Global E-Commerce Leaders forum co-founders Kent Allen, Jim Okamura and Scott Silverman get together and share their observations, insights and action items coming out of the 2020 Oktoberfest online thought leadership event held over three days in October.
Global E-Commerce Leaders forum co-founders Kent Allen, Jim Okamura and Scott Silverman get together and share their observations, insights and action items coming out of the 2020 Oktoberfest online thought leadership event held over three days in October.
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Thanks to Kent, Scott and Jim for their comprehensive top line summary of the three action packed days from the Global E-Commerce Leaders Forum Oktoberfest
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I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co, and you can learn more about the Global E-Commerce Leaders Forum and continue to keep up with the latest on cross-border commerce online at https://www.globalecommerceleadersforum.com/
Until next time, have a safe week!
Michael LeBlanc
Well, gentlemen, this is an auspicious moment, we have all three of the GELF founders on the podcast together. Welcome everyone, Jim Scott, and Canton and Scott, this I think is your first time you've been able to join us for a podcast. So welcome, welcome to a global e commerce tech talks podcast. Thank you,
Scott Silverman
I'm so glad that you unlocked my basement and let me come out and be a part of this.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, you know, it's the least we can do, you know, with the oktoberfests virtual conference days in in the rearview mirror, we thought we'd all get together and start chatting about kind of a, at a high level, how we approach it, just to give the listeners a sense of how we think about the role that continues for GELF, the global e commerce Leaders Forum, in any venue or in any media, and then maybe some insights over the three days, you know, it's action packed three days with just some fantastic content, we had the opportunity to do a couple of prequels, the short interviews with on the podcast, and and so really rounded up a nice and nice set of content. Scott, why don't I kick that off with you. And since you're new to the, to our podcast, and we haven't had the chance to really chit chat about this, what, you know, we were all living in the COVID era where in person events are not possible. And but you were very as you all were, you were very determined to continue to put events on at for a whole bunch of reasons, not the least of which is there's still a tremendous need, if not more need now to have discussions around global e commerce, it just started happening in many other venues. So give me your perspective on that and how you approached together thinking about, about Oktoberfest as an event. But really, you know, the strategy behind how you how you deliver great content,
Scott Silverman
as you're saying it is really unique, important content around cross border and international ecommerce. It's very, in many ways, complicated set of topics when you think about localizing in many different international markets, and then each of the different parts of the customer journey from or the entire ecommerce journey. And it's, you know, whether it's technology, marketing, customer service, social media, and there's a multiplier effect, when you have to look at it that way, when we knew that we weren't going to be able to have our fall in person event in October, it was a real disappointment for for us certainly, and and we were disappointed. And we were hearing disappointment from our community as well. And it was important for us to get together and have an opportunity to deliver some content about what's happening with global e commerce due to COVID. And also what's happening overall, and what do we see happening going into 2021. And so that's why we did three days, because there is so much to talk about right now. And it also because it was a virtual event, I was really excited about the content that we were able to deliver. Part of that is because we had speakers that were accessible, who may not have been able in the past, as you know, our speaker roster are international travelers, it's hard to chase them down. You know, they're on a plane so much so they're not right now unfortunately, but we were able to take advantage of that and have some of our best speakers that have you know, some that were new, and some that have been amazing speakers and contributors have insights and content be a part of this for our October fest and I won't go through all of that I think that'll come up when we recap some of the different sessions but that was some of the thinking that went into how this just how we decided to do this and why we thought it was important.
Michael LeBlanc
Well it's the epitome of the the toast landing butter side up if it falls off the table kind of situation. In another world we'd all prefer to be together and enjoy the networking and and see each other in person but on the other hand, as you say it does avail the opportunity to speak to people who by definition are traveling globally and and may or may not be able to get to where we are and have assembled lots of lots of people so there's you know, there's a few trade offs, but regardless and And I enjoyed that from a variety of content. And I've been to a couple of the physical Gulf episodes or a couple of physical Gulf conferences in the past. So, yeah, I think it was good. It was a good diversity and and, you know, pulling it together is a different beast, Kent as the leader in terms of kind of getting things done, and pulling the strings that pull all these connections together, what's been your experience of pulling this virtual event together? I mean, in one way, virtual events seem easier. But another way, I'm not quite sure that is always the case.
