Euromonitor International suggests, what to earn. Luckin Coffee wants to fool innocent American investors again. Google admits, what he can't do in streaming.
Disclaimer: when we talk about, that something has grown, we mean a comparison with the same quarter a year earlier. Since all issuers are from the USA, then all results in dollars. When creating the material, sources were used, inaccessible to users from the Russian Federation. We hope, Do you know, what to do.
Where is the monitor: analysis of the new forecast Euromonitor International
Research company Euromonitor International shared a study on the main consumer trends in 2022, compiled on the basis of a survey of consumers and business leaders. Let's analyze the most interesting moments.
Lack of necessary goods. And consumers are looking for ways to pre-empt problems., deficit-related. For example, some dishes have disappeared from the menu of restaurants in the USA, because there are no ingredients. One way to deal with this kind of difficulty is to plan joint purchases with other consumers., but many people like the subscription option.
This is a very interesting moment.. Probably, work model Amazon - with a paid subscription to improved delivery conditions - will become more widespread in the retail world. This will provide retail chains with an additional and more or less predictable source of revenue..
Consumers are trying to be environmentally friendly. According to company data, 67% of the consumers they surveyed tried to make a positive impact on the environment in 2021: reduce the use of plastic and food waste, and promote waste recycling. noted, that very few have yet switched to a diet with products, the creation of which is characterized by a low level of carbon dioxide emissions.
Also, very few are improving home energy efficiency and “travel sustainability.”. Interesting, what 43% enterprises indicated, that customers are unwilling to pay higher prices for cleaner products.
Two conclusions can be drawn from this information.:
- Businesses with a real or at least skillfully faked high level of sustainability can at least hope for a stock growth bonus..
- Among consumers or those, who interrogates and analyzes them, there is a request for a "North Korean" consumption model - with constant savings. So probably, what companies have, who work out the agenda of "thrifty" and "responsible" consumption, there will be some bonus on the exchange.
Increasing the share of pensioners among consumers. Expected, that many retirees will be technologically savvy: 45% consumers older 60 use online banking applications at least once a week for years, and 82% use smartphones.
Think, that this is a good opportunity primarily for medical device manufacturers and related service providers, who will be able to actively promote their brands online to their target audience.
Hope for a brighter future. 51% respondents believe, that during the next 5 years, their financial situation will improve. Not a fact, that their hopes will come true: with an endless coronacrisis, stability is not worth waiting for. But, may be, on the horizon of two years, one can hope for an increase in consumption in the Western world - and for an increase in income from enterprises in the sphere of consumer goods and services.
New Interests. Consumers now stand out with an increased interest in video games, personal leisure and pets. This is an absolute positive for the respective industries..
All in all, the report is interesting and leads to conclusions, which can be relied upon when making investment decisions.
Happy coffee again: Luckin Coffee plans to go public in the US (again)
Remember the history of Luckin Coffee (LC), Chinese competitor Starbucks? LC falsified reporting results, telling investors about fictional successes, and when the deception was revealed, stocks went to hell. Then the companies arranged a delisting from the exchange, and she herself held bankruptcy proceedings in the United States.
So here, LC wants to re-list in the US as its business continues to grow in China, now she already has 5671 points. In America, LC shares are still traded on the OTC market, and its capitalization there is approximately 2.5 billion dollars. To settle disputes with regulators in the US, the company paid a fine of 180 million, hired new auditors and, in general,, rather alive, than dead.
What is characteristic, she started talking about entering the American market during the period, when Chinese companies in the US are delisted or they leave themselves under pressure from both US authorities, who want to cut off access to capital for issuers from the “country of a potential enemy”, and the leadership of the PRC, concerned about, that Chinese companies can share Chinese secrets with Washington.
The story of the forthcoming LC listing in the US should rather worry investors, even if they did not invest in LC and never intended to. Here's why.
Firstly, discussion of LC plans, regardless of, what will come of it, demonstrates, that Chinese companies cannot expect to receive a sufficient level of capitalization for them at home in China. Otherwise, LC would have chosen an IPO on one of the Chinese exchanges or an additional issue of shares within the country, if it was published in China.
Understandably, that LC is not ideal, but the management of the company still would not dare to seriously consider a re-floating of shares in the US after such a scandal, if she didn't have good reason. And if he considers it, then he sees the prospects of the Chinese exchange as not the most inspiring. After all, the option of an attempt to raise money among, in fact, the same investors, whom LC scammed a couple of years ago. Even the most arrogant scammer will not dare to deceive the same audience a second time, who remembers his previous deceit.
Secondly, even if LC is thinking of re-locating in the US, then the American market in its current form is considered by many foreigners as a combination of the Klondike and the Country of Fools - where you can make a lot of money from scratch. This perception of the situation is, that a decent-sized bubble has inflated in the American market, which can burst and drag many investors to the bottom.
Streamed - and that's enough: YouTube stops producing its own streaming content
Parent company of Google and YouTube, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), announced that, which is ending production of YouTube Originals' own streaming content. I started thinking a long time ago, that everything will come to this, — back when the company sold the rights to the super-successful Cobra Kai to Netflix in 2020.
Alphabet plans to focus on developing the "content creator economy" - monetization of content creators such as podcasters and game streamers. Maybe, something from Alphabet's decisions in the future will remind us of similar sources of revenue from the Chinese Bilibili.
Tactically, shutting down YouTube Originals, maybe, makes sense for Alphabet: if the service did not pay off and at the same time did not generate the arrival of a monetized audience on other platforms of the company, the decision is justified.
But strategically, shutting down original content production for Originals is an acknowledgment of the challenge of going beyond your own advertising business.. This is bad news for shareholders., because the company's advertising business is increasingly being targeted by antitrust regulators.
Looking at the world of streaming as a whole, then Alphabet's departure from this field will not make life much easier for competitors from other services. Furthermore, the departure of Alphabet with its bottomless pockets indicates that, that the production of film content is becoming more and more expensive - and less and less profitable. Same Netflix, for example, record growth in content spending is no longer converting to record subscriber growth. Shutting down YouTube Originals portends bad reporting for streaming shareholders.
