While many businesses are struggling as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the food delivery industry is booming.
Deliveroo is a London-based food delivery service that operates in a number of European and Middle Eastern countries, as well as Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. According to CNBC, Deliveroo’s Founder and CEO Will Shu told the Web Summit conference how COVID-19 has transformed the industry:
Our initial analysis suggests that Covid-19 has accelerated consumer adoption of these delivery services by about two to three years.
That, in turn, as been good for Deliveroo’s business:
We saw this incredible increase in new customers joining the platform. We also saw our existing customers looking to order more often, also ordering for the family more frequently, we saw average basket sizes increase, and also ordering a wider range of products.
Shu’s statement is an indication of the deep-seated changes occurring in business, as well as society at large, as a result of the pandemic.
Microsoft has bought Smash.gg, the site dedicated to building “active esports scenes around the games people love to play.”
Gaming is becoming an increasingly important part of the tech industry, with recent information showing significant upticks in the amount of time all age groups are playing games. Games are also used for training purposes, therapy and community building.
Microsoft has been at the forefront of the gaming industry for years, thanks to its Xbox console. The company has been expanding its influence, buying game studios and bringing some of the biggest titles to the Xbox. As a result, buying a company dedicated to esports seems the next logical step.
Smash.gg posted the announcement on their website:
Since we started in 2015, our goal has been to build active esports scenes around the games people love to play. Today we’re excited to take the next step in that journey by joining Microsoft to help strengthen our existing relationships and explore new opportunities. Smash.gg will continue as a self-service esports platform available to tournament organizers from all game communities. If you have any questions about existing tournaments please reach out to [email protected].
Microsoft also confirmed the announcement via their MSN Esports Twitter account:
Big news everyone! @smashgg is joining us at Microsoft. Same great tournament organization features. Same amazing team. Even more support and opportunities. Get ready to play!
Walmart is taking aim at one of Amazon’s biggest benefits, fast shipping, by using its stores to speed up delivery.
Amazon Prime is one of the biggest advantages Amazon has, providing free two-day shipping on many products. Many of its competitors have struggled to match its ability to get products in customers’ hands so quickly.
Walmart is preparing to just do that, however, with plans to use its stores to speed up delivery for online shoppers. The company’s decision comes amid one of the most unique holiday seasons, as many shoppers turn to online shopping as a result of COVID-19.
The overall experience should be relatively seamless for most customers, while shipping times may be reduced to as little as same day.
“While our customers won’t see a change in the app or a new service they need to select, they will notice that they aren’t finding themselves checking for shipping updates or sweating arrival times of gifts,” writes Tom Ward, Senior Vice President, Customer Product. “They simply notice their orders are arriving super-fast, even the same day, and maybe in a Walmart bag from a store rather than a Walmart box from Walmart.com.”
Amazon has a complicated relationship with its employees and the latest reports are not likely to help the situation.
With an employee base closing in on 1.2 million, Amazon has been a source of reliable employment for many during the pandemic. At the same time, the company has often been criticized for its climate policies and for not doing enough to protect its workers from COVID.
Now employees have another reason to be angry at the company, as a report from Motherboard shows the company has used Pinkerton detectives to counter unionization efforts, as well as monitor environmental and social groups.
The documents show Amazon analysts closely monitor the labor and union-organizing activity of their workers throughout Europe, as well as environmentalist and social justice groups on Facebook and Instagram. They also indicate, and an Amazon spokesperson confirmed, that Amazon has hired Pinkerton operatives—from the notorious spy agency known for its union-busting activities—to gather intelligence on warehouse workers.
At a time when Amazon is already under scrutiny, this latest revelation is not likely to do the company any favors.
Informally, Industrial Revolutions are referred to as Industry “Points O’s.” The First Industrial Revolution, or Industry 1.0, took place between 1760 and 1830, the second following up shortly after between 1870-1914. Between 1950-2002, the world underwent “digitalization” as a result of the Third Industrial Revolution, or Industry 3.0; and since 2011, we have been undergoing the Fourth Industrial Revolution, more commonly known as Industry 4.0. As a result of digitalization, data intelligence has been a primary driver in prospective industry revolutions.
As a result of Industry 1.0, machines and tools were able to replace animal and human labor. This was especially monumental for its time (1760-1830). How? The use of iron and steel for machinery began to skyrocket. As a result, working class citizens were able to create new resources, such as steam and internal combustion engines – which went on to drive a sector of the economy in itself.
