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The Jason & Scot Show - E-Commerce And Retail News
Hosted by Jason "Retailgeek" G · EN
Join hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at Razorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder & Executive Chairman at Channel Advisor, as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.
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EP146 - Forrester Analyst Sucharita Kodali
Sep 23, 201800:54:50Tap to summarizeSucharita (Mulpuru) Kodali @smulpuru is the Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research covering retail and e-commerce. She has previously worked at Saks Fifth Ave, Toys R Us, and Walt Disney Company. In this interview, we cover a wide range of topics including shop.org 2018, Amazon, marketplaces, holiday 2018 predictions, personalization, and the future of e-commerce. Upcoming: Groceryshop October 28-31, Las Vegas Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 146 of The Jason & Scot Show was recorded on Thursday, September 20th, 2018. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 146 being recorded on Thursday September 20th 2018 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:41] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason and Scott show listeners Jason were sitting here at episode warning 146 knocking on 150 and there's someone we've been trying to get on the show for a long time but she is so busy it's taken almost a hundred fifty episodes for the stars and the moon and the planets to align so we are really really excited to finally have on the Jason and Scott show the Infamous and famous sucharita kodaly welcome to the show sucharita. Sucharita: [1:11] Oh thank you Scott and I'd only been waiting for years to even be invited to the show so this is my moment. Scot: [1:20] Usually the inter I give like a little blurb about people and I was like near LinkedIn and there was so many things you've done the the ones I'll just throw out there you've got tons of retailers at Walt Disney and of course well known for Forester so so you're welcome to show excited to have you. Sucharita: [1:41] Thanks for having me I appreciate it finally. Jason: [1:46] Hahaha. I feel like the weight is going to be well worth it as you know from having listened to a couple shows we always like to start by a kind of orienting the listeners with a little bit of background and sort of a. A quick synopsis of of the scope of your roll now so I know you have a fancy title principal Analyst at Forrester. What does a principal analyst do. Sucharita: [2:10] Yeah I'm pumped Forrester for for for those who don't know is a technology research company it said based in Cambridge Massachusetts and we have a number of analysts to focus on different aspects of a technology research and I've focused for the 10-plus years that I've been at Forrester I'm on the retail industry so that means digital retail omni-channel issues mobile Commerce social commerce and anything and everything that really involves a bit technology or the internet and I work with retailers and a lot of the technology suppliers and Technology software providers that that support the retail industry. Jason: [2:56] Very cool and Anna Scott alluded to it but you you have a prodigious retail background before coming to Forest or can you share their listeners of the synopsis of how you got there. Sucharita: [3:08] Yeah yeah there would you pull just before I had joined Forrester I was at a department store so I worked at Saks Fifth Avenue for the saks.com team. And the four sacks I worked in Big Box retail I was at Toys R Us for for a little while and then before that I was at a startup during the first.com the late 90s and it was that it was a startup that was in the e-commerce space selling baby products Baby Style and that was actually founded by a colleague who had worked at Disney when I was when I was there so so that is that range of experiences except brands internet start-up department stores in big box. Jason: [4:00] Awesome and that you Scott and I are part of the prestigious club we have we've all served on the shop. Org board of directors and you and I were just at shop.org in Las Vegas last week. Sucharita: [4:15] Indeed indeed yeah that shopped out of work is where I think I got to know both of you. Jason: [4:22] So that alone is a good reason to be part of shop.org to get to meet fabulous people like Scott and sucharita and. I'm curious I haven't had a chance to kind of debris that you sent the show any big takeaways or or. I think thank you you saw or heard of the show that they stood up to you. Sucharita: [4:43] You know that the topics that seem to come up have been a lot of the topics I think that that don't have been pretty popular in 2018 as you know Jason I know that you had spoken on that like a Ally and machine learning which retailers I think we're just still trying to get their arms around what does it mean for their businesses and is there a flexibility and is there applicability really to amateur business that has a large sore foot print where where is there an opportunity there and in how do they even know think about leveraging it it to their advantage. Amazon is always have Perpetual topic of it's almost kind of every conversation I have with a retailer it almost seems like it I have done to that territory. There was that that you know also I think I'm an interest in in just it as an extension of the Amazon discussion around marketplaces. And that will likely be wanted the topic said that will probably talk about today is that is that a Facebook and what it's doing with it latest Commerce Commerce initiative those are definitely that that the teams that stood out to me that seem to be recurring that that came up over and over again. Jason: [6:09] Nice I actually feel bad because Scott wasn't able to make it this year due to the hurricane. Sucharita: [6:15] We miss you Scott. Jason: [6:17] I know it's not the same. Scot: [6:18] Is the first one I've missed and I think I'm going to say tennis shoes on it it was very strange not going this year but I've heard a recap so I saved. Jason: [6:28] Nice if you're doing the math at home that means Scott started going shop.org when he was a teenager. But you gave it talk there's a secret session on the giveaway that the inside scoop is it shut that or there's a secret invite only session call Executive afternoon and Shop. Org. Then all the fancy people attend and that's when they get all the big brains to present. And you were one of the presenters at that section and you actually talked a lot about marketplaces and I was as I was listening I was thinking of myself. Scot Migos toys. Sucharita: [7:02] Well this is wet that Scott's been evangelizing for for so long right is it is how much of the world is is now marketplaces how much of retail is now Marketplace is and the Forrester stats are that globally marketplaces are now. 50 more than 50% of all of e-commerce projected to be north of 60% in 5 years or so so your call at has always been right Scot Wingo. Scot: [7:29] Thanks thank you I need to bring you on on all my meeting so you can talk. I'll just put a quote then I'll just put on my slides Scot Wingo is always right situated so you know one of the things we identified early in the Chow beiser was sweet we started going to China and realizing you over there it's like 90% marketplaces to do feel like we're heading towards that kind of world or do you think you feel like that kind of balancing point in the 50 to 60% range right where do you think that goes. Sucharita: [8:03] Well I'm a large you're right I mean it's there's a large part of e-commerce that is China it is the largest e-commerce Market in the world and when most of the e-commerce in the largest market is marketplaces it's going to be skewed a little bit that figures for the US I think we have our life more like 30 to 40%. Scot: [8:23] That was a global to 50%. Sucharita: [8:25] So yeah sorry I if if that wasn't clear but that so so where is the saturation point for for marketplaces in the US and I think that that is a question that's all smelly what's there to nuances I think that are important with that question 1 is how broadly we Define marketplaces once you get into defining marketplaces with travel or potentially with food or other categories it becomes the penetration numbers change and it's actually even higher because there are certain categories that are entirely marketplaces like in a large marketplaces like ride-hailing. [9:05] So so that is why I think that there's a there's a there's a very narrow definition of e-commerce that we have now which is about 30 categories of physical goods and within those 30 categories the future I think is ultimately I intertwined with the future of Amazon in retail and I think that's the at the big that's one of my big questions is given Amazon's first-party margins which I don't I think are probably the lowest margins of all of its key category is that it does business in Risky Business says that it participates in I think it really begs the question of yet you know do they do they consider do they lean into their higher margin businesses like advertising or cloud or hardware and ultimately give up on on some of the retail on pieces and they've become more of or they become more of a service at service provider and in that in in that scenario I actually think. [10:13] We may see a cab to that market place to Unistaff. Maybe we won't get to 70 or 80% liking somebody you know some of these other markets like China or north of that but. But I did it for I think it's it's it's heavily dependent on your what sort of happens in the next five years with Amazon. Scot: [10:34] Yep so we we've already kind of jumped into it but it wouldn't be a Jason Scott show without talking about Amazon so it's a good Market Marketplace kind of approach I had a 30000 foot question for you I were Twitter buddies and you know if I kind of look at the trend your...
