27 Jun RETAIL HEARTACHE; GREAT MOMENTS IN PR #421 – FANTALES
RETAIL HEARTACHE
Hot on the heels of the news last week that high-income earners are deserting upmarket department store David Jones, discount clothing store Best & Less revealed that its sales are falling, too, as low- and middle-income households battle high inflation and rising interest rates.
Best & Less revealed its sales fell 13.2 per cent in the past five weeks. It now expects its half-year profit to decline by as much as two-thirds as it starts to discount stock further to lure customers through its doors.
Meanwhile, across the Pacific, dollar stores in the US are seeing a rise in foot traffic as inflation drives high-income earners to hunt for better bargains and deals.
NON-COMPETE CLAUSES
Almost half of Australians have non-compete clauses in their employment contracts, restricting real wage growth and productivity.
Research commissioned by the Federal Government and conducted by think tank e61 found that 22 per cent of people have a non-compete clause in their contract while 26 per cent had signed a non-disclosure agreement.
Dan Andrews, Research Director of e61, said that limiting these clauses would help increase real wage growth, allowing employees to move to more productive and higher paying companies.
GREAT MOMENTS IN PR #421 – FANTALES
Multinational Nestle announced this week that production of the quintessential Australian confectionary Fantales would cease due to falling demand.
Which kicked off an almighty media frenzy – at last count media monitoring company Streem totaled 1,165 mentions of Fantales in the space of just three days.
Even those who have never tasted a Fantale in their lives, let alone read one of its movie trivia wrappers, got in the act, across radio, newspapers and television, as well as on social media.
So, was it all a PR stunt? We shall see. Sales are up but are they high enough to save the Fantale?
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