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Ecommerce moments of the week: tasty TikTok and carbon-neutral shopping

Salmon rice bowls

Welcome to our brand-new weekly ecommerce round-up: Ecommerce moments of the week! Each Monday, we’ll bring you four of the most exciting developments within the ecommerce world – so you can start the week off right. You can even pick your fave in our LinkedIn poll. 

TikTok goes culinary 

Ever come across something on TikTok that looks good enough to eat? Of course you have – this is, after all, the app that’s given us baked feta pasta, the folded tortilla sandwich and the salmon rice bowl. 

Ever reactive, TikTok has responded by launching its own delivery-only TikTok Kitchen across the US – they’ll start cooking from March. It’s the perfect Gen Z ecommerce moment – blending digital deliciousness with reality, and popping a price tag on some of 2021’s most viral trends. 

Gossip gets gamified 

With reality on hold, 2021 was the year of gamification and gossip. Goss – a perky pink app designed with Gen Z in mind –  is where both of them meet. Using virtual tokens, users can bet on celebrity news, including when an artist will drop a new single, or what the Kardashians will do next.

 The more quizzes and bets they take part in, the more coins and stars they accrue – and once they’re flush with virtual tokens, they can obtain them for bite-sized, real-life prizes. Brands offering prizes range from Zitsticka and Casetify to Amazon and Beauty Works. Could winning a prize be the first step in a brand loyalty journey for Gen Z users? Does this virtual-first, risk-free approach take the fear out of betting? Time will surely tell. 

Ecommerce goes green 

We’ve covered the Gen Z paradox of online shopping many times – while 98% of Gen Zs shop online, with 1 in 3 shopping online at least once a week, 93% do care about sustainability and the environment. For some Gen Zs, online shopping is habitual – for others, it’s essential, with COVID-19 still very much affecting daily life. 

a tree sprouts in a field

Fortunately, there’s a web extension that “makes online shopping kinder to the environment”. Users of Seesiu can make their order carbon neutral and earn “Seesiu Perks” to spend with Seesiu’s brand partners. For every purchase, Seesiu earns a commission – which they re-invest in carbon offsets, funding environmentally-friendly projects like tree planting or renewable energy. 

Instagram goes affiliate

Affiliate links on Instagram are almost as ubiquitous as filters. So it will come as no surprise that the ever-reactive social platform is launching its own, in-app affiliate product. Influencers can self-select curated collections based on themes or seasons, selecting from a list of participating brands. From there, it’s a traditional affiliate setup, except Instagram – rather than the affiliate network – takes a commission. 

someone browses Instagram

 Blair Eadie and Jean Wang were among those selected by Instagram to test the waters, and Instagram has signed up over 100 brands at this pilot stage, including Gen Z favorites, Zara and Sephora. Instagram has always been quick to grab those ecommerce opportunities – these could be footsteps that the likes of TikTok and Snap will eventually tread in. 

The future of ecommerce is in Gen Z’s hands. Read our full Future of Ecommerce report today.

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