Amazon Prime Day is over, and now it's time to sit back and look at what you purchased — and how much you saved (or earned, depending on how you see it). With everything from Amazon products and services to electronics, toys, clothing and household items on sale, there was something for everyone on July 11.
Approximately 34 percent of the U.S. workforce — or 53 million Americans — earn a living working as freelancers, according to the "Freelancing in America: A National Survey of the New Workforce" report. Despite this huge number, freelance workers are still not protected by law, causing many to go unpaid or not paid in full for the work performed.
It's almost summer break, so it's time for your business to start preparing. For what, you might ask? Summer interns. While not all internships are during the summer, it is one of the best times to bring on an intern (or set of interns). If you do not currently have an internship program in place, now is the time to start creating one. Internship programs are highly valuable to businesses, and interns can gain the experience employers need.
Amazon must have channeled the famous inventor because the company threw the rules out the window years ago. They ventured into uncharted territories without looking back and challenged the standard way of doing business in the retail industry. Has it been successful? Amazon released their 2017 first-quarter report Friday, beating goals and expectations. While analysts predicted earnings of $1.08 per share on $35.3 billion in revenue, true Amazon earnings were $1.48 per share on $35.7 billion in revenue.
Over the past century, women have made significant strides in achieving equality in workplaces, everything from narrowing the pay gap to increasing women in leadership and senior management roles. However, when taking a closer look at individual industries, it's apparent that the push for gender equality is just beginning to affect traditionally male-dominated industries like construction and mining.
"The reality is regulation often lags behind innovation," said Bill Maris, founder of Google Ventures. Maris might not have been talking about the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) when he made this comment, but he sure nailed it on the head.
Did you know that 60 percent of students have a run-in with police during spring break travel? With so many spring breakers dealing with police officers, departments need to prepare their officers and enact appropriate regulations to mitigate dangerous situations and increase safety. The main issues with the law during spring break include violence, underage drinking and driving under the influence. These facts are not surprising, but they show what areas police departments need to focus on.
In the last decade, the retail industry has faced many challenges — from difficult economic times to rapid technological improvements. These developments have changed the modern consumer and caused an overhaul of the industry. In the latter half of the 20th century, shopping malls were a staple of the booming retail industry. Today, shopping malls are out, and experience-focused and hybrid retailers are in.
Amazon has always been on the forefront of advancements in the retail world. From technology to delivery, Amazon is constantly disrupting the industry, so it's no surprise they closed out 2016 with a bang — a big bang.
Black Friday would be described by most as the busiest shopping day of the year. However, year after year this proves to be less and less true based on financial figures. According to ShopperTrak, retailers made an estimated $10.21 billion in sales on Black Friday in 2015, which is an 11.9 percent decrease compared to 2014.
With everyone moving to online shopping and home delivery, the retail and delivery industries are experiencing many changes. Some companies are testing different delivery options that will make them stand apart from the crowd; others are studying the delivery process to determine where they can improve.
The education system is designed to prepare students for the real world, but with more students than ever before entering the "real world" as entrepreneurs, is our education system still doing its job? Preparing students to become entrepreneurs isn't a one-size-fits-all plan. An entrepreneur can do practically anything — from creating a new technology to opening a yoga studio — so the preparation will vary for each student. However, you can help students get into the right mindset and encourage them to pursue their interests and talents by creating an environment designed to promote exploration, creativity and individual thought.
Approximately two calls every hour are made every day to local police departments from Wal-Mart locations in four Florida counties, according to a recent Tampa Bay Times investigation. And, in Lakeside, Colorado, Wal-Mart's calls for service accounted for approximately 40 percent of the department's calls, according to KUSA-TV findings. However, the majority of these calls are for are for nonviolent and low-level crimes.
Summer's almost over, and students and teachers are preparing to start the school year. Educators face a list of tasks that include decorating and organizing their room or office, preparing lesson plans, collaborating with other teachers, educating themselves on new or altered regulations and standards, and more.
Did you know that only 4 in 10 families were contacted by their child's school throughout the previous year? Parent involvement in the child's school life has proven successful, and the first (and easiest) step is through communication.
