Daily Archives

Coming to a location not-so-near you… unless you happen to live in India, then maybe it will be near you. That’s right – Ikea is making their long-awaited debut in India, one of the world’s largest markets. The furniture company is open for business today as you are reading this and is expecting up to 7 million visitors each year at the new location.

Not one, not two, not three… but twenty-five is the magic number of Ikea outlets that the company plans to open around the country by 2025. Eventually, people will be seeing the giant blue and yellow signs in over 40 cities. This is not a cheap investment, either – each store costs 10 billion rupees to open. Which amounts to about $145 million for those of you that can’t convert rupees to dollars on the spot.

The future of Ikea… is in India, according to CEO Peter Betzel. With a massive population of 1.3 billion, with over half of that number being under the age of 25 (i.e., probably broke like most of us), you can see why this is an exciting opportunity for the company.

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Walmart takes away shelf space… for Twinkies and Hostess drops 16%. Yes, things like shelf space at Walmart can make a stock plummet. Hostess pointed the finger at the retail giant for their missed earnings in the second quarter. This is not good news for a company trying to recover after filing for bankruptcy six years ago.

Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Ding Dongs… are all delicious, but people have been turning their backs on them in recent years. The company has been dealing with high costs and decreasing demand. With this information, the lack of shelf space may be warranted by Walmart.

The stock is down… 24% this year and 14% since May alone. Perhaps people have been sculpting their beach bodies and have stayed away since May? Meh – probably not. Regardless, the company believes it still has the pieces to be a thriving company for years to come. I agree with that statement – because junk food never goes out of style.

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How big, you ask… how about ‘$22 billion big’ and that money is going straight into emerging technologies. Their bets will be on things like artificial intelligence and 5G. And even more specifically, their efforts will focus on automotive electronics and biopharmaceuticals.

They will start by… hiring about 1,000 artificial intelligence researches around the world and trying to fit in with Verizon, AT&T, and the other “cool kids” of 5G. Both technologies are critical to the future of autonomous driving vehicles, according to Samsung.

There is hope… for a company that has had lackluster sales and slowing demand for their memory chips. Ideally, the $22 billion put into emerging tech will be enough to drive growth in areas the company is not all too familiar with. With the money Samsung makes, they will blow away their competition and cause people to forget about recent scandals – or at least that is the plan, right?

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Full beards, goatees, and stubble… are not only fashionable, but they are acceptable just about everywhere. This is a societal shift we are seeing because it’s not 1960 anymore – you can have stubble and go out in public without being judged. The average number of shaves per week has gone from 3.7 to 3.2 over the last ten years (because that is something people keep track of).

And I know what you’re thinking… “3.7 or 3.2 – who cares?” Gillette cares because they have seen razor sales drop each of the last three years. And there are billions of men taking up space on this Earth (and shaving), so it does add up. Other than changing a fashion trend, what is Gillette to do?

There is also plenty of competition… especially from Dollar Shave Club, a company who seems to understand that you can’t expect people to pay an arm and a leg for “the best shave ever.” But Gillette is determined to follow the new trends and create products that are suitable for all types of facial hair. Proctor and Gamble (Gillette’s parent company) acquired The Art of Shaving in 2009 which offers products ideal for the likes of Grizzly Adams all the way down to Howie Mandel.

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