Moneysupermarket.com - MONY - Share Chat

[anon1435622]

@Rollingskies

Thanks for post. I’ve not invested in it because I feel it may have had its day and there are lots of competitors. Growth prospects surely limited? Things move quickly online and i wont be surprised if google moved down this route too. That could really kill competition very quickly. The financial clout of Alphabet or Amazon is so huge they can assemble a developing team to come up with anything very fast

Overall, I feel the same way - I like everything about the business, but, like you, what makes it hard for me to open a position is that I can’t see a sustainable competitive advantage. Even if it’s just a rumour, the Amazon price comparison website threat is concerning, although I quite like the fact that Google tried to launch a price comparison website and failed in the past. Interestingly, Google also came under fire from regulators for manipulating their search results to drive traffic. That being said, Amazon are ace at just taking industries as they please.

I completely agree with you about the competition; The PCWs are getting attacked on all sides, mostly by startups as far as I can tell. That being said, I will facepalm myself unconscious if MoneySupermarket end up acquiring the companies i’m so worried about.

@Sleepy

My main concern is that they don’t seem to have any real competitive advantage - the “moat” that is often talked about…Rightmove is a good comparison I think, which does have that competitive advantage through its network effect. If you’re thinking about property - buying, selling, renting - you’re probably going to check out Rightmove.

It’s spooky reading this - we have very similar thought processes! I love Rightmove as a business, I like their duopolistic position with Zoopla. I do believe though, with a disruptive enough proposition, a network effect driven moat can be eroded. My go-to example is Carwow’s success taking market share from Autotrader (who I view as “Rightmove for Cars” - same network effect driven moat, also a market leader, and have a marketplace-type business model). Carwow are far from dethroning Autotrader, though to be fair, but the disruptive potential of a reverse auction marketplace seemed to really work out.

But yeah, really having a hard time opening a position on MONY given the lack of a moat, I’m on your wavelength exactly there.

@AchillesFirstStand

Excellent writeup, you could go semi-pro.
……
In the same vein as MONY, Go Compare announced a partnership with personal finance/budgeting platform Money Dashboard, which is a competitor to Yolt, in 2018. GoCompare partners with Money Dashboard to strengthen ‘Machine Learning for Fintech’ – a community-driven machine learning initiative for fintechs

Thanks for the kind words, you’re awesome! Love the community here and just want to contribute

But yeah, GoCompare seem to be working really hard. Was interesting to read through MoneyDashboard’s pitch deck when they crowdfunded regarding the partnership. Just my personal opinion: In terms of partnerships, I think MoneySupermarket is stronger - my view is they want to be the price comparison plumbing/API for the fintechs that may ultimately disrupt them; Like Drivewealth’s relationship with Revolut, or Plaid’s relationship with numerous fintechs.

GoCompare are also investing left, right and centre in fintechs - I recall them investing in MortgageGym (which crowdfunded btw!) and also the autoswitching site Flipper I believe. So, in a way, disrupted or not disrupted, they’re kind of in a win-win situation I suppose?