Podcast appearances and mentions of william sonoma

In this episode of the Supply Chain Careers Podcast, we sit down with award-winning supply chain leader, Moonmoon Rathod, for an inside look at what it's like to work as a Supply Chain Manager. With over a decade of experience at global powerhouses like Amazon, Apple, Daimler Mercedes-Benz, and William Sonoma, Moonmoon shares her career journey, daily responsibilities, and the skills—both technical and soft—that are essential for success in logistics and operations.Tune in as Moonmoon discusses:How a career-shaping internship led her into supply chainWhat she likes about being a Supply Chain ManagerWhat her main day-to-day job duties consist ofHer passion for problem-solving, innovation, and mentorshipWhether you're a student exploring career paths, a mid-career professional seeking advancement, or a leader shaping supply chain strategy, this episode offers actionable insights from one of the industry's rising stars. Moonmoon also shares advice for breaking into the field, the value of rotational programs, and how to build a career that thrives in a fast-paced, ever-evolving environment.

We LOVE a beautiful table, and we're sharing our favorite tips for making it an occasion. It's the perfect time to think about your table, since the holidays are upon us. To see how to properly set a table, you can check in with Emily Post HERE. We participate in the affiliate program with Amazon and other retailers. We may receive a small fee for qualified purchases at no extra cost to you. Chargers are a must for an elegant table. We love rattan chargers like HERE and HERE. Anita's exact chargers are out of stock, but these from William Sonoma are almost exactly the same HERE. The cabbage salad plates are HERE. Anita's favorite French flatware that comes in a variety of colors HERE. Flatware with bamboo handles are HERE. Anita's favorite water bottles HERE DTT DEFINES: Windsor chair CRUSHES: Kelly's crush is a podcast you will want to tune into - Why Women Grow hosted by Alice Vincent. Listen on any podcast player or click HERE for more info on the show from the Garden Museum ( one of Kelly's favorite places to visit in London :) Anita's crush is this set of invisible wall plate hangers HERE. CONSULTS: Need help with your home? We'd love to help! We do personalized consults, and we'll offer advice specific to your room that typically includes room layout ideas, suggestions for what the room needs, and how to pull the room together. We'll also help you to decide what isn't working for you. We work with any budget, large or small. Find out more HERE Hang out with us between episodes at our blogs, IG and YouTube channel. Links are below to all those places to catch up on the other 6 days of the week! Kelly's IG HERE Kelly's Youtube HERE Kelly's blog HERE Anita's IG HERE Anita's blog HERE Are you subscribed to the podcast? Don't need to search for us each Wednesday let us come right to your door ...er...device. Subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. Just hit the SUBSCRIBE button & we'll show up! If you have a moment we would so appreciate it if you left a review for DTT on iTunes. Just go HERE and click listen in apple podcasts. XX, Anita & Kelly DI - 14:18/28:36 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Scott Becker discusses five major stocks experiencing significant drops, including Advanced Auto Parts, William Sonoma, and Tempus AI. Tune in for a lighthearted take on today’s market downturns and the surprising stories behind these declines.

In this episode, Scott Becker discusses five major stocks experiencing significant drops, including Advanced Auto Parts, William Sonoma, and Tempus AI. Tune in for a lighthearted take on today’s market downturns and the surprising stories behind these declines.

No media Allowed

In episode 516, Jo Keohane teaches us how to style food to make it look as delicious as possible in order to drive more traffic to our blogs. Since graduating from Culinary School in NYC in 2010 Jo Keohane freelanced as a Recipe Developer and Food Stylist in test kitchens of many America's best known publications, like Bon Appetit Magazine, Epicurious and Saveur. She has also worked with a variety of household brands like William Sonoma, Weightwatchers, Staub Cookware, Danone, Kraft and more. She started off life as a BBC journalist and then worked in PR in London. But a love of cooking and a desire to find a fulfilling career which would allow her to spend more time with her 3 kids took her back to school to study cooking. After moving to the USA in she was lucky enough to attend the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. Now she runs her own food blog - The Family Food Kitchen - helping other busy families to eat well even when time is short! her blog focusses on easy, delicious and do-able recipes - and contains lots of one pot, sheet pan and easy meal ideas. In this episode, you'll learn about what to consider before you start shooting your recipe, including how to layer and pick ingredients, backdrops, props and garnishes. - Food Styling is a Problem Solving Exercise: During recipe development, plan ahead to make sure your ingredients will help you make your dish look appealing. - Don't Hold Back on Good-Quality Ingredients: Better quality ingredients will have more vibrancy and make your photos pop more. - Create Depth and Movement in Food Photography: Use layering to create depth in your photos and take photos of movement (e.g. pouring a sauce). - Balance Perfection and Authenticity: While it's important to make your photos look appealing and create intrigue avoid overly perfect photos - crumbs and spills in small quantities add character. - Proper Ingredient Storage: Store ingredients to maintain freshness and quality. For example improper storage of herbs can lead to wilting and might detract from your photos. - Adjust Cooking Times for Food Photography: There's a difference between cooking to eat food and cooking for photography. Adjust cooking times to ensure that the food looks its best on camera. - Use Props and Tools for Food Styling: Jo discusses the importance of having a set tray with essential tools and props for food styling, such as sharp knives, tweezers, Q-tips, paper towels, toothpicks, spritz bottles, squeeze bottles, spatulas, and brushes to aid in food styling. - Layering Garnishes to Enhance the Dish: Use different garnishing techniques to elevate the appearance of dishes for photography. By layering garnishes strategically, you can add depth and visual interest to the dish. Connect with Jo Keohane Website | Instagram

Daniel Winer HexClad Co-Founder & CEO CEO, Co-Founder and kitchen maverick, Daniel Winer is the mastermind behind HexClad Cookware. After spending more than a decade building relationships in the industry, Daniel recognized the opportunity for cookware in the DTC market. He worked to develop the first true innovation in cookware since the invention of non-stick - the patented HexClad design – which provides the searing capability of stainless steel and cast iron with the easy cleanup of nonstick for an unparalleled, high-performance culinary experience. Daniel began marketing HexClad directly to consumers in 2016 and in 2021, partnered with 22-time Michelin-Starred Chef, Gordon Ramsay. To date, HexClad has become one of the most successful self-funded, DTC companies in any category driving hundreds of millions in sales and revolutionizing the cookware industry along the way. Danny currently leads the strategic direction of HexClad along with all product development efforts and global expansion initiatives. Daniel holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from New York University. In This Conversation We Discuss:[00:48] Intro[01:51] Turning cookware passion into a business idea[03:17] Reflecting on failures and lessons learned[05:18] Exploring product designs[06:14] Unexpected branding success[07:05] Making sacrifices for business growth[07:39] Emphasizing storytelling in marketing[09:02] Serendipitous encounter with Costco[10:14] Experimenting with messaging[11:08] Generating discussion and engagement[11:48] Identifying with the Gen Z and Millennials[13:31] Evaluating profitability and engagement metrics[14:09] Assessing ad spend efficiency[15:31] Balancing ad budget and revenue[16:34] Transitioning in-store insights to Facebook ads[18:26] Defying expectations with progressive growth[19:58] Episode sponsors[22:00] Harnessing collaborative power[23:43] Entering the market with a game-changing product[25:41] Upholding trust and customer commitment[27:02] Ask questions and accept constructive feedback[29:00] Embracing failure as a stepping stone[29:36] The importance of self-reflection as entrepreneurs[31:33] Where to find HexClad[32:23] Inspiring future entrepreneurs with success storiesResources:Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on YoutubeThe only true hybrid cookware https://hexclad.com/Follow Daniel Winer https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-winer-647bba90/Schedule an intro call with one of our experts https://electriceye.io/connectBook a demo today at https://www.intelligems.io/If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

Quick Take - (Full Episode - #78 - Link Below to Full Episode) Have you ever stayed at a short-term rental home and wondered where a certain interior design item was purchased and how you could get it for your own home? Or did you sleep amazingly on their mattress and sheets, and want to buy them for your own bedroom? These real product moments are what drove our guest, Marc Hostovsky, to launch Minoan - a customizable, curated retail platform helping short term rental hosts simplify furnishing and save money with a free to use, centralized ordering platform. Steep discounts and no hassle of messy logistics like order tracking and customer service? Sign us up! Marc has a strong background in tech and retail operations, having worked in senior roles for Walmart and Jet.com (which was acquired by Walmart!) Minoan is a venture-backed startup focusing on “native retail.” Products aren't boxed up in a store display case or hiding as images on a phone screen. There's no pushy furniture store sales person over your shoulder either — just a consumer and the products with a little one-on-one time. If guests love the plush towels, why not let them buy an exact one from the same supplier? It's a win for products and brands - they get consumers to spend time actually living with items of potential interest. Minoan's current retail partner roster is impressive, including such heavy hitters as William Sonoma, Article, West Elm, Crate & Barrel, Polywood, Casper, Pottery Barn, Caraway, Wayfair, and hundreds other retailers, both national brands and smaller local companies. They already have assembled a network of nearly 10,000 short-term rental locations and boutique hotels, whose hosts pick and choose products from several hundreds of participating brands that can help them convert their vacation lodging into showrooms. In this episode, we discussed: - How Marc thought to launch Minoan - Why the most valuable moments spend with products are not online or in stores - How Minoan works with short-term rental operators - Why furnishing and decor should be thought of less as a cost center and more as an investment in improving average daily rates - How does Minoan help hosts' encourage shopping available products without making the experience feel overly commercialized? - What products create those memorable moments for guests? Where you can find Marc: Minoan website - https://www.minoanexperience.com/ Marc's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-hostovsky/ Minoan's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/minoan/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/minoanexperience Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/minoanexperience Join Jason Muth from Straightforward Short-Term Rentals and Attorney / Broker Rory Gill of NextHome Titletown and UrbanVillage Legal in Boston, Massachusetts for another episode of The Real Estate Law Podcast! #realestatepodcast #nexthome #humansoverhouses #realestate #realestatelaw #realestateinvesting #realestateinvestor #realestateagent #airbnb #airbnbdecor #furnishingyourairbnb #strsecrets #vrbo #nativeretail Follow us! Following and subscribing to The Real Estate Law Podcast not only ensures that you'll get instant updates whenever we release a new episode, but it also helps us reach more people who could benefit from the valuable content that we provide. The Real Estate Law Podcast on Instagram and YouTube NextHome Titletown Real Estate on Facebook and LinkedIn Straightforward Short-Term Rentals on Instagram Attorney Rory Gill on LinkedIn Jason Muth on LinkedIn Help us Spread the Word If you've found our podcast helpful, entertaining, or informative, please consider leaving us a rating and review. It only takes a minute and can make a huge difference in helping us reach more listeners.

Ho, ho, ho! Welcome to the Slay Ride!!! This week is about gratitude, love, and shopping malls! Benny debuts his best kept era - Britney Spears as Ursula. Mary Beth rides for giving gifts off-season and Benny rides for a mom and pop shop called Williams Sonoma. Brew some hot chocolate and cozy up to the fire while you listen to our second to last ep of the year!Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.Sponsors:Dailyharvest.com/ridepod for up to $65 off your first boxDrinkAG1.com/ridepod for a free 1 year supply of vitamin D and 5 free travel packs Shop now at lightboxjewelry.com and use promo RIDE for 10% off sitewideGo to theouai.com and use code RIDE for 15% off any purchaseProduced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Allan Rosenberg is a San Francisco based photographer who has been shooting for well over five decades throughout the world. His rich volume of work includes commissions for Mercedes Benz, Ruf, Marriott, and Hilton Hotels, The Post Hotel and Spa, Heineken, McDonalds, and dozens of wineries and over one hundred cookbooks for William Sonoma, Time Life, and Octopus. Allan has covered Formula 1 for three years, IMSA, and IndyCar. In the past he's contributed to Road & Track, Octane, Classic and Sportscar, and Rewind magazines.

Brian Hart Hoffman talks with Sarah Kieffer about her start in the baking world at 9 years old, her successful career as the blogger behind The Vanilla Bean Blog, the recent release of her cookbook, 100 Morning Treats, and a sneak peek at her appearance on Baking School with William Sonoma. Follow Bake from Scratch: Instagram: @thebakefeed Website: bakefromscratch.com Follow Sarah on Instagram: @sarah_kieffer Follow Brian on Instagram: @brianharthoffman

This episode is about the virtual “Future of Eco-Conscious Living” that was presented by House Beautiful on Earth Day. You will learn about the many ways that we can make small, but significant changes in our lives to reduce our environmental impact and live more sustainably by making smarter choices when it comes to buying products.    KEY TAKEAWAYS: Learn what the Property Brothers, Ashton Kutcher and William Sonoma are doing for the environment. Hear about the extreme environmental impact of toilet paper. How you can live a luxurious and sustainable life at the same time.    RESOURCE LINKS: Kandrac & Kole Website Kandrac & Kole on Instagram Kandrac & Kole on YouTube   BIO:  Kandrac & Kole was voted one of Atlanta's Top 20 Residential Interior Designs by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and has been featured on HGTV as well as in The New York Times, Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Home Magazine, and many others as well as participants of the One Room Challenge Spring 2020. Kandrac & Kole has established a well-known reputation for their approachable, dynamic personalities, signature use of color and pattern, and one-of-a-kind, custom designs. As industry experts for residential and commercial design, Joann Kandrac & Kelly Kole share upbeat and entertaining narratives regarding their design projects, travels, and personal stories on their popular blog, their podcast, and via national speaking engagements. Joann and Kelly's love and commitment to the power of interior design also extends towards their charity work throughout the U.S. and Guatemala. SPONSOR:  The Atlanta Market – the premier gift, décor and lifestyle Market right here in Atlanta. AmericasMart is a to-the-trade-only marketplace to discover new resources, and to connect with thousands of makers, manufacturers, and sales reps ready to help build your business.   The big shows are held in January and July and are always on our calendar. Each show we visit with like minded business owners and creatives and it's our time to get inspired by fabrics, furniture, colors and design-forward product displays on every showroom floor.   The next show is July 11-17 so we highly recommend you register by visiting Atlantamarket.com.  The show is a bit overwhelming but make sure you visit the floor of temporaries, the coveted Antiques category and also five brand new floors of Casual and Outdoor Furnishings which is debuting this July.  We will see you there! AmericasMart Website: https://www.americasmart.com/

Brian Hart Hoffman talks with Heather Mubarak about her recently released cookbook, Stuffed, her career as the owner of Toffee Box, and her upcoming appearance on Monday Baking School with William Sonoma and Bake from Scratch.This episode wouldn't be possible without our amazing baking partners, Ankarsrum and C&H Sugar. Learn more about their products here: AnkarsrumC&H SugarFollow Bake from Scratch: Instagram: @thebakefeed Website: bakefromscratch.com Follow Brian on Instagram: @brianharthoffmanFollow Jessie on Instagram: @brownedbutterblondie

From IRS Agent to Entrepreneur: One Woman's Compelling Story#PoisedforExit had the honor today of interviewing a client of KeyeStrategies, Peggy Hedgpeth, who is the founder and CEO of Golden Rabbit Enamelware. Peggy had a very interesting journey to entrepreneurship, first working as an IRS Agent for 10 years and earning her CPA credential during that time, and then earning her MBA before founding her first start up. When making a trip to Indonesia (that takes 40 hours) to find teak furniture for her shop, she came upon enamelware among the vendors of Bali. She fell in love with the product and proceeded to visit all of the enamelware manufacturers in Indonesia before settling on one. She launched Golden Rabbit as a wholesale maker of high quality enamelware 34 years ago and hasn't looked back since. Peggy sells her products through retail giants like Neiman Marcus, Pottery Barn, William Sonoma, and Bass Pro Shop. Many other retailers carry her products, ranging from dinnerware to kitchenware to serving ware, in various patterns and colors. Check out the beautiful, functional products here.Peggy says she's always been a disruptor, and when things didn't go her way or someone got IN her way, she figured out a way to keep moving forward. As a woman entrepreneur, she said that in the early days, she was often told she didn't belong in business. Thankfully, she didn't listen to the naysayers. Check out the interview with Peggy.Peggy and her executive team have worked hard the past few years doing everything they can to position the company well for a future sale. Peggy believes that when the time comes, she's now ready. Peggy's story is truly compelling! She tells much more of it in a new book where she is a contributing writer, called "The Great LeaderHERship Awakening". There are 20 women contributors, all telling their stories from various angles. Find the book here Connect with Peggy Hedgpeth and Julie Keyes on LinkedInThank you to this month's sponsor!  Sunbelt Business Advisors and TrustPointNEW, low price! Check it out!Business Readiness Transition online course #Keyestrategies

“I'm always just working from my gut,” says Joy Wilson, self-taught home cook and baker who has been sharing comforting and approachable recipes on her popular and award-winning blog Joy the Baker since 2008. Since then she has become editor-in-chief of Joy the Baker biannual magazine, written three cookbooks, created her own baking and breakfast mix product line with William Sonoma, and even collaborated with Delicacies jewelry on a culinary themed capsule collection of necklaces and earrings. Saveur Magazine named Joy the Baker Best Baking Blog and the London Times named it a Top 50 food blog. She has appeared in New York Magazine, Country Living, Better Homes and Gardens and on The Today Show. Joy inspires home cooks of all ages to try new things, and proves that baking isn't about the latest high-tech gadgets but following your sweet tooth into the kitchen and creating something beautiful. She is also the brains behind the popular Instagram account–her passion project–Drake on Cake. She can be found with a bag of cookies and a pound of butter in her purse. Top takeaways from today's episode:Stay true to your work but be flexible. The possibilities afforded by these new social media platforms is an exciting chance to be creative. Build quality content for people. This is the foundation of a strong business. Respect that community and stay true to what you offered them. Don't go for the quick buck. They'll feel it and it's icky.Quotes• “I really still focus on creating quality content for people. That's the base of everything.” (31:44-31:51 | Joy) • “Be consistent. If you're going to be on the internet and you have a thing to offer, be consistent about offering it to people.” (36:06-36:13 | Joy)• “Take time to connect with your community…they're the ones who will buy something from you if you ask them.” (36:25-37:15 | Joy) Connect with Joy Wilson a.k.a. Joy the Baker:Instagram | http://www.instagram.com/joythebakerTikTok | http://www.tiktok.com/@heyjoythebakerPlease don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe to Dear FoundHer on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!You can now work with Lindsay 1:1 to build and monetize your community through the same method she used to grow and scale her business. Fill out the form here and set up a FREE 30-minute consultation.Make sure you sign up for Lindsay's newsletter and have all of the takeaways from every podcast episode sent straight to your inbox. PLUS, you'll get a tip every week to help you grow and scale your own business.Don't forget to follow Lindsay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaypinchukUse code FoundHer for 50% off your first month with both HiveCast and FiresidePodcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Have you ever stayed at a short-term rental home and wondered where a certain interior design item was purchased and how you could get it for your own home?Or did you sleep amazingly on their mattress and sheets, and want to buy them for your own bedroom?These real product moments are what drove our guest, Marc Hostovsky, to launch Minoan - a customizable, curated retail platform helping short term rental hosts simplify furnishing and save money with a free to use, centralized ordering platform.Steep discounts and no hassle of messy logistics like order tracking and customer service? Sign us up!Marc has a strong background in tech and retail operations, having worked in senior roles for Walmart and Jet.com (which was acquired by Walmart!)Minoan is a venture-backed startup focusing on “native retail.”Products aren't boxed up in a store display case or hiding as images on a phone screen. There's no pushy furniture store sales person over your shoulder either — just a consumer and the products with a little one-on-one time.If guests love the plush towels, why not let them buy an exact one from the same supplier? It's a win for products and brands - they get consumers to spend time actually living with items of potential interest.Minoan's current retail partner roster is impressive, including such heavy hitters as  William Sonoma, Article, West Elm, Crate & Barrel, Polywood, Casper, Pottery Barn, Caraway, Wayfair, and hundreds other retailers, both national brands and smaller local companies.They already have assembled a network of nearly 10,000 short-term rental locations and boutique hotels, whose hosts pick and choose products from several hundreds of participating brands that can help them convert their vacation lodging into showrooms.In this episode, we discussed:- How Marc thought to launch Minoan- Why the most valuable moments spend with products are not online or in stores- How Minoan works with short-term rental operators- Why furnishing and decor should be thought of less as a cost center and more as an investment in improving average daily rates- How does Minoan help hosts' encourage shopping available products without making the experience feel overly commercialized?- What products create those memorable moments for guests?Where you can find Marc:Minoan website - https://www.minoanexperience.com/Marc's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-hostovsky/Minoan's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/minoan/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/minoanexperienceFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/minoanexperienceJoin Jason Muth and Attorney / Broker Rory Gill of NextHome Titletown and UrbanVillage Legal in Boston, Massachusetts for another episode of The Real Estate Law Podcast!#realestatepodcast #nexthome #humansoverhouses #realestate #realestatelaw #realestateinvesting #realestateinvestor #realestateagent #airbnb #airbnbdecor #furnishingyourairbnb #strsecrets #vrbo #nativeretailSupport the showFollow us!NextHome Titletown Real Estate on InstagramNextHome Titletown Real Estate on FacebookNextHome Titletown Real Estate on LinkedInAttorney Rory Gill on LinkedIn

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. 

Naomi Hendrix Master Chef/Certified Healing Foods Specialist Chef Naomi Hendrix has been a Raw Food Educator since 2007, teaching how to transition one's lifestyle from a SAD (Standard American Diet) to a Real Food Lifestyle. Studied at ImmuneNutrition from New York through an online course, then tested in Portland, Oregon becoming a Certified Healing Foods Specialist CHFS in 2010. Naomi continued her own education keeping up on the latest in the science & nutrition of food @Living Light Institute as she also educates our community with her Mobile Education Food Truck at Local Farmers Markets, Health Fairs, Local Events, Elementary, High schools, & College campuses throughout the San Joaquin Valley, up to the Rural Mountain Communities near the Yosemite National Park and as far as Southern California to provide Education & Nutrition for Events at Agape International Culver City, CA. R.A.J. Festival 2014, 2015, & Vegan festival San Luis Obispo 2018, 2019 Naomi has shared her knowledge and Love of preparing Local Fresh Produce into delicious nutritious food as she traveled throughout the community to Feed, Nourish, Educate with Private & Public sectors including *Whole Foods Market Fresno, Ca., *Kristina's Natural Ranch Market Fresno, Ca., William Sonoma., *Abundant Harvest Organics Kingsburg, Ca., *Thao Organic Farms, Sanger, Ca., *Kaiser Hospital Physicians, Employees & Staff e, IRS. Lunch & Learn, FCOE Health & Wellness Fair, also Lunch & Learns, COFHousing Authority Wellness Fair, Performing live food demonstrations including healthful tips, recipes & tasting Local produce. Naomi is in direct connection with every level of the daily Restaurant & kitchen operations, procurement and management of store and vendor placement agreements; procurement: local organic farmers; private nutrition & sustainable living classes and food preparation classes for groups, corporate catering. Naomi has a wealth of experience & knowledge from her rich connection with her Hometown Fresno, California, it is a great benefit that Naomi was raised by an Entrepreneur father that was Owner/Operator of two successful businesses in his 84 years of life. Naomi also studied & enjoys American Sign Language ASL making it possible to communicate with hearing impaired individuals & supporting the Deaf community Chef Naomi aspires to Lead the community into a healthy future. Feed, Nourish, Educate! My story August 21, 2006 my son Ian died at the age of 21, unaware that he had celiac disease. This blew my world apart I had no idea who I was anymore, now that Ian was gone. I went into a year of depression and mourning. That year I was diagnosed with dysbiosis which is a yeast over growth of Candida. My holistic primary care physician Dr. Sue Stone recommended that I go gluten-free sugar-free dairy-free, vinegar free, soy free, yeast free. All that was left was nut, seeds, fruits, veg, & greens. Overnight I became a rawatarian, for 3 years yes we called ourselves strictitarians. My wife Rio of 25 years and I have been on this path of growing young together. We're both turning 60 this year and we are in the best shape we've ever been in our entire life. As any/all of our symptoms fell away, we knew this was our lifelong take on life that we will eat to live. "Let thy food be thy medicine" feeding our souls with the best food on the planet all from the garden. I went back to school, getting educated was the best thing I ever did, learning about the body and the nutrition we need to thrive. I took an 18-month course with Immunutrition also went to Living Light Institute and became a certified healing food specialist teaching classes at Whole foods. "How to make fermented foods & how to thrive with real food. "

Welcome to the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with CommerceNext and presented by CommX.It could be argued that Sarah Gallagher has the most distinguished career in fashion ecommerce. She currently sits on the boards of Abercrombie & Fitch and La-Z-Boy. As an operator, she began her career as a merchant, moved to the Victoria's Secret catalog business and then launched and led the digital businesses of iconic fashion brands Banana Republic and Ralph Lauren.  In this episode, Sarah shares her career story, leadership lessons, the art and science of fashion ecommerce and thoughts on the future of digital in retail. About SarahSarah  currently sits on the board of Abercrombie and Fitch Co. and La-zy Boy, and serves as an Executive Advisor of FitforCommerce (retail consultants focused on helping retailers for ecommerce). Ms. Gallagher previously served as Executive Chairperson of the Rebecca Taylor woman's fashion brand, where she was interim chief executive officer with responsibility for the wholesale, stores and e-commerce businesses. Ms. Gallagher served as President of Ralph Lauren North America e-Commerce and as President of Ralph Lauren Media LLC, Polo.com, where she led all aspects of Ralph Lauren's e-Commerce business for 12 years to a position of industry leadership and collaborated on its expansion into European markets. Prior to her tenure with the Ralph Lauren organization, Ms. Gallagher served as Senior Vice President, Banana Republic Direct, and Senior Vice President, Gap Direct, divisions of Gap, Inc., where she was directly responsible for the launch of the Banana Republic catalog, website, and all aspects of its e-Commerce business. Prior to joining Gap, Inc., Ms. Gallagher served as Vice President, Apparel, Jewelry and Accessories for Avon Products, Inc.; Vice President and General Merchandise Manager, Intimate Apparel and then Executive Vice President, Merchandising of Victoria's Secret Catalogue; and in various roles with Lord & Taylor. About VeronikaVeronika Sonsev is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. She also leads the retail practice for Chameleon Collective and is a contributor for Forbes on how to grow retail and ecommerce in the age of Amazon. Having spent the last 10+ years working with some of the largest retailers and direct-to-consumer brands, Veronika has intimate knowledge of the challenges facing retail and ecommerce today. She is also an advocate for women in business and founded the global non-profit mBolden, which is now part of SheRunsit. About ScottAn ecommerce veteran, Scott Silverman has been active in the industry since 1999 and is passionate about digital retail and the innovation driving the industry. Scott Silverman is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. Previously, he spent 10 years as Executive Director of Shop.org where he launched the Shop.org Annual Summit. Scott co-invented “Cyber Monday” in 2005 and was the founder of Cybermonday.com in 2006, a shopping site that has generated more than $2.5 million for Shop.org's scholarship fund.About MichaelMichael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada's top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus        Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  and       The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.  You can learn more about Michael       here  or on       LinkedIn. 

