Rishi Taparia - Issue #36
This week we explore Paytm Mall becoming a unicorn, Amazon is talking payments, Uber delivers debit for drivers, the universe of fintechs in China and why it’s unlike any other, why Japan’s seniors are shoplifting and more. Enjoy!
Commerce
Paytm Mall: Paytm Mall raises close to Rs 3000 Cr from SoftBank & Alibaba
Paytm Mall, the ecommerce player of Indian financial unicorn Paytm, has raised close to $500m from Alibaba and Softbank (which makes sense given their investments in Paytm and generally the strength of that relationship), valuing the company at approximately $1.9 billion. Paytm Mall focuses primarily on its online-to-offline model which drives almost 60% of its overall sales through its partnership with 75,000 stores and is now the third largest ecommerce site in India after Flipkart and Amazon India.
Retailers Race Against Amazon to Automate Stores
Amazon does something. Retailers get scared. Retailers try and fight back and put out press releases talking about how they are investing in new technologies. These are the acts of today’s retail play. What’s interesting in this case however, is while Amazon announced their Amazon Go, cashierless store, retailers (particularly those in China) have already had solutions in the works and are now rolling out their own initiatives.
Price Wars - Grocery, Household and Beauty
In a price comparison study between Amazon, Walmart, Target and others across 21,000 products and 3 major categories, Amazon still dominates.
FinTech
Amazon’s Next Mission: Using Alexa to Help You Pay Friends
In the next wave of voice commerce, Amazon is considering whether to use Alexa to launch a person-to-person payments feature. This move would push the retailing giant into new competition with Venmo and Zelle (the big banks’ payments effort). My view here is the P2P use case is less obvious than simply spend on Amazon. Creating wallets is hard, even with captive customer use (see Apple Pay and iMessage). Whether the voice experience can drive adoption seems to be the bet Amazon is evaluating.
More opportunities to earn with the Uber Visa Debit Card from GoBank
Uber is offering more financial services for their drivers via a debit card from Go-Bank. Drivers get access various services including to cash back, special discounts and roadside assistance. Importantly, the card presents with no minimum balance, no overdraft fees, and no setup, monthly, or annual fees, terms that are not typically available.
Ecosystem and closely integrated business models - That's what makes #China #fintechs so unique. https://t.co/NqJiaEWYdq
6:35 PM - 6 Apr 2018
A great graphic from @Gaurav1105 on the difference between China, US and Japan’s fintech ecosystems.
Google eyes 4 emerging markets for Tez payments
The opportunity to be part of the underlying payments infrastructure cannot be understated. For Google to try and be a player makes sense, the only question is where they try and play that is outside the reach of Ant Financial or Tencent.
Technology
Go-Jek in Singapore: ‘Caution needs to be exercised in order to not look too cheap’
Go-Jek, the ride hailing unicorn out of Indonesia, is reportedly looking to expand into multiple markets later this year. Having absolutely dominated the Indonesian market with services well beyond ride-hailing (food delivery, massage delivery and digital payments to name a few), it makes sense, particularly considering duopolistic nature of the industry with Uber having sold their Southeast Asian businesses to Go-Jek rival Grab. A big challenge with new market entry is positioning. Go-Jek needs to take care to approach their new markets carefully.
Random Tidbits
Japan’s Prisons Are a Haven for Elderly Women
Take the time to read and internalize this piece on seniors in Japan. Feeling lonely and forgotten, in search of renewed belonging, seniors are shoplifting in search of the community and stability of jail.
Quote I’m thinking about: “Arrange whatever pieces come your way” - Virginia Woolf