Commerce Experience

“eCommerce is huge in China – there are large populations in cities that are very dense; this, combined with low-cost couriers and wide availability of companies both large and small that cater to all sorts of niches, means a different level of adoption than you see elsewhere.” China has always been a fast-moving market when it comes to eCommerce and innovation, but the Covid-19 pandemic has given eCommerce companies even more opportunities to accelerate their growth. To get a candid insight into the Chinese eCommerce market and how the pandemic has impacted this, Brian speaks with Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-In-Chief of SupChina and Co-host of the Sinica podcast. Jeremy has spent the last 20 years reporting on the Chinese eCommerce market. He founded multiple Beijing-based magazines before joining China’s leading news platform, SupChina, as its Editor-in-Chief in 2016. Alongside SupChina Editor at Large, Kaiser Kuo, Jeremy hosts the Sinica podcast, where they discuss the latest in Chinese current affairs with leading figures from the world of journalism, academia and business. In today’s episode of ‘The State of Commerce Experience’, Jeremy and Brian discuss the latest eCommerce trends that are impacting both the Chinese and wider global market, including: - The challenges and opportunities that the mass adoption of frictionless payments through digital wallets presents. - What life was like in China as the pandemic started to hit and how the already booming eCommerce landscape has reacted to the lockdown. - How the lines between entertainment and shopping are increasingly blurring as live streaming continues to grow in China. If you’re looking for intelligence on how one of the world’s biggest eCommerce markets continues to advance and sets the pace for the rest of the world, then you’ll definitely want to tune in to this episode with Jeremy Goldkorn. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Jeremy, check out his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygoldkorn/. To learn more about SupChina and the Sinica podcast, visit: https://supchina.com/ https://supchina.com/series/sinica/

“China is certainly at the forefront of retail when it comes to blended digital and physical experiences…some of the bigger trends related to eCommerce in China will at some point catch on in the US, livestreaming being the most obvious one.” Covid-19 has changed consumer behavior forever. What was once a slow march of digital adoption has been fast-tracked to become a sprint in which no one wants to be left behind. From AR and VR to livestreaming and robotics, the eCommerce landscape is levelling up. But who are the industry leaders and who has some catching up to do? In this episode of ‘The State of Commerce Experience’, Brian is joined by Zia Daniell Wigder, Chief Global Content Officer at Shoptalk and Co-Founder of Groceryshop – two of the retail industry’s leading events. Zia was previously VP and Research Director at Forrester, and her combined 25 years working as an analyst made her a great guest to discuss present and future eCommerce trends, as we emerge from the Covid-19 lockdown. In this conversation, Brian and Zia dig deep into retail’s digital future, covering a wide range of industry-critical topics, including: - The big shift in CPG to focus on best-selling key products only, rather than offering lots of variety and how this will affect competition in the industry going forward. - The future of blended digital and physical retail experiences in a world where advances like influencers, livestream ‘shopping entertainment’ and AR are increasingly informing consumers’ decision making. - How Shoptalk and Groceryshop have reacted to the pandemic and what the future of digital events will look like in a ‘post-Covid’ world. If you’re looking to stay up to date with the bleeding edge of retail technology, or simply want to find out about the latest developments in consumer culture, you won’t want to miss this episode. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Zia, check out her LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ziadaniellwigder/. To learn more about Shoptalk and Groceryshop, visit: https://shoptalk.com/ https://groceryshop.com/

“If you're a seller online, you have no choice but to sell on Amazon. And when Amazon's algorithm unfairly suspends your product or fails to reinstate you, for whatever reason, it raises questions around its business practices.” With digital innovation advancing faster than ever, there’s never a dull moment as a tech reporter. But how has the role changed during the Covid-19 pandemic? And how is the world’s biggest eCommerce brand adapting to change? To get the inside scoop, Brian speaks with Eugene Kim, Chief Technology Correspondent at Business Insider, in the latest episode of The State of Commerce Experience. Eugene has previously written for CNBC.com, Fortune Magazine Korea and The Information, but has spent the past six years covering the consumer and enterprise tech sector, with a particular focus on Amazon. Brian and Eugene discuss life on the front line of tech journalism and explore some of the biggest stories emerging from Amazon in recent months, among other topics including: - The challenges of publishing news behind a paywall and how a subscription model raises the bar in terms of story quality and reader expectations. - How Amazon is handling issues around warehouse workers’ safety, and if increased employee activism is driving changes in policy. - Whether stories about Amazon are balanced and accurate, or whether the company is held to a different standard because of its size. If you’re keen to understand what the future holds for business journalism, or you’re wondering what it’s like writing breaking stories on the world’s biggest tech companies, you won’t want to miss this episode. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us To learn more about Eugene, check out his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenekim222/

