Podcast
Commerce Untold
Hosted by Eitan Koter · EN
Commerce Untold goes beyond the headlines to uncover the real stories shaping eCommerce and retail today.
Hosted by Eitan Koter, founder and CEO of Expanio, the show focuses on one of the hardest problems in commerce: how brands and retail-tech companies break into and scale in the U.S. market. Each episode gets into what that actually takes, from channel strategy and marketplaces to retail media, brand building, social commerce, live shopping, customer experience, and the technologies changing how people buy.
You'll hear from founders, CMOs, retail and eCommerce leaders, and operators who have done it, sharing what really drives U.S. growth behind the scenes. The wins, the missteps, the expensive lessons, and the insights you won't hear anywhere else.
If you care about how products get built, marketed, sold, and scaled in the U.S. and beyond, this one's for you.
36episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
215. Why Knee Braces Haven't Changed in 70 Years ft. Adoram Leshem
5d ago00:34:08Tap to summarizeAdoram Leshem is the Chief Executive Officer of Nübrace, an orthopedic aids company he founded after years of knee pain from martial arts, hiking, and dirt biking left him searching for a brace that actually worked. When nothing on the market gave him real support, he spent seven years engineering his own solution.The core problem Adoram uncovered is that traditional knee braces are passive. They stabilize and limit movement, but they do nothing to actively support the leg during everyday actions like standing up, sitting down, or climbing stairs.In this conversation, Adoram breaks down the mechanics behind Nübrace's Power Boost Active System, a spring-based design that absorbs body weight on the way down and releases power on the way up. He also explains why the company is targeting the aging knees demographic first, how mobility loss triggers a broader physical and mental decline, and what changed between the first and second generation of the product.Listeners walk away understanding why an entire industry stayed stagnant for decades, and what it actually takes to turn a passive medical device into an active one.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Adoram Leshem, Chief Executive Officer, NübraceAdoram Leshem's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adoram-leshem-a1a83b/Nübrace: https://nubraces.com/Key Takeaways: • Most knee braces only restrict movement. Nübrace's dual spring system actively absorbs body weight on descent and pushes back on ascent. • Reduced mobility creates a downward spiral: less movement means less blood flow, slower healing, and greater dependence. • The orthopedic aids industry hasn't meaningfully innovated in 60 to 70 years, dominated by a handful of traditional European brands. • Nübrace is HSA/FSA eligible and holds a CE Class 1 medical device mark in Europe, with FDA registration in progress. • The brace doubles as a wearable training device, letting users attach resistance bands to strengthen the quad and hamstring at home. • Nübrace's second generation focused on comfort fixes, lighter materials, adjustable strap length, and a flatter spring housing, based directly on first generation customer feedback.Chapters:[00:26] Introduction and welcome[01:05] Adoram's personal story: sports, injuries, and aging knees[02:01] The injury that led to founding Nübrace[03:24] Why launch another knee brace in a saturated market[04:37] The breakthrough: the Power Boost Active System explained[08:28] Who Nübrace is built for: the aging knees demographic[10:03] Mobility, pain, and avoiding unnecessary surgery[13:34] Certification, testing, and HSA/FSA eligibility[17:43] Product demo: fit, sizing, and what's in the box[21:08] Second generation upgrades, US launch strategy, and what's next[30:10] Closing vision: turning passive braces into active devices
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214. AI Won't Fix a Broken Funnel ft. Jeremy Goldman
2w ago00:31:57Tap to summarizeJeremy Goldman is VP Editorial & Insights at RETHINK Retail, a community platform supporting retailers, brand leaders, logistics practitioners, and AI specialists. Before joining RETHINK Retail, he founded and sold the Firebrand Group, spent years as an analyst at eMarketer, and has been building e-commerce properties since 2000. He also runs a podcast called Future Proof.This episode examines the gap between AI hype and business reality. Jeremy argues that agentic commerce attracts far more attention than the near-term use cases justify, and that the brands quietly gaining ground are the ones who never stopped running the fundamentals.The conversation covers where AI is delivering real results today, including enhanced product discovery for high-consideration SKUs, and what is actually shifting in search as LLMs reshape how buyers find products. Jeremy and Eitan work through why Google is more relevant than the current discourse suggests, what the rise of TikTok Shop signals about the pace of social commerce adoption, and why community building has become one of the most underrated growth levers available to brands right now.Listeners will leave with a clearer read on where the real ROI in AI sits in 2026, a sharper sense of which fundamentals are worth doubling down on, and a framework for knowing whether their company is commerce-optimized, marketing-optimized, or falling short on both.