Author: Christina Comben

Amazon continued its online-to-offline strategy this week with its latest appearance in central London. The online retailer opened a “pop-up” store on Baker Street, looking to get in-person feedback from its shoppers on store experience, the quality of its clothes, and prices.

It’s the first European fashion store by Amazon. The physical location closes on Saturday, after five days of sales, fashion, and social events.

Yoga Sessions for a Top Shopping Experience

In London, the store provided autumn and winter clothes from various producers, including Amazon’s labels, as well as popular brands, such as New Look and Calvin Klein.

Besides clothes and accessories, the pop-up store came complete with a special program for all five days. The events were intended to provide clients with a unique shopping experience.

People who shopped in the Amazon London store could attend live-music events, panel discussions on style and beauty trends, yoga sessions, and even denim customization by Pepe Jeans.

The concept behind the London pop-up store is related to Amazon’s need to get valuable feedback from its customers. People were asked to fill in questionnaires to share their opinions and communicate what they expected from the retailer.

A spokeswoman for Amazon’s UK fashion business for The Guardian said:

“We know with fashion, customers love to touch and feel the product. We are definitely an e-commerce brand, and that is a part of everything we do, but we are experimenting and trying new things. The pop-ups we have done before have been really successful, and we were ready to try it for fashion. It really is a test.”

Amazon took the traditional shopping experience to another level. In the pop-up store, shoppers could use Amazon Fire tablets to learn more about current offers. They could also buy and take away items or scan codes using Amazon’s app and order products for home delivery.

Amazon Builds a Solid Brick-and-Mortar Infrastructure

Offline stores aren’t new to Amazon. In 2017, the giant e-commerce company opened a real store in London, especially for Black Friday. Moreover, the company bought Whole Foods last year and has been opening a significant number of Amazon pop-ups and bookstores across the US and UK.

Amazon also recently opened a new store in New York, Amazon 4-star, where people can shop for products that have received good and very good ratings from shoppers online–four stars and above. The new location also sells items from trending and top sellers (with or without having the four-star rating).

Featured image Amazon.

It’s no secret that the Chinese are gaining ground when it comes to the smartphone battle. While both Samsung and Apple are starting to make concessions to the rising popularity of cheaper manufacturers like Huawei and Oppo, by releasing cheaper devices, Samsung’s upping the ante with bendable phones and 5G.

Samsung Always Good on Hardware

While staunch iPhone fanatics will tell you there is no rival (just ask Ksenia Sobchak) it’s well-known that Samsung devices beat them out time and again when it comes to hardware. Better cameras, longer batteries, etc.

So, the South Korean tech giant is rushing to finish their latest phone for next year, a bendable device that it hopes will corner a market niche.

The folding phone will feature an OLED screen that is curved on both sides. It also has round corners and practically no bezel whatsoever at the top or bottom.

Around the same size as the 5.8-inch S9 model, Samsung’s new folding phone comes packed with additional ammo in the shape of triple cameras on the back. There are also plans for a plus version later on in the year.

Experimenting with Different Models

Samsung is experimenting with different phone features and models to cut down costs, including one that comes with no headphone jack. All S10s will come with 5G and Google’s Android Pie operating system.

The foldable screen device goes by the code name of “Winner,” and has been in the works for years according to Samsung insiders. They’re now debating over whether the design should be longer horizontally or longer vertically when fully open.

It seems that the landscape model isn’t as popular with consumers since the portrait version is easier to carry with one hand.

There’s no fingerprint sensor because flexible screens don’t register fingerprints well. The prototype of the bendy phone weighs some 200 grams due to its screens, which makes it heavier than other devices and may force Samsung to reduce the battery size.

Market Ready?

Not yet. The screen’s hinge is still being tested. Although it has fared well in all the experiments, once a phone is mass produced, that’s often when the technical problems arise and if this phone’s screen cracks, it will shatter like a broken mirror.

The folding phone may not be ready until the second half of next year, but it will be interesting to see how Apple responds to the raised stakes.

Featured image YouTube.

Ever wondered where the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund is? You’d probably imagine a country like Switzerland, the UK, or Germany. However, Norway is actually home to the oil fund that owns an average of 1.4% of every listed company in the world. Let that sink in for a minute.

This Friday, the Norweigan fund Norges Bank Investment Management launched its latest push on corporate governance, specifically focusing on board members.

In its line of fire are large companies like JPMorgan, General Motors, and Facebook. It says that board directors should not combine the company roles of CEO and chairman. Just as well Mr. Musk has already stepped down.

World’s Largest Sovereign Wealth Fund Is Worth $970 Billion

You don’t hear much about Norway, apart from maybe the northern lights, grueling winters, a penchant for strong liquor, and of course, salmon. Yet, Norway is home to the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world worth $970 billion. And that kind of wealth gives you a serious amount of clout when it comes to decision-making and dishing out advice.

This Friday, the Norweigan oil fund released three papers that talk about how chairmen should chair at one company only and how non-executive directors should sit on no more than five boards.

With a 1.4% stake in every company on the planet, the fund also says that an independent director must have “fundamental industry insight” to be able to chair.

A Push on Corporate Governance

The papers released today also take the view that chief executives should not be able to chair for the same company, highlighting that this is a frequent occurrence especially in high-profile US companies including Bank of America, Amazon, and Facebook.

The fund wrote in one of its position papers:

“We believe that a clear division of roles and responsibilities is necessary to ensure effective oversight and controls. This may be particularly relevant when monitoring management performance and deciding on a remuneration policy for the CEO and management.”

This push on corporate governance comes after a scathing attack on executive paychecks last year and positioning itself against popular long-term incentive plans of many companies.

The fund also reported a 2.1% profit return in quarter three, with Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft boosting its portfolio, while Tencent, Bayer, and Facebook helped to drag it down.

Featured image from Shutterstock.