Shows / Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
2020 transformed the world of ecommerce forever. For the modern DTC brand, the rewards have never been greater. But the waters have also never been choppier, and the way forward has never been more uncertain. So how do you navigate this dangerous new reality? No matter how you do it, you’d better not do it alone. That’s where the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast comes in — join Common Thread Collective’s Taylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin as they bring you guiding insights from across CTC’s portfolio of…
Episodes
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Build a Q3/Q4 Revenue Peak w/Orchid Bertelsen
On this episode of the podcast, Taylor and Richard talk to Common Thread Collective COO Orchid Bertelsen about breaking through the pre-Holiday doldrums, how…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Ecommerce Reflections feat. the Holiday Brothers
On this episode of the podcast, Taylor is joined by his brother, QALO co-founder KC Holiday, and producer Cory Hamilton, the OG CTC employee, to reflect on the…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Holiday Success Starts Now
The theme of our 2023 Holiday strategy: Your Black Friday/Cyber Monday outcome depends on the foundation you set in August. In this episode, Taylor and Richard…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Build a Successful 2023 Holiday Strategy
Q4 success starts in Q3. And the most successful brands on Black Friday have one thing in common: They plan their entire marketing effort around four distinct…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
When Do I Change Direction?
Leadership is a combination of two major skills: Knowing when the organization is heading in the wrong direction, and knowing which direction to go instead. On…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Scale Creative Ideation (Almost) Infinitely
For ecommerce entrepreneurs and agency owners alike, creative continues to be the most important variable — and the trickiest to operationalize. On this…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
The Anatomy of a 450+ GQ Brand with Dean Brennan
What makes a great brand? What businesses are most likely to grow quickly? Why not ask the leader of the brand with the highest Growth Quotient score we’ve…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How Should I Invest my Cash? with Mike Beckham and Dave Rekuc
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Scale From $1M to $20M with Andrew Faris
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How Attribution Tools are Hurting Your Acquisition
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Turn Ideology into Action
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Introducing: The Direct To Consumer Confidence Index
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
5 Takeaways From the Meta Performance Marketing Summit
On this episode, Taylor reports back from his trip to the Second Annual Meta Performance Marketing Summit, revealing new insights on Advantage +…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Execute … Every Single Day
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Breaking Down Bambu Earth’s Growth Quotient
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
This Summer, the Sponge Dries Up
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Returning Customer Revenue is Flatlining w/Luke Austin
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Don’t be a Spend Procrastinator
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
The Ecommerce Diagnostic Toolkit
Early Bird Pricing (one week only) (30% off regular price) Get the Toolkit: https://commonthreadco.com/products/ecommerce-diagnostic “We see too many business…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Why a Good Strategy Beats Operational Excellence
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Building an Influencer Agency from the Ground Up w/Taylor Lagace of Kynship
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Mastering Inventory Management w/Braden Larsen of Sparkle in Pink
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Quantify Your Brand (Plus: Meet a CTC Client)
“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”…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
15 Years of Ecomm Lessons in 30 Minutes with Ezra Firestone
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Learn to Media Buy Like a CFO
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
The UGC Bullsh*t Meter
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Design Your Ecommerce Forecast (3 Rules)
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
A Google Rep Shares His Secrets
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Make AI Work For Your Ecommerce Business (Not the Other Way Around)
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Building Businesses w/Jordan West
his episode features Jordan West, an entrepreneur and owner of Canada-based ecommerce agency Upgrowth Commerce. Richard, Taylor, and Jordan discuss his…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Sell the Right Products. Plus: How to Think About High-SKU Businesses.
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
The State of Ecomm Investing Pt 2: The Investor’s Perspective
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…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Build New Revenue Peaks
Most ecommerce brands have two big “moments” on their marketing calendar. Most ecommerce brands are getting it wrong. On this episode, Taylor & Richard break…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Six Resolutions for Ecommerce in 2023
New year, new ecommerce landscape: In this episode, Taylor and Richard make 6 resolutions for the ecommerce industry, breaking down the strategies your…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
The State of Ecomm Investing Pt 1: The Founder's Perspective
In this special two part series Taylor and Richard explore the current state of the ecommerce fundraising environment from two distinct points of view. In this…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Reflections on Failure & Growth
As 2022 comes to a close, those of us in the ecommerce industry have more questions than answers: Where can you find hope in the midst of failure? What are the…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
How to Stabilize Your Growth
There’s three layers of revenue for any business: New customers, owned audiences, and existing customers. Maintaining the correct balance between these three…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Forecasting CAC in Uncertain Times
With consumer confidence at record-low levels, only one thing’s for sure: you’ll have to pay more to acquire new customers. But how do you forecast this…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
BFCM 2022 Was Huge. But What Does That Mean for 2023?
