eCommerce UnderCover

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Anton Hermann, a Co-Founder of SPACEGOATS. SPACEGOATS is a German software company enabling Amazon sellers to easily manage, automate, and internationalize their businesses—without the headaches and bureaucratic hurdles. Some of the topics that Anton discussed: The gaps in Amazon's processes that encouraged the start of SPACEGOATS How selling across pan-Europe is a challenge and how SPACEGOATS can help The effect Brexit had on ecommerce sellers in Europe What's on the roadmap for SPACEGOATS?

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Abdelrahman Sherief, a Co-Founder and VP of Growth at Taager. Taager is a social e-commerce platform enabling online merchants with end-to-end logistics. Some of the topics that Abdelrahman discussed: - The startup ecosystem in Egypt - What spurred the Venture Capitalists to invest in Egyptian Startups - The main mechanics and idea behind Taager - The advantages of the service

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Narek Vardanyan, a Co-Founder and CEO of Prelaunch.com. Prelaunch.com is an AI-based product validation platform that helps companies discover early if their product concepts have potential. It validates product ideas, finds the best price, and gets vital insights directly from customers. It has the highest accuracy among all available methods by employing behavioural data and actual purchase intent. Some of the topics that Narek discussed: Why product validation should be done before launching your business How his interest in crowdfunding technology drove the idea of Prelaunch.com for hardware Prelaunch.com being both a product validation system as well as a marketplace Building a community for your product before its launch

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Denys Lichtenstein, a Co-CEO and Co-Founder of SassyClassy and ProfitDog. SassyClassy is an online fashion marketplace based in Germany. ProfitDog's algorithm uses first-party data to score SKU profitability and creates actionable insights to improve the efficacy of product ads. Some of the topics that Denys discussed: - What it was like working for Facebook - The evolution of Facebook and the Metaverse and its impact on the ad business - The dynamics of working in a dynamic and growing family business - Building ProfitDog to automate merchandise analytics and supercharge eCommerce marketing

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Ohad Greenshpan, Co-founder and CTO of Namogoo. Namogoo's cloud-based service, built on proprietary, Machine Learning technology, detects and blocks invasive content spread across eCommerce sites. Some of the topics that Ohad discussed with us: - Being born and raised in Israel - His experience working for IBM previously - Startup landscape in Israel - Why AI is so important in gathering data for eCommerce

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Kausambi Manjita and Barada Sahu, Co-founders of Mason. Mason is a store conversion playbook that helps to convert new visitors & create loyal customers for a user's Shopify Store. Some of the topics that Kausambi and Barada discussed: How their love for science fiction helped them build something new The importance of storytelling for your brand to connect with customers Is Social Commerce on the roadmap for Mason? Creating a personalized experience with Mason What role can immersive media play

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Eric Youngstrom, Founder and CEO of Onramp Funds. Onramp Funds is a financing service for eCommerce sellers using data-driven technology. Onramp Funds then provides working capital from that data to resolve the shipping, fulfilment, advertising and inventory cost of goods. Some of the topics that Eric discussed: His interest in History His experience working for many startups and even having one acquired Why he feels strongly to help the underdog How Onramp Funds work

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Roberto Meza, Co-founder of Pancake Live. Pancake Live is a fun virtual experience that brings accessible, affordable and sustainable design. Users can arrange a virtual call with one of the interior designers and have their house redesigned within the call. Ultimately, they are offered a list to get the needed furniture. Some of the topics that Roberto discussed: - His interest in sustainability - How Pancake Live works - Why he chose the US as Pancake Live's Target Market - His experience operating overseas

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Emiliano Segura, Co-founder and CTO of clicOH. clicOH provides fulfilment and logistics solutions through innovation and technology for digital companies. Some of the topics that Emiliano discussed with us: - Startup landscape in Argentina - Emiliano's Experience applying for Y Combinator multiple times - Pivoting industries your startup is in - Is data beneficial to the user? - Expanding your startup to a wider region: The opportunities and challenges that come with it

eCommerce UnderCover really enjoyed its conversation with Kacper Nowicki, a co-Founder and the CEO of Nomagic. Nomagic provides services based on Intelligent Robotics to e-commerce and retail leaders wishing to get one step closer to full automation. Some of the topics that Kacper discussed: Kacper's fascinating career arc Why should we automate eCommerce fulfillment? What is so hard about picking and packing? What is the role of AI in building smart robots? Aren't all smart robotics companies in San Francisco or Boston? Engineering, operations, AI, and building custom hardware

eCommerce UnderCover enjoyed our conversation with Frost Li, the Founder, and CEO of Social Chat. Social Chat enables brands to host live shopping events directly on their websites. Some of the topics that Frost covered: Can an in-store experience be recreated with software? Personalizing eCommerce sales at scale Who is and is not appropriate to host a social commerce live event? Data gathering, data usage, and data privacy Do immersive experiences matter or is Web 2.0 enough?

eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Andersen Conner, a co-Founder of Foraged. Foraged is an online marketplace for "wildly unique foods, sustainably harvested, and carefully crafted." Some of the topics we covered with Andy: Growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, and moving to Park City, Utah Growing up as an outdoorsman Majoring in Philosophy and minoring in business in college Being a nature photographer and how that led to foraging Foraging, educating people about it, and certifying foragers The go-to place for specialty and wild foods

eCommerce UnderCover had Emilio Di Marco join us on the show from Miami, Florida - the capital of Latin America. Emilio is the CEO and Founder of Aument, which he describes as a SaaS platform that easily helps small eCommerce brands get new sales quickly. Some of the topics we covered with Emilio: Miami's tech boom How Aument helps small eCommerce businesses increase sales Augmentation, Automation, and Segmentation The inefficiencies and irrelevance of direct marketing for small brands Giving small brands the same leverage that big brands have to increase sales Branding and performance marketing as the core competency of the Aument team Working with clients to build the most useful tools The issues around eMail as a marketing tool and the predominance of spam

eCommerce UnderCover was excited to host Brett Joyal (He says it rhymes with 'loyal'.) at the studio at Seven Peaks. Brett is the Founder and CEO of mom&pop, a retail technology company digitizing and connecting neighborhood family stores. Some of the topics we covered with Brett: His background as a chef and restaurateur His 'other' career working in consulting and at DKSH The fundamental reasons for starting mom&pop The social and economic differences in emerging and developed markets Building out a viable technical platform for mom and pop shops Empowering neighborhood shops with technology

eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Kait Stephens, co-Founder and the CEO of Brij. Brij is a software platform that powers one-touch registration & reorder to connect brands to their customers with the simple scan of a QR code. Some of the topics that Kait covered: Working in investment banking and going to Harvard Business School Her father was a serial entrepreneur and the influence that had Starting her first company while still at HBS Pivoting to Brij How the pandemic impacted the pivot How brands benefit from Brij The importance of data and data insights Low-code, No-code The annoyance of dead QR Code links What growth looks like to Brij This episode was produced by Isabelle Goh.

At least we made Ana Maria Jipa laugh as the conversation began. Ana is a co-Founder and the CEO of Olyn. Olyn is a universal asset registry service, built on the blockchain. Some of the topics Ana covered: Being born in Romania but growing up in Spain and Germany How traveling really helps one understand the world at scale Studied aeronautical engineering Not having a linear career Interning at a VC in Silicon Valley Drawn quickly to entrepreneurship in the Health Care space in Romania Coming back to Spain and joining a startup there (APIs) How companies treat data as a product Learning about eCommerce from a fashion company Focused on technology is changing people's lives Olyn's (All In Ownership) genesis Identity linked to payments Allowing third parties to build services via the wallet

It is always great to have our guests in the studio and we were happy to have Stephen Inscoe join us at Seven Peaks Software in Bangkok. Stephen is a Founder of BlueSleep, the online sales leader for mattresses in Russia. Some of the topics Stephen discussed: Why he was speaking French with Martin before we started recording Language learning helps with cultural understanding Living and working in Moscow The importance of research and the leap into instinct Working in real estate in Europe, India and China Technology forces a certain type of discipline Retail as a form of human psychology Being marketing and analytic driven eCommerce aggregators? Should marketplaces be curated

eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Bruce Macdonald, the Head of ANZ Sales for Algolia. Algolia empowers Builders with the Search and Recommendation services they need to build world-class experiences. Some of the topics Bruce discussed: Living and working in Chicago 15 years in eCommerce Cloud computing and coming full circle Algolia continues the French Connection Mobile search Search and discovery 'experiences' leading to conversion Competing with Google and being the second largest search vendor globally Search for anyone that needs to find content Endless aisles

