Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth

One of CTC's earliest hires just returned after years away. He left to build his own media agency, acquired a major email and retention agency, then co-founded a beverage company where mastering subscription economics was the only path to survival. Now he is back, and the skills he forged along the way make him a different kind of asset for 7-to-9-figure ecommerce brands than when he first walked in the door.Our guest today is a returning member of the CTC family — a media buyer turned agency founder turned beverage entrepreneur, now rejoining as a senior leader focused on retention strategy, media, and industry events. Find out who it is in this episode.Topics covered:The original CTC hiring story and what early platform arbitrage taught him about finding edgesWhy he left CTC and what he set out to prove by building his own agencyAcquiring a top email and retention agency and what running lifecycle marketing for real clients taught himCo-founding a beverage company and what subscription economics looks like from inside a real P&LWhy Statlas and CTC's current scale made returning the obvious moveThe financial forecast connection: why email revenue expectations must be tied to the paid calendarWhere offer-to-ad-to-landing-page continuity breaks down at most brandsDeep storytelling vs. volume tactics: a real example of what actually drives conversionActive vs. lapsed customer strategy and the economics of subscription reactivationCommerce Roundtable events and Hyrox Anaheim Dec 3-4Show Notes:Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two monthsExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Most agencies promise results. Few can show you the system behind them. In this episode, Randall Thompson sits down with Jar, a Profit Engineer at CTC who previously built and scaled a multi-7-figure apparel brand, to break down exactly what the Profit Engineer role looks like day to day.From daily contribution margin targets inside Statlas to the 4 levers that actually move paid media performance, this is an inside look at how CTC drives predictable, profitable growth across 7-figure and 8-figure ecommerce brands.Topics covered:What a Profit Engineer does every morning (and why contribution margin comes first)The 3 forecasting models inside Statlas: Spending Power, Retention, and Event EffectHow to diagnose a volume problem vs. an efficiency problemThe 4 levers of paid media: Creative, Offers, CRO, and Marketing MomentsHow Statlas Jams work and why collective knowledge across 170+ brands mattersBase plans vs. stretch goals and how to beat the modelWhat separates CTC from agencies that promise big and deliver smallCTC stat: $3B in GMV managed, within 3% of forecast target, 40%+ contribution margin growth, 30%+ revenue growth (2025).Show Notes:Q4 waits for no one. AppLovin is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://applovin.com/en/ad-experience?referralCode=CTC to set up your first campaignExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Richard and Luke (newly promoted President at CTC) break down why channel diversification is no longer optional for 8-figure ecommerce brands heading into Q4 and what creative diversification actually means when you need 1,000-plus ads per month from 100-plus creators. This episode covers the exact tools, platforms, and testing frameworks that changed CTC's position on scaling beyond Meta and Google.What we cover:Why CTC reversed its position on channel diversificationHow Statlas automation now pushes thousands of ads per monthWhy geo holdout incrementality testing is now in-house at CTCCreative diversification as production source diversity, not format diversityThe 3-4 production source minimum before Q4Why 3% of ads drive 80-plus percent of spendFinding your top 20-30 creators before the September window closesAppLovin, TikTok GMV Max, and YouTube Demand Gen entering Q4CTC's Mountain partnership for Connected TV geo holdout testingKey stat: 3% of ads drive more than 80% of spend. Find your outliers before Q4 locks in.Show Notes:Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two monthsExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Our newest ecommerce growth offer comes with a money-back guarantee and a data advantage built in: visibility into what competitors in the same industry are actually bidding and converting at.In this episode, Taylor Holiday and Joy Sharma, who runs this offer for CTC's seven-figure clients, break down what's included: unlimited landing pages and creative tested until they beat CTC's own conversion-rate benchmark data, exclusive access to a top-tier creator network at no added cost, and a guarantee that ties CTC's own accountability