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Jeremy Goldman, VP Editorial & Insights, RETHINK RetailJeremy Goldman's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremygoldmanRETHINK Retail: https://rethink.industries/Key Takeaways:• Agentic commerce is real technology, but the claim that AI will handle all buying decisions within two years is not where the near-term reality lands• AI-driven product discovery is already delivering measurable results for large-catalog, high-consideration SKUs, and that is where brands should focus first• Most companies are either commerce-optimized or marketing-optimized, rarely both, and knowing which one you are determines where the gaps are• Community is the growth lever most brands are underinvesting in: a brand with a genuine community is structurally harder to displace than one relying solely on paid acquisition• When hype cycles hit, the companies that lean back into fundamentals, email, checkout friction, fulfillment speed, and conversion rate, take share from everyone else while they are distractedChapters:[00:12] Introduction and Inside RETHINK Retail[01:37] From E-Commerce Builder to Editorial Leader: Jeremy's Career Thread[05:44] Agentic Commerce: Real Technology, Outsized Claims[07:34] Where AI Is Delivering Real Results in Retail Today[10:28] Google Is Not Out: AI Search and the LLM Landscape[15:27] Commerce vs. Marketing: Knowing What Kind of Company You Are[18:49] Community Building as the Next Growth Unlock for Brands[21:26] TikTok Shop and Why Social Commerce Is Catching On[23:41] Why the Fundamentals Win When Everyone Else Chases Hype[28:36] Omnichannel Strategy: When and How to Add a New Channel[30:33] What Jeremy Is Focused on in the Second Half of 2026
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213. Your Customer Data Is Lying To You ft. Deneke O'Reilly
3w ago00:33:01Tap to summarizeDeneke O'Reilly is the founder and principal of Reliq Strategy, bringing 20 years of customer data experience to retailers trying to build durable growth. He spent his career converting customer insights into incremental revenue, starting in email marketing and later managing large scale marketing operations across first, second, and third party data sources.The core problem this episode tackles is simple to ask and brutally hard to answer: do you actually know who your customers are. Most retailers think they do until they ask their own marketing team and get silence back.Deneke breaks down his framework of identification, activation, and attribution, three connected pillars that determine whether a business can scale profitably or stays stuck guessing which channels actually drive revenue. He explains why messy or duplicated customer data quietly destroys engagement, why omnichannel journeys make attribution harder than ever, and why capturing customer identity at the point of sale, online and offline, is the unlock most retailers are missing.Listeners walk away with a clear mental model for diagnosing their own data maturity, practical KPIs to track progress, and a reminder that no AI tool fixes a broken identification problem. It starts and ends with knowing who your customer really is.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Deneke O'Reilly, Founder & Principal, Reliq StrategyDeneke O'Reilly's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/denekeoreilly/Reliq Strategy: https://www.reliqstrategy.comKey Takeaways:• Most retailers cannot answer who their most profitable customers are or where they came from, and that gap is the clearest sign of a data problem.• Identification, activation, and attribution are not separate projects, they are one connected system, and all three trace back to knowing who the customer actually is.• Capturing customer identity at the point of sale is the weak link in most online-to-offline journeys, and capture rates of 10 to 30 percent are nowhere near good enough.• Customer data platforms are not interchangeable, some excel at identity resolution while others are stronger at activation, so the right setup often requires a two-partner approach.• AI can write content and personalize at scale, but it cannot fix bad identification, and the human edge still matters for understanding what a customer truly wants.• Real-time product data discipline, like syncing price changes the moment they happen, is what separates clean campaigns from ones that trigger customer complaints.Chapters:[00:12] Introduction and meet Deneke O'Reilly[00:52] What Reliq Strategy does and who it serves[01:43] Why attribution is harder than ever in complex customer journeys[02:53] Identification, activation, attribution: the three connected pillars[05:57] Why "do we know this" stops marketing teams cold[09:08] The rise and limits of customer data platforms[12:09] Durable growth vs. incremental growth, and building journeys around your best customers[17:04] Capturing identity at the point of sale for online-to-offline attribution[20:50] Why Deneke launched Reliq Strategy, and the KPIs that prove it's working[27:36] Crafting relevant content and the limits of AI in personalization
