How does a small-but-mighty team compete with big global brands? Bahzad Trinos tells us exactly how his passion — his obsession — for denim has helped the brand Naked and Famous rise to the top of innovation and admiration from those in-the-know. The denim brand is pushing the limits of what is possible, creating new and exciting opportunities for engagement with the customer. From marketing automation to absurd product innovation, Bahzad teaches us how they're doing more with less, and converting more shoppers into customers, Step by Step.

It’s tougher than ever to attract an online shopper. It feels like everywhere you turn, you have to spend money to acquire a customer, and then spend MORE money to buy their loyalty. How do the big brands do it? How can a startup compete? There are so many channels for customers today and making sense of acquiring, converting, and reactivating these customers is more complicated than ever. Customers are no longer as loyal as they once were and float between brands, and channels, more fluidly than ever. In our fourth season of Step by Step we'll ask the question, "How can a DTC brand compete with established brands?".

Founded in 2015 by Sunny Chadha and his wife, Seema, Venus ET Fleur takes a modern approach to floral design. Inspired by beautiful Parisian hat boxes and featuring Eternity Roses, which are real roses that last a year, the brand hit 20 million dollars in revenue in its first three years and has grown to over half a million followers on Instagram. In this episode, Sunny shares with us his entrepreneurial journey from growing up in New Jersey and working for his father's electronic company, to a disappointing Valentine's Day that sparked the idea for his company. Sunny talks with us about how Instagram posts from the Kardashians affected the business, why he believes in vision boards, and what it's like to run a business with your spouse. ###In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How growing up in New Jersey/New York with an entrepreneurial father laid the groundwork for both he and his brother to become entrepreneurs as well How he learned to be adaptive and find the good in change after his mom became an entrepreneur following a major shift in his home life Why he left college to work with his dad to learn what real life business experience would teach him How he and his brother learned even more about business through a popular brunch spot and nightclub they started in Manhattan in 2013 and then through a commercial lending business they started with their friend and roommate Why a disappointing Valentine’s Day turned into a pretty awesome business idea that Sunny and Seema quickly started to develop, even in the midst of their very new relationship with each other How they used social media to grow their business, which included some posts from the Kardashians that brought in more traffic than they expected and the brilliant idea Sunny had to navigate that in the moment What led to the development of the Eternity Rose and why that has become the next big thing in florals Ways they continue to innovate, add product offerings, educate their customers and offer new and beautiful ways to have florals in homes, offices, and really anywhere What advice Sunny has for keeping the morale strong within the team culture, hiring people you trust, and creating vision boards to keep your eyes fixed on the future of your brand ###To Find Out More: VenusETFleur.com ###Quotes: “Through life you go through things like that, and as long as you look at it to sort of bring out the positive, it's always going to teach you something good. There's always going to be something that you take out of it to develop yourself.” “We were able to do something very, very foreign to us, but it kind of taught us that as long as we work hard at it, we have the right team, the right support, the right hard workers, we can do it.” “I love getting opinions from people that are close to me, but also the more opinions, the more complicated your decision becomes.” “I think not getting too much sort of cloudiness in your thoughts and just like still staying true to what you're thinking and what your gut tells you.” “That's one of the beautiful things about a business is like if it feels right, do it. You're the one that's going to be doing all the work. So make sure you just sign off on it yourself and just hit the ground running as fast as you can.” “It was like this feeling of like this is going to be different. This is going to be new. And this is going to be something that is going to be big.” “Once we were able to inject the perfect version, being our Eternity Rose, into the florals...that lifted that restriction on geography for me. And I was able to continue to try and grow as fast as we could. So that was a big thing.” “I think development everywhere is what keeps me going. It keeps me really sort of on my toes. Like, what can we keep doing? How can we continue to grow?” “We started to introduce these new product categories to where we educated customers on where else you can utilize florals within your space.” “You can plan for demand and you can buy inventory, but you also have to make sure that you have enough people that can package and design and so on. And then also customer service. As we grow, all the sides of the business grow and it's important for people to remember all those other parts of the business as well.” “I think it's very important for couples out there that are looking to get into business together to make sure from the beginning that you have that alignment and understanding.” “You want to move quickly. So a lot of people might just be like, "Hey, we'll figure it out as we go," but then as you go and those things become pain problems, it can also negatively impact the business, but more so even the personal relationship.” “We need to have that work/personal life balance, which is very, very important for sure. And I always recommend that.” “I think team building and really understanding who those people are is super important.” “It's something that I'd say is not just to hope to get to the goal and then look back at the journey. Also embrace it as you go through the journey.”

It’s tougher than ever to attract an online shopper. It feels like everywhere you turn, you have to spend money to acquire a customer, and then spend MORE money to earn their loyalty. How do the big brands do it? How can a startup compete? Find out in our next season of Step by Step, coming next week.

Today we talk with Ferris Jumah, CEO of Surge.AI, about big data, AI technology in consumer insights, and the evolution of purchasing funnels. The New DIY DIY used to have a connotation of poor quality or poor craftsmanship but today, it’s more indicative of participation. Online marketplaces are booming with consumers and creators having more meaningful connections with items that could otherwise be more easily purchased. Partnering with Gladly, we’ve created a new report: The New DIY: Creators, Crafts and Commerce. “There is a cycle of inspiration that leads to education online, that leads to participation, which ultimately shapes the purchases that a person makes, which leads them back to inspire others into that same virtuous cycle.” - Phillip Jackson The Consumer Insights Data Scientist and Surge.AI Feris started out in CPG and retail, then ending up working at LinkedIn and joining the startup world. “I’ve always been super focused on growth and [asking] how do we use data to generate actionable insights to help a business grow and to help businesses grow faster?” - Ferris Jumah Surge is a real-time market research platform that helps brands quickly identify and target new audiences on search and social platforms. Surge helps businesses understand what those new audiences want and what they’re engaging with—and then ideates, creates, and distributes content for those audiences. Surge was birthed from Ferris’s frustration with how long and expensive the process was of researching new audiences and figuring out how to market to them. “Having fresh information is the biggest competitive advantage a company can have… your future audience is always evolving and digital channels [are changing] really quickly.” - Ferris Jumah Robot Work vs. Human Work Ferris says that in order to keep up with the ever changing data, businesses need AI—what he calls ‘robot work.’ “That’s robot work. [Surge] exists to create those robots for you so we can give you time back to do human work.” - Ferris Jumah Surveys and panels are a useful tool for consumer and market research, but they don’t scale very well. Surveys and panels are reactive but there’s a lot of consumer behavior that is subconscious and free of biases that wouldn’t be found through classic consumer research. The hypothesis for our report, The New DIY, was that the pandemic has accelerated the trend of DIY, which was an already existing consumer trend—and that trend is mapped in a cycle of inspiration, education, and participation. Surge helped to research the trends, provide real data, and tamp down on our own personal biases. New vs. Old Purchasing Funnels “We’re all familiar with the classic funnel… it’s just an analog to thinking about how people shop in the real world and trying to translate that to digital. And it’s not at all relevant anymore.” - Ferris Jumah Ferris talks about reframing how we see the commerce funnel—not as a digital version of real world shopping, but as an amalgamation of the right audiences, the right searches, and the right content all at the right time. “The new funnel is all about what’s happening on social, what people are searching for, and tying all of that together [to keep] track of it… You don't want to be reading about [the current trend] in an article because by then, you’re late to the party.” - Ferris Jumah Ferris explains that search is now contextual because of its increasing number of channels. What used to be searched on Google might now be searched for on social, on marketplaces, or YouTube. Robot Work vs. Human Work (Pt. 2) Everything begins with ‘human work,’ in ideation and knowing a general lay of the land. Surge helps take that original input and give instant feedback on whether it’s trending, if there’s a related idea or more interesting idea, and giving that data back to be fuel for more ‘human work.’ An example of this would be a recent DTC office product brand wanting to focus on whiteboard sales because of their current demand. Surge was able to quickly identify that the communities most engaged with whiteboards as a product, particularly on social, are the workout/athletic community and the homeschooling community. Given this data, Surge is able to give even more niche data such as the growing popularity of search trends with whiteboards: ‘portability’ or ‘reflective’. Links Check out Surge.AI Check out our new report with Gladly: The New DIY Check out our essay that was powered by insights by Surge, The New Formal Check out Vertex Cloud Check out Omnisend If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!

Today we talk with Ferris Jumah, CEO of Surge.AI, about big data, AI technology in consumer insights, and the evolution of purchasing funnels. The New DIY DIY used to have a connotation of poor quality or poor craftsmanship but today, it’s more indicative of participation. Online marketplaces are booming with consumers and creators having more meaningful connections with items that could otherwise be more easily purchased. Partnering with Gladly, we’ve created a new report: The New DIY: Creators, Crafts and Commerce. “There is a cycle of inspiration that leads to education online, that leads to participation, which ultimately shapes the purchases that a person makes, which leads them back to inspire others into that same virtuous cycle.” - Phillip Jackson The Consumer Insights Data Scientist and Surge.AI Feris started out in CPG and retail, then ending up working at LinkedIn and joining the startup world. “I’ve always been super focused on growth and [asking] how do we use data to generate actionable insights to help a business grow and to help businesses grow faster?” - Ferris Jumah Surge is a real-time market research platform that helps brands quickly identify and target new audiences on search and social platforms. Surge helps businesses understand what those new audiences want and what they’re engaging with—and then ideates, creates, and distributes content for those audiences. Surge was birthed from Ferris’s frustration with how long and expensive the process was of researching new audiences and figuring out how to market to them. “Having fresh information is the biggest competitive advantage a company can have… your future audience is always evolving and digital channels [are changing] really quickly.” - Ferris Jumah Robot Work vs. Human Work Ferris says that in order to keep up with the ever changing data, businesses need AI—what he calls ‘robot work.’ “That’s robot work. [Surge] exists to create those robots for you so we can give you time back to do human work.” - Ferris Jumah Surveys and panels are a useful tool for consumer and market research, but they don’t scale very well. Surveys and panels are reactive but there’s a lot of consumer behavior that is subconscious and free of biases that wouldn’t be found through classic consumer research. The hypothesis for our report, The New DIY, was that the pandemic has accelerated the trend of DIY, which was an already existing consumer trend—and that trend is mapped in a cycle of inspiration, education, and participation. Surge helped to research the trends, provide real data, and tamp down on our own personal biases. New vs. Old Purchasing Funnels “We’re all familiar with the classic funnel… it’s just an analog to thinking about how people shop in the real world and trying to translate that to digital. And it’s not at all relevant anymore.” - Ferris Jumah Ferris talks about reframing how we see the commerce funnel—not as a digital version of real world shopping, but as an amalgamation of the right audiences, the right searches, and the right content all at the right time. “The new funnel is all about what’s happening on social, what people are searching for, and tying all of that together [to keep] track of it… You don't want to be reading about [the current trend] in an article because by then, you’re late to the party.” - Ferris Jumah Ferris explains that search is now contextual because of its increasing number of channels. What used to be searched on Google might now be searched for on social, on marketplaces, or YouTube. Robot Work vs. Human Work (Pt. 2) Everything begins with ‘human work,’ in ideation and knowing a general lay of the land. Surge helps take that original input and give instant feedback on whether it’s trending, if there’s a related idea or more interesting idea, and giving that data back to be fuel for more ‘human work.’ An example of this would be a recent DTC office product brand wanting to focus on whiteboard sales because of their current demand. Surge was able to quickly identify that the communities most engaged with whiteboards as a product, particularly on social, are the workout/athletic community and the homeschooling community. Given this data, Surge is able to give even more niche data such as the growing popularity of search trends with whiteboards: ‘portability’ or ‘reflective’. Links Check out Surge.AI Check out our new report with Gladly: The New DIY Check out our essay that was powered by insights by Surge, The New Formal Check out Vertex Cloud Check out Omnisend If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!

