Here’s the good news. China’s Generation Z is loaded with cash and willing to spend. There’s 270 million of them, born since the mid-1990s, and they are top buyers of everything from cosmetics to tourism services. Less inclined to have kids or buy property, which are both becoming increasingly unaffordable, they spend on themselves.
Bloomberg
Amazon opened its first department store in Glendale, CA, on May 25, 2022. The new format, Amazon Style, is about 30,000 square feet and reportedly offers more than twice the number of styles as traditional stores due to its unique format and integrated shopping experience, whereby only one unit of each style is on display while inventory stock is kept in the back room. Core to Amazon’s offering and unique to Amazon Style, customers can use Amazon’s shopping app to send items directly to the fitting room enabling a ‘two-sided’ closet experience.
Agg Data
May saw the highest monthly increase in long-term contracted ocean freight rates since Oslo-based Xeneta started tracking these shipments, as the cost of locking in container shipments soared by 30.1%. The unprecedented hike, revealed in the latest Xeneta Shipping Index (XSI) public indices for the contract market, means that long-term rates are now 150.6% up year-on-year. In 2022 alone, costs have climbed by 55%.
Splash 247.com
The US East Coast’s busiest port complex is bracing for a summer of delays and congestion as container ships avoid the clogged West Coast gateways and traffic picks up from Asia. Ongoing supply-chain issues and uncertainty around labor talks at the US’s largest gateways in California have led carriers to seek alternative locations in other parts of the country.
Bloomberg
