Market Movers

Annex Cloud Market Movers is a series of short videos with industry leading influencers and thought leaders to help brands, manufacturers, retailers and distributors be laser focused on the “certain” elements of their business that can be controlled as opposed to the “uncertain” elements that are out of their control.

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DX, Loyalty and Retention

Episerver and Annex Cloud

In this virtual DX Dialog with Alexander Atzberger, CEO of Episerver, we dive deep in how companies foster loyalty by going beyond point programs. Plus, how these unprecedented times have impacted companies and how they transition to a digital-first company to help support their customers.

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Dilip Keshu

CEO, BORN

Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud talks with Dilip Keshu, CEO of BORN about how these unprecedented times have impacted companies and how they transition to a digital-first company to help support their customers.

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Emily Collins

Interim Research Director, Forrester

While recent studies have shown a 28% drop in marketing spend, history also shows that brands who continue to invest in marketing during a period of economic unrest always come out on top.

In this discussion featuring Emily Collins, Interim Research Director at Forrester we talk about the impact of COVID-19 and how non-essential brands can compete in the market, tactics for reacquiring your customers, the ‘buy now, pay later’ trend and delivering value to your customers without discounting.

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David Lorango

Owner, Xcellio

Jeff Herrera, CMO of Annex Cloud talks with David Lorango, Owner of Xcellio about how these unprecedented times have impacted companies and how they transition to a digital-first company to help support their customers.

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Amit Venugopal

Chief Revenue Officer & Board Member, ECENTA

Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud talks with Amit Venugopal, Chief Revenue Officer at ECENTA about the importance of having a ‘digital first’ mindset and what brands & retailers should be doing now to leverage their ecommerce presence. Plus, the distinction between ‘behavioral’ and ‘attitudinal’ loyalty.

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Customer Retention During Economic Unrest

A panel discussion featuring e-commerce experts Daniel Fertig of BigCommerce, Arthur Tschopp of Listrak, Ronald Dod of Visiture and moderated by Jeff Herrera of Annex Cloud.

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Ali Cudby

Author, Keep your Customers

In this two part series, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud talks with Ali Cudby, Author of "Keep Your Customers" about the importance of customer retention and how to keep your ‘lucrative loyals’ happy.

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Ali Cudby

Author, Keep your Customers

In part two of the discussion, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud talks with Ali Cudby, Author of "Keep Your Customers" dive deep into emotional loyalty and building a customer centric culture within your organization.

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Patrick Eggen

Co-Founder & Partner, Counterpart Ventures

Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud talks with Pat Eggen, Co-Founder & Partner Counterpart Ventures about how VC’s are thinking about their investments during this current economy. Plus, tips for startups seeking new capital.

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Brian Beck

CEO, Enceiba

Jeff Herrera, CMO of Annex Cloud talks with Brian Beck of Enceiba an ecommerce expert about the importance of a “Human first” approach when it comes to connecting with your customers. Plus, the advantages retailers, brands and manufacturers have over Amazon.

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Praveen Pahwa

Founder & President, Pragiti, a DMI Company

Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud speaks with Praveen Pahwa, Founder & President, Pragiti, a DMI Company about the “New Normal”, the importance of capturing customer data and the impact COVID-19 has had on customer shopping behavior. Plus, what it means for brands who are acquiring necessity-based purchases and ways to ensure they retain those customers.

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Bridget Fahrland

Head of Digital Strategy,
Astound Commerce

Jeff Herrera, CMO of Annex Cloud chats with Bridget Fahrland, Head of Digital Strategy at Astound Commerce about optimizing your consumer touchpoints from online to brick-n-mortar retailers. Also, strategic tips for non-essential and essential businesses as they begin to plan their gradual re-opening.

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Kathleen Kalpakoff

GVP CX Advisory at SAP Customer Experience

Kathleen Kalpakoff, GVP CX Advisory at SAP Customer Experience shares key trends that CMOs, CDOs and CCOs are incorporating as they think about "return to work" and other important technologies they would need to invest in 2021.

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Casper Aagaard Rasmussen

VP of Enterprise Platforms, Valtech

What does it mean to invest equity into a consumer relationship? Jeff Herrera, CMO of Annex Cloud chats with Casper Aagaard Rasmussen, VP of Enterprise Platforms at Valtech about loyalty tactics and how brands/manufacturers can increase their emotional equity with their consumers.

