208. Why Most Brands Fail at Cross-Border E-Commerce ft. Carol Shih
From Commerce Untold by Eitan Koter
May 20, 2026 · 33 min · Episode 208
About this episode
Carol Shih discusses the challenges international brands face in cross-border e-commerce and shares insights on success strategies.
In this episode of Commerce Untold, host Eitan Koter sits down with Carol Shih, founder of Qode Space, a boutique Shopify agency, and Doraemi, a cross-border consultancy helping international brands enter and grow in the US market. Carol has a background that spans LVMH, Alibaba, and years of working with fashion and beauty brands across multiple continents. She brings a direct, no-nonsense perspective to what it actually takes to succeed in cross-border e-commerce. They get into why so many international brands, including some doing billions in Asia, struggle the moment they try to enter the US. Carol explains that the product is rarely the problem. It usually comes down to self-awareness: knowing your weaknesses before you start spending. The conversation covers what a proper Shopify audit looks like, why pouring money into traffic before your store is ready is one of the most common and expensive mistakes brands make, and how to think about brand positioning before touching paid ads or picking a sales channel. They also talk about the shift toward AI search and what brands need to do now to stay discoverable, why TikTok Shop has changed the beauty category faster than most…
People in this episode
Host: Eitan Koter
Guest: Carol Shih
Topics covered
- cross-border e-commerce
- brand positioning
- Shopify audit
- AI search
- TikTok Shop
- Gen Alpha shopping behavior
Keywords
- cross-border e-commerce
- Shopify
- brand positioning
- AI search
- TikTok Shop
- Gen Alpha
- fashion brands
- beauty brands
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Qode Space, Doraemi, LVMH, Alibaba
Places: US, Asia, TikTok Shop, Gen Alpha
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