One of my favorite quotes ever is this one by the former CEO of Blockbuster.
And we’re seeing that today in pockets of the retail industry that refuse to believe that Amazon is a threat.
The latest examples come from Footlocker and Hibbett Sports. For context, here is a look at their one-year stock performance charts. Footlocker is down 52% and Hibbett is down 71%.
And yet on their earnings calls, they say things like the below.
Richard A. Johnson, CEO of Footlocker, says Amazon is not an imminent threat. Perhaps the word imminent is the tell here, but this “all is okay as they’re the low end of the market” talk has been repeated so many times by retailers whose stock charts look like the ones above.
Jeff Rosenthal, CEO of Hibbett Sports, was a bit more acknowledging of the threat of Amazon, but seems to think that Hibbett Sports is in a privileged position with its partners (the sneaker makers in this example). When the product makers are facing their own challenges, you can expect lots of hard conversations are happening between product maker and retailer. In other words, there is no privileged partner.
And even if product makers don’t want to give Amazon their products, the company is increasingly willing to develop its own private-labeled products, as discussed in our Amazon Strategy Teardown.
We look at startups targeting underserved populations with healthcare, financial, or energy services tailored to these consumers’ specific needs. Nafham, featured below, offers over 23,000 online educational videos to users across the Middle East and North Africa.
CB Insights data is the most trusted by those in the industry and the media. A few recent hits.
Bloomberg. Julie Verhage (@julieverhage) writes about a new round of financing to AI startup Databricks Inc. (led by a16z) and cites CB Insights funding data.
CNBC. Eugene Kim (@eugenekim222) writes about the slowdown in investment in the online lending space and refers to CB Insights funding data.
Nikkei Asian Review. A look at Indonesian food delivery service Go-Food — part of on-demand smartphone app Go-Jek — with a reference to CB Insights funding data.
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If you want be considered for 2018’s AI 100, apply here.
