Ecommerce Predictions 2023

About

On January 25th at 12pm EST / 9am PST  Searchspring hosted a 1-hour live webinar with an expert panel from Searchspring, Tomorrow, Stamped, and BHFO where we dug into must-haves and ecommerce predictions for 2023 and reflect on the hottest features used by ecommerce leaders in 2022.

As we begun the 2023 journey, we needed to take a look into the trends and distill that information into actions, must-haves, or “hot-ticket” items, to put into your ecommerce site roadmap. We did just that!

To help you best understand what is most important for your organizations, we break down the webinar in the following ways:

• Reflect on the hottest trends and features among ecommerce leaders in 2022
• Predictions for ecommerce sales and economic impact for 2023
• Provide 10 recommendations and expert analysis on the must-haves for your ecommerce site in 2023

Get ready to learn from the best ecommerce experts around and get their predictions for 2023. 

View the webinar now!

0:00

Hey, everyone, My name is Jason Ferrara.

0:02

I am the CMO at Searchspring and Your Host for today’s webinar.

0:10

So thanks again for joining, looking forward to having you here. I appreciate you hanging out on the line just a few minutes after the top of the hour.

0:20

We’re just troubleshooting a small technical glitch, so should be all set to go now.

0:26

Before we begin, we’ve got a great panel today. I just want to tell you briefly about Searchspring.

0:32

You know, our job at Searchspring is really to help you as a merchant drive the ultimate shopper experience and the way we do that is partly because we know what it’s like to be a shopper and not find what you want.

0:46

Right. In fact, all of us on this call have that experience. We can’t file. We want. We hate good experience. We tend to leave the website. And that usually happens when merchants don’t have control over site search and product merchandising and personalization. And that’s what Searchspring is, therefore, is to help build that shopper experience through site search, merchandising and personalization.

1:11

So I said, I was excited about our panel today.

1:14

And that is absolutely true.

1:17

We’ve got Andy and Annette and Sofia, and they’re here to talk about e-commerce predictions for 2023. So Andy, Internet and Sofia, why don’t you? go ahead and turn on your cameras.

1:29

And I will have you introduce yourselves.

1:34

Andy will start with you since your camera’s on and you’re the first one to wave. So, jump on and you’ll do a better job at introducing yourself and I will go ahead.

1:43

I appreciate the confidence. My name is Andy Warren, I’m the senior director of Strategy at Tomorrow.

1:48

We are a Shopify e-commerce agency that works with some of the best brands, the Shopify has on their platform.

1:56

I lead up our strategy, analytics and customer success team and I am coming to you today from sunny but Snowie, Kansas City.

2:07

Fantastic. Thanks, Andy.

2:09

And, Annette, how about you.

2:12

Hey, everyone. I’m super excited to be here today. My name is Annette Snow.

2:17

I’m based in Miami. I had all partnership functions at Stamped.

2:22

Stamped is a reviews, UGC, loyalty, and referral platform for E-commerce.

2:28

We work with brands of all sizes and our product offerings are super easy to set up and use for you and your customers.

2:35

We integrate very seamlessly with all different tools and best of all, we’re committed to fair and transparent pricing. Again, just wanted to thank you all so much for having me on the panel today. You can see my contact info here on the screen, so feel free to reach out for anything you may need following the webinar.

2:54

Thanks for that.

2:54

And a week before the session, we verify that it’s not snowy cold in Miami, where you are nuts, so that’s nice to hear. We can picture that in our minds. Sophia, you next, please.

3:08

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you, Jason, and Searchspring for having me today. My name is Sofia Giussani, I am the Senior Director of Digital Marketing and E-comm at BHFO, is one of the leading e-commerce.

3:22

Got a fact, not a factory, fashion outlet online, only purely online. So, do take care of, you know, merchandising. Our pages, just making sure that the customer experience, once they land on the website, is flawless as well as, of course, or the marketing efforts of the company. So, thank you again for having me.

3:44

Alright, thanks for being here. OK, well, we’ve got a packed agenda today. We were talking about that a little bit, too, So, we usually start with some polls, so that the four of us can understand the audience a little bit better for you in the listening audience.

3:59

It’s a great way for us to understand what’s in your mind, and in the way you’re thinking about e-commerce and the topic at hand, We’ll talk a little bit about reflection on predictions from last year. And even the year before, and, And what those predictions might’ve been, Did they, did they come true? Where did we fall with those types of predictions? Will talk about the 10 hot ticket items for 2023, and that’s where we’ll spend most of our time today.

4:26

And then we’ll take some Q and A So, before we start, I just want to mention two other things, in terms of Q and A You don’t have to wait till the end to ask a question. There is a questions panel in the GoToWebinar panel. On the side questions tab there, you can absolutely type your question. I will see it, our producer, Charles, who’s behind the scenes will see it and we’ll be communicating and make sure that we can answer those questions, and I can ask the panel those questions. If we don’t get to your question, we will take them down and follow up after after this session. So, remember, ask questions.

5:03

It really helps us probably better questions that I can come up with in my head anyhow. So feel free to ask. And I did mention Charles are a producer behind the scene. Thank you, Charles, for being here. We’re not, you’re not going to see his face, but you may hear me. Talk to him, or mentioned him by name. So I want you to be confused about thinking. I’m calling Andy by the wrong name. Charles is back there.

5:27

We already have.

5:29

We already have. First question, how about that for? Fantastic. Thanks for following instructions, everybody. Will there be a transcript of this deck, or this, or will the deck be made available? So we will make this available. Yep. So you don’t need to be, like in class. You don’t need a fiercely take notes, and hope that you remember everything I said. You can rewatch, it will have the slides. So thanks for asking that question. All right. So let’s get started with poll number one.

