Podcast appearances and mentions of alicia esposito

Philip dials in from London to chat with “marketing mercenary” Michael Miraflor, who's fresh off his eighth year at Cannes Lions. And after the LinkedIn Thought Leader Industrial Complex weighed in on this year's event, he is ready to share some thoughts. In this episode, we dissect how the prestigious festival has fractured into three simultaneous conferences, each serving different masters in an industry grappling with AI anxiety, platform consolidation, and the eternal tension between craft and commercialism. Listen now if you're also wondering, what does creativity even mean anymore?French Riviera Dreams vs. Silicon Valley AnxietyKey takeaways:Cannes Lions 2025 operated as three distinct conferences simultaneously, reflecting the industry's cultural fragmentation between traditional creativity, advertising channels and platforms, and bougie networking events.AI seemingly dominated every conversation, with industry professionals making dark jokes about replacement theory.Retail media networks and tech platforms have fundamentally altered the festival's ecosystem and vibe, creating productive tension between creative celebration and commercial necessity.Post-festival controversies surrounding AI usage highlight our industry's evolving discourse over the role of authenticity and efficiency in creative work.“If you took away all of the tech companies and platforms and big agencies from the beach, what would Cannes Lions be reduced to? I don't know if it would even make enough money to sustain still having that award ceremony in 2025." – Michael Miraflor"It was inevitable that every other conversation that you would have would become one about AI replacement theory to a certain extent. Or, you know, jokes about how this year feels like we're all on the Titanic." – Michael Miraflor"I find it interesting that a lot of the criticism comes from people who have jobs in creativity that I think are quite elite jobs. In my field, I feel like we're all quite lucky to be where we are…We can be critical, and I think my job has been to be critical... But I also think that we all have some element of privilege to be able to do that kind of work." – Phillip JacksonIn-Show Mentions:The Cannes Lions AI ControversiesMrBeast thumbnail app controversyAssociated Links:Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Optimove's Pini Yakuel has a mission: Free the marketer. In this final episode, Phillip and Pini bring theory into practice with Rachel Parker from FDJ United (formerly Kindred), who orchestrated a three-year organizational metamorphosis to shed their assembly-line model for the positionless approach – and become much better suited for tomorrow.If episodes 1-4 were the philosophy, today, we bring you the playbook. Ready to set your marketing department free? Listen to the Decoded season 4 finale now. The Total Football EffectKey takeaways:Small, cautious steps often fail where comprehensive transformation succeeds.Anonymous surveys revealed FDJ's teams were dissatisfied with assembly-line processes and hungry for broader responsibilities.AI enables faster delivery, leading to more opportunities for internal praise and success – and big boosts to team morale.Expertise still matters, but it's about expanding capabilities rather than rigid specialization.In-Show Mentions:Learn more about FDJ United (Française des Jeux)Associated Links:Learn more about Optimove's platformsLearn more about Positionless MarketingCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

A replay from VISIONS Summit: NYC featuring Future Commerce Co-Founder Phillip JacksonWhat happens when you bury the essence of an entire civilization fifty feet underground? Live from VISIONS Summit: NYC, Future Commerce co-founder Phillip Jackson takes us on an archaeological journey through time capsules—from the monuments of the Westinghouse's World's Fair to NASA's Golden Record floating through space. Through the lens of these cultural artifacts, we explore a provocative thesis: that commerce is culture, and in five thousand years, only brands will survive to tell our story.What We Buy Buys Us BackKey Takeaways:Commerce is culture: What we buy literally buys us back, shaping who we become as individuals and societiesBrands as time capsules: Companies like Westinghouse and Panasonic have created some of history's most comprehensive cultural documents through their time capsule projects, and brands are the most central figures in these critical containersThe psychology of consumption: Repeated exposure through performance marketing mirrors the spreading activation theory that drives curiosity and attitude formationCultural permanence: In an era of synthetic reality and AI, time capsules may represent the last authentic artifacts of human civilizationIn-Show Mentions:More from VISIONS Summit: NYCWestinghouse Time Capsules (1938 & 1968) - World's Fair, Flushing Meadows, QueensTime Capsule location in Flushing Meadows-Corona ParkPanasonic (Matsushita Electric) Time Capsule EXPO '70NASA's Voyager Golden Record ProjectThe "Story of the Westinghouse Time Capsule" bookVoyager Golden Record contents and imagesThe supermarket image on the Voyager Golden RecordAssociated Links:Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Welcome to Future Commerce Rewind, where we compare stories in commerce today to episodes from the archives. This week, we're playing back VISIONS speaker Justin Breton's 2024 episode on Walmart Realm.When Walmart entered immersive digital experiences, it wasn't chasing hype—it was rethinking how the brand shows up in everyday digital life. In this rewind from August 2024, Justin Breton, Director of Brand Experiences, shares how Walmart Realm launched as a gamified marketplace blending culture, commerce, and creativity.Since then, Walmart has scaled its virtual ambitions with “Walmart Discovered” on Roblox, real-world commerce in gaming, and the debut of “Walmart Unlimited.” What began as an experiment is now central to Walmart's immersive commerce strategy.CTRL+ALT+CARTKey takeaways:Walmart Realm was never about conversions; it was about discovery. Today, Walmart's investments in platforms like Roblox and Spatial have validated that focus, with real-world commerce now integrated directly into those ecosystems.Justin avoided the term "metaverse," even when it was a buzzword. Instead, his team focused on familiarity and ritual, and that framing holds up. The strategy now connects digital shoppers with creators, brands, and immersive experiences they already love.Walmart has scaled its creator-driven experiences, including collaborations with Drew Barrymore and Netflix, helping drive co-created virtual spaces that reflect real-world partnerships.The early embrace of immersive storytelling now informs Walmart's content commerce and livestreaming efforts, with shoppable moments and branded narrative arcs that feel more like cultural touchpoints than retail plays.With new initiatives like Walmart Unlimited and its expanded Spatial footprint, Walmart is setting the stage for a generation of consumers who see shopping as play, story, and community.Justin joined the lineup of speakers at VISIONS Summit: NYC this summer. Subscribe to our newsletters and check out our recap on Insiders to catch highlights from the event.Associated Links:Explore Walmart RealmCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Positionless marketing isn't just a framework—it's a return to how work once was: flexible, intuitive, and deeply human. In this episode, Phillip, Pini, and Optimove's VP of Product, Shai Frank, unpack how cultural mindset, military experience, and generative AI converge to create teams that move with speed and creativity.Listen to decode how technology and ambition together can strip away organizational friction, empower self-sufficient marketers, and dramatically improve customer experience. It's not about removing roles—it's about removing blockers.Key TakeawaysPositionless marketing is more cultural than structural. It's not about tearing down departments—it's about cultivating people who take initiative without waiting for permission. That mindset, modeled after Israeli military culture, is what truly drives speed and creativity."Big-headedness" is a feature, not a flaw. Shai introduces the idea of “big-headed” employees—those who embrace ambition without being told—as essential to modern teams. In fast-paced orgs, initiative is a strategic asset.Creative execution is no longer gated. With tools like Optimove's Canvas and embedded brand controls, marketers can produce polished, on-brand campaigns without relying entirely on designers or developers.CRM is shifting from broadcast to orchestration. Instead of blasting segments, marketers can now trigger context-aware journeys that consider history, behavior, and optimal timing—raising the bar for customer experience.AI isn't about acceleration alone—it's about ambition. When friction is removed from creative and technical processes, teams don't just move faster—they aim higher.Key Quotes“Being small-headed means you're just an order-taker. A big-headed person says, ‘You asked for A and B, but I saw it also needed C and D, so I did that—and prepped for E.' That's what we look for.” – Pini Yakuel“Who said the first message should be the one you send? We don't want to serve the first—we want to serve the best.” – Shai Frank“If it used to take eight weeks to get a campaign out, now it might take two days. That frees up time to actually be creative.” – Shai Frank“If you don't create good customer experiences, people will leave. This isn't a moral imperative—it's survival.” – Shai FrankAssociated Links:Learn more about Optimove's platformsLearn more about Positionless MarketingCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Bestselling author and journalist Jo Piazza is best known as the host of the Under the Influence podcast, which boasts over 25 million downloads. Piazza is the author of the upcoming thriller Everyone is Lying to You, which dissects the rise of ‘trad wife' influencers and the multi-billion-dollar industry built on selling idealized domesticity.Drawing on her background in investigative journalism, which has covered everyone from Donald Trump to mommy bloggers, Piazza reveals how traditional values have become the latest form of performance marketing.Nostalgia As a Business ModelKey takeaways:"Everyone is lying to you. They're creating a magazine; they're creating a TV show. Most of this is not their real life. When you look at it like it's actually media and not a glimpse into someone's window, I think then you can let go of some of the guilt and the shame, but you're still going to buy the shit." - Jo Piazza [10:40]"The funniest thing about trad wives is they're encouraging all of these women to quit their jobs and rely on a man. I'm like, where are all these rich men that just want to make enough money to support a family? The average male income is something around $60,000 and the average American household spends $70,000. So the math does not add up in this equation." - Jo Piazza [19:12]"You can now rent entire houses for your influencer content. You can rent out a house with the beautiful kitchen and the pristine countertops. You can even rent a bathroom that's beautiful for your get-ready-with-me routine. And then [you can] shoot all of your content in it for one day. It's not your actual freaking house, but no one knows that." - Jo Piazza [13:31]"We're all brands. We're all trying to create something online. I'm very honest about this. I want people to buy my damn books. And so that means I have to post on social media." - Jo Piazza [26:35]Associated Links:Order Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo PiazzaCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Organizations love to optimize—but often forget what, or who, they're optimizing for. When teams are built around internal structures rather than customer outcomes, even the best strategies become slow to adapt.Author and data analyst Neil Hoyne and Pini Yakuel explore how behavioral rigidity, not technical limitations, holds most companies back. Drawing from principles in Neil Hoyne's book, Converted, they argue for a shift toward systems that favor adaptability, exploration, and proximity to the customer. Because in a world shaped by AI, the real competitive edge is not just speed—it's staying meaningfully connected to the people you serve.Key TakeawaysWhen roles become identities, organizations lose flexibility. Over-specialization makes it harder for teams to respond to evolving customer needs.Behavioral defaults—not tech—often slow teams down. Loyalty to familiar workflows or team structures can block innovation, even when tools are available.AI works best when aligned with real customer strategy. It's not a shortcut or a strategy in itself—it's a multiplier for what actually matters.Customer-centricity requires outcome-driven teams. Structuring around internal functions, rather than external impact, leads to misaligned incentives.Small shifts in ownership create big changes in experience. Empowering teams to work across silos—even partially—brings them closer to the customer, and closer to results.Key Quotes[00:13:50] “Marketing teams don't just bake bread—they are bread. It's not just what they do; it's who they've become. So when the shift happens—when the customer wants cupcakes instead—they miss it entirely. Because they weren't watching the customer. They were defending the bread.” – Neil Hoyne[00:21:13] “If your strategy is ‘use AI better than the competition,' you don't have a strategy.” – Neil Hoyne[00:25:46] “Accelerate what already works. Tactics are multipliers, not miracles.” – Pini[00:46:47] “Positionless isn't binary. Can you let a team own 10% of something, start to finish?” – Pini Yakuel[00:51:39] “We've gone too far into specialization. It's time to bring back the craftsman.” – Neil HoyneAssociated Links:Learn more about Optimove's platformsLearn more about Positionless MarketingRead Converted by Neil HoyneCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Phillip and Pini decode the implications of operating in a world where generative AI acts as both creative partner and analytical assistant. The walls between departments are dissolving. Roles are becoming more flexible. Tools are learning faster than their users. And the new creative process starts with a prompt. Key TakeawaysAI is now the default creative and analytical partner—prompting, planning, and predicting across workflows.The boundary between job functions is vanishing. Designers analyze data, data scientists shape stories. You no longer need to be a specialist to do specialized tasks.Context collapse is real. But AI is rapidly learning how to avoid it.Generalists who can flex across roles (with help from AI) are the new MVPs.Curiosity beats credentials. The only requirement is a mindset that's open, iterative, and unbothered by a little ambiguity.Key Quotes“It gives you back hours and hours and hours of time... and it's $100 a month. That's ridiculous.” – Pini Yakuel“I used to look for excuses to use AI. Now it's part of my all-day, every-day routine.” – Phillip“You can't be creative if you can't lie. And now the computer can lie.” – Pini Yakuel“Instead of having positions, we'll have roles. You might be 80% designer—but you'll need to do data too.” – Pini Yakuel“Hire for attitude, not skill. New skills can always be acquired if you have the right mindset.” – Pini YakuelAssociated Links:Learn more about Optimove's platformsLearn more about Positionless MarketingCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

What happens when everyone becomes a brand for fifteen seconds? And what happens after brands become nothing more than ambient frequencies in our endless scroll? Today, we're running back the highest-rated talk from VISIONS: LA.Emily Segal (K-HOLE, Nemesis) presents groundbreaking research on the post-peak vibe era, exploring what comes next when brands can no longer hide behind mood boards and atmospheric storytelling. From “strawberry girl summer” to “rodent boyfriend energy,” we've reached the absurdist endpoint of vibe-driven commerce…but what emerges from the wreckage of algorithmic sentiment monitoring?The Death of Vibes and What Comes NextKey takeaways:Post-Peak Vibe Reality: We've moved beyond brands as storytellers to brands as frequency emitters, where TikTok and Spotify algorithms understand our emotional states better than therapists, creating a landscape of "slop"—low-grade AI material that looks the part but doesn't feel authentic.The Algorithmic Gaze: Vibes aren't just cultural phenomena—they're how we see the world through machine learning's eyes. When we catch a vibe, we're processing information like an auto-encoding algorithm, making certain perceptual elements more obvious while obscuring others.Heritage as Just Another Vibe: Even attempts to escape contemporary vibe culture through "authentic" heritage branding ultimately become vibes themselves. There's no outside to the constant vibe machine, and stealth wealth still leaves traces of exposure.Three Paths Beyond Vibes: The future belongs to brands that are either impossibly dense with human labor (too substantial to reduce to vibes), exceptionally simple (pure speculative energy), or deliberately incoherent (escaping algorithmic detection entirely, like dazzle camouflage for brands).Join the visionaries forming tomorrow's culture through commerce at VISIONS Summit: NYC. Step into the future for 50% OFF with discount code AFTERVIBES.Associated Links:Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceEmily Siegel's Substack: nemesisglobal.substack.comRegister for Vision Summit NYC with code "aftervibes" for 50% off at FutureCommerce.com/visionsHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Massive acquisitions—from Skechers to Touchland to Foot Locker—aren't just headline fodder; they reflect deeper shifts in how value is defined in commerce today. Phillip and Brian explore what this means for brand identity, consumer behavior, and retail strategy, while diving into everything from Ghost Nutrition's licensing fallout to how Ozempic might reshape fashion trends. It's all a signal: the future of commerce is being redrawn across culture, tech, and even your closet.The Skechering of CommerceKey takeaways:The recent wave of M&A is less about scale, and more about strategic repositioning.Ghost Nutrition's licensing phase-out may challenge the brand's original cultural cachet.City Furniture proves sustainability investments can directly boost profitability.Weight-loss trends like Ozempic are subtly altering fashion preferences and product demand.Context—not trend—is becoming the driving force in personal style and shopping decisions.[00:01:41] Phillip: "Everything is an ad unit. That's the new wild future we have for you."[00:05:15] Brian: "Skechers was also acquired this month... $9.4 billion."[00:27:04] Phillip: "If you want your Ghost Nutrition stuff, you better stock up."[00:47:00] Brian: "Context is taking dominance again ... That's our next move in fashion."Associated Links:Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Live from Los Angeles, Phillip and Brian explore bizarre and brilliant intersections of commerce and culture of late, from commerce themes in Sinners to pope merch to DIY luxury. In an episode that's part futurist insight, part sacred absurdity, they connect the dots between retail psychology, meme theology, and trade policy. PLUS: Phillip and Brian head to The Whalies with Triple Whale. Coming up on the show, catch their live interview from The Whalies with Bryan Cano of True Classic!High Church, Low InventoryKey takeaways:The Commerce of Catholicism – Pope transitions now drive digital engagement, pilgrimage surges, and resale markets. Welcome to the Vatican's Shopify moment.Tariffs as Theater – The recent 90-day tariff reprieve reveals how uncertainty fuels deal-making and could permanently reshape global economic alliances.Contentification of the Sacred – From Conclave to meme lore, the papacy is now part of the entertainment-industrial complex, raising questions about the role of narrative and brand in modern faith.DIY is the New Luxury – Phillip's journey from $300 Instagram pants to $6 Goodwill masterpieces signals a cultural shift: recession-core meets personal branding.Slop is Dead (Maybe) – Brian drops a bold claim: participatory lo-fi media has peaked. What's next? Meaningful myth, meta-modern storytelling, and high-context digital ritual.[00:06:27] “Once you hit the limit with your product, you start to look at category expansion. You have to ask the ‘why' questions.” – Brian[00:52:45] “The way we relate to culture is through the commerce experience of it—when an American lens is applied.” – PhillipIn-Show Mentions:The Senses: I Vatican't Believe These PricesInsiders: Language GamesAssociated Links:Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Phillip and Brian bring hot takes on eBay's Met Gala presence, the latest tariff turmoil, and the future of autonomous driving. PLUS: Dissecting Warren Buffet's retirement and new research on Gen Z vs. Millennial communication trends. The Y2K Bug Zapped Us Into PostmodernismKey takeaways:Trends that feel like youth trends are actually just internet trends.  Their effects are now felt across generations, not siloed age groups.There has been a shift from modernism to postmodernism, and in turn, sincerity to ironic insincerity.Boy Meets World: 25 years after its series finale airs, we reflect on its sitcom era as a marker of TV's transition from modernism and sincerity to postmodernism and ironic insincerity. Kendra Scott taps into Gen Alpha.eBay returns to Brian's radar and then sponsors the 2025 Met Gala. Coincidence?“Understanding the society in which you live, and the cultural moment taking place, is taken for granted a lot.” – Phillip“The Y2K bug was actually just the end of sincerity.” – Brian“We've leaned so far into cheap goods for so long, there might be a memetic cycle happening now where we lean back into goods that are durable.” – Brian“Autonomous driving is extraordinarily disruptive—just like AI is for information, AVs are for how we live, plan cities, and think about ownership.” – PhillipIn-Show Mentions:The Guardian: Gen Z Is Turning to Voice NotesDirt.fyi: The State of A24Titan Caskets: Grave ConversationsWaymo Partners with ToyotaAssociated Links:Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeJoin Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Brian dials in from B2B Chicago, Phillip gets existential, and Alicia Esposito returns to the show and makes her debut as the newest member of the Future Commerce team. This week, we unpack music festivals' escalating cost of participation, Coachella as a retail laboratory, and how looming global trade challenges overconsumption. PLUS: The auto industry experiences a rare analog awakening.It Was Big Hibiscus All AlongKey takeaways:70% of B2B purchasers are Gen Z or Millennials.Tariffs are a real threat – Brands are bracing for supply chain disruption, with some using tariff warnings as marketing FOMO triggers.Future Commerce analyzes the overpriced festival craze on Insiders #190 and Insiders #191.The draw to Coachella? It's not music, or $30 Dave's Hot Chicken sandwiches. It's vibes.The Slate Truck represents a broader cultural trend toward digital detox and reverse skeuomorphism, bringing real-world, tactile experiences back into the digital age.[00:04:07] “Digitalization came for B2C and we didn't say anything. And now it's here for B2B.” – Brian Lange[00:15:17] “The reckoning has been coming for a long time. Overconsumption isn't just a consumer issue—it's a systemic one. If the climate crisis didn't spark change, what will?” – Phillip Jackson[00:16:57] “At what point will the cost of participation outweigh the value of participation to the point where it's like, well, what am I even doing this for?” – Alicia EspositoIn-Show Mentions:Insiders #191: City of Coachella: Population: In Debt Insiders #190: Is Coachella Buzz Brands'  Supply Chain Friend or Foe? Politico: How Gen Z Became the Most Gullible GenerationAssociated Links:Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

VICI was founded in 2012, when women were looking for trendy, high-quality fashions on a relatively new platform called Instagram, but were extra wary of their spending. With consumers now in a very similar headspace, it is an optimal time for Co-founder and Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer Aimee Dudum Colorado to reflect on how the business has evolved.During this episode, Aimee chats with host Alicia Esposito about:How the mission and values of VICI have evolved since the company's inception, if at all;How VICI helped shape the “Instagram Brand” model; The distinct role that influencers and creators play in driving marketing and new product creation; andHow the “meme-ification” of marketing is making standing out harder for brands.RELATED LINKSLearn more about VICISee Retail TouchPoints' latest coverage on all things social commerce

Merchants of all sizes and across categories have heard the call: to survive in an era of heightened expectations, they must empower consumers to buy anytime, anywhere and in any way they want. And oh yeah, they have to get those products to customers' doorsteps faster. Companies like Feedonomics are making it a reality by ensuring product data is accurate, compelling and integrated across all platforms, from marketplaces to social apps. During this episode of Retail Remix, Alicia Esposito sits down with Sharon Gee, SVP of Sales and Partnerships at Feedonomics, to discuss: The evolution of omnichannel and how new platforms like TikTok Shop are making the landscape more complex; The challenges brands are facing as they try to keep pace with the proliferation of new commerce experiences, and why data is central to success; and What instant commerce really is and how Feedonomics is powering it by partnering with Amazon Today. RELATED LINKSLearn more about FeedonomicsRead about Feedonomics' partnership with Amazon Today Get more details on Instant CommerceSee more coverage featuring Feedonomics and BigCommerce Retail Strategy & Planning Series 2024Register for the Retail Strategy & Planning series to get tactical tips and best practices to drive your Q4 and holiday season success.

Although some use the words “membership” and “subscription” interchangeably, 64% of consumers believe there is a distinct difference in these types of programs.   But what do consumers really expect from these commerce experiences? Retail TouchPoints and CI&T collaborated on a survey of 1,000+ consumers to find out. Melissa Minkow, author of the report, sits down with host Alicia Esposito to dig into some of the report's key takeaways, including:  How consumers differentiate membership models from subscription models;  Which categories are seeing the most traction and why;  How the economy is influencing the number of membership programs to which they subscribe; and  The triggers that drive consumers to register (or leave) a membership program.  RELATED LINKS Learn more about CI&T Download a copy of Building a Membership Model That ResonatesConnect with Melissa on Linkedin  Retail ThinkTank HubSubscribe to the Retail ThinkTank hub to get exclusive access to high-value content on the emerging trends poised to shape the future of retail.

Rebekah Kondrat has worked for brands known (and loved) for their incredible store experiences: Apple, Starbucks and Warby Parker, among others. She has taken these experiences to start Rekon Retail, a company that helps brands scale their retail operations and set them up for long-term success. During this RetailThinkTank Ideation Session, host Alicia Esposito sits down with Kondrat to discuss the keys to a successful store operation and how Rekon Retail is helping brands like Olfactory and M.M.LaFleur scale their brick-and-mortar strategies to new consumers and new cities. Click here to watch the Retail ThinkTank Ideation Session. Retail ThinkTank HubSubscribe to the Retail ThinkTank hub to get exclusive access to high-value content on the emerging trends poised to shape the future of retail.

Milani Cosmetics has been around for more than 20 years. And although plenty of beauty trends have come and gone in that time, the brand has maintained relevance and even acquired new customers by staying true to its core value props — and its distinct marketing approach.During this episode of Retail Remix, we're replaying an episode of Experience Insiders featuring Milani Cosmetics Chief Marketing Officer Jeremy Lowenstein. During their discussion, Jeremy and host Alicia Esposito dig into:How Milani Cosmetics has continued to make luxury beauty products accessible and inclusive for all;Tips for balancing fundamental values (like inclusivity) and more creative marketing tactics to stand out across channels; andLessons from some of Milani Cosmetics' most successful campaigns, such as one recent TikTok-driven initiative for its Fruit Fetish Lip Oil.Want to dig deeper into what's new and what's next in retail? Subscribe to the Retail ThinkTank hub to get exclusive access to high-value content on the emerging trends poised to shape the future of the industry.RELATED LINKSLearn more about Milani CosmeticsGet the details on the brand's latest campaignConnect with Jeremy on LinkedIn Retail ThinkTank HubSubscribe to the Retail ThinkTank hub to get exclusive access to high-value content on the emerging trends poised to shape the future of retail.

TikTok and Alibaba are just two of many tech juggernauts testing virtual influencers, and these AI-generated personalities are bringing immersive commerce experiences to a completely new level. What is happening in this space today…and what will the future hold? Most of all, what will the rapid evolution and maturation of this space mean for how we build our own digital identities?Alicia Esposito explored this topic with Sharon Gai, an ecommerce expert and author of the book Ecommerce Reimagined, during a recent Retail ThinkTank Ideation Session. Listen to get a peek into the conversation, and click the link below to watch the full episode.   Click here to watch the Retail ThinkTank Ideation Session.

Recorded live at VISIONS Summit: NYC 2024, join Alicia Esposito for her sitdown with Seb Reetz, Bloomreach's Solutions Consulting Lead of the Americas. They dive into the fascinating intersection of AI and art, exploring how AI is transforming both the creation and consumption of art discussing the ethical considerations, creative opportunities, and practical applications of AI in the artistic process. Seb shares insights from his current projects, including a thought-provoking video game that leverages AI for ideation and voice generation.AI: The Artist's New MuseKey takeaways:AI tools aid in ideation and proof of concept, helping artists and writers like Seb generate and refine ideas.AI has the potential to revolutionize customer experience through personalized, cross-channel interactions.[00:30] Seb: "I sell AI on a day-to-day basis. I also am a writer for video games. So I definitely think about AI and the sort of ethics around it."[10:00] Seb: "AI is a really powerful tool to help with that. So again, I go back to the you're the air traffic controller as the marketer."Associated Links:Bloomreach11 LabsPrague Arts FestivalCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Despite headlines claiming the death of the shopping mall, some developers are reimagining the experience to make it memorable, even unforgettable, for consumers. During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito sits down with someone who is helping shape the future of the mall: Justin Stein, EVP of Leasing at Tanger. During this episode, he shares details on:Tanger's transformation, including thinking more like a curator and less like a traditional operator; His team's approach to tenant mix, ensuring the right combination of retailers, restaurants, entertainment and more are integrated into experiences; How Tanger is thinking of omnichannel experience design to boost traffic and dwell time; andHis advice for helping retailers optimize their presence in shopping malls and centers. RELATED LINKSLearn more about Tanger Read about Tanger's transformationGet more insights on the future of the mall

As Head of Trends for Insider Trends, Jack Stratten has toured some of the world's newest, and most innovative, retail stores. Through these tours, he has been able to uncover how consumer behaviors have shaped storytelling techniques, technology integration and more. During the NRF Big Show, Jack sat down with host Alicia Esposito to discuss the key trends he's uncovered in his tours around the world, as well as what he loves most about some of the Big Apple's top shops. Listen to learn: Why Glossier is a great model for innovative brick-and-mortar storytelling; How brands can incorporate surprise and delight effectively in stores; and How to do innovation right in physical retail spaces. RELATED LINKSLearn more about Insider TrendsRegister for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo to join Jack on the Store Tours around ChicagoCheck out a recent webinar featuring Jack and his friend Ian Scott, as they discuss the evolution of store spacesJack will be hosting Stour Tours around Chicago during the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, along with fellow brick-and-mortar nerd Ian Scott. Click here to get your ticket and get more tactical tips from her and other forward-thinking executives! 2024 Retail Innovation Conference & ExpoAre you ready to explore the evolved customer journey, where content, community and commerce converge? Click here to register for the 2024 Retail Innovation Conference & Expo today!

Retailers know that digital influences the customer journey, from initial awareness to post-purchase. So why is there still such a staggering divide between consumers' digital and physical brand experiences?We explore the gaps, challenges and opportunities on this week's Retail Remix with Justin Racine and Zach Zalowitz of Perficient. Together with host Alicia Esposito, they explore: The key digital influencers for in-store traffic and activation; The increasingly central role of inventory visibility and omnichannel inventory management in the customer experience; Why retailers should place more emphasis on the post-purchase experience; andHow different retail teams and functions can support the bottom of the funnel, which is becoming a new “battleground” for retailers.RELATED LINKSLearn more about PerficientDownload Retail TouchPoints' research on retailers' omnichannel challenges and prioritiesRead our coverage of the post-purchase experience Omnichannel & Fulfillment Benchmark ReportDownload the Retail TouchPoints Omnichannel & Fulfillment Benchmark report, sponsored by Deposco, to learn how your peers are investing in creating a cohesive customer experience.

Up to 81% of consumers say they prefer to shop with brands and retailers that have both online and offline channels, according to CI&T's latest Connected Retail Report. This data point may not be surprising most, but it's the underpinning of a lot of new trends around how consumers browse, compare and purchase products across channels, and Melissa Minkow, the author of the report, sits down with host Alicia Esposito to dig into the key takeaways, including: Whether price-conscious consumers are willing to sacrifice their experience for a good deal; How consumers' evolved omnichannel priorities will influence brand investments; andHow consumers want to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support their shopping behaviors. RELATED LINKSLearn more about CI&TDownload a copy of the 2024 Connected Retail ReportRead the article highlighting key takeawaysConnect with Melissa on Linkedin CI&T's Connected Retail ReportGet your copy of CI&T's fourth annual Connected Retail report to learn how brands are keeping pace with consumers' evolved needs and expectations.

Although generative AI has the power to shake up all retail functions, early use cases and success stories suggest that marketing, content and ecommerce teams have the most to gain. These teams are feeling more pressure to create relevant, impactful and on-brand content. Gen AI will allow them to accomplish all of this — and at scale. During this episode of Retail Remix, Alicia Esposito explores the opportunities for brands and retailers with Michelle Bacharach, Co-founder and CEO of FindMine. They discuss:How Gen AI can support the creative process, from ideation to execution;Tips for balancing the efficiency and automation of Gen AI with the need for creative, high-touch branded content; andHow the rise of Gen AI will influence the way brands build, empower and inspire teams across business functions.RELATED LINKSLearn more about FindMineExplore the latest in Gen AI trends and use cases on Retail TouchPointsRead our multi-part series on AI use cases

The National Retail Federation drew 40,000+ attendees from across the retail realm who were eager to explore the hottest trends and tech — from AI to retail media and in-store optimization. During this week's Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito recaps the Big Show with Nicole Silberstein, Ecommerce Editor for Retail TouchPoints, and Phillip Jackson, Co-founder of Future Commerce, including how the event could be an indicator for future retail tech investments and the sectors that will see traction in 2024. The panel also discuss some key themes and takeaways from the show, including:The digitization (and monetization) of the store and what it means for the tech landscape; The big rebranding moment of the metaverse — and the emerging brand opportunity within gaming platforms; How the evolution of shoppable TV and other “contextual commerce” vehicles will shape the future of retail; and How the hyper-personalization of retail experiences will impact our shared experience as shoppers.RELATED LINKSLearn more and subscribe to Retail TouchPointsLearn more and subscribe to Future Commerce

Over the course of his 20-year career, Harvey Ma has held roles at NielsenIQ and Roundel, the in-house marketing and advertising agency for Target. He also held several leadership positions at Target spanning marketing, merchandising and negotiations. Now, he's taking his passion for retail and advertising to the next level as Vice President of Albertsons Media Collective.In this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Harvey about how retail and the advertising landscapes have both evolved and converged, creating new opportunities for brands to create immersive and innovative brand experiences. Listen to learn: The top three trends Harvey believes are driving the evolution of retail media; Why transparency and measurement standardization are so top of mind for leadership teams; How privacy and data compliance will come to the forefront in a cookieless future; and How Albertsons Media Collective is harnessing its rich audience of 35+ million weekly shoppers to drive campaign success. RELATED LINKSConnect with Harvey Ma here.Learn more about Albertsons Media Collective.Check out the 2024 Predictions report here!Get details on how Albertsons Media Collective is supporting transparency and standardization in retail media.Read more about emerging tech trends on Retail TouchPoints.

PRODUCTION UPDATE: Shortly after this podcast launched, Solo Brands announced that John Merris would “mutually separate” from the company as President, CEO and Director starting on Jan. 15, 2024. Christopher Metz will replace Merris, beginning on the same date. The news comes on the heels of Solo Brands updating its fiscal 2023 guidance, decreasing it from between $520 million to $540 million, to between $490 million and $500 million.In an era where technology and scale often precede personal connection, Solo Brands has found a way to intertwine all three, creating resonant brand experiences across all channels. This has led to significant growth for the business, which has a vast portfolio that spans menswear to smokeless fire pits.In this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito has a one-on-one chat with John Merris, CEO of Solo Brands, about how the company has seen significant growth by investing in: A strategic vision and mission that extends across all of its brands; A holistic listening strategy that informs business decisions and brand experiences;Wholesale partnerships that drive brand awareness and traffic, and support more efficient marketing decision-making; and Data-driven strategies that are setting the brand up for a successful 2024. RELATED LINKSConnect with John Merris here.Learn more about Solo Brands.Check out the 2024 Predictions report here!Read more about emerging tech trends on Retail TouchPoints.

Despite rumblings of a wary consumer, shopping results from Thanksgiving weekend reveal that consumers were eager to shop. For example, data from Adobe Digital Insights reveals that results from the weekend, especially Cyber Monday, beat initial projections. In this special episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito sits down with Vivek Pandya from Adobe Digital Insights to discuss how consumers shopped from the Thanksgiving table and their couches during the long weekend. Drawing on Adobe's extensive data collection and analysis, Vivek pulled the curtain back on the findings and revealed what consumer behaviors could tell us about the remainder of the holiday season – and what retailers should do about it.Check out this episode to learn:  Whether retailers' pricing and discounting strategies inspired consumers to cross off their holiday shopping lists;  How the ease of mobile shopping influenced overall traffic and spending results; Which categories saw the biggest sales boost and why;  If major shopping days (like Black Friday and Cyber Monday) still heavily influence consumer action; and Which trends and takeaways should guide retailers' efforts going through the remainder of the holiday season. RELATED LINKS Connect with Vivek here. Check out Adobe Analytics' 2023 Holiday Shopping Report. Learn more about Adobe Analytics. Read more about holiday shopping trends on Retail TouchPoints. Retail TouchPoints Personalization Special ReportLearn how to evolve from personalization to customization. Download this special report, sponsored by Volumental, today!

At Monica + Andy, thoughtfulness is at the core of everything the brand does. The team, led by founder and CEO Monica Royer, believes that every decision should be made by first considering the possible impact on customers, employees and the environment. This episode of Retail Remix highlights how this mindset applies to all aspects of Monica + Andy, from product design to customer service, marketing and company culture. Alicia Esposito chats with Monica + Andy Founder Monica Royer about: The inspiration behind Monica + Andy, including how her personal challenges sparked the idea for a thoughtful brand for new parents; How she drew on her experience with her brother's company, Bonobos, to learn from their successes and challenges in direct-to-consumer retail; Monica + Andy's growth playbook, which combines DTC, wholesale, community and services; and How the brand is designing digital physical spaces to be inclusive and welcoming to parents and young children. RELATED LINKS Check out the Monica + Andy here. See how Monica + Andy build community. Read more about customer loyalty trends on Retail TouchPoints. 2023 Store Operations Survey ReportFind out how 120+ of your retail peers are tackling top store ops challenges. Download the 2023 Store Operations Survey Report today!

The luxury consumer is changing. She's younger, more tech-savvy and embracing a hybrid of trends, from “quiet luxury” to bold colors and patterns. Kurt Geiger is adapting to these new realities while staying true to its UK roots – and is expanding globally along the way. During this week's Retail Remix, Alicia Esposito chats with CEO Neil Clifford, a visionary leader who has championed the brand's evolution and found new ways to drive brand relevance and loyalty. Listen to learn how Kurt Geiger is: Embracing new marketing and brand strategies (like collabs) to drive brand relevance and engagement;  Developing a global expansion strategy that includes ecommerce and physical stores;  Partnering with private equity to embrace the art and science of business growth; and  Investing in emerging talent by creating its own school.  RELATED LINKS Check out the Kurt Geiger site here. Learn more about the Kurt Geiger Kindness Foundation. Read more about luxury trends on Retail TouchPoints. 2023 Store Operations Survey ReportFind out how 120+ of your retail peers are tackling top store ops challenges. Download the 2023 Store Operations Survey Report today!

Gen Z's spending power is growing. That's why brands are focused on truly understanding their behaviors and preferences across all channels. To shed light on how Gen Z prefers to shop in stores, MG2 conducted a comprehensive study that included both qualitative and quantitative feedback. The results paint a detailed picture of this influential cohort, helping brands break free of their pre-existing notions and biases. During this Retail Remix episode, Alicia Esposito chats with Melissa Gonzalez, Principal at MG2, to dig into some of the key findings and takeaways that design executives can apply. Listen to learn: The four core consumer personas of Gen Z and the brands that resonate with them;  How Gen Z prefers to use technology and embrace community in physical retail spaces;  Why wellness should be a key consideration as you develop your in-store experiences; and  How you can incorporate your brand values into stores to better resonate and connect with your consumers.  RELATED LINKS Learn more about MG2 here. Download your copy of the research. Visit Design:Retail to uncover other store design trends and best practices. 2023 Retail Strategy & Planning Series On-DemandAccess a week's worth of content from our friends at Salesforce, Akeneo, Cloudinary and more…all in one click. Watch the 2023 Retail Strategy & Planning Series on-demand today!

Starting as a pop-up sensation, the Museum of Ice Cream quickly captured the hearts and minds of visitors. It also left an indelible mark on the retail landscape and has become a model for experiential retail. But what made it such a splash? Was it the innovative model, the creative marketing approach or something else entirely?During this Retail Remix episode, Alicia Esposito chats with Manish Vora, Co-founder of the Museum of Ice Cream. The pair discuss how this extraordinary concept evolved from a temporary installation to a permanent fixture, captivating audiences and fostering community worldwide. Tune in to learn: Why The Museum of Ice Cream serves as a model for retailers looking to create immersive and experiential environments; How psychology and cognitive science have influenced the design and experience of the museum; and How the Museum of Ice Cream measures success and informs the expansion process, while also considering local tastes, customs and cultural nuances. RELATED LINKS Learn more about the Museum of Ice Cream here! Read more about experiential trends on Retail TouchPoints. 2023 Retail Strategy & Planning Series On-DemandAccess a week's worth of content from our friends at Salesforce, Akeneo, Cloudinary and more…all in one click. Watch the 2023 Retail Strategy & Planning Series on-demand today!

The celebrity-backed brand isn't dying…it's evolving. In fact, Leonard Brody, Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Caravan, believes that these brands carry substantial weight and increasingly resonate with consumers thanks to the power of social media. Leonard would know. Caravan plays a secret role in building these brands behind the scenes, elevating the role of celebs like Carrie Underwood and “Queer Eye's” Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness. During this Retail Remix episode, Alicia Esposito chats with Leonard about:  Why pet and health/wellness are big categories driving growth for celebrity-backed brands; The power of customer data and product strategy in developing a relevant celebrity partnership; and  How Caravan builds consumer brands in partnership with celebrities/athletes by focusing on products that have a science or technical advantage. RELATED LINKS Learn more about Caravan here! Read more about VC trends on Retail TouchPoints. 2023 Retail Strategy & Planning Series On-DemandAccess a week's worth of content from our friends at Salesforce, Akeneo, Cloudinary and more…all in one click. Watch the 2023 Retail Strategy & Planning Series on-demand today!

To its community of loyal customers, Hanna Andersson is so much more than just a children's clothing company. It's a trusted brand that puts safety, quality and ethical production at the forefront to empower parents around the world. With a steadfast dedication to protecting childhood innocence, Hanna Andersson also aims to create spaces where parents can find simplicity online without compromising style or substance.In this episode of Retail Remix, Alicia Esposito chats with Callie Canfield, Chief Brand Officer at Hanna Andersson. The pair exchange stories about the new perks (and challenges) of modern parenting and how the brand has been able to tap into these realities to activate community engagement and loyalty. Tune in to learn: What Callie loves most about Hanna Andersson, including the brand, its values, people and culture; How the brand balances authenticity and simplicity with the technical aspects of its product;   How the brand creates common ground and mutual excitement between parents and kids through marketing and CX; and The brand's approach to loyalty and how Hanna Andersson is leaning into more experiential and community-driven efforts RELATED LINKS Learn more about Callie here! Learn more about Hanna Andersson. Read more about customer loyalty trends on Retail TouchPoints.

In an era where sustainability and environmental consciousness are at the forefront of consumer demands, the fashion industry is facing increasing pressure to reduce its environmental footprint. Fortunately, technology is stepping in as a powerful ally in this quest for change. From digital samples to recommerce platforms, innovative solutions are emerging to revolutionize the way fashion operates. In this episode of Retail Remix, our host Alicia Esposito chats with Emily Gittins, Co-founder and CEO at the customized resale tech company Archive. The pair explore the role of technology in reducing fashion's environmental impact and highlight some exciting advancements in the recommerce industry. Listen to learn about: The current state of sustainability in the fashion industry; The different models of recommerce companies can leverage; How to build an engaging customer experience through such programs; and Best practices for measuring the impact of recommerce efforts with new KPIs. RELATED LINKS Learn more about Emily here! Learn more about Archive. Get the details on Second Hand September.  Read more about sustainability trends on Retail TouchPoints.

From its humble beginnings as a small jewelry startup to a household name, Kendra Scott has not only thrived in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) space but has also made significant strides in the world of wholesale and branded brick-and-mortar experiences.In this episode of Retail Remix, our host Alicia Esposito chats with Colleen Wilson, SVP of Retail and Wholesale for the jewelry brand. They explore Kendra Scott's growth journey, and how the brand ensures the customer experience is immersive, consistent and aligned with the founder's core values. Listen to learn: What the Kendra Scott brand stands for, and how those values are reflected in all channels, tactics and even products;  How the team taps data and insights to identify new growth opportunities;  The unique role that stores play in creating highly immersive and community-centric experiences;  How Kendra Scott empowers store associates to identify “micro-moments” that can drive store events and experiences; and  Why partnerships are an integral area of growth and innovation for the brand.  RELATED LINKS Learn more about Kendra Scott. Follow the brand on LinkedIn and Instagram.  Learn more about Kendra Scott's in-store experiences. Read more about wholesale trends on Retail TouchPoints.

In today's highly competitive retail landscape, private label brands have emerged as a powerful force, capturing the attention of both consumers and retailers alike. Once considered a category of cheap generic alternatives, private label has undergone a remarkable transformation and become a way for retailers to differentiate. In this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Todd Maute, who is a partner at the brand strategy firm CBX, to dig into how retailers can build robust and relevant private label brands. Listen to learn about: Changing consumer behaviors, especially in light of economic uncertainty and volatility, and how these trends impact the private label industry; Why it has been challenging for retailers to harness the power of their private label brands; Data-driven strategies for building and promoting private-label brands. RELATED LINKS Learn more about Todd here! Learn more about CBX. Read more about private-label trends on Retail TouchPoints.

The future of commerce is marked by resilience, diversification and a willingness to embrace technological change. Square's third annual Future of Commerce report sheds light on this optimism, including how businesses are embracing new revenue streams through services and partnerships, implementing cutting-edge technologies to power connected experiences and using AI to drive efficiency.In this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Roshan Jhunja, Head of Retail at Square. The pair dig into the report and other research the company has conducted. Listen to learn: How retailers can embrace diversification to meet customer needs and boost revenue results;  Ways to capitalize on Gen Z's desire to support local small businesses; and Why the evolution of AI and other cutting-edge technologies is creating new growth opportunities for brands of all sizes.  RELATED LINKS Connect with Roshan here! Learn more about Square. Read the report, Future of Commerce: 2023 Edition  Download Square and Afterpay's State of Retail Report Read more about digital commerce trends on Retail TouchPoints.

The beauty and skincare markets are growing increasingly crowded and competitive, but Covey Skincare has managed to stand out thanks to the powerful influence of its founders and a streamlined, science-backed methodology.In this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Asha Talwar Coco, CEO of Covey Skincare. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of how Covey has tackled this challenge and discover actionable takeaways for your own business in this rapidly evolving industry. Listen to learn: How friends Emily DiDonato and Christina Garcia used their personal and professional lives to inspire the brand vision; Covey's approach to brand storytelling and how it influences all stages of the funnel;  How Covey actively involves its community, or “flock," through social media and user-generated content; and Covey's playbook for growth and expansion and how different distribution channels will play a role.  RELATED LINKS Connect with Asha here! Learn more about Covey Skincare. Read more about DTC trends on Retail TouchPoints.

If brands want to connect with the hearts and minds of today's consumers, they need to foster a vibrant community across all channels. Dormify, the brand designed to serve young consumers outfitting dorms and other small spaces, uses its ambassador program to guide major decisions, from product development to marketing and brand expansion.In this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Amanda Zuckerman, Co-founder, President, and Chief Brand Officer of Dormify to dig into how the brand activates and engages its community to forge more meaningful connections and drive customer loyalty. Listen to get insights into:  How Dormify adapts and evolves its community initiatives as consumer behaviors evolve;  The unique role that content plays in engaging this community across all channels;  How Dormify empowers customers through virtual styling service and self-service tools; and Why partnerships are the key to expanding and improving the value of community efforts.  RELATED LINKS Connect with Amanda here! Learn more about Dormify. Follow Dormify on Instagram and TikTok. Check out Dormify's Bed Visualizer! Read more about self-service trends on Retail TouchPoints.

Generative AI has garnered a lot of buzz (and debate) in the retail industry. Although the technology is still relatively new to many brands, some have tested the tech and realized clear benefits, especially within marketing and ecommerce. In this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Sarah Coles, who drives go-to-market strategy for Persado. During their conversation, Alicia and Sarah explore this exciting new world of ecommerce and how generative AI can help improve marketing efficiencies, reduce cart abandonment and drive ROI. Listen to learn: Why brands need to ensure the generative AI output reflects their brand voice and goals to be most effective; How marketers still need to analyze the output and use it as a starting point, not a replacement for human creativity; and The opportunities for brands to experiment with different generative AI use cases and applications to find what works best for driving business impact. RELATED LINKS Connect with Sarah here! Learn more about Persado. Dig into Dynamic Motivation for Real-Time Personalization. Download the ultimate CMO guide to generative AI.  Read the generative AI series on Retail TouchPoints.  Get more expert perspectives from the Persado team. 

