Prime Time: How Sellers Can Prepare for Amazon Prime Day 2020

With so many event cancellations happening this year due to COVID-19, shoppers and sellers alike can rejoice in Amazon’s announcement that Prime Day 2020 will happen this fall. The massive online sales event is just around the corner, taking place October 13-14.

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is a much-anticipated annual online event in which Amazon sellers and vendors offer deep discounts and exciting promotions on some of their best products. These discounts are available for Amazon Prime members only, leading many people to sign up for the service prior to the event each year. Launched in 2015, Prime Day usually takes place around the month of July, but due to COVID-19, was pushed out to October.

Why is Prime Day Important for Sellers?

According to Amazon, over 175 million products were sold around the globe during Prime Day 2019. This amounts to an estimated $7.16 billion USD in a 48-hour period. Sellers and vendors who take advantage of the event by delivering not only discounted items, but engaging product content to draw in additional shoppers, have a great chance of boosting their sales over the two-day event.

While Amazon did not release the number of new Prime members who subscribed for the 2019 event, it did report that more people signed up on July 15 (the first day of the sale) than any other previous date. This boost in traffic across the marketplace means the potential for not only higher sales, but more awareness for the brands taking advantage of advertising and optimized product content. Visibility is often a goal of Amazon sellers throughout Prime Day, leading to longer term sales growth overall.

What Can Sellers Do to Prepare for Prime Day?

It is not too late to optimize your Amazon product listings for traffic and sales throughout Prime Day. Here are some of the ways you can do just that:

  1. Update your product title, feature bullets and description
Amazon Product Listing by geekspeak Commerce

Take a look at the written content on your Amazon product listing and determine where it could be improved. Are you showcasing all of the most important features and their related benefits within the bullets? Are you building on the product story in the description? Have you woven keywords into the content naturally to improve SEO? These are all critical steps to ensuring your product listing is optimized and engaging for customers.

  1. Add new and engaging photos to your image gallery
amazon infographic by geekspeak commerce

When an Amazon shopper enters a term into the search bar and your product appears among a sea of similar items, does yours stand out? Your hero image is what will determine this. Take a look at your Amazon image gallery to make sure your product photography is professionally shot, eye-catching, and helps tell a shopper everything they need to know through infographics, lifestyle images, video and more.

While SEO-driven copy and engaging product photography will help drive shoppers to your listing on Prime Day, anA+ page is what will capture their attention enough to help them make a purchase. Amazon credits A+content with a 3-10% lift in conversion, so it is an element that is not to be ignored. With great A+ content, you can provide supplemental information to a customer in a visually appealing way while simultaneously building your brand story.

  1. Launch a Storefront

Brand building can also be achieved with the creation of an Amazon Storefront. Similar to an eCommerce website, a Storefront is a dedicated space for all of your products and related content to live on Amazon. It also provides the ability to cross-sell and up-sell, showcasing all of your products to a shopper in one well-designed place.

  1. Advertise your brand and products with a pay-per-click campaign

Your organic traffic will likely see a boost during Prime Day, but if you really want bring your views and impressions to the next level, an Amazon PPC (pay-per-click) campaign can help with just that. Target popular, relevant search terms to bring traffic to either your Storefront or to specific product listings to make the most out of the mass of Prime Day shoppers.

  1. Offer coupons, discounts and promotions

Of course, Prime Day wouldn’t be Prime Day without the incredible deals offered by sellers and vendors across the marketplace. If you really want to make a mark with new customers, create promotions they won’t want to miss. Check out our previous Prime Day blog post for everything you need to know.

Increasing eCommerce Sales with Better Product Taxonomy

Now more than ever, consumers are flocking to the internet to complete their shopping. From grocery essentials to DIY supplies to new casual outfits suitable for a work-from-home environment, many categories are seeing an uptick in direct-to-consumer sales.

Because of this, it’s a critical time for many brands to take a step back and look at the presentation of their eCommerce websites. Does the navigation menu make sense? Are products consistently named and properly categorized? Can shoppers easily fulfill the journey from the first page to the final checkout?

According to Statista, retail websites generated 14.34 billion visits globally in March 2020, an impressive increase from 12.81 billion visits just two months earlier in January 2020. Product taxonomy is a great way to take advantage of this increasing traffic and to ensure your company is on the right track toward higher conversions.

What is Product Taxonomy?

Product taxonomy is the structuring of your website, both from the backend (viewable only to you and/or the team that manages your website) and the frontend (what the shopper sees).

Your collection taxonomy lives in the backend, and helps your team establish a standardized way to collect and store product data.

On the frontend is your presentation taxonomy, which exists to simplify the way your customers find products on your website. This includes product categories, sub-categories, parametric filtering and more.

Your collection taxonomy fuels your presentation taxonomy. When product data is properly collected, standardized, categorized and organized, it is reflected by an eCommerce website that is easy to navigate, with products that are simple to find and buy.

How Does Product Taxonomy Help Increase Sales?

According to Amazon Web Services, 88% of online shoppers would not return to a website after having a poor user experience.

An easy-to-use eCommerce website creates a positive experience for shoppers, who are more likely to return to your online store if they’ve been able to shop it without frustration. If your products are categorized logically, show up in relevant search results, and can be correctly filtered by attributes like colour and size, then the customer journey should be quick and simple.

If your product display pages contain optimized and engaging content including well-written product descriptions, informative feature bullets, high-quality images and accurate specifications, a customer will feel more confident purchasing the item.

All-in-all, a well-built product taxonomy is the foundation of a positive user experience that ensures a customer can easily navigate and purchase from your site – and return to continue doing so.

What Other Services are Related to Product Taxonomy?

  • Product Classification: Assigning products to their correct product categories
  • Data Aggregation: Gathering missing product information to enable a more knowledgeable buying decision
  • Data Cleansing: Standardizing and normalizing product attribute values
  • Product Data Migration: Transitioning product data to a new platform, marketplace, website or product information management system (PIM)

By the Numbers: The State of Retail During The Pandemic

It is no secret that businesses of all sizes, in all industries, have felt the impact of COVID-19. Any sales projections made at the start of 2020 have likely been steamrolled by the pandemic, with sales figures changing much more rapidly and unpredictably than expected.

Everything has changed, from the way we shop and work to the way we interact with our friends and families. For some companies, the pandemic has shut doors permanently. For others, temporarily. And for those who have been able to leverage new ways to stay afloat, the pandemic has shown the kind of creativity and resilience required in uncertain times.

Retail is one of the sectors most obviously hit by COVID-19. Globally, one of the first steps taken to try and curb the spread of the virus was to close all non-essential retail stores and allow only online sales, delivery and curbside pickup. Even now, as restrictions slowly start to lift around the world, retailers must still adapt and adjust to their “new normal.”

Let’s take a look at five ways in which this pandemic has affected retail.

How Retail is Changing During the Pandemic

1. Overall eCommerce Sales Have Increased

During the pandemic, many consumers have turned to the web to shop for both essential and non-essential items – either due to store closures, personal safety preferences or convenience. According to a report by Signifyd Inc., who surveyed 10,000 retailers, eCommerce sales were up 40% at the end of May, compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

This trend has forced many brick-and-mortar retailers to pivot in order to try and keep revenue up during this time, launching or optimizing existing eCommerce websites to account for lost sales in-store. eCommerce platform Shopify saw a 75% increase in new store creations between March and April alone.

With consumers spending more time online and less time in-store, sellers should expect their eCommerce growth to continue rising as shoppers get used to the convenience of online ordering.

2. Customers Are Focusing on Some Items Over Others

Whether in-store or online, shoppers are spending their money in very specific ways. According to a report by Statistics Canada, during the first week of COVID-19 related restrictions, these items saw sky-rocketing sales increases across the country:

  • Hand sanitizer: up 639%
  • Masks and gloves: up 377%
  • Toilet paper: up 241%
  • Dry and non-perishable food items: up 239%

It is easy to assume why these items saw such a spike once COVID-19 came to the forefront of Canadians’ minds.

In more general terms, an Attentive report for the month of May cites increases in categories such as Home (+26%), Apparel (+24%) and Beauty (+19%), and decreases in Electronics (-21%), Luxury Apparel (-9%) and Pets (-1%). Real-time sales figures tracked by Attentive throughout the pandemic have proven to be quite volatile, with consumer behaviour changing rapidly the longer they stay at home.

