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. 2D AGO

    How OLLY Built a Retention Engine for a Brand Sold Everywhere

    Acquisition is getting tighter! In this episode, we flip the script and talk about the lever most brands under-invest in: retention + lifecycle marketing. Taylor is joined by Jennifer Peters, Director of DTC, MarTech & Digital Compliance at OLLY (a Unilever brand), to break down how they think about keeping customers coming back when the brand is sold everywhere — from Target and Walmart to their own DTC site. We get into what retention really means beyond “subscription,” how to message customers when you don’t want to channel-shift them, and how OLLY is using loyalty (including receipt scanning) to better understand in-store shoppers. What you’ll learn: How OLLY drives retention across DTC + retail Email vs SMS strategy, plus segmentation that prevents “list blasting” Using loyalty + receipt scanning to understand in-store shoppers Setting smarter KPIs for promos, launches, and content Why they chose Attentive, how they handled ESP migration, and where AI actually helps The first retention moves: audit flows, refresh creative, nail the basics If you’re running ecommerce for a consumable, CPG, or multi-channel brand, this is a must-watch for building a retention engine that actually scales. Show Notes: See how Attentive helps connect people and the brands they love.: https://bit.ly/4ag8oEJ Explore the PROPHIT System: http://prophitsystem.com The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    33 min

  2. 4D AGO

    224 Calls Later… This One Problem Showed Up Everywhere

    In this episode, Richard and Luke unpack a pattern they couldn’t ignore after running 224 sales call transcripts through an LLM: The #1 issue mid-market ecommerce brands face isn’t that performance is down… it’s that they don’t know why performance is happening. And when you don’t trust the numbers, you can’t trust the decisions. Luke walks through a painfully familiar weekly business review scenario—multiple agencies, multiple dashboards, multiple “versions of the truth”—where 80% of the meeting is spent trying to figure out what’s actually going on, and almost none of it translates into confident action. What you’ll learn in this episode: Why brands don’t hire help because results are bad—they hire because clarity is missing The hidden cost of “dashboard chaos” (and why more stakeholders often makes it worse) The 3-step framework to go from confusion → clarity → action: Why incrementality (geo holdouts) is the gold standard when ROAS debates never end How to sanity-check your “real-time” metrics against your closed P&L (and what variance is acceptable) They also tease what they’ve been building to solve this problem end-to-end: a higher-capacity operator role designed to reduce complexity and speed up decisions—so your team spends less time arguing about numbers and more time changing outcomes. If you’re leading growth at a brand in the $10M–$100M range and your team spends more time debating performance than improving it, this one will hit home. 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 System: http://prophitsystem.com The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    31 min

  3. FEB 12

    The $1M → $10M Ecom Growth Map

    Scaling a DTC brand from $1M → $10M isn’t about finding more “hacks,” it’s about focusing on the right growth lever at the right revenue stage. In this episode, Richard and Joy, break down a practical “one move per stage” roadmap for scaling through seven figures into eight. What you’ll learn in this video $1M → $2M: Why creative volume is the unlock (and why the benchmark is ~100 ads/month) $2M → $3M: Build a marketing calendar (one marketing moment per month) to create “reasons to buy” beyond evergreen $3M → $4M: The stage where brands stagnate most: offer market fit + offer testing (and why it’s so industry-dependent) $4M → $5M: Creative again—but at a different level (think 100 ads/week) $5M → $6M: Product development for LTV (front-end vs back-end products, subscription angles, upsell paths) $6M → $7M: When “tactics” finally matter—international expansion, audience expansion, email, CS, and other incremental edges $7M → $8M: Why media buying becomes bespoke (your account structure should reflect what’s working: promos, whitelisting, LP testing, subscription, etc.) $10M+: The real unlock becomes people—why one A-player operator can outperform 10 average hires The big takeaway Most brands don’t need more noise—they need ruthless prioritization. The fastest path to $10M is doing the right thing for your stage, deeply, before moving on. Show Notes: See how Attentive helps connect people and the brands they love.: https://bit.ly/4ag8oEJ Explore the PROPHIT System: http://prophitsystem.com The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    41 min

  4. FEB 10

    Stop Guessing Your Ecommerce Budget

    In this episode, Richard and Luke break down the system we use to help 8-figure ecommerce brands stop guessing and start making confident decisions about budget, creative, and channel investment. They walk through the three core models that answer the questions every operator wrestles with: How much should we actually spend right now? How much creative do we need to support that spend? Which channels should we test next — and why? You’ll learn how to spot when additional ad spend becomes a bad trade, how to plan creative volume around real marketing moments (not vibes), and how to prioritize incrementality testing based on potential revenue impact — not opinion or politics. If your team would answer these questions differently depending on who you ask, this episode is for you. What we cover: How to identify when ad spend stops being efficient The Spending Power Model and how it sets real budget caps How creative volume directly affects performance and efficiency A practical framework for planning moment-based vs evergreen creative How to prioritize channel tests using incrementality ranges Why “waiting for perfect data” is often more dangerous than acting If you’re running or advising an 8-figure ecommerce brand and want a clearer way to allocate budget, plan creative, and make smarter growth decisions — this episode lays out the playbook. Show Notes: Get Dataships' free A/B test: https://www.dataships.io/demo Explore the PROPHIT System: http://prophitsystem.com The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    42 min

  5. FEB 5

    When AI Knows Everything, How Do You Decide Anything?

    AI promised clarity. Instead, it delivered information overload. In this episode, we unpack what happens when AI gives ecommerce teams more data than they can reasonably act on, dashboards multiplying, forecasts diverging, tests contradicting each other, and decisions getting harder instead of easier. Taylor and Andrew talk through: Why AI surfaces problems faster than it solves them How “more insight” can actually paralyze operators The limits of forecasting, incrementality, and optimization at scale Where human judgment still matters, and always will What ecommerce leaders should focus on when the data stops agreeing This isn’t an anti-AI conversation. It’s a reality check. Because the competitive advantage isn’t knowing more, it’s knowing what to ignore, what to trust, and when to act. Show Notes: See how Attentive helps connect people and the brands they love.: https://bit.ly/4ag8oEJ Explore the PROPHIT System: http://prophitsystem.com The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    1h 24m

  6. FEB 3

    Agentic Commerce Is Here and It Changes Everything

    In this episode, Richard and Tony break down what agentic commerce actually is, why Shopify and Google’s Universal Commerce Protocol matters, and how AI-driven shopping is quietly replacing traditional websites, checkout flows, and even ads. Instead of customers clicking through pages, filtering products, and checking out manually, AI agents are beginning to discover products, compare options, negotiate price, and complete purchases on behalf of users. That shift has massive implications for marketers, founders, and operators. You’ll Learn: What agentic commerce really means (beyond the buzzwords) Why product data feeds are becoming the foundation of modern commerce How Shopify’s agentic checkout connects AI directly to your catalog What this means for SEO, paid media, and brand discovery Why reviews, social proof, and product structure matter more than ever How platforms like Meta are making everything shoppable What marketers should be paying attention to right now to stay ahead This episode isn’t about hype—it’s about understanding the infrastructure changes shaping the next era of e-commerce and how to prepare before it becomes the default. Show Notes: See how Attentive helps connect people and the brands they love.: https://bit.ly/4ag8oEJ Explore the PROPHIT System: http://prophitsystem.com The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    30 min

  7. JAN 29

    How our Prophit System Forecasts Creative Volume

    Creative strategy doesn’t fail because of bad ideas, it fails because it isn’t operationalized. In this episode, we break down how the Prophit System forecasts creative volume and turns creative production into a predictable, accountable growth lever. Using a real client example, we walk through how creative demand is modeled against spend targets, why most brands under-produce creative, and how forecasting creative volume eliminates fire drills, guesswork, and performance decay. We cover: How the Prophit System calculates monthly creative volume Why scaling spend without a creative forecast breaks efficiency The Creative Demand Model and creative scoring framework How evergreen creative stabilizes performance How persona-driven ads and AI accelerate creative execution Operationalizing creative across internal teams and external vendors Using creative forecasts to plan 12 months ahead — not react week to week If your team is stuck in reactive creative cycles or struggling to scale efficiently, this episode shows how forecasting creative output — not just media spend — changes the outcome. Show Notes: Get Dataships' free A/B test: https://www.dataships.io/demo Explore the PROPHIT System: http://prophitsystem.com The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    39 min

  8. JAN 27

    Why Real Growth Comes From Accountability, Not Tools

    Most teams chase growth by adding new tools, dashboards, and AI. But real, durable growth doesn’t come from software, it comes from accountability. In this video, Taylor breaks down why growth stalls when no one owns the outcome, how daily operating rhythms turn forecasts into action, and what it actually takes to build a system that compounds over time. You’ll see why repetition beats reinvention, how strong teams close performance gaps faster, and why confronting friction is a prerequisite for real growth. You’ll learn: Why tools and AI don’t create growth without clear ownership How accountability turns forecasts into daily action The operating rhythm behind predictable, repeatable growth Why most growth systems break in the real world How clarity, capacity, and accountability work together to scale If you’re a founder, operator, or marketing leader tired of chasing the next tool, this is how real growth actually gets built. Show Notes: Get Dataships' free A/B test: https://www.dataships.io/demo Explore the PROPHIT System: http://prophitsystem.com The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

    13 min
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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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