"Innovation is often just a consulting project or a task force, or an ideas program, not something that is a true discipline with a budget, measurements and new capabilities. So it's not surprising to me that retailers haven't produced a lot of innovation.” Global retail has seen a seismic shift in the past decade, with the Covid-19 pandemic placing even more pressure on retailers to adapt to the digital world. But how are retailers reassessing their approach to innovation? And what will they do to keep pace with rapidly changing consumer expectations? To delve deeper into the retail landscape, Brian speaks with Steve Dennis, one of the world’s leading retail influencers, consultant to multiple Fortune 500 retailers, senior contributor to Forbes and author of the best-seller “Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Digital Disruption”. With over 30 years’ experience advising some of the biggest names in retail under his belt, Steve currently heads up SageBerry Consulting, where he provides strategic advisory services to the retail, fashion and luxury industries. In this episode, Brian and Steve explore where retail is today, and discuss some the opportunities and challenges that retailers face over the rest of 2020 and beyond, including: - Whether the rumours of the retail apocalypse are overrated, and why it took a crisis for retailers to start innovating. - How retailers are beginning to understand the role that digital plays in all customer journeys, and how this could affect the architecture of physical stores in the coming years. - What the second half of 2020 may look like for retailers, and how they should address their supply chain and inventory challenges to respond to it. If you’re currently navigating this changing market for your business, or you’re keen to understand more about what the future holds for the industry, you won’t want to miss this episode. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Steve, check out his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenpdennis/. To learn more about Steve’s consulting, speaking and thought leadership work, visit https://stevenpdennis.com/.

“They [certain eCommerce retailers] are offering financing options and it's increasing cart values by 30/40%, increasing conversions by 25% and having an astronomical impact on their ability to serve the customers who come to their site.” The eCommerce industry is booming off the back of the work-from-home economy that the Covid-19 crisis has created. Powering this incredible upsurge in online transactions is an ever-growing number of digital payment providers. To understand more about the role of digital payments, and how they’re driving the future of eCommerce, in this episode, Brian speaks with Jason Nyhus. Jason is Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing and Partnerships at Digital River, the global eCommerce, payments and marketing services company, which has been disrupting the commerce industry for the last 25 years. Brian and Jason explore the strategies, challenges and innovations that are shaping the global digital payments space, including: - The business model behind digital payments and wallets, the issue of payment fraud and the importance of having human-machine teams that can defend against it. - How the Covid-19 crisis has changed the direct-to-consumer strategy for many businesses, and why establishing balance between your channels is crucial to achieve your business goals. - The future of online payments and whether blockchain will ever become mainstream. If you’re thinking about making a move into the digital payments sphere, or you’d like to pick up some fascinating insights from a sales and marketing leader who’s witnessed the evolution of the space from day one, you won’t want to miss this episode. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Jason, check out his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonnyhus/. To learn more about Digital River, visit https://www.digitalriver.com/.

