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A financial crisis is one of the most dreaded buzzwords that is heard or read around the world. Either an economy is facing a recession or an economic crisis, or there is a fear that it may be headed towards one, depending on several macroeconomic indicators. These indicators show marked declines in the per capita consumption, GDP, trade, money flow, energy consumption, and employment rate. Even the most powerful and economically strong nations in the world have gone through some devastating recessions in the past. Let us look at some of the worst global financial crises the world has faced so far: 1. The Tulip Mania of 1634 Event This is one of the first recorded market crises of the early period, which occurred in Holland when the price of tulip buds rose to six times the average man's salary. The flowers originally imported from Turkey were considered exotic in Europe and by everyone. The affluent and the aspiring affluent, even middle-class citizens, wanted to have tulips, which were one of the most delicate flowers that perished quickly and could take about 12 years to flower from a seed. The Tulip business became so crucial in Holland that traditional agriculture was impacted. The price of tulips rose to as much as 5500 florins, which is approximately equal to $ 825000. Stages of a bubble Consequences The prices, however, declined steeply by 1637, and those who had loaned to grow tulips with the expectation of selling at a higher price became bankrupt. This led to a financial meltdown. Watch this video documentary about Tulip Mania - The first economic bubble. 2. The Panic of 1772 Â Event This was also known as the Panic of 1772 or the Credit Crisis. It originated in London when one of the partners in a major bank, Neale, James, Fordyce, and Down, escaped to France, having forfeited £ 300000. Consequences The bank collapsed, and people lost faith in the banking institution, which was a pivotal part of the economy. This crisis later spread across Europe after the bank collapsed in London, followed by the collapse of 20 other banks. The total number of bankruptcies in London was 556 in 1773. Watch this video: 3. The Panic of 1797 Â Event This recession occurred in the US as the land speculation bubble burst after the American Revolution. The aftermath of the UK and France wars led to the insolvency of the Bank of England, and the impact spread to the shores of North America and the Caribbean. Consequences These events together led to this great financial panic. It lasted three years until 1800, and although the situation began to improve thereafter, it had a lasting impact on people's minds. 4. The Post-Napoleonic depression of 1815 The post-Napoleonic depression of 1815 Event After the Napoleonic wars, in England and Wales, there was a steep cut in wages, and especially the weavers were greatly impacted due to this. Their wages fell to less than half of what they had earned before this period. This percolated slowly to the entire textile industry and then to the economic situation across the countries. The condition was further aggravated due to the Corn Laws, which were passed at this time. The intent was to keep out foreign goods and promote English agriculture, which was already impacted due to the depression. This resulted in people having to purchase subpar local products at inflated prices. Consequence A famine and unemployment followed, which also spread to Scotland. This depression led to the collapse of export markets and had an effect on the Panic of 1819 in the United States. 5. The great depression of 1929 The great depression of 1929 Event This recession, considered one of the worst recessions in the world, provided a textbook case study on financial crises. It lasted from 1929 to 1939, occurring in two phases: from 1929 to 1933, and another phase from 1937 to 1939. The intervening years had seen some growth in production due to a change in leadership on the political front in the US. The recession had started with the fall of Wall Street. The over-optimistic loans by bankers led to a shortage of money supply when the lenders defaulted on payments. Loans were called in, and it affected the entire system—lack of regulations, fiscal policies, and deposit insurance led to this large-scale collapse. Consequences The Great Depression of America caused wide-scale unemployment, poverty, and emigration from the USA. There was a massive price deflation (Willard W. Cochrane, Farm prices: myth and reality (U of Minnesota Press, 1958), and crop prices fell below 60%. The impact was seen worldwide, and unemployment rose to 25% in the US and up to 33% worldwide. 6. The weird 1945 recession The weird 1945 recession Event This recession started in February 1945 and lasted through the eight months to October 1945. The impact, however, lasted much longer. This recession was expected following World War II, and there was a significant drop in demand for wartime goods, including weapons. Consequence Other countries reeled under the impact of the war and were still recuperating from their losses, while the US GDP fell to a negative figure of -11.6% in 1946. Government spending was also significantly reduced, and the impact was evident in the economy. 