Episodes

  • How Milani Doubled Its Business, and Plans to Do It Again

    How Milani Doubled Its Business, and Plans to Do It Again
    Nov 4 2026
    Milani Cosmetics has spent 25 years pairing prestige-quality formulas with mass-market price points. In the last five years, the indie brand doubled its business and climbed from No. 10 to No. 7 in mass color cosmetics—and it plans to double again over the next three.Jeremy Lowenstein, Chief Marketing Officer at Milani Cosmetics, joins Phillip and Brian to talk about the brand’s latest marketing movement, What’s Inside Is Everything, which emphasizes community, authenticity, and quality. He explains how pop-ups and creator partnerships bring the brand to life beyond its 25,000+ stores, and how to maintain brand relevance and consumer connection in a market driven largely by celebrity and influencer endorsements.Prestige Formulas, Mass PricesKey takeaways:What’s Inside Is Everything is a 360-degree brand platform rather than a one-off campaign, anchoring all of Milani’s messaging since January 2026 in the quality of ingredients.Milani brings customers into the Baked Blush creation process; the cult-classic product is hand-piped onto terracotta tiles in Italy.Milani defines its core customer by life stage, not generation. The Milani consumer is a young but established adult with disposable income, who is ready to settle down with quality products they can use long-term. Milani positions itself to receive consumers when they are ready to commit to a brand, rather than leaning into generational stereotypes and chasing fleeting trends that other brands scramble for. “Someone who is Gen Z now will also eventually also become a 38-year-old.” –– Jeremy Lowenstein“It’s easy to start a brand in beauty. It’s hard to stay in it.” — Jeremy Lowenstein“We’re not here to help you change who you are. We’re here to help you reveal what you think is your best self.” — Jeremy Lowenstein“The funnel’s not dead. The funnel just looks different. It basically looks like spaghetti now, and it takes you all over the place.” — Jeremy Lowenstein“Everyone thinks [TikTok Shop] is net new. It’s basically QVC on steroids.” –– Jeremy Lowenstein“Every piece of marketing has to perform. It’s just what kind of performance are you tasking it to do?” — Jeremy LowensteinIn-Show Mentions:Watch Milani’s What’s Inside Is Everything Baked Blush filmExplore Milani’s Baked Collection at milanicosmetics.comMilani x Shelby Ann Bell pop-up at Momo Cafe in AtlantaFuture Commerce’s The Multiplayer BrandFuture Commerce’s Celebrity Brands Signal ReportConnect with Jeremy Lowenstein on LinkedInGet tickets to VISIONS Summit, February 10, 2027 at MoMAAssociated Links:What Makes Stores Worth Visiting? (Ep. 416)The Process is the ProductSqueezegate and The Dupe Economy (The Senses)Gen Z Lives in a Partnership-Based Society. Your Brand Should, Too.Beyond the Buzz: Ultimate Guide to 29 Celebrity-Backed BrandsMaintaining the Cool Factor: Scaling Your DTC Brand in Traditional ChannelsCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    47 mins
  • How to Grow an eCommerce Business When the Math Doesn’t Math

