This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

User-generated content (UGC) has become central to brands’ marketing and customer experience strategies over the past decade. But as social channels and trends have evolved, so too have brands’ methods for collecting, amplifying and monetizing their UGC. 

In August 2024, the FTC issued a formal ban on fake reviews and testimonials — an effort designed to prevent businesses from purchasing and “growth hacking” inaccurate, malicious or misleading content. During this episode of Retail Remix, Bazaarvoice CMO Zarina Stanford digs into: 

• Why new policies were needed as the social media landscape evolved and expanded; 
• How some businesses monetized, even weaponized, UGC for their own gain, and what the new ruling means for this gray area of the web; 
• What brands can do to comply with new guidelines, and how they need to adapt their UGC strategies moving forward; and
• The unknown ways brands could be misleading consumers with UGC, and what they can do to course correct. 

RELATED LINKS

• Learn more about Bazaarvoice
• Download the company’s latest Channel Mix Study
• Get more details from Bazaarvoice’s authenticity research
• Read the article outlining the new ban on fake reviews and testimonials 
• See all the latest coverage on FTC cases and rulings
• Connect with Zarina on LinkedIn

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

The payment experience has always been considered a “necessary evil” for ecommerce sites. There’s information merchants need to accept, validate and fulfill online orders. 

But now, technology is turning the payment experience into an opportunity for differentiation. During this week’s Retail Remix, two executives embedded in this exciting new world of payment share their thoughts on: 

• What consumers actually expect from the checkout phase of the online shopping journey; 

• How the rise of mobile wallets, accelerated checkout tools and BNPL has set new standards for success; 

• How merchants can best align their current ecommerce experiences with consumer needs to identify key ways to improve; and 

• Why tech players across the ecommerce ecosystem, including BigCommerce and PayPal, are coming together to drive innovation in payments. 

  
  

RELATED LINKS

• Learn more about BigCommerce conversion solutions
• Learn more about PayPal’s retail offerings
• Get details on how BigCommerce is helping merchants offer FastLane by PayPal on their sites
• Download Retail TouchPoints’ deep-dive report on the payment experience

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

Marci Zaroff coined the term “ECOfashion” in 1995 and has spent decades driving meaningful conversations and tangible change in the fashion industry. Nearly three decades later, she is reflecting on the market’s evolution and the work that still needs to be done. 

During this episode of Retail Remix, Marci shares:

• Her vision for “ECOfashion” and how she believed it would influence the way all players in fashion and retail collaborate; 
• How evolving consumer behaviors, including their love for resale and more ethical brands, is driving urgency among the C-suite; 
• The making and growth of ECOfashion Corp, and how she’s won the support of Nigel Barker, Hilary Swank and other industry superstars; and 
• New innovations in sustainable fashion, sparked by collaborations with Universal Music Group and other adjacent organizations.

  RELATED LINKS

• Learn more about ECOfashion Corp
• Connect with Marci on LinkedIn
• Read Retail TouchPoints' latest content on sustainability

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

Brandon Rael has decades of retail industry experience. As a member of RetailWire’s BrainTrust, a Rethink Retail Top Industry Influencer, and part of Kynryl’s consulting team, his daily focus is keeping pace with the new trends driving the retail industry forward. 

So who would be a better person than Brandon to dig into holiday trends and predictions? During this episode of Retail Remix, he shares: 

• The critical role that social commerce will play in driving product awareness and conversions; 

  
  

• How retailers can optimize their marketing and promotions strategies to maximize revenue; and 

  
  

• Why personalization and curation are both critical for standing out and setting a foundation for loyalty. 

  
  

RELATED LINKS

• Connect with Brandon on LinkedIn
• Read this article featuring Brandon’s holiday predictions
• Learn more about Kyndryl
• Check out other industry experts’ holiday predictions

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

VICI was founded in 2012, when women were looking for trendy, high-quality fashions on a relatively new platform called Instagram, but were extra wary of their spending. With consumers now in a very similar headspace, it is an optimal time for Co-founder and Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer Aimee Dudum Colorado to reflect on how the business has evolved.

During this episode, Aimee chats with host Alicia Esposito about:

• How the mission and values of VICI have evolved since the company’s inception, if at all;
• How VICI helped shape the “Instagram Brand” model; 
• The distinct role that influencers and creators play in driving marketing and new product creation; and
• How the “meme-ification” of marketing is making standing out harder for brands.

