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- Wednesday, November 29
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🚨 In today’s newsletter 🚨
All the BFCM numbers are in
BNPL use is up
Why people like Amazon’s return process
Let’s get into it👇
#1 - 📊 The BFCM numbers are in
📰 TL;DR - We now have the full members from Black Friday through Cyber Monday and the headline is that it was a great time for e-commerce. A record 200.4 million went shopping, according to the National Retail Federation. The number of people shopping online rose to 134.2 million this year, up from 130.2 million a year ago. They didn’t provide total spend, but estimated that each shopper spent $321.41. That’s similar to last year, and not adjusted for inflation, so the big difference is really the number of shoppers. Cyber Monday in particular was a win, with e-commerce spending in the U.S. totaling $12.4 billion, up 9.6% year over year. More stats in the link.
💡 Insight - With individual spending not changing much, what we’re seeing here is that more shoppers are hunting for deals this year. That makes total sense with inflation and every survey we saw leading up to BFCM. My prediction is that getting this volume to continue will require keeping up with offering deals throughout the rest of the holiday season. They don’t have to be discounts as big as what we saw for BFCM, but people are definitely motivated by saving something.
#2 - 💸 Shoppers turned up use of BNPL
📰 TL;DR - One of the trends that emerged this BFCM was a resurgence in buy-now-pay-later purchases. In the US, shoppers placed 29.5% more orders via Klarna on Black Friday this year compared to last year. Some of the hot items included food mixers and processors, TVs, home theatre tech, coffee makers, e-readers, and hard drives. Klarna also did a survey showing 81% of respondents said it’s useful to have installment payment options during the holidays.
💡 Insight - I think it’s fair to say that BNPL tools are now a standard feature of any e-commerce store and you must offer at least one. This is especially true if you sell big-ticket items like appliances and electronics. It shouldn’t be surprising though, with people pinching their pennies BNPL offers a solution that’s less of a pain then credit card interest.
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#3 - 💞 How TikTok wooed BFCM shoppers
📰 TL;DR - TikTok went all in for BFCM by putting its own money on the line. The platform subsidized discounts of up to 50% off on orders over $10, offered free shipping, and added extra commission for creators to drive shopping. This piece gets into how one beauty brand, Trio Beauty, leveraged TikTok for BFCM. Thanks to TikTok subsidies, they were able to offer massive deals. They also went live twice and worked with creators who were able to earn affiliate commissions. They said the creators were the most successful at getting sales.
💡 Insight - TikTok’s big spending spree won’t last forever, and is in fact winding down in the US. Which means if you want to get in on the current buzz, time is running out. TikTok can’t finance these deals indefinitely, though I expect they’ll keep some of it up through to Christmas. I also have yet to hear about brands with a higher price point doing great on TikTok, it definitely seems to be a place where shoppers look for low-cost treats.
#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out
😎 INFLUENCERS - Here’s a weekly roundup of influencer trends and news.
🤔 NICHES - This piece names four niches for e-commerce tools that are looking bright.
🎨 DESIGN - Here’s a list of 17 free web design tools.
💵 PAYMENTS - Did you know 1 in 10 online payments failed in the last 12 months?
📈 STOCKS - Another BFCM winner is e-commerce stocks.
#5 - 📦 Shoppers love Amazon’s return process
📰 TL;DR - This survey about e-commerce returns found that 72% of people feel positive about Amazon’s return process. Older shoppers were more satisfied than younger shoppers, though. Also, people are more likely to add additional items to their cart of they can get free returns, rather than just 2-day shipping. Shoppers are more likely to make returns in January, after the winter holidays, than right after BFCM. Another interesting tidbit is that nearly 9 in every 10 shoppers (87%) will not return an item if they have to pay for the return shipping.
💡 Insight - Amazon, to its credit, makes returns easy and free, so of course people like that. Amazon has the benefit of massive scale to make that possible. Free and easy returns policies are always what to aim for, but it’s just financially possible for every brand. Although it is notable that free returns encourage adding more items to a cart. Returns are a tough game to win!
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