Under Industry 2.0 (1870-1914), workers of the mass production industry saw many days of sunshine. For the first time, assembly line efficiency and productivity was lightened and shipping was made easier due to the invention of railways and telegraphs – another product of Industry 2.0. More along, new materials such as stainless steel and plastics were introduced as societal benefits.
Things got more technological under Industry 3.0 (1950-2002). The Third Industrial Revolution introduced electronics and IT, as well integrated them into manufacturing procedures. As a result, society saw a massive rise in telecommunications, computers, and even nuclear power. There was also a noteworthy widespread in factory automation, such as the incorporation of robots and PLCs to contribute to the general workflow.
Since 2011, interconnectivity has been the key focus. Already, Industry 4.0 is set to provide higher-level automation driven by artificial intelligence, as well as optimized manufacturing using real-time data and sensors. Additionally, this Industrial Revolution is focusing on a way to integrate cyber-physical systems throughout the supply chain.
In its outcome, Industry 4.0 will have used big data and machine learning to automate plants, warehouses, machines, and more. Furthermore, Industry 4.0 will have created smart machines that will be capable of collecting and analyzing data, as well as communicating the right information at the right time.
In other words, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will lay improvements across 3 new sectors: smart communication, data quality, and smart devices.
Smart communication allows manufacturers to rapidly respond to changing demand, inventory shortfalls, or equipment faults. Data Quality helps companies quickly locate problems so they can respond to them quicker. Additionally, data quality can be refined through organization-wide networks. Smart Devices create increasingly autonomous ecosystems that act as a catalyst for the future of the industry. Examples of these include driverless vehicles and drones. Driverless vehicles can navigate factories and warehouses, and drones can be used for maintenance and inventory management.
With that being said, business owners should seek insights on the ways they’re being impacted by Industry 4.0 In other words, this is a great time to prepare an effective data structure, focus on high-fidelity data creation and communication, standardardized business and data process, and understand your business’ use case. If even one important portion of the data is missing, it can break the digital thread – causing the flow of data to stop.
Is your data ready for Industry 4.0? Find out in the infographic below.
T-Mobile informed TVision subscribers they will be receiving 30+ channels, normally part of the Vibe plan, for free.
At the end of October, T-Mobile unveiled its TVision streaming service, designed to compete with the likes of YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling and fuboTV. The company unveiled four packages, including Vibe, Live TV, Live TV+ and Live Zone.
The Vibe plan, in particular, was seen as a high-value option, providing 30+ entertainment and lifestyle channels for just $10. It was a good option for customers who were not interested in local channels or sports. Now, T-Mobile is giving away the Vibe plan for free to customers that have one of the TVision Live subscriptions.
T-Mobile Free Channels Email
Behind the scenes, industry experts say the promotion is a result of the legal issues and carriage disputes T-Mobile is facing over TVision. Despite the cable TV industry being one of the most hated industries in America, media companies continue to hold to the very business practices that made them so hated.
One of those practices is channel stuffing, requiring certain packages to contain certain channels, and then forcing customers to pay for channels they don’t want. T-Mobile’s willingness to separate their channel lineup in a way that allowed customers to choose what they wanted to pay for was one of its big selling points.
According to Variety, however, T-Mobile has had to make adjustments to prevent legal action from the media companies. For example, many media companies specify that any of their channels included in a cheaper tier must also be included in more expensive tiers. While T-Mobile viewed their Vibe plan as a standalone option, the media companies are clearly viewing it as the entry-level tier. As a result, because it has channels not included in any TVision Live plans, the media companies are crying foul.
To T-Mobile’s credit—in the same week that Hulu and DirecTV announced price hikes—the company’s solution is simply to include the 30+ Vibe channels for free in the more expensive TVision Live plans. While the company has portrayed it as a limited-time holiday event, given its Un-carrier reputation, it’s hard to imagine T-Mobile will do anything that will be a burden to customers on the other side of its holiday deal.
From the outset, CEO Mike Sievert characterized TVision as a loss-leader to help drive more customers to its cellular and home internet options. Hopefully the company’s holiday deal will become a permanent option, or replaced by some equally value-driven option.
Starting Wednesday, YouTube began running ads on some content creators’ videos without sharing the revenue those ads bring in.
Traditionally, YouTube shares ad revenue with content creators in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). In order to qualify to be in the YPP, a creator must have more than 1,000 subscribers and have accrued 4,000 viewing hours over the previous 12 months. It was relatively rare or specific circumstances that would cause creators not in the YPP to have ads play on their videos.
