Blog and Research Digest — Week 07, 2020
Every week, the Digishare team prepare a digest of the previous 7 days of online retail news. Along the way, we’ll pick the most interesting stories from the worlds of technology, social media, marketing and more, allowing you to see everything at a glance.
Retail News and Trends
Shopping centre footfall rises for first time in three years
https://www.theretailbulletin.
“Retail footfall declined by just 0.5% year-on-year in January as shopping centre footfall rose for the first time in three years.”
The coronavirus effect: UK retailer Burberry hit as shoppers stay home, but China’s JD.com benefits as online food sales soar
https://internetretailing.net/
“Burberry today warned that demand for its luxury goods was being hit by the coronavirus outbreak in China as shoppers stay at home. Meanwhile, leading Chinese retailer JD.com says it was surprised by the speed at which customers turned online for their everyday shopping essentials.”
Early insights into what Brexit will mean in practice for businesses – including retail and logistics
https://internetretailing.net/
“The European Commission this week published a Q&A on the draft negotiating directives for its talks with the UK on their post-Brexit trading relationship.”
We love Amazon, but we hate Amazon
https://www.
“It seems U.S. consumers have very mixed feelings about Amazon, with one in four having negative feelings when it comes to Amazon’s impact on retail and the environment and yet 21% of those shoppers are buying at least half of what they need on Amazon’s site.”
Amazon might offer Twitch’s streaming technology to businesses
https://www.engadget.com/2020/
“Twitch is still quite popular, but a report today from The Information indicates the company may have some new plans to make money from the service: selling Twitch’s streaming technology to other companies.”
CMA seeking new powers to regulate tech giants as it “takes back control” after Brexit
https://www.chargedretail.co.
“The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is pushing for tougher powers to scrutinise tech giants like Amazon and Google after Brexit.”
Pandora, Zalando, IKEA, Amazon ramp up sustainability focus
https://internetretailing.net/
“The beginning of 2020 has seen major European retailers increasing their sustainability focus.”
AI, AR, and New Technology
UK consumers warming to AI, with 54% happy to resolve queries with bots
https://internetretailing.net/
“The research by Genesys, a global leader in omnichannel customer experience and contact centre solutions, found that only 28% of respondents say that they would never deal with a bot, while 48% say that they use bots for solving simple and transactional queries, such as checking a bank account balance.”
John Lewis tests augmented reality sofa feature
https://internetretailing.net/
“Department store John Lewis is letting customers test how furniture looks in their home using its mobile app.”
Social
Consumers to brands: Be informative and funny on social to woo us – oh, and respond to our every whim
https://www.marketingtechnews.
For brands to build a winning social media strategy, it needs to be a two-way street between them and the consumer. Yet the consumer holds all the cards: a new report from agency Boston Digital has observed that brands not only need long-term reliability to woo the users, but also be entertaining with it.
Pinterest Shopping ads gain momentum as company revenues top $1 billion in 2019
https://marketingland.com/
“The company also noted measurement and attribution improvements for advertisers”
Snapchat added users, increased revenue in Q4, but ‘still extremely under-monetized,’ says Spiegel
https://marketingland.com/
“The CEO says Snapchat is focused on attracting more advertisers to the platform.”
Video
Chrome’s coming changes to video ad blocking could impact YouTube
https://marketingland.com/
“Mid-roll ads of any length are deemed “intrusive” in updated Better Ads Standards.”
SEO
Pay Attention to These SEO Trends in 2020 and Beyond
https://moz.com/blog/seo-
“Over the past half-decade, artificial intelligence has become a pioneering force in the evolution of SEO.”
Opinion
The Trouble With Brainstorming (And How To Overcome It)
https://contently.com/2020/02/
“But the ritual of brainstorming—that thing we do when we gather around a table and throw out ideas—has become one of the most popular problem-solving activities for teams, despite one big problem: It doesn’t work.”