Understanding Local Regulations

💥 The EU just killed multi-year SaaS deals (and your revenue model) The EU Data Act has has given customers unprecedented power to walk away from any subscription with just two months' notice. Microsoft, Zoom, Slack, Adobe—every SaaS provider selling into Europe now faces the same reality. Here's what every SaaS vendor needs to know: 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 ✅ Customer termination for convenience with max 2 months' notice (applies to ALL deals, including multi-year) ✅ Detailed data export procedures and supported formats ✅ Clear migration assistance commitments and timelines ✅ Transparent fee disclosure (early termination penalties must be "proportionate") ✅ Data collection, usage, and retention schedule transparency ✅ Technical specifications for data portability and interoperability 𝐑𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 ❌ Minimum term enforcement clauses ❌ Auto-renewal without easy exit ❌ Excessive early termination fees ❌ Switching fees (phasing out completely by Jan 2027) ❌ Unilateral contract modification rights ❌ Data access restrictions or lock-in mechanisms 𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 - Multi-year deals → effectively month-to-month. Retention must come from value, not contracts. - Invest in APIs, export tools, and migration support — now both a legal requirement and a competitive differentiator. - Quotas based on long-term commitments are obsolete. Shift to usage-based or value-delivered metrics. - Customer Success becomes your frontline for revenue protection. Contracts won’t stop churn. - Explore usage-based or outcome-based pricing tied to delivered value, not time. Bottom line? Customer-centric SaaS wins; vendor lock-in loses. Build products customers choose to keep, not contracts they're forced to honor.

A Whatsapp message just cost £248,000. The High Court's ruling in Jaevee Homes v Fincham [2025] serves as a wake-up call for every founder and business leader using WhatsApp for work discussions. What happened? Jaevee Homes approached contractor Steve Fincham for demolition work at a Norwich nightclub. After initial emails discussing scope and pricing, negotiations moved to WhatsApp in May 2023. The "contract-forming" messages? 💬 "Hi Ben How did you get on mate is the job mine mate" 💬 "Can you start on Monday?" 💬 Later: "Ben Are we saying it's my job mate so I can start getting organised mate" 💬 "Yes" After this WhatsApp exchange, Jaevee sent formal subcontract terms via email, assuming they could still negotiate the "real" contract. The Court ruled it was too late - the WhatsApp agreement had already been formed and was binding. Fincham completed the work, invoiced monthly, but Jaevee refused to pay, arguing no formal contract existed. An adjudicator sided with Fincham, and now the High Court has confirmed: those casual messages created a £248,000+ legal obligation. The Court's finding: These informal messages contained all essential elements of a binding contract - offer, acceptance, consideration, and intention to create legal relations. What this means for your business: ✅ Audit your team's messaging practices - Review how sales teams, project managers, and executives use WhatsApp, Slack, Teams for client communications ✅ Implement clear messaging policies - Require disclaimers like "subject to formal written agreement" or "this is just a preliminary discussion" for any commercial conversations ✅ Train your teams on the risks - Help everyone understand that tone and informality don't determine legal consequences - intent and content do ✅ Create safe communication channels - Establish clear protocols for when discussions should move from informal messaging to formal documentation ✅ Be especially careful with confirmations - Phrases like "it's a deal," "you've got the job," or "let's do it" can be legally binding, even in casual contexts The broader implication: This isn't just about WhatsApp. English courts focus on substance over form. Whether it's Slack, email, or even verbal agreements, if you demonstrate intent to be bound, you likely are. Bottom line, in English law, informality won't protect you. A casual "yes" can create the same legal obligations as a 50-page contract. Time to review those chat policies? 📱⚖️

