Linnworks CMO Hilary Smith on the manual work hiding inside "automated" operations

Hilary Smith, CMO at Linnworks, argues that most ecommerce brands believe their operations are already automated — and that the manual work quietly grows as they scale. She and Greg Kihlström get into where it hides and what it costs.

AI's most consequential move in retail is happening in the back office, not the front end. After years of chatbots and personalization, the investment is shifting into inventory, fulfillment, and order management — where being wrong is expensive and visible.

Peak season is a volume-and-velocity problem, not a basket-size problem. Smith on which parts of the traditional peak playbook break first when order throughput climbs, and how a tech freeze changes what a brand can realistically fix in-season.

A stockout is a brand moment. Operational failures are where customers decide what a company is actually like — which puts a CMO on the hook for outcomes they don't directly own.

About Hilary Smith

Hilary Smith is Chief Marketing Officer at Linnworks. She brings 12+ years of experience driving growth through data-informed strategy across supply chain, ecommerce and FinTech. Hilary thrives at the intersection of brand, product and demand, translating complex customer and commercial data into campaigns that drive revenue, sharpen positioning and move the business forward. Her leadership style is grounded in empathy, curiosity and a deep understanding of how customers discover, convert and keep coming back.

Hilary Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilarypaigesmith/

---------- Resources ----------

Linnworks: https://www.linworks.com

The Agile Brand podcast is brought to you by TEKsystems. Learn more here: https://aglbrnd.co/r/2868abd8085a9703

The hardest part of martech right now is telling which tools are actually earning their keep. That's the question running through the MarTech Summit Boston agenda on October 27. We're attending MarTech Summit Boston on October 27 as a media partner. If you want to join, the code AGILE15 saves you 15%. https://aglbrnd.co/r/c70c250b8d52dff3

We’re proud to be a media partner for #MAICON26 - Oct. 13-15! Learn how AI can power your marketing and business and help you grow smarter. Use code AGILE150 to save! https://aglbrnd.co/r/7fe458ced0f04658