#234 HTE- 🔥Top 8 E-commerce Insights You Can't-Miss For BFCM Success📈

Unveiling Key E-commerce Insights, Marketers' Battle Between TV & Apps, Exciting GA4 Updates for Future BFCM Success 📊📺

October 18, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes

Greetings, savvy readers!🔥🙋‍♂️

⏩Ready to boost your e-commerce success for the upcoming BFCM? In this newsletter, we've got the top 8 e-commerce insights you can't miss. Plus, we're exploring the battle for your attention between traditional media and apps, and introducing exciting new features in Google Analytics 4 for enhanced security and reporting accuracy. 📺📱

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🔥Top 8 E-commerce Insights You Can't-Miss For Future BFCM Success📈

Marketers Respond to Traditional Media vs. Apps: The Battle for Your Attention 📺📱 - Who Wins?

📢 Exciting New GA4 Features Enhance Security and Reporting Accuracy! 🚀

Hire the Best Talent For Your Company Using SCALIS: AI-Driven Hiring Solution

Top Reads📚 

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 🔥Top 8 E-commerce Insights You Can't-Miss For BFCM Success📈

Following a record-breaking year, e-commerce websites experienced a 10% YoY decline in traffic during the Cyber 5 period, coinciding with a 1.4% decrease in spending from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. In this analysis we present insights from the significant e-commerce shopping days of the year, offering valuable lessons for the future. 💼💡

1. Resurgence of Physical Stores :

With the majority of Americans vaccinated, in-store shopping saw a substantial resurgence, witnessing a nearly 48% YoY increase in foot traffic on Black Friday. However, online retailer sales dipped to $8.9 billion from a record $9 billion. Hybrid retail giants, combining online and in-store offerings, reaped the benefits. For example, Target's online sales plateaued, but its store locator page visits spiked by 268%. Foot traffic, while improved from 2020, remains 28.3% below 2019 levels, indicating room for further recovery. 🏬📊

2. Reemergence of In-Store Experience:

Consumers returned to physical stores to engage with products directly. Sales of beauty products on Amazon declined by 1% on Black Friday as consumers explored cosmetics and skincare in stores. Digital furniture retailers saw a more significant drop in online traffic, with a 36% decline, as consumers tested the comfort of furniture in-store. Prominent online retailers like wayfair.com and overstock.com witnessed a 27% and 43% reduction in online traffic, respectively. These trends suggest that early Black Friday deals were insufficient to replicate previous consumer engagement, prompting the need for innovative strategies in the future. 🌟🛋️

3. Timing Adjustments:

Despite the slower Cyber 5 performance, e-commerce sites exhibited strength throughout November, attributed to retailers' efforts in promoting early holiday shopping. This year, Americans spent nearly $110 billion from Nov. 1 through Cyber Monday, marking a 12% increase. The timing of transactions remained consistent, with 7% of all Black Friday transactions occurring by 3:00 a.m., echoing the lead-up period. 🕒📆

4. The Influence of Supply Chain Disruptions:

The global supply chain crisis significantly affected shopping patterns. Consumers opted for more in-store shopping to avoid shipping delays. Offers and discounts decreased due to widespread item shortages, leading to a revenue decline for key categories. For instance, consumer electronics revenue declined by 20% due to sell-outs on popular items like gaming laptops and chipsets. 🚢🛒

5. The Prevalence of Artificial Inflation:

Inflation, reaching its highest levels since the 1990s, led to revenue gains exceeding unit sales for key Amazon categories. Large brands appeared to inflate their prices before the shopping event artificially. For example, Amazon Beauty's revenue increased 15% YoY on Thanksgiving and 4% YoY on Black Friday, even though sales volume grew by just 8%. The prices for Amazon's top 46 beauty products were 28% higher in the 17 days prior to Black Friday compared to August-October prices. 💄📈

