Beyond The Shelf

This week, Dave welcomes Jyoti Malik, Senior Director of eCommerce at Belkin, to discuss how brands can leverage data & automation to stay competitive. With over 15 years in eCommerce and omni-channel strategy, Malik shares insights on the evolution of eCommerce, retail media, and AI-driven optimization, what has changed and what remains constant. She begins by reflecting on the early days of eCommerce, when it was more of an experiment than a necessity (4:28). As the landscape has evolved, automation has become a key optimization tool (6:19), helping brands expand their reach. Jyoti dives into the impact of AI on search (11:45) and how brands need to think about incorporating AI capabilities. Later, she and Dave discuss the trajectory of retail media (16:45) and its growing influence across industries. Throughout the conversation, one theme remains paramount: the customer. Malik emphasizes that the most effective way to grow a business is to work backward from the customer, understanding how they shop and what drives their decisions (23:57).Catch Dave at Bazaarvoice Summit 2025! He’ll be there this Thursday, March 13 at 11:20AM CDT / 4:20PM GMT, for the panel “Retail Media Networks Reimagined: The Power of a Full-Funnel Content Strategy.”  He’ll be joined by Bazaarvoice’s Jo Callahan and Mindshare’s Jeff Malmad.Don’t miss this discussion on how brands can integrate content and retail media into a full-funnel strategy. Save your spot here: https://www.bazaarvoice.com/summit-2025/ Connect with Jyoti: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jyotimalik/ Get the It’sRapid Creative Automation Playbook: https://itsrapid.ai/creative-workflow-automation-playbook/Take It’sRapid’s Creative Workflow Automation with AI survey: https://www.proprofs.com/survey/t/?title=ffgvdEmail us at sales@rapidads.io with code “BEYOND2025” to find out how you can save more than $1,000 on our Digital Sell Sheets and Retail Media Automation solutionsTheme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducers: Sean Leviashvili, Jake Musiker

Dave’s guest this week is Elise Barry, Digital Communications Manager at Royal Canin, one of the world’s largest manufacturers and suppliers of dog and cat food.  An eCommerce and Digital Marketing specialist with more than 10 years of experience in diverse marketspaces, Barry understands the importance of defining and maintaining a strong digital presence that is specific to your company’s goals. She explains how the pet food industry has seen a post-pandemic shift from brick-and-mortar to eCommerce (2:34). She goes on to explain the importance of deciphering and prioritizing data (8:18), paying attention to keywords (13:22) and creating a company playbook that helps freelancers and AI models alike understand content goals (21:55). Finally, we cap this episode with a hilarious and entertaining “Pup Quiz” (26:28), where Dave tests Elise's knowledge on trends in the pet and pet food industry. From shifts in eCommerce to PDPs and even dog food influencers, no topic is left off the table. PUP QUIZ ANSWERS: Question #1: French BulldogQuestion #2: Between $434-684 per yearQuestion #3: LunaQuestion #4: CooperQuestion #5: No more than 10%!Connect with Elise: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisebarry-ecomm/Get the ItsRapid Creative Automation Playbook: https://itsrapid.ai/creative-workflow-automation-playbook/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducers: Sean Leviashvili, Jake Musiker

Dave’s guest this week is Hayden Consultancy Founder, Eleanor Hayden.  Hayden Consultancy works with food and beverage brands to help them increase their digital footprints and and improve their eCommerce strategies. Having worked in the industry for more than 10 years, both as an entrepreneur and as a Shopper Marketing expert, Eleanor understands that every brand needs to find their own unique approach when it comes to getting in front of the consumer. Eleanor talks about how COVID expedited the push into Retail Media (04:42), how brands can assess their in-store marketing spends (07:43), how starting a business of her own provided her with invaluable insights that help her guide brands both big and small (09:14). She also shares how Hayden Consultancy helps clients boost their sales (16:19), and her thoughts on the future of Retail Media (24:37).   Connect with Eleanor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanorhayden/Learn more about It’sRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Get the It'sRapid Creative Automation Playbook: https://itsrapid.ai/creative-workflow-automation-playbook/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducers: Sean Leviashvili, Jake Musiker

Dave’s guest this week is Kristy Meinzer, Discoverability Director for Performance Content at VML, a creative agency that helps brands grow by combining brand experience, customer experience and eCommerce insights. With expertise in search capabilities, content strategy and brand awareness, Kristy provides insights into the ever-changing world of eCommerce and discoverability, weighing in on how brands are shifting focus, incorporating new technologies and finding new ways to bring awareness to companies and products. Kristy talks about the difference between organic and paid discoverability (8:28), why you should always start with search before anything else (13:50), how the industry as evolved over time (17:40), where new brands should start (18:48), and thoughts on newer e-commerce players like Temu (20:02).Check out VML's "2025 Predictions for Search" report here: https://www.vml.com/insight/2025-predictions-for-search Connect with Kristy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kskristy/ Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Get the ItsRapid Creative Automation Playbook: https://itsrapid.ai/creative-workflow-automation-playbook/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducers: Sean Leviashvili, Jake Musiker

