Search

Placeholder Content Image

Why prices are so high – 8 ways retail pricing algorithms gouge consumers

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-tuffley-13731">David Tuffley</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a></em></p> <p>The just-released report of the inquiry into <a href="https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/">price gouging and unfair pricing</a> conducted by Allan Fels for the Australian Council of Trades Unions does more than identify the likely offenders.</p> <p>It finds the biggest are supermarkets, banks, airlines and electricity companies.</p> <p>It’s not enough to know their tricks. Fels wants to give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission more power to investigate and more power to prohibit mergers.</p> <p>But it helps to know how they try to trick us, and how technology has enabled them to get better at it. After reading the report, I’ve identified eight key maneuvers.</p> <h2>1. Asymmetric price movements</h2> <p>Otherwise known as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25593733">Rocket and Feather</a>, this is where businesses push up prices quickly when costs rise, but cut them slowly or late after costs fall.</p> <p>It seems to happen for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140988323002074">petrol</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S105905601730240X">mortgage rates</a>, and the Fels inquiry was presented with evidence suggesting it happens in supermarkets.</p> <p>Brendan O’Keeffe from NSW Farmers told the inquiry wholesale lamb prices had been falling for six months before six Woolworths announced a cut in the prices of lamb it was selling as a “<a href="https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/InquiryIntoPriceGouging_Report_web.pdf">Christmas gift</a>”.</p> <h2>2. Punishment for loyal customers</h2> <p>A <a href="https://theconversation.com/simple-fixes-could-help-save-australian-consumers-from-up-to-3-6-billion-in-loyalty-taxes-119978">loyalty tax</a> is what happens when a business imposes higher charges on customers who have been with it for a long time, on the assumption that they won’t move.</p> <p>The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has alleged a big <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-qantas-might-have-done-all-australians-a-favour-by-making-refunds-so-hard-to-get-213346">insurer</a> does it, setting premiums not only on the basis of risk, but also on the basis of what a computer model tells them about the likelihood of each customer tolerating a price hike. The insurer disputes the claim.</p> <p>It’s often done by offering discounts or new products to new customers and leaving existing customers on old or discontinued products.</p> <p>It happens a lot in the <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/utilities-loyalty-costing-australians-billions-2024">electricity industry</a>. The plans look good at first, and then less good as providers bank on customers not making the effort to shop around.</p> <p>Loyalty taxes appear to be less common among mobile phone providers. Australian laws make it easy to switch <a href="https://www.reviews.org/au/mobile/how-to-switch-mobile-carriers-and-keep-your-number/">and keep your number</a>.</p> <h2>3. Loyalty schemes that provide little value</h2> <p>Fels says loyalty schemes can be a “low-cost means of retaining and exploiting consumers by providing them with low-value rewards of dubious benefit”.</p> <p>Their purpose is to lock in (or at least bias) customers to choices already made.</p> <p>Examples include airline frequent flyer points, cafe cards that give you your tenth coffee free, and supermarket points programs. The purpose is to lock in (or at least bias) consumers to products already chosen.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/advertising-and-promotions/customer-loyalty-schemes">Australian Competition and Consumer Commission</a> has found many require users to spend a lot of money or time to earn enough points for a reward.</p> <p>Others allow points to expire or rules to change without notice or offer rewards that are not worth the effort to redeem.</p> <p>They also enable businesses to collect data on spending habits, preferences, locations, and personal information that can be used to construct customer profiles that allow them to target advertising and offers and high prices to some customers and not others.</p> <h2>4. Drip pricing that hides true costs</h2> <p>The Competition and Consumer Commission describes <a href="https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/InquiryIntoPriceGouging_Report_web.pdf">drip pricing</a> as “when a price is advertised at the beginning of an online purchase, but then extra fees and charges (such as booking and service fees) are gradually added during the purchase process”.</p> <p>The extras can add up quickly and make final bills much higher than expected.</p> <p>Airlines are among the best-known users of the strategy. They often offer initially attractive base fares, but then add charges for baggage, seat selection, in-flight meals and other extras.</p> <h2>5. Confusion pricing</h2> <p>Related to drip pricing is <a href="https://www.x-mol.net/paper/article/1402386414932836352">confusion pricing</a> where a provider offers a range of plans, discounts and fees so complex they are overwhelming.</p> <p>Financial products like insurance have convoluted fee structures, as do electricity providers. Supermarkets do it by bombarding shoppers with “specials” and “sales”.</p> <p>When prices change frequently and without notice, it adds to the confusion.</p> <h2>6. Algorithmic pricing</h2> <p><a href="https://pricegouginginquiry.actu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/InquiryIntoPriceGouging_Report_web.pdf">Algorithmic pricing</a> is the practice of using algorithms to set prices automatically taking into account competitor responses, which is something akin to computers talking to each other.</p> <p>When computers get together in this way they can <a href="https://www.x-mol.net/paper/article/1402386414932836352">act as it they are colluding</a> even if the humans involved in running the businesses never talk to each other.</p> <p>It can act even more this way when multiple competitors use the same third-party pricing algorithm, effectively allowing a single company to influence prices.</p> <h2>7. Price discrimination</h2> <p>Price discrimination involves charging different customers different prices for the same product, setting each price in accordance with how much each customer is prepared to pay.</p> <p>Banks do it when they offer better rates to customers likely to leave them, electricity companies do it when they offer better prices for business customers than households, and medical specialists do it when they offer vastly different prices for the same service to consumers with different incomes.</p> <p>It is made easier by digital technology and data collection. While it can make prices lower for some customers, it can make prices much more expensive to customers in a hurry or in urgent need of something.</p> <h2>8. Excuse-flation</h2> <p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-09/how-excuseflation-is-keeping-prices-and-corporate-profits-high">Excuse-flation</a> is where general inflation provides “cover” for businesses to raise prices without justification, blaming nothing other than general inflation.</p> <p>It means that in times of general high inflation businesses can increase their prices even if their costs haven’t increased by as much.</p> <p>On Thursday Reserve Bank Governor <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/inflation-is-cover-for-pricing-gouging-rba-boss-says-20240215-p5f58d">Michele Bullock</a> seemed to confirm that she though some firms were doing this saying that when inflation had been brought back to the Bank’s target, it would be "much more difficult, I think, for firms to use high inflation as cover for this sort of putting up their prices."</p> <h2>A political solution is needed</h2> <p>Ultimately, our own vigilance won’t be enough. We will need political help. The government’s recently announced <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/review/competition-review-2023">competition review</a> might be a step in this direction.</p> <p>The legislative changes should police business practices and prioritise fairness. Only then can we create a marketplace where ethics and competition align, ensuring both business prosperity and consumer wellbeing.</p> <p>This isn’t just about economics, it’s about building a fairer, more sustainable Australia.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223310/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/david-tuffley-13731"><em>David Tuffley</em></a><em>, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics &amp; CyberSecurity, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/griffith-university-828">Griffith University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-prices-are-so-high-8-ways-retail-pricing-algorithms-gouge-consumers-223310">original article</a>.</em></p>

