Digital Commerce Global recently came out with their 3rd annual deep-dive benchmark study on how brands are managing their retail media strategy (or, not.) The study’s author, Gregor Murray, VP of Strategy, Digital Commerce Global, returns to the podcast with all the key results that point towards the urgent opportunities for instituting organizational, financial, and measurement rigor in this critical but complex part of your digital commerce success strategy.

I found our conversation today about the AI-transformed future of commerce with Matt Ezyk, Sr. Dir. of Ecommerce Engineering at Hanna Andersson, both urgent and comforting. Urgent in that he strongly believes that consumer journeys and product discovery will be upended by conversational commerce and brands need to prepare, and comforting in that those in ecommerce and digital have spent their careers being upended. And have built the mindset and skills to manage through it. Matt walked us through his approach to riding this transformation wave armed with curiosity, discipline, and a test and learn mindset.

In this episode, we break down the key findings from the 2025 Digital, Marketing & eComm in Focus report — a comprehensive look at the evolving digital landscape for Australian brands. We explore the growing complexity of the digital shelf, the rise of retail media, the quick commerce revival, and the ongoing tech challenges brands face in managing product content. With insights from over 220 industry professionals, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone navigating omnichannel growth in a rapidly changing Australian market.

Every six months, the ecommerce education consultancy Allume Group consolidates the output of expert conversations, annual reports, and the latest data to create their Allume Insider report, or AIR. It’s chock a block full of the most current insights into the present and future of ecommerce. Andrea Leigh, Founder & CEO of Allume Group rejoins the podcast with the takeaways from their latest research.

Our guest today, Swagat Choudhury, Global Director of Perfect Store Online at Mars has been steeped in the evolution of digital commerce for almost 20 years, 17 of that at Diageo. Today’s conversation about where digital commerce is going, and global plus local transformation has as its core a really crucial reminder that the fundamentals of commerce have remained the same: using a loop of influence and conversion to drive results. According to Swagat, the exciting difference of this next AI-fueled era will be the ability to unleash so much more data to drive the next best action, both for the consumer and for the marketer.

In chaotic times, trust becomes a premium value in the choices a consumer makes. That’s why so many brands invest heavily in creating brand experiences on the world’s most watched canvases, at the Super Bowl, the Oscars, the Olympics. But the most valuable real estate for your brand experiences may be where your consumers spend the vast majority of their time - in digital experiences often on the PDP. Roald Van Wyk, Global Creative Commerce Lead at IPG, is issuing an urgent and compelling call that creative briefs, and the processes they fuel, must change to ensure that your brand is building trust with the best creative across every screen, and every interaction.

Across brands and retailers, we are starting to see the long-standing silos that stand in the way of efficiency, growth, and accountability start to crumble. Today’s guests from Kroger are living proof of the power of this, with the media maven Jenny Holleran, VP at Kroger Precision Marketing having the important conversations and the united front together with Jorge Alfonso, Head of Digital Merchandising at Kroger. They share a deep commitment to a seamless, unified omnichannel experience for consumers that drives growth for both Kroger and for their brand partners. It’s a sibling rivalry in the best way possible.

Recorded live from Cannes Lions, this episode dives into the future of commerce, creativity, and connection with special guest Eric. We unpack why brands are losing their voice, how AI is transforming everything from influencer marketing to grocery shopping, and why human experience still matters. It’s a fast-paced, thought-provoking conversation about what’s hot at Cannes—and what’s coming next.

These are, how should I say it, interesting times to be a seller on Amazon. It’s good to be able to make decisions based on data in the midst of the chaos, so Jay Lovelace, CEO at Jungle Scout joined the podcast to lay out the trends that the data is identifying overall and across some specific categories that are on the move.

For the first episode of the APAC edition of Unpacking the Digital Shelf, Teresa is joined by Paul Brooks, former GM of Retail Media at Coles360 to discuss the retail media scene in Australia. Paul shares his journey building one of Australia’s largest retail media networks, the growth phases retailers go through, and the real-world trade-offs that come with scaling these platforms. We also explore how Australia compares to the US, UK, and Asia – and what brands need to focus on to win in this fast growing landscape.

