Due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of holiday shopping shifted online.
A 2020 report from McKinsey & Company showed that 37% of respondents intended to spend more money online during the holidays compared to their spending last 2019. The report surveyed a whopping 3,500 shoppers from United States, United Kingdom, China, Germany, and France. Additionally, Chinese e-commerce giants JD.com and Alibaba set new records by racking up about US$115 billion in sales across their websites during the 2020 Singles Day event.
“2020 has been a year of accelerated (digitalization) and we believe that it is a shift to online lifestyles that is broad, deep, and irreversible.” – Terence Pang, COO of Shopee
As the online shopping scene continues to flourish, retailtainment has become a viable tool for sellers. As the name suggests, retailtainment is the fusion of “retail” and “entertainment”. It is all about enhancing the consumer’s experience by injecting enjoyable and amusing twists into the shopping experience. Sellers must focus on creating different experiences that induce an emotion.
MIXING LIVE STREAMING AND E-COMMERCE
Simply opening an online store or establishing a social media presence cannot cut it these days. You need to stand out from the rest by harnessing the latest technology and using other methods to improve the consumer’s shopping experience. This is where retailtainment and live streaming comes in.
Live streaming refers to broadcasting yourself in real-time. In Singapore, the live streaming e-commerce took off over the last couple of years due to the restrictions brought by the pandemic. Retailers could no longer rely on foot traffic alone!
In fact, media intelligence firm Meltwater reported that conversations around live streams and gamification of the online shopping experience in Singapore rose by 1890% on social media platforms and forums since March 2020.
Online marketplaces such as Lazada, Zalora, and Qoo19 used the power of live streams to increase their sales and digital traffic. Several brick-and-mortar retailers have used live streams for the same reasons too.
Image Credits: pixabay.com
When it comes to live streaming or live selling, creating and maintaining good relationships with the consumers is the key to success. It is all about building credibility through quality products and service. These factors will keep your consumers constantly engaged and eager to buy more products. Good relationships can help you turn ordinary online shoppers into loyal customers.
Wordle, the daily game that is taking the Internet by storm, is a relatively simple word game.
Players must guess a five-letter word within six tries. The game tells you if you placed the correct letters or if you guessed the correct word. If the letter you typed is right and is in the correct spot, it displays as green. If the letter you typed is right and is in the wrong spot, it displays as yellow. If the letter you typed does not belong to the word, it shows up as gray.
The mechanics may seem complicated at first, but you will get used to it. Here are a few useful tips to get you started!
#1: PICK COMMONLY USED LETTERS
Do not waste your first guess with random words. Instead, pick a word that includes many vowels or a word that includes frequently used consonants. For instance, “table” is a great word that includes two commonly used vowels “a” and “e” as well as a frequently used consonant “t”. Another good word to begin with is “audio”, which can get rid of four out of five vowels immediately.
Steer away from words that involve uncommonly used consonants such as “x”, “q”, and “z” on your first guess. Remember that the point of your first guess is to narrow down your search.
#2: EXPAND YOUR VOCABULARY
Is your vocabulary getting rusty? Enhance it through reading. Vocabulary is a tool that you can bring with you while playing this game. The more words you know, the better you will do at Wordle.
While you can get clues through the color displays, using these clues to figure out the solution requires knowledge of the English language. So, reading non-fiction or fiction books as well as playing text-heavy video games can help strengthen your vocabulary.
#3: TRY TO IDENTIFY PATTERNS
Patterns are your best friend when it comes to playing Wordle. Try to identify patterns that commonly used words have. For instance, “q” will almost always be followed by “u” in the English language.
Moreover, the most common letters at the beginning of an English word are a, d, o, t, and w. Lastly, the most common letters at the end of an English word are d, e, s, and t.
#4: NEVER USE THE GRAYED-OUT LETTERS AGAIN
Beginners at Wordle can make the mistake of using the letters displayed in gray. If the letter you typed does not belong to the word, it shows up as gray. You will be wasting your chances if you use the grayed-out letters again. Focus on the in-game keyboard to help you decide which letters to use.
#5: PLAY IT DAILY
To expand your vocabulary and to familiarize yourself with how the game works, you can play it every day. Wordle and other word games are good for your brain and can be beneficial in other areas of your life.
Image Credits: powerlanguage.co.uk/wordle
Word games are all about communication and problem solving. After the past few years, I think the world could use a game to help improve communication and to help decompress stress.
It’s natural for the mind to decelerate as we become older. Since we’re likely to be less involved in sports, it might have an impact on our overall mental activity. As a result, it’s essential to work out often to keep our minds and bodies engaged.
