Future Commerce

Jack DeFuria, Chief Digital Officer and Co-Founder of Parade, joins the show as he talks about founding Parade while in college with his co-founder, Cami Téllez, how Parade approaches their brand, and the pursuit of building America’s next great underwear company. 

• Parade is a women’s underwear brand focused on ages 18-30.
• They were able to connect with potential customers in their target market very early on digitally using Facebook groups, sorority group chats, etc. and used other digital tech to promote their brand like setting up a Twitter bot that would reply to any tweet with the hashtag #botcottVS.
• Parade has always been ‘community-first’ in their product development strategy - by product being directly shaped by community feedback.

• “I think that Gen Z is really more a psychographic than it is a demographic.” - Jack DeFuria
• Parade’s customers grew up not only on the internet, but on their phones. Their internet was much more spatial, intimate, and focused on self-expression.
• On eCommerce growing more spatial and intimate: “We see Instagram as what the shopping mall was to the previous generation.” - Jack DeFuria
• Parade, being inclusive, features sizes XS through 3XL in every single product and even has changes to the models shown on their website with any given size chosen.
• Sustainability and social good play a part in maintaining the Gen Z ‘psychographic’ as well: all packaging is compostable and biodegradable, and 1% of profits are donated to Planned Parenthood.
• Partners of Parade have included organizations that have similar ways of seeing the world: Feeding America, GLITS, The Loveland Foundation.

• Investors of Parade originally helped craft DTC 1.0: “Working with industry leaders and operators who have done it before has been extremely powerful for us. When we look at our vision for the category and where we see ourselves in the eCommerce landscape, where [our investors] brought categories online for the first time, we see our challenge as reimagining what a value brand looks like and distributing it through the internet.” - Jack DeFuria
• “One of the most important things [we’ve learned] is the value of authenticity and staying true to who you are, especially during periods of really fast growth.” - Jack DeFuria
• Hiring new employees and adding to their products during their first year of business and during a global pandemic, Parade has a singular mission to staying authentic and honest with their self-expression.

Check out Parade’s website

Check out our Nine by Nine report, which features Parade

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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• Sari is an early stage investor, a lead strategist at a startup studio, and a newsletter writer.
• “To me, being human-centered means you’re far more obsessed with the problem you’re solving than you are with a product that you’ve built. And what that gives you is the flexibility to evolve with your customer.” - Sari Azout
• “Being human-centered ultimately means that you don’t really sell your product. You sell your purpose.” - Sari Azout
• The brand ‘story’ is important for longevity. Brand stories and purposes are what resonates with consumers.
• “The story can’t be the marketing. The story has to be the strategy.” - Sari Azout

• “They’re not tech companies, they’re tech-enabled companies.” - Sari Azout
• Retail vs. software company investments should be valued differently because of marginal costs of physical goods.
• The internet and DTC brands have allowed brands to be much more niche, so Sari suspects we are going to see “more like 5,100 million-dollar-brands and less like a billion plus outcomes.”
• The business model for VC relies on those billion dollar outcomes; however, we see in retail that the VC’s need billion dollar outcomes, but the founders do not. The founders are better off with smaller outcomes varied throughout smaller niche businesses which results in lower risk.
• Sara speculates that we’ll see an innovation in the way VC’s invest in these smaller, niche brands and that traditional VC will kill more companies than it creates.

• Gen Z is a different kind of consumer because of their digital nativity. In the past, ‘luxury’ items were brands based on status; now, symbols of status are changing to identity conscience - like podcasts or activities that individuals engage in and identify with.
• On Gen Z consumers: “They are self-interested as humans are, but they’re also spending with a conscience, as long as [the brand is] doing something that feeds their ego and identity and self-interest and also has a common good.” - Sari Azout
• Companies like Amazon have set the expectations for a lot of consumers which lean towards consumers ‘winning’ the margin - with things like free shipping, free returns, etc. But this is based on consumers with convenience as their highest priority instead of conscience or community.
• On conscious consumerism: “Where we need human ingenuity and innovation is ‘How can we build for a consumer that is increasingly conscious but also doesn’t want sacrifice?’” - Sari Azout
• The consumerization of enterprise and the enterpisation of the consumer: Transitioning from the gig economy to the passion economy, creators who previously didn’t have ways to monetize their talents are now seeing tools emerging to facilitate that monetization and make that possible.

