Happy Nice Mall

Many apps that Americans use are also popular around the world, at least outside of China. Facebook, WhatsApp, Google and YouTube, TikTok, Uber and Netflix are shared global experiences.

But shopping online or in stores remained mostly local. People around the world aren’t buying teapots and t-shirts from a common major retailer like Amazon or China’s Alibaba, and we may never do.

What does it mean for us that the world will never have shared malls? It may be healthy for Earth to avoid being a homogeneous blob with a handful of global stores. But it also feels like a challenge to the idealistic notion that the internet can bring the world closer.

A few years ago, Amazon’s senior finance executive told investors that over time, “customers have behaved the same way globally.” So far, this prediction has not come true. of Amazon financial disclosures shows that around 90 percent of its annual income comes from just four countries: the USA, Germany, the UK and Japan.

Nearly 30 years after Walmart’s efforts to expand around the world, the retailer has had success in Canada, Mexico and Central America, but not so much elsewhere. e-commerce stars like Alibaba, Coupang in South Korea and MercadoLibre in Latin America so far they have mostly been alone in their own country or region.

Popular worldwide shopping brands like H&M and Ikea and Procter & Gamble have takeaways. But mostly, mass-market retailers selling many types of products, such as Amazon and Walmart, have challenged the digital principle that once an app or business strategy works in one place, it can go big anywhere.

“Retail is difficult to globalize” suarita kodalsaid a retail analyst with research firm Forrester. “It bothered me for years and I tried to get to the bottom of it. I don’t know that there is only one answer.”

Kodali offered three explanations for why retail giants have struggled to become as global as app superstars. Retail stores in many countries are subject to government rules that favor local residents. Local retailers and e-commerce companies also have expertise in tailoring the shopping experience to their home country. And finally, Kodali said, since it doesn’t take billions of dollars to open a store, there is often a lot of retail competition, which makes it difficult for a superstar from another country to get in.

India, considered as one biggest gold mines for the future of shoppingmay be the best place to see the sweat of international retailers trying to spread.

In 2014, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos Highly announced trip to India and declared that the country would be the focal point of the company’s international expansion. A few years later, Walmart takes over Indian e-commerce company Flipkart. Alibaba has also tried e-commerce in India.

The companies do not give much financial details about how they are doing in India. By most accounts, Amazon has made significant progress, but has also experienced major setbacks. Recently Amazon maneuvered inside ugly legal fight After Reliance Industries, one of India’s largest companies, took over a major retail chain. This was a sign of the uphill battle targeting the global retail powers out there.

Digital-only companies like Facebook’s parent company Meta, Twitter and TikTok have also faced complex regulations and tough local competition in India. But the country is the biggest market for its users. Facebook and YouTube. Amazon and Walmart can’t say that. Until last year, Amazon’s retail sales in North America were generally growing faster than their sales outside its home market.

Before speaking to Kodali, I had thought that Amazon had unique challenges in translating a plan that had been extraordinarily successful in several countries to the rest of the world. But it convinced me it wasn’t just Amazon’s problem.

The flip side of the challenge of creating world-class retailers is creating breathing space for country-specific or regional power players to outrun the giants. Coupon, Jumia in parts of Africa and Carrefour in France have more chances to thrive and offer exclusive shopping experiences for locals.

It could be a good thing for the world if shopping doesn’t travel the world as much as the rest of technology.

For more on Amazon: Check out Bloomberg ongoing podcast series This explores Amazon’s past and present. (you can listen Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.)

Before you go …

• Feedback loop of misleading claims about the occupation of Ukraine: My colleagues Sheera Frenkel and Stuart A. Thompson report false narratives about Russia’s war circulating between the far right, the Kremlin and the back in the US. “Together they created an alternate reality,” they wrote.

• Disadvantages of fantasy sports: Gambling is illegal in India, but there are no clear regulations for fantasy sports practices that are growing in popularity. The rest of the world viewed sudden increase in gaming and gambling addiction Those who bet on the results of cricket matches and other sports among Indians.

• “Baby Shark” EVERYWHERE: South Korean Pinkfong, the company behind the contagious hit children’s song, Plans to expand “Baby Shark” franchise A movie, digital comics and novels, and (of course) NFTs, Bloomberg News reports. (Subscription may be required.)

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