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 […]
Hi, I’ve been building out visual models of platform businesses for like 4 years. From Alibaba and JD to Google and MasterCard. The goal is to visually show the key interactions and sources of competitive strength. For simple marketplace platforms, like EBay, my pictures are pretty simple. But for companies like Alibaba and JD, they […]
When the SARS virus swept through China / Asia in 2002-2003, it resulted in millions of workers isolating themselves in their homes. And this phenomenon turned out to be pivotal for several, now dominant digital companies. For then small company Alibaba, it created a surge of activity in e-commerce. And for then physical-only retailer JD, […]
Jeffrey Towson argues that Vipshop could benefit from building its own logistics network, like JD. He says that this would give Vipshop more control over its supply chain and delivery times. However, he also acknowledges that this would be a major investment.
Hi everyone, Here is the daily update. Cheers, -j Suggestions for Questions for the CEO of Huawei? I’m going to Shenzhen next week to interview Guo Ping, Huawei’s CEO. Super excited about this. The Huawei campus is pretty awesome as well (see pic). The interview should be about an hour so I’m hopefully going to […]
I recently visited the Intime department store in Hangzhou. And it struck me that department stores and shopping malls may be the most compelling version of new retail – the frontier of an increasingly dynamic, digital lifestyle for Chinese consumers. From New Retail to a New Digital Lifestyle The online world is surprisingly rich […]
Jeffrey Towson shares his insights into the inner workings of Alibaba on Singles’ Day, the world’s largest online shopping event. He discusses how Alibaba uses data, technology, and logistics to execute its business strategy and deliver a world-class shopping experience to its customers. He also talks about the challenges of managing such a large event and how Alibaba is constantly innovating to improve its performance.
Jeffrey Towson discusses how Alibaba has beaten out its competitors by focusing on digital transformation. He explains how the company has created a marketplace for buyers and sellers to connect, and how this has helped it to grow rapidly and become one of the most successful e-commerce companies in the world.
In Part 1, I argued that Mark Zuckerberg’s memo on “privacy-focused messaging and social networking” is actually an aggressive and potentially stunning growth path for the company. I called it the ultimate gangster move. Their move to consolidate their messaging services creates a big global tool. And it looks a lot like the foundation of […]
近期，我受邀对京东北京总部和上海分公司进行为期三天的访问，并会见了高级管理层。作为京东的粉丝之一，我欣然接受邀请。