3023: How Bolt Is Building Seamless, Humanlike Shopping Experiences with AI

[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to the Tech Talks Daily Podcast where today we're diving into the future of

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_01]: e-commerce with Justin Grooms, CEO of a company called Bolt.

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_01]: And from their origins as a payment solution start up to becoming a comprehensive checkout

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_01]: provider with a network of 80 million shoppers in the US alone, Bolt is transforming how

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_01]: we shop online.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So today though I want to talk about AI and personalisation and how they're both reshaping

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_01]: the e-commerce landscape, creating curated humanlike experiences that are not only enhancing

[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01]: customer satisfaction but also driving higher conversion rates for retailers so it feels

[00:00:50] [SPEAKER_01]: like a win-win for both consumer and the retailer.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_01]: But how are Bolt doing this and how are they positioning itself to lead in this

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_01]: evolving digital space?

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_01]: And what does the future hold for technology and online retail?

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[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Now is the moment you've really been waiting for.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: It's time to get today's guest on.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Buckle up and hold on tight as I beam your ears all the way to Washington DC

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_01]: where Justin is waiting to speak with us today.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So a massive warm welcome to the show, Justin.

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_01]: Can you tell everyone listening a little about who you are, what you do and a little

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: bit about your journey and vision behind Bolt?

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, absolutely.

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, first of all, Neil, thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_00]: It's pretty exciting to be here and to be chatting.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm the CEO of Bolt which for 10 years has been essentially the leading digital

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: checkout provider in North America especially and recently growing quite a bit in Europe

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: with some big wins there.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I personally have been here for almost six years in various roles, mostly in the growth space

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and just back in March took over this current role as CEO and having a great time,

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: absolutely great time doing it.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: And there's been so much going on now as well.

[00:03:13] [SPEAKER_01]: I've got to ask, I mean what inspired you to create this composable commerce solution

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and how has the company evolved since its inception which I believe is classic

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_01]: tech story, is it from a Stanford dorm room?

[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: It did.

[00:03:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, our founder was just an amazing guy, an amazing visionary, the classic Stanford

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: dropout, right?

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Someone who had come from extremely working class beginnings in Florida,

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: worked really hard his way up through public schools with the vision that he would someday

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: be creating something huge in the market.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sure that he knew what it was going to be at that point but when he got to Stanford

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: he kind of quickly realized that this was 10 years ago and 10 years ago when you

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: think about e-commerce and you think about the checkout space and e-commerce,

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: there was nothing there.

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: It was a clued together solution.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: People were very afraid of putting their data online and Ryan, Ryan Bresla,

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_00]: the founder was like we can do a lot better than this and he started off with the concept

[00:04:24] [SPEAKER_00]: of, okay let's look at the payment field.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_00]: How do we start to build a little bit of functionality on that, make it more secure

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and just slowly over time we've gone from owning that kind of payment field at the

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: end of checkout to earlier and earlier in the shopping journey online to now where

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_00]: the default is 80 million shoppers in the United States, the biggest universal network

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: in the United States and is the default choice for big enterprise players like Saks

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: and Casper and Revolve and a lot of other big brands.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: It's been a really amazing journey to see happen.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I mean 18 million, that is a huge, huge figure and there's a lot of hype around

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_01]: AI right now and we've done well to get this far into the conversation without mentioning it.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_01]: But if we take a look, I like to on this podcast try and go away from the hype

[00:05:19] [SPEAKER_01]: and talk about some of the real worlds and real world use cases and real problems

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_01]: that we're solving here.

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_01]: So how are you at Bolt integrating GenAI voice assistance and also messaging

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_01]: platforms to create a more seamless and human-like conversational commerce experience

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_01]: for your shoppers?

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_01]: Anything you can share around that because it's great to shine a light on this stuff.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: You hit on the perfect, your comment there of human-like is exactly what we're focused

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: on trying to do and to understand how humans have evolved over an exceptionally long

[00:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: period of time to process information ourselves.

