Growing Ecommerce – The Retail Growth Podcast

Smarter Ecommerce
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Feed your growth mindset. Ecommerce is growing, and so are the challenges and opportunities for online retailers. In the Growing Ecommerce podcast, Mike Ryan and other smec experts are joined by industry leaders in ecommerce, digital marketing, and data science. By sharing business trends, practical solutions, and best practices, this podcast helps online retailers solve the challenges of tomorrow.

  1. Is ROAS Overrated? – Why the “Revenue Trap” Might Kill Your Google Ads Profit

    3 小時前

    Is ROAS Overrated? – Why the “Revenue Trap” Might Kill Your Google Ads Profit

    Is ROAS a flawed metric for Google Ads? According to acclaimed ecommerce experts Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmüller, using Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) as your primary "North Star" metric creates a dangerous "Revenue Trap." Because ROAS measures revenue rather than actual margin, it creates an "air gap" that ignores the law of diminishing returns, ultimately hurting the profitability of mature Google Ads campaigns. In this episode of Growing eCommerce, the hosts break down how to properly use ROAS as a bidding signal and explore the latest transparency updates to Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns. The Problem with ROAS as a Profit Proxy: Many advertisers use ROAS as a stand-in for profit. However, as campaigns scale, incremental returns flatten out. A 600% ROAS does not guarantee your next ad dollar will yield the same profit margin. ROAS is a Communication Vessel, Not Just a Goal: Setting a blanket ROAS target across multiple campaigns is a strategic mistake. ROAS is actually your primary bidding signal and pacing tool to steer Google's algorithms. Dynamic vs. Static Targeting: Advertisers should move away from adjusting ROAS based on "gut feeling" and adopt a scientific, data-driven approach based on specific campaign constraints. Resources & Expert Links FREE smec Advanced Channel Report Script: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/google-ads-scripts/pmax-channel-insights/About Mike Ryan: Based in Austria and originally from Boston, Mike Ryan is the Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec) with over ten years of experience in retail and PPC landscape. With a robust background spanning retail operations, product management, and digital ads, Mike leverages his multidisciplinary expertise to drive data-informed strategies that help online retailers optimize their performance in an increasingly competitive market. About Christian Scharmueller: As a seasoned veteran in the PPC and Ecommerce space, Christian Scharmüller serves as the CCO & Managing Director of Smarter Ecommerce. With over 12 years of experience at the forefront of ad tech, Christian is a sought-after speaker at major industry events, including SMX and OMR, where he shares insights on high-level e-commerce strategy and the future of retail media. About Smarter Ecommerce (smec) Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands scale profitably with AI-driven PPC automation—optimizing for business outcomes while keeping strategic control in the hands of marketers. The platform activates first-party data (e.g., margins, CLV, core business metrics) to automate campaign optimization toward profitability and efficient growth, with transparent insights that reduce manual work and free teams for strategic oversight. As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages €500M+ in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport. Follow smec for performance marketing insights: Website: smarter-ecommerce.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Newsletter: smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: instagram.com/smarterecommerce

