eCommerce Podcast

After building over 200 Shopify stores, Ben Sharf has discovered that nearly every e-commerce brand—whether doing $1 million or $50 million annually—describes their website as a source of frustration rather than growth. In this episode, we explore why complexity has become the norm and exactly how to fix it.Ben, co-founder of Platter, shares insights from working with brands that have accumulated technical debt through widget overload, deleted apps that leave code behind, and convoluted customer journeys that kill conversions. We dig into his three-part simplification framework, the power of cart drawers over cart pages, and why revenue per visitor matters more than you think.Key Point Timestamps:05:00 - Why e-commerce websites frustrate every brand09:30 - The widget overload problem destroying your site speed14:20 - Deleted apps leave code behind (and slow you down)17:40 - The three-part simplification framework22:30 - Revenue per visitor: the metric you're not tracking31:00 - How to optimize clicks to purchase35:40 - Mobile simplification mistakes killing conversionsWhy E-commerce Websites Frustrate Every Brand (05:00)Ben's journey into e-commerce infrastructure began at GoPuff, where he built an instant delivery business unit. Whilst partnering with brands of all sizes, he encountered the same pattern repeatedly: every single brand had a horror story about their website."E-commerce is literally selling a product on the internet," Ben reflects. "Why is the main thing the most frustrating thing for every brand out there?"The answer lies in how traditional development agencies operate. When agencies get paid for their time, they're incentivised to make things expensive and complicated. This creates an industry-wide problem where brands pay enormous sums for solutions that should be straightforward, resulting in websites burdened by excessive code, countless third-party apps, and convoluted customer journeys.The Widget Overload Problem (09:30)One of the biggest contributors to website complexity is what Ben calls "widget overload"—the tendency to add small applications for every specific functionality."A lot of these apps are features, not products," Ben explains. "If you piece a million together, you end up having a lot of different single points of failure within your storefront."The Shopify app ecosystem, whilst brilliant for getting started, creates a temptation to solve every problem by installing another app. Before long, brands find themselves managing dozens of applications, each adding code to their storefront, each creating potential conflicts.Ben shares a typical scenario: "We'll talk to a brand doing $20 million on their storefront. Over the last seven years, they've had five different agencies, seven different freelancers, and 150 apps installed and deleted—all on the same storefront. What do you think happens when the next person tries to go in and touch that? It's just a spider web."The Hidden Code Problem (14:20)Here's something most brand owners don't know: when you delete a Shopify app, the code it injected into your storefront doesn't disappear. It stays there, silently slowing down your site and creating technical debt that compounds over time.This revelation shocked many listeners, but it explains why sites become progressively slower even when brands think they're cleaning up by removing unused apps. The orphaned code remains, affecting page speed and creating a tangled web of potential conflicts.The Three-Part Simplification Framework (17:40)Ben's approach to escaping the complexity trap centres on three core principles: consolidation, clarity, and customer-centricity.Consolidation Over Accumulation: Rather than adding another app for every need, Ben advocates for consolidating functionality. Platter's solution was to...

Email marketing delivers 30 to 40 times the return of any other marketing channel, yet most Black Friday campaigns vanish into spam folders before customers even see them. Robby Bryant from Campaign Monitor reveals why the big three mailbox providers—Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft—now act as sheriffs, policing email deliverability like never before.Episode SummaryWe explore the seismic shift in email deliverability over the past five years, as consolidated mailbox providers transformed from passive gatekeepers into active sheriffs. Robby breaks down the authentication trinity (DKIM, SPF, DMARC) that determines whether your emails even make it past the front gate, the non-negotiable metric thresholds that separate inbox placement from spam (0.1% spam complaints, 1% unsubscribes, 2% bounces), and why establishing cadence matters more than clever subject lines. From list hygiene strategies to the 60-40 text-to-image ratio, this episode provides the practical checklist for ensuring your Black Friday campaigns actually reach the customers who want to hear from you.Key Point Timestamps:07:29 - The cadence mistake that kills Black Friday campaigns09:47 - Understanding sender reputation and deliverability governance16:37 - List hygiene practices that protect deliverability21:42 - The authentication trinity: DKIM, SPF, DMARC explained27:31 - Content formatting rules and the 60-40 ratio40:06 - The metrics that actually matter for inbox placementThe Sheriff Problem Nobody Saw Coming (04:32)Four or five years ago, the email landscape looked completely different. Robby explains how fragmentation amongst mailbox service providers meant brands could send mediocre emails with very little negative consequence. Those days are gone."They're acting now as the sheriffs," Robby describes, referring to how Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft now police sender behaviour. "They're looking at opens, clicks, replies, forwards, and then on the negative side, they're looking at deletions without reading, spam complaints, and people marking it as junk."The result? Brands attempting email marketing for the first time during Black Friday get slapped down before they start. Poor authentication, bad text-to-image ratios, and zero segmentation lead to lackluster results, convincing them email doesn't work. Meanwhile, brands understanding the new rules capture those 30-40X returns.The Cadence Mistake That Kills Campaigns (07:29)If Robby could solve one issue plaguing Black Friday email campaigns, it would be what he calls "advanced engagement." The typical pattern? Brands decide it's time for an email send, perhaps even segment their list, put together something beautiful, then do "one really loud blast.""That is the exact opposite of what you should do," Robby emphasises. "You really want to have an established cadence leading up to Black Friday, Cyber Monday and keep that cadence going on after the holiday."The walk-up engagement practice warms customers up, builds brand recognition, and establishes sender reputation with mailbox providers before the critical moment arrives. At minimum, Robby recommends sending at least one email per week during this period—enough to keep subscribers aware and set expectations with mailbox service providers.Understanding Sender Reputation (09:47)Here's what caught Robby off guard when entering email marketing after years in paid search and social: the misconception that nothing you do in email matters."I too was kind of under this misconception that nothing you do in email matters. It's kind of ephemeral," Robby admits. "It's not true."Mailbox providers track something called "deliverability governance"—whether your email lands in the inbox. Just like Google Ads has quality scores and social platforms track engagement, email sheriffs watch every move. Every email accrues...