• The world now is ‘post-place’ - everything is happening online.
• “I think the opportunity to build the tools for a world that is post-place has really opened up.” - Sari Azout
• “In the world of eCommerce, we’re realizing that the eCommerce infrastructure that we set up in the US was one hundred percent search-based. It wasn’t recreational. It wasn’t emotional. We optimize for price and speed and the Amazon kind of effect.” - Sari Azout
• The idea of ‘luxury’ has changed and is much more centered on accessibility than status. Brands are shifting from being exclusive to being membership-driven with shared ideology.

• On the difference between influence and influencer: “Influence these days comes from authenticity, which ultimately comes from trust, whereas influencers are the result of commoditizing social media reach.” - Sari Azout
• Sari notes that Gen Z is reacting to this in seeing brands that are relatable, participatory, and welcoming as more appealing than the manufactured lives of influencers.
• There’s a distinction between the “participatory” economy and the influencer economy - consumers/fans are sharing in the connection and value with creators instead of being unidirectionally influenced.

• “I think what people are more interested in these days is far less individualistic and much more collective.” - Sari Azout
• As the economy moves online and continues to change, the lines between media and commerce and services get blurred.
• “What’s most exciting is being able to truly involve your customer in the creation of the product.” - Sari Azout
• Sari suspects we’ll see less venture-backed brands and more organically grown brands due to the niche demographics that brands can authentically serve in our ‘post-place’ world.
• “People will always gravitate towards what is easy. If you believe that, then that means if we create different toolkits that are equally easy… then brands are going to do it. And by doing so, they’re going to shape culture and create a different future… Tools matter.” - Sari Azout
• Sari states that raising venture is easier than other forms of debt, but as our tools change, new funding tools emerge which change our outcomes.

• Check out Sari’s Check Your Pulse newsletter.
• Find Sari on Twitter and Instagram
• Check out Emily Singer’s newsletter, Chips + Dips.

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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• Dadaism was an intellectual movement post-WWI that focused on subverting the serious.
• In response to the popularity of minimalism, maximalism has been on the rise. Brands have been using absurdity to reach their markets - specifically with Gen Z and Millennial brands.

• “Topicals really is the Anti-Bland” - Phillip
• Topicals is a skin care brand founded by two women of color. They have continuously been selling out, even after retailing with Nordstrom. They have individually branded, specified products which tailors to their market.
• Gen Z is into spiritualism which is reflected in Topical’s quiz to find your unique skin care needs.
• Faculty is a male skincare brand that has also stuck to the Gen Z and millennial generational experience - in dropping products periodically instead of restocking, in adding music to their brand experience, and in their use of SMS marketing.
• Brands are experiencing their own existentialism in the current global climate which has left room for refreshing and redefinition, even in larger CPG brands like Walmart, Pepsi, and Amazon, that are already set up for success regardless of the economy.

• Brian’s Insider’s Piece, Insiders #054: “The Existential Brand - Part 1”
• Brian’s Insider’s Piece, Insiders #045: “The New Dada: Absurdism, Maximalism, and the Generational Divide”
• The New Yorker: “The North American Maximalism of Gigi Hadid’s and Drake’s Home Design”
• Bloomberg: “Welcome to Your Bland New World”
• Chips + Dips’ email newsletter
• Thingtesting

Brands Mentioned

• Topicals
• Faculty
• Birthdate Candles
• Sad Girls Club
• BEHAVE Candy
• Springline Coffee
• Leaf Shaving

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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Jackson Jeyanayagam, VP of DTC at Clorox, joins us today to talk about Clorox’s DTC strategy, launching a new brand for an underserved, generation segment in the marketplace, and how his past experiences have prepared him and brought a fresh perspective to his current role.

• Jeyanayagam started at a PR agency working with T-Mobile.
• Whenever the Sidekick was launched and subsequently hacked, his world opened up to social media and digital marketing.
• This digital marketing and social media focus was further solidified when Jeyanayagam had a role in Old Spice’s brand transformation in 2010.
• While in an agency role, Jeyanayagam worked with brands like NASCAR, P&G, Diageo, and Chipotle.
• Jackson then moved into the startup world with Boxed as their CMO.
• After moving on from Boxed, Jeyanayagam looked for an opportunity to grow personally and move towards his own dream of being the CEO or president of his own company.
• In his experience working with brands at their highs and their lows, Jeyanayagam learned to look past what brand is hot at the moment and into what the perfect role might be.
• He chose a position that would grow and challenge him - Clorox.

