The world's largest shopping days (Black Friday, Singles Day in China, Prime Day online, and so on) means shipping lots and lots of boxes, via big-box retailers and container ships -- but that's not the only reason we're re-running this episode of the a16z Podcast from 2017 with The Box author Marc Levinson. It's because we love logistics and infrastructure, and is really about how global innovation happens... through all sorts of invisible details.
This podcast rerun -- first recorded over two and a half years ago, now being rerun as one of our evergreen classics on the tails of the world's largest designated shopping days (Black Friday, Singles Day in China, Prime Day online, and so on) -- is ALL about the container ship. Also known as "The Box", with author Marc Levinson (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi and Hanne Tidnam). But this episode is really about connecting the dots between logistics, transportation, infrastructure, and much more.
What do we make of the so-called "death of retail", especially when seen through the retail history of the once-largest retailer in the world? How are supply chains changing today? One thing's for sure: the shipping container made the world much smaller... and the world much economy bigger.
image: Kevin Talec / Flickr