What if scaling your eCommerce business isn't about better ads, but about understanding why customers buy from you? Louise Doyle shares how she built Needi from a struggling DTC gifting site into a £2 million corporate gifting business by refusing to treat gifts like commodities.Episode SummaryLouise and her co-founder Steph launched Needi in 2021 with ambitious DTC plans, only to discover the brutal reality of customer acquisition costs and overwhelming competition. Within months, they pivoted to B2B corporate gifting, where they found desperate demand for their psychology-driven approach. By asking why clients want to give gifts rather than just what they need, Needi scaled from £500k to £2 million in revenue whilst supporting local independent businesses. Lou shares the unconventional journey of building a concierge service that's now projecting £5 million revenue, all whilst balancing motherhood and creating a team where over half the employees are mums.Key Point Timestamps:05:10 - The DTC Reality: Why Direct-to-Consumer Failed10:15 - The Pivot: Finding Corporate Clients Who Were Desperate16:25 - Understanding the Psychology Behind Every Gift24:30 - Your Client Isn't Actually Your Client32:05 - The Amazon Problem: Connection Beats Efficiency37:14 - Scaling from £500k to £5M Projected Revenue45:07 - The Mum Factor: Building a Family-First BusinessThe DTC Reality: Why Direct-to-Consumer Failed (05:10)Lou and Steph thought they had it figured out. The research was solid: one in five gifts end up in landfill, 80% of people hate finding the right gift, and everyone's received a terrible present. Simple problem, simple solution—build a website, run Facebook ads, watch orders roll in."We went into it fairly naively," Lou admits. "We thought everybody is rubbish at gifting and doesn't enjoy it. So we'll set up an e-comm site where we make people really good at gifting. And it was really hard."The cost of customer acquisition was brutal. But worse, they faced double jeopardy: they needed to attract customers whilst simultaneously onboarding local independent businesses to supply the gifts. Chicken and egg doesn't begin to describe the challenge.The Pivot: Finding Corporate Clients Who Were Desperate (10:15)Rather than flogging a dead horse, Lou and Steph started LinkedIn outreach to corporate clients. They walked into head offices with suitcases filled with gifts. The response was immediate and overwhelming."These people were literally saying, my gosh, where have you been? We need what you're doing," Lou explains. Executive assistants and marketing managers were being dumped with last-minute orders for thousands of gifts with tight budgets and no time to find quality suppliers.The word "concierge" isn't accidental in Needi's description. It represents doing absolutely everything for clients whilst they figured out how to scale the service.Understanding the Psychology Behind Every Gift (16:25)Lou and Steph didn't just pivot to B2B—they transformed how they approached gifting entirely. They spent hundreds of hours studying the psychology of gifting, working with a professor of altruism, researching relationship dynamics."A gift is cementing what your relationship means to that person," Lou says. "You would not buy somebody a gift if you weren't looking for a particular connection."This insight changed everything. Instead of asking what gift clients wanted or how many they needed, Needi asks why. Why are you buying this gift? What relationship are you trying to cement? What message are you trying to send?Your Client Isn't Actually Your Client (24:30)When a company orders 10,000 gifts for employees, the purchaser is the corporate decision-maker. But the person who determines whether that company orders again next year? That's the employee who receives the

Customer acquisition costs have surged 222% since 2013, with Google and Facebook CPCs climbing relentlessly. But what if the solution isn't just doubling down on retention or throwing more money at ads?Matt Edmundson introduces the FUEL Framework—a systematic approach to customer growth that doesn't rely on a single channel, doesn't assume yesterday's tactics will work tomorrow, and doesn't leave you vulnerable when platforms change their algorithms. Through Foundation, Unlock, Elevate, and Leapfrog strategies, this framework addresses all three levers of business growth: acquiring customers, increasing purchase frequency, and raising average order value.Key Point Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction: The Challenge of Rising CAC01:00 - The iOS 14 Impact on Facebook Ads02:00 - The CAC Crisis in eCommerce03:00 - The Bathtub Principle04:34 - Introducing the FUEL Framework09:00 - Foundation: Email Beyond Templates13:00 - Foundation: Building Referral Engines15:00 - Foundation: Customer Experience Post-Purchase19:00 - Unlock: Strategic Partnerships22:00 - Unlock: Content Amplification26:00 - Unlock: Community Seeding28:00 - Elevate: Advanced Segmentation32:00 - Elevate: AI-Powered Personalisation38:00 - Leapfrog: Experimenting Without FearFoundation: Building Your Unshakeable Base (09:00)Matt challenges the common assumption that having Shopify and Google Analytics means your foundations are sorted. Real foundations aren't about having tools—they're about having systems that work even when paid ads don't.Email marketing generates 30-40% of revenue for most eCommerce businesses, yet many brands still rely on generic templates. Matt references Ken Rapp from BluStream's brilliant rule: don't send any coupons or review requests in the first five messages. "Just deliver value. Help customers succeed with their purchase. Build trust," Matt explains. Over 90% of customers stay engaged with these journeys months—sometimes years—later.The referral engine sits in foundations because referred customers are 16-24% more loyal than customers acquired through other channels, have 16% higher lifetime value, and cost £17 less to acquire. But standard refer-a-friend programmes don't work because they assume everyone just wants £10 off. "Maybe a complementary product has higher perceived value than cash. Maybe inviting them to a VIP board meeting matters more," Matt suggests.The Post-Purchase Gap (15:00)Standing in his favourite Liverpool coffee shop, Matt had an epiphany about customer experience. The journey was brilliant until he paid—then he stood awkwardly with others, unable to listen to music in case they called his name, no bench to sit on, no system."I started thinking, well actually, am I doing the same thing in my own eCommerce businesses?" Matt reflects. "We obsess over the journey to checkout. We A/B test button colours, we track every click. Then someone buys, and we forget about them. Or worse—we immediately hit them with a review request before they've even opened the box."The gap between acquisition and loyalty is where most brands lose the game. Customer experience—particularly post-purchase—directly impacts whether customers buy again.Unlock: Diversifying Beyond Paid Ads (19:00)Once foundations are solid, Matt recommends devoting 5-10% of marketing resources to unlocking other channels. Strategic partnerships work because 72% of companies report lower CAC through partnerships than direct acquisition.Matt shares his experience with Through Doc, the clothing company he frequently purchases from. When they partnered with Elliot Brown watches, he'd never heard of the...

