In this special partner episode of Talk Commerce, we’re thrilled to have Casey Drake, the VP of Sales at Endear, join us for an insightful discussion on the future of retail CRM and clienteling. Sponsored by Content Basis and Endear, this episode is packed with valuable tips and strategies to help you supercharge your online sales and build stronger customer relationships.
The Game-Changing Power of Sales Chat
One of the key topics Casey dives into is Endear’s revolutionary Sales Chat feature, which is transforming the way brands connect with customers online. As Casey explains:
“Sales Chat is a live chat widget on your website. It’s Endear’s what we’re calling our live chat feature is Sales Chat. And we put that word sales on it for a reason because it’s meant to be and separate itself from a traditional support chat widget that people might be used to putting on their website.”
By empowering store associates to engage with customers through Sales Chat, brands can create personalized shopping experiences that drive conversions and foster long-term loyalty.
Bridging the Gap Between In-Store and Online Sales
Another crucial point Casey raises is the importance of breaking down the walls between retail teams and e-commerce teams. Too often, these teams view each other as competitors rather than allies. However, as Casey points out:
“I think the only way you get that wall broken down is with like, we need to have a conversation about attribution and how store associates can get attribution for online sales. It doesn’t need to be every online sale, but give them a way to do that.”
By providing store associates with the tools and incentives to contribute to online sales, brands can create a more cohesive and effective retail strategy.
The Importance of Hiring and Empowering the Right People
Throughout the episode, Casey emphasizes the critical role that people play in the success of any retail strategy. As he wisely states:
“I think so many brands need to like really take their hiring process seriously and then treat the good ones that they do get, treat them well and put them in the positions to succeed. Cause that like none of this works if you don’t have good people.”
Investing in talented, trustworthy store associates is essential for brands looking to deliver exceptional customer experiences both in-store and online.
Embracing the Future of Retail
As the retail landscape continues to evolve, it’s clear that brands must adapt and innovate to stay ahead of the curve. By leveraging cutting-edge tools like Endear’s Sales Chat and prioritizing clienteling, brands can unlock new opportunities for growth and success.
So, if you’re ready to take your retail strategy to the next level, be sure to tune in to this value-packed episode of Talk Commerce featuring Casey Drake. Trust me, you won’t want to miss the incredible insights and actionable tips shared throughout this conversation.
I recently had the pleasure of hosting Mike Micucci, CEO of Fabric Commerce, on the Talk Commerce podcast. With his deep experience in ecommerce, including leadership roles at Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Mike shared fascinating insights into how composable commerce and AI are revolutionizing the omnichannel retail experience. In this post, I’ll highlight some of the key takeaways from our conversation.
Get Fabric
The Power of Composable Commerce
Mike explained that composable commerce provides retailers the flexibility to build the experiences they want while still benefiting from a unified backend platform. Fabric’s composable platform allows retailers to seamlessly manage the full commerce lifecycle, from merchandising to order fulfillment.
As Mike put it, “Commerce doesn’t stop at checkout. It’s just getting started.” I couldn’t agree more. Composable commerce empowers brands to craft unique customer journeys that extend beyond the buy button.
Accelerating Omnichannel with Fabric
For retailers looking to enhance their omnichannel capabilities, Mike outlined two key approaches with Fabric’s platform:
Incrementally add discrete services like real-time inventory or advanced promotions to their existing tech stack
Implement a comprehensive omnichannel solution by leveraging Fabric’s pre-built “primitives” – mini-apps that accelerate time-to-market and reduce complexity
Having seen many retailers struggle with siloed systems and inconsistent experiences, I’m excited by Fabric’s vision for a unified omnichannel platform. It’s a game-changer.
The Transformative Power of AI
Mike and I also discussed the transformative potential of AI in commerce. While many retailers have adopted basic machine learning for product recommendations, Mike envisions AI driving significant operational improvements.
By harnessing data across merchandising, fulfillment, and returns, AI can enable dynamic pricing, intelligent inventory allocation, and proactive decision-making. As Mike noted, this was previously only possible for retail giants like Amazon. But with platforms like Fabric democratizing access to advanced AI, every retailer can now unlock this potential.
The implications are vast – I believe we’ll see AI fundamentally reshaping how brands operate and engage customers in the coming years.
Unifying Digital and Physical Retail
Finally, Mike emphasized the importance of blending digital and physical experiences into one cohesive customer journey. Fabric’s platform empowers retailers to offer seamless omnichannel scenarios – browse online, purchase in-store; buy on mobile, pick up curbside; endless aisles in fitting rooms – all on a single platform.
This unified approach powered by robust APIs is key to meeting modern customer expectations. I’m thrilled to see composable commerce and platforms like Fabric making this level of integration achievable for retailers of all sizes.
Boosting Performance and Flexibility with Fabric’s Ethos
One aspect of Fabric’s approach that stood out to me was their ethos of “boost what’s there, make it better and faster.” Mike explained how this allows retailers to incrementally adopt Fabric’s services to enhance their existing infrastructure, rather than ripping and replacing everything at once.
This modular approach, enabled by composable architecture, gives brands the agility to tackle their most pressing needs first, then layer in additional capabilities over time. From my experience, this agile mindset is essential for success in today’s fast-moving retail environment.
The Symbiosis of Composable Commerce and Omnichannel
Throughout our discussion, it became clear that composable commerce and omnichannel retail are intricately linked. The modularity and flexibility of composable architectures perfectly align with the demands of omnichannel selling.
As customer journeys increasingly criss-cross between digital and physical touchpoints, retailers need the ability to rapidly compose and recompose experiences. Fabric’s platform, with its comprehensive suite of APIs and pre-built components, makes this level of agility possible.
