Tag Archives: money

Where are the greenest ATMs? In Abu Dhabi!

We are always thought of sustainability in the retail business as related to  production-delivery-waste disposal. But what about the money that we currently use to purchase raw materials, pay delivery, purchase items? Is money really green?
We are not going to get into the sustainability of the “manufacturing process” of money. Not today.  But we are going to talk about how to make dispensing money the greenest ever.

This is what the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the Number One Bank in the UAE, has done last January, becoming the first bank in the UAE to launch a solar-powered ATM. NBAD’s first solar ATM became operational at Al Bateen Branch in Abu Dhabi.

The NBAD’s green ATM, launched in cooperation with Apex Power Concepts, is powered by solar panels installed on the branch’s roof. The panels are connected to a circuit breaker board, which feeds a power controller where part of the collected energy is stored for the ATM’s night operation.
NBAD aims to eventually implement this solution in all NBAD branches as well as at stand alone offsite ATMs. The Bank has one of the largest branch and ATM network in the country with more than 110 branches and 429 ATMs all over the UAE.
“CSR at NBAD is a way of doing business. Therefore, we adopt methods and technologies that are aligned with this strategy,” said Ahmed Al Naqbi, the Head of Channels & Electronic Banking Services at NBAD. “In addition to delivering quality products and services, NBAD differentiates itself in the market by its corporate sustainability credentials.”

The state of retail online shopping in UK: January 2011 report

Fresh Worldwide Press, marketing, online shopping, , , , , , , , ,

Shoppers in the United Kingdom spent 5.1 billion pounds ($8.3 billion) online in January, up 21% from one year prior, according to the latest figures from consultant Capgemini and Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), a web retailing industry association.The travel sector generated some of the largest growth, as more shoppers took advantage of seasonal discounts on vacation packages. “Travel is one of the sectors of the U.K. economy that saw the earliest adoption of the Internet as an initial point of purchase and this trend shows no sign of abating,” says Phillip Rinn, director of advertising partnerships at eBay Advertising.

January travel sales were up 31% compared with the same month in 2009, and the average value of trips purchased was 886 British pounds ($1,439), the highest recorded in over two years. Many of those winter-weary travellers also bought luggage online, says Russ Carroll, U.K. managing director of comparing shopping site Shopping.com. “Shopping.com saw sales of luggage rise by over 20%,” Carroll says, “as many consumers decided they needed to get away from the miserable British weather.”

Hefty discounts offered by furniture chains also contributed to strong results for online home and garden retailers, as shoppers spent 56% more at these e-commerce sites in January than the year prior, according to IMRG results. “Home, on the back of our Clearance offer, had a very strong month with sales up over 30% on 2010,” says Jonathon Brown, head of online selling at general merchandise retailer John Lewis.

Alcohol sales dropped 67%, which IMRG attributed to shoppers’ desire to cut back after holiday excesses in December (Source: Stefany Moore for Internetretailer.com)