[00:05:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And how does Bolt take the fact that we have a decade of information around shopper

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: behaviors and shopper preferences and how people make decisions and feed that into

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00]: not only a model that can provide insights to our merchants on what they can be doing

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: to provide fewer but more relevant choices to shoppers so they're more likely to be able

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: to make those choices, but also to users, to consumers so that they can understand

[00:06:30] [SPEAKER_00]: what data is that they have available to them and can easily be presented to a merchant

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: to make their shopping experience more delightful.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that where people are looking for usability in AI is convenience.

[00:06:45] [SPEAKER_00]: They're looking for decisions to be made for them that don't, they don't need to

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: be making themselves.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: An example that I like to give to folks is if you and I both, Neil, opened up

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: our Amazon homepage, we'd be presented with dramatically different information potentially, right?

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_00]: But you can take that to a level deeper.

[00:07:09] [SPEAKER_00]: If my wife and I open up our Amazon homepages and we share an account, we're both

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_00]: presented with different information.

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: If I open my Amazon homepage on my laptop and then go and open the app on my phone,

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, I'll get different experiences for both of those also.

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: And what Amazon does really well using, you know, essentially using brute force

[00:07:35] [SPEAKER_00]: tactics is curate an experience with the data that they have that it's super relevant

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_00]: to the individual shopper that's showing up any time.

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: When we look at the future of AI, we're thinking about how do we provide

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: that same sort of curated actionable information to every other merchant in the world?

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Where so few of them, and we're talking maybe just a handful globally,

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_00]: can actually action that and give a different experience to you and to me

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and to our friends when we're hitting the same site, making it more relevant.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think what's so powerful about that is it's giving shoppers an experience,

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: it's giving users and consumers an experience in general,

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: where they are not overwhelmed by the paradox of choice when they show up to a merchant site.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: They're presented with just those few choices that if they had the time

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_00]: and energy would be able to down select to themselves.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that the merchants that can crack that and can take some of this actionable intelligence

[00:08:48] [SPEAKER_00]: that folks like both are providing and give a real curated experience to shoppers

[00:08:57] [SPEAKER_00]: are going to be the ones that can really push back on this constant creep we see from Amazon

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_00]: of going into every little market that exists out there.

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's super actionable, and I think that we all know that it works

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_00]: because we all see it work right now one place and on Amazon, but not really anywhere else.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and outside of retail, I think there's almost an expectation now that Netflix knows

[00:09:20] [SPEAKER_01]: what we want to watch tonight.

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Spotify knows what songs I might like, Amazon knows what I might want to buy

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_01]: and there's an expectation from consumers wherever they go for that same kind of experience.

[00:09:31] [SPEAKER_01]: And you've got the ear of so many retailers around the world.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm curious from all those conversations you're having,

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_01]: what challenges have retailers faced in scaling conversational journeys on high engagement platforms

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_01]: such as Instagram is an obvious one that stands out.

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_01]: How are you addressing these challenges at both?

[00:09:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think the challenge is that retailers, it is a fascinating spot that I'm in

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and I've felt so fortunate over the past five or six years to speak to hundreds of retail

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and e-commerce executives every year about where they see problems

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: and what they're trying to work on with their brands and with their companies.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that where we see retailers trying to bridge the gap is

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: how do you take something like an Instagram or a TikTok or another daily habit that people have

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: that people open up and get a little bit of a dopamine hit of trying to go back to that device.

[00:10:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I think most of us would admit we go back to the device a little bit more than we wish we did.

[00:10:44] [SPEAKER_00]: How do we take that and translate that into an actual relationship with the shopper?

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Because not a lot of retailers out there have been successful in figuring that out.

[00:10:58] [SPEAKER_00]: How do you become the place that someone goes to as a default when they want to explore,

[00:11:03] [SPEAKER_00]: when they want to understand what things are out there that might meet their needs?

