Zoe For Reader – The first step is as good as half over

Beauty Industry Is Booming With Social Media

I came upon Jeshin Toor’s Blog after browsing through the dense selection of blog posts in comm101. Covergirl’s brief, catchy few word slogan ’I Am What I Make up’ successfully transform the brand. If there is one sentence to sum up the reason behind the makeover of Covergirl, that is focusing on individual customers and meeting their expectations enable expand markets and draw in more consumers.

In addition to the new inclusive slogan, Covergirl debuts new products to its followers and creates exposure to the brand through social media.

Covergirl opens up the official channels on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook, which provides the brand free platforms to communicate with its customers. Another effective marketing strategy is promoting its products through influencer marketing.Influencers are nothing new to marketing, particularly within the fashion and beauty sector. An incredible 57% of beauty and fashion companies now use influencers as part of their marketing strategies.(source)

Over the last few years, most beauty brands discovered the marketing and advertising potential of social networks. They make great use of the visual medium and user engagement to increase brand loyalty. For consumers, Social media is empowering them to move away from depending on the air-brushed ads released by cosmetic brands to decide which products to purchase. Vloggers are at the heart of this trend, regulating the industry with unbiased reviews in most cases). Therefore, consumers feel more satisfied about the products they bought.

I see the beauty products being featured in Influencer marketing in a number of different ways, the most commonly seen are Product Review, Video Tutorials, Flat-lay Photography, and Make-up Look. By these ways, not only it is easier for brands to get their content in front of their followers, but it also allows them to show their consumer exactly how the product is intended to be used.

Personally, I no longer buy cosmetics without thoroughly researching them first. When it comes to purchasing decisions, swatches at the makeup counter of my nearest department store, or a flashy ad, no longer holds an influence.Instead, I turn to various online platforms such as YouTube and Instagram for beauty tips, product recommendations and tutorials. This type of content is both informative, and fun to watch. When it comes to making purchase decisions, I will turn to my favourite beauty bloggersBecause I can gauge how a certain product will look on my face before buying it, and I no longer have to waste money testing cosmetics that will not flatter my skin tone.

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Blog Source：

Jeshintoor (12 Oct. 2017.). Covergirl Gets A Brand Makeover – Jeshin Toor’s Blog. Blogs.ubc.ca. Retrieved from https://blogs.ubc.ca/jeshint/2017/10/12/covergirl-gets-a-brand-makeover/

Article Source：

Nicole Gittleman (11 Apr. 2016.). How Beauty and Fashion Brands Can Leverage Influencer Marketing – Flying Point Digital. Flying Point Digital. Retrieved from http://www.flyingpointdigital.com/2016/04/11/how-beauty-and-fashion-brands-can-leverage-influencer-marketing/

Lindsay Kolowich (n.d.). 22 Companies With Really Catchy Slogans & Brand Taglines. Blog.hubspot.com. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/brand-slogans-and-taglines

Business Technology: Mobile Apps and Health Indistry

As many news outlets have reported by now, the concepts of health and fitness are developing with the growth of people’s sports consciousness in the modern world.The Fitness apps, a valid alternative to the gym but cost almost nothing, is starting to get traction with an increasing number of people.

How Mobile Apps Are Transforming The Fitness Industry

I came across a blog in Businezapp recently. The author, Andrew Gazdecki thoroughly analyses ‘How Mobile Apps Are Transforming The Fitness Industry’ by breaking the articles into 3 parts. The article starts with an introduction, which provides background information on the introduced topic as well as the tendency that transforming the ways of keeping fit and maintaining a good health from a traditional one, like go to the gym into a new channel that given the prevalence of mobile technology.

The writer explains why fitness apps gaining popularity and how these apps help to solve problems that the traditional ways of doing exercise face in the second part. The reasons and the solutions are quite persuasive and useful. What I know from the concluding part of the page is that the mobile apps bring success to the fitness industry. The fitness apps brings opportunity and future prospects for the small business.

In my perspective, technology enables innovation, which capable of even transforming an industry, but the right conditions must be in place first for innovation to blossom. Identifying and meeting those conditions are significant for the further development of the business. For the fitness industry, there are multiple barriers to exercise in the modern world, including a decline in physical activity, an increase in sedentary behavior, the cost of a membership at the gym, lack of time and so on. Under such a circumstance, innovation appears in order to satisfy people’s demands. For example, I don’t have to fumble through my savings on gym memberships and personal trainer fees since I have already known how to use my smartphone as a training tool.