As time moves on, it is expected that consumers will be less brand loyal and more likely to search for lower prices, especially within the essential categories of grocery, pharmacy and household supplies. This will likely change the way retailers price and promote their products in the near future.

3. Curbside Pick-up Has Become A Household Term

Curbside Pick-up – BOPIS – Click and Collect. Many businesses not able to accommodate shoppers in-store have turned to a BOPIS (buy online, pick-up in store) model with curbside pick-up options. From clothing stores to restaurants, we’ve seen many different companies adopt this creative way to continue supplying product to their customers – so much so that “curbside pick-up” seems to have become a new household term for many.

Even as stores begin to reopen, retailers will need to determine if they can continue offering a curbside option for those who are uncomfortable or unable to enter their establishments. Signifyd Inc. reports that BOPIS has seen a 248% increase since before the pandemic – an impressive growth trajectory that is sure to make an impact moving forward.

4. Social Distancing In-Store

For those consumers who have continued to shop in-store for their groceries, outdoor supplies, pharmacy needs and more, social distancing measures have become an expectation. Distancing regulations have forced shoppers to wait in lines outside of retail stores for the first time, to stand six feet apart from other customers and move through one-way aisles, to shop more efficiently, and perhaps even to do so while wearing a mask.

How will these measures change retail post-pandemic? We expect retailers will continue working towards a distanced shopping experience in order to ensure their customers feel safe entering their doors: wider aisles, more frequent sanitation, self-checkouts and contactless payments – and, of course, more promotion of eCommerce options.

5. Customers Are Getting Used to the “New Normal”

According to research performed by PFS Web Inc., 40% of consumers say they shopped a new eCommerce website during COVID-19, and 45% say they would return to this website based on a positive shopping experience. With more consumers exploring eCommerce more frequently, habits are being formed and positive experiences are shaping preferences.

58% of shoppers expect to order more online in the coming months, according to Digital Commerce 360, which means that even as brick-and-mortar stores start to reopen, an eCommerce strategy will continue to push sales for many.

All-in-all, the retailers who have adapted to the pandemic and adopted a multi-channel approach to sales (including brick-and-mortar, direct-to-consumer websites and expanding their eCommerce presence to marketplaces) will be the ones to survive with greater success once things “return to normal.”

Key Takeaways from “Start Selling Online”

On Wednesday, April 22nd, geekspeak Commerce hosted a free webinar titled Start Selling Online: Shifting from Brick & Mortar to eCommerce. The webinar covered everything from current sales data, to top eCommerce platforms and marketplaces, to tangible tips that can help retailers get started today on their shift to an online channel.

Presented by Tricia Williams and Megan Kimmerer, facilitated by Melanie McCabe, and with Isaac Wanzama as a Q&A panelist, the webinar covered a lot of ground and saw great engagement from audience members interested in making the shift.

To view the full webinar, click here.

Here are some key takeaways from the session:

1. It’s not business as usual.

We’ve all had to adjust to life during this pandemic, whether that’s personally or professionally. Because of this, businesses have adapted in order to survive – and they’re doing so creatively, innovating in ways big and small. Online, we’ve actually seen some promising numbers in terms of sales and revenue. According to Digital Commerce 360, during the weeks of March 22nd to April 4th in the USA and Canada:

  • The number of online orders for web-only retailers increased 52% from the same period last year.
  • Revenue for these web-only retailers increased 30%.
  • The number of online orders for primarily brick and mortar retailers increased 56% from the same period last year.
  • Revenue for these brick and mortar retailers increased 43%.

2. What are consumers actually purchasing?

The top 5 fastest growing items:

  • Disposable gloves
  • Bread machines
  • Cough and cold medicine
  • Soups
  • Dried grains and rice

The top 5 fastest declining items:

  • Luggage
  • Briefcases
  • Cameras
  • Men’s swimwear
  • Bridal clothing

These trends, which are provided by Stackline as of March 2020, make sense given what most of us are doing in our new day-to-day lives – staying home, stocking up on non-perishables, and putting weddings and events on hold.

3. eCommerce activities include much more than just selling product online.

