Tag: Business

RICHMOND, Va. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc., a leading, independent investment bank, has advised Land O'Sun Management Corporation d/b/a Fast Track on the sale of its petroleum marketing, convenience retail and quick-service restaurant businesses to Anabi Real Estate Development, LLC and its affiliates d/b/a Anabi/Rebel. Headquartered in Gainesville, Florida, Fast Track is a leading petroleum marketing, convenience retail and QSR company, operating 17 convenience stores, 10 co-located QSRs, and two stand-alone QSRs in Northern Florida.

ORLANDO, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Board Certified Workers' Compensation Attorney Bryan Greenberg of All Injuries Law Firm has given a presentation on litigation strategies during the Florida Workers' Advocates 34th Annual Educational Conference. Titled "Case Law Deep Dive Strategy," Mr. Greenberg lectured attendees on advanced litigation strategies to effectively represent injured workers.

NEW YORK and HONG KONG /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- DataNumen, a leading provider of data recovery solutions, is excited to announce the release of DataNumen Data Recovery version 3.5. This latest update brings significant enhancements, including support for over 350 file formats, improved recovery speeds, and a new auto-update feature, solidifying DataNumen's commitment to providing top-tier data recovery tools.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Mobility Market Intelligence (MMI), a leader in data intelligence and market insight tools for the mortgage and real estate industries, today announced Melissa Sike, vice president of enterprise sales, has been named by PROGRESS in Lending in its annual list of the Most Powerful Women in Fintech.

WESTMINSTER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Kiosk Manufacturer Association News: See our Preview of InfoComm 2024 - See 22Miles, Peerless-AV, LG and Panasonic to name some. Biggest AV show of the year (along with ISE in Barcelona). We work with AVIXA as a main partner of ours.

PLANO, Texas /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Optimal Blue today announced the appointment of Joe Tyrrell as CEO. Tyrrell succeeds interim CEO Scott Smith of Optimal Blue's parent company, Constellation Software Inc. Tyrrell brings over 25 years of experience in the mortgage, finance, and technology industries to Optimal Blue.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Mortgage Capital Trading, Inc. (MCT®), the de facto leader in innovative mortgage capital markets technology, announced today an increase of 6.78% in mortgage lock volume compared to the previous month. To gain comprehensive insights into the market dynamics, industry professionals and enthusiasts are invited to download the complete report.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Garden Studios, an innovative film studio based in London, has transformed its utility management and billing processes by implementing EnergyCAP's leading energy management platform. This move aligns with Garden Studio's commitment to sustainability as a certified B Corporation, dedicated to responsible business practices.

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Industrial SalesLeads announced today the May 2024 results for the new planned capital project spending report for the Industrial Manufacturing industry. The Firm tracks North American planned industrial capital project activity; including facility expansions, new plant construction and significant equipment modernization projects. Research confirms 147 new projects as compared to 110 in April and 174 in March.

MESA, Ariz. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Edupoint® Educational Systems, creator of the industry-leading Synergy® Education Platform for K-12 student information and learning management, today announced that its Synergy Student Information System (SIS) has been selected as winner of the "Education Administration Solution of the Year" award in the 6th annual EdTech Breakthrough Awards program conducted by EdTech Breakthrough, a leading market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies and solutions in the global educational technology market.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- CapitalW Collective (CapitalW), the glass shattering non-profit benefiting women and their allies in mortgage capital markets, today announced its successful debut within the mortgage industry. Officially launched on May 1, 2024, CapitalW made its first appearance at the Mortgage Bankers Association Secondary and Capital Markets Conference in New York May 19-21.

CINCINNATI, Ohio /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- HMF Express, a member of the Senneca family of brands, is proud to commemorate 35 years of unwavering dedication and passion in the hollow metal door and frame industry. Since their inception in 1989, HMF has been dedicated to manufacturing custom hollow metal doors and frames and have quickly established themselves as the go-to manufacturer in the industry.

NEW YORK, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Luvme Hair, a leading brand in the human hair wigs industry, is thrilled to announce its exclusive online promotion event, Summer Trend: Indulge in the Cool Charms. From May 31, 2024, to June 20, 2024, all customers can enjoy savings on all products site-wide using special discount codes.