    How to Grow an eCommerce Business When the Math Doesn’t Math
    Nov 6 2026
    Selling online has never been more expensive. Cheap channels are saturated, factory and freight costs have climbed, and ad platforms keep getting better at extracting margin from brands. For a lean DTC brand in 2026, the old math simply doesn’t math.Ecommerce economics are broken. Dave Stickland, Co-Founder and President of Popsmith, joins Phillip and Brian to share how he rebuilt Popsmith’s marketing from the garage up. Dave explains how agentic AI tools take his ad creative from concept to live in 24 hours, why AI slop is a skill issue, and why the next generation of agencies and creative strategists will be paid for vision, not execution.Chasing A Frontierless FutureKey takeaways:There’s no more frontier for DTC brands. A decade ago, subsidized Amazon fees, direct access to overseas factories, and cheap paid social made healthy margins easy. Now factories sell against brands on Amazon, factory wages have doubled, freight costs have soared since COVID, and Meta keeps getting better at extracting ad spend.Contribution margin pays for everything below the line, including agencies, freelancers, and new hires. When that margin disappears, so does the budget to grow.AI creative is still not fully autonomous, but only works with scaffolding: product renders, brand context, and a clear process.It’s time for brands to extract new value from the creative library they’ve already paid for.Agencies will be paid to advise and build SOPs, not to execute inside the software.“You either own the software or the software will own what you do.” — Dave Stickland“What AI will never be is relational.” — Dave Stickland“The data set itself is what you are paying for, not the tool.” — Dave SticklandIn-Show Mentions:Dave on X: The Math Doesn’t MathShop the popcorn popper at popsmith.comRunneth by MotionJamey Gannon’s The AI Creative Director courseFuture Commerce’s LOREGet tickets to VISIONS Summit, February 10, 2027 at MoMAAssociated Links:The Growth v. Profitability Cage Match (Infinite Shelf)DTC Theory and The Innovator’s Dilemma (Ep. 253)[DECODED] The Power of AI-Enabled AmbitionFrom Plastic to Patek: What AI and Watchmaking Have in CommonThe End of Outside: How to Future-Proof Your Career Against the AI ApocalypseOur Post-Funnel Future: Brand Ethos is the New Competitive MoatThe Final Boss of Popcorn Buckets (The Senses)Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    54 mins
  • Shopify Exec Reveals the Future of Post-Anonymous Retail

    Shopify Exec Reveals the Future of Post-Anonymous Retail
    Nov 11 2026
    Shopify merchants set a record $14.6 billion over BFCM last year. But as discovery moves into AI and the season stretches longer, the store’s job is changing from closing a sale to starting a relationship.Ellen Linardi, VP of Product at Shopify, is obsessed with fixing in-store workflows and dreams of a world where items left in a shopper’s online cart are ready when the customer arrives in-store. We unpack how in-person purchases are both the most personal and the most anonymous transactions in retail, how POS workflows free merchants to focus on curation, and why 2027 should be the year businesses uplevel experiential commerce.When the Online Cart Follows You In-StoreKey takeaways:The customer relationship often starts online, and deepens in-store. Shopify is focusing on closing that gap.Retail-first merchants still need to be findable through AI search. That’s where awareness and discovery happen now, before consumers leave home.While the holidays are for new business acquisition, brands should treat every sale as a relationship moment: identified customers spend significantly more.Workflow is everything, and optimization differs from store to store. Customize POS to how each location actually sells.“A customer list is only as good as what you do with it afterward.” — Ellen Linardi“Buyers are not forgiving with wasted time. And time in store is not wasted time, [unless] you’re waiting.” — Ellen Linardi“I like to think of [small businesses] as people with consumer resources but enterprise problems.” — Ellen Linardi“An in-person transaction is the most anonymous transaction we have, and yet it is the most personal.” — Brian LangeIn-Show Mentions:Learn more about Shopify’s latest retail and POS updates at Shopify EditionsExplore Shopify POS and Smart GridConnect with Ellen Linardi on LinkedInFuture Commerce’s BFCM 2025: We Give Thanks for Couch CommerceFuture Commerce’s OMNIMODAL researchFuture Commerce’s The Concierge Economy guideFuture Commerce’s celebrity brands Signal Report with MercivGet tickets to VISIONS Summit, February 10, 2027 at MoMAAssociated Links:Memorable Over Measurable: Retail’s Lost Wonders (Ep. 482)Separating Real Signals from the Noise (Ep. 480)Member Brief: Return on Experience and the New KPIs of Store Design (Insiders)Field Notes: How Physical Retail’s Most Compelling Stores Activate the Senses (Insiders)The Good Friction Opportunity (Insiders)The Doorbusters Are Back (And So Are the 5 am Lines) (The Senses)Check out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    38 mins
  • Rewind: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

    Rewind: Everything, Everywhere, All at Once
    Sep 23 2026

    Welcome to Future Commerce Rewind, where we revisit our deepest and most enduring conversations. This week, we're playing back our April 2025 conversation with Andrew McLuhan, grandson of Marshall McLuhan and director of The McLuhan Institute. Andrew joins Phillip and Brian to explain why his grandfather's ideas still hold up: the side effects of a technology tend to become its main effects, and the Global Village was never as idyllic as it sounds. AI has become a companion, an advisor and a shopping assistant. McLuhan's asks the core question: what do our new tools extend, and what do they change about us?