How To Handle Sensitive Information in your next AI Project It's crucial to handle sensitive user information with care. Whether it's personal data, financial details, or health information, understanding how to protect and manage it is essential to maintain trust and comply with privacy regulations. Here are 5 best practices to follow: 1. Identify and Classify Sensitive Data Start by identifying the types of sensitive data your application handles, such as personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive personal information (SPI), and confidential data. Understand the specific legal requirements and privacy regulations that apply, such as GDPR or the California Consumer Privacy Act. 2. Minimize Data Exposure Only share the necessary information with AI endpoints. For PII, such as names, addresses, or social security numbers, consider redacting this information before making API calls, especially if the data could be linked to sensitive applications, like healthcare or financial services. 3. Avoid Sharing Highly Sensitive Information Never pass sensitive personal information, such as credit card numbers, passwords, or bank account details, through AI endpoints. Instead, use secure, dedicated channels for handling and processing such data to avoid unintended exposure or misuse. 4. Implement Data Anonymization When dealing with confidential information, like health conditions or legal matters, ensure that the data cannot be traced back to an individual. Anonymize the data before using it with AI services to maintain user privacy and comply with legal standards. 5. Regularly Review and Update Privacy Practices Data privacy is a dynamic field with evolving laws and best practices. To ensure continued compliance and protection of user data, regularly review your data handling processes, stay updated on relevant regulations, and adjust your practices as needed. Remember, safeguarding sensitive information is not just about compliance — it's about earning and keeping the trust of your users.

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲. For some FMCG brands, no price cuts, no problem. The brands growing 3-5X faster than competitors have stopped competing on price entirely. This is the framework of how top CPGs win online. The data is clear; 1️⃣ Digital-first brands like L'Oréal, Nestlé and Procter & Gamble are achieving 3–5X higher unit growth 2️⃣ Their edge: Value communication, optimized digital shelf, and content that converts 3️⃣ They’re using pack strategy and personalization, not blanket discounts, to drive volume ++ 𝟰 𝗧𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗖𝗠𝗢𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗛𝟮 ++ 1. I strongly recommend, stop leading with "20% off" and start with "Here's why this matters to your life." This way you can master value communication over price communication. - Create content that educates, inspires, and justifies your price point - Use storytelling that connects product benefits to real consumer moments - Build trust through transparent ingredient stories and sustainability narratives 2. Your Amazon listing is your new Times Square storefront. Is your digital shelf better then your flagship store by the way? - Invest in premium product imagery and A+ content - Use data-driven SEO to dominate category searches - Leverage customer reviews as social proof, not just feedback 3. Create value through innovation, not desperation. And it happens faster when you deploy strategic assortment & smart pack architecture. - Develop premium formats and limited editions that command higher prices - Use pack sizes strategically to hit different price points without discounting - Test subscription models and bundles that increase customer lifetime value 4. Use technology to deliver the right message to the right consumer. Is there anybody left not leveraging AI for personalization at scale? I didn't think so. :) - Implement dynamic pricing based on demand signals, not competitor panic - Create personalized product recommendations across all digital touchpoints - Use predictive analytics to anticipate consumer needs before they discount-shop 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: Brands that compete on value creation, not price destruction, are the ones dominating market share growth. If you’re still defaulting to promotions, this is your wake-up call. 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 ecommert® 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟰,𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗖𝗣𝗚, 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘁 : 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿👇 About ecommert We partner with CPG businesses and leading technology companies of all sizes to accelerate growth through AI-driven digital commerce solutions. #CPG #FMCG #ecommerce #AI #retailmedia PepsiCo Mondelēz International Mars The HEINEKEN Company Colgate-Palmolive Reckitt Henkel Kenvue Unilever adidas Nike The Coca-Cola Company

