In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout Dean Salakas, CEO and Chief Party Dude at The Party People. Going online in 1999, Dean and his brother are leaders in the party space with a physical store and over 30 team members. Dean is and has been a figurehead in the Australian eCommerce industry for many years and it was a delight to have him finally join us on Add To Cart. We actually lined up this chat while on the dance floor at the Online Retail Awards.  But despite knowing Dean for some time, I always pick up something new every time we talk.

Links from the episode:

Flora and Fauna

I’m a retailer, here’s how to pitch to me, by Dean Salakas

Catch of The Decade by Gabby Leibovich

Clowns, Sharks and eCommerce: The Party People Story | #216

Questions answered in the podcast:

• What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? 
• Who is your favourite retailer? 
• Which retail fad do you wish was history?
• Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? 
• Finish this sentence.  The future of retail is… 

This episode was brought to you by…

eSuite

About your co-host: Dean Salakas from The Party People

In 2007 Dean and his brother took over the family business.  Today they have over 40 employees, operate the market leader for party supplies online and also have two bricks and mortar stores, one of which is Australia’s largest.  For the last two years, Dean has been named in the Internet Retailing Top 50 People in Ecommerce and the Australian Retail Association Retail Leader of The Year

You can contact Dean at LinkedIn

About your host: Nathan Bush from eSuite

Nathan Bush is a digital strategist, Co-founder of eCommerce talent agency, eSuite and host of the Add to Cart podcast. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.

Please contact us if you: 

• Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor 
• Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host 
• Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart better

Email [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Iris Smit, founder and CEO of The Quick Flick, a cosmetics brand selling online and with major retailers such as The Iconic, Priceline and Coles.  An architecture graduate with a fondness for coding websites, Iris created a winged eyeliner stamp to help customers who struggled, like she did, to nail that look and The Quick Flick range has grown to include sunscreen and brow products.  In this chat, Iris tells us all about her experiments with BeReal, what she hates about the beauty industry and how she had the last laugh with some negative publicity.

Links from the episode:

The Quick Flick

The Neck Photo 

Packleo (sponsored)

Shopify Plus and Incu (sponsored)

Questions answered:

• What new customer acquisition channels have been working well for you this year? 
• What’s the secret for DTC brands to secure win-win deals with retailers?
• What would you change about the beauty industry?

This episode was brought to you by…  

Packleo

Shopify Plus

About your host: Nathan Bush from eSuite

Nathan Bush is a digital strategist, Co-founder of eCommerce talent agency, eSuite and host of the Add to Cart podcast. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.

About your co-host: Iris Smit from The Quick Flick

An architecture graduate by trade, Iris Smit is more than your traditional entrepreneur. Her vision and success is taking the beauty and cosmetics industry by storm with her two rapidly growing brands The Quick Flick and Beauty Fridge.  After founding The Quick Flick in 2017, Iris has taken huge strides to challenge the perception of traditional beauty marketed within the industry.

You can contact Iris at LinkedIn

Please contact us if you: 

• Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor 
• Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host 
• Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart better

Email [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout Andy Evans, Co-founder of humii, who combine cutting edge technology with real human analysis to evaluate a retailer’s customer experience and provide valuable insights. With around 200 retailers onboard including Rebel Sport, Lovisa and The Iconic, humii take the mystery out of nailing an amazing customer experience using over 150 metrics. 

Links from the episode:

Rube Goldberg Brew Machine

Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chang

Mystery Shopping for eCommerce: The humii Story | #214

Questions answered in the podcast:

• What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? 
• Who is your favourite retailer? 
• Which retail fad do you wish was history?
• Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? 
• Finish this sentence.  The future of retail is… 

This episode was brought to you by…

eSuite

About your co-host: Andy Evans from humii

Software engineer, ex-IBM and Deloitte consultant and now co-founder at humii (www.humii.co) where we’re harnessing real human insights to help retailers move the needle on customer experience. Passionate about customer experience, building great teams, innovation through technology, and above all else - enjoying what I do.

You can contact Andy at LinkedIn

About your host: Nathan Bush from eSuite

Nathan Bush is a digital strategist, Co-founder of eCommerce talent agency, eSuite and host of the Add to Cart podcast. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.

