Future Commerce

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**Future Commerce**

Future Commerce is the culture magazine for Commerce. Hosts Phillip Jackson and Brian Lange help brand and digital marketing leaders see around the next corner by exploring the intersection of Culture and Commerce.

Trusted by the world’s most recognizable brands to deliver the most insightful, entertaining, and informative weekly podcasts, Future Commerce is the leading new media brand for eCommerce merchants and retail operators.

Each week, we explore the cultural implications of what it means to sell or buy products and how commerce and media impact the culture and the world around us, through unique insights and engaging interviews with a dash of futurism.

Weekly essays, full transcripts, and quarterly market research reports are available at https://www.futurecommerce.com/plus

Latest Episodes:

The Year of Experiential Gifting (It’s All About Experiences ) Nov 26, 2021

Show notes

Becoming a Gift Influencer

Drips vs. Drops? Drips all the way. Businesses should be providing drips to their customers, constant communication. Whereas drops are the seasonality of pushing your customer.
“I love the always-on drip culture. I do still think there's excitement and like sexiness to a big drop. But you have to make sure that those drops are super, super necessary in the moment, like hitting exactly where they need to hit and then using the drips throughout the year to prepare for the big drops, but then also make sure that you're staying relevant and on top of mind.” -Ingrid
The best part of the holiday season is giving! But there’s different kinds of gifters. According to Brian and Ingrid, they’re both gift influencers.
We’re going to see more of an experiential gift this season than an actual material gift.
“This is a year where people are going to be giving things that get people out and moving and doing things.” -Brian

Associated Links:

Subscribe to Insiders to get our exclusive offers for Black Friday!
Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Listen to our newest podcast, Infinite Shelf
Check out our latest report Nine by Nine
Watch the Nine by Nine live experience
Bands mentioned: Our Place, Tracksmith, Sferra

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

No Best Practices (Feat. Alex Greifeld, No Best Practices) Nov 12, 2021

Show notes

Approaching Dork Mode

No Best Practices is a blog and a newsletter on a mission to help marketers think more like operators and make sure that what they're working on is contributing in a meaningful way to the bottom line.
“There are three different ways of approaching marketing. One where you start and things are completely instinctual and gut driven, and then, “I'm making data driven decisions," and then there's the "Well, there actually are some kind of guiding principles that can explain what's going on," to help you to avoid analysis paralysis. That's what I'm trying to go after with the writing: getting things to an actionable place.” -Alex
Is there a current existential threat to ecom businesses right now?
“The eCommerce game itself is getting harder. There are fewer arbitrage opportunities and almost, unless you really are aware of that, it makes that past 20 years of experience less applicable to the future because you can't run the same playbook.” -Alex
Dork Mode is based off an obsession with technology to enable personalization, but moving past that to create real, personalized experiences for a subsegment of customers.
The web should be much more diverse than it is.
“There's the opportunity for the web to be so many more things to so many more people, and for brands to be so many more things, to so many more people. We think that we have to regress the mean, but we have the ability to not do that and we just haven't done anything with that power.” -Brian
“Go back and really understand the narrative behind your business and how you got to where you are now and where you're trying to go.” -Alex

Associated Links:

Learn more about Alex Greifeld and No Best Practices
Read Alex’s work on Insiders:
- Digital Luxury Experiences: An Exercise in “Skinnovation”
- Dork Mode: An Antidote to the Sea of Sameness
Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Listen to our newest podcast, Infinite Shelf
Check out our latest report Nine by Nine
Subscribe to Insiders

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Transaction Isn't an Exchange of Goods (Feat. Romain Lapeyre, Gorgias) Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

Superseding Customer Relationships

"Relationship supersedes brand" is a phrase that we've often said on the podcast, but Phillip is calling this into question.
A transaction doesn’t have to be an exchange of goods or monetary. It can be influence, it can be power dynamics, it’s identity exchange.
“What often is overlooked is the employee experience in delivering service and support. It's never been more important than it is today.” -Phillip
Getting customer service right during post purchase is important and solidifies loyalty, but prepurchase is just as important.
“The role of a customer support agent is morphing into something else: a brand ambassador. Someone that has to be on brand, someone that has to represent the brand well as they interact with the customer.” -Brian
Brands are changing their view of what brand ambassadors can be.
“We're all consuming more and we're all participating in commerce more because commerce touches everything.” -Phillip
“The whole focus we have at Gorgias is let's automate. Let's focus on self-serve so that we can transfer all of the human time towards those valuable conversations.” -Romain