Retailers now have the task of selling to consumers who don’t "seem to enjoy purchasing things," according to Fast Company. In the past, people enjoyed purchasing luxury items. Buying luxury items in and of itself was the experience shoppers desired. However, this has become "boring" and doesn’t bring the excitement today’s consumer desires. What do consumers want? What will make them your customer? Give them an experience.
Pokémon Go has taken over. Currently available in the U.S., New Zealand and Australia only, Pokémon Go is already rivaling Twitter for total daily users. With numbers like this, business owners everywhere should be looking at how they can use Pokémon Go's success to their advantage.
The use of social media in the workplace has gained significant attention lately with people losing their jobs or being demoted because of their online activity. Employers are creating social media policies to reduce the number of problems and create legal standing for the company when a situation does occur.
May is a big month for construction safety with both Safety Week 2016 and the National Safety Stand-Down occurring in the first week of the month. With jobsite injuries and fatalities occurring at such a high rate — nearly three times that of other industries, according to the CDC — it is no wonder safety has become a top concern for the industry.
Police officers regularly participate in training, attend seminars and workshops, and learn through experiences throughout all stages of their careers. From dealing with agitated people suffering from mental illness to drunk driving crash-scene investigations, officers regularly experience situations that can have deadly consequences. Continuing education programs are created around these situations to prepare — and maintain — the skills necessary to prevent worst-case scenarios.
The Great Recession is over, but that doesn't mean everything is back to the way it was before 2008. For retailers, this statement couldn't be more accurate. Customers' wants and needs have changed. Technology has changed. The whole retail industry has changed. Retailers who were successful before the Great Recession cannot "go back to the way things were" and expect to be successful again.
Did you know there is a museum devoted entirely to salt and pepper shakers? Head to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, if you'd like to take a look at 20,000 different sets from around the world. Another museum near San Antonio displays a variety of toilet seat art.
In the last two years, customer satisfaction has declined across all retail sectors, according to a new report by ACSI. Satisfaction was highest after the Great Recession when companies were doing practically anything to win back customers. Now that retailers have regained their footing, they are increasing prices again and spending less time and effort on winning customers as they focus on planning ahead.
Technology and e-commerce have transformed retail in the past decade. Many see e-commerce as the future, and experts have wondered if the brick-and-mortar retail location is becoming a thing of the past. However, it may not boil down to a simple fight between e-commerce and physical locations. The key to success seems to be the ability to transform your business to accommodate the changing customer base in the long term.
The National Retail Federation concluded "Retail's BIG Show" Jan. 20, and attendees left with plenty to think about for the year. From emotional robots serving wine to networking with the biggest names in retail, NRF 2016 was full of innovation and excitement.
January is a time for resolutions and goals — and not just personal ones. Business goals are a great way to motivate yourself, your employees and the company as a whole. The first step is to create specific goals. For retailers, goals can be widespread — from increasing inventory to creating new inventory, from opening new locations to increasing e-commerce sales. However, those are generic goals. How will you increase inventory? How will you open another location? Where will you open another location?
Servers at restaurants have a unique source of income. Most people in the U.S. make a simple hourly wage or a salary. However, servers make an hourly wage of $2.13 — which is typically only used to pay taxes, most don't ever receive a paycheck — and they rely on tips as their actual take-home pay.
What was once thought of as something only criminals have, tattoos are quickly becoming mainstream with approximately 1 in 5 adults having at least one tattoo, according to a recent Harris Poll. With tattoo popularity increasing, employers are having to create more in-depth policies regarding employee tattoos.
With drones affecting practically every industry, is it any surprise retailers are taking notice? From consumer demand for individual-use drones to retailer demand for the unique capabilities of different drones, the retail industry is poised to undergo significant changes from the inclusion of drones.
How important is customer service to the success of a retailer? Approximately 50 percent of shoppers who experience poor customer service will stop doing business with that retailer, according to Kissmetrics. In addition, 81 percent of shoppers who have a good customer service experience will become repeat shoppers.
