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:

Timeless, Thoughtful, and Sustainable, feat. Kyle Hoff, Co-Founder & CEO at Floyd Jul 24, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, we chat with Kyle Hoff, co-founder of Floyd Furniture.

What is Floyd Furniture’s approach?

Floyd started from looking at the amount of furniture consumed and thrown out after its use and the idea that furniture can be sustainable, adaptable, and kept for long periods of time.
They began with a Kickstarter campaign based around their core idea and kept it simple with one product at a time.
There are few DTC furniture brands. Floyd focuses on connection with their direct consumers in sticking with a product, improving it, and evolving it over time.
Furniture manufacturing is saturated around Detroit - so most materials are sourced as locally as possible, with the goal of supporting those local communities. Pride in those communities results in better work and building a stronger community.
Floyd doesn’t only focus on the sustainability of the furniture itself, but sustainability all around - in US manufacturing, ethically sourcing materials, leaving the smallest footprint for its entire manufacturing process, and being able to adapt more quickly to changes - especially during COVID.

How has COVID affected business and what’s the near future look like?

Originally had a drop in business in March, but since then, people have spent less money on experiences and more money on their homes - which includes furniture.
As an eCommerce DTC brand, Floyd’s business has always been focused online, which is the only viable option during COVID.
Priorities might be placed on different products, but because of the long-term investment of furniture and the constant demand, Floyd’s plan is remaining unchanged for the most part.

Links

Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at info@futurecommerce.fm or any of our social channels, 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.

Streamline and Simplify - feat. Keith Anderson, SVP of Strategy & Insights at Profitero Jul 17, 2020

Show notes

What is Profitero?

Profitero is a platform for eCommerce performance, measurement, analytics, and optimization for brands primarily in Europe, North America, and Asia.
Profitero isn’t an agency, though it has similarities. Profitero doesn’t actually perform the work for the brands, but does create data and create tech to make that data valuable.
Agencies have seemed to be expendable or interchangeable in the past. Profitero comes in to perform the “know-how” of an agency, but allows the work to be performed in-house. This allows for better visibility into the processes and its effectiveness.
Some brands that Profitero works with are working with agencies that are managing their eCommerce DTC, their Amazon presence, their paid media, etc. and Profitero’s data helps to inform and optimize all of those processes.

How are brands moving forward?

“Everybody that was doing eCommerce is doing much more of it. Everybody that wasn’t doing it wants to do it. Either way, everybody needs to know: how do we do it and is it working?” - Keith Anderson
CPG brands (Pepsi and Heinz, for example) have pushed into having their own DTC platforms. During COVID, CPG brands that traditionally relied on retailers had to push into having their own domains in order to have that direct connection value due to supply chain disruptions or limitations on “non-essential” items.
“We need to de-risk our dependency on others for fulfillment of demand.” - Keith Anderson

CPG to DTC

First-party data about customers is valuable - knowing who they are, how they’re behaving, and having direct lines of communication.
In having your own DTC domain, loyal customers have a place they know they can receive your full selection and in displaying that selection, you have full control over the way those products are presented and priced.
Both Indirect (retail) and Direct eCommerce presences have value. Typically, these two branches lack communication with each other. COVID has pushed the realization that these organizational structures should be simplified so that brands can quickly and effectively adapt to a changing market.
Brands should recognize that moving into DTC is a way to get closer to their consumer, get more control over their brand and customer experience, and be more personal with their consumer instead of looking to DTC as a singular pathway to your consumers or as a way to get discovered by new consumers.
Anderson advises focusing on sustainability for long-term exponential growth: “The sooner you do the right thing, the better the outcome.” - Keith Anderson

CommerceLive

Profitero hosted a webinar conference to help discuss the uncertainties of the global pandemic and what brands can do to stay ahead.
“All of your scarce resources really have to be revisited during times of volatility, uncertainty and crisis.” - Keith Anderson
CommerceLive wasn’t opportunistic, but very community-centric and community driven.

Links

Jackson Jeyanayagam’s appearance on Future Commerce, Episode 175: “Around You, On You, In You”
Profitero’s CommerceLive video replay gallery
Visit Profitero’s website
Connect with Keith Anderson on Twitter

Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at info@futurecommerce.fm or any of our social channels, 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.

Announcing Retail Rebirth: A Report from Future Commerce Jul 16, 2020

Show notes

We all feel it: the rhythm of retail has been disrupted. Current events have changed the way consumers shop and Future Commerce has partnered with Gladly to bring you Retail Rebirth: a report that will inform retailers what this "new normal" is and how consumers plan to spend. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Stairway to CEO: Trailblazing in Style with Brian Ree, Co-Founder & CEO of DAILYLOOK Jul 14, 2020

Show notes

DAILYLOOK is a personal styling service that sends you a box of hand-picked fashion items right to your door every month. In this interview, Brian shares with us how he started his first business at 15 years old, created and then sold a newsletter with over 450k subscribers to a poker company, and then raised over $11M to build his company DAILYLOOK. Brian uncovers the challenges he faced from pivoting his business and shares some important red flags he looks out for when hiring.

In This Episode You’ll Hear About:

How Brian Ree started his first tutoring business in high school
How the internet boom inspired an idea for an online fine jewelry lifestyle brand
How a hobby turned into a content business and developed 450,000 active subscribers
Why studying and reading about other entrepreneurs and finding patterns is an important part of the entrepreneur’s journey
How he came up with the idea for DAILYLOOK
The challenges he faced from pivoting DAILYLOOK into an eCommerce brand
His process of choosing a business model that would drive customer retention organically
What he learned from making the best,and worst, hiring choices
The ins and outs of raising $11.5 million of capital
How his Co-Founder helped the company be as successful as they are today
The importance of physical health in building a business
Experiencing self-doubt as an entrepreneur and how to overcome it

To Find Out More:

dailylook.com

Quotes:

“I think there's a lot to be gained in experience from working with great teams and great people.”

“I definitely recommend having and surrounding yourself with as many experienced mentors as possible.”

“People that didn't have positive experiences with other coworkers in previous jobs will still tend to give a mediocre or medium type of reference check.”

“When you start a business, I do recommend that, depending on the business of course, that you have a co-founder.”

“I think the mental game is a challenging one. And with time and experience, I've learned my ways of how I cope with things in challenging times.”

“As an entrepreneur, self-doubt can creep in from many different angles and places and times.”

“I try to maintain the perspective and mindset of being a lifelong learner and always intellectually curious and open to learning new things. Learn from new people around you.”

futurecommerce.fm/stairwaytoceo

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

What Makes a Brand Meaningful? A Nine by Nine Report Retrospect Jul 10, 2020

Show notes

What makes a brand meaningful? We sought to answer this question in our recent report, Nine by Nine: 81 Brands Changing Our World. In this episode, we sit down and reflect on the report and the categories included, and even talk about what is coming up in Part Two.

Nine by Nine: What Is It and How Was It Received?

Nine by Nine is our report that asks the question “What makes a brand meaningful?” Spoiler alert: There are nine answers! Nine categories and nine brands that exemplify those nine answers.
The report was sponsored by Klaviyo - they made the report possible and lent a lot of creative energy into making it.
9x9 was our first time being featured in GQ, Women’s Wear Daily, Sourcing Journal, Adweek, Morning Brew, Market Insiders, Business Insiders.
Nine trends, nine answers to “What makes a brand meaningful?”:
Community Driven
New Luxury
Hundred Club
Prime Challengers
Audience First
Purpose Driven
CARLY (Can’t Afford Real Life Yet)
Late Stage Retail (or Anti Late Stage Retail)
Local Heroes

The Proposal of Nine by Nine: Why?

