WEBVTT - 40: Why Summer Has Just Gone on Sale

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<v Speaker 1>Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Odd Lots Podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Joe Wisenthal, Managing editor at Bloomberg Markets, and I'm

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<v Speaker 1>Tracy Halloway, Executive editor at Bloomberg Markets. So, Tracy, it's

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<v Speaker 1>the middle of August and it's about time for a

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<v Speaker 1>fun summer episode, don't you think Yes, I think it is.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, everyone's on holiday, people are thinking about going

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<v Speaker 1>to nice places with beaches and pools. Uh, let's let's

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<v Speaker 1>give the people what they want exactly right. Um. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>obviously summer is characterized by pools, hanging out by the pool, barbecuing, grilling,

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<v Speaker 1>stuff like that. And of course there's always a market

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<v Speaker 1>and economic angle to every story. And so today we're

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<v Speaker 1>going to talk about these things that we take for

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<v Speaker 1>granted in the summer, and uh, talk about some of

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<v Speaker 1>the underlying fundamentals behind them. So this is essentially the

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<v Speaker 1>Markets edition of the Pool Party, or the Pool Party

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<v Speaker 1>edition of the Markets podcast. I should say we're here

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<v Speaker 1>with Polly Masson's who wrote a great story, um for

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg recently about pool toys. And before we get into it,

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<v Speaker 1>I think pretty much anyone who goes on Instagram regularly

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<v Speaker 1>sees lots of pictures of people floating in pools in

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<v Speaker 1>these gigantic inflatable doughnuts or inflatable swans or inflatable Floomer goes.

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<v Speaker 1>You certainly see him if you follow Taylor Swift on Instagram.

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<v Speaker 1>And of course there is a huge business behind that,

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of money, and we're going to talk to

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<v Speaker 1>Polly about that business. So, Polly Mawson's of Bloomberg, thank

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<v Speaker 1>you very much for joining us. Thanks for having me, guys,

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<v Speaker 1>I would love to talk about pool toys. Great, let's

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<v Speaker 1>get right into to it. So why why is this?

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<v Speaker 1>How did this become such a huge thing? How big

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<v Speaker 1>is this? Business? Is huge? When I was at the

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<v Speaker 1>New York Toy Fair earlier this year, which was the

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<v Speaker 1>dead of winter, it was snowing outside. Inside the Jabbitts Center,

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<v Speaker 1>they had a huge pool toy display. It was the

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<v Speaker 1>first thing you saw when you walked into toy Fair.

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<v Speaker 1>There was a flamingo that was ten ft high. It

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<v Speaker 1>was beautiful and cost I believe, four hundred dollars, which

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<v Speaker 1>is quite the investment for an inflatable pool toy that

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<v Speaker 1>can pop at any moment. Okay, what think of all

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<v Speaker 1>the likes on Instagram if you have a ten foot

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<v Speaker 1>inflatable flamingo, that's exactly right. So about two summers ago

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<v Speaker 1>you started seeing them come up on Instagram. But it

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<v Speaker 1>really became the thing to have. When Taylor Swift, when

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<v Speaker 1>she was still with Calvin Harris r I p that relationship,

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<v Speaker 1>she posted a picture of her on a really beautiful

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<v Speaker 1>gigantic swan slash Pegasus. It was very regal looking, it

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<v Speaker 1>had golden wings. People were obsessed with it. And that's

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<v Speaker 1>really where a lot of these things took off, and

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<v Speaker 1>you had a couple of company that really became like

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<v Speaker 1>the main go to companies. The biggest one among them

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<v Speaker 1>is Big Mouth Inc. They make about twenty thousand dollars

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<v Speaker 1>a day on Amazon just off their inflatable donut one style,

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<v Speaker 1>twenty dollars a day. Wait, this is the pink doughnut.

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<v Speaker 1>It looks kind of like the ones that Homer Simpson

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<v Speaker 1>used to eat in the TV series, right, and everyone's

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<v Speaker 1>probably seen it at one point or another. That is

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<v Speaker 1>the exact donut. Twenty thousand a day. That's a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of money. Yeah, and that's just off the donut. They

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<v Speaker 1>have some other really popular items their Giant Pineapple has

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<v Speaker 1>been huge for them this year. They have a flamingo

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<v Speaker 1>whose design they've actually copyrighted. It's different from other flamingo floaties.

