Ecom Experiences

Justin Silver is the Co-founder of AAVRANI, a science-backed hair and skin care brand. As an investor turned business owner, he has experience growing digital-first luxury brands through e-commerce, retail, and wholesale. Justin is also a Venture Advisor for Entrepreneurship at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Venture Lab.

Launching a brand can be immensely rewarding. From transforming ideas into reality to recruiting and building a team, every day brings something new. Yet this endeavor is not without its challenges. How can you navigate the highs and lows of entrepreneurship?

With a background in building and scaling brands, Justin Silver maintains the most crucial aspect of the process is authenticity. Aligning your brand's mission with your personal values fosters customer trust and propels your brand forward. When executing a vision, ensure you guide your leaders and provide them with information to drive innovation. You must also invest in brand awareness, integrating confidence into your product messaging to influence how consumers view you in the market.

Join Samir Balwani in today's episode of Ecom Experiences as he interviews Justin Silver, the Co-founder of AAVRANI, about building a brand with integrity. Justin describes his role as Co-founder, how AAVRANI expanded to hair care, and how goal-setting accelerates leadership growth.

Summer Jubelirer is the Amazon Manager at OLLY, a vitamin and supplement company. As a seasoned e-commerce executive, she has spent the past 10 years in the space, from pioneering digital platforms to facilitating brand and agency growth. Summer is also the co-host of the Always Off Brand podcast, where she interviews leaders from various industries and shares the latest trends in the e-commerce space.

Amazon's landscape is constantly shifting, and traditional ad campaigns are no longer sufficient enough to drive revenue. How can you ensure consistent revenue growth on the platform?

eCommerce specialist Summer Jubelirer drives channel growth on Amazon, so she recognizes the importance of maintaining agility to pivot during unforeseen challenges. Since the platform is unpredictable, Summer recommends planning campaigns in advance to forecast trends and adjust accordingly. Amazon's variability also provides an opportunity to test new ideas. No matter how you navigate the landscape to propel growth, integrating your ideal customer's preferences and needs into campaigns is integral, and demonstrating your brand's stance on core issues drives trust and connection.

In this episode of Ecom Experiences, Samir Balwani speaks with Summer Jubelirer, OLLY's Amazon Manager, about revenue growth on Amazon. Summer shares her favorite aspect about OLLY, her daily responsibilities at the company, and how customers drive brand campaigns.

Martie Kuzzy is the Growth Marketing Director at NEIWAI, a DTC brand selling underwear, loungewear, and activewear. As a seasoned marketer, she was a Performance Marketing Manager and the Director of Growth Marketing at Andie, where she executed multichannel customer acquisition and pioneered emerging marketing channels. Martie is also a registered yoga teacher.

If you're considering expanding into new markets, you must reposition your brand to attract new customers. So what's involved in this process, and how can you develop new brand recognition?

Creative marketer Martie Kuzzy is spearheading an undergarment brand's expansion into the US through partnerships, events, and brand-building campaigns. She maintains that your brand identity should be unique to each market to reflect diverse customer bases. When defining your target customer for a new market, build an ideal persona based on your highest-selling product before introducing that consumer to similar products, building trust and brand loyalty. You can then analyze sales data to refine your targeting approach.

In this episode of Ecom Experiences, join Samir Balwani as he welcomes Martie Kuzzy, the Growth Marketing Director at NEIWAI, who shares how she's leading her brand into new markets. Martie talks about her journey into marketing, how NEIWAI overcomes market uncertainties, and the brand's marketing efforts for 2024.

Emma Secombe is the Director of eCommerce at Vibe Jewelry, which produces jewelry inspired by St. John and designed by local artists. She has experience in sales growth, digital marketing, product assortment planning, merchandising, and art directing. As a seasoned e-commerce director in the fashion industry, Emma has worked for brands like Mark Cross, Paul Stuart, Inc., and 3x1.

As a brand specializing in nonessential products, it can be challenging to generate brand awareness, especially in the beginning. It often requires a tactical e-commerce strategy and a willingness to learn.

With expertise in fashion and a deep knowledge of e-commerce, Emma Secombe has spearheaded e-commerce efforts for an emergent jewelry brand. Having started from scratch, she recommends prioritizing fundamental efforts that create the most impact at the lowest costs, like streamlining the checkout experience and simplifying website navigation. To gain brand recognition quickly, you can leverage influencers to promote your products and develop engaging creative campaigns with high-quality images and videos. These efforts also aid in establishing an identifiable brand story.

Tune in to this episode of Ecom Experiences as Samir Balwani meets with Emma Secombe, the Director of eCommerce at Vibe Jewelry, to talk about brand recognition and e-commerce strategies for emerging brands. Emma shares how to select influencers for a broader reach, the qualities of a sustainable brand, and her e-commerce-heavy background in the fashion industry.

Max Rudy is the Director of eCommerce at Wild Planet Foods, a large-scale, sustainably focused seafood production company. With over 20 years of experience in CPG, he is an expert in Amazon vendor management and omnichannel e-commerce strategies. Before Wild Planet Foods, Max was the Director of eCommerce at Happy Family Brands, where he scaled the company's e-commerce department from 12% to 32% in five years.

Since 65% of CPG searches begin on Amazon, brands must develop a strategy to sell their products there. What factors should you consider when positioning your brand on Amazon?

With deep involvement in CPG sales on Amazon, Max Rudy maintains that as the third largest media channel, Amazon is mainly profit-driven, and while brands may believe they're profitable on the site, many need to enhance their P&L further. To optimize profitability on Amazon, you must track revenue growth in the context of sales rather than focusing on ROAS. Driving organic traffic to your Amazon storefront will generate brand awareness, increase conversions, and create a new pipeline for product sales.

On this episode of Ecom Experiences, Samir Balwani hosts Max Rudy, the Director of eCommerce at Wild Planet Foods, to discuss integrating Amazon into your CPG e-commerce strategy. Max shares advice for marketing leaders during their first three months, what he enjoys most about his role at Wild Planet Foods, and his plans to develop targeted full-funnel marketing campaigns in 2024.

Wayne Kulkin is the Founder of StreetTrend, the parent company of P448, an Italian footwear brand. As an innovative leader, he is experienced in digital, retail, and wholesale channels. Before founding StreetTrend and P448, Wayne was the CEO of Stuart Weitzman, where he helped grow the company into an internationally renowned luxury brand with over 400 retail locations and e-commerce stores in multiple countries.

Younger generations are dominating consumerism and demanding personalized and truncated content and information. Additionally, this group has pioneered brand loyalty, so companies are competing for fleeting attention. How can you market to the new-age consumer and position your brand as an attractive option?

Footwear industry veteran and front-runner Wayne Kulkin has mastered innovation and market differentiation both in-store and online. Curating products for retail is only one aspect of the omnichannel consumer experience. eCommerce is a separate entity that requires personalizing recommendations, aligning manufacturing rates with inventory, and managing cash flow. To capture your target customer and initiate brand loyalty, Wayne recommends aligning your online and brick-and-mortar customer experiences and communicating your values and stories through social media content.

Join Samir Balwani in this episode of Ecom Experiences as he invites Wayne Kulkin, the Founder of StreetTrend, to the show to discuss how his brand is changing the customer experience. Wayne explains how he helped drive the widespread use of EDI, his career evolution in the footwear industry, and the challenges he solves with his brand.

Ali Kaminetsky is the Founder of Modern Picnic, a DTC brand offering high-end, insulated, vegan leather lunch bags for women. In 2018, she launched the brand to provide women with a chic alternative to the traditional lunch box. Modern Picnic has been featured on Shark Tank, the Today show, and Oprah and in publications, including Forbes and Vogue.

Shopify stores grew by 201% from March 2020 to January 2022, so consumers have more options than ever about where and how to spend their money. With so much saturation in the market, how can emerging brands position their products in front of consumers?

Armed with a revolutionary idea, Ali Kaminetsky took her brand concept to Shark Tank for funding opportunities. Yet the sharks insisted that Ali's high ad spend was compromising her brand's early-stage profitability. In response, she stopped investing in paid ads entirely. Ali maintains that you can still gain brand recognition and drive sales through organic efforts like creating social media content to fill the marketing funnel. You can also employ post-purchase surveys to encourage feedback and word-of-mouth marketing, fueling the next stage of brand growth.