The eCommerce UnderCover research team did a report on which companies have announced fundraising in the eCommerce space globally in the 6 months from September 2021 to March 2022. Pu Yuming, our amazing eCommerce UnderCover intern that put this report together, joined us on the show to discuss this in detail. No less than USD $20BN has been invested in eCommerce-related companies in the past 6 months, more than 2.5 times the amount that was announced in the first 6 months of 2021. Yuming broke this down into 8 categories including: Back-end Operations Buying and Scaling Brands Conversational Commerce Financing and Payments Marketplaces Social Commerce DTC (Direct to Consumer) Websites Tools and Features

eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Jamie Brennan, the Head of Thailand Global Selling at Amazon. Some of the topics Jamie covered: 15 years of work experience, starting in her family's radio business Working for Lazada and Alibaba Peeking into the CP world via True Credit access for sellers The tenacity of Thailand's eCommerce sellers Some of the world's biggest companies getting founded during the Great Depression The massive size of the eCommerce opportunity in Thailand The impact of COVID and the trend in health food How sellers in Thailand can accelerate growth working with Global Selling at Amazon

eCommerce UnderCover was excited to welcome Asher Ismail, a co-Founder at Uncapped. Uncapped provides business advances of between £10k and £5m allowing founders to access fair and flexible finance. It makes money by charging a low flat fee which is paid back from future sales revenue. Some of the topics covered by Asher: His previous startup experiences and the lessons learned Founding Uncapped based on a problem he experienced as did his Founder friends Funding more companies in a day than most VCs fund in a year The importance of funding for marketing and inventory for eCommerce businesses The benefits of debt financing versus equity funding Revenue-based funding

eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Matthias Reinholz, the CEO and Founder of Qreuz. Qreuz is a privacy-first tracking method for online marketers that provides clean and rich data that respects the privacy of customers. Some of the topics that Matthias covered: Switching to ethical server-side tracking and leaving cookies and pixels behind Online customer privacy Is Google Analytics getting banned from some European countries? Only collecting the data needed to understand business performance The importance of leaving customer data where it belongs...with the customers Eliminating the necessity of third-party tracking services Building on open source software Marketing attribution and cohort aggregation

eCommerce UnderCover welcomed Leonard Cheong, the Founder, Designer, and CEO of Finix Wear. Finix is an inclusive unisex athleisure label designed in Singapore with a unique genderless edge. Some of the topics we covered with Leonard: Starting Finix at the height of the COVID pandemic and the challenges of building the entire value chain remotely from the start The birth of Finix out of a personal pain point The lack of diversity in the looks and representation of the fashion fitness market There is a Men's Department and a Women's Department and nothing in between The challenge of finding the right factory for production Starting with smaller product runs and growing with the brand The recent launch of Finix's "Freedom" line The importance of featuring models and talents from different social and ethnic backgrounds Creating an inclusive fashion-fitness label that speaks to a rising generation of diverse individuals and lifestyles

eCommerce UnderCover was joined by Valentin Radu, the Founder, and CEO of OmniConvert. Omniconvert is a growth enabler for mid-size DTC eCommerce & retail companies looking to increase customer lifetime value and decrease customer acquisition costs. Valentin knows his stuff…and had a killer set up with a great mic, multiple cameras, a camera-switcher, and an awesome studio. He also has years of experience and cares about helping others improve their businesses. Some of the topics we covered with Valentin: Growing up poor under communism in Bucharest, Romania Why his father was against entrepreneurship Built a company that sold car insurance online CLC vs CAC, the North Star for eCommerce Businesses Understanding the eCommerce growth formula The (changing) mentality of an eCommerce entrepreneur Marketplaces vs stand-alone eCommerce shops Amazon consolidators - Do they really know more than the rest of us about how to scale these businesses?

Martin and Michael were thrilled to have Philip Johnston, a co-Founder and the co-CEO of Opontia on eCommerce UnderCover. With eCommerce aggregators all the rage, we wanted to learn more from the only team doing this in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Some of the topics that Philip covered: Opontia's recent capital raise Marketplaces versus individual online shops How Opontia leverages technology How the team evaluates the companies it wants to acquire The math applied to potential acquired companies Does Opontia care if the original entrepreneurs stay on and how their opinion has evolved What incentives are in place to encourage the founders to remain after acquisition Post-acquisition process for integrating acquired brands Are there concerns about rising prices of acquisition targets? Would Opontia consider building its own online marketplace? Powered by Opontia?

eCommerce UnderCover was excited to have TJ Hyland, Director of Global Partnerships at Elevate Brands, join us on the show. With all of the news coverage about the investment into Amazon aggregators, we have started to reach out to these teams to dig deeper into the business models and the strategies they are employing. TJ was kind enough to oblige. Some of the topics we covered with TJ included: Elevate Brands was founded in 2017...so it is not copycatting like some of the newer participants in this space What did James, Jeremy, and Ryan know or see back in 2017 that the rest of the market was missing? How Elevate Brands grows the brands they acquire and the insights they have that the initial founders may not What is the technology angle and how is the M&A process automated? Business founders generally want to run their own businesses...what incentives are in place to ensure that the founders of the brands that are purchased stay around to operate them or is this not a concern? What actually happens after a brand is acquired...what is the process and what is the experience like for the brand seller? Was international always in the business plan or is this a new strategy? As new competitors keep coming into the rollup market, will the prices of brands that everybody wants to buy just get too high? Is the arbitrage disappearing? What can we expect from Elevate as the market matures?

Back in the studio! Martin and Michael were excited to be back in the studio and joined by Damien Kerneis, a co-Founder of Siam Car Deal. Siam Car Deal is the leading platform in Thailand to find the best deals on new car purchases. Some of the topics Damien covered: The health and status of the automobile market in Thailand The accelerating pace of digital transformation for car dealers in Thailand The impact of Carsome, Carro, and Cars24 on the new and used car markets in Southeast Asia The vertical integration of these businesses and the role that finance plays The development and growth of Chinese automobile manufacturers and brands The intricacies of the startups in the automobile space The growing influence of electric vehicles Embedding Siam Car Deal deeply into the automobile sales fabric in Thailand

Amy Read is the real deal. She is the co-Founder and CEO of Techsembly, an eCommerce SaaS solution and trusted partner for hotels looking to create new revenue streams and optimise operations through our marketplace and hotel management platform. Techsembly enables teams to manage multiple online stores, products, and logistics on one platform. Some of the topics that eCommerce UnderCover covered with Amy: Joining the graduate program at British Telecom straight out of university Building things from scratch inside of a big company Encountering success early and being told she may be rising too quickly The impact of losing out to a fellow employee for a promotion Moving into a great team with a failing business and turning it into a massive success The genesis of Gifts Less Ordinary How building GLO led to Techsembly and why Localization is non-trivial Creating brand new revenue streams for the hospitality business

A few weeks ago, we had Morten Naess, the EVP Technology at Bluestone on the show to discuss Product Information Management. At some point during that episode, he snuck in a tasty nugget about the MACH Alliance. Martin and I were so intrigued that we asked Morten to come back on the show with some other members of the Alliance to dig a bit deeper and learn more. We were fortunate to have Jasmine Guthmann, the Chair of the Marketing Council, and Dom Selvon, a co-Chair of the Technology Council at the MACH Alliance join the discussion as well. Jasmin's day job is the Senior Director, Global Marketing Partner at Contentstack while Dom is the CTO of e2x. Some of the topics we covered on this episode included: Why and how the MACH Alliance was founded How Bluestone found the MACH Alliance and what made it appealing What are the benefits to MACH Members? MACH Member or MACH Ambassador…what is the difference? What does it take to become a member from a technical perspective? Why do so many want to join the Alliance? Where is the MACH Alliance heading?

We simply had to have someone from DSers on the show and we could think of nobody better than Jean-Baptiste Carpentier. Jean-Baptiste is the Business Development Director for DSers and is insanely knowledgeable about dropshipping. If you are not a dropshipper, chances are you have not heard of DSers. If you ARE dropshipping and you have not heard of DSers, it is on you. Some of the topics Martin Ronfort and I discussed with Jean-Baptiste: The current state of eCommerce globally Dropshipping's place in the eCommerce landscape Some of the tools necessary for eCommerce sellers to be successful The level of competition in the eCommerce space and what separates the good from the great Optimized product sourcing and why this matters Finding the best and most reliable suppliers Why branding matters The keys to online store management and why so many sellers fail

Martin and Michael learned a ton from Morten Naess, the EVP of Technology at Bluestone about Product Information Management (PIM) software and so much more. PIM is software that centralizes, manages, enriches and distributes product content in the most efficient way possible. Some of the topics we covered with Morten: How PIM can be used to support sales and marketing for both B2B and B2C companies Who needs PIM and how it can be implemented How PIM supports eCommerce companies at scale and across marketplaces The benefits of PIM for omnichannel distribution The technology behind PIM SaaS The benefits of the cloud and being cloud-native MACH Principles - Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native Saas. and Headless

