I’m going to italicize some statements from Wall Street Journal articles and comment on them below.
“He says some 40% of American women wear size 14 and above. The plus size market in the US account for roughly $9 billion in revenue and is expected to grow strongly through 2019, according to IBISworld Inc.”
I found it somewhat haunting that with all the facts surrounding obesity that a marketing company is predicting that the plus size market will continue to get stronger over the next 4 years.
Less than 20% of Africans use the internet. However, the continent’s youth are increasingly getting online, creating an enormous potential market. {On taxi drivers} they also both take cash and payment via cellphone in a country where fewer than 3% of people have credit cards but more than 90% have mobile phones.
This article was going over Uber’s expansion into Africa and the challenges for safety and payment. If only 3% of people have credit cards, new payment methods are needed. The general thought in Kenya is that civilians will not get into cars with people they do not know. Other services are hiring known commodity drivers to compete with Uber.
Skechers accounted for 5% of the sports-footwear market…moving past Adidas AG’s 4.6% as well as the 4% notched by Asics and New Balance. Nike Inc… accounts for 62% of athletic shoes sold in the US. Most of Skecher’s growth has come from its walking and casual footwear segments.
I knew Nike was big but wasn’t exactly aware of how big. Skechers also doesn’t strike me as an athletic shoe so the 5% also surprised me. I can’t really see myself ever trying a pair of Skechers running shoes but call me close minded.
1. The obesity mention you made is very accurate. But I feel as though the point they are trying to convey is that there is a wider spectrum of acceptance for body type these days than in recent decades. When one used to choose a wife you would find the biggest, heartiest woman you could find – because you knew she could work – and that was what was needed to survive as a family. Hopefully we are moving towards revisiting a more “classical” sense of beauty vs. the Tea Leoni (“Spanglish” – crazy atheletic competitive neurotic) version of “woman”. People should just “be” with their bodies. Live, eat, try to do it healthy – but enjoy your life. You get one body and one life. Prolong it as long as you can – but what joys are you missing if the interest in prolonging or meeting a “standard” becomes your existence?
2. Uber in Africa suggests to me that they are concerned about eventual major sanctions for the activities in the US. So, go to an area where there is most likely MUCH less legistlation, unionization and restrictive policies to hinder your presentation of services to market. I feel as though there are probably much more appropriate exportable “advances” that could help “modernize” Africa than Uber and iPhones. These are luxury items/services – even in the US. Seems like a shameless attempt to export a product/service to a place that has little infrastructure to support it by Uber.
3. Invest in Brooks. We are making a comeback – with an “e”.