Transcribe →EP145 - Industry News Amazon, Walmart, Apple
Sep 10, 201800:43:58Tap to summarizeEP145 - Industry News Amazon, Walmart, Apple Amazon News Amazon (briefly) passes $1 trillion market cap J-Crew selling on Amazon New Amazon Ad tracking pixel Amazon Go opens third store (with more announced openings in IL, CA, and NY) Apple News New iPhones being announced 9/12 iOS 12 Ipads/AppleWatch Other News Instagram Shopping App Kylie Cosmetics coming to Ulta Walmart Premium Outdoor Store Who will win holiday toys? Kroger Simple Truth expands to China Upcoming: Shop.org September 12-14th, Las Vegas Groceryshop October 28-31, Las Vegas Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 145 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Wednesday, September 5th, 2018. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the jason and scot show. This is episode one hundred and forty five being recorded on wednesday, september fifth, two thousand eighteen. I'm your host, jason retailgeek" goldberg. And, as usual, i'm herewith your coast, scott wingo. Scot: [0:41] Hey, jason, welcome back, jason scott, show listeners. We're sitting here in early september and thought we would update you guys on some e commerce news in between our releases of some great guests that we had when we were in detail east on jason. I want to start off,you had a tweet, and i didn't understand really what you're talking about. So your little grumpy, you're usually happy tweeter, so i wanted to pick your brain on this one, so that the tweet says, i'm so tired of talking about the r o i of a i based personalization client, quote, what's the r o i ofpainting my house. Me, it depends, is your last paint job one day old or ten nailed. What color do you want to paint it? End, quote and seen so tell us what? What does that mean? Jason: [1:26] So first of all, i've been watching my twitter analytics. And it turns out that when i'm cranky and i just rant about something that annoys me in the moment, it gets way more engagement than the like, superthoughtful, ah, well prepared tweets that i do. So now i'm just i've just decided to try to be cranky. Jason. So that's, what that's really all about? Scot: [1:45] So it's, not a it's. Not ah, fake account. It's. Really. Jason: [1:49] It is the real me, although you did call me out. My my son did do some tweeting earlier this week, and you correctly identified that, too. Ah, which is pretty funny. Scot: [1:58] I think it was like left. Parentheses. Right brace at e. I was like, what is going on? Jason: [2:05] Yeah it was either my three year old or the president united states one of those too probably. Scot: [2:09] Yeah. Jason: [2:10] Ah but like so that i think what happened there and this comes up a lot of, people are super well intentioned but like a client will reach out and they're trying to sell some initiative internally like hey we really want to do this new aye aye personalization initiative, and we need to pitch it tio our senior executive our board of directors or whomever and so i get all these well meaning queries what's the arli of aye aye based personalization, and i get why they're asking the question but it's an unanswerable question in my mind because a, yeah based personalization is a tactic like you could do it well and it could generate a way better customer experience that had a huge improvement or you could do it super poorly, on and have a negative experience and have it you know have ah negative return. [3:03] And it's not a binary thing where you weren't doing personalization before and now you are right so you know everyone's starting state and in st, are wildly different on dso that's kind of ah i think you you slightly mis read my quote like, if you ask what the r o i painting your house is like the first thing i want to know is is your last paint job a day old there is a ten years old right because if you currently have a really crappy paint job. The are lies probably hire for repainting it. Then if, you know you have a super fresh paint job and are you going to sell your house right away? Because then there's going to be a monetize herbal value for painting it? If you're planning on living in the house for ten more years, the return is gonna have to be your personal satisfaction from that improve curb appeal, and you can have a four year old repainted or you going professionalpainters repaint it because that's goingto dramatically affect the outcome. That's goingto ah influence that return. And so, ah, i guess i'm i was just slightly ranting that people want this super simple number and, you know, if you google our ally on a base personalization, you're going to get some, like, ah, be cg report that says that you get an eleven percent left if you do a i base personalization, and so that's, you know, it obviously totally absurd, but lots of people you know, go to their board of directors and say, hey, we're implementing this new tool because bcg says, we'll get eleven percent more sales. Scot: [4:33] Maybe it would make you less cranky if you just said eleven percent. Jason: [4:36] Yes, that's, exactly what the poor account manager asked me the question. Want this for me? I just wanted that bcg study on. Instead, i gave him, ah, stupid metaphor about a house, and then i outed them on twitter. Scot: [4:52] They loved it. And hopefully they don't listen to the podcast because you get a double dose. Jason: [4:56] Exactly. Scot: [4:58] Well, i guess we should move on. Hopefully, hopefully, they weren't listening. It wouldn't be a jason scott show without. [5:12] Use your margin. [5:20] Well, it happened aah! Little bit last week and some this week. Amazon is flirting with a trillion dollar market cap. We've been kind of watching this race here on the jason scott show for a while, apple has been pretty squarely in the trillion dollar club now for about a month it's kind of flirting with one point, one trillion, and i'm sure, with some new iphones there on tap, we'll talk about the minute that that will's further cement that, um, but amazon, when their stock price gets over it's right around two thousand gets two thousand five or seven or ten something like that right in just over two thousand it gets into the trillion dollar mark. So it's been flirting with that it's closed over in a couple days as we're recording this it's underneath it. Um and, you know, i think who knows when they announce q three results? We may see it kind of stay there if they have a solid q three, so i was thinking, i have to go back and look at our holiday ah, guess is i was thinking amazon will get there first, but apple beat him, but it is interesting now that we have these two companies and, you know, kind of in the trillion dollar club. Jason: [6:28] Yeah, it's, super interesting. And i saw. I don't know that it's meaningful in any way. But i saw this pretty funny analysis today on like jeff bezos, personal net worth has increased sixty seven billion dollars. This year is a result of that. That stock climb. So that's eight million dollars an hour, that his net net worth is increased. Scot: [6:48] Yeah, and there's all these, you know, there's, a lot of politics now, kind of surrounding amazon and there's. All these folks that say, you know, jeff basis, they kind of take his net worth and divided by hours or something like that. So it's just tons there, like he makes eight million dollars a second, and he pays his workers fivedollars an hour. All that sounds kind of hooey, because, you know, jeff bezos has put all his capital at risk, and he sells very little amazon stock, so it's all paper money until he sells it. So i don't know. It's apples emerges. Jason: [7:22] Yeah, i mean mostly only sell stock for rocket fuel, right? Scot: [7:25] Yeah, absolutely, yeah, most of it. Or, if he's going to buy a newspaper like a newspaper, like the washington, like the washington post. Jason: [7:33] Yeah, a lot of newspapers, exactly. Scot: [7:34] Yes, yeah, so that that's interesting to see, you know apple and amazon there, right in that trillion dollar club. Jason: [7:42] Yeah, for sure. Be interesting to see, like when they are safely over it, and it sticks. And if anyone is able to join him? Ah, i did see that j crew is the latest kind of director consumer brand. Ah, that has announced they're going to start selling their product on amazon, in addition to selling direct to consumer. Scot: [8:07] Yeah, that'll be good, it's. Funny. You know, i've kind of over the years. I think i've pitched everyone on this, and i've heard, ah, more, quote, i'll never saw an amazon in, quote. Then i've heard, yes, i want to sell on amazon so it's, kind of gratifying to see these walls come crumbling down. Jason: [8:25] Yeah, i will say that what is interesting is at the moment, and they're the latest of a number of brands that, like at one point, would have said, will never be on amazon. And now they're selling on amazon. The majority of those brands are doing it at a point of distress. Right? And i think j crew's, like, pretty clearly a distress brand. That's, that's looking for cem for, you know, an infusion of life by potentially selling through these marketplaces. What, what we haven't seen yet are like, you know, companies that sold direct to consumer are like cooking with gas growing really fast, and then are deciding, like amazon is the next distribution point. So it'll be interesting to see, you know, when and if we get some of those examples as well. Scot: [9:10] And i think they're there. I think a lot of the d m v b s are on amazon. They just don't make a big deal about it, like these guys are doing. It cle...
