#14 - Headless Ecomm, Social Search, Forbidden Side-hustles, Allegro Growth and WPP partnership.
Headless is dying. Bye Google, Hi TikTok. Job or Biz? Tobi says: choose one. Allegro wants more. WPP partners with Shopify. Liftago Network. My Story in Podcast Format.
Hey there 👋
I’ve been trying hard to don’t mention Shopify every single week, but it’s quite hard to do so, when every single week they announce new cool stuff. It’s hard for many to comprehend, but news about Ecommerce mean news about Shopify. There’s no easy way at all to keep them out of the picture. Besides today I’m opening some discussions points here, to which I’d love to see your reactions and opinions. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom too, to learn about the podcast episode where I share my whole journey.
Let’s start!
5 - Headless is dying
Lately there’s been a rumour about a dying trend: headless commerce. Even though there may still be some edge cases where it can make sense to go on that direction, the current is shifting. Youness, one of the most popular Shopify Dev Influencers nowadays, has a great thread about this topic. Make sure to check the intensive discussion and participate too.
I’m planning to create a Twitter Space or LinkedIn Live soon to openly discuss the role of headless in the current market situation. It will be quite educative, so make sure you join.
4 - Bye Google, Hi TikTok
Where do you think people look for their next purchase? Google, right?
Umm, actually… According to the newest European Ecommerce Report, 98% of shoppers searches products on social media. Is social media overtaking search engines as the main way of navigating the web? What do you think?
3 - Job or Biz? Tobi says: choose one.
This leaked memo from Shopify’s CEO roughed some feathers. How can the “Entrepreneurship Company” discourage their employees from building their own startup?
Personally this doesn’t shock me. I 100% get it. If you own a business, you understand it too. For sure it’s great to have employees who can understand business from an entrepreneur perspective, so experimentation should be recommended. However, it’s impossible to really kick-start a new venture AND at the same time be the most productive worker in your main job. One of those will suffer. It’s that simple.
2 - Allegro wants more
It wasn’t enough to be one of the top players in the Polish Ecommerce market. Allegro is intensively looking across their borders to replicate their local success abroad. Even though they report over 600K active buyers within just 2 months, the sentiment in the country is kind of mixed. Customers aren’t happy with the service level they’re getting in comparison with other national retailers offer:
Allegro current EBITDA in Czechia is negative 20 million EUR.
Wave of negative reviews regarding customer support, low quality products and shipping delays.
Their acquisition of Mall.cz and CZC.cz set Allegro up for a rapid influx of sales
Low prices and free shipping with their subscription plan is too attractive to be ignored
Allegro isn’t going anywhere - the questions are: how much of the Czech market will they have in 5 years and how what other countries will they expand too after.
1 - WPP partners with Shopify
WPP is a multinational advertising and public relations company that provides a wide range of marketing and communication services to clients worldwide. What does this partnership mean for the world?
At this point we can only speculate about the direction this partnership will go. It seems like they’ll work on product development together, but on another hand it’s been stated that in the first year of their cooperation they plan to bring into the ecosystem 300 new Shopify Experts from the WPP global network. My guess is that Shopify doesn’t plan to stop growing rapidly any time soon, and wants to make sure there’s a solid enough community to take in as many enterprise clients as possible over the next couple of years.
App of the week: Liftago Network
Liftago.network is a shared transportation network that offers real-time capacity information for optimised deliveries, utilised by major e-commerce and delivery companies like Alza, Mall, Datart, DPD, and others. Ondřej Krátký, the founder of the company, has a fascinating vision about the future of logistics and mobility. Definitely a great company to follow.
My Story in Podcast Format
I had the opportunity to share more about my journey on Karel’s podcast. The interview was in Czech, so if you don’t understand it, here’s a quick summary of what we covered:
Why did I learn Czech from homeless people.
How is life in the Czech Republic for me and what do I miss the most.
What career awaited me in my home country.
Why to choose to build an e-shop on Shopify and who it's not suitable for.
What is my belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
What values do we uphold in my company and how do we hire new employees based on them.
Why you should google EOS traction.
Who inspired me the most - my boss, coach, and brother-in-law.
How did I react to my little son's serious illness.