Studies have found that, just as we exercise our bodies to maintain them in excellent functioning order, we should also train our brains to relax and keep them alert when they should. This could greatly reduce the chances of dementia in our later years. Keeping our brains active allows us to focus on the present moment and diverts our attention away from our anxieties.
If you want to train your brain daily, these apps could help.
TED is a worldwide network that welcomes individuals from all cultures and disciplines who want to learn more about the world. They are convinced that ideas can alter people’s minds, lifestyles, and eventually, the universe. Their mission is to make brilliant ideas accessible and create dialogues surrounding them. TED, owned by a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, makes a great platform to revisit if you’re searching for fresh inspirations.
Calm bills itself as the best app for meditating, relaxing, and sleeping. They were also the Apple’s App of the Year 2017, Best of 2018 award winner, and Google Play Editor’s Choice 2018. It’s not even surprising that they have over 100 million downloads and over 1.5 million 5-star ratings.
The team is dedicated to creating sleep and mindfulness solutions that are based on solid scientific data. By downloading the app, you can discover personalized music for rest, slumber, and concentration, as well as countless hours of mindfulness meditation on subjects such as worry, panic, and relationships.
You may plant an oak or cedar in the Forest app and watch it grow while you concentrate on your tasks. Because quitting the app halfway would cause your tree to perish, it’s an app that lets you concentrate on the present, urgent things that matter.
There are a variety of additional plant species available, some of which may be purchased with virtual gold coins. It’s a very meaningful initiative because to plant actual trees on earth, the Forest team collaborates with Trees for the Future, a real-tree-planting company. The Forest team gives to its partner and makes planting orders when users like ourselves spend virtual currency we earn while navigating through the app.
Lumosity transforms laboratory assignments into enjoyable games where your results will be interpreted by the app, giving you useful feedback and deep insights on your cognitive levels. The team recognizes that everyone’s brain is different, regardless of age or ability level, thus their program caters to your strengths and shortcomings.
To keep yourself continually challenged, we suggest that you work out with a new set of games every day. It will help you keep your brain training habit if you use it in conjunction with their extensive progress tracking. Don’t take our word for it for Lumosity games and tests have been used in over 20 peer-reviewed articles in academic journals. One complete study can be found here.
Duolingo is a great way to learn new languages, and evidence indicates that it works. You can earn points and level up by taking short, bite-sized quiz-like sessions while gaining real-world language skills.
Classes are personalized to help you navigate at the proper level and speed, incorporating elements of AI and language science. Reading, listening, and speaking abilities are also adequately and efficiently taught in their programs. With game-like elements, engaging challenges, and prompts from their cheerful mascot, Duo the owl, they make it easy to create a routine of learning languages. Duolingo is fully free to use, but the Plus version removes advertisements and allows you to make quicker advancements.
Consider Headspace to be your brain’s best pal. They are available to anybody who needs them, no matter the location, to assist people in getting through trying situations and finding joy in ordinary living.
Headspace helps you establish life-changing routines to enhance your psychological health and achieve a better, brighter self by using science-backed meditation and mindfulness methods. In just 10 days of usage, it has been shown to lower stress by 14%. It can also calm you down in minutes, boost your attention, and have you enjoy the best night’s sleep you’ve been longing for.
The app’s goal is to use research to assist knowledge workers in attaining their optimum mental performance in a measured way. They provide a completely automated cognitive coach to help people in improving abilities including attention, communication, judgment calls, stress management, and more.
They do so by utilizing their free cognition calculator to get your benchmark rating on each category. Thereafter, you will start getting weekly bite-sized lessons based on psychological and neurological findings and content crafted by a team of PhDs that you can apply in your daily life. The app assesses your progression after each unit and tells you how far you’ve progressed.
When it comes to the best music streaming services, Apple Music and Spotify immediately pop into our minds! After all, these two music streaming providers are leading the charts in paid subscribers. Carrying distinctive features that cater to specific users, it can be hard to choose between the two.
So, let us dig a little deeper into their traits to see which is the ideal music streaming service for you!
AUDIOPHILE-GRADE STREAMING EXPERIENCE: APPLE MUSIC
In February 2021, Spotify announced that it will be releasing its Spotify HiFi tier. This is an upgraded level of streaming that aims to deliver lossless CD-quality music. Upon its release, it will only be available in selected regions. However, Spotify users have yet to see any signs of HiFi anywhere. By default, Spotify sets its streaming quality to automatic. This setting depends on your connection strength – whether you are using Wi-Fi or cellular data.
Image Credits: unsplash.com
On the other hand, Apple Music recently released its high-resolution streaming options at no extra cost. Apple has developed its own lossless audio compression technology called Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). With it, you can experience 16-bit/44.1kHz, 24-bit/48kHz, and 24-bit/192kHz streaming and Spatial Audio through Dolby Atmos.
