Media Captain Digital Marketing Podcast

1. US Consumers spent $8.9 billion online on Black Friday, down from the record $9 billion in 2020, the forest ever year-over-year decline for eCommerce sales [source].
2. Traffic at retail stores on Black Friday dropped 28.3% compared with 2019 levels [source].
3. I ran a poll asking whether people shopped at a physical retailer after Thanksgiving and whether people made a purchase online after Thanksgiving. 
4. It was the fifth Black Friday sales for our in-house eCommerce company, DermWarehouse! Go behind the scenes! 
5. $2.9 billion. That’s the total sales of Shopify Merchants on Black Friday. That’s up 21% from 2020 and more than double their sales from 2019 [view source].
6. The skin care line my family developed, Park Perfection, is ranking in the top five positions on Google for the coveted search query, “Instant Eye Lift.” How'd we accomplish this? 
7. If you own an eCommerce store, it’s important to optimize your product pages. I wrote a blog on how to optimize your eCommerce product page.
8. What differentiates our eCommerce marketing and development versus other agencies? You'll find out in this podcast!
9. I recorded a podcast on Facebook and Instagram best practices for eCommerce brands [listen here]. Make sure you check out episode 59! 
10. One of the biggest eCommerce misconceptions of the holiday season is that it’s a great time to acquire new customers.
11. Did you know that Amazon took 19% of total spend during Black Friday weekend last year? [source]. They expect to do even more sales in 2021!

Below are the 11 marketing items of the week that Jason covers in detail. You can read the entire email blast for the week HERE. 

1. Saks Fifth Avenue spun off their rapidly growing eCommerce division. In doing so, the company tripled its valuation at nearly $6 billion. Will this prompt a spinoff for Macy's? Activist investors are hoping the answer is yes. 
2. Spanx was acquired this past week for a reported $1.2 billion. Jason Parks talks about the amazing gesture the Founder, Sara Blakely, did for employees after the announcement. 
3. Mutts & Co. is a client of The Media Captain. Learn how TMC helped this eCommerce brand increase revenue by 143%. 
4. Snapchat’s stock fell nearly 25% after the company warned of slowing growth due to the recent changes in Apple’s iOS. Jason talks about the negative impact Apple's iOS 14 update is having on technology stocks. 
5. Interbrand revealed the Top 100 Most Valuable Brands. Jason walks through the 10 most valuable. 
6. There are rumors that Facebook is planning to rebrand the company with a new name. Jason discusses whether or not this is a good idea. 
7. I love looking at websites from the past to see how far the digital world has progressed. Jason does an analysis of the NHL's website from 1998 and how it compares to sites nowadays. 
8. Getting mentioned in the right media publications can increase your brand’s credibility and visibility. Jason discusses the importance of strong PR for your brand. 
9. From DermWarehouse's 1-year anniversary of purchasing warehouse space to speaking to Ohio State's Business School, Jason walks you through what happened over the past week. 
10. Media Captain recently got a positive review and Jason walks through this and talks about the importance of positive reinforcement. 
11. Text-to-Speech plugins are something you should consider implementing on your site, especially if you have a blog or article rich content.