Own Your Commerce

Paul do Forno brings over 25 years of experience in digital technology and commerce to today’s conversation. He’s led the digital experience for some of the world’s most iconic brands, including General Electric, Siemens, Target, Foot Locker, and Hyatt, and has been a key driver of the digital transformation that has shaped the modern commerce experience.

Today he is a Managing Director at Deloitte Digital and a leading voice in ecommerce and all things digital. 

A digital transformation has occurred, accelerated by the rapid rise of ecommerce and a global pandemic. In this dynamic discussion, do Forno dives into his holistic approach to the commerce experience, highlighting some of the opportunities and challenges facing enterprise and B2B brands today. 

Here are some of the key topics we discussed: 

• The digital transformation that is happening in front of us 

Paul do Forno is a Managing Director at Deloitte Digital and a leader in the Commerce Practice. He brings over 25 years of experience in strategy, digital, and technology, leading the Commerce Practice Eminence initiative as well as the go-to-market for B2B Commerce. In the past, Paul has led some of the world’s largest digital platform programs with brands like General Electric, Siemens, Target, Foot Locker, Hyatt, and many more, driving commerce and digital transformations. He is a frequent speaker at digital and ecommerce events as well as being featured as an ecommerce subject matter expert on many publications. He has worked closely with the research analysts and holds several executive advisory board positions with top digital platform vendors.

Commercetools is taking a fascinating approach to enabling digital commerce. They are referred to as a true cloud, headless commerce platform, providing the building blocks for the new digital commerce age. Those building blocks are 350 consumable APIs that let you build anything commerce experience you want! 

Fun fact, they coined the term "headless commerce" in 2013, long before it was as popular as it is today. 

Examples of brands that use Commerce tools are Audi, Tiffany & Co, Universal Music, Carhartt, and many more. Plus mutual brands with Bold such as Harry Rosen who leverages their suite of API's with Bold Checkout and other technologies to really create something special. Shameless plug, but definitely check out HarryRosen.com when you have a chance. 

It's a fascinating conversation that I think everyone will learn something from. Enjoy! 

Some of the topics we discuss are:

• What exactly is Headless Commerce and why should brands consider it. 

Harley Finkelstein joined Shopify in 2010. Originally as a merchant selling t-shirts on the platform.  Today he serves as President of the company and his passion for entrepreneurship is as alive as ever.  As president of Shopify, Harley's life mission is to empower as many entrepreneurs as he can and remove every barrier to entrepreneurship possible.

What exactly does Harley do on an average day at the office? What are the big challenges Shopify is working on now, and what's in store for Shopify in the future?

In this episode we dive into all that, and more! 

Some of the topics we discuss are:

• What does a day at Shopify look like for Harley? 

Harley Finkelstein is an entrepreneur, lawyer, and the President of Shopify. He founded his first company at age 17 while a student at McGill. Harley completed his law degree as well as his MBA at the University of Ottawa, where he co-founded the JD/MBA Student Society and the Canadian MBA Oath. Harley is an Advisor to Felicis Ventures, and one of the “Dragons” on CBC’s Next Gen Den. Recently, he received the Canadian Angel Investor of the Year Award, Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, and was inducted into the Order of Ottawa. From 2014 to 2017 Harley was on the Board of the C100, and from 2017 to 2020 he was on to the Board of Directors of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Harley is currently starring on Discovery Channel’s I Quit, a television series about hopeful entrepreneurs who decide to quit their 9-5 jobs to focus full-time on their side hustles. 

• Shopify 

Chris George is the Co-Founder and Chairman of SUBTA, the Subscription Trade Association. SUBTA supports thousands of ecommerce brands helping them add and scale a subscription or membership offering on their ecommerce stores. 

⭐️ SPECIAL NOTE: To register for webinar with Chris George this coming Tuesday (April 13th) at 11am Pacific, click here. 

Gartner Research predicts that by 2023, 75% of all DTC brands will have a subscription membership offering. So if you're not already thinking about subscriptions, it might be time to start! 

Subscriptions aren't just for coffee and shampoo refills anymore! We're seeing brands in just about every vertical (Clothing, Beauty, Consumer Electronics, Wellness etc) launch some form of membership offering.  Whether it's membership for exclusive access, VIP pricing, access to content, etc. 

Chris was also the founder of a successful subscription company, Gentleman's Box, which he had a successful exit from a couple years ago. So he's been on both sides of the field! 

Some of the topics we discuss are:

• How to sell an experience - the difference between selling one-time vs a subscription 

About our guest:

Chris George is a co-founder and chairman of the Subscription Trade Association (SUBTA), and a serial entrepreneur who has successfully launched and managed seven businesses and sold two. As one of the creators of the wildly popular and recently acquired Gentleman’s Box, Chris has spoken to aspiring entrepreneurs and established industry professionals at events like Digital Summit, SubSummit, and several academic institutions. His strong business acumen and

understanding of the role of marketing and branding solidifies him as a burgeoning force in the realm of entrepreneurs.

• SUBTA - https://subta.com/ 

"Speed to Market" vs "Speed to Innovate"? What's the difference, why does it matter, how should you approach each, and can they work together? 

Karim Marucchi joins us to discuss the differences between Open Source vs SaaS, the strengths of each, how they're different, how they work, and most importantly, how they can work together!

