Sunday, October 25, 2020

Optionality in distribution

When VHS came out, Disney was able to distribute content like never before. Technology was a huge boon for Disney.

Fastenal created a distribution network for fasteners that provided amazing service to its customers and ultimately was then able to sell other products through the same network profitably. 

Facebook has such a big user base that it has huge embedded options in the company. Could it compete against PayPal? or Ebay? or Match.com? or Snapchat? The answer is yes, and I think Zuck has been reluctant to clone, but Facebook has the optionality to create new products. 

Tencent, Nestle, Ecolab and Netflix are also great distribution companies. And Apple App Store to some degree. 

A new hit game benefits Tencent because Tencent can distribute it to a billion users. When Ecolab or Nestle either acquires a new customer, or a new product, it can cross sell its products to help its customers scale. It's the AWS of physical restaurants! Netflix similarly benefits from better content creation over time.

It seems like some of the best businesses get better are getting and better over time and have additional optionality in selling new products. I hypothesize that the market may not do a great job at pricing in this type of optionality.  

 


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