5:58

And this poll is, Which of the following presented a challenge for your organization in 20 22? So you can select all of them that apply.

6:07

We’re interested in understanding your challenges in 20 22.

6:11

So we’ve got some results coming in.

6:16

Little bit of dead air while we collect those results here, it’s fun to see the numbers change, OK.

6:26

Keep going. Charles’, we’re just about where we’re going to be.

6:33

one more minute here.

6:41

All right, I think we’re, we’re, we’re, we’re going to be, so that is, see the results here. So which of the following presented a challenge for your organization in 20 22 July decline in consumer confidence at 22, delivery fulfillment and 27, Excess Inventory, 36, maintaining static Global’s 31, and keeping up with growth 39.

7:04

So a couple, one thing jumps out to me, first in this poll is the sort of balanced nature of this poll number, one, number two inventory. And product availability really jumps out to me too. So just quickly on the for the panel. Anything here in the results that is surprising to or anything? You want to add? Some color there?

7:33

Not at all. If I may say, I would have said all of the above, so I’m not surprised equally, Yeah. Yeah.

7:42

I do remember last year at this time, talking a lot about inventory and inventory management, and how you manage expectations with your clients and that sort of thing. And, obviously, that’s not just a one and done in one year, but it is really interesting to see that, to see that jump out here. Great.

8:01

So, let’s move on to what we thought some of the top e-commerce challenges were in 20, 21 and 2022. This is a quick comparison of the, of the previous year. So, if, you think about the top economic challenge here, is keeping up with growth. If we look, that was a big challenge in 20 21.

8:21

Um, not as high on the list in 20 22, right, 2022 was consumer confidence, which also showed up high on our list, High in our list here.

8:32

And again, inventory stock levels, Just these are perennial concerns, right, making sure that you have enough can move the stuff that you have and are able to deal with the demand that is on your business.

8:48

All right. Let’s go move on to poll number two, and we can come back and revisit these. When we are going through our discussion.

8:55

Did your online sales increase decrease or stay the same in 20 22?

9:03

Increase, decrease, or stay the same.

9:12

And we’re getting there, Charles is sort or amount to read. So responses are coming in pretty fast and furious here.

9:23

I think we are where we’re going to be.

9:30

All right.

9:31

So, online sales increase, decrease, or stay the same? Online sales increased in 20 22 for our panel. Any surprises here, or anything that you think is particularly interesting about that?

9:50

Doesn’t sound like it by, oh, go ahead, go ahead, Andy.

9:53

This, kinda, Mary’s back to some things that we saw internally at our agency with performance in Black Friday and Cyber Monday, where a lot of our clients were going into it, thinking that sales are going to be down substantially, and a lot of them kinda blew it out of the water. And so, you know, I think, considering the economic environment that we’re currently in, it really is encouraging to see that, so, many people are having an increase in sales, and had such a great holiday season as well.

10:24

Yeah, I appreciate that.

10:25

I have been talking a lot to, you know, in my, in my day job, where I market a technology company, I’ve been talking a lot to our team about the economy, and just, you know, every single day, last week, was an article about the economy on the front page of The Wall Street Journal.

10:46

And today is today’s Wednesday, I think, two times this week. There have been our articles about the economy, some really interesting ones, this morning, as a matter of fact, about hiring and small business, and things like that.

11:00

But, yeah, there’s this, there’s this idea that, uh, the economy is not performing well.

11:07

However, our expectations around Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still, we’re still, our expectations might have been low performance was high. And I think that’s a really interesting thought about the economy there is, I think, still, some optimism out there. My personal belief is economy runs on optimism.

11:24

So there’s still some optimism out there, right, Which is nice to see. So, this was, these, were, these were our results in 21 and 22.

11:33

So, no, I don’t think any of us are surprised by by revenues in end performance, in e-commerce, increasing over the past several years.

11:45

I do think that, you know, 2022 seem to be a down year from 21, although 21 was was an interesting everybody.

11:54

Everybody at home, buying online, still. I think. What was was what was happening there.

12:01

So, very good. So, do we have, Charles, we have our next poll right after this one.

12:07

Do you predict your online sales? Will increase decrease, or stay the same in 20 23?

12:12

So, we thought what we thought was going to happen in 20 22, what, what do we think is going to happen in 20 23, increase, decrease, stay the same.

12:28

I love the speed with which responses come in, And it’s fantastic.

12:36

I think we’re about where we’re going to be charles’ with responses.

12:43

There we go, 64, 13, 23?

12:46

Alright, so our predictions are four an increase in, And, Oh, sorry. I get my phone call. I don’t know why that’s happening.

12:59

Our predictions are increase for 2023. So, Andy, this may go along with, you know, where we think we might be, or what happened at the end of Black Friday, Cyber Monday?

13:10

Anybody have a, anybody have a thought about this poll?

13:20

Seems pretty likely, and that’s probably what we’re hearing in the marketplace. Let’s look at the next set of Stance, Charles, the next slide.

13:29

Just so everybody knows these, these numbers here, online sales 20, 23, in store sales, this prediction is done from a poll that we did outside of this webinar, as are the other steps that we showed. So, an increase in online sales is pretty much what people are expecting for this year, and an increase in score sales is what people are expecting for this year. Any, any thoughts about that?

13:54

This, this, not from these four on our panelists, these numbers are from a much larger set, not our, not our audience today.

14:02

Anything you see here, they’re pretty similar, frankly.

14:09

I’d love to know where they anticipate the growth is going to come from.

