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If you’re a consumer or retail executive, constant pressure is part of daily life. We hear this from your peers and experience it ourselves. Today is an exciting moment to lead in digital, but also one of the hardest.

We wanted to add a bit of signal to the noise. That’s why we built conway.world.

This online magazine gathers our insights, tools, and frameworks for fast-moving leaders in consumer and retail.

Inside, you’ll find breakdowns of how brands actually grow or lose momentum. You’ll see practical insights from the Conway Brand Radar, in-depth expert interviews, and tools tested in the field.

Wildride’s founder Joost Hultink on building a 700% traffic growth brand, one real problem at a time

When Joost Hultink launched Wildride in 2020, it wasn’t because of a market trend—it was because of a walk to the beach. Four kids, two arms, and one too many "carry me" moments later, he started designing a toddler carrier that actually worked. Since then, Wildride has grown into a global brand stocked in 7,000 retail locations, with online traffic increasing by almost 700% in 2024, according to Conway Brand Radar.

We sat down with Joost to explore how that growth happened—not just the brand story, but the decisions behind it.

→ Listen to the interview:

→ Watch on YouTube:

Let’s start at the beginning. Wildride launched in 2020 right?
Yes, in 2020. I had a young child who already weighed a lot by his second year. We live near the beach, and I’d walk there every day with the kids. Like many parents know, halfway through the walk, one of them would want to be carried. And it was heavy. That’s when I realized: there wasn’t a good carrier for toddlers.

So Britt—one of my co-founders—and I started developing a product that would solve that. We spent two years refining it, testing it with physiotherapists, safety labs, and parents. And we made a very deliberate decision to make it something parents would want to wear—not just a functional baby item, but a lifestyle product.

What stood out to me is that Wildride wasn’t just about motherhood—it was about parenthood. Was that something you were intentional about from the beginning?
Definitely. Most baby products are designed with mothers in mind. But as a father, I also want to carry my kids. So we focused on a design and aesthetic that would appeal to both parents. And we didn’t want to follow seasonal product trends—we wanted to build something more timeless and sustainable.

Back in 2020, people’s lifestyles were shifting. Did you see a signal others missed—a deeper shift in parenting or values that gave you an edge?
Not really. It wasn’t a trend insight. It was just our need. Having four kids means your day starts at 5:30 or 6:00 a.m., and it doesn’t stop. You’re always looking for things that make life easier. That’s what this product did for me. Only after talking to others did we realize it was our shared problem,

How did you validate that others felt the same? I know you went to fairs and spoke to people. Was that your main approach?
First, friends. Then strangers. Then fairs. We didn’t want to become a “fair brand”, but those early fairs helped us understand the psychology of the buyer. Grandparents were often the first to say, “You’ll need this, you just don’t know it yet.” That was a good signal.

You’ve continued to evolve the product since. Do you use community feedback to guide that?
We built the customer care team slowly. In the beginning, I did all of it myself. Now we document every incoming question and push those insights to product and content. One example: we added a safety slider to the carrier. Internally, it was obvious—it works like a backpack strap. But customers were confused. So we changed our videos, FAQs, everything.

It’s also about listening at scale. We turned feedback into macros, and macros into changes.

Is customer service the main feedback loop, or are you building broader community engagement too?
Customer service is our sharpest signal. But our retailers also contribute. We recently redesigned our packaging based on retailer input. In-store, you have about ten seconds to get someone’s attention. That’s very different from a D2C website, where you can explain everything. So we adjusted.

We also started sending stores point-of-sale displays with embedded screens playing our social videos. It helps people understand what the product is and how it works—immediately.

I imagine all this retail and online growth adds complexity. How have you managed that side of scaling?
By simplifying everything. We’ve stayed on Shopify from the start. Every time we enter a new market, we ask: does this still work? So far, yes.

We now run 9 or 10 different localized Shopify stores, operated by local teams. Japan, South Korea, UK. Each one runs like a mini-branch. We just copy the global template, translate, localize the visuals, and we’re live.

With all the hype around AI, what’s your take? Have you used it inside Wildride yet?
We use it for text—blogs, product descriptions, content drafts. It’s a no-brainer there. Same for customer care automation. But we’ve decided not to use it for visuals. We sell to parents. It’s a real, emotional purchase. Using AI-generated photos doesn’t fit. We’ve seen copycat brands doing that, and it feels fake. Parents can tell.

What about operational AI—fulfillment, logistics, backend?
Not yet. We have plans, but our team’s still small. We have a long list of priorities, and we focus on what has the most impact first. But yes, we’re looking at it.

So how do you prioritize what to work on next?
We discuss it across teams—marketing, content, ops. What do customers need? What will make the biggest difference? For example, delivery estimates on-site: we’re working on that now. It’s about weighing effort vs. impact and deciding week by week what we can realistically improve.

Have any tools really surprised you in terms of value?
Gorgias has been great for customer service. Easy to implement, constantly improving. And Shopify—still the key enabler of our speed. We’ve built localized, independent stores that we can hand off to teams in Japan or the UK in a matter of days. That’s been huge for scaling without losing control.

What would you say to other e-com brands trying to go global or go omnichannel?
Stay focused. Be brave. And don’t overcomplicate. There are too many tools that people use just because someone said they should.

Also, bootstrap if you can. It gives you freedom. No investor updates, no chasing growth to satisfy a spreadsheet. You decide what tools you actually need. Most SaaS tools people use don’t give you anything new—they just wrap existing data differently.

Would you do anything differently if launching today?
Hire earlier. Especially in customer care and fulfillment. We did it all ourselves for too long. We had trucks showing up in the middle of Haarlem asking for a loading dock we didn’t have. You hit a ceiling fast when you try to control everything yourself.

Final takeaway?
Just start. Once you do, there’s no way back. So you might as well go all in.

The typical e-commerce executive juggles 15+ tech systems. The bigger the company, the larger the tech stack usually is.

If e-commerce technology is not managed properly, the life of a digital leader is hard:

• Repeatedly delaying launches because systems aren't ready;

• Hearing "that's not possible with our current system" from developers repeatedly;

• Excessive resources spent maintaining tech rather than building features for customers;

• Fear of peak season because systems might not handle the volume;

• Rising tech bills with no corresponding business growth;

• No single view of customer behavior across sales channels;

• High cart abandonment without a clear understanding of why;

• Struggling to explain technology investments to non-technical stakeholders.

The list could go on and on…

If you’ve experienced anything from above, this article is for you.

The solution starts with understanding the fundamental architecture that should be driving your technology decisions.

What is a technology stack in e-commerce?

A technology stack is:
Not just a collection of software. It's a strategically aligned technology (and data) infrastructure that powers your business operations and customer experience.

Every e-commerce company has a technology stack. Your website, payment and shipping integrations, or a newsletter platform are just some of the systems in your technology stack. But they are all part of it.

The most important takeaway is that no matter how compelling your products or innovative your marketing, a digital commerce business can only grow as fast as its technology allows.

Why?

Because each new market, channel, or product adds complexity your systems must handle. Without deliberate architecture, temporary fixes become permanent and reactive additions create a fragile ecosystem, which blocks digital growth. For example, you simply cannot launch that new market on time because your tech stack won’t support proper localization or sync the data.

So, your technology isn't just supporting your business—it's either enabling or constraining your potential.

To be a successful driver, your technology stack must reflect your business stage, complexity, and growth ambitions.

→ Companies with deliberate, well-architected tech stacks can scale seamlessly.

→ Companies that don’t have a technology strategy struggle, because their infrastructure limits them.

The 3 types of software in your company

Most digital leaders we meet have a gut feeling their tech could work better but struggle to see the full picture. It's like trying to solve a puzzle without knowing what it should look like in the end. Here's how to make sense of it all…

There are 3 types of systems in your technology stack:

• Technology systems: directly involved in the core shopping flow. Example: Shopify.

• Data systems: business intelligence, extracting data from all tech systems. Example: Power BI.

• Tools: no direct customer impact but supports operations. Example: Gmail.

Start making sense of your e-com tech stack

Your technology stack can be divided into layers. Each layer is a collection of tech systems that support a specific aspect of a customer journey.

⚠️ This framework is crucial for every e-commerce leader to understand.

A. Marketing layer - tools to attract and retain customers

B. Sales channels - where and how you sell products

C. Commerce layer - core systems managing products, orders, content

D. Service layer - systems for customer support and satisfaction

E. Integrations layer - connects different systems through APIs/gateways

F. Operations layer - backend systems running daily business operations

As some companies tend to acquire more than 100 systems throughout growth, keeping everything in structure is crucial.

Take a moment to think about the tech stack of your company: could you map them into these layers?

Why organizing your tech stack into layers is important

The technology stack is an inherently complex architecture, which only gets more complex as the company grows.

Organizing it into a mental model helps you make sense of it, identify gaps or redundancies, and plan strategic improvements. It ensures each piece of software has a clear purpose and relationship to other systems, making it easier to evaluate new tools, manage integration points, and align technology decisions with business goals.

When a technology stack fails to fulfill its ambition

All the problems mentioned in the intro of this article are just symptoms of poorly made technology decisions.

Here are the most common pitfalls digital leaders make, creating many more issues down the road.

01 The Complexity Trap

Failing to map business complexity before selecting technology.

As a result:

• No clarity on exact business needs & tech requirements.

• Implementing enterprise-grade systems for relatively simple operations.

• Technology that becomes a costly liability.
  

02 The Buy vs. Build Mistake

Building custom solutions too early.

As a result:

• Underestimated the long-term maintenance costs and development resources.

• Not adopting existing software solutions that might meet your needs much cheaper.

• Mediocre in-house development solutions’ quality and efficiency.

03 The Integration Gap

Not considering how technology pieces will work together.

As a result:

• Data silos and no unified view of customer and operations.

• Operational inefficiencies and process breaks.

• No central source of truth for data.

Strategic ownership of technology matters

In the digital age, technology decision-making needs to move from the basement to the boardroom.

Here's why:

• When software fails, money stops coming in

• Technical flexibility makes or breaks your commercial ambitions

• A world-class customer experience depends on integrated systems

• Opening new markets or channels is only possible when technology enables it

Principles for technology decision-making

Technology decisions are fundamentally business decisions. They should align with your commercial objectives, factor in your team's capabilities, and consider your company's stage of growth.

What works for a €2M business rarely suits a €20M operation, and what's appropriate for €20M may become a bottleneck at €100M.

Therefore, there’s no easy and quick answer to what tech stack should you company use.

A wrong answer may cost you millions.

Check out this webinar to learn more ↴

That being said, the following foundational principles should always be followed:

Simplify First

• Reduce business complexity before adding technology

• Streamline business processes before automation

• Focus on core capabilities and maturity of your team

Buy Before Build

• Start with delivering value with proven solutions

• Extend existing systems when possible

• Build custom only for strategic advantage

Think Integration

• Ensure systems can be integrated and orchestrated

• Ensure a single source of truth for your data

• Plan for future scalability with evolution not revolution

What to do next: your action plan

If technology is limiting your e-commerce growth, here are four next steps:

1. Map your current tech stack - Visualize all systems using the layer framework to get more clarity on your tech stack.

2. Identify complexity hotspots - Determine where business processes are most complex and how technology struggles to keep pace.

3. Watch our webinar - Get deeper insights from our free "Making Technology Decisions" webinar with case studies and practical frameworks.

4. Consider expert guidance - For a comprehensive assessment, our Discovery Workshop is a fast track to getting your digital capabilities in place and aligning your technology & team on the strategic direction. Work directly with our founders Jons & Martin.

Crisis doesn’t reveal character—it exposes flaws in your operating model. The most spectacular business meltdowns trace back to the same root cause: a company running on systems that no longer match its reality.

Why do even brilliant teams suddenly lose their ability to execute? Because their interconnected machinery—the operating model—grows tangled and inefficient as they scale. What worked at €10M breaks at €100M.

What is an operating model?
In digital commerce, it’s the blueprint that connects strategy, people, processes, technology, and data into a system that delivers value to customers. It determines how efficiently digital traffic converts into revenue and whether a company can scale profitably.

Three textbook failures—and how they refocused:

• Glossier built a custom tech platform that faced mounting technical debt and draining resources. Fix: Ditching custom platform, simplifying tech stack, and re-centering on core business rather than internal tech development. Result: 73% YoY sales growth.

• Peloton bloated its supply chain for infinite pandemic demand, misjudging long-term market realities. Fix: aggressively simplifying operations & logistics, and outsourcing manufacturing. Result: A more agile supply chain and $800M in annual efficiency gains.

• Rent the Runway overcomplicated fulfillment network, which collapsed under its own weight, forcing them to halt new sign-ups for weeks. Fix: refocusing on thecore subscription business, streamlining logistics and eliminating non-essential retail operations. Result: A more reliable fulfillment model (nevertheless, the brand is nearing bankruptcy still…)

The lesson: diagnose before you scale.

Each of these companies wasn’t just ‘too big’—they became too complex in the wrong ways. A well-designed operating model ensures you scale the right things and provides the framework to manage complexity before it becomes unmanageable: tech, team structure, and operations align with the business, so companies avoid overhiring, overbuilding, and inventing Rube Goldberg machines instead of scalable systems.

So, don’t wait for a breakdown—instead, constantly ask:

• Is our operating model designed for our current business complexity, not just our revenue size?

• Do we have full clarity and a long-term vision of how technology supports our business goals?

• Have we defined how strategy, people, processes, technology, and data connect to deliver customer value?

Otherwise, it might be time to get back to the whiteboard.

How we can help↴
Conway & Co provides independent advice on improving your operating model across processes, technology, and people to get your company fit for growth.

Book a discovery call

AI for revenue generation, cost reduction, and customer retention

Dive in

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 Sierra AI

A conversational AI platform designed to transform customer service. It helps businesses deploy AI agents that provide customer support, enhance brand interaction, and streamline operations.

02 Daash

An AI-powered intelligence platform that provides beauty, wellness, and personal care brands competitive insights about prices, sales, and velocity estimates.

03 Outset

An AI-moderated research platform that combines the scale of surveys with the depth of interviews. It allows users to conduct and synthesize hundreds of video, audio, and text interviews simultaneously, providing rich insights and a deeper understanding of participants' responses.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce, and investing.

AI Agents Are Changing How People Shop. Here’s What That Means for Brands.

10 min read

“Enough consumers are skipping Google and searching using ChatGPT, an AI agent that interprets questions and synthesizes search results, that some experts estimate it could replace Google in four years.”
Full article

Why businesses employ process mining for CX data analysis

15 min read

“Process mining uses specialized software that collects data from a range of business systems — such as enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and ticketing systems — to map workflows and identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies.”
Full article

Bol earns more than all its partner sellers

10 min read

“Dutch online marketplace Bol has had a good year: sales increased 8.7%, reaching 3.1 billion euros. It also earned more from its own platform sales than all sales partners together, figures show.”
Full article

New opportunities on Conway Talent Network

Conway Talent Network is a curated list of e-commerce job opportunities for product, tech, data, and marketing professionals at the top consumer & retail brands. Expect roles like:

• Head of E-commerce at Ekster

• Digital experience lead at Nike

• Product Owner at De Bijenkorf

• Retail Operations Manager at Ace & Tate

Discover more

Visually appealing

London's cult fashion store LN-CC has reopened in Dalston with a striking redesign, featuring six distinctively themed rooms. The new layout includes the orange 'Tunnel' entrance with select apparel and 'L8TE,' the in-house club space for events.

97% of businesses struggle to demonstrate real business value from generative AI. Yet some consumer brands are seeing triple-digit conversion increases and dramatic efficiency gains.

The pattern among winning executives is clear: they spent years building the right foundations - quality data, integrated systems, and teams that can leverage AI effectively.

Today leading brands see measurable results across revenue generation, cost reduction, and customer retention.

Let's examine how leading consumer and retail brands are using AI to transform their operations and what it took to get there.

Table of contents:

01 AI for revenue generation

• JCPenney: 108% boost in conversion rate

• Supergoop: increasing the POs with retailers by 50%

• Adore Me: personalised products via text prompts

• Away: accelerated customer research and discovery

• L’oreal: skin age calculator
  
  02 AI for customer retention

• Dr. Simon Ourian: a celebrity dermatologist available for all

• Casper: building long-term customer relationships

• LVMH: luxury rules for AI

03 AI for cost reduction

• Modern Animal: reducing the administrative load

• Huel: optimising the supply chain

• Stanley: predicting supply chain disruptions

01 AI for revenue generation

Three key approaches emerge:

• enhancing conversion rates through personalized shopping experiences,

• accelerating customer research to inform product development,

• and optimizing pricing and merchandising decisions.

The focus is on using AI to remove friction from the purchase journey while gathering deeper customer insights.

JCPenney: 108% boost in conversion rate

The department store chain is focused on protecting its future since emerging from bankruptcy under new ownership in 2020. One of the central pillars of the retailer’s strategy is advanced technology, including AI and machine learning.

The retailer says that access to rich zero- and first-party data helped to increase engagement, conversion rates, and stronger customer loyalty across all channels.

JCPenney took a dual approach by implementing both an AI beauty advisor and an AI makeup artist.

• The in-store AI beauty advisor drove a 23% higher AOV in Q1 2024.

• The AI makeup artist achieved an even more impressive 108% boost in conversions.

Supergoop: increasing the POs with retailers by 50%

Supergoop faced a launch challenge: historical sales data wasn't sufficient for predicting demand of their new innovative product. The solution came from Daash's AI platform, which analyzes real-time competitor performance and market trends across retail and DTC channels. Armed with this competitive intelligence, Supergoop convinced retailers to increase opening purchase orders by 50%.

Adore Me: personalised products via text prompts

Adore Me, recently acquired by Victoria's Secret for $400 million, has launched "AM by You", which allows customers to create personalized lingerie sets using simple text prompts. The visuals are generated by Leonardo AI technology.

The system generates unique patterns and designs while maintaining quality control through a moderation process and human review. Despite the customization, they've maintained their standard retail price range ($39.95 to $59.95), with custom sets starting at $54.95.

Away: accelerated customer research and discovery

Away was preparing to launch their biggest product line since their original hardside luggage in 2016. They needed to deeply understand how customers choose between different luggage materials, which would inform their web design, visuals, product information, and comparison pages. Traditional research methods had limitations - surveys lacked depth, while in-depth interviews were too time-consuming and reached too few people.

Away partnered with Outset, an AI-moderated research platform to conduct 78 in-depth customer interviews in just one week, using AI to moderate the conversations.

The AI-driven insights led to results:

• Their material education page achieved a 20% add-to-cart rate

• This performance was 25% higher than their other product guides

• The success was particularly notable since the material education page targeted a more specific, high-intent audience

L’oreal: skin age calculator

“It’s like wearables, but for your skin,” says Vania Lacascade, the group’s chief innovation officer. “Imagine getting your blood analysed — but instead, it’s your skin, at the cellular level, in minutes.”

The Cell Bioprint tool, developed in collaboration with Korean biotech innovator Nanoentek, utilizes “lab-on-chip” technology to analyze a customer’s skin cells. This allows it to predict their responsiveness to ingredients like retinol and identify potential concerns, such as acne, before they appear. The demand for hyper-personalized and medicalized beauty is rapidly growing, driven by consumers' increasing focus on longevity and the long-term effects of skincare.

To retain a competitive edge, the group invests $1 billion a year into its research and innovation arm, which translates to new products, patents and technologies globally.

Critical considerations:

• Infrastructure readiness is crucial - JCPenney's success required strong WiFi, proper hardware setup, and seamless POS integration before deployment

• Human oversight remains essential - Adore Me maintains a two-part moderation system for AI-generated designs, combining automated checks with human review.

• Focus on tasks where robots outperform humans - a human dermatologist could not perform the type of analysis that L’oreal’s skin age calculator does. This makes the service attractive and exciting to try.

02 AI for customer retention

Enabling deeper customer relationships by transforming one-time transactions into ongoing conversations.

Leading brands are using AI to provide consistent, personalized support across the entire customer lifecycle, while carefully balancing automation with human interaction.

The key is using AI to enhance, rather than replace, the human elements of customer service.

Dr. Simon Ourian: a celebrity dermatologist available for all

Dr. Simon Ourian has created a sophisticated virtual consultation platform that uses an AI avatar incorporating his own voice and image.

This approach maintains the personal touch of the celebrity dermatologist while making his expertise more widely accessible. The AI system is trained on millions of data sets focusing on various skin parameters, including, hydration levels, wrinkle patterns, skin texture variations, etc.

The system performs a comprehensive skin analysis by:

• Evaluating multiple skin parameters simultaneously

• Comparing results against the extensive training database

• Identifying specific skin concerns and conditions

• Creating a detailed skin profile for each patient

After the assessment, the system issues tailored product routines and provides customised skincare recommendations.

Casper: building long-term customer relationships

Casper recognized that traditional chatbots weren't meeting customer needs in buying a mattress.

Powered by Sierra, Luna 2.0 is particularly interesting in its ability to build long-term relationships with customers. Rather than just handling one-time purchase questions, it assists customers throughout their entire "sleep journey," including helping with pillows, bed frames, and other sleep-related products. It can also communicate in multiple languages.

Luna 2.0 is optimised daily by two team members, who review customer conversations and update the AI's knowledge base. This human oversight ensures the system stays current and improves its resolution capabilities.

As a result, Luna 2.0:

• Has a 74% resolution rate.

• Increased customer engagement by 20%.

• Remained stable during high-traffic periods.

Zalando: Conversational search

Zalando's AI shopping assistant takes a unique approach to product discovery. Instead of requiring customers to know exact search keywords, the system engages in natural conversations to help narrow down options and discover new products. Through these interactions, the AI has helped half a million customers find what they're looking for - even when they started with vague ideas. The company is now developing an enhanced search function where results refresh in real-time as customers type, combining the benefits of conversational AI with the speed of traditional search.

LVMH: luxury rules for AI

LVMH has created what they call an "AI Factory" - essentially a library of algorithms that can be used across their portfolio of brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Tiffany & Co. The team builds modifiable, modular algorithms that brands can adapt to their specific needs.

LVMH has a clear stance on how AI should be used in luxury. Unlike many other retailers, they have deliberately decided to avoid customer-facing AI tools. They believe their competitive advantage lies in their human client advisors, so they keep AI working behind the scenes to enhance, rather than replace, these personal interactions.

I.e., the system helps client advisors make better recommendations by suggesting which high-potential customers to contact and identifying product category affinities for different customer segments.

Also, they've developed luxury-specific prediction models that account for the unique nature of scarcity in luxury goods. These algorithms can determine optimal product distribution across different zones and stores, considering the specific dynamics of luxury retail.

Critical Considerations:

• Dedicated resources for ongoing optimization - Casper assigns two full-time team members to review and update their AI system daily.

• Understanding your customer - LVMH defined AI for luxury and didn’t attempt to replace human relationships with AI. Meanwhile Kering's Madeline chatbot was discontinued as it spoke in what sounded like marketing copy.

• Quality data at scale - The principle of “garbage in → garbage out” persists. Dr. Simon Ourian AI bot uses millions of data points to provide valuable output for the user.

03 AI for cost reduction

Transforming operational efficiency by:

• streamlining supply chain operations,

• automating administrative tasks,

• and reducing error rates in critical business processes.

Companies are using AI to consolidate data across systems, predict potential issues before they occur, and optimize resource allocation - leading to measurable cost savings and improved operational accuracy.

Modern Animal: reducing the administrative load

In May 2024, Modern Animal introduced several AI-driven enhancements to Claude, aiming to reduce the administrative load on veterinary practitioners.

