Honest Ecommerce

Hosted by Shopify Expert Chase Clymer

Business EducationInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

555

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

About the show

Honest Ecommerce is in the top 5% of podcasts and has been one of Shopify's picks for best business podcasts for years. Shopify Expert Chase Clymer and his guests provide online store owners with honest, actionable advice to increase their sales and grow their business.

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 17, 2026Episode 39538 min

Hiring an Ecommerce Growth Agency: Red Flags with Sunnyside

Matt Raminick spent nearly two decades of his career on the brand side (Quiksilver, Volcom, Pacsun, Mophie) hiring and managing agencies before founding Sunnyside. Working with dozens of agencies big and small led him to realize that in most cases they repeatedly optimized for vanity channel metrics instead of outcomes that impacted the bottom line, often having no line of sight beyond a siloed view of the channels they managed. So in 2020, after getting laid off from a high-profile exec role and with no prior agency experience, he founded Sunnyside and built a framework called Profit360™. This system connects finance, brand moments, products, creative strategy, and paid media to reliably produce sustainable, predictable, and profitable growth at the business level, not isolated channel wins. Sunnyside's unfair advantage is that every client gets a team of former brand-side marketers who've sat in the client's seat and know what's actually at stake because they've been in their shoes. To date, Sunnyside has successfully helped brands in the surf, action sports, outdoor, fashion apparel, and DTC space — including Brixton, Municipal, Goodr, Xcel Wetsuits, Beek, Nixon, Salt Optics, and Jetty — profitably increase new customers, e-commerce revenue, and overall business growth. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Introduction [05:04] Red flags to watch for early in an agency pitch [09:44] Sponsor: Klaviyo [11:55] Matching case studies to your actual business [13:55] Building traction for a brand with nothing yet [17:43] Sponsor: Intelligems [20:02] Why RFPs fail to find the right partner [22:00] Sponsor: eFulfillment Service [26:27] Green flags that signal a strong agency fit [28:40] Callouts [28:50] What a good first 90 days looks like [30:34] When a brand shouldn't hire an agency yet [34:22] What to disclose before signing with an agency [35:42] Profit360 and how the brand operates Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube A Better Way to Grow sunnysidecalifornia.com/ Follow Matt Raminick linkedin.com/in/mattraminick Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ Lower scale costs today eFulfillmentService.com/honest If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

August 13, 2026Episode 8926 min

ADA Demand Letters: How TestParty Defends Shopify Brands

Michael Bervell is co-founder and CEO of TestParty, an AI-powered digital accessibility platform that automatically scans and fixes source code so websites meet WCAG and ADA standards, without slowing down engineering teams. Before TestParty, Michael worked in accessibility and product inclusion at Google and the United Nations, was a software engineer at Twitter, and held product and venture roles at Microsoft and M12. He holds a BA from Harvard and an MBA from Harvard Business School, is the author of Unlocking Unicorns, and was named to the Forbes Accessibility 100. TestParty raised a $4 million seed round led by Harlem Capital and the Urban Innovation Fund. Jason Tan is co-founder and CTO of TestParty and the technical architect behind its automated remediation engine. He came to the problem firsthand: while at Twitch, the company was sued for digital accessibility violations, and in researching fixes he discovered that accessibility lawsuits had become an industry norm. He co-founded TestParty in 2023 to give engineers a "spellcheck for accessible code." In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Introduction [02:37] Why ADA lawsuits target ecommerce sites [04:36] Settling once doesn't protect you [07:01] ADA's outdated, vague legal language [11:16] Why "band-aid" solutions won’t work [15:08] Callouts [16:44] How the brand fixes sites at the source [18:27] A former company’s accessibility lawsuit story [21:31] Fixing sites fast after a demand letter [23:01] Defense packets against troll claims [24:24] Free tools to test site accessibility Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Automated WCAG Compliance testparty.ai/ Follow Jason Tan linkedin.com/in/jason-tan-75ab38191 Follow Michael Bervell linkedin.com/in/michaelbervell If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

