Your Basket Is Empty
By Tim Richardson
Your Basket Is EmptyJul 13, 2022
Ep 116: Is the future of commerce Headless or low code? With Martin Jensen, Co-founder at Centra
We discuss Martin’s journey from McKinsey to Centra, how a technology roadmap is developed and deployed, the impact VC funding has had on the eComm vendor market, the convergence of generative Ai and low code, what low code is doing to the agency landscape, the pros and cons of Headless and whether Centra will or won’t IPO in five years.
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Ep 115: Life after a big replatform with Hannah Bennett, Head Of Digital at Paul Smith
We discuss the reasons behind their move away from Magento, their technology decision process, the unique relationship they have with their agency (Limesharp) and how this helped shape a successful replatform, timeline and KPI expectations of the project, the keys to success of managing a project of this scale and why it’s good to think about migration first and growth second.
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Ep 114: The intersection of content and commerce, with Magnus Hillestad, Co-founder and CEO, Sanity
We discuss what structured content is and why it’s important, how much airtime Ai should be given when it comes to content, the differences commerce, media and tech companies take when approaching content, what it’s like to work with Morning Brew (one of my big inspirations) and where content and commerce will be in 5 years.
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Ep 113: Is Magento dying? With Ed Bull, Co-founder at Limesharp
We discuss why they were early adopters of Magento, the impact of their Paul Smith case study on them and the wider market, how agencies make platform decisions, balancing platform relationships and the big question - will Magento be around in 10 years?
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Ep 112: Will Ai be the future of all personalisation? With Rachel Tonner, VP of Marketing at Klevu
We discuss how they think about Ai internally, whether Ai will power all personalisation, whether brands are actually adopting Ai, what verticals are best suited for Ai, general musing on MACH and Headless and whether we’ll be talking about Ai and MACH in 5 years.
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Ep 111: Will Headless agencies be relevant in 10 years? With Alessandro Desantis, Chief Strategy Officer, Nebulab
We discuss the history of eComm tech from custom to open source to SaaS, the impact automation and commoditisation is having on platforms and service providers, the convergence of commerce and media and how that impacts the market, whether agencies will become more boutique, ShopifyGPT prompt predictions and why Ai WON’T end the agency model
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Ep 110: Are design-led brands the best use case for Headless? With Anton Johansson, CEO at Grebban
We explore what design-significant brands are, why Headless accelerators are useful from a speed to market perspective, the key to finding harmony between brand and eCommerce metrics, the power of subscription design services, the importance of a CMS in a Headless architecture and why Grebban bet on Centra.
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Ep 109: Is Headless a sensible architecture for a modern mid market brand? With Rachael Jones, Head of Strategy at Studio Rotate.
We start by defining the mid-market - a topic with many perspectives, how Headless offers a future-proofed vision, why ‘never having to replatform’ needs more airtime in terms of marketing, the huge advantages of Headless for editorial and brand-led companies, the misconceptions of losing the app market, the pros and cons of inhouse versus outsourced teams, the mechanics of total cost of ownership analysis and why 2024 will be the renaissance of Headless.
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Ep 108: The past, present and future of composable commerce with Kelly Goetsch, Chief Strategy Officer at Commercetools & MACH Alliance Co-founder
We discuss the history of commercetools, why the term Headless is meaningless, the advantage of a build AND buy tech strategy, why Ai tools are distracting from customer experience fundamentals, Shopify’s move into enterprise, the death of legacy platforms and why Kelly is bullish on B2B and making composable easier.
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Ep 107: Changing the British perception of speciality coffee with Emma Mckeever, Marketing Director at Origin Coffee
We discuss the growing desire for better quality coffee in the UK, why subscription models can be challenging but are well-suited for coffee due to its high frequency and repeatability, why brand identity and marketing metrics should be balanced to ensure a consistent and authentic customer experience, the importance of tailoring your loyalty programme based on different customer profiles and finally, what is coffee-core and why is it important?
