One Step Up #54
This week, we look at LVMH: King of the Luxury Jungle, Amazon's power re: their logistics business, how someone can beat Amazon in e-commerce and the extent of America's food monopoly
LVMH: King of the Luxury Jungle
From 2009: Luca Solca (Bernstein’s luxury goods analyst) writes his magnum opus on the empire of Bernard Arnault.
Couple that with this thread from Trung Phan below and this long form article from The Generalist.
Amazon expands deliveries to serve unlikely clients: its rivals
Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) is a lesser-known subdivision of the company’s highly successful Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) programme. Where FBA stores, packs and delivers to Amazon customers, sometimes in as little as a day, MCF offers much the same for sales on other websites, such as Walmart, eBay, Etsy, Shopify and several others.
Sellers gain the convenience of keeping their stock within one system, while Amazon grabs a slice of its competitors’ business — leveraging the immense capabilities of its delivery network, the capacity of which has more than doubled in the past two years.
MCF has existed in some form since 2007, but Amazon is now pricing it more competitively with other logistics providers; entering into new software partnerships to promote and streamline its use; and implementing workarounds designed to circumvent the objections of competitors who would prefer Amazon did not deal with their customers. It means that on top of its approximately 40 per cent market share of US ecommerce, Amazon stands to gain an even greater understanding of the shopping habits of global consumers.
How to beat Amazon with your E-Commerce Company
The new definition of E-commerce - experiential commerce.
E-commerce platforms will be spatial and live and fun. They will also sell as many digital goods as they will physical ones. While these experiences won’t replace Amazon, they will play a huge role in shaping how we buy online.
Companies which try and replicate the experience of being in a shopping mall for e.g. will have the ability to beat Amazon.
Revealed: the true extent of America’s food monopolies, and who pays the price
…consumer choice is largely an illusion – despite supermarket shelves and fridges brimming with different brands.
The consolidation runs deep: four firms or fewer controlled at least 50% of the market for 79% of the groceries. For almost a third of shopping items, the top firms controlled at least 75% of the market share.
For instance, PepsiCo controls 88% of the dip market, as it owns five of the most popular brands including Tostitos, Lay’s and Fritos. Ninety-three per cent of the sodas we drink are owned by just three companies. The same goes for 73% of the breakfast cereals we eat – despite the shelves stacked with different boxes.
Some absolutely wild statistics here.
Till next time.
Ask, don’t wait.
Do, don’t delay.