Future Commerce

The First Ever Future Commerce DraftEvery 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.” -BrianExperience 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.” -PhillipThere 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.Associated Links:Insiders #107: Dork Mode: An Antidote to the Sea of SamenessInsiders #088: Paula’s Choice: On Blind Spots and Phase CancellationInsiders #070: Phenomenological BrandsInsiders #077: So You Think You’re a Collector Insiders #068: Proselytize Insiders #108: The Idolatry of the Algorithm Insiders #080: Rethinking Brand Power Structures Insiders #92: These Brands I Trust Subscribe to InsidersListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceListen to our newest podcast, Infinite ShelfCheck out our latest report Nine by NineWatch the Nine by Nine live experienceHave 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 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 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 lineBrands 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.” -PhillipWalmart 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 to Best Buy and 21% went to Kohl’s.“The way we're shopping has changed forever.” -PhillipWalmart 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.The future is here but not equally distributed yet. Market leaders are making investments in the metaverse, this might be an area where more brands are going to make investments and become more experimental.Associated Links:Salesforce DataForbes- Kiri MastersBarron’s Thursday StatsAdobe stockPymnts Black FridayPoolsuite NFT LaunchInsiders #108: The Idolatry of the Algorithm Adweek Boston Protocol Buweiser launches NFT cansSubscribe to Insiders to get our exclusive offers for Black Friday!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceListen to our newest podcast, Infinite ShelfCheck out our latest report Nine by NineHave 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 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.

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.” -IngridThe 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:Subscribe to Insiders to get our exclusive offers for Black Friday!Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceListen to our newest podcast, Infinite ShelfCheck out our latest report Nine by NineWatch the Nine by Nine live experienceBands mentioned: Our Place, Tracksmith, SferraHave 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 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.

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.” - BrianThis is what a lot of brand collabs feel like according to Phillip:Associated Links:Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceListen to our newest podcast, Infinite ShelfCheck out our latest report Nine by NineWatch the Nine by Nine live experienceSubscribe to InsidersPhillip’s Insiders piece with Melissa LeeHave 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 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.

Approaching Dork ModeNo 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.” -AlexDork Mode is based off an obsession with technology to enable personalization, but moving past that to create real, personalized experiences for a subsegment of customers.The web should be much more diverse than it is.“There's the opportunity for the web to be so many more things to so many more people, and for brands to be so many more things, to so many more people. We think that we have to regress the mean, but we have the ability to not do that and we just haven't done anything with that power.” -Brian“Go back and really understand the narrative behind your business and how you got to where you are now and where you're trying to go.” -AlexAssociated Links:Learn more about Alex Greifeld and No Best Practices Read Alex’s work on Insiders: Digital Luxury Experiences: An Exercise in “Skinnovation”Dork Mode: An Antidote to the Sea of SamenessListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceListen to our newest podcast, Infinite ShelfCheck out our latest report Nine by NineSubscribe to InsidersHave 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 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.

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.” -PhillipGetting 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.” -BrianBrands 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.” -Phillip “The whole focus we have at Gorgias is let's automate. Let's focus on self-serve so that we can transfer all of the human time towards those valuable conversations.” -RomainAssociated Links:Learn more about Romain Lapeyre and GorgiasJoin the Gorgias community on Facebook!Brands mentioned: Princess Polly, Ilia BeautyListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceCheck out our latest report Nine by NineSubscribe to InsidersHave 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 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.

Having Conversations That Don’t Exist in Other PlacesWelcome 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 networkThe 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.” -PhillipThe 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 brand disrupts the industry?“How do we set ourselves up to be a part of what is currently going on with these big retailers but also be future focused on when the pendulum swings back the other way that we're ready and that we aren't blindsided by what the needs of the future consumer mindset is going to be?” -IngridWe have some exciting topics planned for Infinite Shelf, all revolving around open conversations from different POV’s, including: In-Store Tech, Influncers- Dead or Alive and Well?, how to organize and hire teams, and SO MUCH MORE!Stay in the loop with Infinite Shelf!  Let us know your thoughts on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook. 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.

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 chain is this thing that will never be overcome, our expectations are skewed by online services and that's just not how the physical world works.”- PhillipAssociated Links:Follow us on Twitter to catch our next Twitter Spaces!Learn more about Lakhveer Jajj and MoselleOur episode with Stephan AngoCheck out our most recent report: Nine by NineSubscribe to Insiders!Listen to more episodes of Future CommerceHave 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 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.

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.” -RosaIn 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.” -RosaHow 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. We are needing a new type of marketer. The creative and the relational need to come together. This new marketer focuses on loyalty and creating relationships with customers at the same time.“Even if your customers are shopping in-store, you need to make sure you’re tying their online and in-store experience together. They need to stay connected” -Rosa Associated Links:Learn more about Rosa Hu, and YotpoListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceCheck out our latest report: Nine by NineSubscribe to InsidersHave 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 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 Modernity of Site SearchWe 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.”- BrianThere 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 Product Discovery Platform powered by Google Cloud Retail AI drives the world’s most relevant and highly converting eCommerce websites. In the beginning days of eCommerce, it was all about working to create an online experience and seeing it would work. Now, twenty years later, the game has changed.“80% of clients who hit a website that have a poor user experience are likely to never return. So the stakes are much higher.” -RolandThe market is ready for a plunge. It’s getting bigger and better. Bringing in new waves of technology helps all parts of the market. “The old analogy was garbage in, garbage out and that still exists today. We realized upfront that we had to solve the data problem first. So we had to create the golden record.” -RolandAssociated Links:The Twitter post of Brian’s shirt from Aime Leon DoreLearn more about Roland Gossage, and GroupBy Inc.Get our latest report: Nine by NineSubscribe to InsidersListen to our other episodes of Future Commerce 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 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.