In the weeks leading up to its IPO, Reddit launched two new initiatives designed to enhance opportunities for businesses and advertisers. First, Reddit introduced a data analytics suite known as Reddit Pro, which helps businesses identify relevant trending topics to engage with. A week later, it launched Free-Form Ads. This new ad format not only allows businesses to create ads that blend seamlessly with other posts but also enables interaction with users by allowing comments on the ads. Shortly after its IPO, Reddit also introduced Dynamic Product Ads, which uses machine learning to display relevant products to users based on past shopping behaviors and demonstrated Reddit interests. Data from occam shows that users engage across a broad spectrum of content, ranging from entertainment and sports to science. This wide variety of subreddits provides advertisers unique opportunities for highly targeted advertising.  Selling access to its data has also emerged as a new and lucrative revenue stream for Reddit – those training large language models (LLMs) value Reddit data not only for its vast and diverse content, but because it can improve the models’ ability to mimic varied linguistic styles and complex human interactions.  Join us as we examine occam data to explore the foundations of Reddit’s business.

Legacy sneaker giants Nike and Adidas are facing headwinds, grappling with excess inventory and criticism for a perceived lack of innovation in their sneaker lineups.  Against this backdrop, On Running and Deckers’ HOKA, two lesser-known brands, are threatening to take further market share. Both had an impressive 2023, deploying marketing strategies rooted in meaningful innovation and positioning as premium sportswear. Below, occam provides an analysis of brand recognition, how these brands resonate with different demographics, and the qualities that consumers value in the products of these two brands. 

Since its debut in fall 2022, Pinduoduo Holdings’s Temu has experienced a meteoric rise rare for a new entrant in the competitive e-commerce space. Temu’s app consistently tops the charts on Apple’s App Store and Google Play store, and it has dethroned Alibaba as the largest Chinese e-commerce company by market cap, though it has arguably achieved these feats by prioritizing rapid growth over profitability. To understand Temu’s swift rise and its potential for sustaining this rate of growth, we consult occam to examine shifting trends in consumer spending habits, the demographics of Temu’s sizable user base, and the platform’s impact on competing retailers. Our exploration leads to some intriguing findings about Temu’s less-than-ideal customer satisfaction compared with giants like eBay and Amazon, and what improvements Temu users seek from the platform.

Building on the insights from “Decoding EV Demand: Battery-Powered Bubble,” this blog examines consumer brand preferences in the electric vehicle (EV) market. We examine the correlation between brand preferences for electric vehicles (EVs) and overall brand preferences, irrespective of drivetrain. Additionally, we analyze the year-over-year growth in consumer interest across different EV brands, compare Tesla’s current market share with future Tesla purchase intent, and investigate the possibility of emerging Tesla “fatigue” in western states with high Tesla penetration. We also examine EV brand preferences by age and income, and ‘cross-shopping intensity’ by EV brand.  We close with a brief examination of the burgeoning electric pickup truck market.

Over recent years, most of the incumbent automakers significantly ramped up investments in electric vehicles (EVs), gearing up for what they collectively saw as an EV future. Among others, GM said they were aiming for an all-electric range by 2035, Ford for 100% EV sales by 2030, Mercedes for 100% zero-emission vehicles by 2030, and Volkswagen for 100% EV sales by 2033. This collective shift in focus is now manifesting in a rapidly accelerating supply of EVs. In 2022, EVs comprised approximately 5.8% of new vehicles sold in the US, and in Q3 2023, they comprised approximately 7.9%. But after years of tight EV supply, this rapid supply growth seems to have overtaken demand growth. Cox Automotive reports that as of the start of October, days of inventory for new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles stood at between 52 and 58 days, but days of inventory for new EVs (excluding Tesla and other DTC brands) stands at a concerning 97 days. This growing disparity is driving manufacturers and dealers to roll out an increasing number of incentives to move EV inventory. Below, using insights from occam data, we look for shifts in consumer attitudes towards EVs and dissect the demographic drivers behind EV demand. (In a later blog, we will explore brand preferences among EV buyers – expect some surprises.)