Friday, August 4

#1 - 💄 Beauty is a retail darling

📰 TL;DR - Of all the product categories out there, beauty is blazing an impressive trail. According to this report, US prestige beauty sales reached $14 billion in the first half of 2023. That’s up 15% from a year ago. If you believe in the Lipstick Index, lipstick happens to be the fastest-growing segment. Face serums, body sprays, and cleansers are also selling like hotcakes. Interestingly, fragrance minis and gift sets are outselling full sizes.

💡 Insight - I really believe the prevalence of the beauty category is intrinsically tied to the absolute heaps of beauty content that is made on social media, especially TikTok. There’s always something new to try and controversial products to dunk on. Social media marketing is absolutely essential to the category. I also loved the bit about how minis and gift sets are selling well for fragrance, as I’ve also noticed many brands making mini sets for makeup and skincare as well. It’s a great way to offer a lower-cost entry into your brand, so don’t overlook it.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#2 - 🔥 Power up your UGC

I'm sure you know by now that UGC outperforms traditional media across social channels, but not all UGC is created equal.

Brands that partner with Minisocial have put UGC to the test and have found:

1. A 92% increase in views: Corkcicle created videos with Minisocial featuring their Commuter Cup and shared the content on Reels, highlighting authentic customer experiences.

Top 1% Conversions Plant People created TikTok ads performing in the top 1% industry average conversions, by focusing their campaign on testimonial-style videos with creator voiceover.

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Don't miss the opportunity — start your campaign now and enjoy a 15% discount on your first one! Visit here.

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#3 - 🤔 CRO over SEO?

📰 TL;DR - This opinion piece makes the case that SEO is meaningless without strong CRO (conversion rate optimization). The author argues that too many brands put their efforts into beefing up their SEO without fussing enough about their CRO. The basic argument is that even if you rank high on Google, that’s not going to result in sales if your site is lacking. To quote: “Facebook Ads and other paid ads get users’ attention, but your actual website is the asset that’s supposed to secure the sale.”

💡 Insight - I mean, the answer here should be focus on both but I appreciate the point the seller is making. It’s like in content marketing — you can get a blog post to rate high on Google with the right keywords, but it won’t convert customers if the writing and CTAs are crap. I would hope you’re focusing on CRO, but there are definitely people out there that see e-commerce as an SEO game, and while it partly is, that’s not what’s going to build a strong business.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out

👿 FRAUD - Here’s a guide about online payment fraud and how to prevent it.

🧦 SOCKS - Here’s a look at the fresh and new brand redesign from Happy Socks.

🧞 WISH - While Temu and Shein duke it out, there’s trouble at Wish with 255 layoffs planned. Read here.

🛍️ SHOPIFY - It looks like dumping its logistics arm was a good move for Shopify. Read here.

#5 - 📱 Shopping apps 101

📰 TL;DR - This is an overview of why it might be worth creating a standalone shopping app for your brand, and some basics about how to start getting that done. The advantages are numerous — curating an elevated customer experience, capturing mobile shoppers, offering exclusives, fun additions like wishlists and loyalty programs, and of course capturing valuable data.

💡 Insight - There’s a reason Temu, Shein, Sephora and others have their own apps — they convert. It’s also no coincidence that those are major brands. For the average DTC brand, creating a standalone app is a tall order, both in expense and expertise. It also means another channel to maintain. However I’m pretty bullish that if you’re already seeing great sales from mobile and have a loyal customer base, it’s a great idea if you can afford it.

➡️ You can read the article here...