Thanks for the kind words!

You’re right, I didn’t touch on all the shifts that are happening in retail, specifically around the malls, online commerce, and the concept of death in the middle - where today as a brick-n-mortar retailer you’re options are really only providing a one-of-kind experience (such as Apple) or sell merchandise at very low cost (such as Marshall’s).

Also, I think it’s more wholesalers that are feeling the impact of brands going consumer direct. However, the shift in cutting out the middleman is a shift that’s already been happening across several industries. Think Dell in their prime.

You brought up a very good point with Amazon. Amazon is basically a blackbox with merchants, meaning that they pass along very little information/demographics on who are buying your products. So when talking to clients, the conversation focuses on how can we work with partners that act as a middle layer to capture 1st party audience data (to begin to segment and use for targeting & retargeting) even if the sale and fulfillment is done by Amazon or other big box retailers.

Love the feedback and sorry this was a bit delayed.