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<v Speaker 1>So you can imagine how much money they're pulling in

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<v Speaker 1>off of these floaties during the summer. Okay, so with

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<v Speaker 1>large amounts of money often comes controversy and conflict and

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<v Speaker 1>competition is other people try to get in on the act,

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<v Speaker 1>and the donut in particular seems to have attracted some

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<v Speaker 1>degree of conflict. Walk us through that. Yeah, so big

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<v Speaker 1>Math think which is the big Uno floaties. They have

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<v Speaker 1>found people infringing on their copyright, specifically on the donut,

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<v Speaker 1>and they found this on Amazon. They started ordering competitors

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<v Speaker 1>donuts that they were trying to sell off as big

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<v Speaker 1>mouth products, and when they arrived, they were flimsier material

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<v Speaker 1>and perhaps most offensively, instead of having twelve colors of sprinkles,

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<v Speaker 1>they only had four. Oh my god, that's terrible, terrific

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<v Speaker 1>it is to instagram myself with a donut without twelve

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<v Speaker 1>colors of sprinkles and the sprinkles weren't even shaded in

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<v Speaker 1>so they didn't look three d oh my god. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>So what did they do? When they discovered this, well,

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<v Speaker 1>this was part of two lawsuits that they filed, one

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<v Speaker 1>against an Amazon seller called Floating Panda and another against

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon seller Solo Fleet. They didn't have their real identities,

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<v Speaker 1>so they just filed two suits in Connecticut against these

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon identities, and the lawsuits that big Mouth brought basically

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<v Speaker 1>focused on copyright infringement and a version of fraud. They

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<v Speaker 1>were claiming that these Amazon sellers were selling big Mouth

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<v Speaker 1>counterfeit products under the big Mouth cereal code on Amazon,

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<v Speaker 1>so they were trying to just slip them in as

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<v Speaker 1>real products after they actually infringed on their copyrighted designs.

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<v Speaker 1>Now does Amazon have any responsibility here? I mean, it's

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<v Speaker 1>one thing if the donut looks like another donut, but

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<v Speaker 1>if a if a competitor, as big Mouth claims, is

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<v Speaker 1>using their cereal code, is Amazon a totally neutral party here? Well,

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon does have fraud protection in place, but they have

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<v Speaker 1>to have really student fried protections that kind of are

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<v Speaker 1>a process, because otherwise you'd have a bunch of people

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<v Speaker 1>that are just filing complaints against their competitors because they

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<v Speaker 1>don't want them selling a legitimate product that was vaguely similar.

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<v Speaker 1>So they have to have the product ordered, they have

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<v Speaker 1>to prove that it's counterfeit and then they can file

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<v Speaker 1>a valid complaint with Amazon and Amazon can take away

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<v Speaker 1>those products, and big Mouth did do that, but they

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<v Speaker 1>finally were very fed up after these two competitors had

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<v Speaker 1>taken their by box on Amazon, the buy boxes, when

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<v Speaker 1>you go to check out on Amazon, you press by now,

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<v Speaker 1>and there's always a default seller, So there can be

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<v Speaker 1>you know, ten different companies that sell the same floaty

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<v Speaker 1>that's vaguely similar, but whoever has that buy box is

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<v Speaker 1>the one who's getting all the sales. And if Floating

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<v Speaker 1>Panda started undercutting big Mouth by just one penny on

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<v Speaker 1>the price instead of the twenty float, they would take

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<v Speaker 1>over that buy box. And that's what happened, and that's

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<v Speaker 1>when big Mouth started losing twenty dollars a day on

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<v Speaker 1>the donut. So this is where I think it gets

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<v Speaker 1>really interesting because we talk a lot about the importance

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<v Speaker 1>of Amazon right now, the dominance of Amazon in markets

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<v Speaker 1>and in business, and the idea that people's business is

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<v Speaker 1>built around what goes into the bye box and they

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<v Speaker 1>can win or lose so much money just based on

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<v Speaker 1>one Amazon algorithm is pretty significant. Is cost the only

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<v Speaker 1>thing that Amazon looks at when it comes to the

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<v Speaker 1>buye Box. It's more elaborate than just cost. There's ratings

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<v Speaker 1>that go in there, and there's kind of a secret

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon formula they're never going to disclose in full. But

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<v Speaker 1>it is also based on what kind of seller you are.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, if you had all one star but you're

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<v Speaker 1>selling products, you're probably not going to make it into

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<v Speaker 1>the buye box. But if you look like a fairly

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<v Speaker 1>legitimate seller and you're selling a less expensive product that

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<v Speaker 1>Amazon believes to be the exact same thing, you might

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<v Speaker 1>find yourself in the buy box and then you're getting

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<v Speaker 1>a ton of sales all at once. So what's happening now?

