Daily Brief Thematic (Sector/Industry): Ohayo Japan | GM Higher on $10bn Buyback; Honda Boosts Bet on Electric Bikes and more

In today’s briefing:

Ohayo Japan | GM Higher on $10bn Buyback; Honda Boosts Bet on Electric Bikes
[Blue Lotus Daily – TMT Update] PDD: PDD Begins Hiring Staff to Train LLM for Temu Customer Service
Japan’s Convenience Stores Still Growing, Still Innovating

Ohayo Japan | GM Higher on $10bn Buyback; Honda Boosts Bet on Electric Bikes

Overseas: SPX -0.1%, Nasdaq -0.1%; Mixed signals from the Fed; CrowdStrike +10%, GM +9%
Today: NKY Futs -0.1% v cash. JPY/$ 147.3; Toyota to sell shares in Denso; Japan announces extra budget to offset inflation
JapanX: Honda Charges Ahead with its investment in electric motorcycles

On November 22nd, 2023 local Chinese media reported that Pinduoduo began hiring researchers/engineers for its large language model (LLM) on its recruitment website and other staffing channels.
According to reports, PDD is in the process of hiring researchers to build its new LLM tool to make AI functionality available for customer service on Temu.
Reminder that Temu is responsible for handling post sales services under a “fully managed” business model, which is currently out-sourced to a customer service center.

Convenience stores remain Japan’s largest sector. 2020 was the first and, so far, only year in the format’s 50-year history when sales declined, but performance has since bounced back.
Still dominated by three of the largest retail chains in the country, it remains one of the most dynamic and forward thinking retailing and marketing sectors
The latest initiatives look set to deliver more growth in sales as well as potentially delivering a huge new revenue stream in the form of retail media.

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