Money & Banking

Placeholder Content Image

I chose the electricity retailer offering the best deal for my home. That’s not what I got

<p>Households in most of Australia have been able to choose between electricity retailers for more than a decade. The main reason is to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/restoring-electricity-affordability-australias-competitive-advantage" target="_blank">reduce their bills</a>.</p> <p>But past research by the <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.vepc.org.au/" target="_blank">Victoria Energy Policy Centre</a> (at Victoria University) has found only marginal benefits in switching retailers. Our study of more than 48,000 bills from Victorian households in 2018, for example, found households typically saved <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/victorians-who-switched-energy-retailers-only-save-45-a-year-leaving-hundreds-on-the-table-122786" target="_blank">less than A$50 a year</a> by switching energy providers.</p> <p>Has anything improved since then? A few weeks ago I decided to test the market for my own household supply. To guide my choice, I evaluated 357 competing offers from 30 retailers using my half-hourly consumption and solar export data for the last year.</p> <p>The 357 offers came from the Victorian government’s price comparison <a rel="noopener" href="https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au/" target="_blank">website</a>, the only comprehensive source of all commonly available offers. After having found the deal I wanted, it was a painless and quick online process to switch to the new retailer.</p> <p>Two weeks later I checked what had actually happened.</p> <p>I discovered my new retailer had not switched me to its cheapest offer, but to one of its most expensive. I estimate I’ll still save about $143 for the year. But I would have saved about $100 more if the company had put me on its cheapest advertised offer (which, after all, was the reason I chose this retailer).</p> <p>These numbers might not be large, but I have a small bill because I have solar panels and consume much less electricity than typical customers. For the typical customer, the differences would be bigger.</p> <p>I have asked my new retailer to explain, but am yet to receive a reply.</p> <p><strong>How I worked out my (lack of) savings</strong></p> <p>My electricity bill has several elements: a daily charge, two consumption rates and a solar feed-in rate. You might note such elements in the offer you choose and then compare them to the offer the retailer actually puts you on. But you’d need to be highly motivated with time on your hands to do so.</p> <p>To do my sums I used special software to scrape and price all competing offers. This software, developed over several years and used in our previous research, is not publicly available.</p> <p>The outcome of my test is broadly consistent with the findings of our previously mentioned research.</p> <p>That analysis – <a rel="noopener" href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11149-020-09418-9" target="_blank">using more than 48,000 bills</a> voluntarily uploaded to the Victorian government’s price comparison website in 2018 – found typical households could theoretically save A$281 a year, or about 20% of their bill, by switching to the best possible advertised deal.</p> <p>In reality, however, customers who switched retailers saved only A$45 a year – or about 3% of their annual bill.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431880/original/file-20211115-13-1wdrcv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Child using light switch" /> <em><span class="caption">In theory customers who switch electricity retailers should be able cut their annual bill by 20%. In reality it turns out to be about 3%.</span> Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></em></p> <p>I cannot be sure my recent experience is typical. But I think it likely other switchers will have had a similar experience. My study of the 357 competing offers available to me suggests many retailers seem to use “bait and switch” – or “tease and squeeze” – marketing strategies to attract new customers.</p> <p><strong>What should be made of this?</strong></p> <p>Choice can be valuable. Competition can lead to innovations – such as solar and battery packages with zero upfront payment that are now appearing in the the market. But the benefit of reforms making it easier to choose and switch between electricity retailers are not being fully realised.</p> <p>The more complex the market becomes as electricity generation is progressively decentralised and electricity buyers also become sellers, the harder it becomes to assess the merits of the complicated offers from energy retailers. Or even to know if what you signed up for is what you are actually getting.</p> <p>Had I known my new retailer would not switch me to its best offer (the one that attracted me in the first place), I wouldn’t have switched.</p> <p>This underlines the need for governments and regulators to look at how the market is working in practice, not just in theory.</p> <p>Examples of this approach are the 2017 independent review of Victoria’s electricity and gas retail markets <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/about-energy/policy-and-strategy" target="_blank">chaired by former deputy premier John Thwaites</a> and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/restoring-electricity-affordability-australias-competitive-advantage" target="_blank">2018 inquiry into electricity affordability</a>. But these are exceptions.</p> <p>The devil lies in the detail of how customers search for better offers and then switch to retailers in pursuit of those better offers. Regulations to clean up possibly misleading advertising and “sharp” business practices should flow from that.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171676/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bruce-mountain-141253" target="_blank">Bruce Mountain</a>, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175" target="_blank">Victoria University</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/i-chose-the-electricity-retailer-offering-the-best-deal-for-my-home-thats-not-what-i-got-171676" target="_blank">original article</a>.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Money & Banking

Placeholder Content Image

I chose the electricity retailer offering the best deal for my home. That’s not what I got

