Everything Is Downstream from Your ERP - Wayne Stratbucker

Wayne Stratbucker has seen both sides of the omnichannel equation. He's helped brands sell on Amazon, Walmart, TikTok Shop, and Instagram. He's watched clients try to modernize their frontend while their ERP runs on a green screen. And he's had it with the LinkedIn vaporware parade of "I built a full e-commerce app in a day." Now, as Senior Ecommerce Strategist at Codel, Wayne works across the full stack of digital commerce — translating business goals into technical requirements, building omnichannel growth strategies, and pushing clients to fix what's broken before chasing what's shiny. But Wayne's hottest take isn't about channels or platforms. It's that the e-commerce industry is lying to itself about what AI can actually do today. Vibe coded checkout flows that can't survive an hour of UAT. Apps that look great in a LinkedIn post and fall apart the moment real money touches them. Wayne's argument: if you work in e-commerce, you know what a shippable product looks like. Start acting like it. We also get into why your ERP is the single most important (and most ignored) piece of your digital transformation, the difference between first party and third party marketplace strategy, how AI is finally breaking down the data literacy barrier so non-technical stakeholders can actually use the insights they've been sitting on for years, and why personalization doesn't require a six-figure platform purchase — just Shopify Flow and some customer tags. If you're a Director of E-Commerce who's been told to "do personalization" but can't answer basic segmentation questions yet, or you're staring at a backend system from the Clinton administration and wondering where to start — this one's for you. Want any help Personalizing Every Customer Touchpoint? Check out https://Mobile1st.com Interested in talking to Justin or getting on the show, find him on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinaronstein/ Key Topics: The difference between first party and third party marketplace strategy — and how margin pressure changes the calculus Social selling versus social discovery: what it means to complete a purchase entirely on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook without ever hitting your site Wayne's hot take: vibe coded e-commerce apps are vaporware — and the industry needs to stop pretending otherwise Why your ERP is the foundation everything else sits on, and why a green screen backend means you're already a decade behind The "2025 Civic with a 1972 engine" problem: how legacy backend systems silently kill digital transformation efforts How AI is democratizing data literacy — letting non-technical stakeholders ask questions of GA4 and data warehouses in plain language Why companies have more data than ever but aren't using it, and how AI changes that dynamic Personalization without a platform: using Shopify Flow, customer tags, and native tools to customize experiences by segment The "billboardification" of e-commerce: why there are now 50 options where there used to be 15, and what that means for capturing attention Channel-specific demographic targeting: why your TikTok audience and your Facebook audience might need completely different product experiences Data compliance and accessibility as non-negotiable foundations — and the $15K–$25K claims that catch businesses off guard Extreme Ownership applied to e-commerce leadership: why team failures are leadership failures, and how that mindset reduces churn Chapters (00:00:04) - Checking In: E-Commerce Strategist Wayne Stratbucker(00:01:16) - Marketplaces vs Social Selling: How Are They Different?(00:03:48) - Amazon vs. Walmart: Their Omnichannel Strategy(00:05:29) - Is Social Selling the Future of Marketing?(00:07:15) - E-Commerce Hot Take(00:15:52) - WSJD Live: The Importance of Backend Systems(00:22:42) - E-commerce: Micro-targeting and personalization(00:26:23) - How to Personalize Your Site with e-commerce customizations(00:29:16) - Five Things to Focus on in E-Commerce This Year(00:31:35) - Beyond Extreme Ownership: A Year to Win(00:33:45) - The 22 immutable laws of Marketing