Podcasts about tiktok shops

Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc kick off their annual predictions episode with a fast-moving review of the retail news of the week. They begin with the long-delayed U.S. TikTok deal finally reaching resolution, noting how deeply TikTok now influences product discovery, cultural trends, and transactional commerce through TikTok Shops. While the platform remains critical for retailers, both hosts raise concerns around privacy, political influence, and how algorithmic control may evolve under new ownership.The conversation then turns to tariff volatility and geopolitical uncertainty, highlighting how unpredictable trade policy continues to make planning difficult for retailers. Steve points out that Amazon is already seeing tariff-driven price increases creep into both its first-party and marketplace businesses, reinforcing how global policy decisions are now flowing directly into consumer pricing. They also discuss Gap's creation of a Chief Entertainment Officer role, using it as a signal that retailers are increasingly seeking growth through media, licensing, and brand-driven content ecosystems rather than traditional merchandising alone.From there, Steve delivers his provacative 2026 retail predictions. He argues that the “Great Concentration” will continue, with Amazon, Walmart, and Costco capturing a disproportionate share of both sales growth and profits. This concentration fuels a powerful investment flywheel that makes it increasingly difficult for mid-tier retailers to compete. He predicts a mixed year for major turnarounds, with some traction at Gap and Nike, limited progress at Macy's, and deeper structural challenges for Target.AI emerges as one of the most consequential themes, with Steve describing 2026 as a truly “agentic” year. Search, shopping, and discovery are rapidly shifting toward AI-driven experiences, creating massive innovation but also high risk of disintermediation for brands that fail to adapt. Physical stores, he argues, will matter more for experiential brands and less for undifferentiated ones, accelerating the bifurcation between meaningful store concepts and those that lack a clear role.Steve also predicts intensifying competition in last-mile delivery, as Amazon and Walmart push same-day and narrow delivery windows even further, especially in grocery and essentials. Luxury faces an uneven future, with Saks Global likely emerging from bankruptcy smaller and fragile, and growth concentrated among a few elite brands. Resale, however, finally appears poised for breakout momentum, driven by affordability pressures and improving business models across the sector. Wellness and longevity become a new growth frontier, extending far beyond groceries into subscriptions, services, and lifestyle ecosystems.The episode closes with their “remarkable” stories of the week and a look around the corner, led by Lululemon's latest product misstep involving see-through apparel and a tone-deaf customer response. Michael highlights the promotion of former guest Chris Nicholas to lead Walmart International, while Steve flags growing bond-market volatility as a key macro signal to watch.   About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

In this episode, I sat down with Bob Regular to unpack the real evolution of digital media and why authenticity and trust have become the most valuable currency in business today. We talked about everything from the early days of dial-up internet and performance advertising to TikTok Shops, walled gardens, and the explosion of digital noise. Bob broke down how both big brands and small businesses play the same marketing game with different budgets, why brand still matters more than ever, and how entrepreneurs can stand out by being human, transparent, and real. This conversation was a powerful reminder that cutting through the noise isn't about better ads. It's about clarity, trust, and building something truly unique. About Bob Regular: Bob Regular is a digital media pioneer and seasoned entrepreneur with decades of experience building, scaling, and monetizing online platforms. He entered the digital space in the mid-1990s, helping businesses get online before websites and e-commerce were widely adopted. Over his career, Bob has been at the forefront of digital advertising, performance marketing, and ad technology, successfully leading and exiting multiple companies. Today, Bob is the CEO of Infolinks, where he works with global brands and publishers to deliver performance-driven advertising at scale. His expertise spans brand marketing, programmatic advertising, native media, and building sustainable competitive advantages in highly competitive markets. Bob is also a strong advocate for authenticity, trust, and mentorship as core pillars of long-term business success. Connect with Bob Regular Website: https://www.infolinks.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infolinksCompany: Infolinks About Justin: After investing in real estate for over 18 years and almost 3000 deals done, Justin has created a business that generates 7 figures in active income through wholesaling and fix and flipping as well as accumulating millions of dollars of rental properties including 5 apartment buildings, 50+ single family homes, and 1 storage facility Justins longevity in real estate is due to his ability to look around the corners, adapt to changing markets, perfecting Raising private capital, and focusing on lead generation which allows him to not just wholesale and fix & flip, but also accumulate wealth through long term holds. His success in real estate led him to start The Entrepreneur DNA podcast and The Science Of Flipping podcast and education company, and REI LIVE where he's actively doing deals with members. He has coached and mentored thousands of aspiring and active investors over the last decade. Connect with Justin: Instagram: @thejustincolby YouTube: Justin Colby TikTok: @justincolbytsof LinkedIn: Justin Colby Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sean, Mike, Matt, and Jason share their bull and bear cases for 2026, debating the economic shifts reshaping ecommerce — from a potential AI bubble to the frozen housing market to consumer pullback in a hidden recession.Discover why this moment might be the most pivotal in history for small businesses while threatening large institutions. The hosts cover the deflationary power of AI, macro trends in consumer, and the specific levers each is pulling to win in an uncertain economy: (1) pricing strategies, (2) new product launches, (3) TikTok Shops, and (4) AI-generated creative.Powered ByFulfil.iohttps://bit.ly/3pAp2vuThe Only Cloud ERP Designed to Efficiently Scale 8 and 9-Figure Brands.Northbeamhttps://www.northbeam.io/Richpanelhttps://www.richpanel.com/?utm_source=9O&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=ytdescSaras Analyticshttps://bit.ly/9OP-YtdescRivohttps://www.rivo.io/operatorsSign up for the 9 Operators Newsletterhttps://9operators.com/

In this dynamic episode of the Global eCommerce Leaders Podcast, hosts Michael LeBlanc and Jim Okamura welcome Jessie Chen, Go To Market Lead at ChannelEngine, to explore the evolving landscape of global marketplaces, omnichannel integration, and the rise of AI-powered commerce.Jessie begins with her unexpected career path—from special education teacher and humanitarian program designer in rural China to thriving SaaS and eCommerce professional in New York City. Now leading business development for ChannelEngine's North American operations, she shares how the Dutch-based company evolved from a European marketplace integrator to a fast-growing global player connecting brands with shoppers across Amazon, Walmart, Target Plus, TikTok Shop, and beyond.The conversation dives into fresh insights from ChannelEngine's two major 2025 reports: the Consumer Behavior Study and the Global Marketplace Seller Trends Report. Jessie reveals how shoppers are increasingly treating marketplaces as search engines, beginning their discovery journeys directly on Amazon, Macy's, or TikTok, rather than relying on Google. Meanwhile, sellers are diversifying faster than ever—listing on six to ten marketplaces on average—and bracing for AI to emerge as the next major transactional channel.Jessie and the hosts also explore how traditional retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot are reinventing themselves through third-party marketplaces, creating new opportunities for brands to reach customers in unexpected ways. The conversation shifts to the explosive growth of social commerce, led by TikTok Shop, where the buying power of older consumers has surprised many brands. Jessie breaks down why success on TikTok has little to do with paid advertising and everything to do with authentic, data-driven content and consistent product storytelling.Looking ahead to the upcoming GELF ReBoot Dinner in New York City, Jessie predicts lively debate on three hot topics:The shift toward hybrid 1P/3P marketplace strategiesThe diminishing ROI of custom integrations versus modern SaaS solutionsHow brands can responsibly adopt AI tools to scale operations without losing human touch or data integrityJessie concludes with actionable advice for e-commerce leaders: stop over-customizing, start vetting partners based on shared growth incentives, and approach AI thoughtfully. Whether you're a DTC brand or an enterprise seller, this episode delivers a roadmap for thriving in the new era of global marketplace commerce.Download their Marketplace Seller Trends Reporthttps://www.channelengine.com/lp/marketplace-seller-trends-report Presented by StreamCommerce, a full-service consultancy that ideates, strategizes, and executes growth marketing solutions for their clients. They partner with people and brands they believe in, to create websites that are deeply committed to the user experience and that drive omnichannel digital transformation. StreamCommerce increases your bottom line sustainably by delivering a customer experience that's true to your brand. Their team of industry experts allows them to make informed and strategic decisions quickly. As the world changes, we listen, and they deliver world-class e-commerce websites on Shopify Plus.

Künstliche Intelligenz verändert den Einzelhandel, aber noch weiß niemand so genau, wie. Das ist der gemeinsame Nenner von Saskia Meier-Andrae, Deutschland-Chefin von Ebay, und E-Commerce-Vordenker Alexander Graf.Zwischen Zuversicht und Skepsis zeichnet sich im Doppelpodcast eins ab: Der Handel steht vor einem Umbruch. Der Druck, nicht zum Passagier der Entwicklung zu werden, wächst. "Die größte Verschiebung gerade ist, dass keiner wirklich weiß, was passiert", sagt Graf. KI-Agenten, Tiktok-Shops und Chatbots sind ihm zufolge auf dem Vormarsch, erzeugen bisher aber keinen echten Umsatz. Das erzeugt Nervosität: "Was jetzt passieren könnte, ist eine richtige Aufbruchsstimmung, die aber sehr stark von Angst überlagert wird."Saskia Meier-Andrae hält kämpferisch dagegen. Sie und Ebay setzen KI etwa beim "Magical Listing" ein. Das erleichtert Verkäuferinnen und Verkäufern per Foto-Upload die Produkterstellung. Für die Managerin ist klar: "Jeder Retailer, der sich keine Strategien überlegt für verschiedene Szenarien, vor allem, was das Thema Shopping-Agenten angeht, schläft."Graf bleibt skeptisch: "Die Sachen, die ich gesehen habe in den letzten sechs bis zwölf Monaten, haben mich nicht überzeugt." Seine Warnung: Wer heute blind in KI investiert, läuft Gefahr, dieselben Fehler zu wiederholen wie damals bei Dash Buttons, Voice Commerce und Second Life. "Ich würde gerne jemanden finden, der jemals über sein Amazon Echo irgendwas nachbestellt hat."Trotz allem ist auch für ihn klar: Das klassische E-Commerce-Modell mit Suchmaske und Filtern stirbt aus. "Jetzt ist keine Happy Time in meiner Industrie", sagt Graf. Der nächste Kipppunkt? Kommt bald, meint Meier-Andrae: "Ich glaube, der Wandel wird kommen, er wird schneller kommen, als wir denken."Sie haben Fragen für Frauke Holzmeier und Andreas Laukat? Dann schreiben Sie eine E-Mail an sotechtdeutschland@ntv.de +++ Hinweis zur Werbeplatzierung von Meta: https://backend.ad-alliance.de/fileadmin/Transparency_Notice/Meta_DMAJ_TTPA_Transparency_Notice_-_A… +++Unsere allgemeinen Datenschutzrichtlinien finden Sie unter https://datenschutz.ad-alliance.de/podcast.html Wir verarbeiten im Zusammenhang mit dem Angebot unserer Podcasts Daten. Wenn Sie der automatischen Übermittlung der Daten widersprechen wollen, klicken Sie hier: https://datenschutz.ad-alliance.de/podcast.htmlAlle Rabattcodes und Infos zu unseren Werbepartnern finden Sie hier: https://linktr.ee/sotechtdeutschlandUnsere allgemeinen Datenschutzrichtlinien finden Sie unter https://art19.com/privacy. Die Datenschutzrichtlinien für Kalifornien sind unter https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info abrufbar.

Abonneer je op ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠onze Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ en ontvang een samenvatting van de aflevering, de shownotes en links naar de bronnen. Hier zijn de shownotes voor de podcast, gebaseerd op de aangeleverde bestanden:[00:00] Intro[01:16] AI-agents mogen straks afrekenen – Google lanceert standaard met steun van 60 bedrijven[07:38] ChatGPT Pulse: de proactieve AI die je leven organiseert[11:20] Trump tekent decreet dat verkoop van TikTok afdwingt[13:45] Retail niet langer fysiek vs. online – nieuwe SBI-codes zetten sector op één hoop en hebben gevolgen voor b2b targeting lijsten[16:30] ACM start strengere controles op ‘sjoemelkortingen' dit najaar - opletten met Black Friday[19:44] Zalando pauzeert accounts bij te veel retourneren[22:26] Pinterest introduceert where-to-buy buttons[23:51] Na lancering maart al 14.000 Duitse retailers actief op TikTok Shop en Nederlandse retailers testen mee[28:03] OutroShownotes: https://www.adwise.nl/podcast/Hosts: Jeroen Roozendaal en Daan LoohuisVolg Adwise ook via:

Jana Weinstein is the Director of Social Commerce and Affiliate Strategy at Blue Wheel Media, an omnichannel marketing and operational agency, where she leads influencer, creator, and affiliate strategies across managed programs and creator-led initiatives. As a sales and growth leader, she specializes in TikTok Shop, business development, go-to-market strategies, and full-funnel social commerce performance. Before Blue Wheel, Jana was part of the founding team of TikTok Shop, where she launched the partner ecosystem and built enterprise agency partnerships. She also served as the Director of Partnerships for TikTok Shop at Pattern®.  In this episode… While many brands recognize TikTok Shop's potential to boost sales and discoverability, they often hesitate to get started on the platform. Concerns about content creation, budget limits, and measuring results can make it difficult to identify a starting point. How can brands start and scale on TikTok Shop? According to social commerce expert Jana Weinstein, TikTok Shop is worth the investment. She advises brands to begin by building an authentic, organic presence through simple, consistent content to train the platform's algorithm. Paid media can boost visibility while affiliate programs generate revenue, provided brands cultivate strong creator relationships and gamify engagement. Achieving growth on TikTok requires an intentional long-term strategy rather than a quick viral hit. Tune in to this episode of The Digital Deep Dive as Jana Weinstein, Director of Social Commerce and Affiliate Strategy at Blue Wheel Media, returns to speak with Aaron Conant about why TikTok Shop is a long-term marketing investment. Jana shares three reasons to get started on the platform, TikTok's recent growth and new opportunities, and how to navigate operations on TikTok Shop.

Produced by Hack You Media: pioneering a new category of content at the intersection of health performance, entrepreneurship & cognitive optimisation.Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hackyoumedia/Website: https://hackyou.media/Hudson Leogrande is the founder of Comfrt, a rapidly growing apparel brand that's rethinking the way creators build businesses. In this episode, we unpack how he's scaled a brand to seven figures while staying almost entirely behind the scenes, and why he believes most creators are missing the mark when it comes to monetisation.Hudson shares hard-won lessons on building a product people actually want, crafting content that drives sales without being salesy, and the mindset shift from influencer to entrepreneur. A must-listen for anyone serious about turning creativity into real commerce.00:00 Introduction01:20 Kicking things off in NYC with viral hoodie success04:40 Finding the right manufacturers and negotiating better terms07:36 Using mentors and AI to scale smarter and faster10:52 How AI automates content and creator approval13:36 Purely White's rise through Snapchat before pivoting to TikTok16:45 How changes in algorithms nearly sank the business19:17 What makes a good media buyer and how to track performance22:26 Scripting influencer content and learning from audience behaviour25:15 Street interviews and podcast clips as powerful ad formats28:52 Getting copied by Gap and taking it as a compliment32:11 Learning from global brands to prep for international expansion36:10 Why Europe, UK, Canada and cold climates are next39:34 What they look for in creators beyond follower count42:05 Why talking on camera builds stronger consumer trust47:09 TikTok Shops vs Meta for content and sales strategy50:00 Testing blankets, tees, snack hoodies and what to avoid53:25 Why top creators rarely leave to start their own brands56:56 In-house hires over agencies and building a loyal team60:00 What his day-to-day actually looks like as a founder62:11 Scaling Nude while keeping focus on what's workingEscape the 9-5 & build your dream life - https://www.digitalplaybook.net/Transform your physique - https://www.thrstapp.com/My clothing brand, THRST - https://thrstofficial.comCustom Bioniq supplements: https://www.bioniq.com/mikethurston• 40% off your first month of Bioniq GO• 20% off your first month of Bioniq PROJoin our newsletter for actionable insights from every episode: https://thrst-letter.beehiiv.com/Join @WHOOP and get your first month for free - join.whoop.com/FirstThingsThrstFollow HudsonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/itshudson/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hudson-leogrande-112891231/Website: https://link.me/itshudson

TikTok Shops it's on fire right now.

TikTok Shop right now is bigger than Amazon or Shopify was from launch. That is what TikTok Shop is right now." Bold statement? Maybe. But Jordan West, founder and CEO of Social Commerce Club, has the data to back it up. With CPMs dropping 26% last year while ad spend increases, and creators with under 10K followers generating $250K in monthly sales, we're witnessing the early stages of what could be the biggest disruption in e-commerce since Amazon itself. In this explosive episode, Jordan breaks down his exact three-phase playbook for scaling from zero to $100K per month on TikTok Shop, reveals why big brands like Estée Lauder are struggling to adapt, and shares the underground strategies that are creating millionaire creators overnight.—Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!—Chapters: (00:00) Introducting Jordan West(05:18) The Exponential Growth of TikTok Shops(10:48) Understanding the TikTok Shops Ecosystem(14:12) The Power of Social Search(16:16) Understanding Social Commerce(19:34) Misconceptions about TikTok Shops(24:33) The 80/20 Rule for Viral Content(26:16) Best Practices(31:36) Making It From Zero to Viral(33:20) The Tiktok Shop Playbook: Phase One(38:18) The Tiktok Shop Playbook: Phase Two(42:44) The Tiktok Shop Playbook: Phase Three(46:21) Exploring YouTube's Potential in Social Commerce—Connect With Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/ Relevant Links:Jordan's LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jordan-west-marketerPast guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more

In this episode of the Ecom Ops Podcast, we sit down with Jesse Frimpone, CEO of Prestige Knowledge, who went from being unjustly fired and facing homelessness to running seven successful Shopify stores.

As part of its exclusive series on the YouTube Ecosystem, Next in Media spoke with John Terrana, President, Americas at VaynerMedia, about why most clients aren't racing to lock up much inventory beyond sports this year, and the 'weirdo' spot YouTube still finds itself in.

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Paul Sherratt, founder of Glove Glue, shares how a niche product for goalkeeper gloves became a global brand, selling a unit every 150 seconds across 55 countries. He talks with host Will Laurenson about starting the business in 2011, going all-in by 2020, and why social commerce—especially TikTok Shops—is a major focus now. Paul opens up about e-commerce challenges, retail wins, and segmenting gift-givers from actual goalkeepers. If you're growing a niche brand, this episode reveals the power of product focus, global distribution, and leaning into social communities.

In this episode of Beyond the Shelf, host Dave Feinleib sits down with Manu Sareen, Founder & CEO of I2O Retail, to explore the evolving challenges of brand protection, unauthorized resellers, and AI's role in retail transformation.With deep experience at Amazon and Best Buy, Manu brings a sharp lens to the nuts and bolts of e-commerce—from the basics of availability, pricing, and PDP optimization to the power of automation and the realities of AI at scale.You'll hear how I2O Retail was born from real pain points in agency life, and how Manu's team is helping some of the world's biggest brands take back control of their online presence—boosting profitability and protecting brand integrity across marketplaces.If you've ever struggled with rogue sellers, messy data, or disjointed teams, this episode is a must-listen.Key Takeaways & Episode HighlightsFrom Best Buy to Amazon to I2O Retail – Manu shares his winding journey through global sourcing, pricing analytics, and retail leadership—and how risk-taking led to building his own company.Why Most Marketplace Tools Fall Short – The story behind I2O's launch: how solving internal agency frustrations sparked a broader platform to help other brands fight unauthorized sellers.The 4 Amazon Fundamentals Every Brand Must Nail – Availability, pricing, content, and discoverability—Manu breaks down the "retail basics" that brands often overlook in favor of flashy tactics.What Unauthorized Resellers Really Cost You – A brand protection masterclass, from image misuse to pricing violations—and how automation, enforcement, and policy alignment can clean it up.The Truth About AI in Retail – It's not about pressing a button. Manu shares how I2O is using AI for scale and efficiency—not magic—and why clean data is the real foundation for success.Rapid Rundown QuestionsStrangest e-commerce trend: The rise of TikTok Shops and influencer-driven buyingMovie title that sums up e-commerce today: Inception – ever-evolving, hard to follow, but always movingMost impactful retail tech: Self-checkout and digital payments, streamlining the physical retail experienceBook recommendation: Atomic Habits – small changes, big resultsBest career advice: Present multiple solutions—but always have a strong recommendationConnect with Manu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manusareen/Follow Beyond the Shelf: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/beyond-the-shelf-podcastGet the It'sRapid Creative Automation Playbook: https://itsrapid.ai/creative-workflow-automation-playbook/Take It'sRapid's Creative Workflow Automation with AI survey: https://www.proprofs.com/survey/t/?title=ffgvdEmail us at sales@rapidads.io with code “BEYOND2025” to find out how you can save more than $1,000 on our Digital Sell Sheets and Retail Media Automation solutionsTheme music: "Happy" by Mixaud - https://mixaund.bandcamp.comProducer: Jake Musiker

S5:E2 Influencers, Gen Z, & Beyond Social Commerce: Lessons from AliExpress with Chris CarlWelcome to the second episode of Season 5 of the Retail Razor Show! Join hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden as they dive into the fresh tactics and cutting-edge strategies that are driving the future of retail and e-commerce with Gen Z. In this episode, they are joined by Chris Carl, the US Head of Marketing for AliExpress (Alibaba Group), to discuss ‘the new playbook for digital marketing' fresh from his insightful session on marketing to Gen Z at eTail West!Discover how AliExpress is capturing Gen Z's attention, building a robust social media presence, leveraging influencers like David Beckham, and exploring the future of cross-border shopping with a full-funnel marketing strategy. Chris shares the impressive growth metrics (500% increase in social media following, for example) and innovative campaigns that have set AliExpress apart - think social commerce, live shopping, Gen AI, and TikTok Shops. Plus, new enticing innovations in logistics to help onboard more US-based sellers to the AliExpress marketplace. Whether you're a product junkie, retail leader, or commerce technologist, this episode is packed with insights you won't want to miss!About Chris Carl:Chris Carl is a strategy, operations, and marketing executive with a proven track record in retail, beauty, spirits, lifestyle, hospitality, and luxury goods. As the first US Head of Marketing for AliExpress, Chris focuses on making online shopping more engaging and affordable. Since May 2023, Chris has increased order volume by 60%, increased brand share of voice by 75%, expanded headcount by 400%, boosted social media following by 500%, and doubled brand awareness.Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.comSubscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube00:00 Show Intro03:04 Introducing Christopher Carl from AliExpress & His Background05:43 Conversation with Chris Carl, Head of US Marketing for AliExpress08:52 Cracking the Code with Gen Z16:00 AliExpress's Social Media and Influencer Strategy21:22 Leveraging Social Media for Brand Growth23:30 Navigating the Shifting Digital Marketing Landscape25:46 The Future of Social Commerce and Live Shopping28:17 The Importance of Brand Personality and Humor31:50 AliExpress: A Unique Business Model35:09 Expanding AliExpress's US Presence38:45 The Future of Cross-Border E-Commerce42:20 Show CloseMeet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech:Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft.Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech!Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.

In dieser Folge spricht Karo mit einem bekannten Gesicht im Kassenzone-Podcast: Vanessa Stützle, CEO der LUQOM-Gruppe. Gemeinsam werfen sie einen Blick auf die Entwicklungen im deutschen E-Commerce und die Trends, Strategien und Zahlen, die das Jahr 2025 prägen werden. Neu: Mit dem „Quarterly Stützle“ starten Karo und Vanessa ab sofort ein regelmäßiges Update-Format zum Status quo des E-Commerce. Ein zentrales Thema im Gespräch ist die aktuelle Marktlage. Der deutsche E-Commerce wuchs 2024 nur um 1,1 %, für 2025 wird ein moderates Plus von 2,5 % erwartet. Karo und Vanessa sind sich einig: Unternehmen mit klarer Vision und effizienter Struktur bleiben erfolgreich. Besonders im Segment Home & Living wird es selektiver. Anbieter wie Westwing, die auf Premium und Eigenmarken setzen, entwickeln sich solide. Im Fokus steht auch der Start des TikTok Shops in Deutschland. Zwar fehlt es noch an Conversion, doch das Potenzial – etwa durch Live-Shopping und Creator-Kollaborationen – ist groß. Vanessa rechnet damit, dass TikTok sich mittelfristig vom Traffic- zum Umsatzkanal wandelt. Außerdem geht es um Kundendaten und Loyalty-Programme. Nach dem Rückzug eines wichtigen Partners steht die Deutschlandcard unter Druck – neue digitale Touchpoints werden gebraucht. Vanessa sieht klare Chancen in Apps mit echtem Mehrwert und personalisierter Ansprache. Künstliche Intelligenz ist bei LUQOM längst Alltag: Sie unterstützt von Trendanalysen über 3D-Visualisierungen bis hin zu Legal Checks – und macht Prozesse effizienter und sicherer. Spannend ist auch Aldis Rückzug aus dem Onlinehandel. Karo und Vanessa diskutieren über mögliche digitale Nischenmodelle – von Aldi Talk bis Aldi Reisen. Welche Trends sie bei Kundenbindung sehen, was Aldis Rückzug für den Markt bedeutet und warum Conversational Commerce via WhatsApp im B2B funktioniert, hört ihr in dieser Folge. Podcast-Host - Karo Junker de Neui: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karojunker https://etribes.de/ Newsletter: https://www.kassenzone.de/newsletter/ Community: https://kassenzone.de/discord Disclaimer: https://www.kassenzone.de/disclaimer/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/KassenzoneDe/ Blog: https://www.kassenzone.de/ E-Commerce Buch: https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/3866413076/ Plattformbuch 2024: https://amzn.eu/d/1tAk82E Tassen kaufen: http://www.tassenzone.com Kassenzone” wird vermarktet von Podstars by OMR. Du möchtest in “Kassenzone” werben? Dann https://podstars.de/kontakt/?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=shownotes_kassenzone

