Future Commerce Podcast: eCommerce, DTC and Retail Strategy
Future Commerce
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Future Commerce is the leading podcast for eCommerce and digital operators alike who aren't looking for the next conversion rate optimization tip or how to execute a playbook. It's for those who yearn for something deeper than CRO and PPC.
Each week our hosts Phillip Jackson and Brian Lange explore what it means to sell or buy products online, and how commerce and media impact the culture and the world around us.
Weekly essays, blogs, show notes, full transcripts, and quarterly market research reports are available at https://futurecommerce.fm
Available episodes
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Oldest first
2 days ago
“It Left Me Wanting More” Thomas McCutchen of Bear Group on finding fulfillment as an elder millennial in eCommerce
What happens when your personal fulfillment is overshadowed by tech advancements and rapid business growth? Thomas McCutchen shares his journey of finding purpose in the realm of commerce as an elder millennial while pushing strategy and vision forward for clients in DTC and eCom. From the early days of bootstrapping his passion project to the organic yet intentional growth that led to an Inc 5000 designation, Thomas's story is a testament to the power of authenticity, resilience, and the human touch in a digital age. Listen now!“Editor-in-Chief for Commerce”
* {00:06:08} - “Software on these thick apps where the people using the app are employees that are paid, the user experience leaves a lot to be desired. That bothered me. I wanted to make intuitive systems. I wanted to make systems that were easy to use, that were delightful, that actually the user experience itself was the very thing everyone was talking about.” - Thomas
* {00:13:57} - “What's baked into subscribers is they are your most loyal customers. They already are by leaps and bounds, so there should be rewards for those. So the ecosystem grew dramatically. And with that, so did agencies, and the tech space got pretty crowded, too. It's still an absolutely great business model and there are still better ways to implement it than others.” - Thomas
* {00:17:05} - “I didn't found an agency focused on Inc 5000. Really, I became passionate about commerce and eComm. I had an experience building the in-store apps and it left me wanting more. This didn't feel like the promise of technology that I signed up for. I wanted something better.” - Thomas
* {00:21:09} - “You have to be resilient and that means you have to be dedicated to the problem space. I think that's where a lot of agency owners struggle is they let the happenstance of the customers that walk through the door dictate the directionality of the business as opposed to them being obsessed with a particular problem and trying to solve it.” - Phillip
* {00:34:16} - “Will AI replace us all? I don't know. But for the time being, it can very much help us do our jobs. So it's important that we embrace these things and figure out ways to leverage them for value and then look at the overall market trends as well.” - Thomas
* {00:42:23} - “We're continuing to see value in tying content and commerce. Not only do we want to be subject matter experts, but we want our clients to be subject matter experts. So no longer just offering a product, but kind of owning the domain of knowledge around that product.” - ThomasAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Thomas McCutchen and Bear Group
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 22, 2023
Frequent Flier Free-Agency
Phillip and Brian look at loyalty programs including Delta’s, which may turn Brian into a United or an Alaska guy, recap some compelling highlights from the All-In Summit that Phillip went to, and remind us why commerce really matters and can bring about powerful change as we work to shape it. “A Giant Pain Fest”
* {00:09:02} - “Loyalty is a form of arbitrage. Customers have always figured out how to game rewards programs, but loyalty programs in particular are a short-term play.” - Phillip
* {00:14:03} - “The world does revolve around this value extraction and trying to maximize the benefit that you get through spending through a charge card. So in reality, the loyalty-free agency era is going to be defined by those who do status matching across programs and invite those people who are running away from Delta in with open arms.” - Phillip
* {00:26:05} - “If you can touch commerce, you can touch the world. If you can make an effect in the people who make decisions in commerce every day, you can affect the outcome of the way that people engage in human interaction because we all have to engage in commerce.” - Phillip
* {00:36:42} - “The technology question is a big question. It could go in a lot of different directions. And I think that that's how a lot of this is going to change what people actually accept and take hold of and think about how to apply creatively. The implications of the Internet are still vast. Vast. We are still not applying current technology in ways that are truly transformative.” - Brian
* {00:43:10} - “With fusion power and quantum processing maybe we'll be able to do it all. Until that day, I think we're going to be butting up against the limits.” - Brian
* {00:45:32} - “Commerce has followed a lot of parallels that replace the role that spirituality and community have had in people's lives. And what if we realize that those things just don't fulfill and we need to find within us something that gives us hope? Buying more things, shopping like a billionaire on Temu does not give us hope. But finding community and people of like mindedness and trying to tap into something greater than yourself can give you hope that defies the inevitability of certain demise.” - PhillipAssociated Links:
* The Senses article mentioned (June 9 on Loyalty)
* The GDP/Delta article mentioned
* Quantum Yeet Insiders piece mentioned
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 20, 2023
The Daring Creator
The Creator naturally tears down and rebuilds, moving toward positive change. A tenacious visionary and a dreamer who pursues their goals with unwavering dedication, confidence, and willingness to take risks. The Creator has a strong sense of vision, sometimes restructuring traditional forms.
When it comes to brands that exhibit this archetype, Só Dança is an easy choice. Helena Hines, Chief Operating Officer at Só Dança, shares what it's like to be a Creator in a space that's needed some restructuring for a very long time.A Vision That Delivers
* {00:04:32} “There was one sentence here in the definition, which is "a strong sense of vision and an ability to take ideas from nothing into reality." And I love to do that. Whenever an idea is dead, whenever a concept is dead or people consider it gone, I like to bring it back and say, "But is it? Can we challenge that? How can we bring it back?’" - Helena
* {00:06:58} “Really understanding the tools you have to work with and who's in the room is something that maybe comes naturally to a Creator, to see what I have to work with here to make something.” - Kristen
* {00:09:15} “From the beginning, we were innovators and we were creating things that made sense for the brand and made sense for the dance world, even if the dance world didn't even know it yet.” - Helena
* {00:12:10} “{During the pandemic} I thought, "Is this the right move for us to continue to bet on ourselves?" because we don't know how long this will take. We don't know how long this will be. The whole time everybody in leadership said, "We move forward. We don't stop. We don't halt because we believe in our people and we believe in this company. And we know we need to be reliable. We need to invest in ourselves because when the consumer needs it, we need to be able to deliver.’" - Helena
* {00:14:46} “It's about following through with who you say you are. Staying true to the message that you're sending out there for your internal team and external as well. Are you going to deliver what you said you're going to deliver through the good times, but most importantly through the hard times? And that takes vision.” - HelenaAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Helena Hines and Só Dança
* Check out other Future Commerce podcasts
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world!
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 19, 2023
[DECODED] You Get What You Measure
This season on Decoded, brought to you by BigCommerce, we're going to break down the ways that winning brands build and launch new products, how decisions are made, how goals are set, and how an entire organization collaborates effectively to bring a new product to life.
We've all heard the idioms before. "You are what you eat." "You get what you pay for." Or "You reap what you sow." But when it comes to eCommerce, the idiom of choice might just be "You get what you measure." As eCommerce has grown, the world of analytics has become much more fragmented. Aside from measurement, the analysis of customer behavior has fallen into multiple camps of solutions, from attribution to segmentation and even intuition. In this episode, hear from industry experts Ingrid Milman Cordy, Sean Larkin, and Ian Leslie as they share their insights on this and more.Context, Confidence, & Conviction
* {00:01:56} - “Context is important when a brand is launching a new product or a new subbrand because it can be dangerous to not have a context and a goal when you're doing something new with your business.” - Aaron
* {00:03:42} - “You need to be very careful about what you choose to measure because that changes the reality of your perception of your business and may change your product strategy depending on what you're measuring.” - Aaron
* {00:08:28} - “There are always the big goals and then the smaller goals, those tend to be really clear and people understand them. It's the goals in the middle, the departmental goals that I think don't get as much air time as as needed.” - Ingrid
* {00:15:17} - “The problem is merchants aren't collecting the data and they don't actually know how to operationalize it, and so as soon as I can pivot the conversation there with merchants, that's when things get exciting.” - Sean
* {00:24:14} - “We're typically launching product for both sides of the company and then the few times that we are maybe a little bit more granular in where we think we're going with the product, it ends up being maybe even more popular on the other side anyway.” - Ian
* {00:25:37} - “Having confidence in your plan requires a lot of conviction. And especially in the modern analytics and attribution software ecosystem, that's really all you have is confidence in attribution.” - Phillip
* {00:29:06} - “If you are going to launch a product, assuming that there's going to be failure, budgeting it out to begin with so that you can test and experiment logically.” - SeanAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Ingrid Milman Cordy and Nestlé Health Science
* Learn more about Sean Larkin and Fueled
* Learn more about Ian Leslie and Industry West
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 15, 2023
Pizza Commerce for a Pizza World
The nature of the digital consumer and reaching them in their region and in their context where they are is not just taking something for granted as if all you have to do is put it out into the world and then people adopt it. You have to adapt it to market.
How can pizza shops and restaurants maximize the data collected by Slice to stay ahead of trends and competitors and build community where they are? We’re glad you asked. Matthew Kobach, CMO at Slice, gives us a glimpse into the ways Slice is using data to turn up the heat in the pizza industry and beyond.Slice has Verticalized the Tech Stack for Pizza Commerce
* {00:09:12} - “What you want to do is build a team that is optimized for the industry that you're in… One of the things that I'm currently doing right now is filling that cupboard with people who understand the space, either from the consumer side or the pizza shop side because they understand the pain points.” - Matthew
* {00:10:07} - “I'm so big on messaging. It's one of those things that like ten Xs an ad. Once you can succinctly explain what you do or what your value prop is and it immediately sticks in someone's head, that's how you make an ad more impactful and how you make all your marketing more impactful.” - Matthew
* {00:12:27} - “It's really interesting to think about how context impacts what your message is, even if you're selling the same product.” - Matthew
* {00:15:35} - “I got your attention, and I understand I have only got it for half of a moment. What is the key information you need to remember there? You've got to figure out that way to stand out and deliver your message quickly.” - Matthew
* {00:23:40} - “You can just manipulate data so easily to tell the story that you want. The people who are really, really good at looking at data are the ones who tell you there's no right or wrong way to look at data because they understand that anyone who says there's a right way, they have an agenda.” - Matthew
* {00:31:52} - “There are foundational things you need to do in order to be successful, and then 50% of it, you've got to use your instinct or your gut or realize that your past experience, even if it's not 1 to 1, on how you're going to market this either specific product or to this specific cohort.” - Matthew
* {00:42:08} “It's more about owning the data. It's this idea that you have all this data and you are throwing it away. And so to me, the future of commerce is shops that have not yet harnessed the power of data to do something really special with it and to figure out how to maximize the value of their customers.” - MatthewAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Matthew Kobach and Slice
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 13, 2023
Follow the Muse
How do you listen to the customer and make decisions about the customer without making decisions _for_ the customer? How do we talk to customers better? And how, in the midst of storytelling as a brand, do we remember that our customers are human?
Daniel Hoffman, Creative Director at Five Below, shares that sees his customer as a muse and how following the muse helps Five Below create new and better things in different channels. Of course, digital creation and digital creative direction today really depend a lot on creator partnerships. Given his background and time at other prestigious brands, Daniel has incredible insights to share. Listen now!The Brand Conversation
* {00:10:25} - “When you have a healthy conversation about what's not being done and look elsewhere to what could be done then that's when companies can really innovate and hopefully stick out in the crowd and maybe solve problems for your customers, too.” - Daniel
* {00:15:06} - “When I was a young designer, my directors would say, "Here are your guardrails. Play within that space." And I try to do that for my team. That way I know what they're doing is on brand and also they get to express their voice. They get to try things out and learn and grow and make mistakes and learn from them and do new things.” - Daniel
* {00:21:51} - “The benefit of having a growing team is that there's always a new voice with a new perspective and life experience, and that's one of the benefits of having a diverse team as well. If you don't have a diversity of life experience, then you're going to miss something on the marketing side because your customers are likely a diverse group.” - Daniel
* {00:25:38} - “We started in the early 2000s. At that point, the audience was one thing, but now a lot of those customers, if we did our job right, are still with us, and that audience looks different today.” - Daniel
* {00:26:36} - “The way that brand becomes apparent is through a long-term relationship and established repeated opportunities to develop trust. That just takes time.” - Phillip
* {00:27:25} - “There's a popular term of "brand storytelling," and I really prefer "brand conversation" because that then implies that on the brand side, we're listening to the customer, we're in dialog with them.” - Daniel
* {00:32:45} “Does {AI} impact our customer? And if it's a positive impact, it's worth exploration. As a manager, I have to think about job satisfaction with my team. Is {implenting AI} a satisfying day-to-day for them? So I need to consider that.” - DanielAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Daniel Hoffman and Five Below
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 8, 2023
Consumer Muses & Strategic Innovation
Phillip and Brian, AKA Clarks stan, are joined live at eTail in Boston with the Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Clarks, Tara McRae, as she shares about what she believes the future of commerce is, what makes innovation truly meaningful, and how a company can stay relevant after 200 years.
And before that, the guys review a review of The Multiplayer Brand, complete with a couple of compelling pull quotes.Bubbling Up
* {00:12:46} - “For a brand that's been around for nearly 200 years, we're an extremely diverse brand and we serve a very diverse audience. So for us, that can get scattered if we're not consumer-centric, if we don't have very clear consumer muses and who we're going after and how we reach those consumers.” - Tara
* {00:17:42} - “What's amazing about our brand is we do pull more than we push within these communities, which is exciting.” - Tara
* {00:21:50} - “Our number one goal isn't to try to force people to be omnichannel because a lifetime value is higher. It is to deliver the best brand experience that we possibly can, no matter what channel they want to come through, and really service them that way.” - Tara
* {00:28:57} - “We're really, really focused on how do we strategically embed innovation in everybody's life. It's the same thing I talk about with diversity, equity, and inclusion. You're not going to just give it to a department and go focus on that. It's baked into everybody's job description. That's how I look at innovation.” - Tara
* {00:32:35} - “You're actually stepping into media and having a moment in a way that doesn't make sense to the millennial. Our shoe moments are in the office or some movie, but their media moments are in Roblox and they're in Fortnite.” - Brian
* {00:33:53} - “I wonder sometimes if we abandon opportunities or we neglect opportunities that are inherently less measurable because the current crop of talent is so trained on focusing and doubling down on things that are measurable. But the future is not measurable because it doesn't exist yet. We can't quantify it yet.” - Phillip
* {00:46:39} “You need to be in the market touching and feeling it, chatting with consumers, and seeing trends. So market travel is extremely important to us.” - TaraAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Tara McRae and Clarks
* Review of The Multiplayer Brand by Jess from FireTeam
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 7, 2023
The Relatable Everyman
Everyman brands may have amazing stories, great products, and incredible people behind them, but they aren't trendy. We do tend to forget how important they are and how different life would be without them. The Everyman is always within reach, always there for us. But this wasn't everyone's favorite result when taking the Archetypes quiz.
Jesse Lazarus, Orchid Bertelsen, and Kris Gösser explain why their initial reaction to the Archetypes quiz result of “The Everyman” left them less than impressed and what they’ve come to think of themselves and brands in The Everyman category since then. Not Just Ordinary
* {00:04:18} “To find out that you are "ordinary," if you think about it in our society, it is frowned upon to be basic, but I think what it negates is the fact that there are some things that are so universally loved and useful that of course everybody gravitates towards it. It is the fabric on which communities are woven.” - Orchid
* {00:06:19} “The Everyman can relate in some respect to everyone in the most basic human sense of what it means to be human, the basic necessities that we need to live, but also the basic things that we need in order to start to become more of ourselves in order to flourish.” - Orchid
* {00:07:50} “Brands that want to scale, that want to have longevity, that want to address a large audience or a varying marketplace, the core of that build has to be from the largest applicable perspective, and that is going to be The Everyman concept. There's a time for trendiness, for innovation, for pushing the envelope, but at a certain point when you are proving to enough of a varied audience, that has to be one tool in the kit, not the only tool.” - Jesse
* {00:10:32} “I've actually started to now think even more aggressively than I was prior about who are the actual people behind the brands that are building these things. And I think Archetypes overall has been interesting and helpful in that way. I've actually started to see more businesses that I think are The Everyman.” - Kris
* {00:14:06} “Going to Safeway or the grocery store every week is essentially my weekly Everyman journey. And you can always depend on the prices. You can depend on the products, you can depend on them solving a need for you without ever really kind of grandstanding about it.” - Kris
* {00:15:40} “One, if your name is synonymous with the category, that's a good indicator of an Everyman brand. And second, anything that you have on subscription because you simply cannot live without.” - Orchid
* {00:17:23} “In the end, you couldn't do it only as an Everyman. You have to have a mix of all of those attitudes and approaches, and brands that can effectively inhabit a majority of those things I think are the most successful that are in the market.” - JesseAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Jesse Lazarus and Kravet
* Learn more about Orchid Bertelsen and Common Thread Collective
* Learn more about Kris Gösser and Shipium
* Check out other Future Commerce podcasts
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world!
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 6, 2023
[DECODED] The Key Roles of Product Development
This season on Decoded, brought to you by BigCommerce, we're going to break down the ways that winning brands build and launch new products, how decisions are made, how goals are set, and how an entire organization collaborates effectively to bring a new product to life.
In this episode, Phillip and Aaron talk with Penny Porterfield and Kabeer Chopra about this idea of concept to cart and bringing a new product, a physical product, to life. The website, the eCommerce site, that channel is a product, too. That product is in constant management, constant revision, and constant evolution. How does a brand strike the balance of experimentation while also meeting goals for profitability and customer retention? Listen now for this and much more!Progress Over Perfection
* {00:05:48} - “One of the amazing privileges of having that perspective is seeing fads come and go and having seen things that become truth over long periods of time and the truisms that remain.” - Phillip
* {00:08:05} - “You can spend a lot of money making mistakes. So if you're working with an expert, an agency, they have a lot of experience they bring to the table and can allow you to not only get the biggest value for your money but also do it properly.” - Penny
* {00:24:29} - “If you are taking into account and regularly looking at your site and how it's performing and adjusting to how your customers are behaving, that's how you really build up the functionality, and then your costs are kind of contained a little bit and they're spread out over time and it allows you to kind of lean in hard, identify the critical stuff, but then grow over time as you see how customers are responding.” - Penny
* {01:04:47} - “Timing is so important when it comes to launching products, especially when you're a young company. One of the best pieces of advice we received early on is if you are not embarrassed of the first product that you've put in the market, you're too late.” - Kabeer
* {01:23:59} - “The payoff period may not be what you're expecting. Conditions in the market might be different. So one thing we've been very careful about is working with the right manufacturers whom we can place purchase orders with that allow us to take less risk, giving ourselves more breathing room and not investing everything into that one launch and hoping for success.” - Kabeer
* {01:28:15} - “Obviously at a certain scale, it makes sense to have a central visualization tool which we do, but more of the investment is keeping on going into more ways of looking at the data from a pure slice and dice perspective or enriching it as opposed to fancier ways of looking at it visually.” - Kabeer
* {01:32:26} - “The route we optimize often for removing the buyer friction, the end consumer friction for point of purchase. It's a conversion tactic. There's also removing the friction in making business decisions.” - AaronAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Penny Porterfield and ZaneRay
* Learn more about Kabeer Chopra and Burrow
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Sep 1, 2023
HalloThanksMas is Upon Us
The holidays are upon us. Or are they? Well, the holiday merch is on display already in August. How has Black Friday/Cyber Monday evolved and what do vendors and merchants do to keep up and meet consumers where they are? The world has changed and so has the shopper experience and what they expect to experience. Listen now to hear Meghan Stabler, Senior Vice President of Marketing at BigCommerce, share key insights to how to navigate these changes and set up your brand for a winning strategy for this coming holiday season.Tickle Me Elmo
* {00:04:30} - “The world has changed. The shopper experience has changed. That linear thing that you talked about from an experience perspective has changed. That journey that customers go on has changed. The way that they interface, they search, they click, they like, they turn you into a buyer immediately has changed. So merchants have to change too. So now is the time, if you haven't already thought about is what is your strategy?” - Meghan
* {00:15:24} - “eCommerce nowadays is the mentality of all of these things coming together: the infrastructure, the platform capabilities, and then what you want to do as an eCommerce brand manager that has to be seamless to capture me in that very emotional moment of buying.” - Meghan
* {00:22:07} - “One of the things that I think is super important and it's not discussed too much in typical holiday shopping prep is you actually need to prep for other types of shoppers that you wouldn't normally deal with when you're typically running your promotional promos or your marketing or messaging campaigns. The type of buyer might be someone who's way outside of your ICP, but they're buying it for someone that they know is in your ICP.” - Brian
* {00:41:47} - “Merchants have to think global at local as well and when they think about this is just a Thanksgiving Day sale, yeah, it may be but Thanksgiving is not celebrated overseas. But at the same time, your sales are celebrated and people are going to your site to think about things.” - Meghan
* {00:44:08} - “Some retailers definitely have to lean more into promotion to have a clear out and to make room for inventory. And others are leaving money on the table. That's where you don't ever really get the demand curve perfectly. What I think we've seen most recently is that there were some missed forecasts and demand that have led to the industry having to lean more into promotion over the last 18 months.” - Phillip
* {00:47:44} - “The future of commerce is where AI is going to lead us from where I sort of surrounded it on the data side and analytics and then getting into predictive analytics and then getting into predictive changes and then making individualized journey changes.” - MeghanAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Meghan Stabler and BigCommerce.
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Meet us at eTail Boston 2023
* Check out The Edge Summit from Bloomreach
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Aug 25, 2023
Dating, Dupes, and “Delulu:” Lovers and Outlaws
LARPing
* {00:04:06} - “The first time I published a zine was in 2015 and I was at a point of my editorial life where I really wanted to have ownership over my work, and I wanted to publish articles that were long-form and a little bit more thought-provoking.” - Melissa
* {00:06:21} - “Your way out of algo chasing was to do something on your own and do it printed. Physical format is the way to free yourself from the algo because no algo beats handing out your zine to people.” - Brian
* {00:12:52} - “Lovers and Outlaws really explores how our relationship status is and how we buy things, consume things, and choose products are interconnected and really it gets into modern marketing and also the five stages of consumerism, which are need for recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and post-purchase evaluation.” - Melissa
* {00:14:26} - “There are a lot of parallels between the way that we're shopping for products and how that informs the way that we shop for relationships today because they both come through the same device. And so the way you buy and the way that you consider purchases is very physically adjacent and maybe even mentally adjacent to the same device that you use to shop for and pursue a love interest as well.” - Phillip
* {00:23:09} - “They say build products that you want to use and also build products that actually solve a problem. So being a writer for over ten years, I knew that there were outdated content management systems, there were outdated payment systems, and also outdated data storage. And I know that for a lot of writers, it's really hard to build a community, especially if you're freelancing and you don't really have the means to maybe start a newsletter list or continue to get recognition over your work. So I wanted to build a product that was totally decentralized for me as a writer.” - Melissa
* {00:29:31} - “What I think we do differently at Future Commerce is we're reporting on our view of the world, and we have a lot of principles around that. I think that what you buy and where you buy it is shaped by who you are and who you're around. And I think you're exploring a totally different aspect of that through this concept of love, sex, dating.” - PhillipAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Melissa Henderson and The Violet Verse
* Grab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand here
* Meet us at eTail Boston 2023
* Check out The Edge Summit from Bloomreach
* Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
* Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter ,Facebook ,Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!
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Aug 23, 2023
The Lighthearted Jester
Brands that act as The Jester appeal not to the reason and logic center of our brains, but to the emotional center of our gut. In our personal lives and in business, we often need the reminder to not take things too seriously.
Denise Foley, Vice President of eCommerce and Direct to Consumer at The Bollman Hat Company, gives us her thoughts on the role of the Jester and why we could all use more of the levity the Jester brings. Finding the Funny
* {00:03:36 “Just because you're in the corporate world or have an important job, we spend way too much time working to not have fun. There needs to be some sense of levity and fun in the business and the work and it just makes it better, makes it easier to kind of see the humor in things and not take yourself so seriously.” - Denise
* {00:05:29} “We're a manufacturer, so Bollman in and of itself, while we have a brand line under that is really the manufacturer and the umbrella brand. And we've been around for 155 years. Part of the…
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Aug 22, 2023
[DECODED] The Secret to Successful Product Development: From Data-Driven Decision Making to Intuition
This season on Decoded, brought to you by BigCommerce, we're going to break down the ways that winning brands build and launch new products, how decisions are made, how goals are set, and how an entire organization collaborates effectively to bring a new product to life.
Could a retailer be their own competition, and not necessarily in a good way, in the sense of chasing their own past a little bit and maybe not innovating and simply lightly iterating on something that worked for them maybe in a past season, in the past year or even a past decade? Join the conversation as Phillip and Aaron Sheehan sit down with Loretta Soffe, SVP of Global Retail at Assemble, to discuss this and more. Listen now!Proactive Versus Reactive
* {00:01:52} - “The products that we click on, on a website, the things that we add to our cart are really just the tip of a very, very large iceberg of thought and care and work and design that goes into getting it into a place where not only we as consumers wan…
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Aug 18, 2023
Culture is the Future of Commerce
To understand the future, you must understand culture. That’s the focus of today’s syndicated episode with our friends from eCommerce Fuel. Andrew Youderian sits down with Phillip to discuss the Future Commerce perspective on how cultures adopt commerce as a means of belonging, and how those behaviors are shaping our vision of the future. Listen now! Real Brands Take Time to Build. We’re in too much of a hurry.
