Every Day Is Prime Day Now

Every Day Is Prime Day Now

As Coronavirus shuts down most of the United States, Amazon's vertical integration with retail sales, Whole Foods, streaming video, AWS, and logistics has effectively made EVERY day Prime Day now.

What was once a yearly event to find any, and all, the products that you needed at special prices with fast shipping and backed by a brand you can trust, has become the de facto method of survival for thousands of households in America. Every day is now Prime Day.

Jeff Bezos left the hedge fund D. E. Shaw & Co. in 1994 to start Amazon as an online bookstore, three years later it went public. Over the next 25 years Amazon aggressively moved into retail sales, grocery sales, streaming video, internet infrastructure, and logistics. These "five pillars" have now formed the backbone of one of the most valuable, and essential, companies in history.

The coronavirus spread has laid bare the value of vertical integration in terms of a stable supply chain that can be accessed at any time, anywhere. Through thousands of incremental improvements over the past 25 years Amazon has harnessed the "new" technology of the internet to leverage the customer experience. 

As its namesake implies, virtually anything can be purchased on Amazon now including vital food and beverage supplies online while Whole Foods adds a large physical footprint across the country. Not only can consumers purchase needed physical goods and supplies, Amazon also offers arguably the best video streaming platform. Prime Video allows viewers to select from thousands of educational to entertainment videos which are included in its membership, but also the ability to purchase or rent virtually any digital product ever produced. Finally, for those working from home AWS offers a compelling platform to build a business and work. Tying all of this together is one of the best logistics systems in the world. 

Amazon's laser focus on being customer-centric has allowed it to leapfrog the competition in multiple industries, grabbing market share from staid businesses and transforming the retail landscape. Along the way it has built tremendous trust with the consumer allowing it to dovetail into seemingly disparate business lines like streaming video, food, and logistics which in hindsight all helped to cement the consumer experience into one where every day is now Prime Day.

The Power of Branding

The diagram above created by Convergence Alimentaire provides a powerful mental image of many of the brands we enjoy on a daily basis, and in particular, how very few companies actually control vast branding power.

As financial farmers, powerful branding is important to us because it leads to cash flow. Cash flow in turn leads to compounding (seed growth in our vernacular), which is the entire purpose of planting your own diversified financial farm.

There are several companies above that own multiple billion dollar brands, brands that if spun off on their own would be world-class enterprises. The success of these conglomerates, however, is greatly enhanced by their ability to vertically integrate various product lines under a single umbrella. Theoretically, cost savings can be harnessed in advertising dollars, marketing, technology, manufacturing, distribution, and most importantly personnel. 

There are many advantages to owning quality brands, the individual who plans to Invest Like A Farmer should consider establishing the core of his or her financial farm with multiple high-quality brand-centric companies. Several advantages include significant barriers to entry, established shelf positions, mental identity from the consumer, and proven track records to name a few. What this typically translates into is revenue, and more importantly, profit for the financial farmer.

Brands successfully marketed and sold lead to strong cash flows, increasing dividends for shareholders over time and considerable market share. These are all good results that any prudent farmer would love to plant and harvest.