An Irishman, A Wallaby ( Luke Hilton) and a Springbok (Hendrik Laubscher ) walk into a podcast the answer is a surprisingly civil 45 minutes of insight, laughter, and just a tiny bit of existential dread about the state of retail.
This week, wesat down with Luke Hilton (he stood up), Global VP of Solution Engineering at Marketplacer, to talk about everything from ergonomic enlightenment to how retailers can stop overcomplicating the idea of becoming a marketplace.
Spoiler alert: Luke brought his A Game.
💡 Golden Nuggets from Luke Hilton
Marketplaces aren’t a religion,they’re a strategy. Not every retailer needs to “become a marketplace.” Sometimes, the smarter play is range extension expanding your offer with complementary products, without building Rome (or Amazon) overnight.
Incubate, don’t detonate. The old “big bang” approach to marketplace transformation is out. Hilton calls for smarter, staged approaches start with dropship, test what sells, learn fast, and evolve from there.
Mid-market is the sleeping giant. Enterprise gets the headlines, but mid-sized retailers are the real white space. They’re nimble, loyal to nothing but results, and hungry for scalable ways to extend reach without burning cash.
Complexity is the feature. True marketplace success lives in the messy middle: OMS, PIM, ERP, integrations, fulfillment. It’s a symphony of systems.
Loyalty is a myth (and that’s okay). As Luke put it we’re not loyal; we’re lazy. Amazon didn’t win our hearts, it won our delivery windows.
Convenience trumps cheapness. It’s not a race to the bottom, it’s a race to the door.
🏆 Case in Point: Rackhams
Luke dropped a belter of a case study Rackhams, a luxury retailer running 250,000 products and 600 sellers with a team of fewer than ten people. Yes, ten.
Final Thoughts
What makes Luke special is his clarity. He sees marketplaces not as monoliths, but as modular evolutions of how retailers survive. His mantra: start small, learn fast, scale smart. He also offers up time as a fractional CTO.
And if he ever gets bored, he moonlights helping startups move away from “founder-led sales” (translation: the CEO stopped cold-calling).
🫱 A Tip of the Wing to Our Community Partners
A huge shout-out to our friends at @Evolve Commerce Community, who continue to keep the conversation alive between episodes connecting the thinkers, builders, and slightly sleep-deprived retail nerds shaping the next decade of global commerce.
🔮 Next Up
In our next episode, we dive into Temu’s explosive European growth the platform every EU regulator loves to hate. Expect strong opinions, questionable metaphors, and maybe a group therapy session for legacy retailers.
💸 Oh, and Sponsors…
We’re still looking for them.
If you’re a brave brand that wants your logo sitting next to this chaos, reach out. It’s cheaper than Google Ads and way more fun.
Episode 10 is here:
https://lnkd.in/ecNVXa4T
