BigSummit Panel Uncovers How to Drive Growth with Omnichannel Innovation

In August 2024, we launched BigSummit, our flagship thought leadership conference designed to empower ecommerce leaders. Throughout the event, we hosted several panel discussions that allowed industry experts to share their knowledge and insights on the ecommerce landscape. 

During our panel, The Power of Unified Commerce for the Connected Consumer, Brian Dhatt, CTO at BigCommerce and President of Feedonomics, sat down with Michael Challinger, CEO at Houzer Sinks; Katie Ouaknine, Owner of Badgley Mischka Web; Kevin Lenau, VP of Strategy and Finance at One Kings Lane and CSC Generation; and James Domenick, Global Head of Tech Partner Management at Intuit Mailchimp, to discuss strategies for seamless customer experiences, optimizing operations, and driving growth through omnichannel innovation.

Here are some highlights and key takeaways that brands can use to elevate their ecommerce presence.

Evolve your strategy based on consumer behaviors

Brain Dhatt: What are some of today's predominant trends or customer behaviors that have influenced your omnichannel strategy and channel mix?

Katie Ouaknine: “In the fashion space, it's a really exciting time because a bunch of brands are creating their own marketplaces, which didn't previously exist. We had a limited number of marketplaces where we could duplicate our products essentially outside of our own website, and right now, it seems everyone is popping up with a marketplace. We're excited to try expanding into as many of those as possible.

“What's great about these marketplaces is they are single skew, so there's no competition. We don't have to worry about the buy box. It's really a great place for us to expand our brand and for people who already know and trust us to find us on other marketplaces.”

Challenger: “Our journey at Houzer has been interesting, as a former ecommerce guy coming into being the CEO of an omnichannel brand that didn't have DTC. Of course, the very first thing that we did was launch DTC. We went through an RFP process and chose BigCommerce, and we were able to launch within 30 days of that. As we continued down that road, we realized what we really needed to focus on was B2B. As we focused on that, we found that those customers wanted more of a B2C experience because if you are somebody who's buying for a local supply house or something like that, you're probably also an Amazon customer. 

“What we've started to try and hone in on through BigCommerce’s B2B Edition is creating that B2C-like experience for the B2B customer. In our space, when selling a kitchen sink with a 10-year purchase life cycle to a consumer, you need someone buying with a much greater purchase frequency. And that's that B2B customer. The way to talk to them is to treat them like a consumer and give them that consumer-like experience.”

Key takeaway.

Adapting to today’s omnichannel landscape means meeting customers where they are, whether through emerging marketplaces or by reshaping the ecommerce experience to fit B2B buyers’ expectations. For fashion brands, the rise of single-SKU marketplaces offers unique opportunities to expand reach without competing for visibility, creating new pathways for customer discovery and trust-building.

For B2B brands, the line between consumer and business buyer experiences continues to blur. Delivering a B2C-like experience that’s fast, seamless, and user-friendly is becoming essential to engage high-frequency buyers. This shift underscores the importance of flexibility in ecommerce platforms and the ability to scale strategies to fit diverse customer needs.

Harness the right tools to streamline operations and scale

Dhatt: What are some of the crucial components of your tech stack that help you level up your strategy and remove friction? What are some of the best practices you see folks putting in to streamline operations?

Ouaknine: “We partner with Feedonomics, which has been integral to our expansion into different marketplaces. They've optimized our feed, and we can now get onto marketplaces quickly. They've helped us transform our data and put it in the best position possible, which has helped grow our business. We lean on them a lot.”

James Domenick: “I'm with Mailchimp, which is an Intuit company, and we're obviously a platform for merchants and marketers. As we see brands become more sophisticated and want to offer options like Buy Online, Pick Up in Store (BOPIS) and cross-channel promotions, we're seeing a need for us to be able to offer a much more robust set of integrations across different verticals. My team is specifically very focused on being able to offer platform integrations across not just the traditional ecommerce use cases but also ad platforms, site builders, payment processors, and so forth. But none of that really matters unless you have a unified data structure to feed it all into. The thing that we're very excited about is not only do we want to make it so that Mailchimp can offer the most value to its customers, but also so the growing suite of business solutions across Intuit can do the same.”

Challinger: “I think that's also part of why it's so important for brands to engage DTC and now B2B, because that killer AI app that maybe isn't out yet is going to want all your first-party data. If you haven't been an omnichannel brand investing in DTC, you don't have that. Amazon owns all your first-party data. If you really are keen to be ready when the killer app comes along, having that data there and ready for, say, it's like an autonomous AI chat agent, the first thing it’s going to want is to review all of your existing history. If your competitors have already made that investment and you haven't, you're behind the curve.”

