International Business Council

2020 IBC Global Forum Offers Buyer Connections, Networking Through Virtual Education Series

ROSEMONT, ILL (Sept. 10, 2020)—The 2020 IBC Global Forum, the annual gathering of the International Housewares Association’s International Business Council (IBC), will be held Sept. 22-24 as a series of virtual education sessions due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The live-streamed event will offer housewares suppliers new to the international arena or veteran sales executives…

Global Retail Intelligence – June

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: June 29 - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is raising its bet on populous Southeast Asia, a region that is home to more than 600 million consumers. The Chinese internet giant said Wednesday it is plowing an additional $1 billion into Southeast Asia e-commerce firm Lazada Group, raising its stake to 83% from 51%.…

Global Retail Intelligence – May

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: May 19 – Alibaba Delivers Yet Another Year of Powerful Growth China’s vast ranks of consumers are finding ways to spend more money online — and that’s good news for Alibaba. The Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant that a few years ago led the biggest share listing in the history of the American stock…

Global Retail Intelligence – April

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: April 28 – Soriana (Mexico) See Solid Growth in Q1 Soriana presented positive results during the first quarter of 2017. Its revenues were 35,248 million pesos, equivalent to a growth of 1.3% compared to the same period in 2016 when it had revenues of 34.793 million pesos. This increase was driven mainly by…

Global Retail Intelligence – March

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: March 31 – Amazon in Australia Not the End of Retail There After months of teasing, Amazon will reportedly “greatly expand” its online offer in Australia over the next year. The move has been predicted to “decimate retailing as we know it”, but the sky will not fall in. Shopping centres won’t close and…

South Korea Market Visit

IHA Staff recently made a market visit to South Korea in preparation for a potential trade mission to that country in 2018. The visit included touring major retail outlets/malls, meeting with key distributors to better understand the market, and meeting with relevant key retailers. Distributors met with included Venta Korea Co., Ltd., household appliance distributor for…

Protecting your Brand in Cuba in Uncertain Times

Prior to Fidel Castro coming to power, the following three statements pertained to Cuba: - Its workers had the 8th highest wages in the world - More Americans lived in Cuba than Cubans lived in America - Its per-capita income was higher than those of Austria and Japan Diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba were then severed for the 53 years between 1961…

December Currency Outlook

In their December 2016 Currency Outlook report, Tempus, an exchange rate and global payments company, provides a detailed report including the following topics and sections: In Brief US Dollar gains broadly as markets continue to price-in interest rate hike Japanese Yen has worst month since 2009 on policy divergence and inflation prospects in U.S. In Focus…

Global Retail Intelligence – December 2016

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: December 1 - When it comes to shopping, Canadians just aren’t clicking as only 2% of sales are made online While bricks and mortar retailers remain justifiably panicked about losing sales to digital-only ecommerce players like Amazon, it still comes as a surprise to learn that online sales account for just…