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Brittany Catherman

Solutions Engineer, Entertainment &
Hospitality, Savantis

In this vertical specific interview, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud chats with Brittany Catherman, Solutions Engineer, Entertainment & Hospitality at Savantis about the impact that social distancing has had in the theatre industry. Brittany shares strategies and examples of how theatres can prepare for the reopening of things. Plus, tips theatres can take for a digital transformation.

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Ryan Bartley

Co Founder & CRO, Fabric

Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud talks with Ryan Bartley, Co-Founder & CRO of Fabric who offers tips about investing in the right ecommerce technology but also leveraging your brick-n-mortar to provide the right experience post Covid-19.

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Suhas Hiwale

Co-Founder & CEO, SAI Digital

Are deep discounts the response to getting customers to buy during these times? How can B2B2B2C brands leverage a loyalty program to build a relationship with the end consumer? In this brief chat between Suhas Hiwale, Co-Founder and CEO of SAI Digital and Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud they uncover these topics.

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Thomas Obrey

Co-Founder & CTO at PixelMEDIA

Buy online pick-up in store? Personalized shopping? A discussion and insight from Thomas Obrey, Co-Founder & CTO at PixelMEDIA about the operational side of retail and the innovations being seen on the eCommerce front.

Plus, the many ways our customers are discovering new brands and re-envisioning the way we stay in touch with our customers.

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Jan-Pieter (JP) Lips

Head of Unified Commerce Enablement, Adyen

Jan-Pieter (JP) Lips, Head of Unified Commerce Enablement at Adyen shares his perspective on what we can learn from digital-native brands and what brick-n-mortar retailers are doing to keep up with customer demands. shares his perspective on what we can learn from digital-native brands and what brick-n-mortar retailers are doing to keep up with customer demands.

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Jorge Baron

General Manager, SAP - Customer Experience, LATAM

For many Latin American countries - mobile and social media have been key to their digital roadmap. In this new market or as part of the “second wave”, many regions and countries are finding that the customer experience is key to the next phase of digital transformation.

Jorge Baron, General Manager, SAP - Customer Experience, LATAM offers insight into how COVID-19 has impacted the region and changed the way they think of the online customer experience. Jorge also offers tips for B2C and B2B brands should adapt.

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Max Savransky

Chief Operating Officer, Loyalty & Reward Co

An understanding of the psychology behind customer retention.

Max Savransky, Chief Operating Officer at Loyalty & Reward Co - a loyalty management consultants and blockchain loyalty specialist - breaks down the psychology and data approach to customer retention.

The discussion includes a review of the 4 psychology concepts that include operant conditioning, social identity theory, endowed progress effect, and decision affect theory.

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Jordan Knapp

Head of Market Development, Shopify Plus

For many brands or retailers, the second half of the year tends to focus around the promotional planning for the holidays. With COVID-19, it’s shifted the way we retailers, CPG, manufactures and wholesalers think about the physical store experience and shifting to an online experience.

Jeff Herrera, CMO at Annex Cloud catches up with Jordan Knapp, Head of Market Development at Shopify Plus about takeaways from the past four months and how reliability, inventory planning, and fulfillment capabilities will be key for the upcoming holiday season.

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Charles Nicholls

SVP Upscale Commerce, SAP

How has scarcity affected consumer shopping behavior? What innovations are taking place in mCommerce to meet consumer demand?

Charles Nicholls of SVP Upscale Commerce at SAP - provides time to market strategies for those brands in the midst of a digital transformation, insight into mobile commerce trends and how a re-shopping can be destructive to your business.

Charles also shares thoughts on the “shop local” trend and introduces us to the concept of B2SmallBusiness.

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Mark Ross-Smith

CEO, Loyalty Data Co

There’s no doubt that airlines are synonymous with Loyalty & Rewards Programs. Many would say that they are loyal to their airline not because of service but because of the rewards and tear levels tied to their program.

