The Commerce Collective Podcast

In this episode of our APAC Masterclass, Jasper Knoben, CEO at Intrepid introduces us to ecommerce in the Southeast Asia region. In this first of two parts, we learn about the market anatomy, digital commerce trends in the region, and begin to understand how this region compares to both China and the West, as well as where it’s going and how quickly the landscape is changing. Be sure to listen to part two for a deeper dive into ecommerce nuances and tactics!

Tomoyuki Maeda, Japan Market Representative at Flywheel Digital teaches us all about ecommerce in Japan - with a focus on Amazon - in this episode. He covers differences in consumer behavior and expectations across Japan, China, SEA, & the West, key players in the ecommerce market in the region, and, of course, the foundations of metail (media + retail) on Amazon in Japan.

In Part 2 of our Southeast Asia coverage, Jasper Knoben, CEO at Intrepid is back to tell us about the specific nuances of ecommerce from the lens of comparing the East to the West, while also comparing Southeast Asia to China. We cover the competitive landscape, marketplace infrastructure, ad revenue and paid search to super apps and the overall management for brands of all the moving pieces - while providing the insights needed for enterprise brands looking to expand into or grow in the region.

Challenger brands spice up competition across western marketplaces, but what makes them successful and what are some of the common hurdles that Chinese challenger brands need to overcome? Robbie Zhang, Business Operations Director at 4kMiles teaches us about his work with Chinese brands selling in overseas markets, and how it’s not about replacing Enterprise brands, it’s about testing the opportunities that exist, similar to western brands entering the APAC marketplaces.

We’ve learned over the course of Mastering Metail the power of data - but do the structures that we understand and rely on carry across the globe? Tony Ren, CPO of APAC for Flywheel Digital helps us understand 1st, 2nd, and 3rd party data similarities and differences between the East and West - which teaches us about the expectations that enterprise brands should have when it comes to the data that can be retrieved and utilized from the different platforms and marketplaces.

In the first episode of our APAC Masterclass season, Dan Cotton, EVP of Digital Commerce, APAC, guides us through an introduction to the APAC region - how the region has evolved to shape digital commerce, cultural differences and technological influences across the East and West, the different markets and their unique characteristics, and his ideas on what the future will look like in the region. After listening to this episode you will have the foundation to further understand what’s to come in the rest of the season - which you won’t want to miss!

In this episode of our APAC Masterclass, Amber Chen - SVP Strategic Partnerships & Global Account Development, China, at Flywheel Digital walks us through three of the 6 key marketplaces fueling digital commerce in China - Alibaba, Tmall, and Taobao. From retail elements such as consumer behavior & expectations, business models, and ways of working on-site to media elements through Alimama, you’ll leave this episode with a deeper understanding of how these marketplaces compare and contrast to those such as Amazon in North America & EMEA. Be sure to listen to part two for three more key Chinese marketplaces!

Amber Chen - SVP Strategic Partnerships & Global Account Development, China, Flywheel Digital, is back for another episode of our APAC Masterclass to walk us through the second three key marketplaces in China from a metail perspective - JD.com, Duoyin, and Pinduoduo. Amber helps us understand similarities and differences to Western platforms such as Amazon and TikTok and helps us understand Chinese consumer preferences and shopping experiences.

Mastering Metail’s monthly series, This Month Above the Fold, covers the most important ecommerce headlines each month broken down by Flywheel Digital’s experts. For July 2023, Patrick Miller, Co-Founder and Co-President at Flywheel Digital covers Prime Day/Walmart+ Week/Target Circle Week performance and Amazon’s Q2 earnings.

Jason Del Rey, author of the new book, “Winner Sells All - Amazon, Walmart, and the Battle for Our Wallets” joins Mastering Metail to discuss his new book that tells the story of one of the greatest business rivalries of all time. This episode digs into the rivalry from a CPG lens, looking at the competition in the CPG space between the two retail behemoths and the future of CPG - will there be a winner who sells all?

We’re all on the same page in knowing that profit is the money that a company or brand actually gets to take home, but what do we mean when we talk about profitability in ecommerce, and why can it be so difficult to achieve? Andrea K. Leigh, Founder & CEO of the Allume Group sheds light in this episode on profitability as a whole while walking through common hurdles brands face and solutions that can be implemented.

Mastering Metail’s new monthly series, This Month Above the Fold, covers the three most important ecommerce headlines each month broken down by Flywheel Digital’s experts. For June 2023, Patrick Miller, Co-Founder and Co-President at Flywheel Digital covers Jason Del Ray’s new book, "Winner Sells All," Amazon excluding TEMU from competitive price checks, and some updates on the 3P seller landscape with the introduction of the INFORM Act.

