Rishi Taparia - Issue #9
This week has Sears predicting Amazon’s every move, Ikea buys TaskRabbit, another Chinese unicorn raising big money, a deep dive on hardware startups, further acquirer consolidation, ‘finger vein’ payments and more. Enjoy!
Commerce
Chinese luxury consumers: More global, more demanding, still spending
The Chinese consumer is the most sought after customer in the world right now and for good reason. The number of Chinese millionaires is expected to surpass that of any other nation by 2018, and by 2021 China is expected to have the most affluent households in the world. While growth in spend slows, it’s BIG dollars at play and countries and corporations around the world need to have a China strategy, whether operating in the country or not.
Sears's History Predicts Almost Everything Amazon's Doing
History is doomed to repeat itself, or so the saying goes. Is the same true of Amazon and, of all companies, Sears? This piece is a terrific look at the original everything store and how Amazon is replicating their strategy almost 100 years later. A fun fact: At the start of 1925, there were no Sears stores in the United States. By 1929, there were 300. Sound familiar?
Ikea has bought TaskRabbit
A terrific buy for the Swedish home goods giant, shoring up their technology muscle with a product that slots in nicely to their full service strategy. I can only imagine how much of TaskRabbit revenue was already Ikea furniture assembly.
Nike’s iron grip on the sneaker market is slipping
Nike has dominated the US sneaker market for as long as I can remember. Now, with changing consumer expectations and a new athleisure brand emerging seemingly every week, pressure is on for Nike to listen to consumers about what they want and deliver it.
Nike still dominates the market, but is their grip loosening?
Tencent-Backed Meituan Close to $3 Billion-Plus Funding
Meituan Dianping, China’s largest group-buying and restaurant reviews service, is said to be close to finalizing a deal to raise at least $3 billion from investors including Capital Group, according to people familiar with the matter.
FinTech
Tencent-Backed Meituan Close to $3 Billion-Plus Funding - Bloomberg
Yet another Chinese unicorn backed by a Chinese giant raises big money. Form all How much val based on early investors? #meituan https://t.co/JcMEdS9qyN
Alibaba vs. Tencent: Investment edition
What Banks Can Learn From Nokia's Demise
Dominant in the market with market trust, a growing revenue base and seemingly untouchable technology, Nokia was king of the world. Until it wasn’t. In today’s technology driven world, banks are likely more aware than Nokia was of their potential weaknesses but just like life comes at you fast, consumer loyalties can shift in an instant - better learn from history than repeat it.
British supermarket offers 'finger vein' payment in worldwide first
We’ve can pay by cash, pay by card, pay by phone, pay by smile and now pay by…vein? A UK supermarket has become the first in the world to let shoppers pay for groceries using just the veins in their fingertips, leveraging live fingerprint detection to further reduce fraud. Now all they need is better marketing…
Nets welcomes $5.3 bln takeover bid by Hellman & Friedman
It seems like everyone is looking for another reason to take the European vacation. The European payment acquirer market is on fire right now, and likely to see further consolidation in the not to distant future,
Technology
How Apple Built An iPhone Camera That Makes Everyone A Professional Photographer
How does Apple think about iPhone camera design? Obsessively. A deep dive into Apple’s design process, this time around the camera. Most interesting - reframing questions to ensure out of the box ideas get heard. Less “how do we make the best phone camera?”, more “What does it mean to capture a memory?”
Hardware Is Hard - So How Can Consumer Hardware Startups Succeed?
Hardware is hard. A CB Insights report analyzing the health of hardware startups and why so many have failed in recent years.
Random Tidbits
The Dying Art of Disagreement
The transcript of a speech given by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Bret Stephens. A great read that forces introspection, particularly in a world of alternate facts, increasingly identity based politics and an unwillingness to debate on merit.
The Power of Precision Writing - Why Brevity is Important
A great read, whether you write for a living or not. The first paragraph alone is worth it!