"Headless with a Brain" feat. Bryan Mahoney, CEO and Co-Founder and Henry Davis, CEO and Chairman of Chord

Future Commerce Podcast: eCommerce, DTC and Retail Strategy

The Big Pivot: From Physical Products to Headless Commerce

• The core idea of the pivot from physical products to software was the basis of our piece in Insiders #070: Phenomenological Brands, which is how we booked Arfa (now Chord) to the Show.
• The Chord team’s background in deploying technology at Glossier informed the need for unique eCommerce experiences, and headless represents a shift from the template-driven sameness of eCommerce today, to a new limitless future
• Henry breaks down a new announcement, the name change from Arfa to Chord, a stronger focus on business software, as well as acquiring business intelligence company, Yaguara.
• Arfa was rated as #4 in our “Amazon Prime Challengers” category in our Spring 2020 Nine by Nine report
• The technological evolution of headless commerce allows for a fundamental revolution in direct to consumer
• “To make real value at some point, you’ve got to walk away from something that's worth something.” - Henry
• Proprietary competitive advantage is a meaningful way to make your entire business better, and what will impact everything else.
• “We need to move the conversation beyond build versus buy. It's really buy the right thing and then build around it. And if you can't build around it, then it's not the right thing.” - Bryan M.
• “Our very unique position on this is not just about headless, it's about the brain as well. Having the tools is half the battle. Knowing what to do with them is the other half. And that's our very strong position that we arrived at as operators.” - Henry

Associated Links:

• Nine by Nine Report
• https://chord.co/
• https://www.glossier.com/

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