💡 What's Trending in Ecommerce TODAY

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Trending Ecommerce Topics according to AI.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Co-Founders vs. Solo Founder

• App Highlight - Malomo: ICYMI, I hosted a webinar with Malomo about how Electriq can generate up to a 54X ROI for brands like Soylent by retaking control of the customer transactional experience.

• Upcoming Events: Private Dodger Stadium Suite with Recharge on August 2 in LA. After a successful and fun first go at this, we’re back with another! There is extremely limited space for merchants, so RSVP ASAP if you’d like to attend, but no guarantees!

Random tip: It’s never too early to start planning for BFCM.

Let’s Chat D2C - Trending Ecommerce Topics According to AI

“What are some trending topics in ecommerce right now?” Over the weekend, I figured I’d see what Google’s Bard has to say about this. I couldn’t use ChatGPT since it doesn’t have access to current data.

• Social commerce: Brands are using Instagram and TikTok to connect with potential customers, showcase their products, and drive sales. I’ve seen some brands drive over 70% of their revenue through their IG shop.

• Personalization: Consumers are demanding more personalized shopping experiences. Brands are using AI and other technologies to collect data about their customers and deliver personalized recommendations, product listings, and offers. Personalization is how you need to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

• Voice search: Voice search is becoming more popular. Consumers are increasingly using voice commands to search for products and services online. This has led to a whole new service, Voice Search SEO optimization.

• Augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR): AR/VR is becoming more mainstream, and it has the potential to revolutionize the way we shop online. Brands are using AR/VR to let customers virtually try on clothes, test drive cars, and even visit a store without leaving their homes. With our skincare brands, we like to implement try-on AR technology, allowing customers to see what the makeup will look like on them before they order it (this increases conversion rate and also reduces returns).

• Sustainable and ethical shopping: Consumers are becoming more conscious about their purchases' environmental and ethical impact. Brands are responding to this demand by offering more sustainable, ethical products and shopping practices. Recent data shows that consumers aren’t putting their money where their mouth is.

• Buy now, pay later (BNPL): BNPL services are becoming increasingly popular as they offer consumers a way to spread out the cost of their purchases over time. So easy to implement this with Shop Pay Installments.

• Headless commerce: Headless commerce is a new approach to ecommerce that separates the front-end user interface from the back-end order management system. This allows for more flexibility and scalability, and it is becoming increasingly popular with large retailers. I’ve seen far too many brands make the jump to a headless website before they were ready, so be careful here!

Zero-party data:Zero-party data is information that consumers willingly share with brands. Brands can use this data to create more personalized shopping experiences and build stronger customer relationships.Zero-party data can be collected in a quiz, post-purchase survey, review request process, and so much more.

What I’m Thinking About This Week: Co-Founders vs. Solo Founder 

I’ve been having this discussion recently with some other business owners, whether they prefer to give it a go on their own or to have at least one co-founder. After chatting with a few dozen agency owners, brand owners, and software entrepreneurs, I've compiled a few common themes below.

The Pros of Having Co-Founders

There is so much work to be done, especially in a startup, and having a founding team can help divide and conquer, but there’s so much more to it. Here are the pros:

• Shared Workload and Responsibility: The most obvious, there are hundreds of things to do at a startup, and having cofounders means that you can share the workload. It also allows you to share the responsibility of running the business.

• Complementary Skills: One cofounder might be good at marketing, while the other is a finance expert.

• Different Perspectives and Shared Resources: Each cofounder brings a different background and experience to the table, as well as their own money, time, and expertise.

• Risk Mitigation: If one cofounder can’t continue with the business, the show can still go on.

• Broader Network: More cofounders mean a larger network, which can be helpful for fundraising and finding new customers.

• Shared Success: Typically, when achieving accomplishments with others, it’s easier to celebrate the wins. I relate with this one a lot, as I found it very difficult not to go right back to my to-do list even when there was a big win.

All in all, when cofounders align well, it’s amazing and can allow you to accomplish so much more than just one person. Most people I’ve spoken with have recommended having at least three, which allows there to always be a tiebreaker in the event of a disagreement.

The Cons of Having Co-Founders

But, there are some cons…

• Less Autonomy: There are a lot more people involved, so you don’t always have the authority or autonomy to make the decisions that you think are best.

• Unequal Contributions: What happens when one cofounder puts in more work than the other cofounders?

• Compatibility: It’s difficult to find cofounders who share your vision and are compatible with you.

The Pros of NOT Having Co-Founders

From my experience, there were some pros to being a solo founder.

• Full Control: You make all the decisions and don’t have to worry about someone else disagreeing with you (a pro and a con).

• More Freedom: You’re the only founder! The world is your oyster. Set your hours and determine what your work-life balance should be.

• Move Faster: When you’re the only founder, you can move faster and make decisions quickly, allowing you to move quicker in fast-paced industries.

• Finances: You have sole control over how much you want to reinvest into your business versus take out, and I found it easier to reinvest as much as possible when it was only coming from my own pocket.

The Cons of NOT Having Co-Founders

I definitely experienced some of the cons:

• Longer Hours: As a solo founder, you wear all the hats and take on more responsibility and longer hours.

• Expertise: You can’t be an expert in everything, so naturally, you’ll have some gaps you’ll need to hire for.

• Isolating: Being a solo founder can be isolating.

• Lack of Diversity of Thought: While you’ll be quicker to make decisions and iterate, you’ll also be in your own echo chamber.

While there’s no right answer, having a business partner is like getting married, so make sure you choose wisely!

App Highlight - Malomo

I hosted a webinar with Malomo yesterday about how Electriq can generate up to a 54X ROI for brands like Soylent by retaking control of the customer transactional experience. Some highlights...

📦 On average, customers check their order tracking page 4.6 times per order. This usually makes up anywhere between 10-20% of a brand's website traffic. If you're just sending them to your standard Shopify order tracking page, you are missing out on a HUGE opportunity to cross-sell, further evangelize the brand, and provide a more personalized experience.

📧 By getting your transactional emails and texts out of your ecommerce system and into Klaviyo or Attentive, you can create segmented transactional experiences (for example, one-shot vs. subscription customers), A/B test, and monitor performance.

⚙ Leverage integrations with Rebuy, Status, Loop, and more to increase your ROI even more.

🚀 This is one of the few tactics Electriq implements with 100% of our clients! We have onboarded over 40 clients to Malomo, and every single one has seen a demonstrable improvement in retention, increase in LTV, reduction of CX tickets, and overall greater transparency into their fulfillment experience.

Download the full 27-page presentation here!

Upcoming Events

Private Dodger Stadium Suite with Recharge on August 2 in LA. After a very successful and fun first go at this, we’re back with another! There is extremely limited space for merchants, so RSVP ASAP if you’d like to attend, but no guarantees!

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