There is a scene in Tom Cruise’s movie, The Minority Report where Tom Cruise walks through a shopping centre of the future and is hit with personalised audio messages and holograms of the stores that he walks past, enticing him to come in store and shop. I remember watching this movie back in the early 2000s and being blown away by what seemed like advertising in the very distant future. It was far-fetched and unrealistic to think that in a time where online shopping wasn’t even common, that technology could intersect with our physical lives in this way. Well, my friends, I am very afraid that that day has come, only 20 years later. Today, with artificial intelligence or AI and augmented reality or AR, our online and offline shopping experiences are blurring and we are on the cusp of a new age of retail. 

This week I am chatting to Adam Gam from a company that is named Perfect Corp, the precise name I would have imagined for a company such as this when I was watching Minority Report back in 2002. They have developed AR and AI technology that is futurising the beauty industry in our present world. And today we will be talking all about it and how it is encouraging social commerce sales.

Website 

https://www.perfectcorp.com

Adam Social Handles 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjgam

https://twitter.com/adam_gam

Perfect social handles 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/perfect-corp

https://instagram.com/youcamapps

https://mobile.twitter.com/youcamapps

https://www.facebook.com/youcamapps/

Making a purchase whether it be a house, a car or clothes and almost anything else is often an emotional decision. While logic still comes into play, how products make us feel is often what actually gets us on the hook. And regularly what leads to that feeling of emotion is the inspiration you feel when you see that particular product. For example, The feeling of seeing a house for sale online and imagining you and your family playing in the backyard, how that car you see at the car dealership will make you look in front of your friends or how those clothes at your favourite ecommerce store will make you feel more confident.This Inspiration is key to Traditional Commerce and it is certainly no different in the world of Social Commerce. 

And When it comes to inspiration my friends, there aren’t many Social platforms that do it better than Pinterest. With nearly half a billion monthly users around the world, they are far more powerful than most would realise. And it is the way the app is set up to inspire that makes it a not so dark horse to be one of the strongest players in the Social Commerce war.

I am super excited to talk about Pinterest this week with Pinterest Australia’s business marketing lead, Ara Ko. Ara.

Please see www.business.pinterest.com for more information about Pinterest's Social Commerce options.

For those who know me, know that I have a slight addiction to TikTok. It is my haven away from the hustle of running a business, my go to the place when I just need a bit of reprieve. And I’m certainly not alone. In the last three years, and especially in the last 12 months, TikTok has barged into our lives in ways reminiscent of Facebook in 2007 and Instagram in 2013, becoming so ubiquitous that is now having a genuine impact on product sales and popular culture. 

This episode will be a little different because I want to find out why. Why is TikTok so popular? How is user behaviour different? And in what ways does their strategy contrast to other platforms that sets them up to take advantage of the Social Commerce wave that is about to hit our shores?

Imagine this. You live in New York and you know there is a sale of your favourite designer brands happening at a warehouse in Los Angeles. But it’s 3,000 miles away so there is no way you are going to get on a plane to attend. There is a solution though! You jump online and interact with your favourite shopper at this sale via a video on Instagram. Gucci bags are 50% off - but how does it sit on the shoulder? What is the material like. How much can I fit inside? Within this Social Commerce experience, you are basically in the front row of a catwalk where you can interact with the models and purchase what they are wearing before having that product delivered within days. 

Well, this is ShopThing. An incredibly progressive technology platform that is connecting people all over North America and Canada to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to buy designer clothes at a discount.

A duck is often used as a metaphor for much of what we see around us in the world. It looks graceful, calm and elegant on the surface but is working feverishly under the water, making what the eye sees completely juxtaposed to how hard it is actually working. And in many ways, we can look at Social Commerce in the same way. It’s so effortless. A click here, straight to a purchase page. Click on Purchase. Sale. Product Delivery. Repeat. Easy! But like a duck, the reality is that there is incredible technology working under the surface, that is making this process so seamless.

I am fascinated by today’s guest and what he has created. Brandon Schultz and his company Violet, are the legs of Social Commerce Duck. They actually make our experiences with Social Commerce possible. 

Check them out at www.violet.io

Whether it’s an Instagram selfie that you took wearing the latest sweater you purchased or a review you left about your Dentist on Google, User Generated Content, or UGC as we will refer to it in this episode, is continuing to change the advertising industry. Over the last five years - and especially over the pandemic period - UGC has become a near universal weapon of choice when it comes to selling to Millennials and Gen Z. According to the stats, ads based on UGC content receive four times higher click-through rates and a 50% drop in cost-per-click compared to average ads. And in many ways, UGC is Social Commerce and Social Commerce is UGC which is why the conversation today is so interesting.

This week I talk to Benedict Stohr, founder of UGC advertising company, Squarelovin.

You can find them at www.squarelovin.com.

One of the biggest conversations going on in Social Commerce at the moment is about Live Stream Shopping or Shoppable Video. Whatever you want to call it, it is coming really fast. For anyone who has ever considered buying a legmaster2000, an ab circle pro, a non-drip mop or European knife set while watching an advertorial on TV, then this is the episode is for you! Live Stream Shopping is effectively Traditional TV Shopping for the digital age. It is tipped to become an $11bn market in the US by the end of this year but is playing catch to the Asian market which is tipped to be worth a staggering $474 billion by 2023.

In this episode I chat with Madison Schill, communications lead at Live Stream Shopping platform Livescale.

Moms have never spent more time on social media platforms. In fact, a 2020 study of mums by Mediapost found that more than eight in 10 claim their social media usage has doubled since March 2020 and 52% admit increasing their social media use by 4-8 hours a week. On top of this, we also know that 80% of mums get product recommendations from social media. So, in an age of Social Commerce this also means that mums are buying a hell of a lot more within their social media experience. This week David speaks to Caroline Fultz from SpearmintLOVE, an online store for baby and kids clothing and accessories. She is on the front line for mothers on Social Media and tells us about how this demographic is using Social Commerce.

For advertisers, online video has predominantly been about building brand awareness. In 2020, Youtube generated $20bn in ad revenue while Bytedance - owner of TikTok - raked in $27bn with customers typically opting for pre-roll and mid-roll ad placements to build brand awareness. But very quietly, these platforms have been testing the Social Commerce Waters and provided others the opportunity to build Social Commerce on top of their platforms. So the future of online video is starting to look a little bit different for these advertisers. This week David speaks with Bryan Mirabel guest who is going to be talking more about Social Commerce in the online video world.

Links from the episode:

Afterpay Live Shopping: https://afterpay-site-next.afterpay.com/en-US/live-shopping

It has never been easier to build e-commerce websites with some incredible companies making the process seamless for every day people. In 2020, the $4 trillion e-commerce market exploded and one gets the feeling it is only just getting started. Due to the reliance on e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, Wix, Squarespace and BigCommerce, these platformS really hold the keys for Social Commerce in many ways. Today, David talks to Josh Halpern from BigCommerce about how Social Commerce is being ushered in by these platforms.

Key Links:

VanBassador - How Shorty's Caboy Hattery in Oklahoma, USA Sells Exotic Furs and Custom-Made Items Online and Overseas

BigCommerce OmniChannel Guidebook

Social Commerce Growth - Instagram Check-out

Social tags: @vanbassador on all social accounts IG,FB,YT,LI,Twitter.
Personal @jshalpern across all social  - Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jshalpern
BigCommerce: @BigCommerce