Ecommerce Market Analysis

I analyzed 1,200 abandoned carts last month. The top reason people didn’t finish their order? They couldn’t picture actually getting the package. Sounds weird, but watch how this plays out: Someone adds protein powder to their cart. Then they leave. Later, they see a retargeting ad saying “Still thinking about it?” That doesn’t help. They already know what the product is. Here’s what does help: Email subject: “Your package would arrive Thursday” Body: “Your order of [Product] ships today and arrives Thursday by 8 p.m. Here’s what happens next: Today: We pack your order in Austin Tuesday: FedEx picks it up and you get your tracking number Thursday: It’s delivered to your area Friday morning: You try it for the first time Want this timeline? Finish your order in the next 4 hours.” A supplement brand tested this against their usual cart reminder emails. The usual version said: “Don’t forget your cart! Here’s 10% off.” The new version showed the delivery timeline. Here’s what happened: 3.2x higher open rate 2.7x higher conversion rate No discount needed Why did it work? Because people can picture the product. They just can’t picture it arriving, the box on their doorstep, opening it up, trying it out. Your job is to make that moment feel real. So instead of focusing on the product in your cart emails, focus on the delivery. Help people see the package showing up at their door, sitting on their counter, being used the next day. P.S. I analyzed these via inboox.ai - our soon to release AI-driven, searchable database of 1M+ real emails from the fastest-growing Shopify brands. Get on the wait list today!

Amazon just rolled out a pretty cool update to Brand Metrics. Here's what you need to know: New features: -Category median benchmarks -Category top benchmarks -Percent change view Why it matters: 1. Compare your brand against category trends in real-time 2. Gauge if your growth is outpacing or lagging the category 3. Get instant insights without exporting data For example, say your beverage brand sees a 20% increase in shoppers. Sounds great, right? But what if the category median is up 25% and top performers are up 30%? This update helps you spot these crucial nuances instantly. The most useful tool is the percent change view. This feature will be huge for understanding your brand's performance in context. You can quickly see how you stack up during events like Prime Day, understand if a dip in numbers is brand-specific or category-wide, and measure the impact of your marketing efforts on awareness, consideration, and purchase metrics. My advice: Make the percent change view your first stop when analyzing performance changes. It'll help you differentiate between market trends and brand-specific issues, giving you the insights you need to make informed decisions.

Forget one size fits all, local payment methods are the new consumer favorites in markets round the world Local Eats Global, as global card schemes lose ground to local favorites like digital wallets A2A, carrier billing and BNPL in Ecommerce These are some findings from a The 2024 Global Ecommerce Report which analyses data from 37 major markets, highlighting global, regional and country specific trends. Key Findings ▸ Local payment methods will reach 58% of all ecommerce transaction value globally by 2028, reflecting a major shift within the ecommerce payments market. ▸ By 2028, almost 37% of all individuals globally will actively use local payment methods, reflecting massive growth and expansion of the ecommerce market across the world. ▸ Card values will decline to 20% of transaction value by 2028, from 31% in 2023, reflecting a major shift as the ecommerce market expands. ▸ BNPL is steadily growing its share of ecommerce values, from 4% in 2023 to 5% in 2028, reflecting steady progress outside of key, already highly saturated markets, such as Australia, Germany and Sweden. ▸ A2A payments are seeing strong growth, from 8% of ecommerce spend in 2023 to 16% in 2028, a dramatic increase, reflecting major shifts in this market. Why Going Global Needs Local Payment Solutions As someone who knows payments, I'll explain why understanding local preferences matters for success worldwide. Thinking Globally, Acting Locally: ▸ One-size-fits-all no longer works: Countries have very different ways to pay. If you ignore this, you'll lose sales. ▸ Welcome local favorites: Give your customers the payment methods they like. This shows respect for their choices and helps build trust. ▸ Give a variety of payment options: People enjoy choices when shopping online! In some places, folks use several ways to pay. Don't stick to just one. ▸ Make the user experience smooth: Cost might not be the main factor. An easy and familiar way to pay is crucial to get more sales. Keep in mind, a global outlook means changing how you do things in each market. When you cater to local payment likes, you'll open up a whole new world of chances. Source: Boku (Link in comments) #DigitalPayments #Fintech #Payments #Ecommerce #Cards

