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
Apr 23, 2021 • 29min
Personal-care Founder: No More Petrochemicals
I've interviewed entrepreneurs for this podcast who developed organic consumer-care goods. But none did it before Eric Malka. He and his wife, Myriam, devised shaving oils from their kitchen in 1996 and then launched The Art of Shaving. Their new company, Ingredients, focuses on wellness and sustainability.
Apr 16, 2021 • 24min
Home Gym Provider Overcomes Supply Disruptions, Thrives
Imagine selling home gym equipment online at the onset of the pandemic. Athletic clubs were closed. Consumers were stuck in their houses. According to Kaevon Khoozani, the founder of Canada-based Bells of Steel, the demand for weight-training equipment was “obscene.” “We ran into two giant hiccups,” Khoozani told me.
Apr 9, 2021 • 31min
Online Onion Seller Rises from Domain-name Auction
Most entrepreneurs start with a business idea and then secure the domain name. Peter Askew does the opposite. He purchases domain names and then builds the business. Take VidaliaOnions.com, for example. Askew purchased the name in 2014. It's now a thriving farm-to-door seller of Vidalia onions.
Apr 2, 2021 • 31min
3PL Founder: 'I'm in the Exceptions Management Business'
Jay Sauceda launched his ecommerce fulfillment company, Sauceda Industries, in 2013 in Austin, Texas. He says packing and shipping products is easy. What's difficult, he stated, is managing unforeseen events. "The shipping business is, essentially, the exceptions management business," he told me.
Mar 26, 2021 • 29min
Lessons from Vine Influencers Elevate Feat Clothing
Having co-founded Feat Socks in 2015, Taylor Offer hired Aly Raisman, the gymnast, to design and promote a custom sock. It generated $500,000 in revenue. Influencer marketing was clearly effective, and Offer wanted more. "I started looking at the kids that got famous from Vine, the short-video app," he told me.
Mar 19, 2021 • 29min
Drop Party Thrives with Turnkey Product Design, Testing
Marco Marandiz is a musician turned software engineer turned product designer. He's worked for Capital One, HomeAway, and a failed startup. But it was his ecommerce consulting work for companies with unproven inventory that sparked the idea for Drop Party.
Mar 12, 2021 • 28min
Show-stopper Wedding Rings Drive Manly Bands
Johnathan Ruggiero and his wife Michelle founded Manly Bands, a direct-to-consumer online men's wedding-ring company, in 2016. To compete, their rings had to be unique — really unique. "We try to develop what we call show-stopper products," Johnathan told me. "People might say, 'You have dinosaur bones? That's crazy. You have meteorite? That's nuts.'"
Mar 5, 2021 • 31min
Hollywood Actor, Director Finds Success on Amazon
Judson Morgan is a Los Angeles-based actor and director. He owns an agency that creates films and other visual content. He's also a successful ecommerce entrepreneur — with a purpose. He told me, "I have zero interest in making money off of a random product. I wanted to build a real brand that people could resonate with." That brand is Benevolence Los Angeles, an Amazon-focused gift boutique.
Feb 26, 2021 • 26min
Tomlinson's Feed: Fresh and Relevant after 75 Years
Kate Knecht is the fourth-generation owner-operator of Tomlinson's Feed, a family-owned retail business with 16 brick-and-mortar locations in Central Texas. The company is 75 years old. Amid the pandemic and the onslaught of online behemoths, can such a business transition to 2021 consumers? I asked Knecht that question and more.
Feb 19, 2021 • 30min
DTC Seller of Apple Watch Bands Soars from College Project
Braxton Manley was a sophomore at Texas Tech University in 2017 when he attended a workshop on entrepreneurship. The purpose was to conceive a product based on market research. "My idea was cool Apple Watch bands," Manley told me. Fast forward to 2021 and his company, Braxley Bands, is a direct-to-consumer seller of elastic, colorful bands.
