Episode Details

Ingrid Milman is back, and she has some really exciting news to share with our audience! Some retailers are opening more stores, and somehow, Brian has never been to a Burlington. Plus- So many legacy brands are overusing terms like "data-driven," and both Glossier and Lively have figured out (in different ways) how to create communities around both their products and their customers! Listen Now!

Show Notes:

Main Takeaways:

• Ingrid Milman is guest hosting this week, and she's got some pretty big news to share: she's joining e.l.f cosmetics as their new Vice President of E-commerce and Customer Experience!

• Isn't everyone pretty much exhausted of the buzzword bingo from legacy brands?

• Glossier and Lively are both really fantastic at building a community around their customers.

• In-store + online traffic can help retailers figure out where to put their stores, how to design their stores, and what to sell in their stores.

Back to Buzzword Bingo For Brands: Utilize Data With Care:

• First thing's first: The entire team at Future Commerce would like to congratulate Ingrid on her new role as the Vice President of E-commerce and Customer Experience at e.l.f Cosmetics!

• Ingrid says that the best part of e.l.f is that it's the perfect mix of value and prestige, and they are expanding their digital presence, especially as they move further into e-commerce.

• Ingrid points out that 2-3 years ago legacy brands were consistently hyper-focused on the term data-driven, focused too much on gathering the information, and not enough time connecting the data points into actionable insights that would be framed around how to introduce the customer to the brand properly.

• Brian points out two Future Commerce episodes that are reflective of this point: episode 96 with Chris Homer CTO of thredUP, and episode 103 with Rachel Swanson from Method + Mode, both of which are centered around the best uses for data.

• thredUP is doing precisely what Ingrid is talking about by building cross-functional teams that take ownership of the data being collected and utilized.

• And of course, Rachel Swanson (from Method + Mode) collected invaluable data for Future Commerce, giving our team real insight into what our listeners wanted from our show.

Community Building Around Customers: Lively and Glossier Win Gold:

• One of the most critical challenges for brands (legacy or D2C) is developing relations with their customers that goes beyond just products, that allows these brands to reach their customers in a positive organic way.

• D2C brands seem to have a leg up on legacy brands when it comes to social media, especially, and they've changed the marketing game.

• Two brands that have done a fantastic job of developing communities around both their products and their customers: Lively and Glossier.

• Lively, who's CEO and Founder Michelle Cordeiro Grant (MCG) Future Commerce had the opportunity to interview at Shoptalk, has built an incredible community around their p