Connected Commerce: How OnX Is Redefining Fulfillment in the Age of AI

Episode Description

Kelly Goetsch returns to the eCom Logistics to unveil OnX, a groundbreaking fulfillment network standard built on MCP. They discuss the need to break down commerce and logistics silos, the rise of AI-driven commerce, and how OnX is poised to redefine order connectivity across brands, platforms, and 3PLs.

What You’ll Learn

– Why legacy commerce APIs and EDI no longer suffice in today’s fragmented commerce landscape
– How AI and emerging protocols like MCP are accelerating the need for real-time fulfillment integration
– The structure, tools, and resources defined by OnX for seamless order management across ecosystems
– The nonprofit “business league” legal framework that keeps OnX vendor-agnostic and collaborative
– The challenges commerce platforms face with OMS integrations and how OnX aims to reduce friction
– The shift from platform-centric to protocol-centric commerce enabled by open standards
– How industry players—brands, 3PLs, ERP, WMS, and commerce platforms—are rallying behind OnX

Hihghlights

– 00:00 — Welcome, introduction to Kelly Goetsch and the focus: “Connected Commerce”
– 02:00 — The fragmentation problem: marketplaces, social commerce, AI, and legacy EDI
– 04:00 — The rise of MCP and Agentic Commerce Protocol as enablers for a new standard
– 06:00 — Building a “big tent” network: OMS, 3PLs, WMSs, ERPs connectivity challenges
– 10:00 — Commerce platform vs fulfillment backend: the tech and mindset divide
– 14:00 — What is OnX? Tools, resources, member base, and the standard’s scope
– 18:00 — How MCP makes OnX possible, collapsing layers between selling and fulfillment
– 22:00 — OnX’s “business league” structure explained
– 24:00 — Platform, payment, and AI player involvement and adoption challenges
– 28:00 — How to participate: advisory boards, GitHub access, and community involvement
– 30:00 — The future of connected commerce and invitation to join OnX

Quotes
[00:02:00]: “If the last decade was about composable commerce, the next one is about connected commerce.” – Ninaad
[00:04:00]: “AI is the reason for both of these. We’re really, really collapsing down.” – Kelly Goetsch
[00:10:00]: “About 70% of enterprise brands still run point-to-point integration, and that has its own set of challenges.” – Ninaad
[00:22:00]: “The benefit of that is: we, as a community, get together and evolve and change as technology changes. And that’s great.” – Kelly Goetsch

About the Guest

Kelly Goetsch is a technologist and strategist shaping the future of digital commerce and order fulfillment. Known for his leadership in the MACH Alliance and now Pipe17, Kelly has been a central voice in evolving commerce technology standards. He currently chairs the Commerce Operations Foundation, driving the development and adoption of the OnX standard for connected commerce.

Links Mentioned

– Commerce Operations Foundation website: commerceopsfoundation.org
– Commerce Operations Foundation GitHub: github.com/commerceopsfoundation
– Kelly Goetsch on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kgoetsch
– MACH Alliance: machalliance.org