Meet Magento: The Myth of the E-commerce Easy Button

🌟 Live from Meet Magento Florida! 🌟

In this episode of Hello Moxie, Nicole Donnelly speaks with Noah Okenberg about the importance of diversity in leadership, the challenges faced by B2B companies in adopting e-commerce solutions, the unique dynamics of B2B versus B2C, and the necessity for businesses to adapt to changing consumer demands. They also discuss the importance of community support, the role of women in tech, and the need for seamless integration in e-commerce platforms.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00)
You're listening to the e-commerce edition of Hello Moxie with Nicole Donnelly. each episode, we speak with leaders in the e-commerce industry on promoting diversity in the tech sector, the latest e-commerce trends, and how B2B brands can innovate through e-commerce. Moxie is sponsored by DMG Digital, a woman-owned marketing consultancy dedicated to helping B2B companies create exceptional customer experiences.

Speaker 2 (00:25)
Hello, we are here at Meet Magento Florida. I know you missed us and I'm joined today by the amazing Noah Okenberg. Noah, how are you today?

Speaker 1 (00:34)
I'm just trying to, you know, avoid like eating all of your cookies all at once right here.

Speaker 2 (00:41)
I know, they look delicious, don't they?

Speaker 1 (00:42)
they

do and this whole setup is amazing too. I love bringing the tea kettle.

Speaker 2 (00:46)
Yeah, well, I wanted my guests to feel at home when they came here and there's nothing more comforting than a hot cup of tea, right? Absolutely. Right? absolutely. So let me pour you one because here we go. All right. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:58)
Is this a Hello Moxie thing that you take on the road with you or is it just Meet Magento Florida unique?

Speaker 2 (01:03)
No, this is the start of something bold and exciting. So, yeah. So thanks for joining me. Absolutely. are you... So first of all, I have to tell you guys, Noah and I, man, you were the one that introduced me to this community. How long has it been? Like a year and a half ago or something like that?

Speaker 1 (01:21)
yeah, like two, maybe two and a half years. Sounds about right. Yeah. And really you saved my tail because we had a keynote that wasn't like fell through, you know, pretty close to showtime for Meet Magenta New York. Yeah. And like, yeah, I mean, for all of us, you know, like the win-wins, like those were definitely, that was definitely one.

Speaker 2 (01:36)
That's my lucky break.

Yeah, you were probably sweating. Yeah. I remember when you emailed me and you were like, hey, do you want to be the keynote speaker? I literally I thought you were playing a joke on me. I first, for real, I was like, no, he has it in him. He would mess with me this way. And then I got on the phone with you and I was like, no, he's for real. He really, he really needs some help. Perfect. So yeah, but that was so fun. It was great. You were perfect for it.

Speaker 1 (01:45)
I mean

Yeah, it was perfect.

You

rocked it.

Speaker 2 (02:11)
Loved

it and plus I got to be introduced to this amazing community who I just, I can't say enough great things about this wonderful community. They're so inclusive and supportive and collaborative and it's been really, really great. There's a lot of great people. So thank you. I will just have to thank the person who bombed out on you at the last minute. that person was, thank you. Whoever bombed out. I'm so glad you did.

Speaker 1 (02:36)
We'll

leave that, we'll omit that from the record, but no, it was fine. And there was a really legit reason. But you know what you mentioned about the community is true because it's, you don't have to be here for a long time. You just have to show you care and put in the effort and the work. And like, that's what's kind of respected and embraced versus, you know, maybe folks like, oh, they've just been around forever. So you got to keep earning your stripes in this community too. You can't just like live on a namesake. The contribution that you invest is really what counts.

Speaker 2 (02:41)
I'm sorry.

the time.

Yeah, that's a really good point. Well, cool. Well, what are you? So our podcast, we talk all about women in history and the women who've inspired you. And so I would love to hear from you. Who is a woman that's inspired you?

Speaker 1 (03:18)
Well, are actually a women-owned company as well. I'm one third of it, so the other two thirds are...

very inspirational women. I mean, on a daily basis, hourly basis sometimes, we get to work together with Erin Hunt, who's around here, and Marisol Garcia, who is also our CFO, and is also my wife. And so, you know, just to be able to see the dynamics that we have, I mean, our engineering manager as a woman, to have a company that...

kind of breaks the mold in some cases. I mean, you know, like, I'm a guy, there's no knock on guys, but it's just when people have different lived experiences, and they have different perspectives based on, you know, all the different factors that make us unique. But women bring, you know, their own special brand of, you know, leadership and engine, like, ingenuity and problem solving. And like, it's, it's lovely just to able to partake in that on a daily basis to see that. like, it inspires me constantly.

Speaker 2 (04:23)
I love that. Yeah, I think it's so great to have to have that like presence on the executive team to have women in those positions and I think it's amazing that you've made that a priority. I was talking with someone earlier about like anyone who's in a position of influence and power really should be very intentional about making sure they're bringing in diverse voices, not just women, but like, you know, all different kinds of experiences, religious backgrounds, know, know, cultural backgrounds. It's so important for innovation. So what have you noticed

most about having some women in your executive.

Speaker 1 (04:56)
Yeah, I mean, I guess you do need to be intentional about it, what you said, but also sometimes it just happens more organically when you have.

the people already there, right? So like, you when you were born as a woman owned company, it wasn't like, hey, we should bring in some women to make this, you know, like, so were there, was Aaron, Mari and I started it. And, and so, you know, that's in itself, it's a sort of, I don't know, like kind of a beacon of leadership. sets a, it sets a bar that, you know, other women can like, are saying, hey, wow, this is great. I understand that like some of the challenges that we've had in male dominated workspaces,

we know we're not going to have those here, particularly. mean, anything can happen, but still, I've seen that sort of understanding happen amongst a workforce, which kind of opens us up to not being so pigeonholed. You have an environment that doesn't have people in leadership that are representative of all the diversity of everything that you were mentioning.

people don't get attracted to that. I can never find, well, I'd love to employ women, but I don't know where the women are that want to work. Well, maybe that's because they're not looking for you, you know, because you're not. So it be maybe difficult to get that started, but like that's where the work is worth it. And like what you mentioned for me, just to be able to see how that attracts more talent to humans and women that otherwise I probably never would have been able to interact with.

Speaker 2 (06:25)
Yeah, that's

true. That is really cool. If you can see it, you can be it. And so I think it's really great that you have that built in so that it's attracting other really amazing, awesome, talented women to join forces with your team. yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:40)
And the industry needs

it, you know? We also work in heavy equipment manufacturing and I work on the Workforce Solutions Task Force over there. And one of the issues in that world is people want to, kids want to grow up and design websites and do marketing and be software engineers. There's this lack of technicians and welders and the skilled folks that do that stuff because it's just more and more nobody wants to do that.

But then you look at the demographics of the labor and the workforce in that industry and it's like 98 % men. like, I wonder if there's somewhere we could find, you know, people that want to do this job and are capable. Like, ah, I just don't get it. You know, like, but so that's why I'm saying like industries need that. It's not just like a, hey, let's do the right thing or whatever. You know, like that's needed. That's beyond every other layer that it brings.

Speaker 2 (07:35)
Yeah, absolutely. Very cool. Well, what are you most like when you think ahead and you're thinking about like what you're looking forward to with e-commerce? What's on the horizon? What are you most excited about?

Speaker 1 (07:45)
I who

for the industry itself for what we're going as a company. Yeah. I mean, it kind of is it's kind of similar, but really the how things are becoming more seem seamless. Seamlessness. So that's a word.

