eCommerce Podcast

Do you want to create a magical customer service experience for your clients? In this episode, Vance Morris joins Matt to share his seven keys to turning your customer service into an amazing experience for your customers.ABOUT VANCEVance Morris is the Service & Marketing Strategist at Deliver Service Now Institute. He is a former Birth Control Factory Security Guard turned Disney Leader, turned Bankrupt Out of Work Executive, turned Carpet Cleaner, turned Successful Entrepreneur. Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:Deliver ServiceNow Institute is all about creating experiences for clients. They use the term “Disnify”, which is creating experiences out of the mundane. Every business has tons of things that are mundane that they need to do day in and day out to keep the business running. Disney has just created experiences out of each one of those touchpoints and so can you!Vance has come up with 7 Magic Keys to Disnifying your customer service. They are namely, creating the wow experience, focussing on the details, the employee experience, your service standards, the environment that you have your employees working in, the process and the magic of bringing it all together.Vance believes that with a little bit of care and thought, any business can create Wow experiences for their clients. Taking inspiration from some of the principles he learnt from his time at Disney, like anticipatory service, linertainment etc. he developed his 7 keys to Disnify your Customer Service. He says, if he can implement Disney style service in a carpet cleaning service, anyone can!For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Offering productized services is a great way to make money while keeping your clients happy. In this episode, Rick West joins Matt and explains what productized services are and why you should offer them to your clients. You'll learn how productized services can help you streamline your business, provide better customer service, and make more money.ABOUT RICKRick West is the CEO and Founder of Field Agent. Field Agent connects brands, retailers, and agencies with customers across the country and around the world to help you win at retail. His platform harnesses smartphones across the country, bridging the gap between you and your customers.Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:If you're a B2B provider of services, there's no way that you can put your services on Amazon or Shopify. So, Rick and his team developed Plum, the first B2B marketplace with a cart where you can click, answer a couple of questions and go to a cart and check out with a cart just like you would Amazon or any type of retail, B2B engagement and buy their services. The barriers to any B2B services provider in productizing their services are usually time and tech resources. Rick’s team comes alongside and helps them by doing the tech lifting and concept lifting to create products and gives them a place to place these products, which is plum shop.A checklist is a great tool to productize something even without the technology and what marks the difference between a great and mediocre sales call.For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

A lot of people think that they need to massively increase the price of their product in order to make it more valuable, but that's not always true. There are a lot of ways that you can manipulate the perception of your product to make it more appealing and increase sales.Norm Farrar, the host of the popular Amazon podcast, Lunch with Norm, joins Matt in this episode to unpack whether perceived value can really be increased significantly or is it just an American Hype? ABOUT NORMEntrepreneur and businessman Norman “The Beard Guy” Farrar stands at the forefront of the economic mega-machine known as Amazon Marketplace. As a leading expert with over 25 years of product sourcing, development, and branding expertise, Norm is an advisor to many and is the host of the podcast Lunch With Norm, a Live Interactive Podcast For All EntrepreneursThroughout his career, Norm has sold over 100 million dollars in sales between his own products and services and the opportunities he has brokered for clients. Today, in addition to running a diverse catalog of companies including AMZ Club and PRReach (The world’s first video press release company), and he focuses on guiding individual sellers, brands, and manufacturers to worldwide dominance on Amazon, Amazon Podcast, and top-earning sales sites.Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:Perceived Value is the customers' evaluation of the merits of a product or service, and its ability to meet their needs and expectations, especially in comparison with its peers. It is the overall customer experience from the second that they're typing what they're looking for into a search field.With any business venture, you need to have the resilience and become the authority figure to really succeed and grow. But you also need to build your brand’s perceived value so that people want to keep coming back to your brand and your products.It begins with competitor research and finding out what you can do to make your product stand out and what makes your product more value adding for the customer every single time and just doing it consistently.For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Many are turning to Amazon as a way to start and grow their business because (when done correctly) it can be a really lucrative set up. But is Amazon the right platform for your business? Adam Shaffer breaks it down to help you make the decision.ABOUT ADAMAdam Shaffer is a technology pioneer. He has found success helping Amazon sellers through his company’s proprietary technology, services, and distribution platform. Ultimately, this has helped clients navigate the most complex waters of the largest E-commerce site in the world. Adam is also a pioneer in direct marketing and digital ecommerce of technology products and solutions to both consumer and commercial markets.When he’s not working, you’ll find him spending time with his wife and daughters.Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:Amazon is by far the biggest marketplace with $620 billion of merchandise getting sold in the US per year. For brands, in many cases, it's by far their number one channel. It's evolved quickly over the years and continues to. And so, you need to be really good at everything on Amazon, if you want to succeed, because the rules do change from time to time.Another key aspect to success on Amazon is Inventory Management. You need to always be shifting product up to Amazon and don't run out of stock. You definitely don't want to be overstocked. Nobody wants to have too much inventory and not turning it enough. But if you work your heart out with competitors to get somewhere on the ranking, you don't want to be out of stock on your product and all of a sudden lose all that ground.Phelps United is a third-party seller and an eCommerce brand accelerator. They help brands navigate and grow on the very complicated, but potentially lucrative channel, which is the Amazon channel and other marketplaces. They help brands with their Amazon strategy by doing a quick analysis of the marketplace and work on making sure that the content is just awesome and tells a great story.For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

