Bankruptcy and financial peril is the rite of passage for the Mall brand. The return of mall brands is upon us. But how did they make the turnaround? By taking risks, for one. Partnering with Kanye could be a mistake, or stroke of genius to take the storied brand back into the premium category and pivot away from availability to scarcity. “I actually see the partnership between Kanye and GAP as actually the start of the Gap turnaround. I mark that as the moment. From a cultural standpoint and br...
Sep 24, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 223
DTC Comes of Age in Grocery Grocery is one of the most complicated forms of retail that exists, leading it to be the one of the biggest forms of retail. “We talk a lot about retail. We talk a lot about CPG. And I mean, we talk a lot about eCommerce just generally, which a lot of focus of the scale of eCommerce has been in the direct to consumer movement over the last couple of years. But grocery is where it's at right now.” -Phillip The pandemic was in many ways a great accelerant for grocery. I...
Sep 22, 2021•49 min•Ep. 222
We examine the 2021 retail trade calendar and review Retail X, the first retail trade industry event to take place since the start of the pandemmy. ALSO: The rise of the headless platforms, Telfar TV launch makes waves, and we’ve rolled out a new podcast brand identity. Listen now!
Sep 17, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 221
Our newest consumer research and trends report is here. NINE BY NINE uncovers the nine categories, and 81 brands, which are changing our world for the better. Get on the list to get an advance copy of the report. Launching next week. www.ninebynine.report
Sep 10, 2021•1 min
On Headless, Influencers, and Live Streaming What does digital marketing attribution look like if there are no cookies? And what are people doing in response to this? Frantic behavior. “Frantic behavior can be exciting because that means there is opportunity to be part of the solution.” - Gary Product market fit is beginning to become influencer fit. Consumers want to buy from experiences and from influencers they trust. Having a “genuine influencer” promote something to a consumer doesn’t take ...
Sep 03, 2021•53 min•Ep. 220
Accounting Platforms for Business Data that have Climate Impact SustainaBase is a software program that helps manage the carbon footprint of a company, akin to an accounting platform. SuistainaBase tracks carbon emissions, as well as water and waste metrics, taking data and science calculations to organizations to create meaningful actions. “Sustainability is important and it's something that we should be tracking like the way we track dollars. We should be checking to see if we're really making...
Aug 27, 2021•49 min•Ep. 219
God-Like Technology Pattern is a family of purposeful brands providing the essentials to make, shape, and grow a home- the foundation of daily life. The times we are living in are culturally defining. People have a deep ingrained need for personal and internal connection, it's bigger than digital behavior, it's deeper. “There is a future where people are going to find some way to silence the digital noise” -Phillip With so many individual merchants comes a lot of fragmentation, similarly to how ...
Aug 20, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 218
Facing the Cookiepocalypse Octane AI is the zero-party data platform for Shopify and eCommerce brands. “We help stores and brands collect super valuable insights on their customers in a very direct opt-on kind of way and use that information to personalize the shopping experience.” -Ben How can brands bounce back from the cookiepocalypse? Stop depending on others and own your data. “Stop renting the relationship that you have with your customer from Facebook and Google and other platforms and co...
Aug 13, 2021•50 min•Ep. 217
“FBA” - Fruit by the Acre? More like Fulfillment by Amazon Boosted Commerce is an eCommerce platform working to distribute the most up-and-coming brands on a global basis. “We started Boosted really as a way of identifying these amazing businesses and brands that people have created.” -Keith Amazon is the world's largest shopping mall, and its importance is only going to increase over time. By getting a spot in this shopping mall, Boosted will be able to create great long-term success. What shou...
Aug 06, 2021•48 min•Ep. 216
Burn Your Own House Down Before Somebody Else Does Pela is a waste innovation platform. Selling the world's first compostable phone case along with eyewear, countertop compost systems , and haircare. “We design waste out of the human experience. We’re a weird combination of commerce DTC, while also investing in material science, and figuring out how to get waste out of everyday products.” -Matt “One of our core values at Pela is community. Community is taking care of the whole. We have this beli...
