This week in 60 seconds…
- We can stop following a crowd that doesn’t exist, thanks to an AI moderating tool that recognises fake likes and follows, preventing us from buying into products we don’t necessarily want, promoted by brands and influencers we don’t necessarily like
- In fact, Instagram’s new e-commerce features will revolutionise our online holiday shopping experience altogether, allowing us to curate our own shoppable ‘wish-list’ from favourited social content
- New features are snowballing this week, as Snapchat roll out an in-platform ‘limited-time-only’ shopping feature – so we can forget leaving our apps, never mind our homes to ‘snap up’ those all-important Black Friday Deals
- And as AI and machine learning continue to advance, shoppable online video is set to become a more immersive lean-in experience, offering a deeper, unparalleled insight into consumers
A final thought…
As brands continue to incorporate social media as a means of better servicing their customers, the conventional wisdom that the retail industry is dying only rings truer.
Although some still argue that smaller independent stores with their attentive staff, customer relationships and educated recommendations reign superior, continued advances in digital video may provide all that and more.
Whatever your purchasing plans for today might be, this Black Friday will undoubtedly provide a fertile testing ground for new features and a glimpse into what the future of retail may look like.
Data Byte
To highlight the growing influence of online shopping and the potential of shoppable social media, eMarketer conducted a study estimating that by 2021, mobile e-commerce sales will account for 54% of total e-commerce sales.