* Branding is not just about aesthetics; it's about endurance and persistence.
* Physical media provides a grounding experience amidst the digital world.
* Nostalgia and nostalgic content serve as an antidote to our fast-paced, digital lives.
* The enduring brands are the ones that persist despite all odds.
* Attention spans are decreasing, highlighting the need for authentic, tangible experiences.
* {00:08:08} - “When you're looking at what differentiates a successful brand or a generational brand or what you might call a cultural brand from another is thei…
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Aug 11, 2023
"The Balenciaga Pope"
Consumers hold more power than ever before, brands are at the center of a moment, and generative AI is creating an opportunity for people to make bigger cultural critiques. How far can you control how your images are being used? How much does your own literacy of culture and media enlighten your understanding of the nuances of the subtext? Why does this all really matter in commerce, art, and culture? Eating its Own Tail
* {00:03:43} - “We've become known at Future Commerce for hosting salons, and now we have this new Future Commerce learning offering. If you are an agency operator or you're building high-performance teams in a brand, if you're a brand operator side, if you're wanting to go deeper down the rabbit hole as a brand operator on the topics of retention or new customer acquisition and learn more about things like loyalty, this is for you.” - Phillip
* {00:11:46} - “You see this happen in the founder ecosystem all the time. The founder actually is the brand. The fo…
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Aug 9, 2023
The Steadfast Hero
The Hero is the aspirational archetype that inspires and motivates with optimism and strength. Heroes are there for us, offering security and a reason to be better tomorrow than we are today.
We've looked at the Hero before in this season of Archetypes, but not all Heroes are alike. Listen now as Ian Leslie, CMO at Industry West, shares his take on what it means to be the Hero as a person and as a brand, including some of the pressures, the positives, the negatives, and why it all matters in the scope of the broader story.Standing in the Gap
* {00:04:14} “There's a lot of pressure that comes with like, "I need to fix it now. It needs to be right now. It needs to work right now." I think understanding and always kind of going back to what am I solving for, and can I solve for it?” - Ian
* {00:06:03} “Batman is representative of something, and oftentimes he can't be in two places at once. And so he has to, just by his presence, empower Gotham to stand up for itself. That's re…
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Aug 4, 2023
"Blimp Commerce"
What is the often-overlooked marker of body data?
* {00:08:55} - “The culture of commerce right now is participatory and people right now are building on each other's ideas so rapidly and in real time that they can manifest things that it used to be only a luxury brand could pull something like that off.” - Phillip
* {00:11:45} - “It's context collapse. This is effectively deepfaking the world, resetting how people think about things. It's artificial context.” - Brian
* {00:13:51} - “The strategy is literally nothing more than getting in a room with your marketing team and even with your brand team and sitting down and just doing a whiteboarding session with a million Post-its that say, "What is happening in the discourse right now?’” - Phillip
* {00:19:53} - “When you're going to build a system to fix a problem that you created that involves differentiating between whether someone's a human or a robot, don't build an orb for people to line up and get signed up…
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Jul 28, 2023
Bandwagon Bandwidth: Should Every Company Be a Media Company?
"In the future, every company is a media company." That’s hogwash, according to Tommy Walker. Tommy is all too familiar with this ideology and the pitfalls in the business of creating media and aggregating attention.
Listen in to hear this insightful discussion and join the conversation.“Committed to the Bit”
* {00:05:03} - “Understanding the cost structure and what it takes to hire talent and all of that, without that sort of knowledge, if you don't have that currently right now, then no, not every company needs to be a media company. You're better off spending your money in ads or some other type of growth lever.” - Tommy
* {00:10:34} - “With my own personal brand, I wanted to do a podcast, but I didn't have the bandwidth to do it. But I would become a Serial podcast guest. If you have an infrastructure in place, then let me just be a part of that infrastructure, show up as part of that conversation, do what I do, do what I do well, and then bounce and go do my thin…
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Jul 26, 2023
The Sage's Wisdom
The Sage brings wisdom to those who inquire and mentors those who seek guidance in a kind, calm, and steady manner. They have accumulated knowledge and experience over time and are a valuable resource for others. A brand that acts as a wise Sage can help us open our minds to wisdom and create a more equitable world.
What if, as a merchant, you could go to that one place and get the support and guidance you need? What if that one place has so much experience that you can learn from them and know they are on your side? That is the layer of value Adobe adds. Listen in as Nitu Walker represents Adobe as The Sage. For The Heros and The Outlaws Alike
* {00:04:41} “Adobe has always been known to have very strategic partnerships. We have a huge partner ecosystem, but what we really wanted to do is provide a holistic commerce experience. And by doing so, utilizing our partnerships to create value-added integrations.” - Nitu
* {00:07:20} “You've built an entire ecosystem that can mee…
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Jul 21, 2023
Barbenheimer: Nostalgia, Retail, Recall, and Relevance
Unless you’ve been under a rock somewhere, you probably are aware of the Barbie marketing machine ahead of the major motion picture release. What does this signify as a moment in our culture and the ways culture and commerce intersect? Barbie brought some major shifts when she first showed up in our world. What will this highly-marketed film bring with it?
Alicia Esposito joins Phillip for an in-depth look at Barbie: the doll, the brand, the film. All brands can learn something from this moment in time, but if we aren’t careful, we’ll learn the wrong lessons and chase some rabbit holes that just don’t make sense. There’s a lot to talk about, so get your popcorn and have a listen!Nostalgia is Power
* {00:04:12} - “There's cultural acceptance of certain types of media and popular media that shapes the way that we perceive the world.” - Phillip
* {00:05:11} - “A brand is not a logo or fonts or colors. A brand is a marker of trust of a corporation that was able to end…
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Jul 14, 2023
Looking for Love and Meaning in All the Wrong Places
Orchid Bertelsen has lived many lives in her journey from innovation to business ops. Ever heard of Nestlé’s digital human Cookie Coach, Ruth? Hint: She was heavily involved in the making of Ruth and its success in bridging the gap between technology and human connection. Be sure to stay tuned until the end to hear about the shifting dynamics between consumers and corporations in the digital age, the loving nature of critique, how Facebook never really died in the land of Suburbia, and in true Orchid fashion: a Scandoval reference. Threadaverse
* {00:12:12} - “At the heart of {the Virtual Human Cookie Coach} was how can we serve more customers through a connected and consistent experience while utilizing technology and obviously using all of that information to make the product better, to make the experience better.” - Orchid
* {00:14:45} - “Microsoft is so far ahead of everything and they always fail as a result. That's the problem.” - Brian
* {00:16:52} - “If you…
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Jul 12, 2023
The Way of the Outlaw
The Outlaw defies, disrupts, and brings change by paving their own way. They challenge established ways of thinking, by pioneering and innovating fearlessly. The Outlaw represents the world of possibility that comes when coloring outside the lines. Meet our Outlaw, TUSHY Founder Miki Agarwal, and hear how she is taking the world by [sh*t]storm and will not apologize for it.No Butts About It
* {00:04:52} “The more you talk about something, the less taboo it becomes, the more normalized it becomes. And that's actually the whole point is to make this be something where people aren't saying, "Did they take it too far?" - Miki
* {00:07:20} “I've heard you say throughout the course of this chat, "The things that we do aren't just for the sake of them. It's to open up a broader conversation.” It's not just about the thing itself. It's about what it inspires afterward.” - Brian
* {00:09:11} “When we show humanity, which includes humor, levity, fun, and authentic people sharing…
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Jul 7, 2023
Our Sh*tty Robot Future
In this episode, we are bringing to you a new old piece of content that is more relevant today than it has ever been as we just celebrated our 2023 edition of Visions, our annual Audio-Visual Trends report, first with a launch in Chicago at our Visions Summit at the Retail Innovation Conference and then with the launch of our multiplayer experience and our new zine, the Multiplayer Brand. Visions Volume 4 is the biggest, baddest piece of content that we have ever produced, but that makes the content we did last year that much more relevant because from the vantage point of 2023, we can see how predictions and anxieties that we had in 2022 came true or were put to rest.
It’s a great interview with Michael Miraflor, an incredibly prolific thinker and the Chief Brand Officer at Hannah Grey VC, and the then CEO and now President of Trade Coffee, Mike Lackman, to talk about the changing nature of work, how our roles in society are altered and our perspectives are altered by algorithm…
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Jun 30, 2023
AI Should Empower Your Workforce, Not Replace Them
Brian Lange sat down with visionary Brian Roemmele this week, and luckily we get to listen in on a couple of hours of their conversation! Are you an AI user in the workplace? If so, Brian Roemmele challenges you to look at AI as a tool for creativity and empowerment, rather than replacement. Don’t Throw the Baby out with the Bathwater
* {00:03:30} “We're not designed to be in safety literally our entire life. We should always be a little unbalanced and a little challenged. So the same is true with AI. And that challenge forces creativity.” - Brian Roemmele
* {00:16:40} “I also challenge you to accept the fact that you no longer have a cemented position on anything. That does not mean that you just don't have a position. It means the tree is flexible so the wind doesn't break the tree.” - Brian Roemmele
* {00:21:24} “They'll tell me, “Brian, you're crazy. You're a charlatan. It's just math.” I go, "That's interesting. Now, we're dealing with human language. We're…
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Jun 28, 2023
The Magician's Power
When a brand discovers the needs of their consumers and then provides them with that well, that is magic. For Keely Copeland, Founder of Second Chance Initiative, building a brand was about solving a problem that was bigger than her. She saw a need, she dreamed of a different way to meet that need, and then she began to build a brand that would bring hope to not just consumers, but also the women involved with the creation of their products. Listen now to this episode of Archetypes!Empty Vessel
* {00:04:27} “It was about how can we use commerce as a vehicle to create safe and secure jobs for women in recovery who are reentering the workforce so that they can come work in a healthy, secure environment for a few months, up to a year while they get back on their feet and then they can go back to either the career they used to have or something new altogether.” - Keely
* {00:07:48} “There's a tug of war of power between the brand and the consumer. And in this tug of war of power…
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Jun 23, 2023
[INFINITE SHELF] Succession IRL
Have you checked out our other podcast Infinite Shelf yet? Here is a taste of our latest episode: Succession IRL. Listen in with hosts Ingrid Milman Cordy and Orchid Bertelsen and don't forget to subscribe!
There comes a time when every DTC company hits the pause button and asks, “What’s next?” Cue the Patrick Bateman and Kendall Roy mergers and acquisitions quotes. If acquisition does end up being an option, when you cede power as a founder, will you be happy with what the new parent company decides to do? Will your legacy live on?Secret Sauce
* {00:11:11} “When we're talking about multinational corporations or larger corporations, usually you got to make sure that you've got a healthy business that you can just put your resources against in order to grow.” - Orchid
* {00:16:28} “There's a reason why acquisitions don't have the most fantastic reputation for succeeding post-acquisition. A lot of that is because too much emphasis is put on the acquirer to solve those p…
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Jun 20, 2023
Winner Sells All
Just in time for the release of his new book, Jason Del Rey sits down with Phillip and Brian and talks about his research in the histories of Walmart and Amazon, what he learned that matters to consumers today, and what he’d like to see in the future of commerce. His book, _Winner Sells All: Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets_ is being called “A riveting investigation of the no-holds-barred battle between Amazon and Walmart to become the king of commerce.” It’s a must read, and it’s out TODAY, June 20th! Listen now to hear more and get your own copy of the book everywhere books are sold! Tug of War
* {00:04:02} “I'm a sports fan, and rivalries are something that I grew up on. And this was just sort of an epic one: Amazon and Walmart. And I really wanted to just go inside and explain to readers both in and outside the industry what these companies' ambitions are, how they look at each other, and hopefully, you get some takeaways on why that matters for you, t…
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Jun 16, 2023
The Brand Beyond the Box
What happens when a company is quick to make decisions based on real customer insight within a culture that celebrates collaboration between marketing and product development? You get a brand like ButcherBox that is building not only a great business but a subscription service that is providing transformation in the way families do dinner. Listen in and hear how Lesley Mottla and Kiran Smith are building teams that are continuing to build a passionate brand for their members! Lesley and Kiran will be sharing more of their strategies for building the ButcherBox brand live at eTail Boston this August. Future Commerce will also be there to bring you more great conversations from the show – come join us!Data as Enabler
* {00:05:24} “Like many companies, the company made technical decisions, and grew out of those technical decisions. You definitely come to a point where you have to really take a hard look at things and figure out what's the platform or pieces that are going to get yo…
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Jun 9, 2023
The [True] Cost of Convenience
Welcome to the membership revolution where suddenly airlines are the talk of the town. With a flat fee comes compromise, but are you willing to give up convenience for a cheaper price? Also, if you haven’t yet, take a look at your Shop Pay app and check your wallet out. You may have some cash to burn sitting in the account courtesy of the annual “Shop Pay Shop Day,” which totally existed before this year…right? Tune in now to hear the rest.Loyalty is a Two-Way Street
* {00:13:14} “The loyalty in the ERP space, and what your business actually runs on that has a lot of bearing on how you choose your eCommerce stack in enterprise.” - Phillip
* {00:20:16} “What I've always realized, especially when being budget conscious, there's always a cost associated. It's either your time, your patience, or your dollars. And sometimes paying more means that you get a little bit more of your time and you save a little bit of patience.” - Phillip
* {00:25:08} “We're becoming muc…
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Jun 7, 2023
The Caregiver's Mission
For a customer to have a seamless experience while dealing with grief and trauma requires exceptional service and unbelievable logistics infrastructure. They need care. For the three founders at Titan Casket, Scott Ginsberg, Joshua Siegel, and Liz Siegel, this is core to their story as a brand. Listen now to this episode of Archetypes!Direct to Exhumer
* {00:01:38} The Caregiver continually supports others, making sacrifices on their behalf. They are honorable, selfless, and loyal. The Caregiver offers unconditional love and has a strong sense of responsibility for others to protect and provide a safe place where others can feel nurtured and cared for.
* {00:05:36} “You may have seen us talk about being the Warby Parker of Caskets and that's not because we're direct to consumer. It's because what Warby saw was there was one manufacturer that controlled all the supply and they also owned the channels of distribution. And so they thought there was a better way of working outside o…
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Jun 2, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] What Frameworks Should I use to Qualify Good Software for my Business?
This season on Step by Step, we are asking what does “seamless” mean to my eCommerce business and how do I demystify that in a way that helps me select the right solutions and softwares that make a seamless experience come to life? Just like the suiting and the apparel that KASHIYAMA provides to its customer, there is no one size fits all solution in eCommerce today. Selecting software correctly and well in your organization requires a lot of orchestration and effort and sometimes some frameworks and tips and tricks on how to do that well. BJ McCahill knows all about this and has incredible insights to share. Listen now!In this episode:
* {0:10:19} - “We calculated at one point there were over 10 million combinations of types of products that you can order. So just looking at the platform where we were going to house our website, that was a huge consideration. Even though initial order volume wasn't going to be that high, we knew the data complexity needed something that was r…
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Jun 1, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] What is the Importance of Consolidating my Technology?
This season on Step by Step, we are asking what does “seamless” mean to my eCommerce business and how do I demystify that in a way that helps me select the right solutions and softwares that make a seamless experience come to life? Join us as we hear from Michael Chen, Director of eCommerce Operations at Sugarfina, to break down the term “single handshake” and look more closely at consolidation of operations in your eCommerce business. Listen now!In this episode:
* {0:08:20} - “From the backend side, there are a lot of softwares we have to use to eliminate all the friction points from the time {consumers} find the website and go on the website to check out and pay. That should be really, really smooth.” - Michael
* {0:14:32} - “Right now everything is in Magento. We have Adobe Live Search, we have Product Recommendations, and everything is working in one place. So I don't have to go to different places, which save a lot of time and headache.” - Michael
* {0:16:01…
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May 31, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] What Does “Fully-Integrated” Mean in the DXP Era?
This season on Step by Step, we are asking what does “seamless” mean to my eCommerce business and how do I demystify that in a way that helps me select the right solutions and softwares that make a seamless experience come to life? Joining us on the podcast in this episode is Rebecca Hall, Director of Digital Solutions Consulting at Blue Acorn ICI, and Doug Hatcher, her counterpart on the sales side of the business, a solutions consultant. And they're going to answer this question, "What does fully-integrated mean in the DXP era?” Listen now!
In this episode:
* {0:11:32} - “DXPs provide: a very good way to visualize and analyze how people are interacting with the brand so you can customize it and better personalize the experience people are getting to it.” - Doug
* {0:14:46} - “The beauty of composable architecture and personalization is that you're really hitting those specific customers, really hitting those specific audiences, and you're serving up a unique expe…
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May 30, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] Mastering Omnichannel Integration for Seamless Shopping
This season on Step by Step, we are asking what does “seamless” mean to my eCommerce business and how do I demystify that in a way that helps me select the right solutions and softwares that make a seamless experience come to life? In this episode, we are talking to Keith Menezes, who's the Director of Commercialization at Walmart, the world's largest retailer. We're going to talk about how we master omnichannel integration and provide for a seamless experience not just for customers, but also for employees and some of the decisions that are made in making the technology that Walmart has built to create incredible omnichannel experiences available for the rest of the world. Listen now!In this episode:
* {0:06:28} - “A vibrant retail ecosystem where we're all really serving other merchants and customers, I think helps all of us.” - Keith
* {0:10:32} - “It's not just about the technology, it's about the system, and then it's also about the change management. If you deploy…
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May 29, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] What Does “Seamless” Mean in my eCommerce Operations?
This season on Step by Step, we are asking what does “seamless” mean to my eCommerce business and how do I demystify that in a way that helps me select the right solutions and softwares that make a seamless experience come to life? To start this season off, we welcome the CEO of Whisker, Jacob Zuppke, to share about his incredible amount of experience in building a technology company that today is omnichannel, selling in retailers, selling via an app, and making your life a better place by making your pets' lives better. Listen now!
In this episode:
* {0:07:19} - “As you grow up from a company from small to big pretty quickly, I think you end up making a lot of decisions because you don't have a person for everything. We've evolved, but not drastically. I still want my department leaders selecting software. I don't want a central IT hub making those decisions on behalf of each department because I think that's a siloed approach that doesn't get each user what they want.…
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May 26, 2023
Mockup Madness: The Gamification of the Checkout Experience
Mockup Culture is everywhere these days. We have seen things from Wes Anderson Star Wars to Gucci Spring lookbooks created in MidJourney, the possibilities are truly endless. Join Phillip and Brian as they explore the notion that we now live in a time where any dream can be transformed into reality, no matter how bizarre or outlandish. They explore how prominent brands like Telfar are embracing the concept, utilizing gamified pricing strategies to captivate consumers. As they dissect these phenomena, they unravel the concepts of "hyperstition" and "metamodernism" and examine their implications for the modern consumer. Stay tuned for some content teasers from Phillip and Brian, as they hint at what's to come at our Visions Summit in Chicago.Tonal Shift
* {00:09:42} “Why does Dollar Shave Club or Glossier choose a Shopify? There's an operational cost associated with selling online and it gets more expensive every day, especially the more custom software you have and the more esoteri…
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May 24, 2023
A Hero's Journey
What does it take to build a brand that stands out as a Hero? How does the Hero’s story inspire us and bring about positive impact in the world around us? Listen now as Ju Rhyu shares with Phillip some of her Hero’s journey in building Hero Cosmetics!Standout Success
* {00:02:47} Ju knew that acne care is an emotional and sensitive area of the market, and she wanted the name of the product and of the brand to be positive and connect emotionally with consumers who needed the solution the product would provide
* {00:05:25} “When we started, even though we started on Amazon, I always knew this business would be an omnichannel business because when you have a pimple emergency, two day free shipping is great, but nothing sometimes is as good as being able to walk into a store and pick up a product that same day.” - Ju
* {00:06:00} Hero’s first in-store launch went so well that it went nationwide pretty quickly, and then two years later was in Target where one SKU became a m…
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May 19, 2023
Navigating Legal Landmines
Any business comes with risks, and there are many legal issues around advertising that can become major if a brand doesn’t have arms around what those are and how to avoid them. From differing terms of agreement to the variety of laws per state, there is a good deal to navigate, and it takes an expert to wade through. How do you realistically have a thriving enterprise or a business with these kinds of encumbrances? Listen now to our conversation with Robert Freund and his take on this changing environment and how it affects all of us! Applying Old Laws to New Situations
* {00:08:05} The rules of disclosure, that were never really clear before, are undergoing scrutiny and clarification from the FTC for situations such as an influencer receiving product and then creating content about it and other examples that can really determine strategy
* {00:13:22} “The FTC's rule is that the disclosure has to be clear and conspicuous, which effectively means your audience can't miss it.…
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May 12, 2023
Breaking the Hedonic Treadmill
Joy Howard's Early Majority is defying conventional eCommerce norms by building in public with their community. In this episode, learn about Joy's ethos for redefining brands with a “punk rock ethos,” the challenges of creating a unique online experience, and how Early Majority’s mission to redefine the good life is resonating with customers seeking a more meaningful, eco-conscious lifestyle. Listen now!Street to Summit: Culture is What Makes Brands
* {00:05:12} Why do so many outdoor brands make cool stuff for men and then have a women’s line that is pretty lame? There are cool outdoor women who want cool outdoor apparel, too
* {00:09:17} Building in public is a slower way to grow a brand, but Joy views the enjoyable pace as a foundation for longevity
* {00:11:53} “As soon as you decide that you're going to build community, you automatically have to have humility and you automatically have to submit to where everybody else wants to go too. Not in a herd or sheep-like…
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May 5, 2023
Ignorance Plus Desperation
How do you find out what your customers are afraid of and what they already want? What has it been like for Aaron to go from being the long form guy at previous companies to now creating short form content? How does our personal story fit into the larger narrative and why is that powerful to consider? Listen in now to the discussion with Aaron Orendorff and hear this and more! The Story Within The Story
* {00:06:31} Good writing that is a mix of good content, emotion, storytelling, and enough of the right juice to get eyes on it works, even when you are not exactly the expert on the subject
* {00:08:58} The tension between knowing a little bit about a lot and being willing to take risks and be open to learn makes it hurt less when you are actually proven wrong
* {00:18:18} Three levels of Aaron’s strategy for Future Commerce: Originality with accessibility, capturing the demand, and cleaning up the technical side of things
* {00:25:41} After six years of experimentation at F…
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Apr 28, 2023
“23 Metrics That Matter”
The guys sit down and hear from Kiri Masters about her newest report, Fit For Purpose: 23 Next-gen DSP Metrics That Measure What Matter, and the incredible insights found within. As always, Kiri provides interesting ways to look at important metrics like only she can. Listen in now and hear more! The Gorilla in the Room
* {00:05:13} Kiri found that her clients needed to take a step back and understand what was happening at each stage of the buyer journey based on a better set of metrics that, as her new report is called, are fit for purpose. They really fit for each stage rather than metrics that don't give the full picture
* {00:09:41} Metrics such as Competitor Audience Acquisition and Review Page View Rate are original metrics discovered by Kiri and her team and are indicators that shed light on whether or not specific campaigns are working for a brand
* {00:18:51} Whatever used to happen on the brand side with technology is now something that can happen inside of platforms t…
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Apr 21, 2023
The Future of eCom is Dead Celebrities
The way that we buy is changing dramatically. Folks make less concerted purchases of a higher order value based on this really brief calculus of what kind of a product it is, where you are in your need for that product. Over the past seven years of doing this show, we’ve seen how much attention has been fractured. Parasocial relationships are entertainment mixed in with social media mixed in with commerce. Listen in now as Phillip and Brian discuss these ideas and more! Entertaining Relationships
* {00:03:26} Le Creuset has a new colorway, and their paper bag reveal video led to an interesting discussion on why cookware is a leading edge category in DTC
* {00:13:39} San Fran is back on the map with tech innovation, according to folks in AI, and it’s funny how chat style interfaces are reminiscent of the discourse we had about conversational commerce six years ago on Future Commerce
* {00:21:19} Is faking it the only way to get the American audience to buy into live-stream sh…
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Apr 14, 2023
Leveling the Playing Field for U.S. Small Businesses
What do you do when there is an area in public affairs with either fast change or major conflict happening? You send in the sophisticated research team Mark Drapeau leads and find out what is going on and why. Listen in now to our conversation with Mark as he shares insights from years of research and also more about their newest report called Maximum Impact: How Digital Ads Level the Playing Field for U.S. Small Businesses!Data, Digital, and Disruption
* {00:05:45} “We want people to be armed with the best data points to tell a great narrative.” - Mark Drapeau
* {00:11:38} Every single thing could be seen as a threat or an opportunity depending on where you sit and how you react to it.
* {00:17:13} How does sports gambling and gaming effect other areas of the economy and why would that trade off be interesting and necessary piece of data to look into?
