Meet Justin Racine, Principal, Unified Commerce Strategy
We’re building a culture that supports and encourages the professional development of all people at Perficient. Our Growth for Everyone initiative enables our colleagues to chart their own career path and seek new avenues for growth across Perficient.
Recognizing individual contributions is one of the many ways we deliver upon Perficient’s People Promise. With much excitement and development in the commerce industry, we recently sat down with Justin Racine to learn about his digital experience expertise and thought leadership within the Commerce business unit at Perficient.
Justin’s Career Journey
As a trailblazer in the Commerce industry, Justin has celebrated significant career milestones and made a notable impact in the digital experience space. His professional background spans more than 10 years of industry experience from studying marketing, communications, and advertising in college to leveraging skills from the client branding side of commerce in a consulting position.
His professional career started with a post-graduate internship with a medical device company, which resulted in a full-time position as a commerce e-marketing specialist. During that time, Justin developed an affinity for digital technology and continued to finetune his skills with the latest tech trends.
“As I progressed and learned, I started to apply the different strategies and technology components to the marketing and branding that I knew,” said Justin. “Then, I built momentum that accelerated me into various roles where I could apply my new skills and knowledge.”
Transitioning Careers and Traveling Across the U.S.
Justin and his dad enjoying the Kentucky Derby.
While it’s no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the traditional ways of working, this shift eased the process of collaboration with individuals in different regions. Remote work made cross-country transitions possible, and Justin took a leap of faith by participating in what he calls “career soul searching” that would eventually lead him to Perficient. Justin wanted to find a way to help organizations navigate the complexities of ecommerce and deliver user experiences, solutions, and features – all in a new setting.
“I really wanted the opportunity to work with different types of clients, problems, and situations that I had not seen before,” said Justin. “So, I spent three-to-four months doing what I call career soul searching. I looked inward and asked myself, ‘What do I get to do every day and be passionate about? Every day will not be easy, but what’s something that I can’t live without doing?’ That’s how you find your passion, and I determined that I liked working with businesses to help solve complex problems.”
Justin knew about Perficient’s expertise and capabilities due to a prior relationship with our brand as a client in 2016, which is what inspired him to express interest in a commerce consultant role. He drew upon his experience to understand how Perficient’s approach and methodology benefits its clients, while also contributing to Perficient’s growth and success. After accepting the position at Perficient, Justin made the drive from Massachusetts to Texas during the height of the pandemic.
Learn More: Read About Justin’s Career Transition and Experience Moving Across the Country
Exploring Life at Perficient
Justin and Jess attending Perficient’s 2023 Red Jacket Club.
Since joining Perficient four years ago, Justin regularly contributes his expertise to our global organization’s commerce and digital experience practice. He serves as a guide and knowledgeable sounding board for our clients and internal team members, defining the foundation of exceptional consumer experiences and enabling an enriched digital commerce atmosphere.
“What I enjoy the most is sitting in a room with a client, having them articulate what their real business challenges and problems are and solving that for them. It feels good to be able to help others with the challenges they’re facing with the categories of solutions that Perficient offers.”
He also enjoys collaborating with many of the teams at Perficient, including the healthcare, automotive, and design teams, while creating positive outcomes for clients. “We have the opportunity to make a difference for our customers and the world,” said Justin. “We are all consumers at the end of the day, and we’re looking for exceptional experiences to buy through. Our clients place honor and trust in us to create those experiences and it really makes a difference in people’s lives.”
His work and ingenuity serve as a reliable and trusted source for others in the greater community, including publishing blog content for Perficient and a contributing author for CMSWire, which named Justin a Contributor of the Year in both 2022 and 2023.
Watch the video as Justin shares his heartfelt appreciation and gratitude for his readers and supporters:
Nuggets of Wisdom: Career Growth
Learning The Art of Public Speaking
Presenting in front of a crowd, no matter the size, is not always easy. When Justin first started his career, public speaking was outside of his comfort zone. Practice with speaking to an audience takes time and effort. He says breaking down mental barriers, discovering new communication styles, and learning from previous errors opens the door to a realm endless of possibilities.
“I think it comes back to two things, the first being passion. Also, having a strong belief and understanding of the topic as the subject matter expert is vitally important to ensuring confidence when you get on that stage. In theory, you may not be as nervous if you are confident in the story you are telling. It’s all about mindset.”
Justin sharing insight at the 2022 Accelerate Conference.
That mindset is what makes Justin stand out. His ability to tell a story is how he makes a difference at Perficient. “If I talk to a client, do a webinar, create a video, or I’m on stage speaking to 500 people, I have the mindset and mentality of I’m here to tell you a story. I’m not here to pitch you or sell you. When I changed my mindset to storytelling, things just kind of flowed because I changed the way I think.”
He says everyone makes mistakes, or has a “blooper reel,” but that’s part of being human. Justin’s advice when presenting is to try thinking of the speech like telling a story to an old friend. This will help calm nerves and allow the presenter to become more relaxed.
Believing in Yourself: Mindset is Everything
In Justin’s early childhood, he was told that his struggle to read, write, and structure sentences could hinder his growth in communicating. However, he was determined to prove them wrong. He persevered and met every obstacle with a passion to continue advancing his writing skills.
“If someone doesn’t think I’m good at something, then I’m going to prove them wrong,” said Justin. “Over time, I started to form and develop the craft of writing even better than I did before. I started writing publications and industry specific things in the health and medical device space and for smaller publications, and just wrote about what I found interesting. I got better and better at writing.”
Justin and Eve discussing Journey Science at B2B Online.
The right mindset when approaching a problem can be the make it or break it moment when facing a seemingly impossible task. By placing emphasis on topics that piqued his interest and using a storyteller mentality, Justin realized that he could be a more effective writer.
Listening to Justin present or reading his published articles today, you may never have guessed the obstacles he has faced. His strength and drive for success have made him an integral part of the commerce and digital experience team. “I really just love storytelling,” said Justin. “It’s a creative, expressive outlet that helps me think more clearly. While it was something that I’ve hated to do when I was younger. It has grown into a passion that I couldn’t live without.”
What’s Ahead for Commerce in 2024?
Through our collaborative efforts at Perficient, we can make a difference for our customers, clients, partners, and business. In broad terms, Justin indicated the overarching focus for commerce falls within an industry standpoint.
“We’re differentiating ourselves through the expertise of our colleagues and pushing the right people who have lived relatable industry experience, trust, and thought leadership that allows us to be seasoned real-world experts.”
The Commerce team at Perficient’s 2023 Red Jacket Club.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) play an integral role in ensuring we reach important goals and targets. “We’re holding ourselves accountable for measuring outcomes,” said Justin. “If we’re going to build a new design for a website, or a new e-commerce experience, we’re not just going to build it and hand it off. We’re going to assign key performance indicators.”
Learn More: Watch to Hear Justin’s Perspective On Commerce Industry Trends
At the end of the day, we’re all consumers looking for exceptional experiences at the storefront. Every purchase has the potential to inspire change, no matter how large or small. Learn more from Justin by reading his Perficient blogs to discover which key industry trends are impacting consumers, and how Perficient is making a difference across commerce industry channels.
Perficient continually looks for ways to champion and challenge our workforce, encourage personal and professional growth, and celebrate the unique culture created by the ambitious, brilliant, people-oriented team we have cultivated. These are their stories.
Learn more about what it’s like to work at Perficient on our Careers page. Connect with us on LinkedIn here.
