Yes, If It Is To Be Said, So It Be, So It Is.

“Because of technology everything we make is always in the process of becoming. Every kind of thing is becoming something else, while it churns from “might” to “is.” All is flux. Nothing is finished. Nothing is done. This never-ending change is the pivotal axis of the modern world.”

― Kevin Kelly, The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

Control your controllables. In commerce, your controllables are invariably outputs. On the other side of the coin it is much more difficult. We have got to play the hand we are dealt. What are the those factors:?

Macro

Politics

Society

Consumers

Environment

Technology

Financial

Micro

Legislative Environment

Behaviors

Consumerism - have we enough stuff already??

We are losing this battle and will be regulated

Gulp

Double Gulp

There is information overload right now and knowing how to use these external factors to help with our outputs is not so much a skill as a it is a survival mechanism, a path to growth, a new path altogether. This stands true for the individual as much as it does for the companies we represent. Right now there are significant forces shaping the world we in retail and tech operate in and controlling our controllables is becoming pretty uncontrollable. (Note: To the skeptics that think I am getting some remuneration from Nestle, who own the world control, I am not. And no they don’t. I inserted that for dramatic effect or one of those wow moments.)?

So we at RMW Commerce have decided to talk about it. Help design a way of thinking through these challenges and turning them into frameworks for thinking. This is not just about brands and platforms, it is for everyone across the ecosystem. Of which there are many of us.?

In January, at NRF, we are having our coming of Age party. I say that as our intrepid reporter, Nick Kaplan believes in time based measures of things. Meetings usually are bookended by a meal or a snack. How many lunches till Hanukah I heard him say last week. That question has no answer, as that guy likes to eat. He’s quite Viking like in some weird way.?

We will be tackling 5 key narratives that are driving many agendas and opening the debate with around 100 guests on Jan 12th in a super cool NYC venue. It is the right place and the right time. Yes, there are loads of other things going on, but these are the chats we have in the sidelines usually. Think of this as a speakeasy. If you know you know.?

What will we be discussing??

The Cheap Consumer & The Great Trade Down

In a climate of economic caution, consumers are seeking value at every turn. Explore how shifting purchasing habits are impacting brand strategies and the trade-down effect shaping retail offerings.

Marketing is King, Merchandising is Queen

As competition intensifies, marketing takes center stage while merchandising complements, influencing brand loyalty and growth. This session highlights the balance of these forces and their critical roles.

The Generative Brand: Retail in the Age of AI

AI-driven retail is here, and it’s transforming customer experience and brand interaction. Discover how to align with these new dynamics, tapping into the unspoken needs and wants of the modern consumer.

The Beginning and the End: Equity and Exits

For brands navigating capital, growth, and exit strategies, understanding the lifecycle of investment is crucial.

The Emperor’s New Playbook

As modern commerce demands fresh approaches, brands must adapt or risk exposure.

These are the things outside our control. The die has been cast and we find ourselves in this Darwinian moment of commerce. Many people we speak with feel this, but don’t say it. We are creating a space and a time beyond the third space. It was David Pollincock who reminded me this year of its importance. It resonated.?

On our show, The Watson Weekend, we hear from people throughout the industry aho have echoed these feelings and challenges. What we don’t have is a place to share them together. And to learn. We need a place we can access services, knowledge and a place to get things wrong with some safety netting to help us on the way. Rick’s voice and thought leadership has been that space for many now, for some time, we are bringing this show on the road.?

Coming of Age

Rick has been around so long we talk about his tenure now as though it were in dog years. His career in our world is about 4 dog years if thats our barometer. Still a pup. Talking about him in the third is kinda weird I will admit but for the purposes of describing our event, I think it is important. Included in our event is something you will not read on tickets, our website or anywhere. 5 years ago in Tralee, Kerry, I hosted an ecommerce summit. A place that was hard to get to but asked the great community of people I knew to support an event that was a mix of discussions that were macro and micro at the same time. We had competing agencies sharing the couch for platform discussions, we had the lyrical and wonderful, Philip King of Other Voices open the summit with an emotional address about how technology create the power of possibility. His daughter at the time had long been working on the East Coast of America, but now with internet advances, it was possible, not likely, but possible to work from the most westerly point of Ireland and be closer to his heart. It set the tone for 2 days of info- tainment underpinned by camaraderie at the bar and revelment that still lives with me to this day.?

The event broke me in every way but it was through the good will of many, the desire to learn and a shared common, unwritten realisation that we cannot do this alone. Somewhere in there, there has got to be a place for heart. Somewhere in there, you have go to let go of inhibitions and be vulnerable. You need to let your heart go where your head cannot and in these moments we create something memorable. That is there we are going.

2024 has not ended the way many had hoped. It presents us with an even more uncertain 2025. Our controllables are those outputs that are predictable to a point of being boring. The year will go - back to basics, profit it we can, curation, Prime day 1, back to school, prime day 2, the? continued rise of TEMU, BFCM and then Christmas 2026. We cannot expect to bundle our way and hope that in our desire to be efficient in 2024, we left ourselves without room to maneuver in the future. Without a growth strategy there is nothing.?

Our controllables feel less controllable when we fail to acknowledge the world around them and how the shape of things is or can become. My wonderfully fun, interlligent and empathetic colleagues Jessica Lesesky Rick Watson Jacquelyn Laufer Kaylea Sepulvado o and Nick Kaplan will be hosting a live Watson Weekend show in January, the first of many such events, where we talk through heart and head in equal measure, we will eat,d rink and be merry. We will welcome old friends and leave with new ones. Memories already have been made and it is time we take back the ability and the desire to want more. We should be greedy for them. Human experiences in the Age of Enlightenment will keep us all young, make us better at our jobs and lead to days we enjoy waking up into.?

“Over the next three decades, scholars and fans, aided by computational algorithms, will knit together the books of the world into a single networked literature. A reader will be able to generate a social graph of an idea, or a timeline of a concept, or a networked map of influence for any notion in the library. We’ll come to understand that no work, no idea stands alone, but that all good, true, and beautiful things are ecosystems of intertwined parts and related entities, past and present.”

― Kevin Kelly, The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

So wiith those words wiser than mine. We are excited to welcome those to NYC in Jan, we welcome our partners, our friends and those we are destined to meet to. See you there.

Have you registered yet? ?