In an era where consumers gather inspiration everywhere else, branded eCommerce sites face an existential crisis: prove your utility or become irrelevant. This episode examines how consumer expectations have shifted toward "get me what I want, when and how I want it," with 58% finding returns the most frustrating aspect of online shopping. We dissect why guest checkout remains a universal pain point and how brands can differentiate through seamless utility rather than flashy features.

• eCommerce sites have evolved from discovery engines to confirmation engines—customers arrive with pre-baked decisions seeking reassurance, not persuasion.
• Speed, clarity, and consistency are the new table stakes. Flashy features mean nothing if your site is slow, your checkout is clunky, or your shipping policy is unclear.
• Personalization should be engagement-based, not identity-based. Customers want relevance without creepiness—focus on their behavior in the moment, not invasive tracking.
• AI is an enabler, not the answer. Use it to understand cross-platform touchpoints and customer frustrations, not as a magic bullet for conversion.
  
• [00:04:06] "By the time they land on your site, they have pretty much created an idea of who you are, of what you offer, of what your product is. It's more on the choice confirmation bias...they don't want to be challenged. They just want to be reassured that they made the right decision." – Felipe Pose
• [00:14:00] "The role of the website has become more about clarity and reassurance, and not about communicating everything that you are, everything that you do, everything that you provide." – Felipe Pose
• [00:20:33] "I think that is one of the most powerful insights that we have gathered from many reports...they don't want to be really over targeted. They don't want identity based personalization. It's more based on what I want in this moment. What do I need from you? It's personalization based on engagement." – Felipe Pose
• [00:29:11] "If you are playing like a Jenga game...if you don't have a really strong foundation, if you don't have a site that is working correctly, a site that has some really slow pages, you have an unclear shipping policy...those are the things that will end up moving the needle the more." – Felipe Pose
• [00:32:46] "It's all about being prepared for the future and really understanding. Do I have everything I need today to be prepared for that? Because if you are on a really slow platform, something that is not scalable, you will not have a good experience today, even more so in 2026." – Felipe Pose

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As retail sheds its four walls, technology must follow. Jason James (CIO, Aptos) and Nikki Baird (VP of Strategy & Product, Aptos) join us to explore how brands like New Balance deploy 90+ registers at the NYC Marathon—then dismantle them just as quickly. The conversation reveals how point-of-sale systems built on next-generation databases enable everything from parking lot pop-ups to van-based fitting experiences, all while maintaining enterprise-grade security in environments where network connectivity is more hope than guarantee.

• New Balance transforms NYC Marathon into 100-store chain for one weekend
• Offline capability: transactions continue when networks fail, sync when connectivity returns
• In-person acquisition yields stickier customers with higher lifetime value
• Retail ranks third most-attacked sector; mobile commerce increases threat surface
• Store associates need intuitive systems for high-pressure, temporary deployments
• "If they're able to pull this off in the middle of a parking lot, I'm probably a hell of a lot more likely to go in the store next time." – Jason James on how ephemeral retail builds store trust
• "A customer acquired through an in-person, in real life experience is stickier, has longer lifetime value, is ultimately more loyal than a customer that's acquired online." – Nikki Baird on the power of physical engagement
• "God forbid a retailer gets hit back at headquarters with ransomware and it takes down their core network. We can still transact." – Jason James on offline resilience
• "It's not just you put products on racks or on shelves and you wait for people to walk in the door. Events are coming into stores too." – Nikki Baird on stores as experience hubs

• Learn about Aptos
• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and print
• 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

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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Mani Fazeli, VP of Product at Shopify, joins the show to explore how agentic commerce is fundamentally transforming retail. From Sidekick's co-founder capabilities to Sim Gym's buyer simulations, Shopify is democratizing enterprise-level AI tools for merchants of all sizes. The conversation reveals why friction isn't always the enemy, how discovery is evolving beyond blue links, and why structured data is the new SEO.

• Discovery has evolved from a one-shot search to multi-turn conversations
• Friction has value: Some purchases deserve complexity, others need speed
• Structured data becomes critical for agentic commerce success
• [00:32:56] "Let's make special what's actually worth being special. And then let's be okay with the fact that the rest of it gets streamlined."
• [00:49:57] "Structured data becomes the new SEO. Every brand is going to have to worry about whether they have clean, well-structured, and well-understandable schemas."
• [00:04:20] "Utility above being flashy. Go right for the heart of what makes a difference in the merchant's life every single day."
• [00:33:39] "Until these systems become emotion aware, it's highly unlikely that they are completely eradicating the entire idea of manual human intervention in commerce."

• Shopify Winter '26 Editions

• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and print
• 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

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.