Brian Joe

Want to learn how AI is transforming eCommerce and helping merchandisers understand customer needs? Check out the blog from Constructor below 👇 to discover how GenAI can turn vague search terms into valuable insights! https://bit.ly/3WZn04N #ProductExperience #PX #GenAI #Constructor #Akeneo

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How can CIOs tackle their disorganized data to prepare for AI interactions with customers? Salesforce CIO Juan Perez and Saks CTO Mike Hite discuss how tools like Data Cloud and Agentforce can tap into disparate data sources to personalize every customer touch point. Watch the full video:

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This is a wake-up call to all retailers and brands CEO/CDOs/CMOs, you are going in the WRONG direction. Stop competing with commodity commerce sites like Amazon and Walmart and start innovating. You all “say” the right things at trade shows: “better customer experiences” “personalization” “real connections and brand engagement” Yet your actions are the OPPOSITE You don’t encourage your teams to take any risks or come up with creative ideas. You have teams of paper pushers. Everyone is looking to press a button or implement the newest Acme Company technology (yes, a Roadrunner cartoon reference). You are looking for the latest AI bot to do the trick Newsflash, consumers hate bots…no matter how smart they are You are cutting programs left and right, reducing customer service hours, getting rid of free returns You are being lazy You're playing defense not offense You need to do some real work, some elbow grease type stuff Case in point: When Domino's pledged to get you your pizza in under 30mins – that took effort and it worked. It was all about the customer experience. When Enterprise said “we’ll pick you up” – that wasn’t a push the button effort, it was a program and executed well. When my friends at Sweetwater promise you access to a real musician expert 1:1 to help buy the right products, that was a real effort (and it worked, driving their DTC to $1.7B) The biggest risk is the risk you don’t take. NEED Help? Here’s an example of an idea to inspire creative thinking – it may be a terrible idea but I want to get the point across on how you NEED to be dissecting the customer experience and coming up with creative solutions I call it Pizza Party - that will both drive conversion and reduce returns for apparel brands Hire fit models of varying sizes and body types near you warehouse For every new drop, have them try on the clothes and record their fit feedback Share that feedback on every PDP page Have fun with it, make your fit models ambassadors and show their personalities. 6 fit models $500/a day x 3 days of work = $7,500 1 Producer at $500/day x 3 days - $1,500 8 times a year = $72,000 Web manager to project manage this whole thing - $100,000 For $172K a year An apparel brand doing $50M GMV a year with 30% returns – that’s $15M in lost revenue + probably another $1M in return logistics A 2% drop in returns would recover approx. $1M in revenues Add another 2% conversion lift and that’s another $1M in revenues Net net - $2M gained for $172K spent Sounds like a pretty freaking good ROI to me any my CVR and reduction in returns #s are conservative  Plus you’ll get some amazing content, brand ambassador, etc etc That’s old school innovation stuff You get my point – start innovating.

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Kristi does a great job in the article, "How Albertsons’ Retail Media Business is Incorporating AI, In-Store Tech and More," of listing out some of the challenges of in-store retail media. Notably, the content and creative need to be different—my opinion is it needs to be much closer to OOH creative. Additionally, she highlights the need for standardization and emphasizes the importance of better upper funnel activities. Some great insights from Kristi. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gKqdJh5u

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This company took their 10% return rate down to 1.6%. You can too. Product returns are a big problem for so many businesses. Sometimes it can seem like too complex of a problem to solve. In most cases, however, there is low hanging fruit—showcasing your products with the information your buyers need to make more confident purchase decisions. Akeneo is here to help with exactly that. Be a hero! Reduce returns. It’s good for business and the environment.

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Costco is entering the rapidly expanding world of retail media networks. Costco, the third-largest retailer in the United States, is preparing to launch its own retail media network (RMN) to tap into its extensive loyalty membership program and shopper data. Costco's RMN will allow the company and advertisers to deliver targeted ads to its 74.5 million paid household members based on purchasing behavior. As Mark Williamson, Costco's Assistant Vice-President of retail media, stated, "We will not only help you reach a Costco member, but we will help you reach the right members in the right context based on past behavior." Retail media networks have become one of the fastest-growing ad-supported media channels, with eMarketer estimating global ad spending for RMNs to reach $140 billion in 2024. While Costco's entry into this market is later compared to competitors like Amazon, Walmart, and Target, it presents a significant opportunity for advertisers to reach Costco's loyal customer base. Nich Weinheimer, Executive Vice-President of Strategy at Skai, expressed excitement about Costco's RMN, stating that it "offers a unique advantage: the ability to effectively target buyers through membership retail media networks. Costco's extensive data on purchase behavior is nearly unmatched, allowing ads to target loyal shoppers based on their recent purchases, behaviors, demographics, cart sizes, and more." Although Costco is a latecomer to the RMN market, with Amazon holding a 77% share of U.S. retail media ad spend, Costco's large customer base and first-party data provide a significant opportunity for advertisers in the travel, telecom, and other service sectors to reach new, targeted audiences. As Costco continues to develop its RMN, it must collaborate with data companies to create a programmatic ad-buying platform and manage its shopper data and targeting capabilities. #costco #amazon #retailmedianetwork https://buff.ly/3L5PKDs

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I've completed the Introduction to Composable Commerce certification from Composable.com. I recommend this short course to business leaders who are new to the topic or looking to brush up on the basics. It provides a solid introduction to how efficient and scalable Composable solutions can help retailers evolve their business and seize new opportunities. https://lnkd.in/gm-72HFb

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