Camila Kataguiri's Profile

In a world that families are getting smaller and smaller, and women are now part of the business world, Instacar’s business model is really appealing. Spending hours per month doing groceries is definitely not a possibility to many people anymore. However, people are still price sensitive and buying online can be considerably more expensive. With Instacart, we can compare prices in different stores (which is impossible to physically do on a regular basis), maximizing the value for the consumers. In addition, Instacart’s “asset-light” operating model is also very efficient, since the company does not need a lot of working capital and capex to fuel its future growth. Congratulation on the post!

I had my first experience in this giant warehouse store a few months ago and I loved it! Mainly in the cities that I’ve visited in the US, Costco tends to be located at least a 30-min drive from the city center, therefore, customers are focused on price and volume, since no one is going to drive for miles just to buy one unit or two. Costco’s business and operating models understand the customers needs, providing them access to high quality product at affordable prices and in large quantities, reducing the need to do groceries on a weekly basis. Costco also targets the right consumer, focusing on families, since its business model might not be very attractive to young couples or people who live alone, given the fact that products are sold in bulk. In a industry that margins tend to be tight, Costco’s focus on reducing the number of SKUs and on high volume allows the company to increase its purchasing power with distributors and manufacturing companies.

I believe UberPool has a very great concept, not only reducing the price for consumer, but also helping to improve traffic and pollution. I do agree with Scott’s comment that the execution is not on point yet, but I do believe that UberPool is still on a ramp-up phase, since the more customers, the better experience overall, since you maximize the chance to be paired with someone going to the same place (or very close by). Mainly in a city like Boston, where there are a lot of students who don’t have a car and also don’t work, UberPool is a cheap alternative for public transportation. I’ve personally used UberPool a couple times, however, in most of my rides, I haven’t been paired with other people. Therefore, UberPool’s operating model really depends on how successful it can quickly attracts more people, since the “ramp-up” is not linear.