The Future of Integrated Media – Smarter Digital Marketing for Revenue Growth"It's no longer about winning the channel; it's about winning the customer. Too often, brands optimize for individual platforms without considering the bigger picture. Today's consumers move seamlessly between channels. If we reach the right audiences with the right message and high-impact creative, we lift all ships. The brands that break down silos and adopt an integrated, customer-first approach will drive real, measurable growth." That's a quote from Sammy Rubin, VP of Integrated Media at Wpromote, and a sneak peak at today's episode. In this episode The Future of Integrated Media: Smarter Digital Marketing for Revenue Growth I  sat down with Sammy Rubin, VP of Integrated Media at Wpromote, to discuss the evolving landscape of digital marketing and how business leaders can optimize their media strategies for sustainable revenue growth.With budgets tightening and expectations rising, business leaders must rethink how they allocate marketing dollars. Sammy emphasizes the need for brands to unify their internal teams, leverage data-driven decision-making, and test integrated strategies that align with evolving consumer behaviors to drive sustainable revenue growth. Be sure to stay until the end when Sammy shares what you need to start optimizing integrated media asap! Are you ready to take your marketing strategy to the next level! Let's go! Kerry Curran, RBMA (00:01.186)So, welcome, Sammy. Please introduce yourself and share your background and expertise.Sammy Rubin (00:07.025)Thank you so much for having me. I'm Sammy Rubin, VP of Integrated Media at Wpromote, a leading independent marketing agency. I do everything from consumer insights and category intelligence to media planning and buying. Everything we do is underpinned by industry-leading intelligence, and we have an amazing creative team as well. So, we really support clients in achieving their business goals through all aspects of our work.In my role as VP of Integrated Media, I oversee the teams developing integrated strategies for our clients—everything from CPG to retail to entertainment. I have the privilege of being part of these teams and helping to guide what we take to market.Just a bit more background about me: I've been on the agency side my whole career and have had the privilege of working with some amazing brands. I've partnered with disruptor brands like SoulCycle and Yasso Frozen Greek Yogurt (which is always stocked in my freezer), as well as Fortune 500 companies like Nike and WarnerMedia. I started as a paid search manager, and it's been an incredible journey evolving from a single-channel focus to an integrated media leadership role.It's been amazing to watch media evolve and see how having an integrated media lead on your business is a no-brainer. It provides a holistic view of how all marketing investments contribute to business results—which is what we're all rallying around today.Kerry Curran, RBMA (01:51.15)Thanks, Sammy. I'm so excited to have you and hear about what you're seeing, hearing, and doing these days. We're such kindred spirits—I also grew up in the performance media world. I actually started as an SEO manager because, at the time, paid search was still new. But you're right—there has been so much evolution, and the channels are constantly changing and getting smarter.To your point, you can't just have a single-channel approach or strategy anymore. I love your integrated media role. You must get to see it all. What trends are you seeing these days?Sammy Rubin (02:33.041)Yes, my focus over the past 18 months or so has really been on commerce. There are many definitions of commerce in this space right now, but what I mean is partnering with brands that have direct-to-consumer objectives—whether through e-commerce, their own brick-and-mortar stores, or wholesale retail relationships, including Amazon.When it comes to commerce, what we're finding—back to the point of integration—is that it's no longer about winning the channel; it's about winning the customer. And when I say "channel," I mean both media and sales channels. Clients have sales objectives across different retailers and distribution points, but if we do our jobs right as marketers—effectively reaching the right audiences with the right message and high-impact creative—it lifts all ships.We see this reflected in data and our own behaviors. You and I, like most consumers, search on social media, pre-validate in-store purchases on Amazon or Reddit, and then take the next step. So, it's really important for brands to take a customer-first approach—understanding where they show up and ensuring their creative is more critical than ever before.I think the latest eMarketer stats show that adults in the U.S. spend over 13 hours a day with media. That's a lot. Like, what else do we do? Sleep? I know I get eight hours of sleep every night—at least, all my trackers tell me that. But if we're spending that much time with media, exposure alone is no longer enough. We need to drive engagement.That's where creative is the new media targeting—it's the new media strategy for many environments. In Meta's algorithm, over 50% of what you pay is based on projected creative engagement and other creative-related factors. As brands, we must show up consistently across platforms because customers bounce from place to place.Kerry Curran, RBMA (04:05.422)That's a lot—all our waking hours!Sammy Rubin (04:24.349)Exactly! And advanced measurement plays a big role here. Consumers will purchase wherever it's convenient—whether that's Amazon, TikTok, or in-store. We're launching TikTok Shops for many clients, and having an integrated measurement approach helps avoid the blind spots created by siloed data.For example, we often see a CTV campaign or a social program funded by a DTC marketing team drive sales at Walmart or Amazon stores. That's because, to the customer, those distinctions are irrelevant—unless there's a specific offer tied to the channel.We build high-velocity media mix models for our clients through our proprietary tech platform, Polaris. This platform integrates foundational reporting, media mix modeling, and incrementality test design, helping us showcase the impact of different media activities on various business outcomes.Kerry Curran, RBMA (06:25.41)Yes, I love that. The holistic experience is key. Customers don't care if an ad is on Meta or Google, and they likely won't even remember where they first saw it.I was just recording another episode on media mix modeling and attribution. The point made there was that we're going back to measuring impressions and the importance of creative—because it provokes an emotional response and drives action. But we can't control what action they take. We just have to ensure our brands are out there, engaging, and driving conversions.Sammy Rubin (07:13.437)Exactly! It's about reframing high-intent actions. Are we seeing an increase in Instagram profile views? Organic social video views? These are proxies for site traffic. For many audiences, especially Gen Z, social media is the new website.Kerry Curran, RBMA (07:41.198)Right.Sammy Rubin (07:43.121)And that perspective needs to be incorporated into measurement strategies.Kerry Curran, RBMA (07:49.486)That's such a great point. You also mentioned retail media—when you and I started, it wasn't a thing. Now, it dominates strategy and investment dollars. How are you incorporating that shift into your clients' strategies?Sammy Rubin (08:15.781)Retail media investment growth is astronomical. Retailers have turned into media conglomerates, and they want a bigger share of total marketing budgets—not just retail budgets. They now offer influencer marketing, off-site paid search via Google and TikTok, first-party retail data, and closed-loop measurement.Retail media is just media. We know that brands have historically driven sales across all retail doors through broad awareness campaigns. That still holds true today. Clients now ask us whether they should invest directly with retailers or take a broader media mix approach.We recently ran a matched-market test for a client, exposing certain markets to media activations while holding others out. We drove measurable 10-20% sales lift in those markets without retail media—proving that broader media strategies can also drive retail results.Kerry Curran, RBMA (10:45.016)Wow. Yeah.Sammy Rubin (11:00.923)We're constantly testing to see what works for our clients. What works for one brand might not work for another. But with everything being retail media, the role of an integrated media strategist is to figure out the right places and spaces to activate and how to hold those dollars accountable for achieving objectives.Kerry Curran, RBMA (11:21.432)I love that example and the market testing approach because brands' budgets are getting smaller, yet we're all expected to do more with less. It's about driving effectiveness and efficiency and figuring out how to do it. To your point, if you don't have the budget, you can't just dump everything into the retailer—you have to get smarter and more strategic.So much of this revolves around consumer behavior and what they're going to do. I know this shift—thinking more about consumer behavior versus channel targeting—is a big one for clients. How are you educating them and pushing for that integration?Sammy Rubin (12:11.567)Yes, it really depends on the brand. The internal organizational structure can vary drastically, even among brands within the same vertical or of the same size.For example, we have CPG brands that have both a D2C marketing lead and a retail marketing lead. Others have a D2C marketing lead, a retail e-commerce lead, and a shopper lead.Or, we might have a brand with a brand marketing lead, a performance and growth marketing lead, and a retail lead. There's no standardization in terms of which teams drive which commerce objectives.But in every case, what's required is an integrated media mix to drive those different commerce objectives—whether direct-to-consumer, e-commerce, in-store, or retail. All of these teams start circling around the same media platforms and creative messaging but in service of different financial goals tied to different commerce channels.When that happens, resources are duplicated, and creative production multiplies.Kerry Curran, RBMA (13:31.138)Yes, they start competing with each other.Sammy Rubin (13:36.101)Exactly. And I don't know what the incentive structure looks like behind the scenes, but it likely plays a role in who wants control over what.The bigger issue is the blind spots in measurement when there's no unification or transparency across data, activation schedules, or even simple things like campaign calendars.For instance, if the DTC team is running a massive CTV activation but the team managing Amazon retail media or brand search isn't aware, they might not adjust their investments to capture that demand.Having remarketing audiences set up properly and ensuring synergy between teams is crucial for marketing efficiency. And that requires unification.I won't sugarcoat it—it's challenging work. Many brands have legacy structures and long-established ways of working. But the data doesn't lie.At the end of the day, all these different marketing stakeholders are laddering up to a single point of accountability—the CMO, the VP of Marketing, or another senior leader.The CFO obviously cares too, right? They want to maximize the return on marketing investments and find efficiencies.So, we're building operating models to unify teams internally, especially across planning. What are the different goals, product priorities, budgets, and audiences? These will often be different for each team, but by coming together in an integrated planning session, we can align efforts.That way, teams can draft off each other's impact, shift certain responsibilities where needed, and ensure media dollars are deployed strategically. From a measurement perspective, we then report on both individual and collective goals.We also do more integrated reporting and measurement. What's the halo effect of different media tactics on different commerce channels?For example, we've seen cases where a retail client scaled back social media, and the Amazon team later reported a bad sales week. When teams don't communicate, they don't realize the relationship between social media in the market and performance across different distribution channels.Using data as a unifying factor is so important. It sounds obvious, but truly building that data foundation is critical.Kerry Curran, RBMA (16:36.076)Yes, I've seen exactly what you're talking about—when internal teams don't share their strategies, they either compete or lack alignment.Your consultative approach—bringing an organizational and data framework to clients—must be invaluable for improving efficiency and effectiveness. I love that your clients are listening and working with you to optimize.You also have a solution to unify this data. Can you share more about your data platform?Sammy Rubin (17:38.973)Yes, at Wpromote, our proprietary tech platform is called Polaris. It serves as the foundation for all our standard media reporting.We have over 100 API connections with various media and data sources. We use this to build an integrated data taxonomy—not the most exciting topic, but extremely important—so we can see all our data in one place.On top of that, we can layer in advanced analyses, including media mix modeling, incrementality test design, and scenario planning. For example, if we launch a new media channel, scale back an existing one, or receive additional budget, how can we best optimize our investments?Sammy Rubin (18:38.141)Once we have that data foundation, we can integrate additional factors like pricing data and promotional data to enhance modeling. This allows us to distinguish the impact of media versus price or distribution as key levers in achieving business goals.It's all about moving from crawl to walk to run, but it's entirely attainable with the right data infrastructure.When I joined Wpromote in 2020, one of my first priorities was building our media strategy department to help clients achieve holistic business results.It's one thing to have integrated measurement and insight presentations, but actually moving dollars and stewarding budgets across the entire media mix is critical.Our media strategists lead this effort, ensuring innovation while leveraging the right mix of people, technology, and processes to drive success.That's how we help our clients.Kerry Curran, RBMA (20:02.734)It's so valuable. As you were talking, I kept thinking about how not only the media channels have evolved but also how data has evolved.Marketers are getting smarter, brands are targeting audiences more effectively, and investments are working harder.This has been so helpful—thank you for sharing your expertise.For listeners who want to get started, what's the first step you'd recommend for brands looking to optimize and integrate their media strategies?Sammy Rubin (20:42.545)Step one: Have a conversation with all your internal counterparts who oversee different marketing investments and priorities.Get a full picture of all media currently in-market—or planned—to identify synergies.See where you might unlock value by integrating investments across teams. Often, the same media partner is being leveraged by multiple teams, but they're working in silos.Then, start building integrated media reporting.You don't need API connections or advanced modeling on day one. Just align on KPIs, how teams measure success, and how media investments are being attributed.Once you identify trends—like, "Hey, two weeks ago, this team ran a large CTV activation, and we saw a lift"—you can start applying causal impact modeling to confirm relationships.Kerry Curran, RBMA (22:30.85)I love that. Sammy, thank you so much. This has been so valuable.How can people find you?Sammy Rubin (22:47.355)Find me on LinkedIn—Sammy Frankel Rubin—or through Wpromote. If anything we discussed today sounds interesting, feel free to reach out.Kerry Curran, RBMA (22:59.918)Excellent! Thank you so much, Sammy. Looking forward to speaking again soon!Sammy Rubin (23:05.51)You too—thanks so much!

In the latest episode of Remarkable Retail, hosts Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis kick off with a roundup of the week's most impactful retail news. They dive into the potential liquidation of Hudson's Bay Company, examining the challenges the iconic retailer faces amid financial turbulence. With speculation swirling around the sale of HBC's heritage Stripes brand and the struggle to find buyers for prime real estate, the hosts analyze the ripple effects on Canadian retail.They also discuss Forever 21's second bankruptcy filing and probable liquidation, attributing the fast-fashion giant's downfall to a combination of fierce competition from digital disruptors like Shein and Temu, as well as a reliance on traditional mall-based retailing. Another key story involves Wayfair's decision to expand its physical retail presence despite years of online focus. Opening its second large-format store in Atlanta, Wayfair seems to be testing the waters of omnichannel retail, blending digital convenience with tangible customer experiences. The episode also touches on earnings updates from Nike, Williams-Sonoma, and Five Below.After covering the latest retail news, the hosts continue their engaging conversation with Jason “Retail Geek” Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis. Goldberg dives into Amazon's ongoing challenges in breaking into the grocery market despite the tech giant's e-commerce dominance. Amazon Fresh stores, while improved, still lack a clear competitive differentiator against industry leaders like Walmart. Goldberg notes that despite Amazon's long-term strategy and willingness to experiment, their grocery ventures remain more experimental than groundbreaking.Goldberg also explores the evolution of social commerce, with a particular focus on TikTok Shops. Unlike past social selling failures on platforms like Facebook, TikTok Shops have managed to build momentum, but only for specific product categories. Goldberg argues that social commerce's real value lies not in direct sales but in product discovery. Brands need to adapt by creating content that fosters discovery rather than pushing for immediate transactions.The conversation also covers the rise of retail media networks, with Goldberg emphasizing Amazon's transformation into a high-margin ad powerhouse. By monetizing third-party seller ads, Amazon has outpaced traditional retail models in profitability. While Walmart and others are catching up, Amazon's ability to leverage its marketplace for advertising revenue puts it in a unique position. About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

The latest Remarkable Retail podcast delivers a compelling mix of current market news and expert analysis from returning guest Jason "Retail Geek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis.Hosts Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis kick off with the week's headlines, spotlighting the chaos caused by shifting tariff policies. They note that consumer confidence has plummeted amid economic uncertainty, creating leadership challenges across the retail landscape. Steve reflects that while the COVID crisis taught resilience, today's volatility requires leaders to embrace agility as "the New Black" while avoiding recklessness.The retail news segment highlights several struggling players, most notably Kohl's with its disastrous twelfth consecutive quarter of sales decline. The hosts detail how new CEO Ashley Buchanan is pivoting back to private labels after previous leadership had emphasized national brands, while also apparently abandoning the once-touted Amazon returns program. Steve recounts visiting Kohl's stores filled with heavily discounted merchandise, describing them as "a train wreck" requiring both strategic and executional overhauls.The hosts continue with Ulta Beauty posting modest growth, signaling a slowdown in a category that had performed exceptionally well post-pandemic. Dick's Sporting Goods delivered strong quarterly results but projected significantly slower future growth, reflecting a broader trend of caution across retail.In what the hosts call the "wobbly unicorn corner," they examine former high-flyers facing existential challenges. Allbirds has lost nearly all its market value since IPO, with declining revenue despite shifting from direct-to-consumer to wholesale. Meanwhile, Stitch Fix shows modest signs of recovery under CEO Matt Baer's strategy of focusing on core customers rather than casting too wide a net.When Jason Goldberg joins the conversation, he identifies three dominant client concerns: retail media networks (which he views skeptically), artificial intelligence (both transformative and overhyped), and economic uncertainty creating both challenges and opportunities.Goldberg then provides illuminating analysis of retail market data, revealing that a small handful of giants—primarily Walmart, Amazon, Costco, and Chinese newcomers like Temu and  Shein—capture the vast majority of all growth. While e-commerce growth has slowed from pandemic highs, it still significantly outpaces brick-and-mortar retail.Most significantly, Goldberg explains retail's "bifurcation" between digital winners and losers, and between two successful business models: massive "everything stores" and highly curated specialty retailers. The traditional wholesale model caught in between—particularly department stores—is struggling regardless of execution quality or market position.The episode ends with a teaser for part two, promising Goldberg's insights on the future of wholesale, Amazon's grocery ambitions, social commerce, and TikTok Shops—compelling reasons for listeners to return for the continuation of this insightful conversation.Links:https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevendennis/2017/12/04/retail-reality-its-death-in-the-middle/ About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada's Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael's cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.