Kent Allen
Yeah, no, I mean, it's a great point, we quite honestly didn't know what we were getting into, we had done a pretty good job of figuring out how to fill an entire day with a lot of half hour sessions. The thing at Guelph is, we had always tried to get the conversation going on stage, and then allow the audience to have the opportunity to come up, introduce themselves to the speakers, and go visit speakers that might have a table or something like that in the in the sponsor area. So we were hoping to continue to keep the conversation going. But of course, we know that the conversation kind of stopped at the end of the session. So you know, Thank you, Michael, for forgiving us as podcasts opportunity to kind of keep the conversations going. And to Scott's point, I think one of the nice things about the virtual access or the the virtual nature of the event was we had we could pull people in from around the world. Now, of course, there was all sorts of fun tech checks, and, you know, how's your Wi Fi at home in Switzerland, or Sweden or wherever folks were coming in from and, you know, ended up having to do some pre recorded things. But, you know, it was great. For instance, Tom Davis kicked off the first day, and it was just a great opportunity to get Tom back, Tom spoke, he's been kind of our lead speaker, since the very beginning of golf, I think he's done it three times. And you know, Tom, whether it was when he was leaving Puma, is with car da, just so so insightful on, you know, his his presentation on unmasking retails future, you know, as global global e commerce takes center stage really kind of echoed a lot of the conversations, we've been having this whole idea that, you know, three to five year plans are collapsing into three to five month plans, you know, 10 years of growth has has kind of happened in the last five months. It's just been crazy. But Tom's always really good at being able to kind of be very provocative. And, and I think he pointed to a trend that we've been seeing for years, which is this idea of, you know, kind of the traditional department store type brands around the world, who are important, retail wholesale partners, are facing even more headwinds than they had been. So we're seeing this big, you know, changing of the guard at the global distribution level. And Tom really set that up nicely. You know, I could spend 2030 minutes talking about, you know, all the different takeaways from Tom's session. But, you know, the bottom line is that digital is now you know, kind of taking center stage, and it's time to react. And one thing we were going back and forth with Tom, and it's something we're looking at now, we're doing some consulting work, you know, how long does this growth go? I think a lot of people thought that, you know, this bump was going to end when everything got back to normal this fall. And here we are seeing it, you know, some surges around the world, we personally are kind of thinking that this, this growth is going to continue well into 2021. So, you know, won't say anything more about that, as far as the rest of the day, you know, had some great speakers we, you know, Michael, you joined us for the Canadian session we had, we had nice wrap up with the digital river folks who I think we've got a podcast that people can kind of tap into and hear a little bit more about that. The second day was was great. Or the second Thursday, I should say, We kicked off with a real All Star lineup, we were shifting focus from North America on day one to Asia Pacific. And whenever you're talking about Asia Pacific, of course, you're talking about China, it was great to have Deborah weinsberg Join us from Coresight research, it was just wonderful to kind of hear what she was seeing. And we had, you know, insights from Nixon and Burton. It was just a great kickoff to the day, that day, you know, included some other great sessions as well. I know, I know, Jim will will touch on a couple of those when I when I kind of hand it off to him next. And then you know, our last day, the third day, which I don't think we've done any podcast teasers for So, you know, when we circle back to me in a little bit, I'll kind of dive into a couple of my favorites. And I know Jim will touch on those as well. But, you know, we really see this this direct to consumer cross border model, which is very popular in the US, merging or immoral, evolving into international marketplaces. So you know, we were really fortunate to kind of dive into that international market conversate International marketplaces conversation. When you think international marketplaces you think of Ali Baba, you think of Amazon and we dove into that, but, you know, why don't I let you know share the mic so to speak, and let let Jim kind of hop in here and I'll circle back in a few minutes but yeah, up, it was just really great to be able to kind of continue the conversation with the community,
Michael LeBlanc
Jim jump in, because I think, you know, you and I were talking off mic about some of your observations and and you know, one of the things that's interesting, and you know, we're now becoming veterans of doing these virtual things is, you know, you do have a chance to sit and reflect on what people are saying live, which sometimes you're, you know, handling logistics and other things that are so important for consumer experience of the attendee experience. But, you know, you were saying you, you reflected on some of the very interesting points that were made in all of the sessions that were divided over the three days to take me through some of the, your, your top line, you know, what, did you walk away, close your eyes walk away and say, here's what, here's what I think I learned cumulatively from these, these three past days that I didn't know, going into the going into this adventure.
