This week's guest is Christina Blake. Christina is the Innovation Lead at SEER Interactive focusing on bringing big data and fast insights to team members and clients of SEER by overseeing the development of new analysis tools, applications and other products. She brings years of experience as a strategist and leads in-house marketing efforts for both large and small businesses. Show Takeaways: SEO and Trends for Ecommerce brands An explanation of ‘The Digital Shelf’ Amazon SEO: Where can you co...
Jun 04, 2021•15 min•Season 1Ep. 36
Today on the show we have Liat Karpel Gurwicz from Wix. Liat leads growth and strategic marketing for the Wix eCommerce platform which powers more than 700,000 online stores worldwide. In 2020, Wix sellers surpassed $5.4 billion in online transactions with 140% year of the growth in sales transactions, and 114% year of growth in overall sales revenue. Show Takeaways: An explanation of Wix features Who is Wix for? Wix’s strategies for cart abandonment Audience segmentation: use whatever channels ...
May 28, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Today on the show we have Adam Rose, Founder & Chief Talent Officer at eCommerce Placement. Adam has recruited in-house for companies such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, AIG, and Pfizer. As the sole Recruiting Manager for Borderfree, a leading global eCommerce and international shipping startup, Adam scaled the business from 40 to 300 employees prior to the company's successful acquisition by Pitney Bowes. Adam is an expert at recruiting candidates for eCommerce strategy and management, o...
May 21, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 34
Today on In the Ring we have Kai Davis. Kai runs Double Your eCommerce with SEO and provides growth and SEO consulting for Shopify merchants. He also writes about marketing growth and lead generation Lead Generation for service professionals daily at KaiDavis.com. Show Takeaways: Why the discovery phase is so important when starting with a potential client Why a 40-minute phone call with a price instead of a deep dive is inappropriate (and unfair to the client!) Start at the goal Why paid discov...
May 14, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 33
Today on the show we have an interview with Jordan West, CEO of Mindful Marketing. As a multi-brand owner and marketer with his own agency, Jordan shares insights with SUMO Heavy Co-founder and CEO, Bart Mroz on scaling his online audience: Lessons learned in the restaurant industry Running gated eCommerce campaigns via SMS and VIP lists How brands can leverage Facebook VIP Groups: how he made $250,000 of eCommerce sales in 24 hours without using Facebook ads or discounts About Jordan: When he w...
May 07, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 32
Today on In the Ring we have Steve Dennis, a strategic advisor and keynote speaker on retail innovation. Steven is also podcast host and the best-selling author of Remarkable Retail: How to Win and Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. He has been named a top global retail influencer by multiple organizations and his thoughts on the future of shopping are regularly shared in his role as a Forbes Senior Contributor. In this episode, Steve and SUMO Heavy CEO and Co-founder, Bart Mroz walk us th...
Apr 30, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 31
Today on In The Ring we have Rachel Jacobs, founder of eCommerce Partnerships. Rachel was Previously the COO of a leading Shopify Plus agency, in London Her new focus at Ecommerce Partnerships is on the four corners of every ecommerce agency: Positioning, Acquisition, Delivery and Retention. She helps ecommerce agencies move away from being dependent on projects in favour of profitable retainers. Rachel has over ten years of experience doing marketing and partnerships and has worked with a numbe...
Apr 23, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 30
A conversation with Ben Marks, Director Global Market Development at Shopware and Bart Mroz, Co-founder/CEO of SUMO Heavy. Recorded in March, 2021. Talking points: - Ben's Magento background - It’s about the merchant’s needs, not the platform - When platforms fight for usage: we don’t care about the platform, we care about what fits the merchant bes - Agencies that survive long term stress good merchant engagement - Payments & profit margins - Shopware (history and background) - Magento 2.0 ...
Apr 16, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 29
This is Part 6 of our six-part series on the discovery process for web projects. Discovery, in the simplest of terms, is the process that consulting firms, agencies, and web development shops use to gain knowledge about an upcoming project. Once again we have Melissa Curra, Director of Strategy at SUMO Heavy. This week, we discuss: The Benefits of Roadmaps. __ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Suder, Bart Mroz and Brittany Blackman. The show combine...
Apr 09, 2021•20 min•Season 5Ep. 28
This is Part 5 of our series on the discovery process for web projects. Discovery, in the simplest of terms, is the process that consulting firms, agencies, and web development shops use to gain knowledge about an upcoming project. Once again we have Melissa Curra, Director of Strategy at SUMO Heavy. This week, we discuss why all discoveries are not equal. __ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Suder, Bart Mroz and Brittany Blackman. The show combines...