Most teams treat cart abandonment like a “mystery.” They test buttons. Move CTAs. A/B test colors. Add urgency pop-ups. And the abandonment rate stays exactly the same. Because most checkouts don’t break at the surface. They break deeper – inside the system that leads to the checkout. Here’s the real pattern I see across Shopify stores: Cart abandonment isn’t a single problem. It’s a chain reaction. A slow cart page → 𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Too many promo hunters → 𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Mobile-heavy traffic → 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗸𝘁𝗼𝗽-𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝗼𝘂𝘁 Large basket size → 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 Wrong payment mix → 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽-𝗼𝗳𝗳𝘀 When you don’t map the system, you only see the last step: “User didn’t finish the order.” But when you do map it, everything becomes obvious. So I turned this logic into a small cheat sheet: + a complete driver tree + real diagnostic steps + segment patterns + the mistakes I see most often Everything on one page. Because if you want to fix cart abandonment, you don’t start with the checkout. You start with the forces that shape it.

I get irrationally frustrated when I spend ages researching a product - bouncing between websites, reviews, and platforms - only to finally commit… and then discover it’s out of stock. It feels like all that intent, time, and energy just evaporates. The reality is that there is a large gap in online capabilities across the industry. As a consumer, instances of things like "stockouts" don't just cost a sale, they erode trust, halt customer acquisition and destroy momentum. And in a world where convenience wins, even good intentions can be undone by a single friction point. It turns out I’m not alone. Our research with Microsoft Advertising shows that 28% of shoppers often experience this, among a range of other points of friction that are damaging retailers’ sales. Every misaligned landing page, every broken promotion, every out-of-stock item that shows up in search… it's just bad UX. Our research uncovered a staggering insight: 1 in 5 shopping journeys are abandoned due to friction. And it’s high-value shoppers, digitally engaged customers, who are the least forgiving. 1️⃣ Friction isn’t random. It’s predictable. We saw six recurring issues: ➡️ Misaligned landing pages ➡️ Stock inaccuracies ➡️ Unexpected shipping costs ➡️ Price discrepancies ➡️ Failed promotions ➡️ Inconsistent loyalty rewards Each one chips away at trust and encourages shoppers to look elsewhere. 2️⃣ Frequent online shoppers experience the most friction. These are the customers who shop regularly, spend more, and are more digitally engaged. And they’re the ones facing the most pain: ➡️ 41% say the product page didn’t match the ad ➡️ 40% had discount codes fail at checkout ➡️ 39% encountered stock-outs at the last step ➡️ 38% saw price changes post-click ➡️ 37% said loyalty rewards didn’t carry over The most valuable customers with the highest LTV are being let down the most. 3️⃣ Friction hurts conversion and loyalty. Our research shows that over 50% of consumers spend less with brands when they encounter friction. And 40% will look elsewhere entirely if there’s inconsistency between your app, website or store. The bottom line is that poor UX has a direct impact on profitability. And the six areas of friction signal deeper-rooted issues across teams, tech stacks, and channels. And that misalignment is directly costing conversion, customer lifetime value, and brand trust. 💥 Inventory not syncing with front-end search. 💥 Promotions set centrally but broken at the point of checkout. 💥 Loyalty schemes behaving differently across touchpoints. Fixing this means aligning merch, tech, marketing and supply chain around the same journey, the one customers are actually taking. There is also an irony about how much it costs to acquire customers, when many retailers are then just disappointing them. Consistency in pricing, promotions, availability and experience is a strategic differentiator. 🔗 Download the report now https://lnkd.in/e9abZQQW