I don’t know whether it’s a holy grail, but certainly a worthy grail is getting your organizations to behave with an omnichannel mindset to hopefully connect with the consumer however and wherever they choose, driving better conversion and a more strategic joint approach with your customers. Kenvue has organized around that mindset to ensure that they are spending their next dollar in the most productive place possible. That takes clear signals, communication, and strong relationships - all things we talk about with the fantastic Kacie McKee, Head of Omni-Commerce and Digital Acceleration at Kenvue. (This episode was recorded on May 20, 2025)

On this bonus episode of Unpacking the Digital Shelf you will hear the recap of each day of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity as Lauren Livak Gilbert sits down with Colin lewis & Kiri Masters each day to summarize the themes.

Tune in to hear some of Amazon’s announcements from Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and how AI will change discover for the consumer.

While Global Head of Digital Commerce Search at Unilever, Bob Bowman, now Search and Digital Shelf Expert at Win the Shelf and NEEM, was at the forefront of introducing AI into his global search and content operations to scale the business impact they were able to have. He joined the podcast to share the under the cover essential components and strategies required to test and learn his way to better content reaching more product pages at a lower cost.

That little barcode on the box, the engine of every sale, is getting a HUGE makeover, one that promises to transform the consumer’s shopping journey and their interactions with your brand. All powered by the new GS1 QR Code! There’s a ton of opportunity packed into that code, and Kerry Morrison, Head of Retail and Marketplaces at GS1 joined the podcast to make sure you’re getting ready to take advantage of it.

Love starting out with facts! Did you know, 47% of shoppers now start their buying journey on marketplaces. And 63% of consumers prefer buying from marketplaces? Seems like this 3P thing ain’t going away, particularly in chaotic times when having channels and listings that you can turn on and off, that you can control, can come in handy. Jordi Vermeer, VP of Revenue, North America at ChannelEngine, joins the podcast with the Why, What, and Hows of designing and executing a marketplace strategy that works for you.

Times of chaos and uncertainty do have an uncomfortable but necessary side effect of focusing one’s mind both on what is important and what is within one’s control. This is certainly true in the zoom rooms and boardrooms of any company in commerce. For our guest Colin Kaster, President of Strategy, Digital Advertising, and Operations at Equity Commerce, an e-commerce agency optimizing Amazon and omnichannel sales, much of the answers lie in understanding the real unit economics of every SKU you sell and then optimizing your business around where the opportunities for maximum profitability lie.

Winning search and driving conversion are the two ecommerce victories that get the attention of the Amazon algorithm and drive the flywheel. Turns out, when brands struggle with those metrics, the cause often lies way, way down in the detailed depths of Amazon Vendor Central. Justin Leigh, CEO at Workflow Labs, joins the podcast to talk about strategies to identify the root causes of friction in your Amazon funnel and how to fix them.

Listeners of this podcast are experts at thinking about the consumer who is shopping in a digital context, and how to do their best marketing to win over those consumers in the moments of discovery and conversion. Tim Wilson, Chief Revenue Officer at ProductWind, thinks that you ought to marketing at another customer that you may be neglecting: the algorithm itself. Winning at that marketing motion may be more extensive, and more winnable than you think. Tim joined the podcast to explain.

Risk vs. reward. Does it always need to be a binary choice? Do you and your legal teams always need to be at odds? Well, there’s a new lawyer in town. And Josh Jacobs, Legal Director at North America Core Reckitt and his team have invested a ton of time and effort in building out a process of collaboration, education, and intense communication to change that paradigm and make his Reckitt legal team a powerful partner in lowering risk and increasing the rewards. Josh joined the podcast and laid out he brings an innovative mindset and strong empathy for business objectives to the challenging areas of risk management, brand protection, and consumer privacy. It’s a really fresh perspective, and a competitive advantage. And he brought along Mr. Mucus!