Inside Commerce: Ecommerce Strategy, CX and Technology Podcast

How Ellis Brigham Is Building a Modern Retail Experience Through Technology

tl;dr - what you'll get:

• Learn how Ellis Brigham approached a major ecommerce platform migration to Centra and the commercial considerations behind the decision.
• Discover how investments in delivery experience, customer data and personalisation are helping strengthen customer loyalty.
• Get practical insights into balancing retail heritage with digital innovation, including real-world experiences of adopting AI across ecommerce operations.

Summary:

In this episode, we speak with Mark Oldham, Head of Operations at Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports, about the evolution of one of the UK's best-known outdoor retailers and how the business is modernising its ecommerce ecosystem while staying true to its heritage.

The conversation explores the commercial thinking behind Ellis Brigham's move from Magento to Centra, examining the operational challenges that prompted the migration. Mark explains the importance of building a flexible technology stack that supports growth, improves efficiency and delivers a better customer experience.

Customer experience is a central theme throughout the podcast, with insights into the implementation of Ingrid to transform delivery choice and customer communication. The discussion highlights why transparent fulfilment and post-purchase experiences have become critical drivers of customer loyalty and lifetime value.

We also explore how Ellis Brigham has successfully balanced nearly three decades of retail expertise with the demands of modern digital commerce. Mark shares his perspective on preserving the unique identities of Ellis Brigham, Snowboard Asylum and Outsiders, while ensuring each brand delivers a consistent experience across every customer touchpoint.

The conversation then turns to data and personalisation, looking at how Voyado is helping consolidate customer data and unlock more meaningful CRM strategies. From understanding customer intent during product discovery to creating more personalised onsite experiences, the discussion examines how retailers can make better use of the data they already collect.

Finally, the episode explores the growing role of artificial intelligence within ecommerce teams. Mark shares how AI is being introduced into day-to-day operations, the efficiencies it can unlock and the practical challenges businesses face when embedding AI into established workflows.

Chapters:

[0:30] — Intro to Ellis Brigham and the episode topic[1:30] — Mark introduces Ellis Brigham and his role[4:05] — Why the move from Magento and the replatforming drivers[9:15] — Why Centra was the right fit[13:15] — Ingrid / order communication and customer experience[19:35] — Blending store expertise with digital content[25:05] — Omnichannel fulfilment and store operations impact[28:00] — Why Ellis Brigham keeps distinct brand identities[33:30] — Voyado, customer data and intent signals[35:55] — AI adoption across the business[38:30] — AI governance and data controls[42:20] — Dashboards, AI and the future of analytics

The debate around native apps versus mobile websites has changed significantly. Thanks to Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), improved mobile browsers and advances in web technologies, many capabilities that once required a native app are now available through the mobile web.

For most ecommerce brands, the decision is no longer driven by technology limitations but by customer behaviour, retention strategy and commercial return on investment.

This podcast explores where native apps still deliver meaningful advantages, including push notifications, deeper integration with mobile devices, offline functionality and richer customer experiences.

It also examines which types of retailer genuinely benefit from investing in an app, highlighting examples such as Gymshark, Represent and Myprotein, where apps support loyalty, exclusive product launches and community engagement rather than simply replicating the website.

The conversation concludes with a practical framework to help retailers determine whether a mobile website is sufficient or whether a native app can drive higher customer lifetime value through repeat purchasing, personalisation and stronger customer engagement.

What you'll get from listening:

• Understand why the native app versus mobile web debate has fundamentally shifted in the last few years.
• Learn which capabilities native apps still offer that even modern websites ecannot fully match.
• Discover why customer lifetime value and retention are now the strongest commercial reasons to build an app.
• Hear practical examples of how brands including Gymshark, Represent and Myprotein use apps to strengthen loyalty and increase repeat purchases.
• Understand how push notifications, loyalty programmes and exclusive product launches can transform customer engagement.
• Learn which retail sectors are most likely to generate a positive return on investment from a native app, and which are unlikely to benefit.

• Get a practical decision-making framework to help determine whether your business should invest in a native app or continue focusing on delivering the best possible mobile website.

Our Pulse Special episodes feature the hottest content from the 2026 event, including panel discussions with leading brands and technology vendors.

Exclusive to Inside Commerce, these discussions share interesting insights from respected industry practitioners.

In this panel, leading experts on affiliate marketing explain the current framework for affiliate marketing, exploring how the market has shifted and the mindset and toolkit that marketers need to drive incremental revenue.

Gabrielle McLeod & George Whitmore from Vervaunt give expert advice on the following:

• The strategic market shift.
• The four levers for effective affiliate marketing.
• Practical advice for retailers.

View ⁠all Pulse panels⁠.

