Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth

Common Thread Collective

2020 transformed the world of ecommerce forever. For the modern DTC brand, the rewards have never been greater. But the waters have also never been choppier, and the way forward has never been more uncertain. So how do you navigate this dangerous new reality? No matter how you do it, you’d better not do it alone. That’s where the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast comes in — join Common Thread Collective’s Taylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin as they bring you guiding insights from across CTC’s portfolio of growing DTC businesses. Whether you need a clear view on the macro issues affecting the world of ecommerce, or want to reorient your business around groundbreaking new big-picture strategies, Taylor & Richard are here to help answer the tough questions about what it takes to scale — and sustain — an ecommerce business.

  1. 1d ago

    Why Most Founders Set the Wrong Growth Goals

    Randall Thompson built an ecommerce brand from scratch, scaled it to eight figures, and sold it. Along the way, he learned that the goals he set had almost nothing to do with what his business could actually deliver. In this episode, Randall joins Richard to break down what it means to understand your business's DNA, the non-negotiable metrics (COGS, repeat rate, margins) that determine what's actually possible, and how to align your goals to reality instead of fantasy. They cover the three goal buckets every founder should be thinking about, why all roads lead to profit regardless of your endgame, and how CTC's Prophit System functions as a data-driven reality check for your brand. In This Episode: Why every business has a "DNA" that determines its ceiling Three goal categories: build to sell, raise capital, or optimize for lifestyle How to connect daily execution metrics to long-term outcomes Why money may be flowing back into eCommerce Personal brand as a key element of business DNA How CTC's Prophit System gives you a second opinion rooted in data Show Notes: Go to https://bit.ly/4aiEz79 to start your free plan today Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    32 min

  2. 6d ago

    Join Our Growth Mastermind (Here's What's Inside)

    Growth Mastermind What if you could get weekly strategy sessions with a senior CTC profit engineer, full Statlas access, and a private cohort of brands at your stage, all for $500/month?That's the Next Level Growth Mastermind.Richard breaks down exactly what's inside, who it's built for, and five real insights that came out of our pilot cohort sessions, including why offer-market fit matters more than CRO, the exact launch sequence for marketing moments, and a Post-It note ad tactic that's outperforming studio creative.What you get with the Growth Mastermind: Weekly live calls with senior CTC leadershipSmall cohorts of 10 brands matched by revenue stageFull Statlas subscription ($750/mo value included)All your data ingested for a complete 360 view of your businessDedicated cohort Slack channelFull access to CTC's methodology archive (Meta, Google, email, TikTok, AppLovin)30-day money-back guaranteeWhether you're a 6-figure brand looking for a second opinion, a 7-figure operator who wants to connect with founders in a similar stage, or an 8-figure brand that wants senior strategic guidance on a weekly basis, this is built for you.Show Notes: Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign.Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    16 min

  3. May 26

    We Tested AppLovin Discovery for 4 Months. Here's What Happened.

    CTC's AppLovin specialist Connaugh is back four months after our first episode on the platform to break down what's actually working. Discovery campaigns are averaging 284% incrementality, 45-60 second video creative is where the spend goes, and the tactical playbook is starting to take shape. If you're running an 8-figure ecommerce brand and haven't tested AppLovin yet, this episode makes the case for why you should. Topics covered: AppLovin's new Discovery campaign type and how it differs from Prospecting Incrementality test results: 284% average on Discovery vs. 141-150% on Prospecting Why 45-60 second video creative gets 44% of total AppLovin spend The creative set hack for granular reporting How to drip new creative without tanking performance Product catalog segmentation by campaign CTC's $5K spend match partnership with AppLovin Key stat: Discovery campaigns are driving 85-90% completely new visitor traffic with 190% incrementality (excluding outliers). Show Notes: Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two months Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    21 min

  4. May 21

    Consumer Confidence vs Rising Oil Prices

    In this episode, Steve Rekuc breaks down the latest DTC Index findings showing 14.5% revenue growth year-over-year, even as brands face margin pressure. We dive into Mother's Day performance data and what it signals for Memorial Day and Father's Day spending patterns. Topics Covered: 14.5% revenue increase with only 2% AMER decline   Mother's Day performance and Memorial Day predictions   Why discounting is down year-over-year   Amazon cannibalization testing methodology   TikTok Shops incrementality analysis   Macro trends affecting consumer confidence   Oil prices and their impact on DTC margins   Key Insight: Brands increased ad spend 18% while maintaining near-flat acquisition efficiency - showing significantly improved spending power in the current market. Show Notes: Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two months Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    18 min

