Southern Fried eCommerce Episode 31 Recap

Southern Fried eCommerce Episode 31 Recap

Hey y’all and welcome back to the 31st episode of the Southern Fried eCommerce podcast. Our cohosts Jay Brimberry and Emily Faulkner start this week’s episode off by discussing their own growing fame. Emily was recently recognized as “the one from the podcast” at a company event at a Braves game. Unfortunately, we were unable to measure Jay’s own fame because of horrific car troubles that had him waiting on a tow truck for three and a half hours. He does, however, imagine himself having to get an entourage soon if the podcast grows any larger. 

New From EYStudios

Starting off our deep dive into eCommerce news, Emily starts us out with a run down of recent blogs from EYStudios:

Forever 21 and Barbie Team Up and Head to the Metaverse

The first article we took a deeper look at was, Forever 21, Barbie launch summer collection available in the metaverse from Retail Dive. The article details Forever 21’s recent announcement about a collection of Barbie and Barbie Dreamhouse-inspired apparel and home decor items. This new collection will be debuting online, in-stores, as well as in the Forever 21 Shop City in Roblox. 

Jay’s first question is what exactly is the age demographic for Barbie? He cites that his own young daughter is into it but it seems that this collection would be aimed at teens. Emily says she played with Barbies into her preteens but that she has read that Barbie is expanding. For instance, she says, Barbie has a style Instagram (@barbiestyle) that has 2.2 million followers. 

Emily mentions that she still wants to try Roblox for herself and Jay agrees. Emily says she doesn’t quite get the appeal of a “shop city” or why it’s part of a game at all. She says it reminds her of the movie “Free Guy” and that it just doesn’t sit right with her.

Jay compares her reluctance to the metaverse as akin to his mother’s first reaction to Facebook when he signed up in college — she didn’t get it. Now, his mother is on Facebook and uses it more than Jay does. He thinks there will be a turning point in culture where this becomes the norm and he thinks it’s inevitable with this many companies devoting this much effort and money into it. 

The article continues by mentioning the hashtag #TwinWithYourAvatar which encourages Roblox users to purchase apparel both in the game and in real life and “twin” with their Roblox character. 

Jay thinks this is brilliant and is the ultimate way to cash in on people’s attachment to their avatars in games like this. Emily, forever the Debby Downer, says that she really hates microtransactions in video games and thinks she’s just not the right demographic for this. She does, however, acknowledge the good timing with the live-action Barbie movie coming out later this year with Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. 

A Deeper Look at Values-Driven Consumption

The next article we jumped into is, “What do values-driven consumers care about?” from eMarketer. The article breaks down value-driven consumer demographics as well as outlines consumer buying patterns when it comes to a company’s values. 

The main point the article points out is that younger consumers are more likely to base their buying decisions on company values but that overall values still come behind price when it comes to consumers choosing a product. For example, only a quarter of consumers say they prioritize a brand’s values over price. 

The article also mentions that workers’ rights are most important to consumers when it comes to values. In addition, a lot of consumers dislike when companies are too involved in political issues or topics and would prefer that brands didn’t have an opinion on touchy subjects. 

Jay uses the example of June being Pride Month and that for exactly 30 days companies are suddenly covered in rainbows. Some consumers, regardless of politics, like this type of marketing while others say it’s pandering, “brandstanding”,  or virtue-signaling. Emily points out that this type of marketing during Pride Month has even become something of a joke or meme within the LGBTQ community with many actively waiting on July 1st for the rainbows to disappear in a flash. She continues by saying that when a company is truly passionate about something, you can tell. 

Jay recommends focusing on a topic or a cause you’re truly passionate about and promoting how you’re doing something about it, for example, detailing how a portion of a sale will be donated to a specific organization. He also recommends that small and medium-sized businesses focus on less popular causes that aren’t as commercialized yet. 

New Target + Beta Program From BigCommerce

After that, we dove into one of our own articles, Target+: What You Need To Know About BigCommerce’s Beta Program. This post goes into BigCommerce’s recent announcement about their new beta program that will integrate Target+, Target’s invite-only online marketplace, with BigCommerce stores. There are some qualifications for the beta program and BigCommerce is offering some great incentives as well. Overall this is another marketplace that is joining the ranks of omnichannel marketplaces and Jay says if you’re not formulating your omnichannel strategy by now, you’re going to be left behind. 

He also says if you’ve missed any of our talks on omnichannel, you should go back and check them out. Here are some of the podcast episodes and blog posts where we talked omnichannel: 

Jay also talks about how Target is a new ballgame because Target really does have a massive following and a great connotation. He cites his own wife’s loyalty to Target and says that she loves their exclusive collections from small brands like Magnolia Home. He says that having your products on Target says something different than having your products on Walmart. Emily agrees and says that you should still try to be on both marketplaces and see where your customers are but you may deliver different products to each marketplace to appeal to the different demographics of the platforms. 

Virtual Shoe Store, Now At Amazon

The last article we discussed in this episode was, “Amazon launches virtual try-on for shoes” from RetailDive. The article talks about Amazon’s newest technology feature where users can use VR to try on shoes online. Currently, the feature is only available for iOS users in the U.S. and Canada but will be expanding to Android soon. Hundreds of shoe brands like Puma, Adidas, Reebok, and New Balance are already a part of the program with more brands and styles being planned for the future. 

Jay says he’s all for more VR in eCommerce but for him, he just wants to put his foot in the shoe. There’s more to it than how it looks, he says. Emily agrees. She points out that this is probably more geared towards the “sneaker community” that goes for the look of the shoe over anything else. This leads to a great idea from Jay — that should not be stolen by any listeners — a sock that can adjust to your foot in order to help you buy the perfect shoe size. Any merchants looking to partner with Jay on this project, please reach out. 

In short, Jay says this is a great opportunity for Amazon to expand its VR and it will clearly appeal to some customers more than others. He cautions merchants who scoff at this type of functionality to keep in mind that “not everyone shops the way you shop”. With that nugget of wisdom, we sign off for the week. We hope you enjoyed yourself and that you’ll join us again next episode as we talk more about eCommerce news and the ways it could affect your business. 

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