Tuesday, November 27, 2018 HONDA LEADS EDMUNDS’ 2019 …



Published Daily For Subscriptions, call 1-888-884-2630 subscribe@

$300 Per Year Copyright 2018

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

HONDA LEADS EDMUNDS' 2019 `MOST WANTED' LIST

MERCEDES, LEXUS TOPS IN LUXURY GROUP Now that shoppers for new cars have had some time to

look at the 2019 models, Edmunds is out with its annual list of American shoppers' favorite vehicles.

Honda dominated the Edmunds Buyers Most Wanted Awards for a second year, holding steady with four vehicles out of 10 winning in the standard categories. Mercedes-Benz and Lexus each claimed two wins in the seven luxury categories.

"With only three newcomers on the list in 2019, it's obvious that car shoppers are brand-loyal and willing to reward the automakers that stick to winning formulas with their hardearned dollars year after year," said Ivan Drury, senior manager of industry analysis at Edmunds. "However, this year's list wasn't without a few surprises. The competition in the luxury SUV segment has gotten intense, and compelling all-new entries from Audi and Lincoln ousted perennial favorite Mercedes out of the SUV winner's circle."

The awards recognize the most in-demand vehicles in 17 segments. Edmunds says its rankings are based on sales, days-to-turn and shopper interest data on . The firm analyzed data from the first nine months of 2018 for all qualifying new models on sale during that period. As the leader in mass-market brands, Honda took home honors for the Civic in Compact Car, CR-V in Compact SUV, Accord in Midsize Car and Odyssey in the Minivan segment.

Toyota and Ford came in second in the standard categories with two wins each: Toyota for Highlander in Midsize SUV and Tacoma for Midsize Truck; Ford for F-150 in Large Truck and Mustang in Sports Car. The Chevrolet Tahoe won for Large SUV and Chrysler 300 for Large Car.

In the luxury segments, Mercedes earned honors for the S-Class for Luxury Large Car and the C-Class for Luxury Compact Car. Lexus claimed two categories as well: the ES 350 won in the Luxury Midsize Car; and the RX 350 in Luxury Midsize SUV. Rounding out the luxury categories, the Audi Q5 was named tops for Luxury Compact SUV; the Lincoln Navigator for Luxury Large SUV; and the Porsche 911 for Luxury Sports Car. Although the winners were consistent in 2019 compared to 2018, Edmunds analysts say that may not be the case when 2020 comes around.

"There are a number of new redesigns and launches in the coming year that might drastically reshape the Buyers Most Wanted Awards for next year," Drury said. "SUV categories will remain hot and tightly contested, but it will be most interesting to pay attention to the resurging truck segments as new models from Chevy and Ram may give the Ford F-150 its biggest test yet, and the new Ford Ranger might upend the Toyota Tacoma."

ADVERTISER NEWS General Motors said yesterday that it plans to idle five

factories in North America and cut more than 14,000 bluecollar and salaried jobs in a bid to trim costs. The action follows similar job-cutting moves by Ford in the face of slowing sales and a shift in consumer tastes, driven in part by low gasoline prices. The five GM plants will halt production next year, resulting in the layoff of 3,300 production workers in the U.S. and about 3,000 in Canada. The company also aims to trim its salaried staff by 8,000... Meanwhile: GM says it will add a third vehicle to its production lineup at

its Spring Hill, Tenn., plant in 2019. A future Cadillac crossover will be produced at the factory, the automaker tells the Tennessean. The plant is scaled to assemble more than 250,000 vehicles per year... The Wall Street Journal says United Parcel Service is hoping that billions of dollars in system improvements this year will help it avoid shipping problems during the online shopping surge of the holiday season. The Atlanta-based company expects to handle nearly 800 million packages between Thanksgiving and Christmas, delivering an average of 31 million each delivery day. That's more than double the average daily volume, and it's up from 762 million packages during last year's peak period. UPS is banking on closer collaboration with more commercial customers, automated facilities and new technology that reroutes packages around choke points during high-volume periods... Campbell Soup and Third Point LLC are close to settling a bitter proxy contest by adding two of the hedge fund's nominees to the food company's board and giving the activist investor a say in selecting Campbell's next CEO, Reuters reports. A deal between Campbell Soup and billionaire investor Daniel Loeb's Third Point would end one of the most acrimonious U.S. proxy battles only days before investors were scheduled to vote on Thursday at Campbell's annual meeting... A report by Fast Company says China and Norway love mobile wallets. The U.S.? Not so much, according to data compiled by merchant account and card payment fee comparison firm Merchant Machine. The firm looked at mobile payment spending across the world in 2017 (the most recent year for which full figures are available) and found, perhaps unsurprisingly, China leads the pack, with 47 percent using a mobile wallet. In second place is Norway, with 42 percent. The U.S. came in seventh, with just 17 percent using mobile wallets... Kohl's says it had a record day of sales online this Thanksgiving, as the retailer kicked off many of its Black Friday deals on its website at midnight that morning. "We were thrilled with the customer response," CEO Michelle Gass told CNBC. She said 80 percent of traffic online came from mobile devices, while Kohl's also saw a record number of shoppers select its option to buy online, pick up in store. Gass said the company was selling 60 Instant Pots per minute online Thursday, along with 40 Fitbit devices per minute.