* {00:27:18} “Digital tools are a force multiplier for businesses trying to sell.” - Mark Drapeau
* {00:36:35} Acros…
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Apr 7, 2023
TikTok Organic Can Lead Product Innovation
Is it possible to find a gap in the market and find your own creative ways to authentically fill it? What are some ways to leverage social media interaction in ways that really build loyal, longterm relationships with your customers? Listen in to hear Adam Simone share the journey Leaf Shave has been on and where they’re headed next! “And then Doja Cat Shaved Her Eyebrows”
* {00:05:18} When two engineers get together and are grumpy about a hole in the market, you get a pretty cool little piece of machinery that is safe to put on your skin and shave with
* {00:11:18} Adam loves to engage with customers on social, and after customers asked and asked for a specific product to be developed by Leaf, they finally were able to deliver and launched it recently
* {00:17:05} It’s easy to use gimmicks to amp up the metrics of an ad or a technique, but it’s important to look at what actually worked and why it did to make sure we don’t get stuck using those gimmicks
* {00:22:07…
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Mar 31, 2023
How Thingtesting Became Yelp for DTC and CPG Brands
What role do reviews have in building a business and how can they aid in building community? What is the value of print versus in-person events and the typical stream of digital content? Listen in to hear what Natalie Sportelli as she tells us about the future of commerce.“The Trustworthiness of Tone”
* {00:07:42} “What really sets us apart is creating a Yelp equivalent of trusting other people's experiences with brands to help inform your own.” - Natalie
* {00:12:46} There is really interesting psychology behind why people like to write reviews, whether it be to help the brands or to help other people like perhaps reviews have helped them
* {00:16:04} Natalie finds the most interesting reviews to be the three-star reviews that start with phrases such as, “I really wanted to like this, but…” because they offer more insight and also can bring more understanding to the whole of the experience
* {00:18:28} “The role of reviews will only become more important as co…
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Mar 24, 2023
"The Digital Natives are Analog-Curious"
Today we cover the absence of a modern media format war and the reemergence of convergence devices. PLUS: What is the key to building a better future for your brand? According to Peter Karpas, CEO at Bold Commerce, it's the "customer trifecta": great products, quality customer flow, and thoughtful customer journeys. Listen now!The Commerce Quilt
* {00:03:28} The digital natives are becoming the analog curious, and it’s now a sustainable business model to sell analog formats to a new audience
* {00:09:48} “eCommerce itself is its own convergence device in that it's the natural intersection of all of these things like logistics, payment, and catalog.” - Phillip
* {00:27:28} Bold Commerce is a stepping stone to create a revenue impact that heads towards the composable world. Brands can integrate Bold and solve common checkout problems
* {00:33:35} “Any word that you have to explain what it means is not a good marketing word.” - Peter Karpas
* {00:35:11} “We would be…
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Mar 17, 2023
Ideation Platforms Enable Creativity
As we sit in the middle of conference and expo season, we chat with Alicia Esposito about what she is excited about in retail right now and why, while also discussing the need for humans and community even with the advancement of AI technology. Plus, a special announcement about RICE X Future Commerce June 2023! Listen now for all of this and more!We Still Need Humans
* {00:05:50} There are two key areas that Alicia is most excited about in retail right now: retail media and also the store become a place of community building and connection
* {00:08:54} We’ve been talking about AI for years at Future Commerce, but now there are more practical applications that are enhancing customer experiences, and that is exciting
* {00:13:08} “The use of these tools as an ideation platform and as an enabler of creativity versus a killer of it is the path that I'm more inclined to take.” - Alicia (We’ll still always need humans).
* {00:19:55} “It'd be really interesting to see what…
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Mar 14, 2023
Healthy Cynicism, Best Practices, and the Everyman
How can we both challenge the idea of best practices while also not throwing the idea completely away? Why do we need guardrails and how do those serve the customer best? What are some shifts in culture that can lead to better outcomes in the supply chain and in the commerce ecosystem as a whole around fast and cheap manufacturing and distribution? Listen now to hear this and more!“Best Practices” can’t be a function of stasis
* {00:05:24} Jesse offers a challenge to our take on best practices saying he doesn’t think there is a way to provide the distinction, ease of use, and seamless customer experience without best practices being in place, but agrees they should be challenged (i.e. don’t buy into the “cult of best practices”
* {00:20:58} Kravet is experimenting with generative AI and looking at ways to incorporate new ideas and technologies or not, and AI is really a tool to add to your tool belt to augment your skillset as a company
* {00:24:48} “If you don't…
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Mar 10, 2023
In-store Innovation Helps the Road Runner Sports “Con-SHOE-mer” Go the Distance: LIVE from eTail Palm Springs
With so many tech options, understanding how brands can use technology in a way that humanizes the customer experience while not being afraid of “getting behind the curve” can be a delicate balance. How do you use it to grow and develop and be more knowledgeable in your space and serve your customers well both in-store and online? Road Runner Sports is a brand that is serious about navigating this balance. Listen now to hear Sean Peterson share how their in-store experience is paving the way for a better online experience for their customers as well.In the Customers’ Shoes
* {00:04:20} Road Runner has a very high-touch, tech-forward in-store experience, and they customize shoe insoles, for example, helping the customer get exactly what they need in a shoe
* {00:05:22} Road Runner is taking a brick-and-mortar first approach to technology, which is actually going to dictate how they will do things online
* {00:20:13} We can buy more and more and more technology today than ev…
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Mar 3, 2023
These Trends are Trending: Forecasting in the age of the trendscasting industrial complex
From COVID trends to worldwide annual forecasting across various industries, Ci En Lee and team have been compiling and curating helpful content and sharing with the world. Listen now and be reminded of how one brilliant idea can lead to others and build community across cultures. Who Reports on the Trends Reports Reports?
* {00:03:23} What started with a desire to collect and share COVID trends for companies led to what is now an annual trends report
* {00:5:43} The sharing culture is very important in the future of this repository of trends, and there are contributors and ambassadors from around the world participating
* {00:11:52} “There are people who do really put in the effort in that regard to really ensure that these trends are real trends and not something that is trendy.” - Ci En Lee
* {00:15:23} The publishing and the collection of trend reports and the reporting of the report has become a trend in itself
* {00:18:21} Some reports are more of a PR opportunity,…
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Feb 24, 2023
The Team of NO!
What about NRF and Manifest conferences prompted Kris Gösser to assert that a lot of the hardships in retail are behind us? What positive changes is he seeing in operations and logistics that will be a force for more of the right kinds of changes? And what can we learn from generational business models to futureproof in a technology-heavy, technology-centric industry? Listen now and join the discussion!People Are Back
* {00:09:43} It’s interesting to note the differences between NRF and other smaller conferences in the industry and how basically the basement booths at NRF are the ones that are present at all of the others
* {00:14:51} How quickly will the industry absorb the inevitable change with so much capital going into new tech, and why is there a difference in the ways change happens on the operations side versus the marketing side?
* {00:20:13} After what happened on the operations side during the pandemic, the focus is really on risk mitigation and solving for potenti…
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Feb 17, 2023
Disruptors and the Defenders of the Status Quo
Revisit with us this incredibly deep discussion from December 2016 with Brian Roemmele about how voice interaction (and other tech) will revolutionize most everything and how at the end of the day, we have to fight to keep the humanity into the equation. Learn, develop, grow, change, and also strive to understand the people around you and behind all of this technology. Listen now to hear more!Time For More
* {00:08:27} The guys discuss with Roemmele how many buttons in the world, crosswalks, elevator open/close, and more, aren’t even connected. We just need that action to feel like we are controlling something.
* {00:11:54} There are seasons of change as new technology is adopted. And that’s a good thing.
* {00:18:17} Why the voices and names of these voice assistant tech devices are women’s voices and names and what the research has found about that
* {00:33:36} “We are always trying to look for something in a voice that reassures us” - Roemmele
* {00:38:58} “In…
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Feb 17, 2023
2023 is the Year of Good Enough
Lots of thoughts and feelings and experiences after NRF this year. Alicia Esposito sat down and interviewed our very own Phillip Jackson, along with Adam Blair, to debrief The Big Show and discuss what’s coming and what needs to be happening next in the world of commerce and why it’s a good time to be excited about it. Listen in now to hear it all, including intriguing metaphors and talk of noodles!Close The Loop
0:04:15 - Lots of positive excitement was abuzz at NRF, even with the pain of Q4 in the past, there is enthusiasm ahead, and also lots of talk about ChatGPT
0:05:25 - Shopify came out into the enterprise space, and this was a huge shift and changes a lot of upcoming trends we will see moving forward
0:12:00 - Noodles, let’s talk about noodles and how they touch all the things, and how when it comes to technology, it’s really like a bunch of spaghetti touching all of the other noodles, so we need to layer tech on top of tech, understanding that all of it effects the…
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Feb 10, 2023
"Shopify's Bait and Switch"
Ian Leslie returns to Industry West as the new Chief Marketing Officer after an eighteen-month sabbatical. During this time, he gained experience in the SaaS world, working with Bolt and #Paid. Previously, Ian had raised concerns about Shopify in favor of Magento, but in his absence, Industry West has made the switch…Do his concerns still stand? Can Shopify really do it all, or is its “one-stop shop” reputation embellished? Are we seeing a return to print due to inbox anxiety? Should the 5 day work week still be the norm? If you’re curious to know more including one of Ian’s biggest regrets, press play now!Bite-Sized Moments of Brilliance
* “We're in a post-platform world, and there are a number of platforms out there that will provide you with the underpinning you need. And it's kind of up to you to captain that ship now. It's up to you to make good decisions and leverage that platform the way that you best can leverage it.” -Brian
* “Your email inbox is a place o…
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Feb 3, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] What is the Importance of Storytelling?
We’re in Season 11 of Step by Step and this season, we’re focusing on architecting your business for a dream exit. We’ve partnered with OpenStore to bring you stories from real founders who have successfully built and sold their businesses and will equip you with the tools you need to confidently sell your own business.
We talk with Miguel Facusse, the founder of Jack Archer. Miguel touches on how to build a business with your exit plan in mind and the importance of storytelling in finding product market fit. He explains that he created his business with the intention of connecting with a specific audience and making an emotional resonance with them. Miguel also gives sage advice on letting your business be something you build and sell, rather than something you have a hard time letting go of. Miguel’s journey is a masterclass in serial entrepreneurship and using your skills to take brands to the next level.In this episode:
* 00:05:08 - Building a Brand for an Exit
* 00:0…
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Feb 2, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] What is the Role of Solid Fundamentals in Scaling My Business?
We’re in Season 11 of Step by Step and this season, we’re focusing on architecting your business for a dream exit. We’ve partnered with OpenStore to bring you stories from real founders who have successfully built and sold their businesses and will equip you with the tools you need to confidently sell your own business.
In this episode of Step by Step, Phillip and Brian talk to Manny Estrada, the founder of Wearva, about the role of solid fundamentals in scaling a business. Manny emphasizes the importance of having a strong team and giving them the opportunity to grow, as well as understanding the customer needs and building a strong tech stack that can scale. He also encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to take the steps necessary to build their own businesses, highlighting that it IS possible.In this episode:
* 00:05:38 - The Story Behind Wearva
* 00:13:11 - Maximizing Revenue Through Influencer Marketing and Tech Enablement
* 00:15:07 - Exploring the Benefits of Using Vir…
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Feb 1, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] How Do I Keep My Business Lean?
We’re in Season 11 of Step by Step and this season, we’re focusing on architecting your business for a dream exit. We’ve partnered with OpenStore to bring you stories from real founders who have successfully built and sold their businesses and will equip you with the tools you need to confidently sell your own business.
We talk with Jonathan Paquin, the founder of Nine Months Sober, about his experience in selling his business, and how he was able to keep it lean throughout the process. He explains that having greater control over the customer experience and doing it in a thoughtful way was key to his success. In addition, he talks about minimizing staff and overhead, as well as investing in technology in order to deliver a great product to customers. Jonathan's story is a great example of how to architect a business for a dream exit.In this episode:
* 00:04:24 - Building an eCommerce Business and Scaling Current Ones
* 00:07:39 - Finding a Niche in the eCommerce World
*…
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Jan 31, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] How Do I Vet for My Next Owner?
We’re in Season 11 of Step by Step and this season, we’re focusing on architecting your business for a dream exit. We’ve partnered with OpenStore to bring you stories from real founders who have successfully built and sold their businesses and will equip you with the tools you need to confidently sell your own business.
We talk with Brendan Brosnan and Chris Heckman, co-founders of Yogaste about their experience co-founding Yogaste and how their shared passion and ability to communicate well led them to a successful exit. Brendan and Chris weren't initially interested in selling their business, but they realized it was the best option to take their business to the next level. They share their experience with vetting owners to sell to.In this Episode:
* 00:06:14- How They Founded Their E-Commerce Brand
* 00:13:14 - What it’s like building with a short-term focus
* 00:15:09 - The Power of Consistent Progress
* 00:19:34 - Leveraging a Network and a Lean Team to Test and…
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Jan 30, 2023
[STEP BY STEP] How Do I Architect my Business for a Dream Exit?
We’re in Season 11 of Step by Step and this season, we’re focusing on architecting your business for a dream exit. We’ve partnered with OpenStore to bring you stories from real founders who have successfully built and sold their businesses and will equip you with the tools you need to confidently sell your own business. In this episode, we welcome Jeremy Wood, Co-Founder of OpenStore to discuss OpenStore’s approach to negotiating and buying businesses and what entrepreneurs need to know when thinking through an exit. Listen now!In this episode:
* 0:07:38 - How to explore objective metrics for business valuation
* 0:10:12 - Discussion on the commonalities of profitable eCommerce businesses
* 0:13:48 - How to build Shopify stores and build for an exit
* 0:19:09 - eCommerce, drop shipping, and OpenStore's differentiators
* 0:23:29 - The importance of simplicity and transparency in eCommerce transactions
* 0:25:17 - The role of timing an eCommerce business exit
* 0:3…
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Jan 27, 2023
The Human Use of Human Beings
Is the current shift to more machines reminiscent of the eCommerce movement, where ease of use and fewer middlemen were promised but where actually more middlemen are created? What is ChatGPT leading to already, how will that continue to influence the future, and what did Norbert Wiener say back in 1964 that was chillingly accurate? There is a lot to discuss, so listen now! Say That, But Shorter
* “Layoffs are refocusing where the priorities are in one part of the business to futureproof itself for the next generation.” - Phillip
* A lot of what was predicted by analysts as being the next generation-defining commerce experiences are going to prove to be wrong because it’s about what the consumer wants, and they aren’t wanting any of those things
* Phillip apologizes to Brian for not getting his Quantum Yeet piece right away, and really if you haven’t been reading Future Commerce Insiders and The Senses, subscribe and see what you’ve been missing
* “We as humans h…
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Jan 20, 2023
Crossing the Rubicon
Even in the aftermath of difficulties within the retail and commerce world, there is a relentless positivity and excitement shared among those living and working in it. This was evident at The NRF Big Show this year. Have a listen as Phillip and Brian share more about their perspective on this and what this could mean for the very near future!Aggressive Optimism
* The NRF Big Show was great, and everyone was enthusiastic about being there, back at the Big Show like old times
* Walmart Technologies and the strides they are making is impressive and really overtaking Amazon when it comes to eCommerce experience and customer expectations
* Shopify, coming in with a booth at NRF, with their Commerce Components roll out made quite the splash
* “Regardless of whether you think you already provide a lot of these products and services, the ecosystem needs you to just say it in their language.” - Phillip
* “People look for creative ways to use tools they're familiar with.” - B…
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Jan 13, 2023
2023 Predictions: Looking Back, Looking Forward
Some Bold Predictions
* Who are The Biggest Retail Winners of 2022? What about The Biggest Retail Losers of 2022? Are these surprises? Who will it be for 2023?
* “If there is digital business to be won, Walmart can win it and they'll win it away from Amazon.” - Phillip
* “The call to work back in the office again is going to spur a set of entrepreneurs from big and small brands alike,” leading to growth in the maker economy
* The Biggest DTC Winner prediction for 2022 was so so right and was basically a no-look half-court swish, but will this be the case for our prediction for 2023’s Biggest DTC Winner?
* “There is a small group of people that are realizing that physical media has a place in the world because the things they love are being taken away from them and they're no longer available on streaming services. When that happens, it changes the way people find safety and security in the things they find entertaining and important in their lives.” - Phillip…
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Jan 6, 2023
The Twelve Days of Future-mas
What a year 2022 was. Let’s recap it together, shall we? Phillip and Brian look back on the most popular episodes, articles, and happenings at Future Commerce and tease a lot about what is coming in 2023 and why they are excited about what’s ahead. Listen now!“You Had Me at Beowulf”
* The most listened-to-episode of 2022 was Episode 240 featuring Magdalena Kala, in which she dropped lots of great insights that became even more profound as the year unfolded
* As technology like blockchain and other protocols advance, we have to stop using industry lingo because people don’t buy protocols, they buy products
* It’s the creative jobs that AI is coming after, not the lower-end jobs that we all thought would be in danger, but the world always finds a way to succeed in middle-management right?
* Unfortunately, ChatGPT wouldn’t do what Phillip asked when he asked for a bullet-point version of Beowulf in Gen Z slang
* “It used to be if you understood Booleans, you cou…
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Dec 23, 2022
“If You’re Building for This Moment, You’re Already Late” Feat. Calvin Lammers, Managing Partner at Rare Eye
Where are people shopping and how is that affecting how people are launching brands today? The guys sit down with Calvin Lammers to hear what he is seeing as an emerging CPG leader to get his take on the opportunity available to brands today.Rare Eye for the CPG Guy
* How brands launch has now significantly changed. Before, brands could decide to avoid Amazon but now, it’s an imperative part of their early business strategy.
* Amazon is a true platform now and has become more competitive, so differentiation at the start is very important for a brand to be set up well for success and scale
* When it comes to emerging brands, Instacart is better at helping those brands be discovered and scale than Walmart+, especially if it’s in the grocery category
* The path forward for a lot of brands could be taking advantage of the opportunity to grow quickly and then moving to an aggregator or portfolio
* We may still see a lot of brands, but we likely won’t see them scale like Ven…
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Dec 13, 2022
Our Favorite Product Placements in Film, Feat. Andrea Popova, CEO and Co-Founder of Consumer Packaged Goods Directory
If only there was a directory where we can find out concise information about CPG and also a directory of agencies for brands to find. Well, there is! Listen in as Phillip and Brian discuss the CPG world with Andrea Popova and also find out what some of their favorite product placements in films are and why the future of feature is different.McCallister Money
* CPGD is a wealth of information for leaders in the CPG world and a great resource for connections and was a huge lucky moment for Andrea
* TikTok is just not the same as it was in the beginning of its reign, and it’s a lot harder to go viral there now
* There are some really interesting product placements in films that actually lead to the product being more like a side-character, and there are some brilliant examples
* Back when Phillip was 14, the Tampa Bay Times wrote an article about a specific product placement that actually made a lasting impression on him that still impacts him today
* “The whole premise be…
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Dec 9, 2022
Fingers and Scissors: AI Product Photography Feat. Sofiia Shvets, Founder & CEO of Let’s Enhance io and Claid AI
AI advancements are changing the landscape of product photography in many industries, including eCommerce. There are many exciting use cases and possibilities and also some snags that the AI world is trying to untangle, such as rights to content, proper execution of image generation, and other issues that could be figured out by the time 2023 rolls around. Seriously? Listen now to hear Sofiia Shvets’ take on this and more!Have Your Robots Call My Robots
* The power of AI technology is not only about saving time and money but streamlining efficiency, so that teams are more connected and more able to operate at a higher scale
* Having more tooling that allows a still very small team to be able to operate efficiently with competitive margins is the biggest challenge that we face in eCommerce today
* We are at the beginning of phase 2 of generative AI where we can actually create content from scratch for multiple industries, including eCommerce
* AI tech is iterating so fast tha…
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Nov 25, 2022
The Uncanny Ability to Balance Idealism and Enterprise Value, feat. Adii Pienaar, Cogsy
With the advancements in technology over the years and the prospect of advancements looking into the future, how can we make sure we are looking around and keeping our approach as one that brings others with us? Is there a way to build that also lifts others and strives to not leave some behind? Phillip and Brian chat with Adii Pienaar about this and more. Listen now! Human-Centered Future
* “Going from 0 to 1 remains hard. As a founder, especially when you are responsible to your shareholders and your team members, there are some days where things don't work as hoped or planned. That is still hard.” - Adii
* “There's an African proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you're going to want to go far, go together.’” - Adii
* Adii is a technologist and early adopter and believes that AI and machine learning will continue to advance, but it will stop before the robots take over completely
* Functionally or logistically it is easier to build a business n…
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Nov 23, 2022
STEP BY STEP: Make B2B Sexy Again, with Bar Geron, Balance
Balance strives to make online B2B payments something that doesn’t suck. Why is it important to take action and learn as much as you can about digitizing your business? How do you move from a “keep our business alive” mentality to “grow our business in 2023” strategy? Why is B2B such a vital part of the new world of eCommerce? Listen Now!Old World/New World
* “Because there are more opportunities, more relationships that can be formed, and because discovery is so much higher due to digitization of B2B, we're actually moving into an unknown area in B2B, which is you don't know or have a relationship with the other person on the other side of the transaction.” - Phillip
* “B2B is the economy. It's not a nuance. It's not a segment of something. It’s really the future of the economy.” - Bar
* “If you have a relationship with trust, you better be ready to also digitize or you're going to have the Chem Directs and the Steel Directs and the Lumber Directs of the w…
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Nov 22, 2022
STEP BY STEP: The Consumerization of B2B with Kirsten Green, Forerunner Ventures
Venture Capital has been powering brands in the modern era and has also shifted with the changing times. How has Forerunner experienced those changes over the past decade and what opportunity is there ahead? Kirsten Green, General Partner at Forerunner Ventures joins this episode of Step by Step to talk about the evolution of eCommerce, the massive monetary potential of the B2B industry, and the role of data and research in eCommerce. Listen Now!Table Stakes
* “The customer wants what they want, where they want it, when they want it, how they want it, and the job of a business is to understand what that means for them in the context of all the channels that are available.” - Kirsten
* The evolution of eCommerce has now also led to the expectation of delight and excellent experience from business tools and software that used to be mostly about functionality
* One of the original promises of direct to consumer was to take out the middleman because middlemen were expensive, but…
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Nov 21, 2022
STEP BY STEP: B2B Payments: The Final Frontier, with Paul do Forno, Deloitte
There are a million reasons why B2B payments are behind the times. In an era where margins are razor thin, businesses make irrational decisions that cause frustration and headaches for employees and for finance. The modernization of payments in business is the final frontier of digital transformation, employee experience, cash flow management, and profitability. When every point of margin matters, investing in your payments infrastructure is critical to your success. Listen in as Paul do Forno, Managing Director at Deloitte shares why he believes B2B payments is the next great untapped industry. Listen now!An $8 Trillion Industry
* Digital Commerce 360 estimates that businesses pay other businesses approximately $17 Trillion
* Of that $17 Trillion, about half of those payments are done manually and due for optimization.
* There is a lot to think about in B2B payments, including setting up terms, how you sell, who you’re selling to, setting up new clients, and more.
* If Paul…
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Nov 18, 2022
FOMO Is Not A Strategy [feat. Dr. Amy Gershkoff Bolles, Global Head of Digital and Emerging Technology Strategy at Levi Strauss and Company]
Phillip and Brian talk with Dr Amy Gershkoff Bolles about how having an innovation strategy that connects to your larger corporate strategy and a very disciplined approach, looking for opportunities that add value for your business and most importantly for your customers, is key to longevity. Evaluating opportunities in the digital and technology space, given how much opportunity there is, is a very important discussion. Listen in to hear what they are doing at Levi’s, and how the future there is bright.It’s in the Jeans
* It’s so important to be both building for scale and testing and learning simultaneously
* Innovation is in the lifeblood of Levi Strauss and Company, and has been for 170 years of business
* Amy and her team developed a scorecard and framework that allows them to objectively assess new technology or digital opportunities and evaluate how they work with the overall corporate strategy
* Data, AI, and digitization can be used to make very meaningful diffe…
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Nov 11, 2022
Deepfake the World
On today’s episode, Phillip and Brian discuss e-biking and deficient snack drawers, AI and the recent developments within use cases for eCommerce, and also about that guy in Starbucks who was in full-VR use like it was his job. Was it his job? I mean, he did have a tie on.Jeroboam-sized BOOMCHICKAPOP
* How has Phillip’s experience with being a one-car family for a year been going and wait, how many miles has he either biked or run this year so far?
* Artificial limitations can provide great opportunities to be creative and intentional
* How’s your snack drawer looking and what’s a guy or gal to do about it?