The things that consumers value most about a brand differ, depending on what stage of life they’re in, what their income is, and many other factors. So in order to answer “What makes a brand meaningful?” we have to answer “What is a brand?”
Sucharita Kodali, who has been on the show many times, said that a brand is a promise. What makes a brand meaningful is when the brand fulfills that promise and the value they’re providing helps a business or consumer in a specific way - for instance, with Prime Challengers, helping businesses/consumers part ways with Amazon.
“This report is for a brand operator who is trying to take in the entire total landscape of everything that’s happening in eCommerce, retail, direct to consumer, and everything that’s digitally enabled in the retail environment. What is meaningful to a consumer? It depends on who the consumer is.” - Phillip Jackson
We didn’t want to just create another list of brands. We have created a system with weighted rubrics within each category, and our scoring system is open to view. On top of this, we received our information from many different angles of different types of operators.

Prime Challengers

Amazon comes up in a lot of conversations about retail. Aman Advani, on Merchant to Merchant, said that there are a lot of brands who stand for more than transactional commerce and that the spirit of that is moving away.
“We’re moving into a world that’s more soulful. We’re moving away from transactional commerce as a culture and brands need to stand for something bigger. Rather than calling out Amazon directly, there’s a deepening and a hunger from the consumer to have a better experience… the brands that are noted on Prime Challengers help accomplish that.” - Phillip Jackson
Target and Shipt come in at number one - because they are using a much more targeted brand strategy, playing by the D2C playbook, and have a more community centric model versus Amazon’s top down approach.

New Luxury

To understand New Luxury, we have to define Old Luxury: exclusivity, quality, ‘white glove’ brands.
New Luxury is about current times, being in the know, and information. New Luxury is tied to drop brands - knowing when the drop is happening, knowing the right people, being involved in the right thought processes and cultures, and understanding ‘hype’ cycles.
Everyone is a retailer. StockX is our number one, which some would be surprised to see: “Just because something is resale doesn’t mean it’s not luxury.” - Brian Lange
New Luxury is about discovery - an introduction and orientation to an elevated experience: “Aêsop is helping a millennial man discover gender neutral skin care and self care. Lord Jone is introducing CBD to the upper middle class. Haus is introducing aperitif culture to millennials.” - Phillip Jackson

C.A.R.L.Y.

CARLY is a consumer psychographic from the acronym “Can’t Afford Real Life Yet,” that might be Gen Z but not necessarily constrained to it. It depends on sharing expenses with other people - and the way CARLY spends its money is deeply personal and considers every purchase very highly.
“Starface is interesting in that it’s taken skincare - and where skincare in the past would be used to conceal the blemishes you have, Starface celebrates them and draws attention to them rather than drawing attention away from them.” - Philip Jackson
Starface resonates with the CARLY ideal of seeing the world as fundamentally flawed and celebrating those flaws for the sake of authenticity.

Community Driven

These brands aren’t only prioritizing their relationship with their customer, but their customer’s relationships with each other - giving them the space and environments and safety of being able to embed themselves with each other.
Peloton is at the top of this list because they’ve done a great job of building a ‘tribe’ that can relate and connect their consumers with each other.
These brands have the ability to make and survive missteps because of their community support.

Listen to Part 2 of this episode: Episode 168: Rethinking Everlane on the Nine by Nine Report.

Links

Check out our Nine by Nine report: 81 Brands Changing Our World
Phillip’s original article on C.A.R.L.Y.: Insiders #018
See our webinar with Klaviyo on Nine by Nine: 81 Brands Changing Modern eCommerce
Check out where our Nine by Nine report was featured:
GQ: Not So Vain: C.A.R.L.Y.s Love Crocs, Memes and Social Justice
Adweek: These 81 Brands Are Shaping the Future of Commerce
Business Insider: Meet the ‘Carlys’: The meme-loving young shoppers who ‘can’t afford real life yet’ - but will soon enjoy the biggest cohort of spenders in the US
Morning Brew: Meet CARLY: Gen Z’s New, Socially Conscious Shopper
Independent Retailer: Meet The New Customer Demographic: C.A.R.L.Y.
Women’s Wear Daily: New Report Asks What Makes a Brand Meaningful?
Sourcing Journal: New Cohort of Young Consumers Values An Iconic Brand Aesthetic

