🙌 DTC Shopify brand raises $10.1M

Welcome to Morning Commerce - your weekly dose of all things Shopify.

Here’s what we’ve got for you this week:

• 8 BFCM email tips

• Youtube ads for ecommerce

• Duplicate yourself with Personal AI

• Adobe Express gets AI superpowers

• DTC baby brand Lalo raises $10.1M Series A

• TikTok targets $20 billion in ecommerce sales

This week we’re brought to you by Nerdify — if you need professional development help for your Shopify store check them out.

ACQUISITION

DTC baby brand Lalo raises $10.1M Series A

While capital has dried up across the board, DTC baby brand Lalo managed to secure over $10 Million in their recent series A, thanks to their solid fundamentals and rapid expansion. The business has been growing 300% year on year for the past few years.

The majority of Lalo’s sales are driven by their Shopify website, though they do get a good amount of business from registry company Babylist — one of their new investors — and have recently launched an Amazon store.

Lalo’s award-winning play table set, called “The Play Kit”, retails for $330. This is 3-8x what many of their competitors sell similar products for, and reflects a trend we’ve noticed recently… consumers are buying fewer things, but willing to spend more on quality products.

Their Shopify-powered site is the focus of our inspo of the week feature below.

Youtube ads for ecommerce

Youtube is one of the most exciting frontiers for ecommerce businesses, yet it’s often the most neglected. I get it, video is hard. But that’s why the rewards are so great for those that master it.

If you’re thinking about exploring the vast traffic of Youtube then Menachem Ani’s tweet is a good overview to point you in the right direction:

1. YouTube isn’t really social

2. YouTube is also not search

3. Don’t neglect organic

4. Safeguard your brand

5. But don’t set it and forget it

6. Take advantage of clear data

7. Give it a role in your media mix

Check out the full thread for all the details.

TikTok targets $20 billion in ecommerce sales

TikTok is aiming to quadruple its ecommerce business to $20 billion in merchandise sales this year, according to Bloomberg. If you’ve been thinking about testing TikTok ads out then now might be a good time to dip your toes in the water. As they say, a rising tide lifts all boats.

CONVERSION

Adobe Express gets AI superpowers

Designing website banners, social media content, ads, and video just got a whole lot easier thanks to Adobe integrating their “Firefly” AI into Adobe Express.

The new AI-powered Adobe Express integrates generative AI with:

• Images and text effects generated from a text prompt

• Video editing and mixed-media creation

• Photoshop Compatibility

These tools are getting better every day and it won’t be long until you simply don’t need a graphic designer at all to run an ecommerce store.

Duplicate yourself with Personal AI

I remember daydreaming as a kid about what it would be like to have a clone of myself. He would conveniently do all the daily tasks I had no interest in — chores, homework, eating my greens — while I rode my bike all day.

Personal AI brings that dream one step closer to reality with an AI model trained on YOU. It combines three core products:

1. Your Personal Memory Stack — a digital library of you that evolves with you. It’s created automatically from everyday communications and conversations via a chat application where any message can be easily added as a memory to build your stack

2. Personal Language Model — This model trains entirely on your Memory Stack. This model mimics the way you express yourself. It is grounded in your own facts and opinions, and it adapts to your personal style over time.

3.  Personal AI Messaging — combining Personal Memory Stack and Personal Language Model, your communications are supercharged with AI messaging.

Imagine — automatically responding to customer emails and chat messages, not with a basic bot spitting out pre-programmed responses, but with an authentic version of you replying in real-time just like you would.

Yeah yeah yeah, I know every Hollywood movie involving doppelgangers and clones ends in some dystopian wasteland where either you kill it or it kills you… but this looks pretty cool.

EMAIL MARKETING

8 BFCM email tips from Tecovas

1. Start prepping for Black Friday early—like, July

2. Set revenue goals based on last year’s BFCM

3. Plan creative based on more recent performance

4. Invest in an email platform with an intuitive editor

5. Send every day, but not to everyone

6. Max out your abandonment flow revenue

7. Track down relevant competitive intelligence

8. Dream even bigger for next year

Full article here.

SHOPIFY NEWS

New attribution models available in marketing reports

Are you trying to get a clearer picture of your customer's pathway and how well your marketing efforts are working? Take a look at the newly introduced linear and any-click attribution models in your marketing analysis. The linear model enables you to attribute the same value to every click that led to a sale. Meanwhile, any-click assigns full credit to each marketing avenue involved in generating a sale.

Inspo of the Week

Direct-to-consumer baby product brand Lalo recently raised over $10 Million and their website has some nifty features you might want to check out. From a ridiculously fast scrolling banner that you can’t help but look at, to subtle “in the news“ hover effects, and expertly done cross-sells. Take notes!

How we can help…

🔥 Looking for an experienced Shopify Partner to work with? 
Smart ecommerce brands rely on us for innovative design, development, optimisation, and growth strategies to create highly profitable Shopify websites. Work with our consultancy.

🎯 Want to reach our audience? Hit reply to discuss advertising.