TaskHusky Curated Newsletter #031

GDPR Bites Them in the Assets, Russia-Russia-Russia, My End Game Beats Your Avatar, and more.

July 30, 2019

Yo - 

What with Shopify doing all the new languages and foreign currency support now it got me thinking of Europe. 

Have you ever been to Paris? I hear it’s nice. But then there’s the whole eating snails thing. Do you think that eating snails is like a requirement or something? A guy dressed up like Inspector Clouseau greets you in the airport at customs with a cold plate of escargot … if you eat it without gagging they let you in, that kind of thing? That would be weird, and I would totally NOT get it.

But I’m a big fan of croissants … and cheese. I loves me some cheese. And speaking of cheese, here are this week’s top stories.

1.  GDPR Bites Them in the Assets!

Hey ... do you remember last year with all the big news about GDPR and how cool it would be for everyone in Europe and everyone would be happy and all data-privacy land with triple-secret-opt-out forms and extra regulations? I even had my TaskHusky minions in the content department 

. Well, turns out things ain’t so rosy.

We’ve been seeing reports that both website visits AND revenue have taken a hit. Now, my data-science guy tells me that the analysis is not scientific enough, may not account for overall economic conditions, and lots other big words that I was quite frankly not paying attention to. But this is still interesting as heck.

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2.  It’s Not the Size of the Package That Counts

Wait a second … what did you think this story was about? I swear, I just don’t know where your mind is at these days.

Of course, we’re talking about which countries get the highest number of eCommerce package deliveries per person per year. Now, when you look at this chart it looks like China is kicking eCommerce butt. Actually, not so much. The data for all of China actually covers only the two HUGE cities of Shanghai and Beijing – the rest of the country is completely left out, which completely sucks from a statistics perspective. All the other countries have comprehensive data, so I kick China out of the eCommerce pool and you see that European countries make up eight of the top ten.

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3.  Are you ready to “Czech-out”

Czech-out … get it? See what I did there? ‘Cuz I’m being all clever and stuff. And with that horrible, yet unavoidable pun we reveal that the fastest-growing eCommerce market in Europe is … The Czech Republic! 

Let’s all gather together and sing the Czech national anthem, “Kde domov můj” … come’on … all together now!

I jest … it’s a lovely tune.

Interestingly, The Czech Republic also leads the EU in purchases made on mobile devices. eCommerceNews ranked all the countries in Europe on this stuff and put the info in a handy easy-reading page, so thanks guys.

You know who wasn’t in that list of European countries? These guys.

4.  Their Economy’s in Rubles

Russia, Russia, Russia! Well … the world ponders the global influence of Vladimir Putin – a shirtless guy named after a vampire. Seriously … what is the deal with Putin taking photos of himself without a shirt and wrestling bears and whatnot? What is he thinking?

You know what I think about? I think about the world’s 12

largest economy spending 348 billion rubles ($5.6 billion US) on eCommerce stuff and how folks like you and I can get a piece of that action. If you are already shipping to the EU, the barriers to delivery in Kremlin-Country are falling faster than the Berlin Wall. Just give that a little thoughty-thought comrade.

5.  Not About Europe, But Cool Movies Count as Marketing

I totally intended to do only stories about eCommerce in Europe this week, but Disney studios pulled a neat little trick. Up until last week, Avatar from 20

Century Fox was the highest-grossing movie in cinematic history. This year, Avengers End Game was a HUGE success that came within a few million dollars of beating Avatar. So, Disney re-released the film with added scenes a few weeks later to goose the take up to beat Avatar and become #1.

A lot of folks were upset, thinking that Disney’s move was legal and all, but was bad sportsmanship. But remember … Avatar did the same thing. In 2009 they re-released a remixed Avatar to add $11 million to their take too. I guess all’s fair in love, war, and cinema.

But the real value is in the marketing. When this film goes to pay-per-view and streaming services, being #1 means something that they can take to the bank.

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Maybe Paris isn’t my thing. Who needs croissants and brie when I can get chicken nuggets and cheese fries right here in southern Michigan. And the best part is that there are no snails and always have enough cheese fries to share.

You should share too. Share this email with someone nice. Go ahead … I’ll send you another one next week.

Happy Selling,

Zachary