Rachel Warren

So what this indicates is that a lot of the sales growth that we saw on Black Friday was driven by inflation rather than increased purchase volume.

And another thing as well that I think speaks to the health of the consumer, usage of buy now, pay later services was up about 9% year over year on Black Friday.

So we're seeing a time where consumers are looking for more flexible payment options to manage their budgets as wallets are constrained.

They seem to be more price sensitive, less impulsive.

We saw a lot of use of digital tools and AI to compare prices and find the best value for shoppers.

So overall, good numbers.

But I think we are seeing a consumer that is spending much more cautiously than in

past periods.

I think what we're looking at right now is a time where consumers are really prioritizing the purchases they make.

Lou talked about the fact that some of the sales that consumers were taking advantage of were of important non-discretionary items.

I think that's something we might continue to see.

The flip side is, as you were talking about, this prolonged Black Friday shopping season that goes just beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday, that does give retailers with robust business models an opportunity to capitalize on a longer sales runway.

So I think it remains to be seen whether that's something that's going to be advantageous in this period of time where consumers are more cautious than ever.

Yeah, there's been a lot of interesting kind of deal making in the FPAL space.

And this particular deal involves two companies, Beta Technologies and Eve Air Mobility.

So Beta, they're a Vermont based company.

They're known for developing and manufacturing all electric aircraft.

That includes vertical takeoff and landing and conventional fixed wing models.

Now, Eve Air Mobility was officially launched as a spinoff from the Brazilian company Embraer in 2020, building on Embraer's aviation expertise.

They became public through a SPAC merger a few years ago.