One Technology Leading to Another

Phillip: [00:00:44] Welcome to Future Commerce, the podcast about cutting edge and next generation commerce, rated as one of Forbes Top 6 Tech Podcasts Worth Your Time. I'm Phillip.

Brian: [00:00:52] And I'm Brian.

Phillip: [00:00:53] And I love when we say that. Forbes had a lot of nice things to say about us.

Brian: [00:01:00] Yes.

Phillip: [00:01:00] I'm so sorry. I can't... I can't help but toot our own horn. Okay. Anyway, so yeah. Thank you for listening. And we want you to never miss an episode. And the best way you can do that is to sign up for FC Insiders, our weekly newsletter about what's new and what's next in retail. And we've got a bunch of exclusive content coming your way really soon over there. So check it out at FutureCommerce.fm. Brian, what are we talking about today?

Brian: [00:01:25] Today is a fun round up of of other sources of news and podcasts and influencers in the e-commerce space? Very excited about this.

Phillip: [00:01:37] We sort of got this idea because recently over on I think Kiri Masters... Right? Over at Bobsled Marketing rated us as one of the top five podcasts for consumer brands. And in that roundup, you know, it was kind of an honor to be featured alongside a bunch of people that I listen to. But what she had said about us was that when she listens to Future Commerce, it makes her feel smarter. And I was like, "Oh, that's so cool." Like, I love... That's a great compliment. Thank you. But when I listen to these podcasts, I feel smarter. And so these are people who are contemporaries in the industry. And if you're not listening to these shows, always listen to us first. Do us the favor of always listening to us first. Okay. But you should also be checking these folks out. It's actually it's pretty insightful when you listen to some of the themes that come up over and over again, especially on a couple of these that they sound a lot like us.

Brian: [00:02:38] Yeah. I mean, there's some great content out there. And I think it's really great to call attention to it because it's worth your time. Some of this stuff is absolutely insightful. So highly recommended.

Phillip: [00:02:50] Yeah. For sure. So we're gonna jump into it here today. And maybe you have some retail publications or some retail tech publications, some podcasts, maybe some YouTube channels, something that you listen to or watch or read that make you feel smarter. And so we'd love for you to jump on over to FutureCommerce.fm and scroll down to the Disqus comment box and let us know about the types of things that you're listening to. How are you staying up to date on retail, tech and commerce? But without any further ado, let's jump right in, because we've got a lot of really smart people that we won't introduce you to.

Brian: [00:03:27] Yeah, let's kick it off with Jason and Scot.

Phillip: [00:03:30] Jason and Scot!

Brian: [00:03:30] We're big fans. We've been on their show. They've been on our show, two part series. We talked about it a couple of times. They are two industry experts, longtime experts, that got together to form a podcast. Jason Goldberg has really, he's been around in the industry kind of in the upmarket ends. He's SVP of Commerce and Content practice at Razorfish. He's been doing his own commentary on the retail industry, via retailgeek.com for a long time. He's pretty well known. I mean, if you don't know Jason Goldberg, then you probably haven't listened to much content about, or read much content about, the eCommerce industry.

Phillip: [00:04:16] Yeah. They're hard to miss, these two. But I would say they also do an exceptional job both of them being involved in the National Retail Federation. Right?

Brian: [00:04:26] Yes.

Phillip: [00:04:27] And the IRCE... The Internet retailer, you know, directorship and some of their influence they have there. So they've been around a long time and they both, you know, obviously were and are with very prominent organizations that enable retailers.

Brian: [00:04:45] Well, I mean, Scot started Channel Advisor. Right? He's the CEO and founder. It's just that, right?

Phillip: [00:04:53] Yeah. You know, you don't need it when you started the thing that people say is so ubiquitous that they start to loathe. It's like a Channel Advisor. I'm like, gosh, I wish people would say that kind of stuff about me.

Brian: [00:05:08] {laughter}

Phillip: [00:05:08] "Oh, Phillip..." "Future Commerce, ugh, those guys."

Brian: [00:05:10] What I love about Scot, too, is that he didn't just stay with Channel Advisor, he just went off and he started GetSpiffy, which is basically an on the other spot, on site, car washing and minimal maintenance service.

Phillip: [00:05:27] Yeah. Really, really, really smart.

