Every year, Inside Commerce looks back at the key trends that shaped the ecommerce industry over the past 12 months.

In this episode, James and Paul discuss the evolving landscape of ecommerce as they reflect on the trends of 2024. They highlight the following:

1. More positive sales outlook & better consumer confidence

2. Consumers becoming increasingly value focused

3. Renewed focus on the importance of international markets

4. Emergence of focused use cases for GenAI

5. Growing significance of brand collaborations and influencer marketing.

6. Increased focus on loyalty and subscription strategies

7. Greater emphasis on sustainability

The discussion emphasises the need for brands to adapt to changing consumer preferences and leverage technology to enhance their strategies. We explore what's shaping consumer behaviour and the future of online retail, emphasising the need for brands to adapt and innovate in a competitive market.

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In this episode, James Gurd & Paul Rogers interview David Magee, Product Director at World of Books, about their recent migration from Commercetools to Shopify.

The conversation covers the strategic shift towards direct-to-consumer sales, the challenges faced with their legacy tech stack, and the innovative solutions implemented during the migration process.

David shares insights on the importance of middleware, A/B testing for performance validation, and the project management structure that supported this significant transition.

In this conversation, David Magee discusses the integration of Algolia for search and recommendations, the challenges faced in navigating international markets with Shopify, and the transition to Shopify Enterprise.

He emphasises the importance of a build-measure-learn approach during migration, the significance of partner selection, and the complexities of launching a new site while ensuring a good customer experience. The discussion highlights the lessons learned from these experiences and the proactive strategies needed to overcome challenges in ecommerce.

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In this podcast, James Gurd and Paul Rogers delve into the concept of unified commerce, exploring its definition, evolution, and practical implications in the ecommerce landscape.

They discuss the similarities between unified commerce and omnichannel strategies, emphasising the importance of data integration and customer experience. The conversation also highlights the challenges of payment systems and the complexities of global operations. Through examples of successful brands, they illustrate how unified commerce principles can be effectively implemented, while also addressing the future of ecommerce strategies.

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Replatforming isn't always the best solution to technology challenges.

An ecommerce platform can be fit-for-purpose but the implementation flawed, or outdated, resulting in the business thinking the issue is the underlying tech. Sometimes it's quicker, cheaper and more effective to improve how the current platform is built rather than pivot to a new vendor ecosystem.

For this podcast, James Gurd and Michal Klim discuss the complexities of re-engineering ecommerce platforms, particularly focusing on Shopify. Michal is the CTO of respected development agency Commerce UI, and recently helped Pangaia re-engineer their Shopify storefront and tech stack.

James & Michal explore the concept of technical and process debt, the importance of thoughtful maintenance, and the challenges of historical decisions in technology.

Michal shares insights from his work with Pangaia, emphasising the need for a clean slate approach to build better solutions. The discussion also covers the role of automation, the use of Shopify Flow and MetaObjects, and the integration of third-party tools, culminating in a conversation about transitioning from classic to new customer accounts.

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Loyalty is a hot topic in ecommerce. For this podcast, we're joined by Ed Bull, owner of leading ecommerce agency Limesharp. We discuss the evolving landscape of loyalty programs in the luxury and premium brand sectors, exploring how brands are redefining loyalty beyond traditional points systems, focusing on strategic approaches to customer behavior, the balance between rewards and profitability, and the importance of measuring success through key metrics.

The discussion highlights the need for brands to adapt their loyalty strategies, especially during peak trading periods, and the changing perceptions of loyalty programs in the industry. We delve into the intricacies of loyalty programs, discussing tier movements, the impact of gamification and community engagement, common pitfalls in managing loyalty initiatives, and future trends in the loyalty landscape.

The episode emphasises the importance of understanding customer behaviour, the need for personalisation, and the potential of leveraging influencers to enhance customer experiences. It also highlights the evolving nature of loyalty programs and the necessity for brands to adapt to changing consumer expectations.

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There's a feeling in the industry that some AI tools are solutions looking for a problem. In this podcast, we explore an AI solution that has a clear ecommerce use case and is focused on improving customer experience.

James Gurd speaks to Klevu co-founders Nilay and Niraj about their new product, Asklo, which integrates AI chatbots into ecommerce product journeys to enhance customer experience. This is the a logical evolution to PDP Q&As, with customers able to get real-time responses to product and service questions, rather than waiting for a reply.

The episode discusses the importance of optimising user journeys, the technology behind Asklo, and how it can improve conversion rates. The conversation also explores case studies demonstrating Asklo's effectiveness in reducing PDP bounce rate by 30%.

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Summary:

In this episode of the Inside Commerce podcast, Paul Rogers and Joe Fletcher discuss the critical aspects of ecommerce reporting, focusing on the importance of data measurement, key performance indicators (KPIs), and the challenges posed by new tools like GA4.

They explore the significance of conversion rates, tracking, and common mistakes businesses make in their reporting processes.

The conversation also delves into how businesses should approach their reporting needs, the value of understanding customer behaviour, and the various methods of attribution that can be employed to gauge marketing effectiveness.

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In this episode of the Inside Commerce podcast, Luke Hodgson from Commerce Thinking explains the common issues with ERPs and their integration with ecommerce platforms.

The conversation explores the importance of understanding ERP systems for ecommerce leaders, the evolving role of ecommerce directors post-COVID, and the demand for ERP in new businesses.

The discussion also delves into the role of middleware in ecommerce integrations, challenges related to peak order volumes, and strategies for maximising back office performance. Finally, we discuss the significance of technical leadership in ecommerce and provide practical advice for businesses facing integration issues.

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In this episode of Inside Commerce, James Gurd and Paul Rogers discuss the critical decision-making process surrounding technology investment versus viewing technology migration as a cost reduction opportunity. They emphasize the importance of focusing on value rather than merely cutting costs, exploring the nuances of licensing fees, the significance of building business cases to justify technology investment. The conversation also highlights the need for customisation in SaaS platforms and the importance of planning for cost neutrality in long-term strategies via offsetting existing costs.

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

🔥 This podcast will interest a broad audience. Paul Rogers and James Gurd discuss how the B2C ecommerce marketplace has become crowded, and where vendors need to focus to get attention, and why.

If you're working for:

A retail ecommerce business

An ecommerce platform

An agency/consultancy that advises/builds tech stacks

Get your comfy seat ready 😃

Why is this episode important?

The ecommerce vendor market is crowded. There are a lot of platform telling similar product suitability stories, albeit through different lenses and campaigns.

For merchants, unless you're niche, it's hard to cut through the volume of content to discern meaningful differences that give you the confidence to decide which route to take.

What we discuss:

🥱 Why changing terminology doesn't cut through e.g. omnichannel to unified.

🚤 Ecommerce businesses want speed to market, agility, automation.

🔎 DTC mass market has no space left for new players - Shopify dominates but niche / vertical specific solutions have potential.

🥸 Some vendors have already recognised this e.g. Centra, BigCommerce.

🔬 The winning vendors will be those who focus on burning challenges and critical use cases to deliver battle ready solutions.

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