Meta and JioMart Will Launch Chat-To-Cart Services In India
Meta and Jio Platforms have announced the launch of an end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp, where consumers can shop from JioMart right within their WhatsApp chat.
It will allow people in India to browse the JioMart catalog, add products to their cart and pay via local payments rail UPI without ever leaving the instant messaging service. People in India can simply start shopping on JioMart through WhatsApp by sending ‘Hi’ to the JioMart number. Recently, WhatsApp received approval to expand its UPI-powered payments service to 100 million Indians after several delays. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, said in a statement,
Excited to launch our partnership with JioMart in India. This is our first-ever end-to-end shopping experience on WhatsApp — people can now buy groceries from JioMart right in a chat. Business messaging is an area with real momentum and chat-based experiences like this will be the go-to way people and businesses communicate in the years to come.
JioMart on WhatsApp allows Indians, including those who have never shopped online before, to browse JioMart’s entire grocery catalog seamlessly. WhatsApp chat allows shoppers to add items to their cart and complete their purchases without leaving the chat.
The launch is part of a strategic partnership between Meta and Jio Platforms to accelerate India’s digital transformation and provide people and businesses of all sizes opportunities to connect in new ways, fueling economic growth in the country.
The JioMart on WhatsApp experience will revolutionize the way millions of businesses across India connect with their consumers while bringing unparalleled simplicity and convenience to people’s shopping experience.
Interesting Read: GroupM’s outcome media specialist ‘Xaxis’ launched a new programmatic media commerce solution in India
Meta’s investment in Jio Platforms
Meta owns a substantial minority stake in Jio Platforms, the country’s largest telecom operator with over 421 million subscriber lines. Additionally, Jio announced it will invest $25 billion in the country’s 5G launch in October and hopes to reach “every town” by the end of next year.
This $221 billion Indian conglomerate is attempting to take on Amazon and Flipkart in the Indian market with JioMart. While Reliance Retail is the country’s largest retail chain, it offers limited e-commerce products at the moment. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman, and Managing Director, Reliance Industries said,
Our vision is to propel India as the world’s leading digital society. When Jio platforms and Meta announced our partnership in 2020, Mark and I shared a vision of bringing more people and businesses online and creating truly innovative solutions that will add convenience to the daily lives of every Indian.
He further added,
One example of an innovative customer experience that we are proud of developing is the first ever end-to-end shopping experience with JioMart on WhatsApp. The JioMart on WhatsApp experience furthers our commitment of enabling a simple and convenient way of online shopping to millions of Indians.
Pinterest Rolls Out New Shopping And Commerce Features For Merchants
Pinterest rolled out new merchant features, including product tagging on Pins and a Pinterest API for Shopping. The company says all of the new features are designed to make it easier for merchants to create engaging shopping experiences for users.
New Pinterest products include a Shopping API that integrates a brand’s product catalog and creative ads and generates eCommerce analytics. Pinterest offers merchants an array of features, including tagging products in posts, uploading short videos to catalogs (inspired by YouTube’s shopping-related reviews), and a Shop tab. Jeremy King, SVP of Engineering at Pinterest said,
“In 2021, the number of Pinners engaging with shopping surfaces on Pinterest grew over 215%, and 89% of weekly Pinners use Pinterest for inspiration in their path to purchase. The new shopping features such as the API for Shopping allows brands and retailers to reach high-intent Pinners during the earliest stage of their shopping journey with the most updated catalog data.”
Interesting Read: Pinterest TV: Another Pinterest Attempt To Monetize Creators’ Efforts
The Pinterest API for Shopping
Merchant can access catalog and product metadata management that will enable more efficient improved data quality for merchant products. Pinterest claims the tool shows a 97% accuracy level for price and availability data.
Product Tagging on Pins
Merchants can make their lifestyle Pins shoppable. They can add products from their catalog to their scene images. Pinners can shop for the exact items from the inspiring imagery they find. The initial tests showed that Pinners showed 70% higher shopping intent on product Pins tagged in scene/brand images than standalone product Pins.
