Rishi Taparia - Issue #30
This week Warby Parker continues to show how retail is done, Walmart is reported to be competing with Casper and Glossier, Chinese regulators take over Anbang, Dropbox files to go public and more. Enjoy!
Commerce
As Warby Parker approaches 100 stores, other internet brands follow
Warby Parker was the the first in a category some (foolishly) call “retail upstarts” to kick off the online to offline trend in 2010 when they opened their first brick and mortar store. Now with 64 on the way to 100, they’re demonstrating that successful retail needs to not include both online and offline, but the customer experience needs as well as supply chain need to be integrated.
“We think the presentation by retail experts of ‘either [online] or [offline] is a false choice,. It really is the intersection of the two. And we are trying to approach retail expansion in a very deliberate manner, where we are testing and learning.”
Neil Blumenthal, CEO, Warby Parker
Walmart is launching online bedding, cosmetic brands in bid for upscale shoppers
Walmart is trying to execute a rare strategy, twice. Launching two new brands targeting upper-middle class women, one site will be selling luxury mattresses and bedding, with the other focused on cosmetics. This time they chose ‘build’ vs 'buy’, opting not to go after companies like Casper or Glossier. The new strategy comes as concerns grow over the retailer’s e-commerce performance, having reported an meager 23% growth in online sales vs. 50% the quarter prior. A tough road to say the least.
Amazon plans to open as many as six more cashierless Amazon Go stores this year
Once thought to be a failed experience, Amazon is expected to roll out 6 more Go stores this year, with likely candidate cities in Seattle and Los Angeles. The experience has garnered mixed reviews, but for them to be expanding beyond one store is signal enough to the rest of the market.
FinTech
Wichita bank sues after ATM gave out $100s instead of $5s
A Wichita bank is suing a local woman after it says she made more than 50 withdrawals from an ATM that was spitting out $100 bills in place of fives. A cluster on many levels, while it is surprising that bank can go after customers for their own error, the crazier thing is doing so via lawsuit against one customer (out of what one can only imagine is hundreds). Talk about PR nightmare.
JPMorgan Glitch Gave Customers Access to Others' Online Accounts
Let’s hope it was just a glitch. JPM has since stated everything is back to normal but I wouldn’t want to be on the eng team trying to explain why this happened…
Chinese Regulator Seizes Anbang Insurance, Owner of Waldorf Astoria
Chinese regulators have stepped in and taken control of Anbang Insurance under the auspices of preventing a collapse in the company. While not uncommon for the Chinese government to have some level of control of companies, for regulators to do an announced takeover compared to simply folding the company into another government controlled entity is new here. Whether this means more overt action to come or a special case given the imprisonment of then-chairman Mr. Wu Xiaohui in June (who hasn’t been heard from since) remains to be seen.
Technology
Google’s new AI algorithm predicts heart disease by looking at your eyes
Maybe eyes are more than just windows to the soul? Google continues to illustrate how more medical diagnoses can be done using machine learning. Its latest looks at cardiovascular risk, assed via iris scan. While not ready for prime time, a fascinating and relevant use of ML, particularly given the below:
Dropbox to go public 10 years after launch
Cloud storage company Dropbox filed to go public this week, looking to raise up to $500 million in an IPO. A valley darling who’s most recent raise valued the business at a cool $10bn, they have been on IPO watch for some time and will provide an interesting signal for others companies evaluating the public markets.
Facebook Messenger now lets you add friends to ongoing video chats
Facebook Messenger now allows you to add more people to a video or audio call while it’s in progress. As an Apple user, multi-user FaceTime is something I’m surprised hasn’t been added yet. There were rumors last Jan that it was going to come in iOS 11 but still no dice. I’m curious as to why not.
Random Tidbits
A Kingdom from Dust
Stewart Resnick is the biggest farmer in the United States, with a sprawling 180,000 acres of California being farmed. He’s also the biggest consumer of water in the West, with his 15 million trees in the San Joaquin Valley consuming more than 400,000 acre-feet of water a year. To give you a comparison, the entire city of LA consumes 587,000 acre-feet. A fascinating LONG read on Resnick, farming and the troubling state of the water supply.