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We state that the first clearly documented use of numbers on the fronts of football jerseys occurred on September 15, 1928, when the Presidio team in San Francisco wore front numbers. I explain that teams had used numbers on their backs since the early 1900s, but front numbering did not become common until that Presidio game. We say that adding numbers to the front helped stadium announcers, radio broadcasters, and fans identify players more easily. I note that several colleges adopted front numbers soon after and that the NCAA required numbers on both front and back by 1937. We credit Timothy P. Brown and Football Archaeology for researching and publishing this history and for bringing attention to this important development in the sport.The conversation is based on Tim's recent article titled: Football's First Numbers on Jersey Fronts - https://www.footballarchaeology.com/p/footballs-first-numbers-on-jersey⏰ Timecodes ⏰00:10 Guest Introduction: Football Archaeology's Timothy P. Brown00:39 Football's First Jersey Numbers — Origins on the Field04:17 The Presidio: First Recorded Team to Wear Jersey Numbers08:05 The History and Significance of Jersey Numbers09:42 Show Closing and AnnouncementsDo you want more football history? Grab a copy of our Award-Winning book, "The World's Greatest Pro Gridiron Team: The 1903 Franklin All-Stars" at https://amzn.to/4rG6uVeDon't forget to check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel for additional content and the regular Football History Minute Shorts.Miss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well, don't, because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website. Do you want more football history? Test your Gridiron Knowledge, we feed you Daily with our new FREE activity, The Pigskin Trivia Drive.Grab a copy of our latest book, "Marooned," on the 1925 Pottsville Maroons NFL franchise saga.*OR* Grab a copy of our book on Western Pennsylvania football history, "World's Greatest Gridiron Team" on the 1903 Franklin All-StarsDrop us a line at PigskinDispatch@gmail .com and check out and subscribe to the Pigskin Dispatch YouTube channel.Contact us directly at PigskinDispatch@Gmail.comMiss our football by the day of the year podcasts, well, don't because they can still be found at the Pigskin Dispatch website. I recount a specific act of innovation on the football field and its wider consequences. I describe how the military team at the Presidio in San Francisco adopted numbers on the front of jerseys on September 15, 1928. I explain that the practice of numbering players on the back had existed for decades, with examples such as a 1905 Iowa State–Drake game and Pitt adopting numbers consistently from about 1907. I then show how the Presidio's front-number experiment attracted attention when Stanford, under Pop Warner, adopted front numbers for the remainder of that season and how other programs soon followed. The narrative traces a clear arc from isolated trials to broad adoption, concluding with the NCAA mandate in 1937 that required numbers on both front and back. I assert that what now seems inevitable was once controversial, resisted by coaches who feared individualism and competitive exposure, and that the change ultimately reflected a shift toward accommodating fans and emerging media. I emphasize the historical importance of that date and place. I note that front numbers solved practical problems for press boxes, stadium announcers, and early radio broadcasts. I close by insisting that the humble jersey number reveals much about the interplay of technology, media, and sport. I position the event as less than a century old yet foundational to how we watch and report the game.
First of all let me just say thank you for your patience as this episode ran late! We had a technical failure where the files of all the interviews I recorded became corrupted… which caused delays as I scrambled to schedule repeat interviews where I could due to scheduling! But here we are… done and live! - Carl A full year of hobby progress is coming to a close as Carl, Chelle, and Adan sit down to unpack everything the 2025-26 Hobby Progress Challenge became. Around three hundred hobbyists answered the call back in September, and by the time the dust (and the plastic shavings) settled, the community had painted well over eighteen hundred units between them. The hosts dig into who stuck it out for all twelve months, which bonus categories the community embraced and which ones got left gathering dust on the sprue, and crown the participants who topped the leaderboard through sheer bloody-minded consistency. Expect community voicemails, a few honest confessions about which of the three hosts actually kept pace with their own challenge, and a hard look at what it really takes to paint through an entire year without losing steam. The actual ending of the Hobby Progress Challenge is at the end of this month, and the drawings for prizes will happen (hopefully live!) in the first week of September. This has been our most successful run of this event so far! Thank you for being a part of it! Time Stamps: 0:00:00 - Show Intro, Elite Choice, Hobby Progress, and Games Played 1:07:10 - Fresh Blood for 11th Edition: Part 1 1:43:10 - Fresh Blood for 11th Edition: Part 2 2:19:10 - Final Discussion and Show Closing Relevant Links: The Independent Characters Patreon Tablewar! - SPONSOR Herrick Games & Hobbies - SPONSOR Goonhammer Media Network Adepticon Games Workshop The Black Library
PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by PWTorch's Joshua White to review WWE Smackdown with live chat and caller interactions throughout. They initially talk about the Cody Rhodes-C.M. Punk kumbaya moment to end the WrestleMania build and if it was inspired out of a defiance for the toxic Pat McAfee nonsense. Also, an overview of whether the build to WrestleMania was awful, really good, or mostly somewhere in between. Plus Royce Keys winning the Andre battle royal, and much more.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wade-keller-pro-wrestling-post-shows--3275545/support.
(00:00) Felger and Mazz discuss whether or not Drake Maye and the Patriots can get back to the Super Bowl if they lose. What changes if he wins? (12:38) Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer joins Felger & Mazz in SF.(27:48) Felger & Mazz share their closing thoughts ahead of Super Bowl LX. Please note: Timecodes may shift by a few minutes due to inserted ads. Because of copyright restrictions, portions—or entire segments—may not be included in the podcast.For the latest updates, visit the show page on 985thesportshub.com. Follow 98.5 The Sports Hub on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Watch the show every morning on YouTube, and subscribe to stay up-to-date with all the best moments from Boston's home for sports!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
London Drugs closing its Woodwards location Guest: Landon Hoyt, Executive Director, Hastings Crossing BIA Should Canada drop the Chinese EV tariffs? Guest: Addisu Lashitew, Associate Professor, McMaster University Canada's armed forces are planning for threats from America Guest: Dr. James Horncastle, assistant professor, humanities, Edward and Emily McWhinney Professor in International Relations Decriminalization pilot project set to end Jan 31st Guest: Garth Mullins,Host of the Crackdown Podcast and advocate for drug users Is Canada driving away foreign entrepreneurs Guest: Stephen Green, Immigration Lawyer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Best of The Jeremy and Joe Show on WGR Sports Radio 550 from this week! This episode includes reaction to the Bills ugly 13-12 loss to the Eagles, discussing the offensive issues the Bills are facing, recapping the Sabres 9th straight win, analyzing how they can carry momentum from the streak, and discussing the old Highmark Stadium that likely has it's last game played on Sunday against the Jets.
Brittany Ranew shares how building community, prioritizing mindset, and designing a values-driven business can create lasting wealth, personal fulfillment, and a life that feels aligned instead of exhausting.See full article: https://www.unitedstatesrealestateinvestor.com/building-a-business-that-feeds-the-soul-and-the-community-with-brittany-ranew/(00:00) - Opening Music and Welcome to The REI Agent Podcast(00:42) - Episode Introduction and Guest Overview(01:00) - Meet Brittany Ranew and Her Tampa Bay Market Background(02:13) - Brittany's Community First Philosophy in Real Estate(03:37) - Choosing Entrepreneurship and the Path Into Real Estate(04:37) - Early Career Experience as a Transaction Coordinator(06:27) - Transition to Sotheby's and Defining the Luxury Experience(07:47) - Referral Based Business Versus Cold Lead Strategies(09:44) - Moving to Tampa Bay and Rebuilding a Network From Scratch(11:24) - Community Immersion as a Growth Strategy(12:08) - Introduction to Ninja Selling and Relationship Focused Systems(13:12) - Morning Routines, Mindset, and Daily Discipline(15:27) - Social Media Engagement as Modern Relationship Building(17:39) - Going Deep With Relationships Instead of Going Wide(19:13) - Being a Good Human as a Business Strategy(20:27) - Managing Stressful Clients and Emotional Transactions(21:19) - Living a Holistic Life While Building a Real Estate Career(23:05) - Avoiding Burnout and Redefining Success(24:47) - Tampa Bay Market Conditions and Recent Challenges(26:49) - Pricing Strategies in a Slower Market(28:22) - Insurance Costs, Condos, and Florida Market Pressures(30:37) - Marketing, Staging, and Standing Out Online(32:06) - Professionalism in a Changing Market(34:44) - Brittany's Golden Nugget on Community Centered Marketing(36:07) - Book Recommendations and Personal Growth Influences(37:35) - Where to Follow Brittany and Final Thoughts(38:03) - Show Closing, Disclaimer, and Sign OffContact Brittany Ranewhttps://www.brittanyranew.com/https://www.authorbrittanyranew.com/https://youtube.com/@brittanyranew If this conversation sparked something in you, remember that the most powerful businesses are built with intention, community, and heart. Keep designing a life that actually feels good to live. Visit https://reiagent.com
This inspiring episode reveals how intentional planning, aligned identity, and consistent daily action helped Justin Konikow transform his life and business, offering listeners a clear roadmap for personal growth, confidence, and long-term success.See full article: https://www.unitedstatesrealestateinvestor.com/rise-into-your-absolute-highest-success-potential-with-justin-konikow/(00:00) - Welcome and Guest Introduction with Justin Konikow(00:24) - Justin Explains His Role and Unique Brokerage Structure(01:34) - How Justin Entered Real Estate and Built a Company Model(03:56) - From Licensing to Building Momentum in a Tough Market(06:47) - Why Their Brokerage Operates as a Company Instead of an Agency(08:32) - Organizational Structure, Roles, and the Vision Behind the Business(10:06) - Using Business Planning to Support Team Growth and Personal Goals(12:49) - Justin's Personal Philosophy on Faith, Family, Fitness, Fun, and Finances(15:10) - Journaling, Self Reflection, and Language Shifts that Transform Identity(17:09) - Understanding Yourself to Create Systems That Actually Work(19:17) - Using Structure as a Tool Without Becoming Dependent on It(21:06) - Letting Go of Old Versions of Yourself to Grow Forward(21:53) - Turning Addictive Tendencies into Healthy High Performance(23:19) - Why Tough Markets Build Better Foundations for Long Term Success(24:34) - The State of the Market Across Asset Classes and Areas(26:37) - The Simple Daily System That Works in Every Market(28:24) - Company Marketing Versus Personal Branding(30:00) - The Power of Social Media Conversations and Community Intelligence(31:40) - Using Social Platforms for Follow Up and Algorithm Advantage(32:16) - Justin's Big Golden Nugget for Listeners(33:02) - Flow States, Deep Work, and Avoiding Modern Distractions(33:46) - The Value of Nature and Pause in Strategic Thinking(34:08) - Planning for 2026 and Breaking Down Long Term Visions(35:10) - Why Planning Should Not Feel Restricting or Identity Based(36:04) - Mattias on Living in the Future Versus Managing the Day to Day(36:29) - Books Justin Recommends and How His Faith Influences Business(36:59) - Where to Follow Justin and Closing Remarks(37:10) - Outro and Show Closing(37:17) - Final DisclaimerContact Justin Konikowhttps://www.justinkonikow.com/https://www.facebook.com/jkonihttps://www.instagram.com/justin.konikow/https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-konikow-20aa6127/https://youtube.com/@JustinKonikowhttps://x.com/Justin_KonikowIf Justin's journey lit a fire in you, let this be the moment you step toward your own higher potential. Stay intentional, stay aligned, and stay bold as you build the life you want. To keep growing with us, visit https://reiagent.com
00:00 Sizzle Intro 00:45 Show Introduction 01:42 What Is WHYLOI 23:28 Kam Patterson HIRED On Saturday Night Live 42:33 Saudi Takeover 01:11:04 Charleston White w/ Boosie 01:17:51 Gaytoons 01:34:57WHYLOI 01:44:56 Show Closing
Sha'Carri, Kids, Consequences,& Celebrity Drama: A 7Sharp Discussion on Modern Society Join Blu and Roger for a lively discussion on the changing world and the challenges of modern parenting. They talk about how kids today have too much screen time with dedicated cartoon and film channels, unlike when they were young and had limited TV options. The hosts express concern about "lazy parenting" and the rise in children's allergies, noting that kids don't spend as much time outdoors climbing trees or rolling down hills as they used to. The conversation shifts to a discussion of accountability and discipline, inspired by a video of an unruly girl screaming at her mom. This leads to a broader conversation about two other high-profile incidents: The hosts analyze a viral video of an American athlete named Sha'Carri pushing and hitting a man at an airport. They discuss the man's restraint and Sha'Carri's subsequent apology, which they feel was not genuine and was done to protect her endorsements. The episode also touches on allegations against UK comedian Mo Gilligan, with a woman claiming he is a "deadbeat dad" to their 18-month-old son. The hosts explore the idea of taking such matters to court for legal financial arrangements rather than airing them on social media. The show concludes with shoutouts to the One Extra family for their nominations and Nicki Topper for receiving an MBE, before promoting the show's merchandise. #7Sharp #AffinityXtra #Parenting #KidsandTech #LazyParenting #Discipline #Accountability #ShaCarriRichardson #DomesticAbuse #MoGilligan #DeadbeatDads #ShannonSharpe #ParentingAdvice #Podcast #UKComedy #AthleteLife #Relationships #Family https://youtu.be/5_5baDx764U 0:00 - Introduction and Welcome 2:00 - The Challenges of Modern Parenting 7:00 - The Dangers of Technology for Kids 10:00 - A Shift in Youth Culture and Discipline 15:00 - American Athlete Sha'Carri Richardson and Domestic Abuse 20:00 - The Public Apology and Male Vulnerability 25:00 - UK Comedian Mo Gilligan and Deadbeat Dad Allegations 30:00 - Debating Public Callouts vs. Legal Action 35:00 - Shoutouts and Final Thoughts 40:00 - Show Closing and Merch Promotion
Show Closing See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Show ClosingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Show ClosingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Why was the Delta ER forced to close temporarily? Guest: Dylan Kruger, Delta City Councillor Island Health's new fatigue policy is fuelling staff shortages and burnout Guest: Adriane Gear, BC Nurses Union President BC researchers figure out marine epidemic Guest: Alyssa Gehman, researcher and adjunct professor at UBC How to keep kids off smart phones Guest: Lenore Skenazy, President of Let Grow Does Femicide need to be deemed a special offence Guest: Hilla Kerner, an advocate with Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter Is real estate no longer a good investment in Canada? Guest: Robert McLister, Mortgage Strategist Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by PWTorch's Mauricio Pomares to discuss WWE Raw on Netflix. They begin with reaction to the compelling, tense C.M. Punk-Cody Rhodes segment where Punk made it sound like Cody is burned out and vulnerable and he plans to take advantage of it, Plus, Drew McIntyre confronts Paul Heyman, Sami Zayn lands another errant kick, and much more Royal Rumble and WrestleMania news. They talk with live callers, react to the chat and emails, and talk with an on-site correspondent from Atlanta too.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/wade-keller-pro-wrestling-post-shows--3275545/support.
The Independent Characters - A Warhammer 40k Podcast | Radio
Make sure you stay through the end of the episode to hear a potential new intro song for the show! Let us know your thoughts. Episode 242 of The Independent Characters has us joined by Skye Herrick, who is filling in for Josh at the moment. Skye and Carl spend time discussing how Warhammer 40k (and other gaming related things) can help both your personal and professional life. What skills they help develop, and how you can think about balancing your time for what is important to you. Special Thanks to Corporate Citizen for their music! Time Stamps: 0:00:00 - Show Intro, Elite Choice 0:19:40 - Hobby Progress, and Games Played 0:52:20 - The Role of 40k in Life and Work Pt 1 1:37:10 - The Role of 40k in Life and Work Pt 2 1:57:40 - Show Closing 1:58:40 - Preview of potential new opening music Relevant Links: The Independent Characters Patreon Tablewar! - SPONSOR Herrick Games & Hobbies - SPONSOR Goonhammer Media Network Life After the Cover Save Podcast Adepticon Games Workshop The Black Library Corporate Citizen
Make sure you stay through the end of the episode to hear a potential new intro song for the show! Let us know your thoughts. Episode 242 of The Independent Characters has us joined by Skye Herrick, who is filling in for Josh at the moment. Skye and Carl spend time discussing how Warhammer 40k (and other gaming related things) can help both your personal and professional life. What skills they help develop, and how you can think about balancing your time for what is important to you. Special Thanks to Corporate Citizen for their music! Time Stamps: 0:00:00 - Show Intro, Elite Choice 0:19:40 - Hobby Progress, and Games Played 0:52:20 - The Role of 40k in Life and Work Pt 1 1:37:10 - The Role of 40k in Life and Work Pt 2 1:57:40 - Show Closing 1:58:40 - Preview of potential new opening music Relevant Links: The Independent Characters Patreon Tablewar! - SPONSOR Herrick Games & Hobbies - SPONSOR Goonhammer Media Network Life After the Cover Save Podcast Adepticon Games Workshop The Black Library Corporate Citizen
The Buffalo Bills are set to open up Training Camp for the 2024 season on Wednesday, July 24th. Judge and Tilt are fresh off their summer break and will be diving into all of the top storylines as the action gets underway at St. John Fisher. Media and fans alike will have a close eye on a number of intriguing position battles, new faces at the wide receiver position, and the return from injury for some key contributors, to name a few. The guys dive into all of these topics in more on tonight's jam packed show. Share the storylines piquing your interest in the comments section. Go Bills!Show Segments -0:00 Welcome In!4:23 Filling The Leadership Void11:08 Joe Brady Storylines14:29 Josh Allen Storylines17:20 Running Back Storylines19:54 Dalton Kincaid, Keon Coleman, & Receiver Storylines34:50 Connor McGovern & Offensive Line Expectations45:07 Dorian Williams & Kaiir Elam49:32 Von Miller & Matt Milano51:52 Bobby Babich Storylines56:21 Defensive Line Storylines1:03:04 Linebacker Storylines1:07:06 Secondary Storylines1:16:51 Special Teams Storylines1:21:48 Show Closing
The Independent Characters - A Warhammer 40k Podcast | Radio
Make sure you stay through the end of the episode for a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT about our 2024/2025 Hobby Progress Challenge! Episode 240 of The Independent Characters brings on two special guests from the newly reconstituted Life After the Cover Save Podcast. Ed and Travis join us for a great round table discussion! Time Stamps: 0:00:00 - Show Intro, Elite Choice, Hobby Progress, and Games Played 1:18:00 - The Warrior Lodge Part 1 2:10:05 - The Warrior Lodge Part 2 2:51:35 - Final Discussion and Show Closing 2:58:35 - SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: 2024/2025 Hobby Progress Challenge Relevant Links: The Independent Characters Patreon Tablewar! - SPONSOR Herrick Games & Hobbies - SPONSOR Goonhammer Media Network Life After the Cover Save Podcast Adepticon Games Workshop The Black Library
Make sure you stay through the end of the episode for a SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT about our 2024/2025 Hobby Progress Challenge! Episode 240 of The Independent Characters brings on two special guests from the newly reconstituted Life After the Cover Save Podcast. Ed and Travis join us for a great round table discussion! Time Stamps: 0:00:00 - Show Intro, Elite Choice, Hobby Progress, and Games Played 1:18:00 - The Warrior Lodge Part 1 2:10:05 - The Warrior Lodge Part 2 2:51:35 - Final Discussion and Show Closing 2:58:35 - SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: 2024/2025 Hobby Progress Challenge Relevant Links: The Independent Characters Patreon Tablewar! - SPONSOR Herrick Games & Hobbies - SPONSOR Goonhammer Media Network Life After the Cover Save Podcast Adepticon Games Workshop The Black Library
This episode delves into the future of the Buffalo Bills offense, focusing on potential upgrades for 2025 and beyond. With Spencer Brown in a contract year, several positions are highlighted for possible enhancement in the 2025 NFL Draft. Key insights on the 2024 iteration set the stage for strategic planning in the upcoming seasons.0:00 Show Intro2:57 Spencer Brown contract extension?15:57 Other notable Bills UFAs on offense in 202520:44 Possible Bills 2025 NFL Draft Needs30:17 Show Closing
Discover the magic of a 6-second kiss with "6 Seconds to Marital Bliss: Unleash Love with One Kiss!" Dive into the world of Snooks and Lovey from the "Married into Crazy" podcast as they explore how this simple act can transform your relationship. Whether you're newlyweds or celebrating decades together, this video is your gateway to deeper connection and intimacy. Join us as we unpack the secrets of oxytocin—the 'love hormone'—and how it not only bonds but also brings laughter, love, and a little lip gloss drama into your life. Learn why these brief moments of affection are not just romantic but a cornerstone of a thriving, passionate marriage. Ready to Raise The B.A.R. in your marriage? Snooks and Lovey are here to guide you through real stories, heartfelt advice, and a touch of humor that will leave you both inspired and entertained. Don't miss out on their unique insights and couple-to-couple coaching that could take your relationship to the next level of joy and understanding. So, why wait? Click play, feel the love, and let's journey together into the heartwarming world of marital bliss. And remember, it's not just about staying married, it's about staying 'Married Into Crazy'! Sign up for the Virtual Game Night at: https://mailchi.mp/b3843c75f27e/wtxtpdfhk6 FREE Marriage Health Toolkit https://www.marriedintocrazy.com/marriagetoolkit-optina “Raise The B.A.R. in your marriage” www.RaiseTheBarMarriage.com Married Into Crazy www.MarriedIntoCrazy.com CHAPTERS: 0:00 - Show Introduction 0:48 - Entertainment Tonight Feature 1:18 - Welcome Back Segment 6:38 - Upcoming Events Preview 8:32 - Benefits of a 6-Second Kiss 11:59 - Oxytocin Release Explained 23:50 - Oxytocin Impact on Sexual Intimacy 24:35 - Dealing with Low Libido 27:55 - Building a Strong Marriage Team 34:30 - Daily Affection Tips 38:24 - Show Closing
Judge & Tilt walk through the Buffalo Bills roster on offense and piece together all the storylines ahead of training camp. Who are the cornerstone players? What positions still need upgrading? What spots will be up for grabs in Training Camp? They answer all that and more. 00:00 Show Intro3:16 Buffalo Bills Quarterbacks10:57 Buffalo Bills Running Backs19:56 Buffalo Bills Wide Receivers26:48 Buffalo Bills Tight Ends30:45 Buffalo Bills Offensive Line43:08 Show Closing
The Chris Russell Show Hour 3: Tony Khan joins the show to talk about the upcoming draft, Dave Gardi coming to DC, his relationship with Josh Harris, and the start of the AEW season, Back to your calls on the Commanders front office moves, Closing out your calls, DDOTD: Scottish man dressed as a storm trooper was stopped on the train for fears in public safety
Judge & Tilt assess the Bills wide receiver room in the wake of the Curtis Samuel and Mack Hollins signings. Then they tier ALL the wide receiver prospects in this year's class and discuss who the Bills should have their eyes on in the draft and where they should target them.00:00 Intro & Curtis Samuel7:03 Mack Hollins9:59 Bills Draft Needs at Wide Receiver17:20 Tier 1 | 1st Round WRs24:29 Tier 2 | 1st/2nd Round WRs30:49 Tier #3 | 2nd/3rd Rd WRs39:10 Tier #4 | 3rd/4th Rd WRs48:04 Tier #5 | 4th/5th Rd WRs55:36 Tier #6 | Late Round WR Options59:55 Tier #7 | UDFA WR Prospects & Show Closing
The Chris Russell Show Hour 3: Capitals radio voice John Walton joins the show to talk about the state of the caps before the NHL trade deadline, Chris and Doc give their thoughts on the Kuznetsov drama, Closing out your calls for the show, DDOTD: Weightlifter ate magnets and coins because “zinc is good for you”
The Chris Russell Show Hour 3: Matthew Coller joins the show to talk about the importance of analytics in the game. Quick reset to get back on track, Closing out the call lines for the day on the Super Bowl and Coaches, DDOTD: man arrested for drunkenly assaulting a manatee
The Chris Russell Show Hour 3: Ben Standig joins the show to talk about Adam Peters presser, who the team is looking at for HC, and who he thinks will still be on the team next year, your calls on id you'd be open to an older head coach, closing out your calls for the hour, DDOTD: Oklahoma Lawmaker wants to make Furries illegal
Doc filling in for The Chris Russell Show Hour 3: Thom Loverro joins the show to talk about the state of the Commanders, Right back to your calls on what to expect down the stretch, Closing out some thoughts on the Commanders coaching control, Ending the show with your calls on the Commanders
In this episode, we go over Legions Hereticus formally for the Emperors Children. We also do a Christmas wishlist for miniature games we play. Want to buy some conquest at a Discount? Use our affiliate code "TerrainKickers" for 10% off in the para-bellum store. https://eshop.para-bellum.com/?ref=terrainkickersnj@gmail.com We also now have a patreon, linked here: patreon.com/TerrainKickersPodcast If you have the means and enjoy our content, consider joining. Remember we have both a facebook to follow and a discord to join now. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100087035568532 Discord: https://discord.gg/mfmgVaXfSs 00:19:00 Hereticus Emperors Children 01:02:50 Wish List 01:58:00 Show Closing
The Chris Russell Show Hour 3: Gabe Ramirez from 670 the Score in Chicago joins the show. Back to your calls on tonight's game, closing out your calls on tonight, and scuttlebutt in NYC, DDOTD: Buccee's owner's son was spying on bathrooms and bedrooms
Judge & Tilt give their biggest takeaways from the Bills 48-20 win over the Miami Dolphins, thoughts on the Tre White injury, and begin to preview the Jaguars game in London next week.00:00 Show Intro7:00 Tre White Injury24:11 Biggest Takeaway33:32 Bills Offense vs Miami56:51 Bills Defense vs Miami1:19:07 Bills Special Teams vs Dolphins1:21:30 Bills vs Jaguars Early Preview1:35:19 Show Closing
On today's episode, Scott Gulbransen & Moe Moton react to Derek Carr's recent comments about his play last season and why he may not have been at his best. Then, the guys share their thoughts on the perception of drama around the Raiders organization this season and explain why the stories are not as big a deal as the media would make you think. Finally, we close the show with a look at the NFL Supplemental Draft returning after a few years. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
(00:11-13:20) Today on The Anthony Gargano Show, Andrew, filling in for Anthony, opens the show saying he wants to officially close the book on the 2022-2023 Philadelphia 76ers season and discusses the rumor of a Joel Embiid trade. (13:20-25:01) Andrew and Ray open today's vault, including some playoff homeruns from Jayson Werth and TJ McConnell's buzzer beater against the Knicks in honor of Carmelo Anthony retiring. (25:01-46:11) The conversation pivots to the Eagles and why the San Francisco 49ers believe they would have won the NFC Championship with a healthy Brock Purdy. Plus, the national media discrediting the Birds. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Opening remarks from the booth with Everett Fitzhugh and Dave Tomlinson, while Mike Benton anchors from the Coors Light Landing and section 20 ahead of the Apr. 13 matchup between the Kraken and Vegas Golden Knights at Climate Pledge Arena.
The Chris Russell Show Hour 3: 3 Up 3 Down (Penguins are out, Nats are coming home, MLB Beers), Scott Abraham Joins the show to talk about the sale of the Commanders, Chris argues that we can't change the name again, closing out your calls on the same if the commanders
Jordan Cooper spends time discussing strategy for DFS contests, and taking questions from chat on Thursday, 3/16/23.
Jordan Cooper spends time discussing strategy for DFS contests, and taking questions from chat on Thursday, 3/16/23.
Seg 1: Why the Government of Canada isn't equipped for modern National Security threats. Guest: Vincent Rigby, Former National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister Seg 2: How does the province intend on closing the gender pay gap? Guest: Kelli Paddon, Parliamentary Secretary for Gender Equality Seg 3: How the first female Assistant Secretary to the Prime Minister inspired public services in Canada Guest: Janet Smith, First Female Assistant Secretary to the Prime Minister and Author of Standing in Possibility Seg 4: How will food security funding impact local farmers? Guest: Liana Glass, Operator of City Beet Farms Seg 5: How Canada is elevating First Nations, Inuit and Métis stories Guest: Odette Auger, Alumni for Audible's Indigenous Writers' Circle Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How do you leverage micro-fulfillment capabilities as a retailer? What are the costs and capital investment necessary? Micro-fulfillment is a hot trend to bring retail products closer to the customer to meet rapid delivery schedules. But is there a better way, at a lower cost, without capital investment, that can deliver the customer experience you want? Enter 1MRobotics, a nano-fulfillment as a service provider that turns the concept into a cookie-cutter approach the size of a shipping container!This episode continues our special podcast cross-over series, #NRFLive, with the This Week In Innovation podcast. In Part 4, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Jeff Roster speak with the VP of Sales at 1MRobotics, Gonen Gershuni. 1MRobotics delivers a nano-fulfillment center as a service to retailers, designed especially for urban deployments at scale. Join Jeff & Ricardo as they learn how nano-fulfillment can revolutionize retail with new use cases. Regular cohost Casey Golden also joins Ricardo for a quick introduction and recapThis discussion was recorded live & in-person during #NRF2023, in the fabulous Avanade lounge. A big thank you to Avanade for sponsoring this series and making the recordings possible!News alert! We've moved up to #18 on the Feedspot Top 60 Best Retail podcasts list - please consider giving us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts! With your help, we'll move our way up the Top 20! Leave us a review & be mentioned in future episodes! https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/Meet your regular hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023, 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 director partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, and RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring E-Motive, and Overclocked, from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno. The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorSubscribe 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/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS2E10d Micro-fulfillment with 1MRobotics[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Show Intro [00:00:00] Ricardo Belmar: Hello and welcome to a special season two episode 10 part four of the Retail Razor Show. This is the fourth in our multi-part series recorded live and in person at the N R F 2023 Show in January. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.[00:00:33] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host, Casey Golden. Welcome to the Retail Razor Show, retail's favorite podcast for product junkies, commerce technologists, and everyone else in retail and retail tech alike. And once again, for this special bonus, welcome N R F fans to our hot take hashtag N R F Live mini-series.[00:00:54] Ricardo Belmar: So Casey, we are here again with our podcast crossover event with [00:01:00] Jeff Foster and the This Week in Innovation podcast. And thanks to our sponsor, Avanade, we were able to record in this series live and in person at the N R F Show in Avanade's fabulous lounge space overlooking the main expo floor.[00:01:12] Casey Golden: A big shout out to our friends at Avanade for giving you and Jeff such a great space to record from. They know how to get things done![00:01:20] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely. So let's dive right into this week's discussion. Casey, when I say micro fulfillment to you, what do you think of and what would you say if I said micro fulfillment specifically for dense urban locations?[00:01:32] Casey Golden: Hmm. Quick and smart fill-ins for your best sellers so you don't miss out on a sale?[00:01:37] Ricardo Belmar: Ah, well, I think you're gonna be fascinated by this discussion with our special guest, Gonen Gershuni, the VP of Sales at 1 M Robotics. Have to say, when Jeff and I sat down with him in the lounge to talk about how they're transforming micro fulfillment, especially for dense urban areas where, let's face it, you, you don't expect to find a lot of available space for really [00:02:00] large micro fulfillment centers.[00:02:01] And, and yeah, I know it sounds kind of odd to say large micro fulfillment centers, but that's the way, the way it goes. But 1 M Robotics, they're, they're talking about a fully automated, micro fulfillment center, that's basically the size of a shipping container. And did I mention they can easily convert it into a fully automated store that's customer facing.[00:02:18] We're, we're gonna hear about a lot of different possibilities and configurations of this technology.[00:02:23] Casey Golden: So the first thing I thought was, sounds expensive for a large micro fulfillment center. Now I'm intrigued when you said shipping container. So I'm ready for it. And you know how much I love powering the future of e-commerce, and this sounds like something really interesting to help those use cases.[00:02:43] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, I, I a hundred percent agree. So let's jump right in and listen to Jeff and my discussion with Gonen from 1 M Robotics.[00:02:55] 1MRobotics Interview[00:02:55] Ricardo Belmar: Hey everyone. We are back at NRF 2023 [00:03:00] with another special bonus episode in our series here. I'm Ricardo Belmar, and I'm here with my special guest host Jeff Roster, host of This Week in Innovation.[00:03:09] Jeff Roster: Ricardo, how you doing today?[00:03:11] Ricardo Belmar: I am doing great. A little tired at this point after I lost track of how many days this is again, we start each of these sessions trying to remember where are we, , what are we doing?[00:03:22] How far into the event are we? And I guess that says it's kind of back to normal because in a normal NRF, I'd be lost by the time we get to the end,[00:03:30] Jeff Roster: I can see the finish line.[00:03:32] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, there you go. There you go. [00:03:33] Jeff Roster: I can feel it. We're running through the tape. And what a tape it is to run through.[00:03:38] What what an amazing week couldn't be prouder of, of N R F, the industry, the tech community. They showed up strong strong energy. Literally, literally at the end of the show. And they're still laughing. Some of your colleagues at Microsoft are toasting. I know. I noticed you've giving up the champagne toast, just so you know.[00:03:54] I'm not sure I would've done[00:03:55] Ricardo Belmar: I know. Yeah, I know.[00:03:56] Jeff Roster: know. So just a fantastic deal. Excellent. All around. Could not be [00:04:00]happier, could not be proud of the industry.[00:04:01] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. I agree. I agree. And to that end, we are fortunate enough to have another special guest. So we're joined here by Gonen Gershuni of 1M robotics and Gonen I think we're just gonna jump right in. First of all, I'm, I'm super excited that we've got some time with you here to record, but why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about your background how 1M Robotics came to be and what your solution is, how you're helping retailer is, and, and give us the, the scoop on [00:04:31] that.[00:04:32] Gonen Gershuni: Sure. So Ricardo, Jeff, thanks so much for this opportunity. Couldn't be more excited to be here with you today. What an amazing stage this is. I mean, NRF B Beck, B Beck larger, bigger than ever. And this is an amazing facility. Well done for the NRF crowd.[00:04:50] A bit about myself, Goen Gari, VP sales at one of robotics.[00:04:54] I joined the company a bit under a year and a half ago. Prior to that, I worked at another successful [00:05:00] Israeli startup called Bring. They're also here. Shout out to the Bring team. You guys are[00:05:03] Ricardo Belmar: know The Bring team. Yeah.[00:05:04] Jeff Roster: met them, I bumped into them.[00:05:05] Gonen Gershuni: Yeah. So[00:05:07] Jeff Roster: the[00:05:07] only company that actually had a bottle of wine that we toasted while we were, while, while we were talking.[00:05:14] That, that, that's a, that's a first now I've had, I've had people at, at happy hour bring, not in the middle of the day. So that was, that was a fun, fun interview.[00:05:22] Gonen Gershuni: It's yeah, it's always Happy Hour at Israeli Startups. And Israelis like the party, so it's a great it's a great company. I worked at Bring for about five years in various sales roles, from business development to global partnership sales, overseeing various strategic initiatives.[00:05:37] So this gave me, I would say, a very rich and deep understanding and background on e-commerce, last mile fulfillment and all that. Prior to that, I was about, I was in performance marketing for about three to four years, so for the better part of the last decade and a bit more, I wa I'm, I've been in various high-tech companies in very, at various lifecycle lifecycle stages and very proud to be at 1M robotics today.[00:05:59] In a [00:06:00] nutshell, one of robotics is a startup that's focused on automating hyper-local logistics infrastructure. It's a mouthful, but this pretty much means that we are creating urban facilities for last mile fulfillment that are leveraging automation and robotic technology to alleviate the main pain points of last mile.[00:06:19] Those two, those are being, those are mainly two challenges, unit economics and scale operating at scale while remaining ROI positive.[00:06:28] Ricardo Belmar: I think that was a mouthful, but I'm, I'm like it so far. So let me ask you this, give us a little more go down another layer and tell us how you're doing that.[00:06:36] Gonen Gershuni: Okay, great. So let's first start with a quick background story or the origin story, as I like to say in comics of 1M Robotics.[00:06:43] 1M Robotics was founded by co-founder and ceo, Eyal Yair, and co-founder and coo, Roee Tuval. Eyal is a seasoned entrepreneur having led various startups, this is his fourth, two were sold, one was less of a success story, but nonetheless, a great experience to be [00:07:00] had. And he brings a wealth of experience in sales, business development, and other related functions.[00:07:05] Roee Tuval co-founder and COO, brings a rich background in robotics, photonics and other related materials, material handling. The two collaborated as they got together to identify the main needs in last mile or fulfillment infrastructure, and they saw that micro fulfillment or just about any other large sized facility leveraged today, that's a hotly contested field, a red ocean as they, as it's typically called, meaning tons of competition, tons of players operating in the space, and they're all great formidable companies addressing some major pain points, but not last mile fulfillment, not rapid delivery. They are at best able to offer what's called same day order today, receive it later in the day toward the evening time at best. Again, most of the time it's next day, but really they saw a major gap when it came to rapid delivery.[00:07:54] And when we say rapid delivery, yes, it can be the quick commerce type of delivery increments of [00:08:00] 30 minutes and below, but it's just about anything below two hours.[00:08:04] And that was a, a really blue ocean with tremendous opportunity and a major need from just about any retailer and CPG brand looking to address or to reach their customers in a closer and faster, timely manner. So they saw that there was zero automation in that space, and that's how they decided to form this company to create urban facilities that are way smaller. So we're talking about facilities that are about the size of a standard store, convenience store, et cetera. So think some, think somewhere along the lines of hundreds to to thousands in the few of square feet.[00:08:40] Ricardo Belmar: Okay. So I, I take it then based on, on the size, right? When you, when, when I, when I think of micro fulfillment, I think of a larger format, large store, not the size of a distribution center, but, or fulfillment center, but something smaller than that.[00:08:54] So clearly larger form factor than you're talking about, which I guess makes it difficult to put that in an urban [00:09:00] environment cause it's hard to find that large space. So is the idea here then, that, by doing this in that smaller format, you're able to get a higher density in an urban environment for someone that wants to do this kind of rapid delivery.[00:09:12] Gonen Gershuni: It's twofold. First of all, spot on. Physically it's very challenging to place a micro fulfillment center in a dense, urban, metropolitan area, think downtown Manhattan.[00:09:22] It's impossible. Authorities wouldn't allow it. It's very costly and it would create lots of friction because those facilities are predominantly not 100% automated. Now, let's take a facility that's about the size of a standard seven 11 store Micro fulfillment operators would not take such a project on.[00:09:38] It's too small for them, and they also would have to adapt their technology solution to fit inside a way smaller form factor. And this is where we come in with our technology innovation. We're able to fit into very densely populated urban metropolitan areas and locate our, or deploy our facilities within a very small retail footprint. By introducing [00:10:00] automation, we're able to also do two things. For one, expedite workflows alleviate the pain of the human workforce, and in doing so, also completely eliminate shrinkage, human error and other related challenges.[00:10:12] Ricardo Belmar: So, so how automated are, are we talking about? Are, are you saying this is, this is a fully automated facility or is very light to no human touch required?[00:10:20] Gonen Gershuni: So we have two types of solutions, two types of installments or two types of systems, as we call them. One, an autonomous lights out facility. And that, as you said, Ricardo, is 100% lights out, an end-to-end automated facility. We've already got this deployed with various exciting customers around the world, such as Nespresso, such as AB InBev, et C.[00:10:41] And that is a, a facility that requires zero headcount. A customer places an order on an online channel, and then our system does everything picking, packing, and the pushes out an order for a delivery guide to collect or a customer pickup. In addition to that, this can also serve returns and [00:11:00] things are way faster and easier to do from one single, let's call it omnichannel presence.[00:11:04] Second option or the second infrastructure that we've created is what's called collaborative automation.[00:11:09] In cases where the, the human workforce is still required to operate some sort of function within the facility, we expedite and simplify workflows by introducing automation into the game, taking a fully manually relying operation and adopting it to this new reality.[00:11:30] Incorporating innovation into the story and automation makes things a lot faster. It's sort of like, think about the assembly line as it was first introduced in the days of. All the way to where it's at today with Tesla,[00:11:40] a lot more innovation, a lot less reliance on the human workforce while still having some workforce, some, some work tests done by the human operator.[00:11:48] Jeff Roster: Now you you showed the ne I can't even talk right now. My, my throat's so thrashed, the coffee example. How many SKUs was that in that automated footprint store?[00:11:58] Gonen Gershuni: So in that specific facility, because [00:12:00] we're talking about a rather limited product assortment to begin with, right? That's a few hundreds we can support all the way up to around 4,000 SKUs. And I would say another differentiating factor in our technologies is that we also support frozens.[00:12:13] That's unheard of in warehousing automation,[00:12:16] Jeff Roster: So 4,000 SKUs. What's a typical 7-Eleven. [00:12:19] Le less than 4,000 SKUs. Okay.[00:12:22] Gonen Gershuni: Aldi US for example, they're around, they're somewhere along the lines of 2000 [00:12:27] Average quick commerce players between 1,500 to 3000 ma max. We are, we are not trying to address a hypermarket.[00:12:36] I am less relevant for that Costco, that Walmart, but for the small format stores, for the convenience store chains, for consumer, electronic, small format stores like the Best, like Best Buy is trying to now launch. This is a great fit.[00:12:49] And this is where we play. We're playing in the fast moving goods line where we're talking about product assortment that you want to get out your customers as fast as possible, offer that brand new [00:13:00] iPhone as fast as possible.[00:13:02] As you are doing the npi,[00:13:04] Jeff Roster: There's also a almost a loss prevention component of that too, I would assume. I, I'm, I'm in California and we have loss prevention's, a major, major issue.[00:13:11] You sort of solve that by no one's inside the, the store. [00:13:15] Exactly. [00:13:15] Wow. Interesting.[00:13:16] Gonen Gershuni: Yes, we provide the software suite as well, so we've developed our own wms.[00:13:20] It's not a must, it's not a mandatory element to, for our customers, but we do have live visibility and true inventory tracking at any single point. And this also allows us to provide demand forecasting, restocking, and replenishment reporting, and other smart alerts to support our businesses with their mission critical operations.[00:13:37] I would also add that shrink is a major pain point because at the end of the day when we're talking about consumer electronics, we, we are operate, we are already working with some leading apple distributors globally. And in many markets, the product it's that is being sold might be more costly than the human workforce.[00:13:53] One single human employee. And in such case, if you lose one iPhone, this is a major [00:14:00] challenge for you as a business. And we're able to completely eliminate that by providing live visibility to each and every single skew that we.[00:14:06] Jeff Roster: That's so interesting. Wow. How many deployments do you have of that? That that example where it's literally, I mean, it's, it's automation, but I mean, it almost feels like a giant giant you know, kiosk.[00:14:19] Gonen Gershuni: Yeah. So we've touched on an important point. Our system go, comes shipped in a container sized form factor, meaning we use standard shipping containers to ship our systems globally by land or sea.[00:14:32] This allows us to operate very flexibly and to ship out our system super fast. In addition to that, we can deploy the system just about anywhere, either as is, as a standalone unit within the container, and then it's a great way to address smaller towns, rural areas and also deploy this next to a venue or where ever.[00:14:50] Second option is to remove it from the container shell and just re and place the system as is within a retail facility within a retail real estate in such [00:15:00] case takes us about under two hours to deploy inside of a facility. So it's an off-the-shelf solution with almost with near as the zero launch time.[00:15:09] So this for a business is a game changer.[00:15:11] Jeff Roster: Yeah. So, so you are in fact an automated store.[00:15:15] I didn't realize that.[00:15:16] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah,[00:15:16] Gonen Gershuni: but I think that that's also a[00:15:18] Jeff Roster: I mean, you're, you're a really automated, automated store. I mean, cuz you're not even, I guess the difference is, you know, some of the examples we look at I don't wanna say which, which vendors, but I mean, you walk into the store, you pick it up and you, you know, so shop and go, or however you wanna say it.[00:15:31] You're not, I'm obviously not getting into the store, which makes you a perfect loss prevention.[00:15:37] Gonen Gershuni: Correct.[00:15:37] But I would add though, that in some cases, for example, let's think of Walgreens. Okay? They work with Verizon. Verizon effectively develop, gives them a store within a store, right? A designated section that's purely the product assortment of a, that Verizon is selling.[00:15:52] At Walgreens, we can also incorporate our system directly into a retail facility. So for example, this we be, we can be talking to a [00:16:00] retailer. And he might be thinking, okay, how do I utilize this within my existing real estate network? They can just allocate or designate, designate a specific zone for us to add to automate, and then they can have one third store automated for e-commerce orders and deliveries and colle and customer pickups.[00:16:18] And the other part be experiential. Have the customers, the walk-in traffic roaming around the store doing their purchases. Not nothing is interrupted. And this allows me to avoid that friction of couriers coming in, flocking into the store, while also having walking traffic roaming around.[00:16:36] Ricardo Belmar: Hmm. Interesting. But then, and then, So you have lots of different ways and that you can help because I, I'm assuming because of the automation, you could also operate in a truly totally dark, you mentioned before a lights out mode right? Where completely standalone everything is, is, is packaged up. You just have whoever's doing the delivery basically picks it up.[00:16:53] Gonen Gershuni: Yes. [00:16:54] Ricardo Belmar: Right.[00:16:55] Gonen Gershuni: I would also add that because it's it's an automated robotic mechanism, we're able to also [00:17:00] leverage addition, I would say expansion dimensions. What I mean by that is that if, for example, the ceiling height within retail facility is around four meters. We're able to expand going higher, longer, or wider, accommodating the needs or the challenges and constraints of the actual retail facility.[00:17:17] So let's say it's an L-shaped facility, the system can be expandable to accommodate and to maximize on storage capacity. [00:17:24] And in doing so, we can cover more SKUs. We can reach higher, wider, longer, whatever. Some, some, some specific areas where a human operator simply put would not be able to. I'm not four meters tall.[00:17:37] I wish I was [00:17:38] Ricardo Belmar: right.[00:17:39] Gonen Gershuni: I'd have a promising NBA career.[00:17:41] Ricardo Belmar: Right. . Right, right. So there's so a lot of flexibility obviously in the, in the form factor you can take and how you support a given retailer. So and I guess that's the differentiator then for you versus other. You know, cause like you said at the beginning, there's so many other micro fulfillment players, but they're all geared around the much [00:18:00] larger form factor where almost each location is like, is like a custom build out.[00:18:04] Gonen Gershuni: Yeah. [00:18:04] Ricardo Belmar: And you've almost made this into almost a cookie cutter approach for the retailer [00:18:08] Gonen Gershuni: it's, exactly a cookie[00:18:09] Jeff Roster: I would a yeah.[00:18:10] Ricardo Belmar: yeah. [00:18:11] Gonen Gershuni: an off-the-shelf solution with zero [00:18:13] launch [00:18:13] Jeff Roster: shipping in the cart, the container that you would just drop at a stadium or at a [00:18:19] racetrack or something. You literally just drop it.[00:18:21] Gonen Gershuni: it. Indy 500, let's go.[00:18:23] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah,[00:18:23] Yeah [00:18:23] Gonen Gershuni: do[00:18:24] Jeff Roster: somebody, there's somebody already there though.[00:18:25] Gonen Gershuni: No problem. You're right. But I think it's three main differentiators. It's size, scale, and the fact that we're off the shelf size-wise. Again, we can work in a very impractically, a way smaller facility that's about the size of a standard convenience store scale because the system is off the shelf.[00:18:41] This means that it can be deployed in zero time and can easily be deployed in many, many more locations. It's practically, it's practically something that can easily be duplicated to address more crowds, reaching more customers. And third it's an off the shelf offering so that we are able to mass produce these systems [00:19:00] and be up and running faster.[00:19:02] The, just to give you some under general understanding on the micro fulfillment space, a traditional facility requires around a year to just launch one single site. It costs in the millions, and it requires a lot of onsite construction. Here we're talking about a plug and play offering that costs a fraction of the price at an OPEX commercial model, meaning we're only pay, the customer is only paying us one a monthly usage fee.[00:19:28] No installation fee, no hidden costs. Nada. It's way faster and easier to adopt. I think that it's pretty much an an adoption or an adaptation of a SaaS model. Mm-hmm. on a hardware and software base.[00:19:41] Ricardo Belmar: Hmm. Wow.[00:19:42] Gonen Gershuni: It's an adaptation.[00:19:43] Ricardo Belmar: that's an interesting model![00:19:44] Jeff Roster: That I know we're, we're, Ricardo and I both looked at each other and after five days of exhaustion, that, that, that perked me up[00:19:50] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, exactly.[00:19:51] Jeff Roster: And I, I didn't realize in the demonstration, you're literally an autonomous store.[00:19:55] I, yeah, I got the whole, the whole pick and pack or thing, but boy, that's a, that's a whole interesting [00:20:00] con scenario to say the least.[00:20:02] Gonen Gershuni: the retail. I think that the retail angle is clearly a very strong one for us in terms of product market fit, but we are also seeing high demand now also from coming from upstream, meaning taking this into a DC. A facility that still is very much manually operated and incorporating our systems directly into that to address a specific line of products within the DC or to take this into industrial use cases, auto parts.[00:20:26] Just think of an example. Let's say you're now about to board that plane taking you home, right? If right now there's a maintenance issue, they're putting out a, a real-time request, right? Calling the maintenance crew to bring that missing part, even a tiny. Every single, any single minute of delay is now costing millions to the airline.[00:20:44] Customers are now frustrated. They're, they're, they're annoyed. They're gone to demand compensation. So that's a lot of, that's millions of dollars in fines. We're able to address them with front, front frontline warehouse that is fully [00:21:00] automated with full visibility into inventory. This is also a game changer for the airline industry, and that's just off the top of my head. Yes, [00:21:07] Jeff Roster: that's, I [00:21:07] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, [00:21:08] that's a big deal. [00:21:08] Yeah.[00:21:09] Jeff Roster: Wow. [00:21:10] Ricardo Belmar: So, so then if we look out into 2023 and this year and, and beyond, obviously you, you, you've got a really positive outlook on, on the potential here. I, I'm just thinking this year in particular, how, how would you gauge the retailer interest?[00:21:24] Just based on what you've seen here at the show? Are you expecting to have. A really successful 2023. You think you expect to see a lot of engage new engagements with retailers because there's a lot of pent up demand for this.[00:21:36] Gonen Gershuni: So I, yes, there's definitely a huge demand for this, but being a startup, we need to be minded to the fact that we should also be focused on the markets where we are seeing the immediate the, where there's a clear line of site on the ROI we're bringing for our customers and the value to be had.[00:21:53] If it's a nice to have. Then we, we'll probably not dive into any such opportunity. We're mainly [00:22:00] addressing the businesses that have, that have an immediate need for this. Whether it's urgency driven in terms of their customers demanding faster service, whether it's because of the tight SLA that they're promising to customers and are failing to meet or various other parameters.[00:22:14] I would say that the immediate sectors that we are addressing are those in retail, where there is a urgency for the product to.[00:22:22] And also an understanding on the retail side that automation is their way to go forward, their future for the business. We're not trying to replace an existing warehousing automation technology stack.[00:22:34] Contrary. On the contrary, we are happy to work alongside an MFC because we are not replacing them. It's an additional node in their supply chain, and we see this as an ecosystem play. Where're partnering up with additional players such as Microsoft powering their tech stack such as SAP maybe, or any other player, is an additional part in this holistic approach.[00:22:57] Ricardo Belmar: wow. [00:22:57] Jeff Roster: Yeah.[00:22:58] Very[00:22:58] Ricardo Belmar: interesting. Very, yeah, [00:23:00] really fascinating. Wow. Looking forward to seeing how, how this plays out for you this year. Yeah. This is[00:23:05] Gonen Gershuni: When are you guys coming to either Israel or, or either dep, other deployments? [00:23:09] Jeff Roster: You gotta invite me. [00:23:10] I'd come in a heartbeat.[00:23:11] Gonen Gershuni: Okay. We need to check two things first, number one, that you that you are open to having lots of hummus. Number two, that you're open to drinking anytime of the day.[00:23:20] Ricardo Belmar: I, I, I think we've got those two covered. [00:23:21] So, yeah.[00:23:23] Jeff Roster: so funny story on that. I've never, ever, ever liked eggplant. And well, well, you'd have to see how Americans cook eggplant. And I got, I got to Israel and we're having, I mean, I've never seen more hummus in my entire life.[00:23:36] And I'm eating, there's, I'm eating this and I go, wow, what is this? And the, the waiter comes and says, well, that's baba ganoush. [00:23:42] Ahhh. I go, what's [00:23:43] Ricardo Belmar: yep. I love Baba ganoush.[00:23:44] Jeff Roster: It's eggplant. ah,[00:23:47] Gonen Gershuni: I'm with you Jeff. I'm not a fan of eggplant. Eggplant is my nemesis, archnemesis[00:23:52] Jeff Roster: But I'll [00:23:52] lead [00:23:53] Ricardo Belmar: that baba gsh all day[00:23:54] Jeff Roster: I like saying it, I like [00:23:55] eating it. So that is, that is a, that is an, an offer I will like gladly [00:24:00] accept.[00:24:00] Gonen Gershuni: Okay. Sounds good to me.[00:24:01] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. That'll work. All right. Well, Gonen, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been an, an another really special learning experience, I think for us to, to hear about what you're doing. And this is really fascinating. I'm looking forward to seeing how this grows.[00:24:16] Gonen Gershuni: Ricardo, Jeff, thank you so much for this opportunity.[00:24:18] I've been following your show for a long time now, and I love your work. Keep up your amazing energy and pretty much driving innovation across retail through your thought [00:24:26] Jeff Roster: It's, It's,[00:24:27] wilted, but we'll rally when we get home.[00:24:29] Ricardo Belmar: And, and.[00:24:30] right. After we recover and [00:24:31] Jeff Roster: me just say special thanks to Microsoft for Startups, Shish and, and Ricardo for what you've done up here. We're up in this beautiful suite overlooking NRF and there have been a per a parade of startups that have come through and, and I, you've just done a fantastic job.[00:24:46] So well done Microsoft and Shish. Looking forward to seeing more of what you do going forward.[00:24:50] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. And then I'll also add another special thank you to Avanade for having made this series that we did possible by graciously letting us use some of your space. And [00:25:00] helping us be, be quite flexible on the timing and our ability to react quickly to use this. So thanks to to both groups for, for helping us out on this series.[00:25:09] Gonen Gershuni: Just to chime in, thank you. Also, I'd also like to thank Microsoft, our close partners for their amazing work, Shish and the rest of the team. You guys are phenomenal. Keep driving the industry forward with your forward thinking, thought leadership, and amazing work.[00:25:22] And thank you Ricardo and Jeff.[00:25:23] Jeff Roster: Excellent. [00:25:24] Ricardo Belmar: excellent. Thank you. [00:25:25] Jeff Roster: Safe travels.[00:25:26] Show Recap[00:25:26] Casey Golden: Welcome back everyone. So, wow. Talk about endless possibilities with something that started out as just a small form factor micro fulfillment service. I mean, I can totally see this being integrated into other stores in urban geographies and maybe by e-commerce brands trying to offer rapid delivery.[00:25:54] So much opportunity here.[00:25:55] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, it's like I previewed at, at the start, Gonen goes through a number of use [00:26:00] cases that I just wouldn't have thought of as micro fulfillment as the solution for those.[00:26:04] Casey Golden: when you think about it. I can really see these guys taking off and being very successful.[00:26:11] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, a hundred percent. I, I certainly came away learning so much about new use cases for micro fulfillment with the way 1M Robotics can deliver it. Honestly, we, we may have to have Gonen or, or one of their founders come on the show next season just to give us an update on how they're doing.[00:26:25] Casey Golden: Absolutely. [00:26:27] Well, Ricardo, I think that is a wrap for part four of our N R F Live crossover series. Can't wait to see how you and Jeff wrap up this next episode.[00:26:37] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, Jeff and I saved a really great fun discussion with Greg Jones from Avanade to wrap us up with a discussion on trends we saw at NRF. Plus a few thoughts on the startups in retail. So tune in next time for part five.[00:26:49] Casey Golden: Oh, I love to hear that. So that means this episode is a wrap.[00:26:55] Show Closing[00:26:55] Casey Golden: [00:27:00] If you enjoyed our show, please consider giving us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Remember to smash that subscribe button in your favorite podcast player so you don't miss a minute. Wanna know more about what we talked about today. Take a look at the show notes for handy links and more deets.[00:27:18] I'm your co-host, Casey Golden.[00:27:20] Ricardo Belmar: If you'd like to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at Casey c Golden and Ricardo underscore Belmar, or find us on LinkedIn. Be sure to follow the show on Twitter at Retail Razor on LinkedIn, and on our YouTube channel for the latest updates and content. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.[00:27:36] Casey Golden: Thanks for joining us.[00:27:37] Ricardo Belmar: And remember, there has never been a better time to be in retail if you cut through the clutter. Until next time, this is the Retail Razor Show.