Key features include:

• Patient overview: This function synthesizes a pet's entire medical history into a concise snapshot, enabling veterinarians to quickly familiarize themselves with pertinent information before appointments.

• Visit summarization: During consultations, notes are taken and then transformed into client-friendly summaries. Veterinarians review these summaries before sharing them with pet owners through the Modern Animal app, ensuring clear and effective communication.

• Lab work Interpretation and Summarization: The software automatically generates preliminary analyses of diagnostic results for the veterinarian's assessment. Once approved, these findings are translated into easily understandable summaries for clients, accessible via the app.

The development required close collaboration between the tech team and approximately 40 clinical staff members. This partnership included beta testing, feedback sessions, and "shadowing," where technologists observed clinicians to identify real-time opportunities for innovation. As a result, these AI enhancements have the potential to save veterinarians up to two hours per day.

Huel: optimising the supply chain

Huel faced a common challenge for growing DTC brands - supply chain complexity. They partnered with 7bridges platform, which gives a "bird's-eye view" of all their shipments across different transportation modes and routes, consolidating this information in one place. Huel can audit invoices for accuracy, addressing the industry problem where 1 in 5 logistics invoices contain errors.

The platform also analyzes shipping rates and benchmarks performance against market standards, helping Huel negotiate better rates - other companies using this AI system have achieved approximately 10% cost savings. This technology integration supports Huel's £20 million funding round.

Stanley: predicting supply chain disruptions

Stanley 1913, riding the viral success of their tumblers, implemented Kinaxis' Maestro AI platform to transform their supply chain management. The system processes data across procurement, production, and fulfillment to detect disruptions in real-time and enable rapid scenario planning.

"Advanced predictive analytics through machine learning allows us to gain end-to-end visibility and facilitate sustainable growth, while minimizing our carbon footprint," says Karthik Sivakumar, VP of Supply Chain.

Critical Considerations:

• Data quality determines results - Supply chain optimization depends on accurate, consolidated data across all shipping modes and routes.

• Process clarity - Huel needed to map out critical operations before implementing technology to optimise them.

• Change management matters - Modern Animal's success came from extensive beta testing and "shadowing" sessions with staff before full implementation.

Final words

Top consumer and retail brands have been spending millions in the last three years to integrate AI and finally deliver measurable results. Although there’s a lot of unfounded hype about AI, it’s a race everyone must take part in.

A new category of winners is emerging: AI-native brands that will dominate the market in the coming year.

If you want to accelerate your AI game, acquiring the latest tech won’t cut it. It requires a robust data foundation: quality input, integrated pipelines, infrastructure, and a team that is able to manage it — that’s where the magic happens.

If you’re just starting with AI:

Check out our guide "The Digital Leader's Guide to Actually Useful AI", which provides a practical framework for getting real results with AI - from choosing the right first project to building trust with your team.

Want to win the e-commerce game with AI?

Conway & Co is your on-demand CTO. We help top consumer and retail brands to get all digital capabilities in place and deliver on growth ambitions. Learn more about us here.

Social commerce can’t be ignored

A few weeks ago, TikTok disappeared in the U.S. for two hours.
Instead of slowing down, TikTok Shop sales spiked.

Shoppers rushed to buy, proving once again that social commerce is perhaps an equivalent of DTC’s rise 15 years ago.

Platforms like TikTok Shop have reached massive scale, rivaling Sephora in beauty spending and challenging Amazon’s dominance.

Why? Because social commerce injects what traditional e-commerce has always lacked: entertainment. 97 % of Gen Z consumers cite social media as their top source of shopping inspiration. With social commerce, the consideration phase of the shopping journey shrinks dramatically. You scroll, get inspired, trust the recommendation, and check out—all within minutes.

While TikTok’s average order value hovers around $35, the model isn’t limited to impulse buys. Luxury brands like Rimowa and Gucci are already using livestream shopping to sell high-ticket items.

The impact extends beyond TikTok itself. Social media is where we consume content, so forward-thinking e-commerce brands are adapting social-first UX—integrating reels, influencer-led discovery, and frictionless checkout into their own sites (a good example in the Netherlands is Ekster, which integrated a reel-like UX directly into its product detail pages).

The line between content and commerce is blurring fast. The brands that build for this reality, rather than treating social commerce as an add-on, will define the next wave of digital retail.

How e-commerce will evolve in 2025?

Drawing from extensive market research and conversations with industry executives, we examine six key developments shaping consumer brands' strategic choices.

Read on

New resources added to our Brand Radar

01 Industry Deep Dives

Based on the Top 100 Dutch Consumer brands report, we dive deeper into 7 sub-industries in the Netherlands - from baby & children's products to wellness brands. Each is backed by traffic data, competitive mapping engagement metrics, and growth patterns.

Dive in

02 Master tactics database

We also made a collection of digital and omnichannel experience tactics that we found while analysing +300 Dutch consumer brands.

Explore

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 Vyu Try-on Mirror

An AI-powered device that allows users to virtually try on clothes without physically wearing them. Users can control the mirror via a QR code on their phone, selecting 3D clothing that is digitally fitted to their body using real-time skeletal tracking.

02 Caper AI

Smart shopping carts equipped with computer vision and machine learning technologies. These carts allow customers to place items inside, automatically detecting and adding them to a virtual cart, enabling a seamless, cashier-less shopping experience.

03 AdSauce

Discovered by our digital consultant Coen, this is a social commerce platform with features such as shoppable galleries, user-generated content (UGC) displays, influencer marketing tools, and video commerce capabilities.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce, and investing.

OpenAI launches Operator, an AI agent that can shop for you

10 min read

“Operator promises to automate tasks such as booking travel accommodations, making restaurant reservations, and shopping online, according to OpenAI. There are several task categories users can choose from within the Operator interface, including shopping, delivery, dining, and travel — all of which enable different kinds of automation.”

Full article

L’Oréal Group bets on longevity with new skin age calculator

15 min read

“It’s like wearables, but for your skin,” says Vania Lacascade, the group’s chief innovation officer. “Imagine getting your blood analysed — but instead, it’s your skin, at the cellular level, in minutes.”

Full article

How Tech Helped Levi’s Ride the ‘Baggy Jeans’ Trend

10 min read

“Levi Strauss & Co. has partnered with Google Cloud to analyze data from various sources, including purchases and web browsing, to identify emerging fashion trends. This approach enabled Levi's to capitalize on the rising popularity of baggy jeans by adjusting inventory and design strategies accordingly, resulting in a 15% increase in sales of looser fits in the last quarter.”

Full article

Visually appealing

LERA, a new design-forward matcha shop in Amsterdam's De Pijp neighborhood, combines Japanese tea tradition with modern retail through its minimalist interior of soft green and stainless steel, automated ordering screens, and a curated selection of ceremonial grade matcha products.

The e-commerce landscape of 2025 presents a paradox: while technology enables unprecedented automation and efficiency, consumers increasingly value human connection. They embrace AI-powered search but crave authentic interactions. They demand instant delivery but worry about environmental impact. They shop through social feeds but question the authenticity of what they see.

Digital leaders navigate these opposing forces daily, making strategic decisions that often feel like calculated bets on an uncertain future.

Drawing from extensive market research and conversations with industry executives, we examine six key developments shaping these strategic choices.

Table of contents

01: The search revolution & Google’s challenge
02: Social commerce is the leading growth channel
03: Payment transformations: mobile, BNPL, and crypto
04: Shipping: changes in the last-mile, fulfillment, and returns
05: The human touch in AI-powered personalisation
06: The power shift among the big players

01: The search revolution & Google’s challenge

Google's traditional dominance is facing challenges from multiple directions. Traditional keyword searches are being replaced by conversational queries, with 55% of Americans now regularly interacting with AI search tools.

As a result, almost 2/3 of Google searches are "zero-click”. They end without clicks as AI provides immediate, synthesized answers without requiring users to click through to websites.

Other shifts in search

• Visual search has become standard, with platforms like Perplexity. Meanwhile Pinterest is implementing AI-powered virtual try-ons.

• Google is integrating content from multiple platforms, including TikTok videos and forum content.

• 17% of adults now use TikTok for search (up from 3% in 2020).

• Voice search has emerged as a preferred method for many users, enabled by AI-enhanced assistants.

Search behavior by generation

(VML report, 2025 Predictions for Search Marketing)

Generation Z:

• 58% use traditional search engines

• 46% use social media for search

• 31% use AI platforms/chatbots

Boomers:

• 76% rely on traditional search engines

• 21% use social media

• Heavy preference for established platforms

Key changes for brands:

The search evolution demands new optimization strategies:

• Visual content integration

• AI-readable product information

• Conversational query optimization

• Social platform presence

• Zero-click result optimization

This shift demands brands adapt their digital presence across multiple touchpoints, as consumers increasingly begin their shopping journeys through diverse search channels rather than traditional search engines alone.

02 Social commerce is the leading growth channel

Social commerce is predicted to become the leading growth channel by 2029. 73% of consumers already make purchases through social media and 62% planning to increase their social shopping activity.

TikTok Shop’s remarkable market penetration:

The platform has rapidly achieved scale comparable to established retailers.

In the US, it matches Sephora in beauty consumer spending. It equals Temu in spending among Shein customers and outpaces growth of major platforms including Amazon and Target (Consumer Trends, 2025).

Influencer marketing is still playing a huge role here, as 69% consumers trust influencer insights more than traditional retail channels.

As a result, TikTok Shop shows impressive growth metrics:

• Average order value via Tiktok Shop: $35

• 5.3 transactions per customer annually

• 87% consider it a natural extension of their TikTok experience

Key insights for brands:

The channel's success relies on several core elements:

• Community-driven shopping with peer recommendations

• Seamless integration of entertainment and commerce

• Rapid inspiration-to-purchase journey

• Interactive features like livestreams and Q&A sessions

Despite strong growth, important challenges remain:

• Platforms push for native checkouts to maintain data control

• Consumer trust issues remain. Many still hesitate to share payment information, question product quality or doubt product authenticity.

03 Payment transformations: mobile, BNPL, and crypto

Mobile is becoming the dominant channel and new payment methods gaining mainstream acceptance. Price sensitivity remains paramount in purchase decisions, while innovative payment solutions like BNPL and cryptocurrencies are reshaping how consumers complete transactions.

Mobile & BNPL rise:

• In the US, mobile accounts for 54.5% of all online shopping, reaching peak of 65% on Christmas Day. However it’s worth mentioning that conversion rates are higher on desktop.

• OnBuy, a popular cashback marketplace from the UK reports 30% day-on-day sales growth in key European markets.

• Mobile continues to drive BNPL adoption with majority share of transactions

Price sensitivity:

• Price remains #1 factor influencing online purchase decisions.

• Value-conscious consumers driving increased adoption of flexible payment options.

• Growing competition between payment providers leading to better consumer terms.

Digital currency evolution

• Increasing mainstream acceptance of cryptocurrencies.

• New US administration supporting pro-crypto regulations.

• Major platforms (Facebook and Amazon) developing "stablecoins" pegged to standard currencies.

• Emergence of retail-specific digital tokens:

  • Marketplace-specific currencies to incentivize buying

  • Integration with loyalty programs

Key insights for brands:

• Leverage technology to discover methods to incorporate exchange tokens into loyalty and incentive programs.

• Payment infrastructures will inevitably need to evolve to support digital currencies and other emerging types of money.

04: Shipping: big changes in the last-mile, fulfillment, and returns

Last-mile delivery one of retail's biggest challenges, with 53% of shipping costs going to this final step. Traditional delivery methods struggle to meet consumer expectations for speed while maintaining profitability (31% of global consumers expect delivery in under 2 hours). Additionally, the rising volume of returns, reaching approximately 16.9% of sales, creates significant operational and financial burdens for retailers.

Here’s the solutions that innovative brands have started adopting:

01 Drone & robot delivery

Delivery robots and drones help to meet soaring demand for home deliveries, especially at peak times.

8 million commercial deliveries are expected in 2025 worldwide. As a result, by 2034, delivery costs are projected to decrease to $2.

02 Store-based fulfillment

There are more and more physical stores being transforming into hybrid fulfillment centers.

In the US, 90% of customers live within 10-mile radius to the closest Walmart store. Therefore, 5,200 US stores are now utilized for delivery. For Walmart, it resulted in 55% increase in delivery capacity since 2022 and 20% reduction in delivery costs.

03 Focus on reducing the return rate.

The rise of 'haul culture,' especially among Gen Z consumers, has led to increased return rates. 15% of UK shoppers admit they have bought clothing or footwear online simply with the purpose of showing them off on social media.

Retailers implementing data-driven return monitoring and policies to crack down on serial returners. New restrictive policies are emerging, such as limiting returns for repeat offenders, introducing return fees, or shortening return periods. Some have successfully reduced returns by rewarding low-return customers and employing AI-powered sizing tools.

• ASOS imposes a £3.95 fee for customers with high return rates unless they retain items worth at least £40 from their original order.

• Saks Fifth Avenue, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Zara have shortened return periods and introduced fees to manage the financial impact.

• Net-a-Porter’s website says it monitors the number of returns made by customers to check they are not being used for “commercial, entrepreneurial or professional purposes” and reserves the right to refuse future orders.

• Sophisticated sizing tools, such as Fit Analytics’s Fit Finder and Sizekick, leverage data and deep learning AI models to offer more accurate fit recommendations.

Key insights for brands:

• Audit your current capabilities for automated and drone fulfillment opportunities. Even small retailers and brands can partner with local convenience stores for last-mile pickup points.

• Consider predictive analytics to forecast demand patterns and identify potential return abuse before it happens.

• Differential return policies: Rather than one-size-fits-all, implement segmented return policies based on customer behavior and purchase history.

• AI-powered sizing tools and detailed product information can significantly reduce return rates while improving customer satisfaction.

05: The human touch in AI-powered personalisation

While technology enables unprecedented personalization, consumers still crave authentic human interactions in their shopping experiences. Companies are responding by designing creative and hybrid approaches that combine AI efficiency with human touchpoints. Particularly in premium and luxury service tiers.

Global consumer experience patterns
VML Tomorrow's Commerce, 2025

• 64% of consumers globally find online shopping uninspiring despite technological advances.

• 60% of consumers wish physical shopping experiences were more immersive and futuristic.

• 51% of global consumers feel stressed by constant digital trends, indicating a need for more balanced approaches.

The Human Element

• In the US, 58% of US consumers value interactions with humans, emphasizing “human-as-a-premium” trend. This is especially emphasized in the luxury market.

• 82% of US consumers and 74% of non-US consumers want more human interaction in their future shopping experiences.

Personalization in wellness & health

Genetic personalization is emerging as a frontier for customized products:

• 65% of consumers now prioritize wellness in their purchasing decisions.

• 88% of consumers are willing to share their health data with medical providers.

• Growing demand for DNA-based product recommendations in skincare and supplements, as well a customized wellness plans based on genetic profiles.

Digital Detox & Premium Experiences

• Premium "disconnect" experiences are emerging where consumers pay more for digital-free shopping environments.

• 58% of global consumers feel overwhelmed by technology and are drawn to digital detoxes.

Key insights for brands:

• Identify key customer journey touchpoints where human interaction adds the most value.

• Create clear value propositions for both digital and human-centered experiences. Track the ROI and NPS of human interaction in customer service.

• Consider systems that can scale from basic to highly sophisticated personalization based on customer preferences.

• Create "digital detox" zones or experiences in physical retail spaces.

• Design digital experiences that respect customers' need for boundaries and wellness.

• Develop guidelines for maintaining brand voice across AI-generated content

06 The power shift among the big players

In 2025, established giants like Amazon and Walmart are becoming even more powerful, building comprehensive ecosystems that make them indispensable to consumers.

However, Chinese mega-platforms like Temu and Shein are also rapidly gaining market share in Western markets with their revolutionary direct-from-factory model.

According to Retail Dive, mid-sized retailers offering basic, lower-end brands are particularly vulnerable and "could disappear from the landscape without being missed," leading to widespread consolidation like Macy's accelerating store closures and HBC's acquisition of Neiman Marcus.

Data illustrating the trends:

• 75% of Americans believe "Amazon is a good thing for society".

• Amazon and Walmart projected to capture 84% of retail ad spending in 2025

• Walmart demonstrates enterprise-level innovation with an AI negotiation system achieving 64% deal closure rates and 1.5-3% cost savings.

• 63% of Western consumers planned to shop via Chinese apps for holiday 2024.

• TikTok Shop is growing 156% year-over-year.

Key insights for brands:

• Balance presence across dominant platforms while maintaining brand control. Diversification across multiple platforms helps reduce dependence on any single channel, it’s like a strategic insurance.

• Brands need clear value propositions beyond price to remain competitive. Premium positioning must be backed by genuine differentiation.

• Mid-sized brands must choose: either scale up through partnerships/consolidation or find defendable niches with unique value propositions. "Stuck in the middle" is increasingly unsustainable.

The retail landscape of 2025 rewards decisive strategic choices: scale aggressively through partnerships, develop unique specialized offerings, or risk being squeezed out by both mega-platforms and Chinese disruptors.

For established brands, maintaining control over customer relationships and brand identity becomes critical as platforms gain power, making selective platform participation and direct consumer connections essential survival tools. Clear positioning – whether through scale advantages or defendable niches – will determine which players thrive in this increasingly polarized market.

Apparently, the Netherlands is #1 in the world in digital commerce adoption, with Dutch consumers shopping online more than any other nation. This creates a powerful flywheel effect – demanding consumers push brands to excel, continuously raising the bar for digital experience.

In the Netherlands, success breeds success. If Italy has leather goods and Switzerland has watches, the Dutch excel in premium menswear and bikes. Each successful brand attracts more talent and expertise:

• Suitsupply's global achievements established the Netherlands as a hub for premium menswear, bringing up brands like MR MARVIS and No Label.

• The Dutch biking tradition runs deep – heritage brands like Gazelle, Batavus, and Cortina paved the way for tech-forward newcomers like VanMoof and Veloretti.

• G-Star RAW anchored a thriving premium denim ecosystem, now home to Petrol Industries, Denham, and Kuyichi.

These industry clusters continuously elevate market standards. Features that once differentiated – subscriptions, referral programs, product quizzes – are now baseline offerings in Dutch e-commerce. Meeting these demanding local standards forges internationally competitive brands – our data shows the average Dutch brand draws 54% of traffic from international consumers.

When sophisticated consumers meet ambitious brands, everyone wins.
The standards are high, but so are the rewards for those who rise to meet them.

Now live: Brand Radar

The Conway Brand Radar 2024 is live, analyzing over 300 Dutch consumer brands to identify who's winning in digital commerce.

After evaluating digital experiences on a 1-5 scale and analyzing traffic patterns across markets, we've uncovered which brands are setting the pace in 2024.

Check if your brand made it to our top 100 list and discover what distinguishes the leaders from the rest.

Explore

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 Sora

Open AI’s video generation model is rolling out soon.

02 Keak

The first AI agent that continuously improves your website.

03 Ownit

AI Search tool for brands: answer your shoppers’ questions at scale so that they appear in search engine-suggested answers.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce, and investing.

Rapha losses almost double to £22.7m as UK turnover drops 20% amid "challenged" cycling sector, brand's seventh consecutive year in the red

10 min read

“The premium cycling clothing company blamed the "ongoing turbulent and competitive" cycling industry post-Covid, decreased consumer confidence "in several key markets", and the expensive consolidation of two warehouses into a single operation.”

Full article

European economic outlook and spending habits

15 min read

“Read data from 10,000 online consumers showing their economic outlook and how they plan to spend their money.”

Full article

Amazon surpasses Coolblue in Dutch e-commerce top 100

10 min read

“AliExpress and Shein are among the ten largest online sellers in the Netherlands. And behind market leader bol.com, not Albert Heijn or Coolblue, but Amazon as the number two. That is according to a new ranking by German ECDB, a well-known publisher of ecommerce statistics.”

Full article

Visually appealing

LVMH's acquisition of Birkenstock continues to bear fruit with the opening of a striking flagship store in Amsterdam's historic Canal District. The new space blends the brand's signature materials – cork, leather, and stone – with design elements that pay homage to Amsterdam's heritage, including a cross-shaped cork display table inspired by the city's coat of arms.

Visit Birkenstock in Amsterdam:
Hartenstraat 16
1016CB, Amsterdam

Introduction

The Netherlands is e-commerce at its finest. 84% of Dutch internet users shop online - the highest rate worldwide (UNCTAD).

Great logistics infrastructure, tons of digital talent and years of e-commerce experience make it both a thriving market and a perfect launchpad for new brands.

But what brands are the winners and were growing fastest?

Conway Brand Radar ranks the Netherlands' top 100 consumer brands based on their digital performance metrics and digital experience. The ranking provides insights into which brands excel at digital commerce and what drives their success.

Dive into our complete database of the top Dutch consumer brands, with detailed metrics on traffic, growth, and digital experience.

TOP 100 Dutch consumer brands in 2024

Our methodology

Main findings from our research

Our analysis of 300+ brands in 2024 reveals a fascinating split between international powerhouses and strong domestic players.

• The big players are truly global. Tommy Hilfiger, G-Star RAW, Suitsupply, and Ekster generate 98% of their traffic from international markets.

• The average Dutch brand draws 46% of traffic from domestic consumers.

• Strong momentum: Half of the analyzed brands achieved double-digit traffic growth in 2024.

• Rising digital sophistication: The average digital experience score increased by 13% since last year to 3.8/5, showing maturity in customer experience.

• Fashion dominates: Apparel, shoes & accessories represent 47% of top brands.

• Sustainability mainstreams: Nearly one-fourth of brands are B-corp certified, marking sustainability's evolution from differentiator to standard.

So, what makes Dutch e-commerce leaders stand out from the rest?

Let's take a closer look.

Key market dynamics

01 Apparel dominance: the rise of menswear

Apparel rules Dutch e-commerce with 47 brands in our top 100. While Tommy Hilfiger and G-Star RAW show steady growth, Suitsupply is having a stellar year with 37% more traffic.

The Netherlands has become a key market for menswear. We're seeing over 10 premium menswear brands span out across price points - think of it as a red ocean that Suitsupply helped create.

The winners are brands that go all-in on modern shopping experiences. Look at MR MARVIS (52% traffic growth, 2.27% conversion) and ETQ Amsterdam (90% growth). Meanwhile, brands sticking to old-school approaches are falling behind.

02 E-Bikes: back to basics

2024 brought a plot twist in the e-bike world. After VanMoof's bankruptcy in August 2023, and Stella’s in November 2024, shoppers might be skeptical of tech-first bike brands. The numbers tell the story: VanMoof's traffic dropped 61%, and QWIC's (which also went bankrupt) fell 79%. Meanwhile, traditional bike maker Cortina sees a whopping 800% traffic boost.

03 Sustainability: the new normal

Gone are the days when sustainability was special - now it's expected. A solid 23% of the top 100 brands are B-Corps, and the numbers keep growing.

New sustainable brands are crushing it: Mother's Earth (launched late 2022), Ecostyle (154% growth), and Naïf (132% growth) lead the charge. With so many market leaders getting B-Corp certified, the Netherlands is where Europe tests its green commerce future.

Explore our deep dives per category ↴

Our deep dives reveal what drives success in premium menswear, bikes & e-bikes, sustainability, modern furniture, and next-gen baby brands.

Explore

Category overview across the Top 100:

Fastest Growing Dutch Consumer Brands

The data across all the analyzed brands, not only the TOP 100.

New Market Entrants (Launched in 2023)

An emerging trend: sustainability is becoming a powerful growth driver, particularly in everyday categories like home goods and personal care.