7. The oil crisis of 1973 The oil crisis of 1973 Event This was one of the most dangerous crises in the world that led to one of the top 10 recessions in the world. The OPEC members (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) revolted against the USA and its allied nations. The United States of America had sent armed troops to Israel against the Arab countries. Consequence The Gulf countries, also known as the Arab nations, constitute the majority of OPEC members. They joined hands to raise the price of oil. This, in turn, created a huge shortage of oil supply, and the energy industries were directly impacted. Also, the other businesses suffered, and huge inflation was caused, which proved to be drastic for the world's economy. 8. The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997 Image source Event Overextension of financial credit in Thailand and all its trading economies led to this critical situation in Asia. It began in Thailand in 1997 when it had to give up the fixed exchange rate with American dollars owing to a lack of foreign currency supply. Consequence This had a domino effect on the Southeast Asian partners of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea, Hong Kong, and soon, the word spread about the sad plight of these economies. The situation persisted for the next three years, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had to intervene to prevent a financial meltdown. 9. The Lost Decade (1990 - 2000) The Lost Decade (1990 - 2000) Event The fall of land and asset prices in Japan in the early 1990s is referred to as The Lost Decade, which made the prices stagnant for a decade, and several firms went insolvent. It lasted until 2001 and witnessed one of the major slowdowns of a rapidly growing economy. Consequence The four years before the decade saw dangerously inflated stock prices, and this precarious bubble was burst in 1991, and land prices dropped to more than 15.5% from their peak. (Land Economic and Construction and Engineering Industry Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, 2004). Survey on average housing land prices by use and prefecture.) Japan's GDP decreased from $5.33 trillion to $4.36 trillion between 1995 and 2000. Watch this video: 10. Great Recession of 2008 The Great Recession of 2008 in numbers Event This is the most recent financial recession the world has seen and one of the fiercest since the Great Depression. The hallmark event that marked the onset of this depression was the collapse of one of the world's biggest investment companies - Lehman Brothers. The Housing Bubble in the USA was created due to the optimism of banks and lending institutions, which led to excessive credit, resulting in a significant void due to defaults. Consequence The entire financial system collapsed, and a government buyout was required to save face. This impacted several international businesses, leading to the downfall of companies and resulting in job losses. It took almost another five years to recover from the losses completely. Watch this video where Warren Buffett explains the 2008 financial crisis: VICE on HBO examines the factors that led to the 2008 financial crisis and the efforts made by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Bank of New York President Timothy Geithner, and Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke to save the United States from an economic collapse. The feature-length documentary explores the challenges these men faced, as well as the consequences of their decisions. 11. Upcoming Massive Global Recession of 2025-2026 Governments borrowed heavily to fund stimulus, leading to record sovereign debt levels during the COVID pandemic. U.S. debt rose above $37 trillion, which makes it around $324,000 per US taxpayer. Near-zero interest rates and QE increased liquidity in markets, which resulted in asset price inflation: stocks, real estate, and cryptocurrencies surged beyond fundamentals. The world avoided a collapse during COVID by massive stimulus and coordinated policy. But the combination of lingering debt and asset vulnerabilities, AI-driven mass layoffs, and supply chain fragility creates a perfect storm for a potential global crisis in 2025–2026. Conclusion In almost all of the above cases, the recessions have been caused by overvaluation of commodities, unjustified optimism on the stock market increase, irregular banking systems, or political mismanagement. With time, better financial system regulations have been able to get a grip on the economy. It has helped prevent a steady economic downfall or a total collapse of the financial system. Organizations like the IMF (International Monetary Fund) exist to monitor global economic changes. But recessions are periodic, and completely avoiding one has not been possible. Uncontrollable situations like an epidemic, natural disasters, or calamity can throw an economy off balance, and an unpredictable financial crisis could arise. Sources: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dutch_tulip_bulb_market_bubble.asp https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_of_1772 https://www.google.ae/publicdata/explore Frank, Robert H.; Bernanke, Ben S. (2007). Principles of Macroeconomics (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill/Irwin.)

