The pandemic-driven shift to ecommerce jolted many international markets where brick-and-mortar stores previously generated most retail sales. This was especially true in LATAM markets where in recent years legacy distributors may have resisted brands’ ecommerce-direct objectives. Kathy Ando, VP of DTC and Marketing, Tile and Xavier Heriat, VP Client Success, Scalefast join me to chat about their backgrounds, answer our "two starts and one stop" question and they speak briefly to their upcoming panel where they weighs] in on the international ecommerce growth opportunities ahead – and the operational challenges they face as digital wholesale disruption transforms the traditional ways that branded manufacturers go-to-market globally.
The pandemic-driven shift to ecommerce jolted many international markets where brick-and-mortar stores previously generated most retail sales. This was especially true in LATAM markets where in recent years legacy distributors may have resisted brands’ ecommerce-direct objectives. Kathy Ando, VP of DTC and Marketing, Tile and Xavier Heriat, VP Client Success, Scalefast join me to chat about their backgrounds, answer our "two starts and one stop" question and they speak briefly to their upcoming panel where they weighs] in on the international ecommerce growth opportunities ahead – and the operational challenges they face as digital wholesale disruption transforms the traditional ways that branded manufacturers go-to-market globally.
We look forward to getting the GELF community back together in real life after the long layoff since GELF LA 2020, which was our biggest and best West Coast gathering ever! GELF NYC 2021 will bring together leaders from retailers and brands selling direct-to-consumer. Top global consumer brands will join digital natives from the fashion and apparel world, health and beauty, consumer electronics and other leading retail verticals for two days of education, sharing and networking.
Digital commerce innovators, cross-border ecommerce experts and global ecommerce thought leaders will debate how the boom in ecommerce translates into international expansion as the retail world comes back online. Retailers and brands selling direct-to-consumer can register/apply for complimentary passes at https://commercenext.com/gelf/
If you liked this podcast you can follow us on Apple iTunes, Spotify, Amazon music podcast channel or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review with a five star rating and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail and cross-borders commerce industry.
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/
Kent Allen
I help innovative digital companies tell their story and build relationships with prospective and established clients and partners. I've spent the last twenty years providing market analysis, research & thought leadership, market development and consulting services within the ecommerce technology and digital marketing community.
Current focus: Globalization via cross-border ecommerce, marketplaces and international retail expansion. Co-founded the Global eCommerce Leaders Forum to foster community among and provide education to digital professionals with international growth objectives.
My 20+ years of experience in the digital commerce and marketing industry and strong personal connections have provided me with opportunities to stay ahead of the curve and explore "what's next" for my clients and our audiences.
My research, content marketing & thought leadership skills coupled with my strong client interface skills allow me to define & execute next-generation marketing and commerce strategies & improve business performance.
Specialties/Skills: Market Research, Communications, Strategy, Planning, Best Practices, Trend, Data and Competitive Analysis, Public Speaking, Writing and Expression
Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
Until next time, have a safe week!
Michael LeBlanc 00:04
Welcome back Global E-Commerce Tech Talks, Episode 21. I'm Michael LeBlanc.
Kent Allen 00:09
And I'm Kent Allen from the Global E-Commerce Leaders Forum.
Michael LeBlanc 00:13
Kent, great to be back on the mic with you. And this is the last of our snack size podcast episodes promoting the upcoming Global E-Commerce Leaders Forum conference New York City, the town that never sleeps, start spreading the news. It's at the Sheraton Times Square, right, and hit me with those dates again.
Kent Allen 00:31
Yes, Tuesday, September 28th. And Wednesday, September 29th. And never say never, you know, there's, there's always more snacks to come. But yes, we, I just want to thank all the sponsors and all the speakers that have hopped on the podcast with Michael, and I over the last couple of weeks just to give everybody a little sampling a little snack of what's to come later this month.
Michael LeBlanc 00:54
Yeah, yeah, and, and we should also call out two things. One, if you happen to be listening to this podcast, after the conference, like in October, there's still great content to be heard and so enjoy what we talked about, you know, we talked about both the backgrounds of the speakers. And we also talked about their, kind of, their insights, two start and one stop. And you reminded me, I reminded you, that the content from the conference is going to be videotaped and available on your website. Right, hit me with that.
Kent Allen 01:20
But yeah, and you know, I do want to give the Salesforce, Commerce Cloud team a big shout out for being our live streaming host and, kind of, helping us bring all this to the ecommerce community that just can't make it there on September 28th. And September 29th, all day, every day.
Kent Allen 01:20
Absolutely. You actually could just go to GlobalECommerceLeadersForum.com. And they'll probably be a link to the direct download there, they'll probably end up on the YouTube channel for our partner CommerceNext, who we are co-locating with and if I don't get it together, I'll actually launch the GELF YouTube channel here, probably in October when I'm, you know, putting together my Halloween costume or something like that.
Michael LeBlanc 02:05
Right on right on? Well, like, you know, where would we be without these thought leaderships, great sponsors, you got some great sponsors lined up. Let's talk about the two great companies and the two great people we've got on our episode. Tell me about them.
Kent Allen 02:17
Yeah, we've actually got a new sponsor, Scalefast. That's coming to GELF for the first time, they've been doing some really cool stuff and one of their clients, Kathy from Tile will be joining, and we'll be talking about, about scaling digital distribution globally. Certainly, one of the topics that we've been talking a lot at GELF about is how brands can help their international distributors, whether they're traditional wholesale partners, or maybe new or emerging direct to consumer type plays. So, just really pleased to have Xavier and Kathy join us today. And so without further ado, we'll get to the interview. All right,
Michael LeBlanc 02:57
Let's listen in now.
Michael LeBlanc 02:59
All right, Xavier, Kathy Welcome to Global E-Commerce Tech Talks podcast. Xavier, let's start with you. Tell us a little bit about yourself. I see Sydney, I see global travel, I see Germany, you're in LA. I can't keep track. Who are you, what's your background and who do you work for, what do you do?
Xavier Heriat 03:19
Thank you. Yes, indeed I have a quite of global parkour before, as by my accent, I am actually French and, and I've been to different continent, different countries. I also worked in a lot of different industries, so, pharmaceutical, automotive, I've been in one to one retail and now I'm, I'm with, with Scalefast. So, I'm a VP, Client Success. I'm in charge of follow for account manager or strategic account manager globally, as well as your solution engineers or sales engineers, some other people like to call them but that's a little bit about myself. I've been with Scalefast for the last two years now. My, my first go to was actually more into the supply chain, which is also international and global. Moving goods around the world, and I definitely have a deep knowledge about all of the intricacy of, of these global journeys.
Michael LeBlanc 04:27
Fantastic. Give me, give me a 32 second, elevator overview of Scalefast.
Xavier Heriat 04:32
Scalefast eCommerce. We do help brands such as Tile or Logitech to actually go on the. on the D to C, within the D to C channel. We provide a lot of different services, we have. We actually do help on the fulfillment, logistics, we have customer care, we do take care of all of the taxes for them and essentially, we are what we call the merchant of record. Which is a very big piece into. into what we do. As well as providing, providing those brands with on pre store, which is a specialized area where we, where we go to
Michael LeBlanc 05:12
Kathy, I have to thank you first of all for helping me find my wallet and keys about half a dozen times I've been big, a big fan of, of Tile, I know you just arrived, and you arrive at Tile, you've work for some really stu-, small companies eBay, Apple, I think maybe some of you might have heard of them. And now you're a Tile, tell us a little bit about yourself and, and, and your role at tile.
Kathy Ando 05:35
So, my name is Kathy Ando. I am the VP of Marketing and Direct to Consumer. I like to, I like to say that I'm sort of, like, a DTC Ninja, meaning that I come in and help really, help brands really start to grow and scale their DTC business. It's just something I'm absolutely passionate about. I apologize, I don't have a great accent like Xavier. So clearly, I'm from California, as you can tell. But yes, that's, that's my function as I came into Tile to help us really think about this growth strategy, which is growing our direct-to-consumer business.
Michael LeBlanc 06:12
You know, it's such a dynamic category, what, what attracted you to the Tile opportunity specifically? I mean, it looks like you're the kind of person who likes a good challenge, and likes to structure and take on a new opportunity, is that would attracted you to an organization like Tile?
Kathy Ando 06:27
Yeah, I think when someone says, hey, we're going to be digital first, and we are focusing on direct-to-consumer that already has, gets me halfway there. And, then on top of that, I'm excited about title just because of the, the category growth opportunity that we're facing right now. It's massive, and Tile plays such a unique role in continuing on that trajectory and growing the business and, and offering amazing services as well as the hardware that you know and love and to our customers.
Michael LeBlanc 06:57
And you call that the tracker category, is that, is that the industry term for that category, the tracker category?
Kathy Ando 07:03
Yeah, the tracker category, we help you find everything and save you some sanity, I think as well.
Kathy Ando 07:10
Let's start with the next question. Two starts and one stop. Kathy, I'm going to start with you. And you know, you have vast amount of experience though your new at Tile tell us about, for the listeners, two things they should start doing if they're not, and one thing that maybe they should stop doing, just because maybe it doesn't work anymore, or something you observe in the market, what, what would you have to say?
Kathy Ando 07:32
Um, so I think the first one, I'm a huge, huge advocate of ensuring that brands listen to their customers, I think that is first and foremost, and partially why I just love DTC. But, it's important that brands start to get pretty, I would say agile with the digital landscape and the information coming through based off of their customers actions and behaviors. So, I think that's number one, first and foremost, super important, that to listen to your customers.
Kathy Ando 08:01
And then the other start I would say is sta-, brands really need to start thinking outside of the box and planning ahead, because the reality is the commerce landscape, obviously has changed, you know, drastically over the last 15 or so months, but that, that trajectory isn't going to stop.
Michael LeBlanc 08:21
Yeah.
Kathy Ando 08:22
In fact, we're going to continue to evolve and shift and so, I think it's important for brands to start really planning that, that roadmap ahead of them.
