EP351 - Bringing the Store Sparkle Online with Kendra Scott

WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Jason and Scott Show, your source for the latest news and trends

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in the e-commerce industry.

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Featuring host Jason Retail Geek Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer of

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Publicis, and Scot Wingo, co-founder and CEO of ReFiBuy.

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Here are Jason and Scot.

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Welcome to the Jason and Scot Show. I'm your host, Jason Retail Geek Goldberg.

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And as usual, I'm here with your co-host, Scot Wingo.

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Hey, Jason, and welcome back. Jason and Scott show viewers and listeners.

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We're coming to you live from the Retail Club AI Festival here in Beach,

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California, also known as Surf City.

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Today, we have a fun treat. My daughters are going to watch this podcast because

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they are huge fans of this brand.

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Joining us today, we have Kristi Carlson and Chris Hardestay from Kendra Scott.

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Welcome to the Jason's Fat Show, guys.

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Thank you thanks yeah we're happy to be here too super fun yeah,

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and Kristi you're super fan you told us you listened to uh a lot of our pods

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i don't know if you listen to all of them we what jason has a whole line that

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if you did that it would take some number 400 hours there you go yes so,

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I'm going to start on that this weekend, though. A lot of your time,

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I'm also the further back you get. The 11-year-old ones are great.

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Very well in a peak too soon.

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But tell us about your career. Where did you, you know, when did you get into

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retail brands, and how did you end up at Kendra?

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Yeah, so I started my work life working in mortgage-backed securities, actually.

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Very similar, isn't it? Very similar, yeah. Let me guess, this story is going

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to take a turn in 2008. It is. It's going to take a dramatic turn.

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No mortgage jobs to be had. And so I started working for Whole Foods on their technology team.

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And I spent 15 years at Whole Foods and then joined Kendra Scott almost five years ago now.

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And yeah. You're a long-term Austinite. You're not a transplant.

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I think I technically have my Austin card now. So 25 years. So I think they

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actually acknowledge that you're an Austinite at that point.

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Are you keeping Austin weird?

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I'm doing my best all right good we appreciate it austin appreciates you.

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Chris let's start with uh let's jump into your background in full disclosure

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jason and i have known you for quite a while because we were on the shop.org

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board together from jason and i were 2011,

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They tried to kick Jason off many times, but he's now kept coming back.

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So we've known you for a long time, but let's go back to your long and prestigious career.

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Yeah. So it's funny enough, not as cool as mortgage-backed securities,

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but I was in the semiconductor industry for a few years.

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My degree was in accounting. So that's kind of where I started.

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And then we moved to New England, and I started at Timberland.

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And that's where I got my first taste of retail. Was that before they were VF

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corporate, part of the VF corporate? Yeah, it was actually before.

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So I was there nine years, about eight and a half years into my time there is when VF acquired them.

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So I was there for mostly the Jeff Schwartz era. The good eras.

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Yeah. Before the big acquisition. Yeah.

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Wonderful brand. I just love the people, love the brand.

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Lots changed from when I was there, but I always look back on it fondly.

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It just taught me so much. And so I was, I was there and then I went to Puma

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for six years at Timberland is when I got into digital. I was in retail for

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a while and got into digital and went to Puma for six years.

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And then I, I kind of took what I would call a dream job, which was really, it was dream job.

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And then also really hard because I was traveling more than I expected, but I, I oversaw retail.

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So both brick and mortar and e-commerce for Lacoste for a couple of years,

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which was, which you're still representing.

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Yeah. I, I have so much Lacoste and I love the brand.

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They, people make fun of me because it's pretty much what I wear, but I just, it was,

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very funny but i just that brand is just a tier above all the other brands i'd

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work for as far as apparel goes and i just i've loved them ever since

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i continue trying to get him to layer some kendra scott necklaces yeah it would

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look great it would look great really just aren't really his vibe yeah it doesn't

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really hit the counting thing thanks,

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i'm blank that's right.

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So then I was always in footwear and apparel for the longest time.

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I was at Clark's for a few years. And then I was actually introduced to Kendra

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Scott through a mutual friend, as we know on the Sarah Wallace.

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And they asked me to step in. Somebody had left sort of pretty quickly and they

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needed somebody to come and help on the business side.

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And that was back in 2022. And that's where I met Kristi for the first time.

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And we just, we hit it off really well. And I, you know, love the team, love the brand.

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It was just a lot of fun. A lot of things reminded me of Timberland as far as people and passion.

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And so I was there for 11 months. I didn't move to Austin. That was sort of

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a thing with Kendra Scott. So I then took a role running another jewelry company

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for a couple of years, very different space. And then after I was done there,

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there was a couple of organizational changes at Kendra Scott.

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And the COO there, who I knew very well from my time there, asked me to come

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back. And so I started helping with projects.

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And then Amazon became an initiative that I was taking part in.

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And then lastly, a couple of months ago, when the previous leader of e-commerce

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stepped away they asked me to step in so i've i've been doing that now for about

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seven weeks and getting to work with Kristi again it's just which is really

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fun and and kayla who's in our audience who's,

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also awesome teaching me everything about ai that i didn't learn on the retail

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gentic and jason and scot show podcast so it's oh thanks i see i did that yeah

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and side note you're automatically get an invite back when you mention her how awesome we are,

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if this podcast goes well you guys are going to start your own podcast,

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the Chris and Kristi show. Yes.

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We've dreamed of that, but yeah. Kristi, what's your role at Kendra Scott?

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They call me the vice president of digital technology.

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Which I think is a very simple way of saying I oversee marketing technology,

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e-commerce technology, business intelligence and analytics. And I own the AI

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strategy at the company. Very cool. Nice.

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I think I think, you know, AI at some point or a jump to commerce needs to be

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in your title. So we'll work on it.

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Jason keeps adding words to his title, which is his strategy.

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But I find is the more we don't have time to go through this title,

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the more they pay you. It's weird. You have to flip over to the other side of

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the business card now. So that's a sore subject. He's on a two-point font right now.

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And he's like working. There is actually a one-point font, and he's going to

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go to that. My fancy French company doesn't do business cards. Oh.

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Which I'm sort of sad. They probably

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argue over the paper. Like no one can decide which fancy paper it is.

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Yeah. And what fragrance would they use on it? It's a whole thing.

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French. Yeah. French blue. C'est la vie.

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Let's start with. Kendra Scott's a great brand. And one of my favorite podcasts

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that isn't one of ours is How I Built This. And the Kendra Scott one is amazing, like telling the story.

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It's very central there in Austin, just like right in the downtown area.

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So a lot to do with that brand. What are some of the big things that are going

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on in the Kinder Scott world, like big initiatives that you guys think about?

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Obviously, AI, you're leading that. So that must be kind of up in there.

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But what else? And you guys have how many stores does Kendra Scott have now?

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165. OK, so you're going to kind of a growing, you know, once it comes to my

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city, Raleigh, I know that we're getting big.

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So you guys have a great store. i should say that yeah that we have with honestly

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we have five stores that are actually a brand called yellow rose by Kendra scott

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which is a western wear brand oh wow so so we have a chocobas kind of like even

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into footwear or more like different like,

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like this is what i'm wearing today is yellow rose bigger it's a different western

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inspired jewelry so it's kind of like urban cowgirl type vibe oh i didn't know

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i learned something today yeah yeah and with a with apparel and and and you know so a lot,

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it's a it's a really fun exciting brand yeah beautiful beautiful that category

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is on fire because of the you know yellowstone is lit up the people that are

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interested in that that kind of cultural.

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If you're going to be in nashville anytime soon our latest store that we opened

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for yellow rose is in nashville that seems like a good road trip it's got a

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jason scot road trip it's got a bar and restaurant in it as well which is a first for us oh sweet,

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we've had bars in some of our other locations but the bar and restaurant concept

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is new and i haven't been to that store yet but i've heard really great things

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so similarly so if anybody's going to shop talk we won't be there this time

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but got to stop by time to stop by the store we'll do a store visit.

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So I interrupted you. What are some of the other big initiatives there you guys have going on?

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Yeah, I think we have a new CEO. And he came to us from Athleta.

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And I think he's really great at focusing on the storytelling aspect of the

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brand. We've been around for a long time.

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We are expanding on this idea of world of Kendra Scott.

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And just kind of talking more about our founder and what inspires her.

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And the designs that we focus in on. and the aesthetic and all the inspiration, right?

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Yeah, I mean, one of the things that's interesting to Kristi's point is like,

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a lot of the designs, the things that Kendra created from her jewelry box,

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she had $500, started a brand that has grown into really a national treasure, I'd say.

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It's an amazing business and

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incredible how large that the brand has grown and what she's done with it.

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But like a lot of the styles, like a lot of the history and story behind those

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styles really hadn't been shared.

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And sort of what was some of her design motivations or inspirations?

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And so a lot of that content, how do we get that out there, right?

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Especially feeding like the LLMs and understanding the spoilers.

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I was going to say spoiler alert. This kind of content is just like a catnip for the, yeah.

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It's exactly right. They want to understand the why behind a product.

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Like why was it built and what type of, you know, you guys have a growing product line.

