Show Notes
In this episode of THE ECOMMERCE EDGE, Jason Greenwood sits down with Marat Bolatov, co-founder of Native Commerce.
Marat shares his wild journey from musician to eCommerce veteran (Rocket Internet, Zalando, Lazada, AliExpress), building a $150M quick commerce startup, and now creating Native Commerce – a powerful operations platform tackling the hardest parts of scaling eCommerce.
They dive deep into why grocery is the ultimate test for Retail tech, the massive gaps in order routing & inventory, why most stacks fail at scale, and how AI is transforming everything from warehouse picking to building entire eCommerce businesses.
A must-listen for founders, operators, and anyone serious about scaling beyond Shopify-level chaos.
Timestamps
[0:00:00] – Welcome Marat Bolatov & London weather chat
[0:01:30] – Marat’s origin story: musician to Rocket Internet eCommerce empire
[0:03:45] – Building Jiffy Grocery to $150M valuation and quick commerce realities
[0:06:30] – Why grocery is the hardest (and best) vertical to master in eCommerce
[0:11:45] – Fashion vs grocery complexity and multi-industry lessons
[0:14:30] – Why early eCommerce favored high-margin categories like fashion
[0:17:30] – Order management, routing, and ship-from-store challenges
[0:20:45] – The deadly cost of stockouts and poor inventory visibility
[0:23:00] – Why most Shopify + NetSuite + WMS stacks become Frankenstein monsters
[0:26:30] – Native Commerce: Not just software — full operational execution
[0:31:15] – Small operational tweaks that deliver massive impact
[0:34:30] – Making complex systems simple enough for non-technical teams
[0:39:00] – AI & MCP revolution in eCommerce operations and administration
[0:43:45] – How clients are already building custom dashboards with AI
[0:48:00] – Vision for an AI eCommerce Studio — business in a box
[0:52:45] – Uberization of eCommerce and removing operational barriers
[0:54:30] – One thing Marat would change: eliminate cross-border taxes
[0:55:30] – Death of old-school green screen ERPs
[0:56:00] – Marat’s question for Jason: What does peak eCommerce operations look like?
[0:57:45] – Jason on billion-dollar companies still running on spreadsheets
[1:01:30] – Closing thoughts and how to connect with Marat
