Commerce

TAM tough love, ‘building in public,’ 6 key SaaS metrics • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 4, 2022Posted in Commerce, e-commerce, EC roundup, immigration law, proptech, Startups, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022, VentureNo Comments

Are you ready to launch a bajillion-dollar startup? Before you start: Are you planning to build a centaur, a unicorn or perhaps a decacorn? Startup pitching has become an existential drama, in part because so many founders exaggerate the size of the total addressable market (TAM) in which they hope to compete. At ZebethMedia Disrupt, I spoke to three investors about how they use TAM to guide their decision-making. Everyone agreed that the number itself is far less important than the process that produced it. “The way it’s calculated and the way the founder is thinking about it tells us not necessarily about the business or its future, but about how the founder thinks about company creation,” said Deena Shakir, a partner at Lux Capital. Full ZebethMedia+ articles are only available to members.Use discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription. “It is almost guaranteed you’re going to be wrong,” said Aydin Senkut, the founder and managing partner of Felicis Ventures. “It’s either going to be too large or too small.” Kara Nortman, a managing partner at Upfront Ventures, said the TAM numbers given in a pitch do not control whether she’s likely to invest. “I would say [it is] more important to be able to articulate how big something can become and to show that you have a thought process around TAM, if it’s early,” she said. Choosing a mythical TAM won’t put dollar signs in investors’ eyes, as unrealistic numbers reflect unrealistic expectations, a red flag for any VC. As Senkut said, “the plan doesn’t have to be accurate — the plan has to be directionally correct.” Thanks very much for reading TC+ this week! Walter ThompsonEditorial Manager, ZebethMedia+@yourprotagonist 3 investors explain how finance-focused proptech startups can survive the downturn Image Credits: Kuzma (opens in a new window) / Getty Images How are finance-oriented property tech investors reacting to the ongoing downturn in public markets? Senior reporter Mary Ann Azevedo interviewed three VCs to learn more about how they’re counseling the companies in their portfolios, which types of startups are best positioned to weather the downturn and how they’re managing risk: Pete Flint, general partner, NFX Zach Aarons, co-founder and general partner, MetaProp Nima Wedlake, principal, Thomvest Ventures How Metafy founder Josh Fabian caught the attention of 776 by building in public Image Credits: Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images At ZebethMedia Disrupt, Josh Fabian, CEO of video game coaching platform Metafy, explained why he’s committed to “building in public,” or sharing aspects of his founder’s journey with an audience. “Consumers don’t trust corporations; I don’t trust corporations,” he said. “I don’t think any of you do, even if you’re running your own.” Katelin Holloway, a founding partner at 776 (an investor in Metafy), said Fabian’s approach was a breath of fresh air. “We were able to just engage and talk like humans, and Josh told us his story in a very different way,” she said. “Not only was it incredibly compelling from a business perspective, it was incredibly compelling from a human perspective,” she said. Is the modern data stack just old wine in a new bottle? Image Credits: Mikhail Dmitriev (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Before Ashish Kakran became a principal at Thomvest Ventures, he was a data engineer who transformed disparate consumer data points into optimized offers for consumer telecoms. “Part of my job involved unpacking encrypted data feeds, removing rows or columns that had missing data and mapping the fields to our internal data models,” he writes in a TC+ guest post. “Our statistics team then used the clean, updated data to model the best offer for each household.” Because today’s datasets contain exponentially more information, “the rules are being rewritten on how data will be used for competitive advantage, and it won’t be long before the winners emerge,” he asserts. In a deep dive, he compares modern and legacy data stacks to identify key trends for enterprises and opportunities for founders and investors. “Practitioners are spoilt for choices when building enterprise data pipelines,” says Kakran. Investor’s advice during a downturn: Don’t panic Image Credits: Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images Fewer investors are writing checks these days, but what kind of advice have they been giving their portfolio companies in recent months? Mary Ann Azevedo spoke to three executives at ZebethMedia Disrupt to learn more about the strategies they’re promoting to preserve runway and their peace of mind. Eric Glyman, CEO, Ramp Thejo Kote, CEO, Airbase Ruth Foxe Blader, partner, Anthemis “It behooves everybody to be really lucid about the macro environment that we’re entering,” said Blader. “It’s likely to be long-lived, and it’s very important to be judicious but not lose sight of your goals and the reason you founded the business in the first place.” 6 key metrics that can help SaaS startups outlast this downturn Image Credits: Andy Ryan (opens in a new window) / Getty Images The most successful companies I’ve worked at fostered parasocial relationships with customers in much the same way many of us invest emotional energy while following the lives of celebrities. During a downturn, “the goal is to pick up on warning signs early and course-correct as you go, and those signs are often hidden in the breadcrumbs,” writes Sudheesh Nair, CEO of ThoughtSpot. “Not all industries are affected equally, so don’t assume your customers will cut spending this year just because the headlines are bleak.” Tips for e-commerce brands that want to win more market share this holiday season Image Credits: Justin Sullivan (opens in a new window) / Getty Images Santa Claus makes a list and checks it twice before each holiday season. Can your e-commerce startup make the same claim? “Consumers are now living with inflation and an unofficial recession, and we can expect more selective and price-conscious shopping behavior,” writes Guru Hariharan, CEO and founder of CommerceIQ. Now that people “are feeling the squeeze on their everyday essential purchases” and the holiday shopping season is

