👋 Happy Thursday! AI is quietly taking over product discovery, Amazon is rewriting the rules again, and billions in refunds are being left on the table. Here’s what actually matters for ecommerce operators this week.

In Today’s Edition:

📰 Top Headlines: What Ecommerce Operators Need to Know
🎧 On the Pod: The Ultimate Ecommerce Podcast Library
🗨️ Claus’s Hot Take: Why Chasing New Customers Is Killing Your Growth

Grab your coffee — skim in 60 seconds or read in 3 minutes to stay ahead

📰 TODAY'S MUST-READS

📈 General Ecommerce News

🛒 Platforms & Marketplaces

📱Social Media & Advertising

⭐ TOGETHER WITH Clustie.ai*

Clustie broke down exactly why CPA keeps rising, the mistakes most brands don't realise they're making, and how the ones actually winning on paid acquisition are thinking differently.

If you're a founder or performance marketer watching your acquisition costs climb, don't skip this one. It’s worth every minute.

Get your free eBook

🎙️ ECOMMERCE COFFEE BREAK PODCAST

Over the years, I've interviewed hundreds of ecommerce founders, operators, marketers, and industry experts. Instead of digging through the entire archive, I've organized the best episodes into curated playlists by topic.

Whether you're looking to grow retention, improve paid acquisition, launch on marketplaces, scale a Shopify store, or learn how top brands are using AI, there's a playlist for you.

Think of it as your ecommerce learning library - built from real conversations with people doing the work.

🎧 Browse all playlists: https://ecommercecoffeebreak.com/playlists/

📲 Want to listen on the go? Download our free podcast app.

If you’d like to be a guest, or make a guest recommendation, please let us know here.

🗨️ CLAUS’S HOT TAKE

Hot take: If your first instinct when sales slow down is to increase your ad budget, you're probably looking in the wrong place.

Most ecommerce brands are obsessed with acquisition. New traffic. New audiences. New channels. New campaigns.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: the fastest path to more revenue is often the customers you've already acquired.

Think about it. You've already paid to get their attention. They've already trusted you with their credit card. They've already experienced your product.

Yet many brands spend thousands acquiring customers and then send nothing but an order confirmation email.

That's not a marketing strategy. That's abandonment.

As marketing expert Neil Patel frequently says, your best customers are already on your list. The brands winning in today's market aren't necessarily acquiring more customers. They're extracting more value from every customer they already have.

Why this matters: Studies have found that increasing retention by just 5% can increase profits by 25% to 95%.

The best part? Retention is usually cheaper, faster, and more predictable than finding new buyers.

3 things you can implement today:

✅ Add a post-purchase email that helps customers get better results from what they bought.
✅ Create a cross-sell email featuring complementary products.
✅ Set up a reorder reminder based on when customers are likely running low.

Bottom line: Before spending another dollar on Meta or Google, ask yourself one question:

"Am I maximizing the value of the customers I already paid to acquire?"

For most brands, the answer is no—and that's where the biggest opportunity is hiding.

So here's my question for you: If I took away your ability to run ads tomorrow, how would you generate more revenue from your existing customers?

Hit reply and let me know. I read every response.

👉 PARTNER WITH US
Put out your message in front of over 35,000 online sellers, ecommerce operators, and direct-to-customer (DTC) brands. Find our Partner Kit here.

⭐️ THIS WEEK’S PARTNERS

Cashflo: Cashflo provides a guaranteed no-cost payment processing solution and reduces 10 common ecommere expenses while increasing traffic and conversion — all at no cost. 0% Processing Fees. Get your FREE Cashflo Kit here.

Interlinks: For Shopify stores, InterLinks delivers internal link automation that drives clicks, increases sales, and improves SEO. Get 500 FREE Extra Keyword Automations here.

Clustie: Clustie empowers Shopify brands to scale via AI-driven first-party data. Predict high-value audiences, increase ROAS, and lower CPA with precision audience modelling. Book a free demo here.

DigiCom: Scaling a Shopify brand in 2026 requires more than outdated tactics. You need a bulletproof multi-channel growth engine. Claim a free media audit here.