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Re:platform - Ecommerce CX and Technology Podcast

Re:platform - Ecommerce CX and Technology Podcast

By Paul Rogers & James Gurd

Weekly ecommerce CX and technology podcast hosted by two experienced digital consultants. Featuring interviews with industry thought leaders and practical advice on improving end-to-end customer experience and understanding how to make better technology decisions. Sponsored by Patchworks.

We provide the answers to help you get the most from your platform and technology stack. Our episodes will help you understand the ecommerce tech landscape, plan for revenue growth and deliver performance improvements. And they're fun!
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EP119: De-risking Ecommerce Technology Projects: Common Issues & Proven Solutions

Re:platform - Ecommerce CX and Technology PodcastMar 29, 2022

00:00
45:03
EP226: Debunking Ecommerce Platform Cost Model Myths: The Devil In The Detail

EP226: Debunking Ecommerce Platform Cost Model Myths: The Devil In The Detail

Hot on the heels of Shopify’s smart PR on their platform TCO cost model and value proposition ‘research’, we’re pulling apart why vendor-led cost model analysis needs to be taken with a generous pinch of salt.


The issue: no two TCO models ever show exactly the same cost model structure or calculations, so you’re not getting a true like-for-like comparison and evaluation. This can distort perceptions of value and create false flags, either under or overstating real costs.


There are lots of “research shows platform X has the lowest TCO / fastest ROI” studies, and from our experience this is smoke & mirrors. Which platform ecosystem delivers the most affordable cost model and highest value is dependent upon the size of business, complexity of build, operational setup and a brand’s red lines. It also depends upon how value is defined, and whether or not attempts are made to put a monetary value to things like opportunity cost and operational efficiency.


When a cost model assessment is based on the business type that is best suited to a particular platforms, inevitably the research will demonstrate it hits the value goal.


In this podcast, we break down why you need to be sceptical when vendors publish cost models showing they deliver the most value / quickest ROI. It’s great marketing but we explain why no platform can ever state it consistently delivers the lowest cost for any business. Let’s pick apart cost models!

Mar 26, 202427:48
EP225: Patchworks On Ecommerce Integrations and Omnichannel Data Trends in 2024

EP225: Patchworks On Ecommerce Integrations and Omnichannel Data Trends in 2024

Patchworks is a leading SaaS integration platform for ecommerce businesses, providing low/no code tools and flow builders to connect data sources and simplify integrations. They work with a wide range of businesses, so have their finger on the pulse of what tech stacks are trending and in most demand.

In this podcast, we caught up with Dave Wileman, VP Sales & Partnerships, and Conor Barr, CTO, to explore the trends Patchwork is seeing around omnichannel commerce and ecommerce data flows during 2023 and into 2024

We explore variance across territories, which markets are most active right now and the business challenges / resistance their customers are facing when migrating from legacy retail systems to modern SaaS tooling like Lightspeed POS.

Tune in for the strategic market view and practical industry insights.


Mar 19, 202428:45
EP224: Advice On Building & Running Ecommerce Teams, with Digital Director Claire Wilson

EP224: Advice On Building & Running Ecommerce Teams, with Digital Director Claire Wilson

LISTEN: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/re-platform-replatforming-podcast/id1488091548 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/25sR2mHAFdsVmrZoHMibzZ Amazon: https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/6b90a9bb-1554-4d79-849f-066f6139346b/re-platform---ecommerce-cx-and-technology-podcast FOLLOW US: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/re-platform-podcast/ EPISODE SUMMARY: All businesses face this challenge: what resources do you need to run an ecommerce store, and how does this change over time to deliver against growth targets? It's a challenge knowing what blend of skills do you need, what should be in-house vs outsourced and how do you structure and manage the team to ensure it delivers against growth targets and performance metrics. In this podcast we’re talking to an experienced ecommerce leader to find out how she approaches these decisions, and what she’s learned from running ecommerce for brands including Waitrose, This Works, Laura Mercier and Bare Minerals. Any questions, please let us know via LinkedIn or using the form on our website https://replatform.fm

Mar 12, 202441:07
EP223: Ecommerce Market Mood: Strategy, Tech & AI News - February 2024
Mar 05, 202435:41
EP222: Strategic View on Shopify's Hydrogen Headless Framework, with CommerceUI CTO Michal Klim

EP222: Strategic View on Shopify's Hydrogen Headless Framework, with CommerceUI CTO Michal Klim

Not another chat about headless! Don't worry, this podcast is packed with practical advice to help you better understand Shopify's headless solution and its relevance to ecommerce merchants.

We’ve heard from some ecommerce teams that it’s not crystal clear what the role of Hydrogen currently is, with frequent improvements to OS and Liquid making them question why a headless approach is needed. We see a long-term future of the Hydrogen / Oxygen stack and, alongside this, theming becoming more low code to help businesses who don’t have custom front-end needs to self-serve more effectively.

Although we’ve spoken quite a bit about headless commerce, we’ve never had a practical discussion around using Shopify’s Hydrogen to explore the genuine pros and cons. Given the surge in popularity of Shopify, it’s the right time to focus on this. To give you the best advice we’re talking to Michal Klim, CTO and Co-Founder at CommerceUI, who has worked with a wide range of customers implementing Shopify solutions.

Any questions, please let us know via LinkedIn or using the form on our website https://replatform.fm

Feb 27, 202451:36
EP221: Optimising Your Product Catalogue: Building Data Models and Nailing CX & Efficiency Wins

EP221: Optimising Your Product Catalogue: Building Data Models and Nailing CX & Efficiency Wins

We recently talked about fixing ISNO issues for ecommerce sites using smarter automation with the team at Sweft. In this episode we’re diving deeper into product data and looking at how ecommerce teams can enrich base data to improve ecommerce trading and operations. It’s an area that doesn’t always get enough attention during site migrations, and has platform specific considerations as well.


We explore why source product data is not always fit for ecommerce needs, the impact partial data has, tools you can use to plug data gaps and ways to add richer data to product records, and the operational benefits this has.


