We've spent years trying to personalize ecommerce. Nike lets you design your own shoes. And apparently, if you give a man a few pints and access to Nike By You, he'll design two pairs of Air Force 1s and then refuse to wear them because they're practically museum pieces. This conversation was ranging and interesting. I was surprised how deep they went.
BTW, I was listening to a brilliant conversation between my friends Gerard Keohane and Gordon Newman on Functional and Fabulous, with Mike Perera, who is Senior Director of digital commerce for Nike across EMEA. Mike's been on The Struggle Bus with me before, so I was particularly interested in hearing his perspective. He is a quick and throughtful thinker with a perspective that is worth considering. L'Oreal, Adi*** and now, Nike. Knows his onions.
They covered an enormous amount of ground. DTC, marketplaces, TikTok Shop, personalization, AI discovery, shopping agents and the future of ecommerce.
But a few things really stuck with me.
1. Consumers don't care about your channel strategy.
As Mike put it: "Consumers will ultimately always decide where and how they want to shop."
The curation comes after but the channel comes first. Market share is the missed opp by not being there. Connibalisation versus market share.
2. Being everywhere isn't a strategy.
Mike talked about the "sea of sameness". The same products, everywhere, across every channel. If everything is available everywhere, what exactly makes your own website special?
And how do you prioritize when there are more opportunities than resources?
"You can't choose everything." Quite.
3. AI may transform discovery. But trust is the interesting bit.
We talk endlessly about agents shopping on behalf of consumers. But will we trust them? Will we know whose interests they're serving? We have done this through WOM marketing for years. We get opinions from friends. But what about agentic?
And what happens when the agent buying the product starts negotiating with the agent selling it? Mike believes AI will take personalization to an entirely different level, but trust remains fundamental.
4. The most interesting AI investment might actually be yourself.
When asked for his biggest future bet, Mike didn't pick a platform. He picked the ecommerce professional.
Understand the technology.
Develop an informed opinion.
Know what you'd actually implement and why.
I thought that was a particularly refreshing answer.
Because underneath all the technology, we're still dealing with people, products and choices.
And sometimes the smartest thing you can do is decide what not to do. Great conversation, lads. Really enjoyed this one.And Mike, next time we meet, I'm bringing a pair of trainers and a few pints. Apparently that's where the innovation happens.
Link -
Customer Centricity: Nike Senior Director Digital EU - Mike Perera
How do you do it?
