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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear and Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

Today, we’re excited to revisit the important topic of catalog organization with seasoned expert and Operations Manager, Zlatana Pejovoc.

A couple of years back, we released an episode focused on managing large apparel catalogs, which is definitely worth a listen if you’re dealing with catalog challenges.

In this episode, however, we’re taking a fresh, holistic look at variations and catalog organization to explore recent developments, current best practices, and the future of assortment strategy.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordan, and Zlatana discuss:

• Evolution of Catalog Variations
• Increased rigidity and standards in Amazon's process.
• Introduction of AVs (Automated Variations) in Vendor Central.
• Shift towards a more self-serve model in recent years.
• Positive impact on customer experience.
• Increased complexity but also better flexibility for sellers.
• Challenges in Catalog Organization: Balancing self-serve options and stricter standards.
• Better user experience versus operational complexity for brands.
• Case Studies and Examples: Practical examples from apparel brands and other categories.
• Best Practices for Variation Strategy: Importance of Grouping Similar Products
• Up to 30% revenue increase from well-executed variation strategies.
• Boosting visibility and conversion rates for new products.
• Common Mistakes and Pitfalls: Incorrect grouping leading to suspended listings.
• Variating different product types inappropriately.
• Future of Catalog Management
• Predictions and Wishes: User-friendly flat files and better support services.
• Potential AI-driven suggestions for simplifying the variation process.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear and Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

Today we’re joined by two amazing guests: Meghan Corron, Co-founder & CEO at Clerdata, and Andrew Lipsman, a notable industry analyst who heads up Media, Ads, and Commerce.

We’ll be diving into some of the key takeaways from a report Andrew recently presented at RMN Ascendant called “The Future of Retail Media is the Future of ALL Media”, as well as getting Meghan’s take on a lot of the cutting-edge incrementality data and research that’s informing Andrew’s presentation on the state of the industry.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordan, Meghan, and Andrew discuss:

• The inefficiencies in current digital marketing due to poor measurement systems.
• The over-credited nature of Google and Meta due to their advanced measurement and frequent consumer interactions.
• Shift Towards Mobile Search and Social Media: Significant movement of ad dollars toward platforms like Google and Meta.
• Waves of Digital Advertising: Google, Facebook, and now retail media. Each wave leverages closed-loop measurement to attract budgets.
• Retail media is noted as a cost-effective yet underinvested channel.
• Despite higher costs than Google or Meta, RM captures consumer decisions at the point of purchase.
• Varied success among Retail Media Networks (RMNs) driven by targeting quality and contextual environments.
• Meghan Corroon compares marketing investments to stock portfolios, highlighting the over and under-investments across different platforms.
• The issue of siloed ROI reports often exceeds a company's actual revenue.
• The need for more reliable measurement techniques beyond ROAS to understand the true incrementality of ads.
• Connected TV (CTV) Opportunities: The emerging promise of CTV in influencing consumer behavior despite higher costs and low ROAS.
• CPG companies' willingness to experiment with credible measurement evidence.
• Pressure to grow sales, maintain stock prices, and avoid layoffs driving the need for trusted data.
• The Concept of clean rooms and their potential to unify data and attribution forms.
• Slow development and underutilization, with a call for clear application guidelines to improve their effectiveness.
• The progression from Retail Media 1.0 to 3.0, focuses on various aspects such as on-site search, offsite display, and experiential media.
• Amazon's pioneering role in retail media integration and its impact.
• Importance of loyalty programs like Amazon Prime for targeting and measurement.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear and Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

Today we’re joined by long-time Amazon insider Joanna Otto. Joanna has spent over a decade across brand side roles, Amazon-focused agencies, and internally at Amazon. More importantly - she is the type of person we’ll invent any excuse to get on a call with so she can inject positivity into our days.

But today we have a good excuse for our chat: Joanna has graciously agreed to give us a full download on the relatively new capabilities of Brand Tailored Promotions, what they are, where they came from, why they may or may not work for a given growth strategy and brand, and what they might tell us about the future of all things merchandising on Amazon.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordan, and Joanna discuss:

• Introduction to Joanna Otto: Experience in brand-side roles, Amazon-focused agencies, and Amazon itself; currently an account manager at Acadia.
• Overview of Brand Tailored Promotions (BTPs)
• Timeline of development and key updates (August 2023 launch, June 2023 update to exclude ASINs, October 2023 new features).
• Differences between Brand Tailored Promotions and Brand Tailored Coupons
• Placement: Promotions visible on product pages vs. coupons in search and browse.

• Discount thresholds and fees associated with each.

• Implementation Strategies: Importance of a phased approach and audience segmentation.

• Utilizing BTPs during significant events (e.g., Prime Day) to extend promotion benefits.
• Use Cases for Different Brand Types: Strategies for new/upstart brands vs. established brands.
• Examples of audience segments (e.g., cart abandoners, high spenders).
• Pros of BTPs: Non-crawlable, refreshed data, specific targeting, no additional fees.
• Cons of BTPs: Lack of immediate impact, no ASIN-level reporting yet.
• Future Outlook: Anticipated developments in ASIN-level reporting.
• The potential evolution of Amazon’s promotional strategies to provide more precise targeting and enhanced customer experience.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

We're coming to you live from unBoxed in Austin, Texas, with a very special guest: Jeff Cohen, Amazon's Ads Tech Evangelist who will be sharing insights into the latest developments in the Amazon ads ecosystem.

This episode will bring you insightful updates on brand-building strategies, innovative AI tools, and powerful measurement metrics designed to elevate your e-commerce game.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Jordan and Jeff discuss:

• Jeff shares his journey to becoming an Amazon ad tech evangelist.
• His passion for educating the community on Amazon ads and scaling brands.
• The importance of retail readiness before scaling advertising efforts.
• Advertisement as the kerosene that makes the brand's fire grow bigger.
• AI-Powered Creative Solutions
• Enhancing creative capabilities through Amazon’s new tools.
• Integration with Canva for streamlined creative development.
• The concept and benefits of managed campaigns for new product launches.
• Aligning inventory with advertising strategies to overcome the cold start problem.
• Utilizing Amazon DSP’s new user experience for planning and execution.
• The role of Performance Plus in simplifying the campaign setup.
• Importance of triangulating signals to achieve desired outcomes.
• Advanced Targeting Methods: Amazon’s strength with signal-rich targeting across various properties.
• Impact of upper funnel investments on down-funnel activity.
• Key targeting techniques for driving new-to-brand sales and subscriber growth.
• Enhanced Measurement Tools: Long-term sales metrics for 12-month impact analysis.
• Conversion path reporting to track multi-touchpoints.
• Amazon’s Multi-Touch Attribution Model using scientific methodologies.
• The Democratization of Branding Tools: Making advanced advertising tools accessible to SMBs.
• Simplifying complex processes to allow broader brand participation.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

In this special edition, we dive into the results of this year's Prime Big Deal Days with some top-tier experts from the industry.

Joining us are Logan Nielsen, an Account Manager at Acadia and our resident Prime Day hype man, and Zach Christensen from Analytic Index, Acadia's trusted category and search analytics data partner.

Just 36 hours after the event, they share their initial impressions, key trends, and data-driven insights, helping you understand what worked, what didn't, and what it all means for the future of e-commerce.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Jordan, Logan, and Zach discuss:

• The different names for Prime Day and the event's brand identity.
• Personal takes on prime big deal days: personal experiences and purchasing stories.
• Analysis of consumer engagement and awareness compared to the summer Prime Day event.
• The general sentiment and energy surrounding Prime Big Deal Days.
• Emotional involvement and purchase decisions.
• Preliminary key trends and data insights
• The importance of leveraging external traffic and influencers.
• Analysis of the increased competitive landscape and its impact on ad spending and ROI.
• Notable Glitches and Technical Challenges: Issues encountered with Amazon's ad consuls and badging for sponsored brands.
• Logan's strategies for mitigating these challenges in future events.
• Logan highlights the success of premium brands with compelling discounts.
• The important role of prime exclusive discounts despite the new deal fee.
• Zach's insights into the surge of novelty items and Amazon's private label strategies.
• Predictions and strategies for the future: Leveraging brand-tailored promotions and new audience types.
• Importance of analyzing competitive promotions and preparing for upcoming Q4 events.
• Zach discusses the potential long-term impact on search visibility and shopping patterns.
• Summary of initial findings and anticipated future analysis.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear and Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

Today we’re joined by Martin Heubel, founder of Consulterce and leading expert on Annual Vendor Negotiations or AVNs.

Martin spent nearly 5 years internally at Amazon in various category and vendor management roles before founding Consulterce to help brands better understand and navigate their vendor relationships and negotiation process with Amazon.

For today’s episode, we’ll be diving into next year’s AVN cycle - how it might be different than years prior and how brands should ultimately be preparing for this process now to ensure they’re in the best position for success next year.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordan, and Martin discuss:

• Duration and Challenges of Annual Vendor Negotiations:
• Typically take 3.5 months to complete.
• 72% of brands encounter difficulties.

• Key issues include direct and hidden costs like charges and trade marketing investments.

• Strategy for Reducing Trading Terms:

• Only 9% of brands have managed to reduce trading terms.

• Success often linked to diversified sales channels and less dependency on Amazon.

• Influences on Profitability:

• Trade investments have increased by 69 basis points year-over-year.

• Focus on understanding costs such as shortages and chargebacks affecting net sales.

• Amazon's Operational Focus:

• Emphasis on automation, offshoring, and efficiency, including a 15% reduction in corporate headcount.

• Decreased inventory holdings, impacting vendor negotiations.

• Shipping Speed and Customer Spending:

• Faster shipping correlates with higher annual customer spending.

• Critical for vendor discussions as Amazon targets fulfillment reliability.

• Market Focus and Strategy Differences:

• Variation in Amazon’s focus by market maturity and region.

• Differences between mature markets (US, UK, EU) versus expansion markets (Japan, Australia).

• Vendor Negotiation Strategies:

• Importance of preparing proactively, setting negotiation anchors, and involving cross-functional teams.

• Emphasis on data-driven discussions, leadership alignment, and clear negotiation objectives.

• Amazon's Balance Between Profitability and Growth:

• Shift from a growth-focused pandemic approach to current profitability optimization.

• The impact of rising competition from platforms like Shein and TikTok Shop.

• Preparing for Future Negotiations:

• Clarity and objectivity as critical elements for successful negotiation outcomes.

• Preparing for the 2025 negotiation cycle with clear expectations, mutual growth goals, and thorough data analysis.

• Anticipation for Continued Collaboration:

• Future discussions planned to evaluate the effectiveness of strategies and insights shared.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

Today, we are joined by two of Acadia’s resident experts: Julian Galindo, Senior Account Manager, who oversees brand strategy for some of our most prominent client partners, and Laurie Tovo, a key member of our media team with a passion for integrating branding into comprehensive media strategies on Amazon.

We’ll be exploring a topic that, while not new, has become increasingly important over the years: To what extent should Amazon be viewed as a branding channel versus a performance-driven sales channel?

An exciting discussion - tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Jordan, Julian, and Lauren discuss:

• Why Amazon is transitioning from being purely a sales channel to a significant branding channel.
• Historical perspective on Amazon's evolution and the increasing importance of branding.
• Challenges and insights on balancing lower funnel metrics like ROAS and conversion rates with upper funnel brand-building activities.
• The importance of understanding the full story beyond performance metrics.
• Strategies for ensuring brand cohesion across multiple platforms, particularly Amazon.
• The importance of repurposing assets and developing Amazon-specific creative content.
• The evolving role of visual content in media campaigns on Amazon.
• How existing content can be repurposed effectively for Amazon.
• Leveraging new metrics and brand analytics for improved customer segment targeting.
• Using this data to inform product launches and brand strategies.
• Early experiences and potential of Amazon's new AI-driven creative tools.
• Predictions on the future role of AI in creating branded content on Amazon.
• Specific tactics like brand-tailored promos to engage different customer segments.
• Insights into interactive and personalized content options like premium A+ content.
• Exciting new developments in Amazon's branding tools and metrics.
• Predictions and expectations for the future of branding on Amazon.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

We’re joined by two of our favorite podcast guests - Chris Perry and Oskar Kaszubski of firstmovr.

In this episode, we’re sharing some key takeaways from the report they released earlier this year that represents a guide to something they’re calling “Omnicategory Captaincy.”

Sounds interesting? Tune in to find out more.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Chris, and Oskar discuss:

• Introduction to Omni-Category Captaincy: Chris and Oskar introduce their innovative report on omni-category captaincy, transforming traditional category management by integrating multiple channels, both online and offline.
• Key Pirate-Themed Criteria for Success: The report's pirate motif brings a creative flair to critical success elements:
• Tight Ship: Day-to-day excellence.
• Pirate Code: Establishing a joint business plan (JBP) and routines.
• Compass: Industry thought leadership.
• Fair Winds: Traffic and demand generation.
• Bounty: Incremental growth.
• Treasure Island: Data sharing and utilization of data cleanrooms.
• Map: Online category navigation.

• Fly the Colors: Enhancing user experience and shopper journey.

• Insights from the Digital Shelf Institute event and upcoming plans for a dedicated captaincy event and podcast.

• The critical need for brands to avoid complacency and continuously innovate to maintain market share.
• Addressing the gap between recognizing individual actions and integrating them holistically for true category captaincy.
• Overcoming resistance in C-suites to the critical role of digital content, especially in light of inflation and shifting consumer preferences.
• Detailed audits and the importance of optimizing the shopper experience—learn from mistakes and improvements seen with major retailers like Walmart and Kroger.
• Leveraging partnerships and thought leadership to demonstrate commitment and drive mutual benefits.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear and Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

We’re joined by two great guests today: Lauren Livak Gilbert, Executive Director of the Digital Shelf Institute, and Nate Pinkston, Head of Growth at Microsoft’s Retail Media division.

In this episode, we’re focusing on the key takeaways from the report they released earlier this year, which represents a guide to the evolving landscape of Joint Business Planning.

Tune in to get an insider’s take on who, when, and how the most successful brands approach the JBP process across various retailers.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Lauren, Nate, and Jordan discuss:

• Explanation of JBP and its critical role in brand-retailer relationships.
• Comparison of JBP processes among different retailers (Amazon, Walmart).
• JBP Lite: Less detailed, often used by smaller brands or those with weaker retailer relations.
• Omnichannel JBP: Integrates all sales channels and stakeholder inputs for holistic collaboration.
• Issues stemming from having separate JBPs for retail media and marketing.
• Importance of integrating retail media into the JBP process.
• Nate Pinkston's emphasis on retail media budgeting and its role in sales.
• Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Need for the involvement of finance and other departments from the start.
• Recommendations for effective stakeholder engagement and process improvements.
• Lauren Livak's advice to start JBP preparations six months in advance.
• Continuous monitoring and revisiting of JBPs throughout the year.
• Recommendations for Brands: Integration of finance for comprehensive planning.
• Clear communication and defined roles among stakeholders.
• Transparency and data sharing between brands and retailers.
• Involvement of sales, marketing, e-commerce, procurement, finance, and supply chain in JBP.
• Importance of sharing growth goals, feedback, and maintaining open communication channels.
• Recap of the importance of coordinated, omnichannel approaches to JBP.
• Final thoughts on avoiding organizational silos and ensuring transparency for mutual success.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear and Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

Today we’re joined by a friend of the show and a frequent guest: Russ Dieringer of Stratably, a research firm providing unbiased insights on how to do better business with Amazon and its peers.

We’ll be diving into launching products on Amazon - something many claim to have a secret sauce around, but a topic we haven’t seen holistic industry research on.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Russ, and Jordan discuss:

• 1P vs. 3P Brands on Amazon: The nimbleness and product innovation advantage of 3P brands.
• 25% of brands use Amazon as a launching pad for new products, adopting a "test and learn" approach.
• Many launches on Amazon are dictated by timing issues rather than strategy.
• Tactical aspects like SEO, PDP development, and inventory planning.
• Emphasis on case studies to demonstrate the impact of well-executed launches.
• Seasonality and Launch Timing: Insight on launching seasonal products 6 months in advance of peak season.
• Using Amazon's event calendar for strategic planning.
• Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC): low adoption of AMC tools.
• Potential benefits like advanced targeting, audience creation, and quicker market entry when AMC is used effectively.
• The complexity of product launches within large organizations and strategies for better coordination.
• Insights into the typical timeline for reaching baseline sales post-launch.
• Media Strategy and Ad Spend: Higher average ad spend for new products and the balance between ad efficiency and speed-to-sales.
• Importance of upper funnel support for product visibility and sales propulsion.
• The critical role of leaders in Amazon initiatives and the necessity of cross-department collaboration for successful launches.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear and Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

Today we’re joined by Neha Shah, who most recently oversaw the eCommerce Organic Acceleration team at Kenvue and is now a free agent. Before that, Neha spent 17 years at Johnson & Johnson as a Senior Manager overseeing Omnichannel Excellence and Shopper Marketing.

This episode is all about the role of organic marketing in sustainable brand growth - both on Amazon and across other retail channels.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Disclaimer: Neha's viewpoints in this podcast episode are separate from her work at Kenvue. These represent her personal opinions and beliefs on the industry.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Neha, and Jordan discuss:

• The Role of Organic Marketing
• Organic marketing's often overlooked potential in driving sustainable brand growth.
• Importance of organic growth in providing cost efficiencies and building brand trust and equity.
• The common oversight of organic efforts due to the immediate results offered by paid advertising.
• Organic growth as a long-term strategy that complements paid efforts.
• Strategies and activities for organic growth, such as keyword and content optimization.
• Measuring organic success through metrics like revenue, share, average order value, traffic conversion, and organic search rank.
• The need for a cross-functional team including paid, organic, and shopper leads.
• Importance of collaboration and adaptability within the team.
• Leveraging both internal and external resources for technology and data insights.
• Future Trends to Watch: Rise of social commerce and new marketplaces.
• Evolution of omnichannel strategies.
• Impact of AI in areas ranging from content to supply chain operations.
• What's Next for Neha Shah

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

Today, we are joined by two special guests: Paul Sonneveld, CEO & Co-Founder of MerchantSpring, and Acadia’s Director of Retail Operations, Jordan Ripley.

We’re diving into the complex decisions behind building vs buying software at an agency and SaaS company, using customer feedback to shape what you deliver to the market, and where we see the industry headed in this multichannel e-commerce world.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Paul, and Jordan discuss:

• Origins and evolution of MerchantSpring: from an in-house tool for managing multiple e-commerce platforms like Amazon and eBay to a shift towards SaaS for agencies.
• Multi-channel support and feature parity across different platforms.
• Specific focus on agency needs and saving customers' time by providing a unified interface.
• Balancing between roadmap developments and quality of life improvements.
• Core focus areas: feature parity, profitability, and retail media support using agile methodology.
• Importance of customer lifetime value and sourcing share analysis.
• Challenges of overinvesting in features like eBay item specifics, driven by local market demands but limited broader interest.
• The evolution of the company’s approach to idea generation based on client feedback.
• Future developments include enhancing retail media, profitability analysis, and expanding into Southeast Asia and Japan.
• Homogenizing retail data across various channels.
• Advantages and strategies for early considerations of data homogenization.
• Exploration of clean room developments to unify client data.
• Future updates and developments to look forward to from MerchantSpring.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

In today's episode, we have two special guests that Julie had the privilege of joining for a discussion panel at eTail East in Boston: Ash McMullen, Head of E-commerce at Advantice, and Stephanie Grubert, Director of E-commerce Sales at Torani.

Together, we'll dive into the topic of “tentpole events” and how brands plan, execute, and build their e-commerce strategies around these major shopping events.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Ash, and Stephanie discuss:

• The necessity of strong client-agency relationships and thorough preparations, including scenario planning, tool implementation, and automated rules.
• Importance of monitoring user experiences, conducting real-time sales checks, and managing unexpected issues with calmness.
• Managing stress and staying calm during the execution phase.
• Real-time analysis and adaptation based on competitor strategies.
• Utilizing limited real-time sales checks to avoid overreactions.
• Understanding the purchase cycle and defining success metrics for different product types.
• Importance of pre-defining success measurements.
• Goals such as new-to-brand growth and repeat purchasers.
• Key metrics like added-to-carts, retargeting consumers, and buy cycles on Amazon.
• Tentpole Event Planning: Months of detailed planning involving finance, supply chain, sales, and marketing teams.
• Execution requires about two days, followed by approximately two weeks of reporting.
• Importance of education, alignment, and early communication to avoid challenges.
• Suggestion to define success with one or two key performance indicators (KPIs), focusing on traffic and glance views.
• Driving down ROAS for a bigger goal.
• Unique promotional event ideas to create consumer urgency and introduce new products.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

Today, we have two exceptional guests: Scott Ohsman, VP of Digital Commerce at Quickfire, and Ken Beemer, Director of Retail Client Growth at Acadia.

We’ll be diving into Amazon’s growing investments in live sports and media content, its impact on advertising, and what it means for brands and consumers alike.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Scott, and Ken discuss:

• Sports broadcasts, ads, and watching live games.

• Amazon Prime is a vortex for drawing consumers into its ecosystem.

• Investments in live sports aim to increase audience reach and draw manufacturers and brands to sell on Amazon.

• Amazon's massive first-party data offers unparalleled advertising and sponsorship opportunities.

• Live sports could boost Amazon Prime sign-ups and leverage content for retention.

• Amazon’s scale allows for significant brand advertising with trackable results.

• Amazon's investments, including Thursday Night Football and NBA rights.

• The role of partnerships with entities like Dude Perfect to target younger demographics.

• The need for a new mindset regarding Amazon advertising.

• Full-funnel marketing and evolving metrics over the next three years.

• Testing new opportunities on connected TV.

• Sports broadcasting’s evolution from major networks to tech players like Amazon.

• Legacy deals and the transformative role of tech giants.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

In this episode, we’re joined by Tyler Dixon, E-commerce Manager at water bottle company Reduce.

We’re diving into Tyler's background and his leading role at Reduce, the brand's transition from a 2P reseller model to a 3P seller model on Amazon, and the key trends he's observing in the industry.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie and Tyler discuss:

• Tyler's broad experience across sales, account management, finance, and e-commerce has helped him connect cross-functional teams and bring creative ideas to his current role

• When evaluating 2P vs 3P selling models on Amazon, brands need to carefully consider what will help remove obstacles and achieve goals, and get full leadership buy-in on the transition

• The transition from 2P to 3P should not be rushed - take time to plan it out, get functional support, and find the right agency partner

• Differentiating your brand and building brand equity on Amazon is more important than ever

• Reduce is paying attention to trends like hydration bottles becoming fashion accessories, and developments in Amazon's fulfillment programs and services for brands

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

Today, we're thrilled to have Scott Fulton, Director of Sales and Marketing at Sun Bulb, join us.

In this episode, Scott shares his journey to overseeing Sales and Marketing at an industry-leading gardening company. We delve into how he evaluates and grows newer channels in a long-standing business, along with some valuable gardening tips.

Get ready to uncover insights about Sun Bulb’s impressive product portfolio and their strategic shift into e-commerce.

KEY TAKEAWAYS In this episode, Julie and Scott discuss:

• Gardening tips from Scott, especially caring for orchids.
• Scott’s career transition from a CPA to his current role in Sales and Marketing at Sun Bulb.
• How his accounting background aids his role in understanding costing, profitability, and enhancing sales strategies.
• Overview of Sun Bulb’s major brands: Better-Gro, Dynamite, and Shurich.
• Unique features and market positions of these brands, including endorsements and innovative products like time-release fertilizers and durable indoor pots.
• The Impact of COVID-19: Sun Bulb’s record sales during the pandemic due to increased consumer interest in home improvement and gardening.
• Strategies that led to sustained growth through subsequent years.
• E-commerce Strategy: Approaching B2C sales without conflicting with established brick-and-mortar relationships.
• The role of Amazon in Sun Bulb’s e-commerce growth and strategies for differentiation.
• Future Plans: Launching live plants on Amazon and the benefits of providing more detailed product information.
• Direct-to-consumer fulfillment logistics for live plants.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast. Jordan Ripley, Acadia’s Director of Retail Operations, is hosting this Prime Day Recap, and Retail Media Specialist Dusan Tepavac and Project Manager João Couceiro da Costa are joining him.

Recorded just 36 hours after the massive shopping event, this episode offers a breakdown of initial data, strategies, and insights to help you understand what worked, what didn’t, and how to leverage those learnings moving forward.

Whether you're a seasoned e-commerce professional or looking to optimize your next big sales event, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Jordan, João and Dusan discuss:

• The theme for this year's report revolved around the Roman Empire

• The analogy signifies that crossing Amazon Prime Day without proper preparation leaves no room for corrective actions.

