MGR eCommerce Edge Weekly | March 3, 2020
Top News This Week
Food & Beauty Converge: The Necessary Ingredients for Success (Literally)
A new report from the consumer product investment fund, Circle Up, discusses the hottest trends that are occurring across both food and beauty.
Consumer interest in “clean ingredients” has never been higher for both what people put in and on their bodies.
In particular, one sub-category has exploded with growth, plant-based products. However, plant-based products are not just limited to food, they are taking over the beauty and personal care industry as well.
From the report:
“You are what you eat,” and now, you are what you put on your skin. Beauty industries have tapped into this saying by adapting the ingredients used for foods that became popular for their health benefits. We see consumers buying food items with the same ingredients that are now making their way into beauty products.
If you’re in the food or beauty space, I encourage you to read the full report.
I interviewed the Managing Director of CircleUp last year, she is one of the smartest people in consumer products that I know. You can listen here >
Coronavirus Impacts: What Amazon Sellers Need to Know
Insider Info: Amazon is shutting down certain FBA centers in Northern California and Washington state, and there may be more to come.
We have received insider info through our connections that Amazon is shutting down some FBA centers, and is closely monitoring city by city outbreaks to determine if more centers need to be closed.
Obviously Amazon will do everything in their power to keep FBA centers, the lifeblood of Amazon Prime, open and running. There is no need for sellers to panic or react yet, but you certainly need to be aware and prepared should more closures happen. It would be a good idea to keep back-up inventory if possible for self-fulfillment of orders if more FBA centers begin shutting down.
Amazon has told their employees to not travel internationally or domestically.
From the New York Times: Employees at Amazon’s worldwide operations — the company’s largest division, which runs the technology and operations for warehouses, deliveries, Prime membership and physical stores, among other things — were told that they should not travel domestically or internationally “until further notice.”
Amazon Support has released an official statement for sellers impacted by the novel Coronavirus
Inventory and fulfillment disruptions can have direct effects on “Seller Account Performance Ratings,” but due to the unique circumstances Amazon is being understanding of disruptions.
From Amazon: If your performance metrics have been impacted by this event, please include a brief description of how your business was impacted when you respond to the relevant performance notification in Seller Central. We will consider this unforeseen event when we evaluate your account’s recent performance.
Other Notable Links:
1. 2019 Influencer Marketing Report, $1.9B Spent – INSTASCREENER
TL;DR: Of the $1.9B, $1.4B was spent on Instagram, leaving tons of opportunity on YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, and elsewhere.
2. Google mobile-first indexing will be applied to all sites within a year – SEARCH ENGINE LAND
TL;DR: If you aren’t already, start optimizing for mobile.
3. China’s exporting crisis, and why they won’t recover for years. – ADAM TOWNSEND
TL;DR: Many experts anticipated mass unemployment and currency collapse coming to China within 5-10 years, but now the Coronavirus has advanced the crisis into starting now.
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