👋 Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a great Fourth of July weekend. While you took a break, I rounded up the ecommerce stories every merchant should know.
In Today’s Edition:
📰 Top Headlines: What Ecommerce Operators Need to Know
🎧 On the Pod: The Secret To Easy Global Shipping
☕ Claus’s Take: Don't Build Your Business on Rented Land
Spend 3 minutes here. Save yourself hours later.
⭐️ TOGETHER WITH MerchantFloor.com*
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📰 TODAY'S MUST-READS
📈 General Ecommerce News
Patriotic Branding Wins Shoppers [read more]
Prime Day Just Turned Back-to-School Into a Summer Sprint [read more]
The 100 Biggest Retailers of 2026 Revealed [read more]
Square Brings ChatGPT and Claude Shopping to Every Seller [read more]
🛒 Platforms & Marketplaces
📱Social Media & Advertising
⭐️ TOGETHER WITH Ship.com*
What if shipping took 10 minutes a day instead of 2 hours?
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🎙️ ECOMMERCE COFFEE BREAK PODCAST
How DTC Brands Are Scaling Globally Without Opening Warehouses
Thinking about selling internationally but don't want the cost and complexity of overseas warehouses?
In this episode, Portless founder and CEO Izzy Rosenzweig shares how fast-growing DTC brands are expanding into 70+ markets from a single inventory hub, improving cash flow, and reducing inventory risk.
In this episode, you'll learn:
How to expand globally without opening warehouses
Why centralized inventory improves cash flow
How to defer import taxes until a product sells
How to deliver international orders in just a few days
🎧 Listen now: [Browser] [Apple Podcasts] [Spotify] [iHeart]
📲 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 TAKE
Don't Build Your Business on Rented Land
Amazon makes you sales. Shopify makes you valuable.
Every year, hundreds of billions of dollars flow through Amazon. It's easy to see why so many brands want a bigger piece of that market.
But here's the mistake I see over and over again.
Many founders build their entire business on Amazon.
That's risky.
Amazon gives you access to millions of shoppers. But it owns the customer relationship. You don't get the email address. You don't control the experience. And you don't control the platform.
Your Shopify store is different.
It's your brand. Your customer data. Your email list. Your repeat customers. Those are the assets that make a business valuable.
Here's how I see it:
Amazon is a great customer acquisition channel. It can generate sales and cash flow quickly.
Shopify is where you build long-term value. It's where you create relationships that bring customers back again and again.
The strongest brands don't pick one or the other.
They use both.
They use Amazon to reach new buyers and Shopify to turn those buyers into loyal customers who purchase directly from them in the future.
One more thing.
If Amazon suspended your account tomorrow, what would happen?
If your answer is "my business would stop," you have a platform risk problem.
Start building an audience you own. Grow your email list. Build your brand. Create a reason for customers to come back to your own store.
That's how you build a business nobody can take away.
So here's my question for you: If Amazon suspended your account tomorrow, how many days would your business survive?
Hit reply and tell me your number. I read every response.
Don’t forget to grab our free ecommerce seller resources.
See you Thursday.
~ Claus
If you want to revisit any past editions, you can find the full newsletter archive here.
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