How To Build a Future-Ready Organization with Lauren Livak Gilbert of Digital Shelf Institute - Episode 409

Ecommerce Braintrust

🎙️Interview With Lauren Livak Gilbert of Digital Shelf Institute

DESCRIPTION

Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Operations.

Today, we’re excited to welcome back a returning guest: Lauren Livak Gilbert, Executive Director of the Digital Shelf Institute and co-host of the Unpacking the Digital Shelf podcast.

With over 10 years of experience in digital commerce and design, Lauren is a sought-after commerce strategist for hundreds of global omnichannel brands.

Today, Lauren joins us to share insights from a recent DSI report, Reinventing the Organization for Omnichannel Success: Beyond ‘Where Ecommerce Sits'.

Tune in to find out more!

📚 RESOURCES

Reinventing the Organization for Omnichannel Success: Beyond ‘Where Ecommerce Sits’

Quote:

“A lot of the traditional brands, some of the older brands that have been around for a long time, are realizing that if they don't pivot, they're going to be beaten out by these 15, 20 new digitally native brands that started yesterday.”

Lauren Livak Gilbert

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordan, and Lauren discuss:

• Purpose of the DSI Report: The motivation behind the report, highlighting the persistent struggle brands face in truly restructuring for omnichannel, rather than simply treating symptoms of digital change.

• The Pace of Change in Ecommerce: How the rapid evolution of digital retail—fueled by factors like AI, frequent platform updates, and new competition—demands a more agile and adaptable organizational model than legacy in-store structures allow.

• Crawl-Walk-Run-Sprint Model: Lauren outlined a maturity framework for organizational evolution, ranging from the “sidecar” approach (a small, dedicated digital team) to full organizational reinvention that integrates ecommerce thinking across all functions.

• Training and Continuous Education: Why continuous upskilling and cross-functional training are essential.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: The need for breaking down silos—ensuring supply chain, R&D, sales, marketing, and other departments work seamlessly together for a unified consumer experience.

• Mindset Shifts for the Future: Lauren highlighted her recommended mindset shifts for building a future-ready brand, with practical steps for prioritizing the most impactful ones.

• Practical Outcomes of Reinvention: A successful, reinvented organization is defined by agility, frictionless decision-making, consumer-centricity, and strong cross-team collaboration.

• Leadership Structure Evolution: The rise of titles like Chief Growth Officer, and why unifying sales and marketing under a single leader can remove internal competition and align teams around shared targets.

• Start Now, but Pace Yourself: Lauren stressed both the urgency and the patience required: start making small changes now, but recognize organizational reinvention is a long-term process.