Last week, I attended a media event at JD Central in Bangkok. And I interviewed CEO Vincent Yang. This is JD’s joint venture with Central Retail, one of Thailand largest retailers. Note: This is one of JD’s two initiatives in Southeast Asia. The other is in Indonesia. It was a pretty interesting experience for a […]
Ruhnn Holding is a Chinese company that not many people follow. Based in Hangzhou, tied with Alibaba and vaguely described as a talent agency and/or social commerce company, it’s a strange animal. And it is currently being taken private and off the US exchanges (maybe). But the company is fascinating and has some really important […]
Luxury marketplace platform Farfetch has had a long courtship with JD, Alibaba and Chinese consumers. In the next update, I’ll go into my thoughts on Farfetch as a stand-alone company (basically, not good). But the more interesting questions for investors are: Is Farfetch going to get bought? What is the private market value to Chinese […]
In this analysis, digital strategy consultant Jeffrey Towson shares five critical lessons from Alibaba Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai about the company’s Singles Day success. The discussion highlights Alibaba’s digital transformation strategy and its ability to scale massive consumer engagement. Key takeaways reveal how innovation and execution drive dominance in e-commerce.
Long-term investors search for high quality companies they can buy and hold. They ignore the near-term swings in stock prices and, instead, try to capture the larger creation of value in the enterprise over time. It’s a long-term wealth creation strategy. And it really works… …for a small number of companies. Yes, the results of […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the competitive landscape between Lazada and Shopee, comparing the two companies to a faster horse versus a better jockey. He argues that Lazada has the resources and infrastructure to be successful in the long run, but Shopee has the better management team and is more nimble. Towson believes that the winner of this race will depend on which company can execute its strategy better.
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.
China’s cross-border ecommerce business doesn’t get a lot of attention. It seems peripheral to China ecommerce. There are a lot of logistics, taxes and customs requirements. There are tons of regulations. And it’s just not sexy. But it is also non-political. It doesn’t have any of the national security concerns of telecommunication (i.e., Huawei and […]
I had a fascinating discussion with He Xiaodong of JD. He is the head of Deep Learning, NLP and the Speech Lab. And the Deputy Managing Director of JD AI Research. I did a podcast about this called Products with Personalities (Podcast 31) but I wanted to post some of his slides from our talk. […]
In this podcast, Jeffrey Towson discusses the competition between Grab, GoJek, and Lazada in the Southeast Asian services market. He identifies the most important factors for success in this market, including consumer engagement, merchant engagement, and platform business models. For example, Grab has been successful in capturing a large share of the consumer mind by offering a wide range of services, including ride-hailing, food delivery, and payments.