Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth

Once you have your ecommerce tactics down and you’re successfully turning a profit, you’re confronted with a deceptively complicated question: what do I do with all this money? In this episode, Taylor talks to Dave Rekuc, president of Bambu Earth, and Mike Beckham, co-founder and CEO of Simple Modern, about the smart way to put money back into your business. ⁠ Show Notes: The Ecommerce Playbook ma...

In many ways, $1M to $20M is the most exciting growth stage for any ecommerce business — you know you have a business that works, but you’re small enough that you have the freedom to innovate without being held back by bureaucracy. On this episode, Richard talks with ecommerce growth expert (and former Ecommerce Playbook host!) Andrew Faris about the keys to success for brands at this crucial grow...

Over the past several weeks, CTC Growth Strategist Luke Austin’s been conducting an experiment across a number of our clients to answer a simple question: are third-party attribution tools like Rockerbox and Triple Whale actually more accurate than native platforms like Facebook and Google?   On this episode, Taylor and Richard talk with Luke about the results of the experiment, why CTC is skeptic...

Every brand has a mission statement. Every brand should have a clear business philosophy. But how do you take those ideas and create a framework for your people to actually put them into action? On this episode of the podcast, Taylor and Richard discuss how CTC is taking our core philosophies and turning them into repeatable behaviors across the entire agency. ⁠Show Notes: The ADmission All-Access...

On this episode, Taylor talks to CTC’s Senior Ecommerce Data Analyst Steve Rekuc and Kno Commerce CEO Jeremiah Prummer about the launch of the Direct-to-Consumer Confidence Index (DTCCI) — a real-time view of the macroeconomic sentiment of your customers.  Learn about the origins of the DTCCI and how to use it to help grow your ecommerce business. ⁠Show Notes: Want Custom Insights On Your Customer...

On this episode, Taylor reports back from his trip to the Second Annual Meta Performance Marketing Summit, revealing new insights on Advantage +, Measurement360, and just how good Meta is at telling a brand narrative. Plus, he shares his thoughts with Richard on the steps you should take to anticipate upcoming changes to Meta ad products. ⁠ Show Notes: The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — emai...

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”  It’s crucial to focus on the big picture first. But what about the day-to-day? What tactics can you use to accelerate victory? In this episode, Taylor and Richard introduce the 3 P’s — Plot, Pivot and Profit — and break down how this system transforms t...

In this episode, Taylor and Richard dive deep into Bambu Earth’s Growth Quotient score — what stories do the numbers tell? How do you interpret your Growth Quotient score? How do you transform the knowledge gained from the Diagnostic tool into action? Join us for the first episode in a three-part series on the Growth Quotient — what it means, how to affect it, and how to use it to form a strategic...

With returning customer revenue plateauing, the ecomm world is in for a rough ride — in Taylor’s words, “I thought ecommerce was through its worst period but I was wrong. There are some REALLY hard days upcoming and brands have not made the hard decisions to prepare.” In this episode, Taylor and Richard discuss the upcoming ecommerce drought, the importance of cost management, and the key indicato...

The 2020-21 COVID boom set unrealistic expectations for year-over-year growth. So, when brands saw 2022 YoY revenue figures start to drop, they started “squeezing the sponge” — wringing every last bit of revenue out of their existing customer base without acquiring new customers. Now, that’s coming around to bite most brands: returning customer revenue growth is almost nil, and efficiency is about...

Ever find yourself scrambling to make up a deficit in the last couple weeks of each month? We’ve all been there. Fortunately, there’s a solution — it just requires a major mindset shift. On this episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Taylor and Richard discuss the true value of forecasting and the key behavior that can get you to your revenue goals: spending your time, effort, and money at the...

Early Bird Pricing (one week only) (30% off regular price) Get the Toolkit: https://commonthreadco.com/products/ecommerce-diagnostic “We see too many business owners, marketing managers, and CMOs make the same mistake over and over: Solving problems they don’t actually have. Most often, this looks like attempting to solve poor Facebook ROAS by pumping the account full of new creative or using the...

