Merchantry: Recent Episodes
PipeCandy - The future of eCommerce and D2C
PipeCandy's Merchantry gives listeners a front-row seat to the latest trends in the eCommerce vertical. Join our host, Ashwin Ramasamy, as he gets the best minds in eCommerce to tell it how it really is.
In Part 2, Episode 9 of Merchantry with Ben Tregoe, CEO & Founder of Bainbridge Growth, learn about the impact of high-interest rates on founders, what the Cost of Capital means to a lender, the difference between bank loans and alternative funding sources, options available to brands looking to raise capital and more.
Cause & effect of high interest when companies borrow funds (0:00)
How does a brand evaluate the options when raising funds? (5:16)
What is the concept of matching? (9:04)
The world of fun - retail & eCommerce (12:02)
De-emphasis on Finance teams, why & how its a detriment (13:00)
Black Friday & Cyber Monday predictions recap (14:10)
Recommended resources & planning for a startup (17:49)
Why is cash flow as important as profit? What questions should brands ask themselves? Supplier terms, repeat business, customer acquisition, ad spend, payback period, calculating LTV - unpack them all in Part 1 of the 9th episode of Merchantry with Ben Tregoe, CEO & Founder of Bainbridge Growth.
In this part we discuss:
Brands are in a tricky cash flow business (4:28)
Why cash flow is as important as profit (7:41)
Why better cash flow management would result in more success for businesses (11:25)
What should a brand plan for in today's environment? (16:28)
Innovative brands & products in the current space & explaining LTV (23:46)
In part 2 of the 8th episode of Merchantry, we discuss:
- Are data and attribution in eCommerce skewed? (2:05)
- Custom development of the data stack? (5:00)
- The perils of retail distribution (7:20)
- Business benefits when you have complete control, farm-to-fork. (8:10)
- The channel with kick-ass ROAS (10:05)
- On raising loans for Amazon ads (13:30)
- Why DTC brands would hesitate to grow their business on Amazon. (15:20)
Our guest for the episode, Russell Saks, is the President and CEO at Campus Protein (a one-stop shop for everything a college student needs in their fitness journey). He is also the Co-Founder of BEAM be amazing, a premium supplements brand. In this 2 part series, he shares his DTC journey for Campus Protein and BEAM, what clicked and what didn't, and how the DTC space has evolved over the years.
In part 1 of the 8th episode of Merchantry, we discuss:
- DTC secrets to survive and thrive (2:10)
- What ROAS is right for your channel? (3:25)
- What $100k could do to your bootstrapped business? (7:10)
- Warehouses - Own? Lease? Outsource to 3PL, altogether? (12:05)
- A big shoutout to SFN. (16:10)
- Buy with Prime - would you buy that? (18:55)
- How about MCF & AWD? (22:50)
- Will Shopify build Subscriptions? (30:05)
Our guest for the episode, Russell Saks, is the President and CEO at Campus Protein (a one-stop shop for everything a college student needs in their fitness journey). He is also the Co-Founder of BEAM be amazing, a premium supplements brand.
In this 2 part series, he shares his DTC journey for Campus Protein and BEAM, what clicked and what didn't and how the DTC space has evolved over the years.
In part 2 of the 7th episode of Merchantry, we discuss:
- Amazon's next move with 'Buy with Prime'
- Amazon's future with store builders and would Subscriptions (Subscribe and Save) be a highlight feature of it
- How on-demand subscriptions are creating a win-win scenario for customers and brands
Rodeo is a personalized subscription platform and playbook that helps CPG subscription brands grow.
They help brands create the best consumer experience on the market. They've been a part of the subscription space for over ten years and can see the writing on the wall - an evolution in the subscription space is imminent, and the only brands that will win in this new subscription economy are consumer-focused brands. Their platform uses on-demand subscriptions, personalized cadence, and smart messaging to bring consumers a bespoke subscription experience.
In part 1 of the 7th episode of Merchantry, we discuss about :
- Ben's journey in CPG and eCommerce space through his various ventures like Rodeo, Carthook and 1-Click Pony
- How 2020-2021 have been pivotal years for eCommerce and Subscription brands
- Causes of growth rate drop for subscription-based companies post-pandemic
- Effects of new customers vs. repeat customers on the overall growth rate and importance of repeat customers
- Challenges brands face to keep up with the subscription model
Rodeo is a personalized subscription platform and playbook that helps CPG subscription brands grow.
