U.S. Retail Sales Rise 3.1% during Holiday Season.
Data from Mastercard SpendingPulseTM indicates that U.S. retail sales, excluding automotive, grew by 3.1% year over year during this holiday season, spanning from November 1 through December 24. The growth of 3.1% is below the 5.3% increase in retail sales of last year's 2022 holiday season.
Key Trends:
1. In-store vs. Online: Online retail sales outpaced in-store sales, with a 6.3% year-over-year increase in online spending compared to a more modest 2.2% increase for in-store sales.
2. Winter Fashion: Apparel emerged as a top category, experiencing a 2.4% year-over-year growth. Consumers indulged in shopping for new outfits and festive attire.
3. Culinary celebrations: Consumers continued their love for dining out during the holidays, reflected in a 7.8% year-over-year increase in restaurant spending. Grocery spending also increased by 2.1% for the season.
4. Electronics and Jewelry: The electronics sector witnessed a 0.4% year-over-year decline in sales, signaling a challenging period for electronic goods. Jewelry, too, experienced a significant decline of -2.0%.
New York Times Files Lawsuit Against OpenAI and Microsoft.
The New York Times has taken legal action against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement and unauthorized use of the newspaper's content to train artificial intelligence models. Filed in the Federal District Court in Manhattan, the lawsuit contends that millions of articles from The Times were utilized to train AI systems, including ChatGPT.
The lawsuit contends that while OpenAI and Microsoft employed various sources to train their AI models, they gave The New York Times content "particular emphasis" and "seek to free-ride on the Times’s massive investment in its journalism by using it to build substitutive products without permission or payment."
The lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft doesn't specify a monetary demand but seeks "billions of dollars in statutory and actual damages" for the claimed "unlawful copying" of The Times' content. Efforts since April to resolve this through discussions on commercial agreements and safeguards have reportedly failed.
Apple Secures Temporary Relief in Smartwatch Sales Ban
Apple can now resume selling its flagship smartwatches, the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2, following a U.S. appeals court's temporary pause on a government commission's import ban. The ban, arising from a patent dispute with medical device maker Masimo, was set to take effect, prompting Apple to remove the affected watches from both online and physical stores.
This comes after President Joe Biden opted not to veto the imposed import ban resulting from a patent dispute. While the ban still looms, the court has provided a window until January 10 for the International Trade Commission to address Apple's motion to delay the import ban further.
Ads are Coming to Amazon Prime
Starting January 29, Amazon Prime Video users will experience limited advertisements on movies and TV shows. However, Prime members can opt for an ad-free experience by paying an extra $2.99 monthly. This fee is in addition to the existing $14.99 monthly subscription cost for Amazon Prime or $139 annually. The introduction of the new $2.99 monthly fee for ad-free streaming would elevate the cost of Prime to $17.99 (or $18, sorry we forget that we are not marketers) while standalone Prime Video would be $12.
Over 8% of Amazon's total net sales come from advertising, contributing $37.7 billion in revenue in 2022.
Things to know:
Mariah Carey's iconic holiday song, "All I Want For Christmas Is You," broke Spotify records on Christmas Eve with over 23.7 million streams in a single day. The song, released in 1994, has become a holiday classic, annually contributing an estimated $2.5 million to $3 million to her earnings, accumulating a total revenue of around $60 million. Carey continues to break her streaming records on Christmas Eve, achieving 21,273,357 streams last year and setting a new mark of 17.2 million streams in 2020.
Intel will invest $25 billion in a chip-making factory in southern Israel, marking the largest-ever company investment in the country. The new factory will be an expansion of Intel's existing chip-making facility in Kiryat Gat, located about 16 miles northeast of Gaza. The Israeli government has shown strong support for this venture, providing a grant of $3.2 billion for the expansion of the plant over several years. In return, Intel has committed to purchasing $16.6 billion worth of goods and services from Israeli suppliers over the next decade. The plant is scheduled to open in 2028 and operate through 2035.
In response to California's upcoming minimum wage increase for fast-food workers to $20 an hour, two Pizza Hut franchise operators with hundreds of stores across the state are set to lay off two of their 1200 delivery drivers in February. California's Assembly Bill 1228 mandates a $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers in chains with 60 or more locations nationwide, surpassing the current state minimum wage of $16, which takes effect on January 1, 2024. The layoffs will lead Pizza Hut customers in California to rely on app-based delivery services such as Doordash and Uber Eats.
Microsoft has introduced a dedicated Copilot app for Android, available on the Google Play Store. This app provides access to Microsoft's AI-powered Copilot and mirrors ChatGPT functionality, featuring chatbot capabilities, DALL-E 3 image generation, and text drafting. Notably, it includes free access to OpenAI's GPT-4 model, a feature requiring payment on ChatGPT. The IOS version is not available yet, but expected soon.
Zulily, the U.S. online retailer specializing in women's and children's apparel, has decided to shut down. Founded in 2010 and once valued at around $9 billion, the company faced financial instability, leading to an orderly wind-down without bankruptcy, using an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors (ABC). The ABC involves transferring assets to pay creditors out of the proceeds generated from selling them. Earlier this month, Zulily, citing intense competition, filed a lawsuit against Amazon for alleged anti-competitive practices. Zulily aims to fulfill pending orders or provide refunds by January 22, 2024.
The Michigan Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal seeking to disqualify Donald Trump from the state's presidential primary set for 27 February 2024. The appeal invoked a clause in the U.S. Constitution, citing Trump's alleged role in the 2021 Capitol riots. Unlike a recent decision in Colorado, where Trump was deemed ineligible for the Republican primary, Michigan's Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump.