eCommerce UnderCover

eCommerce UnderCover

By Michael Waitze MediaBusiness
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eCommerce UnderCover episodes

  • EP 43 - Does Social Commerce Impact eCommerce Sales Longer Term? - Frost Li - Founder, Social Chat

    eCommerce UnderCover enjoyed our conversation with Frost Li, the Founder, and CEO of Social Chat.  Social Chat enables brands to host live shopping events directly on their websites.  

    Some of the topics that Frost covered:  

    • Can an in-store experience be recreated with software? 
    • Personalizing eCommerce sales at scale 
    • Who is and is not appropriate to host a social commerce live event? 
    • Data gathering, data usage, and data privacy 
    • Do immersive experiences matter or is Web 2.0 enough?
      • 53 min
    • EP 42 - What Is This Massive Universe Hiding Under My Feet? - Andersen Conner - co-Founder at Foraged

      eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Andersen Conner, a co-Founder of Foraged.  Foraged is an online marketplace for "wildly unique foods, sustainably harvested, and carefully crafted."

      Some of the topics we covered with Andy:

      • Growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, and moving to Park City, Utah
      • Growing up as an outdoorsman
      • Majoring in Philosophy and minoring in business in college
      • Being a nature photographer and how that led to foraging
      • Foraging, educating people about it, and certifying foragers
      • The go-to place for specialty and wild foods
        • 54 min
      • EP 41 - What Is It Like Being In a Hyper-Growth and Hyper-Sales Environment? - Emilio Di Marco - CEO & Founder at Aument

        eCommerce UnderCover had Emilio Di Marco join us on the show from Miami, Florida - the capital of Latin America. Emilio is the CEO and Founder of Aument, which he describes as a SaaS platform that easily helps small eCommerce brands get new sales quickly.

        Some of the topics we covered with Emilio:

        • Miami’s tech boom
        • How Aument helps small eCommerce businesses increase sales
        • Augmentation, Automation, and Segmentation
        • The inefficiencies and irrelevance of direct marketing for small brands
        • Giving small brands the same leverage that big brands have to increase sales
        • Branding and performance marketing as the core competency of the Aument team
        • Working with clients to build the most useful tools
        • The issues around eMail as a marketing tool and the predominance of spam
          • 53 min
        • EP 40 - Brett Joyal - CEO at mom&pop - Does Technology Really Facilitate Local Commerce?

          eCommerce UnderCover was excited to host Brett Joyal (He says it rhymes with 'loyal'.) at the studio at Seven Peaks.  Brett is the Founder and CEO of mom&pop, a retail technology company digitizing and connecting neighborhood family stores.

          Some of the topics we covered with Brett:

          • His background as a chef and restaurateur
          • His 'other' career working in consulting and at DKSH
          • The fundamental reasons for starting mom&pop
          • The social and economic differences in emerging and developed markets
          • Building out a viable technical platform for mom and pop shops
          • Empowering neighborhood shops with technology
            • 1 hr 3 min
          • EP 39 - Kait Stephens - CEO & co-Founder at Brij - How Do Brands Connect to Customers with QR Codes?

            eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Kait Stephens, co-Founder and the CEO of Brij.  Brij is a software platform that powers one-touch registration & reorder to connect brands to their customers with the simple scan of a QR code.

            Some of the topics that Kait covered:

            • Working in investment banking and going to Harvard Business School
            • Her father was a serial entrepreneur and the influence that had
            • Starting her first company while still at HBS
            • Pivoting to Brij
            • How the pandemic impacted the pivot
            • How brands benefit from Brij
            • The importance of data and data insights
            • Low-code, No-code
            • The annoyance of dead QR Code links
            • What growth looks like to Brij

              • This episode was produced by Isabelle Goh.

              1 hr 2 min
            • EP 38 - Ana Maria Jipa - CEO at Olyn - How to Make My Mum Understand NFTs?

              At least we made Ana Maria Jipa laugh as the conversation began.  Ana is a co-Founder and the CEO of Olyn.  Olyn is a universal asset registry service, built on the blockchain.  

