What I wrote last week
I shared my research on real-time payments
Good reads on Business
Glass bottle shortage leaves US distillers high and dry. The supply chain challenges still persist. While the demand for spirits and wines in the U.S continues to be strong, the task of finding glass bottles becomes more challenging and expensive. One glass supplier considers more than quadrupled the price of a container. That kind of price increase will make your next bottle fairly more pricey.
The new memo by Howard Marks: The Winds of Change. Howard touches on many topics from politics, regulations to macro economics. Have a read and if you have time, read his other memos too.
The Rising Tide of Semiconductor Cost. The technological advances we made in chip design and production are not going to make chips cheaper any time soon.
Amazon Builds Out Network to Speed Delivery, Handle Holiday Crunch. “As of mid-November, more than 98% of parcels that arrived at Amazon’s delivery centers, which typically are in close proximity to packages’ final destinations, were being delivered the next day, according to estimates from research firm ShipMatrix Inc. At the same time, some items like household products and sporting goods were showing delivery windows of a few days, ShipMatrix said, emphasizing Amazon’s message to shop early.” As Amazon continues to invest aggressively in its warehouse and delivery network, it’s more likely that the company will raise the bar, making the next day or same day delivery a norm. When that happens, other retailers will have a hard time catching up. Replicating the same recipe requires a lot of capital, time and expertise. I think the more Amazon succeeds in raising the bar, the better the market will be for delivery services like Instacart, Uber or DoorDash
Ghost Kitchens Are Proving to Be a Messy Business, as Reef Global Shows. “Since the summer, local officials in New York City, Houston, Detroit and Chicago have suspended operations at some or all of Reef’s fleets of trailers for violating regulations, totaling more than 25 closures. Many of the suspensions were for kitchens that were operating without permits, while others were for failing to tow the trailers to a central commissary every day, a requirement for food trucks in many cities. Utility hookups routinely take months longer than expected, requiring expensive generators and water deliveries, according to former Reef managers. Food waste is a consistent problem, as is a broader labor shortage in the food-service sector that has sent its cooks’ wages soaring.“
Payments are eating the world. A very interesting report by JPMorgan Chase on the state of payments
Oct 2021: U.S. Online Grocery Sales Stabilize at $8.1 Billion. This study of online grocery sales in the U.S is interesting. It claims that 50% of U.S households bought groceries online. The average order placed by an active customer is 2.6 per month and the average value for order is $70. That’s almost $200 in online groceries, more than what I expected.
Amazon charges sellers fees that are high enough to offset losses from Prime, a new report says. Amazon can exert this much control over sellers because it can bring consumers to the table. Sellers may not be pleased with how Amazon squeezes them, but if they want to rely on the eCommerce platform for reach and sales, they have to deal with its shenanigans too.
Stuff that I found interesting
How the Ancient Romans Went to the Bathroom. “Despite the lack of toilet paper, toilet-goers did wipe. That’s what the mysterious shallow gutter was for. The Romans cleaned their behinds with sea sponges attached to a stick, and the gutter supplied clean flowing water to dip the sponges in. This soft, gentle tool was called a tersorium, which literally meant “a wiping thing.”
Stats
Shopify merchants around the world recorded $2.9 billion in Black Friday sales
Black Friday 2021 sales in the U.S dropped from $9 billion in 2020 to $8.9 billion this year
Cyber Monday online sales in the U.S hit $7.1 billion in 2021, down from $10.8 billion last year
More than 17 million UK customers have now used a buy now pay later
The U.S generates 42 million metric ton in trash a year, more than all EU nations combined
Minh Quang Duong 