[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get through your Friday. Here's your host, Bushy.
[Voiceover]: Today's checkout features Teresa Spurdy, founder and director at Arctic Fox. They're an advisory firm specialising in digital and E commerce and capability development. Teresa's background leading digital transformations at retailers like Kohl's and Officeworks has led her to start the business that now works with clients such as Bunnings, Bega and Carpet Court.
Nathan Bush: Teresa, welcome to the checkout. We had a really great conversation with you earlier in the year around selecting and implementing technology in your retail business. And we also uncovered some of the upcoming data and privacy changes that we expect to see throughout the year, which was fascinating for me because I hadn't heard a lot about that. But we're here to learn a little bit more about you. I've got five quick questions for you.
Teresa Sperti: Let's do it.
Nathan Bush: Number one, what's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Teresa Sperti: The weirdest thing? It's a good question. I'm actually a pretty boring person. I don't buy really weird things online. In fact, I'd love to know what other people have said in the past.
Nathan Bush: But see, see what happens is the people who say they don't buy the weird things are the ones that actually do buy the weird things. They just don't talk about the weird things.
Teresa Sperti: Yeah, there you go. I think, you know, a question like this always shows someone's personality, right? So let me give you a sense of some of the things that I do buy, but I wouldn't necessarily class them as weird. So I tend to buy mystery and escape room type kits and online escape rooms.
Nathan Bush: That's cool.
Teresa Sperti: The games, because I'm a bit of a true crime junkie.
Nathan Bush: It's not weird, but it's an unusual thing. And you set them up in your own house?
Teresa Sperti: Well, some of them, they're just small kits and you pull out all of the clues and, you know, some of it is facilitated online and you have some physical aspects that are evidence and whatever to solve the crime. But then equally the online ones, there's nothing to set up on in a physical environment. It's just all played out online. So, yeah, I didn't realize it was a thing.
[Voiceover]: And is that a solo activity or
Nathan Bush: is that like a family friends kind of activity?
Teresa Sperti: I recently convinced my son to do one with me, but he was a bit Bored by the time to the end of the first hour. We've done some with friends as well, so. And one I did, I did on my own. So. Yeah, it just depends if I can rope in someone to do it with me or not.
Nathan Bush: I love it. All right, so just be cautious if, you know, you invite some people around for drinks and then you're getting dragged into an escape room.
Teresa Sperti: Oh, absolutely. That and, you know, dragged into a games night. I love a game night.
Nathan Bush: Same. So good.
Teresa Sperti: So good.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Teresa Sperti: Yeah, that's an interesting one. So you would naturally think because I've been in the digital and E comm space for so long that I'm going to come out with some answer of some amazing retail that does amazing things in. In the digital and E commerce space. If I look at traditional kind of bricks and clicks retailer, I would have to say it's decuba. But it's not because of their amazing omnichannel experience. In fact, as a brand, I think they've got a long way to go. But I don't personally have a lot of time in my life. I've got two kids and I, you know, run my own business. So from a product perspective, I know they'll have what I need when I need it, so I can run in, try things on, etc. I'm not a big online shopper. From a fashion point of view, I like to be able to try something on and I have no desire to go and return something by post and whatever. That just drives me mad. So they are probably my favorite retailer. But again, you know, based on their omnichannel experience, they'd probably make more money out of me if they were more mature in that space.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. So there's a consistency there of product that you use, right?
Teresa Sperti: That's right. It's consistency. It's. I know the product will always fit me. The type of styles that they stock are generally the type of style that I will wear. So. And that's just so important. Right. And I think that's important for any retailer that's retailing online and in store or just online. That consistency piece is critical.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, makes sense. All right, number three, I'm really interested to hear your thoughts here. Which E commerce practice do you wish was history?
Teresa Sperti: This is an interesting one because I don't know if you'd call this a practice, but I just think retargeting, even though I've purchased, we have to get more mature in this space. So it's probably more of a way that brands use channels. That retargeting piece just consistently. Brands still get it so wrong and I think that surely by now we should be more mature in that space.