Transcribe →EP144 - Tommy John founders Tom Patterson and Erin Fujimoto
Sep 6, 201800:52:35Tap to summarizeEP144 - Tommy John founders Tom Patterson and Erin Fujimoto Erin Fujimoto and Tom Patterson are the founders of Tommy John, a vertically integrated consumer brand in the underwear category. They have recently expanded to include direct to consumer, woman's apparel and are now opening their own stores. In this interview, we cover a wide range of topics including the origin story, direct to consumer versus wholesale, the challenges and opportunities of being a digitally native brand, omni-channel expansion, and the future of commerce. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 144 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Tuesday, August 8th from the eTail East tradeshow in Boston. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the jason and scott show. This episode is being recorded live at the detail east trade show and rainy boston on wednesday, august eighth. I'm your host, jason retail. G goldberg. Unfortunately, scott had a personal conflict and couldn't make it, so you guys are stuck with me, but to make up for it, we have to really exciting guests for this episode. Tom patterson and aaron fujimoto are the founders of tommy john, a a digitally native vertical brand in the apparel and underwear category. Tom and erica, welcome to the show. Erin: [0:57] Hi, jason. Thanks for having us. Jason: [1:00] I am super excited to jump into it. I know you've listened to the podcast before, um, and one of the things we always like to start with is getting a little background from our guests about how they came into into your roles. So maybe tom. We could startwith you. Tom: [1:16] Shirt mind was not a natural transition. I'm a former medical device salesman i got in underwear but frustrated with the fabric fit and function in my undershorts, buying fitted suits, starting my dress shirts, and icouldn't figure out why are all the undershirts bagging boxy? So in two thousand eight, i had this idea and created some undershirts and started selling them online with aaron, and five months later, the follow it happened. I was laid off my medical sales job and i decided, you knowwhat? I don't want to be this could've would've should've guy have this idea? I want to see how far it can take it and cash up my four oh one k savings used my friends that all the credit card companies that financed the startupfrom there, that is a very cool origin. Jason: [1:56] That is a very cool origin story and it's crazy. If you had just gotten in a more casual job, we'd all be walking around with annoying t shirts that don't tuck in. Tom: [1:59] You have just got in a more casual job. We'd all be walking around with that noise. You're totally right. Jason: [2:07] Yes, say. Ah, thank goodness for the formal attire in the medical sales industry. Tom: [2:12] There'd still be a lot of guys talking their undershorts inside their underwear, which is not a great visual. So i think if i could be a part of saving that, i feel it's all worthwhile. Jason: [2:17] No, and thanks for putting that in my head. [2:22] Very cool. And, aaron, how did you come to the. Tom: [2:23] Michael and aaron, how did you come from? Erin: [2:25] So i actually have no business being in the apparel in fashion space, either. I transitioned from a career with jp morgan as a financial advisor, and i got the entrepreneurial bug when i was, there, and i actually started a small website selling organic products, natural prague, skincare, stuff like that. And i had a lot of fun with building that initial website and choosing all the products and getting the site launched. And then when it came to the marketing side of it, actually promoting the site, i kind of lost all interest. But, you know, tom and i had the entrepreneurial bug, and we're always idea ting on, what can we dio that could be impactful? What are some of our pet peeves in the world? Would what are some of the things that wehate? And this idea of a simple undershirt that would stay tucked in and was fitted to the body, was the idea that took off. Jason: [3:18] That is awesome. And because scott is not here, i get to take advantage and just solve all of my personal problems on the show. Some, some listeners, will know my wife is in the same industry as i am. So we always had this. This ah dilemma that we, you know, both do our day job all day long. And then it's, the main thing we have to talk about when we get home after work on. If i'm not mistaken, you two are also married, eh? So i'm wondering if you have any. Ah, tips or advice for working with a spouse, or how that, how that's going for you guys. Erin: [3:52] So tom and i have always had complementary skill sets. And, you know, he used his medical device sales background as kind of just how to get this thing off of the ground and use his skills. Teo, you know, pitch to buyers and broken to our first account. Neiman marcus and i was much more behind the scenes and kind of more on the operational side. Basically, anything that could be done on the spreadsheet.That was my job. Jason: [4:16] That seems like a good division. I have a similar division with my wife were very complimentary because she's talented and i am not so there's that that that was a shadow tow to my wife and her in laws of therelistening. Erin: [4:17] That seems like a good division. [4:23] Uh Tom: [4:26] No, my wife and her in laws. Jason: [4:30] So let's, talk about tommy. John, can you give us, ah, feel for how big a company tell me john is today. Tom: [4:31] So, john, you feel for, so so. We're a private company, so we don't disclose revenue but were ten years old. We turned ten years old in april. Um, you know, for us, you know, we now disclosing, but i can tell you, we've grown five times since twenty fourteen. We just sold our five million pair of underwear earlier this year, and we open up our first or last fall. We're gonna be opening up our second brick and mortar store later on at the end of this month in august in charlotte, north carolina is so a lot of exciting things, um, that have happened, and still to come. Jason: [5:07] Very cool on dh. In the beginning of the show i introduced you is a digitally native vertical brand, this ah phrase that i think andy dumb done, the ceo, founder of bonobos, invented. Usually, when we talk about digital native vertical brands like rightly or wrongly, most people sort of imagine that their initial model wass, we're going to sell direct to consumer in your case. Well, i sort of do you think you're doing native vertical brand because you are all of those things? I'm not sure that was your original model, right? Like when you first sort of i d ated the product problem and your solution to the problem. Did you guys envision that? You'd mainly some director? Where you thinking about selling through a wholesaler? Tom: [5:52] Not at all it was really built to be a wholesale business and with my background being strategic selling to get in contact with the department store buyer was very similar to getting a touch of the hospitaladministrator a doctor, a surgeon, but i think what we found is you know, wholesale as it started to grow, we couldn't grow as quickly as we wanted to in two thousand twelve we really started focusing more on that direct to consumer channel building adirect relationship with the customer. [6:17] And i think that was a really in critical part because getting the insights and the data i'm the feedback from the product as a really allowed us to continue to innovate and deliver a better product to the customer and ithink what we believe that tommy john we really focus on fabric, fit and function, and having your ear on the floor at a wholesale department store is great feedback from actual in store experience, which we did a lot of in the early days and we still do, but we also have that real time feedback online that's immediate ce we look at the omni channel experience as a full three sixty feedback loop that helps us continue to improve the customer experience improved productwhere you may have some challenges on fit, fabric, whatever but also thinking about what aren't we delivering the customer that they want or maybe they don't know that they need yet that we're going to bring in, deliver, too the next two or three years. So i think the digitally native vertical brand, i think i hope that term will go away. I think it would just be it's a brand. The brands in the twenty first century have to be on a channel. They have to be at all channels, where the customer is the end of the day, and i think what you're finding is digitally native on ly, brands, are kind of their growth is becoming very limited by not having that offline experience with what we talked about, over eighty percent of transaction still happen off line at the end of the day. And i don't think it's goingto flip in the next couple years, the opposite. Jason: [7:37] No, i would. I would till i agree. And i would at least hope the definition people have in their head. And i suspect this is what andy originally meant. Will evolve. Like, to me, digitally native doesn't mean you have to sell online. It means you were born in the era when digital was already an equal part of the eco system. So you need to think about how you catered shoppers that air, using their digital tools to make purchase decisions, and all of those it's more to me. That's. What the d m means, then, necessarily, we have to sell everythingthrough a digital champ. Tom: [8:10] Yeah, i totally agree. I mean, you have to be digital today. I mean, if you look at a lot of brands, every digital is the fastest gro...
Transcribe →EP143 - Dell head of digital transformation Sarika Puri
Sep 2, 201800:46:27Tap to summarizeEP143 - Dell head of digital transformation Sarika Puri Sarika Puri is a Senior Director and Head of Digital Transformation Acceleration Organization at Dell Technologies. In this interview, we cover Sarika's background and discuss Dell Technologies journey to digital transformation. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 143 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Tuesday, August 7th from the eTail East tradeshow in Boston. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scot show. This episode is being recorded live from the detail east show in sunny boston on tuesday, august seventh. I'm your host, jason retail, g, goldberg, and unfortunately, Scot had a personal conflict this week. S o he's not able to make it, which means the listeners are getting twice as much jason for half the usual price. Ah, the great news is, we have a terrific guest for you on this episode. We have sorry ca hurry who's, the senior director and head of digital transformation acceleration at a little company you may have heard of in austin, texas Dell computers, and i probably already blew it. Have a nice erica it's, not Dell computers anymore. Sarika: [1:08] Well, it's still technologies were not very, very big. It's, it's, delhi emcee. But it'll all the seven strategically businesses aligned and of your big companies. Jason: [1:15] Hey, exactly. I'm trapped in this like old time warp from, like the nineteen, ninety five version of Dell it's, it's, it's. A little bit sad. Sarika: [1:22] Okay, yeah. Jason: [1:24] But before we get into that, one of the things we always like to do on this show is getting to know our guests a little bit and get a feel for how they came into their roles. So could you tell us a little bit about yourbackground and how you ended up a Dell? Sarika: [1:36] Yes, absolutely. So i started my career a Dell thirteen years ago, working on the Dell dot com commerce team. As a programmer, i have been a programmer for many years and love building platforms. Last year, i had the scenic opportunity to go lead the digital transformation off a future commerce platform. And that is how i came about to this roll. And, you know, it's, been it's. Been an exciting journey, being a Dell technologies overall, you know, i was surrounded by really smart people, good, great developers and and had a and that really sparked my interest in the commerce world. And on guys. Consider this like a very glamorous world where you have access to, like all the technology choices that she could make to go drive that outstanding customer experience. Jason: [2:22] I totally agree, it's. Odd, because in my personal life, i find very few people that think my world is glamorous. So i'm i'm glad that we are of a like mind on dh were cruelly correct. And as we're sort of alluding to before, like, you know, folks probably think of Dell as, ah, primarily a computer manufacture. But as you alluded to earlier today, it's ah, huge portfolio of prada, b to c b to b products and services. And so i assumed that part of the scope of that platform is toe. Think about all the different use cases for for all of that. Sarika: [3:01] Absolutely, absolutely