Global Digital Marketing & Retail by Alex 79
Inspiration from across the world for retail enthusiasts, e-commerce professionals, marketing lovers and technology fans. Welcome back! I summarized some great links again, I stumbled upon this week.
Yes, another saturday, another newsletter. Thank you all for reading liking and subscribing.
😮Amazon redirects to non Amazon stores
Now this one I did not see coming, but I like it very much. Amazon is experimenting with re-directing search queries to brands' webshops outside of its own app. Amazon customers have been presented with options to visit external online shops if they searched for products which Amazon itself doesn't sell(or are out of stock). Very smart. It helps to improve the customer experience, it also gives valuable data.I think they prefer merchants that sell their products via Amazon’s logistical network. Smart move!
Checkout the details: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/retail/search-products-amazon-shopping-feature
🎉1015 metrics across marketing and e-commerce
Wow these people did a real good job, an extensive 1015 metrics google sheet for (performance) marketing. And the good thing? It’s totally free to view, for USD 10 you can buy it at gumroad.
Buy it at Gumroad: https://datmark.gumroad.com/l/free-metrics-database
Direct access (view only) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Q-mkOOy0wY1Zwh3l-d8aTYSZ9H6EQtoKFMFG1mEfrvY/edit?gid=1405676801#gid=1405676801
🏫Open AI released new prompting guidelines
Prompting guides are constantly updated, and now Open AI has released a new prompting guide. Useful to get the best out of it, so do read the details, it helps you to be more productive.
Keep prompts simple and direct.
Avoid unnecessary chain-of-thought instructions.
Use delimiters to structure input clearly.
Limit additional context in retrieval-augmented tasks.
Provide specific guidelines to refine outputs.
Clearly define your end goal and iterate when needed.
🐶WhatsApp as a promotion channel promoted in store
First time I have seen in a store in the Netherlands a WhatsApp promotion as a promotional channel. This sign was near the cashier and it says: “from now on always the latest offers via Whatsapp”, if you then scan you get the 2nd screen that says: “I would like to receive the pet’s place folder via WhatsApp” Subscribed but not any welcome message or further short term incentive. Also never received a folder and it has been a week now…
Annoying thing is also that if you just took a picture of the qr, like I did, and want to add later to your WhatsApp you cannot do that so easily as in WeChat where you can just upload a picture tap on a qr code and you are redirected.
⚙️Feature watch: The Bunq App: SOS support.
I have Bunq. It’s a bank app from the Netherlands. Not that I am very proud at that, I hate banks, but I have it, and they do innovate a lot within their app so that’s nice to follow.
Today I needed some support, and I was trying to chat with them via the app.
I discovered they have “SOS support”. Compliments! In my opinion a great feature and you can only think of a feature like that, if you really understand your (global) customers.
Bunq presents itself often as the bank for (digital) nomads. So I can imagine sometimes you really need to contact someone fast, in case of scams for example, or when you are stuck abroad. So kudo’s to Bunq for this customer friendly feature.
Bunq: https://www.bunq.com/
🦾AI AI AI
Last week, the AI conference in Paris showcased diverse AI perspectives. Participants debated balancing innovation and freedom with societal impact and regulation. I have seen innovation before regulation work in China in semi-tech.
China is often seen as very regulartory but (digital) innovations or new services often can start very easily and regulation -if needed- follow afterwards. I have seen it happening with bike sharing companies for example.
I am pro tech accelleration in the broadest way and I think it also boosts GDP. That’s why I share this quadrant some guy shared on LinkedIn based at the AI conference talks. Let’s see who comes out as a winner. I know where I will put my bets on.
Source (Dutch): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-action-summit-2025-detlef-la-grand-lvvye
👌Duo Lingo’s company handbook on long term vision, culture and product
Duolingo, an app I have tried many times, because I really do want to learn better Mandarin (beyond beer orderling level😂), but never stick doing it, unlike many others who do keep on using Duolingo.
The app is a great success and many have written about it. Now they write themselves on their company. They released their company handbook. It’s really a nice read and it seems really a cool company, I am sure I would fit in such company. I hope this handbook encourages other companies to “copy this”, because I think it is good to have a long term vision on the product and culture.A few highlights in bullets -as always- and the full book linked below.
Some highlights:
We could increase revenue tomorrow by showing more ads in the app. But we know that too many ads can annoy users and stifle long-term growth, potentially compromising our goal of making the best education universally available.
The Duolingo app is designed to be sticky in the short-term and transformative in the long-term.
More notifications leads to more Daily Active Users (DAUs)* in the short-term. But people who feel bombarded don’t stick around for long—they eventually turn off notifications orabandon the app entirely. That's why we put firm limits on notifications, regardless of what the short-term metrics suggest. User trust matters more than immediate gains
Excellence isn’t just what you do—it’s how you treat others.
The idea of shipping unfinished features, or Minimum ViableProducts (MVPs), is common across tech. But MVPs come with aspecific set of expectations—and limitations.At Duolingo, we don’t do MVPs—we do V1s.
“Clock speed” is a mindset that drives how we work. The concept comes from microprocessor technology, where clock speed measures how quickly a system can process instructions. We use the term to talk about minimizing the gaps between actions: the time between when a decision is made and when it’s implemented, or when feedback is given and changes are made.
By creating space for experimentation, we ensure that outcomes—not opinions—lead the way
Taking inspiration from engineering’s code review process, weintroduced a formal structure for Product Review. Today, PR ensures that everyone is clear on what decisions were made, and that all relevant stakeholders are informed. The meeting alsoincludes a rotating group of leaders from Product and Design who weigh in, ensuring diverse perspectives....Marketing, for instance, has adopted a Marketing Review, whichbrings the same clarity and alignment to their campaigns.
Details: https://blog.duolingo.com/handbook/
🫡Yes, interactive content = value adding content for B2B leads
Makes sense and I am preaching that already for a long time. Real value adding content is often interactive, something really useful! I think this is a nice example from Bidfood, altough -if I would be in charge- there would be more lead generation in it. But I do think a nice example of an interactive page that focuses at their core target group. Check it out here: https://view.bidfood.co.uk/the-interactive-care-home/
😂Time for a laugh: Agency Memes
Would it not be fun if there is an agency that pitches itself only with these kind of memes 😂
🧝Human Expertise as a USP? Outhuman AI with Happy Rail
Probably we are going to see this more and more, companies that Emphasizing the Human Connection like happyrail here does. I like human contact a lot, but it has been now several days since my e-mail and still did not had a reply. So if you do this make sure you can react fast (just like AI chatbots).
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