Thursday, October 5

#1 - 🛍️ How people will shop Prime Big Deal Days

📰 TL;DR - Prime Big Deal Days is right around the corner on October 10 and 11 and a new survey reveals shoppers are eager and ready. In this survey, 8 in 10 people plan to shop during the sale, and another 18% are open to shopping if they find a great deal. And, only 6% of people were completely unaware of the event. I will add, though, that this poll was only 1,045 US adults. What most interested me is that 57% have a feeling that deals will be better on Black Friday—Cyber Monday. People also seem to be begrudgingly accepting how soon the holiday shopping period is starting.

💡 Insight - The fact that people are expecting better deals on BFCM suggests to me that you don’t need to go all out for Prime Big Deal Days. The holiday shopping season is a marathon, not a sprint, and going too crazy so early on won’t set you up for success. Rather, save your best inventory and deals for BFCM and even skip this event if both is too much for whatever reason. However, if you can join in, it looks like people are happy to accept another reason to start their holiday buying. Also of note is that only 25% of people plan to spend as much during this event as during the summer Prime Days, so keep that in mind.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#2 - 🥇 Master the art and science of creative strategy

Creative minds. Math-obsessed media buyers. To ship more winning ads, you need both worlds working together.

Introducing: Thumbstop.

Thumbstop is a weekly newsletter covering the art and science of creating winning Meta, TikTok, and YouTube ads.

⚡Creative strategy templates

🔬The science behind effective hooks

💰 Winning TikTok & Meta ad formats

📊 Time-saving reporting techniques

Who is this newsletter for:

👉 DTC and ecom creative teams looking to build their data skills

👉 Heads of growth who want to increase their creative skills

👉 CMOs who want to build effective creative performance teams

Every week, you’ll get new growth & creative cheat codes used by top DTC and ecom brands. New issues are sent every Sunday.

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

#3 - 😎 Brands are using influencers in new ways

📰 TL;DR - Traditionally, influencer campaigns play out in social media posts, but this report looks at how brands are using them in all kinds of ways. Beyond organic posting, influencers are popping up in paid campaigns, email, connected TV, and out-of-home ads. True Religion jeans, for example, has sent emails featuring influencers so you can shop their look, and had also used the same idea on their website.

💡 Insight - This just makes good sense to me. It’s not as if people forget who influencers are, even when they encounter them off social media sites. It’s also a better ROI for you. If you produce an influencer campaign, it’s better to get an email send, a landing page, and social posts, instead of just social posts. I would just recommend making all your planned uses crystal clear in your contracts with influencers. They’re savvy business owners unto themselves, if you use their image in unexpected ways you may find yourself in trouble.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out

🧳 LUGGAGE - Meet Monos, the DTC luggage brand trying to pick up where Away left off.

👟 CLOVE - DTC nursing shoe brand Clove is expanding into wholesale and new styles. Read here.

📦 RETURNS - Uber has launched a service in the US to drop off people’s shopping returns. Read here.

🟦 SQUARESPACE - In its efforts to be an all-in-one solution, Squarespace is launching its own payments service. Read here.

🤖 META - Meta is expanding its generative AI tools for ad creation. Read here.

#5 - 📈 Amazon allegedly spiked prices with a secret algorithm

📰 TL;DR - More juicy details are coming out about the allegations against Amazon in the lawsuit from the FTC. Now, it’s tidbits about how Amazon used an algorithm to raise prices. Nicknamed “Project Nessie,” it’s alleged that Amazon manipulated rivals’ own pricing algorithms, pushing up prices everywhere and locking competitors into higher prices. Allegedly it was used for years and helped Amazon make more than $1 billion in revenue. "As a result, Amazon has successfully taught its rivals that lower prices are unlikely to result in increased sales—the opposite of what should happen in a well-functioning market," the FTC alleged.

💡 Insight - These allegations seem pretty damning for Amazon and, if true, hurt a lot of sellers in the process. Apparently, they stopped using the algorithm in 2019, but sources don’t seem to know why. Amazon, of course, said this is a mischaracterization of the algorithm. All this leads me to wonder: even if the FTC wins this case, will anything truly change? Amazon can afford even a hefty fine, it’s the conditions that come along with it that will be more interesting. Will hey have teeth?

➡️ You can read the article here...