I'd approach this by filtering every new feature through the moat-building framework that Andrew Youder and Matthew Bertulli explored on The eCommerceFuel Podcast. This mental model forces you to ask one simple question of any potential change: does this help build a lasting, defensible business, or is it just a shiny new object? This shifts the focus from the features themselves to the competitive advantage they might unlock.
The first step is to get clear on what your moat even is, or what you want it to be. Is it brand loyalty, a unique sourcing advantage, a powerful community, or maybe operational complexity that competitors can't easily replicate? Matthew Bertulli makes the point that a great moat is often built from things that are hard to do. On an EcomCrew episode, Mike Jackness talked about looking for business models where complexity itself becomes the moat. Before you can evaluate a new feature, you have to know what wall you're trying to make taller and thicker.
With that clarity, you can start sorting through the 150+ new features. Instead of getting overwhelmed, group them based on the type of moat they might build. One bucket could be "Operational Moats." Do any of these features allow you to create a more complex, hard-to-copy fulfillment process or a unique customization engine? Another bucket could be "Community Moats." Are there new tools for memberships, loyalty programs, or user-generated content that could deepen your relationship with customers and build powerful word-of-mouth marketing? The goal isn't to use everything, but to find the one or two features that can fundamentally strengthen your specific competitive advantage.
Once you’ve identified those high-potential features, the hosts of Ecommerce Playbook would argue that you need to "Make Bigger Changes." It's tempting to use a new feature in a small, incremental way. But true strategic shifts come from using these tools to do something bold. This might mean overhauling your customer journey or even changing your business model. As Alison Bergen of Aerosoles explained on The Glossy Podcast, evolving a brand for the future often requires accepting that you might lose some existing customers along the way. Committing to a bigger change based on a new platform capability is a form of strategic decision-making that can set you apart for years.
The place where this moat-building framework breaks down is when it's applied in a vacuum. You can't focus so exclusively on building a long-term defensible business that you neglect the short-term realities of cash flow and basic customer expectations. On an episode of Future Commerce, Phillip and Aaron discussed the constant balance between innovation, profitability, and customer retention. A new feature might not build a deep moat, but it might be table stakes for your category, and ignoring it could hurt you right now. A moat is useless if the business sinks before you finish building it. So you have to balance the strategic, moat-centric view with the practical needs of the business today.
