Memo: Montar Shopify

Un youtuber y su equipo de producción se aventuraron a la Antártida con la ayuda de un servicio de expediciones de lujo, soportaron temperaturas tan "gélidas" que no necesitaron guantes, aguantaron esas condiciones tan suaves durante 50 horas, afirmaron que era lo más difícil físicamente que habían hecho nunca y luego plantaron una bandera de Shopify tras cuatro horas de caminata hasta una cresta. "Esta es ahora la Montaña Shopify", proclamó MrBeast. El vídeo patrocinado era increíblemente cursi y excesivamente dramático, pero nadie puede decir que no tuviera el efecto deseado.

Informe anterior: Introduzca MrBeast

Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson es un brillante vendedor, creador, empresario y filántropo. Y el momento no podría ser mejor para Shopify. A la empresa le vendría bien un poco de marketing inteligente, creación de valor, nuevos negocios y un poco de caridad tras un año difícil. En ese sentido (y sólo en ese sentido), la asociación tenía sentido. Donaldson dedicó mucho tiempo a elogiar a Shopify en el anuncio de 12 minutos, que ya ha sido visto 61 millones de veces desde su publicación el 24 de diciembre. Para ponerlo en perspectiva, esto es más de la mitad de la audiencia típica del anuncio de la Super Bowl por lo que sospecho que fue una fracción del coste (7 millones de dólares).

En un homenaje a un anunciante, tras una caminata por una cresta rocosa, el equipo planta una bandera y proclama que el pico virgen será conocido para siempre como Monte Shopify.

Pero mientras que el escaparate de MrBeast es una propiedad de mediados de ocho cifras (Charm.io estima 45 millones de dólares en ingresos anuales), creo que Shopify se está posicionando para un año de emergencia. 2023 será el año del comercio a nivel empresarial para Shopify en su intento de superar a la competencia (a saber, Commerce Cloud de Salesforce y las propiedades Magento de Adobe). Antaño conocida por atraer a consumidores que esperaban convertirse en el próximo MrBeast (al menos en lo que a merchandising se refiere), Shopify se está convirtiendo en la opción preferida de grandes minoristas, mercados y marcas similares. Esta es la proverbial montaña que Shopify tiene que escalar.

Después de un año en el que las acciones cayeron un 74%, Shopify debe hacer hincapié en la "calidad" por encima de la cantidad, un descriptor que utilizo, vagamente, para describir su creciente catálogo de esos preciados minoristas "más grandes-GMV". En el último año, un buen número de marcas online han abandonado sus carritos personalizados para ir a pastos más verdes. Un ejemplo es el cambio de Supreme a Shopify:

Supreme empieza el 2023 con buen pie. Según acaba de revelar dropsgg, la marca ha cambiado su tienda online de su anterior plataforma al servicio de comercio electrónico de Shopify. Se dice que este cambio tiene un mejor sistema de prevención de bots y comenzará a funcionar la próxima semana.

Otro ejemplo es ButcherBox, que está desplegando su conversión de Shopify página por página, dejando sus construcciones personalizadas para el apoyo externalizado y herramientas más avanzadas. Después de anunciar su año de 600 millones de dólares en publicaciones como TechCrunch y How I Built This, la compañía también confirmó (silenciosamente) este movimiento. Del podcast Shopify Masters de noviembre de 2022:

A día de hoy, ButcherBox colabora con granjas de terceros, instalaciones de procesamiento, instalaciones de despiece, instalaciones de distribución, envío, servicio de atención al cliente y tecnología. Esta es una de las principales razones por las que la empresa utiliza Shopify para su tienda online.

Así que cuando Donaldson gastó tanta energía convirtiendo uno de sus retos de 50 horas en un anuncio de Shopify, supuse que era un intento de subir un poco la temperatura antes de un impulso de marketing mucho mayor por parte de la empresa. El tiempo dirá qué aspecto tiene esa campaña de marketing. Pero por sí solo, el impacto ha sido suficientemente eficaz. Incluso se ha intentado bautizar un monte Shopify en Butwal, Nepal (al menos una de las imágenes utilizadas es del viaje de Donaldson a la Antártida). Hay subreddits enteros dedicados al atractivo (o al desdén) del vídeo, una reacción que imagino rara para el notablemente simpático Donaldson.

