E-Commerce with Coffee?!

By Amber EngineBusiness

E-Commerce with Coffee?! episodes

August 29, 2022 36. “Fit” for the Digital Transformation and E-Com with Jason Greenwood, Founder of Greenwood Consulting
Digital Transformation with Jason Greenwood
In this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?!, we have a special interview to share with the Amber Engine’s audience. Jason Greenwood, founder and lead consultant of Greenwood Consulting, joins host Nate Svoboda to talk about digital transformation and why it matters.
Throughout the interview, you’ll hear Jason’s views on the current e-commerce landscape and the transition to a digitally-led customer experience.
Grab your favorite brew and enjoy!
Timestamps:
0:00-0:27 Intro
0:28-1:07 Introducing Jason
1:08-1:58 What Jason drinks
1:59-7:14 Jason’s background
7:15-11:53 What digital transformation means
11:54-14:56 Digital transformation of B2B experience
14:57-20:55 How to align people in an organization involved in digital transformation
20:55-24:20 Updating and implementing processes during digital transformation
24:21-29:57 Technologies required for digital transformation
29:58-34:52 Changes in data required for digital transformation
34:53-40:45 Overview of “Fit for Commerce” framework
40:46-42:55 Types of companies suited for “Fit for Commerce” framework
42:56-45:19 Risks associated with digital transformation
45:20-46:05 How to get in touch with Jason and his team
46:06-46:21 Outro
47 min
August 22, 202235. Saving Time and Money with Amber Engine’s Next-Gen PIM with Brittany VanDenBerg, VP of Business Operations at Legacy Home Furnishings and Decor
Saving Time and Money with Amber Engine’s Next-Gen PIM
In this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?!, we have a special interview to share with the AE audience. Brittany VenDenBerg, Vice President of Business Operations at Legacy Home Furnishings and Decor, joins host Nate Svoboda to talk about her and her team’s experience with the Amber Engine Next-Gen PIM as early adopters of the new software.
Throughout the interview, you’ll hear Brittany’s opinions on the onboarding and transition process, her favorite features of the software, how the Next Gen PIM addresses specific pain points, and, of course, her caffeine drink of choice. Ready to learn more about the Amber Engine Next-Gen PIM and Legacy’s experience? Grab your favorite brew and enjoy!
What to listen for:
Brittany breaks down the main reason she and the team at Legacy considered Amber Engine’s Next-Gen PIM in the first place: optimizing time. She explains how the PIM saves the team enormous amounts of time and effort that was otherwise incredibly taxing, especially when running a business with a small team.

The team at Legacy was looking to be able to cut down the time spent on multiple tasks, a goal that was met “right off the bat.” Additionally, the PIM was able to clean their data up significantly and help practically everybody on the team in some capacity–exceeding Brittany’s expectations.

Brittany recounts how the time-to-implementation and onboarding process were much faster than she expected, and that the AE team’s presence and support throughout the process was a huge factor in making sure everything went as smoothly as possible.

Especially as data had been such a big pain point for the Legacy team, Brittany explains that the channels feature was particularly exciting for her and for the rest of the team.

The number of channels that Legacy has been able to effectively manage has grown significantly since implementing the Next-Gen PIM.

Brittany explains how Legacy puts all sorts of information into the PIM, from regular product information to different certifications and anything else customers might want to know

Brittany qualifies the speed-to-market and the AE customer service as the top selling points for the PIM

