#49 The Least Boring Weekly Newsletter

December 29, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes

Good Morning readers!🌞

All set for new years? 🥳👯

Have you read our whitepaper yet? It has got everything you need to know about the Future of D2C in a Web3 world! Check it out before you start with your new year party! 

Almund's newsletter will let you in on all kinds of tips for D2C brands and much much more. 

Alright, so let's get right to it! 

This newsletter is going to dive into :

🌏  People are dropping some serious cash on their pets this Christmas! 

👌 How D2C Brands Can Leverage Pinterest

🙎 BRAND of the week - Purple Dot 

📜 Top reads for this week

👩🏻‍💼 Plenty of jobs awaiting you!

So, scroll down already to THE VERY END & read up on what's yet to come your way!

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WHAT’S COOKING, HUH?

Despite supply chain challenges and concerns that consumer confidence would be shaken by inflation, one section of the market is predicted to hold up this Christmas season: pet presents.

Pets at Home Group Plc, a British shop, has a choice of roughly 300 gifts for dogs, cats, and small animals, which is similar to what it had in 2020, but it has purchased stock in larger amounts than ever before in anticipation of more people treating their furry friends. (Woah) 🤯

Chewy Inc. has increased its Christmas offering in the United States, including personalized gifts and a partnership with the Walt Disney Company for character-themed products.😍

This holiday season, Walmart Inc., the world's largest store, is carrying hundreds more pet presents, while Target Corp. and Nordstrom Inc. are also hoping to attract spoiled pet parents🤯. Marks & Spencer Group Plc, a British high street institution, is stocking nearly 50% more pet presents this year. 

According to the American Pet Products Association, 51% of pet owners in the United States purchased a holiday gift for their pet in 2020, up from 47% in 2019. This year, 56 percent intend to do so. 

During lockdowns, there was a surge in demand for animal companions. The amount of money spent increased dramatically. Spending is likely to reach at least $110 billion this year🤯. According to GlobalData, the pet care business is expanding across Europe and Asia as well. 

Pets are regarded as family members(They indeed are🥺), and there is a desire to treat them as such P(Aww) Owners are also looking for more upscale methods to reward their pets, such as purchasing an advent calendar, which is a popular present for humans, or taking them to a canine day spa for a pre-holiday makeover. P(awesome) 

However, as economies recover, there's a risk that caring for a pet will become more difficult.😦  Another challenge to deal with is rising prices, which put a strain on household incomes. More animals may be abandoned as a result of this. (Let’s not make this happen) 

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How D2C Brands Can Leverage Pinterest

Pinterest? For a D2C business? Hell Nah.

HELL YES!

Pinterest is surely not the first social media channel that comes to mind when one is looking to develop and employ a strategy to generate leads for your D2C business. But let us tell you, you’re missing out! 

Since Pinterest announced to go public in 2019, they’ve grown a curious and dedicated audience of 250 million users. And these 250 million users made close to $750 million in revenue within the same year. Just how? They figured out how Pinterest works. 

Perhaps, some figures can put this into perspective?

👉 90% of weekly Pinterest users use the platform to make purchases

👉 83% say that they make purchases after viewing content on Pinterest

👉 70% of users discover new products on the platform

Numbers speak louder than words here. So, why and how is Pinterest working for D2C brands? Let’s take a closer look.

Since 2019, there has been a steady rise in the number of social media users who think that Pinterest is a platform worth exploring to discover new brands and shop for better products.  The secret sauce to the success of Pinterest as a D2C marketing space is its unique property to allow the user to be the star of their show.

The user discovers content related to their boards, needs, and requirements, and thus, experiences more joy when making purchases. Thus, investing adequate time and effort into developing a strategy for Pinterest when looking to market your D2C business can prove to be fruitful. 

So let’s say you’re all set to market your brand, products, and services in the D2C space. And you’re planning to give Pinterest a shot (great choice, might we add). 

What are some of the ways you can use Pinterest to leverage your business? Let us help you out.

👔 Make Use Of A Business Profile

A Business Profile is a business owner’s solution to generating revenue on Pinterest. With this profile, you can set up a virtual shop on the platform which allows you to feature your products effectively.

Through Pinterest Catalogues, you can seamlessly import new products from your website. All you need to do is get your sources approved (by simply following Pinterest guidelines) and let the platform do the rest!

📱 Create Mobile-Friendly Content

The world is moving quickly; if you don't adapt fast enough, you'll be left behind. The same goes for your business. Over 85% of Pinners use mobile devices to engage with the platform. So if your Pinterest profile isn’t appealing when viewed on a mobile, you’re missing out. Even more so if you’re linking it back to your content on other channels. 

