That kind of juice makes factories hum, and South Africa, despite problems aplenty (see p. 36), is beginning to build a manufactured-goods export base in autos, machine tools and chemicals.
Richard Perks, director of Retail Research at industry analysis company MINTEL, said Europe's luxury brands have remained relatively unaffected by reduced retail spending because the global consumer base for luxury goods is growing.
From its base in Qingdao, white-goods manufacturer Haier has become a hugely successful Chinese multinational, hawking fridges, microwaves and washing machines from Auckland to Accra.
According to a recent report by the African Development Bank, it is estimated that at least 310 million Africans (about 30% of the population) now fall within the middle-class bracket, which makes for an increased consumer market base demanding to be serviced with new goods, products and services.
The firm said it was aiming to build on its home catalogue base and had sent out a trial electrical goods brochure, NEXTeletric, to 300, 000 customers.
The luxury-goods industry had, in recent years, reaped rewards from widening its base of customers to the merely well-off.
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Since Patagonia is already focused on high-quality goods, this new approach could lead to increased prices, a broadened customer base and expansion into new categories, he says.
And this prevents them from having clear visibility into their supply base, which makes it difficult to understand whether suppliers have the goods they need and whether they can be shipped on time.
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First and foremost economics: China already is or will in time become that largest and fastest growing market for a range of Japanese exports, a key production base for its industrial companies, and a source of important imports, from finished goods, to parts, to primary materials and food.
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Hogan thinks social games can both help THQ expand its consumer base as well as potentially provide new sources of revenue, through in-game sales of virtual goods, for instance.
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Lindner Sr. drastically cut prices by eliminating delivery costs and offering his goods through a cash-and-carry storefront, a model that proved popular with his depression-era customer base.
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