Customer support and burnout often co-exist in an organization. How do you prevent burnout and have sustainable CX, while running one of the most prestigious brands in the world? Jeffrey Newman, Manager of Customer Care at Porsche shares how he keeps it all in balance. Listen now!

Customer Experience is about anticipating needs. For Native shoes, leading with their values helps them to do just that. Their brand promise - to live lightly - is woven into every interaction they have with a customer. To do this, they're using blended teams to help blur the lines between online interactions and offline interactions, creating a seamless, even channel-less, view of interacting with the customer. Listen now!

How do you scale truly personal customer experiences? One-to-one CX takes time, talent, and experience. But when you train your customers to be your frontline CX team, that's where the magic happens. In this episode of Step by Step, CEO and Founder of women's swimwear brand, Andie, unpacks how they use technology to scale their brand promise while making every interaction personal.

Step by Step continues with Episode 2! "Selling is Good Service" says Kate Showalter. She should know - Kate is the Senior Director for Customer Service at Crate and Barrel, overseeing global CX for the storied retailer. Since COVID under Kate's direction, Crate and Barrel has nimbly transitioned their once store-bound frontline sales operation to a fully-digital-capable organization. In this episode we'll learn how she did it, and how you can too, Step by Step.

Welcome to Step by Step Season 3 by Future Commerce, presented by Gladly. This season of Step by Step is all about customer experience. Consumers have reimagined the customer experience, and they expect far more from a service interaction than issue resolution. The service experience is now as important, if not more important, than the product experience. As customer expectations are evolving faster than ever, customers are rapidly moving toward brands that are engaging the way they want to engage, and away from brands that are not. Companies that can keep up with these ever-changing consumer expectations will be the ones driving long term revenue and winning over customers for life.

Who is Michelle Grant? Michelle got her start studying the retail industry in 2015 with Euromonitor, focusing on overall global strategy. She started this year at Salesforce in their Strategy Insights group with a focus on technology in retail and consumer goods. Michelle just launched Becoming Retail with Rob Garth—a content series focusing on executive interviews to understand the digital transformations behind brands; how they’re enacting digital change, what they’re learning, what their barriers are, etc. “It’s really getting to know the people behind these changes that we’re seeing in the news, essentially.” - Michelle Grant Michelle points out the major change in the last 5 years—a shift from a product mindset in retail to customer centricity. “If content is king, then channel is queen. It’s essential.” - Brian Lange In Becoming Retail and via Salesforce’s blog, Michelle is pushing out content about customer centricity. Shipageddon 2020 Michelle points out that Salesforce has already seen the logistics system operate at capacity or overcapacity because of the unexpected spike in demand. Fourth quarter during holiday is usually peak season for digital commerce anyway, but it’s expected to be much higher in 2020 than any other year. “Your performance comes back to reflect on the brand, not necessarily on the environment in which the package is being shipped.” - Phillip Jackson on brand’s performances during holiday season 2020. “Retailers are definitely hedging their bets by getting more third party quick last-mile delivery providers on-boarded for the holiday season.” - Michelle Grant on DoorDash, Postmates, Uber, and Instacart. “I think people are more forgiving in the scrappiness of their local retailers.” - Michelle Grant on small, local businesses and their inability to meet the same delivery demands as larger businesses. “You’re not necessarily [shopping locally] for the convenience. You’re doing it to keep that business alive in your community and people working there and spending money within the community… Consumers have a much higher threshold for inconvenience when they opt to shop at smaller stores than the big box retailers or Amazon.” - Michelle Grant Prime Day and Live-stream Expansion With Prime Day 2020, Amazon had a 71% increase of customer base over last year. But other retailers also grew by 21% during the same period, so this wave of digital transaction benefited businesses outside of just Amazon. Amazon and other online retailers have pushed into nurturing the digital shopping experience into an entertainment experience. Twitch, owned by Amazon, has moved beyond gaming and has now become a popular space for live streaming—especially in the beauty industry. On Twitch: “We’ll see if they’re successful in enabling other types of live streaming communities to build up around different categories. And if they’re able to help those communities monetize through commerce.” - Michelle Grant “If you slept on Tik Tok, don’t sleep on Twitch, because this is going to prove itself out.” - Phillip Jackson Tik Tok just partnered with Shopify to make Tik Tok a shoppable platform. Future Tech and Channel Investments in Retail “I think first point of order for all retailers is to get their fulfillment as efficient as possible.” - Michelle Grant on future supply chain investments Walmart has been testing new front-end innovations for their stores to be more efficient with fulfillment. Michelle predicts that 2021 will see new store formats due to the pandemic, fewer stores overall because of the rise of digital commerce, and in general, more digital initiatives from retailers. Links Check out Michelle and Rob Garth’s content series, Becoming Retail. Check out Salesforce’s blog. Find Michelle Grant on Twitter! If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!

Shipping is extraordinarily complicatedShipium helps businesses by providing the tech behind the complicated processes of shipping to consumers.Jason says that shipping is a series of events that needs to be coordinated well to give customers the optimal experience: “Our belief is that coordination should happen with good technology.” - Jason MurrayJason had a long career at Amazon in which his career mostly focused on the merger between logistics and technology - eventually leading him to help launch FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).Jason and the other co-founder of Shipium, Mac, both started working at Amazon together in 1999. After leaving Amazon, they both subsequently built similar software stacks for the businesses they were working on in managing their supply chains.They reconnected in 2019 and started discussing the idea that there was a gap of missing software in supporting the booming eCommerce industry.This gap could be solved by paying someone to do everything for you, but Jason and Mac wanted to solve the problem by building a platform that could enable partners and companies in eCommerce to run their logistics operations efficiently and cost-effectively.Logistically Speaking“Once companies reach a certain size, the physical properties of what they’re shipping become an important part of how the customer experience works and their cost structure overall.” - Jason MurrayJason says that once that size threshold is reached, businesses have to find a custom solution to fit their particular needs. Depending on the product and its specific needs, it becomes more cost-effective to build your process yourself which requires software for coordination.Companies like Amazon and Walmart are becoming increasingly vertical, owning everything from their warehouses to their 747s. There’s a lot more competition in the smaller business spaces which creates a need for smaller operations like label printing, for instance.“Logistics is much more than just the FedEx label you put on your box. It’s the entire linear sequence of making and delivering products. The key insight is that the linear sequence is very different for eCommerce and has its own areas to optimize… The bigger the company is, the more optimizing each link in the chain matters to the success and scale of that business.” - Jason MurrayMost businesses focus on front end experiences, but it’s actually fulfilling that purchase and everything that happens after a sale that makes customers happy - so optimizing your logistic processes and continuing to improve them over time is recommended.Shipageddon 2020 and the New Way of the WorldIn fairness, networks like UPS and FedEx didn’t have time to plan for the increase in shipping and eCommerce in Q4 - when reviewing capital expenditures in 2020, there was no way of having the hindsight to include a global pandemic in their plan for the year.Most carriers have been playing catch up since the beginning of the year: “There’s going to be a bigger supply problem than we’ve seen almost ever because of the combination of the pandemic and the holidays meshing together.” - Jason MurrayJason predicts that eCommerce isn’t going to return to its previous levels but will continue to grow much higher than its mean after the holiday season. After the 2008 recession, Amazon took a disproportionate amount of the consumer spending volume into eCommerce and it didn’t subside after—people shifted to eCommerce permanently.On the shift into eCommerce in 2020 not being temporary: “[Companies] should think about it as a need to strategically put energy into solving our eCommerce challenges because this is the new way of the world.” - Jason MurrayJason predicts that in 2021, we’ll see a lot of growth in local carriers and alternative shipping methods to compete with those that already exist or have not been able to rise to the occasion of growth we’ve seen in 2020.On logistics: “I would urge people not to think about it as a cost center, but to think of it as a living, breathing thing that’s part of the growth and dynamics of the business… There are these different stages you go through in all aspects of your business. And logistics and fulfillment and planning are all part of that.” - Jason MurrayJason’s prediction for the next 18 months or so: “Companies that were omnichannel and neglecting their eCommerce channels are going to either not survive or they’re going to invest in them - which is going to introduce more competition into the market. Delivery experience will become more and more important because consumers now have multiple options to choose from.” - Jason MurrayLinksCheck out our new report with Gladly: The New DIYCheck out Shipium If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners! 