Associated Links:

Learn more about Romain Lapeyre and Gorgias
Join the Gorgias community on Facebook!
Brands mentioned: Princess Polly, Ilia Beauty
Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Check out our latest report Nine by Nine
Subscribe to Insiders

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Introducing Infinite Shelf: Can We Stop Being So Binary?!? Nov 03, 2021

Show notes

Having Conversations That Don’t Exist in Other Places

Welcome to Infinite Shelf, a human-centric show designed to help explore what it takes to make brands, products and services hit the right recipe of connection, relevance, emotional attachment, and, of course, profitability.
Phillip and Brian of Future Commerce join Ingrid to welcome Infinite Shelf to the network
The three play a game of “Get off my Lawn,” where INgrid has the guys guess what different TikTok lingo means.
“When we talk about Infinite Shelf, the stuff gets onto the shelf somehow and the stuff gets taken off the shelf by someone. And the shelf is just the table that's being set for the meal that is being prepared. The shelf brings us together, but it's not about the shelf, it's about the people.” -Phillip
The Pendulum...better known as The Big Three (Amazon, Target, Walmart) are taking over our mindshare, wallet share, and going full force on the economy. But what happens when a smaller brand disrupts the industry?
“How do we set ourselves up to be a part of what is currently going on with these big retailers but also be future focused on when the pendulum swings back the other way that we're ready and that we aren't blindsided by what the needs of the future consumer mindset is going to be?” -Ingrid
We have some exciting topics planned for Infinite Shelf, all revolving around open conversations from different POV’s, including: In-Store Tech, Influncers- Dead or Alive and Well?, how to organize and hire teams, and SO MUCH MORE!

Stay in the loop with Infinite Shelf! Let us know your thoughts on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or Facebook. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“The Beer Distribution Game” - A Twitter Spaces Conversation (w/ Lakhveer Jajj) Oct 29, 2021

Show notes

Our Inability to Predict Demand

The National Retail Federation predicts a whopping 10.5% increase in holiday spending this year.
Maybe supply chain issues are overblown?
Moselle is on a mission to provide e-commerce businesses with everything they need to create stable and scalable supply chains.
The Beer Distribution Game is really just supply chain 101. If you have shortages or additional lead time in this game, you'll basically run into supply-demand issues. A lot of what's happening now is on the extreme end of it, where there's a lot of individual things in the chain failing or slowing down immensely.
“Unless you have your own boats or private shipping method or have an exclusive way to bring your goods from one part of the world to another, you end up having to work within the existing system. And then when you work in that existing system, it's all about how can I get an edge?” -Lakhveer Jajj
“The inability to predict demand in the physical supply chain is this thing that will never be overcome, our expectations are skewed by online services and that's just not how the physical world works.”- Phillip

Associated Links:

Follow us on Twitter to catch our next Twitter Spaces!
Learn more about Lakhveer Jajj and Moselle
Our episode with Stephan Ango
Check out our most recent report: Nine by Nine
Subscribe to Insiders!
Listen to more episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Creative and Relational Come Together (Feat. Rosa Hu, Yotpo) Oct 22, 2021

Show notes

Building a New Type of Relationship

“For the future of commerce to thrive, brands must be able to own those direct relationships with their customers.” -Rosa
In recent news, Yotpo and Shopify have joined in a platform partnership to help accelerate Yotpo’s growth and ultimately empower merchants to grow their relationships with consumers.
“It’s never been more important than now to truly understand your customer. This partnership with Shopify allows us to grow that relationship and loyalty with customers.” -Rosa
How does Yotpo provide more value to customers compared to others? It’s the little things. Packaging, service, 24-hour chat help, and more. They work on delivering their promise to their merchants.
When you give your customers choice and let them give the opportunity to set their values, they’ll feel a mutual value exchange. In the end, you will be better off because you will be using tools to build empathy rather than using tools to engage.
We are needing a new type of marketer. The creative and the relational need to come together. This new marketer focuses on loyalty and creating relationships with customers at the same time.
“Even if your customers are shopping in-store, you need to make sure you’re tying their online and in-store experience together. They need to stay connected” -Rosa

Associated Links:

Learn more about Rosa Hu, and Yotpo
Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce
Check out our latest report: Nine by Nine
Subscribe to Insiders

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In-Store is the Next Frontier for Digital (Feat. Roland Gossage, CEO of GroupBy Inc.) Oct 15, 2021