    29 分鐘
  2. PMax vs. Standard Shopping? – 3 Google Ads Myths Busted

    2月17日

    PMax vs. Standard Shopping? – 3 Google Ads Myths Busted

    In this episode of Growing eCommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris debunk three persistent myths that are still holding retailers back in 2026. While everyone is distracted by the hype of UCP and Agentic Commerce, many accounts are bleeding efficiency due to outdated structures like the "Heroes & Zombies" matrix and one-dimensional margin buckets. We break down why these old-school tactics create self-fulfilling prophecies of failure and share what sophisticated retailers are doing instead to balance volume, margin, and the new reality of AI-driven search. In this episode, we cover: The "Zero Click" Wake-Up Call: Why the shift to walled gardens means you need to fix your tactical basics now before the ecosystem changes forever.Myth #1: Heroes & Zombies: Why classifying low-volume products as "zombies" is a logical flaw that starves your potential growth engines. We explain the danger of using historical data to doom new products.Myth #2: Margin Buckets: Why segmenting campaigns by gross margin % (e.g., 0-5%, 5-10%) is dangerous. Mike shares data showing how this ignores conversion volume and pricing strategies, leading to "death by optimization."Myth #3: PMax vs. Standard Shopping: It’s no longer an either/or decision. We discuss the rise of hybrid setups and why Standard Shopping is actually gaining cost share again.Key Takeaways: Don't rely on single-dimensional data: Grouping products solely by ROAS or Margin % ignores critical context like seasonality, price competitiveness, and absolute profit.Standard Shopping isn't dead: Even Google is now advocating for hybrid use cases, such as using Standard Shopping for query filtering or specific inventory control. +1The "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy": If you put a new product in a "zombie" campaign with low budget because it has no data, it will never get data. You need a multi-dimensional scoring strategy.About Mike Ryan Based in Austria and originally from Boston, Mike Ryan is Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec). With 10+ years in retail and PPC, and experience across retail operations, product management, and digital advertising, he helps online retailers turn data into strategies that improve performance in a highly competitive market. About Christian Scharmüller Christian Scharmüller is CCO & Managing Director at Smarter Ecommerce and a long-time expert in PPC and e-commerce. With 12+ years in ad tech, he’s a regular speaker at major industry events such as SMX and OMR, sharing insights on e-commerce strategy and the future of retail media. About Smarter Ecommerce (smec) Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands scale profitably with AI-driven PPC automation—optimizing for business outcomes while keeping strategic control in the hands of marketers. The platform activates first-party data (e.g., margins, CLV, core business metrics) to automate campaign optimization toward profitability and efficient growth, with transparent insights that reduce manual work and free teams for strategic oversight. As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages €500M+ in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport. Follow smec for performance marketing insights: Website: smarter-ecommerce.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Newsletter: smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: instagram.com/smarterecommerce

    35 分鐘
  3. Google’s UCP Explained: Will "Agentic Commerce" Replace Search in 2026?

    2月10日

    Google’s UCP Explained: Will "Agentic Commerce" Replace Search in 2026?

    UCP (Universal Context Protocol) is a new infrastructure layer aiming to standardize “agentic commerce.” It breaks ecommerce into modular capabilities (“Lego bricks”) so AI agents can negotiate tasks like product discovery, checkout, and payments across platforms. This has become an infrastructure war: Google is pushing UCP as an open-source standard versus OpenAI’s ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) and Anthropic’s MCP (Model Context Protocol). Big retailers such as Walmart and Zalando are already experimenting with UCP right now. In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmüller unpack what “Agentic Commerce” means as AI shifts from generating text to taking actions in online shops—and what that implies for your data feed strategy. In this episode, we cover: • The Rise of UCP: how agents “negotiate” capabilities like discovery and checkout—similar to early standards wars (e.g., electricity). • Adoption Reality Check: will consumers let AI buy their sneakers? Mike forecasts ~10% of UCP-based transactions within 2 years; Chris estimates ~5%. • The Protocol War: how partnerships with giants (Walmart, Zalando) help Google try to win the standard. • New Merchant Responsibilities: to reduce hallucinations, Google plans 10–12 new feeds/attributes, pushing more structured-data work back to retailers. About the hosts: Mike Ryan (Austria; originally Boston) is Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec), with 10+ years in retail and PPC. Christian Scharmüller is CCO & Managing Director at smec, a long-time PPC/ecommerce leader and frequent speaker (e.g., SMX, OMR). Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands optimize PPC with AI-driven automation focused on profit and business outcomes, leveraging first-party data like margins and LTV. Follow smec for more performance marketing insights: LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Subscribe for more actionable eCommerce insights! #eCommerce #GoogleAds #UCP #AgenticCommerce #AI #DigitalMarketing #RetailTrends #GoogleMerchantCenter smec is a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, managing €500M+ in ad spend and driving €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue across 350+ global retail clients (incl. THG, Snipes, REWE, Intersport). More: Website: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/ Why it matters: if agents become the new storefront, whoever sets the protocol shapes access to customers, data standards, and product visibility—so feed quality and structured attributes really matter. About Smarter Ecommerce (smec) Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands scale profitably with AI-driven PPC automation—optimizing for business outcomes while keeping strategic control in the hands of marketers. The platform activates first-party data (e.g., margins, CLV, core business metrics) to automate campaign optimization toward profitability and efficient growth, with transparent insights that reduce manual work and free teams for strategic oversight. As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages €500M+ in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport. Follow smec for performance marketing insights: Website: smarter-ecommerce.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Newsletter: smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: instagram.com/smarterecommerce

