Read online Dear Readers, Apologies - this is late. I have had a busy week and got behind with my reading. The three questions this week: Alibaba is starting to use Lazada as a Trojan horse. By partnering with Gmarket, Lazada is able to move South Korean products (and in particular beauty products) into SEA. Being able to move products into SEA, it's likely to me that these products could also be moving into China VIA Lazada's partnership with Tmall. I tend to believe that this is the next...
12 days ago • 6 min read
Read online Dear Readers, Happy Golden Week to readers in China. I cannot believe its that time again. The three questions this week: Amazon has settled its Prime membership deception case for $2.5 billion without admitting to wrongdoing. What is interesting is how this has been communicated by the FTC and Amazon. Amazon got off lightly - the company generates a settlement in revenue every 33 or 34 hours. That said, Amazon is playing the long game, as another class-action lawsuit has been...
19 days ago • 6 min read
Read online Dear Readers, Apologies for the late newsletter, I had to deal with a very fearful little Jack Russell amidst rain in Cape Town.. The three questions this week: We had two initial public offerings last week, StubHub and Pattern. One company will be able to leverage scale to generate quarterly revenues without owning inventory, whilst the other (whose staff looked dejected) will face a very tough environment once its quarterly earnings reports underwhelm analysts. I hope we see...
26 days ago • 7 min read
Read online Dear Readers, Apologies for the late newsletter, I fell in the garden on my back on Saturday and then had to rush my Jack Russell to the ER vet. Everyone is okay. The three questions this week: Amazon Ads is partnering with Netflix to offer Amazon DSP customers advertisers with direct access to Netflix's premium ad inventory.. Amazon is continuing to grow its DSP amid Google's legal drama and gaining digital real estate that it can monetize. Ads remain a must-have for marketplace...
about 1 month ago • 7 min read
Read online Dear Readers, The three things on my mind this week: I was shocked to learn that eBay turned 30 years old this past week. The original marketplace pioneer will continue to operate the way it has over the last decade. The most interesting note is that eBay management thought this was the time to mention that they are also working on incorporating AI. CEO Jamie Iannone then made a bold claim that, to his knowledge, eBay had never passed a counterfeit item through any of its...
about 1 month ago • 8 min read
Read online Dear Readers, Firstly, to those who celebrate Labor Day, - hope you are having a good long weekend! The three things on my mind this week: I cannot remember when I last saw so many pixels and characters spent on a topic. The end of the de minimis exemption will reduce cross-border shopping but benefit sectors such as resale/recommerce or off-price retail. The biggest losers are Etsy and eBay. It will also lead to less selection and longer waiting times for goods. Will this lead to...
about 2 months ago • 7 min read
,Read online Dear Readers, The three things on my mind this week: Pattern has filed for an initial public offering (S1 here) and reported 35% growth in revenue over the first half of 2025. However, their net income from December 2023 to June 2025 fluctuated between 3% and 4.1% of revenue. Why is this going public and reportedly wanting to raise up to $400M? PE investors likely want an exit. This reminds me a lot of Pharmapacks and the challenges it faced. How will Amazon counter agentic...
about 2 months ago • 7 min read
Read online Dear Readers, The three questions on my mind this week: The company on the hot seat this week is The Trade Desk. The Information reported that the company's exclusive DSP relationship with Walmart is no longer. A week later, management could not communicate to investors that Amazon's advertising is not a competitor ($). The news led to a rebuttal, but it's clear that the company is under pressure. Remember the last company that failed to see Amazon as a direct competitor? FedEx,...
2 months ago • 7 min read
Read online Dear Readers, The three questions on my mind this week: Have we, as a sector, been thinking incorrectly about nascent emerging markets? Singapore-headquartered Flood, which raised $3.5M, wants to empower telecommunications companies and incumbents through its Superapp-as-a-service platform to grow retail. How does the future for brands look with Google's AI search and answer engine look like? Retailers and brands are concerned, but Google says it is leading to more queries and...
2 months ago • 6 min read