We discuss digital shopping experiences, their experimental evolution, Instacart, CARLY brands, and more. The New DIYDIY used to have a connotation of poor quality or poor craftsmanship but today, it’s more indicative of participation.Online marketplaces are booming with consumers and creators having more meaningful connections with items that could otherwise be more easily purchased.Partnering with Gladly, we’ve created a new report: The New DIY: Creators, Crafts and Commerce.“There is a cycle of inspiration that leads to education online, that leads to participation, which ultimately shapes the purchases that a person makes, which leads them back to inspire others into that same virtuous cycle.” - Phillip JacksonDigital Shopping ExperiencesKendall Jenner just released a $23 toothpaste on StockX. StockX has pioneered a drop platform called DropX. StockX was part of our Nine by Nine report as a brand introducing a new type of luxury to a new consumer. Since our report, StockX has constantly been pushing into new categories.Farfetch is moving into experimental shopping: partnering with Bambuser, they’re doing a six month trial to create more entertainment-focused digital commerce experiences.Shopping online is less entertainment than shopping physically. Farfetch is piloting the change in online shopping to a more entertaining experience.Immerss does live video shopping and trunk shows - both live streaming and pre-recording content, making online shopping a more entertaining experience.Shoptalk was different this year, being online and being less content-driven: “To me, this was the most successful Shoptalk ever. Period. Hands down.” - Phillip JacksonInstacartInstacart is launching a senior support service to help boomers (age 60+) create accounts and shop online.Instacart is pivoting to doing a lot more than just groceries. They are also mentioned in our Nine by Nine report for their help in closing the gap with everyday brands and Amazon Prime.There has been criticism of the bifurcation of the consumer during COVID-19 in which its been said that the upper class worked in their homes while the middle class became deliverers of consumer goods.Regardless of controversy, Instacart has made these delivery methods more available and accessible to everyone. Instacart has a lead over retailers’s own efforts in deliveries even if they are an intermediary for the experience.According to Instacart, there’s traffic of 2000 senior customers a day that specialists are spending 20% more account support time with on average.Seniors represent a major growth potential for online retailers because (according to eMarketer) 62% of baby boomers will make at least one online purchase this year.Aldi has made EBT available via Instacart. This is providing tech mobility and accessibility to those in different income classes.CARLY BrandsOn media becoming commerce: “By nature of being a new psychographic, stuff that tries to address the psychographic isn’t always going to land.” - Brian LangeThere’s a sense of self and importance of the self as a brand, which we refer to as the Existential Brand: “If you are a good brand that isn’t entirely self-focused, you actually create your identity through your community and your customers.” - Brian LangeThredup is a brand that is true to the digital shopping paradigm of heightening the real life experience via eCommerce: “If you look at in-store thrift[ing], there’s a different person who’s dropping off stuff than the person who shops there… [Thredup] is making a marketplace that you can participate in on both ends of the spectrum.” - Phillip JacksonLinksCheck out our new report with Gladly: The New DIYCheck out our friends at Surge for your consumer research!Immerss’s Crunchbase profileGrocery Dive article: “Instacart has introduced 60K seniors to online grocery shopping in the past month”Future Commerce Insiders #058: “The Existential Brand Part 2” If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners! 

Today we acquire skills online, and those skills shape our purchasing habits. Our newest report dives deep into the Passion Economy, and the era of "do it yourself". We explore what this means for brands, and what retail stands to gain. Get the report today: https://futurecommerce.fm/thenewdiy

Damian Soong, co-founder and CEO of Form Nutrition joins us to talk about Form and building a B-Corp brand that serves a wide audience. The New DIY DIY used to have a connotation of poor quality or poor craftsmanship but today, it’s more indicative of participation. Online marketplaces are booming with consumers and creators having more meaningful connections with items that could otherwise be more easily purchased. Partnering with Gladly, we’ve created a new report: The New DIY: Creators, Crafts and Commerce. What is Form Nutrition and who is Damian Soong? Form is a plant-based B corporation, built around the belief that you can be the best version of yourself while being mindful of others. They are the first UK protein brand to achieve B-Corp status. Damian studied engineering and worked six years as an investment banker and analyst before getting his MBA, getting involved in startups, and running a contract manufacturing company. Damian was athletic while growing up so he was always interested in nutrition and eating well. This combined with his interest in the plant-based movement, Form Nutrition was born. “... the important thing about Form as a brand is that we recognized early on that nutrition and wellness, by definition, [is] about the self. So we just thought, let’s turn that on its head and make it about others.” - Damian Soong Form Nutrition’s Focus Form created a protein that wasn’t only plant-based, but was branded around the idea that protein is more than just a subculture of performance gains; it’s not just a protein shake after the gym. It’s how you nourish your whole self. “I think when you start to broaden the definition of nutrition to be more than just what you’re eating, but rather how you’re nourishing your whole self, it gives a brand a license to talk about a lot of other things like mindfulness, nutrition, education.” - Damian Soong Form creates content to fit with their brand and their brand’s message of having a performance mindset in all areas of your life. inForm is their email newsletter that caters towards those that perform not only in the gym, but in work, raising a family, etc. These newsletters empower individuals in being ethical, taking care of the planet, and doing everything to the best of their ability. Form focused on building a community with their brand - in their articles promoting healthy, performance lifestyles and in their customer service habits. Form started as a pure DTC brand. They were only eCommerce starting out but quickly had retailers wanting to stock them - starting with Planet Organic, one of the best retailers in London. They wanted to keep control over how their product is priced and displayed, so they’ve chosen their retailers carefully: “[We chose] places that fit with our brand where we can add value to them, and they can add value to us.” - Damian Soong Form Nutrition as a B-Corp Damian describes B-Corps as businesses that use business as a force for good, focusing on people and the planet. To become a B-Corp, the business has to go through an audit that inspects all aspects of your business - from supply chain impact to how you treat employees to what you do with your waste. B-Corps are re-audited every 2-3 years. Everything from documents and employment contracts to employee handbooks have to address their goal in protecting people and the planet as a requirement for B-Corp status. More on Form Nutrition’s Product and Plans Form went with stand up pouches versus plastic tubs because they wanted sustainability and they wanted to create something different than their competition - again, focusing less on the “gym bro” customer and more towards a lifestyle consumer. During COVID, Form has focused on their online presence in the US. Form is engaging in marketplaces like Amazon UK and Amazon US, but Damain would prefer that they don’t become dependent on marketplaces. Form has subscription plans that are popular in the US. Having a background in engineering, Damian is invested heavily into data. As commerce is now very omnichannel, Damian doesn’t want Form to have too much of a concentration in one customer or one segment. “I’m in for the journey to create something lasting as a brand and as a sustainable, profitable business.” - Damian Soong on business sustainability versus business acquisition. On raising capital: “...an interesting point is raising capital and how you do that and remembering that resourcefulness is just as important as capital. And sometimes constraints around capital really create creativity. We didn’t start with a big sum of money and I think that was a really, really good thing for us.” - Damian Soong On competitive markets: “Sometimes crowded spaces are very easy to stand out in because they’re full of people doing the same thing. Sometimes a crowded space isn’t necessarily a scary place to enter. It can be an exciting place to enter if you’re able to stand out. That’s what I like to think that we managed to do with Form.” - Damian Soong Links Insiders #057: “The DIY Economy” Check out Form Nutrition’s articles and newsletter, inForm. Check out Form Nutrition’s website, Twitter, and Instagram Find Damian Soong on Twitter If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!

In this episode, we talk about marketplaces, subscription services, the K-Shaped economy recovery, and more.“The Future of Every Brand is a Marketplace”In Future Commerce #041, Sucharita Mulpuru said that marketplaces are where businesses are going to thrive.“Consumers want more in their online shopping experience and they want to be able to transact more often with the brands that they know and love in products that aren’t just the core.” - Phillip JacksonMoving towards a marketplace strategy has a lot of moving factors—operations, partnerships, capabilities. “Implementing and managing a marketplace is not just about technology. It’s about strategy.” - Phillip JacksonMarketplace is becoming more normalized for eCommerce brands, in the same way that AR and VR have taken time to normalize and implement.K-Shaped RecoveryMarketplace shipping times haven’t been trusted recently and there’s a movement back into stores due to poor customer service in the rise in eCommerce during the spring.There’s an expectation of a 25-35% increase in eCommerce sales for the holidays, compared to 1-1.5% increase in retail. This is going to cause problems in supply/delivery chains for eCommerce and in social distancing and capacity limitations in retail.Customer service will be the most important thing for eCommerce during the holidays. With shipping delays and product supply challenges, merchants will need to proactively communicate with their shoppers.Walmart+11% of Americans have subscribed to Walmart+, Walmart’s subscription service for free deliveries and other benefits.Walmart+ is a direct competitor to Amazon Prime and Walmart has spent a lot of time strategically trying to “catch up to” Amazon. Different services have different appeals (for example: Walmart with fuel and groceries, Amazon with Prime Video) and Walmart is trying to see what sticks.Twilio/Segment Acquisition Twilio acquired Segment, a standalone CRM tool for eCommerce. Bundling and integrating the subscriber information from Twilio with a CRM like Segment is notable and could be powerful.Tanay Jaipuria, via Twitter: “Surprised Segment didn’t go public - could’ve been worth $5-7B in this market.” “[Segment is] doing 150-200 million in revenue… how much more powerful are [Twilio and Segment] together to have that much actual information on huge segments of the population?” - Phillip Jackson Dollar General Launches Pop ShelfDollar General is launching a five dollar chain that’s in competition with Five Below.Target market is millennials and individuals with up to $130,000 income. This has potential to tap into a “Woke” section - like organics and fair trade.Due to inflation, the buying power of a single dollar has gone down 20% over the past 10 years. Due to this and competition with eCommerce and the digital transition of retail businesses, Pop Shelf is stepping into the next tier and growing there with the current market.LinksCheck out Sucharita Mulpuru on Future Commerce #041: “Technology, for Technology’s Sake”Insiders #057: “The DIY Economy”Insiders #046: “The New Formal”Check out our new report: “The New DIY: Retail Opportunity in the Passion Economy” and subscribe to Future Commerce InsidersOn K-Shaped Recovery: Deloitte’s report “A Tale of Two Holiday Seasons”Tanay Jaipuria on Twitter If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!

Jack DeFuria, Chief Digital Officer and Co-Founder of Parade, joins the show as he talks about founding Parade while in college with his co-founder, Cami Téllez, how Parade approaches their brand, and the pursuit of building America’s next great underwear company. What is Parade?Parade is a women’s underwear brand focused on ages 18-30.They were able to connect with potential customers in their target market very early on digitally using Facebook groups, sorority group chats, etc. and used other digital tech to promote their brand like setting up a Twitter bot that would reply to any tweet with the hashtag #botcottVS.Parade has always been ‘community-first’ in their product development strategy - by product being directly shaped by community feedback.Gen Z: The Psychographic“I think that Gen Z is really more a psychographic than it is a demographic.” - Jack DeFuriaParade’s customers grew up not only on the internet, but on their phones. Their internet was much more spatial, intimate, and focused on self-expression.On eCommerce growing more spatial and intimate: “We see Instagram as what the shopping mall was to the previous generation.” - Jack DeFuriaParade, being inclusive, features sizes XS through 3XL in every single product and even has changes to the models shown on their website with any given size chosen.Sustainability and social good play a part in maintaining the Gen Z ‘psychographic’ as well: all packaging is compostable and biodegradable, and 1% of profits are donated to Planned Parenthood.Partners of Parade have included organizations that have similar ways of seeing the world: Feeding America, GLITS, The Loveland Foundation.Investors and What Parade Has LearnedInvestors of Parade originally helped craft DTC 1.0: “Working with industry leaders and operators who have done it before has been extremely powerful for us. When we look at our vision for the category and where we see ourselves in the eCommerce landscape, where [our investors] brought categories online for the first time, we see our challenge as reimagining what a value brand looks like and distributing it through the internet.” - Jack DeFuria“One of the most important things [we’ve learned] is the value of authenticity and staying true to who you are, especially during periods of really fast growth.” - Jack DeFuriaHiring new employees and adding to their products during their first year of business and during a global pandemic, Parade has a singular mission to staying authentic and honest with their self-expression.LinksCheck out Parade’s websiteCheck out our Nine by Nine report, which features Parade Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

Human CentricitySari is an early stage investor, a lead strategist at a startup studio, and a newsletter writer.“To me, being human-centered means you’re far more obsessed with the problem you’re solving than you are with a product that you’ve built. And what that gives you is the flexibility to evolve with your customer.” - Sari Azout“Being human-centered ultimately means that you don’t really sell your product. You sell your purpose.” - Sari AzoutThe brand ‘story’ is important for longevity. Brand stories and purposes are what resonates with consumers.“The story can’t be the marketing. The story has to be the strategy.” - Sari AzoutThe Degrowth Movement in DTC Capital“They’re not tech companies, they’re tech-enabled companies.” - Sari AzoutRetail vs. software company investments should be valued differently because of marginal costs of physical goods.The internet and DTC brands have allowed brands to be much more niche, so Sari suspects we are going to see “more like 5,100 million-dollar-brands and less like a billion plus outcomes.”The business model for VC relies on those billion dollar outcomes; however, we see in retail that the VC’s need billion dollar outcomes, but the founders do not. The founders are better off with smaller outcomes varied throughout smaller niche businesses which results in lower risk.Sara speculates that we’ll see an innovation in the way VC’s invest in these smaller, niche brands and that traditional VC will kill more companies than it creates.Generational Brands: Can the Brand Afford the Consumer?Gen Z is a different kind of consumer because of their digital nativity. In the past, ‘luxury’ items were brands based on status; now, symbols of status are changing to identity conscience - like podcasts or activities that individuals engage in and identify with.On Gen Z consumers: “They are self-interested as humans are, but they’re also spending with a conscience, as long as [the brand is] doing something that feeds their ego and identity and self-interest and also has a common good.” - Sari AzoutCompanies like Amazon have set the expectations for a lot of consumers which lean towards consumers ‘winning’ the margin - with things like free shipping, free returns, etc. But this is based on consumers with convenience as their highest priority instead of conscience or community.On conscious consumerism: “Where we need human ingenuity and innovation is ‘How can we build for a consumer that is increasingly conscious but also doesn’t want sacrifice?’” - Sari AzoutThe consumerization of enterprise and the enterpisation of the consumer: Transitioning from the gig economy to the passion economy, creators who previously didn’t have ways to monetize their talents are now seeing tools emerging to facilitate that monetization and make that possible.Part 2 - Post-COVIDThe world now is ‘post-place’ - everything is happening online.“I think the opportunity to build the tools for a world that is post-place has really opened up.” - Sari Azout“In the world of eCommerce, we’re realizing that the eCommerce infrastructure that we set up in the US was one hundred percent search-based. It wasn’t recreational. It wasn’t emotional. We optimize for price and speed and the Amazon kind of effect.” - Sari AzoutThe idea of ‘luxury’ has changed and is much more centered on accessibility than status. Brands are shifting from being exclusive to being membership-driven with shared ideology.Shifting Trust from Institutions to IndividualsOn the difference between influence and influencer: “Influence these days comes from authenticity, which ultimately comes from trust, whereas influencers are the result of commoditizing social media reach.” - Sari AzoutSari notes that Gen Z is reacting to this in seeing brands that are relatable, participatory, and welcoming as more appealing than the manufactured lives of influencers.There’s a distinction between the “participatory” economy and the influencer economy - consumers/fans are sharing in the connection and value with creators instead of being unidirectionally influenced.What Direction are Consumer Brands Headed?“I think what people are more interested in these days is far less individualistic and much more collective.” - Sari AzoutAs the economy moves online and continues to change, the lines between media and commerce and services get blurred.“What’s most exciting is being able to truly involve your customer in the creation of the product.” - Sari AzoutSari suspects we’ll see less venture-backed brands and more organically grown brands due to the niche demographics that brands can authentically serve in our ‘post-place’ world.“People will always gravitate towards what is easy. If you believe that, then that means if we create different toolkits that are equally easy… then brands are going to do it. And by doing so, they’re going to shape culture and create a different future… Tools matter.” - Sari AzoutSari states that raising venture is easier than other forms of debt, but as our tools change, new funding tools emerge which change our outcomes.LinksCheck out Sari’s Check Your Pulse newsletter.Find Sari on Twitter and InstagramCheck out Emily Singer’s newsletter, Chips + Dips.Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

The New DadaismDadaism was an intellectual movement post-WWI that focused on subverting the serious.In response to the popularity of minimalism, maximalism has been on the rise. Brands have been using absurdity to reach their markets - specifically with Gen Z and Millennial brands.An Exploration in Brands in this Moment“Topicals really is the Anti-Bland” - PhillipTopicals is a skin care brand founded by two women of color. They have continuously been selling out, even after retailing with Nordstrom. They have individually branded, specified products which tailors to their market.Gen Z is into spiritualism which is reflected in Topical’s quiz to find your unique skin care needs.Faculty is a male skincare brand that has also stuck to the Gen Z and millennial generational experience - in dropping products periodically instead of restocking, in adding music to their brand experience, and in their use of SMS marketing.Brands are experiencing their own existentialism in the current global climate which has left room for refreshing and redefinition, even in larger CPG brands like Walmart, Pepsi, and Amazon, that are already set up for success regardless of the economy.LinksBrian’s Insider’s Piece, Insiders #054: “The Existential Brand - Part 1”Brian’s Insider’s Piece, Insiders #045: “The New Dada: Absurdism, Maximalism, and the Generational Divide”The New Yorker: “The North American Maximalism of Gigi Hadid’s and Drake’s Home Design”Bloomberg: “Welcome to Your Bland New World”Chips + Dips’ email newsletterThingtestingBrands MentionedTopicalsFacultyBirthdate CandlesSad Girls ClubBEHAVE CandySpringline CoffeeLeaf ShavingHave any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

Jackson Jeyanayagam, VP of DTC at Clorox, joins us today to talk about Clorox’s DTC strategy, launching a new brand for an underserved, generation segment in the marketplace, and how his past experiences have prepared him and brought a fresh perspective to his current role.What’s Jeyanayagam’s story?Jeyanayagam started at a PR agency working with T-Mobile.Whenever the Sidekick was launched and subsequently hacked, his world opened up to social media and digital marketing.This digital marketing and social media focus was further solidified when Jeyanayagam had a role in Old Spice’s brand transformation in 2010.While in an agency role, Jeyanayagam worked with brands like NASCAR, P&G, Diageo, and Chipotle.Jackson then moved into the startup world with Boxed as their CMO.After moving on from Boxed, Jeyanayagam looked for an opportunity to grow personally and move towards his own dream of being the CEO or president of his own company.In his experience working with brands at their highs and their lows, Jeyanayagam learned to look past what brand is hot at the moment and into what the perfect role might be.He chose a position that would grow and challenge him - Clorox.Being a LeaderJayanayagam has brought his experience and knowledge to the Clorox family of brands and has received mentorship and guidance from his seniors there.“I don't care what generation we're in and how technologies evolve, there will be nothing that replaces people and valuing people.” - Jackson JeyanayagamIn the Mad men era, things were all about hierarchy and title. Now, great leaders should be adapting to the people they lead, not the other way around.Don’t Be Afraid of the MomentHaving experienced the rise and fall of “hot” brands, Jeyanayagam compares the experience to sports. Having a big lead mid-game is no guarantee that things will continue.Even at the top, you must continue to take the kinds of risks that brought you to that place.Many of the hottest brands today will fall. And likewise, those who have fallen may rise again.Microsoft is a powerful example of a brand that reinvented itself to see a second rise.Clorox DTCClorox owns many distinct brands - RenewLife, NeoCell, Natural Vitality, Rainbow Light, and Burt’s Bees.Clorox launched an in-house wellness brand called Objective, which is aimed at Gen X consumers, which are generally under marketed to.Clorox also has an in-house brand targeting Baby Boomers called Stop Aging Now.The Growth of Private BrandsWorking with Clorox, Jeyanayagam has the power of a 100+ year old recognizable brand.With the failure of Brandless, is there a message about the importance of brand?Traditional brands are facing pressure from knockoffs and generics that forces them to be creative about how they’ll compete.Private brand has become more popular through the likes of Amazon and Costco and there’s a lot of growth happening there.Around You, On You, In YouMost consumers will pay a premium for a recognizable brand when it’s a product that’s going in or on your body.In any given category, there are many brands that co-exist and compete at any given moment. Over the span of a decade or more, very few last. Brand is a key to this staying power.The closer the product is to you, the greater the challenge is to gain new customers.Around you is easiest - candles, for instance.On you becomes more challenging - lotions, shampoo, deodorant. People are less likely to try something now.For something consumed or put in you, consumers are much more sensitive.Consumer 3.0 Consumer expectations are changing and becoming heightened by the experience best-in-class brands provide.These expectations can be broken down into functionality and emotional appeal.Consumers today not only want to know that the product works, but they care what the brand stands for.Beyond that, expectations on things like fulfillment and delivery are rapidly rising because of Amazon. People want things fast and they don’t want to pay for shipping.More than demographic by generation, there is opportunity to create brands by psychographic - classifications by attitude and mindset.Gen X is a forgotten generation in marketing. They are funding and informing much of Gen Z, but they receive not nearly as much attention.Brands have the power to change the world through honesty and transparency. As we can see with brands like Everlane and Allbirds, there is a movement that encourages consumers to care about where their product comes from and the ethics of the brands they purchase from. LinksJohn Maxwell’s Five Levels of LeadershipClorox’s Family of BrandsPhillip’s conversation with Brian Kennedy from Ministry of Supply: “Rational vs. Emotional Purchases” Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

What is BEHAVE? BEHAVE makes candy that is better for you: low sugar, natural ingredients, no artificial ingredients, and good taste. Currently, BEHAVE offers two options of gummies, sweet and sour. BEHAVE started from a lack of alternative options in the candy department, which typically had people giving up candy altogether. Originally, BEHAVE planned to be a mix of DTC and retail. Due to COVID, they’re now only doing DTC. BEHAVE thrived throughout COVID by surrounding themselves with the right investors, partners, vendors, and employees. Where is BEHAVE headed? Self-awareness is a cornerstone of how we should operate, both as individuals and businesses. BEHAVE is engaging in their own self-awareness by seeing the current market and making decisions accordingly. BEHAVE is recognizing the shift in the market towards comfort items and online shopping Eventually, BEHAVE plans to get into retail. BEHAVE is doing things differently - marketing towards adults instead of children. This effectively is bringing consumers back to the category of candy who have previously abandoned it. When there is a product category that customers have abandoned, it is an opportunity to recapture customers. LINKS Check out BEHAVE’s website or Instagram. Crunchbase listing for BEHAVE Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

We chat with Ingrid Milman Cordy about business growth and decline in 2020 and Walmart’s new partnership. Our EconomyThe way our economy is set up, big businesses are bound to thrive, even during economic disruption like COVID-19.Small businesses seemed to be the ones to cope best with the disruption, but the distinction of “essential businesses” shifted from small business to big business.Businesses like Amazon and Shopify doing well also signifies that the small and medium businesses that sell through them are doing well. The difference between growth and decline in small businesses in 2020 comes directly from being in the right or wrong industries given the current circumstances.Branding and Positioning in a Changed MarketSmall businesses that have seen growth this year should be focusing on retention.Businesses that saw the most decline were retail in fashion and apparel - but they could bounce back given they rethink their branding and positioning in the current market.COVID-19 didn’t kill these brands, they just sped up their already growing decline.The best branding comes from getting consumers to be emotionally attached to a brand, not just buying a commodity.Marketing plays a much bigger role in our community - in connection.  Walmart and ShopifyBig businesses should have a system to help small or local businesses.Walmart is teaming with Shopify and integrating small businesses into their model. They are realizing they cannot continue doing everything themselves and monopolizing markets.LinksIngrid Milman Cordy’s last appearance on Future Commerce, Episode 158: “Our Base Sense of Self is Heightened Right Now”Jeremy Cai from Italic on Future Commerce, Episode 170: “The Plan Was Always to Go Back to Membership”Walmart x Shopify Press Release: “Walmart Expands Its eCommerce Marketplace to More Small Businesses”Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!

Read the Retail Rebirth Report here. Read Insiders #045: The New Dada Here. Read Insiders #046: The New Formal Here. Find us at Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels; we love hearing from our listeners!

We chat with Nilla Ali, the Senior Vice President of Commerce at BuzzFeed. Can content and commerce coexist within a platform? How does the shift into shopping digitally affect the way that retailers and advertisers reach to consumers?CONTENT AND COMMERCEThere has been an Increase in traffic and consumption on BuzzFeed during COVID-19.BuzzFeed Shopping has been introduced, a native checkout feature on BuzzFeed which optimizes a consumer’s experience and increases revenue for featured products.Creating content drives discovery and can enhance partnerships with retailers, providing an ease-of-use experience for consumers to get products through retailers.Because of commerce switching to primarily digital, content will start playing a huge role in those experiences. Content and commerce coming closer together is a natural progression.INTEGRITY AND CONSUMER TRUSTBuzzFeed Shopping has a self-regulating business model that is mutually beneficial to all parties.BuzzFeed has to understand their consumer well enough to recommend products and create an ease of use system for the consumer to use.Editorial integrity wouldn’t be skewed because BuzzFeed Shopping is enhancing what they’re already doing  - it’s not a threat or competition to retailers, but a way to coexist, to bring content and commerce closer together.BuzzFeed shopping is ‘employing the highest levels of integrity’ to prove trust with consumers. Providing customers not only with products to buy, but also with resources and details to aid them in making a good decision. LINKSNilla Ali’s last appearance on Future Commerce, Episode 144: "Affiliate Is A Very Tricky Word"WSJ - “Buzzfeed Starts Selling Products Directly to Consumers”

We talk with Jeremy Cai, CEO of Italic. We discuss what Italic is and how it is different than other DTC brands today.ITALICItalic offers subscription memberships with access to a thousand plus products at-cost - stepping away from mark-up retailing.Italic is moving less in a brand specific, single category product direction and more into a value driven lifestyle.Italic’s ‘secret’ lies in partnering with manufacturers instead of treating them as vendors.WHY IT WORKSThree primary reasons people purchase from Italic:ValueDesignEthics/SustainabilityItalic thrives by being able to sell to everyone - including those who buy specific brands - by having a wide range of categories to choose from. Italic appeals to the value conscious part of everyone’s shopping behavior.Investing in data, reporting, and understanding metrics early on in a start-up can be extremely beneficial by being able to be adaptable.  LINKSItalic’s membership signup waiting listJeremy’s first bootstrapped startup, “Not Pot”Crunchbase listing for Italic

What is NBC Universal CheckoutNBC Universal Checkout is a native shopping experience embedding within any NBC content page.Whether it's a text based article, a static page, or even a video, it can be transformed into a native shopping experience. When the viewer encounters a product, they can click on the product to see more information about it, add it to a shopping cart, pay, and check out all without leaving the NBCU site.Context is really important during the experience - finding alignment between retailers with product and property within a piece of content within their portfolio.Universal Checkout’s Launch on SYFY Wire After DarkOn SYFY Wire After Dark, they can play tastemaker by making trustworthy recommendations to their audience.They can also expose the audience to collaborative products, like the Wonder Woman 1984 sunglasses from goodr.Who’s the Retailer?NBC doesn’t see themselves as a retailer, but as a channel for retail partners.For partner retailers, orders that happen through NBC Universal Checkout drop into their eCommerce system as if they were actually placed on their own website, and then they can fulfill direct to the consumer and own the customer relationship going forward.Where retailers and consumers come together is a sort of audience-driven marketplace - which is important, especially in a time when commerce is shifting to primarily digital.NBC Universal Checkout will eventually move to other platforms, but for now is available only on the web.The Future of NBC’s Universal CheckoutNBC looks at this as a business opportunity on par with anything else that they're pursuing.NBC generates valuable shopping intent and Universal Checkout creates the opportunity to capture that intent.Right now, their focus is more in partnering with retailers than creating their own products and brands out of the existing NBC properties.Universal Checkout is only on the web right now.LinksEvan’s last appearance on Future Commerce in Episode 128 - Bringing Commerce Closer: Audience FirstNBCU’s press release for Universal CheckoutThe first Universal show using Universal Checkout: Syfy Wire After DarkSyfy Wire After Dark: How to Shop guide videogoodr Limited Edition Wonder Woman 1984 Sunglasses‍Evan’s Twitter, where he posts “bad memes too late”

What makes a brand meaningful? We sought to answer this question in our recent report, Nine by Nine: 81 Brands Changing Our World. In this episode, Part 2 of 2, we sit down and reflect on the report and the categories included. See Part 1: Episode 165: What Makes A Brand Meaningful?Purpose Driven BrandsPurpose driven brands are focused on having alignment with their worldview. They state a purpose behind their brand and provide that to their customers. They make it clear what kind of world they want to build and are actively working to achieve that world.For these consumers, they base their purchasing on their lens through which they see their world, which is especially true for Gen Z and millennials.CEO and co-founder of Good On You says in the report that “It just goes back to having a core purpose and a core connection to the person that your brand is intended to serve and the problem that your brand is intending to solve.”REI is number one on our list because they’re doing so much more than just sustainability and ecology - even if they are a retailer and not a DTC brand.Bowery Farming is on the list - they do indoor farming without pesticides. Bowery Farming is tech centric and tech forward, using less water and producing more food in a more sustainable way.Sunday, who was recently on the podcast, gives a better understanding of home and garden from a philosophical perspective.Late Stage RetailAs retail has developed, we’ve seen more companies move to capture attention through subversive techniques, FOMO, etc. for conversion rate optimization.From the report: “These retail heroes are seeking to uplift underserved communities, create and market sustainable products, pay their employees a living wage and treat their suppliers ethically and fairly. They’re the founders of numerous DTC brands who are focusing on sustainable and ethical products, B Corp certified companies and even members of the Business Roundtable, which recently redefined the purpose of a corporation that speaks directly to our Future Commerce values.”Patagonia is at the top of this list for many reasons - they have stood against the encroachment of federal property on native lands, they’ve stood for Black Lives Matter, and they’ve led the movement of countercultural anti Black Friday events.This category is all about doing right by all people all the way across the board - even to your own detriment.After releasing the report, Everlane has undergone heavy criticism because of their practices - which in rethinking our list, they should not be included.Audience FirstThis category belongs to those brands who create an audience and then market products, goods, or services to them - like Kanye and Yeezy, Emily Weiss and Glossier, Virgil Abloh and Off-White, Ryan Kaji and Ryan’s World, Marie Kondo, and of course, five different Jenner/Kardashian brands.Joanna Gaines and Magnolia stands out - truly leading with content and then taking the steps to give their audience ways to buy in.Local HeroesChick-Fil-A tops this list. We wanted to cover more than just venture-backed or private equity backed brands. Chick-Fil-A, as a franchise model, has a great record in investing into its local communities. They’ve given an incredible amount of money back towards COVID relief.Ace Hardware is another on this list, allowing for local ownership just as much as Chick-Fil-A.Thistle Farms, with Becca Stevens, have created a brand carried in a lot of retailers including Whole Foods. Thistle Farms creates products that give work to survivors of abuse, having a 100% female employee base.Costco made the list for being a pioneer in wages and supporting their local communities.100 ClubThese businesses are defined as having raised no outside capital in exchange for giving up an ownership stake in the business. These businesses are on the long path to prominence.Many businesses in this category have been on our podcast, including - Industry West’s CMO Ian Leslie, Frank & Eileen’s Founder Audrey McLoghlin, and Farm Girl Flowers’s CEO and Founder Christina Stembel.“The 100 Club has the ability to stick to the core tenets of your brand and not sacrifice them for a bunch of suits.” - Brian Lange LinksCheck out our Nine by Nine report: 81 Brands Changing Our WorldSee our webinar with Klaviyo on Nine by Nine: 81 Brands Changing Modern eCommerceCheck out where our Nine by Nine report was featured:GQ: Not So Vain: C.A.R.L.Y.s Love Crocs, Memes and Social JusticeAdweek: These 81 Brands Are Shaping the Future of CommerceBusiness Insider: Meet the ‘Carlys’: The meme-loving young shoppers who ‘can’t afford real life yet’ - but will soon enjoy the biggest cohort of spenders in the USMorning Brew: Meet CARLY: Gen Z’s New, Socially Conscious ShopperIndependent Retailer: Meet The New Customer Demographic: C.A.R.L.Y.Women’s Wear Daily: New Report Asks What Makes a Brand Meaningful?Sourcing Journal: New Cohort of Young Consumers Values An Iconic Brand Aesthetic If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners! ‍

In this episode, we chat with Kyle Hoff, co-founder of Floyd Furniture.  What is Floyd Furniture’s approach?Floyd started from looking at the amount of furniture consumed and thrown out after its use and the idea that furniture can be sustainable, adaptable, and kept for long periods of time.They began with a Kickstarter campaign based around their core idea and kept it simple with one product at a time.There are few DTC furniture brands. Floyd focuses on connection with their direct consumers in sticking with a product, improving it, and evolving it over time.Furniture manufacturing is saturated around Detroit - so most materials are sourced as locally as possible, with the goal of supporting those local communities. Pride in those communities results in better work and building a stronger community.Floyd doesn’t only focus on the sustainability of the furniture itself, but sustainability all around - in US manufacturing, ethically sourcing materials, leaving the smallest footprint for its entire manufacturing process, and being able to adapt more quickly to changes - especially during COVID. How has COVID affected business and what’s the near future look like?Originally had a drop in business in March, but since then, people have spent less money on experiences and more money on their homes - which includes furniture.As an eCommerce DTC brand, Floyd’s business has always been focused online, which is the only viable option during COVID.Priorities might be placed on different products, but because of the long-term investment of furniture and the constant demand, Floyd’s plan is remaining unchanged for the most part. LinksCheck out Floyd’s website or InstagramFloyd’s Crunchbase listingRetail Rebirth reportFuture Commerce InsidersStairway to CEO Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

What is Profitero?Profitero is a platform for eCommerce performance, measurement, analytics, and optimization for brands primarily in Europe, North America, and Asia.Profitero isn’t an agency, though it has similarities. Profitero doesn’t actually perform the work for the brands, but does create data and create tech to make that data valuable.Agencies have seemed to be expendable or interchangeable in the past. Profitero comes in to perform the “know-how” of an agency, but allows the work to be performed in-house. This allows for better visibility into the processes and its effectiveness.Some brands that Profitero works with are working with agencies that are managing their eCommerce DTC, their Amazon presence, their paid media, etc. and Profitero’s data helps to inform and optimize all of those processes.How are brands moving forward?“Everybody that was doing eCommerce is doing much more of it. Everybody that wasn’t doing it wants to do it. Either way, everybody needs to know: how do we do it and is it working?” - Keith AndersonCPG brands (Pepsi and Heinz, for example) have pushed into having their own DTC platforms. During COVID, CPG brands that traditionally relied on retailers had to push into having their own domains in order to have that direct connection value due to supply chain disruptions or limitations on “non-essential” items.“We need to de-risk our dependency on others for fulfillment of demand.” - Keith AndersonCPG to DTCFirst-party data about customers is valuable - knowing who they are, how they’re behaving, and having direct lines of communication.In having your own DTC domain, loyal customers have a place they know they can receive your full selection and in displaying that selection, you have full control over the way those products are presented and priced.Both Indirect (retail) and Direct eCommerce presences have value. Typically, these two branches lack communication with each other. COVID has pushed the realization that these organizational structures should be simplified so that brands can quickly and effectively adapt to a changing market.Brands should recognize that moving into DTC is a way to get closer to their consumer, get more control over their brand and customer experience, and be more personal with their consumer instead of looking to DTC as a singular pathway to your consumers or as a way to get discovered by new consumers.Anderson advises focusing on sustainability for long-term exponential growth: “The sooner you do the right thing, the better the outcome.” - Keith AndersonCommerceLiveProfitero hosted a webinar conference to help discuss the uncertainties of the global pandemic and what brands can do to stay ahead.“All of your scarce resources really have to be revisited during times of volatility, uncertainty and crisis.” - Keith AndersonCommerceLive wasn’t opportunistic, but very community-centric and community driven.LinksJackson Jeyanayagam’s appearance on Future Commerce, Episode 175: “Around You, On You, In You”Profitero’s CommerceLive video replay galleryVisit Profitero’s websiteConnect with Keith Anderson on Twitter Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

We all feel it: the rhythm of retail has been disrupted. Current events have changed the way consumers shop and Future Commerce has partnered with Gladly to bring you Retail Rebirth: a report that will inform retailers what this "new normal" is and how consumers plan to spend.

DAILYLOOK is a personal styling service that sends you a box of hand-picked fashion items right to your door every month. In this interview, Brian shares with us how he started his first business at 15 years old, created and then sold a newsletter with over 450k subscribers to a poker company, and then raised over $11M to build his company DAILYLOOK. Brian uncovers the challenges he faced from pivoting his business and shares some important red flags he looks out for when hiring. In This Episode You’ll Hear About: How Brian Ree started his first tutoring business in high school How the internet boom inspired an idea for an online fine jewelry lifestyle brand How a hobby turned into a content business and developed 450,000 active subscribers Why studying and reading about other entrepreneurs and finding patterns is an important part of the entrepreneur’s journey How he came up with the idea for DAILYLOOK The challenges he faced from pivoting DAILYLOOK into an eCommerce brand His process of choosing a business model that would drive customer retention organically What he learned from making the best,and worst, hiring choices The ins and outs of raising $11.5 million of capital How his Co-Founder helped the company be as successful as they are today The importance of physical health in building a business Experiencing self-doubt as an entrepreneur and how to overcome it To Find Out More: dailylook.com Quotes: “I think there's a lot to be gained in experience from working with great teams and great people.” “I definitely recommend having and surrounding yourself with as many experienced mentors as possible.” “People that didn't have positive experiences with other coworkers in previous jobs will still tend to give a mediocre or medium type of reference check.” “When you start a business, I do recommend that, depending on the business of course, that you have a co-founder.” “I think the mental game is a challenging one. And with time and experience, I've learned my ways of how I cope with things in challenging times.” “As an entrepreneur, self-doubt can creep in from many different angles and places and times.” “I try to maintain the perspective and mindset of being a lifelong learner and always intellectually curious and open to learning new things. Learn from new people around you.” futurecommerce.fm/stairwaytoceo

What makes a brand meaningful? We sought to answer this question in our recent report, Nine by Nine: 81 Brands Changing Our World. In this episode, we sit down and reflect on the report and the categories included, and even talk about what is coming up in Part Two.Nine by Nine: What Is It and How Was It Received?Nine by Nine is our report that asks the question “What makes a brand meaningful?” Spoiler alert: There are nine answers! Nine categories and nine brands that exemplify those nine answers.The report was sponsored by Klaviyo - they made the report possible and lent a lot of creative energy into making it.9x9 was our first time being featured in GQ, Women’s Wear Daily, Sourcing Journal, Adweek, Morning Brew, Market Insiders, Business Insiders.Nine trends, nine answers to “What makes a brand meaningful?”:Community DrivenNew LuxuryHundred ClubPrime ChallengersAudience FirstPurpose DrivenCARLY (Can’t Afford Real Life Yet)Late Stage Retail (or Anti Late Stage Retail)Local HeroesThe Proposal of Nine by Nine: Why?The things that consumers value most about a brand differ, depending on what stage of life they’re in, what their income is, and many other factors. So in order to answer “What makes a brand meaningful?” we have to answer “What is a brand?”Sucharita Kodali, who has been on the show many times, said that a brand is a promise. What makes a brand meaningful is when the brand fulfills that promise and the value they’re providing helps a business or consumer in a specific way - for instance, with Prime Challengers, helping businesses/consumers part ways with Amazon.“This report is for a brand operator who is trying to take in the entire total landscape of everything that’s happening in eCommerce, retail, direct to consumer, and everything that’s digitally enabled in the retail environment. What is meaningful to a consumer? It depends on who the consumer is.” - Phillip JacksonWe didn’t want to just create another list of brands. We have created a system with weighted rubrics within each category, and our scoring system is open to view. On top of this, we received our information from many different angles of different types of operators.Prime ChallengersAmazon comes up in a lot of conversations about retail. Aman Advani, on Merchant to Merchant, said that there are a lot of brands who stand for more than transactional commerce and that the spirit of that is moving away.“We’re moving into a world that’s more soulful. We’re moving away from transactional commerce as a culture and brands need to stand for something bigger. Rather than calling out Amazon directly, there’s a deepening and a hunger from the consumer to have a better experience… the brands that are noted on Prime Challengers help accomplish that.” - Phillip JacksonTarget and Shipt come in at number one - because they are using a much more targeted brand strategy, playing by the D2C playbook, and have a more community centric model versus Amazon’s top down approach.New LuxuryTo understand New Luxury, we have to define Old Luxury: exclusivity, quality, ‘white glove’ brands.New Luxury is about current times, being in the know, and information. New Luxury is tied to drop brands - knowing when the drop is happening, knowing the right people, being involved in the right thought processes and cultures, and understanding ‘hype’ cycles.Everyone is a retailer. StockX is our number one, which some would be surprised to see: “Just because something is resale doesn’t mean it’s not luxury.” - Brian LangeNew Luxury is about discovery - an introduction and orientation to an elevated experience: “Aêsop is helping a millennial man discover gender neutral skin care and self care. Lord Jone is introducing CBD to the upper middle class. Haus is introducing aperitif culture to millennials.” - Phillip JacksonC.A.R.L.Y.CARLY is a consumer psychographic from the acronym “Can’t Afford Real Life Yet,” that might be Gen Z but not necessarily constrained to it. It depends on sharing expenses with other people - and the way CARLY spends its money is deeply personal and considers every purchase very highly.“Starface is interesting in that it’s taken skincare - and where skincare in the past would be used to conceal the blemishes you have, Starface celebrates them and draws attention to them rather than drawing attention away from them.” - Philip JacksonStarface resonates with the CARLY ideal of seeing the world as fundamentally flawed and celebrating those flaws for the sake of authenticity.Community DrivenThese brands aren’t only prioritizing their relationship with their customer, but their customer’s relationships with each other - giving them the space and environments and safety of being able to embed themselves with each other.Peloton is at the top of this list because they’ve done a great job of building a ‘tribe’ that can relate and connect their consumers with each other.These brands have the ability to make and survive missteps because of their community support. Listen to Part 2 of this episode: Episode 168: Rethinking Everlane on the Nine by Nine Report. LinksCheck out our Nine by Nine report: 81 Brands Changing Our WorldPhillip’s original article on C.A.R.L.Y.: Insiders #018See our webinar with Klaviyo on Nine by Nine: 81 Brands Changing Modern eCommerceCheck out where our Nine by Nine report was featured:GQ: Not So Vain: C.A.R.L.Y.s Love Crocs, Memes and Social JusticeAdweek: These 81 Brands Are Shaping the Future of CommerceBusiness Insider: Meet the ‘Carlys’: The meme-loving young shoppers who ‘can’t afford real life yet’ - but will soon enjoy the biggest cohort of spenders in the USMorning Brew: Meet CARLY: Gen Z’s New, Socially Conscious ShopperIndependent Retailer: Meet The New Customer Demographic: C.A.R.L.Y.Women’s Wear Daily: New Report Asks What Makes a Brand Meaningful?Sourcing Journal: New Cohort of Young Consumers Values An Iconic Brand Aesthetic If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!

Local commerce is making a comeback and the digital realm is crucial to its success. OfferUp strives to create a platform that enables anyone to buy and sell locally. Nick Huzar, CEO of OfferUp joins the show to discuss how they're evolving with local commerce.The Potential for Secondhand CommerceNick loves to build and create things. While having a baby on the way, he needed to clear a room and was frustrated at the time and effort it would take to sell his belongings. The idea for OfferUp sparked.When he started OfferUp in 2011, there was no Android phone - but there was the belief that everyone would have smartphones.He began OfferUp slowly with a lot of research, finding out that 25% of U.S. households with a two car garage can’t park in their garage and 10% of the population rents storage units.OfferUp has become effectively the fastest growing marketplace in the U.S. OfferUp has been installed over 90 million times.Nick says that OfferUp is really a platform for local commerce but has many phases in its evolution: “Today, I think the primary use case of OfferUp is definitely peer to peer, [but] long term it definitely doesn’t have to be. We have a growing segment of stores that are using OfferUp as both online commerce and local commerce.” - Nick Huzar“Early on, we moved to more of a C2C approach with the idea that if we could get consumers to use the product, then we would have a huge base of users that we could then layer on other businesses. C2C was very intentional.” - Nick HuzarNick says that OfferUp has been focused on simplicity and product experience to bring trust and because of that, OfferUp’s growth has mostly been word of mouth.During COVID, OfferUp saw a 90% increase in overall engagement - nonessentials like fashion trending downwards, but fitness equipment and entertainment spiking.Customer Acquisition for Local BusinessesLocal businesses have a more difficult time getting in front of customers due to their lower budgets for advertising.Local car dealerships have been offered a monthly subscription in return for special detail pages, badges in their profile, increased promotions, and analytics to see what’s working and what’s not.The challenge with local businesses was that the initial app was designed for an individual to use to sell items, so OfferUp has helped redesign to accommodate having thousands of items and the ability to plug in their CMS system.OfferUp wants to create more tools for local entrepreneurs to use to get their products on the platform.C2C During COVID-19 & the Acquisition of LetGoCustomers have been more accommodating during COVID, realizing that buying/selling C2C comes with less exposure than going to a physical store.Customers are trusting each other more with in person exchanges and OfferUp’s shipping option is up 100% statistically.It’s unfortunate, but many people have liquidated items in their home to help with financial stress during COVID. Nick is happy that they’ve created a service that can help with that.“This is a perfect example of how commerce connects people and demonstrates that people still have the ability to interact with each other in good ways in crisis.” - Brian LangeLetGo and OfferUp had different markets where they were doing well, so they decided to come together to offer a more cohesive service and accelerate growth as a unified marketplace.The Future of Peer to Peer CommerceOfferUp’s focus has always been on removing friction in the buying/selling experience as possible.There’s a lot of opportunity left in local commerce from moving goods to payments, and there’s plenty OfferUp wants to do in helping professionals get integrated into the platform.“We want to be a platform that enables anybody to be able to buy and sell things locally. It can be a business. It can be an individual.” - Nick HuzarLinksCheck out Future Commerce Insiders #033: We’re All Retailers, NowCheck out OfferUp, available on all smart devices. If you have any comments or questions about this episode, you can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!

Joseph Ansanelli, CEO at Gladly and friend of Future Commerce, sits down with Phillip & Brian to talk about Gladly’s 2020 Consumer Expectations report. Now more than ever, consumers expect a much more personal experience than ever before, and Phillip, Brian, and Joseph discuss practical ways eCommerce brands can exceed those expectations.

How was Sunday born? Lawns are the 3rd largest crop by land area: 40 million acres of land.“You can’t purport to have a deep care for carbon sequestration and soil and the way we treat land, runoff, and environmental issues and not think about [lawn care].” - Coulter LewisA typical managed lawn gets 5x the amount of pesticides per acre than an industrial farm.In starting Sunday, Coulter saw these statistics as a hole in our ethos. We spend time being conscious about what we’re putting into our bodies but not the yard that our bodies spend a lot of time in. This is where Sunday comes in to align our lawn care with our values.DTC Experience of Sunday Lawn CareSunday is 100% direct to consumer through their website.Sunday starts with your address. They pull soil data, climate history, and current weather in order to create a custom plan that takes all the guesswork out of the equation for you.Sunday’s first kit comes with a soil test to get the exact chemical makeup of your property which gives an accurate evaluation of what nutrients your soil is sufficient/not sufficient in and uses that to give you tips and guidance on how to maintain your property sustainably.Your Yard is Your Own National ParkSunday is on the same trajectory that they were on before COVID and during the pandemic, they’ve seen even more growth due to their business model being based around having a healthy space at home.“There is an incredible spectrum of emotional connection people have with their lawns… This is a vast part of our experience and landscape. In some respects, it’s your own national park.” - Coulter LewisCustomer service is top priority at Sunday - in encouraging communities to learn more and engage more with their properties, as they spend massive amounts of time at home.LinksCheck out Sunday’s website. Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

We have some big news here at Future Commerce! The Stairway to CEO podcast is joining Future Commerce. Every Tuesday, Lee Greene, host of Stairway to CEO will bring you fresh and insightful interviews with CEOs and Founders, highlighting their journey to leading a company. You don't want to miss it! Like & Subscribe to the Stairway to CEO podcast to catch the official relaunch on June 23.

Diversity and TransparencyIt’s important to instill trust into diverse founders.Transparency in businesses allows for a culture to be built that is proud to be shared.Instagram account Pull Up or Shut Up has held brands accountable for their diversity numbers and has had many brands go transparent in their diversity numbers.“The culture of your business is built in your first five hires.” A brand’s culture is naturally built through the employees and their diverse backgrounds and perspectives.Aiding in diverse brand visibility like this Twitter feed of Black owned candle companies helps to bring unification.Gradually, then SuddenlyHemingway’s “Gradually, then suddenly” quote applies to commerce as well as civil rights.Instead of government leadership and direction, the private sector has stepped forward to unite people in solving problems.It’s important to stay connected in your local and digital communities - commerce connects people. There is power in retail and merchant classes to effect change locally. This is also why it’s important to be diverse - because every person involved changes the culture.There is a massive importance in being hopeful and looking for positive change in the future. Using your own vision and your own intentionally created brand culture, you create the future you want to see through that culture, commerce, and technology.Brands MentionedMailChimpCheck Your Pulse Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, we love hearing from our listeners!

Today, Brian sits down with Julie Bornstein, former COO of Stitch Fix, currently launching the personally curated shopping app, The Yes. What is The Yes? How does an AI-integrated shopping app differ from traditional retail or eCommerce experiences? THE YES AND THE NEED FOR TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONJulie has been working in the industry since the beginning of eCommerce and has always seen new ideas and opportunities which are now finally possible through technology.The Yes is an AI-shopping app which makes a consumer’s shopping experience more efficient, personal, and relevant.The Yes features a conglomerate of products from different brands, asking consumers questions to find and personally curate their own personal style and experience in-app.Think of Spotify, but for shopping. There’s not one style that’s preferred or featured more than another - it’s an experience in which anyone can find their own specific niche. The Yes does this by focusing on user experience while supporting brands and their relationships to their consumers.OFF-BRAND, NAME-BRAND, AND A PERSONALIZED EXPERIENCEThere is a lack of trust in off-brand clothing because of its variance in size, style, fit, etc.The Yes is focusing on name-brand products and helping brands to establish trust and alignment between brands and consumers - an example of this is in The Yes mixing DTC brands and traditional brands all within the app.Every product has its own very intricate taxonomy that relates it to other products.Launching during COVID-19 helped the Yes to sit with their initial product and spend time adding features that originally were not going to be included in the initial version.“Adversity spurs innovation and adoption of that innovation.” During COVID, the physical retail experience has become non-existent so eCommerce has had to shift to becoming a more immersive experience. The Yes fits that needed role as a fashion curation by blending AI and human facilitation. BRANDS MENTIONED:The YesStitch FixGood+FoundationMythology AmazonSpotify‍

Brian chats with Melanie Travis, founder of Andie Swim. How has COVID affected Andie and similar direct to consumer brands? How might we shift our approach from product-centered advertising to building a direct brand-to-consumer relationship?  MELANIE AND THE CREATION OF ANDIE SWIM Melanie tells her history and experiences building up to creating Andie. Melanie’s experiences with brand storytelling and customer acquisition lead her to testing the waters for Andie with advertisements to feel out the market with her first 400 swimsuits, growing Andie into what it is today. ANDIE DURING COVID-19Swim season is approaching but COVID initially had revenue falling off for Andie. They responded by cutting back on ads and converting to a day-by-day strategy with employees working remotely to find ways to resonate with customers in the current climate.Consumer demand roared back given that consumers shop 100% digitally during COVID.It’s been proposed that direct to consumer brands were disappearing, but there was a 180 shift into eCommerce during COVID. LEARNING TRANSPARENCY Andie backed out of diversifying into a physical retail experience and started incorporating less traditional marketing strategies - more community-centric working with transparent storytelling in order to resonate with consumers.To directly establish one-on-one relationships with its customers, Andie used less social marketing and shifted to more email and SMS.Andie launched a niche product during COVID - a maternity line of swimsuits - in which they kept promotional materials more personal by having close friends and family of employees participate in the photos for the launch.By doing so, the brand identity of Andie shifted to being more transparent, more community-driven, and more personal - which will stick around post-COVID. COMMUNITY BUILDING AND BRAND-TO-CONSUMER RELATIONSHIPS Brands can have their employees perform duties outside of their traditional job roles to cultivate a more creative community of ideas in the workplace.SMS and email are great ways to have one-on-one conversations with your consumers in order to build trust, transparency, and a closer brand-to-consumer bond.Especially in the time of COVID-19, brands can transform their identity from community-centered physical retail experiences into a digital community bound through mutual connection - making brands less focused on selling products and more focused on building a community. BRANDS MENTIONED:Andie SwimRadically Personal Podcast‍

Phillip and Brian are joined today by Ingrid Milman Cordy. How have brands contributed to community-based fanaticism or an individualized mindset? How has COVID-19 affected the online and in-person consumer experiences? What residual effects will the pandemic have on consumer experience? How can we be innovative in staying ahead of the curve on these changes?PELOTON, MIRROR, AND THEIR DIVIDING LINE:Ingrid owns a Mirror, which has proven an essential and loved piece of equipment in the time of COVID-19 because of its individualized and private user experience.Peloton has avoided accusations of “technology for the sake of technology” because of its contribution to building a connected, fanatical community.Competitiveness contributes to a more community-based mindset in the likes of Peloton users, Crossfitters, etc.Brands have an open market right now for niche devices supporting at-home and individualized experiences.Brands have become like “tribes” of communities during a time of physical disconnection.EVERYTHING HAS A BEGINNING, A MIDDLE, AND…:Ingrid predicts that after all of this is over, people are going to want community and in-person experiences even more after the pandemic.Phillip plays ‘devil’s advocate' (and quotes his Insiders piece) and proposes that reality now is mimicking an unpleasant eCommerce experience.Digital commerce is now the new preferred method of purchasing, so there is a need for online customer service to change with this, in incorporating better systems for handling post-purchase relations.Phillip, Brian, and Ingrid discuss innovative ways to cultivate IRL experiences for customers on a digital platform in order to establish and keep positive online and IRL relationships.… AN END:We discuss the possibilities for social changes in customer relations after the pandemic ends, in stronger communities being built or the likelihood of there being long-lasting effects for social norms in IRL experiences.IRL experiences and eCommerce experiences have both changed dramatically in the last few months, in product affordability, access to products, as well as the jobs involved in the production, shipping, and selling of the product.

Show notes coming soon.

Main Takeaways: Somehow Google Docs has become the future of eCommerce, or ecommerce or E-Commerce or however everyone wants to spell it (eCommerce is correct) There's a virtual mall in Google Docs, and it's insanely cool Phillip may or may not be really into Jurassic Park Brands are finding "scrappy" new ways to get feedback from their customers eCommerce has become the name of the new shopping game, could that be a forever thing? Google Docs is The Future of Everything: At Least Right Now: There's so much going on in the world during quarantine, and Google Docs is somehow the thing right now. And somehow everybody has decided that Google Docs are how we do everything, even how we throw shopping sprees. Not to 'Googlesplain but the mind-blowing game-changer is how business are using it as a collaboration tool with the world writ-large Seventy movies revolve around body-switching, just in case you needed to know that, and you do because Phillip's Insiders (#036) this week, aptly called Freaky Friday revolves around this very concept Everyday eCommerce gets more accessible, because of the body swap that occurred between eCommerce and brick-and-mortar What would have happened in Freaky Friday was forever (we may find out) Jurassic Park is an incredibly frightening movie, which somehow relates to Google Docs Brands are utilizing all elements of Google Drive to do all kinds of crazy cool things (lots of fun links below) eCommerce Is Bodyswapping With Brick and Mortar: With everything that's happening in our community, from massive eCommerce numbers in the wake of a complete brick-and-mortar shut down, and the possibility of COVID-19 continuing, bands are finding ways to utilize Google Docs (especially Google Sheets) in unique ways. Still, brands are also trying to find ways to entertain and distract their customers in the wake of a global pandemic. And we're seeing a semi-body swap that's happening between brick-and-mortar and eCommerce, with a forced way that's happening is with returns. One of the things that's very different in the age of COVID-19 is returns, often quite an in-store experience for customers. Which is why customers often choose in-store brands that make returning a product a seamless experience Now, though, with online brands often being the only option, shopping is happening online, and now customers have to contend with eCommerce return policies as well (which could get tricky) Phillip takes the time to mention a new Future Commerce sponsor, Relay Cloud. This platform makes returns easier for everyone (customer and company), which is very helpful right now. And just to mention another cool Google Doc concept, Bambu Earth, put together a form for customers to fill out so they could send "love letters" to first responders, and they aggregated feedback for customers, and then baked it into ad-creative for first responders. And as Brian so eloquently said: a lot of these google docs solutions are just a great example of brands not always having to have the perfect solution. Future Commerce Is Having Fun: So Much Going On The Horizon: Phillip says the show is more fun this week, Brian says the show is always fun, and that's up to the audience to decide, but there are so many great stories this week. And even with all the fun, this is the most boundary-filled time in recent times, and so brands can take risks, as Brian said, now is the time for brands to get scrappier than ever. It's the New Abnormal, one might say. One of the best parts of all of this, and there are advantages for brands willing to try new things during this period, is how much fewer fanfare initiatives need to have right now. Instead of putting together fancy dramatic productions, brands can send a Google doc form to customers, put together a presentation on Slides, or relay information in a Google Doc that everyone can view. It's a new kind of User Generated Content, where customers can just participate in a new way Brian: We're in a moment right now where people are more excited to contribute than trolls are to destroy." (This is so Tweetable it needs to be Tweeted) Digitally native brands are now fundamental scrappier, and the operators in those brands are more skilled and wear more hats, and they are the ones who know how to work the moment (from a conversation between Phillip and Matt Axline from 4x400) New Things Are Coming Up: Even More Future Commerce Fun: Brands are starting to engage with their brands in new ways, which is so important, which is going to lead to reinforced customer expectations. The brands that are getting scrappy and doing the work right now to get the job done are going to set themselves up directly. Which is very much a PSA to brands: Do the work so that you can succeed in the brand new world. Phillip and Brian bring up a returning sponsor, Gladly, who are doing incredible things when it comes to customer service, radically personal if you will. Future Commerce is going to be doing some pretty cool projects with Gladly, so make sure you're signed up to our mailing list to always be in the know (and get some really fantastic content in your inbox). Phillip decides to end the show with a brand new segment: What was the last thing you bought online? (links below) Phillip and Brian agree that Monoprice is the absolute best Also, we have an incredible market research report coming out with Klayvio called 9x9 in a few weeks (hint: it's super freaking awesome) Important links from the show: Google Doc for eCommerce workers impacted by COVID-19 adult content warning Unbound Babes Google Doc of recommendations Elliot Google Sheets Mall Phillip and Brian's recent purchases: Monoprice double wall water bottle Tracksmith Hare AC Other episodes mentioned: Episode 155 with Farmgirl Flowers Episode 132 with Tracksmith Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels, and we love hearing from our listeners!

Christina Stembel joins Brian to discuss what the last few months has looked like from a CEO and owner of a "nonessential" business's perspective.

Brian sits down with Ariel Kaye, CEO and founder of Parachute Home to discuss innovation in crisis as a home goods brand.

Gen Z founders Lesley De La Uz of LUDU, Madison Semarjian of Mada, and Chris Meade of Crossnet join the show to discuss their journeys as some of the first Gen Z founders in the retail world.

Main Takeaways: We have a super exciting guest this week, and she used to work for the happiest place on earth Brian's not on the show this week so, things might get a little dark Does anyone do branding better than Disney (probably not) What does the future of commerce, the future of brands, the future of this planet even look like anymore? Was February Two Months or Two Years Ago? Since time has absolutely no meaning anymore, it seems like February was forever ago, but two months ago, Phillip and Lianne met Summer Jelinek at Future Stores Miami after hearing her deliver an inspirational, impactful, keynote speech about authentic customer experience. So let's talk more about Summer: Summer Jelinek is a speaker and trainer with over twenty years of leadership experience with major corporations like Walt Disney Corporation, Disney Institute, and HEB. Summer connects with audiences all over the world by redefining what consumer experience means in a modern context. In an age where consumer experience has become all-important, where the social contract between brands and customers is in full effect, this level of understanding is essential to the growth of modern companies. Fun fact: Summer first fell in love with the idea of the consumer experience at a ski ranch in New Hampshire and a dude ranch in Colorado Do All Brands Know Their Audience As Well As Disney Does? One of the most important considerations for any company is to know their audience and to have their audience consistently be a part of the brand's journey. Disney has their branding down to a science. Summer says Disney brands absolutely everything from their pretzels to their soft drinks, and it's all a part of the story. "It's just who doesn't want to eat a little bit of magic and pixie dust whenever you're having a bad day"? Phillip mentions an essential aspect of the brand-customer relationship: "The better you know your audience, the more receptive I think they'll be to the kind of messaging that you could craft at this moment." Summer says that Walt Disney World is an economic indicator, when the economy is good people are going to Disney, and when it's terrible people stop going (editor's note: whoa ) It's worth noting that Disney has handled the crisis and results of it rather well; even as the parks have closed, it's felt as though the pixie dust has dimmed a little bit. Retail Right Now: What Does The Situation Even Look Like? Amidst the raging COVID-19 pandemic, questions remain on everyone's mind, what is the new normal in retail, and how are brands and consumers going to adjust to the current situations? Phillip asks Summer what she thinks about the current situation on the ground? There's a lot to consider: Firstly, there are a lot of brands who are doing incredibly well, and specific categories are booming (at least right now) because of the pandemic, while others are struggling to stay afloat And as Summer mentions, right now, whether a brand is doing well, we're all just trying to survive through this. The trick for businesses who are not doing as well right now is to become creative and figure out what they're next steps are, regardless of how long this lasts, with the information we all have right now. Summer has some advice for brands looking at this right now: Instead of asking, why is this happening to me, ask how are we going to survive and why is this happening for me? What am I going to learn? What am I going to do differently? How am I going to set myself apart as a leader of the pack? While most businesses may have the technology in place, adapting to the current environment may be more of a people problem. A Sense of Normalcy Is What We All Need: Looking to the future is essential, but it's just as important to figure out what consumers need right now, and the steps that are essential to keep everyone safe. So how does one feel normal in the middle of a global pandemic that has led to almost 20% unemployment? Summer mentions that one of the struggles for brands may be having to give consumers an authentic brand experience even while limiting human interaction Phillip brings up a company that has managed to keep its authentic brand experience undiluted: Chick-fil-A, which as a brand (a fast-food one at that that even has GF options) has managed to maintain a sense of normalcy even as they follow the rules. Summer gives her perspective for the next six months and says that there will be growing pains as everything reopens, but we may all be better for it. There is a lot that brands can do with this time, and even join in and celebrate with their customers as this all comes to some kind of end, it could be an inspiring time for brands. Extra notes: Phillip mentions an article he wrote for FC Insiders called From Plows to Swords, it's fantastic, and you can read it here Also mentioned during the show is a piece by Brian on authenticity in brand experiences during COVID-19, you're going to want to read that as well, check it out here. If you want to reach out to Summer (and you should), you can go to → SummerJelinek.com And Summer also mentioned that if anyone is looking for resume help during this scary time with lots of layoffs, you can send her an email at . Also, → What is something that a brand has done that has made you feel a sense of normalcy during this chaotic time? Let us know in the content section on Futurecommerce.fm, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin. Have any questions or comments about the show? You can reach out to us at [email protected] or any of our social channels; we love hearing from our listeners!

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