The circular economy is no longer a novelty. Instead of buying a drill that will be used two or three times and then locked in a cupboard, increasing numbers of us are renting from our peers via apps.. And rather than making the choice between cheap fast fashion and much less affordable designer labels, millennials and Generation Z’ers, in particular, are comfortable with buying premium brands secondhand. This is, by and large, a good thing – not least because it prevents an awful lot of stuff from piling into the nation’s landfill sites.
The circular economy tends to be associated with the startup boom – companies that start out small and build an audience – but it seems bigger names are getting in on the act.,
Witness Fat Llama, a British peer-to-peer rental company launched in 2017. This year the company launched a new enterprise platform aimed at allowing major retailers to offer a rental option to their customers. In the first instance, the focus is on furniture and the company has so far partnered with national brands, John Lewis, DFS, and Sofology.
So what’s going on here exactly? The first thing that has to be said is that Britons of a certain age are no strangers to renting high-ticket goods from High Street stores. For instance, track back to the 60s and 70s most consumers opted to pay for their color TVs through monthly rental deals rather than buying outright. It was a question of affordability back then and as wages rose and prices fell (relatively speaking), acquisition became the order of the day.
Today, affordability may still be a factor. As the pandemic drags on many of us may well be reluctant to spend upfront on big-ticket items, such as furniture. Added that is the fact that here in the U.K., house purchase prices have risen beyond the reach of many first-time buyers. And if you’re renting an apartment on a short-term lease, maybe you would rather pay monthly for the furniture too.
A Fundamental Shift
These are situational factors, but Fat Llama co-founder, Chaz Englander believes there has been a more fundamental cultural and generational shift. Put simply, the millennial and generation Z cohorts are not that comfortable with a buy, discard forget approach to consumption.
“Sustainability is an enormous issue,” Englander says. “People are no longer comfortable with the idea that you buy something and then throw it away. Maybe it goes to eBay or Gumtree for a while but ultimately it ends up in landfill.”
As he sees it, people in their twenties are particularly interested in living sustainably and that desire to tread a bit more lightly on the planet is driving the circular economy as whole. Part of the trend is a demand for rental furniture, not just from specialist marketplaces but from big retail names. Hence Fat Llama’s list of partners.
But are big retailers – who after have done very well out of charging upfront for their products – really ready to embrace a new paradigm?
Adaptation
Fat Llama’s experience suggests that rather than resisting the sustainability trend, some companies have been proactively looking at how to adapt to changes in the consumer marketplace. “We were approached by a household name about building an enterprise platform in 2019,” recalls Englander. “
On that occasion, Fat Llama said no, deciding instead to focus on its existing peer-to-peer business. But circumstances changed. “We decided it wasn’t something we want to work on at that point but then the pandemic happened and we lost about 80 percent of our transactions. So we decided to look again at a business-to-business solution.”
It wasn’t quite a case of pushing at an open door. Englander says that while strategists within retail organizations detected demand for rental options, financial directors tended to be a lot more cautious. But now it seems that strategies are indeed changing. Englander cites the example of Sofology – now designing products specifically for rent through its The Loop initiative.. “They have a metal frame which can be reupholstered and reused,” he says.
On Trial
In the first instance, Fat Llama ran a trial with John Lewis. Although scheduled for eight weeks, the rental stock sold out in 48 hours.
With that market validated, Fat Llama has developed a rental platform that reflects the brands of participating retailers and is looking ahead to further partnerships.
But is there really a market trend here or just a temporary blip? And will increasing numbers of retailers turn to marketplace providers to open up new circular economy business lines? There are signs of wider changes afoot. Beyond Fat Llama, department store chain Selfridges has also developed a rental offering in collaboration with lending company HURR.
At this point, we’re probably looking at a grand experiment that may or may not signal a long-term market sea change but it’s certainly the case that retailers are seeing a need to innovate and perhaps also to partner with sharing economy companies.
OTTAWA – Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.5 per cent last month as hiring remained weak across the economy.
Statistics Canada’s labour force survey on Friday said employment rose by a modest 15,000 jobs in October.
Business, building and support services saw the largest gain in employment.
Meanwhile, finance, insurance, real estate, rental and leasing experienced the largest decline.
Many economists see weakness in the job market continuing in the short term, before the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts spark a rebound in economic growth next year.
