And so the week..ends!!! 🥂

But before you get too cozy with that Netflix queue, check out some of this week's top retail and e-commerce stories.

So without further ado, let's jump into it:

• $71B sales by 2021: US affiliate marketing is on the rise.
• Tiffany will soon start selling NFTs alongside matching necklaces.
• Saks and Neiman Marcus are Both Bringing Shoppers Into the Metaverse With Their New ‘Phygital' Experience
• In the United States, Amazon's e-commerce sales decreased by 4% over the past year.

Top Retail and E-commerce Stories

Affiliate Marketing Gold Rush: Get In On the $71B Action:  

Cash in on the gold rush! If you haven't already started integrating affiliate marketing into your e-commerce strategy, now's the time. This performance-based marketing technique is expected to generate $71 billion in sales in the United States alone. And with customers becoming more and more comfortable making purchases online, there's no better time to get started.

Affiliate marketing spend increased 47% in 2021 compared to 2018, according to the brand new PMA industry study, which was produced in collaboration with PwC. According to the study, affiliate marketing investment topped $9.1 billion in 2021, up from $6.8 billion in 2020. The research discovered a number of encouraging findings, including that affiliate marketing expenditure increased by 47% over the previous industry report for 2018.

The PMA completed the study with PwC as the data source, which revealed that affiliate marketing investment in 2021 will result in $71 billion in e-commerce sales.

New Token for Your Wardrobe: Your next NFT is a necklace - from Tiffany

Crypto at Tiffany's. The iconic jeweler, Tiffany, is partnering with Centrapay to launch a digital art platform that will let people buy, sell, and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The move comes as the craze for NFTs continues to heat up, with investors buying everything from digital art to tweets to NBA Top Shots.

Tiffany & Co. has announced that it will debut a line of 250 non-fungible tokens on Friday, which can be redeemed by purchasers for a pendant called an NFTiff. According to a Tiffany website, the jewelry store plans to release a collection of 250 non-fungible tokens next Friday, which may be traded and redeemed for a pendant called an NFTiff. 

Each NFT, including the redeemable pendant that appears to be the NFT avatar, costs 30 ethers, according to the NFTiff FAQ website. That is more than $47,000 in today's money.

Shoppers are restricted to purchasing a maximum of three NFTiffs for over $140,000. The CryptoPunk collection is a "extremely sought after" 10,000-item set of NFTs introduced in 2017.

The Ultimate 'Phygital' Experience: Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus Are Bringing Shoppers Into The Metaverse

Saks and Neiman Marcus get digital, go phygital! In a move that blurs the lines between the physical and digital world, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus are both bringing shoppers into the metaverse.

Designer Jonathan Koon has teamed up with the retail-focused metaverse world Highstreet to create a “phygital” experience at Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Selfridges, and other stores that aim to “transport customers into the metaverse.”

The newest collection from Koon's label, Mostly Heard Rarely Seen 8-Bit, includes actual clothes with a redeemable non-fungible token (NFT). Each piece in the collection features a QR code on the inside. Users may use the QR code to access instructions for generating their digital avatars in Highstreet, complete with virtual versions of the 8-Bit goods they have purchased. Users will be given $HIGH tokens (the native currency of the Highstreet metaverse) so they may begin to explore the digital realm when they enter Highstreet.

Shoppers may also engrave their clothing into NFTs to create a permanent record of ownership, which opens up digital resale platforms like OpenSea to LooksRare and provides them access to provenance.

The Amazon Corner

Amazon Took Our Lollipops: Amazon Lollipop Resellers Costs the Family Candy Business Millions

Gone rogue! Mitchell Owens recently discovered that unknown sellers were selling bulk orders of Dum Dums lollipops on Amazon for a few dollars less than the price his business charged. Spangler Candy Co.'s e-commerce director was concerned that the sweets might be dangerous fakes, given their low cost and ease of access. He ordered lollipops from one of Amazon's third-party sellers. A few days later, a 500-pack of sweets arrived at his home. They weren't fraudulent, and—to his surprise—they had been sent straight from Sam's Club at Walmart Inc.

Resellers, usually guided by how-to videos on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, search the internet for items with lower prices than on Amazon. They then list the products on Amazon and wait for someone to make a purchase. When a consumer places an order through the site, they buy it from another merchant, have it shipped straight to them, and keep the difference. Breath mints and breakfast foods, for example, are among the products offered by rogue Amazon vendors.

A LITTLE MORE

• Shopify is betting big on fulfillment as e-commerce demand falls.
• Amazon is defying the online advertising trend and just surpassed Google and Meta.
• How to Survive the Retail Apocalypse

FUN FACT

On average, online shops with a social media presence make 32% more sales than those without.

QUICK TIP

Try this. Build your social media presence on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay ahead of the curve. Use platforms like Hootsuite to help you manage your accounts and save time.