2020.12.04
INDUSTRY NEWS - 2020.12.04
1、智慧財產權是紡織行業的核心競爭力
眾所周知，專利是由政府(含政府間組織)授予的，在一定期間內、在本國或地區範圍內的對其發明創造所擁有的排它性權利。通過對紡織領域的專利申請數量、專利申請類型、專利構成類別等的統計，可以分析紡織專利的發展趨勢，瞭解紡織各技術領域的技術創新情況。
我國專利申請整體上呈逐漸增長趨勢
截至2019年，我國專利申請整體上呈逐漸增長的趨勢，年均增長率達26%。
紡織專利在我國專利技術領域總體處於弱勢
我國紡織品出口在取得快速發展的同時,不得不面對競爭越來越激烈的智慧財產權保護。發達國家和跨國公司動輒提起紡織品智慧財產權爭端和訴訟，國內紡織品企業受到較大衝擊。據統計，自從我國入世以來，我國企業遭遇較大的國際專利糾紛，有20多起訴訟案賠償金逾10多億美元。智慧財產權訴訟也不僅僅是法律手段，而更是紡織品市場策略和競爭手段。抽取國內部分印染企業專利儲備情況，專利儲備參差不齊。
紡織專利處於弱勢地位的原因
創新能力不足。雖然我國紡織行業產業鏈完整、產業規模大、企業數量多，但其整體上還是以代加工為主，產品檔次水準不高，企業經營和管理經驗相對缺乏，技術發展以跟進模仿為主，自主創新能力有待提高。
智慧財產權保護意識薄弱，隨著產業升級改造，技術大幅進步，企業自主創新能力逐漸增強，企業需要制度上重視對技術等智慧財產權的保護。
社會公共服務不完善。紡織企業規模大小不一，“小(規模小)、散(比較分散)、遠(處於中小城市，且遠離市區)”特點明顯，而相應的專利代理機構較少，再加上專利申請相關知識不足，使智慧財產權保護意識原本就較弱的企業的積極性嚴重受挫。
人才匱乏。企業在智慧財產權管理方面的人才缺失嚴重，且社會對此類人才的培養和需求相對較少。但近幾年隨著國家政策的引導支持以及企業智慧財產權保護意識的增強，智慧財產權相關領域的專業人才已成為就業熱點。
專利對紡織企業的影響和作用
市場競爭優勢
擁有專利提高了企業的市場地位，相關產品容易宣傳推廣、容易打開市場，有利於在市場競爭中取勝。有專利證書的企業擁有對所開發技術的合法壟斷，有利於保護企業產品在市場上的銷售份額，並贏得顧客忠誠度與美譽度。專利可以説明企業提高產品品質，提升經營業績，從而獲得良好聲譽樹立形象，進一步增強企業抵禦各類風險的能力。
融資管道優勢
各省市科技廳和人民銀行中心支行都有政策規定，企業可用專利證書質押獲得銀行貼息貸款，中小企業通過專利證書，就可以解決融資難的問題。擁有專利證書的企業也容易找到風險投資，容易在國內和國外上市，快速發展企業，快速積聚財富。
政策優惠
擁有專利證書的企業有機會申請成為高新技術企業，可以獲得政府的創新獎勵與扶持，在稅收、人才引進、貸款、關稅等方面享受一定的優惠政策。
內部凝聚
擁有專利技術，有利於使技術人員保持技術的先進性，激發技術人員發明創造的積極性，增強銷售人員對產品的自信，使企業形成凝聚力。
長遠發展
專利使企業獲得發明、商標、外觀設計或版權的保護，企業為了保持專利競爭優勢，就必須不斷加強技術投資，增強創新能力，並對專利的商業運作、市場開發、技術研發形成良好的動態管理，從而對企業的長遠發展形成良好影響。
綜述，專利對紡織企業的影響和作用體現在各個方面，構成了企業的核心競爭力，有利於企業的長遠發展。
資料來源：紡織網 (2020年12月3日)
2、中國11月製造業PMI三年高 連續9月擴張 復甦加快貿易回暖
中國製造業活動持續擴張，國家統計局公布，11月份中國製造業採購經理指數（PMI）升至52.1，創2017年9月以來最高，並勝預期，亦較10月高0.7個百分點，連續9個月位於盛衰分水嶺以上，反映製造業復甦加快。另外，11月份非製造業商務活動指數增0.2個百分點至56.4，顯示非製造業延續穩中向好的恢復態勢。
國家統計局服務業調查中心高級統計師趙慶河表示，11月份製造業PMI報52.1，各項分類指數普遍改善，製造業市場活力進一步增強，恢復性增長明顯加快，主要是產需兩端協同發力，生產指數和新訂單指數為54.7和53.9，分別較10月份高出0.8和1.1個百分點，均上升至年內高點。
行業分化 紡織服裝景氣差
同時，進出口景氣度穩步回暖，新出口訂單指數和進口指數為51.5和50.9，分別按月改善0.5和0.1個百分點，亦為年內高位，保持逐月回升走勢，意味進出口持續恢復向好。隨着近期大宗商品價格普遍上漲，以及企業生產、採購活動加快，11月製造業原材料採購價格和產品銷售價格均錄得明顯升幅。
不過，調查結果顯示，製造業恢復情況仍不均衡，其中紡織服裝服飾業PMI今年來持續位於臨界點下，行業景氣度偏弱。出口企業中，反映受人民幣滙率波動影響的企業佔比為18.8%，按月多1.7個百分點；有企業透露，近期人民幣持續升值導致利潤受壓，出口訂單有所減少。
11月官方非製造業商務活動指數升至56.4，是2012年6月以來最高。從行業情況看，鐵路運輸、航空運輸、金融等行業商務活動指數等均位於60以上高位景氣區間，業務總量明顯增長；房地產、生態保護與環境治理等行業商務活動指數降至臨界點以下，景氣度有所回落。至於綜合PMI產出指數則為55.7，較10月升0.4個百分點，顯示企業生產經營活動持續加快。
人幣升值 出口企添壓
華興證券預計，隨着中國產業鏈與供給等領域的優勢持續顯現，國內大循環為主體、國內國際雙循環相互促進的新發展格局持續推進，中國經濟發展和外貿進出口企穩向好勢頭將繼續鞏固，中國出口在全球的市場份額有望進一步提升，第四季度外貿形勢料維持高景氣。
此外，中信証券固收團隊分析，人民幣持續升值，開始對出口企業訂單構成影響，若人民幣進一步上揚，或會進一步擾動紡織、家具等出口導向型企業的生產經營。
資料來源：信報財經 (2020年12月1日)
3、經濟明年風險高 企業可以「休眠」
中國經濟踏入12月，一件大事是召開中央經濟工作會議，將討論來年重大調控政策。會前經濟界熱議來年經濟走勢，有極為樂觀的有相當審慎的，國務院則有未雨綢繆的思路，新近提出企業「休眠」制，引來更熱烈的討論。
近期不同機構都在預測來年中國經濟大勢，暫時樂觀派佔了主流，目前最樂觀的預測，說來年中國經濟增速將重回8%以上，而且2021年一季度，中國經濟就可再現雙位數增長，達到11%以上的增速。其主要理由，是來年中國第十四個五年規劃開局，以及經濟方方面面都有疫後反彈。
但另一派持較審慎態度的經濟學者，認定中國經濟明年仍是恢復性增長中，經濟增速可能拉高，有可能是與今年同期比較，相對於今年一季度的負增長，明年一季度有較高增速不奇怪，但必須看到中國經濟外循環面臨挑戰，內循環還要轉型，所以經濟大勢不能太樂觀，還應看其他重要指數，比如就業。
外部不確定 復存3大挑戰
建制內的智庫，領下的研究課題是明年中國經濟面臨着哪些風險，又有哪些挑戰。除了有共識的外部不確定因素之外，有報告提出三大挑戰最值得關注，也即需求不足有待恢復、就業仍然未穩、企業生產壓力仍大，活力未現。有可能參酌到這些現實的挑戰的，國務院近日提出了企業「休眠」的安排，一下子引起企業、地方政府、經濟學界三方面的熱議。
所謂企業「休眠」的安排，是國務院根據企業和地方的意見建議，在落實保市場主體、進一步深化放管服改革、優化營商環境，提出對面臨短期經營困難，不得不暫時歇業停業的企業，在不能達到過往要求的連續兩個年度未報送年度報告，即被吊銷企業營業執照，允許給這類企業以一定的「休眠期」，使這些企業可以合法存續，保證其經營資格和主體資格的連續性。
留水養魚 免大批企業關停
對這一安排，有歡迎也有質疑。歡迎的意見，是相信這一安排等同留水養魚，令暫時遭遇經營困難的企業可以喘口氣，回回血，創造條件重新上馬，更好的經營。不僅對企業有利，而且對經濟大局來說，就不會出現大批企業關停的衝擊。
提出質疑的主要是代表地方政府、金融機構等等利益方，認為這一安排涉及制度的改變，可能出現負面影響，比如這些企業的銀行貸款如何展延、企業員工如何與休眠同步有收入，地方的稅務、社保基金等繳納可能打亂等等。
消息說，國務院方面提出這一安排，已有準備面對出現的問題，可能推廣的是深圳模式。面對今年出現的經濟困難，深圳在今年8月已率先試行企業「休眠」的安排，深圳主要面對中小企業，特別是經營貿易業務的中小企業，試行數月來，算是有一套成功的經驗。
有智庫學者相信，企業「休眠」的安排，在員工安置、社保、工資等企業義務方面的落實，都可以推出政策保障，目前難度較大的，是要考慮是否修法，否則可能受到公司法等相關法律法例的挑戰。
資料來源：香港經濟日報 (2020年12月2日)
4、美網絡星期一銷售889億新高 英零售商Topshop母企申破產保護
美國人今年提早購物，但在新冠疫情持續蔓延下，美國「網絡星期一」（Cyber Monday）銷售仍打破紀錄達114億美元（約889億港元），較去年的94億美元（約733億港元）大幅上升21.2%，但低於數據分析公司Adobe Analytics上周預期的127億美元。上周的「黑色星期五」（Black Friday）帶來90億美元（約702億港元）購物消費，亦較最初估計的103億美元（約803億港元）遜色。另一方面，英國時裝品牌Topshop母公司Arcadia Group申請破產保護。
Adobe數碼分析董事施賴納（Taylor Schreiner）指出，疫情、總統大選以至財政刺激措施，都對今年消費者購物行為有很大影響，也為電子商貿及網上購物提供前所未有的推動力，預期由目前至聖誕節期間，將可以繼續見到網上銷售額屢破紀錄。他估計約有三成消費者在「網絡星期一」晚上7時至11時最後衝刺，購入割價貨品。
物流需求急漲 運費高企
不過，今年大減價貨品不多，因為零售商早已呼籲消費者提早購物，如果在「網絡星期一」有大割價貨品，將會令消費者不高興。此外，運輸經營成本飆升，運費持續高企。倉庫強制實施保持社交距離措施，物流商包括聯合包裹（UPS）和聯邦快遞（FedEx）貨運需求都急增。