• General industry growth estimates ranged from 11% to 15% year-on-year.

• Competitive Cost-per-Click (CPC) landscape, with reports of a 70% increase in CPC.

• Significant increase in sales for clients using prime exclusive discounts and longer lead-in strategies.

• Effective use of custom audience targeting via Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) and maintaining efficiency despite rising CPCs.

• Discussion on a two to three-hour outage in the ad console during peak Pacific time.

• João faced issues with the smooth execution of some vendor promotions.

• Successful lead-in strategies involved aggressive marketing and improved Best Seller Rank (BSR).

• DSP and AMC provided advanced targeting opportunities.

• Dusan discusses a focus on branded targeting and cautious budgeting post-Prime Day.

• João emphasizes analyzing data and utilizing subscribe and save options for CPG clients.

• The importance of data analysis to refine strategies for future events.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

Today we’re joined by Senior Retail Marketplaces Account & Operations Specialist Tamara Vukovic to discuss the impact of the updated Amazon fees rolled out this year and how brands can navigate these changes effectively.

With these fresh updates, this episode aims to decode the new fee structures and provide practical strategies for optimizing operations amid evolving landscapes.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie and Tamara discuss:

Introduction of New Amazon Fees

• Reduced referral fees for apparel under $20.
• New size bands for small and large standard tiers; changes in FBA fees.
• Introduction of inbound placement fees.
• Introduction of low-level inventory fees and adjustments in storage fees.
• Introduction of return processing fees.

Impact on Sellers

• Apparel sellers benefited from reduced referral fees.
• Adjusting to new FBA fee structures based on updated size tiers.
• Operational and inventory management shifts due to inbound placement and low-level inventory fees.

Overblown Concerns

• Impact on operationally efficient vs. inefficient sellers.
• Adjustments to prep, removal, and disposal fee changes with minimal disruptions for optimized operations.

Incentivization Through Fees

• Fees designed to encourage better operational decisions rather than just increasing costs.
• Emphasis on supply chain efficiency and optimal inventory management.

Advice for Brands

• Importance of inventory management and planning.
• Utilizing Amazon's tools and data for product improvement and efficiency.
• Regular auditing of supply chain processes, internal logistics, and operational strategies.
• Proactive adaptation to ongoing and future changes in Amazon's fee structures.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

In this episode, we’re joined by Claire McBride, the VP of Research and Education at Stratably, to discuss the Amazon Vendor Negotiation (AVN) Benchmark Report.

Authored by Claire alongside Martin Hubel of Consultors, this report dives deep into the AVN process, offering valuable insights and benchmarking data for brands looking to navigate their negotiations with Amazon more effectively.

Tune in to discover key takeaways, strategies, and trends that can help you prepare for next year's AVNs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie and Claire discuss:

• The stress and lack of transparency that many brands experience during AVNs.
• The purpose of the benchmark report.
• Data gathered from 252 brands, split between North American and European vendors.
• Surprising Findings: Brands are becoming firmer in resisting trade term increases.
• 9% of brands achieved a year-over-year decrease in their trade terms and 61% of brands avoided a decrease in overall margins.
• The main challenge continues to be securing favorable trade terms.
• Disparities in AVN experiences between various types of businesses, with food and CPG brands facing tougher negotiations.
• European vendors had a more challenging AVN experience compared to North American vendors, potentially due to Amazon's margin improvement efforts.
• Preparation and data gathering are crucial for a successful AVN.
• Brands that are growing faster or are highly profitable had better AVN experiences.
• Build a healthy Amazon business year-round to ease the AVN process.
• Do extensive homework and preparation before entering negotiations.
• Embrace Amazon's unique, data-driven negotiation approach for better outcomes.
• Potential trends in AVN processes becoming less formal due to understaffing at Amazon.
• Importance of leaning into the challenging aspects of AVNs and Amazon as a whole to gain an edge in the marketplace.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

This week we’re sharing a high-level conversation about bid management in Amazon's advertising ecosystem with retail media experts Jordi Beltran and Carlos Sastre.

Joins us to discover the nuances of bid management, its impact on budget allocation, and how campaign architecture plays a vital role in optimizing brand performance.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordi, and Carlos discuss:

• Budget Distribution: The need for a clear structure in budget distribution and campaign architecture to control investments and achieve campaign objectives.
• Campaign Objectives: Importance of having focused approaches for each campaign to maximize efficiency and return on investments.
• CPC Analysis: The significance of monitoring Cost Per Click (CPC) and budget management to maintain campaign efficiency.
• Signs of Poor Structure: Identifying accounts with hundreds of products or keywords in a single campaign as a red flag for inefficiency.
• High Competition Categories: The importance of strategic bidding in competitive categories where clicks can be expensive.
• Conversion Rates: The need to understand the conversion rates of products to avoid overspending and optimize bids for better returns.
• Bid Placement Modificator: Adjusting bids for top search placements can drastically improve campaign performance.
• Campaign Bidding Strategies: Carlos advises using a "down only" bidding strategy for better control and efficiency.
• Automation Trends: How Amazon is evolving towards more automation and goal-based bidding, similar to trends seen in other advertising platforms like Google.
• Algorithm Improvements: Jordi highlights the improvements in Amazon's algorithm and the potential benefits and drawbacks of automatic campaigns.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

Today we’re diving into the transformative technologies shaping the future of retail.

Joining us are two pioneering minds in omnichannel education and AI, Chris Perry and Oskar Kaszubski, the founders of Firstmovr.

In this episode, we dissect key findings from Firstmovr’s latest report and explore actionable insights that both large enterprises and smaller brands can leverage in this rapidly evolving landscape.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Chris, and Oskar discuss:

• Essential components for effective AI implementation: commitment, focus, leadership, vision, strategies, goals, resources, assessment, and communication.
• AI for Smaller Brands: Leveraging AI for content optimization and new insights, is particularly beneficial for brands with limited resources.
• AI Misconceptions: AI is not an "easy button".
• The importance of time, discernment, and realistic expectations in AI adoption.
• AI Go-to-Market Loop and Ecosystem: Chris introduces the AI go-to-market loop and talks about the complexities and legal considerations in AI implementation.
• Data Limitations and AI Reliability: Insufficient data volumes ("hallucinations" and unreliable analytics).
• Need for larger token models to improve AI reliability.
• Strategic Business Considerations: Challenges in managing rapid AI development and aligning expectations with reality.
• Establishing guidelines, training, and considering an "AI czar" for successful AI integration.
• Traditional vs. AI-Enhanced Consumer Journeys: The "infinity loop" and expansion of the traditional four P's of marketing to eight P's.
• Emphasis on platforms, proposition, presence, promotion, performance, people, process, and partnerships.
• Retail Media and AI: How AI impacts retail platforms and the necessity for retailers to balance personalized AI responses with monetized media placements.
• The future automated nature of purchases and the need to rethink retail media.
• AI in Sentiment Analysis and Ad Optimization: AI’s role in extracting insights from social media and product reviews.
• Limitations in AI’s effectiveness in ad optimization and performance analysis due to token limitations.
• Outlook on ongoing AI advancements and potential future interactions within retail.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

In this episode, we’re joined by Acadia’s Retail Account Manager, Molly Thomas, and Retail Media Manager, Juan Munoz to discuss the rising importance of profitability in the e-commerce landscape.

We’re diving into the key trends, strategies, and metrics brands should focus on to optimize their profitability, particularly on Amazon and other retail marketplaces.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Molly, and Juan discuss:

• Rising Amazon Fees & Competitive Marketplace: Impacting smaller sellers, prompting a focus on profitability and efficient budget allocation.
• Consumer Buying Behavior & Marketplace Saturation: Changing consumer expectations and the competitive challenges new brands face on platforms like Amazon.
• The focus on profitability varies by brand maturity and category competition
• Tools like Merchant Spring help track profitability despite Amazon not making it easy, and the importance of various KPIs such as storage fees, conversion rates, and content optimization.
• Advertising Strategies for Profitability: A granular approach to advertising, including single ASIN campaigns and focusing on high search volume keywords to increase organic rank and profitability.
• Holistic Account Management: Aligned strategies between organic and paid efforts, inventory management, and competitive analysis.
• Long-term Planning vs. Short-term Profitability: Focusing too heavily on monthly profitability could hinder long-term growth and overall brand strategy.
• Integration Across Teams: Effective collaboration between catalog specialists and advertising teams is highlighted as vital for success.
• Over-reliance on branded keywords and not sufficiently targeting new customers are pinpointed as potential downfalls for brands overly fixated on short-term profitability.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

In this episode, we dive into the intricacies of retail media allocation with guests Ross Walker, Head of the Retail Media Team, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, Senior Retail Media Manager.

The trio explores the dynamic landscape of retail media strategies, what has evolved over the past few years, and key insights for brands looking to optimize their omnichannel investments.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS In this episode, Julie, Ross, and Damiano discuss:

State of Retail Media Allocation

• How retail media allocation strategies have evolved, emphasizing the importance of holistic and channel-agnostic views.
• The shift from simplistic revenue-based allocations to considering incrementality and customer journey metrics.

Approaching Retail Media Holistically

• The need for brands to move beyond siloed strategies and consider the interplay between different marketplaces.
• How brands leverage multiple channels such as Amazon, Chewy, and Walmart to maximize brand growth.
• Evaluating the unique contributions of each channel to overall sales and not just individual performance metrics.

Retail Media Network Lifecycle

• The typical development stages of retail media networks, from focusing on lower-funnel tactics to expanding into mid- and upper-funnel capabilities.
• The expansion and improvement of self-serve ad platforms as retailers mature.

Pitfalls to Avoid and Best Practices

• Issues like siloed teams, lack of testing, and under-leveraging in-store presence were highlighted as frequent setbacks.
• Brands with overarching strategies, consistent cross-channel metrics, and robust creative campaigns tend to be more successful.

Retailer Priorities and Recommendations

• Strong emphasis on the importance of foundational metrics and data insights.
• Sequence of developing ad types starting from lower funnel and moving upward as the platform matures.
• Encouraging retailers to adopt a more long-term perspective by making data accessible and free.

Future Considerations

• Emerging importance of integrating digital advertising with in-store presence.
• Evolving omnichannel strategies to stay ahead in the complex e-commerce landscape.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast! Today, we dive into the evolving landscape of retail media with our special guests, Mike Balabanov, VP of Agency Development at Criteo, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, Senior Retail Media Manager at Acadia.

Our host Julie Spear leads an insightful discussion on the importance of data quality, innovative formats like video, and the growing emphasis on lifetime value in retail media strategies. We're exploring the challenges of standardizing metrics across platforms, the exciting potential of in-store retail media options, and the need for a unified brand voice.

Tune in and find out how Criteo's platforms aim to defragment the complex retail media landscape and provide actionable insights for brands and agencies.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Mike, and Damiano discuss:

Navigating Retail Media Transformation

• Data Quality & Tailored Insights: Damiano Ciarrocchi stresses the importance of high-quality data and the hurdles in providing bespoke data insights for diverse brands.
• Innovative Retail Media Formats: Mike Balabanov dives into the significance of lifetime value and the growing need for captivating content like video and creative storytelling on retail media networks.

The Full-Funnel Strategy Revolution

• Julie Spear highlights the comprehensive nature of modern retail media, blending top-of-funnel awareness with conversion-driven tactics. The emphasis is on employing innovative formats and maintaining a unified brand voice across all channels.

Challenges & Opportunities

• Fragmentation & Standardization: The fragmentation in retail media networks and the importance of standardization for providing a holistic sales and marketing view.
• Incrementality Practices: The complexities of implementing incrementality at scale, advocating for standardized metrics and enhanced data sharing to bolster growth.

New Horizons in Retail Media

• In-Store & Offsite Media Growth: With 40% of retailers planning to offer in-store media by 2024, the potential for blended physical and digital strategies is more promising than ever.
• Budget Management Across Platforms: Criteo’s Commerce Max aims to streamline budget allocation and attribution, offering flexibility and addressing common budget management challenges.

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Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast! In this episode, our host Julie Spear is chatting with Alicia Ponzani, E-commerce Manager at Premier Nutrition.

Alicia is here to share her valuable insights on how she transferred her skills from the brand side to e-commerce, the importance of collaboration between teams, the evolution of e-commerce strategies within larger organizations, and the rising significance of social commerce.

They also discuss the impact of AI and share exciting predictions for the industry's future.

Tune in to hear Alicia's journey and expertise in navigating the dynamic world of e-commerce.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie and Alicia discuss:

• Alicia's career journey from being a brand analyst in pet food verticals to e-commerce management
• Alicia's passion for health and wellness with her current role in the dynamic e-commerce industry
• Importance of data analysis from the brand side for e-commerce performance evaluation
• Transitioning from awareness metrics on the brand side to lower funnel metrics on the e-commerce side
• Collaboration with cross-functional teams and its importance in e-commerce success
• Comparison of e-commerce silos at J.M. Smucker with the integrated team structure at Premier Nutrition
• Integration of an omnichannel approach by including various online retailers under one e-commerce team
• Impact of retail media complexity on marketing strategies
• Collaborative strategies between brand, sales, and e-commerce teams
• Development of repeatable frameworks for scalability and efficiency
• Importance of flexibility and adaptability in a fast-paced e-commerce environment
• Embracing the test and learn mentality for success in e-commerce
• Trying new strategies and technologies in the evolving e-commerce landscape
• Surprising rise of social commerce and its integration with e-commerce platforms
• Impact of tech partnerships like Meta and Amazon on social commerce
• Prediction on the increased role of AI in e-commerce for automating tasks and enhancing consumer experiences
• Speculation on the potential use of AI in back-end campaign setup and efficiency improvements in marketing strategies

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🎙️Interview with CEO of Acadia, Jared Belsky

Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

Today we’re joined by Acadia’s CEO, Jared Belsky! This episode is all about the concept of "retail island”- a metaphor for the siloed nature of retail media. Jared sheds light on its implications for funding, organizational structure, and creative strategy.

Drawing parallels from the eras of search and social media, he explains why the stakes are even higher now and offers actionable insights on how brands can navigate this fragmented landscape.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie and Jared discuss:

• What is the Retail Island? Despite the explosive growth of retail media, it remains siloed in funding, organizational structure, and creative efforts. Jared unpacks why this isolation occurs and the dangers it presents to brands.
• Brand Impact: Is your Amazon budget dramatically lower than your brand and performance media budgets? Jared explains how organizational silos are holding your potential captive and why it’s crucial to integrate your budgets and strategies.
• Historical Context: The cyclical nature of new advertising channels and how retail media is repeating the history of search and social media but with higher stakes.
• Organizational Shifts: Practical examples of brands integrating their teams and budgets to drive better ROI and efficiency.
• Challenges in Measurement: Why media mix modeling is not the silver bullet we hoped for? Breaking down the complexities and offering simpler, more actionable strategies for cross-channel measurement.
• Actionable Steps: Simplifying your performance comparison and being brave with testing.
• Agency Perspective: The impact of retail island transcends beyond brands, influencing how agencies should evolve.

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🎙️Interview with Acadia Project Manager, João Couceiro da Costa

Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

Today, we're diving into the intricacies of Prime Day 2024 with our expert guest, João Couceiro da Costa, an experienced account manager from Acadia's retail team.

In this episode, we're unpacking everything from the operational strategies to the creative reporting styles João employs. He’ll share his innovative approach to Prime Day preparations, including extending promotional periods and focusing on profitability over mere revenue gains.

Make sure you tune in to find out how to enhance your e-commerce momentum for one of the biggest online shopping events of the year!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie and João discuss:

• Introduction to Prime Day Preparation
• João's Reporting Style
• Speculations on Prime Day Dates based on inventory deadlines and deal submissions.

• Discussion on the historical scheduling of Prime Day.

• Changes in Prime Day Strategy for 2024

• Shift from focusing on top-line revenue to prioritizing profitability and sustainability.
• Impact of Amazon's new fee changes on sellers’ profitability.

• Emphasis on operational efficiency due to increased inventory-related fees.

• Strategy to extend promotional periods to smooth out demand spikes.

• Consumer Response to Expanded Promotional Periods
• Consumer fatigue and their adaptation to frequent sales events.

• Maintaining traditional Prime Day despite overall promotional dilution.

• Strategic Focus for Prime Day 2024

• Increased emphasis on subscription-based promotions and retention.

• Shifting focus from one-time sales to subscription models during Prime Day.

• Preparation for Prime Day

• Utilization of tiered cataloging to manage promotions effectively.

• Importance of updating product descriptions and brand narratives for Prime Day.

• Impact of Promotional Strategies on Organic Ranking**

• Boosting organic rankings and brand visibility.

• Strategies to optimize listings and storefronts

• Influence of Amazon on Retailers Worldwide During Prime Day

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Interview with Dusan Tepavac Amazon Advertising Expert and Retail Media Specialist at Acadia

Welcome to another episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast hosted by Acadia’s Head of Retail Marketplaces Services Julie Spear.

With Prime Day just around the corner, we decided to dive into the intricacies of maximizing success during one of the biggest e-commerce events of the year.

In this discussion, we are joined by guest Dusan Tepavac, a seasoned Amazon Advertising Expert and Retail Media Specialist at Acadia, who shares his expert insights on preparing for Prime Day with paid media strategies, audience targeting, and leveraging Amazon's advertising ecosystem.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie and Dusan discuss:

• Introduction to Prime Day Preparation

• Prime Day: Enhanced Capabilities and Strategies

• Integration of AMC and DSP for advanced audience targeting

• Focus on shoppers’ behaviors and the advantages of new tools in Amazon’s ad ecosystem

• Optimizing Budgets with AMC Insights

• Strategic use of AMC for competitive advantage

• Planning budgets based on insights to gain better ad placements

• Brand-Specific Trends and Client Concerns

• Discussion on brand trends and expectations during Prime Day

• Approaches to handle profitability concerns and promotional investments

• Promotional Strategies and Importance of Prime Exclusive Discounts

• Discussion on varying strategies of discount percentages and full catalog promotions

• Significance of Prime Day badging for visibility and conversion rates

• Emphasis on the importance of the traditional summer Prime Day over other sales events

• Prime Day Preparation and Key Focus Areas
• Detailed strategy on keyword focus, organic ranking, and budget adjustment

• Importance of addressing both branded and non-branded spending as Prime Day approaches

• Tactical Shifts Closer to Prime Day

• Adjustment of strategies focusing more on non-branded spending closer to the event

• Recommendations on campaign types and budget distribution for maximum impact

• Strategies for Brands Not Participating in Prime Day Promotions

• Tactical adjustments for brands not offering discounts during Prime Day

• Use of day-parting to manage budget and visibility effectively during peak times

• Post-Prime Day Strategy

• Managing ad budgets and strategic focus following Prime Day
• Using data from Prime Day to inform ongoing strategies and upcoming promotional events

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In this episode of the Ecommerce Braintrust, Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services at Acadia, is joined by, Gary Hammerschlag, an account management team lead at Acadia, who shares his expert insights on the framework for evaluating potential markets, the process involved, and strategic considerations for brands looking to broaden their e-commerce horizons globally. Their discussion is packed with actionable tips and an in-depth analysis of the various aspects of international expansion on Amazon.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In this episode, Julie and Gary discuss:

• Gary’s Framework for International Expansion
• Evaluating when an international market is a suitable fit.
• The increasing ease of compliance and streamlined processes post-COVID.

• Importance of considering international expansion as a growth lever beside D2C channels.

• Key Markets for Expansion:

• Insights into prioritizing markets: Germany, the UK, Canada, and Japan.

• Specific focus on Japan’s beauty market due to recent Amazon incentives.

• The Testing Process:

• How to frame and assess the testing period for a market.

• Operational, logistical, and budget considerations for entering new markets.

• Readiness and Launch:

• The readiness phase involving VAT application, label review, and finding a responsible person.

• Detailed timeline expectations from decision to launch.

• Tools and Resources:

• Utilizing tools like Helium 10 or Analytic Index for market analysis.

• How agencies specializing in Amazon can aid in smoother launches.

• Advice for Brands Considering International Markets:

• The importance of patience and setting realistic timelines.
• Building a strong initial foundation to facilitate growth.

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In this episode of the Ecommerce Braintrust, Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services at Acadia, is joined by Julien Pereira, Account Manager at Acadia and a former Amazon vendor and program manager with extensive experience in direct fulfillment operations. In this episode, they discuss the nuances of direct fulfillment and its fit for brands selling as first-party vendors on Amazon.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In this episode, Julie and Julien discuss:

• Understanding Direct Fulfillment (DF): Julien breaks down the concept of DF, contrasts it with traditional PO fulfillment methods on Amazon and explains the benefits of having more control over inventory and order management.
• Assessing DF for Your Brand: Criteria for identifying whether DF suits a brand's business model, including logistical capabilities, product categories, and customer-centric operational readiness.
• Hybrid Fulfillment Model: Discussion of the potential to run DF alongside traditional PO-based fulfillment to ensure inventory coverage and mitigate stockout risks.
• Setup Process for DF: Insight into setting up DF in Amazon Vendor Central, including warehouse setup, EDI and API implementations, and configuring lead times and capacity.
• Evaluating DF Performance: Key performance indicators (KPIs) crucial for assessing the health and effectiveness of a DF operation, such as cancellation rate, expected ship date adherence, and delivery estimate accuracy.
• Operational Challenges and Efficacy: An exploration of potential drawbacks and efficacy in adopting direct fulfillment, including Amazon's perspective on product categories and its impacts on DF recommendations.
• Daily and Weekly DF Management: Julien outlines the daily and weekly responsibilities of managing DF, emphasizing the importance of updating inventory, processing orders, and reviewing performance metrics.
• Amazon's Approach: How Amazon assesses and makes suggestions on product suitability for DF based on a variety of factors including category, average selling price, and speed sensitivity.

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In this episode of the Ecommerce Brain Trust, Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services at Acadia, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, the Senior Retail Media Manager at Acadia and Head of the Retail Media Network Innovation team. They discuss the ins and outs of Ulta's retail media platform and what brands need to know to succeed in this unique beauty-focused marketplace.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In this episode, Julie and Damiano discuss:

• An overview of Ulta as a retail media marketplace dedicated to beauty products with both in-store and e-commerce presences.
• The relative youth of Ulta’s platform compared to other marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart.
• Challenges faced by brands, such as limited tools provided by Ulta for keyword research and competitive landscape analysis.
• How brands can circumvent these limitations using third-party tools like Pacvue and Analytic Index.
• Media Buying Strategies on Ulta
• Options for buying media on Ulta, including self-service and managed services.
• The partnership between Ulta and Criteo, including the campaign types available to advertisers.
• Performance and Competition on Ulta
• The current landscape shows low competition and promising results for brands advertising on Ulta.
• How brands are achieving top-of-search positioning relatively easily compared to more saturated platforms.
• Investment and Attribution in Ulta Advertising
• Discussing meaningful media investment and attribution assessment on the Ulta channel
• How to handle the complexities of advertising for a brand that has both an e-commerce and in-store presence
• Ideal Candidates for Advertising on Ulta
• Characteristics of brands that may benefit the most from advertising on Ulta.
• Advising brands that should hold off on expanding to Ulta and the recommended trial period for testing the platform's effectiveness.
• Damiano shares valuable insights on leveraging Ulta as a retail media network and the intricacies involved, offering a comprehensive look at what role this unique channel could play in a brand’s broader e-commerce strategy.

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In this episode of the Ecommerce Brain Trust, Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services at Acadia, and Ross Walker, Retail Team Lead, discuss the latest developments in Amazon's marketing cloud (AMC), focusing on advanced integrations of new data sources, paid features, audience insights, and the Events Manager.

They highlight the importance of robust attribution and customer journey data, as well as better audience creation and targeting for brands leveraging AMC.

In this episode, Julie and Ross discuss:

• Overview of AMC and its recent developments.
• Detailed discussion on paid features like Experian auto paid data set and Foursquare paid data set.
• Analysis of flexible shopping insights and audience segment insights.
• Explanation of the Events Manager and its significance.
• Insights into AMC-derived data that has significantly impacted clients.
• Comparing the value propositions of media activation and measurement in AMC.
• Speculation on Amazon's ambitions in the advertising industry and the role of AMC in achieving them.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters sits down with Angela Caltagirone, the Chief Digital Marketing Officer of PB5 Star, a brand in the pickleball category. They discuss the official launch of PB5 Star at the Etail West conference in Palm Springs, the demographics of pickleball players, the brand's positioning and go-to-market strategy, and the unique challenges and opportunities in the e-commerce space for a new brand.