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What appeals to what type of consumer? And the background story is the best

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way to tell them. So I think that that'll be an investment that pays off and

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your super fans want to know that stuff, too.

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So it's going to it's going to be a really big payoff on that, I think.

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Yeah. Yeah. And that's been that's been really fun. Right. Because because even

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in the company, I think there are some folks that don't know all that that that

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history. Right. And so it's been it's been a really great unlock to learn some

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of that and share that with with our customers.

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And it's the brand is just really it's just a really fun brand.

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And people are very passionate. As I mentioned, that was something very similar

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to my prior experience of early days with Timberland, just really care.

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And there's just so many things that we want to accomplish and do and,

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Kendra's DNA was rolling up her sleeves and getting it done.

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And that's really precipitated throughout the company.

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I remember from 2022, just my amazement at how quickly people could just hop

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around an initiative and be like, we're just going to roll up our sleeves and

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get it done. And people will just get together and figure it out.

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And you don't see that in a lot of companies. They're oftentimes slow or kind

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of figure out who's going to lead. And at Kendra Scott, they're just like,

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let's just get it done. How do we do it? And we do it together.

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So you still have that kind of founder energy yes founder mode you're still in founder mode yeah,

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lots of innovation and ideas going on and we also i think our retail experience

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is unique in that the stores are very beautiful and very well curated but we

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also do a lot of localized events at our stores and so.

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Somebody's excited there's a fan back there nobody nobody's more excited than

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that guy for our local events.

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So, you know, the local events is something that we're trying to lean into more

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and more and really making those extra special and understanding that customer

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that's coming to those events, whether it's for a fundraiser or some sort of

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special product release or things like that.

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So, yeah, I mean, you know, there are basically three core pillars of the company,

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family, fashion, and philanthropy.

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And philanthropy is a very big part of the brand.

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And and so these events and working with local charities and organizations,

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Kendra's always been passionate about that.

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We have a whole philanthropy team that does that their whole time and energy

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is how do we how do we give back? Right. How do we not only do we do we do good

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in business, but how do we do good in our communities and show up and show up? Yeah.

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I was curious with founder-led companies, you mentioned you have a new CEO.

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Is Kendrick still actively involved in the company?

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She is. She's in the office quite a bit.

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And she's going to be on Shark Tank more this year. Oh, that'll be fun.

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Yeah, it'll be fun to watch her. So watch Shark Tank.

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I think she's going to be there regularly. She's now from Cuban left,

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right? Yeah. She's permanently replacing.

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Oh, nice. It's super exciting just for people. You work with a shark? We work with a shark.

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Yeah. I mean, we're super known in the South, right? Like, especially Texas.

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It's a core part of the business. But, you know, there are a lot of people.

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I mean, I live in the Northeast that don't know the brand as well.

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And so this is also a really great opportunity for people to learn about Kendra

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and sort of her passion and what she cares about and sort of her entrepreneurial mind.

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And also just get introduced to our product, which is really fun.

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It's a double-edged sword, right? Because on the one hand, it's a brand amplifier.

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It's another great platform for people to discover Kendra Scott.

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The downside is when she does deals on Shark Tank, she's going to expect you

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to help off of her portfolio.

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I might have PTSD from that from 2022. Yeah.

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You guys have a lot of stores. Where are you on the continuum of,

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it used to be Omnichannel. Now we call it like harmonized or something.

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Jason's more dialed in on this than I am. I don't like any of the words. Okay.

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Jason does like any of the words. I just like to sell stuff, the commerce. Yeah.

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Do you guys, do you feel like you have good connectivity between the store and

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the website or is that another area you're still roughing off some of the edges with?

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Yeah. I mean, I think you're always self-critical of what you do,

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but we do a really good job. I mean, with buy online, pick up in store,

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We ship from our stores as well. We try to be as omni-channel as we can in all

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of our messaging promotions.

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The challenge I think we have online is how do you create that same sort of

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level of experience that we have in store, right?

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There's the sparkle of the jewelry. Seeing it in person, it's really hard to

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bring that to life online.

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But also our associates, the energy and passion that they bring,

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how do you bring that same passion online?

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I think that's one place where I, I, I grade us as an operator with,

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with not, not quite at the, at the A level on online is how do we get closer

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to that? Cause our stores are.

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I think we do a really good job at delivering happiness for people and especially

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in store that energy is there. And how do we do that more with our digital experience?

00:14:44.280 --> 00:14:47.500
It's something that we're constantly challenging ourselves. How do we do better?

00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:53.259
Yeah, I've been in many a Kendra Scott and the associates are always very proactive.

