Future Commerce

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.’” - AdiiAdii 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 completelyFunctionally or logistically it is easier to build a business now than it was 20 years ago, but without that balance of science and art, there can’t truly be successIt’s very interesting to look at the dynamics of building a business with teams where the communication has to be asychronousWriting well, being a storyteller, is an important skill set in eCommerce“The core technology has probably not changed significantly, but we're probably at that stage now where there is a massive step change in the skills that you need to apply to use the same technology.” - AdiiAs we continue to build technology, we have to consider the consequences from a human perspective and not leave some behind who may need a different approachAssociated Links:Learn more about Adii Pienaar and Cogsy at @adii on Twitter or Cogsy.com.Get ready for Archetypes, our soon-to-be-published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comGet your tickets to our Archetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

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 world coming for you.” - Brian“If you're not digitizing at some level, you will get hurt. You will have to choose digitizing your business or working with platforms that are digitizing your sales channel. You have to do something.” - BarAfter such a huge wave of brand building of business tools in DTC, B2B is a natural evolution to get the products that were built into other channelsContinuing to build digital disruption is actually a moat that you can build around owning your corner of distributionLeveraging your brand to create your own niche marketplace and leveraging your brand to increase supply are trends with enormous potentialBusiness teams need to adapt as technology continues to advance and AR will be something Balance will enable, not eraseAssociated Links:Get connected with Balance at GetBalance.com.Learn more about Bar Geron.Listen to our other Step by Step seasonsArchetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!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!

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.” - KirstenThe 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 functionalityOne of the original promises of direct to consumer was to take out the middleman because middlemen were expensive, but did that work?“The transformation of this industry happens in partnership with the evolution of consumer behavior and expectation and the technology that allows those expectations to be met.” - KirstenThe word is that 12 - 25 trillion dollars is the opportunity that B2B transactions offer within the next few years, which is enormous“Staying grounded and where there are those kinds of big opportunities and seismic shifts in business and investing into those is what we spend the lion's share of timing consideration around.” - KirstenKirsten believes we are in a pre-data era, not a post-data one, and actually we really need to be sharpening our worldview through research and engaging and getting ongoing feedback about what's going on with the consumer, the user, the mindset, and behavior, which is evolving at a breakneck speed“One of the biggest challenges to work through in the evolution of business, whether it's a B2C company or a B2B business is really bringing the user, the human, along in that journey in how they use and leverage the technology and their willingness to do that.” - KirstenAssociated Links:Get connected with Balance at GetBalance.com.Learn more about Kirsten Green.Listen to our other Step by Step seasonsArchetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!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!

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 IndustryDigital Commerce 360 estimates that businesses pay other businesses approximately $17 TrillionOf 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 were trying to sell the benefit of B2B payment tools, he would really focus on the reduction of average payment time.For Paul, he experiences their B2B business growing faster than their B2C business, which he isn’t surprised by, looking at the state of the current economy.The role of trust is vital in B2B payments. If one doesn’t have insight into what they’re buying, their order, etc, they won’t trust the supplier to fulfill their promise.Associated LinksGet connected with BalanceLearn more about Paul do FornoListen to our other Step by Step seasonsArchetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!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!

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 JeansIt’s so important to be both building for scale and testing and learning simultaneouslyInnovation is in the lifeblood of Levi Strauss and Company, and has been for 170 years of businessAmy 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 strategyData, AI, and digitization can be used to make very meaningful differences in the costumer experience, and we are really at the beginning of understanding how to use these tools effectively“We're in the first inning in terms of the opportunity that lies ahead for data and AI and digitization to impact consumers and businesses. And I'm really excited to see the next eight innings that are in front of us.” - AmyThe lines between the digital world and the physical world have been erased, especially for Gen Z consumers, so a brand must provide that seamless experience for consumersLevi’s has used data and AI to develop a comprehensive loyalty program that provides opportunities for consumers to have a personalized experience that is tailored to their needs“What future commerce perspectives and enterprise value might incorporate ten years from now could be a million things, but if you don't have the right framework in place, you won't be able to build for the future.” - PhillipLevi Strauss and Company is partnering with Silicon Valley Bank to find new and exciting start ups to work with that will continue to advance their strategy and approach to providing unparalleled experiences to their customersAssociated Links:Get ready for Archetypes, our soon-to-be-published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comGet your tickets to our Archetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceLearn more about Dr Amy Gershkoff Bolles and Levi Straus & Co at LeviStrauss.com or on LinkedIn.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!