Established Brands

All these brands have achieved substantial scale (42K-180K monthly visitors) while maintaining high growth rates - a rare combination that suggests their business models have found strong product-market fit while still having room to expand.

Looking ahead: who will win the e-com game in 2025?

As we analyze the trends across Dutch consumer brands in 2024, three key factors emerge that will likely determine success in 2025:

01 Trust over hype

The post-pandemic digital gold rush is over. Consumers are gravitating towards stable, responsible brands with clear purposes - notice how traditional bike manufacturers are gaining ground after tech-forward players stumbled.

This shift isn't just about product quality, nor simply about sustainability; it's about consistent delivery on brand promises.

02 Beyond Digital Basics

Dutch brands score well on digital experience (3.8/5 average), but yesterday's innovations are today's basics. Video content integration, chatbots, subscriptions, product quizzes, referral programs - these are just table stakes now.

The real differentiators are emerging elsewhere:

• Building communities around genuine, multi-channel connections, not just loyalty schemes.

• Integrating lifestyle content naturally into commerce experience.

• Creating seamless flows online & offline.

Smart brands understand that retail vs DTC isn't a strategic choice - they're just channels with different strengths. Take Suitsupply’s approach (5/5 DXP score) - their success comes from understanding that their customers need both digital efficiency and human reassurance.

03 The real AI challenge is boring (but critical)

While everyone talks about AI transformation, success in 2025 will depend on boring fundamentals.

Before implementing AI, brands need solid foundations:

• Clean, structured data collection.

• Clear grasp of purchase patterns.

• Understanding of customer decision points.

Only with these basics in place can brands deliver truly meaningful experiences:

• Hyper-personalization.

• Dynamic pricing.

• Predictive search that actually works.

How we can help

Conway & Co is the ‘on-demand CTO’ for modern consumer & retail brands with ambition.

Gain a deep understanding of the technical state of your company that aligns your business strategy and digital capabilities.

Get in touch

Join our newsletter: Stay ahead in digital commerce

Subscribe to our Seamless Selling newsletter to receive monthly insights on digital strategy, technology decisions, and growth tactics, curated specifically for digital leaders in e-commerce.

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This article is based on Conway & Co’s presentation "Beyond the Hype - How AI Impacts the Backbone of Your Business" at the private equity event "Handen in de Klei" in Amsterdam.

How to approach AI?

For the first time in computing history, machines are learning to speak our language, not the other way around.

Computers are finally smart enough to communicate like humans. This fundamental shift is why AI represents such an exciting turning point in technology.

That being said, AI is not a magic machine or a silver bullet that will solve all of your problems. Think of AI as a smart intern who can help with bringing your ideas to life.

Reality Check: Most companies rush to implement AI without understanding their data foundation. It's like trying to build a house on sand.

Before your first AI project, ask yourself: Do you know where your customer data actually lives?

01 Getting Started

Essential Tools

The foundation of your AI toolkit starts with these core platforms, each with its own strength:

• ChatGPT (OpenAI) - Best for reasoning and problem-solving

• Perplexity - Best for research and fact-finding

• Claude (Anthropic) - Best for writing and coding

For specialized tasks, the landscape of AI tools has expanded dramatically. TLDV can transform your meeting notes into actionable insights, while Julius helps make sense of complex data.

When you need to create content, consider these specialized tools:

• Synthesia - For video content creation

• PhotoAI - For professional imagery

• Whispr Flow - For voice-to-text conversion

Building Trust: The 10-Hour Rule

The best way to overcome AI skepticism is through hands-on experience. Here's how to build confidence systematically:

1. Choose a topic you're expert in

2. Spend 10+ hours asking AI questions about this topic

3. Give feedback where it excels and fails

4. Use these insights to build confidence in its capabilities

This approach serves two purposes: you'll quickly learn where AI excels and fails, while building confidence in its capabilities through direct experience.

A Quick Tip

Keep notes on what works and what doesn't. Track which questions get great answers, where AI adds unique value, and where it falls short. Test different phrasings and build on previous responses. You'll quickly learn how to use AI effectively.

Practical Applications for Today

AI can enhance your work in multiple ways. Instead of viewing it as a replacement, think of it as a powerful tool for:

• Brainstorming - Generate ideas and explore alternatives

• Evaluation - Get objective analysis of your concepts

• Enhancement - Improve existing work

• Analysis - Extract insights from documents and data

The key is starting with familiar processes and gradually expanding your use as you build confidence.

Impact on e-commerce

From analyzing customer behavior to predicting inventory needs, AI is reshaping online retail in eight key ways. It handles the front-end work - like personalizing marketing and adjusting prices in real-time - while also powering behind-the-scenes operations through smarter product recommendations and supply chain forecasting. These tools aren't just nice-to-have features anymore; they're becoming essential for staying competitive in modern e-commerce.

A day in the life of a digital leader with AI

8:30 AM: Your AI dashboard has compiled overnight analytics and flags something notable: three competitors dropped prices on similar products in your summer collection. Based on preset margins and historical data, the AI suggests price adjustments. After reviewing the logic, you approve changes for select items.

10:00 AM: At the morning stand-up, you're reviewing AI-processed customer service transcripts from the past 48 hours. A pattern of complaints about your new checkout flow emerges - something that might have taken weeks to spot manually. The AI has categorized the issues and suggested specific UX improvements.

2:00 PM: During your new market strategy session, AI tools work in the background, testing ad copy variations across channels and learning customer segment preferences. It's not making autonomous decisions, but providing data-driven suggestions for your marketing team.

4:30 PM: You review tomorrow's automated tasks: competitor price monitoring, inventory alerts, and A/B test analysis. The AI handles data grunt work while you focus on strategic decisions.

AI becomes your strategic co-pilot

While most focus on AI as a collection of tools, its true value comes from how it reshapes a leader's perspective. When AI handles the constant monitoring of metrics, trends, and anomalies, you begin to think differently about opportunity. You start asking better questions, seeing patterns earlier, and making decisions with a wider lens.

The Game Isn't AI vs Human

Three critical principles emerge from successful AI implementations:

01 AI won’t replace you. But people who know how to use AI might.

02 Garbage in → garbage out. AI models are only as good as the amount and quality of data you feed it with.

03 Be innovative. Companies with the most original data sources and the ability to use them will win the game.

Your e-com tech stack

Each layer (Marketing, Sales Channels, Commerce, Service, etc.) represents a different aspect of the business, but they're all interconnected through data. What makes this architecture powerful is how it shows that AI's value isn't just in individual applications, but in its ability to create connections and insights across previously siloed systems.

Staying Current: Your AI Network

The field moves quickly, but you can stay ahead by following these key experts in the field:

• Cassie Kozyrkov - Google's Decision Intelligence pioneer

• Ethan Mollick - Leading academic on practical AI

• Andrew Ng - Deep learning visionary

• Allie Miller - AI strategy expert

• Ben Tossel - Practical AI implementation specialist

• AI Evolution

• Superhuman

Taking Action This Week

Start small but start now. Here's your action plan:

01 Install one core thinking tool

02 Pick a familiar process to enhance with AI

03 Spend 30 minutes experimenting

04 Document what works

05 Share learnings with your team

Conway & Co is your on-demand CTO for e-commerce.
Learn more.

When AI finally catches up to the hype

Semantic satiation is when a word loses its meaning through endless repetition. Just like “AI” in software for e-commerce has today.

Every tool that automates basic tasks now claims to be “AI-powered.” Product recommendations? AI. Email automation? AI. A/B testing? Also AI.

When you have a good hammer, everything looks like a nail.

But here's what most vendors won't tell you: true AI - technology that can learn and make decisions independently - is just a tool.

And like any tool, its value depends entirely on who's using it and why.

This is the hard part: before even considering AI adoption (or adoption of any other technology, frankly), you need to get three fundamentals right:

• Define your tech stack (do you have a clear view of the software in your IT landscape?)

• Understand your business complexity (can you explain how your company operates?)

• Assess your team’s digital maturity (will this tool help or overwhelm your people?)

What we’re seeing in 2024 is fascinating. Real AI capabilities are finally catching up to the hype - offering ways to genuinely transform how we sell online. This is exciting because computers are finally smart enough to communicate like humans versus the other way around.

Take search, for example: instead of just matching keywords, AI now understands when a customer types "outfit for my beach wedding next month" and considers everything from seasonal trends to typical wedding guest preferences.

It's not just smarter automation - it's a technology that thinks contextually, like a skilled personal shopper. It became proactive instead of reactive.

But this only matters if you have the right foundation in place and your data is centralised (read below ↴ ).

Conway Tech Stack Navigator

It’s finally live: a comprehensive guide for digital leaders that feel lost in the woods…

E-com technology stack is a hard but crucial subject, and we created a resource for you — to set up a robust tech foundation.

📍 250+ e-commerce systems mapped across key layers per team:

• Marketing
• Sales Channels
• Commerce
• Service
• Operations
• Integrations

Plus: A helpful framework that guides you on mapping your business requirements first (this is crucial).

Dive in

Interested in a tech stack audit?
Contact our digital consultant Coen.

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 Fullstory

A behavioural data analytics tool for consumer brands that helps harnessing real-time insights.

02 Icon.me

Create AI-generated ads for your product: all you have to do is swipe right or left on AI-generated ads. As you swipe on an ad, you can also generate permutations of it.

03 Imagine Create

Generate high-quality product photos, fashion photography, and videos using our AI tools. Designed for e-commerce brands.

Brand Radar

We review modern consumer brands. Today, we're looking at some of the most sophisticated high-end home appliances DTC brands that re-imagine what a kitchen should look like.

Rocco

This is a perfect example of how to sell a highly functional product with taste. Rocco has built an exceptional product and has developed a great digital experience for their customers.

June Oven

June Oven is a 12-in-1 appliance, smaller than a regular microwave. The website also features a collection of recipes, created by professional chefs and synced with the oven’s features.

Our Place

Known as Oprah’s “favorite thing”, this brand focuses on removing clutter in our kitchens and creates beautiful & multifunctional cookware for modern homes.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce, and investing.

Amazon launches Temu and Shein rival with 'crazy low' prices

10 min read

“Amazon has launched a new outlet called Haul which caps the price of products on sale at $20 (£15.79), in an effort to take on low-cost retailers Temu and Shein.
The online shopping giant unveiled Haul as a mobile-only experience available in its Shopping app for US customers on Wednesday.”

Full article

The three epochs of AI in commerce

20 min read

“For retailers and brands, the umbrella term of AI has been used to define at least three distinct technological leaps forward, each more significant than the last.”

Full article

AI startup Perplexity adds shopping features as search competition tightens

10 min read

“The firm, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and leading AI chipmaker Nvidia, will give users product cards showing relevant items in response to questions related to shopping.

The new feature is powered by platform integrations including Shopify, which gives access to recent and relevant information on products. Perplexity is also introducing a 'Merchant Program' to allow retailers to share product information with the company.”

Full article

Visually appealing

Louis Vuitton's iconic Fifth Avenue flagship store in NYC is being demolished and rebuilt into a larger space, with spectacular giant LV trunks serving as scaffolding during construction.

Meanwhile, the brand has opened an impressive temporary location across the street, featuring a five-story Art Deco space with a stunning atrium, luxury shopping experiences, and their first US café venture.

Why are your tech stack costs so high?

It’s the end of 2024. The budget planning time.
Budgeting isn’t easy as everything is getting more expensive.

Not only bread and eggs; your e-com tech stack too.

Gartner reports that worldwide IT spending is growing by 7.5% in 2024. Most of the cost increase is due to Gen AI, which is costly for software companies to develop (consider only the load on data centers). It bumps up the license fees for the customers like you.

But forget AI; fundamentally everything in e-commerce is driven by tech.
It’s the backbone of your business and provides the rails to your customer journey.

That’s what makes the e-com tech budget hard to estimate & control.