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Argyle, a platform providing real-time income and employment verifications for some of the largest lenders in the United States, today announced its CEO Shmulik Fishman has been named a 2024 Tech All-Star by MBA NewsLink, a publication of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA). The award celebrates mortgage industry leaders who have made outstanding contributions to mortgage technology.

NEW YORK, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- INTENT, a game-changing, digital platform linking student-athletes and military special ops veterans to a powerful network of candidate-seeking employers, launches today at Intent-USA.com. The announcement was made by CEO Athan Sunderland, along with founding partners Steve Kraus, John Von Stade, Seth Rosenzweig, Ann Kitt-Carpenetti and Sean Wetmore.

DALLAS, Texas /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- ProNotary, a pioneering force in the remote online notarization industry, is proud to announce its continued commitment to transforming the landscape of notary services through cutting-edge remote online notarization (RON) solutions. Founded in 2018, ProNotary has been at the forefront of innovation, providing businesses with a comprehensive suite of notarization software designed to meet the evolving needs of the digital age.

BUFFALO, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- LenderLogix, a leading provider of mortgage point-of-sale and automation software for banks, credit unions, independent mortgage banks, and brokers, recently announced the addition of American Pacific Mortgage to its roster of clients utilizing Fee Chaser. Employing Fee Chaser enables American Pacific Mortgage to efficiently and compliantly collect initial mortgage-related fees from borrowers.

DES MOINES, Iowa /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- iEmergent, a forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, today announced the availability of its 2024-2026 U.S. Mortgage Origination Forecast. Updated to reflect preliminary 2023 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council in March, iEmergent's latest projections call for modest growth in purchase originations and a gradual increase in refinance loan units and dollars as a percentage of total originations.

LAKE ZURICH, Ill. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc. (Dovenmuehle), a leading residential mortgage subservicer, announced two promotions within its business development team - Anna Krogh to Senior Vice President and Director of Business Development and Chris Torres to Vice President of Business Development and Manager of the Western Region.

CHICAGO, Ill. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Financial mogul-turned-producer, Michelle Renee, is making waves in the entertainment industry with the recent launch of the innovative reality show, "First Ladies of The Crypto Cartel," a groundbreaking series spotlighting five stylish, tech-savvy women based in Chicago and Atlanta as they build digital dynasties. Produced by Money Gossip Productions.

ADDISON, Texas /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Click n' Close, a multi-state mortgage lender, today announced that it will be honored with a top lender award at the United States Department of Agriculture's Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program ceremony. This recognition underscores Click n' Close's commitment to fostering homeownership and supporting community development through innovative loan programs.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative leader in mortgage technology backed by time-tested loan origination software and leadership, today announced that its vice president of marketing, Wes Horbatuck, has been honored by HousingWire as one of its 2024 Marketing Leaders.

BOULDER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced that its Head of Marketing, industry veteran Courtney Dodd, has been named to HousingWire's 2024 Marketing Leaders list. The award celebrates the industry's most creative and influential marketing minds who have demonstrated a track record of transforming brands, leading teams and driving business results.

DENVER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, has announced a new partnership with Digilytics to provide ACES users access to Revel, an advanced optical character recognition (OCR) technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).

ATLANTA, Ga. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Depth, a leading provider of consultative B2B marketing, public relations and reputation management services for technology companies within the residential mortgage finance, financial technology (fintech) and regulatory technology (regtech) industries, announced the promotion of Johnna Szegda to vice president.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Secured Signing, a leader in remote online notarization (RON) solutions, announces a suite of innovative features designed to streamline the online document signing and notarization process. These enhancements empower both notaries and singers to experience a smoother, more secure, and efficient experience.

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Simpson, a Pennsylvania regional retirement system that includes Life Plan Communities, affordable housing, home care, and rehabilitation, announced that Dr. Carol McKinley, Simpson President and CEO, and Thomas Lee III, Director of Maintenance at one of their communities, Simpson Meadows in Downingtown, were honored earlier this month with distinguished service awards from LeadingAge Pennsylvania.

