Sachin Bhargava is a seasoned expert in digital optimization and marketing, specializing in high-growth strategies and design-centric branding. John Hardy has created artisan handcrafted jewelry since 1975.
With 15+ years of experience in merchandising, retail, and e-commerce, Sachin has contributed to the success of brands like Macys, Inc., Best Egg, GEM, Myro, Gilt Groupe, Mack Weldon, and more. Sachin holds an MBA from NYU Stern, where he focused on Digital Marketing and earned his BBA in Finance and Psychology from The George Washington University.
Tim Ouimet: I thought it would be valuable to highlight your background and experience, especially from a pricing perspective. Your unique career journey—spanning digital brand building with aspirational products across fashion, deodorants, multivitamins, and luxury jewelry—is particularly compelling.
You’ve lived through multiple transformations: digital, creative, and now AI. On top of that, you’ve served as an adjunct professor at LIM College, teaching the business of fashion. This breadth of experience is incredibly relevant and will resonate with our readers.
One topic I think would be especially interesting to share—something we touched on in our conversation—is how your journey, moving across these diverse industries, has shaped your approach to brand building.
Sachin Bhargava: What I love most about working in the e-commerce space and direct-to-consumer businesses is that consumer psychology remains consistent, regardless of the product. When someone lands on a website, their journey—from start to finish—follows certain standard touchpoints common across most e-commerce businesses. However, there are also unique psychological triggers and moments that capture attention in different ways.
For me, the most rewarding part is not just capturing conversions but also experimenting with pricing and understanding consumer behavior. It’s fascinating how different tactics, tools, and features can influence behavior. What’s even more interesting is that, while the motivations of someone buying a $30 pair of underwear versus a $3,000 silver bracelet may differ, their journey and the ease with which they navigate to find the right product remain fundamentally similar.
That core mantra—getting the right product to the right person at the right time—holds true across industries. Even when I meet entrepreneurs launching new businesses without any history or data, there are still tried-and-true best practices I can share. For example, bundling products is often misunderstood. Many companies think customers only want bundles for the discount, but they overlook the convenience factor. Customers are often willing to pay the same amount—or even a small premium—for the convenience of a curated bundle.
This approach not only increases conversions but can also boost the average order value (AOV). If you can sell three items instead of one without losing margin, that’s a win. Testing and iterating on these strategies can benefit both businesses and their customers, creating value on both ends.
TO: I see some of your old sales methodology from working in stores coming through—building relationships with customers and reflecting that in the relevance of how you bundle. For example, if someone’s going to a party, you might ask, “Do you need earrings or a belt to go with that outfit?”
SB: Totally. There’s some of that as well. And just to touch on it for a moment, I think relationship building—whether it’s physical or digital—is probably one of the most efficient ways to bridge the gap between someone who’s never heard of your brand or product and someone who has. That initial touchpoint, like “Hey, welcome to our brand. Can we help you find what you’re looking for?” makes a big difference. For example, at John Hardy, we made a really small tweak in our search bar. Instead of leaving it blank or just having the word “Search,” we added a phrase like, “What can we help you find?” This starts a conversation, even in what might seem like a static experience.
TO: I love that. You’re breaking a conventional pattern, and it ties back to the psychology of the journey and conversion. There’s so much consistency in that process across all the domains you’ve worked in. But then, when you break a pattern, you’re doing it with the intention of being more personal, which makes all the difference.
SB: Yep, 100%. I think a lot of people understand that you’re trying to meet them where they are. That’s something I always emphasize to brands—not every customer wants to be approached the same way or through the same channel. Some might prefer SMS, others email, and some might even want to hop on a call or have a video call [S1] interaction. There are so many ways to connect with someone, understand their motivations, and figure out what they’re looking for. As a brand, it’s about meeting them halfway with the right product, service, or even just building a relationship and creating a genuine connection.
TO: Coming from John Hardy, where you’re selling exclusive, high-price-point brands online, it seems like the relationship-building and credibility aspects have to happen very quickly—especially for shoppers who may have never heard of John Hardy before.
SB: Yeah, it really does. You can lose someone’s attention in 15 to 30 seconds—or even faster in some cases—so you have to capture their interest right from the start. Whether they see an ad on Instagram or find us through a Google search, that’s our first opportunity to introduce ourselves. Once they arrive on our site, we get a second chance to engage by providing the information most likely to resonate with them.
