Amazon will sell cars in 2024

👔 Middleman: In 2024, Amazon will become the middleman between buyers and dealerships. In its newest move, cars are ordered online then are delivered to local dealership or picked up by the customer themselves. They already have a car showroom for viewing different models, prices, colors and even the interior through a 360 view.

The factors:

• 💢 A study by Cox Automotive found that most people hate buying cars from dealers

• 🛑 48 other states limit or ban selling vehicles directly to consumers

⚖️ The Loophole: To get around these, Amazon will allow buyers to shop from their site, where cars can be shipped to dealers. This still keeps car dealers in the chain, which technically doesn’t violate the law.

Alibaba cancels Cloud spinoff

☁️ Alibaba Cloud: Alibaba has cancelled their spinoff of their Cloud division because of restrictions of the US exporting computer chips to China. Alibaba Cloud will still be operational and is being used for data storage, database, cloud computing and was set up to compete with other cloud computing tech like AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

📝 The original plan: Originally, it was supposed to have a spinoff to be its own business under the Alibaba Group. Alibaba was splitting its major departments so that they can be their own IPOs. Now it will be focus on creating sustainable growth during the AI rush.

QR code payments are here for Singapore and Indonesia cross border

💳️ The QR Connection: The deal between Singapore and Indonesia would let users of certain banks make retail payments via NETS QR (Singapore) and QRIS (Indonesia) created by merchants from these countries. Singapore already does this with China, Malaysia, Thailand and India

Both countries and their residents benefit from:

• 💸 Fast, secure and cheaper transfers

• ✈️ Promotes both ecommerce and tourism in both countries

🪙 Local currency deal: They are also establishing a local currency settlement framework that lets these payments be done using their own currencies (Singaporean dollars and Indonesian rupiah)