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212. The Retention Playbook Most DTC Brands Ignore ft. Vira Sadlak
4w ago00:33:56Tap to summarizeVira Sadlak is a Retention Marketing Strategist at Flowium, a retention-focused agency and Klaviyo Platinum Partner specializing in email, SMS, and lifecycle marketing for e-commerce brands. She works with DTC brands across categories to build the automated systems that turn one-time buyers into long-term customers.Most brands pour their budget into acquisition and go quiet the moment a customer converts. That silence is expensive. This episode gets into exactly what brands are leaving on the table and how to fix it.Eitan and Vira cover the nine foundational flows every brand should have in place, why segmented lists often outperform full sends revenue-wise, and how to build customer journeys that branch based on behavior rather than treating every buyer the same. They also get into the mechanics of growing and identifying your subscriber list, including identity resolution tools and zero-party data collection through quizzes.The conversation goes deep on KPIs that actually matter (open rates are no longer one of them), when and how to layer in SMS, the deliverability mistakes that land you in spam, and where AI fits into retention strategy today. Listeners will walk away with a clear framework for building retention programs that generate consistent revenue without relying on one-off campaigns.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Vira Sadlak, Retention Marketing Strategist, FlowiumVira Sadlak's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/virasadlak/Flowium: https://flowium.comKey Takeaways:• A significant share of second purchases happen within 24 to 48 hours of the first order, before the package even arrives. Not messaging customers in that window is one of the most common and costly retention mistakes.• Open rates are no longer a reliable performance signal. Click rates and conversion by segment tell you far more about whether your emails are actually working.• Sending the same message to your entire list hurts deliverability. Segmented sends consistently produce equal or better revenue while protecting your sender reputation.• Plain text emails outperform designed HTML templates on engagement and inbox placement because email providers do not flag them as promotional material.• Klaviyo and similar platforms function as data collection and analytics tools, not just communication channels. The segment-level insights they produce can inform your broader marketing strategy across every channel.• Identity resolution tools can identify anonymous website visitors and add them to your flows, but they require healthy deliverability and meaningful traffic volume (50,000 or more monthly visits) to be effective.Chapters:[01:20] About Vira Sadlak and Flowium[02:40] The Nine Foundational Retention Flows[07:27] Segmentation and Branching: Why 50 Journeys Is Not Too Many[10:04] What Retention Actually Means[11:05] Growing Your Subscriber List and Identity Resolution[14:11] How to Nurture Leads Who Have Not Purchased Yet[16:05] Why Email and SMS Still Drive 25-30% of Shopify Revenue[17:53] The KPIs That Actually Matter (Open Rates Are Not One of Them)[21:11] Email Cadence, Educational vs. Sales Content, and Preference Pages[24:25] When to Add SMS and How Often to Send[25:34] WhatsApp, Telegram, and RCS: Emerging Channels[27:36] Deliverability: How to Stay Out of Spam[29:26] How Flowium Serves Clients and Where AI Fits In
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211. Stop Optimizing for Revenue. Optimize for Profit ft. Cem Atik