Most entrepreneurs dream of building from scratch, but Michael Simpson took a different path. After running an Amazon arbitrage side hustle, he spent 18 months searching for an established eCommerce business to buy rather than building one from the ground up.Four years after purchasing an 18-year-old business selling Catholic products, Michael candidly shares what most buyers won't: the reality behind the broker presentations, the challenges of inherited technical debt, and the daily cashflow discipline that kept him in the game during survival mode.We explore the SBA loan process that made 90% financing possible, why he spent £30,000 on a Shopify migration that never happened, and the mastermind group advice that stopped him from making costly mistakes. Michael reveals his daily cashflow forecasting system, why demand capture businesses hit growth ceilings differently than demand generation models, and what he wishes he'd negotiated harder on during the purchase.Key Point Timestamps:04:34 - The Buy Then Build Philosophy09:10 - Finding the Right Business After 40 Evaluations11:06 - How SBA Loans Work for Business Acquisitions16:56 - The 3X Multiple Valuation Reality20:05 - Why Growth Proved Harder Than Expected29:52 - The £30,000 Migration That Never Happened43:09 - When Sales Dropped and Survival Mode Began49:57 - Daily Cashflow Forecasting That Saved the BusinessThe Buy Then Build Philosophy (04:34)Michael's acquisition journey began with Walker Deibold's book Buy Then Build, which challenges the conventional startup path. After running a small Amazon arbitrage business selling New Mexico green chillies, he realised he wanted something larger but wasn't passionate about scaling what he had."When you buy a business, that's what you're buying," Michael explains. "You're buying the existing customers and that goodwill and those supplier relationships. If it's a new business that doesn't have a lot of existing customers, there's not really a whole lot of value there."The appeal is straightforward: an established business has already solved product-market fit, built supplier relationships, and proven people will pay for what you're selling. But as Michael discovered, you're also inheriting someone else's platform choices, brand positioning, and technical debt.Finding the Right Business After 40 Evaluations (09:10)Michael spent 18 months evaluating 30 to 40 businesses before finding the right fit. His criteria were non-negotiable:No Chinese suppliers. As a National Guard member with security clearance for 22 years, the China arbitrage model raised both practical and security concerns. "I just felt like eventually that wasn't sustainable. Like at some point that arbitrage opportunity is going to disappear."Own website, not Amazon-dependent. Having experienced Amazon's unpredictability firsthand, Michael knew he didn't want a business that could collapse from one complaint or account suspension.Strong customer base and email list. This represents the real value in an acquisition—the relationships and proven demand.Genuinely interesting products. Michael didn't want to sell women's clothing or supplements he didn't believe in, even though the margins were attractive.When Discount Catholic Products appeared—an 18-year-old business selling medals, prayer cards, and crucifixes made in Italy and the US—it ticked every box.How SBA Loans Work for Business Acquisitions (11:06)The Small Business Administration loan programme gave Michael access to 90% financing—he only needed 10% down on a half-million-pound sale. During COVID, the government sweetened the deal further: they waived the typical 2% fee and covered the first three months of payments."Between those two things, that was like £30,000 that we saved just by getting...

Less than 30% of customers buy a second time, and subscription brands lose 50% within 90 days. Ken Rapp from BluStream reveals why this isn't a marketing problem—it's a post-purchase problem that's costing brands millions in repeat revenue.Episode SummaryThe conversation explores what Ken calls the "doorstep to delight" phase—that critical window between clicking buy and becoming a loyal customer. Through stories of dog probiotics, cracked guitars, and missing vanilla extract, Ken demonstrates how brands lose connection with customers the moment a purchase is complete. He breaks down his three-stage framework for product ownership (unboxing, usage, and care) and shares practical strategies for engaging customers through messaging platforms like WhatsApp and SMS. The episode reveals how brands are achieving 30% increases in repeat sales and 30% reductions in churn simply by delivering personalised, timely support after the sale.Key Point Timestamps:05:07 - The Scale Problem: When Success Kills Personalisation12:15 - The Doorstep to Delight Framework18:49 - Quick Wins for Post-Purchase Engagement23:38 - The Five-Message Rule28:40 - Understanding the Second Why40:01 - The Apple Standard for Customer ExperienceThe Scale Problem: When Success Kills Personalisation (05:07)Ken shares the story of a dog probiotics brand that knew every pet parent's name, their dog's name, and whether it was a Chihuahua or a Great Dane. Then she got distribution through Whole Foods—a dream for most brands—but it meant game over for personal connection."She started to be successful. And as she started to be successful, she couldn't have a personal relationship anymore," Ken explains. This captures the fundamental challenge: the very success every business chases kills the thing that made customers fall in love with the brand.This isn't a mistake brands are making. It's a limitation we've accepted as inevitable. When you're small, handwritten notes and personal touches are manageable. But as you scale, those become impossible to maintain—or so we thought.The Doorstep to Delight Framework (12:15)Ken breaks product ownership into three stages where brands can create connection at scale:Unboxing (Activation): This is where skill level matters most. A beginner needs different support than an expert. Do they know they need batteries? Have they read the fine print about three-month timelines?Usage (Engagement): This is what Ken calls "the second why." The first why is wanting trainers. The second why reveals actual use—marathon training, daily comfort, or collection piece. Understanding this changes everything.Care and Maintenance: Not every product needs this, but for guitars, beauty products, and supplements requiring ongoing care, this is where lifetime value lives. Ken learned this watching his prestigious guitar crack during Boston's dry winter because the brand's care videos weren't delivered when he needed them.The Five-Message Rule (23:38)Ken shares a powerful tip: don't send any coupons or review requests for the first five messages. Just deliver value."We have over 90% of the consumers on behalf of dozens and dozens of brands still on journeys today, months, quarters, years later, because they really appreciate getting tips and advice and having a connection back to the brand."Think about your inbox. Review requests before unboxing? Coupons for second purchases when you haven't tried the first? Brands play the numbers game at scale, but it kills the engagement they're trying to create.Understanding the Second Why (28:40)Ken's platform creates personalised journeys based on how customers actually use products. Are you training for a marathon or wearing trainers for daily comfort? This "second why" determines everything—relevant tips, usage tracking, and...

