From E-Commerce to Web 3.0: MercadoLibre Still Dominates Latin America

According to a Forrester research report, Brazil’s business-to-consumer e-commerce sales are projected to grow from $17.8 billion in 2014 to $40.8 billion in 2019. Argentina, the second largest market in the region, is expected to see e-commerce sales grow from $3.4 billion in 2014 to $8.3 million in 2019 and over the same period, Mexico will see revenues grow from $2.8 billion to $6.7 billion. Latin America’s e-commerce leader MercadoLibre is continuing to thrive in this rapid growth market. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Coupang Raises the Banner for South Korea

According to a recent eMarketer market, the total retail e-commerce market in South Korea is estimated to grow 11% this year to $36.76 billion, making them the third largest e-commerce market in the Asia-Pacific region, after China and Japan. E-commerce is expected to account for nearly 10% of South Korea’s total retail market share. The South Korean market is expected to grow to $47.8 billion by the year 2018. Billion Dollar Unicorn club member Coupang is already making big strides in the region.

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Billion Dollar Unicorns: Etsy Continues to Fumble

I have repeatedly spoken about Billion Dollar Unicorns who have entered the club due to the frenzied investments by VCs who partake in initial funding rounds at spectacular valuations. Some of these companies are not able to address the expectation of a public company and implode when listed on the stock exchanges. One such instance is that of niche e-commerce player Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY), which appears to be stuck in a bit of a rut. Recent disappointing quarterly results accompanied with continuing absence of profits had sent the stock tumbling to below list price levels. As competition in the niche space increases, Etsy will have tougher battles to fight in the next few months.

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Thought Leaders in Sales 2.0: Carol O’Kelley, CEO of Salesfusion (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: Have you been tracking this area of influencer marketing that is getting a bit of attention these days?

Carol O’Kelley: I’m not sure what you mean. I’m certainly interested in the idea of Masons and that there are gurus in particular areas that can have enormous influence, but I’m not sure if that’s what you mean.

Sramana Mitra: There are two trends that I’ve observed. We’ve profiled a bunch of different companies in some of these spaces. One trend is that there are people with significant influence. These are people who have huge social media influence. Maybe, through their blogs or LinkedIn accounts. In their niches, they are very influential people. There’s a company called Influitive founded by the founder of Eloqua. That one is focusing more on really mining your customers and turning them into advocates. I was wondering if you were tracking any of that work. >>>

Billion Dollar Unicorns: Zulily Attempts to Make a Turnaround

Billion Dollar Unicorn club member and online niche flash sales site Zulily (Nasdaq: ZU) appears to be making a slow turnaround according to recent quarter results. The stock’s performance has been rather weak of late and it had entered the list of the Wall Street’s worst performing stocks for 2015 after having dropped 47% during the year. Their recent moves suggest that things may improve in the future.

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Thought Leaders in Sales 2.0: Carol O’Kelley, CEO of Salesfusion (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What are other core areas where you think marketing automation and Sales 2.0 is making a real difference?

Carol O’Kelley: To where you can make systems work for the marketers or for the sales people, instead of the other way around. You can even look at an auto dialer that’s improving the efficiency of the sales organization. I think that it’s easy to overlook some of those things and say, “Those have been around for a while.” But if you think about the increased efficiency that’s brought the average demand generation, those can be great productivity boosters.

Sramana Mitra: Are there other trends that you would want to touch upon? >>>

Thought Leaders in Sales 2.0: Carol O’Kelley, CEO of Salesfusion (Part 1)

A short discussion on how marketing and sales technologies are evolving.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start with introducing our audience to yourself as well as to your company.

Carol O’Kelley: Thanks for having me. I’m the CEO of Salesfusion. I joined the company earlier this year after having spent most of my career in technology, marketing, and operations. I’ve done a number of very small entrepreneurial things – everything from being the 34^th employee at Retek, which was ultimately acquired by Oracle to starting and managing a self-storage business. I’ve also worked at larger companies like Red Prairie and Oracle. I’m passionate about technology. I love the pace of this business.

Sramana Mitra: Where are you based?

Carol O’Kelley: I’m based in Atlanta, Georgia. >>>

From E-Commerce to Web 3.0: Flipkart Sees Valuations Rise, Profitability Still a Challenge

Last year, Chinese e-tail giant Alibaba went public on the New York Stock exchange. Alibaba has been the role model of several e-commerce companies. One of their avid followers, India-based Flipkart, is now eyeing an IPO in the US markets as well. The company is already seeing strong growth in its valuation driven by the growing e-commerce market in India. Gartner expects the Indian e-commerce market to grow 70% this year and Morgan Stanley estimates the Indian market to grow to $137 billion by the year 2020.

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