Advertise on podcast: eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection
Rating
4.9from
This podcast has
485 episodes
Language
EnglishExplicit
No
Date created
2018/05/11
Latest episode
2026/09/22
Average duration
44 min.
Release period
7 days
Description
Running a Shopify store? You already know success isn't about finding the right app—it's about knowing which strategies actually work at your specific stage of growth. I'm Steve Hutt, and I've lived every level of the ecommerce journey. From eBay Power Seller shipping products from my garage, to co-founding and scaling VisionPros.com (an optical DTC startup) through to a successful exit, then spending 6+ years as a Shopify Merchant Success Manager helping 100+ brands from startup to enterprise scale, including working with teams at Tentree, Dr. Squatch, Bulletproof Coffee, Salt & Straw Ice Cream, MUD/WTR, Bokksu, and many more. Here's what makes this podcast different: I've been on both sides of the table. 6+ years working inside Shopify gave me access to what's coming before most merchants know it exists. Building, scaling, and successfully exiting my own ecommerce businesses taught me what actually works when your money and reputation are on the line. That combination of insider access plus real operator experience gives you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. Since 2018, eCommerce Fastlane has delivered over 430 episodes and more than 2 million downloads to ambitious Shopify founders and marketers. Every week, I chat with operators, developers, and experts who share what's actually moving the needle right now—not theory, but patterns I've seen work consistently across dozens of brands at multiple stages. Whether you're launching your first store or scaling past seven figures, every episode gives you stage-aware strategies you can implement this week. We dig into Shopify apps, digital marketing, retention tactics, AI tools, and the operational stuff that actually reduces overwhelm—while building customer loyalty that lasts. You'll learn how to leverage emerging tech without losing what makes your brand unique. You'll also hear real founder stories, including lessons from my own journey building and exiting a DTC brand, plus insights from guests across 430+ episodes who've been exactly where you are. This isn't content for content's sake. It's what you'd get sitting at a mastermind table with someone who's built, scaled, and exited—and helped hundreds of others do the same. Ready to grow smarter, not just faster? Join thousands of founders and marketers in the eCommerce Fastlane community through our podcast, newsletter, blog, and forthcoming book "Thriving with Shopify." Steve Hutt DTC Founder | Podcast Host Find Us Online Website: eCommerceFastlane.com Newsletter: FastlaneInsider.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shutt X: x.com/stevenhutt Instagram: instagram.com/ecommercefastlane Email: [email protected]
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Podcast episodes
Check latest episodes from eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection podcast
The Cheap Ad Inventory Everyone's Ignoring While They Fight Over TikTok
2026/09/22
Shopify retargeting stuck on one channel? A 4-person brand hit 35x ROAS running ads across social, email, and display.
In this episode, Lizzie Chapman, VP of Technology Partnerships and Channels at AdRoll, breaks down:
Why cutting brand awareness spend can double your recovery time, and how it feeds your retargeting funnelHow a $1,500 product with a long buying journey earned 44.5x ROAS on cart abandonmentHow to build first-party data from discount codes, newsletters, and purchases so prospecting keeps working as tracking tightensWhether you're doing $30K months or $30M years, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-487/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Why a Bootstrapped Product Guide Spends More on Bing Than Google (And Converts 3x Better)
2026/09/15
Shoppers often choose your product on a comparison site before reaching Amazon or Shopify, and most brands never see it.
In this episode, Tigran Egoyan, Founder and Chief Growth Officer at BestChoice.guide, breaks down:
Why Microsoft Ads converted two to three times better than Google for high intent desktop shoppersThe dynamic landing page tactic that lifted conversion about 40%, and how Shopify catalogs can use itWhat earns a sponsored top three placement, and why 100 near perfect reviews can qualify a new brandWhether you're a new Amazon brand or a category bestseller, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-486/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
An Agency Charges $3,000 Per Listing. That's What Monte Desai Charges Per Year.
2026/09/08
Weak product images cost Shopify brands sales every day, and agencies charge $3,000 per listing to fix them.
In this episode, Monte Desai, co-founder of Pixii, breaks down:
How one listing URL becomes seven optimized visuals in three minutes, then scales to 500 productsThe AIDA image sequence that carries a shopper from attention to add to cart across seven framesWhy Shopify pages win on storytelling while Amazon listings have to beat the competitor beside themWhether you're doing $250K a year or $5M, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-485/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Multichannel Inventory: What Breaks When Shopify, Amazon, And TikTok Stop Talking
2026/09/01
Selling on Shopify, Amazon, and wholesale but still running inventory from spreadsheets? That disconnect is quietly costing your product brand time, money, and customers.