Mastering Metail presents “Cannes Sessions,” recorded live from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In this episode, Simon Peel, VP of Global Media at Haleon and Alex Brownsell, Head of Content at WARC discuss the foundations of marketing effectiveness - clarifying effectiveness vs. efficiency, brand vs. performance marketing, and the long vs. the short of it all.

Mastering Metail presents “Cannes Sessions,” recorded live from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In this episode, Megan Ramm, Global Director of CPG Partnerships for Uber's advertising division teaches us about the robust capabilities of Uber’s advertising platform and the opportunities that exist for CPG brands looking for innovative ways to advertise that deliver results.

Mastering Metail presents “Cannes Sessions,” recorded live from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In this episode, Suzanne Skop, Head of Agency Partnerships at Instacart, introduces us to what’s new at Instacart in the spirit of innovation - from “Ask Instacart” to Instacart’s new partnership with Roku, and Instacart’s retail media opportunities and capabilities.

Mastering Metail presents “Cannes Sessions” recorded live from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the south of France. In this episode, Diana Finster, Head of Agency & Tech Partnerships at Walmart Connect discusses the importance of impactful creative and how Walmart Connect is investing in this space with the recent announcement of introducing Creative Partners and the Walmart Connect Partner Network.

Mastering Metail’s new monthly series, This Month Above the Fold, covers the three most important ecommerce headlines each month broken down by Flywheel Digital’s experts. For May 2023, Patrick Miller, Co-Founder and Co-President at Flywheel Digital covers AMC’s audience builder announcement, Walmart opening its second in-store fulfillment center, and the ongoing issue of organized retail theft.

Every brand strives for incremental sales, but how is incrementality actually measured? And how granular can you get? Henry Reith, Technical Advisor at Flywheel Digital helps us understand the elements of measuring incrementality with a data science lens from what data is used, how search and display impact the model differently, considering New to Brand, and the importance of clicky vs. scrolly categories.

Building the Amazon Ads Developer Community is no small feat, but first, we need to understand: What and who is Amazon Ads? And who are the developers? Then, we can focus on the importance of building & strengthening the community through feedback and knowledge sharing. Thankfully Jeff Cohen, Principal Evangelist, Advertising APIs at Amazon Ads joined us to talk about his role and help us break down what he is doing and why. This episode is a must-listen for everyone involved in not only the Amazon ecosystem but ecommerce as a whole.

Building the right ecommerce capabilities as a brand is a bit vague. What are the capabilities? How does one form a decision as to what to choose? What does a brand actually need? Chris Perry, Chief Learning Officer & Co-Founder at firstmovr breaks down these three critical questions with support from his “Trilliant Value Scape” design. You’ll have to listen to find out more about that, and you might just walk away with a better understanding of a brand’s ecommerce ecosystem.

Working in ecommerce, you hear the word “partnerships” all of the time. Brand partners with agency, brand partners with retailer, retailer partners with agency, you get the jist. But what are these partnerships? How are these partnerships driving business forward for all parties involved? In this episode we talk with Bradley Haaland, Principal Partnerships & Sales Executive - Ads API, Creative Agency and Data at Instacart, who teaches us the importance of Instacart partnering with agencies to strengthen its position in the marketplace and the importance of agencies partnering with Instacart to continue to develop the capabilities and analysis needed to drive growth for the brands.

Mastering Metail brings you the “ShopTalk Series,” recorded live from ShopTalk 2023! In this episode David McIntosh, VP & GM, Connected Stores, at Instacart breaks down the concept of Connected Stores - from checkout and payment solutions to product discovery, personalization, & advertising and how all of these elements work to bring the best customer experience both online and offline.

Mastering Metail brings you the “ShopTalk Series,” recorded live from ShopTalk 2023! In this episode Diana Finster, Head of Agency & Tech Partnerships at Walmart Connect helps us understand the presence of retail media networks at ShopTalk, teaches us about Walmart Connect’s capabilities, how to pick the best partners and solutions for your business, and gives us a peek into innovations in the pipeline.

Mastering Metail brings you the “ShopTalk Series” recorded live from ShopTalk 2023! In this episode Mike Balabanov, VP of Agency Development at Criteo discusses how retail media networks are no longer just for sponsored products. The media ecosystem is evolving with the open web which requires nuanced approaches to media planning, and Criteo’s Commerce Max (which you’ll have to tune in to learn more about) is at the forefront of upper funnel innovation.

Omnichannel is not a new concept on Mastering Metail, but how does a large manufacturer or brand tie everything together across its teams to provide the best consumer experience possible? That’s where someone like Todd Hassenfelt, eCommerce Director, Growth Strategy & Planning at Colgate-Palmolive, can help.This episode focuses on 3 key digital shelf management elements -  PDP Content, retailer search, and ratings & reviews - to always be thinking about from an omnichannel perspective and we discuss how your brand can adopt this approach. The Digital Shelf should get as much attention as the physical shelf does since the consumer journey starts anywhere and finishes anywhere. 

By pressing play on this episode, you’ll be entering a course led by Carolann McKay, VP of Customer Experience at MikMak who will guide you through understanding how to utilize eCommerce data to improve retailer relationships. Module 1 covers understanding what the consumer wants and where, and Module 2 covers understanding the journey to conversion via MikMak’s data to altogether help strengthen a brand’s critical retailer relationships.

Social commerce isn’t just a fad - through its development it has challenged advertisers to find new ways to interact with and inspire consumers to purchase. In this episode Patrick Quaggin-Smith, Emerging Channels Lead at Perpetua teaches us about the evolution of influencer marketing and the creator economy while providing insight into the future of the transactional elements of social commerce as well - with key tips for advertisers interested in learning more, experimenting, or growing their social commerce potential.

Whether you want to work in eCommerce, today is your first day, or you’ve been around for a while, where to take your career can be an overwhelming thought. In this episode we flip the roles of host and guest. Mark Mannino, Chief Operating Officer at Flywheel Digital interviews Emma about starting and building an eCommerce career - what skills are needed? What does "Day 1" look like? After that, the roles flip back and Emma interviews Mark about accelerating a career and what a role in senior leadership looks like.

When we think about finding success in eCommerce, instinct leads us to the product and where it shows up on site - but what are some of the less obvious opportunities out there that can help drive efficiency, reduce fines, and create an additional brand experience? Look no further than packaging. In this episode, Scott Erickson, Sr Account Manager, Amazon, at 3M will teach us all about the back end logistics of those boxes or bags that end up on your porch, SIOC, and so much more.

You might think that this big tech event in Las Vegas is all about smart home gadgets and self-driving cars, but that’s not all. There is quite a lot to learn about ecommerce and adtech if you attend CES - that’s why Flywheel Digital shows up in full force. In this episode, Hannah Donoghue, VP of Professional Services at Edge will share what we learned at the event across commerce marketing, the battle for data, greater connectivity, and digital health. You’ll even hear her thoughts on robot strollers.

3PL - third party logistics - you’ve probably heard of this. In the world of eCommerce, manufacturers need to be nimble to keep up with consumer demands and the changing dynamics of supply chain. Mike O’Donnell, VP of Client Services at Flywheel Digital, explores the ways in which a 3PL can expand beyond a capabilities extension and become a true strategic competitive advantage for selling online.

AMC (Amazon Marketing Cloud) is not just another industry buzzword. With AMC, media insights can be discovered across multiple consumer insights with accuracy like never before. Andrew Fox, Head of Campaign Tech & Automation at Flywheel Digital will guide us along the path of understanding what AMC can unlock for your brand, how to access it, and how to effectively turn these insights into actionable strategies for your brand.

Retail Media…you’ve probably heard of it. And no, it’s not quite the same as our “Metail” approach to eCommerce. In this episode we have the privilege of sitting down with Elena Gulotta, Director of Account Strategy on the Retail Media team at Criteo. We cover the scope and technicalities of retail media, getting started and then scaling with Criteo, Criteo’s push towards Commerce Media, the Commerce Max launch, and what makes a successful partnership between brands and their Criteo team. Listen in for a light-hearted conversation packed with fundamental knowledge on one of the most relevant fields of digital commerce.

Mastering Metail doesn’t end with an understanding of winning on Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart - we’ll continue to explore the most relevant topics in digital commerce while educating you along the way. In this episode, Donte McCrary-McClain, Senior Manager of Client Services at Flywheel Digital, will share his journey of working across multiple brands with a focus on eCommerce to his transition to an agency, sharing everything he’s learned along the way. Brand-agency partnerships are complicated yet fuel the power of digital commerce - so listen in because you won’t want to miss this.

In this episode, we talk to Russ Dieringer, founder of Stratably, about a recent newsletter he published titled ‘What do we mean by “eCommerce”?’ In it, Russ challenges retail leaders to be more precise in how they think about eCommerce, as store-based omni retailers have a different set of growth levers and future growth potential than pureplay eTailers. We’ll also learn about writing an eCommerce newsletter aiming to increase brands’ digital IQ as well as Russ’ tips on finding trusted sources of information.

On this episode of Mastering Metail we bring back a guest from our Amazon season, Amanda Wolff, Chief Marketing Officer at OneSpace, to cover content on Instacart. We’ll learn about what type of content exists on Instacart, we’ll break down the components of the PDP, and we’ll get into how consumers and brands think about content on site when compared to Amazon and Walmart.

We’ve learned the basics of how Instacart works, and now Bernie Che, Associate Director of Omnichannel Platforms at Flywheel Digital, teaches us even more about advertising on Instacart - which is where so much of your power as a brand lies on the platform. We’ll cover strategy in more depth as well as metrics for success for brands looking to step up their game on Instacart.*In this episode we will refer to Instacart Plus as Instacart Express, which changed post-recording of this episode.

