2X eCommerce Podcast

In this episode of the 2X eCommerce Podcast, we have the pleasure of welcoming two accomplished experts in the field of media buying at scale for 8 to 9-figure brands, primarily on the Meta platform: Blake Pinsker and Torii Rowe. 

With a wealth of experience under their belts, they have worked with renowned brands like Movement, Cuts, Liquid IV, Manscaped, Truf, and MANSSION Jewelry. Their expertise and insights have propelled these brands to new heights in the ever-evolving world of e-commerce.

When I was pre-recording this episode with Blake and Torii they mentioned something that stuck with me, which was that they want to burst the myth that Meta Ads no longer work. 

They went further on to say that the reasons social advertising media buying might not be working is down to one or both of these reasons, 

1/ There is inadequate product/market fit

2/ Marketers are losing a lot of event data (up to 80 per cent) on meta advertising

Why You Should Listen to This Episode:

1. Get in on some Secrets of Powerhouse Brands: they share insights into the strategies and success stories of top brands like Movement, Cuts, Liquid IV, Manscaped, Truf, and MANSSION Jewelry. Discover how these brands have achieved remarkable growth and learn from their experiences.
2. Crafting Brand Bibles for Creative Excellence: Explore the importance of brand bibles in creating a strong and consistent brand identity. Blake and Torii discuss the essential elements of brand bibles and how they contribute to effective storytelling and customer engagement.
3. Mastering the Art of Creatives: Delve into the world of creatives and discover the winning formulas for creating captivating ad content. Learn the secrets behind compelling hooks, messages, and copy points that drive direct response and maximize conversions.
4. Unleashing the Potential of App Stack: Get an insider's view on the must-have tools and technologies for successful media buying. Blake and Torii share their go-to app stack, highlighting the platforms that have proven instrumental in achieving optimal performance and scalability.
5. Decoding What's Working: Stay up-to-date with the latest trends and strategies that are driving results in the ever-evolving media buying landscape. From effective budget allocation to innovative retargeting approaches, gain valuable insights that can elevate your e-commerce business.

If you’re looking to get a scoop on how to go about smarter media buying on meta, then pay attention.
So without further ado, let's get started!

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SPONSORS:
 

This episode is brought to you by:

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

Treyd

The 2X eCommerce Podcast is sponsored by Treyd, a revolutionary financing service transforming product launches for eCommerce brands. As the ultimate inventory purchasing solution, Treyd lets you sell first, pay suppliers later. Treyd's unsecured funding and credit model improves cash flow, supports larger orders, and even helps negotiate supplier discounts. 

With a transparent, pay-as-you-go model, Treyd offers unmatched flexibility and minimal onboarding, independent of eCommerce platforms. Experience the power of "Sell first, pay suppliers later" and snooze invoices for up to 120 days. Transform your business with Treyd today on Treyd.io.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Sonal Gandhi, Chief Content Office of The Lead, a media company that features innovative digital native brands that are making a change in the D2C industry.

Over a decade of Sonal’s career has been observing the trend in the retail fashion industry. With her experience, she considers herself an industry analyst and has learned deeply and widely about the retail industry. Her role in The Lead is to identify innovative strategies of brands that are redefining the retail industry’s future.

Innovation. The Lead’s mission is to find and support brands that are pioneering change in the retail industry with their unique takes and new strategies. They also conduct a yearly summit catering to retail brands and D2C companies, from young to established, to share and break down the latest innovations and challenges in the retail world.

It’s an exciting and insightful episode as you’d hear Kunle and Sonal talk more about building customer relationships and loyalty, challenges to growth, bunking common misconceptions about D2C, and The Lead’s mission and work in the retail industry.

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SPONSORS:
 

This episode is brought to you by:

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

Treyd

The 2X eCommerce Podcast is sponsored by Treyd, a revolutionary financing service transforming product launches for eCommerce brands. As the ultimate inventory purchasing solution, Treyd lets you sell first, pay suppliers later. Treyd's unsecured funding and credit model improves cash flow, supports larger orders, and even helps negotiate supplier discounts. 

