Episode Details

Rick Watson and Joe Lynch discuss Amazon's retail strategy. Rick founded RMW Commerce Consulting, a boutique ecommerce consultancy that supports investors and management teams incubating and growing digital businesses online – both direct-to-consumer and B2B.

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the ecommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes. Watson was one of the first employees at ChannelAdvisor, spending 10 years there in various executive capacities and launching many of the company's flagship offerings. He was then recruited to launch the third-party marketplace at BarnesandNoble.com, expanding the company's product catalog by over 1 million items. After the successful marketplace launch, he served as CEO of Merchantry and led the company to a $30M acquisition by Tradeshift. Upon fulfilling the transition obligations of Merchantry to Tradeshift, Watson directed the cross-border product strategy of Pitney Bowes, a $450M business, comprised of Borderfree and the eBay Global Shipping Program. Watson's work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct-to-consumer digital ecommerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

RMW Commerce Consulting supports investors and management teams incubating and growing digital businesses online – both direct-to-consumer and B2B. RMW was founded by Rick Watson after his more than 20 years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the ecommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

• Rick Watson is the Founder and CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, which helps companies accelerate their shift from retail to direct to consumer (ecommerce).
• In the podcast interview, Rick and Joe discuss Amazon's retail strategy including their existing retail stores and their proposed "department" stores.
• Amazon currently has the following retail portfolio:
• Amazon has announced that they are opening a new "department store" which is most likely not the best description for Amazon's new retail model, but the press has been using it as a placeholder.

• Listen Now