March Tech Round-Up: eCommerce Adjusts to its New Normal.
eCommerce boomed during the pandemic…until suddenly, it didn’t. This month we examine the new normal in ANZ, as well as the rise and rise of Asian eCommerce.
Enjoy, from all of us at North Ridge Partners
Original Thinking From North Ridge Partners
Click here to read about the downturn in ANZ e-commerce. It all seemed so easy back in 2020 when shoppers were locked at home and the only option was to point and click. But with the high streets full of happy shoppers again, many eCommerce vendors Downunder have seen a reversal of fortunes.
Click here to read about the rise and rise of Asian eCommerce. We interview eCommerce gurus Paul Srivorakul (co-founder of aCommerce) and Fionn Hyndman (founder of Stickler). We also have a peek at the Tik Tok eCommerce machine. It’s a cracker!
Click here for this month’s minicast: While many retailers Downunder experience post-covid chills, others are finding their investments in brand and social media channels paying off handsomely. Listen in as Marion Grasby, founder of Marion’s Kitchen, shares her upbeat e-commerce experiences with Christin Burns.
Click here for this month’s music playlist: 6 songs about shopping, to keep you agile!
Contagion
RIP SVB: The Fed bails out SVB depositors to stem the panic.
The All-In podcast goes all-in on SVB: catch the hysteria here.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Seeking Alpha spotted this problem months back - here’s their post-mortem.
Our view: the short term crisis may have been averted, but the shock remains. Expect risk appetites to be low. Cash is king, and profitability is everything!
Big Tech
You be the judge! The experts are at odds on whether the metaverse is dead. The Street says its dead, but the Verge has a completely different spin on things.
Meanwhile, the Zuck reveals Meta’s generative AI play. Perhaps he should change the company’s name from Meta to Beta?😊
Baidu introduces Ernie-Bot, its ChatGPT style generative AI tool.
Amazon pips revenue expectations as its advertising business outpaces Google and Meta.
Musk World
Yep, he’s still out there. Elon Musk reveals Part 3 of Tesla’s Master Plan. Panned by some critics as a fail, Crazy Kathie’s team spruiks the Tesla plan ... again.
Is this 120 year old company beating Tesla at its own game?
ElonGPT, anyone?
Asia Pacific Tech News
Alibaba smashes earnings expectations.
Everything and the kitchen sink – JD.com slashes prices across online properties, chasing a Chinese consumer bounce back.
Path to profitability accelerates at Grab.
Sea change. SEA reports black ink for the first time.
Foxconn shifts a chunk of its iPhone production from China to India.
China’s tech heavyweights are on a tear in US markets.
More News About the Downturn
The knife strikes Downunder as Xero and Atlassian cut thousands of jobs. Xero is rewarded with a price bump … while Atlassian isn’t.
Alphabot? Not even robots are immune from the headcount reversals at Alphabet.
Oh, the irony. HR jobs bore the brunt of Big Tech’s big staff cutbacks.
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