The Unofficial Shopify Podcast

"BFCM is a funnel clearing event, not a list growth event."
Jimmy Kim has spent 18 years in email. He built an in-house email tool for his men's clothing store, turned it into Sendlane, and built his own sending network along the way. Now he co-hosts Send It! with Chase Dimond. His view of Black Friday: stop casting a wide net and move every segment one step down the funnel.
Jimmy explains why you ramp send volume in October instead of November, how many emails to send on Black Friday and to whom, and why a new product launch beats another discount.
SPONSORS
Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more
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Promo Party Pro - Free gifts that drive bigger orders
apps.shopify.com/promo-party-fgwp
Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels
zipify.com/KURT
What you'll learn:
Why Black Friday should move every segment one step down the funnel instead of growing the list
Getting VIPs to raise their hands for early access, so they reserve a budget for you
The segments to build now: prospects, first-time buyers, repeat customers, VIPs, and lapsed customers
Where identity resolution works (browse and cart abandonment) and where it doesn't (list building)
Why unengaged prospects get cut, while lapsed buyers from the last 365 days get one more shot
Ramping send volume in October, because a 2 to 3X spike in November is a red flag to inbox providers
Adding unengaged contacts at 10% of your list, never doubling it
Five to eight emails on Black Friday, with different messaging and frequency per segment
SMS as an urgency channel, not an echo of your email
What unsubscribe rate means pull back: 0.2 to 0.5% is normal, worry at 20 to 30% above your baseline
Why a new product launch beats another discount, plus bundles, gift with purchase, and tiered spend
The post-BFCM lag, the second purchase, and faster abandoned cart timing for the holiday week
Guest: Jimmy Kim, co-host of the Send It! podcast and founder of Sendlane.
LINKS
The eCom Email Marketer (Jimmy's daily newsletter): https://ecomemailmarketer.com
Send It! podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SendItPodcast
Send It! on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/send-it/id1772942834
Montana Knife Company's Black Friday episode: https://ethercycle.com/blogs/unofficial-shopify-podcast/inside-montana-knife-companys-black-friday-2025-the-unofficial-shopify-podcast
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The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"Now everybody knows code. It's called English."
On October 1, Shopify launched Canvas, a new theme editor built around Sidekick. Ben Sehl is Director of Product for Online Store at Shopify. He built themes as a partner, cofounded the clothing brand Kotn, and led Hydrogen from zero to one. Now he's replacing a theme editor that has worked for 15 years, and he says Canvas will be the only one in time.
Ben explains what Shopify rebuilt under the hood, who should use Canvas today and who should wait, and why he thinks agencies are worth more now than before AI.
SPONSORS
Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more
getswym.com/kurt
Promo Party Pro - Free gifts that drive bigger orders
apps.shopify.com/promo-party-fgwp
Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels
zipify.com/KURT
What you'll learn:
Why Shopify rebuilt the editor instead of adding AI to the old one
The artboard view: every page of your store on one screen
How a client-side Liquid renderer lets you click any text and edit it where it lives
Why Sidekick for big changes and direct edits for small ones
Theme settings: why Horizon was peak settings, and why two or three variants per block is the new rule
What happens to your theme, your JSON templates, and your GitHub sync when you switch
Autosave, version history, and theme check before publish, built in
What Canvas does not support yet: Theme Store themes, apps, and Markets
Why Ben hired an agency for Kotn instead of using Canvas, and why he thinks AI makes agencies more valuable
Shopify's zero-breaking-changes promise, back to store number one, Snowdevil
The one prompt to try first: "redesign my store"
Guest: Ben Sehl, Director of Product, Online Store at Shopify. Cofounder of Kotn.
LINKS
Ben Sehl on X: https://x.com/benjaminsehl
Ben's site: https://sehl.ca
Kotn: https://kotn.com
Commerce-UI (Kotn's agency): https://commerce-ui.com
Introducing Canvas (Shopify): https://www.shopify.com/news/introducing-canvas
Canvas changelog: https://changelog.shopify.com/posts/design-a-fully-bespoke-store-with-canvas
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The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"Not knowing what we were doing, just bobbling through it, we did a couple thousand dollars an hour and we were like, whoa, this might be something."
John Roman bought BattlBox back in 2023 and went looking for the next channel. With over a million TikTok followers, TikTok Shop looked obvious. Then a Whatnot sales rep sent an email. Seventeen months later, live selling on Whatnot does $447K a month, with no ad spend.
John breaks down why Whatnot buyers spend three times what TikTok Shop buyers spend, what a three-hour show looks like when each product gets 30 seconds, and the host-hiring mistake that seemed like a sure thing.
SPONSORS
Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more
getswym.com/kurt
Promo Party Pro - Free gifts that drive bigger orders
apps.shopify.com/promo-party-fgwp
Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels
zipify.com/KURT
What you'll learn:
The ramp: $25K in 10 hours the first month, $447K in 317 hours last month
Why buying intent on Whatnot beats TikTok's algorithm: "You don't open up the Amazon app to look at content"
Auctions, dollar starts, and the deal-hunter problem that hurts your margin
The format: 30 seconds per product, 50 to 60 items per three-hour show, 200 SKUs in rotation
The setup: a phone, good lighting, a home studio, and OBS for effects
Where hosts come from, and why the TikTok Shop affiliates they recruited didn't work out
Raids and community boosts, the features that keep Whatnot buyers coming back
How members get box items six months before they reach Whatnot
Why they turned off Whatnot ads after a holdout test, and how their Meta CAC changed
What's next: Battl Games season three, a six-part YouTube series starting in November
Guest: John Roman, CEO of BattlBox. Last on the show in January 2023.
