Unpacking the Digital Shelf

On January 27th, Peter hosted a webinar entitled 'A Crash Course in TikTok Marketing', featuring Evan Horowitz, CEO, and co-founder of creative agency Movers+Shakers, who created the most successful marketing campaign on TikTok ever.

In 2018, Dawn Foods, a 100 year old, family-owned bakery ingredient manufacturer, made the strategic decision to invest in delivering a best-in-class digital experience for its customers. Gireesh Sahukar, their VP of Digital, joined Justin King and Peter Crosby to lay out their ongoing journey to digital and commerce success.

Podcast cross-over event! Rob Gonzalez recently went deep on commerce in 2021 with the renowned Sri Rajagopalan and Peter V.S. Bond on their podcast CPG Guys. A rollicking survey of some of the biggest trends and opportunities in the year to come in commerce.

Epic Games buying a 980,000 sq. ft. mall kicks off a deep dive into the Future of Malls. And, Rob and Peter argue about regulations.

The rise of the digital-first omnichannel world has opened up some new strategic growth opportunities for brands. Rob and I recently pinned down Phillip Jackson, founder of FutureCommerce.fm and co-host of the Future Commerce podcast, to extract his POV on where brands should lean-in to grow top-line revenues in 2021 and beyond.

The explosion of marketplaces is both opportunity and crisis for brands. There is an continuous danger of losing control of your brand, and only a multifaceted, ongoing effort will win the day. James Thomson, Chief Strategy Officer at Buy Box Experts and co-author of the new book “Controlling Your Brand in the Age of Amazon” outlines the three-pronged strategy for minimizing risk and maximizing success on the world’s biggest marketplaces.

As we kick 2020 to the curb, it's a good time to take McKinsey's advice and make sure we are set up for a reenergized 2021. We will continue to live in interesting times, and Rob and Peter offer some perspectives on strategies to thrive in the New Year.

When the rumor mill starts humming that Amazon is contemplating a Shopify killer, it's time for Rob and Peter to talk D2C turkey. What would this deathmatch mean for brands? Should each stay in their lane? Tune in.

Download The 202X Recession Report

Sign up for the webinar with Jeriad Zoghby

As more and more brands go direct, it is critical that they get the most value from their new data asset. Julie Bernard has spent a career making data speak truth to power at organizations like Macy’s, IAB, and Authority Brands. Peter Crosby sat down with Julie for an in-depth conversation of lessons learned, advice on pitfalls, and the mantras of leadership that drive change.

Webinar Sign Up: How to Shift from Transactional Marketing to Brand Experiences

The omnichannel marketing world is in a state of continual change — from new channels and the explosion of retailer ad platforms to shifting logistics and operational challenges. In this webinar recording, Peter joins ecomemrce leaders Melissa Burdick, John Denny, Macarena Herrera, and Jim Morgan, who will give you the tools for deciding between insourcing or outsourcing for your organization.

Sign up for the live webinar with Joe GerstandSam Silverstein at Grocery Dive

Watch Chris Parsons, president of the Americas for the Mayborn GroupBenedict Evans Article

www.bobsledmarketing.com

Sign up for the new webinar with Melissa

Sign up for the first session in our Digital-First Omnichannel Strategy Series with Chris Parsons here!

At a time when every step in the consumer journey must feel safe, retailers have an opportunity to revisit the power of technology and their people to signal safety while re-introducing moments of discovery to drive sales. Gwen Morrison, former CEO of WPP's Global Retail Practice and a partner with Candezent Advisory, brings her vast experience working on retail innovation to a new moment and a new challenge – but one she knows retail will conquer.

Adam has a pHD in distributed computing from Cornell, was CTO of Endeca which powered the search and navigation for Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and hundreds of others in the 00s, and has 14 ecommerce technology patents to his name. Join us for this nerdy discussion of the history of the ecommerce tech stack from 1999 to now.

The ecommerce and retail media landscape is shifting under our feet. Todd Szahun of Kantar and Kerry Curran at Group M Catalyst teamed up on a new foundational piece of research across both consumers and industry professionals. They join Rob and Peter to dig into the stats and takeaways that will inform marketing strategies in 2021.

Walmart announced new store designs this week. Fast Company said "Walmart’s new store design proves browsing is dead. Get in and get out." Rob and Peter dig into a few of these new designs, and the takeaways for brands are different than you might think.

Sign up for the live webinar with Bob Land

For online grocery to be profitable and be a better experience, the costs and efficiency of pick and pack must come down. Turns out, the answer is...ROBOTS! John Lert, co-founder and CEO of Alert Innovation, joins Rob ad Peter to discuss the automation of grocery stores at scale.

Register for the D2C Playbook Series featuring Vivian Chang

Links Mentioned: McKinsey B2B ReportRegister for the webinar with Byron Kerr

Check out Annie's new book: Building for Everyone

James Seidl from McCormick webinar on Sept 2nd: https://www.salsify.com/content/webinar-mccormick-digital-commerce

Tim Madigan, with marketing and ecommerce leadership roles at P&G, SC Johnson, and Tyson Foods, has been at the leading edge of commerce innovation his entire career. Now he is putting those lessons to work in industries as diverse as frozen lobsters and cannabis. Rob and Peter connected with Tim to glean the lessons learned along the way.

