It’s our favorite time of the quarter when Andrea Leigh from the Allume Group joins us to recap the consumer and industry data that you need to know to sharpen your strategies. In Q1, it was all about the Liberated Consumer, and the imperative to drive profitability with retailers. Andrea brought all the data and insights for you to feast on.
Mar 27, 2023•44 min•Ep. 196
Scroll, see, click: in a time when consumer search and conversion is driven by their thumb, images have become ever more critical to driving performance on the digital shelf. That requires moving image creation and selection from a subjective guess to a data-driven, scalable process. Jehan Hamedi, founder and CEO of image analytics provider Vizit, joined the podcast to share detailed case studies on how brands are using AI to drive substantial performance improvements at scale on their PDPs thro...
Mar 20, 2023•47 min•Ep. 195
The first 10 years of the Digital Shelf was about standing a program up on the side, seeing what would come of it. Now we know - and it's the main growth driver of virtually every brand. So now, the way we operate it must mature to be a profitable, reliable, measurable part of the business. That is why Chris Perry, Chief Learning Officer and Oskar Kaszubski, Chief Growth Officer at commerce education and change management consultancy firstmovr, revised their Sheared report to a new edition for 2...
Mar 13, 2023•34 min•Ep. 194
As digital commerce enters its maturity phase, simply because it must, figuring out what the opportunities are to optimize and streamline key processes is a critical part of your growth strategy. Mert Damlapinar, Principal, CPG Digital Commerce Acceleration, EPAM Systems, lives on the front lines with his clients who are on that maturity path, and he joined the podcast to share insights and wise counsel from those experiences.
Mar 06, 2023•42 min•Ep. 193
For 8 years Cara Wood, Salsify’s head of Brand Journalism has surveyed consumers across a growing list of countries to identify the shifting trends of consumer behavior on the digital shelf. 2022 was a year of shift from pandemic to inflation and recessionary fears. The results of the latest survey are now in, and Cara joined the podcast to lay out the chief takeaways, and what steps brands might take to drive discovery, conversion and loyalty based on how consumers are shopping today.
Feb 27, 2023•29 min•Ep. 192
Growing ecommerce at a global brand from an idea to scale is an adventure only for the brave and very smart. Colette Richards, Director of Alternative Sales and Distribution at Barcel USA, the snack division of Grupo Bimbo, is one such person. And we were lucky enough to have her on the podcast to describe her journey, lessons learned, and what she sees ahead for the digital shelf in 2023. (Hint: it includes a shadow P&L.)
Feb 20, 2023•31 min•Ep. 191
Zack Rubin, Director of Ecommerce and Marketplace at premium kitchen appliance manufacturer Zephyr, has been on a 3 year journey to build out their digital strategy. With a broad array of responsibilities and a very small team, Zephyr has managed to make their digital shelves gleam and earn the premium that their products deserve. A super power Zack brings to his role is digital retailer experience, as a category manager at Wayfair. Zack joined the podcast to share insights from both sides of th...
Feb 13, 2023•34 min•Ep. 190
Now in its 6th year and spanning the entire globe, the latest Ecommerce Organizational Benchmark Report from Profitero has hit the digital streets, and it is chock-full of insights on best practices in organizational design, capabilities development, and retailer-brand joint business planning. Andrew Pearl, VP Industry Insights at Profitero, joined the podcast to lay out the learnings, and the next steps to take to put every pixel to work.
Feb 06, 2023•40 min•Ep. 189
With Amazon’s ad revenue now reaching around 10 BILLION a quarter, the discovery, research, and shopping experience on page 1 of search results has been dramatically transformed. But how? Does anyone know, and know what you should do about it? Turns out, yes. Acadia, the digital agency for challenger brands teamed up on a study with Analytic Index on a report called “In it to Win it: How Amazon is pay-to-play for brands, why that matters, and what to do to win”. How could we NOT get Kiri Masters...
Jan 30, 2023•27 min•Ep. 188
During the last few years, retailers and brands have invested heavily in people, process, and technology to create new digitally-led experiences for consumers to discover, buy, and get their purchases. This innovation has put pressure on the retailer P&L, which is naturally having a downstream impact on yours. This is a podcast audio version of a webinar featuring of course Lauren Livak, Director of the Digital Shelf Institute and driving force behind the Digital Shelf Playbook series from t...
