Future Commerce

LIVE at Shoptalk Spring: Architecting a 360° Wedding Ecosystem with David's Bridal

How does a 76-year-old legacy retailer reinvent itself as a tech-powered ecosystem? Lisa Horton, Chief Communications & Creative Officer at David’s Bridal, dishes on the company’s grand modernization and how they’ve expanded to accommodate the next generation’s Gen-Z-sized aspirations.  HERE COMES THE ALGORITHM KEY TAKEAWAYS: * David's Bridal's "Aisle to Algorithm" pivot puts AI at the center of everything — from merchandising to internal communications. * The Style Squad ambassador program bridges employee creators ("Dream Makers") and external influencers, offering the most aggressive affiliate commission in retail at 20%. * David's captures 90% of brides who enter their ecosystem — a first-party data advantage few retailers can match. * The definition of "influencer" is broadening: word of mouth is influence, and everyone is influential. * David's is building beyond bridal — eyeing the post-wedding household, where the majority of purchase decisions are made. * [00:00:54] "We're basically a startup inside of a 76-year-old retailer." - Lisa Horton * [00:12:09] "We have shifted in the last 12 months from being a legacy retailer to a 360 degree wedding planning ecosystem." - Lisa Horton * [00:13:12] "Word of mouth is influence. And everyone is influential." - Lisa Horton * [00:22:06] "Everything that we do moving forward is always going to come from a place of how do we mitigate her stress? How do we make her feel excited and seen and celebratory in every moment." - Lisa Horton ASSOCIATED LINKS: * Check out Future Commerce on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/c/FutureCommercePodcast] * Check out Future Commerce Plus [https://www.futurecommerce.com/plus] for exclusive content and save on merch and print * Subscribe [https://www.futurecommerce.com/subscribe] to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world * Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce [https://www.futurecommerce.com/] Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com [https://www.futurecommerce.com/], or reach out to us on Twitter [https://twitter.com/futurecommerce], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/futurecommercepodcast/?ref=br_rs], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurecommerce/], or LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/futurecommercepodcast/]. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LIVE at Shoptalk Spring: Retail Media Confessions, Hype Cycles, and the Creator Reckoning

Recorded live on the Shoptalk Spring show floor, Phillip and Alicia sit down with Leah Logan, VP of Retail Media Transformation for Inmar Intelligence, and Andrew Lipsman, Founder & Chief Analyst at Media, Ads + Commerce, fresh off a spirited on-stage debate about agentic commerce. We debunk AI Traffic Apocalypse predictions and make the case for creators as a critical yet overlooked retail media channel.  THE AIPOCALYPSE, EXPLAINED KEY TAKEAWAYS: * AI referral traffic currently accounts for just 0.1–2% of retailer traffic; it has also led to eCommerce site traffic growth, not decline.  * Consumer intent data, not bottom-funnel ads, is where LLM advertising will find its footing. * Creators are a media channel that predates the hype, and the measurement has been there for years. * Retail media's growth depends on graduating from ROAS to incrementality — the sooner, the better. * [00:11:08] "The next big trend already exists. People just haven't really wrapped their heads around it yet." — Andrew Lipsman * [00:26:09] "We have to stop looking at CPMs and start looking at investments." — Leah Logan IN-SHOW MENTIONS: * Retail Confessions Podcast [https://www.inmar.com/solutions/martech/retailers/retail-media/confessions] * Buy STRATA [http://futurecommerce.com/strata] ASSOCIATED LINKS: * Check out Future Commerce on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/c/FutureCommercePodcast] * See our in-depth analysis [https://www.futurecommerce.com/posts/insiders-223-has-ai-reset-maslows-hierarchy] of Shoptalk’s theme: “Retail in the Age of AI”  * Read our post-event digest [https://www.futurecommerce.com/the-senses/sin-city-stratasphere-our-shoptalk-debrief] in The Senses * Check out Future Commerce Plus [https://www.futurecommerce.com/plus] for exclusive content and save on merch and print * Subscribe [https://www.futurecommerce.com/subscribe] to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world * Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce [https://www.futurecommerce.com/] Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com [https://www.futurecommerce.com/], or reach out to us on Twitter [https://twitter.com/futurecommerce], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/futurecommercepodcast/?ref=br_rs], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurecommerce/], or LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/futurecommercepodcast/]. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

