Ecommerce is a fast-paced industry, with constant change, new market entrants and incumbents updating their products with new features and fixes.

James & Paul spend a lot of time looking at ecommerce strategy and technology, talking to agencies and technology vendors, so this series is a digest of what they’ve found interesting, what ecommerce teams should be thinking about, as well as highlighting interesting stories and cool tools they come across in their day-to-day work.

In this episode we cover the general, more positive market mood in the ecommerce industry. Inevitably we reference the dominance of Shopify in replatforming projects, the positive outlook for agencies, and the growth of other platforms like BigCommerce and Centra.

We also discuss interesting technology developments, including the launch of Blueprints by Patchworks and the ecommerce design subscription by Grebban. We then cover Amazon Prime Day, drone delivery, and collaborations between non-competitive businesses.

Key takeaways:

1. Shopify continues to dominate the replatforming market, but other platforms like BigCommerce and Centra are also seeing growth.
2. The market mood for agencies is more positive, with an increase in inbound leads and a surge in new projects.
3. Interesting tech developments include the launch of Blueprints by Patchworks and the ecommerce design subscription by Grebban.
4. Amazon Prime Day saw significant growth in mobile sales and a surge in high-ticket item purchases.
5. Drone delivery is gaining traction, with Amazon receiving FAA approval for longer flights and beyond visual line of sight.
6. Collaborations between non-competitive businesses, like Card Factory and Just Eat, are opening up new distribution channels.
7. Shein is suing Temu for selling counterfeit products, which affects brand reputation and drives up costs for brands.
8. Vervaunt's Pulse event in New York is expanding, offering a platform for ecommerce professionals to connect and learn.

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Roshni Patel, Head of Ecommerce at Wild Nutrition, joins the podcast to discuss her background and the evolution of ecommerce at Wild Nutrition.

She shares insights on the company's strategy shift after raising private equity, the importance of building the right teams and expertise in-house, and the challenges and benefits of using third-party apps in their tech stack.

Roshni also talks about the role of consultations in driving customer acquisition and retention, the tactics used to turn first-time customers into subscribers, and the focus on personalisation and CDPs in their future roadmap.

Your takeaways

• Building the right teams and expertise in-house is crucial for the success of an e-commerce business.
• Regularly reviewing the tech stack and evaluating the value delivered by third-party apps is important for growth and efficiency.
• Consultations play a significant role in driving customer acquisition and retention, especially in the supplements industry where customers may need guidance.
• Tactics like quizzes and personalised experiences can be effective in upselling and increasing the subscription basket.
• Reporting on metrics like churn, LTV, repeat purchase rate, and AOV is essential for tracking the success of a subscription-based business.
• Expanding into international markets requires careful consideration of regulatory and compliance factors, as well as market demand and product localisation.
• Future plans include exploring CDPs and personalisation, optimising the quiz experience, and maximising the value of first-party data.

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ABOUT THIS EPISODE:

Ecommerce personalisation tech has progressed rapidly, with a wide range of vendors to choose from. However, personalisation is often reliant upon pushing product recommendations based on prior and current browsing, and purchase behaviour.

But...

Not everyone visiting your website has purchase intent, and those that do will be in different stages of their decision cycle. Continuing to treat everyone as a high intent buyer isn't an optimal customer experience and is likely to be losing you potential customers.

In this podcast we talk about predicting user intent to improve on-site segmentation and conversion. Our guest, David Mannheim, is the founder of Made With Intent, a tool focused on understanding user intent. The conversation covers topics such as the problems with generic pop-ups and blanket discounting, the importance of segmenting customers based on intent, and the integration options for the tool. David's vision for the future is to embed predictive intent in ecommerce and change the perspective of the industry.

Key takeaways:

1. Understanding user intent is crucial for effective on-site segmentation and conversion.

2. Generic pop-ups and blanket discounting are not always the best approach and can be annoying for users.

3. Segmenting customers based on their intent allows for more personalised and targeted communication.

4. Made With Intent integrates with various platforms to provide data insights and improve customer experiences.

5. The future vision is to change how businesses optimise their websites.

Tune in for an interesting and lively debate on user intent.

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