Raphael Stevens

In this articleSHOP-CAAMZNDemdaco is an artisan gifts business that has been selling on Amazon for roughly the past five years. It won’t be holding any sales around Prime Day.Source: Demdaco PRShoppers booting up a web browser and expecting to see big discounts for Amazon’s annual Prime Day megasale on Monday and Tuesday might come away disappointed.Experts say Prime Day deals this year could be particularly limited due to supply-chain obstacles that have been caused by the pandemic. Also, with consumer spending robust, many brands don’t feel the need to slash prices to compete. Others have inventories that are already too stretched to prime the pump any further. CNBC spoke with businesses that are looking for other ways to win eyeballs — and customer loyalty — online this week.Demdaco, an artisan crafts and gifts purveyor that sells on Amazon and other wholesale channels, is hopeful that it can use Prime Day to build brand awareness, but it won’t be putting its merchandise on sale.”We’re not trying to be the low-cost leader,” said Marisa Lytle, vice president of e-commerce and consumer engagement at Demdaco. “We’re just trying to get visibility. And because Prime Day offers great visibility, we invest heavily in the advertising opportunities because Amazon is getting tons of traffic.”Lytle, who used to work in the consumer electronics sector, noted that Amazon has historically used Prime Day to discount its own tech gadgets. Items like the Amazon Echo, the Fire Tablet or Fire TV often end up being promoted heavily on Amazon’s home page. She said that’s one reason why it’s not worth Demdaco trying to compete with the e-commerce giant by offering its own deals.According to a report by Adobe Analytics, the best discounts around Prime Day 2021 will be on electronics and toys. The sweetest deals won’t come until later this year though. Bargains across all categories of retail are expected to be an average of two-times steeper during what’s known as Cyber Weekend, Adobe said. That’s the post-Thanksgiving period between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.Grabbing attention during the huntInstead, Demdaco — which has been selling its Mother’s Day mugs, monogrammed teddy bears and other gifts on Amazon for about five years now — has been ramping up advertisements online and in the mail ahead of Prime Day. The company is encouraging shoppers to buy gifts for celebrations like birthdays, graduations, anniversaries and summer barbecues.”We make sure that we marry up the campaigns that we’re running on other channels, like social media channels, to whatever it is that we’re promoting on Prime Day,” Lytle said. “Things to grab people’s attention while they’re there shopping for their great deal … but making ourselves relevant to what’s going on with them right now.”Cosabella, a luxury lingerie and sleepwear brand, took a slightly different approach. It held a two-week sale on bras and underwear in the days leading up to Prime Day, rather than during the event. Guido Campello, co-CEO of Cosabella, said the approach was a way for the company to show how much it values having a direct relationship with its customers, outside of Amazon.”We’d like to position Cosabella.com as the key destination for our customers to find the newest styles, largest inventory of our most popular items and latest deals,” he said. A range of Cosabella’s merchandise is also available for sale on Amazon.Harley Finkelstein, ShopifyScott Mlyn | CNBCFor some, just another dayShopify — an e-commerce platform that powers millions of websites for retailers including Allbirds and Glossier — sees Prime Day as just another two days on the calendar. Much of Shopify’s mission revolves around aiding small businesses to compete with players, like Amazon, online. For some direct-to-consumer brands, Prime Day is almost “inconsequential,” according to Shopify President Harley Finkelstein.”Commerce in 2021 is not about bargain-basement deals anymore,” Finkelstein said in an interview. “Shoppers are not looking for the best deals as the primary objective. They’re looking to connect with brands whose values they align with.””The future of retail is not about discounting,” Finkelstein added. “It’s about connection, it’s about authenticity, it’s about having an amazing product, and a great story.”According to Finkelstein, the most important time of year for the retail industry — and when Shopify’s brands see the most web traffic and sales — remains from Black Friday though Cyber Monday.Staff make their way around the aisles collecting items before sending them to the on-site dispatch hall to be packaged inside one of Britain’s largest Amazon warehouses in Dunfermline, Fife.Jane Barlow | PA Images | Getty ImagesPicking that one key itemAnother strategy is to pick a single product to put on sale during the sales event. Such loss leaders won’t be profitable, but it will stir up excitement and draw in customers who might add other things to their carts. “If I chose one product as a loss leader, and put a pretty interesting discount on that, I could drive a lot more traffic to the brand and still have the other variants of colors and sizes and options there be full price,” said Chris Bell, a former Wayfair executive who founded and is now chief executive of Perch.Perch owns dozens of third-party sellers that are popular on Amazon, including Remedy Soap, Satina