Want to win back your angry customers ASAP like Akim my friend or stand akimbo and watch disappointed customers disappear with your money in their pockets? Meet Akim: Source: Whatsapp The above scenario mirrors the experience of many business owners, particularly those in competitive niches. They understand the value of a good customer and even the occasionally good customer, they know customer retention is 5x cheaper than customer acquisition. According to a Walker Study, 86 percent of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience. The report also states that by 2020 customer experience will overtake price and product as the key brand differentiator. Customer experience CX, is the customer’s perception of how your business treats them. The bad news, perception is subjective; sometimes no matter how you try some customers perception will always get in the way. To them customer delight is the amount of stress they are able to cause your Customer Service Reps. If you own or run a dropshipping ecommerce business, this becomes even more challenging because you do not see what your suppliers deliver to your customers on your behalf. This can lead to unpleasant experiences if customers get less than what they expect. Why Customers Get Upset Additionally, many online shoppers have good reason(s) to feel upset with your dropshipped products. Causes may include: Delayed deliveries Poor packaging Damaged goods Delayed returns/refunds Overbilling Poor service Having to repeat complaints severally to different customer care reps Failure to promptly address a wrong, and many more 4 Reasons Why It Should Bother You You should be concerned. Lead nurturing takes time and effort; hence customer retention should be top priority. Consumer behaviour patterns indicate that customers are becoming pickier and choosier, thanks to: 1. The Internet In 2016 there were over 3billion internet users worldwide, global internet access stood at 45 percent. What this means? Your target market can now access way more options straight from their phone inbox, social media feeds, bulk SMS etc. 2. Competitors Improved internet access increases competition. Suddenly you’re competing with brands from other lands, most of which are online offering products or services similar to yours. Your competitor is now just one click away. 3. Social Media People are now more connected than ever, Facebook has over 2 billion monthly active users. Part of what they discuss; their terrible customer experiences. Helpscout reports that there are over one million customer service related tweets daily, 80 percent of them negative. 4. Word of Mouth Nothing spreads word of mouth like social media. Your screw up can go viral in minutes, get thousands of shares and appear as feeds in millions of social media accounts. You don’t want that. The New Customer Persona: Customer 2.0 These days the customer is no longer just John, it includes those many others over whom John has significant influence, those who can either buy or fly based on John’s recommendation. And now John is upset with Akim! 10 Proven Steps to Win Back Angry Customers When clients or customers are upset, aim to not only resolve, overcompensate in a way that they smile and reward you with repeat and incremental business. I have implemented these steps severally in my independent ecommerce consultancy business with Jumia and have recorded nearly 100% success rate. Here’s what I told Akim. 1. Admit Do not play John Terry. As seller hold forte for the manufacturer as much as you safely can, even if your ToS says otherwise. Why win the case and lose the briefcase? You’ve got to own the 4 P’s the product the praise the profit and the problem If the complaint was made online, quickly investigate, admit if at fault and address ASAP. After fixing, encourage client to drop a kind word on same medium where the complaint was laid. American Express Survey reports that Americans tell an average of 9 people about good experiences, and 16 people about poor experiences. 2. Apologize After admitting, I usually say stuff like “I’m really sorry about your experience, I’ve sold X units of Y in the last Z months without issues. Yours appears to be an exception” Where possible apologize with company branded SMS, email, real mail, a personal call or note from the CEO for smaller businesses will be awesome. It’ll make John feel special and hopefully prepare him for a comeback. 3. Listen Given the right conditions, angry clients will vent. Listen actively, show understanding and empathy, nod occasionally, maintain eye contact if in person, lean forward toward client, express all that go-on-I’m-listening gestures, and take notes. It all shows you care and genuinely want to be of help. Provide toll free numbers or offer to call clients back if you mainly receive complaints over the phone. Reduce average hold time and average handling time if you use automated call centers, so they don’t feel you’re wasting their time. 4. Explain Now that you’ve heard their complaints you need to explain or address it as much as you can. Give details why and how it happened if you have the information. Inform client of the processes involved in obtaining a redress mentioning approximate timelines involved. Never pass the buck, use “we” instead of “they” 5. Retrieve/Rollback Retrieve the offending item ASAP in the case of a physical product or rollback service. The more they see the faulty product/service the angrier they are likely to get. 6. Promise Promise to do your best to ensure issue is quickly resolved. As much as possible offer realistic timelines to keep hopes alive and strive to beat them, under promise and over deliver. Failure to meet promised deadlines will worsen an already bad situation. 