Please contact us if you: 

• Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor 
• Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host 
• Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart better

Email [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Shauli Mizrahi, CTO & Co-Founder at Rep AI - the first AI-powered shop assistant for e-commerce websites to increase sales and enhance customer experience. Fully integrated with product feeds and third party app, Rep AI won’t just answer your questions, but guide customers on a discovery process - and even let them check out from within the chat. The Rep AI team has just set up in Australia and Shauli has invited an Australian Rep AI client along to share how they use the tool…to sell sexual wellness. They are always my favourite episodes - don’t judge me. Fiona Scrymgeour is the General Manager of Marketing at Vush - a sexual wellness brand working to change the conversation around some of the most natural things in the world; pleasure, bodies, and self love. Seems like the kind of conversation that is made for chatbots right? Fiona shares with us some of the most common customer service issues that Vush experience and all the ways that Rep AI have been able to add value that she hasn’t seen in other chat solutions.  

Links from the episode:

Rep AI

Vush

Gorgias

Yotpo

Questions answered:

• How does Rep differ from a conventional chatbot?
• How do you create a product that services clients across a range of categories?
• How do retailers measure success with Rep?

This episode was brought to you by…  

Rep AI

About your co-hosts:

Shauli Mizrahi from Rep AI

Co-founder and CTO of Rep AI, reshaping the way customers shop online with conversational AI. Formerly leading the R&D of Browsi, an ad-tech startup that is creating AI, working with the most cutting edge technologies and handling over 50M daily users and a massive scale of data.  Over 7 years of experience in R&D management.  Over 17 years of experience in software development.  A graduate of the prestigious IDF MAMRAM program for software development.  Strong knowledge in architectural design for scalable systems using cloud based solutions.  Specialties: R&D management and team leading, JAVA/Scala web application programming and software design, NoSql and Big data, Cloud architecture.

You can contact Shauli at LinkedIn

Fiona Scrymgeour from Vush

A highly experienced, results orientated and innovative Marketing Director with a reputation for sound strategic thinking, planning and visionary leadership. Extensive experience in brand redesign, master-brand strategy and execution, communications & digital marketing that builds brands & businesses. Fiona delivers an entrepreneurial style & thinking within an organisation driving brand equity, market share and profitable results.

You can contact Fiona at LinkedIn

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Greg Taylor, who has made it his business to ensure that no man - or woman -  has to suffer the discomfort of conventional underwear’s main drawbacks - chafing, riding up and…dare I say it out loud…sweaty bits.  Greg is the Founder and CEO of Step One, a brand that has reached cult status making comfortable, functional and ethical jocks.  The company, valued at 60 million has gone from zero to six per cent of the men’s underwear market since it launched in 2017 and has recently expanded to make a range for women.  In this chat, Greg shares the problem that led him on a journey into underpant design, the tricks he’s learned for making sure manufacturing is truly ethical and why he’s pretty happy he didn’t end up with free underwear for life.

Links from the episode:

The Fable

Shopify Plus (sponsored)

Packleo (sponsored) 

Questions answered:

• Why did you start an underwear brand?
• What’s the most important thing when ensuring your product is truly ethically made?
• What’s your approach to hiring staff?

This episode was brought to you by…  

Shopify Plus

Packleo

About your host: Nathan Bush from eSuite

Nathan Bush is a digital strategist, Co-founder of eCommerce talent agency, eSuite and host of the Add to Cart podcast. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.

About your co-host: Greg Taylor from Step One

A born entrepreneur, Greg Taylor has always had a mind for competition. In his youth, he was a national rower, representing Australia three times. This competitive drive helped motivate him in the business world. Created in 2017, Step One was created with the goal to make the most functional, comfortable, sustainable and ethically made underwear on the market. 

You can contact Greg at LinkedIn

Please contact us if you: 

• Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor 
• Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host 
• Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart better

Email [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout Beth Glancey, GM of ANZ at AirRobe.  Beth left LVMH and the corporate world of luxury behind to join AirRobe, a technology startup connecting consumers and brands to the re-commerce market in one click.  With AirRobe, customers get to create a circular wardrobe to which they can add beautiful pieces, then rent, recycle or resell them in the future with ease.  It’s pretty cool - all your fashion assets in one place and the ability to give them another life. Leading retailers like The Iconic, Oroton and PE Nation are already partnering with AirRobe to drive an average basket uplift of 30% for brands and retailers. 

Links from the episode:

Good Groceries

Farfetch

The Iconic

Radical Candor by Kim Scott

Let’s F***ing Go! The AirRobe Story | #210

Questions answered in the podcast:

• What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? 
• Who is your favourite retailer? 
• Which retail fad do you wish was history?
• Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? 
• Finish this sentence.  The future of retail is… 

This episode was brought to you by…

eSuite

About your co-host: Beth Glancey from AirRobe

Beth is a high energy, high impact retail executive with proven ability to build, lead and motivate high performing teams. She has over 15 years experience in retail executive roles – across General Management, eCommerce, Operations and Marketing.  Today, she is The GM of AirRobe, helping brands enter the circular economy, keeping fashion out of landfill. Game changer. 

You can contact Beth at LinkedIn

About your host: Nathan Bush from eSuite

Nathan Bush is a digital strategist, Co-founder of eCommerce talent agency, eSuite and host of the Add to Cart podcast. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.

Please contact us if you: 

• Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor 
• Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host 
• Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart better

Email [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Jake and Jess Munday, Co founders of Custom Neon, who make and sell LED neon signs in any size, shape and colour you like.   Starting out as a side hustle on Instagram, the company now sell around 400 signs a week, has offices in the UK, Australia and the USA and their client list includes Elon Musk and Kylie and Kendall Jenner.  In this chat, Jake and Jess give us the low down on all things neon, including the naked variety, how a pricey piece of marketing they call ‘the big video’ has paid off and how they managed to get into Paris Hilton’s DMs. 

Links from the episode:

Country Road

Cotton On

Typo

Platypus

Sunglasses Hut

Custom Neon ad

True South Film

Packleo (sponsored)

Shopify Plus and Black Friday (sponsored)

Questions answered:

• What’s been the biggest challenge in scaling from side hustle to an 18m dollar business?
• How do you maintain quality when you offer custom products?
• How did you go about creating your latest impressive advertisement?

This episode was brought to you by…  

Packleo

Shopify Plus

About your co-hosts: 

Jake from Custom Neon

Co-founder and CEO at Custom Neon, Jake is an experienced, commercially astute, and vision-driven professional with 10+years of sales and business development and entrepreneurial growth in renowned and reputed retail businesses. 

You can contact Jake at LinkedIn

Jess from Custom Neon

Co-founder at Custom Neon with a demonstrated history of working in the retail industry. A background in HR and recruitment. Strong business development professional with a Bachelor of Management (Human Resources) focused in Human Resource Management from University of South Australia.

Please contact us if you: 

• Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor 
• Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host 
• Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart better

Email [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout professional sun chasers, Dani Atkins and Alex Babich.  These two are the married founders of Kulani Kinis - a swimwear label inspired by Hawaiian life, summer and a love of colour. And they are taking the world by storm. Not only are they selling over $20m of bikinis with their team of 40, they are selling 80% of their product outside of Australia. 

Links from the episode:

Princess Polly

Pura Vida

Stonyfield Yoghurt: Gary Hirshberg

Chasing the Sun: The Kulani Kinis Story | #208

Questions answered in the podcast:

• What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? 
• Who is your favourite retailer? 
• Which retail fad do you wish was history?
• Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? 
• Finish this sentence.  The future of retail is… 

This episode was brought to you by…

eSuite

About your co-hosts:

Dani & Alex from Kulani Kinis:

Dani & Alex are a wife & husband Co-founder couple who transitioned from their traditional careers (psychologist & accountant) to chase the sun & build a multimillion dollar swimwear brand.

You can contact Danielle Atkins at LinkedIn

You can contact Alex Babich at LinkedIn

About your host: Nathan Bush from eSuite

Nathan Bush is a digital strategist, Co-founder of eCommerce talent agency, eSuite and host of the Add to Cart podcast. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.