🔖 Brand Every Pin

If you’re anything like the average Pinner, you would’ve noticed that more than 90% of top searches on Pinterest are unlabelled/unbranded. If you’re creating content on the platform, why not take ownership of the same? Add in your brand logo or name or a watermark using a design tool to let people know more about you. 

😕 Don’t Misguide The User

Yes, we all joke about the clickbait culture but it gets annoying, really fast. What if a potential loyal customer comes across a pin with breathtaking imagery only to find that your website looks nothing like it? You could lose them forever. 

An analysis from Pinterest found that websites with the look and feel similar to the pin increase the chances of a sale by 13 percent. So, if not identical, try having the content on your website and pins look similar. 

🤝 Add Your Pinterest Content to Other Platforms

Pinterest is all about aesthetics, dreams, personalization, and everything in between. With a resource consisting of such visually appealing content, it would be a shame to not redirect it to other platforms. 

Use your content from Pinterest to make banner backdrops, a simple pinboard, or perhaps, images on your feed. 

🎯 Optimise Your Website to Redirect Your Audience

You’re now present on a platform that leverages user personalization, thus helping drive even more traffic to your business? Of course, you must use this opportunity to advertise your Pinterest profile to the people stopping by your website. 

Give them a taste of what’s waiting for them by using a pinboard on a banner with a “Follow Us” button. You can dedicate a section to offer sneak peeks to multiple boards to help your customers decide if they’re interested in following your brand. 

🗓️ Schedule The Campaign Right

Pinterest offers ‘Seasonal Insights’ which is godsent for every marketer. It contains information that is essential for running a successful campaign such as traffic on the platform, engagement rate, etc. 

📣 Update Your Audiences About Pinterest

And finally, don’t forget to make some noise! If you’re working on some kick-ass content for a new platform, speak about it on other platforms to let everyone know. You can use some of your best-performing pins to create a short video for your feed, engage with and encourage your followers to create content for you, and use insights from your campaigns to create case studies or news feeds for your brand. 

The world of Pinterest marketing isn’t in its rudimentary stages anymore. With multiple success stories of brands leveraging this social media platform to reach a wider audience, build positive and direct relationships with their audience, and use proven and engaging campaign strategies, it’s truly become a playground for potential revolution in the D2C space. 

So, are you down for Pinterest?

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BRAND OF THE WEEK is…

Fashion firms frequently have to "guestimate" demand for their products due to the unpredictable nature of the market, and if they get that demand wrong, they must deal with a squandered inventory.

Clothes are frequently burnt unnecessarily,  increasing their environmental impact. Purple Dot, has developed an e-commerce "waitlist and pre-order" platform that allows fashion designers to only make the exact amount of goods purchased, reducing waste. (😲wow) 

Purple Dot has raised $4 million🤑 in an early-stage fundraising round headed by Unusual Ventures in the United States. Connect Ventures, Moxxie Ventures, and the family office of Indeed co-founder Paul Forster were among the previous investors.

Purple Dot, which was founded in 2019 by entrepreneurs Madeline Parra and John Talbott, claims to be able to "sell inventory early as a strategy to maximize sales, establish brand loyalty, and obtain demand data earlier" for e-commerce enterprises.

Inventory can be sold before it arrives in the warehouse thanks to Purple Dot's waitlist solution. According to the company, it is the only solution of its kind on the market.

Madeline Parra, CEO, and co-founder of Purple Dot said: “By selling earlier, brands open up a whole new window to capture sales. The legacy mindset and technology assume you need inventory in the warehouse to sell it. 

But with Purple Dot, you can always be selling because selling and shipping can be asynchronous. 

This is the “A-ha” moment for our brand partners. To get a sell-earlier strategy right, you need a dedicated approach that gets the customer experience, and internal tooling, right.” 

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TOP READS FOR THIS WEEK

💰 Skio raises $3.7M to help brands on Shopify sell subscriptions. 

 👻 Instagram now lets you embed a miniature version of your profile into a website 

🎶 TikTok is testing a desktop streaming software called TikTok Live Studio

⚖️ Mavrck raises $120M to scale its influencer marketing platform

🏠 home24 acquires home accessories direct to consumer brand Butlers and expands its market position

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In need of a  job? We’ve got plenty awaiting you!

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CHOOSE SUCCESS below and have a great week! ‘Get that D2C business runnin’.