 When considering the shift from brick and mortar to eCommerce, companies can explore any of the following:

  • Online auctions
  • Online banking and electronic payments
  • Online ticketing
  • Trip/flight booking (though most of us are not currently doing this)
  • Appointment booking and payment
  • Subscription model
  • Deals, coupons and promotions
  • On-demand services and delivery

4. Why does eCommerce matter?

In the current climate, eCommerce is helping businesses survive and thrive by giving consumers access to the goods and services they cannot otherwise pick up in store. In more general terms, eCommerce allows companies to expand their reach from local foot traffic to international audiences. It’s a long-term sales strategy that should continue to supplement your in-store sales, even as the world goes back to “normal.”

5. What are the key considerations when exploring eCommerce?

What in-store operations can you leverage to help with your online sales?

  • Warehouse space
  • Inventory management
  • Customer service
  • Payment gateways
  • What logistics might your team need help with from a local partner?
    • Shipping/delivery
  • Where will you sell online?
    • On your own direct-to-consumer website, with full control over products, marketing, customer support and more
    • On a marketplace like Amazon, which provides instant access to shoppers as well as logistics support
  • If selling on your own website makes sense for your business, what are your options?
    • Add a plugin to your existing site in order to enable eCommerce capabilities
    • Leverage a hosted platform like Shopify to help you build a new website
    • Create a self-built eCommerce store using your development team or knowledge of web design

6. How to properly merchandise your products online

  • Categorize products online like you would in-store
  • Identify your key customer and target your messaging to them
  • Use great photography and other visuals
  • Make sure your product listings are optimized for a mobile screen

7. Top 5 tips for getting started today

To dig in deeper to each of these areas and find out exactly what was shared during the live webinar, be sure to check out the recording here.

Looking for a Better User Experience and More Sales? RetailTaxonomy.com Can Help Get You There

Imagine this: Your customer is in the market for a new television. They check out your online electronics store to see what you’re currently offering. The website looks great at first, but there’s just one problem – the menu is a mess! The product categories are too vague for the customer to easily decide where to go, or maybe they’re incorrect all together with products like laptops under ‘Office Supplies’ and smartphones under ‘Home Entertainment.’

The shopper’s next step is to try the search function, but when they type in ‘TVs,’ they see hundreds of results – not all of which are televisions. Instead of scrolling through pages and pages of products, the customer gets frustrated and leaves to check out a different retailer’s site.

Unfortunately, this situation is more common than many brands and retailers would like to admit. Product taxonomy can be a difficult undertaking for retailers of any size, and it can be challenging to step outside of your own organization to see how shoppers are experiencing your eCommerce website.

Understanding this, we launched a data services solution that supports a range of needs including Product Taxonomy, Product Classification, Data Cleansing, Data Aggregation, and Product Data Migration. It’s called RetailTaxonomy.com.

“We launched RetailTaxonomy.com to help retailers and brands alike narrow down the critical data services that help drive a better user experience for your shoppers,” says Isaac Wanzama, geekspeak Founder and Chief Strategist.

A better user experience can lead to higher sales when shoppers can intuitively discover and purchase products on a user-friendly website. This is the basis of product taxonomy – the organization of your merchandise into hierarchies and categories that make it easier for customers to search and browse items. This includes drop-down menus, left-hand navigation, filtering and faceted search, related products and more. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for your shopper to get from home page to shopping cart.

  • Are struggling with a growing catalogue and are unsure of how to efficiently onboard and categorize an influx of new products
  • Want to migrate their products to a new website, platform, marketplace or product information management (PIM) system
  • Have seen a dip in sales after a website relaunch or redesign
  • Receive customer complaints about uncategorized, incorrectly categorized or hard-to-find products
  • Receive product data from vendors that is incorrect, incomplete or not up to defined brand standards
  • Know they require a well-developed product taxonomy but do not know where to start

Amazon News: Introducing A+ for Seller Central

The line between Seller Central and Vendor Central accounts on Amazon is becoming thinner and thinner, with many of the features once exclusive to Vendors being made accessible to Sellers. The latest news in this area has to do with Enhanced Marketing Content and the distinction between Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) and A+ detail pages.

