October – The month of ghosts, ghouls, buying extra Halloween candy for yourself and the following not-to-be-missed eCommerce news:
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me…
The Royal Mail strike has been the on-off-on-off relationship story of the month, resulting in a stern telling off from the courts who decided that the strike call was unlawful and obliged the strike call to be withdrawn. Good news for your parcels.
Get Out Of My Dreams And Into My Car
Amazon is reportedly in talks with Phrame – the smart licence plate company that attaches a box to your vehicle, allowing you to unlock it for yourself (or delivery drivers!) via your smartphone.
And that’s not all. Ready to take your relationship to the next level with Alexa? Well, now you can by giving her a key to your home. The new Amazon Key is available from 08 November in select US cities, allowing keyless access to your home by friends, family and your Amazon delivery driver.
Get Out Of My Dreams And Into My Shopping Cart
Meanwhile, eBay is using “pioneering neuroscience” to help fill your basket. In partnership with Saatchi Art, The Art of Shopping concept space is the world’s first subconscious shopping gallery, where EEG headsets capture moments of inspiration in order to create browsers a personalised eBay shopping cart.
You Complete Me
Shopping cart Shopify is rolling out Google Autocomplete into its checkout pages, making your customer experience journey, even more enjoyable and making buying directly from you as easy as Amazon, eBay and Etsy.
Somebody’s Watching Me
Felt like someone was watching you this Halloween? Well, you weren’t alone – we were all on the lookout for everyone’s Q3 results and luckily for Amazon and eBay, they were pure treats:
Amazon – With Q3 net sales increasing 34% and net income reaching $256 million, Amazon is definitely a sales channel you should be on.
eBay – Results in line with analyst expectations, eBay shared a $2.4 billion total revenue, translating to a 8.7% year-on-year increase. What’s more is that eBay is now boasting 168 million active buyers, globally – if you’re not there, you want to be.
Handmade With Love
If your eCommerce business is handmade gifts, you want to make sure you head over to Amazon, how have recently launched the Amazon Handmade Giftshop. Set to rival Etsy, Amazon are now offering thousand of handmade gifts spanning ten categories. Lucky for you, Expandly helps you to sell on both platforms, whilst the internet decides which it love more.
And That’s A Wrap
Etsy is now offering the option to add gift wrapping services to your listings. When opted in, customers will be able to add gift wrapping to their order for an additional fee and a gift message at no extra charge. Happy Holidays!