Brilliant Commerce

Nick Jain (Co-Founder @ August) watched a music festival video rack up a few million views and bring in a couple hundred customers who never purchased again. By mid to late 2024, leaning on viral spikes had August starting to stagnate.On this episode of the Brilliant Commerce Podcast, Nick shares why building for one core customer made August's packaging, website and messaging decisions simpler.We cover:- Launching on social eight months before selling product- How customer conversations spotted the organic period care shift- Why relying on viral spikes stalled August's growth- How the 2024 lead scare reshaped August's packaging- Letting customers buy August wherever they want- Measuring ad spend when ROAS misses retail sales

After being laid off alongside 50% of the company at Ripple Foods, Chelsie Arvizu (eCommerce & Retail Growth Consultant) moved from brand side to agency side. As a client she kept running into the same gap: budget to run campaigns, and no creative to make them work.On this episode of the Brilliant Commerce Podcast, Chelsie shares why one profit goal across every channel changes where the money goes, and what a strong ROAS can hide.We cover:- Moving from brand side to agency side after a layoff- One profit goal across Amazon, Google, Meta and Walmart- What changed as Amazon and Whole Foods integrated- Why a strong ROAS can hide a weak customer- The CFO margin target that kept growth scaling- Using AI for brand creative without losing personalityThis conversation was recorded while Chelsie Arvizu was Sr. Director, Retail Business Development at DrivePG.

Women weren't required in US clinical research until 1993. Priyanka Jain built a company to close that gap. Evvy now holds the world's largest real world data set on the vaginal microbiome.Priyanka tells Bryan Mahoney how community and education became Evvy's entire acquisition strategy, why AI driven search changes how patients find care, and what she thinks is harder, raising money as a female founder or building a brand new category. Topics discussed:- Building a category around an overlooked female biomarker data set- Turning education and community into Evvy's core acquisition strategy- Why AI powered search is reshaping healthcare discovery- Fundraising as a founder versus creating a brand new category- Evvy's prospective study using microbiome testing inside IVF clinics- Serving 100,000 patients and 2,000 doctors nationwide- Overcoming imposter syndrome by assembling experts instead of becoming one- The venture funding gap facing women's health founders today

What happens when an agency spins its internal tooling into a software company built for one vertical only?Jenna Holcombe tells Bryan how a hard call to focus exclusively on fashion, made around 2019, turned into the company's biggest advantage.Jenna breaks down how Centra pairs headless architecture with an opinionated, all-in-one suite for D2C and wholesale, why the company won't rebrand around AI hype, and how a wave of new prospects are finding Centra through ChatGPT searches instead of word of mouth. Topics discussed:- Betting on fashion-only focus after years serving multiple verticals- Combining headless architecture with an opinionated end-to-end commerce suite- Connecting wholesale and D2C in one inventory and back end- Building omnichannel kiosk experiences for multi-brand retail displays- Refusing to rebrand as an AI platform despite market hype- Seeing new prospects discover Centra through ChatGPT and LLM search- Balancing agency-style customization with productized software for fashion brands- Scaling from bootstrapped agency spinoff to 300 plus fashion brands

What if the biggest AI opportunity for retailers is knowing where not to automate? Chris Parsons, VP of Partner Growth and Marketing at Hale, spent 25 years inside retail at Walmart Canada, Ren's Pets, and Home Hardware before moving to the agency side.He tells Bryan Mahoney why he built an AI Moment of Discovery framework, why he still pushes back on the online-to-store cannibalization myth, and why self-checkout may be retail's biggest missed connection with customers. Topics discussed:●   Building an AI Moment of Discovery framework for retail●   Debunking the online-to-store cannibalization myth●   Why self-checkout kills in-store customer engagement●   Starting AI adoption with small, repeatable tasks●   Finding hidden product correlations like toothpaste and tuna●   Holding agencies accountable instead of asking for bigger budgets●   Using AI as a thought partner, not an autopilot●   Writing Retail Rewired despite a lifelong learning disability 

