Savings Rate Hits Zero in June

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The savings rate for June 2005 hit zero, for only the second time since 1959, when the Commerce Department began tracking savings by consumers. “[Rising home values] are making people feel they don’t need to save,” Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, told CNN Money. While high levels of consumer spending are helping drive the economy now, if real estate prices start to decline, it will be bad for the economy, as consumers run out of home equity they can tap.

Atkins Nutritionals Files for Bankruptcy

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Privately owned Atkins Nutritionals Inc. has filed for bankruptcy, as the low carbohydrate diet fad has continued to fizzle, impacting the company’s sales. The latest figures show only 2.2 percent of consumers are following a low carbohydrate diet, down from 9 percent at the height of the craze, the “London Times” reported. Founder Dr. Atkins, who died in April 2003, received the National Health Foundation award in 1985. The diet has never been endorsed by the American Medical Association, which says it lacks scientific basis, and risks coronoray artery disease.

Tips to Choosing the Right Distribution Channel

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This New York Enterprise Report piece describes why choosing the right distributor is crucial for your business. Your product’s desired distribution patterns, the nature of the proudct, and available resources all need to be considered when selecting one or more distribution channels. Direct sales can lead to the greatest revenue realization, but is also the most costly and resource intensive. Selling through distributors can place a product into new geographies and customer segments, but at a lower gross margin per unit. Selling your product through Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM’s) can be a valuable source of steady sales, but at lower gross margin than the other two options.

Dynamic Pricing Best for Retailers, but may Upset Consumers

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A recent University of Pennsylvania study found that 64% of respondents who had recently used the Internet did not know that it is legal “for an online store to charge different people different prices at the same time of day.” Research shows that people often get upset if they learn that they paid more than someone else, possibly because they do not know much about what goes into a company’s decisions to set prices. On the flip side, Wharton Professor Peter Feder says that companies that benefit most from dynamic pricing are those that experiment with different pricing strategies, trying out lower and higher prices to different customers, and utilizing coupons, discounts and other incentives to maximize the customers’ shopping experience, and their own profits.

Outsourcing Opportunities for Small Businesses

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Dr. Alok Aggarwal, founder and chairman of Evaluserve, said that the key for smaller businesses looking to outsource is to form buying cooperatives that sufficiently aggregate demand, the Westchester County Business Journal reported. Participating at a June 23rd panel discussion at Pace University, Aggarwal said that India has attracted $17 billion in exported business activity, making it the world’s current outsourcing leader. India is challenged by its slow judicial system, and will face increasing competition from Canada and Europe, Aggarwal noted.