As far as drawbacks go, Brittany warns that the transition/implementation process isn’t automatic. As much as the Amber Engine team helps, it is invaluable to have somebody from your own team be fully dedicated to the implementation and the transition, and overlooking this important detail can be a painful oversight.
YT Timestamps:
0:00-0:27 Intro
0:28-0:56 Introducing Brittany
0:57-2:27 How Brittany takes her coffee
2:28-6:07 Initial attraction to the PIM, time is money
6:08-10:15 How the PIM met and exceeded expectations
10:16-13:34 The onboarding and implementation experience
13:35-18:33 Favorite features
18:34-20:30 Number of channels
20:31-22:51 Time required to interact with selling channels
22:52-23:57 What kind of information Legacy puts in Amber Engine
23:58-29:48 Top strengths of the Amber Engine PIM
29:49-34:45 Drawbacks or cautions to solutions like the AE PIM
34:46-36:44: Brittany’s entertainment recommendations
36:45-37:24 Outro
38 min
August 15, 2022 34. AI in E-Commerce: What’s Real, What’s Useful, and What to Do with Vance Reavie, CEO at Junction AI
In this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?!, we have a special interview to share with the AE audience. Vance Reavie, founder and CEO of Junction AI, joins host Nate Svoboda to talk about artificial intelligence (AI), data, and why it matters.
Throughout the interview, you’ll hear Vance’s views on AI, its benefits for small to medium-sized businesses, the ROI of a high-quality AI tool, and more.
Ready to learn more about AI and how much of an impact it can have on your business? Grab your favorite brew and enjoy!
YT Timestamps:
0:00-0:27 Intro
0:28-1:02 Introducing Vance
1:03-2:16 How Vance takes his coffee
2:17-3:57 How AI has become relevant in e-commerce
3:58-5:36 How barriers to AI adoption have been removed
5:37-7:47 The businesses most impacted by AI
7:48-11:10 How developed AI really is
11:12-13:10 Overview of Junction AI
13:11-15:26 Skills need to leverage AI tools
15:27-17:50 What value can be added to your business from the time saved with AI
17:51-20:49 Ethical concerns about AI
20:50-23:39 How to evaluate a high-quality AI tool
23:40-26:49: ROI you can reasonably expect from AI
26:50-30:10: How small businesses can find large datasets to train AI
30:11-32:44: Why a business should adopt AI immediately
32:46-38:13: Future AI trends Vance is excited for
38:14-38:46 How to get in touch with Vance and the Junction AI team
38:47-39:03 Outro
40 min
August 08, 2022 33. Tackling the Slippery Slope of Scaling with Chad Rubin, CEO, and Founder of Profasee
Tackling the Slippery Slope of Scaling
In this episode, Nate is joined by Chad Rubin, Founder and Board Member of Think Crucial and CEO and Founder of Profasee, to talk about the challenges of scaling for small and growing businesses. Among many other things, Chad is an expert in identifying industry problems and finding the appropriate solutions.
Make sure you pour yourself up your favorite brew and get to your favorite podcast-watching spot to take in all of the fascinating insights Chad had to offer. From one coffee-loving e-com professional to another: enjoy!
YT Timestamps:
0:00-0:27 Intro
0:28-2:30: Introducing Chad and his coffee of choice
2:31-4:46: Going from finance to e-commerce
4:47-6:20: The evolution of Crucial Vacuum into Think Crucial
6:21-8:34: The inspiration for Skubana [extends into the next section]
8:35-12:30: The thought process behind Profasee
12:31-17:46: Communication: a lesson from tough times
17:47-20:26: Which startups succeed and fail
20:27-24:33: Major scaling challenges
24:34-26:22: Learning to pass on the torch
26:23-28:44: How to use automation
28:45-33:02: Software solutions to be aware of
33:03-35:36: Retrospective advice
35:37-37:53: The importance of taking time off to build on yourself
37:54-38:25: Where to get in contact with Chad
38:26-38:43: Outro
39 min
July 31, 202232. Bringing the Marketplace Model to Inventory Financing, CEO at Kickfurther
In this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?!, host Nate Svoboda is joined by Kickfurther CEO Sean De Clercq to talk about Kickfurther, the marketplace inventory financing model, and the democratization of e-commerce. Among many helpful insights, Sean gives us some short and sweet bullet points to entrepreneurial success:
Identify a problem

Solve it better than others

Have good margins

Open up wholesale

Increase volume

Leverage volume to negotiate discount

Scale, scale, scale

Sell
Ready to take in the wonderful insights Sean has brought to the show? Grab yourself your favorite brew, kick back, and enjoy!
What to listen for:
Sean gives us the breakdown on Kickfurther. Inventory financing is a tough game to play, both for those looking for funding and those looking to fund. Bringing a marketplace model to the inventory financing game, Kickfurther brings down the barrier to entry for both sides.

As most breakthrough solutions, Kickfurther is born out of experience. Sean’s time in wholesale showed him that, paradoxically, doing well can drive you bankrupt. More specifically, scaling is expensive, and getting ahold of that capital was simply not an option for many businesses. The solution? Bringing the marketplace model into the picture.

Sean gives us a crash course on the marketplace model which, essentially, works as crowdfunding for inventory financing. On one side, brands are vetted and evaluated as to how likely they are to succeed. On the other side, funders are evaluated and presented with possible good matches. This process helps democratize the financing process, connecting growing brands with available capital directly, instead of having to rely on industry contacts and connections.

Since Kickfurther vets who might or might not be a successful business on the platform, there must be some differentiator to look at. When it comes to entrepreneurs, Sean explains that brands who have big margins and have found a niche market are the ones that tend to do very well. Identify a special opportunity and go after it aggressively.

