Future Commerce

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.” -KendallDigital 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.” -KendallPhillip poses the question: Does the creation of a community become undermined by most people going to a social platform and getting them to move out of the entertainment box to the getting value box?Great marketing and a great product equals amazing successAssociated Links:Learn more about Kendall Dickieson Listen to our other episode with Kendall!Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceCheck out Decoded, our newest limited seriesHave 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!

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 unleashedDTC 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 quieted. As capital outcomes wither for those who had built their reputations on the examination of the DTC space, the loudest voices were silenced. Due in large part to The Great Resignation and the inaccessibility of capital in the current state of the markets, many of the most visible DTC acolytes have moved on to new projects or industries.What will The Uncorkening make us not want to buy next?Associated Links:Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceCheck out Decoded, our newest limited seriesHave 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 sit down to chat about GROW NY, YouTube Shopping, Instagram Local, and all the things in between. Listen now!

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 NotesAre 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 important that brands understand where there might be adjacencies to their product.” - Miya Knights“You can make an argument that the brand is not art, but the brand is an excellent curator of the culture that it is participating in. Are you co-opting something that exists in culture for marketing purposes or for promotional purposes? Or are you a participant?” - Michael Miraflor“It seems like everyone who talks passionately about what they're working on automatically goes from 0 to 100 talking about getting venture-backed and shooting for a big exit, which is totally fine. I mean, that would be an amazing outcome. But I would love to see the story of more founders working hard on their projects regardless of that outcome.” - Michael Miraflor“Art is something that I would rather companies, specifically founders who are perhaps at an earlier stage and they're still understanding who their customer is and how their brand can grow, maybe borrow the principles of what it is to be an artist rather than trying to see yourself as one.” - Grace Clarke“Artists have to be true to themselves. A brand has to be true to its customers.” - Miya Knights“We affix ourselves to certain products or brands because it helps us understand who we are, and it also helps us relate to other people in our own niche. It gives us this shorthand in this other language. We can find each other quickly. We can converse on Twitter with this other language. So that belonging is a huge part of brand identity for me. That romanticism of art and gathering is really about social sharing.” - Grace Clarke“There are so many dynamics emerging that probably drag brands towards feeling that they should be more like art. But I think they have to be really clear on their purpose as a merchant and whether or not they have an artisanship or an artisanal story to tell.” - Miya KnightsGuestsMiya Knights, author and retail analystMichael Miraflor, Chief Brand OfficerGrace Clarke, brand and omnichannel strategistAssociated Links:The Visions Report is a 100-page report with deep insights, created by 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!

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 NotesAre 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 industries is that we’re not modeling that behavior between the brand and the customer, let alone between teams or competitors. True conversation between silos will help us to achieve mutual understanding and result in a better experience — for employees and customers alike.“It doesn't matter what role you have in the company. Go to the CX team, sit down, plug in, and talk to three or four people a day. And I think we do get so worried about some things being anecdotal in a world where there is this burden of statistical significance that we've lost some of that.” — Mike Lackman“So every company needs to build a culture of being curious in every single level of the business. And everybody has to be a behavioral psychologist. There's no way around it, no matter who your customer is. You have to understand, to everyone's point here, what it is that they want.” — Grace Clarke“It's actually not necessarily about [products and brands making a consumer] happy. It's about peace. It's about feeling whole. And when you're just looking at a screen and you're scrolling through, that doesn't make you feel that.” — Brian Lange“And I think where we've come from has been, particularly in terms of eCom, the opportunity to have endless scroll, endless aisle means I can have endless numbers of choices, but actually, that works in reverse for consumers. It actually destabilizes them, makes them feel insecure. Does that give them the security that they've walked away with a purchase that they're going to be happy with for a lifetime?” — Miya Knights“We're moving towards more silos, I think, in terms of distribution, and more intermediaries vying for space, that valuable space between the brand and the customer and getting in between being able to collect that data and sell it back to the brand.” — Kiri MastersGuestsMiya Knights, author and retail analystKiri Masters, Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at AcadiaMichael Miraflor, Chief Brand OfficerGrace Clarke, brand and omnichannel strategistMike Lackman, CEO of Trade CoffeeAssociated Links:The Visions Report is a 100-page report with deep insights, created by 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!Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at hello@futurecommerce.com or any of our social channels; we love hearing from our listeners.

