Commerce Outsights: May 6, 2024

The future of spatial commerce looks beautiful, the future of TikTok looks meh, and other marketing reflections.

I have been horribly inconsistent with this newsletter lately. I don’t feel good about it, but in my defense, the last few weeks have been packed with (1) lots of traveling, (2) lots of consulting, and (3) lots of having low-key panic attacks because I’m supposed to get married in August but every single institution involved in this process woke up and chose violence instead.

Also, I honestly didn’t feel like there was much to talk about: it seems like the e-commerce/DTC industry has more or less figured out where it’s going, and now we’re just building the tools that will get us there.

Anyway, I’m back now, and there’s finally enough for me to talk about—even if some of it is just slight variations of what we’ve already discussed—so let’s get into it, and I promise I’ll do better moving forward.

Does your brand need help with strategy, design or development?

For over a decade, we’ve been shaping, launching, and scaling shopping experiences for category disruptors such as Cometeer, Framework, and Huckberry. No matter where you’re going, we can help you get there.

Book your consultation →

The commerce exec’s guide to the Apple Vision Pro (13 mins). All new tech calls for a suspension of disbelief, a period in which present shortcomings are ignored in favor of future possibilities. That’s where spatial commerce is right now. Dan does a good job here of looking at both sides of the equation. Also see my own thoughts on spatial commerce here and here.

Why brand consistency can make or break your brand (12 mins). The one good thing about a bear market is that it forces everyone to go back to the basics—or else. As brands look for more sustainable acquisition and retention strategies, I’ve noticed an increased and, frankly, long overdue interest in brand marketing. Brand matters, now more than ever.

Welcome to Your Soloculture (8 mins). If you sometimes feel like you’re living in your own bubble, you’re not alone. The fragmentation of public discourse and the tendency to reshape and remix every cultural moment ad nauseam is robbing us of the ability to belong (also see this op-ed). Should brands try to fight this or get in on the action?

🎧 News Break: The Death of Cereal, Outdoor Voices Goes Bankrupt, Selecting Ad Agencies (56 mins). Limited Supply is not usually my cup of tea, but there are some interesting considerations here about the future of programmatic advertising and DTC website builders (think Shopify). Somewhat related to my own considerations in thought #28, “The collapse of commerce.”

Brands on TikTok Shop face increased fees & an uncertain future (7 mins). When VCs and platforms stop subsidizing unsustainable behavior, early adopters struggle—imagine that. Honestly, I don’t know how much this says about TikTok vs. our industry’s inability to learn from the past. Anyway, brands advertising on TikTok might soon have bigger problems to worry about.

YouTube Breaks Down Its Growing Commerce Opportunity (4 mins). As TikTok gets regulated out of existence, YouTube is doubling down on its commerce strategy with a slew of improvements and product releases. I used to be bullish that TikTok could become the media+commerce engine for mid-market brands. Now, I’m not so sure anymore.

We don’t accept sponsorships for this newsletter. All product recommendations come from our consulting team.

Retool. The next time you need to implement an internal admin dashboard, you should probably give Retool a try. It abstracts away a lot of the complexity involved with modeling complex business workflows and minimizes the maintenance cost of your custom tooling. We’ve used it a couple of times for our clients in the past and it’s been a truly great experience.

📈 Nick wrote about all the different ways to implement tracking pixels with Shopify's Checkout Extensibility.

🧑‍🎨 Michela has been talking about the importance of design systems in e-com, and how you can create yours.

👓 What does the future of spatial commerce look like? No one knows, but I hope it's close to this POC from Shopify.

🇮🇹 Are you going to be at Netcomm Forum in Milan next week? Hit me up if you want to chat—the coffee's on us!

👃 D.S. & DURGA's product quiz is a masterclass in how you compensate for the lack of sensory experience in online shopping.

🫠 Why are so many Shopify replatforms being messed up? We've been talking about it in The Thought and on LinkedIn.

Does your brand need help with strategy, design or development?

For over a decade, we’ve been shaping, launching, and scaling shopping experiences for category disruptors such as Cometeer, Framework, and Huckberry. No matter where you’re going, we can help you get there.

Book your consultation →

That’s it for today!

If you’ve come across any interesting articles, podcasts, or tools we should check out, you can email us at [email protected].

See you in two weeks! 👋