Month: December 2018

4Q2018 Review & 2019 Resolution

While I would not say it's a productive quarter, overall there still have been some progresses during the first quarter since being solo. [YuiNausicaa.com] In addition to diary-style posts, I wrote 16 analysis-related posts in 4Q18 surrounding  the following topics: Marketplace - Online / Offline Gaming Console Digital Distribution - Gaming Network Effect Hospitality Tourism … Continue reading 4Q2018 Review & 2019 Resolution →

Gaming-related Platform Ecosystem Competition and the Financing behind

On December 21, 2018, it's reported that Discord raised US$ 150M at a valuation of US$ 2.05B, bringing total funding to date to US$ 279.3M as of this writing. The timing is particularly interesting because the online storefront price competition on supply side among STEAM, EPIC Games and Discord has heated up since Discord's "Series E" … Continue reading Gaming-related Platform Ecosystem Competition and the Financing behind →

Mercari (4385.JP) – Note on Category Deepening, Product Enhancement & Marketplace Stickiness

Mercari (4385.JP) [December 25, 2018] * Note on Category Deepening, Product Enhancement & Marketplace Stickiness * Following series posts on Mercari (initial analysis, withdrawal from UK) and its related topics (network effect and digital payment service), this notes examines Mercari recent marketplace deepening/expansion/enhancement initiatives and also does an ideation exercise on user generated content (UGC). The UGC … Continue reading Mercari (4385.JP) – Note on Category Deepening, Product Enhancement & Marketplace Stickiness →

Mercari (4385.JP) – Note on Withdrawal from UK

On December 18, 2018, Mercari announced it will withdraw from UK market. At a meeting of its Board of Directors held on December 18, 2018, Mercari, Inc. (the “Company”) decided to dissolve and liquidate Mercari Europe Ltd and Merpay Ltd, our subsidiaries in the UK. As mentioned in my Mercari initial analysis, UK operation basically … Continue reading Mercari (4385.JP) – Note on Withdrawal from UK →

Entering a market where existing platforms have network effect working

The title of this post is very generic because I observed or studied cases in different industries that new entrants want to penetrate markets where incumbents already have their network effect working. By leveraging its resources or capabilities, new entrants might be willing to acquire "users" (depending on dynamics of business, platform might want to … Continue reading Entering a market where existing platforms have network effect working →

Kyoto Day 1 – Dec. 6, 2018

The second day I took a train from Kobe to Kyoto. After checking in Hotel The Celestine Kyoto Gion, I had late lunch at Mametora Gion which specializes in small dishes cuisines. The environment there was quite comfortable in terms of distance between tables and interior styling & lighting. As it is supposedly to be, … Continue reading Kyoto Day 1 – Dec. 6, 2018 →

Kobe Day 1 – Dec. 5, 2018

The touch screen of my iPhone went dead just when I was checking in my luggage. So no Google map and photo this trip... I had beef steak at 麤皮（aragawa) and shabu-shabu at すきやきしゃぶしゃぶ 神戸牛石田. Both were good. Price at 麤皮 was relatively high probably because of special beef used (三田牛). I stay in Hotel … Continue reading Kobe Day 1 – Dec. 5, 2018 →

Resume Following Nintendo (7974.JP / NTDOY.US)

I have been more quiet about Nintendo since the Nintendo Switch passed its first year installed base build-up.  However, I was triggered by discussion on a Bloomberg article, Nintendo Switch Loses Shine With Shipments Seen Missing Target, on twitter. "The Switch story has been exhausted.” Analysts now estimate Nintendo will miss its hardware target of … Continue reading Resume Following Nintendo (7974.JP / NTDOY.US) →