Summary In this episode of Talk Commerce, Brent Peterson interviews Raul Galera, the Partnerships Lead at Referral Candy. They discuss various topics related to e-commerce, including the use of AI in content generation, the challenges of rising ad costs, the importance of organic SEO and customer needs vs. wants, the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events, and the value of partnerships in e-commerce. Raul emphasizes the need for brands to have a clear post-purchase path for customers and highlights the benefits of co-selling and influencer marketing partnerships. He also plugs Referral Candy as a tool for brands to run referral programs and reward customer loyalty. Takeaways AI is primarily being used in e-commerce for content generation, such as writing product descriptions and landing page content.The rise in ad costs is a major challenge for e-commerce brands, leading them to seek alternative customer acquisition methods.Organic SEO is an important channel for brands to target customers with high intent and retain them.Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales events are expected to be less discount-driven this year, with brands focusing on retaining customers and offering targeted deals.Partnerships, both in co-selling and influencer marketing, can be mutually beneficial for brands and help them reach new customers and increase sales.Referral programs are an effective way for brands to turn their customer base into their sales team and reward customer loyalty.