It appears YouTube is expanding those circumstances, however, with plans to monetize videos from creators that don’t qualify to be part of the YPP. The change was outlined in an update to the YouTube Terms of Service:
Right to Monetize You grant to YouTube the right to monetize your Content on the Service (and such monetization may include displaying ads on or within Content or charging users a fee for access). This Agreement does not entitle you to any payments. Starting November 18, 2020, any payments you may be entitled to receive from YouTube under any other agreement between you and YouTube (including for example payments under the YouTube Partner Program, Channel memberships or Super Chat) will be treated as royalties. If required by law, Google will withhold taxes from such payments.
The company clarified its new Right to Monetize clause:
We added this new section to let you know that, starting today we’ll begin slowly rolling out ads on a limited number of videos from channels not in YPP. This means as a creator that’s not in YPP, you may see ads on some of your videos. Since you’re not currently in YPP, you won’t receive a share of the revenue from these ads, though you’ll still have the opportunity to apply for YPP as you normally would once you meet the eligibility requirements. You can always check your progress toward eligibility on the monetization tab in YouTube Studio.
It’s safe to say this will probably not be a welcome change. Many content creators will likely take issue with YouTube making money off of their hard work—before they’re able to reap any benefits themselves.
Hulu is once again raising prices on its Hulu + Live TV streaming service, the latest price increase among streaming services.
As more Americans cut the cord, streaming services are the obvious choice for a replacement. Unfortunately, streaming services have increasingly started to look like the very cable TV packages they were designed to replace—bloated and expensive, with regular price hikes.
Hulu is the latest, raising the cost of its Hulu + Live TV service to $64.99 from the current $54.99. Customers wanting to eliminate ads, for the on-demand content, will have to fork over $70.99 a month, up from the current $60.99. The increase is set to go into effect on December 18.
At the end of June, YouTube TV raised its price from $50 to $64.99. Around the same time, fuboTV raised the price of its Family plan to $64.99 when it struck a deal to carry Disney’s lineup. Although the company technically still offers its $59.99 Standard plan, it is buried on the company’s website, as fuboTV is clearly promoting the Family plan instead.
Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and fuboTV are increasingly being seen as the most full-featured cable TV replacements available. All three offer competitive channel lineups, digital DVRs and other features, but Hulu has been the most competitively priced one of the three, giving it a significant advantage. With its price increase, however, Hulu is giving up that advantage.
In late October, T-Mobile unveiled its take on streaming TV, TVision. TVision live TV plans start at just $40 per month for T-Mobile customers, although it may be more for non-T-Mobile customers. One of the advertised selling points of TVision’s service is “no exploding plans.” If the company continues to offer its service for a cheaper price, and not raise that price, it may suddenly become the streaming service to beat.
McDonald’s is the latest fast-food company to offer plant-based meat alternatives with its McPlant lineup.
Plant-based meat alternatives have been growing in popularity as a healthy alternative to traditional meat. Burger King, Dunkin’, Carl’s Jr., Qdoba, Subway and White Castle are just a few of the chains offering plant-based alternatives.
McDonald’s is now joining that growing list of restaurants with its McPlant, based on Beyond Meat.
“Beyond Meat and McDonalds co-created the plant-based patty which will be available as part of their McPlant platform,” a Beyond Meat spokesperson said, according to CNN Business.
Initially, McPlant will be used for a burger, but the company may eventually expand to include plant-based breakfast and chicken alternatives. The company will be testing the burger in select markets beginning next year.
Chipotle has announced its first digital-only restaurant, potentially disrupting the restaurant industry during one of its most challenging periods.
One of the more controversial COVID mitigation measures has been curtailing restaurants and bars. Around the world, customers and establishments have protested, and in some cases defied, closure orders. In spite of the unpopularity of such moves, however, experts have continued to warn of the dangers of dining in. In fact, a new study by MIT Technology Review has labeled restaurants “covid hot spots.”
Although not necessarily the focus, Chipotle seems to have the answer to COVID challenges as it prepares to debut Digital Kitchen, its first digital-only restaurant. The new concept will not have a dining room, or a front service line. Instead, guests will place their order in advance using the Chipotle app, Chipotle.com or third-party delivery options. Orders can be picked up via the restaurant lobby.
