
Beyond The Shelf
This show is an open exploration of the people and process behind E-Commerce. Through conversations with innovators in the space, we learn the stories of these leaders and their strategies for E-Commerce success. You can join our mailing list and access more content at itsrapid.ai.David's past guests have included: Bryan Gildenberg from the CPG Guys, Todd Hassenfelt from Colgate-Palmolive, Anne Zybowski from Circana, Randy Mercer from 1WorldSync, Jared Taitel from PepsiCo, David Novak from Salsify, Harvey Ma from Albertsons Media Collective, Carter Jensen from General Mills, Pam Perino from Ghirardelli Chocolate, and many more.
Latest episodes

Apr 16, 2024 • 42min
Why Being the Voice of the Customer is So Important with Inmar Intelligence's Leah Logan
Dave's guest on today's show is Leah Logan, General Manager, Retail Media at Inmar Intelligence. Leah has been working within the retail media space for over 15 years. They discuss why you don't need to have all of the answers all of the time (10:39), an overview of Inmar Intelligence (11:39), why VoC is so important (16:20), 3 areas that brands are placing a big focus on (23:34), and how to tailor campaigns to reach "dual decision-makers" (28:53).Connect with Leah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-logan-a595668/Contact Inmar Solutions: solutions@inmar.comTake advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing sales@itsrapid.io with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Apr 9, 2024 • 35min
Operating in a Test-and-Learn Environment with Dexcom's Wayne Blum
Dave speaks with Wayne Blum, Director of Ecommerce & Distribution at Dexcom. Wayne's career experience has included managing digital marketing and ecommerce for a number of big brands including American Express, Nestle and Diageo. They talk about finding new ways to bring different categories and brands online (7:55), how alcohol ecommerce management really isn't all that different than other categories (13:57), why companies need to always be operating in a test-and-learn environment (18:16), the importance of sell sheets (26:51) and an overview of Dexcom and its mission (27:52). Connect with Wayne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-blum-6128293/Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing sales@itsrapid.io with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Apr 2, 2024 • 35min
Reflecting on the Early Days of eCommerce with Deloitte Digital's Paul do Forno
Dave welcomes Paul do Forno, Partner / Managing Director - Commerce Practice at Deloitte Digital, to the show. Paul's career stretches back over 30 years, to the nascent years of the web, and his insights are rooted in that experience. Paul's shares his time as a digital consultant in the early web days (3:02), an overview of Deloitte Digital (10:44), his explanation of "B2B Commerce" (13:51), why retail isn't dead (17:08), his two main takeaways from 2023 (24:03) and how he thinks AI could enable the full supply chain to be dynamically mobilized (27:18). Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pauldoforno/Follow Paul on X: https://twitter.com/dofornopTake advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing sales@itsrapid.io with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Mar 26, 2024 • 39min
The Growth of Commerce Content from Afterthought to Pre-Thought with Digital Shelf Institute's Lauren Livak Gilbert and Profitero's Mike Black
This week Dave speaks with Lauren Livak Gilbert, Director of the Digital Shelf Institute (DSI), and Mike Black, CMO at Profitero. Lauren and Mike recently collaborated on the DSI/Profitero report, "Defining Content Effectiveness: How Content Maturity Can Help Brands Better Meet Shopper Needs."They discuss why Mike is such a prolific poster on LinkedIn (6:33), Lauren's experience managing the digital shelf for J&J brands during the pre-COVID era (8:49), takeaways from the "Defining Content Effectiveness" report (18:19), the importance of AI usage complying with a brand's legal requirements, brand guidelines and workflows (27:51), and the narrowing of the gap between upper and lower funnels (29:37).Download the DSI/Profitero "Defining Content Effectiveness" report: https://www.digitalshelfinstitute.org/report-dsi-profitero-defining-content-effectivenessConnect with Lauren on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenlivak/Contact the Digital Shelf Institute: https://www.digitalshelfinstitute.org/contactConnect with Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeblack/Take advantage of a special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing sales@itsrapid.io with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Mar 19, 2024 • 38min
A Day in the Life of E-Commerce Innovator and Entrepreneur Rob Gonzalez, CMO of Salsify
Dave's guest on today's show is Rob Gonzalez, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer at Salsify and Founding Member of The Digital Shelf Institute. They discuss how Rob made the switch from engineering to marketing (4:30), details of Rob's daily routine (8:41), the story behind the creation of the Digital Shelf Summit (10:11), details of the Salsify/ItsRapid partnership (18:36), how the advertising center of gravity has shifted in the last decade (27:35), and the two people who have influenced Rob's professional life the most (34:05).Register for Salsify's 2024 Digital Shelf Partner Summit: https://www.salsify.com/partner-summit-2024Connect with Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robgonzalezTake advantage of special offer from It'sRapid and get a free image, video or banner ad by emailing sales@itsrapid.io with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Mar 12, 2024 • 50min
