Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: Cost cutting your way to a better day
Check out how cost cutting helped Whirlpool.
The world’s biggest appliance maker used cost cuts to offset weak sales as it reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit. Whirlpool also raised its full-year profit outlook, citing downsizing and — yes, you guessed it — cost cuts as demand remains uncertain in many markets.
Sales at appliance makers like Whirlpool, known for its Maytag and KitchenAid brands, and Sweden’s Electrolux have suffered in the global economic slowdown as consumers trim spending on items not deemed essential.
Whirlpool’s recent cost cutting actions have included plant closures, consolidation of its Chinese operations, lower retirement plan contributions, frozen salaries and lower capital spending.
Also in the basket:
Fortune Brands profit tops Street view
Cache posts wider-than-expected Q3 loss; sees Q4 profit
Wal-Mart shrinks US supercenters, sees tepid sales
Long lines as Microsoft opens retail store
Amazon soars above Street view, shares skyrocket
(Reuters photo)
from Global Investing:
Financial crisis helps Berlin take root for fashionistas
Berlin is slowly but surely establishing itself as one of the top global catwalks for the bold and the beautiful of the world of high fashion -- and the global financial crisis seems to be doing nothing to slow it down.
For the fifth time, up-and-coming fashion designers are meeting in the German capital to present selections from their latest collections at the Berlin Fashion Week, which is attracting increasing interest from the international fashion scene.
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