Jul 30, 2021•38 min•Ep. 215
Building for the Future of Ecommerce Logistics ShipBob is a full service fulfillment platform coming out of a remarkable Series E that clocked in at $200 Million. ShipBob has been a partner of Future Commerce for a while now and we couldn’t wait to talk about this incredible raise. There are a lot of different shipping solutions across the buyer journey, and it can lead to a bit of confusion. ShipBob is helping break this confusion by being the one solution, which is what customers, merchants, a...
Jul 23, 2021•56 min•Ep. 214
The “84-Point Check”, but Make it Human With almost a million and a half associates in the United States and 150 million customers in stores and online, it's safe to say they’re one of the largest retailers in the world. But what are they doing in health? A lot, it seems. Walmart has been in the healthcare world since the 70s; they realize that they have a significant role to play. With 90% of Americans living within 15 miles of a Walmart, they’re aiming to address the care needs of people and h...
Jul 16, 2021•58 min•Ep. 213
“OMG CDP” Wait. What exactly is CDP? Customer Data Platform. Wielding CDP well means brands can provide a freaky-personal experience for customers. Customers will freely give brands their first-party data if it means their experience will be better. Don’t blow it by making their experience worse. “If the expected behavior is convenience, then not only it's not freaky, it's what they're hoping and expecting you to do and they reward you with that with more activity and more loyalty over time.” - ...
Jul 09, 2021•47 min•Ep. 212
The Multiverse is Real “Brands are like cows because it’s very easy for them to understand how things affect them, but it's very hard to see how things in the world affect others.” -Brian Technology can act as a containing—or limiting—factor. It can enable cost savings, but it can also be an enabler of more meaningful interactions. Shopify is looking to the future as a global empowerment of a merchant class Digital channels for legacy retailers boomed during the pandemic. Why? Default behaviors ...
Jul 02, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 211
The Internet is a Literal Web Congratulations to friend of the show, Ian Leslie, and to Industry West for ranking on 2PM’s DNVB list and for Adobe Experience Maker Awards. Phillip and Brian talk about the Adobe Experience Maker Awards, the rankings, and ask the question of how some brands are ranked so highly. Millennials didn’t invent meal prep delivery. Schwann foods, and catalog delivery — even the milkman — are all examples of modern reimagining of pre-existing retail models. In eCom news, S...
Jun 18, 2021•56 min•Ep. 210
Headless Checkout Domm gives the story behind the creation of Fast, how a family member forgetting a password sparked an idea for easier checkouts across all platforms. “Our goal is to build a consumer network” -Domm The challenges faced as a leader and facing polarizing feedback. “It’s our job to protect consumer data, and consumer payments. This is typically the default relationship that consumers have with businesses, it’s a default trust.” “It's the logical place where those three need state...
Jun 11, 2021•58 min•Ep. 209
“It’s like shipping inception” Are we in a Shipping Inception or are 3PLs and 4PLs really that complicated? Identifying where your customers are is key in choosing the right 3PL solution for warehousing and shipping. “Despite the Amazon narrative, not everyone needs everything in 30 seconds… I think it's critically important for brands to manage customer expectations, meaning if you don't have the infrastructure to do two day delivery, then don't promise to do delivery.” - Nima Having a 3PL like...
Jun 04, 2021•45 min
The Post-Purchase Experience Consumer expectations are almost unfair for smaller businesses. But that doesn’t mean brands can’t continue to provide a great post-purchase experience. Many brands have turned to 3PLs to help meet the demand of fast shipping and to keep shipping costs lower. “Brands have to be more transparent with customers. They need to give customers a choice around what services they offer and the price. A lot of brands are starting to use 3PLs to meet the customer demand, which...
Jun 03, 2021•40 min
A Different Innovation “Shipping is a growth engine. The entire web is possible, all eCommerce is possible because you could ship stuff. The question is, how do you master that in a way that is intentional as a brand or as a marketplace?” - James As the largest resale marketplace, the mechanics of Flyp are run differently. Flyp works to connect owners with sellers, creating a different experience. In the process they use bulk shipping to diversify the engagement in the marketplace. “We have an e...
Jun 02, 2021•44 min
Not a Cookie Cutter Method With the rise of shipageddon, shipping has become about getting products to the customer as safe and quickly as possible. Due to the different mentalities and thought processes of shopping during COVID, many customers choose different methods causing businesses to shift their concerns of shipping. “It's not just a cookie cutter thing where you're doing clothes or a hat or a shirt where you just throw it in a box. What we found is with the batch function on Shippo, we’r...
