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Your 2024 Back-to-School Campaign Planning: Too Soon? Nope

| Karla Crawford Kerr

The back-to-school shopping rush is hectic for retailers, ranking just behind the holiday season on the marketing calendar. But now that kids in grades K-12 have returned to class and college students are heading back to campus, it’s time to start planning your back-to-school 2024 marketing campaign. Too soon? Not if you want to make the most of a huge opportunity.

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Amazon Charging Non-FBA Sellers, Offers Pittance to Influencers

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon will start charging a 2% per-item fee to merchants using Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) starting in October, Bloomberg reports, while the company is offering influencers the equivalent of $25 a video to populate content promoting its listings as it seeks a bulwark against Chinese social giant TikTok.

Large Brands Going DTC, But Hurdles Remain

| Jimmy Duvall

On the surface DTC seems like a no-brainer: Cut out the middleman, increase margins, gain customer insights in an increasingly crowded retail marketplace. However, this pivot will still be difficult for larger brands. Let’s take a look at some of the roadblocks and lessons retailers can learn from those who have been successful. 

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Beauty Brands: Personalization Equals Loyalty

| Robin Trickett

How can beauty retailers capitalize on the upswing in loyalty trends, and ensure customers who have adopted ecommerce for the long haul stay loyal? There are a number of personalization best practices to leverage, starting with the first visit, leading to the second purchase, then forging and strengthening a 1:1 loyal relationship. 

Shorter Holiday Season Puts More Focus on Cyber Weekend

| Douglas P. Clement

U.S. shoppers wants lots of choices, great deals and delivery reliability over speed this holiday season, according to a survey of more than 3,000 consumers by ecommerce platform provider CommerceHub. 68% of respondents said they were either very likely or somewhat likely to shop on the major deal days, a 25% increase over 2018.

Optimizing Ecommerce Fulfillment for Social Commerce

| Perry Belcastro

About 70% of U.S. adults use one or more social media sites, according to Pew research, with many making direct purchases there, and savvy merchants are tapping into this trend. But they must be at the top of their order fulfillment game to succeed. Here are some best practices top brands are using in social commerce fulfillment.