Author: Kivo Daily Staff

In a world where market agility relies on tech, commercial real estate lending is behind the times.  In 2019, 43% of US banks still used COBOL, a pre-internet programming language, to carry out necessary functions.  The average commercial real estate deal takes 3 months to close, with much of that time spent calling individual banks.  As the pandemic has proven, a market can change dramatically in 3 months. 

 

Commercial lending’s reliance on legacy tech hinders their agility and performance at a time when the market is transforming dramatically.  In 2021, commercial and multifamily lending will grow by 11% to $486 billion.  Many of these gains are recoveries, but the plan is to forge a new normal, not return to a previous one.  In the case of offices, companies are in the midst of reimagining how their spaces will be used now that remote work is widespread.  33% of Americans currently work from home full time, with more in a hybrid state.  Powering the remote work revolution are data centers, which shoulder the demand for cloud and networking services.  

 

Furthermore, the shift to e-commerce is changing how people interact with retail and industrial properties.  More stores than ever are operating as mini-warehouses for curbside and delivery services.  Meanwhile, distribution sites, logistics warehouses, and storage spaces are in high demand.  Given these changes in buying patterns, different types of commercial real estate are gaining favor at the expense of others.  Lending has not been keeping up with these changes.

 

Compare the performance of commercial lenders to their residential real estate counterparts.  Through 2020’s dynamic market changes, residential mortgage lenders barely missed a beat by using technology.  92% of residential borrowers start by researching lenders online while 74% use an online portal to work with their lender.  Commercial lenders’ slow adoption of technology puts them at a disadvantage.  Digital mortgage players are on the rise, with more than 25% of loans being direct-to-consumer originations. Alternative lending platforms threaten to remove banks from the market entirely. Both Crowdstreed and Fundrise have over $1 billion invested through their platform.

 

While the fall of banks from the commercial lending scene would be terrifying, the fate is neither inevitable nor particularly difficult to avoid.  In fact, it would be an embarrassment if financial leaders allowed such an event to take place.  As Digital Bank author Chris Skinner puts it, “ignoring technological change in a financial system based upon technology is like a mouse starving to death because someone moved their cheese.”

 

Finance Loby can give commercial lenders the agility they need to close more deals.  With Fintech, lenders process mortgage applications 20% faster with no increase in defaults.  Lenders and brokers simply enter their criteria and preferences into a system and advanced algorithms compare each entry to assign both parties a perfect-fit deal.  All necessary information is in one place, lenders can update their criteria instantly if their appetites change, and the bidding/negotiation phase is streamlined.  Both parties can benefit from increased deal speed and safety.

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, more and more people recognize the need for innovation and communication to develop modern solutions to society’s most significant problems. Leading the charge in bringing together diverse people, sectors, and ideas are MaKara Rumley and her multidisciplinary team at Hummingbird Firm. Their commitment to helping large projects and communities establish bridges of communication is catalyzing transformational community engagement.

Characteristic of her role as a thought leader, MaKara Rumley combines technical skills, genuine passion, and dedicated service to deliver consistent results to her clients. Her positive impact is most evident in projects related to environmental justice, health equity, the environment, and economic development. She has served as the Senior Advisor on Community Engagement for the Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency in Region 4 under the Obama Administration.  She was an Environmental Justice attorney with GreenLaw, and a regular lecturer and presenter on cultural competency and community engagement.

Due to her experience as a practicing environmental justice attorney, MaKara Rumley discovered her knack for cultural translation. She soon found herself discussing complex projects both in kitchen table conversations and in high-profile meetings with elected officials, executives, or leading engineers. The demands of her responsibilities helped her recognize that the success of a high-impact project largely depends on how it engages and connects with the community.

MaKara Rumley founded Hummingbird Firm, a community engagement consulting firm, after her tenure in the Environmental Protection Agency. The firm provides her with a platform to apply and expand what she has learned about engaging with a variety of communities to solve problems. Today, Hummingbird Firm has established itself as the preeminent figure in creating strategies to communicate with those that are  underrepresented and in communities that have been underinvested.

For Hummingbird Firm, MaKara Rumley brought together an expert team of professionals from diverse fields, including engineering, transportation, toxicology, interior design, and law. Together, they draw from a wide range of expertise and perspectives to rethink challenges and introduce innovations. Because they come from different backgrounds, they use  unique approaches and develop custom techniques to ensure positive community influence for their clients..

Hummingbird Firm specializes in face-to-face and digital engagement for public involvement, cultural competency and equity training, communications, and strategy planning— that successfully connects with “hard to reach” members of the community.  Their services are highly in demand among city planners, environmental and transportation engineers, A/E (architectural/engineering) firms, and NGOs. In addition to these specific audiences, the firm’s approach is specially designed to guide companies, organizations, or government units looking to effectively communicate with  underserved communities.

Following in the footsteps of founder MaKara Rumley, Hummingbird Firm gains the trust of its clients by delivering results. “We measure our success by the number of communities that we positively impact,” said the company. Members of the Hummingbird firm carefully consolidate the viewpoints of the private and public sector, together with that of the community, to identify ways that each stakeholder can succeed. This way, projects reach their full benefit potential.