* Sometimes a snack brand’s ideal customer is the one standing in front of the compulsive buy section in Home Depot or Lowe’s
* Let’s Enhance can ingest and teach the AI through 3D models, so if you can import a 3D model of your product, you can then compose images with the AI through prompts alone
* The whole of the AI engine has contextual understanding…
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Nov 9, 2022
eCommerce is Violence
On today’s episode, Philip and Brian discuss their recent issue of The Senses, as well as some tips for preparing for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday season. They also talk about the recent release of a Ralph Lauren collection in Fortnite and how Roblox has become a giant brand playground. Plus listen in for a HUGE announcement that we are really excited about!Do you Insta Cop?
* How to be prepared for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday season, including some horror stories from past years
* ECommerce itself is gamified. ECommerce best practices tend to point to how do we become more persuasive? How do we appeal to our basest of instincts like FOMO?
* We will be publishing a Future Commerce trade show and conference guide to assist in all of your “Which shows do I go to and why?” questions and needs, so stay tuned
* Brian has more Marshall McLuhan to talk about, which reminded him of our big announcement
* Our big announcement is that we are publishing a 240-page journal call…
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Nov 4, 2022
[STEP BY STEP] Platforms Don't Solve Problems, People do
Open source software is such an important part of how the whole world is run, and it takes a community to build it. In fact, so much has been built up to this point, that everything new that’s created is standing on the shoulders of the giants that have solved problems in the past, problems that we don’t even have to think about much today. So what are the problems that we do need to investigate today and how shall we best address them? Yitzchak Lieblich from Web Solutions NYC shares how they do it. Listen in to this final episode of Season 9 of Step by Step!Like a Light Bulb
* “Know what you know. Know what you don't know.” - Yitzchak
* Finding the right platform solutions may cost more upfront, but will cost less in the long run as you work with what you actually need and build from there
* Happy developers lead to happy code which leads to happy merchants
* “Open source, at its core, has been about sort of unselfishly sharing learnings and findings and asking othe…
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Nov 3, 2022
[STEP BY STEP] Managing Complexity
Because open source is so flexible, it can be such a powerful tool. But how do you manage the complexities of all that is possible and steer clear of overbuilding? How do you stay focused with all that is available? Listen in as Founder and CEO at Alumio, Caspar Hardholt, explains how to manage these risks and build your open source stack successfully.Feature Creep
* Software providers work with more educated business owners/operators today than in years past, and multiple software needs add to the complexity of the process
* Before any adjustments should be made, use your open source platform as is and to its fullest potential
* “I'm speaking to a lot of agencies and they're starting to realize that custom coding everything is not in the best interest of their clients. So there's also a shift going on there.” - Caspar
* “Nobody wants to walk around in shoes that are too big. Managing the amount of time and investment, the future-proofing, and the amount of capital that…
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Nov 2, 2022
[STEP BY STEP] The "B-Word"
We all hate the B-Word (budgeting). How do you set yourself up for success when you enter into a project using open source? How do you make sure you have guardrails going into this so that you can actually have a plan and don't get yourself into trouble? Can software buying be less scary? Stephen Stark, Founder, and CEO at ITG Commerce explains how you can make these decisions less scary. Listen in and find out!Wedding Planning
* Selecting software is important, but selecting the strategy by which you build that software is even more important
* Open source allows the possibilities of meeting your customers’ needs in so many ways, but discipline, focus, and vision also have to guide you as you build.
* When buying, building, planning, and budgeting well for open-source software, it’s imperative that the expectations of what is needed and who will be involved are set at the beginning of the project
* “At some point, you need to deconstruct what you have and make sure that…
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Nov 1, 2022
[Step by Step] It Takes a Community
When should I use open source software and how do I build on top of it to create the unique and differentiating elements of my business where I am right now? How can open source create community and lead to a wider array of solutions? Sander Mangel, eCommerce Solutions Architect at Shopware, joins this episode to explain the necessity of community in open source. Listen Now!A Bigger Beneficial Pie
* Doing eCommerce has become tremendously complex and that requires not just developers but specialists, analysts, and more discipline than it ever has before
* We wouldn’t have the internet if we didn’t have open source
* “The actual lineage and the history of these communities goes on to power commerce at its core and whether that's in a commercialized way or not, open source sits at the root of all of this.” - Phillip
* The only way to actually leverage open source is to contribute back and be a part of the community
* If you’re not sharing that knowledge because you…
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Oct 31, 2022
[Step by Step] The Open Source Business
Open Source isn’t dead, actually it’s never been more alive. We’re in the ninth season of Step by Step and this season, we’re exploring the question, “is open source still viable for the modern business?” We think the answer is yes, but getting to the solution requires the business operator to do a cost benefit analysis, manage complexity and budget, and choose the correct software to set their team up for success.
In this first episode, Ben Marks, Director of Global Market Development at Shopware joins the show to talk about the Open Source Business about why open source isn’t dead.Open Source Isn’t Dead
* Put simply, open source is just collaboration in the open.
* Just because something is free doesn’t mean it’s open source and just because it’s open source doesn’t mean it’s free.
* The startup capital is minimal and the opportunities are abundant, making open source really appealing.
* People misconceive SaaS software to be the easy option, but t…
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Oct 28, 2022
Dirtbag Mode
We’ve been through Brian Goes Bougie together, but can we handle Phillip Goes Dirtbag? Also the guys talk about brands they are loving right now, hot takes on Mr Beast and a bit of a musing on the Age of Contentment.
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Oct 14, 2022
The Emotional and Spiritual Burden of Expense Management
What if the way we think about expense management and reimbursements could be reinvented? What does that look like? Listen in to learn how Divvy is changing the way business is done and making life easier for teams like yours. An Easier Way
* Divvy provides software to make the details of expense management easier with tools for keeping track of everything that passes through accounts, budget locks to prevent overcharging, and even cash-back rewards
* Because accountants have feelings, too, and giving them more time to do their job instead of chasing you down for receipts makes everyone happier
* “We try to do things that you could only do with a card plus software together.” - Tucker
* Divvy provides ways to creatively find growth and cost savings in areas that perhaps were overlooked
* “We've had consistently over 100% net revenue retention for years. We get customers onboarded, they stick around, they know what they like, and they keep doing more of it.” - Tucker…
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Oct 7, 2022
The Shift From Growth to Profitability
What’s the biggest addiction in eCommerce and how in the world can it be solved? It’s discounting and couponing! Fondue has a solution that has been shown to increase revenue, boost profits, and create win/wins for brands and consumers. Oren Charnoff, Founder of Fondue, and Roy Rubin, Founder of Magento and Investor join the podcast this week. Listen Now!
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Sep 27, 2022
"A Larger Boat in Choppy Waters" (Pattern Acquires Onsen Towels, with Nick Ling, CEO)
Pattern Brands has just announced that they’re acquiring Onsen Towels.
What was it like to see the market go from 20,000 using Shopify as a platform to now 2 million? Well, Nick Ling can tell you. What is it like to help founders become millionaires? He can tell you that, too.
Phillip takes some time with Nick Ling to talk about Pattern’s Acquisition of Onsen, how they build trust with founders, and why they hold strong views loosely as they build differently.Time and Trust
* “Good brands aren't built overnight. It takes time to build a loyal audience and a really great product.” - Nick
* Building trust is a very important aspect of how Pattern approaches brand acquisitions.
* “It's never been more exciting to be an entrepreneur and consumer in general. There's a much bigger community and there are a lot more interesting ideas bubbling to the top.” - Nick
* The past couple of years have been the toughest yet for eCommerce businesses because there have been so man…
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Sep 23, 2022
The Quiet Builders
eCommerce is in need of a deconstructionist movement. Brands should question the norms of their behaviors and their beliefs of “best practices,” but we don’t always take time to reflect.
In this episode, Phillip and Brian explore the nature of deconstructionism, why eCommerce is due for a deconstructionist movement, the quiet builders in our space, and the influence of artists in our space. Listen now!Building the Future
* An eCommerce deconstructionist movement is needed where we question our norms and we question our beliefs and why we do the things we do
* People who build the future do things that haven't been done yet.
* “If you want to build a pretty successful brand using only best-practices, go for it. But if you want to build the future, you have to do things that have never been done.” - Phillip
* “In reality, the thing that is differentiating you is your efficiency in your ability to build something new, not to reinvent the thing that already exists.”…
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Sep 20, 2022
Is Private Equity Sexy Now? feat. Magdalena Kala
Mags joins Phillip and Brian to discuss the role of Web3 and the blockchain as we enter into the new wave of commerce. Does Web3 open up a new world of possibilities for brands to interact with and meet the needs of their customers? How can brands and investors partner with celebrities to solve problems? Listen now! Mindful Web3
* A successful approach to Web3, from a brand perspective, is asking questions like "Why would we do this? Why should we care? Why should our customers care? And what can we bring to the table that's different and unique because it's built on blockchain?"
* “We are just going to be scratching the surface right now of the Starbucks product, but it will embolden other brands to think about what they can do and what they can do in the right way as opposed to a campaign PR-y way.” - Magdalena
* “If you want the ultimate decentralization something has to give because you can't have it all in the blockchain context. You either get cheap transactions or y…
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Sep 9, 2022
Funereal Commerce
“Death eventually comes for us all, why not buy your casket direct and save a bunch of dough?” Today we dive into the digital transformation that has taken place in death care, and how funeral home websites have become marketplaces unto themselves. PLUS: a Veleb gets canceled for “digital blackface.” Listen now! Caskets, but in Millennial Pink
* A large portion of the funeral homes in the United States are owned by private equity rollups that consolidated infrastructure and operations through the 90’s and early 00’s.
* Phillip: “Why would you want to go direct [for a casket]? If you have ever been a family member making end-of-life choices for someone that's close to you, there is a very soft and gentle, but really gross, method of upselling in the funeral industry”
* Business Wire from 2021 says Titan Casket grows 400% in 2021, and it's poised to move beyond caskets to become a digital solution for funerals in 2022. It has seen its B2B business grow 15 X this ye…
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Sep 5, 2022
[VISIONS] Episode 5: The Role of Commerce in Society
Show Notes
* “Being a retailer of a brand, there are a number of different pressures that I think they have to address, but in doing so, it will only make them stronger companies. It'll only make consumers want to shop with them more.” - Miya Knights
* When it comes to sustainability, are consumers really adhering to their convictions or are convenience and practicality leading to incongruent behavior there?
* “Retailers are going to have to be a lot more transparent and a lot more in the same way that they've had to cope with the diversification of channels, the complexity of just selling in terms of transparency and choice when it comes to sustainability, particularly around fulfillment, they're going to have to offer a lot more choice than they currently do.” - Miya Knights
* “It doesn't matter if you're 100 plus year old brand or if you're like a six month DTC brand. If you don't have that {sustainability}, it's going to be like trying to be a brand now without a…
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Sep 2, 2022
[Step by Step] What Exactly Is the Value in Headless Commerce? (Feat. Tyson Graham, Vue Storefront)
Welcome to the LAST episode of Step by Step Season 8! We’re wrapping up the series with Tyson Graham, and will be covering the nuts and bolts of what makes headless interesting. Listen now!Headless Needs a Real Head
* What you want is optionality, but there is another level that isn’t just a first-party option in your eCommerce tech stack. there is an entire level we haven't thought about as an option.
* “People don’t buy protocols, they buy products.” – Phillip
* There are some advantages of headless in a world where legacy technology is really just slowing down in a sense, and the world is speeding up.
* “We realized that there needs to be a head for headless that everyone can use, so the agnostic sort of storefront really is the head for headless. The advantages with optionality means that you can switch things in and out as you need them.” –Tyson
* Like a myth or ghost story, headless is very similar. There can be a lot of misinformation spread.
* “…
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Sep 1, 2022
[Step by Step] How Do I Move From a Project Mindset to a Program Mindset? (Feat. Jon Reily, bounteous)
For our 4th episode of Step by Step Season 8, we’re covering how you can take your brand from having an eCommerce project mindset to a program mindset. Jon Reily from bounteous is here to chat about the difficult parts of shifting mindsets, how we're rewriting the rules, and more! Tune in now!A North Star or a South Star?
* Currently, a lot of brands are struggling with how to move from having an eCommerce project mindset to a program mindset. The most difficult part is that brands need to break the stigma that eCommerce is this big scary thing when it's not.
* “We went from calling things just selling things online to eCommerce and then we went back to, well, maybe just selling things online again. Have we come full circle?” – Brian
* “It all comes back to the design and you have to ensure that the design is solid in order to make it work.” – Jon
* “The downside of all of these tools being out there and being ubiquitous and available to virtually everybody is…
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Aug 31, 2022
[Step by Step] What Is the Role of Data in Improving eCommerce Experiences? (Feat. Brian Walker, Chief Strategy Officer at Bloomreach)
Want to get more from this season of Step by Step? Download our free accompanying guide. Personalizing Your Data Tools
* All the uncertainty around the economy, inflation, and interest rates is affecting decision making and freezing the market.
* “Redeploy budgets and focus on getting more out of the existing database of customers you have. Ensure that their journeys support what they're trying to accomplish as consumers and how they want to engage with your brand.” – Brian Walker
* We’ve been talking about personalization in eCommerce for decades, but very few brands are actually doing it.
* “Those who are personalizing tend to be the ones who have grown share over the last 15 years and continue to reap results. It's hard to have those same results if you're only using out-of-the-box tools.” – Brian Walker
* Headless makes a difference in a couple of key areas: The fluidity of the experience and how you can adapt and change it on a website as well as the commo…
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Aug 30, 2022
[Step by Step] How Do I Choose the Right Technology Partners? (Feat. Michael Bernard, VP of Tax Content & Operations and Chief Tax Officer at Vertex)
Want to get more from this season of Step by Step? Download our free accompanying guide.A Blendification of Brands
* State and local governments have continued to rely on sales tax as it is one of the three pillars that governments rely on for income.
* Retail invoices have a lot of key components because SKU, price, and tax all have to be correct. Recently, Michael is witnessing more retailers demanding more and more precision.
* Believe it or not, over the last 30 years, the sales tax base has actually _shrunk_. State legislatures have written bills to minimize _what_ can be taxed. In turn, governments can only raise tax rates on discretionary income.
* “You always want to select a vendor that will grow with you and can actually meet your needs.” - Michael
* The biggest challenge that brands face is selecting the right vendor and not having the right systems to troubleshoot in the wake of a crisis.
* Retailers of all sizes come to the table with different billing sys…
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Aug 29, 2022
[Step by Step] How Can I Make the Business Case for My Brand to Invest in Experience? (Feat. Ryan Bartley, Founder & CSO, fabric)
Welcome to Season 8 of Step by Step. This season we’re partnering with fabric to discuss how brands can stand out from the crowd by investing in an experiential design. Tune in every day this week to hear from experts on how to unlock your eCommerce growth. Listen now!Is experience worth investing in?
* Ryan Bartley is the Founder of Fabric, a leading modular and headless enterprise commerce platform helping brands and retailers innovate and scale.
* Experience is not only your digital experiences and touchpoints within stores but also the brand touchpoints and the service level you give your customers.
* “What we're hearing from all of the companies that we work with is really a concern about just what the next handful of months and what the next year looks like.” -Ryan
* Start targeting your software and figuring out how to serve your customers in the best possible way
* Is now the time to rip and replace legacy tech or is it time to optimize it? It can be difficult…
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Aug 26, 2022
“A Level of Omnichannel That’s Never Talked About” feat. Karin Dillie
Joining the show today is Karin Dillie, coming to talk about Recurate’s newest report, all things resale, from Gen Z to Boomers, omnichannel, and more! Tune in now! Reclaiming Resale
* Recurate started as a way for brands to reclaim resale
* Recurate has recently released a new piece of research called the Recurate Resale Report, they wanted to dig in and find the data on what is happening in resale
* “What we wanted to do was dig in a bit more into primary data and really understand the motivations and behaviors that are happening and what consumers want from brands.” – Karin
* In their research, they found a new cohort of customers called “Circulars”: people who are buying and selling.
* Resale has happened in previous generations but it's happening differently now, you can interact more than you used to, and you’re able to interact across all the different channels, ages, and genders
* “63% of people want brands to do more. Customers are already doing th…
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Aug 24, 2022
Web3 Provides a Mechanism for Loyalty
In this episode, we dive into some of the best moments of the last year and a half of Future Commerce as it pertains to Web3. Tune in now!Giving Consumers Control Over Their Identity
* “Like everything else with new technology, the technology's awesome, but until you find creative people to use it in really interesting ways, it doesn't do a whole lot.” – Michael Janiak
* Mags is someone who is thinking about the future of the startup ecosystem. She’s passionate about why and how people spend their time, money, and attention
* “I don't think I'm a consumer brands investor. I don't think I'm a consumer tech investor. I'm a consumer needs investor..” – Magdalena Kala
* The journey of NFTs is still early. In many ways, they’re very similar to DTC brands as they become easy to launch, and the early movers have made a lot of money
* NFTs signal loyalty. They’re a way to assign value to what it means to be associated with a brand.
* “Hype alone isn’t enough…
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Aug 19, 2022
“The Algorithm Made Him Do It” (Vibes Over Data )
Vibe Shift, Say What?
* Brian is live from Etail East, covering what’s going on, how it went, and how far conference season has come since last year.
* We’re not talking about data anymore… we’re talking about vibes. We talk about them in The Senses, but the vibe shift is different for everything.
* “The funniest thing about this idea of vibe shift is that everyone is having a really hard time defining what it is and where we're going.” – Brian
* In the wise words of Brian Lange, “you can’t have a vibe if you’re not with somebody.”
* Everyone is casting lots of their communal vibes into a pool, and a layer cake is happening of what the new vibe is. If the vibes are wrong, you go and find a new vibe.
* People are going to follow the algorithm no matter what, it's just who we are.
* “If the algorithm is the ultimate media, the message is humanity is unnecessary.” – Brian
* The algorithm is taking over things that humanity can analyze, those be…
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Aug 12, 2022
There’s Nothing New Under the Sun: IRL experiences are enabled digitally by web3 (feat. Seyi Taylor)
“Digital is gaining the experiences we’ve had all along IRL” — today we sit down with Seyi Taylor to chat about the online experiences we take for granted, the actual capabilities of web3, and how commerce gives us emotional resonance. Tune in now!“Third-Party Cookies Be Damned”
* The ability to have control is attractive to brands, and that's one thing web3-based loyalty platforms provide, which creates incentives for merchants and brands to be more experimental.
* Regarding whether web3 is anything new or novel: “What it's actually enabling is more modalities to come into the digital space that we're accustomed to having in real life.” -Phillip
* The way we use tokens right now isn’t going to stay this way. Right now tokens are all the hype, but soon they will become a way to get stuff done.
* Pokemon Go is back on the craze, even though it's a blast from past of six years ago. The question is, will we get engrossed in AR examples that are layered over top…
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Jul 29, 2022
“Content Isn’t Community” (Feat. Kendall Dickieson)
Today, Philip and Brian welcome back Kendall Dickieson to chat about the creator economy, how TikTok is changing the way for brands, digital pruning, and how creation affects community. Tune in now! Balancing the Why
* The Creator economy has begun to shift the DTC space and change the landscape, but there is still proof in the pudding.
* “Platforms like TikTok have exposed the true analytics for the most part, but there's still things on the back end that we don't really know unless we ask the creator.” -Kendall
* Digital pruning- where we should be watering and filtering our social channels, and tending to our gardens (accounts.)
* There can be an over-pruning of social accounts and your community. Brands and creators should be watchful of these thresholds
* “There's so much that brands need to do to exist on social from the content creation side to now, contracting out creators, to building out teams.” -Kendall
* Phillip poses the question: Does the creation of…
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Jul 29, 2022
[VISIONS] Episode 4: Our Sh*itty Robot Future
We live in a world that doesn’t work all the way. Is the amount of automation and machine learning and AI and even robotics that we're implementing in the world, displacing people's jobs and having a human impact?
Show Notes
* “It's creating some dynamics where a much smaller number of people can drive outcomes with a much larger number of dollars. If we're not really effective at promoting financial literacy and asking some big questions about what's different looking 20 years ahead from what the last 20 years were like, then there's going to be some collateral damage in the system that I think is really bad for everybody involved.” - Mike Lackman
* “You can automate things to make them more efficient, but you have to know how to do it well in the first place with a certain level of agency and authority and getting your hands dirty with it.” - Michael Miraflor
* How often are we designing the software stack before we even have a product and before we have even have a…
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Jul 27, 2022
“The Uncorkening”
In this episode, we call into question some of the factors that have led to the decline of DTC and how pent-up frustration with products that cost more without delivering on their promise will soon be a vestige of a bygone era. Listen now! Revisiting DTC Groupthink and Brand Criticism
* “The Uncorkening” is a latent criticism that was stymied by the loudest voices in an ecosystem who didn’t feel that they had permission to speak up, has now been unleashed
* DTC models (particularly VC-backed IPO exits) have proven unsuccessful. The original promise was that DTC would remove middlemen and form a direct connection with the consumer; meanwhile, eCommerce is nothing but middlemen.
* Many products don't live up to the hype. Another factor of The Uncorkening in DTC is that the loudest voices and advocates for DTC have often silenced criticism by playing a trump card — to critique a small brand is to criticize the founder behind the brand.
* The loudest DTC voices have quiete…
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Jul 25, 2022
"Zuckerberg's Figma Mockups" (PLUS: A Grow NY Recap)
Phillip and Brian sit down to chat about GROW NY, YouTube Shopping, Instagram Local, and all the things in between. Listen now!
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Jul 22, 2022
[Visions] Episode 3: Romanticism
Live from the Visions Summit in West Palm Beach, FL, the conversation in this episode is around what we call Brand Romanticism. We’ve seen such an amazing proliferation of brand. There's more choice than ever before. Some say that brands are our canvas and the products are these new pieces of art that are being brought to the world. Are brands artists and our products their canvas?
Show Notes
* Are some brands fooling themselves thinking of their role as one of art when really their product is more about commodity and their role is really about commerce?
* Have we romanticized brands more than what is due to it? “Brands have an opportunity to support art and not delude themselves into thinking that they are the creators of product.” - Grace Clarke
* “Consumers are going to know if you're dressing up something that's basic and adding a couple of zeros to it because you've romanticized it by using some kind of art style to style it. But at the same time, I think it's impo…
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Jul 15, 2022
[VISIONS] Episode 2: The Discourse
What makes people happy? Are brands capable of instilling happiness? In today's episode, we go live to the Visions Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, to engage in a frank conversation about what motivates a consumer, and what power we truly have in fulfilling their needs and desires. Listen now.Show Notes
* Are we able to make customers happy? Is that our job? Brands may have given themselves a role in society that nobody asked them to fulfill.
* There’s a value system change taking place where more is not better, it’s damaging to the consumer and to the brand. More products, more drops, more collabs. At some point it becomes mimetic and overwhelming.
* “Utility” is an over-exercised phrase. In the philosophy of brands, to be utilitarian is to lack joy or purpose. But in web3 circles, utility has a different meaning — it means that it provides exceeding value. To be a utility means to be indispensable.
* The lack of true “discourse” in the retail and eCom indust…
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Jul 11, 2022
Building a Web3 Company After the NFT Crash (Feat. Brandon Martinez, SNKRHUD)
Joining the show today is Brandon Martinez, Founder of SNKRHUD. We discuss the dynamic of digital goods and NFTs during a downturn in the market, and how physical events and identities are becoming the norm in what was once thought to be an anonymous and online-only fandom. Listen now!The End of the Good Times
* “Hype alone isn’t enough to build an enduring brand or community.” There has to be a non-monetary reason that people are engaged in community — for sneakerheads this is the love of the culture and nostalgia that endures well past childhood. Sneakerheads come from many different backgrounds and walks of life, so a digital goods community around sneakers may be much more durable than any other PFP project.
* “Collectors need investors. They’re intrinsically motivated, and inextricably connected.” — Phillip
* NFT Project creators are doxxing themselves now in an effort to increase optionality. There’s a lot more to gain by having a trusted reputation as a…
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Jul 8, 2022
[Visions] Episode 1: A Prologue
How did we get here?
* The story of how Visions the content property was born, and what the intent is behind it. Our goal is to broaden the conversation to art, philosophy, spirituality, and culture — and from those vantage-points, begin to understand their effects on Commerce.
* “Most eCom content focuses on the how or the what. We wanted to zero in on the ‘why’ a consumer thinks or behaves the way that they do.” — Phillip
* “We need a reason why… to give us the framework that we need to learn and to explore new ideas beyond just a couple of platforms that were dominant in the eCommerce ecosystem.” — Brian
* Commerce touches everyone. Therefore it can be a catalyst — a tool — for change in the immediate world around you. Not _The World_ at large, but your world.
* “Not everything has to have these big, idealistic, world-changing outcomes. In fact, those distance you from making that change personal. Instead let’s talk about how you make a change…
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Jul 1, 2022
Recapping Shopify Editions (Feat. Gil Greenberg, Checkout Promotions)
Today founder of Checkout Promotions, Gil Greenberg, is joining the show. We recap Shopify Editions, the transformation of the Shop App, the overcrowding of the developer ecosystem, and how to thrive as an app developer in eCom. Listen now!
