Web logs

Much as the self-service format (Retail 2.0) largely killed off the full-service model (Retail 1.0), etailing(3.0) is killing off self-service (Retail 3.0). In category after category the internet format — Retail 3.0 — has accounted for essentially all of the growth over the last decade, if not more. Scarcely a single new book store has opened since about 1998 in US. In computers and electronics, the internet has captured more than 40% of sales and incumbent stores are so vulnerable to smart-phone-based comparison shopping that they are rapidly becoming nothing more than showrooms for internet-only retailers.

Zappos's online-only retail format is so efficient that it can offer very competitive prices, free shipping and free returns of as many shoes as you like, at a stroke removing the biggest problem with online apparel shopping: "Does it fit?" Something that Flipkart is emulating back home

If the USP ruled earlier, brands now need to create movements, experiences and engagement with the consumer.

Of the world’s top four owners of airliners, two are lessors: GECAS, with 1,732 planes, and ILFC, with 1,031, soar miles above Delta (800) and American Airlines (775). Airlines lack cash to finance their big plans for fleet renewal, and they cannot borrow cheaply to buy new planes. Deals in which airlines sell part of their existing fleet to a lessor and rent it back are becoming more common Aviation is becoming more like the hotel business: one type of firm specialises in owning the assets, while another operates them. But there is an important difference: a hotel owner cannot easily seize his premises back from a hotelier who skips the rent Renting makes sense for small, young airlines that lack capital, for larger airlines trying out a new line of business for which they need different planes, or when manufacturers’ order books are full and the only way to get a plane is to rent it. But big airlines are better off buying planes and keeping them for their full lifespan of 30 year...