Karim is the CEO of Crowd Favorite and one of the most forward thinking leaders in the digital experience platform space, and all things open source. He works with some of the largest brands in the world such as Disney, Lexus, Cambell's National Geographic, helping them innovate on WooCommerce, an open source platform. 

BONUS: Our Chief Revenue Officer at Bold joins us on today's show! 

• Advantage to using SaaS over OS (when comparing)

Karim Marucchi, CEO of Crowd Favorite, has over 20+ years of experience in launching digital strategies. From bootstrapping one the first digital production teams in the industry, to leading global teams within the WPP Group, to taking agencies public; his wealth of expertise in leading digital teams across the globe has helped curate and expand his vision to lead Crowd Favorite in helping Enterprise organizations integrate successful Open Source into today’s Digital transformation strategies.

Close to 20,000 brands use Shogun to build beautiful and totally customized pages for the ecommerce sites. Brands like K-Swiss, Timbuk2, MVMT Watches, Chubbies Shorts, Leesa Mattress, and so many more. 

A lot of those same brands also leverage the speed and flexibility of a headless front-end. Recently Shogun launched Shogun Frontend, which is a Progressive Web App (PWA) tool that allows stores to build a LIGHTNING FAST headless front end that loads in sub-second speeds. 

In this episode we dive into exactly what a PWA is, why stores should consider it, and how it works within a headless architecture. 

If you're a scaling ecommerce brand, this is an episode you won't want to miss! 

Some of the topics we discuss are:

• How a Progressive Web App works as an ultra fast headless front end.

Finbarr is the CEO & Co-Founder of Shogun and former software engineer at Y Combinator. He's a Scottish guy living in California and one of the first results on Google for Finbarr!

Previously he's built two businesses, Shogun (a CMS and Headless PWA with thousands of paying customers) and a web development business he started when he was 18. He loves finding creative coding solutions, and has written code to process millions of dollars worth of orders at companies like Pebble, Groupon and Exec.

• Shogun Page Builder 

Discover how Simon Rodrigue recently led Staples through a complete digital transformation in a fraction of time (and cost) using a best-in-breed "modular" approach to ecommerce. 

With over 300 retail locations, and a plethora of services (print, wholesale, school etc), plus managing unique pricing for the Staples Preferred program, syncing an ecommerce solution between it all that ties in seamlessly, managing pricing, curbside pickup, and other aspects was no small feat! 

Simon is someone who understands ecommerce like very few. Staples is evolving, and so is their digital presence.  This episode gives a glimpse into how they think about ecommerce, their approach to solving it, and how this sets them up for success in the future. 

The best thing about Simon and Staples, is they really are just getting started! 

Some of the topics we discuss:

• Build vs Buy and how Staples thinks about solving complex ecommerce requirements. 

Our Guest: Simon Rodrigue

Simon Rodrigue is a recognized leader in the retail transformation taking place today, with over 15+ years of executive experience in the space. Most notably, Simon is the SVP and Chief Digital Officer at STAPLES Canada where he is a key member of the leadership team transforming one of Canada's most iconic retail brands.

Simon was also the former SVP of eCommerce for Walmart Canada where he was responsible for all aspects of the online business, technology, digital marketing, and integration with stores in Canada. During this time, in addition to rapidly growing the business, he introduced store pickup and grocery home shopping to the Canadian market.

Simon was also the VP of Product Management / Site Experience North America as well as General Manager of Canada at Travelocity. He was the Associate Vice President of eCommerce at Sears Canada and held several operational and merchandising leadership roles within The Home Depot Canada before serving as their Senior Manager of eCommerce and Interactive Marketing launching Homedepot.ca into the Canadian marketplace. He also served as a Senior Business and Marketing Consultant with Nortel Networks Global Services, enabling start-ups and aiding Fortune 50 companies to develop global emerging business strategies.

Jon Kennedy built what is probably one of the biggest ecommerce communities around. 100,000+ active members with thousands waiting to get in!  He started out buying and selling on eBay and launched stores on various platforms before gradually finding his way to Shopify.

• Jon’s career beginnings in pro sports marketing

For over 20 years, Robbie Kellman Baxter has been a subscriptions advocate and expert, literally writing the book on subscriptions (well, two actually). She used the expertise she gathered from consulting for Netflix, Oracle, eBay, and more to pen The Membership Economy and The Forever Transaction.

Today she shares her innovative outlook on subscriptions that she calls the “membership mindset.” It’s about building your organization, experience, and brand around helping people solve their problems or reach their goals for the long term.

Whether you’re currently running a subscription or plan on launching one, this is an episode you don’t want to miss!

• How she got involved with subscriptions, including consulting for Netflix back when she was subscribed to their mail service

Links and resource

Subscribe to learn more about taking your commerce to the next level!

Colin Bodell worked as a technologist for Amazon, Groupon, and American Eagle — to name a few — before joining Shopify Plus last year as VP of Engineering. Today he gives us his valuable insights on Covid-19’s accelerating effect on ecommerce and his prescient first experience with Shopify. He’ll also share how merchants can use data to renew old school personal relationships with customers and how Shopify's merchant-first philosophy seeks to democratize that data.

• Colin’s experiences working with Amazon, Shopify, and more