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Tennis star Emma Raducanu, Olympic skateboarding medal winner Sky Brown and Tesla boss Elon Musk are three individuals who have captured the thoughts and hearts of many in the last year or so and show what can be achieved with dedication to overcome challenges, according to Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell.

In his opening speech at Linn Academy 2021 Virtual, Campbell said: “I love the triumph. They are the type of stories that energise and inspire me and cause me to dream of all the things that could be possible.”

But he pointed out that they had succeeded by overcoming challenges, something that retailers need to embrace. “Our industry is going through a massive amount of change. It’s in a watershed moment and moments like these can be unsettling,” he said.

But this makes it all the more exciting, he said. “Where change occurs opportunities emerge.” Campbell said we are living in the era of the great commerce acceleration, embodied in the rise of the effortless economy. As a result, enterprises have to change to stay connected in this new world with a greater deeper investment in digital channels. “We have seen an irreversible shift in the centre of gravity in our organisations to ecommerce,” he said.

He sees brands and retailers investing in three areas, brand building, multi-channel distribution and establishing total commerce control through operations as they seek to connect commerce channels seamlessly and simultaneously and connect commerce operations too. “The transaction is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much complexity that can exist below the surface,” he said.

Campbell outlined the key areas in which Linnworks will be investing to further enhance the Linnworks offer over the coming months, including product, the partner ecosystem and service.

“The great commerce acceleration has set in and the decisions that our businesses choose to make in the next 12 months, given this is such a transitional moment, will determine much of our success for the next decade,” he said. “The greatest stories of the 2020s will belong to those businesses who are courageous and don’t give in to fear.”

2022 & Beyond: An interview with Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell & Tamebay's Chris Dawson

In a fireside chat, Tamebay Editor Chris Dawson spoke with Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell about the great commerce acceleration into 2022 and beyond, as well as outlining what decisions online retailers should be making now to maintain growth and mitigate issues.

Retailers broadly need to focus on two things moving into 2022, Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell explained to Tamebay editor Chris Dawson in a fireside chat at Linn Academy 2021 Virtual. “It’s how do you understand your customers and then how do you set up in the back end,” he said.

Campbell urged retailers to thoroughly map their customer journey, from discovery to purchase, through to delivery and returns, to understand where any friction might be. At the back end he said it was about setting up the organization with the technology that allows retailers to scale effectively and quickly.

The duo agreed that marketplaces will continue to grow. “The marketplace proposition is very compelling to the end consumer,” said Campbell. “You have so much choice and you are empowered by things like price. For the marketplaces the business model is compounding – the more buyers the more sellers.”

Campbell said marketplaces will be key in 2022 and all brands and retailers need to have an approach and understand how to work effectively with marketplaces.

Dawson and Campbell also discussed future trends, highlighting BNPL, click and collect and sustainability as key issues where retailers will witness future growth next year.