Shopify debería haber recuperado la forma. La compañía obtuvo un Black Friday y un Cyber Monday récord, impulsados por ese creciente catálogo de minoristas empresariales. Esto equivalió a un aumento del 19% en las ventas con respecto a sus marcas de 2021. Con 619 millones de dólares en pérdidas operativas en 2022 con un compromiso de 1.000 millones de dólares para construir su Shopify Fulfillment Network, la captura de minoristas más grandes y su valor bruto de comercialización es clave para la rentabilidad en el futuro. Esto coincide con sus propias previsiones para 2023.

El vídeo de MrBeast patrocinado por Shopify no fue su mejor trabajo. Pero con unos 300.000 nuevos suscriptores netos al día, estoy seguro de que sus apasionados fans se lo perdonarán. En cuanto a Shopify, el vídeo patrocinado sirvió como recordatorio de que tiene sus propios retos por delante. Shopify es tanto una empresa de servicios financieros como un proveedor de tecnologías de comercio electrónico. A pesar de la poca gracia del anuncio nativo, ha servido para dar a conocer una de las empresas más infravaloradas que cotizan en bolsa.

Para Shopify, todo gira en torno al VGM. Su enfoque para hacer crecer sus flujos de ingresos en proceso de maduración ya no se centra únicamente en los pequeños comerciantes (a los que atrae la audiencia de MrBeast) y los ingresos por suscripción que se les atribuyen. Más del 30% de los ingresos de Shopify fueron por suscripción en 2022, según las fuentes. Pero creo que el modelo de negocio está evolucionando. Shopify Payments cobra a los comerciantes entre el 2,4% y el 2,9% de la transacción, Shopify Capital está aumentando sus productos de préstamo, y el sistema de punto de venta sigue atrayendo a los minoristas omnicanal.Cuantos más minoristas de mayor GMV haya en la plataforma, más utilizarán estos productos financieros de mayor rendimiento.

Shopify necesita una colección de minoristas en línea de nueve cifras para dar la vuelta a las cosas y recordar a los inversores que seguirá siendo un gran contribuyente al futuro del comercio. No es una montaña pequeña que escalar.

Actualización (1/3/2023): Shopify ha lanzado "Commerce Components by Shopify" (CCS). Dirigido a empresas minoristas, la compañía proclamó a través de un comunicado de prensa: "Shopify entra en su próxima era de crecimiento: redefinir el comercio minorista empresarial". La pila tecnológica permite la integración de Shopify en los sistemas existentes. El ejemplo de ButcherBox, mencionado anteriormente, es un ejemplo de ello. La mayor parte del sitio web del minorista de alimentación sigue siendo personalizado, mientras que el proceso de regalo lo aloja un tercero. Shopify añade:

Commerce Components by Shopify combina lo mejor de ambos mundos para las empresas minoristas: acceso a los componentes básicos y de alto rendimiento de Shopify que simplemente funcionan -como nuestro checkout, que convierte un 72% mejor que un checkout típico, y un 91% mejor en móvil- más APIs flexibles para construir experiencias de cliente dinámicas que se integran a la perfección con los servicios de back office preferidos de un minorista.

Entre las empresas minoristas que acaban de anunciarse hoy figuran: Mattel, Glossier, JB Hi-Fi, Steve Madden, Spanx y Staples.

Por Web Smith | Arte de Alex Remy

Memo: Enter MrBeast

Every industry is overdue for a digital-first reset. Even casual restaurants are beginning to adjust to a brave new world, accelerated like many other categories by the pandemic.