網購火爆，但傳統老牌百貨店則前路茫茫。有242年歷史的英國老牌百貨公司Debenhams今年4月申請行政託管，尋覓白武士。不過，由於在Debenhams店內開設大量專櫃的英國時裝品牌Topshop母公司Arcadia Group申請破產保護，有意收購Debenhams的JD Sports Fashion知難而退，最終放棄商討。
Debenhams周二表示，將準備結束所有店舖，去年入股的投資者包括Silver Point Capital and GoldenTree資產管理公司都要蒙受損失高達7.2億英鎊（約74.5億港元），受影響的員工合共1.2萬人。
Debenhams關舖恐炒1.2萬人
Arcadia申請破產保護，危及當地1.3萬個工作職位，其欠下私募基金Apollo約3.1億英鎊，以及員工退休金約2.1億英鎊，合共5.2億英鎊（約53.8億港元）恐怕化為烏有。Arcadia已委任德勤為接管人，強調所有門市如常經營，暫時沒有裁員計劃。Arcadia英國經營444間店舖，其他地方亦有22間分店。
資料來源：信報財經 (2020年12月2日)
5、騰訊馬化騰於《三觀》前言全文 談對2020年的感悟
騰訊 （00700） 首席執行官馬化騰於騰訊集團年度特刊《三觀》中前言的全文。不管時代怎麼改變，在商業世界裡有一些基礎的原則是不會變的。比如說為用戶創造價值，去一線發現問題。
騰訊已經走過了22年的歷程，我們積累了自己的企業文化。我也常常思考什麼是騰訊人最基礎的東西？不管是對人，還是公司，重大挑戰時刻的選擇，往往最能凸顯你真正的價值觀和最樸素的信仰。
2020年無疑是充滿挑戰的一年。在這一年，我們為新冠疫情和國際局勢的變化擔憂，也為公司上下在面對挑戰時展現出的團結協作、堅韌擔當感到欣慰。從年初武漢疫情爆發，隨後在全球蔓延，中美關係不斷惡化，8月微信在美國被捲入爭端，各種不確定性前所未有地加大。行業格局也發生了很大變化，新的獨角獸，從幾十億、幾百億到幾千億美元的公司迅速成長起來。
在互聯網這個快速疊代的行業，企業的發展只有進行時，沒有完成時。作為一家22歲的公司，我們如何繼續成長，回顧過去這特殊的一年，我有一些感悟。
往內看，真正有價值的需求都是簡單樸素的
今年沖到億級用戶的騰訊會議，是從開會投屏這個最簡單的內部需求入手的，經過兩三年時間打磨成型。小龍他們當時做QQ郵箱時，包括我在內，團隊都把QQ郵箱變成了自己的工作郵箱。用戶需求復雜多變，有時用戶自己很難清楚地表達到底需要什麼。
所以往內看，把自己當成用戶是一個很好的方法。真正重要的需求是有共性的。我們最早做即時通信，判斷一個功能好還是不好，用戶喜不喜歡，都會問自己：這個是不是實用，是不是好用，是不是容易用？我們以一種用戶的心態去本能地捕捉用戶價值，不是理性，而是本能。就是這樣一個簡單的做法，樸素、直接、有效。
去一線，找戰場、找方法
騰訊廣告數據管理平台（DMP）今年經歷了大規模重組，數據團隊走到一線，和投手直接溝通後才理解了客戶的痛點，並以此為起點，開始了後台系統的改造。
過去工程師很少走到前台來與客戶接觸，但在數字化過程中，從消費互聯網到產業互聯網，各行各業都在發生深刻的變化，甚至工作的流程、生意的邏輯、行業生態都在劇變。廣告、內容領域已全面轉向數據驅動，金融、零售、教育、醫療的變革也已開始。
技術正在全鏈條地重塑產業生態的每一個環節，從生產製造到物流營銷。對於新的技術趨勢的理解需要跨部門、跨公司、跨領域的協作，環環相扣，步步銜接。這是一個共同進化的過程，如同生物進化一樣，每一個個體的選擇將影響到最終演化的路徑。反應的速度也是影響的關鍵因素。在這樣的變革面前，無論To B還是To C，每個人都要打破傳統的界限，盡可能去一線尋找解決問題的方法與思路，才能重新定位，更快到達下一個路標。
往前看，抓住機會
今年是公司成立22週年，也是深圳經濟特區建立40週年。站在這個節點，能夠更真切地感受到我們與這座城市、與國家命運的同頻共振。公司在成長過程中，經歷過幾次大的跨越。 22年前，公司在賽格園區辦公室起步時，一無所有，最艱難的時候連服務器都買不起。
但我們一直有一種敢拼敢闖不服輸的精神，一路從即時通信拓展到內容服務更多領域，從PC時代走到移動互聯網時代，這兩年又深耕產業互聯網，不斷打開了新的空間和戰場。在企業的成長中有一些關鍵機會，跨過去能飛得更遠，跨不過去會掉隊，甚至倒下。
現在，一個令人興奮的機會正在到來，移動互聯網十年發展，即將迎來下一波升級，我們稱之為全真互聯網。從實時通信到音視頻等一系列基礎技術已經準備好，計算能力快速提升，推動信息接觸、人機交互的模式發生更豐富的變化。
這是一個從量變到質變的過程，它意味著線上線下的一體化，實體和電子方式的融合。虛擬世界和真實世界的大門已經打開，無論是從虛到實，還是由實入虛，都在致力於幫助用戶實現更真實的體驗。從消費互聯網到產業互聯網，應用場景也已打開。通信、社交在視頻化，視頻會議、直播崛起，遊戲也在雲化。隨著VR等新技術、新的硬件和軟件在各種不同場景的推動，我相信又一場大洗牌即將開始。就像移動互聯網轉型一樣，上不了船的人將逐漸落伍。
以正為本，迎難而上
長期來看，如何應對內外各種挑戰，把握關鍵機會？外部環境很難左右，關鍵還在於發展自己的能力。在《基業長青》中，柯林斯推崇那些更注重自我改進，而不是把對手當作最終目標的公司。對我們也是如此，在這個黑天鵝滿天飛的時代，我們更需要目光向內。
從這本年刊裡，我們可以看到公司不同團隊的努力方向，都聚焦在打造科技與文化的基礎實力上，在不同領域踐行公司“正直、進取、協作、創造”的價值觀。企業就像一個火車頭，在路上需要有人不斷貢獻，才能推動火車不斷前進。在我們的價值觀裡，正直是最基本的。
正直是一種信仰，正直也是規則和底線。我們堅持正直，是因為相信這樣做是好的、對的，不是為了“成功”。當然，不能剝奪我們堅持正直純粹也能成功的機會，儘管可能會更難一些。對正直的堅持，吸引了一批秉持同樣價值觀的同路人，也幫助我們自省、反思與向善，這是騰訊一路走來的基石。
雖然外部困難和變化在常態化，我們要以正為本，迎難而上。在疫情中，我們全體總動員，在科技向善的使命感召下，跨越障礙，同心戰疫，與很多國內外合作夥伴、機構結下生死之交，也讓我們更加堅定了我們的選擇。六年前，我們提出，騰訊要做連接器，不僅要把人連接起來，也要把服務與設備連接起來。疫情期間的特殊經歷讓我們更進一步認識到連接的價值，一切的技術最終都要服務於人。繼續深化人與人的連接，服務與服務的連接，讓連接創造價值，這是我們不斷進化的方向。
資料來源：香港經濟日報 (2020年12月2日)
6、梁婉玲領The Mills延續香港故事 細談紗廠情意結 辦創業賽激勵新世代
紡織及製衣業曾是香港經濟重要命脈，扎根於荃灣的南豐紗廠，見證本地紡織工業的黃金時代，項目2018年完成活化，搖身變成集創新科技、文化、藝術及學習體驗於一身的保育項目「The Mills」，讓訪客探索不斷延續而又真實的香港故事。肩負傳承重任的領軍人物，是南豐紗廠市場總監梁婉玲（Ellie），曾任電訊盈科（00008）助理副總裁的她，2016年毅然轉換事業跑道，挑戰地產領域；Ellie日前接受專訪，暢談個人的「工廠情意結」，以及紗廠項目背後理念。
香港寸金尺土，活化保育要結合商業，達致可持續發展，殊不容易，偏偏Ellie選擇迎難而上，放棄任職11年半的電盈高薪厚職，加盟The Mills，「工作性質好唔一樣，純粹覺得個項目有意思，咪試下囉！」
Ellie不諱言，以往對傳統紗廠的印象來自一位朋友，「以前佢媽媽喺紗廠做嘢，佢話廠內好嘈，聽唔到人講嘢，好辛苦」。雖對紗廠認識不多，但在Ellie心中，工廠本身是充滿兒時美好回憶地方，「細個媽媽做製衣工廠，嗰陣小學返半日，放學後全個下晝都喺工廠度過，跟住媽咪。」Ellie憶述，當年常於貨架旁邊睡午覺，「八十年代製衣業仲好蓬勃，個車（衣）間有百幾架衣車，媽媽負責包裝，佢啲同事姐姐好nice，成日請我食嘢，又買筆畀我，因為嗰度得我一個細路；所以我好明白舊工廠『人情味元素』幾重要，同埋當年間廠喺葵涌，我喺呢頭（長）大，對荃灣又係另一份情意結。」
活化昔日光景凝聚人情
然而隨着時代變遷，香港經濟命脈由傳統製造業轉型至金融服務業，紡織業的輝煌歷史，新一代已漸陌生，Ellie不無感慨，「（金融主導）係無壞，但大家好似忘記咗，香港起家係靠雙手；點解活化紗廠咁有意義？就係想畀年輕一代睇到，香港點樣一路走來，紗廠係將香港由漁村，變成以製造工業為骨幹，其中好重要嘅里程碑，自己童年都叫喺工廠『生活』過，好理解嗰份人情味。」為重拾舊情懷，改頭換面的南豐紗廠，去年中秋特意舉行盆菜宴，請來逾100位紗廠舊工友和家屬，圍爐敍舊閒話當年，「有啲好後生，六十頭，最大年紀係一位電工叔叔，九十幾歲；場面好感動，佢哋多年無見，但嗰種情誼、親切感仍然喺度；帶佢哋重遊紗廠，不知幾雀躍，仲會拗呢度唔係原本嘅四、五、六廠，笑死。」
理念與人情味重要，Ellie轉工另一原因，是性格使然，「由細到大我鍾意乜都試、乜都問，好細個嗰陣我做過穿膠花剪線頭，唔係為賺錢，只係屋企樓下有專門剪線頭舖頭，屋邨啲師奶要湊細路，最多咪落去做下呢啲，識揸鉸剪就做得，我見得意咪又叫人畀我試下，原來好辛苦，要剪得靚同貼都唔易。」
三歲定八十，長大後Ellie不改愛發問愛嘗試本色，「有次喺上海見人吹玻璃，又叫人畀我試下，結果（玻璃）原封不動，超難，要好大力，但起碼試過你知道難，有得着，所以我好鼓勵年輕人，唔知得唔得唔緊要，不妨試下先。」
這信念驅使The Mills於2017年起，連續3年舉辦學生暑期創業比賽，協助他們接觸工作世界及規劃未來，發展創業理念，Ellie印象最深是首年曾有一間參與活動學校，學生均有SEN（特殊學習需要），活動要求他們採用紡織物料製造物件，解決日常生活問題。