Video in Catalog
Pinterest is enabling video assets in their product catalog to give Pinners a view of the product from multiple angles when making a purchase decision and driving conversions. They have witnessed promising results from video-like ad formats vs. static formats (increased CTR by 158%, lowered CPC by 42%, lowered CPA by 58%) on the platform.
Shop Tab on Business Profiles
Merchants can display shoppable products browsing Pinners. 30% of Shopify merchants on Pinterest get their first attributed checkout from their Shop tab. It allows product group management, customized group cover image, and descriptions as well as a seamless mobile interface.
As of now, Pinterest isn’t transitioning into a shopping platform. With the integration with Shopify, that owns the payment data, Pinterest sends organic traffic to retailers and merchants’ websites or enables add-to-cart and direct payments. Pinterest affiliate fees can be collected by creators (“pinners”) in conjunction with the sales they drive through their in-image product tags.
Other than the Shopify partnership – which has become a standard integration for social media players – Pinterest, and the market as a whole, show many encouraging signs for the company’s commerce goals.
Interesting Read: Pinterest TV: Pinterest Rolls Out Suite Of Commerce-Friendly Features For Advertisers
Pinterest Adds New Checkout Feature To Drive More Brand Sales
Pinterest forays deeper into eCommerce with new shopping features at its annual advertising summit. The image-sharing site introduced direct in-app checkout and a new personalized recommendations feature.
Read more: Pinterest TV : Another Pinterest Attempt To Monetize Creators’ Efforts
Pinterest Check out- The in-app checkout feature is presently in beta. It provides users the ability to purchase within the Pinterest app. This is available only to some Shopify sellers in the U.S. However, Pinterest plans to provide access to the other U.S based Shopify retailers this year.
Additionally, Pinterest plans to introduce a new application programming interface (API) for shopping. It will make the uploading of product catalogs and listing easier for the retailers.
Your Shop- It is termed as a “personal shopping concierge, powered by a taste-driven algorithm”. The newly announced “Your Shop” feature is a recommendations engine that provides users personalized shopping pages, It suggests products, brands, and creators to users based on their activities and preferences.
Your Shop is also currently in beta, with plans to launch to the U.S pinners later this year with other extra nations.
Pinterest Trends- A Pinterest tool for analysis and insights. It helps businesses to understand real-time search data, more trend types, more granular audience tools, and personalized trend recommendations. The feature is available to businesses in the U.S, the U.K, and Canada, with plans to launch globally.
Earlier this year, Pinterest added the augmented reality feature “Try on For Home Decor”. It allows users to evaluate and check home decor options virtually before buying them.
Read More: Pinterest Rolls Out Suite Of Commerce-Friendly Features For Advertisers
What to know: Eventually, Pinterest users will be able to complete transactions without leaving the app, which can speed up the conversion process and lower friction. With Your Shop feature, Pinterest is competing with Instagram’s shopping tab. Pinterest can become a more compelling shopping destination with these retail-oriented features, giving merchants more ways to reach customers
Best Buy Expands Advertising Business
Owing to the growing demand and eventual spending on technology and consumer electronics, Best Buy’s revenue has seen a substantial soar in the last year. Best Buy Ads is a new iteration of the company’s in-house media business that provides additional services and a greater reach for businesses wishing to interact with customers.
Best Buy CEO Corie Barry, said –
“Best Buy’s relevance, customer relationship, and first-party data have grown along with customers’ technology needs and our ability to meet those needs. These are all great examples of value we can provide to our vendor partners that many other retailers cannot.”
During the pandemic, the rise in eCommerce equipped Best Buy with a wealth of data on buyer preferences and behavior.
Best Buy can run advertising on other publisher sites in addition to its own media holdings, such as its app, website, or a row of television screens in a physical store. Brands who want to work with the store for advertising purposes don’t have to sell their products or services via them.
Best Buy’s chief marketing officer, Frank Crowson, noted that the business’s expertise of shoppers who are drawn to technology helps the company generate audiences of consumers who are interested in things like movies, gaming, and cooking.