Jim Okamura
Yeah, it really was, you know, I think, fabulous, you know, speakers and presenters that we had really sharing, you know, a lot of, you know, their experience, you know, and insights, particularly in this most unusual year, you know, for all of us, you know, a clear, you know, theme, you know, certainly came out in terms of what we've already mentioned, you know, we've kind of been referring to this as almost the COVID bumper spike in e commerce, you know, sales in general. And so just, it was really interesting to hear from, you know, a number of retailers and Brian's, who shared their experience, you know, what's been happening this year, and, and, you know, no surprise that to hear that, from a cross border and international e commerce perspective, there was still that same surge in demand that we've seen, you know, domestically before so many retailers and brands, e commerce, businesses, so, you know, for some of the more digital native, you know, type of, you know, brands, you know, we had Aaron hellerman from vinciguerra watches, or Rita who debts at universal standard, a very inclusive apparel brand, you know, speak about their international journey. And, and both admittedly are very early on, you know, in in their, you know, international ecommerce, you know, roadmap, really, but the numbers that they were even willing to share with us, you know, we're, we're pretty impressive, right, it just what they've been seeing, you know, this year, and kind of, you know, going going through a stronger push towards, you know, capturing some of that really pent up international demand, I think, you know, it's kind of it was very kind of reassuring, almost, for us to see, you know, some of these brands and retailers, you know, really take action, you know, on that, you know, unmet, you know, demand, and just feel so reinforced that, you know, wow, this was from, you know, minimal kind of initiatives, and so they're just kind of, you know, boid, by the fact that there's so much more out there, and I think that that's almost been a theme that, you know, we've been on at Guelph, you know, from from day one, you know, which is, we do feel like, you know, the the global opportunity for, you know, e commerce, you know, businesses in general is huge. And we've always just been kind of the not that proverbial, you know, tip of the iceberg. But I do think that, you know, this is a year and, you know, we've heard this before, from, you know, when we did the podcast with Nathan, a new balance, you know, the the theme of this year, certainly has been e commerce has moved from the side stage to the main stage. And so that that is a theme, you know, you know, we we hear throughout,
Michael LeBlanc
so it's almost the case that events have caught up to the reality of the opportunity, you know, with, you know, we knew the, and we could see it in the numbers, and you would hear it from your guests, I would listen in all the things you're saying, you know, this mix of there's opportunity, but we're not really putting the right maybe amount of resources behind it. I was doing a presentation this week on on tourism in Canada. And, you know, the numbers are startling, like we had in Canada in 2018 735 750,000 visitors from China spending an average of 20 $800 a piece spending 30 days in our country, I'm sure factor that times 10 for for the US and everyone can do their own math. That's a lot of consumers that aren't here anymore, that have the opportunity that they're still looking to buy great products, and how do you get at that kind of business? And now how do you scale that opportunity? Right, Jim?
Jim Okamura
Yeah, definitely a theme, you know, that and we kind of talked about this, you know, before just if the tourists aren't coming to us anymore, then we need to go and find them and give them acronyms. And obviously that is where I think cross border e commerce really kind of comes into play. You know, and this is where, you know, we are seeing triple digit growth numbers, you know, kind of, you know, as a result and that that's a you know, impact have, you know, certainly, you know, when we're looking at, you know, huge increases, again, the spike in e commerce in a broad sense, it's hard to ignore those kind of, you know, triple digit numbers, even if they are on a small, but I think over time, we will look back on this year as being, you know, perhaps the inflection point for, you know, global e commerce. And I think that that's something that is kind of exciting, you know, despite the fact of all the uncertainty kind of, you know, going forward, I think, you know, one session that I think really, you know, kind of, I think was, it was, we were thrilled for one day to get, you know, Fred Neil, who is, you know, the global marketing lead for amazon music two to join us, you know, for years, we've been trying to get Fred involved, you know, and, and partly, you know, for his previous, you know, role at Amazon, you know, was being the head of marketing for Amazon, India. And so, again, you talk about a market that that is still you know, mostly mysterious, you know, for, you know, Western brands, certainly when it comes to e commerce, you know, he was on the ground, you know, living through through through all of
Michael LeBlanc
a shared, you know, a lot of, you know, just fascinating kind of almost cultural, you know, kind of setup, what what he stepped into when he, you know, really arrived, you know, in India, you know, charged with, you know, help grow, you know, the Amazon, you know, business there, and then you know, somebody say I forget the numbers, but the numbers are, you know, whenever you type in India or China, the numbers are just mind boggling, right? Something, you know, in India, the world's largest democracy, something like 200 languages spoken and thousands of villages, cities, villages, I mean, the numbers are, even for someone who is used to a scale of Amazon kind of global or any of our guests that are used to working on a global basis, you know, when you get you start peeling back, and the opportunity in India, it is it is startling. Yeah, both in its complexity and its scale.