Please contact us if you: 

• Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor 
• Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host 
• Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart better

Email [email protected] We look forward to hearing from you!

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode of Add to Cart was our very first LIVE event. Brought to you by Convert Digital, we held an event for 150 of the best retailers and minds in eCommerce at Brisbane’s beautiful Howard Smith Wharves.  Nathan was lucky enough to be joined by Athan Didaskalou the co-founder of July, a luggage brand re-inventing the wheel and more to create lightweight, beautiful and practical cases that are ruffling the feathers of industry leaders like Samsonite.  Regularly seen on the arms of personalities like Chrissy Teigen, Celeste Barber and Apple Martin and as the official luggage partner of the Olympics and Commonwealth Games, the Australian brand continues to grow.  During our live chat, Athan shares his unique organic PR tips, predictions around experiential retail and a portable way to stay connected the team at July are working on. 

Links from the episode:

Porter Bags

The Ritz Carlton

Andrew Waite - Founder & Managing Partner @ Convert Digital 

Rhiannon Davies - Client Strategy Manager @ Andzen

James Guerin - Strategic Partnerships Manager @ Klaviyo

Joe Fox - VP of Partnerships @ Reviews.io

Joshua Haines - Partner Manager ANZ @ ShipStation

Jasper Koolen - Senior Strategic Partner Manager @ Gorgias

About your co-host: Athan Didaskalou from July

A leading regular commentator on consumer trends, business strategy and innovation, Athan Didaskalou is an Australian entrepreneur and the co-founder of direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand July.   With a background in brand strategy, Athan co-founded July in early 2019 with Richard Li to create a brand that people have affinity with at every consumer touchpoint. Launching with a single luggage product, the Carry-On, the brand has since grown to include a multitude of travel accessories and launched in the USA in 2021.

You can contact Athan at LinkedIn

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Bettina McLeod, Founder and CEO of Try@Home, a digital platform allowing brands to offer their customers a way to touch, feel and of course try on products from the comfort of their own lounge room.  With a background in buying and selling eCommerce businesses, Bettina realised that much loved quality brands were missing out on sales because their customers hadn’t been able to get their hands, quite literally, on their products.  By developing the tech to support this process, Bettina and the team at Try@Home have seen average order value increases of up to 88% for brands such as Sirens Swimwear, one of the early adopters.  In this chat, Bettina shares why she believes customers don’t want a refund, they just want service, how her team developed an influencer feature and how Try@Home is gearing up to send everyone’s favourite Aussie brands to lounge rooms all over the world!

Links from the episode:

Try@Home

Aus Mumpreneur 

Sirens Swimwear

Billy Cart Kids

Shopify Plus Black Friday (sponsored)

Packleo (sponsored)

Questions answered:

• How did you come up with the Try@Home model idea?
• How does Try@Home increase conversion?
• What is the eCommerce talent market like on the Gold Coast where you are based?

This episode was brought to you by…  

Shopify Plus

Packleo

About your co-host: Bettina McLeod from Try@Home

Bettina McLeod is a visionary leader who blends operational systems and marketing to better the lifestyle and experiences of others. With an entrepreneurial spark that began at the age of 14, Bettina challenged the status quo by leaving school early and diving straight into business. She quickly learnt that trading hours for time was not a winning situation, and in order to create the lifestyle she wanted; she would need to become her own boss. This mindset led her into 25+ years of business as a multi-passionate entrepreneur before becoming a leader in lifestyle businesses.  Throughout the years, Bettina has built, grown and transformed numerous brands. She has a strategist background, loves to problem solve, and is the current owner of 2 businesses, a stunning 1950-60s swimwear label,  called Sirens Swimwear and her new technology platform Try@Home.

You can contact Bettina at LinkedIn

If you want to keep learning in eCommerce, make sure you hit the follow button!

Thanks to our sponsors, Shopify and Klaviyo, for bringing you the show.

Connect With Us

Visit the website for more learning resources and join the ATC Community.

Join us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/add-to-cart

Join us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/addtocartshow/

Sponsor Add To Cart: https://addtocart.com.au/sponsor/

Contact Nathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathbush/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.