How is everyone affording Europe?
Someone is in Italy again. You would quite like to know what they do for a living.
Read article5 min read
The business behind the business.
An independent publication by Saxon Kona.
What PlayStation gains when the disc disappears
Digital games are convenient. They are also considerably harder to sell when you have finished with them.
6 min read
Why land tax exists even after you already bought the property
Buying the property settles with the seller. It does not finish your relationship with the tax office.
6 min read
How Peter Cullen became part of Optimus Prime’s value
An actor can become so closely associated with a character that their involvement becomes part of what people are buying.
5 min read
How is Red Rooster still in business?
Some stores look like the renovation is still being discussed. Yet the chicken keeps selling. What are we missing?
7 min read
Why free shipping makes you spend more
The little free-shipping threshold in your cart is there to move the size of the order, not make delivery disappear.
7 min read
Why companies love store credit instead of refunds
A cash refund ends the transaction. Store credit keeps the money, and usually the customer, inside the business.
6 min read
Why Sephora wants you to try everything before you buy it
Why Sephora lets customers touch, test and compare products before they buy, and how that turns a beauty store into a discovery engine.
8 min read
Why gift cards are better for retailers than cash
Why gift cards get cash into a retailer before the product goes out, bring customers back, can increase basket size and sometimes are never fully redeemed.
6 min read
Why gyms need members who don’t go
Why gyms can sell access to thousands of people without needing room for all of them at once, and how that shapes the economics of low-cost memberships.
7 min read
Costco barely needs to make money on the groceries
Why Costco keeps merchandise margins thin, how membership fees change the economics of the warehouse, and why the renewal matters more than maximising every basket.
8 min read
Why airlines would rather give you points than cash
Why airline loyalty programs sell points to banks and partners, why points are commercially different from cash, and how the system keeps customers inside the airline ecosystem.
10 min read
Why does Australia tax you for moving house?
Why Australian states tax property transactions, what stamp duty does to the decision to move, and why replacing it with land tax is harder than it sounds.
11 min read
Why WHOOP stopped selling the device
In 2018 WHOOP moved the hardware inside a membership. The change affected the upfront price, retention and how much one customer could be worth over time.
9 min read
Breakdowns
How a company or industry makes money, keeps customers and protects its position.
Browse BreakdownsSystems
Taxes, pricing, finance, regulation and the structures that change how people and businesses behave.
Browse SystemsIdeas
One commercial observation, explained without stretching it into something bigger.
Browse Ideas- Breakdown · In the works
Why Red Bull owns the entertainment
- Idea · In the works
What are you buying when you pay for goodwill?
- System · In the works
Who carries the risk before an apartment exists?
About afk.
How does this actually work?
A packed store, a strange fee, a rule everyone accepts. afk. follows the money, incentives and decisions behind businesses and everyday life.
I’m Saxon. This started with questions I kept asking about the businesses around me. Here, I take the time to work through the answers.
Meet the founder