1Mby1M Udemy Courses with Sramana Mitra: Domain Knowledge

At 1Mby1M, we believe in learning from case studies of successful entrepreneurs. These case studies involve discussions on opportunities and challenges specific to the domain such as Generative AI, E-Commerce, Digital Health, Cyber Security, and FinTech. 

The Unstoppable Alibaba Set To Go Public Soon

Today, China is the single largest e-commerce market in the world. Analysts estimate that by 2015, China’s e-commerce market will be worth $540 billion and by 2020, the country’s e-commerce market will be more than that of the US, the UK, Japan, Germany, and France put together. This remarkable growth is driven by the Chinese government’s ambitions of connecting 85% of their population to a 3G or 4G mobile Internet connection by the year 2020.

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Featured Videos

Thought Leaders in E-Commerce: Mall for Africa CEO Chris Folayan (Part 1)

E-Commerce is blossoming all over the world. In this story, we take a close look at what is happening in Africa, especially Nigeria.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with introducing our audience to yourself as well as Mall For Africa. Tell us about what you do and what’s happening in your world.

Chris Folayan: I’m the Founder and CEO of Mall for Africa. Mall for Africa is an online application both for PC and mobile that allows people in Africa to purchase items from US and UK sites. Most companies currently do not ship directly to any country in Africa, but Africa is a thriving continent and people there want to purchase items from the US and UK. Since many sites in the US and UK don’t do that, we’ve created a platform that, in essence, opens up  true global e-commerce to the people of Africa. >>>

E-Commerce Home Goods Store One Kings Lane In IPO Pipeline

The niche US home goods market has a long way to go. Market reports suggest that the industry has a mere 6% Internet penetration in the country. However, things are improving with e-commerce companies like Wayfair.com, One Kings Lane, and Fab.com bringing the home goods market to the consumers in a way not available earlier.

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E-Commerce Jeweler Blue Nile Struggling to Grow

A report by Euromonitor International estimated the US jewelry market to have recovered to $59.1 billion last year. The market is finally back to pre-recessionary conditions and is projected to grow another 14% by the year 2018. The market remains highly fragmented with no single retailer commanding more than a 6% market share, suggesting a big opportunity for growth and consolidation. Recently, Signet Jewelers acquired Zale Corporation, sparking interest in other jewelry companies.

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A Latin American Unicorn From Argentina

Adapted from my new book, From eCommerce To Web 3.0.

So far, we have only looked at American companies [Tableau, FireEye, RightNow, Palo Alto Networks, Kayak and SuccessFactors] in the Unicorn series.

There is a market of 500 million people – nearly 8.6% of the world’s population – that the business media all too often neglects, serving up story after story on China and India. Forgotten is all of Latin America.

Between 2000 and 2007, the number of Internet users in Latin America grew from 18.1 million to 122.4 million, a compounded annual growth rate of 32% compared with only 12% in North America during the same period. Average penetration across Latin America was approximately 21.5%, compared to 71.4% for the US. Even with such low penetration, Latin America’s Internet population represented close to 10% of the world’s Internet users.

Fast forward to 2014, numbers have exploded, touching 300 million. Analysts forecast 393 million users in 2017.
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E-Commerce Home Goods Store Wayfair Files for IPO

According to Euromonitor International, the US home goods market is expected to grow 2.5% annually over the period 2013 to 2023 to be worth $297 billion in 2023. Researchers also estimate that the current US home market has very limited online penetration with a mere 7% of the sales being made through this channel. Boston-based Wayfair is trying to make a difference in this online market.

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New Book – From eCommerce to Web 3.0

Excerpt from my new book, From eCommerce To Web 3.0: How To Leverage The Evolution Of The Internet.

Back in 2007, even before the iPhone was launched, giving us a powerful computer in our pockets or handbags, I started outlining a vision for Web 3.0.

There are numerous definitions of Web 3.0 floating around. Tim Berners-Lee, a father of the World Wide Web, talks about the “Semantic Web,” a way that computers employ the meaning of words – not just pattern matching – along with logical rules to connect independent nuggets of data and so create more context for information. The formula that makes the most sense to me is this: Web 3.0 results from combining content, commerce, community and context, with personalization and vertical search. Or, to put it in a handy phrase: Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS).

Here’s what it means.
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Groupon Still Struggling

Recently, online travel player Priceline purchased online restaurant reservation service provider OpenTable for $2.6 billion. The acquisition has sparked merger interest in several other local focused online players such as Yelp. Recently, analysts have also been speculating the possibility that daily deals site Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN) could be a possible take-over target and that someone like Google may be interested in buying it to beef up their Google Offers service.

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eBay Looks Flat

According to a comScore report, online retail spending grew 14% last year compared with a single digit growth in overall retail spending. The report reveals that while mobile transactions are a fast growing segment, the online sales are still dominated by PC-based sales.     >>>

Building a VC-Funded Fashion E-Commerce Company: Weddington Way CEO Ilana Stern (Part 1)

There aren’t that many venture-funded fashion e-commerce companies out there. The main reason is that the venture capital business is dominated by men, and typically, women happen to be more in tune with fashion. Ilana Stern is building a very interesting fashion company focused on bridesmaid dresses as the starting point.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with your personal story. Where are you from? Where were you born and raised and in what kind of circumstances?

Ilana Stern: I’m originally from Los Angeles. I was very close with my family. My dad is actually an entrepreneur of sorts. I was inspired by his hard work and passion for what he does. When I was 18, I left LA and went to the University of Pennsylvania for undergraduate studies. >>>