Tweetstorm on OneMarket - Genius move or value chain disrupter? Both
Setting the scene: 'Westfield’s $300M PropTech Spinoff Wants To Give Physical Retail More Power And Data Than Amazon' - https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/retail/westfields-300m-proptech-spinoff-wants-to-give-physical-retail-more-power-and-data-than-amazon-87627
A Tweetstorm re the above
OneMarket spin-off from Westfield is fascinating. And seriously techie. But a two edged sword for ‘customers’. Extensive participation WOULD make EVERYONE better off BUT would also make everyone beholden to OneMarket, who would have great pricing power.
Think Facebook level power within the retail sector. They simply know much much more than you do and you cannot not use them. Hence almost no advertisers have left Facebook.
Big question is whether the large incumbents, @BritishLandPLC @Hammersonplc@LS_Retail are large enough to generate this intelligence on their own?
Large datasets are required for AI but the impact flattens beyond a certain point. Are the incumbents big enough?
Not controlling your own data is the fastest way to fall down the value chain. Incumbent retail landlords IMHO HAVE to go all in on data to stay relevant.
Some go on about being ‘data led’ and then you find out they’ve done a bit of demographic analysis and have footfall stats... you need much more than this.
Who controls your network/ecosystem data will determine who makes the most money. OneMarket could be huge. Just like Rightmove makes the best returns without even being an estate agent.
Might also be why Amazon buy Hammerson, just as Alibaba have bought up shopping centres in China. They have the data and ‘own’ the customer.
For years argued that shopping centres should position themselves as the ‘gateway to a world of wonder’ by implementing deep and extensive curated apps for their centres. Always got kickback that ‘tenants wouldn’t like that’.
But one app that embraces every outlet in a Center, built on deep customer data, would be very powerful. The value proposition to users could be very strong. Instead....
... what you get in most Center apps is 10% off doughnuts or coffee, poor quality images, undifferentiated offers, and zero personalisation of any quality.
It won’t be long before Amazon start shipping us stuff before we’ve been shopping because they ‘know’ what we want. Just return what you don’t want.
What does a shopping Center actually know about their customers? Not nearly enough. If OneMarket flies they could know a very great deal. But....
... who will benefit from that knowledge. Again, think of Facebook. And beware?
Just a thought:)
Antony