Executive Summary

October 26, 2018

• This week’s note “From the Desk of Deborah Weinswig” discusses the dramatic rise of the Big Billion Days shopping holiday in India.
• Every year—from September to the first week of November—seasonal Halloween stores set up at retail strips nationwide, often taking over vacant big-box stores.This is profitable for landlords struggling to fill vacant spaces left behind by Sears, Toys“R”Us and Kmart.
• E-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group launched the 11.11 Global Shopping Festival on October 19, and the company expects this year’s event to be the largest ever in both scale and reach.
• Southeast Asian e-commerce company Lazada and last-mile logistics company Ninja Van have partnered with Singapore-based 7-Eleven stores to allow online shoppers to use any of 7-Eleven’s 350 stores on the island as collection centers.