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at hello@futurecommerce.fm or any of our social channels. 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 Digitally-Enabled Local Business: Transitioning OfferUp’s Platform from C2C to B2C (feat. CEO Nick Huzar) Jul 03, 2020

Show notes

Local commerce is making a comeback and the digital realm is crucial to its success. OfferUp strives to create a platform that enables anyone to buy and sell locally. Nick Huzar, CEO of OfferUp joins the show to discuss how they're evolving with local commerce.

The Potential for Secondhand Commerce

Nick loves to build and create things. While having a baby on the way, he needed to clear a room and was frustrated at the time and effort it would take to sell his belongings. The idea for OfferUp sparked.
When he started OfferUp in 2011, there was no Android phone - but there was the belief that everyone would have smartphones.
He began OfferUp slowly with a lot of research, finding out that 25% of U.S. households with a two car garage can’t park in their garage and 10% of the population rents storage units.
OfferUp has become effectively the fastest growing marketplace in the U.S. OfferUp has been installed over 90 million times.
Nick says that OfferUp is really a platform for local commerce but has many phases in its evolution: “Today, I think the primary use case of OfferUp is definitely peer to peer, [but] long term it definitely doesn’t have to be. We have a growing segment of stores that are using OfferUp as both online commerce and local commerce.” - Nick Huzar
“Early on, we moved to more of a C2C approach with the idea that if we could get consumers to use the product, then we would have a huge base of users that we could then layer on other businesses. C2C was very intentional.” - Nick Huzar
Nick says that OfferUp has been focused on simplicity and product experience to bring trust and because of that, OfferUp’s growth has mostly been word of mouth.
During COVID, OfferUp saw a 90% increase in overall engagement - nonessentials like fashion trending downwards, but fitness equipment and entertainment spiking.

Customer Acquisition for Local Businesses

Local businesses have a more difficult time getting in front of customers due to their lower budgets for advertising.
Local car dealerships have been offered a monthly subscription in return for special detail pages, badges in their profile, increased promotions, and analytics to see what’s working and what’s not.
The challenge with local businesses was that the initial app was designed for an individual to use to sell items, so OfferUp has helped redesign to accommodate having thousands of items and the ability to plug in their CMS system.
OfferUp wants to create more tools for local entrepreneurs to use to get their products on the platform.

C2C During COVID-19 & the Acquisition of LetGo

Customers have been more accommodating during COVID, realizing that buying/selling C2C comes with less exposure than going to a physical store.
Customers are trusting each other more with in person exchanges and OfferUp’s shipping option is up 100% statistically.
It’s unfortunate, but many people have liquidated items in their home to help with financial stress during COVID. Nick is happy that they’ve created a service that can help with that.
“This is a perfect example of how commerce connects people and demonstrates that people still have the ability to interact with each other in good ways in crisis.” - Brian Lange
LetGo and OfferUp had different markets where they were doing well, so they decided to come together to offer a more cohesive service and accelerate growth as a unified marketplace.

The Future of Peer to Peer Commerce

OfferUp’s focus has always been on removing friction in the buying/selling experience as possible.
There’s a lot of opportunity left in local commerce from moving goods to payments, and there’s plenty OfferUp wants to do in helping professionals get integrated into the platform.
“We want to be a platform that enables anybody to be able to buy and sell things locally. It can be a business. It can be an individual.” - Nick Huzar

Links

Check out Future Commerce Insiders #033: We’re All Retailers, Now
Check out OfferUp, available on all smart devices.

