Future Commerce

Shoptalk 2019 is mere weeks away, and so we take the opportunity to look through the brands, the speakers, and the agenda! ALSO: Is voice dead? Why don't we talk about failure? What were the key takeaways from the 2017 and 2018 editions of Shoptalk and what are we hoping to learn in 2019? Show Notes: Main Takeaways: Phillip and Brian preview Shoptalk 2019. Levi's takes a second shot at an IPO, and it's going to a pretty big deal. Brian is ridiculously excited to see Shaggy. Phillip wants a Canada Goose freezer-esque dressing room for his house. Why isn't anyone talking about voice anymore? Pre-Shoptalk Shop Talk: So Many Speakers, So Little Time: Phillip is now officially #ShoptalkPhillip Brian and Phillip are pretty excited about Shoptalk's entire agenda. Everything that has been talked about on FC for the last two years was featured at Shoptalk2017. One panel Phillip really wants to see is the Swarovski panel on "The New Digital Innovation." Brian says that Shoptalk has so many panels and breakout sessions that Shoptalk FOMO is pretty much guaranteed. Gabrielle Chou from Allure Systems will be speaking at Shoptalk, Brian had the opportunity to talk with her at Shop.Org, where she had a lot of fascinating things to say about body data. Matthew Shay from NRF will also be speaking, which is interesting when you consider that NRF is a lobbying organization, and many of the retailers whose interests he would represent will be present at Shoptalk. ###Levi's Second Stab at IPO: Hopefully Better Than The Jacquard: Mark Rosen EVP and President of Direct-to-Consumer at Levis will be at Shoptalk speaking about what brands will look like in the future. And with Levi's on the verge of IPO, Brian is curious about what Levi's will do brand-wise post IPO. Phillip says he could do an entire show just about how much he knows about Levi's. One great thing about Levi's is how omnichannel they are, and how they are everywhere a consumer wants to be: Levis are being sold in Nordstrom, and in Costco (which is cool, kind of), and consumers can purchase straight from the source. Super cool project alert: Levi's is doing a lot of cool retail tech innovating, using laser beams for a custom fit. Levi's also has a fabulous sizing chart, that's consistent throughout purchasing locations. Cold Weather Aspiration Retail: Puffy Jackets in Palm Beach? Canada Goose is Phillip's breakout brand for 2018, even though he'll never actually need a puffy jacket in South Florida's weather. Brian, however, has outgrown his Amazon bought coat because Seattle is freezing, and may actually need a Canada Goose jacket. Is Phillip close to installing a Canada Goose-esque freezer dressing room in his house in a new level of experiential retail? Is there a message in all this about how consumers buy things they don't need all the time because there are so many options? Retail Conferences Need to Add a "Spectacular Failures" Track: With all the talk about what brands are doing right, why is there not a track at retail conferences for the failures that brands have had in the process? Phillip and Brian point out that failure is so valuable because it allows retailers to learn from each other's mistakes. Will FailureCon2019 hosted by Future Commerce be a thing? Holding discussions about failure is especially important this year, as so many well-known retailers are going out of business like Payless, ToysRus and eventually Sears. Pretty much everyone would attend such a conference, but who would sign up to speak? What Will The Next Generation of Tech Look Like? Kroger has announced their own payments system, as brands move forward with bringing payments into their eco-systems. There are only two panels on voice at Shoptalk, is this because voice is not being utilized, or because it's so commonly used that it's just part of mobile strategy now? What is Brian most excited to see at Shoptalk? Apparently the performance by Shaggy. Phillip poses the question to Brian as to whether anything new will be unveiled at the conference? At Shoptalk 2018 Google laid out a step-by-step plan for how merchants could leverage Google to sell more. On Twitter Steve Dresser makes a point about retail conferences: Retailers are very focused on long-term tech like AI and VR, but less of a focus is placed on mid-term technology that is easier to implement like electronic shelf labels. Brian is also really excited to see what the next generation of tech will look like, as a lot of the companies from this show will be the future of retailers. Will you be at Shoptalk2019? Feel free to say hi! Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Controlling my data will be a fundamental human right in the 2050's" Phillip and Brian recap Future Stores Miami and get deep into futurism on what the future of humanity and commerce looks like as we evolve from Homo Erectus, to Homo Sapien and finally to Homo Deus. Main Takeaways: Future Commerce was at Future Stores Miami last week, and the content was crazy good. Stance is allowing customers all the benefits of shopping in-store, with all the convenience of checking out online. The new wave of clienteling has brands building relationships on the customer's terms. Will consumers be able to control who can use and abuse their data? In-Store Shopping & Online Checkout: An Omnichannel Marriage of Convenience: Stance, a digitally native footwear brand with physical retail stores has moved into self-checkout, but still offers regular cashier based checkout as well. Phillip is apparently anti-footwear. One of the reasons this is so cool? Because it highlights a new digitally based analog system coming to brick and mortar. So how does Stance's online checkout work? Clients can shop in-store, and then use the website to check out from their phone, using Google Pay, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay or Paypal. Is one-touch payment the future of payment methods? Stance's core brand tenant is pretty magnificent: "we exist to celebrate human originality" Modern Clientelling: Building Better Relationships With Customers: One of the best parts of Future Stores was the focus on Clientelling, which is one of the themes of 2019. How can a brand engage with their customers, in a way that is both engaging and tailored to a customer's individual preferences? Swarovski is trying new things and taking some risks in its retail stores, with their Sparkle Bar which allows for customers to engage with the products without a sales associate. And it seems that the benefits of this risky business have paid off: Swarovski is seeing purchases at higher price points, more brand engagement by