Relax
The TL;DR:
- The Shopify layoffs stink, and I feel terrible for everyone impacted, but long term, if you are an ecommerce brand, don’t freak out – they are still the preeminent ecommerce platform and just need to recalibrate a bit.
- In-person events may be the single most important thing you can do right now to level up your brand and differentiate yourself from the competition.
- The D2Z Podcast: build a community, use technology to automate, and cultivate trust with your customers through influencers. Strategy-heavy podcast – you may want a notepad for this one.
- App Highlight: More complementary products on your site are the best way to increase AOV and LTV – use Carro, Shopify’s leading cross-store selling platform, and you won’t even have to bother with product development or inventory. Very bullish on this.
- August is my month to create a ton of educational content: tutorials, videos, slide decks, etc. Lmk what you want to learn more about it, and I’ll do a deep dive.
Productivity Tip: Parkinson’s Law states “work expands so as to fill the time which is available for its completion.” Want to be more productive? Give yourself sharper deadlines, and watch your to-do list dwindle to 0.
Let's Chat D2C - Shopify Layoffs
Don't panic!
Yes – 10% off Shopify staff was laid off. Yes – it’s natural to feel terrible for everyone impacted, and it honestly just sucks. No – ecommerce is not going anywhere, and neither is Shopify.
This is simply a response to the broader market fundamentals at play – Shopify is still the leader in the space and has significant, albeit much slower, growth ahead.
What I'm Thinking About This Week
Remote this, stay-at-home that… your customers are craving in-person experiences again.
How can you use this to your advantage? In-person events.
In-person events can be a huge unlock for your brand. Segment your customers in Shopify and pick your top 3 markets; host a pop-up event in each one, driving registrations through email & SMS. Also, encourage them to share with their friends.
The UGC you get from these events alone will be worth their weight in gold. On top of that, you'll get a ton of awareness, acquire new customers, and start to build a community around you and your brand.
This Week's The D2Z Podcast
Influencer Automation and Community Building with Brett Bernstein
🎧 Listen Now 🎧
What is the one question you can ask your significant other & the brand you are looking to buy from?
“Can I trust you?”
I sat down with Brett Bernstein, Founder & CEO at Gatsby, to dive into the automated influencer marketing platform. This podcast is jammed-packed with tips about understanding your customers so you can leverage influencer marketing, the smart way to build a community, and how to have patience in order to build trust in your community.
We explore:
👨💻 The importance of building a community
😎 Using technology for automation, building loyalty programs, and influencer insights
🎥 How to cultivate trust
Are you ready to level up your business by building a community? Tune in to find out!
Listen Now
App Highlight - Carro
❓What is It: Shopify’s leading cross-store selling platform enables you to add new complementary products to your store or distribute your products to other great stores of your choice (or both).
🏅Differentiator: With a network of over 30,000 brands, Carro has the largest catalog of top Shopify/Shopify stores, made easily discoverable through their advanced product search engine. Coupled with their 1-click product add functionality, stores can get selling in less time than it takes to have lunch.
💰Starting Price: Suppliers can get their products listed on their directory for free and only charge a 5% transaction fee for sales generated through their platform. Retailers can add unlimited products starting at $50/month.
🚀How we use it: I can’t stress enough how bullish I am on leveraging Carro for all of our merchants. We work with a ton of brands that have a single hero SKU store or a limited number of SKUs which makes it difficult to increase AOV and LTV. Carro allows stores like BlendJet that sell a single product to curate a marketplace of complementary products, making it possible to increase AOV, LTV, and overall sales.
On the flip side, our clients that are also leveraging Carro’s supplier functionality are able to be listed on BlendJet’s marketplace, driving additional brand awareness and sales. The best part? When a customer orders Soylent through BlendJet’s marketplace, that line item from the order gets sent to Soylent’s Shopify store to fulfill. Why does that matter? We now get that customer data and can remarket to them, essentially acquiring a new customer
Upcoming Events
I’ve passed on all event opportunities for August as it’s been a whirlwind the past few months, and I need heads-down time at home to get some shit done! :)
I’ll be back on the event grind in September and October, speaking at two events in Miami and one in LA; topics TBD but if there’s anything you’d like to see lmk!
Looking Forward to Next Week
August is my month for creating a ton of educational resources, specifically walk-through tutorial videos. It’s one of my favorite things to do. It serves as a nice refresher on each platform and allows me to dig into specific, tactical use cases that Electriq, our merchants, and everyone in the ecosystem can leverage!
If there’s anything you’re curious about learning more about, just respond to this email, and I’ll add it to my queue.
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