Why doesn’t every brand with a niche market make it? Sean says that one of the biggest mistakes is charging too little. Small margins and low prices may seem like a great way to attract customers, but it leaves little-to-no chance for scaling, which can ultimately be the brand’s downfall.
29 min
July 17, 202231. Cryptocurrency’s Impact on Fintech and E-Commerce, CEO of CoinPayments
Jason Butcher of CoinPayments joins this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?! to talk about everything crypto and Fintech related. Jason and the rest of the team at CoinPayments help brands easily integrate crypto processing into their platforms, which opens the doors for many benefits that are touched on in this conversation.
Joined by our host Nate Svodoba, Jason talks about consumer adoption, choosing specific coins, payment processing as a business strategy, the future of Fintech, and so much more. Grab yourself your own favorite brew and join us for this installment of E-Commerce with Coffee?!
What to listen for:
After sharing his coffee habits, Jason gives us a quick intro to crypto gateways. Just like integrated card payments, having the ability to also accept crypto payments on your platform is just another option for customers, and it’s a simple integration.

Alongside the boom for e-commerce, there has been quite the boom in consumer adoption of crypto as well. Jason talks about how on Shopify alone, business has increased some 15 times in large part due to crypto integration alone. So, while fees and transaction times aren’t quite at the “pay for your coffee with bitcoin” level yet, adoption is certainly visible and growing.

While adoption is growing, it certainly isn’t at the level of credit cards (for example), so why should merchants bother? Jason explains that there are multiple benefits to accepting crypto, the biggest and most obvious being that having the option is just another chance to catch the buyer before they abandon their cart. Other benefits include financial and personal security on either side of the transaction.

There’s a lot of press about crypto’s effect on the environment. Jason argues that, when put into perspective, there are a lot of other environmental issues like shipping and personal vehicles that might very well eclipse the effects of crypto. Plus, much of crypto is processed with alternative energy resources. Not to say that crypto doesn’t have an effect on the environment, but Jason explains that the press seems to center crypto disproportionately.

Jason calls himself “payment agnostic,” explaining that his excitement for crypto lies in its ability to empower global economies and communities with shared value concepts, which isn’t truly particular to any one coin or asset today. In the same vein, Jason says that crypto still has plenty of room to grow.

When it comes to which crypto to accept, Jason explains that it ultimately depends on what the merchant wants to do with that value. However, if using a service like CoinPayments, brands can auto-convert whatever coin they’ve accepted into whatever coin they prefer to manage.

When it comes to security concerns in crypto, Jason explains that often a security breach has more to do with the technical literacy than with the crypto itself. Keeping your software up to date and not giving away your keys solve a lot of the security risks that are often reported.
36 min
July 03, 202230. Bringing the Big E-com Vision to Life with Katelyn Glass, Founder of Fifty Six
Katelyn Glass of Fifty Six Advertising has devoted over a decade to growing in tandem with the e-commerce world. She started her own marketing agency without having worked for an agency before, but after becoming the first female C-suite executive at Rowing Blazers and scaling the lifestyle brand to #8 on SimilarWeb's 15 fastest-growing DTC brands, she’d proven what knowledge she had acquired in her work.
Katelyn focuses on marketing strategies for small brands. This keeps life more interesting, she muses, since each small brand needs a unique strategy to reach their particular goals. And with that point of view, Katelyn joins this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?! to talk about small brand digital marketing.
What to listen for:
Katelyn is clearly a coffee fan, and her recommendation for where to get delicious whole beans in NYC definitely doesn’t disappoint.

Early in the interview, we get a full look at where Katelyn came from and how she landed in the e-commerce world. She jokes that she’s “so old” that she “remembers when there was no internet.” One look at her and you see her millennial youth, however, so “old” is a stretch. She truly has seen extraordinary change in how marketing works, though. Listen for her full take on how marketing has changed—even in the last three years—and what the implications are.

Small brands don’t care about a lot of the nitty gritty details of marketing, Katelyn says, they just want to partner with someone who takes care of it. Katelyn saw this need. Small brand leadership are always those wearing multiple hats, so why should they have to become digital marketing experts, too? Katelyn rose to the call and started her agency with the target of serving these businesses exclusively. “Typical agencies are either too expensive or too robust for what they need,” she asserts.

Katelyn also speaks to the greater satisfaction of working with these brands and seeing them grow. It’s not just seeing someone walk down the street in the sweater you just helped a brand sell, it’s the “total evolution” of the brand (which is longer-lasting than growth).

The interview then turns to some specific strategies Katelyn focuses on with brands. “Nine times out of ten,” she says, “brands are underutilizing email marketing.” She also works closely with brands to identify where they are in their marketing now as their customer lifecycle is developed.