Any questions, please let us know via LinkedIn or using the form on our website https://replatform.fm

Feb 20, 202441:09
EP220: The Page Speed & Performance Conundrum: Balancing CX with Speed Gains for Ecommerce Sites

EP220: The Page Speed & Performance Conundrum: Balancing CX with Speed Gains for Ecommerce Sites

This podcast is inspired by an article from our guest Liam Quinn, Technical Director at Vervaunt, which featured advice from notable luminaries from Yottaa, Render Better and previous podcast guest and respected consultant Erwin Hoffman on optimising for page speed. We all know that the less you put on a webopage, the faster it will be. But we’re not just trying to make pages fast, for brands the customer and brand experience are equally, often more, important. And measured speed is different to perceived speed. There is a lot of data around the impact of speed improvements, with many big business case studie. For example a Deloitte report states that Tui saw a 31% decrease in bounce rates and a 78% reduction in load times through better tech optimisation, eBay found that 0.1 second improvement in load time resulted in a 0.5% increase in Add to Cart count (by reducing the pay load, critical path optimisation for above the fold content & prefetching assets). In this episode we discuss sensible ways to improve page performance, exploring the tools to use and how to use them.

Feb 13, 202438:06
EP219: Shopify's Strategic Direction: What Editions 2024 Means For Ecommerce Retailers

EP219: Shopify's Strategic Direction: What Editions 2024 Means For Ecommerce Retailers

In this episode, Paul & James review what Shopify's latest product roadmap release, Editions Winter 2024, reveals about their strategic focus and how they're positioning the product to tackle known challenges and feature gaps that previously required more work arounds.

Shopify's concerted push into the enterprise space is well known, and the latest drop contains some interesting feature growth for international, omnichannel and order management. What's interesting to see is the ticking off of some edge case features that will appeal to a certain size and complexity of business.

Tune in for insights into what the latest release means for ecommerce teams and how Shopify is evolving its market focus.

Feb 06, 202435:35
EP218: Making Accessibility Part of Your Development Lifecycle: Strategy, Compliance and Approaches, with Crownpeak

EP218: Making Accessibility Part of Your Development Lifecycle: Strategy, Compliance and Approaches, with Crownpeak

How confident are you that your website is fit to serve all users, regardless of how they access and read your content? An estimated 1.3 billion people experience significant disability. They represents 16% of the world's population, or 1 in 6 of us. And...they have serious buying power. So, if you've not taken accessibility seriously before, and your approach is to ensure you're not breaking the law but nothing more, then think again. Accessibility is about more than compliance. It's about respecting your customers and ensuring they are able to access and meaningfully use your website. It's also about providing a website that gives you the best chance to turn visitors into shoppers, and hopefully loyal customers. In this podcast we discuss accessibility strategy with Irina Enevska, Manager Accessibility Services at Crownpeak. Irina's team work with ecommerce merchants to audit their websites, then identify and prioritise improvements based on business and customer impact. We explore Crownpeak’s approach to educating customers and helping people get started, because accessibility isn't a one-size-fits-all approach, and the levels of compliance and legal frameworks vary depending on which country you trade in.

Jan 30, 202431:24
EP217: Paul & James' Monthly RoundUp: January 2024 Ecommerce Market Mood, Tech Changes & AI News

EP217: Paul & James' Monthly RoundUp: January 2024 Ecommerce Market Mood, Tech Changes & AI News

The latest from our monthly ecommerce mini-series, where experienced ecommerce consultants James Gurd and Paul Rogers step back to summarise what’s been happening with ecommerce technology in January.

Ecommerce is a fast-paced industry, with constant change, new market entrants and incumbents updating their products with new features and fixes. James & Paul spend a lot of time looking at technology, talking to agencies and technology vendors, so this series is a digest of what they’ve found interesting, what is worth ecommerce teams thinking about, as well as highlighting interesting stories and cool tools they come across in their day-to-day work.

Jan 24, 202432:09
EP216: Maximising Inventory Availability: Fixing In Stock Not Online Product Issues, with Sweft Founder & CEO

EP216: Maximising Inventory Availability: Fixing In Stock Not Online Product Issues, with Sweft Founder & CEO

Grab your chance to learn from Michael Robinson, the ecommerce retail leader who launched and grew Anthropologie.com into a $200m+ online retailer, and James Brooke, ex-founder and CEO of Amplience, who scaled them into a market leading global DXP.

In this episode we cover a hugely important topic, one that affects pretty much all retailers: maximising inventory availability online.

Getting stock online is harder than it seems! For many businesses, siloed processes and technology result in inefficiency and slow down the speed to market for new products and range launches. Not to mention the sheer number of spreadsheets and manual effort involved to move products from one stage to the next.

The longer a product remains offline, the greater the margin loss because the window of full price opportunity shrinks.

In this episode, we share the combined experience of two ecommerce leaders who are helping ecommerce retailers improve automation and join the dots to speed-up product launches and minimises the number of products that are in stock but not available to buy on the website.


Jan 16, 202448:59
EP215: How Can Ecommerce Retailers Measure & Improve Online Customer Experience?

EP215: How Can Ecommerce Retailers Measure & Improve Online Customer Experience?

We’re expecting the tough trading conditions from 2023 to continue into H1 2024, perhaps longer in some markets. Retailers are under margin pressure, as discounting bites and CPAs have increased in many digital marketing channels e.g. Google Shopping. At the same time, customer support expectations are increasing, so a focus on delivering the best possible customer experience with the resources available is important. In this ecommerce podcast, experienced ecommerce consultants and strategists James Gurd & Paul Rogers give advice on how ecommerce retailers can measure and report on CX, and take steps to improve the online customer experience using proven techniques. Any questions, please let us know via LinkedIn or using the form on our website https://replatform.fm

Jan 09, 202441:36
EP214: James & Paul's 2023 Ecommerce Platform & Technology Roundup

EP214: James & Paul's 2023 Ecommerce Platform & Technology Roundup

There's no better way to start 2024 than with a retrospective on ecommerce technology developments and trends from 2023.

