Everyone Has a Shot at Re-Invention - Episode 166

UNPACKING THE DIGITAL SHELF PODCAST REPLAY WITH PETER CROSBY AND ROB GONZALES

DESCRIPTION

Today we are sharing a replay of the conversation CEO Kiri Masters had at Digital Shelf Institute podcast, with Peter Crosby and Rob Gonzales. We’re talking about different marketplaces that have been emerging lately, Covid related concerns around fulfillment, upskilling and insourcing that brands are doing right now as they move into a more digital focus, and flexibility vs efficiency. 

Make sure to tune in!

The Podcast, Unpacking the Digital Shelf, is a podcast created for manufacturers strategizing to win in the digital age. It includes weekly conversations with manufacturer execs, top consultants, retailer and distributor thought leaders, agency heads, media pros and analysts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • US - retailers launching marketplace

    • Time, resources, ad budget 

    • Kroger: 50,000 new SKUs - not competing with their current assortment 

    • Mirakl CEO Adrien Nussenbaum - 4 more grocers live with a marketplace between now and Q1. Mirakl raised $300M in September 

    • Each marketplace comes with its own rules, strategy, reach, logistics, tools etc. 

  • How do brands decide when/how they should play?  

    • Grow overall share or expand to new segments?

    • Volume - what is the size of the prize 

      • Walmart - accretive revenue of 10% of amazon.com 

      • International - depending on country, 5-10% accretive revenue

      • So if you’ve maxed out, that’s pretty attractive 

    • Julie Liu - CliffBar shopper marketing 

      • Instacart success

      • Criteria 

        • 1st party targeting capabilities

        • Efficiency of spend and reach - strong ad platform with good targeting 

        • Quantitative and qualitative data - looking at retail media

        • Marketing exposure of being early 

        • Kroger, Amazon, and Walmart eat up most of the marketing spend, but the $$ in regional grocers stretch a lot further 

  • Holidays and COVID - how brands should approach marketplaces and “each” fulfillment this season? 

    • Diversification of a sales channel

      • Amazon has a lot of control over pricing etc.

      • Essential items - congestion in supply chain

        • Backup logistics 

  • Upskilling many organizations have to do as they move D2C -  insourcing or outsourcing?

    • Question of speed and quality. 

      • Speed: a great agency can get to work and get runs on the board within weeks. Hiring a new body = months. Able to hire & fire an agency much faster than employee.

      • Quality: Agency should be using best-of-breed tools (no new internal approvals needed) and know where to dig. But Internal team should be better at translating company goals/brand into action. 

      • Hire advisors to get best of both worlds - invest in your existing team & keep them at cutting edge. 

  • Culture of constant re-invention, flexibility outweighs efficiency - a new and difficult concept for many brands with razor thin margins, how can brands adapt? 

    • Each platform is going to look different, especially financially. 

    • New skills, re-imagining brand

    • Smaller companies - opportunity of a lifetime

    • Digital is not a department, it’s a skill

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Season 3Kiri MastersComment