WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: this 100+ page document provides amazing world state of eCommerce investments.

WHY IT MATTERS: every country, state, region is faced with similar problem: keeping local stores alive during covid shutdown - and then later on in the face of eCommerce popularity. This article provides a non exhaustive list of French startups that focus on helping local retailers.

WHY IT MATTERS: we all say companies must innovate but often they struggle because of internal operational constraints - after all they have a business to run and cannot disrupt their operations to try things out. That is why such an experiment by CDiscount is so important: they have created both a *place* where startups can do their things and a *process* for them not worry if they break something. Can't wait to see the results of that - but I guess it can only be positive, how can it not be?

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Grocery is the last frontier for digital disruption, everyone knows (huge market but late adopter of digital, especially eCommerce see http://sco.lt/8ai7W5 http://sco.lt/6q1Ijx http://sco.lt/8Y94vh ).

But no one knows when exactly they'll get disrupted. Many are betting on eCommerce but from the looks of this report, we may see a lot of changes in our weekly trip to the supermarket, from shelf monitoring to augmented reality.

Then again, grocers are pre-historic in their use of technology because of low margins and a very repetitive shopping experience. We mostly always buy the same products and are looking at our store "experience" to be fast with low prices, not so much fun and experiential (see Amazon GO http://sco.lt/8MTY8X where there is no cash register to slow you down still needs to be cheap http://sco.lt/80HuqX).

So my bets are on the startups that enable faster grocery shopping at a low cost- all others I expect will have a hard time (sorry AR and VR startups...)!

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Interesting to see where eCommerce is strong- unsurprising that USA is king, clearly China is not far behind (or ahead?). And Canada is not even on the map.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Amazon is a beacon in the digital transformation space - part of the famous GAFA acronym - Google Apple Facebook Amazon. This teardown from CBinsights shows that Amazon is way more than the eCommerce retailer we have come to love and rely on so much. The report reviews where Amazon invests and provides unique view into where it may be going. Retailers beware!

A discussion on the impact that technology innovation has had on the election of Trump and more disruption to come from Amazon. 

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

The author presents compelling arguments about reasons why technology innovation has had such an impact and forces us to rethink most business models. Moreover the analysis of Trump's election as evidence that the power has shifted from editors and political parties to voters and end users is just brilliant and I will certainly use it in the future!