90% of the time, the allocated initial budget is too small, which leaves everyone frustrated.

As a result, tech becomes perceived as a cost center: an expense group that’s too high. In a perfect world, the executives have more realistic expectations.

Here are some tips for digital leaders:

1. Don’t Make the Common Mistake: Calculate the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) carefully. Many e-com executives focus only on software acquisition and setup costs, but there are many more elements, like team onboarding, maintenance, and ongoing support. Our webinar shows how to measure TCO properly.

2. Master the Art of Pitching & Negotiating: In executive meetings, align your proposal with different stakeholders beforehand to get their buy-in. Always connect your tech costs to business outcomes.

3. Identify the Sources of Business Complexity: Areas of complexity—like managing 5,000 SKUs or launching in new markets like Japan—are your cost drivers. Ensure they don’t drain your budget without delivering enough value.

Coming soon: Tech Stack Navigator

Next month, we’re launching the Conway Tech Stack Navigator—a database of +200 e-commerce systems covering every layer of your tech stack (marketing, sales, logistics, and more). Here’s why it’s worth the wait:

Many companies are lost in all the details and struggle to understand how they fit with their business needs.

• Quality software products that will be vetted over time;

• Curated for all company sizes, from basic to advanced tech stack levels;

• Clearly defined use cases to help you filter and compare the right solutions.

Join the notify list for early and free access:

Notify me when you launch

Interested in a tech stack audit?
Contact our digital consultant Coen.

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 Loop

Move on from unusable supply chain data and uncontrollable spending. Centralize all your freight, parcel, and financial data into Loop to automate decisions, uncover insights, and power profit.

02 Kick

With Kick, automatically categorize transactions, track expenses, generate financial reports, and provide insights for better decision-making.

03 Tl;dv

tl;dv’s AI notetaker is like having multiple ChatGPT meeting agents. One to auto-update the CRM, another to draft follow-up emails, or yet one that sends feature requests or competitor mentions straight to your inbox.

Brand Radar

We review modern consumer brands. Today, we're diving into the DTC dental care space, a category making serious moves to challenge corporate giants.

Laro

Claiming to be part of conscious luxury movement, this brand is the Aesöp of dental care.

Quip

Quip brings simple design innovations to electric toothbrushes that traditional brands like Oral-B haven’t cracked in years.

Bite

Bite uses a very classic DTC strategy: take a boring product and change it’s form to make it interesting. So now we have toothpaste bits.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce, and investing.

Google revamps shopping feature with AI-powered product curation

5 min read

“The updated Google Shopping experience features AI-created briefs that offer a combination of product recommendations and advice from sources across the internet based on search queries. Users’ homepages will also include personalized feeds, including shoppable products and videos.”

Full article

Personalization done right

20 min read

“More than 80% of respondents in a BCG survey of 5,000 global consumers say they want and expect personalized experiences. But two-thirds have experienced personalization that is inappropriate, inaccurate, or invasive.”

Full article

Return fees are unpopular with consumers — what are the alternatives?

10 min read

“If the Markarian team notices one customer ordering the same item in multiple sizes — a frequent indicator that all but one will likely be returned — the customer care team will reach out to them. They will ask the customer for their measurements and offer to help them better understand their size.”

Full article

Visually appealing

NIO House in Amsterdam is the Shanghai-based car manufacturer’s second location in the Netherlands. It occupies a landmark seven-story building in the city’s Canal District. Originally built in 1891 by architect Jan van Looy, the structure has been renovated with interiors by MVRDV. The design features a color gradient inspired by NIO’s "Blue Sky Coming" slogan, transitioning from earthy tones to a bright blue rooftop pavilion, designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1933. Above the car showroom, you'll find a spacious café and a kids' corner.

In every digital strategy plan, it says something about getting internal teams on board.

“We must inform all internal teams regularly to create buy-in.”

“Getting internal stakeholders excited for our plans is the only way forward.”

The truth is that most people don’t care about new and fancy plans. What they do care about is their job and their colleagues.
This is why buy-in doesn’t get you results; it’s the results that get you buy-in. So before you get on that soapbox, you better show people what you’re made of. 

First see, then believe

Picture this. You’ve created a digital commerce strategy to help your company grow and scale. A lot needs to be done, from changing the technology stack to hiring people with new skills. Excited, you gather all the team managers on a Monday morning, jump on a soap box and announce your plans. You start with buzzword bingo, telling them about digital transformation and omnichannel strategies to create the ultimate, seamless buyer experience for your customers. You tell them about the new CTO or CDO you want to hire to help you realise your objectives, along with a cloud architect and a data analyst.

Now, while you were talking on that soap box, using famous buzzwords and a lot of hand gestures, this is what happened in the crowd:

When you said digital transformation, they thought: “what does that mean for me?”
When you said technology stack, they heard: “Oh great, another toolset I need to get used to.” And when you said “hire new people”, they heard: “I might get fired.”

The hard truth is that your employees don’t care about your digital commerce strategy. What they do care about is their job, their colleagues, and a great work-life balance. This doesn’t mean they will never care about your plans. You have to show that your plans are worth listening to. First see, then believe.

Get off your soap box and try this instead

At Conway & Co, we’ve spent many hours supporting consumer brands and retail businesses to get fit for digital growth. And if there’s one thing we’ve learnt, it’s that no one in the company cares until they see positive results. Small visible results create the buy-in you need to start a company-wide transformation. We’ve done it many times before and always followed seven indispensable steps.

1. Warn the board

The first step in creating internal buy-in is a tough one. It’s telling the board that implementing a digital commerce strategy will hurt. Digital transformation is hard and expensive and has to take into account people, technology and learning. 

There’s no getting around it. It can take up to three years with no short-term results whatsoever. There will be times that you’ll all wonder why you ever invested so much time and money in it.

The organisation’s leaders need to know and understand that it will be painful. A tech plan is not about craning in an isolated block of code or functionality; digital change is about people as much as it is technology.

There are thousands of components to a successful digital strategy, all interconnected. You need the board to play the long game. During tough times, they need to remember your plan's outcomes. Then, they must be willing to suffer and bleed to withstand the resistance. 

Because resistance there will be.

2. Explain your plans (but don’t expect people to care)

Next up is telling the rest of your organisation about your plans. We know, we’ve just told you to come off that soap box, but hear us out. Although explaining your plans to people in the organisation won’t create buy-in, transparency is everything. In fact, it’s one of the things that Silicon Valley tech companies get right compared to more traditional companies. who tell people further down the pyramid only what they ‘need to know’. 

Take on the mantle of promoting your plans in the early days of your implementation, but don’t be shocked and don’t take it personally if nobody cares, and remember, you need skilled people and  a clear mission and mandate for systematic change.

3. Hire middle management and get ready to babysit

The success of your digital commerce strategy depends on your middle management. 

They’re the ones who take your strategy and put it into action. So, we always recommend you bring in a new management level as you roll out your plans. This might seem counterintuitive as it puts another layer between you and the people you want to bring along for the ride, but you’ll find it worthwhile.

Now, the bad news. You’re going to spend a lot of time babysitting your new middle managers, chasing them for answers - and they’re not going to like it. You need to be aware of the level of resistance you’re likely to encounter. 

We always ask two questions that may get on people’s nerves but help crystallise what we’re doing in their minds. Those questions are:

• What is the value of this action? It doesn’t have to be monetary, but there needs to be a purpose that you can measure

• By doing this, what are we not doing?

4. Make one change at a time

We’ve talked about how when you roll out your digital commerce strategy, people won’t care. Whether they’re team leaders, developers, investors or anyone else in your organisation, they will need to see some results before they can believe in your plans. However, it’s a bad idea to take this apathy and turn it into outright hostility. Instead, build credit slowly, with small successes proving your ideas' worth. This can just be small, tangible successes, but it’s good to show results within the first 100 days of implementation. 

This is why we recommend you implement one change at a time. Is there a significant pain that you can solve quite quickly? If so, start with that low-hanging fruit (low-hanging for you anyway; remember, no one else has managed to solve it yet) and build from there. As mentioned before, results create buy-in, not vice versa.

5. Repeat 10-15 times

You have a formula for success now. Few people may notice or care, but the number of people who buy in increases every time. So, carry on. Keep making those small changes around 10-15 times until people start to care and trust you. Then, roll out your initiatives around other departments in your organisation. Most people will soon be on board as your digital commerce strategy begins to take hold and it’s key to make these people ambassadors of your mission and message so they can help with change management.  It’s a signal that it’s sinking in. 

6. Be the salesperson

Once your ideas have taken root across the business, it’s time to step back from the frontline. Instead of an agent of change, become a salesperson. Spend your time walking around the company. Meet everyone, as many people as you can. Tell everyone. Tell them as often as you can. Rinse and repeat. Tell them what you've done and remind them of the goal, the achievements and the road and milestones ahead.

Be the voice of the strategy and the customer. Share insights that you get directly from customers. This helps show both a customer first strategy, and also that you care and connect with the frontline. Keep this one-on-one communication style up forever until everything is in place. It works.

7. Make it about people

Don’t make your digital commerce strategy about technology. Make it about people. 

This is all about helping people understand that software automates a process and a process is a way people do work. IT and software always gets the blame, but it's the people that need to change and adopt the process that the software defines. If not, the technology will be labelled as a 'system that sucks'. But the actual problem is in the process and the people.

As long as you keep talking and listening to your people, promoting your initiatives and gauging how it’s working, you give your plans the best chance of success. Then, when people are on board, you can start implementing that technology stack. You can create a seamless customer experience that aligns online and offline sales channels. And eventually, you’ll make a shift that turns your business into a digital commerce winner that knows how to navigate this digital age.

54 years ago, Melvin Conway made an observation. It was 1967, the year of the CDC 7600 supercomputer, the first ATM in London and pulsars, discovered by Jocelyn Bel.

In the midst of all of these technological advancements, Melvin worked as a computer scientist, a hacker and a programmer. And while surrounded by punched card decks and programming languages, he detected a pattern.

“When people design systems, they always seem to mirror the structures of their organisation.”

This idea would become known as Conway’s law, and today, 54 years later, it still stands. In fact, for digital commerce, Conway’s law might just be the key to unlocking growth.

The company as a system

Throughout my career, I’ve learned a lot of things about how companies work. I’ve seen small, modern challengers trying to change the world. I’ve also seen established, well-known brands trying to reinvent themselves to keep up with today’s customers.

What struck me most is that all these companies try to develop systems to help them grow but forget that they already have systems in place.

• There’s a system in the way they talk to colleagues and partners;

• A system in how they deploy their processes;

• And a system in how they deal with technology.

Here, “system” doesn’t mean “organised” or “structured”; it means all people in the company have their own ideas about the company and how it should work.

These ideas are reflected in everything they do and the technology they build, just like Melvin Conway said back in 1967. 

And as with anything, the right ideas turn into success whereas wrong ideas turn into failure.

The building across the street

I experienced the pain of Conway’s law when I joined the Royal Dutch post as an entrepreneur in residence to kickstart their digital transformation. The company had two large buildings, one on the left side of the street and the other on the right.

In the left building, people worked on the company's offline strategy. In the building across the street, people focused on online.

Unsurprisingly, the user experience of customers was not great. Customers felt like they dealt with two companies instead of one, which wasn’t even that far from the truth. Both buildings had their own sales targets, and if they could steal away customers from the other side of the road, they would. 

Clearly, customers weren’t at the heart of the company’s way of working. The way they thought about sales channels was company-focused and fragmented.

As Conway’s law suggests, this resulted in a fragmented technology stack, which led to poor user experience. The first thing I did there was re-arranging the workspace by literally moving people and desks from one building to the other.

It made them reconsider their approach to omnichannel strategies and technology, which changed results for the better.

