Ecommerce Conversations

We've followed the growth of BK Beauty since its launch seven years ago. Paul Jauregui co-founded the direct-to-consumer cosmetics brand in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Lisa. 

Host Eric Bandholz has interviewed him multiple times since then.

The company had hit $1 million in first-year revenue when they first spoke in 2020. Then in 2023, Paul shared the business's early wins with TikTok Shop, a new marketplace.

The potential U.S. ban of TikTok in 2025 contributed to BK Beauty moving away. But the hiatus was short-lived.

In this latest conversation, Paul addresses the company's return to the platform, success with Ulta Beauty, and more.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/bk-beauty-doubles-down-on-tiktok-shop

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

How does an ecommerce entrepreneur land a Netflix series? Not easily. Just ask John Roman.

He co-launched BattlBox, an outdoor gear company, in 2015. Its YouTube channel eventually caught the eye of producers who turned it into a Netflix series. The process was long, uneven, and stressful.

Along the way, the founders sold BattlBox and bought it back.

He shares his journey in this episode.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/battlboxs-path-from-youtube-to-netflix

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Jeromy Sonne is a Facebook ads pro turned fraud detection expert. His firm, Daypart, advises agencies and big-spend advertisers on the accuracy and legitimacy of their campaigns.

Ad fraud, he says, can mean billed bot impressions, scam offers, and even money laundering, adding that the problem is worse on programmatic networks than on siloed platforms such as Meta and Google.

In this episode, he addresses the reality of today's ad fraud and how advertisers prevent and detect it.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/ad-fraud-expert-on-scams-bots-spoofs

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Sarah Levinger consults with ecommerce brands on marketing psychology. She says shoppers' emotions drive ad performance, and success comes from aligning messaging with those feelings.

She did that with a D2C maker of hop-flavored teas, lowering acquisition cost by 30%. She shares that example and other ad tactics in this episode.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/emotion-led-ads-cut-costs-30

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com

Nabeel Azeez runs a Dubai-based email marketing agency with clients in ecommerce, SaaS, and more. He emphasizes engagement-based segmentation and high frequency, sending for one client eight emails per day, each to a unique segment.

In this episode, he shares his methods for driving revenue from ecommerce emails, including unorthodox views such as the open rate is a vanity metric and never unsubscribe dormant recipients.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/email-pro-open-rate-is-a-vanity-metric

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Brett Fish sees a lot of wasted ad spend. His company, TagHero, tracks clients' advertising performance on platforms such as Meta, Google Ads, and TikTok. He says the platforms are merely algorithms that respond to data. Good data leads to good results. Bad data wastes money, a kind of "garbage in, garbage out."

In this episode, Brett addresses common ad setup errors, optimization opportunities, campaign management tools, and more.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/a-top-cause-of-wasted-ad-spend

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com

Sean Stone advises ecommerce merchants to adopt a one-two punch for growth. Punch one is developing a profitable, branded website. Punch two is converting the likely spillover traffic on Amazon.

That tactic inspired the name of Sean’s latest agency, Spillover Commerce. He’s a longtime Amazon consultant who now says brands should focus on their own domains while selling Amazon-only items secondarily.

In this episode, he addresses one-two strategies, commodity goods, traffic sources, and more.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/a-one-two-punch-drives-ecommerce-growth

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Paolo Vidali has a suggestion for merchants looking to add advanced features to their ecommerce sites: Be careful. Focus first on profitability, he says, and solve the basics of product returns, customer service, and free shipping.

Paolo is a developer and marketer who launched Hidden Gears, an ecommerce agency, in 2014. It's now a Hawaii-based Shopify expert partner with a varied client base: wholesalers, physical retailers, and D2Cs. His second site, SuperBuilt, offers vetted developers for hire.

In this episode, he shares pointers for new and seasoned merchants, video tactics, inspirational sites, and more. 

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/nail-profit-before-site-extras-owner-says

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Nate Lagos is a seasoned conversion rate optimizer, yet a recent A/B test surprised him.

A client used all caps in key landing page headlines. Nate, having read a tip on X, suggested they test headlines that capitalized only the first letter of each word.

The result? Conversions increased by 25%

Nate first appeared on the podcast in 2025, when he addressed Facebook ad performance. For this episode, he focuses on "bottoms-up" testing, audience targeting, and marketing male products to women.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/avoid-all-caps-headlines-says-cro-pro

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Thanks to companies such as Printful, an enterprising entrepreneur can select a product, upload an image to place on it, sync it with her ecommerce site, sell it, and then pay for it.

Print-on-demand is big business, and David Hooker is a prominent participant. He's the brand director at Printful and a long-time SaaS executive.

In this episode, he addresses POD pricing strategies, sales tactics, merchandising, and more. 

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/printful-exec-on-profitable-print-on-demand

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com