14:12

I mean, I think with, although we hear about Google and Facebook and the increase in and bid and the spend that’s happening there, That was the primary engine for growth, with lot of direct to consumer, an e-commerce companies for better part of a decade. So it’d be interesting to see where that growth is going to come from, because most of what we’ve seen as spend is going down on the paid media front as opposed.

14:38

I think. Great.

14:40

I think social commerce will play a big part into this with, you know, Facebook and Instagram shops becoming more and more, you know, seen across the space.

14:51

I think the more you can connect your omnichannel services like, you know, the more engagement you can get on your social channels, the more sales you will see through that. And I think social commerce will explode in 20 20, 30 or so.

15:10

Yeah, I, the one of the, I mentioned, a couple of articles that I’ve been reading.

15:15

But one of the interesting things I was reading this morning is just about the pressure on Google and the US federal government concerned that there’s a monopoly there.

15:26

Like, again, if if if my belief is the economy runs on optimism, and all of a sudden there’s pressure on massive technology companies do not have not have the control that they’ve had over advertising. It is going to cause a ripple, probably, with purchasers and that advertising. Right? If I’m uncertain. I may. I may do something different and push people, more social, social commerce like that.

15:52

Interesting. All right. Well, thanks for that. It’s really nice to to understand the audience a little bit and understand what you’re focused on.

16:01

So, let’s talk about the top 10 hot ticket items for for 2023.

16:07

So, one of the things we did is to get to drive this list, is we’ve done a pretty extensive survey that started late in December and ran through the first part of January. With all different types of businesses, some businesses that are Searchspring clients, some businesses that are not. And that’s where we got this dataset from.

16:30

And so as we look at these top 10, we want to talk what we want to do in this panel is really break down that top-down. What does it mean? Sort of like you just mentioned. You know Social selling, Where’s that going to fit in this top 10? What’s important and what are some of the, some of the key things that we can say to the to the merchants on the call Today. This is what it means.

16:53

This is where the opportunities lie, and these are the types of things you have to do to capitalize on it and just from a panel perspective, you know, Nothing’s too simplistic for us to start, Right.

17:05

So if we want to start with with, with social selling like my first question would be, tell us what it is first. So we all the same definition, so we’ll get there, I promise. Let’s jump in to the top 10 hot ticket items.

17:19

The first thing we’ll look at, here’s what the top five were for the past two years, right.

17:25

Top factors to differentiate, personalization, advertizing, shopper experience, customer service, unique product in 20 22, What is what we see in, in 20 23 on our survey, of ways to differentiate, your, your, your business, brand price, unique product, community, advertising, customer service shopper experience.

17:48

So, the thing that stands out to me here is, brand was not on the list last year, or at least called out separately as our brand is important.

17:58

Price was not called out last year, or at least separately as price is really important.

18:03

So, Sophie, you’re shaking your head and get into second, nodding your head community was not on this list, or at least called out the way it was this year.

18:12

So, I think those are some interesting differentiators from year to year. Sophia, talk to us a little bit about price where you’re nodding your head, so you got a thought there.

18:21

I can totally see those five points for 2023. They’re really the aftermath. I mean, I’m events. So those are the aftermath of 20 to 22 each and one of those points that we will, we are focusing as well for DCF Because you need to be to find a way to differentiate yourself.

18:41

Pricing, going back to pricing last year, yes, revenue was.

18:45

Brian was phenomenal across the board. But what about profitability, what about that?

18:50

Crazy increase of cost of shipping? And that’s why pricing becomes incredibly important. There’s always been important, but this year, it’s really, how can we be competitive.

19:01

Because, again, yes, we had a fantastic Q four, but what was the cost of that Q four.

19:08

People are reap. Any conscious. It’s all about promotional. So do we want to? It’s unsustainable. So that’s why you need to go back to your brand. You need to go back to value proposition, You cannot just be so promotional, like we had to be in 20 22 because 20 22 as crazy. So the shear is somewhat about Value Prop, your brand. Why? you should come to me, regardless of the massive discount. But again, being competitive at a Good Price, everybody’s online. Those days, after 20 20, not every enterprise had a dotcom those dishes.

19:43

Everybody has entered dot com. So competition is brutal. So that’s why you need to differentiate yourself. Your community is important. Again, building that community, not only on social media retention, I mean, we’ve got on that, Your loyalty program, your e-mail marketing, that it’s so important. Again, and advertising is, I’m not surprised to see that it’s down to 5%. Sorry, to the position.

20:06

But it is a topic because you go, what can we do? Caucus, too expensive, we need to reduce costs because of shipments, because of the ***, What can we do terms of advertisement, because then so was marketing and get penalized. In customer service, Again, bring them up, build that community, be there for your customers. So, I’m not surprised: everything resonate with the aftermath of 2022, which was root.

20:31

Bruce Lee?

20:34

Now, you’re nodding your head a little bit. Any, anything to add there?

20:40

Now, I mean, I think, I think she hit the nail on the head with, with all of what she mentioned, You know, your brand is becoming more and more important, and how your customers associate with your brand.

20:55

And that goes back to what I was talking about already, Social. I mean, it’s becoming more and more important, especially when costs are rising in all different categories.

21:06

You know, the more you can make your customers, like super fans and repeat purchasers, you know, the less you need to spend on acquiring new customers as well.

21:19

Yep. And Andy, any, any thoughts here? It strikes me.

21:23

The brand is always something I talk about and this feels like it’s always something that’s been important. And I feel like it’s kind of a sine wave, Sometimes it shows up in the results, and sometimes it doesn’t.

21:36

But what’s what is driving that? Now? Why? Why? Why now?

