Get to know RETHINK Retail’s Leading Retail Influencers by way of the “Meet the TRI” Q&A sequence! Dive in to study about a member of the imagined chief group and stick to their do the job and insights across our material and their social channels.
Hello, I’m Rick Watson, CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting.
Connect with me on LinkedIn!
“Tell us about your background”
Based in New York City, Rick Watson is an eCommerce govt with much more than 20 decades in the sector at companies like Pitney Bowes, Barnes & Noble, Merchantry, and ChannelAdvisor.
Rick was a single of the very first personnel at ChannelAdvisor (NYSE:ECOM), investing 10 several years there launching quite a few of the company’s flagship progressive choices and serving to suppliers and manufacturers sell a lot more on eBay and Amazon marketplaces. He was afterwards recruited to start the 3rd-bash marketplace at Barnes & Noble.com, increasing the company’s merchandise catalog by more than 1 million objects. Following the successful marketplace start, Rick was named CEO of Merchantry, which he led to a $30 million acquisition by Tradeshift. Most a short while ago, Rick directed the cross-border solution tactic of Pitney Bowes, a $450 million company comprising Borderfree and eBay Global Shipping Application.
“Brief description of your existing role and your area in the industry.”
Rick Watson started RMW Commerce Consulting just after investing 20+ many years as a technology entrepreneur and operator solely in the eCommerce marketplace with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes. Watson’s perform nowadays is centered on supporting buyers and administration groups incubating and increasing direct-to-client enterprises. Most lately, in partnership with WHP International, Rick was a critical source in architecting the WHP+ system, a new turnkey immediate-to-client electronic e-commerce system that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com. Watson also hosts a podcast, The Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered specialist get on the retail sector’s most significant news and gamers.
“How has the retail field adjusted in the previous 5 several years? What do you forecast will materialize in the subsequent 5 to 10 decades?”
In the earlier 5 a long time, we have witnessed the ongoing battle for retailers that have not remodeled their experiences. The upcoming truly belongs to merchants who have performed a few factors:
- Prioritized their client experiences, notably curbside and in-keep choose-up
- Absolutely built-in on the net/digital and retail activities as component of a unified consumer journey
- Invested in up-fitting older suppliers
- Continued to innovate in main assortment and expanded products traces into development spots
- Retired legacy technological innovation
- Employed and retained best talent
“Do you have any appealing assignments coming up?”
A person of my extra fascinating initiatives at the second is operating with a layout-focused marketplace on a replatform to a headless eCommerce system.
I am also presently in the method of launching the RMW Commerce Community, a trusted discussion team to chat about all factors eCommerce.
“Which means do you use to hold up with market information?”
I really like a few various sources, in individual:
Retail Touchpoints: https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/
Marketplace Dive: https://www.industrydive.com/
(specifically Retail Dive, Supply Chain Dive, and Marketing and advertising Dive)
Business enterprise Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/
Phrase Sheet: https://fortune.com/publication/termsheet
Axios Pro Rata: https://www.axios.com/signup/pro-rata
Google Information is also surprisingly fantastic at learning what you like to browse about.
“What is the biggest obstacle the marketplace is facing?”
Expertise is nonetheless just one of the most significant problems struggling with the business these days. Quite a few stores can not recruit and keep excellent personnel for their retailer encounters.
Yet another huge problem in the sector is the legacy of stores and brands that have not tailored very well to the times. Bed Bathtub & Further than, Kohl’s, and Hole all tumble in this camp.
“How do you continue on to mature and develop as an influencer in the retail industry?”
You always have to have to be studying and aiding many others in new ways. Individuals check with me how significantly time I commit examining. The solution is that I am continuously looking at. Each instant is time to understand something new.
You also require to keep discovering strategies to interact the viewers. I commenced running a blog fairly early in my consulting job and then extra LinkedIn. A couple of yrs later on, I extra a podcast that has been lively for in excess of a 12 months. I’m now working on a personal community challenge.
“What are the most crucial improvements that we should make to deal with the future efficiently?”
There are two enormous problems for the marketplace in the subsequent few decades:
- How to cope with all the after-outcomes of COVID getting one particular of the finest shocks in the globe in the very last technology. This features the consequences of quantitative easing, source chain and producing shocks, customer impacts, and so forth.
- How to deal with the broad market change in the business from “growth at all costs” to a lot more of a profitability footing. It normally takes a different style of leader to take care of the optimization of a enterprise rather than only developing it.
“What has aided you get to where by you are and what assistance would you have for other people who want to established off in a equivalent path?”
For these hoping to crack into eCommerce, locating a terrific, high-high quality eCommerce organization is the very first step. As you job interview for roles, generally seem for businesses with the toughest and most successful interview processes, reasoning that this will draw in the most effective candidates. Your position is to perform with a terrific group for a amount of many years, and then you will be off and jogging in the marketplace!
“What is the greatest resource for men and women who want to dive in further?”
Stick to me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickwatsonecommerce/
Or check out my podcast: https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watsonweekly
My eCommerce consulting firm’s internet site: https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