With a transparent, pay-as-you-go model, Treyd offers unmatched flexibility and minimal onboarding, independent of eCommerce platforms. Experience the power of "Sell first, pay suppliers later" and snooze invoices for up to 120 days. Transform your business with Treyd today on Treyd.io.

Adii Pienaar is the founder and CEO of Cogsy, an inventory management software for eCommerce brands. He started Cogsy after seeing the need for a more user-friendly and powerful inventory management solution that could be used by both generalists and specialists. Cogsy is designed to be easy to use and can be integrated with a variety of eCommerce platforms, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento.

In the interview, Adii discusses his background in eCommerce and how it led to the creation of Cogsy. He also talks about the challenges of building a startup and the importance of finding the right team. Adii is passionate about helping eCommerce brands succeed, and he believes that Cogsy can play a big role in helping them achieve their goals.

Here are some of the key points from the interview:

• Adii Pienaar is the founder and CEO of Cogsy, an inventory management software for eCommerce brands.
• Cogsy is designed to be easy to use and can be integrated with a variety of eCommerce platforms.
• Adii started Cogsy after seeing the need for a more user-friendly and powerful inventory management solution.
• Cogsy is used by eCommerce brands of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises.
• Adii is passionate about helping eCommerce brands succeed.

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SPONSORS:
 

This episode is brought to you by:
 

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

Treyd

The 2X eCommerce Podcast is sponsored by Treyd, a revolutionary financing service transforming product launches for eCommerce brands. As the ultimate inventory purchasing solution, Treyd lets you sell first, pay suppliers later. Treyd's unsecured funding and credit model improves cash flow, supports larger orders, and even helps negotiate supplier discounts. 

With a transparent, pay-as-you-go model, Treyd offers unmatched flexibility and minimal onboarding, independent of eCommerce platforms. Experience the power of "Sell first, pay suppliers later" and snooze invoices for up to 120 days. Transform your business with Treyd today on Treyd.io.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Howard Panes, Founder & CEO of GameFit LLC, a health and fitness company that created Stealth Fitness, a mobile app with games that make exercise and fitness exciting.

Having had lots of failed ventures and Nos to his ideas, Howard pushed and gave everything in his business. As he thought he was losing everything, he came up with an idea for a business from a business meeting of an entirely different matter. From then on, his success skyrocketed.

In 2015, he started Stealth Fitness and sold over 1 million in five years. He created a community on Facebook where people from across the US connect, build friendships, and plank together. The Stealth Fitness app continuously upgrades as it creates more games and groups for its customers.

It’s an inspiring episode as you’d hear Kunle and Howard talk more about facing failures and driving oneself to reach one’s goals. Howard shares his HOWIE method, habits that continuously help him succeed in his ventures.

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SPONSORS:
 

This episode is brought to you by:
 

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

Treyd

The 2X eCommerce Podcast is sponsored by Treyd, a revolutionary financing service transforming product launches for eCommerce brands. As the ultimate inventory purchasing solution, Treyd lets you sell first, pay suppliers later. Treyd's unsecured funding and credit model improves cash flow, supports larger orders, and even helps negotiate supplier discounts. 

With a transparent, pay-as-you-go model, Treyd offers unmatched flexibility and minimal onboarding, independent of eCommerce platforms. Experience the power of "Sell first, pay suppliers later" and snooze invoices for up to 120 days. Transform your business with Treyd today on Treyd.io.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Leonardo Caracas, Partner at Jump Ventures, an incubator and VC holistically supporting companies to scale from $1 million to $10 million in revenue.

• (06:20) - Leonardo’s Backstory
• (15:23) - What is Jump Ventures?
• (21:26) - The Growth of Gocase
• (23:19) - Growth Methodology
• (30:10) - Content from UGC to Brands to IGC
• (33:53) - Pricing and Merchandising
• (37:56) - On P&L and Growth Plan
• (41:42) - Points on Financial Health
• (44:52) - Gross Margins on a Product Level
• (46:48) - Growth Strategy from Jump’s POV
• (52:12) - Resources for Organic Building
• (55:07) - Jump’s Data and Tech Stack Overview
• (01:00:11) - Leonardo’s Advice to Entrepreneurs for 2023

When Leonardo got tired of working in the corporate world, he turned his attention to entrepreneurship. He contacted his university friend, Rafael, who was working then in Brazil with a startup called Gocase. Leonardo’s love for adventure carried on to his career. Fast forward to five years, Gocase already is in the international market and in addition to it, they also have Jump Ventures.

Jump Ventures is a mix of incubator and venture capital which sets them apart from other similar companies. They help companies from start to planning and achieving their growth plan which is a sustainable strategy for growth. While there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for brands, Leonardo shares how Jump Ventures were able to achieve growth for every company they work with.

It’s an insightful episode as you’d hear Kunle and Leonardo talk more about what Jump Ventures is and does, growth methodology, demand generation, the importance of testing, and what a magic number means.

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SPONSORS:
 

This episode is brought to you by:
 

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

Treyd

The 2X eCommerce Podcast is sponsored by Treyd, a revolutionary financing service transforming product launches for eCommerce brands. As the ultimate inventory purchasing solution, Treyd lets you sell first, pay suppliers later. Treyd's unsecured funding and credit model improves cash flow, supports larger orders, and even helps negotiate supplier discounts. 

With a transparent, pay-as-you-go model, Treyd offers unmatched flexibility and minimal onboarding, independent of eCommerce platforms. Experience the power of "Sell first, pay suppliers later" and snooze invoices for up to 120 days. Transform your business with Treyd today on Treyd.io.

On today's episode, Kunle Campbell dives deep into the topic of rewriting your growth story in the ever-changing world of e-commerce. He highlights the challenges faced by businesses, such as declining order volumes and stagnant growth, and emphasizes the need to dig deep and find new strategies to overcome these hurdles.

Kunle introduces the concept of the ideal customer profile, urging listeners to approach their businesses with a blank canvas mindset. By asking the right questions to existing customers, lapsed customers, and potential customers, businesses can uncover the motivations that drive purchases and convert them into tailored benefits and individual funnels.

To illustrate this approach, Kunle presents a hypothetical example of a brand with a pocket muscle massager. He explains how identifying target groups, such as combat sports enthusiasts, triathletes, and office professionals with neck and back pain, allows businesses to refine their marketing efforts, work with creators, and create landing pages that speak directly to these specific audiences.

Throughout the episode, Kunle stresses the importance of staying agile and leveraging the power of data to reshape the e-commerce funnel. By adopting this strategy, businesses can maximize conversions, scale their operations, and rewrite their growth stories in 2023.

In the next episode, Kunle will be joined by industry experts to explore the elements that make an e-commerce landing page effective, providing listeners with valuable insights to take their businesses to new heights.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to transform your e-commerce business. Tune in to the podcast and learn how to rewrite your growth story from the expert himself, Kunle Campbell.

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SPONSORS:

This episode is brought to you by:
 

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration. 

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

Treyd
The 2X eCommerce Podcast is sponsored by Treyd, a revolutionary financing service transforming product launches for eCommerce brands. As the ultimate inventory purchasing solution, Treyd lets you sell first, pay suppliers later.

Treyd's unsecured funding and credit model improves cash flow, supports larger orders, and even helps negotiate supplier discounts. With a transparent, pay-as-you-go model, Treyd offers unmatched flexibility and minimal onboarding, independent of eCommerce platforms.

Experience the power of "Sell first, pay suppliers later" and snooze invoices for up to 120 days. Transform your business with Treyd today on Treyd.io.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Wayne Richard, Partner, and Managing Director in the USA of Bean Ninjas, an accounting firm helping eCommerce scale.

“It was about building relationships.” Wayne’s success in life comes down to his roots. When faced with an option between relocating with his family or severance pay, he took the severance pay and decided to build his own accounting firm but when it was picking up, it took his time from his family which led him to seek out accounting spaces with a business lifestyle that is family-centered.

Bean Ninja, an accounting firm where Wayne found the work lifestyle he was looking for as well as seeing an opportunity to share his strengths for the company. Wayne shares some of the company’s best practices in helping eCommerce companies scale efficiently.

It’s an insightful episode as you’d hear Kunle and Wayne talk more about profitability, growth, and efficiency, the best practices and common mistakes in scaling, unit economics, and choosing the right fintech product for your company. 

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SPONSORS:
 
This episode is brought to you by:
 
 Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Nirav Sheth, Founder & CEO of Anatta, an eCommerce agency that partners with DTC brands with a focus on UX design, research, and optimization to maximize a brand’s growth potential.

Nirav Sheth sees Anatta as anti-agency. While agencies provide the only people needed by a company, Anatta goes all-out by providing their whole team. While other agencies may not know it but billing by hours sometimes shifts the focus of the agency from providing quality service to mere revenue.

Anatta works with top brands like Athletic Greens, Rothy’s, True Botanicals, M.Gemi, and a lot more. The secret to the success of Anatta is no secret at all – quality consumer experience. Anatta’s work on the flow of the design and speed of a brand’s website is just a foretaste of what else they could help with a brand.

It’s an insightful episode as you’d hear Kunle and Nirav talk more about different points of growth potential using design, the efficiency, and effectivity of storytelling and authenticity in marketing a brand and understanding human psychology in relation to UX design planning and creation.

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SPONSORS:
 

This episode is brought to you by:
 
 Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Lucas DiPietrantonio, Co-Founder & CEO of Darkroom Agency, a digital marketing firm taking on unique and progressive growth strategies for B2C brands and startups.

Being an entrepreneur and investor in a lot of startups himself, Lucas and his best friend and cofounder, Jackson, started Darkroom Agency. Helping a lot of startups and young brands, Lucas was able to compete with well-established and larger marketing agencies with the understanding that brands and their creatives have a powerful impact on its consumers.

While looking and understanding data is important, what to do with it makes the difference. Darkroom Agency has transformed businesses by looking into each of them with curious and fresh eyes, understanding and solving problems that are unique to each business, to each industry and utilizing technology, not just to ride the waves but to create it.

It’s an interesting episode as you’d hear Kunle and Lucas talk more about new perspectives in marketing, building communities, Lucas’ take on influencer marketing and the era of social media as advertising platforms.

-----------
 
SPONSORS: 
 

This episode is brought to you by:
 
 Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

On today’s episode, Ali Rose, Co-Founder & CEO of Genusee, a sustainable and economic eyewear brand and eyeglass frame manufacturer.

Ali Rose worked for a body-positive brand in New York City, designing clothes for women. It was a dream come true until she found out how the fashion industry is slowly killing our planet. Wanting to use fashion for good, she went to India and volunteered in an NGO helping domestically-abused women. Come Christmas 2015 and a water crisis in Michigan, she realized that making an impact doesn’t need the right place but the right way of doing things that benefits not only one, but all.

Ali Rose had a total turnaround from being a designer of fast fashion to becoming a certified B Corp and named as 1 of 56 brands changing the face of American fashion by Vogue. From its suppliers to the board of directors and employees, Genusee reaches out to women, at-risk youth, formerly incarcerated people, homeless individuals and people from minority groups. With the impact of Genusee’s product to the environment and to its community, Genusee is leaving no stone unturned.

It’s a compelling episode as you’d hear Ali Rose talk more about the impact of fast fashion on our planet, building a business that is good for humans and the environment alike, what a B Corp is and what it stands for, how Genusee set up its company to qualify as a B Corp, and concrete plans and steps to implementing a social and environment-friendly changes to your own organization. 

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SPONSORS:
 
This episode is brought to you by:
 
Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Kristel de Groot, Co-Founder & CMO of Your Super, a plant-based brand 

Kristel and Michael, her partner in life and business, met as young athletes, playing tennis. With their vibrant energy and youth, they were able to get scholarships and travel to play. However, this changed when Michael was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 24. With her knowledge in nutrition and inspired by a movie, Kristel went on to learn more about plants and how they can help our bodies fight off the cancer gene and reduce the risk of having one.

Knowing only a little about eCommerce and the market, Kristel and Michael joined a summit in Ireland and were able to get the attention of an investor who would usually invest in tech brands but became interested in their products. With an upcoming book, Kristel aims to share how we can change our lives by eating superfoods and integrating them into our lifestyles.

It’s an inspiring episode as you’d hear Kunle and Kristel talk more about their journey starting Your Super, product sourcing, Kristel’s new and upcoming book, supporting women, and getting into D2C and retail.

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SPONSORS:

This episode is brought to you by:

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Parker Olson, Founder of Forij, a healthy and sustainable granola and meal bar infused with mushroom’s brain and body benefits.

Parker Olson’s love for how the brain works led him to love neuroscience and became a self-proclaimed biohacker. His curiosity about his nutrition made him experiment with different nutrition regimens until he found mushrooms. Parker tried different products like mushroom tea alternatives, mushroom coffee, liquid extracts, etc., but none made him love to take it every day because of their taste so he did his own decoctions. He researched, joined their local mycological society, and worked with a chef until he created something that he loved.

After finding himself joining a startup conference, Parker found himself an investor but challenges do not end after getting funding. As he mentioned, they are “taking it day by day.” He also identified three challenges with customer subscriptions, one of which is very interesting.

It’s an insightful episode as you’d hear Kunle and Parker talk more about Forij’s successes and challenges, the importance of customer feedback and running market tests, as well as making sure to get the packaging, pricing, and placement right.

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SPONSORS:

This episode is brought to you by:
 
Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration.

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth.

On today’s episode is Kunle, Co-Founder of Octillion, an acquisition platform company of “clean” skincare, food, and beverage brands.

On his another solo podcast, Kunle reflects on things he had learned from September 2022, when his partner in Octillion, Ayo Disu came to the podcast as a guest. Kunle and Ayo talked about their plans for Octillion and their newly acquired brands at the time, Lean Caffeine and Clean & Pure.

Kunle bares the good, the bad, and the ugly in the process of growing a business or a company, from an investment that didn’t come through and to knowing more about their own company. They did process analysis, customer research, and finance which is building a good relationship with their banks and suppliers.

It’s an interesting episode as you’d hear Kunle talk more about what Octillion has been doing to grow, their in-depth look into Octillion and their acquired companies as well as its customer research and finance perspectives.

-----------

SPONSORS:

This episode is brought to you by:

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

Tidio

This episode is sponsored by Tidio, the highest-rated live chat app on Shopify. Tidio is a versatile platform that offers personalized shopping experiences, boosts customer satisfaction, and manages all communication channels on one dashboard. It can automate up to 47% of recurring questions with its deep Shopify integration. 

With the budget-friendly Tidio Plus Plan, you get a dedicated customer success manager, personalized training sessions, and more. Tidio powers over 300,000 brand websites, including Shell, Wellbots, and Valyou Furniture. Head to Tidio.com/2X to take control of your customer relationships and supercharge your growth. 

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Marius Laza, the CCO (Chief Customer Officer) at Tidio, a customer experience platform that serves over 300,000 eCommerce merchants globally, most of which are on the Shopify platform. Marius shares insights on how eCommerce businesses can leverage live chat and chatbots to improve their customer experience, drive sales, and increase customer loyalty.
 

The conversation starts with Marius discussing how Tidio's live chat and chatbot software can help eCommerce businesses improve their customer service by freeing up time for their customer support teams. This, in turn, allows them to focus on more complex queries and increase customer satisfaction. Marius also highlights how Tidio's Magic Wand feature can normalize any customer service tone of voice, which is especially helpful for companies with offshore resources.
 

The discussion then moves on to how live chat can help with lead generation. Marius shares how Tidio's support team has been able to identify leads and send them to the sales team, resulting in increased sales. He also emphasizes that live chat is one of the most underrated customer acquisition channels and that eCommerce brands should not delay instant gratification for customers who are ready to buy.
 

Kunle then asks Marius for his advice on how eCommerce brands can navigate growth through customer success in 2023. Marius recommends that companies focus on turning high-intent traffic into buyers by triggering the right chatbot at the right time. He notes that it's not about bringing more people to your website, but rather bringing the right people and leveraging technology in the right way to get the job done.
 

Overall, this episode is a must-listen for eCommerce business owners and marketers who want to improve their customer service, increase sales, and build customer loyalty. Whether you're new to live chat or an experienced user, Marius's insights and recommendations will provide valuable takeaways for your business.

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SPONSORS:
 
This episode is brought to you by:
 
Klaviyo

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo – a growth marketing platform that powers over 25,000 online businesses. Direct-to-Consumer brands like ColourPop, Huckberry, and Custom Ink rely on Klaviyo.

Klaviyo helps you own customer experience and grow high-value customer relationships right from a shopper’s first impression through to each subsequent purchase, Klaviyo understands every single customer interaction and empowers brands to create more personalized marketing moments.

Find out more on klaviyo.com/2x.

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Yong-Soo Chung, Founder of Urban Every Day Carry, a business and community supporting creative makers and designers of knives from all over the world.

Inspired by the families of his high school classmates whose parents were C-level executives working in big companies and being a South Korean immigrant in a white-dominated private school, Yong-Soo was driven to start a company one day. A few years later, he built not just one but four ventures or businesses. He did not just build a money-making business but also built a community that brings people with a certain passion.

Yong-Soo’s first company is Urban Everyday Carry, a company that helps small-time knife makers and designers all over the world which brought together a community of people with a passion of collecting knives, and sharing stories with each other. GrowthJet is a climate-neutral 3PL that was primarily just a solution to a troublesome order fulfillment for Urban EDC. 

The third one, Spotted by Humphrey, an online dog products boutique, was an unexpected venture after Yong-Soo and his wife’s French Bulldog suddenly became an Instagram sensation. Lastly, First Class Founders, Yong-Soo’s podcast where he shares his experiences on a podcast in hopes to inspire and prevent business owners to commit mistakes that he had made while he was still starting his own.

It’s an awe-inspiring episode as you’d hear Kunle and Yong-Soo talk more about Urban EDC’s core values, operations, and growth, GrowthJet’s First and Class Founders’ advocacies, and Spotted by Humphrey’s story. 

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SPONSORS:
 
This episode is brought to you by:
 
Klaviyo

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo – a growth marketing platform that powers over 25,000 online businesses. Direct-to-Consumer brands like ColourPop, Huckberry, and Custom Ink rely on Klaviyo.

Klaviyo helps you own customer experience and grow high-value customer relationships right from a shopper’s first impression through to each subsequent purchase, Klaviyo understands every single customer interaction and empowers brands to create more personalized marketing moments.

Find out more on klaviyo.com/2x.

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Mike Abadi, Co-Founder & CEO of Sunday Citizen, a home textile brand that designs and manufactures luxury blankets, towels, robes, and other home goods. Mike shares his journey into entrepreneurship and how he grew Sunday Citizen from a small Amazon-based brand to a profitable business with a thriving community.

Mike talks about the importance of building relationships with factories, managing supply chain risks, and aligning short-term and long-term finances. He explains how Sunday Citizen diversified its supply chain by shifting a large chunk of its production to Mexico and Turkey, which helped the brand to de-risk its exposure to China. Mike also shares how Sunday Citizen collects customer data in its brick-and-mortar stores and online, and the importance of creating a seamless shopping experience for customers.

Listeners will learn about the challenges of scaling a business, building a team, and finding the right partners to work with. Mike shares his best mistake to date and how it helped him become a better entrepreneur. Finally, he offers advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and encourages them to focus on building a strong brand and community.

-----------
 
SPONSORS:
 

This episode is brought to you by:
 
Klaviyo

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo – a growth marketing platform that powers over 25,000 online businesses. Direct-to-Consumer brands like ColourPop, Huckberry, and Custom Ink rely on Klaviyo.

Klaviyo helps you own customer experience and grow high-value customer relationships right from a shopper’s first impression through to each subsequent purchase, Klaviyo understands every single customer interaction and empowers brands to create more personalized marketing moments.

Find out more on klaviyo.com/2x.