21:41

Was it not important last year? Surely, it was, right.

21:46

I’d love to know the distribution channel that these survey results came back from.

21:51

I’ve spent like most of my career in direct to consumer, and so that’s really kind of like where my mindset comes from, and I think for most of the time that I’ve been in this business, direct to consumer companies were really focused on performance marketing. And all of the acquisition that they could get came through performance marketing.

22:09

And there really wasn’t a whole lot of need to like, build a brand to support their business, because everything came through performance marketing. And I think now that the iOS 14 update has come through, there’s been a lot of shifts in the way that Facebook is pitting. Google is betting, You know, it’s just changed. The paradigm has shifted, and I think people are starting to now realize, Well, brand is important, Understanding how to be top of mind with these new sets of consumers that are coming through is going to be something that’s important for me to do to, to get not just the first purchase, but the purchase that comes after that.

22:44

And so, I really think that it’s encouraging to me to see this, because I think people are starting to realize like e-commerce is maturing to a place to where the brands that are showing up online are really getting to a place to where they need to build that brand up in order to resonate with consumers.

23:02

And In.

23:03

is that where our, our audience is X, is expecting growth this year, Right? And of these top five, they’re really seven here: ways to differentiate your business. Is there one of these that will result in that growth, is in a combination of these that will result in that growth?

23:25

Where’s that, where’s that growth coming from in terms of in terms of these top seven items?

23:33

The pricing side of things scares me.

23:35

I mean, I think gross through pricing, just kind of a race to the bottom, I understand that there’s, you know, there’s an excess inventories, in some, in some spots and not enough inventory and other spots. And so, trying to get that inventory balanced with the pricing is important. But no pricing isn’t necessarily an area where I would really want to compete if I were any brand online, just with the prevalence of Amazon, Wal-Mart Target and other marketplaces. Right?

24:04

Yes. Sophie, any thoughts on this? I mean, I think obviously you’re, you’re a huge proponent of a brand. I know, is this where growth comes from in the coming year, where else doesn’t come from?

24:17

Well, for me, you just mentioned like, different Marketplaces is not only e-commerce. We always think about our dot com. You just mentioned Amazon. I work for, you know, in the fashion industry. So even on Amazon, the fashion industry price, it’s really important because we’re competing with Amazon fashion itself.

24:36

So, my products are not competitive enough on Amazon, because I’ve got gigantic competitors like Amazon itself. They are selling on their platform at a very low price.

24:49

So, and, again, it’s something to 22, you know, started to change.

24:55

So, really conscious even on other marketplaces about the brand, the value proposition about pricing, it is important, because, again, in the past few years, the competition has become just even more aggressive than what it used to be.

25:12

And now we’re even competitive, competing with marketplace, is there now having their own lines, so, and just look about fashion, but it is in credit for us. It’s incredibly important. So, differentiating yourself, but also having a competitive price.

25:30

These, these, These seven things, sort of, remind me, of, of a puzzle ring, You take it, take it off your finger, and you let it fall on. It’s a huge, giant mess each. Each ring is difficult once you put it together and you can fit a bad guy and it works harmoniously. So, it’s It’s probably not like stripping one of these out as it is the key to growth. It’s, it’s a combination of them working together, right?

25:53

Yeah.

25:54

All right, well, I’m excited to move on to the top 10, top 10 items because I think that they’ll address some of these, some of these opportunities for growth. So the top 10 hot ticket items, we’re going to address them from number 10, number one, So let’s talk first about Enhanced Site Search. Remember, this was a study we did in the market at the end of December, beginning of January.

26:16

What’s hot for 2023 the number 10 item was Enhanced site Search, so I’ll Open this up to to the panel, So let’s I guess.

26:25

Let’s talk briefly about Tell me How you interpret what site searches and what enhance site searches and why that would matter for for 2023 or any period of time?

26:46

Sophia, go ahead, and start. Yes. Well, I truly believe this is, as you mentioned, like five minutes ago, This is one of those paramountcy pillar that no website dot com, marketplace, whatever you can. If you’re not selling but if you are providing services, you should have on your website, has to be accessible.

27:06

People has to be able to find what they’re looking for quite easily. So, for me, it’s not just about, right? So, navigation bar.

27:15

It’s about search, body. It’s about your filters.

27:19

My case, we do have more than median skews.

27:22

So for us, it is paramount that to help our customers and prospects to find what they’re looking for, to bring them down, to funnel, down to that checkout button, and say, can be overwhelming when you’ve gone more than a million skews sometimes by we have, It’s not just the navigation bar. It’s really all this.

27:43

Well, we have in the back, of course, we use search screen that has read being very good hub for us.

27:49

All the rules that we have on the backend, in order for the right products come up when somebody sees typing in keywords, and then those crazy features that we have on the left hand navigation bar. So it’s really important to help your customers. Otherwise, as you mentioned earlier, Jason did just leave the bounds. So this is something that gets number 10. But it’s not a 22, 23.

28:13

This is, it’s a constant need for your website, and there’s so much that you have to do. The batch has to be spot on. So, the tagging system, the attributes, it’s a full on, some time job, so, but it is the results are crazy. It’s really important to have them.

28:31

We could not survive without that.

28:35

Yeah, for sure.

28:38

So there are a subset of users who entirely lean on the search as their way to navigate and explore site like those, skip, Skip the menu bar, and go straight to search. And no, site search is a factor of high engagement, and those customers convert way higher. So it’s so crucial to make sure your search is optimized.

28:59

I mean, personally speaking, there’s nothing more frustrating than going to a site.