Like Never Before
* “You're starting to see a lot of developers that actually want to run businesses for their apps and employing fundamentals to do so.”-Gil Greenberg
* “There’s a world where Shopify didn’t IPO 6 or 7 years ago, and my theory is that part of Shopify’s success was that so many people were able to realize personal benefit from the growth of the stock. What if Magento IPO’d instead? We’ll never know.” - Phillip
* The Shopify platform is now huge and it encompasses way more than anyone outside of the ecosystem, but even more than most people in the ecosystem realize
* “You either follow Shopify's way or you're on the highway” - Gil
* The launch of Shopify Functions will allow you to extend the pl…
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Jun 28, 2022
Decoded: How to Buy Software Well: The Digital Commerce Software Conundrum
Keeping up with the Jonses isn’t just for your neighbors next door, it’s everywhere in eCommerce businesses. Companies buy software based on what they see others in their industry purchasing. Formal RFP processes create a lengthy and expensive buying process, so eCommerce companies are more open today than ever before to the idea of composable commerce. In Episode 5 of Decoded, Phillip & Boris discuss how to purchase digital software well and some key considerations in decision making. Listen Now!Keeping up with the Joneses
* There have always been and will always be fads and fashions driving purchases. This is no different when it comes to companies purchasing software.
* Companies tend to copy purchasing patterns when they see their peers and competitors successfully implementing software.
* B2B Sales are irrational. The buyer of the software is rarely, _if ever_, the user of the software. How can B2B companies take the irrationality out of this process?
* Business owner…
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Jun 24, 2022
“What Creators Owe To Their Audience” (Feat. Neil Shankar, Content Creator)
TikTok creator Neil Shankar joins the show today to chat about the algorithm, how brands are playing the game, power stances in commerce, and our recent Visions 2022 report. Listen now!Playing the Game
* Neil Shankar is a TikTok content creator, producing content on what's new with consumer brands
* “Getting the algorithm to like you is sometimes about playing the game of TikTok, for instance, speaking the language of TikTok and engaging with TikTok creators. You don't need to be like dancing in front of a ring light.” -Neil
* Interacting with the idea of something is just as compelling to us as potentially purchasing that thing, its the concept of Romanticism, an idea we elaborate on more in our Visions report
* As our infinite choice of options increases, it becomes a footprint issue, not just a carbon footprint, but a time footprint
* “Brands and companies should be paying attention to how much time and focus their customers are giving them.” -Brian
* When brand…
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Jun 17, 2022
Economists Fight Club (The Great Reshuffle)
The $100 Pumpkin
* Brian believes that no matter if there's an economic downturn, people will always make room for food and beverage in their budget, “People don't want to come down on food and bev, they'll forgo other things.”
* Smaller stores like Erewhon might not face challenges in the downturn due to the loyalty of those going after food and bev, but Whole Foods which is not up-market, might take a hit with downturn challenges
* “The businesses that go all-in on investing in the right things right now instead of pulling back are actually going to do even better.” -Brian
* What we’re seeing is the echo chamber doing exactly what it’s good at, which is creating a narrative around something that is just a venture-backed industry problem.Associated Links:
* How to Market in a Downturn
* Insiders #104: The eCom Brain Drain
* Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!
* Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!
* Listen to our other episodes of Futu…
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Jun 15, 2022
Decoded: The Vertical Limit: Commodity vs Complexity
High Complexity, Low Commodity
* Online experiences have become more commoditized over time; low and no-code platforms have displaced the need for a “developer,” and instead require feature configurations and tweaks
* Software development thrives where experiences have high complexity. High complexity often means that there are no de facto “standards” or best practices that need to be employed. This requires developers to build, test, refine, and iterate. This is the best-case scenario for a developer in eCommerce.
* eCommerce platforms have become increasingly prescriptive in UI and UX as customers have become “used to” certain purchasing patterns
* Ecommerce needs to become more complex in certain industry verticals. Specific sectors such as automotive, food, furniture, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals all have sophisticated requirements, complicated purchase paths, long consideration times, unique regulatory requirements, or other challenges that make them a p…
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Jun 10, 2022
“Retail Media is a Direct Channel to the Shopper” (Feat. Kiri Masters, Acadia)
What if everyone is sick of drinking champagne?
* Retail media is a direct channel to the shopper. It’s an attractive audience for brands to reach shoppers, and it's becoming really profitable
* Brands are currently using two methods to allocate retail media, which makes it very limited, and its harder to get ahead of trends when using one of the two models
* Kiri’s proposal for the two methods is to get back to the basics of the marketing funnel, “the idea is to identify your objective, and then which part of the marketing funnel you are going to focus on given that objective, and then execute for ad types and targeting options within that stage of the funnel.” - Kiri
* We are currently living in a world where brand is performance and performance can also be brand
* “There are a lot of constructs organizationally within these companies that make it very challenging because of the silos. The real goal of each team might be they're working against each other because…
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Jun 3, 2022
Successful Leadership Requires Passion AND Discipline (feat. Jeremy Cai, Italic)
You’re Either Alive or Dead
* Jeremy Cai is the founder of Italic, a leading marketplace that offers the highest quality products at the lowest prices by connecting consumers straight to top manufacturers.
* People are continuing to buy more online than ever before, and Jeremy thinks it will only continue to grow. With the heightened demand for Amazon, brands will continue to seek out online consumers
* “If you look at a brand and take away the fluff, they’re taking the same exact product or assortment they have in every season, applying a new coat of paint on it, and a new story on it, and selling the same thing 365 days per year for ten years in a row.” -Jeremy
* Italic no longer seeks consumers like H.EN.R.Y, the consumer they now aim to sell to is Julia, a customer in their late 20s-early 30s, familiar with shopping online and is looking to graduate and take a step up from the everyday DTC brands to a more premium product
* “It's not just about growth. It's abo…
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May 31, 2022
Decoded - Social Commerce: Authentic Context for a Socially Native Generation
Adapting to Customer Behaviors
* We used to only have one marketplace: Amazon. But social media is becoming a marketplace on its own.
* The good news: for developers, as we standardize API’s and as more companies go headless, social media commerce platforms won’t feel like something completely new, just another property for brands.
* The bad news: for product, sales and marketing teams, this shift will be much more of a change as they learn new rules, regulations and customer contexts.
* It seems as though Snapchat and TikTok are forming the new generation of consumer who have a bigger desire to participate in social trends, creating more commerce opportunities.
* Very little window shopping & impulse purchase happens in traditional eCommerce contexts. Impulse purchases are not frictionless in this context. Perhaps this is something that social commerce offers that traditional eCommerce does not?
* Tech companies have become very good at creating the illusion of an imp…
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May 27, 2022
Facing the Counterfactuals (How to Navigate the eCom Downturn)
A Boom to the Creator Economy?
* Counterfactuals give us a what-if thinking. It’s thinking through scenarios that haven’t happened, but what if they did? They help us analyze our past performance
* “Counterfactual analysis makes up a lot of like our cause-effect thinking when we're thinking about how to apply a situation in a new context because nothing is ever the same and the pace of change is happening faster and faster.” -Brian
* The concern that many have right now is where do customer place their loyalty? Will they be more experimental or less experimental? They're going to go to the things that they know and return to defaults
* There is a demand for growth and demand for goods right now that's being pent up. The demand is there, but it's not being met
* In a downturn, more money is necessary for all areas of life, causing people to look for another job, side gig, and ways to bring in that extra income. With everything increasing, there will be a people supply…
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May 20, 2022
The Mild Mild West (A Recap of RICE 2022)
As Promiscuous as a Gibbon
* Brian led a whole track on IRCE and helped cover tracks on personalizing your digital economy, Gen Z being underbanked, using data to fuel personalized experiences, finding opportunities in micro-segments, and more!
* “It's interesting how many folks from traditional design backgrounds actually wind up in eCommerce and then they get into the side of the business where it's just talking about how do we apply design, how do we apply design to this sort of what is no longer a Wild West but more of like a Mild West of design aesthetic?” -Phillip
* There isn’t much brand loyalty left. Shoppers are promiscuous now, and feeding them information is the way to win. The number one way for your brand to fail is by being narcissistic
* “If you are overly narcissistic about your brand, that's going to cause you problems in the age of the promiscuous shopper.” -Brian
* Phillip led two panels, “What's Hot in DTC: VC investors Weigh In” and another…
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May 13, 2022
“Ecom Now Means Electronic Commodity” (The Homogenization of Experiences)
The in-Direct to Consumer era
* Websites are homogenous and lacking inspiration. If you remove the navigation bar, most websites are indistinguishable
* Shopify’s stock is down 75% from its all-time high. While the tech sector experiences pain and economic concerns loom, many brands will need to invest in experience
* “What do consumers care about? Fast, cheap, and free. Shopify turned a business buyer, a business operator, into a consumer; they want fast, cheap, and free. No wonder eCom is so uninspired.” — PhillipAssociated Links:
* Shopify down 75% from high
* Stay tuned for VISIONS 2022…coming soon!
* Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
* Tune into Infinite Shelf Season 2!
* Check out Decoded, our newest limited series
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hear…
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May 10, 2022
Decoded - Our New Composable World: Rethinking the Way We Buy and Build Software
A Natural Evolution of eCommerce
* Boris defines composable commerce as there being advantages of being the best of suite of world. You can now select the best search that fits the best for your business, and your business might be very different from someone else's business.
* Like everything, composable commerce has its pros and cons. It can look shiny, but it has its challenges
* “You can't just turn on or off composable commerce. You need to have the underlying infrastructure.” -Boris
* There is not a direct way for an organization to shift to composable commerce, but taking the change allows for the ability to experiment and fail, or to be successful
* “This could become a natural evolution of eCommerce becoming no longer just a channel for incremental growth that sits underneath I.T. or marketing, but an independent channel where it has its own category and means of operation.” -PhillipAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Boris Lokschin and Spryker!
* Chec…
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May 6, 2022
DTC Theory and The Innovator's Dilemma (eCom headwinds may disrupt the disruptors)
The Sacraments of Commerce
* DTC Theory: anything that can be disintermediated eventually will be disintermediated
* With the presence of The Fascination, it could be proof that DTC is still relevant or a sign of the downfall to come
* “We're still at the beginning of the creator economy in many ways, there's a lot more opportunity for those that come to the table with interesting products and interesting ideas to find ways to scale their brand.” -Brian
* Product-first is the new model, whereas marketing used to be first. Distribution is now the second component when it comes to the continued rise of DTC
* “There's going to be a new brand of retailers that arises. Retailers that hit key markets with shared spaces and offer in-store experiences for a product that has just won over won over people because of its uses or quality.” -Brian
* We think there is a huge opportunity for local shopping, it’s just going to require some strategy
* If you're dipping your toe…
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Apr 29, 2022
“An eCommerce Business Requires Two Halves of a Brain” (Feat. Kris Gösser, Shipium)
One-Click Buy…Say What?
* Recently Amazon has made a push around their one-click purchase button, "Buy with Prime”
* Amazon is now comfortable with trying to take an existing model and system and extend that beyond their own channel
* “The interesting play here is the comfortability of expanding channels.” -Kris
* The thing that differentiates checkout at the end of the day is the Prime-like experience in that customers get their order quickly and with potentially free shipping
* “Amazon is going to market with this theory that the way in which they win the one-click checkout outside of a channel that is Amazon.com is anchoring on the value prop of Prime more so than the value prop of whatever other thing at checkout.” -Kris
* This is helping direct to consumer companies address the metric that actually matters, which is conversion and loyalty
* “We just hit this maturity point where a lot of these direct to consumer companies got big enough where the way i…
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Apr 26, 2022
Decoded: “Developer to Consumer”: Metaverse, Web3 and the New DTC
The Metaverse: Innovation or Skinnovation?
* The metaverse we’re building right now is not the metaverse we’ll all end up using…if we end up using the metaverse at all.
* Don’t worry about what competitors and enterprises are doing in the metaverse, worry instead about how you should break into this new world.
* “The current Web3 and metaverse implementation that we see today feels like small teams of developers who have created something really unique and they're going direct to their own consumer. And that feels fundamentally different than what we have seen in the past.”
* Developers used to need layers of translation, project managers, and program managers to get a job done. Today’s developers are going directly to their customers. We call this the Developer DTC.
* People were always collecting items & attaching value to items. NFTs are not a new phenomenon. The technology enables this behavior in a new way.
* Unlike Web2 and the telegram, which were buil…
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Apr 22, 2022
The Evolution of Retail Trade Shows: RICE 2022 (Alicia Esposito, VP of Content, Retail TouchPoints)
Serendipitous Experiences
* RICE's (the Retail Innovation Conference and Expo) goal is to stay true to their roots and put a new and fun spin on the event and expo space
* RICE is working to reframe the way content is performed for the show, hitting reset on who is given a platform, and making the learning experiences as focused and tailored as possible
* “We want this place to be a place where conversations happen and ideas get sparked.” -Alicia
* One of the goals for RICE is to bring together passionate people from different careers of life and let them get together and geek out
* “In-person events and conferences allow a serendipity experience for everyone.” -Phillip
* Use promo code RICE50P07 for 50% off your tickets for RICEAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Alicia Esposito, and RICE and grab passes here! Be sure to use promo code RICE50P07 for 50%!
* Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!
* Listen to our other episodes of Fut…
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Apr 20, 2022
“A Fractionalization of the Consumer Experience” (Feat. Ben Jabbawy, eCommerce Marketing School )
Bells and Whistles At Best
* If you’re not familiar with the eCommerce Marketing School podcast, they post five times a week, with 5-10 minute episodes taking a customer story sharing some of their tactics, what's working, what's not, and then a handful of interviews as well with operators who are in the trenches working on new tactics for growth
* Some businesses start because people have a product, and on the flip side, people have a skillset and find ways to apply it, with this…people are finding their natural sales channels
* “People that understand how to create content can have tremendous success launching a brand from a cold start.” -Ben
* Consolidation is happening at the small end of the market, but it's going to jump to the midmarket and enterprise as well
* “There is a fractionalization of the consumer experience in the sort of the bygone era of installing a million apps in the Shopify ecosystem.” -Phillip
* Figure out how to be sustainable in creati…
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Apr 15, 2022
Plurality of Identity (Feat. Bryan Mahoney, Chord)
Living in a Headless World
* Bryan Mahoney is back today to talk about recent news at Chord such as launching Chord Commerce Hub
* “We see Chord Commerce Hub as the mission control for business users.” -Bryan
* If you’re trying to be efficient, you’re doing it wrong. The right way is oftentimes the hard way.
* “The core tenant of headless for me, is taking a first-principles approach to building. It's not the technology behind it. It's that it obviates you to have to build, starting with no assumptions and starting with the questions: who do we want to be and what do we want our identity to look like.” -Phillip
* In order to build a great business, you have to understand your customer
* “You understand your customer with data and not tricking them into making a purchase by following them around the internet, but really collecting great data, being upfront about the data that you're collecting, and then using that data to make better experiences.” -Bryan M.A…
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Apr 8, 2022
Policy is Spurring Innovation (Feat. Gaida Zirkelbach, Co-Founder and CEO of SustainaBase)
Boundaries Cause us to Thrive
* On March 21st, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), issued proposed climate-related disclosures. The rules were proposed for publicly traded companies that report to the SEC.
* The SEC is proposing these rules to protect investors because they felt that the current rules did not adequately protect investors when it comes to climate-related risks.
* “The SEC wanted to bring less fragmentation into the way that you report and how they report.” -Gaida
* SustainaBase provides a climate accounting platform for brands, software companies, and governments. Giada has been tracking this disclosure for quite some time, so it's not a big shock to her or others in the industry.
* These climate disclosures are going to be tied to a line item in a financial statement, and that's really a great thing for investors to be able to see because they can assess a company based on how they're planning for this transition in the world, and how they're pla…
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Apr 6, 2022
“Metaverse is Just the Internet Now” (Live from ShopTalk 2022)
Come At Me PacSun
* Everything and everyone is all about the metaverse right now. Brian is starting to think that the “metaverse is just the internet now.” Maybe it is, hence why some think NFTs, crypto, and bitcoin are part of the metaverse as well.
* When we think about DTC we have to remember what the entailed vision was: “to disrupt the existing industry or category with a product that is equal to or better than the existing products that are available and make them more affordable and get them to you quicker.” -Ingrid
* Everyone is capable of doing everything because there is an audience
* “Crypto bros are basically just this generation's example of extreme couponers.” -Phillip
* A company-curated around being highly curated and centered around good company culture, and innovation will beat out money every single time.
* “The biggest opportunity in this current market is right now, everything that is going to be worth anything is entirely based on curati…
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Mar 25, 2022
[Step by Step] What are the Common Mistakes to Avoid in Cross-Border Commerce? (Feat. Peter van der Westhuizen)
A Lesson in Complex Systems
* Peter is the manager of Strategic Partnerships at BigCommerce and works to help solve the pain points of tax and cross-border
* “Tax is one of the more complex issues that merchants have to work through when it comes to cross-border commerce.” -Peter
* Localization, offering the correct payment gateways, and fraud management are just a few things that will help make a seamless experience for your customers
* Shipping can be a big problem when it comes to cross-border. You need to look at having the right partnerships and you also have to consider how you are going to manage returns.
* “Returns is often overlooked as a really core component of eCommerce, but it's so important when you consider the cost to acquire a new customer versus retaining a customer and keeping a customer happy and coming back.” -Peter
* There’s a risk in that part of your experience as a brand operator is fractured and part is localized.
* “If you just do a…
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Mar 24, 2022
[Step by Step] How Does Cross-Border Commerce Impact Supply Chain? (Feat. John Huelskamp, Flexport)
Launching the Crawl, Walk, Run
* As companies scale their operations into new markets, it's important to have the people, partners, and processes to scale efficiently.
* “We need technology to help us manage exceeding our own capacities and limits.” -Phillip
* It’s about the relationships on the other side and how we relate to them, in order to make all things come together and bring product to the hands of the person trying to order from us.
* “Once you've launched that crawl, walk, run process, if you've done that once in a new market, the next market you enter your tolerance for complexities up dramatically.” -John
* When figuring out inefficiencies in your supply chain, go to your front-line workers and ask them about their days and where they feel the most inefficient. They’ll help you uncover the issues in your processes.
* “Every person's capacity for change management is wildly different.” -JohnAssociated Links:
* Want to learn more about going c…
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Mar 23, 2022
[Step by Step] What Changes Will My Business Face in Selling Overseas? (Feat. Craig Reed, GM of Crossborder at Avalara)
The Rosetta Stone of eCommerce
* Craig Reed is the GM of Cross-Border at Avalara and has watched the industry develop over the last 20 years. He’s truly one of the godfathers of cross-border eCommerce.
* An HS code is the code that an individual country expects you to give them to tell them what you're importing. This is important because all the other rules and restrictions flow from HS codes. Craig likes to label HS codes as “The Rosetta Stone of eCommerce.”
* The way we think about goods is different for every country and is different in every country.
* “A marketing description of a good and a country's description of a good are vastly different things, and they don't work well together. But getting that description is important. Getting to that Rosetta Stone is important, and that's the art behind trying to do cross-border eCommerce well.”- Craig
* If you’re doing anything cross-border, it is all about having the right information, and the right data.
*…
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Mar 22, 2022
[Step by Step] How do I Begin Selling Internationally? (Feat. Kent Allen, Co-Founder of GELF)
Have a More Holistic Global View of the World
* Kent Allen is the Co-Founder of GELF, who has been in the ecosystem and helping lead the conversation of cross-border for 25 years
* “We've got to realize that the very nature of digital commerce is cross-border.” -Kent
* In the last few years we’ve seen a boom in eCommerce, which has inherently led to a boom in cross-border
* The monkey paw of cross-border is having to be extremely specific when manifesting things in the eCommerce world
* Cross-border eCommerce is a diversification play. It’s an opportunity to be relevant to your consumer and the next-decade consumer.
* You don’t have to go strictly direct-to-consumer; marketplaces can be a huge opportunity for selling internationally. If you’re able to adapt your domestic operations, you can quickly and easily fulfill international orders from your domestic operation
* “When you're ready to kind of go into new markets and you need to find customers and thing…
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Mar 21, 2022
[Step by Step] How Does Cross-Border eCommerce Work? (Feat Jason Nyhus, SVP of Global Sales at Digital River)
It Takes an Ecosystem to Grow Internationally
* Jason Nyhus is the SVP of Global Sales at Digital River, focusing on helping brands go global
* “The honest reality of today is a lot different than it was a decade ago. If you make any product, you are inherently global overnight.”- Jason
* Just because you’re able to take people’s money, doesn't mean you will be able to fulfill the brands promise. You have to make sure that you will still be able to deliver an on-par experience. You have to be able to serve the demand
* There are two categories to consider:
1. Where is the product coming from? Does it have to cross the border?
2. Where is the payment being taken? Does that also have to cross the border?
* The more onshore, the better. Better in terms of products, how long it takes to get there and making sure you have the appropriate payment methods.
* A brand can really screw up when they go global if they surprise their customers in a negative way.
* “It's not…
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Mar 11, 2022
Talking S*** with Tushy (Feat. Miki Agrawal, Founder)
The Super Bowel Movement
* We admit, we were talking s**t about Tushy on a recent Senses email, only because our team was very intrigued by the Super Bowel campaign, and of course this prompted conversation between our teams and here we are, dropping poop jokes on the show
* TUSHY is the modern bidet brand that washes your butt clean after you poop.
* “Make something that you would be curious to click on. It changes the way you make art and the way you create and do things. It truly is all about authenticity.”-Miki
* Showing authenticity in marketing and in gerneral, in being a brand, is important because it matches people up with a brand
* Miki looks at things in a three prongs thesis:
* Best in class product. No matter the product, it has to be cool, intriguing, delicious and elevate your life.
* Artful design across every touchpoint of the brand/product. “It's considered artful design across every touchpoint of our brand, when it makes you open your heart.” -…
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Mar 4, 2022
"The X-Factor": Live from eTail West Palm Springs (Feat. Tommy Lamb and Mary Grace Tifft, WITHIN)
Everything is Better in Person
* Everyone is still suffering through the turmoil of work from home life, job transitions, not knowing how to interact with customers, and so much more but Etail West was able to provide a way for everyone to relate and be in person again for the first time in a long time.
* “The struggles that any company has to build out culture, whether it's in-person or even more challenging when it's remote, those challenges are no different than when you're trying to build a relationship with your customer.” -Tommy
* Culture transparency is important, from company culture all the way down to building relationships with your customers.
* Mary Grace has a brilliant way of thinking called X-Factor, where she analyzes everything on three levels, execution, raw nerve or bravery, and the overall X-Factor (or wow factor) to the thing being analyzed.
* Etail West provided the opportunity for everyone to connect again, it provided the safety net for life to fe…
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Feb 25, 2022
Redefining Arbitrage (What if hard work is the real untapped opportunity?)
What Even is Arbitrage?
* Phillip’s new definition of arbitrage: an untapped source of potential; a source of growth that's under leveraged or as yet undiscovered.
* “The real arbitrage opportunity is hard work. Everybody wants a shortcut, and everybody wants the one weird trick.” - Philllip
* We’re stuck in a e-commerce industry diet fad phase. Everyone is searching for the one weird trick, but there is no weird trick, its just an endurance race of hard work.
* “Work hard and keep working longer than you ought, because most others will not.” - Phillip
* Gentle parenting is a style of parenting that is becoming very popular but there is a common refrain which is to do dangerous things carefully. Doing things carefully can be looked at the same in commerce, we take risks and are not promised a guaranteed outcome, but you test it and learn from it.
* Luxury by nature is an exception because it will always be the minority. In eCommerce, we often look at luxury as…
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Feb 18, 2022
Announcing: Casting Visions (Looking Beyond Commerce)
The Evolution of Future Commerce
* Today we’re talking about the future of Future Commerce, going in depth on all our deep and dreamy stuff we got going on!
* “Commerce is relationship, identity, and connection between people. As we see changes in the way that people relate, commerce is affected and vice versa. As commerce changes, the way that people relate is changed.” - Brian
* Because everyone has the ability to change, we at Future Commerce want to grow and adapt with the change, commence Casting Visions: building in public. Casting Visions will be the spot of Future Commerce where we will be looking beyond commerce.
* “Future Commerce is a company. It's a media company. It performs research and comes up with original ideas, big ideas, on how the world will be changed via commerce and how we're all going to have to adapt or create the new future. And that is powered by people who are futurists, who are risk-takers, and who are creating the new commerce paradigms a…
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Feb 11, 2022
Conspicuous Consumption
Crossborder, Spotify, and The Truths of Modern Living
* “A lot of growth in retail and eCommerce is trying to sell you things that really nobody actually needs.” - Phillip
* Behavioral purchasing modes help explain personal shopping habits and the need to stock up on a product one really likes. We all have behavioral purchasing modes, even though each individual might go about it differently.
* Step by Step Season 7 Preview: The future of many brands is to go cross-border. But American brands cannot expect that other countries and cultures will have the same shopping habits and demand curve as US markets.
* “The way that [brand operators] think about that consumer has to change, which means that maybe the whole purpose of [the] brand and the way [operators] market changes too.” - Philip
* Buying items from Amazon is just pure fun. The Amazon Advertising ecosystem is also a prime example of conspicuous consumption.
