Issue #22
In This Issue: Vile Rumour & Gossip | Grownup Startups | The Digital Markets Act | The New Monolith Lowers Risk | Insult of the Week
In this issue we’ve taken a look back over the last few weeks and just written about the thoughts that have stuck. Hopefully some stimulating and truthful items.
Vile Rumour & Gossip
Extending the runway
Seems like some SaaS vendors in eCommerce in particular have taken the decision to extend their runway by at least 12 months. We’ve got any number of AE’s & Marketing staff wondering what to do now, most are choosing to job hunt – challenging times.
Fear and loathing in paid media
Our last few weeks in the Commerce Futures Community have proved fascinating. It seems (alongside SaaS) that many high-growth pureplays are putting their paid media partners through the mill, and almost creating a revolving door for agencies. This is a sector where 5 yrs ago nobody EVER moved, and now the CEO & CFO are in every meeting – ready to press the button.
The humans in AI
We ran an AI event the other week, and my biggest takeaway was that data scientists (those people who actually develop/tweak/use) are fascinated by their own role in automation. Which made us think that the human ego might halt AI in its tracks at some point.
Grown-up Start-ups – the most exciting thing
In the last 3 years our Commerce Futures brand time has been broadly taken up with our participation in the MACH project. It’s been (and continues to be) brilliant, but my gosh big companies are slow, and so progress is rarely “PROGRESS”!
As we devote 2024 to our core mid-market and high-growth audiences, it's wonderful to be back in “grown-up start-up” land. These guys move so much faster - the joke in their world is “Anychannel” rather than the now mutually hated “O” word (if you don’t know see our social). Some of them aren’t even designing or ordering stock, but rendering AI designs and only building product if the clicks pass a specific threshold. Does this mean demand planning and range creation are also going to be redesigned against a media backdrop?
We’re working with some of these scaleup merchants and planning specific events in 2024 for that “Hypergrowth” landscape – very different now there’s less VC money around, all the more fascinating we think.
This is the part of the market where real innovation is happening… the future of commerce?
The Digital Markets Act
Yawnsville right? Yep – another EU regulation which appears at first glance to be toothless. Except this next tranche that goes live 7th March 2024 is one of two new pieces of EU legislation that will actually move the dial for privacy and equality across Google, Meta, Apple etc.
This month it seems that the EU will reach an agreement with Meta etc, to force the social platform owners to police their platforms (of course they’re not publishers so it’s not their content) much more aggressively.
For us in tech this means that the platforms and socials will start to appear very differently according to where you live. An Android phone in France in 2025 will differ significantly from its USA cousin, and Apple perhaps even more so given the new rules about the App store. So – when speaking with retailers and merchants it’s once again worth knowing your legislation, you could truly help bring people up to speed as part of your sales process.
The New Monolith Lowers Risk
There, we’ve said it. It’s a thing amongst some enterprises. We could name four $1bn+ merchants who have replatformed on to a new monolith in the last 12 months, ignoring that fashion of 24 months ago where building your own stack using an API-first bespoke stack was de rigueur.
Instead, these companies have looked at the risk profile (high), the skills available (few) and the available funds (low), and have gone all in with a single partner. Moreover, that partner has been fully invested in the delivery alongside a carefully chosen SI.
Now, this is clickbait in a way just because these monoliths have composable hearts. The customers concerned can pretty easily (sic) remove components and tweak the platform. In fact they are starting to do so already, but they went live fast, delivered value to the business rapidly, and now have the luxury of time to perfect. 25% minimum saving in spend we’re told.
Finally - we have it on good authority that there’s no way Oracle is turning off ATG – so it was all just a dream anyway 🙂
That’s all folks. In the next issue we’ll feature the first of our guest blogs, Think “The Stig” but for eCommerce. We wish those going to Shoptalk all the best, please feedback on all fashion faux pas.
Laters!
Buyingtime Dictionary
Frequently used (but never about you) phrases from Buyingtime Ltd.
Appendix
/əˈpɛndɪks/
adjective
1. Had a use once but not sure what they do now.
"The content bloke about? Need something for social."
"Pfft, nah - total appendix. Ask GPT. No one can tell."