Jan 23, 2023•57 min•Ep. 187
In this zany world we live in at the moment, achieving increased profitability is on every commerce leader’s priority list. In order to fully understand how to impact profitability it is vital to deeply understand your profit & loss (P&L) statement. There are some things on the P&L that cannot be influenced and there are some that can be. This is a podcast audio version of a webinar featuring of course Lauren Livak, Director of the Digital Shelf Institute and driving force behind the...
Jan 16, 2023•59 min•Ep. 186
We are always grateful to have Andrea Leigh, formerly of IdeoClick and now Founder and CEO of ecommerce education consultancy Allume Group, on the podcast to put the data from the most recent earnings reports and shareholder meetings in perspective. Q3 was a hot one across shopper, ecommerce, and omnicommerce trends, and Andrea brought all the facts and analysis.
Jan 09, 2023•38 min•Ep. 185
We all know the last 4 years in digital commerce have been earth-shattering, transformative and, well, exhausting. Now, however, feels like a moment in time where it’s not only possible but urgent to take stock of the shifts over the past several years and reassess how to move forward in a way that works for both consumers and your bottom line. Accenture recently did a new version of their annual massive consumer research, this time across 13 countries, that really clarifies the shifts that are ...
Jan 02, 2023•46 min•Ep. 184
The question of incrementality is central for brands today - how can you be sure the additional investments in existing channels or new channels will drive net new business? It’s a difficult question to answer, but a new framework from Russ Dieringer, Founder and CEO of digital commerce consulting firm Stratably, caught my eye and we had to have him on the pod to walk us through it.
Dec 19, 2022•25 min•Ep. 183
The Cyber 5 Online Shopping Season, from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, is a make-it-or break it moment for many brands, who put on their best show of organic and paid search strategy to capture shoppers before their competitors. How did y’all do this season? Here with the data from the top 2 of Amazon and Walmart is Nathan Rigby, Co-founder at Analytic Index. What happened? Who got it right? Who got it wrong? What does it all mean for next time? Rob Gonzalez and Peter Crosby dug deep into it wit...
Dec 12, 2022•19 min•Ep. 182
More than ever, brands need to wring maximum efficiency and performance out of every channel in which they invest. Marketplaces are places of great potential opportunity, but also require investment in new capabilities and skills to be successful. To make the most of your 2023 marketplace opportunity, Rob Gonzalez and Peter Crosby welcomed Emily Pfeiffer as their guest on the podcast. Emily is a Principal Analyst at Forrester Research covering commerce tech, specifically focused on B2C brands an...
Dec 05, 2022•51 min•Ep. 181
Strategy, Outcomes, people and process first, then technology. That’s a pretty good rule of thumb, but for that to succeed the business and IT leaders need to be in lockstep to put the right stack in place for the right outcomes, now and in the future. This is a podcast audio version of a webinar featuring of course Lauren Livak, Director of the Digital Shelf Institute and driving force behind the Digital Shelf Playbook series from the DSI, and our special guest, Matt Powell, Chief Technology Of...
Nov 28, 2022•52 min•Ep. 180
Those pesky consumers keep wandering around anywhere they like, discovering there, researching here, buying wherever, picking up or getting it delivered. And now they are doing it in a time where inflation anxiety is expanding their choices towards value. That makes shopper marketing research even more useful to plan how a brand should respond. Shopper marketing expert Anne Stephenson, Partner at Explorer Research, has spent her career deeply studying shopper behaviors and turning that into acti...
Nov 21, 2022•34 min•Ep. 179
As retailer earnings come to a close, that means it must be time for another Ecommerce Intelligence Quarterly trends report from Andrea Leigh and the crack team at ecommerce educator and strategy advisory Allume Group. Andrea joins the podcast to lay out the latest retailer, shopper, and economic trends and lays out some actionable advice to fight the headwinds and take advantage of the opportunities she sees in the data.
Nov 14, 2022•40 min•Ep. 178
Over a year ago, the DSI and Salsify launched a Digital Shelf Maturity curve - a framework for brands to understand the stages they will pass through on the marathon towards maximum digital shelf efficiency and performance. For it is truly a marathon, not just a sprint. As part of that Maturity Curve, Salsify also developed an assessment brand leaders could take to determine their place on the curve and how they might get to the next stage. Salsify now has a year of the data from the hundreds of...