In today’s episode, Kiri and Angela discuss:

• PB5 Star's official launch at Etail West and the success of the pickleball tournament at the conference.
• The demographics of pickleball players and the inclusive nature of the sport.
• The positioning of PB5 Star as a brand that combines style, camaraderie, and wellness for the pickleball community.
• Differences between pickleball and tennis apparel, focusing on attention to detail, comfort, and style.
• The founding team's extensive retail experience and their go-to-market strategy for PB5 Star.
• The decision to start with a direct-to-consumer approach and plans for future expansion into retail channels and marketplaces.
• The brand's emphasis on authentic storytelling, partnerships, and collaborations in its marketing strategy.
• The use of technology, AI, and a focus on responsible growth to establish the brand's presence in the market.

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In this episode, Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services at Acadia, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Operations at Acadia, are joined by AJ Patel, VP of Global Growth at U Beauty.

They delve into the world of e-commerce, discussing topics such as the transition from analytics to e-commerce, the positioning of Ubeauty in the market, channel-specific marketing strategies, the role of organic marketing efforts, key performance metrics for Amazon, and the importance of profitability in an e-commerce business.

In this episode, Julie, Jordan and AJ discuss:

• Transition from Analytics to E-commerce: AJ Patel shares insights on transitioning from an analytics role to a more generalist role in e-commerce and the opportunities it presented for leveraging his skillset.
• Positioning of Ubeauty: The discussion highlights the innovative Siren capsule technology used by Ubeauty, allowing targeted skincare delivery and the brand's focus on sustainability.
• Channel-specific Marketing Strategies: AJ elaborates on how Ubeauty tailors its approach for different channels, including in-store presentations, the esthetician program, educational content on product detail pages, and leveraging influencers.
• Role of Organic Marketing Efforts: The importance of organic marketing efforts and the challenge of measuring their impact, with a focus on the investment in content and branding.
• Key Performance Metrics for Amazon: AJ discusses the metrics used to measure the performance and health of Ubeauty's Amazon account, emphasizing customer acquisition cost (CAC) over average order value (AOV) and customer lifetime value.
• Importance of Profitability: The conversation underscores the significance of driving profit in addition to growth for e-commerce businesses and having a thorough understanding of channel-specific metrics and their roles in the overall strategy.

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In this episode, Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplaces Services at Acadia, and guest Armin Alispahic, Retail Team Lead at Acadia. Julie and Armin dive into the tidal shifts occurring within Amazon operations and fulfillment and how these changes are impacting the 3P model. They explore the complexities of Amazon's fee changes in 2024, the challenges brands currently face, and the strategies they can adopt to effectively navigate this landscape.

Armin is a Retail Team Lead at Acadia. He's been at the company for almost 7 years. Internally he’s known as Armin.com for his encyclopedic knowledge of Amazon. Over the years, he has gained great experience in working directly with Amazon representatives to support brands in scaling up on Amazon and achieving their goals.

In this episode, Julie and Armin discuss:

• Amazon's implementation of new fees and the complexities surrounding these changes.
• The introduction of specific new fees, such as the low level inventory fee and the returns processing fee, and their implications for brands.
• The discussion on the importance of a proactive and strategic response to Amazon’s evolving fee structure.
• The potential opportunities and challenges faced when enrolling in programs like Sip (Ships in Product Packaging) and FBA New Selection.
• How Sip can offer brands cost savings and branding opportunities, with caveats regarding package safety and giftability.
• Why all brand-registered sellers should consider FBA New Selection for launching new products with fee waivers.
• Insights into Amazon's AWD program, its potential cost savings, the concerns regarding the control over inventory, and the impact on sales velocity.
• The necessity of an omnichannel strategy and diversifying sales channels in light of Amazon’s shifting ecosystem.
• The expanding opportunities for brands in retail media networks and on other retailer platforms like Walmart and Target.

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In today’s episode, hosts Kiri Masters and Julie Spear are joined by Lisa Levin, and Andreliz Bautista McGlade from the personal care brand Pharmacopia. They delve into the history of the brand, its unique journey from natural grocery stores to exclusive hotel amenities, and its recent foray into ecommerce.

Key Highlights:

• Lisa Levin shares the origins of Pharmacopia, how she transitioned from graphic design to herbal medicine, and the brand's early commitment to creating clean, toxin-free products.

• Andreliz Bautista McGlade discusses the transition of Pharmacopia from gift products to natural groceries and later into beauty, including a brief stint on QVC.

• The guests elaborate on the partnership with Hunter Amenities, the pivot to an exclusive hotel brand, and the subsequent relaunch of their aromatherapy retail line through Amazon and their own branded site.

• They discuss the challenges of expanding into various channels, managing brand identity in marketplaces, and optimizing their ecommerce strategy with the help of partners like Acadia.

• The episode also covers the performance of different sales channels, the challenges of leveraging their hotel presence for direct sales, and the unique opportunities and strategies for brand growth in the ecommerce space.

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In this episode, host Kiri Masters interviews Ash McMullen, the e-commerce lead at Advantice Health, the company that manufactures the brands Amlactin, Kerasal, and more.

Ash recently presented a case study about Advantice’s portfolio brand “Triple Paste” at eTail West in Palm Springs, sharing how a strategic re-launch of this brand on Amazon ultimately led the product to become a top-3 seller in its category and 5X-ing total sales on Amazon within 2 years.

In this conversation you’ll learn:

1. How a ‘full-funnel’ approach was key to success - looking beyond ROAS (even planning for deteriorating ROAS in the journey) was key. Ash discusses the need to shift focus from traditional metrics like ROAS to broader, more relevant metrics aligned with the overall strategy. This shift allows for a more comprehensive evaluation of campaign success.
2. The number one component for the re-launch? “Content, content, content” and how Ash positions investment in content to executives.
3. How a product variation strategy enhances the shopper experience.
4. How to have a great relationship with your finance team. Ash values collaboration between different teams, particularly with the finance team, to align marketing tactics with content strategies.
5. Leading Indicators like new-to-brand percentage, traffic source analysis, and overall sales trends to ensure you’re tracking toward a bigger goal like market share.
6. What Ash is excited about in ecommerce, and what she’s changed her mind about.

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In this episode of the e-commerce brain trust podcast, Kiri Masters, head of Retail Media Strategy at Acadia, interviews Nicole Hatley, Global Content Strategy Manager for Skechers, at the Etail West conference in Palm Springs. Nicole discusses her role in managing Skechers' content across all e-commerce platforms and countries and the unique challenges that come with it. Nicole also shares her experiences as a professor of e-commerce marketing at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. The discussion covers the rapid evolution of e-commerce and how she prepares her students for a continually changing market. Nicole also shares her excitement for the future of e-commerce, specifically personalization efforts.

00:00 Introduction to Nicole

00:24 Nicole's role overseeing Global Content Strategy for Skechers

01:54 Nicole's role as a a professor of e-commerce marketing and equipping the next generation for this dynamic industry

05:56 The Impact of Personalization in E-commerce

06:41 The most impactful personalization tactic that Nicole is using right now

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In today’s episode, Kiri Masters is joined by Julie Spear, the Head of Retail Services at Acadia.

Kiri Masters and Julie Spear explore the downsides of Amazon resellers, and dissect the reseller model's challenges, discussing control and costs, and why it may not suit your brand.

Key Highlights:

• Reseller Model Insights: We define resellers and differentiate between authorized and unauthorized ones, delineating the blurred lines between resellers and agencies.

• Reseller Versus Other Models: Referencing a conversation with Acadia's CEO, Jared Belsky, we contrast resellers with other marketplace strategies.

• Attractiveness of Resellers: Why many brands find resellers appealing despite potential downsides – discussing the lure of expertise, operational ease, and perceived cash flow benefits.

• Brand Vision Conflicts: How a partnership with a reseller might limit a brand’s strategic possibilities, shackle product launches, and blur key data insights.

• Turnover and Terms: Analyzing the effect of resellers' turnover terms on brands, spotlighting the risks of mismatched expectations.

• Case Study: The repercussions of a reseller mismanaging Snow Peak's pricing and the broader implications for brand image.

• Transitional Challenges: The difficulties brands face in moving away from resellers toward direct sales models, such as reasserting brand registry rights and the daunting task of reinstating operational capacity.

• Payment Terms and Paperwork: Unveiling the reality behind the upfront payment attraction and the potential for unfavorable payment terms.

• Direct Sales Comparison: Discussing the financial dynamics between selling through resellers, directly to Amazon, or on the marketplace.

• Brand Control Limitations: Examining the reduced control over brand portrayal, the infrequent updating of product detail pages, and suboptimal SEO practices under reseller partnerships.

• Cost Considerations: Julie Spear breaks down the multiple costs associated with resellers, including media investment, supply chain expenses, and significant fees.

• Partnership Models: Kiri stresses that no singular model is flawless and discusses how revenue-based partnerships could stifle business growth.

• Assortment Selection: Lastly, we touch on the issue of resellers cherry-picking inventory, leaving brands to strategize on marketing and selling the remaining products.

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In this podcast episode, the hosts Kiri Masters and Julie Spear examine the pros and cons of working with a reseller to sell a brand's products on Amazon (compared with the managing processes internally or working with an agency).

Resellers offer expertise navigating Amazon's complexities and provide operational support to quickly enter or expand markets. However, the risk for brands includes losing control over branding, customer experience, and data ownership due to misaligned priorities or operational risks.

Julie Spear is the Head of Retail Marketplaces & Media at Acadia. www.acadia.io

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Kiri Masters and Julie Spear dive deep into the world of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) from the vantage point of agency partnerships.

For brands, the RFP process is infrequent, but it is a decision that may have a profound impact on their business. But for agencies like Acadia, its a process we are navigating nearly every week.

Kiri and Julie share their agency-side experiences from the last 9 years, in the hopes that it can help brands to choose the best agency for them, foster better relationships, and ramp up projects quickly.

Key Highlights:

1. Pitfalls in RFP processes: unrealistic timelines, unclear objectives, being too prescriptive, playing favorites, inconsistent stakeholder involvement.
2. How you run the RFP signals to your prospective partner what they can expect from the relationship. What message is your process sending about you, your team, and your company?
3. Approaching the process not just seeking a service provider, but a true partner. This entails understanding the agency's culture, values, and team dynamics beyond mere capability presentations.
4. The one thing that less than 5% of brands do during their RFP process, but could save significant time, expense, and indecision.

A great RFP approach can foster more meaningful, productive, and innovative agency partnerships.

"When you're too prescriptive in your approach, you hold back what can be discovered." - Julie Spear

Click here to learn more about Acadia.

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In today’s episode, Kiri Masters is joined by Julie Spear, the Head of Retail Services at Acadia, and Ross Walker, Senior Paid Media Manager.

Today, they are diving deep into the world of retail media networks. They’re tackling the big questions about brand expansion into new retail media networks, the challenges involved, and the strategies for success. Stay tuned as they unpack the complexities of navigating this dynamic landscape and provide actionable insights that can transform the way you allocate your advertising budget and optimize your presence across different platforms.

In this episode Kiri, Julie and Ross discuss:

• Challenges brands face when expanding into new retail media networks.

• Navigating budget allocation and overcoming organizational silos.

• Addressing concerns such as incrementality, cannibalization, and bandwidth constraints.

• Julie Spear's queries about markers for readiness and performance metrics.

• Ross Walker's insights on the importance of a clear business trend view post-ad investment.

• The strategic approach for managing retail media to ensure advertising efficiency.

• Analyzing brand investment impact across various sales channels.

• Understanding channel offerings and customer buying habits as they affect product performance.

• Testing strategies across multiple retail networks to discern customer engagement and response.

• Approaches for measuring the success of a channel in terms of incremental sales and CPA.

• Importance and challenges of obtaining third-party data and search volume trends.

• Potential of specific platforms like Kroger and the pitfalls of managed service options.

• Exploring the effectiveness of retail media channels by looking beyond their own reporting.

• Setting clear goals and a timeframe when testing retail media network campaigns.

• Measuring incrementality and the reality of limited customer data access.

• The impact of privacy policies on the ability to prove incremental new customer acquisition.

• The overarching goal of meeting and improving the customer experience on various platforms.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters is joined by Lauren Livak, lead at the Digital Shelf Institute, and Mike Black, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Profitero, a global commerce acceleration company. In this podcast, they’re discussing the new Digital Shelf Institute and Profitero report “Defining Content Effectiveness”. Here you can register to join them in the webinar in February.

In today's episode, we delve into the ever-evolving world of content effectiveness in digital retail. Kiri, Lauren, and Mike unpack the intricacies of creating impactful content that resonates with consumers and drives conversion. Drawing from their new report which involved interviewing over twelve digital leaders, they explore the duality of art and science when it comes to defining what effective content truly means for different brands.

If you're looking for comprehensive insights on improving your ecommerce content strategy, you won't want to miss this enlightening conversation. Are you ready to transition from merely sufficient content to truly effective communication with your consumer base? Make sure you tune in!

More about the guests:

Mike Black

Mike joined Profitero in 2017 as Vice President of Marketing and has been instrumental in the company’s growth after joining Publicis Group, grew the company’s offerings beyond digital shelf analytics to include predictive analytics, retail media, and content activation solutions. Before joining Profitero, Mike held marketing roles at Nielsen and Staples

Lauren Livak

Lauren leads the Digital Shelf Institute in defining the strategy to create a global commerce community that supports brands, retailers, and future leaders in the complex world of digital. Across her roles, she has worked with hundreds of brand manufacturers helping them to develop an overall commerce strategy and vision for their commerce journey leveraging her work at Johnson & Johnson where she was the owner of the Digital Shelf for the Consumer family of products for North America. She launched a new approach for the way the Consumer North America business went to digital retail both in pure play & omni-channel streams covering multiple platforms such as OTC, Beauty, Oral Care, Baby Care & Wound Care with accountability for 40+ retailers and 33+ brands.

In this episode Kiri, Lauren and Mike discuss:

• The five core pillars of content effectiveness: people, data and systems, process, measurement, and retailer collaboration.

• The importance of understanding shopper behavior and using that knowledge to drive engagement with content.

• How content impacts organic search and can be utilized to educate leadership teams on its importance.

• Using retailer conversion data and measurement tools to understand content effectiveness in terms of emotional and brand impact.

• The necessity for organizations to go through a maturity curve to fully understand and define content effectiveness.

• The significance of internal processes and avoiding siloed teams to maximize content impact.

• The potential of advanced tools, such as AI, once the content effectiveness fundamentals are well-established.

• Upcoming webinar announcement and the availability of the content effectiveness report at digitalshelfinstitute.org.

• The debate around whether content is being managed for mere sufficiency or optimized for effectiveness.

• The essential role of communicating the value of content to leadership, particularly in the absence of clear-cut metrics.

• The value of search-optimized content and transitioning to content that both builds a brand and drives conversion.

• The need for resources that can harness consumer insights, and processes that ensure content reaches the right channels.

• Surprising variations in content effectiveness definitions among digital leaders, indicating a lack of a one-size-fits-all approach.

• Importance of content integration with product launches, and how some brands succeed while others fall short.

• The balance between the creative and methodical aspects of measuring content effectiveness and return on investment.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters shares a special replay from "Unpacking the Digital Shelf" webinar, presented by our friends over at the Digital Shelf Institute, Peter Crosby and Lauren Livak.

They are discussing ‘The Walmart Marketplace: Copy and Paste is a Waste!" and are navigating the intricacies of the Walmart Marketplace and why it's not just another Amazon. Guests were Tom Spaven, VP of Marketing at Goodwipes at the time of the recording, and industry expert Lauren Livak on board to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities on this emerging platform.

Whether you're a seasoned seller or new to the ecommerce space, this session is packed with insights on how to tailor your strategy for success in the Walmart sphere.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In today’s episode, Peter, Lauren, Kiri and Tom discuss:

• Walmart's specific product title guidelines and the importance of keyword research and content optimization.

• Behavioral differences between Walmart and Amazon consumers, resulting in the need for platform-specific strategies.

• The valuable yet underutilized newer tools on Walmart, such as videos and feature sets.

• The challenges of updating product pages and the competitive advantage of using tools like Acadia.

• Walmart's immersive shopping experience that promotes browsing through collection pages.

• The difficulties and significance of obtaining product reviews on Walmart.

• The contrast between self-serve ad platforms on Amazon and Walmart.

• The disparities between Amazon and Walmart in terms of assortment, basket size, and purchase frequency.

• Content quality scores and their impact on Walmart's algorithm.

• The necessity for lower-priced products, seller performance, and content quality for better visibility on Walmart.

• Attribution and metadata differences critical for Walmart optimization, as opposed to Amazon.

• Updates on content quality, attribution weighting, and the importance of strategic cell sheet updates.

• Tom Spaven's challenges in syndicating reviews and Lauren Livak's insights into review challenges across retailers.

• Kiri Masters delved into advertising on Walmart, including its limitations and opportunities.

• The prioritization of data improvement for Walmart Connect and the call for transparency from the platform.

• Allocation of resources across omnichannel brands and the distinct growth avenues on Walmart's marketplace.

• The cost difference in accessing data from Amazon versus Walmart's Luminate platform.

• The advantages of being a one p brand versus a three p brand at Walmart and the online presence implications.

• The criticalness of online optimization for retail strategy, highlighted by consumer preferences and the synergy of in-store and online shopping.

• The discussion on the increased focus on retail media, its influence on consumer consideration and conversion, and the need for modernizing marketing strategies with a consumer-centric approach.

• The potential and challenges of Walmart's grocery focus and Walmart Luminate's data-sharing capabilities.

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with Jamie Roller, Associate Director of Growth Channels at Dr. Squatch. They speak about growth through the DTC channel, the channels Dr. Squatch is selling on, Amazon DSP, retail media networks, and more.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Jamie is the Associate Director of Growth Channels at Dr. Squatch, a men's natural personal care brand. In this role, she is responsible for driving strategy, growth, and management of Dr. Squatch's Growth/Marketplace Channels including Amazon and Walmart.com. She has spent the last 10 years in global strategy consulting and working at several market-leading, high-growth eCommerce companies. She is obsessed with everything eCommerce and is also a productivity geek.

In today’s episode, Kiri and Jamie discuss:

• Jamie’s career and how she got into e-commerce.
• About Jamie’s position as Associate Director, Growth Channels at Dr. Squatch, and which sales & marketing channels fall under her preview.
• Org structure of the company
• Historical growth through the DTC channel, so the org setup supports that model
• Marketplaces/ growth reports to the marketing team
• Retail operations have been a more recent division, and B&M has become more important recently.

• “We need to be where the customer shops”

• From the outside, Dr. Squatch is doing a lot of experimentation with Amazon advertising and other marketing channels. Yours was one of the ads I first noticed with the TNF, for example. Tell us about how your company thinks of Amazon within its marketing and sales mix.

• Historically viewed Amazon as a BOFU acquisition channel
• Lots of ads outside of Amazon drive high-intent purchases to Amazon (branded search). They get more branded traffic to listings to listings than there is category traffic.
• While they would like more customers to be shopping DTC, the reality is there are some customers who prefer to shop on Amazon.
• The TNF campaign was TOFU obviously, they saw a nice uptick of sales on the DTC site, but not so much on Amazon. Performance-oriented
• Testing DSP - didn't see a huge lift in sales. Customers are already coming to Amazon with high intent. They don’t want to be spending to gain awareness twice.

• Similarly, they will see a bump in AMZ sales when they run ads on Facebook

• Many brands consider Amazon a distribution channel rather than a marketing channel. What do you know to be true that these other brands may not?

• Tell us about how you address the marketing funnel/ shopper journey with various Amazon marketing products (e.g. top-of-funnel with DSP, Amazon live, BOFU with sponsored products, etc?)
• View AMZ as primarily a BOFU channel, ROAS on branded search is super high

• Brought on a new agency in August 2022, did a low-spend test with specific re-targeting and remarketing, didn’t see a lift, and couldn’t attribute ROAS

• How do you think about all the retail media networks out there (seems like a new one every 2 weeks!) and choose where to focus time and budget?

• Amazon is still a huge channel for them - every minute she puts in a new channel, that’s a minute she has taken away from their huge AMZ business
• It's a brand that’s very performance oriented. What they are spending time on will drive performance in 6-12 mths
• 4 RMNs being actively managed

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters, Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia, dives deep into the nuances of navigating industry conferences and events with expert precision. Kiri delivers an insightful look into maximizing the value of attending conferences, based on personal experiences, fruitful strategies, and networking best practices.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In today’s episode, Kiri talks about:

• Her growth trajectory as a manager and practitioner, and the importance of leveraging events for continuous learning.

• Strategies for connecting with professionals across various companies to expand perspectives and foster potential collaborations.

• Implementing event-learned knowledge into business practices to secure the ROI on travel and conference expenses.

• Tips on sharing insights on LinkedIn after events, including creating listicles, and the use of engaging visuals such as mind maps.

• Understanding the true essence of networking and the significance of stepping out of one’s comfort zone for long-term career advantages.

• Handling interactions with exhibitors, including learning from Richard Kestenbaum, asking pertinent questions, and extracting meaningful insights.

• Best practices for securing speaking opportunities and maximizing post-event follow-up routines.

• An overview of the value-packed conferences Kiri is set to participate in during the first half of 2024, such as Etail West and Retail Media Summit among others.

• Insights into devising a strategic approach to select and benefit from various industry events, especially when under budgetary constraints.

• Kiri’s six golden tips for effective networking and creating authentic relationships by avoiding trivial small talk using her innovative AVH conversation formula.

• Guidance on how to engage with fellow attendees and vendors pre-event, during, and post-conference for enhancing networking opportunities and building lasting connections.

• Navigating the exhibition floor with confidence, dispelling the awkwardness, and transforming it into a treasure trove of industry knowledge and trends.

Events at which Kiri is speaking this year:

• Etail West
• ANA media conference
• DSI event
• Acadia - Retail Media Summit

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In this podcast episode, Kiri speaks with Acadia's co-founder and CEO Jared Belsky. They discuss the various options available to brand-side marketers and sales leaders for retail marketplace management. They delve into the pros and cons of four options, including in-house investment, agency support, technology companies, and resellers, providing valuable insights for ecommerce professionals as they strategize for growth in 2024.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In today’s episode, Kiri and Jared discuss:

• Identifying the options available for brand-side marketers to seek help in achieving growth goals in the face of various challenges

• The need for clarity in understanding the differences between in-house investment, agency support, technology companies, and resellers

• Considerations for beefing up in-house investment, including justifying headcount and focusing on specialization

• The significance of understanding the economics and aligning with the business requirements when considering agency support

• Exploring the complexities and risks involved in engaging with resellers in the context of offloading operations and maintaining control over distribution, pricing, and inventory

• Evaluating scenarios when it may not be ideal to engage an agency, such as the need for specialized expertise, economic considerations, and the importance of effective client sponsorship

• The collaborative role of the client in nurturing a successful relationship with an agency and making informed decisions amidst the pressures of ecommerce growth goals for 2024

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In this episode of "The Ecommerce Braintrust" podcast, Kiri Masters and guest Armin Alispahic delve into the major changes coming to FBA fees in 2024. They discuss the intricacies of these changes and explore how they will impact sellers on Amazon's platform.

Armin is a Retail Team Lead at Acadia. He's been at the company for almost 7 years. Internally he’s known as Armin.com for his encyclopedic knowledge of Amazon. Over the years, he has gained great experience in working directly with Amazon representatives to support brands in scaling up on Amazon and achieving their goals.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In this episode, Kiri and Armin discuss:

• Introduction of the inbound placement service fee to cover the cost of transporting shipments.
• Amazon's shift from national fulfillment to interconnected regional fulfillment networks and the resulting impact on sellers.
• The impact of the inbound placement service fee on different types of brands and products.
• Changes in FBA fees and the impact on sellers' costs and savings.
• Introduction of the low-level inventory fee and its implications for sellers.
• The ship in product packaging program and its potential to create savings for sellers.
• Reduced referral fees for apparel products priced below $20.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters, Head of Retail Marketplace Strategy at Acadia, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, Retail Media Manager at Acadia, talk about the newly launched Kroger precision marketing retail media network (KPM).

They delve into the unique features and capabilities of the self-serve ad platform, as well as the interesting aspects of Kroger's advertising platform. From the reduction in fees for brands to the potential integration of a demand-side platform (DSP), Kiri and Damiano explore the possibilities and predictions for the future of Kroger's advertising offerings.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Kiri and Damiano discuss:

• Launch of Kroger's advertising platform and reduced fees for advertisers.
• Contextual targeting within categories and subcategories for audience targeting capabilities.
• Ad placement options and store selection for targeted advertising.
• Precise and modifiable creative capabilities for sponsored brand ads on Kroger's platform.
• Predictions for Kroger and the retail media space, including potential integration of in-store advertising and the impact of potential mergers with Albertsons.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters is joined by Tsege Gebreyohannes, Sr. Manager of Digital & Experience from Nature's Way Canada. They talk about how Nature’s Way battles random factory brands on Amazon. Tsege shares her experience of noticing the emergence of factory direct brands and the impact they had on Nature's Way's business. The episode provides insights into the strategies employed to combat these new competitors and how the organization adapted its approach to tackle the challenge.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

As the Sr. Manager of Digital & Experience, Tsege manages both the Ecommerce side of the business as well as overall digital strategy and execution for the organization. She now manages a varied team made up of ecommerce salespeople, digital content including social media, and our customer service experience, her background has been in traditional CPG brand marketing, and before that she came from an advertising agency background. Tsege has been with Nature’s Way Canada now for almost 8 years.

