Eric Bandholz

Articles by: Eric Bandholz

Eric Bandholz

Eric Bandholz is the host of "Ecommerce Conversations," Practical Ecommerce's weekly podcast, and co-founder of Beardbrand, a leading men’s grooming company that focuses on beard care. With the help of his co-founders, he’s bootstrapped Beardbrand from zero sales to a multi-million dollar business.

Eric is an ecommerce authority, having spoken at dozens of industry conferences and meetups.

Email Eric.

Business
Entrepreneur’s Hair Products Empower Black Women

January 8, 2021 • Eric Bandholz

In 2012 Vivian Kaye was a successful wedding decorator. But she had a problem. The climate in Toronto, Canada, was brutal on her hair. Kaye's solution was hair extensions, which were easy and attractive. Fast forward to 2021, and KinkyCurlyYaki, Kaye's company, sells hair extensions, wigs, and more.
Business
Entrepreneur’s Page-builder Tools Attract Outside Equity, 100 Employees

December 18, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Finbarr Taylor moved to the U.S. nine years ago with a goal. "I moved from Scotland to Silicon Valley with the express intent of starting a tech company," he told me. Taylor's tech company is Shogun, which provides innovative page-builder tools that enhance ecommerce sites. He is co-founder and CEO.
Business
Gym Owner Shifts to Online Weight Training (and Thrives)

December 11, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Perhaps no industry has been more disrupted by the internet than education. Online training is booming — from 1-hour courses to college degrees. Take Barbell Logic, for example. It provides one-on-one strength and conditioning training, entirely web-based.
Business
Agency CEO: Adopt an ‘Abundance Mentality’

December 4, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Online selling is increasingly competitive, forcing merchants to selfish and shortsighted decisions. That's according to Corey Blake, CEO of MWI, a digital marketing agency. "When we have a scarcity outlook with short-sightedness," he told me, "We're scraping and clawing to keep it all. A better approach is an abundance mentality."
Business
Kuru, a DTC Shoe Brand, Solves a Pain

November 27, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Selling shoes online is notoriously competitive. Zappos, Amazon, big-box retailers — all are vying for a share of the consumer footwear market. Nonetheless, Sean McGinnis's employer, Kuru, an independent shoe company, is thriving.
Business
Beardbrand’s Technology Stack: Platforms, Apps, Services

November 20, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

An ecommerce company is a collection of platforms, apps, and service providers. That's certainly the case with Beardbrand, the company I launched in 2012. James Wilson is Beardbrand's growth marketing manager. I asked James to describe our technology stack, hoping that the decisions we've made (good and bad) can help other merchants.
Business
ABF Creative, a Podcast Network, Is ‘More Than a Business’

November 13, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

The mission of Anthony Frasier's company, ABF Creative, is to broadcast voices and stories from the African American community. He launched the company in 2016 from his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, having founded a tech conference and authored a book. To Frasier, ABF is much more than a business.
Business
Turn Off Your Phone, Says Agency Founder

November 6, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Most entrepreneurs in 2020 are uber connected: phone, text, email, Slack — you name it. But to Arri Bagah, the founder of Conversmart, an ecommerce agency, always-on connections means non-stop interruptions. "It's a matter of taking control of my time — trying to be less reactive and more active," he told me. "Receiving all of those notifications prompts you to react.
Content Marketing
CopySmiths Founder on Content Marketing by the Numbers

October 30, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Kat McKinnon's agency, CopySmiths, produces hundreds of blog posts per month for, mainly, ecommerce clients. She's developed a formula of sorts for getting those posts ranked in Google's search results. "You need between 1,000 and 1,500 words for a blog article," she told me. "Definitely not 600. Avoid 800, unless you're literally just answering a short question."
Checkout Tactics
Manual Texts Recover 21 Percent of Abandoned Carts, Says LiveRecover Founder

October 23, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Dennis Hegstad believes the best way to recover abandoned carts is via text messages. But his messages are not automated or bot-driven. Hegstad's company, LiveRecover, sends one-to-one texts from a real person to folks who have left an ecommerce checkout without completing a purchase.
Business
‘Gated’ Product Launch Leads to $250,000 in 1-day Sales

October 16, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Jordan West launched Little & Lively, a direct-to-consumer children's apparel company, with his wife, Carmen, six years ago in Canada. The business has grown to mid-seven-figures in revenue selling through its website, mostly. He's a master at creating demand for his products before they are available for purchase.
Business
Native Deodorant Founder on Scaling to $100 Million in 2 Years

October 9, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Despite reaching a whopping $100 million in revenue in just two years, Moiz Ali, the founder of Native deodorant, says the initial version was less than stellar. "We had a pretty mediocre product," Ali told me. "We understood that people were looking for [aluminum-free deodorant] and were willing to pay a higher price point for it."
Business
Real Men Wear Makeup, Says DTC Co-founder

October 2, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Jon Shanahan wants men to wear makeup. He's a co-founder of Stryx, a direct-to-consumer manufacturer of concealer and tinted moisturizer for males. The company launched in 2017. Shanahan joined shortly afterward, having created his male grooming channel on YouTube.
Business
‘My Wife Quit’ Founder on SMS Marketing, SaaS Platforms, osCommerce

September 25, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

In 2007 Steve Chou's wife, Jennifer, wanted to spend more time with their growing family. So she quit her job. Fast forward to 2020, and Bumblebee Linens, the Chou's ecommerce company, is prospering. Steve is now an ecommerce celebrity, having launched the "My Wife Quit Her Job" blog, podcast, and YouTube channel.
Business
A Passion for Cosmetics Leads to $1 Million in First-year Sales

September 18, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

The YouTube-to-ecommerce business model may be the best way to build an audience of customers. It worked for my company, Beardbrand, when I posted beard-grooming videos on YouTube. And it worked for Lisa and Paul Jauregui. Lisa’s passion for cosmetics led to her YouTube channel, which educates consumers on the use and selection of those products. And that audience generated customers for BK Beauty, a direct-to-consumer cosmetics brand that the Jauregui’s launched in August 2019.
Cross-border Selling
Success in Europe Requires ‘People on the Ground,’ Says Danish Entrepreneur

September 11, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

American businesspeople tend to view Europe as a single market with like-minded consumers and cultures. But Rasmus Cort knows better. His company, Sorry Mom, sells tattoo ointments and lotions throughout the continent. I asked him how a U.S.-based company can succeed there.
Business
Quality Control Drives Ugmonk.com to In-house Fulfillment

September 4, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

By 2017, nine years after launching his t-shirt company, Ugmonk, Jeff Sheldon had expanded into posters and workspace products. Gather, Ugmonk's modular desk organizer, had just completed a successful Kickstarter campaign with two shipping containers of custom manufactured organizers en route, to send to customers.
Business
Supply.co Founder: Day of Reckoning Is Coming for DTC Brands

August 28, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Patrick Coddou launched Supply.co with his wife, Jennifer, in 2015. The company, which sells razors and shaving supplies, is bootstrapped — no outside investors. He has little patience with the concept of lifetime customer value or paying more to acquire a customer than he can recoup on the initial purchase.
Business
A ‘Love for Making’ Propels Schmidt’s Naturals to Worldwide Sales

August 21, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

The progression for most direct-to-consumer entrepreneurs is to conceive a product idea and then locate a manufacturer to produce it. But Jaime Schmidt took the opposite approach when she launched Schmidt's natural deodorant in 2010. "I started in our kitchen with batch sizes of maybe 20 deodorants on the stove," she told me.
Business
Banned by Google Ads, SpyGuy.com Ponders Alternative Channels

August 14, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Ecommerce entrepreneurs understand the need for multiple revenue channels. Relying exclusively on, say, Facebook or Amazon or Google can lead to disruptions. And that's what happened to Allen Walton's company, which depends on Google Ads for most of its traffic and revenue.
Business
2PM Founder: Successful Entrepreneurs Are Polymaths

August 7, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Having founded and sold multiple ecommerce companies, Web Smith believes broad economic trends determine entrepreneurial success as much as tactical execution. Successful entrepreneurs, Smith asserts, must be polymaths to understand opportunities.
Email Marketing
1 Million Email Subscribers ‘Fricking Hard,’ Says TheHustle.co Founder

July 31, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

I asked Sam Parr, the founder of The Hustle, an email newsletter with curated business and technology news, how he has grown his list to over 1 million subscribers. "It's fricking hard," he told me.
Business
‘Build Businesses for the Cash Flow,’ Says Repeat Entrepreneur

July 24, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Entrepreneurs tend to become emotionally entwined with their businesses. "It's my baby," an entrepreneur might say when describing his company. But not Rohan Gilkes. "There's no emotion," he told me. "I have no babies. I build businesses for the cash flow."
Business
Alpha Male Succeeds with Haircare, Skincare, Sunglasses

July 17, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Aaron Marino says he hates to read. He's bad at grammar and writing, he claims. But he's really good at making videos. "I had a fitness center that didn't work out," he told me. "I started making YouTube videos in 2008 with no idea that I could ever make a buck on that platform."
Amazon & Marketplaces
Entrepreneur Sells the Most Competitive Product on Amazon, and Thrives

July 10, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

What's the most competitive product on Amazon? Smartphone cases. What does Matt Altschul's company, Smartish, sell? Smartphone cases. And it thrives. I spoke with Altschul recently about Amazon, phone cases, and custom manufacturing, among other topics.
Business
Shopify’s App Store Is Good and Bad, Says ‘Unofficial’ Expert

June 26, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Kurt Elster's "The Unofficial Shopify Podcast" has been downloaded more than 1 million times. His agency, Ethercycle, helps Shopify merchants drive revenue and profit. You might call Elster the unauthorized Mr. Shopify.
Business
Don’t Advertise to Existing Customers, Says Serial Ecommerce Entrepreneur

June 12, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Taylor Holiday runs three successful ecommerce businesses, a thriving ecommerce-focused ad agency, and an educational membership community for advertising matters. I recently spoke with Holiday about his ventures, the state of ecommerce, and advertising dos and don'ts.
Business
Better Fathers, Husbands, Leaders Drive ‘Order of Man’ Founder

May 25, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

In March 2015 Ryan Michler owned a successful financial planning company. His clients were medical professionals. He earned a comfortable living. "I was making great money, but I felt like something was missing. I thought there were opportunities to help men. And that's when I started." What he started was Order of Man.
Amazon & Marketplaces
Side Project for Amazon Sellers Attracts 250,000 Customers, 150 Employees

May 11, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Five years ago Greg Mercer developed a spreadsheet to estimate how well products on Amazon were selling. He launched it as a "fun, side project." That project is now Jungle Scout, with roughly 250,000 worldwide customers and 150 employees.
Business
‘High Quality, Low Volume’ Drives GouletPens.com to 35 Employees, 4,500 SKUs

April 19, 2020 • Eric Bandholz

Conventional ecommerce wisdom is that merchants should sell across multiple channels, manufacture or control their products, and scale. Don't tell that to Brian Goulet, president of The Goulet Pen Company, which sells high-end fountain pens and writing accessories.