Publishers’ forays into commerce have been a little bland, some calling it a day after sticking a “buy now” button on a tab.

Cue the pandemic and five years of explosive online shopping growth in 12 months. Now, publishers like BuzzFeed are making bigger investments, thanks to a ballooning revenue line.

I spoke with Nilla Ali, BuzzFeed svp of commerce last week about its plans for 2021, including how it’s thinking about a ‘digital shopping mall’: a marketplace where people come to experience some of the joys of window shopping.

To get there, the publisher has to flip the user experience, making tweaks to nudge people into the buying mind, plus make it a lot easier to carry out simple tasks, like comparison pricing and making multiple purchases. Luckily, BuzzFeed has had a growing commerce business for the last few years. A few stats from the piece:

• In 2020, BuzzFeed’s total gross sales increased more than 67%
• BuzzFeed’s thousands of shopping articles garnered around 900 million views
• This drove over $500 million in gross merchandise value

Check out the piece to hear Nilla’s view on the commerce trends coming this year.

Before I go, I’ll point you to Scott Nover’s piece out this week looking at the wave of social media platforms that blocked Donald Trump in January—which extended to web infrastructure and commerce companies—and the delicate balance between moderation and censorship. It’s a wild ride and it's not over yet! 

Thanks for reading and have a great week.  

Lucinda 

Lucinda.southern@adweek.com

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