Rishi Taparia - Issue #31
This week: Casper goes offline, Neiman Marcus stocks Young Money merchandise, Goldman goes more Main St., Amazon goes shopping for a Ring, Uber gets into healthcare and more. Enjoy!
Commerce
Mattress start-up Casper is opening its first store — with complimentary naps
Online mattress giant Casper is bringing their goods offline, permanently. Opening up a 3,000 square foot location in New York after having tested pop-up shops and partnerships with traditional mattress sellers, the move is the latest in a line of online businesses establishing themselves, understanding their customers and creating a physical spaces. Shoppers can test out the company’s mattresses, pillows and duvets in six mini-bedrooms and in this case, are even encouraged to take mini naps.
China's Alibaba seeks to buy food delivery app Ele.me
Alibaba is in talks to buy a 60% stake in the food delivery platform Ele.me. This would give the e-commerce giant its first in house delivery worker and logistics network, something it doesn’t have a tremendous amount of expertise in (relative to Amazon as an example). This is a gaping hole in the Alibaba network, a bigger issue than normal considering the leader in the space, Meituan, is backed by Tencent.
What Stores Do With $90 Billion in Merchandise Returns
Retailers rang up their strongest holiday sales since 2011, but now they have to figure out what to do with an estimated $90 billion in returned apparel, electronics and sporting goods. Reverse logistics and all that is associated with it is amongst the least sexy part of retail, but a critical component
Neiman Marcus banks 'a milli' on Lil Wayne collection
Young Money merchandise is being sold in Neiman Marcus, further proof that anything is possible. For those of you who understand the previous sentence, click the link. For those of you who don’t, please feel free to move on.
Bluemercury Is Macy's Secret Weapon; Time To Unleash It
Macy’s execs are keeping their cosmetics brand under wraps for now. This article makes the case for going bigger with it but I disagree. The cosmetics market is rapidly evolving with companies like Glossier kicking ass, channels increasingly becoming social (makeup videos on Instagram…it’s another world) and old world players (see: Walmart) coming out with their own brands. My guess is this is a case of not wanting to ruin a good thing before seeing what it can truly do. Holding back to see where the turns happen might just be the appropriate strategy.
FinTech
Goldman Sachs, Adviser to the Elite, Wants to Be Your Local Bank
Goldman Sachs is making more of a concerted push into consumer than I originally would have guessed guessed. Unlike most however, they are putting real dollars behind their efforts. Major moves with lending, robo advising, financing iPhones, not to mention 178 million pieces of direct mail to consumers last year has the Wall St. giant moving to Main St., literally.
Japanese megabanks team up on mobile payments
Another day, another conglomerate of banks trying to team up and define a QR code standard for their country to combat Alipay and WeChat Pay. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group are looking to work out specific plans by the end of March to unify QR code specifications across participating banks with a projected rollout of the payment system is slated for fiscal 2019. Expected cost of development: ~$10m USD. Two things I can confidently say - it will be delayed, and it will cost more than expected. It feels to me like the ship has sailed, and the rest of the banks are using row boats trying to catch up. A tip for all the banks out there: it’s not about the QR code.
Technology
The Exclusive Inside Story Of Ring: From 'Shark Tank' Reject To Amazon's Latest Acquisition
This week Amazon purchased smart doorbell startup Ring for a reported $1.1 billion. The company had a reported 97% market share of smart doorbell sales (the total market size being questionable), gained through aggressive marketing efforts that purportedly left the company at negative margin on hardware. The purchase by Amazon, despite Amazon entering the market themselves and offering in home delivery services to prime customers, shows me that a) customer acquisition is hard, no matter who you are and b) consumer hardware is all about sales and marketing.
An AI On The Prize: Zhang Tong of Tencent’s AI Lab
An interview with Zhang Tong, head of Tencent’s AI Lab. They’re doing a lot of fascinating work that, while on the surface may seem unrelated, are sure to emerge as vital.
Uber is driving patients to their doctors in a big grab for medical transit market
An interesting (and completely understandable) product launch from Uber this week. The company launched a new digital tool meant to book rides for patients who need assistance getting to and from their appointments that they have been piloting since July.
Random Tidbits
I have forgotten how to read
For a long time Michael Harris convinced himself that a childhood spent immersed in old-fashioned books would insulate him from our new media climate, but he was wrong. A tremendous piece that deeply resonated with me in the challenges of reading books having grown accustomed to consuming content online.
…online life makes me into a different kind of reader – a cynical one. I scrounge, now, for the useful fact; I zero in on the shareable link.