so what's happened is when i was in wild, you know, buildings have been here thirteen years have been through several transformations, and this this transformation is really about we're on being on this mission to go deliver a global cloud based omni channel, commerce platform that enables our customers to buy a needle technology product line from anything and from anywhere, and also established agreed fantastic work culture for our employees, and that's the mission because we are dealing with traditional platforms, which are, you know, siloed across the different ecosystems, were dealing with lengthy leases and inefficient it processes were also dealing with disconnected experiences across Dell dot com, premier amc and the other strategically line businesses, our customers are no longer looking for a specific server or a storage option or a specific computer. They're looking for solutions. They're looking to transform their digital future, and they're looking for entering solutions, and we're building this global common platform, that can deliver that into an experience or customers have needs, and they're looking for art comes, they contrive the entire experience for them. Jason: [4:12] Very cool. And i'm curious. Weed. In my my day job, my practice, we talk a lot about selling and implementing platforms on behalf of clients and there's. Always this sort of build versus by conversation, was that even in the dialogue, Dell, was it a no brainer that you guys were that your next generation platform was going to have to be built? Or like? Sarika: [4:34] Great question i think we go it's it's like a ping pong game right you go through barrier versus pie you make some by decisions and you realize oh my god not so good, and then you end up going down the path to go build your platform and then you you realize oh it's not you know why am i building a platform if there is something that's already out there that can do the same thing, and how can i innovate faster rather than going to have i have to go having to go bear the same functionality that could be just procured from the outside i think the key it's not really build verses by i think it's not the ideathat that really matters, it's the execution off that idea sometimes we just don't have the patients to see it through, you know sometimes by a product and will realize oh it's not it's too expensive or it's not something that we really want to go down this path there's too much custom work that has to be done what was promised is notdelivered, and then you go down this path to go bury something and guess what when you're trying to build something there's just not off like for like functionality that has to be built, and and you realise why why why is this so slow like i would like to innovate faster so it's really how you execute and i think the speed in how you deliver your software changes to production is the key. And that is why i keep bringing up it's, not the idea. That's, so much that's. Bad that's. The execution of that idea. That's, that's, so critical to success. Jason: [5:49] That makes perfect sense. The only bummer, though, is that execution is like messi and boring, and it requires all kinds of hard work. It's way more fun to just talk about the shopping and, like, oh, my god, should we go builds by some shiny bobble from one of these friends. They'll take us to a nice dinner, or should we hire a big team and develop ourown stuff? Sarika: [5:59] Yeah, yep. [6:04] Dell wait we're changing that so we're changing i mean i think i and i said this before it's not just about you know delivering another platform, it's about creating this fantastic work culture for employees so it becomes fun building a platform, and we're using you know what some people may might know about this is pivotal labs methodology and technology that really drives employees experience so we're so centered around the customer, will be bitter things that there are customers care about you're no longer building things that are customers no longer care about, we're constantly validating it rating we're talking to the customers the entire team is talking to the customer it's not, that you're not operating a traditional waterfall software life cycle where you have a team in the business that comes up with an idea and you have a team of product managers that figure out how to write rightrequirements, and then you have another team of architects that who figure out all right how do you architect this entire solution and they handed over to a team of developers which, could take months to go deliver something to into ah sit environment and then it might take you know, another few weeks to get it tested now all disconnected themes and it can get very, very boring and very frustrating, what we've done is we've infused those dysfunctions do not go away we have infuse those functions within a within a very small product ing. We're moving away from project. He esteems into more small product. Hastings and and the steam is responsible for design. [7:29] Develop and delivering changes to production and how to support those changes back in production is really changing that entire operating cycle, so we're going to actually be on this path to make it a fun exercise.So it's not going to be boring. Jason: [7:41] Nice. I think that is critical because, you know, we talk a lot about it is ten percent, the tool in ninety percent, the people and on dso like putting those people in a position tau be successful and add the most value seems seems critical. I don't wantto spend too much time, but just to get like, so transformation implies a current state to a future state. So so the state you're moving away from, i'm guessing you had a number of platforms that came in through your various acquisitions in your legacy businesses. And is it fair to say you mentioned that the aspirational state is a cloud based solution? Is it fair that you may have had some class stuff before, but i'm guessing the bulk of your stuff was sort of on graham type solutions. Yet so making the big migration to the cloud on then the other buzz word that i usually hear in that sentence that you did not say so i'm just curious if you were trying to keep it simple for my my ah non engineering brainmicro services are you? Sarika: [8:41] Oh, absolutely. I think that and this is where, you know we've been on this transformation...
Transcribe →EP142 - Industry News and Retail Earnings
Aug 28, 201800:48:44Tap to summarizeEP142 - Industry News and Retail Earnings Scot Wingo Tarheel of the week. Amazon News Amazon licensing it’s Amazon Go “Just Walkout Technology” to Hundai in S. Korea Whole Foods now selling via Alexa Whole Foods offering 30-minute windows for curbside pickup Party City selling on Amazon Walmart News Earnings – Same Store Sales up 6% y/y (highest in 10 years) 40% E-Com Growth Traffic and Tickets up 2% in US Grocery pickup is now in more than 1,800 locations (40% of US Pop by EOY) “Clearly, the consumer backdrop is favorable, we’re getting a little bit of benefit from that”, Dan Binder VP Investor Relations Allowing 3p returns in stores Walmart co-leads $500M investment in Chinese online grocery service Dada-JD Daojia Target News Same Store Sales up 6.5% y/y (highest in 13yrs) E-Com Up 41% (vs 36% last year) Traffic up 6.4% “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I think this is the healthiest environment I’ve ever seen” Target CEO Brian Cornell Same Day Delivery 1100 stores / Curbside pickup 800 stores Owned Brand Cat & Jack $2B in 1 year Mallageddon 4,379 closures / 2,239 opens = 2,100 net fewer stores (net 2800 reduction in stores in 2017) Loss of 35M ft sq of retail space (closed stores are typically smaller footprint than new store openings) Industrial space is now MORE expensive than retail space Upcoming: Shop.org September 12-14th, Las Vegas Groceryshop October 28-31, Las Vegas Don’t forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 142 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday, August 23rd, 2018. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason “retailgeek” Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:29] Welcome to the Jason and Scot show. This is episode 142 being recorded on Thursday August 20 3rd 2018. I’m your host Jason “Retailgeek” Goldberg,and as usual I’m here with your cohost and TarHeel of the week, Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:47] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason escutcheon listeners. Yes it’s true. Star High I guess I’m Tarheels this week. So we have a newspaper here in Raleigh called The News and Observer. It’s been around forever. And they do this weekly thing where someone is the Tarheel of the week. And that was me this week. I get I get a pen. Evidently I’m excited. Jason: [1:11] I think that’s actually totally cool. At the risk of sounding corny I am sort of proud for you. Scot: [1:18] Thanks man. The thing that is a little complicated. Musher in this area you may not understand. And so our state is the Tar Heel state. But you can see the Tarheels and immanence 8 person. So I’m really a wolf pack fan. It’s all my Wolfpack fans have been me crap this week that I’m Tarheels the week because lot of them don’t understand it’s a state thing and not a season. So yeah. So it is friction between USC NC State Duke. Jason: [1:44] Gaji so. Scot: [1:50] There is so that’s been fun to do. Jason: [1:51] Oh I could totally imagine I’ve just gone from being proud of you to thinking you should not accept. Now it’s very cool. I do. I do get that conundrum though. Scot: [2:04] Yeah. And you were at east up in Boston. How did that sugar. Jason: [2:10] It went really well for those that have never had a chance to spend time in Boston. It is very easy access to a Dunkin Donut from anywhere in downtown Boston. Scot: [2:21] I have been to Boston and there are a fair number of Starbucks to see must of been a happy camper. Jason: [2:25] Yes. Yes. As I may have joked with you in our our voluminous rehearsals that we do for these podcasts the the show Hotel is, a nice Sheraton that has an adjacent Starbucks and a Shake Shack so that basically has all the amenities I need. Scot: [2:44] And a none. There sure there’s your meals right there boom. Jason: [2:47] Yeah yeah. I never got an opportunity to have any of the show food because I was I was you know always making the super healthy Dunkin Donuts Shake Shack runs. Scot: [3:00] And the plan was we were both going to go but I couldn’t make it because I had to help my daughter move into college. We got a last minute note that she could move in all early so we had to do that. But you carried the Jason Scott banner up to Boston where your triangle had played flute and you laid down some good podcasts that we’re going to be rolling out here soon. Jason: [3:20] Yeah I sure did. It’s a good event. You know it’s a little more intimate than some of the biggest events. You get a chance to interact with more folks. And I got to record three great shows so listeners have probably already heard her as who’s the web psychologist from quick tell on last week’s show and into upcoming shows will be talking about, Dell and sort of their their evolution, from a you know pure consumer B2C company to this big enterprise company today. And we’ll also be talking to the two founders of Tommy John and, they’re they’re great entrepreneurial Nergal story of sort of inventing a better T-shirt and turning it into a very successful business and you know kind of an early digitally native vertical brand that will get more and moreabout. Scot: [4:13] Yeah it’s funny when I’m not listening to the Jason Scott show my favorite podcast. I do listen to some other podcasts and you can’t really listen to anything without a tommy john added being on there. If I listen to XM Radio they’re on there they’re on CNBC so they seem to have really embraced not only digital and that media but the analog media as well. I look forward to hearing their whole story. Jason: [4:38] Yeah yeah I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you but I think it was a good show. They were super interesting so I will look forward to hearing your feedback. Scot: [4:47] Cocq Well this week we are going to really focus in on some e-commerce news. We’re recording this at the back half of August which is an interesting time because in the world of retail what happens is we we take a luxurious summer and then Labor Day hits and then everyone freaks out. It’s theholidays right around. So this is when the news picks up. So we wanted to pick up some of what’s going on for everybody and and watch this highlights. We’re going to start with. Jason: [5:30] Yes. I think the first piece of Amazon news is exciting because it arguably makes you and I sound wise. There was a news report that came out this week that Amazon is licensing a bunch of their technology including just walk out