They help brands create the best consumer experience on the market. They've been a part of the subscription space for over ten years and can see the writing on the wall - an evolution in the subscription space is imminent, and the only brands that will win in this new subscription economy are consumer-focused brands. Their platform uses on-demand subscriptions, personalized cadence, and smart messaging to bring consumers a bespoke subscription experience.
In part 2 of the 6th episode of Merchantry, we discuss:
-
How has the pandemic affected the opportunities for the regional warehouses
-
How a dynamic network like Cahoot is helping small and medium-sized eCommerce businesses
-
At what point of an eCommerce company's journey should they start working with networks like Cahoot
-
How fulfmilment and warehousing has become an utility for eCommerce and DTC businesses
-
How diverse options provided by companies like Cahoot helps you find the right fit with your fulfilment provider
-
To have or not to have buy with prime?
Cahoot enables e-commerce merchants to win sales by offering affordable nationwide 1-day and 2-day delivery - across all sales channels including Amazon. Cahoot was named as one of the top 10 most innovative logistics companies for 2021 by Fast Company.
Prior to Cahoot, Manish founded and grew the award-winning OMS, Pulse Commerce. He’s been featured in the New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, Digital Commerce 360, Forbes, and more.
In part 1 of the 6th episode of Merchantry, we discuss Cahoot's journey to becoming the world's first peer-to-peer order fulfilment network. We also talk about the presence of an on-demand economy in the warehouse space, how the pandemic brought changes to logistics and warehousing, the Deliverr acquisition by Shopify, and the expectations of same-day shipping from the DTC brands.
Cahoot enables e-commerce merchants to win sales by offering affordable nationwide 1-day and 2-day delivery - across all sales channels including Amazon. Cahoot was named as one of the top 10 most innovative logistics companies for 2021 by Fast Company.
Prior to Cahoot, Manish founded and grew the award-winning OMS, Pulse Commerce. He’s been featured in the New York Times, Entrepreneur Magazine, Digital Commerce 360, Forbes, and more.
In the fifth episode of Merchantry, we take deep dive into the world of headless and composable commerce with Vikaram Saxena, CEO at BetterCommerce.
Vikram has been writing code for over 24 years andis a self-confessed techpreneur. Prior to launching BetterCommerce, he built Enterprise Solutions for one of the world’s largest distributor of hardware and software company operating across 18 countries in Europe, US and Canada. Vikram has built a successful SI company from scratch which now employs over 100 people. In 2016 when Vikram started BetterCommerce it was with a vision to provide enterprise-grade commerce solutions to mid-market retailers and brands. With an API first philosophy and composable approach, this seemed to be achievable and in the past 6 years, BetterCommerce has become an established name within the headless industry supporting retailers across UK to transition from traditional monolithic legacy solutions to headless.
On the fourth edition of Merchantry, we're thrilled to host Jason Murray, co-founder, and CEO of Shipium, a supply chain platform that is upping the ante with customer-centricity. Jason is a 19 year Amazon vet and responsible for much of the infrastructure that makes Amazon Prime and Subscribe & Save what they are today. Join us as we delve into the ever-changing logistics landscape and what one can expect when stepping into the wonderfully chaotic world of atoms.
In the second part of our conversation with Vijay Ramachandran, VP of Marketing Strategy and Planning at Pitney Bowes Commerce Services, we dive deeper into the challenges faced by brands as a result of population dispersion and the quickly changing logistics landscape where consumer expectations are higher than ever before.
In the first part of this special two-part episode with Vijay Ramachandran, VP of Marketing Strategy and Planning at Pitney Bowes Commerce Services, we discuss the inception of Pitney Bowes, the role they played in pandemics a hundred years apart, the increasing population dispersion to middle America, and the challenges faced by brands to satisfy a consumer base that's been replete with choice. Plus a whole lot more!
Leo Strupczewski, Head of Marketing at Repeat, joins us for a candid conversation about the subscription economy and how they're changing the game by being at the right place, at the right time, with the right message.
The inaugural episode of Merchantry kicks off with Kevin William David, Co-founder of CreatorStack — an alternative to traditional digital platforms that helps creators turn their passions into a profitable venture in the cloud. Join Ashwin, as he delves into the creator economy, the ever-changing relationship between brands and creators, and the playbook that one should follow to capitalize on this shift.