The team at eCommerce UnderCover caught up with two of our friends, William and Xavier, who are both based in Paris. Fluent in Mandarin, French, and English, William and Xavier have found a market niche helping eCommerce sellers in France source products in China. Some of the topics we covered in this episode: Both are well into their second decade living in France How they met at university in France while studying engineering Closing the eCommerce gap between China and France Product differentiation and why packaging matters Branding China as the world's manufacturer Logistics, Warehousing, and ERP Asset light and knowledge heavy

The team at eCommerce UnderCover wanted to dive deeper into what dropshipping really is. Simply speaking, dropshipping is a method of retail fulfillment in which the seller does not maintain his or her own stock. Some of the topics that we covered: What is dropshipping and why is it so prevalent? Inventory management can be a real challenge for eCommerce sellers How the supply chain actually works for sellers that employ drop shipping What types of companies are involved and what role do they play How dropshipping has evolved and become much more efficient The role of payment platforms in dropshipping Middlemen never really get eliminated If a seller lives in Indonesia, but her company is US-domiciled and her clients are in France, things can get really complicated, really quickly How are taxes, returns, and other minutiae handled? Why are so many people on YouTube trying to teach eCommerce and dropshipping?

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media were joined by Riki Hooker, the General Manager of Global E-commerce Experts. Global E-commerce Experts provides an end-to-end solution to enable product-based businesses to expand into foreign markets. Riki is super knowledgeable and was very generous with his time! Some of the topics we discussed: Many eCommerce sellers want to expand to other markets but do not know how to do it Foreign market localization is more than simply translating a website Tax issues alone can be a nightmare for any seller expanding to another country Payments, payments systems, and payment norms (including Cash on Delivery) can be different from country to country Customs issues and product return policies Warehousing, Fulfillment, and third-party logistics The complexity of eCommerce logistics Offline to online Delivery speed and its impact on conversion The social aspect of shopping and how to replicate this online How politics can impact global eCommerce Asia remains a massive opportunity

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media welcomed Trung Hoang Nguyen, a co-Founder and the CEO of Loship. Loship is Vietnam's fastest-growing one-hour-delivery eCommerce startup. Some of the topics Trung covered during our conversation: Growing up in a small town in Vietnam Having parents that worked super hard and built their own business Winning a scholarship to study at a university in South Korea Building a business that aims to have an impact Feeling like he has the destiny to raise the living standard for all of Vietnam Balancing customer satisfaction and delivery driver happiness and retention Continuously adjusting Loship's business model Creating a corporate culture that makes all of Loship's employees proud Being hyper-local

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media were joined by Patri Ferreras, a Lead Media Buyer at DimNiko Agency. DimNiko Agency is a team of Global marketers who have a passion for helping eCommerce brands grow. Some of the topics we covered: Why work with an agency? Trends that Patri is seeing in the digital marketing space Lessons learned from the physical world translated to the digital realm Customer acquisition strategies Are there regional differences in marketing strategies Brand awareness and helping brands grow Facebook, Google and the presence or lack of intent

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media dove into the internet landscape in Africa and its developing eCommerce space. Some of the things that we discussed: Internet penetration in Africa is high and growing Africa has the youngest and second-largest population in the world According to the United Nations, the median age in Kenya is 20.3 and Nigeria is 18.1! Africa has over 50 countries and a population of approximately 1.2BN people Kenya has an internet penetration of over 85% Nigeria has a population of over 200MM people with 188MM mobile phone connections Nigeria has 104MM internet users and 33MM active social media users Alerzo raises $10.5MM Series A

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media spent some time this episode discussing their thoughts on Logistics and Delivery in the eCommerce space. Some of the things that we discussed: Amazon predicted in 2013 that "the future of last-mile delivery lay in robots". Do enough people really want drones delivering things to their homes or condos? Amazon and other companies have shifted to sidewalk delivery robots Sidewalk delivery robots may be cute, but does anybody really want this either? How do sidewalk delivery robots work in suburbs or cities with crowded or poorly maintained sidewalks... A persistent view that people want to interact with other humans, not robots Did someone say Hyperloop?