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Source:

Michael Barnett Your Phone App (3 Jan. 2017.). How Mobile Apps Are Transforming The Fitness Industry – Bizness Apps. Bizness Apps. Retrieved from https://www.biznessapps.com/blog/gym-mobile-apps/

Melanie Ring (5 May 2016.). 8 App Startups Reinventing Fitness. The business of Apps. Retrieved from http://www.businessofapps.com/8-app-startups-reinventing-fitness/

Robert H. Shmerling, Md (23 Oct. 2017.). Activity trackers: Can they really help you get fit? – Harvard Health Blog. Harvard Health Blog. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/activity-trackers-help-you-get-fit-2017102312594

IVF and the Marketing of Hope

The huge number of infertility population and infertility cases in today’s society is driving the growth of in-vitro fertilization market around the world. As further successful IVF births followed, such kind of fertility treatments by combining egg and sperm outside the womb, and then replacing the resulting embryo in the mother, have become more common in the modern society. Babies have been born thanks to IVF. It brings hope to the couples with infertility problems and growing age, single mothers, as well as LGBT communities.

Over the past decade, the concept of IVF has gained popularity at a swift pace in India. According to the report, India, IVF Service Market published by Allied Market Research, the market, in terms of value, is projected to reach $775.9 million by 2022, at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 16.6% from 2016 to 2022. (alliedmarketresearch.com, May 2017) Factors such as delayed pregnancies, altered lifestyle, like alcohol consumption, smoking, high-level stress, and so on, are key reasons for the IVF market growth in India. With the low cost advanced reproductive technologies and infrastructure, extensive clinics, availability of skilled physicians, and high IVF birth rate, the Indian IVF market is bound to witness a gush in terms of growth in the years to come.

India IVFServices Market, ($Million), 2014-2022

IVF technology was more readily accepted in the developed countries due to the fact that the technology originated there itself and better technological advancements were made as well. The results of the study published by the Market Data Forecast show that in-vitro fertilization (IVF) Market in North America was valued at USD 480 million in 2016 and is expected to be valued at USD 1001 million by 2022 to grow at a CAGR 16.20% during the forecast period 2016-2022. (EMAILWIRE.COM, October 10, 2017) Presence of encouraging reimbursement scenarios, growing adoption for in-vitro fertilization in the U.S., the growth rate of infertility cases, rising number of embryo banking centers, the aggravating trend of an aging population ensure the demand and the growth of the market in North America.

Presently, more and more people are being educated and accepted by this kind of forefront reproductive technique treatment in countries including China, Australia, UK, and so forth. However, in my perspective, improving and regulating the legal and administrative systems in IVF industry step by step is critically important. Since the IVF technology is still imperfect. The reason is that IVF treatment is little more than a punt for many families. The average cost of Single Cycle IVF Cost is $12000, and the success rate is 41% in the U.S., which means in order to get babies, more than half of couples need multiple treatments, and costs more money. Unfortunately, there are still lots of women desired IVF pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. Once the treatment has failed, the patients will undertake the tortures of their mind and bodies. Therefore, it is crucial to building up maximum age restrictions, minimum income, physician’s examination and the evaluations of the probability of success. If the possibility of getting pregnant cannot meet the lowest rate, the physicians are supposed to set the patients’ mental and physical health as preconditions and persuade the patients to give up rather than think about their own profit first and give them invalid treatment.

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Emailwire (n.d.). North America in-vitro fertilization (IVF) Market -Industry Perspective and Forecast to 2021. Emailwire.com. Retrieved from http://www.emailwire.com/release/488755-North-America-invitro-fertilization-IVF-Market-Industry-Perspective-and-Forecast-to-2021.html

N.a (4 Oct. 2017.). IVF Cost – What is the Cost of In Vitro Fertilization. Advancedfertility.com. Retrieved from https://www.advancedfertility.com/ivf-cost.htm

Fox News (28 Jul. 2017.). New IVF treatment brings hope. Fox News. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/07/28/new-ivf-treatment-brings-hope.html

Lauren Lyons Cole (25 Jun. 2017.). A single round of fertility treatments can cost over $20,000 — a couple who did it breaks down where the money went. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/how-much-ivf-costs-2017-6

What Marijuana Legalization Can Bring To Canada

Ontario considers pricing recreational pot at $10 a gram

Canada is going to legalize marijuana, recreational use in 2018. Although this decision made by Justin Trudeau has long been contentious.The legalization is accord with most of the Canadian expectations.From the whole view, the Legislation on marijuana exactly can help Canada solve many upfront problems. Especially for the financial issue, marijuana is like an economic engine in Canada. Marijuana in the legal market is estimated to give Canada’s economy a boost of up to $22.6 billion per year, according to a report from Deloitte. As a result, the Cannabis industry will bring substantial revenue to Canadian government without increasing taxes.