Snapchat Advertising: New Multi-format Ad Delivery To Increase Reach
Snapchat globally rolls out an industry-first offering, ‘Multi-format delivery’, enabling advertisers to buy multiple ad formats in a single integrated ad set. It allows advertisers to optimize their campaigns toward their key objectives.
Multi-Format delivery supports all types of video ads, including Collection Ads, Commercials, and Snap Ads, and Story Ads. Snap plans on introducing self-serve augmented reality formats by the second quarter of 2022 for multi-format delivery. By doing so, it will help Snap introduce augmented reality advertising to more marketers.
Interesting Read: Mediabrands and Snap Inc Collaborates For A Mobile Video Measurement
Embrace The Machine Learning System
This multi-format delivery option is intended to help advertisers be more flexible with campaign setup, so Snap’s Auctions can handle the optimization-related work. As part of a set, Snap determines the best inventory to deliver across all formats.
As quoted by Adexchanger, Peter Naylor, Snap VP of sales for America said,
“When we allow machine learning to do its thing, we’re opening the aperture of possible inventory where an ad can run. It might be somewhere a brand hadn’t even conceived of before.”
Advertisers should not resist giving up manual control over the bidding and embrace the system to see the outcome for effective pricing.
Interesting Read: Snapchat Sees a 20% Plummet In Revenue Due To Apple’s Privacy Changes!
How Does It Work?
Within Snap Ads’ set up, a new ‘Multiple Formats Ad Set’ option will enable advertisers to bundle various creative options for placement across Snap’s suite of apps. It will enable advertisers to evaluate the efficiency of each format and assess its contribution to the success of their campaign.
A Snap ad set with multi-format delivery closely resembles a Facebook ad set: a collection of ads with similar settings for how, when, and where to show them. It will bring something new to the table, though when Snap will begin offering AR formats ad sets next year.
As reported by Adexchanger, Naylor said,
“This is going to unlock augmented reality for advertisers and show them that they can use it to accelerate their results in combination with everything else.”
He further added,
“Once we let machine learning reveal where the best inventory is against their goals, target or bids, they can focus more on the creative itself.”
Also Read: The Ultimate A-Z Glossary Of Digital Advertising!
Pinterest Rolls Out Suite Of Commerce-Friendly Features For Advertisers
Pinterest launched new commerce-friendly features for advertisers and brands to promote their products. In this latest initiative, the company aims to expand online shopping and advertising on its platform.
Pinterest continues to grow big in social commerce. It added many shopping-focused features such as a new twist to shoppable ads, merchant details, and Idea Ads with paid partnerships to name a few.
What Do These New Features Offer The Shoppers and Advertisers?
Pinterest’s latest step comes as no surprise! The digital pinboard company positions itself as an inspiration tool that eventually leads to online purchases. Here’s more about the new shopping features.
Twist To Shoppable Ads:
Brands can upload their product catalog and Pinterest will automatically pull the items into a slideshow advertisement via Slideshow For Collections. This feature will help advertisers create shoppable videos tailored to individual users based on their interests.
According to the company, Pinterest shoppers have 85% larger baskets than shoppers through other social media platforms. Additionally, they spend twice as much per month. Consequently, buyers can browse more than one product at a time using Slideshare, which encourages them to purchase additional products.
Interesting Read: LinkedIn Rolls Out New Features – All Marketers Assemble!
Merchant Details
Another feature is called ‘Merchant details’ where brands are allowed to feature their brand values on their profile such as “responsibly sourced”, and “inclusive.” They can also showcase the community affiliations like “Black-owned” or “Women-owned”.
Idea Ads with paid partnership
Pinterest is testing the new feature “Idea Ads with the paid partnership”. It is a joint partnership between a creator and a brand. The creator makes an idea pin and tags a brand partner. The brand can then promote the idea as an ad via the paid partnership feature.
(Note: Pinterest is testing this feature in 15 countries with selective creators and is not shoppable yet.)
Verified Merchant Program
The company is expanding its Verified Merchant Program to other countries where users can find their vetted brands. Sellers under this program are allowed to showcase their brand values and community affiliations like ‘eco-friendly”, “disability-owned” and likewise.
