globalEDGE Blog - Page 48

The dairy industry is changing throughout the globe as dairy alternatives become more and more popular.  Examples of these products include almond milk, oat milk, soymilk, coconut milk, nut-based cheeses, and coconut yogurt.  Virtually every dairy product now has a viable nondairy alternative.  However, different regions show different preferences in dairy, or nondairy, consumption.  Let’s look at how the dairy industry is changing around the world.

In this blog, Melissa Kreger writes about the updated impacts of the coronavirus.

The coronavirus first outbroke in January and now has become a global health epidemic. The largest question that has been lingering for economists and large investors is, “How long will the Chinese economy be halted and how bad will it affect all economies”? The Chinese economy is the world’s second-largest economy, first behind that of the United States. China being at a halt will affect global supply chains and we are starting to see those repercussions now.

With growing concern for the environment, electric vehicles have taken up a strong position in the automotive market. Electric vehicles offer consumers little maintenance, a quiet and fast ride, and most importantly, no toxic fumes. China has become the quickest to adopt the new technology; over 70 percent of consumers reported that they would consider an electric vehicle for their next purchase.

Early into the new year, waves of protests have emerged in Canada. Indigenous activists have begun to organize demonstrations to object the construction of a 670-kilometer pipeline (the Coastal GasLink pipeline) that passes through indigenous lands. One native group that opposes the project is known as the Wet'suwet'en, located out of British Columbia. The Wet'suwet'en did propose alternate routes to Coastal Gaslink, but the routes were rejected in favor of a path that was more technically viable and minimized environmental impact. Coastal Gaslink claims to have consulted with Aboriginal groups in the process of planning the route.

In today's digitized world, everything is shifting to incorporate technology, especially the retail industry. Customer preferences are changing, and companies have to quickly adjust their strategies and style in order to stay competitive. For example, online retail has been in the spotlight for the last decade. It is convenient for both the customer and the retailer; however, how does it affect the manufacturer's and retailer's supply chains?

In the United States, approximately 257.3 million people own and use a cell phone.  Zoom out to the world as a whole and that number increases to 4.57 billion people.  In both cases, the statistics are only expected to show increases as global income rises, interconnectedness becomes normalized across land and sea, and technology continues to advance at a rapid clip.  Recently, the cell phone market in the U.S. made news when T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint was approved by a federal judge on February 11th, uniting the third and fourth largest players in the U.S. industry, respectively.

Over the past several months, relations between the U.S. and China have continuously been unpredictable. With recent developments, it appears that the relationship may continue to worsen. On February 13, the U.S. government charged Huawei Technologies and two of its subsidiaries with federal racketeering and conspiracy to steal trade secrets from American companies. With Huawei technologies being one of China’s top tech companies, this may lead to future global issues.

In the past few years, omnichannel shopping has become the new normal. Omnichannel retail puts the customer in the center of focus, rather than the product. Distinctions between channels disappear, and the boundaries between different sales and marketing channels become a unified whole. A single view of the customer and their needs emerges.

In recent years, the fashion industry has faced significant changes in the designing, manufacturing, and selling of apparel.  The transition is from a more traditional “seasonal” fashion cycle to the “fast fashion” method of producing clothing items.  Fast fashion offers consumers clothing at a quicker pace and fast fashion companies such as Sweden-based H&M and Spain-based Zara are organized differently than higher-end fashion brands that have been operating on the seasonal fashion cycle for years.

If you haven’t paid any attention to growing internet trends recently, you may be unfamiliar with the social media platform, TikTok.  TikTok is a popular destination for short-form video creation through lip-syncing, dancing, and memes.  Similar to the now-extinct Vine, TikTok features the same looping video function however adds a new layer of customization through the form of effects, filters, and sound overlays.  Many of the application’s 800 million active users are teenagers, with the younger demographic being largely represented among TikTok’s top content creators.