How Alibaba Freshippo and Dingdong Got to Profitability in Ecommerce Groceries (1 of 2) (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

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 […]

More of the 10 Alibaba Slides and How “New Retail” Supercharges Platform Strategy (2 of 2) (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

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’s 3 OMO Lessons for Magalu: How to Merge the Physical and Digital Worlds (2 of 2) (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

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.

The Rise of Alibaba in 10 Slides (1 of 2) (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

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 […]

Alibaba’s 11 Growth Strategies (Tech Strategy – Daily Article)

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 […]

Jack Ma (and Alibaba) Dreamed of Turning SMEs into Multinationals – Globally (2 of 2)

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 […]