Did you know that more than 75 percent of released prisoners are rearrested within five years? That's according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. With more than 1 million individuals in prison at the end of 2014, that's a huge number of offenders who will become repeat offenders. And the Federal Bureau of Prisons is starting to take notice.
Customer service and front-line employees in the retail industry are likely to earn hourly wages — and these workers are also likely to live paycheck to paycheck. Each and every hour can make a difference when it comes to paying bills and keeping food on the table. However, these employees are also likely to have erratic schedules with less stability than other professions thanks to scheduling tactics like on-call scheduling.
Mapsco books and huge paper maps are a thing of the past. Now, we have our mobile devices equipped with GPS that can give us verbal directions while we drive. We can get directions to practically anywhere with the swipe of our finger. However, once you get to that location, do you know how to get around? Will your smartphone GPS guide you to the nearest restroom? Can you find the store you need in a shopping mall?
The recent headlines announcing New York's decision to increase fast food workers' minimum wage to $15 has once again stirred up the nation in a heated debate over whether the minimum wage should be increased nationwide. According to Fortune, New York City must comply with the minimum wage change by 2019, and the rest of the state must comply before July 2021.
The typical workday is eight hours. Most people will say they wish they could work less, but in reality, we wish there were more hours in the day so we could get more done. With technology, we thought we would be able to get more done. In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we discussed organizing email, and documents and links. This isn't going to be as specific. Now is time to organize in other ways.
Organization can play a major factor in the productivity of an employee. In Part 1 of this series, I discussed ways to improve the organization of your email. Email is one of the most common sources of stress on businesses and employees, which isn't surprising based on the New-Startups.com statistic that "most people check their email about 96 times a day."
Twenty years ago, the disorganized employee had stacks of papers and files taller than the employee himself. If asked for a specific document, this employee would probably grab the hair on his head and look from side to side, up and down in "search" of this document.
In the movie "Robocop," the year is 2028, and police officer Alex Murphy is critically injured in the line of duty. Scientists decide to "rebuild" Murphy into a cyborg police officer — part-man, part-robot. When the original "Robocop" came out in 1987, robots were merely a far-fetched futuristic concept of "The Jetsons." It was fiction. It was fun. By the time the rebooted "Robocop" movie was released in 2014, robots were real.
On April 19, Target released a limited-time retail selection from Lilly Pulitzer, a designer well known for her resortwear. Problems started immediately. Target's website became overwhelmed, denying access to many shoppers — at one point shutting down entirely to deal with heavy traffic. Many online shoppers tried repeatedly with no success. And stores were no better option — lines formed early in the morning, emptying shelves faster than expected.
Did you know that on average two people die every day in the United States as a result of crashes from running red lights? Did you know half of these deaths were the victims of the traffic violations? In an attempt to decrease these statistics — and many others — companies have been focusing on creating technology and programs to assist law enforcement officials. The result has been a sharp increase in the use of red-light and speed cameras throughout the U.S.
Communication is constantly adapting to new technology. From beepers in the 1980s to smartphones with instant communication abilities today, communication has evolved to include everything in between.
Millennials are causing change — everywhere. Millennials are changing the workplace, the home and everything in between. The sharing economy is one of the changes from this generation, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
Douglas Coupland once said, "Adventure without risk is Disneyland." However, he clearly wasn’t considering the health risks of high-volume amusement parks, like Disneyland. But, these places are a breeding ground for disease, as was made apparent by the recent measles outbreak stemming from the theme park. The outbreak began in December and, to date, there are 119 confirmed cases in the country. "As more people opt against vaccinating their children (or themselves), these childhood illnesses will become more prevalent again," Sarah Gaines-Hill, an infection control registered nurse in Anaheim, California, said.
Did you know that the government can track potholes using smartphone technology? This is just one way local governments are taking advantage of the enormous amount of data collected and supplied through open data. But according to the Data Innovation Day session "Open Data, Civic Hacking, and Data-Driven Government," there are plenty of other ways civic entities are using data.
