Boulevardier Cocktail & 2023 E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Outlook
Issue No. 2 - February 3, 2023
This Week’s Cocktail: The Boulevardier
When people learn about my love of mixology and cocktails, a lot of them ask me what my favorite cocktail is. Honestly I don’t love the question. It is like asking a well traveled person what their favorite country or city is - there are so many great places and something unique and to love about almost every one!
But the honest truth is that my go-to cocktail is probably a Boulevardier. This drink is really a variation on a Negroni - sharing two of the three ingredients - Campari and sweet vermouth -but with bourbon subbed in instead of the gin found in a Negroni. It also happens to be dead simple to make - just like a Negroni.
According to most accounts, the cocktail was created in the late 1920s by Erskine Gwynne, an American expatriate writer, socialite and extended Vanderbilt family relation who founded a short-lived literary magazine called the Boulevardier in inter-war Paris. Imagine him sipping on one of these waiting for his stipend from the Vanderbilts to pay for the next press run as he chatted with Hemmingway or Gertrude Stein. His literary career may not have left a legacy, but his taste in cocktails certainly has.
Today most quality bartenders know the Boulevardier. But if they don’t, just tell them - it is like a Negroni, but sub in bourbon for the gin - though most specs for the Boulevardier rightfully call for a touch more bourbon in them than a Negroni calls for gin. Yes, it can be fun to teach a bartender a drink, especially if it is a classic like this one.
Another thing to love about the Boulevardier is that it is a great template for experimentation. Here is a pic of one I love, the Double-Split Boulevardier my friend Bill Friend taught me. I have included that spec below as well.
Spec: Boulevardier Cocktail
1.5 oz rye whiskey
1 oz. Campari
1 oz sweet vermouth
The process:
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled and combined. Strain into coupe glass (or into a rocks glass over a large ice cube).
Garnish with an orange twist.
Double-Split Boulevardier
The Spec: The Double-Split Boulevardier
.75 oz rye whiskey
.75 oz. Aged Rum (5 year old is fine, recommend Diplomatico)
1 oz. Campari
.5 oz Sweet vermouth or Quinquina
.5 oz Tempus Fugit Creme de Banane
The process:
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice and stir until chilled and combined. Strain into coupe glass (or into a rocks glass over a large ice cube).
Garnish with an orange twist.
2023 E-Commerce & Digital Marketing Outlook
What a difference a year makes. Last year, as 2022 kicked-off we were flush with optimism that the pandemic was easing and that the year ahead would only accelerate the winds at digital commerce’s back. Heading into 2022 most e-commerce businesses were expecting significant growth to continue with 86% of U.S. e-commerce businesses expecting north of 10% year-over-year growth in 2022, and 29% of them expecting growth over 25%.
But of course multiple factors led to a much more challenging 2022 than anticipated - the Russian invasion of Ukraine, accelerated inflation, exacerbated geopolitical tensions, domestic political turbulence and elections - all led to plummeting, and record low consumer confidence. The harsh reality in 2022 was that only 46% of respondents e-commerce businesses hit double digit growth, and only 21% of them exceeded 25% YoY growth. A whopping 42% of U.S. e-commerce businesses incurred flat or declined sales in 2022.
And on top of this, the supply chain challenges of 2021 made way for a glut of product for many brands and retailers in 2022, leading to heavy discounting and pressure on margins while inflation impacted nearly every area of their businesses - including transportation to labor costs, as well as the cost of customer acquisition - though ocean freight rates from Asia normalized by the end of 2022.
Bloomreach’s own Commerce Pulse data from 2022 reflects this, with North American clients’ sales up a mere .32% YoY in 2022 vs. 2021, while Europe & the United Kingdom saw the impacts of inflation and the war in Ukraine effect consumer confidence markedly - with sales down 7.1% from 2021 on a non-inflation adjusted basis. With inflation running over 10% for much of 2022 in the UK and EU, actual results reflect a decline in total sales in 2022.
That of course needs to be put in the context of the explosive, pandemic driven growth in 2020 and 2021 and it is really important to note that there were winners and losers in 2022. The luxury segment for example was up a whopping 45.96% YoY and apparel was up +8.83% YoY. Grocery and home furnishings held essentially flat while the biggest losers were the Home Improvement and General Merchandise segments which were down double-digits year-over-year in 2022.
But rather than just look back at 2022, let’s look ahead at 2023. Here is what we can anticipate in the year ahead:
Most online retailers are expecting modest growth in 2023 in the face of persistent inflation, high interest rates, and the impact that has on consumer confidence. While 44% of American e-commerce businesses expect over 10% growth, a majority of online retailers and brands expect single digit growth or worse. Expect digital businesses in the UK and Europe to be even more conservative given the economic situation impacting businesses and consumers alike.
That slowing online growth will see businesses turn conservative with their investment strategies. Larger investments that will take time to generate a meaningful return-on-investment will be put off. That will include commerce platform projects, where only 14% of American e-commerce businesses will invest in a new platform. Though notably nearly all of them will be going headless if they do.
But e-commerce businesses will be investing aggressively in ways to serve customers more effectively and optimize the traffic and customer files they have. 52% of e-commerce businesses will be investing in personalization of their sites for their customers, with mobile optimization (45%), site redesign (38%), and product discovery solutions like on-site search and merchandising also seen as priorities (37%).
Retention marketing is now seen as the most important marketing investment area, though closely followed by acquisition. But what really jumps out is how email remains such a key marketing engine for e-commerce leaders - 87% are relying on it for growth in 2023.
But the biggest loser in 2023 may actually be Meta. In 2022 social KPIs rapidly declined for the majority of retailers, pushing them to divest in social media marketing and invest more into search in 2023. 66% of e-commerce businesses will be reducing spend on Facebook, and Instagram will not fair much better with 46% reducing spending there. Yes, we all love ourselves some TikToc, and it will see some increased investment, but that will not replace the critical traffic e-commerce retailers need - leading more to focus on their existing customers in the challenging environment we expect in 2023.
Links of the Week:
Some of these are paid links, sorry. But then again you are a grown up, pay for quality media…
The State of CPG E-Commerce in Five Charts: It doesn’t take a CPGenius to understand that consumer packaged goods (CPG) have gone digital. (Insider Intelligence)
Eyeliner Out of Stock? Blame TikTok: Items going viral on social media sites are selling out, posing new supply-chain challenges. (Wall Street Journal) see also How TikTok Became a Diplomatic Crisis: A Chinese app conquered the planet — and now the U.S. is threatening to shut it down. Can the world’s biggest virality machine survive? (New York Times)
The Mysterious Bah Humbug Toward Christmas Shopping: No matter how you measure it, US holiday spending has fallen since the 1990s. Are we burned out on giving gifts? (Bloomberg)
Tulipomania! When economists need to summon an age of unchecked speculation and financial fecklessness—usually as an analog to something happening now, ahem, crypo! —the Dutch tulip mania is at the top of the list. If you’re not familiar with the story, it’s an early and especially hysterical example of the vagaries of the group think and bubbles. (Paris Review)
Culture & Travel Bonus:
I have developed a very fond affinity to Iceland, having done a few intentional and unintentional visits - including one that led to an “The Entitlement Shit-Storm” - a story my friends claim is a little long, maybe since I have told it many times now. This short film from Monacle about Iceland is a delight, a journey into the Icelandic custom of ísbíltúr - driving to get ice cream. It’s one of many Nordic lifestyle concepts that can teach us a thing or two about quality of life.