<p>Households in most of Australia have been able to choose between electricity retailers for more than a decade. The main reason is to <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/restoring-electricity-affordability-australias-competitive-advantage">reduce their bills</a>.</p> <p>But past research by the <a href="https://www.vepc.org.au/">Victoria Energy Policy Centre</a> (at Victoria University) has found only marginal benefits in switching retailers. Our study of more than 48,000 bills from Victorian households in 2018, for example, found households typically saved <a href="https://theconversation.com/victorians-who-switched-energy-retailers-only-save-45-a-year-leaving-hundreds-on-the-table-122786">less than A$50 a year</a> by switching energy providers.</p> <p>Has anything improved since then? A few weeks ago I decided to test the market for my own household supply. To guide my choice, I evaluated 357 competing offers from 30 retailers using my half-hourly consumption and solar export data for the last year.</p> <p>The 357 offers came from the Victorian government’s price comparison <a href="https://compare.energy.vic.gov.au/">website</a>, the only comprehensive source of all commonly available offers. After having found the deal I wanted, it was a painless and quick online process to switch to the new retailer.</p> <p>Two weeks later I checked what had actually happened.</p> <p>I discovered my new retailer had not switched me to its cheapest offer, but to one of its most expensive. I estimate I’ll still save about $143 for the year. But I would have saved about $100 more if the company had put me on its cheapest advertised offer (which, after all, was the reason I chose this retailer).</p> <p>These numbers might not be large, but I have a small bill because I have solar panels and consume much less electricity than typical customers. For the typical customer, the differences would be bigger.</p> <p>I have asked my new retailer to explain, but am yet to receive a reply.</p> <h2>How I worked out my (lack of) savings</h2> <p>My electricity bill has several elements: a daily charge, two consumption rates and a solar feed-in rate. You might note such elements in the offer you choose and then compare them to the offer the retailer actually puts you on. But you’d need to be highly motivated with time on your hands to do so.</p> <p>To do my sums I used special software to scrape and price all competing offers. This software, developed over several years and used in our previous research, is not publicly available.</p> <p>The outcome of my test is broadly consistent with the findings of our previously mentioned research.</p> <p>That analysis – <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11149-020-09418-9">using more than 48,000 bills</a> voluntarily uploaded to the Victorian government’s price comparison website in 2018 – found typical households could theoretically save A$281 a year, or about 20% of their bill, by switching to the best possible advertised deal.</p> <p>In reality, however, customers who switched retailers saved only A$45 a year – or about 3% of their annual bill.</p> <p><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431880/original/file-20211115-13-1wdrcv4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="Child using light switch" /> <span class="caption">In theory customers who switch electricity retailers should be able cut their annual bill by 20%. In reality it turns out to be about 3%.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></p> <p>I cannot be sure my recent experience is typical. But I think it likely other switchers will have had a similar experience. My study of the 357 competing offers available to me suggests many retailers seem to use “bait and switch” – or “tease and squeeze” – marketing strategies to attract new customers.</p> <h2>What should be made of this?</h2> <p>Choice can be valuable. Competition can lead to innovations – such as solar and battery packages with zero upfront payment that are now appearing in the the market. But the benefit of reforms making it easier to choose and switch between electricity retailers are not being fully realised.</p> <p>The more complex the market becomes as electricity generation is progressively decentralised and electricity buyers also become sellers, the harder it becomes to assess the merits of the complicated offers from energy retailers. Or even to know if what you signed up for is what you are actually getting.</p> <p>Had I known my new retailer would not switch me to its best offer (the one that attracted me in the first place), I wouldn’t have switched.</p> <p>This underlines the need for governments and regulators to look at how the market is working in practice, not just in theory.</p> <p>Examples of this approach are the 2017 independent review of Victoria’s electricity and gas retail markets <a href="https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/about-energy/policy-and-strategy">chaired by former deputy premier John Thwaites</a> and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/publications/restoring-electricity-affordability-australias-competitive-advantage">2018 inquiry into electricity affordability</a>. But these are exceptions.</p> <p>The devil lies in the detail of how customers search for better offers and then switch to retailers in pursuit of those better offers. Regulations to clean up possibly misleading advertising and “sharp” business practices should flow from that.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171676/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><span><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/bruce-mountain-141253">Bruce Mountain</a>, Director, Victoria Energy Policy Centre, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a></em></span></p> <p>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-chose-the-electricity-retailer-offering-the-best-deal-for-my-home-thats-not-what-i-got-171676">original article</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Retirement Income

Placeholder Content Image

Fast fashion: how retailers can use pandemic to change our terrible relationship with clothes

<p>Even before the pandemic, the UK fashion retail industry <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43240996">was struggling</a>. John Lewis, M&amp;S and Debenhams had all announced losses, job cuts and store closures, while House of Fraser was taken over. Since lockdown, Oasis and Warehouse <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52285231">have entered administration</a>, and John Lewis <a href="https://www.theweek.co.uk/106801/will-john-lewis-close-some-stores-permanently">has said</a> that not all its stores will reopen.</p> <p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43240996">One of the challenges</a> for these retailers is cut throat price competition from international rivals like Primark and H&amp;M, and online retailers like Pretty Little Thing and Misguided. <a href="https://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/en/publications/doing-it-for-the-kids-the-role-of-sustainability-in-family-consum">Low-price garments</a> became all the more attractive to consumers after their spending power was weakened by the financial crisis of 2007-09.</p> <p>This brought about the era of fast fashion – low quality clothes needing replaced more quickly, and consumers who see them as disposable. The price of these garments doesn’t reflect their true cost. It ignores both the workers who make them and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/apr/07/fast-fashion-speeding-toward-environmental-disaster-report-warns">carbon footprint</a> from more production, more transportation and more landfill.</p> <p><strong>Rays of hope</strong></p> <p>At the turn of the year, there <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jan/01/fashion-climate-sustainability-greta-thunberg-i-d-gucci-zero-emissions-carbon-neutral">was a feeling</a> that sustainability might be moving back up the agenda. A surge of consumer protests, led by Extinction Rebellion and Greta Thunberg, seemed to herald a public desire for change. To <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fast-fashion-is-the-second-dirtiest-industry-in-the-world-next-to-big--1882083445.html">raise awareness</a> that fashion is the second-worst polluter after oil, Extinction Rebellion <a href="https://www.vogue.com/slideshow/extinction-rebellion-london-fashion-week-climate-change-protests">held a funeral</a> during London Fashion Week 2019.</p> <p>It seemed possible that consumers might be galvanised to shop more sustainably – especially given the extreme weather conditions of 2019, and fears that there are <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-un-report-greenhouse-gases-carbon-dioxide-methane-sea-level-rise-global-warming-a8646426.html">just ten years left</a> to halt the irreversible consequences of climate change.</p> <p>Then came the pandemic. With many high street shops forced to suspend trading, the whole industry has been in flux. Brands like Primark and Matalan have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/mar/27/put-earth-first-can-a-greener-fairer-fashion-industry-emerge-from-crisis">cancelled or suspended</a> orders in places like Bangladesh, causing some factories <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/apr/02/fashion-brands-cancellations-of-24bn-orders-catastrophic-for-bangladesh">to close</a>. There may have been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200422-how-has-coronavirus-helped-the-environment">big environmental benefits</a> from the world at a standstill, but it will be little consolation to garment workers who are furloughed or jobless.</p> <p>Yet amidst <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare-systems-and-services/our-insights/beyond-coronavirus-the-path-to-the-next-normal">all this upheaval</a>, there is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/mar/27/put-earth-first-can-a-greener-fairer-fashion-industry-emerge-from-crisis">an opportunity</a> for the fashion industry – both to help these workers and more broadly to put sustainability at the heart of their business.</p> <p>The decisions by fashion retailers like <a href="https://www.theindustry.fashion/burberry-retools-factory-to-make-non-surgical-gowns-and-masks-and-funds-vaccine-research/">Burberry</a> and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/fashion-industry-masks-protective-equipment-covid-19/index.html">Prada</a> to divert into making medical gowns and masks for healthcare workers are a good starting point. If companies can make positive changes to help manage coronavirus, they can also address fast fashion.</p> <p>If, for example, companies paid garment workers the <a href="https://labourbehindthelabel.org/our-work/faqs/#1441884831979-53ad6cf0-86251441886042060">living wage</a> for their part of the world, they could use it in their marketing to garner a competitive advantage. Paying a living wage <a href="https://thefableists.