That’s What They Said!
In their blog post, the company said,
“People who use Pinterest weekly are 7x more likely to say it’s the most influential platform in their purchase journey, compared to social media platforms. That’s why, as of today, we’re dramatically expanding our suite of shopping solutions for advertisers.”
Related Read: Pinterest Report BlockBuster Q3 Earnings As Brand Advertising Rebounds
Difference Between Buying And Shopping
Pinterest is the latest to join the bandwagon with other platforms like Facebook, Snap, and TikTok to launch new shopping features. The online eCommerce market is booming and lucrative and the tech giants are competing with in-app shopping or virtual clothing try-outs.
What distinguishes Pinterest from other platforms is the focus on discovery and latent intent then facilitating the transaction. 97% of billions of searches on Pinterest are for products not belonging to any specific brand. This gives retailers a chance to reach out to users before they decide what to purchase. Attracting those prospects is the difference between “buying” and “shopping”.
As quoted by Ad Exchanger, Pinterest CRO Jon Kaplan said, buying is purely transactional, whereas shopping is part of an experience. She added, that they are trying to bring the missing joy and inspiration into the shopping experience.
“These are things that are missing from the digital economy right now because so much of eCommerce is focused on purchases and transactions.”
Also Read: The New World Of TikTok Marketing, Everything You Need To Know!
Taboola Acquires Connexity, A Global Leader In E-Commerce Media
Taboola, the content recommendation company, announced it has completed the acquisition of Connexity. The total consideration of the transaction is $800 million consisting of approximately $590 million in cash and $210 million in Taboola stock.
Connexity is one of the largest independent e-Commerce media platforms in the open web, and the acquisition brings 1,600 direct merchants, and 6,000 publishers including Walmart, Wayfair, Skechers, Macy’s, eBay to Taboola. The acquisition will enable merchants and advertisers to reach new clients through Taboola on the open web and an alternative to the industry’s walled gardens. Adam Singolda, CEO and founder of Taboola, said,
Ecommerce is the future of the open web, consumers will be buying outside of Amazon, on publishers’ sites next to trusted editorial content a lot more than they are today. Amazon has millions of merchants, but merchants mainly have Amazon. That changes today. Combining Taboola and Connexity’s technologies is one step forward in creating an alternative to walled gardens
Similar News: Taboola And Double Verify Partners For Brand Safety
Taboola and Connexity are uniquely positioned to drive growth and diversify their revenue mix as well as helping merchants and advertisers- all capitalizing on the significant growth potential. Adam Singolda explained,
At a time when, according to eMarketer, over 60% of U.S. publishers are turning to e-commerce as a top revenue source, I believe every publisher is going to develop an e-commerce strategy. With Taboola and Connexity, publishers will get instant access to an innovative technology connecting readers with products, which capitalizes on where consumers spend a large part of their day–reading trusted news online
Another benefit to merchants and advertisers would be Taboola offering Connexity e-commerce solutions across the former’s vast network of more than 9,000 digital properties that reach 500 million daily active users. With Connexity’s offering integrated with Taboola’s network, publishers will have a new way to drive revenues, It will scale up customer acquisition by placing products on the stories that consumers are reading.
Similar News: Advertising On Taboola: An Efficient Tool For Advertisers
Connexity Solutions For Publishers And Merchants
Merchant Solution:
–Publisher Network: Connexity core technology powers customer acquisition for merchants like Walmart, Skechers, or Michael Kors on the open web via its extensive publishers’ network and custom-built search platform integrations. Connexity enables more than 750 million product offerings on its shopping intent network, driving more than 1 million monthly transactions for its advertisers.
–Social Influencers: Merchants can reach out to social influencers. Brands like Forever 21, and Wayfair leverage this opportunity to drive customer engagement when social influencers promote their products on their social media post.
Publisher Solution:
– Shopping Section: Connexity allows publishers to build their own shopping section using contextual signals. Brands like CNET and Brand Reviews are using this offering to build their own customized eCommerce section and connect buyers to the products they love.