Grab your essential FREE guide - How to clear excess stock without damaging your brand. -----   Social media moves fast. It can feel overwhelming to keep up with, especially when you're running a product business. But staying ahead of the trends doesn't mean spending all your time online.   I sat down with Janine Hardy, freelance social media manager and owner of Connected Inspired, to cut through the noise and highlight what actually matters in 2025. We're talking short-form video, TikTok Shops, and how user-generated content (UGC) can do the heavy lifting in your marketing.   Janine also shares practical strategies for using automation and working with the algorithm instead of against it. And if you've been struggling to make Instagram Stories work for your business, she has some advice you won't want to miss.   If you're ready to get more strategic with your social media, Janine will be teaching inside the Resilient Retail Club membership during the first week of March. It's the perfect chance to dive deeper and get hands-on guidance for your business!   [00:00] How to Make Social Media Work for You in 2025 with Janine Hardy [02:41] What small businesses need to know about 2025 social media trends [07:17] What retailers should look for in UGC creators [10:35] Is there such a thing as a sustainable social media presence? [15:03] The best way to use AI and automated for social media [19:34] The most common social media mistakes small businesses make

Next in Creator Media spoke with Cristina Lawrence, EVP of Consumer & Content Experience at Razorfish about the march toward more TV-like seasons for many top creators, and whether this is making it easier to move ad dollars over from TV. Lawrence also talked about TikTok's future, who might grab the social commerce mantle, and whether Joe Rogan is a podcaster or a YouTuber.Takeaways:Long-Form Content is Winning the Creator EconomyPlatforms like YouTube are shifting towards structured, episodic content (e.g., video podcasts, multi-part series).Creators are becoming media networks, with brands integrating organically into their content strategies.Creators Are the New Media NetworksInfluencers now function as full-scale media companies, reaching highly engaged audiences.Brands must approach them as partners, not just ad placements.The Rise of Creator-Led Brand PartnershipsMega-creators like MrBeast, Hailey Bieber, and Charli D'Amelio are launching their own DTC (direct-to-consumer) brands.These businesses succeed when they align authentically with the creator's identity.Social Commerce is Gaining Traction, but Still EvolvingPlatforms like TikTok Shops and Amazon Live are making inroads in live shopping.However, U.S. adoption lags behind Asia, where live shopping is deeply integrated into culture.Micro-Influencers & Niche Creators Are EssentialBrands are shifting to micro-influencers for more targeted, authentic engagement.Agencies use AI-powered discovery tools (e.g., Publicis' Influential) to identify high-performing niche creators.The TikTok Uncertainty & the Future of Short-Form VideoIf TikTok were to disappear, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels could fill the gap.However, each platform serves distinct user behaviors, with YouTube favored for long-form content. Guest: Cristina LawrenceHost: Mike ShieldsSponsor: VuePlannerProducer: FEL Creative  

On this episode of Retention Chronicles, Mariah Parsons is joined by Nectar Social Co-Founders Misbah Uraizee and Farah Uraizee. Nectar Social is an AI-powered social CX, influencer, and lead gen platform helping brands nurture community and drive more revenue from DMs. They discuss how brands can unlock sales and lower customer acquisition costs (CAC) across platforms like Meta, TikTok Shops and YouTube. Their solution is being used by fashion, food, and beauty brands, including skincare technology company Solawave, and others in the Ulta Beauty and Sephora ecosystem. We discussed questions like:  How AI can help measure and increase ROI without spending more on ads  Metrics for your community: how do you measure your community on social?  New tools for brands to personally engage and convert consumers on social media (increase conversations, DMs & shares) Best practices today for multiplying UGC and creating lead generation campaigns  Community driven marketing: making organic social as attributable as paid  How to win on Instagram vs TikTok Shops  Podcast Website: retentionchroniclespodcast.com Sponsor Website: gomalomo.com

In this episode, we analyze the retail trends from the 2024 holiday season, breaking down what worked, what didn't, and where the industry is headed in 2025. Inspired by Jason Goldberg's insightful article, Holiday 2024 Recap: Where Did the Growth Go?, we discuss the mixed results in holiday sales growth, the dominance of value-driven retailers, and the emergence of new players like Chinese platforms Temu and TikTok Shops. We also delve into the role of AI, trade-down behavior, and retail media networks in shaping the future of commerce. Tune in for a comprehensive look at the trends driving transformation in retail.What You'll Learn in This Episode:The Holiday Sales Landscape:Key takeaways from the National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts vs. actual results.Why 2024 fell short of being a blockbuster season for retail growth.Understanding the disparity in reported holiday sales figures (e.g., MasterCard SpendingPoll vs. NRF Monitor).Winners and Losers:How value-focused retailers like Aldi, Walmart, and Amazon thrived in uncertain economic times.The rise of Chinese platforms like Temu and TikTok Shops, and their impact on shopping behavior.Why department stores and consumer electronics chains struggled during the season.The Trade-Down Effect:Exploring how consumers sought affordable alternatives and its impact on mid-tier retailers.The strategic shifts required to compete in this new value-driven retail environment.NRF Big Show 2025 Themes:New Revenue Streams: Retailers tapping into services, retail media networks, and data monetization.AI Integration: How AI is transforming product design, supply chains, and customer experiences.Profitability Strategies: Leveraging technology to fine-tune pricing, optimize inventory, and cut costs.The Future of Retail:How retail is evolving to blend hyper-personalized AI-driven services with human touchpoints.The importance of staying innovative to remain competitive in an era of rapid change.Resources Mentioned:Article: Holiday 2024 Recap: Where Did the Growth Go?NRF Big Show (January 11-14, 2025)Examples of retail media networks from Walmart, Amazon, and Instacart.Case studies on AI in retail, including Shein's AI-powered product design.Call to Action:Join us in shaping the future of retail! Share your predictions for 2025 trends and let us know how these insights resonate with your shopping or business experiences. Subscribe to our podcast for more deep dives into the evolving world of commerce, and visit The Future of Commerce for additional resources.

00:00 Introduction 02:00 BK Beauty's Journey and Background 03:04 The Rise of TikTok Shops 10:03 The Mechanics of TikTok Shops and Its Impact 13:53 The Power of TikTok's Algorithm for Commerce 17:46 The Future of Social Shopping and Influencer Marketing 27:37 The Rise of Omni-Channel Marketing 30:51 The Impact of Subsidies on TikTok Shops 34:29 Navigating the Challenges of Live Streaming 38:46 The Future of YouTube Shopping 43:53 The Uncertain Future of TikTok 50:41 Building a Cloud of Economic Interest Operators Exclusive Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/9operators/shared_invite/zt-2tdfu426r-TepSHJP~evAyDfR29U2qUw Powered By: Fulfil.io. https://bit.ly/3pAp2vu The Only Cloud ERP Designed to Efficiently Scale 8 and 9-Figure Brands. Northbeam. https://www.northbeam.io/ Postscript. https://postscript.io/ Subscribe to The Marketing Operators Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@MarketingOperators

In this episode, Michael and Brent Zahradnik of AMZ Pathfinder look ahead to 2025 and talk about what's changing in Amazon advertising. From enhanced analytics and new data in Brand Analytics to AI integration and sponsored ad optimization, they dive into the future of digital advertising. You'll learn how Amazon Marketing Cloud is changing data analysis, what new creative possibilities Generative AI offers, and why Sponsored Display is becoming more dynamic. The focus also includes ADSP updates, process automation, and how these innovations can make your campaigns more effective. This episode is for anyone who wants to stay ahead in the world of Amazon advertising and adapt to the changes new technologies will bring. We'll see you in The PPC Den!

FERMAT Create funnels the same way you create ads with FERMAT by visiting ⁠⁠https://fermatcommerce.com/af MORE STAFFING Recruit, onboard, and train incredible virtual professionals in the Philippines with my friends at More Staffing by visiting ⁠https://morestaffing.co/af⁠. // Paul Jauregui is the cofounder of BK Beauty Follow Paul on X at @pauljauregui. Follow Paul on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/myover/ // SUBSCRIBE TO MY CHANNEL! FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/andrewjfaris Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with Andrew: https://ajfgrowth.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup TikTok Shops are rewriting the rules of e-commerce, and the numbers don't lie—$1.5 billion in US sales in the summer of 2023 alone. In this special episode of the DTC Podcast, we team up with Charlie Grinnell, Co-CEO of RightMetric, to unveil a groundbreaking report on TikTok Shops. This exclusive research, conducted over summer 2023, provides fresh, actionable insights into what's working (and why) on this fast-growing platform. Download the report and follow along: https://rightmetric.co/tiktok-shop Whether you're new to TikTok or looking to refine your strategy, this episode is a must-listen for DTC professionals ready to take advantage of this massive opportunity. Key Highlights: Why TikTok Shops are unique: The platform seamlessly combines content and commerce, creating an addictive shopping experience unlike any other. Fresh, exclusive data: This collaborative report between RightMetric and DTC analyzes $1.5 billion in sales data from Summer 2023—offering insights no one else has. Who's succeeding: Beauty, women's wear, health, and electronics are among the top-performing categories, with creator-driven content leading the charge. How to win: Learn how to leverage creators, live streams, and strategic content production to maximize revenue. Big opportunity for small brands: Major players haven't entered TikTok Shops yet, giving early adopters a first-mover advantage. Why listen now? This report is fresh, actionable, and data-driven. If you're in e-commerce, TikTok Shops could be your next big growth channel. Follow Charlie on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliegrinnell/ Timestamps: 00:00 - TikTok vs. Snapchat: Time Spent and User Demographics 02:00 - TikTok Shop: Key Selling Strategies 05:00 - Live Streams Driving Sales on TikTok 09:00 - TikTok's Unique Algorithm and Content Strategy 15:00 - Top TikTok Shop Categories and Revenue Insights 20:00 - Creator Marketing and Affiliate Strategy on TikTok 25:00 - TikTok Shop Challenges and Best Practices Hashtags: #TikTokMarketing #EcommerceGrowth #TikTokShop #ContentStrategy #AffiliateMarketing #LiveStreamingSales #DigitalCommerce #TikTokAlgorithm #DTCBrands #CreatorEconomy Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

BILYGet enhanced Meta Ads event tracking on your store with 100% server side tracking at the lowest rate in all of ecom with Bily by visiting https://bily.ai. FERMATCreate funnels the same way you create ads with FERMAT by visiting ⁠⁠https://fermatcommerce.com/af SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST! // ABOUT MY GUEST Jordan West is the CEO and Founder of Upgrowth Commerce, a social commerce agency based in Vancouver, CA. Work With Jordan at upgrowthcommerce.com Follow Jordan On X: @jordantwestecom Secrets To Scaling Your Ecommerce Brand: https://open.spotify.com/show/0T5nt6pLvgmP5Rr2tzAwLv?si=ed236d4e8f0e47dfFOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://x.com/andrewjfaris Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with Andrew: https://ajfgrowth.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ // Get the best media buying training on the Internet + a free coaching call with Common Thread Collective's media buyers when you sign up for ADmission here: https://bit.ly/3x99lip

In this episode of The DTC Insider podcast, Brian Roisentul sat down with Garrett Peters, co-founder of Duncan & Stone. Garrett and his team launched their fast-growing e-commerce business in 2020, and they've seen incredible growth—going from $3M in revenue in 2023 to an estimated $5M in 2024. With a background in scaling operations, Garrett has a lot of insights to share about growing an e-commerce brand, managing cash flow, and navigating fulfillment challenges. Here's a glimpse of what you'll learn: The Inspiration Behind Duncan & Stone's Launch Going Full-Time in E-Commerce Fulfillment Transition Amazon as a Key Channel TikTok Shop Strategy Managing Cash Flow & Inventory Challenges Improving Customer Retention Through Segmentation Preparing for BFCM & Q4 Sponsor for this episode: This episode is brought to you by BSR Digital. BSR Digital helps e-commerce brands that want to scale their business to the next level through paid ads & email marketing. To learn more about BSR Digital, visit their website or book a call here.

In this episode of Marketing Mindset, Colby dives into the world of TikTok Shops with e-commerce veteran Jordan West. With years of experience in building brands and driving growth, Jordan shares insights on why TikTok Shops is becoming a significant focus for online sellers and agencies alike. From his journey in e-commerce to developing his agency and exploring the new frontier of social commerce, Jordan provides actionable steps for brands looking to break into TikTok's dynamic shopping platform. Whether you're curious about the potential of TikTok Shops or looking for strategies to stand out, this episode has something for everyone aiming to expand their digital sales footprint.

 In today's episode, we have an exciting guest, Noah Tucker, the visionary founder and CEO of Social Snowball. Noah takes us through his inspiring journey from a high school graduate enthralled by dropshipping to establishing a groundbreaking affiliate platform for modern creators. We'll dive deep into the innovative solutions Social Snowball offers, from seamless influencer partnerships to the latest integrations with TikTok Shops and Instagram. Noah also shares valuable insights on the challenges he faced as a non-technical founder and how he built a stellar engineering team. Plus, we get a sneak peek into upcoming events and trends in the performance and influencer marketing space. Don't miss out on this engaging conversation filled with actionable tips and industry foresight. Let's jump right in!

Key Highlights:How to sell your business and create a saleable assetNavigating the challenges of breaking into retailImportance of an omnichannel strategy for e-commerceDifferentiating fulfillment channels from brand discovery channelsMaximizing your brand presence on Amazon, TikTok, and Meta Keywords:selling businesses, challenges, retail, breaking into channels, building a brand, saleable asset, differentiation, innovation, product development, consumer experience, branding, packaging, consumer feedback, fulfillment channels, brand discovery channels, omnichannel strategy, e-commerce, sales channels, Amazon, TikTok Shops, Meta, scaling, exit strategy. Tags: Breaking Into Retail,E-commerce Exit Strategy,omnichannel,ecommerce,Build a Brand,E-commerce Success,Scaling Your Business,Product Development,Consumer Experience,Amazon Strategy,Selling Online Businesses,Brand Discovery Channels,Entrepreneur Tips Chapters:[00:00 - 13:58] Building a Brand and Creating a Saleable Asset[13:58 - 23:15] Differentiating Fulfillment Channels and Brand Discovery Channels[23:15 - 32:48] The Impact of Ads on Meta, Amazon, and TikTok[32:48 - 40:23] Opportunity Begins at the End of ExcusesConfused by the noise? Don't be. We've got the 4-step game plan so simple, even a 19-year-old dropout or 76-year-old grandma can follow it. Freebie-free, low-drama, pure profit.Ready to turn your Amazon dreams into reality?Click the link, visit https://voltagedm.com, and let's get this party started.Let's get connected!VISIT https://voltagedm.com to boost your brand and sales exposure! Find Me On:  LinkedIn: / https://www.linkedin.com/in/neiltwa/Instagram: / https://www.instagram.com/neiltwa/Facebook: / https://www.facebook.com/neiltwa/X/Twitter: / https://twitter.com/voltagefbaTikTok: / https://www.tiktok.com/@fbabusinessbuildersLearn The 5 Big "Shifts" Strategy That Allowed Just ONE Private Label Brand to Sell 474,738 Physical Products Since 2012 by checking out our "Almost Automated Income w/ FBA" book now LIVE for ONLY $5:

00:00 Introduction 02:26 Understanding System One and System Two Thinking 18:28 The E-commerce Landscape: Current State and Future Predictions 39:31 Strategies for Q4: Optimism and Discounting 01:01:54 The Role of TikTok Shops in E-commerce 00:00 Introduction 02:26 Understanding System One and System Two Thinking 18:28 The E-commerce Landscape: Current State and Future Predictions 39:31 Strategies for Q4: Optimism and Discounting 01:01:54 The Role of TikTok Shops in E-commerce Sean's References to Tweets: Tweet 1: https://x.com/SeanEcom/status/1840498444756304243 Tweet 2: https://x.com/MarketingMax/status/1838926707111378966 Operators Exclusive Slack: https://join.slack.com/t/9operators/shared_invite/zt-20pd2eq4n-UVM6oTQkdltEwLINwkCWIA Powered By: Fulfil.io. https://bit.ly/3pAp2vu The Only Cloud ERP Designed to Efficiently Scale 8 and 9-Figure Brands. Northbeam. https://www.northbeam.io/ Postscript. https://postscript.io/ Subscribe to The Marketing Operators Podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/@MarketingOperators Sign up to our weekly newsletter here: https://www.9operators.com/