customers, and customers are spending more time in Swarovski stores. Another brand trying to understand it's customers better is Kohls, who's VP of Technology Shweta Bhatia, explained two buyer personas: A customer who picks up a black basket would be a customer who wants to be left alone as they shop, and a customer who picks up a red basket who want a sales associate to engage with them. It really is all about letting a customer have the experience they want. With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility: Brands Try Not to Be Creepy With Tech: Data is continuing to be key in mapping out client experience, and Future Stores did not disappoint in that regard, Phillip got to interact with one of the technology vendors Tout Audio a speaker array that utilizes face-tracking and customer path journey to target audio directly to individual customers. The Future Commerce team got to test out this process, because Lianne and Phillip both engaged with the speaker system, and heard entirely different things. This points to the increasing personalization that retailers have been focusing on regarding customer engagement. So how are retailers collecting and using this data? KFC and Warby Parker both had a lot to say about this. Warby Parker is collecting a lot of data from clients, like purchase history and browser history, to make suggestions to customers. And KFC is working with global wifi deployment to find out where customers are shopping when they're not at KFC (which sounds creepier then it is) to create a better in-store experience for customers. Is Data Ownership The Human Right's Issue of 2050? Data is being collected from everyone, pretty much all the time, but who has access to that data, and how will they use it? In 2018 Benedict Evans said that the term "personal data" doesn't mean anything, and really isn't quantifiable anyway. Brian says that that people are going to have to learn how to manage their data, and will have to pick and choose who can use that information and for what purpose. Phillip recommends the book Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harrar, which asks the question of what humans have evolved to become after overcoming wars and destruction and disease? And lends another question, what will commerce look like when humans live to 100 or 250 years old? Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Phillip and Brian deliver on their 2019 predictions - AR is here, where is it heading? Retail wages - are they rising? Brands can finally compete with Amazon - and what about Charitable Commerce? All that and more - PLUS what the "retail apocalypse" was REALLY all about. Listen now! Show Notes: Main Takeaways: It's the prediction episode, so hold on to your hats, and suspend your disbelief. 2019 is going to be one big change my mind meme. It's the "year of the customer," and retailers are starting to add value instead of deep discounts. Can Walmart overtake Amazon in online sales? Retail workers will have to adapt to a new skill set, and retail companies will have to pay their workers more. Is Apple Making All The Wrong Moves in All The Wrong Places? Phillip's first prediction for 2019? That Apple will die a slow and painful death. Apple has been making a lot of "interesting" choices lately like it's HomePod speaker system that rather resembles a roll of toilet paper. Apple seems more focused on gimmicky features like Face ID (which some people may find just slightly creepy), and on making cooler iPhones, but other companies seem to be outpacing them in the long term. And Apple products are getting harder and harder to use, and do their upgraded features on IOS really make up for the hassle? Phillip wants everyone to know he is, in fact, an Apple fanboy. Brian makes the point that one of Apple's problems is that Apple is hitting the wall regarding innovation. After a long reign is Apple just not cool enough for consumers anymore? The End of Boring Retail: The Retail Apocalypse is Still Not a Thing: At NRF Doug Stephens stated that "Millennials don't have a low attention span, they just have a higher sensitivity to things which are boring." This may finally end talks of a Retail Apocalypse because it is all about adaptability for brands, and how they can build an experience for customers in-store and online. And a lot of brands are starting to highlight what this experience should look like, Canada Goose has freezer-esque dressing rooms so that customers can test their outwear against the elements. Phillip makes it clear that he doesn't go into boring stores and a personal favorite retail experience is the coach store where a customer can watch luggage tags engraved in-store. These experiences help the customer feel like they are a part of the brand's community, and it develops a sense of familiarity between company and consumer. This next wave of in-store experience will be the Nordstroms of the world investing in technology that will assistive in the shopping experience. The Year That Amazon Has To Compete: Also The Year of Walmart: Amazon may be losing its superpower: because mid-level retailers now have the ability to make up the difference with features like two-day shipping. And as Brian points out these retailers now can build better experiences then Amazon, and offer better customer service than Amazon. And Amazon has to watch it's back when it comes to Walmart, because the big-box retailer is playing a long game. Phillip says that Walmart and Amazon have taken entirely different paths: With Amazon creating several in-house brands and marketing those pretty hard. And Walmart is buying up brands that consumers already trust, to build up credibility and sell to a new kind of customer. Also, by the numbers, Walmart is stepping it up: with 43% growth in online sales in the third quarter. Mark Lore the head of e-commerce at Walmart says that this buying up of native brands will continue. As Retail Shifts: Higher Wages For a Changing Labor Force: During the holiday season, all anybody could talk about was that there were more retail jobs than workers. And on episode 83 of Future Commerce Phillip and Brian talked about how retailers were beginning to offer incentives to current workers, and also that as retail itself changed so would the retail employee. And Brian predicts that in 2019, we are going to see a new kind of worker, with updated skills and updated wages. And according to Nikki Baird, raising wages may allow retailers to hire more experienced, more adaptable workers anyway. And as Brian points out being able to train these employees in technology and data will help workers be better ambassadors for the brands