Investors considering the Snap IPO shouldn’t assume Snap CEO Evan Spiegel operates like Facebook’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. The two men have very different styles and opposing business strategies that makes it hazardous to draw parallels from one to the other.
In fact, I have long believed they represent two entirely different paradigms of successful leaders—and anyone studying next year’s expected Snap IPO needs to understand that.
First, some basic differences. Mark, 32, is an engineer. Evan, 26, isn’t and prides himself on his design skills. Evan is comfortable in the lap of luxury, posing for Italian Vogue and buying fancy possessions. Mark has long tried to be understated about his wealth. (read more here)
ECOMMERCE: Shopify’s technological development is largely driven by customers ramping up demand for different channels. “If we get enough customers asking for that same thing, we start exploring that for channel development.
RETAIL: Over the last two decades, consumer prices in real terms have risen more than 50 percent in the U.S., according to government data, but clothing costs less today than it did 20 years ago.
BRAND: While marketers love the less intrusive formats of native placements, 84% are now using social channels, while 60% buy directly from publishing brands and 47% rely on programmatic native.
ECOMMERCE: MSC Industrial Supply wins top honors in business-to-business eCommerce in the second annual Internet Retailer Excellence Awards handed out at IRCE.
DATA: It’s time once again to dole out FiveThirtyEight’s Data Awards, our annual (OK, we’ve done it once before) chance to honor those who did remarkably good stuff with data.
ECOMMERCE: Every blogger worth their URL will be able to tell you how many views and followers they have, and will parade those metrics when it comes time to negotiate their rate.
BRAND: There was a time between the 1990s and mid-2000s when dressing head-to-toe in designer clothing emblazoned with logos was a sign of wealth and success.
DATA: When asked this week about the lack of disclosure, Facebook responded that it doesn't tell users about the third-party data because it's widely available and was not collected by Facebook.
MEDIA: Bankers are good enough, Spiegel is good enough, Spectacles is buzzy enough, and the core product is revolutionary enough, I’m betting the IPO will be successful.
DATA: With all the talk this year of walled gardens preventing advertisers and publishers from seeing Facebook, Google, and other platform data, among everybody else it seemed like data sharing was all the rage.
The Commoditization of American Manufacturing
Between bargain labor costs and the movement towards workplace robotics, American manufacturing isn't as it was envisioned by the movement's early adopters. For great American brands like Yeti, for instance, post private equity strategy has driven many of their products to be made in China. While this shift is inevitable, the American market for their products have not flinched. The brand has only grown from a revenue of $10M at the time of investment to nearly $500M in annual revenue today. In July of 2016, the Austin brand filed for an IPO at a $5B market cap on the strength of their durable products and genius product market fit and associated strategies.
Last Word: The Shift To Casual Fashion's Effects On Merchandising
As consumers seek to purchase experiences over goods, the successful fashion and luxury companies will be the ones that are best positioned to take advantage of the shift. North Americans are spending more time outdoors: snowboarding, hiking, and in fitness. And there is also a rise in leisure vacationing. To this effect, high end accessories will have slower growth and expensive clothing will see similar stagnation. Brands will need to focus on adjusting by merchandising their products around the paid experiences that illicit memories far more valuable to consumers than high fashion or cutting edge electronics. - @web