Ralph and Lauren welcome Bahar Bozdogan and Sheraz Amin to the show. They discuss how TikTok has evolved from a fun app for dances and memes into a serious marketing tool for businesses. The experts talk about the power of measurement, attribution, and lead generation on the platform. Exploring how brands can use TikTok's tools to understand customer behavior, improve ad performance, and even drive e-commerce sales through TikTok Shops. If you're curious about how TikTok can work for your business, this episode breaks down the strategies and tools that can help you grow. Chapters00:00:00 – Welcome to the Perpetual Traffic Podcast00:00:34 – Connecting with Perpetual Traffic on Telegram00:01:26 – Genealogy Surprises00:02:15 – Introducing TikTok Guests00:03:50 – TikTok's Measurement and Attribution00:10:15 – The Power of Long-Term Attribution on TikTok00:16:31 – TikTok's Evolution and Lead Generation00:21:45 – Lead Generation Strategies on TikTok00:27:00 – Data Connections and Measurement Tools00:33:15 – Introduction to Reporting and Conversion Studies00:34:39 – Framework for Data Connections and Testing00:35:44 – Expanding Partnerships and Ecosystem00:38:25 – Practical Examples of Measurement Tools00:40:28 – Importance of Incrementality Testing00:45:10 – Incrementality Testing and Real Business Results00:52:24 – TikTok Shops and E-commerce Integration00:55:53 – Final Thoughts and RecommendationsLINKS AND RESOURCES:Grow Your Brand with TikTok AdsGet the TikTok Performance & Measurement Checklist!Tier 11 on YouTubeAttribution OverviewShopper ApprovedKnoCommerceBahar Bozdogan on LinkedInSheraz Amin on LinkedInMeet TikTok Symphony, our new Creative AI suiteTier 11 JobsPerpetual Traffic on YouTubeTiereleven.comMongoose MediaPerpetual Traffic SurveyPerpetual Traffic WebsiteFollow Perpetual Traffic on TwitterConnect with Lauren on Instagram and Connect with

