Brian Nolan

Cross-selling doesn’t automatically grow AOV Here’s proof: I audited a Shopify store with 50K+ orders/year They sell niche footwear accessories And they were offering bundles, but only as add-ons (metal tips, lace locks) The result? ✔ 45% of orders were bundles × AOV was stuck at $13.75 The reason: Customers were buying 2-5 items per order, but almost never full sets What the data showed: - Avg. items per order: 2.5 - Common patterns: 2 or 3 colors of the same product - Most frequent combos:  -> black + white  -> sail + pink  -> Jordan 1 + aglets But the site didn’t push bundles actively It didn’t make mixing easy And it didn’t highlight common combos The opportunity? Test new mix & match formats: 1) 3-pack builder: any 3 colors 2) 2 laces + optional add-ons 3) Trio + aglets: 2 required, 1 optional + accessory Expected impact? 👉 +15-20% AOV uplift 👉 More 3-5 item orders 👉 Better category discovery This is exactly the kind of audit insight I’ll be sharing at the Shopify Founders Meetup in Bratislava - Nov 6 If you’re building a Shopify brand in Slovakia and want more ideas like this: Register here👇 https://lnkd.in/epyc4aKr

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One thing I’ve learned about the liquidation & resale space that doesn’t get talked about enough: Most of the problems people complain about aren’t caused by bad inventory. They’re caused by lack of structure. When inventory moves without visibility: Trust erodes Margins get misunderstood Good partnerships fall apart And everyone feels like they’re guessing instead of operating The businesses that last in this space tend to do a few simple things well: Track movement consistently Separate process from emotion Build systems that can explain themselves without a conversation Transparency isn’t about control — it’s about clarity. Clarity creates confidence. Confidence creates long-term relationships. Nothing groundbreaking here. Just fundamentals done right — which is surprisingly rare. Curious to see how others in this space think about structure vs. speed.

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📍📍📍📍 Most DTC brands go into the new year chasing revenue goals… But they skip the first step: budgeting their merchandising calendar. I’m Steve Olvera, The DTC COO. As the former COO of BYLTbasics.com and Legends.com—two 8- and 9-figure apparel businesses—I learned early that your merchandising calendar is only as strong as the dollars behind it. Start with your annual revenue target. From there, work backwards to allocate spend across categories, launches, and seasons. Protect enough capital for inventory, marketing, and operations so your launches don’t stall mid-year. 👉 If you want to win in 2026, don’t just set revenue goals. 👉 Budget your product roadmap so you can hit them with confidence. — 💡 Want help building your merchandising calendar? Visit DTCCOO.com to book an intro call.

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The 6-Week Challenge: Can your design team keep up with Walmart's new speed standard? The apparel industry is entering a new phase of operational speed. When major retailers set a 6-week target from concept to shelf, traditional development workflows are no longer sustainable. Staying competitive now requires more than just faster work: it requires a complete architectural shift in how we create. At PatternFast, we’ve developed an AI-powered platform designed for this exact reality. Our Hybrid AI + Parametric technology allows design teams to generate production-ready patterns in minutes, not months. Key performance indicators of our platform: - 90% reduction in development time (months to hours). - Access to the world’s largest pattern dataset (100B+ variations). - Precision fit tested on 350,000 real humans for accuracy. - Fully automated grading and tech pack generation. This is about practical innovation and strategic alignment. If your value chain isn't AI-ready, you're already behind. Is your team ready for the 6-week standard? #3DFashionDesign #PatternMaking #ApparelManufacturing #FashionAI #FashionTech #PatternFast

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I often hear DTC founders say: "Cut the middleman—go direct to factories!" It's solid advice in theory, but here's the real-world data from the footwear industry that changes everything. 1. Volatile Pricing: Factories see new brands as risky, charging 20-30% premiums. A 2023 Footwear Industry Association report found 68% of direct deals faced mid-production price increases. 2. Deprioritized Slots: Established clients get priority. Per SGS Supply Chain Survey 2024, 55% of direct footwear orders were delayed by 4+ weeks. 3. Quality Risks: Without oversight, QC failure rates hit 40% for direct vs. under 5% with experienced partners (Asia Pacific Footwear data). At Central Team Global, our 40-year network and big-client leverage secure stable pricing, priority production, and reliable quality for scaling brands. If you're hitting these walls, message me—happy to share how we fix it! #FootwearSourcing #SupplyChain #DTC #GlobalManufacturing

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One trend I see coming up in the DTC space, especially with apparel brands, is Strategic Partnerships.... but let me explain why: 1. Acquisition costs are rising with no signs of slowing down. CAC's and CPM's keep moving up and first time profitability is pretty much non-existent 2. Lists & Existing Customers (Think Email/SMS) will become that much more important to rely on over the next few months. You've already paid to acquire these people, brands will need to utilize them more. So, what does this mean for standalone brands?? It means new customers will be harder to come by and ultimately revenue will fall. And this brings me to the point of Strategic Partnerships! Let's say Brand A is in the outdoor apparel space, decent list size of 300,000 existing customers. However, ads have dropped, new customers are down, and they are struggling. In comes Brand B... also in the outdoor apparel space, and a list size of 150,000. Their ads are also not working very well but existing customers keep asking for "New Products" from this brand I think it makes perfect sense for these brands to join forces and combine their existing customers together. It let's Brand A gain new customers from Brand B's list, and vice versa. Plus, customer acquisition costs would be much smaller doing it this way. And they're both in the same niche.... Not sure how the exact structure would look like, but I think it's going to be something you see more often than not in the coming months/years What do you think about this set-up? Let me know ⬇️

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No one can blame fashion teams for being notorious rejectors of retail technology. Here are the Top 3 complaints from merch teams about new tech: 1) This doesn't help me get my JOB DONE 2) It's so SLOOOOW 3) It's so unintuitive - the UI looks like it belongs in the finance dept Companies waste millions on tech that their teams never actually use. Here's my take on how to ensure you're not making a failed investment.