Etsy begins rolling out visual search, starting with iOS users • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 4, 2022Posted in Apps, Commerce, eCommerce, EtsyNo Comments

Etsy is is launching a new image search feature that is designed to help users find what they’re looking for faster. Up until now, the only way to search on Etsy was through keywords. Now, users on iOS can tap the new camera icon in the search bar and upload or take a photo, after which Etsy will surface items that are visually similar to the image the user shared. Etsy didn’t share its plans regarding an Android launch. The company says the new feature aims to help users discover items when have trouble finding the right words to define a specific product. For example, say you’re looking for a mug in your favorite color, but don’t know how to describe the exact shade you want. Or, you see a unique piece of furniture and want to find a small business that can hand make something similar for you. The new image search feature should help you find what you’re looking for in instances like these. Image Credits: Etsy “With more than 100 million items in our marketplace, odds are that if you can dream it – or snap a photo of it – you’ll find something you love on Etsy,” the company said in a blog post. “We’re always investing in our marketplace to make it easier for sellers to grow their businesses. We’re excited for this new, innovative feature to make it easier for sellers to get discovered and connect with our built-in base of nearly 90 million buyers around the world.” Etsy says the new feature was developed as part of CodeMosaic, which is an annual Etsy Hackathon that gives engineers opportunities to try out new skills while building creative solutions. The launch of Etsy’s new feature comes as platforms like Google and Pinterest have had image search capabilities for quite some time now. Google recently added updates to its multisearch feature that lets users combine a photo and text to craft custom searches, initially around shopping. The search giant also added its Lens image search right into its home page this week, letting users access the advanced image recognition tool directly from the search box. Etsy released its third quarter earnings on Wednesday and reported a revenue bump of 11.7% over the same quarter of 2021 to $594.5 million. The bump was likely partially due to the platform’s increased transaction fee from 5% to 6.5%. The change saw sellers go on strike earlier this year after the fee increase was announced. Etsy had noted on its website that the increased fee supported its plans to make “significant investments in marketing, seller tools and creating a world-class customer experience.”

Tips for e-commerce startups that want to win market share this holiday season • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in black friday, Column, Commerce, EC Column, EC Ecommerce and D2C, EC How To, holiday shopping, StartupsNo Comments