EP320 - News, First Half Recap, Early Holiday Preview http://jasonandscot.com 0:23 Welcome Back After Hiatus 2:51 Upcoming Events in Retail 7:28 GroceryShop 16:02 Retail Growth Trends 21:28 Concerns for Holiday 2024 30:27 The De Minimis Provision 40:27 TikTok's Impact on E-commerce In this episode of The Jason and Scot Show, we discuss the current state of retail and e-commerce. We analyze macroeconomic factors impacting the retail landscape, noting a 3.4% growth in core retail and a maturation of e-commerce, dominated by giants like Amazon and Walmart. We address consumer sentiment heading into the holiday season and the potential influences of the upcoming election and interest rate changes. The episode also covers the role of AI in enhancing personalization experiences, challenges faced by dollar stores, and supply chain issues. We conclude with insights into Amazon's recent earnings and their strategies to engage younger consumers through TikTok Shops. Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Download the complete 54 page deck of all my insights from the US Dept of Commerce Retail Data for the first half of 2024 here https://rgeek.co/retail2024 Transcript [0:23] Welcome Back After Hiatus Jason   [0:23]Welcome to the Json and Scott show this is episode 320 being recorded on Monday september 16th 2024 I'm your host Jason retail gee Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scott Wingo. Scot   [0:38]Hey Jason and welcome back after a very long time, Jason and Scott show listeners Jason our last show was an early May so it's been about a little over a 4-month hiatus and when people ask me I always blame you do you blame me. Jason   [0:57]I do blame you and I'm bitter because in my mind. Nobody's really complaining to you but like I I've gone called out on stage by like I've I've been heckled by people that are like what are you going to do a new show. Scot   [1:15]It's part of our it's it's a Nintendo like strategy where you you dribble you know if you could really constrain Supply scarcity that drives demand so yeah. Jason   [1:25]Yeah it it we are we are playing 3 dimensional chess in a world of checkered players. Scot   [1:31]Exactly the the real reason is as Chief digital Innovation retail and payments and grocery officer your title's gotten bigger and your your more famous your allies on a plane I can never record because I'm like how about now he's like Paris how about now Australia how about now India so you've been flying all over the world. Jason   [1:52]I sadly I have been it does feel like travel is back there there have been more International trips this year than any year before coid so I I can I can only partially deny that accusation. Scot   [2:08]Cool well we're glad that we have you here for for an hour give us an update what are you any uh show you know what's going on out in the world of retail as you've been expanding the globe for the Json and Scott show. Jason   [2:20]Yeah it's been another Super interesting year for retail we'll we'll certainly get into some of what we think are the key topics that have been planned out this year but I have attended a bunch of events I I can't even remember which ones where since this this last show visited a bunch of customers out in the field which is always great learning new things from them [2:51] Upcoming Events in Retail Jason   [2:40]but the upcoming show is in early October is grocery shopping in Las Vegas so I'll be moderating a panel on. AI enabling Next Generation personalization, at at that show which I always look forward to to grocery shop and then a week later they're they're shop talk is moving their show their other stuff to Chicago so they're going to have their first, fall shop talk that will be in my backyard in Chicago so I'll be curious to see how if the world wants another another iteration of shop talk every year. Scot   [3:18]Yeah give us the behind-the-scenes did you like throw down the gauntlet and said shop talk must move to Chicago or I'm not going to attend or and run all the speaking stuff. Jason   [3:28]I basically did that with everything I told every client that they had come to Chicago I told shop talk and I told you you had to come here to record the podcast and yeah you'll note we haven't had a lot of podcasts and you know I still have the same 3 customers here I've always had. Scot   [3:44]But you got to show them to me for at least that's a 1 w. Jason   [3:46]I did but they really just added a show they're just looking for more Revenue so like it seems like it's probably not. Not just me but I feel like your LinkedIn feed has been more active than me and mostly with accolades for for the the fund that you helped kick off. Scot   [4:05]Yeah yeah so the just to update everybody I'm in a post spiffy world so started spiffy in 2014 and then, you know decided to to we got to kind of north of a 60-ish million run rate which is plenty big lots of employees lots of things going on and I had started this little side hustle well first of all I started this thing for our little local ecosystem here called the tweener list in 2015 which was just a little passion project and then started a little fund around that called the tweener fund which invests in early stage startups so I've I've really enjoyed that and decided to, move on from spiffy and make this my full-time gig so have been really enjoying doing that and actually have. I'm sure you do this where you have a list of things you're kind of like want to learn about and you can hardly ever get to it and I've been doing a lot of that the last 4 weeks and 1 of the big 1 is AI I've been going really deep on AI and it's been been a lot of fun to play around with all the cool new stuff going on there and I got a couple interesting ideas I'm not going to reveal anything but there's some interesting if you think from a AI native remember how we used to talk about mobile native well now thinking AI native I think there's some interesting things that could happen in the world of e-commerce so I'm going to I may go back to thinking more about e-commerce so we'll see. Jason   [5:23]Come on back though we're we're waiting for you the water is fine man they're they're for your point there's a lot of super interesting stuff the grocery shop will be fun a a show after that that I'm looking forward to is NRF because you know they have this Innovation Pavilion and they've kind of upped the the, rigger around recruiting exhibitors at The Innovation Pavilion this year and I think it's going to it's a big year for Innovation so, probably be a cool time for all of us to meet in the New York in January with global warming it's not even cold anymore. Scot   [5:58]Not been there not too long ago and it's still pretty darn cold for this North Carolina. Jason   [6:04]Oh okay fair enough fair enough I'm just last year was the first time it snowed in like 2 years in New York at at in her uh and then. Scot   [6:10]Okay yeah yeah last time I remember trudging through like 6 inches to get to your hotel which was painfully far away. Jason   [6:17]I mean that's yeah that's been my normal life so it's been weird that you haven't had to take the heavy coat to New York so although I wouldn't recommend that if you go to New York in January I'd bring that vote uh. And, I feel like in addition to everything else I know we're going to jump into the retail but all the Apple software updates dropped today so cool new icons and emojis and and delayed chats so I can have, like Emoji based chats hit Scott Wingo at every hour of the day now it's amazing. Scot   [6:48]Nice I look forward to that at 4:00 a.m. I'll have my do not disturb on to counteract your your attack. Jason   [6:53]Yeah although I may need you talk about new things you want to learn 1 of the things I want to learn is how to make Do Not Disturb work right in the the modern app like the system because I feel like all the focus modes have made it complicated. Scot   [7:05]Yeah I have to have you know that that kind of funny YouTube where the dad puts on 6 seat belts that's me putting on do not disturb I have to do the physical thing check the moon do my watch hit D and D in a profile and then that's that that combination of things I don't know which of them does it but that seems to stop everything. [7:28] AI in Grocery Shopping Jason   [7:23]Yes I feel like I'm in a similar boat but it would be interesting to figure out how to do it for as intended. Scot   [7:29]Yeah or just we know it works so just keep doing it do so just give us a preview of grocery shop can AI do better recommendations than kind of the old school way we used to do it. Jason   [7:42]So 1 would hope certainly it can do it at greater scale than we used to do it there's some anecdotal evidence that it's. Better it you know part of it I'm I'm curious to talk to some of these folks So So Meta will be on my panel. They they have a strong POV you know what's going on in the digital ad space right now is all the the ad platforms are trying to talk you into going hands off the wheel and turning over. The bidding to their AI engines and I would say at the moment it's an uneven playing field there like if I if I talk to my. Performance media folks they'll tell you that the the AI robots from some of the platforms are very effective and tend to outperform a manual bidding and on other platforms that they they wildly do not so. Jason   [8:33]That it'll be interesting to kind of hear their perspective 1 of the panelists is hungryroot, which to me is a super interesting example they they're truly doing AI based recommendation so they're essentially they're a ger. That is mainly filling out your whole cart for you proactively with AI based. Recommendations so you manicure a Char a cart that they recommend to you versus you hunting and pecking for each individual item and putting it in your cart and they they have some pretty interesting sales metrics using that methodology so they're all in, there you might almost think of them as like the Stitch fix of food and so they'll they'll be interesting to hear, and then my friend Ben from Endeavor and Endeavor may be familiar to some listeners not to others they're the largest adult beverage and hospitality company in Australia. And so they they have a nationwide chain of beer and wine stores that are doing some really interesting personalization hubs and kind of Shifting all of their customer touch points to to 1 to 1 so. I'll be curious to hear how effective they all claim to be. Scot   [9:47]How do these it seems like you're going to need some training data like how do they Kickstart that do they look at like your email or credit card data to kind of get an idea for what you like or they just kind of start you at a demographic Baseline and build from there or do you know. Jason   [10:01]Yeah well so in many cases you've been a customer of theirs for a long time right so they have you you have a significant amount of personal data I mean Walmart launched a predictive cart feature, in January that's in beta so I think it's only available to a select group of. Of Walmart Plus members but yeah it you it's trained on all of th those members pass purchases leading up to the launch of that product. Um so I yeah good question what signals do they use for a net new customer but I think the first crop where customers where they they already had a significant history. Scot   [10:40]Got it cool well that's gonna be a good panel riveting it's also pretty wild they have them so close together now that's like 10 days you're gonna have to kind of like Zip back home rest for a couple days and jump in. Jason   [10:50]I I do I was going to zip back home anyway so it's not an inconvenience for me but I my heart does go out to all the the shop talk folks that that have responsibilities of both shows because that I'm certain is not fun for them. Scot   [11:02]Cool which of the shop talks is bigger now the. Jason   [11:09]Shop talk is still the biggest show that's their March show um and it's it's north of 10,000 people so it might have been like 11,000 this year I'm not sure they, release an official number so hopefully I'm not disclosing something proprietary and grocery shop is only about half that size. So think closer to 5 500 attendees and then this fall shop talk this will be the first time so so. All all bets are off I I certainly wish them no ill will but part of me thinks it's a it's a big lift to get people. To add yet another event to their schedules. Scot   [11:48]Yeah maybe the Fallen will be more Regional like you know folks in the midwest or east. Jason   [11:53]Yeah I mean that that would be my initial assumption but you know they've they've been able to build up some really good shows in the past so so you know we'll see how they do with this 1 I certainly, would like to see a good show in Chicago they're in as you would remember in the old days you know there was like internet retailer here which still exists but I would argue it's it's probably well past its prime. Problem is when you did the orientation and used to teach everyone how to do e-commerce on the first day. Scot   [12:20]Amazon yeah that was fun that was they were like well you do this and I was like well how many people come and they're like I usually 100 and I did it and there's like 700 people say dude you vastly underestimated your crowd size at this thing the um. Jason   [12:32]I know I know you're a big draw. Scot   [12:34]Yeah well of course the uh and what was always funny is people would want to meet I forget what hotel it was either Hyatt, or a Hilton and there was 4 of them around that convention center and like No 1 could ever find each other at that that Hotel chain because they know 1 realized they all had the same name I'm sure that's still a problem. Was always funny to watch the chaos ensue. Jason   [12:54]Yeah. Scot   [12:55]The only thing works is in Las Vegas when you're at the Mandalay Bay when the hotel is called the hotel and the bars called the bar it's like a whose first kind of scenario trying to get. Jason   [13:04]Yeah I'm sure they thought that was really clever when they. Scot   [13:07]Yeah that was the worst worst naming. Jason   [13:08]When they first named it yeah. Scot   [13:11]Cool well you guys have been waiting for it and we are recording this mid-september all of our friends and Retail and e-commerce are making their final changes to their sites they're implementing their new features they're putting new vendors in place and going through the final QA test, before the big October code freeze so. This is when the Pod turns to really thinking about a holiday of 24 it's a fun to believe that we're already here this fast and Jason to tee that up let's set the table a little bit you put out a really interesting kind of adjacent Mega deck on LinkedIn that was really good and I thought maybe we could go through a couple slides of that and kind of tee up, you know how the year has gone so far and then that'll take us into kind of a little bit of a prediction of how holiday 24 is going to shape up. Jason   [13:58]Yeah yeah yeah happy to do it thanks man so maybe setting the table. I don't want to go back and get too deep we'll put a link to the deck so anyone that wants it's like 54 pages of data visualizations about about the Commerce industry so anyone's welcome to download it and check for themselves but the the highest level metric that I like to think about is this thing that NRF calls core retail so that's, all of retail sales from the US Department of Commerce US Census Data uh except restaurants Gas and Automobiles and. Jason   [14:33]If you go back in time and you say how how much does core retail grow year-over-year for the last 20 years core retail grew about 3.9% a year. And then of course we had this this huge anomaly more recently which was Co. And you know I like to joke that like well you know some people feel like oh man those were really hard years for retail what they forget is we mailed 5 trillion dollars in extra cash to everyone and didn't let them spend any of that on flights or Taylor Swift tickets. And so those were actually the greatest growth years in the history of retail like we like the the peak year was like 14% growth for core retail. So we had that this like Giant mountain of unusual growth 3 years that were twice as big as the normal 3.9% growth, and then 2023 happened and 2023 was right back to the average 3.9% again, and so now we're halfway through 2024 and we're actually below that average a little bit so we're at 3.4% growth year to date. Which is you know meaningfully off from 3.9% like that you know these are these are big numbers so that's 2.9 trillion dollars worth of sales year to date. Jason   [15:50]And the you know. [16:02] Retail Growth Trends Jason   [15:53]When we look at holiday I I mean we'll we'll talk about it in a minute but you know that's kind of setting the the table for retail for holiday but of course. People on this podcast are probably particularly interested in e-commerce and will know that historically at least in the modern era e-commerce has grown much faster. So the problem with talking about the average growth rate of e-commerce is of course it only started about 24 years ago and so it's. You know the the rate of growth has has decreased over time if you look at the last 24 years e-commerce is growing 17% a year versus that 3.9% for retail. Over the last 10 years right before coid e-commerce was growing at 12.4% a year. Jason   [16:37]So I kind of tell people think about you know e-commerce typically growing at 12% a year retail typically growing at 4% a year is kind of the. The the basic ratios so 4 times faster but this year 2024, retail is only growing at 3.4% and e-commerce is only growing at 7.5% so still twice as fast growth but a meaningful slowdown from the, historic average and you know at the risk of of giving away a spoiler. I I don't think that's like some bounce because of a spike during Co I actually think it's just an indication of the maturing of. Of e-commerce and e-commerce is a you know increasingly big chunk of of the whole retail pie it's. E-commerce is 21.8% of core retail so almost 22% so you know we'll spend over 7 trillion dollars this year and you know well over a trillion of it will be e-commerce. Scot   [17:38]Interesting cool so that's the full year. Jason   [17:41]Yeah well. Scot   [17:43]Basically kind of an average year. Jason   [17:45]So so last, yeah so so well so last year e-commerce had already started slow down it it grew again the average was about 12% it grew 10% last year and we're only growing 7.5% year to date this year. Scot   [17:59]Okay got it okay. Jason   [18:01]But. As I keep pointing out to people the story depending on who you are the story is either vastly better or worse than that those industry averages I just shared because the real story of of retail in 2024 is. This this concept of bifurcation right that there are 5 retailers that are vastly outperforming those industry averages. And they are eating up all of the growth in the industry so these 5 retailers represent 51% of all that growth so if you're 1 of those 5 retailers, you're having a great year if you are not 1 of those 5 retailers you're having a way worse than average year in in most cases so that's, Amazon which alone represents 16% of all retail growth it's Walmart which represents 15% of all retail growth, and it's it's Tik Tok which, you know was well under a billion dollars in sales last year and is trending towards twenty billion dollars in sales this year so they're the fastest growing retail, in the history of mankind and then rounding out these top 5 Growers are the the fastest growing return history of mankind from the last 2 years T-Mobile and shien so, it's kind of T-Mobile Sheen Tik Tok Walmart and Amazon's world and the rest of us are just living in it which is you know somewhat alarming for the rest of retail. Scot   [19:26]Yeah yeah definitely is it seems like those the chinese-based guys seems like they're taking share from somebody but it's not Amazon is it dollar stores because it's kind of like this convenience-oriented lower price kind of stuff right. Jason   [19:42]Yeah so it it it it's it's inexpensive variety Goods the, it it very likely is taking share from from the the dollar stores the dollar stores have not fared well which historically, you know there's there's some economic headwinds there's a thing going on in the United States that I I like to call A vibe session which means, some of the the economic fundamentals are actually pretty decent but people are really, consumer sentiment is down and people are really cutting back on their spending there's a lot of evidence that people are trading down and and trying to be more frugal, and that kind of climate normally has favored the dollar stores and yet you know they're they're definitely performing below these, these industry averages so certainly a chunk of of the Tik Tok team mushy and growth um is coming at their expense. Some of the sheen growth is coming at the expense of luxury which you know historically luxury has been been insulated from downturns in the market but you know we're starting to see. Some softness in their earnings and for sure softness in their guidance. So you know the you know people that would have bought more designer stuff maybe they're still buying some designer things but they're mixing it in with really affordable fashion from. From shien like I I am sure Amazon is losing some sales to Tik Tok shops that they would like to have but for your point. Jason   [21:08]Amazon still you know growing much faster than the rest of the market and so yeah it's not it's not eroding Amazon's any share it's just eroding their Tam. [21:28] Concerns for Holiday 2024 Scot   [21:19]Got it okay so that's the setup so e-commerce has slowed down a bit retails kind of doing its thing what what does that mean for holiday. Jason   [21:29]Yeah so I I have become Debbie Downer I am concerned about holiday this year, so if we just kind of extrapolate out these Trends again 3.4% growth is below our historic average so if something dramatically didn't turn around if consumer sentiment didn't get a lot better. For this holiday you would expect this to be a slightly soft. Holiday and I I really think this trend of winners and losers is likely to continue through holidays so I think you're going to see a handful of retailers perform really well holiday at the expense of everyone else and I. I I think on average that's going to mean that revenue is kind of similar to traditional holiday growth. But I I suspect that that's that margins, will be even further eroded than usual so so usually for Holiday retail grows about 4.3% e-commerce grows at 12.9% I don't think we'll see either of those numbers for holiday this year and I think. Jason   [22:34]You know if if retail grows at 3.7% and Ecom grows at 8% you know I still think you're going to see Amazon Walmart and Tik Tok grab, disproportionate share of that holiday spend which is going to be bad news, for a lot of other folks and those are just kind of the macro Trends you have to layer in that that there's a couple of reasons to to be worried about this holiday regardless of the trends going into this holiday so. We have a different calendar a number of days in the holiday season every year, and this is our worst year this is the year when we have the fewest days and holiday which actually you know historically does depress sales if there's fewer days to shop then then we sell less stuff and so this is the shortest holiday season that we ever get, and historically an election year is not favorable to Holiday spend right so traditionally there's some some anxiety and you know. Competition for attention, that plays into these November elections that impacts holiday and I I think you know this will be the most polarized election ever and so I think it's you know no matter what the outcome is half the country is going to be pretty depressed and that that likely you know translates into not an awesome holiday so so we got some things working against us. Scot   [23:53]Yeah so if that's the headwinds I'll throw in a Tailwind so as a our celebrated CNBC junkie the all they talk about is the Fed meeting tomorrow where you know it's pretty clear the fed's going to lower interest rates and the big question is is it going to be a quarter point or half a point I think I I I'm not a prognost prognosticator on that I think whatever they do it's going to be wildly popular and relief a lot of this kind of interest rate pressure we've everything's been on so even if it's only a quarter point I think it'll be somewhat euphoric for the market and for for hopefully for consumers to feel like interest rates are coming down a little bit so maybe that'll like bump start some house buying and selling and they'll be a little bit more liquidity in the market so so I'm going to think of that as more of a Tailwind so there's some positivity going on there do you worry about the election because I think it's just going to take forever to figure out who won and, everyone's going to contest it and it's gonna be like this unknown thing for a very long time so we'll see how that goes. Jason   [24:55]Yeah and you live in a swing state so I can only imagine what's happening to your media. Scot   [24:59]Yeah we just kind of we can't even like the male is an inch thick full of like Gunk and you kind of have to sort through all the stupidity I'm not a political person to get to like you know the bill and make sure you pay it and that kind of stuff and then the you know, at the TV is just crazy but thank goodness I'm not in Pennsylvania I think they're getting just totally hammered right now. Jason   [25:18]Yeah probably so and In fairness while we're covering Tailwind like this could be a headwind or a Tailwind but like I will say in general the macros are getting a little better right so inflation has been steadily coming down the 1 the most stubborn version of inflation had been. In in this core retail category is is food and even food you know they're all down below 3% which like pre-pandemic they were kind of in that, 2.1 2.3% and the FEDS sort of stated goal was to keep inflation between 2 and 3% so, you know we still had all the pain of the high prices over the last couple of years but like. Prices really have started to come down so on the 1 hand that helps consumer sentiment you know just like in announcement from the FED would and so that that's favorable you know most of the jobs reports have been you know pretty good there's there there's some decent news that in theory should make people feel better, the flip side is inflation going down actually hurts retail sales because the stuff they sell is cheaper and so when, comping with low inflation against a previous year of higher inflation it actually can make your comps more challenging. So yeah it's a a complicated mix of stuff going on. Scot   [26:35]Yeah does that if you boil all that down do you end up with a like a semi prediction like if your clients were to say to you give me a number what what do you spit out. Jason   [26:45]Yeah I I'm saying buckle up I normal retail holiday growth is 4.3% and I think we're retail growth is going to be below 4 this year. Margins vary wildly depending on the category but I think average margins are going to be down across the board like there there are going to be some some outliers like the the interest rates have really been brutal on the Home Improvement guys right like if you know people can't get loans they're trapped in their house uh they don't buy new houses they spend a lot less in Home Depot and Lowe's and I think it's pretty likely Buy holiday that there's some, some movement in the in the interest rates which like at the at the very least is going to Goose. That housing market which is going to have a trickle on effect to the the Home Improvement guys so I I suspect they'll have. Better holiday than they have the last last couple of years but overall I I'm not optimistic, you know with the caveat that some some really good operators or some people with a really clever model like the Amazon Walmart Tik toks are are likely gonna you know have a really good run this holiday. Scot   [27:51]Okay cool I will I do not have a prediction so I'll stick with yours. Jason   [27:58]Usually that doesn't work out well for you but thanks. Scot   [28:01]I have to go review our it's been so long I have to go look at our New Year's predictions because there's always start to be coming to fruition here soon. Jason   [28:09]Yeah yeah yeah I've kept half an eye on some of them and there's there's going to be some some are going to come down to the wire some I I would have thought were safer but like you know surprisingly Amazon's pretty slow getting their their AI stuff out the door so we'll see. Scot   [28:23]Yeah yeah there's the so this is a sidebar that we didn't really prepare for but did you see they tried to build their own and they kind of couldn't and they had to punt and they're using and. Not anthropology the 1 that starts know they're using anthropic. Jason   [28:41]Anthropic that's right yes I did see that um. Scot   [28:44]Yeah so that's got to be embarrassing I mean they invested like some bazillions of dollars. Jason   [28:47]To I mean Amazon is kind of a not invented here company so like when they have to give up on the internal initiative and and rent someone else's Tech that that probably doesn't feel very good. Scot   [28:59]Yeah I made the mistake of changing my action button on my phone to the chat GPT voice and then I've been I switched from Google in my search to perplexity so I've gotten used to asking these pretty complex questions and then I chat with Alexa and I feel like I'm talking to a kindergarten I'm like I'll even like ask it something you know play this song from this album by that artist and it loses itself halfway through half the time I feel like it's brain is melting and it's just like getting Dumber even though I know it's at a Baseline. Jason   [29:29]Yeah no absolutely and and I would say it's even more acute in my household because I live with a 9-year-old um and and his default is that, it should know all of this stuff right and it asks he asks these really complicated questions and I like can't tell you how many times a day I have to say to my son she's not going to know that. Scot   [29:50]Why dad why. Jason   [29:54]But but for your point hand him like, you know he basically lives to play Roblox and watch you to Awful YouTube videos um and I can hand him chat gbt 40 and like it's about as entertaining as Roblox to him which is amazing. [30:27] The De Minimis Provision Scot   [30:13]Gotcha does uh so you mentioned Teemu and all that jazz you have been tracking this rule that allows China to use our postal system to send stuff free what's going on with that puppy. Jason   [30:27]Yeah so that is famously called the Dominus provision and it's this rule that got. Put into the US Customs Enforcement in like 1938 and the idea was hey if people are going to ship stuff in the United States like we want to charge tax on it we want to charge duties and we want to have rules about what kinds of things from a safety standpoint and from a a human interest standpoint can be imported into our country right and so so normally you ship something from another country it has to go through inspections it has to go through duties but gosh there's this new kind of peer-to-peer marketplaces and there's eBay sellers selling stuff in London to people in the US and we don't have enough Customs agents to inspect all these little, packages that Scott Wingo is helping people sell on the internet right so we're going to pass a rule called the Dominus provision which is if you ship something that has less than 5 dollars of value, you don't have to declare it you don't have to pay taxes on it it's not getting inspected by anyone and it was really just a labor savings for for the the Customs agents in like you know originally in 1939 when like it was it was an e-commerce it was mail order back then. Jason   [31:44]But in like 1996 that that. 5 Dollar limit got bumped to Dollars and then in 2016 the hundred dollars got bumped to $800 and that really opened the floodgates that's when companies like shien and tiemoue figured out that hey instead of filling up a container of stuff, and shipping that container to the US and having to pay C duties on that container and having that container come over in a boat and take a long time to get here I can put each. Sale in an individual envelope, and Air Freight it to the US and it'll be under the 800 hour minimum so I won't have to pay duties on it I won't have to get it inspected. And you know these these factories in China, and these these marketplaces of these factories in China you know quickly built a huge business shipping individual packages to Americans right and so that's. Jason   [32:48]You know today they they quote unquote exploit what we call the Dominus provision. To to ship all those packages right and so there's been a lot of complaints by people that have to compete with the, the those those you know cheap Imports and there's been a lot of saber rattling in Congress about how you know this is exploitation and all these things, and so last week Biden proposed, that he was going to issue an executive order that goods from China no longer qualify for the de minimis exception and so what that would mean is regardless of the value. Every single package that comes from China would have to go through customs would have to be inspected would have to meet all of our import requirements and so, you know some people are looking at that and saying oh man that's going to put a huge dent that's going to make shien goods and Tik Tok goods and tiemoue goods more expensive. And that might rebalance you know all of these trends that that you and I have just been been talking about. I regrettably am a little more skeptical that it's going to have a huge impact. Jason   [33:58]Couple of other sort of interesting facts to know about this Dominus thing so first of all. Not going to shock anyone there's a lot of american-based companies that are now taking full advantage of this de minimis Clause right so. Jason   [34:12]Not going to name names on the podcast but there's a lot of big sellers that are us-based that import containers of goods to Mexico and then put those, unpack those containers in Mexico and ship, the goods in individual packages from Mexico to the US so they get relatively fast delivery and they get to bypass all the duties and tariffs and you know that's that that's being done by by a number of like big famous, uh retailers and brands in the US so this kind of Dominus rule if it if it affects goods from China. I guess the first thing I would expect to see is Tik Tok and team who are going to start shipping containers to Mexico and importing them from another country right and so we're going to get kind of a a wacko, situation and if you if you Google section 321 which is the the. Part of the the Customs law that that that amendments provision is in section 321 shipping you're going to find that there's dozens of 3pls that specialize in in doing this for you so. I think it's going to be harder to knock down than 1 executive order but the bigger problem is. Tik Tok to and shien together are by some estimates sending about 900,000 packages a day. Jason   [35:33]2 of the United States and so if you could magically wave a wand and say all 900,000 of those packages have to be inspected before they can come in. Think what that would do to the rate of goods flowing into the United States right like all everybody's Imports all the containers would get slowed down because, we have the same number of Customs agents we've always had an executive order can't hire a bunch of new Customs agents that would require new budget from Congress and that seems a lot less likely. So just like the reason the Dominus was there is we didn't have enough people to look at all these packages and that was when they're way less packages than there are now so. If we could somehow like do away with Dominus like would it, reduce the number of shipments probably but it still would be way more shipments it would still overwhelm well customs and would likely suddenly mean all those goods that are I guess holiday Goods for the most part are already on the way are already here but like, it it would probably have a dramatic effect on on q1 availability of goods because it would just gum Up Customs so while I I like the ex the spirit of trying to, update the laws to have a More Level Playing Field I kind of doubt in practice that 1 Executive Order is is going to fix this super complicated problem. Scot   [36:51]Yeah now that we're through earning season did you hear anything else interesting in earnings that we were not able to do an Amazon's earning podcast there wasn't really anything super exciting other than. You know kind of more of the same I think you know the AWS did better than a lot of people thought which was good, and that everyone's really focused on that because of the AI stuff everyone's worried Amazon's going to lose share but they seem to be holding their own and then e-commerce and, the retails were were kind of in line so they didn't really slow or speed up, if you have any there was a little color around Prime day but nothing Earth shattering any other interesting things from earnings Seasons you saw. Jason   [37:31]Yeah so so again like what you've you've kind of had 3 kinds of retailers right you had those 5 retailers that I mentioned only only 2 of them have like earnings calls in the US which is, Amazon and Walmart. Tik Tok is owned by bike dance which has has earnings calls in China and team was owned by poor which has earnings calls in China she and is trying to go public they're trying to list in in London so we haven't really seen any, any earnings calls from them so they they've had interesting things you've actually had T-Mobile stock took a pretty big hit after their earnings because they, reported great sales but by dance like lowered his guidance and part of it is I believe. In in response to how much share Tik Tok shops has captured so this is 1 of I think 1 of the most interesting stories of the year is. Jason   [38:23]For probably as long as I've known you Scott like we've always talked about social commerce and people are always talking about like. Hey there's all this attention on Facebook are people going to be able to sell Goods on Facebook and just not even need e-commerce sites anymore and the narrative we've always had is man it's been tried dozens and dozens of times and it so far hasn't worked it seems like. Us consumers don't want to shop on their social platforms they want to interact with their friends on their social platforms and they want to shop on their shop platforms, but the 1 place in the world where this does seem to be working is China where, pendo Duo on Alibaba had been you know pretty successful 10-cent had been pretty successful with with social commerce and, that narrative is kind of over right now because Tik Tok shops is selling twenty billion dollars worth of stuff direct to Consumer and Tik Tok is. Really winning with consumers attention and especially with younger consumer consumers attention so you know. Jason   [39:21]Gen Z Shoppers are are gen Z consumers are spending like an hour a day, on Tik Tok like the Olympics didn't do very well because nobody watches long form video on television anymore like they're all watching all this this short form content on Tik Tok and Tik Tok has been able to turn that attention, into sales so much so that you know the most successful e-commerce site on the planet while Amazon has has kind of said like hey we can't beat him so we're joining him right so Amazon announced, a deal with Tik Tok where you can run an ad on Tik Tok have direct Commerce in that ad and check out with your Amazon credentials and have your order fulfilled by Amazon Prime, in an ad on the Tik Tok platform so that is super interesting and Amazon has said and we're going to start shipping Goods direct from China just like Tik Tok and T-Mobile and shien so they've announced that they're going to, [40:27] TikTok's Impact on E-commerce Jason   [40:19]direct to Consumer from factory model you know presumably to take advantage of some of this these same de de minimis. Jason   [40:27]Provisions that we we talked about earlier so it's kind of interesting to see Amazon have to kind of match some of the, the offerings and play with some of these Frenemies you know historically you know that's that's gone the other way right like it was it was the old Legacy retards that were having to begrudgingly or brands that had to begrudgingly, moved to Amazon so interesting to see Amazon moving to Tik Tok so that was a super interesting. Jason   [40:56]Sort of evolution this year I'm going to be really interested to see whether the, the Tik Tok thing you know it's mostly inexpensive impulse Goods at the moment and, you know can that get traction with staples will people buy more premium Goods we're starting to see more and more Brands I just spent some time with, Keurig which owns you know a bunch of the coffee brands and they're now doing direct Commerce on Tik Tok shops so it kind of went from all unbranded stuff on Chinese factories to, you know we're starting to see branded merchandise in the Tik Tok shop so, that super fascinating and then on a much more scale 1 other thing that really jumped out of me in the investor call after the Amazon earnings is the Amazon CFO talked about. Jason   [41:43]The softness that people have seen in the drug channel right and so Walgreens write a CVS haven't been having a very good run lately and and he called out that like Amazon probably got a boost in sales because the the Walgreens so helpfully locked all the products behind cages and that like uh. You know was an impediment to sales at Walgreens and caused a lot of those sales to happen on Amazon instead and so you know if you remember last year a lot of retailers were claimed you know crying about shrinking complaining a lot about shoplifting you're not hearing a lot of conversation and earnings calls about shrink this year. And now you know Amazon saying like man we're we're a beneficiary of all the the eroded customer experiences, that that have resulted from an overreaction to shrink. Scot   [42:34]Hu yeah I saw there's a CVS has a thing where you can actually tap with your phone I guess it has an NFC chip in it and so I imagine you have to have the CVS app and be logged in and then you can tap to get into that cage so at least you don't have to wait an hour for someone to wander by and and get you your your pack of gum. Jason   [42:55]Yeah which I have mixed feelings about on the 1 hand I really admire The Innovation and that's a clever way to reduce the friction if you are going to put all these products and product jail which is what I call those those cases the, the pro you know the the argument would be, in CVS's case you have to be a member of their Affinity program and have their app on your phone in order to unlock the cases and so like in practice essentially what that means is you know all of America used to be able to shop at CVS now it's a members-only store right like now it's it's it's essentially Costco like you you have to be a member and give them all your data or you're going to have really inconvenient access to the razor blades and so you know, I could see that going either way like if if you compare it to Walgreens or Raid where you don't get that option like it might be looked at favorably but if you kind of look at it in big picture and say wait a minute you're going to lock up all this stuff and then you're going to make me be a member of your Affinity program in order to, to just be able to do what I've always done or at least since the 1920s when Piggly Wiggly opened up all this stuff. Jason   [44:01]I you know I could imagine consumers not not reacting super well to that, I don't actually know if the CVS is is like Bluetooth or NFC but you did bring up another point. IOS 18 launch today and 1 of the cool features in iOS 18 is they have apple is for the first time opened up the NFC chip to third-party apps so. Under iOS 18 it would be possible for CVS to use that NFC chip to unlock the, the uh their their smart locks that would not have been possible in the previous operating system so that's a fun Commerce innovation, that came to uh Apple today, and I haven't seen any announcements yet but I'll I'll be surprised if we don't see some some cool evolution of some of the digital wallets to take advantage of that new feature as well. Scot   [44:50]Pretty cool yeah so anything else before we wrap up that that you want to prep listeners for as we go into holiday. Jason   [44:58]No no I feel like we covered a lot of ground again I'm I'm super sorry on my behalf and and Scott's behalf that we've been a little sporadic with the shows we really appreciate all the kind words people have, been sending our way and for sure I take it as a compliment that people are mad at me that we haven't been putting out shows so hopefully we'll we'll be able to find some good Windows throughout the rest of the year to get some, some shows out there I you know certainly want to do a recap after grocery shop coming up and we'll certainly want to cover holiday and maybe we can do some. Go old school and do some live shows from interrupt this year if we can get you to come to to New York Scott. Scot   [45:35]Yeah yeah the we'll look at the weather and see how it goes. Jason   [45:39]Yeah yeah yeah if if you're an investor in his fund use use that leverage to pressure him to do it. Scot   [45:45]Hey that hurts. Jason   [45:46]And if you're not an investor nurse fund why the heck not. Scot   [45:49]Heck yeah between your fund.com come on aboard. Jason   [45:52]Exactly well Scott that's probably going to be a great place to leave it if you're super ecstatic that we are back on the air feel free to jump on iTunes and give us that 5-star review we want to refreshen those up and. Until next time happy commercing.  