Empowering Store Associates with Clienteling
One exciting use case Mike highlighted was clienteling – equipping store associates with tools to deliver personalized, high-touch service. Historically, clienteling has been challenging due to disconnected systems and data silos.
But with a unified platform like Fabric, associates can now access customer profiles, past purchase history, product information, and inventory data in real-time. This empowers them to deliver the kind of consultative, omnichannel experiences that drive loyalty and revenue.
As brick-and-mortar retail rebounds post-pandemic, I believe clienteling will be a key differentiator. Composable commerce makes it achievable at scale.
As I reflect on my conversation with Mike, I’m struck by the vast potential of composable commerce to reshape retail. By breaking down monolithic systems into modular, API-driven components, retailers can finally achieve the speed and flexibility needed to thrive in the omnichannel era.
Moreover, the convergence of composable architectures and AI opens up exciting new possibilities. From dynamic pricing to predictive merchandising, retailers can now harness data and intelligence in previously unimaginable ways.
Of course, technology is just one piece of the puzzle. Retailers must also foster a culture of agility, experimentation, and customer-centricity. But with platforms like Fabric providing the technological foundation, I believe we’ll see a new generation of retailers redefining what’s possible in omnichannel commerce.
If you’re as passionate about the future of retail as I am, I invite you to listen to my full Talk Commerce podcast episode with Mike Micucci. And if you’ll be at Shoptalk, swing by the Fabric booth to see their technology in action.
The retail renaissance is here – and it’s composable. Let’s embrace this exciting new era together.
Hello everyone. Brent, again, and today, I’m excited to share a special episode of our podcast with you. This episode features a fascinating discussion with Madeleine Anderson and Casey Drake from Endear. We discuss clienteling, its evolution, and its importance in retail sales. We also touch on the role of associates in clienteling and the impact of COVID-19 on loyalty and customer engagement.
The Art of Clienteling
Casey Drake, VP of Sales at Endear, is not just a sales expert but also a passionate entertainer. She runs a YouTube channel where she tries to make people laugh and be interested in her content. I must admit, her style of humor is quite different from mine, which tends to make people want to leave. But let’s get back to the topic at hand – clienteling.
Casey explains that clienteling is proactive sales outbound activity in retail. It’s all about ensuring that customers have an exceptional experience, love their products, and are informed about new products and different ways to purchase them. In essence, it’s retail’s fancy word for sales.
The Evolution of Clienteling
We then moved on to discuss how clienteling has evolved over time. Casey references the show “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and explains that clienteling originated from the cutthroat world of retail sales in the 50s and 60s. Salespeople relied on their contacts and provided personalized service to customers. We also reminisced about an episode of “Gilmore Girls” that showcases the high level of attention and service provided to customers in the past.
The Role of Associates in Clienteling
Casey highlighted the significance of associates in Clienteling. She emphasized that when customers enter a store, the first person they encounter is an associate, and that person becomes the face of the brand for the customer. Customers’ loyalty and attachment towards a brand are often influenced by their interactions with these associates. Casey gave an example of a client who prefers shopping at Lululemon because of her attachment to a specific associate, even though Alo Yoga offers a better product at a better price.
Clienteling in High-End vs. Mass-Market Brands
Madeleine Anderson then asked about the difference in clientele between high-end brands like Diane von Furstenberg and mass-market brands like Target. Casey explained that bigger department stores still focus on clienteling, mainly because of their commission-driven sales approach. However, she believes that smaller brands can compete by adopting new technologies and providing a higher level of service. She also mentioned that the success of clients’ telling lies in the hands of the designers who can put passionate associates in their stores and maintain communication with customers.
The Challenges of Scaling Customer Service in Retail
The conversation shifted to the challenges of scaling customer service in retail. Casey suggested that retail needs to reset its approach to incentivizing associates and customers. She also emphasized the importance of personal messaging in clienteling. For instance, marketing for events at a store can be considered retail marketing, and messages should come from the store and be written in a conversational tone. Two-way communication and the ability for customers to reply to messages are also crucial.
Personal Experiences with Being Clientele
Casey shared that he has never been personally clientele by anyone, but he has successfully influenced others to become clientele of certain brands. He mentioned that he is a target shopper and not a big spender on clothes, but he still loves the brands they work with.
The “Great White Buffalo” Brand
Casey shared his “great white buffalo” brand, Farideh, a men’s brand that he admires. He talked about the founders and their cool factor. Madeleine joked about calling it a “white bison” in North Dakota.
Advice for Retailers
As we concluded our discussion, I asked Casey for advice on how retailers can improve their client-telling efforts. Casey emphasized the importance of data and tracking, as well as incentivizing associates and customers.
Upcoming Webinar and YouTube Channel
Casey announced a webinar they will be hosting on Wednesday at 2 pm Eastern Time. The webinar will feature Shopify and Psycho Bunny, discussing Psycho Bunny’s story of getting set up within Shopify. Casey also encouraged listeners to follow and subscribe to his YouTube channel, Casey from Endear, for great content. Madeleine added that the webinar will be available on their website even after Wednesday, October 25th, and Casey mentioned that he will also upload it to his YouTube channel.
Wrapping Up
Casey asked me about my favorite memory from the podcast’s 200 episodes as we wrapped up the episode. I mentioned that I don’t have one specific favorite memory but enjoy learning something new from each episode. I see the podcast as a learning activity and hope listeners can take away actionable insights from each episode.
Casey congratulated me on reaching 200 episodes, and I mentioned that the episode would be released the next day. I joked about having extra time to edit because I am in Hawaii.
I hope you found this episode as informative and engaging as I did. Stay tuned for more insightful discussions in our upcoming episodes.