29:04

I know exactly what I’m looking for, And then there’s either no search bar, you know, the product I’m looking for, it doesn’t appear when I search it. Or I have to sift through pages and pages of products to finally find what I’m looking for. And so, you know, especially today, where we all crave instant gratification, we want everything right here right now. It’s just so important to make sure that your search bucket search function is optimized.

29:30

And, you know, a couple of ways that Sam has enhanced site search with, with our product is no, will pullen star star ratings with the product themselves, that pop up with the search results.

29:42

So, you know, we have a search function, you know, we have custom forms, filter options, so, we make it really easy for people to quickly find reviews of value for their personal needs.

29:51

So, you know, it’s just, especially the way, you know, behaviors have shifted over, that, the past few years, we know we all crave that instant gratification, and it just becomes that much more important.

30:05

Yep, and anything gather?

30:09

No. My.

30:09

my thing, I guess not not just for this year, I guess. It’s probably more for my life in general, is just to make things simple.

30:17

And I do a little bit of development work on the side, like probably enough to like be able to play the role on TV, but maybe, maybe not.

30:25

But I’ve I’ve integrated several different search vendors in the past and there are some that are just unbelievably complicated to implement and get up and running.

30:36

And I don’t think that the weight of the implementation cost on those things outweighs any benefit that they may have versus an easier solution that’s out there to implement and get set up and running. So, for me, yeah, I think Enhanced site Search is important. I agree with Sophia. It’s one of those, like, it’s table stakes at this point. Like, you have to have this.

30:56

But if you have to have it, then it seems like it makes a lot of sense to try to have something that is easier to get up and running as opposed to something that’s kinda like pulling teeth.

31:04

I know that there’s, there’s vendors that are out there that are really geared towards site search, more from a content basis, but I think it’s important within our business to focus on something that is geared towards, like e-commerce, specifically, how do we indexed in Search products efficiently, and in a way that customers understand? The other thing that I wanted to kind of mentioned is, I don’t think site search, and I think Sophia hit on this as well. I don’t think it stops at the search bar. It goes into your faceted search. It goes into all sorts of different parts of the site.

31:34

And we’ve been seeing really interesting ways that people are surfacing search results throughout the site that aren’t just what you typically think of.

31:42

So, like, search results that sit right below the bar, that are kind of pre programmed or AI generated, that, I can click on based off of things that I’ve been investigated and on the site. Or how can I pre populate facets that exist within the filters to get to a place? Where it’s a bit quicker for me to get to where I want to go. So definitely important, But, you know, as with everything, I think it’s kind of the keep it simple philosophy here.

32:06

Appreciate that, and in, in my opinion, as with everything at all. Now, this topic, as probably all of these top 10, as I look through my lift, all, come back to the data on the back end.

32:17

And how that is set up for Simplicity, how to set up for the multiple skewes, how it is set up for that instant gratification, right, And making sure that we get people to the right spot, is that, is that data always a manual exercise set up?

32:35

What’s, what’s kinda the way that, that all gets set up because it is their technology to align all that, is it just, Sophia, you got to lock yourself in a room and go through the database and make sure that you’ve got things capitalize properly and labeled properly and all that sort of thing.

32:49

How do you get that data in, in shape for that type of site search bikes?

32:55

Our data entry people, they’re really trained to, they know the attributes and attacks that have to enter when they enter the new product manifest, so that, such by such as a single hour, so she can immediately just get all the data that they need, and have everything ready on the website.

33:18

So we train our peoples based upon the needs that we want, and how we want, for that search, and the product to popular.

33:26

Yes, it’s gotta be life.

33:28

And even the zebra results, all of that.

33:31

Yeah. And your training is probably based on looking at search results, and looking at that data, to say, what, what do we see the path? And then, how do we train our team to put something new?

33:41

And that also, I really find incredibly for Sunday analytical tools that I get from every time I log into the system, because I see, oh, people are looking for these, kind of this keyword combination. Oh, maybe. So that I learned from that. Maybe I need to add. Filter is not something that the data entry people have to add is not an attribute. I should just provide a better filter system.

34:03

So, that, having access to how people search on the website. I just checked that every week. It is so important because now, you learn some product, then, maybe I’m not sending that I should have better system feed instead of you want to abuse.

34:19

So, they are, know, the biggest means that analysis is and I get over seeing what goes on outside.

34:29

All right. If we spend 10 minutes on each one of these, we’re going to be here till 2 0 PM. So That’s, this is when I have to step in as a moderator was, OK, I want to keep talking about this, but we gotta move on.

34:41

Number nine is targeted and personalized e-mail recommendations.

34:46

My memory of this survey last year, this item was like number one or number two new concept of personalization and and certainly e-mail. It’s now down to number nine, Although still in the top down. I think you’re probably pretty interesting. Let’s start and how about thoughts on targeted and personalized e-mail recommendations? What does this mean and and Why is it important?

35:09

Yeah, so I like to think about micro moments. So micro moments are moments when a customer is looking for quick, specific information.

35:17

You know, an example can be whether you’re using no clear view are attentive to send a celebratory personalized message when a customer reaches a new VIP Tier in your loyalty program, or when a customer has a birthday, et cetera.

35:30

So, these micro moments really allow you to leverage zero party data, personalization and content trends to really high in your relationship with your customers. So, you know, each touch point really has its own use case.

35:44

You know, every customer has their own needs.

35:47

And it’s so important for you as the brand to base those recommendations on those needs. And, to what extent does your customer feel like you as a brand? No, no. So, one way you can do this is, you know, you can look at a review send to me that, you know, one of your customers has sent you. Let’s say someone loved the material over specific shirt that they purchased, now I can start sending them, you know, recommendations on different types of shirts with that same material. And that’s just going to option. There’s so many different ways. You can really get personalized. And, you know, I think it’s, it’s super powerful.