they represent. Charitable Commerce Meets Second-Hand Commerce Second-hand commerce was a significant theme in 2018, with massive investment into second-hand commerce platforms like StockX (including by SalesForce Mark Benioff). And as Phillip points out second-hand commerce may not always be about pure profit and The American Cancer Society has discovery shops where they accept donations, and all the profits go to fund cancer research. This venture is the cornerstone of charitable commerce and second-hand commerce because people feel good both donating to help with a good cause and others purchase those items knowing their money is going to help others. And second-hand commerce is undoubtedly on the rise anyway, with a Thredup report that second-hand commerce could overtake fast fashion by 2027. And with luxury goods specifically, there is a significant focus on being able to authenticate products, the Future Commerce team met Entrupy, a startup in the Start Up Zone at NRF that does just that. Repurposing Retail Space: Building Communities Around Transportation: The Virgin Group chaired by British billionaire Richard Branson invested in Brightline, a high-speed railway company that currently travels between Miami, Ft Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach in Florida. Now Brightline, itself has a unique method of creating a community around its stations, taking real-estate that Brightline owns and turning those spaces into destinations. Phillip predicts that this kind of model may set the stage for the future of travel, especially as we all stop driving cars. Airports can become favorite restaurants spots and shopping hubs, especially for people who travel frequently. And malls, which have become ghosts towns in recent decades, could fill their retail spaces by showcasing small vendors and become a hub for commuters and travelers. Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode we bring a review of the best and brightest from the show floor at NRF 2019 - we talk Innovation Lab, "Ingredient Brands", Shoppable AR, and much more. Listen now! Main Takeaways: Phillip and Brian podcast twice live from NRF Body data is still in vogue in retail-tech company spaces, but has anyone learned to implement it properly? Want a 3D rendering of Brian's face? Take our survey. Will Walmart finally impress Gen Xers? Clothes that fit the customer, not the creator's specifications need to be the future of retail. Millennials are killing the curse of boring retail. Everything's About The Innovation Lab: NRF Edition Part 2: Brian went on a curated tour of the Innovation Lab put together by Tusk Ventures, that highlighted all the latest in retail innovation. Phillip attempts a French accent. Allure Systems (who we last saw at Shop.org) was featured in the Innovation Lab, as were a lot of other body-data focused companies, proving that body-data is still all the rage in the retail tech space. Brian notes that body-data is a consistent trend, but as of yet, retailers have struggled with application, though Amazon purchasing Body Labs for 50MM may make room for better implementation. Allure is still running their Walmart case study. And it's pretty impressive to see how their body-data technology can help to cut costs and reduce time through the use of virtual models. 2019 is Going to be All About Clienteling: The Year of The Customer: Phillip points out that long-term customer engagement used to be much simpler because luxury retailing was 30-40 year career, and retailers had actual long term relationships with their clients. Retail turnover is pretty notorious anyway. And now these roles have been so diminished, that there isn't that same connection between retailer and customer especially in luxury. One example of modern-day"clienteling" Hero, a software company that connects the sales associate with digital info and then they can feed that back up to the website. Retailers should already know this: Building relationships with your customers really is the best way to build brand loyalty. Will Walmart Become a Grown-Up Version of Itself? Walmart isn't exactly known as a luxury retailer, and it hasn't always had the best reputation. Walmart has been trying to shed it's notoriety lately though, it opened a Lord and Taylor's flagship store, featuring several more upscale brands like Lucky Jeans and Vince Camuto. Walmart has also gone on an acquisition "shopping-spree" buying up popular brands like Bonobos and Modcloth, and expanding into plus-sized fashion with Eloquii. But Phillip says Walmart may have aways to go in convincing Gen Xrs because that generation views Walmart through a specific lens, and that lens is quite dirty. But still be hopeful because Walmart's future may involve becoming what Starbucks Reserve tried to be: an ultra-niche market experience. Perhaps Walmart could be Amazon 4-Star but with their own products. And speaking of house brands: Decision Minds, another Innovation Lab favorite helps retailers to make decisions on creating house brands and white-labeling products. And Decision Minds is already working with Wayfair, which makes them officially not #vaporware. Customer Service is Everything: Can Onfleet Deliver For Retailers? Super cool service alert: "Onfleet is the last mile delivery solution for companies in food and beverage, retail, pharmacy and more". Onfleet helps Phillip and Brian compare OnFleet to other service-based companies like Uber or Lyft because it allows for retailers to know where and when their products are. And one of the reasons that Onfleet is so unique is that it helps everyone involved in the delivery process: It allows for route optimization, direct contact with drivers, and has it's own auto dispatch engine. Phillip needs an Onfleet for optimizing grocery aisle routes. Are Custom-Fit Clothes The Retail of Past and Future? With body-data tech being all the rage, and with customers starting to expect clothes that are more tailored to their preferences, perfect-fit clothes may become a reality. Future Commerce has been talking about body data for two years, But with all the focus on individuality when it comes to clothes, retailers are starting to try to pair customers with clothes that fit better. Subscription companies like Stich Fix and Trunk Club provide prospective customers with detailed questionnaires so that they can find out not only the customers measurements but also their preferences on fit, color, and personal style. Manually entering measurements may not be the best way to get an actual perfect-fit, which is why the future of subscription boxes seems to be custom-made clothes. Which is ironic, because that's how the clothing industry (or poorer people sewed their clothes at home) started anyway. All clothes (and shoes) were custom before the advent of ready-to-wear. Survival of The Fittest: Only Non-Boring Retailers Will Survive: With all of the hullabaloo about the end of retail and the retail apocalypse, there's one lesson to be learned, and it's not that retail is dead. Millennials, spend differently, and expect different things from their shopping experience, and favor the in-store experience despite being part of the digital generation. Which means that retailers will really have to step it up if they want to stay relevant. Which should really shine a light on companies like Rituals Cosmetics, and Sheetz. Phillip moderated a panel with Emily Sheetz (from Sheetz) and Marjolein Westerbeek from Ritual Cosmetics USA, two companies with a solid focus on customer experience and innovation. It's companies with that strong emphasis on building customer relationships, bringing a customer experience both in-store and online, and consistent innovation that will survive and thrive. Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Products that are sharable are all the rage - in part 1 of our recap of NRF we come to you live from the show floor and talk about how retailers are using customer engagement to shape how their product assortment and marketing are crafted. Listen now! Main Takeaways: Walmart is stepping up its technology game in a serious way. 2018 really was the year of open source, and sneakers, and content. Content continues to be king of community creation, and retailers are finally picking up the mantle. Behind-the-scenes ingredient brands are going mainstream A 2019 Future Commerce prediction episode is coming up: What will Philip and Brian forecast? Walmart Is Making Moves: Can They Beat Out Amazon? Walmart was well-represented at NRF by CTO Jeremy King, and it seems that Walmart is working to keep his promise (when he started at Walmart) of Walmart's tech stack becoming 100% open source. Brian mentions the-company-not-to-be-named (which starts with the letter A) less than 5 minutes into the show. Walmart Technology has come a long way, especially since they started on their acquisition shopping-spree. Brian is super excited about Walmart in every way, especially with how they are expanding their tech team by the thousands this year. In news that should shock literally no one who hasn't been living under a rock: 50% percent of all digital retail transactions in 2018 happened on Amazon. The real question remains: Who will win in the battle of the massive retailer? Commerce 2040: Looking Ahead to Retail's Future: Euromonitor International has put out a report that looks at what the future of commerce will look like, and the future looks a whole lot like Future Commerce predicted. Drones will continue to be popular in the future, which means that Pizza delivery drones could become a reality in the United States. And It seems that the term "experiential retail" is going to be around forever, and retailers will find new ways to engage consumers. Also: Luxury retail spares no detail, Canada Goose is using freezer-esque dressing rooms so customers can test outwear against the elements. This is taking experiential retail up a few degrees (or down a hundred degrees). Phillip and Brian conclude that while Macklemore would probably wear one of Canada Goose's winter jackets in a music video, he'd probably of purchased it second-hand. Practical AR Was Big at NRF: Next Step is Running in Virtual Shoes? Practical AR was everywhere at NRF: With Augmented Reality being able to help consumers and retailers in everyday-life. Unity3D had a really cool sneaker demo that was nearly photo-realistic. Even Amazon has been pushing their AR functionality (though not at NRF because they didn't show up in any real way).. Phillip describes the shoe demo: The shoe that they used was a Nike VaporMax which has a translucent sole, and with the exact environmental lighting combined with Nike's level of accuracy with 3D models, this "sneaker" was next-level-authentic. Phillip and Brian predict that real-time models of this level becoming the norm is pretty much only two years away. Show vs. Tell: User Generated Content is King in 2019: Retailers are starting to understand that user-generated content coming from social networks, is the best way forward for sales and brand authenticity. As Phillip points out Facebook is the only social network that has both the retail integration technology, and the trust of its users. Not even Facebook as it stands though: Basically just Instagram. Because somehow, Instagram has been completely divorced from Facebook's scandals. At least for right now. One great example of this push towards UGC: Farfetch has acquired Stadium Goods (the home of many a hypebeast worthy sneaker as well as limited edition streetwear) for 250 million. The real reason for this acquisition though: Stadium Goods partnerships with brands like Complex for content creation, and the retail experiences around those partnerships. For example: Zeitgeist-influencer-powered-content like John Mayer doing long-form interviews through Complex. Shareable Moments For The Win (Can You Even Instagram?) : Product development in 2019 is going to be all about creating "shareable products." Can retailers bridge the gap between social media and user experience? Brian says that now there will be two types of businesses existing in this space: Content-ready, or not content-ready. Investors are picking up the content-generation trend as well, with StockX picking up 44 million, Grailed raising 15 million, and the acquisition of Stadium Goods. Phillip says that 2018 is the year of the sneaker because of course it is. Amazon is Trying to Stay Relevant: RIP Sears: Amazon didn't even bother to show up in any significant way for NRF. Amazon is building a second headquarters, and also a third headquarters: Phillip observes that everyone interacts with Amazon for pretty much every aspect of life, which is what Sears used to be 100+ years ago. Brian quotes Jeff Bezos is saying that "Amazon may go bankrupt one day like Sears." Fun fact: Amazon looks they are doing a lot more hiring than other major companies, but there's a catch. Amazon only hires within their own ranks, and have to hire in-house for each new piece of technology. Google and Walmart are much more partnership-centric, and create many, many jobs not attributed to them (They've even partnered up with each other), so it's a much better story. Europeans May Understand Experiential Retail Better: Can U.S Consumers Adapt? Phillip hosts a panel with two companies