How to Think, Build and Run digital commerce?

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Dear Thinkers, Builders & Runners,

Happy 2025! I wish you all the best, and all the success. May it be a year full of digital commerce growth. For me personally, the year is starting great. This month we are kicking off (or already have started) new projects: a few Salsify related projects and one webshop implementation project on the CloudSuite platform. I’m super excited to get these going. Not to forget about the clients we were already working with! I’m grateful to our customers that put their trust in us, it’s an honour and a pleasure to work with each of them. These customers are the foundation of our success that I’m so proud of.

The name of this newsletter and the services we provide at our agency are closely aligned: we think, build and run digital commerce. But to you as a reader I’ve never really explained what these three critical pillars entail. I thought the first edition of 2025’s newsletter would be a good opportunity to dive into this. Hopefully it inspires and helps you to think, build, and/or run digital commerce and achieve your goals this year.

Happy reading!

Nikki

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Think

The Think pillar of digital commerce is all about strategy. It requires thinking in various areas: customers, channels, market, assortment, price, target operating model, technology, KPI’s, content.

I’m sure I am forgetting a few. Each have influence on the overall strategy, and have a vision and strategy on their own (for example a channel strategy, a content strategy, a technology vision). It’s all about envisioning the future state of the business.

Here’s how to approach it:

1. Define a digital commerce strategy and roadmap Analyse market trends, customer behaviours, and emerging technologies. Define clear goals—whether it’s revenue growth, customer engagement, or operational efficiency—and create a phased multi-year project roadmap.
2. Design digital experiences aligned with business strategy The solutions you design must align with your business objectives and customer demands. Make life easier for your customers with self-service options, giving them the information the need in each stage of the customer journey, and be present on the channels and devices of their preference.
3. Select the right platforms and tools The digital commerce ecosystem thrives on the right technology stack. Assess platforms based on scalability, flexibility, integration capabilities, and cost-effectiveness. Whether it’s a webshop platform, PIM/PXM, OMS, CRM, or any of the other acronyms, ensure the tools align with your long-term goals.
4. Establish an organization ready to deliver The best strategy fails without the right team. Design an organizational structure where cross-functional teams collaborate effectively. Upskill your workforce and foster a culture of experimentation and data-driven decision-making.

We help our customers with thinking digital commerce by:

• Developing a digital commerce strategy.
• Developing a digital shelf strategy.
• Designing customer buying journeys.
• Creating digital experiences.
• Technology architecture design and selection.

Build

The Build pillar is where your digital commerce vision takes shape. The plan is executed, selected platforms are implemented, designed experiences are developed, change management is set in progress. It’s all about enabling the business to run in the new, envisioned way by building impactful experiences, aligning technology, and fostering agility.

1. Build a digital experience to accelerate growth A seamless, engaging, and customer-centric digital experience is key to driving growth. Whether through intuitive design, fast-loading interfaces, or personalized interactions, your platform should captivate users and encourage loyalty.
2. Effectively integrate your existing and future technology stack Integration is essential for creating a cohesive digital ecosystem. Connecting legacy systems with modern, scalable solutions ensures smooth operations and adaptability, triggered from a composable vision and based on MACH principles (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless). Loosely coupled, highly aligned systems are the foundation of delivering fast and engaging experiences to customers.
3. Optimize ways of working for agility Agility empowers teams to respond quickly to market changes and customer demands. Embrace methodologies to enable cross-functional collaboration, fast iteration, and continuous delivery of value.

We help our clients with building digital commerce by:

• Implementing and integrating webshop, PXM, marketplace and other platforms.
• Enabling the business to sell on marketplaces or implementing the marketplace model.
• Developing digital experiences (PWA, apps, CMS, et cetera).

Run

The Run pillar focuses on operating the new business and optimizing it. In this phase the return on the investment needs to be harvested and maximized. All is about increasing the customer experience and operational efficiency.

Running a successful digital commerce operation requires a relentless focus on enhancing the customer experience. By leveraging data analytics, AI, and regular feedback, businesses can gain deep insights into customer behaviours and preferences. These insights enable personalized interactions, proactive support, and seamless journeys across all touchpoints. Continuous A/B testing and iterative improvements help identify and resolve friction points, ensuring that customer satisfaction remains high while driving revenue growth.

At the same time, maximizing operational efficiency is critical to long-term success. Streamlining processes, automating repetitive tasks, and adopting modern tools help reduce costs and improve productivity. A well-optimized operation fosters a positive work environment, enabling employees to focus on strategic activities that add value. When employees are empowered and operations run smoothly, the result is a virtuous cycle where customer satisfaction and profitability feed into one another, ensuring sustainable growth.

We help our clients with running digital commerce by:

• Optimizing the digital shelf (content optimization and retail media).
• Shop management.
• Optimizing the conversion rate.

Continuously Thinking, Building & Running

The Think, Build, Run framework is not a linear process but a continuous cycle, with each phase feeding into and enriching the others. Strategy developed in the Think phase informs the Build phase, ensuring the right foundations and technologies and processes are put in place. The experiences and operations created during Build are brought to life and optimized in the Run phase, where data insights and real-world performance reveal opportunities for improvement. These insights create a feedback loop, guiding strategic refinements and adjustments in the Think phase.

By embracing this iterative approach, businesses can remain agile, adapt to market changes, and stay ahead of customer expectations. Each loop through the framework strengthens the connection between vision, execution, and operational excellence, creating a cycle of continuous growth and innovation.

Growing pains: a lesson from Mexico City

Mexico City is sinking. Built on the ancient Lake Texcoco, the city’s foundation is soft and unstable. Over centuries, the extraction of groundwater has caused the ground to sink by as much as 50 centimetres annually in certain areas. Streets buckle, buildings lean, and landmarks like the Metropolitan Cathedral are slowly sinking.

This sinking contrasts sharply with the city's rapid growth. While modern skyscrapers and tech hubs rise across the landscape, the physical foundation is crumbling beneath. The city’s expansion is growing faster than its ability to support itself, a reminder that unchecked growth can lead to instability.

Much like Mexico City, digital commerce faces a similar challenge: rapid growth without a solid foundation can cause problems down the road. Sustainability and adaptation are essential for long-term success—whether in a city or in business. Both must find balance to avoid sinking under their own weight.

To thrive in digital commerce, you must think, build, and run with a solid foundation. Start by developing a strategic plan that considers long-term sustainability. Build on technologies that integrate well and scale, and run operations that are agile and efficient. Just like a city, your digital business needs a strong base to grow and adapt over time.