Massive year-on-year savings on logistics costs could save the day in the first half of 2023 – and likely in H2 – for more than a few brands and retailers.
LOGISTICS
Space on Asia to Europe routes remains open in the second half of February. Booking intake is gradually improving but volumes for the next few weeks are still at a low level, per Flexport.
Though carriers continue to blank sailings – including Maersk suspending an entire service – transpacific ocean prices are still below 2019’s rates, per Freightos.
Some analysts are thinking that, at least for now as revenue plummets, carriers are opting to keep overall capacity somewhat above demand levels and battle for market share via a price war, said Freightos.
On Indian Subcontinent to North America routes continued rate reductions are expected in the 2nd half of February, but expectation is that stabilization will occur as we head into March, per Flexport.
Inflation and uncertain geo-political and economic issues continue to decrease overall air freight volume through Singapore’s Changi airport – a potential issue across many major APAC Hubs, according to UPS.
Dramatically reduced logistics costs are becoming a ‘return to profitability’ opportunity for many brands. Read More
MATERIALS SOURCING
All About The Base
Base layers are like the foundation of a building – they do a lot of the heavy lifting, but get little recognition for their efforts. A good base layer can make or break the wearer’s total level of comfort. Its supporting role can help outerwear perform better.
This next-to-skin layer can be worn exposed, or under the second layer, but what is notable this season, isn’t just the multifunctional they deliver, but also a sensational touch.
10 Top Performing Base Layer Materials Read More
PODCAST
Designing a Workplace Culture that Accelerates Team & Individual Performance
As leaders try to navigate their businesses through a more complicated market environment, their Human Resources can be their most valuable resources – if they can keep them focused and engaged in the tasks at hand.
But how do we do that in the face of distracted team members and hybrid work?
In this podcast Gustavo Razzetti, CEO and founder of Fearless Culture, talks about a framework used by thousands of teams and organizations across the world to map, assess, and design their culture.
You’ll Learn:
- How to design your workplace culture.
- How to make your company culture easier for employees to understand – and more actionable for leaders.
- How leadership can overcome the challenges of a hybrid work model.
- What he’s learned working with a wide range of companies – from the best to the worst.
INSIDE SOURCING
Both exporting nations and key import markets are watching to see what happens next.
On the one hand global economies seem to have dodged the dreaded ‘2023 recession’. On the other hand, geopolitical tensions and inflation has consumers and retailers remaining cautious. Suppliers are also seeing some shifting in orders. Read More
MARKETS
U.S. banks said the economy is performing better than expected with consumer spending remaining strong. However, Goldman Sachs said “more sluggish, slower growth for a period of time,” per the Financial Times.
- US inflation cooled in January to 6.4%, showing that inflation is slowing but at a much more gradual pace than economists had hoped for.
UK inflation slowed to 10.1% in January, a six-month low, adding to growing evidence that price pressures have peaked.
MATERIALS
Materials prices remain stable with continued weak demand keeping prices low. However with cooling inflation in key markets demand could start to rise again.
Month-on-month and year-on-year materials prices are available in our Materials Prices briefing.
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