VISIONS Live: Technological Progress Through Multiplayer Behavior

Phillip: [00:00:08] Welcome to VISIONS, a podcast by Future Commerce. On this 4th episode of the 3rd season of VISIONS, we round out our content by going live to the Celeste Bartos Theatre at the Muse  of Modern Art in New York City for the VISIONS S mit, New York. This s mit covered the intersection of culture and commerce and the modern monoculture. And nothing is more monocultural than the way that we interact with ecommerce. Or is it? On this session, we'll join BigCommerce and Stripe, who are talking about how payments innovation and checkout technology are changing how people see the world around them, and how commerce is becoming more personal every day. Let's join, Brian Lange, Co-Founder and Co-Host of the Future Commerce podcast, and Sanjeev Gill, and Michaela Weber as they discuss the modern monoculture and AI technology and ecommerce innovation at the VISIONS S mit.

Announcer: [00:01:51] Welcome to the VISIONS stage, Future Commerce Co-Founder Brian Lange, joined by Michaela Weber and Sanjeev Gill.

Brian: [00:01:58] Hey everybody, so excited about this. Thank you all for coming. We're talking about some pretty esoteric stuff here at VISIONS, and it's been incredible to see the journey on the multiplayer brand and where we're headed here. I have two incredible people from technology partners of ours here that get to help us think through how to apply some of these concepts in the today moment, this very moment. There are opportunities to address some of these concepts in real ways. So Michaela and Sanjeev, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourselves real quick? Michaela, why don't you start?

Michaela Weber: [00:02:34] Sure. Hi. I'm Michaela Weber, the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and the General Manager of Payments at BigCommerce.

Sanjeev Gill: [00:02:44] Hi. Sanjeev Gill at Stripe. I'm in strategic partnerships and global partnerships. I actually manage BigCommerce as one of our partners for over a decade now. So based in San Francisco and happy to be here in New York.

Brian: [00:02:58] Amazing. Well, you've heard some really interesting ideas, and I think about consumers and how they're purchasing now, how it's shifting. We've already heard quite a bit about this. Would you say, as you think about, consumers of your customers and the the way that we see algorithms affecting their lives and they're getting push notifications and being led down paths... How is that affecting their context in which they're purchasing? And Michaela, why don't we start with you?

Michaela Weber: [00:03:26] Sure. It's so interesting because when you think about retail 20 years ago, 25 years ago, you bought something during store hours. Right? I mean, also maybe your lunch break, but really it was probably Saturday. Sunday, the stores weren't fully open. You know, it was half day. So think about now shopping is everywhere. Shopping is 24/7. And so to the point of kind of the context collapse, as a brand, you need to make sure that you're showing up on all sorts of different platforms and channels authentically because you could encounter a consumer anywhere. Right? They are standing in line at CVS, looking at their phone. They're on Instagram. They're on TikTok. They're seeing print ads. They're seeing TV ads if you're on a TV. So it's really interesting that I think it creates a lot of pressure on brands to be unique and also to bring this authentic brand vision into so many different channels where consumers are interacting with you and having potential points of purchase.

Brian: [00:04:35] Sanjeev, what do you think?

Sanjeev Gill: [00:04:36] Yeah. Good point. I wasn't born 25 years ago. No kidding. So yeah from our perspective, you know, commerce has become so globalized. It reaches so many countries globally and, as Michaela was saying, in so many different channels, what we're seeing or we continue to see is a breakdown in these barriers because of products and services that exist to make the realization of the commerce experience so much easier. So whether it's a platform like BigCommerce or Stripe, there are tools available today that really help you to experiment globally and try commerce experience in all these new channels. I think it's pretty exciting. And then you start to see some crossover where you've got now, for example, a bit of consolidation of services or ways to find services and apps that you would never have thought before. So, for example, how many of you saw that Instacart is offering Uber Eats as part of a service through the Instacart app? I wouldn't have thought that was going to happen, you know, maybe 6 months or even a year ago. But there's a new entry point now to use Uber Eats through Instacart. Right? And then you've got new apps like Venue, the new app that's going to be launched with, I think it's Warner Brothers, Fox, and Disney, and that's going to consolidate all the sports channels into one app. So all of this has become real and possible because you've got these technologies that allow you to experiment and try new channels and see what channels work and what's effective in real time and at speed globally as well. That wasn't the case, like, even 5 years ago. So I think you're going to see more and more of this experimentation moving forward, and I think there are enough partners out there and technology companies that allow you to do this. I think that's super exciting, to be honest.

Brian: [00:06:24] Good point. No. I think that experimentation is a huge part of this, and having platforms that can help enable experimentation is essential. I'm thinking about this dichotomy that we're seeing. We talked about how algorithms are sort of pushing us all to the same stuff. At the same time, we see an explosion of personalization and and collective thinking. And so as you think about how digital experiences are getting more and more personal, is that pushing consumers more towards privatized experiences that only they have, or is it pushing people towards more collective experiences that they can run-in and out of more of a monoculture type experience?

Michaela Weber: [00:07:06] I think it can be both. Is that a cheater answer?

Brian: [00:07:08] No. I think it's right. {laughter}

Sanjeev Gill: [00:07:10] I agree.

Michaela Weber: [00:07:10] So I think it can be both. You know, I think there's a monoculture in the sense that if we are from similar demographic groups, we probably see similar pushed ads. In Google and other places. I mean, in the algo, they know how old you are. They know where you live. They probably have a sense of who's in your household. And so at different points in your life, if they think you have small children, I talk about they it's like, you know, big brother. But anyway, if you have children at home, you'll be pushed kids content and other things. If you're later in life, maybe you're ready to take a round-the-world trip. But I think it's also put a lot of pressure onto brands to be super differentiated and authentic. And we actually have a really cool joint customer with Stripe. It's a site called Granny Takes A Trip and it used to exist in the sixties, and the Rolling Stones actually have been behind bringing it back, and it's repurposed vintage clothing, which you can purchase or rent. And it's a very irreverent website. It's very in line with their kind of view of the world and their ethos and it feels different. And so when you're on a website today where it has a really specific brand vision, and in this case, it ties into their in-store experience, as a consumer, I think that feels really special and personal. You know, if you identify with this or you're a potential consumer and you like that, I think that feels it's not just buying Nikes, you know, a size 8. You're in this really cool website that is tailored to you, has some idea of your preferences, and is encouraging you to either rent or buy depending on maybe your previous behavior. So I think there's room for both, and that's the exciting thing because I think seeing brands be really personal and do really cool things is one of the things that makes me really interested to work in ecommerce.

Brian: [00:12:12] I think it was Reggie said earlier, it feels like the Internet's sort of becoming boring. And we need some reinvigoration, and Granny Takes a Trip?

Michaela Weber: [00:12:24] Granny Takes a Trip.

Brian: [00:12:24] Granny Takes a Trip. That's exciting. That's exciting. Sanjeev, I feel like you're about to jump in there.

Sanjeev Gill: [00:12:31] Yeah. I took a look at the site. You should check it out. It's not cheap. But what they've done is they've enabled two-point rent and buy. And they've been able to do that again because they can experiment. Right? So they're testing both things out for each consumer. So you get that personalization that we've been talking about depending on what you want. And everything's really seamless. And that's what's beautiful about the product and the service. If you go to the website, just the way that you can move effortlessly from product to product through the purchase all the way through the purchase experience back out, check out what you're going to rent for the next month is done really nice and elegant and just flows really well. So to your point, they brought back the brand in today's, in 2024, and they're adapting to what's available today versus what they had before, using all the stuff that's available. So it's really cool.

Brian: [00:13:22] Again, I think this goes to show there's technology available even right now to start building out experiences that address multiple audiences and all audiences at one time to your point. And I think this is essential for the future of brand is this idea of all at onceness. And I think that's directly to both your points, electronic communication enables communication with consumers, both in a very niche way and in a global way at the same exact time, and that is the situation that we find ourselves in now. So thinking about the evolution of platform, the evolution of payments right now, how are you sort of forecasting that technology is going to enable the next steps of providing both global experiences that are also niche? Sanjeev, why don't we start with you?