In this Market Movers interview, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud, chats with loyalty advocate Mark Ross-Smith, CEO of Loyalty Data Co and content writer at traveldatadaily.com, about the airline & travel industry, the impact of COVID-19 to the industry and best practices from the travel industry for designing your own loyalty & rewards program.

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Rajesh Jain

Founder, Netcore

In this Market Movers interview, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud, chats with Rajesh Jain, Founder of Netcore about changing from a push for acquisition to a retention-driven loyalty program. Rajesh offers advice to marketers on what areas should be focused on to aid in a company’s success in these unsure times. He also shares his approach to building a continually profitable machine through his “Next, Best, Rest” system.

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Ramya Murali

Principal, Deloitte

Oliver Page

Principal, Deloitte

Al Lalani, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist at Annex Cloud, sits down with Oliver Page, Principal, and Ramya Murali, Principal, of Deloitte to discuss topics such as “what makes a loyalty program successful?” and “how can you improve customer engagement and retention throughout the lifecycle of your customers? These luminaries give us insight into proven methods of success along with ideas on how we should think of loyalty programs in the context of the digital transformation in the next 12-36 months.

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Rob Garf

VP of Strategy and Insights, Salesforce

In this interview, Al Lalani, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist at Annex Cloud sits down to chat with Rob Garf, VP of Strategy and Insights at Salesforce to discuss what Salesforce’s data has been reflecting since the COVID-19 outbreak and what predictions they have for the coming holiday season. They also discuss the turn from traditional shopping and marketing to the new digital market and what consumers will expect moving forward.

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Mike Mothner

Founder & CEO, Wpromote

In this video, Jeff Herrera, CMO at Annex Cloud, sits down to chat with Mike Mothner, Founder & CEO of Wpromote, about some of the hurdles companies have faced so far, what we learned from during this pandemic, and what kind of proactive steps companies can take to ensure a successful future as markets and consumer expectations begin to shift once again.

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Michael Trapani

Senior Director of Product & Partnership Marketing, Acoustic

In this edition of Market Movers, Al Lalani, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist at Annex Cloud, chats with Michael Trapani, Senior Director of Product & Partnership Marketing at Acoustic, about the data and analytics that have come out since the COVID-19 outbreak, what this data shows in regards to the effectiveness of the various marketing campaigns and the importance of having not just one marketing budget for the upcoming year, but to have multiple plans with multiple market sensitivities in mind.

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Ross Kramer

CEO, Listrak

In this interview, Jeff Herrera, CMO of Annex Cloud, chats with Ross Kramer, CEO of Listrak, discuss the changes that have occurred over the last 6 months, how businesses are operating differently because of the economic downturn, and some thoughts on the importance of maintaining loyal customers, especially those businesses are considered ‘non-essential.’

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Len Llaguno

Founder and Managing Partner, KYROS Insights

In this edition of Market Movers, Co-Founder and Chief Strategist Al Lalani of Annex Cloud sits down to chat with Len Llaguno, Founder and Managing Partner of KYROS Insights. Len brings a new perspective to the loyalty program discussion as an actuary who analyzes loyalty program data. This perspective shows the true value of the investment in an existing loyalty program as well as giving insight to the ROI for those that are considering adding a loyalty program for their company.

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John Bartold

Co-Founder, PIVOTL cx

In this video, Jeff Herrera, CMO of Annex Cloud, and John Bartold, Co-Founder of PIVOTL cx, host a rousing discussion about how the current pandemic has changed business across the board. They review how important loyalty is now, more than ever, for companies on both sides of the spectrum and discuss an example of how companies are surviving based on the credibility of their loyalty programs.

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Jonathan Burdette

Global Industry Principal, SAP

Listen in as Jeff Herrera, CMO at Annex Cloud, Al Lalani, Co-Founder at Annex Cloud, and Jonathan Burdette, Global Industry Principal at SAP, discuss the importance of loyalty management and customer retention in an environment that is rapidly evolving due to multiple external factors.

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Maria Morais

Global Industry Principle, CX, SAP

Al Lalani, CEO of Annex Cloud, and Maria Morais, Global Industry Principle at SAP, return to discuss how SAP has supported the Fashion industry, an industry designated as a non-essential business, through its change from a physical to a digital environment due to the tumultuous conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Javier Flores

Customer Engagement and Commerce Industry Principal, SAP

In this interview, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud and Javier Flores, Customer Engagement and Commerce Industry Principal at SAP, discuss the current environment of the consumer products industry. They review the impact of Covid-19 and thoughts on planning for 2021.

