Why over-personalizing your site dilutes your brand story

<p>With nearly two decades in e-commerce and stints at Victoria's Secret, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond, The Children's Place, and Foot Locker, Laurie Falletta brought something most e-commerce leaders don't have when she joined Cole Haan as VP of Ecommerce: a merchant's brain. She thinks in product lifecycles, margin thresholds, and inventory planning, and that shapes every decision she makes on site.</p><p>In this conversation, Laurie makes the case for why over-personalization is quietly diluting brand stories, why average UPT across most sites sits around 1.4 and what curation has to do with it, and how Cole Haan is approaching agentic discovery without chasing every platform at once.</p><p>Topics discussed:</p><ul><li><p>Why merchandising foundation separates good e-commerce leaders</p></li><li><p>Margin discipline and the real cost of promotional culture</p></li><li><p>Balancing algorithmic recommendations with manual curation</p></li><li><p>Why over-personalization dilutes your brand's seasonal story</p></li><li><p>Fit technology and why no one has cracked footwear sizing</p></li><li><p>Agentic commerce, Reddit, and the new rules of brand discovery</p></li><li><p>Using AI for reporting without losing brand authenticity</p></li><li><p>Keeping customer connection as the constant through tech change</p></li></ul><p></p>