Hello and welcome to October: In Review

September | August | July

Happy Halloween! You’re in for a treat (rather than a trick) this Halloween as we recap on the best retail, ecommerce and digital marketing stories to hit the internet this past month. Sit back, relax and recap on these 4 scarily good industry insights…

1. News: How eBay Has Been Reading Shoppers’ Brains to Understand Consumer Cravings

At the start of this month eBay hosted an experimental event which combined art and science to understand consumer cravings. They monitored electrical activity in the brain with electroencephalogram (EEG) headsets. Fittingly named “The Art of Shopping”, eBay measured shoppers’ reactions to art throughout the exhibition and then attempted to create a custom shopping list tailored to what kind of shopper they are.

The Drum attended the event held in London and spoke with Bradford Shellhamer, Head of Personalization and Engagement at eBay, to find out what it was all about. Check out the video below to find out more and see it in action.

2. Guide: The Complete Cross-Border Ecommerce Guide to Growing Sales in APAC, Europe, The Middle East & Latin America

BigCommerce have once again been churning out amazing content and this month our favorite topic was on how to grow sales with cross-border ecommerce. This in-depth guide covers everything you need to know to expand internationally including:

  • Understanding the basics with a cross-border commerce 101
  • A checklist to get you started
  • The tools you need to grow your revenue
  • Guidance on how to develop the right international ecommerce strategy for your business
  • International ecommerce advice from 32 industry experts
  • And much more…

Read the full guide to find out how your business can take the leap into international expansion or improve your current cross-border strategy.

3. Opinion: What Do Retailers Really Think About Black Friday & Cyber Monday?

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday right around the corner, we decided to speak to some successful retailers to find out what they really think about the flash sale events.

We asked one simple question; “What do you think of flash sale events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday?”, and the findings were interesting! We found that there’s many varying opinions on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and perhaps retailers are no longer so open to the frantic flash sale events as they may have been previously.

One retailer was in favor and capitalized on Black Friday, another described it as “suicide by retail”, and one focuses on an entirely different day instead.

Read the blog to find out what Natural Baby Shower, Tablet2Cases, Bat and Bottle and Golden Protective Services had to say about the BFCM weekend.

What do you think of Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Let us know your opinion in the comments section.

 

4. Quiz: A/B Testing: Guess the Winning Result 

Our friends at American Eagle created an interactive blog post this month to assess your A/B testing knowledge. A/B testing is a great way to make effective changes to your website which improve conversion, instead of making changes based on preconceived predictions. With an A/B test you’ll get a validated response so you know you’re making the right website change.

Take the quiz and see if you can guess whether the original or test variant came out on top in these 4 A/B tests. Then, check out the results and see what you can learn to help you with your future A/B tests.

 


That’s all for October! Did we miss any of your favorite stories this month? Let us know in the comments section below. And if you enjoyed this recap blog, sign up to receive the next one directly to your inbox.