Jun 1100:29:53Tap to summarizeCem Atik is the co-founder and CMO of Harucon Ventures, a firm that acquires minority and majority equity stakes in e-commerce and SaaS businesses doing between one and ten million in annual revenue. Rather than operating as an agency or consultancy, Cem and his team get in with capital, take operational control of marketing and finance, and work to make the businesses they partner with structurally profitable.Most e-commerce brands that come to Harucon Ventures have the same underlying problem: they are optimizing for the wrong things. Revenue looks healthy. ROAS looks acceptable. But unit economics are broken, overhead is bloated, and the margin structure makes scaling impossible.In this conversation, Cem walks through exactly how his team diagnoses and fixes that. From cutting ad spend by 1.7 million euros in a single month to replacing a fulfillment provider that was silently overcharging a brand shipping 25,000 packages a day, the fixes are rarely glamorous but consistently high-impact. The conversation also covers his four-engine growth framework: acquisition, retention, conversion, and profit-first optimization, and why founders who lead with ROAS are measuring the wrong thing entirely.Cem also breaks down channel mix strategy, including why Pinterest and Bing Ads are consistently underused, why TikTok affiliate is one of the highest-leverage growth levers available right now, and why the real money in e-commerce is almost always made in retention, not acquisition.Founders who are scaling but not compounding, or growing revenue while watching margins compress, will find this episode unusually direct and useful.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Cem Atik, Co-Founder & CMO, Harucon VenturesCem Atik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cem-atikHarucon-Ventures: https://harucon-ventures.com/Key Takeaways:• If a founder cannot state their customer acquisition cost in under 15 seconds, the business does not have a real financial foundation yet.• ROAS tells you how much revenue you generated per dollar spent. It tells you nothing about whether that dollar was profitable. Optimizing for profit on ad spend (POAS) gives you actual control.• Gross margin under 65% makes scaling structurally difficult in the US and UK markets. The margin problem cannot be fixed with better ads.• Agencies are typically three times cheaper than hiring in-house at early stages. Outsource acquisition first, learn from the partner, then bring it in-house once systems are proven.• TikTok affiliate is one of the most capital-efficient acquisition channels available: commission-based, creator-generated content, and scalable without a large internal team.• Pinterest is consistently overlooked despite an audience skewing 25 to 45 years old with average household incomes above $100K, and ROAS between four and six even at modest spend levels.Chapters:[00:00] Introduction: Cem Atik and the Harucon Ventures Model[01:27] The Founders Harucon Typically Partners With[03:45] The Post-Acquisition Audit: First 72 Hours[07:45] Cutting 1.7M Euros in Ad Spend: A Case Study[09:16] Why Gross Margin Under 65% Makes Scaling Nearly Impossible[13:51] The KPIs That Actually Matter: CAC, CLV, MER, EBITDA[18:35] The Four Engines: Acquisition, Retention, Conversion, Profit[24:00] Why ROAS Misleads and POAS Gives Real Control[25:41] Channel Mix: TikTok, Pinterest, Bing, and What Gets Overlooked
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210. Building Seven Figures Without Running a Single Ad ft. Kate Assaraf
Jun 500:31:16Tap to summarizeKate Assaraf is the CEO and founder of dip sustainable, a plastic-free haircare brand she launched in 2021 that hit seven figures within 18 months without running a single paid ad. Before starting dip, she spent 20 years inside the beauty industry, long enough to see the deceptive marketing practices that eventually pushed her to build something completely different.Most DTC beauty brands launch with paid social, influencer seeding, and a race to acquire customers fast. Kate did the opposite. She cold-called refill stores, traveled across the country to meet sustainable retailers face to face, and built distribution through brick-and-mortar before she ever thought about digital advertising. Today, dip is carried in all 50 states and has sold over 300,000 bars by word of mouth alone.The conversation covers why Kate chose physical retail over digital-first, how she thinks about authentic customer marketing in a category overrun by sponsored content and AI-generated testimonials, and why she built her own factory after her contract manufacturer went bankrupt. That last decision, vertically integrating manufacturing and fulfillment under one roof, turned out to be the most consequential call she made as a founder.Kate also takes on the sustainability conversation directly, pushing back on the moralizing that she believes drives people away from the movement rather than toward it. Her version of sustainability is inclusive, economics-driven, and grounded in saving customers money, not lecturing them. She explains why the dip conditioner bar, at $32 and lasting close to a year, is a stronger pitch than the environmental argument alone.Founders in CPG, beauty, and retail will come away with a rare perspective: what it actually looks like to build a consumer brand slowly, deliberately, and without the typical playbook.