Brian: [00:05:29] Super smart, super smart, super innovative. I love that idea, actually.

Phillip: [00:05:33] Speaking of smart and innovative, we have a clip from their show and I just with zero context will get into it. But they're talking here about the Xbox Kinect and sort of the future technology getting applied into phones. Let's check it out.

Clip from The Jason and Scot Show: [00:05:52] A 3D camera with infrared distance measuring that was out there. And so there were tons of little niche applications that hacked some solution using that those Microsoft Kinect cameras. So there's lots of these like 3D body scanners that you could potentially use for like uploading your avatar to your favorite eCommerce site or made to order clothing or measuring rooms for furniture and all these different things. And there are a bunch of in-store applications where these these Microsoft Kinect cameras got hacked in. Microsoft just announced that they're discontinuing the Kinect. And so that's going to go away. And of course, the everything that was in that big camera module is now, you know, there's a better version in this little notch on the iPhone. And so I think we're going to start to see a bunch of interesting apps and use cases where they're essentially using an iPhone just for that sensor array in a bunch of fixed installations, which I think would be cool. You know, the bummer at the moment is they're going to be hard to source and they're going to be expensive for a while. And I sure wish they had them on the back as well, because I feel like for retail uses, it would be very handy to have that sensor array pointing out so that we could use it for some other uses.

Phillip: [00:07:14] Brian, what do you think about having a facial recognition technology of the iPhone 10 pointing out so that we can just scan everybody that walks by? You like that?

Brian: [00:07:23] Yeah. I mean, it may be obvious why we picked this clip.

Phillip: [00:07:28] I think it's going to be a little on the nose with all of them.

Brian: [00:07:31] Yeah.

Phillip: [00:07:32] Yeah.

Brian: [00:07:33] We're not the only ones talking about some of these things. So we've been talking about body scanning and data for a long time and virtual runways and things like that. I think this is a very astute comment about the iPhone having a sensor going on the back as well, because it really would be beneficial to retail. And I would like to see Apple partner up with retailers around this or really...

Phillip: [00:07:58] Or just license the technology to somebody who can, you know, make use of it. That won't lock it down and and, you know, have it get hacked by people that, you know, 3D print masks.

Brian: [00:08:07] That too. That too.

Phillip: [00:08:07] Anyway, so if you haven't checked out Jason and Scot, you know, that's not always the vein that they live in, but they're very smart. We like them a lot. And we hope you like them, too. Want you to check them out. So check out Jason Scot. And yeah, who's next?

Brian: [00:08:22] Yes. So next, let's talk about Andrew Youderian.

Phillip: [00:08:28] Oh yeah. eCommerce Fuel

Brian: [00:08:31] He's kind of like an old timer in podcasting terms now. I mean, eCommerce Fuel has...

Phillip: [00:08:37] Been around a long time.

Brian: [00:08:38] Yeah, he's been around for a long time. He's done a lot of great content and interviews. And eCommerce Fuel is more than just a podcast. It's a private community of retailers and...

Phillip: [00:08:51] Self-described for high six and seven figure retailers. It's like a private paid forum that you have to apply it to kind of get into this community. And it's an open community in the sense that everybody who's part of that community can approach each other and speak to each other on level ground. It is not an open community in that it's reserved for people who are in that sort of echelon of retail. But it's a very interesting idea. And yeah, I think one of the very first eCommerce podcasts that I had ever listened to, or retail focused podcast I had ever listened to.

Brian: [00:09:28] Yeah. Same here. Yeah. What I like about what Andrew's done is he's done a really good job curating content for this specific market. And I think they've done several summits and conferences just for their members, which is really cool. I think that a lot of people have looked to Andrew for inspiration in their businesses. So if you fall into that category and you're not listening to this podcast, you should be. There's no doubt.

Phillip: [00:10:00] For sure. And Andrew comes out of Bozeman, Montana, and has actually a really interesting background that, you know, sort of feels very familiar to me in that Andrew has founded and sold many businesses that, you know, actually were actual eCommerce businesses and pure play eCommerce businesses that are in those sort of niches that I think sets him apart in this pack in that he was a founder and business owner who found success in digital commerce. Let's take a listen to one of his recent episodes.