    31 分鐘
  4. Ecommerce Trends 2026: Google AI, Temu & CPC Forecast

    2025/12/23

    Ecommerce Trends 2026: Google AI, Temu & CPC Forecast

    In the final episode of 2025, Chris and Mike trade their suits for matching Christmas pajamas to deliver a raw, honest review of the year in digital marketing. 🎄 They break down the biggest surprises of the year, from Google’s unexpected pivot toward transparency to the "Naughty List" players who frustrated the industry. Mike reveals details about his behind-the-scenes meeting with Temu, while Chris explains why Mark Zuckerberg is on his bad side this year. Plus, we look ahead to 2026. Will CPCs finally slow down? What is "Gen 2 Commerce," and how will AI reshape the shopping experience next year? In this episode, Mike and Chris cover: The 2025 in Review: Highs, lows, and navigating information overload. The Naughty & Nice List: Why Google’s PMax updates won us over, and why Meta’s ad strategy is failing agencies. The Temu Report: Mike’s personal experience meeting with Temu reps. 2026 Predictions: Economic outlook, AI commerce features, and the future of media buying.Ready to grow your Ecommerce business? Visit us at: https://smarter-ecommerce.com About Smarter Ecommerce (smec) Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands scale profitably with AI-driven PPC automation—optimizing for business outcomes while keeping strategic control in the hands of marketers. The platform activates first-party data (e.g., margins, CLV, core business metrics) to automate campaign optimization toward profitability and efficient growth, with transparent insights that reduce manual work and free teams for strategic oversight. As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages €500M+ in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport. Follow smec for performance marketing insights: Website: smarter-ecommerce.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Newsletter: smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: instagram.com/smarterecommerce

    37 分鐘
  5. Are Your Google Ads Lying to You? - Marginal ROAS Explained

    2025/12/16

    Are Your Google Ads Lying to You? - Marginal ROAS Explained

    In this episode, Mike Ryan and Chris dive into the fundamental issue plaguing advanced performance advertisers: the lack of data integrity between ad platforms and a retailer’s backend systems. Why are sophisticated retailers taking optimization decisions on ad platform data when their final bottom-line evaluation comes from a different source? Mike calls this the "optimization gulf". The hosts argue that this disconnect is a major tactical issue that is driving platforms like Google and Meta to pursue cross-channel solutions to regain trust. Key discussion points include: The Single Source of Truth (SSOT) Problem: Why using last-click attribution and optimizing within channel silos led to platforms taking 100% credit for the same purchases.The iOS 14.5 Inflection Point: How Apple's anti-tracking policies broke Meta campaigns, leading to the rise of "magic pixels" (Triple Whale, Northbeam) to fix reporting.Marginal ROAS vs. Average ROAS: Why optimizing only for average ROAS is a "massive flop" and why you need to understand the concept of marginal return to avoid spending beyond your optimal point.Google's Contradiction: We break down Google's claim that its bidding system (PMax) finds the cheapest conversion across all networks, and the subsequent contradiction of why the performance of those individual channels often looks bad in segmented reports.About Smarter Ecommerce (smec) Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands scale profitably with AI-driven PPC automation—optimizing for business outcomes while keeping strategic control in the hands of marketers. The platform activates first-party data (e.g., margins, CLV, core business metrics) to automate campaign optimization toward profitability and efficient growth, with transparent insights that reduce manual work and free teams for strategic oversight. As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages €500M+ in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport. Follow smec for performance marketing insights: Website: smarter-ecommerce.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Newsletter: smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: instagram.com/smarterecommerce

    40 分鐘
  6. Black Friday Bloodbath: ROAS Down 12%, Gross Margins Down 9% | Post-Mortem Data

    2025/12/09

    Black Friday Bloodbath: ROAS Down 12%, Gross Margins Down 9% | Post-Mortem Data

    In this post-mortem episode, hosts Mike Ryan and Chris dive deep into the data behind the last peak season to reveal the true cost of Black Friday. They confirm what many performance marketers feared: the event is a "promotional bloodbath where margins are lost". The numbers are shocking: Google Ads spend was up over 31% year-over-year, but revenue only grew 15%, resulting in a massive 12% drop in Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). But the real trouble is profitability. Mike reveals an exclusive chart showing how the average gross profit margin dropped by 9 percentage points in the final week of November. What else is covered in this data-driven post-mortem: The Dilution of Demand: Why Black Friday search volume has been on a secular decline since peaking in 2018, and why the "doorbuster" concept is dead.The Hourly Opportunity: A never-before-seen hourly analysis that pinpoints the exact time when Cost Per Order (CPO) cools down and conversion rates peak, revealing the best time to run your budget.Competitor Strategy: A look at how Amazon is continuously ramping up spend, while the competition from Teemu drastically fell off on Black Friday itself.The Final Warning: Why the relentless increase in CPCs is the single biggest threat to the middle-of-the-pack online retailer.About Smarter Ecommerce (smec) Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands scale profitably with AI-driven PPC automation—optimizing for business outcomes while keeping strategic control in the hands of marketers. The platform activates first-party data (e.g., margins, CLV, core business metrics) to automate campaign optimization toward profitability and efficient growth, with transparent insights that reduce manual work and free teams for strategic oversight. As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages €500M+ in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport. Follow smec for performance marketing insights: Website: smarter-ecommerce.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Newsletter: smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: instagram.com/smarterecommerce