Alex Back's team at Couch posts content about Ashley Furniture, and just two days later, ChatGPT and Google AI change their answers about the brand's quality. In this episode, we explore the systematic approach to building authority in AI search that's transforming how furniture brands—and all e-commerce businesses—can influence what millions of people learn from large language models.After running a successful e-commerce furniture brand for 13 years, Alex now helps furniture retailers through Couch, his marketing platform. We dive into the remarkable shift happening in digital marketing, where understanding how LLMs consume and cite content has become as important as traditional SEO. Alex shares the exact content creation system his team uses, starting with video and working backwards into articles, and reveals why YouTube and Reddit have become the second and third most important sources for AI search after Wikipedia.Key Point Timestamps:08:14 - The AI Search Revolution Nobody's Talking About19:13 - Where LLMs Get Their Information28:00 - The Content Creation System That Actually Works34:16 - One Recording Creates Everything38:27 - The Delicate Dance of Platform Dependence41:55 - The Reddit Problem45:39 - The Pivot Machine PhilosophyThe AI Search Revolution Nobody's Talking About (08:14)We're living through a shift as significant as Google's emergence in the early 2000s. Alex explains how his team measures the impact of their content on AI search: "The YouTube videos themselves and some of the social media content we put out there is informing the LLMs and ultimately changing answers to questions like, is Ashley furniture good quality?"This isn't theoretical. Before posting content, Alex's team checks what ChatGPT and Google AI say about a brand. After publishing, they check again. Sometimes within 48 hours, the answers change, citations appear, and the narrative shifts. However, nobody fully understands the rules yet. Even the best content marketers and SEO professionals are still figuring out which tools to trust for tracking LLM presence.Where LLMs Get Their Information (19:13)Alex attended a seminar that revealed crucial insights about how AI search works. Wikipedia remains the primary source for LLMs—the vast majority of their information comes from there. But Reddit and YouTube are second and third, neck and neck."I saw a whole seminar about LLMs and where they get their information," Alex shares. "Wikipedia being still the vast majority of information sources for LLMs. But Reddit and YouTube being second and third and very close to one another."This matters because it explains why Alex's strategy works. YouTube videos no longer just rank well on Google—they directly inform what AI tells millions of people asking questions. Even if content contains errors or subjective opinions, LLMs consider it heavily, sometimes more than niche publishing sites with established authority.The Content Creation System That Actually Works (28:00)Alex calls himself "a talker," and he's turned that into his superpower. His refreshingly simple content creation process starts with using ChatGPT to create an outline, then recording video authentically about topics he knows deeply."If you start with video, it's much easier to back your way into having all this other content," Alex explains. He transcribes the raw video and gives it to his writer: "Here's the transcript, take this, these are all my words, make it into a compelling article."The video goes on YouTube. The article—embedding that same video—publishes to the blog. Both go live within hours of each other. Then they syndicate to YouTube Shorts and other social platforms. One recording session produces a YouTube video, a blog post, social media content, and multiple touchpoints—all from turning on the camera for a few...

What if the secret to Amazon success isn't about outsmarting competitors, but about seducing an algorithm? Tim Wilson from Product Wind reveals how his team identified seven specific signals that make Amazon's algorithm fall in love with products, whilst most brands unknowingly fight the wrong war.We explore Tim's revolutionary approach to Amazon marketing, moving from traditional social media buzz campaigns to what he calls 'marketing to the algorithm.' Through real examples including a French company with 0.1% conversion rates and a pregnancy pillow brand discovering unexpected use cases, Tim demonstrates why mastering fundamentals and understanding algorithmic signals creates sustainable competitive advantages.Key Point Timestamps:02:52 - The biggest Amazon problem everyone's making08:17 - Why 70% of shoppers don't read descriptions16:31 - The power of user-generated content collages23:04 - Marketing to the algorithm strategy30:16 - The seven signals Amazon's algorithm values33:05 - Orchestrating 500-person 'armies' for external traffic45:58 - Top tip: Engage with customers who love you mostThe Fundamental Problem Everyone's Missing (02:52)Tim identifies the single biggest issue stopping Amazon success: poorly optimised product detail pages. He shares a striking example of a French consumer products company where traffic was "off the charts" but sales didn't follow."I'm still shocked at the PDPs that I see that are in no way optimised and ready for prime time," Tim explains. The company's conversion rate was 0.1% when the category average was 3.5% - revealing not a traffic problem, but a fundamental conversion issue.This highlights why you can't build sustainable Amazon success on weak foundations, regardless of advertising spend. The fundamentals must be mastered first.The Image Stack Revolution (08:17)Tim reveals that 70% of shoppers make purchasing decisions based entirely on images, not product descriptions. "I don't even look at all seven images. I go to like two or three and make my decision," he admits.The most successful brands tell evolving stories through their image stacks. Tim shares how a pregnancy pillow company discovered customers using their product in cars and on planes - use cases completely missing from their original images.The lesson? Product detail pages aren't "set it and forget it" situations. They're living, breathing entities that should evolve as you discover how customers actually use your products.Marketing to the Algorithm Strategy (23:04)Tim's core insight challenges conventional thinking: "These marketplaces are algorithmically driven. It's this algorithm that's really determining your product's success."He draws a parallel to old-school retail: ten years ago, you'd wine and dine buyers to get better shelf placement. "That person has been replaced by an algorithm." But just because it's technology doesn't mean you can't influence it."An algorithm just needs data. So why not give it exactly the data it loves?" This philosophy underpins Product Wind's approach of providing Amazon's algorithm with the specific signals it values most.The Orchestrated Army Approach (33:05)Instead of hoping for viral social media moments, Tim's team orchestrates coordinated actions from hundreds or thousands of people. "We might work with 500 or even a thousand people. It's like an organised army."The mathematics are compelling: 500 people driving 20 clicks each equals 10,000 coordinated visits to Amazon listings. These visits are timed strategically to send the right signals to Amazon's algorithm.The approach scales based on competition level. An infant nasal aspirator in a low-competition category might need only 50 people, whilst consumer electronics competing with Bose and Sony requires much more "noise" to...

Summer 2025 is officially over, and whilst most eCommerce businesses breathed a sigh of relief after surviving another 'inevitable' slow season, one team discovered something remarkable: they grew 19% year-on-year during what should have been their worst period.Matt Edmundson reveals the post-summer analysis that challenged everything we assume about seasonal trading. By questioning one simple default assumption - that summer slumps are inevitable - and understanding that August performance depends on March and April planning, this approach transformed summer from a write-off period into a competitive advantage.Discover why 70% of summer purchases happen in March-May, how mobile browsing intensifies during summer months, and why weather patterns create predictable opportunities rather than obstacles. Most importantly, learn the systematic process for challenging defaults that could transform your next summer trading period.Key Point Timestamps:02:00 - The Default Assumption Problem05:00 - Why One Team Grew 19% During Summer08:00 - The Baltic States' Summer Strategy12:00 - March Planning Drives August Performance16:00 - The Weather Connection We All Missed21:00 - Mobile Optimisation as Summer Strategy26:00 - Three Steps to Challenge Your Seasonal DefaultsThe Default Assumption Problem (02:00)Matt opens with a provocative question: why are we so comfortable with predictions that essentially amount to "our business will perform badly for the next three months"?"We're planning for our businesses to underperform for a quarter of the year. And we call this acceptable business practice," Matt explains. These default assumptions - that sales drop in August, nothing happens after Father's Day until September, that it's just how these businesses work in summer - become self-fulfilling prophecies.When entire industries expect decreased activity, they collectively create the conditions that make it true by reducing marketing spend, operating skeleton crews, and delaying product launches until September.Why One Team Grew 19% During Summer (05:00)The post-summer analysis revealed a stark contrast between two teams. One experienced the predicted 50% sales drop from peak. The other grew 19% year-on-year during their slowest period."What's been nagging at me - 80% of that growth was from new customers rather than just doing discounted offers to existing customers," Matt shares. The successful team challenged the default by staying engaged when competitors pulled back, focusing on mobile optimisation when browsing intensified, and ramping up marketing during a period when ad costs were lower.The impact extended beyond summer - by mid-September, they were already 25% ahead on sales compared to the previous year.March Planning Drives August Performance (12:00)Perhaps the most crucial insight: "August performance isn't dependent on what we do in August. It is dependent on what we do in March and April."Research shows that 70% of consumers made their summer purchases in March, April, and May - only 19% waited until June. "We weren't just experiencing summer slumps," Matt reveals. "We were missing the planning window that drives summer performance."This means that scrambling for summer offers in July is already too late. The businesses that thrived during summer 2025 were those that ramped up marketing in spring, when customers were making summer purchase decisions.The Weather Connection We All Missed (16:00)During UK heatwaves, web revenues fell 47.8% during peak temperatures. But here's what most businesses missed: revenues increased 17.4% in the week before the heatwave as people prepared for extreme conditions."This perfectly illustrates why conversion matters more when traffic patterns shift," Matt explains. "During summer, if mobile browsing

Sean Stone reveals why successful Shopify strategies often destroy Amazon performance and how treating Amazon as a unique marketplace can transform your results. His agency works with million-dollar brands achieving 20% conversion rates on Amazon whilst Shopify sellers celebrate 3%.We explore why Amazon shoppers behave completely differently from website visitors, how the platform's algorithm rewards different behaviours, and why your product bundling strategy needs a complete rethink. Sean shares his PAIR framework (Promotions, Advertising, Inventory, Rankability) and introduces his free Conversion Rate Benchmark Buddy tool that helps sellers identify which products can realistically rank on Amazon.Key Point Timestamps:04:26 - Why treating Amazon like Shopify kills performance08:09 - The product strategy flip: smaller packs, lower prices13:43 - Rankability: Sean's made-up word that works18:00 - The free GPT tool for competitor analysis23:32 - Click-through rate tactics that mirror YouTube29:43 - The PAIR process framework36:05 - When Amazon makes sense vs when it doesn't49:57 - The BCIT framework for keyword dominationWhy Treating Amazon Like Shopify Kills Performance (04:26)Sean's core insight challenges how most eCommerce founders approach Amazon. "A lot of people try to treat Amazon like it's not its own unique channel," he explains. "You wouldn't do that if you started selling your products in Walmart, but why are you treating Amazon the way you're trying to treat Shopify?"The fundamental difference lies in shopper behaviour. Shopify visitors have already chosen to engage with your brand specifically. Amazon shoppers are actively comparing you against every competitor in real-time, focusing purely on finding the best product at the best price with fastest delivery.This creates completely different success metrics. Where a 3% conversion rate makes Shopify sellers celebrate, Sean would tell Amazon sellers with similar performance that "your product is broken, you should liquidate your inventory and get something new."The Product Strategy Flip: Smaller Packs, Lower Prices (08:09)The strategy that works brilliantly on Shopify - increasing average order value through larger bundles - becomes Amazon suicide. Sean explains the inverse approach needed:"Instead of focusing on getting your CPA down to $20 a customer and selling an $80 product through a series of funnels... you end up trying to get your price point down to a place where you can sell a $14.99 product with a $3 cost per acquisition."Using supplements as an example, where Shopify might sell 90-day supplies for $60, Amazon success comes from 30-day supplies at $20. Different pack sizes and price points deliver the same profit margins when accounting for volume and organic ranking benefits.Rankability: The Made-Up Word That Works (13:43)Sean's concept of "rankability" - a product's ability to reach the top five organic spots through a combination of PPC and deals - becomes central to Amazon success strategy."The big opportunity on Amazon is not just that you can sell a product and limit your ad spend and make a sale. The big opportunity is you can sell a huge quantity, get a ton of new customers who now know about your brand and get them through getting your product to show up at the top of the page without paying to be there."The key lies in conversion rate advantages. When one client discovered they had double their competitors' conversion rates across multiple keywords, Sean's immediate response was: "You're going to need to triple your inventory order on this product today."The PAIR Process Framework (29:43)Sean's systematic approach breaks down as Promotions, Advertising, Inventory, and Rankability:Promotions: Limited time deals running 14...

Digital marketing veteran Vlad Zhovtenko reveals why data has become the single biggest lever in modern e-commerce marketing. After 25 years in the industry, he explains how businesses can transform from guessing to growing by owning and leveraging their customer data strategically.We explore how the shift from platform-dependent marketing to data ownership creates competitive advantages, why TikTok's rise as a search engine changes everything, and how AI is reshaping how customers discover and buy products. Vlad shares his practical framework for identifying the 1-2 metrics that actually drive business growth, avoiding the AI analysis trap, and adapting to constant platform algorithm changes.Key Point Timestamps:07:49 - Data as the biggest single lever in digital marketing08:46 - How businesses can now own and control their data10:14 - TikTok's evolution into a major search engine17:55 - Framework for choosing metrics that matter20:45 - Real example: The missing chat button case study25:06 - Why AI can't replace business context34:12 - Starting an e-commerce business the right wayData as the Ultimate Marketing Lever (07:49)Vlad cuts straight to the heart of modern digital marketing: "I don't think it has changed much, at least in my perception. I say that is data. It's just that for the last sort of like five years maybe, the data became a real lever for you."The fundamental shift isn't about new platforms or tactics—it's about ownership. For years, e-commerce operators were digital sharecroppers, planting campaigns on Meta's land and Google's tools while never controlling the insights that powered their growth.Now businesses can feed their own data back to platforms with proper rules and regulations, becoming "the source to train their optimisation." This creates a compound advantage where your data improves your results, which generates better data, creating an upward spiral that competitors can't easily replicate.The Search Revolution Hiding in Plain Sight (10:14)While businesses obsess over Google rankings, consumer behaviour has fundamentally shifted. "TikTok is growing to become a major search engine just because how many people use it," Vlad explains.This creates a three-layer challenge:Traditional SEO strategies may miss where your customers actually searchAI recommendation engines operate on completely different rules than search botsSocial commerce platforms blur the lines between discovery and purchaseThe solution isn't to abandon Google, but to understand where your specific audience searches and optimise accordingly. "Getting the data as to how they operate, getting into that game if search engine traffic is important for a business is critical," Vlad notes.The Framework That Cuts Through Data Overwhelm (17:55)Vlad's approach to metrics selection is brilliantly simple. Focus on three questions:"What you can actually measure" – Many businesses track metrics they can't properly measure, leading to decisions based on unreliable data."What you can actually influence" – Tracking vanity metrics you can't directly impact wastes mental energy and resources."Pick up out of them, I don't know, one or two" that actually push the business forward.He demonstrates this with a practical example: A jewellery maker saw leads dip in August. Instead of diving into conversion optimisation, Vlad identified the real bottleneck was lead generation. The business expected 30-something customers to commit to in-person visits without easier ways to ask initial questions. One missing chat button was throttling the entire business.Beyond Platform Dependence (25:06)The temptation to dump data into AI and expect magic insights is strong, but Vlad warns against this "lottery-ticket approach" to...