CENTREVILLE, Va. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Avenu Insights & Analytics, a leader in software and technology solutions for public sector agencies, is pleased to announce the appointment of O.B. Rawls IV to its Board of Directors. This strategic addition enables the company to continue executing its strategy of providing advanced payment processing solutions while strengthening its leadership in the fintech and public sector landscapes.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative leader in mortgage technology backed by time-tested loan origination software and leadership, today announced enhancements to the Loan Assumptions feature in the Empower® loan origination system (LOS) that make it easier for mortgage lenders and servicers to transfer assumable mortgages to new homebuyers. The Empower LOS is the first mortgage loan origination system to announce native support for loan assumptions.

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- The award-winning economic development firm, RMA (rma.us.com), is proud to have been selected by the Downtown Kissimmee CRA (DKCRA) to create a Branding and Marketing Strategy for the district, which also includes the Historic Downtown Kissimmee area. RMA boasts a proven track record of success, having revitalized numerous cities and CRA districts across Florida.

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Doherty Enterprises-owned Applebee's® Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants on Long Island announced today the winners of their 8th annual "Above and 'BEE'yond Teacher Essay Contest." Developed to acknowledge exceptional local educators, the contest encouraged students to write an essay nominating the special teacher who has had the most impact on their educational journey.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Marty and Jessica Herbert, Herbert Insights & Innovations LLC (HI&I), Shepherdstown, West Virginia, were recently named to the National Small Business Association (NSBA) Leadership Council. NSBA is the nation's oldest small-business advocacy organization, and operates on a staunchly nonpartisan basis. Marty and Jessica, recognized leaders in the small-business community, join the NSBA Leadership Council alongside other small-business advocates from across the country as they work to promote the interests of small business to policymakers in Washington, D.C.

ALLENDALE, N.J. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Doherty Enterprises-owned Applebee's® Neighborhood Grill & Bar restaurants in New Jersey announced today the winners of their 8th annual "Above and 'BEE'yond Teacher Essay Contest." Developed to acknowledge exceptional local educators, the contest encouraged students to write an essay nominating the special teacher who has had the most impact on their educational journey.

NEW YORK, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Tenorshare, the leading software provider for iOS system repairs and data management, has released a new Cleanup Pro iOS App. With the launch of this new iOS app, iPhone users can now clean up their phone's storage with AI-powered enhancement.

TEMECULA, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- MuseWire has been selected by the panelists at Feedspot as one of the Top 70 Music Industry Blogs on the web. MuseWire™ (aka/formerly Music Industry Newswire™) covers music makers, music gear, audiophile gear, the music business and related topics; established 2005. A publication of Neotrope®. Edited by Christopher Simmons, a working tech journalist since 1984, and member ASCAP.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative new leader in mortgage technology backed by time-tested loan origination software and leadership, today welcomed Truity Credit Union (Truity) as the latest financial institution to select the Empower® loan origination system. A member-owned credit union with locations in Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas, Truity will leverage the Empower LOS to provide loan officers and members a modern, mobile-friendly experience.

WELLAND, Ontario /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Prepare to be enchanted by a delightful tale that celebrates the universal values of friendship, thoughtfulness, and compassion. William J. Birrell's debut children's book, "The King and the Ogre: A Book About Kindness, Caring, and Acceptance" (ISBN: 978-1779411426), promises to touch the hearts of readers young and old alike.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- United Filters International (UFI), a recognized leader in the design and manufacture of an expansive range of liquid filtration solutions, was recently sold to ENPRESS LLC, a leading manufacturer of composite pressure vessels and water filtration technologies. KROST was the exclusive financial advisor, and the terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

DENVER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced it has been awarded a Top Workplaces 2024 honor by Denver Post Top Workplaces. The Top Workplaces list is based solely on employee feedback gathered through a third-party survey.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Win In The USA (WinInTheUSA.com) has announced the launch of the highly anticipated sales workshop "Extreme Business Growth" in Las Vegas. This exclusive workshop is designed to empower entrepreneurs and business owners to achieve explosive growth, even in the most challenging economic climates.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- For several decades now, casting director Jacqui Pitman, owner/CEO of Pitman Casting Inc. and PartyPit Productions Inc., has played a crucial role in the success of numerous long-standing TV shows. With her creative insight, Pitman has contributed to over 500 shows, including iconic staples like "America's Most Wanted," "Price is Right," "Let's Make a Deal," "Face Off," and "Big Brother 2." Pitman served as the casting director for ABC's "The Golden Bachelor" and is now casting for the highly anticipated spinoff series, "The Golden Bachelorette."

