Choosing the right tech solutions can be like entering a long-term relationship with vendor partners. “There has to be a long-term gain more than just a nice-to-have quick incremental add,” said Ann Marie Ippoliti, vice president of ecommerce and marketing for Michael Kors at The Lead Summit in New York City earlier this week.

That means marketers need to work with vendors to make sure they can meet—or build to meet—brand needs. “I think that our partners are grateful if we give them direct feedback because we can make their product better,” Ippoliti said.

Here is how Michael Kors, Hermès, and Knix approach building a tech stack.

Often overlooked tech stack considerations

Evaluating tools consistently for ROI and KPIs is vital for ensuring the best outcomes of a tech stack, but even the best tech will fall short at a business that isn’t ready for change or doesn’t have buy-in from leadership.

Companies must ask, “even if you found the best tool out there, is your business ready to adopt it?” said Ron Ijack, CTO at Knix. Ijack said businesses may put off adopting new solutions due to factors like finding the time and resources to implement a new technology.

Each piece of a tech stack must offer clear business use cases and offer measurable results. “Even if you have the best solution…we still have to defend it to our CFO,” said Juliette Arnaud, senior director of commerce systems at Hermès of Paris.

Balancing brand integrity with change

Internal technology changes must occur without compromising brand perception or customer experience. “You cannot touch the brand,” emphasized creator Christine Russo.

In fact, brand considerations are often more important than tech capabilities. Knix has worked with “crappy” solutions for the sake of not impacting consumer experience, Ijack said.

“If that [mediocre] system works and it's quiet, yeah I'll probably work with it,” he said. "But as soon as it doesn't, I'm done with it.”

Maintaining flexibility from the jump

The accelerating pace of technology innovation requires flexible contracts, the experts agreed.

“I no longer have a three-year roadmap for tech, because if I did that three years ago, generative AI probably wouldn't have been on it,” Ijack said. Instead, brands must have a tech stack that allows agility as technology evolves. To maintain flexibility, Ijack recommended “either short-term contracts or an exit clause...because in this day and age [business needs] could change tomorrow.”

Ask for what your brand needs

There’s power in being a vendor’s “favorite brand,” Arnaud said. Brands with solid relationships with their tech partners can influence how vendors innovate and demand better solutions.

“Talk to the vendors. Tell vendors what [your] issues are with tech and get them to resolve it,” said Ijack, emphasizing how it’s in vendors’ best interest to meet brand needs within the retail space. “We all talk to each other. If I have a bad experience with somebody, they're gonna know about it.”

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