When asked when the right time is to launch to e-commerce, Katelyn says, “I'm insanely biased and I'll say it's always the right time.” There are more expensive times to do it, without a doubt, but it’s always the right time if you haven’t gotten into e-commerce already.

The interview moves from launching to e-commerce to the pie-in-the-sky idea of DTC brands going global. Listen in for the specific advice Katelyn has along with a clear list of what brands need to consider (payment processing, tax implications, logistics).

On the topic of gurus and all the digital marketing courses out there, Katelyn reminds us that it’s 2022 and whatever your marketing pain point, “you can google it.” Find the partners who help you make this happen—not the “#1 pro” who only tells you how. “If they were #1 in anything,” Katelyn quips, “they wouldn’t be selling their course on Instagram.” The kind of partnership Katelyn recommends is one that leaves listeners feeling braced for anything that comes next.
33 min
June 19, 202229. The E-Commerce Questions You Should Be Asking with Kat Dey, Co-Founder and President of ettitude
Buckle up for this interview with Kat Dey, co-founder of the sustainable lifestyle brand ettitude. Kat comes in with loads of wisdom for direct-to-customer (DTC) brands. Any brand selling online can benefit from this interview, but DTC brands with a mission will feel as though Kat speaks directly to them. The brand ettitude makes bedding and bath essentials with CleanBamboo, their innovative sustainable textile, and Kat demonstrates what a mission like that does for a brand.
Kat’s own trajectory was stated well before ettitude. She’s a serial entrepreneur and was named as one of “35 People to Watch” and “EY Entrepreneurial Winning Woman” in 2016. This interview doesn’t just focus on mission branding—Kat digs deep into vital data cues all brands online need to know, like customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV). Listen to the full episode for her tips!
What to listen for:
Kat’s extraordinary background equipped her with many lessons learned and a “scrappy” attitude that she brought to ettitude. Making mistakes and learning from them, she remarks, is just how this works. A world like digital commerce is too new for any person to have all the answers right out of the gate.

Early in the interview, Kat talks about the benefits of brands that rally behind a mission, like ettitude does. (Hint: their brand name stands for “eco-attitude.”) Listen to the full interview to learn about the first mission-driven DTC brand she grew and sold, too.

E-commerce saw colossal growth during the pandemic, but rapid growth isn’t guaranteed brand-to-brand, Kat maintains. Raising enough capital to grow fast, as most brands know right out of the gate, is hard. Brands that want to pursue a riskier and faster growth strategy still can, however, as long as they have that capital or a revolutionary product that customers will rave about online.

Kat then reflects on co-founding a brand and on what happens when that brand grows. As ettitude was able to hire more senior managers to drive different departments, Kat and ettitude’s other co-founder, Phoebe Yu, each moved into more specialty-focused roles. Today, Kat oversees marketing, finance, and HR.

When asked about the metrics that really matter (in a world filled with data that brands can quickly become overwhelmed by), Kat says without hesitation that lifetime value (LTV) and customer acquisition cost (CAC) are the key numbers to watch.

Kat wraps the interview discussing ettitude’s own decision to put “pause” on in-person retail, and why they still don’t sell on Amazon (for now). Kat says of Amazon: “you do lose margin so you have to decide if it’s worth it for you. There is a cash flow delay.” At the same time, she says, anyone doing traditional retail right now or who has the opportunity should consider taking it. Omnichannel, she assures us, is the “way of the future.”
25 min
June 05, 202228. Deciphering Amazon Ads with Destaney Wishon, CEO and co-founder of BetterAMS
In this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?! Destaney Wishon, the CEO, and co-founder of BetterAMS, joins the show to talk about Amazon ads. Destaney provides a high-level view of what’s new on Amazon along with ways that brands can set ads up for success.
With Destaney’s deep knowledge in Amazon ads from all the work she does for brands at BetterAMS, her insights include technical tips as well as a bigger look at the industry and how it’s changing. Changes are coming so fast, she says, that it’s podcasts like this one that can make the difference. Listen to the full interview to hear what she has to say!
What to listen for:
The interview starts with a look at how Destaney co-founded her Amazon ad business. For starters, Destaney’s from Rogers, Arkansas, known as the hometown of Wal-Mart. “I was always surrounded by vendors,” she describes. The commercial environment in Rogers is a unique one, and Destaney had opportunities to meet interesting people and learn about equally interesting opportunities. Listen to the podcast for the full story.

Talking about the challenges brands face today, Destaney describes how brands do so many things to keep up. “I see a brand doing everything, but no one thing super well,” she says. Amazon ads are one of those things that aren’t being capitalized like they could be, Destaney points out, because even brands who are doing them don’t have the time to do them as well as they could.