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Rak Singh

VP of Growth and Optimization, SMITH

In this episode of Market Movers, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud, and Rak Singh, VP of Growth and Optimization at SMITH, identify the importance of customer retention while transitioning the business to a digital marketplace. Additionally, they discuss how to build great loyalty programs that not only support the customer but also generate ROI.

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Arun Kumar

Senior Director - Strategic Partnerships & Alliances, Infobip

In this episode of Market Movers, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud speaks with Infobip authority Arun Kumar, Senior Director - Strategic Partnerships & Alliances about some of the more key stats and data points that they saw during the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic and compare it to the changes that occurred during the market crash of 2008. Additionally, they discuss Infobip’s unique Human to Human marketing strategy and how it leads to a unified customer journey.

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Maria Prados

VP, Global Retail & B2B, Worldpay

In this episode of Market Movers, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud, and Maria Prados, VP, Global Retail & B2B, discuss the “sea of change” in the growth of ecommerce with the adoption of new customer buying behavior. They also tackle the challenges behind retaining the flood of new customers in this channel and what to expect in the future.

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Maria Morais

Global Industry Principle, CX, SAP

Al Lalani, CEO of Annex Cloud, and Maria Morais, Global Industry Principle at SAP, return to discuss how SAP has supported the beauty industry, an industry designated as a non-essential business, through its change from a physical to a digital environment due to the tumultuous conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic

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Tim Ahlenius

VP of Strategic Initiatives, Americaneagle.com

In this episode of Market Movers, Al Lalani, Co-Founder of Annex Cloud, and Tim Ahlenius, Americaneagle.com's VP of Strategic Initiatives, discuss the change in ecommerce and how consumers changed their buying behavior due to the economic disruption with Covid-19. They also discuss how companies can focus on retaining the new customers that they’ve acquired.

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Jason Asher

VP of Commerce, Kodella

In this episode Kodella’s VP of Commerce Jason Asher takes a deep dive into how every brand can leverage today’s tools to revolutionise their customer experience, product development and brand perception, setting them up for success on a whole new scale post-recession.

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Jacob Cook

CEO & Co-founder, Tadpull

Tadpull’s CEO and Co-founder Jacob Cook shares his four Cs framework for ecommerce, as well as his insights on why organizations are struggling to maximize the ROI on their digital transformation investment, why they should move from acquisition obsession to driving growth through their most valued customers, why customer-centricity is key, and why data that syncs across the entire organization is at the center of it all.

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George Chang

Senior Executive Analyst for Marketplace, VTEX

Al Lalani, CEO of Annex Cloud, and George Chang, Senior Executive Analyst for Marketplace at VTEX discuss ecommerce, the evolution of industry Marketplaces, and how they have become extremely agile and flexible in an effort to scale in the new environment.

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Daymion Phelps

Director HPOS Direct Retail Sales, Heartland Retail

Heartland Retails Director of HPOS Direct Retail Sales Daymion Phelps has spent most of her career in retail store automation. In this discussion, she provides valuable insights on how to gain quality, speed and accuracy to improve decision-making. Daymion also explains how to avoid what she refers to as Groundhog Day Retail and why change—particularly around POS and loyalty—should be on every retailer’s list of success strategies

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Eumar Assis

Senior Technology Strategist, Microsoft

Al Lalani, Co-Founder & Chief Strategist of Annex Cloud, gets together with Eumar Assis, Partner Technology Strategist at Microsoft, to discuss how leveraging critical data in golden records can help drive customer loyalty and retention.

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Rachel Bergman

Chief Revenue Officer, Cordial

Cordial Chief Revenue Officer Rachel Bergman has spent 20+ years dedicated to growing and scaling world-class, high-growth businesses. In this candid conversation with Annex Cloud’s SVP of Revenue Erin Raese, she dives into everything you need to know about cross-channel marketing, what an omnichannel customer experience really means, how to build a more holistic marketing strategy, and how to leverage first-party data to delight customers every step of the way.

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