I noted in the duality element that digital products which thrive are typically both products and platforms. It would be hopeless to build modern digital products without having a moat through platforms. Interestingly, the greatest digital ICT utilities have double plays in their business models: if Amazon decimates many brick-and-mortar stores, it would welcome many online to sell them cloud services. Alibaba welcomes you to its marketplace platforms, and you certainly have signed up for its payment processing solutions which command commissions.
No matter how you see it, no one has done well in the world being a pure ecommerce firm (multi-vendor, multi-selection category, multi-product, etc marketplace; not ecommerce store) without a double play strategy. Consider that as you build one in Africa.
Based on the one oasis strategy, the double play will continue to support Amazon’s growth even as it loses money in the ecommerce business. You need your one oasis.
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