    44 分鐘
  7. Google is bidding on the WRONG products: The ‘Clicked vs. Bought’ dilemma explained

    2025/12/02

    Google is bidding on the WRONG products: The ‘Clicked vs. Bought’ dilemma explained

    In this episode, Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmueller dismantle a massive technical flaw in Performance Max: the "Clicked vs. Bought" discrepancy. In a keywordless world, product targeting is your main lever. But Mike reveals that Google places its bids based on the product a user clicks, while being completely blind to the product they actually buy. This means Google is often bidding on the wrong item, unaware that your user cross-shopped into a lower-margin alternative or a different brand entirely. The result? You might be hitting your ROAS targets on paper, but your actual profit is bleeding out. The duo reveals the only technical fix for this—Conversions with Cart Data—and debates the ultimate trust exercise: is it finally time to share your Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS) with Google to bid on true profit? About Smarter Ecommerce (smec) Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands scale profitably with AI-driven PPC automation—optimizing for business outcomes while keeping strategic control in the hands of marketers. The platform activates first-party data (e.g., margins, CLV, core business metrics) to automate campaign optimization toward profitability and efficient growth, with transparent insights that reduce manual work and free teams for strategic oversight. As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages €500M+ in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport. Follow smec for performance marketing insights: Website: smarter-ecommerce.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Newsletter: smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: instagram.com/smarterecommerce

    32 分鐘
  8. Google AI Max is A TRAP?! New Data on ROAS, Demand Gen & DSA Sunset

    2025/11/25

    Google AI Max is A TRAP?! New Data on ROAS, Demand Gen & DSA Sunset

    Is Google's new AI Max for Search the future, or is it a hidden trap? In this episode of Growing E-commerce, Mike Ryan and Chris dive into brand-new, independent test data on AI Max for Search and discuss the strategic role of Demand Gen and the future of Dynamic Search Ads (DSA). The analysis of over 250 e-commerce campaigns reveals significant concerns: AI Max delivers an average 35% lower Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and a higher Cost Per Conversion (CPA) compared to traditional broad match campaigns in retail.The conversions AI Max drives are often at a lower Average Order Value (AOV), raising questions about incrementality versus cannibalization.Mike predicts that Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) is on its way to being fully sunset/upgraded to AI Max by early 2026. The shift signals Google’s move to consolidate broad automation into AI Max and the visual discovery into Demand Gen. The hosts also warn that many advertisers are creating unnecessary data fragmentation and overlap by running AI Max, DSA, and PMAX concurrently. The key discussion focuses on the Demand Gen Strategy: Demand Gen is best used as a visual discovery engine to compete with Paid Social/Meta and is heavily driven by video ads across YouTube and Shorts. Learn how to use it strategically as a mid-funnel tool to feed Performance Max (PMAX). What to do now: AI Max is here to stay. Mike and Chris offer advice on how to use AI Max's built-in controls (like negative keywords) to make the feature work smarter for your business. About Smarter Ecommerce (smec) Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands scale profitably with AI-driven PPC automation—optimizing for business outcomes while keeping strategic control in the hands of marketers. The platform activates first-party data (e.g., margins, CLV, core business metrics) to automate campaign optimization toward profitability and efficient growth, with transparent insights that reduce manual work and free teams for strategic oversight. As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages €500M+ in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients, including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport. Follow smec for performance marketing insights: Website: smarter-ecommerce.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh Newsletter: smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/ Instagram: instagram.com/smarterecommerce

    37 分鐘
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簡介

Feed your growth mindset. Ecommerce is growing, and so are the challenges and opportunities for online retailers. In the Growing Ecommerce podcast, Mike Ryan and other smec experts are joined by industry leaders in ecommerce, digital marketing, and data science. By sharing business trends, practical solutions, and best practices, this podcast helps online retailers solve the challenges of tomorrow.

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