eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection
Steve Hutt | Shopify and eCommerce Expert
Running a Shopify store? You already know success isn't about finding the right app—it's about knowing which strategies actually work at your specific stage of growth.
I'm Steve Hutt, and I've lived every level of the ecommerce journey. From eBay Power Seller shipping products from my garage, to co-founding and scaling VisionPros.com (an optical DTC startup) through to a successful exit, then spending 6+ years as a Shopify Merchant Success Manager helping 100+ brands from startup to enterprise scale, including working with teams at Tentree, Dr. Squatch, Bulletproof Coffee, Salt & Straw Ice Cream, MUD/WTR, Bokksu, and many more.
Here's what makes this podcast different: I've been on both sides of the table.
6+ years working inside Shopify gave me access to what's coming before most merchants know it exists. Building, scaling, and successfully exiting my own ecommerce businesses taught me what actually works when your money and reputation are on the line. That combination of insider access plus real operator experience gives you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.
Since 2018, eCommerce Fastlane has delivered over 430 episodes and more than 2 million downloads to ambitious Shopify founders and marketers. Every week, I chat with operators, developers, and experts who share what's actually moving the needle right now—not theory, but patterns I've seen work consistently across dozens of brands at multiple stages.
Whether you're launching your first store or scaling past seven figures, every episode gives you stage-aware strategies you can implement this week. We dig into Shopify apps, digital marketing, retention tactics, AI tools, and the operational stuff that actually reduces overwhelm—while building customer loyalty that lasts.
You'll learn how to leverage emerging tech without losing what makes your brand unique. You'll also hear real founder stories, including lessons from my own journey building and exiting a DTC brand, plus insights from guests across 430+ episodes who've been exactly where you are.
This isn't content for content's sake. It's what you'd get sitting at a mastermind table with someone who's built, scaled, and exited—and helped hundreds of others do the same.
Ready to grow smarter, not just faster? Join thousands of founders and marketers in the eCommerce Fastlane community through our podcast, newsletter, blog, and forthcoming book "Thriving with Shopify."
Steve Hutt
DTC Founder | Podcast Host
Find Us Online
Website: eCommerceFastlane.com
Newsletter: FastlaneInsider.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shutt
X: x.com/stevenhutt
Instagram: instagram.com/ecommercefastlane
Email: steve@ecommercefastlane.com
I'm Steve Hutt, and I've lived every level of the ecommerce journey. From eBay Power Seller shipping products from my garage, to co-founding and scaling VisionPros.com (an optical DTC startup) through to a successful exit, then spending 6+ years as a Shopify Merchant Success Manager helping 100+ brands from startup to enterprise scale, including working with teams at Tentree, Dr. Squatch, Bulletproof Coffee, Salt & Straw Ice Cream, MUD/WTR, Bokksu, and many more.
Here's what makes this podcast different: I've been on both sides of the table.
6+ years working inside Shopify gave me access to what's coming before most merchants know it exists. Building, scaling, and successfully exiting my own ecommerce businesses taught me what actually works when your money and reputation are on the line. That combination of insider access plus real operator experience gives you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.
Since 2018, eCommerce Fastlane has delivered over 430 episodes and more than 2 million downloads to ambitious Shopify founders and marketers. Every week, I chat with operators, developers, and experts who share what's actually moving the needle right now—not theory, but patterns I've seen work consistently across dozens of brands at multiple stages.
Whether you're launching your first store or scaling past seven figures, every episode gives you stage-aware strategies you can implement this week. We dig into Shopify apps, digital marketing, retention tactics, AI tools, and the operational stuff that actually reduces overwhelm—while building customer loyalty that lasts.
You'll learn how to leverage emerging tech without losing what makes your brand unique. You'll also hear real founder stories, including lessons from my own journey building and exiting a DTC brand, plus insights from guests across 430+ episodes who've been exactly where you are.
This isn't content for content's sake. It's what you'd get sitting at a mastermind table with someone who's built, scaled, and exited—and helped hundreds of others do the same.
Ready to grow smarter, not just faster? Join thousands of founders and marketers in the eCommerce Fastlane community through our podcast, newsletter, blog, and forthcoming book "Thriving with Shopify."