00:14:53.259 --> 00:14:57.210
They come out and greet you, but not in like a, you know, if you say I'm just

00:14:57.210 --> 00:14:59.200
browsing, they don't bother, you know, they don't.

00:14:59.560 --> 00:15:01.940
They're not there to like harangue you.

00:15:02.640 --> 00:15:06.500
But then i've seen it where well you know my daughter will be getting something

00:15:06.500 --> 00:15:09.680
for a friend she describes her friend and they're like you know they get within

00:15:09.680 --> 00:15:13.460
like two or three questions you can tell somehow they've narrowed the collection

00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:16.840
down to like three or four pieces to choose from it's pretty you,

00:15:17.333 --> 00:15:20.029
know it's pretty amazing i don't buy a lot of jewelry but it's i love watching

00:15:20.029 --> 00:15:24.569
that interaction so i always go with them and watch that honestly they're very

00:15:24.569 --> 00:15:28.059
good at that because it's it's i've been in other retail brands and not that

00:15:28.059 --> 00:15:29.389
not that they weren't great at it,

00:15:30.020 --> 00:15:33.620
but there it is something very special about our store staff

00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:38.470
you know colleen wilson who runs our retail team just she does an amazing job

00:15:38.470 --> 00:15:42.110
and and they just again they have that roll up their sleeves how do we how do

00:15:42.110 --> 00:15:44.790
we make it happen how do we how do we do something that's a little different

00:15:44.790 --> 00:15:46.920
than what everyone else does and and,

00:15:47.450 --> 00:15:50.150
again like when i walk in our stores my gosh i just wish i could do that we

00:15:50.150 --> 00:15:53.270
could get that even better online because they really do connect with customers

00:15:53.270 --> 00:15:56.060
they'll recognize when they're wearing one of the pieces like if you i'm sure

00:15:56.060 --> 00:15:58.280
if you walked in a store, they may know who you are, but 10,

00:15:58.280 --> 00:15:59.360
10 year secret shopping,

00:15:59.700 --> 00:16:02.170
they'll offer to, uh, I think they clean, I don't know what they do,

00:16:02.170 --> 00:16:04.510
but they do, they do, they, they, they gussy it up.

00:16:05.410 --> 00:16:07.500
Yeah. I don't know what the cleaning process is, but they'll,

00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:11.360
they'll, you know, they'll, they'll enhance service level.

00:16:12.060 --> 00:16:16.620
And we also, I think it's important to talk about like the customization that we can do in the store.

00:16:16.970 --> 00:16:21.590
So our color bars and another unique aspect of our brand where you can actually

00:16:21.590 --> 00:16:25.140
come in and maybe not this piece in particular, but,

00:16:25.780 --> 00:16:30.140
Something like this, I can go and put another stone in or pick a finding and

00:16:30.140 --> 00:16:34.210
put whatever color I want. And I can have a color bar party with my friends.

00:16:34.530 --> 00:16:38.530
It's really popular to do. So that's another in-store experience that I think

00:16:38.530 --> 00:16:40.930
Chris and I are constantly challenging ourselves on.

00:16:42.290 --> 00:16:47.730
How do we do color bar in a way online that makes it feel as fun as it is in a store?

00:16:49.750 --> 00:16:52.120
There's a lot of people that are using AI for these types of things,

00:16:52.120 --> 00:16:56.010
like try-ons and these types of things. Is that in the spectrum of things you're

00:16:56.010 --> 00:16:57.230
thinking about longer term?

00:16:57.800 --> 00:17:02.810
I think, you know, we have virtual try on on, I think it's 94% of our products

00:17:02.810 --> 00:17:08.190
online now. So that's been, I think it's been a good conversion tool for us.

00:17:09.059 --> 00:17:14.750
I do think with jewelry in particular, AI can be challenging because there's,

00:17:15.110 --> 00:17:19.590
you have to get really close up to see the detail and then there's the shine and the color.

00:17:19.590 --> 00:17:22.819
And so i think we're still even the lighting like in the stores you can tell

00:17:22.819 --> 00:17:26.460
the displays are designed to like hit the lighting just right yeah so i think

00:17:26.460 --> 00:17:28.660
we're still trying to unlock that although,

00:17:29.110 --> 00:17:32.340
i'm not going to give too much away but i've got one of my team members in the

00:17:32.340 --> 00:17:39.190
audience who she came up with a really cool idea for an online experience that would mimic,

00:17:39.810 --> 00:17:43.970
someone who owns a lot of jewelry and how do you select that oh you know we've

00:17:44.390 --> 00:17:47.770
got a teaser we've got a future functionality teaser i like it something that

00:17:47.770 --> 00:17:50.260
we've been working on for a while Stay tuned, Kendra Scott.

