The Watson Weekly: eCommerce Strategy & News

Today on our show: Salesforce to acquire Informatica Social Commerce Panel Reveals Influencer Importance Lowes Launches Its Marketplace Tariff Feud Event with Passport Recap - and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today's episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watsonweekly

In this special CEO spotlight edition of the Watson Weekly, host Rick Watson welcomes Scott Eckert, newly appointed CEO of Mirakl, for an inside look at how his leadership is poised to accelerate Mirakl’s role at the heart of modern commerce. With a distinguished career spanning innovation leadership roles at Dell, Rethink Robotics, and Walmart’s Store No. 8, Scott brings deep experience navigatin...

Today on our show: Rapid Fire Headline Update Shopify Releases Its Summer Editions - and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today's episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watsonweekly

Today’s Watson Weekly is a special edition that is one of a series of three interviews  recorded at Shopware’s Partner Day on April 24th, 2025.  These were recorded in the basement of a German beer hall and restaurant, so I think those interested in the digital commerce complexity of serving manufacturers and distributors should find it a lot of fun. In the final installment of our Shopw...

Today on our show: Amazon Announces New AI Tool to Enhance Product Listings Venture  Capital Dominated by AI Right Now FedEx and Amazon Strike Up a Partnership Klaviyo Reports Q1 2025 Earnings - and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today's episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommer...

Today’s Watson Weekly is a special edition that is one of a series of three interviews recorded at Shopware’s Partner Day on April 24th, 2025.  These were recorded in the basement of a German beer hall and restaurant, so I think those interested in the digital commerce complexity of serving manufacturers and distributors should find it a lot of fun. Rick Watson sits down with Aysnd’s lea...

In this week’s Watson Weekly, we will discuss Fidji Simo is out at Instacart CEO to join OpenAI.  This is a huge feather in Simo’s cap and leaves an opening at Instacart which I predict will be filled by their Chief Product Officer Daniel Danker. Not only did Danker and Simo overlap from their time at Facebook, but Danker was promoted by Simo into his current role as Chief Product Officer.&nb...

Today’s Watson Weekly is a special edition that is one of a series of three interviews recorded at Shopware’s Partner Day on April 24th, 2025.  These were recorded in the basement of a German beer hall and restaurant, so I think those interested in the digital commerce complexity of serving manufacturers and distributors should find it a lot of fun. In this special edition of the Watson...

Today on our show: Amazon Reports Q1 2025 Earnings Walmart Releases an Annual Shareholder Letter UPS Reports Q1 2025 Earnings Kohl’s Fires Its CEO - and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today's episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watsonweekly

In this insightful episode, The Watson Weekly welcomes Alex Yancher (Yon-cher), CEO of Passport, just hours after the U.S. government announced sweeping new global trade tariffs. With $3.3 trillion in cross-border e-commerce at stake, this conversation couldn’t be more timely. Guided by a Thomas L. Friedman-inspired prologue, we dive deep into the new frontier of Cross-Border Trade (CBT) — where d...

Today on our show: Composable Conference in Chicago Shows MACH Progress ChatGPT and Shopify Partnership Teased Shopify Promotes Internally for Chief Design Officer: What's Going On? - and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today's episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watso...

Is Walmart More Exposed to Tariffs Than They Are Admitting? In a recent investor day, Walmart indicated that only one-third of its products are not made in the USA.  Are we sure about that number?  Given the fact that there is no universal definition of made in the USA, I think that number could be a lot higher than the company is letting on.   Learn about this and more in this...

The biggest debate in eCommerce. The business case for replatforming Replatforming can either be trying to use a band-aid on a large wound or it could be like squeezing juice. Vince Santo (The Maze Group) debating Chris Silver (Discoverist AI) on replatforming. Architecture: The headless straw man debate. Headless technology enables brands to move quickly without blockages. Should that cash invest...

In this special episode of The Watson Weekly , we sit down with Dirk Hoerig, co-founder of Commercetools, to explore the company’s journey from Germany to global eCommerce leader. Dirk shares insights on their ideal customer, key pain points they solve, and why their North American market entry succeeded where others failed. We also dive into the launch of commercetools InStore , a groundbreaking...

Is There a Worse Owner For TikTok Than Amazon? Look, I am going to bottom line it for you guys.  I can’t think of a worse owner for Tiktok than logistics company Amazon.  I know there are a lot of chocolate and peanut butter theories of how these two great companies could taste better together, but I think this would be the start of a slow boringification of Tiktok the likes of which. In...

Why is digital commerce still hitting roadblocks in 2025? In this special episode, Bryan House of Elastic Path joins us to unpack the paradox: companies claim to have a clear digital strategy, yet budgets for tech investment remain elusive. We tackle the real barriers—lack of knowledge, outdated mindsets, and the hidden opportunity cost of standing still. From the evolving CFO-CMO dynamic to the r...

Today on our show: Shoptalk Recap - and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today's episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watsonweekly

Is Adobe Hopeless or Will The New Product Teases Get Them Back in the Game? This week on the Watson Weekly podcast, we unpack two new product announcements from Adobe that are expected to launch by June 2025.  One is the Adobe Commerce Optimizer, an eCommerce front-end that can be used with any storefront platform.  This is one that I’m excited to see, particularly for larger merchants....

Is Paypal Running an Affiliate Scam?  That’s What Google’s New Chrome Rules Seem to Be Saying.  Many users don’t realize that Paypal’s Honey Application, the plugin which is supposed to secure you discounts on items.  Instead, it looks to be cutting certain publishers out of affiliate credits that they would otherwise be due. You’ll find this and other stories about Shoptalk, AllBir...

Today on our show: Target 2024 earnings shows company falling behind When will merchants stop treating data as a project? Commercetools layoffs throws into question IPO plans Has Shopify Enterprise turned a corner? - and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today's episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcom...

Today on our show: Is Beyond.com doomed? Klaviyo reports 2024 earnings Klaviyo coming for Salesforce Service Cloud Paypal Investor Day offers problematic vision - and finally, The Investor Minute which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today's episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watsonweekly

Today on our show: Walmart reports fiscal year 2025 earnings Saks stopped paying vendors on time TikTok subscriptions could help creators BigCommerce reports 2024 earnings And finally, The Investor Minute, which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today’s episode is sponsored by Mirakl. https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watsonweekly &nb...

Today on our show: Shopify Q4 2024 earnings: The age of efficiency comes to Shopify It’s not just you - age of efficiency accelerating Amazon Q4 earnings wins the Grammy for free cash flow Amazon ad engine getting hungry: look out Google Shopping And finally, The Investor Minute, which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today’s episode is sponsore...

Today on our show: Trump eliminates the de minimis for China AI won't solve all the problems, but we don't realize it yet UPS Q4 2024 earnings: steering towards margin, away from Amazon AI is not the new SEO. Brands could be in a marketplace without realizing it And finally, The Investor Minute, which contains 5 items this week from the world of venture capital, acquisitions, and IPOs. Today’s epi...

Today on a special edition of our show: Remembering Kent Allen Evolution of Global eCommerce Pioneers in Cross-Border Trade Current Trends and Players Jim Okamura Partner, McMillanDoolittle and co-founder, Global E-Commerce Leaders Forum Jim has over 25 years of consulting experience focused on strategic planning in the retail industry. His work in retail innovation and digital transformation...