👋 On time for your weekend: a weekly round-up of stories at the intersection of #ecosystems, #platforms, #society and #business that stood out.
Why The Infatuation cooked up a marketplace model during the pandemic:
Historically, few media companies have explored marketplace models because of the significant infrastructure they require. But if advertising continues to challenge most publishers, more, especially those that have authority and vertical focus, may consider them.
🤓 Building a marketplace beats running ads—Digiday
Future of Commerce:
Physical retail as we know it will transform, giving local businesses new advantages. Omnichannel features and experiences will give new life to physical stores and allow businesses to take advantage of proximity to local consumers.
🤔 A new twist on 'arming the rebels'—Shopify [PDF]
What is Amazon:
Amazon works by seeding new business ventures, discovering what works, and amplifying the highest leverage experiments. It’s evolution in real life. And as a result the company doesn’t rely on willpower or any single individual. It’s a machine that keeps moving and by being a customer of itself it aggregates a lot of data from it’s extremely large surface area.
😌 A classic worth iterating—Zack Kanter