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 BOOMCHICKAPOPHow 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 intentionalHow’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’sLet’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 aloneThe whole of the AI engine has contextual understanding of certain things in the world and the same brief that would go to the creative team now goes to the engine“These tools are going to continue to point us towards better collaboration between departments and probably tighter teams and running diverse teams against different segments as opposed to having disparate business units.” - BrianWhy do we need humans to sit in and give perspective on what is on brand and what is not when you could tell the AI, "This is our brand book. Follow the brand book," and then give the unlimited power of creativity to other people who are going to use it in whatever channel that you can't potentially even begin to imagine yet?” - PhillipNeither you nor your hair can look cool with a VR strap that goes straight down the middle of your headRoute is getting some hate, but really all Route or any shipping insurance company is doing is creating a value extractive solution for your shortcomings as a brand or serviceAssociated Links:Follow Sofiia Shvets to check out what’s happening with CLAID.aiGet ready for Archetypes, our soon to be published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comGet your tickets to our Archetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!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!

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 yearsECommerce 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 tunedBrian has more Marshall McLuhan to talk about, which reminded him of our big announcementOur big announcement is that we are publishing a 240-page journal called Archetypes, and it’s going to blow your mindPlus we are launching Archetypes at a live event centered around art and performance, including modern dance, on December 1 in Miami, FL (wait until you see the merch!)Phillip is loving the brand Teenage Engineering on every levelAny generational brand becomes what's relevant and they find product market fit and then they find the generational brand culture fit much later in their journeyThe guys share a little “remember when” about how hard it was to get a site back up when it crashed back in the old daysAssociated Links:Find the Roblox Brand Tracker HereRead the Senses on Ralph Lauren’s Fornite Activation hereGet ready for Archetypes, our soon to be published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comGet your tickets to our Archetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!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!

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.” - YitzchakFinding 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 thereHappy 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 others to potentially join you in helping to build.” - PhillipMerchants also love open source options because of the control it offers themThere was the Magento wave, the Shopify wave, and a next wave will come as wellSome merchants will continue to use SaaS, but it’s important to base that decision on an honest look at the maturity of your business and the needs you have moving forwardAssociated Links:Get connected with ShopwareLearn more about Yitzchak LieblichListen to our other Step by Step seasonsArchetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!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!

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 CreepSoftware providers work with more educated business owners/operators today than in years past, and multiple software needs add to the complexity of the processBefore 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 you pump into any project, whether it's open source or not, is really just understanding the growth rate of the person who has to inhabit the software.” - Phillip“Relationships are at the core of open source software.” - Brian“Don’t reinvent the wheel. Adapt to the wheels you get.” - CasparManaging complexity requires understanding what complexity means to you and your business and making an honest assessmentAssociated Links:Get connected with ShopwareLearn more about Caspar Hardholt and connect with him on TwitterListen to our other Step by Step seasonsArchetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!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!

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 PlanningSelecting software is important, but selecting the strategy by which you build that software is even more importantOpen 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 you are planning for the future and not bolting on to a good or bad decision from the past.” - StephenThe goal is a collective vision between all parties involved“It's not really the base platform features that provide a leg up. It's the stuff you do on top of it and that extensibility and customizability is the difference maker for most businesses trying to differentiate in eCommerce.” - PhillipAssociated Links:Get connected with ShopwareLearn more about Stephen StarkListen to our other Step by Step seasonsArchetypes Event December 1 in Miami, FLSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!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!