Key discussion points:

  • The state of ecommerce: trends and growth challenges
  • The big trend: omnichannel commerce and store sales growth
  • Investment in B2B/wholesale ecommerce
  • The growth and dominance of Shopify: why and is this good for the market?
  • Our take on key updates from leading vendors including Shopify, BigCommerce, Centra, Scayle, Remarkable Commerce
  • What's hot for 3rd party tech: loyalty, subscriptions, CDPs and last mile delivery
  • Future gazing for 2024

We hope you enjoy!

Jan 03, 202451:12
EP213: Outsourcing For Ecommerce Technology Projects: Deciding When You Need External Resource

EP213: Outsourcing For Ecommerce Technology Projects: Deciding When You Need External Resource

We've worked on more than 100 projects between us and have seen all sorts of resource models for technology implementation, from fully in-house to most roles being outsourced to external specialists.

There isn't a one-size fits all solution to resourcing migration projects. In this podcast, we explore the value outsourcing can add to your project, and discuss when it's appropriate.

Don't worry, this isn't a sales pitch. As experienced consultants, we both know there are projects that don't need contractor or consultant support and can be run using a lean project team. However, it's important to know how when and why you might need to invest in external support to compliment your internal team.

In this episode we explore:

  • When you don't need to invest in external resource
  • What roles outsourcing can satisfy & when they're needed
  • The role of contractors: what skills do ecommerce teams typically lack in-house?
  • Specific skills like integrations and storefront setup > being able to scrutinise agency recommendations on a tech level
  • Design and content for launch
  • Technical Discovery phase
  • How do you control a blended model with internal and external roles?


Dec 27, 202328:11
EP212: How Can Large Businesses Tackle Replatforming: Building The Business Case & Planning For Change

EP212: How Can Large Businesses Tackle Replatforming: Building The Business Case & Planning For Change

A recent LinkedIn post from Rick Watson provoked a really good debate. The subline was deliberately eye-catching: Most Enterprise CEOs Would Rather Gnaw Off Their Arm Than Replatform.

There’s no denying change in a large business is more complex and risky, and the status quo will seem preferable to turbulence. However, resistance to change isn't always in a business' best interests, so the C-suite needs reassurance that there are ways to mitigate risk and reduce the turbulence.

In this episode we discuss why large replatforming projects are challenging, what resources are required to plan for and mitigate risk, and practical advice for handling this type of project.


Dec 18, 202333:21
EP211: Kibo Commerce CEO On Product Strategy, Market Fit & The Challenges of Modern Ecommerce

EP211: Kibo Commerce CEO On Product Strategy, Market Fit & The Challenges of Modern Ecommerce

Tune in for Kibo CEO's ecommerce vision for the future and insights into where Kibo sees the world of ecommerce heading and how they're preparing for it strategically and technically.

We're joined by Ram Venkataraman, who has extensive experience in technology strategy and leadership. We discuss:

  • Kibo's product strategy: a firsthand account from Ram on the philosophy and strategic thinking that drives Kibo's product roadmap.
  • Latest releases & their impact: understanding the features, benefits and the anticipated influence of Kibo's newest product releases on the ecommerce ecosystem
  • Implementation Approaches: exploring how Kibo ensures seamless product implementation, guaranteeing efficiency and maximum ROI for their clients
  • B2B ecommerce:
    • The split between B2C and B2B customers, and how they're seeing the lines blur as more B2C businesses also switch on B2B commerce
    • What are the key roles AI is now playing for B2B ecommerce?
    • How do Kibo's products help enhance B2B customer experience?
  • Behind-the-scenes: a candid chat on the challenges and triumphs of steering a company like Kibo in a competitive market 

Understanding how technology visionaries perceive the market is incredibly valuable. Don't miss out on Ram's insights.

Dec 12, 202328:20
EP210: Replatforming To A New Headless Stack On BigCommerce and Bloomreach, with MKM Building Supplies

EP210: Replatforming To A New Headless Stack On BigCommerce and Bloomreach, with MKM Building Supplies

MKM is the UK’s leading independent builder’s merchant, with branches across England, Scotland & Wales. Founded in 1995, they have branches across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom from Redruth to Elgin Norwich and Llandudno.

Ecommerce is an important part of the business, selling to trade customers and connecting online customers with local branches via free Click & Collect.

We're joined by Head of Digital, Craig McClaren, who talks us through MKM's ecommerce evolution story, migrating to a new headless stack built on BigCommerce and Bloomreach DXP.

Craig is an experienced technology and digital commerce leader with specialist knowledge and skills in composable commerce replatforming and devops team building from scratch. He shares insights into the technology decisions MKM made, the positive impact on the business and how, and why, they've built out their own internal engineering team.

Dec 05, 202340:04
EP209: Getting To Grips With Gartner’s Newest Digital Commerce Quadrant Addition: Scayle Commerce Engine

EP209: Getting To Grips With Gartner’s Newest Digital Commerce Quadrant Addition: Scayle Commerce Engine

Our regular listeners will know that we keep a keen eye on the ecommerce tech scene. Whilst sources like Gartner's Magic Quadrants shouldn't be taken as the gospel, they do provide a useful benchmark for changes in the ecommerce vendor landscape.

A new entrant to the UK market has pushed into Gartner's reckoning in 2023. Scayle Commerce Engine has a strong pedigree in Germany and other parts of mainland Europe. MD Tarek Muller is also the cofounder of one of Germany’s largest ecommerce retailers, About You, which sells 400k+ products from 2k+ brands, generating €5 billion annual sales revenue.

The technology that underpins About You was spun out to create Scayle, providing a PaaS solution to other retailers including Deichmann, Otto Group and Depot. Targeted at larger retailers with a GMV of £100m+, the platform has already proven it's capability at scale.

For this episode we're joined by Tarek, who shares insights on the business strategy, vision and philosophy, and Rico Adler, Head of Solution Consulting At Scayle.