7. Praise Praise them for understanding. They probably worked 9 to 5, 20 days a month to save up, came a long way past a handful of competitors and did business with you before their bad experience. They reached out, complained and have agreed to wait 8 months till you fix it. That’s amazing. 8. Update Update clients regularly. It keeps you on your feet and angry clients on their seats. It also reassures client that you’re doing your best to lay the matter to rest. They’ll likely let you know they appreciate your efforts. 9. Compensate Make up for lost time or other utility derivable from the product or service. For service, you can offer a discount, free upgrade or both as compensation. Strive to deliver compensation within deadline, the earlier the better. If, however an extension is inevitable, client is likely to consent having seen your commitment to resolve issue. 10. Demonstrate For physical products, demonstrate that the replacement is working perfectly before your delivery agents leave. Machines can be funny and the joke will be on you if after a long wait you still deliver a brand new faulty device. Conclusion Finally, gift them a voucher or coupon, that way you’re saying come back next time and when they do you know you’ve won them back. Remember: Admit when at fault Apologize immediately Listen attentively Explain effectively Retrieve/Rollback- ASAP Promise economically Praise lavishly Update regularly Compensate adequately and Demonstrate accordingly… That’s what I told Akim and that's what I tell you now. How have you handled customer disappointment in the past? Author Bio: Amos Onwukwe is an AWAI trained B2B/B2C Copywriter and Digital Marketer featured in eCommerce Nation, eCommerce Insights, Understanding Ecommerce, Floship, Huffington Post among others. He is available here and on Twitter@amos_onwukwe

Why is everyone so excited about Bitcoin? Its exchange rate increased from $0.06 up to $4,253 (as of August, 14th). What affects the growth of Bitcoin market is the main topic of the article. Still the retainers such as hacker thefts and scalability problems of the first ever cryptocurrency will also be discussed here. Don't know what Bitcoin is? We got you covered. A short introduction to Bitcoin Bitcoin first appeared in 2009. Back then, only a couple of individuals tried using it.  And after years of proving itself, Bitcoin earned the confidence of a vast audience. Now it is a new and highly invested industry. Bitcoin is decentralized. Think of it as a network where transactions are conducted. The main idea is the absence of a central server. The network is spread among all users’ devices. Constant fluctuations in the exchange rate is a normal thing for Bitcoin. The reason for this is the young age of cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is a volatile currency. Although its price can go up and down from time to time, it only aims to rise in a long term. Wait a minute, if there is no central server or authority, who then determines the price of Bitcoin? Bitcoins are mined. No, people do not use shovels for mining. Since we live in the Internet age, miners mine Bitcoins using powerful computers that solve certain algorithms. The cost of mining mostly affects the price of Bitcoin. What affects the Bitcoin market growth? At a rough guess, everything related to Bitcoin can affect the market, not only the already mentioned reasons — the young age and a completely different nature of this currency (as compared to fiat ones). The drivers The main driving force behind Bitcoin is the community. The more people accept Bitcoin, the more it powers the whole market. That’s exactly what is happening right now. Little by little, governments of different countries not only start to accept Bitcoin as a payment, but also establish laws that cover the sphere of cryptocurrency. It is very important for the market because earlier even the countries that were supportive of Bitcoin, couldn’t adopt it by all rights, because they simply had no laws concerning cryptocurrency. After Japan recognized Bitcoin as a legal means of payment, Bitcoin exchange rate has surged upward. As a result, the Bitcoin market in Japan is now one of the major ones. If you’re in Japan, you can even use certain airline services that accept Bitcoin. The fact that the number of Bitcoin-related startups entering the market is growing day by day also contributes to a faster development of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. As for now, you can find a vast variety of services related to Bitcoin. For this reason, the market is currently at the stage of regulation. Such regulation will help to get rid of unreliable services, that simply won’t be able to withstand the competition. As an example, let’s take Bitcoin exchanges. Now there is a big variety of reliable ones, but still there are exchanges that are either unable to provide a strong security due to financial reasons, or merely swindlers. That’s why be sure to use the top exchanges, which you can rely on. There are local exchanges, like Canadian Bitcoins, which serve the clients within a particular geographic area, and international exchanges, like CEX.io, that earned trust among the users worldwide. So, the stated above UK-based CEX.io provides seamless service to 95% of countries and supports Bitcoin and Ether trading with relatively low commission fees. Due to the solid approach to customer privacy and security CEX.io has been one of the most reliable Bitcoin exchanges, serving over a million satisfied users. The retainers The decentralized nature of Bitcoin makes it absolutely impossible to steal coins from within the blockchain. In other words, you cannot cheat the system, it is made perfectly without any chance for hackers to steal Bitcoins. Although, periodically, they carry out attacks on the exchanges or wallets in order to steal Bitcoins that are stored on the servers of the websites. 2014 was the year of the greatest Bitcoin theft. The victim exchange was MtGox, one of the largest and the most popular at that time. MtGox held up on the withdrawals, so, basically people couldn't’ get their money out. Bitcoins worth of $460 million were stolen. Hackers seem to find their place in the sun since that time. But you know how they say: “What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger”. Of course as soon as it happened the exchange rate of Bitcoin decreased dramatically. But this incident served as a lesson to other exchanges. It set a bad example of how everything can go wrong because of poor security. As a result, today's security of exchanges and wallets is much stronger than it was at the MtGox times. The extraordinary growth in newcomers is a very good news for Bitcoin. Although it has also posed a problem. Since the birth of Bitcoin the source code has had only a couple of minor upgrades. After 2015 the total number of transactions has tripled. As a result, Bitcoin faced a scalability issue. In other words, the network found it hard to process a great amount of transactions, running into a problem that sometimes you could wait up to an hour before your transaction was confirmed. The solution was to increase the capacity of the block in the blockchain. In other words one block should be able to hold more transactions than was. NOTE: Blockchain consists of blocks in which transactions are written. Approximately every ten minutes one block closes and the other one appears. When the block is closed it means that all the transactions in it are verified. The Bitcoin peer-to-peer system makes it difficult to define who specifically should take the responsibility to make an upgrade. In other words, the issue was not that Bitcoin network needed an upgrade. Rather, it was challenging to decide who should do that and in what way. An August 1st was believed to be a decisive day for Bitcoin community. There were two possible outcomes on that day: A SegWit upgrade takes place fluently. Miners support a new Bitcoin network. In this way, the chain split occurs and price collapses. August 1st and what are the outcomes? The August 1st is left behind. Eventually, the Segwit upgrade was activated so the Bitcoin network is now able to hold more transactions. Although, a chain split (or a hardfork) had occurred as well. The Bitcoin‘s price didn’t collapse. It passed through some fluctuations, but they were not really substantial. As a result there are now “two Bitcoins”: BTC (The original Bitcoin blockchain where Segwit has occurred). BCC (Bitcoin Cash - an alternative Bitcoin with its own upgrades. It shares the Bitcoin’s blockchain before the hardfork, although continues along its own way after it). Some consider Bitcoin Cash as an Altcoin, some ignore it and continue using the original Bitcoin. While others switch to a new network and do not use the original one. Still, the majority of people accept both currencies. The new Bitcoin (BCC) has shown good results considering the market capitalization over the last three days. Standing right behind Ethereum, the market cap of Bitcoin Cash have already reached $7 billion. While the price is at the point of $400. Although the hardfork has virtually happened, it is too early to claim on what is actually going to happen. For now, the price of Bitcoin Cash increases and will possibly continue to, because the new trading pairs are about to be launched on the major exchanges such as CEX.IO. Still, the original Bitcoin doesn’t seem to hold still neither. So, there is no doubt as for traders who will pick up on this situation and propel the Bitcoin market. The future of Bitcoin market No one would believe you in 2015 that in two years Bitcoin would be worth more than 2 thousand dollars. No one would neither expect so many innovations and startups within the industry. Without any doubt, whether it’s original Bitcoin or an alternative one, the Bitcoin market will only expand and become more favourable for new users. There is also a strong possibility of a market purification. That is to say, we’ll see a strive to quality rather than quantity. In order to get to this point, Bitcoin SHOULD stumble (like it was during MtGox hack). All the upgrades take place only when mistakes are revealed. So, in reality the cognition comes through trial and error. In this regard, not only the drivers help Bitcoin develop, but also the retainers that make it misstep at first, but then provide a boost in a long term.