The Webretailer News Digest June 27, 2022
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Twitter partners with Shopify expanding eCommerce push
Last week, Shopify merchants received promising news as the eCommerce platform partnered with Twitter. As part of the deal, Twitter will launch a sales channel app where merchants have the opportunity to integrate Twitter’s new Shopping Manager feature. If you’re not familiar, it’s a dashboard that gives sellers access to additional useful shopping features and product catalog tools.
The social media platform has been making big pushes into eCommerce as of late. They introduced a Product Drops feature earlier this month and launched both Livestream shopping and mobile storefront features over the past year.
And according to Shopify, these types of partnerships are also paying dividends for them. The company saw order placements through partner integrations quadruple in Q1 this year with no signs of slowing down.
The integration is being welcomed by merchants who, at the moment, must choose between a limited range of only three shopping features. Though, the company announced that they’re working on ways to give merchants the option to use multiple features at once.
Until then, this new partnership will allow merchants to save time and effort by auto-syncing their product catalogs with Twitter. Currently, this is a manual task that can take days or even weeks of work with a large inventory — plus ongoing updates.
We’ll be monitoring both platforms to see where they focus their eCommerce efforts in the coming months.
Amazon updates workflows for replenishing FBA inventory
Amazon merchants are taking note this week as the company changed the way sellers will replenish inventory at Amazon fulfillment centers. As of September 1st, the new ‘Send to Amazon’ workflow will replace ‘Send/replenish’. The company says the change is part of “ongoing efforts to make shipment creation simpler and more flexible.”
Features of the new workflow include:
- Changes to simplify the process for creating shipments
- Reusable case-pack templates for saving box-level information
- The ability to add single and mixed-SKU boxes to the same workflow
- Shipping convenience to pack your boxes in advance or when it’s time to ship.
Whether these changes will actually be more convenient and simple or not is yet to be seen as the company has increased the pace of its workflow changes. Last Wednesday, sellers creating shipments through Restock Inventory, Manage FBA Inventory and Manage Inventory were automatically redirected to Send to Amazon.
eBay updates price caps for fixed-price vehicle listings
eBay vehicle sellers will now see fixed-price listing price caps when they sell a vehicle through eBay motors. Currently, listing fees on the platform are contingent on the make and model of the vehicle, the sales volume of the merchant, and the tool used to create the listing.
Starting today, US Basic and Plus package fixed-price listings will have the following caps:
Cars & Trucks, Other Vehicles & Trailers, and Boats Max price
Basic Package – $10,000
Plus Package – $20,000
Motorcycles and Powersports Max Price
Basic Package: $5,000
Plus Package: $10,000
The company already has a different set of fees under eBay motors and provided no reasoning for the changes.
New feedback policy launches for Facebook buyers and sellers
Facebook is attempting to push back against questionable content and fake reviews on the platform. The company launched a new feedback policy last week within Facebook Marketplace and Shops aimed at ensuring reviews come from actual buyers and don’t contain offensive feedback.
The company pointed out in its announcement that they’ve always taken action against this type of feedback. But the new policy will establish clear guidelines on the type of feedback allowed within the community.
Facebook also stated that it would take time for the policy to go into effect as their team learns how to enforce it.
eBay to leave the Turkish marketplace, Amazon doubles down
Even with four million active buyers, eBay decided to close its marketplace platform in Turkey.
GittiGidiyor will close 15 years after eBay initially invested in the platform as it has become less sustainable over the years. The company stated they decided “based on the ongoing competitive dynamics in the market.”
The exit comes as Amazon recently announced it will start construction on its first fulfillment center in Istanbul. Turkish eCommerce news coverage implied that the competitive pressure may have been too much for eBay.
The company stated, “As of today, sellers will no longer be able to list new items and as of July 18, buyers will no longer be able to make new purchases. Buyers and sellers will be able to access their My Account page until September 5, 2022.”
Picture Proof of Delivery coming to FedEx this holiday season
Shoppers will have a little peace of mind this holiday season as FedEx is launching Picture Proof of Delivery for both residential ground and express deliveries. There’s no specific launch date. But when released, the FedEx system will send a photo to customers showing the exact location of their package upon delivery.
Customers won’t need to set up an account or log in to access the photo, as it will be available within FedEx’s tracking system.
Speaking on the announcement, Chief Customer Officer for FedEx Brie Carere stated, “This is something e-commerce merchants and customers have been asking for, and we are proud to be the first to announce this service will be available to residential customers.”
Mitto survey reveals important eCommerce communication statistics regarding GenZ
Last week, omnichannel communications solutions provider Mitto announced the results of their survey to explore the communication preferences of consumers when they interact with eCommerce brands. The results stated that ninety percent of consumers find value in brands interacting with them on their preferred channel.
But more importantly, the survey found that the type of interaction influences the preferred channel. For all respondents, text messages trumped emails for confirmations — like two-factor authentication — and quick questions at forty-six percent. But within the GenZ demographic, over two-thirds preferred a text message. And for pay-by-link eCommerce options — which the survey labeled an ‘untapped market’ — 70% of GenZ and Millennials stated they prefer SMS.
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