The CPG Guys

The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB welcome Brian Sappington to the podcast. Brian is a 2 decade veteran of The Coca-Cola Company, working in various sales roles across most retail verticals. Last year, he assumed the newly-created role of North America Chief Digital Integration Officer. In this episode, Brian discusses elements of leadership that have enabled his team to build internal stakeholder support for the digital transformation occurring in the marketplace.

Questions Brian addresses: 

1. We understand that when you moved into your current role it was a newly created operating team within Coca-Cola, can you share a little bit about bringing a new digital team together?
2. Why is the idea of integration essential to your team?
3. What did you learn from that experience?
4. Can you share with our audience some of the drivers of success for your organization
5. What type of culture do you believe has been created and how does that support your digital efforts?
6. What time of leadership helps accelerate digital efforts from your experience? 
7. How did you drive alignment and success with diverse stakeholders?
8. What was the same and what was different in engaging with these stakeholders given that your work focused on digital commerce? 
9. What role did you have to play and where did you empower your team? 
10. What do you believe is next in terms of integrating Digital across Coca-Cola?

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The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined in this episode by Mike Black.

Mike explains the term DIVA

• Discoverable - being highly visible in retailer search results
• Informative - online, there is limitless real estate available to promote your brand
• Valued - investing in brand building to ensure brand preference can help stave off competitive threats
• Agile - adapt quickly to changes in both consumer behavior and macro issues

And Mike shares where to best bury a "dead body" on a PDP!

Mike answers these questions:

1. Talk to us more about the concept of digital shelf - why is this an important area that brands need to focus on?
2. Is digital shelf management something every company is doing well at this point - it seems like it would be a fundamental practice at this point, right?
3. Where do you see the biggest ROI in terms of managing the digital shelf? What really moves the needle?
4. Recently, you published some really interesting research on the impact of digital shelf performance, ie the impact, going out of stock and what it means for sales. Can you talk about some of that research bit?
5. I believe you are doing some research on the impact of ratings & reviews -- anything you can preview or share with us? 
6. You were pretty active this week in publishing some data out on retailer pricing competing - what were some of the key trends you saw from that? 
7. Not every retailer is trying to compete on price. Target good example 
8. What separates the brands that are using data well in their business from those who are just aren’t there yet?
9. You have been with Profitero for 3 years - what’s the biggest change you have seen in the market since the pandemic? 

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The CPG Guys, Sri & Peter, are joined this week by Coleman professor at Texas A&M Center for Retailing Studies - Venkatesh (Venky) Shankar to discuss retail analytics in a transformative era.

Questions that Sri & Peter pose to Dr. Shankar:

1. Your career has primarily anchored around marketing and the research surrounding its applicability to retail. Decompose this for our audience.
2. What is the latest research yielding? Is the so-called retail apocalypse here? Is this really doomsday for the store model?  
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 balance both and what is the focus for long term analytics? 
5. Who are the type of brands or retailers you work with and what’s a typical project? Who is the beneficiary?
6. What is your advice for brands and retailers wishing to significantly advance their journey on digital transformation?
7. Walmart has been in a race in 2020 with their own transformation and now the announcement of Walmart+. What’s your outlook here? Are they on the right path? 
8. Retail digital transformation requires capital on an already wafer thin margin ecosystem unlike brands. How do you advocate for this knowing this with a healthy respect to the P&L?
9. You have come from the instore world like us, how are you transforming your thinking digital focused? What’s the unlock?
10. What happens go forward with retail given the unusual outcomes from the pandemic? Does foot traffic ever go back to it’s Jan 2020 highs?

To learn more about Dr. Shankar, click here.

To learn more about Sri & PVSB, visit http://cpgguys.com

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The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB explore the latest performance results for a number of important retailers:

• Albertsons
• Instacart
• Loblaw
• Walmart
• Target
• Home Depot
• BJ's Wholesale Club
• Go Puff
• Amazon Pharmacy

The also give thanks to the audience for support and feedback that drives the direction of the podcast.

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CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined in this episode by Steven H. Carroll Associate Director - Retail Media and Advertising Product at Sam's Club.

Steven discusses all of the targeted media capabilities that Sam's Clubs offers to brands. Questions answered by him include: 

1. WMG and Walmart in general have really stepped up in all things digital and eCommerce in 2020 from WalmartPlus to drones to click & collect penetration & even the partnership with Instacart - what is Sam’s club following through on and leveraging from WMG?
2. Retail media has been around for years, it wasn’t until 2020 that WMG in particular has How has brand response been? Have brands realized this is a media moment and not a trade / sales only moment?
3. been at CES, top-to-tops and led the way for omnichannel partnerships. Are we seeing this same leadership on Sam’s? When will we?
4. Are you able to share with us any metrics about Sam’s overall penetration or growth in the media landscape? Is it primarily B2B and how different is that from WMG?
5. Could you share the details of all the various offerings Sam’s has for brands - display ads, SEM, retargeting and any others?
6. With Walmart merchandising roles becoming one in many categories it appears Walmart is heading down the omnichannel way. Does this mean we can expect Sam’s to follow and what implications does that have? 
7. How does one execute a campaign on Sam’s - is it self serve, do you get a team to work with? How are metrics reported?
8. A road to retail success for a brand passes through Walmart and Club through Sam’s- does Sam’s now actively reach out and meet with brands to define display on sams.com like the store? What’s the vision for this given ~ 500 + stores and 1 website are not the same reach? Can you share any metrics around reach?
9. How is Sam’s eCommerce business scaling and what are the hooks?
10. What is Sam’s role in leveraging technology advances? What can we expect?

