❯ whoami --connected-commerce

Jan Meißner

Connected Commerce strategist. I work with global D2C and corporate brands on their EU ecommerce — at the seam between commerce architecture and the P&L, where channel decisions, margin, and operating model meet. The Connected Commerce Stack is the framework I use to map it.

read the stack → ./facts/jan-meissner

current role Team Lead E-Commerce Consulting

at Front Row Group

based Hamburg, DE

since Oct 2024

[ 01 / what ]

Three hats, one thesis.

DACH commerce overinvests in tech and underinvests in operations. The work happens at the seams — between channels, between teams, between strategy and the P&L.

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// agency

Team Lead at Front Row Group

Leading the e-commerce consulting practice across DACH and Benelux. Strategic advisory for D2C, B2B, and marketplace operations on Shopify Plus.

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// framework

Connected Commerce Stack

A four-layer reference architecture for connected commerce: Data, Channel, Intelligence, Orchestration. Used in client engagements to diagnose where brands actually leak margin — usually not where the slide deck says.

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// operator

Office Alpha GmbH

Founder and Managing Director since 2016. Hamburg-based consultancy with a track record in Shopware, Shopify, and marketplace projects. The operator hat keeps the strategy honest.

[ 02 / stack ]

The Connected Commerce Stack

Most "omnichannel" diagrams are channel coverage maps. This one isn't. It separates concerns — so brands can see where the bottleneck actually sits.

connected-commerce-stack.md — v1.0 · last reviewed 2026-05

╭─ Orchestration

Demand routing, pricing logic, checkout flow, agentic commerce interfaces. The layer where decisions happen in real time.

├─ Intelligence

Attribution, customer lifetime value, contribution margin per channel and SKU. The truth layer — what's actually working.

├─ Channel

D2C webshop (Shopify), marketplaces (Amazon, Zalando, OTTO), retail media, social commerce. Where the customer meets the brand.

╰─ Data

Centralized product, customer, transaction data. PIM, taxonomy, identity resolution. The foundation everything else inherits from.

Why four layers, not five. Tooling fits inside a layer. Org structure should map to layers. If your PIM team also owns checkout flow, you don't have a stack — you have a pile.

// resource co-authored at Front Row Group

Agentic Commerce Readiness Checklist

A diagnostic checklist for assessing whether a brand's product data, customer profile, and operating model are ready for agentic commerce surfaces — built and maintained at Front Row Group.

Download — frontrowgroup.com ↗

[ 03 / now ]

What I'm working on.

A current snapshot. Inspired by Derek Sivers' /now pages.

// thinking

Why B2B ecommerce is the most underestimated growth lever right now — and what brands are leaving on the table
What "agentic-ready" actually demands of a brand's product, customer, and inventory data — and which companies are quietly preparing

// shipping

Connected Commerce Notes — a new newsletter, launching in the coming weeks
Shopify ecosystem updates — ongoing commentary on what brands should act on and what they can ignore

[ 04 / connect ]

Where to find me.

Best reached via email or LinkedIn DM. I respond to clear asks within 48 hours; everything else gets queued.

// linkedin /in/digital-jan-meissner // email jan.meissner@officealpha.de // agency frontrowgroup.com