– Commerce Content Platform: This enables publishers to integrate their products automatically into their editorial content, which will give the readers an opportunity to instantly buy products based on the article they are reading. Publishers including Condé Nast, Hello! Magazine, and News Corp Australia to name a few, are scaling their e-commerce business.
Recent acquisition deals also signal the maturation of ad tech with the rapid public listing of companies and using the resulting funds to grow in an inorganic way.
Twitter Enters into eCommerce, Tests ‘Shop Module’ Feature For iOs Users
Twitter enters a robust social media eCommerce market and unveiled the pilot of the Shop Module in the U.S. It allows the user to directly shop the products from a business profile without leaving the Twitter app.
Twitter explained in its blog post,
“The Shop Module is a dedicated space at the top of a profile where businesses can showcase their products. When people visit a profile with the Shop Module enabled, they can scroll through the carousel of products and tap through on a single product to learn more and purchase – seamlessly in an in-app browser, without having to leave Twitter.”
US Twitter users can scroll through the carousel of products on their Apple devices. They can tap through a single product and learn more about it and decide whether to buy or not. The company further added,
“With this pilot, we’ll get to explore how our engaged, responsive and chatty audience reacts to products that are emotionally charged — like a new jersey from your favorite sports team — or that provide lasting impact — like a new skincare regimen. And, fundamentally, it’ll give us the chance to keep learning about which shopping experiences people prefer on Twitter.”
It is not surprising that Twitter is also jumping the bandwagon with Facebook Marketplace, TikTok, Whatsapp, and Instagram being big competitors. As quoted by Business Insider, Twitter’s Revenue Product Lead Bruce Falck said,
“We know people come to Twitter to interact with brands and discuss their favorite products. Imagine easily discovering, and quickly purchasing a new skincare product or trendy sneaker from a brand you follow with only a few clicks.”
Even though Twitter said that they are in early explorations but significant opportunities lie ahead. With Shop Module, the social media giant intends to capitalize on the booming social commerce market that grew rapidly during the coronavirus pandemic. Twitter is initially testing with a handful of brands before making any decision of a broader rollout. Stay Tuned, we will keep you updated on the progress.
TikTok To Move Into Social Commerce Game, Partners With Shopify
Highlights:
- TikTok is investing in a social eCommerce platform with an announcement of a global partnership with Shopify.
- The deal will help Shopify’s 1 million merchants to advertise their products to TikTok’s younger audience and drive sales.
- Shopify merchants will be able to sell products in the form of shoppable ads whereas TikTok users can click on an ad to buy the tagged products.
- All transactions will be executed via Shopify’s site.
TikTok announced a global partnership with the Canadian eCommerce platform Shopify to help brands and merchants advertise their products through shoppable videos. Through the new partnership, Shopify’s one million merchants will be able to create and connect their TikTok For Business account and turn their existing imagery into videos for ‘shoppable ads’. Purchases are executed on the Shopify platform and hence the transaction data and customer data remain with the retailer than TikTok.
Despite the White House executive order of the sale unknown, business operations for TikTok are as usual and continue to grow. This integration will help to create new avenues of income for TikTok creators apart from influencer partnerships. TikTok’s partnership with Shopify is a significant step by the video-sharing app to widen its nascent advertising ecosystem.
Run It Using Shopify Dashboard
As per TikTok, through the new TikTok channel, Shopify merchants can access core functions of the TikTok For Business Ads Manager without leaving the Shopify dashboard. Highlights include:
Image Credit: Shopify
- New, “1-click” pixel: Shopify merchants can install or connect their TikTok Pixel with a click of a button, making it quicker and easier to track conversions.
- A One-Stop-Shop for TikTok Campaigns: Merchants can create campaigns, target audiences, and track performance in one place.
- Creative Made Simple: The ad tools enable Shopify merchants to create native, shareable content into in-feed video ads that resonate with the community.
- Free Ad Credit: For enticement, eligible Shopify merchants can claim a $300 ad credit to jumpstart their first TikTok campaign.