「有個中四五嘅男仔好得意，未瞓醒兩手揈揈入來，一埋位就伏低瞓覺，我亦無理佢；到佢醒返，見同場其他女仔唔識車衫，就周圍幫人車車車，之後施施然走咗，大家先知佢車嘢咁叻。」Ellie解釋，年輕人愈早知道個人長處及未來方向，愈能及早起步，「輸贏唔係重點，希望大家喺過程度學到嘢，但我一定要令活動成為比賽，否則佢哋會好hea。」「就如我自己嘅成長，有時聽到啲嘢，嗰一刻唔明，之後喺一個啱嘅情景，就會恍然大悟，所以我希望同學仔將來人生路上，有一刻記得試過呢件事，幫到佢哋，我覺得已經值得。車衣只係手段，最主要鼓勵佢哋諗多啲、試多啲。」Ellie如是說。
未來安排更多學生到訪
自古成功在嘗試，正如Ellie由電盈轉投The Mills，亦是出於「試咗先」心態，「初初會擔心，始終兩個完全唔同行業，但原來之前marketing（市場推廣）嘅知識同經驗，過到嚟都用得到，同埋喺舊東家（電盈）係追數、追數再追數，以生意為目標，學到嗰套模式，嚟到（南豐）都受用。」
「你要令件事sustainable（可持續），其中一樣好重要嘅，係當生意嚟做，只不過回報唔係為錢，呢度嘅mission（任務）係inspiration（靈感）、innovation（創新）、傳承，你點樣講個故事畀人聽？都係branding（品牌化）、content marketing（內容營銷）。」Ellie娓娓分享心得。
談到未來目標，她說希望與更多學校合作，安排學生到訪，了解本地紡織業興衰，「雖然行業風光不再，但We made by history（我們由歷史組成），你唔知個根，點樣繼續走落去呢？提起南豐紗廠，人人都話好熟，相反你問最出名嘅穿膠花廠，無人記得，唔係要比較，但紡織業真係喺香港發展史佔咗舉足輕重角色。」
嶄新營運模式 傳承賺錢兼備
The Mills是本港首個以紡織業為主題的私人活化項目，除引入餐飲零售等商業元素，亦設有紡織文化藝術中心，並提供培訓及投資計劃，支援時尚科技初創企業，但梁婉玲（Ellie）坦言早期遇到不少困難，「市場之前無呢種商業模式，搵合作夥伴傾，佢哋好難理解The Mills係乜嘢，會問『喂！究竟你係做生意定點樣？』。」
當時甚至有陰謀論者認為，項目只是照抄上海新天地模式，想「做旺個區」，惠及南豐在區內其他物業，「我話Sorry呀，南豐喺荃灣係無物業嘅，得返呢度（紗廠），南豐中心都賣埋，只係人哋keep返個名。」亦有人質疑項目「好心做壞事」，令附近樓價租金攀升，「我唔可以話唔會，但咁樣只係單一角度去睇件事。」
「每樣嘢都有利有弊，最主要係你想為個社會做啲乜，就算你做生意，都係對個社會做緊啲嘢，好似我以前做Now TV體育台，提供娛樂畀觀眾，都係一種contribution（貢獻），咁我要唔要賺錢？梗係要！啲節目唔會免費送到你個電視機。好多人問，你The Mills要賺錢定要傳承？喂點解唔可以兩樣都要？當然我哋唔係要賺到盡，否則用嚟發展地產項目賺多好多。」Ellie如是說。
另一挑戰在於項目位置，她承認The Mills離港鐵站較遠，交通是個考慮，「你知對香港人來講，兩分鐘步程都太長，最好地鐵站上蓋」，因此紗廠要經常構思不同活動，催谷人流，例如早前萬聖節的「紗廠怪朋友」活動，便吸引大批市民一家大小到場。
編織生活節改網上舉行
為慶祝兩周年，紗廠原定周末（12月5日及6日）舉行「WeWeave編織生活節」，惟近日新冠肺炎疫情急速惡化，活動只好移師網上進行，屆時將直播多位本地唱作人於紗廠的音樂演出，文創市集亦改為網上市集。
資料來源：信報財經 (2020年11月30日)
7、Microsoft進軍時裝界？Windows像素風聖誕醜冷衫竟賣斷市
臨近聖誕，又是商家出擊「搵真銀」之時。科技巨企微軟（Microsoft）最近進軍時裝界，推出聖誕醜冷衫（MS Paint Ugly Sweater），冷衫以經典應用軟件《小畫家》（MS Paint）為主題，配上懷舊的《Windows》像素風格。雖然 IT 公司賣冷衫 sell 標誌不是人人能接受，但這件冷衫已經售罄。
這件「醜冷衫」以經典應用軟件《小畫家》為主題，配搭像素風格的滴管、油漆刷及開始鍵符號，讓整件冷衫都是懷舊的《Windows》像素風格。雖然冷衫的款式醜，卻心意滿滿：微軟會把此冷衫的收益金額捐給「Girls Who Code」婦女編程培訓的非牟利機構。
其實早在 2018 年微軟曾經推出以《Windows 95》為主題的冷衫，到 2019 年則推出《Windows XP》圖案冷衫。在 2020 年，則換成《小畫家》主題。目前 3 件冷衫都在微軟網站售賣，但一早已售罄。
資料來源：香港經濟日報 (2020年12月3日)
8、利華控股：疫下收購機會多 拓產品綫 奉行輕資產營運 專注服務高檔品牌
新冠肺炎衝擊全球經濟，零售及旅遊相關行業最受影響，利華控股集團 （01346） 今年上半年業績亦受影響。但其執行主席司徒志仁接受專訪時表示，疫情對集團亦有正面影響，主要是市場上出現更多收購的機會。
主要為時裝品牌提供生產及技術顧問與支援的利華控股，今年上半年的收益按年下降33.8%。司徒志仁解釋，主要受歐美市場對服裝的需求下降有關，「上班服的需求跌得厲害，運動服及家居服需求，不同品牌的銷售只是持平或輕微上升。」他指，年初工廠停工幾星期，影響反而不算大。
歐美不少服裝零售品牌的銷售也下跌60%甚至70%，由於該集團的客戶，多走高檔路綫，且不少是網絡原生品牌，故整體收益跌幅較低。他補充指，該集團奉行「輕資產營運模式」，轉身較快；同時看好下半年的全球服裝銷售情況，較上半年好。
上市集資 資金進行合併
該集團上市集資，主要希望吸納資金進行收購合併。司徒志仁指疫情下，市場確實出現更多機會，之前曾接觸並被拒絕的目標公司，今年反過來主動接觸傾談收購事宜。早前，成功購入高端毛衣製造商Vista Apparels Limited，以及高端技術外套製造商瑞士利維高有限公司的若干應收帳款、存貨的預付款項和採購定單。他指出，今年內會繼續進行收購合併。「希望藉着收購拓闊集團的產品綫，為客人提供一站式產品供應及服務。」
逆市下為何仍有信心進行收購？司徒志仁表示，該集團的收購模式不是將整間公司買下，主要因應目標公司老闆的不同需求，買入原材料、應收帳款、存貨的預付款項和採購定單，其客戶及員工也會過渡到利華控股。「員工都會簽新合約，我們大多是付出『營運開支』。」
他進一步解釋，其收購宗旨明確，目標公司都是與利華控股服務同一群客戶，但提供與集團不同的產品。原則上，為減低任何隱藏的稅務、債務風險，不收購整間公司；收購完畢後，該公司的員工及原老闆也會分別併入利華控股的各部中。「客戶歸前綫客戶經理照顧，原老闆成為背後專業顧問團隊的一員。」此舉亦有助減低原老闆再自立門戶的風險，因客戶與團隊也「拆散」了。
成功採用以上收購模式的關鍵，與該集團本身的營運模式有關。利華控股被形容為「網絡原生品牌及傳統高端時尚品牌背後的時尚工程師」，營運模式有別於傳統的「行」及「廠」。
司徒志仁解釋，過往品牌都有自己的設計師及技術人員，「行」助品牌尋找工廠代工及完成相關聯絡，若產品出現問題，也是由廠方負責。利華控股旗下沒有工廠，但擁有各種產品的技術團隊，可因應品牌客戶設計團隊的設計及要求，給予意見的同時，尋找合適工廠及提供生產指導。「品牌向我們下單，有問題我們要負責。」當然，這種營運模式有機會比傳統「行」賺得更多。
他強調，這種營運模式暫時在市場上不多。集團建立了一個平台，上面有各種產品供客戶選擇，客戶可與銷售人員傾談，銷售人員背後有不同產品專家支援。客戶有更多選擇，集團亦可以做更多生意。
疫情改變了人們的生活、企業的營運。司徒志仁表示，輕資產營運模式的好處是轉身較快，如該集團現時的主要生產地已是越南，不再是中國內地。「中美貿易戰未明朗，加上中國內地生產成本上升，已不太適合做勞工密集的低成本生產。」他指現時在中國內地銷售的產品、要求較高技術、產量細的快單，仍留在內地生產。
網絡原生品牌 生意逾半
他相信，同一款式分幾個碼、生產幾千萬件服裝的情況會慢慢改變。「未來消費者要求更有個人特色、更適合自己的產品。」因此，該集團近年已較專注為高檔品牌及網絡原生品牌提供服務。在某些市場，網絡原生品牌帶來的生意逾半。
司徒志仁又稱，網絡原生品牌及傳統品牌在工作文化及模式上也有分別。前者就算開實體店也大多為支援網銷，有些網店的最小存貨單位（Stock Keeping Unit，SKU）可逾200個；後者受限於實體店的經營方式及形象，每個款式的分類不及網店多。不少網絡原生品牌要求細量快單，願意給予較理想的價格，生產商的毛利有機會較高。
因此，該集團未來希望在歐洲市場尋找更多網絡原生品牌合作。「現時不少新品牌都由非傳統服裝業人員創立，我們要主動接觸。」同時，在疫情下，其客戶更接受網上溝通方式，司徒志仁希望進一步發展虛擬貨辦服務，一來可減低成本，二來有助加快流程。
冀減前綫工序 新建B2B平台
新冠肺炎疫情加速企業進行數碼轉型，利華控股集團 （01346） 執行主席司徒志仁表示，集團上市集資其中一個目的，也是希望增加資訊科技上的投資。他坦言，日前集團花了不少氣力建立一個B2B（企業對企業）平台，希望減少前綫工序。
向第三方購入IT系統
現時正在部署「產品生命周期」（Product lifecycle management，PLM）系統，協助管理客戶、自己及工廠三方面的數據。「主要可減少人手輸入數據，加快工序對各方都有好處。」
該集團本身已有部署「企業資源計劃」（Enterprise resource planning，ERP）系統，未來會再加入「客戶關聯管理」（Customer relationship management，CRM）系統。司徒志仁強調，集團不是科技公司，應專注於自己的專長中，不會請專人回來自建系統。IT系統都是由第三方購入，如CRM是採用微軟的系統，網上會議也是用微軟的Teams；網絡安全也外判了給第三方管理。
10年前進駐內地 少依賴港專才
利華控股集團 （01346） 一直奉行「輕資產」的營運模式，現時全球員工約300人，總部設在中國內地。
其執行主席司徒志仁表示：「公司細要轉身夠快，10年前已決定將高層也搬到內地，在生產地及主要市場也有派員駐守。我自己也在內地上班，需要時中港兩邊走。」