with well-known customer experience, Ritual Cosmetics, and Sheetz Inc. Phillip observes that European retailers understand the idea of "experiential retail," and European customers may expect that level of service. Sheetz, a gas-station convenience store brand has built their entire brand identity on delivering the best experience for their customers, and they can do so because they know their customers so well to begin with. Somehow everything always comes back to Amazon. Collaboration is Cool: Ingredient Brands Built Finally Gain Customer Awareness: Phillip and Brian both want to see a Starbucks-Toms collaboration. Ingredient brands, which once were pretty behind-the-scenes, are going mainstream. Ingredient brands are brands that go into other brands products and aren't marketed directly to consumers, but they are brands that consumers already trust. Phillip thought ingredient brands referred to companies like McCormick: Which actually makes a lot of literal sense. Should McCormick have an ingredient food truck? Consumers are now actually looking for these ingredient brands, as opposed to just trusting their efficacy, with retailers like Woolrich becoming a lot more ingredient brand focused. Phillip and Brian Preview Prediction Episode 2019: Brian says 2019 is going to be all about using data to make informed decisions about products, this can refer to using past data to re-invent and re-brand (like Story does every season) Somehow this entire episode is about shoes. Phillip's 2019 prediction is that 2019 will be the "year of the customer," and more specifically the year of guided commerce, giving customers the ability to have the retail experience that they want. Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

"Stores within stores" is a concept often spoken but seldom understood. With retail closures on the rise we look at how real estate is adapting to new digitally native brands, how flagships are shifting focus, and how companies like Cushman and Wakefield are helping brands get to market faster than ever. Listen now! Guest Brandon L. Singer, Managing Director @ Cushman & Wakefield, Inc. Show notes Main Takeaways: A perfect storm in physical retail vacancies has led to an emerging retail renaissance. Retail space is being utilized to bring a new experience to customers. For brands to survive, retailers need to see the internet as collaborative, not competitive. The most interesting store in the world is bringing new commerce straight to interested customers. Community seems to be the future of commerce, can consumers bond over toilet seats? The Retail Renaissance: The Re-Emergence of Brick-and-Mortar: Brandon Singer of Cushman and Wakefield explains that there have been two factors that have led to an uptick in traditional retail space vacancies: The rise of the internet, and e-commerce, and an increase in the cost of renting and maintaining space in new york city. Now, brands, as well as large tech companies and even some familiar faced traditional retailers are finding new innovative ways to utilize their space in a way that brings a sense of experience to their customers. Brian points out that though the United States is one of the most over-retailed countries, retail is still on the rise in new and exciting ways. Brandon makes the point that when the internet really started everyone said e-commerce was the end of brick and mortar retail. Lots of brands are moving from online to brick and mortar even if they're traditionally online are realizing that having a brick and mortar location can help increase customer retention and in-store experience. Phillip points out that in-store experience is also about entertainment. Internet vs. In-Store: Collaboration Not Competition: As Brandon points out, one of the biggest challenges for traditional retail is that they have historically seen the internet as their competition. Brick and mortar retail space with a value-added in-store experience combined with an online presence is crucial to success in commerce. And this has actually been the downfall for those retailers who's decision makers have been unable to adapt, and consider the internet to be collaborative. Here's looking at you Sears. "New commerce: a new initiative that is taking advantage of the new age of commerce." Brandon points out some brands that are doing this well: Bonobos, a formerly e-commerce only brand turned retail space into a showroom, called a Guideshop allowing customers to achieve optimal fit and feel before having their purchase shipped to their home. Warby Parker started out entirely online and moved into brick and mortar, and now has over 100 stores where customers can try on frames to best fit their face and their style. Fun fact: Sears's business model actually inspired Warby Parker, which is ironic to anyone who knows anything about Sears. Brian brings up the new Nike 68,000 sq ft flagship store, called the House of Innovation 000, which is all about the in-store experience, in just about every possible Nike-esque way. The Most Interesting Store In the World: A New Kind of Mall: One of Cushman and Wakefield's retail clients is Showfields, a direct to consumer retail outlet that in their own words: "We empower the brands of tomorrow with access to physical retail space at the heart of the direct-to-consumer conversation.". Showfields is a different kind of retail experience and will be set up in a 14,700 square-foot townhouse in Noho (Manhattan) with a real focus on experience for the consumer. A store-within-a-store retail trend. Phillip points out that this has concept has been somewhat tried by single-owner companies like Citizen Supply, but poses the question of whether this will be an opportunity for clicks-to-bricks without a commitment by brands to a full store-front. Brandon makes a comparison between ShowFields and co-working companies, who rent space to companies who don't want to have to make a significant investment in retail space for employees as they grow. Phillip declares that: "experience is at the forefront and the opportunity to browse and discover is at an all-time high." ShowFields is like the We-Work for physical retail space. Community Driven Commerce: Making Shared Values Cool Again: Amazon keeps trying to sell Phillip toilet seat covers because apparently, the push notifications for Chewbacca bobbleheads wasn't weird enough. How community can really drive commerce: Phillip ponders starting a community for toilet seat seekers. Brandon points out that community-driven commerce is becoming a huge focus in retail space. For example Fithouse: a fitness studio on a mission to bring lovers of boutique fitness