Your website's gonna get rammed on Black Friday - but are you actually ready? In the fourth instalment of our Black Friday strategy series, Matt Edmundson reveals nine battle-tested tips that address the operational realities most brands completely ignore.Episode SummaryThis episode cuts through generic Black Friday advice to focus on what actually happens when your traffic explodes, customer service gets flooded, and 70% of sales shift to mobile devices. Matt introduces the 'mom test' - a simple but powerful framework for validating your Black Friday offers before they go live. We explore why Black Friday is really a two-week opportunity, not a single day, and cover essential operational preparations from site speed optimisation to weekend customer service planning.Key Point Timestamps:06:00 - Introducing the Mom Test Framework07:00 - Site Speed: Your Hidden Conversion Killer08:00 - Customer Service: Planning for the Flood11:00 - Why Paid Media Gets Expensive (And What To Do)13:00 - Social Media: Building Anticipation14:00 - Mobile Reality: 70% of Sales Happen Here15:00 - Cart Abandonment: Thursday's Big Challenge16:00 - The Two-Week Mindset Shift18:00 - Creating Year-Round Black Friday PagesThe Mom Test Framework (06:00)At the heart of Matt's approach lies what he calls 'the mom test' - a deceptively simple validation method that prevents most Black Friday disasters before they happen."My mum is not the most technically savvy person on the planet, so if she can navigate it, I know other people will be okay with them as well," Matt explains. The test involves sending your Black Friday landing pages, offers, and purchase flows to someone who isn't your ideal target market but represents average technical ability.Beyond preventing customer confusion, the mom test dramatically reduces customer service load by identifying common pain points before they become hundreds of support emails on Monday morning.Mobile Reality: 70% of Sales (14:00)"70% of sales on average on Black Friday weekend are gonna happen on a mobile device," Matt reveals, highlighting a critical reality most brands overlook in their preparation.This isn't just about having a responsive design. Matt emphasises comprehensive mobile testing: "I want my mum in the mum test to do everything on her mobile. I want to talk to a friend who's got an Android because my mom's got an iPhone. I want to test it on Android as well."The testing needs to cover the entire purchase journey across different devices, screen sizes, and operating systems to ensure nothing breaks when traffic spikes.The Two-Week Opportunity (16:00)Perhaps Matt's most powerful insight is reframing Black Friday entirely: "Black Friday now lasts two weeks. It's the week before and it's the week after, right? Starting with Cyber Monday, the week after going through."This shift from viewing Black Friday as a single event to understanding it as a two-week marketing opportunity completely changes how you plan, execute, and measure success. Instead of cramming everything into one overwhelming day, you can build anticipation, test systems, and create multiple touchpoints.Matt's team once ran '12 Days of Christmas' campaigns with different offers each day, keeping customers engaged throughout the extended period rather than relying on a single promotional push.Planning for Operational Reality (08:00)While competitors focus on offers and acquisition, Matt emphasises preparing for what actually happens during Black Friday. Your standard Monday-to-Friday customer service won't cut it when weekend queries pile up."You're gonna want customer service staff to man the emails, the live chat, and the phone over the weekend," he advises. "If you leave it until Monday, people feel forgotten, and you'll come...

Most eCommerce brands make the same Black Friday mistake: blasting identical offers to their entire email list. Matt Edmundson explains why this approach "just feels wrong" and shares a VIP list strategy that segments customers into "soulmates," "lovers," and those "about to dump you." Learn how to create self-selecting VIP lists, test offers early, leverage SMS marketing, and turn your best customers into referral engines.Key Point Timestamps:05:00 - The existing customer strategy fundamentals06:30 - Segments and journeys for maximising value09:00 - Creating VIP lists and self-selection strategy11:00 - Testing offers early with your VIP audience12:30 - Give your best customers the best discounts13:00 - SMS marketing for VIP access15:00 - Building buzz campaigns before Black Friday16:00 - Turning up your referral campaignThe Problem Most Brands Miss (05:00)Matt identifies a fundamental flaw in most Black Friday approaches: treating all customers equally when they clearly aren't equal in value."Most eCommerce companies will just whack out crazy offers, right? Lose all their profits, all their best customers get the same offer, and it just feels wrong in so many ways," Matt explains.This creates a problematic dynamic where your most loyal customers—who generate 80% of your revenue—receive the same treatment as complete strangers who may never buy again. There's no recognition of loyalty, no acknowledgment of their relationship with your brand.The RFM Segmentation Framework (06:30)Matt recommends using RFM segmentation, a methodology he learned from podcast guest Valentin Radu of Omni Convert, who uses memorable language to define customer relationships."He uses great phrases like soulmates, lovers, just about to dump you, the breakups and all that sort of stuff to sort of define the relationship you have with clients," Matt shares. "And actually at Vegetology we now use his language... just to define our clients a little bit better."The key insight is that different segments require completely different approaches: "If someone is about to dump you... the journey you want to take them on is very different to the journey you want to take on for someone who buys from you almost every day. The emails, the stories, the marketing should have very different language, very different feel."The Self-Selection VIP Strategy (09:00)One of Matt's favourite approaches comes from Daniel Budai, who's also appeared on the podcast. Rather than guessing who your VIP customers are, you let them self-identify."You email out all of your customers and you say, listen, what we're gonna do this Black Friday is we are gonna create a VIP Black Friday offers list. So if you are on that list, you'll get access to all of the Black Friday offers early," Matt explains.This strategy delivers multiple benefits: it gets your list engaged weeks before Black Friday, allows you to start sales early to reduce warehouse pressure, and creates a perfect testing ground for your offers. Only genuinely interested customers will opt in, giving you a highly engaged segment.Test Early, Win Big (11:00)The VIP list becomes your Black Friday laboratory, eliminating guesswork from your biggest sales weekend."You're gonna split test an email, which you send out to that VIP list. You're gonna see which offer pulls the best, and guess what you're gonna do on Black Friday weekend. You're gonna do that offer, which you've tested on your list already," Matt explains.This approach means you're not switching campaigns during the crucial weekend or hoping your offers will work—you already know what performs best with your most engaged customers.SMS for Inbox Overwhelm (13:00)Matt suggests considering SMS marketing as an alternative to email...

