Centives

Oil prices are at remarkable lows and while this is creating a host of problems for oil producing countries, the companies that sell oil are rejoicing just as much as consumers are wrote Jonathan Fahey:

• Petrol pumps have to buy oil on international markets, therefore the low oil prices are causing their costs to go down.
• Since prices are lower customers are less price sensitive and are less likely to look for the cheapest pump. This allows petrol pumps to have a greater spread between the price they buy and sell at.
• Usually this spread is about 17.1 cents per gallon in the US. These days the spread is about 21.7 cents per gallon.
• And since prices are lower consumers are buying more, further boosting profits.
• After filling up drivers may even have some spare change which they could use to buy the truly profitable items – the drinks and snacks.
• Low prices also make for nicer customers to the relief of attendants across the world.

Read about why buyers shouldn’t be too upset about petrol pump profits rising, other reasons why petrol pumps are happy, and more over here.

Source: The Washington Post

Hanna Kozlowska wrote about the European Commission’s tireless efforts to protect consumers:

• Bong, GPV, Hamelin, Mayer Kuvert and Tompla are five envelope makers who illegally coordinated prices and divided up markets between them.
• They have been fined $24 million for price gouging Europeans at their local holiday card stores.
• The price fixing happened during meetings that the participants called “golfing”.
• The European Commission has handed out $2 billion in cartel fines in 2014, including a $953 million fine for “automotive bearings” price fixing.

Read about some of the other quirky cartels that the Commission has targeted, the puns that the EC’s Commissioner used to describe the fine, and more over here.

Source: Quartz

A/B testing is the practice of presenting a different web experience to a proportion of customers. If the customers who see that altered experience are shown to be more lucrative ones – by, for example, spending more money on the site – then more customers are shown that new web experience. It is commonly used by tech companies to improve the user experience, and was even used during Obama’s presidential campaign to increase donations.

Now a lingerie company is using those principles wrote Rebecca Greenfield:

• Adore Me uses A/B testing for each of its lingerie products to maximize sales.
• It has found that brunette models are more likely to sell lingerie than blondes.
• Buyers are more likely to purchase something if models have their hands around their head, perhaps playing with their hair, rather than on their hip. This can double sales.
• Props can distract from the product, although couches are okay.
• The company has found that it can raise prices on items modelled by its most popular models without seeing a drop in sales.

See Adore Me’s most popular model, find out other company insights, and read more over here.

Source: Fast Company

‘Tis the season in the west and Adam Epstein decided to take a look at the person responsible for selecting the iconic Rockefeller Christmas tree:

• Rockefeller center’s head gardener is responsible for maintaining the grounds around the area and selecting the Christmas tree.
• In making their selection the head gardener has to find a tree that’s at least 70 feet tall and is strong enough to hold the weight of the lights even in inclement weather.
• It should also have straight and symmetrical branches for all the selfies that will inevitably be taken.
• This year’s 90 year old Norway spruce was spotted by the head gardener when he was driving down a highway in Pennsylvania.
• Once Christmas is over and the tree is removed it will be turned into lumber and then given to the folks over at Habitat for Humanity.

Read about the selection process, how the head gardener was able to secure the tree, and more over here. Centives also took a look at how much the tree cost back in 2012.

Source: Quartz

Kyle Stock noted that Taylor Swift’s new album, the Xbox One, and even Ebola toys are apparently selling like hot cakes these days. What’s odd is that hot cakes aren’t selling well at all:

• Hot cakes are basically pancakes and the term “selling like hotcakes” comes from the days when people bought them at bake sales and ate them before they got cold.
• Pancake mix sales declined in 2014.
• The average American spends just over a dollar on pancake mix every year.
• Google search trends also show that the popularity of the term “hot cakes” has waned.

Stock suggests that from now on we say that things are selling either “like quinoa” or “like ramen”. Read more here.

Source: Businessweek

The Economist, no doubt with a twinge of envy, wrote about a country where economists are big celebrities:

• In Argentina the top celebrity economist has more than four times as many twitter followers as the top actor and the top rock star.
• The best economists date models, are followed by both financial reporters and the paparazzi, and are asked for autographs when they go out in public.
• Their popularity seems to be driven by the uncertain and volatile state of the Argentine economy.
• In a time of crisis people look to the top economists for guidance on how to manage their finances.

Read more about what it’s like to be an economist in Argentina, and see what a star power couple looks like over here.

Source: The Economist

Ashifa Kassam wrote about a quirk of Spain’s tax law and how one theater company is exploiting it:

• During the Euro crisis the Spanish government increased the tax on theater tickets from 8% to 21%, but left a 4% tax rate in place for magazines.
• One theater group decided to exploit this by selling porn magazines which included a free ticket to the theater.
• Another Spanish group sold carrots which included free theater tickets since carrots are only taxed at 4%.

Read more here.

Source: The Guardian

Via: Quartz

Over the past two weeks computer security experts have been analyzing a piece of malicious software known as Regin which is targeting computers in many countries including Russia and Saudi Arabia. It is thought to be British. The Economist took a look at how experts figure out where such software comes from:

• There are usually clues in the targets of the software. Anything targeting Iran is likely Israeli. Suspicion would fall on NATO countries for anything targeting Russia.
• Sometimes there are clues in the code itself. In the case of Regin there were references to “Legspin” a type of cricket bowling. This has led experts to suspect British involvement.
• Code in Korean, Mandarin, Arabic or any other country specific language also provides a signpost.
• Of course designers of malicious software know that people will be looking for such clues and may plant a trail of false breadcrumbs.
• If done correctly cyber-attacks can be impossible to trace, highlighting their appeal.

Read about some famous examples, the clues that point towards the real perpetrator, and more over here.

Source: The Economist