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| Today’s Business newsletter covers: - 💎 Diamond prices fall as people spend on experiences
- 📉 Deep Dive: CFOs cut spending due to high rates
- 🎈 Toys R Us to open new flagship stores in U.S.
If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Make sure to continue reading for the Quarterly Earnings Report and the Quick Hits. Thank you!! Shriram
p/Shriram | |
| 1 | | Rough diamond prices have fallen to their lowest point in a year as consumers move away from luxury items, resulting in a decline reflected in the Zimnisky Global Rough Diamond Index. This shift is linked to reduced jewelry sector sales, as consumers who previously increased luxury purchases during the pandemic now prioritize experiences like dining out and traveling over diamonds. More: - Consumer demand for diamond jewelry, which sees considerable advertising expenditures, impacts rough diamond pricing.
- Despite declining rough diamond prices, merchants are guarding their gross margins, so a drop in retail prices is unlikely soon.
- According to analysts, the engagement season and holidays like Christmas and Valentine's Day are expected to boost retail sales throughout the winter holidays and in the early months of 2024.
- The holiday season is projected to see lower total sales than last year despite a possible minor uptick in rough diamond prices. Rough diamond prices are predicted to recover gradually starting in 2024.
Q: Have you shifted your spending from luxury items to experiences like dining out and travel? Join the conversation here. |     | |
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What the numbers say: 41% of finance chiefs have cut back on capital expenditures due to higher interest rates, while 42% have cut costs across the board, including travel and advertising. Furthermore, if interest rates stay where they are now or rise for another year, an extra 21% would be cut from capital investment, and 15% would be taken out of operational costs. Relevance: The Federal Reserve has boosted interest rates to fight inflation, which has finance chiefs worried about rising borrowing costs. As a result, they have cut back on capital expenditures and implemented cost-cutting strategies in several sectors of their enterprises. More data: 32% of finance chiefs reported lower capital investments during the fourth quarter of 2022, and 29% reported lower other expenses. Despite these changes, most finance executives continue to have a good outlook on the American economy; their optimism score, which improved from the previous year's score of 53 to an average of 56 out of 100, indicates this. | | | |
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| 3 | | WHP Global, the parent company of Toys R Us, is making a resurgence in brick-and-mortar retail by announcing its intention to open as many as 24 new flagship stores across the U.S. in collaboration with Go! Retail Group, beginning in the coming year. Their expansion also includes launching an airport store at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in November, with plans to extend their presence to airports and cruise ships. More: - In 2021, WHP Global purchased a controlling stake in Tru Kids, the parent company of Toys R Us.
- The brand has grown with over 1,400 physical locations and online storefronts across 31 nations.
- The immersive shopping experiences at the future flagship stores are modeled after the current flagship store at the American Dream shopping center in Jersey.
- The expansion taps into travel retail by adding airport and cruise ship locations.
- WHP Global says Toys R Us earns over $2B a year in global retail sales.
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| 4 | | Cooler Screens is suing Walgreens for obstructing the introduction of digital cooler door screens that show advertisements. In February, Walgreens terminated the contract, claiming technological issues such as screen freezing and inaccurate product information. More: - Although the original deal aimed to implement the technology in 2,500 stores, Walgreens deployed 10,300 smart doors in only 700 locations.
- By showing targeted ads on cooler screens, the alliance hoped to generate advertising revenue.
- Cooler Screens allegedly failed to generate enough advertising revenue, according to Walgreens.
- The screens were prone to going black, meaning customers couldn't see what was available inside, and some even caught fire.
- According to Cooler Screens, many technical problems and delays in implementing the technology can be attributed to Walgreens' outdated infrastructure.
- Microsoft supports Cooler Screens, a statewide network of about 11,000 screens.
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| 6 | | Blue Apron is being acquired by Wonder Group, a food and restaurant company founded by businessman Marc Lore, for $103M, or $13 per share. After facing growing competition from meal kit firms like HelloFresh and Home Chef, Blue Apron, a longtime market leader in home meal deliveries, restructured by selling its operational infrastructure to FreshRealm for $50M and reducing its personnel. More: - The business encountered difficulties after going public in June 2017, including a 15% decline in customer base.
- The COVID-19 pandemic boosted Blue Apron, but the company still had trouble, posting a net loss of $109.7M in 2022.
- Blue Apron's activities will continue under the Wonder Group brand, well-known for its fine dining delivery service and food hall restaurant concept.
- The acquisition underlines Wonder Group's intention to increase its market share for prepared meals at home.
Zoom Out: - The Wall Street Journal said that Wonder raised $350M at a $3.5B valuation last year.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: *This is a sponsored listing. | | | |
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INSIDE BUSINESS LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | Freelance Writer | | Shriram is pursuing Master’s in Business with Marketing at Warwick Business School. He worked as a Senior Consultant in Tech and Political Consultancies before his Masters. He is passionate about Tech, Marketing, Strategy, Anthropology and Politics. He is also the Postgraduate Ambassador for Warwick Business School. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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