The Jason & Scot Show - E-Commerce And Retail News

EP062 - Deep Dive Amazon-Go Store concept

On Monday 12/5/16, Amazon surprised the industry by debuting a new retail concept called Amazon Go. The 1800 square foot brick and mortar convince store’s most notable feature is that it requires no checkout. Just put your items in your shopping bag and walk out of the store when you are done. Payment is handled implicitly (similar to paying for an Uber).

The store is for Amazon Prime members only (requires a mobile app to act as a key and let you in the store), and uses a combination of camera and sensors to track shoppers and the items they put in their bags. The store is open to Amazon employees only for this month, and will be open to all prime members “early next year.”

Amazon has a website for the store, and a demonstration video

Context and History In the video and on the info site, they talk about having been working on the store for 4yrs The store likely leverages image recognition technology Amazon acquired via Snaptell 2009 The store clearly leverages elements of two patents Amazon filed in 2013 and 2014

• USPTO20150012396 TRANSITIONING ITEMS FROM A MATERIALS HANDLING FACILITY
• USPTO20150019391 DETECTING ITEM INTERACTION AND MOVEMENT
• This is one of several retail concepts Amazon is testing in the Seattle area this year.
  • The store is located in downtown Seattle on the edge of the Amazon Biodome (their new HQ complex) at 2131 7th Ave
  • Two other grocery pickup store concepts are under construction are in Balard and Sodo (north and south of downtown), and appear close to completion.
  • Amazon has an open bookstore open in University Village, 4601 26th Avenue NE (North of downtown)
• The store is offering a number of new (to Amazon) products including ready to make meal kits (similar to Blue Apron), made to order food, and freshly prepared food.

Technology

• The video the explicitly call out computer vision, deep learning algorithms, sensor fusion, “just walk out technology” #JWOT
• Computer vision is likely used for people tracking (patent even talks about using microphones to track peoples location and cell triangulation). This likely means the store has to be designed to have no blind spots for the camera. That would mean no restrooms for example, and may make the technology harder to retrofit into existing stores.
• Sensor fusion using a combination of LIDAR (laser based radar) and cameras for detecting and tracking products
• Deep learning for product recognition and training. One insider has said that they can see 30% of a product and accurately recognize it.
• Amazon makes the analogy to self driving cars which use a similar combination of AI/Cameras/and Sensors for example.
• The store may or may not use RFID. The patents reference RFID but the video (and unconfirmed reports from insiders) to give any indication of RFID use. This is a big deal, as requiring every product in the store to have an RFID tag adds significant operational costs. This store is a much bigger game changer, if RFID tags are not required.
• Although Amazon emphasized the huge customer experience benefit of not having to checkout. The store would also offer other advantages such as inventory accuracy (which would assist BOPIS, Out of Stocks, etc...)
• The store doesn’t appear to use any form of digital price tags. This is interesting as Amazon’s previous store concept (Bookstore) uses online prices in the store (which change frequently). If the prices are truly printed on paper on the shelf, it’s unlikely Amazon is offering the same prices as it’s website.

Open Questions:

• How well does the technology...

EP217 - OfferUp CEO Nick Huzar

Episode 217 is an interview with Nick Huzar (@nickhuzar), the Founder and CEO of OfferUp (@OfferUp). OfferUp is the largest mobile marketplace in the U.S, facilitating consumer to consumer sales of second-hand goods.

In this interview, we discuss OfferUp’s recent fund raise, the acquisition of LetGo, and the state of C2C Marketplaces during Covid-19.

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Episode 217 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded live on Thursday, April 23rd, 2020.

http://jasonandscot.com

Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.

Jason: [0:24] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 217 being recorded on Thursday April 23rd 2020 I’m your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I’m here with your co-host Scot Wingo.

Scot: [0:39] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott show listeners we are still recording during this fun pandemic shelter at home period and because we normally when we’re not she’ll bring it home have day jobs record the podcast late late at night it really restricts people that are crazy enough to come on the podcast so we’re using this opportunity to go through what I would call our Marketplace bucket list. So today on the podcast we have another bucket list guess this is pretty exciting. One of the biggest Trends in US market places that’s kind of under the radar and if you go to like a lot of trade shows and stuff but it is if you look at traffic data you realize there’s a really big movement here, is what I would call a new family a new innovation around smartphone app based consumer to consumer or some people say person-to-person marketplaces. So today on the show we are really excited to have the CEO of what I believed to be the largest one of these these new kind of mobile market places we, the CEO of offer up Nick who’s are welcome to the show Nick.

Nick: [1:43] Thanks for having me it’s great to be here.

Scot: [1:45] Do you prefer person-to-person consumer-to-consumer or do you use some other lingo.

Nick: [1:50] I think it’s I think it’s all the same that the the main idea is you know leveraging this technology that’s in all of our pockets to kind of reimagine local Commerce as we know it.

Jason: [2:05] Awesome and Nick we may be the only ones in the planet that have a Marketplace bucket list but we’re we’re.

Nick: [2:14] Everyone needs one.

Jason: [2:15] Yeah everyone should have one but I feel like we’re the only ones that are cool enough to actually have one so thanks for helping us check one one off but before we jump into OfferUp in marketplaces we always like to give listeners a little bit of color about your background so can you tell us what you’re doing and how you came to OfferUp.

Nick: [2:35] Yeah happy to so I’ve always been in the I’d say the Internet space pretty much since I graduated college.

[2:42] Kind of dating myself now but I used to I remember coming out of school I had to explain to people on companies why they needed a database connected to their website so that’s kind of gives you an idea of when I graduated college. But I’ve always been fascinated by I think the the endless possibilities with the internet so in some way shape or form of. I’ve been in at various startups you know throughout most of my career I did some briefs tents at T-Mobile. Spend a little bit of time at Microsoft you know I’ve done a few different companies my previous company too, OfferUp was called connects most people have no idea who the heck we were I’m not surprised but we started.

[3:26] Connects pre Friendster and so sometimes I’ll server after remind people what the heck was Friendster or Friendster came before my space and my space came before Facebook so we were very early I think I’d like to say I learned a lot of a. Mistakes kind of how to build a company and a startup. And you know ultimately I had no plans on doing another startup there a lot of work but I had a daughter on the way and I was so excited I went into this room full of stuff. That I had in my house and I was going to turn it into her nursery and that became the spark, and th...

The Jason & Scot Show. Podcast about e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.

Editor note: We're trying some fun new AI features for this episode. The following show notes were written by ChatGPT. We're also let AI remove all the "stop words" in our audio, and we've switched from Google to OpenAI for our audio transcription. Let us know your feedback.

In this episode of the Jason and Scot show, our special guest is Sean D. Nelson, the CEO and founder of Lovesac. He shares his inspiring journey of starting the company as a beanbag business in his basement and growing it into a successful public company. Sean highlights the key moments of his entrepreneurial journey, including winning a million dollars on Richard Branson's reality TV show and navigating the ups and downs of the business. Sean has upcoming book and podcast, both entitled "Let Me Save You 25 Years: Mistakes, Miracles, and Lessons from the Lovesac Story." Sean emphasizes the importance of being a direct-to-consumer brand and how Lovesac has found sustained success by focusing on customer acquisition costs and offering a high-quality product. He discusses the concept of direct-to-consumer and shares his thoughts on its significance. Sean believes that having a differentiated product that provides value to customers is crucial, rather than simply relying on an online sales strategy. The conversation also touches on the topic of innovation and how Lovesac has been able to push the boundaries of what a furniture company can offer. Sean discusses their Stealth Tech innovation, which incorporates surround sound into their couches, as well as their commitment to creating products that are built to last and designed to evolve. Sean acknowledges the challenges of operating in physical retail and highlights the importance of their showrooms in reducing customer acquisition costs and providing a hands-on experience for customers. He also mentions their partnerships with Best Buy and Costco to expand their reach. The discussion expands to the future of retail and e-commerce, with Sean mentioning the transformative role of AI but cautioning that it takes time for movements to fully evolve. He emphasizes the importance of being patient and keeping an eye on developments in the industry. The conversation concludes with Sean expressing his long-term commitment to Lovesac and his desire to build something meaningful rather than focusing solely on personal gain. Listeners are invited to check out Sean's podcast and website, as well as his upcoming book, which will be released in January. Overall, this episode provides insights into the journey and philosophy behind Lovesac's success and offers valuable perspectives on entrepreneurship, innovation, and the future of retail.

Chapters 0:00:46 Introduction and Welcome to the Show 0:08:36 The Journey of Love Sack: From Highs to Lows 0:12:05 Love Sack's Traditional IPO and Company Performance 0:15:49 The Importance of Having a Differentiated Product 0:19:49 The Value and Overhype of Market Movements 0:23:18 Sactionals: Built to Last, Designed to Evolve 0:25:56 Driving a Movement for Sustainable Consumerism 0:31:36 Innovation and the Evolution of Lovesac's Product Line 0:37:07 The Strength of Lovesac's Physical Showrooms in the DTC Landscape 0:40:03 Testing and Learning: Mobile Concierge and Shop and Shop 0:41:52 AI's transformative role in the future of technology 0:50:08 Long-Term Vision vs Quick Profit

Episode 313 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Thursday, November 9th, 2023.

Jason: [0:23] Welcome to the Jason and Scot show. This episode is being recorded on Thursday, November 9th, 2023. I'm your host, Jason "RetailGeek" Goldberg, and as usual, I'm here with your co-host, Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:37] Hey, Jason, and welcome back. Jason and Scot show listeners. Jason, we're very fortunate to have a entrepreneur on the show. I'm the entrepreneur side of our partnership. So I always really enjoy these.

[0:49] We have on the show, Sean D. Nelson. He is the CEO and founder of Lovesack. And a little birdie told me that he recently started a podcast himself. He started Love Sack as a beanbag company in his basement when he was around 18. And now it's a public company and doing relatively large revenues over 600 kind of run rate. If I look at the last quarter, I took a little glance at that. Sean, welcome to the show. Shawn : [1:13] Thank you. Thanks for having me. Great to be with you. Jason: [1:16] We are thrilled to have you, Sean. Listeners always like to kind of get the background. I'm imagining you don't have a deep background before you started Love Sack because you started it so young. But can you, like where were you in life when that brought y...

EP189 - Code Commerce and Grocery Shop

This episode was recorded right after Jason & Scot received their iPhone 11 Pro Max's. Jason mentioned a new iOS feature to take full page screenshots. Here is how to take full page screenshots in iOS 13.

Event Recaps:

• Code Commerce - Sept 9 and 10 in New York City
• Groceryshop - Sept 15-18 In Las Vegas

Amazon News

• Amazon orders 100,000 electric vans from Rivian
• Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

Other News

• BDO reports more than 7k stores already closed in 2019, which is already more than any other year
• Some contreversy over store closure numbers. IHL disagreed with Coresight methodology and findings.
  • Coresight store closure tracker
  • IHL score closure study

Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes.

Episode 189 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Sunday, September 22nd, 2019.

http://jasonandscot.com

Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.

EP102 - Code Commerce, Shop.org, and News

Code Commerce

Code Commerce (the first stand alone commerce event from Recode) was Sept 13 and 14 in New York City.

• Andy Dunn - CEO of Bonobos
• Laura Albert - CEO of Williams Sonoma
• NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Fanatics Executive Chairman Michael Rubin
• Pinterest President Tim Kendall
• A Tour of an Amazon Prime Now facility in New York on West 34th

Shop.org

Shop.org was September 25-27 in Los Angeles, CA.

• Marc Lore - President of Digital at Walmart
• Adam Grant - Author of the Originals
• Scott Galloway - NYC Professor, L2 Founder, and Author of "The Four"
• Tech Lab

Amazon News

• Amazon looking for a second HQ location. Scot thinks Austin, Jason suggested Houston or Detroit.
• Amazon launched a new set of Alexa based devices
• Amazon renewed - Certified pre-owned products
• Amazon opening 6 new Fulfillment Centers in the US (and 40 in India):
  • Oregon - Salem (8/28)
  • Ohio - North Randall
  • NY - Staten Island (9/6)
  • Michigan (9/14)
  • Oregon - Portland (9/18)
  • Ohio - Euclid (9/18)
• Alexa in BMW
• Kohls taking Amazon Returns

Other News

• Walmart buys Parcel - NY same day deliveries
• Plated acquired by Albertsons - Meal Kits heat up
• Ikea acquires TaskRabbit - Help deliver and assemble Ikea products
• Jet launching private label "everyday essentials" line
• Wish $30m NBA sponsorship
• Holiday Forecasts - Ranging from 3.5% - 4% (Jason thinks that might be optimistic unless we get highly promotional)

Don't forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes.

Episode 102 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Wednesday October 4th, 2017.

http://jasonandscot.com

Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, SVP Commerce & Content at Razorfish, and Scot Wingo, Founder and Executive Chairman of Channel Advisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing.