The Best One Yet - 🦚 “Group buying, aka ‘Flocking’” — Temu’s #1 shopping app. Uber’s custom car. Pantene’s price pushback.

Episode Date: January 23, 2023

The #1 app in America right now? It’s Temu — Because it’s pioneered the new trend of group shopping, or what we call “Flocking”. Uber is working with carmakers to design the first-ever ride-hail car. And P&G’s earnings show a potential inflection point in the fight against inflation: Us consumers are saying “no” to higher prices. $PDD $UBER $PGFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Monday. Welcome back January 23rd. And today's pod is absolutely the best one yet. Today's pod is a T-boy. Jack, should we reveal the destination of the reverse surprise party this weekend? You should.

Okay, here we go. Buckeye Roadhouse, a steakhouse by the Golden Gate Bridge. Right off 101. We closed down the joint jack. I got a little barbecue sauce in my bow tie. Prove it with picks. Hold the pulled pork. In the meantime, what is the first story for today's pod?

The number one app in the United States and Europe right now is T-M-U. T-M-U. T-M-U, they have pioneered a new growth hack. We call it flocking. For our second story, Uber's next big thing is an Uber-designed car. Uber is getting a car special made for Uber. And our third and final story is Procter & Gamble, which just reported something shocking. Yeah, you have finally pushed back on the Pantene Shampoo Price Pop.

We have finally made the price pushback. But Yetis, before we hit that fantastic mix for a Monday. I love kicking off the week with this mix. Beautiful mixture. Flip it open to Hortes Almanac Week 149. There we go. Things were running at it because of the pandemic. Jack and I have been keeping track for you.

Now last week, we were running out of chicken eggs. $9.99 for a dozen eggs. I remember it well, felt it with the omelets. This week, what are we running out of Jack? Cowboy hats. We're running out of cowboy hats. The Wall Street Journal has reported a surge in demand for the cowboy hat. Jack, we got a shortage of Stetsons out there.

Ranges are running out of cowboy hats right now. I'm sorry, what's next? Chaps, then Spurs, then Stierrups. Where does the madness end, my friend? Yetis, you cannot blame Chuck Norris for this phenomenon. Don't even think about blaming Chuck Norris for this phenomenon. Who you got to blame, Jack? Blame Yellowstone, Season 5.

Blame the Yellowstone effect. Because the Yellowstone on TV has created. this cowboy hat shortage. Yeah, apparently Western Corps is now hardcore. You ought to be ranging like John Dutton, don't you yet? Yeah, so we know what you did. You went full Kevin Costa on your closet, didn't you admit it? But here's the irony of the current cowboy hat shortage.

The irony is that the buyer of all these cowboy hats isn't Buffalo Bill. No, it's Bill. Your accountant from the suburbs. Yeah, he's acting like Texas, but his home is in Greenwich. You look Wild Wild Wild West, but you live on the Upper West side. Jack and I don't brand ourselves with an iron. We brand ourselves on LinkedIn, yeah, we're wearing cowboy hats. We don't ride bulls.

We ride a bull market. Jack, I don't corral cattle. I sole cycle. The only last though I know is 10. Whoa, there, girl. Easy does it. Easy does. Let's hit our three stories.

Yeah. It's before this song. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that cost a cultural. 50%. That's a fat tip. Tea Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're ready to go.

We can't wait no more. So just start. for our first story. There is one app that is dominating the app store right now. And that app is T-Moo. Instead of paying Zuck or TikTok to grow, T-Moo is paying you and your entire flock. Yetis, your phone screen, the way Jack and I see, your phone screen, it's like a painting of your life. Because what's on your phone is what's on your mind. And that is why over the weekends, Jack and I like to look at what's happening in the app store download charts. And what kind of stuff do we see in those download charts, Jack?

Well, the app rankings reveal trends of what's on our minds. And that's why this past weekend, Jack and I noticed that the number one most downloaded shopping app in America right now is not Amazon, is not Walmart, and is not she in. It's T-Mu. A quick update, that's when we noticed that the number one downloaded app overall in America right now is not TikTok and is not Instagram. It's not YouTube. It's not Facebook.