10年下來，他指公司的人才已減少依靠香港專才。「不理黑貓還是白貓，捉到老鼠的就是好貓。」招聘時只重視要求，不重視「來源地」。他指內地人才輩出，尤其是曾到外國進修的「海歸」，有些國際視野、語言能力比香港人更好。他寄語香港年輕人，不應只看重香港，應放眼世界。
事實上，人才無分國界，他舉列稱，最近曾與一南亞廠商合作，該小型廠商能使用印刷技術，將花紋印在已準備好的布料上，省卻由頭編織布料的時間。該集團正研究將技術引入內地，與內地工廠合作。
資料來源：香港經濟日報 (2020年12月1日)
9、What’s Inside the LF Logistics ‘Transportation Super Hub’ Near Shanghai
LF Logistics, the logistics arm of Li & Fung, and GLP, a global investment manager and business builder in logistics, have collaborated to implement new technology solutions at the opening of a 24-hour Transportation Super Hub in China’s Jiading district, northwest of Shanghai.
Occupying 6,600 square meters, the Transportation Super Hub allows for fast-in, fast-out cross-docking for the sorting and transportation of merchandise arriving from LF Logistics’ facilities across China to different distributor warehouses and retail locations for efficient national distribution. The super hub employs an advanced sorting system of conveyors and robotics to fully utilize cargo space and achieve a peak throughput of 5,000 cubic meters per day, speeding up the sorting process by 50 percent.
“The super hub represents the first of many steps in the partnership of Li & Fung and GLP,” Dominic Gates, president of LF Logistics, said. “I am proud to see the efficiency and synergies of the two teams in bringing the dock management solution to life so quickly. I look forward to deepening our collaboration in looking for new ways of working and new digital solutions to bring efficiency to our customers.”
The super hub features a double-sided docking warehouse with 19 loading docks to allow efficient, simultaneous cross-docking of cargo without congestion and a 24-hour control tower and operations for real-time order management visibility.
LF Logistics and GLP have collaborated to implement new technology solutions at the opening of a Transportation Super Hub in Shanghai.
A diagram showing the flow of the cloud-based digital dock management solution.
Automation features to enhance efficiency and reduce manual sorting errors include a sorting conveyor with 57 lines for auto sorting with a capacity of 6,000 cartons per hour, a de-palletization robotic arm with a capacity of 600 cartons per hour, a customized warehouse control system for different customers sorting requirements, and a cubic scanner to measure weight and volume of palletized, fragile or irregular size cargoes that cannot be conveyor sorted.
The efficiency of a distribution center is directly linked to both the operations inside the warehouse, as well as the flow of vehicles and merchandise entering and exiting the facility. The high volume of trucks entering and exiting the park within a short window puts great strain on available dock space.
LF Logistics and new partner, G2Link–GLP’s technology division–wanted to create a solution to better match trucks and merchandise with available docks, while enabling the overall entry-assign dock-park-unload-load-confirm-exit process to minimize time spent finding and occupying docks.
The two parties implemented a cloud-based digital dock management solution tailored for LF Logistic’s Super Hub. Applying algorithms and computer vision, the digital dock management solution accelerates and automates the queue management process within the warehouse, reducing overall waiting time by 90 percent. It also enhances the visibility for better scheduling and matching of trucks and merchandise to the available docks. The entire process is paperless and can all be done via the app on the truckers’ smartphone or tablet. After initial monitoring, the solution will be rolled out to other LF Logistics facilites in China and then tailored for overseas markets.
“Li & Fung and GLP have a shared vision of driving the digital supply chain of the future, and the Super Hub is an important milestone in our partnership,” Victor Mok, co-president of logistics and industrial real estate, and chairman and CEO of Asset Service Platform for GLP China, said. “Our collaboration highlights how GLP and Li & Fung are co-creating tools in AI, IoT, automation and other areas that will optimize costs and increase efficiency across the supply chain.”
