The future of eCommerce #23

The future of eCommerce

This year, e.fundamentals became a CommerceIQ company. They raised $200M in funding and reached unicorn valuation with their most recent round led by Softbank.

The deal comes at a time when eCommerce retail sales continue to accelerate. Statista is forecasting US retail eCommerce sales to grow by 50 percent over the next four years, reaching about 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025. At the same time, CPGs are having to navigate huge challenges around inflation and supply chain disruption. To keep ahead, brands must make smart investments into their tech stack. 

That’s why we wanted to take the opportunity to talk about e.fundamentals and CommerceIQ joining forces and what that means for the industry - but also to get to know the leaders of both companies and hear about their views for the future of eCommerce. 

This post is based on an episode of The Digital Shelf Cast featuring Julia Glotz. For more conversations like this one, subscribe to The Digital Shelf Cast on Apple, Spotify and everywhere else you listen to podcasts.

📝 The show notes

03:13 – 06:20 Guru and John tell us about their (very different) backgrounds and careers to date.

06:42 John and Guru explain what sparked their business ideas.

"At Amazon I had this extended epiphany that on the one side of retail, it's completely algorithmic; the other side of retail is extremely manual. But you need an algorithm talking to an algorithm. That's how you become successful online. That's when I left my day job and decided to start CommerceIQ." Guru Hariharan, CEO CommerceIQ

"I was running a consulting business with companies planning for eCommerce. The systems available were gathering data but didn’t help key account, brand and category managers with the decisions in terms of planning and execution." John Maltman, CEO e.fundamentals, a CommerceIQ company

11:05 Guru and John discuss what the single biggest change is they've seen in eCommerce over the course of their career.

"A year ago the agenda of top CPGs was very much about growth and grabbing share in the eCommerce channel. Now that's shifting. People still want growth, but they want it to be accretive. They want it to be profitable. That’s going to drive a lot of other technology developments over the next few years.” John Maltman, CEO e.fundamentals, a CommerceIQ company

15:27 What the business partnership means for how brands can win online: CommerceIQ business has the deep understanding of algorithmic trading built around Amazon without being extended to other retailers. e.fundamentals understand digital shelf analytics across 475 retailers all over the world. Both companies are extremely customer obsessed.

24:18 What being customer first means to our guests

“First, making sure that everyone is listening carefully to what customers are saying. What they're trying to do, how they're shaping their agenda. Second, making sure that we continue to lead the discussion on what's next.” John Maltman, CEO e.fundamentals, a CommerceIQ company

"It’s how does the customer transform in the digital age and bring that true digital transformation to the company." Guru Hariharan, CEO CommerceIQ

26:59 The biggest problem the teams have solved in the last year from data quality assurance at e.fundamentals to incrementality in retail media at CommerceIQ.

29:11 Guru and John share what surprised them the most about the industry

30:38 Finally, with the Black Friday and the festive season around the corner and inflation and cost of living a big concern in many markets, CPGs will be feeling a little bit nervous about what to expect from this year's golden quarter. Our guests discuss how CPG brands can still capture shoppers’ attention in such a difficult climate.

33:22 – 34:26 In light of the various challenges and opportunities, our guests give us their one essential piece of advice for our listeners on how to retain category leadership today and in the future.

" Connect people and automate processes" Guru Hariharan, CEO CommerceIQ

"You need to have connected data to keep up with the speed of change and decision making that is going to occur over the next few years." John Maltman, CEO e.fundamentals, a CommerceIQ company