Steve Hutt
DTC Founder | Podcast Host
Find Us Online
Website: eCommerceFastlane.com
Newsletter: FastlaneInsider.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shutt
X: x.com/stevenhutt
Instagram: instagram.com/ecommercefastlane
Email: steve@ecommercefastlane.com
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jun 8, 2022 • 34min
Yotpo Subscriptions: Now Is The Time To Double Down On A Recurring Revenue Channel With Judith Zhu Of Yotpo
In today’s Shopify ecommerce podcast, my guest is Judith Zhu, a Product Marketing Manager from Yotpo. Yotpo is an ecommerce marketing platform with advanced solutions for customer reviews, visual marketing, loyalty, referrals, and SMS marketing. I’ve had the pleasure over the years to have Yotpo on the show to share specifically how Shopify brands are winning with their platform.Today will not disappoint as eCommerce Fastlane is the exclusive podcast to share the next and exciting iteration with Subscriptions by Yotpo!Profitably GROW and SCALE your Shopify store with the resources mentioned in todays ecommerce podcast episode.CLICK HERE > eCommerceFastlane.com or eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 6, 2022 • 54min
Shopify App Partners: What's Happening Today, Plan For Tomorrow, And Strategize For Growth With Brian Sierakowski Of Baremetrics
In today’s Shopify ecommerce podcast, my guest is Brian Sierakowski the General Manager of Baremetrics.Baremetrics is the leading provider of subscription analytics and insights for Shopify Partners and App Developers.When building a Shopify app, developers need to understand their performance: what’s working, and where they need to improve. Baremetrics makes it easy by automatically calculating over 26 key metrics related to churn, retention, acquisition, and conversion. With Baremetrics, app founders can answer questions like “What plans have the longest life with my customers? When do you customers usually churn in subscriptions?” instantly and without the headache of spreadsheets.Baremetrics is a pioneer in the space of subscription analytics, and the only one with a Shopify Partners integration. Their team is obsessed with helping app developers get more from their data and grow faster.Profitably GROW and SCALE your Shopify store with the resources mentioned in todays ecommerce podcast episode.CLICK HERE > eCommerceFastlane.com or eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 5, 2022 • 51min
Harness The Power Of User Generated Video Content And Grow Revenue With Ajay Bam Of Vyrill
In today’s Shopify ecommerce podcast, my guest is Ajay Bam the CEO and Co-Founder from Vyrill.They are a video commerce platform that helps Shopify brands and retailers increase revenue and find new customers by leveraging authentic video reviews, how-to, unboxing UGC videos and branded video for insights and commerce, powered by in-video search.Video reviews have now become the number one way to drive conversation for a brand. Over 85% of shoppers say that they watch videos before they shop and it improves their brand trust by 20X, because shoppers can see the product, person and emotions in the video. Shoppers trust other customers when it comes to opinions during the purchase experience than branded videos.Billions of consumers consume and create videos on 30+ platforms in 89 languages. A brand like Nike, L’oreal, or BMW have 15M+ videos posted on one social media platform like Youtube, 90% of which are fan videos. However, brands and retailers don’t have the backend capacity to parse through millions of user-generated video content (UGVC) or fan videos to showcase the best videos to serve their shoppers. Vyrill recently launched its Shopify app that helps Shopify store owners deliver on their 3 most important KPIs - customer acquisition, page engagement, and revenue.Profitably GROW and SCALE your Shopify store with the resources mentioned in today's ecommerce podcast episode.Have any questions or comments about this episode? You can reach us at hello@ecommercefastlane.com or through any of our social channels. We love hearing from our listeners!Looking to profitably grow and scale revenue for your Shopify store? Click here eCommerceFastlane.com for the latest strategies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 4, 2022 • 40min
Social Commerce Is Sparking A Retail Revolution: Learn How To Ensure Your Influencer Marketing Strategies Maximize Sales With Krishna Subramanian Of Captiv8
In today’s Shopify ecommerce podcast, my guest is Krishna Subramanian the CEO and Co-Founder of Captiv8. They are a full-service influencer marketing solution that helps drive real effective results from authentic influencer branded content. This is a great conversation with tons of learnings for Shopify brands how authentic content drives results.Profitably GROW and SCALE your Shopify store with the resources mentioned in todays ecommerce podcast episode.CLICK HERE > eCommerceFastlane.com or eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 30, 2022 • 40min
