eCommerce Express Digest - October 2024

Here we are in Q2 already! The count-down to the holiday season and the important November Sales period is fast approaching! If you haven’t started thinking about your BF/CM strategy; hop to it! For all of the key dates, checkout the AusPost Marketing Calendar. For now, here’s the main items in October 2024 that you may have missed.

One of the stories that may affect Australian eCommerce businesses is that buy-now-pay-later service Afterpay are tightening the reins on spending. As one of the most popular BNPL services in Australia, has recently implemented a voluntary spending cap for its users. This move comes as regulators worldwide are scrutinising the potential risks associated with these types of financial products.

According to Ray Morgan, almost 16% of Australians used AfterPay post-Pandemic in June 2023.

Some are saying that this self-imposed cap won’t be enough to stop customers struggling from abusing the service. 

Watch this spae to see what possible effects this will have on spending, and if the Government brings in legislation to regulate all BNPL applications.

On to the Google news…

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has introduced a new benchmarking feature. This powerful tool allows businesses to compare their performance against industry benchmarks, providing valuable insights to optimize their digital marketing strategies.

You must opt-in to use this in the GA Settings. See this article from Search Engine Land for more information and instructions.

The search engine giant also updated its spam policies to combat manipulative tactics that can harm search results. These updates aim to maintain the integrity of search results and provide users with the most relevant and helpful information. See their official 

Some social updates…

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced stricter data privacy measures for its Business Tools. This change will impact ad targeting capabilities and may require businesses to adjust their strategies to comply with these new regulations.

Key changes:

• Automatic restriction of certain URL parts and custom parameters
• Potential pausing of ads using highly targeted UTMs
• Altered monitoring in Events Manager

Possible Impact on Businesses:

• Custom audiences may need adjustments
• Some ad sets could be paused
• Reduced visibility in Events Manager

See more about this and all the Meta updates for September here.

Lastly, TikTok is expanding its advertising offerings with the launch of TikTok Search Ads in the US. This move positions TikTok as a direct competitor to Google, enabling brands to target users directly through keyword-based search results. It will be interesting to see how this goes and if it rolls out into the Australian market in the future.

That’s all folks! Stay tuned next month for the latest updates. If we have missed something or you would like to know more, please contact the Megantic team.