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Ep 106: Are Fractional CMOs the best of both worlds? With Camilla Craven, fractional CMO/Consultant & Advisor/ Mentor
I sat down with Camilla Craven, fractional CMO. We discuss the mechanics of what it means to be a fractional CMO, the pros and the pitfalls of the role, the stage of businesses that get the most value from a fractoinal resources, why starting in agency world is major benefit, betting on luxury in bull and bear markets and why customer loyalty is incredibly but incredibly powerful. ………….
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Ep 105: The brave new world of growth with Richard Chapple, co founder of The Growth Foundation
On this special simulcast episode, I sat down with Richard Chapple, co-founder of The Growth Foundation. It’s a broad conversation where we tackle what it’s like to operate in the brave new world of growth. We cover why CRM is a gold pot waiting to be unleashed, the D2C principles that still exist today, avoiding choice paralysis, why D2C trumps omnichannel if it’s profitable, the pros and cons of geographical expansion and growth channels Rich is bullish on in 2024; Threads, Reddit and Podcasts.
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Ep 104: William Lynch and Tim Richardson discuss last week’s most interesting eComm and beyond news
On this episode Will and Tim discuss predictions, results and what brands like Finisterre, Ocean Bottle, Batch LDN and Lucy and Yak are doing for Black Friday Cyber Monday. They also round out their favourite news stories of 2023 and predictions for 2024.
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Ep 103: Owning and buying D2C businesses with Ben Cogan, co-founder of Agora and Hubble Contacts
We discuss the Agora investment thesis and process, why VC dollars can mask product market fit, where VC-backed D2C is going in 2024, whether it’s better to IPO or sell to a big CPG, why the pandemic was bad for FBA aggregators and the advantages of being a D2C operator and investor.
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Ep 102: Tapping into the power of personalised community data with Alex Beyer and Kristin Cardwell, co founders of Sourcerie; the world's first community-driven decision making platform
We discuss building the Tripadvisor for beauty, the difference between customisation and personalisation, arming brands with better customer feedback, their fund raising process and why you should date your co-founder before starting a business.
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Ep 101: How to connect brands with the top 1% of global creative agencies with co founders of AUFI, Toby Wilkinson & Nick Bell
We discuss the importance of agency people, the power of curation when it comes to agency selection, why awareness is key for growth, the shift from full service to niche and back to full service, why omnichannel is replacing D2C, how investing has complimented their business and why human IP is underrated.
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Ep 100: William Lynch and Tim Richardson discuss last week’s most interesting eComm and beyond news
On this episode we discuss Dollar Shave Club moving to Shopify and being put up for sale, how Hello Bello got into trouble, Indonesia banning TikTop Shop, why Wiggle might get bought, Nike’s new D2C gym equipment brand, Apple’s Ai announcement and Tala getting into outwear.
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Ep 99: Building a marketing automation platform with Rytis Lauris, Co-founder and CEO at Omnisend
We discuss why a basic product with product-market-fit is key, how they define the SMB and mid-market, the pros and cons of conversational commerce, why customer support and marketing teams should talk more, product-led-growth versus partner-led growth, why they’re backing multiple eCommerce platforms and the power of building a startup in Lithuania.
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Ep 98: The Customer vs The Consumer with Orla Weir, Head of eCommerce at Denzels
We discuss the importance of product, why seasonal moments are so powerful, the parallels of dog treats and the baby clothes market, who and what Genz-ennial’s are and the perfection retention strategy (Routine, Iteration, Product, Experience and New news).
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Bonus: Balancing Content & Commerce with Mel McVeigh (VP Consumer Product, Conde Nast) & David Greenaway (Product Team Manager, We Make Websites)
On this special episode, which was recorded live earlier this month, Tim sat down with Mel McVeigh (VP Consumer Product, Conde Nast) & David Greenaway (Product Team Manager, We Make Websites) It’s a wide ranging discussion about the interplay of content and commerce, where they discuss, the ecom considerations for the multiples brands at Conde Nast, how companies like Toast are nailing the content driven storytelling, creator culture, influencer culture and trend culture driving our commerce experiences on social, whether TikTok shop is more of a modern day QVC than we think and the pros and cons headless and composable.