classes together at a much lower cost. Who is the intended audience for a studio like this? People who already attend group-fitness classes, and share a love for fitness, but don't want to have to take on a hefty price tag for participating in that community. Brian points out that Future Commerce did an entire episode on community-driven commerce. Can Suburban & Rural Commerce Keep up With Changes in Retail? Brians asks Brandon what if anything is happening in suburban and rural areas concerning commerce? Macerich one of the largest mall operators is actually helping e-commerce brands develop brick-and mortar spaces. The program is called BrandBox, and it will give e-commerce brands unprecedented access to tools like foot-traffic analysis, and the lease agreement will only require a six to twelve-month commitment as opposed to a traditional lease of ten to fifteen years. Also: Simon Property Group another major mall owner has partnered with Appear Here to bring Edit which is a new shopping experience which allows tradionally online brands to "pop-up" at their local mall. And as Brandon says, once a brand has a successful pop-up-shop experience, it will lead to an expansion of a physical retail presence. Brandon Singer's best advice for retailers going forward: Brick and mortar and online are not competitive they are collaborative. Also, create the best in-store experience possible, millennials are going to want to experience your brand, so build that in for your customers in a brick-and-mortar setting. Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Main Takeaways: "We are now at the beginning of the experience economy". Retailers are looking for a way to turn mobile browsers into mobile buyers. Millennials seem to be at the forefront of a data revolution. Mobile customers tend to commit to a purchase when they feel that their personal information is secure. Can mobile-commerce really beat out desktop conversions? How to Win Customers and Influence People to Purchase Mobily: Paypal (Braintree), Magento, and Hi Conversion are working together, along with other merchants and system integrators on The Mobile eCommerce Optimization Initiative to share data on the best (and worst) practices in conversion to sales in the mobile-commerce space. CEO of HI Conversion Zee Aganovic says that retailers took about 10-15 years to truly understand desktop-based (traditional) e-commerce. According to Zee the invention of mobile brought new challenges as the mobile-commerce customer is entirely different. Since individual merchants cannot handle the enormity of addressing their mobile-customer base by themselves (especially when they are competing with behemoths like Amazon), system integrators are teaming up to bridge the gap. Fun fact: Mobile is quickly becoming a much bigger piece of retail revenue, on Black Friday, mobile-based sales accounted for almost 40%, even though Black Friday is much more of an in-store shopping holiday. "This is all about experience economy + invent of mobile". The purpose of this community is to immediately provide value to merchants, where they get access to experience optimization tools, and community data (on par with the largest e-commerce companies) on what actually works, and what doesn't. Brian loves the idea of merchants sharing data to address markets because this makes it easier for merchants to achieve scalable results. Also, Amazon apparently has teams to address 1-click optimization, and probably everything else. Proper Data Usage Can Prevent Resource-Allocation Death Spirals: Phillip and Brian interview Hasan Elkomey, the SVP of strategic partnerships at Redstage, an e-commerce company with a focus on B2B. Philip asks how Redstage is helping retailers to become more data-centric, and how they can properly utilize this crowdsourced data to improve outcomes for customers? Hasan hits on a critical point: Sometimes data-based solutions seem minuscule but are incredibly effective: One test proved that adding a padlock to the checkout button improved conversion rates by 17.37%. Perhaps because customers feel more secure entering their payment details when they feel the website they are purchasing from is more secure? Data can also be used to justify budget-based decisions, allocation of resources, or cuts to funding, Phillip refers to this as the "death spiral". Hasan refers to himself as a grey-area millennial, and millennials seem to be leading the charge on proper data acquisition and usage by investing serious resources in doing so.   Millennials are at the forefront of digital transformation in e-commerce. So how can merchants get involved in this initiative? All any interested party has to do is go to mobileoptimized.org and sign up, and it really is all about the data: The more community data that becomes available, the more merchants will be able to utilize that data to produce optimal results conversion-wise in the mobile-commerce space. Mobile vs. Desktop: Battle of The Buying Power: Brent Peterson, Chief Evangelist for Wagento Creative, goes to bat for mobile, saying that new studies are proving that mobile-sales could, in fact, outperform desktop browse-to-buy conversion. One of these studies involves a security icon being added to the checkout page, ensuring the customer that all their information is encrypted and safe, and while this only increased conversion by 7% on desktop, mobile had an increase of 17.37%, which is pretty spectacular. One test that seemed to fail, surprisingly enough: Autofilling zip codes, which actually had a negative impact on conversion for mobile users.    Brian says that this data can help other retailers learn from these results, taking the ideas out of the realm of the possible, by putting some structure behind it. Brent makes it clear that these results are not necessarily uniform across demographics. "Challenge assumptions and use data to prove out outcomes". Wagento has offices all over the world, including an office in Minnesota. Guests: Zee Aganovic of Hi Commerce Hasan Elkomey of Redstage Brent Peterson of Wagento Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Main Takeaways: Wayfair has curated in-house brands and has seen success due to its focus on customer experience and lack of awareness of brand. Consistency is the name of the game when it comes to customer experience. Wayfair understands that investment in its own teams is the best way to fill gaps in talent. Wayfair is popping up in two physical locations this holiday season. Wayfair: E-commerce Ahead of Its Time: When Wayfair (then called CSN Stores) was launched in 2002, online shopping was beginning to pick up speed, although