Sign up for our D2C Strategy Playbook Series here: https://www.salsify.com/content/webinar-group-m

Links mentioned: https://www.yalelawjournal.org/note/amazons-antitrust-paradox

Brands are now spending upwards of $15 billion a year to manage and activate their influencer marketing programs. It’s grown from a few celebrities posting a video to millions of micro-influencers driving impact throughout the sales funnel. Rob and Peter sat down with Lyle Stevens, co-founder, and CEO of Mavrck, an influencer marketing platform, to identify what shifts are required across teams and processes to manage and optimize the impact of influencer marketing on your business.

This episode, we launch a new occasional format for the 'pod. A report on books that we think are worthy of your attention, and why. Rob kicks it off with his POV on Leap, by Howard Yu.

Links mentioned in the podcast: Register to our D2C series: https://www.salsify.com/content/webinar-3p-online-marketplacesBen Evans article: https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2019/4/15/notes-on-ai-bias

As the importance of Amazon as both a sales channel and marketing channels continues to rise, it is critical that brand executives focus on how to achieve profitability on the world’s largest retailer. Mark Power, founder, and CEO of Podean Marketplace Marketing joins Peter and Rob to talk about the need to invest in the analysis, data, and actions to make Amazon a profitable channel.

Register for our upcoming webinar with Jordan Jewell from IDC talking about the tech stack for D2C. https://www.salsify.com/content/webinar-d2c-playbookOther sources we mentioned:https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/business/coronavirus-malls-department-stores-bankruptcy.html?utm_source=Premium+list&utm_campaign=266472b352-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_16_05_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_52809a9e4b-266472b352-71156322https://www.ai-cio.com/in-focus/shop-talk/how-do-you-repurpose-a-mall/https://twitter.com/michael_mba/status/1283211274747121664?s=12https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/the-great-acceleration

Based on an article from business and tech analyst Ben Thompson, Rob and Peter explore how the arc of the newspaper industry holds lessons for how brands will need to adapt to masses of markets to win.

Listen in on a conversation with one of the smartest people in commerce and a podcasting legend, at least to us at the DSI. Jason Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis and co-host of the Jason and Scot show, joins Peter and Rob to talk what the heck is going on in commerce and posit brazen predictions of the future.

It was a week of bankruptcies, including a surprise bid at JC Penney by Simon Group. Peter and Rob deep dive on what innovation may result from these painful transformations.

Consumers hate friction in their shopping journey. The new capability on Instagram and Facebook to checkout directly on the social platforms offers brands a perfect testing ground to develop new end-to-end experiences in social commerce. Narain Jashanmal, Director of ECommerce Partnerships at Facebook, joined Peter to discuss how brands can make the most of this opportunity to connect directly with their consumers from discovery to purchase to advocacy.

It's definitely time to find the silver lining in the economic dark clouds. Rob and Peter put the week's news in perspective for the hopeful signs of the new digital age.

When Amazon files a patent to capture every product's supply chain, conspiracy theories about and regulatory regimes rear their heads. Rob and Peter discuss.

In the first ever LIVE episode, Brent Bellm, CEO of ecommerce platform BigCommerce, joins Peter Crosby and Rob Gonzalez to share the latest data and trends, long-term business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) strategies, and actionable D2C insights.

Face it, it's been a tough week. So Rob, Peter, and production assistant Matt rattle off their favorite purchase experiences of the quarantine.

During this time of quarantine, pets have become even more vital to many people's well being. Royal Canin, a petcare division of Mars, has designed products and product experiences that bring their purpose-driven mission to life. Loic Moutalt, President of Royal Canin, joins Molly Schonthal and Peter to discuss the path of their digital transformation and how they have brought these experiences to life in an agile way.

This week, Justin King returns with an analysis of the shifts in B2B at this time, and an urgent call to action for leaders to be ready as demand returns.

This week, Molly joins Peter to tackle the news and trends of the week, including Amazon's rumored purchase of JC Penney.

One of the biggest growth categories during COVID-19 is alcohol beverages, and consumers are using digital platforms to get it. Wayne Duan, VP of Ecommerce and Digital Commerce at Constellation Brands joins Peter Crosby and Rob Gonzalez to discuss how the alcohol beverage industry is managing this rise in digital consumers, and what of these new trends may stick and apply across other categories.

This week, Rob and Peter weigh in on the Pepsico DTC launches of Snacks.com and PantryShop.com. Genius or folly? Plus, how much did those URLs cost?!?

An outstanding Benedict Evans blog post inspires a conversation between Rob and Peter about whether retail will follow the print, camera, and RIM off a cliff. (https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2020/5/4/covid-and-cascading-collapses)