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/tailored-wages-new-report-investigates-clothing-brands-work-on-living-wages/">doesn’t significantly increase</a> the cost of garments.</p> <p>Take the example of a T-shirt with a retail price of £29, for which the worker receives 0.6% or 18p. If that was doubled to 36p, it would not increase the overall price by very much. Paying a living wage <a href="https://labourbehindthelabel.org/our-work/faqs/#1441884831979-53ad6cf0-86251441886042060">should enable workers</a> in developing countries to afford nutritious food, clean water, shelter, clothes, education, healthcare and transport, while leaving some left over.</p> <p>One fashion entrepreneur that has developed a different way of helping garment workers during the pandemic is Edinburgh-based Cally Russell. He set up the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/may/30/lost-stock-its-like-buying-your-future-self-a-present">Lost Stock initiative</a>, which sells the garments from orders cancelled by UK fashion retailers by purchasing garments directly from manufacturers in Bangladesh.</p> <p><a href="https://loststock.com/pages/costs">A Lost Stock box</a> of clothes costs £39. Almost a third is donated to the Sajida Foundation, which is giving food and hygiene parcels to Bangladeshis struggling during the pandemic. For maximum transparency, Lost Stock also provides a price breakdown that outlines the costs to the manufacturer, the charity and the initiative itself.</p> <p><strong>Cool to care</strong></p> <p>Another tactic that fashion marketers could use is to encourage in consumers a similar cool-to-care ethos to that brought out by the pandemic – as seen with the UK’s weekly clapping for key workers, for example. Business in numerous sectors are already focusing their marketing message on supporting NHS workers to capitalise on this spirit of collective solidarity.</p> <p>Fashion marketers could channel people’s desire for self-gratification towards buying clothes that contribute to the social good. My <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/QMR-09-2019-0113/full/html">research illustrates</a> the discomfort consumers experience when aware of allegations of both garment-worker and environmental exploitation, so it should be possible for marketers to benefit from doing the reverse.</p> <p><a href="https://www.toms.com/">TOMS (Tomorrow’s Shoes)</a> is an example of a fashion business with giving at the core of its strategy: for every pair of shoes sold, a pair is donated to a child in need. Since 2006, 100 million pairs of shoes have been donated, and TOMS <a href="https://www.toms.com/about-toms">has since branched</a> into areas like eyewear.Another example is <a href="https://snagtights.com/pages/our-philosophy#:%7E:text=Sustainable,first%20fully%20bio%2Ddegradable%20tights.">Snag Tights</a>, which is supporting NHS frontline workers with a free pair of tights for every order placed. The company markets its tights as vegan friendly and free of plastic packaging, and is trying to develop the world’s first fully bio-degradable tights.</p> <p><strong>Swaps and seconds</strong></p> <p>One other trend that should definitely be encouraged is initiatives that expand the lifecycle of fashion and textiles. <a href="https://www.stylus.com/hmzhcg">London Fashion Week hosted</a> a fashion swap shop in February for the first time. Similarly, the flagship Selfridges store on London’s Oxford Street <a href="https://www.retail-week.com/fashion/selfridges-opens-second-hand-clothing-boutique/7033360.article?authent=1">began selling</a> second-hand luxury fashion and high-end brands with resale site Vestiaire Collective in 2019.</p> <p>There has also <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/dec/22/fashion-libraries-ethical-clothing-borrowing">been a rise</a> in fashion libraries that rent fashion garments and accessories, allowing consumers affordable access to higher quality and luxury items. Fashion retailers could move in this direction, while also supporting customers by hosting workshops for upcycling garments into something new.</p> <p>In sum, the fashion industry should take advantage of the pandemic pause and the current mood to show constructive leadership to the global economy. It should use its power to help change our relationship with clothing into something more equal and sustainable for the long term.</p> <p><em>Written by Elaine Ritch. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/fast-fashion-how-retailers-can-use-pandemic-to-change-our-terrible-relationship-with-clothes-140210">The Conversation.</a> </em></p>