Key takeaway.

Streamlining operations and delivering exceptional customer experiences requires the right tools and a focus on unified data. Partners like Feedonomics play a vital role in marketplace expansion by optimizing product feeds and accelerating the onboarding process, helping brands grow their reach with ease.

Investing in first-party data through DTC and omnichannel strategies is crucial to stay ahead as new tools and technologies emerge, ensuring brands can leverage future innovations and maintain a competitive edge.

Differentiate your brand through consistency and creativity

Dhatt: I am curious how you're all working to differentiate your brand from the competition in this space and how you're working to elevate the consumer experience while keeping consistency across brands.

Kevin Lenau: “Not just across our brands, but even within the brand with the proliferation of channels, which you discussed as an opportunity, is a huge challenge. Now, we have Zeta sending emails over here. We also have AddShopper, and we want to make sure that we can control the brand and the customer experience from the beginning of the channel all the way through. That's where a lot of our partners come in.

“Feedonomics is a great one that makes sure we get simple things done, like getting the free shipping badge to flow through to the right channels correctly. Otherwise, Google will turn you off very quickly if it doesn't work. These are such small things, but it's a big challenge. I'm looking at an acquisition right now and it's on a crazy tech platform. The company's going out of business and the only way we can make the acquisition make sense is through a clean sweep. We would be buying the website and spinning it up as a sub of one of our current brands. We definitely wouldn't be able to do that if it weren't for BigCommerce and the flexibility that it's going to allow us to have, as well as our other partners.

“Those are just some of the different ways we're trying to get this customer experience consistent across all these channels. Also, when you're creating a new brand on your current tech stack, what's easy about it is it's all tied together correctly. Now, we just have to put the wrapper on it, and that's going to be a lot easier because we have it working at One Kings Lane right now.”

Ouaknine: “In our space it's pretty hard to differentiate yourself and make yourself special. We do the classic loyalty programs, but that's not always enough. Lately, we've been collaborating. We've found some like-minded brands that we could cross-promote with and share email lists with customers in the hope of gaining some new appreciation from shoppers who haven't experienced our brand or know and trust us yet. We’ll try anything that we can do to hold a customer and keep them coming back to us.”

Key takeaway.

Differentiating a brand in a crowded market requires both consistency and creativity. Ensuring a seamless customer experience across channels is crucial in helping to maintain brand integrity and streamline operations, even during complex acquisitions or brand expansions.

To stand out, brands should also embrace collaborations with like-minded partners and leverage loyalty programs to build stronger connections with customers. By cross-promoting, sharing audiences, and experimenting with innovative strategies, brands can engage new customers while retaining existing ones, fostering long-term loyalty and trust.

Stay competitive by embracing agility and innovation

Dhatt: Where are you all investing to keep optimizing your omnichannel strategy? What are the biggest opportunities that you see in front of you today?

Challinger: “For us, agility is important. I mentioned that we launched very quickly. I think we were 30 days from inception to live on BigCommerce. We wanted a partner who could match our scrappiness and speed to try new things. We found that in BigCommerce and in Feedonomics, and we are trying a lot of things at the moment. From an AI standpoint, I was just recording a podcast with Sharon from Feedonomics, and we talked about how Feedonomics has already tested and integrated GPT-4. You could take your whole Feedonomics catalog, Gen Z-ify it, and have Feedonomics spit out a Gen Z version of all of your product data, bullets, and everything else.

“I was telling Sharon that one of the things I want to test, as we are now so focused on going after B2B, is kitchen sinks for B2B customers, like plumbers. You probably don't want to talk to a plumber how you would talk to a consumer. Consumers want to see beauty, romance, and copy. You want to really romanticize that kitchen sink and talk about the luster of the marble or the luster of the granite. A plumber doesn't give a crap about any of that, and that's a very different voice. That's one of the things that we're really eager to test.

“I also had the opportunity to ask her about some of the stuff that's coming with Makeswift. There's a lot of very exciting innovation coming out of BigCommerce and Feedonomics that I'm pretty psyched about that will give us more things to test and try.”

Domenick: “There are two areas that I would call out. One would be social commerce. Obviously, what we've done for the past 20 years has enabled more pure-play commerce solutions. However, we are investing in ways for our customers to be able to integrate with stores like TikTok Shop and the ecommerce shops that are embedded, as well as the more traditional ecommerce platforms that plug in there to collect leads through social channels as well as post ads directly from a UI out to those channels.