Dave’s guest this week is Kiri Masters, who hosts and writes Retail Media Breakfast Club, a daily podcast and newsletter summarizing the latest trends in retail media.  She’s also a regular contributor to Forbes’ Retail section.  Previously she founded Bobsled Marketing, which was acquired by Acadia in 2022. Kiri shares why it’s so difficult to find a true definition of “retail media” (3:28), why specific RMNs need to be treated as their own channels (13:48), her POV on the incredible success of Beast Games on Prime Video (21:38) and why data people also need to learn how to tell a story (32:40). Subscribe to the Retail Media Breakfast Club podcast: https://www.retailmediabreakfastclub.com/Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/retail-media-breakfast-club-7261657654001909760/Connect with Kiri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiri-masters/Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducers: Sean Leviashvili, Jake Musiker

This week we welcome Andrew Lipsman back to the show!  Andrew is an independent analyst and consultant with deep expertise in retail media, digital advertising, and consumer trends.  He authors the popular Substack newsletter Media, Ads + Commerce where he shares key insights and trends in retail media and the broader advertising and e-commerce universe.  Andrew is a predictions guru, and he unpacks his various methodologies with Dave (4:42).  He also shares what he got right (7:54) and wrong (9:58) about 2024, where retail media is headed (16:13), and his trends (22:36) and business (26:15) predictions for 2025.Subscribe to Media, Ads + Commerce: https://mediaadsandcommerce.substack.com/Connect with Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-lipsman-10b2162/Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducers: Sean Leviashvili, Jake Musiker

Dave’s guest this week is one of the most sought-after leaders in the E-Commerce and Retail Media spaces: Sam Gagliardi.  Sam’s 20-plus year career has included senior roles with both leading brands including Colgate-Palmolive, J&J and Barilla, as well as with SaaS enterprises Reckitt and, most recently, Circana - making him a veteran on both sides of the aisle.  Sam shares what originally got him excited about e-commerce (3:49), the power of having effective PDPs (10:00), why it’s more important than ever to connect with shoppers as early as possible (16:20), how both brands and service providers should navigate the process of selecting new partners (28:32) and how coaching hockey bears a lot in common with doing business (35:52).Connect with Sam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samgagliardi/Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/ Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducers: Sean Leviashvili, Jake Musiker

We’re thrilled to welcome Bryan Gildenberg back to the show.  Bryan was the very first guest on Beyond the Shelf, back in August 2023.  It’s amazing how much the retail landscape has changed in such a short period of time!Bryan is currently keeping busy as Managing Director of Retail Cities, a global retail data and insights firm, primarily focused on fast growth industries and markets.  He balances this with his continuing role as Founder and CEO of Confluencer Commerce, helping retailers and their partners navigate the intersection of retail, media and content. Bryan shares his thoughts on achieving $10T of retail growth in the coming years (4:02), how to put the “retail” back in retail media (8:53), why big retailers will have a major advantage over smaller competitors for the foreseeable future (10:31), why AI is already overpromising and underdelivering (21:59), and why the definition of “omnichannel” will change in 2025 (31:55).Connect with Bryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-gildenberg-56a6b0/Follow Retail Cities: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retailcities/ Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/ Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Dave’s guest this week is Sreenath Reddy, Founder of Intentwise. Intentwise provides unified, comprehensive, and reliable analytics and advertising applications for Amazon and Walmart.Sreenath provides overviews of machine learning (8:32) and Intentwise (11:21), and how they’re solving the problem of connecting scattered sources of data to help customers reach profitability faster (14:52).  He also shares his journey as an entrepreneur (22:01). Connect with Sreenath: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sreenathkreddy/ Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/ Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Happy New Year!  We kick off 2025 with Neha Shah, Senior Manager, Digital Commerce and Omnichannel Shopper Marketing at The Campbell’s Company.  Neha’s nearly two-decade career has included senior eCommerce positions at Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue.  In her new role, she is spearheading omnichannel efforts across the Campbell’s portfolio of brands.     Neha shares her experiences in the early days of eCommerce (7:47), the evolution of the consumer journey in recent years (10:58), navigating Amazon AVN negotiations (13:12), how Campbell’s is pioneering the next wave of what’s happening in the omni and retail media spaces (19:36), and her favorite books on personal and professional development (22:41). Note: all views expressed in this episode are Neha's personal POV.Connect with Neha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/msnehashah/Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/ Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker