The Unofficial Shopify Podcast

"It's an in-house, ready-to-go agency. Which is free for all merchants." That's how Sachin Malhotra, Shopify's Director of Product for Merchant Marketing, describes Campaign Autopilot, the new AI marketing tool Shopify just announced as part of Editions. It sets up your ad accounts, syncs your catalog, and runs Meta Advantage+ checkout campaigns inside the guardrails you set. You teach it your boundaries, it does the heavy lifting, and you keep oversight the whole way. Sachin walks Kurt through how the "ask me first" controls work, why the tool optimizes across Meta, Microsoft Ads, ChatGPT, and Snap instead of fixating on one channel, and how it stacks with Shop Campaigns and its pay-only-when-you-get-an-order billing. If online advertising has ever felt like yelling into the void, start here. LINKS Campaign Autopilot: shopify.com/blog/introducing-campaign-autopilot Shopify Editions SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"Being on Shopify means you get access to agentic automatically, out of the box." Your store is already selling inside ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Shop, whether you've noticed or not. Aaron Glazer, Director of Product at Shopify, joins Kurt to explain Agentic Storefronts, the new Admin experience that finally makes that presence visible and controllable. The buyer behavior has already shifted. Shoppers now have long conversations with an AI about a whole use case, a camping trip, a problem, a gift, and arrive at your store already sold. Agentic Storefronts shows you the traffic, sales, and conversions from each AI channel, plus the real queries surfacing your products, so you can see where you rank and where you don't. Aaron and Kurt get into why this is the new SEO, why complete product data is the whole game, how Shopify Catalog structures your catalog for agents, what native checkout in an AI channel actually means, and why you stay the merchant of record with the customer relationship intact. Plus a bonus on Rollouts and SimGem heading into BFCM. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Agentic Storefronts: Shopify Admin > Agentic Storefronts (left nav) Shopify Catalog (for developers): build on the product discovery API Rollouts and SimGem: in Shopify Admin WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"I hear store associates asking people in person for their email all the time, and it always is a little bit awkward." Helen Mou runs product for retail at Shopify, and she just helped rebuild the thing every store runs on. This spring edition is the fastest POS Shopify has shipped. The rebuilt core selling flow saves over a minute on complex transactions, the kind with multiple items, stacked discounts, split shipping, and a customer attached for loyalty. Helen breaks down what actually changed on a busy floor: automatic email capture through the Shop network's 200 million-plus buyers, scannable discount codes that kill the keyboard-smash, multi-select line items, per-line staff attribution, the new POS Hub, and the new Verifone Victa Mobile device for selling shoulder to shoulder instead of stuck behind the counter. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Shopify POS: shopify.com/pos Shopify hardware store (Verifone Victa Mobile pre-orders): shopify.com/hardware Get started: Shopify Admin > POS sales channel WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/bgrJVYiDQKc "If I don't see that purple button at checkout, bye-bye." That's what Shop's buyers tell Kenny Cohen, and it's a clue to why Shop has quietly become one of the most valuable channels a Shopify merchant has. Kenny runs product for Shop, and in this spring edition he walks Kurt through three updates. Agentic Shop Search now understands a buyer's taste from their real purchase history, not generic web guesses. Posts let you auto cross-post your Instagram reels into a feed where people actually came to shop. And a new retail integration lets buyers check local inventory and start a return in the app to finish it in store. The throughline: Shop already has hundreds of millions of buyers interacting with your brand for free, mostly through order tracking. The merchants who win are the ones who show up with Posts and a dialed-in storefront instead of leaving that attention on the table. SPONSORS Swym — Wishlists, back-in-stock alerts, and moregetswym.com/kurt Zipify — Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURT LINKS Shop: shop.app Set up Posts: Shopify Admin > Shop sales channel > Posts tab Check your search placement: Shopify Admin > Agentic sales channel Sign in with Shop on the Catalog API (for developers) WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

VP of Product Vanessa Lee joins Kurt to break down the 2026 "Everywhere" edition and the years of quiet groundwork behind it: taxonomy, attributes, clustering, and a universal product identifier that now power a search catalog of billions of products. The payoff for merchants is strange and good. You're already enrolled in agentic commerce by default. One real store is doing $60K a month through it. Inside this episode: why the catalog plus UCP makes every Shopify store callable by any AI app, how to use Agentic Storefronts to see exactly where you rank and what data to fix, and why Vanessa says not to sleep on Shopify retail in 2026. SPONSORS Swym — Wishlists, back-in-stock alerts, and moregetswym.com/kurt Ecommerce Alley — The Meta Ads System 400+ Brands Use to Scale Special offer: ecommercealley.com/kurt Zipify — Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURT LINKS Shopify Spring 2026 "Everywhere" Edition: shopify.com/editions/spring2026 What is Shopify Catalog (merchant explainer): shopify.com/blog/what-is-shopify-catalog Shopify Engineering blog, product taxonomy at scale: shopify.engineering/product-taxonomy-at-scale Shopify Engineering blog, catalog clustering: shopify.engineering/catalog-clustering Shopify Catalog API + dev dashboard: shopify.dev Agentic Storefronts: in your Shopify admin sales channels Vanessa Lee on X: x.com/vlaurenlee WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Also on YouTube Montana Knife Company was finally releasing its first folding knife, a $390 piece their fans had been begging for, and they wanted an announcement page worthy of the moment. Apple-style scroll animations. Exploding diagrams. Every element on screen doing something. The catch: you couldn't buy anything from it. The entire page existed to introduce the new product, build the hype, and capture emails before the drop. Then it had to survive launch day. Paul Reda walks through the build that crashed Safari before it sold out in minutes: why video was the obvious answer and the wrong one, how a canvas-based flipbook moved 40MB without killing phones, where "French developer Claude" wrote every line of GSAP, and the one rule that made it all possible. Content leads design, or you don't get the dinner. SPONSORS Swym — Wishlists, back-in-stock alerts, and moregetswym.com/kurt Ecommerce Alley — The Meta Ads System 400+ Brands Use to Scale Special offer: ecommercealley.com/kurt Zipify — Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURT LINKS Montana Knife Company: montanaknifecompany.com The Montana (the folding knife landing page): montanaknifecompany.com GSAP (animation library): gsap.com Prior MKC episodes with Brandon [Horejsi]: search the feed for Montana Knife Company WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Also available on YouTube "It was a mind and body brokenness. I'll just say like depression." By 39, Chris Lang was running 10 businesses and falling apart. He killed most of them and bet everything on Fresh Chile, his bootstrapped Shopify chili brand from Hatch, New Mexico. It cracked the top 1% of Shopify and 8 figures in revenue, but didn't turn a profit until Q1 of year six. Inside: why he started publishing his real ROAS on LinkedIn when the numbers were ugly, the 80% Meta cut that finally flipped him profitable, and how a 250K-follower organic community out-engages Heinz, Tabasco, and Sriracha combined. SPONSORS Swym — Wishlists, back-in-stock alerts, and moregetswym.com/kurt Ecommerce Alley - The Meta Ads System 400+ Brands Use to Scale Special Offer: ecommercealley.com/kurt Zipify — Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURT LINKS Fresh Chile: https://freshchileco.com/ Chris Lang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrislangsocial/ Chris Lang on X: https://x.com/chrislangsocial WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"You would probably prefer to take money from Tony Soprano." Jeremy Horowitz has spent a decade in the Shopify ecosystem, scaled brands at Gorgias, and now runs a PE fund that's reviewed nearly 500 deals. He acquired a WhatsApp marketing app called Coco AI and he's still hunting for his next Shopify brand in the $10-100M range. We get into what actually makes a business sellable (and what kills a deal instantly), how earnouts and seller notes really work, why DTC as we knew it is dead, and his scorching take on why Shopify Capital loans are worse than credit card debt at 40% effective interest. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurtEcommerce Alley - Is It Your Ads Or Is Meta Having A Bad Day? Check it at  ecommercealley.com/bad Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Jeremy Horowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhorowitz1/ Coco AI (WhatsApp Marketing for Shopify): https://my-coco.ai/ WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"I shipped the bike and a couple of weeks later, the real credit card holder got a statement, said I didn't place that order, filed a chargeback, and then the money was gone." Also on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6k4iyfvjuTA John Murphy's first-ever Shopify sale was a total scam. Two weeks into launching, he wired a $5,000 e-bike to a guy putting on an old man's voice over the phone. That single chargeback kicked off an eight-year obsession with not getting burned again. He grew eBike Generation into a $3M store and pieced together a fraud detection stack that didn't eat his razor-thin drop shipping margins. Now he runs FRIQ Labs, productizing the system he built for himself. We covered the trifecta of red flags that almost always mean fraud, why you should never auto-capture payments on Shopify, and how being curious about a single weird order can save you thousands. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT Promo Party - We built an app!https://promoparty.app/ LINKS FRIQ Labs: https://friqlabs.com Drop Ship Breakthrough: https://dropshipbreakthrough.com Ben Knegendorf's episode: https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/ben-knegendorf-dropships-FLGufeLE Ekata: https://ekata.com Shopify Protect: https://shopify.com/protect WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"70% of stuff never goes sold. So you have to be prepared to interact with that level of rejection." David Hooker is the brand director for both Printify and Printful, which merged in late 2024 to form FYUL. He's got access to the data behind millions of print on demand sellers, and what he's learned is both humbling and useful. The top 1% aren't more talented. They're more consistent. We get into AI-generated mockups that actually look real, why email marketing is still a "print money button," and how community-driven niche selling beats paid ads for customer acquisition in 2025. Also available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/ppYhfdota7k SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Printify: printify.com Printful: printful.com David Hooker on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/davidhooker/ David Hooker's TEDx Talk on Visual Literacy: ted.com/talks/david_hooker_the_importance_of_visual_literacy WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"If your product sucks, you're never going to succeed. A lot of people are trying to solve product problems with marketing spend." Chase Clymer runs Electric Eye, a Shopify agency deep in CRO, redesigns, and migrations. He also hits about one industry event a month, which means he's got a real read on how merchants and partners actually feel right now. Not the Twitter version. The hallway version. We got into the real state of ecom in 2026: Facebook CPMs nearly doubling since the pandemic, why most brands under $5M shouldn't be split testing at all, how agencies are using AI tools like Claude and Nano Banana to skip hours of busywork, and Chase's bold prediction that Shopify is about to overhaul its partner program after a failed enterprise bet. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Electric Eye: https://electriceye.io/ Honest Ecommerce podcast: https://honestecommerce.com/ Fathom (sales call recording): https://fathom.video/ Nano Banana / Gemini image generation: https://gemini.google/overview/image-generation/ Figma Make: https://www.figma.com/ WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Denis Dyli has spent 13 years building Shopify stores for the businesses nobody wants to talk about: industrial suppliers, janitorial distributors, pipe manufacturers. The unsexy stuff. He's now a Shopify Platinum Partner, and he's turning all that pain into an AI-powered deal room that converts messy email RFQs into structured quotes in minutes, not weeks. We get into why B2B and wholesale are fundamentally different buying experiences, how mid-market manufacturers ($20M-$100M) are the most underserved segment in ecommerce, and why your B2B quoting process probably still feels like 1997. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Uncap: https://uncap.com Denis Dyli on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/denisdyli WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"It sucks to lose a customer not because of the product, but because of the mechanism in which they get the product." Jay Myers has spent a decade building one of the biggest subscription apps on Shopify. Now he's telling you subscriptions are broken. Bold's data backs it up: 82% of cancellations happen because customers have too much or too little product, not because they stopped wanting it. And 76% of those who cancel never come back. His fix is rePete, an AI-powered reorder concierge that predicts when each customer needs a refill and sends a one-click nudge at exactly the right time. We talked about the subscription death curve, why reorder revenue can 3-5x your business valuation, and the beta results that made me a believer. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS rePete by Bold: https://repeat.me Bold Commerce: https://boldcommerce.com Built Bar: https://built.com WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"Succeeding with paid was not about how good your ROAS was. What the paid experts did so well was they had built a business model structurally that allowed them to put as much money as they possible into that paid engine." Andrew Youderian surveyed 300 store owners representing $3.5 billion in revenue for the sixth annual eComFuel Trends Report, and the data broke four things Shopify merchants have been told were true. AI adoption is at 72% and producing zero financial edge. Non-AI adopters are growing profits faster than adopters. Amazon's share of revenue is back to 2017 levels while more brands than ever are selling on it. Gross margins hit an all-time high the same year net margins hit an all-time low. In this episode we dig into the paid traffic reversal that changed Andrew's own mind, why 97% of stores now run paid ads, the P&L math that separates winners from losers, and the financial literacy stat that moves net margins by 50%. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS eComFuel 2026 Trends Report: ecommercefuel.com/ecommerce-trends/ Financial Mastery for Ecom Store Owners (free course): https://www.ecommercefuel.com/mastery/ WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Recorded live at Smart Marketer Mentor Tables in Nashville, this is Kurt's full talk on why most people are bad at AI and what to do about it. The pitch was that AI would let you do less work and produce better output. What actually happened: everyone is producing more slop, faster. Inside: the RTF framework that fixes any prompt in 30 seconds, the 10 AI tools Kurt actually uses every day (not the ones he gets paid to recommend), and why Claude Cowork is the single tool worth your attention in 2026. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Smart Marketer: https://smartmarketer.com Microsoft Clarity: https://clarity.microsoft.com Topaz Labs: https://www.topazlabs.com Adobe Enhance: https://podcast.adobe.com WhisperFlow: https://wisprflow.ai Whisper Transcription (Mac app): https://goodsnooze.gumroad.com/l/whisper-transcription Adobe Firefly: https://firefly.adobe.com Nano Banana (Google): https://gemini.google.com Grok: https://grok.com Claude Code: https://claude.com/claude-code Claude Cowork: https://claude.com Crisp Chat: https://crisp.chat Tidio: https://www.tidio.com Matrixify: https://matrixify.app WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

This is a memorial republish. Casey Bard, founder of Tacticalories Seasoning Co., died in early April 2026 after a three-year fight with Stage 4 colorectal cancer. Casey told the people close to him that when he was gone, he wanted them to tell stories about him. This is Casey in his own words, recorded in March 2021. Casey started Tacticalories with $500 and mixed his first batch in his bathtub. By 2020 the company had grown 4x. We talked about building a brand around a personal Venn diagram of interests, why he drops one product at a time instead of seasonal collections, the 2020 manufacturing chaos, and why he refused to dropship, refused coupon codes, and refused to take outside money. GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/casey-is-choosing-to-continue-the-fight LINKS Tacticalories: https://tacticalories.com Casey Bard: https://caseybard.com GoFundMe (supporting Casey's family): https://www.gofundme.com/f/casey-is-choosing-to-continue-the-fight Struggle Well (documentary about Casey's story): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=908HdjZFyjk

Shopify just opened up its foundational B2B features to all paid plans, not just Plus. Samir Pradhan, VP of Product at Shopify, joins the show to break down what merchants actually get: company profiles, up to three custom catalogs, quantity rules, ACH payments, vaulted credit cards, and 50+ features total, at no additional cost. We walk through the setup, talk about what stays Plus-only, and dig into why B2B was consistently a top three merchant request. Plus, 96% GMV growth for merchants already using these tools. If you've been avoiding wholesale or duct-taping workarounds, this is the episode. LINKS Shopify B2B Newsroom Post: https://www.shopify.com/news/b2b-for-all Shopify B2B Help Docs: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/b2b Samir Pradhan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samir-pradhan-71978120 SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"I don't have any really relevant credentials or qualifications when it comes to this sort of thing." Noam Sugarman got fed up trying to find a stereo system that looked good, sounded good, and didn't require an engineering degree to buy. So he built his own. With no audio background, he launched Dum Audio, raised $75K on Indiegogo, then ditched crowdfunding platforms entirely to run pre-order campaigns on his own Shopify store, where he saw better return on ad spend. Five years and $300K+ in sales later, he's shipping hi-fi turntables, speakers, and amps direct to consumer. We talk about pricing in a market where a stereo can cost $100 or $100,000, why his self-run Shopify campaign outperformed Indiegogo, and how 60% of his crowdfunding buyers added a subwoofer upsell he only expected a third to take. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Dum Audio: https://dumaudio.com/ Design Momentum (industrial design): https://designmomentum.com/ WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"There were three or four years straight where we were like, if it doesn't go the way we need it to go, we'll close it down at the end of the year -- and then year end comes and we're just like, close enough to keep going." Ethan Haber was a college sophomore with a studio art degree, a hamster named Mooksy, and a problem: the hamster ball hadn't been improved since the 1970s. So he invented a better one. Then came COVID, molds stuck at the Port of Long Beach, a packaging supplier who switched materials without telling him, four years of unprofitability, and social media backlash from people who don't even own hamsters. 2026 is his first profitable year. We talked about how he got to 750 retail locations, why he quit Meta ads and tripled Amazon sales, and the cold LinkedIn DM that landed him the founder of PetSmart as a mentor. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Happy Habitats (Shopify store): https://www.happyhabitats.net Happy Habitats on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com (search Happy Habitats) Happy Habitats on Chewy: https://www.chewy.com (search Happy Habitats) Happy Habitats on Walmart: https://www.walmart.com (search Happy Habitats) Ethan's plush work (Instagram): @HaberPlushProductions Jim Dougherty (PetSmart founder) book: "The Pet Project" -- search on Amazon P9 Design (Ethan's design partner): https://www.p9design.com Shopify Collective (free app): https://www.shopify.com/collective Mark Knology (marketplace management): [URL not provided in episode] Trover Saves the Universe (Squatch Games): https://troverthegame.com WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"I think this is a revival of SEO, a little bit of a resurrection." SEO expert Patrick Rice is back, and this time he brought receipts. His agency got a Shopify brand to show up in ChatGPT recommendations 60-70% of the time and in Google AI Overviews 86% of the time, with a 35-40% sustained increase in branded search. All in six months. We dig into the exact GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) tactics that made it happen: web consensus through listicle outreach, structured data, Reddit strategy, and why the AI search land grab looks a lot like early SEO, before the filters catch up. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Patrick Rice Co.: https://patrickriceco.com AI Visibility Audits: https://patrickriceco.com/ai BBC Future article: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260218-i-hacked-chatgpt-and-googles-ai-and-it-only-took-20-minutes Rand Fishkin / SparkToro study on AI brand consensus JSON-LD for SEO (Shopify app by Alana Davis) SEO Gets: https://seogets.com Screaming Frog: https://screamingfrog.co.uk Matrixify (Shopify app) Patrick Rice's first episode: https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/patrick-rice-advanced-seo-cA2PDVhP WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Amanda Engelman is the Director of Product at Shopify leading advertising and channel expansion. She built the Shopify Product Network, a free app that lets other Shopify merchants' products appear on your store. You earn commission on every sale, you keep the customer, and you get category expansion insights without carrying a single unit of inventory. One store earned over $3,000 in commissions in just two months. We dig into how SPN decides what products to show (and how they're solving the "taste" problem), the checkout engineering that makes multi-merchant transactions seamless, and why this might be the lowest-risk growth lever available to Shopify merchants right now. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Shopify Product Network App: Shopify App Store Shop Campaigns: Shop Campaigns Amanda Engelman on LinkedIn: Amanda Engelman WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"Even if it ends up being something that ends the universe, it at least will have been a fun ride. So let's do it." That's what Karl Meisterheim said when Kurt pitched him on building a Shopify app. Over a year later, Promo Party Pro is live, and the journey from "this should be easy" to "why is the cart API doing that" was anything but smooth. Kurt, Paul Reda, and Karl sit down to talk through the whole thing: why free gift with purchase is Kurt's favorite promo, the edge cases that nearly broke them, the popup cooldown debate that consumed days, and what it actually takes to ship a polished app on Shopify in 2025. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Promo Party Pro: https://promoparty.app/ Crowdfunder App: https://apps.shopify.com/crowdfunder Ethercycle: https://ethercycle.com WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"Nobody wants to get rich slowly." Nick Mertz started Pins and Aces with $6,000 and zero outside capital. Today, his golf lifestyle brand does $25 million a year, employs over 40 people, and ships every order from their own warehouse outside Denver. But with customer acquisition costs through the roof, Nick stopped fighting the ad auction and built an omnichannel machine instead. We break down how live selling on Whatnot and TikTok became a serious revenue channel ($400K in December alone on TikTok Shop), why licensing collabs with Coca-Cola and South Park actually boost brand legitimacy, and how wholesale is flipping from 10% to 40% of revenue. Plus: the grab bag strategy that went nuclear, and why Nick runs his family business like a sports team. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Pins and Aces: https://pinsandaces.com Nick Mertz on Instagram: https://instagram.com/nvmertz Pins and Aces on Instagram: https://instagram.com/pinsandaces Nick's first episode (June 2023): https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/[LINK-TO-ORIGINAL-EPISODE] Whatnot: https://whatnot.com TikTok Shop: https://shop.tiktok.com WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"I kinda told myself I need to take a step back from e-commerce. When I took a step back, e-commerce said no and put me back in."Amer Grozdanic burned out running paid media for brands. The results were good — but never good enough. So he walked away, rebuilt his agency around what he could actually control, and landed clients like MVMT Watches and Billie Eilish without spending a dollar on ads. Today, Praella works with brands up to $400M in revenue, and Amer's seen the same blind spots in almost every store.We dig into the Shopify features most merchants ignore (B2B, Markets, Flows, Collective), why BattlBox's Whatnot channel converts 10X better than TikTok Shop, and the one question you should ask any agency before signing a retainer.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSWatch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/J3QTUEVulFcPraella: praella.comAmer on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/amergrozdanicWhatnot: whatnot.comBattlBox: battlbox.comShoplift (A/B testing): shoplift.comIntelligems (A/B testing): intelligems.ioShopify Collective: shopify.com/collectiveShopify B2B: shopify.com/plus/b2bShopify Flow: shopify.com/flowWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

For most direct-to-consumer brands, the term "ERP" evokes dread. Six-month implementations. Six-figure costs. Software built for factories, not Shopify stores. Kyle Hency experienced that pain firsthand. He scaled Chubbies Shorts past $100 million in revenue, and along the way, his "sophisticated" spreadsheet system (built by a former banker) completely fell apart. The breaking point? When Nordstrom called wanting to stock Chubbies, and his team realized they had no infrastructure to even accept the order. That painful lesson led Hency to raise $13.5 million for GoodDay Software, an ERP designed from day one for Shopify merchants. In this episode, we demystify what an ERP actually is, identify the warning signs that a brand has outgrown spreadsheets, and explore why the traditional barriers to operational infrastructure are finally falling for smaller businesses. Hency makes the case that it doesn't have to be this hard anymore.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSGoodDay Software: https://gooddaysoftware.comKyle on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/kylehencyThe Normal Brand case study: https://bit.ly/4bzwcFMWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Here's something most merchants don't realize: you can run paid ads through an influencer's handle instead of your own. It's called whitelisting, and it converts about 15% better. Brad Hoos, CEO of Outloud Group and owner of Shopify store MuskOx Flannels, has been doing influencer marketing since YouTube was mostly cat videos. In this episode, he breaks down how whitelisting works step by step, why he thinks of creators as "decentralized media companies," and what most brands overthink when they're just getting started.SPONSORSSwym — Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific — Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify — Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTPromo Party — Kurt's new app for free gift with purchase promotionspromoparty.appLINKSOutloud Group: https://outloudgroup.comMuskOx Flannels: https://gomuskox.comWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"You can't control tariffs. You can't control the weather. But you can control what's happening within your business."Salena Knight has audited thousands of retail businesses since 2007 and found that 4 out of 5 seven-figure stores share the same blind spot—and it's not marketing. It's money. We talked about why inventory is secretly taxable cash sitting on your shelves, how one brand increased profit margins 30% by auditing their pick-and-pack costs, and why running a 30% off sale on luxury products got zero orders.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTPromo Party Pro - Boost sales with promotional campaignspromoparty.appLINKSBringing Business to Retail Podcast: https://salenaknight.com/podcastSalena Knight: https://salenaknight.comThe Retail Academy: https://theretailacademy.comWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"I would have invested 100% of all of the money that we raised into Meta. I would have done nothing else but secure that one channel first."After launching Troop, a functional mushroom gummy brand, Jake Mellman discovered that community events and sampling don't pay the bills. What does: Meta ads, a 76% contribution margin, and defaulting customers to quarterly subscriptions. Now he's applied those lessons to Psilly Goose, a functional beverage targeting the 46% of American adults who've stopped drinking. The challenge: THC restrictions, heavy shipping costs, and a farm bill that could shut him down by November.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSTroop Mushroom Gummies: https://trytroop.comPsilly Goose: https://drinkpsillygoose.comPrevious episode with Jake & Stephanie: https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/jake-mellman-stephanie-moyalBreeze (Aaron Nosbish episode): https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/aaron-nosbish-breezeWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"Shop has this amazing opportunity to convert shoppers into people that are being entertained by shoppable content."Bill Staley built the first Shop Mini to launch on Shopify's Shop app. Food Social brings 10,000+ shoppable recipes to 200 million potential users. We dig into why Shop is Shopify's most underrated channel, how personalization matches recipes to purchase history, and why intent-based shopping beats interruption marketing every time.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSFood Social: https://foodsocial.ioFood Social App (iOS & Android): Search "Food Social" in app storesEmail Bill: [email protected] WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Dana Roberts spent years watching fifth-grade girls panic through their first periods with ill-fitting products and no preparation. The period care aisle hadn't changed in decades. Same brands. Same sizing that was never designed for a 10-year-old's body. When she pitched the idea to her god-sister, Dr. Monica Williams, she got a polite brush-off. Years later, Monica's own daughter started showing signs of puberty, and suddenly the problem wasn't theoretical anymore.What followed was a brutal education in bootstrapping: churning through agencies, surviving iOS 14.5, and funding an entire company through pitch competitions because traditional VCs wouldn't write checks. Last year, a three-minute pitch won them $1 million from Pharrell Williams. Then Ulta told them to change their name if they wanted shelf space. They did it in 90 days.Now Scarlet by RedDrop is in almost 400 stores trying to fix something the industry ignored for generations. We talked about all of it, including the part where Monica says she wishes she'd never bootstrapped at all.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSScarlet by RedDrop: tryreddrop.comUlta product page: ulta.com/brand/scarlet-by-reddropBlack Ambition Prize: blackambitionprize.comKlaviyo: klaviyo.comSmart Marketer: smartmarketer.comWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"We were close to closing the company two or three times. Every winter was like, okay, that's it. Goodbye company."Chris Erthel built Meller sunglasses from a Spanish side project into a brand that sells a pair every 28 seconds. Along the way, he helped scale HelloBody from €30M to €107M as fractional CMO before its €330M exit to Henkel. We talked about why US brands fail in Europe, the cultural quirks that kill conversions in Germany, and why Italy requires cash on delivery or you're dead on arrival. He's run 3,500+ A/B tests and shares counterintuitive findings that challenge everything you think you know about landing pages and ad creative.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSMeller Brand: https://mellerbrand.com/Weavy AI: https://www.weavy.ai/Rory Flynn (AI Content): https://www.instagram.com/_roryflynn_/Chris Erthel LinkedIn: https://es.linkedin.com/in/chriserthelDiscount Code: CHRISERTHEL (highest discount ever at Meller)WORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Montana Knife Company pulled in $1.7 million over Black Friday weekend without discounting a single knife. Co-founder Brandon Horoho explains how: five targeted product drops, one for each customer persona. An email cadence so aggressive he was watching unsubscribe rates like a hawk. And a VIP program where the reward shows up unannounced in your mailbox. It's a story about knowing exactly who your customer is and giving them what they want before they ask. Also: why Brandon actually high-fives when his repeat customer rate goes down.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSMontana Knife Company: https://montanaknifecompany.comMKC on Instagram: https://instagram.com/montanaknifecompanyBrandon's first episode: https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/montana-knife-companyWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"It's really about helping merchants become more informed, helping them make more bold decisions."Aaron Glazer, Product Lead at Shopify, reveals two features from Winter '26 Edition that change how merchants test and optimize their stores. Rollouts brings native split testing directly into the admin. SimGym deploys AI agents trained on billions of purchases to find what's broken before real customers do.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSRollouts: Access via Markets tab in Shopify adminSimGym App: Search "SimGym" in Shopify App StoreWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Shopify just dropped their "Renaissance Edition" with 150+ product updates. We cut through the noise. Sidekick finally works—I use it daily now for reports, segments, and Flow automations. Native A/B testing arrives with Rollouts and SimGym. The new Product Network let one early adopter earn $1,400 in commission in 30 days. And Shop App? #1 in the App Store over BFCM. Here's what actually matters for store owners.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSShopify Editions Winter '26: https://www.shopify.com/editions/winter2026SimGym App: https://apps.shopify.com/simgymShopify Product Network App: https://apps.shopify.com/product-networkProduct Network Blog Post: https://www.shopify.com/blog/shopify-product-networkWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"Do you care enough about new customer acquisition? What you care about shows up based off of your actions, not your thoughts or your words."Meta's Andromeda update broke everyone's brain and most brands still haven't recovered. Nehal Kazim, CEO of Ad Pros, argues that the industry overcorrected by wildly overproducing content, burning through budgets on concepts that never receive meaningful spend. His math: you're paying $250-500 per asset for creatives that never get tested. Kazim has spent 13 years running campaigns for brands like Canada Goose and DTC companies doing $10-16 million a month. His solution is a profitability-first framework that tracks new customer contribution margin daily and calibrates creative output to what your budget can actually support. Also discussed: why Meta told him to stop hook testing, and the $25K Cardi B ad he hated that completely crushed.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSAd Pros: https://adpros.comNehal on Instagram: instagram.com/nehalkazimNehal on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nehalkazimWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Kate Assaraf tried every plastic-free shampoo bar on the market. They sat in her shower like, and I'm quoting here, "tombstones." Failed products. Dead ends. So she decided to make her own. Without Instagram ads. Without Amazon. Without any of the things you're supposed to need to build a business. Today on our program, we follow Kate's journey from beauty industry veteran to the woman who said no to everything, and built a million-dollar company anyway.In this episode, we explore how Kate sold 250,000 shampoo bars in 4 years while refusing Meta ads, Amazon listings, and influencer partnerships. When her contract manufacturer went under, she didn't find a new one—she built her own factory and hired the displaced workers. Now with 400+ retail partners and 7-figure revenue, Kate proves that sometimes the best growth strategy is saying no to growth hacks.GUEST BIOKate Assaraf is the founder of DIP Haircare, a plastic-free beauty brand that's redefined sustainable haircare without compromising performance. With 20 years in the beauty industry, Kate launched DIP from her kitchen table in October 2021 after discovering that existing eco-friendly alternatives failed to deliver. Her shampoo and conditioner bars compete directly with luxury salon brands while lasting up to a year. By refusing traditional DTC tactics and focusing on local retail partnerships, she's built a 7-figure business that champions American manufacturing and community-first commerce.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSDIP Haircare: https://dipalready.com/Find DIP in stores: https://dipalready.com/pages/stockistsKate on Instagram: @kateassarafWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

There's this thing that happens when you run an e-commerce store. You know you need to discount, but you're terrified. Terrified of training customers to wait for sales. Terrified of looking cheap. So you do nothing, or worse, you slap WELCOME10 on your popup and call it a day. Meanwhile, the big brands? They're discounting constantly. Just invisibly.Cara Marin from Seguno looked at 162,000 discount code sets. Real data from real stores. And what she found flips everything we thought we knew. The most successful stores discount more, not less. They just do it smarter. With unique codes. With segmentation. With strategies that preserve brand value while driving conversions.The revelation that changes everything: it's not about the discount. It's about the delivery. 20% off might be the magic number, but 10% is secretly almost as effective. Gift with purchase is used 6X more by Plus stores. And those customer service recovery codes? They're turning angry customers into superfans. This isn't theory. This is what actually works.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSSeguno 2025 Unique Discount Benchmarking ReportSeguno Bulk Discount Code BotPromo Party ProPostPilotShopify Discount DocsWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

So there's this guy, Bora Celik. Software engineer, thirty years in the game. Last year he tells his investors something crazy: SaaS is dead. Not dying. Dead. And here's the thing - he might be right. See, while everyone's playing with ChatGPT, asking it questions, Bora's building these things called AI agents. They don't just answer questions. They do the work. Like, actually reach out to influencers, negotiate deals, send products, follow up. No humans involved. One of his clients, Harney & Sons Tea, they've got agents running their entire influencer program. The agents find people, check their engagement rates, send emails, track who posts. Everything. And the wildest part? The CEOs of these $100 million companies are building their own agents now. Using tools anyone can access. Today, Bora shows us exactly how.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSN8N Agent Builder: https://n8n.io/ai-agents/Agentic Brand Newsletter: https://agenticbrand.ai/Agentic: https://a.gentic.co/WORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

So there's this moment in 2022 where Celia Hatch wakes up from a dream about chicken supplements called "Chicken Spice." She thinks it's ridiculous. Fast forward to today, and she's running a seven-figure business serving America's 13% of households with backyard chickens.The twist is it started as her teenage son's eighth-grade homework assignment. He made $500 selling herbs in craft bags, then quit. Ms. Hatch, a serial entrepreneur with 16 businesses behind her, picked it up and scaled Buff Clucks to seven figures in 18 months using Meta advertising, landing pages, and subscription bundling.This is a story about accidental entrepreneurship, the growing market of premium pet owners willing to double their feed costs, and why sometimes the best business ideas come to you in your sleep. Along the way, Celia reveals why their Shopify store is the "neglected child" of their operation, how a "sneeze warning" became genius marketing, and why she wishes she'd built a proper Shopify store from day one.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSBuff Clucks: https://www.buffclucks.com/Buff Clucks Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buff_clucks/Funnelish (tool they use): https://funnelish.com/SEMrush: https://www.semrush.com/Ubersuggest: https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/WORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Shopify just went from 100 variants per product to 2,048. Shopify Partners Kurt Elster and Paul Reda tested it and found out there's a secret limit at 250 where everything changes. Your theme might work perfectly, it might half-work, or it might completely break depending on when it was built.They also dig into the new VS Code-based theme editor (developers love it, merchants hate it), the "unlisted" product status that's perfect for hiding free gifts and private sales, and Kurt reveals the one homepage element that gets clicked more than anything else—you're probably not using it right.This is pure Shopify platform talk that's more entertaining than it should be.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSUnofficial Shopify Podcast Insiders Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/unofficialshopifyWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Kurt and Filip break down buy-two-get-two offers that crush percentage discounts, why five emails on Black Friday is actually conservative, and the three-week framework 8-figure brands use to win Q4. If you're planning to send a couple emails on Cyber Monday and call it done, this episode will make you rethink everything.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSFilip Pejic on X: https://x.com/BallinFilBedford Marketing: https://www.bedfordmarketing.co/The Paper Boy Newsletter: https://thepaperboy.beehiiv.com/WORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"These tools rely on automation that only catches 30% of issues. And for blind users with screen readers? The overlays often conflict with their assistive tech—making the site harder to use."Bet Hannon runs AccessiCart, an agency that fixes accessibility problems for e-commerce stores—usually right after they've been sued. We talked about why "quick fix" overlay plugins are making the problem worse, the four accessibility issues you can fix right now, and what the European Accessibility Act's €100K fines mean for US-based stores.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSAccessiCart: https://accessicart.comBet on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bethannonWAVE Accessibility Tool: https://wave.webaim.orgOverlay Fact Sheet: https://overlayfactsheet.comWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

I spent three days at Smart Marketer Live in Denver, capturing raw conversations with agency owners, brand founders, and Meta reps about what's actually working in 2025.This isn't your typical conference recap. We're talking about Meta's Andromeda update that killed everyone's ad performance over the summer, why TikTok Shop might be a trap, and how a chicken supplement business owner plans to poach employees like she's manifesting herbs.Featuring Beav Brodie (Tactical Baby Gear), Brett Curry (OMG Commerce), Attila from Smart Marketer, and Celia Hatch (Buff Clucks).SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSTactical Baby Gear: https://tacticalbabygear.comFight Soap: https://fightsoap.usBuff Clucks: https://buffclucks.comOMG Commerce: https://omgcommerce.comSmart Marketer: https://smartmarketer.comWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

