My final Clear Digital blog of 2020 rounds up in one place all the deep dives and Digital Digest summaries that I’ve written over the last 6 months… Deep DivesTHE UK MARKETPLACE SECTOR - AND THE ROLE OF COMMUNITY Marketplace sites are responsible for a third of the UK ecommerce sector with sales of £26.2bn in 2019. As well as Amazon and eBay, community-driven marketplaces are also experiencing significant growth. Exploring the dynamics of the UK marketplace sector, this article examines the winners and what we can learn from them. DISCOGS - THE DIGITAL SUCCESS STORY OF THE VINYL REVIVAL The specialist marketplace Discogs is a digital brand with a difference; it’s thriving in the hugely competitive music sector, by catering to a niche but dedicated sector of record collectors. This article reviews the current music market, delves deeper into the second hand vinyl market and then examines Discogs and its recent success. THE GROWTH OF DIRECT TO CONSUMER, SHOPIFY - AND DEVELOPING MULTIPLE CHANNELS This article explores the size and dynamics of the UK DTC sector, as well as examining Shopify (and similar ecommerce solutions) in order to understand more about DTC winners and their growth drivers, including expanding onto other channels. Clear Digital Digests20th November 2020: Here Comes A Very Different Christmas
30th October 2020: Ad spend, Black Friday, TikTok, Royal Mail and Woolworths 6th October 2020: Bagel cities, online grocery, Instagram is 10 and a chocolate orange hotel 18th September 2020: Subscription coffee, Amazon ads, retail sales update and cricket data 4th September 2020: Ocado, eBay, Discogs, Netflix and authorised handball 21st August 2020: 5 big shifts, retail round-up and retro gaming 11th August 2020: Turn on, tune in and check out 3rd August 2020: Argos catalogue RIP, retail tie-ups, Q2 updates and soccer supervillains 17th July 2020: MP3, marketing spend and movies sur l'eau 10th July 2020: Online habits, haircuts and robot fans 3rd July 2020: Brands, baskets and bears
0 Comments
With just five weeks until what will be a very different Christmas this year, this Clear Digital Digest examines:
LOCKDOWN 2.0 Although not the cheeriest subject, this is the first Clear Digital Digest since we went into a second lockdown on 5th November.
BLACK FRIDAY: ONE WEEK TO GO As well as the lockdown, online sales in November will be further boosted to some degree by Black Friday next week.
DELIVERY: SANTA WILL BE INCREASINGLY BUSY THIS YEAR One topic that we will likely hear more about in the coming weeks is the problems caused by these inflated online sales when it comes to actually delivering the orders.
CHRISTMAS ADVERTISING Of course, to many it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without the high prestige TV led campaigns we are now accustomed to expect, which have really increased in profile over the last week with the launch of both the John Lewis ad plus a new series of ITV ratings winner “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here”.
AND FINALLY…
As alluded to above, forecasting accurately for 2021 is going to pose more challenges than for any year in living memory. So I liked this take on strategic planning from Tom Fishburne, the ever entertaining Marketoonist… Today’s varied Clear Digital Digest round-up includes:
HERE COMES CHRISTMAS: BUT AD SPEND FORECAST TO BE £724M LESS THAN LAST YEAR With half term coming to a close this week and Christmas products all over the high street, November is typically when the large retail brand campaigns come to life, with large TV spend supported by a variety of other media. Of course 2020 is not a typical year, so there will certainly be all kinds of challenges creatively this year, as well as with regards to available budgets.
ECOMMERCE: SALES UPDATE - AND BLACK FRIDAY IS GETTING EARLIER EVERY YEAR Despite all this year’s uncertainty, one trend that can be confidently predicted for Christmas 2020 is that ecommerce sales will take a significant larger share of total retail sales, but how much larger exactly?
CHANNEL SHIFT: SHOPIFY, TIK TOK, ROYAL MAIL, AO, SKY, JOHN LEWIS Here are a few recent stories that caught my eye regarding channel purchasing shifts, including developments from AO and Sky which demonstrate how digital first brands continue to consider the ways that a physical presence can help them engage further with customers…
AND FINALLY… One brand that won’t be returning to the high street – despite a flurry of excitement earlier this week – is the old childhood favourite Woolworths.
One of the most talked about developments for both ecommerce and general retail in recent years has been the rise of “Direct To Consumer” (DTC), whereby brands are bypassing traditional retail outlets/websites and selling direct to customers. 2020’s unfortunate events have led to a well documented large increase in home deliveries, including DTC brands generating record sales across sectors as diverse as food kits, mattresses and sportswear. The rise in marketplace sites (especially Amazon and eBay) has certainly played a part in increasing DTC sales, and Clear Digital recently explored this in the deep dive “The UK marketplace sector – and the role of community”. However, DTC websites are also rapidly expanding, particularly on the Shopify ecommerce platform. This blog explores further the size and dynamics of the UK DTC sector, as well as examining Shopify (and similar ecommerce solutions) in order to understand more about DTC winners and their growth drivers, including expanding onto other channels...
THE UK DIRECT TO CONSUMER (DTC) MARKET
SHOPIFY, AMAZON AND DEVELOPING MULTIPLE CHANNELS
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Please note that this blog is a summary of the accompanying deeper dive on "The growth of Direct To Consumer, Shopify – and developing multiple channels", which is available to download here. Clear Digital Digest: bagel cities, online grocery, Instagram is 10 and a chocolate orange hotel6/10/2020 Today’s Clear Digital Digest is full of tasty morsels, as we look at:
LONDON: A BAGEL CITY, NOT JUST FOR BRICK LANE Javelin Group have recently published some insightful research regarding the impact of Covid19 on footfall within 5 key global cities: New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Berlin and London.
ONLINE GROCERY NEWS
A COUPLE OF NOTABLE DIGITAL DATES
AND FINALLY…
After coming across this tweet, it appears that yes you can book a chocolate orange themed room in a ski hotel in the Alps. The Christmas tree in the picture really is something. |
Jim ClearLead blogger and founder of Clear Digital: talking about ecommerce, digital, marketing and media. Categories
All
Archives
December 2020
|