It's T-M-U. T-E-M-U. TEMU is only a four-month-old company that is in the prime of its life right now. This shopping app is living larger than Oprah. But we should. Should we sprinkle on a little context here, Jack? Go ahead. Timu is not an American app, even though it's dominating American downloads.

Timu is owned by the $100 billion Chinese online shopping powerhouse known as Pinduoduo. Now, yeties, when Jack and I noticed all this over the weekend, we were curious, how did Timo become the number one app in America out of nowhere? by bringing Chinese shopping styles to America. What kind of shopping style in particular, Jack? Gameification. Gameification. Because Yeti's Timu, they have turned shopping into a game with a new concept that is described

by venture capitalists as group buying. We'd like to call group buying flocking them, because group buying turns your friends into a flock of buying birds. A whole flock of buying birds. Here's how this thing goes down. Let's say you open the Timu app and you see a slam and salmon sweater that you really like for 50 bucks. 50 bucks. That's a little too much.

But the app tells you that you could get this sweater for 33 bucks if, if, if you get three friends to buy this sweater along with you by three o'clock today. That's the catch. Jack, I'm already stressed out. What happens next? I'm already itching myself. Well, the one TEMU user who sought for 50, but could get it for 33, group texts all their friends, a unique URL telling them if you download the TEMU app and buy this sweater with me, it's only $33. Not going to lie, I like the look of the sweater, and I'm getting excited. It worked.

At least three buddies downloaded the app and bought the shirt. Timo rewards the entire flock of friends with a group discount, $33. Yeti's ipso facto Timo just turned your buddies into a flock of sweater buying birds. And flocking just turned one Timo user into four Timo users. Because the whole group played the game won and the prize was $17 off a sweater. Timu, team me, T us. I thought you had a cute top in you. And if a sweater's not your style, I'm sure there's a cute top or two in there.

The future of shopping may be flocking. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Timo? Timu just turned customers into promoters. Yeties, let's look at the numbers here. Timu just got four downloads from one customer. That one customer, they were the promoter. To get the three new customers, Timo didn't pay for billboards. It didn't pay for commercials.

It didn't pay for Instagram ads either. No, instead, Timo just used that marketing budget. It would have spent on ads on your discount. So instead of an uncertain ad, which could have resulted in no new customers, it got three guaranteed new customers. But here's the deal. Flocking like that, that is expensive. That is a lot of $17 off discounts for Timo to be dishing out.

But it's clearly effective and it's a novel way to scale fast. Timu Growth Hack. They're now number one in the app store because at the end of the day, or all just a flock of buying birds. Looking for some cute tops. For our second story, Uber just announced its next new big thing. And that new Uber thing is an Uber customized car. For the first time, a car isn't designed for the driver, but for the passenger or the pad

tie that's being delivered. But Jack, before we jump into this story, we're going to have to call up our buddy exhibit again, my friend. We got ourselves another car company that wants to pimp the ride. Here's the news yetties. At the Davos event in Switzerland. Must be nice. Yeah.

Uber announced they're working with carmakers to build a car specifically for Uber rides. Jack, are we talking about the first ever Uber car? We are, Nick, because CEO Dara Kosor Shahi told the Wall Street Journal, not who is going to manufacture this car? No, he did not. It could be Volkswagen Uber or it could be Cadillac Uber. We don't know.

But we do know that in the future, it won't be Patty driving up in a white Prius or Carl approaching in five minutes in a black camera. Yeties, in a few years, when you call Uber, you're going to get Ursula showing up in an Uber car with an Uber branded chassis. Nice car, what is this? Oh, it's a 2026 Uber. Not too shabby. Thank you for taking me around Davos. Now, yeties, the key about the Uber car, it's going to be optimized for the things Uber does, ride sharing and food delivery. It would also be all electric because Uber's promised and only electric. Fleet by 2030. They got to get on that. And the Uber car would be cheaper because Uber is still not profitable. But yet, he's, the reason Jack and I found this story fascinating is because this is the first

ever mass car not designed for the driver, but designed for the passenger. Ah. Yeah. For example, the seats are going to face each other to promote conversation. It's like, Jack, remember that teacup ride, the little teacup at Disney World? It's a small world after all, or is that something else? No, no, no, no. It's the teacup ride where you're all in the. Tika with your whole family, like spinning that little wheel. This would be like that. Yet he's in the Uber car, the driver's seat is still going to be four. But nobody else in the car has to be four.