directly to the outcome.Tune in if you've ever wondered what your competitors are actually paying to acquire a customer, or wanted an agency willing to put its own money on the line.In this episode, we cover: Why CTC ties this offer to a money-back guarantee instead of just a strategy handoffHow CTC's data shows exactly what competitors are bidding and converting atWhat's included in CTC's newest offer for seven-figure ecommerce brandsHow unlimited landing page testing works against real conversion-rate benchmarksWhy the exclusive Refunnel creator network comes at no added costWhy CTC believes strategy and production can't stay separate anymoreWant CTC to guarantee your growth the same way? Visit www.commonthreadco.com Show Notes:Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign.Get 20% more Meta Growth https://commonthreadco-global.com/ytThe 7-Figure Growth Workshop https://commonthreadco.com/pages/sept-26-eventExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Joy Sharma, CTC's Director of Accelerator, walks through a brand-new CPG growth offer backed by a 20% uplift guarantee — or your money back. The strategy combines hourly API-based budget scaling (via a Meta managed service most brands don't know exists) with industry CAC benchmarking from Statlas, full-stack creative and landing page support, and an exclusive influencer whitelist through Refunnel.In this episode:What "hourly API scaling" actually means and why it drives 20–30% compounding spend growthThe Meta managed service that gives CTC budget-scaling access no other agency hasHow Statlas industry CAC data lets CPG brands "cheat" the auctionReal results: $856/day to $20K/day in 90 days at 0.9 ROASWhy "extreme accountability" means CTC puts everything on the line, not just your brandHow Refunnel's top-performing influencer community removes the whitelist bottleneckThe 3-brand invite-only launch: two slots with 20% guarantee, one with 40%This offer is currently invite-only for 3 CPG brands doing $3M–$5M+ annually who want to reach 9 figures as fast as possible. Apply via the link in the show notes.Show Notes:Get 20% more Meta Growth https://commonthreadco-global.com/ytWhat Hourly API Scaling is actually worth https://commonthreadco-global.com/case-studyThe 7-Figure Growth Workshop https://commonthreadco.com/pages/sept-26-eventGo to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two monthsExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Taylor and Andrew Faris sit down to debate something every performance marketer has an opinion about but almost nobody has actually tested: do Meta cost controls deliver to the bid you set?CTC reviewed $1.5 billion in Meta spend and ran a formal study on $200 million across 253 accounts from March 2025 through July 2026. The results were surprising enough to change CTC's default bidding strategy. This is the first public breakdown of the full findings.KEY TAKEAWAYS:-Min ROAS (highest value optimization) delivered 96.5% of target across the full dataset. It is the most accurate cost control CTC has tested, and the AOV is baked into the signal so you do not have to manually work through SKU-level bid math.-Cost per result goal (cost cap) consistently overshoots by roughly 40%. An average bid of $78 delivered $108 in outcome. SKU complexity makes it very hard to set the right bid, and the algorithm does not compensate for it.-Bid cap delivered 123% of target on a $3M sample and is now CTC's default cost control, replacing cost per result goal.-Stop loss rules for turning off individual ads have no discernible impact on account performance. The time most performance teams spend on that workflow is not moving the needle.-The aggregate accuracy of min ROAS is real — but individual accounts can deviate significantly. 67% of min ROAS accounts were more than 5% below target on an individual basis. The aggregate and the individual account are two different things.This research covers $1.5B reviewed and $200M analyzed across 253 accounts. Read the full study in the show notes.The Common Thread Collective 7-Figure Growth Workshop: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/sept-26-eventhttps://hermod.statlas.io/mcp/report/shared?user=anmar.commonthreadco.com&ts=1785286905https://hermod.statlas.io/mcp/report/shared?user=anmar.commonthreadco.com&ts=1785513697Show Notes:-Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign.-Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine-The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Adrianne, VP of Performance Creative at CTC, breaks down the CTC Creative Strategy Canon, the codified methodology behind how 7-figure to 9-figure ecommerce brands structure their creative programs to consistently produce winning ads. This is not a theory session. It is a data-backed framework built from 504 stores, $3.35 billion in Meta ad spend, and years of iterating what actually works.In this episode:Why ad creative is a hits business and what the data provesHit rate benchmarks from Statlas: from creation to whale, 1 in 100The Creative Demand Formula and how to calculate exactly how many ads you needCarry rate explained: what survives, what decays, and what you controlThe 5 Creative Score Metrics that determine your creative efficiencyThree levers to move performance: mine, make, and catalogThe Unified Workflow: a 5-step monthly creative planning processKey stat: Only 0.9% of ads become whales. Top advertisers ship 12-19+ new evergreen creatives per week — and their hit rates are more than double those of smaller accounts.Show Notes:Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two monthsExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Richard breaks down what's holding most 7-figure brands back from crossing into 8-figure territory, and announces CTC's first in-person workshop designed to close that gap.On September 2nd, 2026, CTC is hosting the Seven-Figure Growth Workshop at our Costa Mesa office. Taylor Holiday will deliver the keynote, and founders will rotate through five hands-on workshops covering forecasting, team building, creative operating systems, paid media, and AI tooling, led by the CTC leaders who run these disciplines every day.Tickets are on sale now. Link in show notes.What you'll get at the workshop:Accurate revenue forecasting that drives confident paid investmentHow to build the right team and keep them (led by Dane, VP of Employee Development)A creative operating system that scales volume without chaos (led by Ally, Dir. of Growth Strategy)Paid social fundamentals and how to build a performing ad account (led by Tony Chopp, VP of Paid Media)How to build scalable AI tools that actually move the needle (led by Anmar, Dir. of Profit Engineering)Direct access to Taylor Holiday + CTC strategy staff throughout the dayNetworking with other 7-figure founders in the same building moment.Show Notes:Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign.Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Most ecommerce brands head into Q4 carrying too much inventory and not enough cash, and those two problems are directly connected. In this episode, Richard Gaffin sits down with Anmar Anmar Abdul Jawad, Director of Profit Engineering at CTC, to walk through the Cashmas in July framework, a four-step process for liquidating slow-moving inventory in Q3 so your brand has the capital and focus it needs to win in Q4.What we cover:Why brands fall into either an execution gap or a strategy gap with inventoryThe real cost of holding inventory, including storage fees and opportunity cost on cashHow cash constraints force brands to pull back spend and miss cohort valueThe four-step liquidation process: SKU identification, financial modeling, operating plan, and asset executionWhy sequencing discounts correctly depends on your brand's historical discount behaviorHow CTC's portfolio-wide data gives brands an edge on ad angles and creative strategyWhy adding a third party for liquidation adds capacity instead of displacing your evergreen businessKey insight: Brands that are cash-constrained in Q3 have to reduce new customer acquisition spend precisely when efficient CAC opportunities are available. Liquidating inventory early funds the cohorts that drive your Q4 contribution margin.Ready to run Cashmas in July for your brand? https://commonthreadco.com/pages/cashmas-in-julyShow Notes:Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two monthsExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Joy Sharma runs CTC's PE7 program for mid to high 7-figure brands. His claim: if you're stuck at a growth plateau, he can diagnose what's wrong without looking at your ad account. The answer is almost never creative. It's almost never ad structure. It's offer-market fit.In this episode, Joy breaks down why Facebook's auction works against you as you scale spend, how the AOV-to-CAC ratio determines your ceiling, and why Q3 is the single most important window for 7-figure brands to get this right before Q4.In this episode:Why growth plateaus are a business problem, not a marketing problemHow Facebook's auction gets harder as you spend moreThe AOV vs. CAC framework that reveals who you're actually competing againstWhy Q3 is the window to solve offer-market fit before Q4 spend rampsHow CTC's Marketing Moments service guarantees incremental revenueThe sequence that matters: product-market fit → offer-market fit → creative strategyKey insight: Creative strategy is a volume mechanism, not an efficiency mechanism. If you're trying to solve a business problem with a marketing solution, that's where 7-figure brands go to die.Show Notes:Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign.Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Your platform ROAS is not the truth. It's a story your attribution tool tells you. Luke Austin, breaks down exactly how CTC approaches marketing measurement — and why the gap between platform-reported numbers and actual incremental revenue is where most brands make their worst capital allocation decisions.This is Part 3 of the CTC Canon Series — our codified methodology across the core disciplines of ecommerce growth. In this episode, Luke covers the full measurement framework: why geo holdout tests are the gold standard, how CTC's database of hundreds of incrementality tests gives every new brand a head start, and what it means to build "progressive truth" over time instead of chasing a single source of truth.Topics covered:Why media efficacy is always in flux — and why any system that treats it as fixed is lying to youThe measurement gap: reality vs. fiction, and how to move closer over timeGeo holdout tests explained — how they work, why they're the gold standardCTC's incrementality benchmarks by channel: Facebook acquisition (1.14x iROAS), Google Branded (0.27x iROAS), and moreWhy Google branded search dramatically over-reports ROASHow iROAS normalization enables true apples-to-apples channel comparisonThe three-stage framework: aggregate benchmark, individual test, accumulated medianWhy iROAS is always subordinate to contribution marginShow Notes:Go to https://bit.ly/4aiEz79 to start your free migration with Omnisend todayExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

Every dollar spent on SaaS is a dollar that does not go into ads.In this episode, Luke Austin sits down with Gil Dyen, Head of Marketing at Rutsu Barefoot, to walk through a real email and SMS platform migration to Omnisend — what drove the decision, what the process actually looked like, and how a 60,000-contact list got fully migrated in under 30 days with less than a working day of direct involvement.Gil runs marketing at a mid-7-figure DTC footwear brand that has sold 45,000 units in its first 18 months, with a clear mandate: keep SaaS costs lean, reinvest every freed dollar into Meta spend and creative, and build the retention engine that takes the brand from 12% returning customers today to 45% by year three.Topics covered in this episode:Why a bootstrapped DTC brand audits its SaaS stack constantlyThe two criteria that actually drive platform decisions: cost and timeHow Omnisend managed the full migration, from contact database to flow automationsWhat the QA process looks like after a migration (and how long it takes)The warm-up mechanics: 9 days to re-engage 60,000 contactsWhy Q4 is the wrong time to switch email platforms (and when to do it instead)How an ESP migration becomes a flow audit opportunityCTC's Omnisend integration inside Statlas for forecast-connected email trackingShow Notes:Axon is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to https://axon.ai/en/ctc to set up your first campaign.Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have

What if your agency published every opinion, every framework, and every strategy they use to grow your brand? That's exactly what CTC just did.The Canon is a decade of ecommerce methodology distilled into seven categories: technology, forecasting, marketing measurement, Meta advertising, Google advertising, email strategy, and creative strategy. It's not a pitch deck. It's the actual operating system behind how CTC grows 170+ ecommerce brands.In this episode, Taylor Holiday walks through why codifying methodology changes everything, how The Canon updates itself through live testing across hundreds of brands, and why the way you evaluate agencies is about to fundamentally shift.Topics covered:What The Canon is and why methodology needs to be written downHow CTC's methodology updates in real time through aggregate testingWhy evaluating agencies by individual talent is an outdated frameworkThe role of AI in deploying institutional methodology at scaleFrontier methodology: catalog strategy, affiliate creative, TikTok ShopsHow brands should codify their own methodology for better partner outcomesWhy publishing methodology for scrutiny is a competitive advantageShow Notes:Book a free demo at tapcart.com/ctc to learn how brands like Aviator Nation, BEIS, Athletic Brewing, and thousands more are winning with TapcartExplore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engineThe Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at [email protected] to ask us any questions you might have