Future Commerce

What makes people happy? Are brands capable of instilling happiness? In today's episode, we go live to the Visions Summit in West Palm Beach, Florida, to engage in a frank conversation about what motivates a consumer, and what power we truly have in fulfilling their needs and desires. Listen now.

• Are we able to make customers happy? Is that our job? Brands may have given themselves a role in society that nobody asked them to fulfill.
• There’s a value system change taking place where more is not better, it’s damaging to the consumer and to the brand. More products, more drops, more collabs. At some point it becomes mimetic and overwhelming.
• “Utility” is an over-exercised phrase. In the philosophy of brands, to be utilitarian is to lack joy or purpose. But in web3 circles, utility has a different meaning — it means that it provides exceeding value. To be a utility means to be indispensable.
• The lack of true “discourse” in the retail and eCom industries is that we’re not modeling that behavior between the brand and the customer, let alone between teams or competitors. True conversation between silos will help us to achieve mutual understanding and result in a better experience — for employees and customers alike.
• “It doesn't matter what role you have in the company. Go to the CX team, sit down, plug in, and talk to three or four people a day. And I think we do get so worried about some things being anecdotal in a world where there is this burden of statistical significance that we've lost some of that.” — Mike Lackman
• “So every company needs to build a culture of being curious in every single level of the business. And everybody has to be a behavioral psychologist. There's no way around it, no matter who your customer is. You have to understand, to everyone's point here, what it is that they want.” — Grace Clarke
• “It's actually not necessarily about [products and brands making a consumer] happy. It's about peace. It's about feeling whole. And when you're just looking at a screen and you're scrolling through, that doesn't make you feel that.” — Brian Lange
• “And I think where we've come from has been, particularly in terms of eCom, the opportunity to have endless scroll, endless aisle means I can have endless numbers of choices, but actually, that works in reverse for consumers. It actually destabilizes them, makes them feel insecure. Does that give them the security that they've walked away with a purchase that they're going to be happy with for a lifetime?” — Miya Knights
• “We're moving towards more silos, I think, in terms of distribution, and more intermediaries vying for space, that valuable space between the brand and the customer and getting in between being able to collect that data and sell it back to the brand.” — Kiri Masters

• Miya Knights, author and retail analyst
• Kiri Masters, Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia
• Michael Miraflor, Chief Brand Officer
• Grace Clarke, brand and omnichannel strategist
• Mike Lackman, CEO of Trade Coffee

• The Visions Report is a 100-page report with deep insights, created by Future Commerce.

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels; we love hearing from our listeners.

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Joining the show today is Brandon Martinez, Founder of SNKRHUD. We discuss the dynamic of digital goods and NFTs during a downturn in the market, and how physical events and identities are becoming the norm in what was once thought to be an anonymous and online-only fandom. Listen now!

• “Hype alone isn’t enough to build an enduring brand or community.” There has to be a non-monetary reason that people are engaged in community — for sneakerheads this is the love of the culture and nostalgia that endures well past childhood. Sneakerheads come from many different backgrounds and walks of life, so a digital goods community around sneakers may be much more durable than any other PFP project.
• “Collectors need investors. They’re intrinsically motivated, and inextricably connected.” — Phillip
• NFT Project creators are doxxing themselves now in an effort to increase optionality. There’s a lot more to gain by having a trusted reputation as a person than there is as a cartoon avatar.
• SNKRHUD is a collection of digital goods and an NFT-based playground for sneakerheads based in Earth-326, a post-apocalyptic world where sneakers rule. Sidekicks is a recent mint of a profile picture (PFP) asset, which is laying the foundation for future projects.
• “I think of the community from which sneakers actually emanate. How can I make it so that anybody can be rewarded even for their participation, for their love of and the passion of whatever that community represents?” - Brandon
• Brandon shares his perspective on NFT NYC 2022: "it was like most conferences, but it was happening in the heat of the downfall.”
• “The buyer modality of attachment or nostalgia of a particular time or moment in your life is diffuse when it’s spread across 5 or 10 purchases. Souvenirs should be singular” — Phillip

• Learn more about Brandon Martinez and SNKRHUD
• Insiders #077: So You Think You’re a Collector
• Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!
• Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
• Check out Decoded, our newest limited series

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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• The story of how Visions the content property was born, and what the intent is behind it. Our goal is to broaden the conversation to art, philosophy, spirituality, and culture — and from those vantage-points, begin to understand their effects on Commerce.
• “Most eCom content focuses on the how or the what. We wanted to zero in on the ‘why’ a consumer thinks or behaves the way that they do.” — Phillip
• “We need a reason why… to give us the framework that we need to learn and to explore new ideas beyond just a couple of platforms that were dominant in the eCommerce ecosystem.” — Brian
• Commerce touches everyone. Therefore it can be a catalyst — a tool — for change in the immediate world around you. Not The World at large, but your world.
• “Not everything has to have these big, idealistic, world-changing outcomes. In fact, those distance you from making that change personal. Instead let’s talk about how you make a change that impacts one or two people in your immediate community.”
• The Visions Report is a combination of many peoples’ collective ideas about how we can build more resilient businesses, and how we can help people (not customers, not consumers).

