e-Commerce & more I 10th to 16th Aug- #61

The enemy of my enemy is my friend

The big news of the week is the partnership of Walmart with Instacart! It was a surprise showing companies doing “whatever it takes” to win the online grocery war!

Other major news includes…

Kroger launches Marketplace, Amazon Pharmacy launch in India, Casper goes offline with Sam’s Club, RentTheRunway closes all stores, Archanto B2B Ecom Software raises $16.6M 

1.Instacart partners with Walmart 

In the last week, I read many comments with different opinions on this partnership. Some people think that this is a great move as it will enable Walmart to Compete against Amazon on same day grocery, some others believe that Walmart partnership with Instacart is very dangerous for Walmart future…Not sure who is right but what I’m really surprised is that after so many years and intents, Walmart has not yet found the right recipe in order to leverage its network and build their own end to end supply chain for online orders…Also, Instacart model is not an optimized model for grocery delivery, people in the industry knows that due to the inefficient picking & delivery process…so why would you go with an option which is not fully optimized?

2. Kroger launches an online marketplace to better fight Amazon and Walmart

Better late than never!

But in this case it might be really really too late…Every month, we hear about an established brand or retailer launching a new marketplace…Now, it’s time for Kroger to join the party of marketplaces announcement! The largest U.S operator of grocery stores is launching a new marketplace of third-party sellers. The COVID19 has definitely disrupted grocery businesses at an unexpected pace and every organization is trying it’s best to compete. Will be interesting to see if the scale and experience of Kroger allow them to compete in this crowded space!

3. Amazon launches online pharmacy in India

Amazon Pharmacy is here to stay and grow, at the same time that Amazon had record breaking results on prime day in the world’s second largest internet market. The company launched Pharmacy in a move to expand their product categories. Amazon India started accepting orders for both over-the-counter and prescription-based medicines in Bangalore. Since the acquisition of Pillpack in 2018, Amazon made it clear that Pharmacy was one of its target business. Combine that with the fact that Online sales of medicine in India are not yet clearly regulated, it presents another major opportunity for Amazon.

4. Casper expands physical presence through tie-up with Sam's Club

While people predict the end of physical retails, digitally native startups are going physical retail to continue to grow. The move from Casper (one of the well-known brands in the Direct To Consumer digital space) to sell their products at Sam’s club is the right path in my opinion as you need to be present across multiple channels in order to reach the largest penetration and consumer reach.

5. The clothing rental start-up Rent the Runway is closing all of its stores for good

Few weeks ago, Microsoft announced it would close its store permanently…now, the clothing subscription company Rent the Runway announced it will do the same to focus on digital sales. More than 6,000 permanent store closures have already been announced by retailers this year and we can expect to see more, especially from the brands which have a good omnichannel strategies and will be able to focus on their online strategy for future growth.

6. StartUp Of the week: Archanto raises 16.6M in Series C

The Singapore-based B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) company specializing in eCommerce technology has just raised 16M and turned to profitability at the same time. With COVID accelerating the pace of ecommerce adoption (in B2C and ALSO B2B), software companies in the space are living through exciting times and huge momentum.

7. Upcoming Speaking Event

Join us at the DHL Transportation Forum on the 1-3rd Sep, will be sharing many insights on the region most important themes. I will be presenting an update on ecommerce & last mile in Mexico & Latin America! Registration below!

Cheers, enjoy

Nabil