In our first episode of our Instacart Masterclass, Ellie Edwards, Product Designer at Perpetua teaches us all about Instacart - how it works and how brands can get set up with an advertising account to really get things rolling. We’ll cover logistics, ad units available, how to grow your brand, and so much more.

Are you an online seller looking to enter the Walmart ecosystem? Or maybe a 1P supplier that’s considering making the jump to Walmart Marketplace? Well, this episode is for you! Corey Hammond, VP of Product Strategy at WhyteSpyder, will break down Walmart Marketplace, Walmart’s motivations for its online retail platform, and how sellers and suppliers can find success on the marketplace while understanding the nuances specific to Walmart.com.

We’ve touched on the algorithm, but what goes into appearing on page one without the support of media dollars? This is where understanding organic search comes in, and Ryan Monigan, VP of Insights & Strategy at WhyteSpyder, will give us everything we need to know about, well, everything we know about the algorithm.

We couldn’t give you a Walmart ecommerce masterclass without touching on paid search, right? In this episode, Tim Jefferson, Director of Strategy & Insights at WhyteSpyder, will reveal what creates a successful paid search strategy on Walmart, how the rules of what works aren't set in stone, and what the term paid search really encompasses on Walmart.com.

Before you can do much of anything on Walmart.com, you’ll need to import a catalog of products. But that catalog will do you little good without best-in-class content and every product attribute the world’s largest retailer requires. That may seem like a lot to handle, but Lily Grant, VP of Account Services at WhyteSpyder, will guide us through everything we need to know about catalog management on Walmart.com and how suppliers can utilize every resource available to achieve success.

Omnichannel, omnichannel, omnichannel. Are you tired of the word yet? Well, you shouldn’t be! Understanding omnichannel retail is critical to your success with Walmart, requiring a very different approach than what works on Amazon. Scott Benedict, VP of Partnerships at WhyteSpyder, will help us uncover the logistics of omnichannel retail, outline the changing consumer behaviors accelerated by the pandemic, and share his top three strategies for omnichannel success.

Walmart, as one of the largest retailers in the entire world, is home to a complex blend of the physical and digital worlds of retail. Understanding Walmart’s position in the ecommerce landscape and what suppliers need to do to find success on the platform is not an easy task, but Eric Howerton, Founder & Chief Growth Officer at WhyteSpyder, is here to help. In this episode, Eric will provide an all-new perspective on Walmart that will set us up for success in the changing world of ecommerce. (And, of course, omnichannel!)

Should understanding Amazon’s motivations be part of your Amazon strategy? What about other industry insights, or category-level insights? The answer is yes to all of the above. In this episode with Xian Wang, VP Retail Insight at Edge Retail Insights, we’ll hear about Amazon’s positioning in the retail landscape, as well as how manufacturers can begin to understand Amazon’s motivations as well as competitive drivers within their own category. And we can’t forget about the importance of your marketshare on Amazon, either, so tune into this episode for a jam-packed lesson on retail data and research.

Without a thorough understanding of your advertising data, you won’t be able to interpret results and make necessary changes when building efficient and incremental campaigns. In this episode with Gloria Steiner, Business Intelligence Lead at Perpetua, we’ll cover basic available media metrics, as well as Amazon’s launch of the Amazon Marketing Cloud, which gives advertisers insights into the consumer path to purchase like never before.

Amazon revolutionized everything we knew about supply chain, and you might be wondering how products seem to be anywhere and everywhere at the speed of light. Maybe you want to know about the logistics of sending your products to Amazon. In this episode we’ll meet Mike O’Donnell, VP of Client Services (Retail) at Flywheel Digital, and one of Flywheel’s resident supply chain experts. We cover three suggestions that manufacturers should implement into their supply chain strategy in order to win on Amazon.

Think about how you make decisions about what to purchase online. You rely on the content that you see to tell you what you need to know about the product because you can’t physically touch it! In this episode we talk to Amanda Wolff, Chief Marketing Officer at OneSpace, a Flywheel Digital company. Amanda will talk about the most important elements when it comes to ecommerce content, and she’ll tie in the importance of good content when it comes to your advertising strategy.

In this episode we talk to Alex Mccord, CEO of Enterprise Execution at Flywheel Digital. Alex breaks down how to build a digital commerce team for both agencies and manufacturers while avoiding the common mistakes that can be made.

In this episode, we learn about Amazon’s DSP from Mark Mannino, Chief Operating Officer at Flywheel Digital. Mark’s experience building the DSP at Amazon gives us unique insight into the goals of the platform, and he guides us through succeeding in programmatic advertising and other upper funnel tactics.