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

On today’s episode, Kunle is joined by Peter Beckman, Co-Founder & CEO of Treyd, a Fintech startup that provides supplier financing to small and fast-growing companies that trade internationally. The company's solution enables UK and Nordic-based businesses to pay their suppliers in advance, which solves a major problem faced by many businesses that sell products but struggle to purchase enough inventory due to cash flow constraints.

Peter explains that the idea for Treyd came from his own experience as an entrepreneur and his co-founder's background in Fintech and crypto. The company was incubated in an accelerator program and took around four months to go to market.

The interview also covers Treyd's expansion plans, its target market, and how it differentiates itself from other Fintech startups in the same space. Peter also discusses the interest rates charged by Treyd and how they vary depending on the individual customer's needs and financial standing.  And also cover Treyd’s supplier vetting process, which includes KYC and background checks on every supplier, as well as a quality inspection option for new suppliers. 

Finally, they emphasize the importance of optimizing cash conversion cycles for eCommerce brands, as it determines how fast they can grow. In terms of industry trends, the CEO notes that the global supply chain is starting to improve after a challenging period, and having multiple channels (D2C and wholesale) is proving to be beneficial for many eCommerce brands.

-----------
 
SPONSORS:
 
This episode is brought to you by:
 
Klaviyo

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo – a growth marketing platform that powers over 25,000 online businesses. Direct-to-Consumer brands like ColourPop, Huckberry, and Custom Ink rely on Klaviyo.

Klaviyo helps you own customer experience and grow high-value customer relationships right from a shopper’s first impression through to each subsequent purchase, Klaviyo understands every single customer interaction and empowers brands to create more personalized marketing moments.

Find out more on klaviyo.com/2x.

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

On today’s episode of the 2X eCommerce Podcast, Kunle interviews William Harris, a successful Ohio-based eCommerce performance marketing and Founder of eCommerce growth agency, Elumynt.

William has helped 13 companies get acquired, including one that sold to GoDaddy and one that fetched nearly $800M. His agency, Elumynt was recently featured as an Inc. 5000 winner as well as an Inc. Best Workplaces winner.

William has authored over 200 articles about eCommerce, advertising, and leadership on Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Shopify, TNW, Social Media Today, and many other places.

In this episode, we go deep into William’s childhood that was filled with hard work and challenges. How he got into the world of commerce and digital marketing; and his juicy eCommerce growth tactics, including geographic holdups, brand name search, account simplicity in Facebook advertising campaigns, mistakes and red flags on badly set up ad campaigns, bottom of the funnel advertising, automation, and M&A.

The most important takeaway you will learn from this conversation is why ROAS or return on advertising spend is the wrong metric to focus on. You will find learn exactly what your north star success metric for paid marketing campaign should be.

If you’re prepping up for an M&A exit, William also has you covered on optimization for acquisitions.

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SPONSORS:

This episode is brought to you by:

Klaviyo

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo – a growth marketing platform that powers over 25,000 online businesses. Direct-to-Consumer brands like ColourPop, Huckberry, and Custom Ink rely on Klaviyo.

Klaviyo helps you own customer experience and grow high-value customer relationships right from a shopper’s first impression through to each subsequent purchase, Klaviyo understands every single customer interaction and empowers brands to create more personalized marketing moments.

Find out more on klaviyo.com/2x.

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

This episode features a special guest, Jake Karls, co-founder and face of the fast-growing good-for-you CPG confectionary brand, Mid-Day Squares. Jake, along with his sister Lezlie Karls and brother-in-law Nick Saltarelli, are known for sharing their entrepreneurial journey on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, giving customers a unique behind-the-scenes look at building a business.

With sales on track to hit $17 million by the end of their fiscal year in May 2023, more than double what they did in 2021, Mid-Day Squares aims to be a modern chocolate company with functional ingredients, a challenger brand, AND a disruptor to the 140 Billion dollar chocolate industry.

Listen in as we discuss Jake's journey from overcoming low grades, business failures, and rejection upon rejection to building a 96% automated factory and raising $16.7 million in investment to set the foundation for Mid-Day Squares' rapid growth trajectory.