Speaker 2 (08:02)
Yeah,

yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:03)
But

you know, I feel like, know, how the different pieces I was just sitting in a roundtable discussion at lunch with some folks that signed up for that and around a lot of the topics were like how to get the extension marketplace like like in a better place, more accessible, easier to use, easier to submit, easier to find stuff. How to get, you know, features that are part of, you know, the Adobe Commerce.

also in Magento open source to have more of a seamless like all the different partners. We're constantly looking at integrating multiple different business systems and there's e-commerce platforms like Shopify that try to be the SaaS all in one and that's what people want in life. We have so much.

crap going on in our daily lives that like trying to manage like multiple different vendors and multiple different platforms and multiple different tools is really hard, you know, because you've been on that side of the equation and it's just like, and so

Speaker 2 (09:01)
hard finding that balance, think, right? Because, you know, especially in B2B, there's so much complexity, it's so hard to fit all that complexity into a SaaS solution sometimes. But then trade off is that, you know, with that complexity, and when you have so much customization, there's trade offs there can be harder and more to maintain that. Right? So it's like how you find that balance is important. But yeah, there does seem to be a much stronger appetite for SaaS these days. think people think it's like the easy, easier way to move forward.

Like how are you addressing that with clients that maybe have a lot of complexity? you working with them to just like maybe recommend they adjust their workflows a little bit more so that it fits into the SaaS model? Or do you lean more on the set side of things where, you you want to customize it specifically to what their business use cases? Like what do you, how do you usually tackle that?

Speaker 1 (09:52)
And so you got to start by breaking down like the narrative the sales folks have created that isn't doesn't exactly paint the full picture You know like his platforms want to sell like we're the easy button. We're all in one you know and so and that's great I don't knock it you know that's that's our job in business development sales to kind of have a thought in people's mind of what something is It's like they'll come in say like you know

there's a platform like Salesforce Commerce Cloud, they acquired by Salesforce acquired demandware. And they're like, hey, look, we have this like platform where you get your CRM and your, your e commerce and you know, everything all in one. But the reality is, there still like, some people will come in and say, hey, I want that I want that easy button. What they don't know is like, they're still disparate systems in the back end and like, you kind of got to start by deconstructing that narrative. And sometimes it's impossible because they're just like, but no, I know it's an easy button. And you know, my cousin Susie sells, know, like,

Speaker 2 (10:34)
So like.

Speaker 1 (10:43)
like t-shirts and it was so easy to roll up that shop. I'm like, yeah, like you're making like commercial grade air filtration systems that you sell out to like other businesses.

Speaker 2 (10:46)
If only it was that simple.

You can't ship that stuff parcel, you know?

Speaker 1 (10:57)
Yeah,

so it's different. There's a couple differences in the business.

Speaker 2 (11:00)
Yes, so true, especially when you have custom price books and all that.

Speaker 1 (11:04)
Yeah, so it's both. So you've got to start by sort of breaking down that narrative to make sure people actually really know what they're looking at, that there is no one thing if their business is like you said, and B2B is so much more unique. That's primarily who we work with, you know, is B2B and manufacturing and distribution. And like the one commonality is that everyone's different.

Speaker 2 (11:25)
Yes,

everyone is different, like even in the same industry. different.

Speaker 1 (11:29)
Like, I want

what they got. like, yeah, but that's, don't know what you just got. Control C, control V.

Speaker 2 (11:34)
I think what you're highlighting is just there's such a knowledge gap, especially in these legacy B2B companies who just, they don't know e-commerce, you know? And so, and the people that do know e-commerce like you that are experts, it's so hard sometimes to bridge that gap, you know, and help them understand. It takes a lot of time and patience.

Speaker 1 (11:53)
But that's

our job and we've got to get better at doing that. That's what we're tasked for. That's why people would hire us versus not. And so like, you know, it's...

We gotta get better at that. And I think that's also, there's two sides to it. Breaking down the narrative that there is no easy button in this stuff, but also working really hard to make it as much of an easy button as possible at the same time, because we're all consumers and we all have busy lives and we all want it. A lot of the pushback is coming from these years of working with Magento and platforms that are lot more wieldy. I know there's unwieldy, is there wieldy? Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:30)
They're

pretty unwieldy sometimes.

Speaker 1 (12:31)
You know,

right, or unwieldy, yeah. But so, but you know, it's like.