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Yesterday, 177 million people in the U.S. concurrently hunted for Nutella’s surprise new flavor and not a single one of those searches could be predicted with current AI tools At the same time, Google quietly rolled out Stitch, a free platform that lets anyone assemble bespoke apps without writing a line of code. These two events may seem unrelated, but together they expose something most leaders aren't aware of - even truly massive phenomena now unfold within millions of personalized, atomized experiences - never through a single, unified mass audience It's also proof that our entire prediction infrastructure is fundamentally broken The old attention economy - where winning meant grabbing eyeballs on a soapbox has collapsed Even Zuck the actual guy who built the world's largest community platform is switching to individual AI friends and content Today, each person’s feed, search results, and shopping recommendations are uniquely curated by AI, down to the way they see and interact with the same comment thread!!!! A viral hook no longer spreads through one broadcasting pipeline; it fragments, echoing through countless micro-communities, each with its own timing and language That 177 million–search frenzy didn’t burst onto a central stage - it rippled invisibly through individual feeds, proving that mass forecasting isn’t just inaccurate, it’s obsolete We’re living in an AI-curated reality where platforms do more than predict demand - they manufacture it. If you’re still chasing yesterday’s playbook of “trending” hooks, viral formats, or one-size-fits-all community strategies, you’re building for a world that no longer exists Every single person needs their own hook, format, and CTA at the precise moment it matters This shift isn’t a trend to watch - it’s the new foundation of digital existence Brands and creators who learn to navigate personal search, community-driven commerce, and AI-powered content orchestration today will own the platforms Since Tomorrow Because if we can’t understand real people in real time, we have no chance of helping them (or ourselves) thrive in this AI-curated future

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We have built an engine to do financial reasoning, based on how professional investors look at trends. Read our latest report on the impact of One Big Beautiful Bill on the retail sector.

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Nothing Great Kohl's is struggling, with sales down 5% to LY I asked Google Gemini about Kohl's turnaround program Optimized store layout Changes to coupon program Dedicated spaces for key categories Enhanced visual merchandising Private label Expand SEPHORA relationship Impulse queues at the front checkout (My personal favorite) What's the word I’m looking for? Superficial Everyone thinks their merchandising is enhanced. Everyone has dedicated category spaces. Nowadays, everyone has a shop-in-shop There is a direct relationship between innovation and greatness. If there is nothing innovative in the plan, there is nothing great about the plan What would a great plan look like? Food Poisoning Theory I asked my wife about Kohl's's, her first words Their quality has really gone down, like Macy's This is the perception. The truth is irrelevant. Kohl's must change the perception Food Poisoning 101 Eliminate Food Poisoning at literally all costs Kohl's must analyze every customer touchpoint, starting with its employees Here's the list of what Kohl's Strategy is doing for their associates You must have a Strategy centered around your associates Not tech, not AI. Strategy The Law of Engagement The further an idea originates from those impacted, the less those impacted will embrace the idea The Three Tenets Make employees’ jobs easier Make employees better at their jobs Improve customer service Employees will embrace ideas at a distance that satisfy one of The Three Tenets Kohl's Strategy does not mention its employees, but they carry the weight of Kohl's failures When sales are down 5%, spirits are down 25% How do you lift this weight? Process Poisoning Processes that fail to satisfy The Three Tenets become subject to The Three Laws of Process The First Law The Process is suspect The Second Law The more you embrace the process, the more you control the process The Third Law If you do not respect the process, you will not improve the process The Laws of Process offer a much more defined Strategy If it doesn't satisfy The Three Tenets, you don't do it Additionally, if it never satisfied The Three Tenets, you stop doing it, immediately Want to lift the weight off your employees’ shoulders and bring the light back to their eyes, tell them You are right. All this stuff we have you doing is a waste of time. You can stop Struggling Corporate Strategy 101 Exert more control Chase every metric The more documentation, the better This Strategy distracts from what's truly important Coaching Development Customer Service Kohl's is focusing on getting customers to come in today. This is way too late Business grows on who comes back tomorrow, not on what you sell today Everything Kohl's does needs a central focus What's your return policy? Come back as often as you like Unified Leadership Theory The Strategy of Engagement

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Way too many merchants focus on redemption count as a measure of discount success. High redemptions could just as easily signal that you are giving away margin on orders that would have happened anyway. Incrementality is key, and in my opinion incremental revenue per user and gross profit per user are your best metrics in most cases. I understand measuring that incrementality is sometimes tricky. A/B tests can be unwieldy, but even just doing a quick pre/post analysis using week-over-week or month-over-month data can work for small(ish) shops.

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