    Associated Links:
    • Get your ticket to VISIONS Summit: NYC
    • Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
    • Check out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and print
    • Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
    • Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

    Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    1 hr and 48 mins
  • Aubrey Horowitz of Home Depot: "We Plan Halloween 3 Years in Advance"

    Aubrey Horowitz of Home Depot: "We Plan Halloween 3 Years in Advance"
    Oct 14 2026
    Aubrey Horowitz, Merchant of Decorative Holiday at The Home Depot, is on the show to talk about the viral skeleton that set the Halloween decor bar 12 feet high. Aubrey shares a behind-the-curtain look at how Home Depot designs its seasonal assortment for America’s front lawns, shaped by a vocal community of haunters who shop earlier and earlier each year. Plus, we walk through Skelly’s ground-up development with suppliers, the future of app-controlled animatronics, the moving target of nostalgia (the ’90s are vintage now, but won’t be for long), and why the best feedback loop in retail is a customer base that never stops posting.Icons Like Skelly Market ThemselvesKey takeaways:Halloween enthusiasts finish planning by August, pulling seasonal demand into summer.Haunting is a mindset more shoppers are embracing. Home Depot is meeting growing demand by building collections year over year based on public feedback.Nostalgia never goes out of style, but which era defines the trend keeps shifting. Skelly brought haunted-house-scale giants to retail and turned yard decor into a creative medium.“You can all shop at the same retailer, and then come out with a completely unique and completely different haunted yard scene.” — Aubrey Horowitz“How do I deliver a product that you may not know that you want yet, while also delivering the thing that you’re asking for?” — Aubrey Horowitz“In many ways the front yard is like the homepage of people’s lives.” — Brian Lange“We just had no idea that [Skelly] would take off and that people would wanna dress him up for all the holidays and leave him up year round.” — Aubrey HorowitzIn-Show Mentions:Skelly, The Home Depot’s 12-foot skeletonAssociated Links:Insiders 210: Spooky Commerce: What Halloween Shopping Trends Tell Us About Modern CultureConsumers are Overindulging on Halloween. Disney is Meeting the Moment.The Senses: Aug-tober is HereInsiders 239: The “Quiet Season” Fallacy: Why Waiting for Black Friday is Destroying Your Retail BusinessField Notes: Holiday Edition: Spirit ChristmasInsiders 040: Nostalgia as a Security BlanketEpisode 426: The 13th Month of RevenueEpisode 312: Barbenheimer: Nostalgia, Retail, Recall, and RelevanceJoin us at VISIONS Summit, November 3 at MoMACheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    29 mins
  • Memorable Over Measurable: Retail’s Lost Wonders

    Memorable Over Measurable: Retail’s Lost Wonders
    Sep 30 2026
    Taste can’t be manufactured, so brands are hiring the people who have it. Writer and gr8 collab founder Emma Apple Chozick returns to talk with Phillip about her creative process (sans content calendar), building ShopMy’s Signals Substack on proprietary data, and what the long-gone BEST Products showrooms can teach us about designing retail spaces worth remembering.A Category of OneKey takeaways:Brands can’t manufacture taste; they’ve learned to partner with people whose judgment audiences already trust.Real editorial starts with an insight, question, or tension. Consumers today can sniff out a product pitch from a mile away — if a brand’s editorial isn’t valuable as standalone content, it’s not worth sharing. BEST Products’ SITE showrooms prove the best retail trades measurability for memory.Emma Apple Chozick: “Taste is obviously completely subjective. But when a brand resonates with a particular person’s taste, that’s not replicable. A brand can’t create that on their own. They can try, but it’s never gonna feel authentic.”Emma Apple Chozick: “I don’t know if the goal is actually ‘to grow.’ I think the goal is to work on really compelling projects that are aligned with what I’m interested in and can reach new people. But the goal isn’t always reach.”Phillip: “I don’t know that any of those [hot new channels] actually reflect culture. I think we bend culture to those things because that’s where we put capital, and an industry likes to talk about them because they’re new. But the people actually define what the culture is around the brand.”In-Show Mentions:Watch Emma’s BEST Products videoFind Emma Apple Chozick on LinkedIn and InstagramLearn more about gr8 collabExplore the archive of SITE New YorkRead Signals: A Publication by ShopMyWatch Surroundings on YouTubeRead Emma’s Dwell essay, “The Midcentury House That Raised Me”Listen to Emma’s first Future Commerce episode, Creating Credible Content and Community-Building CollabsAssociated Links:Read: Member Brief: Return on Experience and the New KPIs of Store DesignRead: Insiders #188: Architecting Desire: How Retail-Hospitality Hybrids are Changing ConsumptionRead: Substack and Retail’s New Media EraRead The Senses: “That’s a Great Collab”Listen: Where Culture Happens, Commerce FollowsVISIONS Summit at MoMA, New York City: Join us on November 3, 2026Watch: Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    37 mins
  • *TEASER* You Can See Everything, If You Speak Fielder

