Thursday, August 3

#1 - 🛒 This causes nearly 50% of cart abandonments

📰 TL;DR - I won’t keep you in suspense — it’s security concerns. According to this new study, 48% said they abandoned a cart over concerns about the security of a website. A further 45% said the same about concerns over the use of personal info. Apparently, a whopping 1 in 3 of those surveyed have fallen victim to fraud, so they’re understandably wary. Good news is they also found out what can help: offering multiple payment options. Seeing a familiar button is a win.

💡 Insight - I once bought from a website that turned out not to exist and it’s made me wary of every other e-commerce site ever since. I will say that this is an advantage Shopify merchants have — the familiar checkout page that is similar across all Shopify sites adds a level of comfort. This is also a reminder to make as many payment options available as you’re comfortable with, from Shop Pay, to Prime, to Klarna, to PayPal, to Apple Pay. According to this, the more the merrier.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#2 - 🍭 How this brand sold 94k units on TikTok

📰 TL;DR - SoSweet is a UK candy brand that has gone all in on TikTok Shop to great results. In this interview, owner George Robinson talks about how they didn’t even take TikTok seriously at first. It wasn’t until a customer requested their order be packed in a TikTok video that they realized the power of the platform. Now, they’re part of TikTok Shop (now live in the UK) and sold 94,000 units from a single TikTok listing. And this is all pretty recent.

💡 Insight - This is the second interview with a TikTok Shop merchant I’ve seen from ChannelX, and I’m really enjoying them. There have been so few case studies presented from US sellers, so at least we’re getting some context from the UK. An important takeaway here I think is that SoSweet isn’t just selling on TikTok, they’re genuinely engaging on the platform. They have 913.8K followers and 14.1M likes. That takes work! But clearly it’s paid off. See their account here.

➡️ You can watch the interview here...

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

#3 - 📦 Why DTC brands are going omnichannel

📰 TL;DR - This piece is a summary of a talk at The Lead Summit with people from ThirdLove, Win Brands Group, and US Polo Assn. It was about DTC retail and a common theme that came up is that the age of being a pure DTC play seems to be dying down. Rather, DTC is being seen as one of many channels and opportunities in wholesale and retail are calling. Part of the reason for this is the rising costs of digital marketing — it just ain’t what it used to be. Rather than continuing to struggle, brands are branching out.

💡 Insight - There are a few points in this article worth reading, but let’s talk about the push to retail and wholesale. Over the last six months in particular, we’ve seen a ton of DTC brands open up these channels. There’s some good advice in here though — you don’t have a crystal ball to see if that strategy is going to work for you. That’s why they recommend starting small (think: local shops) to prove out your method before moving to bigger retailers. It’s one thing to stock a local store, it’s another to figure out how to supply something like Target.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out

🛁 BB&B - Bed Bath & Beyond is back online in the US after being taken over by Overstock. Read here.

🙋🏼‍♀️ INFLUENCERS - Here’s a roundup of influencer marketing tools you may want to give a try.

🔎 SEO - E-commerce sites are leaning into schema usage as the holiday season approaches. Read more here.

🎄 HOLIDAYS - Speaking of the holidays, here are the factors predicted to affect the upcoming shopping season.

🤖 GPT - This new GPT-powered chatbot was created specifically for e-commerce analysis. Read here.

#5 - ✨ Minted launches wedding marketplace

📰 TL;DR - Wedding planning brand Minted has launched a marketplace featuring independent artisans selling everything from decor to favors to accessories. They’re certainly not the first to do it, so I sense a trend here. The marketplace has items from makers in the US and 100 other countries. It’s all third-party, so we can assume sellers are either paying a listing fee, a portion of the sale, or both.

💡 Insight - It’s certainly interesting how many digital brands have been launching third-party marketplaces, though I do wonder if this can truly compete with something like Etsy, which is already a destination for wedding purchases. Although Etsy is having its own issues right now with a boycott threatened. Still, for DTC brands it seems promising that we’re seeing more platforms to sell from.

➡️ You can read the article here...