Commerce Connect Podcast

Kelly Goetsch, chief strategy officer for commercetools, is an  evangelist for a headless approach to ecommerce. He's recruited leaders from some of the biggest names in ecommerce to advance the idea of microservices, API-first, cloud-native, multi-tenant SaaS and headless (MACH). Learn more about the MACH Alliance, commercetools' groundbreaking approach to ecommerce and what Goetsch thinks about the future of ecommerce as he sits down with Digital River's Ted Rogers for the Commerce Connect podcast.

Mike Schmid considers himself a start-up kind of a guy, which is one reason he decided it was time to leave his high-profile gig at Apple to try his hand at a company he’d been eyeing for some time, Seattle-based Rec Room. With more than 37-million users worldwide, the free-to-use platform allows creators to customize interactive rooms, and build experiences for others to share. Late last year, the company announced $145-million in new funding, bringing the company’s valuation to $3.5 billion. Heady stuff for a start-up that first got off the ground in 2016. The pandemic pushed growth even further. Learn more about Rec Room's plans for self-publishing, and how Schmid views Rec Room's place in the so-called Metaverse.

Becoming a fraud fighter was not on Mark Michelon’s radar when he interviewed for a finance job at a new company. He got the job and was asked to look at a problem the company was having with chargebacks on its new website. It turned out to be a fraud ring.  Michelon was hooked, and his finance path pivoted to ecommerce fraud prevention. Now, as president of Accertify, an American Express Company, Michelon is one of the good guys working to stay ahead of ecommerce fraudsters. Learn more about how you can improve your fraud strategy in this edition of Digital River's Commerce Connect podcast.

Phillip Jackson and Brian Lange are former competitors turned co-conspirators. Together they founded Future Commerce, which helps brands create a strategic vision that will shape the future of their retail and digital channels. Not content to leave it there, Jackson and Lange want to help brands bring about change for their customers and even the world.

Jim Herbert is an unabashed cheerleader of the Open SaaS approach at BigCommerce, Herbert now finds himself in the middle of the biggest product announcement for BigCommerce in recent years, it’s new Multi-Storefront solution that will give merchants even more flexibility and ease of use.Digital River’s Jason Nyhus recently spoke with Herbert about Multi-Storefront, Open SaaS and how flexibility is key for brands striving for long-term success.

If the idea of getting a late-night delivery of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to your doorstep sounds appealing, you can thank Unilever’s Amy Brix for making it a reality for European customers. Now Director of Ecommerce in Germany for Unilever, Brix is responsible for the overall execution of Unilever’s ecommerce strategy in Germany. Brix sat down with Digital River’s CMO, Ted Rogers, to talk about ecommerce trends, and what that means for shoppers craving convenience.

Uday Kotla, vice president and global business head for Infosys Digital Experience joins Digital River's Jason Nyhus for a look forward after a blistering two years of growth in the ecommerce industry. What are companies looking for now? Which industries are seeing the most transformation, and how is Infosys addressing the global demand? It's been a wild ride for ecommerce, and Uday suggests the most interesting changes are still to come.

Dave Tu is president of DCL Logistics,  a Bay Area company with 40 years in the business of delivering for clients with complex distribution requirements.  Dave sits down with Digital River's Jason Nyhus to talk about how his company is navigating the challenges brought by a global pandemic, and what steps ecommerce brands should be taking to meet customer expectations in 2022. 

Jared Blank is Chief Marketing Officer for VTEX - North America, a digital commerce platform for enterprise B2B and B2C ecommerce brands. From his early days in ecommerce at Tommy Hilfiger to now helping some of the world's best-known brands set their D2C ecommerce strategies, Jared knows what it takes to create true innovation. In this conversation with Digital River's Jason Nyhus, Jared shares his views on what the future holds for D2C ecommerce.

Paul Rios noticed something interesting when he started at HubSpot ten years ago. Some of the inbound leads at the CRM platform provider were from Latin America. And they were largely being ignored. Paul realized the market had enormous potential - so he asked to work on it as a side project until the company was able to put resources behind Paul's work.  In this episode, Paul, now Director of Sales, Latin America Direct, shares some of what he's learned building up HubSpot's business in this lucrative and complex market.