Offcuts

On this episode I’m breaking down the most boring product update of 2024: Shopify’s Winter Editions with Ben Homer Senior Solutions Engineer at Shopify. We touch on Ben’s journey from agency to tech, the pros and cons of RFPs, Black Friday Cyber Monday stats and how Shopify held up over the period, a deep dive on Edition announcements - specifically, customer accounts, checkout, POS, semantic sear...

On this episode I’m chatting with Miranda Shanahan a very excellent brand consultant and we’re discussing whether brands are becoming TV shows? We touch on the evolving landscape of brand marketing, the impact of platforms like TikTok and Instagram on content distribution, the role of brand hosts, how brands can create compelling content on a budget, the significance of targeting niche communities...

On this episode I’m back chatting with my mate, and tech strategy guru, Luke Hodgson - co founder of Commerce Thinking and High Cohesion - and we’re dicussing whether UK brands need to worry about Trump’s tariffs. We touch on what UK brands need to think about in order to assess their exposure to US tariffs, the de minimis rule changes and their impact, why brands should model potential scenarios...

On this episode I’m chatting with Louise Macnab, founder of JERMS - a brand creating A Holistic Approach to Gut Health and we’re discussing why bacteria has a bad reputation? We touch on the mission to make gut health accessible to everyone, cutting through the gut health market which is becoming more and more saturated, why scientific credibility is crucial for building trust in health brands, th...

On this episode I’m chatting with my with Morgan Fowles - CEO at active wear brand Tala - and we’re debating whether customer obsession is overrated. We discuss why customer obsession is not a box ticking exercise, the power of involving customers in the product development process, why understanding the customer profile is both qualitative and quantitative, how creators play a significant role in...

On this episode I’m chatting with my friend and long time collaborator Luke Hodgson, co founder of Commerce Thinking & High Cohesion. This is a new format I’m trialing where Luke and I pick off topics and debate them. I’ll admit I’m taking a lot of reference from Pichfork’s under or over Youtube series and Food 52’s overrated content. For this conversation, we’re debating experiential retail....

On this episode I’m chatting with Rob Abrahams, Founder & CEO at COAT Paints and we’re discussing what it’s like to reimagine a 1,000 year old product. We discuss Rob’s transition from automotive to consumer products, how Coat is aiming to modernise both the front end and back end of the paint industry, why the DTC model is central to Coat's business strategy and certainly NOT dead, how TikTok...

On this episode I’m chatting with James Kearns, Managing Director at Rapanui Clothing. Part of the Teemill group and a brand that focusses on natural and recycled materials. We discuss his journey in retail, transitioning from corporate giants to direct-to-consumer, and the intricacies of migrating to Shopify. specifically, the importance of technical resources during migration, risk management st...

We discuss Holly’s transition into a CEO role whilst acquiring Hera, the inception of their rewear programme, the commercial reality of recycle concepts for D2C brands, the importance of consumer experience when it comes to these programmes, why they decided to build instead of buy a recycle platform, the logistical considerations of rewear and why it can be both a retention and acquisition strate...

We discuss his transition from car salesman and DJ to the world of D2C, why unlearning can be an advantage in a commerce world that is changing so fast, the new D2C playbook built on scaling profitably, the realities and challenges of new international markets and how to win at opinion leader marketing. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ Check...

We discuss the skill set solutions people need, the ideal tech stack evaluation process, what tech companies can do to help their chances during a discovery process, the power of flex in a project, how brands can best prepare for a discovery and why perfection should not be the enemy of good. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ Checkout our spo...

We discuss why post purchases experiences are generally poor, the impact Amazon has had on consumer expectation, what it’s like to build a modern B2B SaaS roadmap, why eCommerce operating systems are important, taking incumbents like Global E and the power of a cool B2B brand. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ Checkout our sponsor, Swap, here...

We discuss why Luna Daily started as an omnichannel brand, the advantages and realities of working with retail partners like Sephora, the playbook for successful retail partner selection, the key ingredients and people one needs to scale a B2B operation, and why why more brands should embrace Amazon. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ Checkout...

We discuss the complex nature of modern B2B and why it’s hard to define, the similarities and differences of B2B strategy circa 2017 and now, Chloe’s top B2B guests on her podcast and what others can learn from them and what’s exciting and what’s scary about B2B in 2024. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ Checkout our sponsor, SparkLayer, here...

We discuss the advantages and challenges of independent retailers, what it’s like to work with distributors, why international expansion is an good B2B strategy - albeit harder than most think, balancing D2C and B2B and why the brand world trumps agency land. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ Checkout our sponsor, SparkLayer, here . Enjoy ✌️

We discuss where the biggest B2B opportunity are (B2B2C or B2C2B), whether modern D2C playbooks are informing modern B2B playbooks, the B2B and broader market opportunities in LATAM - where Jason currently lives, and what market places are winning and losing in 2024.

We discuss the definition and confusion of B2B, the different angles and channels B2B brands are faced with, what B2B2C and B2C2B brands can learn from each other, the emergence of B2B buyer experiences and what it means for B2B buyer personalisation and whether we need to rebrand or democratise the concept of omnichannel. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consu...

We discuss Martin’s journey from McKinsey to Centra, how a technology roadmap is developed and deployed, the impact VC funding has had on the eComm vendor market, the convergence of generative Ai and low code, what low code is doing to the agency landscape, the pros and cons of Headless and whether Centra will or won’t IPO in five years. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket...

We discuss the reasons behind their move away from Magento, their technology decision process, the unique relationship they have with their agency (Limesharp) and how this helped shape a successful replatform, timeline and KPI expectations of the project, the keys to success of managing a project of this scale and why it’s good to think about migration first and growth second. …………. 📧 Your Basket...

We discuss what structured content is and why it’s important, how much airtime Ai should be given when it comes to content, the differences commerce, media and tech companies take when approaching content, what it’s like to work with Morning Brew (one of my big inspirations) and where content and commerce will be in 5 years. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty con...

We discuss why they were early adopters of Magento, the impact of their Paul Smith case study on them and the wider market, how agencies make platform decisions, balancing platform relationships and the big question - will Magento be around in 10 years? …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ Checkout our sponsor, Centra, here Enjoy ✌️

We discuss how they think about Ai internally, whether Ai will power all personalisation, whether brands are actually adopting Ai, what verticals are best suited for Ai, general musing on MACH and Headless and whether we’ll be talking about Ai and MACH in 5 years. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ Checkout our sponsor, Centra, here Enjoy ✌️

We discuss the history of eComm tech from custom to open source to SaaS, the impact automation and commoditisation is having on platforms and service providers, the convergence of commerce and media and how that impacts the market, whether agencies will become more boutique, ShopifyGPT prompt predictions and why Ai WON’T end the agency model …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Ba...

We explore what design-significant brands are, why Headless accelerators are useful from a speed to market perspective, the key to finding harmony between brand and eCommerce metrics, the power of subscription design services, the importance of a CMS in a Headless architecture and why Grebban bet on Centra. …………. 📧 Your Basket Is Empty newsletter here 💻 Your Basket Is Empty consulting here ⚡️ C...

We start by defining the mid-market - a topic with many perspectives, how Headless offers a future-proofed vision, why ‘never having to replatform’ needs more airtime in terms of marketing, the huge advantages of Headless for editorial and brand-led companies, the misconceptions of losing the app market, the pros and cons of inhouse versus outsourced teams, the mechanics of total cost of ownership...