  5. May 19

    What We Learned at the 2026 Meta Summit

    We just got back from the 2026 Meta Performance Marketing Summit, and the biggest takeaway wasn't a single feature or tool. It was the realization that the brands growing the fastest right now are operating in two completely different worlds at the same time. Luke Austin breaks down everything we saw, heard, and learned at this year's summit. From Meta's push to make conversion lift studies the backbone of a broader measurement discipline, to the explosive growth of TikTok shops and the creator-led strategies that are reshaping how brands think about growth entirely. In this episode: What Meta revealed about their measurement roadmap at the summit How the best brands are building a layered measurement practice with MMM, geo-holdouts, and always-on conversion lift studies Why TikTok shops has already leapfrogged Walmart.com as a sales channel Meta's upcoming Instagram competitor to TikTok shops The shift from media spend-first to creator investment-first growth Why the brands crushing it right now are mastering both measurement discipline and creator chaos Show Notes: Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign. Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    19 min

  6. May 14

    Stop Gambling on Creative - Use This 6-Pillar Assessment Framework

    In this episode, Richard sits down with Ian Jordan, VP of Private Equity Partnerships at CTC, to unveil our brand new Creative Assessment Quiz. This 6-pillar framework helps 7-9 figure brands move from placing bets to making strategic investments in creative production. Key Topics Covered: The 6 pillars of creative production assessment Why volume and velocity create more shots on goal How Meta's entity ID system impacts creative diversity Moving from cost center to supply chain mindset Production system maturity and feedback loops Expected value vs production cost calculations Key Insight: Only 3.5% of total ads drive 80% of revenue, but you need volume to find those outliers. Take the Quiz: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/creative-assessment Show Notes: Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two months Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    28 min

  7. May 12

    TikTok Shop, Incrementality, and the New Growth Playbook

    Every satisfied customer creates demand you never see. It spills across Meta, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and your DTC site, and most brands have no system for tracking it, let alone capturing it. In this episode, Luke Austin introduces the ecommerce Demand Cascade: a framework for understanding how demand flows across media channels and sales channels, and why optimizing just one leaves money everywhere else. We cover: The two pillars of the Demand Cascade: media channels vs. sales/distribution channels Why Meta's 120% incrementality factor is just the starting point How 20-50% of demand created on DTC spills over to Amazon TikTok Shop as a demand creation engine, not just a sales channel The creator-driven growth mechanism fueling TikTok Shop Why brands throttle growth by ignoring cross-channel halo effects CTC's new TikTok Shop service offering Stop optimizing channels in isolation. Start capturing the full cascade. Show Notes: Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two months Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    26 min

  8. May 7

    Why Your Ads Aren't Working

    You're spending $20 per ad and it's not working. You think you need more creative volume. But the real problem? You don't have your customer journey figured out. In this episode, Joy Sharma breaks down why 7-figure brands get stuck, and it's almost never a creative problem. He shares the exact formula CTC uses to diagnose and fix growth for emerging brands, and why testing inside marketing moments (not evergreen) changes everything. The Formula: (Landing Pages + Offers + Creative) ^ Customer Journey ^ Moments What You'll Learn: Why 8-figure brands seem to have "better ads" (they don't, they have better offers)The AOV vs Conversion Rate graph that tells you if you're winning or losingWhy you should NEVER test offers in evergreenThe 4-peak monthly strategy for 7-figure brandsHow to use marketing moments as free testing containersWhy CRO doesn't matter until you hit ~$30MShow Notes: Go to https://www.chargeflow.io/ and use CF30 to recover chargebacks free for 30 days. Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    32 min
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4.9
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72 Ratings

About

2020 transformed the world of ecommerce forever. For the modern DTC brand, the rewards have never been greater. But the waters have also never been choppier, and the way forward has never been more uncertain. So how do you navigate this dangerous new reality? No matter how you do it, you’d better not do it alone. That’s where the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast comes in — join Common Thread Collective’s Taylor Holiday & Richard Gaffin as they bring you guiding insights from across CTC’s portfolio of growing DTC businesses. Whether you need a clear view on the macro issues affecting the world of ecommerce, or want to reorient your business around groundbreaking new big-picture strategies, Taylor & Richard are here to help answer the tough questions about what it takes to scale — and sustain — an ecommerce business.

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