Consumption

With the slogan “Time for Action”, the goal of the 2019 Madrid Climate Change Conference is for the countries to present their commitments and finalize the rules needed to implement the Paris Agreement in 2020. On an individual level, this conference is a good time to reflect on our own consumption habits and look at how to manage our personal finances in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12 entails using resources and energy efficiently, building infrastructure that doesn’t damage the environment, improving access to basic services and creating green jobs with fair pay and good labor conditions. BBVA helps to attain this SDG with sustainable action and initiatives designed to develop the economy and improve the quality of life life for everyone.

If December is the month with the highest sales for traditional shopping, for the last two years November has become the star of Internet shopping. The recent phenomenon of Black Friday brings forward by one month the arrival of Christmas to online shopping, according to a study by BBVA Data & Analytics and BBVA Research.

For some of us, Thanksgiving Day with its turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole and pie is just carb-loading for the race that will be run the day after, and by race, we mean the one to be the first one in the doors to nab some blockbuster deals on Black Friday.

Fair-trade coffee, quality guarantee, ecological tomatoes… consumers read the labels on the things they eat. But is there any way of checking that what they say is correct? In order to do so, you would need a register of the processes to which the product has been submitted, something blockchain can do.

The use of virtual assistants, mainly in the form of smart speakers, is rapidly gaining ground. In less than a year, devices such as Echo and Google Home have appeared in households across the globe and users are becoming increasingly comfortable carrying out searches, purchases and even bank transactions using this format, which looks set to become the transactional interface between customers and companies.

Smart speakers are the vanguard of the so-called environmental technology, which transcends the limitations of screens. For the moment, Amazon reigns supreme over a market in which Apple is about to disembark.

E-everything: Smart cars, watches and speakers have all begun to earn a place in the everyday lives of millions of people. Could any of them become as important as smartphones?

It’s called the 'upgrade effect.' A new version of your mobile comes out and, without realizing it, you become careless with your own phone. Is your subconscious crying out for that spectacular new model that’s already available in the stores?

Once a year, some 180,000 people meet at the most famous consumer electronics show in the world: the CES in Las Vegas. There, in spectacular fashion, they are shown the latest creations of the biggest brands, the extravagances of the smallest ones and the trends that will define the next wave of audio, image, home and automobile electronic devices.

The use of cash as method of payment has been declining in recent years, in favor of digital methods and credit cards. Last month we saw another example in the Hawkers sunglass brand, which will not be accepting cash payments in its new Madrid store.

BBVA launches Urban Discovery, an interactive tool open to everyone that analyzes the cities of Madrid, Barcelona and Mexico City through the prism of their commercial activity. The analysis led to the creation of new maps that redraw urban borders and identify the most touristic and residential areas or those where young people go shopping.

Madrid tourists spend more near monuments and museums than those in Barcelona. People living in Vila de Gràcia in Barcelona have the same lifestyle as those in the Madrid neighborhood of Malasaña. Sant Antoni and Poble Sec are places that are popular to go out to dinner and then for a drink, and in Madrid, the Lavapies neighborhood is undergoing a transformation toward more cultural activity.

Vacationing is easier with a smartphone at hand and a handful of essential apps for the beach, the mountain or the city. Whether to save on fuel, park in the shade or find the nearest public restroom, a millennial’s vacation wouldn’t be the same without a bit of digital help.

Drones, tractors with GPS and data transmission, driverless cars moving around factories…more and more products are reaching the supermarkets from agro-food companies with state-of-the-art technology.

After the positive surprise of growth in Q3 2016 (+2% y-o-y) and the developments that took place in the final months of the year, we expect GDP for 2016, which will be disclosed in May, to close at about 1.2%, finally pulling out of the stagnation of recent years, and leaving a positive momentum for 2017.

In the last five years, Paraguay’s economy grew at an annual average rate of around 5% - one of the highest in the region. This economic performance is especially remarkable considering it occurred in a rather volatile international environment, characterized by turbulent international financial markets, lower capital inflows to emerging economies and falling prices for metals and agricultural products. The Paraguayan economy was also affected by declining activity of some the region’s most significant trade partners.

The day after Thanksgiving, or the last Friday of November, is celebrated nearly all over the world as Black Friday, the day that marks the first day of Christmas shopping. Over the years, with the arrival of new technologies, sales have been extended to Monday, known as Cyber Monday when discounts are offered for online shoppers.

BBVA Research confirmed that the Spanish economy was still growing in the early weeks of the second half of 2016, estimates that Q3 2016 could become the fifth consecutive quarter of growth at a quarterly rate of about 0.8%. Jorge Sicilia, Chief Economist of BBVA Group and Director of BBVA Research and Rafael Doménech, Head of Economic Analysis of BBVA Research shared these findings during the presentation of the Spain Economic Outlook report.

The data generated by the endless amount of operations we engage in every day: transactions, medical inquiries, online publications… have paved the way for the ascent of the data analyst profile. A professional whose work is shrouded in myth and mystery.

What happens if a German citizen wants to take out a mortgage from an Italian bank that does not operate in his country? What barriers will he face beyond the language? This is what is intended to be found out by the European Commission, which has presented the much-awaited Green Paper on Retail Financial Services.

Inspired by automobile manufacturing processes, this new bike can be packed into just 30 liters, shaking up a sector that traditionally is not very innovative.