Is it the fact that our pieces are handcrafted? That we use renewable energy? That sustainability is woven into every part of our process? Maybe it’s the materials, the way the jewels are crafted, or even the unique stories behind our collections.
Storytelling is such a powerful tool for brands. It’s about positioning those stories in the right way and tailoring them to each customer to make a genuine connection.
TO: This is really interesting. Maybe I’ll take a step back and share something I’ve noticed in conversations with many retailers and brands. A common theme is that they’ll say, “We don’t have a relationship with our shopper.”
I think this largely stems from the fact that, as companies scale, they tend to focus on mass-market or targeted marketing efforts. What’s often missing is that give-and-take interaction—carefully curating not just the product attributes but also understanding customer preferences.
The other part you mentioned, about connecting those attributes to a story, is key. As I listened to you describe what you do, I imagined a process of progressively collecting customer attributes throughout their journey. For example, after telling a story that highlights the value of a specific attribute, you could analyze whether it starts showing up in their search requests or if it becomes a clear preference. It’s about creating that dynamic relationship between storytelling and understanding the evolving needs of your customers.
SB: Yeah, that’s a great point. We actually did a lot of this at another company I worked for. On the back end, we categorized our products across multiple personality traits and interests, trying to understand how to tie the right product to each individual.
We also solicited a lot of information from customers. This wasn’t a one-time thing, but an ongoing process. Every month, we refreshed the set of questions, and with each new response, we learned more and more about our customers. This all fed into our database to create a more personalized experience for you.
At that company, we had thousands of products. When you map product attributes against all those items and match that with user data, it becomes much easier to create clear—and sometimes not so obvious—connections. This is where our algorithm did a lot of the heavy lifting. If someone signaled interest in certain things, we made sure to push relevant products to them the following month and beyond.
The longer someone stayed with us, the more personalized their experience became. We tailored it to their interests, size preferences, and what they were looking for. I think the more you can learn from your customer, the easier it is to serve them the right experience.
TO: It’s interesting to consider where this is likely going to take the industry. When we spoke earlier, you made a prediction that agents would likely become pervasive by 2028 or 2030.
SB: Yeah, so I was joking earlier about how, back in 2010 to 2015, we kept hearing the term “mobile-first” over and over. Everyone was saying, “You need to design for mobile users.” The issue was, by the time folks were talking about it, it had happened—50 to 60% of your traffic was already coming from mobile devices, but brands were still focused on the desktop experience. Now, mobile has pretty much taken over, and brands are seeing 75 to 80% of traffic coming from mobile.
The next evolution is AI. The question is, how much do you embed AI into both your back-end and front-end experiences? How much do your customers get exposed to it versus how much is behind the scenes for the brand or company?
For example, Target set up a really cool AI system for their sales associates. Associates can input a question into their app, and the app will provide insights on the products their customers are looking for, along with more information about the brand. It even helps associates answer customer questions. This is a more employee-facing use of AI, but I’m starting to see more customer-facing experiences. At John Hardy, we tried last year to build a fun AI experience—it wasn’t a huge success, but it was our first attempt, and we saw good engagement. What we learned is that customers do appreciate AI, but it has to be used at the right moment.
I truly believe by 2030, consumer-facing AI will become much more prevalent. Instead of navigating through menus to find what you’re looking for, you could simply type something like, “I have a New Year’s Eve party to go to. It’s a black-tie affair, and I’m looking for a glamorous necklace, bracelet, and earring set.” The AI tool will know all about the brand and products and, in response, provide a personalized recommendation with visual examples, much like a store associate would. This would essentially turn the in-store sales experience into a digital one, delivering a similarly effective and personalized interaction.
TO: It really brings up an important point about how these agents play a role. You mentioned that brands are becoming content companies, and with these agents, not only are they telling the story and gathering attributes that align with shopper segments, but when you add an agent behind it, you start creating a give-and-take experience. This way, you’re collecting some really valuable data.
SB: Yes, exactly. The AI tool can start asking questions to better serve you. For example, it might ask, “What’s your ring size?” or “What outfit are you wearing so we can pair this jewelry with it?” By gathering more information, the algorithm can adapt to ensure it’s providing you with the right content.
And to touch on content generation, the reason I mentioned that many companies are becoming content generators is because of algorithms like Meta’s. Ads that once worked will begin to lose their effectiveness over time, showing to the same users and resulting in diminishing click-through rates and rising costs. That cycle is accelerating. Ads that used to work for six months might only work for six weeks now, so companies have to constantly produce more content, test different approaches, and learn from their data. If they don’t, they’ll fall behind.
Now, AI tools have become more sophisticated, allowing companies to generate content quickly, like generating ad copy, subject lines, and more. But we’re also starting to see AI create images and videos, like generating models to show your T-shirt across different genders, skin tones, and body types. This way, users can see themselves wearing the product because the AI-generated model reflects their characteristics.
There’s still some work to be done on the tech side to get brands comfortable using this daily, but by 2030, I believe many more brands will have fully embraced it. Some are already shifting in that direction, using AI for email templates, landing pages, automated customer service, and more. The potential for growth in this area is huge. I truly believe that in the next five years, we’ll see significant changes in both content creation and the role of AI in marketing.
TO: It’s interesting that you mention content and ads. I’ve noticed with some of them, at first, it catches my attention—I think, “Okay, that’s interesting.” But then, after seeing it for the 50th time, the fatigue sets in. As a consumer, I start thinking, “I hope I never hear that again.” And then when I hear it again, I actually find myself thinking, “I’m never buying from that brand.” It’s fascinating how, beyond just the fatigue, it can have the opposite effect. I’ve noticed that the repeated exposure can actually harm the brand psychologically for me.
SB: Like it causes frustration for you, right?
TO: Yeah.
SB: Exactly, you start thinking, “Why are you showing this again? It wasn’t relevant the first 20 times, so why would the 21st time make any difference?”
TO: Yeah.
SB: It’s tough to manage because budget, team bandwidth, and resources all come into play. Even outsourcing content creation adds another layer of complexity. But I think the more companies can integrate this process into their daily operations, the more successful they’ll be long-term.
Take, for example, trying to get seven new UGC videos from influencers with different scripts. If it takes six months to do instead of just four weeks, that’s a problem down the line. Brands that can establish streamlined processes, where creating new content becomes second nature—where they can just start the process and have it done—are going to scale much more efficiently. That’s the key to long-term success.
TO: Are you seeing that right now in the work you’re doing? I imagine AI, particularly generative AI, is playing a bigger role in copywriting and similar tasks. It seems like that’s becoming an increasingly important part of everyday business, right?
SB: I think it really depends on the brand. In the luxury space, brand protection is crucial. You need to ensure that the brand voice and tone remain consistent and elevated across all communications. For smaller brands, though, AI can be a game-changer. I worked with a small business client, a marketplace connecting sellers and consumers, similar to Etsy but on a much smaller scale. They’ve embedded AI throughout their operations. For their marketing strategy, they ran it through AI to get everything organized and structured. Then, I used AI to create briefs for other AI systems. For example, we used Anthropic to generate briefs for MidJourney so I didn’t have to manually create dozens of them. I could just input the necessary info and let AI handle the details. You can actually get these AI systems to talk to each other.
From there, I created email campaigns in Klaviyo, generated visual assets in MidJourney, and uploaded everything into Shopify CMS to build landing pages. The entire process was AI-driven—no copywriters, no graphic designers. It was essentially a one-person operation running the whole marketing strategy.
For small brands with fewer than 10 employees and a limited budget, this approach works great. For larger or legacy brands, especially in luxury, it will take longer to adopt and fully integrate AI. But it’s something that will definitely become more common over time. If you’re a small brand, leaning into AI capabilities is a smart move.
TO: Yeah, getting the data to support these data-driven processes seems like a tremendous foundation for advancing AI to its full potential.
SB: 100%. A lot of that will come from first-party data, something you’re feeding into it based on your history. If you’re a new brand, you might have to rely a bit on intuition or the wisdom of the crowd. Otherwise, if you have enough history, you can lean on that to get started.
TO: Yeah, exactly. In technical terms, that’s often referred to as a prior. So, you look at something you’ve never seen before and make your best guess at how it will perform, then learn from there. And talking about first-party data, one of the opportunities I see is how retail media networks are becoming more pervasive. As detailed shopping behavior data becomes monetizable, there’s a huge opportunity to gather high-resolution demand data. For instance, when someone makes a choice between two products, and one has a specific attribute, and they choose the one with that attribute, it not only tells you they value that attribute, but with enough data, you can understand how a given segment of shoppers—or even a specific shopper—values that attribute. That’s a game-changer. Instead of just monetizing ad space, you’re starting to predict what additional margin you can capture by integrating that attribute into a product or introducing a new product with that attribute into the assortment.