00:17:50.260 --> 00:17:52.850
We're going to need all the audience to sign an NDA.

00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:02.219
What about the other way? You talked a lot about the sort of bespoke in-store experience.

00:18:02.749 --> 00:18:09.309
Are you thinking about ways to leverage that in-store talent you have online more?

00:18:09.689 --> 00:18:15.199
So are you creating more content in the stores that goes onto your digital platforms?

00:18:15.199 --> 00:18:16.289
Is that something you're looking into?

00:18:16.929 --> 00:18:19.709
I mean, we haven't gone down that path yet.

00:18:20.029 --> 00:18:23.459
Like a Nordstrom type model where they're doing the videos and things like that?

00:18:23.459 --> 00:18:27.189
Yeah, like turn turn those in-store associates into influencers, essentially.

00:18:27.729 --> 00:18:30.919
Yeah, we have a really good influence program, but that hasn't the path we haven't gone that way.

00:18:30.919 --> 00:18:34.759
You know, it's it's it's it I think we've talked about it.

00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:38.729
I think we right now, like really, our focus has been more on sort of external

00:18:38.729 --> 00:18:43.859
influencers. We have a we've had a long history of influencers and and working

00:18:43.859 --> 00:18:48.080
with them and people that are genuinely just really passionate about the brand.

00:18:48.870 --> 00:18:51.850
And so are associates. But we haven't we we haven't gone down that path yet.

00:18:51.850 --> 00:18:55.500
It's something we just haven't, hasn't been like on the priority list, at least at this point.

00:18:55.820 --> 00:18:59.530
I think it's a great idea. Yeah. There's a, I'm just, I'm mildly interested

00:18:59.530 --> 00:19:03.120
because it overlaps two of my favorite things. TikTok shop and Starbucks.

00:19:03.470 --> 00:19:08.440
The TikTok shop launched a new thing, which is an associate affiliate program, essentially.

00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:13.780
So, and Starbucks is a pilot launch. So the baristas in Starbucks can actually

00:19:13.780 --> 00:19:18.660
make supplemental income creating Starbucks content on TikTok.

00:19:18.660 --> 00:19:20.920
It is really clever. Yeah, it is really clever.

00:19:21.590 --> 00:19:23.670
I think we'll get there, but... We write that down. Yeah.

00:19:25.930 --> 00:19:29.370
Consulting from the Jason and Scot show. We'll give you some credit.

00:19:30.150 --> 00:19:34.050
The other pro tip I have for you is Scot says that Kendra spells her last name wrong.

00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:38.080
Oh, yeah. It is true. The double T's... As a last name, double T's are cool.

00:19:38.080 --> 00:19:41.530
We've been working on it. It's terrible. We've been trying to convince her to drop one of the T's.

00:19:41.990 --> 00:19:44.850
I think there's a lot of investment in the T's. You would own NCO if you did

00:19:44.850 --> 00:19:45.670
it. That's all I'm saying.

00:19:47.250 --> 00:19:49.780
Yeah. I really... Every time I'm trying to text Scot, I'm like,

00:19:49.780 --> 00:19:54.570
damn it, I gotta go back and remove you can't use voice to text on when you're texting Scot.

00:19:56.090 --> 00:20:00.000
One thing you'll be excited to hear is when we've worked with several folks

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.260
like you that have stores, if we take this store associate training content

00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:08.160
and put it into our AI, it can really juice the enrichment.

00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:12.760
Because in there are all these really good, you know, someone's clearly training

00:20:12.760 --> 00:20:16.110
your associates really well to ask those three questions and to kind of like

00:20:16.469 --> 00:20:18.020
understand a person's style.

00:20:18.449 --> 00:20:22.650
And that's the kind of content you know we we used to think about con content

00:20:22.650 --> 00:20:26.340
around the product of you know what size is the necklace and what's the stone

00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:29.560
and what kind of gold is it and that was like it was actually hard to kind of

00:20:29.560 --> 00:20:32.719
like you pull that together but now if we can start layering in

00:20:33.110 --> 00:20:39.270
okay this is for the type of person that loves that country western vibe or they you know,

00:20:39.939 --> 00:20:43.629
typically if people like this type of stone they may not be this type of and

00:20:43.629 --> 00:20:46.379
putting that in can give not only,

00:20:47.130 --> 00:20:50.680
i don't know if you guys have you guys have a shopper agent that helps people

00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:54.739
do so yeah so it'll actually you'll see it get better so that that kind of comes

00:20:54.739 --> 00:21:00.059
back in so it pays dividend on site and then also in the off-site experiences if that's of interest to,

00:21:00.619 --> 00:21:04.099
you or if you're selling on amazon you mentioned you've got yeah it will actually

00:21:04.099 --> 00:21:08.590
make alexa for shopping smarter so there's a lot of really interesting things

00:21:08.590 --> 00:21:13.010
that happen when you combine that offline world in the store with your online catalog now,

00:21:13.480 --> 00:21:17.770
that you know in 2021 i would i would tell you that's the craziest idea ever

00:21:17.770 --> 00:21:22.460
there's absolutely no connectivity in that way through the product catalog my my data scientist in.