Through Hummingbird Firm’s combination of strategy development, research, facilitation, and training, industry is choosing the right experts to effectively connect with the people that their projects impact the most. For more information, you can visit the firm’s website.

You would have plans to watch movies tonight and could have shopped for all the good snacks including candies, chewing gums, cookies, and drinks. But on your return to the home, you might have been informed that you have missed the much-needed popcorns. Now you were never going to miss any of the items, had there been a bundle offer in place for movie snacks. It happens for many kinds of shopping. People are very likely to miss one item while shopping for other similar goods. It happens for the kitchen, grocery, and even the cosmetics. Hence, a few smart sellers have started offering bundles of products that contain everything you need in one package. It is happening in the conventional markets but is very much common on Amazon as well. You can also master your skills by visiting www.olifantdigital.com. But it is good to understand a few concepts before you plan to sell in bundles on Amazon.

Selling on Amazon vs. eBay varies to a greater extent. Amazon is much flexible to other similar platforms and more importantly, it offers more space for selling. You can simply accelerate the buying process and can generate more money with a lesser amount of money spent on PPC campaigns by using this formula. Bundle sales are such a useful option when it comes to selling on Amazon.

Selling Wholesale Bundles on Amazon

You can create a private label on Amazon but the cost of the project is always going to hurt many beginners. Similarly, one can sell as a third party and can resell on the platform with comfort. It will never really require creating, labeling, and promoting products on Amazon to generate sales. You can even avoid competition by following this route. It is easy to sell the products of another successful seller. And, it becomes even useful if the seller is already selling on Amazon and have earned some fame in the process. You can also sell the products of that seller without even creating new listings. Bundling the products together has its unique benefits. You can lower fulfillment costs and can even control the price.

How To Find Products to Bundle

Searching for the right product or set of products is key to success when we talk about bundle selling on Amazon. It is a little difficult to cash the products that are sold less frequently or are less demanded. You can try a range of options listed below to get to the right bundle of products.

• Search “bundle” on Amazon

Searching bundle on Amazon will bring you nothing but product bundles. You can search the entire Amazon for information. But if you are interested in selling then you should filter your search to that specific product category. You will find a range of bundles in your set search term and category. It will then depend on the negotiations and your interests to pick the right product bundle for selling.

• Search “frequently bought together” on Amazon

This is a useful section on the platform and it will give you a great idea about the kinds of products that are bought along with other products. You can also tie these products with other frequently bought products to make your specific bundles of goods.

• Use product database

It is always a fine option to approach the product database for more curated results. One can find the right set of products by approaching the database. You can explore multiple brands and products with the database details. It is easy to contact brands later for more details.

How To Create Your Custom Bundle

Searching into Amazon for bundles and looking for more famous products on the platform can surely help you in your pursuit. But everything will remain on the paper if you do not step forward and create your custom bundle for sale on Amazon. A lot of people ponder whether or not Amazon will allow them to do so. The answer to this simple question is yes, Amazon will let you sell in bundles even from day one. It is just a selling option and you can also choose it like many other sellers on Amazon. Once you have sorted and selected the right product then it is easy to bundle multiple items and generate the much-needed sales.

You can create your brand on Amazon to create bundles. No one will be able to create listings under that brand. You will just need to promote your listings and run a few PPC campaigns to showcase your bundle listings in the search results. Creating bundle listings is very much similar to the general product listings development.

You will need to promote your listings if you have chosen new brand settings but you may not need to promote if you have decided to sell other’s products. You can sell items from already existing sellers and it would just require selling and nothing else.

Custom Branded Packaging for Your Bundle

Developing the bundles is not the only thing to do. You may have developed the bundles on paper but executing the ideas is much important. And, you can only do that by packing your bundle items together. It is good to draft a custom packaging for your bundle if you have decided to sell your specific bundles under a new name. It will not only help you execute your idea but also will let you do positioning for your product bundle. You can differentiate by developing customized packaging for your bundle.

Pros And Cons to Selling Bundles on Amazon

Pros:

• Added ease for the buyers
• Less competition
• More control over price
• Multiple product sales and hence more revenues
• Lower PPC costs if you are selling the items of the already popular brands.

Cons:

• It will involve extensive sourcing
• Increased warehouse price
• Extra packaging costs
• May require contacting multiple brands
• A few brands may not allow you to sell their products with those of others.

Start Selling Your Items in A Bundle Now

Starting selling the items in bundles never requires doing anything out of the universe. You can communicate, engage brands, and can package your goods to sell in bundles. It just requires a bit of commitment and optimism to sell in bundles on Amazon.

In many fundamental parts of commerce and industry, the working world as we know it has likely changed forever. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a significant shift in attitudes towards working from home arrangements, safety in the workplace and flexibility around working hours – and it’s likely that many sectors will never see the typical regularity of the Monday-Friday, 9-5 in the office ever again.