technology from the Amazon go store to Hyundai, to be used in a number of retail stores in South Korea. So you know Wisner’s of the Amazon go episode of our podcast will remember that we we talked a bit about the potential of Amazon licensing that technology and it appears we’ve we’ve seen the first version of that inthe wild. Scot: [6:08] Yeah yeah. The you know I always you and I speak, out in the world a lot about Amazon and one thing I like to tell a lot of people is the Amazon playbook and you know the playbook pretty simple now and they’ve repeated it hundreds of times but it’s dog food. So dog food something out meaning use it internally. And then every one of these steps there is a path off this ramp that is it doesn’t work until it likes the Fire phone for example it went down the kill path. So dog food is step one step two is scale first party steps. Step three is scale third party and then the next step is really kind of opening it up even outside of third party. So you’ve seen like cloud computing with this FBA has gone through this and now I think this just walk out of Cassiel a store will walk through this as well. Jason: [7:03] Yeah. So it’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out. As we’ve already talked about there’s a Amazon story that’s going to open soon here in Chicago so I’ll get a chance to see it in the live with much more regularity than periodic visits to Seattle. Scot: [7:22] Have you. When does the campout start. Jason: [7:24] I don’t think the publicly announced a date. I have gone by the site and it is all sort of newspaper up all the windows and whatnot. So like it appears work is happening. [7:40] I am slightly less excited about this next piece of news but it may be interesting to listeners nonetheless. Amazon has extended the Lexx voice shopping capability to all of the Whole Foods products so you can now place orders not just from, the huge Amazon catalog but from all the the Whole Foods in-store products directly from your Amazon. Alexa. Scot: [8:09] Yeah and I saw that also within the whole foods part of Amazon. They now have you know they’re expanding the number of stores that have curbside pickup and they have 30 minute windows now. And I think you were telling me that there’s a if you do an hour under there’s a fee but two hours is free. Is that right. With Prime. Jason: [8:29] No. So you can order your food online and pick it up in an hour for free or you can pay a fee and I want to say it’s like seven dollars to pick it up 30 minutes after you order it. Scot: [8:42] Have you. I looked at the list of stores in major metros of late with that. Jason: [8:47] Yeah. Yeah I’ve tried it and it does work well. The whole foods causes to mind supports it but it doesn’t feel like they did a major build out to support it. I’ve seen photos of other Wholefoods where they clearly constructed some new infrastructure to support high volume curbside pickup. [9:08] But you know to me this is a very thin Mandic for Amazon first of all I would just remind people that prior to the acquisition Wholefoods didn’t have a digital copy of their inventory online anywhere. Like you couldn’t get a whole foods accom and even see what products Wholefoods had in their store much less. Order ...
Transcribe →EP141 - Liraz Margalit, Web Psychologist
Aug 22, 201800:42:25Tap to summarizeLiraz Margalit, PhD, is a Web Psychologist, a Keynote Speaker and Head of Behavioral Research at Clicktale. She integrates Cognitive Psychology and Behavioral Economic perspectives to analyzes online consumer behavior and delivers actionable insights for business stakeholders. In this interview, we cover Liraz's background, digital body language, the mobile mindset, and the role of emotion in shopping. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 141 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Tuesday, August 7th from the eTail East tradeshow in Boston. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this episode is being recorded live at the e'tae least trade show in Sunny Boston on Tuesday August 7th I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg unfortunately Scott had a personal conflict and wasn't able to make this show so you guys are stuck with just me but we have some great guess this week and first up we are excited to have dr. Laura's mark delete from cooked tail on the show or as is head of Behavioral research cook tail and she's going to share some fascinating psychological research that that she's been conducting about online Shoppers and their behaviors welcome to the show with us. Liraz: [1:10] Thank you I'm very blessed to be here. Jason: [1:12] The president Charlie R's one thing I was like to do to get things started on the show is just for a little bit of background about the guest so maybe you could take just a minute and tell us how you came into the doesn't seem like online marketing is necessary the first place you think of her psychology. Liraz: [1:29] So interesting the fact that there is no such a degree in web sites out or web psychology or digital say Call of Duty and people keep coming to me and ask, how can I become a psychologist and there is no one answer so for me I have a PhD in Psychology. Specialize in decision-making processes and cognition also Game Theory and over the past 5 years I've been utilizing model from cognitive psychology neuropsychology and behavioral economics how we can understand and identify customers behavior and did you deter work because we know that there is a slight difference and you don't like it's not so slide, there are differences between how people behave online and in the physical world and they are communicating frankly even their personality trait. James like if someone is an extrovert become an introvert and vice versa so I think there is a huge need to understand how people behave in those Windows media and those Arenas so a disability. Jason: [2:37] That's very cool and I'm excited to dig into it before we go too deep maybe we should tell our listeners just a little bit about cooked tail for anyone that's not for me. Liraz: [2:45] Sure she looks so cute Bella is an experience analytics company so what we do is that we, how to analyze and understand the customers Behavior the motivation for example what makes them motivate them to purchase certain products and why they would has it, before clicking on a call to action their Journey at the differences we can have different Behavior patterns we're talking about, thousands of visitors all together so we can take a view of individual visitor of thousands of visitors all together and this is how we can have heat inside into what's going on in your mind before deciding to purchase or to leave website or what is there Experian. Jason: [3:32] Wonderful in the way I sort of think of it there's lots of tools out there that I'll call Page analytics tools that sort of keep track of how I consumer moves from page to page and what unique about could tell as in my mind you were one of the very first tools that were what I'll call on page Analytics and you could actually see all the micro behaviors of the consumer wow they're spending time on a page so are they you know are they scrolling are they hovering I mean not I know there's a small part of it but like. Gray superficially I think people always think about the heat maps and understanding where like the real fold is on the page how far down is the consumer really going. Liraz: [4:10] Exactly so there is a common mistake that we are a heat map company goes much deeper than heatmap so if you think about it I can understand how you feel I can understand what you are going to remember from The Experience only based on how you interacted with the different pages I can under, if you're going through shift from positive to negative negative to positive and I can take, into consideration all your behaviors and actually see who you are or your personality traits are you crying to mine said so there is a whole lot of things we can detect only based on your micro-level behavior. Jason: [4:49] I feel like I'm never going shopping again I love online shopping and now I'm terrified that all my deepest secrets are going to be revealed by my my my mouse behavior. Liraz: [4:58] It's so now it's all I have. Jason: [4:59] Just made me very self-conscious. Liraz: [5:02] I have actually I can use it up for you because I don't care where you are I mean I care a lot about you. Like from we can we are not going to save the information about you the gender only based on what you doing what you did online so that's it and it means that I don't know who you are I can only see what you're doing online. Jason: [5:26] And that is it that is another interesting thing like a lot of times when people think about personalization or even, I I care more about relevancy necessary then personalization they think about like storing and collecting data and knowing who is user is individually and accumulating more insight that you can somehow use to change the experience one of the things that's that's cool about this field is you can use kind of contextual signals in a single session so I can be entirely Anonymous Shopper or shopper you've never before and you can instantly start getting some signals you can use to make the experience more relevant for her. Liraz: [6:03] Exactly exactly so is I look at it ice I've used the language model meaning that at the bottom of the mother we have the letters of course so these are like. Peaks and espola to have hers and then you go one level up and then we can talk about words for example if you click and butt before you click to hezzy. So I will call it hesitation are you at school really fast or really slow and then at the app we have the mindset for example if you are gorgeous. So I would see a direct action and then click so meaning that you know exactly what you're looking for and how to accomplish. On the website so I can actually understand your mindset if your focus if you're frustrated so this is like the the sentences in Thai language. Jason: [6:51] Very cool and it's this is maybe a silly analogy but the the expanse I feel like Moe's online consumers have had that makes this sort of apparent is the the little button I am not a robot. Right and everything goes well that's stupid like if I were a robot I would be able to quit that. I am in what what you're not realizing is that that which it is watching how you move your mouse, the button and the the unique way that a human being moves the mouse is different than the perfectly linear way and I'll order them is likely to do a. Liraz: [7:26] This is the magic word actually the house because actually my whole research is focus on the how customers behave and not what you're doing and also you know there are many many companies today. Dad or like your your detect that you use bad. I think that it doesn't matter because you know 70% of our day-to-day interactions are actually based on nonverbal signals meaning. Hope you're saying to one another so I can ask you if you like to come over and you will say yes because you are being polite but from the way you say from how you say I can infer that you really don't like to come over so it's about our body gestures and her facial expression when we're talking about the physical world but when were talking about the online it is also about the how is that it as you described right now. Jason: [8:14] Yeah it's super exciting let's jump right into it now you've done for the three big areas of research and I want at least be able to touch on all of the the first one is when we talk turn it down on the show we talk about this thing we call the mobile Gap right and in general you got all the traffic on the web is predominantly moving to mobile devices but if you're an e-commerce site people don't tend to shop as frequently and successfully on mobile devices that used to on desktop so you so that's a scary Trend and we're always talking about how sides can do better what we can fix in the customer experience and you know frankly you have a chance to settle up our way in on his dispute Scott and I always have without putting words in Scott's mouth while he's not here but he's not here so I might as well. He thinks some of that Gap is in friends and that it just harder to shop on mobile devices in the screens last. Liraz: [9:08] I would like technical issues. Jason: [9:10] Yeah not all of it I don't think you would say but I think he would you know just say hey it's West convenient and and I argue that a lot of it is inferior experiences and execution that as we get better we can remediate and and that we should expect to see. The mobile Gap certain Arab so I love to hear your perspective on that and tell us tell us a little bit about the study and what you learned. Liraz: [9:36] So yeah I'm sorry Scott but I will have to go with you or with your assumptions about it, if I say we we are ...