Leggings and CaliWhite’s Teeth Whitening system.”Prime Day is a big day for us every year, and a big day for all sellers on Amazon every year,” Bell said. “But obviously, on Prime Day, people are looking in spades. So even if you don’t do anything on sale, you usually still get a little bit of a halo effect.”Even if no Perch brand offered Prime Day deals, the business would still see a bump in sales compared with a typical day, Bell said.Amazon Prime Day 2021 coverageRead more about Amazon and other have planned for this year’s sales events:Supply chain snafus could affect what’s available to you on Amazon Prime DayTarget looks to lure shoppers with deals on groceries in its Prime Day rival saleAs e-commerce sales proliferate, Amazon holds on to top online retail spotAmazon Prime Day starts soon. These are the top deals so farMany of Perch’s brands will be promoting items during Prime Day 2021 for summer barbecues, Fourth of July parties, outdoor adventures and backyard sports. “We are expecting that customers will go for those,” Bell said.Last year, Amazon’s 48-hour megsale was delayed until October because of the pandemic. It ended up kicking off the holiday shopping season, with retailers quickly pivoting to pitch customers on buying Christmas gifts earlier than ever.Even if deals are lackluster, Prime Day will still drive massive revenue. EMarketer estimates total digital sales in the U.S. will jump 17.3% year over year to $12.18 billion. Sales made exclusively on Amazon on Prime Day will grow 18.3% from 2020 levels to $7.31 billion, it projected.Shipping costs pressuring profitsStrong demand could stretch already lean inventories. Backlogged ports, a massive container shortage and a dearth of truck drivers have all wrecked havoc on many companies’ supply chains during the pandemic. Home Depot went as far as reserving its own ship, buying merchandise on the spot market, and flying in power tools to cope with the headaches. Peloton started using airfreight to transport its cycles from Asia. The situation doesn’t appear to be improving swiftly.”Demand is putting extra stress on that supply chain, and a lot of this stuff is coming from the same place,” said Marc Iampieri, a managing director in the transportation and infrastructure practice at AlixPartners. “It’s the same port. It’s the same worker that’s loading the containers on the vessel. There’s only a finite number of slots on that vessel.”According to Taylor Sicard, co-founder of Win Brands Group, the cost of freight for some of his brands has increased as much as four times. If you used to be able to charter a plane to take product overseas for around $10,000, now it’s closer to $35,000 or $45,000, he said. Win Brands Group operates a portfolio of brands including the candles company Homesick.”That eats a lot of margin on your product, and when you’re operating one of these digitally native, vertical brands, your margins are everything,” said Sicard. “If you start chipping away at it before you even sell the product — that could be detrimental to your profitability, especially given that a lot of these smaller companies aren’t profitable to begin with.””It makes everyone kind of rethink how they’re doing things,” he added.Expect out of stock itemsPerch’s Bell said the supply-chain chaos has made stocking up in anticipation for Prime Day more stressful.”Frankly, we are out of stock on some things that we wish weren’t … like some of the outdoor items that are selling faster than expected,” he said. “We’re scrambling just to get product ready to align with Prime Day. A bad outcome is to spend all this money on a Prime Day deal and then go out of stock halfway through the day.”Experts say shoppers should be ready to run into out-of-stocks, so long as the logistics headaches linger.”It’s a total mess,” Demdaco’s Lytle said. “And it’s not getting better. … The combination of Covid spikes in different ports, issues with the backups that happened as a result of Covid, and not being able to pull ourselves out of that … it’s a nightmare for pretty much every company that is sourcing outside of the United States.””We’ve had to look very hard into what we’ve got inventory of, and focus in on that, as opposed to trying to stock up,” she added about preparing for Prime Day. ” Because that’s pretty much impossible if you’re sourcing from overseas.” More

The U.S. Army started evaluating Chevrolet Colorado ZH2 fuel cell electric truck in 2017. It is based on GM’s Colorado ZR2 off-road pickup.GMGeneral Motors’ plans for hydrogen fuel cells, a long-promised technology, are beginning to take shape as the company pours $35 billion into electric and autonomous vehicles through 2025.GM began working on fuel cells more than 50 years with little to no commercial success. But it aims to change that in coming years with its Hydrotec fuel-cell system, which could be a dark horse business to grow GM’s operations outside of automotive.GM sees tremendous opportunities for fuel cells in the military, commercial vehicles and other forms of transportation, such as rail and maritime. GM is exploring those areas and more as a complementary solution to its emerging battery-electric vehicle business, known as Ultium.  “Batteries have a role to fill, but to fully electrify and deal with the breadth of the different applications that we’re talking about, you also have to have hydrogen fuel cells,” said Charlie Freese, who leads GM’s global fuel cell business. “They complement each other extremely well.”Hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles and equipment operate much like battery-electric ones but are powered by electricity generated from hydrogen and oxygen instead of pure batteries, with water vapor as the only by-product. They’re filled up with a nozzle almost as quickly as traditional gas and diesel vehicles.As a general rule of thumb, Freese said, batteries are best utilized to replace vehicles and equipment that use gasoline, while fuel cells are better for longer ranges and vehicles such as semitrucks that use diesel fuel.”Every market is going to be a little bit different, but what is clear is the world’s moving toward electrification,” he said. “The fuel cell technology has moved down the cost curve dramatically, and it continues to do that.”GM said last week it plans to launch its third-generation Hydrotec fuel cells with even greater power density and lower costs by mid-decade.Expanding GMFuel-cell vehicles face the same challenges as BEVs, including consumer acceptance, fueling infrastructure and cost. It’s one of the reasons GM is looking outside of automotive to help drive demand.GM announced Thursday a deal with Liebherr-Aerospace to develop a hydrogen fuel-cell power generation demonstrator system for aircrafts. That announcement came two days after the automaker said it signed a memorandum of understanding with Wabtec Corp. to engineer and supply battery and hydrogen fuel-cell systems for freight locomotives.Wabtec Corp. says its FLXdrive is the world’s first 100% battery-powered, heavy-haul freight locomotive.WabtecGM also has agreements or partnerships regarding Hydrotec with Navistar and embattled EV start-up Nikola. The programs are in addition to several prior ones between GM and the U.S. military involving hydrogen fuel cells, including a pickup truck and an underwater unmanned vessel.”We use kind of a land, sea and air approach,” Freese said. “It’s energy storage density for long missions, quick refueling and quiet stealth, low thermal initiatives. Those are things that are very important in those applications. And those carry over to some of the other [industries].”Freese said GM expects to commercialize fuel cells for real world solutions “soon,” declining to elaborate on those plans. GM has a joint venture with Honda Motor, which offers a fuel-cell vehicle called the Clarity, to develop and produce fuel cells at a plant in Michigan.The most near-term product that GM has announced is with Illinois-based truck manufacturer Navistar. The companies earlier this year announced a collaboration on a fuel-cell-powered semitruck.General Motors will supply its Hydrotec fuel cell power cubes to Navistar for use in its production model fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) – the International RHTM Series.GMJ.B. Hunt Transport is expected to be the first customer to pilot the semitrucks and hydrogen fueling system at the end of 2022, according to the companies. The first trucks are expected to be available for sale in 2024.’Uncertain’ futureMany believe hydrogen can help decarbonize industries where batteries fall short due to their lower energy density and higher weight. But the technology is still expected to take a backseat to BEVs, which are cheaper and easier for consumers and companies to understand.”Hydrogen’s transportation future looks more uncertain given the tug of war with batteries,” BTIG analyst Gregory Lewis said in a recent note to investors. “We expect hydrogen to be used in niche applications.”Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose company exclusively offers BEVs, has called fuel cells a “fool cells” and “mind-bogglingly stupid.”But there is a growing market for the technologies amid an increase in legislations globally around decarbonization, officials say. Fortune Business Insights forecasts the global fuel-cell market will be $29 billion by 2028.The key, as GM is targeting, may be bringing down the costs for commercial customers, many of whom have set routes and on-site fueling, rather than consumers.”Industrial applications like steel, refining, and chemicals where green hydrogen can be produced and consumed on-site (avoids transportation costs) look poised to be early adopters of green hydrogen,” Lewis said. “Additionally, hydrogen for industrial use is already gaining traction in some nations’ zero-emissions policies.”– CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report. More

In this articleDASHWINGWith chicken wings in short supply and prices rising, Wingstop said Monday it is “hacking” its own brand by launching Thighstop, a virtual restaurant that will serve up crispy chicken thighs.Like the original Wingstop, customers can pick one of 11 flavors and opt for either a bone-in or boneless thigh. The new brand will be available for delivery or carryout in 1,400 locations nationwide via DoorDash or on Thighstop.com, the company said. Chicken wings grew in popularity during the pandemic for both dine-in and take out customers. But diners are now staring down both price hikes and tight supplies. Port delays and labor shortages have resulted in scarce supplies for a range of goods from computer chips to chlorine tablets. The National Chicken Council hasn’t called the tightening supply of chicken a “shortage,” but told CNBC