PLANO, Texas /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Optimal Blue announced the launch of its Optimize Your Advantage campaign in advance of the MBA Secondary and Capital Markets Conference. This comprehensive brand initiative highlights the value and innovation the company delivers to clients. Through Optimal Blue's position as the housing industry's only end-to-end capital markets platform, lenders and other market participants have greater control of their profit margins, giving them distinct advantages, regardless of market conditions.

JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Industrial SalesLeads announced today the March 2024 results for the new planned capital project spending report for the Food and Beverage industry. The Firm tracks North American planned industrial capital project activity; including facility expansions, new plant construction and significant equipment modernization projects. Research confirms 66 new projects as compared to 73 in March 2024.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- The Glancy Wine Education Foundation is pleased to announce the addition of several new members to its all-volunteer board, as well as its achievement of Platinum Transparency, the highest rating possible from Candid's Guidestar charity ratings system. Established in 2020, The Glancy Wine Education Foundation is a registered a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, not-for-profit organization.

RICHMOND, Va. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc. ("Matrix"), a leading, independent investment bank, announces that it served as lead advisor on G&M Oil Company's ("G&M" or the "Company") syndicated debt financing. Founded in 1988, Matrix Capital Markets Group, Inc. is an independent, advisory focused, privately-held investment bank.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Financial Women of San Francisco (FWSF), an organization dedicated for more than 60 years to advancing the careers of women, names ten students from Bay Area colleges and universities as its 2024 scholarship recipients. FWSF has awarded over $3 million in scholarships over the past 35 years to more than 325 Bay Area women.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- In an inspiring celebration of creativity and dedication, author Gwendolyn Mukes and illustrator Alex Wallace, a dynamic mother-daughter duo, have been honored with the Lynn McIntosh Award for Excellence at the 35th Annual Oklahoma Book Awards, WF Publications announced today. This significant achievement highlights their exceptional contribution to children's literature and the impact of their recent work on the book "Gwen Didn't Care" (ISBN: 979-8985784428).

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter) today announced the appointment of Vikas Rao as deputy chief product officer. Reporting directly to Chief Product Officer Stephanie Durflinger, Rao is charged with overseeing enhancements to the Empower® loan origination system (LOS) and establishing Dark Matter's developer community, which will help lenders embed automation deeper in their origination workflows and more tightly integrate their systems using open application programming interfaces (APIs) and widgets.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Spodak Dental Group has been awarded the No. 25 Top Workplaces 2024 honor by The Sun Sentinel in the small business category. This is the eighth time that the Group has won the award. The Spodak Dental Group, an Inc. 5000 honoree, has evolved to become South Florida's premier, comprehensive dental facility.

BOULDER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced the appointment of Jason Mapes as head of sales. Mapes, who previously served as director of sales for nCino's Mortgage Suite, brings a wealth of experience to spearhead Floify's national sales initiatives.

WESTMINSTER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- This week the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago starts. Booth 5536 (near Square and Toast) will have 6 different demos from the Kiosk Manufacturer Association (KMA). See the Clover POS kiosk integrated with the Samsung VXT digital menus. Also a Square kiosk with that same integration. Both of those will demonstrate the new configurable AI Assist for increased upsell.

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- The Landrovers are introducing their fully customized, high performance electric classic Defender. A brand-new Defender, built on an original chassis, has 600 horsepower and 4 in-wheel motors. This beauty accelerates to 60MpH in 5 seconds and has a range of 375 miles. Just like all Land Rovers that are produced by this Dutch company, the interior and exterior are fully customized.

