Hope your summer is off to a great start! In spite of all the craziness in the world, I hope you have a chance to make the most out of this time with your loved ones.
Though sometimes it feels like we all have cabin fever, I spoke to a friend who has a child and gave me this advice as our son is now a 1 and half year old toddler.
You should really cherish this time together because it will go by so fast.
I agree 100%.
I feel the same applies to this unique time we are in right now with the pandemic and the lockdowns around the world as well as the protests.
On one hand it can be scary on the other hand, worrying about that won’t really do us any good.
Instead, as Steven Covey, author of the 7 Habits of Successful People said, you should focus on the things that you can control.
One thing is for certain – many people are shifting their spending and shopping habits ONLINE.
Ecommerce continues to boom and I predict that this Q4 holiday shopping season is going to shatter all records.
If we read the tea leaves, supply chain movement is one of the leading indicators of this shift.
According to the Wall Street Journal, not only are e-commerce sales up, demand for US warehousing space has also risen as well as retailers, consumer goods, and food suppliers are shifting their supply chains to prepare for the surge in e-commerce.
“Industrial real-estate activity, such as lease renewals and new leases, jumped 43% from April 15 to May 14 from the previous 30-day period, recovering more quickly than expected from the economic shocks of the pandemic” according to CBRE as mentioned in WSJ.
Here are my top articles and podcasts for this week:
1. “The pandemic has shown that Amazon is essential—but vulnerable” – The Economist
This article discusses both the strength and the weaknesses of Amazon as it is enjoying increased sales during the pandemic.
Will Amazon continue to be able to ride the Coronavirus surge to success as shoppers use Amazon as a lifeline? Or will the “surge subside” as stores gradually reopen?
Moreover, there is a new demographic going online as the “silver market” or elderly above the age of 60 are overcoming their resistance to online shopping.
Other problems include fair terms for 3rd party sellers vs its own products, bloating, and increased competition. This will be an interesting Q4 to say the least!
2. Shopify has overtaken eBay as the #2 player in eCommerce in the US. Can its new “Shop.app” challenge Amazon?
In my interview with 7 Figure Seller, Andy Humphrey, who runs one of his biggest businesses on a shopify store, he shared that he is extremely bullish on Shopify not only because it allows sellers to create a BRAND and tell a story, but also because of it’s new Shop.app that is creating a marketplace for small business owners.
Will this eventually challenge Amazon someday? We will see. But in any case – this is an opportunity that Amazon sellers who want to diversify their sales.
Checkout this great article from The Guardian: “Shopify – the good shop to Amazon’s bad shop | Technology”
3. Podcast: Business Wars – Amazon vs Walmart – The Big Bang Theory of ecommerce
Finally I’d like to share this podcast series by Business Wars about Amazon vs Walmart – 2 of the major retail behemoths. The tell the story from the very beginning of Amazon from Jeff Bezos’ skinny and balding days how he built a store from scratch to challenge the biggest retailer in the world at that time. It truly was a David vs Goliath story. And now David has become Goliath! Haha
Checkout the first episode here: https://art19.com/shows/business-wars/episodes/8f8301da-2aeb-40dd-b293-ec3191403aa9/ . Enjoy!
Gary
PS: Who do you predict will win the ecommerce wars? Cast your vote now in this quick 3 min survey here: https://forms.gle/a1eQsyXz1oQGXqzx7