Guru Hariharan Contributor Guru Hariharan is CEO and founder of CommerceIQ, an e-commerce management company. For consumers, the holiday season means indulging in gifts, family traditions and festive celebrations. But for retail businesses, it’s the most critical time of the year. We’re seeing a gathering storm of economic conditions — inflation, inventory and supply chain issues, and an elongated holiday season — that has companies scrambling to determine the right e-commerce strategy for the holiday season. Retail e-commerce channels such as Amazon, Walmart and Instacart, where a majority of all e-commerce happens, will be the real holiday battlefront. The key to succeed this year will be flexibility, responsiveness and endurance: Companies will have to be ready to respond to the market and the consumer throughout the season. Following two years when e-commerce enjoyed pandemic tailwinds, consumers are now living with inflation and an unofficial recession, and we can expect more selective and price-conscious shopping behavior. While prices across major retail e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and Target have mostly kept pace with inflation, consumers are feeling the squeeze on their everyday essential purchases. According to CommerceIQ data based on thousands of products across 450+ online retailers, grocery and home and kitchen prices have risen about 20% on average over last year, far outpacing inflation. The average shopper has to focus more of their budget on essentials, leaving them less to spend on gifts and other discretionary purchases. Place as many inventory orders as possible early so that you have inventory before the holiday season begins. However, unemployment has remained low so far, and consumer spending has been resilient, which we can see in the continued strength of online shopping. For instance, in Q2 2022, e-commerce growth has already rebounded to 9% at Target, 12% at Walmart and 10% at Amazon in North America. On top of this shift in value, the holiday shopping season is kicking off earlier this year, spurred by the second Amazon Prime Day in October. Other retailers will follow suit in an attempt to capture the spending of price-conscious consumers as they plan ahead for the holidays. What does this mean for brands? The focus must be on endurance and companies will need to be ready to shift their strategy for discounting, inventory planning and ad and marketing spend as the environment changes, all while fending off potential consumer fatigue. Increase discounts while balancing profitability Discounting has taken a back seat over the past couple of years, largely thanks to consumers’ lockdown savings and stimulus checks, but that is set to change this year. Promotions and discounts have been on the rise throughout 2022, and Amazon Prime Day was a great indicator of what could come in the holiday season. According to CommerceIQ data, during Prime Day 2022, discount levels for items on sale rose 10% to 12% compared to Prime Day 2021. The trend will likely continue at other major retailers as we head into the holidays. While companies and retailers will look to increase promotions and discounts throughout the season, the majority of promotions will still occur during specific sales like Black Friday and Cyber Monday rather than broadly across the season as consumers hold out for the best deals. There is an opportunity to further eventize promotional events like Cyber Week to capture greater volume, but getting discount levels wrong could lead to big hits to profitability. Companies that go into the season with excess inventory could face a perfect storm that eats into the bottom line. Prices continue to rise leading into 2022 holidays, but discounts have yet to pick up. Image Credits: CommerceIQ Here are some principles companies should keep in mind when planning e-commerce promotional strategies for the holiday season:

Quinio’s $40M equity, debt raise shows LatAm is strong market for e-commerce aggregators • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Commerce, e-commerce aggregator, latin america, Quinio, VentureNo Comments

Quinio, an e-commerce aggregator that acquires, operates and builds consumer packaged e-commerce brands across Latin America, secured a $40 million boost in both equity and debt. It’s an interesting time for e-commerce aggregators. Over the past year, the market went from hot, hot, hot to cool, though some aggregators still held on and were even able to close on venture capital deals. For example, OpenStore closed on $32 million in September, while secondhand apparel aggregator Gently took in $2 million of pre-seed dollars and Una Brands bagged $30 million to acquire APAC brands. Quinio’s co-founder and CEO Juan Gavito said via email that he witnessed similar changes this year, calling 2022 “an atypical year for e-commerce” as consumers’ shopping habits shifted back to in-person after two years of purchasing largely online. “This shift created a more challenging environment for e-commerce aggregators who benefited strongly from the rapid acceleration seen during 2020 and 2021,” he told ZebethMedia. “We expect the market to settle down a bit during this year and get back to pre-COVID growth rates for 2023.” Gavito started Quinio in 2020 with his brother, Santiago Gavito, and Iker Garay. We previously profiled the company in December 2021 when it raised $20 million in seed funding, also a mix of equity and debt. The company focuses on brands in the areas of home and kitchen, beauty and personal care, baby, health and household items. It already owns and operates several brands that have a presence in Mexico, Colombia, Chile and the U.S. Over the past year, Gavito also saw the growth environment become more challenging, which led to industry peers “struggling to fulfill their projections.” Many of Quinio’s competitors also “struggled with fundraising and/or decided to reduce the pace of acquisitions, creating an interesting opportunity for us to find well-positioned brands at attractive valuations.” By “well-positioned,” he noted that the company doubled down on business development and M&A rather than cutting both as other aggregators have had to do. And although Latin America’s e-commerce market continues to be one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, and is expected to grow over 50% by 2025, Quinio also added some protections into its process for seeking out companies to acquire. That included implementing new criteria filters when evaluating new brands so that the company increases its probability of acquiring a successful brand. The company is also more product-centered and is betting more on technology than when it started, Gavito said. The strategy seems to have paid off so far. Quinio is a profitable company with over 100 employees and growing rapidly, he said. Meanwhile, Gavito expects to end 2022 with over $50 million in annual recurring revenue, and its brands are reporting solid growth while gaining a regional presence. The new funding gives the company over $60 million in total equity and debt financing. The split related to the new $40 million was not disclosed. The equity portion was led by Northgate Capital, which was joined by existing and new investors, including Cometa, Dila Capital, AlleyCorp, Western Technology Investment, Alchimia Investments and a group of strategic individual investors. Quinio’s debt financing details were also not disclosed at this time. Big plans for the capital include continuing to acquire, operate and boost brands in Latin America. “We have learned a lot since our first acquisition and therefore feel better prepared to tackle new opportunities going forward,” Gavito added. “Our tech tools have allowed us to reduce employee non-strategic tasks time, have more accurate projections on revenue and costs, be smarter on catalog expansion and product development and optimize marketing return on investment.”