Unless you've been under a rock somewhere, you probably are aware of the Barbie marketing machine ahead of the major motion picture release. What does this signify as a moment in our culture and the ways culture and commerce intersect? Barbie brought some major shifts when she first showed up in our world. What will this highly-marketed film bring with it?Alicia Esposito joins Phillip for an in-depth look at Barbie: the doll, the brand, the film. All brands can learn something from this moment in time, but if we aren't careful, we'll learn the wrong lessons and chase some rabbit holes that just don't make sense. There's a lot to talk about, so get your popcorn and have a listen!Nostalgia is Power {00:04:12} - “There's cultural acceptance of certain types of media and popular media that shapes the way that we perceive the world.” - Phillip{00:05:11} - “A brand is not a logo or fonts or colors. A brand is a marker of trust of a corporation that was able to endure despite all odds, and that means that you have to remain culturally relevant. Brands pass away when the culture doesn't accept them.” - Phillip{00:06:25} - “If people see the outline of the little flippy ponytail, they're like, "Oh, yeah, Barbie." That's association, but relevance and true brand loyalty tie to a brand's ability to keep the core of what people initially love about a brand or a person, but also be able to adapt to some of the new realities of the consumer, and also accept some of the pitfalls or problematic nature of the past of the brand.” - Alicia{00:16:25} - “{Airbnb} is a really great example of a brand that doesn't necessarily have ties to the commercial product world, but really turns it into a commercial product moment through great collaborations.” - Alicia{00:27:17} - “Having this brand recall and this nostalgia does create a new vehicle for filmmakers like Greta Gerwig to kind of tap into the mainstream market and tell a really powerful story. But then it kind of goes down this rabbit hole of but if all of the funds are going towards these things and these big corporations that have all the IP already and selling all of the products, what does that leave for new stories?” - Alicia{00:29:44} - “Barbie represented a shift of the idea of children's playthings in culture, but it also represented a new monolith, a new way to see and perceive the world through this artifice of fashion, desirability, and idealistic standards.” - Phillip{00:40:12} - “We have to {see explicit brand tie-ins in the film} only because a lot of the Barbie dolls of the past did have product tie-ins. There were always some subtle or direct brand partnerships there. I'm curious to see.” - AliciaAssociated Links:Learn more about Alicia Esposito and Retail TouchPointsGrab your copy of The Multiplayer Brand hereHave you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

ThredUP's annual resale report predicts that the U.S. resale market will reach $70 billion by 2027, outpacing the growth of traditional retail by 9X. Why? Because consumers, especially Gen Z, are looking to make smarter, more eco-friendly buying decisions. Brands like American Eagle are tapping into this growing market by partnering with thredUP to offer innovative programs through apps like Snapchat that appeal to their young, digital-savvy customers. These initiatives reflect the brand's DNA and cater to their customer's preferences, a trend that thredUP believes more brands will embrace in the near future.During this episode of Retail Remix, our host Alicia Esposito talks with Anthony Marino, President of thredUP, about the evolution of the resale market and how retailers are taking a “phygital” approach to tie the entire shopping experience together. Listen in to learn about:  The universal challenges companies face bringing resale to market; Ways to integrate resale into the broader customer experience and innovate through new experiences; and How resale can coexist with the brand through the help of partners like thredUP. RELATED LINKS Connect with Anthony here! Browse thredUP's latest products. Learn more about thredUP's Resale-as-a-Service offering. Check out thredUP's annual resale report. Learn more about resale trends at Retail TouchPoints.

For years, retail industry experts discussed augmented reality (AR) at a high level. Now, we're finally seeing the technology being used in creative and innovative ways. During this episode of Retail Remix, our host Alicia Esposito speaks with Neil Redding, Head of Product at Auki Labs, about how AR can drive the entire customer experience, from discovery to conversation. Neil also shares how his company is fueling AR innovation by helping people, technology and AI interact in physical spaces to drive the future of shopping. Listen in to learn:  Where the industry currently embraces AR and how other unique companies are experimenting with AR in their shopping experiences; What needs to happen to bring digital information and data into stores successfully; and How Auki Labs is helping retailers think more creatively and innovatively in leveraging AR in stores. RELATED LINKS Connect with Neil here! Learn more about Auki Labs. See the technology in action. Read Auki Labs' stance on augmented reality. Learn more about augmented reality trends at Retail TouchPoints.

Shoppers are looking for more immersive in-store experiences – from personalized attention to customization and convenient access to products. But crafting the perfect in-store experience means understanding what your customers expect and incorporating technology thoughtfully to empower both shoppers and associates. During this episode of Retail Remix, our host Alicia Esposito chats with Beth Warren, SVP of Marketing for Creative Realities, a company that helps brands select and implement the right in-store technology for their experience goals. The pair chat about the new era of store design and experience, and how brands can uncover new opportunities for innovation. Listen in to learn about:  The importance of contextualization in retail; How operational efficiency plays into the in-store experience; and The unique role of content in influencing store behaviors. RELATED LINKS Connect with Beth here! Learn more about Creative Realities. Read about why retail media networks are the future of in-store experiences  Learn more about in-store experience trends at Retail TouchPoints.

The modern shopping experience is about creating immersive, personalized experiences for shoppers. What better way to make your customers feel seen and appreciated than by tailoring ads and promotions to them? By leveraging data-driven advertising strategies like targeted campaigns and segmenting audiences, brands can create more effective campaigns that point toward what customers need and what they don't even know they need yet! During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Elisabeth Rommel, General Manager of Global Advertising Growth at eBay. The pair chat about Elisabeth's unique history in the industry, lessons learned, best practices and insights to help you navigate the ever-evolving advertising world. Check out this episode to get insights on:  How eBay is tracking (and responding to) evolving consumer needs via its marketplace;  The evolving advertising landscape, and how brands can use data to fine-tune their investments;  How the advertising arm of eBay is helping drive shopper and seller growth through various advertising offerings. RELATED LINKS Connect with Elisabeth here! Learn more about eBay Ads Holiday Report. Learn more about industry advertising trends at Retail TouchPoints.

The rise of Instagram is a great example to illustrate how the power of influence has shifted from brands to creators. This shift has sparked the evolution and expansion of the “creator economy,” which is fundamentally changing the shopping experience. How can brands keep pace and capitalize on these new opportunities? During this episode of Retail Remix, our host Alicia Esposito talks with Rodney Mason, Head of Marketing and Brand Partnerships for LTK. The pair chat about how the creator economy works and why it can be advantageous for modern-day retailers. Check out this episode to learn about:  The evolution of influencer marketing into the new “creator economy;” The creator economy's impact on building consumer trust; The evolution of retail media and its implications on the influencer space; and Key tips and best practices for tracking sales and compensating creators appropriately. RELATED LINKS Connect with Rodney here! Get more insights from LTK. Learn more about the LTK Creator Community. Learn more about how creators can power retail media. Learn more about creator-guided shopping and influencer marketing trends at Retail TouchPoints. Do you want to learn more about creator-guided shopping trends in your industry? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including sessions on new revenue models like resale, social commerce, and more. Register and use the code RRPODD225p to get 25% off all pass types!

In today's digital world, getting caught up in the constant need for online presence and engagement is easy. With the rise of always-on communication channels, leveraging every robot available to maintain a genuine connection with customers can be tempting. However, many successful brands recognize the importance of staying true to the Human-to-Human (H2H) engagement philosophy.During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Tony Drockton, Founder and Chief Cheerleader of the premium leather accessories company Hammitt. Shortly after being attacked by robots, the group discusses Tony's passion for the H2H engagement philosophy and how Hammitt leverages data to drive improved customer experiences and loyalty. Check out this episode to learn:  How Hammitt makes technology invisible in the customer experience to create a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience; Hammitt's long-term vision for keeping customers engaged and passionate about the brand through their lifetime guarantee program; The importance of connecting digital channels and data with in-store service and events to improve the overall customer journey; and Tony's journey to Hammitt and why he loves the industry. RELATED LINKS Connect with Tony here! Learn more about Hammitt. Learn more about personalization and CX trends at Retail TouchPoints. Do you want to learn more about personalization and CX trends in your industry? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including sessions on new revenue models like resale, social commerce, and more. Register and use the code RRPODD225p to get 25% off all pass types!

The success of any brand hinges on its ability to deliver personalized and immersive customer experiences. Enter Web3, which unlocks a new infrastructure and new capabilities for digital teams to give shoppers more control over their experience. Chris Silver, Co-founder of the customer loyalty platform BambuMeta, brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise on this topic as he and his team explore the various ways brands can embrace Web3 to enhance customer engagement and drive loyalty. During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Chris about his history in retail and how he analyzes the new opportunities that come with new channels and technologies, such as AR, gaming and metaverse experiences. Check out this episode to learn:  Why Chris helped start BambuMeta to enhance the customer experience through loyalty programs and omnichannel technology; The importance of data security and identity protection in this new era of customer experience; and How brands can determine when and how to jump into the evolving world of Web3. RELATED LINKS Connect with Chris on LinkedIn. Learn more about BambuMeta! Learn more about Web3 trends at Retail TouchPoints. Do you want to learn more about how Web3 impacts customer loyalty in your industry? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including the D2 Summit: Retail Edition, which will dig into the new era of the internet, and how Web3, NFTs, generative AI and more, will impact the future of the industry. Register and use the code RRPODD225p to get 25% off all pass types!

In this special episode of Couture Conversations, we share the first part of Olivia's interview at Retail Remix. The host Alicia Esposito chats with Olivia Steele about her unique expertise: closing the gap between digital and physical luxury experiences. “When you buy luxury goods you have to be emotionally connected with the brand, the only way to do that is storytelling and in the virtual space you can do it seamlessly and beautifully.” Olivia explains how to truly capitalize on the engagement opportunities of the digital space. Retail Remix, is a super insightful podcast by Retail Touchpoints about retail, fashion, ecommerce, marketing and innovation. Follow Retail Remix on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.Want to get started in one of our programs? Explore our courses at ConversationCouture.com

As businesses expand globally, they begin to face more complex issues such as global payments, ambiguous compliance requirements and language barriers – and that's just naming a few! But Aditi Pany founded Qalara to help small and emerging brands scale more seamlessly, and empower retailers to discover these brands, too! During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito sits down with Aditi to learn about why she wanted to create a platform designed to support the growth of ethically made wholesale brands, and how shifting consumer behaviors are driving the evolution of the Qalara business. Listen here to learn:  Aditi's origin story and how her family inspired the creation of Qalara; The new challenges of expanding globally and how Qalara is helping brands overcome them; and Tips to help businesses reach similar levels of growth and scale. RELATED LINKS Connect with Aditi on LinkedIn. Learn more about Qalara! Learn more about global supply chain trends at Retail TouchPoints. Do you want to learn how marketplaces are creating new growth opportunities across the retail ecosystem? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including sessions on new revenue models like resale, social commerce, and more. Register and use the code RRPODD225p to get 25% off all pass types!

Gone are the days of overwhelming and uninspiring beauty shopping online. With Youthforia's branded ecommerce site, robust content strategy and seamless beauty discovery platform, we see a new era of online shopping for the beauty consumer. Fiona Co Chan, Founder and CEO of Youthforia, has focused on leveling up the way sustainable skincare and makeup brands connect with consumers – from social media and beyond. During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Fiona about her experience starting Youthforia and what she has learned about how consumers now prefer to shop for makeup and skincare. Tune in to learn:  How Youthforia's use of green chemistry principles has become a key product and marketing differentiator;  Fiona's tips for creating content that resonates with consumers on social media;  The unique power of video in marketing and customer experience; and  How Youthoria is integrating brick-and-mortar strategically into its growth roadmap.  RELATED LINKS Connect with Fiona on LinkedIn and Instagram. See Fiona on Shark Tank! Learn more about beauty retail trends at Retail TouchPoints. Do you want to learn more about how environmental and sustainability initiatives, tech innovation, and buyer expectations impact your industry? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including sessions on new revenue models like resale, social commerce, and more. Register and use the code RRPODD225p to get 25% off all pass types!

Subscription models have evolved beyond offering consumers merely convenience and savings. Look at companies like FabFitFun, which now offer curation tools, loyalty programs, access to community and so much more to create a loyal customer base. During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Paul Chambers, CEO and Co-founder of the Subscription Trade Association (SUBTA). The pair talk about how brands and even media companies are working together to unlock the power of subscription commerce and optimize customer experiences. They also discuss how brands can design subscription programs that create customer value instead of headaches. Check out this episode to learn:  How the subscription commerce market has grown and whether it's a “no-brainer” for most brands; The importance of keeping the customer at the center of your subscription program strategy; and How to use data to improve and innovate program features and benefits. RELATED LINKS Connect with Paul on LinkedIn and Twitter. Learn more about SubSummit and save your seat! Check out SUBTA. Download the Subscription Commerce Industry Outlook report. Learn more about subscription commerce trends at Retail TouchPoints. Want to learn more about how subscription commerce impacts your industry? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including sessions on new revenue models like resale, social commerce, and more. Register and use the code RRPODD225p to get 25% off all pass types!

As retailers consider investing in in-store technology, their goals typically fall into two categories: efficiency and engagement. Some retailers may want to focus on making employees' lives easier while others may want to prioritize high-touch service to shoppers. How can retailers determine which model makes the most sense? Is it possible to prioritize both goals to create a differentiated customer experience? During this episode of Retail Remix, we listen in on a conversation between our host Alicia Esposito, Glenn Allison, VP of Customer-Facing Applications Development at Tractor Supply, and Tony Boncore, Global Customer Marketing Principal at Honeywell. They discuss how the two companies are collaborating to provide store technology that supports both associates and customers. Listen to learn how Tractor Supply is:  Keeping leadership aligned on store technology goals and investment priorities;  Effectively measuring the impact of these investments using qualitative and quantitative insights; and Collaborating with partners like Honeywell to establish a vision for long-term innovation.  RELATED LINKS Connect with Glenn on Linkedin. Connect with Tony on LinkedIn. Learn more about mobile trends at Retail TouchPoints. Want to learn more about balancing efficiency and innovation? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including sessions on new revenue models like resale, social commerce, and more. Register before April 6 to get Super Early Bird savings, and use the code RRPODD225p to get an extra 25% off all pass types. 

In the luxury space, in-person experiences are still king. Brand representatives are able to provide high-touch service that allows them to personally consult, fit and connect with customers. But as consumers increasingly consult digital channels, luxury brands are struggling to truly capitalize on new service and engagement opportunities. During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito chats with Olivia Steele, Co-founder of Conversation Couture, a virtual sales training and consulting firm for the luxury retail industry. They look at what luxury brands can do to bridge the disparity between digital and physical experiences. Listen to learn:  Olivia's “magic trifecta” for creating seamless customer experiences across channels; How to connect the dots between technology and customer experience strategy; Tips and tactics for branded ecommerce experiences, including virtual services; and How Olivia believes the luxury market will evolve over the next year.  RELATED LINKS Learn more about Conversation Couture Follow Olivia and Conversation Coutre on LinkedIn and Instagram Read more about luxury trends and news at Retail TouchPoints Want to learn more about how to refine and optimize your omnichannel customer experiences? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including sessions on new revenue models like resale, social commerce, and more. Register before April 6 to get Super Early Bird savings, and use the code RRPODD225p to get an extra 25% off all pass types. 

Connected product experiences require so much more than a QR code and call to action. Brands need detailed insight into audience interests and expectations, robust technology to bridge the gap between physical products and digital experiences and, of course, powerful storytelling forged by a genuine connection established between customers, brands and products. With a highly functional and engaging connected product experience, businesses can foster brand loyalty while boosting sales. During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito sits down with Cameron Worth, Founder of SharpEnd, to discuss the secret sauce for rolling out IoT programs and connected product experiences that are effective and “badass.” Listen in to learn:  How the role of IoT in the consumer experience has evolved since the pandemic hit; What it means to create a genuine connected-product experience that delights customers and accelerates buying decisions; and  The future of interactive and digital-driven experiences in the industry. RELATED LINKS Learn more about SharpEnd Follow Cameron and SharpEnd on LinkedIn and Twitter Read more about connected-product experiences at Retail TouchPoints Want to learn more about connected product strategy and its impact on the industry? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. The SharpEnd team will be speaking with a brand partner so attendees can learn how to make some of these big ideas a reality for their business. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of tactical and thought-provoking sessions. Register before April 6 to get Super Early Bird savings, and use the code RRPODD225p to get an extra 25% off all pass types. 

Retail TouchPoints has been studying and reporting on the evolution of resale for years. Over this time, we've seen consumer behaviors shift and demand accelerate, which means retailers have had to rethink the way they research and source “pre-loved” goods. How do they find the right wholesale partners? What are the risks they face while selecting products? How can they ensure their customers get the best deal and their business gets the best margins?During this episode of Retail Remix, host Alicia Esposito dives into the booming secondhand wholesale market with Emily Erkel, CMO and Co-founder at LePrix. Hear her insights regarding the potential risks retailers face when getting involved in reselling items, plus what exactly is propelling them to take those calculated chances. Tune in to learn:  How the vision for LePrix evolved from B2C to B2B; The unique challenges (and new developments) in the resale market; and How LePrix is investing in tech innovation and education to drive the market forward. RELATED LINKS Learn more about LePrix Follow Emily on LinkedIn and Twitter Get more resale and recommerce coverage on Retail TouchPoints Want to learn more about the apparel recommerce market and its impact on the industry? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to three days of content, including sessions on new revenue models like resale, social commerce and more. Register before April 6 to get Super Early Bird savings, and use the code RRPODD225p to get an extra 25% off all pass types. 

As we sit in the middle of conference and expo season, we chat with Alicia Esposito about what she is excited about in retail right now and why, while also discussing the need for humans and community even with the advancement of AI technology. Plus, a special announcement about RICE X Future Commerce June 2023! Listen now for all of this and more!We Still Need Humans{00:05:50} There are two key areas that Alicia is most excited about in retail right now: retail media and also the store become a place of community building and connection{00:08:54} We've been talking about AI for years at Future Commerce, but now there are more practical applications that are enhancing customer experiences, and that is exciting{00:13:08} “The use of these tools as an ideation platform and as an enabler of creativity versus a killer of it is the path that I'm more inclined to take.” - Alicia (We'll still always need humans).{00:19:55} “It'd be really interesting to see what would happen if you took something like Midjourney and you wanted to create something really broad market, down market, and made it really experiential…” Like Dollar Tree as experiential retail. - Brian{00:23:42} Both Lyft and Uber have commercialzed the ability to jump to the front of the line, which a point of inspiration for everybody, and we will see this more and more{00:26:08} How do we maximize on collaborations that bring the artistic community and the commerce community together better because there's a huge opportunity there{00:28:17} RICE (Retail Innovation Conference & Expo) is coming in June, and there are so many incredible speakers and content creators, including Future Commerce, lined up to be a part of it{00:41:27} ChatGPT, the Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect, and other AI vehicles are all reminders that we need to exercise caution and we still have a lot to learn from each other{00:46:58} Artists and people that do have deep transactional expertise and leadership in retail brands will share one stage together at the Visions Summit at RICE and talk about this thing that we all do, which is really try to affect some sort of lasting impact with a relationship with a customerAssociated Links:Find out more about The Visions Summit at RICE 2023 and make plans to meet us there!Don't miss out on getting your ticket to RICE 2023 before prices go up!Learn more about Alicia Esposito and Retail TouchPointsHave you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal. Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world! Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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!

Branded recommerce is gaining momentum in retail. Could it be the key to success for your company? To find out, you'll have to do some deep strategic work to ensure your brand, your products and your customer align. During this episode of Retail Remix, Alicia Esposito talks with Andy Ruben, Founder & Executive Chairman at  Trove. They discuss how Andy has seen the recommerce space grow and evolve, and the unique approaches brands have taken to use ecommerce to drive acquisition, engagement and loyalty. Check out this episode to learn:  How Trove has changed the way resale is done; What is stopping some brands from embracing recommerce; How to make a profit in the secondary market; and Practical advice for venturing into the resale space. RELATED LINKS Learn more about Trove Check out how other brands are using recommerce strategies Subscribe to the Trove newsletter on LinkedIn Follow Andy on LinkedIn and Twitter Get more Recommerce coverage on Retail TouchPoints Want to learn more about the apparel recommerce market and its impact on the industry? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. Register before April 6 to get Super Early Bird savings, and use the code RRPODD225p to get an extra 25% off all pass types.

Are you in on the NFT craze or playing it safe? If you fall into the latter, you may miss out on some amazing opportunities for engaging with customers and cultivating a loyal community of fans and collectors.During this episode of Retail Remix, our host Alicia Esposito sits down to chat with Ash Pampati, Head of Partnership at the NFT creation platform Metaplex. The pair discuss who manages NFT projects in today's market, the strategic priorities, and what opportunities are available to brands and retailers. More importantly, they discuss what teams need to think about as they go on their NFT journey. Tune in to learn:  The various opportunities NFTs create for digital commerce initiatives; How NFTs are revolutionizing go-to-market strategies like influencer marketing; How NFTs are tackling security concerns for growing digital businesses; and Predictions of how the Web3 climate will evolve in the coming years. RELATED LINKS Learn more about Metaplex Learn more about the Solana blockchain Follow Ash on LinkedIn Get more NFT and Web3 coverage on Retail TouchPoints Want to learn more about how your business can capitalize on the Web3 revolution? Register for the Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, which is taking place June 13-15, 2023, in Chicago and will be laser-focused on what's new and what's next in connected commerce. All-Access Pass holders will get access to the D2 Summit: Retail Edition, a day-long program on June 13 focused solely on how Web3, the metaverse and NFTs are driving the future of retail experiences. Register before April 6 to get Super Early Bird savings and use the code RRPODD225p to get an extra 25% off all pass types. 

Having a focus on the customer has always been an important, if not obvious, part of retail. But in this era of digital transformation, brands need to remain focused on what their customer needs and expects as they try to simultaneously do more with less. During this episode of Retail Remix, we chat with Kathy Kimple, the Executive Director of OSF Digital's Strategy Group, to dig into some key findings from the firm's latest Omnichannel Retail Index. She and host Alicia Esposito discuss how the industry is leaning heavier on customer-centricity to drive success and how the right strategy and supporting tech stack can boost efficiency and business performance. Check out this episode to also learn about:  The trends that came into focus in 2022 and will continue to guide digital efforts in 2023; How tactics like social proof help build shopper trust and drive conversions; and The importance of cross-functional understanding and buy-in as brands re-evaluate and shape next-gen customer experiences. RELATED LINKS Learn more about OSF Digital. Check out the Omnichannel Retail Index! Follow Kathy on LinkedIn!

Lots of thoughts and feelings and experiences after NRF this year. Alicia Esposito sat down and interviewed our very own Phillip Jackson, along with Adam Blair, to debrief The Big Show and discuss what's coming and what needs to be happening next in the world of commerce and why it's a good time to be excited about it. Listen in now to hear it all, including intriguing metaphors and talk of noodles!Close The Loop0:04:15 - Lots of positive excitement was abuzz at NRF, even with the pain of Q4 in the past, there is enthusiasm ahead, and also lots of talk about ChatGPT0:05:25 - Shopify came out into the enterprise space, and this was a huge shift and changes a lot of upcoming trends we will see moving forward0:12:00 - Noodles, let's talk about noodles and how they touch all the things, and how when it comes to technology, it's really like a bunch of spaghetti touching all of the other noodles, so we need to layer tech on top of tech, understanding that all of it effects the rest0:21:15 - The mass adoption of ChatGPT, and the swiftness with which it has been adopted are unprecedented, which will be interesting to see how this change of thinking will be the hallmark of a new era0:27:40 - Actual diversity is being achieved within more companies and brands are not only talking about it, and also returns management is something that is being better handled now, leading to more positive change0:31:05 - Is there a recentering happening in retail that is core to the industry, and what are ways that this recentering will make business more productive?0:34:00 - With all of the industry talk and vernacular, how do we actually recognize the change in culture and workforce and address the buzzwords and change the language to enact the change?0:40:00 - Events outside of NRF, like our Archetypes Pop Up, were very fun ways to create organic moments for people to connect more authentically and meaningfully within the industry communityAssociated Links:Check out Retail Remix podcast with Alicia EspositoHave you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world! Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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!