via a recent email that the number of broiler chickens raised for meat fell 4% in the first quarter, and pounds produced were down 3% year over year. Production was picking up in April, the council said. But as of last week, chicken wing prices were $2.72 per pound on average, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is nearly 20 cents higher than the same week last year.Key chicken-producing regions were hit with a major winter storm in Texas right after the Super Bowl, impacting availability, said Tom Super, the council’s senior vice president of communications.”Even small gaps in the supply of wings can cause big fluctuations in price,” he said.In the spring, Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison said the company planned ahead and would be able to meet its demand. “The pandemic has caused challenges to be able to staff plants to be able to slaughter enough chickens to be able to meet the demands of the marketplace. And I think that’s seen everywhere. I mean, the price of chicken across the board is high, especially high for wings,” Morrison said at the time. Papa John’s CEO Rob Lynch also mentioned labor as a factor in the tight supplies of wings, in an interview with CNBC.Morrison is positioning the new strategy as an opportunity. “Wingstop pioneered the concept of chicken wings as a center-of-the-plate item. Although Thighstop is in its infancy, we’ve been exploring bone-in and boneless thighs as center-of-the-plate options for some time now as a way to offer fans new ways to enjoy Wingstop’s bold, distinctive and craveable flavors,” he said in a statement.Programming note: Thighstop CEO Charlie Morrison will join CNBC’s “The Exchange” at 1:30 ET on Monday. More

United States forward Megan Rapinoe (15) shoots the ball in action during a WNT Summer Series friendly match between the United States and Portugal on June 10, 2021 at BBVA Stadium in Houston, TX.Robin Alam | Icon Sportswire | Getty ImagesSports marketers are leaving money on the table by not investing more in pro women’s leagues, according to a new study by the Sports Innovation Lab, a Boston-based tech research firm. But a new business model that caters to communities of “Fluid Fans” for particular athletes, and focuses more on licensing and sponsorships than TV rights and attendance, could turn that around. The company released the study, called “The Fan Project,” on Monday and provided CNBC an early copy. It shows a new business model, referred to as the “community-based monetization” model. The Sports Innovation Lab (SIL) provided data points on how companies can examine fan behavior around women’s sports and engagement with leagues and players. Brands can then identify entry points that could open up new revenue streams.”That’s exactly what it is,” said Angela Ruggiero, CEO and co-founder of SIL, of the study. “Using data, tell a different narrative – look at the market in a different perspective and then provide that plan, which is based on fan behavior.”SIL uses technology and sports-driven data metrics to study fan habits and develop marketing strategies. Ruggiero, a former ice hockey player and Olympic gold medalist said the study took approximately four years, using “more than 10 million data points” from 500 participants.SIL partnered with leagues including the Women’s National Basketball Association, LPGA Tour, Athletes Unlimited, and the National Women’s Soccer League for the report. It found women’s sports is supported mainly by the “Fluid Fan.”These people rarely have alliances with teams but often follow particular athletes.Consequently, SIL recommends doing away with the traditional business model used primarily in men’s leagues. This model is tied up in rights, and measures success from TV viewership, in-person attendance, and restricted territories. Hence, it can’t meet fans where they are.The community-based monetization model is based on content via storytelling, more accessibility options, and preparing for a future where sponsorships and licensing will outgrow broadcast money.”If we can put data behind the business opportunity of women’s sports – there’s money being left on the table,” Ruggiero said. “That was the impetus for this. Our company has always been about inclusivity and making sure sports thrives for all, so we are applying our methodology and data to the women’s sector.”Skylar Diggins-Smith #4 of the Phoenix Mercury looks to pass the ball during the game against the Dallas Wings on June 11, 2021 at Phoenix Suns Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.Michael Gonzales | National Basketball Association | Getty ImagesUnclaimed money for investors Caiti Donovan, SIL’s vice president of data and insights, pointed to a rise in popularity among women’s sports over the last year.In October, ESPN said the three-game WNBA Finals series featuring the Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces averaged 440,000 viewers, with Game 3 averaging 570,000 viewers. The network said the final game had a 34% increase in viewers over the 2019 WNBA Finals Game 3 contest.”The quality of viewership occurring within the women’s sports ecosystem is present because we can see the fan behaviors,” Donovan added. “We can see the engagement; how deep it goes, and why it’s important for brands to tap into and the opportunity that exists from a revenue perspective because of it.”Gina Waldhorn, SIL’s chief