From smartwatch success factors to what the end of cash spells for the unbanked

Is it really the last week of summer? (Okay, maybe not technically speaking, but we all know Labor Day is the season’s last hurrah!) There’s no better way to spend the weekend than in a hammock or on a beach with a good read in your hands. Here are three to whet your appetite.

1. Study: Getting Millennials to Spend Requires Deeper Understanding of Them

You may be confounded by millennials, but don’t assume they’re not willing to spend on jewelry—or so says this WWD piece about a new research report commissioned by software firm Vision Critical. And don’t miss the wealth of articles about millennials in the WWD archives.

2. Smartwatch 3.0: Five Biggest Challenges to Overcome and Keep the Dream Alive

With the next version of the Apple Watch waiting in the wings, it may be time to enter the wearables fray. Wareable.com’s smart assessment of what smartwatch makers need to do to improve their products suggests that they keep interactions discreet, make notifications a priority (not apps), perfect fitness tracking, make good looks a priority, and improve battery life. And the site’s review of the best smartwatches on the market is a handy guide for jewelers looking to stock their first techy timepieces.

3. The War on Cash

At least a decade ago, I read a fascinating article in Harper’s Magazine about how our society’s lessening reliance on cash would negatively impact the nation’s poor. Now, all these years later, the looming death of cash has emerged as the topic du jour (see this Wall Street Journal piece).

In this well-written polemic on TheLong+Short, the authors argue that credit card companies, banks, and digital payments companies, which stand to be the big winners when and if cash becomes obsolete, are engaged in a troubling campaign to invade our privacy, study/control our spending, and dictate what society deems “normal” with regard to payments. Seriously thought-provoking stuff! Keep your eyes peeled for JCK’s forthcoming September–October issue, which contains a feature on this very subject.

JCK