In today’s episode, Kiri, and Tsege discuss:

• Impact of factory direct brands on traditional CPG brands
• Underestimation of smaller brands in the ecommerce space
• Adapting content, advertising, and messaging to counter the competition
• Evaluating competitive strategies across different sales channels
• The importance of understanding the retail ecosystem and the role of Amazon
• Lessons learned and advice for brands facing similar challenges

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters is joined by Emily Peterson, Team Lead at Acadia, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, head of Retail Strategy at Acadia. Kiri, Emily, and Damiano share insights on the trends and performance of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday event this year, including the significant increase in online spending and the observations made on Black Friday versus Cyber Monday sales.

The conversation covers early promotions, advertising strategies, client outcomes, and lessons learned, providing valuable takeaways for navigating the peak selling period through the end of the year.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In today’s episode, Kiri, Emily and Damiano discuss:

• Black Friday/Cyber Monday event predictions and figures, Adobe predicted that the spend would be $12 billion on Cyber Monday and nearly $10 billion on Black Friday.

• Observations that Friday saw more action than Monday on retail marketplaces like Amazon, despite traditional data showing Monday as the bigger volume day.

• The trend of earlier and earlier sales and promotional activities by DTC brands and retail marketplaces, with brands launching holiday sales as early as November 1.

• Strategies and outcomes for clients during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period, including a client in the apparel category doubling down on promotional activities in early October and achieving a 36% increase from the previous year's sales.

• The impact of proactive ramp-up periods on organic ranking and ad performance, resulting in more sustainable outcomes and less expensive advertising.

• Observations of Black Friday as the standout day in terms of sales, with Saturday being the largest decline in sales and Cyber Monday being comparatively lackluster.

• A minor operational issue with setting up Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals on Amazon where a specific checkbox had to be selected for the deals badge to appear on the product page.

• Insights into ad spend allocation and impressions during Black Friday, including a slight decrease in ad spend compared to other events, but a higher ratio of impressions to cost.

• Observations about trends and peak sales times during the event, as well as strategies for budget management and proactive budget adjustments based on hourly peaks.

• The reminder that every day until December 21 is a peak selling day and the importance of maintaining momentum and managing budgets for continued success throughout the holiday period.

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In today's short episode announcement, Kiri Masters informs the listeners that this week's episode, covering the recap of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the entire November holiday selling season, will be available on Wednesday, November 29.

Considering the 24-hour timeframe needed for episode production, your understanding is appreciated as we strive to deliver valuable insights. This slight delay is intended to ensure that each episode remains actionable and beneficial to you as a listener.

Thank you for your patience, and stay tuned for the new episode tomorrow.

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Once again, Kiri speaks with Russ Dieringer, founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Just like last year, Kiri and Russ share their predictions in ecommerce, for 2024.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Russ Dieringer is the founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Each week, Russ creates impactful, practical, and easy-to-digest research that speaks to all layers of an organization, helping them see further around the corner of what’s coming in retail.

In this episode, Kiri and Russ go back to their predictions for 2023, and recap what predictions came true. The results are mixed, listen to hear what they were right about.

They also share their predictions for 2024:

• It's predicted that brands will continue to maintain their spending on retail media.
• Both Amazon and Walmart Connect are expected to experience increased spending from brands.
• Marketplace and retail media will attract a new generation of talent native to the industry.
• Russ predicted Amazon's rapid growth in general merchandise categories and foresees its continued double-digit growth rate in 2024.
• Brands are expected to demand proof of incrementality for their retail media ad spend and marketplace investments.
• Walmart will likely respond to Amazon’s AMC success with their own significant data clean room announcement and partnership.
• Russ controversially predicts Amazon's complete closure of Fresh physical stores, with a shift in focus to existing online fresh business.
• Amazon will make Prime Video ad-supported for all Prime users, offering brands a significant advertising opportunity.
• Amazon is expected to lead in streaming TV advertising with larger reach and superior measurement capabilities.
• Walmart and TikTok will potentially enter a significant advertising and commerce partnership.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, host Kiri Masters shares a special replay from "Unpacking the Digital Shelf," presented by our friends over at the Digital Shelf Institute, Peter Crosby and Lauren Livak. They’re diving into the realm of Amazon Marketing Cloud, an open database that provides deeply insightful data for advertisers, with Ross Walker, the retail media team lead at Acadia, joining them to unfold the complexities of AMC and, more importantly, how to use it to our advantage. Whether you're an executive, an e-commerce manager, or a budding data analyst, get ready for a knowledge-packed session.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In today’s episode, Peter, Lauren and Ross discuss:

• AMC offers the ability to positively target customers based on specific behaviors, which includes customers who added items to the cart but didn't purchase.

• Use of the AMC in remarketing to customers who were previously exposed to a campaign.

• AMC helps brands identify their prime products for generating new customers and aids in making wise marketing decisions.

• Introduction to the ASIN Overlap report aiding in predicting customers' future purchases.

• Differences in the adoption and usage maturity of the AMC among clients, ranging from unawareness to sophisticated usage.

• Successful clients often have internal abilities and use AMC data for informed marketing decisions.

• Importance and significance of the 'New to brand' metric for Amazon sellers and vendors.

• Insights offered by AMC allow a better understanding of marketing performance from a new-to-brand perspective.

• The emergence of the incremental ROAS concept for assessing sales lift and ROAS due to increased ad spending.

• Potential improvements for Amazon Media Console, such as AI capabilities for natural language queries.

• Recommendations for incorporating AMC into future strategies by tracking new-to-brand campaigns.

• Challenges in effective utilization of data when outsourcing AMC insights to third-party tools.

• The bystander effect of very few brands using AMC to upload and anonymize CRM data to target customers through Amazon DSP.

• The importance of the 'New to brand' metric surfaced by AMC in evaluating the effectiveness of campaigns in attracting new customers.

• Possible shift towards a focus on acquiring new customers rather than upselling to existing ones in uncertain economic times.

• Features of AMC being complex and requiring understanding of writing SQL code.

• Explanation of the queries AMC offers for various stakeholders to get insights into their advertising performance.

• The use of AMC in providing broader picture of a brand's performance on Amazon.

• Use of AMC to target audiences based on shopper behavior, location, and other factors.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, host Kiri Masters talks with Chris Perry, co-founder of firstmovr. They delve into the concept of "smarter growth" and how it can help brands and retailers achieve incremental growth in the e-commerce space. From driving households, baskets, and trips to leveraging category management principles, they cover a range of strategies and tactics.

Chris Perry is the Chief Learning Officer at firstmovr, a Satellite Center of Excellence (COE) for CPG Omni Education & Change Management on a mission to help empower first movers — both people and organizations — to win in a disruptive marketplace.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

In today’s episode, Kiri and Chris discuss:

• Introduction to firstmovr as a center for omni education and change management in e-commerce.

• The "smarter growth framework" as a means to organize and drive incremental growth.

• Drawing principles from brick and mortar to leverage them for e-commerce success.

• Moving beyond tactics to focus on the "why" of growth and driving incrementality.

• The importance of understanding household penetration, buy rate, and the four quadrants of growth.

• Applying the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound) framework for more strategic and measurable growth goals.

• Emphasizing the need for intentional content optimization and leveraging levers at scale.

• Examples of best practices in basket building, including stocking up, trade up, and bundles.

• Strategies employed by Procter & Gamble (PNG) and L'Oreal in driving growth through advertising and product differentiation.

• Harnessing shopper purchase data for targeted personalization in advertising.

• Practical ways for brands to deploy investments and gain more control over their growth strategies.

• The upcoming "smarter events" by Firstmover, offering education and support for implementing smarter growth strategies.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, Kiri Masters is joined by Damiano Ciarrocchi, head of Retail Strategy at Acadia. They discuss the Chewy Retail Media Network and how pet brands can advertise on Chewy.com. Acadia just launched an advertising management capability for the Chewy retail media network, adding this platform to the roster of retail media networks Acadia now supports.

Damiano highlights the uniqueness of Chewy as a retail media network, its hyper-specific focus on the pet category, and the potential for brand loyalty among pet owners. They also explore the advertising opportunities on Chewy, including conquesting, and the technical aspects of the platform, such as the current use of Promote IQ and the future launch of banner ads. Additionally, they touch on the importance of campaign tagging and the audience targeting capabilities on Chewy.

In today’s episode, Kiri and Damiano discuss:

• Introduction to Chewy Retail Media Network and its comparison to Amazon advertising - High-level observations about Chewy RMN, including its hyper-specificity and the loyalty of its pet product shoppers
• Positive results and efficiency of sponsored ads on Chewy RMN
• Importance of considering Chewy as a viable retail network option for pet brands
• The possibility of brand conquesting on Chewy and its significance for competitors
• Discussion on Walmart's stance on conquesting (uncertain, but potential loophole)
• Technical aspects of the Chewy Media Network, including its use of promote IQ and the availability of product listing ads (PLA)
• Mention of future plans for launching banner ads on Chewy RMN
• Overview of additional features provided by Pacvue, including campaign tagging and budget management
• Importance of campaign tagging for retail media allocation and comparing performance across platforms
• Audience targeting capabilities on Chewy, focused on contextual targeting rather than specific audience demographics.

Learn more about Acadia's Chewy advertising capabilities at https://acadia.io/services/retail-media-marketplaces/chewy-retail-media-management/

About Chewy's Retail Media Network: Chewy's retail media network is still quite new, having only opened up to advertisers recently. But it offers interesting potential, especially for brands in the pet care space looking to find new customers. As background, Chewy is solely focused on pet products, so their shopper base is very loyal and niche compared to mass retailers like Amazon or Walmart. Pet owners tend to stick with brands their furry friends like, making it a great channel for customer retention. How the Chewy Advertising Platform Works The self-serve platform Chewy uses is called PromoteIQ, by Microsoft. It's fairly basic - you get a simple dashboard to launch campaigns and view reporting. Right now Chewy only offers one campaign type, product listing ads (PLAs), similar to Amazon's sponsored products. But they plan to launch sponsored brand campaigns soon. Acadia partners with the ad tech platform Pacvue to enable enhanced campaign management and reporting beyond what PromoteIQ provides. Bidding and Targeting Capabilities Here's where Chewy differs from Amazon - you bid at the individual product (SKU) level rather than on keywords. So you can set a higher budget for your higher priority items. The ad targeting is contextual, meaning products show for shoppers browsing related categories or searching relevant terms. You control bids by product category and subcategory. Chewy does allow keyword bid modifiers, but you lack visibility into performance by keyword. So optimization can be more challenging than in Amazon. Why Chewy is Worth a Look for Pet Brands While the platform needs development, there are compelling reasons for pet brands to consider Chewy: - Early adopters can gain an advantage before competitors join - Conquesting competitors' shoppers is possible here - Loyalty means getting trial can lead to long-term buyers - Chewy incentivizes brands who help them grow revenue If you’re a brand in the pet category that sells on Chewy.com, it’s a no-brainer to get started with ads.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters talks with Todd Hassenfelt, Global Digital Commerce Sr Director of Strategy & Execution at Colgate-Palmolive, to discuss Amazon Inspire.

As a leading figure in the global digital commerce space, Todd brings his expertise and insights to the table as they explore whether Amazon Inspire has the potential to challenge social media platforms like TikTok.

They dive into the details of Inspire, its features, user traction, and its impact on brands. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of this emerging platform and its potential implications for the ecommerce industry.

In today’s episode, Kiri and Todd discuss:

• Todd shares his experiences and insights from working in the digital commerce industry.

• The main topic of discussion is Amazon Inspire, a social media-like platform on Amazon.

• They explore whether Amazon Inspire can compete with social media platforms like TikTok.

• Todd discusses his initial reaction to seeing the light bulb icon of Amazon Inspire on the Amazon shopping app.

• He highlights the evolution of the platform, including the shift to a sparkle icon and the addition of features like content sharing.

• The seamless user experience of Inspire is emphasized, with the ability to toggle between images, visit product detail pages (PDP), and make purchases without leaving the platform.

• Todd suggests that Amazon Inspire is currently still in its early stages and may not have garnered much attention yet, but brands should keep an eye on it.

• Brands can post content on Inspire through Amazon Brand Stores or by working with influencers.

• Todd mentions the growing presence of user-generated content (UGC) on Inspire, particularly video reviews, which brands should pay attention to and address any concerns.

• Kiri expresses her disappointment in Amazon's missed opportunity to engage with brands more effectively on Inspire, similar to their earlier program called Spark.

• She believes that brands could create engaging content on the platform, enhancing the user experience and contributing to discoverability.

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Bruce Smith is the Founder & CEO of Hydrow, the leading at-home connected rower that brings the on-water experience of rowing straight to your home. A lifelong entrepreneur, rower and coach, Bruce has dedicated his career to helping others experience the power of the sport at all levels. Bruce founded Hydrow to capture the unique experience of on-water rowing and make it universally accessible, helping people everywhere feel more connected to one another and live healthier lives on a daily basis.

In this podcast, host Kiri Masters and Bruce discuss:

1. How did Bruce first fall in love with rowing?
2. How Bruce led Community Rowing in Boston to become the largest rowing outreach organization in the world, and tripled operating income of the organization, during the great financial crisis.
3. How Bruce came to found Hydrow and early days.
4. How Hydrow is building a content-first, product-led DTC strategy.
5. How personalization has been a big unlock as a strategy - leveraging 1P data from customers. In comparison to a market awareness approach.
6. Hydrow also sells on Amazon. At one point in time, that was taboo for DTC brands. What place does marketplaces like Amazon have for Hydrow, now and in the future?

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters talks with Colleen Basaydin, Global eCommerce Director at Mondelez, about the challenges and strategies in the digital commerce space. They discuss the importance of being where the customer is, adapting to changing trends, and the value of marketplaces like Amazon.

With over 20 years of expertise in Sales, Customer Marketing, and Digital Commerce, Colleen has worked with a diverse range of retail customers and brands. She transitioned into the digital commerce space over a decade ago, starting with the baby gear industry and supporting companies like Newell Brands during their digital transformation. She now plays a pivotal role at Mondelēz, guiding their approach to digital commerce and educating the company on best practices, particularly in their relationship with marketplace giant, Amazon.

In today’s episode, Kiri and Colleen discuss:

• Colleen emphasizes the need to be where customers are and adapt to their changing shopping behaviors.
• They highlight the blurring lines between shopping channels and the importance of providing solutions that meet customer needs.
• Colleen discusses consumer sentiment and trends to inform strategy, particularly in the marketplace space.
• The challenges in the industry include the rapid pace of change, profitability concerns, and finding the right partners and capabilities for product development.
• It is important to have a diverse team with unique skill sets and backgrounds to drive positive change.
• Colleen shares her own career journey and the transformation of Mondelez's digital commerce team.
• They also discuss the complexity of selling food products online, the importance of assortment planning, and the future growth of marketplaces.
• Colleen's work with Amazon has led to significant growth and transformation for the company.
• They highlight the importance of testing and innovation, particularly in markets like China.
• The early days of selling on Amazon were described as the "Wild, Wild West" for big brands.

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In this episode of The Ecommerce Braintrust, Kiri Masters, shares updates and reminders related to peak season dates, including Prime Day and Black Friday Cyber Monday. She also discusses a fascinating update about Amazon Marketing Cloud, focusing on three key points: Day Parting Settings, Geotargeting, and AMC Custom Audiences. These best practices offer insights for optimizing advertising strategies and maximizing performance on Amazon.

In today’s episode, Kiri talks about:

• Important Dates for Ecommerce Sellers

  • Reminder to send FBA and Multichannel Fulfillment Inventory to Amazon by October 26.
  • Importance of shipping inventory early due to potential carrier backlogs.
  • Example of inventory shortage in previous Q4 season.
  • Ensuring inventory arrives before cutoff dates to maximize advertising strategy.

  • Updates on Amazon Marketing Cloud

  • Day Parting Settings: Report available in Amazon Marketing Cloud to view performance by hour. Testing showed slight increase in ROAS and Troas during non-midnight to 5 am hours.

  • Geotargeting: Focusing on specific areas of states or DMAs can lead to more visibility and better performance. Test combining geotargeting and day parting for optimal results.
  • AMC Custom Audiences: Creating an audience of customers who added products to cart but didn't make a purchase. Effective for reminding potential customers about the brand.

  • Benefits of Amazon Marketing Cloud

  • Overview dashboard for analyzing customer journey and conversion paths.

  • Audience Insights for understanding shopper demographics, location data, and interests.
  • Using AMC Insights to segment targeting and optimize performance.
  • Success story of account's performance growth after incorporating AMC before Prime Day.

  • Integration of DSP and PPC with AMC

  • AMC as an advanced reporting package suitable for Amazon DSP users.

  • Bringing together data from DSP and PPC to understand their impact on performance.

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In today’s episode are revisiting the most popular episode of 2023, featuring Kiri Masters and the director of SEO in Acadia, Scott Walldren.

Scott shares his insights and expertise on ecommerce-specific SEO strategies. With the changing landscape of paid traffic, SEO has emerged as a crucial long-term traffic strategy for retail and ecommerce brands. Scott dives into the key considerations and tactics necessary to optimize your online store for search engines.

Make sure you tune in!

Scott Walldren is the Director of SEO for Acadia since October 2022. Previously, he spent 8 years developing and eventually heading up the SEO practice at 360i for Dentsu international. In addition to SEO, Scott has managed millions in paid search spend for national brands at Digitas and Razorfish and as a consultant inside and outside of startups. He lives in the far north Atlanta suburbs (close to Lake Lanier) with his wife, 3 kids, and 3 cats.

Incidentally, he has some hands-on experience (albeit about 10 years old) setting up a store, product feeds and running ads on Amazon when he was at Case-Mate.

In today’s episode, Kiri and Scott discuss:

• E-commerce-specific SEO strategies - What's different about ranking content for ecommerce vs other types of sites - It’s blessed and cursed by the nature of its templates and functions and as a result, you need to think through both your indexation strategy and how your content will be syndicated.

• What has changed in this area / what should be the focus in 2023 - Reputation matters more than ever. Who you are as an ecommerce business extends beyond your website and should include how you take ownership of your whole discoverable presence. I’m not just talking making sure you’ve claimed and utilized social media profiles but am speaking more about claiming and maintaining your Google Business Profile, and if applicable your knowledge panel.

• Biggest mistakes - What are ecomm brands usually doing wrong with SEO?

  • 1 mistake: Launching without consulting with a competent SEO or developer with proven SEO chops. It’s easier to let the cat out of the bag than to put it back in the bag.

• Who’s getting it right? Scott is a huge fan of REI. Unlike many ecommerce sites, they have a strong brick and mortar presence which contributes significantly to their success. But strictly looking at their ecommerce approach they have put in the work to understand keyword strategy and how people search for product categories, products, and how-to guides.

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In this podcast episode, Kiri delves into the unique aspects of Walmart's marketplace and why simply copying and pasting content from Amazon won't yield meaningful results.

She explores Walmart's Listing Content score and its impact on visibility, sales, and conversion. Learn why increasing the quality score from 70% to 90% can lead to a 13% increase in conversion and how to optimize your listing content for maximum success on Walmart. Kiri also discusses the differences in the content breakdown between Walmart and Amazon, along with the recent changes implemented by Walmart.

Tune in as we unravel the intricacies of the Walmart algorithm and why it's worth considering Walmart.com as a channel for ecommerce growth. Whether you’re a brand looking to expand your online presence or a seller seeking a comprehensive understanding of the Walmart marketplace, this episode is packed with valuable insights to help you achieve your goals. So sit back, relax, and let's dive into the fascinating world of Walmart and its unique approach to ecommerce.

In today’s episode, Kiri talks about:

• Walmart vs. Amazon - the importance of understanding the differences for ecommerce growth
• Walmart's Listing Content Score and Quality Score
• Walmart's Content Optimization and Algorithm
• Optimizing Content and Ad Strategy
• Walmart's Attractiveness for Ecommerce Growth
• Video Content on Walmart.com
• Importance of Establishing a Presence on Amazon
• Walmart's Third-Party Marketplace and Attribution
• Content Quality Score and its Components
• Obtaining Product Reviews
• Impact of Quality Score on Conversion Rate and Sales
• Importance of a High-Quality Score on Walmart
• Tips for Optimizing Content on Walmart

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 Kiri shares lessons from past Q4's, as well as lessons learned from 2023's summertime Prime Day so that consumer brands can be best prepared for the peak selling season.

Discussed in this episode: * Prime Day learnings - any level of Prime Day activity, no matter the promotion, led to a higher uptick in sales than not doing any promotions at all. * Simplicity was in favor. Coupons were the top-used promotion among Acadia clients, Clients using coupons saw a 322% increase in daily sales compared to the daily average in the two-week lead-up to Prime Day. Clients offering anything between 5% and 75% off. * Prime-exclusive discounts (PEDs) were the second most popular promotion. * The flashier deals, like lightning deals and spotlight deals, are smart bets – for the brands that can afford them. These placements cost more and can be trickier to navigate * Have backups for deals that don’t run.Advertising + Top-of-funnel ads that build awareness and consideration need to run early + Switch to performance ads during the event to capture demand + Understand that ad performance will suffer leading up to the event. Some brands say they don’t want to participate in running ads or discounts - beware!

Ad spend rose 338% year on year, reflecting an annual trend in increased CPC of 30%. BUT conversion rose 23.6%, in step with spend.
At the same time, ROAS was up, avoiding erosion thanks to higher overall prices and better conversion rates that offset higher costs.
Consider that if your competitors are leaning into tentpole events with ads and promotions, but you are not, their BSR will improve and yours will fall behind. Are you willing to take a long-term hit for a short-term saving? Read our 2023 peak season prep guidelines (with timeline!) here. Read our Prime Day recaps on the Acadia blog.

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In this podcast episode, Kiri speaks with Dean Mcelwee, Director of Global eCommerce Collaboration at The Stanley Black & Decker, and the author of "E-commerce for CEOs.".

In this episode, the discussion centered on the importance of educating and influencing executives about e-commerce. Key tips included understanding executives' perspectives, tailoring communication styles, and emphasizing the benefits for the business. They talked about content's role in influencing buying decisions and the challenge of convincing executives unfamiliar with online shopping.

Strategies for positioning e-commerce opportunities and the potential gains from advocating for e-commerce within a company were explored.

In today’s episode, Kiri and Dean discussed:

• The importance of educating and influencing executives in a company about e-commerce.
• Tips for effectively educating and advocating for e-commerce within an organization, including understanding executives' perspectives, tailoring communication styles, and stressing the benefits for the business and brands.
• The significance of demonstrating the role of content in influencing purchasing decisions, especially for showrooming customers.
• The challenge of convincing executives who may not have much personal experience with online shopping.
• Strategies for positioning e-commerce opportunities within a company, including commercial opportunities, marketing opportunities, and customer engagement.
• Common mistakes made when trying to secure buy-in for e-commerce initiatives, such as not understanding the broader business context and being emotionally unaware.
• The potential gains from taking risks in advocating for e-commerce internally, including refining the message, gaining credibility, and building awareness.
• Dean McElwee’s book, "E-commerce for CEOs," which includes leaders not well-versed in e-commerce and those already in e-commerce looking to influence others.

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In this podcast episode, Kiri speaks with Josh Clarkson, Director of Digital at Russell Stover Chocolate, a part of Lindt. They spoke about e-commerce strategies, marketplace dynamics, career growth, and the significance of adapting to industry changes.

Josh manages aspects such as DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) marketplace, digital content, digital advertising, social media, and retail media. His background includes working in Europe for companies like Lynch UK, Kraft Heinz Ferrero, and Red Bull. His personal interests are flying transatlantic, spending time with his dog Toby, and following the Kansas City Chiefs football team.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In this podcast episode, Kiri speaks with Olivera Bojovic, Manager of Marketplace Strategy & Insights at Acadia. In this episode, they discuss Amazon Vendor Services (AVS) and its value for brands in the e-commerce space.

Kiri and Olivera address the questions and challenges brands face regarding the cost and benefits of AVS. They highlight the complexity of the decision-making process for brands, especially when considering whether to invest in AVS or work with an agency.

Olivera is a Manager of Marketplace Strategy & Insights at Acadia, where on a daily basis she is speaking to brands, learning about challenges and obstacles they’re facing on Amazon and helping them to navigate the crazy Amazon ecosystem. Before joining the Sales Team at Bobsled, Olivera worked as part of the Client Delivery Team, directly supporting clients on Amazon Seller and Vendor Central.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In this podcast episode, Kiri speaks with Jared Belsky, co-founder and CEO of Acadia. In this episode, they discuss Jared’s new book “You Get The Agency You Deserve: 20 Practical and Emotional Lessons to Maximize Your Agency and Partner Relationship” which was published just this week.

Discover the art of fostering successful agency-client relationships, dive into insights from Jared's new book, as they discuss the power of being a great client, effective communication strategies, and the keys to thriving partnerships.

Gain practical advice to enhance your role in the marketing realm. The book is now available on Amazon – don't miss this opportunity to transform your agency collaborations.

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In this episode, Kiri gives a recap of a live learning event with Stratably, a research and insights firm run by Russ Dieringer. This was part of their series of monthly learning labs that are free to attend and meant for an advanced ecom audience.
The topic of the episode is product content and why it is important - though not always easy - to invest in it.
Since this topic is visual, to get to get the most out of it, check out the Swipe File we developed at Acadia - just go to Acadia.io and you'll find it in the Resources tab.

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Chad Crowe, Partner and Head of Operations at Acadia, attended the ANA’s 2023 Digital & Social Marketing Conference last week. In this episode, he shares his takeaways from the event and the big challenges and opportunities on the minds of marketers this year.

Chad’s overall impression was that there was a ton of content and discussion - and vendors! - there to talk about influencer marketing.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

You can also read our recap of the ANA event on the Acadia blog.

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Prime Day might have only just wrapped up, but it's already time for marketers to get ready for the next big Amazon sales event: a fall prime event. Amazon has not confirmed a date for this event yet, or even that it is happening. But as an agency, we’re seeing enough clues to suggest that 2023 will follow 2022 in terms of having a summer Prime event as well as a fall Prime event.

To get our heads in the game, Kiri speaks with several retail media managers at Acadia: Eva Tomic, Emily Ostrander, Robert Benlloch, Juan Munoz, Damiano Ciarrocchi, and Ross Walker to gather some collective wisdom about last year’s Prime Early Access Sale, how it is likely to play out this year, and what advertising strategies they’ll be pursuing with their clients.

The guests emphasize the importance of planning, strategy, and utilizing the right advertising approaches to make the most of major sales events and leverage them to boost brand performance in the e-commerce space, and what to expect from this year’s fall Prime event , which we speculate will be in October.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

You can also read our recap of the July Prime Day event on the Acadia blog.

In today’s episode you’ll hear:

• The guests discuss the importance of preparing for another Prime Day-like event, possibly called "Prime Early Access Sale," before Black Friday and Cyber Monday, likely in October.

• Experts emphasize that brands need to start preparing for this event as early as August to capitalize on it effectively.

• The team shares recaps and insights from the recent summertime Prime Day event, highlighting the significance of the lead-in period and budget allocation for the event's success.
• The fall event is predicted to be stronger than last year, mainly due to increased demand for deals amidst economic conditions and inflation.
• Brands are advised to carefully strategize and optimize their participation in both Prime Day and Black Friday/Cyber Monday events to leverage unique advantages and create synergies for better performance.
• The utilization of DS P (Display Advertising) and PPC (Pay-Per-Click) campaigns are crucial in driving sales during these sales events, with a focus on optimizing different stages of the funnel for better results.
• Brands should be aware of their seasonality and consider their customers' preferences in deciding to participate in such events.
• Prime Day events also provide an opportunity for brands to test pricing tactics, product bundles, and advertising approaches to gather valuable insights and feedback for future strategies.
• Full Prime Day events and early access sales can be used to promote products, gather data, and fine-tune strategies for better performance during peak sales seasons like Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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2023 marked Amazon’s 9th Prime Day event. Every year, the shopping event breaks its last record and this year was no exception.
In this episode, host Kiri Masters breaks down several reasons for the continued winning streak, how Acadia’s clients performed this year, winning strategies, and more.

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In this podcast episode, Kiri speaks with Ben Galvin, former Senior Director, Omnichannel Retail Sales & Category Leadership at Constellation Brands.

Kiri and Ben’s conversation revolves around the changing world of retail, the importance of digital skills and omnichannel strategies for everyone involved in retail, and the structure of ecommerce business within brands.

Ben also shares his journey from traditional sales to mastering digital skills in his role and the crucial role of digital in modern-day retail, and how today’s leaders and doers can influence and educate their own organizations from within.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Prior to Constellation Brands, Ben held National Accounts roles at Anheuser Busch InBev and Founders Brewing Company.

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with Caroline Adams, Sr. Strategic Retail Account Manager at Acadia. In this episode, Kiri and Caroline discuss product launch strategies on Amazon. They also discussed the challenges of product assortment and channel management, as well as the importance of inventory availability and the introduction of tools like the capacity manager in Seller Central and the Born to Run program in Vendor Central.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Caroline is a Senior Strategic Account Manager at Acadia where she manages clients like Totes, Murad, Godiva, and Tommy John to grow and manage their Amazon sales channels.

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with frequent guest Russ Dieringer, founder of retail insights company Stratably. In this episode, Kiri and Russ discuss the mid-year trends and topics in the eCommerce industry.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Russ Dieringer is the founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Each week, Russ creates impactful, practical, and easy-to-digest research that speaks to all layers of an organization, helping them see further around the corner of what’s coming in retail.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri is joined by Jason Del Rey, a veteran business journalist, who presents an engaging exploration of the intense Amazon/Walmart rivalry and Walmart's journey of reinvention over the past decade in his latest book, "Winner Sells All."

With extensive experience covering the e-commerce industry and conducting interviews with brands and suppliers, Jason delves into topics such as the Innovator's Dilemma, the changing dynamics of Walmart+ and Amazon Prime, the challenges of building in-house brands, the impact of digital change instigated by Marc Lore at Walmart, Amazon's struggles in physical retail, and the possibility of Amazon facing antitrust actions.

For those eager to grab the book and follow Jason's work, his latest book, "Winner Sells All.", is now available in bookstores.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s solo episode, Kiri talks about Prime Day and the challenges associated with major shopping events. She shares both entertaining and cautionary tales related to Prime Day, as well as various pitfalls and bloopers that can occur during these events, emphasizing the need to prepare and have backup plans.

Kiri shares stories from different brands' experiences, including issues with inventory management, overspending on ads, and timing of deals. She also discusses the importance of staying in close contact with partners, maintaining open communication, and being prepared to adapt during the event. The episode provides insights, recommendations, and lessons learned from previous Prime Day experiences, emphasizing the need for brands to strategize and make informed decisions to maximize their success during the event.

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In this episode, Kiri shares 5 reasons why she’s bullish on brands scaling their Walmart.com business in 2023.

1. Advertising capabilities: the move to 2nd price auction in 2022 has made Walmart ROAS much more attractive than in the past. Stratably research showing more brands plan to invest more in WM ads as a % of their WM sales in 2023.
2. “Feature sets” (Walmart’s answer to A+ product content) are back.
3. Premium brands are interested in Walmart.com - recognizing that it’s likely a different demographic shopping online than in supercenters. We are seeing more premium/luxury brands at Acadia interested in launching on WM than ever before
4. Less competition than on Amazon (Some caveats here)
5. Brands have figured out where Amazon goes, making the Walmart.com conversation slightly easier. (Lots of caveats here - but we’re moving in the right direction)

Learn more about Acadia’s managed services to support brands on Walmart.com.

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In today’s solo episode, Kiri recaps the trends so far this year and provides a pulse check on the state of retail, media, and marketplaces in 2023.

Kiri talks about non-endemic advertising on Amazon and metrics on the Amazon Demand-Side Platform (DSP), she previews two topics that will be explored in more detail this year, Walmart.com and more.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri talks with a recurring guest, Ross Walker, Sr. Paid Media Manager at Acadia.

Kiri and Ross recapped the trends and themes observed during Prime Day 2022, noting the competitiveness of tentpole events, the strong conversion rate that helped balance ad performance, and the significance of PD and PEAS as the biggest days on Amazon.

They discussed the likelihood of another Prime Early Access Sale event in 2023, and new tools which are available for ads in 2023 such as AMC reports on complementary ASINs and custom audiences based on "add to cart" data.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Ross manages the advertising strategies for many of Bobsled’s large and enterprise brands. Ross has been in e-commerce and digital marketing for over six years, primarily focusing on Amazon for the last 5 years. He is based in Toronto Canada and is a massive data and advertising nerd.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri talks with Logan, Sr. Retail Marketplaces Sales Development Manager at Acadia.

Logan and Kiri discuss the upcoming Prime Day event and share some useful information for brands looking to maximize their success in this year’s event.

Logan shares his insights on trends and results from last year, as well as differences in tools, trends, and Walmart's expected competitiveness this year.

Logan also provides a countdown of things that brands should be doing leading up to the event, including paying close attention to capacity monitors, preparing for system issues with Seller and Vendor Central, sharing deals with external traffic, and having a backup FBM capability in place.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Logan has been in the ecommerce space for 12 years including on the brand side and agency side, working with Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Wayfair, and other marketplaces.

As an Arkansas native, he is a huge WM fan and advocates for brands expanding to Walmart.com.

Logan was previously a retail account manager at Acadia and has recently joined the biz dev team as a senior manager.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri talks with Elizabeth Rivas, eCommerce Marketplace Director at AlgaeCal, a nutritional supplement company based in Canada. 

Kiri and Elizabeth discussed Elizabeth's experience in e-commerce, including her work with Pelican International and Algaecal. Elizabeth shared how she started in e-commerce, and her success on Amazon.

They also discussed the structure and incentives around retail media networks, the retail marketplace and retail media metrics that Elizabeth tracks, and her experience launching brands on the Walmart marketplace.

Make sure you tune in to find out more! 

Elizabeth has worked in the  Amazon ecosystem for 5 years in various categories including outdoor and supplements, scaling them to be top of the category and running 7-8 figure revenue companies in the US and Canada. 

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In today’s podcast, Kasey Kiser, Sr. Consultant of Strategy & Insights at Acadia, is hosting the new episode. She is joined by Rebecca Yi, Head of Influencer Marketing at Acadia.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Rebecca is a marketing expert with over a decade of experience in digital transformation and social marketing strategy, particularly in influencer marketing. She has worked with various consumer-focused brands across industries such as health & wellness, CPG, food & bev, and more. Rebecca joined Acadia to build a modern version of influencer marketing within its unique service model and integrate it into omnichannel brand strategies to drive trackable impact and data-driven insights.

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Kiri speaks with retail industry analyst Andrew Lipsman who is a prolific researcher and thinker on the topic of retail media. Kiri and Andrew discuss the potential of in-store retail media, whether retailers could band together to challenge Amazon’s dominance, work underway to standardize retail media measurement, and more.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Andrew Lipsman is a Principal Analyst at Insider Intelligence, focusing on retail and ecommerce. Recent coverage includes retail media networks, grocery ecommerce, D2C brands, social commerce, mobile retail apps, holiday shopping, and Amazon Prime Day.

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The episode features Kiri's conversation with Brian Walker, Chief Strategy Officer at Bloomreach. Brian is a veteran strategy and marketing leader who focuses on the transformation of digital customer engagement and commerce.

Brian serves as Chief Strategy Officer, leading the Company’s go-to-market strategy. Prior to joining Bloomreach Brian has held a wide variety of roles in the market including leading Global Commerce Strategy at Accenture, Chief Strategy Officer at SAP Hybris, leading commerce technology research at Forrester Research, as well as leadership positions at Amazon & Expedia.

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The episode features Kiri's conversation with Afton Kenyon, Sr Ecomerce Manager at Slate Milk, she started out in a small family-owned honey company as marketing. Since then, she went through multiple different categories and aspects of ecommerce across retail brands, and agency life.

This is a great episode for those who are earlier in their ecommerce career or managing/coaching more junior team members who are interested in progressing in their ecommerce career.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Afton was first on the podcast in 2019 when she was pretty new to the world of Amazon and ecommerce.

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The episode features Kiri's conversation with Caroline Adams, Senior Strategic Account Manager at Acadia, where she manages clients who trust Acadia to grow and manage their Amazon sales channels. They recap the Amazon Maturity Matrix, a research report which was published last year.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Caroline has spent the majority of her career as a product marketer across various industries from consumer product goods to publishing to not-for-profit. As a true proponent of learning, she morphed into the ecommerce world and was trained by an ex-Amazon employee. She joined the Agency side of the business about 4-5 years ago and loves working along clients to help them reach their Amazon goals.

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The episode features Kiri's conversation with Juan Munoz, a PPC Specialist at Acadia, where they discuss the recent changes on Instacart and what to look forward to in the future.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Before joining Acadia, Juan was a Sales Account Manager at Amazon, managing Key Accounts at the European level, focusing on the UK and Spanish marketplaces.

In his free time, Juan enjoys researching new emerging e-commerce markets, and going on hikes with his dog named "Whopper".

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with Dylan Ander, founder of SplitTesting.com, Acadia’s most recent acquisition. They speak about CRO, marketplaces like Walmart and Amazon, and more.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Dylan Ander is a Serial Entrepreneur with deep expertise in all areas of digital marketing, diversifying his experience and businesses in both B2C and B2B companies.

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In this episode, Kiri and Damiano discuss their research, dive deep on two of these new metrics, and what brands can expect from the research launch on March 23. Register for the research here.

Most brands are stuck using basic metrics like ROAS and impressions when it comes to their Amazon DSP campaigns, but these metrics provide a very narrow view of performance. Data within DSP is robust, and brands should be using more sophisticated metrics that are tailored to the stage of the customer purchase journey that they are trying to reach. This will provide a much deeper understanding of their DSP performance.

Kiri Masters, head of retail strategy at Acadia, and Damiano Ciarrocchi, retail media manager at Acadia, have spent the past 3 months researching the components of existing Amazon DSP metrics.

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with Jamie Roller, Associate Director of Growth Channels at Dr. Squatch. They speak about growth through the DTC channel, the channels Dr. Squatch is selling on, Amazon DSP, retail media networks, and more.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Jamie is the Associate Director of Growth Channels at Dr. Squatch, a men's natural personal care brand. In this role, she is responsible for driving strategy, growth, and management of Dr. Squatch's Growth/Marketplace Channels including Amazon and Walmart.com. She has spent the last 10 years in global strategy consulting and working at several market-leading, high-growth eCommerce companies. She is obsessed with everything eCommerce and is also a productivity geek.

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with Paras Shah, director of omnichannel shopper marketing, retail media & consumer promotions at Georgia Pacific. They speak about retail media, how Georgia Pacific adopted RMNs, and more.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Georgia Pacific is a paper company that manufactures household names including Quilted Northern toilet paper, Angel Soft toilet paper, Brawny® paper towels, Sparkle® paper towels, Dixie plates & cups, and Vanity Fair napkins.

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with Zlatana Pejovic, a Senior Account Specialist at Acadia. Zlatana shares her experience of working with Bobsled and now Acadia, her takeaways from working with numerous apparel and footwear brands, reorganizing large catalogs, Amazon, etc.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with Jack Ogilvie, Partner at Acadia, where he coordinates a team that designs service solutions for clients who are looking to make the best use of every marketing dollar - whether that is through SEO, performance media, Amazon and retail media, analytics, or organic social.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Jack has the good fortune to speak with 10+ brands each week about their marketing issues and needs and combined with 16 years in the industry across all functional areas, this allows him to pattern-match quickly and ask some great questions.

Before Acadia, Jack started and built a digital marketing agency Techwood Consulting, which was acquired by Acadia approximately two years ago.

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with Sergio Zuluaga, CEO of Maaji, a Colombian summer lifestyle brand. They speak about how their brand broke into the US market, Amazon, what worked and what didn’t, and more.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Sergio Zuluaga is married to Marcela and father of Emiliana, a 16-month-old girl, and Luciano, a boy who hopefully will arrive in March. He is currently the CEO of Maaji. Sergio has 7 years of experience in the fashion industry, more specifically working in Maaji.

Before that, he worked in finance for 7 years, in departments like risk management and investment banking. He’s very passionate about analytics, technology, sustainability, and how the mix of these elements could transform the industry in the near future.

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In today’s episode, Kiri speaks with frequent guest Russ Dieringer, founder of retail insights company Stratably, about Stratably’s new Amazon Advertising Benchmark Report. 

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Russ Dieringer is the founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands.  Each week, Russ creates impactful, practical, and easy-to-digest research that speaks to all layers of an organization, helping them see further around the corner of what’s coming in retail.

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In today’s podcast, we are speaking with James Thompson, the SVP of Performance and eCommerce for Nutrabolt overseeing digital globally for the C4 Energy, Cellular, and Xtend brands.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

With more than 15 years of experience in digital marketing, a decade on Amazon, and extensive experience leading global D2C businesses, James is driven by improving all individuals on his teams which translates to brand performance. He is an avid surfer having surfed professionally in his early 20’s, free dive spearfisher, a husband, and a father to 2 energetic children.

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In today’s podcast, we are speaking once again with Scott Walldren, the Director of SEO for Acadia.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Scott Walldren is the Director of SEO for Acadia since October 2022. Previously, he spent 8 years developing and eventually heading up the SEO practice at 360i for Dentsu international. In addition to SEO, Scott has managed millions in paid search spend for national brands at Digitas and Razorfish and as a consultant inside and outside of startups. He lives in the far north Atlanta suburbs (close to Lake Lanier) with his wife, 3 kids, and 3 cats.

Incidentally, he has some hands-on experience (albeit about 10 years old) setting up a store, product feeds and running ads on Amazon when he was at Case-Mate.

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In today’s podcast we are speaking with Scott Walldren, the Director of SEO for Acadia.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Scott Walldren is the Director of SEO for Acadia since October 2022. Previously, he spent 8 years developing and eventually heading up the SEO practice at 360i for dentsu international. In addition to SEO, Scott has managed millions in paid search spend for national brands at Digitas and Razorfish and as a consultant inside and outside of startups. He lives in the far north Atlanta suburbs (close to Lake Lanier) with his wife, 3 kids, and 3 cats.

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In today’s podcast, we are continuing our conversation about CDPs with Seth Hirsch, Head of Analytics at Acadia, where he serves as a translator between Acadia’s number-crunching analysts and the clients themselves, explaining client needs to the analysts and data-driven solutions to clients. 

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

With a mind for analyzing, Seth took a number of routes in the data-driven retail universe before winding up as Acadia’s Head of Analytics. It’s a position that calls for easy explanations of complex issues.   

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Seth Hirsch, Head of Analytics at Acadia, where he serves as a translator between Acadia’s number-crunching analysts and the clients themselves, explaining client needs to the analysts and data-driven solutions to clients. 

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

With a mind for analyzing, Seth took a number of routes in the data-driven retail universe before winding up as Acadia’s Head of Analytics. It’s a position that calls for easy explanations of complex issues.   

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Today Kiri speaks with a returning guest, Russ Dieringer - founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Just like last year, Kiri and Russ share their predictions in eCommerce, for 2023.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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Over the past 5 episodes, Kiri has spoken with 6 brand-side ecommerce practitioners about retail media.

As an emerging discipline and marketing channel, people touching retail media want to understand how retail media is organized, managed, and viewed within other organizations.

While new surveys & benchmarks are being published to show the stats, its also extremely useful to sit down and learn how others are doing it.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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Today Kiri speaks with two guests, Matt Krueger, Vice President of Digital (Amazon & DTC), at EastPoint Sports, and Matt Volk, Director of Performance and Analytics for Pure Play at KEEN. They discuss retail media.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Matt Krueger is the Vice President of Digital (Amazon & DTC) at EastPoint Sports. He began his career with pure play sporting goods retailer Eastbay.com under the Footlocker umbrella. He has 10+ years of eCommerce and Marketing experience in the footwear/apparel space with the past 3-5 years focusing on Amazon + Global Marketplaces. With a passion for the digital shelf, organizational transformation, and team structure; Matt has recently moved into the CPG / Hardgoods space to lead the Digital business for EastPoint Sports', a private-equity-backed company and the leader in indoor/outdoor sporting and recreational games.

Matt Volk has spent his career in eCommerce across a variety of marketing and analytics roles, including managing data warehouses, defining paid media, and developing content management strategies. He has worked across pure play retail, DTC, and most recently the omnichannel brand side at KEEN footwear. These experiences have given him a well-rounded view of the commercial market, product lifecycle, and cross-functional requirements for success at retail. In his current role as Director of Performance and Analytics for Pure Play at KEEN, he's driving the continued digital transformation process by optimizing retail media, delivering best-in-class content, and overseeing robust analytics capabilities.

They both worked together for the retail media at KEEN.

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Today Kiri speaks with friend, collaborator, and Sr. Director of Digital Strategy at Nestle Health Science, Ingrid Milman Cordy.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Ingrid has been a thought-leader in the DTC, Digital Marketing and eCommerce space for the past 15 years. Leading Digital Growth at many of the fashion, beauty and CPG brands that you know and love like MAC Cosmetics, elf Beauty, Ann Taylor/LOFT, Pepsi, Nuun Hydration and more. Her passion for connecting the brand, creative and technical development has resulted in award-winning digital experiences and growth that are relentlessly consumer focused to deliver proven results.

Ingrid is also the host of the “human-centric retail podcast” Infinite Shelf, where Kiri made a few guest appearances in Season 2.

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In today's podcast, Kiri speaks with Paulo Cesar Bacarin Filho, eCommerce team leader at the personal care brand Tom’s of Maine, for our “Retail Media Deep Dive” series.

Tom’s of Maine is part of the Colgate-Palmolive umbrella and is a market leader and an “OG” in the natural segment.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Katie Buczek, about Retail Media. Katie Buczek leads the Ecommerce business for Amazon, DTC, and retailer websites at Totes Isotoner.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Katie Buczek is a Senior National Account Manager with Totes Isotoner, the world's leading designer, marketer, and distributor of functional accessories in the rain, cold weather, and footwear categories. Having spent her 20+ year career in the fashion footwear and accessories space, for the last six years she has been immersed in Ecommerce.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Christina Kranz-Kissel, about Retail Media. Christina has 16 years of experience in ecommerce, and shares some of her insights about RMNs, campaigns, budget, planning, and more!

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In this episode, Kiri shares a recap of her presentation on a Forum for Retail Sales Leaders for CPG brands.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Mike Karlsven, about the new report “In It To Win It” which is a collaboration between Bobsled and Analytic Index. The report was launched just last week, and Kiri and Mike discuss the basis of the report, what they found out while doing the research, and more.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with a returning guest, Andrew Lipsman, about the Insider Intelligence report he authored entitled Digital Shelf for CPG brands 2022.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Andrew Lipsman is a Principal Analyst at Insider Intelligence, focusing on retail and ecommerce. His recent coverage includes grocery ecommerce, retail media networks, D2C brands, social commerce, holiday shopping, and Amazon Prime Day.

Previously, Andrew was SVP of Marketing & Insights at comScore. He has been a regular contributor to the Journal of Advertising Research and is frequently quoted by leading news organizations including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Advertising Age.

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Last week, Kiri was announced as an honoree for Ad Age 40 under 40. In this podcast, she shares a few lessons she learned along the way since she founded Bobsled seven and a half years ago. These lessons may be helpful for anyone looking to find their journey in life or career.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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Kiri, Damiano, and Logan are talking about the Amazon Prime Fall Deal Event which is expected to happen in the first half of October. They are talking about Prime Day preparation on the PPC and organic side of things as well.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s podcast, Kiri talks about how Amazon is looking more like a social media platform, how much it’s now dedicated to video content, lifestyle content, and influencer content, and what tools she is recommending to brands to use to their advantage.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri is once again joined by Calvin Lammers, the SVP of eCommerce at TRUFF. They are discussing the DTC model, what it used to be, is this the end of it, and what they see in the future of DTC.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

At TRUFF, the truffle-infused condiment brand, Calvin oversees all digital touch points and platforms for the digitally native brand that has seen rapid online and offline growth since being founded in 2017.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri is once again joined by Paula Ersly, Head of Social Strategy at Acadia. They cover influencer marketing, how to work with influencers, and some of the best tips and tricks for working with influencers.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Paula Ersly has been working in social media strategy for over seven years, with a focus on organic channel management and creative execution that drives engagement. She has worked across a variety of industries, from travel to sexual wellness. She’s based out of Asheville, North Carolina.

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In today’s podcast, Julian Galindo, a Client Project Manager at Bobsled is hosting the new episode. He is joined by Matt Gallagher, a PPC Specialist at Bobsled.