Former ButcherBox execs leverage meat shipment expertise into new D2C startup • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Commerce, e-commerce, Shipping, VentureNo Comments

As ButcherBox’s former head of logistics, Juan Meisel knows how to get perishable items from A to Z, and now he wants to do the same for Grip, a perishable shipping company he is bringing out of stealth mode with $2 million pre-seed funding. Dubbed a “smart logistics engine,” Grip’s technology sits on top of customers’ existing order management systems and manages the shipment process using real-time network conditions, like weather events and temperature, carrier on-time delivery and box performance. Founder Juan Meisel told ZebethMedia that other shipping software uses “flat shipping logic and business rules for shipments, aka, the same amount of packaging, refrigerant, carrier, etc., each time for the same routes.” Instead, Grip adjusts its shipping recommendations dynamically based on what’s going on in the shipping network. This way, businesses can use that data to proactively hold orders, let customers know of potential delays and identify areas for improvement. Meisel got the idea for Grip while he was head of logistics at ButcherBox, where he had also been trying to solve the challenge of shipping perishable items, while also reducing the damage rate and improving margins, all while operating in conditions that seemed to change minute by minute. “I was always looking for that piece of software that could help us do this internally,” Meisel said. “I failed to find something, but at the same time, I also started advising some companies on the side that would find me on LinkedIn. They got their ButcherBox in the mail and were trying to ship anything from frozen milk to chocolate, flowers and pharmaceuticals.” While advising those other companies, he realized that there needed to be software to help e-commerce companies improve the way they ship and increase the customer experience. So he came upon the idea of Grip and launched a company a few months ago, joining with Jimmy Cooper, ButcherBox’s former head of data. Customers are onboarded and can begin shipping in a matter of hours, and Grip makes money via monthly SaaS fees based on the size of the company and the complexity of integration, Meisel said. In this short period of time, the company has processed hundreds of thousands of orders and customers have seen a 25% reduction in failure rates and 30% reduction in shipping costs, Meisel said. Grip is coming into a market that is not only growing fast, but has also attracted interest by other startups and investors. It’s a big market — U.S. food and beverage e-commerce sales are expected to be around $80 billion by the end of 2022, up 20.7% from just under $65 billion last year, according to Insider Intelligence. Those sales are forecasted to nearly double by 2026. Over the past year, we’ve seen several startups also raise venture-backed capital to solve similar logistics issues, particularly around food waste as direct-to-consumer subscription meal kits gained popularity. For example, Alima is building out produce logistics in Mexico, while Full Harvest is tackling the B2B produce supply chain. Grip’s $2 million pre-seed round was backed by Soma Capital, Western Technology Investment and a group of individual investors. Though ButcherBox itself was bootstrapped, Meisel said he decided to go after venture capital for Grip largely in part because “developing technologies is expensive.” To develop the right technology and the right data processing system to add value to customers quickly required some institutional funding and industry investors. “We’re running what we call ‘fast innovation cycles,’ which means that we go from idea to product to feedback very fast,” he added. “We basically have an idea, launch a product, work very, very closely with the customer to get feedback on that product and then we go back to the idea of how we can keep improving that product. Therefore, we’re using the money to develop technology to grow fast innovation cycles and to keep adding value to investors.” The company currently has six employees, and Grip will also add to that team to develop new features and user experience as it relates to reducing waste and improving customer experience.

