This is issue no. 120 of 180. The Labor Day Weekend issue had a 38.85% open rate with 6.25% going to this article on 6 eye catching digital marketing stats. When you have time, take a look at this 2016 Mobile Retail Report. Also, I found this interesting: what "Prime Air" means for FedEx and UPS [VIDEO].
MEDIA: Ann Taylor is late to Snapchat, but it has already rolled out a strategy to get its followers on the app to shop from its Stories. The women’s retailer started its Snapchat account last weekend by posting about a trip to Chicago for an event. The social team incorporated its products into the trip, first with a packing tutorial, then a tour of the city, with Ann Taylor products serving as the subject. To read the [full] story, please visit Glossy.
ECOMMERCE: The report surveyed 162 retailers that have their own physical branded store presence, and that also sell online. Of those, 158 retailers had a transactional mobile website. It analysed their use of mobile specific features such as site usability, the checkout process, geolocation, stock check and data capture. Burberry scored well for offering features including wishlists, a persistent cart, geolocation, a prominent store location, and stock checking functionality, as well as usability for forms
MCOMMERCE: Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc.has had an in-store mode for its app for two years, and continually makes improvements, says Rafeh Masood, vice president of customer innovation technology at Dick’s, which is No. 122 in the Mobile 500. ”The Dick’s Sporting Goods mobile app allows us to augment our store experience by focusing on services and convenience,” Masood says. “The in-store mode is a great tool for our customers while in stores, (offering features) such as easy access to Scorecard (Dick’s loyalty program card), weekly ads, store events, in-store services and in-store maps.
ECOMMERCE: As of August 22, new Amazon marketplace sellers who list products from select brands must pay up to a $1,500 fee. In addition, sellers must provide three purchase invoices from the manufacturer or distributor and a letter from the manufacturer authorizing the retailer to sell its products. Amazon has not released statement or a list of brands this new rule pertains to, however, marketplace sellers on Amazon’s Community Seller Forum have said some of the brands this includes are Nike Inc., Lego, FunKo, Hasbro, Hewlett Packard and Samsung.
ECOMMERCE: Indonesia has asked the chairman of China’s Alibaba Group Holding, Jack Ma, to act as adviser in the development of the Southeast Asian country’s nascent e-commerce industry, according to a video released by the government. Indonesia has the world’s fourth-largest population, boasting a young, internet-savvy demographic, and a thriving e-commerce market that is increasingly attracting global investors. Earlier this year, Alibaba BABA 1.88% bought a controlling stake in Southeast Asian online retailer Lazada Group for around $1 billion.
ECOMMERCE: This might sound impressive but the latest figures released by the US Government suggested that the year on year growth for the online retail market as a whole was c. 16 per cent. Target, it seems, did no better than the average. In an industry that is under intense pressure, The Drum’s Mystery Shopper asks whether Target can improve its online performance to start to outperform the market. We have compared the online performance of Target to that of four of its closest competitors: Walmart, Kohl’s, Kmart and JCPenney.
MEDIA: Under the new structure, Mr. Smith, who is based in New York, will lead BuzzFeed News, and Mr. Frank, who is based in Los Angeles, will oversee a new division called BuzzFeed Entertainment Group. It no longer made sense, Mr. Peretti said in a memo to employees, for BuzzFeed to have “a single ‘video department.’” Instead, Mr. Smith’s department will have its own news video team, and Mr. Frank’s division will oversee non-news video, like Tasty food videos, as well as the lists and quizzes that are BuzzFeed’s bread and butter.
MEDIA: Last month, it looked like trouble for Eyeo GmbH, the Cologne, Germany-based maker of the popular ad-blocking software—and tormentor of digital publishers and advertisers everywhere—after Facebook introduced coding that made it impossible to wipe out its desktop display ads. But now, the company is preparing to launch a next-generation version of Adblock Plus (which boasts 100 million users worldwide), making it even more difficult for Facebook to defeat.
MEDIA: Fifty-six years ago, E. Jerome McCarthy conceived the 4Ps of marketing: Product, price, place and promotion. Today, product is still the starting point for most marketing programs but the other three Ps are not particular helpful. Price would seem to be part of product. And Place and Promotion are fuzzy concepts. Instead of the 4Ps, a marketing mix for the 21st century might include the 4Ms: merchandise, market, media and message.
ECOMMERCE: Echo just seems so easy to get used to. You simply speak your wish … and Amazon will make it come true. It’s as miraculous, and as addictive, as having the Web, a phone, email and text, your photo and music collections, and some games, all in a single device in your pocket. But the Echo may prove to be bad news for retailers other than Amazon, according to data from Checkout TrackingSM.
BRAND: Passed over for the top job, Adidas AG’s global brands director Eric Liedtke plans to stick around under his new boss and has fresh marching orders -- translate the sporting-goods maker’s digital street cred into sales. Liedtke, who lost out to former Henkel AG leader Kasper Rorsted in a race to succeed Chief Executive Officer Herbert Hainer, is now turning his attention to a different battle as he seeks to make it easier for Instagram and Snapchat followers to buy popular sneaker styles.
FINTECH: Walmart added more chaos to the mobile payment landscape on Thursday when it announced Walmart Pay, its own phone-based payment system that shoppers will be able to use in all of its U.S. stores by the middle of 2016. The payment feature will be added to Walmart’s existing app, which already has more than 20 million monthly users, and will let customers pay by scanning a QR code displayed on checkout equipment rather than paying with plastic or cash.
Last Word: issue 120.
First: thank you. I began curating the Two PM Links letter to study and discuss the growing kinship between vertical brands, eCommerce, media, and the data that propels us forward. What could be better than one letter with everything that you need to know, each business day? On top of that, a letter that isn't trying to sell or persuade. Each business day of the week, I cover a range of topics that often have influences on another, with the express intent to serve the eCommerce and media communities. So far, there's been a focus on everything from the macroeconomics of eCommerce to Snapchat's next step in the race to own augmented reality. But in a way that appeals to people who market / sell things or invest in those who do.
So far, 40-47% subscribers are opening the letters. Of that group, 24-32% click to another destination. Often times, a destination will receive enough traffic for that site’s host to reach out and ask me about 2PML.
Admittedly, brand and design have taken a back seat to functionality and information. Even so, I hope to improve the letter by adding a simple archive search, a permanent forum for readers, and improved navigation. Thank you for reading, each day, and feel free to email me with your thoughts.