Apr 02, 2021•20 min•Season 1Ep. 27
This is Part 4 of our series on the discovery process for web projects. Discovery, in the simplest of terms, is the process that consulting firms, agencies, and web development shops use to gain knowledge about an upcoming project. Once again we have Melissa Curra, Director of Strategy at SUMO Heavy. This week, we discuss Knowledge and Tech Review During Discovery. __ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Suder, Bart Mroz and Brittany Blackman. The show...
Mar 26, 2021•15 min•Season 5Ep. 26
This is Part 3 of our series on the discovery process for web projects. Discovery, in the simplest of terms, is the process that consulting firms, agencies, and web development shops use to gain knowledge about an upcoming project. Once again we have Melissa Curra, Director of Strategy at SUMO Heavy. In this episode Melissa explains the how agencies like SUMO determine cost and explain value to their clients. -- About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Sud...
Mar 19, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 25
This is Part 2 of our series on the discovery process for web projects. Discovery, in the simplest of terms, is the process that consulting firms, agencies, and web development shops use to gain knowledge about an upcoming project. Once again we have Melissa Curra, Director of Strategy at SUMO Heavy. In this episode Melissa explains the true value of the time spent during the discovery process. --- About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Suder, Bart Mroz ...
Mar 12, 2021•17 min•Season 1Ep. 24
Discovery, in the simplest of terms, is the process that consulting firms, agencies, and web development shops use to gain knowledge about an upcoming project. On the show this week we have Melissa Curra, Director of Strategy at SUMO Heavy. Over the next few episodes, we’ll be sitting down with Melissa to break down the whole discovery thing - from what's involved on the consultant side - as well as the client-side - and some of the pushbacks that a consultant or agency might receive and how to ...
Mar 08, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 23
George Hartley is the CEO and Co-founder of SmartrMail. SmartrMail is an automation tool that helps stores send better email marketing by using machine learning to personalize their emails. SmartrMail helped its clients generate $140 million in sales last year through better email. George shares with us how he founded SmartrMail by solving a problem he had with his own eCommerce stores. He also walks us through SmartrMail's features and offers some tips to eCommerce marketers on how automated em...
Nov 17, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 22
Jesse Kaufman is CEO and founder of ShippingTree , a provider of cloud-based logistics and e-commerce fulfillment services for consumer product companies around the world. By streamlining vital operations of global supply chain service providers and seamlessly integrating with online shopping carts, ShippingTree is truly the one-stop-shop for e-commerce logistics and fulfillment. Jesse shares the story of ShippingTree, what merchants need to look out for when looking for 3PLs, how the COVID-91 p...
Sep 22, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Today's episode features Chelsea Craig, Founder of Rhino Reviews. Rhino Reviews was launched in 2018 with the goal of supporting small businesses in the digital space. Rhino Reviews has had the opportunity to work with over 80 businesses in all industries, including luxury construction, digital, energy, property management, healthcare, retail, hospitality, and education, to help build or repair their online reputation by growing and leveraging their online reviews. _____ About the Show: ‘In The ...
Aug 11, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 20
Today on the show we have Josh Walter, the CEO and Co-founder of BrandJump. Launched in 2011, over the last 9 years BrandJump has become the leading ecommerce sales and marketing firm in the home furnishings industry. Josh was also just recently recognized by Home Furnishings Business magazine, one of the leading publications in the home furnishings space, as a "Forty Under 40" leader -- recognizing the forty top leaders in the industry under 40 years old. ________ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ ...
Aug 04, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 19
In this week’s episode, our guest is SUMO Heavy Co-founder and CTO Bob Brodie who helps us breakdown the Magento One ‘End of Life’, which is scheduled for June 30, 2020. - What does this mean for merchants who decide to stay on the platform? - What are your options? - What are the security concerns? - What are the costs/ benefits of staying on Magento One vs. moving to other platforms? - How did the marketing by Magento affect the decision-making process? - What’s the future for the platform? __...
Jun 29, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 18
Rytis Lauris is a co-founder and CEO of Omnisend, the powerful marketing automation platform that's focused on moving eCommerce marketers beyond the generic email marketing tools. With a mind seemingly crafted for business and an eye to the future, Rytis has gained notoriety within ecommerce community for his insights on omnichannel and the future of ecommerce. He believes that rich customer data and an omnichannel approach empowers ecommerce businesses to generate more sales by sending highly p...
