Did you know that consumers throw away an estimated 60% of clothes within a year of purchase? This is shocking to me, as I still own a T-shirt or two from my high school years. The fashion industry is responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions, more than international flights and maritime shipping combined. Companies mass-producing a continuous flow of new, cheap designs like Shein have a disastrous impact on the environment. Some experts also claim that fast fashion has a negative impact on customers’ mental health, leading to feelings of inadequacy if they don’t regularly purchase new items, to impulsive buying decisions, followed by regret and guilt. We have all bought something online and regretted it weeks later, but the fast fashion industry takes it to the next level.
Continue readingTag: business strategy (Page 2 of 4)
Amazon sells millions of different products: clothes, food, lawnmowers, toilets, and even houses. Not much is missing, especially now that we’re almost able to buy cars on Amazon. Starting in 2024, Amazon plans to revolutionize car buying by enabling customers to purchase Hyundai vehicles online directly from its platform. Amazon’s latest move, in partnership with Hyundai, may significantly impact the auto industry. The news was strong enough to impact the stock prices of companies like Carvana and Autotrader in mid-November. This move is a natural progression for Amazon and its digital showrooms, presenting an unprecedented offer to consumers.
Continue readingI could write a whole article on the Ad that turned Dollar Shave Club into a billion-dollar company. The ad was hilarious, but also communicated the company value proposition very well : quality razors delivered to your door at a fair price. But instead, I want to go over Unilever’s announcement to sell the majority of its stake in Dollar Shave Club to Nexus Capital Management.
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Remember when the ecommerce world was the Wild West? Back in the early 2000s, when companies could collect any data they wanted, and there were little standards for online transaction security. Times have changed, but threats are still there, and we now see new regulations every day. Authorities and regulators must ensure that consumers are protected, and the business environment is fair for all its actors. You can hear about it in the daily news. The Federal Trade Commission is going after Amazon, the Indonesian government is taking action against social media, etc. The legal environment has a massive impact on competitive dynamics, and it is important that entrepreneurs understand the current regulations where they operate.
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When I started my first business, I dedicated several months to work on my D2C website. I was very proud of having my own website with my own products for sale. It was only when I thought my website was good enough that I created my Amazon Seller account. I was surprised to see that it barely took me two weeks to create my Amazon listings and secure my very first sale. If only I had created my Amazon before working on my website, I could have made six months’ worth of sales before opening my D2C channel. I didn’t have a good idea of what sales channel to prioritize at the time, and this was a costly mistake.
Continue readingHave you ever heard the term “TikTok brain”? Tiktok videos, reels, and other short formats are killing our attention span, and there is now a name for this phenomenon. In fact, nearly 50% of users surveyed by TikTok said that videos longer than a minute long were “stressful”. ONE minute is stressful now?! In addition to shrinking our attention spans, short videos are highly addictive, with the average TikTok user spending a whopping 95 minutes a day on the app. With this data in mind, it is no surprise that the recent TikTok ecommerce venture, TikTok Shops, is successful. But this success might be short-lived in some countries, with Indonesia very recently banning shopping transactions on social media apps.
Continue readingDon’t we all hate it when we see a hotel room, plane ticket, or concert ticket at an attractive price, only to be hit with a million extra fees during checkout? Convenience fees, payment processing fees, because-we-can fees, and various fuck-you fees makes a miserable shopping for customers. That delicious $12 burger you found on the food delivery app? $40 after various fees, delivery, and tip. And what’s this? An “e-ticket delivery fee”? Receiving your football game tickets via email now comes with a price tag.
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In the grand theater of ecommerce, competition takes center stage, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats. But not every performance is a heart-pounding Shakespearean tragedy. Each business has its unique script, stage, and actors, and the intensity of rivalry among competitors can vary dramatically.
Today, we will explore the competitive dynamics of the business world, with a special focus on the ecommerce world. For the business strategy nerds out there, we’ll delve into Porter’s analysis of the intensity of rivalry and apply it to online businesses. We’ll review the key factors that impact the intensity of rivalry before looking at strategies to successfully navigate a competitive environment. So, let’s dive in and discover what keeps our audience applauding.
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Have you ever been scrolling on your Instagram feed, seen a picture of a model wearing a pair of shoes you really like, and then found a View Products tag? That is social commerce: the fusion between ecommerce and social media. Kids are now born with a smartphone in their hands and social media on the screen. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok drive huge amounts of traffic daily and have billions of users worldwide. Companies had to find ways to monetize all this traffic and data, and social commerce is one of them. This relatively recent way of selling is significantly impacting the digital marketing world, and it is getting bigger by the year. But how big is it exactly and should you use it? Let’s find out.
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Introduction
When I started my first business, I created an online store but also listed my products on Amazon. As a new entrepreneur with little experience, I was expecting to get a few more sales from Amazon than my own website. It turns out that for each order I received on my website, I got almost ten orders from Amazon. There are many great things about selling on popular marketplaces, the most important being piggybacking the marketplace customer base and the built-in trust with customers.
Yet, there are a lot of issues with online marketplaces that are not obvious before you start selling on one of these channels. It took me years before I started to fully understand the challenges and issues that came with online marketplaces. I do not blame the marketplace operators for all these issues, but I want to discuss the dark side of these important online channels so you are better prepared for the day you join one of them, if you have not already.
Continue readingAbout This Blog
My name is François, I’m the author of this blog. I love writing and talking about business and ecommerce. I hope you enjoy my work, feel free to contact me for any suggestion!