36:23

Another great practice that we’ve seen with some of our merchants is, you know, including loyalty program information in every single e-mail that they send to a customer.

36:34

So, we have, you know, there’s one merchant who did a trial of this, and just, a simple change of just adding, you know, let’s say that customers points at the bottom of the e-mail, they saw massive growth. You know, and repeat purchases and things like that, So I think there’s so much you can do with this, and, you know, it’s really limitless.

36:58

Andy, how does, how does e-mail, How do e-mail recommendations and personalization play into your, like? keep it simple philosophy?

37:11

Well, I mean, I think there’s There’s kind of like, this ripple effect that I think happens if you can keep it simple on the merchants, ends, or the merchandising and I think there’s a ripple effect that goes down to the consumer to where you keep it simple for them as well. So I think it starts from the top and moves down. I spent years working in magenta one and then Magento two and then Commerce Cloud.

37:32

And now I’m in Shopify land. And it is just amazing how much more empowered merchants and marketers are with the right tools in their hands. And so I think that, that, that ripple effect is something that really happens.

37:48

So I think if we, if you can make it so that your giving customers the information they need when they need it, you make it easier for them to shop.

37:56

However, I just made a note that I think there’s this funny shift that’s happened, where a lot of our clients say, yeah, that sounds great. But we need to do that in a non creepy way. It’s like like this. This idea of being creepy is now like this industry, like accepted term, but it’s true like, I mean, I need to make, make sure that we’re leveraging data in a way that allows our customers to get what they need without doing it in a way that makes them feel like we’re being intrusive into their lives. And so, I think there’s a balance that you have to strike there.

38:27

Let’s move. Let’s jump to number eight.

38:29

This is related to something we talked about early in the session. So, social shopping, so and that I, you had mentioned this earlier.

38:38

Wanted to get back to this, define this for us, please, first.

38:43

Yeah.

38:44

I mean, essentially, just moving commerce over to social media. So brands are just leaning heavily on social media to engage, convert, and retain customers.

38:56

Know, when you look at Gen Z and millennials, for example, they definitely prefer social commerce. And, you know, you can even tie in loyalty. Program is an influencer marketing programs.

39:06

We know at Sam’s, we actually have an integration with Gatsby where they make that really easy.

39:12

So we can reward are our brands can reward their their customers for engaging with them on social media, and that’s been huge for a ton of a ton of our merchants as well. But, you know, like, when it comes to social shopping, it just goes, and you can really like, look far into the future with this, too.

39:29

Like, especially as we, you know, the metaverse is becoming more and more, you know, like a thing. Nowadays, you know that the market is just like it’s expected to explode. Over the next several years with the metaverse, you know, large brands are getting involved with it. Nike has been involved with it.

39:47

And so, you know, I actually saw a stat the other day.

39:54

There are like five billion internet users and four point seven billion social media users, so, essentially, like, if someone’s on the Internet, chances are, they’re also on social media.

40:06

And I think that, that alone just speaks to how powerful social shopping is, is right now, and how, you know, how much, how much more powerful it will be as we continue to move along and into this year, and the years to come.

40:22

And I think a lot about social and the ability to tell a story.

40:26

It’s probably really, really important here, right?

40:29

If you think about the metaverse, you think about what is possible with social outside of just advertising, There’s a lot of storytelling that can happen around the brand to differentiate around the other pieces.

40:42

So so if you’re in a price war with somebody like that, content can be a big, big boost to that brand. Right? Because you can now be offering something and you have experience there?

40:56

In the metaverse, because they answer that.

40:58

Well with, with social shopping, and with brand and storytelling.

41:04

Yeah, you know I Not a big social media guy so I don’t directly have a lot of experience there. My kids are there.

41:13

They’re big social media consumers and they spend a lot of time on Instagram, tick tock YouTube you know the regular ones that you you’ve heard of one Interesting thing my my youngest son has been doing is buying and selling baseball cards on a live shopping kind of platform. That’s a more kind of social connection platform.

41:32

And so it’s been really interesting to watch how he interacts with the with the sellers on there mainly and how you spend my money on baseball cards that he thinks he needs. But it’s, you know, with, with that generation, like, this is just the way that they shop. It’s the way that they’ve, they’ve grown up, knowing how to purchase things, so it’s just native to them.

41:53

Yeah, and then there is potentially a disconnect, right?

41:56

Our generation is creating the mechanism to do the shopping there, the shoppers. So there’s now a gap between what they expect and what we are possibly able to provide. A question came in about tiktok, specifically around social, and its, and its role. I think, tiktok’s done an outstanding job of branding itself. Putting itself in the media, getting attention to it in ways.

42:19

Is there any difference in, in marketing and selling through Tiktok than there is any other social channel?

42:24

Yeah.

42:25

Sorry.

42:27

Go for it.

42:29

I love this trend that even said things that Tiktok made me by.

42:35

So you, in terms of size on tiktok, well, first of all, you have to have great content creator because you have to not just to advertize because you have to go viral on Tiktok. So it’s not that you just launched an ad, like you would do on Facebook.

42:51

You really have to showcase your product no way, that can go viral, and then you can create these, not challenges, because changes can be dangerous, and we don’t want to even go with it, but something that you say, Oh my gosh, I want to try. So, you, we have to sit down with your content creator and say, how can we?

43:16

Showcase this product in a different way than on other tracks, younger people, because that’s the bigger, you know, just go.