Up until recently, Vendor Central users could enhance their product listings with A+ Pages, while Seller Central users had access to EBC. Both types of enhanced marketing content served the same purpose on Amazon – provide more detailed, visually-appealing information that will help customers make the decision to purchase.

Over the last year, Amazon has been making slight changes to the way Seller Central users view and edit their EBC pages – first, expanding the module offerings to include those available in A+ pages, then renaming the EBC editor to “A+ Content Manager”. Finally, the announcement was made by Amazon that they would do-away with EBC entirely, opening A+ content up to Sellers as it has been to Vendors.

What does this mean for me, as a Seller Central account holder?

Luckily, not much else has changed, other than certain improvements to the platform. According to Amazon:

  • You can preview, edit and create new A+ pages in the same area as you would have created EBC (Seller Central > Advertising > A+ Content Manager)
  • You can now publish A+ content to multiple ASINs, instead of a single SKU
    • This saves time and effort in duplicating A+ pages to child SKUs, allowing entire families to use the same A+ page with one convenient click.
  • You can easily preview your A+ page for mobile flipping between desktop and mobile views
  • You can now house and easily access language variations of your A+ content from the same A+ Content Manager page, or sort your list of A+ pages by language if needed

If you’re a Vendor Central user, you will also benefit from the improvements listed above.

geekspeak Ranks No. 332 on the 2019 Growth 500

The annual Growth 500 is the definitive ranking of Canada’s Fasting-Growing Companies, produced each year by Canada’s premier business and current affairs media brands. Published by Canadian Business and Maclean’s, as well as online at Growth500.ca and CanadianBusiness.com, the Growth 500 ranks Canadian businesses on their five-year revenue growth.

This year, geekspeak made the cut at No. 332 on the list, boasting a five-year revenue growth of 221%. In the ranking of fastest-growing companies in the GTA, geekspeak ranks No. 132. Though not used in the ranking, geekspeak’s nine-year revenue growth is an impressive 410%.

“The companies on the 2019 Growth 500 are truly remarkable. Demonstrating foresight, innovation and smart management, their stories serve as a primer for how to build a successful entrepreneurial business today,” says Beth Fraser, Growth 500 program manager. “As we celebrate over 30 years of the Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies program, it’s encouraging to see that entrepreneurship is healthier than ever in this country.”

Isaac Wanzama, geekspeak Founder and Chief Strategist says, “The geekspeak team is thrilled to be included in this year’s Growth 500 ranking of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies. As a company based in downtown Whitby, it’s always exciting to work with national and international clients. Being in the eCommerce industry has allowed us to grow further, faster and we’re eager to see where we go in the next five years and beyond.”

About the Growth 500

For over 30 years, the Growth 500 has been Canada’s most respectable and influential ranking of entrepreneurial achievement. Ranking Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies by five-year revenue growth, the Growth 500 profiles the country’s most successful growing businesses. The Growth 500 is produced by Canadian Business. Winners are profiled in a special Growth 500 print issue of Canadian Business (packaged with the October issue of Maclean’s magazine) and online at Growth500.ca and CanadianBusiness.com. For more information on the ranking, visit Growth500.ca.

About Canadian Business

Founded in 1928, Canadian Business is the longest-serving and most-trusted business publication in the country. It is the country’s premier media brand for executives and senior business leaders. It fuels the success of Canada’s business elite with a focus on the things that matter most: leadership, innovation, business strategy and management tactics. Learn more at CanadianBusiness.com.

Want to learn more about what geekspeak can do for your company? Connect with us!

3rd Annual ‘Hack for Good’ Tackled Societal Issues with AI Solutions

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to grow, the geekspeak team sought to harness its power for good in the third annual ‘Hack for Good’ hackathon. Taking place at the geekspeak office in Whitby, Ontario on March 22-23, ‘Hack for Good’ saw more than 60 participants – data scientists, computer programmers, designers and marketers – come together to tackle real-world problems with AI solutions.

What is a Hackathon?

A hackathon is a sprint-like event, typically lasting anywhere between 8 hours and several days, in which teams of people meet to engage in a computer programming task that tackles a determined theme or problem.