Few industries have seen as much turbulence over the past few months as sport has. To find out how one of the global heavyweight sports brands has been playing to its digital strengths, Brian speaks to Ken Kralick, Global Director of eCommerce at PUMA Group. Ken’s love of sales began at Sears in the early 90s, and it was these formative experiences of selling the benefits of their products to customers that led him to pursue a career in marketing. It was from here that he began dabbling in eCommerce in the early 2000s, while growing the marketing agency Blizzard Internet Marketing. Since then, Ken has gone on to work for a range of leading agencies and brands and spent the last 18 years honing his craft. He’s worked with some of the world’s greatest brands to transform their sales and marketing for the digital age, just as he’s done for PUMA. As a proud eCommerce evangelist, he joined PUMA in 2011 and climbed through the ranks quickly. As head of Global eCommerce, he now oversees all of their eCommerce strategy and works with the business to shape their vision for the future while helping them attract customers. In this episode, Brian and Ken explore PUMA's evolution from brand marketing and wholesale distribution to direct-to-consumer, and discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by the global brand’s digital transformation, including: - The challenges with selling performance products online and the importance of reinforcing, not rejecting, personal recommendation as part of the sales process. - How Ken and the team at PUMA shifted the entire organization to think “digital first” and the complexities that they had to overcome as part of their journey - from aggregating masses of product information to educating retail partners on the role of digital. - How to provide an immersive digital commerce experience and what it takes to enrich digital channels and give them the intimacy of an in-person sales experience. With organized sports canceled and people in lockdown increasing their daily exercise, it’s been a strange time for the global sports industry. Listen in to see how PUMA’s eCommerce strategy has helped them weather this storm and ensure they’re set up for a successful future. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Ken, check out his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kkralick. To learn more about PUMA Group, visit http://www.puma.com.

"Everybody’s got to get much better at what really differentiates them. Where’s your value add? You may think it’s at the top of the funnel but it might not be, and you better know that because your customers are going to decide on their own.” B2B digital commerce has always been a challenging landscape to navigate. But with a surge in innovation and the current Covid-19 pandemic, businesses are having to react quicker than ever before. To help make sense of this new ‘normal’ and get an insight into what else is likely to change in the coming weeks and months, Brian speaks with Andy Hoar, CEO of research and consulting firm Paradigm B2B and Co-Founder of the must-attend industry conference, B2B Next. Andy and Brian first met at Forrester, where Andy cut his teeth on the world of eCommerce. Climbing the ranks and publishing his now infamous research report – ‘The Death of a B2B Salesman’ – which in 2015, discussed the large-scale displacement of B2B sales reps by 2020. Off the back of the experience he gained at Forrester, Andy launched Paradigm B2B – the leading research and consulting firm that specializes in guiding mid-market B2B companies through today’s complex and digitally-disrupted commerce landscape. In addition to leading his own firm, Andy is also the Co-Founder of the leading eCommerce industry event, B2B Next: the annual conference that brings together the industry’s top figures to discuss the most pressing eCommerce challenges of the day. Knowing Andy’s track record, Brian knew that he would make a great guest for the show and bring tons of strategic insight on the current challenges that B2B eCommerce companies are facing. In this episode, Brian and Andy explore various aspects of the B2B Digital Commerce landscape, including: - The adoption and maturity of eCommerce in B2B and where the industry is heading next. - A retrospective look at Andy’s “Death of a B2B Salesman” report and how his views, and the market, has evolved since its publication back in 2015. - The impact of Covid-19 on the B2B digital commerce industry and, importantly, what the pandemic means for the future of Andy’s B2B Next conference and others like it. Whether you’re looking to take your first steps into the world of eCommerce, or you’re a veteran yourself and want to hear the latest from one of the industry’s most prominent thought leaders, you won’t want to miss this one. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Andy, check out his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyhoar/. To learn more about Paradigm B2B, visit https://www.paradigmb2b.com/. To learn more about the B2B Next Conference, visit https://www.b2bnext.net/.

“Covid made it much more transparent to many people how dependent they are on local suppliers… people just want to support their community and now they order a lot of stuff in the shops around the corner.” Europe is an incredibly large market and while much of the region is united by a common currency, each country has its own diversity, cultures and customs that you must navigate to be successful. To help you navigate the rich tapestry that is the European eCommerce landscape, Brian speaks with Markus Tillmann, Executive Vice President at Mindcurv. Markus has been at the forefront of the European eCommerce scene for the past 20 years and currently heads up the Cologne office of Mindcurv – a leading digital experience and commerce systems consultancy. Markus’ first foray into the world of eCommerce was back in 1998 when he founded a startup marketplace for design lighting products, but found he was a little ahead of his time. Markus then moved into Project Management and Consulting in the IT sector, before branching out as an independent eCommerce Consultant. In 2015, he joined Mindcurv, which now has a team of 250 people across 6 cities. In today’s episode, Brian and Markus explore the evolution of eCommerce in the European region, including: - A whistle-stop tour of eCommerce in some of the major European markets, including Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands. - How Covid-19 is impacting the way that businesses are viewing digital channels, remote working and the resulting shift in consumer sentiment. - Lifting the lid on what a great B2B digital commerce experience really looks like from a customer’s perspective and how business leaders like you can use this approach to help improve your own business performance. With recent events causing some seismic changes across the region and indeed the industry as a whole, this episode is a must-listen if you want to get to grips with what’s happening now and what’s in store for European eCommerce in the very near future. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Markus, check out his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/markustillmann/?originalSubdomain=de. To learn more about Mindcurv, visit https://mindcurv.com/.