Expansion Of Other Shopping Features
Blake Chandlee, Vice President, Global Business Solutions at TikTok said,
“As social commerce proliferates, retailers are recognizing that TikTok’s creative and highly engaged community sets it apart from other platforms. We’re constantly exploring new and innovative ways to connect brands with our users, and Shopify is the perfect partner to help us grow and expand our commerce capabilities globally.”
TikTok is planning to test new in-app features that will let users discover Shopify merchants’ products and shop them directly within the app. The new features could be similar to the product tags that TikTok has been testing with some brands.
The two companies will collaborate to test new commerce features in the coming months. However, no financial details are revealed about the tie-up by the companies.
Satish Kanwar, VP of Product at Shopify said,
“We’re thrilled to be the first partner to welcome TikTok to the world of commerce, particularly right now, as our merchants prepare for a busy online holiday shopping season.”
Will Walmart Be Able To Ink The Deal With TikTok?
Walmart has been interested in investing in TikTok to enhance its advertising strategy and enhance merchant traffic. However, the talks remain shrouded amidst political uncertainty. Even though the possible ban on TikTok is yet to go into effect, the collaboration between TikTok and Shopify might sign that it is not a major threat. For Shopify, the TikTok deal is more lucrative for the U.S markets.
TikTok has been steadily ramping its tools for merchants and brands in recent months. It introduced a self-serve advertising platform to help small businesses broader reach. It also debuted a marketing program with approved providers of advertising service to support brands in creating, executing, measuring, and boosting their ad campaigns. Meanwhile, in August it tested its first shoppable live stream with Ntwrk. TikTok has been trying to grow its revenue opportunities and advertiser base.
If it plays the cards the right way, TikTok can emerge as a powerful e-commerce engine. This is one of the main reasons for Walmart’s keen interest in buying a stake in the video-sharing app. As per Tik Tok, half of the users indicated that they discover new products through advertisements posted by a product or brand in the app. Such a high level of engagement is beneficial for merchants who are looking to reach the millennial generation whose spending power is high.
TikTok reports that the new channel for Shopify is now available in the US. It will become available in Europe and Southeast Asia in early 2021.
Google Plans To Turn YouTube Into A E-commerce Giant
Google enters the e-commerce space and plans to turn YouTube into the shopping next shopping destination. Google might soon transform its video streaming platform Youtube into a new strong contender for e-commerce like Amazon and Alibaba. On recent call earnings, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the ‘unboxing’ videos could be turned into a massive shopping opportunity.
What’s The Plan
A Bloomberg report suggests that the world’s largest video platform has asked creators to use Youtube software to tag and track product features in their clips. The data will then be linked to analytics and shopping tools from parent Google. This means that whenever a user is watching a video and likes a certain product, they can easily buy it with a single click. Currently, the feature is testing with a limited number of video channels. The channel creators will have control over what products are displayed to avoid any unnecessary product placement in their content. As per Bloomberg reports. It is still unclear how Google will generate revenues from the sales but it has started offering subscriptions for the creators and takes a cut of 30% from those payments.
Integration With Shopify
Youtube is also testing the integration with Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify. The prospect of collaboration with the e-commerce giant could have a huge impact on the e-commerce world. It has serious potential to transform the e-commerce industry and experience by integrating the advertising process directly with sales. The time spent between a consumer seeing something that they like and buying it could be possibly reduced to the shortest duration.
The Covid E-commerce Revolution
According to Bloomberg Intelligence, the e-commerce retail market, excluding China, may grow to $2.8 trillion by 2025. Google has really not seen success in the e-commerce space much like Facebook and underdog Pinterest. The tech giant has instead focused on selling ads and sending users to other stores than selling themselves. This pandemic witnessed a boom in e-commerce with people staying at home and buying online. Facebook and Instagram have leveraged its social media platform as hotbeds for online shopping. The sales have soared in the past few months for Amazon and Facebook whereas Google watched from the sidelines. Google has not utilized Youtube optimally and this is a brilliant move to topple Amazon and Alibaba’s dominance. This also gives content creators an opportunity for more earnings. A win-win situation for both!
Read more: Google Agrees To Pay News Publishers $1 Billion For Their Content