2017Issue5_Alabama_v6

OUTSIDE THE BOX

Small Steps

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More companies have developed incubator labs to develop new products. IKEA is taking the idea a step further by inviting others to join them. The chain’s Innovation Incubator Program invites startup companies to apply for a three- month stint in one of the retailer’s labs in Sweden. Each company will get $22,400, three months of free housing and access to IKEA’s prototype shop, a test lab and hands-on access to the expertise of scientists working in the lab. IKEA wants to focus the incubator on eight key areas: food; disruptive technologies, customer experience, disruptive design, sustainability, manufacturing, supply chain, and analytics.

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Meanwhile, iconic beauty brand Estee Lauder, is launching its first Augmented Reality beauty app at UK retail outlets. It has been designed to give shoppers the opportunity to try on all 30 Estée Lauder shades in real-time, or on a static photo directly through the app. Beauty advisors are on hand at all locations to show consumers how to download and use the YouCam app. With over 400 million downloads globally, YouCam Makeup is one of the world’s most popular beauty apps.

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Stop the presses! Chocolate milk comes from brown cows. Hard to believe in this day and age, but recent surveys reveal that 16.4 million grownups in America don’t seem to understand the origin of chocolate milk.

alt facts?

PRIVACY ISSUES

Sometimes it just doesn’t pay to be a public company. That’s what the members of the Nordstrom family are thinking as they mull whether to take the retailer private. “Because of the changing dynamics in the retail environment, the group is evaluating whether the long-term interests of the issuer are better served as a privately held company,” Nordstrom said in a regulatory filing. The family collectively owns about 31 percent of the company’s shares.

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