              Some of the topics Ana covered:  

              • Being born in Romania but growing up in Spain and Germany 
              • How traveling really helps one understand the world at scale 
              • Studied aeronautical engineering
              • Not having a linear career 
              • Interning at a VC in Silicon Valley 
              • Drawn quickly to entrepreneurship in the Health Care space in Romania 
              • Coming back to Spain and joining a startup there (APIs) 
              • How companies treat data as a product 
              • Learning about eCommerce from a fashion company 
              • Focused on technology is changing people's lives 
              • Olyn's (All In Ownership) genesis 
              • Identity linked to payments 
              • Allowing third parties to build services via the wallet
                • 55 min
              • EP 38 - Jean-Baptiste Carpentier - DSers - DSers Buys Oberlo! What Happens to Drop Shipping Now?

                We went back to the well and invited Jean-Baptiste Carpentier back to the show for some big news.  As the Business Development Director for DSers, Jean-Baptiste has unparalleled exposure to the entire DSers business.  

                Some of the topics we covered with Jean-Baptiste:

                • Following up form his previous appearance on the show from October 2021
                • Software solutions that help and simplify drop shipping
                • How DSers help drop shippers manage order management
                • The myth of eCommerce as a source of passive income
                • DSers acquiring Oberlo from Shopify
                • How this acquisition impacts eCommerce ecosystems at scale
                • The exposure this will likely give DSers and the potential scrutiny
                • The time and complexity of completing a deal of this size and scope
                • The impact on existing DSers and Oberlo customers and the migration path
                  • 52 min
                • EP 37 - Stephen Inscoe - Founder at Bluesleep - What Is the Limit of Product Extension?

                  It is always great to have our guests in the studio and we were happy to have Stephen Inscoe join us at Seven Peaks Software in Bangkok.  Stephen is a Founder of BlueSleep, the online sales leader for mattresses in Russia.

                  Some of the topics Stephen discussed:

                  • Why he was speaking French with Martin before we started recording
                  • Language learning helps with cultural understanding
                  • Living and working in Moscow
                  • The importance of research and the leap into instinct
                  • Working in real estate in Europe, India and China
                  • Technology forces a certain type of discipline
                  • Retail as a form of human psychology
                  • Being marketing and analytic driven
                  • eCommerce aggregators?
                  • Should marketplaces be curated
                    • 59 min
                  • EP 36 - Bruce Macdonald - Head of ANZ Sales, Algolia - Is This Really the Best Search Experience?

                    eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Bruce Macdonald, the Head of ANZ Sales for Algolia.  Algolia empowers Builders with the Search and Recommendation services they need to build world-class experiences.

                    Some of the topics Bruce discussed:

                    • Living and working in Chicago
                    • 15 years in eCommerce
                    • Cloud computing and coming full circle
                    • Algolia continues the French Connection
                    • Mobile search
                    • Search and discovery 'experiences' leading to conversion
                    • Competing with Google and being the second largest search vendor globally
                    • Search for anyone that needs to find content
                    • Endless aisles
                      • 56 min
                    • EP 35 - Yuming Pu - Investments in eCommerce - How Much Money Was Raised for eCommerce Companies in the Last 6 Months?

                      The eCommerce UnderCover research team did a report on which companies have announced fundraising in the eCommerce space globally in the 6 months from September 2021 to March 2022.

                      Pu Yuming, our amazing eCommerce UnderCover intern that put this report together, joined us on the show to discuss this in detail.

                      No less than USD $20BN has been invested in eCommerce-related companies in the past 6 months, more than 2.5 times the amount that was announced in the first 6 months of 2021. Yuming broke this down into 8 categories including:

                      1. Back-end Operations
                      2. Buying and Scaling Brands
                      3. Conversational Commerce
                      4. Financing and Payments
                      5. Marketplaces
                      6. Social Commerce
                      7. DTC (Direct to Consumer) Websites
                      8. Tools and Features
                        9. 1 hr 3 min

                      About eCommerce UnderCover

                      From the publisher's feed

                      Martin Ronfort and Michael Waitze discuss the future of eCommerce...because we are definitely not there yet.