Thursday, November 30

🗣 Want to promote your brand to 12,000 DTC businesses? Start here…

🚨 In today’s newsletter 🚨

• How many Americans only shopped online for BF

• Klaviyo’s BFCM data

• International SEO strategies

Let’s get into it👇

#1 - 🧑‍💻 Some people only shopped Black Friday online

📰 TL;DR - We’re now getting even more detailed BFCM numbers, and this one should be of interest to you. According to this, 48% of US consumers shopped online for Black Friday, but the really interesting tidbit is that 28% of those shopped only online. That’s compared to 16% who didn’t shop online at all, only going to brick-and-mortar stores. The study found that going online allows shoppers to more easily find deals, which is really the whole point of BFCM. Also, one-third said their shopping was influenced by online advertising. More stats in the link.

💡 Insight - All the data from this year, compared to past years, points to Black Friday shifting towards an online-centric occasion. I predict there will come a year when the idea of Black Friday being in-person and Cyber Monday being online won’t be true anymore. We’re not there yet though! This also shows that all the work you put into marketing ahead of Black Friday is effective.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#2 - 📊 Klaviyo reveals BFCM data

📰 TL;DR - Some other interesting stats came out from Klaviyo this week. Klaviyo is often the go-to email and SMS marketing tool for DTC brands, so they have decent insight into e-commerce marketing trends. Their numbers show that 47% of all purchases over BFCM were repeat customers and 73% of all Klaviyo-driven purchases were repeat purchasers. That shows the power of loyalty and customer retention. As well, we know that brands using Klaviyo for email, SMS, and mobile push notifications sent over 11.6 million messages per minute during peak times over the weekend. Some 616 million messages sent using Klaviyo also included AI-powered personalized recommendations. Tons more data in the link.

💡 Insight - The data about repeat purchasers is really neat. It really shows the importance of targeting previous buyers and holding onto their business. General advice is always that loyal customers will spend more and be cheaper to retarget than acquiring new customers. The data also shows that personalization works. This showed that personalized messages had a 40% higher average order conversion rate. No matter what tool you’re using to do it, these strategies work.

➡️ You can read the article here...

📣 Want to promote your brand to 12,000 DTC businesses? Start here… 

#3 - 🏆 The top holiday e-commerce sites are…

📰 TL;DR - This chart shows the top e-commerce sites for the holidays and, no big surprise, Amazon is number one by quite a lot. Like what looks like over five times the sales volume of Walmart, which came in second. The list is rounded out by Apple, Target, eBay, and Best Buy. This is based on forecasting but seems to be backed up by BFCM numbers.

💡 Insight - We often ask the question here of whether it’s worth selling as a third-party seller on Amazon or Walmart, and how to pick between the two if you only want to do one. This really demonstrates in one image why Amazon is usually the first choice — you just can’t beat that reach and volume and potential for sales. Walmart isn’t so far behind that it’s not worth considering though — there’s something to be said about being a big fish in a smaller pond.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out

📈 TRENDS - Here are 11 trends predicted to shape e-commerce strategy in 2024.

🤖 AI - This startup in the e-commerce AI space has raised $3 million.

🤔 MORE AI - This piece looks at how AI and immersive tech will impact e-commerce next year.

🛍️ AMAZON - The numbers show that Amazon had its most successful Cyber Week yet.

👿 DOOM - Americans are apparently coping with difficult times by “doom spending.”

#5 - 🌎 International SEO 101

📰 TL;DR - This is an overview of the SEO considerations for targeting different countries. For example, if you’re a US brand but want to have a strategy to target shoppers in Canada, this should help. Some steps included are figuring out which markets to target, learning about different search engines, determining your goals, doing keyword research, and creating localized content. A big step you should consider is creating a localized, dedicated URL and building backlinks around it.

💡 Insight - If you’re seeing any kind of significant sales from a country other than the one where you’re based, these are smart steps to take. I can tell you from experience that, as a Canadian, I often start a product search by including “Canada.” Like, “swimsuits Canada.” Most people think of something coming from their own country as having the best value and cheapest shipping, but by building a great subdomain or separate site, you can attract those shoppers. Just don’t forget to follow it up with actual value and reasonable shipping.

➡️ You can read the article here...