August 10, 2026Episode 39429 min

Why Fulton & Roark Skipped DTC and Sold Wholesale First

At 6 years old, Kevin Keller was already "stealing" his father's cologne — a habit generously tolerated by his dad — and discovering that scent could change the way you felt before you ever said a word. That early fascination with transformation eventually became Fulton & Roark, the American fine fragrance house Keller co-founded in 2013 with $11,000 and a belief that perfumery could be both deeply personal and distinctly American. Raised in Atlanta and educated at Georgia State University and Wake Forest University, Keller began his career in journalism before turning to music and culture, where he profiled brilliant emerging musicians and artists. What stayed with him was a fascination with culture, place, and tradition — and how those forces subtly shape the way we carry ourselves in the world. Built without outside capital, Fulton & Roark has grown into a nationally distributed independent fragrance brand, available in nearly 500 retail locations including premier independent boutiques, select Ritz-Carlton and Omni properties, and Neiman Marcus stores and online. The brand has been featured in GQ, Vogue, and ELLE, among others, and its fragrance Roark's Cove was a finalist for the Universal Prestige category of the Fragrance of the Year Award from The Fragrance Foundation. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with his wife and two children, and mentors young founders at Wake Forest University. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Introduction [01:08] Solid fragrances vs extrait de parfum [02:08] How the founder’s love of fragrance began [03:16] Founding a niche brand with $11,000 [05:26] Going to market without a DTC plan [07:39] Sponsor: IntelliGems [09:19] The GQ feature that forced them online [11:37] Building first websites on Squarespace [12:37] Sponsor: Klaviyo [14:47] Building the marketing flywheel [18:04] Sponsor: eFulfillment Service [19:40] Getting customers to pay for samples [22:37] Callouts [25:26] Why founders overrate daily metrics [27:30] Learning to delegate as a founder [27:54] Where to find Fulton & Roark [29:02] Final thoughts Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube American Fine Fragrance fultonandroark.com/ Follow Kevin Keller linkedin.com/in/kevinwilliamkeller Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ Migrate and grow more klaviyo.com/honest Lower scale costs today FulfillmentService.com/honest If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

August 3, 2026Episode 39330 min

Omhu's Zero-Discount Strategy Behind Its Viral Teddy Sofa

Alexander Morabbi Wulsch is a Danish entrepreneur and business leader. Previously, he has held leadership roles in several companies across sectors including design (URU Design) and digital marketing/social media (Nordic Social). Alexander's background also includes earlier ventures, after a stint in banking he launched an e-commerce business selling socks online, before eventually co-founding Nordic Social which was sold to PE in 2023. Today, he is the CMO of OMHU, one of Europe's fast growing D2C brands. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Introduction [01:56] Starting young in Ecommerce [02:55] Joining brands as an early as employee [03:44] Lessons from a failed first business [04:52] AOV then versus now [05:23] Unit economics simply explained [06:51] Sponsor: Klaviyo [09:00] Bundling and upselling on big-ticket items [10:18] Leaning and maximizing social first strategy [11:47] Why doubling down beats spreading thin [13:08] Building influencer teams in today’s market [14:04] Sponsor: Intelligems [15:59] Remembering the zero discount policy [17:26] Training customers to anticipate sales [18:50] Sponsor: eFulfillment Service [20:25] Discovering the long customer journey [22:32] Learning curves of a European brand in the US [24:49] Callouts [26:05] Navigating culture and politics in business [28:22] Difference of Brand and product led growth Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Home of the TEDDY Sofa omhucph.com/ Follow Alexander Morabbi Wulsch alexander-morabbi-wulsch-4486b3113 Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ Lower scale costs today eFulfillmentService.com/honest If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

July 27, 2026Episode 39234 min

From Mommy Bloggers to Target Shelves: Tubby Todd's Story

Andrea Faulkner Williams is the head mama and co-founder of Tubby Todd Bath Co., which she launched with her husband, Brian Todd, as a solution to her own family’s sensitive skin in 2014. For years her family struggled with dryness and eczema, and smooth skin always seemed impossibly out of reach. It was frustrating spending money on one product after another that wasn’t helpful, clean, or safe for their little ones. Out of those discouragements came a drive and passion to create clean bath and skincare staples and they spent years developing products and testing them in their own home. Since then, Tubby Todd has grown into an entire line of body care basics. She lives in San Diego with her husband and four little ones. In This Conversation We Discuss: 00:00 Introduction 01:58 The entrepreneurial dream that started it all 04:06 Launching with zero money and no retail shelf 04:39 How her husband got the idea from his job 06:42 Skipping retail to build direct on Shopify 08:30 Sponsor: IntelliGems 10:22 What "community-based brands" really means 12:22 Why small goals matter more than big ones 12:53 Landing as the #1 baby skincare brand 14:49 Sponsor: Klaviyo 17:24 Balancing family while building a business 18:57 Biggest hiring mistakes and lessons learned 19:41 Why you should fire people faster 20:55 Sponsor: eFulfillment Service 21:45 The hardest part of entrepreneurship: building a team 23:26 Staying humble and not letting ego run the team 24:34 Callouts 24:44 Why employment tenure makes you a better founder 27:21 Not needing a radical idea, just a better one 28:05 Selling 70% of the company to private equity 30:01 Starting something new always feels uncomfortable 32:35 Breaking down the best-selling three-step bundle 33:17 How to connect and where to find Tubby Todd Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Gentle Baby Skincare for Sensitive Skin tubbytodd.com/ Follow Andrea Faulkner linkedin.com/in/andreafaulknerwilliams Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest Lower scale costs today eFulfillmentService.com/honest If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

