How Artichoke Built a Profitable Online Shop by Ignoring “Best Practice”

If you’ve been told that online retail growth means more ads, more automation, and more noise — this episode will quietly challenge that.

With thanks to this episode’s sponsor SumUp.

Get 10% off SumUp hardware with the code GamePlan10 at https://sumup.co.uk

I’m Catherine Erdly, and this is Resilient Retail Game Plan — practical product business advice with a healthy dose of reality.

This isn’t about scaling fast or chasing the latest ecommerce tactic.

It’s about building an online business that actually works for the people running it.

In this episode, I’m joined by Sarah Simonds, founder of Artichoke and winner of Online Shop of the Year at the Boutique Star Awards.

Sarah runs an online fashion business in a way most people would say doesn’t scale.

She calls every new online customer.

She designs systems to protect customer service, not replace it.

And she focuses relentlessly on a demographic the industry largely ignores.

After 25 years working with retailers, I see this pattern again and again.

The businesses that perform best long term aren’t always the loudest or the most automated. They’re the clearest.

In this conversation, we explore:

1. Why slowing down parts of the online experience can increase profit
2. How calling customers dramatically reduces returns and boosts lifetime value
3. What good systems actually look like in a small retail business
4. How Sarah uses AI to support decisions without losing human judgement
5. Why community, service, and clarity still outperform “best practice”

We also talk about the less glamorous side of growth — becoming the bottleneck, building resilience into the team, and creating structure so the business doesn’t rely on one person holding everything together.

If you run a product business and want online sales that feel sustainable rather than exhausting, this episode will give you a lot to think about.

Chapters

00:00 Why “more marketing” isn’t always the answer

03:10 Serving an ignored customer demographic

06:20 Calling every new online customer

10:45 Reducing returns and increasing lifetime value

15:30 From pop-ups to online growth

21:10 Removing the founder bottleneck

27:40 Systems, structure, and ClickUp

33:30 Using AI without losing the human touch

41:50 Community, collaboration, and long-term growth

Links

Artichoke: https://www.artichoke-online.co.uk

Retail by Design: https://www.resilientretailclub.com/retail-by-design

Catherine’s book — Tame Your Tiger: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1912300096

Resilient Retail Club: https://www.resilientretailclub.com

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