Digital and e-commerce news - March 2022

This is the first episode of a monthly recurrence. Every month I will share some news I have read around, related to the digital and e-commerce world, commenting on them with my personal thoughts. Hope it will provide some insights and generate new ideas.

GoPuff expands in France and creates a partnership with Morrisons in the UK

After launching in the UK last year and raising more than $ 1 billion, GoPuff is expanding in France. The q-commerce player is now active in Paris, Marseille, Lille, and Toulouse and plans to develop its operations also in other countries (Spain). Read the news here.

In addition, GoPuff has signed a strategic multi-year partnership with Morrisons, which will become Gopuff's supplier. Morrisons’ support of local producers and focus on customers have convinced GoPuff that they were the right partner. Read more here.

My bit: As of today, q-commerce companies probably need brands and retailers more than the latter need q-commerce players. However, only the ones who will see opportunities, rather than threats, in the q-commerce trend will be able to rise and create close relationships with these new players. It is important to understand them and be ready to adapt and/or create actual processes. If you want to dive deep into the q-commerce trend you can start with my post here.

Alexa will now tell you when products in your wishlist or cart are on sale

In late March, Amazon announced that Prime customers, owning fourth-generation Echo smart speakers or newer, could decide to receive notifications that will warn them up to 24 hours in advance of impending promotions on goods in their Amazon wish list and shopping cart, as well as "saved for later" tagged products. Alexa can also remind customers about deals as they become available or can place orders on customers’ behalf. Read here the news.

My bit: We know that Amazon is playing on another level when speaking about real customer obsession. This new feature is further evidence of its focus on customers. I think that many companies state they care about their customers but only a few really do. I leave you here a video of Jeff Bezos talking about customer obsession in 1999 and here an interesting Ted Talk about how important customer experience is.

Twitter launched its social commerce feature, Twitter Shops.

Twitter is entering the social commerce territory with a new shopping service that will allow merchants to display up to 50 of their products on their Twitter profiles. However, at the moment this feature is just to showcase the products’ selection since, once customers are ready to make a purchase, they are redirected to the webshop of the merchant. In addition to Shops, Twitter is also developing a new live commerce platform that has been already tested with Walmart. Read the full article here.

My bit: Probably the real challenge of this Twitter’s social commerce expansion will be convincing users that the platform can be used also to discover products and new brands. Whereas on other social platforms (Instagram and TikTok) images and videos help the conversion and the immediate purchase. In addition, Elon Musk, who became the top shareholder, will definitely bring some disruptions in future strategical discussions.

Samsung launched the TikTok App on its European smart TVs. In the meanwhile, TikTok streams a football match.

The new TikTok App can be downloaded from Samsung App Store and it has been optimized for the home viewing experience. Users will be able to watch, like, and comment on trending videos, allowing families to get a taste of TikTok's best material. Videos will be organized into 12 different categories, in addition, users can watch #LearnOnTikTok videos to learn about the newest food techniques, fitness suggestions, and other things TikTok has to offer. Read the Samsung news here.

Moreover, while I was publishing this post, I read that TikTok broadcasted one LaLiga (Spanish football league) match, Real Sociedad - Real Betis. LaLiga was the first major European league to offer a game in this format on TikTok. Read about it here.

My bit: TikTok is becoming a all-in-one app and service and the huge coverage that it has, especially among 18 to 25, is making it the preferred social media app for many companies, content creators, etc. However, TikTok should face the reality that not all of its users are feeling safe since one-third of UK users (according to an Opinium poll) think that TikTok might share their data with the Chinese state.