00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:26.490
Rubbing her hands together. Nope, she literally is.

00:21:28.590 --> 00:21:32.220
Yeah, no, that is, I mean, we spend a lot of time talking about how do we get

00:21:32.320 --> 00:21:36.960
that sort of content in feeding our customer-facing experiences,

00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:41.470
as well as just some of our back-end teams and what they need to be thinking about.

00:21:41.470 --> 00:21:45.960
So, yeah, it's one of many things that we've discussed and how we're doing because

00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:47.100
we do do a good job training.

00:21:47.100 --> 00:21:50.320
They do a great, I shouldn't say we, I mean, they do a great job training the

00:21:50.320 --> 00:21:53.370
teams and building that content. and how we leverage all that is something that

00:21:53.800 --> 00:21:56.660
she'd never say because she's too modest. But Kristi's done an amazing job

00:21:56.660 --> 00:21:59.080
over the last few years of working with her team.

00:21:59.330 --> 00:22:03.670
Like when I was here in 2022, the level of customer experience that we had and

00:22:03.670 --> 00:22:08.339
where we are now is just like, it's mind blowing to me how much improvement

00:22:08.339 --> 00:22:12.489
there is and the level of insights and discussions we have now versus where we were.

00:22:12.919 --> 00:22:15.979
And she's done a really great job of working with the teams and bringing all

00:22:15.979 --> 00:22:19.549
that together in a way that I'm like, wow, I really feel like we have a much

00:22:19.549 --> 00:22:24.799
better understanding of who shops and how we're communicating with them than we used to, right?

00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:27.999
Because as a founder-led brand, right, you're being scrappy and you're doing

00:22:27.999 --> 00:22:34.129
a lot of things. And sometimes those insights don't get prioritized amongst other things.

00:22:34.529 --> 00:22:38.260
And so they've done a really great job building the guts of that.

00:22:38.260 --> 00:22:42.710
And so as business teams and marketing teams can be smarter in how we message them.

00:22:42.970 --> 00:22:45.350
Well done. I'll give you your payment for that later. Yes, you promised.

00:22:46.310 --> 00:22:50.420
Kristi has AI. You guys use AI internally. has that been an accelerant to on

00:22:50.420 --> 00:22:53.590
the data you know whenever i hear data science is coming together faster i'm

00:22:53.590 --> 00:22:57.030
thinking all right yeah you guys are using some of the models to really really

00:22:57.030 --> 00:22:59.950
chew through the data faster and get the answers faster yeah we

00:23:00.390 --> 00:23:05.760
we actually partnered with a local ai consultancy four years ago now,

00:23:06.260 --> 00:23:08.330
and alongside that,

00:23:09.059 --> 00:23:13.239
Kayla on my team, my data scientist I keep talking about in the audience.

00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:17.299
She's nice. You're getting a lot of airtime. Yeah, she's fantastic.

00:23:17.299 --> 00:23:19.349
Unfortunately, we're out of mics. She makes me look great.

00:23:20.639 --> 00:23:26.349
She's gone in and she had built three plus years ago an RFM segmentation model

00:23:26.349 --> 00:23:33.499
for us and an affinity model for us using AI tooling to do that type of,

00:23:34.469 --> 00:23:36.649
predictive and analytics.

00:23:36.649 --> 00:23:40.749
And once you get on that tide it's like rising so fast it just like gets better

00:23:40.749 --> 00:23:45.199
you're on the exponential once you're on the exponential magic kind of happens yep and so

00:23:45.549 --> 00:23:49.799
we've i feel like we really had a head start in a lot of that and and you can't

00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:53.329
do that without having really good data so without getting on my

00:23:53.689 --> 00:23:57.079
data quality soapbox it's so foundational like we just,

00:23:57.589 --> 00:24:01.529
we had to get that right first and then she was able to go in and build us some

00:24:01.529 --> 00:24:05.789
models that i think we we were definitely ahead of the curve there and the teams

00:24:05.789 --> 00:24:07.799
are now using them a lot more,

00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:13.369
now that we've got tools like chat gpt in our stack where they can go in and

