eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection artwork

Marketing · Steve Hutt

eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection

by Steve Hutt

Running a Shopify store? Success isn't about finding the right app. It's about knowing which strategies actually work at your stage of growth. I'm Steve Hutt. I've sold on eBay out of my garage, co-founded and exited VisionPros.com, a DTC contact lens retailer, and spent six years at Shopify as a Senior Merchant Success Manager helping more than 100 brands, including Dr. Squatch, Tentree, Bulletproof Coffee, Salt & Straw, MUD/WTR and Bokksu. Here's the idea behind the show. Shopify handles roughly 80% of what a store needs really well. The other 20% comes from apps, marketing platforms and agency partners with deep, niche expertise. Every week I sit down with the founders and builders behind those tools to dig into the specific problem they set out to solve and how they solved it, so you can spot your own store's problem and a possible fix. Since 2018 the show has published nearly 500 episodes and passed 3 million downloads. Whether you're chasing your first sale or scaling past eight figures, you'll get stage-aware strategies on retention, AI tools, digital marketing and the operational work that cuts overwhelm. eCommerce Fastlane is an independent show from Fastlane Media Inc. It is not owned or sponsored by Shopify. Find Us Online Website: eCommerceFastlane.com Newsletter: FastlaneInsider.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shutt X: x.com/stevenhutt Instagram: instagram.com/ecommercefastlane Email: steve@ecommercefastlane.com

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

Your BFCM War Room Needs an AI Teammate

Would you let AI run your Meta ads? A billion-dollar DTC brand handed over seven figures in spend and saw ROAS jump 36%. In this episode, Anthony DelPizzo, VP of Marketi

Nov 3
35 min

$100K in Amazon Sales and Still Owing Amazon Money: Why Your Payouts Don’t Match Your Sales

Payouts never match your sales report? If you sell on Shopify, Amazon or TikTok Shop, here's where the money actually goes. In this episode, Stefan Dobrev, Sales and Onb

Oct 29
55 min

Test Your Ads on Simulated Customers Before You Spend a Dollar This BFCM

Test your Shopify ad creative on simulated customers before a dollar of ad spend, right as Black Friday CAC climbs. In this episode, Tamera Montagna, founder and CEO of

Oct 27
44 min

Copy of a Copy: Why Weak Product Descriptions Make Your Shopify Store Invisible to AI

Supplier copy is hiding your Shopify store from AI search: identical product descriptions give ChatGPT no reason to recommend you. In this episode, Jim Boudreau, founder

Oct 22
49 min

Why 9 Out of 10 A/B Tests Fail (and How Shopify Brands Pick the Ones That Win)

Nine out of ten A/B tests on Shopify stores lose to the original, so the win is picking the right test before BFCM. In this episode, Jeffrey Lin, founder and CEO of ABCo

Oct 20
51 min

Your Black Friday Popup Discount Is Probably Too Big

Your Black Friday popup discount is probably too big: for Shopify brands, 10% email offers beat 15% on signups and revenue per visitor. In this episode, Taras Talimonchu

Oct 15
40 min

The AI Shopper Landed. Now What?

AI shoppers land on your Shopify product page with one question left, and if you can't answer it, they go back to ChatGPT. In this solo episode, I break down: The five

Oct 14
27 min

The Hidden Cost of Fraud Protection: Good Orders You’re Declining Before BFCM

Shopify flagged the order as high risk. Cancel it or ship it? For most Shopify brands, that guess is quietly costing real revenue, and BFCM is about to multiply it. In t

Oct 8
37 min

Why 73% of Your Declined Orders Are Actually Good Customers

About 73% of declined orders are good customers, so your Shopify fraud rules may be rejecting buyers you paid to acquire. In this episode, Nicole Jass, SVP of Enterprise

Oct 6
39 min

The Affiliate Channel Most Brands Ignore: One Partner Driving $120K a Month

Up to 90% of affiliate applications add no value, yet paid search partners drive six figures a month for scaling DTC brands. In this episode, Joshua Kennedy, founder of

Sep 29
59 min

The Cheap Ad Inventory Everyone's Ignoring While They Fight Over TikTok

Shopify retargeting stuck on one channel? A 4-person brand hit 35x ROAS running ads across social, email, and display. In this episode, Lizzie Chapman, VP of Technology

Sep 22
39 min

Why a Bootstrapped Product Guide Spends More on Bing Than Google (And Converts 3x Better)

Shoppers often choose your product on a comparison site before reaching Amazon or Shopify, and most brands never see it. In this episode, Tigran Egoyan, Founder and Chie

Sep 15
39 min

An Agency Charges $3,000 Per Listing. That's What Monte Desai Charges Per Year.

Weak product images cost Shopify brands sales every day, and agencies charge $3,000 per listing to fix them. In this episode, Monte Desai, co-founder of Pixii, breaks do

Sep 8
38 min

Multichannel Inventory: What Breaks When Shopify, Amazon, And TikTok Stop Talking

Selling on Shopify, Amazon, and wholesale but still running inventory from spreadsheets? That disconnect is quietly costing your product brand time, money, and customers.

Sep 1
44 min

Pre-Orders And Back In Stock Alerts: Restocked 500, Emailed 10,000

Sold out does not have to mean lost sales. Out-of-stock product pages leak demand every week that Shopify brands could capture with preorders. In this episode, Sandesh K

Aug 25
45 min

The 2-Week Holiday Test That Decides What Your Store Is Worth

Your Shopify store's revenue isn't what buyers pay for. After 72 acquisitions, here's what actually sets your exit valuation. In this episode, Bawar Ahmad, founder at eC

Aug 18
55 min

How To Know If You're Ready To Hire Offshore

Most Shopify brands hire offshore for the wrong reason, and it often costs them double what they think they're saving. In this episode, Nicolas Bivero, CEO and co-founde

Aug 11
52 min

Your Products Have Beautiful Names. AI Has No Idea What They Are.

AI search drives just 1 to 5% of your traffic today, but it converts far better than the rest. Here's how Shopify brands get recommended. In this episode, Robert Langenb

Aug 4
52 min

Why Your Best Sales Month Might Be Draining Your Cash

De minimis is gone and tariffs are squeezing Shopify brands manufacturing overseas, but cash flow is still the real bottleneck. In this episode, Izzy Rosenzweig, CEO & F

Jul 28
32 min

Get Found in ChatGPT and Claude, Not Just Google: The Content-Led Growth Playbook

AI assistants don't care what page you rank on. They care whether your Shopify product data is structured to be found. In this episode, Morten Poulsen, founder and CEO o

Jul 21
51 min

Chart trend

Position in the Marketing chart (US), last 90 days.

#1
all-time peak
16
days in the top 3 since Nov 2024

Chart positions

Where eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Nov 6, 2026).

#77 ▼ 59 Marketing US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

The eCommerce Fastlane has some off the best guests and some of the best production value in the e-comm podcast space. As a former Shopify team member, Steve, the host brings a TON of knowledge and context to his conversations with guests. So many other podcasts are just faking it til they make it but the Fastlane is the best lane :)

Alexander345678 · Feb 2024

I found Steve’s way of hosting this show is truly different. As a marketer I need to keep up to dates with too many podcasts and I listen to a lot of them on a weekly basis but my most favorite one is “EcomFastlane Podcast”. There’s a reason for this: The information on this show is top notch and actually add values to the bottom line. If you are a busy entrepreneur and can’t manage time for podcasts then I would suggest you only this one to listen and you’re pretty covered!

Ash Ome · Dec 2023

If you’re a Shopify store owner, this show is for you! Steve is informative and brings incredible guests on to share their wealth of knowledge and are applicable to Shopify merchants. Love hearing the various perspectives and how entertaining it is.

mmadvla · Nov 2022

A great listen for insights, perspectives and tips + tricks for all things e-commerce growth and marketing!

Charlotte_Dyer_12 · Nov 2022

We strive to present a balanced view by showing a diverse range of reviews from Apple Podcasts.

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About eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection on Reason.fm

Here you find the Apple Podcasts chart positions of eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection, its latest episodes to listen to directly, and reviews from listeners. Rankings are updated daily for the United States.

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