Peter V.S. Bond is Vice President of Retail Strategy at PowerReviews, focused on enabling commercial success within the omnichannel digital retail vertical.

Peter’s prior experience includes having directed category and brand omnichannel personalization for the retail business unit of CVS Health and roles at dunnhumby and IRI, working with large enterprise CPG and retail clients like Kroger, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Campbell Soup and others.

Why did you choose to pursue eCommerce in your career? It’s all about Wayne Gretzky, a fellow Canadian. Don’t go where the puck is, go where the puck is going. Particularly in the grocery channel, eCommerce was still at a very nascent stage prior to the pandemic. Seems like it was a good decision in retrospect.

What is your biggest strength, and how have you used it for your success in eCommerce? My deep experience in consumer loyalty in the grocery/mass/drug channels has positioned me well to understand how big data can be employed to efficiently target consumers with exactly the right omnichannel stimuli to accelerate the path to purchase.

What is the weirdest skill or talent to come in handy in your eCommerce experience? I am particularly great at profiling stakeholders through digital resources and painstakingly weaving my knowledge of what they like and dislike into our conversation to build connections and drive sales. I once used a client’s online wedding registry in this way. The goal is to not appear “creepy.” It is a fine line.

What was your most “valuable” career failure, and why? I was unable to convince my company’s leadership that moving from a category P&L focus to a customer-centric focus would deliver superior results as it had in prior companies. It taught me that some organizations are unwilling to change even when clear evidence is provided. That is not the right organization for me.

In the last five years, what new belief, behavior or habit has most improved your life? Patience and understanding. Everyone you work with has their own issues and pressures. Always assume good intentions.

What are you learning right now? I have been teaching myself how to edit videos to improve the quality of the video podcast series I am producing with Sri Rajagopalan.

What are the 1-3 songs that would make up your career soundtrack today?

• “Roll With It” by Steve Winwood
• “We Are The Champions” by Queen
• “It’s a Beautiful Day” by Michael Buble

What are the 1-3 books you’ve gifted the most or that have greatly influenced your life, and why?

• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell: It helped me to identify my archetype of “connector” and the leverage this in a more structured way for business
• Master of the Senate by Robert Caro: This details the incredible political influence that Lyndon Johnson wielded as the Senate Majority Leader in crafting coalitions to advantage legislation
•  Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell: This uses extensive empirical evidence to confirm or debunk numerous conventional beliefs on economic drivers.

If you could have a gigantic billboard for the world to see with anything on it, what would it say, and why? “Be kind, rewind.”

What are the worst recommendations or advice you have heard related to eCommerce? “Don’t waste your time on product reviews…no one ever reads them and they don’t deliver ROI.”

What advice would you give to a future leader of change about to enter business, or specifically the eCommerce field? Test many things, fail fast and quickly scale what works. They start testing again. Victory is achieved incrementally in eCommerce. It is a journey, not a destination.

What specific, industry-related change do you believe will happen that few others seem to see? The digital shelf is entirely different than that of the physical one which requires an entirely new set of tools and techniques. As eCommerce has grown 3-5X during the pandemic, brands need to better understand these requirements and play to how the digital shelf operates.

What is the last thing you bought online, and why? I purchased a car headrest mount for my iPad along with an entire season of the show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood which I have downloaded. I am preparing to drive my family from Chicago to Connecticut and need to keep my daughter happy for the 14-hour adventure.

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First Movers is a change leader interview series featuring select industry pioneers who are boldly driving the evolution of digital commerce, the consumer and everything in between.