AI might be the biggest topic in digital commerce right now, but are retailers focusing on the right challenge?

On the latest episode of The FODcast, Tim sits down with Chris Fletcher, CEO of Visualsoft, to discuss AI, unified retail, platform strategy and what the next phase of commerce could look like.

One theme comes through clearly throughout the conversation: technology is becoming more powerful, but retail is also becoming more complex.

Topics include:

• Why AI is creating new opportunities and new challenges
• The importance of data and technology foundations
• Why unified retail remains unfinished for many brands
• The shift towards simpler, more connected technology ecosystems
• How customer expectations continue to evolve across channels
• Why agility may become one of the biggest competitive advantages in retail

There are also some interesting perspectives on platform strategy, innovation and how retailers should prepare for what's coming next.

A great listen for anyone involved in ecommerce, digital transformation or retail technology.

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#FODcast #DigitalCommerce #RetailTech #Ecommerce #AI #UnifiedRetail #Retail

Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/

What happens when customers discover your brand in one place, research it somewhere else and then buy somewhere completely different?

On the latest episode of The FODcast, Tim sits down with Megan Conahan, EVP at Direct Agents, to explore just how fragmented the commerce journey has become.

Having spent more than 20 years in digital marketing, Megan has seen ecommerce evolve considerably. Today, customers might discover through social, research through AI or Reddit, compare across different platforms and ultimately choose to buy through Amazon, a retailer or directly from the brand.

That creates some big questions for the teams trying to reach them.

Tim and Megan cover a LOT of ground, including:

• Why product discovery is becoming increasingly platform agnostic
• The continued growth of retail media
• Why discovery and purchase don't necessarily happen in the same place
• Whether ROAS is still the right way to measure individual channels
• How AI is becoming another part of product discovery
• Why product information needs to work for humans and AI
• How automation is changing the skills digital teams need
• Why brands may need to break down the silos between Amazon, D2C and other channels

A really interesting conversation about what happens when customer behaviour stops fitting neatly into the channels and structures businesses have traditionally built around it.

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#FODcast #DigitalCommerce #Ecommerce #RetailMedia #CommerceStrategy #DirectAgents

Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/

Are we moving from search… to conversation?

On this episode of The FODcast, Tim sits down with Alex Melen, Co-Founder at SmartSites, one of the world’s largest independently owned digital marketing agencies.

With more than 400 employees and over 15 years of growth behind the business, Alex has spent decades at the forefront of digital marketing and ecommerce, making this a really insightful conversation around where AI, search and digital commerce are heading next.

Alex shares why he believes the next 12 months could bring more transformation than the last 12 years.

We cover a LOT of ground in the chat with Alex, including:

• Why search behaviour is shifting so quickly
• How conversational AI is changing discovery
• What agentic shopping could mean for ecommerce brands
• Why retailers need to think about visibility beyond Google
• How Shopify is positioning itself for this next phase
• What teams need to understand as AI becomes part of the buying journey

A really interesting episode for anyone thinking about where digital commerce, search and AI-enabled shopping could be heading next.

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#FODcast #DigitalCommerce #Ecommerce #AISearch #AgenticCommerce #SmartSites

Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/