LINKS
BattlBox: https://battlbox.com
BattlBox on Whatnot: https://www.whatnot.com/user/battlbox
John Roman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-roman
Online Queso (John's blog): https://onlinequeso.com
John's previous episode, "How a Subscription Box Biz Got a Netflix Show": https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com/episodes/john-roman-battlbox/
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The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Kurt spent a day at Beanstalk, an invite-only ecommerce conference at Industry City in Brooklyn, recording 15-minute conversations under a tent. Seven made it to tape. Every guest is on Shopify. Not one led with paid ads.
The lineup: Matt Butcher of Adam's Polishes on why he comes. Jay Wright, who spends about a billion dollars a year on Meta, on why your media buying is "completely cooked." Maria Lopez-May, VP Marketing at Nugget, on life after the pandemic lottery. Vivek Kumar, CEO of Articore (Redbubble and TeePublic), on their new Shopify integration and a $20 million turnaround. NJ Falk of APL on $400 sneakers and the thing she noticed about Sidekick. Robbie Bent of Othership on building $15 million bathhouses and marketing through the local dentist. Ali Weiss, former CMO of Glossier, on launching NoBiggie and choosing not to turn on paid.
Paul was not there. He asks what you would ask.
What you'll learn:
Why a curated conference beats a big one: "everyone I bump into here is worth chatting with"
Jay Wright: Meta is an auction, someone is winning at that CPM, and it is not the person buying like it's 2022
The biggest mistake Jay sees: founders abdicating growth to a $1,000-a-month retainer
How to label your ad creative so your own account tells you what to make next
Maria Lopez-May of Nugget: right product, right time, then the dupes, then Amazon and CTV
Articore's first profit since listing and a Shopify integration that launched ten days before the interview
Why print-on-demand sellers should not put "the kitchen sink" on their store
APL: Magento to Shopify Plus in a week, then a flagship store opened four months before lockdown
The Sidekick detail NJ Falk noticed and Kurt never did
Othership: a horse trough in a backyard, 90 people screaming in a dark sauna, and why brick and mortar takes two decades
Why local influencers (the trainer, the stylist, the bartender) beat wide-reach channels for a neighborhood business
Ali Weiss on unlearning beauty margins, "playing on hard mode" with two buyers, and why getting on a Target shelf is the easy part
NoBiggie Neighbors: free product for your kid's birthday party as the whole acquisition strategy
The hard decision to not turn on paid until repeat purchase shows up across channels
Hosts: Kurt Elster and Paul Reda, co-owners of Ethercycle, a Shopify-exclusive agency.
SPONSORS
Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more
getswym.com/kurt
Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify
cleverific.com
Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels
zipify.com/KURT
LINKS
Beanstalk: https://www.beanstalkevents.com
Adam's Polishes: https://adamspolishes.com
Ecommerce Equation: https://ecommerceequation.com
Jay Wright on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaywrightofficial/
Nugget: https://nuggetcomfort.com
Articore Group: https://articore.com
Dashery: https://www.dashery.com
APL: https://athleticpropulsionlabs.com
Othership: https://othership.us
NoBiggie: https://nobiggieplease.com
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The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Discounts are the biggest line item on your P&L that nobody approved. Kurt and Paul answer the questions merchants keep asking, then lay out the Black Friday plan.
Part one is a mailbag pulled from r/ecommerce, r/shopify, and the Shopify Community: the Combines With checkbox that wiped the profit on 60 orders before lunch, influencer codes showing up on Honey, welcome codes reused by new Gmail accounts, and the eternal free-shipping-or-20%-off question. Part two is what to fix in September, and what three consecutive Black Fridays of gift-with-purchase data say about thresholds, gift size, and who actually takes the gift.
What you'll learn:
Why discounts deserve the scrutiny you give ad spend, and why almost nobody gives it
How one Combines With checkbox stacked free shipping, 20% off, and a bundle script into zero-profit orders
What to do about influencer codes on coupon sites (and why single-use codes don't solve this one)
The rule Kurt uses on every code he creates: a 12-month expiry, no exceptions
Why you can't stop welcome-code abuse, and the one-line fix from the top Reddit reply
Free shipping vs discount codes: if you have to ask, you don't know your contribution margin
The September checklist before code freeze: SEO metadata, alt text, accessibility, Core Web Vitals, and a discount audit
Three Black Fridays, one $50 gift threshold, and carts that landed at $98, $101, and $111
The surprise in the data: gift-with-purchase skews to returning customers, free shipping to new ones
The segmented strategy: free shipping code for first-time buyers, gift for everyone else
Threshold math: gift at 2x AOV, free shipping 50% above AOV, gift retail value 10 to 15% of cart
Why Shopify's agentic catalog mapping did nothing on two stores for 14 days
Hosts: Kurt Elster and Paul Reda, co-owners of Ethercycle, a Shopify-exclusive agency, and makers of Promo Party, a gift-with-purchase app.
SPONSORS
Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more
getswym.com/kurt
Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify
cleverific.com
Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels
zipify.com/KURT
LINKS
All three research reports: https://ethercycle.com/report
State of Discounts 2026: https://ethercycle.com/pages/state-of-discounts-2026
Q4 gift-with-purchase report: https://promoparty.app/bfcm-gift-with-purchase/
The $2K Combines With thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/ecommerce/comments/1qbvg5k/
Free shipping vs discount codes thread: https://community.shopify.com/t/675799
Welcome code abuse thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/shopify/comments/1u9i640/
Influencer codes on Honey thread: https://community.shopify.com/t/222041
WORK WITH KURT
Apply for Shopify Help
ethercycle.com/apply
See Our Results
ethercycle.com/work
Free Newsletter
kurtelster.com
The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.