Black Friday deals: what’s the damage?

Last Friday I woke up in my sleeping bag, on the floor of the wharenui (main meeting house) on Wairoa Marae in Tauranga, where I was learning more about the Māori economy, business, and the Treaty of Waitangi.  My key takeaway from my stay was that whereas western businesses’ metric of success is the bottom line, for Māori businesses there are multiple, interwoven goals: social, … Continue reading Black Friday deals: what’s the damage?

The biggest shopping day you’ve never heard of

Today marks the biggest shopping day of the year. Black Friday? Nope. Cyber Monday? Nope. Instead, it’s Singles’ Day, or 11.11, widely celebrated in China. Never heard of it? I hadn’t either, until today.  I’ve just passed my 100 day milestone of no new clothes shopping, so have been deliberately staying away from any ‘shopping festival’ or ‘shopping holiday’. But seeing online retailer Alibaba take … Continue reading The biggest shopping day you’ve never heard of