RELATED LINKS

• Learn more about VICI
• See Retail TouchPoints’ latest coverage on all things social commerce

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

To identify new collaborative opportunities, retailers should focus on their distinct business values and how they translate into serving specific customers and communities. That is how Dollar General was able to turn its commitment to supporting households into a successful multi-year partnership with Bayer.

For this special episode of Retail Remix, Allen Warch, VP of Food & Fresh Merchandising at Dollar General, gets behind the mic with Jenny Maloney, Global-Americas Strategic Accounts Manager at Bayer, to discuss: 

• How both companies serve local communities by providing access to fresh fruit and vegetables;
• Why the commitment to feeding communities inspired a new partnership surrounding National School Lunch Week; and
• The lessons both companies learned in 2023 and how they’ve applied them to their 2024 partnership.

RELATED LINKS

• See details on the 2023 partnership between Dollar General and Bayer
• Learn more about Dollar General’s commitment to offering fresh produce in stores
• Download Dollar General’s “Serving Others” report to see how the retailer is serving local communities

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

If you want to create store experiences that are not only engaging, but truly immersive, storytelling should be your central design strategy. 

American Girl is one brand that has taken storytelling to the next level, creating realms where imaginations flourish and brand narratives are celebrated. For this episode of Retail Remix, we’re replaying a session from the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, where Kristina Duncan, Creative Executive at American Girl, and Ted Galperin, Partner & Director of Retail Design at creative studio Mythology, shared how executives can: 

• Explore, imagine or reimagine their brand story; 
• Harness what’s happening in pop culture to deliver a highly relevant and curated retail environment; and 
• Identify the right partners to bring their physical storytelling to life. 

RELATED LINKS

• Learn more about American Girl
• Learn more about Mythology
• Get more insights on how to design spaces for kids
• Subscribe to Design:Retail for more retail design trends and insights

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

Rachel Frederick oversees various aspects of Sur La Table’s digital business, from digital marketing to the brand’s direct-to-consumer ecommerce site, fraud prevention and even fulfillment offerings. 

To ensure Sur La Table creates experiences that meet and exceed customer expectations, Rachel and her team rely heavily on customer data. During this episode of Retail Remix, Rachel discusses how audience insights have helped the brand: 

• Adopt new fulfillment offerings and experiences, such as Amazon Today; 
• Understand Sur La Table’s key differentiators to strike the perfect balance between high-quality service and convenience; and 
• Embrace a more collaborative, multi-disciplinary culture within the organization.

RELATED LINKS

• Learn more about Sur la Table
• Connect with Rachel Frederick on LinkedIn

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

Merchants of all sizes and across categories have heard the call: to survive in an era of heightened expectations, they must empower consumers to buy anytime, anywhere and in any way they want. And oh yeah, they have to get those products to customers’ doorsteps faster. 

Companies like Feedonomics are making it a reality by ensuring product data is accurate, compelling and integrated across all platforms, from marketplaces to social apps. During this episode of Retail Remix, Alicia Esposito sits down with Sharon Gee, SVP of Sales and Partnerships at Feedonomics, to discuss: 

• The evolution of omnichannel and how new platforms like TikTok Shop are making the landscape more complex; 
• The challenges brands are facing as they try to keep pace with the proliferation of new commerce experiences, and why data is central to success; and 
• What instant commerce really is and how Feedonomics is powering it by partnering with Amazon Today. 

RELATED LINKS

• Learn more about Feedonomics
• Read about Feedonomics’ partnership with Amazon Today 
• Get more details on Instant Commerce
• See more coverage featuring Feedonomics and BigCommerce

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.

This episode is brought to you by Commerce.

For his latest book, Gary Hawkins wanted to explore the gap between technology's rapid evolution and retailers' slow adoption of it. With Bionic Retail: How to Thrive in an Exponential World, he identifies what's holding retailers back, and how they can adapt their systems, processes and cultures to embrace innovation.

During this Retail ThinkTank Ideation Session, Hawkins explores what's happening in retail today...and what's possible in the future, from in-store retail media to wearable commerce. Listen to get a peek into the conversation, and click the link below to watch the full episode.   

Click here to watch the Retail ThinkTank Ideation Session

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How to Win Customers Across Every Channel

This guide from BigCommerce brings you expert insights on data, branding, and marketing to help you grow sales across every major channel. Read the Guide.