The creator economy is booming, and there are plenty of opportunities for those who know how to join in. In this episode, Tomer Hen joins Matt to talk about the creator economy and the best practices for successfully launching a personal consumer brand. TOMER HENTomer Hen is a serial entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in the Digital Marketing industry. During this time, he founded the first mobile marketing school in Israel, created the first Israeli Mobile Marketing Summit, and has spearheaded notable campaigns with leading fortune 500 brands, including Amazon, Audible, and Mastercard. Backed by his expertise and a growing portfolio, Tomer was recognized as one of Forbes’s 30 promising entrepreneurs under 30. In 2011, Tomer founded MobCo Media, a user-acquisition and performance-driven intelligence company. With over 500 campaigns in more than 160 countries, MobCo has cemented its position as a front-runner in the ad tech space.Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:Today, the world is becoming more and more authentic, and people are looking for authenticity. We have an interesting mix of technology and the internet. And self-expression and authenticity are the keys to unlocking this Creator Economy. The most successful creators are those who are themselves.There’s a huge difference between selling a product and building a brand. People choose to go after a brand because they believe in what that brand stands for and that it serves them in a unique way and makes them feel special and cared for.Creator Economy is about finding a community you want to serve and building a brand around them and not vice versa. It is not about making money. People are very sensitive about why you do what you do. And when you realise it's all about who you serve, and not what you sell, then that's the main advantage for your brand.For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Hiring is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to scaling your business. Without talented people in place, hiring efficiently and finding top-notch talent proves challenging--to say nothing about what happens if they don't get along or have different skill sets that prevent them from working well together! In this episode we'll be talking with Yoni Kozminksi who can help you avoid these pitfalls by sharing his insight, processes and systems to find the right talent for your business. ABOUT YONIYoni Kozminski is an entrepreneur and business consultant with over two decades of experience in scaling businesses. Over the years, he has helped develop digital strategies for some of the world's biggest brands, including Mercedez-Benz, Mastercard, Sony, Medtronic Diabetes, Mondelez International, and more. His experiences eventually led to the creation of Escala and MultiplyMii - two companies that help businesses achieve massive growth. Besides being an awesome entrepreneur, Yoni is also a seasoned podcaster! His 'Successful Scales' Podcast is centred on questions related to growing, selling, acquiring, and scaling a business and what comes with it. If you're looking to take your business to the next level - you don't want to miss out on his wisdom!Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:To build a business that stands the test of time, you have to invest in your culture and delegate accountability to your people instead of tasks. One of the number one mistakes that people make when building processes is they take a bottom-up approach, but it’s looking on the high level and understanding how everything integrates inside of your business that will help you succeed in building out an effective process. As soon as you get to the level where you start to feel stretched, that's when you should start enacting some of these processes, but you want to actually get to them sooner rather than later. Starting with a Word doc or an Excel spreadsheet and simply defining everything might be a great place to start. You want to build more time in your day so that you can focus on the things that are going to have the most impact in your business and in your life. When you look to build systems in your business, you must first consider where you are investing your time and then understand where you can give ownership and accountability. The perfect system is one that brings perfect harmony between people, process, and technology. Enjoying listening to our conversation about scaling your business with talent :-)For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Black Friday is coming up and a lot of people are wondering what the best way to take advantage of the sales is. This bonus episode is going to answer all your questions about Black Friday so you can be fully prepared.ABOUT CHLOEChloë Thomas is a globally recognised eCommerce marketing problem solver. Author of several bestselling books, keynote speaker, and host of both the award-winning eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast, AND Keep Optimising Podcast.Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:There's a movement against the big blanket discounts that only last for 24 hours and things like this. Everyone now feels like they have permission to create the promotion that works for them. And then the second side of it is, as an industry we have got much savvier at organizing the operations side of it - changing the postage methods, changing the messaging on speed of delivery, working with our couriers, our 3PLs, our own inhouse warehouses - to be ready and to manage that bump when it comes.Black Friday doesn't have to be for everyone. If you've got good reason not to do it, don't do it. A good reason could be that it doesn't fit with your brand or it doesn't fit with your sales model or that you only have limited stock. There is a big customer intention to spend money on that day, whether you run an offer or not. So you will probably see a sales uplift even if you don't do anything. Use social proof to build and retain customer loyalty. Social proof comes in so many different flavors. You've got the overall score of the site; you've got actual quotes from actual customers to put in places. You can also take some control over what appears on the homepage and what is on your emails by including place that you've been featured or where you've been quotes. Tell your story too - how long you've been around, how many orders you've shipped, how many happy customers you've had. Reveal the humanity behind the business.For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Running a business that relies on delivering products from warehouse to customer can be daunting, especially when your company is growing quickly. In this week’s episode Harry Drajpuch talks about ways to build a scalable fulfilment infrastructure and avoid the common pitfalls. ABOUT HARRYHarry Drajpuch is the CEO of Amware Fulfilment. He's a 30+ year logistics industry executive with a breadth of experience in executive management. In his previous role as COO of Amware Logistics, he was responsible for technology and the performance of eight nationwide fulfilment centers. Prior to that, Drajpuch was President and CEO of Weber Logistics, where he had full P&L responsibility for 15 distribution centers and a large regional truckload fleet. He also served as COO at third-party logistics provider Kane Is Able.When he's not shaking things up in the boardroom, Harry will be likely off flying his plane - he’s an instrument rated pilot too!Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:The eCommerce industry has changed drastically over the years. It’s a volatile industry and as an eCommerce entrepreneur, you have to adapt to the customer’s growing expectations in terms of speed of delivery, quality of service, product customisations/personalisations, etc. The ability to adapt with the changing demands of the customer will help you differentiate yourself in the marketplace and stand out from the crowd.The pathway to success begins with the right people. You have to ensure that the people in your organisation and those that you hire have the right attitude. Be selective in your hiring, look for people that want to do something a little bit differently, that see it as a challenge, and are willing to put themselves in the customer’s shoes to ensure they deliver excellent service, every single time. And then create a positive atmosphere that walks the talk, that supports and appreciates them. As your business grows, you must think about whether or not you need to outsource your fulfillment and what it’s going to cost you. Outsourced companies are a little more efficient and when you outsource, you generally save money and you can scale very quickly. Once the back-end is taken care of, you can focus on getting your message out to people to buy. Enjoying listening to our conversation about fulfilment infrastructure :-)For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

In a world where people are increasingly conscientious of the environment, it is important to be aware of the impact your product has. In this week’s podcast, Austin Simms joins Matt to help us explore the different ways our products can reduce our environmental impact and make an effort to become more sustainable.ABOUT AUSTINAustin is the co-founder of Dayrize. After 20+ years spent working in senior positions at major corporations like Nike, Philips and Brooks Running, Austin had a desire to use his skills to address climate change. With a strong commercial background, he believed that putting the power in consumers hands was important to make real change. He recognized that the first thing that consumers needed to make positive change was access to information to make better decisions, which is why he started Dayrize to make impact assessment transparent for business and consumers.  Enjoying listening to our conversation about the environmental impact of your products :-)For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Shopping used to be about finding what you wanted at a price that suited your budget. But with AI-powered product recommendations, the process has become much simpler and more enjoyable!In this episode we chat with Oliver Edholm who tells us how this technology is changing both consumers' shopping experiences as well as businesses'.ABOUT OLIVEROliver Edholm is the Co-founder and CEO of Depict.ai. At 15, Oliver dropped out of high school. At 16, he moved across the world and hustled his way into an ML research position at the National University of Singapore. At 17, he founded Depict and joined Y Combinator to revolutionise the way we discover products online. Now at 19, Oliver leads a team of 35 employees at one of the most cutting-edge Ecommerce startups in Europe.Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:If you want to get started out with AI, your traffic and the number of SKUs that you have must be at a reasonable level before AI makes sense for you. Several 100 SKUs and probably a couple of 1000 people at least visiting your website. The more the data, the better the AI tends to be the rule of thumb. Depict can work with more sparse data sets, which have less data. Product information is incredibly useful when recommending a product like going to a physical retail store and asking the salesperson for advice. Almost all existing recommender systems ignore that. Depict can apply incredibly smart image recognition algorithms, understanding subtle patterns, which was impossible a few years ago, but is now possible. When combined with the user data, it can generate really good results.There are a lot of buzzwords around AI and many people exploit that fact. The way to avoid gimmicks then is to become really good at asking yourself, what problems do I need to solve and does the solution actually solve this problem? And then don't care if it uses AI or not. Simple solutions tend to work surprisingly well, a lot of times. Enjoying listening to our conversation about AI product recommendations :-)For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.