Show notes
For this episode of the eCom Logistics Podcast, we welcome Brittain Ladd, Strategy Advisor Shatranj Capital Partners. Brittain's no-holds-barred insights on management and logistics have not only captured people's attention, but they have also even proven to be accurate given how many of his predictions have come true.
He discusses some of the biggest companies in the world like Amazon, Twitter, and TikTok, and gives hot takes on what they are doing wrong and how they can make it right. He comments on the recent layoffs at Amazon and how he believes it is only the beginning and a symptom of a much larger shift that will affect entire industries worldwide.
Brittain then digs into how partnerships can change e-commerce by providing social commerce platforms the established fulfillment infrastructure they need to deliver goods to the consumer. He also discusses in great detail the flaws of the quick commerce model and how fulfillment should be a question of accurate delivery versus quick delivery.
ABOUT BRITTAIN
Brittain has 20 years of experience in supply chain management and logistics. He has lived and worked in China, India, Africa, Saudi Arabia, Europe, and the United States. Brittain is a global strategy and supply chain consultant and a writer for Forbes and his own website, brittainladd.com. Brittain is also recognized as being one of the most accurate analysts in business.
He successfully predicted multiple major acquisitions more than a year in advance of them occurring, including Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, Microsoft and Walmart partnering to bid on TikTok, and most recently, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Brittain is frequently quoted in the press and often appears on major news networks like CNN, Fox Business, and the BBC.
HIGHLIGHTS
- 01:37 Posting thought-provoking ideas and predictions on social media
- 08:52 Amazon's mistake and getting down to its optimal fighting weight
- 18:47 Twitter can change e-commerce with shoppable videos
- 25:43 Instead of creating their own fulfillment, TiktTok should partner with Amazon/Walmart/Target/Shopify
- 35:42 Quick commerce is a failure: Fast delivery vs accurate delivery
QUOTES
23:51 Shoppable videos can save Twitter - Brittain: "I believe the way that Elon Musk saves Twitter and makes Twitter completely different is through shoppable videos and, I think, absolutely, that what Elon Musk should be doing is we need short-form videos, shoppable videos, and for every shoppable video we put on Twitter, we take 12% of all sales, and I think the goal should be for every shoppable video that Elon Musk puts on Twitter, that it generates 100 to 250 million in sales."
25:50 TikTok should acquire Shopify for its fulfillment infrastructure - Brittain: "I think, number one, TikTok needs to do something above and beyond than just opening up their own fulfillment centers. I think what TikTok needs to do is, again, change how commerce is done on the platform. So I think what would be very interesting is if TikTok acquires Shopify, so where now I have Shopify, I have a Shopify storefront on TikTok, and so then what happens is I immediately see a video come across but it's a video from a storefront, and without having to go to a website, I see it, I buy it. And that's how I refer to what I think is the next big thing in commerce. I say see, buy. I see it, I buy it. I'm not going to websites."
Find out more about Brittain in the links below:
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