Show notes

The Modernity of Site Search

We recount Brian’s visit to Aime Leon Dore’s flagship store in Soho, talk about the store design, the need for physical retail for “anchoring” the ultimate vision of a brand.
We contrast the store design of ALD with another Soho shopping experience: Shinola.
The future of digital requires having a physical experience. Brian’s ALD experience will likely drive future digital purchases.
We’re in a brave new world of being introduced to brands. Price doesn’t matter anymore. User accessibility is what’s important.
“In-store is the next frontier for digital.”- Brian
There is still a lot of opportunity to optimize the experience for shoppers, if stores are able to create a seamless instore and online experience there would be a lot more growth.
GroupBy’s Roland Gossage joins the show to talk about the past, present, and future of customer journey orchestration, and the tools that help us do that today. The GroupBy Product Discovery Platform powered by Google Cloud Retail AI drives the world’s most relevant and highly converting eCommerce websites.
In the beginning days of eCommerce, it was all about working to create an online experience and seeing it would work. Now, twenty years later, the game has changed.
“80% of clients who hit a website that have a poor user experience are likely to never return. So the stakes are much higher.” -Roland
The market is ready for a plunge. It’s getting bigger and better. Bringing in new waves of technology helps all parts of the market.
“The old analogy was garbage in, garbage out and that still exists today. We realized upfront that we had to solve the data problem first. So we had to create the golden record.” -Roland

Associated Links:

The Twitter post of Brian’s shirt from Aime Leon Dore
Learn more about Roland Gossage, and GroupBy Inc.
Get our latest report: Nine by Nine
Subscribe to Insiders
Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jingle All the Way- Welcome to Q4 Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

Being an Informed Consumer Requires Recognizing Disinformation

Searching the web can be a bit confusing these days with the addition of third party sellers, in a recent Washington Post article, the author stated “These days navigating Amazon, Walmart and Google's maze of third party sellers or judging hip looking social media ads requires the same kind of skills as identifying misinformation and conspiracy theories.” Phillip thinks this is the quote of the year.
Mainstream media is coming to attack in spreading misinformation. With consumers not knowing how to determine a good product, it's creating bad commerce centered experiences.
“When you get good at identifying what a good product is and what a bad product is, you're actually building a skill that's applicable for a lot of other things.” -Brian
Maybe things that are fun are actually just fear, uncertainty, and doubt. We fear that something will happen (i.e you fear the supply chain falling) which creates a lot of uncertainty, in the end creating a pit of doubt. But what if there’s a way to fix it?
Shipping has been experiencing troubles on all ends for over a year now, and as we approach the holiday season it's going to get worse again. Our research for the same products at different places of the next brand up, could result in losing brand loyalty.

Associated Links:

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

“Millennial Golden Corral”, Expo East, and FOMO in DTC CPG (feat. Kendall Dickieson, DTC and CPG Nerd) Oct 01, 2021

Show notes

“If only there were a way to sample new products... in a warehouse of some sort?”

If you’re not an influencer or active on social media, how can you sample a product as a consumer? How cool would it be if there was a way to get into a warehouse with every product available for sample!
“We need the raw, realistic community members, not influencers, sharing the content and saying, "these are my thoughts and this is how much better it is.’’ The people need to hear that. “-Kendall
As consumers we often chase the newest luxury items, because we enjoy it. But we also chase experiences. What if we chased a different experience because we enjoyed doing things differently?
“It’s not just the product that’s the whole experience, but the ritual behind it. If you can create an experience at home and you’re willing to trade that off, there’s an equating experience behind it. ” -Brian
Brands that are exceeding are creating incredible customer experiences. From ordering, to social media presence, to the delivery at their door. When a brand creates an experience, they create loyalty.
The two major modalities that consumers fall into are seeking something new or stocking up on something trusted. Consumers find themselves behaving in both modes in the same category, but with different brands.
“Part of the experience of doing business with a customer is to try to get them to purchase on the terms they want and not the terms you want them to.” -Phillip

Associated Links:

Learn more about Kendall Dickieson, the FlexibleFoodie
Brands mentioned in this episode: Gooey, Dandies, Cometeer, Canopy
Our episode with Pashmina Lalchandani from Bar & Cocoa
The Senses piece on $32 PB&J and the Luxury inflection point
Original research by Rightpoint: Stocking Up and Seeking Out
Get our latest report: Nine by Nine
Subscribe to Insiders

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.