• Jayanayagam has brought his experience and knowledge to the Clorox family of brands and has received mentorship and guidance from his seniors there.
• “I don't care what generation we're in and how technologies evolve, there will be nothing that replaces people and valuing people.” - Jackson Jeyanayagam
• In the Mad men era, things were all about hierarchy and title. Now, great leaders should be adapting to the people they lead, not the other way around.

• Having experienced the rise and fall of “hot” brands, Jeyanayagam compares the experience to sports. Having a big lead mid-game is no guarantee that things will continue.
• Even at the top, you must continue to take the kinds of risks that brought you to that place.
• Many of the hottest brands today will fall. And likewise, those who have fallen may rise again.
• Microsoft is a powerful example of a brand that reinvented itself to see a second rise.

• Clorox owns many distinct brands - RenewLife, NeoCell, Natural Vitality, Rainbow Light, and Burt’s Bees.
• Clorox launched an in-house wellness brand called Objective, which is aimed at Gen X consumers, which are generally under marketed to.
• Clorox also has an in-house brand targeting Baby Boomers called Stop Aging Now.

• Working with Clorox, Jeyanayagam has the power of a 100+ year old recognizable brand.
• With the failure of Brandless, is there a message about the importance of brand?
• Traditional brands are facing pressure from knockoffs and generics that forces them to be creative about how they’ll compete.
• Private brand has become more popular through the likes of Amazon and Costco and there’s a lot of growth happening there.

• Most consumers will pay a premium for a recognizable brand when it’s a product that’s going in or on your body.
• In any given category, there are many brands that co-exist and compete at any given moment. Over the span of a decade or more, very few last. Brand is a key to this staying power.
• The closer the product is to you, the greater the challenge is to gain new customers.
• Around you is easiest - candles, for instance.
• On you becomes more challenging - lotions, shampoo, deodorant. People are less likely to try something now.
• For something consumed or put in you, consumers are much more sensitive.

• Consumer expectations are changing and becoming heightened by the experience best-in-class brands provide.
• These expectations can be broken down into functionality and emotional appeal.
• Consumers today not only want to know that the product works, but they care what the brand stands for.
• Beyond that, expectations on things like fulfillment and delivery are rapidly rising because of Amazon. People want things fast and they don’t want to pay for shipping.
• More than demographic by generation, there is opportunity to create brands by psychographic - classifications by attitude and mindset.
• Gen X is a forgotten generation in marketing. They are funding and informing much of Gen Z, but they receive not nearly as much attention.
• Brands have the power to change the world through honesty and transparency. As we can see with brands like Everlane and Allbirds, there is a movement that encourages consumers to care about where their product comes from and the ethics of the brands they purchase from.

• John Maxwell’s Five Levels of Leadership
• Clorox’s Family of Brands
• Phillip’s conversation with Brian Kennedy from Ministry of Supply: “Rational vs. Emotional Purchases”

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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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!

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

We chat with Ingrid Milman Cordy about business growth and decline in 2020 and Walmart’s new partnership. 

• The way our economy is set up, big businesses are bound to thrive, even during economic disruption like COVID-19.
• Small businesses seemed to be the ones to cope best with the disruption, but the distinction of “essential businesses” shifted from small business to big business.
• Businesses like Amazon and Shopify doing well also signifies that the small and medium businesses that sell through them are doing well. The difference between growth and decline in small businesses in 2020 comes directly from being in the right or wrong industries given the current circumstances.

• Small businesses that have seen growth this year should be focusing on retention.
• Businesses that saw the most decline were retail in fashion and apparel - but they could bounce back given they rethink their branding and positioning in the current market.
• COVID-19 didn’t kill these brands, they just sped up their already growing decline.
• The best branding comes from getting consumers to be emotionally attached to a brand, not just buying a commodity.
• Marketing plays a much bigger role in our community - in connection. 
   

• Big businesses should have a system to help small or local businesses.
• Walmart is teaming with Shopify and integrating small businesses into their model. They are realizing they cannot continue doing everything themselves and monopolizing markets.

• Ingrid Milman Cordy’s last appearance on Future Commerce, Episode 158: “Our Base Sense of Self is Heightened Right Now”
• Jeremy Cai from Italic on Future Commerce, Episode 170: “The Plan Was Always to Go Back to Membership”
• Walmart x Shopify Press Release: “Walmart Expands Its eCommerce Marketplace to More Small Businesses”

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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Read the Retail Rebirth Report here.