Speaker 2 (12:35)
Is anything

wieldy these days? feel like everything's unwieldy, especially in B2B, right?

Speaker 1 (12:41)
That's

the next topic. What's the deal? Yeah. Yeah. No, but I mean, you know, people have like, added a we had somebody recently that got hacked because they hadn't done a version upgrade in a long time. And, know, it's and they're and they're now going to another platform because of that. Wow. Whereas, I mean, we built them. mean, these these were.

Speaker 2 (12:55)
Do that with Magento.

Speaker 1 (13:04)
Anyway, there's a lot of really good stuff you can do and people can move away from the right platform because of something like that. It's understandable, right? It's like, I get it, you know? Yeah, it feels like a lot. I got to keep up with these upgrades every so often. It's going to cost this much, you know, versus like it just happens like, there's no version of Shopify. Boom, just there. But then they also want to have these complex solutions.

Speaker 2 (13:28)
clothes,

custom price books, all that fun stuff.

Speaker 1 (13:30)
So we got

to figure out. And that's what I'm excited about is that I think people have been putting thought into that.

for a while now because consumers have been demanding it. The users of these platforms have been demanding this and Shopify, folks like Shopify started that narrative. And even if it wasn't true entirely, just the fact that they're pushing that narrative, the same reason Amazon pushes same day deliveries and stuff like that. Yeah, maybe that's not possible and it hurts other small businesses, but it does make us change what we're trying to solve. And so there's a lot of smart people out there.

But now they're like, all right, well, people are demanding this. Let's figure out how to.

Speaker 2 (14:09)
Especially I think now we're seeing such a rise in B2B e-commerce, right? And so it's kind of forcing the market to address those challenges because more B2B companies are saying, hey, I want to sell this way now. I'm ready to start doing this. And that they jump into it and it's a bear. And so how can we break down that complexity for them and create solutions for them that make it work? Because B2B is so different than B2C in so many ways.

Speaker 1 (14:34)
I mean

there's a whole like B2B is the same as B2C movement and I get it why that's where that comes from there are like as far as like when you're talking about just people that you're dealing with ultimately yes it's person to person but yeah you know that that's

Speaker 2 (14:47)
It's not I mean, yeah, I went into it thinking, yeah, B2C, we just we just put some skews up and set up a shopping cart and fixed pricing and man, the money's just gonna roll in. That's not how it works. Dang, it's not like selling shoes. shoot.

Speaker 1 (15:00)
Wait,

And again,

it's back to how you sell this stuff and if people are selling it like that, then people believe it. And so there's a responsibility of people that are selling these platforms, selling the integrations and stuff like that, that they're being realistic and setting those expectations accurately. Because otherwise, would say, well, know, Joseph, I could get the easy button. Why can't you get me the easy button?

Speaker 2 (15:26)
So true and really like taking the time to understand the business. think the clients, especially B2B, they really respect and trust you more if you like know the ins and outs and the intricacies of their operations. B2B e-commerce is so operational. much more than marketing, right? I mean, marketing is still an important part of that, but so much of this, how can we create a more frictionless customer experience through the whole process? So that's more of the challenging part with B2B than B2C.

Speaker 1 (15:56)
Manufacturers

are used to figuring out all the places they can tighten the screw to make things efficient. They might not have experience in the e-commerce world as proportionate to, you know, consumer packaged goods or something like that, but they absolutely have the experience in business because that's how they've been able to stay afloat and grow and stay alive is those are those efficiencies. And so you have to be able to.

You're not selling them e-commerce. You're just simply translating all the work they've already put into and how that works to a digital channel.

Speaker 2 (16:29)
Exactly. It's not e-commerce, it's commerce.

Speaker 1 (16:32)
E-commerce! Yeah, that's right! There's also no hyphen in e-commerce but that's all another debate!

Speaker 2 (16:39)
I know, is it e-commerce with a capital C? Or e-commerce with a lowercase c? Like, what's the rules? Noah, us.