Many brands are trying to get an edge on Amazon and stand out from the competition. To do this, there are all the Amazon programs like Amazon ads, Amazon Posts, and Prime Exclusive discounts. But there is also a vast “gray area” of tactics and tools that some sellers are using to get an advantage. Today we’re going to discuss some of those tactics, and whether we think they are worthwhile pursuing.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Matt worked with various Amazon and ecommerce brands in a wide range of fields including Grocery, Personal Defense, and licensed merchandise. Previous experience in those roles has included PPC, Organic SEO, Operations, Project Management, and implementing other ”gray hat” tactics.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri is joined by Thales Ferreira, Project Manager at Bobsled. They cover Thales’s previous experience with working with managing sourcing products abroad and all the logistics hurdles of bringing them to the US to sell on Amazon.

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Thales Ferreira spent most of his career focusing on project management, and international and domestic logistics (7 years ago) in the pet category (since 2008). Made the transition to Amazon account management 5 years ago.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri and Russ are promoting their upcoming research report “The 4 organizational factors driving Amazon success” in today's podcast. Register for the webinar or download the report next week!

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with John Rossman about his consulting company, his first book, the Amazon principles and so much more!

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

John Rossman is a business strategist, operator and expert on digital transformation, leadership and business reinvention. He has consulted with many great brands including Novartis, Fidelity Investments, Microsoft, Walmart, and Nordstrom. He served as senior innovation advisor at T-Mobile and senior technology advisor to the Gates Foundation. He is the founder of Rossman Partners, a management consulting team helping clients compete and win in the digital era. He is an operator and builder whose love is diving into business problems and customer needs designing solutions and business opportunities. He is a former Amazon executive responsible for launching the Amazon marketplace business in 2002. He has authored three books – The Amazon Way book series and The Digital Leader Newsletter.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with João Couceiro (Kow-Sero) da Costa who is based in Portugal and is a Client Project Manager at Bobsled. Previously at Amazon, he worked in 2 central departments: Global Catalog Operations and Retail Account Management, both focused almost exclusively on the Vendor side of the business, especially Retail Account Management where he had the sole purpose of growing vendor accounts.

This is the second of the 2 part series about the Amazon Vendor Central business model.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with João Couceiro (Kow-Sero) da Costa who is based in Portugal and is a Client Project Manager at Bobsled. Previously at Amazon, he worked in 2 major departments: Global Catalog Operations and Retail Account Management, both focused almost exclusively on the Vendor side of the business, especially Retail Account Management where he had the sole purpose of growing vendor accounts.

Kiri and João cover some of the main questions we get from our clients regarding Vendor Central. This episode will have two parts, make sure to tune in next week, for part 2!

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Paula Ersly, Head of Social Strategy at Acadia, who has been working in social media strategy for over seven years, with a focus on organic channel management and creative execution that drives engagement. She has worked across a variety of industries, from travel to sexual wellness. She’s based out of Asheville, North Carolina, where she enjoys making ASMR hiking content for her personal TikTok.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Celia Van Wickel, Kantar’s eCommerce and digital commerce expert, leading syndicated insights focused on digital commerce trends, including last-mile delivery players and Amazon. Celia and Kiri talk about takeaways from Kantar’s Digital Commerce Conference.

Celia is an insights veteran who has focused on shopper and omnichannel insights in her time with Cars.com, Walmart, Lowe’s, and Mattel.

Prior to Kantar, Celia was with Coca-Cola where she was the eCommerce insights lead, influencing eCommerce, DTC, and digital foodservice strategy. Celia has been quoted in various industry publications such as Grocery Dive and Business Insider and is an active contributor on LinkedIn focused on the latest digital commerce news.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Phillip Jackson and Brian Lange from Future Commerce, a retail media and research brand. Kiri, Philip, and Brian are discussing VISIONS 22, the new extensive audiovisual trends report by Future Commerce.

Phillip Jackson is co-founder of Future Commerce, a retail media and research brand, and heads up Commerce Strategy at Rightpoint, a 2021 Forrester CX Strategy Challenger-rated consultancy.

Brian Lange is the co-founder of Future Commerce and an industry veteran, with over a decade of experience on the agency side of commerce.

Future Commerce is a retail and e-commerce-focused media company with newsletters, podcasts, and research to help brands grow with purpose.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s podcast, Kiri shares the poll results around what brands plans are for Prime Day and projections on this year’s event. Amazon’s Prime Day has been set for July 12 and 13th this year, giving brands a short window to put in place the best advertising strategies to boost sales and support their brands.

Consumer demand will be dampened this year, and the current inflation rate, as well as macroeconomics, will possibly impact the demand on this year’s Prime Day.

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Ross Walker, Senior Advertising Manager at Bobsled, an Acadia Company, joins Kiri Masters on the podcast today to discuss his point of view on seasonal demand for categories and products.

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Chad Crowe, Partner and Head of Operations at Acadia, joins Kiri Masters on the podcast today to recap his takeaways from Google Marketing Live 2022.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri and Ross give their first thoughts about Amazon Marketing Cloud, a new tool, which was introduced by Amazon recently.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Ross Walker is a Senior Advertising Manager at Bobsled, an Acadia Company. Ross has been a long-time contributor to the podcast and has been in the digital marketing industry for 6 years with a focus on Amazon Advertising for the last 5 years.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri gives a quick overview of the current state as well as the new model for media allocation that has been developed at Bobsled - allocating by the stage of the marketing funnel that your brand wants to target. After that, you can hear the Q&A portion of last week’s webinar Kiri hosted with Matteo Bizon, where you can hear many interesting and relevant questions as well as practical answers.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Matteo is a PPC specialist at Bobsled. He became passionate about digital advertising while studying marketing management at university and immediately started experimenting by launching his own website project and helping a friend start an ecommerce business for his clothing brand. After working for an Italian digital marketing agency, he joined Amazon where he learnt Amazon advertising in a client-facing role. Looking for more challenges and knowledge around advertising on Amazon, Matteo joined Bobsled where he had the opportunity to discover more advanced techniques and refine his skills.

Check out the whole Retail Media Allocation webinar replay

Download the research report

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In today’s podcast, Kiri gives a quick overview of the current state as well as the new model for media allocation that has been developed at Bobsled - allocating by the stage of the marketing funnel that your brand wants to target. After that, you can hear the Q&A portion of last week’s webinar Kiri hosted with Matteo Bizon, where you can hear many interesting and relevant questions as well as practical answers.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Matteo is a PPC specialist at Bobsled. He became passionate about digital advertising while studying marketing management at university and immediately started experimenting by launching his own website project and helping a friend start an ecommerce business for his clothing brand. After working for an Italian digital marketing agency, he joined Amazon where he learnt Amazon advertising in a client-facing role. Looking for more challenges and knowledge around advertising on Amazon, Matteo joined Bobsled where he had the opportunity to discover more advanced techniques and refine his skills.

Check out the whole Retail Media Allocation webinar replay

Download the research report

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In today’s podcast, Kiri shares her experiences at the Retail Innovation Conference and Expo she attended in Chicago. She gives a recap of a workshop she did and an overview of the themes from the sessions. One of the sessions was by the marketplace leader of Albertsons and touched on the software that they use called Marketplacer.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Bobsled’s latest research suggests a better way to allocate retail media budget - by funnel stage! Sign up for the report and webinar that will be out on May 19th here.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with John Pak about the balance of aligning best practices on DTC and Amazon while also being channel-specific. We try to unpack where it’s good to align and where to differentiate the two, given that Amazon is fundamentally different to other channels.

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John Pak is a Project Manager at Bobsled, an Acadia company, where he manages the marketplace marketing and operations strategies for some of our consumer brand clients. Earlier in his career John opened his own e-commerce boutique in the novelty apparel category, then became an e-commerce consultant for various local businesses in his hometown of Los Angeles. Since 2015 he has helped companies transition into e-commerce and built their stores on platforms like Shopify and Amazon Seller Central. And in 2021 he joined Bobsled.

Bobsled’s latest research suggests a better way to allocate retail media budget - by funnel stage! Sign up for the report and webinar that will be out on May 19th here.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Matteo Bizon about how to allocate your retail media budget. Retail media is the hot topic of the moment with more and more options available and lots of opportunities to reach shoppers. However, your marketing budget is not growing at the same pace as these opportunities! Which channels are ‘worth it’ and which are a waste of time? Which channels do you fund first?

Bobsled’s latest research suggests a better way to allocate retail media budget - by funnel stage! Go to bobsledmarketing.com, find “resources'' and sign up for the report and webinar that will be out on May 19th.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Matteo is a PPC specialist at Bobsled. He became passionate about digital advertising while studying marketing management at university and immediately started experimenting by launching his own website project and helping a friend start an ecommerce business for his clothing brand. After working for an Italian digital marketing agency, he joined Amazon where he learnt Amazon advertising in a client-facing role. Looking for more challenges and knowledge around advertising on Amazon, Matteo joined Bobsled where he had the opportunity to discover more advanced techniques and refine his skills.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Matteo Bizon about retail media budget allocation and the top 6 mistakes brands make with their allocation. Kiri and Matteo discuss the different possibilities as well as traps brands fall into. Bobsled’s latest research suggests a better way to allocate retail media budget - by funnel stage! Go to bobsledmarketing.com, find “resources” and sign up for the report and webinar that will be out on May 19th.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Matteo is a PPC specialist at Bobsled. He became passionate about digital advertising while studying marketing management at university and immediately started experimenting by launching his own website project and helping a friend start an ecommerce business for his clothing brand. After working for an Italian digital marketing agency, he joined Amazon where he learnt Amazon advertising in a client-facing role. Looking for more challenges and knowledge around advertising on Amazon, Matteo joined Bobsled where he had the opportunity to discover more advanced techniques and refine his skills.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with a returning guest, Andrew Lipsman, about the Insider Intelligence report he authored entitled Retail Media Networks Perception Benchmark 2022. This report was launched in March 2022 and was designed to get an expansive view across retail media networks and ensure different types and categories of them are taken into account. Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Andrew Lipsman is a Principal Analyst at Insider Intelligence, focusing on retail and ecommerce. Recent coverage includes grocery ecommerce, retail media networks, D2C brands, social commerce, holiday shopping, and Amazon Prime Day. Previously, Andrew was SVP of Marketing & Insights at comScore. He has been a regular contributor to the Journal of Advertising Research and is frequently quoted by leading news organizations including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Advertising Age. Andrew is the author of the Insider Intelligence report, Retail Media Networks Perception Benchmark 2022, which launched in March 2022.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with a friend and colleague, Armin Alispahic, about Brand Registry. It’s a program that has been around for a long time but still causes confusion. Find out what this program does and doesn’t do, what the common misconceptions about it are, as well as how to make the most of it, if you’ve got the access.

Make sure you tune in to find out!

Armin is a Team Lead at Bobsled. He's been at the company for almost 6 years. Internally he’s known as Armin.com for his encyclopedic knowledge of Amazon. Over the years, he has gained great experience in working directly with Amazon representatives to support brands in scaling up on Amazon and achieving their goals.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri gives an overview of growth opportunities, often some under-used tactics that can help brands get ahead on Amazon. This is especially important now, when on Amazon there is more competition, ad costs are rising, and many brands are still experiencing supply chain issues. Our main topics are usually centered around how to get the basics on Amazon right and then building on that, but this time Kiri will be discussing something a bit different.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Podcasting is hard to get feedback on! We would love to hear what you think. Which have been your favorite episodes so far? What do you want to hear more about from us? Email Kiri or reach out to her on LinkedIn. Also, it would mean a lot if you wrote a review for EBT on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Julie Liu, a returning guest of the show, about the evolution of shopper marketing. The way we shop has changed over the years. How has that affected the marketing space? How do digital marketing and traditional shopper marketing co-exist? What can the two learn from each other?

Make sure you tune in to find out!

Julie has spent the last 11 years in consumer goods marketing, first with Shiseido working on a clean beauty brand in the APAC region, before making the move over to Grocery 6 years ago. She is currently the National Manager of Commerce Media at Ghirardelli Chocolate Company, responsible for leading the company's retail media and digital shopper marketing strategy across Confections and Baking.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri gives a preview of what’s to come in the next couple of months: interviews with industry experts, important conversations, relevant topics, and exciting new research.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Podcasting is hard to get feedback on! We would love to hear what you think. Which have been your favorite episodes so far? What do you want to hear more about from us? Email Kiri or reach out to her on LinkedIn. Also, it would mean a lot if you wrote a review for EBT on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us.

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In today’s podcast, we are continuing our conversation about Walmart with Russ Dieringer. We are talking about Walmart's place has in the marketplace ecosystem, how brands look at it, what we see them working on as well as what they’ll need to do to continue staying relevant.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Russ Dieringer is the founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Each week, Russ creates impactful, practical, and easy to digest research that speaks to all layers of an organization, helping them see further around the corner of what’s coming in retail.

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In today’s podcast, we are doing something a little bit different: Kiri is replaying a presentation that she and Matteo Bizon, a PPC Specialist at Bobsled Marketing, gave at an event organized by firstmovr, an education company for the e-commerce industry. The focus of the presentation was specifically about Instacart advertising and measuring what really matters.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Matteo Bizon has a background in marketing management, and before joining Bobsled, he worked for Amazon as a PPC specialist for the Italian marketplace. During that time, he learned the foundations of Amazon advertising and improved his ability to communicate with clients by evaluating their business goals and by transforming this information into strategic opportunities. Matteo has brought all his knowledge and skill to Bobsled Marketing where he is a PPC Specialist.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Russ Dieringer, our recurring special guest. Walmart has had ample opportunity to be a meaningful challenger to Amazon, but their marketplace is often not the place that most brands consider investing in after Amazon. Russ and Kiri dive into why that is, what value prop Walmart currently offers, and what it would take for them to win the ecomm marketplace game.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Russ Dieringer is the founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Each week, Russ creates impactful, practical, and easy to digest research that speaks to all layers of an organization, helping them see further around the corner of what’s coming in retail.

Today’s sponsor is Synder.

Synder makes tax season feel like a Friday night because it helps Amazon businesses to close their books correctly, always have a P&L report, balance sheet and inventory tracking on hand. If you run your business on more than one sales channel, Synder is perfect for you to have all of your revenue and expenses data in one ecosystem and set up KPIs that work for your business. You can start Synder with 40% off with the coupon code EASYBOOKS by going to Synder’s website, that’s synder.me/braintrust and submitting your email in the special form. Visit the website to get a discount and also receive an actionable ecommerce checklist on crucial metrics understanding along with the coupon code EASYBOOKS. Manage your data like a Thanos!

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Russ Dieringer, our recurring special guest. Walmart has had ample opportunity to be a meaningful challenger to Amazon, but their marketplace is often not the place that most brands consider investing in after Amazon. Russ and Kiri dive into why that is, what value prop Walmart currently offers, and what it would take for them to win the ecomm marketplace game.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Russ Dieringer is the founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Each week, Russ creates impactful, practical, and easy to digest research that speaks to all layers of an organization, helping them see further around the corner of what’s coming in retail.

Today’s sponsor is Synder.

Synder makes tax season feel like a Friday night because it helps Amazon businesses to close their books correctly, always have a P&L report, balance sheet and inventory tracking on hand. If you run your business on more than one sales channel, Synder is perfect for you to have all of your revenue and expenses data in one ecosystem and set up KPIs that work for your business. You can start Synder with 40% off with the coupon code EASYBOOKS by going to Synder’s website, that’s synder.me/braintrust and submitting your email in the special form. Visit the website to get a discount and also receive an actionable ecommerce checklist on crucial metrics understanding along with the coupon code EASYBOOKS. Manage your data like a Thanos!

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Today’s an exciting day. Bobsled Marketing, the company that I founded 7 years ago, has been acquired by Acadia.

First I want to recognize the turmoil in the world around us. We have team members in Ukraine and in surrounding countries. So while this is great news for our team who are all staying on and are more important than ever, many people in this region are facing trauma in their lives.

So who is Acadia?
Acadia is a next-generation digital agency that provides best-in-class growth services for mid-market brands. Mid-market brands are dealing with complexity and change everyday, and don’t have the resources to oversee half a dozen specialist agencies or consultants. Acadia has brought together an amazing team of paid media, SEO, Analytics, social and development experts so far. And with the addition of Bobsled to the fold, will now also be an industry-leading Amazon and retail marketplace partner.

The most pride I have in building Bobsled over the years has been the amazing, quirky culture that we have built - all fully remote before remote was really a thing. Joining Acadia will lead to amazing opportunities for our team and I couldn’t be prouder to lead our amazing Bobsledders into this next phase. I’m excited about what we’ll be bringing to Acadia too!

I’ll personally be staying on with Acadia to lead retail marketplace strategy. I’ll still be researching, writing, and strategizing about our industry and what that means for our clients at Acadia, so you’ll still see a lot of me around LinkedIn and hopefully at some IRL events this year too.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Mark Greeven about how China is influencing online retail. We discuss the innovations in technology that Chinese companies are using to connect with their customers and boost sales. Learn about the potential of Chinese private equity and venture capital firms entering the FBA aggregator space. Also, national brands are having a hard time competing with Chinese manufacturers who are starting to sell directly to consumers.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Mark Greeven is Professor of Innovation and Strategy at IMD. Drawing on a decade of experience in research, teaching and consulting in China, Mark explores how to organize innovation in a turbulent world. He has been collaborating with innovative Chinese companies and entrepreneurial multinationals to explore novel ways of organizing, accelerating corporate innovation, enabling digital business transformation and designing business ecosystems to thrive on uncertainty. He is a fluent speaker of Chinese. Mark is one of the authors of the book, The Future of Global Retail, which was published in 2021.

Today’s sponsor is Synder.

Synder makes tax season feel like a Friday night because it helps Amazon businesses to close their books correctly, always have a P&L report, balance sheet and inventory tracking on hand. If you run your business on more than one sales channel, Synder is perfect for you to have all of your revenue and expenses data in one ecosystem and set up KPIs that work for your business. You can start Synder with 40% off with the coupon code EASYBOOKS by going to Synder’s website, that’s synder.me/braintrust and submitting your email in the special form. Visit the website to get a discount and also receive an actionable ecommerce checklist on crucial metrics understanding along with the coupon code EASYBOOKS. Manage your data like a Thanos!

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This week on the eCommerce Braintrust podcast we’re looking back at the last 18 months and remembering some of the most incredible conversations we’ve had with people who are experts in their field. The four episodes we are highlighting today are just some of the conversations on topics that are even more relevant today.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Today’s sponsor is Synder.

Synder makes tax season feel like a Friday night because it helps Amazon businesses to close their books correctly, always have a P&L report, balance sheet and inventory tracking on hand. If you run your business on more than one sales channel, Synder is perfect for you to have all of your revenue and expenses data in one ecosystem and set up KPIs that work for your business. You can start Synder with 40% off with the coupon code EASYBOOKS by going to Synder’s website, that’s synder.me/braintrust and submitting your email in the special form. Visit the website to get a discount and also receive an actionable ecommerce checklist on crucial metrics understanding along with the coupon code EASYBOOKS. Manage your data like a Thanos!

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Michelle Grant about NFTs. We discuss the ways in which brands are currently using them as well as potential uses for large and medium-sized brands in the future.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Michelle is a seasoned researcher who helps global organizations build the future of their business. At Salesforce, Michelle is a Senior Manager, Strategy and Insights Retail and Consumer Goods, where she blends data and analysis to create thought-provoking content around the impact of digital transformation in retail and consumer goods.

Today’s sponsor is Synder.

Synder makes tax season feel like a Friday night because it helps Amazon businesses to close their books correctly, always have a P&L report, balance sheet and inventory tracking on hand. If you run your business on more than one sales channel, Synder is perfect for you to have all of your revenue and expenses data in one ecosystem and set up KPIs that work for your business. You can start Synder with 56% off with the coupon code EASYBOOKS by going to Synder’s website, that’s synder.me/braintrust and submitting your email in the special form. Visit the website to get a discount and also receive an actionable ecommerce checklist on crucial metrics understanding along with the coupon code EASYBOOKS. Manage your data like a Thanos!

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Olivera Bojovic about the issues facing brands on Amazon’s Vendor Central platform in 2022. Since late Q1 some brands have been struggling to get support in their day-to-day operations as well with strategy. How did this happen and now what?

Make sure you tune in to find out!

Olivera is a Senior Account Executive at Bobsled Marketing where on a daily basis she is speaking to brands, learning about challenges and obstacles they’re facing on Amazon and helping them to navigate the crazy Amazon ecosystem. Before joining the Sales Team at Bobsled, Olivera worked as part of the Client Delivery Team, directly supporting clients on Amazon Seller and Vendor Central.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Oskar Kaszubski and Chris Perry about their new eBook called SHEARED, Shedding Your Coat of Conformity in the Age of eCommerce. Their goal is to help first movers free their organizations from the herd mentality and accelerate go-to-market change and omnichannel leadership.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Oskar Kaszubski is Chief Growth Officer at firstmovr and a global eCommerce leader with 18 years of experience leading digital transformation for global, mid-size and start-up companies. Prior to co-founding firstmovr, Oskar held various digital transformation leadership roles across Kellogg's, Mondelez, Kimberly-Clark and multiple start-up manufacturers.

Chris Perry is Chief Learning Officer at firstmovr on a mission to help empower first movers — both people and brands — to win in a disruptive marketplace. As a CPG eCommerce practitioner, executive educator and advisor, he has led eCommerce and digital transformation at Reckitt, WellPet and Kellogg’s and was most recently VP of Executive Education at Edge by Ascential.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Caroline Adams about the new research by Bobsled Marketing that is coming out on January 27, called the Amazon Maturity Matrix. What are the really smart and active brands doing to counteract the internal pressures that hold them back in the ecommerce space? How can you create meaningful, long-term change for your company?

Make sure you tune in to find out!

Caroline is a Project Manager at Bobsled Marketing where she manages clients who trust Bobsled to grow and manage their Amazon sales channels. Caroline has spent the majority of her career as a product marketer across various industries from consumer product goods to publishing to not-for-profit. As a true proponent of learning, she morphed into the ecommerce world and was trained by an ex-Amazon employee. She joined the Agency side of the business about five years ago and loves working along clients to help them reach their Amazon goals.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Chelsea Cohen about inventory planning for Amazon. We are discussing inventory management and how brands can improve their current situation, addressing the Shippageddon and its aftermath, and sharing some tools as well as advice that can help you deal with shipping fees.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Chelsea Cohen is an Amazon inventory management expert and the Co-Founder of SoStocked.com, an Amazon inventory management software that is going into the multi-channel space as well as the cash flow and profit optimization space within the next year. Chelsea is also an Amazon seller, speaker and consultant whose regular clients include 7 and 8-figure sellers.

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In today’s podcast, we talked with Russ Dieringer about our ecommerce predictions for the new year. We discuss emerging trends, potential issues, and try our best to figure out what we can all expect in 2022. How will the supply chain problems end? How will aggregators influence the market?

Make sure you tune in to find out!

Russ Dieringer is the founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Each week, Russ creates impactful, practical, and easy to digest research that speaks to all layers of an organization, helping them see further around the corner of what’s coming in retail.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with John Maltman about issues brands have been facing as a result of the shift to online sales channels. John gives his take on the best ways to measure success across retailers and retail media platforms, and explains what he thinks is next in the digital shelf tech.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

John Maltman is the founder and CEO of Digital Shelf Analytics platform e.fundamentals. He has built a successful 30+ year corporate career with blue-chip FMCG (CPG) companies including global giants Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and Asda Walmart, complemented with leadership roles in high growth B2B technology and service businesses, before stepping into the world of start-ups. Frustrated with the industry’s weak reaction to the enormous opportunities of ecommerce, John decided to apply his deep client-side knowledge to help brands win online, telling colleagues: ‘The market needs it, it doesn’t exist, so we’ll create it.’

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Jon MacDonald about his second book, Opting in to Optimization: How Successful Ecommerce Brands Convert More Customers, Increase Profits, and Create Raving Fans. We are discussing the 9 “laws” defined in it as well as how they relate to a brand’s maturity.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Jon MacDonald is founder of The Good, a conversion rate optimization firm that has achieved results for some of the largest online brands including Adobe, Nike, Xerox, The Economist, and more. Author of two books on conversion optimization, he regularly contributes content to publications like Entrepreneur and Inc. He knows how to get website visitors to take action.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Andrew Lipsman about the Amazon Advertising 2021 report recently published by Insider Intelligence. We talk about the changes, trends and strategies in advertising on Amazon as well as how customers and brands react to it.

Make sure you tune in to find out!