Meta's algorithm started rewarding new creative volume, and the industry treated it as a race to publish more. Vincent Bourzeix, Founder and CEO of Superbolt, saw the problem coming.Vincent walks Bryan through why creative diversity outperforms sheer output, how ad platforms shifted from buying audiences to buying outcomes, and the three roles his agency built to make AI actually useful instead of confidently wrong.Topics discussed:Superbolt's vertically integrated model uniting media, creative, and data teamsWhy creative volume backfired after Meta's algorithm updateFounder-led ads rank among the best performing creative formatsShift from buying audiences to buying outcomes on ad platformsHigh consolidation, high signal framework replacing granular ad targetingQuarterly learning roadmaps for structured incrementality testingThree roles agencies need to operationalize AI successfullyTriangulating cross-channel measurement beyond platform-reported ROAS

With nearly two decades in e-commerce and stints at Victoria's Secret, Bed Bath & Beyond, The Children's Place, and Foot Locker, Laurie Falletta brought something most e-commerce leaders don't have when she joined Cole Haan as VP of Ecommerce: a merchant's brain. She thinks in product lifecycles, margin thresholds, and inventory planning, and that shapes every decision she makes on site.In this conversation, Laurie makes the case for why over-personalization is quietly diluting brand stories, why average UPT across most sites sits around 1.4 and what curation has to do with it, and how Cole Haan is approaching agentic discovery without chasing every platform at once.Topics discussed:Why merchandising foundation separates good e-commerce leadersMargin discipline and the real cost of promotional cultureBalancing algorithmic recommendations with manual curationWhy over-personalization dilutes your brand's seasonal storyFit technology and why no one has cracked footwear sizingAgentic commerce, Reddit, and the new rules of brand discoveryUsing AI for reporting without losing brand authenticityKeeping customer connection as the constant through tech change

Charlotte Langley built Bloom & Wild's retention engine by paying close attention to complaints too small to register as data, like customers who wanted out of Mother's Day marketing entirely.She tells Bryan how a three-person insights team, AI-powered feedback analysis, and firm limits on unit economics are helping the letterbox flower pioneer expand into food and gifting without losing customer trust.Topics discussed:- Letting customers opt out of sensitive occasion marketing- Building customer trust before expanding into new gift categories- Expanding from flowers into food and gifting categories- Running a three-person insights team that leans on AI- Uncovering hidden operational issues through AI-scraped NPS data- Proactively resending flowers before delivery problems get reported- Treating delivery delays as the top driver of dissatisfaction- Building the "Care Wildly" brand platform since 2020

What does it actually take to build a brand that earns permission to expand into retail, land cultural partnerships, and grow aided awareness from 1% to 11%? Matthew Morein, Senior Director of Brand and Content at WeCook, has the answer, and it starts with a question most teams never ask: if this company disappeared tomorrow, what would the world be losing?Matthew walks Bryan through how WeCook shifted from a purely functional, convenience-driven brand to one rooted in the joy of mealtime, why brand is made of clay and not cement, and how authentic ambassador partnerships with PK Subban and Marie-Pierre Morin drove real brand awareness results in a notoriously difficult subscription category.Topics discussed:Moving from functional messaging to emotional brand positioningAdvocating for brand investment when ROI is hard to measureBuilding ambassador partnerships based on authentic product loveGrowing aided brand awareness from 1% to 11% in OntarioBalancing AI tools with authentic storytelling in content productionExpanding from DTC subscription into retail and new channel opportunitiesUsing cultural collaborations to generate earned media and brand heatWhy brand is never finished and must stretch into new channels

Summersalt launched from a data set most brands would never attempt to build. The team scanned 10,000 women, made a swimsuit for each, and collected detailed feedback on fit. That pattern library still drives the product engine today, and swimwear brands that earn that trust historically hold 80% of wallet share going forward.Lori Coulter, Co-Founder and CEO of Summersalt, tells Bryan how she and her co-founder went from a Chipotle lunch to a top 1% launch in under a year, why she still participates in every fitting, and where AI is actually delivering returns at Summersalt today.Topics discussed:Building a fit library from 10,000 digital body scansFinding a co-founder through professional respect and shared valuesKeeping all brand creative in-house from day oneUsing post-season return data to improve fit by sizeTesting new silhouettes in core solids before scalingRecognizing A or D products on launch dayWhere AI is delivering real efficiency gains at SummersaltThinking about agentic commerce as a new channel