Eyes on the road, sir. You're going to be facing forward. And the Uber car is expected to be slow. Like literally, it's not going to be able to drive fast. Really, really slow. Think about it, Yeti's. A huge number of rides happen in New York City, where the maximum speed is 50 miles per hour. So with the Uber customized car, the driver can't pull a VIN diesel on you anymore. No reason this thing needs to go.

go to 10 miles now. It's the end of the fast and the furious five-star driver. Can we ask for one more thing about the Uber car? Jack, now is the time you know I should ask Dar for something. Can we make the backseat stain and spill resistant? I'm so glad you said it. Like easy cleanup for when Becky maybe had a few too many Bacardi's at the Bachelorette. Yeah. And make the Uber car, not just dog friendly, accident friendly. Now Jack, one more question. Is this new Uber car going to have heated seats, which you and I love? Another question. Will it have a roomy interior? with reclining headrests. Jack, will this new Uber car

have a bow surround system for us to enjoy in the back seat? Yeah, no. Oh, no. And why is that, Jack? Our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Uber?

Tech does not care about your comfort anymore. Tech cares about costs. Yet he's the goal, the true goal of this new Uber car isn't to make you comfy or save the planet or to win a JD Power Award. Uber has one goal with the Uber car

cut costs. Yeah, because for all the fun of an Uber customized car, the real point is that it's cheaper. Forget heated seats. This thing's less Rolled Royce, more rickshaw. Yeah, because Uber knows that after 14 years of still not being profitable, investors are giving it one star. So to get profitable, it must move people and move your pad tie as cheaply as humanly possible. Hence the little engine and the plastic seats. Uber and the rest of tech have one focus right now, and it's not your It's their costs. And keeping them down. Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood.

You know, honestly, your salad, it says so much about you. Nick, you like to blaze your own trail at the salad bar. I'm ordering a salad. I go off menu, man, like a combo of kale and croutons that has never been made before. Me? I'm not reinventing the wheel. I like to go classic. If Sweakerian thinks it's a good combo, Jack's not going to change that.

Kind of like investing strategies. Someone to build a custom portfolio of stocks, Crypto and options. Others don't want to reinvent. Just give me the most standard ETF. Whether you're tweaking your one-of-a-kind portfolio every day or prefer a more hands-off approach, Robin Hood has the tools. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-Boy to choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-I. Limitations apply. Stocks offered by Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Crypto offered through Robin Hood All investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned or part of Robinhood,

and we are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story, Procter & Gamble's earnings just revealed that consumers did something for the very first time in three years. We revolted. We revolted. Because the only way inflation ends

is if consumers say no. This aggression will not stand, man. Now, fun secret about Procter and Gamble neck. Oh, this is a little joke that Jack and I like to tell each of us. all the time. We get a kick out of this thing. No products are named Proctor. No products are named Gamble. The folks at P&G love that one at the annual meeting. Cincinnati's finest corporation. They actually do make Gillette razors, tied laundry detergent, Pantine ProVee.

Uh-huh. P&G, they are the arameas of home goods. They're the product of personal products. They're not cheap. No, they are not. But unsurprisingly, Procter and Gamble raised prices across all of its products on average by 10% last quarter. That wasn't surprising. This part is surprising. This part is shocking. Americans said no. P&G, we the people will not pay these higher prices. The volume of bathroom and cleaning products sold by Procter & Gamble fell last quarter by 6%. Jack, can you spin a little context into this washing machine? The biggest drop in consumer purchases of Procter and Gamble products in years. I'm sorry, but yeties, we got to pause the pod for a second.

Jack, what is going on here? We need to reflect a moment. This represents a shocking change by us American consumers. Jack, I am pulling out the whiteboard here. In May of 2021, they jacked up the price of Pepto-Bismol on us. And we all said, okay, fine. Jack, in December of 2021, they jacked up the price of Pantine ProV on us. We all complained about it, but we said, okay, fine, here's my credit card. I'm sorry, Jack, this past summer, P&G raised prices of Mr. Clean because

Because they could. We all really complained about it. We were getting anxious, but we still said, okay, fine. I'll take a paper bag, please. Well, Bestie's last quarter, for the first time in years, we said no. Enough is enough. This transgression will not stand, man. Stop raising prices.