ANALYST MORE BULLISH ON ADVERTISING

RECORD SPENDING ON SMALL BIZ SATURDAY

As 2018 heads into its final weeks, analyst Brian Wieser The ninth annual Small Business Saturday, held on

at Pivotal Research Group has upped his U.S. advertising Nov. 24, reached a record high of an estimated $17.8

expectations for this year -- and next year as well. Wieser billion in consumer spending. The tally announced

now expects to see 6.5 percent advertising growth in 2018, Monday is based on data collected by American Express

up from his previous forecast of 4.8 percent. And for 2019 and the National Federation of Independent Business

he's now calling for 4 percent growth.

(NFIB). An estimated 104 million U.S. consumers

Yes, digital is growing fastest. But, says the analyst, "We reported shopping or dining at local independently owned

remain doubtful that shifts of spending from non-media- businesses on Small Business Saturday.

related marketing budgets are a significant factor driving The annual survey also found that 70 percent of American

digital advertising growth in particular."

adults are aware of Small Business Saturday. Among

This year is turning into another strong year for the overall consumers who said they shopped small on the day, 42

advertising economy, lifted by what are

percent reported shopping with family

positive economic trends, says Wieser,

and friends at independently owned

who details U.S. growth in personal After Thanksgiving, the holiday businesses, and 83 percent reported

consumption and industrial production.

shopping season officially

encouraging others to also shop or dine

"After reviewing publicly media owner ad

begins. It's when everyone

small.

revenues through the end of Q3 2018, we

has to decide: Do I want to

Shoppers also turned out for online

can see that the advertising market is also

get trampled on Black Friday?

small businesses. Among consumers

growing faster than previously expected," he concluded.

Rather than shifting dollars from the

Or have my identity stolen on Cyber Monday?

who said they participated on the day, 41 percent reported that they shopped small online on Nov. 24.

marketing budgets of big brands, Wieser believes a lot of the new money in

Jimmy Fallon

In a separate new survey of small business owners with storefronts,

digital advertising has come from small

American Express and the NFIB found

businesses, the growth of e-commerce,

that small-business owners expect an

app developers and direct-to-consumer brands. Through the average of 29 percent of their total annual sales to take

first half of 2018, digital advertising in all of its forms grew place during the holiday shopping season.

by 23 percent to account for around 45 percent of all ad

spending.

YOUNGER SHOPPERS IN HOLIDAY MOOD

"Our preliminary estimate is that digital advertising grew at Holiday shopping is in full swing after the Thanksgiving

a slower pace in Q3 2018 vs. the result recorded in the first weekend. The latest consumer sentiment survey from the

half with Google holding relatively steady but with Amazon, National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights

Facebook and Oath decelerating among the largest media & Analytics shows that young adults are the group most

owners," he said in his update.

likely to boost holiday spending over last year.

"Television probably grew around 10% including political While 77 percent of all consumers surveyed said they

advertising, or fell by around 1% excluding it, with national would spend the same or more this year, 43 percent of

TV up slightly, probably similar to Q3 2018's sub 1% growth young adults ages 18-24 and 38 percent of those 25-34

rate," Wieser wrote. "Over longer time horizons, we continue said they would spend more. Only 9 percent of those 65

to anticipate a modest underlying rate of decline for national and older are planning to spend more.

TV because the dominant advertisers on that medium are

Top gifts continue to be clothing and accessories,

generally weak. Newer advertisers are not dependent expected to be purchased by 59 percent of consumers,

enough on TV to make up the difference."

gift cards (56%), toys (41%) and books/music/movies

(40%). The survey found that half of consumers who

ASSESSING CALIFORNIA'S FIRE COSTS

own smartphones or tablets said they would use them to

Dr. Joel Myers, AccuWeather founder and president, is research their holiday purchases.

out with a prediction that the total economic loss to the state Spending on gift cards is on the rise and is expected to

of California due to the historic and damaging wildfires, once reach $29.9 billion, up from last year's estimated $27.6

everything is tabulated, will be $400 billion in 2018, making it billion. Holiday shoppers plan to purchase an average of

the most expensive natural disaster in the history of the U.S. four gift cards worth approximately $49 each.

This is four-tenths of a trillion dollars, or equivalent to 2

percent of the nation's GDP, which is approximately $20 PLUTO TV TO STREAM DISCOVERY SHOWS

trillion, the total output of all goods and services. This is a

Discovery Communications is making some of its

huge economic loss and is made up of the total loss of value cable network content available for viewing on the ad-

in property, values, taxes, lost jobs and wages, lost business supported streaming service Pluto TV. The move is

and by the significant health impact of the particulate pollution not a big surprise, since Scripps Network Interactive,

resulting from the fires.

now owned by Discovery Communications, has been an

Interestingly, the total loss nationwide is estimated at $350 investor in Pluto TV since 2016.

billion because Myers calculates that ultimately there will

The non-exclusive deal will deliver a selection of

be a $50 billion net gain to states surrounding California as Discovery programming from networks including

people migrate into those surrounding states.

Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, ID, Discovery Life,

Science Channel and TLC. Select episodes from series

PAGE 2

including Discovery Channel's Misfit Garage, TLC's

Kate Plus 8, Animal Planet's River Monsters and ID's



Tuesday, November 27, 2018 Dates from Hell, to name a few, will be made available via the offering.

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download