Future Commerce

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 that are actually commerce platforms, but they're actually valuable marketing tools unto themselves now for understanding not just your consumer, but potentially conquesting others, which reorients how we think about Amazon{00:21:16} “All the typical non-retail advertisers are looking to Amazon as well because they have a lot of data about who we are, how we act, and what our interests are.” - Kiri{00:24:58}  With all of these channels and with the complexity of Amazon's DSP that perhaps arbitrage does need a little bit of an update because the definition of what arbitrage means might need a little bit of an update{00:31:11} “We had the paid media wave, the social media wave, and now we're in the retail media wave, and each successive wave had a shorter and shorter ramp up time to be something meaningful. And the ramp up to retail media spend has been the shortest of all.” - Kiri{00:34:34} Are retail media networks overhyped and are these distractions when everyone and their mother is trying to build one right now?Associated Links:Check out Fit For Purpose: 23 Next-gen DSP Metrics That Measure What Matter from Kiri Masters and AcadiaFind out more about The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 and make plans to meet us there!Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world! Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 shopping? Why is this a problem?{00:24:25} But wait, would live-stream shopping work? Maybe for cookware?{00:32:45}  “If you look at most of the recent jumps into culture from brands, it's really to just get people to look their way for a minute. We're already in the attention economy.” - Brian{00:40:21} “If it wasn't for the Apple iTunes end-user license agreement, we wouldn't have a paradigm for consent.” - Phillip{00:54:41} Retail sales in-store are still by and large the majority of how people shop, and there is still a lot of room for growth in eCommerce and digital shoppingAssociated Links:Find out more about The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 and make plans to meet us there!Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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}  Across all small-medium sized businesses, about 67% of the overall ad budget is digital and that includes social media, video search, and other kinds of digital advertising. For small businesses with less than ten employees, it's 74%.{00:41:39} “We write in a very broad way and don't go too deep on anything. And then we frequently kind of follow up with shorter in-depth pieces that dive deeper into something that we're very interested in.” - Mark Drapeau{00:36:35} There are many interesting data points through the years from the studies RXN and DCI have conducted, and a very common thread they’ve noticed is that it is very difficult to separate the person from the business when it comes to decision making.Associated Links:Find out more about The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 and make plans to meet us there!Read Mark’s Op-Ed on  Why Are Lawmakers Attacking Digital Ads?Check out the new report from DCI Maximum Impact: How Digital Ads Level the Playing Field for U.S. Small BusinessesLearn more about Mark Drapeau, RXN Group, and Data Catalyst InstituteHave you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal. Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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} “Stop chasing the views, stop chasing virality, and just focus on educating. And that has been my recipe,” because that is what drives noticeable impact{00:26:19} When you do something differently, you naturally have to explain and educate your audience, which is a point that is often overlooked{00:30:36} Why Adam has basically shaved every part of his body and how that has helped the company is so many ways{00:36:35} Adam shares about two interesting moments, one with Mr Beast and another with Doja Cat’s eyebrows, and which one actually drove more impact to their business{00:40:55} Adam and his team have big plans for more incredible innovation-driven products that will be branching out and launching in the near future (and beyond)Associated Links:Find out more about The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 and make plans to meet us there!Learn more about Adam Simone and Leaf Shave.Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal. Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 companies continue to think about building with consumers, community formation, and then creating a product that is actually innovative and is going to stand out and break out in the market.” - Natalie{00:24:52} At the end of the day, a person responsible for content wants to create content that people really want{00:27:50} Printed content has a unique ability to continue to engage with your audience for a longer period of time and in ways that build more depth in the relationship, and there is a lot more for brands to discover in their use of printed content over just digital content{00:29:44} “What we do on the Internet is not just ephemeral, it's also asynchronous. Asynchronous communication requires a level of attention and detail that leaves a gap between you and the person that you're communicating with, and doing things in person allows us to help eliminate some of that gap and be human together.” - BrianAssociated Links:Find out more about The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 and make plans to meet us there!Learn more about Natalie Sportelli and Thingtesting.Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal. Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 better if we all realized that there is a skill and a trade that is as old as humanity itself to acquire and that's really just understanding human needs and desires and trying to bring those things together.” - Phillip{00:36:45} Good communication is customer-focused{00:43:14} Improving your checkout conversion numbers even by 1 or 2 points can have a massive impact on your bottom line, but you need the right checkout solutions to be able to achieve thatThanks to WB Research and eTail Palm Springs for making this interview possible. eTail is one of our favorite retail and eCommerce industry events. Plans are already underway for their Boston show, happening in August. Get more information and register right over here.Associated Links:Meet us at The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 in June!Learn more about Peter Karpas and Bold CommerceHave you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal. Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 would happen if you took something like Midjourney and you wanted to create something really broad market, down market, and made it really experiential…” Like Dollar Tree as experiential retail. - Brian{00:23:42} Both Lyft and Uber have commercialzed the ability to jump to the front of the line, which a point of inspiration for everybody, and we will see this more and more{00:26:08} How do we maximize on collaborations that bring the artistic community and the commerce community together better because there’s a huge opportunity there{00:28:17} RICE (Retail Innovation Conference & Expo) is coming in June, and there are so many incredible speakers and content creators, including Future Commerce, lined up to be a part of it{00:41:27} ChatGPT, the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect, and other AI vehicles are all reminders that we need to exercise caution and we still have a lot to learn from each other{00:46:58} Artists and people that do have deep transactional expertise and leadership in retail brands will share one stage together at the Visions Summit at RICE and talk about this thing that we all do, which is really try to affect some sort of lasting impact with a relationship with a customerAssociated Links:Find out more about The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 and make plans to meet us there!Don't miss out on getting your ticket to RICE 2023 before prices go up!Learn more about Alicia Esposito and Retail TouchPointsHave you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal. Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 empower your team to use tools, they're going to use them anyway. They're just not going to tell you about it.” - Phillip{00:30:13} You have to have a healthy sense of cynicism when it comes to technology and what you’re being told because of how much technology is an open experiment now before it matures and can actually potentially do what is promised{00:43:29} What is Jesse’s Archetype according to our quiz and how does he feel about it?{00:51:20} The push-back now is completely informed by the eCommerce expectations of the pandemic. So there's this really exciting opportunity to really bring the online experience in an exceptional way into the store and really, truly merge those two functions together.”Associated Links:Learn more about Jesse Lazarus and KravetHave you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal. Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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 ever before that can solve all these problems, but it comes down to a lot of intuition and understanding of the customer journey and the people that make sense of that.{00:09:21} Computer learning is shaping the future of search{00:12:57} It’s important to both provide customers with what you’ve learned they want and like but also help them explore new potential options in a way that makes them feel known as a customer{00:24:41} How will brands take advantage of this future out how to inform the algorithm what their differentiators are because people are already using ChatGPT to discover their next pair of shoes or their next purchase?Thanks to WB Research and eTail Palm Springs for making this interview possible. eTail is one of our favorite retail and eCommerce industry events. Plans are already underway for their Boston show, happening in August. Get more information and register right over here.Associated Links:Learn more about Sean Peterson and Road Runner Sports.Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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, which the team doesn’t necessarily discount, but they do focus on highlighting the reports that are more informative and measuring meaningful shifts in culture and society{00:20:23} The demand for understanding what’s coming is driving the demand for trends reports{00:21:03} There have been analysts and other trends reporters who have used the repository as a way to build and share other trends and forecasting, so it is interesting to see how people are using the content and continuing to share with othersAssociated Links:Learn more about Ci En Lee on LinkedInSee the trends reports at bit.ly/2023trendingHave you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.