Nov 27, 202356:38
EP208: Why Maplins Made A Platform Pivot From Open Source Magento to Shopify

EP208: Why Maplins Made A Platform Pivot From Open Source Magento to Shopify

It’s fair to say that Maplin's MD Ollie Marshall has a been a Magento Open Source loyalist and enthusiast for many years. We recorded an episode with him two years ago on how Maplin built a scalable Magento solution, at which point open source aligned with the business and technical needs.

When he announced that Maplin's ecommerce stack would pivot, moving away from open source to a new SaaS solution, we thought it would be interesting to find what brought about the strategic change of direction, and why now.

In this episode we explore the commercial decision-making path, understanding why Ollie decided SaaS was the right approach and what made Shopify the right fit.

Nov 20, 202328:18
EP207: Movers & Shakers In Ecommerce Integrations: What Tech Is Trending, Which Platforms Are In Most Demand?

EP207: Movers & Shakers In Ecommerce Integrations: What Tech Is Trending, Which Platforms Are In Most Demand?

An insightful podcast interview with Jim Herbert, CEO at Patchworks, a leading integration specialist. Listeners will gain invaluable insights into the dynamic landscape of ecommerce technology. Patchworks, renowned for its prowess in understanding the intricate web of integrations, empowers businesses with seamless connectivity.

During the episode, Jim Herbert sheds light on the current trends in technology integrations. With a finger on the industry's pulse, Patchworks provides a unique vantage point, discerning the technology choices embraced by thriving ecommerce enterprises. The podcast highlights the prevalence and significance of specific integrations that are currently trending among businesses navigating the digital marketplace.

You'll also get a forecast of the industry's trajectory as Jim shares his perspectives on where ecommerce technology is headed. His predictions and analyses, rooted in Patchworks' expertise, serve as a compass for businesses aiming to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving tech landscape.

Nov 13, 202339:20
EP206: Talking Heads - Ecommerce Market Mood, Tech Changes & Cool Stuff, November 2023

EP206: Talking Heads - Ecommerce Market Mood, Tech Changes & Cool Stuff, November 2023

Introducing our new monthly mini-series, where James Gurd and Paul Rogers step back to summarise what's been happening in ecommerce technology in the past month.

Ecommerce is a fast-paced industry, with constant change, new market entrants and incumbents updating their products with new features and fixes.

James & Paul spend a lot of time looking at technology, talking to agencies and technology vendors, so this series is a digest of what they've found interesting, what is worth ecommerce teams thinking about, as well as highlighting interesting stories and cool tools they come across in their day-to-day work.

In this episode:

1. General market mood heading into November

2. Key vendor platform news

3. Major investments

4. Trends and cool stuff

Nov 06, 202329:08
EP205: How Retailers Are Doing Marketing Automation, SMS & Loyalty, with Voyado Regional VP UKI

EP205: How Retailers Are Doing Marketing Automation, SMS & Loyalty, with Voyado Regional VP UKI

The marketing automation space is quite crowded with tech, and we like to showcase as many of the leading vendors as possible to help you decide which platforms are relevant.

In this episode we sit down with Voyado to focus on their multichannel marketing and loyalty product, Engage. We explore what type/size of business the product suits, with examples of well known brands using Engage.

We look at the market view, exploring how quickly SMS usage is growing and how this varies across different sectors/verticals.

Then we dive into personalisation and loyalty, discussing what types of personalisation can be realistically achieved and what loyalty techniques are most used by Voyado's ecommerce customers.

Tune in for practical industry and product insights from Karl Stone, an experienced ecommerce technologist.

Oct 31, 202338:07
EP204: What DTC Brands Need To Know About Wholesale and B2B Commerce, with Ecommerce Leader Clare Kelly

EP204: What DTC Brands Need To Know About Wholesale and B2B Commerce, with Ecommerce Leader Clare Kelly

B2B commerce is growing, and maturing, fast! Many businesses are well aware of the trend, working to transform their sales teams and experiences to meet the growing digital usage of customers. Gartner predicts that by 2025, 80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels.

In this B2B focused podcast, we tackle key questions for DTC brands planning their B2B strategy:

  • Why should DTC brands take B2B commerce seriously, when many are used to offline selling and have processes in place for account management and placing orders?
  • How are changes in B2B buyer expectations shifting digital demands?
  • What does a good online customer experience look like for B2B customers?
  • What are the key ecommerce platform features and functionality your business needs to understand and offer?
  • What are the operational challenges of evolving to provide a digital B2B channel?
  • How does the commercial model differ to B2C commerce?

Tune in to get insights from a highly experienced ecommerce leader with a track record of implementing B2B ecommerce technology and implementation growth strategies for B2B retail ecommerce.

Oct 23, 202344:59
EP203: Shopify Enterprise Summit - What Did We Learn About Shopify's Aggressive GTM Strategy, Product Roadmap & Ecosystem Expansion

EP203: Shopify Enterprise Summit - What Did We Learn About Shopify's Aggressive GTM Strategy, Product Roadmap & Ecosystem Expansion

This is a slightly different episode, with Paul in Miami on a half vacation / half work trip. Paul invited Shopify expert Alex O'Byrne to discuss the most important platform updates from last week’s Shopify Enterprise summit.

Alex welcomed Paul into his lovely house in Miami Beach, which is definitely the most exciting place we’ve recorded a podcast!

The Shopify summit was really interesting, as it felt like a very different narrative and a different level of energy from Shopify, and a real insight into how they're targeting enterprise level customers by removing previous platform constraints or perceived blockers.

Tune in for the inside view on Shopify's enterprise play and exciting new features that are helping leading agencies counter previous limitations that made Shopify a harder sell to large global businesses.



Oct 17, 202338:08
EP202: The Evolution to Generative AI for Content Personalisation in Ecommerce Sites, with PersonifyXP's Co-founder & CTO

EP202: The Evolution to Generative AI for Content Personalisation in Ecommerce Sites, with PersonifyXP's Co-founder & CTO

Josh Scotton is the Co founder and CTO for personalisation engine Personify, and also an Editorial Board Member for Frontiers in AI. For those of you who’ve worked in fashion ecommerce you may know him from his days at Truefit.