Dropit picks up $25M to digitize brick-and-mortar stores and unify inventories • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Commerce, dropit, eCommerce, Startups, VentureNo Comments

Dropit, a retail technology platform that bridges the digital divide by unifying merchants’ online and in-store inventories, has raised $25 million in a Series C round of funding. Founded in 2014, London-based Dropit counts retail brands including L’Occitane, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Estee Lauder as customers, in addition to shopping malls. At its core, Dropit is all about enabling brands to sell their in-store inventory online, essentially converting brick-and-mortar outlets into something akin to a local distribution hub — customers buy their goods digitally, with Dropit’s “smart sourcing” technology finding the nearest physical location to the customer that the goods are located, and dispatching accordingly. So even if a brand or outlet already has online inventory for specific goods, Dropit brings their offline inventory into the mix and joins all the dots to expedite delivery and minimize the impact of shipping goods from further afield. On top of that, a major selling point for retailers in shopping malls is that Dropit can also aggregate a mall’s entire brand network into a single online marketplace. This is particularly important at a time when shopping mall foot traffic has yet to fully rebound post-pandemic, as it means the mall stores can generate sales round-the-clock regardless of in-person visits, while also allowing customers to purchase from multiple outlets simultaneously. Dropit: Aggregating shopping mall stores into a single marketplace Integrated At the heart of Dropit’s platform are integrations — it can connect to any point in the sales or fulfilment chain, which is one of the reasons Dropit founder and CEO Karin Cabili says that it’s not in direct competition with any other in-house or external retail system, whether it’s Shopify or some other ecommerce platform. “Dropit has set out to solve a macro problem created by the retail industry’s duplication of inventory and lack of ability to combine local store presence with last-mile delivery,” Cabili told ZebethMedia. “One of our key strengths is unifying data and systems. In this effort, we have built integrations with many systems, including Shopify, which has done a fantastic job in the realm of ecommerce, creating a user-friendly platform that is recommended for SMBs.” Through integrations with multiple third-party couriers, Dropit allows brands and malls to offer same-day or next-day shipping spanning in-store and online transactions, though curbside pickup is offered too. It also allows merchants to consolidate their deliveries and pickups to minimize split shipments. “Dropit’s mission is to solve a core problem of efficient optimization for the retail industry, while taking care not to harm the level of service provided to the customer,” Cabili added. The Dropit platform showing courier options By way of example, a retailer wanting to use Dropit as part of its existing tech stack could deploy Dropit in between the order, warehouse, point-of-sale (POS), and ecommerce (e.g. Shopify) systems on one side, and the checkouts, payments, and couriers on the other. The retailer can decide for themselves what value they want to extract from Dropit, for example they may simply want fulfilment and capacity for pick-and-pack at a store, and curbside pickup or courier delivery. “Dropit connects to existing systems to fill gaps without the need to invest any additional capital or technological resources,” Cabilit explained. It’s worth noting that in addition to powering the backend for retailers and malls, Dropit also offers a consumer-facing mobile app for shoppers that like to shop in person, but don’t want to carry bags around with them. So they basically search for participating stores through the app, shop as normal, but when they get to the (physical) checkout, they scan a little Dropit QR code at the outlet and select where they want their bags delivered to. Dropit’s consumer app Expansion Since its launch six years ago, Dropit has been gaining steady traction across Europe and North America. And last year it was enlisted by Primaris in Canada to power Primarché, touted as the “world’s first first multi-mall, multi-brand marketplace” — essentially, it brings Primaris’ national mall network into a single online entity. This separates Dropit from something like Mall of America (MOA) in Bloomington, Minnesota, which has created a similar online marketplace but for stores in a single mall. Dropit had previously raised $25 million across two hitherto undisclosed rounds of funding in 2016 and 2018, and with a fresh $25 million in the bank, the company is well-financed to expand in its existing markets with plans to grow specifically in the U.S. where it already has an office in Austin, Texas. Dropit’s Series C round was led by Vault Investments, with participation from Tiga Investments, Axentia, Sugarbee, and others including former Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren, who sits on Dropit’s board of directors.