Nathan Bush: Do you think brands will be forced to become more mature with some of the changes in first party data that are coming through?
Teresa Sperti: I think brands are going to be more challenged by what they do in the retargeting space as a result because of third party cookie deprecation. So I think, you know, as providers like Google and others move back to, I like to call it back to the future. Right. With moving back to browser based targeting and those types of things, I think, you know, strategies like retargeting are probably going to get worse before they get better. But I think this does also come back to brands effectively utilizing first party data in a way that improves the experience for customer. If you know they've purchased, leverage that data to ensure that you're not continuously handing people to buy something they've already bought.
Nathan Bush: I think a lot of retailers would want to solve that too.
Teresa Sperti: Yes. From an efficiency point of view, absolutely.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. Number four, can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Teresa Sperti: So this is probably one for those that are kind of running maybe D2C type plays or FMCG or CPG. Unpacking the digital Shelf.
Nathan Bush: Okay.
Teresa Sperti: Have you heard of it?
Nathan Bush: No.
Teresa Sperti: No. Okay, so it's a US podcast run by the Digital Shelf Institute that provides thought leadership around E commerce for FMCG brands and CPG brands. And they have amazing guest speakers, not just from a CPG and FMCG point of view, but from an E commerce point of view more broadly. So it's a really good one. It's my favorite podcast, apart from this
Nathan Bush: one, obviously, of course.
Teresa Sperti: Well, I was, I was wondering how much is this a leading question?
Nathan Bush: It's not at all lovely. I am going to check that out. I love those recommendations, especially the international ones, but because you get a whole bunch of new views and opinions that we haven't heard. So thank you for that. It's brilliant. Number five, finish this sentence. The future of retail is.
Teresa Sperti: The future of retail is. Oh, I'd like to know what you say about that, but maybe I'll answer first and then you can tell me what you would say. I think the future of retail is going to be a wild ride. You know, if you look, I think there's so much change coming, so much innovation on the horizon. We haven't seen probably the real kind of size of opportunity in social commerce. I think marketplace shift to marketplaces in Australia is going to be significant increasing portion of kind of consumers buying online over the next decade. I think it's going to be wild but exciting for brands that really want
Nathan Bush: to embrace it actually sounds fun.
Teresa Sperti: Yes. Well, fun for the work that we all do, right?
Nathan Bush: Exactly. Exactly. No, that's a great answer. Thank you. I wasn't prepared to answer this question, but. And I think I'd answer it differently on any different day. Yeah, but I think if I think about some of the themes that we talked about, I think you've got to stand for something. I think you can't be middle ground in retail at the moment. I think you've either whether it's a price stand for something, either be really value led or really premium led, whether it's a cause or you've got to actually stand for something and get that core customer engage with you. Exactly like your decouba example is to go. They're our core customers and we will get our halo customers. But if you don't know who your core is, then I think you're in a world of hurt.
Teresa Sperti: And that changes. Right. That's the thing is delivering value to them today is not necessarily delivering value tomorrow. Which is why that constant need for change and evolution and that real finger on the pulse around what those needs are a key. Which is why it will be wild.
Nathan Bush: We gotta keep changing the color of your fur, don't you?
Teresa Sperti: That's right. Exactly. What would the Arctic fox do?
Nathan Bush: What would the Arctic fox do? Awesome. Thanks for joining us on the checkout.
Teresa Sperti: Thanks, Nathan.
[Voiceover]: To hear more from Teresa, jump back into episode 372 where Teresa shares her simple but effective framework for business casing. We also dive into how to get the best out of your technology partners, the do's and don'ts. She also goes through the government changes that are coming up to the Privacy act and the impacts that this may have on your E commerce business. It was a surprise prize for me. You don't want to miss that chat. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to cartoon.
