TaskHusky Curated Newsletter #002

The Best Viral Christmas Retail Ad of 2018 ... and more

December 18, 2018

Hello -  

Retail sales are still running strong. We’ll have a final report after the first of the year. For now, here are this week’s best eCommerce and marketing bits from around the world.

1.  Apple Rules the eCommerce Universe – Control nearly 63% of All Sales

We’re severe data nerds. But this stat shocked us. Even though Apple’s iOS mobile operating system has only about 45% share of the total market and their Mac OS has only a tiny 9.5% market share of desktop computers, the devices running these operating systems control 63% of all eCommerce sales. There are economics and marketing lessons to learn from this.

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2.  Fix Your Website and Three other eCommerce Suggestions from Forbes

Steve Tan wrote in Forbes about, “Four Tips For Competing In Crowded E-Commerce Product niches.” It all seems like solid advice, but item #3 is “Fix Your Website,” and we see that a LOT. For us, the tops two things in fixing a site are security and page speed we’ve been doing big business in improving page speed this year).

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If you need help fixing your eCommerce site, 

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3.  The Best Viral Christmas Retail Ad of 2018 – UK’s John Lewis and Elton John

Normally you have to turn to young, cutting-edge marketing firms to get an ad this wonderful and downright socially viral. But this year, John Lewis & Partners – a ninety-year-old upper-crust with a normally downright stogey client base rocked the internet and social media with the “Piano” ad. 

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4.  Shopify Quietly Purchases Tictail.com for an “Undisclosed Sum”

Looks like Tictail.com – an online brand-building service for emerging eCommerce merchants – got “quietly” purchased by Shopify just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Normally, acquisitions get a lot of PR hype. But investment site SeekingAlpha had to find the news on an obscure Scandinavian website. Leaving the rest of us scratching our chins and saying, “Hmmmmmm ….”

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5.  Top 4 Digital Transformation Trends in Retail for 2019

Also from Forbes, we have an article by Daniel Newman discussing OmniChannel eCommerce, Cognitive Computing, Smart Beacons, and Cashless/Carless Checkouts. Retails with both an online and physical store presence should pay special attention to his negative omnichannel experience.

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Happy Selling,

Zachary