What if the secret to Black Friday success isn't just about discounts, but about building relationships that last? In this second episode of our Black Friday strategy miniseries, Matt Edmundson reveals the Knowledge Trust Matrix—a simple framework that transforms one-time buyers into lifetime customers.Episode SummaryMatt challenges the conventional approach to Black Friday customer acquisition, where brands focus on extracting maximum profit from new customers rather than building foundations for long-term relationships. Through the Knowledge Trust Matrix, he demonstrates how shifting this mindset can dramatically increase customer lifetime value. The framework centres on moving customers from low knowledge and trust to high knowledge and trust through strategic onboarding, educational content, and authentic storytelling.Key Point Timestamps:03:00 - The Fundamental Mindset Shift04:30 - Introducing the Knowledge Trust Matrix06:00 - The Four Customer Types Explained08:00 - Building Trust with UGC and Live Chat10:00 - The On-Ramp Strategy for Hesitant Buyers12:30 - The Story Intersection Principle14:00 - Post-Purchase Onboarding ExcellenceThe Knowledge Trust Matrix Framework (04:30)Matt's framework centres on two essential elements for building customer relationships: knowledge and trust. He visualises this as a matrix where the goal is moving all customers to the top-right quadrant."When someone buys from us for the first time, usually their trust is low because they've never really bought from us before," Matt explains. Meanwhile, their knowledge varies dramatically depending on how much research they've done.The framework identifies four customer types: low knowledge/low trust (need most work but huge potential), high knowledge/low trust (need trust-building), low knowledge/high trust (often referrals), and high knowledge/high trust (ideal repeat customers). "This is where your best customers live," Matt emphasises about the final quadrant.Building Trust During Black Friday (08:00)Trust acceleration becomes crucial during high-volume periods like Black Friday. Matt recommends two primary strategies that work particularly well during peak shopping times."Make sure there is UGC on your social media and on your website from previous customers telling them how amazing you guys are," he advises. This involves strategically placing customer stories, photos, and testimonials where new visitors encounter them during decision-making.For Black Friday specifically, live chat becomes essential: "If you don't have live chat on your website, I think you should probably do that over Black Friday weekend. That's a great way to induce trust." Real-time human connection dramatically reduces purchase anxiety.The On-Ramp Strategy (10:00)Not every visitor arrives ready to purchase immediately. Matt's "on-ramp" concept provides pathways for hesitant customers to gradually build confidence."Not every single one of our customers is ready to buy. They don't come to the website and instantly appear here. Some of them are here. So how do we get them to take this journey?" he asks.Effective on-ramps include email capture with valuable content, PDF downloads that solve customer problems, and sample programmes offering risk-free product trials. Matt shares a brilliant example of a houseplant website offering "10 Steps on How to Not Kill Your Houseplant"—perfectly addressing customer anxiety whilst capturing contact details.The Story Intersection Principle (12:30)Perhaps the most powerful insight involves how brands tell their stories. Matt illustrates this with a simple but profound concept: businesses care deeply about their own story, but customers initially care very little about it. However, customers care intensely about their own stories."When...

Ever wondered why some brands skip Black Friday entirely and still win? Matt Edmundson reveals the framework that protects margins whilst creating compelling offers that actually increase customer lifetime value during Black Friday.Episode SummaryIn this first episode of our Black Friday mini-series, we explore why everything about Black Friday success comes down to your offer—and why that offer doesn't have to destroy your margins. Matt shares strategies from years of running Black Friday campaigns across multiple businesses, including some that opted out entirely. We discuss the critical ratio of margin to lifetime value, explore alternatives to deep discounting like gift with purchase and gift cards, and reveal why giving your best deals to your best customers might be the smartest move you make this November.Key Point Timestamps:01:00 - Why abstinence is okay (REI's brilliant opt-out strategy)07:00 - The margin to lifetime value ratio10:00 - Bundle and upsell strategies13:00 - Flipping the loyalty script14:00 - Gift with purchase revelation16:00 - The IKEA gift card genius move19:00 - Creating genuine urgency without deceptionThe Permission to Say No (01:00)Matt opens with a revolutionary idea: you don't have to do Black Friday. He shares how outdoor brand REI turned opting out into a PR win by closing their stores and encouraging customers to go outside instead."If Black Friday means sacrificing everything that makes your brand special, pulling customers from profitable December sales into unprofitable November ones, and creating mayhem for minimal return—it's okay to sit this one out."This permission to abstain is particularly relevant for brands with tight margins or strong values that conflict with the Black Friday frenzy. Sometimes the best strategy is no strategy at all.The Margin to Lifetime Value Ratio (07:00)The core framework Matt presents centres on one critical ratio: margin to lifetime value. Rather than asking "How much should I discount?", the question becomes "If I sacrifice margin here, how can I increase customer lifetime value there?"Matt illustrates this with Vegetology's Omega-3 supplements—at £20 with tight margins, a simple discount would be devastating. But bundling multiple products at a discount increases the chance of creating repeat customers who've experienced the full product range."I'd rather give 20% off a £100 bundle and make £80 with good margin than give 20% off a £20 product and make £16 with terrible margin."Revolutionary Loyalty Approach (13:00)Matt challenges the industry norm of giving best deals to new customers only—a practice that frustrates loyal customers who see "new customers only" offers everywhere. Black Friday presents an opportunity to flip this script entirely.By creating exclusive landing pages for VIP customers with better offers than the general public sees, brands can strengthen relationships with their most valuable customers. These customers don't just buy more—they become brand advocates.The Gift With Purchase Strategy (14:00)One of Matt's most successful margin-protecting strategies involved candles with a £4 cost but £20-25 retail value. Offering "Spend £25, get this £25 candle free" created massive perceived value whilst protecting core product margins.The warning: don't try to offload unwanted stock this way. "I've tried clearing old stock this way, giving away products nobody wanted in the first place. Guess what? Nobody wanted them as gifts either."Today's HostMatt EdmundsonHost of The eCommerce PodcastFounder of eCommerce CohortWebsite: eCommerce Podcast