For three years now, geekspeak has hosted its ‘Hack for Good’ hackathon with the aim being to create an app or app prototype that solves a problem. This year, the theme of the event was ‘AI for Good,’ which meant teams had to leverage AI technology to solve a social, health or environmental challenge of their choosing.

Why AI as a Theme?

AI has very quickly come to the forefront as a truly disruptive technology. With advancements occurring every day, and schools and research centers placing a heavier focus on AI, it made sense to explore its power within the context of a hackathon.

geekspeak has also been exploring AI in eCommerce more thoroughly, with its own in-house data scientists and NLP (natural language processing) researchers. The choice of the theme came naturally, under both industry and internal lenses.

The Event

Participants programmed away until 4pm on March 23, when all laptops were closed and presentations began. The team pitches were judged by Kristina Svana (Spark Centre), Isaac Wanzama (geekspeak Commerce), Dr. Andrew Hogue (Ontario Tech University) and Fatemeh Kazemi (geekspeak Commerce).

Winners

With the judges’ scores tallied by accounting sponsor SourcePoint Business Group, the winners were announced.

  • 1st Place and Recipients of $5,000:  Team Kenny et al, with a journaling app that uses sentiment analysis to help improve mental health treatment and outcomes
  • 2nd Place and Recipients of a Staples Tech Bundle:  The EH-Team, with an AI-powered trash collection and categorization machine that can collect and analyze data about cities’ garbage levels
  • 3rd Place and Recipients of Staples Studio Access:  Team SavourIT, with a computer vision app that classifies food in your fridge, notifying you when it’s about to expire and providing recipe options

Sponsors

geekspeak would like to thank its many sponsors for their contribution to and support of the third ‘Hack for Good,’ starting with the first-ever Presenting Sponsor, Staples Canada.

                   

Next Year

Stay tuned for information about next year’s ‘Hack for Good’ hackathon; date and theme to be determined!

Like, Click, Sell: The Rise of Influencer Marketing in eCommerce

Influencer marketing has become a common term in the digital and retail industries, with an increasing number of brands leveraging celebrity and online influence as sales methods. Influencer marketing traditionally encompasses a brand choosing an influencer based on the size, quality and relevance of their online following, sending the influencer a product to review or promote, and paying them to post about it across their social channels.

With a steady increase in online shopping, the use of influencer marketing is shifting, including a narrower focus on eCommerce. While influencer marketing is typically used to drive awareness for a brand, with sales occurring as a by-product of that awareness, those who sell online can now leverage influencers in ways that more directly affect sales.

Amazon

Amazon has embraced influencer marketing in the last one to two years by launching two major initiatives: The Amazon Influencer Program and the Amazon Celebrity Store.

The Amazon Influencer Program, an influencer-specific extension of the Amazon Associates Program, rewards social media influencers for recommending their favourite products on a personalized Amazon Storefront. To qualify for the program, influencers must provide a link to their most promising social media account – either YouTube, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook – which is then vetted based on follower count, engagement and relevancy of content. Once someone is accepted into the program, they can compile their favourite products into their own Storefront, providing recommendations and receiving a commission on sales.

Influencers are not typically celebrities in the traditional sense, but rather “real” people who have developed a following based on the content they produce online. Celebrities do however bring influence of their own. Amazon recently launched its Celebrity Store, using a similar approach to its Influencer Program by providing celebrities with their own Amazon Storefronts that showcase products seemingly enjoyed and recommended by the celebrity in question.

Each of these Amazon programs bring relevance, and ideally, consumer trust to the brands being featured. As online shoppers browse the products recommended by their favourite celebrities or online influencers, they can make a purchase right then and there.

Instagram

Easily one of the largest platforms for social media influencers, Instagram is also growing in popularity for eCommerce sellers because of its recent updates to the platform. The photo-sharing social media channel now offers eCommerce selling features to brands and retailers who want to sell items directly through the app. This is especially exciting for brands who have existing relationships with Instagram influencers, or who have been contemplating influencer marketing on the platform.

Instead of an influencer promoting a product in a post and directing his or her followers to the brand’s website externally (often difficult without the ability to link a URL in an Instagram post), an influencer can actually add a ‘Shop Now’ URL to an Instagram Story, or a product tag to an image. This leads users directly to a product listing with the ability to make a purchase immediately – closing a gap in the selling process.

