The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined in this episode by Melissa Burdick, co-founder & President of Pacvue, an enterprise marketplace digital advertising platform.

Questions Melissa answers:

1. From Amazon to Mars to founding Pacvue. Decompose this for our audience how this journey evolved.
2. What is Pacvue’s niche and who are your customers/users? How can specific retailers benefit from Pacvue’s offerings?
3. How important is eCommerce in a brand’s journey in 2021? Is it non-negotiable? Does this apply for startups, small brands or larger brands? What and how is Pacvue contributing to this journey?
4. What are all the various retail media platforms Pacvue manages/offers support on? Specifically is it optimization or planning or both components?
5. Take us through your services and how you improve your platform and deliver value to your clients/brands?
6. What makes AMG different from Roundel from WMT connect? How do you obtain data for each? Are you working with brand clients for the data? 
7. What about non retailer media mix? DTC in particular? Is that on the horizon? How are you shaping that portion of media?
8. Can you take us through the funnel when it comes to media? What matters most, we hear CPM, CTR, CVR (age old metrics) - what’s new and reality here? How does Pacvue attribute to instore?

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The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Alex McCord, EVP & Managing Director at Flywheel Digital, An Amazon-focused agency supporting brands selling through 1P.

In Alex's conversation with Peter, he answers the following questions:

1. Your career was born into eCommerce and digital retailing when it was still new for CPG brands. How hard has it been and what is the state of maturity of digital and the COG industry today?
2. What is the so called Flywheel of success in digital? Can you decompose it for us?
3. Amazon is obviously taking most of the attention in retail in 2020. Why have brands been so hesitant to embrace it & how do you advise them now?
4. eCommerce is a balance between short term and long term based on shopper analytics & insights. How do you personally use insights and what sort of analytics do you provide clients?
5. Who are the type of brands or retailers you work with and what’s a typical project? Who is the beneficiary? Is it the VP of eCommerce or marketing?
6. What does the future hold for other omnichannel retailers - Walmart, CVS, other channels etc? Any early observations on walmart plus?
7. What’s the role of content - digital shelf SEO copy, title, bullet points...what matters?
8. Hacking growth in ecommerce requires a deep focus on numbers - what are the metrics that matter? ACOS, ROAS, CVR, CAC, these are some, what about sales metrics?
9. Let’s get into supply chain and ecommerce. What matters here? What should brands be focused on? How does one manage for Amazon ?
10. What is your advice for brands and retailers wishing to significantly advance their journey on digital transformation? 

Northwestern/MIT Study on Amazon Reviews for Product Innovation.

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To celebrate 20,000 downloads of The CPG Guys podcast, Sri  & PVSB decide to share with our audience the "inside baseball" of our podcast.

We answer the following questions:

1. Why did we found the podcast?
2. What was the original format of the podcast?
3. Why did we choose to change the format?
4. What is the mission of the podcast?
5. How does diveristy & inclusion play into our format?
6. How did we convince guests to join us?
7. How did we decide to develop themes?
8. What's the background behind the OMNIES?
9. Where are we taking the podcast?
10. Who's coming up next?

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The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined in this episode by Justin Kamine, founder & CEO of Upgraid, an outcome-based health natural supplements brand.

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Questions that Justin addresses:

1. Take us through the journey of Upgraid - how did this happen, how did you find a team? What’s the motivation behind Upgraid?
2. Selfcare - that’s today’s norm? Why has selfcare been such a nascent outcome in the US? Why are we so focused on intervention based healthcare?
3. How does a millennial who has spent his growth in agri startups become a CPG expert?
4. What’s the DNA of a startup? What ticks, what results in growth? Are there hacks?
5. Take us through your efficacies/products and how you improve your innovation platform and deliver value to your customers?
6. How are you hacking healthcare? How do you network and learn in this space? 
7. DTC vs Amazon? Why does one need DTC when there’s Amazon? How are you doing on Amazon? Has it been hard?
8. What is your advice for entrepreneurs? Is the dream a dream or reality? How does a founder chase a passion and where do you look for help along the journey?

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The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined in this 2 part episode by digital experience maven Steven G. Koven VP of Omnichannel & eCommerce at Crossmark. Most recently, Stephen was VP of Digital Experience at Hormel Foods and had previously worked at Henkel and The Clorox Company.

