Are brands looking far enough ahead when evaluating ecommerce platforms?

On the latest episode of The FODcast, James sits down with Marina Milojkovic, VP UK at Grebban, to unpack why total cost of ownership in ecommerce is often far more complex than brands initially expect.

From app sprawl and operational complexity, through to team structure, ownership and long-term scalability, the conversation explores why platform decisions cannot just be evaluated on implementation cost alone.

We cover a whole host of topics including:

• Why Shopify doesn’t always mean lower TCO long term
• The hidden cost of apps, integrations and operational complexity
• Why brands need to look at years three and four, not just implementation
• How regular TCO audits can help keep tech stacks lean
• Why TCO, AI, brand experience and UX are increasingly part of the same ecommerce investment conversation

A really practical discussion for brands reviewing their ecommerce setup, planning a replatform, or simply trying to understand where complexity and cost actually come from.

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#FODcast #DigitalCommerce #eCommerce #Shopify #Centra #RetailTech

Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/

Pricing in retail still isn’t where it needs to be.

In this episode of The FODcast (and the launch of Season 8), we sit down with Meghan Stabler (Co-Founder and CMO at AI-driven, contextual pricing platform alentr) to explore why pricing remains one of the most complex and underdeveloped areas in digital commerce.

Drawing on her experience as former SVP of Global Marketing at BigCommerce where she helped scale the business through to IPO, Meghan shares a clear and practical perspective on the gap between performance metrics and pricing strategy - and what businesses need to rethink.

We cover:

• Margin vs conversion - why strong performance doesn’t always mean pricing is right
• The reality of discounting - easy to implement, harder to sustain
• AI in pricing - where it adds value and where it still falls short
• Static vs dynamic models - why many businesses remain reactive
• Pricing guardrails - protecting margin while staying competitive

If pricing is still being treated as a periodic review rather than an active, strategic lever, this is a conversation worth your time.

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#FODcast #DigitalCommerce #Retail #PricingStrategy #AI #eCommerce

Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/

B2B commerce complexity isn’t just technical. It’s organisational, behavioural and cultural.

On this week’s episode of The FODcast, James sits down with Tom Williams, Head of Commerce at UNRVLD to unpack why B2B transformations stall…and what actually gets them moving.

We cover a whole host of topics including:

• Complex pricing + org structures: different users, permissions and hierarchies; and why it needs uncovering early
• Legacy order channels (email, punchout, OCR and more): you often can’t “switch it off” even if it’s inefficient
• Customer-first vs tech-first: most businesses start with a feature tick list, not customer behaviour
• Digital maturity reality checks: why teams think they’re further along than they are
• Integration first: a robust middleware approach that lets you change systems without breaking everything else

If you’re modernising B2B, this is a practical conversation: start with the “as is”, map the “to be”, then make progress iteratively - without forcing a big bang.

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Simply Commerce is the leading supplier of talent into digital commerce across technology, digital marketing, product, sales, and leadership.

Find our more about our approach and our services within digital commerce recruitment here: https://simply-commerce.co.uk/