Never Fully Read

1,300+ readers from top companies like Klaviyo, Shopify, Recharge, Amazon, HubSpot, BrewDog and more.

The latest eCommerce news, trends and insights in a 5-minute read sent to your inbox.

Plus - if you love it - spread the word!

Let your peers and colleagues benefit too by hitting that forward button 🚀

Link to my ultimate growth swipe file here

🤖 eCommerce news:

🛍 Meta + Aspire Present: How To Lower Ad Costs With Branded Content Ads "In this 45- minute, hands-on session co-hosted with Meta, we’ll highlight the unique benefits of Meta’s newest ad innovation, Branded Content Ads. We’ll cover how leading brands are leveraging Branded Content Ads to reduce ad costs, drive more sales, and ultimately get more out of their existing influencer partnerships."

📹 Kid-focused short video app Zigazoo launches a TikTok competitor for Gen Z "The new app will take the flagship name and is meant for ages 13 and older, whereas the original kid-focused app is for Generation Alpha (3-12) and has been rebranded to “Zigazoo Kids.” Previous users in the younger age range will be automatically migrated to Zigazoo Kids. Zigazoo is invite-only and launches on Saturday, March 25. Like Zigazoo Kids, the new Gen Z-focused app is a video thread-style platform that doesn’t allow users to type comments on posts. Instead, users can only respond to each other via short-form videos, which the company believes reduces negative comments and trolling. Users can also answer video-driven prompts like, “What are your favorite sports?” or “What’s on your mind?”"

🇺🇸Despite uncertain US future, TikTok launches a Branded Effects platform for marketers "The solution, Effect House Branded Effects, is an extension of TikTok’s existing development platform Effect House, launched roughly a year ago. With Effect House, the company had put the tools needed to develop AR effects into creators’ hands, allowing them to extend TikTok’s existing AR effect library — a competitive feature for its app. The suite also includes other things AR effect creators would need to get started, like templates, tutorials, and documentation that explains how to create specific types of effects, like Segmentation, Face Mask, Head Tracker, Face Stretch and 3D Face, as well as how to use different textures, materials, lighting and shadows, and more."

📍Pinterest is testing new ways to shop in Shuffles collages "Shuffles, which is Pinterest’s collage-making app, launched to the general public last November. Now, the company is testing the integration of Shuffles shopping capabilities on the Pinterest platform.Shuffles will now have all of the shopping capabilities as regular pins. Users will be able to tap individual cutouts used in collages and see the brand, price, and other product metadata along with similar products to shop"

🏀Huupe, a ‘smart’ basketball hoop startup, raises its game with $11M "But for those who want to improve their game or keep up training to play at a higher level, the options — as they do for all sports — narrow down considerably. A startup called Huupe (pronounced “hoop”) is hoping to change that with a new product built around the concept of a smart basketball hoop, alongside a content network of training videos that users can watch while playing. It’s raised $11 million to build that game plan."

🌏 OpenAI connects ChatGPT to the internet "OpenAI today launched plugins for ChatGPT, which extend the bot’s functionality by granting it access to third-party knowledge sources and databases, including the web. Available in alpha to ChatGPT users and developers on the waitlist, OpenAI says that it’ll initially prioritize a small number of developers and subscribers to its premium ChatGPT Plus plan before rolling out larger-scale and API access. Easily the most intriguing plugin is OpenAI’s first-party web-browsing plugin, which allows ChatGPT to draw data from around the web to answer the various questions posed to it. (Previously, ChatGPT’s knowledge was limited to dates, events and people prior to around September 2021.) The plugin retrieves content from the web using the Bing search API and shows any websites it visited in crafting an answer, citing its sources in ChatGPT’s responses."

❌ $142.8 Billion In Revenue Lost To Fake Traffic In 2022 " "In 2022, global spend on digital advertising surpassed $600 billion. By applying the average invalid rate for paid traffic against this number, CHEQ estimates $35.7 billion of ad spend was wasted on fake traffic in 2022 by analyzing more than a billion site visits from the 15,000 companies it works with to weed out bots and other fake web activity. In the State of Fake Traffic 2023 released last week, CHEQ estimates that in 2022 11.3% of all traffic was fake, 5.9% of paid traffic was fake, 5.7% of organic traffic was fake, and 22.1% of direct traffic was fake."

🌏 New app launches through Apple hoping to win with ‘zero-party data’ when others haven’t "For starters, Caden is partnering with a number of major brands — such as Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, Amazon, Apple’s health kit and various banking and credit card providers — that will all allow Caden users to connect their accounts to the platform. How much moneyusers can make by sharing their data is still to be determined. Part of it will depend on what data they share and how they’ll allow it to be used. Caden’s initial aim is to have users making $15 or $20 a month, but Roa said that could soon add up to $600 a year and possibly thousands of dollars down the road."

📺 Publishers tout generative AI opportunities to save and make money amid rough media market "Media company executives outlined their plans to shareholders to use generative AI technology for content production or cost savings opportunities, such as using the tech to create content faster and get brand sponsors, and streamline workflows. But their enthusiasm around generative AI’s potential to lift their businesses came amid disappointing advertising revenue in the fourth quarter, and discussions around AI technology may have been a way to lighten the blow."

📈 Top trends:

The Creative Trends & Learnings From Top London Agency

Nest Commerce:

"Nest Commerce is a paid social performance and creative agency that brings a bold perspective to brands such as Ted Baker, Huel, Wild, ME+EM and Crew Clothing."

Link here

🛍Usage for delaying grocery purchases rose 40% in the first few months of the year

"More people are delaying paying up front. An increasing number of shoppers are leaning on buy now, pay later services as inflation continues to erode household budgets, according to Adobe Analytics' latest retail report. A hefty number of them — are using it to foot the bill for groceries. Within the first two months of 2023, the share of online purchases using such services, which help consumers pay over time, grew 10% year over year, according to Adobe Analytics. The number of grocery shoppers using buy now, pay later services grew 40%. Home furnishings, another popular category in which consumers have been delaying payments, grew 38% during the same period."

⏱Utah just passed a bill that will force children to get parental consent before joining social media platforms

"

• Utah's governor Spencer Cox passed legislation restricting teenagers' access to social media.

• The new bill requires social media firms to obtain parental consent before children can open accounts.

• It also requires social media companies to establish a curfew for teens from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.

"

China Marketing & Media Trends: 2023 Edition

"Chris Baker and the team at Totem Media just released their 8th annual China report... and as usual, it does NOT disappoint.This 106 page report digs deep into what's really happening in China with a focus on what brands need to know to succeed this year.

Here's what you'll find inside:

✅ Consumer confidence in China

✅ Information on China's rising middle class

✅ Consumer insights

✅ The impact of AI on China business

✅ Brand surveys sharing optimism levels, budgeting priorities, etc.

✅ Ad inflation projections

✅ A look into China's current media environment

✅ Strategies & case studies from brands that have "got it right" in China"

Link to post here

🐦 Twitter thread of the week:

Link to thread here

😂 Meme of the week:

Credit: Marketing Millennials

🤝 Hot jobs:

WeComm - Digital Marketing Director

"WE are proud to be partnered with one of the most exciting luxury fashion brands on the planet right now, that are looking to add a 'Digital Marketing Director' to aid them in driving growth within the business. The brand are known for being one of the biggest global destinations for luxury fashion; stocking some of the most influential brands from Prada, Gucci and Givenchy, to name just a few. Since launching their website in the emergence of E-Commerce, they have grown to enviable status amongst their competitors and are considered the pinnacle platform for consumers to purchase luxury fashion."

MATCHESFASHION - Performance Marketing Director

"MATCHESFASHION started with a single shop in Wimbledon more than 30 years ago and has grown into one of the biggest global destinations in online luxury for men and women, carrying a modern edit of 650+ established and new-generation designers, delivering to over 176 countries. With offices in the UK and Hong Kong, our aspiration is to be the most personal luxury shopping site in the world. In London, our head office is based in The Shard, while our creative hub is in Here East, and 5 Carlos Place, a recently updated retail concept combining digital and physical elements, is based in Mayfair."

Media Monks - Head of Growth

"MediaMonks’ lives where creativity and technology meet. Our innovation has led to a quickly expanding global creative production company. Crafting amazing work for leading businesses and brands across multiple industries and markets, our production capabilities span the entire creative spectrum, covering anything you could possibly want from a production partner, and probably more. Our work has been recognized by advertising and craft awards around the world, producing 131 Cannes Lions and 250+ FWAs to date. Crafted with care, coded by coffee, celebrated with champagne -- we’ve got you covered."

That's it for today's edition of Never Fully Read!

We've brought you the latest on eCommerce, culture and more in a bite-sized 5 minutes.

We hope you found it informative, entertaining and funny.

We value your time and that you chose us for your information source.

If you liked what we had to offer, please share the love with your friends and family - help us grow our community!

Stay tuned next week for more useful content :)