The Unofficial Shopify Podcast

NEW EPISODES EVERY TUESDAY, SUBSCRIBE FOR UNBEATABLE ECOM RECON – Every Tuesday since 2014, host Kurt Elster shares the Shopify success stories that nobody tells you about, straight from the entrepreneurs living it. Subscribe for a raw look at what it really takes to succeed on Shopify.

The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is a business podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 0 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts The Unofficial Shopify Podcast, a business show with 0 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #639

  How a Nicotine-Free Vape Brand Grows *Without Ads*

  Sep 15, 202646 min

  He sells vapes with no nicotine. Every ad platform, payment processor, and carrier treats him like Big Tobacco anyway. Conrad Kurth founded Cyclone Pods in 2018 after watching every friend he had get hooked on Juul. Eight years later the brand has grown every year with a 60 percent repeat customer rate, no paid ads, no Shopify Payments, and no USPS. This is what selling on hard mode actually looks like. What you'll learn: Why a product with no addictive ingredient still gets a 60% repeat rate Where a new customer really comes from when Meta, Google, and TikTok won't run your ads Why "alternative advertising" on age-restricted sites sent traffic that never converted The Sunday morning Shopify Payments shut off with no warning, and the standalone store he keeps ready for next time How UPS and FedEx agreed to ship after seeing lab data, and why USPS never will Whether publishing third-party lab results helps SEO (his honest answer: he can't prove it) Why Wisconsin only allows vapes from Philip Morris, Altria, and Reynolds The Focus Pouch story: caffeine plus lion's mane, reishi, and cordyceps, two years before caffeine pouches were a category Vapes for dogs, the leaking device that got pulled, and what he'd tell his 2018 self His advice for anyone selling a restricted product: ignore the ad people, do the legwork yourself Guest: Conrad Kurth, founder and CEO of Cyclone Pods, a nicotine-free vape and nootropic pouch brand based in Santa Monica, California. Former software engineer. Show Links: Cyclone Pods: https://cyclonepods.com Email Conrad: conrad@cyclonepods.com SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com/unofficial Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

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  Episode #638

  ShipBob CMO on Peak Season 2026

  Sep 8, 202643 min

  He's shipped over a billion units. He says your Black Friday gets decided in September. Casey Armstrong, CMO of ShipBob, returns for his third appearance to break down peak season 2026. Five years ago the villain was Shipageddon. This year there's no single boogeyman, just tariffs that pushed brands global, an exploding channel mix, and AI quietly eating the back office. What you'll learn: Why right now is "inbound peak" and what to send your 3PL before October The real warehouse math: when one node beats five, and why split shipments crush margins The only two levers that lower shipping costs (and you can only pull one) The subscription discount trap that trains customers to game you, plus how Rise Coffee and Momentous do it right How brands turn screenshots into warehouse receiving orders in 30 seconds with AI agents in Slack ShipBob Promise: delivery dates on the PDP and at checkout, built by the exec who ran Amazon's North America fulfillment The Watchmaster story: a crawler that undercut Rolex competitors $5 at a time to win Google Shopping The exact signal it's time to stop packing your own orders Guest: Casey Armstrong, CMO of ShipBob, the global fulfillment platform with 70+ facilities worldwide. Previously VP of Marketing at BigCommerce. Show Links: ShipBob: https://www.shipbob.com Unpacked with Casey Armstrong, ShipBob's podcast: https://unpacked.shipbob.com Casey's prior appearances: Shipageddon (Dec 2020), 3PL ShipBob Sees Strong Black Friday Fulfillment (Dec 2021) SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

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  Episode #637

  Shopify's New Rev Share, Catalog, and the Next Big Bets Explained

  Sep 1, 202648 min

  "You think you know what you're doing. Like I work at Shopify. I should be better at it." That's Atlee Clark, Shopify's VP of Partnerships, on running her own store, Pika Layers, for the past seven years. She's joined by Eytan Seidman, VP of Product for everything partners and developers touch. Together they just rewrote the deal for Shopify's entire partner ecosystem, and this conversation explains what that means for your store. We get into the new revenue share that pays partners on merchant GMV growth (Plus upgrades finally count), why Catalog and UCP put the world's products in a single API, and how Sidekick app extensions going GA changes what apps can do inside your admin. Plus the two areas both VPs say are wide open for anyone willing to build. Stick around for the complaint Eytan admits Shopify still hasn't fixed. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Shopify Partners: shopify.com/partners Shopify.dev: shopify.dev Pika Layers (Atlee's store): pikalayers.com Atlee Clark on X: x.com/AtleeClark PromoParty (Kurt's app): [URL] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

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  Episode #636

  Shopify's Head of Growth: How to Get Recommended by AI

  Aug 25, 202642 min

  "It's more than 2x that conversion rate coming from another referral channel." AI shopping agents are already sending buyers to Shopify stores, and they convert at double the rate of your other referral traffic. Most merchants have no idea it's happening because the analytics show up as direct traffic. Archie Abrams runs growth at Shopify, and he's spent five and a half years building the infrastructure for exactly this moment: Shop identity, cart sync, and the Shop Product Network. Archie breaks down why AI traffic lands on product pages instead of your homepage, the five-minute ChatGPT audit that reveals what AI actually understands about your products, and which product categories are winning in agentic search right now. Plus the free growth levers already sitting in your admin, and why the smartest money might still be in direct mail. Sponsors Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels Links Shopify Collective Shopify B2B (now on all plans) Work With Kurt Apply for Shopify Help See Our Results Free Newsletter The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

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  Episode #635

  Why Your Subscription Program Stopped Growing — Matt Holman

  Aug 18, 202645 min

  Your subscription program is adding customers every month—so why has it stopped growing? Matt Holman, founder of Subscription Prescription and known as “The Subscription Doc,” explains how churn creates a hidden ceiling: eventually, the subscribers coming in simply replace those going out. Matt and Kurt discuss why improving the offer can produce a better return than obsessing over retention, including: Why Matt considers a 40% subscription opt-in rate achievable How gifts can outperform deeper subscription discounts Why customers who switch products or flavors can be worth 6x more When migrating subscription platforms is worth the risk How to simplify the initial offer without limiting existing subscribers Which products probably shouldn’t be sold by subscription The inexpensive billing-email improvement most brands overlook They also compare Recharge, Skio, and Loop—and explore how AI could change subscription management. Guest Matt Holman, The Subscription Doc Subscription Prescription: https://thesubscriptiondoc.com The Cancel Page: https://thecancelpage.com Sponsors Swym — Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, and more https://getswym.com/kurt Cleverific — Smart order editing for Shopify https://cleverific.com Zipify — Build high-converting sales funnels https://zipify.com/KURT Work with Kurt Apply for Shopify help: https://ethercycle.com/apply See our results: https://ethercycle.com/work Get the free newsletter: https://kurtelster.com

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