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Hey, y’all, and thanks for joining us for episode 20 of the Southern Fried eCommerce podcast from EYStudios. Our cohosts Jay Brimberry and Emily Faulkner are back for a super special podcast with two special guests, our new hires at EYStudios, Megan Smith and Ali Tomer. Megan Smith is a new Digital Account Manager with us while Ali Tomer is our new Solutions Consultant.
Jay starts off by asking them about their backgrounds as well as their southern credibility. Megan is living in Illinois while Ali is living in Texas but she’s originally from New Hampshire so while technically southerners Jay asks their opinion on sweet tea. Ali is a fan of unsweetened tea and Megan actually likes sweet tea so she gains some southern fried cred in Jay’s book. Jay then moves on asking them a little more about themselves:
What are you currently reading?
ALI — She’s rereading Lord of the Rings. She was also rereading 1984 but gave that up when it became a little too real.
MEGAN — Her resolution is to read more this year and she tends to lean toward the self-improvement genre but she’s not reading anything good at the moment.
Are you a gamer? What are you playing?
MEGAN — She’s not much of a gamer. But we’ll get her there by the next EY video game tournament.
ALI — She is a gamer and recommends checking out Alice: Madness Returns and is looking to get into It Takes Two.
Emily played It Takes Two and says it taught her that she is not a great cooperative player. She does say though that it did teach her and her boyfriend to work together better and says they are more in love for it. If that’s not a Valentine’s Day story, I don’t know what is. She does, however, mention being excited for Majora’s Mask Switch release coming up, which is notably single-player…so maybe not all love stories have perfect endings.
Have you ever watched the 80s hit classic, Willow?
MEGAN — She apologizes and says no she has not.
ALI — Yes, quite a while ago but yes.
*Note this may be the first podcast guest to answer in the affirmative to this question, making Jay’s year*
With Megan’s third negative answer Jay simply asks her, what do you do in your free time? To which she responds with serial killer documentaries, podcasts, movies, tv shows, books, and more. Emily immediately gets excited by this revelation and recommends the film Don’t F*** With Cats on Netflix. Jay then asks for Megan’s pick for most interesting serial killer and she responds, Jeffrey Dahmer. Jay approves of this choice but makes it clear he doesn’t approve of the man himself. With that, we moved on to the eCommerce news of the week.
First, Emily discussed the latest blog posts from EYStudios:
- Setting Up Analytics in BigCommerce and Magento
- What Are The Most Important Questions To Ask When Choosing A Company To Design Your Website
Snapchat’s New AR Upgrade Continues The Augmented Reality Social Commerce Conversation
Then we jumped into our first article of the week, Snapchat’s AR Shopping Upgrade Points to Social Commerce Future from RetailDive. The article discusses Snapchat’s latest rollout of AR shopping features with testing via Ulta and MAC Cosmetics showing positive results. Augmented reality in social shopping is a common topic for us lately so make sure to check out episode 19 where we discuss Pinterest’s AR capabilities for furniture shopping.
Jay begins the discussion by declaring that he didn’t know that Snapchat was still a thing. He thought it went the way of the dinosaur when TikTok became popular. Emily informs him though, with over 300 million active daily users, that Snapchat is still very much a thing. Emily says she likes seeing what she would look like if she decided to get ready in the morning. Polling the podcast guests though it looks like Ali used to use it but not anymore and Megan still does but mainly for the filters. Emily points out that she thinks this technology will only become better as time goes on because it’s already improved since its first iteration.
Jay then asks Megan what she thinks could be other applications for augmented reality in eCommerce outside of large makeup brands.
MEGAN: I think this already exists on Pinterest but just the possibilities with home decor or furniture. Or paint colors on the wall. And again, I think some of this already exists but that’s where I can see it. For me personally, I feel like I’m always switching out my furniture and I really like being able to see it in the space.
Ali agrees that she thinks that home decor and furniture are prime areas but also clothing. This brings Jay to ask if they believe that AR might be more geared toward women in general with makeup and decor being prime industries. Ali brought up that glasses are one way that AR is being used by all genders. She also points out that clothing AR can be targeted at men whether that’s a nice coat or a pair of sneakers.
Another point in the article that Jay mentions is that new security measures are needing to be taken with this new AR technology. He asks Emily if she’s worried about AR shopping being a potential threat.
EMILY: I’ve already accepted that at this point somebody probably has all the information they need to take my identity. It’s long gone at this point. There are so many things in life I have to accept and pretend don’t exist. Might as well add one more.
After that lovely bit of pessimism, Jay moves on and asks Megan and Ali to predict or forecast for their clients where they think the social shopping movement is going and what platforms they need to be on to be successful.
MEGAN: For Gen X, I would say put the focus on Facebook. I’m a millennial though and I’m personally a big Instagram lover but back to the makeup point, I don’t even know how to do my own makeup but I found myself with a full cart of makeup after watching a live shopping feed from Ulta on Facebook…For Gen Z, obviously, TikTok is a big one. I also think that Instagram is still super popular. I would even say that, even though I don’t use Snapchat that often, I still have a lot of friends that still use Snapchat.
Jay, Ali, and Emily agree and even mention that they think Twitter is dead for business purposes (and possibly social purposes, as well).
B2B Buyers Embracing eCommerce
The next article we discussed is from PracticalEcommerce, “Charts: B2B Buyers Prefer Ecommerce.” While this article predominantly focuses on charts and infographics Jay goes over the highlights specifically B2B buyers’ change in preference for eCommerce over in-person sales channels. Between February 2021 and November 2021, the percentage of B2B buyers using eCommerce rose from 22% to 32% while at the same time usage of in-person avenues decreased from 27% to 23%.
Jay asks Ali, as someone who has been in eCommerce for a few years if she’s been watching this rise in B2B eCommerce.
ALI: Absolutely. It’s been a really interesting growth, honestly, seeing how security has changed and how the trust has changed for certain industries. When we’re talking about making a million-dollar transaction online that’s obviously not something you want to do without having some sort of trust in who you’re buying from. And I think it’s getting better every single day with certain platforms and certain software you can use to add that security and add that warmth of the purchase for some of these larger buyers.
B2B online sales can be so securely automated at this point and it takes some walking through and obviously a little bit of education but also just understanding what your options are there. If you are somebody that is selling products that are typically in the $10,000+ range, having those secure transactions is going to be so important. And I think we’re getting and nearing a point where it’s much more stable for customers and clients to make that investment and get into that business online.
Megan agrees having worked with a few B2B clients in the past at previous jobs.
MEGAN: I feel like with B2B having that online presence is really important because in today’s society the more simplified something is, the better. I can’t speak to anyone else but if I can do something myself, I like to do it. If I can avoid having to call in somewhere or do something and I can just do it all online: that’s what I want to do because it’s super simple and super easy with just a click of a button.
Jay thinks this is key as well and also thinks that rallying the B2B sales team to be more on board with online sales is also key. He mentions The Office as an example, as one of the only humans on the planet that analyzed the business goings-on of Dunder Mifflin. He cites when Dunder Mifflin attempts to start an online store and the salespeople view it as their enemy because corporate didn’t mesh the two arms of the company well enough.
JAY: Salespeople don’t want to put their business in a machine because they’re afraid that if this machine is going ‘okay great, where are my commissions going to go?’ ‘how am I going to make my money.’ But I think you can really tie in sales folks into the B2B portal where they can essentially set things up for their clients.
For example, every three months I know they’re going to need this widget. On Magento and I believe on BigCommerce, I know on Magento, you can set it up where there are reminders every three months ‘uh oh, you’re running out of time here. I know that you’re probably out of this. Make sure you go and purchase this.’ And then you have the salesperson follow-up and really set up this program for businesses. If I’m a business I appreciate that — I don’t have to think about it anymore. And my sales rep, the guy that has been with me forever, has done this and made my life easier. And then on the business side if you can reward your sales reps for things like that.
He continues on to say that the workforce is getting younger and that companies stuck in the “way we’ve always done things” mentality are going to suffer for it in the coming years.
EMILY: People like to stick to old-school mentalities because they’re afraid of the difficulties of learning new things. And I think that’s what is really great about moving online is because once you’re able to get over that big hurdle, the ease of use is so stark they’re like “oh wow, why didn’t I do this sooner?’ I think that’s why there’s a massive uptick in usage. Not only are the youth taking over, of course, but people are also finally being taught things and realizing things aren’t as hard as they thought they would be. Look, I am also a victim of this. I don’t like to try new things because it just seems like too much effort and then by the time you finally learn it you’re like, ‘wow I was silly.’
Ali agrees with Emily and says that she tries to get across to B2B merchants that their number one salesman should be their website.
Valentine’s Day Back To Being A Big Shopping Holiday
The last article we discussed in this episode is 3 Reasons Consumers Are Going All Out for Valentine’s Day from the National Retail Federation. After a disappointing 2021 Valentine’s Day, this article is projecting a splurge-worthy day of love. According to the NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics annual survey, consumers are planning to spend $175 on average on Valentine’s Day this year, roughly $10 more than they budgeted in 2021. Jay whispers this last part as to not alert his wife to the average gift price.
It seems our Jay and Emily won’t be big spenders on this holiday but they might be alone. Jay says, “we’re of the age that if I really want something, I’ll just go out and buy it myself.” Emily and her boyfriend are renewing each other’s PS Now subscription for each other as the ultimate act of love.
Megan mentions that she’ll be having a self-love night with a massage, renting a movie, and opening a bottle of wine. She says that she thinks the article misses out on the demographics of people who may be buying these presents for themselves as an act of ‘treat yo’ self.’ Ali said she’ll be having a similar night but with the added company of her dogs. She might even try shopping for a heart-shaped chew toy for them.
Jay asks Ali for her advice for eCommerce businesses who do want to have a Valentine’s Day promotion on when they should start their promotions. Her answer: two months. She says of course this gets tricky with Christmas and New Year’s but that’s the name of the game. She cites Home Goods as a brick-and-mortar retailer that gets this right. They have the next holiday’s decor out front and center three months in advance, she says. Megan agrees that they really know how to prepare you for the next holiday with their storefront and that’s how your eCommerce site should be.
Ali mentions that this topic really ties in well with the augmented reality topic we discussed earlier in the episode. She says with jewelry being bought online there will likely be an increase in AR purchases as people virtually try on these jewelry purchases beforehand.
Jay then shares his children’s Valentine’s Day cards for school with his daughter giving her class pop-it/fidget spinners with cards saying, “Hope you have a popping Valentine’s Day” and for his son’s class he’s giving out bubbles with cards that say: “Valentine, I’m bubbling with joy that we are friends!” And then while attempting to close out the show he accidentally calls everyone cats, as in “all you cool cats”. We all hope he gets a good night’s rest and comes back not attempting to emulate any Tiger King characters.
Next week, Emily will be on vacation and Supro Paul will be back to fill her shoes as co-host alongside Jay Baskins, sorry, Brimberry. We hope you’ll come back and join us next week for more eCommerce news and a dose of southern fried charm.