Andrew Lipsman is a Principal Analyst at Insider Intelligence, focusing on retail and ecommerce. Recent coverage includes grocery ecommerce, retail media networks, D2C brands, social commerce, holiday shopping, and Amazon Prime Day. Previously, Andrew was SVP of Marketing & Insights at comScore. He has been a regular contributor to the Journal of Advertising Research and is frequently quoted by leading news organizations including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Advertising Age.

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What is standing in your way to success on Amazon? Has your brand reached a level of maturity on Amazon? Which factors reflect Amazon maturity and how does it inform business results? These are just some of the questions that we have been considering over the past few months at Bobsled Marketing while developing a four-minute test that benchmarks your brand’s Amazon potential. We are excited to announce that Bobsled’s Amazon Savviness Scale is now live!

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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In today’s podcast, we talk with Kathy Kimple about the 2021 Omnichannel Retail Index, a study conducted every year that aims to evaluate how retailers and brands from multiple verticals are implementing key digital and omnichannel features as well as to give us insight into the best practices and table stakes. What are the most common features and functions in online retail and which ones should you focus on to boost your conversion rate?

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Kathy Kimple is the Chief Retail Officer of FitForCommerce, a specialty ecommerce and digital consultancy. She has over 30 years of experience in retail with a focus on retailers, brands, and grocery, covering digital strategy and store operations, registry, marketing, tech selection, and organizational design.

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In today’s podcast, we are talking with Rich Zeldes about the different ways brands can advertise, create a following in the digital space and increase conversion. How much should you focus on the tried and true channels? Should you, for example, use SMS, TikTok, Connected TV and podcasts to advertise? What are some of the challenges of these?

Make sure you tune in to find out!

Rich Zeldes is the Founder and CEO of Zeldes Media Advisors and has over 25 years of marketing and media services experience. He is focused on driving profitable growth for emerging health, beauty, food, fashion and cannabis brands across the DTC, Amazon and Retail distribution landscape. He is obsessed with helping to navigate today's evolving media ecosystem by offering executive-level strategy, insights and attention to brand founders and their leadership.

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In today’s podcast, we talk with Russ Dieringer about Amazon FBA aggregators. We discuss their business model, hiring practices, as well as advantages and disadvantages compared to incumbent brands in the digital space as well as brick and mortar stores. We share our opinions about the future of aggregators and accelerators, as well as some predictions about their future.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Russ Dieringer is the founder of Stratably, a company dedicated to elevating the digital IQ of leading consumer brands. Each week, Russ creates impactful, practical, and easy to digest research that speaks to all layers of an organization, helping them see further around the corner of what’s coming in retail.

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This week on the eCommerce Braintrust podcast, Kiri recaps a video she shared on LinkedIn and reads some comments she has received since. She talks about the supply chain disruptions and how they will affect the timing of sales events in the future, two themes conflated from two of her favorite podcasts (linked below).

Ports, warehouses and trucking lines are all backed up with inventory, and there may actually be an excess of inventory in the system due to retailers increasing their orders in a bid to get ahead. Eventually, the logjam will be resolved, but what will happen to the excess inventory?

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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Should you invest your time and capital in Ecommerce Personalization? Find out today on the show - we're chatting with Meyar Sheik, the President and Chief Commerce Officer at Kibo.

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This week on the eCommerce Braintrust podcast, we’re talking about the incumbent and the challengers in ecommerce marketplaces and platforms. Kiri Masters gives a brief history of the changing relationships between Amazon, Walmart, Shopify and others, as well as their changing statuses in the marketplace. She tells the story of CartHook to illustrate her point about challengers, rebels, incumbents and disintermediation. Then, she gives advice on how to find your place in ecommerce and introduces the Bobsled research report entitled How Big Should Your Amazon Channel be?

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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Today we are talking with Chris McCabe about what is new and trending in black hat tactics and different ways that inventive sellers use to take each other down. Because there is a lot of money to be made in ecommerce, it attracts the best and worst operators. There are many types of nefarious tactics that are used and this is something that affects all levels of sellers and brands.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Chris worked for Amazon evaluating seller account performance and enforcing Amazon’s policies. Now he runs ecommerceChris.com where he teaches sellers how to think like Amazon, protect their accounts and appeal listing restrictions and suspensions. He provides expert advice that helps to inform and clarify important decisions around Amazon investments by the sellers and any interested parties.

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In today’s podcast, Kiri gives her take on Jungle Scout’s 2021 State of Amazon Seller report along with her insights into the workings of the small, scrappy brands, and the lessons that can be learned from them.

The scrappy challenger brands are generally at the forefront of the tactics and ideas. Those are worth looking into especially if they are used competitively, if they could be legitimate growth opportunities for larger brands and if they can give some insight into what the future might look like.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

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“7 Critical Challenges for Omnichannel Brands” will be held on October 19, 2021. During the session, Kiri will give an overview of the economic headwinds, supply-chain trends and trends regarding likely issues in 2022.

To sign up go to bobsledmarketing.com/webinars

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

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In today’s podcast, our guest is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of BWG Connect, Aaron Conant. We talked about the macroeconomic and supply-chain headwinds in terms of the US economy and retail spending, as well as new marketplaces and retail media platforms.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

Aaron is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of BWG Connect, a networking and knowledge-sharing group of thousands of brands who collectively grow their digital knowledge base and collaborate on partner selection. Aaron talks to 1,200 brands a year and hosts 250 in-person and virtual events with industry professionals. Prior to this Aaron was Head of eCommerce Sales at Perrigo, where he helped launch their Amazon business as well as D2C and B2B websites. Aaron began his career doing synthetic organic chemistry at Pfizer.

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In today’s podcast, our guest is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of BWG Connect, Aaron Conant. We talked about the ways of connecting in-person and online, as well as the value of conferences and smaller-scale gatherings especially in lieu of Covid restrictions.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

Aaron is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of BWG Connect, a networking and knowledge-sharing group of thousands of brands who collectively grow their digital knowledge base and collaborate on partner selection. Aaron talks to 1,200 brands a year and hosts 250 in-person and virtual events with industry professionals. Prior to this Aaron was Head of eCommerce Sales at Perrigo, where he helped launch their Amazon business as well as D2C and B2B websites. Aaron began his career doing synthetic organic chemistry at Pfizer.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Aaron Conant

Learn more about BWG Connect on LinkedIn

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In today’s podcast, our guest is CPG retail marketing expert Steven Cleere and our theme is the CPG retail industry. We talked about Walmart, the opportunity of growing there, advantages and differences between Walmart and Amazon.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

Steven is a host of Nexxt Level Brand’s Podcasts and he is Co-founder and Managing Partner (Emeritus) of the TMI Group (TradeMarketing Inc.). Steven has worked in the advertising and marketing agency industry for over 30 years. While enjoying a successful career as a guidance owner, he began working with small businesses, as a volunteer, at the agency Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center in San Rafael, Calif. in their Food Business Incubator.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Steven Cleere

Learn more about NexxtLevel Brands Podcast & Community

Check Nexxt Level Brands Podcast

Check NexxtLevel Brands Community

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“Shippageddon” first entered the retail industry lexicon in late 2020, describing a conflation of global supply chain issues that led many brands and retailers to be under-stocked or otherwise unable to fulfill customer demand for purchases last year. A year later, many of those issues have not been resolved, and there are new hazards to deal with. Retail brands are preparing for round two of Shippageddon.

The term Shippageddon was first coined in late 2020 on an episode of the retail podcast The Jason And Scot Show: ”We were talking about the likely e-commerce peak we expected from the holiday, on top of the e-commerce peak we were already seeing due to Covid-19, and we felt like retailers were likely to run into shipping capacity issues,” said the hosts of the show.

And the alarm that retail experts sounded did in fact bear out. Shoppers were indeed met with stock-outs, longer delivery timelines from all carriers, and less overall discounting ahead of the holidays. But the outlook doesn’t look much better for 2021.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Check Mike Beckham’s post on Twitter

The Jason And Scot Show

Read New Data from Q2 Shopping Index

Check a map of Amazon’s air fleet network across the US

USPS 2021 Postage Price Changes

Read Forbes article Amazon Hobbles Merchants’ Prime Day Preparations With Inventory Restrictions

Read rate hikes from the USPS

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This week we are joined by Think Organic company founders, Jerry Tenenberg and Jeff Helfand. Their successful and amazing organic story is something you should definitely hear about and we are proud to say that Think Organic is Bobsled's client. Organic agriculture is a systems approach to production that is working towards environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable production.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Jerry Tenenberg is the founder of Think Organic, a brand that sells organic herbs and spices. He is a real pioneer in organic space, having created one of the first natural food supermarkets in the U.S. in 1977 and having traveled the world to locate and organize organic farming production. Today, Think Organic is a supplier to major food companies, big-box retailers, and having its own brand of Think Organic herbs and spices that are sold on Amazon and elsewhere. Jeff Helfand is also joining us today. Prior to starting up Think Organic with Jerry, Jeff has been in the eCommerce industry since the late 90s. Today, Jeff is the General Manager and Vice President of e-commerce at Think Organic.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Jeff Helfand

Connect with Jerry Tenenberg

Learn more about Think Organic

Check Think Organic on Amazon

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Today we are joined by special guest Dean McElwee, Director of International Ecommerce Strategy, Global Tools and Storage at Stanley Black & Decker Inc.

With 18+ years of experience as a commercial leader, Dean has a remarkable track record of designing and implementing innovative growth strategies that not only drive performance, but also higher engagement, and profit.

In this episode, we are approaching The Future of Retail Media Platforms - a topic that Dean is very passionate about. Tune in today to hear his unique perspective!

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Today we have the pleasure to chat with Caroline Adams, one of the Project Managers here at Bobsled Marketing. Caroline recently contributed to one of Bobsled's most popular white papers - Amazon Vendor Chargebacks, A Guide to Avoiding Unnecessary Charges & Increasing Profit on Amazon, and today she’s sharing with us the most important takeaways from this resource.

Make sure you tune in to find out more! This resource was compiled over the course of the past few years, working with more than one hundred Vendor Central clients.

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In today’s episode, we will talk about different skill sets required in eCommerce and the death of the third-party cookie, and what that means for brands. We will discuss how you can acquire your own first-party data so that you're not reliant on cookies in the future, and attitudinal marketing.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Vinny O'Brien is a multi-channel eCommerce consultant with multi-category experience. Based in Ireland, he is Director of eCommerce in a DTC outdoors brand Crua Outdoors and runs a conference in the South West of Ireland called the eCommerce Summit.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Vinny O’Brien

Find more about Vinny & Co Consulting

Follow Vinny & Co on Twitter

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In today's episode we are talking about growth accountability. Total Growth Accountability is research that Molly and Chris have conducted with the valuable input and feedback from the Digital Shelf Institute’s Executive Forum members. It lays out the barriers that stand in the way of maximum growth for brands and then posits the four shifts that are needed to maximize market share across all channels. Total growth accountability is a set of new practices that allows brands to achieve success in digital commerce.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

Molly has been a pioneer in connecting technology to business growth including the first-ever mobile email solution (NOKIAOne), and one of first 30m + fan Facebook pages in the CPG industry. She has also built the first cross-functional (sales + marketing), cross-segment (confections, pet, food) global demand technology roadmap @ Mars, tripling central funding for these initiatives in just over 3 years. She now leads Salsify's customer, executive and industry communities.

Chris Perry is on a mission to help empower first movers - both people and brands - to win in a disruptive marketplace. He is also the Chief Learning Officer at firstmovr, eCommerce empowerment fueled by Community of Practice. As a CPG eCommerce practitioner, executive educator and advisor, he has led eCommerce at Reckitt Benckiser, WellPet and Kellogg’s and was most recently VP of Executive Education at Edge by Ascential.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Molly Schonthal

Connect with Chris Perry

Learn more about Salsify

Learn more about firstmovr

Download the report Shift to Total Growth Accountability

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Beauty & Personal Care is among six top retail categories on Amazon and that is why today we’re joined by Maya Crothers, who is Founder & CEO of Circcell Skincare.

Her previous professional experience includes working in energy generation and strategy consulting with Bain & Company. She and her husband are personally interested in the work of the Aspen Institute in the area of criminal justice reform. Through her company, Maya has worked with the Nest Foundation to fight the human trafficking of children in the US. Maya recently moved to Aspen from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and she enjoys all the mountains have to offer with her husband and two teenage children.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Maya Crothers

Learn more about Circcell Skincare

Follow Circcell on Facebook

Follow Circcell on Instagram

Read Amazon Explodes Beauty Sales With Exclusive 'Gating' For Brands

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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This week on the eCommerce Braintrust podcast, we’re sharing with you key points from the report of profitability in eCommerce. Digital has gone from a relatively small percentage of a brand's sales to a larger percentage. While profitability might not have been an issue when the eCommerce channel was small, it most certainly is now back under the microscope as that percentage of sales has increased. Kiri Masters interviewed 10 members of the Digital Shelf Executive Forum for this report. These executive-level digital and eCommerce leaders come from large, multinational brands with annual revenues over $250 million. This report will help you define your profitability metrics, gain internal alignment, scale your program, and separate your sales channels.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find more about Digital Shelf Institute

Read Forbes article The Dirty Little Secrets Of Profitability In eCommerce

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

Download report Executive Insights: the Primary Drivers of Ecommerce Profitability Across the Digital Shelf

Find more about Payoneer

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This week we’re back with Mindy Fashaw of Pacvue to discuss more topics around digital retail media. We are digging deeper into retail media channels and how to measure performance according to actual business objectives, and not just the legible metrics.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Mindy Fashaw

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Pacvue

Register for Q2 2021 CPC Report: Amazon PLUS Walmart Performance Data Webinar on 7/21

Listen to episode 195: Retail Media Assessment Criteria With Mindy Fashaw

Keep on track with Pacvue webinars

Find more about Payoneer

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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This week we are joined by Mike Ferone of Full Circle Brands. We will discuss some of the costs/overhead that Amazon places on brands that don’t exist in other channels or are more legible in other channels, like co-op fees, chargebacks, and prep fees. Do you want to know what kind of things your 3PL does or how to identify partners in the marketplace - you’re on the right spot!

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Mike Ferone

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Full Circle Brands

Find more about Payoneer

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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In today’s episode, we are joined by Mindy Fashaw of Pacvue. Mindy spent over 10 years at Amazon in various cross-functional roles, including Finance, Third-Party Account Management, Instock Management, and Vendor Management. We’re going to talk about retail media measurement, how much to spend, and what's a good number? We will find out more about the frameworks that are recommended to brands.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

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This week we are joined by Rick Watson who spent 20 plus years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry. We’re here to discuss what’s next for retail and eCommerce, how to make an eCommerce channel more profitable, and how to choose the right marketplace. We’ll wrap this episode with advertising and a halo effect in retail media along with. our thoughts around Prime Day, which ended just last week.

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Rick Watson

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about RMW Commerce Consulting

Read the article Why Express, Urban Outfitters and J.Crew Now Sell Items From All Over Online [WSJ]

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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We’re back with the most recent news and trends in the Amazon and Marketplace ecosystem! Today we’re talking about last-minute prep for Prime Day, which is for agencies like Bobsled Marketing, one of the busiest times of the year. Want to know more about Prime Day's major points such as inventory, PPC, promotion strategies, and promoting your deals on social media? You’re in the right place!

Make sure you tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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Today we’re joined by Calvin Lammers, a Vice President of eCommerce & Digital at Health-Ade. Calvin and Kiri are talking from the brand perspective about how to make sure your Amazon channel is performing effectively in terms of media spend, allocating investment towards innovation, but also the underlying operational infrastructure required to be successful on Amazon.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

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Today we’re joined by Todd Hassenfelt of Simple Mills to discuss his eCommerce journey. In this conversation, you'll see why Todd talks about managing up internal stakeholder engagement and his continuous learning journey, where he has his finger on the pulse of eCommerce and retail trends, and continually serves up his insights into what current events mean.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Todd Hassenfelt

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Simple Mills

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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This week on the eCommerce Braintrust podcast we’re joined by Jeremy Bodenhamer, best-selling author of “Adapt or Die”. This book is your survival guide to modern warehouse automation, and gives us insight into order fulfillment, not as an afterthought, but as a strategic moat for your company and how you can compete with marketplace giants like Amazon.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Jeremy Bodenhamer

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Jeremy’s work

Learn more about ShipHawk

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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Today we’re sharing some knowledge about the latest book from our guest Brad Stone - “Amazon Unbound”. The book is a story of a hard-hitting CEO who created such a fertile corporate culture that even at massive size, it repeatedly shocked its own bureaucracy to invent exhilarating new products. It's also the story of how a leading technology company became so omnipotent over a course of a single decade.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

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Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Brad Stone

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Learn more about Brad’s work

Learn more about Bloomberg

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Today we’re joined by Christina Vail of Profitero to discuss the most recent report Building a High-Performance eCommerce Organization. We’ll also analyze why there are so many brands saying that they intend to reorganize their internal teams, maturity curve, P&L, and key principles to effectively speak to the C-suite.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Christina Vail

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Profitero

Read Building a High-Performance Internal eCommerce Capability report

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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After a series of Ads episodes, we’re back with the most recent news and trends in the Amazon and Marketplace ecosystem, together with Kiri Masters. Kiri is hosting Doug Stephens, international best-selling author, and futurist. In today’s episode, you will find out more about Doug’s most recent book, Resurrecting Retail, which provides a vision of how COVID-19 will reshape every aspect of consumer life, including retail.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Doug Stephens

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Retail Prophet

Buy Resurrecting Retail

Find more about Payoneer

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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The last episode of our Ads Series with Stefan Jordev is bringing you a very insightful talk with Melissa Burdick, the president of Pacvue. This episode is all about the high adoption of Instacart, as well as new tools, services, and reports within Amazon, and Pacvue.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

Connect with Stefan Jordev

Connect with Melissa Burdick

Read more about the Pacvue & Bobsled Marketing Partnership

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

The Rise Of Instacart

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The ADS SERIES with Stefan Jordev continues! This week we are joined by PPC Manager Brad Kempfer to discuss the new reports available within Amazon: The Search Term Impression Share report, and the Brand Category Benchmark report.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

Brad Kempfer is an ex-Amazonian and a PPC Manager here at Bobsled Marketing. With over 5 and a half years of experience with Amazon Advertising, Brad specializes in programmatic/DSP, campaign management, product/program management and campaign strategy.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Stefan Jordev

Connect with Bradley Kempfer

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

How much should I spend on Amazon PPC?

How to Get the Most Out of Your Amazon Sponsored Ads Efforts: Bobsled's PPC Philosophy

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Today your host will be Stefan Jordev, Director of Marketplace Strategy & Insights at Bobsled Marketing and he is talking with Ross Walker. This will talk about how to get the most out of the Amazon sponsored ads efforts, and Bobsled’s PPC Philosophy.

Ross is team lead with PPC background at Bobsled Marketing. He has been in Bobsled for about two years. His special skill is examining the data on spreadsheets, finding patterns, and setting strategies for advertising. Ross now manages a group of PPC team members and project managers at Bobsled Marketing.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Stefan Jordev

Connect with Ross Walker

Find more about Payoneer

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

How much should I spend on Amazon PPC?

How to Get the Most Out of Your Amazon Sponsored Ads Efforts: Bobsled's PPC Philosophy

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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Today we’re starting out a new AD SERIES on the Ecommerce Braintrust podcast!

And we asked Bobsled’s Director of Marketplace Strategy & Insights and Amazon PPC mastermind Stefan Jordev to guide you through some exciting topics.

Stefan’s first guest is Bobsled’s Sales Executive, Ken Beemer, and this episode is all about Calculating Your Investment in Amazon Growth.

Tune in & keep an eye out for the next episodes in this series!

PLAY THIS EPISODE

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Stefan Jordev

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Find more about Payoneer

How much should I spend on Amazon PPC?

Request A Consultation With Our Amazon Experts

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Today we will share some knowledge about the ever-changing climate that we face in eCommerce and especially on the supply chain side of things. Our guest is Kyle Gustafson from Simpactful and recently he has done a few studies on high-impact areas, including things like trade terms with retailers, sales, organization design, management, and data management.

Kyle Gustafson is a Sr. Consultant at Simpactful, a unique CPG/Retail Consulting Firm built on "been there" industry expertise. Simpactful offers solutions that are proven in areas like Commercial Strategy Revenue Management, eCommerce, Organizational Development, Omni Channel/Seamless Shopping, Shopper, and Consumer Insights. Prior to joining Simpactful, Kyle held executive roles at Amazon Europe, Office Depot, and Staples leading commercial efforts including multi-channel private brands.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Kyle Gustafson

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Simpactful

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I received a question on LinkedIn: “I just finished Instacart for CMOs and ordered Amazon for CMOs. Thanks for the great primer - it was a really helpful framework and I found the various perspectives, challenges, and considerations you shared very helpful to grasp the full landscape of the channel. If you are open to sharing, do you have any other resource recommendations for retail media generally, hands on keyboard execution, and retail media programs from the CPG brand or retailer perspective?”

So today I am going to talk about three stages of getting knowledgeable and staying up to date three stages.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Check out Kiri’s Forbes article

Keeping Your Amazon Team at the Cutting Edge with Michael Erickson

Best eCommerce and retail podcasts

Top eCommerce people to follow on LinkedIn

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Today we will cover some topics we don’t usually talk about so much on this show. And that is Navigating DTC Alongside Marketplaces. One of the biggest growth areas in retail over the last few years has undoubtedly been direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. Our guest today is Richard Chapple from the Growth Foundation. Richard and his team are launching the Growth Foundation in April 2021, so make sure to check their LinkedIn profile.

After 20 years’ in bricks & clicks retail marketing, Richard founded OsbornChapple, a professional services and consulting company with an objective to unlock super-sonic profitable growth for a number of business types. Firstly, large traditional FMCGs, who are being held back by slow traditional retail channels and disrupted by new Direct to Consumer business models on a project/retained basis. OsbornChapple working at VP/C-level with Unilever, The Walt Disney Company, Honda Motor Company, Jamie Oliver, L’Oreal and PepsiCo on local/global projects spanning everything from vision and objectives to strategy and tactics.

The second business that Richard and his team engaged with high potential small eCommerce businesses and models on a sweat equity basis, who they work with on an intensive programs to build best-in-class people and team structure, tools and capabilities which allow the brand to commence their next phase of fast growth.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Richard Chapple

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Learn more about The Growth Foundation

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If you've been tuning in the last few weeks, you would have heard that our conversations were all about Instacart. After series of Instacart episodes, we are back with Amazon news and updates. There have been some significant changes on Amazon and we want to share that with you. And let’s find out how that relates back to brands.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Order book Instacart for CMOs on Amazon

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The relationship between grocery retailers in particular and Instacart had not been discussed much until 2021, and we'll get into some of the recent developments there. In this episode, we're joined by Karen Short from Barclays Investment Bank to discuss her team's research findings of data and insights and how the relationship between Instacart and retailers currently works, and what needs to change for the two sides to have a productive, sustainable relationship.

Karen Short joined Barclays in July 2016 as a Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst following the Food and Staples Retailing industry. Prior to Barclays, she was with Deutsche Bank where she covered the same sector. Karen started her equity research career in 1999 at Lehman Brothers and now has more than 20 years of equity research experience covering the sector.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Karen Short

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Barclays

Sign up for updates about new book Instacart for CMOs

Pre-order Kindle version now on Amazon

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In today’s podcast your host will be well known from our previous episodes Stefan Jordev, Director of Marketplace Strategy and Insights at Bobsled Marketing. He works with account management and advertising teams at Bobsled to create comprehensive strategies for Bobsled’s clients tailored to their goals. With over a decade of experience in performance marketing, Stefan played a key role in building Bobsled’s advertising capabilities on Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart.

Stefan took a part in the Firstmovr growth summit series and he will be sharing insights we are including in our upcoming book Instacart for CMOs throughout it.

Let’s dive in!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Stefan Jordev

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Sign up for updates about new book Instacart for CMOs

Order your Kindle edition

Learn more about Firstmovr growth summit series

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Welcome to the third part about Instacart, the theme we are covering in our book Instacart for CMOs, which is coming out on March 10, 2021. Stefan Jordev is again with us, my colleague from Bobsled Marketing, and co-author of the book Instacart for CMOs. Our agency, Bobsled Marketing offers Instacart Advertising support as a service. If you are interested in cooperation, you can find the link at the bottom of this page.

Brands of all sizes and levels of sophistication seek out the support of an outside agency partner. This includes Fortune 500 companies right down to emerging brands. It can be a question of limited internal capacity or resourcing, or that the company needs to be assured that they are operating with best practices.

Let’s discover together which brands have found working with agencies beneficial and in what cases could you manage advertising internally.