e-commerce certainly wasn't putting up the kind of numbers it is today (2.3T in sales). According to co-founder Steve Conine, Wayfair's target customer is a 45-55-year-old    woman. This is entirely understandable since women make about 94% of purchasing decisions when it comes to the home. And now, sixteen years later Wayfair is known as a major global brand. Wayfair customer base is mostly direct to consumer (B2C), with a growing portion of their business being B2B. Referencing Wayfair's new partnership with VR company Magic Leap, Phillip notes that it would be incredibly entertaining to see a person of that generation wearing a Magic Leap. How Did Wayfair Manage to Escape House Brand Criticism? The difference is that branding doesn't really exist in the home-furnishing marketplace. This is certainly not the case with massive retail marketplaces like Amazon, where certain brands are held up as higher standards of quality. Consumers are looking at where they purchase in this space, as opposed to who manufactures it. An exception to this standard, may be well-known brands like Kitchenaid. Wayfair tries to help customers better navigate this space by creating "house brands" (these brands actually accounted for 60% of  Wayfair revenue sales in 2017) where they put together the best pieces from different manufacturers and curate it into a collection, making it much easier for a customer to shop according to their style and budget. Wayfair Really is The Jimmy Choo of Home-Furnishing-Commerce: Wayfair really stands out as an "experience company" and can be placed in the same category as Jimmy Choo or Nike for constant innovation, and customer engagement. Some noteworthy moves? Wayfair has invested serious money internally, training their own teams in 3-D and machine learning, Super cool feature alert: Wayfair has a customer 3D library that they launched on SketchUp in 2017, to allow for designers to place furniture within their designs, Also, Through Wayfair's VR app (Wayfair View), customers can view furniture or decor in any space they chose. Wayfair has even utilized search tool Pinterest so that customers can curate their own furnished rooms, per their style and budget. This would be super helpful for those shoppers who want to ball on a budget. Phillip points out that this is what Zappos could've been in a bygone era. : Seek and You Shall Find Talent: How Wayfair Filled a Gap in The Market: Wayfair recognized the need for talent in high-level modeling and 2D rendering and decided to train their own team to fill the gap. The company also now offers a "3D university" curriculum to home furnishing suppliers and manufacturers, proving they want the entire industry to become more cutting edge and innovative. According to Steve, Wayfair has the most extensive 3D modeling teams in the entire country now. Brian loves this news so much. Speaking of innovation: Wayfair Next, Wayfair new R&D department set up to "explore next-generation experiences" is also doing some incredible things with shipping & logistics. Wayfair is working to fill another gap in the market for products over 100 lbs. This will allow Wayfair to control the entire process from ordering to the delivery. Is Wayfair Really Trying to Compete With Walmart and Co? Historical retail has been about how to keep costs as low as possible, which puts companies in competition with their supply chain. Steve says that they are really trying to create a platform where everyone can have a successful business, not trying to compete with massive retailers. Brian says that the culture of innovation that Wayfair has is best in class, and questions whether Wayfair would ever move beyond the home market. Steve says that Wayfair's focus really is on crushing it in the home category, and providing the best customer experience. Phillip promises to remind Steve of this moment when Wayfair starts selling subscription boxes. Wayfair's Brick and Mortar Experiment: Popping up This Holiday Season: Wayfair is wading into the brick and mortar craze, with two pop up shops for the holidays season. This will allow for Wayfair's focus on "customer experience" to seep into an in-store experience. Steve says that this is an experiment for the company to see where/if they fit into the physical space, and what opportunities they have to get products in front of customers. Anyone wondering if a Wayfair 4-Star could ever be a possibility? Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail tech is moving fast, and Future Commerce is moving faster Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Main Takeaways: Retail consolidation is happening, and it really is survival of the best fit. Phillip really wants Alexa to stop trying to figure him out. Amazon raises its minimum wage to $15, but are workers really benefiting? Shopify launches a glorified Apple Genius Bar in Downtown LA. Adobe has an uphill battle in integrating its acquisitions into a seamless ecosystem. Traditional Retail is Making Moves in Pretty Much Every Direction: DSW, (everyone's favorite place to buy trendy ankle boots), has along with Authentic Brand Group has made a deal to acquire Camuto Group for 375MM. DSW will contribute 200MM to this deal. it seems Toys 'R Us has been revived. On October 1st the retailer filed papers in bankruptcy court to halt the auction of their intellectual property. In news that will shock almost no one: Sears (a company that has somehow survived for 132 years)  has filed for bankruptcy, and is simultaneously trying to tread water. Sears has already shuttered thousands of Sears and Kmart stores, and its future remains uncertain, to say the least. Levi Strauss has posted massive gains (10% for Q3), This news must be very exciting to lovers of high-quality jean jackets everywhere. Should Everyone Just Feel Sorry For Billionaire Bezos? Amazon raises its minimum wage to $15, and yet some are suspicious of the retail giant's sudden goodwill. Amazon has faced prior criticism for its treatment of warehouse workers, including insane production quotas, too short break times, and a "big brother environment at work. Some of these stories sound like they are from a different century. And some of the criticism may be warranted: NBC News is reporting that Amazon is cutting bonuses and stock options to those same warehouse employees. This allows Amazon to enjoy the political benefit, and public adoration, while still being able to undercut employees. While Amazon has received praise for the minimum wage hike from former critics including Senator Bernie Sanders, it is still being hit with criticism for the cutting of benefits. Phillip and Brian lament that poor Jeff Bezos cannot seem to catch a break . Shopify LA: Just Another Apple Genius Bar?. Shopify has set up shop in a brick and mortar space in downtown LA, the location choice being a mystery to most.                  