Retail & Ecommerce

WhatsApp takes on business discovery: The new in-app directory is its latest feature pushing to make ecommerce central to the platform. But privacy concerns still loom large in the background.

Marketers are optimistic despite headwinds: The Delta variant threatens to dash marketers’ optimism—but recent data around increasing foot traffic, holiday travel plans, and decreasing COVID-19 cases could renew their hopes.

The BNPL provider will let merchants accept Bitcoin payments and plans to launch a crypto trading feature—which may help it stand out as other BNPL providers opt for more traditional feature enhancements.

Amazon addresses labor shortages with wage increases and partnerships: Amazon is raising its minimum wage for Canadian workers and teaming up with Deliveroo overseas to attract workers in the pandemic-induced tight labor market.

Televised football’s recovery calms broadcasters’ nerves: Viewership was up significantly compared with last year and even broke a record, providing hope for this fall’s TV lineup.

On today's episode, we discuss what the direct-to-consumer (D2C) playbook 2.0 contains, which D2C players are the ones to watch, and which spaces are ripe for D2C disruption. We then talk about what people currently expect from a loyalty program, how much context really matters, and how to avoid treating customers like data points. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Jeremy Goldman.

By bringing its consumer and merchant bases together, Square can grow its business, improve merchant satisfaction, and contend with fierce feature rivalries.