Michael LeBlanc 08:31
All right, and what do you, what do you think people should stop doing?
Kathy Ando 08:34
I think the, the thing that I've learned is that we have to stop looking over our shoulder and looking at other brands, and what are they doing. And we tend to a lot of times like we'll use these buzzwords in the industry, and everybody starts getting excited about buzzwords, but it's important for us to recognize that we have to write them to solve for our customers, like your specific customers, and make sure that the tech stack that you're looking at best supports your go forward strategy.
Michael LeBlanc 09:01
All right, fantastic. Xavier, you've got the benefit of lots of experience across a number of different kinds of companies. So, two starts and one stop from what you've been observing from your clients.
Xavier Heriat 09:12
Two starts and one stop. So for, for, for brands or clients. One is I would say when you when you're really looking at expansion is start small, don't think you're gonna be able to have what you're already doing in into your main country because usually that's how a brand wants to expand, is don't think you're going to be able to mirror and to, and to really have the same impact from day one. Think about maybe having less functionality on to your website, think about having maybe less services in terms of in terms of logistics, all of, all of those are I think a key point that we've seen with, with O'Brien and indefinitely that's where we that's where we are, where we try to, to help walk O'Brien.
Xavier Heriat 10:04
Another one is, definitely, think outside of the box. It is, I mean, I know it's very generic, but on the same time when you are going overseas, culture is different, service is different, infrastructure is different. The way you communicate to your phone will be different. We had some examples of, of some very, some brands that play on, on the very funny part of their marketing, but the marketing going in oversea might not be perceived the same way. So, a joke in the, in the US might not be a joke in the, in Europe and vice versa. But think outside of the box and try to really be open minded on this.
Xavier Heriat 10:48
A showstopper, or a stop is don't try to do it all by yourself. Especially right now we do have, I mean Scalefast, we do provide we can if they want to provide an ecommerce experience. So, I have a bunch of my team people who have been in, in ecommerce for years, and decades. Don't try to hire a lot of people and do it all by yourself from day one. First of all, right now in this today, landscape is, it is very difficult to hire people. And it's even more difficult to hire smart people. So, definitely leverage what you have around you can be Scalefast, but even you have, you might have already the brand power into your home country. So, definitely a ton of things that I can see that I will say don't try to do it all.
Michael LeBlanc 11:39
Well, Xavier, we've got Logitech and we've got Tile on the panel with you, what, give us a snapshot of what we'll be talking about at the upcoming GELF conference live in New York City.
Xavier Heriat 11:51
Back in New York. I used to live in New York in the news to love it. But we, we definitely, we will be mentioning, how do we, how did we, and where did we expand, with reversed to brand. I mean with Tile we, we partner. We had a lot of chats actually with Kathy prior we decided to go to Europe or Tyler decided to go to Europe river scale faster. We partnered there and we can talk a little bit about some of the experience we, we had, which country we were able to go. With Logitech it's, it's actually more on more on the LATAM. So there is a need for them to, to go to LATAM, which is another difficult market to, to enter. So, we are partnering with them to, to actually to serve and to service those, those country's
Michael LeBlanc 12:44
Perfect. Now, Kathy, you've talked about DTC for Tile. Is that what you'll be talking about in front of the, our live audience and in New York City in September.
Kathy Ando 12:56
Yeah, yes. Well, that's the one thing that I do know, but I think the focus is going to be a little bit more DTC and international, that combination for Tile. And, that is part of, part of the DDC expansion strategy. So, I'm happy to talk about that but very excited. We did, we did launch in 16 countries in partnership with Scalefast. And earlier, I was mentioning that I was considering that both, Fast and Furious. So, if that's the case, then I think Xavier would be our very own Vin Diesel.
Michael LeBlanc 13:28
There's a bit of a resemblance actually, now that you mention it. All right,
Kathy Ando 13:34
I don't think anybody can see him but for those of you that do go they'll see him when we go on stage, no pressure.
Michael LeBlanc 13:40
Well, if there's no other reason to go to Global E-Commerce Leaders Forum and there's plenty of reasons, it's go to see Vin Diesel on the stage talking about taking you global as a DTC retailer.
Michael LeBlanc 13:52
All right, listen. Thank you very much for joining me on, on the podcast and I wish you continued success and, and safe travels.
Michael LeBlanc 14:02
If you like this podcast, you can follow us on Apple iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music podcast channel or your favorite podcast platform. Please rate and review with a five-star rating. If you're so inclined to, be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail cross border commerce industry.
Michael LeBlanc 14:16
I'm Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co, Of course on LinkedIn and you can learn more about Global E-Commerce Leaders Forum and continue to keep up with the latest on cross border commerce online and news of the upcoming September event at www.GlobalECommerceLeadersForum.com.
Michael LeBlanc 14:36
Until next time, travel safe and have a great week.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Tile, brands, Xavier, DTC, global, commerce, podcast, Kathy, customers, talking, ecommerce, sponsors, stop, partner, services, country, category, people, Logitech, Scalefast