“The Digital Kitchen incorporates innovative features that will complement our rapidly growing digital business, while delivering a convenient and frictionless experience for our guests,” said Curt Garner, Chief Technology Officer of Chipotle. “With digital sales tripling year over year last quarter, consumers are demanding more digital access than ever before so we’re constantly exploring new ways to enhance the experience for our guests.”
Chipotle’s new restaurants will likely be a big hit and help the company expand in locations where full-sized restaurants are not feasible. In addition, it should help the company weather any future COVID crackdowns.
Google has announced that it is bringing free retail listings to the main Google Search results page.
The move follows Google’s decision to primarily include free listings on the Google Shopping tab. According to Bill Ready President of Commerce, that move resulted in a significant uptick in engagement between customers and merchants. This would seem to indicate that people are having better success finding what they’re looking for.
“Sellers of all sizes are benefitting from this incremental traffic, particularly small and medium-sized businesses,” writes Ready. “And we already see that these changes will help generate billions of dollars in sales for retailers and brands in the U.S., on an annual basis.
“Now, we’re bringing free listings to the main Google Search results page in the U.S., helping shoppers choose the products and sellers that will serve them best, from the widest variety of options.”
Given the impact the pandemic has had on the retail industry, this move will certainly help small and medium-sized businesses connect with more customers online.
Ring has issued a recalled for some 350,000 2nd generation devices due to fire hazard.
According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, Ring doorbells have ignited 23 times, with eight reports of minor burns. The issue appears to be the result of the incorrect screws being used when installing the devices.
All told, there have been a total of 85 total complaints about the improper screws being sued.
“The video doorbell’s battery can overheat when the incorrect screws are used for installation, posing fire and burn hazards.”
Ring emphasized that properly installed devices pose no threat.
“The safety of our customers is our top priority,” a Ring spokesperson told CNET. “We have and continue to work cooperatively with the CPSC on this issue and have contacted customers who purchased a Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) to ensure they received the updated user manual and follow the device installation instructions.
Luxury online retailer Farfetch, where product prices start at around a thousand dollars, had a breakout IPO on Thursday, raising $885 million while setting a valuation of $6.2 billion for the company. Then on Friday the stock surged 53 percent above their initial offering price and it’s up again this morning valuing the enterprise at $7.4 billion.
Farfetch plans to use their IPO windfall to dramatically improve their technology which they see as the best way to improve the consumer experience.
Farfetch Founder and CEO José Manuel Ferreira Neves recently discussed Farfetch and the online luxury brand industry on Bloomberg:
Online Luxury is Growing 25 Percent a Year
It’s a very unique opportunity. You have this amazing global industry. It’s $300 billion, the personal luxury goods industry and only 9 percent is online. There are two opportunities here really. One is the growth of online luxury which is going to grow to 25 percent a year for the next seven years. This is a $100 billion opportunity shift in online luxury.
The big question is how is technology going to help brands and retailers really improve the consumer experience in the physical store. This is something at Farfetch that we are very passionate about.
China is an Incredible Opportunity for Online Luxury
China is a very exciting opportunity. Chinese citizens are at the onset of the luxury industry, whether they shop at home or when they’re shopping abroad. Online penetration is very low in China so this means that there is an incredible growth runway for Farfetch in the territory.
That led to our partnership with JD.com where we have our own team. We have the Farfetch China app and website, we have local customer service, local payment systems, and local marketing. It’s a truly localized service. That is what’s driving incredible growth to the Farfetch brand in that region.
José Neves, founder and CEO of @farfetch, told us about the company’s grand ambitions for China at the WWD’s Men’s Wear Summit this week. https://t.co/MrMj7y5VCG
WeChat is an amazing app with over 900 million users. It is the Instagram, plus WeChat, plus PayPal, etc. of China in one app. That is very powerful and very interesting. Now with our acquisition CuriosityChina we are powering the retail presence of 80 luxury brands. We think that is very interesting for the industry and we think that is probably something that we will see for the western world.
Brands Now Using Social and Digital Marketing Extensively
I think brands move cautiously and they choose their marketing channels very carefully. As these newer channels have developed the brands have adapted to them and their now using social media and digital media extensively to create desire, to drive discovery of new products obviously transactions as well.
It’s a gradual pace but it’s really exciting that were at that inflection point where the brands see this as a tremendous opportunity.