SB: Yeah, that’s a great point. I’ve seen that in practice as well, though less in the retail media landscape and more in website behavior. When I worked at Gilt Group, for example, we used a specific metric because, as you said, you might have two similar products with the same price and many similar attributes, but with one or two differences. As a brand, you might wonder what’s driving people toward one over the other. That’s where demand metrics come into play—click to PDP, add to cart, waitlist, or “notify me when it’s back in stock.” These signals from customers can be really valuable, and of course, the ultimate metric is conversion. But even beneath that, there are insights to gain.
One of the metrics we used often was the number of waitlist requests for an item. Gilt operated with a limited inventory model at that time, so we might have had 100 units of something, and it sold out quickly. But then we’d look at the waitlist numbers. If 1,000 people were waitlisted for an item compared to another item with only 10 people waitlisted, we’d know that demand was much higher than what we’d stocked. That would tell us we needed to buy more of the high-demand product. It would inform our merchandising and pricing strategies.
For example, if there’s a significant waitlist and excess demand, it means the price equilibrium is likely off, and you have the opportunity to increase the price—by 10 to 20%, for instance. You could reintroduce that product later, and because you already have a waitlist of 1,000 people, you might sell out again. These metrics helped us understand which products performed well and how to replicate that success. They were really useful tactics for optimizing our strategy.
TO: Yeah, I really like that. That was one of the questions I wanted to ask you—what are some of the ways you achieve price-value fit? That really speaks to that question.
SB: It really does. Another one I really liked was the “notify me” feature. As someone who tends to be on the fringe size, I’m usually a size small in apparel and a 36S in suits—sizes that aren’t produced in large quantities. I often find myself using “notify me” for when something is back in stock. At a previous company, we used this type of data to inform our size scale. Many companies buy in case packs, like one small, two mediums, three larges, and one extra large, but we were able to negotiate with suppliers for individual size purchasing. If I wanted to buy more size smalls, I could. We used sizing data to create specific size profiles per store and even localized sizing down to the store level.
TO: I really love that. We’re really getting toward the concept of a gentry that we were talking about last time, where you’re acting as the buying agent for the shopper. By tuning into what they want—or might want—and making decisions with that in mind, you start to build a relationship. You’re now in that position. It’s exciting to hear those stories, and I can’t wait for this to happen more at scale.
SB: Yeah, totally. I think the hardest part with dynamic pricing, or maybe transparent pricing is a better way to put it, is that customers sometimes don’t understand the nuances. They might think you’re being discriminatory in your pricing practices or disingenuous. But at the end of the day, businesses are trying to make the best decisions they can to protect their margins and create the best experience for shoppers.
A quick example is when I worked at an apparel company, where solid color items would be priced differently from printed or patterned styles because the costs varied. Even something like a heather style was more expensive, maybe 10–20% higher. We’d get comments like, “This is the same item I just bought. Why is this one more?” Sometimes, you have to provide product education, explaining that the difference in price comes from using different materials or rising raw material costs.
I remember a situation where there was a cotton shortage, and the price of cotton spiked. We actually invested in cotton futures to lock in a price, so we didn’t have to pass on too much of that increase to consumers. There are many factors behind the scenes that affect pricing, and often it’s just a matter of bridging that understanding for consumers with transparency and education. It can definitely impact the user’s journey as they interact with your brand.
TO: In the online class you taught, one of the areas you really reinforced was the concept of the value proposition. I think there’s a connection to pricing, particularly with dynamic pricing. Some people use dynamic pricing to test or AB test prices, or even to price discriminate. But when these actions aren’t grounded in a very specific value proposition you’re trying to create, they can alienate or confuse the shopper.
There’s also a point about ensuring that dynamic pricing is okay, as long as it’s grounded in a very specific value proposition. If pricing isn’t aligned to a defined value proposition for a particular segment or business purpose, then you put yourself in a risky position.
SB: Yeah, that’s a fair point. One approach I’ve seen companies use to address this is to create a better experience for customers through a membership model. With a membership, customers get certain perks that justify the pricing differences.
