I was mulling over investing in Expedia during the beginning of the pandemic. It made sense that travel would take a hit for a couple of years. And then it would likely come back. Plus, digital marketplaces are good at scaling up and down. But I didn’t buy as I feel more comfortable with Asia […]
In this class, I talk about Meituan and the evolution toward more advanced types of services marketplaces. You can listen here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. What Should Meituan Do?: Geographic expansion Focus on transportation services (i.e., Didi) Focus on hospitality services (i.e., Ctrip) Jump into an ancillary opportunity: Financial Services or […]
One of the big digital China / Asia stories of 2019-2020 has been the movement of Alipay into services. And I don’t think people have quite realized what a giant Alipay (i.e., Ant Financial) has become in China and increasingly globally. From a recent article by Technode: In what Alipay CEO Simon Hu dubbed the […]
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 […]
Much of our discussion about digital platforms (Alibaba, Tencent, etc.) has been about their business models. And all their strengths, which are formidable. But I haven’t talked much about the experiences of the user groups on these platforms. What does this mean for merchants and brands selling on Alibaba? For restaurants on Meituan? For content […]
Two topics for Today’s Update / Lesson. Tencent Quarterly Results Are Awesome, Yet Again It’s almost boring how these digital giants keep putting up fantastic numbers. Numbers that any other business would dream of. Most businesses are long, hard slogs where you struggle and struggle. Margins are usually small. And growth is difficult and expensive. […]
In this class, I talk about the crazy collision of Ctrip, Meituan and Alibaba in services in China, particularly in hotels. You can listen here or at iTunes, Google Podcasts and Himalaya. How do Ctrip and Meituan compare in the following aspects? Bundling of services The Assets of a Marketplace Platform: Users, Activity and Data […]
In this class, we discuss Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo. And their spectacular rise and fall. You can listen here or at iTunes here. The exercise for this class is: What should Ofo have done? 1) Partner with a major digital platform ASAP. No matter what it takes. 2) Copy Hellobike. Avoid the competition. Go to […]
Kai-Fu Lee has released a new book titled AI Superpowers. It broadly compares artificial intelligence in China and the USA and it’s getting a lot of press. I was fortunate to hear him present part of his book at an Amcham event in Beijing. The book doesn’t go into AI or business questions too deeply. […]
Alibaba is confusing. The company just keeps getting bigger and more complicated. There is really nothing like it in other countries. For example, most e-commerce sites don’t own movie studios and soccer clubs. And now we are seeing the emergence of new retail, which is a dramatic change in Alibaba (and other Chinese e-commerce platforms). […]