As we all scramble to get those last-minute Valentine's Day gifts, here are the top stories that have been making waves in retail and e-commerce this week.
ChatGPT stands out as the European Union's Thierry Breton calls for stricter regulations on artificial intelligence.
AI startup Cohere is currently in talks to raise funding, with their current valuation being at $6 billion or more.
According to a new report, in 2023 more than half of Amazon sellers will take their business past the borders and tap into overseas markets as well as other e-commerce platforms.
Top Retail and E-commerce Stories
ChatGPT: The AI That's Too Smart for Its Own Good?
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes
What will ChatGPT do next?The European Union's Thierry Breton called forstricter artificial intelligence (AI) technology regulations. This follows the launch of ChatGPT - an AI developed by Microsoft Research Asia and Beijing-based software company Xiamen RSCOMM. ChatGPT is a revolutionary natural language processing (NLP) system that can generate articles, essays, jokes, and even poetry from simple prompts. It's no surprise then that ChatGPT was recently crowned the fastest-growing consumer app in history!
While some are concerned that AI systems could be exploited for dishonest practices such as plagiarism or the propagation of false information, others hail it as a remarkable advancement. According to Breton, the potential dangers posed by OpenAI's ChatGPT and AI systems demand immediate policy intervention. As such, he proposed regulations last year in an attempt to set a global standard for the technology - discussions around these rules are currently taking place within Brussels.
The AI Revolution: Cohere Valued up to $12 Billion?
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration
AI is taking over, are you ready?This week, AI startup Cohere Technologies announced that they are currently in talks to raise funding, with their current valuation being at $12 billion or more. Cohere is a developer of AI-powered software that helps companies analyze customer data and gain insights into their customers' buying habits. With the help of this technology, businesses can better understand how to target potential customers and improve customer service experiences.
Cohere is in the process of developing an innovative dialogue model to mirror ChatGPT, empowering enterprise users with the capacity to generate text and refine their output through engagement. CEO Aidan Gomez divulged this news to Reuters during a recent interview - unlike ChatGPT however, Cohere's technology will be made available strictly for developers and businesses.
Get Your Piece of the Amazon Pie: Amazon Revenue Up!
Amazon still dominates e-commerce!This online retail giant delivered impressive fourth-quarter revenue results, yet provided tempered guidance. On Thursday, the company released its first-quarter guidance which proved to be below market expectations despite producing higher-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue.
Amazon experienced its most restrained year of development in two-and-a-half decades as a publicly traded business. Inflation and climbing interest rates had an impact on consumer spending, thereby leading to only a 9% rise in profits for the entire fiscal year. The online retailer anticipated its first-quarter revenue to reach between $121 billion and $126 billion, a growth of 4% to 8% year-over-year. According to Refinitiv's data, analysts were expecting the sales figure to amount to around $125.1 billion.
Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, who succeeded Jeff Bezos in July 2021, has devoted much of his time to finding ways to cut costs without jeopardizing the consumer experience. Jassy adds, "We’re working really hard to streamline our costs and trying to do so at the same time that we don’t give up on the long-term strategic investments that we believe can meaningfully change broad customer experiences and change Amazon over the long term." As the short-term is still unstable due to trying economic times, Amazon remains optimistic for the future.
Jungle Scout, the go-to platform for e-commerce sellers, has just released its 2023 State of the Amazon Seller Report. This study included more than 2,000 Amazon merchants who shared their insights on key trends and challenges in e-commerce. The findings indicate that almost nine out of ten sellers are already making a profit as they begin this new year! Furthermore, most plan to widen their global reach and add different marketing techniques to amplify their success in 2023.
A full 61% of Amazon sellers are already selling on at least one other e-commerce platform, with eBay, Shopify, and Walmart being the most popular choices.
52% say they plan to expand to even more platforms in 2023 – up from just 25% who said the same thing last year.
Last year, TikTok ads saw a dramatic 65% surge in usage from Amazon sellers who use social media marketing.
Additionally, YouTube and Snapchat advertising experienced an 86% and 41% rise respectively- highlighting the increasing demand for video content among e-commerce entrepreneurs.
A staggering 41% of Amazon sellers are leveraging social media marketing to bolster their product's visibility.
It was shared by Mike Scheschuk, President of Small & Medium Business at Jungle Scout, "Amazon is constantly evolving, and e-commerce is constantly optimizing. Still, Amazon sellers continue to prove that they know how to pivot in 2023. This year, we expect to see Amazon sellers exploring new strategies to help them stay ahead of the curve, including expanding into international markets, bringing their brand to new e-commerce platforms like Shopify or Walmart, or promoting their brand on TikTok to drive awareness and sales."
Live commerce has been making waves currently in the e-commerce space. With things like Facebook Live and TikTok Live making rounds in social media, we're curious to know if you have also been using any of these live commerce platforms for selling? We'll post the results next week so stay tuned!
QUICK TIP
Try this.Use more photos! Listings with more photos receive 95% more page views than those with fewer photos.
FUN FACT
One-fifth of American e-commerce shoppers have participated in live commerce, while an additional third said they've heard about it but not yet tried it.
LISTEN UP
On this 71st episode of The E-Comm Show, our host, and BlueTuskr CEO Andrew Maff is with Amy Leinback of Big Bee, Little Bee, a self-taught inventor, entrepreneur, and retail and e-commerce seller. Amy and her daughter, Marlo, have invented and marketed a series of household and family products that have been featured on Shark Tank, Good Morning America, The View, and many more.
During this week’s episode, Amy shares her experiences as a self-taught marketer and seller by sharing how she has successfully scaled her business to what it is today using word of mouth, Amazon, and retail with entirely new products.
So, that settles it! Apparently, more e-commerce sellers are investing their $$$ more on paid ads than trusting organic traffic to do the work for them.
WAIT! If you didn't love this week's Click and Conversion, we're sorry! :( We hope that you'll give us another chance and see what next week brings. But, if you feel you must unsubscribe, you can manage your preferences below to make sure you still get all our other great content!
BlueTuskr, 844 East Street Road, #330, Westtown, Pennsylvania 19395, United States, (610) 753-5722
-3.gif?upscale=true&width=300&upscale=true&name=giphy%20(1)-3.gif)
