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✈️ A new airline called Bonza is launching in 2022
🏳 ASOS flags tough times ahead
🤠 Tesla is moving to Texas
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Here's everything you need to know today - in under 3 minutes.
✈️ A new airline called Bonza is launching in 2022
🏳 ASOS flags tough times ahead
🤠 Tesla is moving to Texas
An oversupply of avocados is driving prices of the green goodness through the floor. It's great for smashed avo fiends, but bad for farmers, who are only making a profit of around 4 cents per avo.
Background: 2020 and 2021 have been rough for Australia's travel scene. Qantas lost billions of dollars, Virgin was resuscitated back to life and Tigerair (RIP) was forced out the market - all because of COVID.
What happened: Qantas and Virgin have been having a bit of a two-person party here in Oz. These two have held the duopoly for, well, ever (sorry Rex). But now, it looks like a new player is about to step on the scene: Bonza.
What else: Bonza is gonna be a low-cost carrier with a key focus on underserved leisure locations (Whitsundays, anyone?!). It plans to keep costs down by sticking to basics, which means no frequent flyer programs or airport lounges.
💡One company's trash is another company's treasure. Qantas and Virgin have a firm grasp on what's called the "golden triangle" - aka the domestic routes between Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne
💡Instead of the popular routes, Bonza is going to focus on leisure locations, to stimulate new demand for the business and create a niche for themselves.
💡More competition is also good for customers, 'cos it means Qantas and Virgin - who already compete with each other - will need to offer more even more competitive prices to retain market share.
Background: ASOS - which FYI is short for As Seen On Screen - is an online retailer from the UK. They launched back in 2000 as a fashion knock-off retailer (they even had a product called 'black leather jacket as seen on Mission Impossible).
What happened: Fast-forward to now, ASOS sells over 850 brands, ships to 196 countries and is worth a huge US$2.4 billion. It's long been seen as a stock market darling 'cos it was always reporting increasing sales and profits...but that's about to change.
What else: Despite ASOS customers shopping more during the pandemic (what else was there to do?!), the company has warned of lower profits ahead due to supply chain issues. And, they say sales growth is slowing because customers are returning more frequently.
💡Despite the glitz and glam of online retailers, there is a hidden cost that can really hurt their profit. Customer returns.
💡Data shows that 20% of online-bought products are returned, compared to just 9% of items bought in-store. That's largely because customers can't actually try on the item, or see it in the flesh.
💡Returns represent around US$310 billion in lost sales per year. No wonder companies are creating augmented reality alternatives to try and reduce returns.
Background: We all know Tesla - the electric vehicle company headed up by resident eccentric Elon Musk.
What happened: The crew at Tesla have relocated from Palo Alto in California to Austin Texas. FYI, the city's unofficial motto is "keep Austin weird". Gotta say, we don't mind the sound of that.
What else: While it doesn't seem like the obvious choice, Texas has managed to lure tonnes of tech companies that once called Silicon Valley home...like Google, Atlassian, Dropbox and soon, Apple.
💡Move over Silicon Valley, there's a new sheriff in town. Austin. And its new name: Silicon Hills.
💡California bred a lot of famous tech companies. Ya know, HP, Adobe, eBay, Paypal...the list goes on. But, high housing costs, high tax rates and tightening regulations have made it tough for businesses (and founders) to stay there.
💡 On the other hand, Texas has a lower cost of living and more favourable tax laws. All of these factors make the city a great new home for big companies.
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