The DNA of Winning in eCommerce: Lessons from Profitero’s 2025 Benchmark Study with Mike Black, Chief Growth Officer at Profitero

“In this moment, the existential threat is the “do nothing” paradigm.” That little harbinger of potential doom is less depressing than you’d think - it’s more of a representation of how quickly our topic, Agentic AI is beginning to hint at the promise of becoming a real growth channel if you get it right. And the speaker of that teeny, tiny, doomsaying, Natalija Pavic, Product Marketing Leader at KIBO Commerce, spends the rest of the pod on smart advice and practical ways to think about a path to take early advantage of this new era of commerce.

For the ninth year, Profitero has mapped the anatomy of eCommerce excellence and the 2025 results reveal an industry at an inflection point. Only 14% of brands feel “ahead of the curve,” but the leaders are rewriting what success looks like by embedding omnichannel into their organizational DNA. In this episode, we unpack the findings with Mike Black diving into the state of eCategory management, the private label battleground, the rise of social as a conversion engine, and how AI is shifting from test-and-learn to scaled activation.

A successful collaboration between brands and retailers rely on a shared understanding of the importance of getting the fundamentals right. There is a lot of noise and upheaval in commerce today, but according to Brooke Chambers, Director of Growth & Strategy Merchandising at Kroger, the strongest relationships come when there is a shared understanding of the consumer’s flywheel at that retailer. That fundamental insight becomes the north star for joint business planning, and brings clarity to the drive for growth.

It’s not that many people who can say they’ve spent over a decade in ecommerce, and over a quarter of a century at a global powerhouse like Unilever, but Oliver Bradley, now Digital Commerce Strategy & Operations Director at Neem is one of them. And his obsession is making sure every digital shelf image works on every level - accessible to every consumer, telling a cohesive brand story, and inspiring the confidence to buy. Oliver joined the podcast to lay out his best practices and data that has convinced some of the biggest brands in the world to change their imagery ways.

Lauren Livak Gilbert has been trying to get a CFO on the podcast for over a YEAR. It’s one of the most pivotal relationships you need to have to drive success and manage in tough times, and she finally found one who was ready to talk omnichannel turkey. Matt Putra, CEO at fractional CFO firm Eightx, joined the podcast with tough advice and a passion for building a bridge between finance and the business to make the P&L shine.

From smart carts to video ads and the rise of agentic shopping, Roger shares the trends brands need to get across now to stay relevant in the future of commerce. And with AI rapidly reshaping how shoppers discover and buy, Roger walks us through three frontiers of AI: inside AI, inside out AI and outside in AI, and what this means for brands showing up on the digital shelf. As a retail media specialist, Roger also shares his perspectives on how retail media differs across regions and how internal teams can best build capability to manage it.

As Generative AI plunges into the Trough of Disillusionment filled with the roiling waves of AI hype, we wanted to bring on a guest to inject some wisdom and expertise to steer your ship of AI on to calmer waters. Holy tortured metaphors, Batman, we found him! Bjorn Rosander is Founder and CEO at software & applied AI consultancy Pynne, and he brings to the podcast sage advice and a framework that puts measurable business value, strong use cases, and change management at the core.

In our first ever two part cross over podcast with Future Commerce we dive into the new DSI research on omnichannel org structures. Part 1 over on the Future Commerce podcast paints the picture of 2030 and what a more AI enabled world looks like. Part 2 dives into how to make that possible with actionable insights for brands navigating the change. Learn how to balance human strategy with AI agents, embrace continuous reinvention, and show up as one connected company in today’s commerce world.

Think of a store that's not just a place to buy things, but an experience you can see, hear, and touch. That's the essence of experiential retail media—the new frontier where advertising, content, and commerce merge to create memorable moments for shoppers, and incremental revenue for brands, in both the short term and long term. Andrew Lipsman, Commerce and Media Analyst, and Matt Eichorn, Co-Founder and CEO at Freeosk joined the podcast to explain it all.

Your future incremental growth, in an era of conversational commerce, machine shopping, and agentic AI, will at its foundation require winning a whole new search competition. What are the elements of victory here, and what do you need to do to get ready. John Andrews, Co-founder and CEO at Cimulate, (with a C) comes to the podcast with a lot of answers, some guesses, and excitement about the questions and to come in this fast-moving space. Rob Gonzalez joins as co-host for a conversation on the new generation of search you won’t want to miss.