What Does The Future Hold And How Should Brands Prepare?
“Every brand is gonna be responsible for selling you an object that not only can be deployed in your physical life, but can be deployed in every virtual world as well.”
The buzz around Web. 3.0, NFTs, and the metaverse is undeniable, but how much should brands actually be paying attention to? And where will brands and consumers actually get the most out of these trends? We asked Taylor Holiday, the CEO of Common Thread Collective, those questions and more on Up Next in Commerce. You can read some of his insights below, and you can ask Taylor a question yourself on our Twitter account where we’re hosting an AMA with him!
What is margin innovation?
Ecommerce brands are seeing a lot of challenges, which is forcing them to think differently and innovate quickly. One of the ways you’re seeing this come to life is through visual innovation and the creation of NFTs that serve brands in new ways.
“Margin innovation is this phrase that I’m coining for what businesses are being forced to do right now to solve problems. What develops the resiliency of the industry going forward is we find ways to be more efficient in every part of the P&L through innovation and technological advancement. And it’s really exciting for me to figure out okay, across every one of those portions of business, how are they going to innovate margin into the future of their business?”
How should brands decide what to invest in?
The advances in technology happening right now are exciting and brands should be paying attention. But before going all-in on anything, Holiday says that brands need to distinguish what is actually important versus what is just interesting.
“Our COO always likes to ask me this question, ‘Is this interesting or important?’ Important means it’s a financial implication of your business in the next 12 months. And interesting means it’s not a financial implication of your business in the next 12 months, but we should learn about it and we should approach it with a learner’s mindset. And so I think businesses need to draw a distinction for themselves about where they’re at and where the metaverse or Web 3 or NFTs play as it relates to being interesting versus important. And for most brands at this moment, it’s interesting, not important.”
Should brands even be thinking about Web 3.0?
The way to think about Web 3.0 is as a way to decentralize ownership and put more control into the hands of creators rather than entities. And for brands, Holiday says that have to start flipping the way they are thinking of moving from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0.
“What we’re trying to think about is Web 2 brands trying to become Web 3 brands. But I think the bigger threat to all of us is Web 3 brands selling physical objects.”
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