Tuesday, November 28

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🚨 In today’s newsletter 🚨

• The top tools you should consider using

• BNPL evolves

• How TikTok e-comm scams work

Let’s get into it👇

#1 - 🥇 The top e-commerce tools for 2024

📰 TL;DR - This opinion piece in Practical Ecommerce comes from Andrew Broadbent, and he names his top e-commerce tools for 2024. I’ll get right to it, here are his picks:

• Chargeback recovery: Disputifier

• Customer support: Gorgias

• Advertising attribution: Google Analytics and Triple Whale

• Customer retention: RetentionX

• Email and SMS: Klaviyo

💡 Insight - I know this is just one guy’s opinion, but I can also confirm that these tools are pretty much industry standard. Which also means these are some of the costliest options — but for a reason. I also want to draw attention to a site he calls out — Built With. Using this tool, you can plug in any e-commerce website and get a look at their tech stack. You’ll see many of the tools he mentions appear over and over. Or, if there’s a brand you really like, use this tool to see what they use.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#2 - 🗝 Get more value out of your influencer campaigns

minisocial is the go-to UGC solution for brands like AdoreMe, Corkcicle, immi, Imperfect Foods, and Olipop.

minisocial is a fully-managed solution that partners your brand with high-quality micro influencer creators who produce fully licensed content AND share it with their followers! It's best two-in-one solution out there.

Brands have seen results like a 50% decrease in cost per add-to-cart, 92% increase in organic social engagement, and a 30% increase in ROAS just by using content created via minisocial.

Why is minisoical different? Their team hand-selects creators from their curated database specifically for YOUR brand, no more open castings or software-matched creators.

Get 20% off any minisocial project that launches before December 15th - this our deepest discount of the year! Don’t miss out!

📣 Want to get in front of our audience? Start here… 

#3 - 💳 Affirm adds debit option

📰 TL;DR - As the buy-now-pay-later industry matures, providers are looking for new ways to stand out. Affirm is trying something new with the Affirm card, a debit card that links to a customer’s bank account and offers an option to pay over time. They just need to request it before checking out. The difference between this and cards from competitors is that Affirm underwrites the transactions. This piece includes a Q&A with Affirm’s head of product, Vishal Kapoor.

💡 Insight - It’s been very interesting to see how BNPL firms are evolving. Klarna, for example, also has a card and has also created a pretty substantial e-commerce mobile app. Apple even has a BNPL option, too. All this makes it pretty compelling to include these options on your own site. Another option I’ve been seeing more of is Sezzle, although Klarna and Affirm seem to be the top choices if you’re struggling to pick.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out

💿 PRODUCTS - Here’s a weekly roundup of new e-commerce product releases.

📈 TRENDS - And here’s a weekly roundup of DTC marketing news and trends.

💵 SHEIN - Shein has filed for a US IPO as it expands.

⏱️ LOAD TIMES - These are the fastest-loading e-commerce sites, and give you an idea of what to aim for.

👟 ALLBIRDS - The shoe brand has begun selling on Amazon.

#5 - 👺 Scammy TikTok brands unmasked

📰 TL;DR - I don’t usually include YouTube videos here, but this one was too good not to share. It comes from creator Safiya Nygaard. She found what was supposed to be the exact same dress advertised to her in various TikTok ads. What she found is that the majority were cheap knock-offs of an actual high-end dress, all wrapped up with false advertising and stolen images and videos from creators and the original brand. It’s a fascinating deep dive into the scammy practices used by dropshippers on TikTok to gain sales and swindle shoppers.

💡 Insight - First of all, if you run an e-commerce business by selling fake goods and stealing content, you’re not a great person! What also concerns me is if this is the sort of e-commerce ads regular users are seeing on TikTok, how is anyone supposed to trust ads on the platform? The proliferation of scams and false advertising hurts real brands trying to honestly promote their products. In the video, we also see that the creators whose content was stolen complained to TikTok, but nothing was done. It seems like TikTok is happily profiting from these scammers. It may make you think twice about how you use the app.

➡️ You can watch the video here...