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. 

MercadoLibre Continues to Deliver Strong Growth

According to research by Visa, e-commerce sales in Latin America are projected to be more than $69 billion this year. Sales are projected to grow to more than $100 billion by the end of the next year. Latin America is the fifth largest e-commerce market in the world.

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Online Real Estate Sector Update

According to recent S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, housing prices in the country rose the fastest in August this year since their bubble in 2006. Another report by Zillow, (Nasdaq: Z) also found that the volume of sales has increased. In 2006, the volume of sale transactions for houses had peaked to 7 million. But the volume is now picking up, and analysts expect to end the current year with more than 5 million transactions. Zillow’s report estimates this number to grow to 7 million by 2018. The real estate sector stocks are already witnessing the impact of this growth as stocks of quite a few of them have more than doubled since the beginning of the year.

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Groupon Still Struggling to Change Its Luck

Daily deals market leader Groupon (Nasdaq:GRPN) just can’t seem to catch a break. The company tried to turn its luck by firing the founder and CEO, but that hasn’t seemed to help much. Recent inbox changes by Gmail and growing lack of interest among users to buy into daily deals are also not welcome news.

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The Breadth and Depth of Amazon’s Expansion

Shopper Trak’s holiday projections peg sales during this season to grow 2.4%, the slowest since 2009. These disconcerting holiday shopping sales forecasts may have dampened e-tailer eBay’s spirits. But it will take more than possible bad news to stop Amazon’s rapid growth. The e-tailer continues to surpass market expectations and remains upbeat about the upcoming holiday season.

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eBay on a Buying Spree

Recent reports released by Shopper Trak don’t offer a positive outlook for retailers this holiday season. According to the report, holiday sales this season will grow 2.4%, recording the slowest growth since 2009. The downturn in spending is already visible in other metrics. According to a comScore tracker, e-commerce sales in the US grew 13% in Q3 compared with 16% growth reported in Q2. Growth slowed in Q3 to just 13% growth from 16% growth in Q2.

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Yahoo Counts on Alibaba, Not Marissa Mayer

Ad agency ZenithOptimedia estimates global ad spending to grow 3.5% this year to $503 billion driven by an increase in digital ad spending. The US remains the largest ad market, with an estimated $109.7 billion in spending. Within the country, digital ads will account for 21.8% of ad spending, compared with 19% a year ago.

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LivingSocial Continues Its Descent

LivingSocial’s troubles in the waning daily deals space are not easing. Analysts were once very positive about the market space and were projecting 47% annual growth rates, with market value that was projected to grow to $6 billion by 2015. But since then, projections have become more conservative. Market leader Groupon has seen its valuations tumble since it went public and disappointing performance led to the company firing founder Andrew Mason from the position of CEO.

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MercadoLibre Unfazed by Competition

According to comScore’s 2013 Latin America Digital Future in Focus report released last month, Latin America recorded the fastest-growing online population of any region during the previous year. The number of unique Internet visitors in the region grew 12% over the year to more than 147 million as of March of this year. The increased use of the Internet is driving online retail sales. Over the year, the number of online consumers in the region grew 16%. In fact, retailer Walmart’s website reported 11.7 million unique visitors in March, an increase of 163% over the year. It is this increasing online traffic that is attracting other e-tail giants into the region.

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Online Travel Industry Focused on International Expansion

According to an eMarketer report, total travel sales worldwide are projected to grow from $962 billion last year to $1,131 billion by 2016. Online travel sales will account for $523 billion by the year 2016, growing from $374 billion last year. Online travel sales in the U.S. are expected to grow to $182 billion in 2016 from $151 billion last year. The European market is projected to grow from $141 billion to $176 billion over this period. Asia Pacific and Latin America see strong growth as sales more than double over the period to $131 billion and $34 billion, respectively. No wonder most online travel stocks are focusing on international expansion.

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Blue Nile and WebMD Expand Offerings

According to recent IDEX research, last year sales of fine jewelry and watches in the U.S. reached a record high of $71.3 billion, growing 6% over the year. For the year, sales of fine jewelry grew 6% to $61.9 billion in the U.S.

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