François Maingret

Category: News (Page 1 of 6)

Walmart’s Impressive Q2 Ecommerce Performance: Should Brands Prioritize Walmart or TikTok Shops After Amazon?

August 25, 2024 / / 0 Comments

If there’s one underdog in the ecommerce world, it’s Walmart. Earlier in 2024, all eyes were on TikTok Shops. We also hear a lot about Shein and Temu, and of course, the current king of online sales, Amazon. But seasoned ecommerce professionals always keep an eye on Walmart. The retail titan finally grabbed more attention with its Q2 results, showing over 20% growth in ecommerce YoY.

This raises an important question: How should brands prioritize sales channels? Should they focus on Walmart or TikTok Shops first? Let’s quickly review Walmart’s performance, see how its marketplace compares with Amazon, and explore what brands should do next.

Continue reading

TikTok Partners with Amazon – Sign of a Major Ecommerce Change or a Small Piece of TikTok’s Social Commerce Strategy?

August 13, 2024 /

Is there a better way to break our attention spans and budgets than a partnership between Amazon and TikTok? The king of ecommerce is teaming up with the most addictive social media app to allow TikTok users to purchase items directly from Amazon without leaving the app.

Unfortunately, we don’t have all the details on this partnership yet, but people are already speculating on how it will impact the ecommerce world. Let’s first look at what we know about it and what the potential consequences could be for customers, brands, and the future of ecommerce.

Continue reading

Etsy Launching Their Paid Insider Membership Program – Is This Enough to Help with Their Declining GMV?

August 7, 2024 /

What do you do when you want to increase your customers’ purchase frequency and lifetime value (LTV)? The current trend among retailers seems to be paid membership programs. If it works for Amazon or Costco, can it work for niche platforms?

Etsy recently announced they would experiment with their own membership program in September. We don’t have a lot of information yet, but I still want to discuss what this membership is about, reflect on why Etsy might do this, and give you my opinion on whether this can reverse the company’s decreasing GMV trend.

Continue reading

Seller Support Shortcomings – How it Can Hurt a Small Business

July 24, 2024 /

Last week, I came across a great article by Spencer Soper in Bloomberg (link below, I recommend reading it) about how Amazon sold a returned used diaper, and hurt an American small business relying on the FBA program. I found that this story is the perfect example of the shit (no pun intended) Amazon sellers have to deal with every day. The process of the incident is complex, with many actors and tasks involved, and I’d like to break it down to identify what went wrong and what could have been done better. Then, I’ll give my opinion on what I think was the main issue here, and how frustrating it can be for millions of sellers.

Continue reading

Amazon Plans to Facilitate Direct Shipping from China: Are Temu and Amazon Two Sides of the Same Coin?

July 19, 2024 /

Right before taking a vacation, I saw the news about Amazon planning to assist sellers based in China to ship directly to US customers, similar to what Temu does. While I recognized the importance of this move, the news didn’t surprise me. It’s been clear that China-based sellers have become a key part of Amazon’s strategy. We’ve seen several moves in the past to help Amazon compete with Temu and Shein, so this isn’t entirely new.

However, this might be Amazon’s boldest move to date. My initial thought was, “Some Amazon sellers are in big trouble.” After discussing this shift, I’d like to reflect on the convergence between Amazon’s and Temu’s strategies and review the potential impact on US-based sellers.

Continue reading

Should You Participate in Amazon Prime Days?

June 25, 2024 /

As we approach July, I bet your LinkedIn feed is packed with guides on how to prepare for Amazon Prime Days. “This is the biggest day of the year!” they say. “Make sure you have enough inventory” or “Here’s how to optimize your listings” they’ll advise. While there is often good advice in these posts, the authors assume you are participating in Prime Days. Many entrepreneurs selling on Amazon believe they MUST discount their products during these few days. But should they really?

In this post, I’ll argue that not every business benefits from participating in Prime Days. Low margins, product positioning, brand image, inventory issues—there are many factors impacting a business’s interest in flash sales. So, let’s explore when a business should NOT participate in this event.

Continue reading

Why Retailers are Launching Their Own Resale Platforms: The Case of Decathlon

June 19, 2024 /

I can’t help feeling angry when I see people throwing out perfectly fine products just to make room for new stuff. Not that I worry about them making easy money from reselling the items, but because of the waste of resources involved, especially when there are so many online resale platforms available. Many focus on fashion-related items, but we are starting to see more for other products. Only a few days after posting about Shein’s resale product, I read about the sport retailer Decathlon’s new resale platform for their products. And I thought, it is about much more than just pricing. Thinking about it, I can see many more reasons why companies are starting their C2C resale channels.

Continue reading

Shein Under Scrutiny in the EU: Why Their Latest Feature Won’t Cut It

June 8, 2024 /

If you’re reading my content, you know my stance on the fast-fashion industry. Yet, I find it fascinating to observe dynamics between competitors, regulators, and customers. This time, the giant Shein is facing new regulations in the European Union. We can also hear industry experts in the US calling for changes regarding Temu and Shein, for example, on de minimis thresholds. This time, Shein is under scrutiny in the EU, and subject to new regulations. Let’s see what these new regulations are about, and why I think the recent measures Shein took in the EU won’t be enough to make their model more sustainable.

Continue reading

TikTok Makes It Easier to Become an Affiliate: Good News or More Trouble for Brands?

June 1, 2024 /

Are you tired of hearing about TikTok yet? From articles on how TikTok killed our attention span to the potential security threat leading to a ban in the US, the Chinese social media platform keeps making headlines. We already know about its growing impact on American businesses through its influencers and shopping features. Social commerce is growing year after year, and we can expect the trend to continue following the latest news: TikTok lowers the threshold for content creators to become affiliates. Let’s see what this is about and how it will impact brands and consumers.

Continue reading
« Older posts

© 2024 François Maingret

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