Steve Gaither is the chief marketing officer at C.A. Fortune, and leads the C.A. Branding, an integrated marketing agency that serves Fortune 500, middle-market, and emerging brands.
Gaither will be speaking during SFA’s Specialty Food Live! virtual event next week during a speed round featuring other e-commerce experts. Attendees can pose questions during the event.
Leading up to the session, Gaither spoke with SFA News Daily about the current and future state of e-commerce and the impact the pandemic had on it.
What has been the impact of e-commerce over the course of the pandemic?
We’ve really jumped five years on the ubiquity scale. From the Amazon purchase boom, to out of stocks and ship times leading to direct-to-consumer growth, the space is accelerating. Retailers are seeing growth of click and brick with curbside pickup (some seeing an over 90 percent increase) and for some, delivery has grown 45 percent. Because of the pandemic, even my parents are doing curbside and delivery in combo with retail and online.
What have emerging brands learned from more established brands in terms of e-commerce? And vice versa?
Emerging brands have learned the value of brick and mortar to support e-commerce and established brands have learned the value of e-commerce to support brick and mortar. Pre-pandemic there was almost a flight of emerging brands away from retail towards alt-food service. Since March, retail is more and more becoming part of the mix with Amazon and DTC.
What’s something new you’ve learned or seen in the e-commerce realm over the past year?
Back to question one. Certain retailers really leveraged the pandemic to compete against Amazon. Click and brick has emerged as a full-fledged channel alongside retail, DTC, and Amazon.
How do you see e-commerce changing and evolving in the next five to 10 years?
It’s all about shoppable content. Getting people product however, whenever, and wherever they want it. And whoever solves it best, wins!
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