43:26

But how can we go virus, then, even other platforms? Because I don’t know, if you now have noticed on Facebook or on YouTube, you only see you see a tip top videos.

43:36

So, there’s a share of those videos everywhere. So, all that is main platform that we should all focus on, creating content fatigue itself, and then it gets shared everywhere else.

43:49

And absolutely not, really, advertising is really creating that engaging content, that showcases your products in a different way that people want to buy it because it’s on tiktok because it goes viral. because he got the final song, just different.

44:07

And he’s not just advertising.

44:09

It’s really creative. It’s complete. Yeah.

44:13

What works?

44:15

But it is this interesting, blend.

44:17

Go ahead. Sorry.

44:19

Think it’s, it can be exhausting creating content for you, for tiktok, because it’s I think, what else can we do? And you need to feed you people, constantly, CDs.

44:31

It is challenging. It is very challenging.

44:34

People are never tired for new content, and so you need to be up with a pace and the hunger, and then you left your competitor sites. It never stops. So you’re driving you’re thinking about what can I do on Ticked off your supermarket? What can I do for? Tito never stops.

44:51

Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s Valley, It’s value added content. Make it makes me think of an advertising agency, right? And you have a team that is there, to just generate this great content, generate advertisement, does something. And so, it’s, it’s somehow in this world between content and advertising.

45:06

and in that drive, to create a this is really non-stop.

45:10

I want to get through these these hot ticket items were We talked a little bit about loyalty before. I’m going to jump over loyalty. I’m also going to jump over attracting and retaining Gen Z and alpha customers. Because I want to get to a couple of other things in the top five. So, artificial intelligence is one of them.

45:32

When we talk about technology, when we talk about data, what is the role that artificial intelligence is playing?

45:38

I think people like to say AI, what does that mean? What role does it play? And if you have, if you wanna start with just a brief thought on this before we move to move on.

45:48

Yeah.

45:50

I could spend a lot of time talking about this.

45:51

I honest to God thing, Chat GVT is the biggest thing that’s happened since Google, like I really do.

45:59

I was getting prepped for this over the the earlier part of the week, and I asked Chad GPC to write me a short paragraph about how AI is going to influence E-commerce and the next year in a casual tone. And here’s what it came up with.

46:10

Yo, AI is going to be all up in e-commerce in the next year, making things way cooler for shoppers, and businesses alike.

46:18

Think chatbots and virtual assistants that can handle customer inquiries and get personalized product racks and image, et cetera, et cetera. I mean, it goes on as long as you want it to go on. And I mean, it’s I could have asked it to write it in. I am the Pentameter, and it would have come up with some Shakespearean.

46:34

It’s just, it’s amazing. And I don’t think people like fully understand how transformative this is going to be to life, as we know it moving forward. It’s, it is the next gigantic thing.

46:46

Yeah, smile on your face. And something to add there. Just, You know, Have you played around with Chat GPT? We believe the same thing. Let’s talk about that.

46:55

No, I actually haven’t, they’re like, they’re closed. I’m waiting for them to open up, so I put in my e-mail.

47:04

It is, yesterday.

47:06

It wasn’t, But, no, I just think, first of all, like, schools, are gonna have to, like, figure this out. Because this will change the game for students.

47:17

So you’re going to have to figure out a way to somehow block them from using this first and foremost.

47:22

But, um, no, I mean, I think in terms of how it applies to our industry, you know, just content creation alone. Like, even if, even if you just use it as a starter to come up with whatever type of content it is and then you want to tailor it up to make it sound more humanized or whatever. But I mean, it’s It’s amazing like you can really use it for any and everything.

47:47

And I was actually talking with one of my co-workers yesterday who, you know, she was telling me she She had Ted GPC or boyfriend a love letter. And she was like, it was amazing who’s gone away, like, it’s just, it’s so crazy.

48:03

Because, I mean, talk about something being limitless like, this is going to be, where it is right now, is amazing. And I can only imagine, you know, how much more it’ll continue to improve?

48:15

Being able to create images To share intelligence.

48:18

Yeah, Yeah, the possibilities here are Limitless, right? I think the takeaway is?

48:28

Learn what AI is capable of.

48:30

Is there an intersection in your business, and stop being surprised when something happens that is somewhat disruptive and done by an algorithm, because it happens just this weekend, I was listening to a radio program about art and an art being created by, by artificial intelligence. And do you consider that art, like it’s, it’s, you’re stretching, like every thought process.

48:51

We have someone in the, in the questions and comments wrote, Some smart professors have changed assignments to say that they have Chat GPT answers and then share what you think has been left out of the answers. So they try to flip the script on that. Aren’t I want to be conscious of time?

49:12

So, let’s mechanisms to thrive in a down economy, is really important. And I think there are important little tips and hints we can give here, but let’s put that in the context of number three, which is mobile, shopping and SMS.

49:27

This also was a thing we saw on the list last year. Has anything changed?

49:32

Mobile, shopping, year to year SMS?

49:34

Important to use? Is it just as simple as if you’re not doing, let’s start doing it.

49:39

Andy, going against your opinion on that.

49:42

I think SMS is, like when we look at Analytics, SMS is one of the best converting channels for our clients in general, and I think it’s just kind of like supply and demand in general, where there’s excess conversion rates. People are gonna start sneaking into that channel, which are gonna overflow the channel and drive conversion rates down over all. So I think it’s just a matter of time before this starts to balance out, and SMS kind of becomes the next e-mail, which is going to be.

50:11

That’s actually good.

50:13

Yeah, I’d like to add to that.

