How Ecommerce Brands Build an Omnichannel Strategy

Ben Eachus (00:03.974)

Good afternoon and welcome to another episode of Well Delivered. My name is Ben Eachis. I'm the co-founder and CEO of FlowSpace, a fulfillment company that helps fast-growing e-commerce brands scale their operations. Joining us on today's conversation is Alex Lance. Alex has spent the last 15 years scaling e-commerce, CPG, and Amazon businesses. He got his start as the founder of OneStop Ecoin Shop, later as the CEO of League of Ecom.

an S VP marketplace at Wolf's, as well as VP of Amazon and marketplaces at Freebor Freebird. I'll do that again because I of course I butchered how to say Freebird.

Good afternoon. Welcome to another episode of Well Delivered. My name is Ben Eachis. I'm the co-founder and CEO of FlowSpace, a fulfillment company that helps e-commerce brands scale their operations. Joining us on today's conversation is Alex Lance. Alex has spent the last 15 years scaling e-commerce and CPG brands. First, as a founder of OneStop Equine Shop, later as COO of League of Ecom and SVP of Marketplaces at Wolfs and Freebird.

He's now an independent consultant and Amazon marketplace consultant. So welcome to the show, Alex.

Alex Lans (01:20.04)

Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you having me.

Ben Eachus (01:23.608)

course. Well, Alex to to start, why don't you tell us a little about your first experience as a founder and what that experience was like? What was one shop one one stop equine?

Alex Lans (01:36.393)

So the story actually dates back more than 15 years to 2007. I founded the company in my dorm room. I really wanted to l understand and learn about e-commerce at the time. It was still, I guess you'd say it was kind of nascent, but maybe not necessarily. played around with all the major platforms, Big Commerce, Shop Magento, 3D card at that time, and then eventually grew into Shopify and in 2011 started selling on Amazon and really established

One stop equine shop in that category on Amazon is the place to go for equestrian products. and what did I learn as a founder? scaling is hard. you have to have good infrastructure to do it and a clear plan and be able to pivot quickly to what's next. I think that I learned as a founder, sometimes outsourcing is best. We did everything in-house at one stop, including fulfillment. And so a lot of it was done by Amazon, but

But we had our own warehouse in operation. So just learning how to put those pieces together in terms of like what does it look like commercially and what does it look like structurally?

Ben Eachus (02:45.611)

That makes a lot of sense. And I I think a lot of that was probably a function of the time starting in 2011. I I remember being at the Honest Company back in 2014, everything was done internally. Massive engineering team to build out the e-commerce site. did all of our fulfillment in-house. And I think it's like a lot of that infrastructure kind of lagged behind the growth of the front end e-commerce. So that's a trend that we see today as well.

Alex Lans (03:12.914)

Yeah, I I don't think it's nearly as easy as it is today where you can put up a Shopify store, get Claude to write you some liquid and call and be good to go. And you know, a similar vein with Amazon of like you build a product, you put it up and you go from there. So I think it's a lot different today. maybe in a good way, maybe in a bad way.

Ben Eachus (03:19.02)

Yeah.

Ben Eachus (03:32.311)

For sure, for sure. And one of the things you mentioned is that just scaling is hard. And I think now in your career you've had the unique vantage point of working at companies across a variety of product types. So are there any common patterns you see across these brands as they try to scale their operations?

Alex Lans (03:51.785)

Yeah, I think, you know, in my last couple of roles I've really focused on multi-channel and or omnichannel, is it maybe. I think that a lot of brands really struggle at that intersection where they're bringing in a VP of Amazon or senior leadership within omnichannel, whether that's Walmart.com, Target, Chewy, you name it. I think that it's it takes a while to a a while to shift and understand the mindset of like how do we go from being

a D to C company to how do we go to being an omnichannel company? And I think it's one of those battles that when you're in on the omnichannel side you often fight a l find a lot is like getting people to strike the right balance to to recognize that like I'm here to drive omni channel. I am not your enemy, I am your friend. So

Ben Eachus (04:38.967)

Sure. That's such a good point. And one of the things I wanted to ask you is about the sequencing all of that, of all of that. Like, do you typically see a brand start off as direct-to-consumer and then scale into Amazon or Walmart? Or is it the reverse?

Alex Lans (04:54.864)

I you know, there are there i it works both ways in today's economy, right? I think like either you can go in either direction. I think that for it is expensive. It's becoming it more and more expensive today to scale it directly into D to C. I think though that if you look at a real good sequencing, D to C is kind of that proof of concept. There are people out there who want to buy our product, right? Amazon is then pr or Amazon or or other marketplaces, particularly Amazon for a lot of

Brick and mortar retailers is then proof of concept that like it has mass appeal to people beyond just those who stumble upon it on D to C. And then you get the brick and mortar players, like the final piece of the Omni channel that draws it all together, who really look at what Amazon is doing in terms of like what's going really well on Amazon, and we need to have that on our shelves in store. That story is changing a little bit bit with the people like Walmart who like have more of an ability to kind of

dabble in portfolios and still build them on Walmart dot com, but at the same time, I think it really is that kind of sequencing of getting bigger in terms of what you're doing to grit to mass market appeal.

