E-COMM

Build-a-Brand Ambassador program

In 2010, retailers’ influencer wish lists included sports stars, movie stars, and a Kardashian or two. In 2021, those lists are just staff rosters. 

When store employees post unfiltered glimpses behind retail’s frontlines, they garner thousands, sometimes millions, of views and likes—social media metrics that aren’t too far from traditional influencers'. Recent hits range from a Starbucks barista running down new menu items (35.2k views) to an ex-Ikea employee roasting customers’ FAQs (5.2 million views).

That’s organic engagement that blue check accounts can’t buy. So retailers are trying to replicate it another way: by casting their store workers in new and HQ-approved influencer programs. 

Join the club: Formal employee influencer programs intend to convince workers that a retailer isn’t a regular employer—it’s a cool employer. They also build trust with customers: Jeff Zilberman, VP of client services at Brand Networks, the platform behind Walmart’s employee TikTok program, told Retail Brew big box stores see as much as 10% sales lift “as a direct result of these influencer programs.” 

If retailers are going to join the growing employees-as-influencers movement, what should they consider? We spoke with experts behind employee ambassador platforms to find out.

(Brand) safety first

Retailers are just like pop stars: They want to control the narrative. Every platform expert who spoke with Retail Brew said brand safety is the biggest concern retailers raise when crafting an employee influencer program. 

• Courtney Morrison, marketing lead at EveryoneSocial, said her clients want to be perceived in a positive light...but they don’t want to “censor” their employees.

Yet across software platforms that host influencer programs, including EveryoneSocial, Brand Networks, and Tribe Dynamics, retailers can monitor and filter employees’ content for potential red flags; each platform has proprietary tools for approving employee posts. 

To start: Before letting anyone hit “Publish,” Zilberman recommends holding an “influencer university”: structured time for store employees to learn their brands’ preferred messaging and rules for posting.

• Even before that, retailers should take a culture temperature check.

“If there are a lot of unhappy workers, you're probably not going to like what you see when they're on social,” Jody Leon, marketing director at DSMN8, another employee content management platform, told Retail Brew.

Curious about what platforms to consider and how to get employees on board? Click here for the full convo.—HL

DELIVERY

Cruise control

FedEx wanted a little help getting over the finish line, and it seems to have found it. The delivery giant inked a multiyear partnership with robotics firm Nuro to test drop-offs via self-driving vehicles. 

Self-serving: The goal? Scaling up last-mile delivery. FedEx is piloting the program in Houston, focusing on scenarios that offer “the biggest bang for your buck,” Cosimo Leipold, Nuro head of partnerships, told Reuters.  

• Nuro’s already hit the road for Kroger and Domino’s, but Axios notes this is the robot company’s first move in the parcel arena. 

Rat race: Last mile is a pricey piece of the delivery puzzle, accounting for 53% of shipping costs, according to an Accenture report. Any way to lighten that load is welcome, as all those brown boxes take over our front porches. 

• US e-commerce sales hit $791 billion in 2020, per eMarketer, and are expected to top $933 billion this year. 
• 3 billion packages were delivered during the holidays last year, The New York Times reported. 

And forget two-day shipping: 61% of Americans prefer things delivered as soon as possible, per NielsenIQ survey data released in April. 

Amazon jacked capital expenditures 80% from April 2020 to April 2021, largely to speed up delivery. Meanwhile, UPS CEO Carol Tomé hinted last week the company is exploring a same-day option, which FedEx already offers.—KM

SPONSORED BY LISTRAK

Hit the Road, Stack

Retailers and brands, the time has come to send your old marketing stack a-packin’. We know it’s a tough decision, and that finding a new tech partner might feel like online dating all over again, but YOU GOT THIS.

In fact, allow us to introduce you to a friend of ours who can help: Listrak.

Listrak is a leading digital marketing platform trusted by 1,000+ retailers and brands—so they know all the dos and don’ts when it comes to making an upgrade.