True personalisation, not just changing product recommendations based on behaviour, is the holy grail for ecommerce. For example, being able to change the content view based on a user's profile to prioritise content types that person wants to see. Personify provide an anonymous real-time analytics & personalisation platform designed to convert unknown visitors into loyal customers with engaging, automated website personalisation.

In this podcast we unpick what real-time personalisation actually means, and explore tangible ecommerce use cases including content personalisation across different user journeys.


Oct 10, 202346:41
EP201: How Salesforce Commerce Customers Should Approach A SiteGenesis Migration, With Liam Downes & Shivko Rusev from Tryzens

EP201: How Salesforce Commerce Customers Should Approach A SiteGenesis Migration, With Liam Downes & Shivko Rusev from Tryzens

Salesforce Commerce has a long history in the ecommerce platform market, from the acquisition of Demandware to the birth and growth of SiteGenesis. SiteGenesis was built before mobile dominated online shopping, so there are newer architectural options for SFCC customers. Many Salesforce customers are facing a big decision: stick with an old SiteGenesis version, or twist to either SFRA for a mobile-first solution or the newer composable storefront.

In this episode we aim to dispel some of the concerns with remaining on SiteGenesis. Customers don’t have to migrate if they have the right SI partner to maintain SiteGenesis but there are pros and cons of staying on this path that need to be understood, for example limitations with the roadmap, maintenance of 3rd party connectors, effort doing releases and maintaining performance.

The market is evolving, with some Salesforce customers having already moved to SFRA or composable storefront, which is making other retailers review their platform choice.

We’re joined by leading SFCC agency partner Tryzens, who also have experience delivering solutions on ecommerce platforms like Magento and Shopify. Listen to Liam Downes, Director of Strategy and Success, and Shivko Rusev, SVP Salesforce Practice, share their views on how to approach Salesforce migrations and what type/size of business is best suited to the modern SFCC solution and why.

Oct 02, 202346:23
EP200: Unplatform: Elastic Path’s New Product Strategy And Market Positioning

EP200: Unplatform: Elastic Path’s New Product Strategy And Market Positioning

Tl;dr

  • Why Elastic Path's new marketing mantra is the "Unplatform"
  • Understanding the role of a modern ecommerce platform
  • Under the hood of Elastic Path’s new product strategy and positioning
  • Product roadmap for Q423 and beyond

Our industry has a habit of thrusting new buzzwords on the market that create more confusion than clarity! Elastic Path has refreshed its brand identity and is now talking about the 3rd wave of ecommerce platforms being the era of the "Unplatform".

We're playing devil’s advocate: this feels like marketing spin on what’s been a common theme in SME and enterprise for several years, reducing the role of the ecommerce platform and focusing on best in breed. We asked Elastic Path on to talk us through what they mean by Unplatform in relation to systems architecture & the overall technology stack, as well as operational implications for ecommerce teams.

Whilst we agree that the role of the ecommerce platform is narrowing, as businesses focus more on a connected technology stack simplifying the ability to isolate and retire specific components with much less effort and risk, we're not sure the industry needs a new buzzword to hang its hat on. Elastic Path has a lot of knowledge and experience guiding merchants through their technology evolution, so this episode provides a useful insight into their perspective on the market.

Tune in to hear directly from Elastic Path's Chief Experience Officer, Bryan House.

Sep 26, 202337:55
EP199: Selecting The Right CMS Model For Your Ecommerce Business: Headless or Not? With Crownpeak’s Chief Product Officer

EP199: Selecting The Right CMS Model For Your Ecommerce Business: Headless or Not? With Crownpeak’s Chief Product Officer

Tl;dr what we cover:

  1. The key differences between headless and non-headless CMS solutions
  2. Why some ecommerce business are moving to headless solutions
  3. Crownpeak's integration capability with leading ecommerce platforms
  4. Key feature walk through: content personalisation, internationalisation and accessibility

In our digital-first world, businesses are continuously adapting to satisfy ever changing customer expectations. Customers want seamless digital experiences across devices but equally the type of content people want to view can vary between mobile and non-mobile. Choosing the right CMS isn't always easy, as there are many vendors in the market and different technology models.

If you're considering a new CMS solution, it's likely you'll be wondering if headless is the right approach for you, as there is a lot of talk about the benefits of headless CMS. Going headless should never be a business goal, but a headless CMS may well solve your content challenges and provide the right tooling for your content management needs.

In this episode we take a deep dive into the Crownpeak CMS platform with Andreas Knoor, Chief Product Officer. Andreas explains the key technical and operational differences between headless and non-headless, as well as providing insights on how Crownpeak is helping other content teams.

Sep 19, 202337:57
EP198: Using Generative AI To Improve Performance and Profitability for Online Grocery

EP198: Using Generative AI To Improve Performance and Profitability for Online Grocery

Online grocery is an interesting industry when looking through a technology lens. Retailers operate in a highly competitive market with perishable product that needs smart algorithms and merchandising strategies to maximise sell through. Omnichannel selling stepped us massively during COVID lockdown, and Click & Collect and Ship To Store customer journeys are more important than ever.

Add to this mix demands from CPG brands selling via online grocery websites, requiring intelligent digital shelf analytics and merchandising tools to improve product visibility and sales rate.

The lessons learned in online grocery are relevant and useful to other ecommerce teams. In this episode we sit down with industry veteran Scott Miller, an independent consultant in the grocery industry and ex COO of Rouses and Pyramid Foods. Scott is joined by Prem Kiran, CEO at technology partner Hypersonix, who provide generative AI solutions to many industries including online grocery.