On May 25th, 2022, Steve Grzanich shares today's potential market drivers: April’s durable goods orders Weekly crude oil inventories Earnings from William Sonoma, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and more

S&P Futures are once again showing green and pointing towards a higher opening in the premarket. Comments from Joe Biden that he was considering reducing tariffs on China and the launch of a new trade deal with 12 Indo-Pacific nations are helping to lift market sentiment. Oil is higher this morning on expectations of near-term demand increases from China and the U.S. Thee are multiple key economic reports plus the release of the Fes' meeting minutes will highlight this week's action. This week, Best Buy, Disks Sporting Goods, William Sonoma, Macy's, Dollar General Corp., Costco Wholesale Corp. and other retailers are slated to release quarterly reports.

Welcome to The Backyard Naturalists podcast. The show about anything and everything connected with nature. In this week's episode, Randall York with Cloister Honey joins Debbie and Laurie to talk about the organization was founded from a simple Christmas gift from his wife, Joanne, back in 2007.     Cloister Honey has received awards and honors from Southern Living, Our State Magazine and Charlotte Magazine and their products are carried by retailers such as William Sonoma, Whole Foods, Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Dean & DeLuca, and our show's presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds.     Listen for a super, secret code word during this episode to win a Cloister Honey gift pack.     Connect with the Backyard Naturalists on the Web, Facebook and Instagram.     Please visit and support our presenting sponsor, Backyard Birds at http://www.thebirdfoodstore.com/. A mecca for bird lovers and bird watchers, Backyard Birds is an independent family-owned business located in Matthews, NC (next to Dairy Queen), just southeast of Charlotte.     Thanks for listening to The Backyard Naturalists.  We hope you have a day filled with the wonders of nature. Get outside and take a walk on the wild side! Please don't forget to leave a 5-star review for The Backyard Naturalists podcast.     Production services for The Backyard Naturalists podcast are provided by Downtown Podcasting. To start a conversation on how you can have a podcast, simply send an email to info@downtownpodcasting.com.

Kimberly Grigg welcomes Heather Bernstein of HKB Interior Design out of San Francisco to the show. Kimberly and Heather discuss sustainability in design elements, shifting away from stark white in color palettes, and Heather's love of using stone in design. Heather shares ideas for how versatile stone can be throughout the home.   Heather Bernstein grew up with design as second nature, surrounded by her designer mother's work and influence. After graduation she taught English in Thailand for 14 months and came home to work in real estate before spending time in the corporate world. Design proved to be her calling, however, and after working with a business partner on a co-owned design firm, she branched out on her own with HKB Interior Design just over two years ago. Heather describes her aesthetic as very different from her mother's but with the use of antiques and sustainability always at the core.   Kimberly's use of color is well known but Heather prefers a more neutral palette and they discuss how when working with neutrals, texture becomes your color. Heather has been working away from stark white recently, embracing warmer tones, and she has a vast knowledge of and love for stone in her designs. Kimberly learns the best sealant Heather recommends for stonework to avoid patina. And Heather shares some inspired design ideas from her own new home, stone elements beyond countertops, and insight from her years of experience with thinking outside the box to create a beautiful vibe. Resources discussed in this episode: HKB Interior Design HKB Interior Design Instagram Quartz and Quartzite Caesarstone MORE AntiEtch   About Heather Bernstein:   Heather Bernstein, owner of HKB Interior Design, is a master interior designer with over a decade of experience in the industry. Heather's bubbly yet professional personality leaves its mark on every home she touches with her personalized, warm approach to interiors. Heather's love for beautiful spaces originated from her time spent absorbing her mother's skill in interior design and running her independent firm. After graduating college, Heather moved to Thailand to teach English which expanded her senses and empathy for other cultures that commonly shows in her designs. Soon after, Heather accepted a corporate position for a Fortune 500 leading specialty retailer of high-quality products. This experience not only enhances her passion for design but can also be attributed to her well-rounded creativity and organizational skills that now come as second nature. When Heather isn't working with clients, you will find her chasing around her two boys and golden retriever. Heather continues to embrace travel as a necessary pleasure, is constantly seeking out the best sushi on the market, and is frequently socializing in her community, enjoying laughs over a good glass of wine. --    Contact Me: Email me at kimberly@kimberlygriggdesigns.com Visit my website: www.kimberlygriggdesigns.com Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest Check out my Youtube channel You can find the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify.   Transcription Heather Bernstein  00:00 Yeah, and you just said, the, I think, the biggest thing - you said, clients get afraid. So this, I think, is the biggest thing you can do in design. If you really want to elevate your space, be afraid, have a touch of fear that it's too bold or too much. And go for it.   Kimberly Grigg  00:23 Welcome to Decorate Like A Design Boss, a podcast for design lovers who want to create beautiful spaces in their very own homes. My name is Kimberly Grigg. And I'm a professional interior designer who teaches design lovers like yourselves how to decorate. And when I say decorate, I mean decorate like a design boss. If you're ready to create a space that your family loves, and your neighbors can't stop raving about, well, buckle up honey, because it's time to design. So hello there design lovers and enthusiasts, thank you as always for being here. And I'm so excited to be bringing you this episode. In fact, I've been talking to my guest ahead of time, and I just learned something that I didn't know about marble. And I'm going to be sharing that with you, as is Heather, and I can't wait. So today's guest is Heather Bernstein of HKB Designs. They're out of San Francisco. And we're going to talk a lot about sustainable design, interior design, and specifically about how to incorporate natural stone into your home and designs and, more importantly, how to take care of it. So welcome Heather Bernstein, glad to have you here.   Heather Bernstein  01:48 Thank you. I'm glad to be here.   Kimberly Grigg  01:50 Thank you. So I know you've been home battling COVID. Sorry to hear that. And I hope it wasn't horrible. But we forgive you in advance if your throat gets scratchy or whatever. Because, like, that is no joke. I haven't had COVID yet, but seems like everyone I know has, including my children and all that stuff, and I know it's no picnic.   Heather Bernstein  02:14 Rough nights, for sure.   Kimberly Grigg  02:16 I'm sure. So you're in the Bay Area, as is my number five child. I have six children and number five moved to San Francisco. And I've been out quite a few times, and oh my gosh, what a beautiful area architecturally. Like, wow. I can't even imagine what it's like to actually get to design there. Because the architecture is on fire.   Heather Bernstein  02:41 It's amazing. I think the best part about it is that no two projects are the same there. You have sprawling ranchers, you have Victorians that are straight up and down, you have every different kind of home, which is amazing. And especially in Marin, where we are, we're in the mountains. And so all the homes are so different based on where they are in the land. If they're on a hill, it's, you know, they're on stilts, and if there happened to be in the flats, then you know, they build for that.   Kimberly Grigg  03:19 Yeah, I actually was in Marin, and beautiful area and intriguing. So do you do different aesthetic styles? Or do you kind of focus on one?   Heather Bernstein  03:32 I would say we stay true to who we are. Meaning, we don't like to do anything that doesn't speak to our brand and what we're about and what we love. But we definitely can span from traditional to contemporary and everything in between, depending on what the client wants in the style of the home. I will say, though, our favorite thing is to take a very traditional home. We just did one of the classic Victorians on Steiner Street in San Francisco where 'Full House' was filmed. And we did a very contemporary interior, which was really, really fun to juxtapose against the classic kind of all the wood paneling. And it was just unexpected. And everybody that walks in there is surprised and it's fun and exciting.   Kimberly Grigg  04:29 How cool. So how'd you make your way into the design space? Because I think you have a corporate background, right?   Heather Bernstein  04:36 Yes. So I grew up actually here in the East Bay, so in the Bay Area but just through the Caldecott Tunnel, in a little town called Alamo, and my mom was a designer all growing up. So for 35 years, it's all I knew. We - and she, when she started out, she did all of her own sewing, all of her own upholstery, she made every window treatment, every roman shade out of our dining room. And I remember being in middle school or even elementary and most kids have to take their shoes off when they go in the house, we had to leave ours on because there was always pins and needles on the floor. And so I just, I grew up with it, and then, I guess it was about junior or senior year, my mom would start - by the time I think I was in college, like I'd gotten into school, so it must have been senior year - she would pull me out of school and say, 'Hey, let's go to the Design Center. You can come help me for the day'. And I just thought it was magical, and getting to shop and put things together for people to make their spaces something that they loved, was really just magical. So then I went to school, I went to Boulder. I graduated, I moved to Thailand for about 14 months, I taught English to high schoolers there, I just wanted to get out and experience something different. And travel, which I did, I spent a month in India, and really just - and that was after my junior year abroad in Italy - so I really tried to, like, just see different places in the world. And then I came back and I got my real estate license. And I was selling apartments downtown south of Market in San Francisco, where it was completely undeveloped, and it was like a ghost town. And now it's the sprawling amazing gentrified neighborhood, which is incredible. But real estate was not for me, I called one of my dear friends who worked at William Sonoma corporate and I said 'I need a job'. And she said, 'Great, come be an assistant, my assistant buyer'. And so I did. And I was there for five or six years, climbed up the ladder to a senior buyer, which was really, really fun and exciting. I for sure drink the Kool Aid for the first three years. And then I started to become a little disillusioned and the world was faltering as, you know, we neared 2008. And then I was laid off and I remember crying the night before they were gonna announce layoffs thinking, this is my chance, if I don't get laid off I don't know if I'll be brave enough to start my design business. And so I wanted to be laid off, which was very counterintuitive, because the world was ending. But I was laid off, with 700 others, and that was in January. And by March, I had started our S corp and I had a business partner, we joined forces and said, 'Let's do this together'. We were both going to start our own businesses, and we just said that's silly. And so I started Nest about 15 years ago. And we worked alongside each other for 12 great years. And then when COVID hit, it just kind of felt like things were changing in my life. I had been through a divorce and met a wonderful man. We joined our families and had a Brady Bunch. And I was really just, like, cleaning house and making sure that everyone around me... and it was it was a positive experience every day. And I wanted to feel that in my work and create that space, and so we both went out on our own, and that's when I started HKB. And it's been about two, two and a half years. And I have one of my oldest employees, who has been with me for 10 years. And then we have an assistant buyer who is amazing. She came from the corporate event space and when COVID hit she she jumped ship and came on to try this whole new world and she loves it, and we love having her, so it's been really positive.   Kimberly Grigg  09:08 Sounds like things just kind of lined up. Which always tells me that you're in the right space. And based on your website, you're definitely definitely in the right space. So I got to know, is your aesthetic similar to your mother's?   Heather Bernstein  09:26 No. Definitely not. She was like the consummate traditionalist with the fringe and the Sweet Pea wallpaper and the Laura Ashley and very froofy, and so, no, I actually went the opposite. And my old business partner was very traditional, and I just, I think I ran from that and became very contemporary. Anything clean lined, even mid century, modern, I was more drawn to. But now I'm starting to have this appreciation, I don't know if it's getting older, or just learning that having pieces that are from family from, you know, 100 years ago is really special. So I think I'm definitely being able to merge my style. And we just built a house for the past year, my partner and I, to fit all six of us. And it's been such a labor of love. And it will be photographed, hopefully, in the next couple of months once we get our final furniture pieces. But it definitely has a combo of very clean lines, but also some traditional pieces thrown in.   Kimberly Grigg  10:55 Sure. And I think that, I'm sure you're experiencing supply chain issues as most of us are, and, you know, my original aesthetic incorporated antiques and older pieces really juxtaposed with modern, and it was always my favorite style. But as I got busier and busier, it was just easier to order than to go antiquing on the weekends, or go antiquing, and just, like, be looking for these pieces. And I... my aesthetic sort of shifted because I was doing so many installations every single week, I didn't have time or energy, except to get it ordered. And I had assistance for all of that. So that's kind of my business in those middle years became all about ordering, tracking, ordering, tracking, ordering tracking. But, now with all of this supply chain, I'm back to my roots, I feel like Kunta Kinte. Like, let's start with that antique, baby. Let's get rid of some of those antiques that are leftover in the warehouse. Let's repurpose, let's rethink, let's re-upholster, let's do all of these things, because I don't have the patience for 28 months for upholster to arrive. And I know my clients don't have that kind of patience, either. So I think that necessity is the mother of invention. And I know that on your site, you do talk a lot about sustainability. And I think that's a, sounds like maybe a really big part of your brand. So talk to me a little bit about sustainability, why it's important to you, and how you incorporate sustainability into your designs.   Heather Bernstein  12:38 Yeah, I think just living in the Bay Area, it's kind of been hammered into us for our whole lives. You know, like, we recycled before recycling was even a thing, I think. And so it really allows you to design consciously and with thought and care. And antiques are such a beautiful part of that because there's only one, and it's available, like you said - I'm not, you know, we just got a quote for a client and it said 36 weeks, and I was trying to even calculate that in my head-   Kimberly Grigg  13:17 - it doesn't sound that big. But when you're calculating 36 weeks, you're like, whoa!   Heather Bernstein  13:24 Yeah, the client was like 'is that a joke?' Yeah, I could make that in 36 weeks.   Kimberly Grigg  13:29 Right? Exactly.   Heather Bernstein  13:31 And so, I think, really incorporating pieces that are already out there, that don't take any footprint to make, and to just infuse them in our designs is really special, and also conscious for the environment. So I think it's important to think that way and to infuse that in your design, and really be smart about it.   Kimberly Grigg  14:02 Yes. So agree. So tell me, Heather, what inspires you?   Heather Bernstein  14:08 You know, I just, I love being outside. It's so funny because I had a girlfriend over last night. We're newly friends, she's going through a divorce, so I'm kind of helping her through it.   Kimberly Grigg  14:22 Right.   Heather Bernstein  14:22 And my partner and I went on a mountain bike ride yesterday for, like, two hours just in nature, huffing and puffing, it was so beautiful. And I was telling her about it - and we had our bikes stolen a couple months ago and so we just got her new bikes, yesterday was our first ride, we were breaking them in, we were so excited - and she was like, 'you mountain bike. I did not know that about you'. And I was laughing. My dad was a mountain bike coach in high school, and I really, I think, am a girly-girl but I love to get down and dirty, and yesterday was my favorite day. We spent three hours in the garden planting, and then got on our bikes and went on a ride for two hours. And it just felt so productive. And the vitamin D, I don't know, there's something, for me, about being outside. And we clearly live, like, in the redwoods, and in this beautiful space where we can do that. And I think that is the number one thing that inspires me. Because, yeah, travel inspires me, but we can't travel every day. But we can be outside every day in nature and take it in and just revel in the beauty of it. And that is... and then, of course, my family inspires me every day. And they're just, we're an evolving, very fun family, you know - the boys are 9 and 10, the girls are 13 and 16 - and just watching their personalities and the hormones and I'm just always so curious.   Kimberly Grigg  14:29 It's so true. And I've never thought about it as family being inspiring. Supportive. But, you know, when I think back on things that we've been through - because we're a blended family as well, we're definitely the Brady Bunch. Three and three. And so, three girls, three boys.   Heather Bernstein  16:26 Oh my gosh.   Kimberly Grigg  16:26 Two were his, two we adopted, and two are biological. So it is, like.... but their spaces in life have really been an inspiration that I've probably just taken for granted as my personal life that does merge with my work life. You know, I don't necessarily know that I process that on a daily basis, until you just said it. But I can think of times when yes, my - like right now, one of my daughters is very much into boho chic. And, you know, it's just a boho chic moment. And yet I have a client with three daughters, and they are in their boho chic periods, and I can do that very well because of the inspiration that I've garnered from my daughter - what she sees on social media, what she likes, what she follows, what she wants in her own spaces, all those things - you know, has brought about an inspiration that I probably wouldn't have been interested in that style. I just wouldn't. It's just not, it doesn't necessarily speak to my personal aesthetic, but I champion being versed in all styles. And I usually get versed when someone asked me to do one. And then it's, like, I study for days and hours, and, you know, when you do this I do think that you can study a particular genre for long periods of time. And you can do it, like it's in us, we have to be a certain amount of chameleon to be able to do what we do, unless we have a particular style that we repeat, and we repeat, and we repeat. That's a little bit different. But that brings me to this question, you know, my listener is, she's not necessarily a DIYer, but she is someone who wants to make her home beautiful. And for whatever reason, she's probably not going to hire a designer, she's going to want to do it herself. She wants to be successful. But she wants her own stamp. And, again, there's many reasons that this person ends up in this space. But I'm curious, do you think that creativity can be learned?   Heather Bernstein  18:45 Hmm, I definitely think... I believe in the right brain / left brain, and, you know, the very cerebral right brain and mathematical - which I know did not come easy for me, like, even in corporate America when I lived in spreadsheets, I just, it was heavy. I felt heavy.   Kimberly Grigg  19:12 Sure.   Heather Bernstein  19:12 And so the left brain creative space, definitely think... everybody has a left brain. And so it's in them. It's just drawing it out. So what is it? You can be creative in your cooking, in your food, and how you plate something or how you think to make something that you're going to put in your body. You can be creative in your garden, and what.... My partner just made this amazing trellis for his green beans - he's so excited about his green beans, and his cucumbers climb on this trellis - that he sat out there for hours and made, and I watched him, like, that's so creative. Like how, I wouldn't have thought of that. So I definitely think there are avenues of creativity that are different for everybody. You know, obviously you think of an artist and you're like, yes, you're creative. I think what we do is definitely, you have to have some creative bones in your body, and your left brain working, but there are so many different ways to be creative. So I think...   Kimberly Grigg  20:22 For sure. And I do find, I think this, like, sometimes when people are hiring me to do a job, they don't have confidence in their creativity, or time, you know, it takes a lot of time to do what we do. And so.... but I do think that it's in there, almost with everyone, left and right brain. Like I'm... definitely my left brain is more trained than my right brain, my right brain came out of the womb screaming, 'I'm here and I'm creative' and my other brain is like, 'alright, bring her along, bring her along, you got this'. And I exercise that muscle very often, because I want it, I want the balance of the two. And, as you know, running a business requires the two. But I do find that a person who doesn't necessarily think they're very creative, it's also maybe they're not as passionate as you and I are about the subject.   Heather Bernstein  21:28 Or like you said, they're nervous. And once you put one foot in front of the other, and you just start doing, you become more confident in your creativity.   Kimberly Grigg  21:37 And I think you can exercise that muscle. And I thought a long time about this, since I teach classes to people who are, who think, who want to aspire to have that beautiful home on their own. And I really had to sit with this, do I think that they can do this? Because if they can't, you're just beating your head against the wall. And if they can, and there's ways that you can do it, then you probably can get somewhere.   Heather Bernstein  22:06 Even if they can come away with one or two, like, a-ha moments, it can help them transform one space, and then two, and then three spaces... and do this one or two things. That's, that's beautiful, because they're making their space more their own and more....   Kimberly Grigg  22:27 And I encourage people at that stage, especially if they don't have the confidence yet, 'all right, you do you and you go through the process' but then it's okay to hire someone to consult with you. It's okay to hire a professional to say, 'move this to the right three inches' because you will learn from that experience as well. I think sometimes people are afraid that, you know, someone like you and I are going to come in with all this vast experience and, like, intimidate them in some way. But it really is, like, I know when I'm doing my own work, heck, I come into my office and say to the other designers here, 'hey, what do you think about this?'   Heather Bernstein  23:11 100%!   Kimberly Grigg  23:12 Like, you know, because it's mine. It's personal. It's intimate, and, like, oh god.   Heather Bernstein  23:17 And it's hard.   Kimberly Grigg  23:20 It's so hard, so you know, I'm glad you're a kindred spirit in that way. So I'm anxious to hear your answer to this. So here's an empty space, Heather, what's your process? Like, what do you do?   Heather Bernstein  23:34 Hmm. Well, in the traditional sense, we put pen to paper and, you know, draw it in CAD and lay it out. But, throw that away because so often we check our measurements from our CAD drawing in the space and we're like, huh, that doesn't feel right. And so then we get out our old fashioned tape measure, which I literally have one every spot I am in.   Kimberly Grigg  24:05 It's attached to my fingers.   Heather Bernstein  24:08 And we measure it out and we think through, like, how does this person live? How do they entertain? Do they have a family? We go through all the process and we know - whether it's for our client or, I'm just thinking of my home that I just did - and, you know, okay this is our living room but it is not a formal living room, it has a TV, and we want it to be comfy and cozy. And it was like, okay yes a sofa, but how about a day bed where you can literally just lounge with a couple of the kids. So really thinking through who's going to use the space, how the space is going to be used, and then laying it out with your trusty tape measure, and just knowing 'okay, we're going to do a sofa, a day bed, and a pair of chairs, and then maybe we'll throw in a bench or two little benches at the, you know, by the fireplace just to pull up for extra seating because we need that'. Because there are so many of us, there are not eight of us, but there are six of us... so yeah, that's I think. But then if I back up and think through, like, the very first thing we do, is we create a vibe board. And this is the most important step because it dictates the design for every room in the house. And that offers consistency in our designs. And so we start with our vibe board, we send it to the client, we have a meeting, and we go through every image. And it's not like you're going to have this in your home, it's more like, how does this vibe board feel? It evokes a mood and what is that and you love it? And if you don't, we're back to the drawing board. So that is how we start. And then, obviously, you know, our handy tape measure comes into play.   Kimberly Grigg  26:18 Well, I tell people, like, they'll bring me plans - I do a lot of design builds, where I'm making all the selections, and it's a year and a half of building, and I love that kind of work - but when it comes to, like, I'll get, you know, into the project, and I inevitably have clients say, 'well, okay, let's order furniture, let's order our furniture right now, right now', we're still 12 months out. And, like, I understand the backlog more than most, however, I start saying it's different on paper than it is in person. It just is. And I want to feel the space before I commit. And yes, this sofa fits, yes, this is probably where we're going with this, however, I want this feeling, this vibe, to feel like you - client - and I also want it to be respectful of the architecture and the home itself. And sometimes you can't get that from a blueprint. And I think that's what you're saying, this vibe board does have this significant role, because this is what - whether every little piece in that vibe board is going in this house, probably not - but it does speak volumes to how this space is going to feel. Right?   Heather Bernstein  27:45 100%. We... when we did my home, and I say 'we' because my senior designer, Reed, was such a big part of it. It's so hard to design for yourself, I don't know why, maybe it's just me, but I've learned that from many other designers, I've heard them say the same thing. But we found this image from this amazing artist, and it's this woman with a blank face being hugged by this big, fat, wonderful, what looks like cashmere ,blanket. And I was like 'THAT - that is my home. That is what I want'. I want you to walk in and feel like you are being hugged by a cashmere blanket. And just settle into the comfort of it and the cozy.   Kimberly Grigg  28:33 I love this.   Heather Bernstein  28:35 And so, I can kind of, I can show you, my - if you can see - there she is. And so this was the start of our vibe. And it just, it all came to, you know, to be from that one image. So often times, you know, we find one image and it's amazing, and just describes the whole thing.   Kimberly Grigg  29:02 And I like to say to people, you know, when you're scrolling on Pinterest or whatever, you're not just looking for rooms, like rooms are important. Like, I get a lot from people out of the rooms that they select. But I say don't just look at rooms, look at images that speak to you. Because what you just showed me was more of a piece of art with this woman in this cashmere blanket this big, thick fluffy... that sparks 'How do I want to feel in my home?'   Heather Bernstein  29:33 Yes.   Kimberly Grigg  29:33 And that's the thing that I sometimes think people miss. They'll bring me a picture of something on Pinterest and I'm, like, so you sort of want me to copy this room? Like, because you got the wrong girl for that. Like, I don't know how to do that very well. I can look at something, I can get a vibe, and I certainly can give you a different version of that that feels that way, but it won't be that. Like, that's just not in me, it's just not. But I think it's more if people can settle into what that space needs to feel like to them, as the people who live there, then I think you tap into something that resonates with a person. And, in the end, I say this, I'm not gonna live here, I'm probably going to come visit you because we will become friends over this, but you're gonna live here.This house should look like you, not me, and get comfortable with that. Because if you don't know who that is, we're going to find out. And it sounds like you have a similar process. And, which, I love that process. I'm not the girl who does this look. And I don't have a look, I have your look. And that's the best I can say about that. So I want to segue, in a minute, into materials. And this is really how we were introduced, is you're kind of known for your use of materials. And I know that you deal a lot in stone. So first define for people what a natural stone is versus a synthetic stone, because I think there's a lot of product in the market and people get confused with materials.   Heather Bernstein  31:14 Yeah. Yeah, there's so many options out there, which is amazing and been really wonderful to design with all these options. But yes, natural stone is cut from the quarry, whether it's from Italy, Portugal, South America, it is a block of magnificent stone, cut from a quarry, and then sliced up into pieces. And what you see is what you get, no two are alike, they're like snowflakes. Synthetic stone is conglomerate, so they grind it up and glue it together, and it's very hardy. It can also be porcelain. I do think synthetic materials, synthetic slabs, have come a long way. We used to, you would see like Corian or quartz, everybody's heard of quartz, a lot of people call it Caesarstone. It's like Kleenex versus tissue: Kleenex is the brand, tissue is the thing. The Caesarstone is the brand, is one brand out of millions, it seems like these days, and quartz is the synthetic material. And there's a time and a place for it. And we have to love all materials because we're blessed to get to do many different spaces and many different places. But if you think about it, a man-made material can't live outside. So, like, if we're doing a built-in kitchen outside, we would never put a quartz outside because the heat can do things to it. Whereas a natural stone has already lived outside and it's totally fine outside. So - and there is something about natural stone that we love, that none are the same, and so every project with natural stone is unique. So we love, love, marble quartzite - not to be confused with quartz - limestone, soapstone, slate. We love these natural materials, but, you know, some of them are more porous than others. And that's where the proper sealant comes in, and treating them so that they last a lifetime.   Kimberly Grigg  33:39 So before we get into this sealant, I think that this is appropriate to say.... because a lot of people get really, really nervous about using natural stone as countertops. And I understand it, and most vendors that I work with will, you know, they'll terrify my client even though I say do not open your mouth and tell clients. But, like, let's just say I want to use marble on my kitchen countertops. And they're like, oh, no, no, no, no, no, and we won't, and all that stuff. So, first question is: Do you ever use natural stone as countertops?   Heather Bernstein  34:22 Every day. All the time.   Kimberly Grigg  34:24 Yay girl. That's what I wanted to hear.   Heather Bernstein  34:26 I had marble in my last kitchen, I have quartzite in this kitchen, I have a soapstone vanity in my powder room, I have a Calcutta vanity in my master bathroom. And, yes, it's all porous but it's beautiful and there are ways, there are two ways to think about it. One is this is a natural stone. It can be, it can last 1000 years as your countertop and you can let it patina as it will. Meaning you will see rings from water, wine, you will see spots from lemon or lime acid etching it. Think about the oldest bar you've been to in Italy, and that counter is marble and it has been there for 100 years, and it's, that is the patina you will get. The other side of it is, you can seal it and it will look as beautiful as it did on install day, as it does four years later. So do not be afraid.   Kimberly Grigg  35:36 What is the sealant? This is so exciting.   Heather Bernstein  35:40 It's called MORE AntiEtch. A gentleman named Steve Wolf used to work for DuPont and he had a lot of experience in mixing these compounds, and he left, and said 'I'm gonna make this sealant that you roll on to natural stone that is impenetrable'. And you only have to seal it like once every 10 to 20 years versus every year. And it works. It's a matte finish so it looks, if you have honed stone, it looks just like the stone. I mean you can't tell that there's any sealant on it. And it truly helps stop the effects of citrus and etching and staining, and you can leave coffee and red wine rings on your counter overnight, and then wipe the next day, and it's fine.   Kimberly Grigg  36:42 And this is M O O R?   Heather Bernstein  36:46 MOOR. MORE AntiEtch.   Kimberly Grigg  36:49 AntiEtch.   Heather Bernstein  36:49 No, M O R E. MORE AntiEtch.   Kimberly Grigg  36:52 MORE AntiEtch. Because I'm going to link it, of course. It'll be in the show notes, everyone. But I have marble countertops in my kitchen and I'm very particular about them, I don't like the patina for that particular area. And someone recently said to me there's a product now that you can use to seal. And I thought I'm gonna wait till I hear a little more about this before - because I have a lot of countertop in my kitchen - but I bet you it's the same product and I would be a fan. When you say matte, how does it work on a glossier finish or does it matte it down?   Heather Bernstein  37:30 They have two. They have a polished option and a honed option. Yeah  MoreSurfaceCare.com - M O R E. And they have different sealants for the different stones. So I have a different sealant on my quartzite than I did on my marble. So they really honed in on what the product is and created something spectacular. I don't understand what the compound is but I don't need to, I just know that it works.   Kimberly Grigg  38:03 Which is so amazing. And when we started this conversation, you've had this product in your homes for, now, a couple of years. So you know it's tried and true, because you tried it and it's true.   Heather Bernstein  38:14 Yep.   Kimberly Grigg  38:15 Which is so exciting because people will say to me, 'oh my god, I love that marble, but I'm not doing that, I'm too scared, my husband is sloppy, I spill red wine', all those things that, you know... and then I, as a designer, don't want to live with 'oh my gosh, like, I'm gonna get a phone call in three years and you're gonna be upset'. So this is a way to offset that and I'm thrilled to know about it and I'm going to be talking about it a lot too on my show. Because, you know, I love a product that will solve. Design is a lot about finding the best solutions to problems in your home and this solves a problem. And, you know, not spending hours on it, I do have a couple of questions, though, about stone because, like, I think there's also unusual ways to use stone, not just on a countertop. And I noticed on your site, you do some things. Tell me some things, other things, you've done with stone that are beautiful, that, you know, someone could incorporate into their homes.   Heather Bernstein  39:23 Yeah, I think our favorite thing right now is doing integrated sinks. So for a powder room just taking a slab and cutting it up to make a sink look like it was carved out of a block of soapstone or marble or quartzite, where the sink is fully integrated, I think is so beautiful. Because it's seamless and it looks like it was just carved out of a chunk of stone, and I love that heft, and that feel. We also use slab for fireplace surrounds all the time. Not only are they so functional because of their heat resistant qualities, but they're beautiful. And there's so many designs you can do with different mantles and, really, you can do anything with stone. It's amazing. Of course outdoor spaces. Even just with a remnant we have leftover, we'll, you know, cut a round top and put it on an iron base for outside. And clients are like, 'oh my gosh, this is amazing, I love our table', and nobody has it. And that's beautiful. So, yeah, that is... we use stone in every room. It's wonderful.   Kimberly Grigg  40:42 Yeah. It is wonderful. And I do the same with remnants. I'm doing a top for a coffee table right now. And it was just a little leftover piece, and, you know, it's so pretty, and it's so important. And it can elevate something to an entirely different level.   Heather Bernstein  41:01 Yeah.   Kimberly Grigg  41:01 And it can make it unique to you. Which are all the things that, to me, scream good design. So in your portfolio, you tend to have more neutral palettes. But... so tell me, how do you insert color? Or do you?   Heather Bernstein  41:18 I will say we used to use color a lot more than we did, and something shifted. And I think it was a combination of things. For me, my old business was being dissolved and I was transitioning to this new business where it was mine, solely mine. And then, you know, we're all stuck at home. And I was looking around, and I was - I don't want to say getting sick of - but I was finding myself, like, with really bold colors and patterns. I was... it was jarring to me. And I felt like I just wanted to take it down 10 notches and just breathe in more neutral tones, but lots of texture. And that's where our shift happened. And I don't know, I don't know if it was gradual or if it was one day, but we just started doing these vibe boards that evoked this very calm, soothing feeling. And nothing, like, too bright or jarring. And so that's kind of the direction where we've gone. Like, I'm looking at this as like a rug that's going in my bedroom, it's just, like, soft blue-gray. And then this is the headboard fabric. And the texture is what made us swoon for it.   Kimberly Grigg  42:53 You know, I say - especially when someone comes to me for a neutral palette, because I'm known for color, but can I do a neutral palette, I have done bazillions - but if you're going to do a neutral palette, then texture becomes your color.   Heather Bernstein  43:11 So do you have certain things that you do in homes that is unique to you, your aesthetic, something more like signature?   Heather Bernstein  43:11 100%. I actually think it's harder sometimes than designing with color, because that is like play on play on play, and you're layer layer layer. With textures, it's like, okay, this is velvet, we don't want another velvet, so we need to really think through the next, you know... okay, what is it? Oh, it's a chunky linen. And so really thinking through that is almost harder. But, in the end, it feels so natural and so warm and comfy and cozy. And so we love that.   Heather Bernstein  43:55 You know, I would say right now, the past couple of years, we have moved away from white kitchens - white, white, white, white, white - and we are going warm. And so we are doing wrist white oak cabinets, or custom walnut cabinets, or a color like this deep rich almost hunter green that brings in nature. And so I think right now, our signature is not a white kitchen. And I have seen white kitchens on our website because that's how we did it for so many years.   Kimberly Grigg  44:44 And it's white kitchen to death. It's white everything today.   Heather Bernstein  44:47 And a client will come and say 'I want a white kitchen, I'm coming to you' and we're like 'oh no'. And then we're like, 'well what if we do a soft gray?' and they're like 'oh, oh, can I see what that would look like?' And then they're like, 'oh, that feels nice'. And so, just warming it up, I think, has been... and also, everything has been so stark white for so long, that white, gray, white, gray, that we're really warming it up. So, like, more of, like, a warm white or an ivory. It just, it feels - and I'm saying this as my office is white white - but this canvas, this natural colored canvas, is where we are right now. We're warming it up.   Kimberly Grigg  45:44 And probably using warmer whites when you're using white.   Heather Bernstein  45:48 100%. So instead of super white.   Kimberly Grigg  45:52 Warmer whites. Yes, yes. And then that plays well with other warm colors that are branching off into other rooms and spaces. And I think it's kind of important, because subliminally we're all over-exposed to whatever is trending, even us. I mean, we get, we start seeing so so so so much of something and the next thing you know, we're doing it. And I think the average person is as well. And before you know it, and really by the time you've - not us necessarily - but by the time the person who doesn't do this professionally is incorporating into their homes, this subliminal image, it's already trending out. And, you know, I mean, think of the gray in the last 10 years. Think of the white white white, think of the white with millennial pink. I mean, all my, like, it's everywhere, right? And then I'm so sick of it, like I don't really want to do it, I want to give you something special, even though your heart is set on that white with millennial pink pop. It's the pop that's doing it for you, probably. And it's not that I don't like either color, or it's not that I don't like those looks, it's just been in my face.   Heather Bernstein  47:08 Yes.   Kimberly Grigg  47:09 And an overexposure. So it does make me, though, want to ask this - because I think about this from the perspective of someone listening to this show and gaining and garnering - like, what are things we can leave them with? So what are tips that people can incorporate that they can elevate their home to more of a designer level? Like what kinds of things can somebody really pull off?   Heather Bernstein  47:39 Yeah, you know, I think there are a few just, like, tricks that aren't even tricks. They're just inherent in what we know. But to explain it to someone and someone to say, 'oh, yeah, I never thought, I never knew that'. Like, an area rug. If you have a sprawling living room, you know, family room, whatever it is, and you put a five by eight postage stamp rug in there, your room is going to come crashing in and feel this big. But if you do a 10 x 14 rug, or a custom size to fit the space, your room will feel the size that it is. And so, I think that is something that we see all the time. That we walk in and we're like, 'oh yeah, it feels small, because you have the wrong size rug'. And that helps define your space so easily. It's like dummy proof. You know, like, once you learn like, 'oh, this is the right size rug for this room'. And that's why there are those standard rug sizes - 8 x 10, 9 x 12, 10 x 14 - because those are some standard room sizes.   Kimberly Grigg  48:55 And your point - nothing kills a space worse than that 5 x 7 rug in this huge room. And yes, it does support the furniture, perhaps, but it - I've never really thought about, I've never put it into those words, you did it so eloquently - but all of a sudden your room just shrinks. And you've got this pretty massive space. I mean people get afraid to go big. Don't you think?   Heather Bernstein  49:23 Yeah. 100%   Kimberly Grigg  49:25 Like they'll get these little bitty accessories, or they'll buy this little bitty lamp, and I'm like, 'oh, love, like, we cannot put that lamp by this high headboard'.   Heather Bernstein  49:37 Yeah. And you just said, I think the biggest thing, you said clients get afraid. So this, I think, is the biggest thing you can do in design. If you really want to elevate your space, be afraid. Have a touch of fear that it's too bold or too much, and go for it. Do a title that scares you. We, my boys' bathroom - there's no window, we put a skylight in, but there's no window - and I was like, you know what, I'm just going to enhance the darkness and do black. Black tile, black floors, black everywhere with an oak vanity and a big mirror to reflect as much light as I can get in this space. And it is by far our favorite bathroom.   Kimberly Grigg  50:31 It sounds amazing.   Heather Bernstein  50:33 Yeah, it's so fun.   Kimberly Grigg  50:35 So bold.   Heather Bernstein  50:36 And even as a designer - and I know everything that's out there, and even the stuff I don't know, I'll learn about and, you know, be like, 'oh, that's so much cooler than what I did' - but even I have to tell myself to be brave sometimes. And, like, yes, do that. Don't play it safe.   Kimberly Grigg  50:57 But you know what, I think it's why you're successful. I know that it has a lot to do with my success. Because, you know, we can all pick some things that go nicely, play nicely together. And we can break some rules and, you know, get the scale off a little bit, get this off a little bit. But I think that the reason people use me as their designer - and I have a feeling it's you too - is because we will take that risk. And we'll believe in it so hard that our clients know that if we believe in it that much, that it's worth the risk. And that we'll fix it if it goes wrong. Like, you know, I've taken risks that haven't worked. But I'd rather take that risk than cheat my client out of what it could have been, if I had stayed in the box. And, you know, I think, like, I can't wait to get out of the box when I'm working on a job, like I cannot. But I also have a lot of years of experience. So I'm not afraid to get out of the box. Yet when we don't get out of the box, and I play it safe, the room is flat to me, or the project is flat. And sometimes people just won't let you and you finally just give up in, like, frustration, and you're like, 'okay, if you won't do it, then I'm not gonna lose any more sleep about this, I'm telling you, it would be 1000 times better if you let me do it this way, but you're not doing it so here we go'. And eventually, you can get to that. But when you get to get out - and I can tell the girl that puts black tile all over a dark bathroom, I know you can take a risk, and I love it. Love it. I can't wait to see the photographs of this bathroom. I think it sounds spectacular. So.   Heather Bernstein  52:47 Yeah, no. Breaking rules. Breaking the rules is so fun.   Kimberly Grigg  52:51 Yeah, exactly. And allow yourself, yeah, allow yourself to do it. So is - obviously beauty is important to you - so, but why? Why should people care? Why is beauty important?   Heather Bernstein  53:09 My partner and I have this conversation quite a bit because he's like, 'function is better'. And I'm like, 'no beauty is better'. I mean women were high heels, you think they wear them because they're comfortable? No. We wear them because they're beautiful, right? And they elongate our calf and our leg. And there are reasons for why we do things. And I think I have learned, through this project over the past year, my own project, that beauty - the most beautiful is where it functions and is beautiful. Because that appeals to everyone. Yeah, you can just have beauty. But it also can be functional. It's like a 10 out of 10. And so I've really tried to instill in my gals, like, 'Okay, but how are they going to use that? And does it, will it work for them?' Because just pulling something that's beautiful is easy. But making sure that it works for the people, the place, the space, is the ultimate beauty. And so I've really - just in doing my own project - I've really put a focus on that. And it's been, it's been really helpful. For us and for our clients.   Kimberly Grigg  54:38 Well said, well said Heather. So it's time for my signature question, which goes a little like this. If you had a hashtag that really spoke to your legacy of design, what would it be?   Heather Bernstein  54:58 So funny. I am looking in my notes because I used to have, when I started this company two years ago, I had this saying... ah, this is it. Are you ready?   Kimberly Grigg  55:14 I'm ready.   Heather Bernstein  55:15 I should have it memorized. The courage to grow requires the ability to let go. Oh, it is that... let's be brave and mighty and go for it. Then you will grow.   Kimberly Grigg  55:33 Yes, Heather. I cannot believe this time has flown. Like, you and I could just do this...   Heather Bernstein  55:40 I know.   Kimberly Grigg  55:40 I could tell. Maybe when I come to the Bay Area, I'm going-   Heather Bernstein  55:44 - it's my roots. My grandmother was from Georgia.   Kimberly Grigg  55:48 Yeah. Oh, wow. So there we are. So how can people find you?   Heather Bernstein  55:53 HKB Interior Design.com. And I would love to... we travel. We have a project in Denver right now. So yeah, reach out.   Kimberly Grigg  56:08 So great. Well, Heather, I thoroughly have enjoyed getting to know you. It's so funny because our introduction was over the sealant. But, gosh, there's many more layers to you, girl.   Heather Bernstein  56:21 Oh, thank you.   Kimberly Grigg  56:25 Thank you. I appreciate this so much. And you guys got to go take a look at this girl's work. She's spectacular. And I can't wait to get to know you more. And so I'm going to say to our listeners, bye for now and I will see you next time and thanks for listening. And of course be sure to go rate, review, and subscribe to our show.   Kimberly Grigg  56:49 Thanks for listening to Decorate Like A Design Boss. If you want more info on how to decorate your space like a pro, visit KimberlyGriggDesigns.com. See you next week!

For the kitchen brand W&P, it's been a good time for the home products space. This week on the Modern Retail Podcast, W&P president Kate Lubenesky spoke about how the company has evolved and grown. "We had great growth in 2020 and 2021," she said. W&P first launched 10 years ago with its first product: a mason jar-inspired cocktail shaker. Now, the company has expanded a great deal, with hundreds of different products including cups, cutting boards, cocktail kits and ziplock bag alternatives. "We've really refined our point-of-view to be equal parts function and design," said Lubenesky. With that, W&P has figured out exactly what its brand voice is; "We don't want to be everything to everyone... we're really singularly focused on kitchen products." Lubenesky joined the company in early 2020, right before the pandemic began. She hailed from kitchen product stalwarts like Oxo. "When I walked into the door, we were really at this fantastic inflection point as a business where we had this great portfolio of products that was really starting to click and hum in the marketplaces and with our retailers, like Crate and Barrel, Sur La Table, William Sonoma and just all these wonderful culinary retailers," she said. But then, of course, the coronavirus spread around the world and changed everyone's plans. Even so, W&P was able to switch revenue gears and continue growing. Many wholesale accounts -- including independent gift shops and department stores like Nordstrom -- had to pull back on their partnership with W&P in early 2020. But other sales channels began to grow. The brand's Amazon sales, for example, went through the roof. Additionally, W&P's corporate gifting revenue skyrocketed. "Having that really healthy platform -- and a balance -- allowed us to thrive in 2020," said Lubenesky. Now, the company is focused on growing even more. That includes inking more wholesale partnerships -- if, of course, the retailers are a good fit. And there's also always product expansion. "We're really focused on product development and innovating and inventing new categories that consumers aren't even aware of that they need," Lubenesky said.

"I put myself in there so people of color can imagine themselves in the kitchen, making those dishes—because food is for everyone to cook. It's not restricted to a certain class of the population. I want everybody who wants to cook to be able to see themselves making things, enjoying them, and trying new things." –Nik Sharma, cookbook author and photographerToday's episode, part two in our Behind the Spine series, is all about the mouthwatering photography that draws us to our favorite cookbooks.Our guests today are cookbook photographer Eva Kolenko and Nik Sharma, a cookbook author and photographer.Eva Kolenko studied advertising photography and worked in editorial photography until eight years ago when she decided to transition into food photography. After shooting a couple of William Sonoma cookbooks, she moved full-time into doing food-centric photography work. Now, she’s shot more than 30 cookbooks, including East Bay Cooks and Food Between Friends. Her work has also been featured in many advertising campaigns and magazines. Eva joined our interview from her new studio in Petaluma, California, and shared with us how exactly she moved into food photography, what happens when she hits a creative block, and she breaks down the process of photographing a cookbook from brainstorming to wrap day.‍Nik Sharma is a cookbook author, food blogger, writer, and photographer of his own cookbooks, Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, and The Flavor Equation: The Science of Great Cooking Explained in More Than 100 Essential Recipes. Nik began food blogging while he was still working full-time as a molecular biologist. He had always taken photos for his blog, but he started to realize that he wanted to improve his photography skills and bought an instructional book published by Kodak. When Nik got his first cookbook deal, he knew he wanted to photograph and style the book, but had no idea how to get started. So, he reached out to photographers until one agreed to let him shadow a project—and that photographer happened to be Eva Kolenko. Now, Nik has successfully shot all the photos for his blog and his two cookbooks, as well as many photos for his recipes that have appeared in numerous food publications from the New York Times to Serious Eats.We've got a great episode for you today! Eva and Nik will talk about the trends they’re seeing in the industry, what types of things they’re thinking about when they’re shooting a recipe, and how the process unfolds, from mood board to publication. Get full access to Salt + Spine at saltandspine.substack.com/subscribe

Today's episode is all about the mouthwatering photography that draws us to our favorite cookbooks.‍Our guests today are Eva Kolenko, an accomplished cookbook photographer, and Nik Sharma, cookbook author and photographer.‍Eva studied advertising photography and worked in editorial photography up until 8 years ago when she decided to transition into food photography. After shooting a couple of William Sonoma cookbooks, she moved full-time into doing food-centric photography work. Now, she's shot over 30 cookbooks, including East Bay Cooks and Food Between Friends. Her work has also been featured in many advertising campaigns and magazines. Eva joined our interview from her new studio in Petaluma, California, and shared with us how exactly she moved into food photography, what happens when she hits a creative block and breaks down the process of photographing a cookbook from brainstorming to wrap day.‍‍Nik Sharma is a well-known cookbook author, food blogger, writer, and photographer of his own cookbooks, Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food, and The Flavor Equation: The Science of Great Cooking Explained in More Than 100 Essential Recipes. Nik began food blogging while he was still working full-time as a molecular biologist. He had always taken photos for his blog, but he started to realize that he wanted to improve his photography skills and bought an instructional book published by Kodak. When Nik got his first cookbook deal, he knew he wanted to photograph and style the book, but had no idea how to get started. So, he reached out to photographers until one let him shadow a project – that photographer just happened to be Eva. Now, Nik has successfully shot all the photos for his blog and his 2 cookbooks. He's also shot many photos for his recipes that have appeared in numerous food publications from the New York Times to Serious East. ‍We've got a great episode for you today! Eva and Nik will talk about the trends they're seeing in the industry, what types of things they're thinking about when they're shooting a recipe, and how the process unfolds, from mood board to publication. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Join Wendi and Sarah on their trip to Southern Home & Kitchen!  The dorks are trying something new for todays episode!   Wendi and Sarah will be going on their spring break and will be back on April 5th! 

Rick Loofs was most recently General Manager for NOV in Cedar park but he took the opportunity to lead the development of Cangshan's new Leander based manufacturing and distribution facilities for North America.  Cangshan makes culinary knives found everywhere from CostCo to William Sonoma and now they will be made in Leander, Texas.  Our discussion focuses on the size and scope of this new plant as well as Rick's dedication to servant leadership,  helping people achieve their best life, and how this approach changes the way he builds teams and gets results for the organization.  

IN THIS EPISODE, YOU'LL LEARN:2:33 - Why Tobias Carlisle thinks that William Sonoma undervalued (Ticker: WSM)18:38 - Why Stig has changed his mind on gold46:16 - Why Hari Ramachandra believes that Coinbase is undervalued (Ticker: COIN)*Disclaimer: Slight timestamp discrepancies may occur due to podcast platform differences.BOOKS AND RESOURCES:Stig's interview with David Stein about Alibaba, Evergrande, and the collapse.Mastermind Discussion Q4 2021.Mastermind Discussion Q3 2021.William Green's interview with Ray Dalio.Our FREE stock analysis resource, Intrinsic Value Index.Subscribe to our FREE Intrinsic Value Assessments.Tobias Carlisle's podcast, The Acquires Podcast.Tobias Carlisle's ETF, ZIG.Tobias Carlisle's ETF, Deep.Tobias Carlisle's book, The Acquirer's Multiple – read reviews of this book.Tobias Carlisle's Acquirer's Multiple stock screener: AcquirersMultiple.com.Tweet directly to Tobias Carlisle.Hari's Blog: BitsBusiness.comTweet directly to HariNew to the show? Check out our We Study Billionaires Starter Packs.See the all-new 2022 Lexus NX and discover everything it was designed to do for you. Welcome to the next level.Yieldstreet allows you to invest beyond the stock market with an evolving marketplace of alternative investments. Create your account today.Push your team to do their best work with Monday.com Work OS. Start your free two-week trial today.Get access to some of the most sought-after real estate in the U.S. with Crowdstreet.Learn how to create wealth and passive income with Norada Real Estate Investments. Download your free copy of “The Ultimate Guide to Passive Real Estate Investing” today.Get in early on medical technology, breakthroughs in ag tech and food production, solutions in the multi-billion dollar robotic industry, and so much more with a FREE OurCrowd account. Open yours today.Join Commonstock's community of engaged investors to access exclusive financial data, follow and chat with fellow investors, get alerts when friends buy or sell, and make trades directly through the platform.Send, spend and receive money around the world easily with Wise.Be part of the solution by investing in companies that are actively engaged in integrating ESG practices with Desjardins.Updating your wardrobe or just simply looking for a new fall flannel? Head to Mizzen+Main and use promo code WSB to receive $35 off an order of $125 or more!Every 28 seconds an entrepreneur makes their first sale on Shopify. Access powerful tools to help you find customers, drive sales, and manage your day-to-day. Start a FREE fourteen-day trial right now!Reclaim your health and arm your immune system with convenient, daily nutrition. Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase.Find Pros & Fair Pricing for Any Home Project for Free with Angi.Canada's #1 employee benefits plan for small businesses! The Chambers Plan evolves with the way you work and live while keeping the rates stable. Opt for the simple, stable, and smart choice for your business.Make it simple to hire and manage remote employees across all 50 states with Justworks.Browse through all our episodes (complete with transcripts) here.Support our free podcast by supporting our sponsors.HELP US OUT!What do you love about our podcast? Here's our guide on how you can leave a rating and review for the show. We always enjoy reading your comments and feedback!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this Mandarin episode (with script), I talk about buying things in this day and age: how easy is it to get what we want either online or in-store? Based on my recent experience, it's not as smooth or fast as we'd like it to be. After talking about my recent experience, I have 5 questions that are related to today's topic. For each question, you will have 20 seconds to respond. My answers are after the 20s response time. The script and useful expressions are below. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.(script)大家好，今天想跟大家聊聊现在我们买东西的时候遇到的涨价和缺货的情况。我去年12月27号从William Sonoma的网站上买了一把厨房剪刀。我以为很快就能收到，结果我下单以后就缺货了。网站上显示要等到1月19-20号才能收到。所以我现在也没有剪刀用。真的很不方便。上一期节目跟大家说，我想换一套新的厨房家电：灶台，冰箱，微波炉。可是我问了很多店，他们都说现在没有货。我想要的的牌子，最快的也得10-14个星期。其他牌子也没有货。你们那儿也是这样吗？我准备了五个相关问题。每个问题后面有二十秒时间给你思考回答。二十秒之后我会给我的回答。那我们现在开始吧!1.  你喜欢网购还是去实体店买？(1:28)我喜欢网购。不过，很多东西还是去实体店买比较好。比如衣服，可以去在店里试了再买。家具也是，还是去实地看看摸摸再买更好。2.  你最近买了什么东西？(2:15)我最近买了两件毛衣和一些厨房用品。都很不错。我很喜欢。3. 你想买的东西都能买到吗？有没有缺货？(2:48)我想买的吃的，还有生活用品都买到了。可是我买的厨房剪刀还是缺货，不知道什么时候才能收到。4. 你等了多久才收到订购的东西？(3:28)在Amazon网购的东西，只要有货，都很快收到了。差不多三四天吧。缺货的东西，我不知道要多久才能收到。5. 你觉得最近东西涨价了吗？(4:06)我觉得最近很多东西都涨价了。吃的东西涨了不少。比如我喜欢吃的chipotle，两年前的一份牛肉饭只要8 美元，现在要10.95。感觉很多大大小小的东西都贵了。Useful expressions: | 遇到 | Yù dào: encounter | 涨价 | zhǎng jià: price increase, raise the price | 缺货 | quē huò: backorder, lacking stock | 情况 | qíngkuàng: situation | 剪刀 |Jiǎndāo: scissors | 下单 | xià dān: place the order | 显示 | xiǎnshì: to show, display | 牌子 | páizi: brand, sign | 没（有）货 | méi (yǒu) huò: doesn't have item, out of stock | 网购 | wǎnggòu: online shopping | 实体店 | shítǐ diàn: physical store | 家具 | jiājù: furniture | 实地 | shídì: on-site | 摸 | mō: touch | 毛衣 | máoyī: sweater | 厨房用品 | chúfáng yòngpǐn: kitchen supplies | 生活用品 | shēnghuó yòngpǐn: everyday life essentials | 订购 | dìnggòu: subscribe & order

Amazon is likely the front-runner for NFL Sunday Ticket [source]. The NFL may ask for up to $2.5 billion per year for the package, a source said. I expect to see more of the major technology/digital companies (Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter and Netflix) snag the rights to major sporting leagues. It'll be tough for traditional media outlets to compete with the deep pockets of technology. Do you have duplicate content on your website? If you have similar content on multiple pages or content that's eerily similar from elsewhere on the web, this can negatively impact your site rankings on Google. I wrote a blog on the complete guide to duplicate content. Facebook recently announced Facebook glasses, in conjunction with Ray-Ban [learn more]. The glasses can take photos, record video, answer phone calls and play podcasts. Google failed with smart glasses so it'll be interesting to see if Facebook can succeed. I did love THIS TWEET which mocked Facebook for choosing Mark Zuckerberg to be the model to introduce these glasses. As a marketer, I love good cringe worthy, good old fashion local television advertisements. I was in Kansas City this past weekend and came across this gem of a commercial for a local personal injury lawyer, Tarzan the Lawman [view commercial]. While some may balk at the ads, they are memorable and must work. I saw billboards all over the city for this firm and they were spending major dollars on television ads. As for their website, well I think I know someone who can help spruce things up :) The other week in my email blast, I talked about how BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) is exploding. Square announced it had acquired AfterPay. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that Amazon and Affirm entered a partnership. Well, the stock is up another 25% after reporting 71% revenue growth and strong guidance [read CNBC Story]. eCommerce accounted for 65% of William-Sonoma's total revenue [source]. Prior to the pandemic, eCommerce accounted for less than 30% of sales in the furniture category. William-Sonoma's stock has more than tripled since the pandemic lows [view here]. Do you want to drive more traffic to your site from qualified prospects? I have a tip for you [watch my video]. Jot down the 10 most popular questions you get asked by your customers. Write a 750-100 word blog post answering each of these questions. Post each blog onto your site. Start using this blog as sales collateral when your customers call again asking these questions. The beauty of this strategy is you'll likely get new customers from people who search for these exact questions on Google. When we build a new website or optimize a site for SEO, the first thing we look at is the URL Structure. Think of a URL Structure similar to house. Both need a strong foundation to avoid future issues and set you up for future success. I wrote THIS BLOG on creating the optimal URL Structure for SEO.

“It wasn’t part of my dream. It was part of other people’s dreams. So I was really unhappy with myself.” --Andrea Strauss Have you ever been worried that you’d be judged if you pursue another career or job that’s outside of your college major or original career path? How would you perceive someone who’s a photographer, doula, restaurant owner, William Sonoma employee, and celebrity chef? Well, that’s Andrea Strauss. She’s filled all those shoes, sometimes simultaneously. On the surface, you may judge her for “not knowing who she is and that she’s just bouncing around job-to-job. Quite the contrary. She knows exactly who she is. Exactly what she wants. And is happy with herself. Why? Because she doesn’t listen to anyone’s opinion about what her life should look like. But this attitude did not come easily nor happen overnight. What we tackle in this episode: How to listen more to your inner voice to decide what opportunities to pursue or leave on the table How you know when you’ve made the wrong decision and why you have to pivot fast out of that negative mentality to get refocused on your true purpose and get to what really makes you happiest ---- Grab your free training! The Money Maker Mindset: 4 Strategies to Focus Your Mind to Make More Money https://HelenNgo.com/FreeCourse

Episode 254 is a breakdown of Walmart and Shopify Q4 2020 earnings reports, a recap of 2020 sales data from the US Dept Commerce, and Amazon News. 2020 Sales Data US Dept of Commerce released it’s retail data for December, which gives us a full picture of 2020, as well as the Q4 e-commerce data. Retail sales in 2020 were $5.6T, representing 27% of the U.S. GDP Retail as a whole experienced healthy growth of 3.4% versus 3.5% in 2019 E-commerce grew 32% to $792B in sales, vs 15% growth in 2019 E-commerce was 14% of all retail sales (vs 11% in 2019) Jason wrote a detailed recap of 2020 in Forbes: 2020: Not Quite Retail Apocalypse, But Great For E-Commerce Walmart Earnings US Q4 comp sales grew 8.6% eCommerce sales grew 69% FY revenue was $559.2 billion, comp sales increased 8.6%, E-Commerce sales grew 79% Shopify Earnings Fourth-Quarter Revenue Grows 94% on GMV Growth of 99% Full-Year 2020 Revenue Grows 86% on GMV Growth of 96% FY Subscription Solutions revenue grew 41% to $908.8 million,  FY Merchant Solutions revenue grew 116% to $2B Shopify Expands Its Checkout System to Facebook and Instagram Amazon news: Amazon acquires Seltz, a Shopify competitor Episode 254 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded live on Thursday, February 19th, 2021. Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. https://retailgeek.com Transcript Jason: [0:24] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 254 being recorded on Thursday February 18th 2021 I’m your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I’m here with your co-host Scott Wingo. Scot: [0:40] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott sir listeners will Jason today is a big day for science nerds we saw the perseverance Rover landed on Mars with an interplanetary helicopter how cool is that. Jason: [0:55] That is the coolest part I was super excited I actually put a note on my calendar and stop working and watch The Landing it’s pretty amazing. Scot: [1:04] Yeah I didn’t watch it how much could you see. Jason: [1:07] Um well they had like a pretty detailed animation for the whole thing like like you you know they don’t have cameras of the Rover in the air but they but they, they show like a 3D animation of it you know as a checks through all these detailed milestones and then pretty quickly after they confirmed it had touchdown you got the first. Actual photo from from the Rover and there was still like dust everywhere from The Landing so it’s. It’s pretty amazing to think that like we can launch shoot a drone 250 million miles away and landed on a planet that’s like yeah. Scot: [1:45] Yes soon elon’s can be landing people there. Jason: [1:48] Yeah yeah I know he’s close on their heels my favorite part though was the news guy like after they did their whole recap he’s like um and I feel compelled to remind people this actually is rocket science. Scot: [2:01] Nice. Jason: [2:04] Yeah yeah so it’s very cool I feel like I remember some of our very first podcast we’re like early in you know as SpaceX was knocking off all these milestones and we were we were talking about those a lot at the beginning of podcasts and. Five years later we’re still doing it. Scot: [2:20] Yeah now every other day they’re shooting off a mission it’s it SpaceX is pretty pretty amazing. Jason: [2:25] Yeah yeah that’s that’s become totally routine I don’t know you watch Westworld right. There’s actually scenes in Westworld we’re like just in the background they have SpaceX Style Rocket so I glanced because it’s so rude to you know they Envision it being so routine this cute. Scot: [2:43] Yeah very cool but even bigger than that I know one of your favorite days of the year is when the US Department data of Commerce data comes out so yesterday I’m sure you were, up and ready and you had all your Tableau and your data scientist lined up walk us through some of the data that came out yesterday. Jason: [3:02] Yeah you I wish I could deny it but I kind of am super excited to get up on the mornings when this data comes out because I as you’re as you’re mocking me I did set up a bunch of automation over. Over the winter break and now I get to use it and knock on wood two months in a row it hasn’t broken. Scot: [3:20] You wouldn’t be retailgeek if you didn’t you can’t be a science geek can’t be space Kiki and me tell you you gotta gotta pick a lane. Jason: [3:26] I have to keep my creds so what came out yesterday is a reminder for our listeners. The January Advanced monthly sales data so this is a. A simpler set snapshot of what happened in January and then we got the full data set for December and so the reason that that’s particularly exciting is that now let’s us roll up. The complete 20 20 year and kind of work back to the whole year so so we got our first advance to look at what January is going to look like, we got a detailed look at at December in the whole year for 2020 and then there is another data product that comes out quarterly that’s the e-commerce specific slice and that actually comes out tomorrow morning but based on all the data we already have I’m pretty confident I already know what it’s going to say so we’ll talk a little bit about it. Um but so let’s start with January. And it’s interesting because my take on January was different than a lot of the media coverage in January so so Top Line. Year over year this January sales were up 10.8% versus last year so that’s a that’s very healthy increase. [4:48] The the one of the sectors in that data is non-store data which is kind of a. The closest thing in the Advanced Data we have to 2, e-commerce and that was up 28.7% so so if you look at this January versus last January very robust again last January wasn’t impacted by covid and anyway so we’re comparing a. You know post covid with pretty covid. [5:17] But what what got a lot of media attention was the that the January sales were 5.1% bigger than December so not year-over-year month over month, and the reason people are excited about that is because. [5:34] December sales were lower than November’s and November’s were lower than October so you kind of had two months of negative growth looking on a month-by-month basis and so this this 5.1%, increase kind of reverse that monthly Trend and a lot of the analysts had predicted that we might grow 1.2% and so. 5.1% was a pretty big beat. And so people were kind of giddy about that like oh it looks like we’re we’re coming out of the doldrums a little bit, and you know one of the big reasons is there were some economic stimulus that went out early in January and almost all the retailers I work with like. You can see to the day when customers start getting that that stimulus it’s a very obvious Spike and so that helped help January for a bunch of retailers but I would also point out this month over month data. [6:30] Is not that important or valid and there’s a bunch of systemic reasons why months aren’t the same and Retail has a bunch of tent poles so I generally am a lot more interested from a trend standpoint in the year over year and, year of a year it was a January with a stellar month but I will say there were a couple outliers in this January data, department stores were up 23.5 percent from December so month-over-month, department stores had their first increase in about 15 years and clothing which would has been decimated the last year was up five percent, um but again to me. [7:14] Month-over-month trans aren’t very relevant and especially in the middle of a holiday period and. If you if you look at the year-over-year trends both those categories were still down from last January so department stores are down three percent from last January, and clothing was down 11% from from last January both of those are, slower rates of decline than we saw for most of last year so it’s it is a silver lining but you still wouldn’t want to be in either of those categories. Scot: [7:45] If we just forget retail sales you know the headlines I saw on the financial sites were you know stunning retail sales 5.1 percent versus 1.2 estimate like why was why was that estimate so off. Jason: [7:59] Yeah so I don’t I don’t know what goes into to the. Scot: [8:03] Who made this the Department of Commerce doesn’t make it. Jason: [8:06] No it’s not and and further it’s not like as rigorous as like stock public company earning CPS estimates for example like I don’t think there’s a. Like an industry-standard estimate what what you do have you know again think about this December had a weird or shape than ever before it was way more e-commerce n trick. December and all of those sales were front-loaded in the first half of the month because of ship again and the second half of the month so you so December was, in you know large part was half a month and so January was a full month with economic stimulus, dollars versus December and you also had all these like you know covid reasons that sales were slow and December right. The cases were peeking people weren’t traveling with their family etc etc so for all of those reasons it’s not surprising to me at all that, January was way better than December but to me a more valid you know perspective is what was this January versus last January because that’s more apples to apples. [9:17] Um but I’ll be honest I’m was more interested in in looking at the 2020 data in aggregate because you know this was a. A very unique year and it’s interesting to see how it played out you and I had all these debates early in the year, is it a v-shaped recovery you know what would happen all these things you know people in April were writing these doomsday predictions about how far down retail was going to be in 2020 and, and things like that so it’s interesting to see the real data, so for all of 20 20 retail sold five point six trillion dollars in sales which is an all-time record by the way like that’s the the, the highest retail sales in the US have ever been that’s twenty-seven percent of the GDP which is a little bigger share than it normally is it normally is around 25 percent of GDP is retailgeek, so that’s huge GDP to go down this year I think people expected that because of covid. [10:15] So that growth rate is three point four percent so retail grew at 3.4 percent. And you could say hey Jason is 3.14 percent good, well 2019 retailgeek rude 3.5% so it’s pretty typical it’s right like we normally years we expect to be in that three to four percent range when we fall below 3 we call it a down here and, you know we haven’t seen very many years in recent history that were above for so. So it’s right in The Sweet Spot of typical growth that you would expect if there was no covid-19. Which is super interesting to me so you know but there’s a bunch of micro Trends in that Top Line and in the biggest trend is, that a way bigger chunk of those sales were e-commerce than usual so so e-commerce Guru 25.3% for the year. Which a normal year for e-commerce like 2019 we grew 12.9% so so almost yeah so it’s basically two years of growth in a year some. Scot: [11:25] Wait I thought it was five years of growth in a week 10 knots to noon. Jason: [11:27] Mackenzie said 10 yeah yeah they lied. Scot: [11:32] Well why don’t you sidebar this so that everyone is on the same page so what what happened with that so I know Mackenzie put it out and it’s somehow wrong. Jason: [11:41] Yeah well and I. Scot: [11:42] Did they did they blow the year-over-year aspect or what where did they. Jason: [11:46] So they did a couple a like they were roll up of a bunch of other data sources right so they took the same US Department of Commerce data we’re talking about, but then they took some estimates from Bank of America and and a different definition of retail from Forrester and then they they did this thing that we used to do in e-commerce all the time they said hey let’s not talk about all of retailgeek, because nobody buys food online so grocery in restaurants shouldn’t shouldn’t be in that number, and nobody buys cars online so let’s take cars out and let’s invent this artificial definition of core retail and call it you know growth of core retail, um So so a there’s no way to check that because there are no actual numbers for that that arbitrary definition but I’m sure I’m sure if someone from Mackenzie won on the show right now they’d be saying hey Jason it was higher than your. Your 25%. But I would also point out that the biggest growth in e-commerce were all those things that they took out right like tons of people were buying buying food online tons of people were buying cars online so I feel like those old. Those old things of saying like hey there’s some categories of retail that don’t qualify for e-commerce has is no longer valid. [13:05] But if we use this nice normalized data from US Department of Commerce we grew 25% normally years thirteen percent so that. Is is awesome. If you if you kind of think about the shape of the year last year 12.9% April peaked at 18.4% and then we finished the year at 15.7% right so. But in terms of what percentage of retail the. Is e-commerce so it never spiked up to the 33% that Mackenzie predicted in there 10 years of progress, but there are certain categories which probably did have have five or ten years grocery probably it you know did hit our five-year forecast. Overall e-commerce hit like our two-year forecast so it was a doubling not a 10 Xing. [14:00] And for sure in that those retail sales you had clear winners and losers we’ve talked about this on a bunch of shows but. The you know if you were a grocery store or a sporting good store or home hardware store you had a great year because of covid and if you were department store or an apparel store or gas station, you had a really crappy your, because of covid and one of the biggest Trends is this whole shift from services to products right so nobody spent money on travel and instead they bought. Furniture and stuff for their house and mostly nobody went to restaurants and instead they bought more food from grocery stores and so those that Trend had the effect of pouring extra dollars. Into retail and for sure it goosed e-commerce in those categories. If you if you think specifically around food 2019 food was a 50/50 split between restaurants and grocery stores, at the peak of covid it was like 70/30 that we were spending on on Grocery and ended up about 60/40. So that’s an extra 200 billion dollars hundred ninety billion dollars in grocery store sales as a result of people going to restaurants OS. [15:21] Restaurant as a whole industry were way down we’ve talked about that a lot but. Full service restaurants in particular we’re totally creamed they were down like 92% so the whole end restaurant industry was down 15% because, you know the Pizza Hut’s of the world and the the McDonald’s of the world like could actually do pretty well with drive-through and home delivery, um but the full-service sit-down restaurants just got obliterated. [15:48] And then the last thing that I will tell you I still haven’t totally figured out in surprise me is if you said hey Jason based on all those trends. Would home furnishing stores be winners or losers and covid I would have said oh man there are a winner because instead of going on vacation I remodeled my house and I bought new dishes and new sheets and I did all these things from, from William Sonoma and you know Lamps Plus and all those stores and I would have also said that because we were stuck at home and there was a new video game launched that electronic stores would have been way up. And two categories that were down for the year we’re home furnishings and electronics which is interesting to me in a little surprising. Scot: [16:32] Risk is a Wayfarer has really picked up nicely. Jason: [16:36] Yeah there are there by in Best Buy would say they were up right so so where’s the electronics that’s down to offset best by being up, and William Sonoma was up so what’s the home furnishings that’s down to offset that I, it’s a little confusing to me in the overall scheme of things these are not categories that are huge numbers so you know. Why. There you know it would it’s totally possible for those numbers to be skewed or maybe even like not have a huge sample size in the US Department of Commerce survey data. Scot: [17:13] And there could be Folks at only have physical stores that you know were not essential that haven’t opened yet solar something that don’t have e-commerce. Jason: [17:20] Yeah yeah I’m certain that that is a big big part of it is they were more disrupted. Scot: [17:26] Person will call anything else so a second I tie that back to the Amazon numbers but were there any how do we so if we think about that. You know that I guess it was 25% so the growth the e-commerce growth ends up being what again. Jason: [17:43] 25.3%. Scot: [17:45] That’s the grass okay yeah so I think that is a new Baseline Amazon grew like 40 and change right like 46 47 oh that’s just cute for number your that’s a 25 as an annual number it. Jason: [17:57] Yeah but if you if you think Amazon grew 43-39 40 so you could you know call it 40 41 percent. Scot: [18:07] Yep so they over indexed eBay was a little bit under and then we’ll talk about Shopify a little bit but they were way over that. Do if Walmart was over so it’s one of these things where everyone was over except eBay again how is that possible. Jason: [18:26] Yeah the math generally doesn’t work out right like I so the answer is I don’t know like for the last two quarters Q2 and Q3, Amazon was about exactly the same as the industry average so they they mirror this Department of Commerce data really closely cute, Q2 Department of Commerce grew 4045 percent Amazon 43 Q3 Department of Commerce group 37 Amazon group 39 so that that. [18:54] Correlation actually gives me confidence in the numbers to be honest. The but almost everyone else put your point wildly outperform those you know William Sonoma was up 50%, you know Walmart was up by Katie to a hundred percent Home Depot was up eighty to a hundred percent Target was up like a hundred and two hundred hundred fifty to two hundred percent. BJ’s Albertsons Best Buy were well over two hundred percent so you look at all those big big companies that are up way more than the industry average in your like man a bunch of small companies. Must have really gotten cream for this to be true, um and I do think that is partially true I think covid-19 disproportionately hurt hurt smaller retailers, um but it also underscores that there is not a terrific measurement methodology for this e-commerce data and the US Department of Commerce guys worked really hard to get this number accurate but there, they’re dependent on the accuracy of these surveys that retailers fill out and send to them and I just I don’t have great confidence that retailers fill them out with, with ultra care. Scot: [20:06] Very cool did your automated cloud system survive all this thinking. Jason: [20:14] It did it did it worked really well I found it really useful and I generated a bunch of what I think are reasonably attractive visualizations and so I’ll put a link in the show notes, but I’ll publish a Forbes article tomorrow recapping all this data with some charts in case anyone wants to see him. Scot: [20:31] Brickell cannot wait now I’m going to be all getting tomorrow waiting for that to show well Jason it would not be a Jason and Scot show without some Amazon news. [20:55] This was a this was a weird week in that there was not very much Amazon news and in fact. This one was really interesting so I think what happened here is there’s a start-up in Australia that has a Shopify competitor that companies called cells SEL Z. And I I first heard about this because. I saw conversation after I saw this one of the socials and people are like hey did Amazon by cells and what started this is the founder just kind of put a or someone put a nonchalant kind of like post. I can remember is like on their blog or their about me page but it basically said hey we’re going to be shutting down soon or Amazon has bought us we’re not accepting new customers I think that’s what it said. So it was really weird because it was super under the radar and then. I posted it because I thought it was interesting I thought the conversation will have in a second list was the interesting part of it and then Del Rey Jason Del Rey Chase it down and gut verification from Amazon that it was true that they have acquired the company. There’s a big online kerfuffle around you know some folks are saying oh it’s just a choir thing what is it. And what I think is interesting is you know so we thought the news probably like what was it two months ago that Bezos was really engaged in Amazon and spend a lot of time thinking about what they do about Shopify. [22:24] So but then now he’s effectively kind of kicked himself upstairs well that you know a lot of people are kind of like oh that must mean it’s not a priority but. I don’t think that’s right. Amazon’s watching these guys are really closely and they want to take our legs out and you know the interesting thing it’s a fun thought experiment for me to thank all right if you had Amazon’s resources and that’s the fun part of it right. Sir so you know some someone. Jason: [22:51] I would watch a space program oh wait. Scot: [22:53] Amazon hires Jason Scott and they gave us a mission of like you know how do we take out you know or how do we slow the growth of Shopify or. Um let’s say they’ve identified them as a threat which I think is a valid assumption what do you do there and so it’s really interesting and you know I think, I think they’re going to take this pretty seriously and I think they’re going to go buy a bunch of things one school of thought would be you could. You know you and I have talked about on the show a big Trend kind of a lot of people think the next generation of these platforms is going to be more headless so so microservices right. So microservices would be a nice offering inside of AWS if you look at AWS they’ve got offerings for all kinds of crazy stuff from game development tons of machine learning. Everything you can imagine now so imagine they could build a whole e-commerce stack inside of AWS that would be these microservices as an offering. I think that’s going to be part of the strategy I think the cells company the cells company was known for making it very easy for people that had. Started their e-commerce Adventures on marketplaces to then open a store. And I think that’s really interesting to me because that would be another hook right so if you think about it Amazon need to disclose this down don’t they have like two million sellers is that a number I was at four and get two million us for globally. Jason: [24:19] I think you’re that’s the order magnitude. Scot: [24:21] Yes that’s I don’t know if that’s the exact right number and then Shopify is it like 300,000 that’s where they’re sorry yeah okay so. So then you know. There’s more there’s more people that could set up stores on Shopify than have and one strategy would be. So if you have if you worked at Amazon and you had unlimited resources basically. You don’t have to choose your strategy can just choose them all right so normally in business I’ve had to like really choose a strategy with a competitor and really go at it so see typically you know kind of an a military strategy lingo you like go ahead on Adam like battle them feature for feature punch each other in the face kind of thing, or you can try to outflank them and start to nibble away at the edges well if I’m if I’m in my thought experiment if I’m Amazon I do both right, so I think this is a flanking maneuver this is kind of the all right let’s. Let’s roll out a feature or set that says hey if you have a if you’re on the Amazon Marketplace we’re going to make it really easy for you to open a store I feel like that’s where this is going to go. But then at the same time I think you would go right at with the microservices strategy so and I don’t think this is part of that but I think it’s you know I think at some point that’s going to be another shoe to drop in this because it just feels like little bit obvious to me that they would do that so that was a really long intro I really wanted to hear your take on what you thought about. Jason: [25:50] Yeah I think you’re wildly wrong and thinking about it wrong no. Scot: [25:55] Okay that’s fair enough. Jason: [25:56] Yeah so I think Amazon is taking Shopify super seriously I think Amazon’s a you know apex predator that that. Doesn’t like to have any competition and I think they look really long term so I for sure think they’re they see the growth at the shopify’s of the world and say we don’t like that and need to have a response so I have. No problem imagining that Jeff Bezos is like you know the first person in the conference room for the project Santos meetings to figure out what Amazon’s response to Shopify is and I think, him as executive chairman not embroiled in day-to-day operations actually. Makes it easier for him to focus on those kinds of projects so I’m toy down with all that I could easily see AWS base microservices and and super easy, web store sales you know tied to the Amazon Marketplace being part of that answer and in fact in my annual. [26:56] Annual predictions I think I predicted that they would have some kind of use fulfillment by Amazon 444, you know owned web store sales as as part of the response to Shopify what I don’t think happened though is I don’t think Amazon bought seltzer. Um for anything to do with project Santos or to have some Global answer to, to Shopify Celta is a 35% company in Australia, and my experience with Amazon is there one of one of the biggest not invented here egocentric technology companies around like they believe they can build. Everything and they dissolved a Healthcare Partnership with Goldman Sachs and Berkshire Hathaway, because those two companies were too slow so I sort of don’t think that Amazon says hey we need to compete with Shopify the way to do it is to buy the IP from these these 35 guys in Australia, um it just it just doesn’t pencil out for me they like Jeff Bezos would put you know to Pizza team of super smart guys and they would knock it out themselves and probably are doing that right right now as we speak there’s probably a bunch of two Pizza teams working on it. [28:11] I think the reason about cells is because Amazon’s a newer entrant into Australia, and they’re finding that they’re not getting adoption as quickly as they have in some more mature markets and that they need, to Goose their third their Australian third-party Sellers and I think they acquired cells because cells had a bunch of. Australian third-party sellers so I think it was a local customer acquisition strategy in a emerging market for Amazon not part of some Global strategy and I it wouldn’t shock me at all if, Jeff Bezos and Andy jassy and Company like weren’t involved in this acquisition at all. Scot: [28:57] That okay we will see. Jason: [28:59] Yeah I’m and side note I’m usually wrong. Scot: [29:03] I don’t think it’s the foundation of their strategy I think it’s one of a hundred things they’re going to do and it’s going to be a. Jason: [29:08] Yeah I mean if they’re you know it’d be more interesting if they had some unique IP or something like that but I just it doesn’t seem likely that they did. Scot: [29:16] Yeah well let’s then answer this question so your Amazon how do you either stop or or hobble Shopify. Jason: [29:25] Well you you leverage your platform advantage to say it’s way better to get my webstore platform from Amazon than it is anywhere else and the way you do that is you say, hey if you guys want to use FBA and have Consolidated inventory between your webstore and Amazon, then the way to do that is to use the, you know Amazon Web Store 2.0 based on microservices hosted on the the greatest web service platform in the world, um and that if you you want your web store on Shopify you’re going to have to figure out fulfillment yourself or you’re going to have to send some of your your. [30:05] Your inventory to the the new Shopify fulfillment Network and you’re still going to want to leave some some of your inventory and our fulfillment Network because we have way more customers than you do, and they’re just going to leverage their their network advantage to walk customers in, two years ago I think they would have said oh man sellers should know they don’t need their own website they can just sell on our thing but I think they’ve lost that battle in the the, Flagship example for me is Anchor like to me anchor is one of the greatest success stories, that was sort of you know born because of Amazon right like their product company they exclusively sold through Amazon you couldn’t buy direct from anchor you couldn’t buy ink or anywhere else you could only buy it as a, 3p seller on on Amazon and and anchor went public last year for a with a ten billion dollar market cap, based on that business but guess what anchor has today they have a direct website so if anchor has decided that, hey you know what we need to own our own website in addition to selling on Amazon then it’s really hard for Amazon to credibly argue that no one else should be doing that and to me that means, they have to get back in the web store business but like I bet you they do it organically. Scot: [31:22] The the other interesting thing I thought about is and we’re going to go through Shopify earnings in a little bit so Shopify is fascinating because they actually don’t make, that much money off of their their software as a service Revenue right so what they do is they basically they almost give away the software and then the GMB flows through and then they skim off the GMB so they’re essentially you know they skim off the payments they skim off the shipping and handling they skim off like a firm that’s part of payments you know so that so that’s that’s interesting because it does make it hard for Amazon price against it right you can’t you could offer a free offering but it’s almost free as it is you know it’s so so then how do you go at the gmv flow could you offer the Shopify Merchants a, one and a half Point payment plan or something like that or you know could you because one way to look at it is, shopify’s getting a lot of economic value off that gmv and not passing it on to the sellers could you build about business model this is what Mark Lori did with jet this was kind of clever thing he did there is he kind of said well I’m going to take some of this and give it back to his example the buyers but here you give it back to the sellers I wonder if Amazon kind of come up with a different economic model that would unwind shopify’s model. Jason: [32:43] Yeah I mean I for sure, it’s not fun and not a super appealing business to be the a longtail webstore SAS company right like Amazon was one right there was one before Amazon it was John who web stores right and Amazon launched Amazon web stores and took all the customers and I think what they discovered is that it’s a sucky business it’s not fun like you know collecting 30 bucks a month from these small businesses you know with 50% charm because they go out of business and every one of them having. [33:16] Different needs and desires and different things they want to see on your road map right so I think in 2015 Amazon just said the juice isn’t worth the squeeze here, like we’re not getting any benefit from this let’s just get out of this space, and per your point Shopify figure it out the the equation to make money it’s not to charge more for the web store because small businesses can’t afford it, and it’s not make the unit economics you know super lucrative for charging a little for that web store it’s, you know get a nice piece of all the gmv that flows through that web sort through this whole assortment of services, and side note that’s Amazon’s main model for profitability to write like like Amazon’s Maine, profit driver is not consumers buying from Amazon, it’s third-party sellers selling on Amazon right and they sell 20 billion dollars worth of ads to those third-party Sellers and they sell, you know I don’t know how many billions of dollars of FBA services and credit card processing services and sales tax calculation services so Amazon’s right in the middle of that that gmv stream, and that’s the reason I think they, they decide to get back in the web store business is that they can monetize it now with all those those incremental seller service revenue streams that they didn’t have in 2015. Scot: [34:43] Yeah yeah let’s um I guess that’s a good place to pause and then let’s pick it back up and Shopify because then that’ll give us some numbers to do it before we do that let’s have a little appetizer of Walmart earnings. Jason: [34:57] So they release their earnings this morning and it was interesting I read the top line numbers and I’m like man had a good quarter and a good year right, and the market did not agree with me so so from an investor standpoint it was a Miss there their earnings per share came in at one point three nine, they had a big adjustment in there they had a bunch of write-offs and stuff too but the the Gap earnings per share was 1.39 and consistent consensus estimates was 1.51 so they. Um and then compounding that miss their guidance for 2021 was not very optimistic and that this is a trend I think we’re going to see across every retailer, is everybody is going to say, 20/20 was an exceptional year because of covid and we’re not going to come up very well against it right and so you know we have more covid costs and we’re going to probably see slowing, consumer sentiment in 2020 so combination of the Miss and the low guidance Walmart stock took a pretty good hit I think they closed down 6.5 percent today. [36:06] So if you’re an investor that was an interesting story that I didn’t toy so you coming, um but if you just look at it from how did they do as a retailer their Q4 comps were up 8.6% so Amazon’s the lard or Walmart’s the largest retailer in the world, and they grew 8.6 percent which is like more than double what you would ordinarily expect, them to do right so that’s a fabulous quarter and then e-commerce growth was sixty-nine percent, so again that’s a huge number if the, industry average is 40 percent if if you consider Amazon the industry average or 25% if you look at the US Department of Commerce, sixty-nine percent growth for the quarter is in e-commerce is great. [36:58] What wasn’t so great in Q4 is their profitability they you know as Walmart’s mix shifts to e-commerce like they have challenging unit economics and profitability goes down, they had some they raise their, their labor rates last year and paid can their Associates more they paid hazardous hazardous duty pay and all these other, other unique covid fees and so so fair enough profitability was was definitely a soft spot but from a customer demand standpoint. I thought they had a great quarter they also announced that 20:21 was going to be a huge capex year for them they’re expecting to spend 14 billion in a. [37:42] Normal big year for them is like 10 billion and by the way like those 10 billion dollar years were. We’re like from the days when they were building out a lot of Supercenters and so to spend 14 billion in a year when you’re not going to do a lot of new store growth. Um is a remarkable commitment to investment and what they said is a bunch of that Investments going to be in fulfillment and automated fulfillment and particularly, grocery store micro fulfillment which should scare Scott because that was one of my predictions, in our January show they’re making a big investment in health care and and services that go around retail in addition to retail which might sound familiar if you follow the the Amazon Playbook at all. They also did announce that they’re going to increase their average wage to $15 an hour, um average being an operative word their target and Amazon raised their minimum wage their starting salary to $15 an hour Walmart still not committing to that, but they are committing to have an average wage of $15 an hour and I want to see which is a raise for like half a million folks and. [38:56] The I want to say they’re starting salary is still like 11 11 bucks an hour so that’s going to be a big expense, so and again this was Walmart’s last quarter of the year so you can now see their full year and so their full year they ended up with five hundred sixty billion dollars in Revenue, which was up 7.7 percent on a constant currency basis, u.s. comp sales were up 8.6 percent which is a phenomenal year e-commerce for the year grew 68 69 percent or I’m sorry seventy-nine percent eighty percent so that’s that’s, very fast growth for the second largest e-commerce site in the United States and then kind of an interesting one, in 2019 e-commerce was 2.5% of Walmart sales now e-commerce is 6.2 percent of their sales so it’s become digital is becoming real at Walmart. Scot: [39:51] Brickell awesome and then anything else there. Jason: [39:57] I know that you know it’s going again this is why you should take retail advice and not stock investment advice from Jason. Scot: [40:07] It’s all about expectations yep speaking of expectations let’s talk about Shopify earnings like that transition. They are they actually smashed expectations so Wall Street Hanna met a buck Twenty Eight on the EPS side and it came in a buck fifty eight so be by 30 cents. But the stock went down and I think what you had there was. You know a lot of runaway expectations so there’s there’s printed expectations which is kind of analysts consensus and then there’s kind of like quote-unquote whisper number and my sense is whisper number on Shopify everyone was kind of like Mmm Yeah. Amazon came in pretty good and Saudi Bay and you know will they be able to continue this over a hundred percent growth in the answer was no so they Top Line grew at 94% which. Is just amazing right for the fourth quarter but I think people had let their expectations run away that it could be higher because Q3 there were at a hundred nine percent and then back into to a hundred nineteen percent. So it was a pretty good step down from from those growth trajectories. Jason: [41:13] That’s a first world problem when your growth deceleration slows down a 94%. Scot: [41:19] It is but hey it’s Wall Street they’re hard to please what have you done for me lately. And then we’ll talk about in a second but I think also so Wall Street you kind of look at the print and then the forward-looking stuff so, so so you know beat be current but then we’ll talk about the four projections, for the year that puts them at 99% I know that was pretty frustrating to them I hate it when numbers do that to me can’t you just get that one more percent there to make it triple digits. The revenue grew for 2020 full year 86% and the gmv grew 96%, and then gmv for the fourth quarter was over 41 billion that puts them at a hundred twenty billion for 2020. So if you line that up against Amazon’s third-party gmv that’s about, 40% and I think there are there are bigger than eBay Now by a good margin that number I think last I looked if you take Autos out of eBay I think there’s sub a hundred billion still. [42:18] I’ll have to have one of the interns fact check me on that and then as we mentioned it’s really interesting if you take that slice of Revenue that they have there. The subscribers subscription Services which is the soccer as a service Revenue the software licensing Revenue that was 280 million, but then merchant services was 700 million, so you can get the mix there that you know I think it’s 4060 so 40 percent of the revenue comes from software revenue and then 60 comes from quote-unquote merchant services and this is where they’re essentially, you know, charging a merchant two and a half points for payment and then you know passing through two and making a half point on that gmv that flows through there, then they make laugh Point here so they effectively have at a crate like a Marketplace would but it’s against all the services and aggregate that there are consumers that there. Their business customers are using and then yep, so that Merchants Solutions actually grew a hundred sixteen percent so when, you know which grew faster than govt which means they’re take rate went up effectively so there, you know the their Merchants merchant service Revenue grew faster than gmv and overall Revenue so it took share from the software side of the business. And then the take rate is going up so there you know whatever mix or things are happening there. [43:47] Um so one of the things that I think shocked Wall Street a little bit is that they effectively said that they’re going to get very serious about the Us distribution Network and, storing and shipping things I think they had one fulfillment center up in Canada where they’ve experimented with this and it sounds like they’re going to lean into it so that’s going to be interesting. And then another thing that was announced around their earnings was that they are going to put their payment system on Facebook check out so I thought that was a little tidbit that I wanted as the payments guy wanted to get your feedback. [44:18] Um so yeah so so if we if we tie that back to that Amazon acquisition you know. This is definitely going to be on you know Amazon’s radar so they’re DMVs heading to 1/2. It one way to look at is you all are selling things into this pool of people selling online now they’re going to be building their own F be a competitor, so it’s going to get really interesting to see what’s going to happen here and then Ivan IV, I thought it’s funny the Shopify and I don’t know if this is a corporate policy but there, there are social media people there like poking the bear at at Amazon so when Bezos left they did a kind of an odd goodbye kind of a thing that I thought was kind of it was funny but. It was definitely you know not I’m a pretty risky kind of guy that was just kind of like I was just like oh my God I if I was to see a that’s that was a little bit of a step too far so so there’s there’s definitely going to be a really interesting story this year watching these two battle it out and I’m excited to watch it. Watch the blows land. Jason: [45:28] Yeah I’m hoping to launch a new television service which is going to be Toby and Jeff Bezos playing Starcraft so we’ll see you that. Comes to fruition but seems my money would be on Toby actually in Starcraft but. Scot: [45:44] Who has the coolest hat would be even better. Jason: [45:46] Good point yeah they both have discovered some interesting foil later in life but yeah I mean. It’s funny because I do I think shopify’s a phenomenal story that growth is Monumental in the fact that their 40 percent of Amazon’s third-party Marketplace like. That that is serious right and they’re competing for the same wallet and so they’re absolutely competing for dollars, and they’re both well resource to escalate the fight so it’s going to be exciting to watch, the thing I like I try to remind people of is that they don’t actually have huge overlap in services today right like what Amazon does better than anything else is they acquire eyeballs, and then they they rent those eyeballs to sellers through all of these services. Shopify does exactly the opposite the one thing they don’t do is bring any eyeballs to to your product they exclusively sell you a bunch of services for you to monetize the eyeballs you already have and so, for sure they’re gonna grow an overlap each other and you know we’re starting to see that with a fulfillment networks and and various things but they’re not starting from a. [47:01] They’re competing for the same dollars but they’re competing from two opposite ends of the service spectrum and so it’s you know they’re going to meet in the middle somewhere, and it’s going to be interesting to watch but like you know my big takeaway from your numbers are, um not only is the is that g that Revenue that’s tied to gmv is much bigger than the revenue that’s tied to subscriptions it’s growing, twice as fast right so it’s both, they win when one of their existing customer sells more they win when they sign up a new customer they win when they find more services to sell to that same customer they win so that that is a nice Network, um and you know let you let you see what investors are seeing in this in the Shopify model and you know I in the back of my mind I’m hearing that soundtrack, you know your margin is my opportunity you know I have a feeling that that Jeff and project Santos are, not gonna sit back idly while that happens. Scot: [48:03] Yeah absolutely another thing that’s interesting got. Jason: [48:08] Just on the shop pay thing them being on Facebook isn’t that interesting to me but it what it signals is right so. It’s highly unlikely, that there are new buyers that are going to go to look at the new Air Jordan shoe on Instagram and buy it because they can now pay with shop pay right like I you know I doubt there was anyone that said like who I really want that shoe I’m gonna buy it through Instagram check out. But I’m not going to use PayPal only do they accept my shop pic, um so I don’t think it brings any new eyeballs to the those products on Instagram like I don’t think it’s a big draw but, if you already decide you want those shoes and you find out that checking out is going to be easier and lower friction because your payment information is already stored because they’ll accept your shop pay I do think it can improve conversion, for the people that are already discovering that product so to me it’s. [49:06] There’s it’s a smart play fun shopify’s part and Facebook’s part to offer it it’s probably not game-changing or super, incremental, um at the moment but what’s super interesting about it to me is as far as I know it’s the first example of shop pay being accepted outside of the Shopify echo system, um in this is another interesting you know potential Battleground you know the one of the biggest pieces of that of that gmv Revenue stream for Shopify is because you know they used to, to Outsource credit card processing to stripe and others and now they’re doing it on themselves, and if Shopify is going to become a legitimate digital wallet and offer their payment you know method available you know far and wide that that is kind of interesting, Amazon is tried to do that and hasn’t had very much success because. The Amazon brand is in direct competition with every other retailer the Shopify brand really isn’t right and so it is interesting. If this first move to Facebook signifies you know Shopify deciding that one of their growth opportunities is, is digital wallet that is an area where I think they’re strong and have a competitive advantage over Amazon so that that. Scot: [50:26] Yeah and then then there’s been a lot of speculation so then there’s a recruiter for Shopify that’s very he hangs out in the Twitter circles you and I frequent like the DTC and kind of area and the retail e-commerce group and then he put a. Really interesting listing out there essentially saying we’re building a high growth team you need to be on the west coast and we’re looking for a lot of talent and kind of from the D in the, DTC world so that and a lot of other hints have me thinking I think it was this one of my prediction said they’re going to build a Marketplace so so I feel like I feel like they’re going to go at the eyeball part of Amazon and it’s gonna be interesting to see how that goes for. Jason: [51:10] They could like I think I’m less optimistic that they will then you and others are, they totally could and you could interpret that job listing as, as you know a Skunk Works to hire people to build that Marketplace but to be honest I give you look at through a different lens that same job listing could be for a team to help, Sell Shop paid tune on Shopify Merchants right like so you know it could be other things it could be selling those fulfillment services to other Merchants it could it could be lots of things. Scot: [51:43] Yeah but it’s DTC no those are all B2B this is a consumer team. Jason: [51:48] Yeah yeah well we’ll have to see again A lot of people are speculating that they’re going to do it and they have the resources to try and I’m not even saying that they will fail but what I will say is. That. They don’t have any proof points that they can attract eyeballs and attracting eyeballs is super hard and so just because they’ve been successful in these other businesses. Um does not mean that they’re going to be able to create you know the hundreds of millions of consumers brand Affinity that that they would need to to compete with an Amazon. That’s super hard to do it would be an impressive story if they they launching can do that and and the day they do that a bunch of the things that people like about them suddenly breaks, so you know a lot of the reasons you do business with them is because they, they don’t compete with you and they don’t compete for eyeballs and they don’t claim ownership of your customer in the same way Amazon does so as soon as you become a Marketplace, you’re gonna start struggling threading the needle with all of those things so you know you can imagine ways to part we do it but but it it could get messy. Scot: [53:04] All right so it’s going to be a really interesting 2021 with this battle of these two Tech Titans and it’s gonna be interesting to see how it plays out. Jason: [53:12] Yeah I admire the heck out of both companies I’m glad they’re both there and I hope I hope they do compete in a bunch of services and make him all better for all of us so. I think you know as non financially in observers I think it’s going to be super interesting to watch. And Scott that’s probably a good place to leave it because we’ve taken a short Newsweek and turned it into our full hour-long show as always if you have any thoughts or questions about any of the topics we discussed today you can totally hit us up on Facebook or Twitter, and if you found this valuable you know if it got you excited about what’s going to happen in 2021 a great way to start off the year on the right foot is to jump onto iTunes and leave us that five star review. Scot: [54:01] Thanks everyone for taking the time to leave that review and. Jason: [54:05] Until next time happy commercing!

What's Marlo Thomas, formerly TV's That Girl, been up to lately? She's designing her own line of tableware for William Sonoma and Pottery Barn. Marlo Thomas joined WKEI on the Noon Hour to talk about her remarkable new collection, her love for entertaining and her love for St Jude's Children's Hospital for whom she has been an advocate since the 1960s. Marlo, along with husband Phil Donahue, is also entering the podcast arena with a new advice podcast for the newly married, the long time married and those considering marriage. It's called Double Date and it debuts in March.

In today's episode of the mi-brand HQ podcast, I am speaking to - Mala Subramaniam Mala is a corporate speaker, executive coach, and cross-cultural trainer. She spent over twenty years in influential marketing and strategy roles at global companies such as IBM, GE Healthcare, and Dun & Bradstreet, and in Blue Cross Blue Shield of NJ. Mala has led Webinars and onsite courses and provided coaching for Cognizant and Meltwater, among others. Her cross-cultural talks have reached Lincoln Financial, The Hartford, Comcast, William Sonoma, NASDAQ, and more across the US and India. Mala inspires people to go beyond their traditional thinking in solving business problems. Her talks, a blend of Eastern and Western philosophies for business communications, are full of original ideas, stories and business cases that illustrate key lessons. And, so is her book, Beyond Wins, which has been featured in CEO World, Entrepreneur Magazine, Forbes, Thrive Global, as well as on several podcasts. In today's episode, Mala will be sharing – The importance of embracing and adapting to change How we must learn to build relationships before we do business Communication: how to leverage this to overcome cross-cultural challenges and cultivate stronger relationships How to go beyond behaviours when interacting with others Why showing up from a place of courage vs fear can create an entirely new experience You can connect with Mala on LinkedIn at - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mala1mktinsite/ & check out her book here https://beyondwins.com/ The Life Leadership Podcast – with Leila Singh, is all things Coaching, Career & Personal Branding! This podcast is for ambitious career professionals, especially aspiring executives, working in the technology industry, wanting to uncover your real potential, create new possibilities and accelerate your career - to BE DO & HAVE more, whilst redefining your success, in work, relationships, health and much more. Life Leadership: Creating a life and career of choice, fulfilment and new possibilities! As well as discussing common coaching topics and challenges that my clients overcome, I will also explore aspects of career advancement and personal branding in the workplace.  And of course, continue to interview high-achieving leaders and execs in the tech space, who have carved out a successful career in their field, overcome challenges, and are openly willing to share their career journey, learnings and insights with you. Please SUBSCRIBE to this podcast, leave a REVIEW and SHARE with those that may benefit from this content. If you would like to learn more about working with me, Direct Message me on LinkedIn or email me at ⁠⁠⁠hello@leilasingh.com⁠⁠⁠ Connect directly with me here - ⁠⁠⁠www.linkedin.com/in/leila-singh/⁠⁠⁠ Register here to receive your copy of The mi-brand Personal Brand Playbook - ⁠⁠⁠www.leilasingh.com/go/playbook⁠⁠⁠ And check out - >>> This article by https://BestPodcasts.co.uk, who curated a list of the Best Career Podcasts of 2023, offering unique and actionable insights to help you achieve your career goals - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.bestpodcasts.co.uk/best-career-podcasts/⁠⁠ with our podcast ‘Life Leadership' featuring in the Top 5! >>> https://blog.Feedspot.com whose editorial team extensively researched and curated a list of the Top 15 Life Leadership Podcasts across all platforms, featuring 'Life Leadership' in the Top 3! With ranking based on factors including - Podcast content quality - Episode consistency - Age of podcast - Engagement & shares of the podcast across social platforms. ⁠⁠15 Best Life Leadership Podcasts You Must Follow in 2023 (feedspot.com)

Matt and Gillian jingle all the way into the holiday season with a brand new cozy gift guide. Make the nice list by sharing this episode on social media (don't forget to tag @allthingscozypodcast) for the chance to win one of the gifts mentioned in the episode! Gillian's Picks: Brass candle snuffer from Poketo.  Nothing Much Happens book by Kathryn Nikolai Hortiki Plants’ Organic Salad Gardening Kit Hard Cider Brewing Kit from William & Sonoma.  Grounds for Murder by Tara Lush & Chelsea and Matt Thomas’ Apple Die Matt's Picks: Introvert’s Retreat Read & Relax box Tickets to a live (but virtual) performance such as"The Future" at Geffen Playhouse The Cozy Adventures Pocket Picnic Sheet  Baby It’s Cold Outside Baby Yoda mug Three Treats Too Many by Debra Goldstein Check out ATC listener Emma Wallace's new album First Impressions inspired by characters from Pride and Prejudice!

Today’s guest is Chef Silvia Bianco. She’s a highly regarded chef and the former owner of Biscotti, a much-loved Italian restaurant in Connecticut. Silvia currently gives cooking classes to America’s top companies, and before COVID-19 was the resident chef at William Sonoma. Silvia has cooked on numerous cooking shows, including The Today Show on NBC. She’s also the author the Simply Sauté. Throughout her cooking career, she witnessed that anyone can cook once they gain confidence, and the same applies to dating. Silvia also mastered controlling the chaos in the kitchen and is sharing how to manage the chaotic world of online dating. This episode includes advice for starting over as well as helpful information for online daters. Kerry Brett and Silva Bianco cover a lot of ground on this episode. Topics include: How to overcome challenging times, and when things end or dismantle, it’s for your greater good.What experiencing loss and being a single mother taught Silvia.How to pick up the pieces.How to positively move forward.How to have acceptance and learn non-attachment.Material possessions don’t define you.Lessons learned from the struggle.Lessons learned from a place of love.How to trust in an unconscious realm of possibility.Age is just a number, how Silvia successfully dates online at the age of 67.The importance of a detailed and specific bio.How to hold your value in your bio.How to call the shots online.How to be open to finding love during a pandemic.If you would like more information about Silvia Bianco’s private cooking classes or catering services, you can reach her at chefsilvia.com, on Twitter Chef Silvia, and Facebook Chef Silvia. Simply Sauté can be purchased on Amazon.Feel free to DM me with questions or comments on Instagram @kerry_brett follow @shotatlovepodcast.

Episode 74 - Hart Steen Hart Steen knew early on that he was created to empower others to discover their unique voice deep within and help unlock their purest forms of expression. Through this purpose, he established professional success in a broad range of industries from Entertainment to Technology as an Entrepreneur, Personal Coach, Business Consultant, Speaker, Writer, Musician, Composer, and Photographer. As a founder and modern-day Renaissance man, Hart has a passion for startups and established businesses, teaching them how to navigate the ambiguity that comes with entrepreneurship in today’s world. His calling has taken him cross country, providing an adventure with all the twists and turns a great story requires.Early in his career, Hart was immersed in the Nashville and L.A. music industry, creating music for organizations like State Farm and The National Guard and writing songs that were televised on ABC and NBC networks. His creative work was also showcased on CMT’s Can You Duet. He collaborated with artists on American Idol, The Voice, Big Machine and Republic Records, and film composers of major motion films, Rush and Christopher Robin. His featured song and voice can be heard on the John Cusack film, Drive Hard.In tandem, Hart successfully built and ran the telecommunications and infrastructure design firm, IT Diversified, partnering with billion-dollar brands such as NCR, McDonalds, Whole Foods, William Sonoma and Office Depot for projects throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. He’s trained on communication and leadership for Landmark Worldwide, a leader in personal and professional development. He currently consults and mentors business owners in a variety of industries on culture and building impactful companies.Hart is currently authoring the book, “The Vessel,” an innovative guide to building ideas into businesses. It provides the critical framework for every stage of an entrepreneur’s journey to thrive in the unknown. He is happily married to his wife of 10 years, and they are raising their two sons in Scottsdale, Arizona. https://hartsteen.com/Support the show (https://www.hundredlifedesign.com/podcasts/)

Welcome to a special Irish Retail Tech episode of The Voice of Retail, I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.Recorded live in Dublin and then Waterford Ireland, first up is an interview with Catie Riordan, Vice President of Consumer Retail & Retail Technology for Enterprise Ireland. We talk about her work in the U.S. , the connection to retail and their long-standing QVC partnership, the wonders of St. Patrick's Day, and finally the Showcase Ireland buying show that connects retailers from around the world to vendors from Ireland.Next a live and interactive panel introduced by Catie and recorded on the main stage at the Waterford Ireland Tech Summit. I'm joined on the stage by four outstanding Canadian and U.S retail visionaries talking about leading and managing change and harnessing disruption in the modern retail age. On the panel is Chis Parsons Director of eCommerce from Home Hardware, Scott Adel, Leader of Shopper Outcomes from McKesson, Michelle Read-Kulig Director of Digital Marketing & Loyalty from Pizza Pizza and the one and only Shelley Nandkeolyar, retail and digital pioneer with brands such as Levis, Home Depot, William Sonoma, Martha Stewart Living.But first lets start out with my interview from Dublin with CatieThat's a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail and thanks to Catie and my host Enterprise Irelad, Chris, Scott, Michelle and Shelley for being my guests on this special episode. If you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.I'm Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedInUntil next time, have a great week!

Inspired by her piñata-filled childhood in Mexico, Amirah Kassem created the now iconic rainbow explosion cake. But her road to success did not come the traditional way. Amirah attended fashion school instead of culinary school, and her baking side hustle took the fashion and art world by storm. Now, with the success of her first Flour Shop Bakery in NYC, the recently released "The Power of Sprinkles" cake book, and a new kitchen line at William Sonoma, this fanciful baker will move you to embrace your inner child and follow your personal rainbow.    Produced by Dear Media. 

The holidays are so hard for divorced and separated families. They just are. Especially if you are new to sharing the kids on the holidays. You are grieving what you thought your family would look like. What you hoped and expected your family would look like. And so much of that image is wrapped up in special occasions like holidays — holidays informed by magazines, movies, Hallmark and William Sonoma ads — not to mention social media and your own memories from your childhood (whether you hoped to replicate good times, or deviate from bad ones). Now your family looks different and it sucks. No matter how you dice it, it is ugly. If you're negotiating holiday schedules for this season, or are in custody negotiations,  here is my one piece of advice for you this year, and years going forward... give him the holidays. Why? I'll tell you in this episode of Like a Mother. Full episode transcript: https://www.wealthysinglemommy.com/holiday-visitation-schedule-for-divorced-parents/

Today we are talking to Yasir Anwar, the CTO of Williams Sonoma. And we discuss their exciting developments with AR and VR, creating an outcome based culture , and making sure your investments align with your passion to achieve success

Have you ever been worried that you’d be judged if you pursue another career or job that’s outside of your college major or original career path? How would you perceive someone who’s a photographer, doula, restaurant owner, William Sonoma employee, and celebrity chef? Well, that’s Andrea Strauss. She’s filled all those shoes, sometimes simultaneously. On the surface, you may judge her for “not knowing who she is and that she’s just bouncing around job-to-job. Quite the contrary. She knows exactly who she is. Exactly what she wants. And is happy with herself. Why? Because she doesn’t listen to anyone’s opinion about what her life should look like. But this attitude did not come easily nor happen over night. In this episode, Andrea shares how she’s learned to listen more to her inner voice in deciding what opportunities to pursue or leave on the table. She shares how you know when you’ve made the wrong decision and why you have to pivot fast out of that negative mentality to get refocused on your true purpose and what really makes you happiest. Join the conversation and be part of the MadeTM community: Join the Self-Made CEOTM Club: http://bit.ly/SelfMadeCEOJoin Twitter Facebook Instagram Pinterest   GUESTS:  Chef Andrea Strauss Instagram   HOSTED BY: Helen Ngo hello@MadeModernMoney.com

Drew, Marchman and Roth look at some more ludicrous items in this year's catalog. 

Ben Jacobsen founded Jacobsen Salt Co. in 2011. They are the first company to harvest salt in the Pacific Northwest since Lewis & Clark. The company has transformed from a local small business to a nationally recognized brand and one of America’s leading premium salt makers. Their products can be found at such retailers such as William-Sonoma, Whole Foods, and many more. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: [1:25] Jeremy introduces his guest, Ben Jacobsen. [2:30] Ben talks about the start of his small business. [4:30] Unexpected uses of their salt and how they come up with flavors. [10:00] From a hobby to a business. [13:30] Ben talks about hauling salt water by hand. [15:00] What type of salts do Ben and his team create? [18:00] Ben talks about business milestones. [20:00] Personal sacrifices Ben has made along the way. [21:00] Ben talks about his team. [23:30] How did Ben and his team develop their process? What are they doing with byproducts? [26:00] Managing the logistics of selling a product. [30:30] Ben talks about acquiring a small local honey company. [32:30] Low and high points in journey so far for Ben and his team. [35:30] The milestone of getting health insurance for the whole team and Ben’s plans for the future. In this episode… How do many business success stories get their start? Is it an innate desire that business leaders have to make a name for themselves? Or could it be something as simple as a new hobby that ends up being a great business idea? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from entrepreneur and innovator Ben Jacobsen. Ben takes the time in his interview with Jeremy to go over how his new hobby of making salt lead him down the path of creating a new business that has since grown and developed into a thriving brand. What can you learn from Ben’s fascinating story? Find out on this exciting episode, you don’t want to miss it! Does the sound of innovation and experimentation excite you or does it stress you out? For some people, the process of testing and experimenting is too messy and convoluted. But that’s not the case for Ben Jacobsen. Ben loves to experiment, that’s what led him down the path of salt making as a hobby and now as a business. His love of experimenting lives on even as his business is established and growing. Now, Ben channels his desire for experimentation into blending new and exciting flavors into his company's flagship product, salt. Listen to this episode of Inspired Insider to hear all about Ben’s passion for experimentation. What is your biggest goal in business besides making a profit? Do you dream of your service or product really improving the lives of others? Do you want to use your success as a platform to make a difference in the world? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from innovator and entrepreneur Ben Jacobsen. When asked about the biggest milestone in his business so far, Ben points to the moment he was able to provide healthcare insurance to his team members. Listening to Ben describe that moment, you really get the sense that he cares about his team and wants to see his organization become a source of good in their lives. Make sure to listen to this episode to hear more about Ben’s story! Few things can make a huge impression on someone better than delicious food. The one thing that all delicious food has in common is high-quality ingredients. On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from Ben Jacobsen as he shares the amazing story of how his company, Jacobsen Salt has made a name for themselves. While the journey wasn’t challenge free, Ben is proud of the fact that they’ve been able to get their product in fine dining establishments, elegant retail stores, and even some of Portland’s popular food trucks. Discover the amazing lessons and insights that Ben has to share by listening to this engaging episode, you don’t want to miss it! One of the most important decisions that a business can make as it seeks to continue its path toward success is to diversify and expand its offerings. What can your organization do to expand its reach and influence in the marketplace? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from business leader and entrepreneur Ben Jacobsen. While Ben’s company, Jacobsen Salt has made a name for itself through it’s high-quality salt products, they’ve recently decided to expand their efforts by acquiring a line of premium honey products. To hear why Ben and his team decided to acquire this line of products and how it fits into their overall business model, make sure to listen to this episode! Resources Mentioned on this episode http://jacobsensalt.com/ www.beelocal.com Google Docs Dropbox SalesForce Shopify Sponsor for this episode Rise25 is where entrepreneurs of 6,7, and 8 figure businesses come together live and in person every few months to solve their biggest business challenges through this high-level Mastermind group. Each member leaves each week with lifelong friendships and actionable steps to take their business to the next level. Check out Rise25.com - a group run by myself and cofounder John Corcoran. Rise 25 is application only.

Drew, Marchman and Roth look at some more ludicrous items in this year's catalog. 

Ben Jacobsen founded Jacobsen Salt Co. in 2011. They are the first company to harvest salt in the Pacific Northwest since Lewis & Clark. The company has transformed from a local small business to a nationally recognized brand and one of America’s leading premium salt makers. Their products can be found at such retailers such as William-Sonoma, Whole Foods, and many more. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: [1:25] Jeremy introduces his guest, Ben Jacobsen. [2:30] Personal sacrifices Ben has made along the way. [3:30] Ben talks about his team. [6:00] How did Ben and his team develop their process? What are they doing with by-products? [9:00] Managing the logistics of selling a product. [13:00] Ben talks about acquiring a small local honey company. [16:00] Low and high points in the journey so far for Ben and his team. [18:00] The milestone of getting health insurance for the whole team and Ben’s plans for the future. In this episode… How can business leaders like you focus on putting customers first? What effort will it take to show your customers that they are valued by you and your team? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from entrepreneur and innovator, Ben Jacobsen. Ben opens up about how he started his company, Jacobsen Salt Co., how they’ve marketed by-products, the logistics of selling their product, how they put customers first, and so much more! You don’t want to miss this awesome opportunity to learn from an industry leader like Ben, have your pen and paper ready, you are going to need it! Do you know what it takes to start a company from the ground up? Where does that kind of drive and vision come from? How do leaders dig deep and find the motivation to push through difficult and find success? On this episode of Inspired Insider, you’ll hear from business leader and disruptor, Ben Jacobsen. Starting with a dream and a passion, Ben build the Jacobsen Salt Company. Hearing from Ben you can tell that at the heart of his story there is a drive to create a quality product and serve his customers by putting them first. This drive is only matched by his dedication to his employees. Discover helpful insights and lessons from Ben’s story on this episode! What are you doing to inspire your team and build a healthy culture at your company? Do you do your best to get everyone on board with the vision and mission of your organization? Does your team know that you are fighting to make their experience and their work conditions better? On this episode of Inspired Insider, Ben Jacobsen shares one of the milestones that he is the proudest of in the young life of his business, the Jacobsen Salt Company. Ben says that he’s most proud of the moment he was able to invest in providing healthcare insurance for all of his employees. It's really encouraging to hear the passion and love that Ben has, not only for his product and customers but for his team. What can you learn from Ben’s story? Find out on this episode! Resources Mentioned on this episode http://jacobsensalt.com/ www.beelocal.com Google Docs Dropbox SalesForce Shopify Sponsor for this episode Rise25 is where entrepreneurs of 6,7, and 8 figure businesses come together live and in person every few months to solve their biggest business challenges through this high-level Mastermind group. Each member leaves each week with lifelong friendships and actionable steps to take their business to the next level. Check out Rise25.com - a group run by myself and co-founder John Corcoran. Rise 25 is application only.

Here's our list of favorite gifts for the home decorator... Affiliate links We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. desktop succulents, tall desktop succulent William-Sonoma apron vegetable dessert dishes, toile dessert dishes, blue dessert dishes, mercury glass votives, mercury glass pillars, tall candlesticks tortoise shell trash can monogram decal for boots favorite cookbook echo dot diffuser, diffuser, diffuser bed tray, bed tray, umbrella stand, umbrella stand umbrella stand You can find all of Anita's selections CLICK HERE. Oh and these too! A monogrammed tape measure. See it HERE (https://www.etsy.com/listing/477691672/monogram-tape-measure-personalized) The Prosecco & Bellini candle Kelly loves. Look HERE (http://amzn.to/2j4sFnk). Kelly ordered a set of these. You might want to hang them up too! Gold frames with chains. Have a peek HERE (http://amzn.to/2zNKwZq) And don't forget Kelly (http://amzn.to/2iM71Vf) & Anita's (http://amzn.to/2iLYO3r) books would be wonderful gifts! You know what would be SO awesome?  If you would share Decorating Tips & Tricks with your friends.  Do it in person or on Facebook using THIS LINK. It is easy just click & share DTT to your page. Thanks in advance!! x Subscribe so you never miss an episode. And please drop us a line and let us know what you think of the podcast. Our email is decoratingtipsandtricks@gmail.com XOXOXO, Anita, Yvonne and Kelly

The holidays are so hard for divorced and separated families. They just are. Especially if you are new to sharing the kids on the holidays. You are grieving what you thought your family would look like. What you hoped and expected your family would look like. And so much of that image is wrapped up in special occasions like holidays — holidays informed by magazines, movies, Hallmark and William Sonoma ads — not to mention social media and your own memories from your childhood (whether you hoped to replicate good times, or deviate from bad ones). Now your family looks different and it sucks. No matter how you dice it, it is ugly. If you’re negotiating holiday schedules for this season, or are in custody negotiations,  here is my one piece of advice for you this year, and years going forward: LET IT GO. GIVE HIM THE HOLIDAYS.

EP102 - Code Commerce, Shop.org, and News  Code Commerce Code Commerce (the first stand alone commerce event from Recode) was Sept 13 and 14 in New York City. Andy Dunn - CEO of Bonobos Laura Albert - CEO of Williams Sonoma   NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Fanatics Executive Chairman Michael Rubin Pinterest President Tim Kendall A Tour of an Amazon Prime Now facility in New York on West 34th Shop.org  Shop.org was September 25-27 in Los Angeles, CA. Marc Lore - President of Digital at Walmart Adam Grant - Author of the Originals Scott Galloway - NYC Professor, L2 Founder, and Author of "The Four" Tech Lab Amazon News Amazon looking for a second HQ location. Scot thinks Austin, Jason suggested Houston or Detroit. Amazon launched a new set of Alexa based devices Amazon renewed - Certified pre-owned products Amazon opening 6 new Fulfillment Centers in the US (and 40 in India): Oregon - Salem (8/28)  Ohio - North Randall  NY  - Staten Island (9/6) Michigan (9/14)  Oregon - Portland (9/18)  Ohio - Euclid (9/18) Alexa in BMW Kohls taking Amazon Returns Other News Walmart buys Parcel - NY same day deliveries Plated acquired by Albertsons - Meal Kits heat up Ikea acquires TaskRabbit - Help deliver and assemble Ikea products Jet launching private label "everyday essentials" line Wish $30m NBA sponsorship Holiday Forecasts - Ranging from 3.5% - 4% (Jason thinks that might be optimistic unless we get highly promotional) Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 102 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Wednesday October 4th, 2017. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at Razorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. New beta feature - Google Automated Transcription of the show Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 102 being recorded on Wednesday October 4th 2017 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host of lingo. Scot: [0:39] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners. [0:43] Jason fall is go time in retail and I was looking in. [0:49] You know it's going by so quickly that you and I've been so busy, we did our listener appreciation event we had indochino and it turns out we have not done e-commerce news and Analysis since early September so here in episode 102 going to be kind of a quick hit of some of the news that's come out in the last 30 days, I so kind of mid to late September that we thought. Maybe many listeners are experiencing the fall like we are where are your so heads down getting ready for that critical holiday season you'd want us to help our Steven and figure out what are the Nuggets of what has come out in the last 15 or 20 days, alright so we're going to focus on those two of the nuggets are really trip reports and on both of these. I have to admit Mia Copa to our listeners. [1:42] Epic fail really I did not make it to either these events and I plan to go to both so the first was recode and that was in New York and the second one was shop.org in Los Angeles. And I have righty of things so hurricane kind of kept me from the first one then on the second one to scheduling conflicts between you and I and in a couple of. Things on the on my other day job side kept me from going there so I am on the edge of my chair to hear from you how those two events went. Jason: [2:11] Yeah and let me first start by saying for the listeners that were participating in the pool Scott played the hurricane card at 1 minute 40 seconds end of the episode so, so can graduation to whoever one that, and yeah there's so much going on I feel like we're going to have to go faster this is probably a 20 lb in the 10 lb bag episode let's jump right into Rico door code Commerce more more technically so for listeners that don't know, recode is great publication they have a very famous show on the west coast every year called code, and more recently they've launched a series of events that were specific to Commerce and most of those events lived on top of another Commerce event so they would have a dinner and a few speakers at, a shoptalkshow or in a RAV4 when one of those sorts of events and they've all been great events, so this was their first effort to turn it into a standalone event it was a day and a half. I'm just dedicated to speakers that they lined up in New York and for a first-year show I think it was really successful they had a pretty good turnout all the logistics seem to work out pretty well and. As is usually the calling card for these coat events they were able to get some pretty impressive speakers that you know I was interested to listen to. So because your time we're not going to be able to cover all of them but. [3:42] But really quickly a guy always look forward to hearing from his Andy Dunn who's the founder of bonobos there purchased this year by Walmart so he had a good good conversation with Jason Del Rey, you know a lot of it the usual ground was covered talking about like digitally native Brands and how Belushi Andy is on those and talking about how life is living inside of Walmart and, the cultural challenges that exist there andy is a guy that. Is is very bullish on the omni-channel experience and so living inside of Walmart and having access to their stores was. He felt like nothing that was a pretty big advantage and so you know I thought like he was well worth listening to. A little later in day one we had the CEO of William Sonoma water helper. You know a great brand great CEO I was a little disappointed at in her comments at a digital show she did not come off. Super digitally-savvy if I'm being frank and it's interesting because William Sonoma is a. Traditional retailer always relied on the catalog they Embrace digital early, and Gina today more than half of their sales are online and she spent the whole time talking about how stores were a differentiator and how how important the in-store experience was. [5:13] And how you know they sold a lot of categories that they felt like people just didn't want to buy online. And I think Furniture was specifically one in wow like I absolutely think there's a huge competitive advantages to a store experience and I think it's super important to honor. The stores it it sounded like a little bit like one of the old CEOs defending their investment in stores against the onslaught of Amazon. And that just seems surprising coming from the CEO of a a retailer that's been so successful in digital I would have thought she would maybe be a little more. Maura balanced and nuanced and she just seemed to be a strong advocate for the stores. So at the end of that day one it was kind of interesting joint presentation with Adam Silver who's the NBA commissioner and. The famous calendar industry Mike Rubin who's the executive chairman of Fanatics he also happens to be one of the owners of the 76ers and. [6:17] Famously started a number of successful companies in our space including GSI. And ShopRunner and I think was even on an episode of Undercover Boss. So my group has won the most successful guys in e-commerce so it's always super interesting hear from him you know you talking about Fanatics which is made to order. Jersey's online I think that's a super interesting category because I do think. Personalization is a a big up-and-coming play in. [6:49] Digital Inn in retail I think we're to see you a lot more products personalized and you know I think there's a lot we can learn from an early player like fanatics. It was a little funny seeing the two of them on stage together. Because you know my grooming is very anti Amazon and talking about how to compete against Amazon he mentioned that that Amazon tried to do the custom jerseys for the NBA before Fanatics took it over and. Wasn't successful and an implication being that was too hard for Amazon but Fanatics was able to make it it it work at scale. [7:25] And let you know I think there's there's a lot of interesting insights there and. You know he's sitting next to the commissioner of the NBA who sang Hey Amazon the super important partner and we're going to let you buy any of the jerseys you want customized on Amazon and essentially Amazon is going to be an affiliate for a fanatic so you know, what while Michael was talking about half and addicts had a differentiated experience from Amazon Adam Silver with saying, but if you prefer Amazon or your Prime member you can you can get anything that's been at Excel straight you know that's licensed by us straight from. From the Amazon and we understand that we need to be there because their big player and the the fall under that is, you know Amazon out punches their weight as a retailer in terms of mine share with with folks like Adam Silver the NBA commissioner because you know there's there's a realization that, Amazon is the content publisher and you know one day could own, the rights to broadcast NBA games and you know already has the rights to broadcast some some NFL games now and in so you know it's an interesting Dynamic talking about like. The retailer and the content publisher and you're sitting there next to Michael Ruben who's a retailer and an NBA owner so it was kind of a. Convoluted set of of interrelated issues but but I found it fascinating. Scot: [8:45] Cool that's definitely a whirlwind tour of the did you get to stock and done much at all. Jason: [8:55] I did not I left him alone, I will say props to Jason Del Rey Athena this is the reporter at at Rica that specializes in Commerce so this is really his event he I thought he did a bunch of interviews day one but I think yours also getting kind of, unfortunately he was under the weather so I think he was a trooper and most impressively he's a huge, long-suffering Knicks van and I sort of expected him to just have a lot of mixed questions for Brad I'm sober and he totally refrain from any personal comments so so Props to, previous guests on her show Jason Delray for doing a good job even shorter updates, Tim Kendall is a present at a Pinterest was on I thought he was really smart and it was interesting like you know he talked about how he thinks, a small minority of people on the Pinterest platform want to conduct a Commerce transaction on his platform and that's fascinating because most people would talk about Pinterest having the highest buying intent of any of the social networks and he's flat out saying most people don't want to see a buy button, on Pinterest he's right you know we have shoppable pins their increasingly successful but in most cases, what customers want is to get inspiration on Pinterest and then they want to go to the e-commerce site to actually consummate the purchase and so that that was interesting, you know there for many years there's been a lot of folks out there talking about how you know. [10:26] Traditional e-commerce sites might not even exist as all the purchases move to Facebook and Google and in Pinterest and here's the president of of, the one that supposed to be most successful and he's saying hey you know that doesn't seem to be what our customers want to do, so I thought that was super interesting and then they too they move the venue to Hudson yard which is a. [10:50] A really interesting new multi-use development going up in New York that's going to put a lot of retail can I have an Amazon bookstore, and they did a bunch of on-site opportunity so you could go to her the the newest Nike Town you could visit a couple digital startups, and one of the options was to visit an Amazon Prime now for filming Center that it's in Manhattan on 34th Street. And so I'm sad to say I did not get to go on the tour it signed it booked up really quick but I did hear from a few folks that went on them, and you know the reminder is is Scott reminded me right before the show there's 45 of these Prime now facilities. I'm out there and they're they're designed to hold the smaller sort of stuff that people wanted in one day and they do the one or two hour delivery, I said it's one in Manhattan is right in the heart of Midtown is on 34th Street which of the story retail street it's across the street from the Empire State Building it's on the same. Street is the largest Macy's in the world and what a lot of people were surprised by when they walk in this facility is, there are bunch of Pickers running around pulling stuff out of bins and there was almost no automation. In that the facility at all and I and you know most of the attendees expected to see a bunch of Kiva robots or, you know at least some sort of out of me to picking system and what apparently they were told is, that at the moment like every one of these facilities is a different configuration and that it's still too early in the evolution of this concept. [12:24] For Amazon to cost-effectively Skillet with automation, and so I I just found it interesting that they already got 45 of them out there and in their world that that's not enough yet to automate it and that that, you know these things you know I have a lot of clients that have automated fulfillment centers for e-commerce that that looked a lot more advanced than apparently this Thing 2. [12:49] Did I surprise you at all. Scot: [12:50] I think even know where that. Offering isn't its life cycle it doesn't suit so Amazon always going to start some the customer works the way back and what that means is, you're okay being inefficient on the back end as long as you can still deliver a great customer experience or I would say they probably put the. The bulk of their effort like 70% or effort into the front end and the front end is getting better all the time and you can tell they're just like really iterating that super quickly for example when they close the whole food food steel that stuff was in there a day one and in that kind of thing so it does fit in with the, the Amazon DNA to to hide sometime hamsters in the background going on there. Jason: [13:35] Yeah well and sure enough you are correct so then you can barely get home from that show do a little bit of client work and then back on the plane to Los Angeles for shop.org. Scot: [13:50] Yep and so fun Jason fact you truly are the retailgeek you met your wife for the first time seven years ago was that Dallas. [14:01] Did she see you kick a I remember that one vividly because we got to go to the the Cowboys stadium in kick field goals did your wife like see you kick a field goal and say if that's the man I'm going to marry is that kind of how it went. Jason: [14:13] So partly I did go to that event with my now wife she did in fact see me kick a field goal and it's highly unlikely that that. Favorably influence her in any way and it's equally unlikely that she she at that point realize that she would one day marry me I took a little more work. Scot: [14:35] A lot more feel quotes. Jason: [14:37] Exactly yeah it is true that my right leg maybe one of my my best assets but it's still not that good. Scot: [14:46] Okay well congrats to you on seven years meeting go meeting your wife just shows you that shop.org anything can kind of happen when you're there. Jason: [14:55] Exactly I remind people you know I want talks about you know how important the networking is if he shows and you know I certainly agree with that. Scot: [15:03] Cool suicide from relationship status changes what was going on at shop.org this year. Jason: [15:10] It was an interesting year a lot of changes in, you know what what to me is that I could sort of the one of the quintessential shows in our industry, I said that she was in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Convention Center, the show is in Las Vegas next year the shows always moved but after next year they haven't answered it's permanently going to be in Los Angeles so this is kind of the new home of the show of the Las Vegas Convention Center is is, is a great facility it's very large in the whole downtown area around the convention center that used to not. I have any amenities and you know frankly wasn't very nice and, are you leave wasn't very safe has been heavily gentrified and it was a super interesting Vibrant Community that's kind of. Popped up and in a most importantly for the professional trade show attendees amongst us there a lot of good hotels now to stay out there, so I like the venue the production values of the show where you know felt like they were like you know Franklin upgrade from past years and I suspect that you know what some of the newer shows like shoptalk out there that they can raise the bar for everyone and it felt like, like shop kind of followed suit, the Treaty of Paris interesting because the what they now down as they've taken all the content and put it in like auditoriums, all around the trade show for so the trigger for a sort of the Hub in the whole event they set up this really comfortable garden with like casual seating and free drinks in the middle of the trade show for so people could kind of loiter. [16:49] I know there's a lot of concern about like, noise pollution from from all the the content being around the trade show floor and I would say that stuff all worked out really well, if anything the convention center was so spacious that even though the the booth space was apparently a sell-out it just felt really roomy, In-N-Out on the good news that felt really comfortable on the bad news it made the show feel less busy. Because the tiles just weren't as crowded as you you might be used to from previous years, but they did have this new section on the floor that I really like it's sort of the technology Pavilion so it's a bunch of small or newer exhibitors in many cases a lot of exhibitors from other countries and instead of being extravagant boost that you had like pods in this area and so there was a lot of the the cool Innovation stuff was in that section, I think it was like an expanded version of something we saw at in a rough this year so I like to see that Trend continue, and then I did not get to catch all the content I unfortunately had a pesky client that, wanted to meet in the middle of shop.org in another city so I actually had to fly in for the last day. So I didn't get to catch all of the presenters Wednesday was a good day. The Adam Grant is a professor at NYU and wrote a great book called The Originals he's actually a. An organizational psychologist that sort of helps figure out the most successful organizational structures he gave us. [18:21] A really good presentation in the morning and you know one of the key themes that I that he talked about is. [18:30] How. [18:32] What a negative effect of the wrong people in an organization or in the wrong roll or on the wrong team can have any organization so he had to start a quote that resonated with me. It's nice that the right people on the bus but it's much more important to keep the wrong people off the bus and he was he was talking about how that's a common organizational mistake. I just liked his presentation because I really feel like. Organizational change management is one of the most important things for any any retailer or brand in surviving digital disruption. And it's kind of one that people don't think about it very much so it's interesting to see an academic that's exclusively thinking about that. [19:08] And then his the presentation right before him is a Scott Galloway who's super well-known in our industry. Professor at NYU does very funny does a lot of really. Thought-provoking controversial humorous content and so for the most part I hate him because he's generally just like a better version of me. [19:33] Funny are better-looking right more often kind of thing and he has a book that just got published yesterday. And the book is called the four and it talks a lot about the that these the sort of you know four horsemen. That are in his mind Google Facebook Amazon and Apple. And he has this notion that each of them in a sort of appeals to a particular brain part part of the body so. Google you know it appeals to the brain and is really associated with our rational self. Facebook is not associated with the heart and is associated with our emotional sale. Amazon is associated with the gotten really in a deals with our sustenance and needs and Apple has by far the best position they're associated with RR reproductive organism. And and it sort of associated with sex in so you know I think Professor Galloway like. Basically would say an is on it or apple is likely to be the most successful most profitable of the four companies as a result of of there, you know picking the right organ to go after but he had a lot of interesting, content if I have a criticism of Professor Galloway he repeats a lot of content and he's so popular that like most of his stuff is on YouTube so I, frankly if you are a close fall of hers I'm not sure of his I'm not sure you saw a ton of new stuff at. [21:06] Shop.org but if you're not super familiar with him you know I think it all is really interesting stuff that that would definitely makes you think, I have already purchased this book and I'm looking forward to reading it I got one book ahead of it in my queue. But I was glad to see him there and you know we probably should break down and have him on the show at some point even though I am kind of jealous of him. Scot: [21:31] He seems to have it in for Amazon lately like everything I read he's kind of saying they don't pay enough taxes they should be split up. [21:41] It's kind of interesting he seems to Canada if I have a an anti Amazon bias in the last like month and a half or so. Jason: [21:48] So he didn't interview with Tara Swisher on recoat a couple weeks before Amazon bought Whole Foods and he, he mentioned that Amazon could easily get in a brick-and-mortar that you know I'd be simple matter for them to buy someone like Whole Foods and so he he's gone a lot of credit for correctly predicting Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods which I think it's Toy Fair again I fall in lot closer than most people and I I know he just makes a lot of unlikely predictions, and some of them come true and his kind of and as you get it would expect a lot of them don't come true in most of us forget about those and, you know one of the funny ones that he he sort of makes fun of himself is, about two years ago he predicted that Amazon had reached its peak and was likely to fail and that their lack of stores was a, an Achilles heel that they couldn't overcome, International in his presentations he he likes shows a graph of their stock price in the last 2 years and he started marks that point when he predicted they would fail and of course they're the. Fastest growing stock on on. The market since he predicted they would fail so I think that may make him slightly negative on Amazon but I think you know she I think his position is. [23:02] Doterra bad things for society about all four of these companies and that their you know are matters of great concern I keep you know he. He talks a lot about the. Facebook's influence on the election and that you know because Facebook to leadership is so young they probably don't fully appreciate the thread that Russia is to us I think he talks a lot about. Some of the downsides of all the power that's aggregated in Google I think you definitely likes apple the most of any of these companies and you're exactly right he's talked a lot about, the fact that you know for every dollar of Revenue Amazon generates they employ half as many people as a brick-and-mortar retailer used to so he thinks knitting at the really bad for jobs and because you know, they've been really successful in his mind it not earning a profit like he definitely believes they're very profitable company that manage their R&D to make sure that they don't, book a significant profit every year which I think he agrees is a smart play but that that's resulted in them not having to pay a lot of taxes and so it you know he shows a graph of. Amazon and Walmart over the last 10 years and Walmart is. Has paid 84 billion dollars in taxes in those 10 years in Amazon's paid 1 billion dollars in taxes and of course the market is rewarded Amazon you know with with. Vastly more market cap growth in those 10 years than it has. Walmart and I thank you rightly points out you know there's some of these Trends there they continue you know have some. Meaningful social impact so I'm looking forward to hearing more about that when I read his book but you know he definitely the guy with strong povs and and he generally has a. [24:43] A pissy way of sharing them. Scot: [24:47] Cool any so that's good any broader Trends you picked up on has this machine learning thing kind of have we gotten past that or is that still everyone's banging that drum. Jason: [24:58] Nope that is the drum, like the big train that all the presenters are talking about it both shows that you know a boy Tori got had to get stamped on every booth at shop.org is the whole deep learning cognitive Computing thing, and you know we've done a couple deep dies on that so I'm not going to rehash all that territory right now. [25:23] It is a super important Trend butt, like in my mind a lot of its importance is getting diminished by the fact that it just being treated as a throwaway buzzword by so many people in our industry for so many different purposes. Scot: [25:39] That it on shop.org. Jason: [25:41] Well the one and I did not get to see this line but I got to watch a recording so Mark of Lori did an interview Mark does not do a ton of public speaking and so that like there's a great gift for shop.org so you get, Andy done at Rico Dandy reports to Mark market reports to Doug mcmillon the CEO of Walmart. You know which I imagine has to be a funny Dynamic cuz you know Marcus is probably worth multi billion dollars between. Selling of Quincy to Amazon and selling of Jetta Walmart it was kind of the one-year anniversary of the sale and it was just it was interesting to hear his his POV on the Acquisitions he talked a lot about another, all the Acquisitions that he's made and when he's continuing to make find a kind of falling into two camps so he would say he purchased a bunch of these companies. Just for their merchandising chops and their access to product lines that Walmart didn't have access to so you by ShoeDazzle to get more shoe expertise and to get more shoe lines that the relationships with the vendors and and smart merchants, alone make that sort of an immediate Roi acquisition for Walmart and then he would talk about their acquisition of the digitally native Brands like bonobos and ModCloth, being a much longer term strategic play and, you know this this goes to a a show that I think we're going to do next week about private label an Amazon private label in particular Walmart and most big retailers have a big strategy to. [27:15] Build more important house brands that you know used to call private label but in some cases these far surpass. Private label and it seems clear that you know part of Walmart strategy to build this portfolio of valuable brands of consumer want that you can't get on Amazon is through acquisition and so you know he I think you would categorize ModCloth in Bona BOCES. The first of of presumably more Acquisitions in that space so it just kind of interesting to hear his framework for the acquisitions. Scot: [27:47] Awesome any other shop.org updates. Jason: [27:51] I think in the time we have that's probably going to have to cover it because I feel like we, you know it's been a busy just news months since we last did news and I know there's a ton of the Amazon news and some other industry news we want to jump into that. Scot: [28:09] Yeah and it wouldn't be a Jason and Scott show without. [28:27] So the first big piece of Amazon news is what is commonly referred to as hq2, so on September 7th that Amazon I just kind of randomly put out this announcement that they were accepting. Rfps for their second headquarter City and these are peas and courage cities to be. Aggressive they had to kind of till the end of October to submit their bids and and it also is very detailed. Unlisted what Amazon was looking for in a city and important things and and how to highlight your city and whatnot then that is really just dominated the the the. The new cycle for for the last 30 days so probably actually be glad when they make their announcement some kind of will tired of talking about HQ to be honest. [29:18] What it was now so I kind of felt like Austin was a good one because the biologic is Amazon. The retail business is Amazon is relatively mature and really got a core density. Both in Seattle and then the most number of employees for retail are in the phone at centers so it seems like you're going to open another headquarters level kind of operation is mostly going to be. The the newer generation Amazon things I'm sure they'll be some retail folks there but it'll be the minority let's say 10% so they're going to hire. [29:54] 8000 people maybe 800 will be kind of retail random people and then the people that are in HQ around retail tend to be buyers and and developers of the site. [30:03] So then you're left with like who else is going to be in there and where I kind of come out is the echo family the AWS family and these kinds of folks and, when you look at Amazon's R&D budget I think that ends up being a lot of Engineers so so I think you're going to let you know if I, if I kind of play that out Amazon near needs to be near an engineering Hub and. Austin's really good one we have one here in Raleigh-Durham Boston's another area and then, like that Carnegie Mellon quarter there so. The Northeast has a lot of negatives that so I don't really think it hits a lot of things they want to do there so I coulda ended up with Austin it's kind of his is where I think it is so did you give it a lot of thought to this one Jason. Jason: [30:44] A little bit like there's been a lot of interesting talk since they want us if it's a scam if they already have a location and that in that this is just a big PR stunt that. Did they ran soda. Be interesting the people speculating that all think that the the foregone conclusion is a different city so they're not unanimous in that which is funny. [31:07] Austin certainly seems like it's in the running I jumped on Twitter early on in this and you know trying to make it out of the box call Houston it just been hit by the hurricane and I I really think the whatever City wins is going to have to pay a fortune in Economic Development funds to Amazon to get them there so there's going to be, huge concessions Amazons not going to pay any, property taxes for for 20 years and whatever this headquarters is and it's it's frankly probably going to be an economically bad deal for whatever city does it, it's a little bit like bidding for the Olympics, and so it has to be a city that has a bunch of money to waste on that and I informed that criteria I think Austin might struggle to come up with a package and it occurred to me, Houston's going to get a bunch of federal money they're going to need to rebuild the whole city they have proximity to a lot of the same universities that Austin does and so I thought it could be interesting that could be a way you know a great PR move for Amazon to help, rebuild that you know the hurricane damage City and in Houston I haven't heard anyone else jump on that bandwagon so if I'm, if I'm right that'll be great but the lack of people that agree with me has me a little nervous about that prediction you know the. The sort of emotional favorite for me would be you know they really want to win the pr bad all they had to go to Detroit and Revitalize Detroit and Detroit actually does meet a bunch of there. Their criteria so it's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out like you know I don't know. Scot: [32:44] Yeah yeah I don't think Detroit has enough engineering people there so we'll see. Jason: [32:49] University of Michigan though. [32:57] So that I did see some interesting press releases about a potential new Amazon device which was a wearable they were glasses that had Amazon Alexa built into them in so that, when you first see what about glasses you think about a. Yeah heads up display and Google Glass and all that it was actually the glasses were. Convenient way to deliver the earbuds to your ear, and the idea was to have a in a persistent access to this always-on digital assistant in Alexa and so it'll it'll be interesting to. To see if that product ever meets the light of day as we record this Google just just made their big announcement for the new pixel phone and one of the accessories they announced was I said that your butt, that are specifically designed to put the Google assistant in your ear at all time so it seems like like that. Yeah I could be an interesting battle grams of you know what year based personal assistance. Scot: [34:01] Yeah and that's my big ass cuz I know, dresses listening so mr. besos the big ask I have for a new platform for Echo Alexa is wireless earbuds so I have airpods in the Syrian or face is just terrible I can never get it to play music on Spotify or anything else but Apple music. So would love for you guys to salt that for me. What it was I was excited about so it shall advise over the years I've gotten a lot of these folks that sell refurbished product and there is there's a big set of consumers that love the option to trade down to this kind of product to that has been. Retail certified that it is it is I've been. [34:44] Yukon to a process usually by the manufacturer certified that it's like new and it has a warranty, I also know this refurbished so Amazon's had kind of weird policy on this that kind of let it you do it but then they don't give you the tools as of that kind of seller to be successful and is it not really meeting the customer's kind of needs so. [35:04] They announced that a new kind of marketplace area called renewed and that that's exciting cuz I think. [35:11] That's a really big area Amazon hasn't nailed yet and it's going to be good for a lot of the larger sellers to do that. This is just kind of like super not sexy but it's really important because this is where Amazon is really kind of. Dominating your woman that's first phone is in her build out so just kind of looking at some that we haven't talked about on the show quickly and just starting kind of. Towards the end of August to August 28th announced a million-square-foot Facility in Oregon in the Salem area. And then they also at about the same time the Ohio so organized Ohio in those are about a million each and then they are doing their first fulfillment center in New York and that's going to be in Staten Island that's 855. Thousand square feet then on the 14th of September the announcements again with a million 3rd or 4th in Michigan. And then in the day it's kind of funny like a literally 20 days after they announced the second fulfillment center in Oregon they announce the third and this is going to be in Portland and it's going to be a million square feet. Something's going on in Oregon's so there's there's a lot of Amazon love in Oregon right now on their building fullness centers as fast as they can just kind of find land. And then the kind of in that Vein on the 18th they announce that yet another Ohio one this one's and Euclid so it was kind of. [36:36] Smaller is 600000 square feet which is kind of a. [36:39] Effort by Amazon Sanders and some microphone the center that must have been some function of the land I checked and it still a normal FC it's not up sortation Center or prime now or anything like that the other one is. [36:52] The Washington Wizards was kind of talking about the Indian e-commerce market and just kind of. [36:58] Dropped the Amazon now has 44th element centers in India this is priced me because I don't think they would announce a lot of new filling centers in India that I've seen this is pretty well researched I thought they had like 10 so. Does a little surprising to me. [37:14] Pretty sure the Cialis would not say that without having fat checked it six ways so I think that's a new data point that's pretty interesting that that indicates that the the level investment. Amazon's making India who sings her hundred million bucks to build out so that that kind of feels like. I was surprised 3 to 4 billion dollars there which frame signs effectively nothing but you're pretty interesting that that India is releasing stupid wrap up as well. Jason: [37:44] That is crazy I wonder is there a way to make money on the stock market I feel like tons of investors forget that Amazon is going to spend a fortune every Q, 3 opening a bunch of fulfillment centers to get ready for the holiday season and just seems like there's always that's always going to be a negative profits quarter for them as they say is they. Spend all this capex on these fulfillment centers in I might surprise by people being surprised by it. Scot: [38:09] Yeah what it does is it kind of likes all these ones that are now it's still kind of a crew and they won't hit the piano until they launch they opened is my understanding how the accounting work. Listening to your point it's like they take this really big non-cash hit the Dave I've been doing out the cash overtime and it will create this kind of you know negative accounting thing on there their typical leave it on this one of the reasons, they really like to focus on free cash flow and versus because you have cash cash is cash and accounting rules don't change the cash coming in and going out and so, when your building dis many phone as soon as you can imagine that the accounting rules really start to add up on you. Jason: [38:48] Yeah I can only imagine I maybe should have mentioned in the shop.org announcement that, that are recapped it was a surprise event that Amazon put on Indian asked a bunch of new Alexa devices and the first thing I found interesting about that was unlike Apple or Google it like, you don't announce the event several weeks in advance and build up a lot of anticipation. As far as I know Amazon didn't give anyone any morning they sent out an email in the morning saying hey we're having a press event in Seattle in 4 hours. [39:21] Which which means you know there's a bunch of reporters that now have to live in Seattle and they announced a significant refresh of the whole. Alexa line in so we mostly driving cost down so. [39:38] They took what used to be the bass Alexa and they shave $50 off of that they improve the speaker improve the Aesthetics a little bit. They they put a new product in the line at the the price of the old or Oxo that now includes a home hub so the ability to control a lot of home automation devices without a third party hub. And so what that means is. You you don't even need the Philips Hue White kit you can just buy individual bulbs and you can control them direct from your Alexa and so you know clearly one of the things Amazon that has has. Noticed is that setting up. [40:17] That configuring home automation is still too difficult and plugging in and getting interoperability between all these products is difficult so it seems like they're trying to address that problem directly and make it. Easier to unboard new products and add new products to your smart home. [40:33] So that'll be interesting and in the goofiest product that they watched in this thing is a set of buttons that are designed for family games and I think particularly designed for like a version of. Of a trivia in Jeopardy that that you can play on the Alexa where each family member has a button and you hit your particular button to buzz in and get a chance to. [40:56] To answer a question that Alexa asked so like I thought it was Goofy but I'm sure I'll order it said about them. Scot: [41:03] I'm surprised you haven't preorder this. Jason: [41:06] And I guess I forgot one important when I have pre-ordered some of the products in advance I can't even remember which ones are pre-ordered there's a new version of the echo. That has a screen on it. And this looks like it's predominantly made to work as an alarm clock so. You know it's a small form-factor device with a smaller screen than the. The Echo Show and it seems like much better ergonomics and it's designed to sit next to your bed and you know I can have a persistent clock face and do all these different things. You know that you I know we both have lunch echoes in her house the you're my wife and I each have a clock next to our side of the bed like the last thing I'd want to do is add two more Echoes to my bedroom and I feel like they'd all be competing here are commands. Scot: [41:51] Yeah yeah that's what I guess. [41:56] The did you see that there are another car OEM at Alexa at the BMW they're going to have the Alexa capability. Jason: [42:05] Yep and that seems like a pretty cool car to have the Alexa in you know voice interface makes sense in a lot of places, but for sure you know one of the places that makes the most sense is in the car cars of Ed, natural language interfaces for a while and they all hip hugely sucked in so you know. Seems like a pretty big competitive Advantage for for BMW to have what everyone you know feels like is the you note for this along digital personal assistant and the best natural language interface, in their vehicles. The book side is if you're any retailer other than then Amazon you know it sure sucks to keep seeing Echo win all these OEM deals, you know if anyone ever needs to do any add any products to their shopping list or do any auto reordering or any of those kinds of things while they're driving, you know Amazon certainly going to be in pole position for all the all those orders which is not good news if your Kroger or Walmart or Target or any of those guys. Scot: [43:11] Yep I the most controversial Amazon news he recently was Cole's announcing they're going to take Amazon returns about half the folks I kind of saw a comment on it said this is genius this is going to drive foot traffic to Kohl's you know people come into Kohl's they'll drop off their Amazon returns in the shop and that that's a genius thing the other half said, this is a deal with the devil they are going to know the coals is simply paying to to run Amazon return center sport where they fall out on that one. Jason: [43:44] I think it's really smart, and the reason I say that is you like there's all kinds of opportunities to partner with Anna's on their front of me and almost always, there's some huge downside to partnering with Amazon you're exposing them to a bunch of data that they're going to use to compete with you you're giving him a bunch of Revenue that they're going to use to compete with you you know all these Frenemy Arrangements. by definition have have something in it and it's pretty unappetizing but the Kohl's deal as far as I can tell the super one-sided. [44:19] Kohl's isn't giving up any data about their customers they're not sharing anything proprietary with Amazon they're creating a reason for a bunch of of digital Shoppers to walk in the cold store, during holiday season and there's going to be an opportunity for serendipitous Discovery there it just seems like. You know when one of the the most favorable deals I seen someone do with Amazon in quite a while so I thought it was smart what what. [44:46] What do you see as the potential downside. Scot: [44:50] Well that's good take a broom in the store so I imagined me an Amazon Locker kind of thing so it's not entirely clear how many. Ask me up a minute so you know if it's an Amazon Locker then that's essentially having a big amazon ad in your store. And then who's to say that people can't order stuff and pick it up there so that I don't know there's a trade-off there and if you have to staff at that's even kind of a little stranger so we'll see. Jason: [45:19] I don't think we've seen the details yet so that's fair enough it's funny when I say that if you shop at Kohl's so they set up a bunch of extra customer service centers during holiday so that you know you can, do returns and and a half after checkout and. [45:36] You know things like that and so I just sort of assumed that I would be an extra function you could do it any of those return terminals in the. [45:43] In the store in Holiday would be to return your Amazon packages. Scot: [45:47] Could be we'll see. Jason: [45:48] It's been over a month since the Amazon took over Whole Foods and we're starting to see some interesting. Recaps on the how that's played out you know. Everyone of course made a lot of buzz when it look like Amazon was lowering a lot of prices, on day one when they took that over and you know Amazon got huge amount of PR credit for that which you know, probably negatively impacted market cap on how much other grocery stores but it's been interesting we're now starting to see some. Evidence that that. Does price reductions dramatically improve traffic in the stores and they drove a bunch more bodies into the store we certainly saw evidence that there they're selling a lot of the Amazon private label 365, on Amazon platform and maybe even sold out of a bunch of problem products and created some supply chain problems, but I've also seen some interesting analysis that, did all of the price Cuts early on were pretty strategic and that a month in it doesn't look like it's really cheaper to shop for a basket of 100 items at Amazon Whole Foods, then it was before the acquisition and so you know the way they've lowered some some prices that they actually raised some other prices and that you know it, it looked a lot more like a perception change than a fundamental pricing strategy change. Scot: [47:17] Yep the one of them. [47:20] More interesting reports was from Foursquare where they actually kind of can measure store traffic if they look at at check-in translate they believe that the traffic was up 25% since the acquisition so, whatever they're doing seems to be driving more people into the stores which which is I think the desired go there. Jason: [47:36] I was also surprised in a day when they did something really impressive to me they had a car displays in all the stores, which is non-trivial to execute but a month in it looks like a bunch of those displays were even temporary and so it does not appear that they're going to be permanently merchandise saying Alexa and all the Whole Food stores at least. Scot: [47:56] There's a bunch of interesting m&a so it was just kind of go through the sand and talk about it come out in a package so Walmart acquired parcel. Plated was acquired by Albertsons Ikea Acquired taskrabbit and there's kind of a definitely a delivery on demand theme there what do you think about those acquisitions. Jason: [48:21] Yeah I mean that they all certainly make sense Walmart had already announced that they were looking to do same-day deliveries in New York I think that's primarily for Jet and so parcel is a, you know presumably the vehicle that used to do that you know meal kits are exploding category and in grocery home delivery of meal kits has a bunch of cause problems as we seen in, Blue Apron so so Distributing them through a you no pick up in grocery store makes a lot of sense so I thought that was an interesting play by Albertsons and then the taskrabbit one is kind of most interesting, one of the big big at impediments to Ikea stuff is Ikeas are in inconvenient locations with giant parking lots, and you know it's often not not appealing to drive out to and a Kia and then you get something that you have to assemble at home and so I don't know what percentage of taskrabbit tasks are actually buying in assembling Ikea furniture but, you know it potentially address is like you know a pretty big impediment to a key expanding their market so that could be really clever. Scot: [49:29] Young speaking of m&a we're celebrating the one-year anniversary of Jet and Walmart so congrats to all those guys and when this happened there was enough. Kind of like the Kohl's return thing there was about half the folks thought this was genius another half thought this is going to fail this marketplaces tiny Walmart's just going to let you know not be able to grow it and yeah I think the results look promising so far as to certainly the stock like, stock market likes it so Walmart stock has reacted really well over that that. And then you know e-commerce has grown I think the last quarter they announce is about 63% growth so, I know that that's all pretty good news do you think it was a is it time to call it a success. Jason: [50:17] Yeah well I'm not sure that one year is a short of time to, to make that determination on a three billion dollar acquisition but I actually think the first year was successful it clearly drove some cultural change at Walmart they did a bunch of other Acquisitions that it's doubtful they would have done, without my glory being there so that that certainly seems to add a lot of value in a Walmart just needed a good story to talk to the market about Heather competing with Amazon and, the jet acquisition certainly gave them that in and they've had this, terrific performance and I do think some of that is definitely related to to Mark in the new team in the directions they're setting but I also think, a lot of that growth is coming from Walmart's expansion in a digital grocery which is probably something that was underway, before Mark got there and so I'm not sure you can contribute all of the phenomenal e-commerce growth Walmart and last year to jet, but that the. The progress that they made that in many ways is most impressive to me is in the year that since that acquisition, they've expanded form like 10 million skews online to 57 million skus online which is, largely through the marketplace which I know you know something about but that seemed like, you know a pretty significant change and is apparently driven a lot of their success as the larger assortment and the the shift to focus on everyday essentials so. [51:51] Add all that up and I certainly don't think anyone has indigestion about the acquisition it at Walmart at this point. Scot: [51:59] Yeah yeah I'm a big fan of the selection stretchy nothing. Mark you mentioned it at the top of the show from the shop.org interview acquiring this Brands a lot of people look at that like it's crazy but I think you get access to anything that you can make exclusive like like the cost of for bonobos or any of those kinds of things that's a huge in this kind of selection battle and and, Alec Mark Clearly understands that and it's starting to play the game kind of at the same level Amazon has been so I think it would be fun to watch. Jason: [52:29] For sure and speaking of that there was some new news like just this week which was the jet is launching its own private label grocery brand. Scot: [52:39] Yeah this is so kind of a little teaser here, private label is a huge topic Laden's kicked off Mary Meeker had this presentation that she does every year and she talked about. Private label in the context of Amazon and showed the batteries Amazon private label battery is kind of taking a risk than one spot so since that and I kind of the spring, private label is really flared up and we're going to do a deep dive in our next episode so, I definitely stay tuned for that that topic will be specific to the Amazon private label offerings Sofer as as relates to judge you think. That's a smart plan or what what's going on there. Jason: [53:18] I think it's a really smart plan for all of Walmart to own some successful private labels and I think relative to some of their competition that's been one of the area that they are areas that they haven't made as much progress as they like so I certainly you know I'm interested to see them try it like I don't know enough about the program to know the nuances of the brand is it actually branded yet or is it just something they're testing in jet first and, eventually go to Walmart like I think those are all going to be interesting things, things to watch but I certainly think in the long run Walmart in jet need to own some exclusive Brands and going to cpg space is certainly going to get a lot more, competitive before it's all said and done. Scot: [54:08] Yeah and I know we're getting tight on time so going to kind of the lightning round the holiday forecast for coming on in RF always does it at shop.org and they said all in its going to be 3.624% this holiday which, it seems to be pretty darn bush, and I think in that call it at you implies that non-acidic caught non store Commerce is like they're kind of coded word for e-commerce you stay so I prefer e-commerce and I think they said 15% for the holiday. PWC is out with theirs and, they are showing that she didn't put a. [54:46] Number they said people going to spend 6% more this year than they did last year and I don't know if that means like. [54:53] The forecast is 6% because you got kind of like at all I guess you could assume more people will shop for less people show up an endowed chair that number. So and then does not like. Around 90% said they're going to shop in stores so I guess that makes sense with about 10 to 12% of sales online so. All good but I guess 84% said they also shop online so I guess this proves omni-channel is a thing. Jason: [55:20] I think you might be right I think it is a thing yeah I feel like a number of the holiday for Castle come in and for stores they're all in that like 3 and 1/2 - 4%. And then you don't you see, Miss 15% like I'm sort of Ebenezer Scrooge on these things in a way it's a silly thing to predict because. That the growth is so dependent on the pricing in the promotions like you can grow much bigger by by selling stuff cheaper and losing more money in so pretty thing the growth without also predicting the the promotion levels is. Not super useful to me. But these guys are all burden by like data and scientific methodologies and You Know It dance mathematics and all that sort of stuff I don't have any of that stuff and so to me it seems like. [56:08] Aren't you don't think your holiday season is going to be as rosy as these guys are all painting like I think if we get the 4% growth in all of retail, it'll be because it was a hugely Promotional and unprofitable holiday. I think we just have way less doors and so there's going to be blessed up in the pipeline which means manufacturers are going to, I sold the last stuff through I don't think it's going to be a bad holiday season and you know any hugely negative comps but, 4% feels a little Rosy to me and I actually think the account number could be higher but a huge caveat there, even though it's 15% you know Walmart's grown 60% the last two quarters, a lot of that from grocery and groceries opening super fast at Walmart so they're going to have way more grocery for this holiday so they could do 60% for this holiday and Amazon's going to do 25 or 30% for this holiday which essentially means the rest of e-commerce is down. [57:07] If that whole industry only grows 15%. Scot: [57:10] Yep yep I think. Abortion e-commerce said I think we're going to see kind of a high teens number from I think it's going to really be a year of acceleration on that one controversial speaking promotions promotion that's out there is the Marketplace Marketplace that focuses on bringing really super cheap Chinese Goods into the us there now says 30 million dollar NBA sponsorship and a lot of the NBA jerseys now feature the wish look up so it'll be interesting to see if that. That is very kind of in-your-face kind of promotion for an e-commerce company that we haven't seen before. Jason: [57:45] Yeah and I mean it makes perfect sense cuz when I'm watching basketball something to happen to me all the time as I suddenly realize I need a particular color fidget spinner and only 6 weeks and so I think now it's going to remind me where I can get that. Scot: [58:00] You have an emergency. Jason: [58:03] A six-week emergency. [58:05] I think it's totally interesting that they're making the investment and and like in a bylaw demetric switches making. You know it is an is a meaningful player like I do I'm not a big fan of the customer experience of 6 week delivery I think that like. [58:22] Has got a limited appeal in in this world and which were we're getting to minute delivery from from our friends in Amazon. [58:32] But I think that's probably a great final word luckily I didn't invite anyone from wish to have a counter perspective, and we have used all that a lot of time so, hopefully Wizards where will the stick with us through the fire hose treatment and got some interesting stuff as always weeding courage you to continue the dialogue on Facebook if you disagree with any of our positions we'd love to hear about it there's anything we didn't cover that you like to hear about suggestions are always appreciated, of course if you really enjoyed the show, we love you to go to iTunes and give us that five star review if you hated the show you know don't feel it necessary to leave a review at all. And thanks everyone for listening. Scot: [59:19] If you need to show you can call Jason on his home phone number which is just getting thanks everyone for joining us and happy Commercing.

008 | Emily Page Shares Why Persistence Pays Off Welcome to today’s episode! I’m excited to introduce you to Emily Page, the founder of Pearl Resourcing. Emily shares some amazing insights into why being persistent in business can make an incredible difference in the connections you make and the speed at which you grow. Let me tell you a not so little secret, in order to really get ahead in your business, you MUST be persistent. You must connect with people, send emails, and put yourself into uncomfortable positions-- These are the things that will get you ahead and help your business grow. Uncomfortable situations are scary, and so many people avoid them, but it is probably one of the best ways to meet new people and get your name out there. For example, at Emily’s very first trade show, she took samples of her products and went into other’s booths, asking multiple questions, which led to some of Emily’s current clients. Emily also discusses how important it is to reach out and connect regularly with your clients. You want them to know how much you value their business and how seriously you take their work. Have you been struggling to make any connections in your business? Or have your leads dried up? Emily has you covered in this special episode! Enjoy and Thank you for listening to Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Leave a comment in the section below. Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share this show on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Emily Page for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us tomorrow, for our next new episode! Build rock-solid resilience and see your way through to what you really want in business and life with my FREE guide “Three Steps to Rock-Solid Resilience” right HERE. Here are a few things we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Emily Page the founder of Pearl Resourcing. Emily tells the story of how she came to own her packing company, and how she got the ball rolling on her first sales. Uncomfortable situations are necessary, Emily shares how she put herself out there at a trade show, before she even owned her business. Emily shares how she received the nickname “The Box Princess.” Emily teaches us how we can put our potential clients first in business, instead of worrying about ourselves. Emily tells a great story about how she earned her client in a roundabout way, working with William-Sonoma. When going to events or trade shows, take the time to pump yourself up and affirm that you are exactly what these people need. Having close, supportive friends on speed dial is so important. Emily talks about the science of sales. Emily describes the most devastating time she received a NO. There was a time when Emily had to turn a client away based on the way he did business. Emily shares what she’d tell her younger self, if given the chance. Connect with Emily: Facebook Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Emily’s Website Build rock-solid resilience and see your way through to what you really want in business and life with my FREE guide “Three Steps to Rock-Solid Resilience” right HERE. Music produced by Deejay-O: www.iamdeejayo.com

We all give them, we all receive them, but what makes a good gift? There are wedding gifts, hostess gifts, baby shower gifts, and the endless parade of children’s birthday gifts. On this episode of the home hour we’re tackling a huge topic and sharing our favorite go-to gift ideas. We learn that Kirsten pretty much sticks to registries whenever possible, but Graham has some standard gifts she always gives. Kirsten explains why her favorite way to package a gift is with a cute tote bag. And we offer one lucky listener the chance to win a $50 gift card to buy their own cute tote bag from one of our favorite online boutiques: Adornlee!See our Instagram account @thehomehour for details!  We talk about Kirlkland Wipes, the words most expensive spatula, and the amazing mailbox culture of Graham’s hometown. Links we mentioned on this episode: * Marye-Kelly Frames – Precious Frames. They make great wedding gifts & baby gifts. * Tiffany’s Atlas Bowl – Graham’s favorite standard wedding gift * Adornlee tote bags!- Cute tote bags with fun sayings * Sharbat Recipes– One of Graham’s favorite homemade gift ideas * Giant Spatula (The original William Sonoma one we mentioned is no longer available, but this looks just like it and is much less expensive… lucky you!!) * Mountain Brook’s Mailbox Culture – Sweet article about community support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

EP061 - Cyber 5 Holiday Recap 2016 Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving generated $1.93 billion in e-commerce sales (Adobe) Thanksgiving e-commerce sales from Desktop was up 17% (Comscore) Macys was open on Thanksgiving, and had 16,000 people waiting to get in to it's flagship Harrod Square store Target & Kohls set e-commerce sales records for Thanksgiving day BestBuy experienced stability problems with it's website and had to throttle traffic Black Friday Black Friday generated $3.34 billion in e-commerce sales , 21.6% YoY Growth (Adobe) Black Friday generated $1.2B billion in mobile e-commerce sales, first $1B mobile day ever (Adobe) Mobile was 36% of sales (33% y/y growth) and 55% of traffic (Adobe), Mobile conversion 2.4% vs Desktop 5.5% 70% of Walmart traffic was mobile, 60% of Targets revenue came from mobile. Black Friday e-commerce sales from Desktop was up 19% (Comscore) 10 million more shopped online than in-store this Black Friday Store traffic was down down 3-4% y/y (Cowen) down 1% (ShopperTrak) down 5% (RetailNext) Is Black Friday even relevant anymore? Black Friday shoppers trash Nike Outlet Cyber Monday: Cyber Monday set the all time US record for e-commerce sales at $3.45 billion , 12.1% YoY Growth (Adobe)  Mobile 56% visits / 37% sales. Mobile Conversion 1.9% vs Desktop Conversion 4.3% (Adobe) Macy’s had a significant site outage for 8 hours. William Sonoma, Victoria’s Secret, Express and Pier 1 also had interruptions. IBM Realtime e-commerce dashboard Conclusion Black Friday has become a major online shopping day (only $110M smaller than Cyber Monday) and growing much faster (likely to pass Cyber Monday next year).  Black Friday is the busiest Mobile shopping day of the year.  Cyber Monday set the all time US record for e-commerce sales.  Mobile traffic is over 50% over the holiday but mobile conversion is close to half of desktop conversion, but the conversion gap is narrowing. Store Traffic is down which likely means a mediocre overall holiday. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 61 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday November 28, 2016. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at Razorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.

I have a very unique connection with today’s guest. I went to elementary school with him and he lived just down the street from where I grew up. He was in the grade ahead of me and I can’t say our paths crossed much back then but it’s funny how life can circle back and connect you again with someone (yet another amazing perk of this podcast).   Today’s guest is Casey Elsass who followed his calling to pioneer his love of adventure and food. He is one of the co-founders of Bushwick Kitchen which began in 2014 as a 30-day bet to start a company. And now their product is on the shelves of William Sonoma! IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS: Casey’s thirst for adventure “not wanting opportunity to slip by…that’s the kind of person I am” The insight he had to find “normalcy” after the first few years of starting up Recognizing the need for connection after experiencing work-induced solidarity Why creating a product from scratch feels vulnerable & requires bravery How Casey handles disappointment & success Casey’s typical morning routine MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE: “Success is the graceful execution of Plan B” “I think the only failure […] The post LPP #6 Honey Makes Success Taste Even Sweeter with Casey Elsass appeared first on Liveng Proof.

I have a very unique connection with today’s guest. I went to elementary school with him and he lived just down the street from where I grew up. He was in the grade ahead of me and I can’t say our paths crossed much back then but it’s funny how life can circle back and connect you again with someone (yet another amazing perk of this podcast).   Today’s guest is Casey Elsass who followed his calling to pioneer his love of adventure and food. He is one of the co-founders of Bushwick Kitchen which began in 2014 as a 30-day bet to start a company. And now their product is on the shelves of William Sonoma! IN THIS EPISODE WE DISCUSS: Casey’s thirst for adventure “not wanting opportunity to slip by…that’s the kind of person I am” The insight he had to find “normalcy” after the first few years of starting up Recognizing the need for connection after experiencing work-induced solidarity Why creating a product from scratch feels vulnerable & requires bravery How Casey handles disappointment & success Casey’s typical morning routine MEMORABLE QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE: “Success is the graceful execution of Plan B” “I think the only failure […] The post LPP #6 Honey Makes Success Taste Even Sweeter with Casey Elsass appeared first on Liveng Proof.

Farina Wong Kingsley joins Cathy Erway in the studio for another episode of Let’s Eat In. Farina is the author of several Asian-inspired cookbooks through William Sonoma, and recently came out with her first cooking app called Farina’s Asian Pantry! Tune in to hear about the reasoning behind creating a cooking app as opposed to a traditional print cookbook. Farina explains why she never focuses on a specific regional cuisine when composing her delicious Asian recipes. Create your own fusion dishes using some of her helpful tips. Learn the proper way to crush lemongrass, or how a little palm sugar can sweeten up any dish. Hear about Farina’s love of ramen and dumplings, and her ideal date meal! This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch. “I don’t see Asian food as a trend. What we’re seeing now are cuisines that are a part of everyday cooking. People love the flavors, it’s healthy, and it’s becoming more approachable; people don’t see it as take out food anymore.” — Farina Wong Kingsley on Let’s Eat In