Read Insiders #045: The New Dada Here.

Read Insiders #046: The New Formal Here.

Find us at Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.

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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We chat with Nilla Ali, the Senior Vice President of Commerce at BuzzFeed.
 

Can content and commerce coexist within a platform? How does the shift into shopping digitally affect the way that retailers and advertisers reach to consumers?

• There has been an Increase in traffic and consumption on BuzzFeed during COVID-19.
• BuzzFeed Shopping has been introduced, a native checkout feature on BuzzFeed which optimizes a consumer’s experience and increases revenue for featured products.
• Creating content drives discovery and can enhance partnerships with retailers, providing an ease-of-use experience for consumers to get products through retailers.
• Because of commerce switching to primarily digital, content will start playing a huge role in those experiences. Content and commerce coming closer together is a natural progression.

• BuzzFeed Shopping has a self-regulating business model that is mutually beneficial to all parties.
• BuzzFeed has to understand their consumer well enough to recommend products and create an ease of use system for the consumer to use.
• Editorial integrity wouldn’t be skewed because BuzzFeed Shopping is enhancing what they’re already doing  - it’s not a threat or competition to retailers, but a way to coexist, to bring content and commerce closer together.
• BuzzFeed shopping is ‘employing the highest levels of integrity’ to prove trust with consumers. Providing customers not only with products to buy, but also with resources and details to aid them in making a good decision.
   

• Nilla Ali’s last appearance on Future Commerce, Episode 144: "Affiliate Is A Very Tricky Word"
• WSJ - “Buzzfeed Starts Selling Products Directly to Consumers”

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We talk with Jeremy Cai, CEO of Italic. We discuss what Italic is and how it is different than other DTC brands today.

• Italic offers subscription memberships with access to a thousand plus products at-cost - stepping away from mark-up retailing.
• Italic is moving less in a brand specific, single category product direction and more into a value driven lifestyle.
• Italic’s ‘secret’ lies in partnering with manufacturers instead of treating them as vendors.

• Three primary reasons people purchase from Italic:

1. Value
2. Design
3. Ethics/Sustainability

• Italic thrives by being able to sell to everyone - including those who buy specific brands - by having a wide range of categories to choose from. Italic appeals to the value conscious part of everyone’s shopping behavior.
• Investing in data, reporting, and understanding metrics early on in a start-up can be extremely beneficial by being able to be adaptable. 
   

• Italic’s membership signup waiting list
• Jeremy’s first bootstrapped startup, “Not Pot”
• Crunchbase listing for Italic

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• NBC Universal Checkout is a native shopping experience embedding within any NBC content page.
• Whether it's a text based article, a static page, or even a video, it can be transformed into a native shopping experience. When the viewer encounters a product, they can click on the product to see more information about it, add it to a shopping cart, pay, and check out all without leaving the NBCU site.
• Context is really important during the experience - finding alignment between retailers with product and property within a piece of content within their portfolio.

• On SYFY Wire After Dark, they can play tastemaker by making trustworthy recommendations to their audience.
• They can also expose the audience to collaborative products, like the Wonder Woman 1984 sunglasses from goodr.

• NBC doesn’t see themselves as a retailer, but as a channel for retail partners.
• For partner retailers, orders that happen through NBC Universal Checkout drop into their eCommerce system as if they were actually placed on their own website, and then they can fulfill direct to the consumer and own the customer relationship going forward.
• Where retailers and consumers come together is a sort of audience-driven marketplace - which is important, especially in a time when commerce is shifting to primarily digital.
• NBC Universal Checkout will eventually move to other platforms, but for now is available only on the web.

• NBC looks at this as a business opportunity on par with anything else that they're pursuing.
• NBC generates valuable shopping intent and Universal Checkout creates the opportunity to capture that intent.
• Right now, their focus is more in partnering with retailers than creating their own products and brands out of the existing NBC properties.
• Universal Checkout is only on the web right now.

• Evan’s last appearance on Future Commerce in Episode 128 - Bringing Commerce Closer: Audience First
• NBCU’s press release for Universal Checkout
• The first Universal show using Universal Checkout: Syfy Wire After Dark
• Syfy Wire After Dark: How to Shop guide video
• goodr Limited Edition Wonder Woman 1984 Sunglasses‍
• Evan’s Twitter, where he posts “bad memes too late”

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