Discover:

  • How online grocery businesses typically approach ecommerce performance analysis
  • How online grocery retailers are using generative AI to help improve analysis and profitability
  • Using Hypersonix to improve data connectivity and protect margin
  • The business case for investment in generative AI
Sep 11, 202345:06
EP197: Stop Screwing Your Margin! Using AI Negotiation To Reduce Margin Sacrifice, With Nibble Founder Rosie Bailey

EP197: Stop Screwing Your Margin! Using AI Negotiation To Reduce Margin Sacrifice, With Nibble Founder Rosie Bailey

Tl;dr

  • What is AI negotiation and how does it benefit an ecommerce team?
  • How do you avoid giving away money you didn’t need to?
  • Business controls to determine when to enable negotiation
  • Examples of retail ecommerce stores getting results from this approach

Nibble is an award-winning chatbot for ecommerce that lets customers make an offer on the product page for instant results. Nibble's aim is to nudge undecided shoppers into action, to drive higher conversions and bigger baskets, with less margin sacrifice than traditional discounting.

To avoid giving away unnecessary discounts, you can program Nibble to appears only when you want it to and to specific customers. For example, you can make Nibble a subscriber-only benefit, product-specific, or trigger only on exit intent or dwell time. There are many use cases, including clearing excess stock through targeted offers and taking back control of discounting to protect margins and strike deals based on value, not just price.

Tune in to listen to founder and CEO Rosie Bailey explain the thinking behind the solution and how retailers are using the product.

Sep 05, 202332:05
EP196: Using Airtable To Improve Operational Efficiency For Ecommerce, with Nolo Apps Co-Founder Oliver Rhodes

EP196: Using Airtable To Improve Operational Efficiency For Ecommerce, with Nolo Apps Co-Founder Oliver Rhodes

What we cover: 1. What are the common operational issues ecommerce business face? 2. What is Airtable and how can it benefit ecommerce businesses? 3. How is Nolo Apps helping business use Airtable for operational efficiency gains? 4. How can businesses get started with Airtable? We've been keeping a keen eye on Airtable this year, as it's becoming more popular with ecommerce businesses. Designed to enable data connectivity and the building of apps to empower teams to work faster and more confidently, this episode dives into what it is and how it's being used. Oliver Rhodes has a stack of experience building out technology solutions for businesses doing between £1M to £200M in revenue. He recently co-founded Nolo Apps, specialising in designing and building apps on Airtable to help improve productivity whilst reducing running costs. Tune in for practical insights into how Airtable fits in to the modern ecommerce tech stack.

Aug 30, 202341:60
EP195: BigCommerce's Senior Director of Product Management on the Latest Releases for Omnichannel, Checkout & Promotions

EP195: BigCommerce's Senior Director of Product Management on the Latest Releases for Omnichannel, Checkout & Promotions

Product development is an interesting part of the ecommerce vendor landscape, and SaaS world is a constant stream of feature updates. This week we’re focused on one of our favourite vendors and we’re joined by a leading voice in the BigCommerce strategy team

This is part two of our two part mini series with BigCommerce. In this episode we’re covering checkout, payments, omnichannel, promotions and inventory management with Jordan Sim, Senior Director of Product.



Aug 23, 202341:30
EP194: BigCommerce Product Vision & Strategy Update for 2023 with Director of Competitive Strategy, Aaron Sheehan

EP194: BigCommerce Product Vision & Strategy Update for 2023 with Director of Competitive Strategy, Aaron Sheehan

Product development is an interesting part of the ecommerce vendor landscape, and SaaS world is a constant stream of feature updates. This week we’re focused on one of our favourite vendors, BigCommerce, and we’re joined by leading voices in the strategy and product development team.

In the first of two episodes, we talk to Aaron Sheehan, Director of Competitive Strategy about:

  • General product strategy and focus

  • Key capabilities like multi storefront and B2B

  • BigCommerce's evolution into generative AI


Aug 21, 202340:15
EP193: Delivering AI-Powered Adaptive Shopping Experiences For Ecommerce, with Shopbox

EP193: Delivering AI-Powered Adaptive Shopping Experiences For Ecommerce, with Shopbox

We've been aware of Shopbox for a while but hadn't had the chance to look under the hood of this AI solution that powers product selection for recognised and anonymous visitors.

Cold start strategies are generally quite rare in ecommerce AI/ML tools, or hard to get working effectively. Shopbox is deliberately focused on kicking in from the very first click, aiming to show shoppers more of what they want. The end goal is increasing retail ecommerce profit.

It sounds simple but what's the reality? We sat down with Shopbox CEO Alan Gormley to understand how the platform is being used by retail ecommerce businesses.

Aug 15, 202347:36
EP192: Getting Your Ecommerce Marketplace Data Right & Selling Effectively, with eCommeleon

EP192: Getting Your Ecommerce Marketplace Data Right & Selling Effectively, with eCommeleon

More than 40% of online spending post-pandemic is taking place on ecommerce marketplaces, according to Wunderman Thompson's Commerce Future Shopper Report.

Marketplace platforms have been instrumental in the creation of new ways online buyers and sellers connect in a global marketplace, enabling seamless transactions for small businesses and large alike.

Selling on marketplaces brings its unique challenges, as each has its own processes and product data requirements. In this episode we talk to marketplace commerce specialist eCommeleon, sharing advice on how to approach marketplace selling and how their platform reduces manual effort and improve data quality.

Aug 08, 202349:45
EP191: Why J Lindeberg Migrated From A Legacy Monolith To Headless SaaS & What It Learned, with Head of Ecommerce Andreas Koschnike

EP191: Why J Lindeberg Migrated From A Legacy Monolith To Headless SaaS & What It Learned, with Head of Ecommerce Andreas Koschnike

The migration away from legacy monolith platforms to headless SaaS solutions has picked up pace over the last few years, as the mid-market seeks more cost effective and flexible ecommerce ecosystems.

But no platform model or vendor is perfect, all decisions come with pros and cons. In this episode, Paul interviews the head of ecommerce and lifestyle brand J Lindeberg and their design and development partner, Grebban. He explores why the business decided it needed to modernise its ecommerce platform, why Shopify was chosen and the impact of deciding to go the headless route.

Tune in for practical insights into the decision-making process and implications of this ecommerce ride.