During this special episode of Retail Remix, Alicia Esposito sat with Adam Blair, Editor at Retail TouchPoints, and Philip Jackson, Co-founder of Future Commerce, to dig into their experiences bouncing around sessions and the expo floor at this year's NRF Big Show. If their insights are any indication, 2023 is shaping up to be a year of optimization, not revolution.For example, instead of pulling out pieces of tech from your stack – what Philip innocently referred to as “noodles” – retailers will look to layer new technologies on top of existing frameworks to embrace buyer needs and promote cost-effectiveness. Retailers can then stay in the conversation without sacrificing during times of economic uncertainty.The panelists discuss the key themes highlighted throughout the show, as well as the conversations they had and the lessons they learned. Listen to this episode to hear: Key industry predictions for 2023;  How retailers will invest in tech over the next year; What the future looks like for industry trade shows; and Expectations from events like NRF moving forward and what deems a successful show.  RELATED LINKS Read more of Philip's perspectives at Future Commerce Catch up on NRF 2023 coverage from Retail TouchPoints Check out the event recap from NRF 2023

Even in the aftermath of difficulties within the retail and commerce world, there is a relentless positivity and excitement shared among those living and working in it. This was evident at The NRF Big Show this year. Have a listen as Phillip and Brian share more about their perspective on this and what this could mean for the very near future!Aggressive OptimismThe NRF Big Show was great, and everyone was enthusiastic about being there, back at the Big Show like old timesWalmart Technologies and the strides they are making is impressive and really overtaking Amazon when it comes to eCommerce experience and customer expectationsShopify, coming in with a booth at NRF, with their Commerce Components roll out made quite the splash“Regardless of whether you think you already provide a lot of these products and services, the ecosystem needs you to just say it in their language.” - Phillip“People look for creative ways to use tools they're familiar with.” - BrianDespite fake news about a downturn in sales, inflation is slowing, and that techno-optimism can't be turned down or slowed down right nowBrian and Phillip share some of their favorite parts of the NRF Big Show and why they were impactfulThe world in which we live is one where it takes a whole lot for people to go deepThere were a lot of robotics at The Big Show this year, and interestingly also a lot of ChadsAs we walk through a season where cost management is high, companies may want to forego cloud prices and find other solutionsAssociated Links:Check out Retail Remix by Alicia Esposito here.Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?Get your copy of Archetypes, our newly published 240-page journal! Check it out at ArchetypesJournal.comSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more of what we are witnessing in the commerce world! Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave 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!

Brands are on a spree of hiring celebrities as Creative Directors. The decision to do so marks an intentional choice to go beyond influencer marketing and craft a long-term vision with a healthy dose of disruption. In this podcast episode, Melissa Minkow and Alicia Esposito unpack the significance of these decisions with respect to the evolution of product placement, lifestyle marketing, and retail strategy.

Inflation. Shifts in consumer spending. New digital behaviors. There are several trends that could shake up the gifting space, but as we head into the holiday season, brands and retailers need to think about how they can turn these challenges into new opportunities.  Are you ready to differentiate and drive revenue through personalized gifting experiences? During this episode of Retail Remix, GiftNow's John Grech and host Alicia Esposito discuss:   The behavioral shifts impacting the gifting space;   Whether economic volatility and the threat of a recession will impact gifting during the holiday season; and   How brands can harness the psychology of gifting, and the power of digital technology, to create a more enjoyable online experience.    RELATED LINKS  Learn more about GiftNow  Download Retail Gifting Solutions 101   Download Corporate Gifting 101: What It Is and How It Works  Get a copy of Unpacking Holiday Gifting: Shoppers' Plans andRetail Opportunities from Coresight Research 

It's never been easier for a brand to gain a foothold online, but even the most innovative brand can only go so far until it needs to invest in its ecommerce experience. Unfortunately for smaller brands, their limited budgets can make it seem like those experiences will always lag behind the bigger brands. One solution? No-code automation.  On this week's episode, host Alicia Esposito chats with Mason Co-founder Kausambi Manjita about how she's helping brands find the tools required for ecommerce success today. Tune in to discover:  How no-code automation inspires ecommerce innovation;  What's driving engagement and revenue potential in ecommerce today; and  How the “age of access” is changing the requirements for ecommerce success.   RELATED LINKS  Learn more about Mason 

S1E12 – The Retail Avengers & The Future of Social CommerceWelcome to Season 1, Episode 12 of The Retail Razor Show!Social Commerce is one of the hottest (and noisiest!) topics in retail today! What exactly is it? How does livestreaming fit in? And what should retailers do to take advantage of this trend? As a retailer, how will you find the right platform to work with, and convert sales transactions? So many questions!The Retail Avengers team is back with two special guests to cut through the clutter in social commerce: First, Mohamed Amer, a member of multiple retail tech advisory boards, a RetailWire BrainTrust member, and former global head of strategic communications for consumer industries at SAP. Second, a friend of the Retail Avengers on Clubhouse, Darius Vasefi, co-founder and CEO of Visional Commerce, host of the Retail Tech podcast, and frequent contract chief product officer. From our Retail Avengers team, Brandon Rael, Shish Shridhar and Jeff Roster join. Plus, for the recap returning guest, Alicia Esposito, VP of Content for Retail Touchpoints and a fellow RETHINK Retail top retail influencer, joins us to spice things up with some not-to-miss items you will not see coming!Have you heard the news! We're up to #20 on the Feedspot Top 60 Retail podcasts list, so please keep those 5-star reviews in Apple Podcasts coming! With your loyal help, we'll be moving our way up the Top 20 in no time! https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:I'm Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, a Top 12 ecommerce influencer, advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I'm Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. I've spent my career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business. Now I slay franken-stacks!The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E12 The Retail Avengers & The Future of Social Commerce[00:00:20] Introduction[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. And good evening, whatever time of day you're listening. Welcome. Welcome to season one episode 12 of the retail razor show. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK retail top retail influencer, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft.[00:00:36] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host Casey golden CEO of Lux lock. I'm obsessed between the relationship of brands and consumers. The experience is everything. I spent my career on the fashion side and supply chain technology of the business. Now I'm slaying Franken stacks to power the future of commerce. [00:00:53] Ricardo Belmar: Well, Casey, this episode, we've got another amazing clubhouse discussion to share, and the topic is social commerce. Definitely one of the buzziest trends going on in retail right now. And of course, one of our 2022 predictions.[00:01:06] Casey Golden: not surprised that our predictions keep working out this year.[00:01:11] Ricardo Belmar: no kidding.[00:01:11] Casey Golden: really hit a groove and dug into fundamental challenges to find these opportunities. I hate that I missed this clubhouse session. It's just a real treat for our listeners.[00:01:21] Ricardo Belmar: Yes, indeed. It is. And keeping with last episodes example, we had two guests join the retail Avengers team this time in clubhouse. First, we had Mohamed Amer. Member of multiple retail tech advisory boards, a retail wire brain trust member, and former global head of strategic communications for consumer industries at SAP and second, a frequent friend of the retail Avengers on clubhouse, Darius Vasefi, a co-founder and CEO of visional commerce, host of the retail tech podcast and frequent contract chief product officer plus from our regular retail Avengers team, we had Brandon Rael, Shish Shridhar and Jeff Roster joining.[00:01:57] Casey Golden: You guys took a deep dive on the value of current social commerce platforms and really identifying what works, what doesn't, and how live streaming is a centerpiece to this equation. I can't wait to listen and come back here and chat some more about it. Plus, we've got a repeat visitor to the show.[00:02:15] Alicia Esposito from retail touchpoints, joining us for the recap.[00:02:18] Ricardo Belmar: And spoiler alert. Our recap will have a few surprise discussion points that listeners will not see coming. So stick around.[00:02:26] Casey Golden: I thought I was the one that takes us off script.[00:02:28] Ricardo Belmar: No, I can do it too. You know, we have there's equal hosting privileges and everything.[00:02:32] Casey Golden: In that case, let's go straight to the clubhouse session. Let's listen in to the Retail Avengers and the Future of Social Commerce. [00:02:44] Clubhouse Session[00:02:44] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome everyone to the Retail Razor club. Our session today is the Retail Avengers and the Future of Social Commerce. So let me move into doing some introductions here with the folks we have up on stage. I'm Ricardo Belmar. I founded the retail razor club here on clubhouse, and I've been in the retail tech side of the industry for a better part of the last two decades working for different technology providers and managed service providers.[00:03:08] Most recently joined Microsoft as a senior partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods. So I'm gonna move across the stage here. Darius, why don't you introduce yourself? [00:03:17] Darius Vasefi: Hey Ricardo. And everybody else good friends and the audience thanks for having me.[00:03:22] My name is Darius Vasefi. I am the co-founder CEO of a company called Visional Commerce. As well as a startup studio called Infini Ventures. My passion is e-commerce and retail, especially retail tech, the picks and shovels of what makes retail and e-commerce move forward. So look forward to our interesting conversation today.[00:03:42] Ricardo Belmar: All right, thanks. Darius, and we have another guest speaker today, Mohamed [00:03:45] Mohammed Amer: thank you very much, Ricardo. Mohamed Amer in Southern California Ventura area. And I've been in retail, retail technology for the past about two decades similar to you. And most of that time in the large enterprise space with with SAP. [00:04:02] Ricardo Belmar: Great. Thank you. Jeff. [00:04:03] Jeff Roster: Jeff Roster, former retail sector analyst for Gartner and IHL.[00:04:07] Now a cohost on This Week In Innovation and serving on several advisory boards in retail. [00:04:12] Ricardo Belmar: Right. Thanks Jeff. Shish. [00:04:14] Shish Shridhar: Good afternoon. Shish. I've been in retail for about 20 years working with retailers specifically around AI, IOT analytics. I'm currently the retail lead for Microsoft for Startups and I'm building out a portfolio of innovative, disruptive startups.[00:04:30] Thank you. [00:04:30] Ricardo Belmar: Thanks, Shish. And Brandon. [00:04:31] Brandon Rael: Well, everyone happy Friday. Brendan Rael, I'm up in the the Tristate New York area been in and around the retail consumer industry, my whole career, then made the shift over to the digital transformation work on the strategy side to help enable and empower retailers and consumer companies to accelerate growth and pivot to the new digital world we live in today.[00:04:48] Ricardo Belmar: All right. Great. Thanks Brandon. So what do we mean when we say social commerce? When you hear those words start thinking immediately about all of the big social media platforms, places like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, even Twitter is now getting into the idea of social commerce. You're probably familiar with Facebook shops and Instagram as those have launched over recent years. And we also hear more about social commerce because of activities coming out of China.[00:05:15] And as it moves into Western countries, we hear about live streaming and other specialized platforms that maybe focus around particular retail segments, like apparel and all of these things play together to enable an ability to have commerce, just like you want on your e-commerce site, but natively within some kind of social networking platform.[00:05:34] So I wanted to share some stats just to put some of this into context, and then maybe we can go around and see what to everyone's reactions are to that. A number of these stats come from eMarketer. So for example, china's estimated social commerce sales are gonna be somewhere on the order of 315 billion, and social commerce will represent about 13% of all e-commerce sales in China. If we look at what's been happening in the us, e-marketer had an interesting forecast that this year we should see social commerce sales rise up to about 36 billion dollars, which is an increase of about 35% and will represent about 4.3% of all retail e-commerce sales.[00:06:10] let go around the stage here and just get everyone's reaction. Darius, wanna start with you. What, what do you think about those stats? [00:06:15] Darius Vasefi: So I think definitely the difference between China and the us, I is something that I've also heard.[00:06:21] Now one thing that I don't know as much about the details of what e-marketer means by social commerce is I guess one, one question that I would just like put out there, but I think if we make an assumption that they are talking about transactions made on some form of social media channel and then the definition of what do they think, what these social media channels is?[00:06:46] Another thing we can probably talk about later, but I think the numbers sound good. And actually, I mean, the us definitely makes sense. 4.3%. The sounds about right, because it's just getting started here. [00:06:59] Ricardo Belmar: And my understanding reading through the e-marketer report, they are considering these to be any transactions originating from social media platforms, which they view right now the leaders in that being Facebook, Instagram but also up and coming from Pinterest, Twitter and Snapchat. [00:07:13] Jeff Roster: What do we do with live streaming though? Is that, I mean, I know that is social commerce, but that really isn't the social platform. It's a digital media platform, but [00:07:21] Ricardo Belmar: yeah, I view live streaming, like you said, Jeff, as a hundred percent part of social commerce. Now some of that live streaming might originate from those social platforms that I could do a live stream through Instagram or Facebook.[00:07:33] Social Commerce or Social Network?[00:07:33] Ricardo Belmar: But also there are lots of options that have nothing to do with those networks that are native platforms that retailers can use for live streaming. I'm not clear myself how e-marketer is tracking those. But I thought, it was interesting to take a look at these stats and for us to consider do we think that's is that a reasonable number?[00:07:48] Do we think that it might grow faster than that? Do we think that's too aggressive? And you're right. It does depend on what we're including in that count.[00:07:55] Darius Vasefi: Yeah. The term social and the fact that it only has to take place on a social network is probably incomplete. And even looking towards 20, 25. [00:08:05] Shish Shridhar: I tend to agree with that. go on [00:08:08] Darius Vasefi: so yeah, that, that's basically what I wanted to throw in there is that if, that's the only channels that we're looking at for the definition of social commerce, I think it's not enough and it's gonna change and we'll probably come back and revisit it.[00:08:22] Brandon Rael: I, yeah. And Darius, and Shish, I completely agree. I think the culture and where China and, most of the Asian countries are with, with WeChat is everything is integrated with the one major platform, all social, all commerce, all interactions, all financial and transactions take place in one app centralized and seamless and real time and, and accelerated lightening speed.[00:08:42] Whereas we're just, we're finally embracing that paradigm shift and, you know, seeing the emergence of Instagram shop now capabilities and Facebook and TikTok shop now capabilities and live streaming. And it's starting to gain momentum, but China certainly has such a far advantage way ahead of the rest of the world, including the us.[00:08:57] Shish Shridhar: I tend to agree that, you know, the the social network platforms, the social media platforms is one aspect of it. But really the social aspect of shopping and all of the capabilities and technologies available today that enable social within, within shopping, I think is another element. And what I mean by that is one of the very early startups that I worked with, this was a few years ago. They built a platform where when you're researching a product in a store and you look at product feedback, you're not sure whether the feedback is, is fraud or not. [00:09:31] Rather you want to have feedback from your network. What does your network think about it? What do your friends think about it? And what they really built was this QR codes where when you scan it, it will filter out your network and their opinion about a product. And that was a social element to it as well.[00:09:50] Where there was that social trust element that was brought in that enabled you to make decisions on what product is good. And look at a trusted network to tell you this is good, or it's not, and, and give you some feedback. And that was the, the early one I saw a few years ago. And also a few years ago when smart mirrors were popular there were startups that were building network interfaces into the smart mirrors. So when you're trying out outfits virtually you could pretty much ping your network for opinions on it and, and ratings and rankings. And there was that social element to the shopping which was, which was sort of a physical and digital combination. The other thing that I also worked with this was a startup called spot.[00:10:37] They were looking at shopable media. So really looking at. You know, influencers and, and Instagram Pinterest feeds, and then using vision AI to detect products within either images of video. And when you're, when you're watching the video or looking at these streams from your network, you could actually find products and shop the products directly from the media.[00:11:03] So that is, again, something that's prevalent. And that is again, a capability that the social networks are adopting, but it doesn't have to be social networks. It could be on any media. And of course, the other element that I see as well as the, the chat bots chat bots are increasingly becoming a way in which, and as they're getting better, it is becoming a way in which shoppers can interface with a chat bot and find what they want, get recommendations and interact and engage through a chat Bott as well.[00:11:33] And I think all of these capabilities are not necessarily connected with a social media network, but do have a social aspect to it. And I kind of believe the same with live streaming as well. [00:11:46] Jeff Roster: Yeah. So really interesting shish, do you see then chat bots in that social commerce component.[00:11:52] And then what about call centers? [00:11:53] Shish Shridhar: Well, so call centers one of the developments that we've been seeing is that combination of chat bot and human elements in call centers. But at the same time, there is a chat bot that is listening and transcribing looking for questions, looking for the intent of the questions from customers, finding recommendations and providing it to the human who's at the call center to be able to provide recommendations and things like that.[00:12:21] So that's, again, one element that is seeing for call centers. [00:12:25] Mohammed Amer: So Ricardo, I kind of take a, a different avenue or out of when we're talking about social commerce, at least the way the numbers have been set up and looking at statistics. I believe also the, these are really social platforms, the way that we know most of us know social platforms, the Instagrams, the Facebooks and, and so.[00:12:47] And Twitter trying to get into that with their new shopping module. And, that's the same number that e-marketer was talking about that 36 billion this year with, which had surged 39% during the, the lockdown. So clearly they're looking at where people are spending their time.[00:13:07] And they're combining where you're spending your time, where you're getting, where you're comfortable and trust the platform. When we're online, there's kind of a risk element. When we're making a purchase, you're wondering, are you really getting what you want or not, but when you back that up by a platform or a social platform that you already trust, you've been using it, you're familiar with it.[00:13:30] It has a reputation then all of a sudden it takes some of that risk away. And it allows you to go on the early steps of you know, the metaverse where now you're, you're doing things that you would do in the real world, but now you're doing it in the, in a social platform. And shopping is a social activity.[00:13:49] It's as well as a functional thing that we all need to do. [00:13:53] Ricardo Belmar: I agree with you on that. What is social commerce trying to mimic for us? And in some ways I look at it as it's trying to take what was a, a straight e-commerce experience, which I think I would describe as somewhat a detached shopping experience because shopping is a social activity and it normally involves some human interaction, at least in the way that we're all used to.[00:14:14] Although you could make an argument about different age demographics and how they view what a social human shopping experience may be. But I see social commerce as trying to in effect, bridge a gap between taking what would've otherwise been e-commerce and making it a more as the words implies social, but therefore more, more human interaction in commerce.[00:14:32] So doing things like what we we've mentioned making media shoppable. There's some startups doing some dedicated I'll call them social networks. But I think maybe they're a little bit different. Me spoke is one that, that I see often where it's designed to allow you to shop any of the things you see in images or videos posted in the app.[00:14:51] And they actually link back to brands. So they have a connection that goes to a brand to help you shop directly from them. Because you see that item on someone you say, I want this and that's how you would be able to, to shop for it. So another way of looking at it, which I think is also interesting is that this is another mechanism to search for items. So if we think about search, and I think we've all heard stats anywhere from, you know, 65, 70, 80% of product searches people just naturally go to Amazon to search before they even go to Google in the search. But if you think about how often do you search for products on social media?[00:15:23] And I've seen some surveys that actually show that us as much as 70% of consumers will say they search for products. They wanna buy on Instagram and Facebook which tells me that that's almost as much as people use Amazon as their go to for product search. So if you're starting your search on social where do you go from there?[00:15:40] Do, do you want to, as a consumer immediately be able to buy when you find it there? Or do you wanna click through to an eCommerce site and have a more traditional, transactional interaction at that? What I think is interesting is these same surveys. It'll tell you, 70% of consumers start their search for products on Instagram or Facebook, and the same surveys ask, well, would you buy directly a product from within a platform like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, Pinterest, and so forth.[00:16:06] And the numbers drop. Then you see numbers like 30% say that of people will actively buy. But if you break it into demographics, then you say, well, what about millennials? Millennials will say more than 50% of them are willing to buy that way.[00:16:17] So I'll ask everyone what your impression of that is. [00:16:19] Defining social commerce vs e-commerce[00:16:19] Darius Vasefi: Okay. Sorry. Here, here's a question from what you actually mentioned, if I go to a website and I purchase an item based from a video that's on the website even if I can click on it and it can actually drill down, for example, a wardrobe in two different parts of it.[00:16:37] Are we considering that a social commerce? [00:16:41] Jeff Roster: I would not. I would say that's part of the website. That's that's classic to me as a classic [00:16:46] e-commerce [00:16:47] Ricardo Belmar: if it takes you to the website first. Yeah. From [00:16:49] Darius Vasefi: just because it's a video, just because it's a clickable video on a website. [00:16:54] Jeff Roster: Oh, wait a minute. What, whose website?[00:16:56] Yeah. What kind? [00:16:57] Darius Vasefi: That person's website. That brand's own web [00:17:00] web website.[00:17:00] Jeff Roster: That's e-commerce [00:17:01] Ricardo Belmar: yeah. I, I would, I agree. [00:17:02] Jeff Roster: It's their website's e-commerce [00:17:04] Darius Vasefi: okay. [00:17:04] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I, I think in this case, if you saw that video on Instagram and while you were watching it on Instagram, you click and buy it without having to click through to the brand's e-commerce site, then I'd consider that transaction as social commerce.[00:17:15] Jeff Roster: Exactly. I agree. [00:17:17] Darius Vasefi: Okay, but, so, so again, we're talking a little bit more definitions here. If you, if you see something on Instagram and it takes you to that brand's website and they make a purchase off Instagram, that's you don't, that's not considered social commerce.[00:17:35] Ricardo Belmar: If you have to click through to the brands e-commerce site, their, their existing e-commerce site, I, I would consider that a standard e-commerce.[00:17:42] That was just a click through the social post, [00:17:45] Darius Vasefi: even though it was [00:17:45] okay. [00:17:46] So it's a transaction since seems like it's the where the transaction actually happens is how we're [00:17:53] Jeff Roster: it's location. It's located on the eCommerce [00:17:55] website. Then it's eCommerce. If it's off the eCommerce website, then it's social. I would say even even the same video, I would think.[00:18:03] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, I think in, in one instance, we're talking about a referral process, right? Where my click through from say a Facebook post referred me to the brand's website and that's where I completed the transaction. So in that scenario, I call that an e-commerce transaction, not a social, but if I was in a Facebook shop and I never have to leave that Facebook interface to complete the transaction that I would consider as social commerce [00:18:26] Jeff Roster: a hundred percent.[00:18:28] Ricardo Belmar: I'll give you some other interesting stats since we're on this point, and I'm glad you brought this up, Darius. If you think about a way to measure how valuable could this be? Right. How much could it grow ? There's one argument to be made that I'm, I'm reducing some friction in the process[00:18:40] if I can just complete that transaction natively in the social platform, I don't have to click through to an e-commerce site. I don't have to do any of the things I do on a normal e-commerce site to put payment information in or any of those things. So in a way, I've reduced the friction in completing that purchase.[00:18:54] I did find the following numbers kind of interesting. So if you were to track now this would be based on referrals, click throughs through social. So from Facebook or Twitter clicking through and if you were to measure what's the average transaction value of transactions came through those clickthroughs for the different social platforms. I think it's interesting to see which ones generate more valuable transactions. So I'll give you a few examples. From Facebook customers referred through Facebook, see an average order of $55. If you go to Twitter, the average value is $46 29 cents.[00:19:26] And it's worth noting that that Twitter click through rate for this type of commerce is about somewhere between one and 3%. If you are on Instagram and, and wanna know what's the, what's the average value of click through from Instagram, it's $65. So it's even higher than Facebook. And if you see a click through from a YouTube video, that's only about $37.[00:19:43] So there are differences today in the types of things people will click through within these different platforms.[00:19:47] Darius Vasefi: Yeah. That's a very interesting dis this, I guess differentiation. Definitely the product category and the pricing makes a difference. Especially like what I've seen personally on a lot of what is being sold in China. And on a lot of social live streaming, I guess I'm talking more about live streaming.[00:20:06] It's a lot of lower priced items. I have not seen any high priced considered purchases being sold yet on that, especially like the, the one too many, the public type of live streaming. And I don't know if that translates across all social or not [00:20:24] Jeff Roster: Darius in China, you're talking about or in here in the us, [00:20:27] Darius Vasefi: both, both.[00:20:29] I mean, if you, if you go to Amazon live right now, you go to Facebook, live shop, you'll see the kind of products that are being sold over there. [00:20:36] Jeff Roster: Now, I don't know enough about the China market to comment on that, that bit of nuance, but here in the us, I think we're still so, so early in this whole evolution of social commerce that I would expect the items that are really gonna push on social are gonna be fairly low priced, immediate kind of purchase engagements.[00:20:52] I think that we, as we evolve in that, I think that's gonna change pretty dramatically, but I just can't imagine a complex purchase being done through social. It can start the process and then lead to the website where there's more engagement [00:21:05] yet to be determined though.[00:21:06] What are consumers buying via social commerce?[00:21:06] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I think there is something to the category. I'll give you another a data point there. And I think this is us in 2020 apparel made up just under 22% of the total social commerce revenue. So a little over a fifth. Just thinking in terms of what items are people more inclined to buy in social commerce?[00:21:22] I view it as it needs to be more of an impulse buy? Something has to entice me either in the visual that I'm seeing, whether it's a photo or a video clip, or if it's a live stream, something about the way that product is shown or described has to make me wanna buy it right now in a slightly more enticing way than just looking at a product page on eCommerce and without having a desire to go physically see it and touch it in a store.[00:21:45] So I, I think it's an interesting thing to consider luxury items. How would luxury items do in this scenario? Do we think that there's a future for true luxury apparel, for example, or some of the more aspirational luxury brands selling significant numbers this way, or is it more, you know, maybe Darius to your point of what you see in China that it's more lower cost items?[00:22:07] Shish Shridhar: I would imagine that's, lower cost and also the target demographic I think is primarily gen Z. And from that perspective my opinion is lower cost and apparel seems like the most likely I see a point about, there's certain things you wanna try out and not necessarily the kind of thing you wanna buy on a social platform without touching it, seeing it, trying it out.[00:22:31] But I believe for low cost, fast fashion, that's probably a good fit. [00:22:37] Jeff Roster: But if you add in live streaming I think that changes, cuz I dang near bought a thousand dollars lens from BNH photo a hundred percent because of live streaming. Now I would've, you know, I have bought $2,000 lenses through chat and just the website because without trying 'em out.[00:22:52] But that live streaming is so sticky in that kind of a, that kind of an app. So you're basically just talking about a, digital sales engagement and that I absolutely can see becoming very high end.[00:23:03] Darius Vasefi: So from my, from my point of view that it depends on the format. There is two key formats for live streaming. One is the one to many, like which is the QVC style. You have one person setting up this show, highly curated and many people watching. Then there is the private live streaming, and I think that they're completely different and they're also different in the product category.[00:23:28] So that's what we do at visional is private live streaming. And we only focus on the top end or the considered purchases, things that are not just impulse purchases and were the advice of somebody, a human being on the other side makes the shopper not only buy something better, actually buy more buy a whole wardrobe instead of just buying a shirt when they thought they just wanted a shirt.[00:23:54] So I think it depends on, on the format, but there is definite potential for everything. [00:24:00] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that's a good point. I think I just saw a, a retail dive article that stitch fix is planning to beef up their one to one. Live video sessions as a way of increasing their sales. [00:24:09] Darius Vasefi: Yeah. But they're still working on.[00:24:11] So the, the challenge with stitch fix is that it's still an eCommerce company, so they are, I don't know how they're gonna handle, and I've, I've tried this actually with lulule lemon, which is another 4runner in trying live to bring live into the commerce. And basically what you're connecting with is somebody in their home, again, running through a catalog with you, they don't have products to show you.[00:24:34] Now, maybe stitch fix is gonna improve on that and actually have some products that people can look at. But if they're doing it from their home, there is no way they can have access to the inventory and the experience of the store. So that's something that I'm interested to learn how they do it.[00:24:52] Brandon Rael: I think there's a certain delicate balance between the highly pro high production value live streaming, but also remaining authentic with the micro influencer, real, real, real shoppers. So how do you balance those two together so that it's more authentic and it's really lifestyle driven approach versus, and has some level of production value?[00:25:10] I mean, TikTok it's is a fascinating platform, not so necessarily for live streaming, but just the amount of creativity and innovation that's coming out of there. The videos and just resonate the current generation of shoppers it's emerging. So yeah, I, I agree with Darius. I mean, the ones I've done at your home access to the physical store or least merging those two experiences together, it's a, it it's a delicate balance.[00:25:34] Mohammed Amer: And like in the example, I'm sorry, Darius. So just in example, that Jeff was mentioning the $1,000 lens from BNH you start out with, there is a, a comfort level of trust factor that he has with that company must have made some purchases before or their reputation or online reviews.[00:25:53] And you're more comfortable about making that high ticket purchase item, given that you can see the details about the product. You can ask questions performance, specs feedback and, and that's something, again that can be, can come to life very well in a video commerce setting [00:26:15] Jeff Roster: and Mohammed you're a hundred percent right[00:26:16] the best camera shop in America, in my opinion Excellent return policy, beautiful website super knowledgeable people, a hundred percent. You're a hundred percent, right. That's why that, that video streaming is so, so such a slam dunk for that organization. And by the way, the actual live streaming was, was pretty poor quality.[00:26:34] I, I think they literally probably just set it, set up a camera and out they were going nothing like what Darius is working with and, and developing, but just the concept alone was enough for me to say, wow, [00:26:45] Ricardo Belmar: I can really see how this is gonna work well. And a related point to that, that's making me think about Jeff, so this was already a trusted retail brand for you.[00:26:54] If I separate the live streaming from this, but if I just thinking of social commerce and its ability to add more merchants to it, right. What, what do we think is happening as far as returns, for example we, we know, you know, e-commerce has an issue with return rates and various product categories.[00:27:10] Don't you think that in social commerce, this could actually get worse in terms of how you're gonna handle returns?[00:27:15] Jeff Roster: I would think it might be maybe a little bit better other than other than apparel I, I just, I think the more, the more knowledge you get about a part or a lens or, or anything along those lines, hopefully the less returns you're gonna have other again than apparel, where it's about size and fit and look and all that sort of stuff.[00:27:32] I don't think it's a driver though. Ricardo. Yeah. I don't think, I don't think social commerce is a driver. [00:27:36] Ricardo Belmar: that's probably true. I guess what I'm thinking of is if you're searching for products in social commerce, well, I'll put it this way. It's not all that different from a problem you might have with Amazon marketplace sellers, where you do a search and you get a hundred different results.[00:27:50] Right. And they're from 99 different sellers you've never heard of, but how do you choose? Which one do you want? Same thing on, on any social commerce platform. If I'm searching by product and I see a big number of merchants come back. I don't know who any of them are. How am I gonna choose? And am I taking my chances when I pick one, if I say, decide to pick it on price, just like I would with a marketplace.[00:28:11] Am I gonna have an issue? If I have a problem with later, do I know that it's an authentic product? Am I gonna have an issue with, fake products in this space. Where is the quality control there? I'm curious what everybody thinks about these issues. [00:28:22] Darius Vasefi: So if we are talking specifically about returns I think definitely the more snap judgment is involved in the making of transaction the more the returns are gonna be probably. So if you are Again, I don't have exact data from any, places, but what I do know is that like, for us, when we've done sales, when you build a relationship with a person on the other end, actually the number of returns actually become less than really like the 50% that you're seeing in apparel on eCommerce.[00:28:53] So I dunno if that answers your question, Ricardo, or did I miss a part of it? [00:28:57] Live streaming makes it more social[00:28:57] Ricardo Belmar: No, I think you're. Getting it exactly at it. So for example, if I bring the live streaming component back into this, that having the ability to build the relationship first, which is how I'm viewing the live streaming component to this, that's gonna help, I believe in, in building that trust factor, building some, authenticity with the customer versus just scrolling through a series of product posts on a social platform, which is in, in some ways, almost the same thing that you'd be doing on just a standard e-commerce marketplace. You're just scrolling through a lot of products in a social platform. So there isn't anything additive. I would argue there that helps enhance trust or authenticity.[00:29:33] I'll throw another variable into this that we haven't talked about yet, because I think another thing that we see come up quite often in any discussion on social commerce is influencers, especially around live streaming. I'm sure everybody's seen that the crazy photos from China, where there are influencers standing in front of 500 different phones and ring lights of all these influencer videos being done to promote different products. So influencers have a role to play, I think, in this social commerce space where do you see that? You know, is this, I'll ask this, the question here. Is it more less, does it affect how retailers and brands should be viewing social commerce?[00:30:08] Mohammed Amer: So I I'm gonna bring in China in the, to address that question you know, in China's a outfit called little red book, how appropriate, huh. And they are doing a lot of you know, facilitating social commerce. And they're basically aimed at gen Z and millennials and they, they have even been able to live stream with Louiston.[00:30:32] So even, a luxury retailer is getting on board in that. And where I was getting to is their influencers are called key opinion leaders, KOLs, and they pair that with blog posts. So they, they, bring the personality, the influencer, the expertise, the live streaming, the product, and they they're creating an experience around, around all that in a social commerce factor.[00:31:00] Brandon Rael: Yeah, I think we are, again the, the outstanding point, there are light years ahead of the of the west, especially our country. We, we are just scratching the surface of social commerce and live streaming. This has been part of their culture and their, and their commerce operating models for, for almost a decade now.[00:31:16] And they had the technology, the infrastructure, the. I think the centralization of, of commerce via Wechat and, and Tencent and Alibaba really enables that to be possible. And there is really no disparate apps you need to go to, or different retail that, you know, go across. And that influencer model, it works so, so effectively in, in their culture.[00:31:36] And I think we'll, we'll get there eventually, but again, there's some, there's some regulatory factors to consider it as well. If you have a monopoly such as WeChat controlling everything.[00:31:44] The TikTok Effect[00:31:44] Ricardo Belmar: So what about platforms like TikTok, which I know Brandon, this is always a, a hot topic for you, what influence is TikTok having on this whole social commerce space? [00:31:53] Brandon Rael: Oh, you called me out. I see am I [00:31:55] Ricardo Belmar: know this is one of your favorites. Yeah. One of your favorite topics. [00:31:57] Brandon Rael: It is. I, I think there's just a fatigue overall with Facebook for many reasons and a fatigue almost with Instagram, cuz the lack of storytelling, everyone's showing the perfect state of the world and Instagram and I think TikTok is the algorithms built to, to match the trends and the, the news and and all the creator, the creators that come outta that, the innovations come outta that the retailers and brands have started to pay close attention to this and find ways to monetize and commercialize off of just the, the rapid expansion of TikTok as, as a presence in our culture. And it's not just gen Z and the millennials it's ing all the generations. And there has to be a way for retailers like Louiston and others to capitalize and jump on the bandwagon because it's here, it's here and it's serious day.[00:32:38] And I think we'll have a lot more momentum on, on side versus Facebook shopping or Instagram shop now capabilities. I think that those days are numbered. It's just the, the live streaming slash TikTok creative engines are, are often running. So I think they'll have, it'll have a significant presence and a significant factor and customers decision making, whether it's on the app or outside the app, or it's gonna be part of that customer journey for sure.[00:33:02] I think go across platforms. [00:33:03] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And we've seen Walmart do, was it two events now that they've done on TikTok? [00:33:07] Brandon Rael: Exactly. And they were probably the last retailer I thought would be on there, but we see we've underestimated Walmart for a decade now, but they like jet.com and the revenue Ascension eCommerce and their BOPIS and their digital first acceleration they could do.[00:33:21] And they have the power and they, and their capital do anything. And they proved it. [00:33:24] Shish Shridhar: Well, there was a attempt by Walmart and Microsoft to acquire TikTok. And I think there's a huge, influence there. I mean, the whole thing about short form video, I think that is driving a lot of engagement and it is becoming a big content platform, even though today I think it's still Instagram and Facebook, that's driving most of the sales but TikTok is from what I can tell is growing very fast. [00:33:50] Brandon Rael: Very true. [00:33:51] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, I agree. And if you think of influencers on the platform and tie that back into the use of influencers for live streaming in this, in support of social commerce, I think that a TikTok of any of the platforms probably has the, the greatest growth potential.[00:34:05] Brandon Rael: Brands and retailers have to go where the, where the consumers are and where the consumer behaviors are. And the consumer, the consumers are engaging with content on TikTok or Instagram. That's where you need to be. And then you're, you know, obviously I think we haven't done our due diligence, so it has been studies on what the revenue potential is or opportunities are for the retailers.[00:34:22] But there is certainly a lot you can learn from this model and how you can leverage TikTok's growth and, just acceleration to grow your own revenues accelerations as well is go where go where the customers are. And they're not necessarily in a physical store or not necessarily in the mall any more they're engaging content on tikTok and Instagram.[00:34:38] Ricardo Belmar: Well, and, and to that point, if the retailer or a brand is gonna treat social commerce as if it were another channel, and I know there's probably a lot of people shaking their head and down the audience saying, oh, no, we're gonna talk about channels again. But at the end of the day even though consumers don't, think about channels.[00:34:52] I think it it's just a fact that retailers, brands, they, think in terms of channels because they have to know where to put their advertising money and where to put their marketing money, how they're gonna generate a campaign to target customers. And they need some kind of a framework to be able to, to characterize this.[00:35:07] Measuring success with social commerce[00:35:07] Ricardo Belmar: So I'm just gonna go with that for the moment and let's treat social commerce as a channel. And the reason I say that is, every brand and retailer wants to measure their activities in that channel. So if I look at social commerce and live streaming, other of course, than, understanding, what are the different analytics I'm looking for to help me understand whether I'm successful or not in social commerce and more importantly, whether my customers are there.[00:35:28] Darius Vasefi: So, I mean, as far as like live streaming for us, what we are looking at in, in our format is the number of appointments. What appointment actually translates into a purchase, the amount of the purchase, the repeat visit from that same customer, even to the same agent to the same store and the conversion the order, average order value.[00:35:50] And, you know, maybe the the maximum order value is really interesting. Also the type of products. So, I mean, all of these metrics are things that we have to be, measuring and monitoring. And then, of course customer acquisition costs is, when it gets to the marketing and what channels we go to .[00:36:06] Brandon Rael: I think that's the scalability is the factor here. I think the cost of acquiring new customers is significant Darius, but can that be mitigated somewhat with the the expansion and the growth of a TikTok or Instagram, where there is lower carrying costs of acquiring new customers, , the challenge is, how would you make the content authentic and, and satisfying enough to drive that conversion, to drive that engagement, to lead it into the actual, the shopping journey?[00:36:29] I think that traditional customer journey has been, was so fragmenting. And then now it's, now it's originally social commerce across many different paths and it's not too linear anymore. It may start in social commerce may end up in the store. It may start in the store and they can actually be engaging on the app or TikTok within the store itself.[00:36:44] And then they can final a decision. So all those customer journey touchpoint across, across the channels, digital and physical matter, like you said, it's about the editorial value. The conversion rates, the turns, everything we, everything you would consider from a eCommerce perspective, that would really change what we used to talk about from a retail perspective, inventory terms, gross margin percentage EBIDA, which all are very relevant by that customer journey.[00:37:08] It it's so, so significant different than it used to be. [00:37:11] Mohammed Amer: Yeah, it's a fractured buying journey and the attribution problem continues with now the multiple paths that are available and they can start anywhere. They can end anywhere, but social commerce, the way we defined it is it ends for sure within, that social platform. I think going where your targeted customer base that you're going after for that specific product where they spend their time, that's the biggest nut that you need to, to crack. And whether that ends up being TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, something else. And then, then you get to the content, creating the kind of content that, that attracts them that gives them the right information they need. And how do you convert that into an actual transaction and then the follow on after the sale to ensure that they're happy and talk well about it, .[00:38:03] Shish Shridhar: So one of the areas that I'm seeing a lot of spike in, in the startup world is the emergence of social commerce platforms. These have plugins to all the popular social media networks, so TikTok and Instagram and Facebook all of these, and as ones emerge, they will have connectors to it.[00:38:24] What really enables the brands to do is. Hook in their inventories and their product catalogs to it and enable creating embedable links to, to social media. So if I'm an influencer on Instagram or TikTok, I can, I can, I can embed products through the social commerce platform. It is akin to the Amazon associate tags where the attribution goes to the Amazon associate and they're paid a percentage.[00:38:56] So that same model has been applied to, to social commerce as well. And being able to find and engage with influencers through that social commerce platform. And, and that's something I'm seeing and emergence, and also the, the, not necessarily reliance on a single network, but really looking at whatever network that the influencer is on the brand is able to create that connector.[00:39:20] Alternate models[00:39:20] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that's, that's an interesting point there Shish. So we've been talking about, I would say a pretty foundational aspect around social commerce and where it's headed from brands and retailers perspective. I'm curious what everyone thinks is gonna happen in the startup community, or I think everybody up here on stage has some experience in some form or another talking to different retail tech startups.[00:39:40] Is social commerce and, and you just mentioned a number of examples, Shish, are there other areas besides those who think that social commerce is gonna see a lot of investment in, in retail tech? We we've had this conversation before about oftentimes seeing a lack of investment in retail tech, but is social commerce. One of those areas that may see a bigger share of that investment.[00:39:58] Jeff Roster: Well, bigger shares. It's a loaded, a loaded word. [00:40:00] That's I mean, it depends you can't the nanosecond, you start talking about artificial intelligence. You can't talk about bigger share, but that's because that share is so gigantic, is it right , for significant growths, Shish is gonna love to hear this, absolutely 100% and there's, there's very solid evidence then in, in the investment community.[00:40:18] But it's, it's gonna be nowhere near artificial intelligence. [00:40:22] Darius Vasefi: So on the startup side Ricardo, I, personally think that we're gonna see a major investment shift into the companies that enable the next I guess, generation of what we call or what we don't wanna call omnichannel retailing is where the direct and deep integration within the social channels and the brand's own experiences are gonna enable.[00:40:47] I think about as like the picks and shovels of making social commerce work and in, in general retail work, I mean, if you look, let's say at 20, 25, right, we're looking at 20, 25, do you think that there's gonna be any major retailer in 2025 that doesn't have some form of integration to at least a major social channels directly going into their inventory system.[00:41:12] And like the tracking and everything analytics,[00:41:15] Jeff Roster: I would say the answer to that is if, if you're saying, well, the all be the a hundred percent, they will all not be. I can think of TJ max. I doubt that ever happens. Probably two or three others, even in the tier ones, but the majority, as long as you say, the majority, [00:41:29] I'll I'll agree with you on that.[00:41:31] Darius Vasefi: I'll change majority. [00:41:32] Ricardo Belmar: If you think, for example, the existing integrations that Shopify has on their platform. To TikTok and other social platforms, you can tie, if you're Shopify merchant, you can tie all your product listings right off the bat in, into TikTok, Facebook, Instagram you know, if Twitter shops takes off, I'm sure they'll add that one later, but so yeah, I would have to say majority.[00:41:50] Yes, I would. I would agree with that. And actually, Jeff, you brought up like, like a TJ X, TJ max. So obviously those brands like them, they're not fans of e-commerce, but I, I wonder would they have a different mindset around social commerce only because, and I, and I'm thinking particularly of a brand like home goods, because home goods, in addition to living off of the treasure hunts, they already generate significant social traffic from people just posting about their finds and what they found at a given store. So do you think they would view social commerce differently than they view e-commerce? [00:42:24] Jeff Roster: No. And because it's the same issue, how do you, how do you have social commerce if you don't have a sustainable or a, a, a long term plan on inventory?[00:42:34] So posting about your finds. I mean, that's that's history. Hey, I, you know, look at this, look at this piece of data, you know, I found it's not, Hey, you can find, this could be a hundred percent wrong in that, but it's. [00:42:45] It's just such a, a far. [00:42:47] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. What if you consider livestreaming ?[00:42:48] Mohammed Amer: The current [00:42:49] model?[00:42:50] Yeah. The current model that I agree with you, Jeff, the current model that TJM max Ross stores, those, kinds have, does not fit the models that we've been discussing and they don't have the infrastructure nor do they have the, the, the will to, to spend that kind of money and investment, because that will just upset the model that they currently have.[00:43:10] So I, I just don't think that that will work for them. [00:43:13] Brandon Rael: It won't work cuz they're the building, the treasure hunt and opportunistic merchandise and buys it's in the marketplace. They can't necessarily predict what's gonna be available in the next six months or, or anticipate demands on the, on the top trending items on, on, across the social channels. Where it could work is, is complicated to have the agility and flexibility to pivot their designs and, and meet the, the surging consumer demands a lot faster than a necessarily a discount or off price retailer could.[00:43:39] Maximum stores. [00:43:40] Jeff Roster: So I agree. So what would be interesting to see if somebody like a Costco pivots to a social commerce model, even though they are also sort of a treasure hunt, but I mean, I, I can think of about a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff I've bought over the years with no desire. My, my high end blender being, being the number one thing, just walking through, seeing the demonstration, boom, off we go.[00:44:00] Maybe that's a different type of retail that might really embrace social that you wouldn't necessarily think of. I could, I could, [00:44:05] Ricardo Belmar: yeah. You could especially see that in livestream scenario, right? Yeah. And the same way that you exist. Yeah, definitely. I think, I think the way I look at a TJX, you know, so, so they they introduced, I guess, was it right before the pandemic started on Marshall's e-commerce site where they positioned it as it was going to be special merchandise that was still gonna try to promote the flavor of the treasure hunt and that it wasn't gonna be the same thing, always available day in, day out on that site. And it, it speaks to me in terms of what, what if they look at limited drops and turned into events, where again, the live streaming model maybe helps in a one to many scenario there and, and they treat it that way. Which I, I agree, it's not the existing business model, right. It's a little bit of a pivot for them to do that, but still, maybe on brand. And that that's the way I'm thinking about it.[00:44:48] Darius Vasefi: So I, I think that this is a really interesting conversation, especially when you bring in TJ, max and home goods. We, we personally actually have done some experiments and those models actually work perfectly for what we do because the, the inventory is changing so fast. They can never keep up with it.[00:45:07] and the treasure hunt can really be enhanced with another human being, like doing it, helping you in the store. So it's a very interesting concept. And same thing applies to like flea markets, resale, used clothing, like stores, which is like really getting big. I think that's a, that's another very interesting side of the market for me, especially because that's like, you know, we could definitely make a difference in that.[00:45:31] Ricardo Belmar: It's very much like a newer version of a flash sale.[00:45:34] Mohammed Amer: Yeah. And, and your model Darius with the one on one is ideally suited for that, that type of an environment. It, it works as well in other environments, but where other models would not work, whether TJ Max or Ross Stores yours definitely would because you were bringing their shopper via video to that store to do, to go and do their treasure hunt.[00:45:58] And and that, that will make it happen. And, you know, you don't versus what we're discussing before about social commerce and the kind of investment and the visibility into inventory and the systems and so on.[00:46:09] Darius Vasefi: Yeah. I mean, outlets is another interesting concept, probably somewhat to that, or maybe not, but I know like, like Simon is really investing a lot into their outlets and how to bring eCommerce into their outlet malls and it's good to see that. So, and, and it goes to like what Jeff was saying is like that direct integration to the inventory and supply chain is is a lot harder to do when you get into these like highly unique and fast moving inventory type situations, [00:46:38] Brandon Rael: so how do you tangibly analyze the impact of this? Because that, that path of purchase is so dynamic right now, and it's so far from what the linear understanding we had of it five years ago, 10 years ago, even last year, it's, it's pivoting so quickly. [00:46:53] Ultimately it's about brand engagement and building trust and, and the relationships with, with products and, and also influencers. It may actually lead to a immediate conversion that lead to the customer, going to a store or, or shopping via eCommerce. It may lead to an engagement that leads to buying something months from now because of that, that experience they had via via social commerce and live streaming or TikTok videos.[00:47:15] Mohammed Amer: And that's why I wanna talk to retailers and they they're talking about, well, you know, e-commerce is giving us this or the website I'm gonna, you, you don't know, you don't really know you want, we need, we have this need to, to be certain about things, to have a number, to have be precise, we'll go 27.7%.[00:47:33] I mean, it, it's still a guessing game because you don't understand how to really attribute that you, you can get a direction, get an idea, but you, you never really are going to be a hundred percent confident of that, of the numbers that you think you're dealing with regarding the attribution.[00:47:50] And that exactly Brandon brings it to, you know, every, every moment that you're interacting the brand and the, and the shopper consumer, the potential shopper, it, it has to be done the way that you would like it. But again, it's not a one way communication mechanism anymore. It's interactive. There are influencers or opinion leaders that are now inserted in this and just have to have a, a broad brand message value proposition that you can then operationalize across those different points. [00:48:24] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I think those are excellent, excellent points. So we've had a really great discussion here on social commerce. We're gonna go ahead and close out the room and I'm gonna thank everybody up here on, on stage today. This has been a really great dive into the nuances of social commerce. We do expect the majority of retailers to be very much involved in some form of social commerce whether it's on one of the big social network platforms or whether it's engaging in live streaming because it's where the customers are. And you have to go where your customers are if you want to grow. [00:48:55] So with that again, thanks to all my speakers, thanks to the audience for joining us. [00:48:59] Deep Dive with Alicia Esposito[00:48:59] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome back retail, razor show listeners. We hope you enjoy that great clubhouse discussion on social commerce.[00:49:10] Casey Golden: Great discussion and incredibly disappointed I missed out on this one[00:49:14] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, we definitely missed you on that one, Casey. But fortunately you get to be here for the special discussion with our special guest on this very special topic. That's a lot of specials I worked in there. Isn't it?[00:49:24] Casey Golden: we noticed, but with the voice made for radio, no one's complaining.[00:49:27] Ricardo Belmar: Oh, well, thank you. It was really special.[00:49:29] Casey Golden: voice made for radio, no, one's complaining . And on that note, let's introduce our extra special guest today. We have Alicia Esposito, VP of content at retail touchpoints. She's here with us. Let's talk some shop[00:49:42] Alicia Esposito: Hello everyone thanks for having me. [00:49:44] Ricardo Belmar: So, this is a fun one for us this week and a little bit out of our normal routine. We usually invite someone who was in the clubhouse discussion we just heard to come join us on the show, but this time Alicia, we thought this was a really good time to bring you back to the show. And I say back cuz you were on in our episode last time when we talked about Loyalty in the last clubhouse episode.[00:50:03] And plus I guess it was what, last month when I was on your show, retail remix, and we talked about social commerce, right. So this kind of feels a little bit like a part two to that discussion.[00:50:13] Alicia Esposito: exactly. Because there's so much to unpack and like, anytime you get me started on this topic, I can just go on and [00:50:18] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Yeah. We can go for hours, right?[00:50:21] Casey Golden: this is why we've never been on a call together.[00:50:27] Ricardo Belmar: Right. It it'll never [00:50:28] Casey Golden: eight [00:50:29] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. We, we would never end. Yeah. Yeah. And, and like we've said before, I think the one comment we never get from listeners in our show is that, you know, if only you could make the episodes longer[00:50:39] Casey Golden: hours.[00:50:40] Alicia Esposito: I just need[00:50:42] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, more content, more content. So obviously there's a lot to talk about. Cause social commerce is just so big. You know, where, how retailers and brands are gonna invest in it. I think it on, on your show Alicia I think we talked a little bit about live streaming too. Right. And how that relates into, social commerce and that's a worthy investment.[00:50:59] We see lots of folks making you know, I think we, we didn't quite touch on if there's an angle for retail media in, in social commerce, how do they all intersect? And when we were talking ahead of time, before , we were recording here, you brought up something super interesting, I think and maybe that's where we should start this conversation and that's, what are all the platforms that matter here.[00:51:18] In the clubhouse session, we talked about, what, I'll call it the big three. It's Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, but they're not the only platforms. . And Alicia, you, you mentioned at least one that I had honestly kind of almost forgotten about. But, but we shouldn't right.[00:51:31] Alicia Esposito: Right. Poor Pinterest. Everybody forgets about them. and I think it's largely because there there's, this really close association with things like recipes with even home renovations and home decorating. But there is a really clear opportunity for commerce. I think it's just. They, they haven't, it feels like they haven't really gone all in, but what I find really interesting right now is recently they acquired the yes.[00:51:58] Which, you know, they're kind of seeing as the vehicle or the driver for. What they want their AI powered, highly curated shopping experience to look like they actually indicated, you know, this is a fashion app fashion platform, but we want to explore what this will look like in other categories. So I thought that was my first little hint of like, oh, they, it seems like they're gonn

S1E11 – The Retail Avengers & The Legions of LoyaltyWelcome to Season 1, Episode 11 of The Retail Razor Show!As a retailer transforming your business post-pandemic, where do you stand on customer loyalty and loyalty programs?The Retail Avengers team is back for a topic so big, and so challenging, we brought in TWO special guests to tackle the future of loyalty in retail: Erin Raese, co-founder of Loyalty 360, a cutting-edge association for research, best practices, and networking opportunities for loyalty practitioners, and now the global SVP of revenue for Annex Cloud; and Alicia Esposito, VP of Content for Retail Touchpoints and a fellow RETHINK Retail top retail influencer!Together the team covers a wide range of loyalty topics, while hosts Ricardo & Casey wrap up with a few key thoughts on the latest technology trends driving the future of customer loyalty. Don't be surprised if they dig into web3, NFTs, and crypto before the end of this pod!Have you heard the news! We're up to #20 on the Feedspot Top 60 Retail podcasts list, so please keep those 5-star reviews in Apple Podcasts coming! With your loyal help, we'll be moving our way up the Top 20 in no time! https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail and retail techI'm Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, a Top 12 ecommerce influencer, advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and lead partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.And I'm Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. I've spent my career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business. Now I slay franken-stacks!The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorJoin our club on Clubhouse: http://bit.ly/RRazorClubListen to us on Callin: https://bit.ly/RRCallinSubscribe on YouTube: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTubeSubscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/RetailRazorShowRetail Razor Show Episode Page: https://bit.ly/RRShowPodHost → Ricardo Belmar,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twRBelmarConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LIRBelmarRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWRBelmarCo-host → Casey Golden,Follow on Twitter - https://bit.ly/twCaseyConnect on LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/LICaseyRead my comments on RetailWire - https://bit.ly/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E11 The Retail Avengers & The Legions of Loyalty [00:00:20] Show Intro[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: Hello. Good morning. Good afternoon. And good evening, whatever time of day you're listening. Welcome. Welcome to season one episode 11 of the Retail Razor Show. I'm your host Ricardo Belmar a two years in a row, RETHINK Retail top retail influencer and lead partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft.[00:00:38] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host Casey Golden CEO of Lux lock. I've been obsessed with the relationship between the brand and the consumer. The experience is everything. I spent my career on the fashion and supply chain side of the business. Now I'm slaying Franken stacks to power the future of commerce.[00:00:53] Ricardo Belmar: So Casey, we are back to another Clubhouse session. This time, the topic was loyalty. Understanding and building customer loyalty, both with, and without loyalty programs. And keeping with our recent themes on innovation and leadership, our Retail Avengers crew brought in not one but two leading experts on the subject of loyalty to really dive into how loyalty needs to transform in the industry.[00:01:16] Casey Golden: This was another really killer clubhouse discussion. I'm a retention girl. So really building that loyalty and you're right. It, it was so big. We had to bring in two guests. First, we had co-founder of loyalty 360, a cutting-edge association for research, best practices, and networking opportunities for loyalty practitioners, and now the global SVP of revenue for annex cloud, Erin Raese. And second, we had Alicia Esposito, VP of content for Retail Touchpoints and a RETHINK Retail top retail influencer as well. This one really dials it up for a few notches. As we cover a lot of ground in the loyalty space. [00:01:57] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, 100% and loyalty is a tricky topic going from, you know, how to make your best customers become loyal customers that are also advocates of your brand, not just loyal shoppers to having free versus paid loyalty programs to grow your brand. To consumer relationships and coming outta the pandemic, this field is really changing. Lifetime customer value is something every brand and retailer has to look at now as part of their growth plans. And you have to build more loyal customers. If you wanna see that metric go up.[00:02:24] Casey Golden: Yeah, spoiler alert. You'd be surprised how dramatically loyalty has changed for consumers since the start of this pandemic, and how that has impacted how retailers and brands use the customer data that they have. seen a rise in the paid memberships, like you mentioned for loyalty program pricing, personal services as a tier that's being productized that we used to kind of just keep secret.[00:02:46] I think it's 80, 86% of adults belong to at least one loyalty program, but managing multiple is increasingly difficult. It has to be more about price. With honey providing that instant cash back or coupon codes. So grab your notebooks. This is gonna be a great discussion to really start getting the, the wheels turning on how to drive this and create the value because emotion is still a very important factor to driving loyalty.[00:03:16] And that doesn't even consider how new technology is going to change loyalty, even more going forward [00:03:21] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that is so true. So I remember, like 75% of US consumers reported new shopping behaviors since the pandemic started and 50% of consumers globally saying they switched brands during the pandemic. This is definitely one of our more meaty topics for discussion. So let's not keep our listeners waiting. We'll be back here to layer on a few game changing ideas for loyalty that we didn't have time for in the clubhouse session. But first let's give a listen to the Retail Avengers and the legions of loyalty. [00:03:52] Clubhouse Session[00:03:52] Ricardo Belmar: And welcome everyone to the Retail Razor room. We're back today with a couple of special guests that we'll introduce in a few moments. Our topic today is the future of loyalty. And let's get started with some introductions.[00:04:04] I'll kick that off I'm Ricardo Belmar. I started the retail razor club here on clubhouse. I've been in retail tech for the better part of the last two decades working for managed service providers, technology providers most recently joined Microsoft as a senior partner marketing advisor for retail, and I've also done some advisory work for other retail tech startups in the past.[00:04:25] So I've got a lot of fun experiences helping retailers implement technology and digital transformation. I'm gonna move through the list here starting with one of our special guests this week. Erin Raese, why don't you introduce yourself?[00:04:38] Erin Raese: Hi everybody. This is Erin Reese. Thank you so much for having me for a couple of decades now on the vendor side selling different technologies and services. And then back in 2008, I co-founded an organization called loyalty 360, and the whole idea was to bring people together around the concept of loyalty, not necessarily programmatic loyalty, but the, the concept of, Hey, we all need long loyal, profitable customers in order to succeed.[00:05:04] So I'm excited to be here , and learn from you all. [00:05:07] Ricardo Belmar: Great. Thanks, Erin. We're really pleased to have you here this week. Jeff. [00:05:11] Jeff Roster: Jeff Roster, former Gartner and IHL retail sector analyst now co-host of this week in innovation. [00:05:16] Ricardo Belmar: Great. Thanks Jeff. Shish[00:05:17] Shish Shridhar: good afternoon. Shish I'm part of Microsoft for startups.[00:05:21] I'm the retail lead and I'm creating a portfolio retail tech startups been in Microsoft for 24 years working primarily retail, consumer goods with a focus on AI and IOT. Thank you. [00:05:33] Ricardo Belmar: Great. Thanks Shish, Brandon. [00:05:35] Brandon Rael: Thanks Ricardo. Great to be back after the hiatus Brandon Rael I've been in and around the retail consumer sector, it's my entire career.[00:05:41] Having worked for some fortune 100 retailers directly in their merchandising and planning and fashion teams. And now I've migrated over to the business transformation and digital transformation side, to help drive outstanding customer experiences and, and revenue growth.[00:05:54] Thanks again. [00:05:55] Ricardo Belmar: . Thanks Brandon .Casey? [00:05:57] Casey Golden: Hi, I'm Casey golden. I'm the founder of LuxLock a retail experience platform. We mobilize a digital workforce and allow everybody to shop live with a stylist online. All about the luxury experiences on my end. Bridged all the enterprise software and had about every single job in a fashion house.[00:06:16] So happy to be here as always. Thank you so much. [00:06:20] Ricardo Belmar: Thanks Casey, Trevor! [00:06:21] Trevor Sumner: Hey everybody. I'm Trevor Sumner. I'm the CEO of perch. Perch is interactive digital engagement platform in store. So you can think of it as digital signage, although digital signage is terrible.[00:06:32] What's great about what we do is we use computer vision to automatically detect that click stream about what actually happens in the shelf and the types of content and promotions that actually change cut shopper behavior at the shelf, including loyalty.[00:06:45] So excited to talk about this topic today. [00:06:47] Ricardo Belmar: Great. Thanks Trevor. And last but not least, another special guest, Alicia.[00:06:51] Alicia Esposito: Hello everyone. I'm Alicia Esposito. I'm the director of content and new media for Retail TouchPoints. We're a online media network and producer of retail events. Customer loyalty has been a very big topic of coverage for us over the past few weeks, we actually did some new research around it.[00:07:11] So I'm excited to dig into some of the trends, hear what other folks are hearing, and of course get some some new trends and best practices. Thanks for having me. [00:07:21] Ricardo Belmar: Great. Thanks everyone. Thanks to all our speakers. Our topic this week, again, we're gonna talk about the future of loyalty and retail and loyalty programs.[00:07:30] The Loyalty Dynamic from the Pandemic[00:07:30] Ricardo Belmar: A good place for us to start is with some interesting stats around loyalty and where things are today. In fact, during the height of the pandemic, we see numbers along the lines of 50% or more consumers saying that they switched brands or considered switching brands throughout the pandemic most likely given to stock out considerations when they couldn't find their favorite brand.[00:07:51] But in my mind, it's fair to say that one of the major issues going forward is that brand loyalty that consumers have shown in the past, may be up for grabs again, in the sense that there's been more of a willingness now to try new brands and recognize that you don't always have to have that, that brand loyalty.[00:08:07] And of course this may vary by age demographics and other factors, but I think that's something to consider. Other points that I have found noteworthy is stats like 75% of consumers saying they have new shopping behaviors. You know, a lot of that also is going to impact their expression of brand loyalty.[00:08:23] And then I know of recent studies have shown retailers reporting that when they have fee-based loyalty programs, whether we're talking to extreme versions like an Amazon prime or Walmart plus or CVS' Carepass, those loyalty members are worth as much as four X or more in terms of lifetime customer value to the retailer as compared to non-members. So definitely some incentives there for that.[00:08:45] I'd like to kick things off and Alicia, I'm gonna go to you first, because I know you've got some interesting studies that you guys have recently published what retailers are saying about their loyalty program. So I thought you might have some interesting facts to share with us. [00:08:57] Alicia Esposito: Yeah, a absolutely.[00:08:59] And we actually just published a benchmark survey, essentially covering some new realities around customer acquisition. Some of the issues or challenges that retailers faced in terms of customer retention. So kind of looking for those new opportunities, but most importantly, the gaps that retailers have seen over the past year.[00:09:21] And there's a really interesting juxtaposition that we saw. So from an acquisition standpoint, obviously digital was huge for them. 58% said they gained new e-commerce customers over the past 18 months. So they invested more in those digital engagement and digital acquisition tools, which I think kind of is in line with what the broader industry has been saying.[00:09:44] But what I thought was interesting for loyalty programs specifically, Is that we actually saw a bit of a year over year shift when we were looking at total revenue generated by loyalty program members, which, there's always that benchmark data point around how more loyal customers buy more frequently.[00:10:04] They have higher basket sizes, et cetera. So in twenty twenty, twenty two percent of retailers said 50% or more of revenue came from loyalty program members in 2021 that dropped to 8%. So I think it kind of speaks to your point, Ricardo, around that brand switching that took place over the course of the pandemic and our findings also point to out of stocks and overall supply chain and delivery issues, being that big pain point from a retention perspective.[00:10:35] So even though they get that acquisition, there's kind of a bit of a gap, right. And being able to fulfill that brand promise. Looking a bit more closely into those loyalty programs specifically. We saw general loyalty programs, pretty much status quo in terms of the benefits, you know purchase discounts and points were the top two tactics, but some really interesting movement in the way of premium loyalty programs.[00:11:00] So I'm not sure if we're gonna be getting into that a little bit later, but we saw things like free gifts with purchase being widely implemented, but sadly not as much movement in the more high value, in my opinion, offering such as services you know, guided selling that those richer engagements that I think really have a true impact.[00:11:19] So I know I just kind of jammed a lot out there, but really, really interesting times, like you said, those shifts that took place over the past 18 months in the way of brand loyalty and changing brands. But definitely a lot of opportunity I think moving forward. [00:11:33] Ricardo Belmar: Thanks. Alicia has a lot of good data points to unpack there.[00:11:38] I wanna ask Erin what your thoughts are on that and how that may, or may not may be in sync with other factors that you may be seeing.[00:11:45] Erin Raese: Thank you. Yeah, we are. We're seeing some of the same things. I mean, certainly the, the supply chain has affected so many people and left a lot of brands reeling a bit and where we're coaching our clients. It was through the whole thing, make sure you're, utilizing your loyalty initiatives and staying connected to those customers because if they did have to leave for whatever reason you have that as a tool to bring them back.[00:12:11] And on the premium side, we, see premium. But we typically will guide toward Really, why do you want to do it? And perhaps using it more surgically than as a blanket, because it may make sense for a particular segment of your audience, but not all. And then I guess the third with retail in particular, especially when we're looking forward the discounts obviously have, have been out there for a long time, and are associated more with loyalty programs and such, and talking more and more to people and they seem to really be grasping this.[00:12:46] I think also because of the third party data going away how do I get more of that data and how do I use that data to build my relationships and, and try trying to get away from the discounts. I think everybody's realizing that so much discounting has obviously hurt the bottom line and there's fatigue.[00:13:04] And so can I turn this around and build more stronger emotional bonds with my customers? And by doing that, can I begin to raise the price a little bit and can I provide a value that's different. [00:13:18] Loyalty Tactics & Benefits[00:13:18] Ricardo Belmar: So with that, let's talk a little more about tactics in loyalty programs, in terms of, there's always a lot of discussion of what consumers say they want in loyalty versus what retailers either think consumers want, or what the benefits the retailer wants to see from the loyalty program.[00:13:34] So I'll open this up to everybody on the panel. I have some thoughts here, but I'll, I'll let everybody else jump in here. I mean, what do you think are tactics? You, you don't see enough of today, but feel we should see more of them tomorrow just based on the history of loyalty programs and what you feel works or doesn't work.[00:13:50] Trevor Sumner: So one thing that's interesting in balancing these competing desires and goals, you mentioned CVS and care pass. You know, one of the things I, I do think that value is, is the key thing to a loyalty program. And, you know, especially in a broad range of segments, not at a, you know, a Gucci or Chanel or Macy's necessarily, but definitely at the, at the grocery stores or CVS, and one of the big ways that you can continue to do that is by promoting private label.[00:14:17] So CVS care pass, which you mentioned it gives you a 20% discount, 20% discount on private label products. Right? And I think loyalty increasingly will be adapted to promote private label products, because that is a tactic being used by all retailers to capture more margin. Which also gives them the ability to offer better discounts.[00:14:38] And one of the things that we're seeing in, in a push to private label is I was talking to a supplement provider who has a very large retail partnership. And one of the things they talk about is yes, that first sale happens at the retailer, but the refill happens usually off the side of the retailer, right?[00:14:55] So if you own the private label, you can own the full life cycle value of the client, which is why private label and loyalty becomes so entwined in private label that I think you're gonna see a lot more of that tied together. [00:15:08] Brandon Rael: Great points, Trevor don't mind jumping in here. I think we've seen that movement to that direct to consumer model, especially with Nike, who are taking ownership of the brand ownership, of the experience, ownership of that personalization imperative to, to drive what the experiences as the customers are looking for to gather only the insights and to really offer things that the customers want based on their preferences and the behaviors.[00:15:31] So that private label proposition is a big one. And I also think the direct consumer model is is an open, open landscape for brands to engage and to provide great experiences to customers. [00:15:43] Ricardo Belmar: That's an interesting point. As far as how private label can be intertwined with loyalty, given that we know a consumers really expect to be rewarded for a loyalty program.[00:15:52] So what better way from the retailer's point of view, and to offer that reward on a private label where presumably if they've done the private label correctly, there's more margin, there's more room to offer a discount. I always find it interesting in a lot of studies that get published about this, that the expectation is consumers want number one discounts, better pricing from being on loyalty. And there's either a hesitation from a lot of retailers to offer that. And of course, to Trevor, Brendan, to your points, private label is a good mechanism in which to offer that. But let's go a little deeper in this one, too. I'm curious what everyone thinks about loyalty tactics, other than discounts and price and where you think that's going.[00:16:29] So for example, gap announced their loyalty program that's cross brand. So it's one unified program across gap stores, banana Republic, Athleta and Old Navy. And one of the interesting options on there are using your points to generate charitable donations to charities that gap works with, and that I believe gaps comment when they announce this is that they heard their customers voices on how they care about what the retailer's contribution to the world is and that's one way that they're giving back. So what do you think about tactics like that as an enticement in a loyalty program.[00:17:03] Shish Shridhar: So one of the things you mentioned just now about social impact and brands really driving that is I think one of those areas that I'm seeing a lot of in the startup world, for example, and working with a company called Sparrow, that's doing exactly that they're providing this API so that brands and retailers can really embed that capability into transactions and enable shoppers to be able to select charities of their choice and, and really have that social impact element really stand out with the brand.[00:17:34] The other one that I think is key and we are probably not seeing enough of is personalization. And I would say hyperpersonalization this is along the lines of, what maybe Netflix is doing or Spotify is doing where the personalization, the relevance of the content for the customer is really what draws or, or defines that loyalty.[00:17:57] I think that is an element that a lot of retailers and brands should be doing more of. And this is really to do with the data ,data across all of the channels and pulling it all together and, and driving more than just segmentation, but going very hyper personal in, in providing offers and experiences that are personal and relevant to the customer.[00:18:20] And that really reduces the churn. And I think that's, that's an element that has a lot of potential the advances in, in data and AI is making this even more real and more impactful than it has before. And then of course the other element being, the gamification aspect where there that continuous engagement with that data enables brain to be continuously keeping that connection alive.[00:18:47] Brandon Rael: Add to those points. It's the relationship and the brand and the consumer is, is the paramount here. We all know that shipping or free shipping is losing some game and some aspects discounts or just loyalty points that result in lower price of discounts could be losing somebody as well.[00:19:02] So it's that gamification, that experiences exclusivity factor that if you're a member, if you're a member, you actually reap the benefits of being member. So membership has its privileges with the old ad from American express. I think that's very applicable in today's day and age, where brands want engage and retain their, their top customers.[00:19:18] Casey Golden: hundred percent, really believe in providing time well spent and just really creating, giving people what they want, you know, do you want 20% off or do you want a soul cycle session? And I think that there's gonna be a lot more experiential marketing opportunities opening up. Luxury brands have been doing it for hundreds of years.[00:19:37] I think it's about time that it comes down the funnel so that everybody starts being able to get spoiled by these brands rather than spend the money on Facebook. Just start spending the money on your customers. Candle's not that expensive for your birthday, especially if you buy 2 million of them.[00:19:53] Trevor Sumner: So , Ricardo, you started off with talking about giving away to charity. I'm investing in this interesting company called Griffin. And what they do is as you spend money on Starbucks or a retailer a certain portion of those funds end up getting invested in stock in that company.[00:20:12] So I think there's some interesting dynamics here. I mean, it's really early stage and I just think it's fascinating, right? Re as opposed to offering, you know, some type of discount that hurts your bottom line, you think about this as an executive, right? Like instead you build a loyal following that holds your stock, which increases your stock price, which is great for, you know executive compensation, right?[00:20:34] So that's one piece of it. But the second piece of it is, this goes to a little bit towards the money side of the house and thinking of it as an appreciating asset, which also that asset is tied directly into the brand and brand building. And one of the things that they've been able to do, whereas Robin hood, and a lot of these stock trading companies they've been able to appeal to a young male audience they've been able to unlock a younger female audience.[00:21:01] And I think that's really kind of exciting thinking through, on a demographic basis, you know, what are different needs from a loyalty perspective and what can be motivations to drive different behaviors that are both good for the corporation but also great for the shopper and your customers.[00:21:17] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. That's a great point. And I find that example you have of the basically turning the loyalty into an investment opportunity is a really interesting one. What we're all really saying is. Loyalty has to move to, we can use a word like experiential, but I'm gonna stay away from that for the moment and say, instead, it, it just has to be about something other than discounts.[00:21:36] We, we know that consumers love discounts that ultimately price does matter in the end, but it's not the only thing. Right. You can get benefit and deliver value to the customer in a loyalty program without having to exclusively rely on discounts. The social aspect that the gap is doing the investment model that Trevor, you just mentioned, those are great examples.[00:21:55] Transactional to Emotional Loyalty [00:21:55] Ricardo Belmar: I'm gonna bring up another example. One that I think is really useful is what about loyalty programs that are in some way related. Let's say that because I'm retailer a knows they have customers with an affinity to retailer B. What if they both had some sort of connection between their loyalty programs?[00:22:12] What could you do there that could add more value that customers would then therefore want to be part of both loyalty programs?[00:22:20] Casey Golden: A hundred percent. There's such a huge overlap across brands in the entire lifestyle. Being able to collab, cross collaborate, and partner to be able to serve the customer. There's such an opportunity to be able to give customers something that actually delights them whether or not that's a coffee or a bottle of bubbles or.[00:22:44] Even a new product from a different brand that this brand thought that you might like, and it's non-competitive I think being able to spend more money together keeps everybody's bottom line a lot more green. [00:22:56] Alicia Esposito: I love that point, Casey. And I think it helps tell a much richer story too, from a marketing and engagement perspective too. Because we're zooming out. We're not thinking about, just about this very specific experience the customer is having in my store or on my e-commerce site. It is the bigger picture of what they experience every day of their lives. Right. And that encompasses so many different things, so many different brands.[00:23:23] There are so many opportunities. I think about the day in the life of, you know, you're a target customer, where does she go? Or he go. What are the different interfaces that they engage with, whether they're at the gym or on their commute, or, in a mall.[00:23:37] Or, or sitting at home. There are more opportunities in the media perspective too. So I think it just opens up so many more opportunities for co-creation and for innovation through collaboration. [00:23:48] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, right now we have two customers, one is evening wear and another one is hair jewelry.[00:23:56] So it's like ets for, for grownups. Right. Love it. And we also have a, the hair salon and Saks. So all three clients essentially if you spend $250 on one website or you spend $50 on a website with one of the brands, then you get a blowout at one of the Saks salons, the salon project. And so they're collaborating because they're both clients, we want them to share customers. It's non-competitive. If you're buying a dress, you're getting your hair done. You're buying shampoo conditioner. A berret. Fact is, is $65 ponytail, $70 shampoo and a $4,000 dress. It's the same customer. So I think that these marketplaces have really opened up another world where maybe you don't need to go into a multi-brand retailer as much, if more of the brands actually start connecting and leveraging each other.[00:24:47] And I think technology is gonna be, what's gonna make that happen. [00:24:51] Brandon Rael: Obviously echo sentiments that we challenge our clients to open up their silos, to become more holistic, look at the customers, one channel, one experience. Now we can challenge these brands to service this customer with offerings and, and benefits and lifestyle enhancements that this cross brand cross company collaboration is a, win-win not only for the customer for the brand.[00:25:12] So why not capitalize that customer coming to your department store or the mall and provide those experiences they're seeking.[00:25:18] Erin Raese: Well, what that begins to do is it, it changes it from being more transactional as well to more emotional. And we really we're having this conversation on loyalty for about 30 minutes.[00:25:29] Now, I noticed that we really haven't talked about what makes people loyal is that emotional aspect. And, and that's what turns you away from the, the discounts and, and gives you more elasticity with your pricing as well. [00:25:42] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I love that point about the emotional connection, because isn't that really why the retailer wants to have this loyalty program and wants to have more customers in it is to create a better bond to the brand with the customer.[00:25:53] And I think if you don't have that emotional connection, which in my opinion, price, discount alone is not going to move the needle on. Then how loyal are they really, are you really just then growing a loyalty program for the sake of large numbers that you just have a lot of people in it, but are they really doing anything for you?[00:26:09] Ultimately your goal should be to get a better lifetime customer value out of every member that joins that loyalty program? One of my favorite loyalty program, examples, is Ulta Beauty. When I last looked in one of their annual reports, something on the order of what is it, 75% between 70 of a 90% of their best customers, 9 98.[00:26:26] Wow. It's even even high 98. Coming from loyalty members, right? [00:26:30] Erin Raese: 98% of their transactions. That's unbelievable are, are loyalty. I think [00:26:34] Ricardo Belmar: that's unbelievable. Wow. That's just amazing. [00:26:36] Brandon Rael: That's amazing. [00:26:37] Trevor Sumner: And why, what do they get?