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A point not made in the article: American consumers are better at consuming and driving growth than European consumers: When the article mentioned Starbucks an
by mustafa_pasi 5y ago
A point not made in the article: American consumers are better at consuming and driving growth than European consumers:
When the article mentioned Starbucks and Tesla, I immediately thought, those would never have taken off in Europe. Americans are just much better consumers. Americans spend more on luxury and value convenience to a greater deal. American consumers are also more adventurous and willing to try new things. If I spent $80k on a Tesla when their brand was still nothing, people would call me crazy. "Could have gotten a Porsche", would probably be, what they'd say.
And if you notice, what is happening, luxury markets is where all the growth is, these days. Essentials are not growing much. This is probably another reason why Europe, with all its experience in these essentials markets is not capturing much of this growth. With the exception of clothing and apparel.
- IfOnlyYouKnew 5y agoEurope has plenty of "luxury" brands, although few in the tech sector, admittedly. But consumer-facing brands aren't everything. Germany's industry is famously reliant on "hidden champions": specialist mid-sized companies you've never heard of, producing, say, industrial pumps, chewing-gum wrapping machines, or large curved glass panels.
- Proven 5y agoMost luxury brands existed before socialism took hold and especially before the EU.
- smaug7 5y agoThe article points out that the industries that the European companies are in have slow growth rates. I can't imagine industrial pumps, chewing gum wrapping machines, large curved glass panels can have the same growth rates (or profit margins) as some of america's top mid sized companies. https://www.forbes.com/lists/best-mid-cap-companies/#66cd8f8b59e1 https://www.forbes.com/lists/best-mid-cap-companies/#66cd8f8... Here's a list to get a gauge of what's out there
- TMWNN 5y ago>Germany's industry is famously reliant on "hidden champions": specialist mid-sized companies you've never heard of, producing, say, industrial pumps, chewing-gum wrapping machines, or large curved glass panels. Besides smaug7's point (which the article also makes), mittelstand is a German, not European, phenomenon.
- quartesixte 5y agoYeah European industrial machine manufacturers are world class and some have virtual monopolies on their product. It’s not sexy and definitely slow. Months where they sell more than 4 machines a month is “crazy busy” for these guys. Granted, each machine takes months to manufacture, but when one machine sells for $25million + millions more in support costs, you don’t have to work very fast to hit big revenue. But their customers don’t expect fast either.