For example, at Bespoke Post, we did a great job with this. Members received a specific subscription box price that was lower than the non-member price. They also had access to “member perks,” which included products priced below retail but only available to members. It was our way of giving members a price break as a benefit of their subscription.
As a consumer, I’ve seen this with Gilt as well. I joined their annual membership program, which gives me free shipping on every order. Non-members, on the other hand, have to pay $10 per order for shipping. As a member, I also get access to VIP customer service if I have any issues.
Brands are finding ways to balance dynamic pricing and customer benefits by offering unique advantages to members. Whether it’s through lower prices, exclusive perks, or elevated service, these models help explain to customers why their experience might differ from someone else’s.
TO: Yeah, and I think when we consider the potential of an agent-based approach, a lot of this naturally falls into place. It essentially comes down to self-segmentation—where a person begins to express a desire for something different that might be outside the mainstream. Through that process, they self-segment into either a more value-oriented product or a more exclusive, premium product.
Because the customer is essentially segmenting themselves in this way, the pricing differential becomes much easier to explain and justify.
SB: Yes, that’s really interesting.
Segmentation is such a powerful tool for delivering the right message to the right person at the right time, especially for certain products. I’ve done testing around frequent shoppers versus discount-driven shoppers, and the differences in their willingness to pay were striking.
For example, shoppers who bought at full price more than five to ten times a year had significantly more flexible price elasticity. At one company, we raised prices by up to 20%, and these frequent shoppers still purchased. This was about seven or eight years ago, so some things may have evolved since then, but the theory should still hold: frequent shoppers tend to have a higher threshold for pricing.
In contrast, shoppers who only purchased during sales showed a sharp drop-off when we tried raising prices. For instance, when we implemented a 10% or 20% price increase, their conversion rates plummeted by double digits. These shoppers are clearly more price-sensitive and self-identify as deal hunters, waiting for events like Black Friday or Cyber Monday to make their purchases.
On the other hand, frequent shoppers are often less price-sensitive—they’ll buy what they need regardless of the price because it’s more about convenience or urgency for them.
Understanding these segments can be incredibly beneficial for businesses. It can help you reduce the need for constant discounting while allowing you to capture additional margin from shoppers who are less price-sensitive. This kind of insight can lead to long-term benefits for your pricing strategy. I think it’s a very good point
TO: Yeah, that’s a great point. It reminds me of the shift we’re seeing in how we think about customer loyalty. For so long, the focus has been on the customer being loyal to the brand or retailer. But now, I think we’re reaching a transition where the conversation is becoming more relationship-oriented.
It’s less about expecting loyalty from the customer and more about the retailer or brand demonstrating loyalty to the shopper—being attuned to what they need. Through mechanisms like self-segmentation, you can connect with value-oriented shoppers in a way that shows you’re genuinely listening to them.
For those customers who prioritize extreme value, they’ll recognize that you understand and care about their concerns. At the same time, you might acknowledge that they aren’t necessarily the target for exclusive brands or premium products. Of course, as a retailer, you’d ideally want everyone to be your customer. But the key is recognizing and respecting those distinctions while still fostering strong connections with each segment.
SB: A perfect example of what we’re talking about, or at least how I understand it, is Chewy, the pet food company. They sell a wide range of pet products. I don’t personally have a pet, but I was really wowed by this story.
One of their long-time customers had a pet that passed away, so they canceled their subscription with Chewy, explaining that they no longer needed the service. What Chewy did next was remarkable—they sent the customer a care package with a heartfelt message, expressing condolences for their loss and hoping it might help, even just a little.
As a brand, they didn’t have to do that, but the fact that they listened, cared, and took the initiative to connect on such a personal level was incredible. It’s an example of going above and beyond, and more brands are starting to adopt this kind of approach.
For instance, with the recent LA fires, people lost countless personal and meaningful items. Some brands stepped in to replace those items for free or at a heavy discount, meeting people one-to-one on a human level.
It’s not just about helping during hard times, either. Imagine a flower company sending someone a bouquet to celebrate an upcoming wedding or a milestone—something like, “We heard your big day is coming up. Here’s something on us.” Those gestures, whether in good times or bad, build lasting relationships.
