Amazon Teams Up with Paypal🔥

Yes! 🫵You read right. The duo is set to take the e-commerce world by 🌪️ and to improve checkout experience for Prime members.

Hello there, and welcome to The Ecom Press, your weekly roundup of the latest news, trends, tools, and strategies on everything ecommerce😌! 

This week, news about Amazon and PayPal teaming up made rounds🚨, while YouTube brought the heat to our screens with ‘Pause Ads.’ But that’s not all; Walmart announced mouth-watering holiday deals ​​🤤 you certainly can’t resist.

If you can, slide in 🛝, let’s find out!

In a rush? Here’s the juice🤭:

💳 Amazon teams up with PayPal! 

🎥 YouTube’s pause button goes prime for advertisers with ‘Pause Ads.’

🛒 Walmart kicks off holiday shopping early with massive deals ahead! 

🧰 Tool Spotlight: Amazon Ads Video generator. 

⚡️Worthy Mentions

💳Amazon teams up with PayPal! 

At last week’s Amazon Accelerate seller’s conference, the ecommerce giant revealed several exciting updates that could transform online shopping. From payment partnerships to advertising solutions with AI tools for sellers, Amazon is clearly focused on improving the experience for both merchants and customers across the web.

Here’s what went down:

🤝Amazon Partners with PayPal: The duo partnered to offer Prime members a faster, more convenient checkout experience on websites that have integrated the Buy with Prime API. This allows shoppers to select PayPal as a payment option only after logging into their Amazon account. But that’s not all. In the coming year, Prime members will now be able to link their Amazon and PayPal accounts, which will afford them Prime benefits, including free, fast shipping, whenever they pay with PayPal.

The giants predict an increase in sales and improvement in the overall shopping experience as a result of their collaboration. Also, customers are expected to shop at ease across multiple platforms.

🛠️New Ads and Fulfillment Enhancements: Amazon further introduced new advertisement solutions to help businesses drive traffic. The list includes Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP), Google Shopping Ads, and TikTok Ads, allowing sellers to display Prime branding and delivery estimates to shoppers. 

Meanwhile, Amazon’s Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) has expanded, with a staggering 200,000 plus U.S. merchants using the service and a 70% year-over-year growth in orders fulfilled. MCF also sped up standard delivery to just 3 business days, helping to boost conversion rates.

To say the least, Amazon has quite a robust infrastructure merchants can leverage to increase customer satisfaction and ultimately grow their revenue 🤑.

🎥YouTube’s pause button goes prime for advertisers with ‘Pause Ads.’

YouTube has confirmed the rollout of pause ads, which will appear when users pause a video on the platform. Following a 2023 pilot launch on smart TVs, the streaming platform has now expanded it to all advertisers due to high demand. Unlike traditional ads that interrupt content, pause ads only display when a user pauses a video, occupying a small part of the screen.

Why does this matter?

📍New advertising opportunities for businesses: It’s literally another gold mine for businesses to tap into, and it’s applaudable how YouTube has managed to leverage “idle attention.” Brands can showcase products and services, capitalizing on this window of inactivity because viewers are likely to be more receptive since the ads will not interrupt the content flow. 

👨‍💻Appeals to viewer experience: While it may seem intrusive at first, their non-disruptive nature (unlike the traditional ones) makes them more tolerable. The only escape here would be to subscribe to YouTube’s ad-free premium plan. Whichever way, you have to pay with attention or subscriptions to enjoy the platform’s content. And it's only a matter of time before it is adopted by other platforms, making it a norm.

🛒Walmart kicks off holiday shopping early with massive deals ahead! 

The retail giant, Walmart, is officially starting the holiday shopping season much earlier than in previous years. Running from October 8 to 13, the Walmart Holiday Deals event will be hosted in stores and online, offering loads of incredible discounts on a wide range of products.  

Exclusive deals will be available for Walmart+ members starting at 12 a.m. ET on October 8, with everyone else gaining access at noon. And thankfully, the sale also coincides with Amazon's Prime Big Deal Days, giving Walmart customers another chance to snag the season's top items at discounted prices.

What to expect? 

🔍Massive Holiday Savings and Deals: Expect deep savings on popular items like electronics, household goods, and fashion items. With a 60% discount 😱​​ on this GTRacing Office Chair and DR. J Professional HEPA Air Purifier up for grabs, Walmart is definitely setting the stage for an extravagant shopping spree 💸. 

🥘Inflation-Free Holiday Meal: With inflation concerns still in the air, Walmart is offering some relief on essential holiday meals—a much-needed break to celebrate without breaking the bank. Starting October 14 to December 25, customers can buy a meal serving up to 10 people for just under $7 per person, with pickup or delivery. What’s more, for the first time, they can gift this meal to friends or family anywhere in the country.

🤖Expanded Delivery Reach with AI: Expect to shop conveniently—even at the last minute—with Walmart expanding its AI-powered delivery network to an additional 12 million households. Express Delivery will be available in 30 minutes and Early Morning delivery will start at 6 a.m.

🛎️The Ecom Press Insider

Ecom Nuggets: According to Forbes, social commerce is already making waves, accounting for 10% of all ecommerce sales, and it’s set to hit 17% in just three years. If your products aren’t popping up between cat videos, it’s time to jump on board. 

Don’t let those sales scroll past you! 

🧰Tool Spotlight: Amazon Ads Video generator. 

When creativity hits the wall in 2024, AI saves the day! How so?

Amazon’s new Video Generator and Live Image features make creating ads easier and more engaging for brands. With the help of generative AI, you can turn your simple product images into eye-catching video content or even animated images in a breeze. 

Why it matters: 89% of consumers want more video content from brands, according to Wyzowl. Automatically, businesses would have to increase advertising budgets with expensive productions or design teams to meet such demands. 

That’s why this innovation is quite practical in helping Amazon sellers stand out from the crowd with professional-quality ads, boosting their customer engagement and marketing game.

How to apply this: 

• Use Video Generator to create custom video ads that showcase your product's key features.

• Enhance your product listings with Live Image to add dynamic visuals to your ads.

• Overcome time and budget barriers by utilizing these AI tools for faster, high-quality ad creation. You can test different ad creatives quickly to see what resonates best with your audience. That’s quite some tea ☕️!

Ready for a quick tutorial? Here’s a quick guide on How to use Amazon Ads Video generator.

AI is definitely disrupting the norm, and the benefits are mind-blowing, you would agree!

⚡️Worthy Mentions

• KFC India introduces sign language training for all employees as part of its Kshamata initiative.

• Kmart set to close last full-size store in continental U.S. in October.

• Nike appoints 1988 intern turned executive, Elliott Hill, as new CEO, effective October 14.

• Lunchly Debuts: PRIME and Feastables team up to disrupt the school lunch market.

• Snapchat can feature your face in ads via 'My Selfie' feature.

And that’s a wrap😮‍💨! 

Amazon x Paypal, YouTube leveraging idle attention, and Walmart’s holiday bonanza? Which did you see coming 🤔? Or would you even trust AI to handle the visual storytelling of your brand🤖? 

Let’s do this again, shall we🤭?

PS: Hit that subscribe button if you haven’t already⛷️!