Elon and Twitter - it’s complicated (& other stories)
Elon Musk and Twitter have such a close, yet tumultuous relationship, that we really should expect to see them on the cover of People magazine. (Shall we start calling them Muskitter or Twusk like we did with Bennifer and Brangelina?). In this week’s news recap, we put this relationship in context. We also talk about the Polish (e-)commerce market and why Russian attempts to legally counterfeit global brands are doomed to fail.?
eBay is back in Poland!?
eBay entered the Polish market for the first time back in 2005 and failed spectacularly. It became the first marketplace platform on the Polish market who fell victim to Murphy’s Law and everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong indeed.?
The company underestimated the position of the market leader, Allegro, and quite frankly, had nothing to offer, except for maybe a short-lived bait that was a charge exemption for merchants. The platform had to admit defeat in 2011 when it withdrew from Poland.?
This year, the empire strikes back, but this time eBay decided to follow a learning-by-doing strategy to develop its presence in Poland step by step, without making a grand entrance. First months after the launch will be spent learning more about Polish customers and their expectations. Logically speaking this homework should have been done before launching the service. Given the advanced, versatile, and saturated ecosystem of Polish marketplaces, it’s likely going to be a steep learning curve for eBay.
The company’s USP is connecting Polish buyers and merchants with much larger markets, but it may not be enough to lure the users, as their payment and shipping options are going to be meager to put it nicely.?
(Btw: It’s a fake listing, but we wish it wasn’t)
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Elon Musk becomes Twitter’s largest stakeholder
It’s no secret that Twitter has a special place in Elon Musk’s heart. It’s where he met his (ex / current / it’s complicated) girlfriend Grimes, it’s where he has a following of almost 80 million, and it’s where he likes to shock the public by posting weird, absurd, or straight up tasteless tweets.
But, despite Musk’s track record of entrepreneurial ADHD and unfinished projects, the public falls for it hook, line, and sinker. With the power of his tweet, he can make assets sink or sore and Fortune magazine has even made a list of how Musk’s tweets influenced business.?
Musk’s relationship with Twitter has basically been just like the names of his children - complicated. He clearly doesn’t like the limitations that come with using the platform, and he keeps moaning about the lack of free speech. It was likely this frustration that led him to tweet about launching his own social media platform (the general public held their breath), to then just ditch that idea and buy 9.2% of Twitter’s stock and become its largest investor. If you can’t beat them, just buy them out.?
Musk’s dislike for authority and control is probably the underlying cause of the problems he keeps having with the SEC - the US Securities and Exchange Commission (although Musk claims that the two first letters stand for “Suck” and “Elon’s”). Needless to say, the SEC is investigating the purchase of Twitter’s stock as well? - as Musk failed to submit all the paperwork needed for such a transaction.?
And what about the “edit” button? Shortly before his investment in Twitter hit the headlines, Elon Musk tweeted a poll asking his followers what they think of this feature. Twitter claims the work on the edit button started back in 2021, but it seems like too much of a coincidence, doesn’t it?
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Counting every grosz - the newest Kantar’s report on Polish brands and consumers
The recent Kantar’s report clearly reflects a decline in consumer sentiment in Poland. The inflation is maybe not yet galloping, but it’s trotting fast, and Poles are counting every penny. The report shows the purchasing habits of seven segments of smart shoppers.
Brands we shop is a biennial research on purchasing trends and habits in Poland, conducted by Blix (a promotional newsletters aggregator) together with? Kantar (one of the leading insights and consulting companies)
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Brand counterfeits in Russia won’t fly - and here is why
In early March of this year, Russia revoked the patent protection for companies registered in the so-called hostile countries, and Russian state funds have been allocated to replace global brands with their Russian equivalents.
It seems like an easy move to make, but it reveals a complete misunderstanding of how a brand works. A brand is not just a product with a logo but a guarantee of a quality standard.
In his article, Jakub Müller explains how such a move is going to backfire on the producers and customers alike, devaluing the quality of products and undermining consumers’ trust.?
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[The image of Elon Musk is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Photo by ElonMuskCore.]