Design - Branding Archives - Bold Publishings

Coca-Cola says it’s done raising prices in the U.S. and Europe this year

admin — Wed, 25 May 2022 03:58:44 +0000

For has been raising prices on its drinks to combat higher costs. But the company said Wednesday it’s done hiking prices this year in developed markets like the U.S. and Europe.

Coke follows the lead of rival which said in February it wouldn’t raise prices beyond its usual hike for beverages in the fourth quarter. Both companies have reported strong sales growth thanks to higher prices, but consumer demand has weakened, although not as much as expected.

Coke’s prices were up 10% in the second quarter compared with the year-ago period.

Customers in the U.S. and Europe are switching to private label bottled water and juices, Coke CEO James Quincey said Wednesday on the company’s conference call. The company reported that U.S. unit case volume fell 1% in the second quarter.

“Across the sector, consumers are increasingly cost conscientious. They are looking for value and stocking up on items on sale,” Quincey said.

Coke plans to keep raising prices in line with inflation in developing markets like Latin America.

Pepsi has seen even steeper declines in demand than Coke. The Frito-Lay owner reported that its North American beverage volume tumbled 4.5% in the second quarter. Its Quaker Foods North America unit’s volume fell 5%. Frito-Lay North America was the only bright spot, reporting 1% volume growth, thanks to consumers’ enduring snack habits.

If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.

It uses a dictionary of over 200 Latin words, combined with a handful of model sentence structures, to generate Lorem Ipsum which looks reasonable. The generated Lorem Ipsum is therefore always free from repetition, injected humour, or non-characteristic words etc.

The standard chunk of Lorem Ipsum used since the 1500s is reproduced below for those interested. Sections 1.10.32 and 1.10.33 from “de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum” by Cicero are also reproduced in their exact original form, accompanied by English versions from the 1914 translation by H. Rackham.

The post Coca-Cola says it’s done raising prices in the U.S. and Europe this year appeared first on Bold Publishings.

Main Street’s labor problem is weighing on businesses as summer hiring picks up

admin — Tue, 17 May 2022 03:59:18 +0000

As summer arrives, Alison Schuch, owner of Fells Point Surf Co., is down about 10 workers at her two beach retail locations as a perfect storm of reasons drives a post-pandemic hiring crunch.

A lack of affordable summer housing, scant child-care availability, inflation and the rebalancing of work and life in recent years have combined to make the applicant pool different from what it once was.

“It’s just been hard to kind of balance the expectations of the team and the needs of the business and the needs on both sides,” Schuch said, “and then also the expectations of the customers — because, you know, having to close early because we don’t have enough people.”

“Customers want what they want. Convenience has become a huge important factor, because you can go online and get anything you want,” said Schuch, who has Fell’s Point Surf Co. stores in the Fells Point area of Baltimore, Maryland, and Dewey Beach, Delaware, as well as sister store Tangerine Goods in Bethany Beach, Delaware.

With summer hiring season in full swing, small business owners such as Schuch have lingering concerns about filling roles to meet consumer demand. Labor quality was the most important problem for nearly a quarter of National Federation of Independent Business, or NFIB, members surveyed in May, according to the small business advocacy organization.

Labor quality has fluctuated between being the No. 1 and the No. 2 most important issue for NFIB members in recent months. The sectors where businesses are feeling the labor shortage most acutely include construction, transportation and manufacturing, but retail and restaurant owners are also reporting challenges.

The post Main Street’s labor problem is weighing on businesses as summer hiring picks up appeared first on Bold Publishings.

The biggest mistakes owners make when selling their business

admin — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 02:25:44 +0000

For many entrepreneurs, the sale or transfer of a business is like giving up a baby they have raised from infancy.

Certainly, there’s a lot at stake economically, given that 80% to 90% of owners have their financial wealth locked up in their companies, according to estimates from the Exit Planning Institute, an education, training and credentialing organization. Many owners also underestimate the many emotional aspects that go hand-in-hand with exiting a business.

Here are five mistakes owners should avoid when selling a business.

Many businesses don’t have an exit plan or they don’t strategize adequately for a multitude of scenarios, said James Jack, who runs the business owners client segment at UBS Global Wealth Management. And that leaves them susceptible in the event of death, divorce or if a suitor, such as a private equity firm that’s hungry for a deal, comes knocking. Fifty percent of exits in the U.S. are involuntary due to death, divorce, disability, distress or disagreement, according to the Exit Planning Institute.

To avoid scrambling, or being forced to accept a lower purchase price, owners should scenario plan at least once a year with advisors that include a CPA, financial advisor, attorney and family members, if applicable, Jack said. They should also maintain an up-to-date business valuation.

Even with planning, it can take six to nine months to get from the point of starting the sale to consummating a transaction with an outside buyer, said Scott Mashuda, managing director of River’s Edge Alliance Group, an M&A advisor to businesses. “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

Some owners, who could be used to a do-it-yourself approach, may try to do the same when it comes to a sale or transfer of their business.

But taking this step, without consulting outside advisors such as M&A specialists, valuation experts, CPAs and attorneys, is ill-advised, according to exit planning professionals.

Justin Goodbread, a certified financial planner and president of the wealth management firm WealthSource, offers the example of a six-figure mistake that he — a seasoned exit planning professional — almost made in a recent deal. Had it not been for his outside advisors, he would have signed an official letter of intent that would have limited his tax-planning ability.

“As a Certified Exit Planning Advisor, I know all of the necessary steps to take when navigating a business sale. Nonetheless, my eagerness to close the deal caused me to miss a step,” he said in email comments. “Because my attorney and CPA were involved, they were able to tell me to slow down, and we were able to transact in a more tax-sensitive manner,” he said.

The post The biggest mistakes owners make when selling their business appeared first on Bold Publishings.