By and large, foot traffic slowed at shopping malls. Retailers and department stores earned the majority of the media’s attention, but in the process, tens of millions of square feet in commercial kitchens and dining rooms were going to waste. The wage workers who ran them suffered from job losses. Restaurants were sinking into bankruptcy by the dozen. Over the last year, new concepts began to take shape based on proven experiments. To better understand those experiments, I spoke with one of the foremost experts.

When Kat Cole calls to discuss the inner workings of food service, you answer the phone. There aren’t many executives with more knowledge or experience than her. Cole is stepping down after 10 years of success and innovation as President and COO at Focus Brands, the parent company to a number of mall dining fixtures that you’ve likely walked past thousands of times on shopping trips. Leading a company with billions in annual sales, Cole understands the power of placement and foot traffic. While customers aren’t walking past quite as often as they did before the pandemic, she was still incredibly optimistic about the prospects of her industry. Concepts like Nextbite and Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) have revolutionized the casual dining industry. But the business isn’t new.

As early as 2016, UberEats tested virtual kitchens as a strategy to drive revenue for restaurants with excess production capacity. Today, there are over 5,000 virtual brands on UberEats across the country. Early on, in a partnership with a well-known casual wing chain, Uber tested a virtual brand concept within the Eats app to improve sales by rebranding their wings to reach a wider audience. It worked. When eCommerce met human resources and excess production capacity, a new vertical in dining was born. Today, this industry, also populated by GrubHub, DoorDash, and Postmates (which Uber recently acquired) is in the midst of another evolution.

A recent article on Today.com began with:

Ghost kitchen, dark kitchen, virtual kitchen, cloud kitchen, whatever you call them, they’re popping up everywhere, with estimates placing the number at 1,500 in the United States. [1]

Virtual kitchens and ghost, dark, or cloud kitchens are not all interchangeable. A “ghost” establishment, in this context, is essentially a commissary kitchen or a facility where restaurants produce food for distribution to their satellite locations. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick acquires real estate and converts them into food production facilities through his company CloudKitchens. Platforms like DoorDash, UberEats, and Postmates then markets the many brands that are built atop of the physical infrastructure. CloudKitchens recently raised $400 million from Goldman Sachs and the Saudi Arabia wealth fund to finance these real estate acquisitions.

Companies like Robert Earl’s Virtual Dining Concepts partners with existing restaurants to monetize excess capacity. And like many restaurants that rely on foot traffic at mall complexes, there is quite a bit of it. Earl isn’t just the owner of VDC. He has stakes in casual dining chains like Buca Di Beppo, Mixology, and Planet Hollywood. In June of 2020, Earl’s latest acquisition turned heads. The ownership  group of Bravo and Brio filed for bankruptcy just three months earlier due to a COVID-related hit to its already flailing business. Earl seemed to have another vision for them.

Earl Enterprises, the parent company of Buca di Beppo, Earl of Sandwich and Planet Hollywood, has confirmed the purchase of Bravo Cucina Italian and Brio Tuscan Grille restaurants in a deal that will bring back 4,000 employees left in “limbo” since FoodFirst filed for bankruptcy, Robert Earl, chairman of Earl Enterprises, said Thursday. [2]

Earl acquired capacity in much the same way that Kalanick’s CloudKitchens acquired real estate to build functional facilities. But in Earl’s hybrid format, he can accomplish both dining formats. Virtual Dining Concepts is driving high-margin business to this suite of causal restaurants. If they survive the pandemic, they will be able to service traditional and online customers at once. This isn’t unlike any other restaurant that delivers. What organizations like Nextbite and VDC are building adds a significant layer atop of the Olo-driven last-mile delivery network.

Companies like Olo provide the interface between restaurants, their ordering systems and the on-demand ecosystem. With excess capacity at casual dining and a need for new demand, celebrity-driven virtual dining has emerged as a new prospect for a suffering industry. It just might work.