It’s about creating connections that aren’t solely transactional. By fostering a human-to-human connection, saying, “I see you,” brands can deepen relationships and create experiences that bring consumers back time and time again. I hope we’re moving more toward that space, where relationships matter as much as sales.
TO: As you think about that, what are some of the key data elements in your go-to toolbox today? And from a future standpoint, what are you looking for tomorrow?
SB: We rely heavily on what we can measure digitally, but it gets challenging when you have multiple channels. For instance, we have a physical storefront, a large wholesale channel where data is sparse, and an e-commerce platform. The biggest difficulty is multi-channel attribution and understanding consumer behavior across these touchpoints.
For strictly digital channels, your website is the primary source of data since it directly captures customer actions. But with other channels like social media, both paid and organic, or customer reviews and service interactions, the signals can come from many places.
I find metrics like CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score), NPS (Net Promoter Score), reviews, and testimonials incredibly useful. On the social media side, social listening tools are invaluable for identifying trends and issues.
An example from my experience at a natural deodorant company highlights this: after launching a product, customers used our social media channels to share feedback rather than contacting us directly via email. Within hours of posting, we noticed multiple comments pointing out specific issues. Because we were actively monitoring our social channels, we caught the feedback early, immediately addressed it with our supply chain, and resolved the issue in the next product cycle.
Listening is critical today, but for the future, the goal is to connect all the different channels—digital, physical, and wholesale—into a cohesive listening engine. While current tools are effective for managing individual channels, integrating them across the board would unlock even more insights. And hopefully in the future, we can kind of connect all those other dots.
TO: What I see is the growing need for a data custodian. Not every organization has a dedicated data science team to handle the alignment, curation, and normalization of data. This role is becoming essential for managing relationship-driven data and ensuring it meets the quality and machine-readability standards required for AI applications.
SB: That’s a solid point. In most e-commerce brands I’ve worked with, there’s typically someone responsible for looking at data, but it’s rarely a full, robust team dedicated to it. Some companies, though, do this exceptionally well. For example, when I was at Gilt Group, they did a fantastic job combining data, engineering, merchandising, and other departments, ensuring proper data sharing and collaboration.
In FinTech, I worked with a strong data science team that surfaced opportunities and created new features for customers based on insights. I’ve also heard that Stitch Fix has a highly advanced data science team that develops impressive algorithms to drive their business.
I think you’re right. Leaning into data science and establishing a role specifically for a data custodian is critical. This role involves managing, analyzing, and continuously engaging with the data to ensure actionable insights. Companies need to allocate budget and resources for this because that’s where the world is headed—more data but not enough people to analyze it, mine it, and distill it into a communicable format for business leaders. It’s an essential investment for any forward-thinking organization.
TO: And so what’s next for you on the direct consumer path? What are you most excited about?
SB: That’s a great question. What excites me most is integrating technology into our existing e-commerce experience while moving away from the mindset that we must follow what others are doing just because it seems to work for them.
What happens often in D2C companies is a rush to replicate competitors—thinking, “Oh, they’re doing this, so we should too.” But that approach has two pitfalls:
- What works for them might not work for you.
- What you think is working for them might not even be working at all.
I really value an experimentation mindset—testing and learning at an MVP level. You aim to deliver enough value to the consumer without fully committing, so if something doesn’t work, it’s easy to pivot without significant losses.
As consumers become more tech-savvy and mobile devices more sophisticated, brands must meet customers where they are. For example, I had a video call with a furniture company where I connected directly with an in-store associate while browsing their website. The associate walked me through materials and helped me pair products for a cohesive look. It was such a seamless experience. When I later saw a demo of the vendor’s technology, I was amazed by the data they could access—location, browsing behavior, and the ability to guide customers directly to specific pages. This level of white-glove service will likely become more embedded in future experiences.
I also think we’re at a tipping point where brands are starting to take innovative risks without worrying about competitors. There’s going to be an unleashing of just really cool experiences. This shift will lead to some truly exciting developments.
One example is J.Crew, which has an impressive digital presence. They’ve created a virtual store—not in the sense of VR goggles, but through your laptop or phone. It’s an immersive shopping experience where you can “walk” into a virtual storefront, like one set on a beach. Each room is uniquely decorated, with interactive products that spring to life on your screen. You can even virtually try things on.
This kind of innovation pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in e-commerce. I’m excited to see more brands experiment with new technologies and create these unique, engaging experiences that genuinely benefit consumers. The future holds so much potential for creativity and innovation in this space.
