Take-Away 1: With reports of +1,000 new products being added to Shein every day, there is a lot of speculation that this is a newer, faster version of fast fashion. That may be true in the future. But today, Shein’s growth appears to be mostly from offering really low-priced apparel to Gen Z women on […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses whether ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok, can breach Alibaba’s dominance in the Chinese ecommerce market. He argues that ByteDance has a number of advantages, including its large user base, its data-driven approach to marketing, and its ability to innovate quickly. However, he also acknowledges that Alibaba has a number of strengths, including its strong infrastructure, its deep relationships with merchants, and its brand recognition. He concludes that it is too early to say whether ByteDance will be able to challenge Alibaba, but that the battle between the two companies is one to watch.
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses whether ByteDance, the Chinese tech giant behind TikTok, can breach Alibaba’s dominance in the Chinese ecommerce market. He argues that ByteDance has a number of advantages, including its large user base, its data-driven approach to marketing, and its ability to innovate quickly. However, he also acknowledges that Alibaba has a number of strengths, including its strong infrastructure, its deep relationships with merchants, and its brand recognition. He concludes that it is too early to say whether ByteDance will be able to challenge Alibaba, but that the battle between the two companies is one to watch.
There is a lot to like about Alibaba (from a strategy and competition perspective). Massive, almost unprecedented, competitive strength. It’s a complementary platform and a digital-physical hybrid. That puts it at the top of my competitive strength pyramid. It is riding the mother of all secular trends – the rising wealth of Chinese families. And […]
Take-Away 1: Hello bike-sharing is a marginally profitable, small services business. Its recent shift to ebikes (and subscriptions) is increasing its revenue and making it more defendable. But it is also changing the economics. Take-Away 2: Hello is trying to build a platform business model on its large user base. A marketplace for mobility (like […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the rise of OMO (online-merge-offline) platforms in China, such as Alibaba’s Sun Art and Beike / Lianjia. He argues that these platforms are disrupting the traditional retail and real estate industries. He explains that OMO platforms offer a number of advantages over traditional businesses, such as convenience, personalization, and data-driven insights.
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the rise of OMO (online-merge-offline) platforms in China, such as Alibaba’s Sun Art and Beike / Lianjia. He argues that these platforms are disrupting the traditional retail and real estate industries. He explains that OMO platforms offer a number of advantages over traditional businesses, such as convenience, personalization, and data-driven insights.
One of the big digital China IPOs of 2020 was KE Holdings. Which does business under the brand names Lianjia and Beike. Lianjia, founded in 2001, is one of the biggest residential real estate brokerages in China. In 2019, it had +6,000 locations across China and +120,000 real estate brokers. In 2019, they completed 2.2M […]
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 […]
Alibaba is facing increasing political risks in China. In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the potential worst case scenario for Alibaba and provides 9 questions investors should ask themselves when considering an investment in the company.