Meet the TRI Q&A: Rick Watson
Get to know RETHINK Retail’s Top Retail Influencers by way of the “Meet the TRI” Q&A series! Dive in to find out about a member of the believed leader neighborhood and abide by their get the job done and insights throughout our articles and their social channels.
Hello, I’m Rick Watson, CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting.
Hook up with me on LinkedIn!
“Tell us about your background”
Primarily based in New York City, Rick Watson is an eCommerce executive with far more than 20 several years in the market at firms which includes Pitney Bowes, Barnes & Noble, Merchantry, and ChannelAdvisor.
Rick was a single of the initial employees at ChannelAdvisor (NYSE:ECOM), shelling out 10 yrs there launching numerous of the company’s flagship progressive offerings and encouraging merchants and models provide far more on eBay and Amazon marketplaces. He was later recruited to launch the third-party market at Barnes & Noble.com, expanding the company’s product or service catalog by additional than one particular million things. Soon after the effective market launch, Rick was named CEO of Merchantry, which he led to a $30 million acquisition by Tradeshift. Most just lately, Rick directed the cross-border solution method of Pitney Bowes, a $450 million business comprising Borderfree and eBay World Shipping and delivery Plan.
“Brief description of your existing position and your space in the field.”
Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting right after paying out 20+ years as a technologies entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce market with businesses like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes. Watson’s get the job done today is centered on supporting buyers and administration teams incubating and escalating direct-to-buyer corporations. Most lately, in partnership with WHP World wide, Rick was a significant source in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct-to-shopper digital e-commerce system that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com. Watson also hosts a podcast, The Watson Weekly, the place he shares an impartial, unfiltered professional consider on the retail sector’s greatest information and gamers.
“How has the retail business altered in the previous 5 yrs? What do you predict will materialize in the up coming 5 to 10 a long time?”
In the past 5 a long time, we have observed the continued struggle for retailers that have not transformed their encounters. The upcoming actually belongs to suppliers who have done a number of points:
- Prioritized their consumer ordeals, particularly curbside and in-store decide-up
- Totally integrated on-line/digital and retail experiences as component of a unified client journey
- Invested in up-fitting older stores
- Continued to innovate in core assortment and expanded item traces into growth locations
- Retired legacy technologies
- Hired and retained leading talent
“Do you have any appealing tasks coming up?”
Just one of my a lot more intriguing projects at the moment is functioning with a style-targeted market on a replatform to a headless eCommerce system.
I am also currently in the method of launching the RMW Commerce Group, a trustworthy discussion team to chat about all issues eCommerce.
“Which sources do you use to hold up with sector information?”
I enjoy a several different sources, in individual:
Retail Touchpoints: https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/
Business Dive: https://www.industrydive.com/
(particularly Retail Dive, Offer Chain Dive, and Advertising and marketing Dive)
Company Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/
Time period Sheet: https://fortune.com/publication/termsheet
Axios Professional Rata: https://www.axios.com/signup/professional-rata
Google Information is also incredibly great at studying what you like to go through about.
“What is the finest problem the marketplace is dealing with?”
Expertise is still one of the greatest problems going through the industry now. Quite a few vendors can not recruit and keep wonderful workers for their retailer activities.
A further big challenge in the industry is the legacy of retailers and manufacturers that have not tailored very well to the periods. Bed Tub & Beyond, Kohl’s, and Gap all tumble in this camp.
“How do you proceed to develop and develop as an influencer in the retail industry?”
You usually will need to be understanding and aiding other people in new means. Men and women ask me how much time I spend looking at. The remedy is that I am continually examining. Every single moment is time to understand a thing new.
You also need to have to preserve discovering approaches to engage the viewers. I started out running a blog quite early in my consulting job and then extra LinkedIn. A couple of several years afterwards, I added a podcast that has been active for above a 12 months. I’m now functioning on a non-public community undertaking.
“What are the most important modifications that we have to make to encounter the foreseeable future efficiently?”
There are two huge worries for the industry in the upcoming number of years:
- How to manage all the just after-results of COVID currently being just one of the greatest shocks in the world in the past technology. This contains the results of quantitative easing, source chain and producing shocks, consumer impacts, etcetera.
- How to deal with the wide market shift in the field from “growth at all costs” to much more of a profitability footing. It normally will take a different type of leader to manage the optimization of a company fairly than merely expanding it.
“What has served you get to the place you are and what information would you have for other individuals who want to set off in a related direction?”
For those hoping to break into eCommerce, acquiring a fantastic, high-high-quality eCommerce business is the very first stage. As you job interview for roles, normally appear for companies with the hardest and most successful job interview processes, reasoning that this will catch the attention of the most effective candidates. Your occupation is to get the job done with a fantastic workforce for a quantity of decades, and then you will be off and operating in the business!
“What is the very best source for persons who want to dive in deeper?”
Stick to me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickwatsonecommerce/
Or test out my podcast: https://www.rmwcommerce.com/ecommerce-podcast-watsonweekly
My eCommerce consulting firm’s site: https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
