The idea is that by placing “little luxuries” here and there for consumers to purchase on a daily basis will bring life into their market.Which contrast the popular strategy of selling an abundance of low quality goods at a cheap price. Examples include gourmet ice creams at their 7 Elevens and cashmere sweaters at Uniqlo (a casual wear retailer with quality as a strength).

Shinzo Abe, the newly elected Prime Minister of Japan has managed to liven the stock market and spending on luxury goods, but retail sales have not proven to increase significantly.

They suggest that it his policies are overly optimistic of the reality of the market. “When it comes to day-to-day spending, people are still in penny-pinching mode. We can’t see any impact from Abenomics,” says Seven and I Holdings President Noritoshi Murata.

Yet, it is important to keep in mind that the consumer demographic is slightly different in Japan. There are more people in Japan with money to spend.

This strategy is definitely a contrast, and it will be interesting to see how it will turn out. People will have to pay much more for their goods, but if revenue increases overall, consumers buy less but higher quality items, I think that’s a pretty sweet deal.

However, if they turn out like Vancouver, where people make vacations out of travelling down to the States purely to shop. They may want to look at the possibilities of people switching to buying clothes in neighbor countries Korea and China.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/06/us-japan-fastretailing-idUSBRE9950H620131006

On October 7th, 2013 the Parti Québécois proposed a new $2-billion plan that would increase investments and jobs in Quebec. This plan, revealed by Premier Pualine Marois and Finance Minister Nicolas Marceau, hopes to create 40,000 jobs by 2017. In particular, $566-million would go into the renewal of infrastructure, which would include community centers, arenas and schools. Also, $516-million of the budget would go into the development of electric transit in Quebec.

In a microeconomic standard, this would be similar to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First 100 Day Plan. With the government interfering with the economy, it would allow for more jobs to occur which would then stimulate the economy. For instance, the 40,000 individuals who were granted jobs, are now able to provide more for their family and put more money into the economy as they purchase goods, and new entrepreneurs will have more capital to pursue their ambitions. Overall, I think it is a applaudable proposal from the part of the Parti Quebecois as they attempt to put more money into the economy.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/pq-announces-2-billion-jobs-plan-1.1928834

As of April 1st, the only legal way to get marijuana in Canada is for medical reasons from producers approved by Health Canada.

Since then, 171 individual parties have signed up to gain a slice of the anticipated highly-valued market. It is suggested that medium-sized businesses will receive the most benefits from this new program.

The amount of people using marijuana is also expected to multiply from 500 to 37,000. The entire industry in Canada is estimated to be worth about $1.4 billion by 2024.

Opening up this market into the free hands of the public (while still being regulated by Health Canada) is definitely an eye-catcher for corporations and entrepreneurs. With such high demand, a bustling market is sure to form.

The question is, who will benefit the most? Will a single corporation rise dominant? And how will these new changes affect marijuana as a product?

Since growing illegally in one’s home is still cheaper, it is suspected that marijuana will be “customized” to target certain health conditions to compete.

I suspect that the market will prove to grow massively and dominant corporations will be able to generate lots of revenue.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-pot-growers-eyeing-medical-marijuana-free-market-1.1894621