| THE INTRO

Real talk… is ecom just really expensive guessing? Are we all just playing an economic game of pin the tail on the donkey? When you put it like that it’s kinda funny. Like, on the one hand, there’s most of us. Average pin the tail on the donkey players. Then there’s ELITE level players, the likes of which grace the sections in this newsletter.

Funny when you think about it.. or is it just me?

| TWEET OF THE WEEK

You’ve been scaling, but are you scaling smart?

Taylor Holiday just dropped a framework that grades your growth across strategy, margin, media, and management → and most brands are flunking at least one.

Get clarity, find your blind spots, and see what growth should look like.

→ Click for the full article

| YOUTUBE UNIVERSITY

The Power of Brand Focus and Niche Markets with Rob Fraser

| TOGETHER WITH YUZU

Most retention playbooks focus on email, SMS, or direct mail - but one of the highest-ROI opportunities is the one most brands overlook: the unboxing.

Meet Yuzu.

We help brands like MOTH, Fresh Sends, and Homecourt turn packaging into a personalized, high-performance marketing channel - with dynamic inserts that print automatically on-site at your 3PL or warehouse, triggered in real-time as orders are packed.

🎯 Convert one-time customers into loyal fans with personalized inserts

🎯 Launch automated flows for gifting, referrals, subscriptions, and more

🎯 Print in seconds with no manual work - just set it and scale

It feels like magic. But it’s built for operations.

✅ Best Swimwear drove 15x ROI on retention campaigns

✅ MOTH Drinks supercharged their referral program

✅ FreshSends unlocked $250K in revenue and saved their ops team 50 days

Ready to get started?

📍 Explore the Yuzu platform > start building your first print templates in minutes

📍 Book a free 20-min consultation > explore how package inserts can complement your retention strategy and deliver meaningful ROI in weeks

| QUICK SHOTS

Alex Greifeld: Most of you are going to hate this one, but the fastest growing DTC businesses I’ve worked with own their own factories.

Josh Suggs: It's really hard to fake passion. Whenever I've hired someone that became an A player. They were always eager to get started, asked a ton of questions, and implemented feedback immediately…

Gavin McKew: Shopify’s new Catalog API has quietly gone live, with Perplexity AI as the first announced partner. This is a huge deal.

Cody Plofker: It's almost as if my best employees before AI are the best ones with it.

Ashley Wright: You can’t expect your ROAS on TikTok Shop to match META.

| HERE FOR THE MEMES

| AND IN OTHER NEWS…

| GET LINKED

| RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE & SERVICES

• Doss is an adaptive ERP that connects your fragmented systems and data into a single source of truth for orders, inventory, procurement, and finance. Skip the lengthy implementations, massive upfront costs, and business disruption of traditional ERPs. Go live in weeks with free implementation and start scaling immediately. Book a demo.]

• Sick of your influencer program being held up by duct-tape, spreadsheets and a prayer? If every part of your influencer program feels hard, make it easier with Modash, the influencer marketing platform built for Shopify stores. Run paid partnerships, gifting, and affiliates all in one place. Starts from $199/month. Try for free - no credit card required!

• Your bank wasn’t built for eCom. Highbeam is. Traditional banks offer clunky software, slow support, and zero return on idle cash. Highbeam is for brands doing $500k+ on Shopify, Amazon, and more. No account fees, no wire charges, automated cash tools, yield on idle cash, and smart credit. Everything you need to run a leaner eCom business. Explore Highbeam for Merchants.

| STAT ATTACK

| THE OUTRO

Here’s hoping the tips and trickeroos in this issue saved you some money this week. Until next time!

💪 Workspace6

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