Jul 31, 202344:20
EP190: Increasing Marketing Opt-in Acceptance Compliantly For Ecommerce Sites, with Dataships

EP190: Increasing Marketing Opt-in Acceptance Compliantly For Ecommerce Sites, with Dataships

Dataships is an interesting niche vendor focused on improving ecommerce site compliance with data privacy regulations whilst simultaneously increasing opt-in rates to boost marketing activity.

What's interesting is that Dataships is able to dynamically change consent forms and opt-in capture forms based on a user's location, to ensure the website doesn't unnecessarily block legitimate opt-in permissions.

In this episode co-founder Michael Storan and head of partnerships Ian Madigan (who also happens to be an Irish international rugby player, which has delighted James) explain how the solution works and how ecommerce merchants are using it to get results.

Jul 26, 202339:00
EP189: Fashion Brand Asket’s Ecommerce Tech Stack Evolution And Headless Journey With Centra

EP189: Fashion Brand Asket’s Ecommerce Tech Stack Evolution And Headless Journey With Centra

ASKET boldly states that the world doesn't need another fashion brand. Their definition of progress is reduced wardrobes and people spending more on items that last for longer.

They adopt the same approach to their tech stack, investing in the best fit and quality systems to help them deliver the business vision.

In this episode we caught up with ASKET's Head of Data & Technology, Vidar Trojenborg, and Jonathan Selander, cofounder at their devleopmen t partner Made People.

We discussed:

  • Why headless was the right approach
  • Systems landscape overview and reasoning
  • Selecting a suitable front-end and CMS
  • Introducing a PIM
  • Approaches to data management: data warehouse, CDP, BI
Jul 18, 202343:12
EP188: Multi-Brand Ecommerce: How The Bottle Club Is Using Its Ecommerce Platform, Akeneo PIM & Algolia To Drive Sales

EP188: Multi-Brand Ecommerce: How The Bottle Club Is Using Its Ecommerce Platform, Akeneo PIM & Algolia To Drive Sales

The Bottle Club is a multi-brand ecommerce store selling nearly 10,000 different alcohol products. It has achieved considerable growth over the last few years, implemented specialist 3rd party systems to enhance its ecommerce capabilities.

In this episode we talk to head of ecommerce, Tim Martin Harvey, about the tech stack, how they approach multi-brand selling on Shopify, the value the Akeneo PIM has added and insights into using Algolia to improve search and merchandising results.


Jul 11, 202343:34
EP187: Fireside Chat on Multi-store ecommerce and Loyalty with Astrid & Miyu

EP187: Fireside Chat on Multi-store ecommerce and Loyalty with Astrid & Miyu

This the concluding episode of our Amazing Women in Ecommerce series, AWIE was launched by Yotpo in 2018 to celebrate how women are leading and shaping the ecommerce industry.

In this episode we interview the wonderful ecommerce team at Astrid & Miyu, a contemporary jewellery brand whose positioning is “More than just a jewellery brand, we are a movement on a mission to revolutionise the jewellery experience.” Let’s find out more!


Jul 04, 202346:19
EP186: KOOKAÏ Ecommerce Product Manager Sera Volau on Tech Selection & Multichannel Commerce

EP186: KOOKAÏ Ecommerce Product Manager Sera Volau on Tech Selection & Multichannel Commerce

KOOKAÏ was originally founded in Paris in 1983 with a simple vision to offer fashionable, high quality pieces at accessible prices. In 1992, the founders of KOOKAÏ Australia introduced the Parisian label into the lives and wardrobes of the Australian woman, with the opening of their first boutique on Melbourne’s Chapel Street. 

As part of our series celebrating the achievements of leading women in ecommerce, we sat down with KOOKAÏ's ecommerce product manager to discuss how they're using Shopify to grow online sales and deliver an excellent customer experience.

Tune in to listen to Sera Volau discuss her role as a product manager and explain some of the ecommerce technology selection decisions the business has made.

Jun 27, 202331:42
EP185: Growing An Ethical Brand on Shopify: Marketplaces, Subscriptions & App Selection with Kind Laundry Co-founder Angie Tran

EP185: Growing An Ethical Brand on Shopify: Marketplaces, Subscriptions & App Selection with Kind Laundry Co-founder Angie Tran

Angie and her partner Bernard were driven to start ethical brand Kind Laundry to offer customers an alternative to single-use plastic jugs, with a mission to help eliminate 1 billion plastic jugs polluting our planet, every year. Their products are sustainable, contain no harmful chemicals and are much easier to use.

As part of our series celebrating the achievements of leading women in ecommerce, we sat down with co-founder Angie Tran to discuss how they're using Shopify to grow online sales and deliver an excellent customer experience.

Jun 20, 202343:22
EP184: CX Considerations For Your Ecommerce Returns Strategy, With Loop Returns Founder

EP184: CX Considerations For Your Ecommerce Returns Strategy, With Loop Returns Founder

This is part two of our podcast interview with Loop Returns founder Jonathan Poma. In the first episode Jonathan explained how Loop integrates with ecommerce tech stacks, the challenges they're helping retailers address and sensible strategies to manage ecommerce returns.

In part two, we progress to discussing customer experience considerations. We drill in to the state of returns in 2023, what changes Loop has seen, customer expectations and how retailers are meeting the demand for a professional and reliable returns service, including customer-centric tactics to help reduce your returns rate.

Tune in for industry insight and practical advice.

Jun 15, 202328:59
EP183: Loop Returns Co-founder on Doing Ecommerce Returns The Smart Way

EP183: Loop Returns Co-founder on Doing Ecommerce Returns The Smart Way

Returns suck! They represent lost revenue and reverse logistics adds cost and can also impact sustainability. Returns have been rising in the past few years, IMRG found that a quarter of all consumers return between 5% and 15% of the items they buy online. Your returns strategy can also impact sales: many shoppers check the returns policy before placing an order, with 40% saying they will not order a product unless the returns period is at least 30 days.

