Shoptalk Vignette 2: Brands Are Under Constant Assault

Shoptalk Vignette #2
One of the more interesting hallways to walk down at Shoptalk was the ‘dedicated meeting rooms,’.

Meta. DoorDash. Instacart. TikTok. Amazon Ads. Amazon Shipping.

Service providers? Sure. Marketplaces? Uh huh. What do they want? Yes.

When I was at Tumi – we were fanatical about who and how we worked with to distribute our products. MAP pricing is a thing – but - how do you deal with loyalty programs? Buy-more-get-mores? Credit cards offering rewards? There is always a way around MAP pricing --- if you want to find a way around it. There is no way of really preventing any pricing changes once they are stocking your goods… short of ending a relationship. For brands that are DTC focused, the risk that comes to your brand equity by partnering with someone to sell your goods… scary. The premise of someone else distributing your goods makes a ton of sense --- they have traffic, that traffic wants your stuff, let’s sell it! I collaborated with partners on distribution agreements that made everyone feel happy and commercially motivated (if you all ever wanted to riff on it, let me know).

Now? These collaborators are everywhere

Google Shopping, Amazon Ads, Amazon Shopping, the payment guys (Shop pay, Klarna, Affirm), TikTok, Meta, Temu all have marketplaces… and is anyone going to be surprised when ChatGPT starts asking for affiliate fees?

It's my experience that sometimes analytically focused leaders can be … trivial about the importance of brand. If conversion goes up, it’s good. If conversion goes down, it’s bad. ROI on a last click, first click, 30-day window… all these things are engrained in us. Integrity of the brand? … how do I find that in my Google Analytics?!

Now, more than ever, your brand IS your only differentiation.

That’s it... and it’s under a relentless assault from folks who want to use your brand to drive their offering and take a little bit of your margin… and a LOT of your customer relationship. At Shoptalk, this assault was front and center – and we as digital leaders need to protect our brand more than ever before.

What does this actually mean?

Focus on the experiences you control. Your marketing. Your stores. Your website. Make it so damn good that customers don’t WANT to go anywhere else… and if you make the decision you’re going to let other folks sell your stuff and charge you for it – you better maintain that differentiation.