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Don’t waste another dime on bloated channel reporting and vanity metrics.
Don’t waste another dime on bloated channel reporting and vanity metrics.
The platform's position at the top of a Pew Research survey of social media use among teens shows its staying power.
The business press tends to pay attention to the newcomer companies in the midst of a meteoric rise (or fall), and familiar players making big moves. After all, who’s up and who’s down allows a narrative to be constructed, and offers examples to extrapolate conclusions about the current environment.
But across the US business landscape, there are examples of success being forged by leading firms who go about their business with less fanfare.
Sometimes, the fact that they’re leaders can seem like old news. But there's a reason they're at the top.
That comes to mind when reviewing new survey results released this week by the Pew Research Center that analyzes social media habits among teens aged 13-17. Pew analyzed usage of the top social platforms this year, and how that’s changed since 2014-15. As always, the headline numbers offer a look at the movers:
But look at the chart, and another name stands high above the rest:
(Source: Pew Research Center)
YouTube has the highest share among teens, with 95% saying they use the app.
Plus, it didn't show any movement over the last half-decade. Its top ranking and staying power is what makes it so interesting.
Launched in 2005, the Google-owned video app was the original platform where things went viral, and it's still at the top. About three-quarters of teens visit YouTube at least daily, while one in five teens said they visit YouTube “constantly.”
To be sure, YouTube has evolved over the years. Most recently, it has been expanding in short-form video as it watches TikTok’s rise. YouTube Shorts crossed the milestone of 1.5 billion monthly logged-in users earlier this year. Videos under one minute saw 135% growth in views in Q2 2022, according to the H2 2022 Social Video Trends report report from Tubular Labs.
Notably for ecommerce professionals, it has made a number of recent moves to expand shopping and engage brands. This includes:
But its video format, open nature that plays to the internet’s strength in offering a vast and diverse library of content shared by the platform’s users, and discovery tools that show users more content continue to form the bedrock of a sticky platform.
It's not in the news as much. It never had a Cambridge Analytica scandal, nor did it take a big hit from iOS 14 like Facebook and Meta's properties. It doesn't have the China connection or fresh buzz of TikTok. And it's not in line to be purchased by Elon Musk like Twitter.
But YouTube is still there at the top, with content ranging from video games to unboxing to TV clips to the latest music video.
For all the talk of Gen Z building new habits, Pew's data shows that most are still using YouTube. It helps that YouTube plays to a particular affinity for visual and experiential content that seems to be coming through in this generation.
Demographics may play a role, as teen boys proved to be more likely than girls to say they use YouTube, according to Pew. However, the “vast majority of teens use this platform regardless of gender,” Pew says. YouTube is also among the two platforms used most by Black and Latinx teens.
To be sure, this is one measure. But given the importance of the teenage demographic in determining what’s next, it’s an important one.
While capitalism's boom and bust cycles produces plenty of trends that come and go, every category has the companies that seem to hold firm, despite the changes.
For those looking to build a foundation for the next company with staying power, studying the successes of these stalwarts is a good place to start.
Discounts, BOPIS and an influx of returns shaped the 2022 holiday season, says Salesforce.
What can holiday shopping results tell us about trends for 2023?
It’s a question many brand and retail leaders are mulling as they review the peak season numbers in the first weeks of January. This week, Salesforce shared data for overall ecommerce sales globally and in the U.S. that bring forward several key insights about how to approach the next year.
The top-line: Throughout November and December, consumers spent $1.14 trillion on ecommerce purchases globally, and $270 billion in the U.S., according to Salesforce. That's a 5% increase over 2021. The cloud company analyzes aggregate data from over 1.5 billion global shoppers on sites using Salesforce Customer 360. This dataset includes 24 of the top 30 online retailers.
The comparison: Salesforce said November sales were below both 2020 and 2021, which saw massive growth as demand for goods and the necessity to order online exploded during the pandemic. However, the overall sales came in above the company’s forecasts.
"Retailers closed out the 2022 holiday season with stronger online sales growth than expected – driven in large part by U.S. demand, steeper discounts on peak days, and BOPIS options," said Rob Garf, VP & GM of retail at Salesforce, in a statement.
Here’s a look at Salesforce’s key takeaways on what drove holiday spending, and what it means for 2023:
This holiday season was expected to be highly promotional, and it ended up playing out that way. Salesforce observed a 21% discount rate, compared with 19% in 2021. Beauty, skincare, and makeup were the most discounted categories at 29%, while general apparel and handbags reached 27%.
What it means for 2023: While the calendar turned, the tougher consumer environment didn’t change. People are still seeking to stretch dollars as the effects of inflation and interest rates filter out across the economy. Discounts will remain a key tool to convert, but it will be a tricky path for brands and retailers to maintain margins, especially after increasing prices to keep up with inflation last year.
Salesforce predicted a returns “tsunami” and it seems that it arrived. The 1.39 billion items returned amounted to a 63% year-over-year increase in returns from 2021. In the six days after Christmas, 16% of orders were returned, which was a 5% increase over 2021.
What it means for 2023: The “staggering” numbers offer a sign that consumers are “cautious,” Garf said. One of the behaviors that Salesforce identified during Cyber Week was people returning items after finding a better deal. These types of behaviors will only continue as the economic picture remains difficult. Brands and retailers should be mindful of how returns pressure profits and logistics. As Loop Returns has shared with The Current, there’s also customer expectations to consider, as many have grown accustomed to free and easy returns. That’s why retailers are also rolling out new ways to make returns more convenient like box-free and even returns pickup from DoorDash. Remember: returns are a customer touchpoint, just as much as a logistics function.
Buy Online Pickup in Store, or BOPIS, was one of the modes to get orders to customers that grew in the pandemic. Even with the return to in-store shopping this year, consumers continued to turn to this method out of convenience. Quick data points:
What it means for 2023: Even with the return to in-store shopping, ecommerce is continuing to be sought out as a means of convenience. But customers often don’t see channel, and are comfortable moving between both to fit their lives. The staying power of BOPIS over the holidays is a manifestation of this physical-digital crossover. Continuing to pay attention to what customers want and improving the experience will be crucial. Another area to consider: How are brands and retailers merchandising in the store around BOPIS? Remember: A pickup is a visit to the store. What are the options to upsell?
More and more of commerce is being mediated through social channels, where shoppers discover products through ads and content, then complete the purchase through links to brand stores. Traffic referrals from social media grew 23% this holiday season, accounting for 12% of all mobile traffic. The U.S., Belgium and Italy had the most social shoppers.
What it means for 2023: Social is still a key investment area for brands and retailers to drive new traffic to their online stores. In 2022, there was plenty of fretting about broken digital marketing playbooks as a result of iOS14.5 changes to tracking and attribution that hampered the growth engines of advertising on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Brands experimented with other platforms like TikTok, and even brought back catalogs. But the Salesforce data offers a reminder that social media is continuing to be a primary place to meet brands, and power discovery. The tools and even platforms may change, but the medium will remain, and still has room to grow.
The bottom line: Garf put it this way: "In 2023, retailers must double down on efforts to put the customer at the center of their business with data-driven personalization and efficient operations in areas such as fulfillment, service, and returns."