Episode Details

In the first episode of Season 2 of Step by Step, Scott Hill, SVP of Product at Brightpearl is on the show to talk about Brightpearl, the technology ecosystem, and how this season of Step by Step is going to teach our audience how to build an eCommerce Tech Stack!

Main Takeaways:

• Scott Hill, the SVP of Product at Brightpearl, joins Phillip and Brian in this episode of Step by Step.
• What are some of the topics that will be covered in this season of Step By Step?
• Brightpearl empowers retailers by automating all of their back-office operations and allowing them to focus on growth rather than problem-solving?
• Where do you start when it comes to building your technology stack?

What is Brightpearl?: A Brief Rundown:

• Brightpearl is a retail operations platform that helps retail brands, retailers, and wholesalers automate all of their back-office operations.
• Essentially, Brightpearl takes over everything after the consumer presses the buy button.
• Once the order has been made, Brightpearl takes care of order management, inventory management, integrated financials, and workflow automation.
• Brightpearl creates excellent efficiencies for its customers do they can focus on growth and not worry about the logistics of operations.

Scott's Story: The Journey So Far:

• Scott has been with Brightpearl for about seven years and is in charge of all product management within the company.
• Some of his responsibilities are taking the product to market, working with customers and partners, and figuring out how to build and what to build.
• His first position at Brightpearl was a very brief stint in technical support, but he moved very quickly to pre-sales (but he was always going after product).
• Before starting at Brightpearl, Scott was academically looking into computer game design and found that product design was mostly game design (but with fewer aliens).

The Reason Behind It All: Why Is Brightpearl Behind this Step By Step Season?:

• Brightpearl is focused on the technology ecosystem and wants to work with and highlight the other technologies that its customers might want to use for all of the activities that Brightpearl doesn't cover.
• Brightpearl has found a common theme in the fact that technology is essential to the success of a business. Still, even the most technologically savvy merchants don't know how to navigate the complex world of the technology market.
• There is so much innovation happening, so how do mid-market merchants navigate through the market?
• It's challenging to run a business today because of just how many technological factors and channels need to be considered when setting up your technology stack.

Goals for the Series: What Can You Expect to Take Away?:

• The hope is that this series will equip people with the knowledge of how to navigate their way through the market.
• This is not a vendor recommendation series but rather an agnostic overview of the experience that likeminded retailers go through when trying to grow their business.
• The series will also be a great starting point for retailers and brands to be able to go off and do their research to find what works for them.
• This series is the first part of Brightpearl's project, which will then lead to the launch of a new study of mid-market merchants in the United States.

High-Level Topics: A Sneak Peek at What's To Come:

• Selecting what to sell and product sourcing can be considered where the story starts as it is choosing the right product and finding ways to grow efficiently.
• Different seller profiles have different motivations, and finding a way to differentiate amongst