21 August 2015
At SparkOptimus, we try to highlight the most important news and background stories in digital, e-commerce and retail. Here is our selection of last week’s news:
Digital developments cause disruptions worldwide, affecting the retail value chain amongst others. For instance, Jet.com’s move away from a standard model of maximizing margins, led to the dissociation of large retailers, which refuse to do business with the online discounter. Furthermore, MasterCard tries to make checking-out online easier and safer by experimenting with selfies as authentication tool. Lastly, developments in the online grocery market are accelerating, with the potential entrance of Amazon in the UK, and the Dutch introduction of an innovative grocery delivery concept called Picnic, inspired by postmen in The Netherlands. By the way, could one of Picnic’s founders Michiel Muller have been inspired by his brother, conveniently the current leader of its biggest competitor, Ahold?
This week not only the retail market is being heavily disrupted, but also the stock market as a whole. Could a correction on the stock markets cause the digital disruption to slow down, or is there no Silicon Valley crash coming – for a while?