About Pulse

Pulse is an ecommerce conference designed for ambitious high-growth retailers and brands looking for inspiration and innovation from some of the top speakers in ecommerce and digital marketing.

FOLLOW US:

LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/inside-commerce/ 

Our Pulse Special episodes feature the hottest content from the 2026 event, including panel discussions with leading brands and technology vendors.

Exclusive to Inside Commerce, these discussions share interesting insights from respected industry practitioners.

In this panel, Shamoli Miah from Vervaunt hosts a discussion with the leadership teams of some of the most innovative and dynamic ecommerce technology vendors in the market. The panel includes Jessika Odling from DEMA, Sarah Young from Harper, Marc Adelman from Visually & Vidar Trojenborg from Emfas.

View all Pulse panels.

About Pulse

Pulse is an ecommerce conference designed for ambitious high-growth retailers and brands looking for inspiration and innovation from some of the top speakers in ecommerce and digital marketing.

FOLLOW US:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inside-commerce/ 

Replacing An Entire Tech Stack - John Smedley’s Migration Journey From Magento to Centra.

Most brands are afraid to overhaul their legacy systems for fear of losing their identity but John Smedley’s story proves that a strategic replatform can elevate a storied heritage brand without diluting its uniqueness.

Our guest, Jamie Austen, is the Head of Ecommerce Operations at John Smedley, who has been the driving force for transforming a 240-year-old British heritage icon into a digitally agile, premium experience without sacrificing its timeless appeal.

Jamie explains how they navigated the complex journey from Magento to a headless, customer-centric architecture on Centra, building a stronger foundation that drives commercial results and sharpens brand storytelling.

Chapters:

[00:30] — Intro: John Smedley’s move from Magento to Centra

[05:30] — Managing a lean team through a large replatforming project.

[09:00] — Building the business case for modernising the tech stack.

[12:00] — Working with LimeSharp and phasing the build.

[15:15] — Rebuilding the wider tech stack around Centra.

[25:10] — Choosing Dato CMS and improving content management.

[29:00] — Impact on the internal team after launch.

[32:30] — Centra wholesale/B2B plans and adoption considerations.

[38:30] — Challenges and lessons from the replatform.

[42:45] — Future priorities: loyalty, in-store connection and digital gift cards.

What drives a heritage brand like John Smedley to completely rethink its tech stack?

Jamie explains how market change, technical debt and the need for agility pushed them to embrace innovation while safeguarding their rich history.

You'll discover the key decision points:

• Shifting to a flexible, headless setup with Centra
• Replacing legacy platforms with tools like Voyado Elevate and Engage
• Creating a seamless, multi-channel customer experience that balances tradition with modernity.

We discuss the internal dynamics of managing a lean team through a complex transition, the importance of ruthless prioritisation during launch and how a strong partner, both technically and culturally, is essential.

Tune in for insights into:

• Overcoming internal resistance
• Centralising the customer experience
• Building a future-proof stack that supports personal relationships, wholesale channels and international complexity.

If you’re contemplating a replatform or curious how strategic tech choices can preserve brand equity while unlocking new opportunities, this conversation offers proven lessons, practical frameworks, and inspiration to move confidently into the future.

Smarter Ecommerce Promotions with Revlifter

Key takeaways:

• Blanket discounting often reduces profitability and can negatively affect customer experience.
• Intent-based personalisation enables retailers to engage shoppers with more relevant messages at the right moment.
• Personalisation isn't only about promotion; it can also support education, reassurance and product discovery.
• Smarter popup strategies can increase conversions while significantly reducing unnecessary discounts.
• Premium brands can use behavioural targeting to improve customer experience without relying on discounts.
• Creative gamification offers opportunities to increase engagement beyond traditional prize wheels.
• Measuring incrementality through robust testing is essential for understanding the true commercial impact of personalisation.
• Granular A/B testing and audience segmentation help retailers continuously optimise campaigns and maximise performance.

In this episode, we explore how ecommerce brands can move beyond blanket discounting to deliver more relevant, profitable customer experiences.

The conversation focuses on why traditional promotional strategies often frustrate shoppers, how intent-based personalisation is changing the way retailers engage customers and how brands can measure the true impact of their campaigns.

Our guest is Dan Bond from Revlifter. Revlifter's technology helps retailers personalise onsite marketing campaigns based on real-time customer intent rather than relying on broad promotional tactics.

A key theme throughout the episode is the downside of poorly targeted promotions. Irrelevant offers can damage trust and create frustration; for example, when loyal customers are excluded from incentives designed only for new shoppers.

We cover (rant about) the common mistakes retailers make, the commercial impact of those decisions and why brands need to create more intelligent promotional strategies.