If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at hello@futurecommerce.fm or any of our social channels. 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.

Reflections on Gladly's 2020 Consumer Expectations Report feat. Joseph Ansanelli, CEO at Gladly Jun 26, 2020

Show notes

Joseph Ansanelli, CEO at Gladly and friend of Future Commerce, sits down with Phillip & Brian to talk about Gladly’s 2020 Consumer Expectations report. Now more than ever, consumers expect a much more personal experience than ever before, and Phillip, Brian, and Joseph discuss practical ways eCommerce brands can exceed those expectations. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Fixing a Practice That Doesn't Align with Values feat. Coulter Lewis, Founder & CEO at Sunday Jun 19, 2020

Show notes

How was Sunday born?

Lawns are the 3rd largest crop by land area: 40 million acres of land.
“You can’t purport to have a deep care for carbon sequestration and soil and the way we treat land, runoff, and environmental issues and not think about [lawn care].” - Coulter Lewis
A typical managed lawn gets 5x the amount of pesticides per acre than an industrial farm.
In starting Sunday, Coulter saw these statistics as a hole in our ethos. We spend time being conscious about what we’re putting into our bodies but not the yard that our bodies spend a lot of time in. This is where Sunday comes in to align our lawn care with our values.

DTC Experience of Sunday Lawn Care

Sunday is 100% direct to consumer through their website.
Sunday starts with your address. They pull soil data, climate history, and current weather in order to create a custom plan that takes all the guesswork out of the equation for you.
Sunday’s first kit comes with a soil test to get the exact chemical makeup of your property which gives an accurate evaluation of what nutrients your soil is sufficient/not sufficient in and uses that to give you tips and guidance on how to maintain your property sustainably.

Your Yard is Your Own National Park

Sunday is on the same trajectory that they were on before COVID and during the pandemic, they’ve seen even more growth due to their business model being based around having a healthy space at home.
“There is an incredible spectrum of emotional connection people have with their lawns… This is a vast part of our experience and landscape. In some respects, it’s your own national park.” - Coulter Lewis
Customer service is top priority at Sunday - in encouraging communities to learn more and engage more with their properties, as they spend massive amounts of time at home.

Links

Check out Sunday’s website.

Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at info@futurecommerce.fm or any of our social channels, 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.

Announcement: Stairway to CEO Podcast Joins Future Commerce Jun 17, 2020

Show notes

We have some big news here at Future Commerce! The Stairway to CEO podcast is joining Future Commerce. Every Tuesday, Lee Greene, host of Stairway to CEO will bring you fresh and insightful interviews with CEOs and Founders, highlighting their journey to leading a company. You don't want to miss it! Like & Subscribe to the Stairway to CEO podcast to catch the official relaunch on June 23. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pictures to Paint of a Better Future Jun 12, 2020

Show notes

Diversity and Transparency

It’s important to instill trust into diverse founders.
Transparency in businesses allows for a culture to be built that is proud to be shared.
Instagram account Pull Up or Shut Up has held brands accountable for their diversity numbers and has had many brands go transparent in their diversity numbers.
“The culture of your business is built in your first five hires.” A brand’s culture is naturally built through the employees and their diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
Aiding in diverse brand visibility like this Twitter feed of Black owned candle companies helps to bring unification.

Gradually, then Suddenly

Hemingway’s “Gradually, then suddenly” quote applies to commerce as well as civil rights.
Instead of government leadership and direction, the private sector has stepped forward to unite people in solving problems.
It’s important to stay connected in your local and digital communities - commerce connects people. There is power in retail and merchant classes to effect change locally. This is also why it’s important to be diverse - because every person involved changes the culture.
There is a massive importance in being hopeful and looking for positive change in the future. Using your own vision and your own intentionally created brand culture, you create the future you want to see through that culture, commerce, and technology.

Brands Mentioned

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Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at info@futurecommerce.fm or any of our social channels, 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.