In this episode, Ben Hussey, Co-CEO at Katana, breaks down:
- Why connected multichannel starts with one source of truth for stock, orders, and available-to-sell inventory- How Katana customers cut order processing time 25% in six months, with one finding $40,000 in unknown inventory- How AI replenishment and Katana's MCP let you forecast demand and query live inventory using Claude or ChatGPT
Whether you're doing $500K a year on two channels or $10 million across five, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-484/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Pre-Orders And Back In Stock Alerts: Restocked 500, Emailed 10,000
2026/08/25
Sold out does not have to mean lost sales. Out-of-stock product pages leak demand every week that Shopify brands could capture with preorders.
In this episode, Sandesh Kulai, CEO of STOQ, breaks down:
Why batching back in stock alerts to your actual restock quantity beats notifying the entire waitlistWhen to collect full payment upfront versus a deposit, and what Shopify Payments requiresHow waitlist and preorder data tells you what to reorder before your next purchase orderWhether you're doing $20K months or $2M months, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-483/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
The 2-Week Holiday Test That Decides What Your Store Is Worth
2026/08/18
Your Shopify store's revenue isn't what buyers pay for. After 72 acquisitions, here's what actually sets your exit valuation.
In this episode, Bawar Ahmad, founder at eComma, breaks down:
Why founder dependency caps valuation, and the two-week holiday test buyers use to measure itThe profit band that gets real offers, $100K to $2.5M a year, and what gets rejected fastWhy earnouts rarely pay out, and how to negotiate terms instead of fighting over priceWhether your brand clears $100K in profit or $2.5M, this conversation gives you an exit playbook you can start building this quarter.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-482/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
How To Know If You're Ready To Hire Offshore
2026/08/11
Most Shopify brands hire offshore for the wrong reason, and it often costs them double what they think they're saving.
In this episode, Nicolas Bivero, CEO and co-founder of Penbrothers, breaks down:
Why chasing the cheapest labor costs brands more, and what cost efficiency looks like insteadThe 6-month Hypercare framework Penbrothers uses to onboard both new hires and clients successfullyHow one e-commerce client scaled to 80+ Philippines hires and sold at a higher EBITDA multipleWhether you're filling your first process-driven role or scaling a full offshore team, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-481/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Your Products Have Beautiful Names. AI Has No Idea What They Are.
2026/08/04
AI search drives just 1 to 5% of your traffic today, but it converts far better than the rest. Here's how Shopify brands get recommended.
In this episode, Robert Langenback, President and COO at Eight Oh Two, breaks down:
Why LLM traffic converts nearly as well as branded search, and why it's up 1,200% year over yearThe product page miss: naming products "the Emma" instead of calling a shirt a shirtWhy collection pages, not product pages, capture buyers who have not picked a brand yetWhether you're doing $50K months or $10M years, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-480/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Why Your Best Sales Month Might Be Draining Your Cash
2026/07/28
De minimis is gone and tariffs are squeezing Shopify brands manufacturing overseas, but cash flow is still the real bottleneck.
In this episode, Izzy Rosenzweig, CEO & Founder at Portless, breaks down:
Why cutting inventory from 6 months down to 4 to 6 weeks can free up hundreds of thousands in cashHow eliminating stockouts lifted customer revenue 20 to 35% without extra ad spendReal case studies: Craft Club tripled revenue in 3 months, Memo Bottle cut cash cycles to 6 weeksWhether you're doing $1M or $50M a year, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-479/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Get Found in ChatGPT and Claude, Not Just Google: The Content-Led Growth Playbook
2026/07/21
AI assistants don't care what page you rank on. They care whether your Shopify product data is structured to be found.
In this episode, Morten Poulsen, founder and CEO of Plytix, breaks down:
Why content led growth expands on SEO instead of replacing it, and what actually changesHow FAQs, use cases, and structured attributes make your products readable to AI agentsThe single source of truth foundation that keeps Shopify, Amazon, and international listings accurateWhether you're doing $50K months or $50M years, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-478/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Billions of Popup Views Later: What Actually Converts Anonymous Traffic
2026/07/14
Bigger discounts don't win. Shopify brands offering 10% off in email pop-ups see better revenue per visitor than those offering 15%.
In this episode, Taras Talimonchuk, CMO at Claspo, breaks down what billions of pop-up views reveal:
Why steeper discounts lift opt-ins but attract discount hunters who erode revenue per visitorThe 3% opt-in ceiling most ESP-native pop-ups hit, and why anonymous traffic is the reasonHow agentic AI builds pop-up variants, runs the A/B tests, and optimizes conversion for youWhether you're doing $50K months or $5M years, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-477/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Glossier's Former CTO on Why Your AI Doesn't Actually Know Your Business
2026/07/09
Your AI tools don't actually know your ecommerce business, and that's why the answers sound confident but the numbers are wrong.