[00:11:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that there's some exploration by folks like Timu.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that Shien is doing some amazing stuff in that space of trying to really understand

[00:11:18] [SPEAKER_00]: what can we present to people on a daily basis that might be interesting and relevant to them in that moment.

[00:11:24] [SPEAKER_00]: But other than those limited examples,

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_00]: there's not many folks that have found a way to really bridge the gap between those daily habits

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and then actual considered purchases.

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_00]: That's going to be a little bit of the future, I think, of how can we bridge the gap,

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_00]: create a daily habit for people, a delightful place that they can interact with

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and really feel like they're known and understood.

[00:11:52] [SPEAKER_00]: When we think about from a conversational perspective,

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: what retailers are looking for is...I was having a conversation with someone about this just yesterday.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: They're looking for that most, in the States we would say,

[00:12:05] [SPEAKER_00]: like that most delightful experience you've had going into a small shop

[00:12:10] [SPEAKER_00]: or even like what Nordstrom is known for, right?

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: A very good customer service experience where someone walks up to you

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and interacts with you in a very organic way

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and helps you to find the things that you maybe knew you were looking for,

[00:12:23] [SPEAKER_00]: but more importantly solve the problems that you came in with, right?

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm going to a summer wedding in a couple weeks.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I'm going to go in there. That's a problem I'm trying to solve.

[00:12:33] [SPEAKER_00]: I need to get a linen suit. I need to get like all of these things kind of lined up.

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_00]: How do we provide that sort of conversational interaction with shoppers

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: that is when they show up online and in store, frankly,

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: that will help them to solve problems as opposed to just find product?

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: That's going to be the gap I think that is going to be the change between what we see right now,

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: which is a lot of shoppers showing up on a retailer site,

[00:13:04] [SPEAKER_00]: hoping the site is really well indexed so that they can type in what they're looking for and find it.

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So in the future, having more of a relationship of

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_00]: what are the problems you're trying to solve? What's going on?

[00:13:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Your daughters are going back to school in two weeks.

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a different, that's a problem you're trying to address

[00:13:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and a communication or a conversation between the shopper and the retailer can really help to solve that.

[00:13:30] [SPEAKER_01]: And another area that I know you're very passionate about

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_01]: and I'd love you to elaborate on here is why non-vertically integrated merchants

[00:13:38] [SPEAKER_01]: like the JC Pennies and the Nordstroms that you mentioned out of the world

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_01]: might see their e-commerce sales decline and how differentiating that shopper experience

[00:13:48] [SPEAKER_01]: is crucial to retaining customers now.

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's a big thing that I'm particularly passionate about.

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: We see so much data on this from our network over here at Bolt.

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_00]: The thing about why I think that vertically integrated brands are doing well right now

[00:14:02] [SPEAKER_00]: is that shoppers understand what they're going there for.

[00:14:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Folks like Casper are seeing a renaissance from my perspective,

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_00]: not only from some amazing leadership that they have over there,

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_00]: but also they have remained so faithful to their brand and their identity.

[00:14:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So when shoppers show up to Casper, they know what that experience is.

[00:14:28] [SPEAKER_00]: They know what they're there to solve for.

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Folks like in big box retailers, the JC Pennies, the Nordstrom of the world,

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_00]: they are running into an issue I think where people are no longer,

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_00]: to go back to your Netflix or to your Spotify example,

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: people are no longer satisfied with a indexed search solution.

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: People are no longer satisfied with Shopify, I mean Spotify rather,

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_00]: just presenting a list of songs or genres that might be there.

[00:15:04] [SPEAKER_00]: They want a curated experience, they want to have a country playlist

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_00]: or a pop playlist that is evolved to meet their specific needs.

[00:15:14] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a really hard thing for department stores to crack right now I think.

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_00]: They are very much set up based on an old school indexed experience,

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I would say, as you go in and you say, I need shoes,

[00:15:30] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go to the shoe section and look for what I need to find.