They didn't forget; they objected. Instead of "activation" or "abandonment" emails, try this... People don't abandon checkouts and free trials because they 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵, they abandon because they 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵. Instead of sending “reminders,” figure out 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘥 and address the 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 – Not just in your emails, but at the root cause, before they abandon. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗯𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 If you ask ChatGPT, it'll tell you to offer free shipping and enable guest checkout – but you know it’s not that simple. Fixing “process friction” will only get you so far – most abandonment is caused by 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, like an unanswered question or a nagging doubt. 𝟲 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝘅 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺) 1. 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – Is it compatible with…? Does it do X thing?     𝗙𝗶𝘅: Live chat & detailed Q&A     2. 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 [𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹]?     𝗙𝗶𝘅: Show the main use cases, testimonials with specific results     3. 𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁? Or forget it but keep getting billed?    𝗙𝗶𝘅: Generous cancellation / return policies     4. 𝗦𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – What will my boss / team / spouse think?     𝗙𝗶𝘅: Give them a story to justify the purchase to themselves (e.g. “it's cheaper in the long-run” or “you only live once.”)     5. 𝗜𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗲? (e.g. Coders, non-native speakers, gen Z women?)    𝗙𝗶𝘅: Say & show who it’s for     6. 𝗢𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 – They are switching from their last product for a reason, so they need to believe your product won't have that flaw.    𝗙𝗶𝘅: Position against your competitor’s flaw (e.g. “99.999% availability,” or “24/7 live support.”) 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝗽𝘀𝘆𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Don't speculate. Ask your 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴:  1. 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 – “What are the main objections you hear from prospects?” 2. 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 – “What made you almost not buy?” Prospects who abandoned probably had 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 as the ones who bought. 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗲 Many people will say they’ve “been too busy.” That’s bullsh*t. Reality: either they don’t understand how it helps, your product or site confused them, or they don’t actually need it. Helpful? Re-post to help others in your network.

Crowning a New Term: “Iceberg Metrics” 🧊 ✨ I’m calling it: Iceberg Metrics represent KPIs that only reveal the tip of what’s really happening below the surface. Metrics like abandoned carts seem simple but often mask much more—checkout friction, hidden costs, trust issues, and more. To truly understand and optimize, we need to dig deeper. Here’s how to dive into the “iceberg” of abandoned cart rates: 1. Establish Baseline Metrics: Start by gathering data on current abandoned cart rates, session times, and bounce rates using heat maps and session recordings to see where users drop off. 2. Segment the Audience: Analyze users by behavior (first-time vs. repeat visitors, mobile vs. desktop) and traffic source (organic, paid, email). 3. Experiment Hypotheses: Develop hypotheses for abandonment reasons—shipping costs, checkout friction, distractions, or lack of trust signals—and test them. 4. Run A/B Tests: Test variations like simplifying the checkout process, showing shipping costs earlier, adding trust badges, or retargeting abandoned cart emails. 5. Use Heat Maps & Session Recordings: Examine user behavior in real time. Look for confusion or hesitation, where users hover, and whether they engage with key information. 6. Contextualize Results: Analyze how changes impact overall user flow. Did simplifying checkout help, or did other metrics like bounce rate increase? 7. Ecosystem Approach: Examine how tweaks affect the full journey—from product discovery to checkout—balancing short-term improvements with long-term goals like lifetime value. 8. Iterate: Refine solutions based on experiment findings and continuously optimize the customer journey. This one’s mine, folks! #IcebergMetrics #OwnIt #DataDriven #EcommerceOptimization #NewMetricAlert Cheers, Your cross-legged CAC and CLV buddy 🤗

Q1 data from CommerceIQ's latest State of Ecommerce Report shows category orders are up 2% YoY. But average selling prices dropped a staggering 8%. 🔻👇 More importantly, the quality of the 2% OPS growth is what should concern brand leaders. Weaker ASPs are accelerating last year's pricing pressure across categories. The drivers behind it: 👉 𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲. Categories most affected by this were Grocery (-6% YoY), Health & Personal Care (-12% YoY), Outdoor & Garden (-26% YoY). Household, Beauty, and Pet Products categories could largely withstand this trend, with flat or slightly growing average selling prices. What's interesting is that most brands think that more discounts or media spend will shift consumers back to premium products. It won't – and it ignores your consumer's reality at dangerous levels. 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝘅𝗶𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index reached its weakest reading on record in April (49.8), reflecting the heavy toll of the Middle East conflict on consumer morale. This affects all demographics, regardless of political affiliation, income, age, or education. Brands looking to secure market share profitably will have to review their approach to value creation by: ✅ Prioritising cost savings in supply chains with retailers like Amazon ✅ Creating value bundles to address consumer concerns ✅ Monitoring the impact of volume mix shifts in their P&L ✅ Adjusting promo and media strategies ✅ Reworking their portfolio strategy as consumers face the decade of uncertainty --- ♻️ Repost to share these insights, and 💭 Comment your thoughts below. #amazonvendor #amazonstrategy

