While brands like Disney, Bud Light, Ben & Jerry’s, Target TGT
and many more believe they must take a stand on social and political issues, consumers are starting to push back against so-called “woke” corporations.
Regardless of their political leanings, consumers still want companies to provide products and services that meet their needs. They also expect companies to be good corporate citizens and do right by their customers, employees, business partners, communities and the environment.
Companies that go beyond that by pushing divisive political or social agendas are in danger of alienating a large segment of consumers who don’t hold their progressive values.
Those consumers are looking for an alternative and the PublicSq. marketplace gives them that. PublicSq. is on the vanguard of the Freedom Economy, an emerging movement that gives consumers the choice to vote with their dollars for companies that share their values or, at the very least, don’t oppose them.
After only a year since its launch, PublicSq. Holdings went public in July on the New York Stock Exchange to chants of “USA” when founder, chairman and CEO Michael Seifert rang the opening bell.
“We’re going after Amazon AMZN
,” he declared. And don’t forget, Jeff Bezos had many scoffers back in Amazon’s early days.
Introducing The Freedom Economy
“The Freedom Economy is made up of a very large cohort of business and consumers that have felt largely unaddressed, ignored or sometimes downright antagonized in the era of hyper-progressive multinational corporatism,” Seifert shared with me.
“The Freedom Economy is largely known for what it celebrates, like patriotism, excellence, meritocracy, a love for the country, the Constitution and the values protected by the Constitution.”
Regrettably, those words of support for the country and its core values might sound controversial now, whereas they wouldn’t just a few years ago. Budweiser CEO Brendan Whitworth acknowledged as much in his April 14 quasi-apology Message to America– “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer,” because it’s in American homes, backyards, pubs and ballparks where most Bud Light is consumed.
Likewise, Target is an American-based company with all stores and most of its business stateside, so waving the red-white-blue flag shouldn’t be anathema to it either, especially after comparable sales declined 5.4% in the second quarter, a rate faster than expected. As a result, Target adjusted year-end guidance down to a mid-single-digit decline.
Target suffered a self-inflicted blow in the quarter with its controversial Pride Month displays. It sparked outrage among some who felt the company had gone too far and criticism from others that the company was abandoning support for the LGBQ+ community when displays were moved to less visible spots in some stores.
Through the process, the company learned that customers want to shop in a “happy place for all our guests.” In closing the earnings call, Cornell committed the company to being an “escape” and “refuge” where customers “can recharge and enjoy those shopping experiences.”
In other words, shoppers want a respite from the divisive rhetoric and messaging so pervasive in the current culture. PublicSq.and its businesses partners offer that.
PublicSq. Offers An Alternative
Today PublicSq. is a directory marketplace for consumers to access its 65,000 and counting businesses that share traditional American values. But in time for holiday gift shopping, PublicSq. will evolve to a full e-commerce website where customers can search and buy from one or many of its vendors in a single shopping cart.
This innovation will turn on juice for PublicSq., making it a real competitor to Amazon and others. It’s identified a roughly 100 million total addressable market. To date, it’s reached only about 1.4% of its TAM. Already and without e-commerce, its six-month revenues through June 30 topped $900,000. “We’re just getting started,” Siefert said.
It’s poised to become an alternative to Amazon’s third-party marketplace for small businesses, which Statista reports accounts for nearly 60% of Amazon unit sales. With Amazon taking a growing share of third-party sellers’ sales, PublicSq. provides an attractive alternative. And it does Amazon one better by listing service businesses so consumers can find local providers that share their values.
Most of PublicSq. partners are small businesses that the Small Business Administration declares are the “lifeblood of the U.S. economy.” Small businesses are defined as those with 500 or fewer employees. They account for 44% of U.S. economic activity and create two-thirds of net new jobs.
And an overwhelming majority of Americans (80%) view small businesses as a positive force in society versus only 20% for large corporations, according to a Pew Research Center survey among 5,100 adults.
Voting Values In The Marketplace
Seifert explained that PublicSq. is non-partisan and doesn’t endorse political parties or candidates. Rather than being political, the five core principles to which its business partners agree are what one would call traditional American Judeo-Christian values:
Commitment to freedom and truth
Protect the family unit and celebrate the sanctity of life
Believe small businesses and the communities who support them are the backbone of the economy
Believe in the greatness of the nation and fight to defend it
The Constitution is non-negotiable – “Government isn’t the source of our rights, so it can’t take them away.”
