“We’re kind of drowning in a sea of sameness.”

That’s how Rob Hoekman, Senior Director of Experience Consulting at Empathy Lab by EPAM describes the state of ecommerce today.

On this week’s episode of The FODcast, our CEO Tim and Rob unpack how decades of optimisation and best practice have led to convergence - in platforms, patterns and experiences - and why differentiation is getting harder, not easier.

They explore:

• How ecommerce capability has become commoditised
• Why replatforming now delivers smaller gains than it once did
• The risk created by years of customisation and legacy
• Why brands are being pushed to rethink their entire commerce fabric

Rob’s view is measured but direct: the next phase of growth won’t come from chasing new stacks, but from rethinking how commerce ecosystems are designed and operated.

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#DigitalCommerce #DigitalStrategy #Engineering #FODcast

Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/

“It’s not the licence cost that kills you; it’s the invisible overhead.”

That’s how Serge El Hachem, Director of Solutions Engineering at Lazer Technologies, describes what’s really slowing enterprise commerce down.

On this week’s episode of The FODcast, host James and Serge unpack how global retailers are simplifying their stacks, cutting total cost of ownership, and finding real speed on Shopify.

We also cover:

• The invisible overhead - multiple vendors, fragile integrations, endless QA and DevOps cycles.
• Where costs shrink fastest; hosting, scaling, PCI and security handled natively, no AWS bills or patching.
• Speed as the unlock - six-month builds become six-week sprints, compounding learning and growth.
• App strategy that scales - Serge’s rule: every app should automate, measure, or personalise, or it’s bloat.
• Enterprise maturity - extensible checkout, powerful promo logic, and fast-maturing B2B capabilities.

With two decades in engineering and eight years focused on Shopify, Serge’s insight is clear: simplify the architecture, and growth follows.

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Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/

Confused about what’s actually working in digital commerce right now?

You’re not alone. Between US conversion chaos, rising costs, and AI hype, it’s hard to tell what moves the needle and what’s just noise.

On this week’s episode of The FODcast, host Tim Roedel sits down with Jamie Vaughan, ex MD at Signifly, to cut through the chatter and get practical about what to fix first.

Here’s what we cover:

• The “Donald effect” impacting US growth - and how to rebuild confidence through landed cost clarity and reassurance
• Conversion that counts: prioritising high-impact experiments using RICE (Reach, Impact, Cost, Effort)
• Life after cookies: why attribution and cohort analysis (with tools like Triple Whale) are now essentials
• Turning first-party data into your growth engine - not a last-ditch paid ads replacement

Plus, real examples, clear takeaways, and no fluff.

If you’re scaling, re-platforming, or rethinking your funnel for 2025, you’ll want to hear this one.

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#DigitalCommerce #Ecommerce #Shopify #AI #DataStrategy #Search #CRO #FODcast

Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/