Colleen Caso is a seasoned eCommerce strategist and Vice President at Brand Focus Digital, bringing over 17 years of top-tier experience driving brand growth in the digital marketplace. Catch Colleen's session. Working within Ecommerce and Amazon, live at SFA’s Maker Growth Summit, December 8-10 in Boston. In advance of the Summit, Colleen shared some insights and previews with SFA in the below interview.
What sets Amazon apart from other DTC channels for emerging makers?
Amazon has 380+ million unique customers using the platform, so emerging brands are able to get in front of intent-driven customers faster than if they were to try to generate awareness via their own website.
What's something that emerging specialty brands often overlook before they're ready for an ecomm channel like Amazon?
Most emerging brands do not have a holistic omnichannel strategy and therefore, their approach to growth is limited by not understanding the full scope of what is necessary to launch a brand- packaging/branding, photography, social media, influencers, sampling, distribution, retailers all need to be carefully implemented to support a successful launch.Since customers cannot pick up and look at the packaging on shelf like they could in brick-and-mortar stores, it is important to be sure that packaging and content are as spot on as possible.
What's a trend in the DTC landscape that could especially impact emerging makers?
Awareness. Customers are learning about new brands and products without searching for something they need. Customers are finding items on social media or through AI generated suggestions based on prior interactions. It is increasingly important to have robust, engaging content to convert customers.
How is AI impacting ecommerce and the way consumers shop for food and bev products?
AI is impacting the world we are in making it easier to find products based on search terms. Customers can use Amazon's AI to ask for gluten free cookies that are soft baked, and the search will provide results that are better than what you would obtain with prior SEO search. Also, AI is helping customers learn more about items. In an age where customers want to know more about certain items- is it seed oil free, BPA free, compostable, etc, customers are able to find those features very quickly on Amazon pages if the brand has done their due diligence to educate customers.Anything else you'd like to tease from your session?
Amazon is a great platform to launch a brand and a product as there are so many details you can obtain from search terms, path to purchase, frequency of purchase, customer retention, reviews, and geographic locations of purchases. Amazon allows a lot of R&D as well, testing pack sizes, price points, flavor profiles, etc.Find Colleen on LinkedIn or visit the Brand Focus Digital website for more.
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