The CPG Guys are joined in this episode by Deren Baker CEO of Flywheel Ventures and Molly O'Bryen Sr. Director, Head of TikTok Shops at Flywheel Ventures, part of the Flywheel Commerce Network.Follow Deren on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derenbaker/ Follow Molly on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-o-bryen-3a050147/ eMail Molly at: molly.obryen@flywheeldigital.comRead Flywheel's new White Paper "The Big Shift" at: https://www.flywheeldigital.com/guides/the-big-shift-retail-power-dynamicsDeren & Molly answer these questions:What is this new group Flywheel Ventures?What is TikTok Shops?Why should CPG brands be interested?What does a brand need to concern itself with to activate the commerce opportunities on the platform?If doing your own shop, what are the FAQ's How is FW making this easier?How long does it take to get up and running?How do brands get involved?CPG Guys Website: http://CPGguys.comFMCG Guys Website: http://FMCGguys.comCPG Scoop Website: http://CPGscoop.comRetailWit Website: http://retailwit.comRhea Raj's Website: http://rhearaj.comLara Raj on PopStar Academy: https://www.netflix.com/us/title/81587828?s=i&trkid=258593161&vlang=enKavita's podcast: Spotify   AppleDISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast episode is provided for general informational purposes only. By listening to our episode, you understand that no information contained in this episode should be construed as advice from CPGGUYS, LLC or the individual author, hosts, or guests, nor is it intended to be a substitute for research on any subject matter. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by CPGGUYS, LLC. The views expressed by guests are their own and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. CPGGUYS LLC expressly disclaims any and all liability or responsibility for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential or other damages arising out of any individual's use of, reference to, or inability to use this podcast or the information we presented in this podcast.

Ever wondered how a small brand can harness the power of TikTok to skyrocket its growth? In this episode, I chat with Paul Jauregui from BK Beauty, who, along with his wife Lisa, has transformed their beauty and cosmetics brand into a sensation on TikTok. Paul shares their journey over the last five years, emphasizing the explosive growth they've experienced in just the past 12 to 18 months. Listen in as Paul reveals the strategies behind their success on TikTok, including key insights on SKU selection, leveraging the halo effect, and the critical balance between commissions and discounts. He also discusses how they manage a booming business while maintaining an enriching family life, including frequent travels and adventures. You can find show notes and more information by clicking here: https://bit.ly/3WeZdyy Interested in our Private Community for 7-Figure Store Owners?  Learn more here.   Want to hear about new episodes and eCommerce news round-ups?  Subscribe via email.

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Hello and welcome to the DTC Podcast! Today, we have Parker Godfrey, the founder of Kiaura Eyewear, joining us to share his incredible journey. From selling t-shirts out of his car in high school to creating a successful eyewear brand, Parker's story is a testament to perseverance and innovative thinking. Key Insights: Leveraging TikTok's organic reach and subsidized discounts to drive viral marketing. Targeting niche audiences with tailored content to maximize engagement. The importance of high-quality, well-designed products in building a loyal customer base. Why Listen: Discover the strategies behind Kiaura Eyewear's rapid growth. Learn about the challenges and solutions in scaling a DTC eyewear brand. Gain insights into effective social media marketing and content creation. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction and Mastermind Events Overview 02:00 - Parker Godfrey's Journey from High School Football to Entrepreneurship 06:00 - The Challenges and Successes of Launching Kiaura Eyewear 10:00 - Leveraging TikTok Shops for Explosive Growth 14:00 - Designing Unique and Functional Sunglasses Inspired by Architecture 18:00 - The Importance of Consistent Organic Content on TikTok 22:00 - Balancing TikTok and Meta for Effective Customer Acquisition 26:00 - Exploring the Potential of Google Ads for DTC Brands 28:00 - Benefits of a 1099 Workforce and Focusing on Core Strengths 31:00 - Parker's Vision for the Future of Kiaura Eyewear Hashtags: #DTC #Ecommerce #TikTokMarketing #KiauraEyewear #Entrepreneurship #SocialMediaMarketing #OrganicGrowth #InfluencerMarketing #DirectToConsumer #EyewearDesign #StartupJourney #BusinessGrowth #SEO #Podcast #DigitalMarketing #BrandStorytelling #ContentCreation #TikTokShops #SmallBusiness #MarketingStrategies Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Hello and welcome to the DTC Podcast. Today, we're excited to have Kirsten and Austin from minisocial. Mini Social has been a remarkable partner for DTC almost since our inception, helping brands harness the power of user-generated content (UGC) and micro-influencer campaigns. In this episode, we dive deep into the evolution of UGC, the strategy behind high-volume influencer campaigns, and the dual benefits of awareness and content repurposing. https://minisocial.com Key Takeaways: Evolution of UGC: Understanding how user-generated content has transformed over the years and its enduring relevance. High-Volume Campaigns: Learn why launching with dozens or even hundreds of micro-influencers can provide a significant boost to your brand. Content Repurposing: Discover strategies for effectively repurposing UGC across various marketing channels to maximize ROI. Tune in to hear how Kirsten and Austin are pioneering new ways to leverage UGC and micro-influencers for sustainable brand growth. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction to Minisocial and Influencer Campaigns 02:45 - The Evolution of UGC and Its Impact on Brands 05:30 - Minisocial's Journey: From Marketing Agency to Influencer Platform 08:00 - Running High Volume Micro-Influencer Campaigns 11:00 - The Role of TikTok Shops in Modern E-Commerce 13:30 - Trends in the DTC Space: Personal Care and CPG Innovations 16:00 - Leveraging AI for Efficient Influencer Campaign Briefs 19:00 - Authenticity in Influencer Marketing and UGC 22:00 - Tips for Maximizing UGC and Micro-Influencer Campaigns 25:30 - The Future of UGC: From Small Screens to Big Screens 28:00 - Conclusion and Special Offers for DTC Podcast Listeners Hashtags: #InfluencerMarketing #UGC #MicroInfluencers #DTC #Minisocial #TikTokMarketing #AIinMarketing #ContentCreation #DigitalMarketing #BrandGrowth #MarketingTrends #DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signup Advertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertise Work with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouse Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletter Watch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video

Episode 600: Sam Parr ( https://twitter.com/theSamParr ) and Shaan Puri ( https://twitter.com/ShaanVP ) talk to Sabri Suby ( https://x.com/sabrisuby) about business ideas he would go after if he was starting from scratch.  — Show Notes: (0:00) Intro  (1:04) Idea: Done-For-You Channel Growth (7:28) Idea: Affiliate arbitrage for Chiropractors (13:02) Idea: Live Chat as a service (14:50) Look for customers with a bleeding neck (17:39) Idea: $100K/day opportunity with TikTok Shops (26:42) Get paid to learn the most valuable skills as a marketer (29:24) Kill the little bitch inside (32:18) Philosophy: Have more fun (44:31) How to be better at small talk  (45:44) Invest in building your year (47:53) Showmanship (51:42) The difference between good and great (53:26) Stop praying to the internet gods (54:45) How to get your target market to raise their hand (56:33) Sabri's 1M copy book funnel (59:47) The Yes, Yes, Yes, No Funnel — Links: • Sabri on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@SabriSubyOfficial • [Steal This] Get our proven writing frameworks that have made us millions https://clickhubspot.com/copy • Sell Like Crazy - https://selllikecrazybook.com/ • King Kong - https://kingkong.co/ • Grab HubSpot's free AI-Powered Customer Platform and watch your business grow https://clickhubspot.com/fmf — Check Out Shaan's Stuff: Need to hire? You should use the same service Shaan uses to hire developers, designers, & Virtual Assistants → it's called Shepherd (tell ‘em Shaan sent you): https://bit.ly/SupportShepherd — Check Out Sam's Stuff: • Hampton - https://www.joinhampton.com/ • Ideation Bootcamp - https://www.ideationbootcamp.co/ • Copy That - https://copythat.com • Hampton Wealth Survey - https://joinhampton.com/wealth • Sam's List - http://samslist.co/ My First Million is a HubSpot Original Podcast // Brought to you by The HubSpot Podcast Network // Production by Arie Desormeaux // Editing by Ezra Bakker Trupiano

