What if your Black Friday strategy is actually hurting your business?

A 50% discount might win you Black Friday — but it could also teach your customers to wait for the next sale.

In this episode of the Marketplace Growth Podcast, Lucas Bassa sits down with Boyd Esser, Marketplace Specialist at Taskforce — a senior-only performance marketing agency and multiple Dutch Search Awards winner — to talk about what it really takes to win Black Friday without sacrificing the months that follow.

From how deep your discounts should actually go to when to start building campaigns, Boyd shares a practical, chronological know-how for preparing your brand for peak season on marketplaces.

You’ll learn how to:

• Test and tier your discounts before Black Friday — without unnecessarily sacrificing margin

• Build your campaigns ahead of the peak to capture demand before everyone else starts shouting “sale”

• Keep your marketplace running smoothly under pressure, from stock and fulfillment to protecting your account when volume spikes

If you're responsible for marketplace growth, performance, or peak-season strategy, this episode gives you some hands-on tips on how to go into Black Friday prepared — and come out of Q4 stronger.

Want the fundamentals before the tactics in this episode? -> Get a hold of our Black Friday ecommerce tips.

Don't let Black Friday turn into damage control. -> See how Channable keeps feeds, ads, and marketplaces in sync during peak season.

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⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to Black Friday Marketplace Strategies

02:24 – How to Start Preparing Clients for Black Friday

03:12 – The Impact of Discounts on Brand Value

04:24 – Learning What Works Before Black Friday

05:38 – Testing Discount Strategies on Pre-Black Friday Events

07:17 – Setting Discount Percentages Based on Goals

08:33 – Balancing Margins and Brand Positioning

10:16 – Using Amazon Data to Evaluate Campaigns

12:18 – Winning Customer Loyalty with Discounts

14:29 – Additional Variables for a Successful Black Friday

16:11 – Advertising Strategies During Black Friday

17:24 – Using Dynamic Budgeting and External Tools

18:49 – The Role of Day Parting in Campaigns

20:09 – Planning Campaigns and Budgets in Advance

21:01 – Pre-Shopping and Organic Visibility

22:03 – Post-Black Friday Customer Retargeting

24:25 – Pricing Strategies and Legislation

26:23 – Leveraging Marketplace Promotions and Opportunities

28:48 – Golden Nuggets for a Successful Black Friday

31:44 – Final Tips and Wrap-Up

Winning on TikTok Shop doesn't look like winning on any other marketplace.

In this episode, Lucas Bassa (Channable) sits down with Rajil Wasif, founder and CEO of Wurx Media, a full-service TikTok Shop agency that's spent years running creator strategy, paid media, and community management for D2C brands — first in the US, now across Europe.

Brands that judge TikTok Shop purely on its own P&L close the channel right when it starts paying off. The real return often shows up elsewhere: on Amazon, on the brand's own website, in retail. Rajil breaks down what actually wins on this channel — not more budget, but the right growth lever at the right stage, and a way to measure impact that doesn't rely on guesswork.

The conversation covers why the early-mover advantage that defined the US market in 2023 hasn't disappeared in Europe, what a TikTok creator actually costs versus traditional influencer rates, and why matching a competitor's content volume beats chasing any single hack.

Key topics

• The halo effect is measurable, not mystical. Track new-to-brand purchases and branded search on Amazon against a pre-TikTok baseline.

• Spend should follow the stage, not a template. Creators first, then ads, then live shopping as revenue grows.

• Creator rates are lower than most brands assume. $50–70 a video in the US, cheaper across Europe — well below influencer rates.

• 99% of revenue comes from 1% of videos. Budget for hundreds of misses; the viral hits carry the business.

• Creator retention is the real growth engine. Losing creators means rebuilding relationships from scratch.

• Reverse-engineer the category leader. Match a top competitor's output and spend on Kalo Data, and revenue tends to follow.
  

Selling on TikTok Shop yourself? -> See how Channable can maximise your product visibility.

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⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 – Introduction to TikTok Shop and guest background
01:36 – US TikTok Shop launch and early success
02:50 – European market differences and opportunities
04:23 – Understanding the halo effect in e-commerce
06:35 – Quantifying the halo effect — new-to-brand purchases, branded search, and keyword rank
11:13 – Investing in TikTok creators and content by growth stage
13:40 – Bottom-funnel strategy — live shopping
14:43 – Managing creator relationships and building community
23:11 – Getting started with TikTok Shop in Europe
24:12 – Shop health and content strategy
25:06 – The importance of viral content and creator retention
29:17 – Golden Nuggets — Rajil's three most important takeaways
31:27 – Quick-Fire Blitz and wrap-up

Relying on generic head terms and bloated product feeds silently wastes your advertising budget and destroys margin protection.