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: Again, go back to when we can get to a spot where these larger department stores

[00:15:42] [SPEAKER_00]: can start to understand the shopper's identity

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and present them with curated experiences that will help those shoppers

[00:15:52] [SPEAKER_00]: to scratch that edge or solve that problem.

[00:15:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Then shoppers are going to start to think of them, those retailers,

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_00]: the JC Penneys, the Nordstrom of the world, as the place they go to solve problems,

[00:16:04] [SPEAKER_00]: the place they go to fill that need that they're not quite sure how to address piecemeal.

[00:16:11] [SPEAKER_01]: And just to bring to life what we're talking about here,

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER_01]: are there any examples you can share of how Bolt is transforming

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_01]: these traditional checkout processes that we're talking about,

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_01]: turning them into personalized check-in experiences

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_01]: that adapts to the unique preferences and behaviors of each individual shopper

[00:16:27] [SPEAKER_01]: without over-stepping the mark, drifting into that creepy territory?

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_01]: Because it's such a fine, delicate balance, isn't it?

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_00]: It is a really delicate balance.

[00:16:35] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that Bolt has, going back to our founding story

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_00]: of looking at checkout initially as just the payment step at the very end

[00:16:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and starting to view checkout as happening earlier and earlier in the shopper journey,

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_00]: we get to the point now where Bolt sits as a check-in layer, essentially,

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_00]: at the very beginning of the shopping journey.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And what we see is that when a retailer presents a shopper

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_00]: with the opportunity to log in for Bolt to pass their information to the shopper,

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_00]: or to their retailer, upwards of 80 or 90% of shoppers will opt in

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_00]: to share their information with that individual retailer.

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's phenomenal.

[00:17:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that shoppers want these curated experiences,

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_00]: plus they want agency over who they're sharing information with.

[00:17:35] [SPEAKER_00]: So with just a single raising of a one-time password modal that's presented by Bolt,

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_00]: we can see 80 or 90% of shoppers passing on their identities over to the retailers

[00:17:52] [SPEAKER_00]: in a way that is brand-focused for that retailer.

[00:17:57] [SPEAKER_00]: This fosters a positive brand experience where the shopper feels like he or she's being curated to,

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and it unlocks just a treasure trove of other benefits for merchants.

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that identity-powered commerce is going to enable retailers and advertisers

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00]: to create hyper-targeted campaigns and then really slick, delightful buying experiences afterwards.

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_00]: When we think about what this means for retailers,

[00:18:28] [SPEAKER_00]: we also think about how the payments landscape is changing

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: and how the most successful retailers know how to capitalize on trends like AI

[00:18:41] [SPEAKER_00]: to use data to meet their customers where they are with different types of payment methods that are relevant.

[00:18:48] [SPEAKER_00]: That is something that I think if I was watching,

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: if I was on the outside and I was watching Bolt over the next quarter or two,

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd watch pretty closely.

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that we're at the precipice where retailers are going to be able to start in a very scalable way,

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_00]: presenting a wide range of payment options to shoppers,

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_00]: but doing it in a way that's relevant to those individual shoppers.

[00:19:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't present people with the option to pay by ACH or crypto if they always pay with their debit card,

[00:19:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's just how they're always going to do it.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_00]: But if we can understand a little bit more what people's trends are and what their preferences are,

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_00]: we can all of a sudden feel like we're very specialized and focused as a retailer on what we're providing to shoppers.

[00:19:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that the other thing that we're looking at is there's a lot of emergence

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_00]: of shopper networks that retailers can tap into,

[00:19:42] [SPEAKER_00]: and I think that that's a great thing because it gives shoppers so much more agency over their identity.

[00:19:48] [SPEAKER_00]: But the real difference is going to be retailers that find and implement solutions

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_00]: that help them go beyond just receiving demographic information from shoppers.

[00:19:59] [SPEAKER_00]: You want to create a feeling of direct relationship between the shopper and the retailer,

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's something that Bolt's been so successful with,

[00:20:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and why I think that major brand groups standardize on us is because we don't get in between them

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_00]: in that relationship with the shopper.

