Latest / What the Flux / JB Hi Fi's done it again | Tabcorp's secret weapon | A new threat to Google's Search dominance

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JB Hi Fi's done it again | Tabcorp's secret weapon | A new threat to Google's Search dominance · What the Flux

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is what the Flux. I'm Brett and I'm Justin
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and it's Friday, the ninth of May. Dozzy boy.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump is back on his tariff game, and this
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: time he's targeting foreign movies with a one hundred percent
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: tarot and this could really hurt the film production industry
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: here in Australia. So now Australia's ambassador to the US,
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Kevin Right, Yes, mister Kevin O seven himself has started
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: calling it a bluey tax, really tugging at the heart strings.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: And Joe boy, everyone knows you do not mess with
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: blue That is a cultural crime.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: How dare they? Flux Adam, it is Friday, and you
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: know what we do on Fridays. We give away fifty
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: bucks to the smartest member of the Flux family. So
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: if you want to test your knowledge and win some
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: cash to kick off the weekend, make sure you download
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the Flux app, have your notifications turned on, and be
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the first to answer the quiz correctly.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Three slick stories today, Dozzy boy, Let's do it for
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: our first. JB High Fi has seen its sales growth slow,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: but its tech hungry shoppers are still helping it grow
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: and grow and grow.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: JB kIPS growing, grewing and grewing, so tell me we'll
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: be man well.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: JB High Fi was founded in nineteen seventy four and
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: has become one of Australia's largest retailers.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Whitbydog in brightware houses and handridden price signs.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Not to forget walls of headphones you didn't know you needed.
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: But man, it ain't just JB anymore. The Jbhighfi group
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: has also got more retailers in its Motley group.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Of course, JB owns the Good Guys, the White goods retailer.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: It also owns home appliance retailer E and S aka
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: the good guy's fancy cousin, and Jesse Boy.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: JB provided its quarterly results in its latest market update,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: and it performed aoka Yeah.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Sales at JB's Aussie stores grew six and a half
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: percent in the March.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Quarter, which is a pretty solid result given many consumers
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: are tightening their belts and shutting down their wallets.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: But b man, it's still a smid lower than it's
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: seven point one percent growth it achieved in January on
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: the same store.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: But the Good Guys at E and S didn't quite
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: perform as strongly.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: So what is JB's secret sauce While the other retailers
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: are struggling.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: Well, consumers are still spending on mobile phones and computers.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: So it's yes to tech and no tatoasters.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: But JAZZI wait, that's the beauty of their diversified portfolio
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: of retailers.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: So what is the key learning here?
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Diversification is not just for your investment portfolio, it's also
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: a core strategy for businesses.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: JB high Fi has spread its risk across different segments.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Like the Good Guys for white goods and NS for
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: premium appliances, but.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: It's also spread its risk across different market like New Zealand. Yeah,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: for example, wen it JB Highfi saw faster growth in
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: New Zealand, with its same stores up seven and a
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: half percent.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Compared to just six and a half percent in Australia.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And even less at the Good Guys in NF.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: So by operating in multiple segments, JB is trying to
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: ensure it's not overly exposed to any one trend or
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: any one consumer moods. We and we know that retail
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: categories tend to move in waves.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: So all the good Guys maybe faring now, it's only
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: a matter of time for the others lift again, and that.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Is why investors still love the good guys and gals
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: at JB.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: For our second story, Tab corpus seen at share price
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: downs ten percent as it makes a big bet on
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: live in place sports betting.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: You mean those dingy TAB venues are its new MVP?
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: What is going on here?
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Okay? So TAB was originally founded back in Victoria and
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: New South Wales in the sixties and it was the
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: og bookie in Australia.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: But it became the tab coop we know today back
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety four when it listed on the ASX.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: It's the largest wagering company in Australia. In fact, they
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: man it operates in over thirty seven hundred venues across Australia.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: But juzzy boy TAB has been absolutely smoked over the
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: past decade.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: That's because the likes of sports Bet and Ladbrokes and
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: better Bet, three six, five NEDS and many many more
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: online betting agencies have soldn a huge chunk of Tab's
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: market share.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: And now Tabcorp's new CEO, Gilan McLachlin, the former REFL boss,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: just launched a new betting product in the Tab app.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: It allows punters to bet live via the Tab app,
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: which is illegal in Australia.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: But Tab has a little loophole which has got the
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: tick from regulators.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: And clearly investors loved it because the share price jump
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: nearly ten percent on this news. Wow.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: So what is the key learning here?
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Well, regulation can often slow down companies. It can also
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: protect your turf if you use it wisely.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: In the betting world, live in play bets is where
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: the real money rolls in.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: In fact, b Man roughly fifty four percent of gambling
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: turnover in the US is from this live in play betting.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: But in Australia, regulators have limited the ways that a
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: punter can bet on live sports. No mobile apps, no
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: websites can be used for live betting at all.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Punters can only bet live through a call center or
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: in person or on physical terminals and that's to limit
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: impulsive gambling. And given Australians are the world's biggest gambling
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: losers per capita, it does make sense.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but b Man Tabcorp Has physical venues and physical
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: terminals where it's legal to bet, and.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: This new feature allows customers to bet on their phone
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: and tap their phone against the terminal, and then it's
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: technically supposedly regulatorially legal. So Juzy Boy tabcop just turned
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: its rundown venues and chunky old terminals into potentially a competitive.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Edge and investors are loving it.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: For our third and final story, Google has seen its
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: market value fall by more than one hundred and seventy
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: billion US dollars after it's exclusivity as Safari's search engine
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: is under threats.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: AI and now Apple swallowing up Google Search and spitting
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: it out. So tell me more'll we man?
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Well, we know that Google and Apple have always had
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: a love hate thing going on.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Mostly yep.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: They also happened to be two of the biggest technology
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: rivals of our generation.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: Apple makes an.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: iPhone, so Google buys an Android operating system, and Apple
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: makes Apple TV, so Google makes Google Chrome car.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: And the list goes on and on and on.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: But one part of their businesses where they actually collaborate
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: is search.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Google reportedly pays Apple twenty billion usls per year to
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: be the default search engine whenever you use a Safari browser, and.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Does you boy As part of Google's ongoing monopoly lawsuit,
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: an Apple executive had to testify, and he shared some
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: serious tea.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: First, he said that Apple is actively exploring ways to
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: reshape Safari, which would replace Google as the default search engine.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: And then he warned that Google search traffic declined on
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Apple devices for the first time in twenty two years.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Wow. So next minute, Google's parent company, Alphabet so at
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: share price full more than six percent.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: So what is the key learning here?
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: In tech? Being the default isn't just a convenience, it's
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: a huge competitive advantage.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Most users stick with whatever option comes pre selected.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: And that's why Google shows out billions to Apple each
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: and every year. Let me remind you, b man. Google
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: currently controls about ninety percent of the global search.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: Market, and a healthy chunk of that comes from its
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: agreements with Apple and Samsung.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: So this could mean that Google's default advantage could start
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: to crumble.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: And when your business makes over two hundred and sixty
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: billion US dollars a year from ads, keeping that default
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: status is not a nice to.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Have, Nope, it is an existential must have. Yep, flex, am,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: you've been listening all week. You are well equipped to
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: do the Plux quick Stick quiz in the Flux app.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: So if you want to win fifty bucks, make sure
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: you've got your notifications turned on and you're the first
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: to answer all three questions correctly.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Monday.