Using Unit Economics to Guide Decisions in Uncertain Times, with Colin Kaster, President of Strategy, Digital Advertising, and Operations at Equity Commerce

For the first episode of the APAC edition of Unpacking the Digital Shelf, Teresa is joined by Paul Brooks, former GM of Retail Media at Coles360 to discuss the retail media scene in Australia. Paul shares his journey building one of Australia’s largest retail media networks, the growth phases retailers go through, and the real-world trade-offs that come with scaling these platforms. We also explore how Australia compares to the US, UK, and Asia – and what brands need to focus on to win in this fast growing landscape.

I don’t know whether it’s a holy grail, but certainly a worthy grail is getting your organizations to behave with an omnichannel mindset to hopefully connect with the consumer however and wherever they choose, driving better conversion and a more strategic joint approach with your customers. Kenvue has organized around that mindset to ensure that they are spending their next dollar in the most productive place possible. That takes clear signals, communication, and strong relationships - all things we talk about with the fantastic Kacie McKee, Head of Omni-Commerce and Digital Acceleration at Kenvue. (This episode was recorded on May 20, 2025)

On this bonus episode of Unpacking the Digital Shelf you will hear the recap of each day of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity as Lauren Livak Gilbert sits down with Colin lewis & Kiri Masters each day to summarize the themes.

Tune in to hear some of Amazon’s announcements from Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and how AI will change discover for the consumer.

While Global Head of Digital Commerce Search at Unilever, Bob Bowman, now Search and Digital Shelf Expert at Win the Shelf and NEEM, was at the forefront of introducing AI into his global search and content operations to scale the business impact they were able to have. He joined the podcast to share the under the cover essential components and strategies required to test and learn his way to better content reaching more product pages at a lower cost.

That little barcode on the box, the engine of every sale, is getting a HUGE makeover, one that promises to transform the consumer’s shopping journey and their interactions with your brand. All powered by the new GS1 QR Code! There’s a ton of opportunity packed into that code, and Kerry Morrison, Head of Retail and Marketplaces at GS1 joined the podcast to make sure you’re getting ready to take advantage of it.

Love starting out with facts! Did you know, 47% of shoppers now start their buying journey on marketplaces. And 63% of consumers prefer buying from marketplaces? Seems like this 3P thing ain’t going away, particularly in chaotic times when having channels and listings that you can turn on and off, that you can control, can come in handy. Jordi Vermeer, VP of Revenue, North America at ChannelEngine, joins the podcast with the Why, What, and Hows of designing and executing a marketplace strategy that works for you.

Times of chaos and uncertainty do have an uncomfortable but necessary side effect of focusing one’s mind both on what is important and what is within one’s control. This is certainly true in the zoom rooms and boardrooms of any company in commerce. For our guest Colin Kaster, President of Strategy, Digital Advertising, and Operations at Equity Commerce, an e-commerce agency optimizing Amazon and omnichannel sales, much of the answers lie in understanding the real unit economics of every SKU you sell and then optimizing your business around where the opportunities for maximum profitability lie.

Winning search and driving conversion are the two ecommerce victories that get the attention of the Amazon algorithm and drive the flywheel. Turns out, when brands struggle with those metrics, the cause often lies way, way down in the detailed depths of Amazon Vendor Central. Justin Leigh, CEO at Workflow Labs, joins the podcast to talk about strategies to identify the root causes of friction in your Amazon funnel and how to fix them.

Listeners of this podcast are experts at thinking about the consumer who is shopping in a digital context, and how to do their best marketing to win over those consumers in the moments of discovery and conversion. Tim Wilson, Chief Revenue Officer at ProductWind, thinks that you ought to marketing at another customer that you may be neglecting: the algorithm itself. Winning at that marketing motion may be more extensive, and more winnable than you think. Tim joined the podcast to explain.