I'm not buying that thing. Yides, it was the great pantine shampoo pushback and it just happened. Proctor and Gamble's 6% sales drop could mark an inflection point for the entire economy. So, Jack, what is the takeaway for our buddies who are all of us consumers? The only way inflation ends is if us consumers say no. Yeties, look, for nearly two years, prices on everything have been up at least 5% with your double-digit lot. Despite that persistently high inflation, U.S. consumer spending just kept on climbing. But Procter & Gamble's earnings reveal that us consumers are finally revolting.

We are finally saying no. And guess what? We see it in the inflation data, which shows price rises have slowed down for six straight months. Now, CEOs are seeing that, and maybe they're a little less cocky about raising prices on us. CEOs may even start dropping prices to compete for your money. In this economy, wouldn't that be nice? Wouldn't that be nice? Because the only way inflation ends is if we just...

Say no. Or to quote that dude in the Big Lebowski. This transgression shall not stand. Man, Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? T-Moo has soared to number one in the app store with group buying, aka flocking. T-Moo just unlocked a new growth hack, turned customers into promoters. For our second story, it's Uber. They're working with carmakers to build the first ever custom Uber car.

Tech doesn't care about your comfort anymore. cares about its costs. And our third and final story is Proctor and Gamble. They just reported their price hikes didn't work last quarter. The only way inflation ends is if we just say no. No thank you. Not happening. Probably no thank you is more polite.

Enough is enough. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by legendary Yeti Kelsey Black down in Austin, Texas. Did you know it's impossible to tickle yourself? Physically, you can not tickle yourself. You can try it right now, yaddies, give it a shot. Go for your armpit, go for your neck, go for your feet. It's not going to work.

And the reason you can't tickle yourself is because that when you move a part of your own body, your brain is monitoring that movement and it anticipates the sensations that will cause. If you try to tickle yourself, your brain knows those fingers are yours. So it dials down your sensory response and you can't enjoy that tickle. Tickling. It's just not a DIY activity. Tickling. It takes two.

It takes two to tick on. Yet is you look fantastic today before we ride off into the sunset. And if you have got a cowboy hat on, we're extremely jealous. Hit us up at Team Boy Pop. We want to see a pick of this thing. Save a horse ride a cowboy. Is that appropriate for this moment right? As long as you don't tickle the cowboy, you're going to be in good shape, Jack.

Yeah, world number 78. Don't try to tickle a cowboy. Yeti send us your cowboy hat picks. Jack and I. We'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a congratulations to Yeti's Robert and Chelsea Crystal, who just had their first-born daughter, Eloise, born in St. Louis. Make sure to bring Eloise to the plaza at some point, if you know, you know. And congratulations to Bestie Jessica McDonald, who just passed her CFP exam.

Happy three years together to Tia and Ryan Brooks down in Houston, Texas. And we got a wedding anniversary for Louis. Louise and Diana Cabrera down in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Congrats and good luck to Dean, who's celebrating his first week on his new job down in Baltimore. And we got a happy birthday to Yeti Emmy EO. Beal over in Greenwich, Connecticut. And a big happy ninth birthday to Anya Caffhammer, who actually manages her own debit card down in Hyannis. Anya is the treasurer of just outside Boston. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy.

Celebrate the wins. Jack, I own stock of Amazon, Disney, and Volkswagen, and Nick and I both own stock in Robin Hood. Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. Okay, so Jack and I both worked in finance for a while. And we know the six-monitor Bloomberg jockey, with charts, numbers, balances, and more charts. They got coffees in both hands while they're executing some complex trade on a soybean future. Well, we're not trying to impress with our mission control trading center. Just give us an app, please.

Robin Hood, with its mobile first and intuitive design, it lets you trade with just a few quick taps on their app. And even if things still don't seem easy, Robin Hood has your back 24-7 with its live and robust customer support. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-B-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robin Hood.com slash T-B-O-Y. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC, all investments involved for us. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood.