In Part 1, I laid out some of the challenges of doing ecommerce in groceries. And two innovative business models that attempted to make it work. One by Alibaba Freshippo and one by Dingdong. Both very interesting. Both, especially Dingdong, being unprofitable. In the past month, both companies have announced operating profits. That was really […]
In the past month, two Chinese ecommerce companies focused on on-demand grocery ecommerce have announced they reached operating profitability in 2022. The two companies are Freshippo (i.e., Alibaba) and Dingdong (i.e., Maicai), both of which I have written about previously. They are both innovative business models focused one of the last subsectors for ecommerce, which […]
In Part 1, I laid out the basics of building a single platform business model. Or what BCG calls a “hyperscaler”. That is about getting the initial platform interactions going and going for growth, which is where the value is created. However, once the basic demand and supply picture are in place, you start thinking […]
Alibaba has three key lessons for Magalu, a Brazilian e-commerce company, on how to merge the physical and digital worlds to create a seamless customer experience. These lessons are:
1) Merge the physical and digital worlds to create a seamless customer experience.
2) Use data to personalize the customer experience.
3) Invest in technology to improve the customer experience.
The future of retail is OMO, and retailers that merge the physical and digital worlds will be the most successful.
Years ago, I started mapping out the evolution of Alibaba with pictures. I was having a hard time keeping all the moving parts in mind. And I was becoming more and more convinced that digital company development is path dependent. What comes next depends on what just happened. Microsoft is only capable of its current […]
Jeff Towson discusses Snowflake, Alibaba, and his 3 favorite cloud business models in this podcast. Listen now to learn more about these companies and their business models. This podcast is a must-listen for anyone interested in cloud computing!
I keep an eye on the larger moves by Alibaba. Not the constant stream of announcements and endless initiatives but the larger strategic moves that I think will change the trajectory of the company. This usually means talking with management when I can and following the investor days. A couple of years ago, Maggie Wu […]
I wrote about Alibaba’s 5 growth strategies under “Domestic Consumption”. But CEO Daniel Zhang has also outlined 5 growth strategies for Alibaba Cloud. And their cloud business is what everyone has been speculating about. It’s the most exciting growth opportunity but it also has the greatest uncertainty. I’ve argued Alibaba is 100% in the platform […]
I’ve been sitting around this week (sick) and reading about what Jack Ma has been doing. He has been out of Alibaba for several years. Ant financial has been structured. The Chinese government issues have quieted down. And Jack appears to be mostly hanging out in Tokyo. Staying low key. I’m interested to see what […]
I’ve mentioned externalizing capabilities as a strategic move many times. I thought I would detail that out. It’s common strategy in digital business models. And it has been very effective at Alibaba and Amazon in particular. Several years ago, I summarized the evolution of Alibaba’s platform business models in 7 graphics. The Rise of Alibaba […]