Transcribe →EP140 - Stripe Head of Stripe Issuing, Lachy Groom
Aug 10, 201800:32:15Tap to summarizeEP140 - Stripe Head of Stripe Issuing, Lachy Groom Lachy Groom is the head of issuing at Stripe. Stripe is a payment processor that provides a set of tools to help businesses accept payment online. Their clients include Warby Parker, Wish, and Target. Lachy was the 30th employee at Stripe, he leads Stripe Issuing which is an end-to-end platform for quickly creating, distributing, and managing physical and virtual cards. In this interview, we cover Lachy's background, the range of Stripes services, the state of online payments, mobile payment best practices, digital wallets, and marketplaces. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 140 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Friday, August 3, 2018. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:29] Welcome to the jason and scott show. This is episode one, forty, being recorded on friday, august third, two thousand eighteen. I'm your host, jason retail, g, goldberg. And, as usual, i'm here with your co host, scottwingo. Scot: [0:43] Hey, jason, and welcome back, jason's got show listeners. Well, jason, one of our favorite topics on the show, and certainly something near and dear to your heart, is payments on dhere in two thousand eighteen. You cannot think about payments without thinking about one of the top payment companies out there. Stripe we're very excited tohave on the show, laki groom, who is the head of Stripe, issuing here with us today, he is employee number thirty, and we're excited to have you lucky. Welcome to the jason scott show. Lachy: [1:15] Thanks very much for having me. Jason: [1:18] We're super excited, and i'm eager to jump into payments. But before we do, one of things we always like to do on the show is, have our guests give a little bit of a background of their career and sort of how theycame to the role. And particularly in your case, it seems like Stripe was still a very small, entrepreneurial company. When you came to them. So could you. Could you give us the kind of ah, the version of your career project progression? Lachy: [1:43] Sure so i i started seven in online development startups things of that nature pretty young my my granddad actually taught me html when i was a kid, which got me pretty fascinated with the internet and from there i had a, i started a business creating websites for friends and family and that sort of just, just grew into servicing clients around the world on di i got started in and sort of something tangentially related to payments when i started a company called card nap which is a was a gift card marketplace, on dh ii build this side out in australia it looked pretty similar to a company called plastic jungle here in the u s, and it was just a nightmare to set up setting up this marketplace where i had to accept payments and pay people out manage inventory in and verifications and and so i ended up pivoting that business to be something elsethat it didn't really have a lot of those complexities. [2:41] Ah and and from there that that really just kicked off my fascination with with startups and tech and so i knew i wanted to move out toe, san francisco and had had a few friends that walked it Stripe didn't really understand this whole, developer tools thing until they explained it to me and explained how starting my business back in australia could mean so much simpler if something like Stripe have existed ah and that that began my my joanie it'sStripe as one of the, first few business high as high, initially focused on on one of our products, a product called check out. Then i moved in tow. International expansion, where i helped Stripe launch, and singapore, australia and new zealand, hong kong, on bit of the rest of europe. And from there, i i worked on partnerships and, our co payments product, walking with all the different credit card networks, building our copayment acceptance infrastructure. And after doing that for a few years, i got fascinated with the whole other side of of payment acceptance and the credit card networks. Which is, is sort of where i've landed today, issuing cods. And instead of making in payments, rather than focusing just on accepting them. Jason: [3:47] Very cool on dare you talking to us today from san francisco from the bay area. Lachy: [3:52] I am, yeah. We just moved into it new office here and talking to you from from san francisco. Jason: [3:59] Well, congratulations on dh for listeners that aren't super familiar with Stripe, can you give us, ah, kind of the the high level overview of aa. What you guys doing where you sit in the eco system? Lachy: [4:10] Sure, so fundamentally, we're a global technology company. We build, economic infrastructure for the internet, so we work with businesses of all sizes from from brand new startups to public companies like sales force and facebook who all you Stripe teo to power some, some part of their economic infrastructure, and accepting online payments, managing their businesses online, you've got millions of customers and over one hundred hundred or so different countries that used Stripe to start, run and scale their business, on one thing that we've really being focused on is just reducing the barriers to entry for starting a business and then subsequently growing it in scaling it especially internationally. Andi, we fundamentally believe that we're still in the early days of the internet's potential on we're seeing people you Stripe to build the kinds of companies that couldn't exist ten years ago. New models like online crowdfunding or undermanned aps e commerce marketplaces really high growth companies with a broad appeal on dh. We build that the tools that allow them tio stop those kinds of businessesand scaled them out. Scot: [5:16] Very cool. Let's was kind of jump into some payments. Just topics that that we've covered on the show would love to hear what you guys are seeing out there. There's been a lot of innovation around, you know, touchless payments. So, you know, google pay, apple pay and those kinds of things. If my memory serves me right, you guys were like one of the first folks to reallykind of support. You know, those platforms, how are they doing? And he thought, son, on where that's going? Lachy: [5:43] Yeah, i'm i'm a huge fan of these kinds of payment methods, i think it is if you've got an iphone and you're paying with apple pay it's almost the perfect payment experience, you know, there's been some, i think some hitches with the new face i'd method, but when it was touch idea and you just press that one button to pay, i thought that was, you know, it's almost perfect. You don't even need to think about the payment experience, which is is our real aspiration to make payments fade into the background. It shouldn't need to be this this thing that consumers think about on dso for may, apple pez i think it's had an even bigger impact on purchases online than purchases offline, we we work with with a bunch of companies that have the apple pay flow is a core part of their e commas floor, their mobile check outflow, and i want one of those companies insta cot, which is a a marketplace here in san francisco and throughout the rest of the u s for purchasing groceries, they see their customers check out, i think it's around fifty eight percent foster with apple pay on so it's just the these kinds of methods really simplify the payment flow, so it's something that we're, we're really bullish on the trend that we're seeing. Jason: [6:53] Yeah, that's. Awesome on dh. I have seen some similar stets, stan. Ah, there definitely is. Ah, sort of universal, axum, that if you have a lower friction, check out option b it apple pay or samsung pay, or even the payment ap. I built into the ah, the many of the web browsers now, which i know you also support that. Not only do people check out faster, but just conversions higher. They have much of us abandonment, and so they literally make more money. Lachy: [7:23] Yeah, we receive that across a bunch of different uses where they're seeing typically double the conversion rates with when, when a consumer uses a method like apple pay, they don't need to go fetch that creditcard number. It's. Just ultimately, great for businesses and that's, an area that we try and focuses. How come we reduced the friction to improve the the conversion rate? Jason: [7:45] Yep, and so at the risk of alienating the apple pay team, which in all seriousness, i know our listeners of the show apple pay is awesome. The traditional knock on apple pay is, obviously the whole world doesn't use or have access to apple pay right like that, you know, ah, a minority of users are carrying an apple device and, you know as good as apple. Is it an upgrading everyone there's still a lot of deployed apple devices that aren't apple pay compatible and so it's like the traditional knock wass it's, a great conversion tool for this very affluent, high spending, ah, subset of the market but it's now feeling like even if it's not apple pay, but samson payer our microsoft pay or google pay or pin and a p i, you know, we're trying to get to a critical mass where the overwhelming majority of shoppers have access to one of those easier payment things, that's becoming much more you. Lachy: [8:42] Yeah, absolutely. And as you mentioned with the payment request a p i it's now really coming to browse isas well, with quick ways of checking out on dh. So now that i think pretty much every major phone manufacturer has, one of these methods were seeing it at least come to ubiquity in terms of the gaps that are adopting it. And now, it's, really just driving the con...
