Top 50 CMO in Australia, Mark Baartse on Harnessing AI with Data to Increase eCommerce Conversions

A man of many hats, Mark Baartse is a Chief Marketing Officer, Ecommerce Marketing Consultant and multi-national keynote speaker with an impressive track record in increasing company revenue and digital transformation accomplishment.

Ranked one of the top 50 CMOs in Australia, the Top 50 people in eCommerce, Top 5 Marketing Minds (the list goes on), Mark has mastered his craft and built a career in helping companies grow, enhance and deliver results from their digital strategy.

In this interview, we asked Mark about the technology transforming Australian retail, his thoughts on why Media buying is increasing the AI game, the ‘real’ (less sexy) challenges of implementing AI, cult brand success factors and his forecasts for the coming year. It’s an insightful, frank and honest look at the Australian retail scene that considers all sides of the eCommerce coin.

Mark, what technology is going to change the Australian retail and ecommerce future as we know it? What specifically will change in the next 2-5 years as a result?

I think there are two big changes. One is the evolving world of tracking and measurement in a post-privacy world. This year we lose Google Analytics as we know it and get forced (for most people, very reluctantly) onto Google Analytics 4. Many are exploring alternatives (with mixed results). Then as we lose more data signals we need to look at more mature products such as Incrmntal and Robyn, but I expect many more players to emerge in this space.

Second is the increasing mainstreaming of AI. ChatGPT has gotten mainstream attention, but AI has been increasingly showing its face in online business for 5+ years.

In your experience as CMO strategist, working with different brands in Aus - what use cases have you seen that involve using artificial intelligence in a particular area of the business - where is the biggest impact being made in your opinion?

I’ve been using AI solutions like ChatGPT and GPT3 for years. But the biggest impact won’t be text tools. Media buying is already increasingly an AI game. Google and Meta are increasingly AI machines via Performance Max and Advantage Plus, and then there are 3rd party AI wrappers around them which are adding further value.

The biggest changes are less sexy. Using AI to optimise warehouse rostering and layouts, budget optimisation, and a whole range of ecom functions. In my experience when you talk to people about this they generally agree but say “yes, but my job won’t be replaced, just everyone else”. This is a dangerous stance!

As with any system (human or machine-run), poor quality data leads to poor outputs. You can’t optimise media well to unclear goals or with poor forecasting for example. AI doesn’t replace basic data discipline. We’ll be increasingly moving into a world where people with poor data will simply not be able to keep up.

Some analysts are predicting much turbulence ahead. What are you forecasting for the coming year? How do brands prepare themselves for the year ahead?

The Covid situation in China continues to complicate supply chains for many. Rising interest rates, inflation, and Australian consumer confidence at a nearly 10-year low, all while marketing costs are rising and data signals are vanishing. Gloom and doom! But, I think it’s a great opportunity.

We’ll see a lot of companies start trying to do the same thing they’ve been doing for years – optimise media further and do more simplistic discounting. This will, at best, allow you to tread water with shrinking margins.

Instead, companies need to go back to basics: better budgeting, forecasting and measurement discipline, and doubling down on customer experience. Also, creativity is vastly under rated as a competitive advantage. The recent record boxing day sales show the money is out there to be spent, we just need to execute well.

I hear a lot of people saying that 1st data is the solution to the problems. This is a dangerous position. Firstly, if first party data is so powerful, you should have already been doing it! Nothing much has changed. Secondly, despite our best efforts, customers will churn. If we aren’t acquiring new customers then we are in trouble. The industry data is quite clear on this.

How do you stay up-to-date on the latest trends and technologies in the Australian ecommerce market and what differentiates this market from others in SEA?

I’ve been asked this a few times and yet to have a good answer. I subscribe to a range of industry newsletters, follow a bunch of interesting people on Linkedin, and just generally have my ear to the ground. Attending events like eTail is also really helpful. Much of this industry reinvents itself every few years, so being across the changes and trends is core business. Staying still is very dangerous.

While some consumer behaviour is different in SEA (e.g. chat and transactional TikTok are more important in SEA than in Australia today, and the last mile is quite different between the regions), the business challenges really aren’t that different. I recently had lunch with a few c-suite leaders from major SEA retailers, and within minutes we found our big challenges were nearly identical. The tactical execution varies of course but the strategic challenges are fairly similar.

What can large enterprise brands learn from successful Cult brands in Australia?

Bigger brands are risk-averse. They spend a lot of time asking “what could go wrong?” and protecting their turf. Successful cult brands spend a lot more time thinking about what could go right. Often, the answer to “what could go wrong” is doing nothing and stagnating. This needs to come from the top down, and have a culture where calculated risk-taking – which inevitably leads to failures – is rewarded, not punished. It’s a big cultural challenge. Leaders in growing brands need to watch this carefully, as they get bigger they switch all to quickly towards a protection mindset which can kill growth.

What do you find most valuable about being a part of eTail Australia and what will you be sharing at the event?

eTail is a great way to keep up to date with industry trends, create new connections and refresh old ones. I’ll be sharing some exclusive data on the actual numbers behind rising media costs (how much are they really rising?), and how to grow in a challenging environment. Many people have seen their marketing become less effective while costs are rising. This can be an existential threat. I’ll be talking about how to turn things around, not just get more blood out of a stone. If your marketing approach is “spend more on Google and Meta, and send more emails” you’re gonna have a bad year.

Join Mark Baartse on the 15th February @ 11:20am on the Keynote Panel on "Putting the Customer experience first: Creating partnerships based on authenticity and trust to grow revenue"