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<v Speaker 1>They filed these complaints, They filed these suits. Has Amazon

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<v Speaker 1>done anything yet? Or can? I are the competitors to

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<v Speaker 1>big Mouth still right there? Well, in this particular suit,

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<v Speaker 1>they didn't file it against Amazon, so Amazon did definitely

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<v Speaker 1>help them with taking down pictures that they thought were

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<v Speaker 1>being used to sell products that more in actually big

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<v Speaker 1>mouth products. Amazon has replied to the complaints, but legally

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<v Speaker 1>they don't have to do anything here. What did happen

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<v Speaker 1>is that one of these Amazon sellers came back to

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<v Speaker 1>big Mouth after receiving the lawsuit and said, give me

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<v Speaker 1>a week to sell through my product and you'll never

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<v Speaker 1>hear from me again. And big Mouth said, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>that's not a bad deal. They because their whole goal

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<v Speaker 1>here is to make this problem go away. They don't

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<v Speaker 1>want to fight every single person who's selling floaties on Amazon,

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<v Speaker 1>and they understand that competition is out there, and they

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<v Speaker 1>certainly don't want to bring these lawsuits. I mean, they've

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<v Speaker 1>had to actually put two people on staff out of

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<v Speaker 1>a person office just to police Amazon. So for them,

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<v Speaker 1>they just want this to go away, and that's really

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<v Speaker 1>the next legal step here. So what happened with the

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<v Speaker 1>other company. They have not replied to the lawsuit, which

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<v Speaker 1>isn't surprising. They don't believe that these sellers are in

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<v Speaker 1>the United States. It's a little harder to track them down,

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<v Speaker 1>and from there a judge can make a ruling on

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<v Speaker 1>the case, but you never know if there's actually gonna

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<v Speaker 1>be any money collected, especially when this is a four

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<v Speaker 1>million dollar collection of lawsuits. I kind of love that

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<v Speaker 1>response from the one company, which is basically like, yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>you're right, we're kind of ripping you off. But let

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<v Speaker 1>us just be in business one more week so we

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<v Speaker 1>can clear out our inventory and make back our costs,

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<v Speaker 1>and we'll leave. It's like a very sort of free

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<v Speaker 1>market cocy in response to dealing with a legal problem,

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<v Speaker 1>and it is kind of win wind seems much better

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<v Speaker 1>than a long protracted legal fight. Absolutely, and you don't

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<v Speaker 1>really want to be left with a warehouse full of

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<v Speaker 1>float ees, right. I can't blame them, but think of

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<v Speaker 1>the Instagram potential. That's true warehouse full of flamingos and donuts.

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<v Speaker 1>Before we go, there's a fascinating story. What's the big

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<v Speaker 1>what's the big floaty this year? I think the big

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<v Speaker 1>floaty is the Swan. This one is a really big deal.

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<v Speaker 1>It's beautiful. I personally enjoy laying on my Swan. I

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<v Speaker 1>have like five floaties. I feel somewhat biased writing this

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<v Speaker 1>story because I'm really into floaties. Are they all the

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<v Speaker 1>big mouth brand float is? They're not. They're They're a

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<v Speaker 1>variety of floaties, including I bought one an Amazon that

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<v Speaker 1>was kind of crappy, but it was like seven dollars,

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<v Speaker 1>so you know you have to have a weird one

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<v Speaker 1>in there. Polly must Ends from Bloomberg. Thank you, very much.

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<v Speaker 1>That's fascinating. I don't think I'm ever going to be

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<v Speaker 1>able to look at an Instagram pool floating picture ever

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<v Speaker 1>again in the same way. Thank you guys for having

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<v Speaker 1>me well, Tracy. So that was half the summer. Half

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<v Speaker 1>the summer is about spending time in pools, and as

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<v Speaker 1>we said in the beginning, the other half of the

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<v Speaker 1>summer is about grilling and barbecuing. Of course, of course

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<v Speaker 1>it is uh so what's essential to grilling obviously meat.