* You would think with DTC era and the growth of Am…
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Jan 28, 2022
The Big Show Must Go On (The Top 5 Takeaways from NRF 2022)
A Pop-Up Amazon Go?
* Overall, health safety was top of mind for everyone
* “The safety protocols and the vaccine protocols worked very well for this event, and I think it proves we can have large scale events even if they're lightly attended.” - Phillip
* The shining star of NRF ‘22 was the innovative Amazon Go Pop Up Store on the main floor, providing attendees with convenient snacks and needs.
* Maybe they should consider hosting it a different weekend? Not MLK weekend…
* “Prior to the 90s, there was the age of clientele and glamor to retail that NRF to some degree represented.” - Brian
* “Ecom can be an invisible industry. And you know what that's doing? It's taking the glamor out of the industry.”- BrianAssociated Links:
* Subscribe to Insiders and Senses!
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
* Listen to our newest podcast, Infinite Shelf
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out…
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Jan 21, 2022
Magdalena Kala: "I'm a Consumer Needs and Wants Investor" (From DTC to Web3)
“Every Company Will Be a Crypto Company”
* Mags is someone who is thinking about the future of the startup ecosystem. She’s passionate about why and how people spend their time, money, and attention
* “The reality is people will always have needs, they will always buy things and services to fulfill those needs. New brands will still be launching.” -Mags
* The journey of NFTs is still early. In many ways they’re very similar to DTC brands as its become easy to launch, and the early movers have made a lot of money
* In return, we’ve gotten flooded with too many options that are not differentiated
* “My gut feel right now is that Web3 is about technical capabilities and about user needs. But it's also about culture and ethos and the mentality around what that actually means and then why the centralization matters.” -Mags
* “Initially, every company is a tech company and then every company is a fintech company, and at some point every company will be a cryp…
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Jan 14, 2022
Relationship Commerce (Feat. Eddie Hsieh, Ordergroove and Daniel Kim, Hawaii Volcanic Beverages)
Connecting Acquisition Back to Subscription
* Hawaii Volcanic Beverages is a purpose-driven ultra-premium alkaline water and active lifestyle brand based in Hawaii.
* Ordergroove helps innovative brands enable Relationship Commerce with successful subscription, predictive reorder, and membership experiences.
* “Water brands have a tremendous opportunity in really high, densely populated metropolitan areas…no one wants to lug around a case of water in the subway, walk up 10 flights of stairs to their apartment on a monthly basis. So why not just order it online?” -Daniel
* There are three major parts of relationship commerce. How you get them to enroll, the way you retain them, and the way you extend lifetime value.
* “Ordergroove provides this platform or this flexibility out of the box for people.” -Eddie
* “What eCommerce enables us to do is eliminate those barriers of not having those distribution points to where even if we have someone come all the way from…
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Jan 12, 2022
Our Favorite Shopping Scenes (What classic movies teach us about modern commerce)
Living Rent-Free in our Brains
* The drop culture and the hype culture have created a much shorter attention span.
* “We trample over each other to get the goods we want.” -Phillip
* Guided commerce has an emotional and personal impact when you do it in person, in such a way that it never lands the same when you’re doing it from a questionnaire.
* “Those sorts of sensory moments in commerce are often overlooked, but those are the things that actually make customer experience.” -Phillip
* “Ee-commerce is democratized access to at least the understanding of what's available and to browse and to shop unfettered.” -PhillipAssociated Links:
* Episode 225: Jingle All the Way
* Insiders #009: Shop Like It’s Your Job
* Phillip’s TikTok
* Subscribe to Insiders
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
* Listen to our newest podcast, Infinite Shelf
Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to…
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Jan 7, 2022
2022 Predictions: Back to the Future
Predicting the Ecom, DTC, and Tech winners and losers of 2022
* It’s a new year and spoiler alert…Brian still loves Costco. He’s actually banking that it becomes the biggest retail winner of 2022, whereas Phillip is rooting for GAP Brands (Old Navy, Banana Republic, Atheta)
* Will Amazon come out as the biggest retail loser of 2022? Possibly. Everyone is feeling the effect of disinformation and it doesn’t seem to be getting better
* Could beauty brands be leading the way in DTC this year? Phillip and Brian are thinking Harry’s and Hero Cosmetics
* “To criticize a direct to consumer brand is to somehow intrinsically criticize its founding team and the small amount of people that work on it. That has to change.” -Phillip
* Who will take home the gold for biggest media winner of 2022? HBO Max, Netflix, or could Youtube come out on top?
* “YouTube is completely untouched and maybe it should be the biggest winner of 2022.” -Phillip
* “Here's my loser for m…
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Dec 31, 2021
Mid-Season Highlight Special
Phillip and Brian join Ingrid on Infinite Shelf to chat about the best highlights throughout the season thus far. Tune in now!
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Dec 24, 2021
"Pour Some Out for Old Yeller" (The Best of 2021)
"This is Not Van Gogh"
* Today we're reviewing the best of the podcast in 2021, but instead of
* Branded resale enables you to have a better understanding of how things are being bought and sold and how your brand is having a life after you’re done
* “The most sustainable product in the world is the one that already exists.” -Adam
* “Brands are actually a new kind of canvas. They are a piece of art to some degree.” -Phillip
* We live in a world full of existential crises, but it's kind of fun. Sometimes other people won't agree with you that something should exist until they do.
* It’s easier to start carbon counting when you're small and your needs are small and you have a less complicated business. It's much harder to do it later on, and that's true of everything.Associated Links:
* Brands mentioned: Spirited Away, Curious Elixirs
* Episode 191: Net Neutrality and the Deplatforming of Trump
* Episode 194: “The Most Sustainable Product is One That Alr…
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Dec 17, 2021
“Algorithmic Secularism”: Reviewing the Big Ideas from 2021 on Future Commerce
The First Ever Future Commerce Draft
* Every person has a blind spot, and your mind fills that gap. But what are we missing?
* “We resort to hard data or often like quantifiable knowledge instead of gathering true, in the moment insight from people from their perspective, that first person perspective, which is really, really hard to validate.” -Brian
* Experience is different from every moment to every moment. We often don’t pay attention to the data that is related to our narrative.
* “I believe what we do is more art than it is expert analysis, right? Or an exploration of thought leadership. What we're doing is trying to communicate big, hairy ideas. And sometimes you can't communicate every single idea with logic and reason, and data. Sometimes you have to communicate it with art.” -Phillip
* There is a power struggle. We can break the power struggle by having discourse. Having discourse is the future of brand building and equitable brand relationships.As…
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Dec 3, 2021
“A Flat Line Isn’t a Flatline” — a BFCM Recap
The Way We’re Shopping Has Changed Forever
* When looking at Black Friday/Cyber Monday recaps, retail analysts and reporters drew a little bit of a flat line
* Brands are seeing underwhelming sales growth on Amazon's Black Friday. “In general, performance for many brands was somewhat muted compared with the bumper 2020 sale event. A considerable factor could be that it appears that shoppers did not flock to Black Friday deals as eagerly this year.”- Kiri Masters, Forbes
* “More and more of these types of companies are being transparent with their data, even though they're private companies. As they become more dominant, they're helping us to understand the landscape a little more in the way that they're sharing data.” -Phillip
* Walmart was still the leader in brick-and-mortar sales on Black Friday, with nearly 59% of consumers who shopped in-store stepping into one of the box store locations. Over 42% visited physical Target locations, while approximately 30% went t…
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Nov 26, 2021
The Year of Experiential Gifting (It’s All About Experiences )
Becoming a Gift Influencer
* Drips vs. Drops? Drips all the way. Businesses should be providing drips to their customers, constant communication. Whereas drops are the seasonality of pushing your customer.
* “I love the always-on drip culture. I do still think there's excitement and like sexiness to a big drop. But you have to make sure that those drops are super, super necessary in the moment, like hitting exactly where they need to hit and then using the drips throughout the year to prepare for the big drops, but then also make sure that you're staying relevant and on top of mind.” -Ingrid
* The best part of the holiday season is giving! But there’s different kinds of gifters. According to Brian and Ingrid, they’re both gift influencers.
* We’re going to see more of an experiential gift this season than an actual material gift.
* “This is a year where people are going to be giving things that get people out and moving and doing things.” -BrianAssociated Links…
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Nov 19, 2021
"The Internet Has So Much More Potential" - For the Risk Takers
Smart Contracts are the New Covenants
* “All this stuff is stuff that's been out that we've been talking about for quite some time, but it's actually finding its way into the mainstream now and that's really exciting.” -Brian
* The future is fractional ownership and we are seeing it happen right now with an autonomous organization potentially fractionally owning the governance of us all being able to acquire a copy of the Constitution of the United States of America.
* “There's an ecom brain drain risk here in that these sexier, open source projects today are effectively of this variety where folks are putting in many months of effort, a person months of effort, I should say, for what to what end.” -Phillip
* “Curation doesn't necessarily mean marketplace.” - Brian
* This is what a lot of brand collabs feel like according to Phillip:Associated Links:
* Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
* Listen to our newest podcast, Infinite Shelf
* Check ou…
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Nov 12, 2021
No Best Practices (Feat. Alex Greifeld, No Best Practices)
Approaching Dork Mode
* _No Best Practices_ is a blog and a newsletter on a mission to help marketers think more like operators and make sure that what they're working on is contributing in a meaningful way to the bottom line.
* “There are three different ways of approaching marketing. One where you start and things are completely instinctual and gut driven, and then, “I'm making data driven decisions," and then there's the "Well, there actually are some kind of guiding principles that can explain what's going on," to help you to avoid analysis paralysis. That's what I'm trying to go after with the writing: getting things to an actionable place.” -Alex
* Is there a current existential threat to ecom businesses right now?
* “The eCommerce game itself is getting harder. There are fewer arbitrage opportunities and almost, unless you really are aware of that, it makes that past 20 years of experience less applicable to the future because you can't run the same playbook.”…
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Nov 5, 2021
A Transaction Isn't an Exchange of Goods (Feat. Romain Lapeyre, Gorgias)
Superseding Customer Relationships
* "Relationship supersedes brand" is a phrase that we've often said on the podcast, but Phillip is calling this into question.
* A transaction doesn’t have to be an exchange of goods or monetary. It can be influence, it can be power dynamics, it’s identity exchange.
* “What often is overlooked is the employee experience in delivering service and support. It's never been more important than it is today.” -Phillip
* Getting customer service right during post purchase is important and solidifies loyalty, but prepurchase is just as important.
* “The role of a customer support agent is morphing into something else: a brand ambassador. Someone that has to be on brand, someone that has to represent the brand well as they interact with the customer.” -Brian
* Brands are changing their view of what brand ambassadors can be.
* “We're all consuming more and we're all participating in commerce more because commerce touches everything.…
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Nov 3, 2021
Introducing Infinite Shelf: Can We Stop Being So Binary?!?
Having Conversations That Don’t Exist in Other Places
* Welcome to Infinite Shelf, a human-centric show designed to help explore what it takes to make brands, products and services hit the right recipe of connection, relevance, emotional attachment, and, of course, profitability.
* Phillip and Brian of Future Commerce join Ingrid to welcome Infinite Shelf to the network
* The three play a game of “Get off my Lawn,” where INgrid has the guys guess what different TikTok lingo means.
* “When we talk about Infinite Shelf, the stuff gets onto the shelf somehow and the stuff gets taken off the shelf by someone. And the shelf is just the table that's being set for the meal that is being prepared. The shelf brings us together, but it's not about the shelf, it's about the people.” -Phillip
* The Pendulum...better known as The Big Three (Amazon, Target, Walmart) are taking over our mindshare, wallet share, and going full force on the economy. But what happens when a smaller…
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Oct 29, 2021
“The Beer Distribution Game” - A Twitter Spaces Conversation (w/ Lakhveer Jajj)
Our Inability to Predict Demand
* The National Retail Federation predicts a whopping 10.5% increase in holiday spending this year.
* Maybe supply chain issues are overblown?
* Moselle is on a mission to provide e-commerce businesses with everything they need to create stable and scalable supply chains.
* The Beer Distribution Game is really just supply chain 101. If you have shortages or additional lead time in this game, you'll basically run into supply-demand issues. A lot of what's happening now is on the extreme end of it, where there's a lot of individual things in the chain failing or slowing down immensely.
* “Unless you have your own boats or private shipping method or have an exclusive way to bring your goods from one part of the world to another, you end up having to work within the existing system. And then when you work in that existing system, it's all about how can I get an edge?” -Lakhveer Jajj
* “The inability to predict demand in the physical supply…
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Oct 22, 2021
The Creative and Relational Come Together (Feat. Rosa Hu, Yotpo)
Building a New Type of Relationship
* “For the future of commerce to thrive, brands must be able to own those direct relationships with their customers.” -Rosa
* In recent news, Yotpo and Shopify have joined in a platform partnership to help accelerate Yotpo’s growth and ultimately empower merchants to grow their relationships with consumers.
* “It’s never been more important than now to truly understand your customer. This partnership with Shopify allows us to grow that relationship and loyalty with customers.” -Rosa
* How does Yotpo provide more value to customers compared to others? It’s the little things. Packaging, service, 24-hour chat help, and more. They work on delivering their promise to their merchants.
* When you give your customers choice and let them give the opportunity to set their values, they’ll feel a mutual value exchange. In the end, you will be better off because you will be using tools to build empathy rather than using tools to engage.…
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Oct 15, 2021
In-Store is the Next Frontier for Digital (Feat. Roland Gossage, CEO of GroupBy Inc.)
The Modernity of Site Search
* We recount Brian’s visit to Aime Leon Dore’s flagship store in Soho, talk about the store design, the need for physical retail for “anchoring” the ultimate vision of a brand.
* We contrast the store design of ALD with another Soho shopping experience: Shinola.
* The future of digital requires having a physical experience. Brian’s ALD experience will likely drive future digital purchases.
* We’re in a brave new world of being introduced to brands. Price doesn’t matter anymore. User accessibility is what’s important.
* “In-store is the next frontier for digital.”- Brian
* There is still a lot of opportunity to optimize the experience for shoppers, if stores are able to create a seamless instore and online experience there would be a lot more growth.
* GroupBy’s Roland Gossage joins the show to talk about the past, present, and future of customer journey orchestration, and the tools that help us do that today. The GroupBy…
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Oct 8, 2021
Jingle All the Way- Welcome to Q4
Being an Informed Consumer Requires Recognizing Disinformation
* Searching the web can be a bit confusing these days with the addition of third party sellers, in a recent Washington Post article, the author stated “These days navigating Amazon, Walmart and Google's maze of third party sellers or judging hip looking social media ads requires the same kind of skills as identifying misinformation and conspiracy theories.” Phillip thinks this is the quote of the year.
* Mainstream media is coming to attack in spreading misinformation. With consumers not knowing how to determine a good product, it's creating bad commerce centered experiences.
* “When you get good at identifying what a good product is and what a bad product is, you're actually building a skill that's applicable for a lot of other things.” -Brian
* Maybe things that are fun are actually just fear, uncertainty, and doubt. We fear that something will happen (i.e you fear the supply chain falling) which crea…
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Oct 1, 2021
“Millennial Golden Corral”, Expo East, and FOMO in DTC CPG (feat. Kendall Dickieson, DTC and CPG Nerd)
“If only there were a way to sample new products... in a warehouse of some sort?”
* If you’re not an influencer or active on social media, how can you sample a product as a consumer? How cool would it be if there was a way to get into a warehouse with every product available for sample!
* “We need the raw, realistic community members, not influencers, sharing the content and saying, "these are my thoughts and this is how much better it is.’’ The people need to hear that. “-Kendall
* As consumers we often chase the newest luxury items, because we enjoy it. But we also chase experiences. What if we chased a different experience because we enjoyed doing things differently?
* “It’s not just the product that’s the whole experience, but the ritual behind it. If you can create an experience at home and you’re willing to trade that off, there’s an equating experience behind it. ” -Brian
* Brands that are exceeding are creating incredible customer experience…
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Sep 24, 2021
The Great American Mall Comeback - The Return of Mall Brands
Bankruptcy and financial peril is the rite of passage for the Mall brand.
* The return of mall brands is upon us. But how did they make the turnaround? By taking risks, for one. Partnering with Kanye could be a mistake, or stroke of genius to take the storied brand back into the premium category and pivot away from availability to scarcity.
* “I actually see the partnership between Kanye and GAP as actually the start of the Gap turnaround. I mark that as the moment. From a cultural standpoint and brand standpoint, the partnership with GAP and Kanye was the turnaround. It marks the beginning for me.” -Brian
* Brands like Old Navy are making a comeback by being more size inclusive with their recent campaign, Bodequality: offering all sizes, 0-30, XS-4X for all the same price.
* “What Old Navy is doing is incredible and inclusive. It's the kind of thing that you need right now in order to make a turnaround. And in a time where I think, you know, folks are willing to spend m…
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Sep 22, 2021
"It's Just Not Who We Are"
DTC Comes of Age in Grocery
* Grocery is one of the most complicated forms of retail that exists, leading it to be the one of the biggest forms of retail.
* “We talk a lot about retail. We talk a lot about CPG. And I mean, we talk a lot about eCommerce just generally, which a lot of focus of the scale of eCommerce has been in the direct to consumer movement over the last couple of years. But grocery is where it's at right now.” -Phillip
* The pandemic was in many ways a great accelerant for grocery. It’s allowed grocery retailers to evolve in many areas, including eCommerce grocery shopping. Grocery isn’t turning back to the way it was before.
* Because of this acceleration, grocers are innovating across all aspects of the business from eCommerce (which was virtually nonexistent just 5 years ago for most grocers), to supply chain, to adapting to changes in customer demand and expectations.
* Grocers are meeting the evolution of customer expectations by providing hi…
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Sep 17, 2021
Are Industry Events Ever Coming Back? Retail X and the Sacrificial Lambs of 2021
We examine the 2021 retail trade calendar and review Retail X, the first retail trade industry event to take place since the start of the pandemmy. ALSO: The rise of the headless platforms, Telfar TV launch makes waves, and we’ve rolled out a new podcast brand identity. Listen now!
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Sep 10, 2021
Report Alert: NINE BY NINE 2021
Our newest consumer research and trends report is here. NINE BY NINE uncovers the nine categories, and 81 brands, which are changing our world for the better. Get on the list to get an advance copy of the report. Launching next week. www.ninebynine.report
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Sep 3, 2021
ASMR and the SaaSification of Experience (feat. Gary Benerofe)
On Headless, Influencers, and Live Streaming
* What does digital marketing attribution look like if there are no cookies? And what are people doing in response to this? Frantic behavior.
* “Frantic behavior can be exciting because that means there is opportunity to be part of the solution.” - Gary
* Product market fit is beginning to become influencer fit. Consumers want to buy from experiences and from influencers they trust. Having a “genuine influencer” promote something to a consumer doesn’t take a lot of convincing.
* The law of platforms is always evolving.
* “The platform always evolves where its ecosystem performs R&D for it, and then it makes its strategic bets and product roadmap based on what's getting market share, and in this case, capital allocation.” -PhillipAssociated Links:
* Learn more about Gary Benerofe
* Check out our interview with Lomi’s Matt Bertulli
* The Cookiepocolypse and the Zero-Party Data Opportunity with Ben Parr
* Our…
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Aug 27, 2021
Project Gigaton: The SMB and DTC Impacts of Climate Accountability (feat. Gaida Zirkelbach and Holly Lichtenfeld of SustainaBase)
Accounting Platforms for Business Data that have Climate Impact
* SustainaBase is a software program that helps manage the carbon footprint of a company, akin to an accounting platform. SuistainaBase tracks carbon emissions, as well as water and waste metrics, taking data and science calculations to organizations to create meaningful actions.
* “Sustainability is important and it's something that we should be tracking like the way we track dollars. We should be checking to see if we're really making the reductions that we want to be making and the impacts that we want to be reducing.” -Gaida
* “Project Gigaton is a Walmart program, it's a big audacious program with a very meaningful goal. They’re working to avoid a billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses from their supply chain by the year 2030.” -Holly
* Smaller companies may see some challenges in the sustainability approach but starting somewhere and starting small helps add to the change of creating meaningful a…
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Aug 20, 2021
Don't Call it a Pivot (feat. Emmett Shine, Co-Founder of Pattern)
God-Like Technology
* Pattern is a family of purposeful brands providing the essentials to make, shape, and grow a home- the foundation of daily life.
* The times we are living in are culturally defining. People have a deep ingrained need for personal and internal connection, it's bigger than digital behavior, it's deeper.
* “There is a future where people are going to find some way to silence the digital noise” -Phillip
* With so many individual merchants comes a lot of fragmentation, similarly to how markets work there is disruption and consolidation, there's efficiencies to be found in all the fragmentations.
* “In interpersonal relationships, it's good to work on your relationships, but in startups it’s good to lean into your strengths.” -Emmett
* There is going to be a huge graduation in DTC and see it become a world of diverse products being made in a very quality way to specific communities.
* “Things are about to get more interesting in eCommerce. The…
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Aug 13, 2021
Bye Bye, Third Party Data Tracking (feat. Ben Parr, President and Co-Founder of Octane AI)
Facing the Cookiepocalypse
* Octane AI is the zero-party data platform for Shopify and eCommerce brands.
* “We help stores and brands collect super valuable insights on their customers in a very direct opt-on kind of way and use that information to personalize the shopping experience.” -Ben
* How can brands bounce back from the cookiepocalypse? Stop depending on others and own your data.
* “Stop renting the relationship that you have with your customer from Facebook and Google and other platforms and collect data and build your own data profile, your own buyer profile of your customer… Octane AI is entirely built around collecting data and getting more explicit opt-ins and leveraging that data for better conversion rates and better personalization.” - Ben
* The beauty of zero-party data is that brands can leverage it in any way because their customers voluntarily gave it to them.
* “A salesperson’s job is not to persuade, a salesperson is not a persuader. A…
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Aug 6, 2021
“Spoiled For Choice”: Acquisitions and Roll-Ups for Amazon FBA and DTC (feat. Keith Richamn, Co-Founder and CEO of Boosted Commerce)
“FBA” - Fruit by the Acre? More like Fulfillment by Amazon
* Boosted Commerce is an eCommerce platform working to distribute the most up-and-coming brands on a global basis.
* “We started Boosted really as a way of identifying these amazing businesses and brands that people have created.” -Keith
* Amazon is the world's largest shopping mall, and its importance is only going to increase over time. By getting a spot in this shopping mall, Boosted will be able to create great long-term success.
* What should a brand look for in terms of the future? Durability, packaging of the product, and the brand elements created.
* “What's unique about this ecosystem is maybe the speed at which you can get profitable doing that.” -Keith
* “We're 25 years into the digital commerce revolution. There's a lot of things that have yet to even happen, we're right at the very beginning. What an incredible time to sort of amass a critical mass of all of these capabilities.” -Philli…
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Jul 30, 2021
Modern Brands Need Waste Innovation (feat. Matt Bertulli, CEO of Pela)
Burn Your Own House Down Before Somebody Else Does
* Pela is a waste innovation platform. Selling the world's first compostable phone case along with eyewear, countertop compost systems, and haircare.
* “We design waste out of the human experience. We’re a weird combination of commerce DTC, while also investing in material science, and figuring out how to get waste out of everyday products.” -Matt
* “One of our core values at Pela is community. Community is taking care of the whole. We have this belief that you should leave the campsite better than you found it.”- Matt
* There are a lot of ways to build consumerism without waste. One way Pela is working on building this is by creating their product, Lomi, a compost machine. Throw in your leftover food at night, go to sleep, wake up, and you have compost.
* The idea behind Lomi is to have distributed waste management: to have innovation and waste be consumer-driven rather than government-driven.
* “If ever…
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Jul 23, 2021
Taking On International Fulfilment with ShipBob (feat. Casey Armstrong, CMO of ShipBob)
Building for the Future of Ecommerce Logistics
* ShipBob is a full service fulfillment platform coming out of a remarkable Series E that clocked in at $200 Million. ShipBob has been a partner of Future Commerce for a while now and we couldn’t wait to talk about this incredible raise.
* There are a lot of different shipping solutions across the buyer journey, and it can lead to a bit of confusion. ShipBob is helping break this confusion by being the one solution, which is what customers, merchants, and consumers want. It does this with integrations to multiple labelling and order management systems, all available through an integrations marketplace.
* “One of our goals is to continue to build a solution that works for people who are just getting started that can scale up like mentioned with international B2B, so you don't have to look elsewhere.” -Casey
* How do retailers determine what an operator's capabilities are and what they could do specifically for your brand?
*…
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Jul 16, 2021
Walmart Health and the Consumerization Healthcare (feat. Marcus Osborne, Vice President of Walmart Health)
The “84-Point Check”, but Make it Human
* With almost a million and a half associates in the United States and 150 million customers in stores and online, it's safe to say they’re one of the largest retailers in the world. But what are they doing in health? A lot, it seems.
* Walmart has been in the healthcare world since the 70s; they realize that they have a significant role to play. With 90% of Americans living within 15 miles of a Walmart, they’re aiming to address the care needs of people and help get access to basic healthcare in an affordable way.