Years later, I joined Dutch eyewear company Ace and Tate as their CDO. Using everything I had learned about ideas and systems, I told the team to stop focusing on offline and online and build a seamless customer journey across both worlds instead. Aware of Conway’s law, I ensured our technology stack served our customers instead of our own ideas and assumptions about the digital experience, which is why we entered the world of headless digital commerce, where the front and back end of the e-commerce applications are kept separate. This way, we could connect any new sales channel we wanted without customers seeing any difference. 

It enabled a seamless customer experience, resulting in a steady NPS score of 70+ year on year. Growth was driven by happy customers, who brought in new, happy customers.

Conway’s law sparks Conway & Co

Around the same time, my dear friend, Martin Samsa, went through the same phase as the Chief of Engineering at Suitsupply. He was part of the team that created the digital strategy and led a team of engineers to make it happen. Being a software engineer himself, he realised that the wrong ideas about technology could lead to serious problems further down the road. So he started talking to product owners and designers. A lot. “Why are we doing this?” he’d ask, and: “What’s the value of this action, and how can we measure it?” Like I had done, Martin acknowledged the impact of existing structures and ideas on the choice of technology and innovation. 

By the time he left in 2018, Martin had ensured the technology stack was a core part of the digital strategy, which helped Suitsupply to reach 20% year-on-year growth and go beyond €250M.

Ideas determine the way leaders and executives deal with technology. This means that if you change those ideas, you can change the company and make it fit for growth

When we got to talk later that year, we realised we were onto something. If Conway’s law is correct and ideas determine the way leaders and executives deal with technology, this means that if you change those ideas, you can change the company and make it fit for growth. We also realised that having both transformed businesses before, we were the ideal anti-consultants to help modern consumer goods companies make it happen.

That day, we started Conway & Co.  

Fit for growth with the right operating framework

Flash forward to today. Together with a team of senior consultants, we’re helping some of the world’s most respected modern consumer brands get fit for growth. With Conway’s law in mind, we change the internal structures of the company to build the right technology stack. This is a complex process, which is all about creating a new, improved operating model that conquers the complexity of scaling up. This operating model is the “sum of ideas” that determine how people, processes and technology are organised, making it the engine for business growth.

The operating model is the “sum of ideas” that determine how people, processes and technology are organised, making it the engine for business growth

The reason we’ve been very successful with our approach is twofold. First, we have compounded our learnings from scaling companies beyond €200M into a tried and trusted methodology. Second, we have the right expertise to make technology the backbone of the business. By putting technology at the centre of everything we do, we get consumer brands on the right track for growth. At the same time, our in-depth approach answers the ultimate question today’s investors have: can we build upon the technology we’re buying?

Get ready for a massive mind shift

If Conway’s law is in fact the key to growth for digital commerce, we have to look beyond growth and numbers. Carbon footprints, environmental impact and the way companies deal with employees and partners all have an influence on consumer behaviour, making it a crucial element of a business strategy. This is why we configure the company’s operating model to bring revenue up and footprint down. We’ve found that especially in digital commerce, companies that do good actually finish first. 

This brings us back to the impact of ideas. If you find a way to change the ideas you have about your people, your processes, your technology stack and, yes, the world, you can build a company that makes the right impact and gets to the forefront of innovation. Not just for the near future, but for all the upcoming years that bring new obstacles, technological trends and crises. If this is what you want, you need to get ready for a massive mind shift and yes: a couple of tough years that will make you doubt yourself, your strategy and everything around you. But let me tell you upfront that it can be done. We’ve seen it before, we’ve done it before. 

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Learn from the best in digital commerce. We curate content for inspiration and share our analysis of the world's leading DTC brands.

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E-com amateurs vs professionals

You’ve likely heard of the “Amateur vs. Professional” concept from Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art. The idea is simple: amateurs are driven by fear, inconsistency, and short-term thinking. Professionals, on the other hand, are all about discipline, long-term commitment, and mastering their craft.

Now think about your career. You’ll probably see this concept at play. Maybe you’ve worked with people stuck in the amateur mindset. Maybe you’ve been there yourself. The truth is, you’ve likely met more amateurs than professionals.

Becoming a true professional isn’t just about skills or qualifications. It’s about strengthening a mental muscle that requires daily training. Therefore, not many of us become true professionals.

True professionals eventually enter the executive world. Every successful digital leader we’ve met has mastered this mindset. The telltale sign: they build systems into the company.

• They aren’t just leaders—they’re architects.

• They don’t settle for one-off wins. Their focus is on consistent success.

• They embrace being corrected or becoming replaceable—in fact, they strive for it, because it means their system works!

That’s how you truly master the game.

Conway Talent Network

We’ve just launched a platform of curated job opportunities for digital leaders in e-commerce. Starting in the Netherlands, and expanding across Europe. For digital people, by digital people. Expect roles like:

• Digital executives

• Heads of digital

• E-commerce managers

• Product owners

• Online marketers

• Data analysts

At Conway, we’ve always focused on tech and digital strategies for e-commerce. But technology alone doesn’t solve problems—people do. That’s why we help clients refine their organizational structure, create new roles, and connect with top talent from our network.

These interactions have inspired us to create the Conway Talent Network. We partner with ambitious consumer & retail brands that are committed to long-term growth and customer obsession by connecting them with talent.

Explore Conway Talent Network

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 Butter

Effortlessly plan, run and recap super-engaging workshops, trainings, and meetings with Butter’s built-in agenda planner, integrated collaboration tools and auto-generated recaps—all in one place.

02 Airy

Airy is an open-source framework, making it easy to build AI assistants on streaming data. It enables developers to automate and personalise customer communication through scalable customer experiences.

03 Marketing examples

A huge gallery of real-world marketing examples, tactics & tips from successful consumer brands.

Brand Radar

We rank, rate and review modern consumer brands to provide you with a list for inspiration. This time, let’s look into a rapidly growing DTC category: non-alcoholic drinks.

Athletic Brewing

This company has been exploding in the last months and has recently closed a $50 million equity financing round. This is the brand that isn’t riding the wave—it’s making it.

Kin Euphorics

An alcohol-free and alternative nightlife beverage brand that creates "mood-defining drinks designed to elevate the spirit and relax the body, for a pleasure you won't regret."

Aplós

Aplós spirits and cocktails are infused with functional ingredients and formulated to enhance the immediate pleasure of taste, and the slow pleasures of the mind that follow.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce, and investing.

Preparing for the “Machine Customer” era

15 min read

“Predictive “machine customer” buying behavior is much farther ahead than you might imagine. The emerging business-to-AI (B2A) marketplace marketplace is worth $30 trillion. We introduce the concept of a custobot, a “non-human economic actor who obtains goods or services in exchange for payment. How it could work in practice?”

Full article

Turning Pro: The Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals

10 min read

“Why is it that some people seem to be hugely successful and do so much, while the vast majority of us struggle to tread water?

There is one thing that stands out more than others: mindset.

If you want results, you need to approach things like a professional, not an amateur. It all comes down to your approach.”

Full article

The UN: E-commerce is most established in the Netherlands

5 min read

“No country in the world has as many internet users shopping online as the Netherlands, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The ecommerce penetration rate is 84 percent. At least four out of five internet users in the UK, Sweden, and Denmark also shop online.”

Full article

Visually appealing

The rotating window displays at the Hermès store on Amsterdam's upscale P.C. Hooftstraat regularly stand out as some of the most captivating in the city.

For this autumn season, Hermès enlisted Brussels-based French artist Élise Peroi to design an installation inspired by the 2024 theme, The Spirit of the Faubourg. Peroi has created three large textile pieces—essentially ‘woven’ paintings—that are prominently featured in the store’s windows.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games was a major cultural event, reversing the sharp decline in viewership that had hit a low during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Whether you like sports or not, the Olympics are more than just an entertainment event or a source for viral memes.

The event catalyzed important discussions on social topics like inclusivity, nationality, or gender.

It also had a significant impact on the stock market. Recently, Amer Sports, which owns brands like Wilson, Salomon, and Atomic, reported major gains. Nike and Lululemon continue to grow in the footwear and apparel sectors.

The reason is simple: people are inspired to take up sports and they want to feel good while doing that. The Olympics and the wider discussions around sports have made consumers’ needs more salient. Today, these lucrative gaps are being filled by brands that finally recognize people come in many different sizes and shapes—and that women do sports too.

The Olympics also teaches us how to choose the right marketing partner. Snoop Dogg single-handedly owned the event by resonating with a younger audience through humor and an informal approach. It was such a big success that Solo Stove launched a second campaign with Snoop Dogg after the Olympics, even though the first one “did not lead to the sales lift that [they] had planned.”

The key takeaway for brands is a no-brainer, really: know your audience. Not only sports but many other industries often fail to address the diverse needs & wants of their (potential) customers. Internal team biases and data blindness have to go.

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 TextBrew

Turn EAN codes into product descriptions & reduce your content creation time by up to 90%. TextBrew extracts product features from the web (text, reviews, and images). Seamlessly integrate it into your existing workflow and generate high-quality content for Amazon, bol.com, or Shopify. Test it out yourself.

02 UX Sniff

Improve your website's UX and boost conversions with UXsniff, an AI-powered tool that autonomously analyzes session recordings and identifies abnormal click patterns.

03 Told

Told is an easy-to-use survey tool that lets you collect user feedback and understand your data in seconds. It adapts to your communication channels and is available in over 15 languages.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce, and investing.

Game Face: How Beauty Brands Are Scoring Big with Women's Sports

15 min read

“Female Athletes drive twice the social media engagement of their male counterparts. Fans of women's sports are deeply invested in the athletes' lifestyles and values, often following their journeys both on and off the field.”

Full article

What Do Your Running Clothes Say About You? These Brands Bet a Whole Lot

10 min read

“As running becomes more popular, its outfits have evolved to suit a more diverse community. Today’s runners aren’t just looking for function in their performance apparel; they want a kit that expresses who they are outside of the sport, too.”

Full article

Snoop Dogg and Solo Stove Reunite in Even Blunter Campaign

10 min read

“The campaign incorporates learnings from the first effort that sparked an industry debate. Hot on the heels of his gig at the Olympic Games in Paris, Snoop stars in “Blunt Marketing” for Solo Stove, a maker of premium firepits.
The campaign is a follow-up to the brand’s “Snoop Goes Smokeless,” which went viral and sparked an industrywide debate about the effectiveness of celebrity-driven marketing.”

Full article

Visually appealing

An installation designed by Random Studio at Nike’s House of Innovation in Paris tracked users’ breath using AI.

As you step into the experience, a small thermal camera measures your changing breath rate, reflecting it back in the form of a unique, glowing ‘Aura’ portrait and light installation. As if breathing with the visitor, the space itself changes in sync with the Aura portrait. ⁠

Summer is supposed to be a season of relaxation and rest. But in 2024, every week seems to be a historical moment. On top of that, your life as a digital leader in e-commerce is never slow. It’s hard to disconnect even when it’s time for vacation.

So, how to properly enjoy the well-deserved holidays without additional stress and chaos?

We’ll share some advice from some of the top business leaders:

1. Plan well to delegate & trust:

“Delegate effectively so you can truly disconnect. Trust your team and empower them to handle tasks in your absence.”
Meg Whitman, Former CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise

2. Disconnect from the internet:

“I take walks without my phone. Walking clears my mind and often leads to my best ideas. It’s a simple but effective way to disconnect and recharge.”

Evan Williams, Co-Founder of Twitter

3. Exercise to reduce stress:

“Daily exercise is a must for me. It’s a way to clear my head and reset my energy levels. A routine physical activity can help maintain mental clarity and reduce stress.”

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft

That’s all to keep in mind for the summer months!

DXP Snapshot of AG1

In the recent episode of DXP Snapshots, we zoomed into AG1: a brand that invented its own nice and is now worth more than $1B.

Although the digital experience before the purchase was nearly perfect, our DXP Consultant Daan found out that the aftersale experience was pretty flawed.

Check out Daan’s findings and the worksheet he used for the analysis of AG1’s strategy.