LIVE at Shoptalk Spring: Wing’s Heather Rivera on Five-Minute Futures

Recorded live at Shoptalk, Phillip and Brian sit down with Heather Rivera, Chief Business Officer at Wing (an Alphabet company), to talk about how Wing has crafted our five-minute delivery future. Spoiler: the novelty of drones wearing off might be the best thing that ever happened to the industry. BUILDING THE DRONE WHILE WE’RE FLYING IT KEY TAKEAWAYS: * Wing's fastest recorded delivery: 2 minutes, 37 seconds. Average is under five minutes. * 25% of Wing customers order three times a week – habit, not novelty. * Wing just announced its largest residential drone delivery expansion yet, with Walmart, covering 270+ store locations. * ~70% of Walmart SKUs fit in Wing's current delivery box – roughly 50,000 products. * Wing recently doubled its payload capacity from 2.5 lbs to 5 lbs, opening new SKU and category possibilities. * [00:20:39] "I want this technology to become unremarkable for people because it just becomes part of the way they go about their lives." – Heather Rivera * [00:13:09] "I predict there's gonna be whole sets of new companies that design existing products to fit into the five pound baskets." – Brian ASSOCIATED LINKS: * Get STRATA [http://futurecommerce.com/strata] * Check out Future Commerce on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/c/FutureCommercePodcast] * Check out Future Commerce Plus [https://www.futurecommerce.com/plus] for exclusive content and save on merch and print * Subscribe [https://www.futurecommerce.com/subscribe] to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world * Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce [https://www.futurecommerce.com/] Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com [https://www.futurecommerce.com/], or reach out to us on Twitter [https://twitter.com/futurecommerce], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/futurecommercepodcast/?ref=br_rs], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurecommerce/], or LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/futurecommercepodcast/]. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

*TEASER* Baptist Oreos, Anglican Biscotti

Oreos are Baptist, Biscotti are Anglican, and we're losing our minds. Cookie theology, meme reality, mass hallucinations, the price of attention, and more on the full After Dark episode – accessible to Future Commerce Plus members.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shoptalk Spring Recap: STRATA, Snoop Dogg, & the Simulacra

Recording LIVE from the show floor of Shoptalk Spring 2026, the Future Commerce team brings our hottest takes and deepest insights from this year’s event. PLUS: We celebrated the launch of our newest zine, STRATA Vol. 001, with over 150 of our favorite people (including Snoop Dogg?). Get your copy at futurecommerce.com/strata [http://futurecommerce.com/strata].  OUR WEEK IN THE STRATASPHERE KEY TAKEAWAYS: * AI was the headline theme, but the humanity angle landed harder with attendees. * In-booth content creation has become the industry standard; Future Commerce pioneered it in 2017. * FedEx's Jason Brenner reframed logistics as a brand trust moment, not just a last mile. * Victoria's Secret CEO Hillary Super showed what vision-led turnarounds actually look like. * Curious people will always find leverage. AI just multiplies what they were already doing. * “Maybe by this time next year, we will see OpenClaw-specific agencies on the show floor.” – Phillip  * "If you're inherently curious and someone who likes to problem solve...AI is gonna help you, totally, without a doubt." – Alicia IN-SHOW MENTIONS: * Get STRATA [http://www.futurecommerce.com/strata] * FedEx: Same-Day Local [https://newsroom.fedex.com/newsroom/global-english/fedex-to-offer-faster-delivery-with-launch-of-fedex-sameday-local] * Subscribe [http://futurecommerce.com/subscribe] to catch our full recap on Insiders ASSOCIATED LINKS: * See more [http://www.futurecommerce.com/the-senses/sin-city-stratasphere-our-shoptalk-debrief] post-show coverage in The Senses * Check out Future Commerce on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/c/FutureCommercePodcast] * Check out Future Commerce Plus [https://www.futurecommerce.com/plus] for exclusive content and save on merch and print * Subscribe [https://www.futurecommerce.com/subscribe] to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world * Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce [https://www.futurecommerce.com/] Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com [https://www.futurecommerce.com/], or reach out to us on Twitter [https://twitter.com/futurecommerce], Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/futurecommercepodcast/?ref=br_rs], Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/futurecommerce/], or LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/futurecommercepodcast/]. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.