Weekend reading: 1st April

We’re a day early with our weekly post on account of the long Easter bank holiday weekend – and since lockdown has lifted a little, and the weather is looking pretty sweet for many of us, we’ve resisted the urge to create an extended weekend reading post in favour of encouraging you to get out and enjoy the time. Of course, do so safely and within the government guidelines – but we hope you’ll manage to enjoy some outdoor time in the sunshine over the next few days.

This week our reads include a heads up about cryptocurrency payments in PayPal, the opportunities that eCommerce in Italy presents, how catalogues can help retailers to sell more, where QVC is ahead of Amazon and how frictionless commerce is in the future for high street stores.

The latest from us

We announced our latest updates to Avasam this week, with additional functionality for OnBuy and Linnworks users. We’ve got more updates coming really soon, including a BigCommerce integration that will allow you to really make the most of our offer of three months of free access to BigCommerce.

Did you spot us on Tamebay this week? If you’re already an Avasam user, then much of what is being discussed on the Tamebay piece is what you’ll already know, but as an eCommerce industry mainstay, we’re looking forward to welcoming more users to Avasam as a result of being featured.

We shared a post about choosing sales channels this week – it is a longer one, but if you’re new to eCommerce, or are starting a new business, it is well worth checking out!

The weekend reads

Are you ready to receive payments in cryptocurrencies? If you said no, but you have PayPal as an option for your customers to use and place their orders with, then you might be wrong. PayPal have launched their cryptocurrency solution ‘Checkout with Crypto’ that allows transactions to be completed using Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum or Bitcoin Cash. This option is automatically available for customers that have sufficient balance to complete their purchase. Find out more here.

Could selling overseas be the next move in scaling your business? We’re working on adding international shipping to Avasam in the coming months, allowing sellers to take advantage of the huge opportunities (around €146 billion in Europe alone) to make sales cross-border. If selling internationally is on your agenda, then this article about eCommerce in Italy makes for an interesting read.

Social commerce is definitely an area to grow your business in the next 12 to 18 months. While there are many businesses adding shoppable posts to their social media strategy, US brand Anthropologie is following in the footsteps of IKEA by piloting their first digital-only catalogue on Pinterest.

While you might assume TV shopping is a dying breed of commerce, QVC is actually ahead of Amazon in many areas – and when you consider what many brands are attempting livestream shopping on their social media, it isn’t surprising. QVC have been selling in the same way as businesses are attempting to on TikTok and Instagram live streams, so there is much to be learned from TV shopping channels – find out more here.

The high street isn’t dying – and according to many reports, the opposite is actually true! However, for high street retail locations to really thrive, changes must happen. We’re talking about using technology to make offline retail better – in the same way that Amazon Go stores are starting to appear, with ‘Just Walk Out’ technology. If you have a bricks and mortar retail store (or you’re considering opening one in the near future) you’ll need to think about frictionless commerce – find out more here.

Dates for your diary

We’ve just mentioned it, but if nailing social commerce on your radar for this year, then you’ll definitely want to check out these interviews on Thursday 8th April.

Did you sign up for Tamebay Live yet? Taking place between 17th and 21st May, the event has a packed agenda covering best practice, scaling your business, and cross-border trade. Definitely not one to be missed – register completely free here.