Sam Blumenthal

Even a small rise in score, such as an increase from 4.2 to 4.4 stars, often produced a meaningful improvement in sales. Across the 55 categories, the total growth opportunity—the cumulative sales increase that could be attributed to improvements in products’ star ratings—was 37 percent over the span of the growth horizon. This opportunity varied... See more

The core of the Pinduoduo experience is team purchase, where buyers form a group in order to receive discounts from suppliers. The user experience, as laid out in the graphic below, is as follows: (1) for each item, merchants decide two prices – one for individual purchase and one for team purchase. If the user opts for a team purchase, he or she... See more

Instagram’s livestream shopping feature is now over a year old, and beauty brand adoption has become widespread.  On September 19, Instagram concluded its “10+ Days of Live Shopping” campaign featuring a range of consumer brands, including many in the beauty and fashion categories. Beauty participants included one of the first Instagram livestream... See more

By definition, a virtual influencer is a fictional AI-generated person with realistic characteristics, features and personalities of humans. They behave just like real-life influencers. They speak to the camera, share selfies, feelings and thoughts. The only difference is the content. And, well, the obvious – they’re computer-generated with... See more

In the span of just two years, Whatnot became the first U.S. livestream shopping unicorn with a valuation of $1.5 billion. Its app is home to thousands of sellers that deal in sports and Pokemon trading cards, action figures and comic books. Some have created multi-million dollar businesses on the back of its marketplace. Lafontaine says it’s these... See more