MCM CommerceChat

Abe Eshkenazi, CEO of the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM), said organizations need to take more of a long-term, systemic view vs. short-term fixes in response to a crisis. In this MCM podcast, Eshkenazi stresses the need for better visibility to read demand signals, and consideration of upstream/downstream effects. of efforts in any one node.

BNPL has caught on more broadly in other markets but it's certainly poised to catch on here. Square's pending $29b acquisition of Afterpay is certainly a major indicator, as are other deals. What is the significance of Square/Afterpay, and where is BNPL headed? Rob Galtman, a director at Fitch Ratings, gives us his take.

The last 18 months of lockdowns and restrictions have made it hard for consumers to shop at stores, eliminating the pleasure of leisurely, impulse buying, seeing a product or speaking with an associate. The answer to this problem may be livestreaming shopping. Is it the mall of the future? We talk to Jared Blank of VTEX to learn more.

Instacart has been on its own shopping spree, hiring away Fidji Simo, who ran Facebook's main app, as CEO, as well as Facebookers Carolyn Everson as president and Asha Sharma as COO. What’s behind Instacart's Facebook hiring binge? In this latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, we explore the subject with Orlee Tal, CEO of Stor.ai.

Israel Maynard, Senior Director of International Logistics and Fulfillment for outdoor gear and apparel retailer Burton, has been busy working with vendors overseas and partners here to get everything stocked and set for his peak season. We discuss all this in our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast.

After a major software implementation, how do you deal with issues that inevitably crop up? Katie Langrock, VP of Operations at Vermont Teddy Bear and a panelist on this topic at Ecommerce Operations Summit 2021 (Aug. 17-18, Gaylord Opreyland, Nashville), talks about her team’s ERP journey in this MCM CommerceChat podcast.

As the pandemic settled in, many were looking to escape urban environs and get back to the land. Letitia Webster, Tractor Supply’s SVP of ecommerce, omnichannel and MDM, and a keynote at Ecommerce Operations Summit (Aug. 17-18, Nashville) talks about how her team met this new demand and improved processes along the way.

Finding enough workers is a problem, and you need to be mindful of how the workforce is changing to meet staffing objectives. Mark Irvin, chief inclusion and diversity officer for Best Buy and a keynoter at Ecommerce Operations Summit 2021, talks about how his charge aligns with the company's labor management strategy.

There has been a steady proliferation of autonomous mobile robot makers. This while demand has grown for AMRs in order fulfillment, as ecommerce booms and labor is tight. But can different warehouse robots play nice together? Two members of a standards group explain how it's happening in this MCM CommerceChat podcast.

In our latest MCM CommerceChat podcast, Liz Armbruester of Avalara, and Kevin Permenter of IDC provide an update on the ecommerce taxation landscape, three years after the landmark Wayfair decision. We also discuss the tax implications of the explosion in ecommerce, and how adding new sales channels equals new complexities.