Snap and Amazon partner on AR shopping in the Snapchat app, initially for eyewear • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in Amazon, Apps, Commerce, SnapNo Comments

Snap has landed a notable new partner for its augmented reality-powered Virtual Try-On shopping experience with today’s news that Amazon will now offer Snapchat users the ability to digitally try on eyewear styles from a range of popular brands. The new partnership between Amazon Fashion and the social app maker will see brands including Maui Jim, Persol, Oakley, Ray-Ban, Costa Del Mar and others made available for virtual try-on to Snapchat’s 363 million daily active users, the retailer says. The launch will see dozens of new Shopping Lenses made available across categories like sunglasses, reading glasses and seasonal glasses. The partnership is one of several that have followed Snap’s investments in AR shopping, where it has this year rolled out a number of upgrades to better appeal to retailers and brands, including the ability to update product information and pricing in real time, access better analytics and more easily create AR Shopping Lenses, among other things. Other brands that have leveraged Snapchat’s AR Shopping Lenses have included MAC Cosmetics, Ulta Beauty, American Eagle, Puma, Chanel, Walmart, LVMH, eyewear brands Goodr and Zenni Optical, and recently, for Halloween, costume company Disguise. Over the last year, Snap says 250 million Snapchat users have engaged with its AR Shopping Lenses more than 5 billion times. Image Credits: Snap/Amazon To create the AR shopping experience for Amazon, Amazon used Snap’s self-service creation system in Lens Web Builder, which allowed for scalable AR asset creation by using Amazon’s existing 3D models. If the Amazon products’ prices change or an item goes out of stock, the Lenses will be automatically updated in real time, notes Snap. Shopping Lens creation is an area where Snap has been working to improve its technology. Earlier this year it updated its Lens Web Builder that allowed bands to create shopping Lenses in a matter of minutes. This April, Snap announced it would begin offering retailers access to a new AR image-processing technology in its 3D asset manager that makes it easier and faster to build AR shopping experiences. The process uses AI and the brand’s own photography to turn standard photos into AR assets, Snap explained at the time. To access the new Amazon AR shopping feature, Snapchat users can find the new Lenses on the @amazonfashion public profile on the Snapchat app, through Snap’s Lens Explorer, through the new “Dress-Up” tab featuring AR shopping experiences and through the Snap Camera Lens Carousel. When users discover a pair of glasses they like, they can tap on a link at the bottom of the screen to make a purchase. This directs them to the Amazon app on their phone to check out. Snap does not receive a commission on these sales, we understand. Image Credits: Snap/Amazon Amazon also notes that Snapchat users will now be able to browse thousands of eyewear products in the Amazon Fashion “store” tab on its profile, though these will not be AR-enabled. Image Credits: Snap/Amazon While the AR shopping experience is starting with eyewear, it will be the first of more Amazon AR shopping experiences on Snapchat still to come. We understand the broader plan is to kick off the partnership with eyewear but expand into other categories in the months ahead. Snap also suggests this is the case in its public statement: “With the combined innovation and technology between Snap and Amazon, we are unlocking exciting and fun new try-on experiences for hundreds of millions of Snapchatters,” said Ben Schwerin, SVP of Partnerships at Snap, in an announcement. “AR eyewear is just the first step in our partnership, and we can’t wait to continue our innovation together,” he added. Amazon also noted it has already invested in AR shopping experiences itself and sees Snap as an extension of those efforts. “Millions of customers regularly use Amazon’s AR shopping technology across categories in our stores, with Virtual Try-On for Eyewear being a long-time customer favorite,” stated Muge Erdirik Dogan, president of Amazon Fashion. “We are delighted to partner with Snapchat and further expand AR shopping for both fashion brands and today’s new generation of digital shoppers.” Neither company would comment on the expected duration of their newly established partnership. This is not Amazon’s first foray into AR shopping. Recently, Amazon announced its own expansion in AR shopping with the June 2022 launch of a new virtual try-on experience for shoes, available to consumers in the U.S. and Canada in the Amazon iOS app. Using the feature, app users could shop for shoes from brands like New Balance, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Saucony, Lacoste, Asics and Superga. Prior to this, Amazon had only dabbled in AR shopping, having experimented in areas like AR for furniture shopping and sillier things, like AR Stickers or AR features on its seasonal shipping boxes. It’s not clear if AR is leading to a sizable increase in conversions through Amazon’s own efforts, however, as we’d likely see more AR features if it had. That could be, in part, why Amazon is now looking to an outside partner for AR shopping — and one that appeals to a younger crowd more comfortable with using the technology and keen to browse and shop from a social media app.

