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October eCom Wrap-Up - Everything You Can't Miss
TikTok Smart+, Trump, FTC's New Rule & More
Hey š
Hope you had a happy Halloween! š Octoberās over, and hereās the gist of all things eCom, including:
FTCās āClick To Cancelā Rule ā
Tiktokās Smart+ Campaign for Automated Advertising š°ļø
Consumer Product Content Benchmark Report š
New & Improved AI Google Shopping š¤
Squarespace Going Private (again, officially) š
ā¦and some more hot topics (including Trumpās election), plus a freebie waiting for you at the end š±āāļø
Letās get right into it š„
1. FTCās āClick To Cancelā Rule ā
No more endless subscriptions ā the FTC just introduced the āClick to Cancelā rule, making it super easy for a consumer to cancel a subscription.
This also makes it very hard for the companies that trap those same people in an endless cycle of āwhere did my money go again?ā.
Sellers need to follow this exact legal framework:
1ļøā£ Avoid misrepresenting important details when marketing products or services with a negative option feature
2ļøā£ Clearly disclose key terms before collecting a consumerās payment information
3ļøā£ Obtain the consumerās clear consent before charging for a negative option feature
4ļøā£ Provide an easy way for consumers to cancel and stop charges immediately
Honestly, certain subscriptions have been impossible to cancel ā and now companies are forced to be transparent, and Iām all for it š„
2. TikTokās Smart+ Campaigns š¤
TikTok just added a new advertising option thatāll help advertisers automate campaign creation ā Smart+ š¤
Advertisers input their assets, budget and targeting goals, then Smart+ auto-creates and selects the best creative assets using TikTok Symphony (Tiktokās very own AI content creator). Finally, Smart+ chooses the right audience and time to show the ad.
This looks like near-complete automation of the advertising process, and itās available in these formats:
TikTok said that advertisers using itās Smart+ campaigns see an improvement of +52% in ROAS by lowering CPA, and even Ray-Banās performance marketing manager claimed -50% in CPA, a 47% increase in conversion rates, and a 42% improvement in ROAS.
TikTok doing my ads for me was NOT on my bingo card this year š
P.S ā This goes hard with the newly released TikTok Search Ads š„
3. Consumer Product Content Benchmark Report šļø
1WorldSync shared their 4th annual report with insights gathered from 1.75k shoppers from the U.S. & Canada, here are the stats that matter most:
1ļøā£ eCom Growth ā 41% of shoppers increased their use of online sites and marketplaces, with only 9% reducing online shopping
2ļøā£ Shift Away from DTC ā 21% are using D2C sites less, likely moving to more established marketplaces
3ļøā£ Reviews & Mobile Research ā 11% of shoppers use mobile devices to research products before they purchase (in-store, by the way), and 65% of shoppers read ratings & reviews often or always, with 49% leaving pages with too few reviews
4ļøā£ Holiday Shopping ā 42% plan to do more holiday shopping online, with 10% intending to shop online-only
5ļøā£ Influencers Have A Big Say ā 49% made a purchase from an influencer recommendation, and 26% shopped on TikTok Shop (mostly due to influencer suggestions and/or discounts)
DTC traffic dipping by 21% just means Amazonās winning, again... š¬
4. New & Improved Google AI Shopping šļø
Not many use Google Shopping at all, so Googleās stepping up their game by adding.. even more AI to it?
As per Google, theyāve paired 45 billion product listings in the shopping graph with their Gemini AI model, hereās what that actually means (most of these points can be seen in the visual above):
1ļøā£ AI Shopping Assistance ā searches will provide an AI brief showing the most important things to know before buying, say, a jacket for Seattleās winter, with recommendations showing you why some fit your needs
2ļøā£ Shopping Feeds For You ā just like TikTokās āFor Youā page, Googleās copycat will help you discover new products based on your interests & search history
3ļøā£ Tools for Deals ā itās easier to find absolute steals with price comparisons, insights & even price tracking, theyāve even gone as far as making a personalized deals page
Weāll just have to wait and see how ad-infested this whole thing will be š
5. Squarespace Acquired & More News
Finally, Permira completed itās $7.2B acquisition of Squarespace, bringing the company back to private ownership and removing it from the NYSE.
As a part of this transition, CEO & Founder of Squarespace, Anthony Casalena, kept a big portion of his stake in the company, making him one of the largest shareholders ā heāll also continue in his roles as CEO & Chairman of the Board.
Here are some more hot topics that came about last month:
1ļøā£ Shopifyās New Customer Account Page is now branded
2ļøā£ Temu has been selling products in Vietnam without a license since early October
3ļøā£ Elonās X is charging companies with API access
4ļøā£ How Trumpās election can impact eCom
5ļøā£ Walmart and Amazon announced their upcoming Black Friday deals
ā¦and speaking of BFCM, check out our BFCM Checklist to see if youāre ready for it š„
Your Freebie š
Check out the latest Operatorās Newsletter post, with Ridge CEO roasting the operations of almost every DTC brand & other partners (warning ā heās unhinged š)
š§ ECORN Radio This Week:
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