Cheers to my 700 subscribers! (that's what the champagne glass is for ??). Being many or not so many subscribers, for a person like me it is....just about right.
I added a new section starting this edition to give you some business and life inspiration ?. Check it out!
Before we start, here is the latest eCommerce Bits & Bites where you can read about reverse commerce and its perspectives.
- The first pizza ordered online. Pizza Hut was the first pizza chain to offer online ordering in 1994. That was also the first online food order.
- The largest single e-commerce transaction. The largest single e-commerce transaction was made in 1999 by billionaire Mark Cuban who bought a Gulfstream V business jet for $40 million. The purchase got him in the Guinness Book of World Records.
- The meaning of life sold online. In 2000 a man from North Carolina discovered the meaning of life and decided to sell it on eBay. It was worth only $3.26. Here are even more funny things sold on eBay.
- @ History. The sign @ used in e-mailing was introduced in the process by Raymond Tomlinson, the computer programmer who in 1971 invented email as it is known today. Mr. Tomlinson played an important role in developing the first email standards, including the now-familiar name, date and subject headers atop every email message. The @ symbol, once introduced into email, took on a personality, and a variety of pet names: in French and Italian it is called a snail, Israelis know it as a strudel, and Finns, having decided that it resembles a curled-up cat, call it miukumauku or “the meow sign”. In 2010, the Museum of Modern Art included the symbol in its architecture and design collection, calling it “a defining symbol of the computer age”.
- Keep an eye on Temu. Temu.com, the online shopping upstart that’s quietly becoming the number one app in the US (within just five months of release, the app has already been downloaded about 24 million times) was launched last year by PDD, its US-listed parent company formerly known as Pinduoduo. Temu, pronounced “tee-moo”, officially changed its name just this month and made its Super Bowl debut. Temu has enjoyed exposure on TikTok too: the hashtag #temu has more than 300 million views and consists of plenty of “Temu hauls” in which users take advantage of low prices to purchase and unbox items on camera. Temu is offering shockingly low prices and an extensive catalog of items ranging from clothing to electronics to musical instruments. The retailer’s key selling point is its cheap products. Last weekend, the Temu website was prominently flaunting “President’s Day sales from $0.39” and sales “up to 90% off” with selections including men’s running shoes for under $10 and a drill brush set for $6. Temu claims it keeps prices low by “cutting out the middleman” — it allows Chinese vendors to sell directly to American consumers and ships directly from China instead of a network of US warehouses.
- Pinterest and shopping. Pinterest plans to embed shopping into every aspect of the core platform experience as it tries to capitalize on user purchase intent and deliver better results for advertising partners. Pinterest’s goal is to enable shopping on its most trafficked features, from the home feed to search to personalised recommendations. Eventually, the platform wants to make every pin—including those with video—shoppable.
- Amazon ends ‘Smile’ charity program. Amazon.com Inc. is halting “AmazonSmile”. The decade-old charitable program let customers pick a charity to receive a donation from the company equal to 0.5% of their purchases. The company, which donated $500 million to charities over 10 years through Amazon Smile, said it spread donations too thin to have a meaningful impact. The average Amazon Smile donation was about $230 because Amazon spread the pot of money among some 1 million charities. The Amazon Smile program officially closes this month.
- Highest time spent on social media. According to Meltwater, We Are Social and their Digital 2023 Report, Romania is the European country with the highest time spent on social media. Most European countries have an average of daily time spent using social media below the worldwide average of 2:31 hours. Romanians use it a bit more often, 2:32 hours a day. Germany (1:41 hours), the Netherlands (1:39 hours), Austria and Belgium (both 1:34 hours) have the lowest average daily time spent using social media.
- Cost cut. In their effort to cut costs and adjust to slower growth in online shopping, Inditex starts to charge Spanish shoppers for returning items bought online (large Inditex rivals, such as Hennes & Mauritz AB and Fast Retailing Co’s Uniqlo, already charge for online returns in Spain) and Amazon starts to charge Prime Members for grocery orders less than $150.
- If you are thinking about selling products on Amazon, here is a list of very useful resources to get you started.
- If you are thinking of building an e-business and need some inspiration, here are some of the most read biographies and success stories of people who did it before you.
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