Jim Okamura
And, you know, I think the number that stood out in my mind, and I think, you know, some people know, this, but a lot don't is the percentage of total retail, that is what we'd call organized retail, as opposed to teeny tiny mom and pop shops that do the vast majority of you know, retail sales in that vast, you know, country. But, yeah, what Fred talked about in terms of, you know, the, the localization challenges, you kind of mentioned, you know, the 200, some languages and so on. Just a really good, you know, kind of, you know, study in, you know, why globally, commerce is important, but, you know, it's not, you know, it's not an easy thing, there's a lot of, you know, kind of complexity to it. But, you know, the other side of, you know, what he's doing now, in terms of, you know, being the head of marketing for amazon music globally, was, you know, again, also, I think, really interesting from the, how can he engage with bands and artists and kind of, you know, play that Matchmaker, so just, you know, a little glimpse of, you know, where Amazon's you know, using some of their other assets, like Twitch, you know, as the live streaming, you know, platform. And for any of you who are, you know, shopping over amazon prime days, you know, he probably saw again, you know, where we're live streaming was, you know, certainly taking a page out of Alibaba, his playbook. Very interesting, I think, you know, for us to see, you know, a lot of that happen, and really engage with some of these, you know, true global leaders.
Michael LeBlanc
And it's probably the right opportunity to mention that Amazon is getting into the podcasting game as well, they've now got in amazon music, and our podcast is there. So it is probably if for those who are on amazon music look for look for global e commerce tech talks, and maybe, you know, maybe we can give a nudge to our great speaker to put us number one in a few categories and see if that get us get our message out. Anyway, I'll leave that in your guys capable hands. And
Michael LeBlanc
Scott, I know you were you were, you know, kind of, you know, mentioning good takeaways from, you know, Fred, that really stood out in your mind.
Scott Silverman
Yeah, just separate from the specific things he was talking about, which were you mentioned, Jim, which we're all really fascinating about India and amazon music. He is someone that has established a career in global e commerce as lived overseas, managing businesses that are global in nature. And I thought, Jim, you asked him a really good question about if there's people listening to the webinar that want to pursue a similar type of career, what advice does he have for them, and he mentioned, be a volunteer, raise your hand if you're in an organization that's already global, and offer to take on some of those new projects or if you're an organization that isn't global, then you know, offered to take the lead and help spearhead that, you know, company that you're in being more global than they already are? So I thought that was, that was great advice. And and it's rare to have someone with that kind of depth of their career internationally that could cover that topic for us.
Michael LeBlanc
And Scott, let me follow that thread for a bit because it's been both a passion and a professional if I could say it that way of yours, the people business, right, I mean, these these are people, businesses, and you must be thinking or observing and and talking to people who are now looking at these global opportunities, which, by their nature, have a piece of adventure to them, right? I mean, that is a great example, I'm going to just plot myself so to speak, I'm going to go to India, and I'm going to go figure it out that takes a certain type of DNA that takes a certain type of individual, what changes are you seeing, or do you envision, in the people side of the business in terms of global e commerce is, as you think, through the expanding nature of these opportunities, and as Jim said, this, this could be the big jump ball moment for global e commerce.
Scott Silverman
Well, the way we address that was looking at diversity. And globally, commerce lends itself to that discussion very naturally, because anyone who has been involved in cross border or internationally commerce, they know that you can do it if you aren't localizing if you aren't absorbing the culture in which you're selling from the vendors and the resources that you're tapping into the people that you may be hiring to work on that business, the way that you're going about your marketing, tapping into the local marketing ecosystem, which is going to be different from Market to Market. And so we were really privileged to have named McKee, who is a veteran global e commerce leader, he had been at arrow and a few other companies. And now is that a recruiter, a new recruiting executive recruiting firm called above board, and he is a black man, and was able to share, you know, his personal experiences being a black leader in global e commerce with and connect that to diversity. So we made that segue from how important it is. Diversity is for localization to a broader conversation about diversity within retail and technology and business overall. And he talked about some of the challenges that many companies have trying to kind of get out of their own way, he gave an example of how you can take individual responsibility, by the way that you're hiring people and gave an example of someone he hired that didn't have a traditional background for a global e commerce role. But they, he saw potential in them, he looked beyond just the normal things that you would see in a resume and made that person, you know, put them on the team. And they end up doing really well in their career, and especially with the time that that this person spent at arrow with nyeem. So I was really excited that we had a chance to touch on that topic, and we had someone that could bring their own personal experience into it.
