The Webretailer News Digest for November 18, 2022
Explanation:
We fact-check all of our content to ensure you have reliable and up-to-date information for your eCommerce business decisions.
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With one week to go before Black Friday, here’s another interesting statistic: According to Deloitte, overall Black Friday sales decreased 5% from 2020 to 2021, but the average spend increased from $410 per shopper to $430
Today’s news is … words and a … minute read.
Etsy’s Cyber Week kicks off this Friday
On Monday, Etsy announced they’re kicking off their Cyber Week this weekend. According to the announcement, the platform will have offers extended in every category, and sellers are giving discounts as high as 60% off everything in their stores.
Mobile remains king in the eCommerce world
If this isn’t a testament to the power of mobile, I don’t know what is.
With their Cyber Week announcement, Etsy stated shoppers will be able to access sales a day early on the Etsy mobile app. Users can hop on the app for discounts starting November 18th, and desktop users will have to be patient until the 19th.
Doubling down on holiday sales
Etsy’s Cyber Week event doesn’t end until November 30th, which gives it a nearly two-week run of major sales offers. And this sale actually backs up to their Early Holiday Sales Event which has been running since October 24th. That sale has given shoppers 20% off select items and a variety of contests put on by sellers.
Final thoughts and one statistic
We’re not here to provide insights on why inflation and supply chain issues occurred this year. But Black Friday and Cyber Week sales fall into an inflated market that’s hurting. We’re seeing a lot of early, large sales events this year — early Prime Day and an extended Singles Day pre-sales campaign from Alibaba.
It’s no surprise that Etsy is extending their own sales events to boost their revenue during the buying —… I mean ‘Holiday’ — season.
Statistic: According to Etsy, “There was an increase of over 30% in average daily site visits during Etsy’s Cyber Week Sales Event compared to the three months prior.”
Big Retailer News
Amazon makes job cuts
This week, CNBC and many other news outlets announced Amazon intends to eliminate around 10,000 jobs this week in their devices, retail, and human resources divisions. The company believes it needs to cut back on spending and have already notified workers in several divisions.
No announcement
Unfortunately, after the initial reports came from news outlets on Monday, Amazon has not released a communication to their employees regarding the layoffs. Naturally, many Amazon workers were unhappy about the situation.
However, many in the company knew things were brewing as the company started laying off some contracted employees over the past few weeks. And Amazon announced it would freeze corporate hirings earlier this month.
Side notes
This is the first mass layoff for the company and marks the largest personnel cut in the company’s history. However, Amazon will still bring in 150k warehouse employees to help with the holiday shopping season — same as last year.
Etsy promotes gift wrapping
Etsy made the news twice this week as the company emailed sellers reminding them of a key pro shopping tip on the platform: the ability to offer gift wrapping options to customers.
Add it to your store
The feature is easy to activate and adds your product to the ‘can be gift-wrapped’ filter when customers search. Many sellers on the platform even offer a range of gift-wrapping options where sellers can click ‘see details’ to bring up the additional information.
Questions and comments
There’s a reason we included Etsy twice in this week’s news. Their gift wrapping offer brings up the question: Are you offering gift wrapping services in your online store this year?
If you are or aren’t, let us know with a comment below.
Also in the News
- eBay to fund a 10% off sale in its luxury watches category. eBay.
- USPS launches a new initiative to help small businesses. USPS.
International Retailer News
Walmart says India’s Flipkart helped grow sales this quarter
Walmart had its Q3 earnings release call this week. And while we’re rarely interested in earnings releases — their sales grew 7.1% this quarter —this call highlighted the contributions from their eCommerce arm in India, Flipkart.
Big Billion Days
On the call, Walmart reps stated that Flipkart’s festive eight-day sales event, Big Billion Days, helped push the company’s sales forward this quarter. The company also stated Flipkart continues to meet their expectations after a pleasing performance for Q3.
Final Quote
“We had over 1 Billion visits to our site during the eight-day event and importantly saw more than 60% of those customers coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.” – Walmart CFO John David Rainey
That’s a lot of visits to one of India’s top eCommerce platforms. Indian sellers should consider a setting up shop!
Report states European eCommerce companies are dealing with poor site performance
According to a report from leading CMS (content management systems) company, Storyblok, “the top five monolithic CMSs perform poorly in Google Lighthouse speed and performance scores.”
According to the report, they examined data from over 3,500 eCommerce companies in the EMA regions. The report stated that the companies all have revenues over $10 million and over 100 employees.
What does it mean, and what can sellers do?
The news release stated that the low scores impact visual stability and responsiveness and “makes websites more difficult to use and decreases conversion rates.”
There are a lot of things you can do to improve your site performance including:
- Compressing your images
- Enabling browser caching
- Get rid of unnecessary plugins
Here’s a complete rundown from Hubspot on how to quickly improve your site speed.
Also in the News
- Japanese auction site Aucnet opens branches in the US and Europe. PRNewswire.
- Klarna and Viva Wallet enter European partnership. PRNewswire.
Webinars
For everyone
Various dates: Amazon advertising’s global webinar program continues with 20+ webinars scheduled, covering Prime Day Preparation, Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, reporting, optimization, and other tips. Amazon.
For US sellers
None this week!
For UK sellers
Various dates: Amazon advertising’s global webinar program continues with 20+ webinars scheduled, covering Prime Day Preparation, Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, reporting, optimization, and other tips. Amazon.
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