[00:26:39] Brandon Rael: Yeah. What does Ulta provide that makes them come back for more? That's the, really the question, what differentiates them versus Sephora? [00:26:44] Erin Raese: Well, the story behind Ulta is remember they started as a discounter and then they started their loyalty program and people weren't allowed then to get discounts unless they joined the loyalty program.[00:26:55] So they were trying to move upstream as an organization overall. And that was really from the beginning. And then now that they've been established in doing this for years it, it still is that way. So if you want to get extra value, you wanna get any kind of benefits. You have to be part of the program.[00:27:11] And so they made their program really synonymous with their brand and they get a variety of additional benefit. So there's, there's services, there's other options. There's, early access, depending on, on the type of customer you are. So a lot of extra I think we were kind of going in that direction with this conversation at one point, but there's these, what can you deliver as a retailer that that's extra service or extra support of customers yeah.[00:27:38] Is what an Ulta is doing in some of the other retailers like a Nordstrom doing as well. [00:27:43] Trevor Sumner: Yeah. But I think it's interesting that again, it leads with discounts and value, right? And I do think that that's a big part of the story. Even though there, it, it kind of detracts some lifetime value because you're reducing margin on a per transaction basis.[00:27:55] Value, I think being the best at value, like we're trying to find clever ways to not discount and keep the margins up. And there are clever ways that people are doing it. But I think if you're great at the value story, that that enough is a success. And I think that some of the future around is, we talk about marketplaces, but I think like one of the underlying technologies that's really fascinating right now is just what's going on in FinTech and transaction processing and, and enabling skew level data.[00:28:21] It's All About the Data[00:28:21] Trevor Sumner: We talk about retailers collaborating to provide discounting across them, but you could also, with the death of the cookie, right, start thinking about how you can share data, get better first party transaction data as to what consumers want and share that data as a, as a value in your loyalty program and, and understanding of the customer base.[00:28:41] So I think there's a bunch of stuff that's gonna happen where retailers are gonna combine in interesting ways and underlying a lot of this is that a lot of retailers will become banks and get into a finTech stack. [00:28:53] Ricardo Belmar: And you see that as potentially an added service value to a loyalty program, for example.[00:28:58] Trevor Sumner: Absolutely right, because you're taking part of the margin of the transaction. But more importantly, you're connecting the, all the, collecting all the transaction data as well both in store to online, all of it together. And so that data is huge. And once you have that data, you can start sharing it in interesting ways.[00:29:16] So like Walmart and Sam's club and all these different, kind of properties that you own, but even in an extended way across your brands, like a gap and Old Navy bath and body works, et cetera. But then maybe even cross, like you could create models where, you could create some, Hey, I've got this mobile number, which is Trevor's mobile number and you ping it.[00:29:36] And Walmart tells you what Trevor likes to buy and shares that data in some interesting way. Now, I don't think retailers will naturally do that. In some open fashion, because they're very proprietary about that, but there's some interesting ways you could collaborate. [00:29:47] The question is of course, how do you get data? And, we talk about a AI machine learning. And whenever I see a technology company with AI and ML, it's like, well, what's your data advantage, right.[00:29:58] And I think that's gonna be something that that, that we should really be looking at, not just in the. The technology for analyzing the data, but how do retailers and brands get access to new data streams that give them a proprietary advantage? And I think there's gonna be a lot that happens in the next five years around that.[00:30:19] And you're gonna see in just interesting partnerships and acquisitions really just solely associated with data. [00:30:25] Erin Raese: loyalty programs can't do it all. But if you think about loyalty and the loyalty concept at its core, and you stop thinking about it as points and discounts and all of that, you actually can begin to collect that kind of information.[00:30:41] So you use the loyalty, call it a club, call it an initiative or something is if you give me your information, I promise to give you a better experience, cuz then you have that. And there's loyalty technologies that are out there that have the ability to take in that information, allow you to action on any data point, any combination of data points and they can collect it from any one of your technology.[00:31:07] Partners and, be like a backbone to connect everything. And they also have some of them also have social aspects. So you can track people's behavior around social. If you wanted to, recognize the fact that they were talking about your brand somewhere, or if you wanted to bring in your influencers into the mix and, and do something special for them.[00:31:27] So there, there are some that are out there that can actually make this. And loyalty is one of those places that can help. I'm not, I know there's a lot more to it. I'm not trying to oversimplify, but but it, there is an opportunity to look at loyalty a little differently. [00:31:39] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I agree with that and you know, certainly not the least of which is the elimination of this reliance on, third party data like cookies that we all know are going to be going away and, forcing a requirement for more first party data, which obviously loyalty programs are a great source to drive that.[00:31:54] But one of the things I can certainly expect to see much better results from over the next few years. And as we're thinking of 2025 and how retailers are gonna leverage first party data be able to personalize better, feed that back into loyalty programs, to define those more unique experiences they can offer to the most loyal customers.[00:32:13] I think that will happen. There are solutions today that I could point to that talk about how they're using, Trevor, your point, AI and ML to pull together and, and recognize customers within a program, which, let's take an extreme case where a customer is signed up for a loyalty program with a retailer a year ago, and then doesn't remember they signed up, you know, did some interactions with the retailer and then maybe signs up again with a different email address. A retailer wants a system where the AI or the machine learning can actually figure out, you know what, this is the same customer.[00:32:43] So let's merge that data and build an even better profile about that customer. I think Erin, you mentioned the social listening aspect and how you could also connect the dots between what those customers are saying in social. So you certainly expect a better understanding of the customer as your loyalty programs, ask those customers to put in a, a link to their Twitter account or their Instagram. So you do get an understanding, what kinds of things do they talk about? And if they mention your brand, then you can connect those dots back into that profile that your loyalty program is building for this customer. Then let's say they're in the store.[00:33:16] And I think we haven't talked too much about how the loyalty program can help you in store. So I'll throw out a couple of points there. I'm thinking about one is something that Trevor has talked about in this forum before and how you interact with merchandise in the store, through sensors and, and other computer vision types of applications.[00:33:33] If I can know something about that customer or let's say it's not even directly manipulating the merchandise. Let's not forget we have ideally, really well trained staff in that store. And those frontline workers are engaging with this customer. And now let's give them access to some of the loyalty information hopefully not in a creepy, mysterious way, but in a way that they acknowledge to the customer that they're opening up this type of access in a manner that helps them better serve that customer.[00:34:00] So now your loyalty program is feeding data into those store associates, so they can better interact with the customer and hopefully provide an even larger transaction value out out of that interaction. I think all of these things relate and, I feel, we haven't gotten to a discussion yet, which I, I did want to get us to.[00:34:17] And before the end of the hour here and how we can tie in loyalty in the future to what's happening in store, as well as online. I'll come back to that. [00:34:24] Trevor Sumner: All right. One other piece that that also is, if you get to know your, your loyal customers really well, how can you actually profile them in a way that you can then better target new customers,[00:34:36] Ricardo Belmar: right. That's right. And that, yeah. Use that as a model to improve your targeting. Absolutely. [00:34:41] Trevor Sumner: Totally. I download the app now, you know, everywhere I go.[00:34:44] Right, right. You know, the things that I do and now you can do lookalike type audiences. And again, really understand the behaviors that drive new client acquisition as well. [00:34:52] Ricardo Belmar:[00:34:52] Favorite Loyalty Examples[00:34:52] Ricardo Belmar: 1 thing that makes me think about that I'm gonna ask this to everybody up on the stage here, if I were to ask you right now in today's loyalty programs, what retailer do you like that does successfully create that emotional connection through experiences or other tactics they provide within that loyalty program?[00:35:07] Jeff Roster: REI, much to my wife's chagrin . [00:35:11] Ricardo Belmar: What specifically, Jeff, are you thinking that REI does well? [00:35:13] Jeff Roster: Just, you know, just an ongoing reasonably placed communication about what's happening, [00:35:18] You know, based on season. So we're just finishing up the summer season getting ready for, for ski season, things like that.[00:35:25] It's not really a discount program, but it's a co-op model. So the more money you spend, the more you get back, kind of a deal. It's just a good environment. [00:35:33] Trevor Sumner: And also I think it's very interest driven and it's a membership, right?[00:35:37] And it feels like, it feels like you're part of a community and it's part of a community that stands for something. And, so there's an identity there that is much more than the very value oriented discount play that I'm still a great advocate for. [00:35:53] Jeff Roster: Yeah, not a lot of, not a lot of, discount when you talk about REI that's for sure.[00:35:57] Casey Golden: You know, it's the weirdest thing. I have been a Mac cosmetic customer since I saw Ru Paul the first time when I was like 17 years old and they have a recycling program where you bring six empty containers and then you get to pick out something for free. It's the only thing I really recycle and I've been doing it for over 20 years.[00:36:21] I only recently started exploring other brands because I always got amazing service and I never bought eyeshadow, lipstick, or any of these things because I just recycled them. I have to say that's like the only loyalty program that has literally been in place for so many years. That did definitely work on me.[00:36:42] But I feel like there's so much more V I P experiences. I don't think it's a loyalty program at Equinox. I think I just have like VIP access to certain stuff. And some other brands where you've just gone up a tier. [00:36:55] But, I don't think that, you know, there's no points or anything like that, you know, [00:36:58] Jeff Roster: that's that's loyalty though. Yeah, that's the, absolutely.[00:37:01] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, they're just very unstructured, [00:37:03] Ricardo Belmar: but it still gives you that, that VIP status. So in a sense, the program is working and that it makes you feel like you're getting some special value out of it. [00:37:11] Casey Golden: Exactly. I mean, I know that they're done very manually.[00:37:14] You have to remind them who you are. , [00:37:18] Ricardo Belmar: there's a case for how technology [00:37:19] Casey Golden: a lot of time[00:37:20] Brandon Rael: it's painful, [00:37:22] Casey Golden: but there's a lot of opportunity in those, those types of experiences, especially now when people are fighting for business we just opened up the salon on a Sunday for somebody almost any hair salon that's closed, will literally open up their doors for business.[00:37:37] But somebody felt like a V I P for the day, they're like, oh, you got me a hair appointment. You're kidding me. You know? And it's just like, everybody wants business. I think it's just a matter of like, starting to operationalize these things a little bit more to recognize that customer and, and anticipate what they would like.[00:37:56] Shish Shridhar: The other one that I'm very fascinated about, I'm sure a lot of people are, is Patagonia. Patagonia primarily uses their social impact platform and the environment really to, to drive that loyal fan base. And I think that that's a really, to me a powerful example. [00:38:13] Brandon Rael: Just a few, a few brands I wanna call out.[00:38:16] We Starbucks is, is an underrated app. They integrated their payments and their loyalty program it in the app itself at the surface. It's a pretty straightforward, transactional based system where you get points for your purchases. You can redeem them. There's a lot of gamification as well at bingo and everything else.[00:38:32] Another underrated one is I think Marriot from a hospitality standpoint, it gives you a lot of access to obviously hotel points, but also premium rooms and other experiences and also interested what Uber is done and how they pivoted during the pandemic to UberEATS model when people weren't actually going anywhere and how you can accumulate points and, Uber cash and everything else.[00:38:51] So there are unique and interesting things brands could do that pivot during challenging times. And Uber is Uber is one of them. [00:38:59] Ricardo Belmar: If I broaden it even to luxury as well, right. Luxury in some ways I would describe this as an advantage that you have the ability to use extended products as a way to create more brand loyalty.[00:39:11] I mean, I could argue that. You know, brands like apple, for example, are exceptionally good at that by creating other products that loyal fans automatically want. And that just deepens the brand loyalty once they acquire those additional products.[00:39:26] And that's an example of where you don't even need a specific loyalty program. You just have to do things that create loyalty through let's broadly, call it trust and authenticity of your brand with customers. [00:39:39] There are plenty of studies that come out that keep reporting how gen Z is much more willing to switch brands and maybe don't care so much about the traditional brands that used to engender that kind of intense brand loyalty as previous generations did. So there are definite things that can be done there.[00:39:56] Additional experiences that can be offered to loyalty members. That's another area where we just generate even more affinity. And it becomes a matter of trust. I would argue because those experiences, you know, customers take them on because they trust the brand has curated a valuable experience.[00:40:13] And because that experience has value, that's why they're going to stick with it and keep coming back more, more and more into the brand. [00:40:20] The Value of Customer Data & Experiences[00:40:20] Casey Golden: The way that data has just been so abused and we've just lost a lot of trust and there's so much regulation and all of these different things are changing so fast. Once the consumer can hold and use their data.[00:40:34] They don't need to be paid for it. They just want value for it. Nobody's gonna get rich by Facebook giving you, a quarter of a quarter of a percent of a penny for every single time. Your data's like used on something. I think that it's just gonna end up compliance is just a lot easier if you're just dealing with individuals rather than doing all of this stuff behind the scenes. There's just more context. You have somebody saying I'm here. I want to engage. I'll tell you everything about me. Just provide me service, help me save time, help me have a better time. Help me find the right product. Show me something new.[00:41:15] Surprise me. You know, the whole entire concierge side of retail is just, it's absolutely booming right now. I mean, I have so many friends that just have concierge businesses. They're overbooked, they're slammed, they're hiring like crazy. And they're doing so much stuff other than booking a restaurant or booking a trip.[00:41:36] I don't feel that one strategy is gonna be right for all of retail. We all shop across different whether or not you're at Amazon or target or gap or Walmart or Chanel. We are very dynamic individuals. So I think everybody will have a bit of a difference, but I think ecosystems is the way to go.[00:41:57] And it's gonna come down to where do you have access to, to product, but you get the best experience and marketplaces they're popping up like crazy right now.[00:42:05] It's as if they never, they haven't been existed in the last 15 years. They're everybody has a new marketplace open with a point of view. I've never been able to buy so much exclusive product in so many places online in my life. But again, that doesn't help a gen Z or an alpha connect with the brand and people who are used to shopping with these brands, they're getting worse service than they have ever had in their life.[00:42:27] So I think that this is the race that's on for like from now until 2025. It's I think it's gonna be more about personalization, customization, finding value for data and earning that. [00:42:42] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, it's almost [00:42:43] Comes down to a, a brand versus marketplace kind of mentality around loyalty, right?[00:42:48] Because to your point, if I can get that same product at 20 different places, and 19 of them are a marketplace, where is my loyalty going to, is the consumer, is it going to the brand or the marketplace? Is it going to the person that sold it to me? Cuz they happen to have it at the right time, at the right place at the right moment that I was looking for it or is it intrinsic loyalty to the actual brand of the product that I bought. It's much clearer, right? If you buy it direct from the brand, whether it's in their store, their website, whether their mobile app or wherever you interact with them, it's much clearer that way. If anything, I might even go back and say, if I'm gen Z, then I probably have gotten used to shopping around and finding that best place to buy item X, Y, Z from, and therefore my loyalty is really to the process, right? Not so much to the brand and no loyalty program can change that inherently unless it's doing something to improve the experience, whether the experience is in the store, because I interacted with some, a person at the store who helped me understand why this is actually the item that the most important item that I really want to get.[00:43:53] And it's the one that I wanna buy versus anything else. And therefore, now my loyalty might go, not just to the, the store's brand, but maybe even to that store associate. Now I'm gonna seek them out later. That's an experience that helped build some of that loyalty versus just a click through by now button on a marketplace.[00:44:10] Casey Golden: Yeah. I'm not even convinced we're gonna be continue using the word loyalty. I mean, I think it's, it's been diluted. I don't. I I'd like to see more customer retention costs and, and retention spoiling your customers versus acquisition. So instead of acquisition and LTV, I'd like to see, you know, retention and customer retention costs.[00:44:33] Like how much are you willing to spend on a customer that spends a thousand dollars a year with you or $500,000 a year with you are, what are you willing to spend to give something to that customer to make a meaningful impact and, and build brand equity, not just a transaction. [00:44:52] Erin Raese: Casey. I, I love what you're saying. We, one of our clients actually, it's a grocer, a higher end grocer. They're doing exactly that. I mean, they're looking they're they're loyalty strategy is about putting a value on that particular customer and then working to figure out, okay, if I can if it's $50, a hundred dollars, $200, whatever it is that I, I can spend to keep this person, what am I going to deliver to them uniquely when they come and shop?[00:45:21] Casey Golden: And I'm like, why is a new customer worth more than me? I've been with you for 10 years. Like I want the same deal. And I'll fight that for like two weeks. If I have to, until I get the deal for new customers. but I just feel like I should have been offered as a loyal customer.[00:45:38] Who's already giving you money and staying spoil me. I will tell people and more people will sign up because you're spoiling your customers. And there's long term value. Like if I stay loyal, I'm continually rewarded rather than I'm. Rewarded by switching every six months or every 12 months or chasing the next new deal, reward me for staying [00:46:04] Session Summary & Closing Remarks[00:46:04] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, it's a good point. I mean, this is gonna be fascinating to, to compare the numbers each year, to see how this changes and to see how different loyalty programs evolve. I think that's what makes this such an interesting topic is because of how it impacts how retailers engage with their customers and how retailers measure that, engagement.[00:46:23] I think Casey, you had mentioned some interesting points earlier about which sort of metrics might be more meaningful if once you are looking at loyalty versus just pure transactional relationships. And I think that's gonna evolve as well as we look to the next few years and how retailers look at loyal customers.[00:46:39] I'm a big proponent of putting more emphasis on lifetime customer value and obviously loyalty programs are intended to drive a lot of that increased value and increased relationship increased spend. And we know that the most successful loyalty programs tend to do that. They create an environment where those loyalty members, they spend more with the retailer particularly when those are fee-based loyalty programs that deliver a lot of additional value beyond just discounts and things of that sort.[00:47:08] Now we know that those types of programs really do have an impact and benefit for the retailer. And, some of the good examples that we mentioned , Jeff had a good example with REI. We talked about Ulta and interesting that we all managed to avoid talking about Amazon prime, which in some ways is the ultimate loyalty program.[00:47:25] But the results for that were pretty obvious to see how that's come about. Walmart has had interesting results and I honestly was surprised with the numbers we heard over the past year of how many folks have signed up for Walmart plus but that seems to be working for them. [00:47:37] So I think there's definitely lots of room for change in loyalty programs. I think there's lots of room for new types of tactics and experiences to be built. I think we probably all agreed through this session that it it's about more than just pricing and discounts that the best programs develop community.[00:47:54] They develop trust with the customer. They use experiences to drive that relationship and that those tend to be the ones that are most well received by customers. So Erin, I wanna give you one more opportunity if there's any kind of closing comment that you'd like to make that maybe is something we didn't cover in loyalty programs that you think is really worth mentioning here at this point.[00:48:14] Erin Raese: Wow. No pressure. [00:48:15] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, no pressure. [00:48:16] Friday. [00:48:18] Erin Raese: yeah, I think we, I think we covered a lot of the things that are important to cover. The way we look at it is it it's all about the collecting of the data in using the data well, so to a lot of the points that Casey and others were making, it's how to build a better experience , and then again, that goes to that, that's the foundation of what will create those emotional bonds.[00:48:39] And that's what you need to get that stickiness. That's what you need to get somebody to actually start advocating for you. So, you know, we're just hoping that, more and more organizations are able to, collect that data and be able to have it in a format that they can use. And I think that that's a, real core challenge.[00:48:55] The good news is there's technology out there to help 'em. [00:48:57] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, in the end it is all about the data and what, what you can do with that data as the retailer to help your business and help improve that relationship with the customer. So I think on that note, we're gonna go ahead and close out the room.[00:49:10] Thank everybody up on the stage. Thank and speakers. I know a couple of our speakers had to drop for other commitments. Erin, I want to thank you for joining us this week as our loyalty expert and special guest. And I really appreciate you spending the time with us here. I hope you'll come back and join us again in the future.[00:49:24] Erin Raese: Thank you so much. This was a ton of fun. I've always been in the audience, so I feel like I've been a part of it for a long time, but thanks for having me on stage. [00:49:30] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely. And, thanks everyone for joining us and have a great weekend. Bye everyone! [00:49:33] Recap, or ?[00:49:33] Ricardo Belmar: Welcome back loyal Retail Razor Show listeners. We hope you enjoyed our panel of experts from that clubhouse session.[00:49:45] Casey Golden: So let's change things up a bit. Usually this is the part where we either bring back one of our amazing clubhouse guests for a deeper dive into topics we didn't get into in clubhouse or summarize what the group talked about and give a few extra bits of info and our keen opinions on what was covered, but you know, we're not just moderators.[00:50:04] So this time we're not gonna do either of those things.[00:50:07] Ricardo Belmar: Wait, we're not. Oh, wait. So, so what we're going off script are we? Oh, okay. Casey, what exactly are we going to do instead?[00:50:13] Casey Golden: Like we're, let's just shake it up a little bit. Since we recorded that session, there have been some pretty cool developments in new tech that could be the greatest thing to happen to loyalty since , well, loyalty. And you know what I'm talking about? we need to talk about web three, NFTs, and crypto[00:50:33] Ricardo Belmar: Okay. Okay. All right. I'll I'll I'll bite into this one. Let let's do it. Let's dive into those topics. So if you're listening right now, you're probably saying to yourself, wait a minute. What just happened? Did I jump to another episode of the podcast and not realize it? What happened here? When did this become the pod on web three NFTs and crypto? Right?[00:50:47] Casey Golden: Since I went head first.[00:50:53] Ricardo Belmar: we, we are so off script here. Okay. Okay.[00:50:56] Casey Golden: Yeah, don't worry. We've got your backs on this one. Turns out if we look into the crystal ball or just go back and listen to our 2022 top 10 predictions episode, we'll see that NFTs and web three, stand to change a lot about loyalty.[00:51:11] Ricardo Belmar: okay. Tell us more, Casey. Tell us more.[00:51:13] Casey Golden: So loyalty programs have traditionally, it's just been an email segmentation. right. And[00:51:23] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah.[00:51:24] Casey Golden: you know, you get 20% off for the first time you sign up for a newsletter. Then if you join the loyalty program, you'll get another coupon. But it's still better to sign up with one of our other email addresses and get the initial coupon.[00:51:38] You know I think the consumer has, caught onto a lot of these discounts and, there's nothing new in anybody's newsletter.[00:51:47] Ricardo Belmar: There's that too. Keep going, keep going.[00:51:50] Casey Golden: Yeah, there's nothing really new in anybody's newsletter. So web three, just kind of, you know, hit in with what are some use cases and some utility for NFTs. And, retailers have been looking at the NFTs and really kind of diving into what are some great utilities for it. And loyalty has definitely stood out.[00:52:09] I see a lot of the platforms that are coming out of web three, SAS platforms, are focused on loyalty programs and looking to sell their software to brands. NFTs are a new way to essentially manage those members and loyalty programs a lot easier and a lot more interestingly than just an email with a coupon So some of the things that, we've been looking at and I've been, talking to a lot of companies in the blockchain lately and working with commerce and, and really focused on what's the utility of an NFT to a brand. And how can that impact loyalty? And we're seeing rise in these conversations about gated commerce. And having this unlockable content, if you're an NFT holder and how do you engage in that community? Right. So we're taking that email list and we're turning it into a, a discord community with two way communication and[00:53:06] Ricardo Belmar: which is new.[00:53:07] Casey Golden: which is new and it's a heck of a lot less expensive. And there's. Not a big, you know, you're not going necessarily into the spam box, but you have to be present.[00:53:18] Otherwise the messages will just pass you by.[00:53:20] Ricardo Belmar: go right over you. Yeah.[00:53:21] Casey Golden: Yeah. So you really have to build really interesting content and start understanding what, what matters to your customers. And I think that that's the first step is one being able to listen to your customers, see what people are engaging with in more of like real time and open up the communication.[00:53:37] If you offer something terrible or silly you immediately know if your customers think that it's silly or doesn't provide any value. So you can ahead and iterate. So one of the things that I'm really intrigued with is, you know, more brands are launching their first NFT and it's typically going back to a charity collaboration with a great artist.[00:53:58] Typically run by an agency for the project or the initiative. But there isn't a lot of utility yet. So with gated commerce, essentially, if you are an NFT holder of, let's say a mutilated ape or a doodle, I'm a big fan of doodles You authorize your wallet on the website. And if you are a holder, you go into unlock a completely new type of eCommerce experience, whether or not that's discounting for special pricing access to products that are not available for the general public and.[00:54:37] Even being able to manage in person V IP events with having, you know, multiple tiers based off of, the NFT holders you can