Nov 07, 2022•29 min•Ep. 177
Some leaders in ecommerce were able to see the storm clouds gathering over advertising-driven performance marketing, and invest strategically to test and grow new muscles for attracting and keeping customers. Joe Fisch, CEO of Wine Access, and his team saw those shifts coming, and have expanded the ways in which they reach new customers, and how they invest in content and superior customer service to keep them and grow their value over time. It’s an interesting road map for any brand looking to ...
Oct 31, 2022•34 min•Ep. 176
Fashion is one of the categories that has undergone the most massive shift in terms of how retail buyers and brand sellers interact. The rise of fast fashion, the mummification of trade shows during the pandemic, changing consumer expectations and demands: all these trends in an economically challenging environment mean that buyers and sellers must collaborate faster and more transparently than ever before to drive the growth and competitiveness they need to thrive. Kristen Savilia, from her tim...
Oct 24, 2022•26 min•Ep. 175
With 90% of all Target’s digital sales being fulfilled by the local store, the retail media opportunity with Target is one that needs to be worked both at the national level and the local level, down to each individual store and the surrounding set of consumers. In this episode, we take a deep dive on how to best plan and execute a winning strategy at Target with David Glaza, Founder & CEO of Retail Media Agency DIGITS.
Oct 17, 2022•36 min•Ep. 174
Two trends in ecommerce are eliding to create a new, or renewed channel for acquisition and cross-sell. One, the increasing CPAs of digital ads makes that channel more expensive and less performant. Second, many retailers have begun or boosted their direct channels and have gathered strong 1st party data on their consumers. As a result, it is our old friend direct mail, in a shiny new technology-driven suit, that is providing strong results, nimble and precise targeting, at a reasonable cost. Da...
Oct 10, 2022•37 min•Ep. 173
To drive maximum growth, both in-store and online teams need to bridge the gap between the digital shelf and the physical shelf. That starts with a shared vocabulary on the tactics for success in each channel and across the channels. There is more in common than we think. This is podcast rebroadcast of a recent DSI webinar featuring 4 commerce experts who worked with Lauren Livak, Director of the Digital Shelf Institute on a report entitled Digital Decoded: How To Drive Omnichannel Growth by Und...
Oct 03, 2022•52 min•Ep. 172
For brands looking for growth, an obvious opportunity is expanding to new markets. But each market comes with its challenges, costs, and requirements for process and organizational transformation. This is definitely true of the countries that make up the EMEA market. Jérôme de Guigné, Founder and CEO, of ecommerce agency e-Comas, joined the podcast to share his deep experience working with brands large and small to establish profitable and sustainable eCommerce strategies in EMEA.
Sep 26, 2022•35 min•Ep. 171
After 7 years creating the Digital Commerce practice at IDC, Jordan Jewell has taken his analyst mindset to commerce platform provider VTEX, where he is applying his analytical brain to the future of commerce, and the paths to get there. Jordan joined the podcast to walk us through the path from analyst firm to vendor, and the trends and opportunities he is seeing to increasingly monetize every pixel on the digital shelf.
Sep 19, 2022•41 min•Ep. 170
One of the most challenging, exciting, and career igniting skills that come from being digital shelf leaders is the ability to drive the organizational changes necessary to propel growth across the business. It takes a very specific mindset, and that is what we are doing to focus on today. This is a podcast presentation of a Digital Shelf Playbook series webinar from August of 2021, we share it today because its strategies and tips feel as urgent and important as we head into yet another period ...
Sep 12, 2022•43 min•Ep. 169
What makes us so darn special from every other species on earth, and what do we do about it? According to author and technologist Byron Reese, in his new book Stories, Dice, and Rocks, it is our ability to imagine the future and recall the past, and, by sharing that knowledge at an unprecedented scale to actually shape our future. Including in commerce. This is a fascinating conversation with a brilliant man with an optimistic view of humanity, backed up by data.
Sep 05, 2022•37 min•Ep. 168
In February of 2021, we welcomed to the podcast Gireesh Sahukar, VP of Digital at bakery ingredient manufacturer Dawn Foods to talk about their investment in delivering a best-in-class digital experience for its customers. Well, now he is back with the receipts of the fruits of that investment, particularly as we continue to navigate through a challenging economic and supply chain environment. Dawn Foods’ strategy of the people, process, and tech to transform their entire business to serve a new...
Aug 29, 2022•31 min•Ep. 167