Very insightful thanks for sharing. I would say that if AirBnb is still the market leader in 10-20 years it's because we underestimated the power of a trusted brand.
So you just pointed out another paradox: Products have trusted brands, retailers don't. People know and trust the products they use, not who sold it to them. I have no idea where I bought most of the stuff in my home after a few weeks if I didn't buy it directly from the producer.
People LOVED Sears for a century and then when someone offered the same products some where else for cheaper in a snazzier space, Sears went down the tubes.
People thought Target was a great experience, but then free 2-day shipping and a lower price from the comfort of your home for the same products came along and now Target is struggling.
Nobody pays a more for a ticket on Priceline.com if they know they can get it cheaper on Expedia.com.
If Airbnb, owned the homes and thereby owned the experience, they'd be able to build brand loyalty. But they don't own any of those things.
Airbnb doesn't have to own -- they could manage. For example, not every Hyatt Hotel is owned by Hyatt, but they manage them so that customers trust the brand.
You're talking about a general business cycle. Even if they owned the products say like (No Fear Clothing), the company is vulnerable to changing tastes, production problems and general operator disinterest.
There are quite a few 50+ year old retailers. Quite a few 100+ years old.
As for Urban Outfitters, their net sales are more than triple what they were ten years ago. They don't see 30% year-on-year growth anymore, but they haven't seen a decline.
I should quantify my question more. How many $30B+ companies are older than 50years old? Only about 3 [0], but how many retail companies have come and gone in their wake? Why is Airbnb the retail company that survives against all odds?
URBN is down 40% from their high stock price and analyst estimates are bad. That's the thing about retail your sales could be good, but your long term outlook bad. See my original comment about wall street hating retail.
Look at Target, they're killing it right now, but wall street still shits on their stock price.