• Download the 100-page companion guide, our Visions Report
• Subscribe to the Visions Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
• If you want to review last year’s Vision 2021 you can find it at this link
• Nine by Nine featured in GQ and in WWD and in AdWeek

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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Today founder of Checkout Promotions, Gil Greenberg, is joining the show. We recap Shopify Editions, the transformation of the Shop App, the overcrowding of the developer ecosystem, and  how to thrive as an app developer in eCom. Listen now!

Like Never Before

• “​​You're starting to see a lot of developers that actually want to run businesses for their apps and employing fundamentals to do so.”-Gil Greenberg
• “There’s a world where Shopify didn’t IPO 6 or 7 years ago, and my theory is that part of Shopify’s success was that so many people were able to realize personal benefit from the growth of the stock. What if Magento IPO’d instead? We’ll never know.”  - Phillip
• The Shopify platform is now huge and it encompasses way more than anyone outside of the ecosystem, but even more than most people in the ecosystem realize
• “You either follow Shopify's way or you're on the highway”  - Gil
• The launch of Shopify Functions will allow you to extend the platform where other APIs won’t let you
• “There's still a lot of room for better experiences. You have all these apps, where's the centralized billing or better pricing when you're using multiple apps? I just haven't seen anything truly interesting appear yet.” -Gil

• Learn more about Gil Greenberg and Checkout Promotions
• Tokengated Commerce- Business Breakdowns Podcast
• Insiders #123: A Marketer’s Guide To The Multiverse Of Madness
• Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!
• Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
• Check out Decoded, our newest limited series

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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Keeping up with the Jonses isn’t just for your neighbors next door, it’s everywhere in eCommerce businesses. Companies buy software based on what they see others in their industry purchasing. Formal RFP processes create a lengthy and expensive buying process, so eCommerce companies are more open today than ever before to the idea of composable commerce. In Episode 5 of Decoded, Phillip & Boris discuss how to purchase digital software well and some key considerations in decision making. Listen Now!

• There have always been and will always be fads and fashions driving purchases. This is no different when it comes to companies purchasing software.
• Companies tend to copy purchasing patterns when they see their peers and competitors successfully implementing software.
• B2B Sales are irrational. The buyer of the software is rarely, if ever, the user of the software. How can B2B companies take the irrationality out of this process?
• Business owners need to look at an issue in their business and ask themselves if they should be involved in the decision making process for purchasing specific software and to what degree they should be involved. - Boris
• If you want to extract value out of a software purchase, the people who will actually be using the software should be involved in some manner in the buying process.
• Be very explicit and specific about the problems your business is trying to solve. Don’t just buy software.
• You want to aim for a long-term relationship with your software. Try before you buy is a MUST in order to build sustainable processes.
• Examining the RFP cycle: by its very nature, the RFP introduces risk, despite its sole purpose being to mitigate it. - Phillip
• What do we mean by “scalability?” An enterprise software isn’t scalable in the same way that Shopify is, nor should it be. They’re two different products solving for two different issues. It’s better to ask what the approach to scalability is.
• “The SaaSification of the industry is actually leading to many developers losing skills.” - Boris

• Learn more about Boris Lokschin and Spryker
• Check out Episode 1 of Decoded on the Developer to Consumer!
• Check out Episode 2 of Decoded on our new composable world!
• Check out Episode 3 of Decoded on Social Commerce!
• Check out Episode 4 of Decoded on High-Complexity vs. High-Commodity environments.

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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TikTok creator Neil Shankar joins the show today to chat about the algorithm, how brands are playing the game, power stances in commerce, and our recent Visions 2022 report. Listen now!

• Neil Shankar is a TikTok content creator, producing content on what's new with consumer brands
• “Getting the algorithm to like you is sometimes about playing the game of TikTok, for instance, speaking the language of TikTok and engaging with TikTok creators. You don't need to be like dancing in front of a ring light.” -Neil
• Interacting with the idea of something is just as compelling to us as potentially purchasing that thing, its the concept of Romanticism, an idea we elaborate on more in our Visions report
• As our infinite choice of options increases, it becomes a footprint issue, not just a carbon footprint, but a time footprint
• “Brands and companies should be paying attention to how much time and focus their customers are giving them.” -Brian
• When brands are able to slap a date on a project or report, or whatever it may be, it's creating a time capsule, meaning that it will never decay because it lives on in that year
• “Visions 2022 will never become outdated. It will always be an encapsulation of this current moment.” -Neil

• Check out more of Neil’s content over on TikTok!
• Trends are Dead by Vox
• Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!
• Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
• Check out Decoded, our newest limited series

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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• Brian believes that no matter if there's an economic downturn, people will always make room for food and beverage in their budget, “People don't want to come down on food and bev, they'll forgo other things.”
• Smaller stores like Erewhon might not face challenges in the downturn due to the loyalty of those going after food and bev, but Whole Foods which is not up-market, might take a hit with downturn challenges
• “The businesses that go all-in on investing in the right things right now instead of pulling back are actually going to do even better.” -Brian
• What we’re seeing is the echo chamber doing exactly what it’s good at, which is creating a narrative around something that is just a venture-backed industry problem.