Make sure to tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Stefan Jordev

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Sign up for updates about new book Instacart for CMOs

Order your Kindle edition

The Most Surprising Things We Learned Writing "Instacart for CMOs"

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Last week Stefan Jordev, my colleague from Bobsled Marketing and co-author of the book Instacart for CMOs, and I talked about advertising on Instacart and what type of ad campaigns are available on Instacart, how to choose the most important for your brand and we shared some tips for advertising.

Where does Instacart fit in my company’s P&L? is the second topic in the series we would like to cover before our book Instacart for CMOs is available for readers.

In our book Instacart for CMOS, we dig into performance, advertising, demand generation, leaders, available brands on Instacart, and many other topics. P&L (Profit and Loss) responsibility is one of the most important responsibilities of any executive position. Having P&L responsibility involves monitoring the net income after expenses for a department or entire organization, with direct influence on how company resources are allocated. Instacart is a pretty awkward place in a brand’s P&L. This is the issue we discovered and discussed in our book. Stefan interviewed dozens of e-commerce digital leaders from different brands to understand how these companies are organizing themselves, where does the marketing aspects of Instacart fit on the team and how do they think about P&L.

Make sure to tune in!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Stefan Jordev

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Sign up for updates about new book Instacart for CMOs

Order your Kindle edition

The Most Surprising Things We Learned Writing "Instacart for CMOs"

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Our today’s guest is Stefan Jordev, my colleague from Bobsled Marketing and co-author of the book Instacart for CMOs, which is coming out on March 10, 2021.

Instacart for CMOs offers the first and most comprehensive look into how other CPG brands are operating and maximizing their Instacart sales channel. Dial-in your marketing strategy on Instacart before your competitors wake up to the opportunity.

Stefan Jordev is Director of Marketplace Strategy and Insights at Bobsled Marketing. He has been working in the digital marketing field for a decade. His past job experience includes roles involving Paid Social & Paid Search advertising management. Stefan loves being able to create and review campaigns whose effects are evident days after they have been launched.

Should my brand advertise on Instacart is the first topic in the series we would like to cover before our book is available for readers.

Make sure to tune in!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Stefan Jordev

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Sign up for updates about new book Instacart for CMOs

Order your Kindle edition

Why We Wrote "Instacart for CMOs"?

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Based on Coward and Company predictions we are expecting 11% eCommerce growth in 2021 but where should a brand look for growth in 2021? This is the question I am trying to answer in today’s podcast. In 2020 we had record-breaking growth of 48% and another 11% in 2021 seems like a pretty phenomenal projection. This is a challenge for eCommerce teams and brand marketers to understand where is that growth coming from. How should we be allocating across marketplaces knowing that more marketplaces are coming online? Retail media platforms can be really effective at driving not only sales through that online retail but in-store as well.

Make sure to tune in!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Sign up for updates about the new book Instacart for CMOs

Learn more about Instacart

Find out more about The Full Revenue Impact of Retailer Ad Platforms

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Today I’m speaking with Steven Forte, an intellectual property attorney with Smith & Hopen, P.A. in Tampa, Florida. Steven is both a registered patent attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and is a member of the Florida Bar. He devotes his career exclusively to the practice of intellectual property law, focusing on all aspects of patent, trademark, and copyright law.

An ongoing problem for us on Amazon is direct competitors taking our photographs directly from our product pages, and using them in their own product listings to sell similar products. When bringing the issue to Amazon's attention, the brand was told that they'd have to provide copyright registration or some kind of evidence that they are the owner of the copyright. The same brand has noticed their product images also showing up on other selling platforms. Steven talks about different options available to a brand to protect their copyright and the USPTO registration.

“They have their trademark and patent stuff, they are really shining that but copyright has really been left behind in Amazon, in my opinion.” Steven Forte

Make sure to tune in!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Connect with Kiri Masters

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Connect with Steven Forte

Find out more about Smith & Hopen

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In 2020, Bobsled ran its first pro-bono program. We, along with 2 of our partners, Ad Badger and Lemonlight, decided to support a black-owned enterprise with Amazon account management services and ran a search for a company that we felt would benefit from this initiative and pass these benefits on to their community. We were so pleased to find Lift Your Table in our search and award the pro bono program to them.

Bethany Smith is President and Co-founder of B Team Solutions, an explosive WBENC and NMSDC-certified (woman and minority-owned) manufacturing company located in Palm Desert, CA. The companies’ main product, Lift Your Table® Folding Table Risers, is a product that quickly raises the height of most folding tables from seated height to counter height or higher…with no tools required.

Make sure to tune in to find out more about our collaboration!

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Learn more about Lift Your Table

Connect with Bethany Smith

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Today we are replaying one of the most popular episodes in 2020, about Amazon’s Demand Side Platform. It was published in February, before the pandemic. In this episode Rachel Street and I are diving into what DSP is, who is it suited for, what can you expect of investing in this platform, is it the right fit for your brand, is it going to be like PPC, and how to improve your chances for success and get the best ROI out of DSP.

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Learn more about Amazon DSP

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Rachel Street

Learn more about Kiri's new book

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Today we are replaying one of the most popular episodes in 2020, a conversation that I had with Chris Fryburger. He runs a company called nReach, which helps Amazon marketplace sellers connect with trusted Amazon service providers, in other words, agencies that provide marketplace growth services. We talked about who needs to be on your Amazon team and how to choose the right agency for the best chance of success.

He also discusses some of the biggest mistakes he sees brands making when searching for the right agency, and offers an outlook on Amazon’s future.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Learn more about nReach

Connect with Chris Fryburger on LinkedIn

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Learn more about Kiri's new book

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Today we are replaying one of the most popular episodes in 2020, the episode with Chris McCabe. He is an authority when it comes to Amazon and the way it operates, and he assists people with tricky account issues that require in-depth background knowledge and expertise. In this episode, he explains how he responds to the issues that people experience with their Amazon accounts, and he discusses what brands can do to avoid having these problems.

Chris worked for Amazon for many years before, evaluating seller account performance, and enforcing Amazon's policies. When he left Amazon, he started E-Commerce Chris, where he now teaches sellers to think like Amazon so that they can protect their businesses from competitors and appeal campaign account suspensions.

Tune in today, to find out what Chris has to share.

Find out more about ecommerceChris

Connect with Chris McCabe

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Learn more about Kiri's new book

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In today’s episode, I am sharing my predictions for 2021, as it relates to Amazon, some of the trends that we’ve seen in 2020 that will continue through to next year, and some changes Amazon will make. I’m going to try to make it as relevant as possible for consumer brands.

Make sure to tune in!

Mentioned in this Episode

• Connect with Kiri Masters
• Read Kiri's Forbes article about Amazon Live
• Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

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Today we are sharing a replay of the conversation I had at the Digital Shelf Institute podcast, with Peter Crosby and Rob Gonzales. We are talking about different marketplaces that have been emerging lately, Covid related concerns around fulfillment, upskilling, and insourcing that brands are doing right now as they move into a more digital focus and flexibility vs efficiency.

Make sure to tune in!

Mentioned in this Episode

• Connect with Peter Crosby
• Connect with Rob Gonzalez
• Find out more about Digital Shelf Institute
• Connect with Kiri Masters
• Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

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Today we are joined by Lara Eurdolian, Founder, Editor, Event Host, On-air, Blogger, Marketing Consultant. Lara is the Founder of Pretty Connected and works as an event host, on-air, and marketing consultant in the beauty space. She also works part-time at NewBeauty magazine on special projects. She also has a beauty charity that focuses on bringing awareness of sustainability in the beauty industry and helps keep products in circulation and donated to various shelters. In 2014 she launched an accessories line.

Tune in to learn more about Amazon Live!

Mentioned in this Episode

• Connect with Lara Eurdolian
• Shop Pretty Connected Accessories
• Connect with Kiri Masters
• Read Kiri's Forbes article about Amazon Live
• Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

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Today we are speaking with Michelle Grant, Senior Manager, Strategy and Insights, Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce. She is a seasoned researcher who helps global organizations build the future of their business. At Salesforce, Michelle blends data and analysis to create thought-provoking content that helps companies understand how new technologies will impact the future of their business.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Connect with Michelle Grant
• Find out more about Salesforce
• Connect with Kiri Masters
• Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

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In this episode, we bring you a conversation with Dora Du, CMO at Wynd Technologies. They specialize in air quality sensors, monitors, purification, and overall insights. As CMO, Dora leads the marketing team. She brings her expertise from brand management and data-driven marketing.

Make sure to tune in!

Mentioned in this Episode

• Connect with Dora Du
• Find out more about Wynd
• Learn about Instacart Advertising
• Connect with Kiri Masters
• Learn more about Bobsled Marketing
• Connect with Mark Power
• Learn more about Podean

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This week we are replaying a conversation with Alex Reed, Co-Founder, and CMO at Truman's, the coolest cleaning company on the internet. Alex comes on the show with a different perspective and a product that is not currently sold on Amazon.

Tune in and find out why some brands decide not to sell on Amazon and what are the challenges and opportunities that come with this choice.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Connect with Alex Reed
• Find out more about Truman's
• Learn about Instacart Advertising
• Connect with Kiri Masters
• Learn more about Bobsled Marketing
• Connect with Mark Power
• Learn more about Podean

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In this episode, we talked with John Denny, VP eCommerce & Digital Marketing at CAVU Venture Partners. John is talking about his experiences in advertising, the power of the brand, and how it creates a movement, advertising technology, difficulties brands have to face when they underestimate Amazon as a sales channel.

Tune in and find out more about brand building from John Denny.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Mark Power

Learn more about Podean

Connect with John Denny

Find out more about CAVU Venture Partners

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To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Amazon for CMOs, we are releasing a few of the interviews Mark Power and I did with CMOs and retail executives, exploring some of the themes from the book. In the first episode of the Amazon for CMOs miniseries, we had a conversation with Jim Morgan, head of eCommerce at VitaCoco.

Jim is talking about his journey in Vita Coco, the company’s beginnings on Amazon in 2006, and building foundations for success in eCommerce. He offers his point of view on where does Amazon fits in the organization, and how could we utilize Amazon as a growth channel in the best way.

Tune in today and listen to the interview with Jim Morgan!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Mark Power

Learn more about Podean

Connect with Jim Morgan

Find out more about Vita Coco

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Amazon launched a Climate Pledge Friendly badge a couple of weeks ago, so we are talking today with Brent Lindberg, who is the Founder of Fuseneo, a packaging innovation, development, and prototyping firm with a team of industrial designers, engineers, and graphic designers, that crosses material and process boundaries to unlock solutions that help brands exceed online and on-shelf.

Join us to learn more about Amazon’s special packaging programs!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Brent Lindberg

Learn more about Fuseneo

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In today’s episode, we are joined by Othmane Sghir, CEO & Co-Founder of DataHawk. DataHawk is an Amazon analytics and optimization software that provides tools for Amazon sellers, vendors, and agencies to help increase sales, optimize margins, boost productivity, and gain insights. We are talking about Amazon’s recent evolution from Amazon MWS to Amazon SP-API.

Tune in to learn more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Othmane Sghir

Learn more about DataHawk

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Today we’re talking about the new report from the US House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee that was published last week. We want to share some of the takeaways from Amazon-related content, predictions on what’s going to change, and some industry responses.

The antitrust investigation took 15 months, and a couple of months ago there was a hearing where the CEOs of Amazon, Google, Apple, and Facebook appeared and made their case why they aren’t monopolies.

Make sure to tune in to find out what this means for brands!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Kiri's Article on Forbes

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We are joined today by Bob Land, the Vice President of Consumer Experience for Dorel Juvenile. He has strategic P&L responsibility for Ecommerce Sales (Amazon, Retailer.com, Marketplaces + Direct), Omnichannel Brand Experiences, and their award-winning Consumer Care teams. We are talking a bit about his career, how he started working in eCommerce, Covid-19 and its consequences, and sharing some useful advice on operating multiple channels, building relationships with consumers, and giving predictions about eCommerce.

Tune in to learn more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Bob Land

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Dorel Juvenile

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Today we’re playing a conversation with Michael Erickson, founder of Ad Badger - an Amazon PPC optimization tool. Michael also hosts The Badger’s Den podcast, a great show about Amazon paid search strategies and tactics. But on today’s show, we are talking about how we stay up to date on the newest Amazon marketing strategies.

Tune in, to learn how to keep your Amazon team at the cutting edge!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Michael Erickson

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Ad Badger

Subscribe to PPC Den Podcast

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CPG eCommerce industry icon Sri Rajagopalan and consumer loyalty guru Peter V.S. Bond explore how brands and retailers engage with consumers in-store, online, and everywhere in between. In this episode Sri and PVSB are interviewing Kiri Masters and talking about what’s happening in the world of Amazon and 3p marketplaces, how have things changed during the pandemic, should you focus on Amazon vs DTC if you’re a start-up, what’s the difference between media and paid search advertising on Amazon, and sharing some tips and hacks vs strategic goal setting, and some advice for the Q4.

Tune in to learn more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Sri Rajagopalan

Connect with Peter V.S. Bond

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Subscribe to The CPG Guys podcast

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This week we are joined again by Hendrik Laubscher from Blue Cape Ventures. Last week we talked about cross-border trade, Amazon EU, specifically new marketplaces in Sweeden and Netherlands, and what kind of accretive revenue a brand can expect from launching in international marketplaces. Today we’re gonna be talking about a trend of retailers launching marketplaces (the latest example being Kroger).

Make sure to tune in!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Hendrik Laubscher

Read more on Hendrik's Blog

Find out more about Blue Cape Ventures

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Today I’m speaking with Hendrik Laubscher, the Founder and Chief Analyst of Blue Cape Ventures, a boutique research consultancy that focuses on marketplaces and cross-border eCommerce. With over a decade of experience in eCommerce in emerging and developed markets.

Tune in to discover more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Connect with Hendrik Laubscher

Find out more about Blue Cape Ventures

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This year’s Prime Day will be different than any of the previous five. Without the possibility to restock for Q4, and with many difficulties the coronavirus pandemic has caused, many brands are deciding not to invest in Prime Day this year. Today we are talking about what we know and what we don’t know, strategies we are recommending to our clients, and should you be investing in Prime Day this year.

Tune in to learn more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Kiri's Prime Day article

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In this episode, we are joined by Richard Jones, CMO of the largest independent marketing software company and a co-host of the 'Thinking Caps' - podcast on marketing strategy. Today we are talking about Zero-Party data collection, and how brands are leveraging loyalty programs to build their own data and insights about their customers, without being confined to the limits of the walled gardens of FB, Google, and Amazon.

Tune in to learn more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Richard Jones

Follow Richard on Twitter

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Cheetah Digital

Listen to Thinking Caps podcast

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In this week’s episode, we are joined by Julie Liu, Shopper Marketing Manager at Clif Bar. Julie focuses on driving omnichannel growth at Clif Bar & Company. Currently, she leads the shopper marketing strategy for national retail accounts, including Walmart, Target, and Kroger, after previously managing eCommerce marketing strategies on Amazon.

Tune in to find out what she has to say about omnichannel, Instacart, org structure, and more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Julie Liu

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Clif Bar

Bobsled Marketing's blog on Instacart

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In this week’s episode, we are talking with Amie Hsu about the incredible journey of Wyze Labs, reliance on Amazon as a sales channel, their eCommerce team, and best practices when handling multiple marketplaces.

Tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Amie Hsu

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Wyze Labs

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Lauren Sutehall, a Client Project Manager and a subject matter expert on Amazon Fresh joins us today to share the latest information regarding this fast-growing platform. We are giving you a quick overview of the program, differences between Amazon Fresh and other grocery-focused programs, requirements for brands and for customers, and predictions for future expansion of online grocery platforms.

Tune in to discover more about Amazon Fresh!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Lauren Sutehall

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Amazon Fresh

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Today we are joined by Don Brett, one of the digital thought leaders, who is always sharing his in-depth expertise regarding all things in the eCommerce world. We are talking about the importance of sharing knowledge and insights, how brands are adapting to the eCommerce, undervalued trends, and much more.

Make sure to tune in!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Don Brett

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about NBG Home

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This week on the Ecommerce Braintrust podcast we’re joined by Cale Guthrie Weissman, Editor at Modern Retail. Being surrounded by dozens of brands, retailers and industry solution providers every week, Cale shares a unique perspective about the big events shaping the Ecommerce retail industry.

Tune in today and find out more!

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We bring you today an interesting conversation with Nich Weinheimer, General Manager of Ecommerce at Kenshoo, the digital advertising platform. In this webinar, we are talking about Amazon’s adaptation to the Covid-19 challenges, Prime Day 2020, differences in reactions to the pandemic between large and small brands, opportunities for growth, and other topics.

Tune in for more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Nich Weinheimer

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Kenshoo

Kiri's Forbes article on Start-Up Brands

Kiri's article on Walmart Shopify Deal

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We are closing out today the CPG podcast series with Sri Rajagopalan. He is sharing his insights on how the consumer packaged goods companies should be evolving in this new digital world that we are in. With so much experience within large CPG companies such as Revlon, J&J, PepsiCo, FritoLay, and with a perspective of launching his own start-up brand - Sri has the full picture and advice valuable for anyone in eCommerce.

Make sure to tune in for the last episode in the 4-part series!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Sri Rajagopalan

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Zenfuel

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Today we are joined once again by Sri Rajagopalan for the third part in our four-part series about CPG and Amazon. With so many different retail channels that you can sell through these days, and they all have their marketplace equivalents and ad platforms, a lot of brands are asking the question - where do we tell consumers to buy? 

Tune in to find out expert’s opinions on this topic.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Sri Rajagopalan

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Zenfuel

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We are diving back into conversation with CPG leader Sri Rajagopalan and talking about the dirty secret of eCommerce - is it really less profitable for CPG brands than for other categories?

In this episode, Sri gives us a detailed explanation of why some brands need to reconsider their approach to eCommerce, and why large brands turn to the D2C model.

Make sure to tune in and listen to what Sri has to say about the elephant in the eCommerce room!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Sri Rajagopalan

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Zenfuel

Kiri's Forbes article on CPG Brands

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Over the next 4 weeks on the Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, we’re bringing you a new series with a very special guest. Sri Rajagopalan is an experienced CPG leader, leading the industry in a much needed digital transformation to adapt to the consumer’s changing shopping habits and path to purchase. Sri is also an ex SVP/VP of Ecommerce at Revlon, Johnson & Johnson & PepsiCo.

Make sure to tune in today to find out what Sri has to say about incentives and leading the eCommerce cause within a brand.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Sri Rajagopalan

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Zenfuel

Podcast with Chelsie Arvizu

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In this week’s episode, we’re bringing you an interesting conversation with Chelsie Arvizu who is the Senior Director of Ecommerce at Hint Inc. Chelsie has a really strong Ecommerce background and we were thrilled to get her insights during the eTail West conference in Palm Springs. This episode is all about Hint’s very interesting resourcing structure as well as what’s NOT working in Ecommerce from Chelsie’s perspective. 

Tune in to find out more!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Chelsie Arvizu

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about Hint, Inc.

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This week on the Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, we’re bringing you a sneak preview of the private Office Hours Sessions we offer to our clients here at Bobsled Marketing as well as the paid subscribers of Kiri’s Amazon Weekly News Digest.

And this session was recorded alongside one of our Project Managers, Jordan Ripley who joined us to talk about the most important Amazon predictions on the horizon and where we see the platform heading in the next three months approaching Q3.

Jordan’s Predictions:

• Some brands forced to reallocate more resources to Amazon
• Investment in DTC
• Testing other marketplaces

Kiri’s Predictions:

• Amazon Prime Day will be all about Amazon
• Merchants play role in Amazon logistics diversification
• Knockoffs will be back

We’re sharing a lot of insightful thoughts and ideas about what’s next for sellers and vendors on Amazon in this episode. And as a bonus, you’ll also get a glimpse into the questions we’re getting from our audience. We hope you enjoy it!

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Jordan Ripley

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Sign Up for Kiri’s Curated Content Analysis

Read Bobsled’s Post “COVID-19 Has Changed Amazon - What Happens Next?”

Podcast about the Walmart Marketplace

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In this episode of eCommerce Braintrust, a true industry maven Rick Watson joins us to share a bit about his career background, his take on Amazon and its contenders, their place in the eCommerce world, and much more. 

Tune in to find out what he has to say about Target, Walmart, Shopify, and others. 

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Rick Watson

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Find out more about RMW Commerce Consulting

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In this episode of Ecommerce Braintrust, the CEO and Founder of Podean, Mark Power joins us. With more than 20 years of experience in digital marketing, Mark has some valuable insights to share. Co-author of “Amazon for CMOs” talks about how the Covid-19 affects his life and industry, what challenges brands are facing currently, what can we expect in the days to come, and much more.

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Mark Power

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Podean

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We are diving back into the conversation with CPG change leader e-commerce thought leader Chris Perry. Last week Chris talked about his career so far and practical things holding big companies from succeeding in e-commerce, and today we are carrying on with the conversation and talking about how to best organize e-commerce within a large organization, how to incentivize the performance of e-commerce, and giving advice to future change leaders.

Tune in to find out more!

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Chris Perry

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Leaders of Change

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Today we are joined by Chris Perry, an entertaining and provocative thought leader in ecommerce industry. He is talking about his passion for ecommerce and all the changes that are happening right now.

Make sure to tune in today!

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Chris Perry

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

Learn more about Leaders of Change

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Welcome to another episode of Ecommerce Braintrust! Today we are joined by Stefan Jordev, Advertising Director and a true subject matter expert in Bobsled Marketing. Stefan talks about advertising during the pandemic and different tactics to be used depending on the brand’s goals.

Tune in today to learn more about different advertising strategies and obstacles brands are facing right now.

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Stefan Jordev

Learn more about Bobsled Marketing

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Today we are joined by Jesse Chembars, Client Project Manager from Bobsled Marketing. Jesse talks about big announcements Walmart made since the beginning of this year, differences between Amazon and Walmart, and challenges sellers are facing when entering this growing marketplace. 

Make sure to tune in today and find out more about Walmart and its potential! 

Learn more about Walmart Fulfillment Services

Connect with Kiri Masters

Connect with Jesse Chembars

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Welcome to another episode of Ecommerce Braintrust podcast! Your host, Kiri Masters wanted to take a break from regular schedule and talk with you directly about trends we’re seeing across Amazon and other marketplaces since the COVID-19 pandemic started. 

With Amazon's system changing on a daily basis, it is crucial to stay up to date and quickly adapt to whatever tomorrow brings us.

Tune in today to hear Kiri's recap of some of the trends that are affecting retail industry at the moment.

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Welcome to another episode of Ecommerce Braintrust podcast. Today we are joined by Paul Sonneveld, Amazon marketplace expert.

Paul is a Founder and Managing Director from MerchantSpring, the platform which has been helping online sellers and retailers turn marketplaces into viable sales channels. He is talking about whether Corona virus will be the catalyst for getting more Australian shopping online, specifically on Amazon.

Be sure to tune in today and find out more!

• Connect with Kiri Masters
• Connect with Paul Sonneveld
• Find out more about MerchantSpring

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We're coming to you live today, from the eTail West Conference, in Palm Springs. We're very happy to have Rob Gross, the co-founder, and COO at Fakespot, joining us on the show. Rob is in the business of making things more transparent for online customers. 

Currently, the number of counterfeit products and fake reviews appear to be at their peak, and this has become very challenging for online platforms. In today's episode, Rob discusses the trends he is seeing, and he shares some simple solutions for the multi-faceted problem of bogus reviews.

Tune in, to find out more.

• Connect with Kiri Masters
• Connect with Rob Gross
• Find out more about Fakespot
• Read more about Sentinel
• Learn more about eTail West

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We're coming to you live today from the eTail West Conference in beautiful Palm Springs. Our guest for today's show is Ed Kennedy, from Episerver, and he will be sharing some of his insights about current retail trends.

Ed Kennedy has spent the last 10 years designing and implementing ecommerce platforms for consumer brands, B2B manufacturers and wholesale distributors. As a Senior Director of Commerce at Episerver, Kennedy is responsible for successful adoption of the Episerver platform by customers.

Episerver is a software vendor that runs thousands of e-commerce websites, and powers the experiences for retailers and brands that sell online. This is the fourth year in a row that Episerver has served about four thousand consumers from around the world, by examining their buying trends and behaviors, to understand how online shopping is changing currently.

Episerver polled over 4,000 consumers across five key geographies: the US, UK, Australia, Germany and Sweden. The following trends highlight the direction e-commerce is headed in 2020.

Be sure to tune in today, to hear what Ed has to say about the latest trends in online retail.

Find out more about Episerver

Connect with Ed Kennedy

Connect with Kiri Masters

Learn more about eTail West

Read about Re-Imagining Commerce Survey