U.S. Supreme Court on February 28, 2023 in Washington, DC. This week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from both supporters and opponents of President Joe Biden's student debt forgiveness plan. Student loan borrowers have the most immediately at stake, but the high court's ruling and rationale could have bigger implications for the government. Nebraska solicitor general, James Campbell, who represented the state plaintiffs, responded that "the state speaks for MOHELA." Will student loan forgiveness pass?

☆ Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan is in jeopardy. Here are 4 major takeaways from the Supreme Court's oral arguments.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Biden's student-debt relief on Tuesday. The nation's highest court heard more than four hours of oral arguments in two high-profile cases that reviewed Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for federal borrowers, which lower courts temporarily paused in November. "We're talking about half a trillion dollars and 43 million Americans," Chief Justice John Roberts said, referring to the estimated costs of Biden's plan and the number of affected borrowers. Justice Elena Kagan raised a hypothetical national emergency of an earthquake and the education secretary responded by deciding to cancel student loans for those harmed. Still, even if Barrett and the court's three liberals find that the states and borrowers lack standing, they would need another conservative vote to uphold Biden's debt relief.

☆ Debt due to another person's fraud can't be discharged in bankruptcy. Neither can these bills
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

That includes $11.9 trillion in mortgages, $1.6 trillion in student loans, another $1.6 trillion in car loans and more than $990 billion in credit card debt. Some debts cannot be wiped out in bankruptcyFirst, while most forms of consumer debt — credit card debt, personal loans, medical debt, mortgages and auto loans — are generally fair game for either eliminating or negotiating a lower payback amount in bankruptcy, that's not true for student loan debt. Same goes for cash advances above $1,100 from a single creditor in the 70 days ahead of filing bankruptcy. Both Chapters 7 and 13 stop collection activity like calls from creditors or debt collectors, wage garnishments and, potentially, lawsuits from creditors. This approach can quickly erase certain forms of unsecured debt, including from credit cards, medical bills and personal loans.

☆ Citi says buy 3 stocks tied to the consumer for the same reasons we own them
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

What Citi thinks Analysts at Citi chose our three Club holdings among their top-rated picks — initiating coverage in U.S. beverages, household and personal care products. STZ YTD mountain Constellation Brands (STZ) YTD performance Citi also said it's time to buy Constellation Brands, the company behind Mexican beers Corona, Modelo and Pacifico. Analysts at Citi have a $265 price target on the stock, which fell slightly lower Friday to just under $227. EL YTD mountain Estee Lauder (EL) YTD performance Citi also estimates "strong topline/margin recovery" from Estee Lauder as China's economy continues to reopen. Buy Estee Lauder."

☆ PayPal tells Australia it supports buy-now-pay-later regulation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O) wants buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) loans subjected to consumer protection law, it said in a submission to the Australian government, adding a powerful voice from inside the sector calling for regulation. Many other companies which sell BNPL loans said in submissions that they supported minimal or self-regulation. BNPL companies attract shoppers by charging no interest and make money from retailer fees. The company saw "merit in further consideration of the development of a bespoke BNPL credit reporting framework" without the full "costs typically associated with engaging in the credit reporting regime". The government has said it wants BNPL regulation in place in 2023.

☆ It's far harder to cancel a subscription than it is to sign up for one. A bill in Congress wants to change that.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Consumers and advocates are fed up with it being incredibly difficult to cancel subscriptions. Only last year did the Times begin to allow digital subscribers to cancel their subscriptions directly, Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander told Insider. Planet Fitness is up front that its members must cancel at a gym or by mail, even if they can sign up online. Amazon agreed to change how users cancel its Prime membership after European regulators, US consumer groups, and, finally, the FTC stepped in. Then-DC Attorney Karl Racine went after the food delivery service Grubhub for hitting customers with hidden fees and using deceptive marketing about its subscription service.

Since the start of the pandemic, Americans have been able to access free weekly credit reports. "Even when consumers are successful in having their complaint addressed, complaints call into question the underlying data contained in consumers' credit reports," the report read. Navigating the credit reporting system in the United States requires skill and often a good deal of patience. Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of California, who chaired the panel at the time, said during the hearing that a public credit reporting agency "would be a major upgrade over today's broken, biased credit reporting system." Consumer advocates stress that not only should credit reports be easily accessible but that Americans should be able to scrutinize the information contained in credit reports.

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