In Part 1, I wrote about hypermarkets as business models. It is one of the few retail business models I kinda like. But it is the combination of Sun Art’s hypermarkets and the Alibaba ecosystem that is really interesting. That combination puts it at the frontier of new retail. And it makes it almost entirely […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the five biggest trends in digital China and Asia for 2020-2030. These trends include the rise of smart devices, smart IoT logistics platforms, new manufacturing, smart cities, and digital finance. Towson believes that China and Asia will become the world’s largest and most innovative digital ecosystem in the next decade.
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the competitive landscape between Farfetch and Secoo in the luxury e-commerce market in China. He argues that Farfetch has the global reach and brand recognition, while Secoo has the strong local presence and relationships with luxury brands. Towson believes that the winner of this race will depend on which company can execute its strategy better and adapt to the ever-changing Chinese market.
This is a follow-up to my article on conversational AI with He Xiaodong at JD (article here, podcast here). I also spoke with Tao Mei, who is Vice President of Cloud & AI – and Technical support Vice President of JD. We talked about how AI was being used in fashion, which is a fascinating […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson interviews the Vice President of Cloud & AI at JD.com about how AI is transforming the fashion industry. They discuss three key areas where AI is having an impact: personalization, supply chain management, and product development. For example, AI can be used to recommend products to customers based on their past purchases, track inventory levels and optimize shipping routes, and design new products that are more likely to appeal to consumers.
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses who should buy Luckin Coffee, following the company’s recent accounting scandal. He considers potential buyers such as Starbucks, Alibaba, and HeyTea. For example, Starbucks could benefit from Luckin’s strong presence in China, while Alibaba could use Luckin’s technology to expand its own coffee business.
In my online Asia Tech Class, I talk a lot about digital superpowers, which are digital tools that upend established business. And one of these superpowers a dramatically improved user experience, such that the traditional offering is now unacceptable to users. And this sort of dramatically improved user experience is what is happening in luxury […]
In Part 1, I laid out why I think JD’s e-space was a pretty bold move – and opens a new frontier in OMO retail. My argument was that as you move from retail about buying products in the supermarket to visiting shopping malls and department malls, you start to really merge products, services and […]
Hiya, I’m sitting at the Shanghai airport, heading out to the USA shortly. I’m exhausted. It’s been a crazy couple of days out in Hangzhou with Alibaba for Singles’ Day. And just running around Shanghai. Great. But exhausting. Alibaba and e–commerce in China/Asia are going to be a big subject within this class. I think […]
So Luckin has filed for an IPO and we finally got to see their numbers. And yes, there are red flags all over the place. Big operating losses, funky corporate structures, speculative revenue growth and so on. And this is not uncommon in a tech / internet ipo. But I don’t recall ever seeing this […]