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<v Speaker 1>And the good news is that at least in the

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<v Speaker 1>US this year, there is a meat mountain. There is

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<v Speaker 1>so much meat out there that the price of ribs

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<v Speaker 1>and beef and pork and everything else has plunged, making

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<v Speaker 1>it really cheap to uh to do barbecue this summer. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>so summer has essentially gone on sale because we have

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<v Speaker 1>inflatable pool toy makers trying to undercut each other, and

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<v Speaker 1>then we have super cheap meat prices. I love it,

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<v Speaker 1>the summer on sale. It's like, I think that should

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<v Speaker 1>be the time in this episode. Alright, So with us

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<v Speaker 1>now to discuss the meat mountain and super cheap meat

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<v Speaker 1>products is Lydia mulvaney. She's a reporter here at Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>who covers agriculture. Lydia, thank you very much for joining us.

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<v Speaker 1>Hi thanks uh so, Lydia. Why is there a mountain

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<v Speaker 1>of meat? Oh, there's so much meat. Um, it's because

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<v Speaker 1>there's been a kind of a perfect storm where like

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<v Speaker 1>chicken producers and hog producers and cattle producers, they're all

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<v Speaker 1>expanding their herds at the same time. And uh, there

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<v Speaker 1>were some record prices for those um for meat a

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<v Speaker 1>couple of years ago, even last year for beef, and

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<v Speaker 1>those high prices just made everyone, um go crazy and

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<v Speaker 1>and expand there and expand their flocks and herds and

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<v Speaker 1>so um, now we have um, like all three important meats,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, a lot of it at the same time, aime.

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<v Speaker 1>And so they're all kind of competing with each other

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<v Speaker 1>at the store and and the result is really um

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<v Speaker 1>big discounts compared to previous years. And actually a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of them are at like multi year lows with the prices.

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<v Speaker 1>I love it. I mean, you know, it's the cliche

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<v Speaker 1>and commodities right that high prices are the cure for

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<v Speaker 1>high prices. We saw it obviously with the multi year

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<v Speaker 1>oil boom, and then there was so much expansion of

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<v Speaker 1>drilling and exploration, and then the price of oil crashed.

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<v Speaker 1>So it sounds like the essentially the same thing happened here,

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<v Speaker 1>except with the meat. Yeah, but I don't think that

0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:44.439
<v Speaker 1>they necessarily all happen at the same time, where it's

0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.680
<v Speaker 1>like chicken, pork and meat doing this at chicken pork

0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:49.719
<v Speaker 1>and beef doing this the same time a bit. At

0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:53.160
<v Speaker 1>this point, you know, it's all three markets, and so

0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.760
<v Speaker 1>the total meat supplies are going to be a record

0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:00.079
<v Speaker 1>for sure this year. And then um so, there is

0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:05.440
<v Speaker 1>really cheap grain prices right now too, so so it's

0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:11.680
<v Speaker 1>even cheaper for producers to produce meat. Um So, there's

0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.200
<v Speaker 1>a lot of people out there saying that this isn't

0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.640
<v Speaker 1>going to stop. It's just gonna it's gonna go for

0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.440
<v Speaker 1>a couple of years. There's going to be this expansion,

0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:24.040
<v Speaker 1>and so should have pretty good barbecue prices next summer too,

0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:27.160
<v Speaker 1>and maybe even the next one. I remember, you know,

0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:29.120
<v Speaker 1>just a couple of years ago, we were talking about

0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:33.720
<v Speaker 1>global demand for meat really taking off, especially in places

0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:36.520
<v Speaker 1>like China, and it's kind of surprising to see that

0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.640
<v Speaker 1>supply has been raised so much that it's offsetting what

0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:45.240
<v Speaker 1>was supposed to be a big increase in demand. Yeah.

0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:50.679
<v Speaker 1>So um because of the prices in the US, uh,

0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:57.600
<v Speaker 1>meat consumption grew the most in forty years or some

0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:03.360
<v Speaker 1>some very large number. Uh. In so Americans are pretty

0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.040
<v Speaker 1>close to like keek meat eating. So we can't actually

0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:08.680
<v Speaker 1>eat all the meat that's going to be produced in

0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:11.880
<v Speaker 1>this country. UM. So it really needs to go to

0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:15.480
<v Speaker 1>these other countries. Um. And yes there is like rising

0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:20.400
<v Speaker 1>meat consumption, but you know there's other producers that work

0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.920
<v Speaker 1>that you are competing with the U s so um uh.