Takeaways: TikTok Shops is a promising platform for e-commerce businesses, offering product subsidies and less competition compared to other platforms like Amazon and Shopify.Zain's journey in e-commerce started with dropshipping and eventually transitioned to private label and building his own brand.Despite concerns about TikTok potentially getting shut down, Zain focuses on what he can control and the positive results he's currently experiencing on the platform.TikTok's affiliate system is highly effective, allowing brands to work with influencers who have a proven track record and high fulfillment rates.Other platforms, such as Meta and Instagram, may need to implement similar features to compete with TikTok Shops. TikTok Shop is a lucrative platform for creators, with many quitting their full-time jobs to focus on selling products and earning commissions.The violation policy on TikTok Shop ensures high-quality products and customer satisfaction.Fulfillment on TikTok Shop is currently done by sellers themselves, but there are plans for a fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) system in the future.Starting with lower-priced products and conducting keyword research can help find untapped opportunities on TikTok Shop.Affiliates play a crucial role in driving sales on TikTok Shop, and it is a numbers game to find the most successful affiliates.TikTok Shop provides a great opportunity for brands to leverage organic traffic and reach a large audience. Chapters: [00:00 - 06:08] Zain's E-commerce Journey: From Meta Ads to TikTok Shops[06:08 - 15:23] The Power of TikTok's Affiliate System and Competition Among E-commerce Platforms[15:23 - 20:32] Fulfillment on TikTok Shop and Future Plans for FBT[20:32 - 31:35] Affiliates in Driving Sales on TikTok Shop and Keyword Research on TikTok Shop Let's get connected! You can find me on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook & YouTube. Head to Voltage Digital Marketing to boost your brand and sales exposure!CLICK HERE to learn The 5 Big "Shifts" That Allowed Just ONE Private Label Brand to Sell 474,738 Physical Products Since 2012!

https://youtu.be/JvKmSLTaAQ8Welcome to today's episode where our host Eitan Koter discuss e-commerce with Neil Twa, the founder of Voltage Digital which launches, operates, and acquires e-commerce brands. Neil has also written the book "Almost automated income with FBA!" where you will learn how to create your own "almost automated" Amazon e-commerce business in a short period of time without sacrificing your lifestyle.Neil shares his profound insights from over two decades of experience in online entrepreneurship and e-commerce innovation.We'll uncover how Neil transitioned from the early days of dial-up internet to pioneering e-commerce strategies that have dramatically reshaped how businesses operate online.Neil will walk us through his journey of developing and leading Voltage, revealing the pivotal decisions and strategies that helped scale his ventures to remarkable heights.Expect to learn about the challenges and triumphs of managing multi-million e-commerce businesses, the evolution of Amazon's marketplace, and how emerging technologies are transforming the digital commerce landscape.Neil also shares invaluable advice for entrepreneurs looking to carve out their own success stories in the competitive world of e-commerce.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/ecom-pulse-podcast/Talk to us on Social:LinkedIn Vimmi: https://il.linkedin.com/company/vimmiLinkedIn Eitan Koter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiCommunicationsGuest: Neil Twa - Chief Executive Officer Voltage Holdings, LLCLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neiltwa/Voltage Holdings: https://www.voltagedm.com/Takeaways:Living in the country can provide a conducive atmosphere for e-commerce consulting and growth.Experimentation and adaptability are key in the e-commerce industry.Acquisitions can be a strategic way to grow and develop e-commerce businesses.Multi-channel strategies are essential for brand discoverability and growth.Implementing a multi-channel strategy requires careful planning and collaboration. Selling on TikTok requires changing the language and copy to appeal to the TikTok audience.The power of creators and the psychology of buyers are key factors in the success of TikTok Shops.Certain products that may not sell well on Amazon can be successful on TikTok Shops.Chapters:00:00 Introduction and Living in the Country02:02 Starting in E-commerce05:57 Acquisitions and Growth09:08 Acquisition Criteria and Valuation12:26 Product Lines and Diversity14:30 Market Opportunities and Trends22:56 Selling on TikTok and Changing the Language23:26 The Power of Creators and the Psychology of Buyers24:21 Products that Succeed on TikTok Shops25:10 Optimizing Acquisition in 202426:06 The Changing Landscape of Amazon and the Importance of Private Label27:03 Acquiring Amazon Businesses and Evaluating Market Shifts28:59 The Maturing Market of Amazon and the Importance of Due Diligence32:11 Acquiring Customers on Amazon and the Importance of PPC33:53 Acquiring Customers Outside of Amazon and the Importance of Follow-up38:29 The Concept of Almost Automated...

Impact of TikTok Shops, influencer marketing, and building high-converting storefronts from challenges of justifying budget to the evolution of software that automates influencer relationships.In this episode, Jordan West, Kenyon Brown, and Gary Garofalo are joined by CEOs from two leading companies, Loudcrowd and Creator Commerce, as they discuss their innovative software solutions and the changing landscape of influencer marketing. Listen and learn in this episode!Key takeaways from this episode:The potential of influencer partnerships to drive sales through tailored website modes, particularly in different regions.The ease of access for creators to onboard and modify their products.The necessity of pairing Creator Commerce with an affiliate platform and building high-converting storefronts, along with the willingness to partner with affiliate platforms.The importance of understanding and addressing shortcomings or areas where businesses do not currently serve.Leveraging software to automate influencer relationships and monetize creators at the bottom of the funnel.The alignment of landing pages with ads and the admiration for solutions offered by Creator Commerce and Loudcrowd.Recommended Podcast/Audiobook:Molly Pittman: https://mollypittman.com/ Today's Guest: Gary Garofalo, Co-Founder & CEO, Loud Crowd, a company that has been in the influencer marketing business for about 5 years. He and his co-founder, who have been friends for 15 years, started the company to solve the problem of inauthentic partnerships in influencer marketing. Connect and learn more about Gary and Loud Crown:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyugc/ Website: https://loudcrowd.com/ Kenyon Brown, Co-Founder & CEO, Creator Commerce, journey began at Tapcart, where he realized the importance of meeting customers where they are and understanding their needs. He saw a missing piece in the context of sales channels and worked to fill that gap. Although Tapcart didn't initially boast huge numbers, Kenyon's vision and hard work eventually contributed to its success, leading to impressive sales figures. Connect and learn more about Kenyon and Creator Commerce:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenyonb/ Website: https://creatorcommerce.shop/ Growth Plan: www.upgrowthcommerce.com/growMillion Dollar Offers: www.upgrowthcommerce.com/growThis episode's sponsor is Finale Inventory- the ultimate solution for accurate and efficient inventory management. Trusted by thousands of brands, Finale offers seamless integrations with over 80 sales channels and platforms. With customizable workflows and reporting features, Finale empowers you to streamline operations and scale your business with ease, preventing overselling and maximizing profitability. Whether you're juggling multiple platforms, expanding your product range or just looking for a way to reduce operational chaos, Finale has the tools you need to succeed. Step into the future of e-commerce with Finale Inventory. Learn more here: Finale Inventory

Welcome back the PODCast!Ever feel like you're shouting into the void with your Etsy shop, only to be met with the sound of crickets? Fear not, fellow creators and side hustlers, because Travis and Josiah are here with a lighthearted yet enlightening episode that will equip you with the know-how to kick those stagnant sales to the curb. We'll navigate the tricky waters of e-commerce, pulling from our personal escapades—including a hilarious eclipse story and the art of solo dad-ing—to pinpoint six sneaky sales-killers on Etsy and how to tackle them head-on. From practical advice that goes beyond the basics, like using loss leaders to bait the hook for your Etsy store to embracing customization requests to stand out in a crowded marketplace, you'll be glad you tuned in this week.Plus in the Point of Interest, Travis shares about his recent experiment with adding products to his TikTok Shop. Why he's not very far into the process (and not sure how well it will work with POD,) it's still a nice primer. If you're curious, experimenting, or just keen to hear about his ongoing saga with TikTok Shop, you're in for a treat.So, grab your earbuds and join us on this journey full of dad jokes, strategic gems, and the shared pursuit of print-on-demand glory.Enjoy the show!https://printondemandcast.comhttps://printondemandcast.com/shophttps://printondemandcast.com/facebookhttps://printondemandcast.com/youtubehttps://printondemandcast.com/instagramhttps://printondemandcast.com/tiktok⁠⁠Sign up to get your FREE Annual Design Calendar!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://printondemandcast.com⁠⁠⁠/VIP⁠Other links:https://printondemandcast.com/podcast/e177https://printondemandcast.com/success-pyramidhttps://printondemandcast.com/resources

In this episode of Acquisitions Anonymous, Heather and Bill discuss a startup specializing in customized cartoon goods for anime fans. With an asking price of $1.28 million, the business has shown promising revenue and profit figures, operating mainly on Shopify and leveraging platforms like TikTok for marketing. Despite concerns about the short history of the business and potential risks associated with TikTok's uncertain future, there's excitement about its growth potential. Heather and Bill explore various aspects of the business, from its dependence on the owner's creativity to the potential for expansion into new markets like Amazon. They also touch on the evolving landscape of e-commerce, with platforms like TikTok Shops offering new opportunities for creators and sellers alike. Overall, while there are challenges to consider, there's optimism about the potential for strategic growth and success in this unique niche market.Check out the listing here: https://app.acquire.com/startup/mJzwsewxdjQCDj8wk1DZ3bljOKY2/lznqyxCcbl0aaobH0c7hAcquire.com is the online marketplace to buy and sell startups.Join 200k+ entrepreneurs closing life-changing deals. Buy and sell startups in as little as 30 days, supported by the best advisors and tech.Thanks to this week's sponsor:Are you looking to buy, grow, invest in, or sell profitable businesses? Well, guess what? The M&A Launchpad Conference is happening on May 11th, 2024, in Houston, Texas, and you're going to want to be there. It's a one-day event where you can network with individuals who've been there, done that—think successful business owners, savvy acquirers, and private equity investors.At the M&A Launchpad Conference, attendees will gain first-hand insights from over 30 industry experts who have masterfully navigated the journey of acquiring, operating, scaling, and ultimately selling businesses for significant returns, including Walker Deibel WSJ & USA Today bestselling author of Buy and Then Build.And because you're awesome and part of the Acquisitions Anonymous community, we've got a sweet deal for you—200 bucks off your ticket. Just head over to malaunchpad.com and enter the code AA at checkout to claim your discount. I'll say it again, head over to malaunchpad.com and enter the code AA at checkout to claim your discount. Do you love Acquanon and want to see our smiling faces? Subscribe to our Youtube channel. Do you enjoy our content? Rate our show! Follow us on Twitter @acquanon Learnings about small business acquisitions and operations.

Breakout brand BK Beauty's co-founders, Lisa and Paul Jauregui, discuss the potential consequences of a TikTok shutdown on the eCommerce landscape. While many brands use TikTok Shops as a growth channel to reach new audiences, the House passing a bill to shut down ByteDance's operation in the United States has sent shockwaves through the industry. 

Podcast Episode 187 of the Make Each Click Count Podcast features Robb Green, an experienced entrepreneur and podcast host.In this episode, Robb shares his invaluable insights on building businesses with the end goal in mind — selling them for a tidy profit.Andy and Robb tackle the challenges of navigating the complex Amazon ecosystem, from understanding crucial metrics to effective strategies for increasing product visibility. Robb emphasizes the importance of quality products, genuine reviews, and the fine art of reverse engineering success. He's also giving us a peek into his personal entrepreneurial journey, revealing how the "I'm the one" mantra propelled his family towards business success.You'll learn when to invest in advertising, the perks of platforms such as Shopify and TikTok Shops, and why it's absolutely critical to have your financials pristine when preparing for a sale. Robb is not just about launching and scaling — he's also on the lookout for e-commerce businesses to buy, especially those manufacturing in North America.Episode Action Items: To find more information about Robb:WebsiteABOUT THE HOST:Andy Splichal is the World's Foremost Expert on Ecommerce Growth Strategies. He is the acclaimed author of the Make Each Click Count Book Series, the Founder & Managing Partner of True Online Presence, and the Founder of Make Each Click Count University. Andy was named to The Best of Los Angeles Award's Most Fascinating 100 List in both 2020 and 2021.New episodes of the Make Each Click Count Podcast, are released each Friday and can be found on Apple Podcast, iHeart Radio, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts and www.makeeachclickcount.com.

In episode #2614, We discuss the potential of TikTok shops as the next big opportunity in e-commerce. We highlight the growing number of Americans buying products on TikTok and the platform's push to make TikTok shops succeed. We emphasize the importance of having a good product and building relationships with creators for successful TikTok shop ventures. However, we note that TikTok shops may not be suitable for all businesses, especially those selling high-ticket items or requiring personal interaction before purchase. Overall, TikTok shops present a massive opportunity for entrepreneurs to capitalize on the platform's popularity and drive revenue.Don't forget to help us grow by subscribing and liking on YouTube!Check out more of Eric's content (Leveling UP YT) and Neil's videos (Neil Patel YT) TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: (00:00) Today's topic: Why TikTok Shops Might Be The Next Big Opportunity (00:23) One out of ten Americans will buy something on TikTok shop this year (01:05) Discussion on the growth rate of social buyers on TikTok (02:26) Importance of considering selling products on TikTok shop (03:00) Opportunities on other social channels like Pinterest (03:40) Building relationships and being a middleman for TikTok shops (04:33) Not suitable for all businesses, especially B2B and high-ticket items (05:30] That's it for today! Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe! Go to https://www.marketingschool.io to learn more!Links Mentioned in Today's Episode:Greg Isenberg Post Leave Some Feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with Us:  Single Grain

In episode #2614, We discuss the potential of TikTok shops as the next big opportunity in e-commerce. We highlight the growing number of Americans buying products on TikTok and the platform's push to make TikTok shops succeed. We emphasize the importance of having a good product and building relationships with creators for successful TikTok shop ventures. However, we note that TikTok shops may not be suitable for all businesses, especially those selling high-ticket items or requiring personal interaction before purchase. Overall, TikTok shops present a massive opportunity for entrepreneurs to capitalize on the platform's popularity and drive revenue. Don't forget to help us grow by subscribing and liking on YouTube! Check out more of Eric's content (Leveling UP YT) and Neil's videos (Neil Patel YT)  TIME-STAMPED SHOW NOTES: (00:00) Today's topic: Why TikTok Shops Might Be The Next Big Opportunity (00:23) One out of ten Americans will buy something on TikTok shop this year (01:05) Discussion on the growth rate of social buyers on TikTok (02:26) Importance of considering selling products on TikTok shop (03:00) Opportunities on other social channels like Pinterest (03:40) Building relationships and being a middleman for TikTok shops (04:33) Not suitable for all businesses, especially B2B and high-ticket items (05:30] That's it for today! Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe! Go to https://www.marketingschool.io to learn more! Links Mentioned in Today's Episode: Greg Isenberg Post  Leave Some Feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with Us:  Single Grain