“The second one is the 800-pound gorilla in the room — AI. Is AI coming for our jobs? What is AI coming to do? And I think with Mailchimp's customer base being predominantly small to mid-market customers, that's a mystery to them. What Intuit and Mailchimp are doing is developing what we're calling revenue intelligence. This is less of a product solution as it is threading all of the data insights from our years of platform and customer data throughout our products and solutions. That'll enable smarter pricing decisions that pop up within our tools, better forecasting, and better optimization. It really just takes the work of the functions that marketers and merchants don't do best off their plate so that they can focus on what they do best.”

Key takeaway.

To thrive in today’s evolving ecommerce landscape, brands must prioritize agility and innovation. Rapid adaptability allows businesses to experiment with new strategies — such as tailoring messaging to different audiences through advanced AI capabilities.

Brands should focus on emerging opportunities, including social commerce integrations with platforms like TikTok Shop, to engage audiences and drive leads. Additionally, investing in AI-powered tools, can enable smarter decision-making and streamline operations. By embracing these innovations, brands can free up resources to focus on core strengths, drive growth, and stay competitive in an increasingly dynamic market.

Build a strong foundation for long-term success

Dhatt: Given how deeply you've invested in unified commerce, what's one piece of advice or takeaway that you would give the audience here?

Lenau: “I think what's been very important for us from my job, which is buying more brands, is having that strong core platform that will allow us to be very nimble and fast in making new acquisitions and adding new channels. Without that core, which is broken in some of these acquisitions I'm looking at, it becomes tech debt that I have to take into account when I'm looking at these companies. The strong core to being flexible is where I would put my takeaway.”

Domenick: “I guess the thought is we live in an uncertain economy. Is inflation settling? Are the job numbers good or bad? What does that all mean for small businesses? As much as you can take work off of a customer's plate and make their job easier, that's really like the north star for us.”

Ouaknine: “For me, everyone is always striving for growth. Complacency is when you start to die out. For us, it’s a hard economic time. Business hasn't been so easy this year with everything going on, especially in an industry like ours that's so reactive towards the economy. Just trying to get our name out there as much as possible, grow, and have strong partners and a great foundation makes it hard to go backward.”

Challinger: “Those of you that are on the merchant or retailer brand side have probably all inherited a crappy tech stack from some predecessor at some point. It's a challenge to thread the needle of, "This other guy signed a five-year contract with some terrible partner and now I'm stuck with it and I have this idealized future of the tech stack that I want to have." 

“Our experience was unique because I came into a company that essentially had no tech stack. It was very legacy. It was a traditional brand sold mostly through plumbing supply stores — a little bit of an Amazon business. Because I had that blank sheet of paper, it was a fun exercise that everybody I knew was very envious of. I got to call them and say, "Hey, I have a blank sheet of paper, what should I put on it?"

“It was fun to work with Feedonomics and BigCommerce to actually begin to fill out all the pieces and make recommendations for everyone. I think it's so important to make sure you idealize the perfect version of your platform and really be intentional with and draw it out. I would echo that for me. I've been telling brands that they have to invest in DTC, not just for the AI reason I mentioned but because of the general importance of having a profitable business. It's a way that you can actually own your customer. 

“I also think it's so important to understand the customer. We began to realize the customers that really matter to us from a purchasing standpoint. Obviously consumers matter for brand awareness and top of funnel, but the ones that really matter for us are the B2B customers. As of this conference, I'm actually revising my advice to every brand, which is don't just invest in DTC. Invest in both. B2B is such a wonderful business, and I've watched a lot of companies that have never really touched it before start to invest in it and reap incredible dividends.”

Key takeaway.

A strong foundation is crucial for navigating today’s economic and technological challenges. Investing in a flexible and scalable tech stack not only enables seamless acquisitions and channel expansion but also reduces the burden of technical debt, setting brands up for long-term success.

In uncertain times, brands must focus on growth by simplifying processes for customers and strengthening partnerships. Embracing both DTC and B2B strategies ensures a balanced approach to profitability and customer ownership. Understanding which customers drive the most value and tailoring efforts accordingly can lead to significant dividends. Intentional investment in technology and customer insights is the key to thriving in a competitive market.

The final word

Building a successful omnichannel strategy starts with a strong foundation, a deep understanding of the customers, and the flexibility to adapt to evolving trends. By investing in scalable technology, prioritizing both DTC and B2B strategies, and leveraging tools to simplify operations, brands can drive growth and create meaningful connections with their audiences.

Watch the full panel discussion to uncover strategies for optimizing operations and fostering lasting customer relationships in today’s dynamic ecommerce landscape.