July 23, 2026Episode 8825 min

How Canadian Ecommerce Brands Save Thousands With a USLLC

M. Sal had his own Ecommerce store. He realized that no Canadian accountant understands US tax and virtually no one understands a Shopify business. That’s what led him to start SAL Accounting where their team now solve these problems for brands. In This Conversation We Discuss: 00:00 Introduction 01:13 Discussing the accounting brand 01:34 How the guest entered the ecommerce tax niche 03:09 The hidden Shopify fee for international sellers 04:13 Do you need a US LLC: Plus plan vs sales split 06:36 Revenue threshold for opening a US LLC 08:00 Step-by-step process to set up a US LLC 10:22 The costly mistake of naming yourself as owner 12:30 Do US brands need a Canadian setup too 13:56 The $25,000 penalty for missing Form 5472 15:38 Why proper bookkeeping matters for ecommerce brands 17:57 How monthly books help you save on taxes 19:33 The risk of hiring a cheap bookkeeper 22:00 Where to learn more and get help 23:43 Returning Questions to a Fellow Host Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube CPA Tax Accounting and Bookkeeping Firm salaccounting.ca/ Follow M. Salman salaccounting.ca/author/salmansalat00/ If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

July 20, 2026Episode 39139 min

From Iraq Prototype to Millions: Sheath Underwear's Story

Robert Patton is the Founder and CEO of SHEATH, a premium men's underwear brand he conceived while serving as a U.S. Army Sergeant in the scorching heat of the Iraqi desert. After two combat deployments, Robert left the military with a mission: to create performance-driven underwear built around a patented dual pouch system that delivers unmatched comfort and support for active men. What started as a bootstrap idea fueled by a $5,000 insurance check and a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013 has grown into a globally recognized brand selling to customers in over 120 countries. SHEATH is the first ever Official Underwear Partner of the UFC — a milestone Robert built without taking on outside investors. A daily meditator, lifelong student of Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich, and relentless entrepreneur, Robert's story is a testament to grit, reinvention, and the power of solving a real problem the world didn't know it had. In This Conversation We Discuss: 00:00 Introduction 01:02 What an elite underwear makes 01:56 The Iraq deployment origin story 04:20 Building the first underwear prototype 07:32 Sponsor: Klaviyo 09:47 Early prototypes and finding a manufacturer 15:12 Launching the first Kickstarter campaign 17:06 Sponsor: Intelligems 18:33 A botched production and near giving up 21:03 The second Kickstarter and revenue growth 22:58 Using AI to speed up product design 24:12 Sponsor: eFulfillment Service 25:58 Finding customers beyond Kickstarter 26:57 The comedian throw stunt 28:18 Sponsoring comedians and podcast hosts 30:43 Famous names and loyal ad partners 35:04 Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs 38:14 Where to buy underwear for legends Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Men's pouch underwear sheathunderwear.com/ Follow Robert Patton linkedin.com/in/robert-patton-b675273b Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ Lower scale costs today eFulfillmentService.com/honest Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

August 24, 202323 min

Subscriptions is a Performance Channel | Gina Perrelli | Stay Ai | Bonus Episode

Gina is a long-time operator and advisor in the consumer industry. She started her career in Email and Content Management and has since emerged as one of the industry’s most pronounced thought leaders on all things customer experience and retention. 5 years ago, she and her co-founder, Pierson Krass, set out to start a different kind of agency. Lunar Solar Group was built on the idea that technology empowers e-commerce brands to scale. Gina has worked on launching and scaling brands like Olipop, Super Coffee, Lemon Perfect, and many other leading e-commerce brands that you all know and love. Most recently, Gina co-founded Stay Ai which is the subscription platform for modern e-commerce brands where she currently operates the company’s CEO. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Intro [00:54] What is Stay Ai and what does it solve? [02:07] How Gina became passionate about subscriptions [03:59] Lunar Solar Group: Clients, solutions, evolution [05:18] Building and selling KnoCommerce [07:50] From an agency to building an app [09:42] Where Stay Ai came from [11:54] Acquiring Retention Engine [15:21] The advantage of being specific in your outcome [15:55] Always have an exit strategy [17:04] No one has gone public in the Shopify ecosystem [17:37] The sign of a mature entrepreneur [18:40] The 3 things that make Stay Ai unique [21:40] Subscription tips and tricks [22:49] Where to support Stay Ai Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Connect with Gina linkedin.com/in/ginaperrelli Providing revolutionary subscription management software stay.ai Providing Ecommerce and digital marketing services that drive transformational growth for our clients lunarsolargroup.com The customer survey platform built for Ecommerce brands /knocommerce.com If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

December 20, 2021Episode 15229 min

The Transition Strategy from Crowdfunding to Ecommerce | Chaz Chazanow | LIV Watches

What on earth possessed us to start a watch brand? That's a question we get all the time. We saw boring, repetitive designs churned out year after year. We saw watches that didn't provide for individual expression. There was a blatant lack of uniqueness of style and colorways. Plus, we saw brands that did not connect directly with the people who were wearing their products. There was a significant disconnect. The market was ready for something new and different. A watch brand that would connect to its fans, one that would form and sustain real relationships. A brand that would involve the people who bought their watches in the process of product development. A brand that would continually aim to create distinctive limited edition watches screaming attitude and nonconformity. Perfect timepieces for the watch lover looking for something different to add to his or her collection. We saw the need and created LIV Watches. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Intro [00:56] Tongue twisters and ad copies [01:33] LIV’s founding story [03:25] The benefit of Chaz’s background [04:51] How LIV got their unique designs [06:46] The crowdfunding go-to-market strategy [08:32] The benefits of successful Kickstarters [09:50] Look to challenge traditional approaches [11:31] Reinforcing the “no budget” motto [12:08] Sponsor: Electric Eye electriceye.io [12:28] Sponsor: Mesa apps.shopify.com/mesa [13:13] Sponsor: Rewind rewind.io/honest [14:39] Sponsor: Gorgias gorgias.grsm.io/honest [15:12] Sponsor: Klaviyo klaviyo.com/honest [15:59] The prospecting and retargeting process [16:56] Relationships and having the last word [18:01] From crowdfunding to DTC [21:00] Building their custom crowdfunding platform [23:06] Backing games on Kickstarter [23:44] Cons of using Kickstarter [25:31] Be careful with data and feedback [26:50] Lifetime value and cost per acquisition [28:05] Where to find LIV Watches Resources: Fine Swiss watches from a brand that really cares about you and your collection livwatches.com Connect with Chaz @Chazanow Scale your business with electriceye.io Download Mesa at the Shopify App Store apps.shopify.com/mesa Level up your customer support gorgias.grsm.io/honest Respond to any of Rewind’s welcome emails and mention HONEST ECOMMERCE to get 1 month free rewind.io/honest Get started with a free account at klaviyo.com/honest If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!

June 8, 2026Episode 38531 min

Serving Niche Audiences to Create Category Leadership | Catherine Hayden | Kate Farms

Catherine Hayden is the Chief Marketing Officer at Kate Farms, the #1 doctor-recommended plant-based nutrition brand. Since joining the company in 2018, she has helped scale Kate Farms through rapid growth, multiple funding rounds, and its acquisition by Danone, while building an omnichannel business spanning healthcare, direct-to-consumer, subscription, Amazon, and retail. Catherine began her career as a Registered Dietitian, giving her a unique perspective at the intersection of healthcare, nutrition, and consumer behavior. Today, she leads brand strategy, commercial growth, innovation, and integration across both healthcare and consumer channels. Kate Farms was founded to solve a deeply personal problem. After being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age five, Kate struggled to tolerate existing nutrition formulas and relied on a feeding tube for nourishment. What began as a solution for one child has since grown into a company that has nourished more than 600,000 people. In this episode, Catherine shares how Kate Farms evolved from a healthcare-focused company into a high-growth Ecommerce and omnichannel brand, including lessons on building DTC alongside Amazon, uncovering customer insights that reshaped the business, and expanding awareness and access without sacrificing growth. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:29] Intro [01:42] Serving customers across every life stage [02:02] Scaling impact from one success story [03:36] Validating demand before scaling [05:48] Episode Sponsor: Klaviyo [07:55] Learning complex channels through partnerships [10:36] Balancing trust with Ecommerce growth [12:32] Episode Sponsor: Intelligems [14:32] Using customer insights to guide strategy [17:40] Connecting brand awareness to conversions [19:13] Expanding reach while maintaining growth [22:13] Episode Sponsor: Electric Eye [23:20] Creating loyalty beyond product discounts [26:45] Winning customers through better products [27:17] Callout [27:27] Making great products easier to access Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Plant-based tube feeding formulas and shakes katefarms.com/ Follow Catherine Hayden linkedin.com/in/catherine-hayden-28233816 Migrate and grow more klaviyo.com/honest Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts . It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!