Ben Eachus (06:05.367)

That's that's super helpful. It's almost like a a roadmap of of sorts where it's like prove that your product is good and people really like it, then try to scale the distribution later, which makes which makes sense. one of the things you mentioned is that there's kind of a friction between marketplace or omnichannel and maybe direct-to-consumer team. how do you see that playing out in the operations world? Is there like a fight for available inventory or or skews like

What are some examples that you've seen of that that friction?

Alex Lans (06:36.828)

Well, I I think one of the things is it depends on how important Amazon is to that business. And a lot of these D to C businesses today, it's about twenty-five to thirty-five percent of business. And it requires a whole different set of thinking to say, okay, on D to C we have we are a maybe a one skew company, a two skew company, you know, whatever skew count suits the business. But on Amazon, it becomes more of like a mul like how do we build the brand?

And then how do we scale the brand? So what I mean by that is like it's understanding like, okay, the hero product is doing really well. We need to introduce these other products to capitalize on what the hero product is doing. So we're building the most efficient brand. So what I think that boils down to is like you know, oftentimes it's a tug of war between supply chain and the Amazon team because Amazon operators are very or or omni.

marketplace operators are very in tune with inventory versus D to C people who like there's sometimes this disconnect between marketing and and supply. And so I think that the Amazon person just demands a lot of the of the of the supply chain team. And that becomes a totally different kind of relationship that needs to exist to get to that place. I think outside of that, I think one of the things that a lot of br mistakes a br a lot of brands make are like,

Every channel is an extension of a thesis, right? So it should look the same no matter where it sits. If it's on Amazon, it should look the same. If it's on D2C, it should look the same. Like D2C, it should look the same. If it's in-store, it should also mimic that. And I think a lot of brands miss that. They get to a certain size and they don't really have the brand piece down. They have the product piece down. So I think that that's a critical element to it, is like making the brand work, making the product function. And then you get to the advertising side. And I think that

There's this interesting dichotomy between Meta and Amazon in the sense that like people don't ask a lot of questions about what happens on meta. It's kind of a black box, and like they accept that whatever the results are, the results are, and the CAC number it spits out is pretty. Versus they very much question things on Amazon often about how like why, like, you know, Amazon's numbers aren't real and this and you know, like, and it's just an extension of D to C and it's really demand that we would have gotten otherwise.

Alex Lans (08:59.41)

And I think that that's a very fine line that people have to walk in this day and age is like understanding how those pieces fit together. Meta drives Amazon in the context of branded traffic, but still people going to Amazon or or any marketplace, using Amazon as like a proxy for the word marketplace, go from people go to to

Amazon and and they might not know they're looking for your product for Woofs, Freebird, whatever it may be. And instead, you have to guide them towards that. So it's about striking that balance and understanding that like these are pieces of a puzzle. They are not one leads to the other. They are what interplays with the other.

Ben Eachus (09:38.401)

That is such a good point. And I I was also curious on your take about the emergence of some new channels. so we've we've seen a lot of success with many of our our customers with TikTok shop, for instance. how to how do you kind of fold that into your portfolio?

Alex Lans (09:57.795)

I think it's very interesting because there's TikTok shop, there's things like Teemu and Sheen and all of these other types of channels. I think obviously Amazon and Walmart Amazon and then Walmart and then everybody else kind of have that line share of the business. But I think TikTok in particular is very important because it's really marrying social proof with product. and it's going to take some time for it to build. These things are natural evolutions.

You were an honest company in 2014. I was in Amazon in two, you know, in the Amazon world in 2011. And seeing that like that evolution didn't take place in one day. It took a lot of time. But I think the thing about TikTok is like you have to have a very comprehensive hands-on strategy that like is a numbers game, right? Because you understand that like the recruit the affiliates that you're gonna recruit, you're not gonna get all of them to send you back content. And so I think that you know, you can start on TikTok shop.

If that and if that's your central channel, I think you have a game peep plan there. But I think that if you are more omnichannel and it's one of your channels, you have to have a more disciplined approach because inventory is an infinite and you need to be able to get make sure that you're getting the return for the dollar in terms of what it's pushing out. I think the other great thing about TikTok shop that everybody says, you know, the data proves out is true is just how that spills over to Amazon and other channel other channels. How like where do people or where are they developing intent?