Scott Silverman
Yeah, I think that it's a great, great point, well said, I mean, the people side of this business, notwithstanding all the the change, and it is it is a time of tremendous change. So I think I think we should probably spend more time on that and in the future, can't I'm gonna start back to you with, you know, to bring a start bringing us home on this episode with kind of three key insights or, you know, three key things you learned from the three days. You know, I love my three. So, you know, as you think about all the content, you both moderated and coordinated and consumed and the pre calls and the live show, three things jumped out in your mind. And Scott and Jim are gonna ask you the same question. So Kent, Kent, unfortunately gets first so he's got to be faster in his feet. You guys got a few minutes to think about it. But Ken, what do you think three things?
Kent Allen
Well, you know, if any of you guys have ever seen the big dance we have at the end of the Guelph events, everybody knows I'm much faster on my feet than then Scott and Jim. So no problem with that, Michael, you know, I think the first thing is just, you know, kind of how our markets being prioritized international markets of course, there's this reprioritization going on, I think as everybody knows it's been to Guelph events. Most of the time, the path is target the English speaking markets first. So that's often Canada, you know, first here in the US, UK, Australia, then maybe there's the move into Western mature markets. Germany, France, you know, typically are right in there. China's always in the mix as well. But to kind of pick up on some of Scott's points, you know, we are seeing a very diverse approach to looking for growth. I know when we were talking with Hendrick on the third day, during the keynote, he, you know, he talked a little bit about what were some of the markets. And we talked about the Middle East really popping up as as a market where more and more people are investing. There's a lot of wealthy folks there, there's a big demand for international goods. Hendrik is in South Africa. You know, he mentioned that he thought Africa was still a decade away. And, and that's certainly something that we see. But you know, there there are opportunities. We're working on some research right now. And Mexico was the fastest growing e commerce market in the world last year, I think 30 39% 38 39%, something like that. So I think that was an important part, just this idea that you have to look away from perhaps some of the traditional markets. I think maybe the second one was, again, you know, after markets, people typically like to talk about models, as I mentioned earlier, the cross border model, which, of course, is defined from a US perspective as fulfilling international demand, largely from your us options, maybe there's some hybrid drop shipping and things like that that's involved. But the international marketplace is, I think, probably one of the most exciting areas right now. We certainly see in many cases, when us retailers expand internationally. Again, they'll start with cross border, and that's largely to take care of organic demand people that are, you know, quite literally knocking on their door and say, please ship to me, you know, I can't get this product in my market or if I can, it's March way. So help me out here. But the marketplaces where they tend to go and it's okay, and we need to go find new customers. So we do tend to find
Jim Okamura
marketplaces, what often marketplaces are stopped number one, especially in the emerging market. So Latin America, for instance, obviously, China's all about marketplaces that, that that markets over and done with it's the marketplace platforms. Europe's an interesting place as well. You know, we definitely see Amazon getting more and more traction in Europe, but it's it's a very fragmented market there. There's a lot of international marketplaces, there's top tier marketplaces, second tier marketplaces. So, you know, I think that's certainly something that people need to take a little bit more time to look at. So, again, this whole international marketplace, but I think within that, you know, it's really Amazon versus Alibaba, I would love to spend a lot of time kind of rehashing some of the the episodes. And just as a side note, if you guys are interested in diving into some of the on demand versions of our sessions, we'll be getting them up on air Guelph content site, we honestly need to do a much better job at taking these conversations and making them accessible to people. So if you go to global e commerce.co, that's where you'll be able to kind of click around to our resource tab, and we'll have some downloads there, they'll probably be some other ways to reach him as