Stephen speaks to how brands can leverage user-generated content like product ratings & reviews up and don the marketing funnel to drive commercial success.

Questions Stephen addresses:

1. It’s been my experience reading reviews on sites like Amazon, that many reviews are 1 or two words. How can you go about generating more meaningful reviews? 
2. It seems many brands are deathly afraid of negative reviews? Should they be? How 
   should brands consider dealing with this feedback? Also, what should they NOT do? 
3. How should  brands consider maintaining their UGC program? What things should they be considering in ensuring it delivers sales results? 
4. In my prior life as an eCommerce leader, the way I would make sense of all the UGC on  my site and on retail sites was to hire a bunch of summer interns, give them some PCs, put them in a conference room, tell them to read reviews and come back at the end of the summer with a presentation. Clearly, this is neither scalable nor objective. What 
   should brands be doing in 2021 to learn from UGC on their products and their  competitor’s products? 
5. There is this concept called syndication. What does that mean, why is it important to 
   brands? 
6. What is going on in the industry about monetization of syndication? Is this good for retailers, brands and consumers? 
7. What about Q&A? Should brands offer Q&A on their sites? How should they build a plan 
   to respond on retailer sites? 
8. What is the importance of visual content? Are there some ways to promote collection? 
   
   

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The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined in this 2 part episode by digital experience maven Steven G. Koven VP of Omnichannel & eCommerce at Crossmark. Most recently, Stephen was VP of Digital Experience at Hormel Foods and had previously worked at Henkel and The Clorox Company.

Stephen speaks to how brands can leverage user-generated content like product ratings & reviews up and don the marketing funnel to drive commercial success.

Questions Stephen addresses:

1. My first question is: would you please define what user generated content is and whether it is measurably important on the path to purchase.
2. Can you speak to how UGC can and should be applied in eCommerce, particularly the digital shelf? Any innovative examples?
3. Does the impact of UGC matter based upon the product category? I mean, is it really important to collect reviews for a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi or some asparagus? What other factors may influence the importance of UGC in the path to purchase?
4. There are a great number of brands, particularly in food & beverage, who prior to the pandemic, had not invested in UGC. Now, by all accounts, they are scrambling to get started. Can you walk our audience through exactly how to get up and running and what needs to be considered in developing a UGC program?
5. Once you have designed a program and have selected the vendors, you’ll need to actually implement it. Can you speak to specific concerns that brands should address during the implementation phase?
6. OK, now you have your program established and you want to start collecting content. The million dollar question that I know Peter gets asked all the time: how many reviews do I need? And a follow up: once I hit the threshold, am I golden, have I reached my destination?
7. Does quality come into consideration? In other words, does only the start rating matter or are there other factors? (recently, length, sentiment, assortment coverage, supplementary product-relevant questions)
8. What are some major ways to generate the content?

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The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined in this episode by Andrea Leigh, VP of Strategy & Insights at Ideoclick, an eCommerce Accelerator Consultancy for brands at Amazon & beyond.

This is a fun and lively conversation about the transforming landscape of eCommerce.

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Questions that Andrea addresses:

1. Your story starts as a Golden Gopher, and is cemented in success at Amazon and now running your own agency focused on helping brands win on this platform. Decompose this for our audience how this journey evolved.
2. You just released an article named ‘warning signs that your amazon business is off track’. Can you walk us through the highlights of it?
3. How important is eCommerce in a brand’s journey in 2021? Is it non-negotiable? Does this apply for startups, small brands or larger brands?
4. AMG - fact or fiction ? Is ROI growth or performance marketing?
5. Take us through your services and how you improve your platform and deliver value to your clients/brands?
6. Subscribe and save - is it really a driver of success? What does one need to drive it? 
7. DTC vs Amazon? Why does one need DTC when there’s Amazon?
8. COVID has cemented Amazon as a priority at every brand. Conversely, Amazon’s supply chain weaknesses were highlighted under the demand stress. However Amazon was a household name far before it. What is the DNA of success at Amazon. What drives it? Is it a winning platform for brands in the long run?