Beauty & Style

Placeholder Content Image

Why we resort to retail therapy

<p><span>We all have our own ways to blow off steam – but for some, making an impulse purchase seems to be the answer.</span></p> <p><span> A study from the University of Michigan found that shopping can reduce sadness by restoring one’s sense of control in life. </span></p> <p><span>The researchers discovered that making buying decisions helped reduce negative emotions by subverting the belief that “situational forces control the outcomes in one’s life”.</span></p> <p><span>Although some may worry that impulse treats may put a dent in their wallet and therefore make their mood even worse, another <a href="https://northstarpsych.com/files_uploaded/8df9f1b646b4900b8dd33849f6e898c5.pdf">study</a> published in <em>Psychology &amp; Marketing</em> suggested that buyer’s remorse is not an issue. “There seem to be few, if any, downside consequences of engaging in the unplanned purchase of treats,” the researchers wrote. The study participants, they wrote, “did not experience anxiety, guilt, or buyer’s remorse,” nor did they “attempt to engage in compensatory activity” or “suffer a downturn in mood post-purchase”.</span></p> <p><span>However, retail therapy can only go so far in repairing mood and reducing stress. The study said shopping helps temporary and mild slumps but not “chronic negative conditions” such as loneliness. </span></p> <p><span>“We are currently dealing with small transactions and fleeting emotions. I am interested in larger purchases and chronic conditions,” said Scott Rick, a marketing professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “How far can the healing go?”</span></p> <p><span>If you want to reap the benefits while still keeping your budget in check, there are a few tricks you can apply. Katherine Burson, a marketing professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business recommended using your imagination. “The people who simply imagine that they are buying have less sadness at the end of the experiment, suggesting that imaginary shopping may have some of the restorative benefits we see in real shopping, which might be the ultimate solution,” said Burson.</span></p> <p><span>You can also make the shopping experience a little less practical by using cash instead of card and removing your credit card details online – you are <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/07/30/can-shopping-become-an-addiction_a_23057029/">less likely</a> to buy on a whim if you have to produce bills or manually enter your information.</span></p> <p><span>Finally, wait it out – making decisions in a tight time span can cloud your judgment over the true necessity of the item. Plan ahead and give yourself some time before committing to fork out some money.</span></p>

Retirement Income

Placeholder Content Image

Retailer mocked for T-shirt mistake

<p>A supermarket giant has been criticised after a customer spotted a grammatical error on the retailer’s Father’s Day T-shirt.</p> <p>The angry shopper took to <a href="https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3275585-To-think-Asda-need-a-kick-up-the-arse-for-this?pg=1" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em>Mumsnet</em></strong></span></a>, to rant about the misplaced apostrophe on the $7 shirt.</p> <p>The shopper explained that they were annoyed over the “errant apostrophe” in the word “Dad’s”, which should’ve read “Dads”.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="425" height="568" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7819192/1.jpg" alt="1 (154)"/></p> <p>“I do think large retail chains ought to have someone checking their products for spelling, punctuation and grammar,” the user wrote.</p> <p>“I’m sure most parents would prefer it if their children were not exposed to such errors, given that they’ll be tested on them all the way up to A level …”</p> <p>Another user revealed her plans to show the photo of the shirt to her Year 5 English class.</p> <p>“I’m 95% sure they will know what’s wrong with it straight away.”</p> <p>One Mumsnet user suggested Asda should employ a proofreader, while another posted on their social media accounts to call the supermarket out on their mistake.</p> <p>"I've posted x2 on their FB page and tweeted them, I'll revisit and keep at it when I've got a minute and report back if I get responses," the user wrote.</p> <p>"Join in anyone?"</p> <p>An Asda spokesperson told <em>Fabulous</em>, “We dropped the ball here, and not the apostrophe, which was a mistake.”</p>