Mid-Day Squares is on a mission to be a modern chocolate company with functional ingredients. More than that, they’re on a mission to build a community of fans rather than just customers, and it’s having powerful results for their business. Stay tuned to learn how Jake and his Co-Founders at Mid-Day Squares are doing it, and uncover insights direct from their multi-million dollar brand playbook that you can use to build your own authentic challenger brand – even in a hyper-competitive billion-dollar industry.

One thing that is evident about Jake is he's not afraid to fail, and even when his first business didn't work out, he kept pushing forward – and he puts it all out there for the world to see. From studying to be an actuary to dropping out and starting a fitness business to ultimately co-founding Mid-Day Squares – Jake’s story is a fascinating and unorthodox one that you won’t want to miss. It’s a story, and the authenticity behind it, that Jake, along with his sister and brother-in-law, have used to build a media empire around Mid-Day Squares. There are some powerful lessons here for Founders and eCommerce professionals about the impact storytelling, and social media can have on your brand if you can have the courage to stand out and set yourself apart. All this comes down to the powerful ways of thinking and mindsets that Jake has developed through the good times and the bad. You will notice that the mindset of an eCommerce professional will be a key theme not only in this podcast but in the 2x eCommerce podcast throughout 2023. Mindset is what makes the tactics that we cover here in the 2x eCommerce podcast every episode work in what is a cross-functional and sometimes rowdy retail environment. It is the foundation, the driving force behind an entrepreneur's ability to create, innovate, and commit to bold, industry-disrupting visions. And Jake has it in spades. I have no doubt that you'll leave this episode feeling inspired and fired up to bring the same ingredients that Jake brings to Mid-Day Squares to your own business. So without further ado, let’s get started!

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SPONSORS:

This episode is brought to you by:

Klaviyo

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo – a growth marketing platform that powers over 25,000 online businesses. Direct-to-Consumer brands like ColourPop, Huckberry, and Custom Ink rely on Klaviyo.

Klaviyo helps you own customer experience and grow high-value customer relationships right from a shopper’s first impression through to each subsequent purchase, Klaviyo understands every single customer interaction and empowers brands to create more personalized marketing moments.

Find out more on klaviyo.com/2x.

Gorgias
 
This episode is brought to you by Gorgias, the leading helpdesk for Shopify, Magento and BigCommerce merchants.

Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, live chat, and phone into one platform.

This saves your team hours per day & makes managing customer orders a breeze. It also integrates seamlessly with your existing tech stack, so you can access customer information and even edit, return, refund, or create an order right from your helpdesk.

Go to Gorgias.com and mention 2x eCommerce Podcast for two months free.

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.

On today’s episode, Kunle, Co-Founder of Octillion, an acquisition platform company whose goal is to acquire clean food and beauty consumer brands.

2023 is a year of new opportunities and growth but where do we find them? Kunle, an advisor and coach in eCommerce, shares his insights in his first solo episode for 2023 in the eCommerce space. With his collective experience from doing podcast interviews, working with different experts, and his own experiences, he outlines ten hacks that may serve as guides for eCommerce companies in their marketing and operations aspects.

It’s an enriching episode as you’d hear Kunle talk more about 2023 macro trends, ways to up your marketing and operations standpoint, and giving value to consumers.

-----------

SPONSORS:

This episode is brought to you by:

Klaviyo

This episode is brought to you by Klaviyo – a growth marketing platform that powers over 25,000 online businesses. Direct-to-Consumer brands like ColourPop, Huckberry, and Custom Ink rely on Klaviyo.

Klaviyo helps you own customer experience and grow high-value customer relationships right from a shopper’s first impression through to each subsequent purchase, Klaviyo understands every single customer interaction and empowers brands to create more personalized marketing moments.

Find out more on klaviyo.com/2x.

Recharge

This episode is brought to you by Recharge, the leading subscriptions payment solution for Shopify merchants.

Recharge helps eCommerce merchants of all sizes launch and scale subscription offerings. Recharge powers the growth of over 15,000 subscription merchants and their communities—turning one-time transactions into long-term customer relationships.

Turn transactions into relationships and experience seamless subscription commerce with Recharge.

Find out more on rechargepayments.com/2x.