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined in this episode by Matthew Smith, industry manager of beauty & pharma at Walmart Media Group.

Interested in learning more about Walmart Media group? Visit: http://www.walmartmedia.com

Here are the questions that Matthew answers:

1. Your career has intersected several brands and analytics companies. How has moving from one brand to another built upon your expertise and what are learnings one gets when they embark on new journeys with a new brand?
2. As head of ecommerce analytics, what are your primary activities & deliverables? What are you focused on? Is it retail, DTC?
3. Do you work on the results from retail media? What role does this play in overall success for a brand in their ecommerce journey? How do you go about evaluating ROI?
4. eCommerce is a balance between short term and long term analytics & insights. How do you balance both and what is the focus for long term analytics?
5. How did you go about selecting the right tools for analytics and how important is the partnerships with commercial organizations?
6. How does one analyze results from Amazon vs omnichannel vs DTC? Are they completely different? Do you have access to the data you need? 
7. Tell us about how ecommerce focus is created through analytics/insights. Are you trying to define cohorts, consumer/shopper personas and then working with commercial teams 
8. Share the ideal ecommerce metrics one should be focused on? I can’t imagine they are anywhere close to the instore models we are all trained in?
9. You have come from the instore world like us, how did you transform your thinking and career to be ecommerce focused? What’s the unlock?
10. What is your advice for those seeking roles and careers in ecommerce analytics? How should they be cutting their teeth?

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined this week by John Ghiorso, founder & CEO of OrcaPacific, a MightyHive company,

Questions explored:

1. “Why do brands selling on Amazon seek the assistance of a consultancy like Orca Pacific and what types of services do you provide that improves success? Can scaled brands run the race alone in your experience?”
2. “On this podcast, Peter and I have talked at length about 1P and 3P selling on Amazon. Would you please explain the differences between Vendor Central and Seller Central Management and how you help brands determine what is the right mix for their product portfolio? Is a mixed strategy on 2 platforms even an option?”
3. “If a vendor chooses the 3P model, they have different fulfillment solutions. What are FBA & FBM and how do you counsel your clients on which model is right for them? We also hear FBA has a 15% tax on the sale in fees - true and if so, how to navigate?”
4. “My favorite topic on this podcast is media. Orca Pacific recently announced the launch of OPNav, a web-based technology suite that helps your clients measure Amazon advertising effectiveness and more. Would you please give us a brief overview of this new solution? ACOS is the metric brands chase, I feel this an old large agency model of hitting quarterly EBITDA, shouldn't the focus be growth?”
5. “Let’s use a case study to showcase your best practices. I always love to use highly commoditized products because significant lift is harder to achieve. Would you please tell us about Marcal?”
6. “We’re in the middle of a pandemic that has had wide-ranging impacts on Amazon’s business activities. Prime Day has been moved from its usual position in July to reportedly October. How are you counseling your clients to plan for this event which now butts up against the normal BFCM leading to Christmas season? Will Prime Day be as relevant anymore?”
7. “How should brands be looking to mitigate much of the risk associated with selling on Amazon during the pandemic?”
8. “The secret sauce that makes Amazon such a compelling marketplace, beyond the sheer breadth of assortment, is arguably the trust and authenticity of product ratings & reviews, Peter’s favorite topic. How do you counsel your clients to grow, manage and learn from these insights?”
9. “You recently announced a merger with MightyHive, a digital media consultancy. Why was this the right time to pursue a merger and why is this great for your combined client base? What do they bring extra to the table?”
10. “We mentioned that you host a podcast, eCommerce Deep Dive. Would you please tell us about the theme and what listeners can expect when they subscribe?”

Subscribe to John Ghiorso's eCommerce Deep Dive Podcast here.

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CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

In the final episode of the 5 part series on eCommerce profitability, Sri & Peter discuss how to address trade allowances & chargebacks.

For the. companion material, please visit http://cpgguys.com 

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB welcome Whitney Cooper, Director of Omnichannel Transformation & Acceleration at Walmart.

To learn more about Walmart Media Group brand solutions, visit walmartmedia.com

To find our content, please visit http://cpgguys.com

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast. 

The CPG Guys Sri & PVSB are joined by Cristina Marinucci, NA Head of eCommerce Insights for Johnson & Johnson consumer goods.

Questions covered in the discussion

• Your career has intersected several brands and analytics companies. How has moving from one brand to another built upon your expertise and what are learnings one gets when they embark on new journeys with a new brand?
• As head of ecommerce analytics, what are your primary activities & deliverables? What are you focused on? Is it retail, DTC?
• Do you work on the results from retail media? What role does this play in overall success for a brand in their ecommerce journey? How do you go about evaluating ROI?
• eCommerce is a balance between short term and long term analytics & insights. How do you balance both and what is the focus for long term analytics?
• How did you go about selecting the right tools for analytics and how important is the partnerships with commercial organizations?
• How does one analyze results from Amazon vs omnichannel vs DTC? Are they completely different? Do you have access to the data you need? 
• Tell us about how ecommerce focus is created through analytics/insights. Are you trying to define cohorts, consumer/shopper personas and then working with commercial teams 
• Share the ideal ecommerce metrics one should be focused on? I can’t imagine they are anywhere close to the instore models we are all trained in?
• You have come from the instore world like us, how did you transform your thinking and career to be ecommerce focused? What’s the unlock?
• What is your advice for those seeking roles and careers in ecommerce analytics? How should they be cutting their teeth?

CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual’s use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.