In May, Li & Fung took itself private and is now owned and managed by the Fung Family and Singapore-headquartered GLP. The Fung Family has controlling interest with 60 percent of the voting shares. GLP has 40 percent of the voting shares and 100 percent of the non-voting shares, resulting in an effective economic ownership of 67.67 percent of Li & Fung.
Source: www.sourcingjournal.com (30 Nov 2020)
10、Shuffle Board: C-Suite Changes at J.Crew, Dick’s, Gap Inc., Victoria’s Secret and IATA
Retail
J.Crew
J.Crew Group announced that Libby Wadle was named CEO, overseeing J.Crew and J.Crew Factory, in addition to her current leadership responsibilities at Madewell.
Jan Singer, who was previously J.Crew Group’s CEO responsible for the J.Crew brands, has elected to pursue other endeavors.
Wadle has more than 25 years of retail and apparel industry experience and has spent the last 16 years at J.Crew, where she has held senior management roles at each brand. Most recently, she served as president and then CEO of Madewell. Before that, she was president of the J.Crew brand, which included oversight of Madewell, from 2013 to 2017.
As of Nov. 24, the company operated 161 J.Crew stores, 144 Madewell stores and 168 J.Crew Factory stores in nearly every state in the United States, and also maintains J.Crew, Madewell and J.Crew Factory websites.
Dick’s Sporting Goods
Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. announced that Edward W. Stack, chairman and CEO, will assume the role of executive chairman and continue as chief merchant on Feb. 1. He also will oversee key strategic growth initiatives for the company.
Stack has served as chairman and CEO of Dick’s since he and his siblings bought his father’s two small sporting goods stores in upstate New York in 1984. Under his leadership and predominantly through organic growth, Dick’s has grown to more than 850 stores and nearly $9 billion in annual revenue.
The company also announced that its board unanimously elected Lauren R. Hobart, president of Dick’s, as president and CEO, also effective Feb. 1. Hobart’s appointment is an important step in the company’s long-term succession plan undertaken by the board and Stack.
Hobart brings more than 25 years of finance, consumer and retail experience and spent 14 years at PepsiCo in various leadership roles before she joined Dick’s as chief marketing officer in 2011. She was appointed president in 2017 and joined the board the following year.
Gap Inc.
Gap Inc. announced that Asheesh Saksena will join the Gap Inc. senior leadership team as chief growth officer, a newly created position that will focus on executing the company’s strategic agenda, as well as leading growth initiatives.
In addition, the company also announced that Sandra Stangl will join Gap Inc. as the new president and CEO of Banana Republic, as the brand redefines affordable luxury.
Saksena most recently served as president of Best Buy Health, where he led the formation and operation of the brand’s strategic diversification into digital health after serving as the company’s chief strategic growth officer.
During her 23 years at Williams Sonoma, Stangl held numerous leadership positions, including president of Pottery Barn Brands. Most recently, she cofounded and was the chief merchant of Mine, a disruptive pure-play home business. Stangl will bring the agility and strategic orientation of a tenured retail executive and entrepreneurial leadership to Banana Republic when she joins in December.
Victoria’s Secret
L Brands Inc. announced several key leadership appointments at Victoria’s Secret.
Martin Waters was named CEO of Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, replacing John Mehas, who has served in the role since February 2019. Waters will report to Stuart Burgdoerfer, interim CEO of Victoria’s Secret and chief financial officer (CFO) of L Brands.
Laura Miller was named chief human resources officer (CHRO) of Victoria’s Secret, Becky Behringer was promoted to executive vice president of North America store sales and operations, and Janie Schaffer was named chief design officer of Victoria’s Secret Lingerie.
Waters joined L Brands in 2008 as head of the international division. Under Martin’s leadership, the international business has expanded from the early phases of incubation to more than 700 stores globally.
Miller most recently served as the CHRO of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines after holding the same post at ADT and Coca Cola Refreshments. Behringer’s most recent role was senior vice president of store operations at Victoria’s Secret, where she oversaw the business’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schaffer previously was director of lingerie and beauty at Marks and Spencer. From 2008 to 2012, she served as head of design for Victoria’s Secret Lingerie.
Macy’s
Macy’s Inc. named Malek Robert Amirshahi as senior vice president of corporate communications, effective Dec. 7.
Amirshahi will be responsible for leading internal and external communications across the enterprise, as well as Macy’s cause work. In this role, he will help drive alignment and consistent messaging across business strategy, transformation, colleague and culture initiatives. He will report to Danielle Kirgan, chief transformation and human resources officer of Macy’s Inc. and will be based in New York City.
Amirshahi is currently senior vice president, corporate communications at Univision Communications Inc., where he manages corporate reputation, employee communications, corporate media relations strategy and execution, and elevates the company’s growth initiatives. Prior to Univision, Amirshahi held several public relations, corporate social responsibility and communications roles at Time Warner Cable, Cox Enterprises and its subsidiaries.
Amirshahi succeeds Cheryl Heinonen, who will be leaving Macy’s Inc. after the holiday season to relocate back home to the West Coast.
Brands
PVH Corp.
PVH Corp. appointed Allison Peterson, chief customer officer for Best Buy Co., and George Cheeks, president and CEO of the CBS Entertainment Group, to its board.
PVH, owner of such brands as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, said their deep experience in successfully navigating consumer disruption will provide perspective as the company continues to evolve as one of the world’s largest apparel companies.
The appointments of Peterson and Cheeks are effective Jan. 26 and March 22, respectively. PVH also announces its intent to appoint Stefan Larsson, president of PVH Corp., to the board as part of its previously announced CEO succession plan.
The addition of Peterson and Cheeks is part of the refreshment process undertaken by the board, as supported by its Nominating, Governance & Management Development Committee.
Burberry
Burberry Group announced that Antoine Bernard de Saint-Affrique was appointed to its board as a non-executive director and member of the Audit and Nomination Committees, effective Jan. 1.
De Saint-Affrique is currently CEO of the Barry Callebaut Group, a manufacturer of chocolate and cocoa product. Prior to that, he held several senior roles at Unilever, latterly as president of the foods division and member of the executive committee.
Textiles
Kornit Digital
Kornit Digital, which develops, manufactures and markets industrial digital printing technologies for the textile industry, announced the appointment of Guy Avidan as president of its newly formed business line focused on accelerating the digital transformation of the textile industry to on-demand sustainable production.
Avidan was chief financial officer (CFO) of Kornit, based in Rosh Haayin, Israel. Kornit said the inflection point in the textile industry and the massive shift to e-commerce continues to accelerate the need to digitally transform the supply chain and adopt on-demand sustainable textile production. The newly formed business line will focus on enabling brands, retailers and marketplaces to realize the benefits of digitization by connecting to the most suitable on-demand production and logistics operations, while ensuring consistency, quality and brand integrity.
The company also announced the appointment of Alon Rozner to replace Avidan as CFO, effective Dec. 1. Previously, Rozner served as the CFO of Orbotech, a global supplier of yield-enhancing and process-enabling solutions for the electronics manufacturing industry.
Trade Shows
Coterie
Coterie, Informa Markets Fashion’s contemporary and advanced contemporary women’s wear trade event, appointed Courtney Bradarich as vice president of events.
Most recently, Bradaric was co-founder and president at Favors Agency, a full-service brand and business development consulting firm, providing strategic advisory to fashion companies seeking U.S. market entry and expansion. Prior to launching Favors, Courtney was women’s show director at Capsule, a U.S.-based men’s and women’s trade show.
Bringing physical and digital marketplaces to the fashion industry, Coterie gathers prominent contemporary women’s wear fashion, footwear and accessories brands with retail buyers from the United States and other worldwide markets.
Logistics
IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO, will step down from his role, effective March 31.
De Juniac made known his intention to step down from the association several months ago, which enabled a search process to facilitate a smooth leadership transition. The IATA Board of Governors will recommend to the 76th IATA Annual General Meeting Nov. 24 the appointment of Willie Walsh, former CEO of International Airlines Group, to become IATA’s eighth director general on April 1.
De Juniac joined IATA in September 2016 from Air France-KLM, where he was chairman and CEO.
Source: www.sourcingjournal.com (27 Nov 2020)
11、Retail Tech Roundup: Neiman, Saks Off 5th, Express Turn to ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’
The weekly Retail Tech Roundup compiles technology news across the supply chain, manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, logistics and fulfillment sectors.
Installment payments
Affirm
Neiman Marcus is partnering with buy now, pay later platform Affirm, which recently filed for an IPO and will be listed on the Nasdaq. Eligible shoppers at the luxury department store can now pay over time on a schedule designed to best fit their needs and budget.
When shopping online, eligible Neiman Marcus shoppers can select Affirm at checkout and split the total cost of any purchase over $50 into simple payments with terms from six weeks to 36 months depending on the cart size, for as low as zero percent APR (annual percentage rate). Customers are shown the total cost of their purchase upfront, according to the payments provider.
Affirm, which partners with more than 6,500 merchants, says that shoppers never pay more than they agree to, and that customers are never charged any late or hidden fees. For example, a $200 purchase might cost $67 per month over three months at zero percent APR.
“Neiman Marcus was founded on the principle of building long-lasting and meaningful relationships with our customers. We are committed to providing all shoppers with access to leading luxury fashion and high-end products, paired with superior service,” said Katie Mullen, chief digital officer, Neiman Marcus Group. “Partnering with Affirm not only allows us to reach customers who need payment flexibility and price transparency in the way they pay, but also increases our sales and average order value.”