Gmail to add a new package tracking feature ahead of holiday shopping season • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 2, 2022Posted in Apps, Commerce, gmail, GoogleNo Comments

Google announced today a small but useful update to Gmail that will allow users to soon be able to track their upcoming package deliveries directly from their inbox. The feature works by looking for emails that include tracking numbers, then using that information to determine the order’s expected delivery date and flagging this for you right in your inbox. That means when you’re scanning through your email list in Gmail, you won’t have to click on your order confirmation emails to see when your package is due to arrive. Instead, this information will be displayed just below the email sender’s name and subject line in the inbox in a small green label. You’ll notice a little truck icon followed by text indicating the order’s status, followed by the delivery date. This label will be updated as the order progresses, with information like “label created,” the arrival date or the delivery date, Google says. Image Credits: Google This feature will save online shoppers a lot of extra steps as typically, consumers have to open their order confirmation emails and then either copy and paste the tracking information into the appropriate carriers’ system, into Google, or click on a provided link to begin tracking the order, for example. Now, all they’ll need to do is look at their Gmail inbox. However, if you do click to open the order confirmation email, it will now include a summary card at the top that offers a bit more detail, including a timeline with checkmarks that shows the current order status — order placed, shipped or delivered — and a link that takes you to the order detail page. Google says the new feature will be available in the U.S. across “most major” shipping carriers in the coming weeks. The expectation is that this feature will arrive ahead of the holiday shopping season when it would be most useful. To enable package tracking, Gmail will first ask users if they want to opt-in to receive tracking updates in a pop-up at the top of the inbox. Users will click “Allow”or “Now now,” depending on their preference. This can also be enabled in Gmail’s settings. Image Credits: Google The system, of course, involves having your email scanned for tracking information, but this is automated — humans aren’t reading your email. Still, some may view this a potential privacy concern, particularly if Gmail chooses to use this data to help inform its various developments in e-commerce and first-party shopping features. The new addition could impact the adoption of popular third-party package tracking apps including Parcel, Route, AfterShip and Shopify’s Shop app — though the latter offers more functionality beyond tracking, like the ability to browse and buy from Shopify merchants. Later, Google says it will expand the package tracking feature to proactively update the label when a package is delayed and bring that email to the top of users’ inboxes to make sure they’re aware.

Google Search is getting new shopping features to help you get a better deal • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in Apps, Commerce, Google, google search, shoppingNo Comments

