Rufus v. ChatGPT

Rufus is Amazon’s Generative AI chatbot. Whenever you have a question about a product you’re browing on the Amazon website or app, you can click the Rufus button and ask away. You can converse with Rufus in normal language (Natural Language) just as you’d with ChatGPT. Around six months ago, I was in the market … Read more

Why ChatGPT Has Not Killed Google Search

People started complaining about the decline in quality of Google Search around a decade ago. Accordingly, many pundits predicted the demise of Google Search in the then near future. But, for reasons I speculated in my blog post entitled The End Of Google Search Is Not Nigh, it did not happen. Then came ChatGPT at … Read more

BlinkIt – Height Of Location Friction In Hyperlocal Apps

In Why Do Hyperlocal Apps Have So Much Location Friction?, we had a look at several location-related friction hotspots in hyperlocal apps like Dunzo, Ola, Pizza Hut Delivery, Rapido, and Uber. Subsequently, in Three Innovations To Remove Location Friction In Hyperlocal Apps, we looked at how these friction hotspots are caused by certain fundamental limitations … Read more

Three Innovative Features From Hyperlocal Apps To Kill Location Friction

In Why Do Hyperlocal Apps Have So Much Location Friction?, I described many friction hotspots while entering and editing locations in hyperlocal apps like Ola, Rapido, Uber (Rideshare) Pizza Hut, Swiggy (Food delivery) Dunzo, Swiggy Genie (Runner) Many of these apps have excellent UX. I found it hard to believe that they’d have bungled just … Read more

Why Do Hyperlocal Apps Have So Much Location Friction?

The term “location” seemingly means different things in different hyperlocal apps: Locality / neighborhood e.g. Kalyaninagar Address e.g. B1-504 Silver Oak, Kalyaninagar, … Pickup / delivery point e.g. Flat # 504 on the fifth floor of B1 building in Silver Oak society in Kalyaninagar… (cf. footnote 1). I’ve been using Location Based Service apps for … Read more

Innovation Is Not Invention

Innovation is not Invention. Invention is a new thing. Innovation is a new way of doing an existing thing that amplifies impact through broader reach. Let me cite a few examples to drive home this difference. 1. AirBnB During Oktoberfest, the city of Munich with a population of 1.2 million residents receives roughly seven million … Read more

Google Play Store – Small Brother Shouldn’t Act Like Big Brother!

To: editet@timesgroup.com Subject: Big Tech, Don’t Be A Big Brother Dear Editor of Economic Times: This has reference to the op-ed entitled Big Tech, Don’t Be A Big Brother by Dhanendra Kumar, Former Chairman, Competition Commission of India (CCI), in The Economic Times. This article is full of factual and logical inaccuracies. Let me list … Read more

How To Resolve Pricing Paradoxes

InĀ Five Pricing Paradoxes, we covered many pricing paradoxes and speculated on why they happen. In this post, we will examine if and how they need to be fixed. Is There A Problem? While there’s a logic to pricing paradoxes, we cannot expect the Average Customer to accept them. As a result, they will complain about … Read more

When Middleman Does Not Increase Prices: Five Pricing Paradoxes

According to common wisdom, middleman adds a margin, so his price will be higher than the original manufacturer’s price. Why do D2C brands price their products higher on their own website and make them cheaper on marketplaces like Amazon? I always assumed buying from their website is cheaper, given they save on commissions. What's the … Read more

Shattering The Myth Of Exorbitant Credit Card MDR

Since times immemorial, merchants have complained that banks charge exorbitant fees for processing credit card payments. Called Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), this fee is around 2% of the transaction value, as described in my blog post titled Credit Card Primer – Interchange, MDR & Surcharge. In this post, I will shatter the myth that MDR … Read more