Friday, September 1

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#1 - 😈 From enemies to frenemies

📰 TL;DR - I told you yesterday that Shopify and Amazon worked together to integrate Buy with Prime into Shopify. I also said I was awaiting some analysis — well now we have some. First, I love that this piece calls it a frenemy deal. This piece talks about how the move, in the end, benefits both Amazon and Shopify. Amazon gets to worm its way into the Shopify ecosystem without being chased off, and Shopify gets a bite at Prime’s loyal user base. ““For Amazon, the company now has an easier path to capture share of fulfillment services off[1]platform and monetize a portion of Shopify’s GMV, in addition to increasing the value of its Prime membership by extending its benefits to more sites,” said one analyst.

💡 Insight - So the question remains: what does this mean for Shopify merchants? Well, I think good things. A lot of people are very comfortable buying with Prime and I can see having that button being a great conversion tool. People associate Buy with Prime with speedy and free delivery though, so there’s the question of if you can offer that. Still, I couldn’t see Amazon and Shopify agreeing to this unless they felt they were both going to profit, and they profit from their merchants making sales.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#2 - 🔥 How sending free products to Micro-Influencers has helped brands 5X revenue in 2 months

Tapping into the power of social media Micro-Influencers and a platform called Stack Influence that automates influencer collaborations at scale (hundreds of promotions a month), Amazon brands like Unilever, Magic Spoon, and Blueland have been able to grow their monthly revenue by 5X, decrease their ad costs using a war chest of influencer UGC, and build an army of affiliate marketers to consistently drive new customers.

➡️ Get Started Here

📣 If you want to reach our audience of 10,000+ DTC store owners, tap here 

#3 - ✨ The power of TikTok Shop

📰 TL;DR - Here’s an interesting Twitter thread breaking down how a single product made some major sales on TikTok thanks to TikTok Shop. It all comes down to the integrated affiliate system. The product is some rosemary hair oil and every time an influencer promoted it, they got a cut — £1.60. Small on its own, but a whopping 20% commission cut that could really add up fast. Some of those creator’s videos even went viral, which is great for them but also amazing for the brand’s marketing.

💡 Insight - I know yesterday I had a tweet in here about why not to use TikTok Shop and I still think those points are valid. However, if you do jump on the bandwagon, this is potentially what awaits you. By offering such a high commission, this brand generated millions of views and a ton of sales, all with barely having to lift a finger. This is exactly the type of case study TikTok must be drooling over, because this is exactly how they see TikTok Shop working. This is also a good time to jump on board because TikTok is heavily invested (literally) in making sure TikTok Shop works, so they’re doling out coupons for first-time buyers and things like that.

➡️ You can read the tweets here...

#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out

📆 EVENT - Join Aidaptive, Triple Whale, Hawke Media, and Fulfill.com for a conversation about innovative strategies to win Black Friday. Register here. Sep 12!

🌐 AR - TikTok is taking its AR effect tool out of beta mode, so you can start making branded filters. Read here.

🎄 BFCM - This piece makes the case for why you should be starting your BFCM planning early — as if you needed to be told twice!

💳 CHARGEBACKS - Credit card chargebacks are an unfortunate reality of e-comm. Learn how to navigate them here.

🏫 COLLEGE - Here’s a look at how one brand is leveraging ambassadors on college campuses.

#5 - 👀 How customers want to shop BFCM

📰 TL;DR - In case you haven’t gotten the memo, it’s time to start prepping for Black Friday — Cyber Monday. This survey asked 1,000 US consumers how they plan to shop and other questions. First, marketing. Although 64% wanted to see traditional ads, 46% also expected to see social media ads, and 46% also wanted emails direct from brands. As well, 46% will be looking at media coverage and gift guides. Speaking of social media, 25% plan to shop on social media for BFCM. Also, there’s high trust in UGC — 73% said they would feel more confident about a purchase after seeing user-generated content and 64% said they trust it more than brand-produced content. Lots of interesting stats in here!

💡 Insight - I wanted to touch on gift guides for a moment. These have gotten even more important to media publications in the last few years because they’re often stuffed with affiliate links. It’s hard out there for media organizations and affiliate links are another option for revenue. So, if you’re pitching to publications this season, do some research to see which places often have language like “we may collect a small percentage of each sale,” or something to that effect. Those are the ones looking for affiliate links, so if that’s of interest to you, target them first.

➡️ You can read the article here...