When you hear, “web3” and “blockchain”, if you're like most retailers you might panic or realize that you just don't know how to leverage these technologies in your retail business. Do you gain operational efficiencies? Reduce costs? Improve supply chain visibility? Deliver a better customer experience? Increase brand loyalty? Or is it all the above if done with the right technology partner?This episode continues our special podcast cross-over series, #NRFLive, with the This Week In Innovation podcast. In Part 3, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Jeff Roster speak with the co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer of zblocks, Max Cacheux. Zblocks mission is to be retailers' the easy button for web3 and blockchain! Max walks Jeff and Ricardo through numerous web3 use cases on customer experience, gated commerce, and loyalty programs, plus a few surprises. If you have questions about web3 & blockchain, you'll find answers in this episode, recorded live & in-person during #NRF2023!A special thanks to our sponsor Avanade for making this series possible by providing an amazing recording space in their NRF lounge.Listen, or watch on YouTube, to see how much Jeff and Ricardo learn from Max about web3 & blockchain! Regular cohost Casey Golden also joins Ricardo for a quick introduction and recap.News alert! We've moved up to #18 on the Feedspot Top 60 Best Retail podcasts list - please consider giving us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts! With your help, we'll move our way up the Top 20! Leave us a review & be mentioned in future episodes! https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/Meet your regular hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023, 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 director partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, and RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2023. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring E-Motive, and Overclocked, from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno. The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorSubscribe 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/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS2E10c web3 & blockchain with zblocks[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Show Intro [00:00:00] Ricardo Belmar: Hello and welcome to a special season two episode 10 part three of the Retail Razor Show. This is the third of our multi-part series recorded live and in person at the N R F 2023 Show in January. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.[00:00:35] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host, Casey Golden. Welcome to the Retail Razor Show, retail's favorite podcast for product junkies, commerce technologists, and everyone else in retail and retail tech alike. And once again, the special bonus. Welcome N R F fans to our hot take, hashtag N R F Live miniseries.[00:00:56] Ricardo Belmar: So Casey, we are continuing our special [00:01:00] podcast Crossover Event with Jeff Foster and this week and innovation podcast. We recorded this series live and in person at the N R F Show in the fabulous lounge space. Our good friends at Avena graciously allowed us to use overlooking the main expo floor.[00:01:14] Casey Golden: Special shout out to our friends and sponsors at Avanade for giving you and Jeff such an amazing space.[00:01:21] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely. So let's jump right in. Casey, this episode is one that is near and dear to your heart. It is all about web three and taking the complexity out of it for retailers and consumers.[00:01:33] Casey Golden: I love it. I'm a big fan of a velvet rope strategy, so naturally I'm an advocate for gated commerce experiences and more efficient ways to manage VIPs and loyalty in general.[00:01:45] Ricardo Belmar: Well, you are going to love this discussion. Jeff and I had with Max Cacheux, co-founder of Z Blocks. Max talks to us about how Z Blocks is enabling so many use cases for retailers from gated content to NFTs and loyalty [00:02:00] programs in a way that any consumer can participate in, not just as Max calls them crypto enthusiasts and for the retailer, wait until you hear what some of the special sauce Max has cooked up for them to make everything web three as easy as pressing a button.[00:02:13] Casey Golden: Very cool, and I know our listeners have to be dying to get into the discussion now.[00:02:20] Ricardo Belmar: I agree. So let's jump in and listen to our interview with Max Cacheux, co-founder of zblocks. Soon to be everyone's new web three best friend.[00:02:30] Casey Golden: Looking forward to hearing this one. [00:02:37] zblocks Interview[00:02:37] Ricardo Belmar: Hey everyone. We are back at the NRF 2023 Show, continuing our bonus series. I'm Ricardo Belmar and I'm here with a special guest host Jeff Roster from This Week in Innovation. How you doing, Jeff?[00:02:50] Jeff Roster: I am tired.[00:02:51] Ricardo Belmar: It's like, I don't remember. I was gonna say which day it is, but I've lost track. I just know it's the last[00:02:56] Jeff Roster: It's the last day.[00:02:57] Well, actually it's not, some of us are still [00:03:00] working tomorrow. We have meetings Wednesday.[00:03:03] Ricardo Belmar: on Wednesday, so I can't even say[00:03:05] Jeff Roster: but I am exhausted, but I'm elated. Yeah, [00:03:08] Ricardo Belmar: exactly. [00:03:09] Jeff Roster: show, fantastic energy.[00:03:11] Ricardo Belmar: I'm with you on that.[00:03:12] Jeff Roster: just an amazing, amazing celebration of retail and the, the energy and the startup community, the energy and the, the, the tech landscape.[00:03:21] Fantastic.[00:03:22] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. I agree. Well, and, and to that end, we have one of those tech stars with us today. So I'm gonna introduce Max Cacheux, co-founder of Z Blocks. Max, how are you?[00:03:33] Maxence Cacheux: Very good. Great to meet you. Thanks for hosting me.[00:03:35] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely. Thank you for joining us.[00:03:37] So why don't we just start, and Max, I'm gonna let you give your own introduction. Tell us a little bit about yourself, about Z Blocks, how Z Blocks came to be and, and what it is that you're doing for retailers.[00:03:47] Maxence Cacheux: Absolutely. So thanks for your opportunity. So I'm Max from Z Blocks. I'm one of the, one of the cofounder at Z Blocks and I've been in the tech space and enterprise space for more than 20 years.[00:03:57] And, What Z Blocks is [00:04:00] about, is about making blockchain adoption easy for enterprises, right? So we come from an enterprise and tech background at Z Blocks together with the, the co-founders. And what we realized more than a year ago when we started Z Blocks, is that there are many barriers for enterprises to add blockchain.[00:04:17] And we have created a platform for them running on Azure that give them the ability to build blockchain application quickly and easily without the complexity. So we're abstracting that complexity for them.[00:04:28] Jeff Roster: So you're taking the complexity out of blockchain?[00:04:32] Okay. , that's a very . Bold statement.[00:04:34] Maxence Cacheux: We want to be the easy button for web3[00:04:36] Jeff Roster: Okay.[00:04:37] Ricardo Belmar: I like that. The easy button for web three. Well,[00:04:39] Jeff Roster: what, you can be, I'll be your Guinea pig cuz I'm trying to do web three and there there's zero anything easy. So I'll be your Guinea pig to see.[00:04:46] Maxence Cacheux: There, there are many barriers for adoption. So we look at solving them. So,[00:04:50] Ricardo Belmar: Okay, well, let me back into that a little bit then. Talk to us a little bit about what are the, the most common complexities that hold retailers back from being [00:05:00]involved in a web three project That, that would speak to what you're simplifying essentially.[00:05:04] Maxence Cacheux: So I'll give you challenges that are applied to retailers, but also other verticals, right? I'm seeing five key challenge and these are like the five barriers that we saw that when started, right? So number one, you have a lack of blockchain developers, right?[00:05:17] They're hard to find, they're expensive. Blockchain programming language are complex. Number two web three World is different from the Web two world. I mean, we're talking about crypto wallet. You need your private key, your public keys and retailers and others are used to email ID. So how do you reconcile?[00:05:34] number three, retailers are looking at building in blockchain, but they want to connect to their existing systems, right? So how do you do that? How do you connect the, the two worlds together, right? And then a lot of them are looking at blockchains and seeing different protocols that are available. You have multiple layer one, right?[00:05:50] And which one should I choose for what use case? Can I build once and deploy another? Right? And finally, when you talk to their cfo, it's, I don't want crypto on the balance sheet. [00:06:00]So you need to solve all these barriers for them and make it easy for them to develop. Right? And that's where we come with our, with our platform.[00:06:07] Jeff Roster: So give us an example of what that would look like.[00:06:09] Maxence Cacheux: So one of the vertical use case that we built on the platform is a solution leveraging NFT or digital tokens that give them the ability to engage with consumers and they can engage with consumers in acquisition, in retention, and leveraging these digital token for loyalty program retention.[00:06:30] And we're seeing a lot of potential of the NFT technology for such use cases, right? Because it's becoming harder to acquire customers for them. So using web three, using blockchain for retention, for loyalty has a lot of potential and we're seeing a lot of very interesting use case around that and we're helping them in that space.[00:06:49] Ricardo Belmar: give me an idea what, when you have this conversation with a retailer around loyalty, I, I'm thinking of, and, and I'm, I guess this, the example here is you'd be talking to a retailer who [00:07:00] wants to add value into their loyalty program beyond, you know, let's say just offering someone discounts, which so many loyalty programs do.[00:07:06] But your, I'm guessing your message to them is, if by leveraging this technology, You're gonna have something much more tangible to offer in, in a loyalty program.[00:07:15] Maxence Cacheux: Yes. Yes. So we're, we're not telling them, you know, to throw away their existing program. What we are telling them is, Hey, if you add this additional layer, leveraging this additonal layer of blockchain, there's some very interesting use case that you can do, right?[00:07:29] So if you look at for example, the utility that you can provide with digital token, you can provide gated access to certain content. So it could be a website where I'm giving access to v i p customer to a pre-sales event, right? And only the NFT holder are able to access it, right? It could be an NFT or a token that give you access to an event in real life or in a, in the digital, right?[00:07:52] So, so on the very interesting use case around utility. The transferability, right? It's one of the key [00:08:00] property of these tokens makes some very interesting business cases, right? So you could have a membership that I can transfer to, friends that I could potentially resell. You could potentially collect royalty from the resell of that membership.[00:08:13] Right. So there's some very interesting use case around the transferability. What we're seeing as well is around customers that are creating collectibles and they're rewarding with these customers, with the collectibles, and there's a gamification around this collectible that can be exchange traded as a way to engage your existing community consumers as well.[00:08:33] Ricardo Belmar: I like this concept of, you know, the ability to offer the gated access to things or, or use that as a token to access things in, in, in real life events. Do, do you have some examples of, of retailers that are, are pursuing that and how they're, you know, what's the impact of them doing that?[00:08:48] Is what, what? I'm curious, you know, for example, when you have this conversation with the retailer , will they ask you, how do I measure the impact of offering this? How do I know this is gonna create more loyalty with my customer versus what I'm [00:09:00] doing today?[00:09:01] Maxence Cacheux: Yes. So that's, that's definitely a quick key question that they have. Right. Who is going to bring some move the needle versus my existing web two program?[00:09:09] So in many of this cases, it's very new. We might not know in advance, right? So what we do is that we're able to connect these NFTs and this blockchain solution to the existing CRM and marketing tools.[00:09:25] So they have the ability to do ab testing and compare what is the engagement of of this token, right?[00:09:31] So for example, we're giving them the ability to mint NFT that can be dynamically updated with different offers and push notification and token gated access. And they can provide some very interesting you know, token gate access to these customers, right? The token gated access that we see that makes sense is access to special offers e-com website or access to a special , community room where you can meet [00:10:00] other consumers that have the same interest as you so that you get a sense of community ownership as well.[00:10:05] So that's also an interesting use cases that we're seeing there.[00:10:08] Jeff Roster: how much work does it take to do that? So in other words, let's say and I'm gonna watch the San Francisco 49ers win this Sunday. And it's just, it's such a logical thing to say, if I'm gonna go to that game, why don't I just have coupons, programs, unique content related to that game? And why don't I send it out?[00:10:27] Why don't I brand that? Why don't I, you know Levi's Stadium is in Silicon Valley. Intel's all over it. Why wouldn't they create programs or something specific to that event? How hard is it to do that?[00:10:39] Maxence Cacheux: So we're making it very easy for the brand or the retailer to create this campaign, right?[00:10:44] So starting from a one click minting, right? So you just upload the content that you want. The NFT is being minted very easily. We can distribute that across different channel. And we make it easy so that a hundred percent of consumers are able to claim it. Right. [00:11:00] So I don't know if some of you have have been trying to claim in nft it's quite complex because you need to set up crypto wallet and keys.[00:11:06] So here we just do one click claim[00:11:08] Jeff Roster: never tried to claim an NFT for [00:11:11] Ricardo Belmar: because of that complexity.[00:11:13] Jeff Roster: here.[00:11:14] Maxence Cacheux: Exactly. So here, that's what we looked at because when we talked to brands and retailers say, Hey, I want to engage a hundred percent of the customers. I don't want to talk to the crypto enthusiast, so, we're making it very easy. It could be a QR code on a big dashboard. It could be a, a text message, anything. And in one click with a social media id, you're able to get the nft either arrive in the wallet, you might not even know it's blockchain. Just look like a coupon[00:11:40] Jeff Roster: Why would I care?[00:11:41] Maxence Cacheux: You won't care.[00:11:41] Jeff Roster: a consumer, why would I care?[00:11:42] Maxence Cacheux: You don't care. Right. And, and we're able to update that dynamically. So we provide them with the platform to build these use cases. Right. And then based on what they want to do how they want to engage a consumer. We give them the ability to remotely update that token and provide different experiences while getting all the analytics [00:12:00] from these experiences from the blockchain back to their existing marketing tool.[00:12:04] Right? So back to the AB testing. How can I compare that versus my web two marketing campaign? What is the clickthrough rate? How are people engaging? Are they taking the offer? Are they, are they transferring it or not? So what is working, what is not working? So this analytics is really important for them, and we provide that to them as part of the platform.[00:12:23] Jeff Roster: so in that scenario, fully built out, when would I get that nft? When I walk in the stadium, do I scan a barcode? Does it come to me via text? Do I have to give, how do I, how do I actually start that whole process[00:12:34] Maxence Cacheux: imagine you arrive in the stadium. There is a big jumbotron, there's a big QR code. You scan that QR code on the jumbotron.[00:12:42] Then one click access. You log in with your social media id. It could be Instagram, Facebook, gmail, outlook series.[00:12:50] You get the NFT to write in the wallet, the wallet gets automatically created. You don't even know you are in the blockchain. So you have that token and it will be a branded wallet that is made [00:13:00] available to the brand.[00:13:01] And that could also be made available as part of the existing app. So we have a way to integrate with any existing mobile application from from the customer, right? So the onboarding is seamless.[00:13:13] Like a web two experience, right? Because we want to have everybody on board. We don't want to lose anybody, right?[00:13:18] So we're not only talking to the crypto enthusiast there. [00:13:21] Jeff Roster: and the verification is in the social media login or the id Okay.[00:13:26] Maxence Cacheux: media login. And then what's interesting is that suddenly you can see from your crm, Hey, I have all this person who logged in, I have their social media. And now you have a direct relationship with.[00:13:38] So you can further engage them, right? So you can engage em during the event. After the event, they can receive an additional NFT that is memorabilia of that event that they attended, which could be a collectible. We would have value because that was an important event. There could be a video of the event, try to add, right?[00:13:55] And then they have the possibility to upsell you and engage for further events, right? It's [00:14:00] really, we're talking from a switch from CRM to orm Ownership Relationship management. Where?[00:14:06] Jeff Roster: om, yeah. Ownership[00:14:07] Maxence Cacheux: owner, relationship [00:14:09] Ricardo Belmar: Owner relationship Management [00:14:10] Jeff Roster: that one?[00:14:11] Ricardo Belmar: I can't say that I have, that's a new term on me. I'm, I'm paying attention here. I'm, I'm learning.[00:14:16] Jeff Roster: got a new [00:14:17] Maxence Cacheux: new[00:14:17] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. ORM.[00:14:18] Maxence Cacheux: in the future. Brands are going to need to have a direct relationship with the wallet of consumers. Right. In the past you had a connect with the emails, but more, we're missing more. Many of our emails today, not everybody's reading[00:14:32] Jeff Roster: well by design,[00:14:33] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Right. Yeah. By design. Yeah.[00:14:35] Jeff Roster: just so you know, I am doing that on purpose, my friend, right?[00:14:39] Maxence Cacheux: So in the future, so having a connection to the wallet of consumer is going to be very important, right. The direct consumers. Without the platform in the middle, right? Having first party data in that direct interaction with your customers and also getting them the ability to choose what they share with you and how they engage with you.[00:14:57] Jeff Roster: I have [00:15:00] garbage, 95, 1 thirty4@yahoo.com that I give to retailers because they have proven to me they are not trustworthy with not spamming me. So you're telling me, I, I, now I'm gonna give access to a wallet, so, so I can't get rid of them. That's, I guess from a consumer that's a concern.[00:15:17] Maxence Cacheux: Yeah. But you will, you will accept to claim that NFT or that digital token because there is a utility in it, right?[00:15:25] If I'm a retailer and I'm just minting and distributed nft, you need to provide goodies, right? So if you're not providing value to that consumer, and with the roadmap of features that provide benefits to them, they're not going to be interested to engage with you. Right. So that's super important.[00:15:42] Jeff Roster: So okay, interesting [00:15:43] Ricardo Belmar: Okay. [00:15:44] So from the consumer's perspective on this, if I go through, I'm engaging with a retailer.[00:15:50] I've, I've done this. I, I'm not a crypto enthusiast, so I, I'm, I'm thrilled that all, I don't have to know anything about that, right. In order to engage in this manner I'm curious what, so what happens [00:16:00] as that same consumer goes to another retailer, Do they know that they have this crypto wallet that this digital wallet that's been created, are they taking that with them?[00:16:09] Does that sit with the re that retailer they got it from, or how, how does that part of this work for the consumer?[00:16:15] Maxence Cacheux: Yes. So typically what we provide, we give the ability for the retailer to mint and distribute these tokens very easily to any consumer. And when you click on that link that you receive either on social media or via text message or via email, right? Or in a jumbotron on a QR code that you see on a product, right? One click, you have a wallet that gets automatically created.[00:16:39] This wallet is a branded wallet, right? So it'll be a retailer branded wallet, and it gives the ability for the retailer to engage you through that wallet, right? So it's like a a direct connection between you as a retailer and the, and the consumer. Right? As a consumer, if I'm a crypto knowledgeable person or I already [00:17:00] have a wallet, I could potentially transfer that to another wallet where I have all my NFT or tokens, right?[00:17:05] But another retailers would not know that a retailer send me that token, right? So there's no sharing right of this data.[00:17:13] Jeff Roster: So how many wallets would I have? Hundreds.[00:17:17] Maxence Cacheux: You could have multiples. You may have you may have a issue of the brand. You love the retailer. You may have that, that wallet for that retailers like you have different loyalty card today, right? In your wallet. So you could have different different NFT wallet with different experience at the retailers are providing[00:17:31] Jeff Roster: so NFT wallet by store or a brand or Oh, okay.[00:17:36] Interesting.[00:17:37] Maxence Cacheux: The key is for the, the retailer really to provide utility to keep you engaged, right?[00:17:42] There needs to be a benefit for me to come back, being part of a community, getting coupon discount invitation tokens points that I can exchange. So this is really the, the key for a retailer to engage consumers. Right?[00:17:55] Jeff Roster: how far off do you see mainline adoption? You know, maybe 30, 40% of [00:18:00] retailers doing something like this.[00:18:01] Maxence Cacheux: So I think in this year we're going to see definitely a lot of movement in that space. You probably have heard about Starbucks.[00:18:09] Ricardo Belmar: right[00:18:10] Maxence Cacheux: starbucks have an amazing web two loyalty program and they decided to revamp that and basically add the web three layers to provide new experience to their consumer.[00:18:20] Program called Starbuck all this is going to be launched this year, and everybody's looking at that. There's still some secrecy here on that, but I think it's going to be a lighthouse. For many retailers and many B2C brands many of the, the brands that we're talking to, they are really looking at creating token based loyalty programs, right?[00:18:38] Airlines hotels. So it's happening across the ball in the B2C space, right? Because. It can allow you to create new experiences that are not possible in web two today. And it also provide an additional layer of security. Again, the transferability of these tokens make it very interesting in terms of new use cases as well.[00:18:58] So[00:18:59] Jeff Roster: Okay. [00:19:00][00:19:00] Ricardo Belmar: All right. Interesting.[00:19:00] Jeff Roster: It's a pretty, pretty aggressive prediction. We'll see..[00:19:03] Maxence Cacheux: Yeah.[00:19:04] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Okay.[00:19:05] Jeff Roster: be watching that[00:19:06] Maxence Cacheux: But we need as Satya Nadella was saying few days back, we need a chat GPT moment in in web three and we think that's[00:19:15] right. [00:19:15] Jeff Roster: that's a pretty, that's a pretty high bar to get over though, to[00:19:18] Maxence Cacheux: And I think the use case, the use case that we're saying where is a lot of interest, is really around loyalty, around the experience that you can provide, right?[00:19:25] So how do I engage consumer di differently? How can I get first party data, first party consumer engagement? There's a lot of interesting things we're discovering every day. I'm, I'm discovering new ways of using the technology, so every day. So there's a lot of use cases that are being brainstormed right now, so it's a fantastic space to be in.[00:19:44] So, [00:19:44] Jeff Roster: Sounds good. Where am I gonna bump into your technology?[00:19:48] Maxence Cacheux: Cool.[00:19:49] Jeff Roster: Which, any, any examples today that I can use?[00:19:52] Maxence Cacheux: Yeah, you can use it for we did recently campaign an NFT marketing campaign for a major retail bank in Asia called [00:20:00] Access Bank. And what they wanted to do is to target younger audience, gen Z millennial, so they maintain thousands of NFTs.[00:20:08] And these NFT gave you the ability to enter into contest. And win the tickets for World Cup. Right. So the more you reshare the token and talk about it on social media, you could increase your chance of winning the tickets, right?[00:20:21] Jeff Roster: Thanks. Thanks for the warning on that one.[00:20:23] Maxence Cacheux: And they were able to see clickthrough rates that were much better than the existing web two marketing campaign.[00:20:30] And very interestingly, the quality of data that they got back to their CRM was very interesting because they were able now to engage directly with this consumers younger audience directly to try to convert them as customers. So that was a very interesting NFT marketing acquisition use case. The other use case that we're seeing is, are on the loyalty space, so brands that want to re reward consumer with experiences.[00:20:54] So again, the, the token gated access is very exciting around that.[00:20:57] Jeff Roster: Hmm. Okay.[00:20:58] Maxence Cacheux: yeah.[00:20:58] Ricardo Belmar: Interesting. Wow. [00:21:00] I guess definitely something we're gonna have to be watching out for Jeff.[00:21:02] Jeff Roster: Yeah. Boy. Oh boy.[00:21:03] Maxence Cacheux: And there's lot of use case. One that I didn't talk about as well is the digital passport certificate. We're seeing a lot of retailers looking at this either in the fashion or in white goods.[00:21:13] So a token being a digital passport certificate of your product where you can have your warranty proof of purchase. You could have all the maintenance if a white goods, for example if it's a fashion nft, you could potentially wear it in the metaverse in the game where some people are spending a couple of hours per day.[00:21:32] So there's also very interesting use cases there. So[00:21:35] Ricardo Belmar: Hmm. I, I guess the, the. Last question I have for you on that though, I just triggers from, as you were describing that, is there a particular segment or segments within retail that you think are more inclined to be the early adopters here?[00:21:48] You know, what you do, you expect to see it more in, fashion versus luxury goods versus home goods and, and so on. Are, are there leading segments that you expect to see this this year?[00:21:58] Maxence Cacheux: Yes. So we're [00:22:00] seeing a lot of traction in luxury in fashion with retailers that are also produce their own product rights. So, not Pure retailers, but designers and retailers because this token can have multiple properties, right?[00:22:12] It could tell the story about the brand. Who created this where did it come from? Was it responsibility stores or made, right? What is the, the story? It becomes like a proof of ownership, proof of authenticity. It could be a token that I transferred to someone.[00:22:27] When I'm reselling it and to the brand is like super important because you can then engage with the secondary market customers.[00:22:34] So for these type of retailers, fashion and luxury, it's a token that you can use from cradle to recycling for the full life cycle. You have very interesting use cases that are being explored by by those brands, [00:22:49] Ricardo Belmar: Hmm, interesting.[00:22:53] Jeff Roster: My first nrf, I worried about point of sale devices, [00:22:58] Maxence Cacheux: Yes. [00:22:58] Ricardo Belmar: and here you are now waiting [00:23:00] for what, which retailer is gonna go dive into Web three[00:23:03] Jeff Roster: point of sale devices and merchandising. And in 22 years we've come from that, which was cutting edge technology at the time to where we're talking about this and some of the other things we've talked about in the last two or three days. Really just an amazing acceleration of what we're talking about.[00:23:19] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely. Absolutely.[00:23:21] Maxence Cacheux: Yeah.[00:23:21] Ricardo Belmar: Well, max, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a really illuminating discussion for me. I'm actually kind of excited to see where this is going. I think there's, you've described a lot of interesting use cases and scenarios that would let retailers do new levels of engagement.[00:23:36] I think, so this is gonna be really fascinating to watch.[00:23:39] Maxence Cacheux: Yeah. Thank you. Thanks Jeff. Thanks Ricardo. So very excited. So for what's coming up,[00:23:44] Jeff Roster: Our pleasure[00:23:44] Ricardo Belmar: Thank you. [00:23:45] Maxence Cacheux: Thank you.[00:23:46] Show Recap[00:23:46] Casey Golden: Welcome back everyone. So are you as excited as us to watch how retailers and brands will use Web three and blockchain to transform their [00:24:00] customer experience? It's truly more than meets the eye.[00:24:03] Ricardo Belmar: Hey, wait a minute. I thought that was my line. I thought I'm the one who's supposed to make all the eighties pop culture references.[00:24:08] Casey Golden: As soon as I said it, I knew. Oh, at least you're a good influence, Ricardo.[00:24:14] Ricardo Belmar: Hundred percent. A hundred percent . So I have to say I came away learning a lot more about the challenges retailers are facing, implementing Web three and blockchain from listening to what max told us. But most importantly, now we've all got an easy button for this thanks to zblocks.[00:24:30] Casey Golden: Absolutely. [00:24:32] Well, Ricardo, as amazing as this episode was, I can't wait to hear what you and Jeff come up with next. Who do we have to look forward in the next show?[00:24:41] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, Jeff and I have yet another super interesting person to talk to coming up. Next time, we are diving into what I'll call a new take on micro fulfillment that you might not have expected. So believe me, it's the one that nobody wants to miss.[00:24:56] Casey Golden: super, but now it's time to wrap this [00:25:00] episode. [00:25:00] Show Closing[00:25:00] Casey Golden: If you enjoyed our show, please consider giving us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts. Remember to smash that subscribe button in your favorite podcast player so you don't miss a minute. Wanna know more about what we talked about today, take a look at our show notes and handy links for more deets.[00:25:24] I'm your co-host, Casey Golden.[00:25:27] Ricardo Belmar: And if you'd like to connect with us, follow us on Twitter, at, Casey c Golden and Ricardo underscore Belmar, or find us on LinkedIn. Be sure and follow the show on Twitter, at Retail Razor, on LinkedIn, and on our YouTube channel for the latest updates and content. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.[00:25:43] Casey Golden: Thanks for joining us.[00:25:44] [00:25:47] Ricardo Belmar: And remember, there's never been a better time to be in retail if you cut through the clutter. Until next time. This is the retail Razor Show.[00:26:00]
Back to mechanicum coverage. This time we go through all HQ options and elites. Remember we have both a facebook to follow and a discord to join now. Archmagos Prime/Abeyant 00:02:00 Magos Dominus/Abeyant 00:20:00 Calleb Decima Invictus 00:30:00 Archmagos Draykavac 00:42:00 Archmagos Scoria 00:57:00 Inar Satarael 01:08:00 Tech-Priest Auxilia 01:17:00 Acruitor Magisterium 01:44:00 Domitar Battle-Automata Maniple 01:31:00 Myrmidon Secutor Host 01:52:00 Closing thoughts 02:08:00 Show Closing 02:15:00
Everett Fitzhugh and Dave Tomlinson greet you from Edmonton while Mike Benton anchors pregame coverage back at 32 Bar and Grill ahead of the Jan. 17 matchup between the Seattle Kraken and Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.
Dayna has been in western New York for the holiday since December 18th. She's a victim of that Southwest Airlines cancellation mess! Unfortunately, she's still not back in Las Vegas... but safe with her parents. Sean enjoys a warm holiday in Vegas doing yard work and keeps us up to date on what's coming up on New Year's Eve. Exciting news for Vegas Revealed coming up in 2023, so stay tuned for that. Plus, a fairly new show at the Paris Hotel Casino is closing already. 'Bat Out of Hell' was set to the music of the late Meat Loaf and will exit the stage after January 1st. We appreciate the support and will be back for season 4 in January! Plus, you will be able to SEE us in Los Angeles a couple times a month. VegasNearMe App If it's fun to do or see, it's on VegasNearMe. The only app you'll need to navigate Las Vegas. Support the showFollow us on Instagram: @vegas.revealedFollow us on Twitter: @vegasrevealedFollow us on TikTok: @vegas.revealedWebsite: Vegas-Revealed.com
Direct-to-consumer. DTC. What emotional response do those words conjure for you? The formula for DTC used to be simple – spend marketing dollars to acquire new customers. Today, customer acquisition costs can be 10X higher than they used to be, so what should be the new strategy in these challenging, post-pandemic economic times? Polly Wong, president of Bellardi Wong, and our latest Retail Transformer, has the answers. Polly's agency works with the best, most successful DTC brands and she is sharing the best practices every DTC founder, brand manager, and category manager need to know to be successful in this episode! Should you open stores? Leverage print? Catalogs? Is Facebook still worthwhile? What about TikTok? Listen and find out!News alert #1: The Retail Razor Show has been nominated for The Retail Voice Award at the Vendors in Partnership Award ceremony during NRF 2023 in January in New York City! IF you're a fan of the show, please give us your vote! You can vote here: https://bit.ly/VIPretail News alert #2! We've moved up to #19 on the Feedspot Top 60 Best Retail podcasts list, so please keep those 5-star reviews in Apple Podcasts coming! With your help, we'll move our way further up the Top 20! Leave us a review to be mentioned in upcoming episodes! https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech: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 director partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring E-Motive, and Overclocked, from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno.The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorSubscribe 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/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS2E5 Retail Transformers - Polly Wong[00:00:00] Pre-Intro[00:00:00] Casey Golden: Ricardo, I've got one word for you to describe this week's show. Dtc. [00:00:06] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, so Casey, I'm thinking that's technically three words, but, but nevermind that. Um, I don't think we've done an entire show focused on DTC before, have we?[00:00:13] Casey Golden: Hey, I didn't write the script. So[00:00:21] So this is exciting and. I'm especially pumped for all [00:00:24] the DTC founders out there tuning in. This one is for you.[00:00:28] Ricardo Belmar: That's true, and honestly, if you're a direct to consumer founder listening or, or watching us on YouTube, stop right now. Go grab a pen and paper or your iPad or whatever you like to use to take notes, because believe me, you are going to be writing things down nonstop in a mad fury throughout this episode.[00:00:45] Casey Golden: Oh yeah. The tips and tricks are going to be flying. And you just don't wanna miss a[00:00:50] minute.[00:00:51] Ricardo Belmar: So should we just start the show or should we make listeners suffer a little bit more first, with more of our carefree and eloquent banter,[00:00:56] Casey Golden: Oh, you're so cruel. Let's get to the music already. [00:00:59][00:01:19] Show Intro[00:01:19] Ricardo Belmar: Hello and welcome to season two, episode five of The Retail Razor Show. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.[00:01:25] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host, Casey Golden. Welcome to the Retail Razor Show listeners, retail's unapologetically authentic podcast for product junkies, commerce technologists, and everybody else in retail and tech alike. [00:01:39] Ricardo Belmar: We are [00:01:40] back with another [00:01:41] episode in our Retail Transformers series, and honestly, if you thought last episode's guest, Alan Smithson was an absolutely incredible, never ending source of value on the Metaverse, wow are you gonna be blown away with today's guest and topic![00:01:54] Casey Golden: Yeah. As a founder, I'm so excited we're going to dive into this world of D to C and talk with amazing expert that's working with most of the top D to C brands out there. You would not believe how much knowledge she has to share, and that could really impact your DTC business by multiples [00:02:16] Ricardo Belmar: Indeed! Faithful followers, you will learn exactly why Polly Wong is more than meets the eye. This may go down as one of our most listened to episodes. We're gonna hear about what the right marketing and media spend mix should be for customer acquisition today. Because honestly, if you think it's the same as it was in the early days of D to C, boy are you in for a shock.[00:02:35] Casey Golden: Yeah, I mean, did you even consider print, like say catalogs? I bet you didn't. You will after this episode.[00:02:44] Ricardo Belmar: And then there's all the tips you're gonna hear [00:02:46] on growth strategies, how to activate your CRM for more profitable growth, retargeting those customers. And what about opening stores? Have you thought about where to open stores? [00:02:55] Casey Golden: There's just so much we could list. I mean, you're going to hear so many incredible [00:03:00] nuggets on marketing, roi, ROAS, and just so much more. [00:03:04] Ricardo Belmar: All right, then let's get to it. [00:03:06] Casey Golden: Let's roll.[00:03:07][00:03:12] Polly Wong Interview[00:03:12] Ricardo Belmar: And we're here with our special guest and latest retail transformer to visit the show. Polly Wong, President of Belardi Wong, which some people may know as a direct to consumer marketing agency. But more on that in a moment. First of all, welcome Polly.[00:03:26] Polly Wong: Thank you for having me.[00:03:27] Casey Golden: It's great to have you on the show. Since we first met you, we've both been looking forward to this conversation and really digging in. So excited [00:03:36] Ricardo Belmar: Polly just to get us started, why don't you give us a more complete introduction of yourself and tell us about your company and what you do.[00:03:42] Polly Wong: You know, I've been in retail for 25 years. I've had an incredible amount of experience. Really. It's both on the client side at some major retailers. I started 25 years ago at eddiebower.com. I was fortunate to work at Williams Sonoma Inc across their portfolio of brands before jumping to the dark side to the agency side, which is a lot of fun and an incredible learning curve.[00:04:06] It's like learning on steroids, I like to say. Today at Belardi Wong, we have 400 active clients, about 90% D TO C brands. Of course, D to C brands have stores as well. And then some very large retail brands that that all of you would know as well. A tremendous amount of experience in fashion, at home decor, furnishings also in some niche categories as well.[00:04:28] We definitely do tend to work with premium brands targeting an affluent consumer. So much of the vantage point that I have to share with you today is really from that angle of brands who are really targeting, you know, an affluent consumer. The folks out there buying, you know, two or $300 sweaters and expensive shoes and $5,000 sofa.[00:04:47] So I, I like to make that clearer, but we're really privileged just to have an incredible vantage point into the industry. [00:04:53] Casey Golden: Really excited to dig deeper in this. As I mentioned before, I'm very intrigued in, in, into the side of the business of marketing. Compared to a lot of the more traditional route that have been taken over the last decade. So clearly you're focused on direct to consumer brands, both old and new, but certainly more established brands.[00:05:10] I think based off of what you said, one of the areas getting a lot of press lately in the D to C space is really how the marketing spend is being shifted from Facebook, Google, versus other mediums. Can you tell us a little bit about what's happening here with D to C brands and how that's changing this marketing mix?[00:05:30] Polly Wong: Sure. So it's been a really fascinating year to watch how the Apple platform changes have really impacted all of the digital platforms. Specifically meta we've found, as an aside, we've found that really Google is quite a resilient, steady, reliable channel. You know, Google continues to make enhancements that work for advertisers.[00:05:52] Performance Max on Google has worked very well for our clients over the last several months, so, so Google's very kind of reliable and steady. Google has had 10 to 50% increase, 10 to 15% increases. And, you know, costs, but really in line with kind of all the cost increases we're seeing across the p and l as a brand or as a retailer.[00:06:12] So really the challenge on the digital side in the last year has really come from meta and the Apple platform changes basically led. To less effective targeting and less effective measurement. And at the same time that our clients have seen a less effective measurement and less effective targeting on meta, they've also seen some pretty steep double digit increases on CPMs, on meta or Facebook, if you will.[00:06:38] And so we've seen dramatic underperformance in the last year, specifically in the social landscape. And so, you know, D to C brands inherently were built on Facebook and Google. The inherent DNA, if you will, of, of D to C brands is that one, they're performance based marketers, and two, you know, they're just wholeheartedly focused on new customer acquisition.[00:07:01] And so now you've seen that this Facebook channel just, you know, one of the top two most critical channels for new customer acquisition for DTC brands has really begun to plummet in the last year. I know across our client base through August, our clients have spent 19% less this year versus last year on Meta.[00:07:21] And that's because of the significant underperformance. But obviously Meta has taken the lion share of most of the marketing dollars for D2C brands. So, the question is, where is it going? You know, where are they shifting marketing spend? And that's been really interesting to [00:07:35] Casey Golden: That's great, and you really mention it as like a CRM strategy. [00:07:39] Is that, Is that right? [00:07:40] Spending shifts and pivots[00:07:40] Polly Wong: Yeah, so I think, well, I think we can talk about kind of where they're shifting their spend, but also, you know, what are some of the, the pivots that D to C brands need to make in order to be successful. And I think most D2C brands have not realized yet that the most incredible asset that they have is the customer file, the customer database.[00:08:01] That they've built up over the last five to 10 years. Now they've spent millions and millions of dollars building their customer file. New customer acquisition always comes at a cost. It's an investment. You cannot have a profitable business when you are only focused on acquisition as a fact.[00:08:15] Casey Golden: Oh my God, can you just like, say that [00:08:17] Ricardo Belmar: we should just frame that just to make that clear for, for everyone who's doubting that [00:08:22] Casey Golden: We're putting that in bold print.[00:08:24] Polly Wong: Yes. Also I'll just go out on a limb and also say you can't have a large, scalable, sustainable business when you only have a handful of product as well, we can get to that later. But definitely you can't just single handidly focus on new customer acquisition so I actually see, you know, there's a lot of headwinds right now, but I see a major tailwind that D to C brands could lean into is really crm, right? You know, I've talked to many, many brands over the years that when you ask them, they say they spent a hundred percent of their marketing budget on acquisition, and it's almost like crm, customer retention management. It's just an afterthought, right?[00:08:59] Like, Oh, we have email now, of course they'll say, We have email and sms. But there are really five major channels in the CRM toolbox, and we don't see D to C brands leaning into that. It's a discipline and a skill set they need to evolve to very quickly because that's where the profit is going to come, as we kind of stare down some economic uncertainty.[00:09:18] So the five channels that we really think about, obviously e email. Second is sms. Some clients have leaned into it very quickly. Some have not. It's still a huge opportunity. I, for one, wondered at the beginning if really SMS would just be shifting sales from email, but we do find that SMS is an incremental revenue driver.[00:09:37] So you've got email and sms. Obviously D to C brands are pretty good at targeting their customer file on Facebook, but they let it work too often on its own. And you really have to think about the segmentation and targeting of lapse customers. You have to carve out specific marketing dollars at targeting customers who've not bought from you in over a year.[00:09:58] There's still a better focus for your marketing dollar than pure new customer acquisition. And so you really wanna target your lapse customer file, on Facebook, and you wanna make sure you're looking at the frequency and the messaging and the targeting and the testing against that segment. [00:10:13] So now hopefully you've got brands, you know, leveraging and leaning into reactivation on social. I think what we don't find enough is actually proactive spending on search with your lapse customers. Let's say that Mary Jane bought a sweater from you a year and a half ago, and now Mary Jane is on Google searching for a turquoise turtleneck sweater.[00:10:36] You should be there targeting her. You should be buying that ad against Mary's search, right? Her click, you should be targeting her. And so really targeting lapse customers when they're searching for your product is a huge opportunity. We don't see clients carving out marketing dollars to really have that kind of proactive approach at customer reactivation on search, so I think that's a low hanging opportunity.[00:11:00] And then for definitely print. So all 400, you know, retailers and brands here, at Belardi Wong, are in the mail. They're leveraging direct mail and catalogs for customer retention. It's extremely effective. And driving up purchase frequency and revenue per customer and overall lifetime value. The great thing about print is that, you know, you've got a hundred percent reach.[00:11:22] So if you want to target Mary Jane who bought from you a year and a half ago she's gotta at least touch the piece to recycle it, so you've got a hundred percent reach. All of our data over the last year as we've looked at it, we've found that if you want to target a specific customer at a specific time within social, you've got about an 18% chance.[00:11:43] Basically, you've got an 18% chance of reaching who you want. When you want to on Facebook, and that's because you're competing with other advertisers for her impression. Mary Jane your customer only has so much impressions and frequency on Facebook and you're competing with other advertisers, and especially in our case, as I said, our clients tend to target, you know, affluent consumers and so Mary Jane is a great shopper and there's a lot of advertisers who want her impressions, and so you can't be sure that you're going to reach her.[00:12:13] And on email, you know, maybe you're lucky if you've got a 20, 25% open rate, but once you start looking at your lapse customers, maybe you've got a 10 or 15% open rate. And so the only way that you could make sure that you get a hundred percent reach is in the mail. And so we see this CRM toolbox with email, sms, social, search and print really is a major opportunity for D to C brands who built very expensive customer files at this point, to really lean into that as a major growth strategy.[00:12:42] Casey Golden: It seems so basic, but yet at the same time, like, but nobody's doing it. , Right. Is to like really go back into that core of, of all those customers.[00:12:54] Ricardo Belmar: And I, and I thought that a lot of these DTC would have used search when. came up, right, to try to get that initial customer acquisition. So I, I find it kind of curious that if, maybe I'm wrong about that, but I, it seems to me that that's one of the original tactics I expect to see DTC brands use at the start, maybe they don't come back to it, to your point.[00:13:15] Polly Wong: You know, we don't see a fine level of segmentation and targeting honestly, within digital media buying. You know, I, I think about digital media agencies and I think of them as master tinkerers, and I can almost just see all the people behind the scenes, almost like behind a clock, you know, turning the dial a little bit this way and a little bit that way.[00:13:33] And it's really about bids and CPMs and it's about creative and frequency and the type of ad. It's really not about. Okay, This is our cheerleader cohort. This is our loyalist cohort. This is our, you know, former cheerleader cohort meeting. This used to be a best customer, and now she's not a best customer.[00:13:52] What percent of our spend are we going to target against her? What should be the target cost to retain? You know, the industry talks about the target cost of acquisition, you know, the cost to acquire a new customer, but you never hear anyone talk about the cost to retain a customer. And I think we're gonna have to see a major shift in how people think.[00:14:11] I think that's the one thing in my, my 25 years in retail. I think there has to be an inherent pivot for D to C brands to embrace some of the real kind of retail operation discipline that has existed, you know, for many years and has allowed companies to exist for decades and to become billion dollar retailers.[00:14:30] And that definitely includes financial planning. It includes inventory planning, merchandise planning, and definitely really thinking about, you know, your target customer and your segmentation and CRM and how you're allocating those dollars.[00:14:46] Casey Golden: I always say, if you spent [00:14:49] half as much time retaining your customers as you spent all of these resources on acquiring them, you'd have a completely different business.[00:14:58] Polly Wong: Yeah. You know, and I think we we're seeing, I think it's actually kind of exciting. There are definitely always some D to C brands who are leading in the space and we see. Really three major growth strategies and definitely activating more channels for both CRM and for active acquisition. You know, testing TikTok, testing connected TV or streaming tv, leaning into print for both acquisition and crm.[00:15:22] And so definitely activating more marketing channels is an important opportunity for D to C brands. But also, I can emphasize enough, and I touched on this earlier, as a matter of fact, the more product you put in front of. Across categories and price points, the more revenue you will drive from her. And I always tell people, I learned two things in my years, at Williams Sonoma Inc.[00:15:45] When I was on the client side. The first is that the best way to drive response rates is to have a range of product across categories and price points. So, okay, you know, she bought a sofa from you, what is she gonna buy next? And that's why you see these types of brands have an incredible assortment in tabletop and seasonal decor and all of those other categories, bed and bath.[00:16:06] The second thing I learned at Williams Sonoma I tell people, is that on my second day on the job Chuck Williams himself, so I'm dating myself a little bit, he said to me, Polly, you know how you sell a $200 toaster? You put a $400 toaster next to it? And I never forgot that [00:16:19] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And, it completely makes sense. I mean, I to, I have to give credit to William Sonoma, right? Who has, mastered that technique of positioning and curating the right selection at different price points to drive a particular one that you might wanna drive, I think they, I've an amazing job at doing that, and that's certainly a lesson a lot of DTC brands would need to learn.[00:16:40] And, and also kind of speaks. Theory, I've always put out that, you know, so many of these DTC brands that came to be, know, is digitally native, know, wanted to just disrupt one particular product they started with that one product and I always felt that, you know, the one question that does not get asked when they're seeing some initial success, right?[00:17:02] They're getting a lot of new customers, they weren't thinking through, okay, what's the frequency with which these customers I've paid to [00:17:10] Polly Wong: Yes. [00:17:11] Ricardo Belmar: now in some way are going to buy again the [00:17:14] Polly Wong: Yes, exactly. [00:17:17] How often? ,[00:17:18] Ricardo Belmar: most things people don't buy every week.[00:17:20] Polly Wong: Absolutely. So how often do you need to buy a mattress and how often do you need to buy a suitcase? Right? Thinking [00:17:26] Ricardo Belmar: Two. two, good examples.[00:17:27] Polly Wong: popular, [00:17:28] Ricardo Belmar: good examples. [00:17:28] Adopting Basic Retail Operations[00:17:28] Polly Wong: Brands that we've seen now struggle to grow. Absolutely. You know there are some really great smart brands out there. You know, we've seen a lot of the really high growth soft goods companies, so bedding companies, you know, there's a reason why they launch into lounge wear, right?[00:17:43] There's a reason why they launch into bath, right? So you see these bedding soft good companies launch into other categories because, okay, so I bought a set of sheets. I bought, you know, a beautiful comforter, but what am I gonna buy next from you? And you've seen home brands lean into apparel.[00:18:00] You've seen apparel brands lean into home. You know, we're going to continue to see that. Absolutely. But honestly, you know, we were just putting together some strategies internally for clients cuz there are, as I said earlier, a significant amount of headwinds, I think facing brands and retailers in the next six to 12 months.[00:18:18] There's a lot of really inexpensive ways that don't require a lot of research and development that don't require a lot of product development and long timelines. We were doing an assessment for a women's apparel company. And we were looking at their tops and we were looking at tops and the price points and the sizes and the colors of their competitive set.[00:18:38] And as we were looking at the tops, we realized, you know, you sell that long sleeve basic tee in four colors, but on average your competitors sell their long sleeve basic tee in eight to 10 colors. And also you sell yours for $8 more on average. And so maybe if you could take and just add color ways, take your top selling.[00:18:59] Products and add new colorways. Think about, you know, how much would a four, $6 price cut to be competitive? What kind of incremental revenue would that bring? And I think it's that type of merchandise analysis and merchandise planning and inventory management that honestly is a discipline that D to C brands don't inherently have.[00:19:17] So it's time, as I said earlier, to hire some good old fashioned retail operations [00:19:21] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Yeah, I think that that's an [00:19:22] That. an excellent point and [00:19:23] it's one that I think that has never been quite so obvious, right, to the DTC brands, because they had that single minded, I have this one product that we're gonna disrupt. It's this one product category, this one selection we're gonna disrupt. And there wasn't enough thought to, Well, what happens next? After you've done that? [00:19:37] I, do wanna ask you one question because you know, when Casey and I were thinking of, what we, we were gonna learn from you in this episode, and we thought, it really tells a story about that we think of as, you know, making old media, new media in a way, in a sense that as you've been describing to us now, different marketing mix and moving from a lot of pure.[00:19:57] Digital marketing spend to other perhaps more, more traditional, maybe some non-traditional, because I heard connected TV in there as well. But I'm really intrigued by the success your clients are having in print and with catalogs, which call that maybe the most traditional option a lot of brands can go with.[00:20:14] and when we've spoken to you before, you've mentioned that. When people hear catalog, sort of have an idea in their head of what that might look like. But what you're now with your, your, your clients is not exactly the same kind of format. I, I think it's a much. And maybe you could tell us a little bit more about what's evolved in this, in the print catalog space.[00:20:33] Polly Wong: Yeah. They're not your mother's catalogs anymore. You know, it used to be that you have a hundred page catalog and you've got, you know, five to 10 items per page and you put the whole store inside the catalog. And it used to be that, 80% of catalogs went to women over 55. And she only bought what she saw on the page.[00:20:51] And there's been just really a fundamental shift. First of all, there is a significant amount of print pieces folded pieces, catalogs going in home, The 20 year olds, 30 year olds, 40 year olds. And so now the catalog isn't something you, you shop from the, the catalog or the direct mail piece is a channel driver and it's driving her to the store to buy or is driving her to e-commerce to buy.[00:21:15] And over the years, as we've analyzed the results, we've seen and found that actually only about a third of the product that she buys after she gets the piece was depicted in the piece, meaning that two outta three times what she buys was not in the actual piece, but it drove her to the site or it drove her to the store.[00:21:34] So she thought she wanted one sweater, she got to the site, she bought a different sweater, So as we began to understand that there was a new purpose to print that really it was to drive her to a channel to engage and then to buy, right? Always measuring, of course, the ROAS, actually, I think it's ironic, catalogers were really the original D to C brands and catalogers were always performance based marketers.[00:21:57] So I like to throw that out there. But today, especially for our fashion clients and our home brand clients, definitely catalogs look more like look books they're more aspirational, more lifestyle photography, more storytelling. You know, we actually one of the most successful catalogs in history and the thousands and thousands and thousands of campaigns we measured, when you open up this catalog, the first two spreads are actually just really an aspirational story.[00:22:25] And yet it was extremely productive as measured by sales. And so really you're here to engage the customer and to drive her to a channel to buy, and that is the ultimate goal. Now, what we've found, depending on the product assortment, depending on the price point, depending on the target consumer, First of all, you don't have to send a full, so full, huge catalog anymore, right?[00:22:46] So most of our clients are sending catalogs that are maybe 28 or 36 pages, but not, you know, 80 plus pages. So you don't have to send her as many pages. You don't have to put the whole store. In the catalog, you wanna just say, Here's our our new products, here's our best sellers, and you wanna be compelling and you wanna send her to the channel to buy that she wants to buy in.[00:23:08] And then also we've seen a whole new lifeline because print is acting as this channel driver and you don't have to put the full assortment in front of her. We've seen an incredible amount of success with folded pieces. You know, here is our top five new products of the season. Check it out online, check it out in store.[00:23:25] And so we've found that there's a different messaging and creative strategy also because of this kind of new purpose and how consumers are interacting with print. And I should say that it, it has been an amazing ride. Really just, you know, hundreds of new brands in the mail the last couple of years.[00:23:42] But, you know, starting over a decade ago, we launched brands like Shutterfly, Minted, Revolve, Zappos, One Kings Lane. You know, we Allbirds, right? We started with Allbirds had zero customers. You know, over a decade ago we launched all of these brands into the mail. And so some folks I think already could see it, you know, early on.[00:24:03] I think what's happened is that the cost of digital marketing has become extremely competitive and saturated and promotional and expensive, and you can't always reach who you wanna reach. There's an amazing amount of real estate in print to tell your story and to put your product, and also it's effective for both.[00:24:20] Crm. I would say that mailing customers is like printing money, but also for new customer acquisition. We tend to work with premium brands and you know, to get someone to buy a $300 sweater from you when they've never heard of your brand before, the amount of real estate goes a long way in convincing new customers to buy.[00:24:36] Ricardo Belmar: That's a good point cuz in those scenarios, right, you're really asking that new customer to buy your story as much as your product.[00:24:43] Polly Wong: Absolutely. And you know, I think there's an amount of credibility and authority just as stores give D to C brands credibility. I think the same is can be set of print and I like to say that millennials can spot a manufactured brand from a mile away. And I think that there's an amount of real estate that you have to tell your story.[00:25:03] And if it's authentic, like we have clients, brands like Outer known who just have incredible, authentic story around sustainability and apparel. And a really, you know, just a huge commitment to that as a business. And they're able to build that story with their community through print [00:25:19] On Opening Stores[00:25:19] Casey Golden: one of the initiatives that's been happening lately that has me very excited, just cuz I think we all kind of started in stores, is more of these digitally native brands or pure play brands actually opening up stores and more pop up. I'm a big advocate of the in-store experience. Not that many of us have had one lately, but with the world closed for a little bit.[00:25:42] But I think it's a great opportunity to actually connect. Are you, are you helping them essentially kind of understand where they should be potentially opening up stores or opening up popups or working on that strategy based on, because you guys know so much about where the consumer lives and that community, [00:26:02] Polly Wong: Certainly you can build models regarding, you know, around trade areas to understand where your customers are at today and where your perspective best customers are at. I think to answer your original question though, you know, around just this kind of continued push of D to C brands in stores, honestly, it's really, really very simple.[00:26:26] in any category, more than 50% of sales are still in physical stores. So if you're not selling either in your own stores or on the floor at Nordstrom's, for example, if you're not building your wholesale network, then you're missing out on 50% of your market. And so that's really what it comes down to. I think one of the things that I find more encouraging today about the retail landscape than I did before the pandemic.[00:26:54] Before the pandemic. You just saw almost an absurd level of store openings from DTC brands. Brands that were suddenly opening 20, 30, 40 stores a year. When you open stores that quickly, you're not going into just a markets, you're not negotiating the best real estate deals. You aren't taking the time to build the models to understand where your customers are and where your best.[00:27:17] New perspective customers are, but I think what's great to see is I'm seeing a more cautious approach. I'm seeing the D to C brands understand they need to have a physical footprint and that maybe at the same time, now they're only opening up five to seven stores a year. They're also exploring partnerships with department stores and other retailers to be on their floor.[00:27:38] We have so many brands that we work with who sell on the floor at Anthropology, for example. And so I think that most of our clients have realized you have to have that physical presence in order to reach your customer where she's at when she's shopping, and also because it's a significant business opportunity.[00:27:55] I also think, I mean, there's no question, you know, there is, I think, better real estate deals to be had in 'A' markets because of the amount of store closings in the last couple of years, I think there are still some significant opportunities in terms of finding the right space, the right price with the right consumer.[00:28:12] And so I think that's very encouraging. I think from what I've last seen, this is gonna be the first year in a very, very long time where the number of store openings will actually outpace the number of store closings [00:28:22] Casey Golden: Yeah. I kind of saw, you know, it's nice to see that this, this natural transition, essentially it's all coming back to all these different channels and touch points where there was that moment. where it's just like you just need to be online and everybody else is doing it wrong, and then you just see it come full circle where they're starting to join. We've already went through this cycle.[00:28:45] Polly Wong: Well, you said it yourself. Yeah, you said it yourself. What's old is new again, honestly, to me, advertising on podcasts, it's radio. to me, connected TV is TV advertising, right? Like it's all we've been through these channels. Even outdoor media is having a huge resurgence right out of home media. And so I think that, you know, what it really comes down to is that the most sophisticated marketers have realized that you need a channel mix.[00:29:13] Online, offline, you need to be where your customer is at. You need to have multiple distribution channels, you need to have multiple products. And I think that the high growth brands, you know, have realized that, and I think everyone else is beginning to learn as well.[00:29:25] On marketplaces [00:29:25] Ricardo Belmar: So let me ask you too, on, on, that Polly, one of the areas that I, I think is also interesting here is how these brands leverage different marketplaces you know, within that channel mix. I mean, what, what are your thoughts there and how do you advise brands around marketplaces?[00:29:39] Polly Wong: Definitely D to C brands have had a lot of, you know, trepidation around the marketplaces. I definitely think though that they're going to be forced to consider it. we've already found is, we've just discussed that you can't have an e-commerce only business. And so we saw these e-commerce brands open up stores, and then we saw them add wholesale partners. And so now really the last major distribution channel as a source of revenue growth is the marketplaces.[00:30:03] And historically, D to C brands have been very protective of their brand's message and of their new customers. And they don't want to let anyone kind of expose their brand other than how they want it presented. However, I do think that the pressure to continue to drive revenue with all of these headwinds and because the reality is that all consumers are on the marketplaces, and you know, now we've got Macy's leaning into their marketplace.[00:30:30] I mean, every single major retailer is going to have their own marketplace online as well. I think you have to be there. I think, you know, we're finding clients kind of tiptoe into it. They're testing different strategies. They might only put part of their assortment within the marketplaces. They might actually develop a specific collection for the marketplaces.[00:30:50] So definitely I think they're cautious. But I think that they're going to be forced to consider trying it in ways they might not have a few years ago because they've gotta drive revenue growth. And because there are so many, you know, headwinds, unfortunately at the moment,[00:31:05] Retail Media Networks[00:31:05] Ricardo Belmar: So one of the other big trends that we're talking about this season on our show are retail media networks. We've, dedicated an episode on it. I was just at the grocery shop event and that was a huge, huge trend there as well.[00:31:17] So I'm curious, what, what's your recommendation for brands around you know, whether it's with the marketplaces that they may be new to or as they're getting into stores and, and wholesale agreements there? How are you advising DTC brands around retail media networks?[00:31:31] Polly Wong: You know, it's interesting. I don't think that we'll see D to C brands leverage their own assets and their own impressions and their own emails and their own social for advertising income and revenue. Because D to C brands usually are not big enough to actually make it worthwhile to suddenly open up their own assets for advertising, but certainly as it relates to the really large retailers and the real large marketplaces, I don't know why you wouldn't choose to advertise there.[00:32:01] You know, in order to make that advertising work, those platforms have to offer the level of targeting and segmentation that will drive the performance to justify the CPMs and the media spend. Why would you not test it? I mean one, I think really positive quality of DTC brands is that usually they're willing to test anything.[00:32:19] And I think in this case, not only why would you not test it and consider it, as long as you know that your target consumer is there from a sociodemographic profile perspective. But in some cases, if you are going to play, for example, on the marketplaces, you have to buy media on the marketplaces. It's not like if you build that, they will come.[00:32:37] You've gotta have the advertising dollars to actually support your sales on the marketing place on the marketplace.[00:32:42] Casey Golden: for a lot of our listeners. I'm sure they've been nodding their heads as as you speak. There's a lot of question marks though still [00:32:49] for anybody who hasn't been looking at their, their media spend in this way. What should brands be looking at a D to C or D to C brands? Be looking at a media spend breakdown.[00:33:01] You know, what portion are you seeing more of a trend? Because we see it's so scary to move a portion of your business over to something new, even if it's starting to break, There's what are, what do you see more as a breakdown? Just so people can go ahead and make the shift and just close their eyes and go[00:33:21] Polly Wong: Yeah. large brands that we see, large brands and retailers that we see doing well, that are significant in size and have e-commerce and have stores, they've really shifted to almost a 40, 40 20 marketing mix where 40% of their spend is digital marketing. 40% is offline, which could include actually tv, radio, print, out of home media.[00:33:47] And then 20% is really PR partnerships, sponsorships, influencers, you know, things around content and community. So, You know, to 40% across the digital channels, 40% across all kind of other, you know non-digital channels. And then what's really encouraging to see and smaller brands can't afford often to spend, you know, top of funnel.[00:34:12] But as a matter of fact, high growth brands do spend top of funnel. And so you'll see the. Companies are beginning to carve out 10 to 20% of their spend. So they get the pr, they get the influencers, they get the sponsorships and the partnerships that allows them to build community.[00:34:27] Launching Direct Mail[00:34:27] Casey Golden: So if there's a, if there's a direct to consumer brand right now that's listening what's the ballpark range they'd need to be? Looking at for budgeting to launch a campaign a, a direct mail campaign.[00:34:40] Polly Wong: Okay. Well, I thought you were gonna ask a bigger picture question. What percent of top line revenue do you have to spend high growth, emerging brands are spending, you know, 20 to 25% of top line revenue on marketing. Mature businesses spend closer to 10 to 15% of top line revenue on marketing and big retailers and wholesale brands might only spend, you know, six to 10% of their top line revenue on marketing.[00:35:10] But definitely if you're an emerging DTC brand today, you're definitely spending 20 to 25% of your top line revenue. So for every hundred dollars, you're spending 20 to 25 dollars. To get that. So just in terms of what you have to spend as an emerging brand to get traction. Absolutely. If you think you can build a brand from scratch that's spending, you know, $10 on the a hundred dollars, it'll never happen.[00:35:34] Unfortunately, those days are, are past us in terms of, you know, really testing print, well here at Ballardi Wong, we only, you know, we run the largest, you know, Scalable, sophisticated programs in the country. So we don't do anything small, cheaper, schlossky. So we're, we're a little bit more on the premium side here . Really to get.[00:35:52] A solid proof of concept with all of the industry best practices in place for both CRM and acquisition. You're looking at about a 75 to a hundred thousand dollars test in print and we've launched over 250 DTC brands into the mail successfully. And even little baby ones with a few thousand customers and they're all spending that much money.[00:36:11] So on their first campaign still less expensive, you know, still half as much as a three week TV campaign. So,[00:36:18] Casey Golden: mean hey, I mean, I mean that could just be one post by a tick, a certain, a couple TikTok influencers too. So, I [00:36:25] mean, you [00:36:26] know, [00:36:26] Polly Wong: That's the, you know, here's the ironic thing. You can put a beautiful full size catalog in front of a consumer for 85 cents. Your cost per click nowadays is, you know, two or $3. So the thing that's really crazy is that you can mail. 4, 5, 6 catalogs to a highly targeted audience for the cost of one click.[00:36:47] So I think that that's, you know, it seems expensive, but actually, quality touch, yes, it's [00:36:54] Casey Golden: I agree. And it's really just being able to say like, instead of spending that hundred k, the 200,000 on this, let's just go ahead and move it over here and run a test. Because I think everything that you've really kind of ran through through this conversation and what you guys are doing is just, it's, it's incredibly compelling. And it's a lot of things that potentially these customer bases or the brands are just not as familiar with because they don't have a lot of seasoned retailers in their company orgs. And so a lot of it, we see somebody doing something or like, you really only have one product. Like you do realize that there's like issues with this who gave you. You know, and then now those [00:37:43] conversations [00:37:44] Polly Wong: think, well, you know what's gonna be really interesting to see is that it's not gonna be very easy. We're already finding this. We actually do due diligence on D to C transactions because of all of our experience at Belardi Wong. And not this summer, but last summer we worked on six transactions, and this summer we didn't work on any transactions.[00:38:03] I think very quickly. It's going to be a very tough landscape for raising dollars at this moment in time. And already the industry has become a little bit weary because some of the evaluations and the losses that have happened over the last couple of years. And so I think companies are gonna have to be scrappier and smarter because it's not gonna be so easy to get someone to give you, you know, 20, $30 million just like that. [00:38:25] Casey Golden: Yeah. no, I mean yeah, I think it's great. I mean, I, I think that this is, I'm really excited to see some comments once this kind of goes, gets pushed out because I know that this is gonna be some new content that they haven't really thought about as even an option think it's [00:38:39] Using Influencers [00:38:39] Ricardo Belmar: I I, do wanna go back to one thing that you mentioned in the 40 40 20 split where you had in that 20%, you know, kind of lump together in, in pr, things like influencers, and that tends to get a lot of attention. Around, you know, what brands are spending with influencers and how they're using them.[00:38:56] Are they on TikTok yet? What? are you seeing there that's actually successful?[00:39:01] Polly Wong: You know, the truth is, is that for most clients you know, influencers can reach a small target community. But we haven't seen for most clients a huge amount of scale unless you're willing to spend, a few hundred thousand dollars, with an influencer who really has significant reach and real influence on what consumers are buying.[00:39:25] We just haven't found that for most of our clients, that actually influencers can drive any kind of sustainable scale. So maybe you pay a lot of money and you know, Mary Jane, the influencer does a series of posts maybe over two weeks about some of your new product. Maybe you get a momentary surge in sales, but it's not sustainable and you can't continue to spend those kinds of dollars for those really high touch posts. And so the one challenge that we do find with influencer marketing is it takes a lot of leg work to implement and it is often not truly scalable. It's also kind of interesting to see what's going on on TikTok, because definitely, you know, that that cut meta spend is shifting to TikTok. But TikTok is also hard to measure for the same reasons that it's hard to measure meta, right? Because of platform changes and challenges. And for the most part, because it's hard to measure the return on ad spend, on TikTok, it tends to be a top of funnel channel. Well, I can tell you that in a recession the money for top of funnel marketing is going to dry up very quickly.[00:40:37] And so you're gonna be focused on those channels that can drive real performance and ROAS because you just don't have enough funding to, to, to, to spend on those top channels. So it'll be really interesting to see, over the next six months how advertising dollars shift around. I usually feel pretty comfortable giving my predictions for retail sales and e-commerce sales, but honestly, at this point, just hand me an ball. I have [00:41:01] Ricardo Belmar: I think that's where [00:41:02] Polly Wong: I'm gonna continue to be I'm gonna continue to cross my fingers and my toes and hope that at least for our clients, that affluent consumers are still spending [00:41:09] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And so, so on what you just said, right around top of funnel and those, is there an argument to be made that if you're going to spend on influencers or TikTok, that you're, you might wanna save that for when you have a new product launch versus just trying to drive sales of an existing product? [00:41:27] Polly Wong: Absolutely. It's not something [00:41:29] Ricardo Belmar: Right. Because you scale it right [00:41:31] Polly Wong: you're gonna turn it on. You can't, you're gonna, you're gonna turn it on maybe three or four times. You know, in the world of retail, we think about five seasons winter. Spring, summer, fall, and holiday. And so you're really going to lean in just a few weeks of each season into your influencer marketing and that spend and really, lean into your peak sales curve to drive those new product sales and to get that reach.[00:41:55] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. If that makes sense. That makes complete sense. So, so last question for you Polly, and if, someone were to come and ask you right now, what's your top recommendation when you think about growth strategies for a DTC brand, what would you tell 'em?[00:42:07] Polly Wong: Considering the economic uncertainty, the headwinds and the rising costs across the entire p and l, I would say that my top two recommendations are to one, lean into crm. Make sure that you're activating all five channels targeting your existing customer base, and then two, Because you're targeting your existing customers, continue to focus on your product category expansion, you know, what is your range of product across categories and price points.[00:42:37] Consumers may start spending down they may be more value focused than ever. So, you know, what is your good, better, best merchandise strategy, right? Not only are you adding simple things like more color skews to your long sleeve t-shirt, but you know, is there a good, better, best strategy for your product?[00:42:53] Motorcycle clients we've have worked with have done this extremely well. There's a good, better, best motorcycle helmet and the best one has got bluetooth and all kinds of fun things in it. And in, in addition to keeping your, your, your head safe. So definitely I think, leaning into your customer file is a tremendous, profitable asset.[00:43:11] And then just giving existing customers more to buy. I do think there's plenty of time to lean into new customer acquisi. You know, as we begin to see some of the, the economic uncertainty clear up, hopefully by spring, I actually am quite confident that I do think things will level out and I think we'll be back sailing along by spring of 2023 is, is my hope.[00:43:33] So fingers crossed. [00:43:34] Ricardo Belmar: I think you maybe, may be right about that. And it kind of says that if I kind of read into, the two areas you highlighted for a lot of DTC brands, there's probably some new hires they need to look for to help them with those strategies, particularly around merchandising those new products.[00:43:47] Products like you talked about earlier.[00:43:49] Polly Wong: Absolutely. Absolutely. I think you have to, and also to pay attention to the competition. You know, it's amazing to me. I think brands do tend to be inwardly focused and. You know, maybe now people will have the time and to kind of step back and say, how does my assortment look compared to my competitors?[00:44:06] What are my price points? What are my size ranges? What are my number of colors? You know what is my returns policy? You know, how do I stand up against the competition? Everybody's gonna have to just be a little bit smarter. [00:44:16] Ricardo Belmar: I think that's another great point. I mean, I, even on for traditional retailers, I, I can't count how many times in the past I've been in, in a room with retailers and asked them, Well, when was the last time you walked one of your competitors' stores to see what they were doing? you know, I, I, I don't know sometimes whether I wanted to laugh or cry at the fact that they were just crickets in the room and nobody responded when I asked that question.[00:44:38] so there's definitely some truth to that.[00:44:40] Polly Wong: Absolutely. [00:44:43] Ricardo Belmar: Well, thank you So [00:44:44] discuss. I'm probably gonna go down as one of the, our, our most commented episodes with so much in good information and, and advice and I think really unique details that you've helped surface here for, for DTC brands as they grow into, I would call becoming a, full channel retailer in a sense.[00:45:03] and really didn't, know, cover a lot of ground around making old media, new media, like we started to talk about earlier.[00:45:09] Polly Wong: Great. Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been fun this afternoon to connect with you and I, I hope you both have a, a lovely fall season.[00:45:16] Casey Golden: Definitely. For our listeners who have been furiously taking notes during this episode, what's the best reach way for them to reach out to you or follow your company?[00:45:26] Polly Wong: Yeah, obviously we're on the social channels, but if you wanna reach out through the contact us page at Belardi Wong, if you would like to talk to me directly or have any questions or comments for me directly, I know that they'll, they'll make their way to me and I'm always happy to chat and connect.[00:45:39] Casey Golden: Great.[00:45:40] Ricardo Belmar: Well, thank you again, Polly, for joining us. We hope to have you back soon.[00:45:43] Polly Wong: Thank you so much. Have a great one.[00:45:45] Casey Golden: You too. That's a wrap, Ricardo.[00:45:48] Show Closing[00:45:48] Casey Golden: We hope you enjoyed our show and we can't ask you enough to please give us a five star rating and review on apple podcast to help us grow and bring you more great episodes. If you don't wanna miss a minute of what's next, be sure to smash that subscribe button in your favorite podcast player. And don't forget to check out our show notes for handy links and more deets. I'm your host, Casey Golden. [00:46:18] Ricardo Belmar: And if you'd like to learn more about the two of us, follow us on Twitter at Casey c golden and Ricardo underscore Belmar, or find us on LinkedIn. Be sure to follow the show on LinkedIn and Twitter at retail razor. Plus our YouTube channel for videos of each episode and bonus content. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.[00:46:35] Casey Golden: Thanks for joining us.[00:46:36] Ricardo Belmar: And remember, there's never been a better time to be in retail. If you cut through the clutter until next time, this is the retail razor show.
Interested in the metaverse and need to know how to get started? Meet Alan Smithson, founder of MetaVrse, multiple TED Talk speaker, and builder of “The Mall” in the metaverse, but not just any mall! If there were a hundred-page encyclopedia of the metaverse, Alan would fill every page but you'd still need more room to cover his vast knowledge of all things metaverse. It's season 2, episode 4, and we're continuing our Retail Transformers series – you'll see why Alan Smithson is truly more than meets the eye!Alan tells you what you need to get started with the metaverse, but takes us on an even deeper journey that touches on the future of jobs in digital technologies, how education needs to change to keep up, how the metaverse could make the world a better place, and of course, why shopping should be fun again! Plus, we'll learn why asking children what they want to be when they grow up is the wrong question to ask. The real question is …News alert! We're back at #20 on the Feedspot Top 60 Best Retail podcasts list, so please keep those 5-star reviews in Apple Podcasts coming! With your help, we'll move our way further up the Top 20! Leave us a review and be mentioned in a future episode! https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech: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 director partner marketing advisor for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring E-Motive, and Overclocked, from the album Beat Hype, written by Hestron Mimms, published by Imuno.The Retail Razor ShowFollow us on Twitter: https://bit.ly/TwRRazorConnect with us on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/LI-RRazorSubscribe 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/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS2E4 Retail Transformers - Alan Smithson[00:00:00] Pre-Show Intro[00:00:00] Alan Smithson: Good morning. Retail Razor. No, maybe too much. [00:00:05] Ricardo Belmar: actually we might, we might use that at the, in the intro beginning. [00:00:07] That was pretty [00:00:08] Good. ..That [00:00:09] Alan Smithson: like bit connect . I wanna go to a crypto conference and start doing that. Bit connect[00:00:17] Ricardo Belmar: Now that would be fun to see. [00:00:19] Alan Smithson: Too early maybe. Okay. We'll just start now. [00:00:21] Ricardo Belmar: Okay. All right, here we go. Here we go. [00:00:23][00:00:23] Introduction[00:00:23] Ricardo Belmar: hello, and welcome to season two, episode four of the Retail Razor Show. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.[00:00:49] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host, Casey Golden. Welcome Retail Razor Show listeners to retail's favorite podcast for product junkies, commerce technologists, and everyone else in retail and retail tech alike.[00:01:01] Ricardo Belmar: And we have a truly special treat this week. Following up from our season debut episode on the Metaverse, we are back to talk more metaverse this week, aren't we?[00:01:10] Casey Golden: Yes, and I'm excited. Our listeners and viewers should be excited because this week we're not only talking Metaverse, but we're continuing our Retail Transformer series with special guest, Alan Smithson, founder and CEO of the company, Metaverse.[00:01:24] Ricardo Belmar: Yes. Our faithful followers will learn exactly why Alan is 'more than meets the eye'.[00:01:31] Casey Golden: Aww, you're gonna use that line, every time for these series, aren't you?[00:01:35] Ricardo Belmar: Absolutely, a hundred percent. I am totally here for that.[00:01:39] Casey Golden: Okay, so let's talk about Alan. There are few people in the early days of the Metaverse that can talk in depth about what retailers need to look at when building their metaverse strategy.[00:01:49] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, when we first talked to Alan, you know, when he first came to one of our clubhouse rooms, I was really impressed. And just like you said, he's got the knowledge about the metaverse. We'll also hear about his solution, the mall, that he's building, that will really change how retailers look at the metaverse.[00:02:03] And listeners or viewers are gonna come away with a really smart plan on, on how to attack the metaverse and get experimenting right away, just like we predicted back in season one episode four.[00:02:13] Casey Golden: And experimenting, and experimenting, trying things out is a matter of showing up and learning how to experiment. Alan hits on all of these topics and more honestly, each episode this season has been incredibly informative, but our guest energy is solid, true innovators. I don't know how we keep doing this from one episode to another, but keep those notepads handy.[00:02:35] You'll need it.[00:02:37] Ricardo Belmar: That's right. I mean, we could go on and on about all the juicy details Alan will talk about, but I think I can sum it up by saying if you were gonna write a hundred page Encyclopedia of the Metaverse, Alan would be on page one all the way through page 100, and you'd probably be asking for more pages after that.[00:02:54] Casey Golden: Agreed, so let's get to it then. Our interview with Alan Smithson co-founder of MetaVrse. [00:03:04] AlanSmithson Interview[00:03:04] Ricardo Belmar: And we are here with our very special guest, Alan Smithson, co-founder of the company MetaVrse, whose mission is to enable creation in the Metaverse for everyone. Following from our clubhouse session in our season one opener on the Metaverse and one of what's likely to be many more discussions we'll have on the metaverse going forward.[00:03:23] Alan, welcome to the Retail Razor Show. [00:03:25] Alan Smithson: Thank you so much, Ricardo and Casey. Thanks for having me. This is so, so exciting. You know, we we got to meet in person before these things, which is super cool, you know, and normally it's the other way around. You do all these podcasts and things, and then you finally meet somebody, you're like, Oh, yeah.[00:03:38] So it's really great to see some familiar faces and, and dive into the, the Occam's razor of retail .[00:03:46] Ricardo Belmar: exactly[00:03:47] Casey Golden: I'm so glad to see you Allen and having you here with us this morning. I'm just really excited to catch up and learn what's been going on since the last time we saw each other. [00:03:59] We're [00:03:59] Alan Smithson: many things. [00:04:00] Casey Golden: right. We're not casting from the, the metaverse yet. But who knows? This time next year, a seismic shift is taking [00:04:06] Alan Smithson: time next week we're gonna be releasing some cool stuff and we built in full video chat capabilities into our project. So we'll get into that later. But yeah, the three pushed some technology that will allow us to do this inside of virtual world.[00:04:21] Casey Golden: Interesting. Yes. Experiences on the internet are expected to be more immersive, three dimensional and virtual with the realization of web three . I believe the metaverse will will play , an integral role in product discovery and brand experiences.[00:04:36] Some people are saying it's dead and now it's like coming back. Some people said it's, this is just natural traction. So I mean, I think we're all here for the dips and we're all here for the eyes.[00:04:47] Alan Smithson: I really love the articles that say, you know, the Meta versus Dead or, you know, these are the same articles that in 10 years from now, people will look back and go, Oh yeah, you, you're the guy who wrote the internet as dead article. Good for you. You know, that really inspired a whole generation of people to build the internet, so, [00:05:04] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, it's like how many years ago when everybody was saying physical retail was dead,[00:05:09] Alan Smithson: I mean, yeah, like you can say everything's dead. Look, when we invented tv, people said, Oh, this is gonna replace radio. Every car still has a radio in it. [00:05:20] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:05:21] Alan Smithson: like, radio didn't go away. It just changed and morphed. And you know, now we, now we have Spotify. Okay, maybe radio is not the primary thing, but it never died.[00:05:32] You know, TVs didn't go away when we got the internet. You know computers didn't go away when we got mobile phones. And, you know, mobile phones aren't going away anytime when we get VR and, and AR glasses. So, you know, adding new mediums does not necessarily mean that you, the other one fades away and dies, you know, it just becomes another medium.[00:05:51] There's, , let's say 10 years ago you had, I don't know, a billion people on the internet. Now we have 4 billion people on the Internet. Like, you know, the, the time right now is, is explosive growth. I mean, companies are raising, hundreds of millions of dollars, you know, tens and then hundreds of millions of dollars for internet technologies and metaverse technologies and web three technologies.[00:06:14] You know, this is just the money going in to invest to the future. So, I mean, we're in for a, a really, really interesting next, I guess, eight years now that we're almost kind of at the end of 2022. , By the end of this decade, the world will look very different than it does today,[00:06:30] Ricardo Belmar: Oh yeah. Yeah,[00:06:31] Casey Golden: I agree with that a hundred percent.[00:06:33] Ricardo Belmar: so, [00:06:34] Alan Smithson: none of the things will be dead.[00:06:35] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. No, none. None of it. We're just keep adding more and more I think as we're gonna get [00:06:39] into [00:06:39] Alan Smithson: more people coming on the[00:06:40] internet and more [00:06:41] Casey Golden: I'm [00:06:41] all [00:06:41] Alan Smithson: I like reading. [00:06:42] Casey Golden: web, like 6.0 already, right?[00:06:45] Alan Smithson: Why don't we have six G? I mean, my 5G phone doesn't really do anything for me. I'm like, 5g. I still have no signal. What the heck?[00:06:55] Casey Golden: It's still a marketing boy.[00:06:57] Alan Smithson: I bought a big phone that folds in half so that I can have all the things[00:07:02] Ricardo Belmar: And you're still waiting. And you're still [00:07:04] Alan Smithson: That's the wait. I still[00:07:05] Ricardo Belmar: so [00:07:06] Alan Smithson: but the technology's getting super fast. The the one thing that's exciting that. Most people are consuming the internet on a mobile phone now. Mobile phones and computers are the kind of dominant, but mobile phones kind of leapfrogged and it's places like Africa. They, they just bypass computers altogether and just went straight to phones.[00:07:22] Same with China. And so the phone technology is[00:07:25] Casey Golden: say, with 10 year olds,[00:07:27] Alan Smithson: exactly. 10 year olds in the Chinese, they, they just bypass computers all together.[00:07:32] Ricardo Belmar: Right. [00:07:33] Alan Smithson: But yeah, the, the world is using mobile phones to access the internet, and the mobile phones are getting so good. You know, the iPhone 14 came out y. These things are super, super computers now.[00:07:45] I mean, if you, One of the people that I, I really think highly of is a guy that runs this company called Otoy. They're a rendering engine and I can't remember the guy's name, but they came up with this concept of the render token. This was way before the whole crypto craze, and they said, What if we could tap into everybody's phone and computer and do batch rendering around the world?[00:08:06] So let's say Disney as a project, right? And they, you know, they need 500 servers to, to run this, you know scene of a Disney movie. Well, can't we then just push it out to a thousand phones, Have everybody, you know use the GPUs that are bit, you know, kinda sitting idle for most of the time on your phone.[00:08:22] Can we leverage that and then pay people for, for using this idle time on their phones?[00:08:27] seem to take off because I think it was a bit early, but that ability to tap into the billions of smartphones and computers out there and the processing power that is sitting idle, I think is going to be a key part of the metaverse moving forward in, in kind of the long term strategy. I mean, this is not, it's not an overnight thing. Nobody's really figured it out yet. But if we can do that, you think of how many computers around the world we could tap into for ai, for modeling, for protein folding for, you know, the good of mankind.[00:08:55] We can really use these these idle devices that are sitting idle for, you know, let's say most people, their phones are only sitting idle while they sleep, but[00:09:04] you know, it's, eight hours of sleep, depending on who you are. Casey, who only sleeps four hours a night,[00:09:12] What is MetaVrse & The Mall[00:09:12] Ricardo Belmar: Right. Well, Alan, so, diving into this space a little bit more, tell us a little more about what Metaverse is in your company and what you're doing and what you're and what that means for retailers and brands.[00:09:24] Alan Smithson: So we we started a company called Metaverse back in 2016, spelled M e t A V R s E, you know, for the vr idea, we built all sorts of projects in, in virtual, augmented, mixed reality, and 3d. We've done over 160 projects now but we've done everything from building retail locations virtual stores.[00:09:43] We've done virtual showrooms for automotive. We have built virtual training for, for medical, for consumer electronics. We did a lot of work for Samsung where we took their their new phone models, actually including this one, and then we animated them opening and you could turn it around and, you know, look inside and all this stuff.[00:09:59] We did a bunch of stuff for Samsung. We built virtual showrooms for MasterCard, but all of these things were actually built on our own engine. And so over the years we actually were building and working on our. What you would call a game engine or a creation platform. So similar to Unity and Unreal we have our own base, you know, rendering technology that allows us to render directly to the internet, directly to a web browser on a mobile phone.[00:10:24] So one of the, the claims to fame for us is that we have a low code, easy to create platform that bypasses the app stores. We actually don't have to go through Apple or Google. We just hit publish. It goes to a browser and works on any device. So this is super powerful and we really set up a goal in mind to build a platform that would let anybody participate and create in the Metaverse.[00:10:47] And so our mission is Metaverse creation for every. That's you know, that's always kind of been our ethos. It used to be XR creation for everyone, and then the whole world moved to the word metaverse. So we're like, Okay, well I guess we should jump on the bandwagon. Even though we started the bandwagon,[00:11:01] Casey Golden: What was xr [00:11:02] Alan Smithson: virtual augmented mixed reality or XR or extended reality is like a[00:11:06] Ricardo Belmar: yeah,[00:11:06] so it mixed, all of it[00:11:08] Alan Smithson: Yeah, I mean, we, we were all in on xr. We did the XR for Business podcast. We did the XR for Learning podcast. We did XR collaboration, which is a whole thing on, you know, collaboration platform. . We really, truly thought the whole world was going to xr and then outta nowhere Zuckerberg said, Hey, we're gonna be called Meta.[00:11:24] And the whole world went to Metaverse and we're like, Oh, well it's a good thing. We called our name That, and applied for the trademark before then[00:11:30] Ricardo Belmar: Ha. Good thing.[00:11:31] What moment led to creating MetaVrse?