[00:20:19] [SPEAKER_00]: So retailers that are able to develop and implement solutions

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_00]: that allow them to provide a curated experience for shoppers

[00:20:27] [SPEAKER_00]: while still maintaining that direct brand-to-shopper intimacy,

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that they're going to be the ones that I watch out for in the coming years.

[00:20:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, 100% with you on that.

[00:20:40] [SPEAKER_01]: And I suspect for a lot of people listening around the world,

[00:20:44] [SPEAKER_01]: hearing things like Bolt's Universal Shopper Account Network comprises of over 80 million shoppers globally is just phenomenal.

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_01]: So again, just to bring that to life,

[00:20:54] [SPEAKER_01]: how does this network enable retailers to do things like personalize ads,

[00:20:59] [SPEAKER_01]: product recommendations, checkout processes,

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_01]: all the good stuff we're talking about here.

[00:21:03] [SPEAKER_01]: Can you share a bit more about how you do that?

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that personalization is the next unlock for commerce as we've been discussing.

[00:21:13] [SPEAKER_00]: Putting the shoppers in creating immersed 360-degree experiences

[00:21:18] [SPEAKER_00]: that really start to blur the line between physical and digital.

[00:21:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that that's going to be something that is really going to define

[00:21:27] [SPEAKER_00]: where e-commerce goes in 2025, in calendar 2025.

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_00]: We talked about the example of that I gave earlier on Amazon

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and how if you and I hit our Amazon home pages,

[00:21:40] [SPEAKER_00]: we get potentially dramatically different experiences on the same retail

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_00]: or on the same real estate that's available to both of us.

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that the way that you provide that Amazon-like experience

[00:21:56] [SPEAKER_00]: to more retailers out there is through a massive network

[00:22:01] [SPEAKER_00]: like what Bolt has accumulated over time with 80 million really high quality shoppers

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_00]: representing some of the most active shoppers in the United States especially.

[00:22:13] [SPEAKER_00]: You get to know who people are more easily

[00:22:16] [SPEAKER_00]: because I don't think that you can personalize without knowing who the person is.

[00:22:23] [SPEAKER_00]: You can't generate intelligence around something or a solution or a presentation

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_00]: or content without knowing who you're generating for.

[00:22:33] [SPEAKER_00]: That's something that we're really focused on

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and we see the biggest merchants and retailers really investing in that space.

[00:22:41] [SPEAKER_00]: And then with that universal identity layer

[00:22:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and with the insights that you get from a network like Bolt's,

[00:22:49] [SPEAKER_00]: retailers are connecting these disparate parts of the data

[00:22:53] [SPEAKER_00]: that they already have across their omnichannel experience.

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_00]: I think you're going to start to see things in 2025

[00:23:00] [SPEAKER_00]: where your experience of shopping on a site like Sephora online

[00:23:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and then shopping in store are going to feel very blended,

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_00]: they're going to feel very seamless.

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_00]: It's going to feel like you can hand off from one cart to the other pretty easily

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and then get to the point where you feel like you just have that one experience

[00:23:24] [SPEAKER_00]: that's just transcending the different environment.

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Right now we see retailers that are in our network

[00:23:33] [SPEAKER_00]: are just getting sky-high recognition rates for shoppers that come in.

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_00]: We're able to recognize the vast majority of their most high value shoppers

[00:23:44] [SPEAKER_00]: and to present an identity to those retailers of who the shopper is.

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think in practice, just to clarify this means,

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_00]: that shoppers simply enter their email address on our retailer's site

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_00]: anywhere that there's an email field

[00:23:58] [SPEAKER_00]: and we're able to look it up instantaneously

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and identify the vast majority of them because they're probably part of our network.

[00:24:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And then we present, like I said earlier,

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_00]: we present a one-time password modal that's serviced by Bolt

[00:24:14] [SPEAKER_00]: asking that shopper, like,

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_00]: do you want to pass your information over to this retailer?

