E-commerce

SoftBank and Alibaba have Indian tangle to unpick

22 Mar 2017

A potential merger between Snapdeal and Paytm would take Masayoshi Son and Jack Ma off the warpath in India, where their flagship companies, SoftBank and Alibaba, have invested in the rival e-commerce unicorns. Such a truce would save investors money in the long run.

Jack Ma casts a shadow over JD’s fintech spinoff

7 Mar 2017

Boss Richard Liu is separating the finance business valued at $7 bln out of the e-commerce group and taking a direct stake for himself. It is less controversial than when Alibaba did the same in 2011. But there are enough similarities with this cosy deal to sound an alarm.

India becomes front in global e-commerce proxy war

5 Mar 2017

Alibaba is leading a $200 mln investment into Paytm’s marketplace, creating a new Indian unicorn. That confirms the Chinese juggernaut's decision to take on Amazon, which is investing $5 bln in India. As homegrown rivals flail, tech's big boys will duke it out. Only one will win.

Amazon outage triggers internet alarm

1 Mar 2017

Websites, apps, connected cameras and the like went dark on Tuesday after a breakdown of the online giant's cloud service. Amazon's dominance, Silicon Valley's self-confidence and users’ reluctance to pay extra for backup all add up to rising risk for the internet of things.

How much could Yahoo gain from tax cuts?

23 Jan 2017

Breakingviews calculates Altaba, the Asian investment rump, could surge in value.

Yahoo may get good Alibaba news without searching

23 Jan 2017

Even as its Verizon deal hangs in the balance, U.S. corporate tax rates could be cut. That would eliminate the main reason CEO Marissa Mayer dithered over a $37 bln stake in the Chinese e-commerce site. Breakingviews calculates a potential 20 pct uplift in Yahoo's stock value.

Amazon repackages order for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

12 Jan 2017

The man moving in wants delivery of jobs and the e-commerce titan says it can supply 100,000 of them by mid-2018. That sounds impressive, but also tracks Amazon's workforce growth of late. It's just the sort of box with a bow, however, that seems to satisfy the intended recipient.

Alibaba’s new brick-and-mortar bet looks pricey

10 Jan 2017

The Chinese e-commerce giant thinks it can save physical retail. It's offering to take Intime, a struggling operator of mainland malls and department stores, private for $2.6 bln. This is a pricey experiment trying to solve China's traditional shopping woes with tech.

Lucky unicorn cashes in on India’s money madness

21 Dec 2016

Usage of Paytm, a mobile wallet, has soared among a nationwide cash crunch. The challenge will be to keep up the momentum. India is pushing digital payments hard but a government-backed rival looms. And having Alibaba as a backer could eventually backfire.

Black Friday 2016 will be blacker for UK shops

25 Nov 2016

Retailers dislike today's orgy of spending, even though it could generate 2.9 bln pounds of sales. The effect could be exacerbated this year if consumers fear Brexit-related inflation in 2016. Amazon will be a big winner; other retailers will be left nursing lower margins.

Amazon lends Morrisons scale, at a price

16 Nov 2016

The UK supermarket is extending its tie-up with Amazon, boosting its online sales. The deal isn't without risk for the grocer: Amazon is much bigger than it, and will have discretion over pricing. That's the price Morrisons pays for being slower than rivals to move online.

JD’s $7 bln spinoff keeps investors in the dark

16 Nov 2016

The Chinese web retailer plans to sell its finance arm to a group of local investors including JD CEO Richard Liu. Offloading the loss-making subsidiary will help margins, but absent more detail on the unit's performance, shareholders can't tell if they will get a good deal.

Quest for Arabian tech unicorn could end in mirage

14 Nov 2016

Dubai's Mohamed Alabbar is hoping to create a Middle Eastern rival to Amazon. The real estate mogul and Saudi's sovereign fund are leading a $1-billion investment in a new online retailer. But the region's limited number of well-off web shoppers may limit the new venture's scale.

Alibaba digs itself deeper into a data hole

11 Nov 2016

The Chinese group wants the market to focus less on the sales handled by its websites and more on actual revenue. But it also boasts about doing $5 bln of business in the first hour of Singles' Day, the Chinese answer to Black Friday. The mixed message is confusing for investors.

Dutch food IPO has a German fly in the soup

27 Sep 2016

Meal delivery website Takeaway.com is seeking 350 million euros in an IPO. Revenue is growing rapidly, but so too are losses. Investor appetite for a sales valuation in line with profitable Just Eat rests on whether it can dominate the tough German market.

Indonesia’s e-commerce riches will be elusive

22 Sep 2016

Capital is pouring into Southeast Asia's most promising e-commerce market. Alibaba's $1 bln stake in Lazada gives it a head start. But competition is fierce. Issues like logistics and payments will make it costly to replicate the dominance the Chinese group enjoys at home.

Amazon drone lift-off is a mixed blessing for UK

27 Jul 2016

The online retailer got permission from the British government to test drone deliveries, while the U.S. is more cautious. Industrial use of drones could do wonders for Amazon’s spiralling costs. But safety issues and job automation mean there may be losers too.

Profit upgrade puts Zalando back in fashion

19 Jul 2016

The German online fashion retailer has calmed worries about competition from Amazon by raising full-year operating profit margin guidance by around a quarter and forecasting strong revenue growth. While shares are up by a fifth in a day, valuations can grow richer still.

Alibaba highlights hurdles in Russia’s pivot east

12 Jul 2016

Moscow wants closer economic ties with China, rather than dealing with an unfriendly West. But Russia's poor business climate makes life hard for Chinese companies, although they are used to draconian rules at home. Even e-commerce giant Alibaba has only made modest inroads.

British retail sleepwalks into Amazon-ageddon

8 Jul 2016

Real-world stores are burdened with poor demand, too much property and thinning profit. The U.S. tech giant, meanwhile, is hiring 1,000 UK staff and pushing into fashion and groceries. The UK's economic problems could be a decisive moment in the online land grab.