Ep 97: Balancing online and offline communities with Isabelle Gormezano Marks, Marketing Director at East London Liquor Company
We discuss what an analogue-digital brand is, why tone of voice is the key to scale, how to balance customers and trade partners, building online and offline communities and why brand activations opportunities with companies like Malin + Goetz are so important.
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Ep 96: The eCommerce Platform Arms Race with Rick Watson, eCommerce Strategy Consultant
We discuss building a personal brand on LinkedIn, the pros and cons of Gartner’s magic quadrant, his role at the MACH Alliance and how they fit into the ecosystem, the Shopify versus Commercetools debate, the rise and fall of Magento and who will be the dominate platform in 10 yrs time.
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Ep 95: William Lynch and Tim Richardson discuss last week’s most interesting eComm and beyond news
We discuss the early rise of Christmas-related Google searches, Tesco in hot water, H&M charging for returns, OpenAi and DALL-E 3, Days going viral via Tube Girl, Shopify’s 3D modelling feature and NME making a comeback.
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Ep 94: Building a future-proof data platform with Edward Upton, Founder and CEO of Littledata
We discuss the fallacy of big data, the importance of harvesting the right data, GA4’s TLDR, navigating data regulation, the power of Shopify’s product velocity and the pros and cons of being platform partner agnostic.
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Ep 93: Disrupting dentistry with Dr Simon Chard, co-founder of PÄRLA toothpaste tabs
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Ep 92: Ben Read, founder of Redeployable, on building a purpose-driven platform
We discuss the power of having a purpose, the similarities between dating and hiring, the huge potential of ex-service people, humanising SaaS branding with humour and the power of ambition coupled with trusting your gut.
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Ep 91: Joseph Fitzgibbon, founder at Growth & Company, on the new marketing paradigm
We discuss creating new channels like communities, avoiding product and marketing silos, whether brand trumps product, the rise of LinkedIn as a new medium for D2C brands (eg Surreal), who are best at adapting to the new paradigm of marketing and Joe’s take on whether to hire an agency or not.
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Ep 90: Toby Hoppy, co founder at All Things Butter on disrupting dairy
We discuss why they are disrupting dairy, the power of attention to detail and data, the challenges of D2C unit economics, category expansion, the pros and cons of leveraging a huge audience and why we might need to wait a while for chicken skin butter.
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Ep 89: William Lynch and Tim Richardson discuss last week’s most interesting eComm and beyond news
In this Wednesday’s episode, Will and Tim deep dive on the eComm news of the last week. They discuss the US military sending incorrect emails, WooCommerce and TikTok partnering up, TikTok’s new fulfilment service, Youtube’s affiliate programme and the demise of Wilko, WeWork and Hopin ☹️
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Ep 88: Andrzej Dąbrowski, co founder & CEO of Shopstory
In this week’s episode Tim sat down with Shopstory co founder and CEO, Andrzej Dąbrowski. From his background in building digital experiences in Ecom, Andrejz talks about how Shopstory empowers designers and marketers to build visual content without the use of code or developers. Thus meaning, developers can spend their time elsewhere. Hear Andrejz's thoughts visual building, CMSs and the Headless horse race between Shopify, commercetools, Centra, Commerce Layer et al.
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Ep 87: Craig Somerville, Managing Director at The Reload Group on selling an agency
We discuss the advantages of a long term strategy horizon when it comes to a sale, why internal and external alignment on what people want out of the deal is key, the ceiling ones hits when they bootstrap, the pros and cons of different communications strategies when announcing the deal and Craig’s top tips for a better due diligence process.