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Almost all of them say yes, right, if they get that modal presented to them.

[00:24:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's really, it's amazing because it does away with the concerns

[00:24:27] [SPEAKER_00]: that folks have around where cookies were going or aren't going now,

[00:24:32] [SPEAKER_00]: opting in to tracking, sharing and saving of information.

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's exciting when we think about that transition and where it's going.

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_01]: And speaking of exciting, where everything is heading here,

[00:24:45] [SPEAKER_01]: in what other ways do you see technology making the most significant impact

[00:24:50] [SPEAKER_01]: on the future of e-commerce?

[00:24:52] [SPEAKER_01]: And again, how are you at Bolt positioning yourself to lead in this space

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER_01]: because so many retailers and shoppers are looking to you to lead their way.

[00:25:00] [SPEAKER_01]: So what excites you about that and how are you preparing for this future of e-commerce?

[00:25:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think here's what we're watching closely to guide our product strategy right now.

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_00]: The role AI will play in power and personalization

[00:25:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and next-gen buying experiences.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The rise of truly immersive shopping.

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I think we'll bring together friends, influencers and brands in real time.

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_00]: Getting back to the experience of going to the mall with your friends,

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_00]: like how do you replicate that online?

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the importance of creating a commerce ecosystem

[00:25:38] [SPEAKER_00]: that utilizes rich data to connect retailers and shoppers together.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And to answer the other part of your question,

[00:25:48] [SPEAKER_00]: we've been focused on driving performance for existing customers.

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_00]: For example, after one of the customers that I've spent a lot of time with on a personal basis,

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_00]: after experiencing significant lift with us in 2022,

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_00]: just last year Revolve, a big massive digital first online player,

[00:26:13] [SPEAKER_00]: billions of dollars of online sales came to us

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and wanted our support on their forward brand,

[00:26:20] [SPEAKER_00]: which is their luxury direct-to-consumer sister site.

[00:26:23] [SPEAKER_00]: This is extremely high-end merchandise.

[00:26:27] [SPEAKER_00]: After just a month, Revolve ran this extensive A-B test

[00:26:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and they do so much sales, they were able to get to statistical significance pretty quickly.

[00:26:38] [SPEAKER_00]: They saw a 10% jump in overall conversion.

[00:26:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think what's so important about what we're seeing

[00:26:46] [SPEAKER_00]: when we're able to pass identity to retailers

[00:26:50] [SPEAKER_00]: is we're talking about overall conversions going up 10%, right?

[00:26:55] [SPEAKER_00]: We're not cherry picking certain pieces of the checkout flow or anything like that.

[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_00]: That's just phenomenal.

[00:27:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's directly based on the fact that, from my perspective,

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER_00]: they were able to take the identity that we passed to them about so many shoppers

[00:27:15] [SPEAKER_00]: and use that to service those shoppers in an even more delightful and curated way.

[00:27:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And that directly led to, which is pretty exciting,

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_00]: and I think gives us a lot of hope about the future of e-commerce.

[00:27:32] [SPEAKER_01]: It really does.

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_01]: And as we continue to look ahead,

[00:27:35] [SPEAKER_01]: anything else you can share around your key priorities or goals for scaling technology,

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_01]: expanding your impact on the e-commerce space,

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_01]: especially, well, I mean, we're always five months away from 2025.

[00:27:48] [SPEAKER_01]: Anything you can share around that with the future holds?

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_01]: I appreciate you probably can't share too much, but anything you can?

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.

[00:27:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, what's interesting about Bolt's model, and it has been from the beginning,

[00:27:58] [SPEAKER_00]: is that we're very careful about putting the merchant's brand first.

[00:28:03] [SPEAKER_00]: We have some of the biggest luxury retail groups that use Bolt around the world.

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_00]: We have some of just the biggest players around the world that use Bolt right now,

[00:28:16] [SPEAKER_00]: especially in the United States, where I would say we're almost a default pick

[00:28:20] [SPEAKER_00]: for a lot of these large enterprise.