* “How do you engage customers in healthcare? … By building robust omnichannel experiences that aren't about one channel but are about how all these various channels can come together to create something far more robust.” -Marcus
* With omnichannel systems coming online in healthcare it’s providing more opportunities for personal monitoring systems, taking a proactive approach to healthcare.
* You take your…
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Jul 9, 2021
What does a CDP do? Provide Real Time Relevance at Scale (feat. Josh Francia, CGO of Blueshift and Houman Akhavan, CMO of Carparts.com)
“OMG CDP”
* Wait. What exactly is CDP? Customer Data Platform.
* Wielding CDP well means brands can provide a freaky-personal experience for customers.
* Customers will freely give brands their first-party data if it means their experience will be better. Don’t blow it by making their experience worse.
* “If the expected behavior is convenience, then not only it's not freaky, it's what they're hoping and expecting you to do and they reward you with that with more activity and more loyalty over time.” - Josh
* CDP can power personalization and segmentation efforts. How do we know if this is too “big-brotherish?” Look at your open and click-through rates.
* “If your open rates are suffering, then, hey, something's wrong with your messaging strategy and what you're personalizing around.” - Houman
* Click-through and open rate metrics are direct indications of how much your customer is enjoying your content.
* You can’t manage privacy compliance issues…
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Jul 2, 2021
Insights Per Minute- Shopify is subsidizing R&D with its App Developers
The Multiverse is Real
* “Brands are like cows because it’s very easy for them to understand how things affect them, but it's very hard to see how things in the world affect others.” -Brian
* Technology can act as a containing—or limiting—factor. It can enable cost savings, but it can also be an enabler of more meaningful interactions.
* Shopify is looking to the future as a global empowerment of a merchant class
* Digital channels for legacy retailers boomed during the pandemic. Why? Default behaviors are latent. We will always regress to defaults, especially in a retail context. Best Buy is a great example of this; as are Lowes and Home Depot. Digital success was bolstered by physical defaults.
* For the first time in a decade, eCommerce is facing headwinds. Why? Because traditional brick and mortar retailers are experiencing tailwinds due to reopening. The roaring twenties will prove to be difficult for eCommerce businesses.
* Where is luxury headed? Luxury is…
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Jun 18, 2021
Millennials Think They Invented Everything
The Internet is a Literal Web
* Congratulations to friend of the show, Ian Leslie, and to Industry West for ranking on 2PM’s DNVB list and for Adobe Experience Maker Awards. Phillip and Brian talk about the Adobe Experience Maker Awards, the rankings, and ask the question of how some brands are ranked so highly.
* Millennials didn’t invent meal prep delivery. Schwann foods, and catalog delivery — even the milkman — are all examples of modern reimagining of pre-existing retail models.
* In eCom news, Shopify continues to eat the world, bringing in another investment of Stripe, and launching payments buttons across Google Shopping and Facebook — _without the need to be operating a Shopify store. _
* The BNPL ecosystem has stratified into much clearer offerings, as Phillip lays out the roadmap for Afterpay, Affirm, and Klarna.
* “The world is reopening… New York City no longer has any covid restrictions. San Francisco opened up officially yesterday; the biggest ci…
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Jun 11, 2021
Fast Isn't Solving Payments, It's Solving Identity (feat. Domm Holland, Co-Founder and CEO of Fast)
Headless Checkout
* Domm gives the story behind the creation of Fast, how a family member forgetting a password sparked an idea for easier checkouts across all platforms.
* “Our goal is to build a consumer network” -Domm
* The challenges faced as a leader and facing polarizing feedback.
* “It’s our job to protect consumer data, and consumer payments. This is typically the default relationship that consumers have with businesses, it’s a default trust.”
* “It's the logical place where those three need states and those three very broken things about the sort of stateless being of the web converge.” - Phillip Associated Links:
* Learn more about Fast here: https://www.fast.co/
* Get our latest report here: Service is the New Storefront
* Listen to more episodes of Future Commerce!
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Jun 4, 2021
[Step by Step] How Can I Leverage 3PL and xMS to Increase Revenue?
“It’s like shipping inception”
* Are we in a Shipping Inception or are 3PLs and 4PLs really that complicated?
* Identifying _where _your customers are is key in choosing the right 3PL solution for warehousing and shipping.
* “Despite the Amazon narrative, not everyone needs everything in 30 seconds… I think it's critically important for brands to manage customer expectations, meaning if you don't have the infrastructure to do two day delivery, then don't promise to do delivery.” - Nima
* Having a 3PL like Whiplash can help smaller businesses scale and keep shipping costs lower.
* “I really am confident that retail is going to see a rebirth... We're getting a lot more brands asking how can you support these smaller shops, maybe two or three per quarter over the next year?” - RyanAssociated Links:
* Get connected with Shippo!
* Check out Whiplash.
* Listen to our other Step by Step seasons
* Find our Future Commerce episodes on our website.
Have any q…
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Jun 3, 2021
[Step by Step] How Can I Utilize Shipping to Curate a Great Customer Experience?
The Post-Purchase Experience
* Consumer expectations are almost unfair for smaller businesses. But that doesn’t mean brands can’t continue to provide a great post-purchase experience.
* Many brands have turned to 3PLs to help meet the demand of fast shipping and to keep shipping costs lower.
* “Brands have to be more transparent with customers. They need to give customers a choice around what services they offer and the price. A lot of brands are starting to use 3PLs to meet the customer demand, which means they're storing inventory somewhere else throughout the country to get shorter deliveries. Brands need to communicate with shoppers after the purchase in a way that conveys the brand message differently than just an email saying your order has been shipped.” - Matt Crawford
* It’s more than just shipping, it’s about creating a memorable post-purchase experience. It’s about connecting the “front office” with the “back of house.”
* “I think of the po…
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Jun 2, 2021
[Step by Step] How Can Marketplaces Leverage Shipping?
A Different Innovation
* “Shipping is a growth engine. The entire web is possible, all eCommerce is possible because you could ship stuff. The question is, how do you master that in a way that is intentional as a brand or as a marketplace?” - James
* As the largest resale marketplace, the mechanics of Flyp are run differently. Flyp works to connect owners with sellers, creating a different experience. In the process they use bulk shipping to diversify the engagement in the marketplace.
* “We have an entire matching system that is designed to essentially incentivize pro sellers to behave and to perform better with their customers. A lot of our analytics are done around the efficiency of distribution that our resellers are offering to their customers on Flyp.” - James
* Shipping is constantly changing and Shippo is changing with it, providing new ways to execute and build fast.
* “One of the benefits of having Shippo is they've got this really cool feature where you…
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Jun 1, 2021
[Step by Step] How Can I Wield Shipping to Acquire New Customers and Build Loyalty?
Not a Cookie Cutter Method
* With the rise of shipageddon, shipping has become about getting products to the customer as safe and quickly as possible.
* Due to the different mentalities and thought processes of shopping during COVID, many customers choose different methods causing businesses to shift their concerns of shipping.
* “It's not just a cookie cutter thing where you're doing clothes or a hat or a shirt where you just throw it in a box. What we found is with the batch function on Shippo, we’re able to copy a certain order numbers into the search bar up top, search those and batch print those out, saving us a tremendous amount of time.” -Keith Austria
* “So many of us buy things online and really don't think about what the business challenges are around operations that make it all work.” -Phillip JacksonAssociated Links:
* Get connected with Shippo!
* Check out Decorware.
* Listen to our other Step by Step seasons.
* Find our Future Commerce episodes…
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May 31, 2021
[Step by Step] - Why Should I Prioritize Shipping in My Business?
It’s All About the Mindset
* Michelle McNamara joins the show to talk about the common pain points of shipping among merchants, and how the pandemic has impacted e-commerce with the shifts of consumer behavior.
* Shipping is not one size fits all, it's unique to every business. Shipping should be thought of as a key differentiator to add value to your business.
* “Think of ways you can increase your order value without increasing the weight of the box by too much.” -Michelle Associated Links:
* Get connected with Shippo!
* Listen to our other Step by Step seasons
* Find our Future Commerce episodes on our website.
Have any questions or comments about the show? Contact us at Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
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May 28, 2021
“Bigger Than the Plant-Based Revolution” feat. Kevin Rutherford, CEO of Nuun Energy
The 16-Year Old CPG Startup
* Kevin shares his incredible work at Nuun Energy and their growth of being acquired by Nestlé Health Science.
* Sustainability and ESG are at the forefront of product innovation for Nuun, but category innovation and form factor are top of mind in fast moving consumer goods and CPG, as well.
* When it comes to health and creating new connections, information is right at our fingertips. Having information right when we want it is evolving our purchasing behaviors. This evolution means that we can make better decisions around health.
* “I'm less worried about competitors coming in at this moment because I think it's going to continue to expand functional hydration — because it's a universal need that is bigger than the plant based revolution that's happening within food. I truly believe that.” -Kevin
* “Think about plant based milk alternatives, where it started. It was soy milk and a tetra pack in the center of a store. Commerce wasn't eve…
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May 21, 2021
Laser-Focused on Profitability (feat. Pashmina Lalchandani, Co-Founder of Bar & Cocoa)
Fair Trade, Fair Labor, and Sustainable Chocolate is Possible
* Shipping chocolate is challenging enough, but sourcing and housing craft chocolate from global suppliers, and creating a marketplace for consumers who have very specific expectations around buying and consuming chocolate is harder still.
* The challenges of creating a great customer experience with shipping delays in the midst of COVID created issues in the logistics industry, and those had massive impacts on the quality of the product at the time of delivery. Some chocolate only arrived a month post-purchase, at which point it wasn’t consumable. This represents a problem in a luxury chocolate perishable category, when you’re at mercy of carriers and covid-related delays.
* “I don't think the mission makes us grow slower, but I think my focus and laser focus on becoming a profitable company, you know, kind of meters our growth. And because we're not funded, because it's like something that has been bootstrappe…
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May 14, 2021
For The Love of Content Creation - feat. Aja Singer, Brand and Strategy Consultant and Creator of For The Love
Content Creation and Open-Ended Conversations
* For the Love is a DTC newsletter covering mission-driven companies and aims to provide meaningful content for entrepreneurs and founders.
* The trio shares the joys and pains of producing weekly content and how that informs their own understanding of the market.
* Creating content is a means of learning and growing, and developing a cadence that requires you to get better over time.
* “I don't think of myself as the authority on all of these topics. I am trying to learn about them. And so I'm having these conversations and trying to convey that as best I can.” - Aja
* There is a lot of good conversation and community building happening in the DTC media world, but there is still so much room to grow in providing spaces for diverse voices to provide their perspectives. For The Love seeks to have conversations with founders about the things that help to build a more charitable and equitable brand community.
* Aja aims to inv…
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May 7, 2021
Rally and The Age of Fractional Ownership (feat. Rob Petrozzo, CPO of Rally)
Nostalgia and Monoculture
* Rob shares the story of how Rally acquired a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and their plan to make it accessible to the public
* Gen Z is growing up to be a completely different wealth creation cycle then the one that currently exists
* Rob breaks down how Rally operates, the legal system that makes their IPOs possible, and how the system they created is both an online and in-person museum
* “We tried to create an ecosystem that is built around access but has a little bit for everybody involved, people that care about these assets individually.” - Rob
* “It's more important to have one of those sort of the Genesis moment of a franchise that I truly do believe has staying power and will live forever, then it is to have stock in a company where I'm beholden to, you know, a car manufacturer and something that's a little bit disconnected from the CEO of that company right now.” - Rob
* By keying in on nostalgia, Rally is unlock…
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Apr 30, 2021
The Future of eCommerce Agencies is Discourse- Our past informs our future decisions.
The agency world doesn’t get enough respect
* Agencies are a necessary part of fractionalizing expertise. Legal and accounting are good examples of fractionalized professional services.
* The more mature you are as a business, the more it becomes imperative to bring those capabilities in house.
* Proof points of DTC brands who acquired professional services: Ro and Glossier
* Agencies are concentrators of expertise. Commerce platforms, like Magento, require domain expertise and platform specialization to implement — and many brands lack the ability to run this kind of operation in-house.
* “I don't think the agency world gets enough respect and agencies are concentrators of talent. Like they are concentrators of expertise. And the last time I looked, technologists make the decisions that create the experiences that your customers interact with.”
* Creating an anti-competitive ecosystem in eCommerce requires rethinking power structures. Brian recapped thoughts on th…
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Apr 23, 2021
"Headless with a Brain" feat. Bryan Mahoney, CEO and Co-Founder and Henry Davis, CEO and Chairman of Chord
The Big Pivot: From Physical Products to Headless Commerce
* The core idea of the pivot from physical products to software was the basis of our piece in _Insiders #070: Phenomenological Brands_, which is how we booked Arfa (now Chord) to the Show.
* The Chord team’s background in deploying technology at Glossier informed the need for unique eCommerce experiences, and headless represents a shift from the template-driven sameness of eCommerce today, to a new limitless future
* Henry breaks down a new announcement, the name change from Arfa to Chord, a stronger focus on business software, as well as acquiring business intelligence company, Yaguara.
* Arfa was rated as #4 in our “Amazon Prime Challengers” category in our Spring 2020 _Nine by Nine _report
* The technological evolution of headless commerce allows for a fundamental revolution in direct to consumer
* “To make real value at some point, you’ve got to walk away from something that's worth something.” - He…
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Apr 16, 2021
"Well Made": You Need to Have a Reason Why Something Should Exist feat. Stephen Ango
Society and Audience Connection
* There’s a difference in connection with audiences—connection through logic (written) and connection through emotion (art).
* On emotional connection: “...when it connects with somebody, it deepens the experience of the things you’re trying to say through words.” - Phillip Jackson
* Lumi is a software company connecting packaging manufacturers to brands and creating lasting relationships between those brands and manufacturers.
* Not only has COVID-19 affected manufacturing, but there’s a generational gap between manufacturers and brands. Lumi is bridging that gap.
* “I feel like we’re going to be in this golden age of business as performance art, where people are doing things that don’t make sense, but they’re doing it on a large scale when it comes to marketing.” - Stephan Ango
Tools with Soul
* “How do you create, give your company a soul, give your thing that you’re doing a soul? That’s very hard. It’s lik…
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Apr 9, 2021
[Step by Step] Why Don’t Customers Trust a Five Star Review? (feat. Eric Smith, VP of Business Development and Partnerships at Shopper Approved and Ryan Garrow, Director of Partnerships Logical Position/Owner at Joyful Dirt)
A perfect rating isn’t perfect. Who knew? Validation on the web has been undermined by farms and bots, and trust is harder to build than ever before. Technology can solve for some of the challenges in building trust with your customers. In this episode we dive into the the complexity of building trust, and the paradox of how running an Amazon Prime operation can help you get better at delivering in DTC. Listen now!
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Apr 8, 2021
[Step by Step] How Can I Turn Customer Segments into Personal Connections? (feat. Ben Parr, President and Co-Founder of Octane AI and Jason Wong, Doe Lashes & Wonghaus Ventures
🎶Let’s get personal, personal...🎶 But seriously, we have this bad habit in eCommerce to turn customers into segments and numbers and forget that they’re people. Ben Parr, President and Co-Founder of Octane AI and Jason Wong, of Doe Lashes & Wonghaus Ventures join the show to talk about making segments personal, organic, and engaging for the customer. Listen Now!
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Apr 7, 2021
[Step by Step] How Can I Get Product to Every Customer in Two Days or Less? (feat. George Wojciechowski, VP of Partnerships at Shipbob and Babs King, Founder and CEO at Fleo)
Consumers want instant gratification from their purchases and sometimes it can feel really intimidating to even try to attempt matching the expectation of 2-day shipping. But what if we told you that you can get your products to every customer in 2 days or Less? Babs King, CEO at Fleo and George Wojciechowski join the show to talk about building the process and technology to meet customer expectations. Listen Now!
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Apr 6, 2021
[Step by Step] Can Product Returns Build My Brand? (feat. David Sobie, CEO and Co- Founder of Happy Returns and Zach Goldstein, CEO and Founder of Public Rec)
Product returns can be a total pain. But what if brands used their returns to actually strengthen customer loyalty? In this episode of Step by Step, David Sobie, CEO and Co-Founder of Happy Returns and Zach Goldstein, CEO and Founder of Public Rec join the pod to chat about how returns can actually be painless for the brand and a good experience for the customer, driving their loyalty to your brand. Listen now!
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Apr 5, 2021
[Step by Step] How Can Brands Compete with Amazon? (feat. Adam Gardner)
94 percent of customers will blame the retailer if the delivery of their purchase goes poorly. In this episode, Adam Gardner, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Route reveals how Route gives customers peace of mind and your brand protection in case of a shipment gone awry. Listen Now!
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Apr 2, 2021
Brands and the Snyder Cut
Read the full episode here!
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Mar 26, 2021
"Building in Public" – How Building a Podcast Led to Personal Growth
Thank you for being with us for 200 episodes of the Future Commerce podcast. In this episode, we look back on how we grew up from a podcast into a retail media research startup, and how building a show in 2016 led to personal and professional growth. Listen now!2016 to Present
* We launched in 2016. Our first guest was Scott Emmons and we talked about the online to offline blur in retail businesses.
* Every episode has been transcribed at FutureCommerce.fm. Everything we have said is searchable.
* “Technology adoption is always slower than you want it to be. You see potentials, you see opportunity, but it’s not really about the technology. It’s about people adopting the technology and how people use [it].” - Brian Lange
* In 2018, we picked up on the coming boom in secondhand retail or “secondhand commerce.”
* Through 2016-2018, we had a trajectory of doing live events - eTail West, NRF, Shoptalk.
* On Ingrid Milman Cordy’s impact on Future Commerce: “Prior…
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Mar 19, 2021
Ecom for New Moms: The future of parenting at the intersection of technology and digital commerce (feat. Ingrid Milman-Cordy)
This week, Ingrid joins Phillip & Brain to talk about her impressive baby registry, different mommy personas, and how monoculture is affecting their kids.Instacart for CMOs and Podcasts
* Ingrid helped contribute to Kiri’s new book: “The power that Instacart unlocks has never really been in the hands of retailers or brands. In the year 2020, it has gotten significantly more advanced in the ways we’re able to actually market to a new consumer.” - Ingrid
* “I think to stand out in podcasting is the same challenge to stand out in the brand world… it’s all suffering from the same challenge, which is there’s too much of it.” - Phillip Jackson
* “Discoverability is so hard that having this one kitschy thing is a way to stand out. I don’t know if it’s the way to stand out forever and be durable, but it certainly grabs people’s attention.” - Phillip JacksonPandemic Pregnancy and the Enthusiast Economy
* Ingrid is pregnant and has dug into research and regi…
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Mar 12, 2021
Shopper Discovery and the Convergence of the Meta & the Physical
The Instacart Paradox can easily confuse brands and advertisers. Instacart is part marketplace, part last-mile delivery, part advertising space, and yet not fully any of these all at the same time. Kiri Masters joins the pod to explain Instacart and how brands can leverage Instacart as a marketing strategy.Instacart for CMOs
* Kiri just wrote a new book called “Instacart for CMOs.”
* “There wasn’t as much written about Instacart as there was about other retail marketplaces and there’s a huge thirst for information from brands.” - Kiri Masters
* This book is a comprehensive guide on how to approach Instacart and how to understand it for your business.Fulfillment and ROI
* “[Instacart] doesn’t quite fit the definition of a delivery app and it doesn't quite fit the definition of a marketplace.” - Kiri Masters
* Instacart isn’t a traditional two-party marketplace, but a four-sided marketplace—the retailer, the in-store shopper, the delivery gig-worker, and…
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Mar 5, 2021
Instacart for CMOs: The Four-Sided Marketplace, feat. Kiri Masters, Author of Instacart for CMOs
The Instacart Paradox can easily confuse brands and advertisers. Instacart is part marketplace, part last-mile delivery, part advertising space, and yet not fully any of these all at the same time. Kiri Masters joins the pod to explain Instacart & how brands can leverage Instacart as a marketing strategy.
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Feb 26, 2021
Non-Fungible Podcast: NBA Top Shot, Fractional Ownership, and Meta Mortgages
Dapper Labs gets a $2B valuation so it's high time we break down NFTs and relate it back to themes from our Vision report. Listen now!
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Feb 19, 2021
“Adorkable” Brands, Blands, and CARLY (feat. Ben Schott, Bloomberg)
What Are Blands? What are Dazzle Brands? What are Adorkables?
* “Blands are the identikit army of disruptive direct to consumer startups.” - Ben Schott
* Blands are DTC brands that all have a neutral and friendly aesthetic, who claim to be unique, but are all the same in terms of their identikit formula, business model, and tone of voice.
* In WWI, a british artist created a new form of Marine camouflage called Dazzle Painting, which didn’t aim to make anything hidden, but to make it difficult to target.
* Ben correlates this to brands that distract consumers: persuading consumers that bad is good (potato chips), that good is bad (margarine), or bad is bad (Death Cigarettes).
* “Adorkables are a growing gang of disruptive brands that definitely target Gen Z with a jarring, visual aesthetic and authentic emotional appeal.” - Ben Schott
* “While Blands seduce millenials with an ever receding notion of self-actualization, Adorkables double down on Gen Z’s intern…
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Feb 12, 2021
“The Most Sustainable Product is One That Already Exists” feat. Adam Siegel, Founder of Recurate
Adam Siegel, founder of Recurate, joins the show to chat about how Recurate is promoting retained sustainability through peer to peer resale.The Birth of Recurate and Branded Resale
* Adam spent over eight years at RILA, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, leading their sustainability and ethical production program and eventually leading the association's first innovation and emerging technology function, now known as RILA’s Retail Innovation Center.
* Coming from his background in sustainability, Adam wanted to start something of his own and noticed the theme of circular economies—particularly the rental economy and the resale economy.
* “There are some other niche communities that have grown up like Stock X and Grailed and GOAT that have proven that second-hand products in some cases even have _more_ value than first-hand products.” - Adam Siegel
* Adam noticed that once products were bought directly from a brand, the brand lost track of consumers through resale…
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Feb 5, 2021
The [Broken] Circle of LIfe
Jeff Bezos Steps Down & Starting Small
* When Tim Cook took over at Apple, nobody knew who Tim Cook was and now he’s a household name. Andy Jassy will experience the same.
* Jeff Bezos started small with Amazon—by selling books. Marc Lore started small with Diapers.com—by selling a diaper. Now he’s building “a city of the future.” We have a new Insiders piece about this.
* Lean Luxe put out an email recently that mentioned Monocle’s “Digital Decency Manifesto” which was a better take of our Late Stage Retail where we toyed with the idea of a ‘consumer’s Bill of Rights.” This article also mentioned an Air Mail article about self documentaries.
* These “Me-Documentaries” started small—with Facebook and documenting our lives in a deeper way. Brian finds this both narcissistic and compelling: “I expect that we’re all headed towards having our own documentaries at some point.”
* StoryCorps has created kiosks to dive into stories with family mem…
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Feb 1, 2021
10 Trends. 70 Pages. 1 Future. Vision is here.
Our newest report is out now. You don't have to predict the future, we've already done it for you. Get it today at https://futurecommerce.fm/vision
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Jan 22, 2021
ShopShops Liyia Wu: “We’re Enabling a Generating of Prolific Creators”
Liyia Wu, founder and CEO of ShopShops, joins the show today to discuss ShopShops, the future of online shopping, and how ShopShops is creating the space for the next generation of content creators and influencers. ShopShops and Consumer Behavior
*
“I believe the future of shopping is definitely live and video.” - Liyia Wu
*
Liyia states that they call themselves “Retail First” or “Retailtaimerce”, which is retail, entertainment, and commerce all in one as a platform that serves three sides of the market.
*
ShopShops tries to mimic the offline shopping experience for the online world: the sense of discovery via the physical spaces and environments.
*
Because of video calls, conferences, and the rise of live streaming and video forms on TikTok and Instagram, Liyia sees a user change behavior that’s acknowledging what video can offer.
*
Instead of a one-to-one experience, live streaming becomes one-to-hundreds. During livestream shopping or livestream entert…
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Jan 15, 2021
Net Neutrality and the Deplatforming of Trump (feat. Danny Sepulveda - SVP Policy, MediaMath)
The Internet & Net Neutrality
* Danny works for the CEO of MediaMath on internal and external policy, as well as projects related to data partnerships and issues around privacy and competition.
* After leaving the Obama administration, Danny started at MediaMath answering the question of what is wrong with advertising.
* “There are significantly more actors than in that supply chain than I was aware of beforehand.” - Danny Sepulveda on transparency, misinformation, and disinformation in advertising.
* Danny says that when it comes to Shopify and other brand’s recent decisions on censorship: “It’s a policy thing and it’s a private thing.”
* “We need to have a much larger and more inclusive conversation about what we want the future of the Internet to look like, who we want to make value and judgement decisions for the Internet, and whether or not it’s fulfilling its original promise.” - Danny Sepulveda
* “When we talk about network neutrality, it is a…
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Jan 8, 2021
"Your Tool, Your Sword, Your Treasure": Corporate Leadership in the post-Trump era
Today, Brian and Phillip talk about the extension of 2020 into 2021, corporate leadership, and personal data. Corporate Leadership, Shopify, and Your Personal Data
* Anything related to Donald Trump is effectively not what Shopify wants to promote. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat have all suspended Donald Trump’s account across their services. This brings to question businesses and their corporate leadership stepping forward.