6. Consumer Intent and Conversion:

Consumers spent less time browsing, indicating stronger purchase intent for key categories like Toys & Games and Apparel. On Amazon, product views for the Toys and Games category decreased by 25%, yet unit sales increased by 10%, resulting in 11% more revenue. Conversion rates jumped over a percentage point YoY to 4.7%. Similarly, Amazon's Apparel category saw a decline in page views, but Black Friday conversion rates grew to 6.3% from 4.9%. 👗🛍️

7. Amazon's Strong Cyber 5 Performance:

Despite the increase in in-store shopping, Amazon remained a Cyber 5 winner. Daily average sales over the five days surged by 63% compared to the 17-day lead-up, an increase of 13 percentage points from 2020. Revenue increased by 85%, up 17 percentage points YoY. Downloads of Amazon's app also exceeded competitors during Black Friday week, maintaining its lead in daily app downloads into December. 🚀📱

8. Active Apparel Shopping:

Amazon apparel shoppers actively sought deals across websites, with 37% also visiting Target and 42% checking out Walmart. Websites specializing in athletic gear performed exceptionally well, reflecting consumer desires to get back in shape post-lockdown. Traffic to websites like lululemon.com and reebok.com saw significant YoY growth on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 🏃‍♂️👟👚

These insights provide a valuable foundation for understanding the ever-evolving e-commerce landscape, serving as a guide for future strategies and adaptations. 📊📚

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Traditional Media vs. Apps: The Battle for Your Attention 📺📱 - Who Wins?

📺 TikTok is gaining millions of views for TV show clips, podcasts, and streams, leading to questions about the future of traditional media.

📱 While apps like TikTok and Instagram are expanding their influence, traditional media offers certain experiences that can't be replicated:

  • Epic shows like Game of Thrones lose their grandeur on small screens.

  • Long-form storytelling and historical documentaries require traditional media for depth.

  • Live events and tangible media like books offer unique experiences.

  • 🎵 Just as vinyl records made a comeback despite digital music, some forms of traditional media may continue to thrive.

🎮 Netflix is evolving by allowing audiences to interact with its content, understanding that staying ahead means more than just streaming shows.

👥 The real battle is not "App vs. TV" or "digital vs. traditional," but "alone vs. together." Shared experiences through traditional media can bring people together in a fragmented world.

📹 TikTok is great for "comfort food" content but struggles with long-form content due to its algorithm.

🎥 The shared experience of watching films in a cinema, with a large screen and a live audience, is hard to replicate on small screens.

📱 Convenience and personalization make apps popular, but non-app media can focus on offering unique, immersive experiences to thrive.

📺 TikTok and other social platforms are expected to continue evolving the way TV and film are consumed.

In summary, while apps like TikTok are changing the media landscape, traditional media still offers unique and irreplaceable experiences, and the future of media consumption is likely to be a blend of both worlds. 📺📱🎥

📢 Exciting New GA4 Features Enhance Security and Reporting Accuracy! 🚀

Google Analytics 4 has just introduced two powerful features that are a game-changer for marketers. These features are all about bolstering data security and delivering more precise reports. Let's dive into the details:

🔒 Data Redaction: Now, you have the ability to redact sensitive client-side text in GA4, a crucial step in protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII). With this feature, you can set up your web data streams to automatically redact email addresses and user-defined URL Query Parameters. For new web data streams, email redaction is enabled by default.

🤔 Why is this important?

Mishandling PII can lead to severe legal consequences, reputation damage, and customer trust erosion. So, adopting tools to address this issue is a must for advertisers.

🔍 Excluding Google Signals: GA4 now empowers advertisers to exclude specific demographic and interest data from reports, especially data from signed-in, consented users. If you've enabled Google Signals for your property, you can simply turn off "Include Google Signals in Reporting Identity" on the Admin's Data Collection page.

👍 Why does this matter? 

This feature enhances the accuracy of your reporting, helping you gain deeper insights into user behavior, preferences, and interactions. Ultimately, it leads to more precise audience targeting and increased conversion rates. Plus, you can share this data with linked Google 

In a nutshell, these new GA4 features are a big win for both data security and marketing effectiveness. It's time to take advantage of them to stay ahead in the game! 

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