In this episode, Bryan Mahoney, former Glossier CTO and now Co-Founder & CEO of Chord, breaks down:
Why a data context layer can make your existing AI tools up to 5x more effective without switching modelsHow brands move from fact-checking AI against dashboards to trusting conversational AI as their primary interfaceThe "buy then build" approach to replacing 25 point solutions with one trusted data foundationWhether you're doing $2M or $20M+ in revenue, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-476/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Copycats Are Stealing 20% of Your Revenue and AI Just Made It Worse
2026/07/07
Counterfeiters can now clone your Shopify product, listing, and website in minutes using AI, and most brands never see the revenue leak coming.
In this episode, Mario Simonyan, founding attorney at ESQgo, breaks down:
Why unauthorized sellers and buy box hijackers start eating your revenue once you cross $5M and expand into retailHow AI lets copycats rebuild your listing and site in minutes, then tank your Amazon reviews with their inferior productHow enforceable IP moats raise your exit multiple when PE firms and aggregators judge the predictability of your revenueWhether you're nearing $5M or scaling past $20M, this conversation shows you how to protect the revenue you've already built.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-475/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
From Phone Photo to Full Content Kit: How Shopify Brands Are Using AI Product Photography and Video
2026/07/02
Reshooting every season for your Shopify store? Dreem turns one phone photo into a full product content kit, no studio required.
In this episode, Sam Thomas-Davies, Head of Content at Dreem (a Creative Force company), breaks down:
Turn a single phone photo into a full content kit: pack shots, on-model imagery, lifestyle scenes, and videoAccess a 400-plus talent library, or create custom AI talent, with human-in-the-loop art direction at every stepHow two-way Shopify sync pushes generated assets straight to product pages, cutting time-to-market from weeks to daysWhether you're doing $10K months or $10M years, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-474/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
150,000 AI Shoppers Vote on Your Ad Before You Spend a Dollar
2026/06/30
Small and mid-sized Shopify brands have been priced out of the pro-level ad testing that eight-figure DTC brands rely on.
In this episode, Armen Mkrtchyan, CEO and co-founder of Extuitive, breaks down the AI system changing that:
How 150,000 AI consumer agents rank and pressure-test ad concepts so you know what converts before launchThe poly-intelligence process that turns one product photo into 20-plus validated variants, not a single ChatGPT guessWhy you can upload existing ads for instant scoring, then push winners to a pre-built Meta campaignWhether you're doing $25K months or $5M years, this conversation delivers strategies you can test this week.
📝 Full show notes + resources: https://ecommercefastlane.com/podcast/episode-473/
Connect with us:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenhutt/💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shutt/📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thrivingwithshopify/
Podcast reviews
Read eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection podcast reviews
Mookums18 2025/11/23
Must listen for Shopify operators
Ecomm pros looking for growth should subscribe. Loved the latest episode on multi channel strategy.
Sabir007 2024/10/03
Steve is an amazing host
We went pretty deep into 2X your Shopify revenue profitably. Thank you for hosting me.
Game_Padre 2024/04/12
Must listen for any Shopify store owner
Steve is great, super knowledgeable and really cares about helping Shopify merchants
Alexander345678 2024/02/27
One of the best produced podcasts in E-Comm
The eCommerce Fastlane has some off the best guests and some of the best production value in the e-comm podcast space. As a former Shopify team member...
Ash Ome 2023/12/11
The Only Podcast you need to listen if you’re a brand owner
I found Steve’s way of hosting this show is truly different. As a marketer I need to keep up to dates with too many podcasts and I listen to a lot of ...
mmadvla 2022/11/21
All Shopify merchants should listen!
If you’re a Shopify store owner, this show is for you! Steve is informative and brings incredible guests on to share their wealth of knowledge and are...
Charlotte_Dyer_12 2022/11/21
Ramp up your e-commerce knowledge!
A great listen for insights, perspectives and tips + tricks for all things e-commerce growth and marketing!
Jill Spatola 2022/11/18
Filled with actionable tips + tricks!
This is a great listen for anyone looking to grow their Shopify store or e-commerce business. Steve explores a variety of topics and has expert guests...
Dan1777999877 2022/09/08
So much to learn!
Steve and his incredibly knowledgeable guests shine the brightest of lights on the eCommerce industry and the hardworking people in it! Informative, e...
Blake Wisz 2022/08/08
Informative
Great way to learn the latest
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