It’s an age-old dilemma — do I focus on what’s right in front of me, or do I step back and look at the larger picture? On this episode, Taylor and Richard make the argument that establishing the “why” is much more important than the “how” — especially in a world where AI is making operational excellence less and less of an important differentiator. Show Notes: Explore how SegMetrics can help you t...

How do two guys who have never worked together before come together to build a successful influencer agency? On this episode, Taylor sits down with Kynship co-founder Taylor Lagace to discuss building a business around your values, how to find authenticity in your influencer content, and key tactics to build an ROI-focused micro-influencer network. Show Notes: Explore how SegMetrics can help you t...

Inventory management is the bane of many ecommerce brands’ existence — balancing lead times and cash outlay with demand can feel like an unsolvable issue. But with the right data, it can become much easier. In this episode, Taylor sits down with Braden Larsen, Head of Marketing at CTC client Sparkle in Pink, to discuss the tool he uses to keep ahead of per-SKU sales velocity, how he manages Sparkl...

“Brand is the bridge between how much your product costs and how much your customer is willing to pay.”  But what if you could measure that “bridge” objectively? In this episode, Richard and Taylor talk about Taylor’s controversial new formula for quantifying the value of your brand. Then, Richard has a conversation with Jules Vertrees, CTC client and founder of Verve Culture, a brand that sources...

For most of us, ecommerce is still a new phenomenon. For Smart Marketer founder Ezra Firestone, driving sales online has been his main pursuit since the days when you had to fax customer orders to the manufacturer. In this episode, Taylor and Ezra discuss his life in ecommerce, how it’s developed in the 15 years since, and how that experience gives him a unique perspective on what you need to do t...

Here at CTC we talk a lot about how ROAS is a poor guiding metric for ad account decisionmaking. That’s because it doesn’t take into account your ad spend’s impact on your entire business. So what should you use instead? In this episode, Richard and Taylor break down a new way to think about profit in an environment where capital isn’t cheap. Show Notes: Get a $200 credit to Insense’s all-in-one c...

Influencers, staged unboxing videos, paid posts — at this point, even people outside of the ecomm business know that most UGC isn’t actually user-generated. On this episode, Richard and Taylor go deep on the history of bullsh*t in advertising, the ethics of “fake UGC,” and Taylor’s barometer for determining how much BS is too much. Show Notes: Want an easier way to source the good kind of UGC? Str...

In this episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Taylor chats with Connor Rolain, Head of Growth at HexClad, and Richie Mashikov, Head of Growth at Birdie. They discuss forecasting, unit economics, and the rules for growth amidst uncertainty. Show Notes: Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecom...

How do I make paid search work for my business? In this episode, we go straight to the source as Taylor sits down with Ben Kruger, Senior Ecommerce Growth Consultant at Google, to discuss how to scale your online store profitably using Google Ads. Show Notes: Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The E...

Though AI (via media buying algorithms) has always played a role in ecommerce, tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E have brought the conversation about AI and work into the mainstream. In this episode, Richard and Taylor dive into the relationship between AI and margin efficiency, the unique ways we’ve used AI to speed productivity, and the role humans play in a world where computers can do everything be...

his episode features Jordan West, an entrepreneur and owner of Canada-based ecommerce agency Upgrowth Commerce. Richard, Taylor, and Jordan discuss his transition from paramedic to full-time business builder, as well as Jordan’s ideal business model, doing business in Canada v. the States, and where they think ecommerce is headed in 2023. Show Notes: Check out Jordan’s podcast, Secrets to Scaling...

Success on Facebook is as much about what you sell as it is about how you sell it. In this episode, Richard and Taylor talk about an overlooked aspect of paid social success: merchandising your ad account. Then, they dip into the podcast mailbag and give some advice to a listener who runs a high-SKU online retail business. Show Notes: Taylor’s video on ad account merchandising: https://bit.ly/3Dxv...

In part 2 of our two-part series on investing, Taylor talks with Jason Bornstein, Principal at Forerunner, the San Francisco-based venture capital firm behind DTC juggernauts like Away, Warby Parker, and Glossier. Listen as Jason breaks down current industry trends, the kinds of businesses he’s still excited about in 2023, and how to impress him on a pitch call. Show Notes: Have a business you wan...