Ho, ho, ho! It’s that time of year again! 🎄

The holiday season is upon us, and with it comes a flurry of retail and e-commerce stories. From the latest tech developments to marketing strategies, there’s plenty of news for retailers and e-commerce businesses to stay on top of. In this newsletter, we’ll be highlighting some of the biggest retail & e-commerce stories that happened recently.

• Meta is pushing for e-commerce on Instagram.
• TalkShopLive is revolutionizing the way we shop, bridging the gap between in-store and livestream shopping experiences.
• Walmart, the retail behemoth, is turning to automation as it builds and upgrades its fulfillment centers.
• Amazon is taking the plunge into social commerce by launching a shopping experience designed to mimic TikTok-style content.

Top Retail and E-commerce Stories

Checkout on IG: Meta Pushing E-commerce for Instagram

Instagram is about to get a lot more e-commerce-friendly, thanks to Meta. To incentivize merchants to embrace 'Checkout on Instagram', Meta is providing exclusive e-commerce and marketing possibilities.

In the last few years, Meta has increased its shopping capabilities on Instagram to empower e-commerce activity and enable merchants to provide more value to customers. Instagram Shops allow merchants to operate their business for free. Nonetheless, Meta has continually implemented strategies to generate income through Instagram Shopping, especially with its ‘Checkout on Instagram’ feature. Instagram's ad solutions are even more appealing due to the platform's shopping innovations, as they generate critical first-party data, which provides an invaluable resource for highly targeted advertising campaigns.

Side Note: Tik-Tok vs. Instagram Reels: Which is better for E-Commerce Business?

Amazon has done a great job over the last few years at advertising due to its ability to attract "purchase-minded" traffic to its website. Instagram is attempting the same type of play by following the effectiveness of Amazon's advertising features on its platform. If they see the same type of success, this would lead to a higher ability to attract purchase-intent shoppers and further increase conversion rates. 

Read More about e-commerce on Instagram!

#LiveSelling: TalkShopLive is Revolutionizing Shopping Creating a Seamless Blend Between In-store and Livestream Shopping

Photo Credit: Flickr: JJBers

Get on the livestream bandwagon. By connecting livestream shopping with physical stores, TalkShopLive is revolutionizing the retail industry! On Monday they announced a collaboration with Best Buy that provides customers of its livestream platform an option to pick up their purchases in-store. With this new initiative, shoppers now have even more convenience and ease when buying products on TalkShopLive's platform.

Last month, TalkShopLive debuted their first ever physical retail window shopping experience that allows customers to witness livestreams and purchase the items they see by scanning QR codes.

TalkShopLive CEO and Founder, Bryan Moore shared "For our large retailer partners, we have proven that products featured in TalkShopLive shows often garner an omnichannel sales lift upwards of 1500%. As holiday shopping often leads to shipping delays, in-store pickup allows customers to have a personal and interactive live shopping experience without any worries on delivery times."

Stores have since integrated new pick-up in-store options in response to the recent pandemic. In this case, Best Buy has developed and capitalized on that strategy through a "new small-format, digital-centric store concept" that allows shoppers to scan QR codes for product purchases for pickup, self-checkout, and livestreaming sessions with employees for advice and support while shopping. 

Read More about livestream shopping and optimizing your digital consumer experience.

Autobots, Transform?: Walmart is Turning to Automation

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Walmart corporate blog

Automated, smart, and agile fulfillment centers are what the future of retail looks like. Walmart has been investing heavily in automation to build and upgrade its fulfillment centers as it attempts to compete with Amazon selling and other online retailers.

As Walmart evolves, they are placing an emphasis on its omnichannel strategy. Automated technology has made it possible for customers to customize their consumption of e-commerce orders, as well as stocking from the pallet on a departmental and store level.

Side Note: Selling Products on Amazon vs. Walmart? Which One is Better?

Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon shares "Specifically, what we’re seeing is — after a number of years of work — there are opportunities to use automated storage and retrieval systems in ambient distribution centers, food distribution centers, e-commerce fulfillment centers and eventually market fulfillment centers next to stores.” Currently, in the U.S., Walmart is already receiving its grocery products on pallets which makes freight handling much easier. They intend to use that same model and efficiency for general merchandise. This would further eliminate the current hours that the company invests in the backroom. Learn how to take advantage of the Walmart Marketplace to Sell Successfully on Walmart.

Read more about Automation at Walmart and how it will pave the way for new omnichannel strategy and optimization. 

The Amazon Corner

Joining the Bandwagon: Amazon Dives into Social Commerce

Photo Credit: The logo of Amazon is seen at the company logistics center in Lauwin-Planque, northern France, March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File Photo

Something like TikTok but...Amazon? That's right, Amazon is taking the plunge into social commerce by launching a shopping experience designed to mimic TikTok-style content.

Amazon declared that they would be introducing a new in-app feature called Inspire; it is designed to give customers the opportunity to explore and discover products through photo and video-based content. It will have scrolling visuals created by brands, influencers, and other customers that can be liked or interacted with. Links to featured Amazon products are also included for your convenience.

Side Note: TikTok ads for E-Commerce Sellers: What to Know to Get Started

U.S. users will have access to the new feature from early December and it is expected that all U.S based users will gain full use of this feature in the coming months.

This process was inspired to target younger audiences who show a high response to short videos thanks to TikTok and Instagram reels. Amazon introduced this as an attempt to battle uncertainty due to inflation and an unstable economy which has led to slower shopping engagement and activity. In the meantime, there are still plenty of ways to increase your Amazon profits. 

Read more about how Amazon will target short video content to engage the younger demographics during economic uncertainty.

A Little More

• The Global Metaverse in E-commerce Market is expected to grow by $85885.22 mn during 2023-2027
• Proposed US law seeks to silence TikTok’s data flow to China
• US Pet Market Report 2022: Increasing Adoption of E-commerce in Pet Care Products Drives Growth

THIS WEEK'S POLL

As sellers, yes, we've been convincing our consumers to do their holiday shopping online. But personally, where have we been shopping this holiday? 

QUICK TIP

Try this. Two-thirds of English-speaking shoppers in a Flow.io study revealed that they would not buy from an eCommerce store without English translation - making it critical to localize your site if you want to reach more customers.

FUN FACT

The average person makes 19 digital purchases every year!

LISTEN UP

On this 63rd episode of The E-Comm Show, our host and BlueTuskr CEO Andrew Maff is with Yaron Shapira, co-founder and CEO at 8fig. As an entrepreneur at heart, Yaron has founded multiple successfully acquired startups ranging from mobile payment app, Check, travel and culture outlet, The Culture Trip, and international trading payment security platform, Qlarium.

Today, as he manages 8fig, he is helping businesses to solve challenges in the e-commerce space from managing inventory to handling supply chain and logistics. Listen to Yaron and Andrew as they talk about how to make better business decisions by using a growth platform like 8fig.