According to Philip and Brian, this store is more proof of concept than anything else. Shopify putting its footprint down in a physical space seems to come at a time where digital and native brands are realizing they need to move beyond digital. Shopify LA seems to operate similarly to the  Apple Genius Bar. Merchants can come to the store for IT support and ask questions about Shopify's offerings.   Shopify seems also to be using this store to reposition themselves: many users would describe Shopify as an e-commerce platform or use terms that include "digital commerce". Instead, TechCrunch (and perhaps Shopify themselves) describe Shopify as "provider of payment and logistics management software". Does this sound like rebranding to anyone else? Will Shopify Ever Set Up a "Shopify 4-Star"? Since Shopify has set their new brick and mortar space to be more "Apple Genius Bar" than anything else, will Shopify ever set up a retail space similar to Amazon 4-Star? Moving from digital to a physical retail space would allow for Shopify to showcase the best of their merchant's products. Brian makes the case for Shopify not wanting to have to compete with Amazon. Philip argues that Shopify's competition wouldn't even be Amazon it would be Etsy. What would really set Shopify apart if they would enter into a physical retail storefront, would be an  element of product discovery mixed up with a really creative in-store experience. A lot of e-commerce merchants are realizing that reinventing brick and mortar and giving customers a really innovative in-store experience may be the way to really up their commerce game. Can Adobe Create a Seamless Ecosystem Through Its Acquisitions? Adobe is working hard to compete with heavy hitters SAP, Oracle and, Salesforce. One way Adobe is trying to accomplish this feat is through all of its acquisitions.   Adobe is an enterprise applications company because of Omniture and Magento and its experience manager. Through various strategic acquisitions, Adobe is trying to create a seamlessly integrated ecosystem with all of its working parts and acquisitions working together. Some of Adobe most recent acquisitions Magento, an e-commerce platform, and  Marketo, a marketing automation tool are signaling Adobe's attempt to best be adaptive for marketers. Adobe most significant mindshare is through their creative cloud. CEO Shantanu Narayen spoke at Magento EU all about Adobe's transformation from a deployed software model to a cloud-based company that is able to iterate faster and deliver software on a perpetual basis. Go over to Futurecommerce.fm and give us your feedback! We love to hear from our listeners! Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Main Takeaways: Amazon takes a third (actually more like fifth) leap into physical retail. Phillip takes a trip down memory lane, was Service Merchandise the original Amazon? This episode would make it into Amazon's 4-star store. Retailers may want to jump on the Amazon copycat train for better in-store curation. Amazon Opens Yet Another Retail Space: Is Brick and Mortar Back? Amazon adds another retail store to its collection, Amazon 4-Star will join Amazon Books and Amazon Go. This is the first of Amazon's stores that replicates Amazon in an in-store experience. Whole Foods also counts as an Amazon retail experience (Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017). Amazon 4-Star will exclusively feature products from it's website that have a four-star rating or better. This will allow for more consumer confidence in quality. Still, with millions of products, Amazon will still have to curate the best products and create an engaging in-store experience.   Amazon 4-Star is the latest slap to the face of the so-called "retail apocalypse", and Amazon proves that innovation really can change the game. We learn that Phillip is really into the Hamilton musical. What Can Other Retailers Learn From the Amazon In-store Model? Retailers should follow the curation metric that Amazon has laid out in Amazon 4-Star and only source products that rank over "four stars." Amazon has replaced paper tags with digital "real time" electronic shelf labels, which will display not only the price of the product, but also Amazon Prime savings, and the number of reviews a product has received. This points to an understanding between Amazon and their customer base that new innovation is needed in retail, and that this type of in-store experience is the future of retail. Online vs. In-Store Shopping: Customer Experience Edition: The question remains, why would a customer patronize one of Amazon's brick and mortar stores, be it Amazon 4-star, Amazon Go, or Amazon Books when there's convenience in ordering online? Or if you live in certain parts of the country there's Amazon Prime Now with extra convenient two-hour shipping. Well, it's all about the experience that the customer is looking for, with Amazon in-store and online offering different modalities. An online, Amazon prime experience seems to be all about convenience. And really, who would ever want to have to leave their house to shop? Brian makes the case that this kind of retail experience is all about discovery, and finding the best of Amazon. Phillip time-travels to the 1980's, to a store called Service Merchandise, a catalog store with an Amazon vibe. I.e,. real-world analog Amazon. Will Amazon 4-Star be the Best of Amazon or All About Alexa? Scott Galloway in speaking at L'2s Amazon Clinic says that Amazon will spend billions to kill brands. It's pretty terrifying when the conspiracy theories about companies come to life. Alexa's in on all of this too, and it's all in the recommendations. Amazon is pushing their private label products through everyone's favorite voice assistant. So with Amazon expanding further into retail with Amazon 4-Star, will Amazon be honest in their in-store retail offerings? Phillip proposes the idea of an entire Alexa store. Brian and Phillip actually have faith in Amazon's ability to promote the best of Amazon's online products, and not use this store as their own personal brand marketing tool. Only time and sales receipts will tell. Brian and Phillip are planning a field trip to the first Amazon 4-Star store. Retail Tech is moving fast and Future Commerce is moving faster. Have you had an Amazon 4-Star experience? Let us know all your thoughts at futurecommerce.fm Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.