As consumers spend more time and money online, brands and retailers need to work harder on optimizing their digital experiences. But where are retailers spending the most time and money?    During this Retail Remix conversation, Alicia Esposito digs into new and compelling research about how retailers are navigating this quickly evolving and increasingly competitive space. She chats with Brian McGlynn of Coveo and Brian Kilcourse of RSR Research about key findings and trends to watch. They will answer key questions like:   How can personalization support acquisition and retention goals?  How can retailers inspire consumers to share more data about their preferences?   How can AI and cutting-edge technology support curated experiences at scale?   RELATED LINKS  Learn more about Coveo  Access the research 

This week is a first for The Retail Perch! Gary and Shekar have the pleasure of speaking with Alicia Esposito, VP of Content at Retail TouchPoints. Alicia offers the unique perspective of someone in retail media. The three discuss Retail TouchPoints' approach to delivering relevant content to retailers, the different retail verticals and what they can learn from each other, the power of TikTok and other social media, what grocery can learn from the cosmetic retail industry, and much more!

Serendipitous ExperiencesRICE's (the Retail Innovation Conference and Expo) goal is to stay true to their roots and put a new and fun spin on the event and expo spaceRICE is working to reframe the way content is performed for the show, hitting reset on who is given a platform, and making the learning experiences as focused and tailored as possible“We want this place to be a place where conversations happen and ideas get sparked.” -AliciaOne of the goals for RICE is to bring together passionate people from different careers of life and let them get together and geek out“In-person events and conferences allow a serendipity experience for everyone.” -PhillipUse promo code RICE50P07 for 50% off your tickets for RICEAssociated Links:Learn more about Alicia Esposito, and RICE and grab passes here! Be sure to use promo code RICE50P07 for 50%! Subscribe to Insiders and Senses to read more of our hot takes! Listen to our other episodes of Future CommerceTune into Infinite Shelf Season 2!Check out Decoded, our newest limited series coming TUESDAY!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!

Alicia Esposito is the VP of Content at Retail Touchpoints and Host of the podcast, Retail Remix. In her words, she shares: Repurposing content for maximum impact Struggles marketers face Why UGC resonates more with people than celebrity content Subscribe for updates. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thefutureofmktg/message

With what is happening all over the world, we have a throwback today with Alicia Esposito, Director, Content + New Media @ G3 Communications, talking with Cole Baker-Bagwell, Founder & Chief Kindness Advisor at Cool Audrey, Inc, about her experience working in an environment that prioritizes kindness and mindfulness and all the benefits that come from it. Cole covers:How kindness & mindfulness can change businessDefinitions & implementation strategies Tips & tricks for the audienceCheck out this additional resource mentioned in the episode:coolaudrey.comAnd be sure to check out the PEAK Community to get involved in conversations like this happening every day!This is a #MOVE podcast. Check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here. Check out themovebook.com and you will find all the templates and scorecards to download for free and even an assessment that will help you find your next MOVE, faster.Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for MOVE in your favorite podcast player.

This episode we welcome our fellow "Rethink Retail Top Influencers"  Nikki Baird, Ricardo Belmar, and Alicia Esposito. Julia Raymond Hare and Gabriella Bock also join us to explain what the Rethink Retail's list is all about. But first we take on the news of the week, including the continuing "profitless prosperity as exhibited by Warby Parker's expanding losses and the big drop in market capitalization among disruptive retail brands. We also unpack the National Retail Federation's annual forecast, including how to think about the impact of inflation, whether their e-commerce prediction is a bit optimistic and how impacts are likely to be bifurcated. Then we welcome our panel of experts and delve into what they as see as remarkably important for the future, including innovation within brick-and-mortar locations, how to drive innovation through iteration and the growing embrace of convenience. We also explore what our influencers see as important technologies and get their quick take on retailers (legacy and up-and-coming) to keep an eye on this year.  Rethink Retail's Top Influencers List.  Steve's recent Forbes articles related to our news segment After Earnings Whiff Maybe Warby Parker Can Learning Something From Old School DTC BrandsThe Profitless Prosperity of Retail Disruptor BrandsWayfair, Stitch Fix and Pure-play E-commerce's Scaling Problem. Relevant Past Podcast Episodes Why Does It Take a Crisis for Retailer's to Innovate? The Profitless Prosperity of Disruptor Brands Understanding Warby Parker and the Power of Customer-based Valuation To record a question for us to answer on a future episode go to speakpipe.com/remarkableretail About Nikki BairdNikki Baird is the vice president of strategy at Aptos, a retail enterprise solution provider. She is charged with accelerating retailers' ability to innovate. She has been a top global retail industry influencer for several years, with a background in retail and technology. She is a regular contributor to Forbes.com and has been quoted as a retail subject matter expert in The Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Huffington Post, and National Public Radio, among many others. Nikki brings perspective from all sides of the retail technology equation: she has been an industry analyst for nearly fifteen years, co-founding Retail Systems Research, the premier boutique analyst firm focused on the retail industry. Prior to co-founding RSR, Nikki was an analyst at both Forrester Research and Retail Systems Alert Group, where she covered retail industry and technology topics. Prior to that, she was director of marketing for StorePerform, a store execution management software provider, and director of product marketing for Viewlocity, a supply chain software provider focusing on adaptive supply chain execution and exception management. Nikki came to Viewlocity from PwC Consulting, now IBM Global Services, where as a senior manager she led IT strategy consulting engagements for retail and CPG clients. Nikki has an M.B.A. from the University of Texas, Austin, focusing on operations and IT. She also holds a bachelor of arts in political science and Russian, with a minor in physics, from the University of Colorado, Boulder. About Ricardo BelmarRecently named a top 100 retail industry influencer by RETHINK Retail, Ricardo is a marketing strategist and digital transformation specialist. He founded Retail Razor, to advise retail tech organizations of all sizes with their go-to-market, brand strategy, and integrated marketing by leveraging his many years of tech industry experience, and media and industry analyst relationships. He also advises retailers on how to build & scale transformational customer experiences. Most recently, he joined Microsoft as Senior Partner Marketing Advisor for Retail & CPG where he strives to use his experience and network to strengthen Microsoft's retail tech partner community.A frequent contributor to blogs, podcasts, and publications in the retail, payments, and enterprise software industries, focusing on digital transformation and customer experience, Ricardo is a Top 10 social media influencer at the annual NRF Big Show. He is a featured member of RetailWire's BrainTrust panel, a previous ICX Association director, a RETHINK Retail Advisory Council member, and a founding Advisory Council member of George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation. He has been named Social Media Mayor by RIS News four times at retail conferences and is a contributor to Retail Customer Experience, Mobile Payments Today, and The Robin Report. Ricardo is a supporter of the RetailROI charity organization and can be found leading industry discussions on Clubhouse in the Retail Razor Club and on Twitter and LinkedIn.Throughout the past two decades, Ricardo has worked for technology and managed services providers targeting the retail ecosystem in roles as head of their product, product marketing, or marketing organizations. Ricardo holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia and is a Section4 Certified Strategist, Brand Strategist, Product, Platform, and Innovation Strategist. About Alicia EspositoWithin my eight-year tenure at G3 Communications, I have evolved extensively. Starting as an Associate Editor for our B2B retail publication, Retail TouchPoints, I have worked my way up the ranks, quickly becoming an expert and thought leader in all components of retail and customer experience. In my time as Associate Editor and Senior Editor of Retail TouchPoints, I interviewed some of the industry's top C-level executives from brands like Reebok and have covered a myriad of different "beats," including social marketing and commerce, mobile, omnichannel strategy and even supply chain management. I covered several key industry events nationwide, including NRF's BIG Show, Shop.org and eTail, and became a VIP press attendee at user events for vendors like Aptos, Demandware, JDA and Salesforce.Beyond my editorial obligations, I helped build the proprietary research and custom content division of Retail TouchPoints, helping our clients ideate, develop and roll out some of their top-performing assets. Now, as Content Strategist for G3 Communications, I help my internal team members create content, plan marketing campaigns and manage our family of events, including the B2B Marketing Exchange (Content2Conversion Conference) and the Retail Innovation Conference. I also help clients across all three of our brands (Retail TouchPoints, Demand Gen Report and Content4Demand) in several key areas of their content marketing journey, including: - Persona creation - Buyer-focused messaging - Content audits and gap analysis- Content ideation - Content creation - Repurposing and modularization- Content and design alignment - Long-term content strategy and nurture planning About Julia Raymond HareI ask a lot of questions - it's one of the most exciting parts of my career! I'm a podcast host, marketing professional and data nerd all in one. After spending 4 years in global marketing roles for the digital agency Valtech, I co-founded its media brand RETHINK Retail. By interviewing retail executives, academics and thought leaders, I deliver retail insights for leaders, from leaders.My "formal" 3rd-person description: Julia Raymond is passionate about marketing management, building connections with others, analytics and research, with a core focus on the retail industry. She earned her BSBA with honors from the University of Florida while she was a teenager. Her post-graduate degree is a Master of Science in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University. Julia is knowledgeable about international markets from her experience in global roles reporting directly to the Chief Marketing Officer at Valtech where she led creative and marketing teams; she is the Editor in Chief and co-founder of its media brand RETHINK Retail, curating the latest content around the evolution of retail in today's connected world through mediums such as podcasts, research and periodicals.About Gabriella BockRETHINK Retail's Managing Editor + Writer/Producer of the Retail Rundown, an award-winning retail podcast featuring news, insights and interviews with the world's most influential retail thinkers. What does the future of retail look like to you? Pitch me at gabriella@rethink.industries. About UsSteve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his       website.    The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book  Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at  Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a      Forbes senior contributor and on       Twitter and       LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel      here.Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada's top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  ,      The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext!  You can learn more about Michael   here  or on     LinkedIn. Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue,  his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!

In this episode, guest host Alicia Esposito speaks with Dr. Lily Talakoub, a board-certified dermatologist and the founder and CEO of Derm to Door. Derm to Door is a robust, curated skincare e-commerce platform with a dedicated shopping mobile application, AI-driven skin analysis and a network of tele-dermatology providers offering on demand appointments from your phone or tablet. Knowing how to truly leverage the power of social media, Dr. Lily has also built a following of fans who watch her educational videos on TikTok and Instagram. Qualifying retailers and brands can attend Shoptalk Europe for free with up to £500 in travel reimbursement through Shoptalk's world-renowned Hosted Meeting Programme.  For more information visit https://shoptalkeurope.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, please let us know by subscribing to our channel and giving us a 5 star rating us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. - - - - - - Hosted by Alicia Esposito Produced by Gabriella Bock Edited by Chase Atherton

Rebag sits perfectly at the intersection of sustainability and luxury. Consumers are becoming more mindful of the products they purchase and how they get to their doorsteps, but at the same time, they also have a hunger for higher quality products that last a long time.   Rebag is capitalizing on these behaviors by creating an ongoing cycle of engagement that encourages clients to purchase and resell merchandise continuously. During this week's episode, Alicia Esposito takes a look inside Rebag's client engagement machine with Geronimo Chala, the company's Chief Client Officer. They discuss:   The state and future of the luxury resale market;   How Rebag invested in its digital experience to capitalize on the surge in consumer demand; and   Why Geronimo focuses on creating a client loyalty loop versus simply driving one-time conversions.   RELATED LINKS  Learn more about Rebag  Register for the Retail Innovation Conference virtual experience to hear how other brands, like e.l.f. Beauty, Petco, Parachute and Neiman Marcus are using cutting-edge tech to create new engagement opportunities.  

As an executive, Kristin Smith is always focused on finding “wide open spaces.” She believes these spaces or gaps highlight real customer needs and present new opportunities for businesses to differentiate and grow.  And she found a lot of these opportunities in Fernish, which ultimately inspired her to invest in, advise and join the company as President and Chief Operating Officer. After seeing a significant spike in demand during the pandemic, Kristin and the rest of the team are focused on growth mode. This week, Alicia Esposito chats with her about:   How the Fernish mission has evolved during the pandemic;   The demographic trends driving new expansion opportunities and growth for the business;   Top operational challenges and investments Fernish has had to make as the business scales; and   How collaboration and brand partnerships can inspire innovation.    RELATED LINKS  Learn more about Fernish  Register for the Retail Innovation Conference virtual experience to hear more about how Fernish collaborates with Crate & Barrel to unlock new opportunities.    

The elimination of cookies is going to make it essentially impossible for retailers to get the third-party data they need to fuel their personalization initiatives. But with the right methods, your loyalty program can save the day!   During this episode of Retail Remix, Alicia Esposito sits down with Rob Garf and Natasha Janic of Salesforce to discuss all of the major shifts happening in the marketing space, including Apple's changing privacy guidelines and Google's removal of third-party cookie tracking, and how that drives major data in loyalty programs. Specifically, they dig into:    The value of zero- and first-party data and how to collect it across channels;   New ways to create value and a mutually beneficial relationship with consumers;   Recommendations (and requirements) for building trust and transparency around data collection practices; and   How to power “data democratization” across the organization, including in stores.   RELATED LINKS  Learn more about Salesforce  Get more insights on how to improve loyalty program performance   

As a business, how do you hire? For talent? For experience? What about kindness? What if leading with kindness and mindfulness helps employee retention, brand loyalty from customers, and creates a team where everyone feels trusted?Alicia Esposito, Director, Content + New Media @ G3 Communications, talks with Cole Baker-Bagwell, Founder & Chief Kindness Advisor at Cool Audrey, Inc, about her experience working in an environment that prioritizes kindness and mindfulness and all the benefits that come from it. Cole covers:How kindness & mindfulness can change businessDefinitions & implementation strategies Tips & tricks for the audienceCheck out this additional resource mentioned in the episode:coolaudrey.comThis is a #FlipMyFunnel podcast. Check us out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.Listening on a desktop & can't see the links? Just search for Flip My Funnel in your favorite podcast player.

Is the shift to digital is a one-way street or will ecommerce go back to how it operated before the pandemic? Which categories will be able to capitalize on new or accelerated digital behaviors? During this discussion, initially aired as part of Retail TouchPoints' Retail ThinkTank hub, host Alicia Esposito sits down with Rick Watson, Founder and CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, to discuss what is fueling innovation in once-laggard categories like digital, advertising, social and marketplaces.  Get Rick's hot takes on the trends and tech he believes will lead the ecommerce industry moving forward, as well as his thoughts on:  The transformation happening in the grocery, beauty, furniture and home industries;  Why brands like Facebook and TikTok have invested in AR tools  — and what that means for social commerce;  Why brands like PepsiCo and e.l.f. Cosmetics are building out their own DTC experiences;  The implication of privacy struggles between iOS and Facebook — and other key players — on the retail industry; and  Why advertising is one of the hottest growing business models online now.   RELATED LINKS  Learn more about RMW Commerce Consulting  Explore the Retail ThinkTank hub    

A company's brand encompasses everything from Zoom backgrounds to website content, so it's important that brand experience is unified across all channels. As a result, an organization's branding should be at the forefront of marketing strategies — but there are a few gray areas surrounding it. For instance, how strict should branding guidelines be? What shapes a brand? What are the signs that an organization needs to refine or recreate its brand?   In this session replay from the B2B Marketing Exchange in February, Alicia Esposito, G3 Communication's Director, Content + New Media, led a panel discussion with professionals from Tomorrow.io (formerly ClimaCell) and Conductor that revolved around the ins and outs of brand creation and management.   Check it out to learn:   How brands are shaped and driven by a combination of content and design;   When to push the limits of brand guidelines and the most appropriate channels for doing so; and   How to understand the various brand platforms and the role branding plays in creating a unified experience.    RELATED LINKS  Learn more about Conductor   Learn more about Tomorrow.io   Read the official B2B Sales & Marketing Exchange (#B2BSMX) announcement  Check out the #B2BSMX website to sign up for updates. 

Dr. Steven Shwartz has more than 40 years of experience in artificial intelligence (AI). A researcher, analyst, author and investor, Steven has invaluable knowledge of how the technology has evolved and, most of all, how retailers can realize the value of its capabilities.As a result, Steven has uncovered some misconceptions and flat-out lies about AI. During this episode of Retail Remix, Steven and host Alicia Esposito discuss the most common myths that are impacting AI adoption, and what is needed to drive progress and innovation. Listen to learn:  The political, economic and social implications of AI’s maturity;   New AI trends and applications for retailers; and  Ways to harness the power of AI and humanity to minimize bias and accelerate productivity.   RELATED LINKS  Read more insights from Steven Shwartz  Buy a copy of Steven Shwartz’s book  Learn more about Zoox

During the heart of the pandemic, consumers reported a 23% increase in the number of brands they felt an emotional connection with. While some of this was likely indicative of the circumstances surrounding COVID-19 lockdowns, Mario Natarelli believes that the measures retailers took to nurture relationships with consumers during this critical time will set a new standard in brand intimacy moving forward. This week, host Alicia Esposito sits down with Mario Natarelli, Managing Partner at MBLM, to discuss the firm’s Brand Intimacy COVID Study.

Welcome back to a new season of the B2BMX Podcast! In this kick-off episode, hosts Klaudia Tirico and Alicia Esposito look back at some of the top sessions from the 2021 B2B Marketing Exchange to set the stage for what’s to come in Season 4.   In this episode, we highlight an overarching trend that took over the entire event (and the industry as a whole): Account-Based Marketing (ABM). With more organizations doubling down on ABM over the course of the past year, Alicia and Klaudia dive into the key trends and even some challenges presented by those who live and breathe ABM every day. Specifically, they touch on:   New rules for revenue teams;   The need to create scalable, personalized experiences;   How modern teams are blending traditional demand gen with ABM;   The next phase of ABM: Collaborative Innovation; and  The future and the role intent data plays in ABM.   RELATED LINKS   Learn more about #B2BMX Check out the 2021 ABM Benchmark Report Give our annual State of ABM Special Report a read