 As marketplace competition intensifies, failing to master Amazon A9 (A10) algorithm optimization leads to severe budget leakage and lost market share. Lucas Bassa sits down with Kevin Flurschutz, founder of KFL Consulting in Germany. Together they discuss the Amazon A9 search algorithm (often called A10)—a complex, signal-based engine that matches customer search intent with the most relevant, high-converting products.

After 8 years on the agency side, working with 100+ brands, and doing research for his master's thesis on the A9 search algorithm, Kevin Flurschütz knows how to leverage automation to hack the Amazon ranking system and drive profitable growth in 2026 and beyond. Instead of traditional keyword stuffing, the algorithm rewards sellers who align performance metrics with strict relevance factors to increase ROAS and organic visibility.

Kevin breaks down how his AI-first agency uses Claude, APIs, and a deep understanding of Amazon A9/A10 algorithm ranking factors to build robust data infrastructures. This podcast episode is designed for senior operators looking for a practical approach to AI-driven Amazon listing optimization .

Key Takeaways

• Clean your master data first. AI does not fix bad data, it simply accelerates poor processes and creates budget leakage.

• Keyword roots beat keyword lists. Long-tail branches with high intent convert faster and lower CPCs compared to chasing high-volume generic terms.

• Make the most of the honeymoon phase. The initial launch period is a strict one-shot window, and changing your listing mid-phase resets the algorithm.

• Automate competitor review mining. Scrape competitor reviews and feed them into Claude to identify exact USP gaps and improve catalog health.

• More KPIs ≠ more clarity. If you can't act on a metric, stop measuring it.

  
  

Ready for Amazon's 2026 peak season? Check our quick preparation guide: ⁠Amazon Peak Season Guide⁠

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⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 – 00:35: Welcome & intro

00:35 – 01:10: Kevin's background — KFL Consulting and the AI-first agency model

01:10 – 02:38: What "AI-first" actually means in agency practice

02:38 – 04:09: What is the A9 (A10) search algorithm? The black box explained

04:09 – 06:14: Performance factors vs. relevance factors: the two pillars of A9

06:14 – 09:20: Keyword roots: why long-tail beats head terms for most sellers

09:20 – 11:03: Where to find the data: SP API, Data Dive, Product Opportunity Explorer

11:03 – 13:57: Using Claude + MCPs to connect data sources and find patterns

13:57 – 17:28: Mobile-first listing optimisation and the title hierarchy

17:28 – 22:00: Category competition: when Amazon makes sense and when it doesn't

22:00 – 24:18: The Search Query Performance Report as your starting point

24:18 – 25:16: Scraping competitor reviews for USP gaps

25:16 – 27:14: The Amazon honeymoon phase — what it is and how to not waste it

27:14 – 29:35: Start small, do it right: the first-time-right launch approach

29:35 – 35:50: Golden Nuggets: Kevin's 3 steps for AI-driven Amazon optimisation

35:50 – 38:40: Quick-Fire: essential tool, next marketplace, favourite country to sell in

38:40 – 39:33: Guest recommendation & wrap-up

There's a ceiling in Amazon PPC. Every brand hits it eventually — more budget in, same profit out, bid strategies maxed, ROAS flat.

Most brands misread that signal completely. Sam Lee says it's not a bidding problem.

It's not a creative problem. It's a channel problem. What they're missing is Amazon programmatic advertising.

Sam Lee is VP of Amazon DSP at Trivium Group and one of the few people in Europe who's built DSP operating systems from scratch — starting with a blank canvas at Thrasio, where he rolled out DSP across 200+ brands before most agencies had even requested a seat.

In this episode, he joins Lucas Bassa to demystify the platform that's still widely misunderstood across European marketplaces: what DSP actually does that PPC can't, why the €50K/month minimum is a myth (the real number is €5K), and what a full-funnel Amazon advertising strategy actually looks like before you switch it on.

This is the episode for any Amazon brand sitting at a PPC plateau who wants to understand — concretely — what a full-funnel ad stack looks like and whether they're ready to build one.

Key Takeaways:

The ecommerce funnel is collapsing.

Consumers are increasingly using AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and such to research, compare, and narrow down products before they ever reach a marketplace.

In this episode, Lucas talks with Imco van Elk, Head of Marketplaces at Follo, about how conversational and agentic commerce are changing marketplace discovery and purchase — and what sellers need to do to stay visible.