So there's this baseball media company. They make shirts about guys with nicknames like "The Big Dumper." And they needed three different store experiences, but only wanted to use one store. What our co-host Paul Reda figured out next is either brilliant or insane. Maybe both.Today on the show, we're asking: when does a hack become a feature? When does one store become three? And why would anyone voluntarily remove every frontend app from their Shopify store? Plus, ChatGPT can now sell your products directly. No, really. We'll explain how that works and why Kurt thinks automated fraud prevention might actually matter this time.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSJomboy Media Shop: https://shop.jomboymedia.com/ChatGPT Shopping Signup: https://shopify.com/chatgptCustomer Category Segmentation: https://changelog.shopify.com/posts/segment-customers-based-on-the-product-categories-they-ve-browsed-or-boughtAutomated Fraud Prevention: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/fraud-prevention/indexUnofficial Shopify Podcast Insiders (Facebook Group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/UnofficialShopifyPodcast/WORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"ChatGPT is not that sophisticated yet. So for marketers, what that means is there are real ways right now for arbitrage in this short period of time before ChatGPT gets good enough to say, no, we're only showing the proper result."Mac King from Domaine breaks down why merchants are seeing ChatGPT and Perplexity show up as referral sources in their analytics—and what to do about it. We talked about the terminology wars (GEO vs AEO vs AI search optimization), why AI engines favor content from Google's 10th page, and the Reddit strategies that actually work without getting banned.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSDomaine AI Commerce Suite: https://www.meetdomaine.com/insights/domaine-news/domaine-launches-ai-commerce-suiteMac King on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenziepking/Mac King on Twitter: https://x.com/MacKing/Profound (tracking tool): https://www.tryprofound.com/Shopify Knowledge Base app: https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-knowledge-baseSEOFOMO newsletter: https://seofomo.co/Commerce GPT newsletter: https://www.yotpo.com/commerce-gpt/WORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Jamil Bhuya has scaled businesses across three wildly different industries: restaurants, beauty, and now Shopify agencies. That multi-industry perspective gives him a unique superpower—he can spot the conversion killers that store owners become blind to. We talked about why fresh eyes matter more than fancy tools, the psychology behind purchase objections, and how being too close to your business destroys your ability to see what customers actually need.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSOther Half Studio: https://otherhalf.studioJamil on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jamil-bhuyaWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

We're seeing 10x more bots than humans on client stores. Fraudsters are buying your cheapest items to test stolen credit cards. Your SEO agency wants 150 new collections.This week, we dig into the actual problems hitting Shopify stores right now. Not theory, not best practices, but the real BS we're fixing for clients. We break down why your analytics are lying, how to stop credit card testers, and whether more granular SEO collections are brilliant or idiotic.Plus: The free Shopify app that caught a critical launch mistake, proof that ChatGPT drives revenue, and beta access to our new Promo Party app.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSShopify Launch CheckMicrosoft ClarityFraud ControlCheckout BlocksBeta test Promo Party: Contact Kurt via newsletter or LinkedInWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"I'm not very good at success. That's something I learned as part of this."Ben Knegendorf went from forklift operator at Walmart to selling his stake in an indoor golf business for $720,000. Then he watched most of it disappear through lifestyle creep, speculative investments, and financial ignorance. His second exit was different - and his brutal honesty about where the money went offers real lessons for entrepreneurs facing their first big payday.SponsorsSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.com/unofficialZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLinksBen Knegendorf: https://www.benknegendorf.com/Dropship Breakthrough: https://dropshipbreakthru.com/Ben's 2022 Episode: https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/ben-knegendorf-dropships-FLGufeLEJohn Murphy's Episode: https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/john-murphy-ebikegeneration-IcHgGRVaWork with KurtApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Also available on YouTube: youtu.be/gGdS45JY2YoAndrew Le and Tu Pham acquired Edit Order, a distressed Shopify app with a terrible reputation, for just 2x revenue in 2015. Ten years later, they've transformed it into Cleverific—a multi-million dollar order editing powerhouse.Guests:Andrew Le - Co-founder & Lead Developer, CleverificTu Pham - Co-founder, Marketing & Design, CleverificWebsite: https://cleverific.com/SponsorsSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.comZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTWork with KurtApply for Shopify Help - ethercycle.com/applySee Our Results - ethercycle.com/workFree Newsletter - kurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Also on YouTube: youtu.be/56r_UJZbtLg"We want to make sure that merchants who are starting their business who don't know what are all the jobs they need to take care of for shipping to merchants who are thriving and understand the space and have complex workflows, we can solve this problem for everybody."Vibhor Chhabra, Director of Product at Shopify, breaks down how Shopify Shipping has evolved into something completely different from what you might remember. We covered the new carrier integrations (including FedEx), bulk label printing for up to 250 orders, automatic shipping insurance up to $200, and why Amazon is now a fulfillment partner through SFN. Plus how shipping transforms from a cost center into a competitive advantage.SPONSORSSwym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & moregetswym.com/kurtCleverific - Smart order editing for Shopifycleverific.com/unofficialZipify - Build high-converting sales funnelszipify.com/KURTLINKSEmail: [email protected] (feedback welcome)Shopify Shipping: https://www.shopify.com/shippingWORK WITH KURTApply for Shopify Helpethercycle.com/applySee Our Resultsethercycle.com/workFree Newsletterkurtelster.comThe Unofficial Shopify Podcast explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.