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Ep 86: William Lynch and Tim discuss last week’s most interesting eComm and beyond news
It’s the last Wednesday of the month so Will and Tim are here to deep dive on eComm (and beyond’s) most interesting news. They tackle IKEA adopting AI, LMVH’s innovation award, Shopify’s answer to Prime Day, BNPL Pizza, Shop Pay moving into the enterprise, Peleton on the ropes and the sad passing of Bother.
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Ep 85: Oisin O'Connor, CEO/Co-Founder at Recharge on the state of play and future of subscription
We discuss the history of Recharge, structural changes in the market and how they’re impacting merchants, the move from deterministic to probabilistic marketing, why maximising customer LTV is so important, differentiating loyalty from subscription, the pros and cons of referral programmes and why you just need to trust your gut.
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Ep 84: Will Nitze, Founder/CEO at IQBAR on CPG and personal brand growth
We discuss moving from Kickstarter to Amazon to DTC, the keys to assessing CPG product-market fit (TAM, ship friendliness, shelf life and repeatability), launching new categories and product lines, under indexing on the product, the importance of brand experience in a retail environment and how Will’s LinkedIn shower thoughts are created.
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Ep 83: Martijn Wijsmuller and Paul Veen, co-founders at Ask Phill
We discuss pivoting from SaaS to agency, being early adopters of Headless, the importance of goal alignment between client and agency, the advantages of starting a brand as agency founders, why Shopify is incredibly hard to beat and the pros and cons of sharing a bed with your co founder.
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Ep 82: Mac King, Managing Director at Half Helix
We discuss the early days of shopify, transitioning from platform to agency, the ins and outs of the Able sense deal, agency M&A opportunities, why it’s better to buy than build and the broader headless composable market.
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Ep 81: William Lynch, Marketing & Partnerships for Noticed, Founder & Editor of Ecommer News
Instead of our normal broadcast, we’re doing something a little different. Will and Tim spend 30 mins chatting about the past week’s most interesting eComm (and beyond) news. Think Pivot meets Morning Brew pod meets The Rest Is History. We discuss Threadup’s resale report and the general state of circular platforms, Gymshark’s approach to retail and where omnichannel is at, Vice’s demise, KIKI the new Web3 beauty brand and Domm Holland’s new startup, Trady.
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Ep 80: Tash Courtenay-Smith, founder at Bolt Digital - CEO Bolt Digital & D2C Live. Founder Biz Kids. Investor, board advisor, author & broadcaster
We discuss Tash’s transition from journalism to agency world, opportunities for brands in the current economic climate, why getting back to basics is and always will be a good strategy, building and fostering a community, the challenges of sweat equity and why one needs to take responsibility for their own personal brand.
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Ep 79: William Hedley co founder of Loah
We discuss the advantages of starting a brand with agency experience, balancing DTC and retail, why being on draught is the holy grail, the challenges and advantages of finding early adopters, the value prop to pubs for non alc options and why focussing on the boring stuff is a key ingredient to startup success.
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Ep 78: Joseph Brown, Operations Director at Kubix Media
We discuss why Shopify POS was an important service in the early days at Kubix, a day in the life of an agency Ops Director, why brands are likely already using AI but don’t know it, navigating the tech partner landscape and the most challenging aspect of the current economic climate; hiring.
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Ep 77: Alex O’Byrne, co-founder at We Make Websites
We discuss the beauty of building and selling something you enjoy, the pros and cons of bootstrapping, the similarity in challenges at each stage of the agency life cycle, value-based pricing, the best uses of AI in an agency context, the importance of cultural fit between a buyer and seller and what life looks like after an exit 🚀
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Ep 76: Namrata Nayyar-Kamdar, Founder at Plenaire
We discuss how a challenging personal period and extensive experience in the FMCG space led to the creation of the brand, the power of combining beauty and emotional well-being, why barriers to entry in the DTC space are both a blessing and a curse, the pros and cons of celebrity-backed brands and what Namrata is most excited about in 2023.