• How to Market in a Downturn
• Insiders #104: The eCom Brain Drain
• Download VISIONS 2022 NOW!
• Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes!
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
• Check out Decoded, our newest limited series

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

• Online experiences have become more commoditized over time; low and no-code platforms have displaced the need for a “developer,” and instead require feature configurations and tweaks
• Software development thrives where experiences have high complexity. High complexity often means that there are no de facto “standards” or best practices that need to be employed. This requires developers to build, test, refine, and iterate. This is the best-case scenario for a developer in eCommerce.
• eCommerce platforms have become increasingly prescriptive in UI and UX as customers have become “used to” certain purchasing patterns
• Ecommerce needs to become more complex in certain industry verticals. Specific sectors such as automotive, food, furniture, manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals all have sophisticated requirements, complicated purchase paths, long consideration times, unique regulatory requirements, or other challenges that make them a poor fit for off-the-shelf software, but a great fit for developer innovation.
• A shopper’s identity in high-commodity environments is tied to the retailer. You’re not a grocery shopper, you’re a Walmart shopper or a Target shopper. However, in high-complexity environments, the identity of the shopper is found in the brand of the product itself. You’re not a car driver, you’re a Tesla driver.

• Learn more about Boris Lokschin and Spryker
• Check out Excite 2022, Spryker’s eCommerce Conference in June

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• Retail media is a direct channel to the shopper. It’s an attractive audience for brands to reach shoppers, and it's becoming really profitable 
• Brands are currently using two methods to allocate retail media, which makes it very limited, and its harder to get ahead of trends when using one of the two models
• Kiri’s proposal for the two methods is to get back to the basics of the marketing funnel, “the idea is to identify your objective, and then which part of the marketing funnel you are going to focus on given that objective, and then execute for ad types and targeting options within that stage of the funnel.” - Kiri
• We are currently living in a world where brand is performance and performance can also be brand
• “There are a lot of constructs organizationally within these companies that make it very challenging because of the silos. The real goal of each team might be they're working against each other because the metrics and what they're focused on don't really align.” - Kiri
• It can be profitable for brands to launch in retail media, but there are always downsides. Such as: not having a good enough story to compete against other brands, not being on brand, and convincing advertisers it will be worthwhile

• Learn more about Kiri Masters and Bobsled Marketing
• Kiri’s most recent report, Retail Media Allocation
• Instacart for CMOs
• Listen to previous episodes with Kiri!
  • BONUS: Voice Commerce: The Future is Here
  • Episode 125: Amazon: Equal Opportunity Addiction 
  • Episode 148: Uncharted Territory: Amazon and COVID-19
  • Episode 197: Instacart for CMOs: The Four-Sided Marketplace
• Subscribe to Kiri’s podcast: ECommerce BrainTrust
• Stay tuned for VISIONS 2022…coming soon!
• Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes! 
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
• Check out Decoded, our newest limited series

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

• Jeremy Cai is the founder of Italic, a leading marketplace that offers the highest quality products at the lowest prices by connecting consumers straight to top manufacturers.
• People are continuing to buy more online than ever before, and Jeremy thinks it will only continue to grow. With the heightened demand for Amazon, brands will continue to seek out online consumers 
• “If you look at a brand and take away the fluff, they’re taking the same exact product or assortment they have in every season, applying a new coat of paint on it, and a new story on it, and selling the same thing 365 days per year for ten years in a row.” -Jeremy
• Italic no longer seeks consumers like H.EN.R.Y, the consumer they now aim to sell to is Julia, a customer in their late 20s-early 30s, familiar with shopping online and is looking to graduate and take a step up from the everyday DTC brands to a more premium product
• “It's not just about growth. It's about knowing who your buyer is.” -Brian
• “The only two things that are constant in start-ups are you're either alive or you're dead. And as long as you're alive, you're still kicking.”
• In our newest report coming out soon, Visions, one of the emerging themes is Profitability of Distraction, and we may be entering an era where folks are becoming less distracted. But for brands, their direct focus is zoning in on one thing: what is the most profitable? Could brands begin to widen their focus on multiple areas?

• Learn more about Jeremy Cai and Italic!
• Alex Geifeld’s LinkedIn Post
• Stay tuned for VISIONS 2022…coming soon!
• Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes! 
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
• Check out Decoded, our newest limited series

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.