“I know everyone wants to focus on the Travis Scott Meal and Spicy Chicken McNuggets which definitely contributed to the fantastic September that we had,” says McDonald’s USA President Joe Erlinger. “But the setup for this great quarter actually started much earlier in the year. Our drive-throughs have been getting faster at McDonald’s. We’ve made a lot of investments in digital and drive-through and delivery as well.”
Digital, Drive-Through and Delivery Powering McDonald’s
I know everyone wants to focus on the Travis Scott Meal and Spicy Chicken McNuggets which definitely contributed to the fantastic September that we had. But the setup for this great quarter actually started much earlier in the year. Our drive-throughs have been getting faster at McDonald’s. We’ve made a lot of investments in digital and drive-through and delivery as well.
Then really we made a lot of changes to our business model as the pandemic set upon us including over 50 changes in operations. We limited our menu and we’ve made our restaurants easier to run. At the same time, we conserved some of our marketing funds. We began to unleash those marketing funds in the third quarter. That’s what set up this great result of 4.6% double-digit comps in September.
Breakfast Is BACK At McDonalds
When we entered the pandemic we had reversed what was a long-term trend of negative guest counts. It’s been lost in the results of what happened in the epidemic. But in January and February, we actually had positive comps at breakfast and positive guest counts. It goes without saying that we don’t sell the Spicy McNuggets or the Travis Scott orders at breakfast and we’ve obviously seen positive comps across all dayparts.
So we are actually very optimistic about the daypart. We’re excited about the bakery launch that’ll take place later this month. We’ve got a real built-in advantage on this because of our drive-throughs and just because of our overall convenience factor. I like the characterization that yes, breakfast is back at McDonald’s.
Mood Amongst Franchisees Is Strong
Franchisees did come into this in a position of absolute strength. In fact, 2019 was the highest cash flow year ever for our franchisees. Some of the steps that we took through the pandemic both to support them in terms of their liquidity but also to make the operations of the restaurant easier (helped significantly). We actually improved margins at the restaurant level as well.
They’re actually coming out of the worst of the pandemic in a very good position and in a very strong financial position. The mood amongst our franchisees is strong. I was in restaurants uh in Washington state a few weeks ago. Last week I was actually in Washington DC. There’s a lot of optimism confidence as we enter the fourth quarter.
Gary Vaynerchuk, CEO of Vayner Media, social media star and entrepreneurial guru followed by millions, says you can’t even find a 24-year-old on Facebook today:
I Don’t Believe TikTok Is A National Security Threat
“The Uber Eats business continues to grow at unprecedented rates,” says Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. “Revenue has almost tripled year on year. That business continues to accelerate. It looks like the Eats business is sticky. I wouldn’t count on the growth rates we are having now post-pandemic. However, I do think that you are going to have big growth rates off of a much larger base as a result of everything that has happened.”
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says that Uber Eats is growing at unprecedented rates during the pandemic and he expects the business to do well post-pandemic as well:
Uber Eats Growing At Unprecedented Rate
On the Uber Eats side, it is an entirely different story where the business continues to grow at unprecedented rates. Revenue has almost tripled year on year. That business continues to accelerate. When we look at Eats we are seeing some great trends. The monthly actives on Eats are up 70% on a year on year basis. The trips are up 110% on a year on year basis. New orders, orders per eater, or basket sizes, all of these trends are up double-digit.
We’ve taken a look at Eats’ performance in markets that are opening up such as New York City and we haven’t seen any kind of performance degradation in Eats. What that suggests to us is that there is a whole new class of consumer that’s experiencing the delight of being able to pick anything and have it delivered within 30 minutes and eat what you want how you want it. It looks like the Eats business is sticky. I wouldn’t count on the growth rates we are having now post-pandemic. However, I do think that you are going to have big growth rates off of a much larger base as a result of everything that has happened.
As Cities Open Up Uber Opens Up
It really is impossible to tell when the mobility business can come back. It depends entirely on the health situation on the ground. With markets that are opening up faster because of the health situation or the society, things are coming back. For example, we looked in New York City where the counts have been down relative to the rest of the country and in just October our volumes were 63% of pre-pandemic levels. This is materially higher than they were in the rest of the nation.
You have week-day use cases of the service outside of commute that is now at pre-pandemic levels or higher. As cities open up Uber opens up as well. We actually think that we can be a beneficiary of certain trends that we’re seeing.
We have invested in safety such as digital mask verification. We also have the No Mask No Rides advertising campaigns. People are feeling safer using Uber. Our reliability and predictability are absolutely unrivaled. While we look at share and we always want to make sure that we are competitive really what we focus on is the reliability of the service and safety of our drivers and hopefully coming back as the health situation improves.