Google is rolling out new shopping features that are designed to help you get a better deal on products directly from Search. The search giant is making it easier to find promos and coupons by introducing a new promotion badge in Search that will be displayed when a coupon is available for a specific product. For example, you may see a label that says “15% off with coupon code HOLIDAYS.” The company notes that although it already shows when items are on sale or if the price for a specific product has dropped, the goal of this new feature is to show users specific promotions and allow them to compare them to others right in Search. Image Credits: Google Google is also adding a new coupon clipping feature that allows you to copy promo codes when you’re ready to make a purchase. These two new features will roll out in the coming weeks, Google says. The company is also launching a new feature that lets you compare deals side by side. For example, if you search for a women’s puffer jacket, Search will show you a side-by-side comparison of available puffer jackets on sale. The new feature will roll out in the U.S. this month. In addition, Google is bringing its price insights feature, which is currently available in the Shopping tab, to Search to help shoppers understand the prices they see and make better buying decisions. Now, users will be able to quickly see how one brand’s price compares to others’ and whether it’s low, typical or high for specific products. Google’s decision to bring features from its Shopping tab over to Search results is a welcome one, especially for people who don’t want to click over to another tab and would prefer to look for products directly through Search. Image Credits: Google The launch of the new features comes as Google says 43% of Americans are planning to look for deals and sales more than last year this holiday shopping season, which isn’t exactly surprising, due to inflation and a potential recession. At its Search On event a few weeks ago, Google announced a slew of new shopping-related changes and new features across areas that include visual shopping, personalization and buying with the help of trusted reviews. One of the biggest changes coming to Google Shopping is the addition of opt-in personalization, arriving in the U.S. later this year. With this, consumers will be able to tap buttons to direct Google to remember the types of categories they want to shop, such as “Women’s Department” instead of the “Men’s Department.” Users will also be able to choose favorite brands to ensure those are highlighted in their future Google Shopping search results.

Digital card and gifting platform Givingli nabs $10M • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 1, 2022Posted in Apps, Commerce, funding, gifting, Givingli, StartupsNo Comments

Three years ago, Ben and Nicole Green were planning their wedding and decided to go digital with registries to save on money and materials. But when it came time to gift others, while they preferred going the digital route — as they did with their wedding — they found that digital gifting platforms on the web didn’t meet their criterion. “We noticed there was no platform we would actually want to use,” Nicole Green told ZebethMedia in an email interview. “In combination, I recognized there was a gap in the market for a more genuine and authentic way for people to connect and celebrate one another in the digital age.” So in 2019, Ben and Nicole co-founded Givingli, an online gifting service that lets users customize digital greetings and send gifts to anyone. The company today announced that it raised $10 million in a Series A round led by Seven Seven Six, the VC firm founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, with participation from Shopify co-founder and CEO Tobi Lütke. The proceeds bring the 13-person, Los Angeles–based company’s total raised to $13 million. “We’re doubling down on Givingli because they’ve continued to not just organically grow, but thrive — even during these uncertain times — by productizing kindness & connection,” Ohanian told ZebethMedia via email. “This is as much a social network as it is a gifting platform and it’s been valuable for all sides: artists who design the gifts, brands who are partners, and ultimately the gift givers and receivers who keep coming back and spreading the word.” Image Credits: Givingli Indeed, Nicole sees Givingli as more than your average digital gift marketplace. The service offers messaging features, including group chats with family and friends, who can react with tokens of appreciation to e-cards and e-gifts. Users get reminders for friends’ and families’ birthdays. And for cards, which can be shared via email, text or social media, customers can choose from designs contributed by independent artists and brand partners such as Starbucks, Nike and Target — and add their own photos or videos in addition to writing text. In 2020, Givingli launched a partnership with Snap that brought its gifting service inside of Snapchat via an in-app integration. The company’s current focus is a desktop app, launching soon in early access, which Nicole says will “bring even more features for power gifters.” (Givingli was previously iOS only.) “People are looking for more accessible and practical options to stay connected and celebrate a special relationship in their lives. They’re looking to share love and words of compassion from a distance,” Nicole said. “Givingli is focused on the heart and sentiment of gifting, while sparing our customers from losing time on travel, waste and stress.” Will platforms like Givingli ever replace physical gifting? That seems unlikely (see American Greetings). But there are signs that the demand for digital gifting solutions is growing. A June 2022 survey from Incisiv — sponsored by digital gifting vendor GiftNow, granted — found that 67% of consumers prefer instant digital gifts. Allied Market Research estimates that the market for digital gift cards alone was worth $258.34 billion in 2020. Givingli makes money by charging users a monthly subscription fee for access to the platform, plus additional fees for premium cards. Nicole wouldn’t comment on revenue but said that “millions” of people have used the service to date. “The pandemic has sped things up and we’ve been moving fast to keep up,” Nicole said. “We’re going to use this latest funding round to create more of that value for all members of our community — from loyal and daily users to our trusted brand and loyal partners, with desirable cards and gifts on the platform.”