Ecommerce and the Big Event’s 2022 Agenda
Last month at the New York Hilton, Midtown, one of the big Ecommerce 2022 events was held. In their own words the folks at CommerceNext aim to “harness the collective wisdom of our community to help marketers grow their businesses and advance their careers.” However, upon reviewing the agenda items for “Seizing the Next Wave of Growth” the topic of privacy was missing. Just about a year ago Apple’s privacy updates in iOS 14.5 put a hard stop on cross-channel data sharing.
CNN’s article on what you should know might be useful. Specifically, the quote from Eric Schmitt, senior director analyst at market research firm Gartner. He said, “It is fair to say that the benefits of digital advertising to some of these businesses will decline.” Moreover, the agenda also took a pass on Covid-related topics. Instead the mega-event stuck with themes mostly about optimizing. Ok, sigh.
The Big Elephant in the Room
First, to be clear, I wasn’t in the room. On the other hand, I am one of those writers who learn a lot about trends by looking at agendas, break-out sessions and keynote speeches. In fact, I’ve written at least nine blog articles on trends over the past two years. Holiday trends, fulfillment trends and ecommerce trends, check them out.
Since late last year the repercussions of privacy “updates” have been harder to ignore. For example, eMarketer’s Insider Intelligence writers Audrey Schomer and Audrey Schomer identified an increased costs of advertising and reduced return on ad spend (ROAS). Specifically, Facebook, CPMs rose 47% in Q3 2021 versus Q3 2020—and +33% versus Q3 2019. Gulp, I think we need some new agenda items besides “optimize.”
Mid-Year Checkin Ecommerce 2022
Earlier this year Forbes released a paid-placement article “E-Commerce Trends 2022: What The Future Holds.” While I usually avoid native content as a researcher, this piece echoes an important message. Covid and privacy updates might be here to stay. The online economic outlook suggest that Facebook and Instagram are in decline. It’s time to revisit customer retention. It’s time to maximize your customer’s lifetime value. Perhaps your current customer base should be a part of “Optimizing Core Marketing Strategies.” I’ll dig into those topics later this month.