well. But, you know, kind of getting back to this whole Alibaba Amazon question. You know, we certainly, we know that a lot of people talk about, you know, how to compete with Amazon and know Amazon's gonna eat your lunch and so forth and whatnot. But the reality is, when we have speakers it at Guelph, most people find that Yeah, they're pros and cons with Amazon. But, you know, for the most part, they're learning a lot. They're working well, there's the whole kind of one P versus three p dynamic, which is something we probably should pick up soon and another podcast, but we are seeing a lot of a lot of traction with Alibaba, we just did a webinar this week, actually, with the team on global folks. And, you know, our research that we did last fall show that more and more people are looking at Timo global as a way to kind of get up and going quickly in China, and then maybe they segue into mi t ma classic. But Alibaba is helping people. They're sharing data. So I don't see that it's one or the other. I think they're both doing really important things we see both platforms as, as part of this push, you know, from just your father's marketplaces, we like to sometimes call the, you know, the e commerce marketplaces of yesteryear, in other words, five years ago to this global distribution platform, and you know, GM, it's probably something we need to start evolving our own thinking about, I think we're actually evolving beyond, you know, global platforms to global ecosystems, and, and if there's anybody that's got an ecosystem, it's certainly Amazon and Alibaba. And, you know, that's not to say Walmart's not busy building its own ecosystem. So I think those are two of the most important things that I took away. I think the third thing too was was something that that did come up in our conversation with Hendrick as well which is just this this idea that it's really all coming down to logistics, we talked about, you know, retail used to be all about location, location, location. Well, you know, as digital takes center stage, it's logistics, logistics, logistics, and we're gonna see that play out during the holiday season here. I know, Michael, you've done a lot of commerce, you know, had a lot of conversations about, you know, moving products around during the holidays, you know, more than one speaker talked about, you know, hey, the capacities gone for the holidays.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, the super peak, I mean, it's the everybody's come up with a name, but it all comes down to the same thing. You just need to find a lot of doorsteps in the next six weeks.
Kent Allen
Yeah, I was just looking at some data. And, you know, surprising to see that, you know, Amazon logistics is already closing the gap on FedEx as far as you know, percentage of the volume that they handle. So this whole idea of the importance to logistics, especially from a cross border and global e commerce perspective, I think is something you know, obviously, we'll hear a lot about that during the holidays. And it's going to be, you know, a big topic. So I'll, I'll fade to black here and let the guys kind of take it home.
Michael LeBlanc
All right, Scott, let's, let's throw over to you to you, you had very busy fall with lots of content. What did you take out of this, these sessions from from golf?
Scott Silverman
Well, one that that Ken is really good at recapping. hard for me to have a add. But, you know, the one thing that can didn't mention that that has stood out for me is the role of digital natives or DTC sees that their embrace of global e commerce at very early periods and the growth of their companies. And I was excited to have a number of them on our speaker roster, like universal standard, hairy sacks, pure avita, Newton baby, they're all really leaning into cross border and globally commerce, they're being scrappy, and finding ways to do it. And I guess I'll give one more thing, I don't think I have three. But I'm just so impressed with the folks that are in this industry and their leadership and navigating through. I mean, it was already hard, navigating through all the localization, every market being different, generally being under resourced within the organizations and finding creative ways to get things done. Especially in places like China, where it's so different, you have to have something like a teepee, in order to be successful, but they find a way to get it done. And they're really inspirational to listen to and hear their stories.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, Jim, last words to you as you, you toughest job, right, being the third person to come up with three things, and both Scott and Kant digging deep to come up with some great insights. But what did you take away from? From the three days?