Jun 08, 2020•48 min•Season 1Ep. 17
May 2020 is SUMO Heavy's 10th birthday, so we’ve got a candid conversation with the co-founders – CEO Bart Mroz and CTO Bob Brodie. In their conversation they discuss how they met and the founding of SUMO Heavy, the early days of Magento, how they almost lost it all during that first year, the trial and errors with pricing models, the current eCommerce landscape, as well as a discussion around platforms and tools. ___ _____ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted...
May 26, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 16
In today’s episode, we have a conversation with Khierstyn Ross. Khierstyn Ross is a product launch expert that specializes in Kickstarter & Shopify launches for physical products. In 2015, she began this journey when her first launch failed terribly. After relaunching, she went from a $16,710 failure to a $592,742 success story. Since then she's raised multiple-millions of dollars in pre-order revenue on Kickstarter and Indiegogo with her clients and students. Khierstyn talks about how she w...
May 19, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Today’s episode is a rebroadcast of our Livestream conversation with SUMO Heavy Co-founder and CEO Bart Mroz, and his guest Taylor Holiday. Taylor is a former athlete and now managing partner at Common Thread Collective. Common Thread Collective is an Online Sales Agency. Their mission is to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams by focusing on helping consumer product eCommerce businesses scale from 0 - $20M Common Thread Collective https://commonthreadco.com/ This episode was streamed live on...
May 09, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Melanie is a Marketing Consultant who has worked with global brands such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. Her focus now lies in digital consulting for start-ups and e-commerce businesses. She has experience in industries such as skincare, home goods, food, beverage, electronics, and more. Melanie has also built the marketing team and strategy for 2 e-commerce start-ups leading to their acquisition. She's an avid speaker and writer on all things marketing featured in several publications, podcast...
May 05, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 13
This week’s episode is a replay of our Live 'Office Hours' with SUMO Heavy Co-founder and CEO Bart Mroz and Sabir Semerkant of GROWTH by Sabir. Bart and Sabir talk about how ecommerce merchants are faring and how they can stay relevant in the uncertain COVID-19 environment. _____ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Suder, Bart Mroz and Brittany Blackman. The show combines interviews with eCommerce leaders together with the latest news and strategies t...
Apr 27, 2020•1 hr
Ronny Sage is the Founder and CEO of Shopping Gives. Launched in 2016, Shopping Gives enables retailers to donate a percentage of each purchase to nonprofit that the customer selects during checkout. ShoppingGives exists to create social impact with every purchase, having built a community of retailers and nonprofits that give back to one another through their customers and supporters Ronny’s background affiliate marketing, education, and branding gave him a unique insight into consumer behavior...
Apr 21, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 11
As founder of Lunya and Lahgo, Ashley Merrill is reinventing sleepwear for modern women and men, respectively. Both brands share a simple mission: to make people feel confidently comfortable -- at home and within themselves. _____ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Suder, Bart Mroz and Brittany Blackman. The show combines interviews with eCommerce leaders together with the latest news and strategies to give listeners actionable ideas and inspiration ...
Apr 15, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 10
In today’s episode, we talk with Matthew Parvis. He's the co-founder of Fresh Clean Tees, a direct to consumer brand located in San Diego, California. Matthew takes us through the origin story of the company – how he and his wife had a desire to launch a subscription business and their search which led them to men’s T-shirts and outerwear. He’ll also share some insights on running Fresh Clean Tees, as well as some of the growing pains and challenges in running a successful subscription business....
Apr 14, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 8
Today's episode is a 'Quick Round': a brief interview with Pat Maguire, Director of Technology at SUMO Heavy. Pat shares some insights on how merchants can keep their online stores safe. _____ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Suder, Bart Mroz and Brittany Blackman. The show combines interviews with eCommerce leaders together with the latest news and strategies to give listeners actionable ideas and inspiration for their eCommerce businesses. The sh...
Apr 09, 2020•10 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Our guests are Carolyn Horner and Eve Ackerly, the founders of kids' shoe sizing app, Jenzy . [This conversation is a rebroadcast from our podcast 'The Register' from February 2019.] _____ About the Show: ‘In The Ring’ is a weekly podcast about eCommerce hosted by John Suder, Bart Mroz and Brittany Blackman. The show combines interviews with eCommerce leaders together with the latest news and strategies to give listeners actionable ideas and inspiration for their eCommerce businesses. The show i...
Apr 02, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 7