“What we have to remember here is that epidemiology is the captain, not the economy. This is a health issue and health is going to drive our economic recovery, our ability to travel and the way we live our lives.” When it comes to the impact of COVID-19, the travel industry has by far been the most significantly affected. To get a better insight into what’s happening in travel right now, Brian speaks with Henry Harteveldt, Co-Founder and President of Atmosphere Research Group. Henry is one of the travel industry’s most sought-after thought leaders and has been dubbed the “prophet of travel” because of his keen eye for predicting future trends. As a true travel sector veteran, Henry started his career in the early ‘80s in marketing and advertising management roles for companies including TWA and Continental Airlines. In the early 2000s, Henry shifted gears to become Vice President, Principal Analyst and Head of Global Travel Industry Research at Forrester, where he and Brian first met. After almost 12 years at Forrester, Henry launched his own market research and advisory firm serving the global travel industry, helping clients to understand emerging trends and develop actionable strategies to make them more successful. In today’s episode, Brian and Henry explore the impact Covid-19 has had on the travel industry and discuss the key strategic implications for the future of digital commerce in the space, including: - How the evaporation of current demand and a shift in consumer attitudes will change the face of the travel industry forever. - Why the road to recovery will be a “patchwork” pathway and what the near future holds for travellers, agencies, airlines, and service providers alike. - Why travel is becoming less about brand loyalty and how digital commerce innovations can help brands respond to this change. As we all know, the travel industry often sets the digital commerce trends that other sectors follow. So even if you don’t work in travel, you’re going to want to give this a listen. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Henry, check out his LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/henryharteveldt/. To learn more about Atmosphere Research Group, visit https://atmosphereresearch.com/.

“I think that retailers need to do two things. One is developing their own private label brand […] and then the other piece is to look at building their own marketplace.” Today’s episode of ‘The State of Commerce Experience’ takes a closer look at the Amazon marketplace, with Kiri Masters, Founder & CEO of Bobsled Marketing and a leading authority on all things Amazon. While building a successful career as a commercial banker at JPMorgan Chase, Kiri launched her first eCommerce business on Amazon. Based on this first-hand experience, Kiri saw a gap in the market and decided to launch Bobsled Marketing, the leading Amazon agency which now helps clients around the world get discovered, bought and loved on Amazon. Alongside running Bobsled, Kiri has a weekly column in Forbes, hosts the ‘Ecommerce Braintrust’ and ‘Amazon For CMOs’ podcasts, and is the author of two books – ‘The Amazon Expansion Plan’ and ‘Amazon For CMOs’. In their conversation, Brian and Kiri discuss: - Whether traditional CPG brands should view Amazon as a threat or an opportunity. - The different ways retailers can tap into the power of Amazon and the one strategy they must adopt to ensure they can compete in today’s climate. - How Covid-19 is impacting supply chains and consumer behavior, what it means for Amazon and what it could mean for your business. Whether you’re only at the early stages with Amazon or you’re already using it and looking to ramp up your ROI, this episode is full of valuable insights and advice to help you master Amazon for your brand. We’d love to get your thoughts on this episode, as well as any recommendations for future guests, so please get in touch at https://www.bloomreach.com/en/about/contact-us. To learn more about Kiri, check out her LinkedIn profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kiri-masters/. To learn more about Bobsled Marketing, visit https://www.bobsledmarketing.com/.