Feat Clothing's Nate Poulin On Centralizing Your Operational Data

Hear how building an integrated data structure can generate higher returns for your DTC brand.

Having sources of truth, systems of record, and ERPS are only useful if they help you make a decision.

But how do you align your data strategy with business objectives? How do you stitch these systems together to generate ROI for your brand? For the answer, we turned to Nate Poulin, COO of Feat Clothing and experienced advisor to digitally native vertical brands.

Join Nate and our CEO, Adii Pienaar, in this insightful and transformative conversation as they deep dive on:

The different sources of truth and systems of record available to brands today
What the ideal state is and the primary challenges brands face
The surprisingly tactical way to stitch a centralized system together

Tune in on: Apple | Google | Spotify

““I think maximizing your margin and not trapping operational dollars in your inventory are really key abilities that you need to build as a business early on. And it requires discipline, focus, and attention. You're not always gonna get it right.”
Nate Poulin, COO of Feat Clothing

Meet Nate Poulin

Nate is an experienced operator and advisor for digitally native vertical brands. Early in his career, he spent time with Michael Kors before joining well-known brands Bonobos and Outdoor Voices. He is currently COO at Feat Clothing.

Connect with Nate on: LinkedIn | Twitter

About Feat Clothing

Feat rightfully calls itself the most comfortable athleisure clothing in the world. Since 2015, the brand has expanded its clothing line from hoodies to activewear and house clothes, all designed and made with its signature softest Buttery Blanketblend fabric.

They take pride in cultivating a community where people of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities can feel comfortable in their own skin while shopping sustainably.

Learn more about Feat Clothing on: LinkedIn | Website

The Checkout episode 41 unpacks:

In today’s episode, Adii Pienaar and Nate Poulin geek about sources of truth, systems of record, first-party data, ERPs, and everything in between. Here are the highlights:

[02:25]

Why DTC brands should care more about sources of truth and systems of record

One of the fundamental value propositions of direct-to-consumer as a channel has been the proliferation of data
How do you create systems of record or sources of truth within your data architecture?
Ultimately, you can leverage the data in a powerful way: draw conclusions, that then create actions and then catapult your brand forward

[4:19]

The problem with big data

“The digital world that we live in now, there are so many different elements that you can bring into your dataset to understand how customers interpret your brand and your products.”
Most brands fail to structure their data during the growth cycle
Avoid drowning in data by structuring it appropriately during the evolution stage

[11:28]

How to marry human rationality and artificial intelligence

“In the digital world that we live in now, there’s so many different elements that you can bring into your dataset to understand how customers interpret your brand and your products.”
Most brands fail to structure their data during the growth cycle
Avoid drowning in data by structuring it appropriately during the evolution stage

[18:28]

Building an integrated, scalable data stack

There’s a huge opportunity for the industry to really harmonize the data across different functions and elements of the business
Nate: “The most successful businesses I’ve been a part of directly have had strong overlap between the planning and merchandising side of the business and the operations and the marketing side of the business.”

[35:28]

What the ERP of the future looks like

No 2 brands operate the same way, ERP’s gotta solve for all different elements and make it work for all of these different orientations of the value chain
Brands need a tool that will evolve with their needs
The modern ERP needs to function above and beyond spreadsheets to preserve the integrity of the data while empowering multiple people to collaborate. Only then does an ERP become a source of truth

[40:29]

Maximizing your margins

The outcome you’re chasing is to maximize margin relative to cost
What cost do bad decisions have on your margins?
“I think strong investment there would be warranted for any brand that really wants to sort of be balanced in terms of how they’re creating demand and how they’re maximizing efficiency against that.”