Revolutionizing Retail With AI - Driven Strategies with Kausambi Manjita

Andy Splichal:

Welcome to today's episode of Make Each Click Count podcast. We are going to be exploring AI and retail and e-commerce today. We are thrilled to have a very special guest, Kausamib Manjita from Mason. Join us. Mason is an innovative company that has been transforming online retail through AI technology. Mason's flagship product, GetMason IO, is an AI shopping engine designed to boost conversions, enhance merchandising, engage with customers with unprecedented precision. Welcome to the show, Kausambi.

Kausambi Manjita:

Hi, Andy. Hi, Andy. Really happy to be on the show and, yeah, thanks for having me. Look forward to our conversation.

Andy Splichal:

Yeah, you know, it's great to have you on. Let's get started. Can you tell listeners a little bit about Mason and the inspiration behind get Mason IO?

Kausambi Manjita:

Yeah, for sure. So both the founders, including me, we worked at, you know, on the technology side of retail companies globally. In my last tent, I was involved in a subsidiary of Walmart Labs, you know, working on personalization. And how do you really leverage data to essentially give, you know, hyper personal connected journeys, shopping journeys. When you step back, you look like, you know, as you're going through millennials to Gen Z's. We are shopping anywhere. We are shopping at the point of inspiration. Like, we see something on TikTok, it's exciting, and then we hop on to, you know, hey, maybe we want to buy it.

Kausambi Manjita:

So, which basically means that as a consumer today, you really want the brands to know you and be personal with you. Otherwise, there's not really much of a brand loyalty. Whatever you find exciting, you go for it. So as we were working there, we, and we were building a bunch of, you know, personalization solutions, we realized that there's definitely a, to connect the dots for small and medium businesses globally especially. We started out with a shopify ecosystem. So what we do is we help connect your clickstream data in your store to actually drive real time personalized experiences in the session. So a lot of CRM solutions do it. Of course, there's amazing solutions out there, including Klaviyo, one of my favorites.

Kausambi Manjita:

But a lot of it is about retrospective sort of pinging you back after you've done with the session. But can we do something in the session when the consumer is still there and maybe nudge them with the right products, with the right offers, with bundles, things that excite them and actually help them make the decisions about? So that's what we do. We use, of course, leverage, AI and data. But more importantly, it's about can you get a, that single touch point that you get with the consumer? Can you actually make it impactful and hopefully get it to a close, to a deal, to a sale?

Andy Splichal:

So you had mentioned Shopify. Is that what you're exclusively working with right now?

Kausambi Manjita:

No, we started out with Shopify. We started in 2020. And of course, the first, biggest platform, every majority of businesses in North America, of course, are on Shopify globally too today. But it's the headless system. So today it supports out of the box shopify, woo Magento big, a bunch of the usual suspects, but it's also API backed. So as we are starting to work with larger customers, so platforms like Salesforce, Commerce, et cetera, we have APIs to, connectors to them too.

Andy Splichal:

So your platform, I was reading, it claims to be able to increase conversion rates by 350%. I mean, how does it work? I mean, you install it in the background and it learns just from other shoppers behavior on what to show, when to show. But I mean, how is it changing stuff around on the webpage? I mean how, how is it working to increase conversion?

Kausambi Manjita:

So much love that question. Right. And it's a really good question. So, you know, growth is not really that one trick pony, right? So it's not that one you do, you know, a or B and then you've got the best revenue and sales happening in your store. It's a lot about being able to identify drop off points in your consumer's journey and then taking an action to sort of address that gap. Right. So for example, you know, your new visitors to your store and specifically on mobile could be dropping off. Right.

Kausambi Manjita:

And a lot of times it's about, you know, new users on mobile, really short attention span. So maybe they need more social proof or more recommendations based on their intent or their browse behavior immediately and in order to take a decision. Right. Whereas if you're a returning user, a lot of the time it's about can I complete the buying journey? Right. So can you nudge them towards more browse, not bought, sort of, you know, work, you know, flows within your store. So, so what. What Mason does is it plugs on into your, you know, store backend, shopify, ecommerce, whatever it is. And it starts off with identifying where in your funnel the biggest drop of points are today.

Kausambi Manjita:

A lot of times it's your, you know, your cart recovery rates, your cart abandonment, your cart completion rates are definitely, you know, some of the things that has a lot of scope to improve, you know, your PDP to cart, essentially, that. That part of the funnel is a lot of times broken. So it basically identifies where in your funnel is the biggest gap. And then the next it does is it recommends playbooks or workflows that actually can help you plug the gap. So, for example, if it's a PDP to cart. So then Mason recommends that, hey, like, this is where your biggest drop offs are. Why don't you do more of, let's say, upsells or, like, timer based discounts in our PDP? Or maybe like, browse, not both sort of recommendations for returning users to the PPE to your store so that they don't have to go into the PDP again, but on the homepage can get the nudge of what they were browsing and then hopefully just buy. Right, so that's how it works.