PLANO, Texas /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Optimal Blue today released its April 2024 Originations Market Monitor report, which reveals the first year-over-year increase in purchase mortgage lock counts since the Federal Reserve initiated rate hikes in March 2022.

DENVER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, has been named one of the 2024 Best Places to Work in Financial Technology. The awards program was created in 2017 and is an Arizent and Best Companies Group project.

NEW YORK, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Revo, the premium, high-quality, performance sunglass company, announced today the exclusive event on May 15th featuring Hall-of-Fame golfer and Revo ambassador, Annika Sorenstam. The event will take place at Revo's newly-opened retail store in Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood where fans will have the unique opportunity to take photos with the legendary golfer, enjoy signed giveaways and preview the Revo x Annika sunglass collection.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Mortgage Capital Trading, Inc. (MCT®), the de facto leader in innovative mortgage capital markets technology, today announced the release of the Base Rate Generator, an industry-changing solution that allows mortgage lenders to directly inform their front-end rate sheet pricing with their back-end capital markets executions. By combining live agency API connections, co-issue executions, aggregator pricing, and custom TBA indications, the MCT Base Rate Generator allows mortgage lenders to improve margin management and competitive performance.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- "We Were Better Together: Navigating Cancer as a Couple with Love, Practical Advice and Expert Guidance" (published by Legacy Launch Pad Publishing) began in 2014, when entrepreneur Robert J. Shearer and his wife Melissa faced tragic news two years into retirement together: Melissa had been diagnosed with uterine cancer.

NEW YORK, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Are you wondering, "How do I convert Apple Music to MP3?" Recently, Tenorshare has released a new version of iCareFone that lets you know how to change iTunes songs to MP3 format. Besides, it can also convert Apple Music to FLAC files. And the best part? iCareFone works on both Windows and Mac systems. So, let's find out how to convert Apple Music to MP3 with this tool's help!

NEW YORK, N.Y. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- DataNumen, a global leader in data recovery solutions, is thrilled to announce the launch of its latest marvel, DataNumen Data Recovery 3.0. The new version boasts an impressive suite of features, including multilingual support, and promises to redefine the way users recover their lost data.

BOULDER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced that its Head of Marketing, industry-veteran Courtney Dodd, has been named a 2024 Sales, Marketing and PR Trailblazer award honoree by PROGRESS in Lending. Now in its fifth year, the award recognizes the top sales, marketing and public relations executives making the biggest impact on the mortgage industry today.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Financial Women of San Francisco (FWSF) today named Lisa Pantages as the FWSF 2024 Financial Woman of the Year. Ms. Pantages is the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the San Francisco Giants. FWSF is particularly excited to award the organization's highest honor to a female sports executive, a sector which FWSF has not previously recognized.

DENVER, Colo. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- ACES Quality Management® (ACES), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, has announced a new partnership with Infrrd to provide ACES users access to intelligent document processing. When used in conjunction with ACES Quality Management & Control software, Infrrd's technology helps lenders improve the efficiency of their quality control (QC) reviews by indexing, categorizing and reviewing the accuracy of loan file documents prior to review.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Gemoo Inc., the developer of FocuSee, proudly announces the launch of CapUp, an innovative AI caption generator designed to save editing time and effort for content creators, and help them easily create viral shorts like top content creators to boost their TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube growth and monetization 10x faster.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Mobility Market Intelligence (MMI), a leader in data intelligence and market insight tools for the mortgage and real estate industries, announced its Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Heidi Iverson, will be participating in the Mortgage Bankers Association's upcoming webinar "Using Data and Technology to Connect with Today's Buyers to Increase Homeownership," on May 14 at 3 p.m. ET.

SCOTCH PLAINS, N.J. /Massachusetts Newswire - National News/ -- Insurerants (Insurerants.com) combines the expertise of two industry veterans, JT Images and PL Communications, known for web design, SEO services, and content optimization tailored for insurance lead generation. With over two decades of joint experience, the partnership provides insurance professionals with the tools and strategies needed to increase sales in niche markets.