Insights from below deck: November 2022

Black Friday Cyber Monday live figures

One of the busiest shopping periods of the year, the scale of Black Friday / Cyber Monday (BFCM) can be difficult to get your head around. Shopify’s cool data story feature allowed people to see the impact of Shopify-powered stores across the globe – in real time – over the BFCM period. The final stats are now in, with a record-breaking $7.5 billion in sales (made by over 52 million consumers) by Shopify merchants worldwide.

WhatsApp launches business directory

With the goal of making it easier for WhatsApp users to discover and buy from businesses, Meta is launching a new business directory feature across the UK, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Colombia. 

Users will either be able to browse by business category (like travel or banking) or search directly to find companies that are contactable on the service. In a move towards pitching itself as a service for people to message businesses (in addition to friends and family), WhatsApp has also added other e-commerce features, including support for in-app shopping carts. For our e-comm clients, these new features are certainly something we’ll be looking into further.

Recession-proof marketing: Airbnb

With the Bank of England confirming that the UK has fallen into recession, it’s bad news for marketers (and everyone, really). But there’s one company that seems to have future-proofed itself, focusing on brand marketing rather than performance marketing. 

This month, Airbnb posted its most profitable quarter to date, saying its move away from search marketing is working. The company’s new strategy is to use broader marketing campaigns (such as TV and PR) to publicise its ‘Categories’ (a way to search for homes based on criteria such as style or proximity to an activity), and AirCover (a policy to help travellers who encounter problems).

Airbnb claims its marketing spend is now low enough that it doesn’t anticipate drastic reductions – even if economic headwinds worsen next year. As a continued economic downturn is what seems to be on the cards, other brands might do well to consider a similar approach.

Adobe is buying Figma, for better or for worse

For our design crewmates, the best tool for web design is Figma, which we switched to at the start of the year. However, the news that Adobe is acquiring Figma ushered in some concerns for our creatives. 

While Adobe brings a wealth of expertise in imaging, photography, illustration, video, 3D, and font technology, Figma users are concerned for two main reasons. Firstly, while Figma insists that there are ‘currently’ no plans to change its pricing and that access will remain free for those in education, many fear that Adobe’s subscription-based pricing might eventually creep in. Secondly, while Figma’s current platform is light and streamlined, becoming part of Adobe might see it become heavier and slower. For once, we really hope we’re wrong.