A few years ago, I went to the WeChat Open Talk meeting in Guangzhou and founder Allen Zhang (see photo) gave a talk that really stuck with me. He talked about about the powerful role of information flows in society and life. And how the digitization of these information flows has created a situation where […]
China’s economy is facing a number of challenges, including an aging population, rising labor costs, and a slowdown in productivity growth. However, the country is also making progress on a number of fronts, such as investing in new technologies and expanding its global trade network. It remains to be seen whether China will be able to overcome these challenges and maintain its economic growth in the years to come.
In 2022, luxury e-commerce platform Secoo Holding Ltd filed for bankruptcy in Beijing. After 14 years of operations, this was a disappointing end to the largest luxury marketplace in the world’s largest luxury market. The company (founded by Li Rixue in 2008) grew out of a second-hand handbag shop. It went digital and found itself […]
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 have one B2C “super chart”. It’s a bit ridiculous but stick with me. I think it is actually a good prediction of the future of B2C. The basic idea is that ecommerce is combining with entertainment. We see that in Taobao Live and TikTok already. And this is also being combined with social media […]
There is an interesting company in China called MyTherapist. It is a digital marketplace platform for services. But instead of connecting consumers with drivers and restaurants, it connects them with therapists and life coaches. That is a really interesting idea and highlights how marketplace platforms are really still in their infancy. Marketplace platforms began with […]
The big digital China / Asia news this week was the expansion of the US entity list ban to include TSMC. In theory, Huawei cannot get advanced semiconductors from American companies directly or by having them manufactured with American equipment at companies such as TSMC.It’s a big deal.This was the political bombshell everyone was waiting […]
In Part 1 (Why the #1 Business Solution to Coronavirus in China Is Live Streaming, Especially Taobao Live), I argued three big things are happening in digital China right now. Covid19 is radically altering the behavior of hundreds of millions of consumers (and businesses), resulting in what is being called the quarantine economy. Everyone is […]
Ctrip has forecast its revenues will drop 45-50% in first quarter. From KrAsia: Coronavirus spurs somber outlook for online travel companies Chinese major online travel agency Trip.com announced on its recently released Q4 earnings report that revenues would decrease by about 45% to 50% year-on-year (YoY) as a result of the coronavirus. Trip.com has already […]
Huawei released their 2019 financial results last week. And I had the opportunity to interview Karl Song, the VP of Corporate Communications, prior so I knew what was coming (but I got embargoed). You can see that interview here. And it was fascinating. Step back and consider what a truly crazy year Huawei had. Has […]