Black Friday/Cyber Monday was bigger than ever this year. Inflation is also at its highest level in four decades. So what does this seeming paradox mean for…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Stop Squeezing The Sponge
It’s tempting to try to get more out of your existing customers when CAC is rising. But is it worth it? In this episode, Richard and Taylor discuss the second…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Lessons Learned from Black Friday 2021
To win this Black Friday, you need to understand what went well last year, and what needs to improve. In this episode, we take a break from our regular content…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
We (Didn’t) Sell Bambu Earth
What kind of business wins despite the volatility that surrounds them? In this episode, Taylor and Richard discuss Taylor and 4x400’s decision to sell skincare…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
Don’t Hold Back on BFCM
With just 3 weeks until Black Friday, now is not the time to pull back. In this episode, Taylor and Richard debunk common arguments for pulling back spend…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
This Guide Will Change Your Business
The solution to $50M+ growth might not be what you think it is. In this episode, Richard and Taylor talk about Part 1 of the Ecommerce Enterprise Scaling…
- Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth
The Unexpected Solution to the Acquisition Problem
How customer-centric are you? In this episode, Richard and Taylor propose an interesting solution to the acquisition problem, and it has almost nothing to do…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthFacebook’s Move into AI with New Advantage+
Choice is sometimes an illusion. In this episode, Richard and Taylor talk about Facebook’s move toward the Advantage+ model, which shifts away from human…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthPredict Customer Value in Real Time with AI
What if you could see future results in the now? In this episode, Richard and Taylor talk about Common Thread’s unique relationship with Retina.ai, an AI…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthThe Impact of Consumer Confidence on DTC
The latest Consumer Confidence Index paints a bleak picture of the economy at large. How does that affect DTC, ROAS, and forecasting for Q4? “It’s going to…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthAndrew's Quitting The Pod
In Andrew’s farewell episode, he passes the torch over to CTC’s Taylor Holiday and Richard Gaffin. Andrew reflects on his time hosting the podcast, and what’s…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthHow to Manage People to Grow Your Brand
Using your resources as effectively as possible is essential for growing your business at any pace. In this episode, Andrew talks about two ways to manage…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthThe Antidote to Shiny Object Syndrome
Brands that are trying to grow really fast often try the next most tempting “shiny object” to get there. In this episode, Andrew talks about the importance of…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthFinancing to Scale with Obvi CEO Ron Shah
The right tools don’t change the fundamentals of running your business — they allow you to think about your business in a new way. In this episode, Andrew…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthWhy Your Customer Journey is Everything
Not all customers are alike. In this episode, Andrew talks about the importance of meeting customers at different points in their customer journey. “It’s…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthWhat Are You Selling?
It’s a foundational question for any business: What exactly are you selling, and how is your marketing approach optimized for it? In this episode, Andrew…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthThe DNA of a Resilient Brand
Is your business set up to withstand hardship? In this episode, we revisit a conversation with Common Thread Collective CEO Taylor Holiday about how businesses…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthThe Only Guide You Need to Grow Your Business
There's a lot of information on the internet about how to grow an ecommerce business, but none exists at this caliber of high-level strategy and detailed…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthThe #1 Key To Email Marketing
Email is an 80/20 game: 80% of the value comes from 20% of what you put into it. In this episode, Andrew shares his thoughts on the current state of email…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthHow to Finance & Fund Your Ecommerce Business
Funding growth is incredibly hard, especially for brands that are just starting to scale. In this episode, Andrew is joined by Stephen Duke, head of marketing…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthLearning From a Huge Facebook Ads Win
What’s the secret behind massive wins on Facebook? In this episode, Andrew goes back to Facebook ad basics: what works, and what doesn’t. “There are times when…
Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & GrowthEverybody Has Too Much Stuff
First it was supply chain disruptions, and now it’s … warehouse disruptions? In this episode, Andrew talks about brands currently experiencing an abundance of…