Kausambi Manjita:

Yeah. I mean, for Shopify and bigcommerce and some of these platforms, it's definitely plug and play because it just connects and then it starts working. But for some of the larger platforms, there's an element of integration to all the different data sources.

Andy Splichal:

Yeah, I mean, you took my next question right out. How much legwork is involved for store owners to get this up and really running effectively?

Kausambi Manjita:

Yeah. For SMBs, again, most of us are built on top of the usual suspects. As I said, your shopify being a large, we have as deep an integration with Shopify as we can. If you're not using any other different order systems or catalog systems and you're built purely on Shopify, it's plug and play as fast as in the first day itself. You can connect, you get the recommendation, turn that playbook on, and you're good to go. But, yeah, as I said, for larger teams, where maybe your product information management system or your catalog is somewhere else. And so there, of course, there's a connector aspect that comes into play.

Andy Splichal:

And how does the pricing work with your system?

Kausambi Manjita:

Yeah, you know what? That is always a great question, primarily because it took us a while to also reach here. You know, it's about end of the day, we realized that what we are trying to do is help you get more sales right and help you convert target specific cohorts that are underperforming and help them convert better and buy better. So over the years, last, you know, three years, we've evolved into a completely outcome based model of, of pricing. So if you are making money, you're making new revenue, then we get a take rate of that new revenue. So whatever status quo in your store today stays as is. But any additional revenue that we are able to add, we have full attribution. Last mile attribution impact. It's a single window.

Kausambi Manjita:

Last mile attribution. Very clear. It's not like Google or Facebook, where you have to attribute for the next seven or ten or nine days and pay for that. You. It's not. So it's, if someone's buying in that session and it's because of some of the nudges that Mason recommended or implemented, then you pay. Otherwise you don't.

Andy Splichal:

And how are you able to figure out, I mean, if it's. I guess, how. How do you figure out that that sale is attributed to the get Mason program?

Kausambi Manjita:

As I said, it's. It's the last minute attribution. So basically, let's say that, you know, the example that we took that your PDT two card is for returning users. Your PDP to cart conversion rate is super low. So then what happens is you sort of pull up that part of the funnel upfront for your consumer. So the next time the shopper lands in your store, you get a browse not bought sort of a section or a carousel or a nudge bang in your homepage, you don't have to go back to searching for where your products are. And if you are directly adding to cart and checking out or buying out, that whole funnel is connected. So if the consumer, if the shopper is eligible for a Mason run funnel, and if that consumer buys through that Mason run funnel, that's how we track whether anything that any of the consumers did go to any other part of your store that's not managed by Mason does not get attributed.

Andy Splichal:

And is it attributed, is it on the wholesale or just the part where they enter? Like, if they add five more things to their order only on this?

Kausambi Manjita:

Yeah, that's a great question, too. We did work with that. So it's only on the part. A lot of it is express checkout. So typically, you know, you see that in beauty or personal care or, you know, solutions like that in industries like that. It's a lot about can I buy what I want right now? And of course, if I'm also continuing to shop and add a lot of different products, we are not the reason why the consumer is buying it. So of course we don't get attributed for it. What we are also seeing as an add on, I think, point over there is that people tend to take a lot of impulse decisions.

Kausambi Manjita:

So sometimes you are adding a bunch of stuff to your card, but you are not really, you're still in a comparison or decision making mode. But if you see that there's a regime, that beauty regime, I've been browsing this serum and I see this night regime set and I get a nudge that this knife regime set is at like a 5% discount for the next five minutes. We do see people tend to buy that immediately and then come back and continue to browse for other products. Right. So we only get attributed for the kind of, for the products in your basket, which are attributed because again, of the Mason run funnel. And we also encourage a lot of direct checkouts because it's all about can we get the consumer to take the decision and not just wait and, you know, browse through the whole catalog after the first purchase, it's always easier for a shopper to come back and buy again if they like the product.

Andy Splichal:

And does your system help with merchandising as well?

Kausambi Manjita:

Great question. So some parts of merchandising search is something that we don't do today. We have search partners, but for example, bundling of products, you know, your category navigation, your mega menus, things like that. Definitely, you know, the solution does impact today, but search and search results is something that we don't do today.

Andy Splichal:

And AI, I mean, one of the biggest, I guess, worrisomes people have with it is how does it affect privacy of their browsers? How have you been able to address that?

Kausambi Manjita:

Yeah, yeah. I think number one thing over there, and you do see that in a lot of brands today, when you're going to the brand site, you see like, hey, like we are, you know, kind of like trying to understand what your needs are. And if you are not willing to opt in to us trying and understanding what Andy or Kasambi is interested in, please opt out immediately. So I think that's always a hygiene for all brands, that if you are sort of like trying to track the user and the user's journey across the store, you have to be transparent about whether you are going to utilize that information bang in the session or beyond. So of course, a lot of the solutions that we have are targeted to that session. So it's about that consumer at that point in time. And then can you nudge that consumer to take a decision to buy in that instant? Some of the parts of solutions that we do are more like product finders or fit finders, which are more interactive. So there, of course, you know, a lot of times the consumers themselves want to give out information because they want that tailor tailor made recommendations and suggestions.

Kausambi Manjita:

Right. So over there, it's a lot of opt in base. If you want, then you get the recommendation. If you're not willing to give them information, of course, you know, you, you don't get the recommendation. So, so, yeah, it's, it's something, it's a line that you always have to really be careful about ensuring that consumers are transparently aware, you know, what's happening in the store that they're browsing at.

Andy Splichal:

Now, what would you say to store owners, business owners who have been slow to kind of embrace AI on their websites or use AI?

Kausambi Manjita:

Yeah. Yeah. I think it, again depends on the size of the business. Like if you're very early on in your brand or d, two c journey, it's a lot about product market fit and building that, you know, the right set of products or the kinds of products, understanding what messaging works for your consumers, driving traffic to your store. So it's a lot of that. Right. AI can definitely help you in iterating with your messaging, you know, experiments, trying to, you know, come up with ideas as a brainstorming partner. More like a copilot for you.

Kausambi Manjita:

Right. So I think at that stage, it's more about can you leverage almost like, you know, community and based learning to experiment more and better and faster and AI can help you do that. Right. But as you're able to drive traffic to your store, you become a brand where you have some amount of loyalty, you have good acquisition strategy in place, then it becomes very important for you to now continue to build and leverage that little bit of the starting point of the relationship that you have with your consumer and build that relationship. And the only way to build that relationship is if you can understand, try and understand the consumer and deliver the right value to the consumer at the right point in time. So, of course, depending on the stage of your journey, can leverage different kinds of AI to help you. But that's something that's, you know, going to be very intrinsically just, you know, omnipresent going forward. Like, wherever you go, there are tools and solutions.

Kausambi Manjita:

Even Shopify has an AI copilot. So somewhere or the other, you know, there's always going to be, there is starting to be. We are getting to a place where no matter what we are using, there's some element of learning. I like to think of it as a slightly different thing than just as AI adoption of a technology, but more that we've been working with tools and apps that are not learning engines. And today with AI, you get the benefit of a tool or an app that learns with you, right? So it's a tool and app that you probably don't have to throw away. If you're growing your business, you don't have to like replace your entire stack. It actually grows with you, it learns with you. Right? So I think thinking of AI tools and solutions as almost like an extended member of your team who helps you understand all the experiments you've been running and do better over time.

Kausambi Manjita:

So I think with that mindset, it gets easier for you to understand what sort of AI tools work for you in your journey as a brand owner.

Andy Splichal:

So what size of companies do you typically work with in Mason? And so if they're listening and how can they get a hold of you if they want more information?

Kausambi Manjita:

We work with companies who found some kind of product market fit. So about a million in rev or beyond. Typically 2 million plus is where they get the best benefit onwards. We don't work with, you know, the Fortune 500s today, but we do work with anybody from 2 million onwards till and above. And I think the volume of orders, a couple of things additional also helped. If you have the more than 1000 2000 orders a month, it definitely helps. The second thing is if you are a fashion and retail company, if you are beauty personal care company, anything that requires your consumers, it's very personal because you want the right skincare that works for you, you want the right t shirt that fits you, etcetera, all of that. So industries that are very personal.

Kausambi Manjita:

So these are the kind of teams that we work with a lot and who have found great success. And the best way to find us is, you know, you can just hit us up on LinkedIn or our website, Getmason IO. Drop in your details and you know, my team or I will do tend to get back to you fairly fast, so we should be able to help you out.

Andy Splichal:

Well, this has been great. Is there anything else you would like to add before we wrap it up today?

Kausambi Manjita:

Oh, well, we have a special offer running for your listeners and listeners who are listening to this podcast today. So through the, as the holiday season is coming up. We are very excited to help you get the leverage and hopefully make really, really good sales through this heavy, heavy football season. And so you can get a 20% off on your entire holiday season. Sales that run through Mason just hit us up and you know, anybody who's listening to it and we're happy to get you set up on that.

Andy Splichal:

Well, that's great. Well, thank you very much.

Kausambi Manjita:

Thank you. Thank you, Andy. It was a pleasure.

Andy Splichal:

Yeah. Thanks for joining us today.

Kausambi Manjita:

Pleasure. Yeah.

Andy Splichal:

For listeners, remember, if you like this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave us an honest review. And if you're looking for more information on Masonde or connecting with Kasmonby, you'll find links in the show notes below. And remember that offer that 20% off through the holiday season. In addition, if you're looking for more information on growing your business, check out our podcast Resource center, available at podcast Dot make eachclickCount.com dot. We have compiled all of our different past guests by show topic and included each of their contact information in case you would like more information on any of the episodes previously done. Well, that's it for today. Remember to stay safe, keep healthy and happy marketing, and I'll talk to you in the next episode.