Hey hey Flux fam!

Have you played Wednesday's savings quiz?! There's a $50 Airbnb prize at stake! Read this to find the answers. May the savviest Flux saver win.

Here's everything you need to know today - in under 3 minutes.

Today's big stories:

🤑 CBA is adding crypto to its app

📹 Zoom is trialling ads for free users

💄 Estée Lauder proves beauty lasts forever

Oh and get this...

Yahoo has pulled out of China after more than 20 years, saying it's just getting too difficult to continue operations there. They join LinkedIn and Epic Games, who just split from the country too.

CBA wants to be down with the cool kids, so they've added crypto their banking app

Background: By its nature, CommBank is...a very traditional lender. Ya know, they specialise in loans...savings accounts...credit cards...the usual stuff.

What happened: Recently, CommBank have been making moves to try and engage younger users in their banking app. They introduced not one, but two buy now, pay later services (Klarna and StepPay).

What else: It's a good start, but they're not stopping there. And after axing Dollarmites, CBA need to find a new way to engage with Gen Z. So now, they've revealed they'll let customers hold and use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies via its app. ‍

So what's the key learning?

💡When it comes to banking services of the future, engagement is the Holy Grail. That means people logging into the app, spending time in the app and getting value out of the app,

💡Why is engagement so important? Because once customers are in the app, CBA (or any other bank for that matter) can cross-sell other banking products. So, more visits = more engagement = more cross-selling. Kaching.

💡Crypto is a good hook, because it tends to be really volatile (aka, prices are always fluctuating). That means customers might be more inclined to check the app more (aka be more engaged with the app).

Zoom comes to the dark side, piloting ads for its free model

Background: Zoom - the video communications platform - was the hero of 2020, seeing us through lockdowns...and becoming the butt of all memes. Can ya see my screen? Paul, you're on mute again mate.

What happened: Zoom was downloaded more than 485 million times last year...but (sadly for Zoom) the majority of its downloads came from its basic users - aka, the freeloaders.

What else: Zoom has now revealed it's trialling an advertising program that will show ads to users on the Basic tier. Ya know, gotta make a buck outta these leeches. It's a pretty massive change for Zoom, but they say it's necessary to support future investments.

So what's the key learning?

💡Over the last 10 years, the freemium business model has exploded. Freemium is the model where some services are provided free of charge, but more advanced features must be paid for.

💡Zoom has relied heavily on its freemium model to attract users, but it ain't easy being free. The reality is, freemium companies typically only convert between 1% and 10% of free users into paying customers.

💡After years in the free space, Zoom realised it needs to start monetising its basic users by making them the product (aka advertising to them). Free users can still use the platform for free, but Zoom can make a lil bitta cash from them too.

The beauty industry gets knocked down...but it gets up again. Take Estée Lauder's word for it

Background: Estée Lauder is a makeup, skincare and fragrance company that launched in New York all the way back in 1946. It quickly expanded to house tonnes of brands we know and love (i.e. Tommy Hilfiger, MAC, La Mer...the list goes on).

What happened: Like a lotta businesses in 2020, Estée Lauder had a rocky road. And not the marshmallow and choccie kind. People stayed indoors, so they stopped buying makeup 'cos ya know...what's the point.

What else: But the company's first-quarter earnings for 2022 show beauty is back. Estée Lauder made nearly US$4.4 billion in revenue for the 3 months to September 30, up from US$3.5 billion the year before.

So what's the key learning?

💡The beauty industry may get knocked down...but it always picks itself back up.

💡In fact, the global beauty industry has been consistently resilient - even in the toughest of times.

• 2001 recession - lipstick sales actually increased.
• 2008 Global Financial Crisis - spending fell slightly...but fully bounced back by 2010.

💡While 2020 was a bit of a different kind of recession, but tough times never last for this industry. The beauty industry lost around US$175 billion last year, but Estée Lauder's earnings show industry sales are back on track.