Klarna
Saks Off 5th and Express are the latest apparel destinations to implement the Klarna platform, joining Macy’s, which deployed and invested in the buy now, pay later platform in October.
With the partnership, U.S. shoppers on Saksoff5th.com and Express.com can now split their purchases into four interest-free payments. Saks Off 5th also intends to launch Klarna in-store in 2021.
Earlier this month, Express and Klarna kicked off the “Express Cheer” holiday campaign, in which the companies award 100 prizes of $100 gift cards to customers who use Klarna when checking out at Express.com each week through Dec. 21. A total of 700 winners will be selected, including one grand prize winner who will receive a $1,000 Express gift card.
Klarna most recently rolled out a new iOS price drop widget ahead of the holiday designed to enable consumers to stay on top of the latest deals and sales, and debuted new curated holiday “Wish Lists” and personalized deals based on price points, shopping categories and holiday gift recipients.
Last-mile delivery
JoyRun
In another effort to beef up its delivery capabilities, Walmart has acquired select assets of JoyRun, a technology startup that operates a peer-to-peer last-mile delivery platform. Srini Venkatesan, executive vice president at Walmart Global Tech, confirmed in a LinkedIn post that the retail giant acquired the talent, technology platform and IP of the company for an undisclosed sum.
JoyRun connects members of a community and enables users to pick up and deliver items for friends and neighbors. The team already has built a network of approximately 540 official merchant partners, and more than 30,000 people have served as drivers, which the company calls “runners,” since the service launched in 2015.
This acquisition is designed to further augment Walmart’s supply chain team and aid them in their efforts to explore more ways to deliver for customers in the future. For instance, Venkatesan says the company’s runners could complement its Spark program and third-party delivery providers. Spark program delivery drivers are independently contracted, like those from major third-party delivery companies and ride-hailing services.
The company expects the deal to close in the coming weeks. Walmart has bet big on new delivery capabilities in recent years, particularly throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, through work with autonomous vehicles, third-party partnerships such as the recent Instacart collaboration, Express “store-to-door” associate delivery, InHome delivery and even drones.
Fit technology
Wair
Wair, an AI-driven fit solution designed to provide personalized size recommendations that bring the precision of a dressing room fitting online, has emerged from stealth mode and has announced its first partnerships with Cuts Clothing, Rhone and Superdry.
Using proprietary AI technology, Wair works with a network of body dimension data to help apparel brands and retailers put shoppers’ bodies and preferred fit at the center of their business—from design and planning to marketing, sales and customer experience. Wair’s intelligent fit solution is aimed at increasing shoppers’ confidence that a garment will provide the fit they want, which in turn can reduce cart abandonment and returns while increasing conversions. The result is deeper brand loyalty and a healthier bottom line.
“Wair has been an incredibly powerful technology tool for us, and has been instrumental to the success of our brand,” said Steven Borrelli, founder and CEO of men’s fashion brand Cuts Clothing. “Our customers simply type in their size, weight and desired fit and Wair produces the most accurate size. We’ve seen a decrease in returns, have been more accurate in our ordering and are increasing our revenue.”
The platform includes Fit Advisor, Wair’s e-commerce recommendation solution that matches products to a shopper’s individual body measurements and fit preferences. Using this plug-in, brands can help shoppers purchase the best fitting clothes without size sampling and returns. The data created with each use then powers the rest of the Wair platform, which retailers and brands can opt into to get the full value.
With an analytics dashboard, users can track optimized performance metrics and integrate personalized shopper insights throughout planning and sales cycles.
The complete product suite includes solution add-ons such as fit optimization, which generates updated size specifications for optimized fit coverage for a target audience; inventory forecasting, which can predict inventory needs and size runs down to the store level; and ad campaign contribution, which is designed to optimize ad targeting for inventory full value sell through and adjust ad spend based on the body data of shoppers.
“Wair has increased consumer confidence in our sizes, produced significant lift in our checkouts, and helped us become body-first,” Adam Bridegan, chief marketing officer of Rhone, said in a statement. “Knowing our shoppers’ body dimensions helps us evaluate grade rules, plan size runs for next season, and increase full value sell through.”
Brands that have adopted Wair’s solution have experienced an average 50 percent increase in conversions, an 11 percent increase in cart value and a 30 percent reduction in returns. From the shoppers’ point of view, the data shows an 89 percent increase in their confidence around selecting the right size.
The launch comes as the company unveiled proprietary survey data indicating that nearly 80 percent of brands and retailers are not using size and fit recommendation technology, despite the majority (53 percent) stating that determining fit and size was a challenge their customers face when shopping on their site. A quarter of respondents said their e-commerce platform was not at all effective and accurate when it comes to predicting size and fit for their customers.
Additionally, only 30 percent of brands and retailers said their current sell-through rates are satisfactory—with 66 percent of respondents pegging their full value sell through at 60 percent or less.
Gifting
SmartGift
SmartGift has expanded its partnerships with VF Corporation and Pandora Jewelry to offer its gifting services to consumers in Canada, France, Germany, and the U.K.. SmartGift is now available through Timberland Canada’s website and Pandora Canada, France, Germany and UK’s websites.
Through SmartGift’s technology, which is designed to eliminate the fear of returns or sending the wrong size, color, shade, fragrance, etc., the company is seeking to bolster consumer confidence in the gift giving process by having the gift notice arrive instantly and empowering the recipient to customize their perfect gift.
The company is also developing a new, dedicated corporate gifting service which will include an expanded catalog of top branded gift offerings, and customization features for small, medium, and large organizations.
E-commerce marketing
Wunderkind/SmarterHQ
Wunderkind, a performance marketing solutions provider formerly known as BounceX, has acquired e-commerce personalization and segmentation platform SmarterHQ for an undisclosed sum.
This acquisition is designed to speed up Wunderkind’s ability to ship new, high-impact products for enterprise retailers. The initial integration will leverage SmarterHQ’s segmentation for Wunderkind’s SMS platform in an effort to help top e-commerce brands customize their SMS capabilities at scale.
With SmarterHQ, retailers aggregate their in-store, online and in-app data to leverage it across channels. Marketers using the platform would be able to pull detailed audiences to orchestrate tailored messages with unmatched customization.
The Wunderkind platform has already been working with retailers to help them deliver personalized email and SMS messages with the company saying that its identity resolution capabilities have helped some e-commerce retailers drive up to 25 percent of their total digital revenue while scaling their marketable lists across channels.
Wunderkind and SmarterHQ count some of the largest retailers in the U.S. as their clients, like Sam’s Club, Bloomingdale’s, Dillard’s, Uniqlo, Sonos and HelloFresh.
Earlier this year, Wunderkind announced that it reached a milestone of $100 million in annual recurring revenue. The company is tracking towards double-digit growth this year despite the negative economic impacts of Covid-19.
Wunderkind has raised more than $44 million to date and is backed by Battery Ventures, Primary Venture Partners, Cross Creek Advisors, and Contour Venture Partners. SmarterHQ had previously raised over $42 million from investors including Battery Ventures and Simon Property Group. ComCap LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to SmarterHQ in connection with this transaction.
Augmented reality
Resonai
Resonai, an AI and computer vision company, launched Vera Concierge, a mobile application that uses augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) to provide digital concierge services to visitors of retail outlets and commercial buildings.
Built on Vera, Resonai’s enterprise platform transforming any physical space into an intelligent digital environment, Vera Concierge provides personalized assistance, indoor navigation, and context-aware information through an AR interface.
Vera Concierge is part of the Vera suite of applications for use within any commercial building. Other apps include Vera Universal Controller, which offers a way to manage and control all of a building’s IoT-enabled devices from a single, intelligent place; and Vera Maintenance Manager, which uses AR and building intelligence to automate a facility’s maintenance processes and improve the efficiency of its maintenance team. The applications draw on Vera’s 3D semantic understanding of the environment and positional tracking of users within it.
Building tenants and visitors can use Vera Concierge to check in or register upon their arrival and get personalized, contactless information. The app provides turn-by-turn navigation guiding users to their destinations and offers context-aware AR content along the way.
In a retail environment, for example, the app can provide consumers with product information, deliver AR-based brand experiences, or point out where restrooms and other facilities are located. The app provides real-time analytics on traffic flows, user behaviors, product interactions and other valuable data as consumers move through a store or shopping mall, enabling managers to integrate brick and mortar data with ecommerce data to map the complete buyer journey.
Vera also delivers new monetization opportunities for building owners by creating new digital real estate that can be monetized through promotions, sponsorships and branding opportunities.
Digital experience monitoring
SAP/Dynatrace
Software intelligence company Dynatrace has expanded its partnership with SAP to drive better business outcomes during the holiday season and beyond under a multi-year agreement in which the platform will serve as a strategic observability partner for SAP Commerce Cloud.
By embedding Dynatrace’s AI-powered observability and digital experience monitoring capabilities into SAP Commerce Cloud, customers would ideally gain a deeper understanding of applications and microservices running in their environment, including third-party services.
Dynatrace’s digital experience monitoring capabilities, including user monitoring and synthetic monitoring, and answers from its AI engine, Davis, are now available for SAP Commerce Cloud’s digital experience monitoring feature, which customers can subscribe to via the online SAP Store. The solution enables retailers to maximize customer satisfaction and online conversions by optimizing every step in their user journey, from the first click on a mobile app or website, to code-level insights detailing the performance of underlying cloud services.
SAP Commerce Cloud’s digital experience monitoring feature, including Dynatrace’s capabilities, was released in October 2020.
