#DCR Newsletter #60
This newsletter summarizes key news, events, and statistics for Aug 11 - Aug 17 related to the world of digital commerce.
This newsletter summarizes key news, events, and statistics for Aug 11 - Aug 17 related to the world of digital commerce.
Analysts. Gartner has dropped it's Magic Quadrant for Digital Commerce 2022. Oracle has dropped from the quadrant, indicating the demise of the platform. Kibo and Oro have entered the visionary quadrant. The leadership quartet has remained the same and includes Commercetools, Salesforce, Adobe, and SAP.
Walmart. Walmart's US online sales grew 12% in Q2. Overall comparable sales rose 6.5% for the 13-week quarter, compared to the comparable period a year earlier. Walmart U.S. sales for the quarter were $105.13 billion, up 7.1% from $98.19 billion a year earlier. Walmart says its global advertising business grew nearly 30% year over year, led by its Walmart Connect ad operation in the U.S., and website ads sold on Flipkart, Walmart’s Indian ecommerce unit.
At the same time, Walmart has partnered with Paramount Global to bundle a streaming subscription into Walmart+ at no extra cost.
D2C. Warby Parker reports higher revenue and losses in Q2. The vision care merchant reported revenue for the quarter rose 13.7%, to $149.6 million, from $131.6 million in Q2 2021. The net loss for the quarter ended June 30 was $32.2 million. That was up more than three-fold from $10.3 million a year earlier.
Ouch, a -20% profit margin for a consumer band is no joke. As more consumers reduce discretionary spending, D2C brands are laying off workers and turning to brick-and-mortar stores to keep their business afloat.
Social Commerce. TikTok launches new ad solutions with smarter targeting and amplified product discovery. Thi company is launching a new commerce ad suite called “Shopping Ads” to make it easier for brands to advertise on the platform. The new Video Shopping Ads allow advertisers to highlight one or more products in their in-feed video ads in a way that amplifies product discovery and purchase intent.
TikTok says video Shopping Ads provide dynamic experiences based on the shopper’s intent to purchase, with smart targeting and optimized ad delivery.
Support. Gorgias’ valuation rises to $710M with $30M Series C for e-commerce customer support. Transpose Platform and Shopify led the round. The company provides technology that brings all of the channels that shoppers use to contact online stores into one feed for each company. This way support tickets can be managed in a number of different ways, including live chat, email, phone, SMS, messaging apps and social media.
Today, the six-year-old company is working with more than 10,000 online stores, including Princess Polly, Steve Madden, Olipop and Marine Layer, which are selling products via Shopify, BigCommerce and Adobe Commerce.
Stats of the week:
Retail sales for July were flat, compared with the estimate for a 0.1% gain.
Amazon is boosting Fulfillment by Amazon seller fees by 35 cents for the holiday season.
Chart of the week:
