[Ad]: This episode of the Checkout is brought to you by E Suite. Whether you're a retailer looking to grow your team or you're an E commerce gun looking for your next role, E Suite are here to help. At E Suite we connect fast growing retailers with the best Australian e commerce talent. We're working with some of the best in the business including Accent Group, Incoo, Aus, Hair and Beauty and Black Mill. So if you are in the market or interested in where the E commerce market is at, reach out. Visit esweettalent.com for all the latest job list or contact me directly on Nathan sweettalent.com au now let's get into today's checkout.
[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 you through your Friday.
Nathan Bush: Today's checkout features Peter Bray from Impact. Impact is a technology company that helps retailers create revenue driving partners with other brands, influencers, mobile apps, publishers and more.
[Ad]: Peter is the APAC Sales director and
Nathan Bush: has seen Impact working with leading Australian retailers including Woolworths, David Jones and Booktopia. Peter Bray, I'm a bit concerned about what we're going to find out about you today in the checkout. Let's get straight into it.
Peter Bray: Hey, I don't know how I feel about this.
Nathan Bush: I feel like I've got you in a vulnerable time. All right, five questions. Number one, what is the weirdest thing you've ever bought online?
Peter Bray: I shall not disclose this, but I'll tell you about one of the funniest things I've ever bought online. Well, the funniest experience, I was organizing my best friend's Bucks party and his name's Wayne. And so we decided to make the Bucks party, unbeknownst to him, Wayne's World. And so I then had to go and source 75 Garth wigs. The kind of the blonde hair with the fringe cut straight. I had to get 75 glasses, like you know, black, black framed, no glass glasses and then the Garth flannels, those kind of, you know, cut off type shirts. I had to source 75 of each of those and it was quite a sight when he walked into his event and he was met with 75 garths. And then we dressed him just like Wayne. So one Wayne and many Garths. But all that is brilliant. All that was sourced online.
Nathan Bush: Where did you get it from?
Peter Bray: Many different places.
Nathan Bush: Oh, I'd love to see your postie.
[Ad]: All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer.
Nathan Bush: And I know this is hard because you've got so many great clients, but if you could pick one that you love.
Peter Bray: Oh yeah, besides Booktopia, that fantastic podcast we just recorded with Stefan Darling, the CMO look, I've actually got two. One is one's Patagonia. I think a lot of people lean towards that. But I actually experienced that firsthand recently when I bought a. I bought a shirt. It wasn't the shirt that I was imagining. I forgot about it. Six months later, I'm like, oh, still hasn't been worn, still with the tags on. Hang on a second, you mean I can still return it? And I did, no questions asked and got another product and went to spend another couple hundred bucks because of that. So I think that's one. And then one a little bit closer to home is Xeroco. I don't know if you know Xeroco, they should definitely be on your podcast. And you know, Mike Smith was, I think it was 2019, 2020, the biggest raise on Kickstarter, I think it was. But his whole idea is, you know, pick up plastic from the oceans and make bottles and things out of it. And so now they've got this single purchase or subscription model for cleaning products, dishwasher tablets, all sorts of things. And just what they're doing in the channel and what they're doing as a social initiative. And the other really cool thing I found out yesterday is that they're producing all of their new bottles through recycled materials in Australia as well. So I think there's a whole bunch of social responsibility causes that businesses like that are doing. That is just so good and it's a great product.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that's great example. I hadn't heard of them, but definitely be checking them out. Number three, which retail fad do you wish was history?
Peter Bray: Look, I'm actually more focused maybe on a digital sense, but I kind of get irked more when it's in E commerce. And that's about anything that disrupts my experience that stops me getting to that purchase. And that could be on the payment side. It could be on your little wheels that pop up trying to give me a 10% discount. And look, I'm sure they all have great results of retention or. But I just think if you can do them in more elegant ways, I think adding value to that customer experience is the bigger goal.
Nathan Bush: It's a really interesting one, isn't it? And like the most obvious example being those pop up banners at the front which capture email addresses. I actually made A lot of clients and they literally just put up because they're so easy to put up now. Anyone with a Shopify site can put it up in 20 minutes. The problem is that it's really easy to measure the addresses that you capture might be 6% conversion rate. Yeah, this is fantastic. But it's harder to quantify the customers that turn around straight away because of it.
Peter Bray: Got it. Yeah. There you go.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. All right, great. Point number four. Can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Peter Bray: Yeah. I have listened to every single episode since the day it was released of the Pivot podcast with Professor Scott Galloway and Kara Swisher. I just find that I feel less intelligent when I watch it because they are so intelligent and capable and know so much about some stuff that I'm really interested in. But I think it provides a really good view on what's happening in everything from politics, technology, media, and the intersection of all those things. So that's one that I religiously listen to and yeah, I can't recommend that enough.
Nathan Bush: Scott Galloway is just a gun at the moment, isn't he? He's got a few podcasts going on.
Peter Bray: Yeah. And he says it himself. He's quite a self aware character where he's like, he's an overnight success that's been 30 years in the making. And you've got Kara Swisher, who is one of the most influential and powerful technology journalists that's been covering everything in Silicon Valley for the past 35, 40 years. And just being able to get an idea of the role that technology plays in changing our lives and shaping legislation, it's just, it's so important. It's great to get those views.
Nathan Bush: Great example. Thank you. Last question I've got for you. Finish this sentence. The future of retail is customer centric. Doesn't get easier than that, does it?
Peter Bray: Doesn't mate? Thank you so much.
Nathan Bush: Thanks, Pete. To hear more from Pete and to
[Ad]: hear how partnerships can be a key
Nathan Bush: part of your customer acquisition strategy, jump back into our very special episode 81, an explainer episode where Pete is joined by Stefan Dalling from Booktopia to share how far the partnership model has come and how partnerships can drive up to 200% growth. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to cartoon.