We also discuss the growing importance of customer intent signals. Instead of treating every visitor the same, Dan explains how retailers can identify whether a shopper is actively ready to purchase or still in the discovery phase, allowing brands to tailor messaging and offers accordingly.

Moving beyond discounts, the discussion highlights how intent scoring can also power non-promotional experiences, such as providing buying guidance, product advice and reassurance during more complex purchasing journeys. This demonstrates how personalisation can improve customer experience without sacrificing margin.

Dan shares a real-world success story from Sportshoes. Discover how a refined popup strategy delivered a 7% uplift in conversions while suppressing more than 2,000 unnecessary discounts, resulting in savings of approximately £25,000.

Our attention then turns to premium brands, where discounting is often less appropriate. Using examples such as Radley, we discuss how exit-intent campaigns can be used across product listing pages, product pages and the cart to deliver value through personalised messaging, product recommendations or reassurance rather than price reductions.

Another topic is gamification, challenging the assumption that engagement begins and ends with the familiar "spin-to-win" mechanic. The discussion explores alternative campaign formats and creative approaches that ecommerce teams can test to increase engagement and conversion while maintaining brand value.

👍 What Ecommerce Businesses Can Learn from Patchworks’ Product Strategy & View on Tech TrendsIn this episode, we speak with Jim Herbert, CEO of Patchworks - recent winner of the 🏆 Ecommerce Technology Vendor of the Year award - about the technology trends shaping ecommerce right now. Three reasons to listen:1️⃣ Learn what tech trends are actually affecting ecommerce businesses — from AI search to PIM adoption and integration architecture.2️⃣ Understand how AI can improve operational efficiency — especially by speeding up implementation and reducing repetitive manual work.3️⃣ Hear practical examples of smarter ecommerce problem-solving — including white-label integration, self-healing workflows and scalable connector strategies.The conversation focuses on what’s changing in the ecommerce stack, why product data quality matters more than ever, and how AI is reshaping integrations, operations and discovery.A major theme is the rise of Product Information Management (PIM) for more complex data models, as businesses look to improve data quality, support cross-border commerce and make products more discoverable in AI-driven search. Jim explains why reliable integrations sit at the heart of ecommerce performance, especially when retailers are managing complex systems, large product catalogues and high-volume order flows.The episode also explores Patchworks’ new AI Studio, including how AI can speed up flow building, reduce manual mapping work and help teams launch integrations faster with less technical friction. Jim shares examples of practical automation, including self-healing data workflows and faster implementation timelines.Another important discussion point is partnership strategy. Jim outlines how Patchworks is broadening its ecosystem beyond a single platform dependency, creating more flexibility for retailers and technology partners as the ecommerce landscape continues to shift.Key chapters:

• [01:00] Intro,, Patchworks overview and why the episode matters
• [04:15] Tech trends in ecommerce: AI, PIMs, product data quality, discoverability and cross-border commerce.
• [12:40] Partnerships and ecosystem strategy: Shopify, Acumatica, Epicor, Centra, Scale.
• [17:20] AI Studio deep dive: implementation agent, mapping agent, connector builder, MCP, and self-healing workflows
• [28:25] Innovative use cases and edge cases: pricing automation, custom agents, partner-built tools and rapid migration.
• [33:00] White-label / embedded iPaaS: Blueprints, marketplace integrations and partner-led distribution.
• [36:30] Future roadmap, what’s next for AI Studio and closing remarks.

🔥 Navigating Ecommerce Innovation

In this episode, we explore the evolving landscape of ecommerce, technology and strategic partnerships through an insightful conversation with Melker Lindström, Technical Ecommerce Operations lead from Nudie Jeans and David Hellsing, founder of their agency partner Aino.

We explore how brands and agencies can collaborate effectively in a rapidly changing digital environment, and a balanced view on the role of AI and agentic storefronts in shaping the future of retail ecommerce.

************Key Topics:

************1️⃣ Impact of emerging tech trends like AI on ecommerce strategy.

2️⃣ How long-term agency-client relationships foster innovation and agility.

3️⃣ The role of brand websites versus agentic storefronts.

4️⃣ The importance of unbiased, prototyped tech assessments for future investments.

5️⃣ Evolving roles of developers in an AI-enabled world.

6️⃣ How strategic partnerships and aligned understanding boost project efficiency.

7️⃣ The future of AI-powered customer interactions and brand messaging control.

************

Chapters:

************

• [01:00] - Guest introductions: Melker from Nudie Jeans, David from Aino.