The good news? The technology has rapidly improved, with several specialist returns solutions available to merchants to automate returns management and implement a flexible policy to improve the overall returns experience for customers whilst minimising cost. In this podcast we explore what a good returns strategy looks like and tactics retailers are using to deliver the best customer experience with an affordable and scalable service.

For this episode we’re joined by Jonathan Poma, the CEO and Founder of Loop, a market-leading returns platform used by lots of large brands.


Jun 13, 202331:45
EP182: Digital Transformation and Selling Online with Oxfam's Head of Ecommerce & Retail Innovation, Andrew Ostcliffe

EP182: Digital Transformation and Selling Online with Oxfam's Head of Ecommerce & Retail Innovation, Andrew Ostcliffe

Ecommerce in the charity space is pretty damn interesting! Many charities have invested in their own ecommerce infrastructure and you'll find a surprising amount of retail innovation thrown in for good measure.

Oxfam is one of the UK's largest and longest serving Charities and has a challenging omnichannel model to manage, with 23,000 amazing volunteers running 560 shops nationwide, all adding inventory to the ecommerce site. What you probably don't realise about their product catalogue is that they sell premium brand items worth thousand of pounds.

In this episode, we sit down with Andrew Ostcliffe, Head of Ecommerce & Retail Innovation, whose job is to extend the business's reach to connect with supporters, donators and shoppers using every BIG RETAIL design and technology available now and in the future, to make the brand the sectors go to online retailer of their choice.

Tune in to learn what makes Oxfam's ecommerce operation roar like a finely-tuned engine.

Jun 06, 202337:33
EP181: The VP Engineering View on Shopify Components, Front-ends and New Checkout

EP181: The VP Engineering View on Shopify Components, Front-ends and New Checkout

Shopify continues its stellar growth, with revenue up significantly YoY, key features like Markets fully rolled-out and capabilities like POS and Payments extended into new countries. At the same time, it has had to divest unprofitable parts of the business like the fulfilment network to focus on the core product.

The Shopify marketing team has been busy promoting new releases and there has been a lot of talk in the industry about the impact of its evolution into enterprise with Components, as well as the benefits to customers of the new checkout solution. In this episode we get the insider view from a highly experienced Shopify developer, Max Rolon VP engineering at leading agency Half Helix, who has worked with a wide range of brands including Peloton, Ulla Johnson, Laura Mercier and Bare Minerals.

May 30, 202337:38
EP180: What Makes Adobe Commerce A Good Fit For B2C2B Ecommerce Retailers Like Topps Tiles?

EP180: What Makes Adobe Commerce A Good Fit For B2C2B Ecommerce Retailers Like Topps Tiles?

There are many businesses that have a strong ecommerce site for B2C for whom trade sales is a significant % of revenue, yet they don’t have a dedicated ecommerce platform or haven’t invested in the same way for trade customers. In this podcast we talk to ecommece agency owner Tom McCaul, who has helped a wide range of ecommerce businesses launch, scale and optimise B2B storefronts. Tom shares his views on the key features B2B customers need to make the website work for them, as well as technical considerations for merchants.

Tl;dr what we’ll cover:

  • Understanding the B2C2B ecommerce tech stack

  • Exploring key B2B features like trade accounts, quotations and loyalty

  • Adobe Commerce spotlight: key strengths for B2B, platform challenges and workarounds


May 23, 202348:60
EP179: Front Commerce On How Ecommerce Teams Are Using Its PWA Front-End, with CTO & Co-founder Pierre Martin

EP179: Front Commerce On How Ecommerce Teams Are Using Its PWA Front-End, with CTO & Co-founder Pierre Martin

What we cover: 1. What is Front Commerce’s front-end solution for ecommerce? 2. What type of business does a headless front-end suit and why? 3. Product features, roadmap and integrations As businesses grapple with the relevance and impact of evolving technology stacks to deliver greater flexibility and speed to market, with headless and composable both dominating the marketing speak, there has been a rise in front-end specialists. With great flexibility comes great responsibility, so it’s important to understand how the front-end market is developing and what better way that to speak one of the leading front-end platforms in ecommerce, Front Commerce. Listen to their CTO and co-founder, Pierre Martin, and Strategic Partnerships Manager, Christian LeLaidier, explain how the platform works.

May 16, 202359:38
EP178: Driving More Value From Your Cart to Confirmation Page Journey, With Rokt Chief Product & Engineering Officer Bill Barton

EP178: Driving More Value From Your Cart to Confirmation Page Journey, With Rokt Chief Product & Engineering Officer Bill Barton

Having recently talked about profit optimisation for ecommerce with Hypersonix, we’re drilling down into technology solutions that help ecommerce teams improve monetisation of the onsite conversion funnel and today our focus is on Rokt.

We're joined by Rokt's chief product & engineering officer, Bill Barton. Bill was previously vice president, Alexa Proactive Experience, at Amazon, where he spent 10 years building and leading teams that developed Alexa’s spoken language understanding and knowledge capabilities.

Tl;dr what we cover:

  • What problems Rokt is helping ecommerce businesses solve

  • How the technology is being used by leading retailers & marketplaces including Ticketmaster

  • Key product features & business tooling


May 09, 202334:04
EP177: LeMieux Ecommerce Manager Jodie Bratchell - Lessons Learned From Her First Replatforming Project

EP177: LeMieux Ecommerce Manager Jodie Bratchell - Lessons Learned From Her First Replatforming Project

Migrations are challenging but what’s it like when you’re doing it for the first time having previously not been in an ecommerce focused role?

Jodie Bratchell, ecommerce manager for leading equestrian brand LeMieux, moved into her first digital role in 2018 and shortly afterwards leapt into a Zencart to Magento replatforming project for B2C and B2B sites, as well as being the key ecommerce stakeholder in switching over payment providers.

Tl;dr what we cover:

  • What it’s like transitioning to an ecommerce role?

  • The experience leading a replatforming project for the first time

  • The benefits of deep customer & product knowledge when replatforming

  • Advice and insights on how to effectively manage a project


May 02, 202334:31