Clip from eCommerce Fuel: [00:10:36] Since I had about investing in eCommerce businesses, was hanging out with some good friends in the eCommerce space this summer, and the topic turned to investing and investing in eCommerce businesses. And a number of them really urged me to seriously think about try to put together some kind of fund or systematically invest in eCommerce businesses. If you look at eCommerce businesses, up until a million dollars in cash flow or even half, I would look at it a lot of times you're only seeing multiples of 3 X, which, you know, 30% return even if you account for a salary in there for the owner, you're still looking at returns that are much better than what you can get a lot of times in the other market. Flip side of that is you've got obviously much more risk. It's a more opaque market. It's much smaller. A lot of these different things. But the idea was to look for businesses in that, let's say, you know, $3-5 million range, maybe up to 20, 25, 30 million dollars in revenue and come to them. And not private equity in the sense of trying to invest in the company, lever it up, improve it, and flip it within five to six years, but really, with an investment strategy more focused on cash flow on, not permanent equity investment from people, but definitely much longer term, you know, not five years more like in the 10 to 20 year horizon.

Phillip: [00:11:57] And as you can tell, Andrew has a very next level, you know, approach in sort of a headiness around the kinds of guests that he has on and really enjoy that particular, his take on things, which I think is very sort of strategic. And this particular episode was about building a brand on customer lifetime value and wishing that, you know, he had started tracking it sooner. And the guests that he has on are always top notch.

Brian: [00:12:27] Absolutely.

Phillip: [00:12:28] Check it out at eCommerceFuel.com And you can get most of these podcasts, you know, at i-Tunes or wherever you podcasts. So actually, I'd like to... So this is a new one for me. And I'm super, I'm super blown away by how much we have in common with this show. It is a show called Brick & Data. Have you listen to Brick & Data?

Brian: [00:12:49] Just a little bit. Yeah, I agree. These guys are they're really smart. They're focused on, you know, what's next. And I think we've said a couple of the same things like, "Oh, I feel like our podcast is becoming an Amazon podcast." Because, you know, they're seeing trends that we're seeing. And I love that.

Phillip: [00:13:11] Yep.

Brian: [00:13:11] So I would definitely recommend them. They've got quite a resumé as well.

Phillip: [00:13:18] Oh, my gosh, the resume is insane. So the two podcasters in question here are Todd Harris and Jose Chan. Jose Chan... You may have heard of him. So he's a fellow at MIT Sloan School of Management. He's an MIT grad who went on to found the New York Fashion Retail Association, and the NYFRA is extremely influential in the New York retail market. But what an incredible résumé for him and Todd as well. Todd, you know, coming from a core security, Q1 labs and Novell, and has been in these sort of IT and IT marketing sector for many years with a lot of overlap there. Currently at Select in a lot of overlap with retail and cloud and predictive analytics.

Brian: [00:14:18] Yeah both of them are at Select, which is pretty cool.

Phillip: [00:14:20] Oh ok.

Brian: [00:14:20] Yeah.

Phillip: [00:14:20] That's a familiar story for you and I as well. And they're very like forward tech focused, which I really appreciate because if you like our show, you're probably going to love this show. And Brian was a little worried about pointing you over to them.

Brian: [00:14:34] {laughter} They're really good.

Phillip: [00:14:35] They're very good.

Brian: [00:14:36] I really enjoy listening to them. If you're listening to our show, you probably will, too.

Phillip: [00:14:40] Don't take our word for it, though. Let's take a listen to them.

Clip from Brick & Data: [00:14:43] Holographic version of a runway show. Right? To watch at home using your smartphones. And that actually really did happen. So there's this agency in the U.K. that actually created this. So it's a holographic version of a fashion show. That's pretty cool. It's very sci fi. It is. It is holographic. It seems to be, you know, a little bit more immature than AR at this point. But, you know, even at the Shop.org we saw essentially a holographic assistant that can be customized to, essentially like a Google assistant, but with a face and you can adjust the face and it's much more visual, not as capable as Google assistant, but it's the same idea that could potentially help shoppers in a mall, help them in a store whatever, whatever... But all these things and, you know, AR is a lot more advanced in that at the moment in terms of accessibility and penetration in the market in general. I mean, AR in general is we're saying it's about to explode because it really is about to explode if it hasn't already. And they're forecasting... There's a firm called Digi-Capital, and they're forecasting 900 million AR enabled smartphones by the end of 2018. So a year from, about a year from now, there'll be 900 million. So we're not that far from 900 million.

