Hey {{first_name}}
Is it harder being an agency owner or eCom brand owner?
Charlotte and Adam have a little squabble about that in the first episode of our new series, The Skate of eCom.
I’m obviously far too impartial to comment.
Charlotte joined her mum’s business, TLC, to help turn things around. She offered to give it six months.
And nearly 15 years later…
She’s still there.
So she’s got a fair bit to say about what makes running an eCom brand difficult.
We just thought we’d make her say it on rollerblades.
There’s plenty worth taking back to your own business.
The sales looked rather better than the bank balance.
Charlotte says that when they compared what they were selling through Amazon with what was actually reaching the bank, it was around 50%. And there were still other costs to account for.
She also talks about their US expansion: initially successful, until terms and pricing changed. She then spent 18 months clearing stock.
Before you add another sales channel because everyone else seems to be doing well on it, work out what each sale will actually leave you with.
And what happens to the stock if it stops working.
Side note from me: One of the best and most useful books I have ever read and use the advice still today is Profit First, written by Mike Michalowicz - https://mikemichalowicz.com/profit-first/
Can your customers see why yours costs more?
Charlotte holds up a £50 pair of TLC leggings and makes a very fair point: in a photo, why would someone think they’re better than a £20 pair?
The difference becomes easier to explain when she shows the fabric, stretches it and demonstrates the coverage. Then she talks through the fit and how the leggings make customers feel.
That’s the job your product page needs to do when you’re not there.
Have a look at your best-selling product. Have you actually shown someone why it’s worth the price? Or have you written “premium quality” and left them to work it out?
“We put customers first” gets harder when it costs you.
TLC uses real customers in its campaigns. Charlotte explains why they won’t digitally reshape their models’ bodies or pass AI-generated models off as real.
It fits their message around body confidence. It also makes producing the content more expensive and time-consuming.
And she’s honest admits she doesn’t know whether customers care enough.
That’s worth thinking about. The thing you put the most effort into might be something your customers barely notice.
Are you explaining it? Showing it? Giving them a reason to care?
There’s more on the Gemma Collins collaboration, moving to Shopify and the years of fabric development behind a product that could otherwise look like “just another pair of leggings”.
Plus a timed skating challenge.
And some questionable horse jokes that probably shouldn’t have made the final edit.
Want to being on the show?
We’re looking for eCom founders and operators with something other brands can learn from. A breakthrough, a change of direction, or a mistake you’d rather someone else didn’t have to repeat.
You don’t need a perfectly polished success story. We’d much rather hear what happened and what you learned.
Chat soon,
Peter
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