Beyond Checkout: Jonas Rashedi on Top KPIs in Ecommerce Today
Jonas Rashedi, Chief Digital Officer at FALKE, discusses critical factors influencing success and KPIs in ecommerce now and in the future, plus why it’s sometimes the most unremarkable levers that achieve the greatest impact.
Tool competition and new KPIs: Ecommerce in the AI transformation
Artificial intelligence is progressing from the experimental phase toward sustainable value creation. Guided by its motto “Scaling Intelligence,” DMEXCO 2026 will provide a forum for discussing this process and presenting use cases. Leading companies in the digital industry will be there to reveal how they’re using AI to generate measurable added value.
In our interview series “Beyond Checkout: Leading Minds,” prominent industry voices have begun sharing their perspectives on the future of ecommerce in the lead-up to the event.
Jonas Rashedi is Chief Digital Officer at FALKE, where he is responsible for IT, data, and AI. He hosts “MY DATA IS BETTER THAN YOURS,” which – with over 320 episodes – is the largest German-language podcast devoted to data. He has also written eight specialized books published by Springer Fachmedien Verlag on topics including data-driven marketing, customer insights, data-driven organizations, and customer data platforms.
What’s the most overrated development in commerce in 2026 – and what’s greatly underestimated?
Overrated: Agentic commerce. I think it’s fascinating just how many conferences in 2026 are talking about how automated shopping agents will soon be making purchases for us. In reality, most brands can’t even integrate their product data correctly into their online stores, let alone structure it in a knowledge graph that an agent could work with effectively. Classic hype cycle.
Underestimated: Master data. I’m firmly convinced that the winners in 2026 aren’t the companies building the smartest agents, but rather those that have got their product, customer, and inventory data so well organized that any AI can plug into it effectively.
At FALKE, I see it every day: Clean master data isn’t sexy, but without it, nothing else works. No AI without a solid foundation, no matter how sophisticated the model on top may be.
What decisions do you still deliberately choose to make without AI?
HR and team decisions. Hiring, promotions, who is responsible for which tasks – I deliberately make those decisions without AI. I like to use AI as a sounding board or to identify bias in job ads. But the decision itself should be made by people sat around a table.
My motivation isn’t sentimental; it’s driven by sound business thinking. Employees aren’t datasets that can be optimized. Who fits into which role depends on culture, trust, and development potential – and these are things you get a sense of by talking to people, not by analyzing data in a model. To put it bluntly, if I were to delegate such decisions to an algorithm, I would lose the very thing that makes a family-owned company like FALKE special.
If everyone has access to the same tools, how will commerce businesses differentiate themselves in the future?
If everyone buys the same LLMs, CDPs, and personalization tools, the tools themselves cease to offer a competitive advantage. Differentiation is then dependent on three factors, none of which is enough on its own.
- First: First-party data. In the age of AI, businesses that don’t have direct access to their customers are in a highly vulnerable position. First-party data has become the digital equivalent of a moat.
- Second: Brand identity. AI can replicate any function, but not what a brand stands for. Models cannot explain why people buy a FALKE product instead of one from any other provider. That’s branding.
- Third: Speed. It’s not a lack of ideas that holds most companies back; it’s the execution of their ideas. Businesses that go live with use cases three times faster learn three times faster.
Data plus brand plus speed: None of these factors is enough on its own anymore.
When it comes to KPIs in ecommerce, which will be more important in the years ahead than anything we’re optimizing for today?
Customer lifetime value. As an industry, we’ve been fixated on conversion rates and ROAS for years because they’re easy to measure. But in 2026, that’s too little information. If a customer makes a single purchase but never returns, the conversion is a success on paper but a strategic mistake.
I believe that customer lifetime value will become the metric by which commerce teams will be judged in the future. This has two consequences that many marketers underestimate: First, to calculate CLV at all, you must have clean underlying data: a customer data platform, clear identifiers, and touchpoint tracking. Second, you’ll need to break away from quarterly marketing cycles and start thinking in terms of cohorts.
At FALKE, how do you organize collaboration between technology, data, and operational teams in commerce?
We use a hub-and-spoke model. At the center, we have a dedicated data and AI team responsible for the platform, governance, and more advanced modeling. In the future, we’ll have “data citizens” within the individual units – colleagues with data skills who will develop use cases closely aligned with business needs.
Why not adopt a fully centralized model? Because an isolated data department quickly gets overwhelmed with requests, and no one knows what the priorities are anymore. Why not a fully decentralized model? Because then every business unit builds its own tools, its own models, and its own version of the truth. That’s not scalable.
My job as CDO is ultimately to ensure that IT, data, and the individual teams follow the same roadmap. We provide tools centrally; responsibility for results lies with the business unit. This hybrid approach makes it possible to move quickly without losing control.
Conclusion: Clean data practices and new KPIs will shape the future of ecommerce
The AI-driven transformation of the retail industry has far-reaching consequences. For one thing, a seemingly unremarkable task like maintaining clean product data has now become key to success. What’s more, KPIs in ecommerce are evolving, with customer lifetime value taking on particular importance.
Decision-makers also face the challenge of linking AI implementation within their teams to specific tasks and assigning clear responsibilities. Failure to get this right means that tools won’t be used in a targeted and scalable way.
Would you like to discuss the future of ecommerce in the AI era with industry experts and thought leaders? Then join us in Cologne at DMEXCO 2026 on September 23 and 24.