• [04:00] - Tech and customer trends influencing ecommerce strategies.
• [05:30] - Balancing trend awareness with strategic focus in tech adoption.
• [08:55] - Long-term brand website roles and agentic storefronts.
• [11:30] - Building strategic agency-brand partnerships.[14:20] - The evolution of agency roles from project-based to strategic partners.
• [17:15] - Expectations and future features of ecommerce platforms.
• [21:00] - Leveraging data and AI to enhance user experience and personalisation.
• [27:40] - Embedding AI tools into user journeys without disjointing the brand experience.
• [31:05] - Using AI internally for support.
• [37:25] - Approaching technology roadmaps—assessment, integration, and collaboration.

"You need to invest to try to establish your authority and your presence across the whole customer journey. What matters is the context that you can give around your products.”

Tune in for expert advice from Aleyda Solis, an award-winning international SEO and AI search optimisation consultant, author and speaker.

What you'll get from this podcast:

• Understand where GEO and AI search are actually heading.
• Learn how discovery is changing across channels, not just Google.
• Practical tactics for improving AI visibility and crawlability.
• Understand why product feeds and contextual data matter.
• Get a clearer view of measurement in a zero-click world.

Episode summary:

This episode explores how GEO is reshaping discovery as consumers move beyond traditional search engines and into fragmented AI-led journeys across platforms like ChatGPT, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and marketplaces.

Aleyda breaks down why this shift is more than hype: AI is changing not just where people search, but how they decide, compare and buy.

The discussion covers the key differences between classic SEO and GEO, including the move from deterministic clicks to synthesised answers, recommendation layers and zero-click discovery.

Aleyda also explains why GEO is becoming both a performance channel and a branding channel, and why measurement is now one of the biggest challenges in the space.

The episode gets practical fast, with advice on technical foundations, crawlability, product feeds, contextual data, UGC, digital PR and why authority-building content like guides and FAQs matters more than ever.

About our Pulse Series

Pulse is an ecommerce conference designed for ambitious high-growth retailers and brands looking for inspiration and innovation from some of the top speakers in ecommerce and digital marketing.

It takes place over 2 days every year in London, UK, with its sister New York event in September.

Our Pulse Special episodes feature the hottest content from the 2026 Pulse event, including panel discussions with leading brands and technology vendors.

Exclusive to Inside Commerce, these discussions share interesting insights from respected industry practitioners.

Visit ⁠insidecommerce.fm⁠ to access the full Pulse panel series.

"Scaling ecommerce fast means moving from heroics to systems — otherwise growth just exposes every weakness you’ve been carrying. Once you hit hyper-growth, the small process gaps stop being small. They become the things that break the business.”

This episode explores the hidden challenges brands face turning high-pressure moments into commercial opportunity, while also building the operational discipline needed to scale.

Our guest is Chris Sheard, Director or Ecommerce at sports brand Fanatics. Chris has an interesting background, having previously been Ecommerce Director for Castore and Head of Ecommerce at CurrentBody during its rapid growth from £5 million online revenue to £50 million plus.

We cover three key growth topics:

1. Key learnings from managing hype cycles around major sporting events like World Cups
2. From £5m to £100m: what breaks when ecommerce scales & how do you handle this effectively?
3. The ecommerce team nobody sees: how to build an operating rhythm that actually drives revenue.

And of course, AI is mentioned 🙂

Fanatics operates a vertical commerce model. By controlling everything from exclusive manufacturing to direct sales, they have transformed from a traditional sports retailer into a multifaceted digital sports empire.

They use real-time supply chains to turn sudden sports moments, like championship wins, into merchandise within hours. This "hot market" strategy captures sales at peak emotional engagement and reduces excess inventory risk.

We get into the reality of managing hype cycles around big fixtures, finals and player moments; they create huge spikes in demand but not all brands are ready to act fast. Chris explains that when the emotion disappears, the opportunity can vanish in seconds, so success depends on having the right stock, content, approvals and trading actions lined up in advance.

Chris was previously Head of Ecommerce at CurrentBody when they went through rapid growth. We discuss the hidden complexity of fast growth, including what breaks as businesses move from £5m to £50m and beyond.

Chris highlights why systems, data quality, guardrails and clear decision-making become essential as complexity rises.

A major theme is the shift from hero-led growth to repeatable execution: at smaller stages, a few strong individuals can carry the business, but at scale the organisation needs robust processes, strong accountability and a clear operating rhythm.

We also delve into managing and maintaining teams through that change by setting transparent KPIs, running focused trading meetings, keeping communication candid and creating a culture where people understand both the numbers and the wider commercial context.

The episode also reflects on recruitment and cultural fit, stressing that the right people need to be adaptable, commercially minded and able to thrive in a fast-changing environment.

In the obligatory nod to AI, we focus on AI as an enabler of better operations rather than a replacement for people, using it to remove repetitive tasks, improve analysis and help teams focus on higher-value work.