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech recently gave a deep-dive presentation on innovation and investment trends in eCommerce in conjunction with Payoneer. In this episode, Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media, and Martin dove even deeper into three of the 10 topics that Martin and Payoneer covered. Some of the things that came up during our deep-dive discussion: Back-end eCommerce Operations Logistics, speed, reliability, and the desire for 1-hour delivery Speed drives conversion rates The sheer size of investment in eCommerce innovation in just the first 6 months of 2021 Cybersecurity and Fraud Offline to Online Equivalencies Warranty and Insurance Riskwolf and internet outage insurance Microsoft 2021 Global Tech Support Scams Research Report The Asia Tech Podcast episode that discussed the above is here How Facebook and Google dominate online advertising

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media were joined by Radha Mesova, an actor, singer and eCommerce entrepreneur. Radha has had an incredible journey into entrepreneurship. This is not your normal entrepreneur story about a well-off kid dropping out of Harvard, pretending to eat ramen noodles, and moving to California as a silicon valley darling. Radha was born in Ingushetia (Yes. You have never heard of it...), moved to Germany with her family, and then settled in Canada as a 12-year-old. You should listen to her story.. Some of the topics we discussed: Overcoming an abusive childhood and homelessness Studying entrepreneurship at University Selected from her university class to participate in an entrepreneurship program in Germany just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak Her first foray into eCommerce and dropshipping and the source for her first product idea Radha's extremely insightful views on using Facebook, Google, Tik Tok, and other platforms for marketing and customer acquisition Why building killer product pages is so important Why she publishes so often on YouTube and what she hopes to achieve via her channel How eCommerce was her onramp to entrepreneurship and enables Radha to pursue her other passions as well

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media were joined by Eugene Tham, a co-Founder and the CEO of Shopform. Shopform is a social platform to review and shop digital native fashion brands. Shopform is creating a community of trust and users who share authentic reviews with each other. Every review helps people make more informed decisions, and helps to grow small businesses around the region. Some of the topics that we discussed...and there were many: The lack of innovation in eCommerce during the last 10 years (We agree!) Eugene's definition of Social Commerce Social Media platforms and eCommerce platforms do not work well together yet The discovery issues for digital-native brands on the large marketplaces Some of the potential new Social Commerce models Brands leaving marketplaces and joining Shopform Gen Z is looking for more authentic and more social online shopping experiences

This week, Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media recorded remotely, just to be a little extra safe in the face of rising COVID cases in Thailand. Martin did some incredible work to get the recording to look awesome for our first remote recording! Some of the topics we explored: Augmented Reality and online commerce conversions Is the technology really ready yet? Even if the tech is ready, will anybody use it for commerce, and if so, how and for which categories? Technology-enhanced glasses were very unpopular Does anybody really want to try on fashion with AR? Will Apple Glasses or similar products be better used for product information in physical stores and for post-purchase customer service? We only touched briefly on data and privacy considerations with the knowledge that this is significant to be covered separately Martin Ronfort can be reached at martin@hellodr.tech. Michael can be reached at michael@michaelwaitzemedia.com

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media took the studio on the road and recorded at Seven Peaks Software's amazing office at The Parq. We look forward to recording there more often! Some of the angles we covered: eCommerce's Direct To Consumer Model What had to change to make Direct To Consumer possible Besides cavemen, is now the greatest time in human history to create a new brand? How access to production, capital, distribution, marketing, and logistics makes Direct To Consumer easier than ever. What sectors are best suited for Direct To Consumer Who is doing this now? What are the models that we think will work and would like to see developed?

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media were joined by Andre Buerger, a senior executive at the CP Group, and one of the earliest employees at Lazada in Southeast Asia. Some of the topics we discussed with Andre: Shogun's recent capital raise and why it is significant Marketplaces versus individual online brand shops Food and grocery delivery Is there a market for someone to build a better way for restaurants to sell online? My online purchase experiences with El Mercado (amazing) and Millionhead (also great) The online experience is as important as the product

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media were joined by David Jou, a co-founder and the CEO of Pomelo Fashion, an eCommerce pioneer in Southeast Asia and a former co-founder of Lazada. Some of the topics we discussed with David: The impact of COVID on Fashion eCommerce Data Science and the use of data in eCommerce Omni-channel selling and how happy Pomelo customers were when the physical stores were opened Physical stores create brand awareness, add to bottom-line growth, and a place where clients can try things on Building internal products and the birth of Prism, enabling digital commerce for fashion brand builders Tap, Try, Buy How some of the things you think you know for sure may not be correct

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media were joined by Irzan Raditya, a co-founder and the CEO of Kata.ai to talk to us about artificial intelligence and conversational commerce. Some of the topics we discussed included: Why Irzan went to German y to get his BSc in Computer Science How he became fluent in German Working for Rocket Internet and Zalando Pitching Khailee Ng on a startup idea from Germany and getting funded The history and growth of Kata.ai out of the original YesBoss Augmenting humans with AI as opposed to replacing them A cold-turkey start for building AI Recording a billion conversations How conversational commerce drives conversions So much more...