What Is A Customer Data Platform And How Can It Improve Your Shopify Store ROAS With Vishnu Vankayala Of CustomerLabs
In today’s Shopify ecommerce podcast, my guest is Vishnu Vankayala the Co-Founder and CEO of CustomerLabs. They are a customer data platform, referred to as a CDP, that helps Shopify marketers understand their customers better and assists with the strategies and tactics to double revenue.Profitably GROW and SCALE your Shopify store with the resources mentioned in todays ecommerce podcast episode.CLICK HERE > eCommerceFastlane.com or eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 29, 2022 • 42min
What You Should Know About Ecommerce Returns And Retaining Revenue With Mike Schwartz Of Happy Returns
In today’s episode, my guest is Mike Schwarz the Director of Sales from Happy Returns by PayPal. They are a returns and reverse logistics provider that helps Shopify stores to automate returns, save money, retain revenue and they also help the planet too - all while keeping online shoppers happy. Let’s jump in and learn more about how you can improve your post-purchase returns and exchange experience!Profitably GROW and SCALE your Shopify store with the resources mentioned in todays ecommerce podcast episode.CLICK HERE > eCommerceFastlane.com or eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 22, 2022 • 41min
Why Shopify Store Customers Are Demanding Voice Support With Gianna Scorsone Of Aircall
In today’s Shopify eCommerce podcast, my guest is Gianna Scorsone the GM and Head of North America from Aircall. They are a cloud-based business phone solution for ecommerce brands. They enable Shopify brands to connect more genuinely, consistently, and effectively with their customers by providing past context to conversations. They serve anyone who needs a voice channel powered with integrations of over 100 tools and platforms, including Shopify.They are turning the voice channel from a black box that requires manual review of recordings or live note taking into a smart, AI-enabled channel. They really are making it possible for all Shopify brands, regardless of their maturity and complexity to drive customer engagement and ultimately loyalty at scale.Profitably GROW and SCALE your Shopify store with the resources mentioned in todays ecommerce podcast episode.CLICK HERE > eCommerceFastlane.com and eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 13, 2022 • 44min
Get More Engagement, Conversions, ROAS, And Revenue From Every New And Returning Visitor With Jan Soerensen Of Nosto
In today’s Shopify eCommerce podcast, my guest is Jan Soerensen the GM for Nosto. They are a personalization platform that helps Shopify ecommerce brands to create highly engaging and delightful shopping experiences both on and offsite. Learn how to grow your Shopify store faster with the world’s first Commerce Experience Platform and its suite of data-fueled personalization and merchandising solutions.LEARN MORE and grow your Shopify store at eCommerceFastlane.com and eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 5, 2022 • 41min
Conversational Commerce Is Creating A New Hybrid Shopping Experience That Bridges The Gap Between In-Store And Online With Brian Long Of Attentive
In today’s Shopify eCommerce podcast, my guest is Brian Long the Co-Founder and CEO of Attentive. They are a best-in-class text message marketing provider, certified by Shopify Plus and trusted by thousands of industry-leading brands. Shopify store owners have the opportunity to turn SMS marketing into a top 3 revenue channel in a few months and drive 20%+ of the total online revenue through text. Conversational Commerce will define the next era of brand marketing!Profitably GROW and SCALE your Shopify store with the resources mentioned in todays podcast episode.CLICK HERE > eCommerceFastlane.com and eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 3, 2022 • 44min
Pulling The Right Growth And Retention Levers For Your Shopify Store With Paul Rogers And Josh Duggan of Vervaunt
In today’s Shopify eCommerce podcast, I have two guests, Paul Rogers and Josh Duggan of Vervaunt.Paul is the managing director of Vervaunt and he is joined by his business partner Josh.Vervaunt is an award-winning paid media agency and eCommerce consultancy that work with a number of leading Shopify brands to help them grow and scale.LEARN MORE and grow your Shopify store at eCommerceFastlane.com and eCommerceFastlanePodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