[00:11:31] Casey Golden: What was that one moment? Where you're just, cuz you've had some other businesses, you've had some worked in some other spaces. But what was that, that moment? Was there a special aha moment or something where [00:11:44] Alan Smithson: yeah. [00:11:44] Casey Golden: you're just like, I'm gonna build like the next version of the world,[00:11:48] Alan Smithson: It was a combination of things. Casey, honestly, it we owned a, a DJ product company called Emulator where it was a big glass, see-through touchscreen that you could play on and you could perform, but the crowd could see what you're doing cuz it was a see through piece of glass that you were DJing on.[00:12:01] We worked with, you know, infected Mushroom and Morgan page. And actually just recently a year ago Jean Michelle Jarre did a huge New Year's Eve virtual New Year's Eve party. It was huge. 7 million people attended and he used our emulator on stage in the virtual world as well.[00:12:15] So, I mean, we built this piece of tech.[00:12:17] We brought it to the world. We were working with big artists. And then we unfortunately brought on the wrong investor and so we lost that company. But right before that happened, I got invited to perform at Curiosity Camp by Eric Schmidt. And Eric Schmidt is, you know, obviously the former CEO of Google and he has this camp that everybody goes to called Curiosity Camp.[00:12:36] And so you go there and it's like camp in the middle of nowhere. I performed, it was kinda like a mini burning man for like 150 entrepreneurs, investors. AI nerds and a bunch of really smart people getting together just to have an UN-conference about what's coming in the world and, and, you know, new economic models and new technology models and these types of things.[00:12:55] So I got to perform. And then after that, I tried the R for the first time in this tiny little tent. And I remember putting it on, it was like a giant brick putting on my head. It was the DK one, the Oculus, and this was in 2014. Put on these giant headphones. And I sat there and they turned it on. And I remember sitting there going, Oh, like having this gasp of, Oh my God, this is amazing.[00:13:14] And I remember staring and I was looking at a concert, but it was so visceral that I felt like I was at the concert. The sound sounded right and, and I just sat there and I was like, Wow. And I remember somebody taking their hand and putting them on my shoulder, and I was on a swivel chair and they turned me around like this, and I realized that I could look everywhere. I was like, Oh my God. I could see the ceiling and the lights and the floor, and I just looked every. Then they hit a button and put me on stage, like I was up in the crowd. And then all, I was standing on stage next to Beck, looking at the artist, hearing it from my ears, looking up the crowd. And I thought, Oh my God.[00:13:49] And as a DJ myself for 20 years, I had this kind of moment where I was like, Holy crap. They just put me on stage in a place where nobody in the world gets to stand. Think about that. You know, like only the artists and the band or the DJ and maybe his manager get to stand on stage. Nobody gets to see this . And by transporting me in vr, I was there and I was like, This is gonna change everything, everything.[00:14:13] And that's, you know, right after that, we kinda lost the company, the, the DJ company. And I said, Well, let's just get into this now. And so in 2014 we started working in VR and we 3D printed our own cameras. We, we had 360 cameras built out of GoPros. We did everything. We did 360 videos. We did AR apps.[00:14:30] We did projection sandbox where you, you had connects and you, if you dug the sand out, it actually projected different things like topography of the sand. Did a VR photo booth for Samsung, which is super cool. We use their camera and you could take a picture with you and your friends and would Photoshop you into space, so you jump outta the machine and you could look at yourself in space with your friends in vr.[00:14:50] Casey Golden: That's great. So like as soon as you got like that one exposure hit, [00:14:54] it [00:14:55] Alan Smithson: that was it. That was.[00:14:56] Casey Golden: we're going this way,[00:14:57] Alan Smithson: Oh yeah. You know, I, I kind of had this thought that this is the future of human communication. This was like, okay, if I'm gonna communicate with somebody from long distance and we can stand there and like put these glasses on and be in the same room, this is gonna be the future of human communication.[00:15:11] And that was my whole ethos. I've since expanded that because, you know, and even if you go on our website, metavrse.com, we say that the Metaverse engine is the future of human communication, collaboration, commerce, and culture, because if you kind of take all of those four, that's really where we are right now.[00:15:29] The metaverse is impacting these things. So yes, we can communicate better, we can have a sense of presence, we can collaborate. You know, the, the new Bugatti was just designed in nine months rather than three years because they used VR to collaborate. You know BMW's been using VR to calibrate all the automotive companies are using it, not just to sell things, but to create.[00:15:47] Ricardo Belmar: yeah, to build,[00:15:48] to help them build faster. [00:15:49] Alan Smithson: so you know, collaboration is gonna be a big part. And then commerce, obviously 3D retail, duh. I mean, you know, Shopify's already showing in 96% improve, you know, uptick in conversion rates when using 3D on a site versus just 2D images and videos. So we're gonna go to 3D for sure.[00:16:09] Everything in the world, every brand, every company in the world will need all of their products and assets. Converted to 3D into 3D worlds, and over the next, you know, by the end of the decade, let's say. And that's a challenge because, you know, how do you convert them? Do you take CAD models and change them into 3d?[00:16:27] Do you take photographs and try to use photogrammetry? Do you use the scanners that are coming in the phones now? Do you use AI just using photographs to convert to 3d? So I think the biggest challenge over the next, you know, eight years or 10 years, end of the decade, This technology is showing massive upticks and, and conversion rates and all of the things from training to marketing to retail to e-com.[00:16:48] All of these things are being impacted positively, really positively, but it's still hard to make them. It's still hard to create the 3D worlds, the 3D environments avatars, clothing for avatars, these types of things. And so I think we're only just scratching the surface of what's possible. But AI is going to fill in a lot of the blanks over the next decade [00:17:07] Casey Golden: That's great.[00:17:08] Nexus of Three Technologies[00:17:08] Alan Smithson: I recently wrote an article called The Metaverse is the nexus of these three technologies. And the article, it, it's kinda like you have to read halfway through the article before I talk about them, because you know what, A little leading thing there. But the idea is that you have three technologies in addition to the internet we have today.[00:17:24] So the internet today, we have the ability to have video and audio and record and all these things that we're doing now, but then you wanna have depth, you wanna be able to walk around a virtual world. So it has 3D or XR vr, right? So you've that 3D component we call xr. Then you've got ai, which is gonna be, you know, natural language processing for maybe you wanna talk to a character, maybe you wanna get help in the store.[00:17:44] You can have conversations. Then computer vision, maybe you wanna see a product and you're like, What does that look like in my house? I hit a button, it changes the camera. Now I can see that couch in my house because the camera itself is using computer vision to understand my living room. Actually, IKEA came up with this really cool thing.[00:18:00] A quick video of your house and it blocks stuff out. Like it'll take your existing couch out and put the new one in for you. You're like, Whoa, this is crazy. So[00:18:08] computer [00:18:08] Casey Golden: love AR for home goods, like for furniture. I mean,[00:18:12] Alan Smithson: So you've got, you know, this 3D ar and then you've got ai, which, you know, kind of enables all that. And the new AI algorithms are allowing you to we have one called in World where you can talk to characters, and the other one that we're looking at right now is anything world.[00:18:26] And the idea is that, Use a text description and it will build a 3D environment for, you can say, I, I need a room with four walls, five windows, a tree in the corner, and a couch over here, and it will build it for you. Now it's very low poly and it's, it's not, you know, it's not perfect, but it's, it's automatic.[00:18:44] It's kinda like, you know, Have you seen Mid Journey and Dall-e yet[00:18:47] Casey Golden: I love Mid Journey. I've been playing on there until like I ran out of [00:18:52] Alan Smithson: credits [00:18:52] Casey Golden: could play [00:18:54] Alan Smithson: I was like,[00:18:55] What the amount of credits, Here's my credit,[00:18:57] my [00:18:57] money, [00:18:58] Casey Golden: do it again. I was having so much fun with it. [00:19:01] and it. [00:19:02] Alan Smithson: and licensing. So like, why would I ever go to a stock photography site ever again? Because I say, Okay, I need, the other day I said I needed a metaverse, whatever. I typed in whatever I, you know, description. It gave me a couple. I was like, not happy. I did it again. I was like, Oh, that one's nice. I up resd it and now that's the image for my article.[00:19:20] Casey Golden: Yeah,[00:19:21] Ricardo Belmar: it's exactly what you wanted. [00:19:22] Casey Golden: I, actually think that it's brilliant that if I could just go ahead and create one. and then it would create like 500 versions.[00:19:31] Alan Smithson: Oh, I'm sure that's coming. I,[00:19:33] I'm sure. [00:19:33] Casey Golden: I'm just like, okay, I like this, but like, don't gimme one now I want like a set of four. Well, you know what, just gimme a set of 500.[00:19:41] Alan Smithson: Yep. You know, this was a really good processing power at that point[00:19:45] because these images, so you know, instead of four it can generate 400. It's, this is the thing with ai, if people don't understand, it's just raw processing power. That's why if we can tap into the phones around the world, You know, use some of this idle processing power, then you just have more power available to do it.[00:20:01] Because right now it's kind of expensive, right? You, you put in a request through mid journey, it goes up to their cloud. Somebody's gotta pay for, you know, an actual computer to process that. Create these four or five or 400 images for incident em back. Anyway, the last technology that we didn't touch on, so xr, ai, and the last one's blockchain. know, how do you have a decentralized ownership of assets? How do you have a record of maybe, you know, maybe you just want something simple like a record of your employment or your record of the things you took for training. Cuz right now you go to university, you have a degree, right? That degree is held by, let's say, you know, let's just use Harvard, right?[00:20:36] Harvard holds your degree. You now put on your, on your LinkedIn, Hey, I went to Harvard at, you know, there Now does, do employers go and verify that? Do they go to Harvard? Chances are, or they. a lot of times. So maybe having a, you know, verified way to not only take your degree, but all the courses that you took.[00:20:53] Maybe you took a course on Udemy or Udacity or you, you did a side course. The side courses are really the skills that you're gonna need, because that's why people are taking, that's why people are learning on YouTube, because right now the world's moving faster than the universities, colleges, and high schools can keep up, and so the curriculums have to go through rigorous vett.[00:21:13] By the time they go through that, it's maybe two, three years, the technology's already passed and like moved on. So we're kinda in this weird technology meets, you know, learning model. And actually I did a TED talk called the, the Marriage of Technology and Education and where I just said, Look, we should be using all these technologies that are, that we're inventing not only to train people on those technologies and how to use them, but use them for this, for for learning.[00:21:39] So we should be using AI algorithm. To do this, and actually something I read yesterday, you know, the company Striver s Str r ivr, they do all the training in VR for Walmart. They've trained over a million people for Walmart. And one of the things they said in their early Stanford hit Human Interaction Lab, the, the early study they did was a teacher, very simple study.[00:22:00] They had a teacher and two students, and they were all represented as avatars in VR. Now the teacher is looking at a student, right? So they have eye contact with the student. But imagine the avatar can look at both students equally. So even though the teacher may not be looking at either student, maybe looking down the middle, the avatar looks like it's looking right at you.[00:22:19] And so you have this personal one-on-one connection, even though it's one to many. And so you imagine if a, a class of a hundred people, everybody feels like you're looking directly at them, and this is super powerful.[00:22:31] Casey Golden: That's [00:22:31] interesting. Yeah, I think that, you education versus application. It's definitely behind. I don't feel like we're, we're really preparing kids for work or to understand what the career opportunities are because it's just so antiquated of yet you don't have to do that anymore. Like, these are all the new jobs in that space, under that topic that literally nobody's talking about.[00:22:58] So I think it's very interest. I asked a, a nine year old before the pandemic, which I'm like, So what do you wanna do? Like when you grow up, right? The, the, the number one question. And she just like, shrugged and pushed back on the pool and like, went backwards. 11. She's like, It doesn't really matter.[00:23:19] It's not like they'll ex, they won't exist anymore by the time I need it. [00:23:25] I just mind [00:23:27] Ricardo Belmar: Hmm. Wow.[00:23:28] Yeah. [00:23:28] Alan Smithson: think that the key to this is asking a different question. The different question is, is this instead of what do you wanna do when you grow up? Or what job do you want to get? Because we don't know what the jobs are gonna be. We don't, we're inventing them as we go. And something like, I read a stat, something like 60% of jobs over the next decade won't exist,[00:23:45] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that's right.[00:23:46] Yeah. [00:23:46] Alan Smithson: So what are we training people[00:23:47] for? [00:23:48] We don't [00:23:48] Ricardo Belmar: Right. We don't [00:23:48] Casey Golden: a nine year old to tell me that.[00:23:50] Ricardo Belmar: we, We don't even know. That's why we need better tools, Right. To be able to do [00:23:53] What problem do you want to solve?[00:23:53] Alan Smithson: so here's the better question to ask in my opinion, is what problem do you wanna solve in the[00:23:58] world? [00:23:59] Ricardo Belmar: That's the [00:23:59] Alan Smithson: know, technology can be used. It doesn't matter if you have a problem you wanna solve, like climate change, I want to solve, I wanna stop sharks from being harvested for their fins. Okay? If you take that, that singular cue, you can use all sorts of technologies to disrupt supply chains to, you know sink ships. You could do everything in your power to people from fishing for sharks, cutting their fins off and throwing them back. I mean, imagine just one person had a singular vision on that and used every piece of technology to disrupt that industry. Of course, you do [00:24:32] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. It, it's like the, the number one thing, right, the technology brings is agility to do these things quickly. [00:24:37] Alan Smithson: we're not teaching people. that, one, they have all the technology at the fingertips as long as you have access to the internet and a phone or a computer. Two, you can make a big difference as an individual. And three, we're not teaching people to set goals and look at long term horizons. So when Julie and I got into Metaverse, this was actually not our long-term goal.[00:24:59] Our long-term goal is to build a new education system using this technology. But we're in year seven of a 30 year plan. mean, literally, you know, we started in 2014, we're now in, you know, 2022 and we're going out to, you know, 20, I think it was 2048 or something, was our kind of goal. So imagine looking 20 years out as a student instead of saying, What do you want to, what kinda job do you wanna get?[00:25:22] Well, I'll get a job and then six months later, my employer will lay me off and then I'll go through this thing. And once you get into the the rat race of having to pay rent, your opportunities to dream huge and solve world problems really diminishes. Because you just need to pay your bills. And I think this is one of the one of the things that we can do better as a society is, is give people a bit of a safety net so they can start to try to cha to take on big problems in the world.[00:25:47] But you have to tell them what the problems are and what are some of the solution opportunities, and then say, here dedicate your life to one, solving this problem.[00:25:55] Casey Golden: Yeah, no, I agree. And I think that that's a much better way of looking at it. And I think it's just gonna be inevitable. Like I will never ask that question again after I got that answer because I too realize that like, it's a wrong question.[00:26:09] Alan Smithson: You know, ask me, what are you gonna do when you grow up? And I'm like, Well, I don't know. I, I have been in my life, I, I graduated with a degree in molecular biology. I was a pharmaceutical rep. I owned a medical billing company. We owned a hostile, We we had a nutraceutical company.[00:26:26] We had a DJ business. I was a DJ for 20 years. We had a technology company and now we own a game engine. So who knows where life will take you. But now we have a, a singular vision and, and mission to, to create a new education system for the world using the technologies that we're talking about today.[00:26:41] And we, we actually settled on retail as a model to focus on that because all the technologies we need for retail at the highest levels. So, you know, we're building a virtual mall, which is insane, but we're building the world's largest virtual mall, and all the technologies in there are actually being built in mindfulness of what we're gonna need for education.[00:27:02] So the hundredth floor of the mall, each floor of the mall is a million square feet, so it's a hundred floors tall. Each floor is a million square feet, so you have a hundred million square feet of virtual space to build retail. Experiences and entertainment and all these things. But the hundredth floor is actually owned by the Unlimited Awesome Academy, which is Julie and i's trust to build this new education platform.[00:27:23] So the hundredth floor of the mall will benefit from the entire mall. The 20th floor of the mall is an education floor, so we have, you know, floor one to 20 is owned by the mall and leased to brands. So we've got like a luxury floor, automotive floor, consumer electronics, all these things. Floor 20 is actually reserved for education.[00:27:39] So we're gonna put education systems in there and let them have the, the floor, There's no charge for that. So we really do have this kind of long term vision of how we can leverage the, the retail world for the technology. Cuz we're, we're working with our partners to build insane amounts of technology, like crazy stuff.[00:27:56] We can, We built a technology recently called Infinite, l o d, or infinite level of detail that allows us to have an infinite virtual world. Meaning the mall's one building, when you leave the mall, it's vast. I mean, you could build anything you want in as far as you see. And it could be out in space like we designed it so that it doesn't, it, it loads on any phone fast and you can load and go anywhere in the world and walk around and it's just vast, right?[00:28:22] So that technology, I think is gonna revolutionize how. Build these things, because now what it typically happens is you build a scene and the scene is a fixed map, like, you know, Decentraland, a fixed map, sandbox, it's a fixed map. And then what you do is as you walk around the map, it's kinda loading different parts of the map.[00:28:40] Well, we don't have a fixed map. We have the fixed mall, but then the map is completely open to the world and what they wanna build. And so this is kind of our way of saying, okay, what does an open and unlimited metaverse look like? You know? And because that's really what people want. They want a persistent. Is never ending. It's kinda like Second Life, but you know, at a much, much larger scale available. And then Second, Life is still successful. They still have probably a million people a year on Second. Life doesn't work on mobile, Decent land, doesn't work on mobile Sandbox doesn't work on mobile. Roblox barely works on mobile.[00:29:11] So you know, having the ability to onboard billions of mobile phones into the Metas is gonna be the key. And then of course, we'll move to glasses over the next decade as well. You're seeing Oculus moved over to Meta now. Meta is introducing a new a new headset. So we're gonna see vast improve improvements of this. And then I would, I'd venture to say Apple makes their entrance into this space probably in the next year, would be my guess. We've been waiting for years and there's been lots of rumors over the years. I remember somebody in 2014 saying, Apple's gonna come out with VR glasses this year.[00:29:43] And I was like, I don't know about. Now, here we are, seven years [00:29:47] later. It's still [00:29:48] Why are brands coming to the mall?[00:29:48] Ricardo Belmar: So, so Alan, let me ask you more about the mall. I'm curious, when you talk to retailers and brands about the floors in the mall that you've got set aside for them, what, what's, what's your pitch to them? What, what's the selling point for the retailers to, Is it, for example, because you'd run on mobile where so many of these other platforms either barely do or, or don't what, what's the big selling point for the retail on the brand to, to be in the.[00:30:10] Alan Smithson: sure. I think it's, it's being part of something bigger. First of all, you know, you look. Brands are jumping into De Central and because it's, it's there and it works and it's bigger, right? It's a bigger community and there's gonna be more chance of eyeballs falling on. The problem is there's just not a lot of users there because the graphic fidelity is ma and there's a lot of barriers to entry.[00:30:27] If you wanna buy something physical, you cannot, If you want to use your credit card to buy something digital, you cannot, You have to buy with Manna, which is their in world currency. So we took a lot of the ideas from what these other platforms were doing. We said, Okay, well, how. Specifically make that for retail.[00:30:46] And really it was less about what we thought. And we've just had a lot of meetings with a lot of brands in the hundreds. And so when we, when we show them the mall, when we walk around, when we show them stores, when they say, Oh, well can it do this? Can it connect to our backend order management system?[00:31:00] Yes, it can because we use JavaScript. Can it, can we connect our loyalty program? Yes, absolutely. We have a, a backend system. And so it's just a really, a combination of. Having this idea for 'em all because we were building virtual showrooms for all different brands, and they were saying, Oh, I want a video chat on this one.[00:31:18] And this one would say, I want to dress the avatars and I, I want something over here. And so all these different disparate virtual showrooms that we're building, we built one for MasterCard, we built one for, for Samsung. We built all these things and they were asking for the same thing in different ways.[00:31:30] So we said, What if we built in a persistent mall so that if,[00:31:33] if we build a new piece of tech for one, one person, one brand, it now everybody in the mall. So you have the central part. Now brands can start driving people into their stores. So the mall.io/brand, it drops you right into the brand store. You can walk around, you get the full brand experience, but you can walk out the door as well. [00:31:52] So we've been meeting with, with hundreds of brands, and the brands that have interest in the mall, they want to get into the metaverse. And now here, here's the thing is it's a big cluster. You know, everybody's like, Oh, talking about the metaverse, the buzzword of the year. You know, do I make NFTs, do I not?[00:32:06] NFTs are kind of got like a, you know, negative connotation now that they've lost half their value. So it. Do we build our own virtual store? Do we go into Decentraland? Do we build something over here? Do we go into Roblox? And you know, the question or the answer's probably you gotta try all of the things, right?[00:32:23] And so you know, what we recommend is, look, take a budget, you know, whatever it is, 50 grand, a hundred grand, 200 grand, whatever your budget is, that's discretionary. You know, don't invest too much in this right now because nobody knows what's gonna work and whatnot. So we have like a 50 grand entrance package.[00:32:37] You get lease, you get, you know, kind of all the things included. We build everything out for you.[00:32:41] We have a full studio. And so the idea was how do we just get rid of all of the barriers to entry for a brand and then just get them into the mall. Because it's, it's all new for all of us, right? You know, people are saying, How are you gonna get any traffic in the mall?[00:32:53] Well, you know, of course we're the mall. We have to get traffic in there. But we're coordinating that effort with the brands. With the brands that we're working with, because really we don't have the brand gravitas of a, you know, of a, of a large shoe company or a, a large electronics manufacturer. You guys have, they have hundreds of thousands or millions of consumers. [00:33:12] And we're working with a candy company. They're gonna put QR codes on the candy, so that's gonna drive people directly into their store in the mall. And, they have multiple stores in the mall, so it's. It's really intriguing how, we've kind of realized that the marketing and getting people into the mall is, is less our responsibility is more of the brands, but where our responsibility is to have the right brands there and encourage them to build cool stuff because it's really less about, you, know, a store and it's more about an experience. And so, you know, one thing that I think the mall replaces or, or at least adjuncts is that, or not replaces, but adjuncts is that Amazon and Mall Walmart are the two largest retail stores on earth digitally, right? amazon.com and walmart.com. But you wouldn't invite your friends to go shopping on amazon.com.[00:33:58] You'd be like, Hey, we're gonna have a shopping date on, Go on Amazon. See what I'm ordering in my cart. It, it's taken the fun out shopping it, it's taken a front out. It's, it's just ruthless procurement of goods. Casey we'll go Amazon shopping[00:34:12] Buying vs Shopping - it should be fun![00:34:12] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. It's buying versus shopping. [00:34:14] Alan Smithson: it is. Procurement of goods versus shopping and shopping should be fun.[00:34:18] There is a reason why malls aim the cultural center of communities, and we wanna do the same thing. So our, our mall is multiplayer. You can invite your friends, you can go walk around. It's super fun actually. And we're putting little mini games in there. There's daily games that change every day so you can win prizes.[00:34:34] Just super cool stuff. So. [00:34:35] Casey Golden: That's awesome. Yeah, I mean, I think that big, that big benefit at the end of the day of participating. It may not necessarily be a conversion rate because that's not necessarily the goal Right. [00:34:48] now. What would you say is that roi? Because I don't feel that it's going to be money, like sales revenue, but I might be wrong.[00:34:59] Like today, if somebody wanted to go and have their first Metaverse experience with you, what is that main transformation or moment that you expect that that brand is going to be mentioning in the meeting to a hundred thousand or 800,000 next season? There?[00:35:19] Alan Smithson: I think you nailed it. Is, is really up to the brands to build some cool stuff and, and look, right now we made the mall look like, like a mall. It's got stores you can walk around. It doesn't need to look like a mall. It could be a, a field, it could be a space, it could be anything, right? So when you walk in your store, , Yes.[00:35:34] It looks like a store from the outside. And then when you walk in through the barrier of the door, it changes and, loads a new project. And the new project is like, Oh, now I'm in a, you know, basketball court, or now I'm like sitting court side watching you know, Nicks and nets, right? So it's one of those things that right now there's a term called skew amorphism, meaning we kind of tend to take what is already existing and build things like that.[00:35:56] So we. A mall. Looks like a mall. We put it into digital format so it feels and looks like a mall. Like you're walking around. You don't, it just feels right. It just looks like a mall or, Okay, great. I get it. I understand it this, really understand it. But that doesn't mean we can't push the absolute limits on the other end.[00:36:09] But what we need to do, and we need to do this for everybody, is make people feel comfortable in these virtual spaces and, and skew amorphism or, or bringing kind of the traditional world into the virtual world for now seems to. The right path. We've done some crazy, crazy stuff on the, on the, you know, way out there, NFT galleries and stuff. [00:36:30] And it doesn't really resonate with people. They don't know how to navigate it. They, they don't understand it. They're, there's a bit of a mix mix mash, so I think it's really gonna be up to the brands to build cool experiences that engage with their customers that. Really drive brand awareness. You look at Samsung's 8 37 store in New York. I think it's a prime example. And even Nike Store in New York City, I mean, yes, they sell shoes, but it's really about the experience of experiencing the brand. You go into Nike store and the whole first floor is the history of Nike. You can look at the old shoes, like it's just really, really cool. Yes, you can buy some shoes on, you know, one of the other floors, but it's not about that. It's about the experience of, oh my God, I was in New York and I went to this crazy store. And it, it, made me realize how how much research has gone into the Nike shoes and then like, you can really build these experiences and Samsung 8 3 7 in New York as well.[00:37:16] You go in there, you can't buy anything. You can literally just, you can look at the fridges, you can look at the kitchens, you can look at the, the mobile phones. You can, there's all these really cool experiences. There's lots of places to take selfies, which is fun. And you, you know, people's new selfie flex is gonna be, Hey, I gonna dress up my avatar.[00:37:33] And dripping in Gucci and and take a picture. But I think people's online personas are going to start being more important than their in-person personas. We're already seeing that. I mean, like, you know, people in virtual worlds are spending billion, billions on skins. [00:37:49] Ricardo Belmar: Oh yeah. Oh [00:37:51] Alan Smithson: You know, night skins.[00:37:53] I mean, I think Fortnite did something like $9 billion last year, Something [00:37:57] Ricardo Belmar: Hmm. [00:37:57] It's crazy. Yeah. So, Alan, let me ask you this. What, what would be your top advice right now for, for, let's say for this over this next year for retailers, DTC brands, I mean even retail tech businesses who are all looking at the metaverse and kind of thinking, Okay, how do I get in? What, what, what are my first steps?[00:38:17] What do I do to get started?[00:38:19] Alan Smithson: Sure. Find a, a decent partner who understands retail, who's done with this. There's, you know There's a company called Max, a Maxent. They do a great work on kind of, you know, for furniture companies, a bunch of retailers. [00:38:30][00:38:30] Alan Smithson: Marxent [00:38:31][00:38:31] Yeah, they, they do a great job. Converting things to 3d, you're gonna have to have teams that understand 3d.[00:38:36] And 3D is not easy. It's not as easy as creating a JPEG or a video. It's quite complicated. There's. You have a 3D model, then you've got layers and layers of of images that go on top of that to make it look realistic. You've got a bumpy one that makes it look bumpy. You've got texture files, all these things.[00:38:51] It's not, it's not really that easy a technology. Now, it's getting easier and we're getting there, but I think by starting now and starting small, taking a, you know, let's say 50,000 to a $500,000 budget, building something and then starting to have your teams internally. Understand how the sausage is made. How do we go from an idea or a concept or some photographs of a store to a fully, 3D environment with avatars, with products in there and everything, and, click to buy everything.[00:39:19] And so one of the reasons we did the mall is because we've done this a bunch of times for individual clients and it, it ended up becoming kind of rinse and repeat, right? We're like, Okay, well this, this client wants, and now we can build a virtual showroom in. Oh man, the last one we built, we took three days and it was beautiful. Just because we're getting really good at that. So I think the first thing is understand, learn a bit. So there's lots and lots of . I don't know how many guides to the metaverse there are, but there's probably at least a hundred that I know of. So go read some of those. You know, have somebody in your team dedicate somebody in your team to be the head of Metaverse, you know, and it's not just about, you know, 3D and that sort of thing, but you have to understand the crypto world as well.[00:39:58] People are gonna start buying in cryptocurrencies. What does that mean for you? How. How do you get paid in cryptocurrency and convert that to fiat because brands don't have accounting systems that that can take into account crypto. Right. So we have a, a partner named BitPay. So anybody can pay in any crypto they want using 95 different wallets.