Speaker 1 (16:46)
I

first of all, I don't think people argue about this enough. I think people need to argue about this more because it's a really important thing to argue about.

Speaker 2 (16:53)
There's so many like topics to be talking about like, you know, World War three Ukraine, but let's talk about how e-commerce is spelled hyphen or no hyphen. I mean, it's really annoying. when it auto corrects me to the hyphen, I really get stopped. Come on. Yeah, it's not e-commerce.

Speaker 1 (17:02)
Maybe it's the answer.

Right.

How are you gonna autocorrect me wrong? no. So here's why I think because there's no hyphen in email, and there's no capital M in email. It's just a word.

Speaker 2 (17:22)
this up right you know what we need to solve this problem that's our mission

Speaker 1 (17:27)
I think once this gets unlocked and cohesion forms around this, everything else on this planet will fall into place. We're on hunger, we're on wars.

Speaker 2 (17:39)
It'll all work itself out. Start small. Just solve that. Little steps, baby steps. Well, Noah, thanks for coming on the show.

Speaker 1 (17:46)
Thanks for grabbing

me.

Speaker 2 (17:47)
Yeah,

this will be so fun. So you're officially, don't know if I told you, but you are live. So you're live. great. And you did a fantastic job. Yeah. And listeners, thanks so much for tuning in. This is the amazing Noah. He's fantastic. We're so grateful that you came on and thanks for all you do for the Magento community and all you do for B2B companies, helping them move to e-commerce. It's, it is no small feat. No. No small feat at all. We both know. Cool. So yeah. So thank you. Enjoy your tea. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (18:09)
You know first

Beautiful

like living room breakfast

Speaker 2 (18:18)
and you know what?

So this is our lovely Hello Moxie swag bag for our listeners. and we even have a book. You can give it to Margie. This is a book of our first 10 guests that came on the show. It's pretty cool. And you get you got a pen in there and all that fun stuff. thank you for being with us.

Speaker 1 (18:27)
Okay, alright, alright.

I

didn't even know I was gonna get some swag to go with it! I would have definitely...Yeah!

Speaker 2 (18:43)
Well, since you didn't take a cookie, get the bag. Perfect. cool. Can she come over? I'd love to have her. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (18:45)
Anyway, and my will be here shortly too.

Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. We'll see. Well, she'll be here. Might be after everything.

Speaker 2 (18:53)
She'll

be at the after party. I'll catch her there. Exactly, right? By the pool? You can't miss that. For sure. I wish we could be live at the pool party. That would be the best. Then we can catch Noah dancing and drinking. That would be the real, that would be really the best part. You would do that. You totally would do that. I could see it. I could see you a flip off that bridge.

Speaker 1 (18:55)
Dinner and dancing.

Maybe I was thinking about jumping off that bridge into the pool.

No,

I'm not the flip guy. I flip and I probably belly flop and rupture something.

Speaker 2 (19:22)
I don't know

I thought I thought of you as a flip guy but alright yeah no you're the e-commerce with no hyphen guy

Speaker 1 (19:28)
But the name with a hyphen, which they did not put on the badge.

Speaker 2 (19:33)
did not. That is shocking. Yeah. It's not surprising. Are you really? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:36)
I'm thinking of dropping it anyway.

Credit cards hate it. always tell me I'm an invalid character.

Speaker 2 (19:40)
I imagine it's an annoying thing.

Yeah, but I think that's cool. That says a lot about your parents. Sounds like your mom was a pretty progressive woman.

Speaker 1 (19:48)
Yeah, you know they were they were in the first sort of like round of the hyphenators. I feel like maybe a little bit little bit past that. But yeah, there was an era that kind of kicked off the hyphenators so.

Speaker 2 (20:00)
You

are a child hyphenator, that's great. Yeah. Thanks Noah.

Speaker 1 (20:06)
That's a wrap for today's episode of Hello Moxie E-commerce Edition. Thanks for joining us as we bring you the latest news in the e-commerce industry and celebrate diversity and innovation in the tech sector.