00:24:13.369 --> 00:24:16.809
and ask the model question is it amazing like you give people access this data

00:24:16.809 --> 00:24:19.259
and suddenly like it's just so democratizing that

00:24:19.619 --> 00:24:22.249
they can they don't have to come bug you for it anymore i think they're like

00:24:22.499 --> 00:24:26.259
the downside is there's so much yeah and it's like figuring out what's noise

00:24:26.259 --> 00:24:29.439
versus what's valuable and that changes from,

00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:33.409
you know situation to situation those are better conversations than like how

00:24:33.409 --> 00:24:34.979
do i get to the day and it's like i don't know,

00:24:35.919 --> 00:24:37.999
yeah i don't know what the day you're actually getting closer to the business

00:24:37.999 --> 00:24:39.659
problem yeah they're good problems right yeah yeah.

00:24:41.419 --> 00:24:45.330
Yeah so that's a good segue into this is you guys in the green room you you

00:24:45.330 --> 00:24:48.300
said that the green room is like we're standing over there,

00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:53.050
not not the fanciest but you said this was your first time at retail club it's

00:24:53.050 --> 00:24:54.450
a it's a two year old show it was

00:24:54.450 --> 00:24:57.220
a much smaller year ago what are your impressions are you guys enjoying it,

00:24:57.880 --> 00:25:01.200
Yes, I actually it's been awesome. I mean, obviously, Christina does a great

00:25:01.200 --> 00:25:04.829
job pulling this event together. I will say just on a personal note that this

00:25:05.029 --> 00:25:09.260
conference was not designed for somebody pale like myself being outdoors.

00:25:09.600 --> 00:25:13.140
Can't never too much sunscreen. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so, yeah,

00:25:13.140 --> 00:25:16.740
the sunscreen, the hats I have been I have not been undercover.

00:25:17.060 --> 00:25:20.010
It is better than being in Vegas. It is. That is that is fact.

00:25:20.010 --> 00:25:22.320
You don't have the soul sucking sound of Vegas.

00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:25.530
I literally I called my wife this morning. I'm like, hey, so I'm heading over

00:25:25.530 --> 00:25:26.940
there and it's all outdoors.

00:25:26.940 --> 00:25:30.510
Us and she's like oh my god because my wife is like always worried about my

00:25:30.510 --> 00:25:35.210
skin tone and burning up so but it's been awesome i can just just see people

00:25:35.210 --> 00:25:39.090
there's been a lot of good conversations and and insightful i think that's one

00:25:39.090 --> 00:25:40.800
of the things that in some of these conferences.

00:25:41.810 --> 00:25:46.390
It's just so they don't really sort of be open or or be more forthright with

00:25:46.390 --> 00:25:49.280
what they want to share and i think they do they've done a really good job here

00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.020
of of making it where you can you can get really good insights having known

00:25:53.020 --> 00:25:56.340
you for 15 years i know you're not afraid to embrace your nerdiness your fellow

00:25:56.340 --> 00:25:59.860
fellow nerdiness so you've been rocking the bucket hat it looks great on you

00:25:59.860 --> 00:26:02.800
of course yeah yeah thank you thank you very much,

00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:05.820
with the palm tree on it with the palm tree,

00:26:06.620 --> 00:26:10.210
uh yes and and and then i also got a regular baseball cap which,

00:26:10.850 --> 00:26:15.060
yeah and now to get on self-deprecation right my my eyes aren't 100 great either

00:26:15.060 --> 00:26:18.590
and so i took the hat and i thought it said agentic ai and it said something

00:26:18.590 --> 00:26:21.840
slightly different than that but it's still fun you know fun more colorful more

00:26:21.840 --> 00:26:23.309
colorful so i left it off this,

00:26:24.009 --> 00:26:27.169
show i saw that hat last night and i was like must have so i grabbed one i still

00:26:27.169 --> 00:26:29.069
don't have one i need to go find one all right.

00:26:30.099 --> 00:26:32.730
We'll yeah we'll find you one Kristi what do you think about the show has it

00:26:32.730 --> 00:26:36.350
been technical enough for you or like you want more okay no it's been just the

00:26:36.350 --> 00:26:37.650
right amount of technical and i've

00:26:37.833 --> 00:26:41.679
Sometimes you go to these and you don't learn as much as you'd like to,

00:26:42.139 --> 00:26:46.019
but I feel like day one, I've learned a lot and yeah, it's been really great.

00:26:46.299 --> 00:26:47.699
So, and I love being outside.

00:26:48.229 --> 00:26:53.079
I don't have the same skin tone challenges. Consider yourself blessed.