We don't pay for any Amazon reporting. Amazon's Search Query Performance report tells us how customers discover our listings. This report tells sellers search volume, impressions, clicks and purchases for their top 1k keywords. Both in total and our brand's market share. To find this report: Brand Analytics ➔ Search Analytics ➔ Search Query Performance   At the top, toggle between 2 ways to view search data: ➔ "Brand View": 1k most important search terms to your brand. ➔ "ASIN View": 100 most important search terms by ASIN.   First: Organize & Label the Data.   Export the top 1k keywords by week as far back as possible. Merge into 1 spreadsheet. A free chrome extension makes this very easy. I'll share it at the end.   In a new tab, list each unique search term and add columns with fields you'd like to filter by. Match these fields into the main dataset. These are the fields I add:  • Keyword type: Branded, Generic or Competitor • Competitor: Yeti, Hydro Flask, etc • Product Type: Adult Bottle, Kid's Bottle, Backpack, etc. • License: Character or Sports Team   Now I can see our performance when customers search for Yeti, ice buckets, Paw Patrol, our branded keywords, etc.   Here are a few ways I look at the data:   1. Search Type   One of my favorite charts is the % of our clicks coming from branded, generic and competitor search terms.   Successfully brand building means more clicks from branded search terms over time.   Generic keywords drove 60% of clicks into our listings. Now branded keywords drive most of our clicks. Growing clicks from branded search is important, this is how we track it. (chart below)   2. How Are Customers Finding a Listing?   Pulling the "ASIN View" report for every ASIN in a listing shows exactly how customers are finding your listing.   For our kids listings, character specific keywords are a huge driver. They sum up to be about 40% of traffic.   "Spiderman Toys" has been a great keyword for us. We can know how we're doing YoY on keywords like this.   3. Amazon Ads Incrementality   Knowing if Amazon Ads are increasing total sales is one of life's great mysteries.   Match this report with Amazon Ads click data by keyword & date.   Test turning on and off campaigns and watch what happens to clicks in the SQP report.   The change in average clicks from a keyword is what ads are actually producing.   You can understand how much money you are lighting on fire with branded ads. Only 20% of branded ad clicks are incremental for us.   4. Simple Modern vs Competition's Search Volume   We compare total searches and clicks for our brand to competitors by week.   It shows relative brand health and who's trending up/down.   It shows us passing Hydro Flask over the last 2 years.   5. Flipping Competitor's Customers   With this data, you can see search volume for competitor keywords.   If successful, this is a great customer acquisition tactic. A great use for SP ads.   10% of our clicks come from competitor keywords.

Every ecommerce leader I know is running on the same hamster wheel: growth targets keep rising, but the rules of the game are being rewritten under their feet. When you place a leader and later sit down with them to swap insights, you’re reminded why the right talent shapes entire industries. I had a great conversation with Julian Exposito-Bader (ex-Amazon, TAG Heuer) about what’s really shaping the future of ecommerce, and he boiled it down to four pillars every executive should have on their radar: 1. Tariffs & Supply Chain Disruption Tariffs are no longer background noise. They’ve reshaped global commerce. Chinese manufacturers are redirecting from the US into Europe, flooding marketplaces with B-brands and copycats. Leaders who win will be the ones who diversify sourcing, master customs optimization, and use bonded warehouses strategically. 2. Sustainability as a Competitive Advantage It’s no longer acceptable to send a small product in three layers of plastic. Lastmile innovation (bike couriers, drones, reusable packaging) is moving from “PR play” to “bottom-line differentiator.” Zalando is pushing hard here. Consumers are watching, and they notice who’s lagging behind. 3. AI-Powered Commerce Revolution Gen Z isn’t Googling “best running shoes”, they’re asking ChatGPT or Alexa. LLMs are the new storefront. The question is: do brands have a strategy to influence those models? Add in 10-minute delivery in Southeast Asia (coming soon to Europe) and AI-driven fraud vs. fraud detection… the entire purchase journey is being re-engineered. 4. Channel Strategy & ROI Focus Social commerce is expensive and messy, but TikTok Shop is where the next generation buys. DTC remains the highest margin, but demands world-class storytelling. Amazon gives you traffic, but only if you’re willing to pour money into ads. And let’s not forget the “lipstick effect”, beauty keeps outperforming even when wallets tighten. The takeaway? Ecommerce leaders aren’t just choosing a channel anymore, they’re orchestrating these four forces simultaneously. For me, it was also a reminder of why the right hire matters: leaders like Julian don’t just react to market shifts, they anticipate and shape them. I’m curious, in your markets, which of these four pillars is hitting hardest right now? #ecommerce #fmcg #trending