Morning Thrust | Weekly Highlights (5th Edition: 15.01.2023)

Welcome to the 5th edition of?Morning Thrust?where I share weekly highlights on Future tech, Space Economy, Sustainability, Smart Cities, Supply Chain and logistics (Edition: 15.01.2023)

Halewood will be responsible for 70% of 福特 EVs sold in Europe by 2026. Ford expects Halewood to increase production of electric power units, more on the investment of ￡150m in UK site:

The Berlin-based Q-commerce firm Flink announced it had hit €400 million in sales in 2022 and looking to be profitable by the end of 2023 after receiving over $700 million from backers including US delivery company DoorDash . Interesting commentary by Viv Craske and link to the article:

微软 is planning to invest up to $10 billion for 49% stake?into the artificial intelligence startup OpenAI , according to sources familiar with the matter.

Egypt's appetito , a grocery delivery platform that sources products from manufacturers, has merged with Saudi Jumlaty , a food-tech supply chain platform, to form nomu . The merger will create a company present in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, and has the capacity to cover the existing infrastructure of 25 million people and 100,000 F&B stores. The merger will allow nomu to reach SAR100 million (US$25 million) in revenue and positive EBITDA within 2023, with important synergies on the tech, marketing, and procurement fronts. The company will have its headquarters in Riyadh and ambitions to cover Pakistan and key Sub-Saharan African countries in the near future.

UK's first-ever attempt of rocket launch at?Spaceport Cornwall?with?Virgin Orbit?and become first European nation to do that ended in disappointment when rocket suffered an anomaly.

亚马逊 Expands Prime Delivery Service to More Web Stores. The program allows Prime subscribers to shop on other websites and use Amazon's fast delivery service for their purchases, similar to Amazon's own website. The expansion of the program, which was initially only available by invitation, will make it more widely available to consumers in the U.S. by the end of January. This move will enable Amazon to expand its reach and increase its customer base by providing its fast delivery service to shoppers on other websites. Furthermore, it will also provide an opportunity for other retailers to benefit from Amazon's delivery network, potentially increasing their sales and customer satisfaction. This move is likely to increase the competition for the delivery market and could potentially change the way the e-commerce industry operates.

The The Wall Street Journal has reported that Subway , the world's largest sandwich chain, is up for sale, according to sources. This isn't the first time that rumors have circulated about the company being up for sale, as similar rumors emerged in 2021 after massive corporate layoffs and franchisee restructuring. At the time, development agents stated that the company was making strategic moves to sell.

According to Maergo ’s “The State of Shipping Report 2022: Why Faster Shipping Matters,” most online customers (62%) expect their orders’ delivery window to be three days or fewer. Even more telling: 56% of abandoned carts can be attributed to delivery concerns. Micro-fulfillment is a newer approach to #ecommerce logistics that utilizes smaller, more compact #fulfillment centers, often located within existing retail spaces, to store and process orders. This allows businesses to achieve fast delivery times at a lower cost, as they don't have to invest in expensive real estate for large warehouses. The smaller footprint of these centers also means that they can be located closer to urban areas, reducing the time and cost of last-mile delivery.

The last-mile delivery is the key to retail profitability as it is the final step in the customer's buying journey and a poor delivery experience can lead to customer dissatisfaction and a loss of future business. As the trend of online shopping is projected to grow, retailers must invest in the necessary technology, logistics and infrastructure to provide fast and efficient last-mile delivery to ensure customer satisfaction and retain their competitive edge as 1 of 3 retail purchases are expected to be made online by 2026. More info on the article by Geektime.com

耐克 has partnered with Netflix on a new initiative called the Nike Training Club - 46 videos with exercise content. The partnership is a strategic move by both companies to tap into the growing trend of fitness and wellness content. By creating a new initiative called the Nike Training Club, they are providing short, sharp workout sessions that are easy to access and fit into busy lifestyles. Other companies such as 亚马逊 and Sky are also exploring similar options with sports teams and increasing their own content output. This could potentially lead to a new norm of binging on fitness content on streaming platforms.

Satya Nadella?keeps thinking bigger as 微软 may initiate an acquisition of Netflix in 2023 for a reported $190 billion.

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