Within the next year, Virtual Dining Concepts, a subsidiary of Earl Enterprises has a goal of reaching 20 celebrity and 20 consumer brands in its delivery portfolio. The pandemic, combined with targeted social media advertising and the omnipresence of delivery platforms have brewed the perfect storm to fill a massive supply of kitchen capacity with these new concepts. [3]

The economics favor restaurant ownership groups that can typically earn nearly 60% of the gross margin of each sale. The celebrity that generates interest for the sale can earn as much as 25% for a sale that that they had little to do with. It’s a brilliant system. And thanks to a recent partnership with a YouTube creator, it’s about to become a popular option for ailing foodservice retailers.

Linear Commerce: Enter MrBeast

I downloaded the app (currently No. 1 in the app store), manually inputted my address and billing information and then waited for the branded sandwich. Constructed within the kitchen of one of Robert Earl’s Bravo restaurants, the “I launched 300 burger restaurants nationwide” promise was met with operational efficiency. When I ordered the Beast Style burger, I was surprised that it arrived with 15 minutes of purchase. I photographed it and laughed at the fact that Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson was going to successfully store hundreds of thousands of new credit card numbers thanks to this promotion, including my own. And then I walked upstairs to hand it off to my teenage daughter.

Oh my god, Dad. How did you get this? I love MrBeast. Oh my god.

At 13 years old, she’s adept at understanding the world of creators and their collective impact on culture, commerce, and trends. But even I was surprised that she was excited for a burger that she wouldn’t have otherwise eaten without the branding.

Jimmy Donaldson has quite the story. In a 2019 interview with Casey Neistat, the two creators discuss his improbable rise from obscurity to nearly 50 million Youtube subscribers. The 22-year-old owns an audience larger than most multinational media companies.

Donaldson represents a new class of creator with the power to move entire retail markets. In a recent conversation with DTC titan Nik Sharma, he mentioned an eye opening figure.

Was just looking at 2PM DTC Power List and as I was looking through, I wondered if you’d ever put creator brands that crush it. I think definitely Danny Duncan’s brand. I mean he’ll do nine figures in revenue with $0 ad spend.

For the vast majority of direct-to-consumer retail, achieving a $100 million revenue mark is highly improbable. Doing so without advertising is impossible. For the top 1% of creators, commerce is just a natural progression. They will earn far more in retail sales than through advertising.

Sin título

Here’s how much the biggest YouTube stars earned this year:1. Ryan Kaji: $29.5M2. MrBeast: $24M3. Dude Perfect: $23M4. Rhett and Link: $20M5. Markiplier: $19.5M6. Preston Arsement: $19M7. Nastya: $18.5M8. Blippi: $17M9. David Dobrik: $15.5M10. Jeffree Star: $15M

Ryan Kaji, the 9-year-old toy reviewer, has an omnichannel toy empire worth over $500 million by some estimation. What began as a trend of marketing merchandise has evolved as other industries have adopted eCommerce strategies. The digital layer provided by VDC, Olo, Nextbite, and others has provided new opportunity for this class of creators.

Before year’s end, you’ll see Marques Brownies and Dobrik’s Dumplings. And while the creators will certainly line their pockets, Robert Earl’s foresight into this marketing strategy is due to revolutionize an industry crippled by the lack of foot traffic that leaders like Kat Cole once relied upon to fuel growth in the industry.

MrBeast wasn’t the first creator to put his mark on a fast casual product. But this partnership will be the most transformative for an industry in need.

When this partnership was announced, it was common to see skepticism from commerce industry veterans and advertising executives. One chimed in: “I can’t figure out what’s even really that interesting about it, but I’m new to Mr. Beast.” Another added: “I still don’t see the connection to helping restaurants and charity?” But what’s truer than ever is that commerce follows audience. And the physics of building brands the traditional way is erased by the new mechanisms of linear commerce at scale. For a creator who spends a great deal of his time performing acts of charity, there seems to be more scale on the way, and not just for a struggling restaurant industry, but for the 50 million subscribers who’ve cheered him as he’s turned sponsorships and personal earnings into viral giveaways.

Wherever 50 million fans go, industries will be disrupted. Sometimes for the better.

Por Web Smith | Redacción: Hilary Milnes | Arte: Alex Remy | About 2PM