Rishi Taparia - Issue #55
This week we explore Walmart’s strong earnings, McDonalds going Michelin, alternative payment methods in Asia, behavior as biometrics, Kevin Durant and Will Smith getting in on the VC game and more. Enjoy!
Commerce
Retailers are marketing directly to kids shopping on their smartphones
A new generation of tech savvy, digital native shoppers is online, only these ones aren’t even older than the devices they are shopping on. With half of kids aged 10-12 now owning their own smartphones these children, sometimes as young as 2 and 3, are adding items to online shopping carts with reckless abandon. Marketers are taking notice, “flocking to Snapchat, YouTube Kids and other mobile apps to reach children with personalized messages” to try and steer them towards particularly items and tap into the approximately $685 that is going to be spent per household on clothing, shoes and other items for kids in the coming weeks.
Walmart Rides Strong Consumer Spending to Fastest Sales Growth in Over a Decade
Counter to the popular narrative, not all is gloom and doom for traditional retailers. Walmart posted monster earnings, among other things showing a 40% rise in US e-commerce sales, and its comparable sales grew the most it has in a decade. Granted, there was benefit from strong US consumer spending and a generally robust economy. Nevertheless, some of the strategic moves seem to be working, now they just need to persist.
Marks & Spencer moves AI-displaced call workers to stores
Unlike a lot of retailers who are, where possible, simply replacing workers with technology, Marks & Spencer is taking a different approach.
U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer is replacing its entire call center staff with an artificial intelligence (AI) system that will displace over 100 switchboard employees, according to a press release from cloud communications company Twilio, which is providing the system.
The workers will be reassigned to customer-facing duties in stores, an M&S spokesperson confirmed to Retail Dive by email. The AI system will handle calls for 640 stores from 13 U.K. contact center hubs. It will be fully deployed by the end of September, according to The Telegraph.
A great example of appropriately leveraging technology to its fullest capacity while recognizing the opportunity to improve the experience in ways only people can do.
Reservations required: London McDonald's goes luxe for a day
Dollar menu served on a silver platter? This week McDonalds rolled out a 5 star pop-up restaurant in London, where for a night, diners enjoyed Happy Meals, Big Macs and fries while sitting on a gilded, white leather Louis XVI chair under a candelabra, twinkling with fake candles. Hilarious and a amazingly tongue (and burger) in cheek, but a good way
FinTech
Alternative payments trump traditional rivals in Apac ecommerce market
In a report out this week on payments type usage in APAC, obvious trends emerge - wallets - digital wallet spend on ecommerce is accelerating in APAC and China. However, the growth in card spend in India should be noted. This goes counter to the common narrative that, post-demonetization the switch to wallet would accelerate much as it did in China. However, new KYC restrictions by RBI rolled out this year created a tremendous amount of friction for wallet providers. That, coupled with increased UPI usage, may not make India the next bastian of mobile wallet adoption as once predicted.
Banks and Retailers Are Tracking How You Type, Swipe and Tap
At the mention of biometrics, one’s mind typically goes to fingerprint or facial recognition. However, biometrics also come in the form of habits. Banks are leveraging companies building databases on people’s mobile and online behaviors (how long you read a headline, what you typically click on, how long you sit on a page etc.) to prove identity and fight fraud.
Ant Financial plans for digital financial inclusion in Africa
Ant Financial is playing a global game that, after multiple moves in Asia, Europe and North America, now will extend into Africa. Mobile payment methods have seen tremendous success in the region, but the real trick will be whether Ant is able to bring other services like lending and money management with any success.
In a partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) along with the International Financial Corporation, the firm says it will promote digital financial inclusion in the continent through investments and technical assistance.
Banks On Notice: Fintechs Are Coming For Checking Accounts & Debit Cards
An in depth report from CB Insights looking at the plethora of startups going after digital banking, exploring the pros and cons for us as consumers and who has the opportunity to break out.
Technology
No One Is Making More Money in Tech IPOs than Tencent
Tencent reported sluggish earnings this week, caught in regulatory challenges that led to lower than expected sales. However, I’m not feeling sorry for the tech giant. The company’s investment arm was an investor in a whopping 12 tech companies that have gone public since the start of 2017, the most of any investor in the world with Tencent’s stake in the company “worth more than $20B at the time of exit (some IPOs have trended down since).”
Kevin Durant, Will Smith Top the Lineup for a New Venture-Capital Fund for Black Investors
Andreessen Horowitz is launching a novel effort to boost diversity in tech: an exclusive new fund targeted at black celebrities, athletes and media figures. The first set of LPs include Kevin Durant and Will Smith. It’s a unique approach to create more diversity in venture capital that, in a review by Richard Kerby, finds over 70% of the general partners being white, with only 3% black.
Random Tidbits
Quote I’m thinking about: “…success or failure, the truth of a life really has little to do with its quality. The quality of life is in proportion, always, to the capacity for delight. The capacity for delight is the gift of paying attention.” - Julia Cameron