Their latest guide is designed to help you avoid making the wrong decision on your next stack—something that can happen prettttyy easily if you don’t ask the right questions.

See how brands like 7 for All Mankind, Kate Somerville, Academy Sports, and Vineyard Vines go about picking the right tech partner.

Download Listrak’s guide today.

PAYMENTS

Check it out

Shopify is starting to share the love. 

The Canadian e-comm company will offer its one-click checkout system to all merchants on Google and Facebook—not just Shopify partners. 

• Shop Pay will be available to all sellers on Facebook and Instagram this summer, and on Google later this year. 
• This is the first time Shopify has widened a service beyond its own users. 

Why? Shopify wants its platform to be “the preferred checkout for all merchants,” it said in a blog post. How it's making its case:

• “According to studies, cart abandonment averages 70%, with nearly 20% occurring because of a complicated checkout process,” noted Carl Rivera, Shopify’s VP of product. 
• Compared to the typical process, Shopify boasts that Shop Pay is 70% faster, with a 1.72x higher conversion rate.

And Shopify isn’t concerned that a broader base means retailers will drop the platform.

“You now need to reconcile inventory across eight or nine channels. You now have to handle shipping and fulfillment across eight or nine channels. And so as the complexity increases, the value of using Shopify as the central retail operating system also increases,” Shopify President Harley Finkelstein told Bloomberg. 

+ 1: Last week, Shopify teamed up with Affirm to offer a buy now, pay later option for all US merchants.—KM

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING…

• McAfee has discovered a security vulnerability in Peloton bikes.
• Amazon will open its first full-sized supermarket with Just Walk Out tech tomorrow. 
• Best Buy is adding luggage, grills, and outdoor furniture to its product mix. 
• May retail sales fell 1.3% as consumers engaged in “unusual” spending patterns. 
• Retailers including Express, Urban Outfitters, and J.Crew are welcoming third-party sellers.

SPONSORED BY MARKETING BREW

Where the ads are the story. In Marketing Brew, our thrice-weekly newsletter about marketing, advertising, and—periodically—pizza chain mascots, you get an inside look at the way brands communicate with the world. From ad tech to career advice to, yes, pizza mascots, Marketing Brew is the must-have publication whether you’re an agency lifer or just dabbling in PR for your friend’s hard seltzer. We don’t need subliminal messaging to tell you this: Subscribe to Marketing Brew here.

SWAPPING SKUS

Today’s top retail reads. 

The anti-Amazons: "We're not Amazon," say some e-comm companies—putting distance between themselves and the retail giant, as it faces scrutiny for its business practices. (WSJ)

Face value: Lululemon acquired Mirror roughly a year ago, but the athleisure company has only scratched the surface when it comes to its tech ambitions. (Retail Dive)

Good habits: DTC sunscreen brand Habit just celebrated its one year anniversary, and its CEO has big ambitions for the summer. (Fortune)

COMMUNITY

On Wednesdays, we wear pink spotlight Retail Brew's readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

After heading Google’s fashion and luxury team for six+ years, Lisa Green decided to say yes to startup life: She’s now helping build The Yes, an AI-powered shopping app, as its SVP of brand partnerships and operations. Here, Green gives us a glimpse at her workday. 

Something we can’t guess about your job from LinkedIn: My job is more technical than it might appear. While my day job is to partner with brands, there are lots of pieces to connect and I work closely with the team to help shape the technology—which is what drew me to the job.

Favorite project you’ve worked on: Building the prototype of what The Yes would be. We signed 100 brands with the prototype alone, and traveled the world from Paris to London to Milan (and back) in the process.

What’s an emerging retail trend you’re bullish on? Social shopping! One of the things I missed most in the last year was seeing what other people are wearing, how they’re styling their clothes, and shopping with my friends. 

Hands down, the best fast food joint is...as a New Yorker, it’s always pizza. And preferably Joe’s Pizza. 

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• NRF Retail Converge 2021: What to watch
• Forever 21 is now at Hudson’s Bay
• It’s the summer of indie sunscreen brands