Dynatrace is designed to identify anomalies that can be problematic during major shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, such as mobile app crashes, errors or performance issues, prioritize them by business impact and supply precise root-cause determination. This enables digital teams to understand how application performance and new features influence business KPIs, including conversions and revenue, so they can continuously optimize user experience across mobile, web and other edge-device channels.
“As a part of our digital transformation efforts, we needed to migrate our e-commerce to a more advanced platform. This required digital experience monitoring to understand precisely which improvements to prioritize and ensure everything performs as expected,” said Christoferson Chua, B2B e-commerce lead developer, Asics. “The combined power of Dynatrace digital experience monitoring and SAP Commerce Cloud helps us understand and pinpoint bottlenecks across our e-commerce integrations, enabling our teams to proactively drive innovation and optimizations to achieve a fast and responsive storefront. Ultimately, this allows us to strengthen our relationships with customers and partners, as well as our brand value.”
Packaging and shipping
PackageX
PackageX launched Parcel, a privacy-oriented inbound and outbound shipment and smartphone app with a streamlined interface designed to track all incoming packages without email access. Parcel also can help small home-based businesses maintain a record of sent packages, generate package labels and track deliveries.
Instead of reading emails, Parcel uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology to scan tracking numbers via a phone camera and create a streamlined report of inbound package statuses. Parcel also has AR technology capabilities so consumers or small home businesses can measure their items simply by scanning the box with their smartphones to see shipping speed and price estimates from USPS.
Parcel assists recipients and senders through features including inbound package tracking, which notifies users about incoming packages and tracks these throughout their journey, regardless of which courier service is used, as well as outbound shipment initiation, which allows senders to generate a shipping label, take images of the package and send visually enhanced notifications to recipients without a trip to the courier store.
Additionally, Parcel includes AR-based measurement and shipping estimates, in which AR enables senders to measure the dimensions of their packages, and then see shipping speed and pricing estimates from USPS. Senders can take photos of all outbound shipments to serve as proof of record and recipients can see the contents of their package before it ships.
When paired with PackageX’s flagship software, Mailroom, Parcel enables users to remotely direct mailroom staff to take actions on their packages, including holding them, scanning and forwarding them to a different address or, as in the case of junk mail, destroying them. The app can function for residential, commercial, retail and college and university mailrooms, providing full in-app tracking transparency, delivering automatic package notifications and optimizing the customer experience.
Source: www.sourcingjournal.com (30 Nov 2020)
12、UPS Temporarily Halts Pickup From Gap, Nike, Macy’s as E-Comm Spikes
In a year of record e-commerce sales, the Black Friday weekend appears to have stretched several retailers to their limit—or rather, to the limit of the United Parcel Service (UPS).
UPS notified drivers in an internal message this week to stop picking up packages from six major retailers—Gap Inc., Nike Inc., L.L. Bean Inc., Hot Topic Inc., Macy’s Inc. and electronics retailer Newegg Inc.—according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, which said it had reviewed the message and confirmed its content with UPS workers in different regions. The shipping giant plans to pick up packages from customers who have exceeded their allotted space when capacity is available, a UPS spokesman said.
Despite the reported restrictions, a Gap Inc. spokesperson told Sourcing Journal, “We have been very satisfied with the level of partnership and commitment we have received from our carrier base, and especially that of UPS, and expect that to continue through the holiday season.”
“We are very happy with the performance of our parcel delivery network following the high cyber week demand,” the spokesperson said. “Knowing the unique constraints the industry is facing this peak season, we worked with our carriers early on to collectively build a strategic plan of execution—which includes dynamic pickups at stores.”
A Macy’s spokesperson told Sourcing Journal that the retailer is actively working with UPS and other shipping partners to best manage customer deliveries throughout the busy holiday season.
“While we encourage everyone to shop early, we are committed to getting customers what they need in time for the holiday by offering many easy ways to shop, including contactless curbside pick-up, buy online pick-up in store and same day delivery through DoorDash,” the Macy’s spokesperson said. “Macy’s expanded fulfillment options allow customers to shop safely and friction-free in store or online right up until Dec.24.”
A Nike spokesperson told Sourcing Journal it is communicating any delivery changes to its consumers, but it expects “the majority of these orders to meet estimated delivery dates.”
The temporary restrictions are not the only measure UPS has taken to confront extremely high shipping volume for the 2020 holiday. In August, UPS announced it would be adding surcharges to high-volume shippers that move more than 25,000 packages per week during the holiday season. These fees could cost as much as $3 per package for ground shipments and other lower-priced shipping options and up to $4 per package for air shipments, it said. By comparison, the last time UPS tacked on surcharges during a peak holiday season, in 2018, costs reached 28 cents on ground shipments and 99 cents for some air shipments.
In its third-quarter earnings call, UPS’s CFO Brian Newman reported that business-to-consumer shipments were up 33.4 percent in the quarter and represented 61 percent of its total volume.
Black Friday e-commerce booms
The UPS restrictions arrive following record e-commerce sales between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday.
According to a survey released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, online-only shoppers jumped by 44 percent to 95.7 million over the entire weekend. On Black Friday itself, online shoppers rose 8 percent, surpassing 100 million for the first time, NRF said. The number of online Saturday shoppers grew even further, at 17 percent.
Analyzing its platform-level data, software-as-a-service e-commerce platform BigCommerce said its global merchant base saw a 74 percent increase in gross merchandise volume over the five-day period compared with last year. Though the number of orders occurring during this period only rose 48 percent, average order value grew 17 percent. While Black Friday remained the most popular day for making purchases, it said Sunday saw the largest GMV increase (86 percent), followed by Thanksgiving Day (84 percent).
Looking at just 20 of the top 100 retailers as defined by the NRF, online shopping traffic soared 560 percent this Thanksgiving, while Black Friday and Cyber Monday saw increases of 200 percent, according to Verizon Business. In contrast, it said mobility traffic to and around malls across the U.S. fell 25 percent between Black Friday and Cyber Monday compared with the same period in 2019.
An estimated 186.4 million consumers shopped in-store and online this year, according to NRF. While this figure represented a slight drop from 2019’s 189.6 million, it still came in well above 2018’s 165.8 million shoppers.
Clothing, bought by 52 percent of those surveyed, ranked as the top gift purchase of the extended weekend, followed by toys (32 percent), books/music/movies/video games (29 percent), gift cards/certificates (29 percent) and electronics (27 percent).
“As expected, consumers have embraced an earlier start to the holiday shopping season, but many were also prepared to embrace a long-standing tradition of turning out online and in stores over Thanksgiving weekend to make gift purchases for family and friends,” Matthew Shay, president and CEO of NRF, said.
Over the five-day period, NRF said shoppers spent an average of $311.75 on holiday-related purchases, including $224.48 spent on gifts. The five-day total, though comparable to 2018’s $313.29, fell below last year’s $361.90.
This decrease Is likely due in part to early holiday sales and promotions. Fifty-two percent of shoppers, NRF said, took advantage of early holiday sales and promotions this year. Of those, 38 percent said they checked off holiday purchases in the week leading up to Thanksgiving. More than half (53 percent) felt the promotions over the weekend were the same as they had been earlier in the season.
As widely expected, in-store shopping suffered as e-commerce flourished. According to NRF’s 6,615-person survey, the number of in-store shoppers dropped 55 percent year-over-year on Thanksgiving and 37 percent on Black Friday.
Analyzing foot traffic over the holiday weekend, Sensormatic Solutions reported steeper drops. Store traffic, it said, decreased 94.9 percent on Thanksgiving, when many retailers closed their locations, and 52 percent on Black Friday. Year-over-year decreases continued over the rest of the weekend, but none as steep as Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Looking at the five-day weekend as a whole, Sensormatic said traffic decreased 49 percent compared to 2019.
“Despite the low traffic numbers, this doesn’t predict the results for the rest of the holiday shopping season, and weekday traffic should be watched in the coming weeks,” Brian Field, senior director of global retail consulting at Sensormatic Solutions, said in a statement. “All of our data suggests that more shoppers are using their work-from-home status to visit physical stores during the week. It appears this trend will continue into the holiday season.”
The holiday season ahead
NRF’s holiday forecast calls for spending to increase between 3.6 percent and 5.2 percent to between $755.3 billion and $766.7 billion. This compares with 4 percent growth last year and an average 3.5 percent rise over the past five years. The federation’s forecast includes online sales, which it expects to expand between 20 percent and 30 percent to between $202.5 billion and $218.4 billion.
Still, NRF chief economist Jack Kleinhenz cautioned that the pandemic remains “the largest uncertainty and biggest risk the economy is dealing with.” If Thanksgiving gatherings seeded further spread of the virus, renewed business restrictions may follow.
“The near-term concern is the long shadow cast on the economy by the surging virus and expiring government support,” Kleinhenz wrote in the December issue of NRF’s Monthly Economic Review. “Every virus indicator across the United States is elevated and accelerated, which could pump the brakes on the momentum we have seen and have consequences for spending.”
Source: www.sourcingjournal.com (2 Dec 2020)
13、H&M-Backed Plan Plots Circular Future for Bangladesh Textile Waste
Bangladesh wants to turn its linear model of clothing production into a circular one. A new initiative, which took off Monday, aims to jump-start that process.
Led by the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), the Circular Fashion Partnership will marshal the expertise of a slew of stakeholders—including P4G, Reverse Resources, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and brands such as Bestseller, H&M Group and OVS—to capture the country’s post-production fashion waste and channel it into the creation of new fashion products.