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Kate Assaraf, CEO & Founder, dip sustainableKate Assaraf's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-assaraf-b25a741a7dip sustainable: https://dipalready.comWatch the full Youtube video here:https://youtu.be/c9hCsejvcX8Key Takeaways:• Seven figures in 18 months, zero paid ads. If the product solves a real problem and you understand the customer from the inside, distribution follows• Real paying customers outperform influencers in haircare and skincare because results are too easy to fake• Moralizing drives people away from sustainability. Framing it as inclusive and economically smart converts more people than shame ever will• The $32 conditioner bar saves customers up to $500 a year. The environmental pitch is secondary to the financial one• Gifting product builds a hollow first wave. Real retention only comes from people who spent their own money• When her contract manufacturer went bankrupt, Kate built her own factory. It removed 3PL costs, protected the formula, and became the best decision she ever made• Returns largely end up in landfills. Local retail reduces return rates and creates accountability that e-commerce cannot replicateChapters:00:00 Seven figures, zero ads00:16 Introducing Kate Assaraf00:54 Values beyond work03:09 Why Kate left the beauty industry04:22 Dip's marketing: real customers only07:59 Fast beauty, sustainability, and unlearning consumerism14:24 Seven figures without a single ad15:36 How Dip launched: refill stores and road trips21:51 Giving back and reinvesting profits25:41 When the contract manufacturer went bankrupt27:51 Advice for founders29:54 Where to find Dip
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209. The M&A Window You Can’t Afford to Miss ft. Ilya Mikin
May 2700:32:01Tap to summarizeIlya Mikin is Vice President of Technology M&A at Corum Group, one of the leading technology M&A advisory firms globally. His background spans more than two decades across enterprise marketing at Intel and Unilever, executive and CEO roles at companies including iHerb, multiple founder exits across AdTech, MarTech, and FinTech, and now advising founders through acquisitions. He has been on every side of the M&A table, which makes his perspective unusually grounded.This episode gets into what has fundamentally changed about how technology and e-commerce companies are built, valued, and sold. The old playbook of raising VC money, growing at all costs, and gunning for IPO has largely collapsed. What replaced it is a market where M&A has become the primary liquidity event for founders, and where the rules for what makes a company attractive have shifted significantly.Eitan and Ilya dig into what acquirers actually look at today: why NRR, GRR, and low churn have become the cornerstones of valuation, why private equity now represents up to 40-50% of buyers in some sectors, and what it means to be an AI-native company versus an AI-enabled one. They also cover the mechanics of the M&A process itself — the four to eight week preparation phase, how Corum builds competitive tension among buyers, why the narrative around a business often matters more than the financials, and the internal deal killers that founders rarely talk about openly.Ilya also shares his take on where shoppable video sits in a world increasingly shaped by agentic AI, why he believes emotional product categories are protected from agent-driven purchasing, and what he is personally watching in the space. Founders who are building toward an exit, or who have never seriously thought about timing one, will find this conversation both practical and clarifying.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netCommerce Untold: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Ilya Mikin, Vice President Technology M&A, Corum Group, Ltd.Ilya Mikin's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilyamikin/Corum Group, Ltd.: https://www.corumgroup.com/Watch the full Youtube video here:https://youtu.be/2lFD9JXIjIgKey Takeaways:VC investment in D2C e-commerce collapsed more than 90% from its 2021 peak, while M&A deals in that same sector grew 47% in 2025 — the exit path has fundamentally shiftedIPO is no longer the default liquidity event for most founders; M&A is now the primary outcome to plan aroundAcquirers today prioritize NRR, GRR, and low churn over raw growth rate — the stickiness and profitability of your customer base drives valuation more than top-line momentumPrivate equity now represents up to 40-50% of buyers in some sectors, and PE buyers lead with EBITDA, not vision — a minimum of $2-3M ARR and $500K EBITDA is roughly where serious interest startsBeing an AI-native company can increase your valuation by 20-30% or more; for true AI-native businesses, multiples can reach up to 20x EVFor AI companies, proprietary data sets matter more than the technology itself — the model is the moatMarket consolidation follows a cycle: the first quartile of a consolidation window has the most buyers, the most competition, and the highest multiples. Waiting too long means the music stopsThe narrative you build around your company matters more than your financials in the early