walmart former brand eloquii storefront feature

Walmart and the DTC Brand Unwind

| Mike O'Brien

The curious case of Walmart’s venture into creating a stable of hot startup DTC brands has come to a close, with the 2023 sales of Moosejaw, Bonobos and Eloquii in quick succession. So it’s a fitting time to take a look at the six-year-plus journey that began with the $3.3 billion acquisition of Jet.com. We look back and ruminate with Raj Konanahalli, a partner and managing director with AlixPartners.

MCM CommerceChat podcast

Driving Toward Interoperability for Warehouse Robots

| Mike O'Brien

There has been a steady proliferation of autonomous mobile robot makers. This while demand has grown for AMRs in order fulfillment, as ecommerce booms and labor is tight. But can different warehouse robots play nice together? Two members of a standards group explain how it’s happening in this MCM CommerceChat podcast.

MCM CommerceChat podcast

Uncommon Goods Steps Up Its SMS Marketing Game

| Mike O'Brien

Based in Brooklyn, NY, ecommerce crafts marketplace Uncommon Goods has been tested automated SMS campaigns, including for retargeting. Brian Hashemi, head of marketing and analytics for Uncommon Goods, talks about how the company is testing and learning with its SMS/email mix and working to increase personalization.

MCM CommerceChat podcast

Fake Reviews and Brushing on Amazon

| Mike O'Brien

Amazon has had a problem with “brushing” on its 3P marketplace, where unscrupulous sellers boost star rankings by loading up listings with irrelevant, bogus reviews. What is Amazon doing to counteract this practice? How widespread of a problem? Chris McCabe, a former investigation specialist at Amazon, helps us understand.

MCM CommerceChat podcast

Mobile Apps in 2021: TikTok, Ad Spend and Livestreaming

| Mike O'Brien

Cyber Weekend 2020 presented yet more evidence of the the monster that is mobile commerce: 40% of Black Friday sales were from smartphones, Adobe said. As mobile apps going hand-in-glove with this phenomenon, we talked to Lexi Sydow of App Annie about mobile app trends to follow in 2021, including TikTok and livestreaming.

MCM CommerceChat podcast

Omnichannel in 2021: What to Expect

| Mike O'Brien

Whether we see a reduction of the pandemic in 2021 (hold breath here), the retail landscape has been forever changed and omnichannel is locked in. How will retailers continue to adapt in a very challenging environment? We talked to Dave Cesaro, executive director of client strategy at Valassis, to get his thoughts on what to expect.