Fortune (July 23)
The response of CrowdStrike has been “underwhelming,” symbolized by CEO George Kurtz’s failure to apologize immediately. With a bug that “hit less than 1% of Windows devices,” CrowdStrike “unleashed global chaos” last Friday. The fallout “grounded more than 6% of the world’s commercial flights. It also halted surgeries, broadcasts, money transfers, 911 call centers, train systems, stores, hotel reservations, mobile apps, and some government services. As of yesterday, many were still scrambling to recover.” CrowdStrike’s comeuppance may come as it enters “a risky period,” with its stock hammered “by almost a third” and angry customers reexamining their ties to the cybersecurity company.
Tags: Apologize, Apps, Broadcasts, Bug, CEO, Comeuppance, CrowdStrike, Customers, Cybersecurity, Failure, Flights, Global chaos, Hammered, Hotels, Kurtz, Money transfers, Recover, Response, Stock, Stores, Surgeries, Trains, Underwhelming, Windows
WARC (May 3)
“Political leaders in France and the US have been publicly critical of companies for making products smaller while maintaining the existing price, but South Korea’s government is one of the first to legislate against it.” The Korea Fair Trade Commission “will now require producers that downsize products to put notices on packages, websites, or at stores for the three months following the change.”
Tags: Companies, Critical, Downsize, France, FTC, Legislate, Notices, Packages, Political leaders, Price, Products, Smaller, South Korea, Stores, U.S., Websites
Wall Street Journal (November 27)
“So far there are signs that U.S. shoppers are shelling out cash on gifts and other items. More shoppers visited stores and online spending grew on Black Friday this year compared with last year.” For many retailers, however, the rub is that “consumers are shifting away from store credit cards,” which had “been a lucrative source of revenue for retailers…. But the stream is drying up.”
Tags: Black Friday, Cash, Consumers, Gifts, https://www.wsj.com/business/retail/black-friday-spending-was-strong-how-people-pay-for-gifts-is-upending-retailers-e783ba2e?mod=itp_wsj U.S., Lucrative, Online spending, Retailers, Revenue, Shoppers, Store credit cards, Stores
Forbes (November 27)
“It’s an omnichannel holiday!” This Black Friday weekend, Americans re-embraced “in-person shopping…returning to stores and malls in big numbers.” That did not, however, lessen their “love affair with online shopping.” On Black Friday, a “record $9.12 billion was spent online,” up more than 2% since 2021.
Tags: $9.12 billion, Black Friday, Holiday, In-person shopping, Malls, Omnichannel, Online shopping, Record, Stores, U.S.
BloombergQuint (October 19)
Hoarding and food shortages are back, even though “there’s plenty of food. There just isn’t always enough processing and transportation capacity to meet rising demand as the economy revs up. More than a year and a half after the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life, the supply of basic goods at U.S. grocery stores and restaurants is once again falling victim to intermittent shortages and delays.”
Tags: Coronavirus, Daily life, Demand, Economy, Food, Hoarding, Pandemic, Processing, Shortages, Stores, Transportation, U.S., Upended
The Times (October 19)
“The pandemic has laid waste to high streets, costing thousands of jobs in the process.” A recent PWC study starkly illustrates the observation that “shop closures soared at a record rate in the first half of the year as coronavirus lockdowns hit the high street.” During that period, “Britain lost 6,001 more chain stores than it gained in the first half, up from a loss of 3,509 in the same period last year.”
Tags: Britain, Closures, Coronavirus, High streets, Jobs, Lockdowns, Pandemic, PwC, Shops, Stores, Waste
Wall Street Journal (July 30)
“The retail industry’s woes are often blamed on e-commerce and an excessive number of brick-and-mortar stores. Creditors are now targeting another potential culprit: private-equity investors.”
Tags: Blame, Brick-and-mortar, Creditors, Culprits, E-commerce, Private-equity investors, Retail, Stores, Woes
New York Times (June 20)
“Venezuela is convulsing from hunger,” with over 50 food riots in just the last two weeks. The mobs storming supermarkets, restaurants and stores for anything edible are showing that even in the “country with the largest oil reserves in the world, it is possible for people to riot because there is not enough food.”
Tags: Convulsing, Food riots, Hunger, Mobs, Oil reserves, Restaurants, Stores, Supermarkets, Venezuela
New York Times (February 23)
“The heavy parliamentary weapon France’s Socialist government deployed to ram an economic reform bill through opposition in its own ranks might seem excessive for a measure that basically lets some stores stay open on some Sundays.” This raises the question of how President François Hollande will proceed when the “far tougher package of tax breaks, easing of labor laws and other reforms is due later this year.”
Tags: Economic reform, France, Hollande, Labor laws, Parliament, Socialist government, Stores, Sundays, Tax breaks
U.S. News & World Report (November 26, 2013)
“It is truly disgraceful to ruin the holidays of so many retail workers by requiring them to deal with shoppers–especially cranky, crazed discount shoppers–on a day when they should be relaxing and enjoying football and a big meal.” Traditionally, U.S. consumers celebrate a relaxing Thanksgiving on Thursday, and shop like mad the next day when stores reopen on “Black Friday.” This year, however, many stores are opening on Thanksgiving. “The only way to stop the madness is to kill it off from the other end, and boycott any kind of shopping on Thanksgiving Day…. If no one buys, they won’t try this offensive stunt again next year.”
Tags: Black Friday, Boycott, Consumers, Holidays, Retail U.S., Stores, Thanksgiving Day