Topics covered:

• Conversational commerce vs agentic commerce

• What Amazon’s AI shopping assistant signals for the future of marketplace search and recommendations

• The shift from keywords to contextual optimization

• Why structured feeds and attributes are becoming critical

• How AI interprets product imagery

• Why marketplaces still dominate the transaction layer

• The future of advertising inside AI-driven shopping journeys

Hosted by Lucas Bassa | Marketplace Growth Podcast by Channable

⁠Learn how to optimise, grow and scale on marketplaces with Channable⁠

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⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 – AI Commerce & Marketplace Shopping

01:15 – Podcast Intro & Guest Introduction

03:20 – What Is Conversational Commerce?

05:20 – How AI Is Changing Product Discovery

07:35 – AI Discovery vs Marketplace Purchase Decisions1

0:00 – The Collapse of the Traditional Search Funnel

11:10 – Advertising in the AI Commerce Era

13:10 – How Sellers Should Prepare for AI Commerce

14:20 – From Keywords to Context-Based Listings

15:30 – Why Images Matter More Than Ever

17:45 – AI-Generated Marketplace Content

20:10 – Why Europe Is Slower to Adopt AI Commerce

22:20 – Golden Nuggets for Marketplace Sellers

23:00 – Feed Management & Marketplace Optimization

26:20 – Becoming “Rufus Ready” on Amazon

29:15 – Rufus Conversion Rates & Future Predictions

32:00 – Quickfire Questions & Closing Thoughts

Selling across Europe doesn't have to be a logistical headache.

In this episode, Lucas Bassa (Marketplaces Product Lead at Channable) and Zoitsa Ilieva (Kaufland Global Marketplace) break down how Kaufland has evolved from a German retail giant into a cross-border powerhouse.

We dive into how you can leverage 99% brand awareness to reach 139 million monthly visitors across seven countries, including the expansion into Poland, Austria, France, and Italy. If you’re looking for a "shortcut" to European compliance and high-intent traffic, this is the roadmap you’ve been waiting for.

Key Takeaways

• The power of 139 Million: Tap into massive, high-intent traffic across Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Austria, France, and Italy.

• Zero-friction expansion: One registration, one portal, seven countries. It’s that simple.

• AI & localization: Meet "Selly," the AI assistant, and learn how automatic translation removes the language barrier for your product data.

• Compliance solved: Learn how "EPR Management by Kaufland" handles the complex packaging laws (especially in France) so you don't have to.

• The "Full Catalog" strategy: Why listing your entire assortment is the secret to winning the Buy Box.

Learn more about selling on Kaufland

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⏱️ Chapters:

00:00 – Why Marketplaces Are Expanding Globally

00:40 – Podcast Intro & Guest Introduction

01:30 – Zoitsa’s Background & Experience

02:35 – What Makes Kaufland Marketplace Unique

03:10 – Markets & European Expansion Strategy

05:25 – Brand Awareness & Entering New Markets

06:20 – Lowering Barriers for International Selling

07:10 – One Registration for 7 Markets

08:00 – Solving Compliance (EPR Explained)

09:30 – Language & Customer Communication

11:00 – How Easy Is It to Start Selling?

12:00 – Why You Should Sell in Multiple Markets

13:30 – Common Seller Mistakes

15:00 – Buy Box Strategy

17:30 – What Sellers Fit Kaufland Marketplace

18:00 – Tools for Brands & Distributors

19:15 – Seller Support & AI Assistant

20:15 – Top 3 Benefits of Selling on Kaufland

21:30 – Special Offer /Limited Deal

22:10 – Closing Thoughts

In this episode, Lucas Bassa (Marketplaces Product Lead at Channable) sits down with Joost Legebeke (International Growth Specialist at bol) to unpack what it really takes to succeed on the bol marketplace. Together, they explore why bol has become a household name in the Netherlands and Belgium and why it’s one of the most attractive marketplaces in Europe for international sellers.

Whether you’re exploring expansion into the Netherlands and Belgium or looking to optimize your existing bol strategy, this episode offers practical insights straight from the source.

Key Takeaways

• Market dominance: bol is the leading marketplace in the Netherlands and Belgium, offering access to a large, highly engaged local audience.

• Seller-friendly platform: An intuitive UX and dedicated partner support make it easy to get started and scale.

• Fast delivery made simple: Logistics via bol (Lvb)* enables international sellers to meet next-day delivery expectations.

• Quality-first onboarding: New sellers go through a monitored growth start period, with the first 100 orders reviewed for quality and service.

• Clear entry requirements: Sellers must be established EU businesses with an EU VAT number and proven revenue potential.

• Content drives performance: Localized, high-quality product content, strong keyword usage, and advertising are key to success—especially when paired with tools like Channable.

Learn more about ads on bol

New show alert! Hosted by expert Lucas Bassa, we bring you unfiltered, high-level conversations with insights from relevant marketplace platforms, as well as industry-leading agencies and advertising thought leaders.

Subscribe now and be ready for the first marketplace conversation launching soon!