Phillip: [00:16:07] Right. 900 million smartphones with AR capabilities is what they're talking about there. So. Wow. I mean, maybe we should just... Can we do like a hostile takeover of their show? Is that a possibility?

Brian: [00:16:22] {laughter} Or maybe just the takeover. How about a friendly takeover?

Phillip: [00:16:26] Friendly takeover.

Brian: [00:16:26] We should do a little cross podcast. That'd be fun.

Phillip: [00:16:28] We should.

Brian: [00:16:28] That'd be really fun.

Phillip: [00:16:30] That would be really nice. Guys, if you're listening. Give us a call. But really, dig 'em.

Brian: [00:16:36] Also on, just really quickly, on the subject of AR, I don't know if anyone saw this, but they Niantic, who did Pokemon Go, they are release a Harry Potter AR location based game. Which I'm not going to lie, I'm super excited about.

Phillip: [00:16:56] Yeah. I'm way more excited about that. That sounds awesome, actually. And plus, because some of that actually exists in the real world, some of those locations, I mean, I wonder if there's like some special things you could get if you go to London and you kind of tool around in London, that might be kind of cool.

Brian: [00:17:14] Yeah. Totally. Also I wonder if they'll partner up with the Harry Potter world on some stuff as well.

Phillip: [00:17:22] Oh yeah some of the like theme park destinations. That's really, really neat. OK. Let's keep moving.

Brian: [00:17:30] Next, we've got the Retail Focus podcast, Layton and Trent Kling. These guys are smart guys. That's pretty fun to listen in on them. Yeah. Yeah. You want to roll the clip?

Phillip: [00:17:40] Yeah, sure. Sure.

Clip from Retail Focus Podcast: [00:17:41] Hurricanes, at least for CVS caused 925 stores to be closed for different periods of time. When you look at where the CVS locations are situated in the United States, I think CVS potentially took a larger hit from the hurricanes than many other retail businesses other than maybe regional retail businesses, businesses like Publix and HEB in the grocery sector. And in fact, eleven stores are still closed after impacts from the hurricane. CVS has a very large footprint in Florida. They also have a large footprint in Texas. So we're seeing that CVS obviously impacts from the hurricanes even still.

Phillip: [00:18:22] And in Retail Focus, actually, they touch on it a little bit right there, which is they have another sort of sister podcast that touches on the retail, grocery and food restaurant industry sector. And so they get really, really deep actually on just about every episode about specific brands, their performance in the market, their product selections that are working for them and their sort of strategy. They also do earnings call reports. So if you're very interested in the deep, deep, deep sort of inside baseball of specific retail brands, this might be right up your alley.

Brian: [00:18:58] Yeah, definitely. I think what's interesting is, and one of the reasons why they focus on that is maybe because they have an orchard, which is actually a retail business that looks like their family runs, which is pretty interesting to me. And Trent also does other other media stuff for his local, they're in Kansas, like local sports stuff. And he has a fun voice.

Phillip: [00:19:26] Very cool. So check them out. They're banging on a lot of different cylinders and definitely have some of that deep knowledge. And it's probably if you are in brick and mortar retail, this might be an extremely interesting podcast for you.

Brian: [00:20:38] Here's another one. Yeah. Total Retail Talks.

Phillip: [00:20:41] Yes. So I hadn't actually even heard of this one, and I'm poorer for it. Of all of the ones on this list, I was actually really impressed because... Well, there're actually a couple on the list. But Melissa Campanelli, who is, you know, part of this podcast. She seems to speak a lot on behalf of women in retail, women in leadership and does a lot of sort of work in that space. And yeah, so it's interesting that I hadn't come across her name before, because that's a topic that's extremely interesting to me.

Brian: [00:21:16] Yeah. Total Retail also is not just a podcast. There are all kinds of content. Video. A blog. They've got reports and all kinds of things. So highly recommend you check out Total Retail. The podcast is quite good. You want to roll a clip?

Phillip: [00:21:29] Sure.

Clip from Total Retail Talks: [00:21:29] Less than one third of our respondents said they plan to increase spending on payments and EMV technology in the next 12 months. It's again, a little surprising to me, considering the well-publicized data breaches that have been in the news and a lot have taken place at the point of sale in store in POS terminals. So EMV technology, it's a solution to help address and to combat that data theft. So that was a little bit surprising, especially considering online without consumer trust and a consumer being, you know, able to input their credit card information and not have to worry about it being stolen. So without that, you know, you really would seem to be sunk as an online retailer if you don't have the the trust of consumers.

Phillip: [00:22:21] And speaking there actually was... So this is from episode 117. And it was talking about how they were actually analyzing how retailers were allocating tech expenditures and sort of looking back at the year. And so speaking there was Joe Keenan, who's one of the editors of Total Retail. And I was also taken by surprise because I'd written out on a blog earlier this week that one of the predictions I got wrong this year was that I felt like retailers would put more money and more budget into not just EMV compliance, which is certainly, certainly a big thing this year, especially if you're running brick and mortar. So the EMV change over to the PINless chip in the United States here, that was a big deal. But I also felt like consumers were going to be pushing retailers more into flexibility of payment options like Apple Pay and Amazon Pay and seeing more of those branded flexible payment options. And so I felt like there was some synergy in the headspace that I live in, in the consulting realm from what they were talking about in this particular podcast. That's why I chose the clip.

Brian: [00:23:38] Good clip. Yeah.

Phillip: [00:23:39] Very, very good. And it's one you should check out, and I'm poorer for not having known about it earlier. It's certainly one I'm going to be subscribing to. So the next podcast that we are checking out is actually one that only showed up on my radar, admittedly, last week I didn't even know that the NRF had their own podcast.

Brian: [00:24:01] Yeah, I did. I listened to a couple episodes like right after it started. It wasn't that long ago. It's not been around for that long.

Phillip: [00:24:09] I feel like it's been... Yeah. Come on you guys. You're like encroaching on our thing here. Now I'm just kidding. So the NRF.. Bill Thorne. And who else is on? I feel like someone else is on the show. Jessica...

Brian: [00:24:25] Yeah, I don't... I'm spacing on a last name. But yes. Jessica, is co-host.

Phillip: [00:24:31] Yeah. That's terrible. We should know that. What's really interesting about this particular show and sort of is like a sub note is that they have a lot of really great interviews just kind of scrolling back a little bit. You know, a bunch of interesting brands like Macy's and Lane Bryant. But also, I'm super impressed with Allbirds. Joey Zwillinger, who we tried to get on our show and didn't even answer the LinkedIn request. So, Joey, come on, man. But admittedly, we're not NRF. So that's OK. But I'm a big fan of that brand.

Brian: [00:25:04] Jessica Hibbard.

Phillip: [00:25:06] Yeah.

Brian: [00:25:06] Jessica Hibbard.

Phillip: [00:25:08] Oh ok. Thank you. Oh, thank God. Sorry, Jessica, we're the worst. And Scott Galloway, who is, you know, ubiquitous in Scott's voice can be seen just about everywhere.

Brian: [00:25:21] L2.

Phillip: [00:25:21] Yeah. Exactly. If you're not subscribed to L2, it's really interesting and kind of love their approach. But this particular episode clip that we're going to play is Karen Katz, the CEO of Neiman Marcus. And she talks a little bit about how they found some really great technology adoption in the Magic Mirror as we talked about back on, I don't know, episode eight or so?

Brian: [00:25:48] Eight. Yeah. Maybe 10, I think.

Phillip: [00:25:50] Yeah, we did an interview with Scott Emmons, the Neiman Marcus innovation lab director. And they talked... He talked specifically about why they did the Magic Mirror, how they, you know, came around to actually implementing the Magic Mirror, and making a part of their technology strategy. But Karen goes a little deeper in this interview about how that particular approach led them to other investment in technology. Let's take a look.

Clip from NRF Retail Gets Real: [00:26:22] When you have your makeup done by a makeup artist at one of our stores, which is free of charge. So it's a great experience. It's a great way to have a luxurious moment at Neiman Marcus. We can record the makeup artist doing your makeup and we send the video to your phone so that the next day, that night, three days later, you have a video of exactly how that makeup was applied. It has been a huge hit with our customers because she feels like one of the hardest things for women is they get their makeup done for a special event and then they have no idea what went on because they were busy chatting. Now they have a video of it. It's been just a huge success with our customers. So one technology led us to another, and it's been a big success.

