E-commerce

Alibaba’s comeback has redeeming features

21 Feb 2025

The Chinese giant's market value is up 60% to $320 bln this year. The e-commerce unit is recovering, strengthening funding for its promising cloud and AI ventures. It vindicates boss Eddie Wu's decision to shelve a breakup. But fierce competition will keep margins under pressure.

Shein’s IPO haste implies an ill-fitting outcome

12 Feb 2025

The fast fashion retailer seems set on a $50 bln listing by mid-year. With the US applying new tariffs and trade tensions heating up, the normal banker advice would be to wait. If Shein’s motivation is to gain recognition, a cut-price valuation is the wrong way to get it.

Amazon superstore becomes harder to justify

6 Feb 2025

The $2.5 trln e-commerce company competes with Microsoft in the cloud, Walmart in retail and Meta and Alphabet for ads. With AI, it’s even harder to be great at everything against such strong rivals. An eroding premium suggests that keeping it all under one roof makes less sense.

Bad things come in small US package taxes

5 Feb 2025

Bluntly ending a duty-free exemption on Chinese goods costing less than $800 will affect more than Shein and Temu shoppers. A $50 parcel could double in price, by one estimate, hurting small merchants, too. Retaliation and more supply-chain upheaval are also apt to hike the bill.

Amcor’s cheap packaging deal hides a fragile item

20 Nov 2024

The Switzerland-based company is paying $8.4 bln for US rival Berry. It’s a low price when compared with the cost savings on offer, but the target brings with it debt and a business that is struggling to grow. Rapid consolidation among peers also raises the pressure to merge.

Shein margin wobble takes bite out of IPO value

14 Nov 2024

The e-commerce giant’s revenue growth slumped in the first half of 2024, and the net margin fell to 2% per The Information. Even if the business recovers, it creates uncertainty that’s compounded by a protectionist US government. Investors may struggle to see the upside.

Prosus catches a moment of relief in India

13 Nov 2024

The Mumbai listing of Swiggy, one half of a food delivery duopoly, crystallizes gains in a priority market for the $100 bln Dutch tech investor. The stock market debut of the startup is decent but Prosus' other bets in fintech and e-commerce in the country look harder to monetise.

Hey team: Weaker hiring means back to the office

8 Oct 2024

About 100 mln people in North America and Europe now work remotely at least some days. More CEOs, like Amazon’s Andy Jassy, want to end the practice altogether. The tension is upsetting staff and spurring defections, but a rise in joblessness would shift power back to employers.

India’s Swiggy tries enticing IPO bargain hunters

30 Sep 2024

The money-losing food delivery group is eyeing a valuation of up to $15 bln, or 10 times forecast sales, in its debut. That’s a sensible discount to profitable and faster-growing rival Zomato. The bet is that customer loyalty and improving earnings will help Swiggy catch up.

Amazon’s office mandate reflects deeper banality

20 Sep 2024

Boss Andy Jassy is ending remote work to inspire more inventiveness. Even before the pandemic, the tech goliath was rethinking staff locations and seating design. Reverting to assigned desks every day in a new era of employment says a lot about how stagnant its ideas have become.

Walmart’s JD sale displays derisking smarts

21 Aug 2024

The US retail giant has offloaded the stake held in its Chinese partner since 2016 for $3.6 bln. With 400 stores of its own in the People’s Republic, Walmart isn’t leaving. But the move reduces its exposure to a shifting economy and may put a cap on JD’s stock price turnaround.

Alibaba and JD reveal two ways to cope in downturn

16 Aug 2024

China's $190 bln e-commerce group relies on ad sales and is betting on new tech for a turnaround. Its rival sells to shoppers and is focusing on supply chains to boost earnings. The diverging fortunes rest on who spends more: cash-strapped firms or cost-conscious consumers.

India convincingly overcomes its IPO demons

14 Aug 2024

Cautious pricing is paying off. E-bike maker Ola surged on its debut and e-commerce platform Brainbees jumped 46%. The success by the unprofitable SoftBank-backed firms clears the way for big deals that will help the country retain Asia's IPO crown as other venues falter.

Amazon dresses up its drab fashion with Saks stake

10 Jul 2024

The online retailer wants to boost its luxury appeal by backing the upscale chain’s $2.7 bln deal for Neiman Marcus. It should give boss Andy Jassy insight into richer shoppers as he mulls a rival to bargain sites Shein and Temu. Pursuing both ends of the market is a smart look.

Shein would lose all its shine in a Hong Kong IPO

2 Jul 2024

The $63 bln online retailer may debut in the Asian hub if its plan to list in London fails, per the FT. Not only would that confirm its failure to thread the needle between its Western markets and its Chinese roots. It would result in a slashed valuation and orphan-stock status.

Shein’s tax perk is as American as apple pie

20 Jun 2024

The fast-fashion retailer and its rival Temu skirt import levies courtesy of a loophole critics want to close. That’s easier said than done. In any case, the Chinese-founded firms aren’t the only ones to build empires with the aid of quirks in the US tax system.

Royal Mail deal defies nationalist anti-M&A trend

29 May 2024

Czech tycoon Daniel Kretinsky agreed a $4.6 bln buyout of the UK postal service’s parent group. Britain’s likely next government seems OK with it despite the chance of jobs cuts and a breakup. As countries pull up the drawbridge on sensitive takeovers, there are still exceptions.

JD sends out bullish signal on China stocks

22 May 2024

The tech company's $1.8 bln convertible debt deal is the largest out of the People's Republic since 2021. The notes, which swap into equity at a 35% premium to the current share price, suggest optimism is returning to Chinese markets. Whether big IPOs will follow is less clear.

China stock rally leaves Alibaba out in the cold

13 May 2024

The e-commerce giant’s shares are up less than 5% this year despite Tencent’s surging by a quarter. Boss Eddie Wu is promising stock buybacks and dividends. But investors are sceptical on Alibaba's growth prospects and whether it can unlock value after a botched restructuring.

Amazon is the everything-plus-AI store

30 Apr 2024

The $1.8 trln company is still dominating e-commerce and cloud computing, as first-quarter earnings show. But its valuation trails Microsoft’s, which has plunged into AI. Boss Andy Jassy will play catchup in the coming year. But Amazon may not be as behind as investors think.