Transcribe →EP139 - B8ta founder and CEO Vibhu Norby
Aug 7, 201800:53:54Tap to summarizeEP139 - B8ta founder and CEO Vibhu Norby Vibhu Norby is the founder and CEO of b8ta. b8ta is a software-powered brick and mortar retailer designed to improve the customer and maker experience. They help people discover, try, and learn about new tech products while empowering makers with a simple retail-as-a-service model that puts them in control. In this interview, we cover Vibhu's background, how he came to the idea for B8ta, b8ta's retail partnerships (including Lowe's and Macy's), their unique marketplace dynamic, their experiential retail as a service offering, their recent fundraising success, and Vibhu's vision for the future of retail. Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 139 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Wednesday, August 1, 2018. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.
Transcribe →EP138 - Amazon Q2 2018 Earnings Hot Take
Jul 31, 201800:52:10Tap to summarizeEP138 - Amazon Q2 2018 Earnings Hot Take This episode is a hot take on Amazon Q2 2018 earnings Amazon Q2 Earnings Highlights $52.9B, which is a 39% y/y increase $2.98B in operating income $21.8B in Free cash flow, less $11.4B in capex, $6.2B in lease repayments = Net $4.1B Free Cash Flow AWS had a material acceleration up 48% y/y constant currency and profits were $1.4b Amazon Web Services – came in at $6.1b – 49% y/y growth (an acceleration from last quarters 48% growth) North America – $32.2B up 44% Y/Y, operating income of $1.84B International – Revenue increased to $14.6B (+21% Y/Y) for a $0.494B loss Marketplace 53% 3P by Unit sales 3P Growing at 55% (constant currency) Wingo GMV estimate -> 1p – $37.6b/ 3p – $71b = $108.6b GMV Amazon Ad Business – grew 129% y/y to $2.19B Cowen estimates $8.6BN in 2018 rising to ~$37BN in 2023 Amazon increasingly bypassing agencies to go directly to advertisers Increasing likely Amazon becomes first $1 trillion dollar company Jason & Scot will at eTail East in Boston next week. Don’t forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 138 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Monday, July 30th 2018. Join your hosts Jason “Retailgeek” Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. New beta feature – Google Automated Transcription of the show: Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 138 being recorded on Monday July 30th 2018 I’m your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I’m here with your Tahoe Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:40] Hey Jason are welcome back Jason Scott show listeners well last week the big news in e-commerce was Amazon 2nd quarter results but we didn’t get a chance to cover it live because you were down under. Jason: [0:55] That I was I was in the future in Australia. Scot: [0:58] I know he’s not wild you you cross the time zone when you go there and then you lose a day when you come back so yeah it’s very strange. Jason: [1:07] I assume I’m now even. Scot: [1:09] Yeah if you if you keep going though One Direction you’ll either turn time backwards like Superman to or I don’t know if you’ll arrive younger than when you left. Jason: [1:21] Yeah I can certainly use that but I’m not currently that’s not a nephew and I’m currently experiencing. Scot: [1:27] Cool before we jumped into Amazon’s second quarter deep dive give us some highlights of what you saw in Australia and you know since we’re theming on Amazon here let’s start there Amazon has launched in Australia and I imagine that the Aussies are really fired up about that. Jason: [1:44] Should I feel like that is the big change last disruption in the local retail Market I would also I also feel like the. The sort of recovery from the global financial crisis has changed circumstances in Australia a little bit but it said it’s an interesting Market. [2:04] For me it felt a little bit like a Time Warp like I was going back in time a couple years in retail. They’re they’re not as over stored as we are so malls are still like a pretty popular concept like they don’t have too many into the overwhelming majority of malls or sort of the equivalent of what we call in a mall here. And that’s a a growing in popularity shopping concept there in fact like there’s a premise that the. Traditional department stores in in Australia are suffering a little bit because people are choosing. Two shot multiple manufacturer stores in the mall versus going to a department store but overall. It’s a timer for two reasons number one is Scott and I think you already know it’s an odd Market in that a lot of international retailers. [2:57] Didn’t protect their IP rights in the early days until entrepreneurs from Australia would travel abroad they would see some interesting retail concept. And they would bring it an unlicensed version of it tossed really on their own so you’ll see lots of familiar brands for North American Choppers like Target and Kmart. Woolworths but they’re they’re not and The Branding may even feel very similar to what you would expect in the US. But they’re not in any way related to or associated with the North American companies and in some ways it’s a Bizarro world so. Like you know Kmart is probably more vibrant in Australia than Target for example. [3:40] Which feels a little bizarre for anyone that you used to North America where that’s that’s definitively not the case so to the retail Brands it takes a little bit of time to get your head around because they’re familiar and yet for him and then you know I think it’s dorkly the market just hasn’t had a lot of competition like most of the Australian retailers have had to compete with each other but there’s not a huge number of them so they. They don’t have direct overlap like you don’t tend to have two or three brands with the same product assortment in the same price point so i q no U tend to have. [4:13] A retailer in every price point or a category killer in the in the category so you have like an office works. As the category killer for Office Products but they don’t have. A direct competitor like like Office Depot OfficeMax have a Staples here for example and then until recently the the currency exchange rate really sucked in so you didn’t you also didn’t have Australian consumers. Shopping internationally via e-commerce and so really those consumers were kind of locked in the to the local choice there’s no they’re not a lot of international retailers in Market there’s a lot of international Brands and Market but not a lot of. Wholesalers of other people stuff inside so I would argue that the market just didn’t involve really fast and now you got Amazon coming in there I’m which is a big disruption and you have much more favorable exchange rate so you have. Australian consumer shopping tomorrow in Hong Kong and and shopping pesos in in the UK and doing cross-border Commerce and things like that so suddenly there’s a lot of competition suddenly they’re all getting much more heavily disrupted and they’re all trying to figure out a lot of the digital things and Omni Channel things that retard you know we’re more likely to be struggling with you know 2 to 5 years ago here in North America so it’s it’s it’s going to be interesting. Scot: [5:36] Yeah so Channel advisor full disclosure we have an office in Melbourne and it’s a good region for us Amazon coming has been great for us the one thing we’ve seen a ton of is there’s a lot of Chinese Imports and Australia and it frustrates Australians because they have this weird kind of this is kind of topical because the news did this weird thing where you can sell anything and Australia for $1,000 and under and there’s no tariff but then Aussies can’t sell the China without Tara so there’s like this huge disadvantage and it really always frustrates the third-party sellers I know they’re that anything can come into the country for under $1,000 without any kind of a there’s just some guy text benefit almost like they don’t pay Australian tax on it or something and but then they always had a hard time exporting out of Australia so did you hear anything about that or. Jason: [6:29] Yeah so I feel like there’s a number of those sorts of things and and you know I was really really is part of Asia is it is you know there’s it’s very International population and so there there’s a lot of Asian expats in Australia and said there’s there’s it you know it’s it’s not just proximity to the good deals like there’s a lot of Asian brands did it appeal to a big chunk to the local market in Australia, alright are multi-generations in Australia there is this strong sort of national pride thing so I always feel like. They’re they’re very there they’re more opposed to Outsourcing jobs and their there more favorable to. Meeting RC Brands and products then some other markets in all markets we see. That that does kind of stated preferences you no go away when. When there’s economic pressure so I’m not saying Australians won’t buy cheap goods from China but I’m just saying, they maybe put a little more weight on the local stuff then do Americans for exam. Scot: [7:44] Call the other thing I’ve noticed in Australia is pretty much everything will kill you did you run into that at all. Jason: [7:49] I was aware of that but I did not run into that I did not see any vocals boxing with kangaroos. They’re made they’re probably were venomous spiders but I’m happy to report I didn’t see them which is all I care about like I just want to die in my sleep and not be scared the bejesus beforehand. And I was I was mostly in Melbourne and Sydney which are you know big Metropolitan City so I I imagine the density of things that can kill you is more skewed towards public transportation in Alaska Critters. Scot: [8:23] House on the Gold Coast in like a I thought I’ll go to the beach for half an hour or something and it like every other sign was like no warning Riptides warning sharks warning life threatening jellyfish poison manowar’s warning piranhas like ever in Australia. Jason: [8:43] No I think it I think it was Jim that fact that there are there are like more deadly species in Australia than anywhere else and I think that’s particularly like the snakes in the venomous spiders and then is you mentioned a lot of the The Aquatic Life. Scot: [8:56] Yeah they couldn’t tell hundred percent if they’re yanking my chain but the folks in the office for telling me there’s a venomous spider that hangs out in toilets and like all Australians when they go to the toilet they will actually do a visual inspection for this spider because it will actually bite you in the bum and it can kill you if which is like a terrible way to got. Jason: [9:14] Th...