Brand Ambassadors

Brand ambassadors have been used by companies to promote their brands and products since long before the term ‘influencer marketing’ was coined. Traditionally, a celebrity hired to act in television commercials and photo shoots, as well as wear or use the brand’s products while in the public eye, many brand ambassador commitments have now evolved to include activities like appearing in a brand’s social media posts or posting about the product themselves.

As brands start to leverage ambassadors in more interesting ways, the roles have also opened up to include more of the influencer-type rather than traditional celebrities alone. Examples of this are rampant in the beauty industry, where major cosmetic brands like Covergirl have started to add YouTubers to their roster of ambassadors – bringing a level of authenticity and trust to the brand.

Challenges

When it comes to using influencers as a marketing tactic in eCommerce, the first challenge is also the biggest: choosing the right people to not only promote your products but to properly represent your brand. It is critical to perform your due diligence in selecting the right influencers to ensure both their content and their values reflect your brand well.

In an effort to distinguish organic posts from sponsored influencer posts, social media channels like Instagram have cracked down on users trying to pass off paid brand relationships as organic content. As such, it is important for brands to follow channel-specific guidelines when leveraging influencers to promote their products online, being transparent in the fact that they are using influencers to help them sell.

As both eCommerce and influencer marketing continues to grow, new methods and platforms will emerge in which brands can leverage the power of influence to promote and sell their products online. Deciding where to use influencers, navigating relevant challenges and finding the right people to represent your brand can lead to a boost in eCommerce success.

CES 2019: AI and Robots and 8K… Oh My!

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world’s largest technology show, each year taking over the Las Vegas Convention Center and surrounding hotels for four full days of innovation. With companies unveiling their latest and greatest, industry attendees get a first look at new tech products before they are made widely available to consumers.

Three geekspeak team members attended the event, showcasing eCommerce strategies and services, as well as new technology that can be leveraged to assist in the creation of optimized product content.

Here are some of the biggest themes we saw throughout the show floors of CES:

Artificial Intelligence

While the concept of AI itself is not new, the ways in which it is being used are becoming more innovative and immersive than ever before. Almost any product you can imagine – from your oven to your travel luggage – is becoming “smart” with AI technology. When it comes to digital assistants, CES saw a race between Amazon Alexa and Google Home for integration into everyday gadgets like smartphones and speakers.

Robots

No matter what venue or conference room you entered at CES 2019, there seemed to be a different robot at every turn. From child-friendly robots that help teach students on the autism spectrum, to promotional bots that can be coded to deliver information as museum guides or airport wayfinding, robots were definitely a hit at this year’s event.

Autonomous Vehicles

Smart Homes

With Smart Homes emerging as one of the largest themes of CES 2019, many of the event’s venues were reminiscent of The Jetsons; the animated show that first debuted in the 60s, featuring a family set in the year 2062. Laundry machines, faucets, blenders, microwaves, and even toilets were given tech-powered upgrades at CES, adding these products to the now-typical doorbells, lights and thermostats of existing smart homes.

8K TVs

Much like robots, 8K TVs seemed to be around every corner at CES 2019. While numerous television manufacturers released their own versions of the 8K screen over the course of the conference, LG and Samsung came out on top with some of the most exciting TV announcements. LG showcased an 88-inch OLED 8K TV called the Z9, as well as one of the most talked-about features of CES: the LG Signature OLED TV R, a rollable TV that disappears into its stand when not in use. Towards the end of CES, Samsung unveiled its truly massive 219-inch TV, dubbed “The Wall.”

5G Wireless Technology

One of the more elusive technologies at CES was new 5G networking, something that seems to be on the radar of every major telecommunications company, though few have actually built products or services around it as of yet. CES 2020 will surely feature more 5G-ready electronics; this year, the concept seemed to be more of a buzzword than anything tangible.

Besides these impressive tech trends witnessed at this year’s CES event, geekspeak was fortunate to have seen a great showing of fellow Canadian companies passionate about technology and innovation, and to have had exciting conversations with industry leaders interested in improving their businesses, communities and selves through technology.

Follow us on Instagram @gkspcommerce for more awesome photos of our time at CES!