Day: December 20, 2005

Categories
Business Stocks

Plastic society

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on December 22, 2005 by stlplace

Just watched Frontline on PBS. The topic is “Secret history of the credit card”. I thought it provides some very useful information. We all know the US economy is very much depependent on consumer spending. And the credit cards are used more and more by consumers. I remember a story my “American mom” told me. When her own kids were little and they asked their mom for something, they thought everything can be bought with that “magic plastic card”. Personally I applied and received my first credit card shortly after I attended the graduate school in Rolla. I had been through “low interest” balance transfers and paid interest on those loans from time to time. Other than that I do pay off my monthly balance regularly. But I did notice I tend to spend more freely with the credit cards, e.g., recently I spent quite a bit on the espresso at Borders, Panera Bread and Star Bucks. Another reason I use credit card is some of them offer cash bonus for purchase on gas, geocery, etc. I don’t consider myself a “very profitable customer” for the credit card companies.

Until today I have not connectted the dot of two things: consumer spending and credit card usage. It worries me more is China is catching up with the consumerism rather quickly. Last summer I went back to Shanghai and saw increasing acceptance of credit cards. I even used my US credit card to book vacation on Ctrip. It’s convenient but later on I saw there is a 1% charge for using outside the US. A friend from Shanghai used credit card for his US trip too. I can see the convenience here because he is on business trip.

Just for the fun: I found out if I pay the minimum monthly payment on my “low interest” balance on my credit card, it will take 54 months (4 and a half years) to pay off. Now I have more desire to pay off that loan more aggressively.

Categories
Business Saint Louis Technology

Make used books more useful

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Last Updated on December 21, 2005 by stlplace

A good friend of my brother recently visited St. Louis. He is an avid reader and used book collector. Although I like to read too but I have to admit I am not at his level in terms of reading breadth and expertise. Neverthless, we spent quite some time in two of the used book stores in St. Louis. The first one is The Book House at Manchester Road. It’s a family owned operation, a two story building full of all kinds of used books. We spent about an hour and half there and my friend picked up 6 books. I think the cashier was quite happy with his big spending. It seems to me not many people here will buy that many at one time. After that we went to the Left Bank Books at the Central West End. Left Bank is a larger (but independent) book store and it has both new and used books. I remember I saw the late Chinese American writer Iris Chang at the store a few years ago. We also picked a few books there.

Besides the brick-and-mortar stores. We can also look for books online. These are nothing new: one can search on ebay and Amazon for those used books. What interested me is I found some new ideas about the exchanging used books. Two web sites, bookins, paperbackswap, are helping people exchange used books online. It seems the former is more business oriented (creating profit), the latter is more service oriented. But I like the idea very much. Unlike my friend, I am not a book collector. And I want to read more books without owning them. Library is a good source. But this online exchange thing is also interesting. I may try this in this holiday.

Categories
Business China

Chatea in China

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Last Updated on December 20, 2005 by stlplace

I saw this from “Sage Brennan’s this week in China” at MarketWatch. I have been to Chatea (Yi Cha Yi Zuo 一茶一坐) at Huangzhou in 2004 and was very impressed by the settings and the service. Also walked outside a store in Xu Jia Hui (Shanghai) during dinner time and the waiting line was just too long. After reading the article I am even more impressed by the investors and management of the company.

Here is the excerpt:

Chatea raises unconventional funding

Much has been made of recent increases in high-yield lending to take up the slack that resulted when domestic banks began to tighten credit. But China’s booming private sector is looking to a variety of mechanisms to finance growth. As an example of the increasingly creative deals that China’s private equity sector is likely to see in the coming year, I offer up the unique funding of Shanghai-based restaurant chain Chatea (Yi Cha Yi Zuo) by several investors known for deals in completely unassociated industries.

IDG Technology Venture Investment, one of China’s best-known backers of successful early-stage technology companies like Baidu, Sohu.com Inc, eBay’s Eachnet and Ctrip, as well as a large number of promising startups, was a surprising participant in the financing of Chatea’s privatization, joining Susquehanna International Group.

The $7 million round, closed in early December, privatized the 70% share of the company that had been owned by the Shanghai government, which reportedly made a 30% return in the roughly one year that it owned its share of Chatea.

Is this an example of the influence of the Shanghai government in private enterprise? Sure, but it also is a recognition that a solid business concept deserves attention – even from unexpected quarters. Investors known for whiz-bang technology investments out on the Long Tail were willing to bet on a decidedly old-economy business model and management team, which hails from the China divisions of McDonald’s Corporation, Yum Brands Inc.’s KFC and the original Taiwanese founders.

So why is this a venture capital deal? Chatea emphasizes a commitment to providing a high-quality customer experience, which diners in the West, for the most part, take for granted. In China, restaurant customers are treated unevenly, at best. So an operation that keeps customer service as a mantra and provides a stylish atmosphere has a real chance to grow quickly if it is adequately capitalized, much as Starbucks has in China. In this concept, the investors apparently see the potential for VC-like returns.

One of the most interesting aspects of Chatea is that with 17 restaurants, several of which are located in cities as far as Beijing, the company has developed a scalable model to produce food of consistent quality from a single kitchen in Shanghai, similar to the McDonald’s model, but with a stylish twist. Chatea claims that the kitchen can support up to 60 restaurants. Customers, in general, have no idea that the gleaming kitchens featured in every location do not actually produce any of the dishes that are served. They also have only a vague notion of the massive margins that Chatea makes on the gourmet teas it sells.

Will we see more deals like this one? Probably not exactly, but compelling deals that can clearly be pulled off with a bit of creativity abound in China.