[00:40:16] It automatically takes their money, converts to U s D on at the end of the day and then settles with the brand at the end of the day. So you, the brands get settled in USD. . And, and the client doesn't know any, any difference in between and it's actually cheaper. So a stripe is like 3% for, you know, paying with credit cards or whatever.[00:40:34] With fiat and BitPay is only 1% because, and there's no chargebacks. Cuz once a crypto payment's paid, it's, there's, you can't reverse it. So I think there's gonna be a, a combination of. Onboarding customers or guests, we call them guests in the mall. Onboarding guests into, the crypto world slowly, but allowing them to pay in anything they want.[00:40:52] You pay credit card, PayPal, Amazon Pay, you know, it doesn't matter. We will, we will take any form of payment for physical and or digital goods in fiat and or cryptocurrency. And so from a brand standpoint, something like the mall kind of gives you. A boost because you don't have to reinvent the wheel.[00:41:10] If you're going into Decentraland again, there's a platform already there, there's people there. Roblox is great if, let's say, for example, you're a brand and your, your target customer is 25 to 30, well, your next target customer is, you know, 15 to 25. Right? Like that block. So if they're playing Roblox, and then I think something like 62% of Roblox players are under the age of 16. So if that's your next target demographic, like Gucci wants to be in the next, you know, they wanna be generationally relevant. [00:41:39] So if you're a brand that wants to be generationally relevant and be put in front of millions of people, go Roblox, you know that, that's a great starting point there. But it's, it's hard to get people's attention in there too. You've got, something like 10 million games on Roblox or something, or 4 million games on Roblox. So and then with the mall, it is a dedicated retail experience. You know, people are going there for that. They know what they're getting, and there's, there's gonna be a lot of, malls, digital malls, metaverse malls and these sorts of things.[00:42:06] But I don't think a lot of the startups that get into this realize the true depth of what's required. I mean, we spent seven years building a game engine for Enterprise. So when a, when a client says, What are your security protocols? We, we have a SOC two compliance and SOC two is not an easy thing to do.[00:42:23] It's, you know, it's eight months of, they basically take everybody on your team rip apart of their computers and you know, digitally [00:42:31] inside, make sure you don't have anything hidden. You gotta go through all these security protocols. So now that when we go to our clients, we say we are of SOC two, we also have Kronos compliance.[00:42:40] So Kronos is a 3D standard so that if you have a 3D model that you use on walmart.com, you can just pick it up and drop it into the mall and it will look the. This is important. Your product is not gonna look real in Roblox. It's gonna look like it's made out of Lego. You go, same thing with Sandbox, same with the Decentraland.[00:42:58] And they use a technology called voxels. So it's, very gamey looking like, like it's made out [00:43:02] Ricardo Belmar: Very [00:43:03] blocky. It's very [00:43:04] Casey Golden: of a standard of visual aesthetic that a lot, the higher end the brand, the less familiar that feels. And it's, but it's being adopted and it's, You don't have to be photorealistic all the time, [00:43:21] Alan Smithson: Yeah. You can have fun with it. And that's what I tell brands. Look,[00:43:24] You can use Unreal Engine for your commercials, your, your Hollywood movies. You know, they, they high, super high end. Maybe you want to build a film, a car, you know, driving through things. You can use the Unreal Engine for that. Then you can take the same asset. Down res it put it into Metaverse Engine. And now you can use it on the web, on, on the mall, right? You can use that same thing now it's interactive. You can drive it, you can, you know, on a mobile phone. Then you can take that same thing, pixelize it, and throw it into, into Decentraland or sandbox or, or Roblox or Minecraft.[00:43:51] And the idea is that you're using one asset to create several experiences and brands are gonna start doing this. I mean, it's just very few brands are doing it. [00:44:00] But I predict that you're not gonna be in one metaverse. You're gonna be in a bunch of different things, try different things, and some will be successful, Some won't.[00:44:06] Try things on your own website as well. I mean, our system. When you b build a store in the mall, you can actually build a hit, copy, paste, make a separate one and put it on your website as well. Now it'll link over to the mall, but it can reside on your know your brand.com website. We, we've taken out as many barriers to entry for brands as possible from, from our standpoint. [00:44:26] Casey Golden: Yeah. [00:44:27] Alan Smithson: We just, we've done so many meetings and it's been, I mean, our FAQ page is 50 questions long now for the mall [00:44:33] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, it's, it's hard enough to wrap your brain around it. At least once you make the decision. Let me take you right to it. [00:44:44] Alan Smithson: Let's just get it done, shall we? [00:44:46] And shouldn't be like one year thing. Oh my God, we're gonna build this thing in a year. Like what? No, man. If you can't build it in a, you know, eight weeks. [00:44:53] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. you'll be too late. [00:44:55] Alan Smithson: Yeah. maybe. Maybe. [00:44:58] Ricardo Belmar: You might be too late. [00:44:59] Alan Smithson: It's a crazy world we live in. It's moving so fast. That's why, one of our benefits of the engine is that it's low code.[00:45:04] We can build these things in in hours, you know like building the whole thing from scratch takes three days. You imagine how long that used to take? Six months ago, that took three weeks.[00:45:14] Ricardo Belmar: There's definitely a magic to to low code for sure, to really speed things up.[00:45:18] Alan Smithson: Yep. [00:45:19] How to reach Alan?[00:45:19] Casey Golden: what's the best way for someone to get in touch with you and follow the journey? [00:45:23] Alan Smithson: Sure. I, I, there's a couple ways. Metaverse Engine, which is, you know, the creation platform that is powering the, the mall. You can go to metaverse.com, m a t a v r s e.com. The mall is simply the mall.io. You can go sign up there, and if you sign up now for the mall, whether you're a brand or a guest, or an investor it'll ask you, you know, a dropdown for that.[00:45:43] You'll get put into a, an email funnel. So you'll have, if you sign up now, you'll have all early access to everything. So, for example, we're launching a new website for the mall, And that new website is fully built as a 3D world. So you scroll down the mall and you actually walk in and you end up inside of 3D website walking around.[00:46:00] It's not the mall, it's the website for the mall. we used our engine to build a revolutionary new website. So go to mall.io, the mall.io. And then you can just add me on LinkedIn. I can't add anybody from that, but you can follow me on LinkedIn. Cause I hit the limit of LinkedIn. Just use this my name alan Smithson. And you'll see fireworks above my head. I, I took a picture at the Formula one and that's my profile pick now [00:46:22] Casey Golden: Oh, [00:46:22] Ricardo Belmar: Oh, nice. [00:46:23] Alan Smithson: was like, this [00:46:24] Ricardo Belmar: cool [00:46:24] Alan Smithson: awesome. [00:46:25] Ricardo Belmar: Very cool . [00:46:26] Alan Smithson: Yep. [00:46:27] Ricardo Belmar: Well, I, I, I know I have really learned a lot today, Alan. Thank, thank you for that. I'm sure all of our listeners and, and viewers did too. Casey cause, you're already a, a Metaverse and, and web three advocate, so I'm sure a lot of this was old news for you after your debut event. Right. [00:46:40] Casey Golden: Yeah, I mean, we just had our second successful brand activation with Lux Lock on the 12th for New York Fashion Week. So with five brands everyone is enjoying. The experiences and looking forward to the future of commerce, like the brands are excited, the con consumers are excited. Making these early experiences is just critical into understanding like what these channels could potentially mean to your company.[00:47:06] Just do something And see what happens. [00:47:11] Alan Smithson: Yep. No, it's absolutely true. And look, one other thing that I, I didn't really mention is set some KPIs. What, what is it you want to get out of it? Because a lot of times, you know, for the last five years or six years, we've been building all sorts of marketing things, and they never really set KPIs.[00:47:25] They're just like, Hey, let's do this cool thing over there. And you're like, Yeah, I'll take your money and we'll do it. No, there's no measurement of success. So then you don't get a subsequent budget. And, and marketing teams are, they, they sometimes do this a lot, you know, they'll, they'll do things without measuring it, and that's fine.[00:47:41] Then maybe they want the media hits or whatever it is. But you have to have some metrics of success. Is it conversions? Is it time spent on platform? Is it, is it the number of visitors? What I, is the metric that you're measuring for success?[00:47:52] Because then, you can measure that. We can make changes. You can change completely everything or just some things, and you can get to the successful metrics. If you're not measuring it there's no point. So that's why actually one of the things in our mall is, complete analytics dashboard with, with everything from time spent on how much time somebody spent on a product. I mean, looking at it did they invite a friend? Did they convert from there? You know, these things are all really important.[00:48:15] And so we built, built this cool dashboard so that you can kinda look at your store and, and see a heat map of where people walked. Cause if somebody walks in your store and they all go right, and you want them to go left, well you can put a little display. [00:48:27] Casey Golden: they always, always go right. [00:48:29] Alan Smithson: Do they[00:48:29] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Yeah. Excellent. [00:48:33] Casey Golden: apartment? Buildings. We'll go right[00:48:38] Alan Smithson: love it? Well, you know what? The heat map data will tell us where people go. [00:48:42] We'll find it. Yeah. Once we have this segregated data in the mall, we'll be able to tell, you know, okay. 57% of people went that way. 37 went that way. [00:48:50] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And then you can keep adjusting, right? I mean, that's kinda the whole point is you want to keep adjusting and adapting to what, What's gonna work? [00:48:55] Alan Smithson: Yeah, you could put a plant there to make them sure. They go around it the other way. You just literally, and this is the other thing, you can re-merchandise your store for every day if you wanted to, you could be like, Hey, today we're gonna do, you know I don't know. It's October, so we're gonna do a Halloween theme, and for the month of October, it's Halloween theme.[00:49:10] And then, you know,
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S1E7 – SPECIAL: ShopTalk 2022 Recap – Retail's Great ReunionWelcome to Season 1, Episode 7, a special episode of The Retail Razor Show!For episode 7 we've changed things up a bit and Ricardo and Casey bring you a recap of the ShopTalk 2022 event in Las Vegas, which has come to be known as Retail's Great Reunion! Sure, you've probably heard plenty of recap shows on this year's ShopTalk, but this show doesn't just tell you “what” happened, we also explain “why” it matters and what that means for retail's future.I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer for 2022 & 2021, RIS News Top Movers and Shakers in Retail for 2021, 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 your co-host, Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock and slayer of retail frankenstacks!Together, we're your guides on the retail transformation journey. Whether you're thinking digital and online, mobile, or brick & mortar stores, we'll help you cut through the clutter!And big news! Our podcast is holding strong on the Feedspot Top 60 Retail podcasts list! We're sitting strong at #21, so please do give us a 5-star review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts if you like the show! With your help, we'll be on our way to a Top 10 spot! Check it out here: https://blog.feedspot.com/retail_podcasts/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/RWCaseyTRANSCRIPTS1E7 ShopTalk 2022 Recap - Retail's Great Reunion[00:00:00] Show Introduction[00:00:20] Ricardo Belmar: hello Retail Razor show listeners! Welcome to a special season one bonus episode. Our 2 Part Shop Talk 2022 recap episode. I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar a RETHINK Retail, top retail influencer and lead partner marketing advisor for retail and consumer goods at Microsoft. [00:00:38] Casey Golden: And I'm your co-host Casey Golden CEO of Luxlock obsessed with the relationship between a brand and the consumer. I've spent my career on the fashion side of the business and moved over to supply chain technology slaying Frankenstacks![00:00:53] Ricardo Belmar: So once again, we have changed things up a bit and interrupted our regularly scheduled episode to bring you our thoughts on what we saw, what we learned and what surprised us about last week's shop talk event in Las Vegas. [00:01:06] Casey Golden: Everyone is reinvigorated to be working in retail. So let's head to the floor.[00:01:11] Ricardo Belmar: All right. Let's give a listen to part one, which we recorded live about a day and a half into the show. [00:01:22] Live from ShopTalk, Part 1[00:01:22] Ricardo Belmar: Hey everybody welcome to retail razor show live from Shoptalk 2022. This is a special live version on Callin. I'm here with my cohost Casey Golden. [00:01:32] Casey Golden: Hello everyone. [00:01:35] Ricardo Belmar: And it is a pleasure to be coming to you live from the show. This is a new thing for us on the Retail Razor Show. Isn't it? Casey. [00:01:42] Casey Golden: It is. And it's a new thing for the record attendance increase at shop talk as well. It's standing room only at retail's biggest reunion. [00:01:51] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I've heard everybody calling it that- retail's biggest reunion. I think the, numbers I've heard of, up to 10,000 people maybe. [00:01:58] It's pretty incredible. [00:02:00] Casey Golden: It's pretty incredible. I mean, I think we actually got New York together again.[00:02:03] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.[00:02:08] It's like I can't go down a hallway. . Every time I take 10 steps down the hallway and suddenly there's somebody looking back at me thinking, Hey wait, do we know each other? We haven't met in the last two years, but it feels like we know each other, [00:02:19] Casey Golden: you know, I have to say , I'm really glad that, we got our LinkedIn pictures that we're just trying to place, but then when everyone started switching their, their Twitter photos to NFTs, I'm like, I don't remember what you look like. [00:02:31] Ricardo Belmar: what do you look like? You don't look at all like your NFT on Twitter. [00:02:35] Casey Golden: No, not at all. I've been like glancing at badges, but - you know, I, this is a first for me. This is my first shop talk.[00:02:41] So I guess I'm starting at the top here[00:02:44] it's, it's really great. So many brands, so many people everybody just really pulling. It's going to be a big year this year. Like everyone's excited. [00:02:55] Ricardo Belmar: There's a huge amount of energy here. It's like everybody has been dying to get back together. See everybody they haven't seen for two years in this industry.[00:03:03] And it shows, it shows that they're, I don't think there's been another show yet for retail. That's been able to do that. [00:03:09] Casey Golden: No, I mean, we started off in day one. The vibe was electric. We literally with electric bands and presentations, and we've got Flo Rida here, which is exciting. [00:03:22] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:03:22] Casey Golden: I know Fabric's doing a big party tonight.[00:03:25] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. There's that too. There's that too, lots of I think every night there's so many things you can't keep track of how many different activities there are? [00:03:31] Casey Golden: No, I mean, I'm, I'm pretty impressed so far. [00:03:34] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. So let's talk about some of the sessions so far. I'm going to call it day one. Maybe we should call it day one and a half. It was like a half day yesterday, I guess. [00:03:42] Casey Golden: Unknowingly. It was a half day. I arrived quite early. [00:03:47] Ricardo Belmar: I arrived late. So I missed part of yesterday. That was kind of unfortunate. [00:03:51] Casey Golden: You missed a lot of waiting.[00:03:56] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. How many people did you say there were two, [00:03:57] Casey Golden: a couple of breakfasts. A couple of lunches. It's like, oh my bad. [00:04:01] Ricardo Belmar: Right? Exactly. [00:04:02] Casey Golden: It starts in what time? [00:04:05] Ricardo Belmar: So I did, I did manage to hit a couple of the keynote sessions yesterday. There was some good, good experiences given out by Kath McLay, the CEO at Sam's Club on their pandemic experience and how they started changing how they think about customers.[00:04:20] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, that, that was like, it was nice to see the opening with just like three amazing women opening up that stage for conversation.[00:04:27] I spent my, my morning over at the shark reef, [00:04:32] Ricardo Belmar: of course. [00:04:32] Casey Golden: Yeah. Lot of great startups, you know, it was just, it's so nice to actually just be around a pitch competition where everybody's a retail tech startup. [00:04:42] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. [00:04:42] Casey Golden: It's so exciting. There's so much going on. There's so much innovation happening and.[00:04:48] All of the pitches were really well. [00:04:49] Ricardo Belmar: Very cool. And then I think just finishing now, by the time we're recording, I think there was a whole series of metaverse related keynotes going on, right? [00:04:59] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, I think maybe everybody will know what an NFT is and what the metaverse might do by the end, by what?[00:05:06] Tomorrow by the end of the week. [00:05:07] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:05:07] Casey Golden: I think brands and techies might just have been able to cross the chasm here. [00:05:12] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, definitely. [00:05:13] Casey Golden: The Superbowl, ahh QR code was not lost. He's alive and well here. [00:05:19] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, no kidding. No kidding. Yeah.[00:05:22] Casey Golden: So some of the tracks we've got, developing tomorrow's retail, innovating growth opportunities, global shopping experiences, love hearing that global shopping experience. And the shark reef startup pitch. So, I mean, these are the way that they're kind of running the day based off the theme and then going down with new speakers, I think it's really great.[00:05:42] Just being able to really dive into these themes because all the brands seem to be aligned on key initiatives. [00:05:48] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:05:49] Casey Golden: You know, [00:05:49] Ricardo Belmar: everybody seems really focused. [00:05:50] Casey Golden: It's really focused. And. Just all about the technologies and customer experience, and everybody's really just ready to go outside of their box and learn.[00:06:01] I think that's the biggest thing is so many meetings about, tell me about what you do, how do you want [00:06:07] to do it? Right. It's a, [00:06:10] Ricardo Belmar: everybody's genuinely interested and there's a lot of focus. Everybody wants to learn more. And everyone's just so excited to see each other. It's just, [00:06:19] I know that's right. That's right.[00:06:21] Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's a good, if you're at this show, then you're coming away thinking it's a good time to be in retail tech[00:06:30] Casey Golden: by golly. It took long enough Katia Walsh from Levi's they had a great talk yesterday. On attracting and developing and retaining top digital talent. Where's Ron, when you need him. [00:06:40] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Shout out to Ron. [00:06:42] Casey Golden: Yeah. There was a lot of people that were coming out of that just feeling really invigorated and excited.[00:06:47] Ricardo Belmar: yeah. What else, what other cool sessions have you been to so far?[00:06:49] Casey Golden: You know what I've gotten pulled out of a lot of sessions for meetings. Today is really gonna be focused on sessions and tomorrow the first day I was just so excited to leave my apartment. [00:07:01] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I've been hearing that a lot from everybody, everyone I run into. It's so good to be away. [00:07:06] Casey Golden: Yeah. I wanted to meet as many people as I could.[00:07:09] I made so many new friends on Twitter over the last two years from clubhouse where these conversations started. Yeah. I've got a whole crew of like new BFFs [00:07:22] Ricardo Belmar: and they're all here. [00:07:23] Everybody's here. That's amazing. [00:07:24] Casey Golden: Being able to spend time to actually talk to people and socialize rather than I got 30 minutes for zoom.[00:07:35] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:07:35] Casey Golden: There's nothing like real life. [00:07:37] Ricardo Belmar: And it's like standing and it's like standing room only. Like you want to meet with someone around here. There's no space. So you gotta find like where where's the empty space that you can kind of huddle around to meet with whoever you want to meet. Yeah. In the next minute.[00:07:49] Casey Golden: Yes. [00:07:49] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:07:50] Casey Golden: It's like, I'll meet you in the corner of here and there. We'll just sit on the floor. It's good. [00:07:56] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And then I got to say about half the people that I've met with, every conversation starts with , I feel like I don't remember how to do a conference any more and , I'm so lost.[00:08:07] I had a dozen people say to me, I forgot how far away everything is in Las Vegas. You think it's right across the street and that's not a five minute walk. I was like, oh, we want to meet in which room? In the convention center. Oh, that's just down the hall, except that the hall is, you know, a thousand feet long.[00:08:22] Casey Golden: Yeah. oh, I'll be right there. And it's like 10, 15 minutes. It's my bad. [00:08:26] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, exactly. So let's see [00:08:28] Casey Golden: oxygen this way.[00:08:33] Ricardo Belmar: Let's see what other, what other trends I'm hearing people talk about sustainability again, I'm hearing more and more talk on retail media, which was one of our predictions for the year, understand there's that there was Instacart session. They talked a lot about retail media advertising on their platform, and that makes sense. You'd expect that [00:08:50] Casey Golden: Yeah, getting much more targeted. A lot of people want to diversify from the Facebook, Instagram ad models and find some new channels to really reach their customers and build on a lot is getting lost in those customer acquisition costs and really being able to actually acquire those customers.[00:09:08] Ricardo Belmar: Right. [00:09:09] Casey Golden: Everybody's on the same platform. So people are getting really creative. Super creative.[00:09:13] I am super impressed too, to see there's a lot of Silicon valley here. [00:09:17] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:09:18] Casey Golden: I was, I was blown away. I'm walking by, I'm like, wait, what Andresseen Horiwitz just took the whole sec. Okay. They're there on almost every panel. There's somebody almost on every panel from Silicon valley, which is, we're just pretty easily.[00:09:34] That means, you know, everybody knows that this is going to be the next 24 months in retail is going to be a big deal. Yeah. And we'll get to see how all of this kind of shakes out what the customers think right in what, 2024.[00:09:51] So this is all for 2025 right now. It's all for 2025.[00:09:56] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And then as usual for a shoptalk, right. A lot of big brands on stage , besides Sam's club and the opening, I think there was Macy's and Target today. A lot of big names talking about what their vision of the future of commerce. I haven't walked the show floor yet [00:10:11] Casey Golden: across the gamut. I mean, going from Ralph Lauren to Albertsons. [00:10:15] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And everything in between.[00:10:16] And if there's one phrase that almost every single session repeats, it has to be meeting our customer where they are being able to let them transact any way they want anywhere they want that. That's, there's like one theme that's hitting every single session.[00:10:31] Everybody's got [00:10:31] that talk, track that enablement. [00:10:34] Casey Golden: A lot more about enablement rather than necessarily building the solution. It's all about how you connect with other solutions. [00:10:39] Ricardo Belmar: Right. Right. [00:10:40] Casey Golden: So a lot of API builds here coming up, [00:10:43] and just a really big rise and a headless. I mean, you can't really walk through here with, without the entire, all the walls talking about headless commerce, but I think there's going to be a lot of interesting changes here going in with.[00:10:55] Some, some replatforming to be able to have that flexibility to connect to all of these new emerging technologies.[00:11:01] Ricardo Belmar: Yep, absolutely. That is a big, big theme. And I've just even, yeah, I can looking forward to walking through the show floor and checking out all of these different companies that are doing just that if I gauge, just by what I see, all the photos I see from the show floor being posted on social. It's like every other one is something related to headless commerce.[00:11:22] Casey Golden: I mean Fabric's doing some killer job right now. Yeah. Commerce tools. It's getting really interesting. I mean, I know a lot of brands right now that have a lot of headless commerce projects in the works which is just opens up so much flexibility for being able to deploy new innovation. [00:11:39] Getting off of some of these. Proprietary systems.[00:11:42] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And then I'll have to come back to metaverse again, because there's so many sessions today on that. I have a feeling that as soon as we leave this recording, all we're going to hear people talking about in the hallways is which brand did what? In a metaverse experiment so far this year.[00:11:56] Casey Golden: Yeah. There you either see a smile or like some eyes rolling, [00:11:59] Ricardo Belmar: right? Yeah. It's like one extreme or the other, right? There's no one between, everybody's either on the one extreme of, I gotta try more. Or are there on the other side and rolling their eyes, thinking, why are you even doing that? What, where do you hope to get from that?[00:12:11] How are you making money from that? [00:12:13] Casey Golden: But this is where we find the utility, right. Is being able to get to experiment. [00:12:17] Ricardo Belmar: It's just like when we did our predictions episode, right? If they're not experimenting, you're not learning. And if you're not learning, you're not going to get anywhere. [00:12:24] Casey Golden: If you're not experimenting, the learning process is not fun. [00:12:29] it's a lot of complicated reading. You just learn as you go and experiment. It's much more fun to learn, by trying and just, you know, go buy an NFT. Go get some Oculus goggles, join discord, [00:12:42] Ricardo Belmar: sign on to Roblox. [00:12:44] Casey Golden: Right. But it is, it's definitely the theme. I just, I just hope that it doesn't turn. You're just this marketing puff. Right. You know, where we do things everybody's talking about it. But then at the end of the day, nobody executes against the plan[00:12:58] Ricardo Belmar: and it all falls apart.[00:12:59] Casey Golden: And we talked about it, but nobody did anything. So I'm really hoping that this really fuels that conversation into the future and really looking at all the priorities that these companies have. Cause I mean, I think.[00:13:12] We're coming into the beginning of April and a lot of projects have already been tested out for the entire rest of the year.[00:13:19] Ricardo Belmar: That's right. Yeah. [00:13:20] Casey Golden: So if you're trying to get into a company to implement technology, you're trying to get a new piece of software approved. A lot's already been allocated.[00:13:29] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:13:30] Casey Golden: A lot's already been allocated. So if anything, if there's a big takeaway here, hopefully there's some slush funds that are created just for innovation on the fly because everything's changing so fast. [00:13:41] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that's right. That's right. The key is to keep experimenting and trying it. The other thing that I've noticed too, more people talking about that this wasn't true.[00:13:51] Not, not even just a few years ago is the idea of sharing the knowledge and collaborating with others that you might've thought, oh, I don't want anybody to know what I'm doing because it's my competitive advantage, to a shift where, well, that's not your competitive advantage, right? The fact that you're thinking about doing these things and experimenting, that's not your advantage, your advantage is going to come when you actually get it done and how you do it and how well you execute it.[00:14:14] That's going to give you your advantage. But if somebody else learns along the way, it's one of those rising tides lift all boats, right? So if everybody in the industry starts doing it correctly in a meaningful way, then more and more consumers get interested in this. And then everybody wins. [00:14:28] Casey Golden: But this is one of those things,[00:14:29] Ricardo Belmar: it's not a zero sum game.[00:14:30] Casey Golden: No, this is the, the more, the more people that kind of come together and start doing the same thing, the stronger the whole entire initiative is going to be rather than keeping things so tight, [00:14:40] Ricardo Belmar: right, . Yeah. . I think that that's something we have, I don't remember seeing in past shows, pre pandemic. So I'm wondering if [00:14:47] Casey Golden: there's not even in a culture period. [00:14:50] Ricardo Belmar: No, it wasn't. So I think that's a new takeaway. That's coming from this. And I kind of feel like a lot of it has to do with everybody. You know, everyone in this industry has been around in so many ways, people know people , which sounds silly to say, but it's so true.[00:15:04] Right. That's why everybody, you see this happening right. In every hallway at the show, people just running into each other. I haven't seen you in two years. And I think that's just caused everybody to want to share. [00:15:13] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, what have you been up to?[00:15:15] Ricardo Belmar: Exactly, exactly. [00:15:16] Casey Golden: Being able to take those conversations into just not what the agenda was for a call. Yeah. You know, and just kind of speak freely and things that you're excited about or things that you've been learning about or what you've been doing on the side, a lot of the stuff , we've had a lot of extra time to pick up new hobbies and new interest in a lot of that.[00:15:32] Right. I don't know any retail person that really has a life outside of retail, you know, what is it? Eat, sleep. Like we breathe retail. The drift, the brand right. Brand DNA. Right. So I mean, there's just so much that there's been so many new books that have been written during the pandemic.[00:15:51] There's been so many perspectives that have been shared. Yeah. And just kind of going down rabbit holes. So I'm super excited for the rest of the week on this. I think we'll probably have some good takeaway notes to kind of add on here. [00:16:03] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Yeah. We're going to have to do a followup show on how the rest of shop talk went after this one, [00:16:10] Casey Golden: because the big thing are we coming back?[00:16:12] Well, I know you are, but this is a show that I would not have normally have come to. Yeah. I wasn't planning at all. I bought a ticket on Thursday and flew out Saturday because there's just so many people that are going to [00:16:26] be here. No. I'm like the opportunity. [00:16:29] Right. All right. Let's go check out [00:16:31] this Shoptalk.[00:16:32] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Well that was my first one too. It was, but I, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it definitely, definitely is well worth the vibe. [00:16:39] Casey Golden: Yeah. They really brought the energy here knowing that it was going to be every, a lot of people's first time back out and like, yeah, there's some good entertainment.[00:16:49] There's some good design. They put a lot of effort into keeping the energy level high, especially in such a big space. [00:16:55] Ricardo Belmar: That's a good point. That's a good point. Although I think the one, if my one suggested tip for them. So any of the, anybody listening from the event, because I'm sure they're all listening to every single word we're saying, but my big tip is more meeting spaces for just impromptu, nice little seating areas.[00:17:11] You're just for when you have those moments. When you run into somebody in the hallway, you don't have to just stand around in the middle of the floor and chatting. You don't have some place to sit somewhere. I mean, come on. [00:17:20] Casey Golden: Yeah, because it has, okay, let's meet all the way on the other side.[00:17:25] Ricardo Belmar: It takes 10 minutes to walk down. It takes time. [00:17:27] Casey Golden: We'll meet there in a half an hour. Because it is that I forgot like a guy here and I was just like, oh yeah, this is like bigger than a New York avenue. A Las Vegas block is bigger than a New York avenue.[00:17:41] So what is on your schedule for the rest of today? [00:17:44] Ricardo Belmar: I had to try to check out some, I got some sessions I'm gonna try to check out. I've got fun things going on, doing some other interesting video recordings with some other, other fellow friends haven't seen in two years. So that'll be cool.[00:17:58] And how we'll see, we'll see what comes from that. I'm looking forward to Sessions. Cause there are a lot of different topics once we get past the the metaverse that's going on now. There's some things on just on like data. There, there is interesting to see if there's, few sessions on future of work and how frontline worker conditions are changing.[00:18:17] I think those would be interesting and I think there's some really cool keynote ones left. With some interesting brands. [00:18:24] Casey Golden: Yeah, I'm going to head over to cultivating customer relationships have got the chief data officer over at Poshmark and the information officer over at, from Maui, Jim, and then experienced design with best buy, which I just find completely foreign for cultivating customer relationships.[00:18:41] So Annie A's going to be there as the interviewer. So this is going to be. Really interesting. Because when you think of Poshmark, I don't think of customers service or relationship, or I fall in love with my poshers, right. That they gift wrap my purchase and they send me these beautiful little handwritten notes.[00:19:00] I'm like, come on. Like frankly, shopping on Poshmark is, so much sweeter and kinder than ordering online. You can put little confetti in my box.[00:19:12] So I'm really excited to kind of dig into that because I only look at it from such a tight perspective. So this for me is really about opening up my mind to kind of see what everybody else is doing. Since I have such tunnel vision in general,[00:19:26] Ricardo Belmar: it's called focus. We call that focus, Casey. [00:19:29] Casey Golden: That's right. Focus. [00:19:31] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, bring the marketing speak.[00:19:33] Casey Golden: I, I was focused on until I saw this. I'm like, wow, you guys are all over the place. [00:19:36] Ricardo Belmar: Exactly, exactly. You, and then I think there's a couple of looking forward to on some interesting new innovative tech to do so hope to get through those. [00:19:44] Casey Golden: A lot with check out.[00:19:46] There's a lot of stuff happening with checkout. [00:19:48] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:19:48] Casey Golden: You get to pick where, how you want to check out five different ways. [00:19:52] Ricardo Belmar: A lot of focus on that, yep. [00:19:53] Casey Golden: It's kind of interesting [00:19:54] Ricardo Belmar: all about making it a frictionless experience. [00:19:57] Casey Golden: So let's get back out on the floor. [00:19:59] Ricardo Belmar: All right. Then we'll wrap up here and we're going to plan on circling back after the show at some point.[00:20:04] See what the, rest of the week plays out for us. [00:20:06] Casey Golden: Yeah. We'll have a full, good recap of what you missed.[00:20:09] Ricardo Belmar: Everything we liked, anything we didn't. [00:20:10] Casey Golden: what you need to google [00:20:12] Ricardo Belmar: exactly. Yeah. What to look up? Who to talk to all that good stuff. All right. Cool. So we will call this one a wrap! [00:20:18] Intermission[00:20:18] Ricardo Belmar: And we're back. That was the first part of our special Shop talk recap episode, which we recorded live on the Callin app about halfway through the event. Hopefully, you are ready to jump straight into the second half of the Great Retail Reunion so we can give you the rest of the juicy story. Let's listen to part two of our shop talk 2022 recap also recorded in the Callin app. [00:20:50] ShopTalk Recap on Callin, Part 2[00:20:50] Ricardo Belmar: Casey. [00:20:52] Casey Golden: Good morning. Good morning. [00:20:53] Good morning. [00:20:54] Ricardo Belmar: Good morning. We are back on Callin. How cool is that? [00:20:58] Casey Golden: I like it. [00:20:59] Ricardo Belmar: All right. So when we were last on here, We did our live day, one and a half. I think I called it session from shop talk, where we talked about what we saw on the first day and on like the, what we about halfway through the second day, the first day was only a half day, right?.[00:21:14] Casey Golden: Unexpectedly, yes[00:21:16] Ricardo Belmar: unexpectedly, yeah, unexpectedly, but we did both note that it was unexpectedly a half day. So now we're back to do our whole recap summary of the entire events and kind of run through some, all the big themes that we saw there. And there were quite a few, I think I'm gonna say like the biggest one that sorta surprised me, but maybe shouldn't have, is this whole idea that everybody, it seemed like every session couldn't stop talking about how stores are quote back.[00:21:41] Or, as I like to say as if they ever really went away, because they never really did go away, but, but everybody seems to act like, oh, brick and mortar is coming back. [00:21:49] Casey Golden: Yeah.[00:21:49] Stores weren't closed in a lot of locations for, for too long. So it is a little bit surprising to hear stores are back. Maybe there has been this, this huge focus for e-commerce. [00:22:00] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And I guess maybe for shop talk that's especially true, right? [00:22:03] With a lot of digitally native vertical brands starting out online.[00:22:07] A lot of founders, always presenting at shop. Talk about the cool new new products they're bringing to the market. So I guess if I think about it in those terms, yeah, might be a little strange to see people talking about stores coming back, but there were more and more founders and DTC is getting up on stage, talking about how, you just can't grow past a certain point.[00:22:26] Like I heard, at least one mentioned how you, if you want to get past a hundred million, you got to start opening stores. You just can't do it. Cause like customer acquisition costs are too high. [00:22:35] Casey Golden: Yeah. I've seen a lot of people putting plans open to open up stores, more pop-up shops. We did lose some stores.[00:22:42] But I think, you know, we're still working on that right set of what's the right amount of stores and where should they be? [00:22:47] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, that's true. [00:22:48] Casey Golden: With a lot of underperforming locations in general. [00:22:52] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. It is all about the location and getting the right spot. [00:22:55] Casey Golden: Yeah. Got to know where that customer is.[00:22:57] Ricardo Belmar: And I think we've seen it proven out time after time, that time one of these direct to consumer brands opens a store, their e-commerce sales actually go up in the surrounding zip codes. [00:23:07] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, a lot of that online browsing, it drives that, that in store experience I found more opportunity in looking online so that I can go into the store and see what inventory is there. But I do have to say it's been increasingly difficult because that's not a, that's not an option that I personally even used to use, but now it seems to be that I need to check to see what's in the store because so much inventory is light.[00:23:34] Ricardo Belmar: That's right. Yeah. Right. [00:23:36] Casey Golden: And I'm like, well, if I go there, Are you going to have that? What I just saw online. So I think there's going to be a lot of tech going back into brick and mortar, new budgets. Let's hope that brick and mortar stores are back means that they also have budgets. [00:23:52] Ricardo Belmar: I, you know, if I judged from the general sense I got at the show, it's a hundred percent true. [00:23:58] Casey Golden: Yeah.[00:23:59] Ricardo Belmar: And we talked about that right. In our prediction to show at the beginning of the year that there was going to be more investment in stores, that stores were going to go strong and that were, that investment level was going up. The IT spend was going up.[00:24:11] I think if anything, I come away from shop talk thinking that our predictions are going to hold true. [00:24:15] Casey Golden: I agree. I've never seen so many people happy and reinvigorated about their careers. And like, we do have an opportunity in, in this, the best industry right now. I feel there's going to be so much change so much excitement and everybody is just really excited to talk with each other to collaborate and to learn.[00:24:37] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I when you had sessions, like Sam's club CEO, Kath McLay, when she talked about all the interesting convenience shopping features that they introduced over the last two years. And the impact of that had not just on their shopping experience, but just with what business impact that had and how people started to spend more, how they serve customers and the things that everybody has talked about this for a while, right.[00:24:59] Things like scanning, go checkout. They had an interesting concept of scan and ship from the store for things when they're out of stock and you can just scan it and have it shipped to you, on the spot. It really kind of reaffirmed that I heard this, not just in that session, but in other ones that , if you're not embracing everyone's favorite word to hate in retail, and that's omni-channel, if you're not a brand that's doing that then you're completely missing out, right? You're not going to grow your relationship with those customers. And that's why so many of those digitally native brands kept getting onstage, talking about how many stores they were going to open up. [00:25:30] Casey Golden: Yeah. And, and it's very interesting when you take the DNV B and...[00:25:36] The information they're looking at when they're opening up a store compared to a traditional retailer. When they're looking at where where's my customer, who's going to engage in store versus an online DNVB's have a very much broader detail on, on their customer base. Just because they've collected so much more of that direct to consumer data and had those relationships online.[00:26:01] So it will be interesting, when, some of these locations open up it'll be interesting to see where everybody puts themselves in what communities what towns, because it's not going to necessarily be the largest. [00:26:14] Ricardo Belmar: You're right. There are going to be super smart about where they put these just based on the data they've got about their existing customer base.[00:26:23] And I think this, this whole expansion of them into more. Omni-channel mode, just kind of, for me, reaffirms that whether you love or hate the term, the idea around it, it really is just a synonym for how consumers want to shop period. End of statement. Right. It's just that everybody now realizes, that there's almost, wasn't a point. Thinking about individual sales channels, because that's not how people shop or people have completely adopted this mode of whether I'm in a digital channel or I'm in a store. I'm blending them every single moment. I'm shopping with a brand I'm blending all of these channels and that's how I expect to shop period. [00:27:01] Casey Golden: Yeah..[00:27:01] Ricardo Belmar: Then that's what every brand has to accept and embrace now.[00:27:04] Casey Golden: So ricardo, are we saying that. Omni-channel is coming back into conversation and we might just figure it out this year? [00:27:10] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, I think anybody who hasn't figured it out yet is definitely going to figure it out whether or not they want to call it omni channel.[00:27:17] I think there's still plenty of people that hate calling it omni-channel as a term. And I'll admit that I go back and forth on that one. I would almost prefer to just think of it as pure commerce. Right. It's just, it's the normal mode of operation. It's not a special thing anymore. It's just the way we all shop.[00:27:33] Casey Golden: Yeah, no, [00:27:33] I think that's great. Ikea also put a lot of new tech into their digitization strategy for stores with click and collect and, doing that customer journey using a lot more technology tools inside of their locations. [00:27:46] Ricardo Belmar: Let's expand a little on that because there were, as much as we just said, it's not about the channel. It's about the customer but let's for a moment, think about channels. There were a lot of interesting new channels being talked about at Shoptalk. One was live streaming which again was another one of our top 10 predictions. [00:28:01] Casey Golden: Favorite![00:28:02] Ricardo Belmar: Yep. That's right. I saw , a cool demonstration one session on started giving you a way to integrate live streaming in all of your other channels.[00:28:10] So for example, whether it's your mobile app or your website, and so you have some live streams going when someone gets to a product page on a product that's tied to a live stream, you can insert the live stream right then and there, right? So you don't have to add an extra step for the consumer to pop into that live stream and see what's going on.[00:28:26] So I thought that was an, an interesting approach. Now, there was a lot of talk that live streaming is huge in China and throughout Asia. The big question is, is it going to work the same in Western countries? I I'm, I'm thinking that it's, it's not, I'm not going to say that it isn't going to work. I absolutely think it will, but I think it's going to be different. [00:28:45] Casey Golden: It's going to have to be different. [00:28:46] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. [00:28:47] Because, because people shop differently, people look at this technology differently in Western countries and the, in that sense, and it's not that one is better or more right. Or more wrong. It's just, it's just different.[00:28:57] And everybody has to adapt to. The one thing I heard that I was most excited for live streaming. I think you and I talked about this in our predictions episode was the idea of using your store associates to run your live streams. And I think you and I've talked about that with our friend, Ron .[00:29:12] And I actually heard that mentioned on stage about how there is an expectation that maybe that's going to be the way it goes, which for me is a little different than what we see happening in Asia. I like this term that we've talked about before the sort of the, the engineered influencer, when a retail brand creates their own influencer by using their store associates for that.[00:29:31] Casey Golden: Yeah. I'm obviously a big fan of that. I also do though see the value in having the studios. I see a lot more studios popping up. I see more people, more brands creating a dedicated space for live streaming and setting up that area specifically for live streaming and getting that personality.[00:29:50] That is kind of like the base of the brand that they're pulling in for those. I do think it's a different talent than being a salesperson on the floor. But I like the direction either way. [00:30:01] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. And it wouldn't surprise me if we see a mix of the two, right. More, depending on the, maybe the size of the retailer, whether you build out these studios or whether you do something else, it's more smaller scale.[00:30:11] But but I think we're gonna see both of those happening from large and small retailers, [00:30:16] Casey Golden: I agree. And just kind of taking control on bringing that to their own website rather than relying on the. Tik TOK or the Instagram live, or even some of these Amazon lives, right? There's a lot of third parties where they've already built quite an audience, but most of the tech that I saw was about bringing that live stream conversation and event onto the brands' website and owning that engagement on the site where they can convert. [00:30:45] Ricardo Belmar: Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. That's big. That's big [00:30:49] Casey Golden: still not, not saying that they're going to stop using other channels, but I just saw a lot of an emphasis of bringing these e-commerce stores to life. [00:30:58] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, I agree. And. On that note, one of my other favorite topics that kept coming up or retail media networks and a lot of shop talk sessions, especially any session that had one of the local delivery guys, whether it was the Uber CEO or Instacart CEO or somebody from door dash.[00:31:12] I mean, they were all talking about converting their delivery service into more of a marketplace where, you know, some of them even admitted, right. That the delivery part of the business is probably no better than a breakeven business, but where they're really going to get their revenue in the future is from advertising.[00:31:29] Because like any other marketplace, you've got to sell advertising on it. So the brands to get customers to notice. So again, another one of our predictions from the beginning of the year, right? This was another popular one. Obviously, you know, Amazon's killing it. Walmart and target. Aren't doing too bad on that.[00:31:46] Kroger is crushing it with their media network. Everybody wants to get in on this. I dunno, what are you, what do you think on that one, Casey? [00:31:52] Casey Golden: Well, it's not a space where you're printing cash. You're burning it. And so these last mile and these delivery services, like they have been wonderful over the last two years.[00:32:03] It's it's exposed customer bases that have never even thought that they would ever order their groceries online or have something delivered. Those services are getting pushed back because it just hasn't been as profitable. It's not a big money maker, but they got the customers and they got, they built their brands.[00:32:22] They've made it onto the front of an, of hundreds of thousands of consumers phones. Their app is now on the front because we have relied on it for the last couple of years. And so they're gonna, they're finding new ways to be able to monetize and move with those customers and hopefully something that just makes them a little bit more profit because some of the, a lot of these services are pushing back in, in certain areas.[00:32:46] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Totally true. So that one to me is an interesting one. Looking forward to watching how that one, how that develops across the board with a media networks and with all of these delivery, guys are already starting to see some shake out of that, which again, another topic we had in our top 10, right, was that there was going to be some consolidation or some sort of shake out in that space.[00:33:04] And we see that happening. [00:33:05] Casey Golden: Forgive me. I don't re I don't recall. But some of these multi-brand retailers are launching retail media networks and focusing on media, which I found very interesting that rather than being that distribution point and that stock point for the customers to be able to come in and shop across multiple brands in our traditional retail model.[00:33:28] They've launched their own retail media network. And charging brands for the content. [00:33:33] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. So I can't wait to see what some of these DNVB brands that have come up right. Who are used to spending all of their marketing and customer acquisition on all like Facebook and Instagram, places like that.[00:33:45] And now suddenly if they start going into wholesale agreements with other retailers who have their own marketplace, guess what? They're going to be buying advertising space from the retailers. [00:33:53] Casey Golden: Yeah.[00:33:54] Ricardo Belmar: So that's going to be an interesting one to see what that does to their to their cost model. [00:33:57] Casey Golden: I, a hundred percent agree.[00:33:59] Ricardo Belmar: Okay. So we have to talk about the metaverse because it kind of felt like on the second day, it's like every other session at shop talk was about metaverse and, and I, and it's, it's funny to me because there are, at least I can think of at least one, but there were a bunch of our, friendly retail expert friends who were kind of getting tired of hearing so much about the metaverse that they felt.[00:34:19] You know, metaverse, doesn't seem to exist outside of retail conferences. [00:34:23] Casey Golden: Oh, you got that, too?[00:34:25] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I heard that too. Yeah, I know. [00:34:26] Casey Golden: But something thing about the metaverse and like, "if I hear that word one more time" or[00:34:31] " I'm not, he's like, I'm going to be done with the word by the time I leave." [00:34:34] Ricardo Belmar: yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. [00:34:35] Casey Golden: I mean, just rolling of eyes. I mean, you could really see , who was, kind of rolling their eyes and then at the same time, whose eyes wanted to pop out because they were so excited. [00:34:45] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. It's like you had two extremes of the show. You had every. Could not wait to jump up on stage and show off what they're want to do in the metaverse. And you had the other half of the people rolling their eyes saying, oh no, not another metaverse session. Come on. It's not real. [00:35:01] Casey Golden: Exactly. I'm like, it's like, well, we know who's on Twitter.[00:35:04] Don't we? [00:35:06] Ricardo Belmar: That's right. That's right. And I had my, one of my favorite, one of my favorite comments on that is, and I can't remember now who said it first, but it was said a bunch of times as you know, for as much. People are getting up on stage, talking about how stores are back. If they weren't talking about how stores are back, they were talking about the metaverse and it's like, you've got these two extremes, .[00:35:24] Either everybody's going back to the stores or everybody's going to jump into the metaverse and do their shopping there. [00:35:28] Casey Golden: Yeah. It just, I think at the end of the day, people want to be together again. [00:35:32] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. I agree. I agree. But I'm still gonna say though. If you're a brand that's not a reason to stop doing whatever your experiment you're doing on the metaverse that this is still the year where you should be trying things out, testing the waters, see what your customers are going to accept what they like, what they don't like, and just figure out what, what you might do in the future.[00:35:52] This isn't the year where you're gonna make a lot of top line revenue out of the metaverse and whatever presence you have. It's the year where you're just going to experiment and try things and see what you, what you're going to invest in later. [00:36:02] Casey Golden: Exactly exactly. I mean, we haven't had something this fun and creative to talk about for, I mean, probably most of the history.[00:36:11] I mean, it's, since we had e-commerce the metaverse brings a new, a new life and a new, energy to the space in general. So, it has to be exciting to talk about. We have traditionally, it's been very much supply chain. Supply chain is not the sexiest industry and conversation. There's not a lot of creativity on there's definitely no fluorescent green or neon lights when we're dealing with the supply chain.[00:36:36] We've got a lot of barcodes. So I think it's going to be. Really interesting how this kind of merges into these conversations into these budgets to be a fly on the wall in 2022 at a brand I'm slightly missing that opportunity to be able to hear these conversations as they happen. [00:36:54] Ricardo Belmar: Right, right.[00:36:55] Yeah. And you know, one of the interesting supply chain conversations, I heard a lot of, which I was pleased to see is this a sort of acceptance that you can't look at your supply chain as a cost center anymore, but it's really more of a, of a differentiated asset for your business. Just given all the challenges that are still out there in the supply chain, around the world, [00:37:15] that we haven't solved all those problems in the last couple of years. There's still issues there. And, and that, to me, kind of led to some more discussions around just profitability in general, right. We used to go to these shows and, and just listened to a speaker after speaker talk about this new disruptive thing they were doing and all of this VC money that was pouring in to help prop everybody up and, fund them to try to get growth really fast, but nobody ever worried about profitability.[00:37:40] And now it seems like. Maybe it's because there are people or something to worry about and inflation and some of these other supply chain issues. But now there's a little bit more of a thought as to, well, when are these things going to turn profitable? [00:37:51] Casey Golden: Yeah, I mean, just for the presence of venture capitalists at Shoptalk it was big and so.[00:37:58] Really seeing how, they've made a lot of investments in direct to consumer. So I find it very intriguing of their attendance. And then also getting so much on supply chain and physical stores, because traditionally that's just not really been where their money has been spent. But I think that they, everybody kind of realizes that that's where that's where the budgets are going to go.[00:38:20] That's where the investment's going to go. And that's, what's going to set apart winners from losers over the next few years.[00:38:26] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And, and I guess it, you almost kinda have to say after, after watching all the VCs that were there, but it turns out that shockingly, these VCs actually want to make a return on their money.[00:38:37] They don't just want to give it to everybody. [00:38:39] Casey Golden: I think there's been some hard lessons in the space. And then also with the pandemic, you know, digital is definitely risen, but it's about next steps. [00:38:47] Ricardo Belmar: Right, right. And what are those next steps? [00:38:49] Yeah. Yeah. Just be more of the same Sam's club. Right, exactly.[00:38:52] Casey Golden: Yeah. You know, opening up more stores. [00:38:54] Ricardo Belmar: That's right. That's right. And. Yeah. And then another topic that kind of related to that, that I started hearing more about that I think is sort of taking a back seat the last couple of years, and that was sustainability. You know, consumers still care about sustainability. I've seen some numbers lately, one study said 84% of consumers still say that sustainability is important to them when they're making a purchase decision. I saw another report that 60% of consumers are willing to change their shopping behavior. If they believe that change will reduce environmental impact.[00:39:24] And this one kind of surprised me, I'd say that I saw had a number of like 66, 67% people say they were willing to pay more for a brand that demonstrates real sustainable practices. And that's the, big fact right there at conferences, pre pandemic people were talking about sustainability.[00:39:41] You couldn't find a brand or a retailer that was going to say, oh no, I'm not worried about that. Everybody was worried about everybody said they were doing something, but at the end of the day, how many were really doing something tangible? [00:39:52] Casey Golden: Yeah. I mean, there's, there's a lot more going into packaging.[00:39:56] The marketing content is much more focused in that area. It's really gonna come down to like proof in the pudding, you know, in the coming year of how much you've actually executed against. But I find it very interesting. As the economy shifts, sustainability conversations go up and down. We tried to do this in 2007, with organic lines, more sustainability.[00:40:19] We tried to do it. And the economy went down. And the sustainability companies and the organic apparel companies closed their doors. So I hope that this time it's, it's here to stay and I think it's here to stay. Consumers are ready for it, and they're willing to change their behavior to take hold of it.[00:40:39] We've also had a lot of negative press over the last two years about the impact of our industry, because I do have to say like the fashion industry is, is part of the problem. [00:40:51] Ricardo Belmar: You're absolutely right. Absolutely. Right. So that, probably could have gotten even more attention at shop talk.[00:40:56] I think I heard more hallway discussion around that maybe then than actual speaking sessions, but it did come up. The last thing, I guess, worth mentioning, you just touched on it the economy that we've had these essentially for, a lot of retailers two booming years of sales and revenue and profitability.[00:41:11] So the, the retailers that went into the pandemic with the right technology investments and the right operational structures, they won, they came out as winners, everybody else? Maybe not so much and that they hopefully learned some lessons over the last couple of years on where they need to improve and what they need to do.[00:41:27] But so now that leaves, for me two big questions, but just sort of heard rumblings about at the show, one being, how do you comp against those last few years, if you were one of those spectacular retailers, can you still eat out another year of spectacular growth or do you expect it to level off?[00:41:41] And if you were not one of those winners, do you recover now? What are you going to do? How are you catching up to the winners and recover from that. And in both of those cases, is, the economy and is inflation going to be something that challenges you, you've got, some other unknown factors with consumer spending around people wanting to buy less stuff now, because we can all go out again.[00:42:01] So people want more experiences. Travel is probably going to come back more. People are going back to restaurants and it's all the same pile of money at the end of the day, so to speak. So what if, if consumers over the last two years shifted their spend to stuff and now it goes back to services and experiences, then we'll, if you're one of those brands selling stuff, you might not sell as much. [00:42:20] Casey Golden: Yeah that's going to be, it's going to be really interesting on consumer behavior coming out of the pandemic. I mean, I myself have made some dramatic differences in my shopping behavior and even how I want to spend my money. And I'm not a typical consumer we know too much, don't we?[00:42:37] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, we do too, but we're dangerous that way as consumers, but, you know, [00:42:41] Casey Golden: So I think it's going to be interesting because what are you copying? Because so much happened during the pandemic with consumer behavior and some of it was forced. Some of it was a natural progression. Some of it was. Introspect.[00:42:55] So when it comes down to comp-ing, we're looking at 2019, we're looking at 2021, but we're really going to be building these projections kind of fresh. And there's going to be a little bit of instability on meeting those goals because we're going to be learning. They're going to be learning so much every quarter, this year of what's real.[00:43:15] And , what stuck. And what is the future look like? [00:43:19] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, a hundred percent, a hundred percent. So that's going to be really interesting to see when all of these brands and retailers start doing their quarterly reports with their forward-looking statements are going to be, I think that's going to be the most, the most telling thing of, of what we learned from them.[00:43:33] So any, last thoughts that stood out to you Casey? Before we close this out? [00:43:37] Casey Golden: Well, you know, I have some last thoughts. I found that the convention hall was buzzing which I find rare at trade shows. It's not used the energy. Isn't typically. Convention hall. But I found it to be very different. It's my first experience at Shoptalk. I had a great one and everybody had, I mean, everything was buzzing. Everybody wanted to talk and learn and, I heard some great questions and people just really digging in and open to the idea of selecting new vendors.[00:44:07] So I'm pretty excited. [00:44:09] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, you're right, the excitement level was high and everybody came away from the show feeling just as excited about their retail and retail tech future. [00:44:16] Casey Golden: I mean, how lucky are we? [00:44:18] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, if anything, shop talk, convinced anybody that went, this is a great industry to be in. And for most people that reaffirmed that Not only is it a great industry to be in, but that you're probably really happy to be in it. [00:44:29] Casey Golden: Yep. I agree. [00:44:33] Ricardo Belmar: All right. Well with that, I think we going to wrap up our great retail reunion. Shoptalk recap on Callin [00:44:39] Casey Golden: bye everyone.[00:44:40] Ricardo Belmar: Bye everybody. [00:44:46] Show Summary[00:44:46] Casey Golden: Welcome back everyone. We hope that you enjoyed our fun recap of retail's big reunion.[00:44:52] Ricardo Belmar: Well, I know I did. I hope we captured the energy from the show last week, Casey. I know it's been what, like two years, since most people in retail had been to a major conference, but it really did feel like a reunion! [00:45:02] Casey Golden: New friends, old, Shoptalk was the place to be. And the hottest industry for doers, retails driving change with the most unsuspected players.[00:45:15] Ricardo Belmar: Yeah, you are absolutely right about that. I think that will pretty much close this out for a special episode of the show and we hope to see all of our listeners again next time! [00:45:25] Show Closing[00:45:25] Casey Golden: If you enjoyed the show, please consider giving us a five-star rating and review on apple podcast. Remember to smash that subscribe button in your favorite podcast player. So you don't miss a minute. Want to know more about what we talked about? Take a look at our show notes for handy links and more deets.[00:45:42] I'm your cohost Casey Golden. [00:45:44] Ricardo Belmar: If you'd like to connect with us, follow us on Twitter at Casey C golden and Ricardo underscore Belmar, or find us on LinkedIn. Be sure and follow the show on Twitter at RetailRazor, on LinkedIn, and on our YouTube channel for video versions of each episode and bonus content. [00:45:59] I'm your host, Ricardo Belmar.[00:46:01] Casey Golden: Thanks for joining us.[00:46:04] Ricardo Belmar: And remember, there's never been a better time to be in retail. If you cut through the clutter . Until next time, this is the retail razor show.
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