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm just very fortunate from the great product our team has built.

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_00]: We have recently, we've had an amazing though, as well as things have been going,

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_00]: we've just had an amazing last quarter.

[00:28:34] [SPEAKER_00]: We signed some huge partnerships and merchants that have extended our network dramatically.

[00:28:43] [SPEAKER_00]: Like we've multi-billion dollar, tens of billion dollar market cap merchants

[00:28:47] [SPEAKER_00]: that are joining the Bolt network.

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_00]: We've seen some great recognition that we were very honored with from CNBC

[00:28:55] [SPEAKER_00]: top fintech awards that were recently announced.

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And then expanding on that, secured and signed new deals with enterprise retailers,

[00:29:04] [SPEAKER_00]: including one of the largest jewelry retailers in the world, I would say.

[00:29:08] [SPEAKER_00]: One of the largest athletic wear companies in the world, footwear companies in the world,

[00:29:14] [SPEAKER_00]: luxury good companies in the world.

[00:29:16] [SPEAKER_00]: These brands are looking to find a solution that can help them identify their shoppers.

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And we're just seeing explosive growth right now and adoption.

[00:29:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I think what that means is that 2025 is going to be a year that any merchant

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_00]: that doesn't have robust strategy around how they create curated experiences for their shoppers,

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_00]: how they manage digital identity in a secure and delightful way,

[00:29:49] [SPEAKER_00]: is probably going to feel like they're a step behind for sure.

[00:29:54] [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I think that's a powerful moment to end on.

[00:29:56] [SPEAKER_01]: But before I do let you go, we're going to take a step back from the algorithms for a moment.

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to ask you, have a bit of fun with you now.

[00:30:04] [SPEAKER_01]: And rather than ask an algorithm, I'm going to ask you personally now

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_01]: to add a book that means something to you or inspires you

[00:30:10] [SPEAKER_01]: that we can add to our Amazon wishlist for listeners to check out

[00:30:13] [SPEAKER_01]: or a song to add to one of our human created Spotify playlist created by listeners.

[00:30:20] [SPEAKER_01]: But you can choose either.

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_01]: But guilty pleasures are allowed.

[00:30:23] [SPEAKER_01]: But who would you choose and why?

[00:30:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man. Yeah.

[00:30:28] [SPEAKER_00]: There's some there's some good choices on both sides there.

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_00]: I think I'd go with a classic pump up song that I've loved for a long time.

[00:30:40] [SPEAKER_00]: And I remember it as a warm up song playing basketball in high school.

[00:30:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And and now it just seems particularly appropriate for where we are at Bolt.

[00:30:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And that'd be Thunderstruck.

[00:30:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I do Thunderstruck by ACDC.

[00:30:55] [SPEAKER_00]: It's high energy. It gets you pumped up every time.

[00:30:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Really makes you want to kind of get going.

[00:31:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's also a pretty unifying song that there's not many people who don't get pumped up by that.

[00:31:09] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's the one I would add.

[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_00]: I wouldn't be surprised if it's already on the playlist somewhere.

[00:31:13] [SPEAKER_01]: If it isn't, it's going on. If it is, I'm gonna put it on twice.

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER_01]: There's a tune and a half. So that's got to go on there.

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And I knew when I was talking to you, I think this I could see a record player in the background.

[00:31:23] [SPEAKER_01]: I thought this guy was going to choose a cracking song.

[00:31:25] [SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, yeah, I'd love to have like presented some hyper intellectual book.

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure that you have guests that have just like phenomenal wisdom that they that they bring

[00:31:37] [SPEAKER_00]: and amazing books that they've read.

[00:31:39] [SPEAKER_00]: But I often go back to just those types of things like amazing songs,

[00:31:44] [SPEAKER_00]: amazing relationships that you can use to connect with people.

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's where or I like to sit.

[00:31:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that that's where both does really well to us is culturally is connecting with people.

