Grocery Delivery is Heating Up 🔥
Tik Tok sales jump, Netflix to cancel accounts, and India in 10 worst virus hit nations.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
Welcome to another edition of Filter Coffee.
Let’s go ahead and get started:
The Summer That Wasn't 🏖️
With travel coming to a standstill, all our hopes of being outdoors this summer have been crushed. The virus got its way and now we’re all stuck at home wondering what to do with that summer body we worked so hard on! 🤣💪
The pain is felt across the board. And people are adapting their plans to suit the new reality. Avid travelers for example have taken to RVs as an alternative to hotels this summer.
Similarly, aquatic fans that are desperate for a dip are coming up with innovative ideas such as buying knock-off blow up kiddie pools to constructing whole ass pools in their backyards. Some are even converting the backyard into picnic spots - something to think about for everyone. At the same time, parents are looking for innovative ideas to keep the kids entertained, as summer camps remain cancelled.
As a result of all this “innovation”, demand for inflatable pools and pool and related products have skyrocketed on Amazon.
In response to summer vacationers getting all innovative, The Center for Disease Control (CDC) on its website has come out and said that there is no evidence that the virus can transmit from pool water, but as a precaution has suggested proper cleaning and disinfection of pools and hot tubs, especially if used by the community.
Apart from pools, furniture and home goods retailers are also seeing an uptick in sales of outdoor furniture and barbecue grills this summer, as the pandemic is proving to be a good excuse to spend that much needed time with the family and make memories that last a lifetime.🍖 Cheers fam! 🍻
Race to reopen business 🤝
In a bid to jump start its tourism dependent economy, Greece has moved to reopen its cafes and its land ferries. In a previously announced plan, Tourism was supposed to open on June 15, but the date has been called 3 weeks early because of the continued low infection rate in the country.
Tourism is an important part of Greece’s economy. In 2019, nearly 34 Million visitors traveled to Greece, as much as 3 times the country’s population, collectively adding close to $25 Billion to the nation’s treasury. The pandemic has obviously hurt that terribly so far this year.
Greece had nearly 2,900 infections and 171 deaths according to a tally from John Hopkins University. 📉
In similar new, one of the worst hit nations, Spain, announced that the country will resume tourism beginning July 1st as infection spread comes under control.
Well, these countries can try as much as they want to open their boundaries but the real question is, are travelers comfortable to make a trip to these regions by taking hour long flights, without being vaccinated against the virus? We think not.
Grocery delivery is heating up 🛒
“Never waste a good crisis” - Winston Churchill
Following Amazon’s plan of entering the meal delivery business in India, Reliance-Jio came out announcing that it had begun delivering groceries to around 3 areas in Mumbai and is set to expand the service to over 200 Indian cities. Always count on Mukesh bhai to throw a heavy punch. 👊
This expansion came as millions of us are stranded at home because of the pandemic and prefer buying groceries online rather than stepping out, and is an extension of the broad umbrella of digital products Reliance owns under the Jio brand.
Obviously, the move is also a competitive response against Amazon and Flipkart, two American owned companies in the Indian digital services marketplace that are looking to capture and dominate the domestic digital commerce market. It remains to be see who comes out as a winner at the end of this, but we won’t take a bet against Ambani.
Rise of India’s women entrepreneurs 👏
While the lockdown has hurt India’s economy by bringing the nation to a grinding halt, experts have vocally argued that the aftermath may bring an ideal environment for the nation to overcome many social barriers that limited economic innovation. Particularly due to the rise of “remote work”.
We think that the landscape of entrepreneurship in women, and the growth of working women is one such picture that will be altered forever.
Women today face lots of friction and countless challenge in our country when it comes to participating fully in our economy. Jobs are hard to balance with domestic responsibility, and starting a business is an entirely different ball game.
But the times are changing, and in the context of that, we thought of sharing an amazing story on one such entrepreneur who took her bets. Who knows, may be it sets a switch on in your mind as well.
Meet Chandrika Thatai, a homemaker turned entrepreneur who runs her own textile based industrial operation, while also raising a family. 👨👩👧 Coming from an affluent family of doctors, and a student of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Chandrika braved several odds to grow her company to Rs 290 Cr in revenue, exporting to countries world wide. Read more about her here.
Netflix to cancel inactive accounts 🍷
Streaming platform Netflix has been immensely popular during the pandemic. But when it comes to irregular users, the platform has come up with a solution to save its users some hard earned money.
On Thursday, the company announced that it will ask the inactive subscribers if they want to keep their accounts or not and either if they don't respond or don’t want it, the subscription will be cancelled for them automatically. There’s a catch though, this only applies to users who have been inactive for a year or two.
The platform has over 180 Million subscribers worldwide and added another 16 million in the first quarter of 2020 alone as home locked families flocked to them for some entertainment. The pandemic has come as a blessing to most of the online streaming platforms. 💻
What else are we Snackin’🍿
✈️ Chaos erupts as more than 80 flights in Delhi cancelled
☹️ India stands at no. 10 among Coronavirus hit nations
Tweet of the day -
On a lighter note, the Prime Minister of New Zealand was calm during a live TV interview when an earthquake hit the set. The internet is going abuzz at the cool nature with with the PM handled herself, almost laughing off the shaking and then continuing with her conversation as if nothing happened.
Also, the PM who has been a public favorite after her handling of deadly shootings in NZ a year ago, has now been receiving a tons of praise for handling the pandemic in NZ extremely well. NZ has some of the lowest numbers of infections reported and the highest testing rate for most developed nations. Madam PM, we are fans.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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