Social Commerce

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Joe Keenan and Kristina Stidham discuss an article recently published in Total Retail Report titled, “YouTube's New Shopping Feature Proves That Video Selling is Here to Stay,” authored by Marcel Hollerbach, chief marketing officer of Productsup. The article discusses why it’s notable that YouTube is branching…

As we turn the page to an ever-important Women’s History Month, there's a heightened focus on better understanding why women-owned businesses continue to be hit harder by the pandemic. According to new data revealed in Facebook’s State of Small Business Report, women-owned small businesses are closing at a higher rate (28 percent) than those run…

In many ways, YouTube is already a major shopping destination. Many of its 2 billion users tune into the video platform to watch unboxing videos and product reviews. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the Google subsidiary is now testing a new feature that will make it easier for users to make purchases without leaving YouTube,…

The exciting and accelerated growth of e-commerce is playing a major role in sales strategies and digital advertising plans being made for 2021. Consumers are increasingly comfortable with online shopping and e-commerce platforms, and American shoppers have come to expect easy online purchasing experiences that are frictionless and engaging, influencing repeat business, brand loyalty and…

If you read some recent headlines, you would have heard predictions that Instagram is fading in popularity or even “dead.” Many experts detail user decline and lack of Gen Z engagement as the basis for this assessment. Instagram’s not dead. Yet. But its reason for being needs to change. Instagram needs to return to its…

Social commerce is an e-commerce term for buying and selling via social media networks. It includes everything from learning about a product, direct messaging sellers, and purchasing the item using a social app. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing brick-and-mortar stores to close their doors, including many small businesses, social commerce can be a tool for…

Gen Z is fast becoming a key audience for retailers. Contrary to older generations, Gen Z, who are aged 16 to 24, are digital natives and have grown up with the internet as a large part of their world. They're incredibly tech-savvy, and have a spending power of over $140 billion. This would make them…

Winning over Gen Z is crucial to many retailers’ plans, and the relationship between Walmart and TikTok adds a new level of urgency to the equation. The vision that Walmart CEO Doug McMillon has put forth involves making social commerce easier, such as by facilitating purchases of items that users see in TikTok videos. This goal…

Walmart announced it will host a one-hour livestream this Friday on TikTok, where users can can shop for the retailer's fashion items featured by TikTok creators without having to leave the app. Once the event is over, users will still be able to shop the items featured by visiting Walmart’s TikTok page to shop. It’s the first…

Before the world had ever heard of COVID-19, social media usage was expected to plateau in 2020. But like most plans for this year, this prediction was thrown out the window. eMarketer found 51 percent of U.S. adults had increased their time spent on social networks at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. This period…