Lowe's Companies, Inc. Marketplace Seller Summit 2025
On October 23, 2025, RMW Commerce CEO Rick Watson joined Lowe’s inaugural Seller Summit at the Lowe’s Charlotte Tech Hub for a live interview with Michael McCluskey. The event marked a milestone in Lowe’s Marketplace journey, bringing together sellers, partners, and associates to discuss innovation, growth, and the future of eCommerce.
During the conversation, Rick shared insights from his two decades in digital commerce and his work hosting The Watson Weekly and Watson Weekend podcasts. He and Michael explored the evolving role of marketplaces in retail, the rise of specialty platforms, and how brands can position themselves for success in an AI-driven, omnichannel world.
Rick’s participation underscored RMW Commerce’s commitment to helping retailers and brands navigate the complexities of modern commerce while shaping the next generation of marketplace strategy.
Want more ecommerce insights and event recaps?
Featured Youtube Content
Watson Weekend host Rick Watson is joined by Nick Kaplan to discuss this week's retail and e-commerce news. The Headline Hangover contains results from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and Amazon is testing 30-minute deliveries. The company's AI assistant Rufus continues to make headlines. There is also a discussion on the closing of Omnicom's IPG acquisition. The week's special guest is Trevor Testwuide who discusses marketing measurement being broken, incrementality, and the problem with ROAS.
Watson Weekend host Rick Watson is joined by Nick Kaplan to discuss this week's retail and e-commerce news. The Headline Hangover contains results from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and Amazon is testing 30-minute deliveries. The company's AI assistant Rufus continues to make headlines. There is also a discussion on the closing of Omnicom's IPG acquisition.
The week's special guest is Trevor Testwuide, CEO and Co-Founder of Measured, who discusses marketing measurement being broken, incrementality, and the problem with ROAS.
Holiday Recap: Black Friday & Cyber Monday
Black Friday delivered stronger-than-expected results; Cyber Monday was surprisingly muted with fewer real-time pundit updates than usual. Shopify’s admin and checkout systems experienced downtime during Black Friday, creating chaos for brands needing to adjust promotions or track performance.
Traditional Black Friday “doorbusters” and in-store frenzy continue to fade. Promotions now stretch well before and after the holiday.
Amazon Headlines: 30-Minute Delivery
Amazon is piloting 30-minute delivery in select cities using micro-fulfillment centers, targeting high-frequency, convenience-driven categories (snacks, coffee, toilet paper, household essentials).
This pushes deeper into Instacart/DoorDash territory and raises expectations for ultra-fast delivery nationwide.
Rufus AI
Amazon’s shopping assistant continues expanding across the site. The hosts question whether Rufus drives incremental sales or merely accelerates discovery for customers who would have purchased anyway. Strong use case: summarizing product info, filtering five-star results, and translating reviews into clearer insights.
Agency Consolidation: Omnicom × IPG
The Omnicom–IPG deal closes, continuing the “big gets bigger” trend in advertising and media agencies. Thesis: scale enables more efficient data use and technology investment, but real-world synergies rarely reach the promised levels.
Rising AI adoption places mid-market agencies at risk, amplifying consolidation pressure.
The core of the episode is a deep discussion between Rick Watson and Trevor Testwuide on marketing measurement, attribution, and incrementality.
Why Marketing Measurement Is Broken
For years, the industry relied on Last-touch attribution, in which the channel closest to the sale gets 100% credit.
Multi-touch attribution (MTA) tries to map every impression and click across the buyer journey. MTA became unreliable after 2016 due to privacy walls and tracking limitations. Many brands still rely on outdated methods because they’re easy, familiar, and embedded in reporting workflows.
Incrementality: The Modern Standard
Incrementality answers the real question:
Did this ad actually cause additional sales, or would they have happened anyway? It isolates causal impact from correlated behavior—critical when high-intent shoppers convert regardless of ads.
Media Mix Modeling (MMM)
MMM provides long-term correlation analysis but not causality. Measured uses MMM combined with incrementality experiments to calibrate and improve accuracy.
Problem With ROAS
ROAS is simple but misleading—especially for bottom-funnel channels that “harvest” demand. Replacing ROAS with incremental ROAS or incremental contribution margin gives more truthful signal.
Why CFOs Love Incrementality
It speaks the language of finance: causal return, marginal contribution, efficiency. When incremental data confirms executives’ intuition about overspending in low-value channels, support for change accelerates.
Barriers to Adopting Better Measurement:
Organizational inertia
Difficulty replacing long-standing metrics
Busy teams avoiding disruptive change
Channel biases and internal politics
Chapters
Introduction - 0:00
Headline Hangover -
Introducing Trevor Testwuide -
Show ends -
The Watson Weekend is sponsored by Mirakl.
“In commerce, you don’t need another tool. You need a growth partner. The Mirakl platform is powering the next era of retail for the brands and retailers ready to move. Powered by AI and built for what’s next."
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