With its values-based approach, PublicSq. can identify new business opportunities that its customers demand, like baby diapers. So it launched a wholly-owned baby-care brand, called EveryLife, its “Amazon Essentials” play.
“Our customers kept telling us they want a pro-family baby products and diaper company because all the other big ones have taken progressive political stances,” he said.
After less than a month of launch in July, EveryLife generated over 4,300 orders and some $300,000 in revenues. And with 60% of orders on a monthly auto-renew subscription, it can look forward to ongoing sales.
The company also donates a portion of EveryLife proceeds to adoption facilities and pregnancy centers. Most recently, it sent a shipment of diapers and wipes to Maui to help survivors of the tragic wildfires.
“We want to help salvage the American economy, and actually restore it to a position of strength for the coming generations. We need an economy that goes back to the basics where people can spend money and support businesses that respect their values,” he concluded.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was higher in late-morning trading, helped by strength in energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also moved up.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 34.91 points at 23,736.98.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 178.05 points at 41,800.13. The S&P 500 index was up 28.38 points at 5,661.47, while the Nasdaq composite was up 133.17 points at 17,725.30.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.56 cents US compared with 73.57 cents US on Monday.
The November crude oil contract was up 68 cents at US$69.70 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up three cents at US$2.40 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$7.80 at US$2,601.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.28 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Canada’s inflation rate fell to two per cent last month, finally hitting the Bank of Canada’s target after a tumultuous battle with skyrocketing price growth.
The annual inflation rate fell from 2.5 per cent in July to reach the lowest level since February 2021.
Statistics Canada’s consumer price index report on Tuesday attributed the slowdown in part to lower gasoline prices.
Clothing and footwear prices also decreased on a month-over-month basis, marking the first decline in the month of August since 1971 as retailers offered larger discounts to entice shoppers amid slowing demand.
The Bank of Canada’s preferred core measures of inflation, which strip out volatility in prices, also edged down in August.
The marked slowdown in price growth last month was steeper than the 2.1 per cent annual increase forecasters were expecting ahead of Tuesday’s release and will likely spark speculation of a larger interest rate cut next month from the Bank of Canada.
“Inflation remains unthreatening and the Bank of Canada should now focus on trying to stimulate the economy and halting the upward climb in the unemployment rate,” wrote CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham.
Benjamin Reitzes, managing director of Canadian rates and macro strategist at BMO, said Tuesday’s figures “tilt the scales” slightly in favour of more aggressive cuts, though he noted the Bank of Canada will have one more inflation reading before its October rate announcement.
“If we get another big downside surprise, calls for a 50 basis-point cut will only grow louder,” wrote Reitzes in a client note.
The central bank began rapidly hiking interest rates in March 2022 in response to runaway inflation, which peaked at a whopping 8.1 per cent that summer.
The central bank increased its key lending rate to five per cent and held it at that level until June 2024, when it delivered its first rate cut in four years.
A combination of recovered global supply chains and high interest rates have helped cool price growth in Canada and around the world.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem recently signalled that the central bank is ready to increase the size of its interest rate cuts, if inflation or the economy slow by more than expected.
Its key lending rate currently stands at 4.25 per cent.
CIBC is forecasting the central bank will cut its key rate by two percentage points between now and the middle of next year.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected on Wednesday to deliver its first interest rate cut in four years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick‘s finance minister says the province recorded a surplus of $500.8 million for the fiscal year that ended in March.
Ernie Steeves says the amount — more than 10 times higher than the province’s original $40.3-million budget projection for the 2023-24 fiscal year — was largely the result of a strong economy and population growth.
The report of a big surplus comes as the province prepares for an election campaign, which will officially start on Thursday and end with a vote on Oct. 21.
Steeves says growth of the surplus was fed by revenue from the Harmonized Sales Tax and federal money, especially for health-care funding.
Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs has promised to reduce the HST by two percentage points to 13 per cent if the party is elected to govern next month.
Meanwhile, the province’s net debt, according to the audited consolidated financial statements, has dropped from $12.3 billion in 2022-23 to $11.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year.
Liberal critic René Legacy says having a stronger balance sheet does not eliminate issues in health care, housing and education.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