00:26:53.079 --> 00:26:55.829
And as an awesome night, this is like super cool weather. It's very cool weather.

00:26:55.949 --> 00:26:58.919
So you got a little break out of the, we have one of our folks is from Dallas

00:26:58.919 --> 00:27:02.309
and he was like, ah, this feels so good to be out of the 105. Yeah.

00:27:03.029 --> 00:27:05.649
All day long. I'll sit out here. Although he could use a little more sunscreen.

00:27:06.369 --> 00:27:10.899
Yeah come on yeah it's a little embarrassing when the texas guy comes to california

00:27:10.899 --> 00:27:13.929
come on bro yeah that's great.

00:27:16.049 --> 00:27:18.919
You need to spend some time with chris tomorrow where yeah i see a bucket hat

00:27:18.919 --> 00:27:21.749
in your future we can just huddle we can huddle under the shade yeah,

00:27:22.860 --> 00:27:26.110
well i know you guys are super busy and we really appreciate you making time

00:27:26.110 --> 00:27:28.450
to come sit with us any last questions

00:27:28.450 --> 00:27:32.230
jason you want any last things you guys want to say Yeah, I mean,

00:27:32.789 --> 00:27:34.459
I share your enthusiasm about the show.

00:27:34.459 --> 00:27:39.469
I feel like this size show is a lot nicer because I feel like they get over

00:27:39.469 --> 00:27:44.009
a certain size and then the signal, the noise becomes more, more tricky.

00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:47.940
We had a guest earlier who said he thinks the casual nature of it,

00:27:47.940 --> 00:27:50.990
like makes people open up a little bit more. Absolutely. I agree with that.

00:27:50.990 --> 00:27:53.790
So a little bit more than you would if you were in like a structured.

00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:55.720
Not as much posturing. Yeah.

00:27:56.080 --> 00:27:59.650
Yeah. That's I was really surprised when Chris was willing to share his like

00:27:59.650 --> 00:28:02.060
Amazon merchant credentials with us. I never.

00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:04.100
It's too casual. I hate it.

00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:05.820
I've already posted those online,

00:28:05.820 --> 00:28:08.680
so I don't want you guys to feel too special. Anybody can have them.

00:28:11.080 --> 00:28:15.020
Amazon's going to come get you now. Just kidding. Yeah.

00:28:15.310 --> 00:28:18.679
I will just the only thing i want to say is i

00:28:19.059 --> 00:28:23.009
spent 15 years in grocery which is a whole different group of people and well

00:28:23.009 --> 00:28:25.499
you almost said the word that gets jason not really going so yeah i was gonna

00:28:25.499 --> 00:28:28.579
say you say i'm trying to wrap you said grocery well jason

00:28:28.959 --> 00:28:33.319
i just a humble brag scot and i had dinner with jason jason bushnell like a

00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:36.939
week or a couple weeks ago yes yeah we did i mean we can call him right now

00:28:36.939 --> 00:28:38.669
jason was giddy and i'm like who's jason,

00:28:39.819 --> 00:28:45.589
who is this guy people yeah that guy is a grocery nerd yes yes he very much so

00:28:46.010 --> 00:28:50.130
but five years in retail so there's i come to these and i still don't know a lot of people

00:28:50.450 --> 00:28:53.760
i just follow him around and we can't walk five just doesn't know every minute

00:28:53.760 --> 00:28:57.810
so chris chris has done a great job of introducing me around and so i'm starting

00:28:57.810 --> 00:29:01.670
to feel like i'm part of the retail club but then when i got your email asking

00:29:01.670 --> 00:29:04.080
me to be on the podcast i told chris i'm like,

00:29:04.590 --> 00:29:08.700
i think i've finally made it you've made it so it doesn't get any better.

00:29:10.420 --> 00:29:13.120
We we actually hooked you up with some swag to put on your laptop i love it

00:29:13.460 --> 00:29:18.680
yeah this is amazing it's happening it's happening everyone has to have 21 pieces of flair,

00:29:19.340 --> 00:29:23.340
knock one off yeah i'm a little short today i think i think flair is,

00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:28.260
extra appropriate to kendra swatt yes absolutely it's part of our dna yeah well

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we appreciate you guys it's the end of the day and i know it's been a long days

00:29:31.140 --> 00:29:32.360
for everybody so we really appreciate great,

00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:35.340
yeah thanks for having us on it was really fun you guys are a lot of fun so

00:29:35.340 --> 00:29:39.340
i appreciate it jason until next time happy commercing,

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You've been listening to the Jason and Scot show for all the latest news and

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trends on e-commerce and shopper marketing, subscribe to us in iTunes or visit Jason and Scot.com.