Strategies like digital messaging and video assisted sales helped prop up sales of international luxury brands like Hermès and Armani in India. (Image: Shutterstock) The pandemic might have restricted international travel but that hasn’t stopped the luxury connoisseur from picking up their favourite Hermès bag, Armani suit or M.F. Husain painting. Thanks to the extra attention to communication, customization and marketing strategies, luxury brand sellers have managed to push sales and drive growth throughout 2021. With renewed focus on digital messaging and video-assisted sales, the Indian luxury market has grown in double digits. The Collective, for instance, that retails over 100 international luxury brands, including Versace , Prada, Paul Smith, Ralph Lauren , Ted Baker , Karl Lagerfeld and others, in India, managed 3.5% growth in revenue in 2020 (against 2019). Topical marketing with messages woven around the reality of the consumer has been the key focus for …
Few Europeans want a return to 9-5 at office after pandemic, survey shows
- A + A BERLIN (Dec 9): Only 14% of European workers want to return to the office 9-5, and more than half say they have become more productive as a result of working from home, which has boomed amid COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, a survey showed on Thursday. But "hybrid working" - a mix of working at home and at the office - also has its downside, with over a quarter of respondents feeling like they work all hours or into the night, according to the survey commissioned by Samsung Electronics and the consultancy The Future Laboratory. The survey of 14,000 people across Europe also indicated that 83% of workers were seeking more support from their employers to help balance their work and home lives. About 12% of employed people in the European Union usually worked from home in 2020, up from around 5% before the pandemic, according to data from Eurostat. "With presenteeism now an outdated concept, employers need to think carefully about how they meet the …
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Capturing emotions in pandemic
REIMAGINING a classical painting with contemporary pandemic themes was the stroke of genius that won Choong Guey Syuen the Spotlight 2021 art competition by Penang Art District. The 22-year-old fine art student’s ‘Dreaming Encircled by Isolation’ work was based on the 1856 oil on canvas painting ‘The Death of Chatterton’ by English artist Henry Wallis. Her version depicts herself falling asleep in her room with a mobile phone still dangling from her hand. A face mask lies at the edge of her bed. Chong (left) speaking with Ming Fine Art gallery associate S.H. Choong about his piece ‘The Wound is Where The Flower Grows’. Outside her window, trees abound with colour. From an open pane, a butterfly and some flowers creep in. The scene is a play on human emotions and the snuffing of excitement from one’s life. “This was how I felt during the movement control order. Being stuck at home and unable to socialise made my world so dull. However, there was hope just outside. The …
Next pandemic could be more lethal than COVID-19: Vaccine creator
India has now reported 21 cases of the Omicron variant, 17 of which were reported on the same day of December 5. [Representative image] Future pandemics could be even more lethal than COVID-19 so the lessons learned from the outbreak must not be squandered and the world should ensure it is prepared for the next viral onslaught, one of the creators of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine said. The novel coronavirus has killed 5.26 million people across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University, wiped out trillions of dollars in economic output and turned life upside down for billions of people. "The truth is, the next one could be worse. It could be more contagious, or more lethal, or both," Sarah Gilbert said in the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, the BBC reported. "This will not be the last time a virus threatens our lives and our livelihoods." Gilbert, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Oxford, said the world should make sure it is better prepared for the next …
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Talking about love, loss, and the weather: Return of the postcard in the time of corona
Apart from the evergreen yellow postcard, there is now a wide range of postcards and stationery available to reflect individual tastes. “Letters are among the most significant memorials a person can leave behind,” German poet and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said around 200 years ago. Letter-writing has since gone through a lifecycle of sorts - from a global boom to a slowdown and now a pandemic-driven revival. The last two years have made many of us appreciate the wonders of mindful living. Along with a sharp rise in the sustainable movement, COVID-19 has also had many take to simpler forms of communication, such as sending the humble postcard. “I've always liked writing letters but I never knew whom to write to... During COVID-19 I saw a few friends posting about how they wished someone would write them a letter. I took their addresses and wrote them postcards with a happy memory I had of them,” says G. Rajeshwari of Madurai. Close “They …
Jo Kukathas makes a long-awaited return to the stage, plays an astronomer
New theatre production How To Be Alone by actor/director Ghafir Akbar and Seattle, United States-based director/dramaturg Joel Waage presents an intriguing proposition - being alone does not imply loneliness. “There is a misconception that being alone means being lonely. We did a lot of research on people who chose isolation and found the opposite. “We were especially drawn to the idea of an anchorite early on, someone who chooses to isolate themselves, willingly, and finds it enriching. This intrigued us,” says Ghafir in a recent interview. These questions and explorations resulted in How To Be Alone, an 80-minute workshop production that opens tomorrow (Nov 9) at the Blackbox, Damansara Performing Arts Centre (DPAC) in Petaling Jaya. Ghafir and Waage co-direct How To Be Alone , featuring a live performance by theatre veteran Jo Kukathas (a frequent collaborator with Ghafir) and a virtual performance (pre-recorded) by Wisconsin, US-based actor/writer Danny Jones. …
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) Outage Causes Chaos
An outage in Amazon Web Services (AWS)—the cloud computing unit of Amazon.com, Inc. ( AMZN )—caused a raft of backlogs at the e-commerce giant's warehouses Tuesday, Dec. 7, and took down popular websites and apps, including Google, Disney Plus, Venmo, DoorDash, Inc. ( DASH ), Spotify Technology S.A. ( SPOT ), Slack, and app-based trading firm Robinhood Markets, Inc. ( HOOD ). Frequently visited government websites, such as My Social Security—a portal for online accounts accessing the U..S Social Security Administration—also reported disruptions that started around 10:45 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Home smart devices weren't spared either. AWS customers reported issues with internet of things (IoT) connected services and devices, such as Alexa, Ring security cameras, and iRobot vacuum cleaners. Key Takeaways An hours-long AWS outage took down popular websites, disrupted smart devices, and caused delivery delays at Amazon warehouses. The outage comes at …
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Australia, UK join diplomatic boycott of Beijing Winter Games
Staff members work near the emblem for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics displayed at the Shanghai Sports Museum in Shanghai, China, December 8, 2021. - A + A SYDNEY/BEIJING (Dec 8): Australia and Britain will join the United States in a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, their prime ministers said on Wednesday, as other allies weighed similar moves to protest at China's human rights record. The United States has said its government officials would boycott February's Beijing Olympics because of China's human rights "atrocities", just weeks after talks aimed at easing tense relations between the world's two largest economies. China said the United States would "pay a price" for its decision and warned of countermeasures in response, but gave no details. Asked in parliament if his country would follow Washington, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "There will be effectively a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, no …
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Malaysia cannot hope to compete without a comprehensive national reset, says Nazir
- A + A KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 8): Banker Tan Sri Nazir Razak on Wednesday reiterated his call for a national reset, saying Malaysia cannot hope to compete without a holistic overhaul of its democracy, institution and social economy. “The 2020 pandemic has made the case for a national reset even more pressing and compelling,” he said in his keynote address at the Malaysian Institute of Management’s (MIM) Crucial Conversations Series session on “Building towards a Sustainable & Resilient Recovery after Covid-19”. Noting that Malaysia underwent a national reset in response to the crisis of May 13 1969, Nazir said the Covid-19 crisis has however resulted in even more damage to lives and livelihoods than the 1969 crisis did. The Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd chairman said many administrations saw failed attempts to reform the political system that was designed in the early 1970s, and despite changes for Malaysia and Malaysians, the system had remained substantially in …
Parents of the social media generation are not OK
By Samantha Murphy Kelly , CNN Business Updated 1216 GMT (2016 HKT) December 8, 2021 (CNN Business) Last September, just a few weeks into the school year, Sabine Polak got a call from the guidance counselor. Her 14-year-old daughter was struggling with depression and had contemplated suicide. "I was completely floored," said Polak, 45, who lives in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. "I had no clue she was even feeling remotely down at all. When I asked her about it, she just kept saying she wanted to get away from it all ... but I didn't know what that meant." Instagram will now tell users when to take a break from using the app After taking her to a crisis center, which banned phone use for anyone checking in, Polak learned from her daughter that the pressures of social media were driving her increased anxiety. The main source of stress: waiting for her friends to open and respond to messages and photos on Snapchat. "It became really addictive [for her] …
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