0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.920
<v Speaker 1>I think it needs to be seen what happens. I

0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:31.480
<v Speaker 1>mean basically, if if if you know, China and other

0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:35.239
<v Speaker 1>emerging countries aren't going to absorb you know, the overflow

0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:37.560
<v Speaker 1>from the US, that's just gonna mean it's going to

0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:41.320
<v Speaker 1>back up here and be even cheaper. So Joe mentioned

0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:45.680
<v Speaker 1>a potential parallel with the US shale boom in terms

0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.680
<v Speaker 1>of supply rising really quickly to take advantage of higher

0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:53.080
<v Speaker 1>prices a couple of years ago. Was there any technology

0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:57.240
<v Speaker 1>involved in the supply growth in meat? I don't think

0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:01.800
<v Speaker 1>it's a specific technology, but producers are always working on

0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:06.440
<v Speaker 1>you know, breeding more efficiently and getting the genetics right. Um.

0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:09.680
<v Speaker 1>I think for for pigs, like, pigs have way more

0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.040
<v Speaker 1>piglets today than they used to. So Joe is a

0:15:13.160 --> 0:15:18.520
<v Speaker 1>very keen barbecuer. Can you recommend one specific meat that's

0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:20.840
<v Speaker 1>the best bargain at the moment that you could be

0:15:20.880 --> 0:15:25.280
<v Speaker 1>grilling next weekend? That's a great question. Best bargain? Well,

0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:32.480
<v Speaker 1>so in terms of things that were expensive last year

0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:36.000
<v Speaker 1>but cheap this year, right, Like what's really I should take?

0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:40.120
<v Speaker 1>Could be beef? Beef is really what are we talking about?

0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:44.760
<v Speaker 1>Like still expensive compared to like pork, but it's way

0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:46.960
<v Speaker 1>cheaper than it was last year. So if you're looking

0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:49.080
<v Speaker 1>for that discount, that would be it. But I guess,

0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:53.080
<v Speaker 1>you know, chicken and pork are just really they're really

0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.840
<v Speaker 1>down there. Maybe maybe ribs, Yeah, I've been I've been

0:15:56.840 --> 0:15:58.800
<v Speaker 1>smoking a lot of ribs this summer. I need to

0:15:58.840 --> 0:16:02.760
<v Speaker 1>actually take a ribbs break. Actually, you know, like pulled pork,

0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.360
<v Speaker 1>because everything that's not a barbecue, I'd never mind. No, no, no,

0:16:05.360 --> 0:16:08.640
<v Speaker 1>no, no no, definitely maybe you can put like pulled pork

0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:11.040
<v Speaker 1>on your burger. I don't know, I don't know what

0:16:11.080 --> 0:16:13.960
<v Speaker 1>people do before we go. How much of just I

0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:15.880
<v Speaker 1>realize we haven't hit it, how much of a disc

0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.920
<v Speaker 1>a price crash are we talking about specifically from the

0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:23.600
<v Speaker 1>wholesale perspective? How much have prices gone down? Okay, so

0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:32.040
<v Speaker 1>so for for beef, it's about from last year, and

0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:36.680
<v Speaker 1>pork is about the same. Chickens about cheaper on the

0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:43.440
<v Speaker 1>wholesale like chicken breasts, um, so you know, and that's

0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:46.840
<v Speaker 1>from last year. And there's you know, for for pork

0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:49.360
<v Speaker 1>and chicken, like they've been going down for like a

0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:53.080
<v Speaker 1>couple of years. So this is actually after some pretty

0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:57.480
<v Speaker 1>significant um discounts. So those and those are like multi

0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:01.240
<v Speaker 1>year lows, they're like five six year lows for the price. Well,

0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:03.720
<v Speaker 1>it seems pretty clear that this is a good summer

0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:07.560
<v Speaker 1>to have gotten into doing barbecuing, and with any luck,

0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.720
<v Speaker 1>perhaps not for the farmers. Uh, the summers ahead will

0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:16.880
<v Speaker 1>be inexpensive as well. Yeah. Well, Lydia Mulvannia, Bloomberg News,

0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:19.439
<v Speaker 1>thank you very much for joining us and telling us

0:17:19.480 --> 0:17:39.479
<v Speaker 1>the good news about meat price. So, Tracy, you know,

0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:44.120
<v Speaker 1>obviously the theme of that episode was summer, but as

0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:48.200
<v Speaker 1>you pointed out, another one of the themes was falling prices,

0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:53.240
<v Speaker 1>and we sort of explored multiple ways in which the

0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.520
<v Speaker 1>FED is being challenged and trying to hit its inflation target.