Opening up a new industry within the economy always brings enormous benefit, particularly the marijuana industry, which had long been prohibited, but had accumulated a huge consumer group. The cannabis mainstream retail market and other legal marijuana, operating will provide employment opportunities for people.

From the statistics and prediction, there is no doubt that legalizing cannabis can bring Canada many benefits. But I think the most influential impact is legalizing recreational weed cuts off an important revenue stream for many in the illegal drug trade, which also means that government-regulated pot will drive customers to legal retailers and away from the underground market. The black market has no safety standards. There is no way to know exactly what dangerous substances are cut into the drug. While the legal retailer sells the cannabis under a legalizing framework. Consumers can just buy limited amount once, which avoid any possibilities of toxic addiction or an overdose of marijuana. Meanwhile, I think with the same unified price, there is no meaning to smuggle or do some illegal trade, which might decrease the crime rate in Canada.

There are some people still concern about the negative impacts might bring with the legalization of recreational use, like affect teenagers, seem cannabis as a drug and will affect health and so forth. However, I think legislation is the most strict and rigorous rule in a country. If the regulation is there, nobody can break it. If everyone just abides by the law, things will just go in a right direction.

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Sources：

Brian Hutchinson (12 Oct. 2016.). Black market to grey: The illicit marijuana market is no longer dominated by gangs. National Post. Retrieved from http://nationalpost.com/features/o-cannabis-black-market-to-grey

CBC News (13 Dec. 2016.). Shares of Canadian pot companies head higher. CBC News. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/pot-stocks-report-1.3894179

Ferguson, Rob (20 Sept. 2017.). Ontario considers the price of $10 per gram in government stores for marijuana once it’s legalized next summer | Toronto Star. thestar.com. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2017/09/20/ontario-considers-price-of-10-per-gram-in-government-stores-for-marijuana-once-its-legalized-next-summer.html

William Marsden, William Marsden (22 Nov. 2016.). Marijuana is becoming a billion-dollar business in Canada. Now all it has to do is become legal.. Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/11/22/marijuana-is-becoming-a-billion-dollar-business-in-canada-now-all-it-has-to-do-is-become-legal/

Business Ethics

These days, as the economic globalization‘s acceleration, enterprises face rigorous challenges brought by the ever-sharpening international competition, peer pressure as well as risks that may arise on the road of development. it’s easy to paint the corporate world in a negative light. Therefore, the code of ethics plays an increasingly important role in enterprises.

The code of ethics encompasses a series of principles are applied to employees to avoid unethical practices, behaviors, and misconducts today. Business Ethics refers to standards of correct behavior, members of the organization are expected to maintain and follow with. A properly framed code helps provide companies with a compass to guide their employees through business environment.

For global companies, like Starbucks. The Starbucks does business with its suppliers all around the world. It purchases coffee bean from countries in South America, Africa, and Asia. It is crucial for the Starbucks to ensure the long-term sustainability of the quality of coffee while considering the mutual benefit of the coffee plantations and the company. The Starbucks Supplier Code of Conduct requires their employees to show respect and dignity to the farmers, and moreover, the company provides farmers with various aspects of services concerning information technology dissemination, training, financing, infrastructure, education, etc. Starbucks’ Farmer Support Centre on four continents where agronomists test soils, examine samples and provide free pieces of advice to any coffee farmer who asks. This cooperation uses its code of conduct maintains high-quality coffee beans, which receive recognition around the world.

In my perspective, the code of ethics can affect the market in different aspects, includes strengthening the relationship with customers and franchisees, foster a healthy company image, utilize resources effectively, and so on. Business ethics contribute to a long-term development of the company.

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Sources:

Starbucks Coffee Company (n.d.). Supplier Guidance. Starbucks Coffee Company. Retrieved from https://www.starbucks.com/business/suppliers

Starbucks Coffee Company (n.d.). Standard Terms and Conditions. Starbucks Coffee Company. Retrieved from https://www.starbucks.com/business/suppliers/standardtermsandconditions

N.a (15 May 2014.). Ijoart.org. Retrieved from http://www.ijoart.org/docs/THE-IMPORTANCE-OF-BUSINESS-ETHICS-IN-GLOBALISATION-A-STUDY.pdf

ResearchGate (6 Dec. 2014.). Business Ethics: Impact of Globalization. ResearchGate. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271531654_Business_Ethics_Impact_of_Globalization