Some users on TikTok are seeing a new ‘Shop’ tab in the app
on the main screen, next to the ‘Following’ and ‘For You’ tabs.
Earlier, TikTok was testing another new feed called ‘Nearby,’ where users could discover local content. While the tab hasn’t officially made its way into the app as of yet, it seems like TikTok has begun experimenting with a new eCommerce element simultaneously. Via the Shop feed, users will be able to connect to the TikTok Shop display, directly.
Google’s AI technology is making the online shopping
experience even better, with the use of a virtual try-on feature that shows
users how a clothing item looks on different body types. The integration comes
after Google found through a survey that 59% of online shoppers experienced disappointment
with their clothing purchase because they expected the apparel to look
different on their bodies, while 42% believed that they weren’t represented by
online clothing models.
In addition to various body types that range from XXS to 4XL,
the models in the try-on feature will also have differences in skin tones,
ethnicities, and even hair types. This will help give users a more detailed and
accurate idea of how the look of a clothing item could vary depending on
different appearances, thus also helping them visualize a product for themselves
or a loved one before buying it.
To enable direct interactions between brands and customers,
Meta is expanding its Lead Ads product as well as updating it with new
features like conditional questions and Instant Forms overlaid on web. The company
is also testing a new ad format ‘Promotional Ads,’ designed to facilitate people
in discovering, managing, and applying digital promotions to their purchases.
Promotional ads will help people find brand deals, since customers
tend to actively seek offers before buying from their favourite brands.
The process of applying promotions, according to Meta, seems
to be simple. When you see an ad with a special promotion on Facebook, for
instance, you will be able to claim the offer by clicking on the ad, which will
have the discount automatically applied to your purchase. Moreover, if you
leave your purchase incomplete, you will receive a notification to remind you to
complete it before the deal expires.
Marketplace has been one of Meta’s most useful eCommerce
incorporations, providing a space for customers to discover and connect with
reliable local sellers to purchase from. The platform has been recently updated
with a new feature that allows sellers to record and upload videos in their
listings.
Up until now, sellers were only able to add photos to their product listings. Explaining how videos can help enhance a business’ presence on Marketplace, Meta says that videos “can give you 360-degree views of an item, greater proof that the item a seller has listed is what they say it is, and that they actually have the item on hand making the buying process smoother and safer.”
In comparison to buying new clothes, the second hand clothes market is still fairly small but, according to Statista’s Secondhand Apparel dossier, there has been growth in this business particularly in the regions of the United States and Europe.
In a latest monetization effort utilizing AR, Snapchat has
developed a new project that combines AI and AR, dedicated to retailers who can
use the service to earn from AI and AR shopping tools.
The AR Enterprise Services (ARES) by Snapchat provides
retailers with shopping tools that can be used to virtually try on products
like clothes, jewellery, makeup, etc. The integration of AR shopping tools in
ARES will facilitate retailers by increasing conversions and reducing return
rates.
As part of its recent AR advancement, Snapchat has launched
a new AR Lens that is meant to help users discover products of their preference
during the holiday season. The lens features a voiceML technology that relies
on audio prompts instead of typed text to engage with and facilitate users.
The Lens, called ‘New Balance,’ works by listening to audio prompts from a user who answers a series of questions to reach the product they are looking for. The Lens will then provide product recommendations that best match with the user’ answers.
In an effort to promote eCommerce activities on its
platform, TikTok is gradually rolling out its latest in-app shopping tools to
users around the world. Among these, the company recently launched a ‘Shops’ functionality
in the US.
Shops isn’t all that new to TikTok, as it’s already been available to users in the UK and Southeast Asia for about a year now. The tool is added in the app in form of separate tab where users can discover products and make purchases directly.
Ahead of the holiday season, YouTube has grabbed the opportunity
to engage its audience with online shopping. The company has launched a new
feature called ‘From YouTube to You,’ that is aimed at facilitating people with in-app
shopping via videos, livestreams, and Shorts featuring content creators that
showcase various products and offerings to potential customers.
To help brands maximize reach to their audiences during the
holiday shopping season, Instagram has introduced an updated overview of how to
use Reels for promoting content and engaging with people. These include small, helpful
tips and pointers, as well as detailed insights and notes.
Calling it the “future of video storytelling,” Instagram encourages brands to use Reels to engage with audiences using the creativity of storytelling, entertainment, and personal connection.
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Snapchat
recently conducted a survey-research with over twenty-five thousand people, in
collaboration with Ispos, on how AR and its potential value is perceived by social
and digital media users, including brands and consumers.
The main conclusion
that Snapchat derived from the research suggests that people are only aware of
the superficial value of AR, while there is actually a wide range of benefits
that AR could offer. Snapchat estimates that around 60% of people in the
US, and almost all social/communications apps users will be frequent users of
AR by 2025.
The report
gathered key points in relation to people’s opinions of AR. This includes the potential
of AR in online shopping experience, as every 6 out of 10 people identified
shopping as their main reason of using AR, 84% of consumers expressed interest
in using AR to interact with a product before purchasing it, and 73% were of
the view that AR made their shopping experience easier. Snapchat also adds how
AR helps consumers to make better purchase decisions by allowing them to visualize,
share, and gather feedback before making purchases.
In addition
to that, 73% of the consumers showed interest in experiencing AR at events and
conferences, while 79% of them were keen to experience AR as a means of
entertainment, like concerts and sport events.
To promote eCommerce on its platform, TikTok has introduced
new Shopping Ads through which brands can showcase their products in-stream. According
to TikTok, “it’s a three-in-one solution with new formats to adopt and combine:
Video Shopping Ads, Catalog Listing Ads, and LIVE Shopping Ads.”
While live shopping is not as popular in the West, TikTok
has had major success with the feature in China via the Chinese version of its
app, Douyin. The company seems to be hoping for a fortunate result in the Western
social media market as well, thus expanding its business ecosystem by giving creators
the opportunity to generate revenue from their creative efforts in the app.
TikTok has also shared some insights into the interest of its users in in-stream purchase. The data reports that 56% of the users have been led to discover new products or brands via ads, 48% have shown interest in buying a product on or from TikTok in the next 3 months, while 70% of the users report that they found it convenient to make a purchase through a shopping-related ad on the app.
With a new partnership with Shopify, YouTube is taking its
next steps towards eCommerce integration. The video viewing platform is enabling
Shopify merchants to showcase their products via their YouTube channels.
Merchants can activate YouTube shopping by connecting their
YouTube channels via the Google Channel app within the Shopify add-on tools.
As stated by YouTube, “Creators who link their stores can
display their products across their channel and benefit from Shopify’s
real-time inventory syncing.” YouTube further announced that onsite checkout is
available for US users specifically, hence allowing the viewers to complete
their purchases without leaving YouTube.
YouTube has highlighted three ways in which merchants can choose to display their products: Livestreams, Videos, and Store Tabs. In a livestream, merchants can tag and pin their products at key points to showcase them. Moreover, customers will be able to make purchases while watching the livestreams, thanks to the picture-in-picture playback. In regular videos, merchants can create curated lists of products in a product shelf. Lastly, the Store tab will be exclusively added to merchants’ YouTube channels, where they can easily display their selection of products.
It has been three years since Instagram launched its @shop
account, where it has featured numerous small businesses. The company is now opening
its first ever physical retail pop-up store in NYC, where it is showcasing some
of the most popular home, beauty, and lifestyle products featured in its @shop
listings. The shop will also feature other exclusive items.
The pop-up shops initiative is a part of Meta’s larger effort to promote eCommerce, and Instagram is a key app for this matter, with 70% of users turning to it for product discovery, and 87% of people claiming that influencers on the platform have inspired them to make a purchase or book a trip.
In its
annual Partner Summit this year, Snapchat announced some cool, new updates.
These include advanced AR tools for brands, a small drone called ‘Pixy’ that
can capture and save your photos and videos on Snapchat Memories for you, a 3D asset
manager platform, and new creative tools.
Of course, we are most curious to discover everything about the most interesting product, the Pixy drone, first. This product is a creation of Zero Zero Robotics, that Snapchat partnered with last year. The drone costs $230 and is small enough to fit in your pocket. It is initially being launched in the US and France.
You can easily carry the Pixy drone with you anywhere you go. Its technology will let you capture photos and videos while it flies some feet above you. And that doesn’t end here! Pixy will also save your time by uploading the content that it captures on your Snap Memories, so you can access it anytime you want.
To help
businesses enhance their eCommerce practices on Google, the tech giant is
introducing some new tools for brands, including a new ratings program
called the Shopping Experience Scorecard Program and additional insights
into key product trends.
The new shopping experience rating program has been designed
to provide customers with insight into the performance of each brand, based on
past activity. For instance, brands that receive high ratings based on good
services would receive a ‘Trusted Store’ badge by Google, hence highlighting their
potential to customers. The badge would appear next to the seller’s free
product listings on the Shopping tab.
Google explained how the program would decide to offer
badges to the sellers: the program will track different elements of service
provided by the sellers, including shipping speed, shipping cost, return cost,
and return window. Then, each element would be rated individually, ranging between
“Excellent”, “Comparable”, or “Opportunity.”
Moreover, the performances of the brands will be monitored constantly, so as to provide accurate and updated insights to customers.
Twitter is
expanding its eCommerce approach, with the addition of options like product
listings and a newly released feature called Twitter Shops. This feature has
been designed to help users view all the products listed by a business via
Twitter.
Through Twitter Shops, brands will be able to handpick a
collection of up to 50 products to showcase to customers on Twitter. Similarly,
customers will be able to browse products from their favourite brands directly
on Twitter.
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Instagram launched a
special livestream shopping event, hosted by Instagram influencer Paige
DeSorbo, who has 658k followers in the app. DeSorbo is also a host of weekly
fashion streams on Amazon Live, which makes her an experienced personality to help
maximize Instagram’s eCommerce push on Valentine’s Day.
Other known personalities that have joined DeSorbo in the
livestream include Celebrity stylist and reality star Brad Goreski with 787k
followers, Makeup artist Kelli Anne with 128k followers, Reality stars Uche
Nwosu and Clinton Moxam with 247k and 409k followers, respectively.
Snapchat has updated its AR tools with yet another eCommerce
related feature called Catalog-Powered Shopping Lenses. This is offering a
variety of virtual try-on options for users and simultaneously facilitating brands
to showcase their products within a single Lens on the app. Each item displayed
in the Lens will also provide you details about the product, including its
price.
These Catalog Lenses will be directly linked to brands’ product
catalogs, so you may check out other similar products offered by the companies.
At the same time, Snapchat will be able to deliver direct, product-aligned
feedback to brands, in real-time.
This eCommerce and AR collaboration by Snapchat will also give
valuable insights to the company in terms of what products its users are
interested in engaging with. The data will also help it improve its ad target
systems as well as the performance of its campaigns.
Snapchat has also updated its Lens Web Builder tool with new templates and tools to streamline the process of creating shopping AR Lenses for brands. For example, brands can build AR experiences by using pre-made functions, while users point and click their way through the Lens creation process.
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