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- Tuesday, October 31
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🎃 In today’s newsletter 🎃
New Shop website with perks
Amazon and Walmart are trying to woo you
Three low cost ways to sell on Amazon
Let’s get into it👇
#1 - 👩🏽💻 Shop Pay perks come to web
📰 TL;DR - Just ahead of the holidays, Shopify is expanding its new features from the Shop app to the web. In June, Shopify introduced Shop Cash to the Shop app, which allows US customers to earn up to 1% in cash for purchases. Well, now that’s available on shop.app. The website is sort of like a marketplace of Shopify merchants, though you buy directly from the merchants. It’s meant to be a discovery tool for independent brands. Shop Cash is also tied in with Shop Pay, Shopify’s quick-checkout answer to Buy With Prime.
💡 Insight - It makes sense that Shopify focussed on mobile-first for this feature, although the website is pretty cool as a discovery tool. When you search for something, an assistant pops up to help you further narrow down your search. We know that millions of people use Shop Pay, although I am curious about how many people start their shopping journey with either the Shop app or website. The lack of stats in the announcement makes me even more curious. If you’re interested, here’s a tutorial on getting started on Shop.
#2 - 🥊 Amazon and Walmart are fighting over you
📰 TL;DR - Both Amazon and Walmart are making efforts to step up their offerings for third-party sellers with a big emphasis on AI tools. Amazon, for example, has introduced a generative AI tool for creating ad campaign imagery. They say using it improves CTR by as much as 40%. Over at Walmart, they’re using AI to create more sophisticated search tools for shoppers. They’re also exploring voice technology in the Walmart app as well as AR tools. The reason for all this? Third-party sellers now make up a large portion of sales on both platforms. On Amazon, third-party sellers account for 73% of overall online sales value.
💡 Insight - What we’re seeing is the power shifting back to third-party sellers, and that’s a good thing. Both Amazon and Walmart have recognized that third-party sellers are crucial to their success and revenue, so they have great incentive to make the experience better for you. Their priorities are a little different, though. Walmart is zeroed in on the North American market, while Amazon operates in many countries. What I really want to see is more competitive fee schemes.
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#3 - 📚 3 ways to sell on Amazon
📰 TL;DR - This piece profiles Jatin Naran, a successful Amazon entrepreneur who has tried three different methods for selling on the platform. That includes arbitrage, which is the most basic way to sell. That’s when you source products that are cheaper to buy but sell for a higher price on Amazon. Next is wholesaling, which is similar but you spend more upfront and work directly with manufacturers. The third and most costly way to sell on Amazon is to create your own product, which is what Naran eventually ended up doing. He says that’s also the most lucrative route but requires spending more upfront.
💡 Insight - People come to e-commerce from all sorts of angles. For some, it’s all about creating the perfect product and brand. For others, it’s purely a matter of finding ways to make money and learn along the way. Both are viable paths, this article is more about the latter, though. However, I do think that if you dream of being a DTC bigwig, it’s not a bad idea to start with reselling or dropshipping to learn the ins and outs of e-commerce before laying down the cash required to launch your own product line.
#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out
📈 TRENDS - Read AdAge’s weekly roundup of DTC trends and moves.
💿 PRODUCT - And also this roundup of e-commerce product updates and releases.
📌 PINTEREST - Here’s a list of Pinterest marketing inspiration.
📦 RETURNS - UPS is set to acquire Happy Returns.
💭 BRANDING - Having trouble naming your e-commerce business? Here’s a roundup of business name generators.
#5 - 💳 Gen Z loves a gift card
📰 TL;DR - This survey looked at holiday shopping plans for Gen Z and apparently they’re really hyped about gift cards. According to this, Gen Z plans to buy 70% more gift cards than people from older generations. About 17 total gift cards total per shopper — 10 physical and seven digital. They also plan to spend more on gift cards than they did last year. Across all age groups, people plan to spend $770 on gifts, and 43% of that will go to gift cards — up from 37% last year.
💡 Insight - The obvious takeaway here is that you should be offering gift cards. Although I’ve been thinking about how gift card purchases can be elevated. It’s a pretty boring experience but can be made better by being able to customize the appearance of a digital gift card with imagery or animations and other personalization options. It’s also preferable that buyers can control when the gift card will be delivered via email. You may even want to consider perks, like if someone buys a $50 gift card, they can a $5 credit for themselves. Get creative!
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