back to article Those internet trends? It's bad news if you're not Amazon, basically

American venture capitalist Mary Meeker's annual "bible" of internet and macroeconomic trends has been a fixture since the dotcom heyday, and as you would expect from a tech VC, it emphasises the good news. But it's not such good news if you're a high street retailer, rely on desktop users, or make smartphones. Out of 294 …

  1. JimmyPage Silver badge

    Subtle, new (?) threat to bricks'n'mortar stores ?

    Last weekend, MrsJP and I decided to pop to a local shopping centre for a coffee. That's all.

    As we left, MrsJP said "Is it worth popping into Poundland ?" (for an item we couldn't find last time we looked in a city centre one).

    However I had already perused their website and learned that they no longer sell it.

    So being able to check range, stock and availability means dwindling footfall will dwindle further. And from my POV, quite a few stores are already running on empty ... relying on footfall to survive.

    1. sabroni Silver badge

      Re: Rejecting a vist to the Aladin's Cave that is PoundLand?

      I doubt that the website accurately reflects stock levels in every store. It's perfectly possible that the central warehouse servicing the web could be out of something that is still in stock at some local stores.

      Sounds like you don't like shopping in PoundLand.

      1. JimmyPage Silver badge
        Mushroom

        re: Sounds like you don't like shopping in PoundLand.

        In this case, I already knew they didn't stock it (anymore) from their website.

        Now Sainsburys, on the other hand, confirmed via FB messenger that they had stopped stocking some things - thus saving us a lot of trudging.

  2. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

    Americans are spending more on health as a proportion of the household budget than ever, so she "expects them to start acting like consumers."

    Y'know, dear, I don't think any of those cancer treatments represent good value for money. So I'll give them a miss for the time being.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      But the rest of the world has a much more sensible attitude toward funding heathcare so what sort of damn do we give about this opinion?

    2. Hollerithevo

      And you have two weeks

      Cancer? Don't like the prices from your current provider? You ahve two weeks to shop around, as that this the outside limit the NHS put on as 'must be seen by'.

      Of course, a new provider will say 'pre-exisitng condition, no thanks'.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And you have two weeks

        "Of course, a new provider will say 'pre-existing ocndition, no thanks'". Too true.

        Even with the law in the US against discrimination based on pre-existing conditions still hanging on by a fingernail, high deductibles and co-pays have put treatment for cancer and other serious illness out of financial reach of many. If you have to choose between getting a coronary bypass and keeping the family's assets out of bankruptcy, a lot of people are going to choose the latter. Not everyone is as self-centered and mercenary as the 1% here who run the show. The logical result is some intentionally skipping testing both to avoid disqualification when the pre-existing condition regs are eventually repealed (which they almost certainly will be), and the difficult choice between their life or their kid's future.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And you have two weeks

        I went from seeing the GP to having a Bone Marrow Biopsy and to starting Chemo as the treatmant for HCL in SEVEN days using the NHS. Yes there are exceptions but I can't praise them enough.

        I don't think that even paying for everything would have got me treated any faster.

  3. tiggity Silver badge

    amazon search

    most of my searches of amazon are via a search engine as Amazon web site inbuilt search is absolutely dire

    1. Hollerithevo

      Re: amazon search

      I search Amazon to suss out a product and see the ratings (which more and more are paid-for, so one proceeds with caution) and then buy it elsewhere.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

    The other eye-catching macro trend is labour force participation, which is now 3.5 million below the 50-year average of 64 per cent in the USA, and has been declining since the 1970s.

    Let's not focus too much on that other statistic that reports total unemployment in the USA is the lowest it's been since 2000.

    https://www.thebalance.com/current-u-s-unemployment-rate-statistics-and-news-3305733

    Both are utterly meaningless without understanding the context from which the figures are derived.

  5. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Unhappy

    Ubers model is rather like that of the UK "Stagecoach"* company

    Run the competitors into the ground then jack up the prices in an unregulated market.

    Let's see if they run out of VC before they achieve at least one local monopoly then can then use to keep crushing their competitors.

    Then that "load leveling" would be kind of f**ked.

    *Actually "Highwayman" would be a better name for their behavior.

    1. ecofeco Silver badge

      Re: Ubers model is rather like that of the UK "Stagecoach"* company

      Predatory pricing used to be illegal.

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