Despite ongoing softness in the labour market, however, strong wage growth has raged on in Canada. Average hourly wages in October grew 4.9 per cent from a year ago, reaching $35.76.
Friday’s report also shed some light on the financial health of households.
According to the agency, 28.8 per cent of Canadians aged 15 or older were living in a household that had difficulty meeting financial needs – like food and housing – in the previous four weeks.
That was down from 33.1 per cent in October 2023 and 35.5 per cent in October 2022, but still above the 20.4 per cent figure recorded in October 2020.
People living in a rented home were more likely to report difficulty meeting financial needs, with nearly four in 10 reporting that was the case.
That compares with just under a quarter of those living in an owned home by a household member.
Immigrants were also more likely to report facing financial strain last month, with about four out of 10 immigrants who landed in the last year doing so.
That compares with about three in 10 more established immigrants and one in four of people born in Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information says health-care spending in Canada is projected to reach a new high in 2024.
The annual report released Thursday says total health spending is expected to hit $372 billion, or $9,054 per Canadian.
CIHI’s national analysis predicts expenditures will rise by 5.7 per cent in 2024, compared to 4.5 per cent in 2023 and 1.7 per cent in 2022.
This year’s health spending is estimated to represent 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product. Excluding two years of the pandemic, it would be the highest ratio in the country’s history.
While it’s not unusual for health expenditures to outpace economic growth, the report says this could be the case for the next several years due to Canada’s growing population and its aging demographic.
Canada’s per capita spending on health care in 2022 was among the highest in the world, but still less than countries such as the United States and Sweden.
The report notes that the Canadian dental and pharmacare plans could push health-care spending even further as more people who previously couldn’t afford these services start using them.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
As Canadians wake up to news that Donald Trump will return to the White House, the president-elect’s protectionist stance is casting a spotlight on what effect his second term will have on Canada-U.S. economic ties.
Some Canadian business leaders have expressed worry over Trump’s promise to introduce a universal 10 per cent tariff on all American imports.
A Canadian Chamber of Commerce report released last month suggested those tariffs would shrink the Canadian economy, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
More than 77 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S.
Canada’s manufacturing sector faces the biggest risk should Trump push forward on imposing broad tariffs, said Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters president and CEO Dennis Darby. He said the sector is the “most trade-exposed” within Canada.
“It’s in the U.S.’s best interest, it’s in our best interest, but most importantly for consumers across North America, that we’re able to trade goods, materials, ingredients, as we have under the trade agreements,” Darby said in an interview.
“It’s a more complex or complicated outcome than it would have been with the Democrats, but we’ve had to deal with this before and we’re going to do our best to deal with it again.”
American economists have also warned Trump’s plan could cause inflation and possibly a recession, which could have ripple effects in Canada.
It’s consumers who will ultimately feel the burden of any inflationary effect caused by broad tariffs, said Darby.
“A tariff tends to raise costs, and it ultimately raises prices, so that’s something that we have to be prepared for,” he said.
“It could tilt production mandates. A tariff makes goods more expensive, but on the same token, it also will make inputs for the U.S. more expensive.”
A report last month by TD economist Marc Ercolao said research shows a full-scale implementation of Trump’s tariff plan could lead to a near-five per cent reduction in Canadian export volumes to the U.S. by early-2027, relative to current baseline forecasts.
Retaliation by Canada would also increase costs for domestic producers, and push import volumes lower in the process.
“Slowing import activity mitigates some of the negative net trade impact on total GDP enough to avoid a technical recession, but still produces a period of extended stagnation through 2025 and 2026,” Ercolao said.
Since the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement came into effect in 2020, trade between Canada and the U.S. has surged by 46 per cent, according to the Toronto Region Board of Trade.
With that deal is up for review in 2026, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Candace Laing said the Canadian government “must collaborate effectively with the Trump administration to preserve and strengthen our bilateral economic partnership.”
“With an impressive $3.6 billion in daily trade, Canada and the United States are each other’s closest international partners. The secure and efficient flow of goods and people across our border … remains essential for the economies of both countries,” she said in a statement.
“By resisting tariffs and trade barriers that will only raise prices and hurt consumers in both countries, Canada and the United States can strengthen resilient cross-border supply chains that enhance our shared economic security.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