The project, which will run until the end of 2021, will consist of two parts, beginning with mapping waste streams and ending with finding scalable and tangible solutions for reincorporating cutting scraps and excess stock into the value chain.
“We’ll be working together to really test out and develop a playbook for circularity, to identify the roadblocks that are currently preventing circularity from scaling up and how we can overcome them,” Holly Syrett, senior sustainability manager at GFA, said at a press briefing Monday. “And the roadblocks may be in mapping and knowing where waste streams are, having access to data or traceability. [There may also be] regulatory roadblocks, and maybe the need for investment to scale innovations.”
One crucial effort is establishing segregated waste streams from the get-go in order to “valorize” the materials’ maximum value, said Nin Castle, co-founder and recycling lead at Reverse Resources. Brands, which will ultimately need to take responsibility for the recycled products they create, need a simple way of identifying the provenance, fiber composition and chemical or dye content of any textile waste they adopt. Traceability starts with the factory producing the waste.
“The waste is sort of mixed together and sold cheaply and quickly [but] mixing the waste together means it loses its value instantly,” she said. “So the key part is setting up these basic segregation processes in the factories themselves. You can have formal waste-handling partners already established in Bangladesh that can then provide the services of logistics, storage, further quality checking, any further cleaning and so on and so forth, accumulating volumes from different locations to then send out to recyclers. And then of course we have the recyclers at the other end.”
As the second-largest exporter of clothing after China, Bangladesh’s garment sector generates roughly 400,000 metric tons of manufacturing waste every year, yet less than 5 percent is recycled through disparate and largely informal systems, said BGMEA president Rubana Huq. Some 65 percent of this waste comprises cotton knits, which are valuable feedstock for both traditional mechanical and emerging chemical recyclers.
“[What we need] is actually a comprehensive circular economy policy in Bangladesh…to regulate the highly unregulated informal businesses that circle around the landscape of waste in Bangladesh,” she said.
The Circular Fashion Partnership’s goal, Castle added, is to prove that by setting up segregation and having one formal waste-handling partner instead of myriad middlemen, the scheme can increase earnings for factories, decrease costs for recyclers and provide “completely traceable waste feedstocks for those recycling technologies, which at the moment is not possible.”
And finally, the idea is to bring the recyclers and the brands together to reintroduce the textile waste back into the supply chain, break down market barriers and make recycled yarns competitive with their virgin counterparts. The timing of the project is particularly apt with the coronavirus pandemic, which has led to a massive glut of castoff garment and textile stock from canceled, suspended and unsold orders.
“There isn’t currently a marketplace for Bangladesh for deadstock fabrics and overstock garments piled up from Covid-19,” Castle said. “So we’re looking at how we can co-create and test potential business models here. How can we reuse these valuable waste streams in the same locations where they’re stored? How do we create the systems and information flows for enabling brands or agents, or whoever it is, to reuse those textiles themselves? And how can this be done easily and at scale?”
Success doesn’t have to be limited to Bangladesh, Syrett noted, and the project has the potential to scale to other markets, including Vietnam and Indonesia.
Source: www.sourcingjournal.com (1 Dec 2020)
14、Xinjiang Cotton Giant Slapped with Customs Detention Order
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a new Withhold Release Order on cotton merchandise from the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a paramilitary organization that produces one-third of China’s cotton, employs 12 percent of Xinjiang’s population and generates 17 percent of the region’s gross domestic product.
“CBP issued the WRO based on information that reasonably indicates that XPCC and its subordinate and affiliated entities use forced labor, including convict labor, to produce cotton and cotton products,” CBP acting commissioner Mark A. Morgan said at a press briefing Wednesday afternoon. The WRO applies to all cotton and cotton-derived items produced by the XPCC and its subordinate and affiliated entities, including clothing, textiles, cottonseed oil and paper, regardless of their country of origin.
“It should be clear and simple: any product having a nexus to forced labor will not [and] should not make it to our borders and be introduced into our supply chain, period,” Morgan said.
The WRO on XPCC cotton products is the sixth enforcement that CBP has announced in the past three months against goods made by forced labor from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, where up to 1.8 million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Turkic Muslims are believed to be held in “re-education” camps as part of a broader campaign of torture and indoctrination to compel them to renounce their religion and assimilate into Chinese society. Experts say that the Chinese government has also transferred tens of thousands of Uyghurs and ethnic minorities out of Xinjiang to work in factories across China, sometimes directly from detention centers and often against their will.
“As Americans, we believe each individual’s granted inalienable rights by our creator,” said Ken Cuccinelli, acting deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. “It’s because we value these rights so highly that we prioritize values like freedom, justice and equality under the law.”
China’s security apparatus profits from this repression by “holding financial stakes in companies that benefit from the forced labor,” he said. “This kind of forced labor is antithetical to American values, negatively impacts both consumers and businesses, undermines legitimate trade and competition, and threatens American workers. No matter how you view it. This is a threat that impacts each and every aspect of our society. And we can’t afford to ignore it.”
The WRO dovetails with sanctions against the XPCC, which the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed into effect Monday. The move is potentially the “largest single action in OFAC’s history,” according to corporate intelligence platform Sayari, which combed through Chinese public records to find more than 862,600 direct and indirect holdings—including minority, majority, control and non-control positions—through different XPCC divisions.
“These companies touch 147 countries, including the United States, Germany and the U.K., and offshore jurisdictions like the British Virgin Islands,” Sayari analyst Alex Bate wrote in a blog post in August. “They reach as far as 34 layers of ownership from the XPCC.”
While the OFAC’s sanctions target business relationships, the CBP will focus on barring XPCC merchandise from entering the United States, according to Morgan. “That’s why it’s called a Withhold Release Order,” he said. “Everything that enters the country in terms of products comes into the hands of the CBP. [We] take custody of it and then we release it into the market. So an WRO would stop that release into the U.S. market.”
Importers encountering an WRO have two options: They can remove the products from the American market or they can present evidence to the CBP commissioner demonstrating that the merchandise was not created using forced labor. Because of the scope and complexity of the XPCC’s reach, however, it’s unclear how the CBP will ensure compliance. Morgan referred to undefined technologies and said the agency will be expanding its efforts to identify the provenance of the products it handles. But the onus of responsibility, he said, should be on corporations to police their own supply chains.
“Both American and international businesses [that] wish to do business and sell in the U.S. market [have] been on a notice of this problem for quite a long time,” Morgan said. “Many of them are enthusiastic partners in policing their own supply chains to avoid the danger of slave labor entering into their products. Others are not so much and we look forward to partnering with them.”
The idea of a regional WRO that covers all of Xinjiang or China is not off the table yet, but an WRO on XPCC is “almost akin to a regional [WRO] because it’s so massive,” he added.
CBP issued 13 WROs during fiscal year 2020, including eight WROs on goods made by forced labor in China. Federal statute 19 U.S.C. 1307 prohibits the importation of merchandise mined, manufactured or produced, wholly or in part, by forced labor, including convict labor, forced child labor and indentured labor.
Labor rights groups have been quick to praise the announcement, calling it the largest economic challenge to the Chinese government’s human-rights abuses to date.
“CBP’s action is a body blow to every brand that intends to continue sourcing cotton from the Uyghur Region,” Scott Nova, executive director of the Workers Rights Consortium, a member of the End Uyghur Forced Labour coalition, said in a statement. “This order will likely impact the supply chains of virtually every major apparel retailer—from Amazon, to Target, to Zara. A ban on all cotton from the region is warranted, and CBP’s action therefore represents a partial step, but the scope is large enough to have a major impact on the apparel industry.”
Sanctions on the XPCC “should be global,” but today’s action is a “good start,” according to Omer Kanat, executive director of the nonprofit Uyghur Human Rights Project. “International companies are now on notice: if you import any goods produced by the XPCC, you are complicit in human rights crimes,” Kanat said. “Uyghurs have long suffered under massive human rights violations by the XPCC.”
In a joint statement, the American Apparel and Footwear Association, National Retail Federation, Retail Industry Leaders Association and the U.S. Fashion Industry Association applauded CBP’s “clearly defined” WRO that is “based on specific and actionable intelligence.”
The groups “look forward to working with CBP to build a detailed and practical implementation strategy to make sure today’s actions are effective, enforceable and focused on the bad actors who insist upon exploiting slave labor and do not harm trusted traders or our supply chain partners who are working tirelessly to stamp out forced labor,” they said.
The new WRO “reinforces the need for a unified and comprehensive approach to this human-rights crisis, and we want to renew our calls for the U.S. government to build and lead a coalition involving all stakeholders and allied countries to put pressure on China to end forced labor, and the wider campaign of repression it fuels, immediately,” they added. “U.S. unilateral action can only succeed in ending these forced labor practices if it is accompanied by a ‘whole of world’ approach.”
CBP’s announcement is likely another gut punch to brands like Nike, Apple and Coca-Cola, which are reportedly among the major companies lobbying Congress to water down some of the provisions of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act because of the potential repercussions to their China-centric supply chains, according to the New York Times Sunday.
Greg Rossiter, director of global communications at Nike, told the newspaper, however, that it “did not lobby against” the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act but rather conducted “constructive discussions” with congressional staff aides over protecting human rights.
The bill, which passed the House in September, would prohibit certain imports from Xinjiang, require firms to disclose dealings with the region and impose sanctions on “any foreign person who ‘knowingly engages’” in forced labor using Uyghurs or other Muslim minority groups.
Source: www.sourcingjournal.com (2 Dec 2020)