Business
Sam’s Club Is Beating Costco at Its Own Game—in China. Walmart and Sam’s Club identified a potential clientele which are 35-45 wealthy Chinese, strove to understand the target customers and relentlessly delivered. Their reward? China is the fastest growing international market of Walmart and the legendary retailer is giving Costco a run for its money.
How Meta’s Reels Became a $50 Billion Business. It’s a testament to Zuck’s genius that Reels now has a run-rate of $50 billion (estimated to generate $50 billion in the next 12 months), more than what YouTube and TikTok are expected to bring in. Just a few years ago, Reels was nowhere and had to watch TikTok rise to popularity. Now, it’s a big business and likely a profitable one to Meta. Zuck also did it with the mobile pivot and WhatsApp. He should not be counted out or bet against.
Rolex Tries to Beat Watch Flippers at Their Own Game. “Three years ago, the Swiss brand launched an official certified preowned program. The program is expected to do more than $500 million in sales in 2025, based on estimates from data analytics firm WatchCharts. An insight from the program is that consumers will pay 28% more on average for a preowned watch that has been certified genuine by Rolex than one that hasn’t, according to Morgan Stanley. Shoppers will spend extra to feel confident they aren’t buying a fake and—importantly for mechanical watches—one that is serviced and working properly. The retailers are responsible for sourcing secondhand Rolexes. They authenticate the watches and service them to the brand’s standards. Rolex then certifies the watches as genuine, and issues a two-year warranty. The retailer, not Rolex, sets the price for the certified watches.”
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
What Went Wrong Before Hong Kong’s Apartment Inferno. Singapore is right to go hard on corruption. It’s a devil that destroys entities and, as what the tragedy in Hong Kong showed us, lives as well.
Abandoning homeownership may be changing how people behave at work and home. An interesting article on the potential cascading impact of unaffordable homeownership to young buyers.
This once iconic oyster industry crashed. Soon, harvesting will begin again. I am usually not a fan of Florida, but the state deserves praise for how they have managed the oyster industry in the last 6 years. The industry was on decline for years before the state stepped in and shut it all down in 2020. Significant work was put into restoring the habitat necessary to increase the population, big enough for a test run in 2026. I hope they continue this progress and don’t rush to commercialize widely the industry again.
Inside China’s Six-Decade Campaign to Dominate Rare Earths. China’s grip on Rare Earths results from a vision and decades of work, not a quick win. It’s wild that the country confisticates passports of key personnel with knowledge of its technologies to prevent leaks or defections. That’s how serious China takes this game.
How Japanese Scallops Became a Pawn in Diplomatic Tensions With China. “As China has emerged as a global economic power, its 1.4 billion citizens have become critical consumers of international goods. Beijing has dangled market access to its growing middle class as a diplomatic lever, imposing import restrictions for Taiwanese pineapples, Australian wine, American soybeans and Lithuanian beef in recent years. Before the freeze, China was the top buyer of Japanese seafood, with scallops accounting for most of that trade. Hokkaido’s scallops, harvested from the region’s nutrient-rich, frigid waters, are prized for a distinct buttery flavor and deep umami. They command a premium in China, where they have become a staple luxury at high-end celebratory banquets. The disruption was immediate. In 2022, the year before the halt, Japan exported roughly $641 million worth of scallops, with China accounting for more than half of all sales. Scallop exports plunged 30 percent in 2023 from a combination of China’s trade ban and a fallow period of production.“
Stats
Minh Quang Duong 
Leave a comment