TBPN Podcast: Black Friday Gigastream with Shopify

Hosts: John Coogan & Jordi Hays
Date: November 28, 2025
Special Guest Host: Harley Finkelstein (Shopify President)
Guests: Noel Mack (Gymshark), Sara Foster (Favorite Daughter), Sean Frank (Ridge), Kat Cole (AG1), Peter Rahal (David Protein), Farhan Thawar (Shopify Engineering), Torin Herndon (Mod Retro), Kevin Harwood (Tocovas), Nish Samantray (Array), Bené Eaton (Figs), Brian Keller (Rora)

Episode Overview

This lively, info-packed Black Friday special brought together DTC founders, commerce leaders, and the Shopify team for a live-streamed “Commerce Corral” event. The show tracked live Shopify sales, spotlighted trends in tech-driven retail, and offered insiders’ takes on how real brands win during the year’s busiest shopping moment.

Shopify President Harley Finkelstein joined throughout with real-time platform stats, commerce commentary, and a parade of founders innovating in apparel, supplements, health, CPG, and tech hardware. The tone combined sharp industry analysis, playful banter, and tactical “master classes” on everything from agentic commerce and AI to modern multi-channel retail.

Key Themes and Discussion Points

1. The State of Commerce: Black Friday 2025 (00:00–11:40)

• Commerce is now digital-first: “Can we just drop the E at this point? Why do we keep calling it E-commerce?” — John (00:43)
• Physical Black Friday brawls are gone, but the intensity and creativity have moved online.
• Shopify’s Black Friday “glow globe” sales tracker and Sphere visualization in Vegas celebrated entrepreneurship’s global scale.
• Shopify processed over $5.1M/minute at peak (12:01 PM EST), with 40,000+ orders/minute and over 26 million unique shoppers by midday (07:53).
• “About every 26 seconds, a new entrepreneur is making their first sale on Shopify.” — Harley (11:59)
• The show’s guest list spanned breakout DNVBs, CPG disruptors, retail visionaries, and commerce tech leaders.

2. Harley Finkelstein (Shopify President) – State of the Platform

Key Insights

• The “culture war” is over: direct-to-consumer entrepreneurs are now as important as legacy retail brands.
• Black Friday’s history: Once traditional retail, now led by independent brands empowered by technology.
• Technology has enabled first-time entrepreneurs to “stand shoulder to shoulder” with major global players (09:15).
• The lines between online and offline retail have blurred: “Retail is happening agentically. The consumer journey starts on TikTok, winds up in a pop-up, finishes in Roblox” (14:06).

Notable Quotes:

• “It feels like the golden age of retail right now.” — Harley (15:20)
• “We measure consumer confidence at checkout—and people are buying.” — Harley (25:55)

Shopify Stats (End-of-Day Recap)

• $4.1M in sales per minute at 5pm EST
• 38,000 orders per minute
• 30 million unique shoppers during the day
• Trending categories: skincare, vitamins, supplements, activewear, makeup (195:32)

3. Platform & Tech Trends

Infrastructure:

• “We start planning for Black Friday a year in advance. We can shift regions instantly for failover, so buyers never notice.” — Farhan Thawar, Shopify Engineering (96:39)
• Shop Pay and Shop App drive faster, more trusted checkouts—now a key edge in mobile conversion (97:59).

Agentic Commerce & AI:

• Shopify is going all-in on modular agentic tools (catalogs, checkout kits) to ensure merchants are ready for the future where “shopping agents” do discovery and purchase for customers (28:23).
• “Agentic [AI] may invite non-traditional shoppers to buy online for the first time... It’s a massive leveler for small brands.” — Harley (29:59)
• AI is already transforming merchant experience from smarter inventory to auto-generated assets—brands using it in creative, operational, and support contexts.

4. Brand Operator Roundtable: Insights by Category

Fashion & Apparel

• Gymshark (Noel Mack, CBO): “We’re not any old sports brand—we’re a gym brand. We do gym, and we do it better than anybody else.” (37:27)

  • Opened new stores in Dubai and SoHo; retail is about authentic, offline experiences, not “just another DJ booth.”
  • On marketing: "It's relentlessness about our focus—if you want great gym stuff, come to Gymshark. We're not for everyone."

• Favorite Daughter (Sara Foster, co-founder):

  • $150M+ in projected retail sales (61:35), fully profitable, scaling due to authenticity—“We are the girl [our customer] is.”
  • Returns and AI try-on: balancing efficiency vs. authenticity (64:45).

• Tocovas (Kevin Harwood, CTO):

  • “We were DTC for 5–6 years. In just 3 years of retail, our store business is now larger than e-comm.” (128:25)

Health, Wellness & CPG

• David Protein (Peter Rahal):

  • From RXBar to $300M projected revenue at David in under 2 years (83:06).
  • “If you have the best product, everything else works. You can make mistakes, but the product bails you out.” (78:16)
  • No deep discounting for Black Friday—sales are only down 20% despite not participating in hype (84:54).

• Array (Nish Samantray):

  • Fast-growing, profitable, women’s supplement brand: “$2–3M revenue per employee” (148:43)
  • First half of 2025 was much easier; second half, CACs rose sharply and consumer demand plateaued.

• AG1 (Kat Cole):

  • Up 40% YoY for Black Friday, driven by product variety and bundling (168:39).
  • Strategic channel shift: from influencer/creator-focused to science-forward, heavy investment in clinical trials and out-of-home.
  • “We added TV to go broad—a brand campaign on the World Series.”

Modern Retail & Tech

• Mod Retro (Torin Herndon):

  • Chromatic handheld is a perfect holiday gift; M64 announced; best practices are about authenticity and physicality.
  • “When you have it in your hands, it creates a network effect... you can’t communicate that click online.” (110:43)

• Rora (Brian Keller):

  • Water filtration for health-conscious consumers. Key insight: the “modern” Black Friday is now about building and harvesting intent over weeks, not just a single day (159:38).

Platform & Commerce Operators

• Shopify Engineering (Farhan Thawar):
  • “By April or May, the scale of Black Friday becomes a ‘normal day’ for Shopify. Our merchants’ growth rate is that fast.” (96:39)
  • Don't sleep on the Shop App for product discovery.

5. Customer Acquisition, Media Mix, and Growth Tactics

Ad Spend Trends:

• Black Friday intent remains high. Best practice is to start campaigns 1–2 days early, stay consistent, and keep CPMs low (162:44).
• Meta spending sometimes lags; AppLovin and YouTube up as important growth engines (56:17, 191:15).
• TikTok Shop works for certain categories—female-focused, supplements, impulse—less for men’s luxury/DTC (180:22).

Short-form Content & Social Influence

• Short-form and vertical video are crucial. “Watch time is dominated by short video—every brand needs to be a clip factory.” — Sean Frank, Ridge (182:59)
• Organic, authentic content is more powerful than heavy programmatic spend: “micro-influencers massively outperform celebs for apparel.” — Sara Foster (71:17)

Street-Level Branding & Experiential Retail

• ToCovas and Gymshark’s strategic retail pushes: IRL, bar/social “hangout” aspects, event-driven engagement, custom boot branding.
• Physical retail not only unlocks new customers but lifts e-comm in multi-store markets (128:25).

6. Commerce Trends & Analysis: Macro to Micro

Post-Omnichannel World:

• “It's not just omnichannel—it's post-omnichannel. Sell on every surface area you can.” — Harley (20:53)
• All commerce is “just commerce”—the distinction between digital and traditional continues to blur.

Consumer Mindset Shifts:

• Black Friday has shifted from bargain-hunting for random big-box deals (TVs, appliances) to consumers “voting with their wallets” for brands they love.
• "People are willing to save up to buy from the brands and entrepreneurs they believe in—even if they're smaller." — Harley (27:15)

Tech Conduits:

• Agentic AI commerce will upend product discovery and reduce reliance on paid ad channels—"search becomes personal... the best product matters more." (29:59)
• Video, authenticity, and speed—via one-click checkout—win the day.

