Brittain Ladd has worked with Amazon for Worldwide E-Commerce and Cross Border Expansion, Amazon Fresh and Pantry Operations, and as a consultant with Deloitte and Capgemini as well as a few other global MNCs in their supply chain BUs. With hands-on experience working and living in China, Saudi Arabia, and Europe and has spent his career implementing best-in-class innovative supply chains for leading retail, consumer and FMCG companies globally.
His GRIDD concept for online grocery retailing was recognized in 2015 as being a Top 100 Idea in Business. As a former Marine, he believes that anything can be achieved regardless of the size of the challenge.
He is also a constant writer on LinkedIn and pens a monthly column for several publications: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and numerous international publications.
Listen to the full discussion here:
Connect with the Guest:
Brittain Ladd: Linkedin
Some of the Highlights from the Podcast:
- How the e-commerce industry grows amidst the Coronavirus crisis
- Why Google should buy Shopify and FedEx to compete with Amazon
- Death of retail?
- Amazon will take 12% to 20% of the global 3PL market.
- Amazon will be the biggest grocer seller by 2025 to 2028
Show Notes:
- [01:27] Tell us a little bit about the reimagining retail practices piece and the space of innovation.
- [02:02] In 2013, I actually wrote a research paper called a Beautiful Way to Save Woolworth’s, where I recommended it to Amazon to acquire Whole Foods Market and I designed a store for them that includes micro fulfillment.
- [03:55] What I talk about reimagining is looking at these massive companies and saying, “Is this the best they can do? Or through M&A and other things can they really reimagine what they’re doing?”
- [04:43] We have provinces in China that are under lockdown. It also means that e-commerce is growing tremendously as a channel for people to procure goods. What’s your view on this? And how is this coronavirus crisis impacting things?
- [06:11] What this virus did is point out the importance of supply chain and logistics. But really, what it says to me is these governments need to do a much better job of being prepared for deploying inventory of medicine.
- [08:17] Can you share with us some cases, apart from the Amazons and the Alibaba’s and Walmart that you think have done a pretty good job in this space?
- [09:26] Working with X5 Retail Group on leveraging autonomous vehicles.
- [11:22] Amazon built AmazonFresh and Amazon Prime, and now they’re also having their own branded supermarkets. How do you see this playing out in the future? What do you think they’ll do next?
- [12:15] Amazon needs to go slow, and Amazon is not really going to have a big impact on grocery ‘till around 2020 or 2021.
- [14:41] I truly believe if Amazon puts the time, money and effort into this, between 2027 to 2030 they’ll become larger than Kroger in terms of grocery cells, and between 2030 and 2035 they’ll become larger than Walmart in terms of grocery sales.
- [16:28] I wanted to bring into the discussion the fact that Nike and Ikea pulled out of Amazon. They don’t want them to represent them and own their customer experience. How do you see all these things?
- [18:48] I don’t see how it’s possible for a lot of companies to pull away from Amazon. Amazon is growing, they are the hub of online demand generation, and I think they’re going to remain that way.
- [20:52] I think that we’re not seeing the death of retail, we’re seeing the reinvention of retail.
- [21:40] Virtual stores might happen as soon as 2030. Tell us a little bit about your views on that
- [22:38] Jeff Bezos always said that what customers want are speed, value, and low prices.
- [26:37] AR and VR crushes all the limits, they don’t exist in a virtual world. And I truly believe the future of retail by 2030 is there will be many consumers who will shop from a virtual store.
- [26:53] How do you see this Google versus Amazon and Facebook versus Amazon Competition?
- [27:40] Google believes that the way for them to protect their ad revenue is to enable retail for others.
- [29:54] Advertising your brand and generating ad revenue without running commercials.
- [32:54] Amazon might make Amazon Web Service a separate company, then make Amazon Logistics and Fulfillment a full-fledged 3PL and then potentially acquire Target or Cosco. Tell us a little bit about these three points.
- [36:48] I truly believe that between 2020 and 2024 will be able to know if the Congress is serious about going after Amazon and I won’t be surprised if they are.
- [37:00] FedEx decided to discontinue their partnership or relationship with Amazon. They took a fairly big hit on there on their stock price. How do you see this possible?
- [39:17] If Amazon does go public as a 3PL, within the first 12 to 24 months they may be able to take 12% to 20% of the global 3PL market.
- [42:42] What can competition like Schenker, FedEx or UPS do as opposed to Amazon?
- [46:18] I think what they could do is to look for massive M&A opportunities to where they truly say, “Let’s just merge as equals, let’s make acquisitions and let’s carve out a bigger presence in Europe, the US, Asia and so forth.
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About the Host:
The host, Radu Palamariu is the co-author of “From Source to Sold – Stories of Leadership in Supply Chain”. He has been named one of the top 3 Global Supply Chain Influencers on LinkedIn and was featured in Forbes, Bloomberg, WEF, Bangkok Post, and MIT Supply Chain Talent magazine. Radu invites executives to share stories and perspectives around technology, logistics, e-commerce, supply chain, and manufacturing, and their views on how the future will look.
Alcott Global connects and upgrades the supply chain ecosystem by finding the right talent through executive search, developing talent through learning solutions, and meeting supply chain technology needs through a comprehensive crunch base marketplace.
The supply chain executive search has been our focus since the very beginning, offering recruitment services for top-tier supply chain roles at every level of the end-to-end supply chain: plan, source / procure, make, and deliver. Our consultants have years of experience in placing top talent, in North America, LATAM, Europe, the Middle East & Africa, and APAC, and besides speed, one of our biggest strengths is our network within the supply chain industry, and we capitalize on it to find the best solutions.
Through the years, we have grown as an organization and our offerings with it. One of our initiatives, the learning solutions- training and supply chain academy, is focused on transforming leadership- self-leadership, executive presence, influence capital, and business acumen. Through Supplify, we aim to match corporations with the top technology companies to solve their supply chain and logistics challenges with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.
We are in constant touch with the leaders in supply chain, inviting them to inspire the supply chain professionals in thought-provoking podcast episodes and events, and showcasing what is possible at the yearly Leaders in Supply Chain Awards.
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