“There’s no blueprint for what the world is going to look like,” said Mark Simmons, Vice President of Marketing and ECommerce at Design Within Reach, during a discussion at eTail East this year. According to Simmons, with all the innovation and change that’s happening at such a rapid pace in ecommerce, it’s tough to find the right talent to fill the evolving roles.

Simmons joined me and Mark Deruyter, Director, ECommerce Marketing, Columbia Sportswear, to talk about the biggest marketing challenges today, as well as the most exciting parts about working in digital marketing and ecommerce today. Deruyter agreed with Simmons on the talent challenge, citing a recruiter friend who had told him that in researching ecommerce as a skill set via Linkedin, he’s seen the ecommerce skill set increase less than one percent in the past four years. In contrast, the ecommerce industry and available roles have increased about eight percent. “The skills out there are a huge challenge,” he said.

The two also talked to me about some trends and recent events in the industry, such as Amazon‘s Jeff Bezos’ purchase of the Washington Post and what that means for content and commerce. And we couldn’t leave the eTail TV booth without talking about favorite places to travel, favorite cuisine and the best thing on TV (hint: Breaking Bad wasn’t over yet!)