Ecommerce Conversations
Practical Ecommerce
Ecommerce Conversations is the long-running weekly podcast from Practical Ecommerce, hosted by ecommerce entrepreneur Eric Bandholz. •• Listen in as Eric interviews in-the-trenches founders and executives who address the essentials of launching, growing, and sustaining an online business. Hear their successes, mistakes, and plans — addressing customer acquisition, web traffic, marketing tactics, on-site conversion, shipping, favorite tools, funding, obstacles, and much more. •• New episodes every Friday. Subscribe to the podcast here, and then read a condensed transcript at https://www.PracticalEcommerce.com/tag/podcasts.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Dec 3, 2021 • 37min
Barbell Logic Rides Shift to Online Fitness
The pandemic has upended the fitness industry. Having no access to public gyms, millions of folks turned to at-home workouts. According to Matt Reynolds, the founder of Barbell Logic, an online strength coaching company, the shift is permanent. "As the world has opened back up," he told me, "there's been a change of mindset, a paradigm shift in personal fitness training."
Nov 26, 2021 • 30min
The Right Answer to 'What Do You Do?'
Clay Hebert once attended a conference in San Diego. He sat next to a fellow who inquired about his work. "What do you do?" the fellow asked. Describing the encounter, Hebert told me, "That question stumped me." He had fumbled his introduction to Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress.
Nov 19, 2021 • 29min
The Beauty of Bootstrapping a Business
This episode is different than most. I'm interviewing no one. Instead, I'm addressing a singular topic: bootstrapping, the concept of launching and growing a business without outside investors. My company, Beardbrand, is bootstrapped. It's a beautiful thing.
Nov 12, 2021 • 32min
Subscriptions Power Disco Past iOS 14.5, Amazon
The year 2021 has been a doozy for Ben Smith. In March, he celebrated an investment round for Disco, his direct-to-consumer skincare company. In April, Disco's customer acquisition cost increased by a whopping 300% with the release of iOS 14.5. In May, he began selling on Amazon, only to see Amazon bid on the exact Google Ad keywords he relied on for traffic to Disco's website.
Nov 5, 2021 • 32min
eCommerceFuel Founder on Work-Life Balance, Priorities
Andrew Youderian is the founder and CEO of eCommerceFuel, a leading online community of established store owners. He oversees a diverse team and manages a growing business with worldwide members. Surely, one would think, he works long hours with little downtime.
Oct 29, 2021 • 28min
21 Years In, 2BigFeet Charts Opportunities, Growth
Where can you find a size 24 men's shoe? At 2BigFeet.com. Brandon Eley co-launched the business in 2000, before Google AdWords and long before Facebook and Shopify. "We've seen a lot of changes in 21 years," he said. "Keyword stuffing was legitimate search engine optimization back then."
Oct 22, 2021 • 31min
Gas Station Coffee Spurs Golden Ratio Founder
Solving a personal hardship may be the most common motivator for starting a business. Clark Nowlin's hardship was acidity in coffee. It wrecked his stomach. Golden Ratio Coffee is Nowlin's solution. It's a producer of low-acid coffee. He founded the business last year in Austin, Texas, and it now sells direct-to-consumer in all 50 states.
Oct 15, 2021 • 29min
Amid Facebook Ad Turmoil, Supply.co Retrenches
Patrick Coddou is a direct-to-consumer pioneer, having launched Supply.co in 2015. The company designs, manufactures, and sells premium shaving products — all to great success. Until 2021. That's when Apple's iOS 14.5, which launched in April, upended Facebook's ability to hyper-target ads. Coddou's company relied on sales from those ads. He's retrenched the company and is soon to launch two new products.
Oct 1, 2021 • 33min
PPE Provider Thrives on Influencers (and Hollywood)
Roman Zrazhevskiy's company, Mira Safety, sells protective gas masks. It launched in 2018, targeting consumers, medical providers, law enforcement, and others. The masks protect against tear gas, chemicals, and, yes, viruses. Still, reaching prospects was a challenge.
Sep 24, 2021 • 28min
Lessons from Bankruptcy Drive Ecom Agency Founder
Josh Durham knows the downside of entrepreneurship. He founded an ecommerce company in 2015 and quickly grew revenue. Then it went out of business. Fast forward to 2021 and Durham has bounced back. He founded a successful marketing agency, Aligned Growth Management, that builds on his own early-day lessons.