stages of a buyer conversation — buyers need to feel fear of missing outRunning a competitive process with multiple interested buyers is the single most powerful lever a founder has in an M&A negotiation — inbound interest from one buyer puts the founder in a weak positionDeal fatigue and co-founder misalignment are the two most common internal reasons M&A deals collapse before closingAgentic AI will likely commoditize purchasing for basic, emotionally neutral products — but shoppable video remains essential for fashion, luxury, and any category where emotional decision-making drives the purchaseMore than 20% of WallID's customers now come through AI search channels like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, with zero marketing spend — a real signal of how discovery is changingChapters:[00:00] Introduction and Guest Background[00:57] Ilya's Path from Intel and Unilever to E-Commerce and M&A[02:07] How the Approach to Building and Exiting Startups Has Changed[03:29] Why VC Investment Collapsed and M&A Deals Are Rising[04:40] What Acquirers Actually Look at Today: NRR, GRR, and Profitability[05:58] The Rise of Private Equity as a Buyer and What PE Wants[07:20] How AI-Native Companies Command a Valuation Premium[08:47] Where E-Commerce Multiples Stand Today[10:32] The Sell-Side Process: Preparation, Positioning, and Narrative[12:06] The Consolidation Window and Why Timing Your Exit Matters[13:38] How Corum Prepares Founders for Market[14:17] Technology Evaluation: AI vs. Non-AI Companies[17:00] Building the Story, Outreach, and Creating Competitive Tension[20:02] How Long a Typical M&A Process Takes[21:44] Deal Fatigue and Co-Founder Misalignment as Internal Deal Killers[23:28] Shoppable Video and Agentic Commerce: Where Emotion Still Wins[26:09] WallID: Solving Checkout Friction and Fraud at Scale[28:13] Managing Multiple Ventures and the Side-Hustle Mindset[29:44] What Ilya Is Watching in E-Commerce Right Now: Know Your Agent[31:04] How to Connect with Ilya and Corum Group
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208. Why Most Brands Fail at Cross-Border E-Commerce ft. Carol Shih
May 2000:33:12Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Commerce Untold, host Eitan Koter sits down with Carol Shih, founder of Qode Space, a boutique Shopify agency, and Doraemi, a cross-border consultancy helping international brands enter and grow in the US market.Carol has a background that spans LVMH, Alibaba, and years of working with fashion and beauty brands across multiple continents. She brings a direct, no-nonsense perspective to what it actually takes to succeed in cross-border e-commerce.They get into why so many international brands, including some doing billions in Asia, struggle the moment they try to enter the US. Carol explains that the product is rarely the problem. It usually comes down to self-awareness: knowing your weaknesses before you start spending.The conversation covers what a proper Shopify audit looks like, why pouring money into traffic before your store is ready is one of the most common and expensive mistakes brands make, and how to think about brand positioning before touching paid ads or picking a sales channel.They also talk about the shift toward AI search and what brands need to do now to stay discoverable, why TikTok Shop has changed the beauty category faster than most brands expected, and how Gen Alpha is about to reshape shopping behavior in ways most businesses are not prepared for.Carol also shares how she leads her two businesses, why transparency and community sit at the core of her team culture, and why her ideal clients are usually brands that have already made the expensive mistakes.If you are thinking about cross-border e-commerce, expanding into the US market, or trying to get more out of your Shopify store, this episode is worth your full attention.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Carol Shih, Founder, Qode Space and DoraemiCarol Shih's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shihcarol/Qode Space: https://qodespace.com/Watch the full Youtube video here:https://youtu.be/ptO--lEfDegTakeaways:Self-awareness is the most overlooked step in cross-border e-commerce expansionDominating your home market does not mean you will succeed in the USA slow, buggy website with spelling errors destroys trust before a sale can happenAmazon drives volume but builds no brand loyalty or long-term competitive edgeShopify store performance must be audited before investing in paid trafficAI search (GEO) is the next layer brands need to prepare for alongside SEOTikTok Shop has already surpassed Sephora in beauty salesGen Alpha will reshape shopping behavior within the next four yearsGreat teams are built on transparency, community and psychological safetyThe best clients to work with are the ones who already understand where they failedChapters:[00:00] Introduction: Meet Carol Shih[01:05] From Taiwan to Australia to the US: The