Vaccine Could Radically Improve Bookings
There is a pretty consistent improvement in the mobility business as you go month to month to month. This is one of the benefits of having a truly global business. Within that steady improvement, there are all sorts of ups and downs. Hong Kong has had some openings and closings. Obviously, Europe is now going through another shutdown. US case counts are moving up. The individual curves are not smooth. But when you look at our global portfolio it smooths out.
We are seeing a month to month improvement. For example, if you look at our last quarter overall gross bookings were down 50%. In September, the last month of the quarter, they were down only 44%. You just see this kind of consistent improvement. We think that the consistent improvement will continue into next year. We think a vaccine could radically improve the slope of that improvement.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi Says ‘Eats’ Growing At Unprecedented Rate
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing to block Visa’s acquisition of Plaid, citing concerns over Visa’s monopoly in the online payments market.
Plaid is a service that allows users to securely connect their bank accounts with the finance apps they use. This allows them to send and receive money, as well as interact with their accounts.
Given Visa’s stranglehold on the debit and online payments market, Plaid could be seen as competition and threat to Visa’s business. In fact, according to the DOJ, Visa’s CEO saw the acquisition of Plaid as an “insurance policy” and a way to protect against a “threat to our important US debit business.”
That threat has come into clear focus as Plaid has been planning a service that would more directly compete with Visa. Although the new service has yet to be released, it is believed to be an online debit service, one that would directly challenge Visa’s dominance.
Visa’s attempt to buy a potential competitor, to the tune of $5.3 billion, is not going over well with the DOJ.
“American consumers and business owners increasingly buy and sell goods and services online, and Visa – a monopolist in online debit services – has extracted billions of dollars from those transactions,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “Now, Visa is attempting to acquire Plaid, a nascent competitor developing a disruptive, lower-cost option for online debit payments. If allowed to proceed, the acquisition would deprive American merchants and consumers of this innovative alternative to Visa and increase entry barriers for future innovators.”
Brave web browser is making inroads in the market, announcing it now has 20 million monthly active users and 7 million daily active users.
Brave is distinguishing itself as a browser that focuses on privacy and security. By default, the browser is considered to be more secure than Firefox. At the same time, thanks to its Chromium engine—the same engine that powers Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge— Brave generally offers top-tier performance, often beating rivals.
When it comes to monetization, Brave uses a somewhat unique method. The browser aggressively blocks ads, but gives users the option of seeing ads from Brave’s own network that, again, emphasizes privacy. This model seems to be a hit for all parties, as Brave boasts a click-through rate of 9%, well above the industry average of 2%.
In addition, Brave allows individuals to become verified content creators. Other users can then use Brave’s own cryptocurrency, Basic Attention Tokens, to tip their favorite content creators.
Brave’s features and performance seem to be gaining traction. The browser’s current 20 million monthly active users is up from 8.7 million a year ago. Similarly, the 7 million daily active users is up from 3 million a year ago. Since Apple began allowing users to set their default iOS browser in iOS 14, Brave’s daily active iOS users has grown 34%.
At a time when Mozilla is still struggling to break free from its dependance on Google subsidies, and other major browsers are bundled with operating systems, it’s good to see an independent browser succeeding with an innovative approach to monetization and sustainability.
“What we’re expecting is that other states might have otherwise been teed up to try to replicate AB5,” says Lyft’s Chief Policy Officer Anthony Foxx. “What we want to do is engage in discussions with leaders of states who maybe had considered that and to try to talk about a different model, a different way to pursue what we all want. We want to make sure that the drivers are well taken care of, not only when they’re driving but before and after. Also, we want to make sure there’s clarity and certainty in this industry so that it’s not living under a cloud.”
California Assembly Bill 5 (AB5), was overturned by the people in regards to ridesharing with the passage of Proposition 22 Tuesday. AB5 was passed by the Democrat-controlled state legislature and signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2019 as a favor to both the taxi industry and unions who heavily finance Democrat campaigns. AB5 required companies that hire independent contractors to reclassify them as employees. The bill would have made it financially impossible according to Uber and Lyft for them to operate in California. Unfortunately, Proposition 22 did not change AB5’s ban on independent contractors in other industries.
