What I wrote last week
Business
Starbucks Is Having an Identity Crisis. Can Howard Schultz Fix It? 70% of Starbuck’s orders are to-go. The popularity of their mobile app is magnificent, yet it goes against the identity that Howard Schultz envisioned when he bought the brand. He wanted Starbucks to be the 3rd place that people frequent in addition to work and home. Starbucks needs to decide on its future identity and positioning. Because if most orders are picked up at drive-through, what the hell are the stores for?
Will Ford’s new truck finally make Americans buy electric? “Surveys, both by the company and independent analysts, have found that customers for the F-150 are typically younger, richer, more urban than the truck’s traditional mainstream buyer – and in many cases have never owned a truck before. Like the rest of the industry, the company is contending with shortages of key computer processing chips, batteries and other materials that have held back production – and challenged the company’s effort to keep the starting price at about $40,000 (£31,500)”. It doesn’t sound very easy, does it?
Netflix’s Battle for Asian Subscribers Pits It Against Rich Rivals, Hundreds of Local Upstarts. The challenge for Netflix in Asia is multiple-fold. First, it has to keep the subscription prices low while needing to spend millions of dollars on local original content. Second, its competition is nothing but fierce and they are willing to keep the prices low to retain customers. Some such as Disney or Amazon are willing to splash a big sum on sports such as IPL to woo local viewers in India. Netflix hasn’t shown interest in following suit so far. The company once thought invincible at least in the streaming world doesn’t look invincible, does it?
Kard, a fintech that helps credit card issuers build custom reward programs by brands. “The company works with roughly 30 issuers today, representing 10 million consumers, Mackinnon said. It helps process about 60 million transactions per month, and has seen revenue grow 10x over the past year, according to Mackinnon, though he declined to share a specific revenue figure. He describes the business as a two-sided marketplace for rewards, with merchant partnerships on the supply side and card issuers on the demand side. For issuers, the API is powerful because it “connects them to merchants, brands, retailers that essentially are the funding vehicle for any of their rewards,”
Netflix’s Big Wake-Up Call: The Power Clash Behind the Crash. Cindy Holland seems to be the one person who wants to steer Netflix to adopt Apple TV+’s strategy. Nobody can guarantee that if Cindy hadn’t left, Netflix wouldn’t be in where they are today. She could have stayed and Netflix could have been just as bad or worse. But it’s baffling to let go the relationship-building wizard that forged a bond with the studios and not find a replacement. I have to say, though, that when Netflix was dominating the streaming market and a darling of Wall Street, you didn’t get to read these pieces. You were served with articles on how great Netflix and its culture were. As soon as the company’s fortune plummeted, critical reporting show up like mushrooms after rain.
Vietnam’s VinFast takes the EV battle to Tesla with U.S. push. The pace of development at Vinfast fits the culture of quick results and brand ambition at Vingroup. That’s how they always do things. That approach doesn’t necessarily come with the best quality of products or services. Hence, the question becomes: do they think up a thorough plan to penetrate and dominate the EV market in the US? Every car maker in the world wants to succeed in the US. It’s home to Tesla, which has an enormous scale advantage. It’s home to Ford, which is always a familiar brand in the mind of Americans. There are always Volswagen, Hyundai, Kia, Subaru, Toyota, Mazda etc…Such a list of world-famous brands indicate nothing but fierce competition. The first movers also have great scale advantage. List cars at too high a price and Vinfast won’t make enough sale. List them too low and the company wont have any profit. Whether Vinfast can weather the initial storm to reach critical mass remains a giant question mark.
Inside the first suburban Amazon Go store. I have a nagging feeling that Amazon is playing a really long game here and soon enough in the future they will become a major grocery chain
Other stuff I find interesting
Why didn’t our ancient ancestors get cavities? It is a very interesting theory that our transition to agriculture is the likely cause of our cavities
Women and girls have to pay for water with their body and dignity. The struggle people in poor countries around the world has to face makes it even more incredulous whenever folks in the US complain about trivial problems. I don’t know like having to wear a mask during Covid or taking life-saving vaccines.
Stats
80% of US consumers use BNPL to avoid credit cards, according to Experian
Online retail sales in India is estimated to reach $85.5 billion in 2025
Google Pay has 150 million users across 40 countries, as of April 2022
Minh Quang Duong 