marketing officer, pointed to figures from top accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers’ annual sports outlook, and estimated sectors could see a shift of more than $5 billion added as consumption around women’s sports evolve.”We believe there will be a shift from linear broadcast and tickets into OTT, sponsorships and merchandise,” Waldhorn said. “If women’s sports can adopt a community-based monetization model, they will better be able to capitalize on sponsorship and merchandise.”She added if women’s sports could achieve 10% of total sponsorship money, that could add $2.3 billion revenue by 2023. The global sports market is projected to reach $826 billion by 2030, according to research firm, The Business Research Company. Asked how much women’s sports could see of that amount, should the community-based model work, all three women predicted over $200 billion.”If you invest, they will come. That’s what we’re saying in this report,” said Ruggiero. “Those that understand that shift in revenue will be able to lean into it. Women’s sports, in our opinion, is in the perfect position to lean into and monetize this new model.”The top five favorites Societal aspects have played a part, too. Ruggiero credited social movements supporting women’s issues for helping drive conversation around women’s sports. Ruggiero called the study a “micro-level report” that measures the macro forces have on women’s sports.Angela Ruggiero, founder of the tech research firm, The Sports Innovation Lab.Source: The Sports Innovation LabThe study also measured corporations, including Visa and Nike. It found increased growth around the brands after aligning with women’s sports.When it comes to favorite athletes, fans of women’s sports want more access to superstars like soccer player Megan Rapinoe.Donovan said the conversation around Rapinoe is diversified, as fans are intrigued by her performance on the field and life away from sports. It’s further evidence fans want to engage with players as people, not just athletes, added Ruggiero. WNBA stars Sue Bird and Candace Parker came in second and third on the list. NBA star Steph Curry finished fourth, as fans support Curry’s advocacy for women’s sports and like his personality. And soccer player Ashlyn Harris is fifth on the list.Said Ruggiero: “There’s a lot of talk around e-sports and NFTs in a lot of other opportunities, but with this data and the right understanding of what to do – there is a lot of money that can be made.”Read the complete study here. More

A medical worker receives the Covid-19 vaccine at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University on April 7, 2021 in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province of China.Southern Visual | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesGUANGZHOU, China — China has administered more than a billion doses of its Covid-19 vaccines, a key milestone in the world’s largest inoculation drive.As of Saturday, 1,010,489,000 doses had been given to people in China, according to the country’s National Health Commission (NHC). More than 100 million doses had been administered in the six days up to and including Saturday.It’s unclear how many people have been full inoculated as the government does not release those numbers. But Zhong Nanshan, one of China’s top health experts attached to the NHC, said in March that the country is aiming to have 40% of the population fully vaccinated by the end of June.After the outbreak of the coronavirus in China last year, authorities moved to quickly bring it under control and largely succeeded in reopening the economy and returning life to normal. One reason behind the slow start to China’s vaccination drive earlier this year was that people did not see the urgency for getting inoculated.But the campaign has since ramped up. It took China 25 days to climb from 100 million doses to 200 million doses — and just six days from 800 million to 900 million, according to state-run media Xinhua.Still, new coronavirus outbreaks have happened in the country over the past year. Since late May, the major city of Guangzhou in the south of China has been battling the delta variant, which first emerged in India. It is the first time that variant has seen local transmission in mainland China.The city reported zero new locally transmitted cases on Sunday following a mass testing drive and local lockdowns.CNBC two visited vaccination sites in the city earlier this month and saw long lines as people rushed to get vaccinated.The World Health Organization has approved for emergency use the Chinese-made Sinopharm since May, and Sinovac Covid-19 vaccines since June.China has been shipping its vaccines to countries around the world including Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. However, U.S. and European health authorities have not authorized any Chinese vaccines for emergency use.There have been questions over the effectiveness of the China-made vaccines. Efficacy rates for China’s Covid vaccines have been found to be lower than those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna. Chile, another recipient of Chinese vaccines, released the results of a real-world study of over 10 million people in April. It found that the Sinovac vaccine reduces deaths by 80%. However, despite being one of the world’s most highly vaccinated countries, Chile saw cases surge in April. More