Destaney then compares Amazon ads to other types of ads. “If you don’t have a converting listing [for an Amazon ad],” she says, “your ad won’t work.” This might seem self-evident to some folks, but compared with other types of ads on Facebook or Google, this is a big difference. Listen to the full episode to learn what Destaney tells us about buyer intent and how she set brands up for success.

One of the first things brands can do now is learn about the different types of ads on Amazon and how to use them for their intended purpose. For example, sponsored ads are an opportunity for brands to get clicks for their keyword without waiting for SEO strategies to boost their listings. “Take your number-one keyword and type it onto Amazon,” Destaney suggests. That first listing item you see at the top is a sponsored ad, and that spot could be occupied by your brand instead.

Video ads, too, are an intriguing new addition to the slew of Amazon ads you can try. “The best part about video ads is that they’re PPC,” Destaney notes. This means that you only get charged when users click. Users can even watch your video all the way through, but without that click, you won’t be charged. Amazon, therefore, tries to get your video seen by the people with the red-hot intention to buy your product then and there. Listen to the full episode for Destaney’s tips on creating the best video ad to convert.

Destaney continues, “on Amazon, 70% of ad collateral requires zero creative control.” She then points to video content and other creative ad collateral as a great example of something brands can outsource to spend more of their own time getting deeper into Amazon ad strategy.

The interview wraps with Destaney talking about trends in ad costs, Amazon competition, and how brands can position themselves for success. Not only are there more brands on Amazon since the pandemic, but there are more users, too. The space is ripe with possibilities. “There’s no way for any one individual to keep up in this environment,” Destaney advises. Take her advice—listen to the full episode and subscribe to the show to keep up with more interviews like this one on E-Commerce with Coffee?!
20 min
May 22, 202227. The Systems to Boost Lifetime Value, Co-founder at Rush
Kiril Kirilov is the co-founder of Rush, a Shopify app that automates the much-needed communications for e-commerce customers post-purchase. Instead of brands fielding endless customer inquiries on the shipment status, product sizing, and more, Rush integrates its state-of-the-art shipment tracking software into today’s consumer expectations to redefine online shopping.
Kiril joined this episode of E-Commerce with Coffee?! to talk about the post-purchase customer experience and how direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands today can build more meaningful connections. It’s all about personifying the values that built DTC brands up. Listen to the full episode for Kiril’s insights and tips.
What to listen for:
Kiril surprises listeners right out of the gate with some fascinating personalia. Not only does he have a longstanding relationship with caffeine (with advice on when to consume it for the best absorption), but he also spoke of his semi-professional athletic career that preceded his co-founding of Rush.

Once Kiril and Nate dive into the interview’s main topic, Kiril states that his purpose is not to sell Rush while he’s on the show; the philosophy behind Rush is, however, what he says frames his answer to all of Nate’s questions. The primary mission of the game-changing Shopify app is to use data, events, and triggers to enable merchants to communicate better post-purchase.

Kiril then describes the missed opportunity that most brands suffer without purposeful post-purchase communications. It’s after a purchase that you have a vetted audience to interview and survey about their key pain points, he says, so that you can better communicate with other consumers like them. You also sustain excitement that way. Then, by the time your product arrives and customers open it, they’re already satisfied.

“You’re not selling to robots, you’re selling to human beings,” Kiril reminds us. He says to consider offering added giveaways or freebies to customers right after the purchase to incentivize their participation in your surveys. It’s the 24-hour window immediately after a purchase when customers will give you the best information, he says, and with a giveaway, they’ll be more transparent.

Survey your customers post-purchase to ask about their pain points. Ask what gets them to trust a brand, too. Truly fascinating insights have come out of these kinds of surveys; for example, the two most important things an e-commerce site must have to generate trust (according to customers) are: a phone number on the site and super-fast responses to email and SMS inquiries.

Another bonus insight Kiril shares with us from post-purchase surveys is: apparently a non-specific arrival date (for example, “will arrive between 10 and 14 days”) is the principal cause of more than half of cart abandonment.

“Omnichannel is the name of the game,” Kiril says of e-commerce. He says to find the one acquisition channel that works for you and regularly remind people across all channels why other customers showed interest in your brand.
36 min

About E-Commerce with Coffee?!

From the publisher's feed

E-Com secrets for brands over your favorite brew.

Share E-Commerce with Coffee?!

Sign up to save your podcasts

E-Commerce with Coffee?!

E-Commerce with Coffee?! episodes

About E-Commerce with Coffee?!