And I think that that's become more and more true for because people can see demonstrably how products work rather than necessarily on on on meta where it's like a thirty second of like someone telling you rather an infomercial versus like a real life practical application scenario.

Ben Eachus (11:39.512)

Such a good point. yeah, that's that's yeah, each channel is is unique, right? It's like not enough to just say, hey, this is my omnichannel strategy. It's like you need a strategy within every single one of those channels, right? And I think, so Alex, you've been in the space for a long time. what are you particularly excited about headed into kind of the back half of this year? Any any new developments that you're seeing to

Alex Lans (11:55.676)

Exactly.

Ben Eachus (12:09.165)

Technology, channels, like anything at all. Like you you have a unique vantage point of being in the space for a long time, but also seeing several companies.

Alex Lans (12:17.778)

Well, I don't think we could let the call go by without talking about AI. I think that the way AI is playing out across channels, whether that's on Amazon, on Chat GPT, in terms of just like a shopping engine, I assume Claude is headed in a similar direction, or more importantly, Shopify, et cetera, is like I think that if you're not optimizing towards AI.

Ben Eachus (12:21.294)

Yeah. Well, yeah, that was my next question. So you beat me to the punch here.

Alex Lans (12:45.744)

you are doing yourself a disservice because if you're not doing it now, you're gonna do it six months from now, you're gonna do it year from now. And I think one of the things that we've exp I've experimented with in the last couple of engagements is like just understanding how places like formerly Rufus, now Alexa Shopping, view the product and understand the product. And how then can we position like we can't disrupt the underlying layer of reviews, right? So like that's a limited kind of thing. They exist whether they're on D to C

or or on channels or wherever they are. But we can shape how the mess the AI sees the messaging by looking at where the gaps the AI perceives are and then feeding information back into the product page to try to kind of tweak the direction that AI is pushing things. Because eventually we are going to be in an AI shopping world. Again, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but certainly in the next f twelve to twenty four months, maybe a little even longer. So

Ben Eachus (13:43.448)

That's super interesting. you know, and again, probably not something you were thinking about in 2011 when when you started your company. so for some of the founders and operators listening out there, what are some of the operational hurdles that you would recommend to have a really good handle on before scaling into all of these different channels? because there's there's always infrastructure that you need to build or process that you need to build.

Alex Lans (14:05.117)

I think

Alex Lans (14:09.798)

Yeah, I think you hit it on the he the nail on the head, which is like, have a plan for every channel, right? How is and then how do we cause I think the problem is people go to a lot of channels at one time because they view it as like, I'm successful here, so therefore I'll be successful here. I think it's about understanding the playbook across channels, right? Once you've played in the marketplace space or the omnichannel space, you have a beginning understanding of how these things work. You are not the owner of that space, you have to play by their rules.

There are certain ways to do things, etc. And so I think that having that basic understanding of every channel and then drawing out the blueprint to get there and putting the management in place and the people and the the hands-on keyboard people in place is really important. And then listening to the management, listening to the management that you brought in, right? Like they are experts in their channel, whether they're paid media or or Amazon or or TikTok shop or whatever.

And they're there to guide you to where you need to go. And I think that the biggest piece is like these people have seen what it takes to fundamentally shift a business from being D to C to being omnichannel. And so you need to put a little stock in them that like they're going to get you to where you need to be. yes, they have to listen too and do, you know, like it's important that they understand and that they're agile and that they understand the ways the company works.

But y ha it has to be a yin and a yang and a two way street to get there.

Ben Eachus (15:39.918)

That's awesome. I think as we kind of part part ways or in the episode, any I'm gonna put you on the spot here. Like with all of the changes going on in the world right now, specifically with AI, specifically with with new channels, are what's one tool or product that you wish existed to help you do your job better, or to help teams do their jobs better?

Alex Lans (16:04.69)

I think a way to understand how the channels interact with each other, right? We have so we have sorry, we have MMM modeling, we have a lot of other tools, but there's no really cross-channel or cross-functional way to s understanding some of how that understanding how those pieces work, right? We have to understand like how many touches does it take to get a meta ad? How many tu how many touches does it take a meta conversion? How many touches does it take to get an app level conversion?

We don't understand those conversion paths on an interchannel basis, and I think that's really important to thinking about things is like trying to piece those data sets together, maybe using AI, but maybe finding way more open ways between APIs to kind of build those functionalities out.

Ben Eachus (16:50.103)

That's such a good point because it's an acknowledgement that these are channels. It's not necessarily a customer is existing in their world, you know, across all of these channels, right? Like in your day to day life. You're on Amazon or TikTok or Instagram. So that's such a good point. well, Alex, I wanted to thank you for your time and imparting some wisdom here on our show. I really appreciate it. What a a tremendous experience. and I really appreciate the time.

Alex Lans (17:20.104)

Thank you so much.