POCKET-FRIENDLY PLANS: APPLE MUSIC
Both Spotify and Apple Music offer three-month free trials for their premium versions. When comparing the prices of the plans, Apple Music is minutely cheaper than Spotify Premium.
Here is a comparative list:
Apple Music
Spotify Premium
Free Trial
3 months
3 months
Student Plan
S$4.98/month
S$4.99/month
Standard Plan
S$9.98/month
S$9.99/month
Family Plan
S$14.98/month
S$14.98/month
FREE VERSION: SPOTIFY
If you are not willing to spend money on a music streaming service, you can download Spotify and use its free version. There is a catch! Spotify Free is supported by advertisers, so expect to listen to these ads.
You also cannot download your favorite songs or access the offline mode. This free version will either use your cellular data or connect to your Wi-Fi whenever you stream.
MOST FLEXIBLE STREAMING SERVICE: SPOTIFY
Choosing Apple Music is a no brainer if you are stuck in the Apple ecosystem and are blessed with a wealth of iTunes music. In contrast, Spotify welcomes both its Apple and Android users.
You can also stream your Spotify playlist across various devices from smart speakers to game consoles and smartphones. There is also a robust range of podcasts and concerts.
WHICH MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES SHOULD YOU CHOOSE?
As a personal preference, I prefer using Spotify Premium on my Android and Apple devices due to its superior song recommendation algorithm. If Spotify suddenly stopped its services and I had to switch to Apple Music, it would not be so bad.
You need to choose a service that suits your personal and financial preferences. Save money on your subscription by getting the Family Plan. Spotify and Apple Music offer Family Plans at S$14.98/month. You can share your subscription with five other people. Thus, your contribution will amount to about S$2.50/month/person.
Image Credits: unsplash.com
Are there only three members in your family? Do not worry about sharing your plan with your actual family members! You can form a group of friends or co-workers instead.
Nobody ever wakes up one morning and thinks, “I want to be broke.” A hefty loan here, a bad investment there, and a long credit card statement later – you have no idea how you landed in this state. You are living paycheck to paycheck without savings intact.
What can you do to turn the tide? Start by reading this article and applying these lessons into your life.
#1: THE POWER OF SETTING CLEAR FINANCIAL GOALS
Goals mark your direction in life. If you do not have a clear destination to work towards, it can be difficult to find the passion or motivation to save. Whether you are eyeing on purchasing a flat or figuring out how to pay off your debts, crafting a plan can get you there.
As you set your financial goals, consider making them SMART. Financial goals need to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time bound. Creating goals using the SMART method can help you ensure that you are working on an achievable goal within the timeline that you set. Stay on course!
#2: DON’T BUY WHAT YOU CAN’T AFFORD
Spending less than you make and buying what you can afford seem like simple personal finance rules. However, these are easier said than done. You can get distracted with the consumer-driven society that tempts you to live beyond your means. When this happens, a good rule of thumb is to save at least 15% of your income.
If you find it hard to save money, try paying for groceries and clothes with cash instead of a credit card. Take it one step further by using a budget per month. Withdrawing a fixed amount every month can help you to become more aware of your spending choices.
#3: EMBRACE THE FINANCIAL WORLD
The majority of personal finance lessons do not center around financial education, but on financial behavior. If you can modify your behavior with money, you can alter your financial future. Remember that you do not need to be a financial expert to prepare an emergency fund or to save for retirement. Start by building a solid financial plan and committing to it.
#4: THE IMPORTANCE OF INCREASING YOUR INCOME
Search for part-time jobs such as freelancing or dog walking to grow your income. You can take on other positions in the same company too. If you feel like you have reached the glass ceiling in your field, consider looking for new career paths to generate more income. Increasing your income can help your financial future.
#5: INVEST SMARTLY, AND NOT IMPULSIVELY
Investing is a good way to protect and grow your assets. However, the talent of wise investing does not come to us all. You may be succumbing to emotions and invest impulsively, hence you win big or lose big.
As a precaution, have an advisor who is trustworthy and credible. Research on your part is vital as well. It will give you the knowledge and confidence you need to make smart investments.
#6: BUDGET YOUR MONEY
It is understood that budgeting plays an essential role in controlling your spending, paying off debts, and staying on track with your financial goals. Creating a budget starts with adding up all your expenses for the month and subtracting that amount from your total income.
Image Credits: unsplash.com
Set monthly and daily spending limits to adjust and make up for any oversights. You can create a budget using a notebook, a spreadsheet, or a budgeting app. Use a tool with which you are most comfortable.
Anna Agoncillo
Celeste Elle