✴ AI Governance Blueprint via ISO Standards – The 4-Legged Stool✴ ➡ ISO42001: The Foundation for Responsible AI #ISO42001 is dedicated to AI governance, guiding organizations in managing AI-specific risks like bias, transparency, and accountability. Focus areas include: ✅Risk Management: Defines processes for identifying and mitigating AI risks, ensuring systems are fair, robust, and ethically aligned. ✅Ethics and Transparency: Promotes policies that encourage transparency in AI operations, data usage, and decision-making. ✅Continuous Monitoring: Emphasizes ongoing improvement, adapting AI practices to address new risks and regulatory updates. ➡#ISO27001: Securing the Data Backbone AI relies heavily on data, making ISO27001’s information security framework essential. It protects data integrity through: ✅Data Confidentiality and Integrity: Ensures data protection, crucial for trustworthy AI operations. ✅Security Risk Management: Provides a systematic approach to managing security risks and preparing for potential breaches. ✅Business Continuity: Offers guidelines for incident response, ensuring AI systems remain reliable. ➡ISO27701: Privacy Assurance in AI #ISO27701 builds on ISO27001, adding a layer of privacy controls to protect personally identifiable information (PII) that AI systems may process. Key areas include: ✅Privacy Governance: Ensures AI systems handle PII responsibly, in compliance with privacy laws like GDPR. ✅Data Minimization and Protection: Establishes guidelines for minimizing PII exposure and enhancing privacy through data protection measures. ✅Transparency in Data Processing: Promotes clear communication about data collection, use, and consent, building trust in AI-driven services. ➡ISO37301: Building a Culture of Compliance #ISO37301 cultivates a compliance-focused culture, supporting AI’s ethical and legal responsibilities. Contributions include: ✅Compliance Obligations: Helps organizations meet current and future regulatory standards for AI. ✅Transparency and Accountability: Reinforces transparent reporting and adherence to ethical standards, building stakeholder trust. ✅Compliance Risk Assessment: Identifies legal or reputational risks AI systems might pose, enabling proactive mitigation. ➡Why This Quartet? Combining these standards establishes a comprehensive compliance framework: 🥇1. Unified Risk and Privacy Management: Integrates AI-specific risk (ISO42001), data security (ISO27001), and privacy (ISO27701) with compliance (ISO37301), creating a holistic approach to risk mitigation. 🥈 2. Cross-Functional Alignment: Encourages collaboration across AI, IT, and compliance teams, fostering a unified response to AI risks and privacy concerns. 🥉 3. Continuous Improvement: ISO42001’s ongoing improvement cycle, supported by ISO27001’s security measures, ISO27701’s privacy protocols, and ISO37301’s compliance adaptability, ensures the framework remains resilient and adaptable to emerging challenges.

Origin is origin. It doesn’t matter if your shipment is routed through Canada, Mexico, or any other country. If the product was manufactured in China, it remains ineligible for de minimis (Section 321 / T86). The country of origin is determined by where the goods were made, not where they were shipped from. And here’s the kicker: If even one product in the shipment has Chinese origin, the entire shipment loses its de minimis eligibility. So, what does this mean for your duties and taxes on Chinese-origin goods? It means they just got expensive. When you file through Entry Type 11 or 01, here’s the breakdown of what you could be facing: - Normal Tariff - Section 301 Tariff (if applicable) - Additional 10% Tariff (always applicable) - Merchandise Processing Fee (MPF) (min/max varies based on entry type & value, $2-$600+) - & potentially other fee's based on product and mode (think HMF, AD, etc.) The costs can add up quickly, but staying compliant is the only way to avoid penalties and delays. Tips to Stay Compliant: - Know and validate the country of origin. Don’t rely on where the shipment is coming from. - Provide detailed descriptions and ensure accurate HTS classifications. The landscape is complex and the game has changed. Have questions about de minimis or duties? THere's a wicked smart community here and my DM's are always open. Stay safe out there and remember, compliance matters.

Bad promotions can seriously hurt your brand. Example: Loblaws Canada Canada's biggest grocery store launched a promotion. Spend $20 collect a stamp. Collect 20 stamps and get 75% off Swiss cookware. Simple right. Simple but poorly designed. Lets walk through the discount math ! Loblaws Annual Revenue: $64B Estimated Revenue during promo: $10B Estimated stamps issued: $10B/$20=500M stamps 1 pan or cookware= 20 stamps Potential cookware needed: 500M/20=25M pans Assume only 20% stamps were redeem: 5 million pans 5 million pans were minimum required for this promo ! Lets assume cost/pan to retailer: $30 Potential Promo cost: $150M minimum. That's a lot of pans and one expensive promo. Loblaws admitted they sold 2M pans which is 4 years worth of inventory. 5 million would have been a decade worth of inventory. They discontinued the program midway, leaving a lot of unhappy customers who were collecting stamps. Don't take promotions and discounts lightly. They can make or break your year. Things to remember while running a promo: 1) Be clear about terms of promotion 2) Simulate best and worst case scenario 3) Know your inventory levels 4) Understand the logistics of the promo 5) Assess the long term impact of the promo ----------------- Follow me for all things #pricing #discounting #revenuemanagement

Pitch-perfect article on discounting in the NYT this week. You can over-simplify the last 6 years into four chapters: 1️⃣ Before the pandemic. Cash was cheap. Competition was strong. Grow-at-all-costs the law of the land. Brands spent way too much to acquire & retain customers. 2️⃣ During the pandemic. Wallets got thick with federal aid & reduced spend. Ecommerce overheated with locked-down customers buying online like mad. Bizarre windfall period for many brands. 3️⃣ After the pandemic. The economy (and inflation) ramped up. Some sectors (FMCG, grocery, QSR) raised prices, a lot. Ecommerce got battered with higher costs, slowing demand, and an inability to hold firm on price. 4️⃣ Today. Consumers are pushing back on higher prices. Inflationary sectors are slowing increases & dropping price. The rest are trying to claw back pricing power and drive profitability. Consumers are soft, but brands cannot afford to chase them with broad & deep discounting. There’s two big forces shaping a lot of this that are worth a re-visit: price elasticity & pricing power. Price elasticity: when price goes up, does demand go down? If yes, highly elasticity. If not, low elasticity. → Consumer-centric concept – what do consumers do when prices rise. Pricing power: when you increase price, do consumers keep buying? → Brand-centric concept – what do YOUR customers do when YOU increase your prices. A main way brands gain or lose pricing power is promotions. A few sample questions on how promotions can help: Can you do a targeted price decrease to drive demand only where you’ll drive incremental volume? Can you use a loyalty program to give a 2% cashback mechanic to opted-in customers and collect tons more data, instead of constantly running 20% deals? Can you gradually walk back from discounting to recover your pricing power? But promotions are also the main way brands lose pricing power. Discounts are the biggest impact marketers make on the P&L and simultaneously one of the most neglected corners of the marketing world. Ideally you build a strong brand and efficient business where you can simply charge the prices you want to charge, and keep growing. Discounts should generally be a last resort – but that doesn’t mean they’re not a powerful and dangerous tool worthy of significant strategic attention. The article is worth a read. And of course I’m always happy to talk through how you can run better promotions that create value & drive incremental behavior without sacrificing your pricing power.

The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (MIB) has announced new guidelines easing self-declaration rules for advertisements. Following the Supreme Court's directive in May 2024, self-declaration requirements are now focused on the health and food sectors, allowing other industries to benefit from streamlined processes. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰: 📌 Self-declarations are now mandatory only for health and food sector ads to ensure consumer awareness of product quality. 📌 Other sectors enjoy a streamlined approval process, allowing quicker market entry and more creative freedom. 📌 Advertisers must upload self-declarations on the Broadcast Seva Portal for TV/Radio and the Press Council of India portal for print media/internet ads. 📌 Advertisers and agencies must ensure all ads adhere to Indian laws, rules, and regulations. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: 📌 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐁𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬: Accelerated ad approvals mean you can launch campaigns faster and reach your audience sooner. 📌 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐬: Enjoy more creative freedom and less bureaucracy. 📌 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬: Get access to diverse and innovative content with ensured product quality in crucial sectors.

It happened. The $800 de minimis is gone, and 81% of international postal traffic to the US vanished with it. Overnight. 📉 The knockout blow landed on August 29th with the Trump administration's policy change. The Universal Postal Union's report is staggering: a complete collapse of inbound postal volume and 88 international postal operators suspending services to the United States. This isn't a ripple; it's a tsunami hitting global e-commerce. We're talking major economic partners: 🛑 UK 🛑 Australia 🛑 Japan 🛑 Germany 🛑 India 🛑 France 🛑 South Korea 🛑 Taiwan All have halted business parcel shipments. For years, millions of international SMEs and online sellers built their business models on this duty-free lane. That lane is now a hard-tolled highway with duties ranging from 10% to 50%. The era of frictionless, low-value e-commerce is over. The new reality: ► Compliance Nightmare: Carriers or approved parties are now responsible for collecting duties. This is a massive operational lift. ► Customer Shock: Sticker shock at checkout will lead to skyrocketing cart abandonment rates. ► Winners & Losers: Who is positioned to win? Domestic manufacturers? 3PLs with robust DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) solutions? The big integrators (FedEx, DHL, UPS)? This is the biggest structural shift in global logistics in a decade. We're in uncharted territory. I want to hear from the people on the front lines. What's the first strategic move you're making to navigate this? #SupplyChain #Logistics #eCommerce #CustomsBrokerage #TradeCompliance #DeMinimis #Freight #Shipping