Quick highlights from the executive summary:

- E-commerce grew 30% to R$ 10.6 Bi and average ticket of R$ 335 (up just 2.1%);

- 17.6mm people purchased something online in 2009, up 33%;

- Within that group, 77% did at least one purchase in the last 3 months of the survey;

- Quality logistics is the key for keeping delivery dates, which is a determining factor in customer satisfaction. (Easier said than done!)

We don’t have any intention to be the “ultimate source for all things Buffett”, as a lot of people already do a great job at this and we thank them for uncovering these pearls. But this video is special. The parts on “moats” add up to some of his most detailed comments yet on the subject.

We don’t think it’s any exaggeration to say that Buffett has transcended the investment realm and that this is interesting for people in all walks of life. We’re certainly making backup copies.

One excerpt we feel is important to highlight:

” ‘We’re trying to do good. And we’re trying to make money. The more money we make, the more good we can do.’ – By this, he (John Mackey) had in mind not the traditional philanthropic argument that more money earned equals more to give away but, rather, that a good company–that is, his company–which sells good things and treats its employees, shareholders, customers, and suppliers well, can spread goodness simply by thriving. “

This “special bonus” is from Mr. Mackey’s editorial on health care in the Wall Street Journal (link below). It’s how he starts the piece and it’s a sentence by Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s former prime minister: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”

LINKS:

The Whole Foods alternative to ObamaCare – WSJ, Aug. 11th 2009 – The controversial op-ed on the Wall Street Journal about healthcare in the US. By stating that health care is no more of an intrinsic right than are food or shelter, Mr. Mackey made a lot of his “target customers” mad. This mix of personal and professional has led even Warren Buffett to shy away from personal views on issues with potential for backlash. One would think that Whole Foods has credit due to its long history of treating employees and suppliers well – as long as this last group complies with standards that ultimately raise the bar.

Did he jump or was he pushed? – John Mackey steps down as Chairman of Whole Foods – The Tree Hugger.com, Dec. 31st 2009

John Mackey doesn’t believe in climate change – The Huffington Post, Jan. 3rd 2010 – Almost funny in the way it chronicles Mr. Mackey’s fall-outs with Whole Foods’ “target customer” over his personal opinions. This particular blogger has had enough because of his environmental views.

But that’s not all that matters: is crowdsourcing then a substitute for companies’ R&D demands? Does it always work? How open do you really want to be? Some people are looking at it and saying “hold your horses”. That’s always a good advice in our book.

As for Netflix, they’re happy enough to have a Netflix Prize 2 on the works. Very smart: it keeps the ball rolling and takes advantage of the community they built. The press coverage doesn’t hurt, either.

But there’s more. We’d argue that the benefits of the Netflix Prize in terms of research in statistics/ data mining/ etc. in large data sets may be felt for years. It’s interesting to consider this in terms of efficiency gains for many different types of companies. It’s something companies all around the world should be paying attention to.

Here’s a video interview with Reed Hastings, Netflix’s CEO, at the time of the award.

Links:

Crowdsourcing page on Wikipedia

Jeff Howe’s classic article on Wired, his book and his blog

The teaser for Netflix Prize 2

Winning the Netflix Prize – NY Times, October 2008 (huge article with a video that apparently can’t be embedded here).