0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:01.240
<v Speaker 1>One is about technology and how new market to make

0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:06.639
<v Speaker 1>price competition extremely easy and liquid, and the other is

0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:11.359
<v Speaker 1>just about falling core commodity prices and these gluts that

0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:13.960
<v Speaker 1>we're seeing all over the world that don't seem to

0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:17.880
<v Speaker 1>be going away anytime soon. Well, you're taking this episode

0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:22.280
<v Speaker 1>very serious. I didn't expect to. I thought I'm going

0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:24.359
<v Speaker 1>to talk about the floats and which one I was

0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:28.600
<v Speaker 1>going to buy. You can talk about that, No, no, no, Well,

0:18:28.720 --> 0:18:32.200
<v Speaker 1>the thing I was very interested in was um. Well,

0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.040
<v Speaker 1>the inflation aspect of it is a big, big question,

0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:39.679
<v Speaker 1>especially in light of technology. And actually here we go, okay,

0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.040
<v Speaker 1>just to link the two. I wonder a lot about

0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:45.399
<v Speaker 1>the role of a company like Amazon in inflation, because

0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.199
<v Speaker 1>it seems in some respects like Amazon is really a

0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:53.200
<v Speaker 1>benevolent um monopoly for consumers. Right, it's super cheap, it's

0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.760
<v Speaker 1>very efficient. We can buy cheap inflatable pool toys. We

0:18:56.760 --> 0:19:01.200
<v Speaker 1>can even buy groceries and meats now days off of Amazon.

0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:05.080
<v Speaker 1>And that's great for consumers. But it means low prices

0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:10.479
<v Speaker 1>obviously low inflation. And I wonder about the I suppose

0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:13.399
<v Speaker 1>challenges for businesses in that environment. Totally. I mean, if

0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:19.400
<v Speaker 1>you could theoretically gain a quasi monopoly by dominating the buybox. Uh,

0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.840
<v Speaker 1>if the one cent decrease in price. Now, obviously, as

0:19:23.880 --> 0:19:26.840
<v Speaker 1>Pouli pointed out, it's not quite that simple, but if

0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:31.280
<v Speaker 1>just this minor price cut can create this radical competition

0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:33.920
<v Speaker 1>dynamic the likes of which you would you know, if,

0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.960
<v Speaker 1>if you're talking about physical retail, one cent price cut

0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:38.879
<v Speaker 1>isn't enough to make you go to a different store,

0:19:38.920 --> 0:19:42.440
<v Speaker 1>it's hardly never would have existed years ago. So it

0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:46.160
<v Speaker 1>is really fascinating, Um, the dynamics there. And I'm also

0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:50.160
<v Speaker 1>fascinated by the extent to which something like Instagram can

0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:53.400
<v Speaker 1>have a whole new category of industry which people would

0:19:53.400 --> 0:19:56.920
<v Speaker 1>have never I mentioned. Um, absolutely I would. I would

0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:00.720
<v Speaker 1>go long Instagram process at this moment in I'm right, yeah,

0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.720
<v Speaker 1>I'll keep I'll keep watching out on Taylor Swift's Instagram

0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:09.560
<v Speaker 1>to see what the next big thing that she posted with. Okay,

0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.359
<v Speaker 1>all right, are you barbecuing this weekend? I am, And

0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:13.800
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what I'm gonna do yet, but I'm

0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:18.080
<v Speaker 1>thinking pulled pork actually, so uh, next episode I'll talk

0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:22.040
<v Speaker 1>about how that goes. Excellent, all right, well, this has

0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.200
<v Speaker 1>been another edition of the Odd Lots Podcast. Thanks everyone

0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:27.560
<v Speaker 1>for listening. I'm Joe wi Isn't There. You can follow

0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.439
<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter at the Stalwart and I'm Tracy Alloway.

0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.240
<v Speaker 1>I'm on Twitter at Tracy Alloway. Thanks you listening.