In today's Ecom Experiences episode, Samir Balwani chats with Ali Kaminetsky, the Founder of Modern Picnic, about how she applied her lessons from Shark Tank to scale her brand. Ali provides strategies for penetrating the market, tips for new founders, and the backstory behind Modern Picnic.

Amanda Schreier is the General Manager of Global eCommerce at Sea to Summit, a leading distributor of light, compact, and rugged camping gear for every type of outdoor adventure. In her role, she manages the company's digital sales channels and warranty department. Having spent 10 years at Sea to Summit, Amanda began as a sales coordinator before launching and managing a new business venture in DTC sales.

In today's fast-paced marketing landscape, DTC and e-commerce brands must determine how to operate efficiently while increasing production and creating personalized experiences. How can you develop a strategy that integrates each initiative?

With extensive experience managing an e-commerce brand, Amanda Schreier highlights the value of offering bundles to discount and sell multiple products simultaneously. This allows brands to communicate their stories and accelerate production and sales. When conceiving and launching new innovative ventures, Amanda proposes identifying and specifying your strategic vision and assigning each team member responsibilities that align with the established goal.

Join Samir Balwani in this episode of Ecom Experiences as he hosts Amanda Schreier, the General Manager of Global eCommerce at Sea to Summit, who talks about brands' top-of-mind challenges for 2024. Amanda shares advice for launching and scaling an e-commerce business, Sea to Summit's global expansion plans, and how to balance innovation and strategy.

Chelsea Schulz is the Senior Director of Performance Marketing at ettitude, a fabric innovation company and sustainable home goods brand. With over nine years of experience in analytical marketing, she focuses on paid search and social media marketing. Before ettitude, Chelsea was the Senior Manager of Digital Marketing at LegalZoom and the Manager of Online Marketing at Match.com.

With inflation at a record high, consumers are cutting back their spending and prioritizing essential products. Consequently, luxury brands have struggled to market and sell products, even with discounts and price cuts. How can you get your products into consumers' hands without lowering prices?

As a marketing expert working for a luxury sustainable brand, Chelsea Schulz maintains the importance of specifying your target audience and developing precise messaging to drive more sales. For sustainable brands, this may entail communicating the detrimental effects of purchasing products from fast fashion brands, highlighting that by buying a higher-priced product, consumers can receive more value for their money. However, in the digital age, consumers have reduced attention spans, so brands must relay their messages in 3-5 second videos.

Tune in to this episode of Ecom Experiences as Samir Balwani sits down with Chelsea Schulz, the Senior Director of Performance Marketing at ettitude, to discuss marketing during inflationary periods and her projections for 2024. Chelsea shares advice for leading a DTC brand, her journey through marketing and e-commerce, and ettitude's plans for 2024.

Cameron Aroz is the Director of Growth at Fellow, a product design company selling kettles, grinders, french presses, mugs, and specialty coffee. With over a decade of experience managing and scaling successful growth marketing programs, he focuses on user acquisition. Cameron specializes in building frameworks to help brands understand the value of their marketing investments.

With a looming economic recession, demand has declined, consumer behavior has shifted, and marketing data has become increasingly difficult to forecast. With so much uncertainty in the market, how can you profit from your marketing efforts?

As a growth marketer, Cameron Aroz understands how to shift marketing efforts from cost centers to profitable growth drivers. When measuring campaigns, he advises identifying your campaign goals, the corresponding channels, ideal messaging, and measurement methods. By correlating your measurements with your desired efforts, you can assess engagement and awareness at the top of the marketing funnel and validate your investments.

On today's episode of Ecom Experiences, Samir Balwani welcomes his first guest, Cameron Aroz, the Director of Growth at Fellow, for a discussion about growth marketing. Cameron talks about how he prioritizes growth initiatives, how new marketing directors can prepare for the 2024 landscape, and generative AI's potential and limitations in creative campaigns.