Phillip: [00:27:09] Yeah. Then one technology leading to another is really how you build successful businesses and brands, and it's nice to see Neiman Marcus making that shift. And if you wanted to hear the entirety of that interview, you could do that over in NRF.com. And they have a podcast where they interview lots of people just like Karen.

Brian: [00:27:28] Yeah. It was a really interesting interview. No doubt. Then they do a lot of interesting interviews, very similar to that. So if you enjoy hearing, you know, sort of retail insiders talk about retail, that's definitely a good one to listen to.

Phillip: [00:27:43] Yeah. And the last few episodes alone kind of, you know, covers the gamut. You've got the Gerry O'Brien, the director of Kohls Center for Retailing Excellence. And you have and then supply chain management from Rick Schart, who's a supply chain and eCommerce SVP at Stein Mart. So lots of really great brands and lots of great names. So you'll hear a lot of industry insider voices, and I wouldn't expect anything less from the National Retail Federation.

Brian: [00:28:12] No doubt.

Phillip: [00:28:12] So go check it out. Okay. So last but certainly not least, I'm kicking it over to you subtly.

Brian: [00:28:17] So eCommerce Master Plan. Actually, it's not even last, but it's the last clip we're going to play. This is Chloe Thomas. She is really fun to listen to. She's doing a lot of cool stuff with her brands beyond podcasting. I would definitely recommend having a look at her. She's got some interesting products and services that you can check out. And why don't you roll the clip on her and get a flavor for what she sounds like.

Phillip: [00:28:42] Okay. Sure. Here we go.

Clip from eCommerce Master Plan: [00:28:44] Once you've worked out what that journey is they then went into step four, which was to pick one of those segments, one of those customer groups they identified, and then to start testing alternative implementations of the home page, so alternative designs and alternative layouts and alternative call to actions, places that the home page led to for that particular segment based on what that journey was like. And doing the same thing to other landing pages, then A/B split testing those new versions.

Brian: [00:29:16] Gotta love that.

Clip from eCommerce Master Plan: [00:29:18] And then building that through the rest of the journey through the website. And they were doing this with the biggest segment, the segment that was worth the most to them. So that's a really simple force, that process to starting to understand at a really simple level, but highly effective level, how your customers are choosing to buy from you, why they're buying from you, and then to tweak your website to make that a reality. Or not to make that a reality, but rather to put in place things that will accelerate their path along that journey and help them on that journey, thus making it considerably more likely they're going to buy from you.

Phillip: [00:29:52] And what's really interesting there is, you know, in an otherwise very interview, heavy podcast, you get some of her takeaways when she visits conferences, you get her takeaways and reviews sort of blow-by-blow of every single session that she sat in. And what I love about that is she very succinctly recaps some of the great advice that she's hearing and she's relaying it to her audience, and that's something that not a lot of these podcasts or even blogs are doing. There she was talking about an adult brand. Listener beware. But she's talking about how they just applied normal customer insights and feedback and actually customer surveys and learning the customer journey and how they make product purchase decisions and found out that for their particular types of products that it's a much more considered a product purchase than you might think. And how a little bit of data science and some creative creative application of best eCommerce practices go a long way in actually streamlining and honing the customer experience. So I really love her take on that. And it's definitely a new one on my list and one you should check out.

Brian: [00:31:14] Gotta love the accent, too. It's always fun.

Phillip: [00:31:16] Oh, it's great. I love it. And you know what? Not enough of the Brit representation. I mean, I'm sure that we should we seeing a lot more and maybe we're just not clued in. So if you know of a few of those podcasts or YouTube channels that we should be checking out, make sure you tell us.

Brian: [00:31:31] Not just Brit, but international podcasts or content around eCommerce. Yep. Be sure to pass it our way and post it on the Disqus comment box on the site or you know, hit us up on Twitter or wherever.

Phillip: [00:31:44] Yeah, for sure. So we have a couple that we want to mention that certainly aren't honorable mention, but we don't have any clips to play for you. And so one who should probably not need an introduction is Andrea Wasserman. Andrea Wasserman from Captain Customer. And this is a blog that I have had cued up in my RSS reader for quite a long time. And she is just brilliant.