Notable Quotes and Moments (With Timestamps)

• “Every 26 seconds, a new entrepreneur makes their first sale on Shopify.” — Harley (11:59)
• “It feels like the golden age of retail right now.” — Harley (15:20)
• “People have this direct relationship with their favorite entrepreneurs. They save up to buy James Perse tees not just for the product, but because they want more James Perses in the world.” — Harley (27:15)
• “Returns are a daily topic for us. AI try-on is amazing, but authenticity matters. We don’t want to trick anyone with fake visuals.” — Sara Foster (64:45)
• “We've seen merchants go through the GFC, the pandemic, Liberation Day—Shopify's job is to be their resilient backbone.” — Harley (24:24)
• “We're in a post-omnichannel world—every surface should be a place to transact.” — Harley (20:53)
• “Our retail store became bigger than e-comm in just three years.” — Kevin Harwood, Tocovas (128:25)
• “Sampling still works; actual product is everything. Great product bails you out even if ops, ads, or the website are just okay.” — Peter Rahal, David (78:16)
• “Shop Pay itself is a huge conversion trust-builder even if not clicked.” — Farhan Thawar (98:31)
• “If your site goes down for 10 minutes, you could lose a million dollars. Owning your full commerce stack? I think that era is over.” — Harley (18:15)

Key Segments & Timestamps

• (07:53) – Shopify’s live Black Friday stats
• (12:01) – Peak sales numbers
• (20:53) – Post-omnichannel world
• (24:24) – Weathering global macro shocks (Liberation Day, tariffs)
• (28:23) – Agentic commerce and AI
• (29:59) – AI will level the field for small brands
• (61:35) – Favorite Daughter expected revenue
• (83:06) – David Protein’s 300M revenue benchmark
• (128:25) – ToCovas' retail surpasses digital
• (168:39) – AG1’s 40% YoY Black Friday growth
• (195:32) – End-of-day Shopify by-the-numbers and trending categories

Memorable Moments & Humor

• Harley and hosts imagining an app where customers box in real life for deeper Black Friday discounts to simulate “the old in-store brawl” (01:24, 186:24)
• Hosts marveling at Shopify merchants now selling $28 million yachts and $5 million watches (48:17)
• “If you catch a catfish, it’s got to be on brand.” — John, re: Tocovas CTO’s biggest fish (131:04)

Brand & Channel Highlights

| Brand | Highlight | |---------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Shopify | Massive scale, agentic commerce positioning, omnichannel leadership | | Gymshark | Gym-focused DNA, global brick-and-mortar, IRL events as marketing | | Favorite Daughter | Rapid scaling via authenticity, profitable, data-driven product expansion | | David Protein | Product > everything, no discounting, supply chain and retail rollouts | | AG1 | Channel expansion (Costco, TV ads), product line extensions, science-backed marketing | | Tocovas | Retail-over-e-comm, experiential “saloon”-style stores, rapid U.S. growth | | Mod Retro | Hardware-as-gift, authenticity in product feel, modernized retro gaming | | Ridge | DTC masterclass; creative, omnichannel, creator equity, new category domination | | Array | Women’s supplement rocketship, lean and profitable, TikTok shop as driver | | Figs | Healthcare focus, brand for professionals, emotional, gratitude-driven Black Friday | | Rora | “Dyson of water,” Black Friday as leg for long funnel build-up, health positioning |

Wrap-Up

This “gigastream” episode was a wide-ranging masterclass in modern commerce—blending live stats, operator realities, ad channel breakdowns, and the underlying emotional connection that makes big days like Black Friday possible. Guests illustrated that world-class execution now happens at the intersection of digital, retail, social, and community—powered by flexible tech, relentless focus, and real storytelling.

Harley’s sendoff (198:46):
“Thank you so much for shining a light on this little startup called Shopify... This was my favorite Black Friday yet. See you for Cyber Monday!”

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