Jun 01, 2021•31 min
It’s All About the Mindset Michelle McNamara joins the show to talk about the common pain points of shipping among merchants, and how the pandemic has impacted e-commerce with the shifts of consumer behavior. Shipping is not one size fits all, it's unique to every business. Shipping should be thought of as a key differentiator to add value to your business. “Think of ways you can increase your order value without increasing the weight of the box by too much.” -Michelle Associated Links: Get conn...
May 31, 2021•30 min
The 16-Year Old CPG Startup Kevin shares his incredible work at Nuun Energy and their growth of being acquired by Nestlé Health Science. Sustainability and ESG are at the forefront of product innovation for Nuun, but category innovation and form factor are top of mind in fast moving consumer goods and CPG, as well. When it comes to health and creating new connections, information is right at our fingertips. Having information right when we want it is evolving our purchasing behaviors. This evolu...
May 28, 2021•55 min•Ep. 208
Fair Trade, Fair Labor, and Sustainable Chocolate is Possible Shipping chocolate is challenging enough, but sourcing and housing craft chocolate from global suppliers, and creating a marketplace for consumers who have very specific expectations around buying and consuming chocolate is harder still. The challenges of creating a great customer experience with shipping delays in the midst of COVID created issues in the logistics industry, and those had massive impacts on the quality of the product ...
May 21, 2021•56 min•Ep. 207
Content Creation and Open-Ended Conversations For the Love is a DTC newsletter covering mission-driven companies and aims to provide meaningful content for entrepreneurs and founders. The trio shares the joys and pains of producing weekly content and how that informs their own understanding of the market. Creating content is a means of learning and growing, and developing a cadence that requires you to get better over time. “I don't think of myself as the authority on all of these topics. I am t...
May 14, 2021•48 min•Ep. 206
Nostalgia and Monoculture Rob shares the story of how Rally acquired a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and their plan to make it accessible to the public Gen Z is growing up to be a completely different wealth creation cycle then the one that currently exists Rob breaks down how Rally operates, the legal system that makes their IPOs possible, and how the system they created is both an online and in-person museum “We tried to create an ecosystem that is built around access but has a litt...
May 07, 2021•54 min•Ep. 205
The agency world doesn’t get enough respect Agencies are a necessary part of fractionalizing expertise. Legal and accounting are good examples of fractionalized professional services. The more mature you are as a business, the more it becomes imperative to bring those capabilities in house. Proof points of DTC brands who acquired professional services: Ro and Glossier Agencies are concentrators of expertise. Commerce platforms, like Magento, require domain expertise and platform specialization t...
Apr 30, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 204
The Big Pivot: From Physical Products to Headless Commerce The core idea of the pivot from physical products to software was the basis of our piece in Insiders #070: Phenomenological Brands , which is how we booked Arfa (now Chord) to the Show. The Chord team’s background in deploying technology at Glossier informed the need for unique eCommerce experiences, and headless represents a shift from the template-driven sameness of eCommerce today, to a new limitless future Henry breaks down a new ann...
Apr 23, 2021•56 min•Ep. 203
Society and Audience Connection There’s a difference in connection with audiences—connection through logic (written) and connection through emotion (art). On emotional connection: “...when it connects with somebody, it deepens the experience of the things you’re trying to say through words.” - Phillip Jackson Lumi is a software company connecting packaging manufacturers to brands and creating lasting relationships between those brands and manufacturers. Not only has COVID-19 affected manufacturi...
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 202
A perfect rating isn’t perfect. Who knew? Validation on the web has been undermined by farms and bots, and trust is harder to build than ever before. Technology can solve for some of the challenges in building trust with your customers. In this episode we dive into the the complexity of building trust, and the paradox of how running an Amazon Prime operation can help you get better at delivering in DTC. Listen now!
Apr 09, 2021•59 min
🎶Let’s get personal, personal...🎶 But seriously, we have this bad habit in eCommerce to turn customers into segments and numbers and forget that they’re people. Ben Parr, President and Co-Founder of Octane AI and Jason Wong, of Doe Lashes & Wonghaus Ventures join the show to talk about making segments personal, organic, and engaging for the customer. Listen Now!
Apr 08, 2021•46 min
