Rishi Taparia - Issue #3
Retail earnings, a LOT of Alibaba activity, banks fighting over data and another Indonesian unicorn round caps of this week. Enjoy!
Commerce
Nordstrom and Macy's: A lesson in surviving the retail apocalypse
Retailers worldwide are undertaking massive efforts to reimagine themselves in a mobile age where consumers have access to better technology and greater expectations than ever before. Macy’s and Nordstrom are two retailers that are seemingly finding their way but their share prices as of late shows shareholders are skeptical.
Are Retail Sales Dead? Depends Where You Look
Earnings announcements showed consumers spent freely at some stores and stingily at others proving yet again, consumer behavior is increasingly hard to predict.
Aldi allies with Instacart to battle Amazon in the US
With Amazon buying of one of Instacart’s largest customers (and likely their largest lead gen source), Whole Foods, Instacart is partnering with new players to drive further adoption in the category. With only 10% of US consumers buying food online compared to 40% in China, there’s clearly room to grow. The question for Instacart is whether they can out execute the Seattle-based behemoth.
Alibaba leads $1.1B investment in Indonesia-based e-commerce firm Tokopedia
Alibaba has continued its push into Southeast Asia after it led a $1.1 billion investment in Tokopedia, an e-commerce firm based in Indonesia. With annual e-commerce spend in the region expected jump from $5.5 billion in 2015 to $88 billion in 2025, it’s clear there’s a lot to be gained.
FinTech
Alibaba's "cashless week" to boost mobile payments is worrying China's central bank
The central bank being concerned with your scale and ability to move markets has to be on the unicorn bucket list. Such is the case with Ant Financial (owners of Alipay - the biggest mobile payments platform in the world).
Alipay, WeChat Take Battle for Mobile-Payment Dominance Overseas
Some great data in here on the battle between Alipay and WeChat. In the last 3 years Alipay has seen their 80% share of mobile payments in China drop to 50%, with WeChat having gone from 7% to 40%. The fight is extending internationally and the clear winner here is the Chinese consumer.
ATM withdrawals rise, so do PoS transactions
The demonetization in India caught most by surprise last November. Almost a year later the country has largely reverted back to cash but card transactions are seeing huge growth, up 70% versus October last year.
Data-sharing debate grows contentious as fintechs vent grievances
The fight for data ownership in financial services is as intense as the battle for the Iron Throne, and arguably a bigger prize. On the surface everyone seems aligned, but behind closed doors negotiations are heated. Can the newly formed Consumer Financial Data Rights group create an more standardized approach?
Random Tidbits
Editorial: California must summon will to meet housing crisis
A well researched piece by the Chronicle editorial board outlining why California (and the Bay Area in particular) has such a huge shortage of housing supply. Fun fact: For every 1,000 residents California has gained since the 1970s, it has produced only 325 homes…to match the number of homes available per person in those states, both of which have relatively limited housing supplies for their populations, California would need another 2 million.