Category: Amazon

Walmart International spent $16 billion to go big in India. CEO Judith McKenna has to make it work – CNN

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Walmart International spent $16 billion to go big in India. CEO Judith McKenna has to make it work – CNN

Was talking to a friend about India and VC – one thing we all agree on is that the monster exit of Flipkart has done wonders for the scene. Lots of people made money and it is going to new firms and new startups which helps to compete with the old guard. More foreign funds will pay attention now knowing exits can and will happen.

However – making investors, founders and employees rich has nothing to do with Walmart turning Flipkart into a money machine.

On this part -I think they will struggle long-term against Amazon.

Get the popcorn.

Sea is raising up to $1.5B for its Shopee e-commerce business in Southeast Asia | TechCrunch

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Well this is a battle to watch.

Since Amazon Prime showed up that’s pretty much where I get my stuff – apart from going to the store or the wet market. Yes – that’s still a thing in Asia and I love it.

I get the other stuff I need from iHerb which has great prices and ships for free to Singapore. Can’t beat it.

I still very rarely wonder in the untamed marketplace that is Lazada or Shopee. I have tried them both for some weird stuff I couldn’t get elsewhere but generally are disappointed with the quality of it. For sure though the marketplace model of each holds very little interest from me so I am always amazed at the numbers for these products but of course not a lot of profit yet.

Then add in the while Carousell and Facebook stuff for lots of other P2P transactions which our family has used way more than Shopee or Lazada but both could be done so much better. I actually there is some opportunity in the P2P space being done right but maybe Carousell and FB are just too big now.

Anyways – welcome to SEAsia! Its gonna be a crazy next 10 years!

Sea is raising up to $1.5B for its Shopee e-commerce business in Southeast Asia | TechCrunch

Alibaba Bets on Frenchman to Lead High-Stakes Southeast Asia Expansion – Bloomberg

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

I’m not a huge fan of the product but I use it from time to time and it works, but let’s admit that Singapore is easy.

I used to use redmart but saw no reason to when amazon prime arrived. Personally I think it’s a mistake that they are rolling redmart into the platform but I am sure they have their reasons.

All that aside I think appointing Pierre is the right move and good to see Alibaba learning a trick or two. Pierre has the history and knows what he is doing. The competition will be stiff but I think having a founder in charge is a better look versus what it looked like Alibaba was planning to do.

Congrats and good luck!

Pierre Poignant will have to vanquish well-funded regional rivals if he is to achieve Alibaba’s vision of becoming a global player.

— Read on www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-03/alibaba-bets-on-frenchman-to-lead-high-stakes-southeast-asia-expansion

Amazon planning new free video service to compete for TV ad dollars

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Interesting way for Amazon to play the free OTT game:

Amazon is expected to announce a free, ad-supported video service with libraries of past TV shows and movies. The offering, which is similar to The Roku Channel and Hulu, will let advertisers use Amazon’s first-party data to target advertising.

— Read on www.cnbc.com/2018/10/01/amazon-planning-new-free-video-service-compete-tv-dollars.html