Beauty & Style

Placeholder Content Image

In retirement, my retail therapy is buying new undies

<p><em><strong>Celena Ross’s plans to ramp up her celebrant businesses were compromised when she found herself part of the sandwich generation of caring for her elderly mother and grandchildren. Faced with a loss of identity in her transition to semi-retirement, Celena established her website <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="/www.retireematters.com.au" target="_blank">Retiree Matters</a></span> to assist others.</strong></em></p> <p>One of the things you don’t think about when you retire is how much less of everything you need.  Now of course as baby boomers we are used to going without – well when we first married, we all made do with second-hand things until we SAVED our money – I know it seems this younger generation skip the second-hand and saving part and just add to their credit card debt.</p> <p>So ok, initially we did without, or made do with second-hand until we saved, but then hey good times came, we led the way at breaking through the glass ceiling and when you do that, well you need the corporate wardrobe to go with it. I love shopping –  whether at shopping centres, big malls, strip shopping centres, boutiques, overseas markets and shops… until now.</p> <p>As a corporate business woman and baby boomer, I was used to having disposable income and as such always in a position to update my wardrobe each season. Retail therapy consisted of new clothes, scarves, shoes, and jewellery. Yes, I did need two wardrobes – one for more casual wear and the other for functions and special events. Now, no longer employed in the corporate career world, I find that I no longer flick through the catalogues or even look at adverts that pop up in my social media pages of beautiful outfits, tops, skirts, dresses and oh the shoes!</p> <p>For me now it seems my retail therapy consists of replacing undies and bras. Because they wear out!  Mind you the following is a conversation between hubby and me:</p> <p>Me to hubby: “Can you hang the washing out whilst I am out?”</p> <p>Later as we were going to get fish and chips down at Mooloolaba Spit, the hubby says: I noticed when I was hanging the washing out that you have gone up in size in undies.</p> <p>Me looking at said hubby with a withering “Not happy, Jan” look and thinking “What the F@$”: …</p> <p>Hubby interprets look and says: “Ummm, I was just pointing out… I would make a great detective.”</p> <p>Me: “I don’t need to you to observe and point that out. Now just drive and I will pretend you never said anything.”</p> <p>Hmm, argh! Now where was I…</p> <p>Although I have culled my wardrobe many times, to reduce the no longer needed corporate clothes (donated to a number of op shops), I am still left with lots of lovely clothes that will last for some time yet. Unlike my undies.</p> <p>Undies always need updating. What is it with undies? They just don’t seem to last as long. Well, maybe my extra bit of weight has stretched the elastic a little – but surely no… they just don’t seem to last! Oh well, at least I get to shop for something new in the latest patterns and colours. But none of the bikini sizes – wow, did I really fit into them? I buy the half brief hi-leg – no, not the full bloomer briefs and nor will I ever be!</p> <p>Oh and new bras? Well, the bloody underwire breaks through and pushes and gouges into my skin under my armpits – nothing to do with my increased weight of boobs, of course. They’re just not like they used to make them!</p> <p>I used to be photographed at many business events and always conscious and checking photos so that I would not be ‘seen’ wearing the same thing to the next function. Nowadays, it’s completely different. The other day a lovely woman tapped me on the shoulder in the supermarket and said, “Excuse me, but do you know you have little stickers on the back of your top?”</p> <p>Yes, the four-year-old granddaughter had managed, unknowingly to me, to ‘decorate’ my top with a range of animal and flower sticker. And of course, sometimes I look down and see that I have been ‘babied’ with smears of unwanted lunch or sticky hands.</p> <p>So now, it is back to the wardrobe and as change of season is about to start, reviewing the clothes that I have and realising again, that whilst I might like some retail therapy, I really don’t need to go shopping! Now I know and understand when you see ‘mature’ aged women dressed beautifully, they are getting value out of their clothes. So if you see me in a lovely dressy outfit in the supermarket, you will understand I am trying to wear out some clothes so I have an excuse to buy something new! In the meantime, I must be off, I have a hole in the side of one undie and a couple where – I must be poor sewing – the sides have become unstitched, so I need some new ones.</p> <p>Of course, I do realise that I am saving the planet by just recycling my wardrobe and not buying anything new. I feel very virtuous, but who am I kidding! I miss retail therapy for clothes, not just for undies and bras! I miss the days when you would suddenly appear wearing a new outfit and to hubby’s question of if it’s new, one would reply, “Oh this? No, I’ve had this in the wardrobe for some time, you must have forgotten!”</p> <p><em>Follow Celena Ross on <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Retireematters/">Facebook here.</a></strong></span></em></p> <p><em><strong>If you have a story to share please get in touch at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:melody@oversixty.com.au">melody@oversixty.com.au</a></span></strong></em></p> <p><strong>Related links: </strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/08/how-i-feel-about-becoming-a-senior-citizen/">How I feel about becoming a “senior citizen”</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/07/is-happiness-really-what-we-are-after-in-retirement/">Is happiness really what we’re after in retirement?</a></strong></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong><a href="/lifestyle/retirement-life/2016/07/my-simple-secret-for-a-happy-retirement/">My simple secret for a happy retirement</a></strong></em></span></p>

Retirement Life

Over 60

© Copyright 2024 OverSixty.All Rights Reserved.