Jim Okamura
Or lots of things? No, no, no, no problem here. But you know, I think, you know, a couple that certainly stand out in my mind eight, I think, again, in this year of, you know, of COVID. And what it's done to to again, you know, just catalyze the whole ecommerce, you know, industry, I think it was really important, you know, for the community to kind of, you know, hear some of the stories of, you know, how different brands and retailers, you know, have really tackled, you know, the, the, the shift in demand, really, you know, so that and lots of, you know, different stories, but certainly a lot of common themes in terms of, you know, just everyone, you know, digging deeper and, you know, finding solutions, you know, that that even if they were done in a very kind of scrappy way, you know, they they, you know, they kind of got it done and, you know, I think that's just exciting, you know, in a sense, you know, for for the industry as a whole, but another, you know, area that that, you know, we're certainly seeing a lot more conversation on his, you know, social commerce. And I think that just kind of ties to, you know, where ecommerce, as we've kind of grown up with it is still evolving at a very, you know, rapid pace, but I think, you know, what we have been on a theme at galfer for several years is that the innovation that's happening, you know, in digital retail, in general, is, you know, happening outside of, you know, the, the US I think, you know, it's really exciting for us to hear, you know, where some of the the new trends, you know, like social commerce, you know, really are getting way more traction than perhaps, you know, people are kind of aware of here, you know, in our own, you know, market. So, you know, that's something that, you know, we'll continue to kind of, you know, probe into, you know, in coming years and then, I think the the last one that, you know, kind of picks up a little bit on what, you know, Kant was saying in terms of the, the importance of the post purchase experience, you know, I think that that's something that, you know, again, we we know how important that You know, to the consumer. And that's, you know, increasingly how, you know, I think consumers are going to judge, you know, a lot of brands and retailers on Did I really like that experience and want to go back, you know, for more so, just where we're hearing, you know, from, you know, one of our speakers, you know, was in operations for pvh, right, you know, the Calvin Klein and some other, you know, the bread brands from the affiliate of the event, us and kind of, you know, family, you know, just where they've, you know, been certainly, you know, migrating towards, you know, more omni channel, you know, fulfillment, and this is not, you know, exclusive to global, you know, certainly it's a big, you know, part of, you know, their their domestic, you know, strategy to again, you know, get the most, you know, out of, you know, this this challenging, you know, a year, but I think just the pivots that you know, so many companies have had to make, you know, and, and push forward, you know, their roadmap. And so in many cases by several years, you know, it's it's important, again, for any retailers and brands, you know, to understand, you know, what others are going through, I think we've all kind of grown up in the e commerce industry where, you know, as a whole, you know, we're a very inclusive, you know, community we've shared, you know, a lot of these stories, and that's how we've learned, you know, from each other. And I think that that will kind of, you know, continue it, you know, as, again, digital retail, and e commerce is going to involve, you know, perhaps an even faster speed, which is kind of crazy to think about what we've seen over the,
Michael LeBlanc
you know, two decades really, what do we call the faster speed? What's another word beyond hyper speed, I don't know. But I like I liked your your wrap up, because it does circle back to Scott's point, that at the end of all this, this is people who are working in uncertain environments moving at a pace that isn't getting any slower, in fact, as you're saying is getting quicker. And I too, was impressed by you know, as have been over the series is by the caliber of the individuals. So any, my one key takeaway is a keynote presenter, I'm going to present on a black background next time, I just want my floating head presenting because I think Heinrich set a whole new standard for how to present I'm gonna give that one a try. I love this presentation. Well, listen, gentlemen, it's been a great, great review. It's a nice, nice kind of Capstone to the to the three events, we got lots planned for the listeners out there in terms of sharing content, insights, both reflecting the conversation, continuing the conversation and deepening the conversations that we're going to have. And there's a long, long, rich road ahead of us to, to share learnings and to bring in all these top caliber people to share with us so but for now, let's let's call that a wrap, Jim, Scott and Kent, thanks for joining me on the Global eCommerce tech talks podcast. And I wish you all a safe weekend and a safe week until we are together again.
Kent Allen
All right, thank you so much, Michael. Again, as always, we thank you and you know, again, we can't do it without our sponsors. So you know, big shout out to the sponsors. You know, especially guys like Andy, who really just kind of sat in on a couple of sessions shared a bunch of great cross border data that I know everybody just was really appreciative to receive. So Michael, thanks again for all your help, Scott. Jim, thanks for everything and, you know, all the other folks that were kind of behind the scenes, making things go as smoothly as possible in this, this sometimes a bumpy virtual world. Thanks again, Michael.
Michael LeBlanc
And thanks to Ken Scott and Jim for their comprehensive top line summary of the three action packed days in the global e commerce Leaders Forum October fest event. If you like this podcast, you can subscribe on Apple, iTunes, Spotify, and now on amazon music podcast channel or your favorite podcast platform. Please rate review with a five star rating and be sure to recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail and cross border commerce industry. I'm Michael LeBlanc, founder and president of me leblond company Inc. You can learn more about me on www Annie LeBlanc. CO and you can learn more about the global e commerce Leaders Forum and continue to keep up with the latest on cross border commerce online at www global e commerce leader forum.com. Until next time, have a safe
Transcribed by https://otter.ai