As a resident of the Dallas area, I can say that when the first case of Ebola was diagnosed in the United States, fear spread rapidly here. Misconceptions about Ebola were also spread, causing a heightened sense of fear.
Apple Pay recently introduced the world to a new form of payment and security. Apple Pay uses near-field communication technology and allows users to make a payment using their smartphone and fingerprint. This technology does not send card information, though. Instead, it sends a one-time code to be used for a single transaction that can never be used again.
Retail workers have received significant media attention lately with protesters demanding higher wages, the federal government discussing an increased minimum wage and the changes in benefits for full- and part-time employees.
Advertisements are often considered a necessary evil. They are "necessary" for businesses and brands, but they are "evil" for viewers, especially when the ad has no relevance for them. Now, Facebook is taking technology one step further with the introduction of two new advancements.
Retailers use impulse items in checkout lines in a last-minute attempt to increase the transaction amount. But, with the increase in e-commerce, checkout lines are not as busy as they once were. Now, Internet-based retailers have created a new form of impulse items.
Apple has become one of the most well-known, innovative companies of this century. From iPods and iPhones to the recently debuted Apple Watch, the company has stayed ahead of its competition by being the innovators of personal technology.
Over the past couple of weeks, three different planes have been diverted from their original flight plans because of unruly passengers. These disruptive individuals weren’t threatening the safety of the other passengers. While each flight disruption was different, the cause of the problems were all the same: an invasion of personal space.
To everyone outside of Ferguson, Missouri, the images of riots, damaged businesses and police officers standing in front of military-style vehicles with weapons drawn was everything. What about the citizens not on the streets? What about the children? Not every resident of Ferguson was rioting, but they were forgotten.
Robin Williams suddenly left this world on Aug. 11. He was a household name that played a major part of many peoples' lives — from co-stars and producers to fans and acquaintances. Practically everyone has a memory involving Williams. Some remember watching "Mrs. Doubtfire" as a child. Some remember working with him on set. Many of these memories have been placed on social media sites for the world to see.
A new concept facing consumers and retailers now is webrooming. Consumers look online for different products and then go to the brick-and-mortar store to make the purchase. There are many reasons for this action, but one of the most common is the consumer wants information. Instead of going to the store itself and asking an employee about the product, the consumer does his or her own research ahead of time.
Minimum-wage employees make $7.25 per hour. Is this enough to live on? Is this enough to support a small family? President Barack Obama believes the federal minimum wage should be increased to $10.10 per hour to help supplement the obvious difference between minimum wage and the cost of living. But not everyone supports this increase.
A major issue for corporations today is sustainability and reducing impact on the environment. But one company focusing on sustainability may surprise you: Wal-Mart.
Tracking customer behavior is nothing new. Mobile technology and GPS devices have allowed for targeted advertising and marketing. However, retail establishments are now taking it one step further: using video-recording systems to track and analyze customer behavior.
We all want to do our part to help save the environment, and cities have been getting involved in recent years by banning disposable bags. The most recent bag ban happened in Dallas where residents will be required to pay 5 cents per bag starting Jan. 1, 2015. But how is this going to affect retailers and consumers? And is it legal for cities nationwide to ban bags?
With so many options for places and ways to shop, consumers expect lax return and exchange policies. If a store doesn't offer a flexible return policy, the consumer will move on to the next option. The issue for retailers is that flexible return policies often cause a loss for the retailer.
Consumers desire value in purchases. They want the price they pay for a product to be equal to or less than what they feel they get out of that product. Businesses desire profit from the services or products offered. How can your business achieve profitability while also maintaining a satisfied customer base? Pricing strategies.
Restaurants in small towns across the U.S. struggle to stay alive on a daily basis. New restaurants are opened often, but they close often, too. How does a small-town restaurant succeed in such a difficult environment? The owners of Magnolia Station offer some pointers.
Hunting season is approaching, and all hunters are preparing for the adventure and excitement. One of the main goals for hunters is to bring home quality meat. But have you prepared to bring home the highest-quality meat possible? Do you know the best way to prepare the animal for processing?