DXP Snapshot of AG1

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 Nibble

Imagine your customers could negotiate the price on your webshop. This is what this AI-based chatbot & negotiation platform does for DTC and e-tailers. The store owners can control discounting ranges and offer one-to-one e-commerce negotiations.

02 Open Interpreter

Talk to this portable device and it will operate your computer at home. It can see your screen, use your apps, and learn new skills. A good companion for finishing up some work outside the office.

03 Sintra AI

Sintra AI is a “team” of AI assistants trained in different areas, such as customer support, SEO, email marketing, and so on.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce and investing.

Zombie brands, fire sales & quiet closures are plaguing the DTC world

15 min read

“Founders are wondering what’s happening to some of their former top competitors after they’ve gone radio silent. Boards are having contentious discussions about whether or not to sell after founders have spent years attempting to grow sales and cut costs yet shown little progress.”
Full article

Why legacy labels still want to be DTC brands

10 min read

“Shopify — one of the biggest providers of e-commerce software for digitally-native businesses — is adding more traditionally wholesale-oriented brands to its platform, including Ami and Oscar de la Renta.
Wholesale brands finding success in DTC are using the channel to push products beyond their hero items, and investing in brand marketing that drives consumers to their online and offline stores.”

Full article

How to successfully delegate tasks before your vacation

10 min read

“Have you ever returned to work from a vacation only to stare in disbelief at unfinished work you believed you’d carefully assigned to others? It’s frustrating, but the fault may actually lie in your own approach to delegation.”

Full article

Visually appealing

This is the newly designed headquarters office of Jacquemus in Paris. It features famous artworks from the likes of Aristide Maillol, Wolfgang Tillmans, David Hockney, and more.

Authors: OMA

If you were on the hunt for AG1 competitors, you'd discover a multitude. Some are attempting their own spin, while others are blatantly replicating everything AG1 has trailblazed: the product, the branding, and the strategy.

It appears that green, scientifically-backed, and sophisticated brands are thriving particularly well. AG1, valued at $1.2B in 2022 (presumably worth more now), faces stiff competition from Seed Health, which is pursuing a sale at $1B, hot on AG1's trail

The Digital Experience (DXP) Snapshot analysis

Watch the interview with Conway & consultants Daan Spangenberg and Aurelija Vycaite.

Check out the complete worksheet made by Daan.

Watch the mystery shopper experience by Daan.

Our Digital Experience (DXP) consultant Daan Spangenberg went on a quest.
He acted as a mystery shopper and tested AG1s product, digital experience, and analysed the overall strategy.

AG1 is an amazing case study about the power of PR, influencer marketing, and impeccable UX & UI in e-commerce. It’s also a genius brand that invented its own niche.

That being said, some of Daan’s findings were quite surprising. For example, the company does not have an automated invoicing system (at least in Europe). Our educated guess is that the very smooth and polished AG1’s frontstage might hide a bit fractioned backstage. And, although Daan admitted feeling better after a week of AG1 experience, there were some drawbacks in post-purchase interactions. Find out more in the worksheet and the video.

Interested in a Digital Experience Audit?

In our ‘DXP Snapshots’ series, we explore three critical areas for consumer & retail brands that want to win the e-commerce game: Decoding digital success ↴

A. Strategy Review → Focus on the 3C flywheel content, commerce, and community.

B. Tactics Review → Evaluate the impact on conversion, NPS, and retention.

C. Shopping Experience → Analyze the buying, service, and return journey.

Want to learn more about our Digital experience audit? Feel free to contact Daan Spangenberg.

Most e-commerce brands don’t even consider investing in community building or retention because of three most common reasons:

1. it’s not common in the competitive landscape;

2. it does not bring immediate results and thus seems futile;

3. there’s a lack of internal resources and know-how.

The result: low switching cost for the customer (your brand is easy to replace) and high acquisition costs for the company. You learn about your customers from spreadsheet data but not from actual conversations.

We have recently launched Conway Brand Radar on the top 50 wellness brands globally.

This category is doing significantly better at customer retention and community building than others.

This edition focuses on the “why” and “how”.

Brand Radar: top 50 wellness brands in 2024

In the 5th edition of Conway Brand Radar, we analysed over 150 wellness DTC players globally and selected the top 50 to focus on.

Learn about the winning brands that:
→ pioneered personalisation;
→ simplified the product and buying journey;
→ and re-invented e-commerce community building.

Top 50 Wellness brands

Key insights video

DXP Snapshot of Huel

In the recently started series 'DXP Snapshots', we take the role of a mystery shopper and analyse the top DTC brands worldwide.

As we’re zooming into wellness brands, we chose to undergo a shopping experience of Huel, a brand with a 98.2% customer satisfaction score.

Check out Daan’s insights and the worksheet he used for the analysis of Huel’s strategy.

Interview on Huel's customer experience

The strategy breakdown of Huel

Tools & Tactics

We select helpful tools and useful new ways of working. Find a signal in the noise of software.

01 The marketer’s guide to programmatic direct mail

Dive into how programmatic direct mail solves challenges for marketers without cookies or online identifiers.

02 Whitebridge

And AI tool that will find everything about you online.

03 Stamped

Stamped is a reviews and loyalty tool for e-commerce, integrating UGC, product reviews, net promoter score, and referral programs.

Trends & Strategy

Curated content from the information overload we call the Internet.
Insights and inspiration on business, e-commerce and investing.

The biggest pain points in healthcare, according to consumers

15 min read

“A new class of companies is emerging centered around interdependence, marked by an effort to make historical systems work better for consumers vs. implying they should be circumvented. Think: care navigation ($4B industry, 8% CAGR), concierge medicine ($7B industry, 10% CAGR), and price transparency ($80B impact).”
Full article

The top wellness trends in 2024

10 min read

“Today, consumers are no longer simply trying out these wellness trends and hoping for the best, but rather asking, “What does the science say?””

Full article

Peloton is a media company now, with media company problems

20 min read

“Peloton’s dismal 2022 was marked by four rounds of layoffs in which over 5,000 employees lost their jobs. With this kind of volatile business soap opera, how has Peloton managed to make it this far?

That’s easy: the fans.”

Full article

Visually appealing

In Berlin, you can visit Zalando Beauty Station. The space, dominated by stainless steel and full of the German design spirit, is entirely customisable.

Authors: Batek Architekten
Photography: Marcus Wend

Top 50 Wellness brands

Infographic

1. TL;DR

2. Key trends in the Wellness industry

3. The US dominates the global wellness industry

4. Industry game-changers: AG1, Huel, Care/of

5. Learnings to apply for other DTC brands

TL;DR

Interest in wellness has surged post-pandemic, driven by rising health awareness and medical costs. The wellness industry, now larger than Germany's GDP, is projected to reach $8.45 trillion. Key trends include:

1. Consumer Skepticism: Increasing preference for scientifically backed products over "natural" ones.

2. Personalization and AI: Growing use of first-party data and AI to tailor services, with room for innovation in nutrition and mindfulness wearables.

3. Telehealth: High satisfaction (89%) among Americans using virtual healthcare.

4. Self-Education: Consumers independently researching health information online.

Market Insights

• U.S. Dominance: 40 out of 50 top wellness brands on the Brand Radar are U.S.-based, driven by high healthcare costs and market size.

• European Leaders: Top brands include Huel (UK) and foodspring (Germany) in functional nutrition.

Industry Gamechangers

• AG1: Pioneered comprehensive one-scoop supplements, now valued at $1.2 billion.

• Huel: Exemplifies strong community building and customer retention.

• Care/of: Early adopter of personalized supplements, acquired by Bayer in 2020.

Learnings for DTC Brands

Wellness brands excel in digital experience, offering insights that could enhance other DTC sectors like home goods and hardware. The U.S. market is robust, but Europe presents growth opportunities.

Key trends in the wellness industry

Interest in wellness has surged, especially post-pandemic, due to unsurprising reasons: consumers aim to have greater control over their health and the medical costs have been rising globally.

The wellness industry offers a solution: simplified and personalised preventive healthcare, making it easy to understand, track and improve one’s well-being. Today, the industry is bigger than the Germany’s GDP and is estimated to reach 8.45 trillion U.S. dollars.

Among the significant emerging trends are:

• The rising skepticism over scientifically unproven solutions. In other words, consumers are more likely to choose a “doctor-recommended” product over a “natural” one (McKinsey, 2024).

• The adoption of first-party data and AI features to create personalised services and products. In wearables category, there’s still a gap for devices for nutrition or mindfulness, while the fitness wearables are a pretty established category.

• Telehealth and virtual healthcare: 89% of surveyed Americans that used such a service were satisfied with it (World Economic Forum, 2022).

• Self-education and research. Consumers are looking for answers independently through search, Reddit forums, and discussions with friends (this is also what Niek, the CMO of Spinoza has confirmed to us our Expert Interview).

According to the Brand Radar data, 40 out of 50 brands with the highest traffic volume were based in the U.S.

This can be partly attributed to the healthcare expenses in the U.S., the market's scale and purchasing power, and the network effect: numerous founders in the U.S. bring with them experience from prominent tech companies, mastering the art of successfully expanding brands.

In the European market, most of the top wellness brands are based in the U.K. and Germany. Functional nutrition and food is the biggest category, with leaders like Huel (the UK), foodspring (Germany), and yfood (Germany).

2. Industry gamechangers: AG1, Huel, Care/of, Hims& Hers

We identified 4 emerging sub-categories within the wellness industry led by pioneer brands AG1, Huel, Care/of and Hims and Hers. These companies have brought more players into the industry that have also been growing fast and made it to the top 50 Brand Radar list.

AG1 has brought a one-scoop supplement for a multitude of target areas

Founded in 2010, AG1 today is worth more than $1.2 billion and has pioneered a new way of taking supplements. AG1 is “designed to replace multiple supplements by providing a comprehensive blend of nutrients in one tasty scoop each day.” Consumers benefit not just from the convenience of a multi-purpose product, but also from the time saved on researching and comparing various ingredients. We found other brands like Seed or Grüns, offering a similar experience. Gainful is also an interesting new entrant that customises its blends.

Huel shows one of the best examples on building a community

We have done a breakdown on this already in the last DXP Snapshot but Huel is a very inspiring case on how to build a loyal audience. The brand is so strongly focused on retention that today has thousands of customer advocates. Huel not only incentivised repeat purchases but also provides value in other ways, like entertainment and online discussion forums for likeminded people. This same approach was replicated by similar brands like Foodspring, Soylent, and yfood (which has its own branded in-person summer fest).

Care/of has been one of the first to tap into supplement personalisation

While personalisation is increasingly often pronounced in wellness trend reports, Care/of has been working on it since 2016. The brand’s customer experience begins with a quiz, asking for demographic input, health goals, preferences, and even values (i.e., beliefs on natural medicine). As a result, the customer gets a personalised supplement bundle, with detailed explanations on the purpose of each product. This method may not be founded on advanced, A.I.-based tech, but it does a pretty good job and brings product transparency. Care/of was acquired by Bayer in 2020 and today has more competitors offering supplement personalisation not only through the quiz but also input from wearables (Elo Health), apps (Cuure), or at-home health tests (Vitl).

3. Learnings to apply for other DTC brands

The wellness industry currently holds the highest digital experience score among all previous Brand Radar editions. We ranked the brands with the highest traffic volumes and the majority of them either had good or excellent digital experience scores.

What does it mean?

Success cases in the wellness sector may be standard practice today, yet prove disruptive and fiercely competitive in other industries.

Some ideas brought by AG1, Huel or others can significantly improve the purchasing experience in less developed DTC and digital retail categories like home goods or hardware.

Additionally, we found that most of the disruptive wellness brands are based in the US, whereas the European wellness market is less active. It means there is still space for growth and building loyal relationships.

Interested in a DXP Gameplan for your own brand?

Feel free to contact Daan Spangenberg if you want to do a digital experience audit for your brand and build your 'DXP Gameplan' to increase conversion, NPS, and retention.