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Ep 75: Oliver Rhodes, eCommerce Tech Consultant
We discuss what skills he acquired after the Peoplevox acquisition, why becoming a trusted advisor is an excellent sales tactic, what a dark stack it is and why it’s important, the power of eCommerce tech curation, why software sales experience is an advantage when advising eCommerce brands, balancing work and life and Ollie’s secret business book recommendation 🤫
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Ep 74: Mike Gammell, co-founder at Days
We discuss how a last flight out of London at the start of the COVID lockdown kick-started the brand, the advantages of crowd-sourced product development, why embracing a COVID-enforced D2C strategy was so powerful, the process of moving from D2C only to a multi-channel player, using D2C data to inform your retail strategy, why not spending any money on acquisition until the eComm basics were in play was a smart move, why sticking to 0% alcohol, whilst difficult, has been a key ingredient for success and their five year mission to build the world's next great beer business.
Ep 73: Georgia Barkell , Chief Operating Officer at Sprint Ventures
We discuss why being exposed to her family fashion business was a stepping stone to a corporate career, the importance of personal values alignment when making career choices, the untapped potential of Web3, Sprint’s investment criteria and process, the current state of financial markets and central bank strategy and advice to anybody considering a pre seed, seed or Series A investment raise.
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Ep 72: Tom Rees, founder of Wiro Agency
We discuss the print services origins of Wiro, pivoting from a platform-agnostic model to Shopify only, his take on Commerce Components and why this additional enterprise layer is useful from a pricing perspective, the similarities of brand expectations and caution between COVID and now, using the current market volatility to their advantage when hiring, why partnerships with bigger agencies is a great growth initiative, why we need to enter a new era of hyper-realistic case studies and his go-to internal agency stack including Slack, ClickUp, Notion, Google Drive, Pipedrive, Quickbooks and Loom. Sign up to the newsletter here: https://yourbasketisempty.com/ Enjoy ✌️
Ep 71: Tom & Tom, co-founders of Superco
We discuss building the Lizz Truss of Shopify apps, the advantages of being non-developer founders, approaching the agency business from a fist principles perspective, the keys to hiring great people, why the best partnerships are based on client needs not the best technical solution, the advantages of having a wide partner network including VCs and branding agencies, why adding quality to the conversations is the key to good personal branding, the advantages of a fully remote team and why working with your best mates is a good foundation for a successful business
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Ep 70: Piers Thorogood, co-founder at We Make Websites
We discuss getting approached by an agency group in 2019 sparked the idea of an exit, how COVID derailed the exit plans, the key milestones of the Born deal; the initial conversation, due diligence and SPA negotiations, the advantages of having one person focusing on the deal, the importance of the business being able to run in parallel to the exit plan, the challenges of due diligence, specifically the difference in process between the target and acquirer, the lessons learned of not taking corporate finance advice, the inherent risk of a deal falling through and what he’d do differently if he did it all again.
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Ep 69: Gavin Ballard, founder of Disco Labs and Submarine
I sit down with Gavin Ballard, founder of Disco Labs and Submarine.
We discuss how a love of Shopify led to the creation of Disco Labs, why they decided to pivot from an agency to a product, the challenges of process transition when pivoting, why being at the coal face of client issues helps with product development, Submarine’s GMT through their existing agency partner network, the importance of the developer experience and a revolutionary new paradigm in online retail; ‘flexible commerce’
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Ep 68: Lauren Kleinman, founder of Dreamday and co-founder of The Quality Edit
I sit down Lauren Kleinman, founder of Dreamday and co-founder of The Quality Edit and we discuss why being brand side helped shape the agency model, the impact key hires can have on a business, how a passion project turned into a separate business in The Quality Edit, why gut and intuition are so important for decision making, why hiring for culture and vetting clients reduces the chances of working with assholes and what Lauren’s dreamday looks like.
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