50:15

I don’t know if you guys saw, but, So, the promotions inbox is actually here for iOS users. It actually has been rolled out, I think, in Brazil and India, so it hasn’t hit the US.

50:27

yet, but I assume that it most likely will, and once that happens, I think that’ll highly changed.

50:34

You know, the results that we’re seeing from SMS, which is one thing to definitely keep in mind, you know, as you’re planning out your strategies for e-mail SMS, so just in case I wasn’t clear, like that promotions inbox similar to how you have it in your Gmail, like, it’ll be the same thing on your phone. So, That’ll be a huge game changer.

50:56

Yeah, yeah, Interesting.

51:00

Alright, and then, let’s go to number two, which is website personalization. Again, we talked a little bit about this with, With e-mail briefly just a moment ago. This was high on the list.

51:15

Surprising to anybody, this is important.

51:19

What’s the what’s the next big thing here?

51:24

Got it.

51:26

Neck to neck with search.

51:29

So when the customer lens on the page, it can be across basically time.

51:34

Number one, it could be time number five, that they’re on the landing on the website. I am a big fan of artificial intelligence presenting them to scout ourselves with, not only what you were looking at, maybe the previous session or cross sending and upselling product based upon your purchase behavior, the past sessions. Or, if it’s your first time, just to help you navigate a, you know, The biggest sort of mentioned what we’re selling, Like, this is, what normally people best sellers, or what people like the most. And I can see that.

52:07

Those countless hours, I clicked a lot, and they face how not only helping customers to get through the funnel, to look for products, find new products. It’s relevant for them, So, huge, fun, especially when you combine data, you got from search together with these. So if you’ve got the same, provide them doing the same thing. That’s a win-win. And then you have your e-mail widget to add to the e-mail that goes, oh, I was looking at that two days ago on the website, So it’s really phenomenal.

52:42

It’s another, you have to do.

52:44

Because you’re not doing, stop doing.

52:48

Let’s, let’s take that as an off ramp into number one, which is fast and simple shopping experiences.

52:55

So, this is a big umbrella, right? I think, I mean, we’ve got, Frankly. We’ve got three minutes left in the in the webinar. It’s a lot to unpack. In three minutes. We’ve talked about many things, though, that could contribute to fast and simple shopping experiences, why, don’t we just go, and that will start with you?

53:11

Like, what is your number one, sort of tip specific thing, Deliver a fast, simple shopping experience.

53:21

I have a lot to say about this, so let me think what I wanna say.

53:25

Sure, one thing I think Point out, because I don’t know how many people are thinking about this, but there are so many brands, you know, who are launching mobile apps, and I think, you know, you ask, Why is that the case. And so, customers prefer apps websites for one reason and that speed, you know, checkout SP logins be loading speed, new product awareness speed, you know, quick access to discounts. We have push notifications.

53:53

All of these are top reasons why brands are starting to, you know, move to the mobile apps is for that one reason alone and that just shows how powerful it is for, you know, Fast and simple. Shopping with this incident. Going back to the instant gratification.

54:09

You know, it’s, it’s just so important.

54:15

Thank you.

54:18

So many apps trying to trying to organize my mother-in-law’s phone with all the actions. God, it’s like, why do we have all these apps?

54:23

But my phones are saying, we all got, Andy, your thoughts on fast, and simple shopping experience.

54:30

I think catalyst’s has been incubated for a long time.

54:33

And this is probably the year where people are going to start seeing things switch over.

54:38

And I think with the native workers to come with that on the websites, you’re going to start getting to a point to where the website is going to match the speed that you’re seeing within the applications. And so, I think that’s going to be a pretty big shift in the paradigm.

54:54

Um, that’s what I would look for.

54:58

Great. That’s a really great, great topic. Thank you. And Sophia, how about you fast and simple shopping experience? What does that mean? What do you What’s your number one thing when you think I gotta deliver fast and simple shopping experience?

55:10

Up for somebody like as an more than a million skews, simple is always priority number one and faster, because we need to have so many images on the website. And so I second what Andy was just saying about headless.

55:24

And, you know, even, that’s something that we have maps to, although we know we need to have a team because it’s difficult, then when you, in terms of development, you need to have developing, in house, But he’s the way to go. Because it’s becoming too difficult.

55:43

Too big, too difficult, too, too much to do it. Needs to be faster. And yet, what do you think?

55:53

So, data.

55:55

Technology, and an open mind is what we, what we need to do, to deal with these top 10, top 10 high ticket items, I think, for this year.

56:05

And, in the future, you know, I mentioned to you guys that, I had an e-mail from somebody that said, well, as soon as you tell me what that most important predictions are for 2023, Like, it’s going to change, right?

56:16

This is a fast moving, Fast moving environment, fast moving industry, and e-commerce will continue to evolve, and I completely agree, But, again, data, technology, and an open mind to deal with those.

56:29

Those three things are, what sounds to me, like the most important thing to keep, keep, keep that increase in, in our business, right key to growth in our business, regardless of where the economy takes us right now.

56:43

Well, Andy? Sophia, thank you so much for joining. I really appreciate your time. I appreciate the conversation.

56:51

I appreciate Andy’s lava lamp, which is kept me calm this entire time. So thank you very much, and I really appreciate you taking the time to do that to everybody who’s who’s listening and thank you for being here. We will share out the recording of this, so hopefully it and taking notes too fast, and furious. And I’m excited to let, you know, that we’ll have another webinar in February, we’ll focus on modernizing merchandising strategies. So, if you’d like to join us again in February, please do.

57:22

And thanks again, Andy, and then Sophie, I really, truly appreciate it.

57:26

Have a great one. Great. Thank you.