Transcribe →EP137 - Amazon Prime Day and Listener Questions
Jul 20, 201800:51:57Tap to summarizeIndustry News NRFTech Peter Schwartz GetSpiffy Fund Raise Google Express Traction Amazon Prime Day Amazon Press Release USA Today Recap Target results on Prime Day Listener Questions Joan Abrams asks: How important are progressive web apps going to be for retailers? Any retailers doing this really well yet? West Elm Example: https://mobile-beta.westelm.com/ Julie Acosta asks: Any updates on multi-touch attribution models/partners - who’s doing online/offline (brick & mortar) right? Upcoming Events Jason is doing retail visits in Australia July 21 - 29. Ping him on twitter if you’re there. Jason and Scot will be doing shows from eTail East (8/6 - 8/9 in Boston) Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 137 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday, July 19th 2018. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at SapientRazorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:25] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 137 being recorded on Thursday July 19th 2018 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scott Wingo. Scot: [0:40] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners Jason how is your summer going. Jason: [0:48] It is going traffic I am just starting sort of a. A heavy travel session for me so I just got back from San Francisco and I leave on another trip tomorrow but I I feel like the big news this week is I read that spiffy got some new fun thing so congratulations. Scot: [1:08] Thanks yeah so for listeners that may not know so I started Channel advisor 2001 move to exact chairman in 2015 moved over 250 full-time I kind of, experiment with it in 2014 and overlap there and yeah it's been fun so we are on demand Car Care started with car wash with added oil change and now even have some products on the market so we have a cool iot device called spiffy blue that you plug into your vehicle and there's a companion app that tells you all that's going on with your car. A passionate about Digital Services I think that's kind of where the future is going so decided to put my money in time where my mouth is and we just raised our second round this week so it's good to get that behind us so we can keep servicing customers. Jason: [2:03] That's awesome and you keep expanding in the cities to right right right you where are you now. Scot: [2:09] Get 1/5 we're holding firm at 5 right now cuz we have this explosion of Fleet business so e we started out really with optispark with consumers at office parks and Residences and then we added oil change it unlocked Fleet so we we've been kind of adjusting as much Fleet as we get on our plate and it will be adding more City suit store in Raleigh Charlotte Dallas Atlanta and Los Angeles now. Jason: [2:35] Awesome I'm kind of sad because I am assuming that the climate in Chicago means I'm not going to be next on your list. Scot: [2:42] Yeah we've identified our first 50 cities and unfortunately Chicago is not in the first 25 but will eventually get to you. Jason: [2:51] Not I will be waiting or I'll just move I'll just get so frustrated at my lack of spiffy then I'll move. Scot: [2:56] Yeah yeah there's stairs five markets for you to retire to that maybe we'll get you there. Jason: [3:02] Nice I like the thought of retirement. Scot: [3:06] Couldn't you just in San Francisco at the NRF retail Tech any interesting things you want to give us a trip report on there. Jason: [3:14] Yeah you'd be happy too so there's an interesting show interruptus had this show for a number of years and it's mainly been focused on the CIO and CTO. So they sort of had a private party for a number of years I think for a long time it was. Permanently located in Half Moon Bay then it may have moved around a little bit so it may have gone to Laguna Niguel one year and San Diego last year. But there was also a digital merchandising show that that that shop.org put on, MN that shows been retired and see what they kind of done with interests Tech is they've expanded the temp to include all the, the digital Business Leaders and have more more overlapping content for cio's and business leader so I would, I'm not sure if that interests agrees with this definition exactly that I would characterize this is sort of the second year. [4:10] Where this the show has a broader scope in and I think it was interesting content and I think I think all of us that attended. Got a lot out of it so it was two and a half days. In San Francisco of pretty jam-packed content and it's a you know it's a smaller venue with smaller group so it's much more intimate like you basically have an opportunity and network with everyone else that attends and. You know it's it's it's more what I would call a a conference then like a big exhibition show it. Scot: [4:47] What were some of the key takeaways. Jason: [4:49] Yeah it's a different number different topics that they're too many speakers to go over everyone one that I was practically looking forward to is Katie Finnegan, so she runs a store 8 for Walmart which is Walmart's incubation lab and. She I think she she was the founder of the couple startups that Walmart Acquired and she kind of laid out their methodology and it's it's interesting to me because they're there been a bunch of retailers that I've had internally incubation labs in. I think it's fair to say on the aggregate that they haven't actually been that successful. And the Walmart one you know is is these are wholly-owned LLC so if you Walmart is essentially going to acquire you and then incubate you and sit in there all kinds of. You know questions that come out you know what is the exit look like for the the founders in the management team and you know how to define answers work and what are the success criteria and all those sorts of things so it's kinda interesting. I think Katie is like pretty realistic about the track record of retail incubation Labs insert you know she she was pretty candid about. [6:06] Where where they felt like they had the problem solved and where they thought like you know they're still open questions to be answered and she she kind of painted this maturity model and you know she highlighted several several. Companies that are in the story labs and where they are in that maturity model and so the. [6:27] If they're six stages of maturity you know, the most mature thing they have is this jet black which is kind of at the third stage of maturity. Which is this kind of um concierge personal shopping service and delivery service in New York City and some most of what they have is even earlier than that. So that was interesting was interesting to hear her thoughts about incubation in general and then some of the specific initiatives Walmart had. You know a bunch of gas from the show we're speaking they're so so Billy May who's the the CEOs or the table was on. A panel talking about. How how to prioritize technical initiatives within the company Rob Schmaltz who's been on the show from Talbots did a did a couple of channels. [7:25] The John Nord Mark has been on the show for his iterate. Incubation lab he brought in a couple of the companies in in his lab to kind of talk about new. New companies and there was also some the VCU that had some of their companies and so. There is kind of some interesting startups that we got to hear from and chat box there's a company called Shadow research. And there's a ton of newer Marketplace aggregator called hinge to which you may be more familiar with I wasn't super familiar with them. [8:09] As you well know you know tons of interest in traction in the in the marketplace space going on. And in the very last speaker sound pretty interesting and. I think I think we need to get him on the show so it's a it's a guy named Peter Schwartz who's a futurist. And I think he's got like a boondoggle job for salesforce.com so he's the head futurist for salesforce.com. [8:40] The listeners may be more familiar with Peter Schwartz his work he's the main character that the Matthew Broderick character was based on in the movie War Games. So he was like literally a young hacker that broke into some government databases and he was a consultant on the movie War games and several years later he as a futurist he partnered with Steven Spielberg to do. Paint a picture of what the future would look like for the movie Minority Report so all those famous scenes of. You know facial recognition triggering customer have ads inside the Gap in The Minority Report where ideas that that he put together. It's got a ton of fascinating stories he said when we were brainstorming Minority Report we thought we were, we are thinking about what the future would look like in 2040 or 2050, and he's like basically everything that we had in that movie like is now here and it's 2018 so he's like you know we may have gotten some of the ideas right but we were way wrong on the. On the timer iser. Scot: [9:48] I love those two movies Joshua spoiler. Jason: [9:54] Exactly exactly so he was interesting and it was silly but he's like. He's an older gentleman and he's like I'm 72 years old on the oldest employee at Salesforce and the irony is not lost on me that the oldest guy tells horses responsible for the future. Scot: [10:12] What did he predict. Jason: [10:18] Yes so he we talked about a bunch of things. We talked about Ai and that's an interesting one because I feel like there's kind of two camps I think there's people and maybe Elon Musk is in this Camp to think. The AI is super dangerous and that the Killer Robots are coming and Peter Schwartz was like that's not what's happening with the AI that we have now and heat you know...
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