* Elon Musk has surpassed Jeff Bezos as the world’s richest man. Musk found ways of implementing what the future could be—compared to Bezos, who just found the most efficient way to do things.
* eCommerce, being all around us, is in a unique position. Comparing it to the time when viruses weren’t on Macs because they were less popular than PCs, Shopify has seen an amount of stores as fraudulent/risky. Just as Macs were on the rise and were ripe for fraud, so is the world of e-Commerce.
* In 2020, you’re responsible for managing your o…
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Jan 1, 2021
"2-Day is Too Slow": How Darkstore's FastAF is Delivering on the New Customer Expectation, feat. Lee Hnetika, Founder and CEO
Lee Hnetinka, Founder and CEO of FastAF joins the podcast to talk about how FastAF is not only revolutionizing delivery but also offering its members a thoughtful, curated selection of products as a fresh take on the DTC marketplace.FastAF Now & 2021 Scaling
* FastAF is a two-hour delivery app to get premium essentials delivered, working with the likes of Aesop, Bala Bangles, and Vybes. FastAF is currently available in Los Angeles and New York.
* Currently, FastAF has micro-fulfilment centers to deliver their inventory from. In 2021, they’re planning on expanding cities and expanding geo-coverage within their existing cities.
* Lee launched Darkstore because of the lack of marketplaces for classic premium brands. There are marketplaces for groceries and basics, but not for premium products that customers have high affinities for.
* “These platforms were built for two-day delivery, not two-hour delivery.” - Lee Hnetinka on Shopify partnerships.
* “Two day is, not to b…
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Dec 25, 2020
Divergence: 2020 in Retrospect, feat. Sucharita Kodali, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester
2017 to 2020, Sucharita the Soothsayer
* In 2017, on FC Ep 2432041, Sucharita said “In the future, brands should be thinking about how they can become marketplaces,” which has come to be true in eCommerce today.
* In 2020, Sucharita says that divergence is the broad theme of the year: divergence in political thought, essential businesses vs. nonessential businesses, employed vs unemployed, etc.
* There will be recovery for businesses affected by this divergence, but it might be a longer recovery than what’s ideal.
Retail in 2021: Efficiency vs. Tradition
* Retail was hit the hardest in 2020. Merchants had to pivot their businesses drastically in order to keep up because of the pandemic: curbside pickup, inventory visibility across channels, etc.
* “[This] showed the possibility of how fast things can move when [businesses] set their mind to it and everyone’s aligned.” - Sucharita Kodali
* Sucharita worries that retail businesses will see this from a different…
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Dec 18, 2020
Are We Human, or Are We Just a Bunch of Sensory Inputs? What's the difference exactly? feat. Daniel Dixon, Co-Founder of Mixy
Hot Sauces & Future Commerce v2: Conspiracy Theory
* The Killers have released a hot sauce collab, each named after one of their albums.
* Phillip used to listen to conspiracy theory radio as a child and was exposed to conspiracies about the X-Files being a vehicle to desensitize us to alien life.
* Elements of Disney’s The Mandalorian _could _be seen as a conspiracy theory: Baby Yoda, being cute in his vehicle by The Mandalorian’s side, could be allowing us to normalize putting our children in pandemic-proof bubbles.What Is Mixy?
* “It’s a place to get your brand out in front of new people.” - Daniel Dixon
* Mixy is a marketplace that helps DTC brands get their brand discovered by new consumers and incentivize those consumers by saving them money.
* Daniel came from the DTC world from an omnichannel sports nutrition brand. Mixy came from working inside of a brand and working as a consultant for brands—trying to solve the problem of encouraging consumers to tr…
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Dec 17, 2020
[Step by Step] What Tools Can a Small Brand Use to Automate Customer Engagement? feat. Kaylin Marcotte, Founder and CEO of JIGGY
Show Notes:
If you’re like us, you’ve done an insane amount of jigsaw puzzles in your quarantining.
After getting into jigsaw puzzles, Kaylin was tired of staring at stock photos and watercolor scenery and longed to look at beautiful pieces of art while completing puzzles. Thus, the idea for JIGGY was born. Kaylin partners with emerging female artists to create beautiful, artful puzzles for both her customers to enjoy and her artists to make an income. Everything from the puzzle itself, to the packaging, is thoughtfully curated for a totally immersive experience.
JIGGY launched in November 2019 and it’s almost as if they looked into a crystal ball and knew that the demand would go up in March…
Previously, Kaylin was the director of Marketing at Skimm, so you could say she had a bit of experience in building community. She brought that experience into building community around JIGGY: “I really led with what I knew, which was our story, my story, our artists, their stories.…
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Dec 16, 2020
[Step by Step] What Tools Can Help Me to Tell My Brand Story?
In episode 3 of Step by Step Season 4, James Le Compte tells us a story of conservation and preservation, and how they have created a luxury brand around an otherwise commonplace confection — chocolate. We dive deep into the psychology of brand storytelling, how you can tell those stories in every channel, and how you can bring tools along to inspire the customer in their purchase journey. Listen now!
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Dec 15, 2020
[Step by Step] How Can I Use Marketing Automation to Get More Done with Less?
How does a small-but-mighty team compete with big global brands? Bahzad Trinos tells us exactly how his passion — his obsession — for denim has helped the brand Naked and Famous rise to the top of innovation and admiration from those in-the-know. The denim brand is pushing the limits of what is possible, creating new and exciting opportunities for engagement with the customer. From marketing automation to absurd product innovation, Bahzad teaches us how they're doing more with less, and converting more shoppers into customers, Step by Step.
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Dec 14, 2020
[Step by Step] How Can My DTC Brand Compete with Established Brands?
It’s tougher than ever to attract an online shopper. It feels like everywhere you turn, you have to spend money to acquire a customer, and then spend MORE money to buy their loyalty. How do the big brands do it? How can a startup compete? There are so many channels for customers today and making sense of acquiring, converting, and reactivating these customers is more complicated than ever. Customers are no longer as loyal as they once were and float between brands, and channels, more fluidly than ever. In our fourth season of Step by Step we'll ask the question, "How can a DTC brand compete with established brands?".
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Dec 11, 2020
Smelling the Roses with Sunny Chadha, Co-Founder and CEO of Venus ET Fleur
Founded in 2015 by Sunny Chadha and his wife, Seema, Venus ET Fleur takes a modern approach to floral design. Inspired by beautiful Parisian hat boxes and featuring Eternity Roses, which are real roses that last a year, the brand hit 20 million dollars in revenue in its first three years and has grown to over half a million followers on Instagram. In this episode, Sunny shares with us his entrepreneurial journey from growing up in New Jersey and working for his father's electronic company, to a disappointing Valentine's Day that sparked the idea for his company. Sunny talks with us about how Instagram posts from the Kardashians affected the business, why he believes in vision boards, and what it's like to run a business with your spouse.
###In This Episode You’ll Hear About:
* How growing up in New Jersey/New York with an entrepreneurial father laid the groundwork for both he and his brother to become entrepreneurs as well
* How he learned to be adaptive and find the good in ch…
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Dec 9, 2020
"How Can DTC Brands Compete?" Step by Step Season 4 Trailer
It’s tougher than ever to attract an online shopper. It feels like everywhere you turn, you have to spend money to acquire a customer, and then spend MORE money to earn their loyalty. How do the big brands do it? How can a startup compete? Find out in our next season of Step by Step, coming next week.
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Dec 4, 2020
Cooperation, Inspiration and Discovery, feat. Sherline, Founder and CEO of co-op Commerce
Today we talk with Ferris Jumah, CEO of Surge.AI, about big data, AI technology in consumer insights, and the evolution of purchasing funnels. The New DIY
* DIY used to have a connotation of poor quality or poor craftsmanship but today, it’s more indicative of participation.
* Online marketplaces are booming with consumers and creators having more meaningful connections with items that could otherwise be more easily purchased.
* Partnering with Gladly, we’ve created a new report: The New DIY: Creators, Crafts and Commerce.
* “There is a cycle of inspiration that leads to education online, that leads to participation, which ultimately shapes the purchases that a person makes, which leads them back to inspire others into that same virtuous cycle.” - Phillip Jackson The Consumer Insights Data Scientist and Surge.AI
* Feris started out in CPG and retail, then ending up working at LinkedIn and joining the startup world.
* “I’ve always been super focused on growth…
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Nov 27, 2020
Robot Work vs. Human Work, feat Ferris Jumah, Founder and CEO of Surge.ai
Today we talk with Ferris Jumah, CEO of Surge.AI, about big data, AI technology in consumer insights, and the evolution of purchasing funnels. The New DIY
* DIY used to have a connotation of poor quality or poor craftsmanship but today, it’s more indicative of participation.
* Online marketplaces are booming with consumers and creators having more meaningful connections with items that could otherwise be more easily purchased.
* Partnering with Gladly, we’ve created a new report: The New DIY: Creators, Crafts and Commerce.
* “There is a cycle of inspiration that leads to education online, that leads to participation, which ultimately shapes the purchases that a person makes, which leads them back to inspire others into that same virtuous cycle.” - Phillip Jackson The Consumer Insights Data Scientist and Surge.AI
* Feris started out in CPG and retail, then ending up working at LinkedIn and joining the startup world.
* “I’ve always been super focused on growth…
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Nov 20, 2020
[Step by Step] How to Build Sustainable CX and Avoid Burnout?
Customer support and burnout often co-exist in an organization. How do you prevent burnout and have sustainable CX, while running one of the most prestigious brands in the world? Jeffrey Newman, Manager of Customer Care at Porsche shares how he keeps it all in balance. Listen now!
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Nov 19, 2020
[Step by Step] How Does CX Address Modern Customer Expectations?
Customer Experience is about anticipating needs. For Native shoes, leading with their values helps them to do just that. Their brand promise - to live lightly - is woven into every interaction they have with a customer. To do this, they're using blended teams to help blur the lines between online interactions and offline interactions, creating a seamless, even channel-less, view of interacting with the customer. Listen now!
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Nov 18, 2020
[Step by Step] How Does CX Drive Lifetime Value? (feat. Melanie Travis, CEO at Andie Swim)
How do you scale truly personal customer experiences? One-to-one CX takes time, talent, and experience. But when you train your customers to be your frontline CX team, that's where the magic happens. In this episode of Step by Step, CEO and Founder of women's swimwear brand, Andie, unpacks how they use technology to scale their brand promise while making every interaction personal.
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Nov 17, 2020
[Step by Step] How to Move From a Contact Center to a Revenue Center?
Step by Step continues with Episode 2!
"Selling is Good Service" says Kate Showalter. She should know - Kate is the Senior Director for Customer Service at Crate and Barrel, overseeing global CX for the storied retailer. Since COVID under Kate's direction, Crate and Barrel has nimbly transitioned their once store-bound frontline sales operation to a fully-digital-capable organization. In this episode we'll learn how she did it, and how you can too, Step by Step.
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Nov 16, 2020
[Step by Step] How Do We Evolve from Customer Support to Customer Experience?
Welcome to Step by Step Season 3 by Future Commerce, presented by Gladly.
This season of Step by Step is all about customer experience. Consumers have reimagined the customer experience, and they expect far more from a service interaction than issue resolution. The service experience is now as important, if not more important, than the product experience. As customer expectations are evolving faster than ever, customers are rapidly moving toward brands that are engaging the way they want to engage, and away from brands that are not. Companies that can keep up with these ever-changing consumer expectations will be the ones driving long term revenue and winning over customers for life.
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Nov 13, 2020
Content is King, Channel is Queen, feat. Michelle Grant, Salesforce
Who is Michelle Grant?
* Michelle got her start studying the retail industry in 2015 with Euromonitor, focusing on overall global strategy.
* She started this year at Salesforce in their Strategy Insights group with a focus on technology in retail and consumer goods.
* Michelle just launched Becoming Retail with Rob Garth—a content series focusing on executive interviews to understand the digital transformations behind brands; how they’re enacting digital change, what they’re learning, what their barriers are, etc.
* “It’s really getting to know the people behind these changes that we’re seeing in the news, essentially.” - Michelle Grant
* Michelle points out the major change in the last 5 years—a shift from a product mindset in retail to customer centricity.
* “If content is king, then channel is queen. It’s essential.” - Brian Lange
* In Becoming Retail and via Salesforce’s blog, Michelle is pushing out content about customer centricity. Shipag…
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Nov 6, 2020
The Magic of Logistics? Data and Optimization, feat. Jason Murray, Co-Founder and CEO of Shipium
Shipping is extraordinarily complicated
* Shipium helps businesses by providing the tech behind the complicated processes of shipping to consumers.
* Jason says that shipping is a series of events that needs to be coordinated well to give customers the optimal experience: “Our belief is that coordination should happen with good technology.” - Jason Murray
* Jason had a long career at Amazon in which his career mostly focused on the merger between logistics and technology - eventually leading him to help launch FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).
* Jason and the other co-founder of Shipium, Mac, both started working at Amazon together in 1999. After leaving Amazon, they both subsequently built similar software stacks for the businesses they were working on in managing their supply chains.
* They reconnected in 2019 and started discussing the idea that there was a gap of missing software in supporting the booming eCommerce industry.
* This gap could be solved by paying someone…
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Oct 30, 2020
There's a Nerd For That - Farfetch, Instacart, and Connecting Shoppable Experiences
We discuss digital shopping experiences, their experimental evolution, Instacart, CARLY brands, and more. The New DIY
* DIY used to have a connotation of poor quality or poor craftsmanship but today, it’s more indicative of participation.
* Online marketplaces are booming with consumers and creators having more meaningful connections with items that could otherwise be more easily purchased.
* Partnering with Gladly, we’ve created a new report: The New DIY: Creators, Crafts and Commerce.
* “There is a cycle of inspiration that leads to education online, that leads to participation, which ultimately shapes the purchases that a person makes, which leads them back to inspire others into that same virtuous cycle.” - Phillip JacksonDigital Shopping Experiences
* Kendall Jenner just released a $23 toothpaste on StockX. StockX has pioneered a drop platform called DropX. StockX was part of our Nine by Nine report as a brand introducing a new type of luxury to a new consumer.…
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Oct 26, 2020
The New DIY: Retail Opportunity in the Passion Economy
Today we acquire skills online, and those skills shape our purchasing habits. Our newest report dives deep into the Passion Economy, and the era of "do it yourself". We explore what this means for brands, and what retail stands to gain. Get the report today: https://futurecommerce.fm/thenewdiy
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Oct 23, 2020
“I Wouldn’t Allow Our Business to Become Dependent on One Channel" feat. Damian Soong, Co-Founder and CEO of Form Nutrition
Damian Soong, co-founder and CEO of Form Nutrition joins us to talk about Form and building a B-Corp brand that serves a wide audience. The New DIY
* DIY used to have a connotation of poor quality or poor craftsmanship but today, it’s more indicative of participation.
* Online marketplaces are booming with consumers and creators having more meaningful connections with items that could otherwise be more easily purchased.
* Partnering with Gladly, we’ve created a new report: The New DIY: Creators, Crafts and Commerce. What is Form Nutrition and who is Damian Soong?
* Form is a plant-based B corporation, built around the belief that you can be the best version of yourself while being mindful of others. They are the first UK protein brand to achieve B-Corp status.
* Damian studied engineering and worked six years as an investment banker and analyst before getting his MBA, getting involved in startups, and running a contract manufacturing company. Damian was athletic while…
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Oct 16, 2020
A Tale of Two Recoveries: Popshelf, The K-Shaped Recovery, and Spending Power
In this episode, we talk about marketplaces, subscription services, the K-Shaped economy recovery, and more.“The Future of Every Brand is a Marketplace”
* In Future Commerce #041, Sucharita Mulpuru said that marketplaces are where businesses are going to thrive.
* “Consumers want more in their online shopping experience and they want to be able to transact more often with the brands that they know and love in products that aren’t just the core.” - Phillip Jackson
* Moving towards a marketplace strategy has a lot of moving factors—operations, partnerships, capabilities. “Implementing and managing a marketplace is not just about technology. It’s about strategy.” - Phillip Jackson
* Marketplace is becoming more normalized for eCommerce brands, in the same way that AR and VR have taken time to normalize and implement.K-Shaped Recovery
* Marketplace shipping times haven’t been trusted recently and there’s a movement back into stores due to poor customer ser…
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Oct 9, 2020
Parade: Reimagining a Value Brand, feat. Jack Defuria, Co-Founder and Chief Digital Officer
Jack DeFuria, Chief Digital Officer and Co-Founder of Parade, joins the show as he talks about founding Parade while in college with his co-founder, Cami Téllez, how Parade approaches their brand, and the pursuit of building America’s next great underwear company. What is Parade?
* Parade is a women’s underwear brand focused on ages 18-30.
* They were able to connect with potential customers in their target market very early on digitally using Facebook groups, sorority group chats, etc. and used other digital tech to promote their brand like setting up a Twitter bot that would reply to any tweet with the hashtag #botcottVS.
* Parade has always been ‘community-first’ in their product development strategy - by product being directly shaped by community feedback.Gen Z: The Psychographic
* “I think that Gen Z is really more a psychographic than it is a demographic.” - Jack DeFuria
* Parade’s customers grew up not only on the internet, but on their phones. Their i…
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Oct 2, 2020
Capital and the Creator Economy: Two Conversations with Sari Azout
Human Centricity
* Sari is an early stage investor, a lead strategist at a startup studio, and a newsletter writer.
* “To me, being human-centered means you’re far more obsessed with the problem you’re solving than you are with a product that you’ve built. And what that gives you is the flexibility to evolve with your customer.” - Sari Azout
* “Being human-centered ultimately means that you don’t really sell your product. You sell your purpose.” - Sari Azout
* The brand ‘story’ is important for longevity. Brand stories and purposes are what resonates with consumers.
* “The story can’t be the marketing. The story has to be the strategy.” - Sari AzoutThe Degrowth Movement in DTC Capital
* “They’re not tech companies, they’re tech-enabled companies.” - Sari Azout
* Retail vs. software company investments should be valued differently because of marginal costs of physical goods.
* The internet and DTC brands have allowed brands to be much…
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Sep 25, 2020
The Anti-Blands: Existential Brands and the New Dadaism
The New Dadaism
* Dadaism was an intellectual movement post-WWI that focused on subverting the serious.
* In response to the popularity of minimalism, maximalism has been on the rise. Brands have been using absurdity to reach their markets - specifically with Gen Z and Millennial brands.An Exploration in Brands in this Moment
* “Topicals really is the Anti-Bland” - Phillip
* Topicals is a skin care brand founded by two women of color. They have continuously been selling out, even after retailing with Nordstrom. They have individually branded, specified products which tailors to their market.
* Gen Z is into spiritualism which is reflected in Topical’s quiz to find your unique skin care needs.
* Faculty is a male skincare brand that has also stuck to the Gen Z and millennial generational experience - in dropping products periodically instead of restocking, in adding music to their brand experience, and in their use of SMS marketing.
* Brands are experiencing their…
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Sep 18, 2020
CPG: "Around You, On You, In You"
Jackson Jeyanayagam, VP of DTC at Clorox, joins us today to talk about Clorox’s DTC strategy, launching a new brand for an underserved, generation segment in the marketplace, and how his past experiences have prepared him and brought a fresh perspective to his current role.What’s Jeyanayagam’s story?
* Jeyanayagam started at a PR agency working with T-Mobile.
* Whenever the Sidekick was launched and subsequently hacked, his world opened up to social media and digital marketing.
* This digital marketing and social media focus was further solidified when Jeyanayagam had a role in Old Spice’s brand transformation in 2010.
* While in an agency role, Jeyanayagam worked with brands like NASCAR, P&G, Diageo, and Chipotle.
* Jackson then moved into the startup world with Boxed as their CMO.
* After moving on from Boxed, Jeyanayagam looked for an opportunity to grow personally and move towards his own dream of being the CEO or president of his own company.
* In his experi…
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Sep 4, 2020
"Low-Cost Indulgence" feat. Mayssa Chehata, Founder and CEO at BEHAVE Candy
What is BEHAVE?
* BEHAVE makes candy that is better for you: low sugar, natural ingredients, no artificial ingredients, and good taste.
* Currently, BEHAVE offers two options of gummies, sweet and sour.
* BEHAVE started from a lack of alternative options in the candy department, which typically had people giving up candy altogether.
* Originally, BEHAVE planned to be a mix of DTC and retail. Due to COVID, they’re now only doing DTC.
* BEHAVE thrived throughout COVID by surrounding themselves with the right investors, partners, vendors, and employees. Where is BEHAVE headed?
* Self-awareness is a cornerstone of how we should operate, both as individuals and businesses. BEHAVE is engaging in their own self-awareness by seeing the current market and making decisions accordingly.
* BEHAVE is recognizing the shift in the market towards comfort items and online shopping
* Eventually, BEHAVE plans to get into retail.
* BEHAVE is doing things differently - marketing towa…
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Aug 28, 2020
Walmart's Midlife Crisis: The Rise and Fall of Small Business in 2020
We chat with Ingrid Milman Cordy about business growth and decline in 2020 and Walmart’s new partnership. Our Economy
* The way our economy is set up, big businesses are bound to thrive, even during economic disruption like COVID-19.
* Small businesses seemed to be the ones to cope best with the disruption, but the distinction of “essential businesses” shifted from small business to big business.
* Businesses like Amazon and Shopify doing well also signifies that the small and medium businesses that sell through them are doing well. The difference between growth and decline in small businesses in 2020 comes directly from being in the right or wrong industries given the current circumstances.Branding and Positioning in a Changed Market
* Small businesses that have seen growth this year should be focusing on retention.
* Businesses that saw the most decline were retail in fashion and apparel - but they could bounce back given they rethink their branding and positioning…
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Aug 21, 2020
Pants = Tyranny: A Retail Rebirth Report Review
Read the Retail Rebirth Report here.
Read Insiders #045: The New Dada Here.
Read Insiders #046: The New Formal Here.
Find us at Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at Hello@futurecommerce.fm or any of our social channels; we love hearing from our listeners!
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Aug 14, 2020
Employing the Highest Levels of Integrity, feat. Nilla Ali, SVP of Commerce at BuzzFeed
We chat with Nilla Ali, the Senior Vice President of Commerce at BuzzFeed.
Can content and commerce coexist within a platform? How does the shift into shopping digitally affect the way that retailers and advertisers reach to consumers?CONTENT AND COMMERCE
* There has been an Increase in traffic and consumption on BuzzFeed during COVID-19.
* BuzzFeed Shopping has been introduced, a native checkout feature on BuzzFeed which optimizes a consumer’s experience and increases revenue for featured products.
* Creating content drives discovery and can enhance partnerships with retailers, providing an ease-of-use experience for consumers to get products through retailers.
* Because of commerce switching to primarily digital, content will start playing a huge role in those experiences. Content and commerce coming closer together is a natural progression.INTEGRITY AND CONSUMER TRUST
* BuzzFeed Shopping has a self-regulating business model that is mutually beneficial to all parties.…
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Aug 7, 2020
“The Plan Was Always to Go Back to Membership” - feat. Jeremy Cai - CEO at Italic
We talk with Jeremy Cai, CEO of Italic. We discuss what Italic is and how it is different than other DTC brands today.ITALIC
* Italic offers subscription memberships with access to a thousand plus products at-cost - stepping away from mark-up retailing.
* Italic is moving less in a brand specific, single category product direction and more into a value driven lifestyle.
* Italic’s ‘secret’ lies in partnering with manufacturers instead of treating them as vendors.WHY IT WORKS
* Three primary reasons people purchase from Italic:
* Value
* Design
* Ethics/Sustainability
* Italic thrives by being able to sell to everyone - including those who buy specific brands - by having a wide range of categories to choose from. Italic appeals to the value conscious part of everyone’s shopping behavior.
* Investing in data, reporting, and understanding metrics early on in a start-up can be extremely beneficial by being able to be adaptable.
LINKS
* Italic’s membershi…
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Aug 4, 2020
Announcing NBCUniversal Checkout, Feat. Evan Moore, Vice President of Commerce Partnerships
What is NBC Universal Checkout
* NBC Universal Checkout is a native shopping experience embedding within any NBC content page.
* Whether it's a text based article, a static page, or even a video, it can be transformed into a native shopping experience. When the viewer encounters a product, they can click on the product to see more information about it, add it to a shopping cart, pay, and check out all without leaving the NBCU site.
* Context is really important during the experience - finding alignment between retailers with product and property within a piece of content within their portfolio.Universal Checkout’s Launch on SYFY Wire After Dark
* On SYFY Wire After Dark, they can play tastemaker by making trustworthy recommendations to their audience.
* They can also expose the audience to collaborative products, like the Wonder Woman 1984 sunglasses from goodr.Who’s the Retailer?
* NBC doesn’t see themselves as a retailer, but as a channel for retail partners.
*…
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