Economic pressures are forcing consumers to make difficult decisions and budget carefully. As fall arrives, retailers preparing for the holidays should expect an underwhelming season. We are projecting only a 3 to 6% increase in sales over last year, down from 2022’s 6.6% growth. On September 15, we released our annual AlixPartners Holiday Outlook Survey of more than 1,000 American consumers. According to the survey, 26% of consumers plan to spend less this holiday season than last year—a figure that rises to...

E-commerce marketplaces in the EU will soon be subject to specific product safety laws. The new General Product Safety Regulation, or GPSR, entered into force in June 2023 and will apply to products placed or made available across the EU market from 13 December 2024. As well as economic operators like product manufacturers, importers, distributors, authorised representatives and fulfilment service providers, it will require ‘providers of online marketplaces’ to comply with new product safety obligations. We cover what these...

HSBC today announced that it plans to make available $1bn of financing to early-stage climate tech companies around the world. The financing is expected to support start-ups to create a range of new solutions, including EV charging, battery storage, sustainable food and agriculture, and carbon removal technologies. This announcement also follows the launch of HSBC Innovation Banking1 and of HSBC Asset Management's Climate Tech Venture Capital strategy.2 Barry O’Byrne, CEO of Global Commercial Banking at HSBC said: “Access to finance is critical...

The European Union (EU) and its Member States have underwritten both the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The EU has consequently set itself the ambitious target to reduce its CO2 emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. To achieve these targets, the government of the EU, the European Commission, has proposed the EU...

Foreign persons1 are generally not subject to Federal income tax on gains from the sale of a capital asset located in the United States, unless the capital gains are effectively connected with the conduct of a United States trade or business.  Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 897, which came online with the passing of the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 (FIRPTA), created a special rule for a gain derived by a foreign person from the disposition...

The U.S. Department of State recently announced that it is developing the capability to issue digital visa authorizations (DVA) instead of the traditional visas that are printed and placed in applicants’ passports. This development would streamline the travel authorization process by automating the transfer of data from visa application, to airline verification, to border inspection, and U.S. admission. Following unprecedented backlogs for visa interviews at U.S. consulates in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the DVA pilot program appears to...

The EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation ("MiCA") was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 June 2023 and entered into force on 29 June 2023. Crypto-asset service providers ("CASPs") need to be MiCA compliant by no later than 30 December 2024. It is notable that the requirements applicable to issuers of asset-referenced tokens and e-money tokens (Title III and IV MiCA) will already enter into force six months earlier, on 30 June 2024. In addition, Member States...

Matching florescent hues can be challenging, but digital strategies can help manage the process.Designers and colorists know how difficult it can be to get fluorescent colors right. Yet it’s also undeniable that these colors have a very strong draw on consumers across multiple categories, including sportswear, swimwear, and more. So despite the difficulties they present, the payoff can be great. But what makes fluorescent colors so hard to achieve? Shedding Light  On The Challenge Most colors become darker as more dye or...