Breaking Down Brand Silos with PriceSpider's Rae Marie Guimond and Brett Banner
It's a triple threat conversation this week, as Dave sits down with Rae Marie Guimond and Brett Banner of Price Spider. Rae is Director, Strategy, SaaS Sales and Revenue Growth, while Brett is Senior Vice President of Strategy. Highlights include Brett's words of wisdom for working with customers (4:18), Rae's examples of how brands leverage PriceSpider to leverage basket-level shopper data (13:12), the challenge of brands pushing through their own organizational silos (16:07), an overview of the just-announced strategic partnership between PriceSpider and ItsRapid (25:08), and Brett (35:56) and Rae's (38:09) predictions for the next 12 months. Connect with Rae on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rmguimond/Connect with Brett on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettbanner/Find out more about ItsRapid's new Sellsheet Builder! Send an email to support@itsrapid.ai with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Mar 5, 2024 • 39min
An Investor's POV on the Future of eCommerce with First Analysis Securities Corporation's Matt Nicklin
This week Dave takes a detour and speaks with a guest whose insights on eCommerce come not from within the industry itself, but from the world of finance. Matt Nicklin is a Managing Director and Co-President of First Analysis Securities Corporation, where he specializes in tech and healthcare investments, including eCommerce transactions.Matt gives a quick overview of the numerous markets within the financial system (3:49), what his day-to-day looks like (9:47), what he's been seeing in the eComm world recently (15:30), as well as the challenges (22:06) and opportunities (27:55) facing the space today.NOTE: Nothing discussed or said during today's episode should be construed as investment advice.Contact the First Analysis team: https://www.firstanalysis.com/About-us#Contact-usConnect with First Analysis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/first-analysis/Find out more about ItsRapid's new Sellsheet Builder! Send an email to support@itsrapid.ai with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Feb 27, 2024 • 35min
Dissecting the Retail Media Flywheel with Media, Ads + Commerce's Andrew Lipsman
David closes out February with an illuminating conversation with Andrew Lipsman, Independent Analyst and Consultant, and the author of the popular "Media, Ads + Commerce" newsletter on Substack. Andrew struck out on his own in late 2023 after a fruitful career at industry analytics stalwarts NPD Group, comScore and Insider Intelligence (formerly eMarketer).They discuss how Andrew's obsession with Michael Jordan as a Chicago Bulls fan in the 90s sparked his interest in analytics (3:22), his insights on Walmart's acquisition of Vizio (7:30), a brief overview of ROAS and how it's measured (16:42), and the tension between the shopper experience and the surface area of in-store ads (22:14), and his big 3 predictions for the next 12 months (26:11).Subscribe to "Media, Ads + Commerce": https://mediaadsandcommerce.substack.com/Follow Andrew on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-lipsman-10b2162/Find out more about ItsRapid's Creative Automation Solution for Brands and Retailers! Send an email to sales@itsrapid.ai with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Feb 20, 2024 • 41min
REWIND: Best Practices for Building Creative that Converts, with Market Performance Group's Jenny Baker (originally aired 10/24/23)
We're off this week, so we're re-airing our interview with Market Performance Group's Jenny Baker from last October. They discuss being 100% retail-ready for a brand launch (4:05), the "See, Scroll, Click" concept (9:16), what to keep in mind when working with an agency on UGC (15:11), and the importance of keeping it simple with video (27:25).We'll be back next Tuesday with a brand-new episode of Beyond The Shelf!Connect with Jenny on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-baker-613984238/Learn more: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

Feb 13, 2024 • 36min
From E-Commerce at Nestle and Coca Cola to Founding RichContext and Being Acquired by Accenture, with Billy Courtney
On this week's show, Dave chats with Billy Courtney, Commerce Innovation Lead at Accenture. Billy arrived at Accenture via two acquisitions in a two-year period - the first one being of his own company, RichContext, by The Stable in 2020, which was itself acquired by Accenture in 2022.Billy discusses his decision to start his own company (7:44), what it's like to be acquired twice in such a short span of time (14:05), why he thinks Product Detail Pages (PDPs) are experiencing a renaissance (19:55), and how brands have been using automation for things like content scores and page audits (22:06).Connect with Billy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billycourtney/Find out more about ItsRapid's new Sellsheet Builder! Send an email to support@itsrapid.ai with code "BEYOND2024"Learn more about ItsRapid: https://itsrapid.ai/Theme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker