Podcast Summary:
From the Ground Up – The Future of E-Commerce: Trends, Tech, and Tactics
Host: Inc. Magazine
Air Date: September 15, 2025
Panelists:
- Alicia Yoon (Founder & CEO, Peach & Lily)
- Woody Hilliard (Co-Founder & CEO, W – Men’s Personal Care)
- Arthur Leopold (Co-Founder & CEO, Agentio)
- Moderator: Inc. Magazine Social Media Director
Episode Overview
This episode dives into the rapidly evolving world of e-commerce post-pandemic, focusing on enduring trends, emerging technologies (especially AI), the crucial role of community, and the nuances of selling on social media versus brand websites. The panelists, accomplished founders in personal care, ad tech, and beauty, share their founding stories, strategic insights, and visions for the future of e-commerce.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Starting an E-Commerce Brand: Common Challenges
- Woody Hilliard (02:21):
- W launched first in brick-and-mortar, using the internet for mass distribution, achieving over 300 million impressions in the first four months by directing traffic to Walmart.
- Major challenge: “The cold start is a really, really hard moment…yelling into this echo chamber, wondering, will anyone hear about us?”
- Quote (02:43): “The audacity of zero is quite an exciting moment, but also a really scary moment as a brand.”
- Alicia Yoon (03:15):
- Founding Peach & Lily was driven by her own struggle to find powerful-yet-gentle skincare.
- Educating consumers about innovative, patent-pending products with limited resources was daunting.
- Quote (03:56): “When you’re actually pioneering something, you have to really get the word out and you have such limited means to do so.”
- Arthur Leopold (04:40):
- Experienced “friction” in creator-brand relationships; manual, “archaic” deals limited scale.
- Saw the future as “creator-led advertising”; founded Agentio to automate and scale creator partnerships using AI.
- Quote (05:29): “Our belief was that we could build an ad platform to automate all the hard things that marketers have to deal with today.”
2. Enduring Trends from the Pandemic (06:16–09:57)
- Alicia Yoon (06:52):
- “Peach Skincare Academy” launched to meet demand for online skincare education.
- Investment in making educational content digestible and science-backed has become essential for customer trust.
- Quote (08:10): "Education…has always been, but even more so, a huge pillar for us."
- Woody Hilliard (08:29):
- Community and interactivity gained prominence; W leverages Discord to nurture community, with fans educating each other.
- Early and enthusiastic “brand tattoo” adopters symbolize strong resonance with identity.
- Quote (09:22): “Community today is so different than what community was five years ago.”
3. Social Commerce & Sales Channel Strategies (09:57–14:31)
- Alicia Yoon (10:28):
- TikTok Shop requires highly demonstrative, instantly gratifying products—different stars than DTC website bestsellers.
- Consumers on social platforms more price-sensitive; strategies need to adapt accordingly.
- Peach & Lily tries to convert TikTok buyers into loyal DTC customers by tracking and nurturing these cohorts.
- Quote (11:38): “It definitely is this complimentary kind of place where it really does feed into your DTC business.”
- Arthur Leopold (12:59):
- The process of connecting with creators is fragmented and friction-filled—Agentio addresses this via automation.
- TikTok = “lower-consideration” products, brief storytelling; YouTube = in-depth stories, higher-consideration or expensive products.
- Quote (13:37): "Each medium serves its own purpose...for higher consideration products...YouTube can be an incredibly powerful medium."
- Woody Hilliard (14:31):
- Attention arbitrage is the new advantage (vs. previous Facebook ad arbitrage); having the right influencer/creator is critical.
- Quote (14:36): “If you have a platform to distribute your content to tens of, if not hundreds of millions of people, that’s going to allow you to perform much more efficiently as a business.”
4. Influencer Partnerships: What Matters?
(16:35–18:21)
- Alicia Yoon (16:54):
- “Comment sentiment” and engagement outweigh follower count (“followers are a meaningless metric”).
- Campaign goals determine whether to prioritize reach or conversion—but engaged, relevant audiences are key.
- Quote (17:36): “If all the comments are like ‘you’re so beautiful,’...versus ‘where do I get that?’...that’s the number one thing we look for.”
5. Customer Acquisition & Retention (18:21–20:11)
- Woody Hilliard (18:36):
- Messaging and channels must fit your demographic; W targets ages 10–25 via SMS, DMs, and Snapchat (not email).
- Relies on “problem-solution” storytelling and access to Jake Paul’s substantial fan base.
- Quote (19:53): “It’s about articulating that to them in a way that a 12-year-old or a 14-year-old really understands authentically.”
6. AI in E-Commerce (20:11–28:41)
- Arthur Leopold (20:31):
- AI/LLMs enable semantic analysis of creators, surfacing non-obvious but authentic partnerships.
- Example: AI suggested a Maine lobster fisherman (Jacob Knowles) for a supplements brand, resulting in top conversions.
- AI automates brand safety reviews, internal coaching, and onboarding (e.g., “we onboarded Claude as a new employee to Agentio!”).
- Quote (21:34): “An LLM can tell us instantaneously if a creator is brand safe or not.”
- Alicia Yoon (22:41):
- AI’s greatest potential: R&D for new ingredient combinations, cataloging, and harnessing user feedback.
- Used across all departments for project management, copy generation, marketing creative (“AI comes up with some very creative taglines and names”), and even producing rap songs for influencer activations.
- Quote (25:46): “We talk about…the cognitive labor behind AI…that’s going to be everything, like the prompts that you know how to use and how creative you get to use it as a tool.”
- Woody Hilliard (26:17):
- AI as “second brain”; used for workflow acceleration, internal presentations, unlocking creativity, and fast turnaround on brainstorming and visuals.
- Social content and PR stunts: Deepfake influencer videos as high-impact, viral campaigns (e.g., Little Yachty’s video, over 100 million impressions).
- Quote (27:29): “If we hadn't had these tools, it would have been an impossible task.”
7. The Future of E-Commerce: Panel Predictions (29:13–32:10)
- Woody Hilliard (29:13):
- Predicts more “one-to-one connectivity” between brands and customers across all channels, powered by conversational AI (goodbye to static FAQs).
- Quote (29:43): “You’re now going to have a one-on-one agentic conversation with brands.”
- Arthur Leopold (30:12):
- AI will level the playing field, slashing the barriers to entry for new founders.
- The best brands will distinguish themselves by building genuine communities and leveraging authentic storytelling.
- Quote (30:45): “Everybody has the world’s greatest executive coach and performance marketer on their team now.”
- Alicia Yoon (30:58):
- E-commerce will become hyper-personalized (AI-powered skin analysis and consultations), making the web shopping experience feel like a direct consultation with an expert.
- Creative content and community engagement will be the only true differentiators.
- Quote (31:32): “Content and what you know can’t be done through AI…your community is going to be what sets people apart.”
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
- “The audacity of zero is quite an exciting moment, but also a really scary moment as a brand.”
– Woody Hilliard ([02:43]) - “Education…has always been, but even more so, a huge pillar for us.”
– Alicia Yoon ([08:10]) - “Attention arbitrage…If you have a platform to distribute your content…perform much more efficiently as a business.”
– Woody Hilliard ([14:36]) - “Followers are a meaningless metric in this day and age.”
– Arthur Leopold ([20:31]) - “An LLM can tell us instantaneously if a creator is brand safe or not.”
– Arthur Leopold ([21:34]) - “AI comes up with some very creative taglines and names for products.”
– Alicia Yoon ([25:18]) - Describing the viral deepfake influencer PR stunt:
– Woody Hilliard ([27:19]): “We made these AI Deepfake videos where it was that person talking to themselves from six months in the future…Probably the most successful was Little Yachty. He posted it…it got like 40 million impressions…so that one box got us probably 100 million impressions.”
Timeline of Key Segments
| Timestamp | Segment | |--------------|-------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:21–04:40 | Founders describe unique early challenges in launching online| | 06:16–09:57 | Pandemic-era trends and their enduring impact | | 09:57–14:31 | Social commerce vs. DTC websites; platform-specific strategies| | 16:35–18:21 | Choosing and evaluating influencers | | 18:21–20:11 | Customer acquisition and retention strategies | | 20:11–28:41 | Adoption and creative uses of AI across brands | | 29:13–32:10 | The panel forecasts the next five years of e-commerce |
Key Takeaways
- Community and education matter more than ever for building lasting e-commerce brands.
- AI is both leveler and accelerator, supercharging content creation, influencer selection, customer insights, and operational efficiency.
- The future: hyper-personalized, conversational commerce—with brand value hinging on authentic story and creative community.