verde live: august 19 - tiktok, e-commerce, the holidays and more!
verde live - august 19, 2020
Each week on Verde Live, Kristin Carpenter dives into the TOP trends and headlines in the media, consumer behavior and retail and marketing channels relevant to specialty brand leaders today.
This week, Kristin dives into TikTok, whether your brand should be on it or not, and how COVID-19, e-commerce and consumer behavior trends are going to impact the holiday season.
key takeaways and links:
TikTok is the fastest-growing app in the world with more than 2-billion downloads. The app has 800 million monthly active users and is largely popular with teens - 69% of its users are between the ages of 13-24-years-old.
Two weeks ago, President Trump threatened to shut the app down on September 15 if Microsoft, or another “secure” American company, doesn’t by the U.S. leg of the Chinese-owned company.
Earlier this month, Instagram launched a competing app, Instagram Reels. So far, feedback on the new app is mixed. Digital Trends says Instagram Reels is already facing uncertainty and a lot of TikTok creators are not planning to make the jump to the new app anytime soon.
Adobe Analytics reports that e-commerce sales are up 55% year-over-year for the first seven months of 2020. Online sales in 2020 are slated to surpass the total online sales in 2019 by Oct. 5th - well before the holiday season.
A recent report by Retail TouchPoints found that 68% of retailers gained new e-commerce consumers due to COVID-19, 46% said e-commerce customers are making more frequent and larger purchases due to COVID-19.
In addition, Retail TouchPoints released a report on how the ‘stay-at-home economy’ will reshape the 2020 holiday season. We’re sharing three highlights. The full report can be viewed at Retail TouchPoints.
Consumers will favor in-store efficiency over entertainment - Focus on safety and efficiency - and - use ALL of your communications channels - digital and in-store - to communicate how you’re doing it.
Start earlier and spread out campaigns and deals - Experts agree that retailers can prepare for the uncertainties surrounding brick-and-mortar traffic and e-commerce spikes by spreading out the holiday season. Some retailers are planning to roll out holiday campaigns as early as the end of September.
How can you use new tech to provide the missing magic of the holiday season? Use technology to re-create the in-store magic online, while still supporting consumers who decide to venture to the store. It’s all about “harmonizing” the brand experience for all consumers through interactive content, augmented reality, social commerce, voice commerce and more.
Join Kristin for the next Verde Live on Wednesday, August 26, 11:30 a.m. (MDT) on the Verde Brand Communications YouTube channel. Visit our YouTube channel for past episodes and to subscribe today, and sign up for the below newsletter to be the first to know when the next episode drops.