Black Friday, graphene, and experiences
Route
So… how’d it go? Have you recovered yet? Have you gotten more than a few hours of sleep? Hopefully, Black Friday and Cyber Monday were a complete success.
As one of the largest customer acquisition opportunities of the year, you’ve likely found yourself with a ton of new shoppers. Getting them to your store was the easy part, but getting them to come back is just as important. If Route isn’t part of your customer retention strategy, you’re missing out. Route builds customer loyalty by providing an easy, streamlined post-purchase experience that resolves issues quickly, proactively tells shoppers where their stuff is, and keeps people engaged while they anxiously await their Cyber Monday haul.
Demo Route now, then check out the latest ecommerce news:
The complete results of Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) won’t be out for a few more weeks, but companies are already aggregating data and publishing insights into the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
To start, Black Friday and Cyber Monday began early this year. Looking to quell supply chain issues, many retailers started their sales weeks or even months before Black Friday. That meant when the actual shopping holiday rolled around, consumers had already spent a large chunk of their gifting budget. The shopping event itself was stretched out, but couple that fact with a record-high amount of people saying they don’t plan on buying gifts this year thanks to inflation and high-priced commodities, and you start to see a picture of a pretty watered-down BFCM. Retailers and analysts alike were expecting small to moderate gains, or even drops, in total number of shoppers during BFCM.
And, well, that’s pretty much how it played out. In-store retail traffic was up significantly from last year, but it was still down nearly 30% from pre-pandemic levels. Online shopping was also down over the weekend compared with 2020 (which was at record-high levels) but only just barely (1.4%). Website outages from major retailers like Walmart, GameStop, and Cabela’s also contributed to lower sales over the weekend.
That didn’t stop most retailers from participating fully though. Of DigitalCommerce360’s top 100 retailers, 82 had sales during the BFCM weekend. Amazon reported record sales over the weekend and, in the end, consumers still spent around $200B during the 5-day shopping period, according to Adobe.
Despite the slow, somewhat weaker BFCM, holiday shopping is still projected to smash records as consumers plan to spend much more over a longer period of time. The National Retail Federation expects between 8.5% and 11.5% growth, but don’t be shocked to see that percentage grow even bigger. Sales in November and December could reach $859B, far surpassing previous years ($777.3B in 2020).
Think of 2021 holiday shopping less like a can of condensed soup and more like a vat of watery (but still satisfying!) broth. So, if BFCM wasn’t the blockbuster event you had hoped for, don’t worry. There’s still plenty of time for shopping to be done.
👟 Nike builds a Roblox world for itself
💰 Faire Wholesale, a marketplace for independent brands, raises $400M
💵 TradeDepot raises $110M to become Africa’s BNPL solution
Just a few years ago, Amazon fully relied on carriers like FedEx and UPS for its deliveries. But carrier issues in 2013 left thousands of packages stranded, so Amazon said, “Fine, we’ll just do it ourselves.”
Since then, Amazon has expanded its delivery network and is expected to be the largest delivery service in the US by next year. It’s purchased fleets of planes, trucks, and vans, and is leading the charge on electric delivery vehicles. At this point, Amazon is delivering more than 65% of its own packages. The delivery network also brings millions of opportunities to advertise to customers, with everything from trucks and vans to packages and wrapping tape being used to advertise something else on Amazon (oftentimes a Prime show you probably won’t watch).
But equal to, if not greater than, Amazon’s delivery network is Amazon’s fulfillment services. Amazon’s warehouses are optimized for efficiency, but that optimization has led to many accusing the company of creating unsafe work environments. Just this week, New York’s Attorney General accused Amazon of not protecting its workers by rolling back COVID-19 safety protocols. The AG is asking for a government worker to monitor conditions at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse.
One of the coolest things about sci-fi movies is the costuming. We like to imagine a future where everyone is wearing sleek jumpsuits or giant puffers. The reality is that 50 years from now, ‘80s fashion will probably be making the rounds again. But that doesn’t mean we should dream any smaller. And some brands are building the clothing of the future.
Take Vollebak for example. The company just raised a Series A round of funding to help grow its production of clothes for the future… whatever that future might look like. This brand’s jackets and pants are marketed for a future where the climate is more extreme, sustainability is key, and human space travel is commonplace.
Vollebak is also using material science to craft its clothes out of new substances like graphene. The manufacturing process also involves technology and machinery that’s not widely available, making this brand truly the stuff of the future.
Bolt acquires Tipser and builds an even easier checkout. Bolt, the ecommerce checkout tool, announced the acquisition of Tipser, a Swedish checkout tool. The company plans to keep all Tipser employees, use the Swedish office as a European HQ, and build a new checkout experience that allows customers to check out without having to go to a checkout page, similar to Instagram’s checkout experience. The deal was reportedly worth around $200M.
Peek raises $80M to help build travel experiences. Sounds like a good thing, right? Unfortunately, the raise comes at an unexpectedly bad time as people begin to rethink returning to experience-based spending due to the sudden rise in the new COVID variant, Omicron. Hopefully Peek is able to weather the storm and make it to a brighter, less COVID-impacted future.
Any juicy news we missed?
👉Let us know at chandler@route.com
Stories you want us to dig into deeper?
👉Send tips to chandler@route.com
Was this email forwarded to you by your friend? Thank them, then sign up here.
We’ll be back with more news and insights next week!