Sanjeev Gill: [00:14:16] Great question. So by nature, we see payments as a sport. Right? So we work with marketplaces, platforms like BigCommerce Enterprises, and so forth to enable commerce globally. That's what we do. And by doing so, it really gives everyone a platform and an opportunity to test on a global scale, which again wasn't available before. So I think you're going to get more and more of these tests happening within local markets because you have the ability to do that and get results in real time. So for example, we just launched something which is really interesting. It's a first A/B testing within a checkout experience at Stripe. So you could decide what payment methods you want to surface. So Kayla may be an Afterpay, Klarna, and Google Pay person, and maybe something very different. But that will surface up within the brand and the website, right, which we can do before. And so you can experiment in real time, get those results within, you know, hours, and start optimizing for your user. So that can be expected from your brand. Right? That you're given the best experience through that whole commerce flow, in real time. OpenAI, well, not like just but I think about a year ago, they started to work with Stripe because they wanted to bring their ChatGPT globally. So they picked Stripe because we could do that globally. And, again, by using some of our technology, they were able to do some pretty cool stuff. In one situation they used a product which is one click checkout. They had I think it was... Check my notes. 40% faster checkout experience. Now that's great for the consumer because you're getting delighted by buying the service there and then instantaneously. So I think that's kind of what's exciting for the future.

Brian: [00:16:03] Yeah.

Michaela Weber: [00:16:03] I think, for me, speed is something that everyone has to be aware of in the checkout experience. So there's data. I think it's Stripe's data, actually, that 60% of consumers will drop out of a checkout experience if it takes more than two minutes.

Sanjeev Gill: [00:16:20] Yeah.

Michaela Weber: [00:16:21] And two minutes goes pretty quickly. Let me tell you. So it's really paramount that you look at your checkout and figure out as you're creating these amazing upfront brand experiences in the storefront and other channels, don't sleep on the fact that your checkout has to be easy to use and fast. You have to have the payment methods that your end consumers want to pay with, but speed is a really key factor to reduce cart abandonment. And we're so oversaturated with distractions. It's really easy to be intending to check out in a browser or on your phone, and you get a Slack, someone calls your name, you get a text.

Sanjeev Gill: [00:17:02] Yeah.

Michaela Weber: [00:17:03] And then you leave it. And maybe your intent to purchase in two hours is a little bit lower, So you really want to capture that moment in the moment as you've added things to your basket and ensure you get that customer to complete that.

Brian: [00:17:15] I think this is really important because the point of transaction actually belongs in people's minds. It often happens well before you even get to the checkout. Someone will make a purchasing decision earlier in the process than the process of getting to that checkout. So as we see these more multiplayer-type experiences happening and collective thought and trends happening, TikTok trends happening, how do we see the cart and then the checkout coming closer and closer to the point of decision to make a purchase? And how do BigCommerce and Stripe help with some of that?

Michaela Weber: [00:17:53] Yeah. So we are really focused on ensuring that the customers that work with us are working with partners like Stripe to enable very fast checkout. So whether it's using a product like Link, which is Stripe's one-click checkout, where your card details are saved, your shipping address is saved. There's a reason why a lot of us use Amazon for basic household things. You know you can check out really quickly. And so working with partners that are focused on keeping that as a positive experience, but also letting you use current technology to get there is really important.

Sanjeev Gill: [00:18:31] Yeah. And some of the stuff we work in BigCommerce on, we have, Stripe has loads of these local payment methods. So, basically, it's like whatever you want to use to pay. Right? And what we've done, we've got lots of engineers at Stripe who are manically focused on making sure the right payment method is at surface for every single individual in this room. So everyone will have maybe a different experience, but we do that because, again, speed and making sure the purchase intent is top of mind. So if you're surfaced with the right payment method, you're more likely to check out there and then. If it's not there, I've done this many times, I will abandon cart. I'll go off and start looking Instagram or something else. So it's really important to have all that functionality available. So platforms like BigCommerce bring that to the forefront in their checkout experience so you will get the right experience there and then. Like River Island, for example, they implemented this, another UK brand. Look at that. Lot of UK stuff. They implemented these local payment methods. They added, I think, it's Google Wallet, Apple Pay, and then Klarna. And they were able to do that within one sprint. And like within a week, they were able to implement all these new payment methods and then experiment and increase conversion by like three or four points, like straightaway. So that's why it's really important to have the right method to pay when and where you want it as a consumer.

Brian: [00:19:53] Love it. Well, I think what I'm excited about is there are multiple ways to meet customers in their multiplayer process even here and now, and you can take steps towards addressing how consumers want to purchase and have more personalized experiences all at the same time even with technology that's existing now. So thank you both so much for being here, and thank you so much for being a part of VISIONS.

Sanjeev Gill: [00:20:20] Thank you.

Michaela Weber: [00:20:20] Thanks, Brian.

Announcer: [00:20:29] The VISIONS podcast is brought to you by Future Commerce. You can find more episodes of this podcast and all Future Commerce properties at FutureCommerce.com.