[00:31:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we're recording this late on a Friday here in the UK.

[00:31:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So rocking out with a glass of whiskey and a dirty glass.

[00:32:01] [SPEAKER_01]: That's the perfect end to my day.

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER_01]: You could do a lot worse. You could do a lot worse.

[00:32:08] [SPEAKER_01]: And for anyone listening just wanted to find out more about anything we talked about today.

[00:32:12] [SPEAKER_01]: Connect with you or your team. Where do you want to point everyone?

[00:32:15] [SPEAKER_00]: We have I would say hit up Bolt's website, bolt.com.

[00:32:19] [SPEAKER_00]: It's it's an amazing site.

[00:32:21] [SPEAKER_00]: The team that put it together is exceptionally talented.

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_00]: And our LinkedIn page is a great place to pick up additional information more on an updated basis of what's going on day to day with us.

[00:32:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll get all the links added so people can find you nice and easily.

[00:32:37] [SPEAKER_01]: And I just love chatting with you today.

[00:32:38] [SPEAKER_01]: We covered so much of big takeaways from how checking out is becoming the new checking in,

[00:32:44] [SPEAKER_01]: especially 15 shoppers logging into Amazon at the same time we all arrive at a different home page.

[00:32:49] [SPEAKER_01]: The rapid rise of Gen AI powered conversational commerce.

[00:32:53] [SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to get you back on next year.

[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_01]: See how things are evolving even further because it's just moving so quickly at the moment.

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_01]: But you just do that.

[00:33:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for joining me today.

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I really appreciate the time talking to you.

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_00]: Enjoy your drink and maybe play some thunderstruck before you wind down tonight.

[00:33:08] [SPEAKER_01]: As we heard from Justin there, the evolution of e-commerce is about so much more than convenience.

[00:33:15] [SPEAKER_01]: It's actually about crafting personalized experiences that connect in a meaningful way with each shopper on an individual level.

[00:33:24] [SPEAKER_01]: And this is our expectation now.

[00:33:26] [SPEAKER_01]: We have it in Spotify to Netflix and Amazon and beyond.

[00:33:31] [SPEAKER_01]: We expect almost every big business or subscription or somewhere we subscribe to,

[00:33:36] [SPEAKER_01]: we expect them to know what we want, when we want it without being creepy.

[00:33:41] [SPEAKER_01]: Big balance there and Bolt seem to have got that balance just right.

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER_01]: And with AI driven strategies and a vast network of engaged consumers,

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_01]: Bolt really is at the forefront of this transformation.

[00:33:53] [SPEAKER_01]: But as we look ahead, how will these innovations continue to shape the way that we shop and interact with brands online?

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_01]: This is where I pass the microphone over to each and every one of you.

[00:34:05] [SPEAKER_01]: Whether you work in retail and you're looking at leveraging technology to deliver these experiences

[00:34:10] [SPEAKER_01]: or whether you're a consumer that has mixed feelings about this,

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_01]: maybe you're passionate about it, maybe you're not so passionate about personalized experiences,

[00:34:19] [SPEAKER_01]: whatever it is, I invite you to be a part of this conversation.

[00:34:23] [SPEAKER_01]: And you can do that by emailing me, techblogwriteroutlook.com.

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_01]: You can connect with me directly on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, just at Neil C Hughes.

[00:34:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Let's keep this conversation going.

[00:34:35] [SPEAKER_01]: But as for me, it's time for me to put on Thunderstruck by ACDC.

[00:34:40] [SPEAKER_01]: That earworm is going to be in my head all weekend now.

[00:34:44] [SPEAKER_01]: But thank you for tuning in.

[00:34:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Be sure to join me again tomorrow.

[00:34:48] [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to continue exploring cutting-edge developments, how technology is impacting every sector.

[00:34:54] [SPEAKER_01]: So I cordially invite you to join me again tomorrow.

[00:34:57] [SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully speak to you then. Bye for now.