When it comes to returning to the office, in whatever format that may be, employers have new health and safety challenges to consider, not least ensuring the safety and physical and mental wellbeing of their staff returning to a formal workspace for the first time in over a year. There are, however, some relatively simple to implement solutions that will create a safer working environment, all of which take inspiration from safety protocols we’ve seen installed in life since early 2020.

Separating desk spaces

Social distancing is something we’ve all come to know rather well these past 15 months, with the golden two metre rule being utilised in virtually every public environment we’ve stepped foot in. If you went to a restaurant during the brief period where indoor dining was still permitted, you’ll have likely seen well spaced-out tables and protective screens used to separate customers safely, and the same process can be adopted in a desk-based, office environment.

The Health and Safety Executive advises that there should be at least one metre between people going forward, as long as additional risk mitigation is present. Expect to see many offices adopt this one-two metre spacing rule, using desk spacing and screens to achieve it.

Implementing a one-way system

Head down to your local shopping centre to this day and you’ll see a one-way system in action in every shop as well as the centre itself. Keeping people moving in one, pre-determined direction has worked to maintain spacing and a safe flow of people, which is why many offices will be implementing the same process going forward.

Relatively easy and cheap to install, not to mention easy to enforce, many businesses already have some form of flow system in their workspace, thus the one-way system shouldn’t cause too much of a culture shock.

Listen to staff

One thing we’ve undoubtedly seen from the pandemic is that different people have very different attitudes to the crisis and the health and safety around it. As an employer, you might have staff that couldn’t care less about COVID, and others that are incredibly wary of potential dangers and sticklers for stringent safety protocols. Creating an environment where everyone in the business feels comfortable, safe and valued is essential, and one of the best ways to do that is to listen to your staff needs.

As part of the returning to work process, expect diligent employers to consult their staff when shaping their new health and safety environment. If businesses can create workspaces where everyone is happy, that can only bode well for staff retention and productivity in both the short and long term.

Sanitise, sanitise, sanitise

It’s hard to remember a world where sanitiser stations weren’t present at the entrance of every building, and now that the pandemic has happened and the public consciousness to illness and infection has been permanently heightened, don’t expect them to go anywhere.

Regardless of whether its posturing for staff or a genuine push for better hygiene in the office, sanitiser stations and another cheap, simple and effective way to show you’re making an extra effort as a business. And with no obvious downside, there’s no reason for businesses to get rid of them any time soon.

In summary, the changes we’re likely to see in the working world will actually be rather familiar to us all, with many workspace health and safety practices simply replicating those we’ve seen in our bars, restaurants and shops over the past year and a quarter. As we drift back to normality in general life, there’s no doubting we’ll see plenty of legacy effects of the pandemic in the way we work, one of them being a new, safer approach to the working environment.

Selling on eBay has been an easy way to make extra cash for many years now, and especially since the COVID pandemic of 2020, the buying/selling of pre-owned items is still trending upward. According to 72% of surveyed eBay sellers, buying pre-owned goods is much more common in recent years. This may be partially due to the fact that 81% of Gen Zers also agree that preowned is the way to go. 

Selling pre-owned items took another upward turn when COVID hit. In fact, 68% of UK sellers say that they began selling in 2020 to make extra money. Large percentages of sellers across the globe are also now buyers, even if they weren’t before. In the past 12 months 81% of UK sellers have also been buyers; 80% of sellers in the US, 79% in Germany, 69% in France, and 68% in Canada. 

The top ten best selling items on eBay are antiques, jewelry and watches, books and comics, televisions and headphones, sporting goods, and mobile phones, but these certainly aren’t the only items to bring in the extra dough. One example is Nicole DiSanto, who has sold on eBay since 2006. Her store, FiveStar Auctions, specializes in yard and estate sale finds like antiques, collectibles, video games and vintage clothing. 

After Nicoles’s husband was laid off during COVID quarantines, he started helping with her store. Turning to Nicole’s personal stash of pre-owned video games and consoles, she and her husband were able to bring in $10,000 in one month. Nicole’s store gained traction during 2020 and has increased 357% since 2019. Recommerce is what kept this couple afloat during the pandemic. 

Many sellers have been fortunate in their endeavors and have seen the benefits to their bank accounts, but this is definitely not the only positive to come from recommerce. 

It may be surprising to hear that buying and selling pre-owned goods can actually have a big, positive impact on the environment. One eBay buyer, Hannah Stringer, has taken to buying pre-owned, high quality goods, such as home decor and apparel, almost exclusively from eBay sellers. She sees this as another way to support small businesses and to reduce waste. Hannah says that buying pre-owned is the most effective strategy for consumers to take on the climate crisis. 

Hannah isn’t off base here. In fact, 720,000 metric tons of carbon emissions have been conserved through people selling pre-owned electronics and apparel on eBay. Buying pre-owned is not only cheaper for the consumer, but it prevents these items from becoming landfill waste and it prevents the need for more new items to be produced, which also reduces energy and natural resource consumption. It’s entirely possible to purchase quality items at a reduced price, with the intention of keeping them long term to meet the goals of having the things you want, reducing personal spending, and reducing your personal negative impact on the environment. All it takes is the willingness to buy pre-owned rather than brand new.