Investor's Playbook

📖Today’s Agenda

• Stock Market : Energized shoppers break one-day holiday sales record

• Entrepreneurship : TOP 3 AI TOOLS OF THE WEEK

• Personal Finance : 5 Ways to Make Your Online Shopping Experience More Cost-Effective

📈Stock Market

Energized shoppers break one-day holiday sales record

Whether they jostled through brick-and-mortar stores or toggled between tabs and virtual carts, holiday shoppers were eager to participate in Black Friday this year.

Both in-store and online retail sales increased year-over-year unadjusted for inflation, according to Mastercard’s SpendingPulse insights, which noted that apparel, jewelry and restaurant categories saw considerable spikes. In-store sales jumped a little more than 1%, while e-commerce led the charge with an increase of 8.5%.

However, Sensormatic Solutions, which tracks shopper traffic at brick-and-mortar stores, found that visits on Black Friday were up 4.6% from 2022. This is a turnaround for retailers, the company said, as foot traffic has been down an average of 2.4% this year.

E-commerce platform Shopify also reported record sales totaling more than $4 billion worldwide, 22% higher than last year. According to the company, the average cart price for US consumers was $124, and the top-selling categories included personal care, clothing and kitchenware

Adobe Analytics, which tracks US online shopping, reported a record $9.8 billion in Black Friday sales, up 7.5% from 2022, driven by surging demand for electronics such as televisions, smart watches and audio equipment.

Most shoppers did their browsing and buying on their phones, with mobile purchases accounting for $5.3 billion in sales. Adobe expects that purchases made through smartphones this holiday season will overtake those made by desktops for the first time.

Online shoppers also made considerable use of “buy now, pay later” (BNPL), installment payment plans that allow consumers to split their online cart total into four payments typically due several weeks apart. While some BNPL lenders charge interest or late fees, for major purchases or big spending days, these mini-loans can help stretch holiday budgets. Last week, 72% more shoppers used BNPL plans compared with the week before, Adobe found.

Sensormatic predicts that eight of the season’s busiest in-person shopping days will be in December and, combined with Black Friday weekend, they are expected to account for 40% of all holiday foot traffic this year.

🎯Entrepreneurship

TOP 3 AI TOOLS OF THE WEEK

1. AI Pricing Optimizer

TEXT TO DATA / WEBSITE ANALYSING

AI Pricing Optimizer can be used in a variety of ways, from sales and marketplace to e-commerce. This tool is the perfect way to ensure you get the best return when it comes to setting and adjusting prices. With AI Pricing Optimizer, you can make sure you make the most of your pricing and increase your sales in no time.

2. MindOS

AI AGENTS

MindOS is the ultimate AI for everyday tasks, perfect for automated personalisation. Whether you’re crafting emails, introducing yourself, or streamlining daily workflow, this AI has you covered. Train with your own personal data, so your AI can truly represent you and remembers your personal to-dos, preferences, and phrases.

3. SQUAD

VIDEO EDITING & PRODUCTION

FSQUAD is an AI-powered influencer marketing platform that helps businesses hire an AI assistant to create successful campaigns. With its easy-to-use SaaS solution, SquadApp provides businesses the ability to automate their internal processes and lease out their inventory of bloggers for extra revenue.

💸Personal Finance

5 Ways to Make Your Online Shopping Experience More Cost-Effective

‘Article by Cole Tretheway’

The holiday season is upon us. It's a fun time with a fraught lead-up, typically. But last year, a miracle happened. I slashed my shopping time in half and somehow acquired over 99% of things on my shipping list.

I've done a deep dive into my shopping habits, good and bad, and brought the best to the surface.Feel free to use these five tips to control time and money spent shopping. I'll be recycling all of them to make online shopping faster and more affordable in 2023.

1. Use the Fakespot Chrome extension

Amazon reviews have a way of gripping me by my feet and dragging me under. This one said one thing; that one said the opposite. Whom do you trust? How do you know?

The solution was installing the free Fakespot extension, which helps me spot fake reviews. It's especially useful on Amazon. I can see low-quality reviews at a glance. If curious, I can dive deeper into ratings, which are ranked alphabetically for quality and by stars for recency.

One time-saving perk: Fakespot will hide ads and order Amazon products from best-to-worst reviews, hiding scammy products with a click. I often use these settings when searching for something with a million near-identical copies, like protein powder.

2. Shop used and refurbished

The spirit of the holiday season gripped me like a kid holding a candy bar. I wanted -- no, needed to buy Mom the ultimate holiday gift: a pair of AirPods. I rushed to the Apple Store, checked the price tag, and promptly blacked out.

Big-ticket items can break your budget like nothing else. Shopping for used and refurbished items is a great way to slash costs without forgoing quality. eBay, Poshmark, and Mercari are my go-to stores for all things clothes and electronics. Typically, I can buy lightly used items for 30% to 50% off.

My mom got her AirPods 30% off. How I did it: I plugged "refurbished AirPods" into Google and found BackMarket, which offered me a one-year warranty and a huge discount. I took it, returned them when they malfunctioned, and then got a fresh pair for Mom.

3. Search, not browse

Two weeks more until the deadline, and I was done. I was done. My swivel chair spun in circles. A miracle. Definitely, a miracle. It was my first time getting my shopping done weeks ahead of time. The reason: my highly specific shopping list, which made it possible to search, not browse.

Searching versus browsing is the difference between shopping for five minutes versus five days. It takes 15 minutes to browse Zara shirts, 10 minutes to stress over colors and sizes, and 24 hours to waffle over buying this brand instead of that one. Browsing takes time.

How long does it take for me to search and buy a "red M Zara flannel?" Maybe 10 minutes.

The key to searching, not browsing was asking friends and family to be specific about their holiday wish lists. Once I knew what to look for, shopping online became as easy as checking boxes. Sometimes it's fun to browse, but searching is often a more cost-effective way to shop.

4. Buy direct

Mobile apps like Shop are great for window shopping. I like how clean the Shop app is -- it's less cluttered than, say, the Ministry of Supply website. And I can buy all my brands on Shop. But it's often more expensive than buying directly from store websites.

Two reasons: rewards and promotions. Many retailers offer membership rewards that buyers can only earn by shopping through the store website. In the same vein, many stores offer site-only promotions, such as codes you can type at checkout to redeem 15% off.

You can get the best of both worlds by browsing on third-party apps and switching to the original website at checkout. Sometimes, I save a little extra by doing so.

5. Swipe the right cards

I have a confession: unlike many staff members at The Ascent, I really like store credit cards. Not all of them, but the ones I have save me lots. The key is knowing when to swipe the right cards.

That's because I'm the kind of shopper who spends tons of money at my favorite stores. Take Amazon, for example. I spend hundreds of dollars per month on everything from protein shakes to ethernet cables. By swiping my Prime Visa at checkout, I get 5% cash back on my purchases.

The disadvantage of store credit cards is that they're only useful at specific stores. When I shop outside of Amazon, I prefer to use all-arounders: cash back credit cards that earn me up to 6% cash back no matter where I shop. It makes shopping a little more affordable.