Staples beefs up on-line operation
WESTBORO, Mass. — Office supplies seller Staples Inc. is beefing up
its online sales operation in order to better serve small customers.
Staples will invest an additional $10 million in its Internet sales
business, Staples.com. It also plans to put the business in a separate
subsidiary.
John Robb, a principal with Gomez Advisors, a research firm focusing
on Internet commerce, said the venture would be able to better compete
independent of the large corporation, because Internet companies need to
be flexible and able to react quickly to changes in the industry.
Internet consulting companies have predicted online retailing will reach
$2.3 billion worldwide this holiday season — more than double last
year’s $1.1 billion.
Hasbro losing to Mattel in high-tech
wars
PROVIDENCE — The hot Christmas toy Furby, a gremlin-like critter
that chatters and burps, may be a top-seller for Hasbro Inc. But the No.
2 U.S. toy company has lost its edge in high-tech toys to rival Mattel
Inc. Mattel, the world’s largest toymaker and the manufacturer of Barbie
and Hot Wheels, announced recently that it plans to purchase software
giant The Learning Company Inc.
The proposed deal may lead Hasbro, known for G.I. Joe and Monopoly,
to take another step toward high-tech toys, industry watchers said.
Sales of traditional toys are not expected to grow much, if at all, this
year. Sales of Barbie dolls are expected to be down for the first time
since 1976. Analysts predict that sales of video games, which rose 55
percent last year, will rise an additional 45 percent this year. Sales
of computer games will go up by as much as 15 percent in 1998.
Seifert Systems Invests in Energy Efficiency to Strengthen Operations
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…but will soon offer Trivial Pursuit on-
line
NEW YORK — Sony Online Entertainment and Hasbro Interactive, a unit
of Hasbro Inc., signed an agreement to create an online version of
Trivial Pursuit to be distributed over Sony’s game Web site. Sony Online
received rights from Hasbro, the Pawtucket, R.I.-based maker of toys and
board games, to produce and distribute Trivial Pursuit online, including
special themed versions, the companies said . The companies expect
Trivial Pursuit to be available over Sony’s The Station Web site in mid-
1999.
Buying clothes on-line gaining in
popularity
NEW YORK — Americans are more eagerly buying clothes online this
holiday season, shedding concerns about not being able to try something
on or feel the fabric. Well-known retailers like the Gap and Macy’s are
providing new temptations to go online. Sales are also increasing simply
because more women are getting onto the Internet, which has long been
dominated by men. A report from America Online found that clothing sales
are up 210 percent from a year ago. Clothing has been the second most
popular item behind toys sold on AOL’s Internet shopping mall, which has
links to at least 20 clothing and department stores and about 90 other
retail sites.
Jupiter Communications, a New York-based Internet research firm,
estimates online clothing sales will easily top $330 million in 1998, up
from $103 million in 1997. Internet sales of computers, software, books
and music have soared in recent years, but up until now there just
wasn’t the same excitement over clothes.
Silicon Valley prosperity reserved for
only a few
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Connie Tort, a 25-year-old single mother of four,
spends $400 a month for an unheated room in a sour-smelling house with
cracked walls and blankets on the windows. Just outside looms Adobe
Systems Inc., a software company with annual revenue close to $1
billion. “Silicon Valley? No, I never heard that term,” said Ms. Tort,
who gets a $500 disability check each month. “Not everyone out here is
involved in this technological stuff. A lot of us are barely making it
with our kids.”
The high-tech prosperity that has transformed Silicon Valley over
the past decade has bypassed the poor and is even pushing out the middle
class, forcing teachers and police officers into long commutes. For
every five jobs created this year in Silicon Valley, only one new home
was built. The average rent for new tenants seeking unsubsidized
apartments soared 29 percent over the past two years, from $935 to
$1,208.
At the end of 1997, only 37 percent of Santa Clara County’s homes
were within the reach of families earning the average household income,
$70,200. During the first half of 1998, housing prices soared from
$288,000 to $317,000 in the county, which forms the heart of Silicon
Valley, according to the National Association of Home Builders.
Silicon Valley is the world’s leading high-tech region, home to 20
percent of the biggest software and electronics companies. At Intel
Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Apple Computer Inc., annual revenues are
counted by the billions.
Repeated trauma cases declining
WASHINGTON – For the third year in a row, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) is reporting a decrease in the number of repeated
trauma cases. The BLS reported that repeated trauma cases in 1997,
including carpal tunnel syndrome and noise-induced hearing loss, account
for 4 percent of the 6.1 million workplace injuries and illnesses, a
drop of 1.5 percent on top of a 15 percent drop over the previous two
years.