TO: It’s interesting to hear you use the word “unleash” earlier.
(both laughs)
TO: I think that’s a fitting choice because, across every sector I’ve seen, product proliferation has only accelerated. I’ve been in the industry for decades, and this trend has grown consistently over the past 50 years.
Every year, we see more new products introduced. Precision manufacturing has expanded into areas like food, especially with the “food as medicine” movement, and other industries. As brands and retailers become more attuned to consumer needs, they’re leveraging data to listen more effectively. This data enables them to align their scale, operational efficiencies, and resources to develop products that meet those specific needs.
With this focused approach, I think we’ll see product proliferation truly “unleash,” as you put it. It’s happening quickly, and we’re moving into a world where this trend is only accelerating. But the exciting part, as you said, is watching everyone navigate their own unique market niche.
SB: Exactly. The more you understand your value propositions—just to circle back to that point—the better. The game-changer is ensuring people know what value your products or services provide and how you’re delivering that in the best way possible.
Even I struggle with this. For example, my wife and I started our own direct-to-consumer brand, and initially, we priced our product slightly above what people were willing to pay. We received immediate feedback that it was too expensive.
My gut reaction wasn’t to slash the price by 30%. Instead, I realized the issue was that people didn’t fully understand our value proposition. We needed to better communicate why the price made sense and how our product delivered value. That meant doing a lot of work on our end to ensure our advertising strategy introduced those value propositions early in the funnel.
If you wait until later in the funnel to explain your value, you risk people seeing your price as too high or not understanding the worth of your offering. But when you communicate early—helping customers see that your value proposition is X, Y, and Z—the pricing feels much more justified and avoids the “sticker shock” effect.
TO: What’s an example of getting that in earlier in the top of the funnel?
SB: The product I was referring to is a baby apparel item we launched. It’s gender-neutral and features cushioned knees and elbows—a very specialized product. The challenge was that consumers wouldn’t immediately notice the cushions because they don’t look like traditional knee pads, like the ones you’d wear for biking.
Instead of just relying on visuals, we had to get influencers involved to highlight this feature in their scripts. They would actually touch the product and say things like, “Oh, I love the cushioned knees and elbows—it really helps my baby with crawling.” That kind of firsthand explanation made the feature much more relatable and clear to consumers, far more than a static image could.
Once we nailed this messaging, our customer acquisition costs dropped dramatically—by 40 to 50%. This improvement came from explaining early on what makes our product unique. That way, when customers reached our website, they didn’t think, “Why is this $38 when I can get a five-pack on Amazon for the same price?”
It became clear that this isn’t a comparable product. It’s like apples and oranges. Once we made that shift in how we communicated the value, it was a game-changer for us.
TO: Yeah, that’s a super example. I really like that. A real life example of price value fit.
SB: 100%, especially when you’re trying to innovate and create a new category. As entrepreneurs, we’re always asking, What hasn’t been done yet? Sometimes, it hasn’t been done because there’s no real need for it. Other times, it’s because no one thought of it or executed it properly.
If you can execute it successfully and meet a genuine market need, it’s your responsibility to communicate that value clearly so people understand what you’re offering. Once we unlocked that for our product, it was such a special moment. It was amazing to see everything come together.
TO: That’s really cool. We’re at the top of the hour, and I wanted to thank you and see if there’s anything else that you thought would be important to share before we sign off. And I want to definitely understand how people can get a hold of you if they want to know more about anybaby.io.
SB: Our baby products are sold at anybaby.io. You can reach me personally at SKB.digital. I run a digital strategy consulting agency. I’m happy to work with small to medium sized brands, to help scale their e-commerce efforts and optimize conversion rates.
You can also find me on Udemy, where I offer a mini-MBA course. I’m planning to add more curriculum soon for those interested in starting an e-commerce business.
I’m always happy to connect on LinkedIn as well. Expanding networks is so valuable, especially in the DTC space—it’s a small world. In fact, we connected through an introduction! If anyone wants to get in touch, feel free to reach out.
TO: Sachin, thank you for the discussion. I really enjoyed it, had a lot of fun, and look forward to staying in touch.
SB: Likewise! It was a great conversation, and I really appreciated having this forum to discuss these topics. Thank you for your time. Hope you all have a great rest of your day. Take care!
