The risk is being unable to move when the future arrives. Qurate Retail Group built QVC into a powerhouse by mastering a format that still dominates product sales today. A host, a product, urgency, and instant purchase. That same structure now thrives inside TikTok Shop, Amazon Live, and social commerce feeds everywhere. The thing that really changed was the delivery. Screens moved from cable TV to mobile, and the experience became more immediate, more personalized, and always within reach....
1 day ago • 1 min read
What happens when central distribution controls the demand itself? For years, Bath & Body Works staunchly resisted Amazon. The logic was sound, and the kind I encourage. Control the experience, protect margins, and OWN the customer relationship. Don’t build your business on rented land, competing against others and even Amazon’s house-branded copycats to feather a billionaire’s nest with your ad money. In this case, something changed in a big way. The CEO now says it’s impossible to gain...
2 days ago • 2 min read
Even a perfect solution can get erased by something bigger than the problem it solves. Years ago, I bought a Tile after losing my wallet, which had somehow slipped behind the clothes dryer. Not long after, it proved itself. This time I left my wallet at a grocery store, but the staff couldn’t locate it. After a few awkward minutes I triggered the chirp. It led us straight to a drawer behind the customer service counter. The product worked exactly when it needed to. A brilliant mentor once...
3 days ago • 1 min read
Markets reward narrative shifts faster than customers ever could. Allbirds (the minimalist wool sneaker company) just announced it’s pivoting out of shoes and into AI infrastructure, with plans to rebrand as “NewBird AI.” No joke. Neither is what I’m going to tell you next. Shares surged over 800%, despite no demonstrated capability in AI. Just weeks ago, the company sold its footwear assets for $39 million after losing 99% of its value since its IPO. Nothing about the product improved....
4 days ago • 1 min read
External forces don’t help categories equally. Yesterday I wrote about rising fuel prices accelerating EV adoption. The exact same trigger is yielding a totally different outcome somewhere else. Luxury sales in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have dropped sharply because of the Iran conflict. According to recent reporting, malls are seeing declines of 30 to 50 percent, with foot traffic way down in key retail hubs. This attack was trumpeted to be a growth engine. And the Gulf had become one of the most...
5 days ago • 1 min read
Adoption curves can change faster from geopolitics than from product innovation. Tension around the Strait of Hormuz has pushed oil prices up at historic rates. That narrow passage carries a significant share of the world’s oil supply. When flows are threatened or restricted, prices react quickly. And when fuel prices jump, human behavior follows. In China, EV adoption was already strong. Now it’s accelerating further. In Europe, the same pattern is plainly visible. Higher fuel costs make the...
6 days ago • 1 min read
What feels obvious to you may be completely invisible to your customer. A while back, I wrote about Lay’s discovering something surprising. A large portion of people didn’t know Lay’s chips were made from real, fresh potatoes, where competitor Pringles used nothing but potato flakes. So Lay’s put a potato image on the bag and spelled it out. It worked. And now Tostitos is doing the same thing, ’cept with corn. The old bags led with claims like “no artificial flavors, colors, or...
7 days ago • 1 min read
The first place your product is seen may no longer be a store, a search result, or an ad. I wrote recently about how Shopify products can now be discovered and purchased directly inside ChatGPT and other AI tools. If that felt like a feature update, it’s not. It’s a major shift. New 2026 data shows about 12% of shoppers are already using AI to assist purchases, and that number is rising quickly. The important part is what role AI is playing. It is turning into the FIRST layer. Before a...
8 days ago • 1 min read
It’s not a coincidence. Sadly, it’s the model. I wrote recently about ensh*ttification. Products start off great, pull you in, then gradually take value away while switching costs rise. YouTube is a clear example we can’t escape. (You can’t even watch a video about ensh*ttification without using a thoroughly ensh*ttified app.) Premium prices are going up again, with individual plans hitting US $16/month and 27 bucks for families. The justification is familiar: support creators, maintain...
9 days ago • 1 min read
