Gloria's Profile

Thanks for a great post! I always felt that it was so very smart and strategic of Souche to pivot from simply a used car platform to a Saas provider to dealers. As Chinese consumers have access to many domestic car manufacturers who focus on producing low cost and basic model (lower quality as well) cars, consumers may opt to buy one of these low-priced new cars rather than a similarly priced used car. Also these cars with lower quality also have a faster depreciation rate, which does not allow them to supply back the used car market. Hence, I think it’s very smart of Souche to work with dealers who serve both new and used car market, rather than solely focusing on used car space. As souche recently acquired another player in the industry (Che Yi Pai), I’m interested in following up on how they intend to do about it and their future growth strategy.

Thanks for a great post! As someone who’s currently going through the process of furnishing a new home, I had the opportunity to browse through many furniture companies. I have to say I can see the fruitful results transmitting through its multiple waves of digital transformation, and I look forward to its future growth in digitalization. I’m most curious that as Wayfair drives so many rounds of transformations, how has the leadership been able to successfully bring the employees along, and what organizational processes were implemented to set themselves for success?

Thanks for a great post! As someone who’s joining consulting full-time and had prior big data work experience, it was very informative for me to understand better on consulting firm’s take on digitalization. I’ve heard a lot about BCG’s digital initiative – it’s great to learn more about it.

Thanks for a great post. As a user of Didi, I can definitely see how Didi is leveraging its power in big data to improve its services. However, I think it’s still a long way from autonomous driving. Also, with Meituan’s recent acquisition of Mobike, Meituan is posing a bigger threat with its combined forces of ride-hailing and bike-sharing businesses, solving both cross city and last mile problems.

Thanks for a great post. I think as more and more parts of our lives are getting wired and connected, I personally think smart cities are definitely where the technology innovations would take us. At the moment, consumer devices have been pioneering the movement, such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home. It would be very interesting if more governments are proactively driving the development which I believe would largely speed up the innovation process.

Thanks for a great post! I completely agree that the smart application of big data has been Netflix’s winning strategy. However, as more players are aware of and equipped with data analytics capabilities, I think the accuracy of the data insights would become the differentiating factor. I would be curious to see how Netflix is going to sustain its advantage over time.

Thanks for the post! When we start talking about crowdsourcing, I thought of wikipedia immediately. With how prevalent it has been accessed and cited, I wonder if it should consider shifting to a more sustainable business model. Leveraging its traction to generate revenue through advertising or post/edit rights.

Thanks for the post! I find Glassdoor’s operating model flawed. The fact that users can obtain free access by providing some information, incentivizes them to provide any (possibly fabricated) data for free access. There’s little Glassdoor can do to ensure data integrity. The value prop of Glassdoor depends on these data, and the lower of the data quality the less attractive its business is. Hence, their current model would lead them into a vicious cycle.

Thanks for the post! Though RealityMogul provides a new stream of investment opportunities for consumers, I can’t help wonder the legitimacy of its projects. Why did these projects decide to crowdsource funding? Does that imply that they might be unable to secure funding through the traditional channels? In this case, are these projects with high-risk profiles taking advantage of the less sophisticated consumer investors? On the other hand, the large number of consumer investors could help diversify the high risks – this might be the exact answer to such risky projects. It would be very interesting to see how things play out in the company.

Interesting post! The bike-sharing frenzy in China has attracted more competitors into the market and brings fierce competition due to the low entry barrier. The increasingly intense competition has posed great challenges for bike sharing companies who are already making little profits. To fight for bigger market share and more active users, companies like Mobike had to provide aggressive discounts and favors for riders, leading to price wars. I think a natural industry consolidation would occur over time. It would be interesting to see how the bike sharing industry in China eventually winds down, and which player would be the last one standing.

Thanks for the post! Whenever we talk about Netflix’s success, I’m always reminded of the power of data. It only helps provide better recommendations to its customers creating a better customer experience, but more importantly, Netflix was able to create original content tailored to customer’s needs. I was surprised to read in an article that Netflix’s efforts in original content have been earning near 100 Emmy nominations in recent years. I’m interested to see how the market changes as more networks provide their own streaming services, as well as more tech companies start to create original content. (For example, Facebook recently launched the Facebook Watch.)

As a current Zola user, I resonate a lot with what you said in the post. It’s very interesting to read “a 40% commission on products sold directly as well as affiliate revenue from other websites”. I would be very curious to learn how they were able to negotiate on such favorable terms. As with the price to customers kept the same, how would product suppliers be willing to share such high-profit margin with Zola? (Amazon’s commission rate is 15%.)

As Wechat itself is essentially a social media app that could be used by users free of charge, it could only monetize through serving as a channel for business vendors to provide services to its large base of users, and through its Wechat Wealth feature that provides users investment products. However, both of these two revenue streams are encountering competition from Ant Financial, who one might argue even had the first mover advantage over Wechat. With the dual monopoly between WeChat and Ant Financial in China’s domestic market, their only organic opportunity for growth lies in the global markets. However, as you are pessimistic at the outcome of WeChat’s global expansion, then where do you think would be Wechat’s path for growth?