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media switched it up this week and moved the studio to a new location to talk about the viability of eCommerce marketplaces. Some of the topics we covered: Is buying growth the right idea? Is Etsy buying Depop a sign of strength or weakness (Hint: We thought it was a sign of weakness.) Is Etsy even really about crafts anymore? Are boutiques and bespoke brands the future of eCommerce? Are marketplaces and their aggregated traffic really worth it? Is there too much noise and not enough signals? Will Volkswagen dilute Porsche's brand identity and what does that have to do with eCommerce marketplaces? General Motors and the tunnel underneath Tokyo Bay If YOU had $1.62 BN in cash would you spend it all on Depop?

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media continued a discussion on Social Commerce. Some of the topics we covered: Social Commerce is not the same as eCommerce Social Commerce is not new...Facebook and Instagram (and others) tried this years ago We decided pretty early in the conversation that people do not go to Facebook or Instagram to shop Brands that tried this may have been damaged by trying to sell without friction on Facebook Sellers DO use Facebook and Instagram but simply to drive buyers to their websites Do we have offline equivalents to the bad experience of trying to shop on Facebook Sellers know that if they sell exclusively on Facebook, they have no access to their underlying sales data, and brand building is almost impossible Where do chatbots fit into eCommerce sites

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media welcomed Florian Tep an eCommerce expert who is originally from Paris, France, and is currently living in Bali, Indonesia. Some of the topics we discussed: There is a large cohort of online shop owners that sell a lot but no one has ever heard of them eCommerce under the radar Florian's original attempt to sell dance classes online How Florian promised his mother that if he could not grow his eCommerce business in 3 months, that he would look for a job How setting that 3-month deadline made him laser-focused and made his Mom happy Marketplaces can be great for a certain kind of seller, but Florian prefers to work off-platform How he determines which products and which markets work - sometimes pivoting in 4 to 5 days Building an online community and teaching eCommerce to 6,500 followers

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media had a cool discussion about 'Live Commerce' after doing some decent follow-up on last week's topic, buying and selling eCommerce brands. Some of the topics we covered: Una Brands' strategy is not novel...even in Southeast Asia factory14 raised $200MM in Europe and acquired 'Pro Bike Tool' Rainforest raises $36.5MM to compete with and do the same business as Una Brands One of the founders of Rainforest was also a founder of Carousell (pretty early for a founder to have left) The elephant in the eCommerce consolidation wars is Thrasio which announced raise of $700MM Joshua Silberstein earned a 3.93 at The Wharton School What 'Live Commerce' actually is How is 'Live Commerce' different from The Home Shopping Network and Tupperware parties Now anybody can sell Will 'Live Commerce' lead to higher conversion rates Should we test 'Live Commerce' on eCommerce UnderCover Tune in to the live show on the Michael Waitze Media Facebook Page, subscribe on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify, and leave a review.

Martin Ronfort, the founder of DrTech, and Michael Waitze, the founder of Michael Waitze Media discussed whether buying and selling growing eCommerce brands is a thing. If it is, what are some of the key questions and some of the potential answers? Some of the issues we covered: The founding of Una Brands in December 2020 and its experienced executive team A seed funding round of $40MM of equity and debt Some eCommerce company builders prefer early-stage building as opposed to scaling to size We postulated about the Una Brands edge Is this really a thing and do other companies already do this? (Spoiler alert…Yes, including Shopify) Is the arbitrage gone? As more buyers emerge will prices get too high? Will there be seller remorse? Are there existing success stories in this space? GymShark came to mind Should DrTech build a curated marketplace of the best sellers? What are some of the metrics that hint at long-term brand viability and make a strong brand? Let's get one of the founders (or two of them) of Una Brands on the show Tune in to the live show, subscribe on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify, and leave a review.