Lyft’s Chief Policy Officer Anthony Foxx Hopes To Finally End ‘Living Under a Cloud’
“This was massive in terms of almost an existential business risk to these models in terms of the gig economy,” says Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities. “It could have been a $500 million incremental expense to Uber a $150 million for Lyft. In my opinion, they’re really popping the champagne today because this was really a best-case outcome. It was a dark cloud over the gig economy in these stocks and I think worth potentially 15 to 20 percent to ultimately where I see the valuations.”
“What was really the crux of the issue is the worry of the street that this was going to be a pandora’s box situation, a ripple effect across cities and states,” added Ives. “The fact that the voters in California approved this was really a seminal moment. From the beginning, really the last year and a half, it’s been a head-scratcher in terms of what this could have done not just to the gig economy. Of the hundreds of drivers that we’ve talked to, 95 percent of them were against the AB5. This is definitely a sigh of relief early this morning for investors as well as for the drivers themselves.”
Dan Ives: This was an existential business risk to these models in terms of the gig economy.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released a report demonstrating how much COVID-19 has impacted advertising.
As the coronavirus pandemic began impacting businesses, advertising was one of the areas hardest hit. The IAB conducted a survey of 242 companies to see how the pandemic has changed advertising, and how it will continue to do so going into 2021.
In a bit of good news for the industry, the IAB projects that digital advertising will see an overall increase of 6% in 2020, compared to 2019. That’s where the good news ends, however, as overall advertising across all mediums is expected to drop by 8%. Traditional media advertising is to blame for the drop, experiencing as much as a 30% decline.
Looking ahead to 2021, as much as 70% of businesses have ballpark estimates of their budget at best, are not clear or have no idea how much they plan to spend. Those buyers that do have some idea of their 2021 budget, plan to spend 5.3% more than in 2020.
While the pandemic continues to take an obvious toll, one thing is clear: digital advertising is coming into its own as a result.
Stitch Fix founder and CEO Katrina Lake says that “we are still early in the journey but have learned a lot in the last couple of years on the marketing front.” Stitch Fix, an online subscription and personal shopping service, was established in 2011 in San Francisco and went public in 2017.
Katrina Lake, founder, and CEO of Stitch Fix discussed their current marketing strategy on “Squawk Alley” earlier today:
Stitch Fix Enters the UK Market
I’m excited about heading into the UK. What we see in Stitch Fix Mens has given us a lot of confidence as we think about a new client base and a new set of inventory. We are now coming up on the two year anniversary of Stitch Fix Mens and now that we are in a place where that business is more mature and contributing to the business you can actually see it in our gross margin. We had the highest gross margin this quarter than we had in the last six quarters.
Then to add kids and now to add the UK we are really excited about planting those seeds. I think that the UK it is so important in the business of personalization which ours is. We understand each client and understand what each client is looking for.
There’s a lot of investment in localization, of localizing stylists, of bringing on merchants who understand the market and are buying from brands that our clients in the UK will expect. All of that localization definitely requires more work but we think really sets us up for greater success.
Revenue Per Client is Up
We are really excited about seeing revenue per client higher this quarter. What that means is we have high-quality clients that are spending more with us. Right now is a great time to see that because Men’s is getting to a place where we see greater maturity in that business. Kids, our newest business, has not blended into those client numbers yet.
Internally, figuring out how we can capture more wallet share and how we can make sure we are getting clients more what they love and capturing more of that revenue per client is a really big effort for us.
We Are Still Early in Our Marketing Journey
We are still early in the journey and we have learned a lot in the last couple of years on the marketing front. We’ve brought channels in-house. We have a lot of efforts around diversifying our channels. In the last quarter, we had national TV off for 10 of the 13 weeks which really helped us understand regional impacts, how much TV is adding directly and much it is helping our other channels.
We already knew that TV was an important part of the mix, but it really validated those learnings. It definitely helped us to plan in an accurate way going forward. That being said, even on the TV front, there is still a lot of opportunities as we think about diversification and different tactics.
Planning Brand Marketing Push Soon
What we haven’t done any of to date is brand marketing. We have a CMO who has been in the role for three or four months and as we are able to hone that marketing muscle and learn more about what’s working and what’s not working brand marketing is actually going to be another tactic that will be really helpful. This will not just be for activating and generating awareness but also driving more reengagement and driving retention.
We are part way on the journey on the marketing front but we are still really early. There’s still a lot of the addressable market out there, our awareness is still really really low. We are really excited how much more opportunity there is on the marketing front.