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.” — PhillipNFT 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 person than there is as a cartoon avatar.SNKRHUD is a collection of digital goods and an NFT-based playground for sneakerheads based in Earth-326, a post-apocalyptic world where sneakers rule. Sidekicks is a recent mint of a profile picture (PFP) asset, which is laying the foundation for future projects.“I think of the community from which sneakers actually emanate. How can I make it so that anybody can be rewarded even for their participation, for their love of and the passion of whatever that community represents?” - BrandonBrandon shares his perspective on NFT NYC 2022: "it was like most conferences, but it was happening in the heat of the downfall.”“The buyer modality of attachment or nostalgia of a particular time or moment in your life is diffuse when it’s spread across 5 or 10 purchases. Souvenirs should be singular” — PhillipAssociated Links:Learn more about Brandon Martinez and SNKRHUDInsiders #077: So You Think You’re a CollectorDownload VISIONS 2022 NOW!Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceCheck out Decoded, our newest limited seriesHave 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!

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.” — BrianCommerce 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 that impacts one or two people in your immediate community.”The Visions Report is a combination of many peoples’ collective ideas about how we can build more resilient businesses, and how we can help people (not customers, not consumers).Associated Links:Download the 100-page companion guide, our Visions ReportSubscribe to the Visions Podcast on Spotify or Apple PodcastsIf you want to review last year’s Vision 2021 you can find it at this linkNine by Nine featured in GQ and in WWD and in AdWeekHave 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!

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.”  - PhillipThe 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”  - GilThe launch of Shopify Functions will allow you to extend the platform where other APIs won’t let you“There's still a lot of room for better experiences. You have all these apps, where's the centralized billing or better pricing when you're using multiple apps? I just haven't seen anything truly interesting appear yet.” -GilAssociated Links:Learn more about Gil Greenberg and Checkout PromotionsTokengated Commerce- Business Breakdowns PodcastInsiders #123: A Marketer’s Guide To The Multiverse Of MadnessDownload VISIONS 2022 NOW!Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceCheck out Decoded, our newest limited seriesHave 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!

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 JonesesThere 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 owners need to look at an issue in their business and ask themselves if they should be involved in the decision making process for purchasing specific software and to what degree they should be involved. - BorisIf you want to extract value out of a software purchase, the people who will actually be using the software should be involved in some manner in the buying process.Be very explicit and specific about the problems your business is trying to solve. Don’t just buy software.You want to aim for a long-term relationship with your software. Try before you buy is a MUST in order to build sustainable processes.Examining the RFP cycle: by its very nature, the RFP introduces risk, despite its sole purpose being to mitigate it. - PhillipWhat do we mean by “scalability?” An enterprise software isn’t scalable in the same way that Shopify is, nor should it be. They’re two different products solving for two different issues. It’s better to ask what the approach to scalability is.“The SaaSification of the industry is actually leading to many developers losing skills.” - BorisAssociated Links:Learn more about Boris Lokschin and SprykerCheck out Episode 1 of Decoded on the Developer to Consumer!Check out Episode 2 of Decoded on our new composable world!Check out Episode 3 of Decoded on Social Commerce!Check out Episode 4 of Decoded on High-Complexity vs. High-Commodity environments.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!

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 GameNeil 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.” -NeilInteracting 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 reportAs 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.” -BrianWhen brands are able to slap a date on a project or report, or whatever it may be, it's creating a time capsule, meaning that it will never decay because it lives on in that year“Visions 2022 will never become outdated. It will always be an encapsulation of this current moment.” -NeilAssociated Links:Check out more of Neil’s content over on TikTok!Trends are Dead by VoxDownload VISIONS 2022 NOW!Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceCheck out Decoded, our newest limited seriesHave 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!