    *TEASER* You Can See Everything, If You Speak Fielder
    Oct 23 2026

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    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    3 mins
  • DoorDash’s Ads Chief on Planning for Moments Over Audiences

    DoorDash’s Ads Chief on Planning for Moments Over Audiences
    Oct 28 2026
    DoorDash shoppers come to the app with a need, not a shopping list, and that makes them unusually loyal and unusually open to discovery. Katie Daleo, General Manager of CPG Ads at DoorDash, joins Phillip and Alicia to talk about how brands can plan for moments instead of audiences, why DoorDash pursued Alliance for Audited Media incrementality certification, and what changes when commerce media is measured on orders and intent instead of impressions.Plus, we dig into the newly launched Brand Center, which turns what Dashers see on the shelf into real-time availability and substitution data, why brand and performance marketing are converging again, and why Katie sees DoorDash as "local commerce at scale."The Moment Is the New DemographicKey takeaways:DoorDash's incremental ROAS methodology earned AAM incrementality certification, and Katie says partners are seeing 30%+ incremental sales lift on average.Discovery is up for grabs. In some categories, unbranded DoorDash searches (think: "beer") drive 10% of orders, so brands have to win the shopper who hasn't picked a brand yet.Videos under six seconds perform best, and placement matters: what works on the homepage can get in the way on a product page when someone just wants to check out.The funnel collapses inside the app. Awareness, consideration, and conversion can happen in a single session, so offsite creative and in-app click-through need to work as one journey.Brand Center turns the shelf into a data source. Brands can now see on-shelf availability, which SKUs actually make it onto DoorDash, how their product content shows up, and where shoppers go when an item is substituted.Out-of-stocks are a loyalty test. Roughly 40% of shoppers ask for a refund rather than accept a substitute, which tracks with the third of shoppers who arrive with a specific item in mind."If you can find a solution that works for the consumer, it will work for the brand, in which case it will work for DoorDash." — Katie Daleo"Data is the currency we have with CPG partners." — Katie Daleo"You can now do the full funnel in like three minutes." — Katie Daleo"Any media should be showing impact, but the actual metric or the methodology may need to be different." — Katie Daleo"I think of DoorDash as a platform that allows you to do local commerce at scale." — Katie DaleoAssociated Links:Episode 474: Commerce Media's Day Two: The Agentic Shelf and the Measurement ReckoningThe Senses: The Advertising Week Mid-Week Dispatch“Vertical Dramas” and the New Era of Commerce MediaAd Infinitum: Retail Media is The Final BossEpisode 452: LIVE at Shoptalk Spring: Retail Media Confessions, Hype Cycles, and the Creator ReckoningThe Future of the Funnel (Live from K:LDN 2026)Insiders 224: Non-Determinism and the Death of Performance MarketingInsiders 238: Where Were You When the Monoculture Returned?The Senses: Quick Commerce's God ComplexEven TikTok is an Ad Network NowCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    24 mins