Rick Watson is the CEO and Founder of RMW Commerce Consulting, which provides eCommerce strategy consulting to help businesses accelerate their go-to-market processes. Rick founded the company after spending more than 20 years as a technology entrepreneur and operator in the eCommerce industry with companies including ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, and Pitney Bowes.
During a partnership with WHP Global, he was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a turnkey DTC digital eCommerce platform powering AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com. Rick hosts The Watson Weekly podcast, where he shares his unbiased, expert take on the retail sector’s biggest news and executives. As a television and conference speaker, he has been featured on national news programs and many retail-focused industry events.
The eCommerce business is evolving and becoming more extensive. Amazon is no longer the exclusive selling channel, as brands are beginning to experiment with Walmart and Target’s online marketplaces. So what should you consider about these stores, and how can you diversify your brand to reach a wider audience?
Walmart’s eCommerce channel experienced a higher yearly growth rate than Amazon, with the platform growing 12% in 2022. Yet Walmart is still a growing channel, so Rick Watson warns not to overspend or allocate every resource there. Target offers one to two-day drop-shipping capabilities, and although the emerging marketplace is promising, its categories are broad and unregulated. As a DTC (direct-to-consumer) brand, it’s critical to consider your target audience’s shopping habits and expand your products into multiple marketplaces to attract new consumers.
In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant welcomes Rick Watson, CEO and Founder of RMW Commerce Consulting, back to the show to discuss eCommerce marketplace trends. Rick also addresses considerations for selling DTC, AI’s role in UGC (user-generated content), and how he helps entrepreneurs build their eCommerce businesses.
BWG Connect provides executive strategy and networking sessions that help brands from any industry with their overall business planning and execution. We network and knowledge share together to better understand and adapt to the newest trends, strategies, and pain points shaping growth in the digital space. BWG Connect, in conjunction with BWG Strategy, has built an exclusive network of 125,000+ senior professionals and hosts over 2,000 virtual and in-person networking events on an annual basis.
In addition, we have had 1x1 conversations with over 5,000 brands and have a real-time pulse on what digital strategies are successful and why. This in-depth knowledge allows our team to operate on the cutting-edge and provide our clients with best-in-class guidance on how to win in the digital world. We have provided free consultations and strategy sessions for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune-100, to enable growth, resolve issues and make curated service provider introductions that can impact your digital footprint.
We have held to the philosophy of providing high-level insights and actionable knowledge with no sales pitches in order to provide to our network the ability to listen, learn and act to improve themselves as well as their organizations. Our ultimate goal is to be the resource out there to help digital executives find the research they need to excel in the modern marketplace.
If you are interested in getting involved with any of our current or past events, you can find them here. If you are looking for help & would like to set up some time to chat with our team, you can schedule a time or reach out directly to Aaron@bwgconnect.com or Tiffany@bwgconnect.com.
Tim Armstrong is the Founder and CEO of Flowcode, a QR code generator platform for DTC companies. He was the former President of Google Americas, where he built and led the platform from a SaaS search provider to one of the largest ad businesses in the world. Tim was also the Chairman and CEO of AOL, where he helped establish the site as a content company before selling it to Verizon for $4.4 billion. During his time at AOL, he was named by Fortune magazine as one of the 40 Under 40.
The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and brands must adapt to new trends and regulations in advertising and data collection. Consumer relationships, engagement, and trust remain at the core of these rapid developments. So how can you optimize first-party data to keep consumers top of mind?
Advertising has become commoditized, and brands are exchanging first-party data with competitive companies, consequently undermining brand and customer value. Instead, Tim Armstrong says to regain control of consumer data by identifying its use and location. Understanding this information allows you to monitor real-time traffic on your ads or marketing campaigns and interact with your audience to foster transparent relationships and deliver value.
In today’s episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant invites Tim Armstrong, Founder and CEO of Flowcode, to speak about how brands can provide consumer value in the volatile digital ecosystem. Tim also addresses the multi-touch attribution model’s potential, AI’s impact on digital business, and how to navigate regulatory compliance during data collection.
BWG Connect provides executive strategy and networking sessions that help brands from any industry with their overall business planning and execution. We network and knowledge share together to better understand and adapt to the newest trends, strategies, and pain points shaping growth in the digital space. BWG Connect, in conjunction with BWG Strategy, has built an exclusive network of 125,000+ senior professionals and hosts over 2,000 virtual and in-person networking events on an annual basis.
In addition, we have had 1x1 conversations with over 5,000 brands and have a real-time pulse on what digital strategies are successful and why. This in-depth knowledge allows our team to operate on the cutting-edge and provide our clients with best-in-class guidance on how to win in the digital world. We have provided free consultations and strategy sessions for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune-100, to enable growth, resolve issues and make curated service provider introductions that can impact your digital footprint.
We have held to the philosophy of providing high-level insights and actionable knowledge with no sales pitches in order to provide to our network the ability to listen, learn and act to improve themselves as well as their organizations. Our ultimate goal is to be the resource out there to help digital executives find the research they need to excel in the modern marketplace.
If you are interested in getting involved with any of our current or past events, you can find them here. If you are looking for help & would like to set up some time to chat with our team, you can schedule a time or reach out directly to Aaron@bwgconnect.com or Tiffany@bwgconnect.com.