Third-Culture Founder[02:30] Biggest Mistakes Brands Make When Going Global[04:31] The Self-Awareness Problem: You Can't Fix What You Won't See[05:58] What Cross-Border Consulting Actually Looks Like in Practice[07:57] Founder-Led Content and Building Long-Term Authority[09:38] Lessons from Alibaba: Speed, Competition and Work Culture[12:26] The Shopify Audit Process: How to Build a High-Converting Store[14:36] AI in E-Commerce: What Is Real Right Now[16:40] AI Search, GEO and the Click-Less Future[18:04] Go-to-Market for International Brands: Amazon vs TikTok vs DTC[22:10] Beauty, Fashion and Lifestyle: Why Carol Keeps Landing Here[23:46] K-Beauty, Gen Z and the TikTokification of Shopping[25:18] Gen Alpha Will Change Everything: Here Is What to Watch[27:10] Leadership, Team Building and Running Two Companies[30:46] Leading With Transparency as a Founder and a Parent[32:01] Carol's Ideal Client: Brands That Have Already Failed[34:05] Where to Find Carol Shih
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207. The 80/20 Rule That Saves Your Business ft. Tarkan Salar
May 1300:28:30Tap to summarizeEitan Koter sits down with Tarkan Salar, founder of Smart Concepts and the consultancy Can't Stop Me, who has spent 30 years working with brands like Louis Vuitton, Zara and Adidas and has shaped over 50 million units from factory floor to checkout. Tarkan's take is pretty straightforward. Most D2C brands are bleeding money in the wrong places and blaming marketing for it. He breaks down why marketing is no longer the edge it used to be and what founders should be focusing on instead: product positioning, operational clarity and finding their blue ocean.They get into the 80/20 bestseller engine, how to spot your hero products, why too many SKUs is quietly killing your margins, and how to pick the right suppliers before you even think about placing an order. Tarkan also shares how he builds a custom brand filter for each founder that helps every business decision become a lot cleaner and faster.Website: https://www.vimmi.net Email us: info@vimmi.net Podcast website: https://vimmi.net/mastering-ecommerce-marketing/ Talk to us on Social:Eitan Koter’s LinkedIn | Vimmi LinkedIn | YouTube Guest: Tarkan Salar, Founder, Smart concepts GmbHTarkan Salar’s LinkedInTakeaways:Blue Ocean vs Red Ocean marketsProfitability and operational efficiencyProduct testing and hero productsStrategic filtering and brand positioningImpact of AI on marketing and logisticsChapters:00:00 Introduction to Tarkan Salar and Smart Concepts01:38 The Shift from Marketing to Operational Clarity06:02 Understanding Blue Ocean vs. Red Ocean Strategies09:14 The 80/20 Bestseller Engine Explained14:21 Transitioning from Red Ocean to Blue Ocean19:41 Product Innovation and Brand Voice24:08 Overview of Smart Concepts and Consulting Process
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206. Why Your 3PL Is Killing Your Business ft. Leo Rodriguez
May 600:31:38Tap to summarizeHost, Eitan Koter is joined by Leo Rodriguez, Vice President at River Plate Inc., a fulfillment company with over 33 years of experience helping brands ship smarter. River Plate works with everyone from beauty and toy brands to influencer-led lifestyle companies, so Leo has seen pretty much everything.In this episode, Leo talks about why your 3PL should feel like a partner, not just a vendor, how to spot when something is going wrong before it becomes a bigger problem, and what fast growing brands usually get wrong when they start scaling. He also gets into how bundling, returns, and data dashboards all connect back to keeping customers coming back.If your fulfillment partner feels more like a vendor than a partner, this episode will tell you exactly why that's costing you.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/mastering-ecommerce-marketing/Talk to us on Social:Eitan Koter’s LinkedIn | Vimmi LinkedIn | YouTubeGuest: Leo Rodriguez, Vice President, River Plate, Inc.Leo Rodriguez’s LinkedIn | River Plate, Inc.Watch the full Youtube video here:https://youtu.be/U3NQCo3KvakTakeaways:Price is the worst reason to pick a 3PLGet your 3PL involved before you're ready to shipMulti-carrier shipping saves real money at scaleYour fulfillment data is a goldmine, start using itSlow returns processing loses you customersTrack speed, accuracy and chargebacks, everything else is noiseProactive beats reactive every single timeChapters:00:00 Introduction to River Plate and Logistics02:00 Choosing the Right 3PL: Common Mistakes06:25 Optimizing Shipping Costs and Customer Experience12:03 Creating High-Performing Fulfillment Operations14:37 Scaling Operations for Fast-Growing Brands17:41 The Role of 3PLs in Customer Retention20:09 Key Performance Indicators for Logistics22:12 Identifying Red Flags in 3PL Performance25:30 Future Trends in Logistics and E-commerce27:32 Target Customers for River Plate30:46 How to Connect with River Plate
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