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The CPG Guys Sri and PVSB are joined in this episode by That's it Fruit's founder and CEO Lior Lewensztain to speak about how his on-the-go fruit snacks are thriving in the digital omnichannel environment.

Follow The CPG Guys on LinkedIn at http://www.LinkedIn.com/company/cpgpodcast 

Questions that Lior addresses:

1. Your story starts at USC, then you became an MD (doctor) and then you got your MBA. Now you’re a founder of a fast growing snacks and nutrition oriented food product. Decompose this for our audience and tell us how different it is.
2. In your opinion, what are the things you must do to build a successful specialty food business?
3. How is That’s it bar working to ensure it is ecommerce & omnichannel ready = what are specific initiatives or actions you have taken?
4. DTC - it seems every brand is focused on delivering some sort of direct partnership with the consumer especially if subscription oriented. How are you focused on it? 
5. Take us through your innovation methodology and how you source your materials and then decide if it's right for the marketplace?
6. Is click & collect the future of Shopping? If so, how are you partnering with retailers to ensure That’s it bars are in the shopping basket? Was impulse the primary stimulus for that’s it making a consumer’s basket? If so, how do you drive impulse today, particularly on the digital shelf?
7. Foodservice & convenience - two largely impacted areas in 2020 : how did these impact your business? How did you navigate? What’s next for the company?
8. The pandemic has obviously changed shopper behavior for good it seems - do you agree. In the role you play how are you responding to this and preparing for the transformation?

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The CPG Guys Sri and PVSB are joined in this episode by CommerceIQ founder and CEO Guru Hariharan to speak about using machine learning and automation to optimize the full eCommerce channel to win at the moment of purchase and drive profitable growth.

Follow The CPG Guys on LinkedIn at http://www.LinkedIn.com/company/cpgpodcast 

Questions that Guru addresses:

1. How did your professional experiences at Shutterfly, eBay and Amazon affect your founding of CommerceIQ?
2. What is the mission of CommerceIQ and what brand needs does it fulfill?
3. With the rapid growth of eCommerce in 2020, how is CommerceIQ keeping up with increased demand for insights, data and retail media $?
4. What specific tools does CommerceIQ provide? What brand persona or archetype typically uses them?
5. How are brand partnerships established with CommerceIQ? Do you hunt for opportunities or are brands coming to you with the recent shift to eCommerce?
6. What’s the role of product content - digital shelf SEO copy, title, bullet points in your offerings?
7. What do you think is unique about Amazon, what’s your next prediction and how should brands prepare for it?
8. In order to grow eCommerce sales significantly, does the upper funnel matter more and this whole digital revolution is about customer acquisition?

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The CPG Guys, Sri & PVSB are joined in this episode by Tara West the founder & proprietor of Tara West Fashion. Tara is an independent personal stylist and one of Boston's pre-eminent fashion and lifestyle bloggers. Voted multiple times Boston's Best A-List Fashion Blog, and listed among the top 100 fashion blogs in the country, Tara West's blog received hundreds of visitors daily and reaches over 30,000 Instagram followers who rely on her to identify appropriate fashion trends for professional women.

Questions Tara addresses:

1. How do you market your services such that someone selects you as a personal stylist?
2. What observations have you made about the impact that the pandemic on fashion & apparel and, more specifically, their need/want for a personal stylist?
3. How has the demand for the mix of services you provide been evolving in the pandemic?
4. How are people shopping differently during this time in terms of physical vs digital stores and the mix of fashion they are looking to buy? Categories that are growing vs. shrinking?
5. How do you consult professionals using video conferencing on fashion relative to the environment in which they are conducting these video calls? How does a professional successfully “up her/his Zoom game?”
6. You’re also a social media influencer. Please help us understand the work you do and how you monetize that work for people who don’t contract you for personal services.
7. As an influencer/blogger how are brands working with you? And has it changed since the pandemic?
8. How has the pandemic shifted the focus of your selected fashions for social media and how do you successfully amplify your messages?
9. At latest count, you have nearly 30K instagram followers. Why did you choose Instagram to make a position and how do you grow your base? Is it all organic or is there a monetary customer acquisition strategy?
10. From a technology perspective, what are the tools you use to create all of the content that you post? Are there must-haves in content generation?

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