Brian: [00:32:10] It's not that old. It's been about a year since she started.

Phillip: [00:32:15] Is that all? I feel like it's been longer than that.

Brian: [00:32:17] I know. She feels ubiquitous. She's done some really, really cool stuff. She's covered a lot of really cool stuff. She talks at NRF events. She's you know, she's been around.

Phillip: [00:32:29] Oh is that what it is? I probably heard her speak in the past quite a bit.

Brian: [00:32:33] She started out retail brand called Box the Party. She's got a lot of really cool stuff going on. I highly recommend listening to her. She's worked at some very prestigious brands. We just talked about Lord & Taylor on a recent episode, although maybe that episode will air after this one. She was the SVP and General Manager for eCommerce there for Hudson's Bay and Lord & Taylor. She was the SVP and head of Direct to Consumer, which is, you know, both stores and eCommerce for Nine West.

Phillip: [00:33:07] A small brand you may have heard of.

Brian: [00:33:09] She was the director of GM for Nordstrom for seven years. I mean, she knows her stuff. So you should be reading her blog and subscribing to her.

Phillip: [00:33:19] Yeah. Killer blog.

Brian: [00:33:19] So definitely...

Phillip: [00:33:21] Killer killer blog. Definitely something you should check out. I feel like I've been hearing from her very consistently for, you know, six, seven years. She just did... If you have been listening to Jason & Scot for some time, she just did an episode with Jason & Scot not so long ago. And so, yeah, lots lots there to check out. She's really great. And all the content there on Captain Customer is just fantastic. OK. I'll let you have the last go.

Brian: [00:33:43] Branden Moskwa, eCommerce All Stars. Branden's been around for a long time. He's Canadian. He's actually not that far from me. So they're a little bit international. He's helped a lot of entrepreneurs get started online. His podcast content really reflects that. So he does a lot of interviews. Definitely recommend checking out his podcast as well.

Phillip: [00:34:05] Yeah, I love that. The LinkedIn banner actually says it all. It's considered one of the industry's brightest minds.

Brian: [00:34:13] Bam.

Phillip: [00:34:13] Yeah, and a super smart guy. You should check out eCommerce All Stars. I don't know why I don't have a clip. I feel like I should have a clip.

Brian: [00:34:20] We really should have a clip. Just go listen to it. You don't even need a clip. There you go.

Phillip: [00:34:25] Yeah. In fact, you know what? He wasn't on my radar. But I remember when we did our live podcast at IRCE, eCommerce All Stars actually book ended the session and recorded just after us.

Brian: [00:34:37] Correct.

Phillip: [00:34:37] I remember standing around listening just a little bit. Brilliant guy. And I believe if you wanted to check that out, you could find that also at IRCE's Web site for the podcast booth that was sponsored by Magento. But yeah. Check out eCommerce All Stars. And I'm sure there are more. There are a lot more. We mentioned a couple just in passing. L2, Scott Galloway, is a wonderful blog and sort of a resource for the retail industry analysts sector. By the way, just as a plug for anyone out there would like to be part of our show. And you have your own content in the space and you would like to join us to help us bring new and better content, we'd love to get to know you. So please connect with us on LinkedIn. Phillip Jackson and Brian Lange. And now we are always happy to accept those LinkedIn connections because we want to help bring great engaging content to our listeners.

Brian: [00:35:25] Yeah, that's good. I think that's a wrap. That's a quick sampling of content.

Phillip: [00:35:30] I'm going to have to have a stretch and maybe a lie down and foam roll a little bit.

Brian: [00:35:37] {laughter}

Phillip: [00:35:37] That was a lot. It was good to get through. But appreciate you joining us. And we want your feedback on today's episode as we keep telling you so. Hit us up on FutureCommerce.fm. Subscribe to FC Insiders, so you never miss an episode. And you'll get that insider and exclusive content that will be coming to you once a week. And also subscribe on Apple podcast or on Google Play and you can listen from any Amazon echo device with the phrase, "Alexa play Future Commerce podcast." But until next time...

Brian: [00:36:07] Retail tech's moving fast...

Phillip: [00:36:10] Future Commerce is moving faster.

Brian: [00:36:11] There it is.

Phillip: [00:36:12] Later.

‍